All Black Wolf Lancers regiments and Yellow Katanas use the same rank structure. Due to early influences, ranks are sometimes referred to by their German names.

Mechwarrior/ASF Officer ranks

The Lancers are led by their mechwarriors – only mechwarrior officers have full command authority. Non-line officers (anything from supporting infantry to logistics) have command authority only over their own branch.

General-Oberst (Brigadier): Reserved for the Wolf himself. Note that the Wolf is also the commanding officer of the Wolf’s Own regiment.

Oberst (Colonel): Regimental commander/Katana commander. Natalia Chesterton has this as an honorary rank. Other current colonels are Satan and Takari.

Major: Battalion commander. Also regimental XO.

Hauptmann (Captain): Company commander. Also battalion XO. This rank is more often referred to by its English name.

Leutnant (Lieutenant): Lance commander. Also company XO.

Fähnrich (Sub-Lieutenant): Lance 2^nd in command/junior lieutenant (typically an officer-in-training). Not all lances will have an officer as 2^nd in command.

Mechwarrior/ASF NCO ranks

Not all mechwarriors have officer commissions. More than half are NCOs.

Sergeant Major (SMaj): Regimental senior NCO mechwarrior.

First Sergeant (1Sgt): Battalion senior NCO mechwarrior.

Master Sergeant (MSgt): Company’s most senior NCO mechwarrior. There is usually only one Master Sergeant per company, but veteran companies could have more.

Gunnery Sergeant (GSgt): Senior Mechwarrior. Mechwarriors with a degree of field experience and good conduct will be promoted to this rank.

Staff Sergeant (SSgt): Junior Mechwarrior. The lowest rank for active mechwarriors.

Sergeant (Sgt): Replacement mechwarrior. This rank is given to mechwarriors who have passed training/been hired, but have yet to qualify as combat pilots in a line lance.

Corporal: Mechwarrior-in-training. Rank is used for mechwarrior trainees (in the Cadre Company or elsewhere).

Lance Corporal: Not used for mechwarriors, support personnel only.

PFC: Not used for mechwarriors, support personnel only.

Private: Not used for mechwarriors, support personnel only.

Recruit: Not used for mechwarriors, support personnel only.

Tech ranks

Technical personnel are either enlisted or NCOs (the Chief mechtech grades). There are about 4 techs and astechs working on each mech/ASF when on deployment, plus additional tech in a communal pool used for heavy maintenance.

There will be technical officers leading the tech departments in the various regiments/battalions. The highest rank for a tech officer is Major, with heads regimental tech teams being Captains and battalion tech teams headed by Lieutenants.

Master Chief Mechtech: Senior NCO in charge of 1 company, master sergeant equivalent.

Senior Chief Mechtech: Senior NCO in charge of 1 lance, gunnery sergeant equivalent.

Chief Mechtech: NCO in charge of 1 mech, staff sergeant equivalent.

Mechtech 1^st Class: Senior experienced mechtech (enlisted), sergeant equivalent.

Mechtech 2^nd Class: Mechtech (enlisted), corporal equivalent.

Mechtech 3^rd Class: Junior mechtech (enlisted), lance corporal equivalent.

Astech 1^st Class: Senior astech (enlisted).

Astech 2^nd Class: Astech (enlisted).

Astech 3^rd Class: Junior astech (enlisted).

Support personnel ranks

Support personnel other than techs, such as logistics and security, use the same ranks as mechwarriors. They have command authority only within their own fields of responsibility. So the lieutenant in charge of security can’t boss around a mechwarrior sergeant – unless it’s got something to do with security. It’s not a complex as it sounds: Lancers know their areas of responsibility and there is minimal “inter service rivalry”.

Naval ranks

Dropship (and jumpship) crews follow standard naval ranks. With “Captain” being equal to both God and King, “Commander” being the captain’s henchman, and the rest of the ranks unimportant and unintelligible to ground-pounders (for example, a naval ‘Lieutenant’ supposedly is the same as a Captain of mechs… how confusing).

ASF Ranks

Like their naval counterparts, ASF pilots have weird rank titles. Their supreme leader is the Wing Commander, which supposedly is about the same as a Colonel of mechs. Below that are the Squadron Leaders attached to each regiment (Majors) and the Flight Leaders (Captains) in charge of battalion-level ASF assets. An ASF lance (2 fighters) is commanded by a Flight Lieutenant (same as a Lieutenant of mechs). His wingman could be a Flight Officer (Sub-Lieutenant) or an NCO (same ranks as mechwarriors).