187th Battalion

This article is about the unit present during the Battle of Anaxes. You may be looking for the 187th Legion, Mace Windu's Attack Battalion, or the regiment of Galactic Marines led by Mace Windu.

The 187th Battalion was a Grand Army of the Republic infantry battalion of clone troopers that served under the command of Jedi General Mace Windu during the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Windu led the troopers of the 187th during the Battle of Anaxes, an engagement of the Outer Rim Sieges in 19 BBY, during which the Republic's forces sought to defend the vital Anaxes shipyards from the Confederacy or otherwise risk compromising their entire reserve fleet.

The battalion defended the planet Anaxes alongside members of the 212th Attack Battalion, the 501st Legion, and Clone Force 99. The unit was equipped with standard Phase II clone trooper armor with maroon markings. Ultimately, the Republic emerged victorious in the defense of Anaxes. The battalion shared its numerical designation with another unit led by Windu: the elite 187th Legion.

Description

The 187th Battalion was a clone trooper infantry battalion of the Grand Army of the Republic. Troopers affiliated with the unit were equipped with Phase II clone trooper armor with reddish-brown markings. A vertical stripe with the hue ran down the center of the helmet, with the markings also painted on the sides of the air filtration systems. Their primarily white chest armor was additionally painted with the reddish-brown hue, which diverged into two vertical stripes down the center. Shoulder, upper arm, and lower arm armor also featured the unit's colors, as did the set's upper legs, upper thighs, and knee guards.^[2]

187th troopers were armed with DC-15A blaster carbines. As a battalion of the Grand Army of the Republic,^[1] it was composed of four companies of 144 troopers each for a total of 576 troops.^[4] The 187th Battalion^[2] shared the same unit designation as the elite 187th Legion,^[5] another unit led by Windu.^[6]

History

Initial onslaught

The 187th Battalion participated in the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems^[1] and was under the command of Jedi General Mace Windu.^[3] The 187th Battalion took part^[1] in the Outer Rim Sieges^[7] through the defense of the jungle planet^[8] Anaxes, located on the Coreward edge of the Outer Rim,^[9] in 19 BBY.^[10] One of the Republic's strongholds in their efforts against the Separatist Alliance,^[9] it was the location of the vital Anaxes shipyards,^[11] one of the largest shipyards in the war effort.^[12] The collapse of Anaxes could have compromised the entire Republic Navy's reserve fleet.^[11]

The 187th battle on Anaxes against overwhelming Separatist forces.

As the Separatist fleet and army under Admiral Trench launched a two-pronged campaign against Republic forces, Mace Windu's 187th Battalion fought alongside their Jedi General on the ground. In one such engagement, Windu and 187th troopers confronted Separatist forces consisting of many battle droids and Multi-Troop Transports, with Separatist Munificent-class star frigates and transports hovering above the invasion forces. The 187th was supported by All Terrain Tactical Enforcers but suffered several casualties.^[11]

After multiple weeks of the Separatist onslaught, the Republic's control of Anaxes became precarious. After an intelligence mission behind Separatist lines to the Cyber Center on Anaxes^[11] and a subsequent mission to^[1] the planet^[13] Skako Minor to retrieve trooper Echo, who was unwillingly used by the Separatists to deduce a battle strategy algorithm developed by Echo and Clone Captain Rex, the Republic mounted a final attack to end the Battle of Anaxes.^[1]

Last attempt

Windu and his 187th Battalion engage Separatist forces in the shipyards.

Republic forces consisting of a Venator-class Star Destroyer, a Consular-class cruiser, and waves of BTL-B Y-wing starfighter/bombers, ARC-170 starfighters, and LAAT/i gunships carrying troopers from the 187th and 212th Attack Battalion moved to attack the shipyards. After the bombers laid waste to Separatist anti-air J-1 proton cannons and punched a hole in the topside infrastructure of the shipyards, Jedi Generals Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi jumped from their gunships and were followed by 212th troopers with jetpacks, with scores of 187th and 212th troops rappelling from their transports. The troopers fired their weapons as they descended on the Separatist forces below, landing on top of and around containers on the facility's ground level. In the firefight, 187th and 212th troopers fought side by side in clearing Separatist droids before another wave of droid reinforcements was dispatched.^[1]

All droid forces were sent to neutralize the Republic's detachments, allowing Echo, who had infiltrated the Separatist flagship Invulnerable with a Republic team, to disable the droids altogether with a signal. As the Republic forces defeated a droid wave, several 187th Battalion troopers formed a circle around Windu and Kenobi along with personnel from the 212th and 501st Legion. Further droid reinforcements arrived and surrounded the group before they were shut down by Echo. With his army disabled, Admiral Trench resorted to destroying Anaxes with a large bomb planted in the shipyard's fusion reactor.^[1]

Republic forces are surrounded on Anaxes.

Windu ordered Kenobi to evacuate Republic forces while he attempted to disarm the bomb, and Kenobi commanded the surrounding troops from the 187th, 212th, and 501st to organize their platoons and retreat. With Republic troops evacuating aboard their gunships, Windu managed to neutralize the bomb after receiving the deactivation codes from Echo, and then from Admiral Trench, who was forced to relinquish the final code. With the bomb disarmed and hostile forces defeated, the Republic emerged victorious from the battle.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Continuity

"[T]his trooper served [sic] under [sic] Jedi General Mace Windu. [It's] the clone trooper from the 187th Battalion from The Clone Wars Season Seven."

―Eric, a designer for Star Wars: The Black Series in an announcement livestream^[14]

Mace Windu leads his clone troopers into battle in the unfinished version of "The Bad Batch."

The 187th Battalion first appeared, albeit unnamed, in flashbacks in "The Bad Batch,"^[11] the first episode in the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars that aired in February 21, 2020.^[15] Originally, the episode aired during Celebration Anaheim on April 17, 2015 in an unfinished format as part of The Clone Wars Legacy.^[16] Windu's unit within the Bad Batch arc^[11] was later named the "187th Battalion" on the Hasbro Pulse livestream for May the Fourth in 2022 as a Star Wars: The Black Series set. The clone trooper action figure was revealed by^[14] Eric Franer,^[17] a designer for Star Wars Hasbro.^[14]

The other one

"The decision not to use the purple color scheme in Clone Wars goes back to CW Season 1, though I can't speak to why. It's a conscious decision to try [to] keep them as different units rather than the same unit that uses two different color schemes."

―Story Group member Leland Chee^[18]

Clone Commander Ponds, who appeared in The Clone Wars Season One, had the same colored markings as the 187th Battalion clone troopers. — Clone Commander Ponds, who appeared in *The Clone Wars* Season One, had the same colored markings as the 187th Battalion clone troopers.

According to Lucasfilm Story Group member Leland Chee, the decision to not use the purple color scheme of Mace Windu's 187th Legion from Star Wars Legends was made in the first season of the series,^[18] first airing in 2008.^[19] In "Liberty on Ryloth,"^[20] the penultimate episode of the first season that aired on March 13, 2009,^[21] Clone Commander Ponds serves under Mace Windu and sports similar colored markings to^[20] the later-identified 187th Battalion.^[14] Sources including De Agostini's seventy-sixth issue of the Star Wars Helmet Collection magazine–^[22] written by Iain Lowson^[23] and originally released on January 31, 2017^[24]–and the July 18, 2017,^[25] reference book, Star Wars: On the Front Lines, authored by Daniel Wallace,^[26] clarify that Ponds served as the leader of Lightning Squadron^[22] of the 91st Mobile Reconnaissance Corps.^[26]

Chee further elaborated that it was a conscious decision to try to keep the 187th Legion and Windu's unit in The Clone Wars series as different units rather than the same unit that uses two different color schemes.^[18] The 187th Legion were identified in Star Wars canon in the LEGO Star Wars "Republic Fighter Tank" set that was revealed in 2022.^[27]