 November 7, 2011 - 8:49am | Thinking along the lines of French Foreign Legion, Ghurkas, or lesser known Italian Arditi (with their motor 'I don't give a F---) or the Bersiglieri. Royal Guard could qualify since they've "never been defeated" but Royal Guard encompasses the entire army for Clarion and I'm thinking on a smaller scale; a named unit that is part of a larger formation or perhaps a mercenary company. Unit has to have a name, a story, and a place e within the setting. Mercenary companies are acceptable for this exercise even though I'm not that interested in them - likely others are. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 7, 2011 - 8:54am | PS: if the unit had a weapon or symbol that is emblematic of it, so much the better. Something along the lines of the ghurka knife or similar. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 7, 2011 - 1:56pm | Hogans Heroes Voluntarily captured during the Pale invasion, this group of freedom fighters has never been defeated behind the battle. |
 November 8, 2011 - 10:43am | The Dirty Dozen: This small platoon of Clarion Colonial Marines (CCM) are made up of a ragtag group of ex criminals who were given the choice of joining the corps or serving life sentances mining federanium on an asteroid belt. This group sometimes calls themselves the expendibles because they are often the first to be dropped into a hazardous (hot zone), and the last to go home, but in the twenty odd engagements they have been apart of they have only had two casualties. The group is led by Sarg. Yamen Growl, a battle scarred Yazirian with a nasty habit of chewing tornadium d19. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 8, 2011 - 7:34pm | It just occured to me that I once asked myself, "Why dont the Royal Marines Field Fighter Craft?" The answer is of course that the writers of the WoWL module needed a small scout ship that would be ideal for the average RPG group. But still I thought the questioned should be answered and the answer is yes they did feild fighter craft but since fighter craft cant board and inspect ships their utility is limited. Non the less I wrote up the Raptor Squadron (quite a long time ago though it hasn't seen the light of day due to one complication or another in getting it into the fan zine). Raptor Squadron did good service in intercepting pirates in White Light, there high ADF and MR made them ideal for patroling the asteroid belt. Fights over financing in Parliment and the realization that more assualt scouts would better serve the RM put the future of the Raptor squadron in doubt. But along came the 2nd Dramune War and the Royal Marines jumped at the chance to let Space Fleet "federalize" Raptor Squadron for service in Dramune, which meant that the UPF would be paying for the Squadron. However, getting them there proved a major logistics problem since the RM posessed no carriers. So the squadron and a whole draft of shuttles had to make the trip and overhaul their engines after each jump wiating for space at space stations in each system along the route. This meant that they arrived late to the dance and the Space Fleet admiral was ill pleased with having Raptor squadron in his order of battle. Moral was low because of the sniping by Space Fleet personnel and the doubt over whether Parliment would continue to fund the Raptor program. Eventually, they got a mission, but it was a hell ride. Outer reach had crossed a line and Space Fleet was going to move in and put a stop to the shooting, unfortunately Outer Reach had Planetary Defense Weaponry that would gut vessels moving within 10,000km of the planet. Fighters were to fast for the PDWs to target so someone would have to fly against the the fighters and frigates defending the planet and then enter a canyon, flying the length of the canyon to destroy the power generator powering the PDWs, casualties were expected to be high in the fighter assets that performed this mission and the Space Fleet admiral tapped Raptor Squadron for it. Later on they were deployed by the UPF to Snow Ball to act as a training cadre for the Mhemne, unfortunately the Mhemne are phsyiologically unsuited to fighter operations. Morale again became an issue. A hvy sathar incursion forced Raptor Squadron to stand between the Mhemne and the worms with little support from their host. In the best traditions of the RM they fought off the two sathar carriers and their flanking support but at a great cost, too few of the squadron returned. At this point the cost to rebuid the squadron was too high. The squadron was disbanded and the remaining fighters were stored in stasis against future need. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 8, 2011 - 7:37pm | The Dirty Dozen: This sounds more like Space Fleet enlisted, as per the statements in KHs, but still a good idea. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 10, 2011 - 8:44am | Mercenary companies, if they stay together longer than one campaign, make an interesting subject here. Their reputations are their best tools for recruiting and for gaining jobs. I'm casting back to Hammer's Slammers and the many Battletech merc units, of course. I'll need to think more on this. |
November 10, 2011 - 10:23am | A few from the fanzine; Issue #9 - Prime 1 Mercs, Inc.Issue #10 - Veteran Mercenaries Needed Issue #10 - RiskCo Issue #12 - Parriah Eliminations @Putraack, I thought you submitted a merc classified?  |
 November 10, 2011 - 10:16pm | Krieger der Hölle (Warriors of Hell) It's a battlecruiser division from one of my short stories. The crew had been assigned to patrol the frontier space and instead of joining with the Terran forces during the civil war they took their ships into the fleet and attacked. The last transmission was the bridge crew singing an old Earth German language song: Wir sind die durch die Hölle gehen. Es gibt kein Morgen mehr danach. Wir sind die durch die Hölle gehen. Gott weint uns keine Träne nach. "We are going through hell. After this there will be no tomorrow. We are going through hell. God sheds no tears for us." So now, there is an elite division named for them. |
