 March 8, 2012 - 6:02am | Call me sentimental but I was just watching a documentary on John Wayne's making of the ALAMO. lot of grainy film footage taken on a small home camera mixed with actual movie film footage and after the fact interviews. It got me thinking and I think the Frontier needs an Alamo. Something that was actually quite heroic for the decisions made by those making the stand but the myth of it has grown and perhaps made superbeings of them decades and even a century latter. It would need to be early in the time line and all four of the core four need to be involved so that it becomes part of the legend of the Frontier- four disparate species making a stand together. Obvious choice is SW1 -certainly things are bad when your enemy is willing to nuke you. but Laco's War could have a legendary last stand though you wouldn't think so, it being fought by mercenaries and corporations. I'd peg Laco's War as having those stories that came out of ACW & WW1, its Christmas eve and units on their own call for a cease fire and exchange cigarettes and chocolate. Or the song Christmas Bells telling and encounter between Snoopy and the Red Baron. 1st Dramune War is another possibility and would likely be a no quarter type of conflict. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 8, 2012 - 6:21am | I suppose I should have called this the Legends of War thread Legendary stories of last stands, uncommon heroism and compassion for an enemy. SW1- desparate battles by partisans on Pale as well as scratch built muster troops and militia units. Laco's War- a bloody ten year mess of a corporate conflict 1st Dramune War- a nasty little system war that would set the tone for relations between Inner and outer reach for over a century Free World Rebellion- ethnic cleansing EDIT: I suppose that we should not forget KHs actions as well in this. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 8, 2012 - 6:36am | RE: SW1 last stand- i like a death in the snow back drop on Pale, As for a name for the location of the last stand, we know the capitol is Point True, a name that invokes an idea and its quite possible that other cities or settlements have similar idea names: Resolution, New Hope, etc and the right name could play into the legend. In one of John Ringo's Posleen novels the police, fire, local construction workers and national guard all worked together to save the women and children in their town who could not get out- there was an old pump house along the river and the bulldozed dirt to completely cover it and walled the non combatants in- everyone but a few women were given the drug hiberzine to induce hibernation (the few women left awake were to way a certain number of days before injecting themselves with hoberzine just in case the Posleen discovered the bunker (posleen treat all battlefield casualties as food) so that they could blow the suicide charge. With the women and children safely stowed away they took a 9 story building and boarded up all the windows, plus punched holes in floors then had the local gas utility pump it full of gas. Then they put up a last stand designed to draw the posleen in and I think the fire cheif was waiting inside the building with a gas mask and the detonator that would trigger C4 all over the building. It was a good last stand and effectively saved the women and children. I liked the story and think that something similar can be down in SW1- bunker filled with non combatants and buried. Last stand made and as the worms are closing in a suicide option that would ensure that the worms would think everyone is dead- perhaps a 1 kiloton nuke detonated on the surface. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 8, 2012 - 6:40am | You could craft these into Solo Encounters. |
March 8, 2012 - 8:00am | You could craft these into Solo Encounters. would not an Alamo like last stand be a TPK? True these could be encounters, had been thinking along the lines of fluff or fiction. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 8, 2012 - 8:35am | Yes a desperate battle where a few dedicated beings try and defeat the vastly superior enemy. The outcome of that victory leading to dramatic changes and a battle cry. Hang on. What is it Shaggy? (He's my dog) There already is such a battle in the canon? It was Admiral Morgaine's final battle against the Sathar which lead to the formation of the UPF and Spacefleet. I think they are looking for a ground war. Oh so you think the fight at the outpost at Dixon's Star would be perfect. You can see Admiral Morgaine rallying his troops after the first desperate fight by telling them of the sacrifice of the beings at the Dixon's Star and the battle cry "Remember the Outpost". Good thinking boy here's a Shaggy Treat (he prefers Cesar treats but we call them Shaggy Treats). Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
March 8, 2012 - 11:17am | Good catch rattraveller on Morgaine's last stand (smacks forehead with open psuedo pod) I would suggest "Remember Laco" over "Remember Dixon's Star" or outpost as the planet is more accurately where the attack went down. You are quite correct as I was thinking of a ground battle and only as an after thought through in the edit to not forget the possibility of KHs last stands. I also think that I may have written a Khs last stand into my "Why the Royal Marines Dont Use Fighter Craft" article. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 8, 2012 - 4:06pm | Funny thing the only reference we have is to an "Outpost" in the Dixon's Star system. Are we talking about a settlement on the planet Laco or a small space station or a military base/listening post set up on the planet. Whichever we choose we should remember that the defenders knew what the enemy had done on the Truane's Star system and that no help was coming for them. I am thinking lots of booby traps and suicide weapons to take out lots of the enemy and delay them as much as possible. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
March 8, 2012 - 5:31pm | Funny thing the only reference we have is to an "Outpost" in the Dixon's Star system. Are we talking about a settlement on the planet Laco or a small space station or a military base/listening post set up on the planet. Whichever we choose we should remember that the defenders knew what the enemy had done on the Truane's Star system and that no help was coming for them. I am thinking lots of booby traps and suicide weapons to take out lots of the enemy and delay them as much as possible. AD list the planet as outpost but Zebs (probably from a later stand point in history) list it as moderate with industry economy. I'm still suffering with intestinal distress and a big headache from eating at a dive greasy spoon yesterday so Its hard to think right now but some where in the cannon, Perhaps KHs or in the Dragon article "Volturnus Connection" refugees from Pale fled to Laco before two prongs of the sathar invasion force moved on both Dixon's Star and Cassidine. Morgaine, IMO, shrewdly intercepted the sathar at Cassidine having learned a hard lesson when Hatzk Naar slipped past him at Cassidine to raid Prengular. In some ways it was a cold blooded decision to leave Dixons star uncovered using it as a early warning of sathar advance along that line but simply put if he did not defend the major population and industry centers the Frontier might not be able to sustain the war effort for long. So yes it was an outpost at that time but refugees from Pale flooded in and then the sathar landed. After the UPF needed boots on the ground to fully erradicate the sathar troops and that led to proper infastructure like like landing fields that quickly became star ports. When the UPF and Ground Fleet/Muster/ militia troops "island hops" from Laco to Pale and New Pale Laco becomes an important step in the supply line. I believe that a substantial though smallish % of the Pale population just stayed on on Laco when the bulk of the refugees returned home thus increasing its population. I've written that PGC brought in robotics factories to support the on going ground war effort on Pale after the sathar troops were crushed on Laco and that this is the beginning of its industrial economy- after the war those factories would be retooled for consumer goods. We also know that PGC fought Streel bitterly for control of the planet, largely so that they could control the Tetrarch ruins. I believe PGC consistently under represents the population so that the planet doesn't get the representation it deserves on the Council of Worlds lest the native population take control of their world and thus take control of the Tetrarch ruins from them. Eventually, sometime after FY111 I believe that the Laco Self Determinizaiton movement will relize its dream and take back control of their world from the mega corp. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
