Military Forces of Auzhan Sector: Cepheian Marines

Cepheian Marines

    Cephei VI has been/will be described elsewhere, but let's recap the relevant data for this discussion.

    Cephei VI is a low gravity, vacuum world, with an A class starport, a population of approximately 500,000, which is divided into a few great houses and numerous lesser houses. Firearms are prohibited outside of military usage, large bladed weapons are controlled and publicly carrying them is prohibited. The only weapons that are not controlled are daggers. The world has a technology level of D (13).

    Consulting the tables in "Troops in the Fifth Frontier War", JTAS 10, pages 24-26. We find that Cephei VI shouldn't have even one battalion. However, since they are descended from space pirates and have a high regard for military service, we can add a right shift to cancel the left shift for a hostile environment, which gives Cephei VI one battalion. Checking for mobile battalions we find none, which is okay, as I think Cephei VI lacks the capacity for transporting large ground forces to other worlds.

    The hostile environment would seem to require some sort of sealed armour, vacc suit, combat armour or battledress, which means Vacc Suit skill, so Cephei VI ground troops are considered Marines and not Army.

    There are actually five greater houses, with a sixth aspiring to that status. Since these houses maintain their own squadrons of ships, they should also maintain their own ship's troops. So our battalion of Cepheian Marines is now divided into six companies led by a Force Commander. Higher ranks are possible but are normally considered just honorary; although it is also true that a member of House Visconti once held the field rank of Colonel and led a combined Cepheian Marine battalion during the war against "The Empress".

   Cepheian Marines are equipped to TL 13 (D) which means Combat Armour at least, Battldress for special occasions. They can wield almost any weapon, within certain limits. Remember these guys are primarily employed as ship's troops and base security. As ship's troops they will generally be armed with the cutlass and low velocity firearms like the snub revolver for boarding actions. Heavier weapons and equipment will be available from the ships armoury for landing parties, when necessary. 

    On that note landing parties 

    With these parameters in mind we can look at available miniatures and come up with some options. In 15mm I have the following miniatures: Ground Zero Games' Outrim Coalition, UNSC Hardsuit Marines, Brazilian Infantry, US Army in Hardsuits. Eureka Miniatures' Ventauran Troopers, Darkest Star Games' Venturian Lift Infantry, and Alternative Armies' Laserburn & Asgard ranges of Imperial Troopers, and Redemptionists.      

    Of these, I do not have a large enough collection of AA Imps or Redemptionists, and I plan to use the Ventaurans and Venturians as Zhodani when I find out where their world is located IMTU. That leaves me with just the GZG ranges. From these I've chosen to use the US Army in Hardsuits, mainly because I have plans for the others and these guys fit my idea a little better, even adding something to the concept. The US Army Hardsuit is augmented by an exoskeleton, making it proto-power armour. The range also includes bigger heavier PA with plasma weapons. 

   Cepheian Marines will normally be encountered as ship's troops, aboard either the Type C1 Cruiser or the Type T Patrol Cruiser. This means they will ordinarily be in platoon or squad strength respectively.

    The typical squad will consist of eight men, seven in augmented combat armour and the eighth in battledress. The core of the squad is the squad leader, SAW gunner, two riflemen (one is a medic), and one PA trooper w/plasma gun or autocannon. The remaining three squad members can be, (depending on mission and/or expected opposition), a two man GMS/P team, grenadier w/auto GL, marksman w/gauss sniper rifle, and/or a two man navy forward observer team. Any remaining positions are filled by additional riflemen.

   

     Referee: Cephei VI    0210    A200578-D    N    Ni Va 

Starport A - Can build starships

Size 2 - Low Gravity

Atmosphere 0 - Vacuum, No atmosphere. Vacc Suits needed.

Hydrographics 0 - No Water present. Maybe some ice at the poles.

Population 5 - Hundreds of thousands (rolled a 5 for 500,000)

Government 7 - Balkanised government. More than one government present. (I rolled 6, so six separate factions).

Law Level 8 - All firearms are prohibited, Long bladed weapons are controlled and open possession is prohibited. Daggers are uncontrolled and most people routinely carry one.

Tech level D - Drives P-Q can be built. Starships, Lasers, Battledress, Robotics, Grav Vehicles, Fusion Power.

    This means Cephei VI is capable of projecting power beyond its own star system. In fact it is the only world this side of the void capable of doing so, at least within the Void subsector. Since Cephei VI is the only interstellar capable force in this region I determined the number of cruisers and patrol cruisers operating in this part of the subsector, this number represents the combined cepheian fleets current ship roster. The total is 5.88 Type C1 Cruisers and 11.06 Type T Patrol Cruisers. I looked at those numbers and the number of government factions and decided there would be five squadrons of roughly equal size and a fledgling sixth squadron that had broken away from one of the others. This meant five squadrons with one Type C1 and two Type T's each, and a sixth with one Type T and two ships under construction a Type C1 at 88% completion and a Type T at only 6% completion.

    It's vacuum environment means that any ground forces will operate in vacc suits, combat armour or battledress (power armour), this means that they should be treated as Marines. The size of Cephei VI's military force, according to the table on page 24 in JTAS 10, should be zero, but I ruled that the militaristic nature of the population cancels out the "shift left" for hostile environment, so we end up with a force of approximately battalion strength. Each of the squadrons (except the sixth) has a combined marine complement of little more than a platoon and a half. So dividing our battalion into six companies makes some sense. Providing each squadron with a company of marines, enough to rotate them through ship's troops, shore patrol and leave, without overburdening the troops too much. 

 

    Since there are no Mobile Battalions available according to the JTAS article. The Cepheian fleet has a limited capability to transport troops to other worlds; by using six bunk modules on a C1 Cruiser, it becomes possible to transport 150 troops. So in theory Cephei VI could transport most or all of it's military personnel; however that would leave no troops at home to guard the base, something no house would ever consider. The ships of the CCF generally conduct anti-piracy patrols, with the occasional bit of gunboat diplomacy thrown in. Cepheian marines are therefore, primarily trained for boarding actions and security operations and surface actions in hostile environments. One or more squadrons are currently looking at establishing special operations forces, for special missions which may include orbital insertions, and other high risk activities. These special forces would of necessity be quite small, at most platoon sized, but more likely to be smaller.

    The CCF currently includes six squadrons of ships, their crews, ground crew and support staff, marines and a host of civilian contractor's. 

    CCF patrols can be encountered in any system with an A, B, or C class starport, they do not normally patrol the few other systems in the region. Even so the squadrons are spread thin and most ships conduct their patrols alone. Very rarely do squadrons concentrate their forces, and the last time the entire CCF assembled in one system was to put down the "Empress". There are few alive today who can recall that conflict, but the CCF keeps the story alive in its military history lessons.

   With the fleet away on patrol, Cephei VI is protected by multiple planetary defence batteries and several fighter squadrons. Each faction maintains and operates a squadron of fighters and a number of planetary defence batteries.