Rethast Army

The Army is the second most important part of the Rethast Armed Forces. Rethast soldiers are well trained, ruthless and fanatically loyal to Rethan. When an invasion of an enemy planet, or a nation on a particular planet, is begun, it is the Army which clears the way for the Colonial Guard, Navy and Air Cavalry to arrive.

Organisation

The Rethast army is organised into 10 Armies. Each army is further broken down into a chain of command, which orders filter down through and are further defined along the way.

• 1 Army (250,000) = 5 Companies
• 1 Company (50,000) = 10 Divisions
• 1 Division (5,000) = 10 Regiments
• 1 Regiment (500) = 5 Platoons
• 1 Platoon (100) = 10 Squads
• 1 Squad (10) = 2 Fire Teams
• 1 Fire Team (5) = 4 Infantry and a Sergeant

For example, a General-Marshal may give an order for an army to attack a province. His order is passed onto the Field-Marshals, who lead the companies. The General-Marshal sends one company each way east and west, and two up the middle. The Company Commanders, (Field-Marshals) follow his orders and then give more refined orders (so long as they don’t receive any from the General-Marshal). The flanking companies stay together, but the middle companies split into two halves each of 5 Divisions. Ten Divisions are sent to attack a military barracks, 5 a nearby oil depot and a further 5 towards a nearby city. The Division Commanders (Kindralmarshal) of the two moving towards the barracks then further refine their orders, sending two regiments from each Division (A, B, C and D) in as a first wave. D’s Kindral decides to move his division to cut off an incoming convoy, but doesn’t need everybody so only sends one Platoon. The Platoon Commander (Majorkindral) keeps eight squads back to provide cover support, and sends two forward. Squad 1‘s leader (Kolonel), seeing squad 2 in trouble, sends 1 Fire Squad to help. The Fire squad’s sergeant does nothing more specific and simply orders his team forward.

Armoured Support

An Army numbers roughly 250,000 combatants, not including tank and APC crewmen. Each Division comes attached with a number of armoured support vehicles and artillery pieces:

• 10 Armageddon Heavy Tanks (4 crew)
• 50 Scorpion Light Tanks (2 crew)
• 85 Hornet Attack Bikes (1 crew)
• 100 Stormwalker APCs. (2 crew)
• 35 Hurricane Artillery Vehicles (2 crew)
• 25 ART-08 Heavy Artillery Cannons (3 crew)

The crewmen are not counted in the combatant numbers, which show only the infantry. The crewmen are taken from the logistics personnel of the army (specifically the Sappers division).

Infantry

The main bulk of an army is formed of the Basic infantry. Infantry are equipped with RAR-048 Assault Rifles. One man in each Fire Squad is also trained to use, and equipped with, either a PMG-016 Light machinegun, MGL-012 Multiple Grenade Launcher, SNP-041 Sniper Rifle or LF-032 Flamethrower. Base Infantry are given standardised equipment, with the emphasis on lightweight objects to allow quick mobility. This does unfortunately sacrifice protection.

The Equipment of a Basic Infantry

Picture of Base Infantry

• Standard Offworld Combat Helmet
• RAR-048/PMG-016/MGL-012/LF-032/SNP-041
• MP-062 Machine Pistol
• Standard II Liquid Protection Armour
• 2 Class IV Fragmentation Grenades
• 1 Class III Stun Grenade
• 1 Class IV Flashbang Grenade

The Stormkorp

Stormkorp soldier (Carrying a salvaged RAR-048)

The Stormkorp are the Elite of the Rethast Armies, given even better equipment than the normal infantry, and twice as much training. Stromkorp infantry are taken from children recommended by infield Government Scouts. The child must be superbly fit, strong and loyal. The Scout may see them at paintball practice, in a fight or elsewhere. The child is then watched by government agents to make sure it wasn't a one off thing. The last requisite for Stormkorp induction is that the child must be 12 years old. They are then taken if deemed appropriate and trained for ten years until they are 22. The Stormkorp are the best Rethan has to offer, but are limited in number. One squad per Platoon is Stormkorp.

The squads wield heavier weaponry than the others, with the RAR-048 being replaced by a PMG-016. The heavy weapon Stormkorp wield either an IAU-05 Infantry Artillery Unit, HMG-025 Heavy Machinegun, SNP-041 Sniper Rifle or ATR-029 Anti-tank Rocket. Stormkorp squads also are not divided into Fire Teams.

• Enhanced Offworld Combat Helmet
• PMG-016/IAU-05/SNP-041/HMG-025/ATR-029
• MP-062 Machinepistol
• Standard IV Liquid Protection Armour
• 2 Class V Fragmentation Grenades
• 1 Class IV Stun Grenade
• 1 Class IV Flashbang Grenade