Re: [Epic] Epic shock troops

From: A. Allen McCarley <allen_at_...>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 16:19:18 -0600

>
> It's just that by comparing them to the other units you mentioned, or the
> British SAS or the gurkas, they just don't quite fit into the same level.
> They're good, but I'd never consider them elite.

I think you are beginning to confuse the roles of shock troops and
special forces. America has several varieties of special forces,
but that's not what the marines are.

Shock troops (at least as far as I understand) are high morale troops
that are thrown at the enemy in the initial stages of an assault.
They are the first to hit the beaches, first to storm the enemy,
first to charge the machine guns, first to do anything that looks
insane when your looking safely from behind the command bunker, and
the last to bug out when things go really, really bad. Generally,
they attack in numbers and with a lot of attitude.

This fits the job description of the US Marines perfectly.

Oddly enough, the closest imperial troops I can find in Space Marine
to fit the bill of shock troops are the IG Assault companies, and
possibly beastmen. The Imperial marine fluff fiction makes them
look like shock troops, but they don't have even a fraction of the
numbers they would need for this role. Only a thousand are kept
in readiness on any planet, and this is only on very select planets.

Despite the fact that I love to play them in the game, I don't see
the space marines doing anything larger in a conflict than being
dropped behind enemy lines to take out a key enemy installation.
Given the casualties in a typical EPIC conflict, any marine chapter
would not be able to do this more than two or three times in
any planetary conflict such as those described in the fiction.
This puts the Space Marines, I think, squarely into the category
of Special Forces and not Shock Troops.

-Allen McCarley
(Looking for a new sig since my old one is now so misleading.....)
Received on Wed Mar 05 1997 - 22:19:18 UTC