Rifle Infantry
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(198X) Santagrine Scenario Units
🕑 Added 2025-03-07 08:43:15 +0000 UTCYet more release bonuses, this time for the Santagrines.
You may notice there are only two here (compared to the three for Feds and Lupes): I haven't quite settled on the third yet, truthfully. That one will be figured out by release, but for now it will remain a secret even to you.
Commonwealth Rifles are, like Petty Stater infantry, an attempt to touch on a significant aspect of their faction's society that the majority of the army book doesn't cover. Santagria may be a mad land of nuclear chivalry, feudal skulduggery, and brave autocannon jousts beneath beating rotors; but it was not always that way. Alonso Quixano lived almost 50 years--reading chivalric romances and dreaming of that idealized world--before he dubbed himself Don Quixote and took up his battered armor. For the yearning Santagrines, the nuclear war was a horror of horrors; but, as the modern world died around them, they felt free to finally live out their fantasies; and in the process forged a society spiritually agreeable to them.
What of those, then, who witnessed this? Those pockets of Santagria (generally, its southerly holdings in the Overseas) that were not washed by nuclear flame did not envy their mainland brethren. They remembered what it was like to live a peaceful and sane life, and bitterly held on to the memory of the Commonwealth they could no longer pay fealty to.
Mechanically, Commonwealth Rifles are the central "missing link" in the Santagrine roster: a solid 10 point line squad, remarkable only in their sobriety and reliability. That is what makes them a scenario unit: Santagria is a faction of specialists that mainly suffers for its lack of the bread-and-butter options other factions enjoy. They would be insufferably strong with such bedrocks routinely available.
As an opposite spin on a unit in a similar place: the Razorback, or "Javelina" in Santagrine service. The Razorback is a staple unit of the Federal roster: a highly cost-effective MBT with passable anti-tank and excellent anti-infantry firepower. The Javelina is included mainly for thematic reasons: the Federals are the great exporters of Firelock, akin to the US & USSR in real life, and their weapons crop up everywhere. Naturally, Santagria operates a good many Federal tanks: typically, older models exported without the States-Army's own upgrade packages.
In light of this, the Javelina is comparable to the Whirlwind as performance goes: it's a T12 tank with the same 90mm gun, lacking the substantial upgrades of its States-Army counterpart. Its mechanical interest value lies in its two rifle-caliber machine guns and a lower price, at the cost of the Whirlwind's excellent speed and smoke rounds. This is not really enough to meaningfully differentiate it in the main roster (which I'd rather avoid bloating), but it's appropriate to have it as a scenario unit to reflect the use of the vehicle in Santagria.
The paint job on the standee is a shout-out to Oshlet's excellent Santagrine Razorback illustration. This needn't strictly be instructive: the Javelina could just as easily sport a drab olive scheme if you were to field it alongside Commonwealth Rifles in an "Overseas" army.
Comments
Tom Currie
I am absolutely fascinated by 1) contemporary Santagrine society is the product of one weird guy and 2) the overseas Santagrine possessions have been watching all this bizarre shit as it happens
SDries
I love seeing about the old Santegria, I do hope the missing unit is some normal artillery system, given Santi afaik lacks (and has lacked) heavy indirect since the mortar carrier was cut
Dapper Platypus
It’s fantastic to see a couple snippets about the commonwealth.
