K'Kree Heavy Infantry

[Blue Ghost]

K'Kree Heavy Infantry;

A centaur sporting a .50 Cal HMG, with a double layer of armor(2xCA or BD). Whaddaya think?

p.s. the idea came to me when thinking about the K'Kree thread in the Lone Star topic.

 

[The Oz]

If I were running a game with K'Kree I would let them use most of the "high-recoil" weapons in the game without requiring battledress. So unarmored K'Kree could use PGMP-13s, LAGs, etc.

Imagine what kind of weapons K'Kree in battledress might carry.... Infantry portable Plasma-A guns, anyone?

 

[clementk]

GT Alien Races 2 has some nice examples* of armored K'Kree including higher tech weapons than .50 cals. The !!ring'k (two handed lance) is nasty in certain conditions. To get over wearing an enclosed helmet they either have very wide visors/open helmets to keep periphal vision, use various drugs, and/or vr fields in the helmet. The latter for BD IIRC.

As for weapons there's a note on a "platoon" of 50 having a strong K'Kree bearing a HMG, PGKP, OR VRFGG. Yep, Plasma Gun, K'Kree Portable. ^_^

Problem is it's basically a herd of heavy cavalry. Now if they get suprise or get one heck of a gallop going nasty against unsupported infantry. I'm thinking along the lines of the alien "horse" cavalry in the fourth book of the Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolf.

* including some very helpful drawings; they really helped me grasp some concepts

 

[Blue Ghost]

Yeah, I'd think an LAG would be like a Daisy .22 equivalent to them. When you're six feet tall at the shoulder, and ten to twelve feet long with proportional arms to match, I'd think there wouldn't be a whole lot of equipment you couldn't carry (within reason).

Imagine a K'Kree trooper packing a mini-gun. Ouch!

I can almost imagine a K'Kree support gunner carrying a "light" version of a VRFGG, with a drum of ammo on his back next to a coolant tank. Egads!

Suddenly I want a war game describing ground combat between K'Kree and anybody else

Seriously I'm not a huge K'Kree fan (especially now that I know more about them), but there seem to be some real possibilities for creating some real nasty alien grunts. Of course it would depend on how willing they were to engage in regular battlefield tactics. I guess it depends on how they would use their size and speed, and that would depend on the player controlling them.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Originally posted by Casey:
<snip>...

* including some very helpful drawings; they really helped me grasp some concepts

My favorites are acrutally the two silouettes on pages 64 and 73, on the side bars. I also like Dietrick's rendition on the K'Kree alien modual (which I finally have thanks to the reprints

). To myself those images better define the K'Kree visually than any other renderings.

It's too bad they are the way they are, because a troop of them would make one hell of a mercenary force.

 

[womble]

"...war game describing ground combat between K'Kree and anybody else..."

Sadly for the noble K'Kree Knights, they're not very good at hiding, nor as fast or well-protected as mechanised assets of a similar TL.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

My only gripe with the GT K'Kree book is that the Tank that is represented looks a bit TOO human for my like. It also makes a rediculous target on the battlefield. I know that you got the claustrophobia to deal with, but why not vast Grav Fortresses as opposed to big goofy tanks?

 

[Blue Ghost]

womble; yeah, I think the text said something abot them being sniper friendly. But then again you'd need one hell of an elephant gun to bring one down.

Lord Baron; write it up

You could probably bring an answer to womble's mobility observation. Off the cuff here, how about an armored platforms sporting support weapons as per your allusion to a different type of K'Kree APC?

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I would consider that given the nautre of K'Kree, they would fight as best serves them. To that end, why not one of their big Starships is modified as a carrier/tender that deposits an enormous Fortified Grav Citadel on the unfortunate target world. This would take the brunt of the Enemy's military resuorces (while destroying them) to fend it off or try to breach it. When the big guns are quiet, then the K'Kree can assault the rest of the population at relative leisure.

This thing should be basically an armored, nasty Grav City, meant to eat other Grav Cities, so they wouldn't be used for little stuff, but for all out warfare.

(Stats to Follow)

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
I would consider that given the nautre of K'Kree, they would fight as best serves them. To that end, why not one of their big Starships is modified as a carrier/tender that deposits an enormous Fortified Grav Citadel on the unfortunate target world.

Offhand if it's that big (and IMO it'd have to be BIG; to maintain an illusion of being on open ground if nothing else) it's a starship-sized target and would be destroyed as easily (or not) as any K'Kree starship. Knock enough anti-grav generators out* and you have one big BBQ falling from the sky. Complete with grill.

Still, it should be interesting to see what you can come up with design-wise. I'm getting images of grav cities fighting each other, dodging falling rocks, etc. (Buck Rogers the movie comes to mind).

* even just dropping rocks from orbit could work against something the size of a small city

 

[womble]

Hi Ghost

The most potent weapon at the disposal of a sniper is Ortillery assets, followed by aerospace then other artillery assets... Piss-ant sniper rifles as you say would be ineffective against PA-equipped centaurs, but those same units will be more vulnerable to heavy weapons than your standard TL13-15 Marine in battledress or a Grav-tank.

Greetings, Baron

That Grav City is a very large and vulnerable asset which will draw fire and deter direct assault. Unless they just want to sterilise the planet it's not going to bring the enemy to battle unless they have enough forces to destroy it. Splendid, grandiose concept, though for a race convinced of its own inherent superiority (or hamstrung by its sense of inferiority

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

The Grav Fortress would be deployed long after the danger of some exterior threat of large magnitude was past. IE, the "rock droppers" would already be burning in space.

The idea of drawing fire is exactly the idea. to get a planet to expend vast resources in fighting it off. These Fortresses would by no means be invulnerable, but it should definitely be able to take a substantial pounding. Sure, it would be a fortress comfortable to K'Kree, but that doesnt mean that it would be without armored grav generators and other features to make it effective. A good tactic would be to land it ASAP and then grav it around when it needs to.

Basically, the Fortresses arrival would be the beginning stage of the planet being conquered. Even if it may or may not bring the enemy to battle, the K'Kree could launch assaults at relative leisure on the remaining resistance, while at the same time having a strong powerbase to disrupt the enemy's support infrastructure.

 

[Blue Ghost]

I imagine they would come in different sizes, and might not always be called fortresses. I can invisage a heavily armored version of one of their grav platforms, complete with high density alloyed ramparts and support weapons (or pintel mounts for whatever weapon). It might or might not be enclosed, depending on the world that's being assaulted, but any enclosure would probably be transparent (ballistic plexiglass or something) to accomodate their psychology.

Just some more random thoughts. Nothing's etched in concrete here; just some brainstorming

womble; yeah, I'd hate to be the guy with the anti-material rifle in the company that got charged by K'Kree. Eeek

Now, on the other hand, if I had a mercenary company of these critters under my command...

 

[womble]

Anyone have a handle on the K'Kree leadership psychology? As herd animals, they might be very heirarchical, and decapitation strikes at the TO could be dramatically effective. Any indication either way?

 

[Blue Ghost]

I don't recall there beingt any direct reference to any uniqueness in theie leadership structure. I read the GT/AR2 K'Kree section a few weeks back, and I think their general thinking is that as long as they're with their own kind, then they're okay. My thought is that if a K'Kree sergeant leading a platoon goes down I don't think the platoon suffers any higher impact on their moral than their "alien" counterparts. Or so I was under the impression.

If I recall correctly K'Kree challange one another to become leaders of the herd when they believe they can do a better job for the betterment of the collective. This might lead to squabbling during a battle, but that might be up to the Referee's descretion.

The short answer is I don't think so, but I'm not 100% certain

Edit; still, it might make an interesting situation if they did scatter or panic if their leader went down in a fight.

 

[veltyen]

still, it might make an interesting situation if they did scatter or panic if their leader went down in a fight.

On the other hand, with a sudden leadership vacuum they may try to outdo each other to become the new squad leader.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

It would be an unlikely occurance in my view. The Herd instinct is strange, and acts quickly. Plus, one must take into account that the K'Kree soldiers are not exactly sane in the strictest K'Kree terms.

I'd wager they'd be jammed up on combat drugs to do much of anything besides slay all G'naak in the path. This would require pre-planning of a battle to be effective. Perhaps inflexibility of tactics would be a more likely weakness than Leadership Vacuums. RL herd animals always know who's boss, even when it comes to a new boss.

 

[jatay3]

If the leader was a popular one it might be as likly to encourage as discourage, "fallen captain to avenge".
Also though the K'kree think more collectively than humans, that doesn't make them a mob. They are trained soldiers and if they are hindered by racial instincts it is unlikly to hinder them so much as to make them lose all discipline the first time something goes wrong. You can't assume they will act like "peasants with pitchforks".
Actually what they probably do his have a series of stereotyped manuvers that they learn by rote. Of course all armies would have that to some degree, but the K'kree would do this more.
K'kree are actually hard to calculate because they are far more different from humans than are Aslan, or Vargr. For one thing sense they are not carniverous they don't as firmly based of an instinctive talent for tactics, everything had to be artificially developed. This is somewhat true of humans too but hunter/warrior instinct goes back farther. As for Aslan or Vargr...
K'kree are not natural warriors the way humans, or Aslan or Vargr are. Of course that begs the question of what we mean by "natural" but as far as the subject at hand you see the point.
K'kree can be counted on to be brave and disciplined. They probably have a high degree of cohesion though that is weakened when the "anti-grief" drug starts to wear off-K'kree can't put their emotion on hold as easy because of the Herd mentality. Also an individual K'kree can carry a considerable ammount more firepower and armor.
However K'kree would have a low degree of initiative. Despite their "horsy" appearance, they are really more like infantry than cavalry.
What they might do is use specialists from vassal states to herd(no pun intended) enemies into a killing zone where the K'kree would grind them down. K'kree would also use a lot of artillery. When the final rush comes they would have a considerable ammount of elan that would carry them on. When that comes it would be VERY hard to stop.
Their chief disadvantage woul be in space where everything depends on manuver and stealth rather than shock. But perhaps not. They can use something simmilar to the ground tactics-have specialists, likly aliens find the enemy fleet, than rush down upon it and force a slugging match("no K'kree can do very wrong if he puts his ship alongside that of an enemy). Of course K'kree ships can't carry as much firepower to the dton, as others can, but they definitely can't play hide and seek.
Perhaps the K'kree's biggest advantage is their unity. Human,Aslan, and Vargr are always disunited. So the K'kree can always choose a war where they will have overwhelming advantage. If they ever meet the Imperium they will be in trouble. But that hasn't happened yet.

 

[Jamus]

I am pretty sure in a full blown war the 3I would defeat the 2000 worlds with little problem.

I would even go far enough to say that I think the Solomani would beat the 2000 worlds.

the strength of the cents is also the biggest weakness. herd mentality and inability to adapt to fast changing battle field conditions.

 

[BetterThanLife]

Massed Infantry Charges by lightly armored troops, regardless of size, in the face of modern weapons, regardless of numbers is a quick method of suicide.

K'kree would have problems with things like Foxholes. Grav vehicles would be things like the open platform described in DGP's 101 vehicles.

So what if they can walk around with miniguns and 50s. Until you get to T20 Battledress, and K'kree are unlikely to use personal enclosed vehicles, K'kree infantry units of any size go down quickly to a handfull of emplaced VFR Gauss Guns. They don't even do well against a handfull of Mk-19s or M2HBs.