Tell me about....Jump Infantry

[Welshman]

Look at the lady from the 292nd League Regulars-

One of my favorite art. I thought long and hard on this one before approving the design of the infantry (AlexanderKnight did all our infantry design for 3085) and create art notes. It really is a bit of a cross between a motorized trooper and a jump trooper whose mother was a Kanga.

[Alan Grant]

I love the Royal Gurkhas from TRO: 3085. That art made me want to play around with jump infantry.

Though...I imagine in combat the bush hat gets replaced with a helmet.

Also the Starfire is an surprising choice of weapon for jump infantry. Single fire weapon that can only be fired every few seconds, but powerful and with a long range, really a sharpshooter's weapon. But the beam is nearly invisible so that's good. I just imagine auto or at least burst fire weapons would be preferred for a lot of jump infantry units, or at least laser rifles without the cool-down time.

I think that speaks to the Gurkhas only firing their weapons while on the ground.

[Arkansas Warrior]

I love the Royal Gurkhas from TRO: 3085. That art made me want to play around with jump infantry.

Though...I imagine in combat the bush hat gets replaced with a helmet.

Also the Starfire is an surprising choice of weapon for jump infantry. Single fire weapon that can only be fired every few seconds, but powerful and with a long range, really a sharpshooter's weapon. But the beam is nearly invisible so that's good. I just imagine auto or at least burst fire weapons would be preferred for a lot of jump infantry units, or at least laser rifles without the cool-down time.

I think that speaks to the Gurkhas only firing their weapons while on the ground.

Nah, it's a fancy lostech bush hat.  Proof against all sorts of weaponry.   :D

[Welshman]

I think that speaks to the Gurkhas only firing their weapons while on the ground.

The Gurkha are an exception to the rule. Their jump packs are to get them into position, not to attack.

And no, no helmet. These were a specific design I called for based on my own research and fascination with the Gurkhas. The irony is my fascination came from the Sten science fiction series of the 1980's. The Nepalese tribes that Gurkha soldiers are recruited from are perhaps the closest thing to Dwarves we have in the real world. There is an account of a Gurkha soldier being kicked by the regimental mule. The soldier complained of a headache, the mule went lame.

I specifically made them jump infantry from the inspiration of a Gurkha assault on Burma in WW II. During the briefing the senior enlisted Gurkha (they weren't allowed to be officers until after WW II) protested that jumping from the airplane at 500 feet was too high and asked that the planes fly at 200 feet. The general in the room said "Good god man, your chutes won't have time to open!" To which the Gurkha responded, completely straight faced, "Oh we get parachutes, then 500 feet will be fine."

He was ready to have all his men jump out of a moving airplane at 200 feet and then attack a Japanese airfield.

If I had known the Mariks had Gurkhas when I first got into BT, I would never have gone Davion in the first place. :)

[Nav_Alpha]

TRO 3085 shows some Jump Troopers with rather heavy waponry, the support weapons just part of the Jump Module/Jump pack.

Look at the lady from the 292nd League Regulars- you can see sophisticated targetting gear, ammo and the missle launcher. OTOH you have the Gurkha- who carries a rifle and normal backpack like jump pack.

So there is a lot of variety.

I've always wondered what was going on in this pic - is that contraption strapped to her a giant Jump pack with a built in AA launcher?
Does she jump around with that thing strapped to her? Or is a collapsible unit they assemble once in position.
Because it looks huge and incapable of carrying around

[Welshman]

I've always wondered what was going on in this pic - is that contraption strapped to her a giant Jump pack with a built in AA launcher?
Does she jump around with that thing strapped to her? Or is a collapsible unit they assemble once in position.
Because it looks huge and incapable of carrying around

That is a jump "platform". It's what a jump pack dreams of becoming when it grows up. Essentially it's an exoskeleton combined with a jump pack to allow the carrying of heavy weaponry like the infantry fired AA Missile.

[Scotty]

I've always wondered what was going on in this pic - is that contraption strapped to her a giant Jump pack with a built in AA launcher?
Does she jump around with that thing strapped to her? Or is a collapsible unit they assemble once in position.
Because it looks huge and incapable of carrying around

The Blood Kite can jump 90 meters (the length of a football field) and land at a run.

There are much more egregious offenses to the sensibilities than a bulky jump pack. ;)

[Nav_Alpha]

That is a jump "platform". It's what a jump pack dreams of becoming when it grows up. Essentially it's an exoskeleton combined with a jump pack to allow the carrying of heavy weaponry like the infantry fired AA Missile.

Cool. Although I can't imagine it being capable of landing on rough terrain, etc?

Also - wanted to say I love the Gurkha units! Bush hat, ER laser and jump pack is a winning combo for me any day!

[Alexander Knight]

I prefer the dragon riders.  Elephant guns and pith helmets ho!  :D

[DoctorMonkey]

Cool. Although I can't imagine it being capable of landing on rough terrain, etc?

Also - wanted to say I love the Gurkha units! Bush hat, ER laser and jump pack is a winning combo for me any day!

The Gurkhas prefer to close and use anti-Mech kukris though


Watching a platoon cut trophy 'Mech heads off their fallen enemies is only a rumour but 'Mech jocks in the Lyran and Capellan militarises still whisper such stories...

[Nav_Alpha]

The Gurkhas prefer to close and use anti-Mech kukris though


Watching a platoon cut trophy 'Mech heads off their fallen enemies is only a rumour but 'Mech jocks in the Lyran and Capellan militarises still whisper such stories...

I could imagine entire Cappie units deserting courtesy of mere rumours the Gurkhas were in the area....

[Alan Grant]

I prefer the dragon riders.  Elephant guns and pith helmets ho!  :D

I would love to see art of a jump infantry unit with some variation of the pith helmet. That would be awesome.

Now I'm just playing trooper dress up I guess.   

[Welshman]

I could imagine entire Cappie units deserting courtesy of mere rumours the Gurkhas were in the area....

I can't validate the story directly. However when I was doing my Gurkha research I had a friend who was on first name basis with the head of the Royal Rifles Corps, so the story isn't a random internet rumor.

The story goes that during the Falklands war an Argentine regiment found itself caught between a full regiment (of high skill and repute) and a Gurkha battalion which it outnumbered significantly. The Argentine regiment surrendered to the full regiment of British troops so they wouldn't have to face the Gurkhas.

[solmanian]

I would love to see art of a jump infantry unit with some variation of the pith helmet. That would be awesome.

Now I'm just playing trooper dress up I guess.

Completely understandable, BTech is filled with fashion victims.

[Alan Grant]

Do we know if infantry thruster jet packs work in a no-oxygen environment?

[Arkansas Warrior]

The fiction I referenced earlier mentions fuel and oxygen storage, so I would guess yes.

[Alan Grant]

Thanks!

And another question....

Do we have any vehicle transports with 4 ton infantry bays? I see a lot of vehicles with 3 or 6 ton bays (probably designed with 3 ton foot infantry in mind). I'm looking for something with either 4 or 8, meaning it can carry 1-2 platoons of jump infantry without leaving any empty capacity.

I mean both air and ground transport btw, so VTOLs and and ground vehicles. I'm basically trying to figure out options for mechanizing jump infantry.

[Arkansas Warrior]

IS BA squads weigh 4 tons, look for anything designed as an APC/IFV in an era where BA are common.  The Maxim-Infantry comes immediately to mind, it has 12 tons of infantry bay space.

[Alan Grant]

Good point thanks.

I found the movie Minority Report on youtube. Found the scenes with the jet pack cops.     :)

[Hellraiser]

Do we have any vehicle transports with 4 ton infantry bays? I see a lot of vehicles with 3 or 6 ton bays (probably designed with 3 ton foot infantry in mind). I'm looking for something with either 4 or 8, meaning it can carry 1-2 platoons of jump infantry without leaving any empty capacity.

I mean both air and ground transport btw, so VTOLs and and ground vehicles. I'm basically trying to figure out options for mechanizing jump infantry.

Karnov-BA, 8 tons for 2 BAS or 2 JIP.
Bandit & Badger both come with 4T bays on them fixed IIRC with some versions that pack in a 2nd bay.

[Welshman]

Well my preferred aerial delivery unit for BA or Jump Infantry actually has to be the Maxim Hover Tank.....

Air dropped from a Zugovel Omni Support Craft.


Then again, I could be biased.

[Col.Hengist]

Maxim from a zugovel would be a hard landing...

[Welshman]

Maxim from a zugovel would be a hard landing...

Read the intro to FM:3085.

[Alan Grant]

Do you think jump infantry in the periphery are a lot rarer than they are in the inner Sphere?

[Col.Hengist]

Current timeline? No idea. Before the time jump? They're everywhere.

[solmanian]

The Periphery nations aren't that backward in the infantry field, quite the oppossite since they rely more on conventional forces instead of mechs.

Jumpers are simply rare in general. It's simply so much easier to raise a grunt or motorized infantry. Each faction has usually a single cannon jump school, maybe a few more; but almost every planet has the means to train regular infantry, and most do. No point for a planet to send thousands of recruit across the empire, just to fill up its own planetary militia.

[Hellraiser]

Do you think jump infantry in the periphery are a lot rarer than they are in the inner Sphere?

Current timeline? No idea. Before the time jump? They're everywhere.

The Periphery nations aren't that backward in the infantry field, quite the oppossite since they rely more on conventional forces instead of mechs.

Jumpers are simply rare in general. It's simply so much easier to raise a grunt or motorized infantry. Each faction has usually a single cannon jump school, maybe a few more; but almost every planet has the means to train regular infantry, and most do. No point for a planet to send thousands of recruit across the empire, just to fill up its own planetary militia.

I would say they are more rare in the Periphery because everything "advanced" is more rare in the Periphery, but as Sol says they are NOT common in the IS either.

The FC-RCT's have them as 1/5 Regiments but that is only in the RCTs.  They are the least common type of infantry & are rarely found outside of RCT deployments.

The question then is what is "Rare" outside of RCT deployments?  Would you say Rare would be 4 RCT Jump regiments for every 1 Non-RCT Jump regiment?  I'm honestly not sure but that sounds like a good figure.

Some quick stats.
There are 14-ish Infantry Regiments for every Mech Regiment in the AFFS Line Forces.
Half are assigned as individual regiments, the other half are assigned to RCTs & Full Infantry Brigades.
So if we multiply that by 4 RCTs we have a total of 56 Infantry Regiments. 
Based on our 4/1 Jump ratio question this means 5 of which would be Jump Regiments.  So less than 10% of all Infantry.
Half of the infantry regiments (28) are assigned as Single Regiments typically to garrison worlds, probably as a "liason" type position to coordinate with the planetary militia or as a core unit for the PM to form around & take direction from.
20 Regiments are assigned to the 4 RCTs.
This leaves us with 8 Regiments assigned as part of Infantry Brigades.  So probably 2 Brigades of 4 Regiments each with an attached tank regiment taking it to 5 total regiments.  I would guess that 1 extra Jump Regiment is part of one of the Brigades v/s being independently assigned as garrison.

[Col.Hengist]

Still doesn't  mean they're not everywhere. Deep periphery, maybe not so common but the close periphery nations would have them.

[Hellraiser]

Agreed, I don't think anyone is restricted from having them.  Simply that they might be even more rare in the Periphery.
Say 5% v/s 9% or whatever.  But still part of the military for sure.

[solmanian]

I'd be very interested to know where those stats are from (and what era). Always on the lookout for such "hard" data (even if it only accounts for "line" units, while the militia infantry would definitely outnumber them by a huge margin).