The (Third) SLDF Regular Army

[Geg]

Right now the CC is hostile to every state on their border except for Canopus, because militarily they can be. A new leader taking over might not mean the bureacracies and space-strategy of the state will change.

The Ending of Empire Alone might toss out that assumption.

But to your point.  The Germans and Russians were almost immediate family and their states when to war at the start of WW1.  Person relationships are going to get swamped by state interest.

[Cannonshop]

The Ending of Empire Alone might toss out that assumption.

But to your point.  The Germans and Russians were almost immediate family and their states when to war at the start of WW1.  Person relationships are going to get swamped by state interest.

In a realistic world, the next stop would be to ask the question "What is in their national interest?"  Followed by questioning what methods to pursue it are, in fact, viable.

What spoils that method of analysis, is that this is a setting for a game, which means externalities like game balance and selling future products and storylines trump what would be the rational course of action, or alter it significantly, sometimes to the point of having factions commit to courses of action directly opposed to what would actually serve their rational interest, past history, or stated culture. (Though all those factors are, at least on a surface level, at least partially acknowledged in justifying whatever action a given faction takes to meet the driving need for game balance and product sales in the real world).

if Wolf gets too successful or the current ilClan stack gets too overbearing, I'd expect to see 'alliances of enemies' formed to reset things to a medium where the conflicts can continue and propogate, much as we saw with the late Clan Invasion era and FedCom Civil war, and again with the Jihad as a reset button and means to wrap up 'dangling threads' like the fate of Clan Wolverine (*which was 'resolved' by the Jihad in order to remove that plot thread since they couldn't really do anything with it) or to change the board by removing less prominent/important or beloved factions to make room for others (See: Wars of Reaving).

[Nerroth]

One reason why I used spoiler tags in my last post was because the recently-uploaded Shrapnel #15 iincludes two additional stories of ex-RAF escapees from Terra: one of which, set on Galatea, corroborates several of the data points from earlier issues of Shrapnel referred to above.

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While looking over the IlClan sourcebook once again, I'm minded of the various named militia regiments which reflect different regions of Terra: Mongolia, Nepal, etc. While some of these were disbanded by V-T Day, others were still in some sort of existence - either at large (in Japan or elsewhere) or as POWs (for those who surrendered to the Wolves, at least).

It would be curios to see if any of these forces end up as sources of recruits for the new Regular Army - and, in so doing, bring some of Terra's ethnic and cultural diversity to its ranks.

Although, given that the JSDFmilitia forces in Japan are still barred from deploying outside of Japanese home territory - over 1200 years after the end of the Pacific War - then perhaps their participation would require each individual formally resigning their commissions first, before they can be recruited into regiments intended to be sent off-world.

[Geg]

if Wolf gets too successful or the current ilClan stack gets too overbearing

I really don't feel like this should be a top concern anymore.  Of the six IS Clans, two are out, two are decimated, one is going to be ComStar, and who knows what the Ravens are going to get up too.   The fact that we are seeing IS Lance style 3rd League SLDF lance packs to me doesn't signal a new era of Clan strength.  I know where this idea came from, but things have been telegraphed hard since Shattered Fortress that the winner was going to struggle hard.

One of TPTB (I think it was Ray) stated, that the people of Terra would be getting a say in this new ilClan thing.  My working speculation, is that the missing Jonah Levin, starts up an Insurgency and cuts a deal with (maybe) Alaric's replacement, in exchange for the Title of Exarch (as seen in 3250), and the government of Terra (maybe all of Prefecture X, the Republic?),  Levin would help remobilized the old RAF as the new SLDF, and help the ilClan hold Terra and retake as much of the Republic as they can.    The Wolves and the Falcons did abandon (and maybe completely lost in conquest) most of their lower castes.  Without the lower castes, they don't have any machinery of state to stand up a Clanner governed ilClan.  I can see a clever clanner cutting a deal with former Republicans in desperation.

[Aresneo]

The fact that we are seeing IS Lance style 3rd League SLDF lance packs to me doesn't signal a new era of Clan strength.

The two Third Star League force packs are both stars with 5 mechs, while they are mostly IS mechs all that means is they are indicative of the 3rd Star League using whatever republic stuff was salvageable.

[Wrangler]

The two Third Star League force packs are both stars with 5 mechs, while they are mostly IS mechs all that means is they are indicative of the 3rd Star League using whatever republic stuff was salvageable.

Also it makes sense as means to get more of minis out if some wants Republic miniatures, the buy can get the SLDF pack instead.

[Minemech]

 It appears that the argument is that the packs are largely catchall packages. That dampens the value of information from their sales but makes them naturally useful to the base.

[Geg]

The two Third Star League force packs are both stars with 5 mechs, while they are mostly IS mechs all that means is they are indicative of the 3rd Star League using whatever republic stuff was salvageable.

Huh?  I thought they were 4x mechs and a vee.

Edit:  It's 5 and a Vee!

-Third Star league Striker Forcepack: Lament, Jackalope, Kintaro, Hammerhead 2( or II), Havoc. J-27 Ammo Transport
-Third Star League Battle Star Forcepack: Savage Wolf Prime (Randall said basically Alaric's Mech so presumably this will be the pre-paint, which means a plastic Savage Wolf elsewhere as well?), Wendigo, Excalibur, Peacekeeper, Malice, Saviour Repair Vehicle

It appears that the argument is that the packs are largely catchall packages. That dampens the value of information from their sales but makes them naturally useful to the base.

It always was a weak argument, that the retail would tell us about the lore.  I could have just as easily pointed to the RAF designs.

[Church14]

It appears that the argument is that the packs are largely catchall packages. That dampens the value of information from their sales but makes them naturally useful to the base.

7/10 designs were made or used most by RAF. Then two sea fox designs. Then the wendigo, which is a nova cat design of all things.

Though kintaro and Excalibur are draws for people wanting ComStar or the actual SLDF models.

It’s not really a set of packs intended to have something for everyone. It’s very much a “third star league is fielding whatever they have, not what they want” set of packs. Which is a bit of a surprise to me. Foxes must have bent them over the barrel on salvage rights far worse than I thought. I expected Wolfes to mostly get to run whatever they wanted, just be low in numbers.

[Weirdo]

Lament

Hell Yes. Not yet sure what RAF or post-RAF unit I'll put this in, but more Laments always equals more fun

Jackalope, Kintaro

Not extremely enthused, but my SLDF collection is big enough, I might as well start a RWR opposition somewhere. :)

Hammerhead 2( or II)

...eh. I already have three Hammerheads(none of them the proper ASF :( ) and I'm still not sure what I'm doing with all three of them. This one will probably be trade fodder.

Havoc

Aw, yeah. More FWL goodness!

J-27 Ammo Transport

Already got four, but does anyone truly ever have enough transports for convoy games?

Savage Wolf Prime

Nice, I've been wanting one for my 2nd-line Falcon PGC.

Wendigo

More FWL goodness!

Excalibur

More RWR fodder, I guess?

Peacekeeper

Wherever the Lament goes, this goes as well.

Malice

Saviour Repair Vehicle

Already got one, but just like the J-27, bigger convoys!

[Aresneo]

Jackalope

Not extremely enthused, but my SLDF collection is big enough, I might as well start a RWR opposition somewhere.

The RWR mech is the Jackrabbit, the Jackalope is a Dark Age design.

[Weirdo]

My mistake. Another to go with the Lament and Peacekeeper, then!