Platoons and Vehicles

[ post #1 ]

I was hoping to create a platoon-sized infantry unit to assist the PCs in an upcoming NJO campaign.

I've done a little bit a research about squad deployment, etc and am wondering what Infantry Fighting Vehicles the New Republic would have in this era, and what they would use for a Mobile Gun System Platoon?

For the IFV, I've found the KAAC Armoured Freerunner, which is in the Arms and Equipment Guide and the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook. However, since these were developed in the Rise of the Empire Era and with limited numbers, I don't see that they would be in common use.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

[ post #2 ]

Well for one the NJO arc starts around 25ABY so it's only about 21 years after RotJ. In real life good military hardware often sees several decades of use, the M2 Bradley IFV has been in use since 1981 and is likely to remain in use for a while yet. In the GFFA I don't see two decades making military hardware of the Rise of the Empire era or even Clone Wars obsolete. In RPG terms two vehicles of similar capabilities aren't going to be all that different in their stats no matter what the fluff text says. The stats are just an abstract representation of the vehicles anyways. Grab whatever hardware you want from whatever era if it fits in with what you need.

Also with the New Republic military I would give it access to pretty much any non-iconic Imperial hardware you want. While the Rebel Alliance had to make due with cast off hardware and civilian refits the New Republic is going to be buying equipment from the companies that a few years before were supplying the Empire. For an IFV I would go with something like the Imperial Hoverscout which can carry a half a squad of soldiers and has a decent armament. There's also the Arrow-23 which carries a similar number of passengers but has a lighter armament. Both of these would make for good IFVs for your platoon.

As for an MGS I don't really think the GFFA has a meaningful equivalent. The M1128 is a tank gun on a relatively light vehicle. It has the mobility and relative ease of deployment of the light vehicle but packs a big enough gun to threaten a main battle tank. Having repulsorcraft and spaceships and such kind of obviates this sort of vehicle in the GFFA. The T-47 Snowspeeder has enough armaments to threaten an AT-AT and anything smaller. On the other hand even a heavy repulsor tank can move quite a bit faster than an M1A1 and over even more inhospitable terrain. Because repulsorlift technology blurs the line between aircraft and ground vehicle mechanized infantry, armored cavalry, and airborne cavalry kind of blend together. I wouldn't worry too much about trying to port the NATO order of battle to the New Republic army.