cool

Actually, I should have read the full text of the relevant part of the Geneva Conventions before replying, not just the bullet points

https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/appli...2563cd00434156

So all six conditions need to be met. So the original author's assertion that Gurkhas meet 'many' of the criteria is pointless. They need to meet them all. Which they don't (a, c, e, and f don't apply)

Some formations, most of which have been mentioned here, also get a specific namecheck as NOT being mercenaries

I agree with what many wrote.
Mercenaries in T2k are paid in food, room, ammo, replacement parts, access to doctors and Gold (if I remember correctly this austrian Major of this polish Margrave demanded to be paid in Gold and the Margrave- who was described as paranoid or megalomaniac-distrusted him)

And to switch back and forth between Merc and Marauder: I disagree.
Once you crossed to border to lawlessness (beating people up, raping, shooting in cold blood) it will be very difficult to rein yourself in and behave like nice guys again.

For as long as there have been soldiers there have been men and women who have done terrible, abhorrent things in war and have gone on to live quiet, peaceful lives. No doubt in many cases with the difficulties brought up by PTSD in the years and decades afterwards, but it happens. Post WWII Soviet Union had literally millions of ex-soldiers who had raped and murdered civilians in abundance during the march across Germany to Berlin, and most of them probably never raised a hand in anger again.

My father lived and worked in Uganda around the late 80's (iirc). Their was lots of violence around the country at the time. He said that if a military unit was in the area, then the peop!e who had the money would hire a group of the soldiers from the unit to protect themselves and their property from the rest of the soldiers who didn't get hired as protection. The others would go shooting the place up, stealing, burning and raping. And these were the government soldiers brought in to fight the rebels.

I disagree - I think that there will be a lot of switching back and forth.

I think that in T2k the distinction between mercenary and marauder will be dictated by when the person last ate. Some mercenaries may maintain discipline but when people are hungry and armed then anyone, either mercenary or a still serving soldier in an organised army, may resort to "marauder" tactics to get food, robbing and killing people as necessary.

I think a lot of Vietnam vets might disagree.

Difficult to know precise figures; corporal punishment was far more common back then and domestic violence was commonly ignored.

I don't think it would be wise to call a Gurkha a mercenary in his presence. It is a priviledged position and in some cases generational service to the Crown.
As the war progresses, there will be less and less manpower for the governments to call on, and what is available will be the real bottom of the barrel stuff with little or no military experience. This means the foundation of any mercenary unit (experienced ex-soldiers) will be in very short supply, if at all. Then there is the small matter of armament, supply, and transport to the "work site". Most ex-soldiers will have already been recalled to arms, or out of patriotic duty, re-enlisted.
I believe you will see some "rogue" units offering themselves as mercenaries, however, they will be more "marauder" in composition and compensation.
Some soldiers will be situational mercenaries, to obtain food, shelter and supply...of course, this describes just about character in the game.

There are mercs in the East Africa Kenya Sourcebook - I added them there (including a character description of one who heads up a merc group) specifically because Africa has always been a "Merc rich" environment - meaning there would be existing groups there that would try to take advantage of the chaos - and because the MERC 2000 game would work well with the current T2K V2.2 East Africa situation

From the Sourcebook - page 65

Mercenary Groups

Eastern Africa offers multiple opportunities for player characters to play the part of a mercenary. Kenya and Rwanda have multiple active mercenary groups that are regulated by the local governments as long as they don’t break the local laws. They vary in size, from large groups with more than 100 members to small ones with five or less men. The mercenaries include men from all over Africa as well as ex-American, British and French Special Forces who, even with the onset of WWIII, have found being a mercenary their higher calling instead of reporting back for duty or who have been drummed out of the service for various reasons.

Mercenaries have been hired out for security work, convoy escorts, ship’s Marines, to find lost loved ones and property and a host of other missions. Rick Blaine has made use of Pieter Hendrik’s services on multiple occasions to gather much of his stock of hard to get items. The PARA, the LRA and the Somali Islamists have also used mercenary groups to be able to further their aims without coming into conflict with those of Kenya or the Americans.

Other mercenary groups are working to carve out kingdoms for themselves, building a power base in places like the Congo where the country has literally fallen apart. With multiple factions fighting over what remains a small well-armed and led mercenary group can literally carve out their own fiefdom to rule as they wish.

These groups offer an opportunity for those who wish to use the Merc 2000 rules within the confines of East Africa in the Twilight 2000 world. With the fluid situation in Eastern and Central Africa there are weapons and military vehicles aplenty for arming such mercenary groups, limited only by how much cash and trade goods they may have to obtain them.

Mercenary Group Leader in East Africa Sourcebook as example

Pieter Hendrik

Pieter Hendrik is the leader of a mercenary group in Nairobi, Total Security, Inc. Pieter passes himself off as an honorably retired ex- South African Army major with over twenty years as a soldier. In reality, he only served six years, reaching the rank of staff sergeant before being drummed out of the service for insubordination for disobeying a direct order from a superior.


Arriving in Kenya in 1992 he hired on with a security group that provided armed guards for tourists and visiting businessmen, working his way up thru the group until again he was let go for not respecting higher authority. Resolving that the way to success for him was to be the boss he brought together a small group of rebels and malcontents like him and formed his own security group that eventually took on assignments that went far beyond just protection.

By early 2001 he commands nearly forty men, all either ex-military or ex-police, well trained with small arms and light weapons, offering protective services (officially) and any manner of services (unofficially). His resources include a Saracen armored car along with several Land Rovers and Jeeps, armed with light machine guns and other assorted weapons, including a TOW launcher and three TOW missiles that he “obtained” during one of their missions.

He is always looking for new men interested in joining his group, especially those who can bring new skills to his organization, as long as they realize that his authority is not one to be challenged.

Resurrection Prompted by Discussion in Another Thread
 

https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread....3265#post93265

That's one definition. Historically, there have been large groups of one particular nationality who have contracted to fight for another nation, or pay. A few notable examples are the Varangian Guard (Norseman/Normans and Anglo-Saxons) who fought for the Byzantine Empire), the Landsknechts (Germans who fought for various polities in the 16th century), and the Swiss Pikemen who fought for France and other kingdoms/principalities/city states during the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance.

-

I would argue that the Landsknechts were mercenaries but the Varangian Guard were not. The difference is in how broad their customer base was. Landsknechts could take any contract that did not put them in opposition against the Holy Roman Emperor. The Varangian Guard worked only for the Byzantine Emperor. Thus, while Varangians were foreigners fighting for a king not their own, it was one specific employer, not a case where they would hire on to any army. (This is also why I would not consider the French Foreign Legion or Gurkhas to be mercenaries, because they hire on with a specific employer and aren't for hire to other nations).