Civilian Militias

[Rockwolf66]

Hey All,

I have a little scenario that I would love to pick the brains of here. While the origins of the scenario are not Twilight/Merc 2000 it does have some application to the game.

The premise is that the PCs are tasked with raising and equipping a civilian Militia for local defense.

A: How would one choose who is in the Militia? Personally while "everyone is in the Militia" is a nice sentiment. I know of far too many people who cannot be trusted with a dull flimsy plastic spoon.

B: How would one equip said Militia and with what? While Peru had the Ronda Campesina they armed them with shotguns. While this did work to a degree it was found that the Sendro Luminoso had better ranged weapons and could pin down local militias.

The first time I did something like this in TW2K I used suppressed Sten guns. Now days I would use MAC 10 clones as I didn't know how simple they were to make. These would then lead to most people using captured Soviet equipment.

In a MERC 2000 style game there are no Soviets to prey on so I would have to look at a motley assortment of firearms and untrained peasants. This would also mean some sort of proper rifle with at least a 300m range. Looking at all the EOtechs in Kenya optics are not out of the question.

[Pinhead Slim]

While I'm unfamiliar with Merc 2000 and have never read the lore for it I'll still give this a shot

A : This depends wildly on what basically boils down to how picky the militia can afford to be. Several factors can change this process. Building up a militia for a village in the backwoods of a European nation would be very different for recruiting a milita for a city of several thousand. More importantly is how dire the need for protection is. If a town is being subject to seemingly endless bandit raids and their are few travelers to hire, it's hard to say no to any man with a gun who seemingly really wants to help.

Of course there is the other end of the spectrum, where a city might be in a relative time of peace and there is an abundance of hungry people clamoring for the chance to join the ranks of the well-fed militia would cause the militia to be much more selective. Only people with demonstrable skill or able to pass certain tests/interviews or whatever, the process would be different for every militia.

B : This is answer varies just as wildly as the last, a ragtag group of 10-40 men who protect their local village will take what they can get. Those lucky enough to have military weapons likely don't have access to a lot of ammo for it so they use them very sparingly, and use cheaper weapons like pistols, hunting guns, and various small weapons like machetes.

If the militia is lucky enough to have the ability to produce not only ammunition, but new guns to fire it, they will typically be armed much like a conventional force. You're on the right track with easy to make stamped-receiver guns, another angle to consider is your militia might be armed by some sort of benefactor. A local politician, an intelligence service agent, or even local merchants/businessmen might arm the militia in agreement for protection or other, nastier motives. If this is the case you can give them almost whatever your heart desires, just consider what sources the benefactor would have access to. Consider what's common locally, and how much the milita/benefactor is willing to spend.

Don't forget mortars though, every militia that has access to even rudimentary manufacturing facilities can produce and maintain mortars, which are amazingly useful.

I sort of realized halfway through that your scenario likely isn't post-apocalyptic, so a lot of what I wrote won't help but I hope it wasn't a total waste lol.

[unkated]

A: How would one choose who is in the Militia? Personally while "everyone is in the Militia" is a nice sentiment. I know of far too many people who cannot be trusted with a dull flimsy plastic spoon.

How picky you can be depends on how many militia you need, what you need them to do, and how soon you need them to do it.

Also,how many things do you need them to do? You can include people in the militia and not have them in combat positions - communications, support supply, labor, etc.

B: How would one equip said Militia and with what? While Peru had the Ronda Campesina they armed them with shotguns. While this did work to a degree it was found that the Sendro Luminoso had better ranged weapons and could pin down local militias.

How much funding is available, and where in the world is this? AK-47s in some version are available in across most of the globe, as is its ammo. It has the advantage of accepting a lot of abuse and minimal care. And it fulfill your range requirement.

Uncle Ted

[rcaf_777]

Originally Posted by Rockwolf66

Hey All,

I have a little scenario that I would love to pick the brains of here. While the origins of the scenario are not Twilight/Merc 2000 it does have some application to the game.

The premise is that the PCs are tasked with raising and equipping a civilian Militia for local defense.

A: How would one choose who is in the Militia? Personally while "everyone is in the Militia" is a nice sentiment. I know of far too many people who cannot be trusted with a dull flimsy plastic spoon.

B: How would one equip said Militia and with what? While Peru had the Ronda Campesina they armed them with shotguns. While this did work to a degree it was found that the Sendro Luminoso had better ranged weapons and could pin down local militias.

The first time I did something like this in TW2K I used suppressed Sten guns. Now days I would use MAC 10 clones as I didn't know how simple they were to make. These would then lead to most people using captured Soviet equipment.

In a MERC 2000 style game there are no Soviets to prey on so I would have to look at a motley assortment of firearms and untrained peasants. This would also mean some sort of proper rifle with at least a 300m range. Looking at all the EOtechs in Kenya optics are not out of the question.

There is a nice little adventure and background in the Deluxe Revised RECON RPG by Palladium Books. It set in fictitious South American country. The PC's have to set a unit to combat the insurgency in the area.

It dose bring up a interesting though while I do agree that "Everyone is in the Militia" is a nice sentiment. A better questions is how do you make people to want to join?

In MERC 2000 style games, you might use money or security, nice shinny stuff. In the Twilight setting you might use food, security or something of value to the community the recruiting targets are in.

[kalos72]

I guess to me, it depends on what "level" the game is your playing.

If you just trying to organize the local farmers into a militia, well, everyone has to join and get trained. Gear is the obvious roadblock.

If you are looking at the county level, is there a strong local government? Then maybe all healthy 24-34 year olds have to join and get training and then go into a rotational system. Every 3 weeks they spend a week "on duty" to patrol and man roadblocks and the like. Gear is always the issue...

Anyone do any work on state militias by chance? OOB or anything?

[Matt W]

This is a good article on setting up an army. It may be a little "large scale" for your purposes, but there are some interesting ideas

http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/01/07/...frican-army-2/

[Apache6]

The first thing to do is to assess the situation. The mission, threat and the available resources are important.

The US military uses the mission variables of mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops and fire support available-time available (METT-T). Civil considerations must be considered.

In T2K civil considerations may be how many men and women can I take off the farming mission, and still be able to feed 'us' through the winter?

What is the militia required to defeat or deter? Can I fight that threat openly, or do I need a clandestine resistance effort? In T2K, a town's militia might fight a bandit group but operate as a resistance group when the Soviet 3d Shock Army starts to move in.

What leadership and training capabilities do you have?
How much time do you have?
What is the terrain, and how can it be exploited for defense?

Having everyone organized into multiple layers of defense makes sense. The best candidates may be organized into mobile elements that patrol and are responsible for local counterattacks. Less capable elements may only be able to man static defenses. Everyone may have a role in the militia, but they spend the majority of their time in the fields or factories and only muster when required (their should be an alert system, perhaps using bells and siren signals.

My quick example for a town with a population of 1000 adults (men and women) would be to organize a 'ranger company' with 90 personnel (Organized into 3 * 24 pax personnel platoons (3 * 7 men squad, Plt Cdr, Plt Sgt and Medic), a 11 pax weapons squad (armed with 2 MMG and 2 RPGs) and a 7 man HQ, including the cmdr, his XO, a 2 man scout-sniper team and 3 messengers (who are usually horse mounted). They are more or less a dedicated militia force and equipped with most of the best small arms. This force is designed to patrol outside our 'border' and establish and maintain friendly contact with adjoining towns and farms.

Our two 120mm mortars are also manned full time by 10 women providing responsive fire support from dedicated professionals. (This is a notional example meant to show that the 'best weapons' need to be manned by better trained individuals.)

The other 900 adults are organized into defense companies of around 100 personnel (organized into 4 platoons of 24 each, with a four man HQ (Cmdr, XO and 2 Medics). Each of the defense companies rotate through 24 duty tours every 9th day. While on duty they man the towns static defenses (two entry control points, an observation tower, and a bastion designed to put fires along the most likely enemy avenues of approach) and conduct internal patrols. Most of the towns available crew served weapons are associated with these strongpoints. During their 24 hour duty tour each platoon will rotate through 8 hours of security, 8 hours conduct training and/or work on improving the towns defenses, and 8 hours of sleep, during which they serve as the rapid response force.

The full defense plan can count on 9 companies, each assigned prepared defensive positions (including trenches and bunkers) to occupy during periods of high threat. The militia can be ordered to man the perimeter either by passing word through a well rehearsed warden system, or by the ringing of the churches bells. When the town is at high alert the ranger company becomes the reserve, with the "mortar battery' providing fire support.