Imperial Marines vs Imperial Army
Larry Hadley said:
That's one thing I started thinking about. Does the Imperium even have
any kind of standing army, other than planetary services?
Well, according to *canon* and other sacred writ, the Imperial did have
something called the Imperial Army, but outside of the 5th Frontier War you
never heard anything about it in any adventures or other source material. Its
units showed up in the FFW board game, as well as Invasion:Earth, and a few
sourcebooks mentioned Imperial Army Intelligence's rivalry with Naval
Intelligence.
In my campaign (my own version of holy writ and canon), there is usually no
such thing as the Imperial Army; it is a construct that appears when the
Imperium or its agents "imperialize" planetary defense forces. For the sake of
acceptable command and control, the Imperium does maintain a command and
support structure for the Imperial Army, but the actual fighting forces come
from the member worlds (kind of like a feudal levy; called when needed,
diismissed when done). Here is the longish White Paper I wrote up on the
Imperial ground forces for my players. Remember that this is written for the
1110-1120 period, so the tech levels are a wee bit inflated compared to Mileu
Zero.
Imperial Ground Forces Doctrine
The Imperium's ground military is divided into two organizations; the Imperial
Army and the Imperial Marine Corps. Both organizations share a similar overall
structure; 3 squads to a platoon, 3 platoons and support to a company, 3
companies and support to a battalion, 3 battalions and support to a brigade, 3
brigades and support to a division, etc. On Vilani-worlds, different names are
used for this structure, but 3 children plus a support to the parent is usually
the rule.
The Imperial Army does not normally exist below the corps level. In general,
it consists of corps- and army-level support and headquarters units, equipped
and organized to Imperial Marine Corps standards. The bulk of the Imperial
Army forces are made up from the military of Imperial worlds in the area. The
Imperial Army is made up of Army Districts, roughly analogous to subsectors.
Some subsectors do not have enough population or military forces to create an
Army of four to ten divisions; in these cases Army Districts may encompass
multiple subsectors. Also, some high-population subsectors might support two
or even three Army Districts, but this is fairly rare. The support and
headquarters units are known as Regular Army units, while the rest of the fo
rces are called Colonial Army forces.
Imperial Army units are given one of three ratings. Tier One units would be
TL14-15 units, including the Regular Army forces in the headquarters and
support units. Tier Two units would be TL11-13, and Tier Three would be TL7-10
units. No units below TL7 are used in the Imperial Army, and Tiers are not
mixed below the divisional level. In addition, tech levels are not mixed
within Tiers below the battalion level.
Imperial Army units are activated via orders from the Emperor, Domain Duke or
Sector Duke. In most cases, no more than 20% of a planet's military would be
activated into the Imperial Army, and usually this would be no more than 5%.
The Imperial Marine Corps is the Imperium's main source of full-time ground
forces. It is uniformly equipped to TL15 standards. All Imperial military
facilities are guarded by Marines, and many Imperial Navy ship carry Marines
for security. Each Fleet has Marines assigned to it for ground combat; smaller
fleets may only have a brigade or division, while larger fleets may have two or
three corps. The Marines are divided into three groups: Fleet Marines are the
marines assigned to Imperial Navy ships for security, boarding actions or
raiding, or who are assigned to guard units for nobles or embassies. Line
Marines are those Marines assigned to larger combat units that are often
transported by Fleet ships, but are not permanently assigned to those ships.
Garrison Marines are those marines used to guard Imperial facilities.
There is also a separate grouping called the Imperial Guard, a division of
Marines assigned to protect the Emperor and the Royal Family. These marines
are better trained than most Marines, and better equipped (to TL16
standards). They are rarely found away from the Royal Family or Emperor. Many
Fleet, Line or Garrison Marines who win high honors in battle are offered a
chance to get an Imperial Guard assignment. Most Imperial Guards are only
retained for a few terms, but some particularly good members serve a full
career in the Imperial Guard. Marines leaving the Imperial Guard are assured
of prime assignments and rapid promotions upon return to their old unit.
While there is little consistency to the doctrine used by various Colonial
Imperial Army units, the Imperial Marines (and the Regular Imperial Army) have
consistently adopted a doctrine of battle in depth. An enemy attacking or
being attacked by Imperial Marines can expect to be met with large volumes of
heavy weapons fire and air attacks on all parts of its forces. Its rear areas
will have numerous small commando units roaming around destroying supplies and
communications assets. Its front-line units will be attacked repeatedly by
combined-arms teams mixing infantry, armor and battledress-equipped shock
troops. Strongpoints will often be bypassed and surrounded by infantry, who
will secure the perimeter while the strongpoint is bombarded from orbit. The
tempo of operations is maintained at a very high level, with the hope of
breaking the enemy forces early in the campaign.
In defense, the Marines will keep as much mobility as possible, using ambushes
and raids to weaken the enemy in expectation of a counterattack. If the
Marines lose a world, several commando units will remain behind to harass enemy
forces, using numerous equipment stockpiles placed there during the original
attack as a hedge against failure. Imperial doctrine requires that civilians
be spared as much as possible, but that the mission is the primary objective.
Marines will take prisoners, but only when feasible and convenient. Marines
who are captured are deemed killed in action, to reduce their usefulness as
hostages. The prisoners may be rescued, or the areas they are held in may be
bombed, but the Marines do not leave their comrades in enemy hands unless there
is no other alternative. This attitude extends to other Imperial personnel;
Navy, Scouts or government personnel, or even civilians. In the case of
civilians, the Marines will usually try a rescue, but the overall philosophy is
the same in either event.
As a matter of Imperial doctrine, if the Marines are used in an operation in
which a noble has been taken hostage, or in which illegal nuclear weapons have
been involved, the Marines will not only take no prisoners, they will in fact
try to cause as much damage and terror as possible. This activity will be
carefully recorded and used in Imperial propoganda, to discourage such
activities in the future.