WFPA INFANTRY

Disculpas por la espera. ¡Aquí está la información sobre las armas y la cotrina del Ejército del Protectorado de la Frontera Occidental!

Faction: WFPA

Stat Block:

Primary Skills: Gunnery (Small Arms), Awareness (Battlefield), Melee (Dueling), Athletics (Cross-Country), Survival (Great Plains)

Secondary Skills: Tactics (WFPA), Melee (Brawling), Gunnery (Heavy Weapons), Medicine (First Aid), Athletics (Throwing), Mechanics (Demolition), Survival (Navigation), Institutions (WFPA), Pilot (Ground Vehicle)

Squad Organization:

WFPA squad organization is extremely similar to Norguard’s. The only main difference is that Weapons Squads are a fully organized and incorporated unit type, while Weapons Teams are not deployed independently except for during the breakdown of a Weapons Squad.

Uniform:

The WFPA dress uniform is a brown jacket with khaki or white pants, long gloves, and spats with gold laces. A red beret is worn outdoors.

Standard Armor: Northco Mk-20 Flak Armor

The WFPA has significant stockpiles of older non-modular armor that can easily be retrofitted to modern standards meaning it has never felt the need to fully upgrade to the Mk-23 like other Northern militaries. Troops that do get issued Mk-23 generally do not appreciate it, as it tends to be less comfortable for those accustomed to Mk-20. (Medium Flak) 

Main Weapon: Riley Mk VII Assault Rifle

A stubby, ugly assault rifle produced only for the WFPA. Due to the societal expectation of military service, the WFPA has significantly more infantrymen than its economy is capable of supporting, while cultural reverence for the military means the requisition of substandard arms would be political suicide. The Mk VII was intended to assist this problem by being built specifically and exclusively for caseless rounds, allowing for significantly reduced ammunition costs compared to more expensive electrochemical cartridges. This makes interoperability with others Northern forces a problem, and units equipped with Mk VIIs are almost never transferred to Norguard. Soldiers do tend to like the rifle quite a bit, as the advanced recoil suppression system makes it to fire and the caseless ammunition means its magazines are 50% larger than those of similar designs. (Medium Assault Rifle, Ammo Efficient, Fixed Ammo: Caseless)

Main Weapon: Socorro Defender

A military adaptation of Socorro’s ubiquitous Provider hunting rifle, which itself was originally designed after the War of the Alliance to exploit a military ammunition surplus. Although of questionable use in combat, it remains popular thanks to the minimal training on it required for recruits already familiar with the Provider. (Light Rifle, Prebuilt, Fixed Ammo: Caseless)

Main Weapon: Riley M202 Super Slugger

A simple double-barreled break-action shotgun. Although based off the popular civilian Slugger model, the Super Slugger makes a notable change by introducing the automatic choke-regulation mechanisms the original was deliberately built without. While this reduces the weapon’s famous simplicity, it was necessary to make its range sufficient for WFPA use. (Medium Shotgun, Ammo Hog, Prebuilt, Reliable)

Sidearm: Riley Pattern IV Pistol

A pistol operating on similar principles to the Mk VII rifle, the Pattern IV is most notable for being able to switch to fully automatic fire. Most soldiers in fact keep it locked on that mode when in combat, which has led to discussions about removing the feature in order to preserve the original goal of reducing ammunition spending. (Medium Machine Pistol, Fixed Ammo: Caseless)

Sidearm: Riley M15 Automatic Pistol

Although it failed to become the Northern Guard’s new standard pistol, the Riley M15 proved effective enough to be operated as an alternate official sidearm by the WFPA. Wounded Western pride at being upstaged by a third-rate Norlight arms manufacturer was not officially an element in this decision. (Heavy Pistol)

Melee Weapon: Blackblade M1890 Army Omnitool

A folding knife with a variety of different integrated flip-out tools that make it useful in almost any situation. The Omnitool has become emblematic of the WFPA, and similar multipurpose knives will often be referred to as “Protectorate Army Knives” even when they are totally unrelated in origin. (Light Knife, Heavy, see HG4e Page 176)

Officer’s Armor: Western Armories Cazador Lightweight Body Armor

A lightweight, comfortable armored jumpsuit designed to be worn underneath the standard WFPA dress uniform. Cazador armor is less protective than standard flak but serves an important purpose relating to Protectorate military tradition; honor duels in uniform between officers are extremely common and the standardization of conceal bar armor prevents the WFP’s leadership class for extinguishing itself. (Light Flak)

Specialist Armor: Western Armories Invicto Radiation-Proof Body Armor

An armored radiation suit with full-body coverage. This armor was developed shortly after the War of the Alliance, where WFPA troops were frequently forced to fight in “nightmare scenarios” where they had to retake ground that had recently been subject to tactical nuclear attack. Standard NBC gear had compatibility issues with body armor, and commanders had to choose whether to either expose their troops to possible enemy fire or certain radiation poisoning. Invicto armor saved many lives during the early stages of the second CEF invasion, but every WFPA soldier hopes they’ll never be in a position where they need to use it again. (Medium Flak, Full Suit, Bulky, Rad-Proof)

Support Weapon: Püma JK Heavy Infantry Mortar

The WFPA relies heavily on infantry mortars for close fire support, and the CK’s high cost and relatively low yield meant that it could not fulfill this requirement. The JK is a simpler weapon that lacks the accuracy of the CK, but fires higher bore shells that are also effective in an anti-armor role. (Heavy Mortar)

Support Weapon: Riley M185 Sniper Rifle

An oversized sniper rifle that fires a high velocity fin-stabilized round. The wide open plains of the Protectorate mean that even the prodigious range of ordinary sniper rifles can prove insufficient, so the M185 was built to take advantage of this by significantly outranging any comparable weapon. (Medium Sniper Rifle, Fixed Ammo: High Range, Bulky)

Support Weapon: Riley Pattern X Squad Automatic Weapon

A portable machine gun that only accepts caseless ammunition. Built on the same principles as the Mk VII rifle and the Pattern IV pistol, the Pattern X has outdone its cousins by seeing some export success, as it can fire for significantly longer than comparable weapons before needing to reload. (Light Machine Gun, Ammo Efficient, Fixed Ammo: Caseless)

Support Weapon: Riley RL-12C Light Antitank Weapon

A collapsible, disposable rocket launcher designed to provide cheap close-range antitank firepower for infantry. While dedicated antitank troops are still more likely to carry R-40s, it is standard procedure for one rifleman in a squad to carry a pair of RL-12Cs in case of unexpected combat with armored vehicles. (Light RPG, Compact, Rapid Fall-Off, Ammo Hog) 

Support Weapon: Western Armories H30 Ballesta Guided Missile Launcher

A light shoulder launcher that fires wire-guided anti-tank missiles. The command guidance system significantly decreases the cost of the missile, but also limits the Ballesta’s maximum range to the length of available wire. This has led to problems in battles on the plains, but it has proven useful for city defense. (Light Anti-Vehicle Missile, Rapid Drop-Off)

Support Weapon: Riley MSR-55 Close Defense Weapon

A gatling-type beltfed multibarrel shotgun intended to be used from a tripod setup. The XXX was designed to be used defensively at chokepoints within the Protectorate’s fortress-cities, where it could wipe out entire attacking infantry squads with a single volley. Although nearly useless in most combat situations, the MSR-55 remains in service because of how devastatingly effective it is in the role it was built for. (Heavy Auto Shotgun, Rapid Fire, Ammo Hog, High Recoil, Prebuilt)

Officer’s Melee Weapon: Blackblade M1772 Dueling Cutlass

The WFPA’s tradition of honor duels among the officer class has led to high demand for functional dueling swords. Blackblade’s venerable M1772 model is the most popular of these, and while it is not technically standard-issue military equipment it is unofficially endorsed by most of high command, who own them themselves. (Medium Sword)

Officer’s Melee Weapon: Blackblade M1951 Dueling Claymore

Claymores have been a cultural touchstone of the WFP for decades thanks to being pushed by cultural programs aiming to build a unified national identity, but until recently they have been rarely used by actual duelists thanks to how cumbersome they were to use. This has changed as an influx of GREL refugees entered the WFPA after the fall of Port Arthur, and a mass-production dueling claymore was quickly designed to exploit the new market. (Heavy Sword)

Extra: Northern Interoperability

All CNCS League armed forces use Norguard equipment in addition to locally manufactured weapons.

New Weapon Trait: Fixed Ammunition 

This weapon can only use the listed type of ammunition. -1 PL.

Author’s Note: Püma is a subsidiary of Riley. Riley is not a subsidiary of Northco, contrary to popular belief. Also, in regards to the caseless ammunition, yes it’s ultimately more expensive to maintain a force in the Badlands with caseless ammunition than standard. But the WFPA never expects to deploy most of the forces equipped with these weapons to the Badlands, they exist primarily for political and cultural reasons.