Paramilitary Units

[Land0fCotton]

With the news of BBA and the addition of the black shirts I think it would be cool to train “paramilitary units”

units that have been indoctrinated. And with that will fight a bit more “fanatically”. I’m not sure how exactly you’d get that to work.

But there are several nations that had groups that this would be appropriate for.

and let me say, I’m not asking for elite units. Becuase I know the units currently are what you make them. And most of these paramilitary groups weren’t exactly elite anyway.

I think it should go something like, they would take longer to train to symbolize the indoctrination period. And in turn they would get some sort of “Fanatical” buff. Where they wouldn’t retreat and instead just fight until the dead. They would be more of a situational unit. Maybe used to plug a gap or hold a area for you. Im not sure. But I think it would fit well into this game.

 

[The Colonel]

I mean being fanatical would literally just be represented by more ORG. That's what makes units keep fighting despite losses taken, and doesn't effect their combat "quality" visa-vis attack/def/etc. stats.

 

[Surimi]

What does paramilitaries mean in this context?

Do we mean irregular units like civilian militias? Armed police or security forces? Militarized political organizations?

In general, it seems like these things would fall under the resistance system rather than having divisions. I mean, the SS did have fully militarized divisions, but they were part of the formal military structure and thus don't really count as paramilitaries.

If anything, it seems like paramilitaries would be an extremely poor choice for "hold at all costs" suicide troops, both because they're civilians with little experience of real battle and because as paramilitaries they don't have access to the same degree of equipment as real military forces. It's one thing to be willing to lay down your life for the cause, it's another thing to face off against tanks without any anti-tank weaponry and hope your mangled corpse clogs their tracks. That's not exactly the glorious death your average fanatic is looking for.

 

[Anaraxes]

Paramilitary units, pretty much by definition, aren't military units. Think police and firefighters (in the US, anyway). They have ranks, unit organization, and titles similar to the military, but they're not trained and equipped for infantry tactics or how to aim artillery pieces. Just throwing them into the line of battle isn't going to get you much. I agree with the Colonel that their dedication alone might count for an org bonus.

The Italian Blackshirts weren't "paramilitary". They were just plain military, with actual military weapons and training. They might be modelled as reserve troops, but the game doesn't have any such thing. Compare with the US National Guard, which are treated in-game just like regular army troops. There's not a separate pool of "trained manpower" as distinguished from "untrained manpower". Fanatical combat troops might be elite, but that designation also seems to assume better training and equipment -- the Waffen SS, for example.

To put any mechanical teeth behind the name, you'd probably need a force limit (sort of like special forces, but a fixed total or perhaps percentage of population rather than percentage of battalions) for a new battalion type. Make entire units of those battalions, or mix them in with other forces. Actual Blackshirt performance varied from good to terrible, so I'm not sure they really rate a categorical bonus just because they're Blackshirts. But, if you wanted to model such a group as particularly fanatical, you might have a National Spirit to apply that org bonus to just those battalions (so, for example, you could have your fanatical blackshirts, while another country might have a similar organization but with actual "meh" attitudes). Throw in some national focuses to have various alt-history paths in different countries so they're able to gain Spirits for the org bonuses.

 

[Darth Howard]

Even regular SS units sometimes proved to be too fanatic. Paramilitary (not Waffen-SS, or rather how they evolved into Panzer and Panzergrenadier Divisions) are better suited for rear action. Think occupation. We have that in practice. Make a cheap inf or cav div, give them red arrows, no heavy weapons, only garrison duty, voila paramilitary. Just look at a certain modern day conflict. The defender's paramilitary and light inf units are used as spoilers and tripwires, expending them so conventional, armored, and mechanized forces can regroup, and concentrate.