Bushranger

**Key Features** | »"Big Iron" .600 Metalstorm BFR»Armoured spacesuit»Boonie hat»Ankle tag (riveted)»Brown coat

*"Reach for the skies!*"

- Arsonist-turned-Bushranger Richard "Rimmy" Marsh, prior to shooting down a band of brigands
## Tactical Analysis

* **A dusty duster:** The Contingent's basic infantryman, the Bushranger may seem comically underequipped with his six-shooter bearing a comically long barrel and eighteen rounds belt chain. To the detriment of his enemies, that metalstorm six-shooter is absolutely lethal to enemy infantry and battlesuits since it actually fires 15mm rounds that blow giants holes in infantry, and knock back those who somehow survived, and his battle armour and anti-gravity harness means the Bushranger can move faster than most infantry and get into position much faster despite their heavy armour.

* **Feeling lucky, punk:** When faced with overwheming numbers or an extremely tough unit, the Bushrangers can fan his revolvers hammer, letting him dump all eighteen rounds in an innacurate cone that shred and supress infantry in front of them and blind vehicles. But afterwards the Bushranger will have to reload each round, leaving them unable to attack for some time.

* **Useless when caught:** As “convicts” given the bare minimum of military training, the Bushrangers range is pathetically short and their rate of fire slow unless fanning their gun (due to their revolver absurd recoil even with anti-gravity compensation), so must either be deployed in numbers or carefully managed.

* **Big Iron on his hip:** If they can be trusted, normally through extended combat, Bushrangers will be armed with pump-action ”brush guns” (a short barreled rifle), giving them a longer range and better rate of fire as it’s less awkward to hold, and learns that they can slamfire their fire for a similar effect.

## Background

*"I hear the train a comin'*

*It's rolling round the bend*

*And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when,*

*I'm stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin' on*"

- "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash
After World War III, Northern Australia was practically a ruin. The military was in shambles, cities demolished, and people trying to focus on their own lives, the government needed to rebuild quickly. Already reports flooded Canberra about citizens resorting to crime in order to feed themselves and their loved ones, using the chaos to submit to their base urges, or even using it as a free pass to cause trouble. Realizing that they were essentially jailing people who needed to find work, the government decided on a new solution to their problems. Courts quickly started sentencing anyone who was clearly just in a bad situation and physically capable to work programs. Their sentence was to rebuild the territories destroyed in the war, under the watchful eye of local authorities. And to further differentiate them from actual criminals they were given the name “**Bushranger**”.

While the Allies took issue with the potential for the program to turn into an exercise in cruelty, the Contingent government allowed Allied observers to watch some of the work gangs. Indeed, the work crews were fed and rested regularly enough that they weren't going to be worked to exhaustion, but still observed to prevent escape attempts. The observers even noted that the isolated communities they were rebuilding had even started to bond with the men toiling to put their lives back together as they served their time. Along with their shackles, the most evident sign they were part of the program was the long brown duster that kept them from getting burned to a cinder in the hot Australian sun. Giving them the nickname “Browncoat”.

For a while, the program was forgotten as most civil services are. Then the new Atmospheric Command received a report from Childers about an incident involving the crews. As the local work crew was digging a new water line, a criminal gang rolled into the town and killed the majority of the local law enforcement. Terrified, the local government sent word for aid but knew the criminals could easily destroy what little had been rebuilt. Desperate, the town authorities found themselves lost when the criminals working in their town stepped forward to help. Understanding their suspicions, the crew's senior convict explained that if the criminals did roll the town then the work crew would be at their mercy too. Noting that they had come to become close to the townspeople and that they didn't want to see the people they had worked for killed, though most of them simply wanted to save their own skins, the gang swore their word that they would return to their shackles the moment the authorities returned, or the criminals were driven off, and those who refuses will be handled by them. Unable to find another option, the locals nervously gave the work gang what weapons could be found, mainly old Webley revolvers, and retreated to the basement of city hall.

When they were given the all-clear, the town council emerged first to find the surviving work crew setting their guns down and backing away, though a few had to be retrained by the others. Astounded, the locals let the men remain unshackled (but observed and armed in case they run) until reinforcements arrived. The government quickly spoke to the survivors of the crew, and a new defense program was created.

Of course, now the Allies noted that there was a problem. Though convicts are vetted to ensure that they won't go renegade on their deal, and are offered the program in exchange for jail time or work crews, the Allies have made the point that the program is little different from the fate of Soviet flak troopers. Admitting the point, the Contingent government chose to ignore the Allies anyway and moved forward with their new "Bushrangers", though most Contingent forces simply calls them "Browncoats". Armed with a better gun in the form of .600 caliber metalstorm BFR (big frame revolver) with a 24-inch barrel and a looped chain holding eighteen rounds, making it a powerful but unwieldy hand cannon with ridiculous recoil, poor ergonomics, and sluggish reload (an intentional design choice as law enforcement can take down rogue Bushrangers before they can fire back). Eventually the Bushrangers would learn they can fan their revolvers hammer, like the wild west, to rapidly fire all eighteen round, and while accuracy was the burst would force infantry to take cover while tanks would get their visors smashed. To ensure they won't turn against them each Bushrangers are given a "personal prison" in the form of mass-produced spacesuits equipped with addional armour plating, NBC seal, a heat dispersal system to flush out heat build up (or lock it in for cold environments), and are locked in a way so that it is impossible to remove without special equipment with an exoskeleton that would lock itself straight with a simple button press within Atmospheric Command. So if a Bushranger chooses to go rogue he will find himself forcefully standing stock still and trapped in his suit until found and detained. And Bushrangers who can be trusted to not run away or shoot back will also be given lever-action ”brush guns” with the same metalstorm rounds for a much-needed range boost and better handling, and a suit which they can exit by themselves.

Still, the Contingent aren't fools. For a start, the convicts that make up the Bushranger patrols are only armed immediately before a battle. Second, they are tracked almost constantly with a small radio ankle tag, which can only be removed by very specialised tools within their holding areas (or just, inadvisably, cutting off said foot). Third, the commanders have remote codes for their combat suits that will locked them within it if they try to run and/or shoot back; one step too far in the wrong direction, and the Bushranger in question is quickly marked, trapped in his suit, and brought back. Fourth, when out of battle the Bushrangers are quickly brought back to their tents or barracks, disarmed, and treated as convicts again.

The Bushrangers themselves have noted that they have broken the law, and are willing to admit that the program must seem insane to anyone outside the Contingent's borders. But when they point out that the Empire is still out there with a military, and point out the city of Roanapur so close to Australia's northern shores, most people quickly stop arguing. What's the old saying? "To catch a thief..."

## Just the Stats

 **Armour Type** | Infantry

 **Kill Reward** | 1400

 **DPS** | 50

 **DPS** | 200

 **DPS** | 100

 **DPS** | 400