Mamba's Fangs

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

"*A beautiful bunch o' ripe banana*

*Daylight come and me wan' go home*

*Hide the deadly black tarantula*

*Daylight come and me wan' go home.*"

- "Banana Boat Song" by Harry Belefonte, sung in Iron Fang plantations to *lift the spirit.*
The **Iron Fangs** is a minor fan faction made by BouncyTEM and resuscitated by the Quantum Group and adapted for Blue Alert. A coalition of various African warlords, minority rulers, cartels, and malcontents in opposition to League aggression and Communist intrusion, the Iron Fangs are trying to make a desperate stand to keep things in their favor and to prevent losing their influence. The Fangs, however, start off with feeble units in which with sufficient upgrades can completely wipe out anyone standing up to them.

## Background

### Slithering

Post-WWII, the African continent was undergoing tremendous transformation transformation. Much of the continent had been liberated from Alliance rule in the aftermath of world war II, seeing the Tokyo backed Pan-African League and the Comintern African Revolutionary Congress both take up large swathes of the continent. Many other countries were now relatively free as dominions or were rapidly being subjected to fast privitisation by the Syndicate; while the WLA and Scorpion Cell began to take root at Epsilon's behest. Soon, Allied-aligned leaders launched extermination campaigns against 'enemies of democracy' (often rival bands), Comintern-backed revolutionary groups started butchering 'reactionaries' and 'oppressors', the WLA and Scorpion cell struck at "malcontents and wreckers", and the African League slew much more trying to quell the violence indirectly caused by all sides of the cold war.

Of course, chaotic environments breed the most ruthless individuals. Viewing the crises around them as ladders to power, aspiring strongmen (many of which were disgraced generals and colonels) immediately began raising their private armies for the chance to play apex predator with the backing of the mysterious Wraith Project which sought to establish its own power play on the continent. Regional dictators turned off by any other great powers purchased a great deal of hardware from International Inc, Globotek, Elite Solutions and other providers, and the wealthiest of them contacted middlemen from Syndicate arms dealers or through contacts with Wraith Project's "United Front". To add manpower, civilians from all classes were conscripted into militias explained as 'national self-defense actions' or were provided through likely unsavory means by Wraith Project, leading to then-unconfirmed whispers about child soldiers. Soon enough, these military men all across the continent went rogue, their regiments following them as to carve out pieces of Africa for themselves.

These leaders set out to realize their fantasies with their new-found armies and mysterious backers. Coups and counter-coups exploded all over the continent as generals attempted to overthrow those in power, while breakaway states proclaimed independence from either colonists or existing regimes. Even stable democracies or socialist republics were not spared from the surges of commotion. Anywhere Wraith needed a presence for the United Front, they slipped in some agents and gave the Mambas a much needed boost.

Competition dictates the least powerful and influential of these armies would die off, while the strongest gets the biggest share of the pie. As the dust settled, the victors came only to notice a greater threat than their rivals: the African League. The Allies, for all their military strength, could easily be eluded if they knew what countries they shouldn't be most present at while the Comintern was busy trying to rebuild and the Co-Prosperity Sphere's movements were largely underground. But the League is a different beast entirely, one with pan-African ideals that would imperil the strongmen's ambitions. With them sweeping throughout the continent, influencing once-neutral countries would be harder thanks to the League's pleasing rhetoric. Friendly tinpot dictators will be shafted out in favor of League-friendly ones, and operating in once-unstable democracies will now be unfeasible with them around,

In a do-or-die attempt to resist the brown tide, many of these generals convened together in a remote farm in Mauretenia. There, General Matthias "Grizzly Bare" Everett, the self-proclaimed president of the 'Mauretenian Free State', presided over the meeting. He discussed the need for collusion, stating that their arsenal combined together can drive out both the Genevese, Desbian, Cerebral, and Tokyoite powers from Africa. Differences should be set aside, owing to what are essentially existential threats against them. The black mamba would be the perfect sigil for the 'ferric brood', the serpents ready to finish off the League, crush the WLA and scorpion cell, throw the Allies out, and smash the Communists as they overstretch. Ending his rousing speech with his famous epithet about how 'the fangs of iron can chomp on any and all metal', the generals came out of the barn with a name for their new army.

The Mamba's Fangs.

## The Ferric Brood

### Infantry

 File:IconFangs.png | Tirailleur | Tirailleurs are the "upgraded" version of the Force Publique. Completely discarding their infiltration and cloaking capabilities, Tirailleurs have been given heavy combat armour and a significantly modified Rangemaster 14 rifle, meant for long range sniping of light and heavily armoured infantry alike. Tirailleurs can instill terror into the hearts of their foes by instantly shooting an enemy infantry; effectively demoralizing its nearby allies.

### Aircraft

 File:IconFangs.png | Walloper Supersonic Jet | A more advanced delta-winged jet, the Walloper is specifically meant for dealing with heavy aircraft and bombing heavy structures with its heavy duty missiles, a potent counter for the bombers of the Allies or the flying ships of the League.

### Buildings

 File:IconFangs.png | Pummeler | Artillery bunkers armed with similar 240mm guns to those found on the Knobkierie, though equipped with highly effective autoloader systems that allow them to pound an area relentlessly with huge shells; these ensure that enemies approaching an Iron Fangs strongpoint are going to be under artillery threat the whole way through.

### Deathmatch Reinforcements

**Dominus IX**

A pack of Syndicate mercenaries handsomely paid for by the Fangs' leaders themselves, the Dominus takes the entire concept of "quality over quantity" to a new level.

 File:IconFangs.png | Minotaur ACV | Like the creature it got its name from, the Minotaur can crash to enemy vehicles, disabling them while its monomolecular razor blades cut through it. It can charge while its blades are active, cutting through anything in front of it but cannot turn.