Warden

**Key Features** | »Drachenfaust T (Technate manufactored)»Very 26.5mm flare gun»Silver-steel carbide body armour (gilded)»Rangefinder linked to backpack mounted camera»Candy Cigarette ration (Fuego Flamenco! brand)

## Tactical Analysis

* **The Rocketboy:** The Warden is the primary Technate infantry for bringing down aircraft and holding the line, armed with the ground-to-air Drachenfaust rocket launcher that fires up to nine unguided rockets in short succession relatively accurately at aircraft and less so against ground forces.

* **Going to Ground:** At the expense of going immobile, a Warden may deploy, increasing its rate of fire and decreasing reload time and effectively becoming a turret.

* **Spray and Pray:** The unguided nature and inaccuracy of the launcher's projectiles means faster targets can evade fire, and units can take advantage of the lengthy reload time of the Drachenfaust.

* **Incoming!:** Heroic Wardens are gifted with Pulse Frequencer module additions to their backpacks, allowing them to detect and warn nearby forces when enemy aircraft are near. As such, friendly units will gain a stackable armour buff when enemy aircraft are within a certain radius of the Warden.

## Background

"*Holy habaneros, I don't think they'll make it out of that one!*"

- Warden CDS, shooting down an hostile Tero Fighter
Thanks to how the Technate came to be, there were many children lost in the shuffle and transition to the new government. Orphanages and hospitals were suddenly filled to capacity with babies and teens unable to make their way in life without family. This mixed with a patriotic wave of support in the Combine during WW3, teenagers nearing adulthood ready to make their name in the adventurous and dashing Humanitarian Guard. While their devotion was admirable, the leadership of the M.G. felt that their inexperience in battle was a detriment. The two issues dovetailed beautifully with one another when the Civil Defense leadership announced plans for a new type of anti-air MOS.

As shown in China, air defense is not simply, "Put crosshair slightly in front of plane and pull trigger until ball of flame". Handheld systems especially need fine calibration and excellent hand-eye coordination to be effective. While many of the Technate's most experienced soldiers were willing to take on this new challenge, often these men and women already had positions in the Humanitarian Guard. Unwilling to lose these experienced soldiers in the quest for a new specialty, the Combine looked at their other problem of hordes of children either unable to provide for themselves, or willing to give their lives for Utopia.

Months later, the first Warden-specialized soldiers were placed the Combine's major cities. Insurrectionist aircraft had been spotted multiple times crossing the border with little regard for the new Technate. Anxious and willing to prove themselves, the Wardens quickly set on any Unionist aircraft they saw, downing multiple enemy helicopters. The teens themselves were validated, as the detachment from actually seeing a dead human being and instead just blowing up an aircraft fit perfectly with the hopes that the young C.D. would get vital battlefield experience from their duties. Of course, being young and impetuous, they soon found that the unguided missiles on their weapons could also easily force enemy infantry to ground. Coupled with lucky hits on enemy light vehicles cracking them open, and it is now common training practice firing the Drachenfaust at ground targets as well as the warden's anti-air training.

When this was revealed to the world, reaction was everything from shock to praise to simply shrugging shoulders. Unionist militias in particular are wholly against the idea, with supporting media lampooning the Technate as "baby killers" for their putting children directly in the line of fire. When it was pointed out that the Unionist Red Beret Scouts are often teenagers, the Unionists countered that they're not expected to go into danger, or are given live rounds to kill others with. The Allies also feel ill at ease with the program, noting that unlike America's ROTC system the Warden program puts children (many under the legal representational age) near or in active combat.

On the opposite side, the Empire finds such an honorable life for orphans and younger teens inspiring, and already rumors are flying of a manga showing off these "brave young adults of a new nation". Already Rocket Angels and Wardens have met through exchange programs in Hawaii, and both consider each other worthy of their respective titles.

The life of a Warden, however, eventually ends in two ways. One, of course, is a death on the field. The other, however, is advancement. Not expected to remain wardens forever, these young soldiers eventually leave for the civilian world or become proper soldiers in both the Civil Defense and Mobile Guard, whether as guards for civilian outreach programs, turret operators on the border, or even sentries for vital government buildings in their operations area.