Pawn

**Key Features** | »IP-50 submachine gun w/ AA mount (most common)»32cm *Arex* battle knife»Polyplastic helmet w/ protective visor»Basic SR radio headset»Plastic ID card of soldier's origins & level of experience

## Tactical Analysis

* **We shall stand:** The term "Pawn" is quite fitting for the number of faceless fighters wearing checker uniforms. Their combat abilities are most effective while they are up close with the enemy, bringing their SMGs to bear, suppressing the enemy and taking the area for the Concordiat commander. And once close to their enemy the Pawns draw their 32cm-long battle knives and slice the throats and limbs of their enemies quickly, being an instant death to most infantry forces of the enemy.

* **We shall fight:** Pawns are also equipped with special mounts for their SMG, which can be rapidly set up to attack aircraft passing through. The anti-aircraft mounts Pawns use tend to be unstable when the gun is fired at low angles, so while mounted the Pawn cannot target enemies on the ground, fortunately packing it up takes only a few seconds.

* **Our idea won't die:** The combat doctrine of Concordiat accepts that the losses are unavoidable, and the Pawns themselves are aware of this. Still, the commanders should be advised to not send them against heavy vehicles and machine gun nests without cover or without very good reason.

* **For the Duce:** Pawns that prove themselves capable, often being called Sergeants despite not having the rank, are given new attachments to their uniforms for self-protection, and to improve their firepower their IP-50 are exchanged for the Swiss double-barreled MTE-131 GW SMG with an underslung grenade launcher, greatly helping in the initial phases of attack.

## Background

When the first organized oppositions started operating within the Directorate territories, they were referred to by the name of the faction they belonged to. Such as the Democratic Movement of Edinburgh, White Lily Army, New York Gang, Balkan Revolutionaries, League of Polytheism, Anti-Imperialist Coalition, Kap's Heroes, and many many more. In the eyes of the bureaucrats and military officials, these were nothing more than "rebels and partisans", and treated them as such. Immediate execution, or if they were lucky, years of penal servitudes. With the foundation of the Italian Fascists and Mussolini's work at connecting all these rebel groups, training and uniting them, it brought a change.

Fascists were sending their agents and instructors across Europe (through the help of the Syndicate), and soon enough across all of Directorate's lands and dominions, teaching them the ways how to properly demoralize enemies, disrupt their chains of supplies, communications, and power supplies, and most importantly, unite various groups under one banner to work like a true paramilitary force. This has been the beginning of the events which later escalated into the creation and signing of the Concordat of One Terra.

The formations of many more resistance forces across all of their territories have been causing a lot of internal trouble which required personal attention of the leaders of Directorate, diverting it from their interests on lands of other nations not under their rule. The insurrections were occurring more and more though still not having significant impact on the stability of the Directorate. The Directorate home defense forces started their anti-rebel campaigns to root them out, and in time they started calling the insurgents "pawns of the big lords", referring to the leaders of the movements like Benito Mussolini, Marcellin Christophe Robespierre, George Devlin, and Frederic Rosovsky. The irony of this statement that the Directorate troops were all nothing more than tools controlled by the seven leaders did not come across officers' minds at all. The reaction of the rebels to this mockery was the complete opposite. The rebels have accepted this name as the pride of their leaders and to make fun of their enemy.

The subsequent Alien War and the demise of the Directorate created a power vacuum, particularly in Italy, which was quickly seized by the new Unification Concordiat, and all of the rebel units and cells joined together and formed the military of this new faction. The regular soldiers, former rebels, and partisans have been continuing in the use of the name "**Pawns**" out of deep-rooted custom, a reminder of what they are fighting for and for who, if they are more delusional by the destruction of their world by devouring aliens.

Now, being the regular military force, their training and equipment have been unified, using elements of all rebel forces to make a new, strong one. The state in which many of the cities and countryside in their timeline are Pawns are preferably using rather short-ranged weapons. Their gun of choice is the Dutch IP-50 submachine gun with excellent rate of fire and accuracy, the small size even more contributes to the effectiveness in tight spots, combined with a special AA mount allows the IP-50 to reliably aim and fire at aircraft (since the Pawns lack any AA infantry). From the Kap's Heroes and New York Gang has been adopted a custom to use large battle knives which every man and woman that joins the military is taught to use, making them extremely dangerous if they get close enough, second only to the Paradoxbranch's Imperial Warriors. The use of plastic was out of necessity and thus much of their uniform equipment, including the helmet and visor, makes them rather difficult to face as they look disturbing, with their faces hidden and having the checker-pattern on their uniforms.

## Just the Stats

 **Armour Type** | Infantry

 **Kill Reward** | 800

 **DPS** | 12

 **DPS** | 80

 **DPS** | 400