Rurales

**Key Features** | »FT-M1961 Tecnocracia rifle»Winchester Model 1912 shotgun»Riding horse mount (w/ id tags and gas mask)»Weston cavalry sabre»Twin bandoliers (excessive)

## Tactical Analysis

* **Fresh from the farm:** The Rurales may seem archaic on the battlefield, for they are actual, horse-mounted cavalry on a battlefield ruled by tanks and aircraft. Nonetheless, they are fast and efficient at anti-infantry support with their automatic rifles, and can hide in thick cover for ambushing purposes.

* **Have you heard the good word, about the Technocracy?:** Meant for harassment rather than open combat, Rurales can dismount their horse, letting them hide in their surroundings, so that they can radio in the artillery regiment behind the lines to bombard thaeir target with artillery shells, before mounting their horse and riding away from the counterattack.

* **Like the Light Brigade:** While surprisingly nimble against heavy weaponry, Rurales are weak against anti-infantry fire - being less armored and a larger target than their comrades, they are exceedingly vulnerable to such weaponry. Cavalry are mostly obselete on the battlefield for a reason, after all.

* **Guardia Rural:** A new subspecies of horse eugenically engineered to thrive under environmental and range variations that would disrupt other equines, the subspecies *equus caballus americaballo* - or American Caballo - is a monster compared to its genetic parents. Able to gallop up to 65 kph over eight kilometers without becoming winded and capable of shrugging off wounds that would lame or kill normal horses, these horses are currently being trialed for inclusion into current military breeding programs. Those Ruales that have demonstrated skill, passion, and professional equestrianism under fire are top of the lists to receiving one as a mount.

## Inventory

	+ FT M1961 Tecnocracia semi-automatic rifle
	+ Winchester Model 1912 pump-action shotgun
* Trejo .380 machine pistol
* MX2 fragmentation grenades
* Personal defense weapon:
	+ Improvised trench machete
	+ Improvised trench hatchet
	+ Improvised trench flail

**Protection:**

* Mo-2 respirator mask

**Equipment:**

* Weatherproof multiweave poncho and sombrero
* Ammo bandoliers
* Signalling flares
* Marking chalk
* Ration kit w/ U-rations (includes R-unit and S-unit)
* Relaxation kit w/service-issue cigarettes and chewing gum

## Background

*Viva la Technocracia!.*

-Technocratic Rurales, assaulting a position.
For centuries, horse-mounted cavalry had been an indisputable part of the battlefield. Whether it was unarmored mounts carrying light infantry into battle with sword and bow, heavily armored warhorses with knights charging into battle, or swift-mounted destriers with pistol-wielding cuirassiers, the horse was almost as ubiquitous as the regular infantryman. With the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, however, the position of regular cavalry began to fade from the battlefield. The charge of the Light Brigade saw the power of cannons versus a conventional cavalry charge, and the Boer War, Spanish-American War, and World War 1 only solidified the fact that horse-mounted infantry were no longer capable of being effective on the open battlefield. As time went on and World War 1 faded into World War 2, instead, they were replaced by vehicles and aircraft, the term 'cavalry' being attached to helicopters instead of horses. And while horse-mounted infantry are still regularly used for police work, light travel, or parade usage, the general consenus was that the age of horses in open combat was over.

The United Technate was one of the few to disagree with that consensus. To this day, they remain one of the few powers (and the only major power) to still use horse cavalry for military purposes.

Much like the Poles in World War 2, the cavalry forces of the Technate are a far cry from the pompous and overdressed captains charging across the field with lances that Unionist propaganda cartoons usually paint them as. In fact, if at all possible **Outriders** are meant to avoid open combat, as their weakness to modern weaponry is known to the Supervisors who utilize them in operations. Rather, the cavalry are used in much the same way that other factions would use teams of commandos or scouts: surveyal of the battlefield and enemy operations before other forces arrive, harassment and raiding of isolated enemy forces, disruption to supply sites and logistics crews, and even ambushing vehicles from concealing terrain.

Their horses are far more quiet compared to vehicles and tanks while still offering greater movement than walking infantry; they can withstand extended levels of isolation from supply sources by foraging off the land; they are harder to spot by aircraft and even, when in terrain, by landbound forces than vehicles; and when needing to travel by foot rather than by hoof, their riders can simply dismount and then remount once their jobs are done. Rather than being obsolete in modern warfare, the Outriders instead remain highly effective in securing success on the field, though perhaps more indirectly than some would think.

Outriders are not as ease in the bases of the Humanitarian Guard as they are on their own, for obvious reasons: should a battle break out and the Guard forced to mobilize, the immediate area around the base is likely to soon be covered by enemy emplacements and expansion bases. Cavalry, though excellent at harassment and raiding, fare quite poorly when asked to go up against machinegun emplacements, tank columns, and urban battlzones filled with snipers and landmines. Nonetheless, they can still operate in such environs, using the speed of their horses to avoid enemy fire and perform sudden attacks upon enemy encampments and outposts.

Most Outriders were llaneros, charros, cowboys, gauchos, or ranchers before joining the Guard and as such they are comfortable riding in the saddle, guiding their mounts with one hand while firing their ancient Mondragon automatic rifles from the hip with the other as they cross battlelines, before slapping a gelignite-filled shaped charge against the side of a nearby power plant or ore collector. With years or even decades of experience under their belt, the ranks of the Outriders are almost more at home in the saddle than off of it, and take pride in their ability to ride rings around footbound infantry or even keep up with mechanized cavalry from other nations.