Flak Trooper

**Key Features** | »» Tesla fetters»» *"Misznay"* Flak Cannon»» *"Schardin"* Magnetic mines»» Light body armour»» Gulag chains with stone (ceremonial... apparently)

*"The Allied troops have good discipline, although they do not have the uplifted mission of the destiny of the Motherland, and only have one goal – to fight and die in strange lands. Our troops, despite having the destiny of our great Motherland as their mission, do not have this discipline and thus suffer defeat."*

*"Shouldn’t we learn this lesson from our enemy, as our ancestors learned from their enemies in the past and overcame their enemies? I think that we should."*

- Josef Stalin, Order 227

## Tactical Analysis

* **Clouds of Death**: Armed with a large recoilless flak launcher, the Flak Trooper serves as the basic anti-air and vehicular infantry unit of the Soviet Union. Packing a substantial area of effect against air targets and arcing fire capabilities to strike at the tops of vehicles, the Miznay flak cannon is a reliable platform attached to a reliable soldier. And thanks to post-war reforms and equipment the Flak Troopers are much cheaper to recruit, at the cost of their weapon quality.

* **Mind your Mines**: Flak Troopers also carry a large supply of *"Schardin"* magnetic mines, which are highly effective against tanks, if useless against everything else, with post-war training now having the Flak Troopers actually plant their mines. And thanks to post-war modifications, training, and the Flak Troopers' overly developed arm muscles, the mines can now be thrown like frisbees and can also engage infantry, dealing little damage but knocking them over. And will automatically switch between mines and cannon when facing ground and air, respectively, rather than having to be ordered to switch.

* **A Little Flak?**: Flak Troopers can also be used to engage units on the ground, although both of their weapons are horribly ineffective against such targets. Apart from that, Flak Troopers don't wear much in the way of body armour, and are quite vulnerable to anti-infantry weaponry as a result.

* **Disk Thrower**: With the losses of Flak Troopers to having to enter close range with their enemies over the course of the third world war, and countless reforms meant to reintergrate the Flak Troopers after service, efforts have been made to increase that range. With new munitions let the Flak Trooper use both of their weapons from a more comfortable distance, though for safety reasons only trusted Flak Troopers are given the new ammunition.

## Operational History

Though the exact figure is known only to the Soviet government, it is known that the Soviet Union has a great many incarcerated. From petty criminals and lazy workers who fail to meet their quotas to protesters who disagree with the Party government and capitalistic traitors who seek to consort with the West, countless people from all walks of life (not including those in the upper echelons of the Party, of course) have all been tried by the Soviet judicial system and found guilty. While some people have committed crimes severe enough to warrant the death penalty, most are fortunate enough to get off with a prison sentence.

Of course, even when one is in prison, they are still expected to contribute to the greater good of the Union. Thus, convicts are employed as forced labour, to perform tasks such as constructing a new factory, operating Smelters, or mining ores from the ground. Whatever the work, it is almost always highly unpleasant in nature, and conditions are almost always extremely poor or even life threatening. Though nowhere near the level it was during the Stalin era, there are still a shockingly high proportion (by Allied standards) of severe injuries and deaths (whether from malnourishment, overexertion or suicide).

There is a way out, though, for those who find themselves serving time in a Soviet labour camp, or even those who have been sentenced to capital punishment, and this alternative comes in the form of military service in one of the Soviet Union's convict battalions. The terms: one to three months of service, with a commutation of sentence should one accomplish extremely heroic deeds in combat or suffer a injury while fighting. Anyone who is physically fit can sign up, and indeed many do.

The conditions are no better than in the labour camps, of course, and are arguably even worse. Convict battalions are assigned the most unpleasant, unwanted, and dangerous tasks in the entire Soviet military; during Stalin's time, their duties included mine-clearing (by running through the minefield), reconnaissance by fire (into heavily defended enemy territory), serving as (sacrificial) rearguards, and even acting as decoys (with dark, visible clothing to draw attention). Fortunately, conditions are better now, but even then they are still highly unpleasant.

For example, take **Flak Troopers**, who have to carry heavy flak cannons and also have mine laying duties (in theory). Though nowhere near as bad as having to run through a minefield or act as a decoy for the enemy, being a Flak Trooper is still a highly undesirable job. The Misznay Flak Cannon is a monstrously heavy weapon, weighing close to 50 kilograms on its own. The tremendous weight of the cannon makes carrying it a backbreaking task, and the design makes it impossible to carry ergonomically. Worse still, the recoil of the weapon can dislocate one's shoulder (not having a dislocated shoulder is considered extremely unusual for a Flak Trooper). Because of this, most Flak Troopers consider running up to a tank to throw their magnetic mines at it to be a better alternative than having to use the Misznay, even though doing so exposes one to a great deal of enemy fire and the possibility of being crushed by the tank.

Even so, though the conditions are horrific and the chance of death on the battlefield is great, many people still volunteer for military service in a convict battalion; this goes to show just how many people are willing to do anything, to take any route, any course of action, that offers them a way out of the Soviet penal system.

## Post-War Operational History

Enemy armour upgrades and designs decreased the effectiveness of low-caliber Flak shells and magnetic mines, so the newer version of mass-produced Flak Cannons and magnetic mines have their caliber and explosion massively reduced, severely lowing their damage but making them much cheaper to make and easier to use (and inflicting less hell on the user's shoulder) with the idea being to overwhelm enemy armour through a storm of mines/flak shells. However, rumours claim that this is just a lie and the true reason is that the new Flak shells and mines are worse than the old ones to cut down production costs. Flak Troopers will have to rely even more on overwhelming numbers, which is made easier due to their weapons now being idiot-proofed and more incentive to join (such as heated housing, proper beds, and three warm meals), now when confronting enemy armour, but they are still nonetheless most effective against thin-skinned things that fly in the sky. Even more so thanks to post-war reformations where, in an effort to reintegrate them back into society, have significantly upgraded the Flak Troopers training regiment to be more effective and less harsh, with the three major breakthroughs being that Flak Troopers are now authorised to switch between their cannon and mines depending on the situation instead of needing to be ordered to (the reason why they were only allowed to switch when commanded was due to paranoia due to them being prisoners, in hindsight it was a terribly ineffective strategy since it meant that they would be stuck shooting tanks/infantry with a gun not designed for ground or run away from aircraft with mine in hands if the commander was too distracted in the battle to order a switch), new training regiment’s meant to make use of their overly developed arm muscles to use their mine as a killer frisbee capable of knocking out a charging enemy trooper or attach to tanks at a distance (so they won’t have to suicidally run up to a tank and risk getting crushed and have some protection against infantry), and finally they are taught how to plant and arm their anti-tank mines so that they function like actual landmines instead of having to be thrown as glorified grenades! (any questions to why the Soviets never taught them how to use landmines in the first place and made them glorified, and extremely poor, anti-tank grenades instead of making proper anti-tank grenades tend to mysteriously disappear)

As Flak Trooper uniforms are handed down criminal to criminal, the ones being used today are the same used years ago. Thus, the colours have started to fade. This problem is seen as one of the least pressing issues of the Union.

## Just the Stats

 **Armour Type** | Infantry

 **Kill Reward** | 1000

 **DPS** | 15

 **DPS** | 20