|
|
Thread Tools |
05-24-2016, 02:38 PM | #20871 |
W.O.R.M.S. Commander
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Back in the US of A! (NoVA)
Posts: 10,649
|
Yeah I tend to work with what I got. I don't imagine there are legions and Legions of every troop type. Blueshirts are the most abundant and I have 20 or so. I feel like that is enough of a representation of say a Battalion's worth. I guess it always goes back to how big you imagine the Cobra Army is.
My verse I would say maybe 30,000 total, Close to 20,000 just for the Army and at least 5000 of them are part of the Viper Corps units between different "VIPER" Units. I view the Viper Corps like Cobra's version of SOCOM. Cobra Navy is probably 5000 as is it's Air Force. I really haven't worked out all the details about the Cobra Air FOrce and Navy and how characters mix. Or my new problem with Hydro-Vipers and Para-Vipers, and Swamp Vipers? I will explain those away with the fact I see Viper SChool like Ranger SChool. You don't get a "Viper" assignment until completing Viper SChool. So Strato, AVACs, Gyro, Aero, Hydro, ICE, Data, etc are first "Vipers" before moving onto their Units, or have to attend Viper SChool before becoming a Strato-Viper. Ultimately Cobra wants guys who can use a gun and fight. Maybe they have to steal a plane like in the Movie FIREFOX. Or you get shotdown. Or you are assigned a pod of Trouble bubbles on a Remote Mountaintop in Nepal. You're basically a ground trooper. As For the Cobra ground forces I haven't changed my basic layout too much. Crimson Horsemen and regular Horsemen I still have to workout better. I have posted this before, but who wants to look through the thread and find our previous conversations? I mostly disregard the ranks we were given. Cobra Drivers (Officers) are (0-2)Lts and are given a command which is more like a Warrant Officer. They are in command while you are riding with them. The various other Cobra Officers and Neo-vipers and Hiss drivers ranks are depending on which ever I have the most or least of. The more I have the lower the rank. I don't think all Hiss drivers are Lt. Colonels or even officers. Thats ridiculous. But I say Rip-It is, and is the highest ranked. All Specialty Vipers are at least E-5 sgts. I assume some of the more specialty Vipers have higher ranks to start with in general, but they hold ranks just like any other unit. Therefore a Sgt doesn't outrank a Captain ever. Range-Vipers and Alley-Vipers and Para-vipers and Snow Serpents and Elite-Vipers are all at least E-6 to start. So much training goes into their craft. There are no Warrant Officers in my Cobraverse yet but a lot of Sgt Majors. I still don't know about the DG black officers. I feel like they could be something different like Warrant Officers. I don't know. They may just take over when they show up. I want to reduce the number of ground Officers. I feel like any Cobra Officer is pretty special. Probably extremely ruthless, and not afraid of any of the Named Cobras, CGs or anyone else. Pilots are a little different. They are all officers. But since they don't command troops they are not really in charge of anyone but themselves. Wild Weasel is the exception. Now Crimson Guards that's an interesting one. All are officers, they are commissioned as Capt. right off the bat. You figure all are college educated and Lawyers or accountants. So much like our Armed forces they get commissions. They are the spies of Cobra as well. But they have other roles as well. Like the SS they are the best trained troops in Cobra. They are the Political Officers of Cobra, sort of like how Soviet era Russia was set up. So he may not be the field commander but he could just as easily put a bullet in the field commanders head and take over.. They are trained as military officers and are usually brighter than what gets put in the field. Shadow Guards are the Gestapo wing of the Crimson Guards. Crimson Guard Immortals are the Highest ranking CGs and they do serve as battle field commanders occasionally. They all hold the rank of Colonel. They are only tapped for duty to serve with Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander does not travel lightly armed. But he keeps his detachment with him at all times. If one of these guys tells you to do something you know it came straight from the Commander. Crimson guard commanders are 0-5 equivalents and they serve as Battlefield commanders and are the next step down. Most CGs are Capts or Maj and there is one attached to every unit. Like a Chaplain. Some of the named Cobras like Major(Gen) Bludd and Firefly and Zartan are all paid and treated like Generals, should they lead troops. Bludd does so more often. I treat him as the Commander of the Infantry Forces anyway. Scrap-Iron and Copperhead are Colonels. SCrap-Iron stopped working for Destro 20 years ago. Firefly and Maj Bludd have been employed for so long they don't really work for anyone else. Although Firefly rarely leads troop sizes large enough to be a General, he carries that rank and all its pay. It's more like a government equivalent. There are CIA agents that plan with generals and Colonels and their GS grades make them equivalents. Like most Terrorist organizations, Cobra doesn't have government ranks, but they hand out military titles like free taffy. Plus My Cobra Army is also a Mercenary Army so it's useful to rank as high or higher as the local commanders you are assisting. The individual unit Commanders like Skullbuster, Rip-It and Snow Serpent Commander are 0-5 equivalents.
__________________
Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome. Last edited by Loose Cannon; 05-24-2016 at 03:08 PM.. |
05-24-2016, 10:55 PM | #20872 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,018
|
I see Cobra in a different light. 20K is too big in my mind. The challenges with recruiting, paying and administering a force that big . . . well, it would need a whole Cobra HR department.
I see Cobra as a cell-like structure. The average guy coming in (two bit criminal, juice monkey gym rat, con man on the run . . .) starts as a Blue Shirt/Viper (to me they're interchangeable), but if they prove themselves they can move into something more interesting. Guys coming in with niche background skills (hacking, flying, heavy equipment etc) go straight into more specialized roles (televipers, technovipers, pilots, Morays etc). I don't see the various X-vipers as distinct corps. I see them as the product of equipping and training a team for a specific mission (bank heist; boat hijacking; kidnap/extortion; arms deal . . .). Some guys may gravitate towards a particular specialty, but in the end they suit up for whatever job they're assigned. And there's no linear progression. If you show up with a boat load of talent and a reputation you get a probationary gig in charge of a cell. Bludd didn't start as a Viper. Firefly didn't start there. Those guys are the terror equivalent of a Fortune 500 company headhunting someone to run one of their divisions. Bring 'em in, put them in charge of a cell, and turn them loose. Payment isn't steady - it's a share of the spoils of the job you do, and the survivors vote on how they divide it up. You don't pull your weight, you don't get a big cut. Rank isn't military. Again, it's more like a gang or a cartel. There's going to be a boss, but for the most part the hierarchy is pretty fluid and whoever has the most relevant skills and strongest personality runs that particular task. Similarly, failure doesn't always flow downhill. A failed job gets reviewed and if necessary a random guy in the cell gets made an example of. I also don't see this as a full time job for the average trooper. I see it a bit like gang membership. There are expectations that you're available on call, but you may also have to hold down a job on the side to pay some bills. The guys who enter this life aren't socking away a retirement fund - they're blowing the payout as fast is it comes in so they're always going to be a bit hungry. And I return to the cell structure. A lot of these guys are going to end up going back to various jails for extracurricular activities. They aren't going to have a lot of lateral Cobra knowledge so they can't take down much of the organization. On the other hand, Cobra has enough on them to "encourage" them to recruit while doing time. You end up with a loosely organized group of ruthless people, all of whom are a little bit hungry and a little bit desperate, under the influence of a tiny cadre of highly intelligent sociopath leaders, available to be called on short notice to drop everything and carry out a job. It's a bit more organized than Reservoir Dogs, a bit less flashy than Ocean's Eleven, and a lot more ruthless than The Godfather. |
05-24-2016, 11:25 PM | #20873 |
W.O.R.M.S. Commander
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Back in the US of A! (NoVA)
Posts: 10,649
|
Yeah I figure there is an overall bureaucracy running things included in that number. You're right there would need to be cells every where.
Imagine A company like DynaCorps and Blackwater combined, backed by an extensive weapons manufacturering and R&D wing plus an outstanding Intelligence agency. Fuelled by lucrative security contracts and a Cobra Island Tax haven. All I think for this to become a reality would be a shift in public opinions where instead of sending our boys, the US creates it own Foreign Legion all volunteer Force.
__________________
Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome. |
05-26-2016, 03:57 AM | #20874 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: May 2016
Location: New Albany, MS.
Posts: 38
|
There is one reason that I do not like the small cell structure. It does not allow for the large scale Cobra army building that I prefer. However, G.I. Joe is really small, compared to Cobra in my G.I. Joe universe, but I do like to use the early 90's 30 Anniversary figures as army builders. I have come across one problem with my G.I. Joes. There are way to many E-7's. On a side note, Ambush (I think) must be the baddest dude around considering that so far he is the only E-3 that I have come across.
-Robert |
05-26-2016, 09:06 AM | #20875 |
W.O.R.M.S. Commander
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Back in the US of A! (NoVA)
Posts: 10,649
|
I generally don't focus on small cells since I too enjoy the army building part of collecting. However as a terrorist organization the small cells make the most sense.
Infiltration, assassinations, collusion, bribery, mole work and intelligence gathering is all small cell stuff that sets up the Cobra Invasion.
__________________
Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome. |
05-26-2016, 09:18 AM | #20876 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: May 2016
Location: New Albany, MS.
Posts: 38
|
Well, I guess that may very well be true, and I guess I do use small cells in my Cobra army. I just choose to call them detachments.
-Robert |
05-26-2016, 10:42 AM | #20877 |
just a Marine
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: central PA
Posts: 1,681
|
Quote:
There is one reason that I do not like the small cell structure. It does not allow for the large scale Cobra army building that I prefer. However, G.I. Joe is really small, compared to Cobra in my G.I. Joe universe, but I do like to use the early 90's 30 Anniversary figures as army builders. I have come across one problem with my G.I. Joes. There are way to many E-7's. On a side note, Ambush (I think) must be the baddest dude around considering that so far he is the only E-3 that I have come across.
-Robert One thing talked about in this very thread is that some view GI Joe as sort of a super elite SOCOM team, but some have a joeverse made of special operators combined with the very best servicemen and women of conventional forces. So to me, that means some of your more convention guys, like your armor guys, were no doubt rising stars, and had meritorious promotions along the way. That means even though they are E-7s, they are on the young end, maybe only mid to late 20s. If I was putting together a unit like GI Joe, and it was going to have small groups without a lot of support, you would need seasoned soldiers. If I only have four tankers in my unit, those guys need to know a lot about armor, how armor interacts with combined arms, and be trusted to do this without supervision, because there is no master sergeant or armor officer (well, there is in GI Joe, but the same applies to junior officers) mentoring these guys. They have to have mastered their craft. That means at times, these E-6 and E-7s are going to be doing jobs normally filled by the non-rates E1-E-3, being just riflemen or machine gunners in a patrol, but, they will be darn good ones. That E-6 loader in a tank is going to know exactly what the E-6/7 gunner, driver, and commander are doing and e able to fill their roles if there is a casualty. My two cents anyway. |
05-26-2016, 10:49 AM | #20878 |
W.O.R.M.S. Commander
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Back in the US of A! (NoVA)
Posts: 10,649
|
I figure my Joe Task Force to be maybe a total of 2000? I mix Action Force with mine and all the Brazil characters are Americans in my Joeverse.
I have probably only 300-400 operators in that total mix, the rest Greenshirts, Steel Brigaders, and other support staff. There is a little overlap as sometimes my 6 teams(Squadrons) are augmented with Greenshirts, and Steel Brigaders. My Squadrons a broken down by major duties, each commanded by a General, since they are a hidden unit under their overall command. This is how they get funding and general support and maintenance. These top 6 General form the new Jugglers. (That could pose a problem in and of itself, but that is a different topic.) The top general isn't the actual commander nor are the deputies and senior support staff. Each Squadron is usually broken down to 2 or 3 Direct Action teams lead by a Major. So I have: Urban/Intelligence: MG SHarpe (CO) Jackle (XO) (custom Agency liaison) Mountain (Arctic & Oktober Guard): MG Hollingsworth (CO) BG Iron-Bear (XO) Airborne: Gen Colton (CO), BG Hawk (XO) Mobility Armored Recon & Artillery: Lt Gen Austin(CO), BG James L. Flagg III (XO) Naval/Marine (Littoral/Jungle) VA Keel-Haul (CO), RA Ledger (XO) Special Weapons/Engineers MG Lawrence J. Flagg (CO), BG Rey (XO)
__________________
Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome. Last edited by Loose Cannon; 05-26-2016 at 10:53 AM.. |
05-26-2016, 02:17 PM | #20879 |
Commando
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Britain
Posts: 3,825
|
the way I'm writing my fanfic that continues from the comics, Cobra has returned to Cobra Island and has around 10 to 20,000 personnel under arms. The Island population is probably no more than around 50,000.
GI Joe is made up of no more than 150-200 operators, which includes the fighter pilots, the helo pilots and armour drivers. Support staff (aircraft maintainers, vehicle maintainers, some tech support) are provided by the regular military. Action Force numbers around 200 Tier One operators, this is the Q-Force Aquatroopers squad, Quickfire's 4-man Commando team, the Airborne Spearhead in SAS Force, Z-Force's Paratroop squad and other groups. There's another couple hundred Tier 2 operators, largely consisting of extra vehicle, aircraft and boat crews, SASF Attack Troopers and Z-Force Infantry. Then there's the support personnel. The Oktober Guard is about 30 operators and some Russian Army support staff. GI Joe Canada is about 20 strong. The South Americans are about 30-strong with support personnal as well. |
06-07-2016, 02:06 PM | #20880 |
Commando
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Britain
Posts: 3,825
|
I still can't figure out how to use the Marauders...
|
Thread Tools | |
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Please Help! Need filecards! | RockinHard | G.I. Joe Buy Sell Trade | 2 | 10-26-2008 06:14 PM |
Need filecards! | RockinHard | G.I. Joe Buy Sell Trade | 18 | 10-24-2008 09:17 PM |
Filecards Wanted!!!! | RockinHard | G.I. Joe Buy Sell Trade | 5 | 10-17-2008 10:25 PM |
Filecards Wanted! | RockinHard | G.I. Joe Buy Sell Trade | 5 | 10-05-2008 04:15 PM |
Quaid Spills Secrets on "G.I. Joe" | HissCommander | G.I. Joe News and Rumors | 108 | 10-01-2008 11:23 AM |
|
|
Recent Off Topic Threads |
What song are you listening to? |
Hisstank Late Night thread... |
Star Wars 3 3/4 discussion thread |
JazWares 18th Halo |
4" Fortnite from Jazwares |