Directorate Officer
"Do you think the enemy has worse when they [the Steel Hunters] are fighting from inside or outside of their tanks?" ~anonymous member of the 3rd ISAF Marine Regiment
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To make the final unit of the 4th ISAF Atrisan Corps
Image Credit: here and here, combined together and modified by yours truly
Role: Armor Regiment
Links: Gir Quee, Lucerne Labs, Kwookrrr, 1st Directorate Jump Troopers Regiment, 3rd ISAF Marine Regiment, 11th ISAF Assault Regiment, Silver Jedi.
Unit Name: 6th Kwookrrr Armor Regiment - "Steel Hunters"
Affiliation: Gir Quee, Silver Jedi, Kwookrrr
Classification: Armor Regiment
Equipment: Gharzr-class Battle Crawlers (10% of unit), Katarn-class Main Battle Tanks with either Reaper Mag Cannon or General Purpose Warhead Launcher (70% of unit), Kaadu-class Mobile Defense Units (Mobile Shield Generator variant 10% of unit, Combat Engineer variant 10% of unit), Arrichit series Synthetic Soldiers (90% of unit's manpower), Ryyk Blade or UR-G8 Pistol (standard sidearms)
Description: The Steel Hunters are probably one of the most well-known armored fighting formations in the Slice, if only than because few things are as memorable on the battlefield as enraged wookiees emerging out of their vehicles brandishing sharpened Ryyk Blades and oversized blaster pistols. While intimidating in person, the wookiees and their biomechnical facsimiles are far more dangerous behind the controls of their tanks. The Steel Hunters, under the command of War Chieftain Jiurra, prefer to devastate their targets with thunderous indirect firepower before slogging forward under the umbrella of shielding provided by their Kaadu Mobile Shield Generators. At closer range, the flexibility of their tanks armaments allows them to batter down their damaged foes. As with most armor forces, the Steel Hunters are vulnerable to concentrated infantry and airpower, which often means that act in concert with other units, notably the other units of the 41st Reinforced Battlegroup such as the 1st Directorate Jump Troopers Regiment, the 3rd ISAF Marine Regiment, and the 11th ISAF Assault Regiment.
Unit Size: Large
Unit Availability: Common
Unit Experience: Trained
Combat Function:
On lower strategic level, the 6th functions on a doctrine of maneuver supports firepower. This means that strategic movements are largely based on getting their vehicles into the optimal positions to conduct fire missions, such as bombarding enemy fortifications or sniping positions to ambush enemy vehicles. This also shows in a vehicle make-up, as the primary fighting vehicles of the Steel Hunters prioritize firepower and durability rather than mobility. Unsurprisingly, the Kaadu MDUs assigned to support these tanks are designed to enhance the regiment's durability in sustaining these fires missions. Shield Kaadu's provide another layer of defense during artillery duels while Combat Engineer Kaadus can provide additional earthwork and other like prepared fighting positions, or alternatively can aid in breaching obstacles on the way to obtain these firing positions. On a platoon level, the Katarn Main Battle Tanks do the brunt of the fighting, forming three 2-tank squads that performs most of the close-up fighting. A command squad consisting of a Gharzr-class Battle Crawler, a Mobile Shield Generator Kaadu, and a Combat Engineer Kaadu provide additional firepower and support capabilities in support of the Katarn tanks' operations. A conventional leader, War Chieftain Jiurra places a focus on preserving the lives of his warriors and equipment, which tends to lead him to break enemies down at long range with indirect fire. This had lead some outside commentators to criticize Jiurra of utilizing the Steel Hunters as a mobile artillery regiment rather than a true armored warfare regiment. However, once the enemy is damaged or in disarray, Jiurra has little compunction in personally leading armored charges from his battle crawler deep into enemy formations and positions. This can be problematic though. There have been some instances in which the large size of their vehicles hindered the Steel Hunter's ability to pursue vehicles. Some of the enraged wookiee crew members have dismounted and pursued their foes with ryyk blades or oversized blaster pistols, faithfully accompanied by their biomechanical Arrichit-series Battle Droid crewmembers. While this can be effective against a disorganized or underequipped enemy, in many instances this is far more dangerous to the Steel Hunters, who are not truly well-equipped to conduct infantry-style operations.
Strengths:
Flexible Payloads: The vehicles of the 6th Armor Regiment are fairly adaptable, capable of carrying different weapon payloads, while the regiment's Kaadu Mobile Defense Units can better adapt the regiment to different circumstances.
Bulwarks: The vehicles of the 6th are fairly armored and shielding, making them a durable presence on the battlefield.
Melee Warriors: The Wookiees and Arrichit-series droids of the 6th Armor Regiment are exceptional melee combatants between their impressive physical strength and skill with the Ryyk Blade, making them surprisingly dangerous in close quarters.
Tracked Vehicles: All of the 6th Kwookrrr Armor Regiment is equipped with tracked vehicles, making them slower and more susceptible to terrain obstacles than many of their repulsorlift and walker counterparts.
Cultural Barriers: Approximately 90% of the 6th Armor Regiment is composed of Arrichit-series Droids, and the other 10% of the Regiment is composed of wookiees from Kwookrrr. There are significant language and cultural barriers that cause headaches for their compatriots, most of whom are not fluent in verbal Shyriiwook. Because of that, most of the 6th communicates outside of the unit in Basic transmitted through electronic means. But that's neither the most reliable or quickest means to communicate on an everchanging, chaotic battlefield.
Beserkers: Sometimes anger and ill-temper gets the better of the wookiees of the Steel Hunters, especially in long or frustrating battles. They tend to not make the best of decisions on the lower levels when this happens, sometimes even dismounting to pursue their foes in places where they are unable to reach them in their armored vehicles.
The wookiee world of Kwookrrr has for long time had a strong martial tradition that began with the overthrow of its Imperial oppressors during the ancient galactic war. When Lucerne Labs made the world its home, the company began to casually influence the world's scattered martial traditions to become a more centrally controlled and maintained military. The 6th Armor Regiment is perhaps the most obvious of Lucerne Labs influence, with Admiral Quee not only being involved in its formation, but also providing corporate sponsorship by means of discounts and donations of equipment. Despite Lucerne Labs involvement in its formation, the group is actually composed of smaller elements have extensive service history for the course of hundreds of years, such as the 12th Scout Platoon. In their new incarnation, the 6th Armor Division has become more a federal expeditionary unit as part of the ISAF's 4th Atrisian Corps. The Steel Hunters earned their sobriquet during a series of training exercises on Kashyyk, where War Chieftian Jiurra's textbook example of recessed positioning allowed the unit to ambush and destroy a large number of opposing Randoni armor groups in that world's undergrowth. Since then, the Steel Hunters have largely remained embarked on the ship's of the Silver Jedi 4th Fleet as part of Admiral Quee's forces. The Steel Hunters are known for their close working relationship with the "Rolling Thunder'', as both mechanized units often work in close support of each other.
