RDF/UEDF Siberia Soruce Book Idea(parody)

[SRoss]

Ice Guard Battlecries/Threats:

"DON'T SHOOT UNTIL YOU SEE THE BLACK OF THEIR FROSTBITE!!!"

[glitterboy2098]

Personal Equipment.
(Ice Guard) Full range of personal projectile and energy weapons. Especially if they get the chance to loot Southern Cross or Tirolian equipment for their own use. Standard personal armament is a large caliber handgun for dealing with polar bears Norca, and a combat knife.

fixed that for you.

Hand gun's for polar bears.
Grenade launcher's for norca.

40mm counts as a large calibre, right? think the pistols used by the Dola Gang Pirates in Castle in the Sky

[taalismn]

Mutant Arctic Wildlife of Ice Guard

“Ladies, gentlemen, those whose gender and species are either deliberately or incidentally undetermined. Welcome to Ice Guard Basic Wilderness Orientation One-Oh-One. Here we tell you what is most likely to kill you outside up here...which is pretty much everything. Yes, it is even worse than Australia. The first order of business is to arm yourself. Starting preferably with the biggest handgun you can handle. We recommend beginning with the T-Nine twelve-point-seven pump pistol or the SAL-Nine laser pistol, and build yourself up....”

‘Bhu-bhus’---(aka ‘Mister Snuggles’) Shapeshifting, size-changing, apparently demonically possessed polar bears. Many a comfort-pet-seeking Ice Guard newbie has been unpleasantly surprised by these creatures.

‘Norcas’---Very dangerous, very smart legged mutant killer whales. Covered in short white fur and hunt in groups. The new alpha predator of the far north...at least until the krystalkraken start appearing.

‘Wrongwhales’--Mutant legged right whales, also covered in short fur. Possibly hybridized with defrosted mastadons, the wrongwhales have acquired two massive curved tusks that they use to break ice, scrape away snow, and scrape up the lichens they eat on land. They move in herds like buffalo and use their massive heads and tails to bludgeon predators, and their tusks to gore unwary annoyances.

Narwhal Mutants:
-‘Ripwhal’----Tusk has grown to acquire a scythe-edged spoon end useful in slashing attacks.
-’Sparwhal’ ---Can fire off its tusk to act as a missile. Observed range of up to 90 meters. Regrows the tusk in 1d4 weeks.
-’Gorwhal’---Can vibrate its tusk to produce a loud and disorienting buzzing racket. It can also jackhammer its way through stone and metal, and has been known to tunnel inland in search of food.

Saber-Toothed Seals---Not walruses, saber-toothed ‘sea wolves’. Major Jones has speculated that they may have a streak of smiledon in their genetic makeup. Ice-fishing with grenades was re-introduced(previously banned by Major Jones’ order) after these creatures began appearing.

‘Ice-Rocs’---Giant raptors, believed to be either mutated goshawks or snowy owls; nobody’s gotten a good look at them to ascertain for certain, and the claw marks on the backs of those who have encountered them (and survived) don’t tell much.

Giant Mosquitos---Ice Guard had to contend with a swarm of these dog-sized bloodsuckers one arctic summer and isn’t ruling out another encounter. Hence the chainlink window screens.

‘Chompers’---Carnivorious arctic hares that have learned to hunt in packs to deter predators and bring down prey. Individually not much of a threat, but very dangerous in numbers.

‘SuBols’---Suicide-Bomber Lemmings---They’re cute, they’re furry, and when agitated, they puff up like poisonous puffer fish, using internally-generated intestinal gas, and can explode with enough force to send septic shrapnel shooting into bystanders. Subol-shrap injuries can quickly become infected if medical treatment is not applied in time. Fortunately, subols have yet to appear in any great numbers.

Arctic Wolves---Thought to have become extinct; nobody has seen any in YEARS. However, some of the local eskimoes report encountering other tribes with peculiarly sharp teeth and long noses. Major Jones has ordered the medical department’s stocks of rabies medications kept ready, the messhall’s garlic and wolfsbane supplies and the machine shops’ supply of silver impounded as strategic material just in case.

Morlocks---Despite rumors of these troglodytes being seen around(or IN) Ice Guard, morlocks have not been encountered since the last dust-up with Mauve Squadron, when Major Jones pointedly told Toombs to take the damn things back.

Zombies---Aside from the Halloween incident and ‘The Night of the Crystal Corpses’, zombies tend to be very rare around Ice Guard. Even the Scandanavian Nazi Zombies have learned to avoid Ice Guard and anything associated wth the combination of high technology and polar bears.

Harkonen Furriers---Ice Guard-founded trading ‘company’ dealing in mutant animal pelts and skins. Started as a joke, but now a major part of the in-base economy.

[taalismn]

For some reason I have the urge to have a late-season Ice Guard build a version of Project Habakkuk, built around a modified Zentraedi scout cruiser derelict.

[SRoss]

Segundo: "I just thought the Commander's quarters were a little chilly."

Naomi: "Of course its chilly, we're in a ship made mostly of ice! How are we ever going to Thaw out and dry the Major!?!"

[taalismn]

Segundo: "I just thought the Commander's quarters were a little chilly."

Naomi: "Of course its chilly, we're in a ship made mostly of ice! How are we ever going to Thaw out and dry the Major!?!"

I'm thinking farcically that the ship is based on a Zentraedi scout cruiser. The Fold Drive is intact, but damaged/underpowered, but one of the IG mad scientists has figured out a way to partially activate it in a constant low-power mode, not to move matter, but as a super heatsink(the mad scientist was previously experimenting with a way to achieve absolute zero in his laboratory and it almost got away from him and could have created an 'Ice-9' situation for the entire Earth). The Fold-sink is pumping heat away into the nth dimension in a much more controlled manner, and so can be used to keep a cocoon of ice around the ship, and produce local weather effects.
Because few of Ice Guard have any starship or even submarine experience, they hand control of the ship over to some stranded Sentinels(Karbarreans ideally), old Zentraedi deckhands(ala the old vets in the New Generation), or a crew of Russian submariners Ice Guard found in frozen animation in their sunken submarine and thawed out. Tack on a conning tower from an Oberth space destroyer that somehow crashed in the Arctic, and a few other random spare parts, and you get a mobile Ice Guard.
Name of this monstrosity remains unknown, although I'm leaning towards something like "S.S, Sedna' (or other deep arctic deity).

[glitterboy2098]

whatever it's official name... it should be nicknamed "the 'berg"

[SRoss]

The two resistance scouts looked on. Right over the last recorded location of some old UEDF base:

"Let Em Go! Let Em Go!"

"Think she's an Invid agent?"

"I don't know? I was going to shot her anyway..."

[taalismn]

Notable Equipment of Ice Guard
“Don’t throw that out! We can strip it for parts, or use the metal! Put it over there in the junk bin! I already have a few ideas what we can do with the electronics!”

Ice Guard pretty much refuses to throw away ANYTHING in the way of equipment, because they don’t have the luxury of fast resupply from people who care. And while they’re not COMPLETELY stone-age when it comes to technology, it’s not on account of the people who hate them not trying to keep them down; government regs require certain standards of military preparedness and standardized TOE, and Ice Guard can’t be COMPLETELY hidden(there’s always the fear that some bean-counter might discover the bare bones appropriations for Ice Guard and mistake them for some sort of embezzlement on the part of Ice Guard’s Enemies in High Places, prompting unfortunate investigations. Ditto if Ice Guard’s upkeep costs are hidden as a ‘black budget’, since the real spooks might notice an unaccounted-for ‘black project; and start asking the wrong questions). So Ice Guard DOES get newer equipment in starts and drizzles, and usually the older versions of the newer stuff.
However, with so much time on their hands. Ice Guard likes to tinker with their gear, initially just to keep it running/working, but later to adapt it to their unique circumstances, and out of sheer boredom.

Personal Weaponry
“Remember; you’re warm in a sea of cold. You stick out like a flare in the Cold to the right senses. And even if your sentient enemies don’t have thermal-optics, the local wildlife certainly has learned to sense warmth and associate food with it. You do NOT want to be caught unprotected. You need weapons that are reliable; weapons that will not freeze, seize up, or jam when you need them. You also want weapons that will do as much damage in the first shots as possible, because you may not get a chance to get off a second shot. Up here, time is life.”

MP-84 Machine Pistol---The MP-84 was part of the original equipment supplied to Ice Guard and proved quite serviceable for base security and vermin control until the emergence of the arctic mutants rendered the weapon underpowered, whereupon it was replaced as the projectile sidearm of choice by the T-9 Pump Pistol.

T-9 Pump Pistol---The favored sidearm of choice for those who can safely wield the heavy pistol(known in-house as ‘pumping iron’). Considered the bare minimum for taking on bhu-bhus or norcas at close range with any chance of surviving the experience. Ice Guard manufactures its own T-9s, and ammunition for them, including a number of special loads, depending on the vermin being dealt with.

M-21 Assault Rifle---The M-21 AR soldiered on as the main long arm of Ice Guard for nearly forever for its long range and good damage. The only complaint was that the plastic composite making up much of the weapon’s casing proved brittle in the arctic cold, and many of Ice Guard’s M-21s began sporting improvised furniture of wood and other materials, giving them a fairly patchwork appearance. Ice Guard soldiers favor the archaic M-21 over the later ASC M-25 ‘Wolverine’ whose only real advantage was greater damage with SLAP rounds...which were in short supply at Ice Guard anyway.

RL-1 LAW---This clip-fed rocket launcher became so popular at Ice Guard that the base practically wore out its supply of the weapons in the first year of operations. The Ice Guard machine shops began producing their own version of the weapon(nicknamed the ‘Arctic Kazoo’) from recycled materials when fears arose that the RL-1s were being shorted in resupply runs(‘Twitch’ Rockwell was instrumental in leading the project, especially after he all but adopted them as his sidearm of choice).

SAL-9 Laser Pistol---This laser pistol is pretty much the standard energy weapon of Ice Guard, being common and inexpensive enough between the First and Second Wars that it could be supplied to second- and third-echelon units like Ice Guard. Despite its low damage, Ice Guard soldiers came to appreciate its ruggedness, respectable range, and large ammo capacity. The ability to mount a bayonet under its barrel also made it handy for close combat against mutant vermin(or, as one soldier has put it; ‘stab it in the eye as a last resort’).

FAL-2 Laser Rifle---Similarly, the FAL-2 could be supplied to a distant garrison like Ice Guard without too much trouble or too many questions. Like the SAL-9, the FAL-2 is enthusiastically received by Ice Guard because of its ruggedness and ease of operation.

LP-10 Laser Pistol---Ice Guard was issued its first LP-10s well before the time skip, when the weapon was relatively new. The LP-10 series is well-regarded among Ice Guard, though the prefered weapon of choice remains the SAL-9.

LP-09 Laser Pistol---Ice Guard salvaged its first LP-09s after the time skip and found them excellent weapons, and they are much sought-after.

LAR-10 Laser Rifle---Ice Guard received its first LAR-10s before the ‘time skip’, but found they had gotten pre-production field trial units reshipped as new production hardware, and thus had a number of still-in-development bugs that were refined out in the final production models. These weapons proved intriguing, but problematic, and Ice Guard didn’t think much of them. They got the REAL production models after the time skip when they looted an abandoned CWOS base and got additional examples from ASC refugees stumbling into their base. These weapons, especially the LAR-10L, are much more highly regarded.

LPW-3 Plasma Carbine---This powerful CWOS weapon is well-regarded and much-sought after by Ice Guard soldiers, who appreciate a weapon ‘designed for them’.

M-27 Series Alpine Grappel Launchers---Ice Guard got several crates of these specialized Mountain Offense Squad weapons apparently by mistake but gamely began using them on the arctic ice and rock, often for assisting the extrication of various foundered vehicles from crevasses or ice floes.

M-30 Hound 9mm Auto-Pistol---Ice Guard got several crates of the early versions of this weapon before the time skip and found the ‘staple guns’ lacking in power against the mutated arctic wildlife. The M-30 is used as a holdout by the weaker-physiqued Ice Guard members, but has all but disappeared from use with the rest of the garrison.

M-35 ‘Ferret’ .45 Automatic Pistol--- In a rare bit of supply-side fortune for Ice Guard, when this excellent weapon failed to catch on with the TC, a large shipment of these pistols was sent to Ice Guard. The slightly better range and superior accuracy, plus lighter weight, compensate for the hard recoil and smaller magazine capacity, which allows Ice Guard crews to ‘put one right through the Bhu-Bhu’s-eye’.

M-37 ‘Weasel’ 10mm Automatic Pistol---Despite the promise of the 10mm round, many Ice Guard soldiers find the weapon underpowered against the larger mutant wildlife. Its reliable action, however, makes it a popular choice for a holdout weapon.

M-46 ‘Badger’ 10mm SMG---Compact and hardhitting at close range, the reliable ‘Badger’ makes a favorite holdout weapon for Ice Guard vehicle crews.

M-55 ‘Wolverine’ Assault Rifle---The compact design and modularity of the M-55 make it a favored backup weapon to energy rifles, especially with the grenade launcher attachment.

Tr-LLR Mk.1 Laser Rifle----Ice Guard was initially leery of using alien equipment after the time skip, but couldn’t ignore their pressing need for gear. Since they’d already decided to salvage Tirolian Bioroids for their own use, using Tirolian Legion weaponry wasn’t a much greater leap anyway. The Tr-LLR1 has since become a highly-regarded weapon with IG forces, even after IG engineers refit the rifles to use terrestrial e-clips.

Body Armor
“Wind chill...it’s a killer up here. You want armor that keeps out the wind even better than it keeps out bullets. You’re not being shot at all the time, but the wind is always here.”

CHR-1---Originally Ice Guard was supplied with CHR-1 Hazmat Suits, which proved as effective at locking out the deep arctic cold as they had the vacuum of space. Despite its clumsiness, the CHR-1 suits soldiered on with Ice Guard and were well regarded, so much so that IG began to manufacture their own version from recycled materials. The CHR-IG2 suits have slightly better range of movement, but are still just as effective as EBA.

CBR-2/E ---Ice Guard was not originally covered by the Southern Cross’s standard equipment issuance programs, so they looked with considerable envy on the Tactical Corps’ Cold Squad’s specialized equipment. In a rare bit of blatant inter-service larceny, Major Jones looked the other way as his supply officers ‘acquired’ several crates of CBR-2/E(CWOS) for their own use. Ice Guard was duly impressed with the protection and comfort afforded by the suits, and they became a much sought-after piece of personal gear. After the time skip, the IG was able to acquire many more from scavenging CWOS bases and wrecks, and ultimately began to manufacture their own version(CBR-2/IG) from recycled materials.

TPR-L Mrk III Terminator Body Armor---When they first encountered this suit on Tirolian renegades after the time skip, Ice Guard was duly impressed by the stealth properties of the suits, so much so that they made capturing working examples a priority. Working suits were quickly appropriated by Ice Guard’s rangers, who loved the stealth qualities of the armor. When the Invids’ ability to detect active protoculture equipment was learned, IG engineers worked to create an SLMH fuel cell to power the suits so the IG could continue to use them.The lessons learned from the study and operation of the TPR-L Mrk III would lead to advanced stealth features being incorporated into later production CBR-2/IG suits.

CVR-3---Ice Guard didn’t begin acquiring suits of CVT-3 until after the time skip, from salvaged UEEF wrecks and rescued stranglers of the UEEF. The suits are still fairly uncommon, and reserved for ranger units and trained Cyclone users.

CBR-5 Tactical Armor--Ice Guard acquired some CBR-5 at the same time that they salvaged CVR-3 suits. The IG weren’t terribly impressed with the open-faced CBR-5 and have not adopted it for any official use, trading what suits they acquire to other Earth groups.

Ground Vehicles
“We’re not too different here from the people working on the Moon or Mars; we really don’t want to leave the safety and comfort of our vehicles unless we absolutely have to, so we want to make sure our rides WORK and work well before we leave the garage.”

M299MMUV Utility Vehicle--The standard jeep of Ice Guard, the M299 soldiered on well past the time that other units were receiving more modern vehicles like the M-10 Hovertruck and hoverjeeps.
M299IG ‘Snow Ferret’----This was Ice Guard’s homebrewed variant that fitted snow-treads to the rear two wheels, and skis to the front.

M499GPV Land Rover---Another stalwart obliged to soldier on well past its replacement date, the M499 still sees service with Ice Guard. The M499IG mounts treads on its front two sets of wheels, and grouser extensions on its rear wheels.

M399 Low-Gravity Roving Vehicle---Apparently as a joke or a shipping mistake, somebody sent Ice Guard several dozen of these vehicles. Ice Giard gamely used the vehicles fo a while, and found the articulated frames gave good performance over the rocky and uneven arctic terrain. similar to the Swedish Bv-206 series tractors, and they were certainly sealed against hard cold, the electrical motors proved even more unreliable in the anomalous magnetic fields of the port-Rain arctic wilderness. The M399s came to be detested by the Ice Guard motorpool for their frequent breakdowns, and the rovers were ultimately scrapped, their parts and components used in various other vehicles.

LACV-60 Armored Car--The venerable LACV-60 soldiered on in Ice Guard well past the time other units were refitting with more modern equipment like the M2200 and Myrmidons. When the norcas began appearing, however, the LACV-60s began acquiring a reputation as ‘sardine cans’, and now standard procedure is that the LACVs must travel with escort.

DL-40 Heavy Truck---The DL-40 is the workhorse heavy transport of Ice Guard, and the DL-40IG(nicknamed the ‘Muskox’), fitted with extra-wide grousers, and often sporting a weapon turret or two, continues to soldier on in its ranks, the RDF-era vehicles lovingly maintained by their mechanics.

M-100 Atlas/M-101 Sagittarius Heavy Utility Vehicles---Ice Guard actually started out with about six of these massive machines, and three M-101s, shipped north in anticipation of various salvage operations and mecha recovery duties. Ice Guard refitted the machines with extra-wide tread grousers for better performance on snow and ice, and found them very handy for moving base equipment(especially housing modules) around. Later modifications included a switchover to an SLMH turbine powerplant for more horsepower. The M-101IG does away with the launch gantry and mounts several armored arctic housing modules and point defense weaponry, and is used for establishing and servicing new outposts and industrial operations in the mutant-infested arctic wastes.

TCH-4 Tractor---Another workhorse vehicle that is beloved by Ice Guard for its versatility and pure ornery toughness. Plus the TCH-4s’ claws come in handy when wrestling mutant wildlife out of the base facilities.

AMR-10 Mecha Retrieval Vehicle---Ice Guard’s AMR-10s(nicknamed ‘Bison’) are another beloved vehicle, versatile and well-armored. Their enclosed cabins and remote control crane arms are especially welcome when dealing with the bitter cold and toothsome wildlife.

M-32 Hovercycle---Ice Guard got its first M-32s just a few months before the time skip, and the polar soldiers fell in love with the fast GEVs. The ‘superskates’ have proven very capable over the ice and tundra, and fast enough to outrace the vicious mutant wildlife.

M-10 Hover Truck---Ice Guard got its first M-10s with the same shipment as its M-32s. The ‘Air Pucks’ as they call them, were very well received, and served as the models for several later kitbashed GEV designs put together by the motorpool. It also gave them considerable experience in modifying GEV systems, which would come in handy later when Ice Guard began modifying salvaged Tirolian vehicles and converting them to Terran power systems.

M2200/M2204 APCs---These treaded vehicles, a standard of the ASC, were supplied to Ice Guard well before the time skip, but even then, Ice Guard got second-hand units handed down from armored squadrons that were already getting Spartas and Myrmidons. Ice Guard was initially not terribly impressed with the Janissaries, which tended to get bogged down in snow, and faired badly in amphibious operations on the sea ice(pulling what Ice Guard soldiers called the ‘Sparks-Gavin Total Immersion Evasion Manuever’). Only after some extensive reworking and winterizing of the APCs did Ice Guard finally decide the Jannisaries were workable. The M2200/M2204-IGs sport wider treads, applique armor, and the ability to be hooked together to form ‘land trains’ better able to traverse broken and crevasse-riddled terrain. The ‘crawlers’, though, are seen as something of ‘mobile bait traps’ or ‘semi-mobile storm shelters’, usable in a pinch, but not the first choice of ride.

M-400 Arbalist Missile Vehicle---Ice Guard had a battery of these vehicles assigned to it, but found them poorly suited to maneuvering in arctic terrain. After a newbie crew accidentally melted a hole in glacial ice behind them with their missile barrage’s backblast, then promptly backed their vehicle into the hole, Major Jones decided to stick with mecha-mounted missile launchers instead. The Arbalist batteries were remounted to static positions around Ice Guard base facilities, and the motive chassises recycled as on-base utility vehicles.

ATT-30 Utility Vehicle---Ice Guard didn’t see its first AAT-30 until after the time skip, but the IG motorpool has taken a shine to it, and used the vehicle as the basis of a replacement (FINALLY!)for their pre-SDF-1 SnoCats. The ATT-30IG ‘SnowFox’ replaces the wheels with triangular tread units for better handling on snow and ice.

Air Vehicles
“I’d rather not cross the Big White on ground if I can avoid it, Too much chance of being caught on the pack ice with nowhere to hide. What’s the weather report? Can we risk flying out? And if so, what have we got working that make the trip?”

VC-33 ‘Mom’s Kitchen’ VTOL---Ice Guard started out with an even dozen of these aircraft for patrol and transport, but only three or four were ever operational, pre-time skip, at any given time, thanks to various equipment failures. The old VC-33s proved unequal to the task of fighting the violent weather that brewed up, and most of the fleet was grounded, at least until Ice Guard engineers worked out a VC-33IG(‘Viggy’) field modification using components from a stock of S-12 Avenger II engine parts(shipped to Ice Guard for some reason, despite the fact that they deployed no S-12s), later converted to run on SLMH. Improvized hardpoints under the outer wings and nose- and tail-mounted rapid-fire guns give the aircraft some attack capability.

H-62 Sargeant Utility Helicopter---Ice Guard’s original complement of eighteen of these workhorses had to work hard under harsh conditions. Ice Guard engineers eventually kludged up the H-62IG(or ‘Higgy’) that featured a less-vulnerable enclosed tail totor, a more powerful SLMH-boosted engine, and ski landing gear.

AH-68 Commanchero Attack Helicopter---In lieu of veritech fighters, Ice Guard’s twelve AH-68s had to soldier on through the worst conditions, plugging the air support gap as aerial artillery. Ice Guard’s rotary-wing warriors gamely took to the air under the worst conditions, earning their aircraft the nickname ‘commakazes’. Eventually, Ice Guard engineers modified them into the AH-68IG, featuring a fully enclosed tail rotor and SLMH-fueled booster jets, for both power on demand and less vulnerable propulsion components. The AH-68IGX variant incorporated a locking ‘x-wing’ rotor system patterned after the VFH-10A Ajax, turning the venerable Commanchero into a stopgap high speed fighter.

LH-2000 Snoop Light Helicopter---Ice Guard originally had a stable of six of these light choppers, but the harsh arctic weather proved too much for them. After two were thrown across the base during a wind storm(both crews survived, albeit with injuries), Major Jones ordered the Snoops permanently grounded. The electronics were stripped out and applied to other vehicles instead.

VC-27 Tunny---Ice Guard acquired its two Tunnys quite literally by accident; one crashed on base during a routine resupply drop, and the remains of several others were uncovered during exploration of a pre-Rain NATO/UEDF airbase that got pasted by the Zentraedi. Ice Guard engineers managed to scavenge enough spare parts to reconstruct two serviceable air frames and make then flightworthy. Extensive modification was needed to better adapt them to the changed arctic weather conditions, including modified wings and more powerful engines using spare parts dipped from the VF supplies. The VC-27IG ‘Tundras’ are used sparingly, on the few long range transport missions Ice Guard is allowed to perform, and are more often used to supply the various smaller outposts in their patrol area.

‘Sea Monkey’---The ‘Sea Monkeys’ were a trio of EVRP-1 Spiderbugs heavily modified as submersibles, intended to explore any Zentraedi warship wrecks that had gone into the Arctic Sea. Ice Guard has brought them out on occasion, though command back in the Warm seems to have forgotten all about them.

AHR-15 Phantom Aerodyne---Ice Guard got its first AHR-15s some time before the time skip as something of a ‘Christmas surprise’(Ice Guard wasn’t expecting such a then-state of the art machine to be issued to them), and the Ice Guard motorpool almost wishes they hadn’t. Besides being maintenance-heavy(and for an outpost already strapped for spare parts, that really matters), the Phantom’s novel bottom-mounted lift-fan proved susceptible to clogging with blown-up ice and debris, and the tempermental aircraft had a tendency to lose power and bellyflop onto the ice at the worst times. When the Phantoms work right, they’re beautiful, and their advanced electronics give Ice Guard units a new realm of capabilities, but the majority of the time, the Ice Guard Phantom force is grounded with various mechanical ailments. Ice Guard senior mechanics have considered just stripping out the advanced sensor systems and mounting them on something that works, like the old VC-33IGs. The rest of the mechanics have suggested scrapping the Phantoms altogether and using their parts in other vehicles.

Phantom II Hover-Aerodyne---The IG Phantom II is actually a homebrewed vehicle kitbashed from Bioroid Hovercraft salvaged from the ice. The original protoculture reactor systems have been removed and replaced with an SLMH system. To save on power with the less powerful SLMH systems, the ion cannon have been removed (and typically replaced with more conventional and less energy-intensive weaponry like Gsh-30-4A2 autocannon). Rather than carry a bioroid or other mecha, the Hovercraft has been plated over with a lower streamlined canopy, and a cockpit where the control pedestal merged with the hoverplatform. The lower profile and streamlining reduces drag and actually ekes out a 20% increase in speed. The space under the canopy-fuselage is large enough to transport over a dozen troops or cargo, or provide room for a small cabin for a LRP team. In a bit of irony, the electronics from junked ASC AHR-15 Phantoms are installed in the IG Phantom II. Some Phantom IIs mount a dorsal turret holding a heavy machine gun or capacitator-powered energy weapon for point defense.
Since its introduction, the IG Phantom II has proven wildly popular with Ice Guard’s ranger teams, as the craft is quick, maneuverable, and very quiet. It is used as a scout transport and special operations support vehicle.

MiM-31 Karyovin Fighter----Ice Guard also has two MiM-31 Karyovin fighters confiscated from the EBSIS after the fighters mistakenly landed at an Ice Guard air field during a storm. The fatigued pilots wandered inside the base, thinking it was their airbase in Siberia, and actually had dinner, spent the night in spare rooms, and had breakfast the next morning shift before the first hit of coffee woke them up and they realized where they were. Their exclamations of panic alerted everybody ELSE to the presence of the EBSIS pilots. The two pilots promptly fled, stealing a SnoCat, and presumably made it back to EBSIS territory, although nobody ever asked for the MiM-31s back. Ice Guard eventually put the two aircraft into service in Ice Guard markings with their ramshackle fighter squadron(‘Snowball Squadron’).

F-110 Falcon II Fighter---Ice Guard briefly operated four F-110 Falcon IIs(on temporary assignment from the Tactical Air Force) with Snowball Squadron. While Ice Guard pilots appreciated the speed and heavy missile armament of the F-110s, they found the aircraft lacking in STOL performance, and the Falcon IIs had an unhealthy tendency to skitter badly in a crosswind when trying to land on the lengthened runways required for their operation. Ice Guard also found the HRC-25 rotary cannon certainly powerful enough, but lacking in range, comparing it to ‘knife fighting range’. Eventually, after weathering a season with the Ice Guard, the angry and disgruntled TAF pilots, who’d taken the assignment to avoid harsher disciplinary measures, decided they’d had enough with the foul weather, constant critiquing, and general weirdness, decamped and defected to the Evil Rivals’ base, and decided to take the harsher disciplinary measures promised earlier in lieu of another rotation with Ice Guard. Ice Guard later found two of the original F-110s still in mothballs when they looted the Evil Rivals’ base after the time skip, but didn’t press them back into service.

[SRoss]

IceGuard Battle Theme.

Yep, IceGuard's got a Battle Theme.

[taalismn]

IceGuard Battle Theme.

Yep, IceGuard's got a Battle Theme.

Yep, that works, just with the title alone.

[taalismn]

Some new characters:

-Doctor Danny Jackson(original series Ice Guard/expy)---Archaeologist. Got sent to Ice Guard after he insisted on going directly to Field Marshal Leonard and UEG President Moran to try to convince them of his theory that the Zentraedis’ Tirolian masters were somehow linked to Earth’s ancient past. Was encouraged to serve as Ice Guard’s resident naturalist and Jones’ biological science advisor while Dr. Flint Smith was incapacitated following a too-close examination of an inadequately secured and sedated live speciman. Despite his many misgivings, Dr. Jackson strives to do his assigned job as best he can, but sometimes he has to stare at the ceiling and wonder what the hell he’s gotten himself into.

-Sergeant Amanda ‘Armaggedon’ Gideon(original series Ice Guard)---Army of the Southern Cross Ordnance specialist. Initially feared to be a female version of ‘Twitch’ Rockwell, but discovered to be FAR worse. Gideon likes classical music, fancies herself a composer, and likes choreographing her demolitions to music. Variously called a ‘maistro of death’, ‘queen of napalm’, ‘Giddy Gideon’, and ‘Bloody Amanda’, some of her ‘compositions’ in the field scared even battle-hardened special forces operators so badly that she was hastily transfered to Ice Guard in hopes she’d cool off. Naturally, once she found out what Rockwell was doing with explosives, she insisted on dating him. Ice Guard personnel have since taken to cringing and ideally turning tail and running when they hear music coming from EITHER of their quarters.

-’The Believer’(2nd generation Ice Guard)---He has a name, but everybody knows him as ’The Believer’. He’s a scarred refugee kid from the aftermaths of the Second Robotech War and the Invid Invasion, who’s seen the horrors of war firsthand(he’s maybe even seen the inside of a Genesis Pit) before he stumbled into Ice Guard. Ice Guard healed him, protected him, taught him, and now he’s a young man and he’s ready to stand up and take his place beside the veterans who staff Ice Guard. Somewhere in his mind, something clicked, and he now believes Ice Guard to be the proudest, finest, most sterling example of every worthy and lofty ideal he sees raising humanity above the filth, corruption, tragedy, and misery of history. He can name practically every Ice Guard member and list their personal qualities as virtues. He can expound on everything he’s learned from them like his own personal religious mantras. He is arguably the perfect soldier, highly-motivated, whip-sharp, and self-disciplined. ’The Believer’ is a zealot through and through, but he’s also a knight whose icy demeanor is his armor, his dedication his creed, his unflinching perseverance his devotion. Against alien and human enemies alike, he’ll stand his ground without flinching, spearhead the charge without fear, and proudly proclaim himself ‘Ice Guard’!
Worse yet, ’The Believer’ is seen as a charismatic role model by other young men and women coming of age in the Ice Guard refuge. Major Jones just doesn’t know what to make of this; a new manifestation of insanity, or the future of Ice Guard?

[taalismn]

Reposted from Colonel Wolfe's locked Franken-Mecha thread just to consolidate Ice Guard material:

Just some not-so-serious heavy metal slapstick

"SnoJob" Ice Guard Destroid

Components:
*SDR-04 Phalanx Destroid
*MIW-20 Triple-Barreled Ion Pulse Cannon or HL-80 Rapid-Fire Laser Cannon
*2x IGX-BJ02 Turbulence Generators
*Extra Armor Plating

The 'SnoJobs'(the pilots reportedly insist on calling them 'StormKings') are bizarre IMUs belonging to the legendary Ice Guard, said to haunt the extreme northern hemisphere. Rarely seen, and even more rarely reliably documented, these old clankers seem to be rebuilds of old SDR-04 Phalanxes, fitted with extra-large footpads(presumably as snow-shoes) and extra armor plating(50% more leg and main body armor, but also increase weight by 25%), and a rapid-fire energy weapon mounted on the head, under the searchlight array(sometimes replaced with an ADS radome) for point defense.
THe real change, however, which has led to much controversy, if the refit of the signature missile launcher drum arms with what appear to be massive ducted fans or cyclonic blowers. These devices seem to be able to draw air from their backside venting(where the regular Phalanxes would have their missile exhauts) and super-accelerate it, throwing out vortices of atmospheric turbulence powerful enough to smash flying mecha out of the sky, batter ground facilties, flip over ground vehicles, and send personnel flying.(GMs, if you want to get exact, use an atmospheric power from Heroes Unlimited, only increase range, damage, and duration anywhere from 5-10 times). The exact mechanism of how this works is unknown(the few UEEF engineers and field scientists wjo mandaged to see the devices in action complained of headaches or a desire to get VERY drunk, and the crews of the mecha will, if questioned, only say "It's SCIENCE!!!". The typical Ice Guard account usually has the Invid cornering a group of resistance fighters, when they are suddenly smashed down or thrown across the landscape by a sudden violent windstorm, then picked off as they tumble across the sky or attempt to regain their feet by other combatants arriving on the scene. The ambushers then, after a few moments checking on the astonished resistance fighters, vanish back into the wilderness, often under cover of another windstorm throwing up snow or debris to cover their escape.
More incredibly, and what usually gets the credibility of the Ice Guard stories thrown out, are reports of the destroids using their turbulance generators to FLY. Yes, FLY, by pointing the devices at the ground and lurching into the sky on two cyclonic funnels of air. The Ice Guard mecha reportedly use this to overcome the mobility handicap of first-generation destroids, erase their tracks, and confuse the bejeezus out of any witnesses. They appear to have totally succeeded on the last score, as the UEEF and Resistance have written off any reports of Ice Guard as 'Big Foot tales', the products of too much booze, or much idle time, or not enough insulation.

[taalismn]

It had started as a notion. One that had been fielded before, but quickly dismissed. But this time was different, times had changed, and so everybody who heard the idea agreed.
It was discussed in the hallways, in the lockerrooms, in whispered tones in the cafeteria.It gathered momentum.
It was tentatively put to a few technicians, asking if it was even indeed possible. Affirmative replies were tendered, depending on whether certain permissions were given.
Finally a brave representative was appointed to present it to Major Jones. An argument was made, the commander listened, tight-lipped and stoic. Finally the presentation wound down. Time stretched; the representative sweated.
“Go ahead.”
Volunteers rallied, personnel assigned, resources were appropriated, and timetables set. Engineering problems worked out, refined, and resolved. Work crews were dispatched.
A dozen smaller operations working in parallel came togther, fell into place, efforts culminating, as the assigned teams converged with a common purpose.
At last everything was deemed ready. Final checks were made, disbelief that this was finally happening was expressed. Fingers were crossed against fate being tempted.
The last mechanisms put into operation, the final switches thrown. The common space of Ice Guard Base lit up with techno-magic.
Everybody agreed it was the finest Christmas Tree ever.

Merry Christmas from Ice Guard.

[SRoss]

What's even cooler is this year they rigged all the base's marker lights to sync with Trans Siberian Orchestra.

[SRoss]

Note from the Office of Major Jones:

Any IceGuard destroid pilot caught using the phrase "It's a Go Job for SnoJob!" will be required to run ten laps around the base perimeter wearing nothing but a loin cloth, while covered in stake sauce...

[taalismn]

“-okay, we’re here! Where’s Beryl’s hideout?”
“Ah, somewhere around here.”
“Mercury Computer says there’s a major concentration of negaverse energy over there!”
“Gee....right where that ENORMOUS plume of sickly-looking purple smoke is pouring out from the middle of an otherwise pristine white wasteland? Incredible deduction, genius.”
“You know, I think it may be a trap!”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“NNNNNAAAAHHHHHH. WE got the element of surprise! They CAN’T be expecting us!”
“Right, let’s go!”
“In the Name of the Mo-”
###WWWHHHUMMMPPPFFFF###
“...Wow, aren’t you supposed to finish your speech before cutting loose with an attack like that?”
“I didn’t know you HAD an attack like that..”
“”...i don’t...”
“The whole darn mountain’s gone! I didn’t even see you move!”
“..but i didn’t do anything!...”
“Maybe they heard us coming and decided to committ suicide?”
“I’m not detecting any negaverse energy anymore, just...”
“Just WHAT?!”
“-lifesigns, over there.”
“...rockwell, you moron! You said ‘flashbang’! We were only supposed to scare them off, not VAPORIZE the whole place!”
“It WAS a flashbang! Okay, so I packed it around a cobalt charge, but that was only the starter! I wasn’t expecting a chain reaction! It’s not like I used the tacnuke!”
“THE tacnuke? Not A tacnuke? Are you carrying a tacnuke on you, Rockwell?”
“Ah...maybe?”
“Oh, damnit, you ARE, aren’t you?!”
“They’re small ones.”
“How many? How many kilotons? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“Nothing to get upset about!”
“Upset?! How the hell are we going to explain this to Major Jones? ‘We investigated the squatters on our perimeter, went in to say ‘hi’ and to warn them off from a policed military reservation area, they got antsy, so then Rockwell blew them all up!’ That’s not going to look good in our report!”
“I’m sure you can think of something, Tolliver!”
“-I- can think of something?! Excuse me, but it’s going to be OUR report, but it was YOU-oh, hello?”
“Uhm, hi?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be associated with THAT over there?”
“Ah, no?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be deliberately trespassing on a military reservation, would you?”
“Er, no?”
“Rockwell, are you going to blow them up?”
“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!!”
“Sure, it was. Okay. moving right along. Are you going to be hanging around here for long? Because we really don’t encourage hanging around here.”
“Ah, we’re leaving.”
“Right away.”
“As soon as we can.”
“Good. Bye. Nice meeting you. Have a good day.”
"Com'on, Tolliver, yu realy aren't going to phrase the report like that, are you?"
"Major Jones will see through a lie like THAT, don't you think?!"
“...”
“Ah, who was THAT?”
“I dunno, but I get a real BAD feeling about them!”
“Like...negaverse bad?”
“No, like they ACCIDENTALLY blew up Beryl. I don’t wanna hang around here if they come back and decide to do something like that to US. DELIBERATELY.”
“Good point. Let’s get the hell out of here!”


(Just realized that in Sailor Moon, Queen Beryl’s Lair of Evil is hidden ‘at the North Pole’. Ice Guard’s backyard.)

[taalismn]

Qualifying for Ice Guard(Original Generation)

“So....How’d you #### up to get sent here?”

So you wonder(or worry) if you qualify for a place in Ice Guard? Ice Guard DOES have some standards, but here are a few guidelines:

* You Must Have Dissed Somebody in a High Position:
“Honestly, I thought the armpit jokes were FUNNY! That man has NO sense of humor!”
Just annoying somebody with too much power and the temptation to abuse it may be enough to get you sent someplace bad. Making ‘fat and bald’ jokes in Field Marshal Leonard’s office, hinting that your superior officer’s darling daughter might be blackmailing her way through the military academy, accidentally blowing up the general’s new staff car, or even making your ambitious CO look bad can get you sent on an extended tour of duty in the arctic. The position doesn’t have to be High, even; your ex-boyfriend the secretary of the UEDF airbase might be the vindicative sort and forged orders to have you transferred to an ice floe, rather than the sunny tropical posting you were so looking forward to.

*You Must Have Seen Something You Shouldn’t Have:
“I don’t know what he means by ‘dead bodies’...I don’t recall seeing any dead bodies. Okay, maybe...but I thought they were simply concussed.”
Seeing Lisa Hayes in full Seduce-Rick-Hunter mode is one way(ask Mike Tolliver), walking in on Lynn Minmei chugging a full quart of vodka between shows also counts. More seriously, you might have seen something that somebody is worried might be used to blackmail them, but they can’t assassinate you outright. Instead they’ll send you someplace where you’ll be too busy to talk, or away from anybody who matters if you do spill the beans.

*You’ve Embarrassed Your Country, Service, or Unit
“Oh dear god...and in front of the UEG President too!”
Doing something that scandalized your organization is a good way to get shuffled off something where you’re not in the media’s eye, attracting reporters, and where you’ll be out of trouble until a) the furor cools down, b) you recant and repent, c) you vanish into obscurity, or d) the sun goes red giant and swallows the Earth.

*You Have Unpopular and Frankly Insane Ideas
“We can tap the Northern Lights for power! Pure power! It’s possible, I tell you!”
If you’re a (brilliant) scientist whose ideas have taken a turn for the loony, or just plain dangerous, getting sent someplace where your colleagues don’t have to put up with your pratttle about how alien squirrels have invaded Earth or you have access to, and the temptation to use, high-end laboratory equipment to test out your method for generating miniature black holes, may just be in your future.

*Being Dangerously Good at What You Do:
“Look, it’s not about your performance....it’s about the way you laugh maniacally when you’re launching missiles that has everybody concerned.”
Being psychotically good at your duties is a good way to get sent for a ‘cool off’ and to give your (former) colleagues a chance to breath. Like Nicholas Angel(Hot Fuzz), you’re obsessively good about your job, or you inappropriately enjoy it with too much enthusiasm, and you’re scaring your more laid-back coworkers. You may not be Joker-criminally insane, but you may be Deadpool-sociopathically nuts, and that tends to unnerve people. They can’t discipline you, and they can’t quite Section-8 you out of service, but they CAN send you on an extended rotation someplace quiet and out of the way.

*Being Dangerously Incompetent
“You tied a tourniquet around his NECK?! The man had a broken arm!”
You have a unique talent for screwing up in some spectacular way, and it threatens the performance(and possibly lives) of your unit. In the olden days, your screw-up would get you turfed from the service and back into civilian life, but on post-Rain of Death Earth your other skills are considered too valuable to simply have you drummed out of the Service. Your unit can’t stand to have you around any longer, and traditional disciplinary measures have proven ineffectual, so you’ve been sent someplace else to shape up or where you’ll be somebody else’s problem when you finally go catastrophic. Units like Mauve won’t sign for you(Toombs may be a gloryhound, but even he can read between the lines of your performance file and spot the tell-tales of a walking disaster), so you’re on your way to Ice Guard.

*Your Criminal Record Qualifies You.
"All I did was make some corrections on my taxes...and declared Texas mine by imminent domain! Governments do that all the time!"
You're serving out a sentence for a crime. Not just any crime; the sort of crime that humiliated somebody in a high place, poached on the domain of somebody in a high place, or it's the sort of crime that if you got sent to a regular prison, you'd just wind up owning the place. They typically don't send sexual predators, ax murderers, or genocidal maniacs to a place like Ice Guard for crimes like that, they send them there to take care of criminals like YOU. In the alternative, you were offered a choice; community service for infinity, time in prison, or a stint at Ice Guard...and you didn't read the fine print. If you'd known you'd get the icebox, you'd have sprung for the electric chair. Too late to plea-bargain now.

*You Need to Get Away
“My wife left me, my family left me, even the cat left me...there’s no hope left in the world anymore....”
Yes, that’s right, you VOLUNTEERED for duty someplace obscure and out of the way. Maybe you’re fleeing a bad relationship, or the Monument City Mafia, or you want to get away from the despair and turmoil of the refugee cities of the lower latitudes, but you’re looking to get away from it all. Call it slow suicide, or an effort to get away from all-too-familiar faces, but you consider a place like Ice Guard a better place than where you’ve been.

*You’re Just Grist in the Machine
“Funny...this place doesn’t even show up on the map! There must be some mistake!”
You’re perfectly normal, competent, and diligently following orders, but somewhere the wheels of bureaucracy slipped a cog and you were re-assigned someplace you shouldn’t have. Somewhere some minor functionary forgot to submit the right paperwork, or missed a keystroke, and you wound up being sent on your way to Ice Guard. Maybe some day somebody will notice you’re not where you’re supposed to be, and alert the chain of command, and a recall order will be sent to Ice Guard to send you where you should have been, but more likely the same office-jockey lost your file or spotted the mistake later on and decided to cover themsleves with some creative accounting, thinking that your life and career are of no consequence compared to a demerit on their annual performance report. Worst case scenario is you fight up-current, KNOWING you don’t belong at Ice Guard, and finally see the light of day...only to find you’ve been declared AWOL from your original posting, and you’re now re-assigned to Ice Guard as punishment.

[taalismn]

Kiddo strovetski is in awe of the believer and looks up to him always trying to meet his high standards kiddos little sister hana is in love with him and is often seen following him around like a puppy much to the believers disapprouval. The believer thinks kiddo could someday be a grate pilot

Yeah, 2nd-gen Ice Guard includes a lot of refugee kids(maybe consider them 3rd gen?) who've grown up in Ice Guard and don't have the gulag mentality. They look UP to the old hands, with their funny stories and cunning tricks. They think it's FUN, teasing and wrangling the mutant animals and putting together IMUs. They're like the Arrakis Fremen, chafing at the bit to share what they've learned with the rest of the world. In that, they're truly frightening.
That having been said, I can see the children of Ice Guard forming their own little cadres that follow them into young adulthood. Mutually-supporting sociopaths.

[SRoss]

Ice Guard Battlecries/Threats:

"PARIAHS ASSEMBLE!!!"

[Chronicler]

I'm starting to think Ice Guard is becoming its own civilization. And also the thought of the infantry having kids too. Oh God they are breeding sociopaths.

[taalismn]

More Ice Guard Mecha and Vehicles:

Air Squadron:
“Radar shows they outnumber us five to one. That’s good. They’ll never expect us to attack.”

Ice Guard’s rather ramshackle fighter squadron is Snowball Squadron(unit patch: a snowball with wings and large teeth). They’re equipped mainly with older VF-1s, including several heavily-used(even before they got sent to Ice Guard)VEF-1s. Later, Ice Guard would acquire a number of EBSIS(both the Baltic and Eastern)-made VF clones, some as “spoils of cold war”.
Later, after the time skip, Ice Guard acquires several Logans and Ajax veritechs, and only very recently has acquired VAFs and VBFs, though none of these later acquisitions come to Ice Guard in terribly good shape, requiring much patchwork and modification.
Other aircraft operated by Snowball Squadron have included MiM-31 Karyovins, F-110 Falcon IIs, modified Gnerls, and even several FA-112 Chimeras, all acquired by various non-regulation means.

*VF-1 Valkyrie
The long-suffering and hardworking workhorse of Snowball Squadron. Ice Guard’s mechanics learn to keep the Valkyries going under some of the worst conditions, stretching their spare parts inventory. Later, Ice Guard is able to lay hands on the EBSIS-made clones, usually as ‘spoils of cold war’, or from the handful of ex-EBSIS who defect TO Ice Guard after the time skip. Between those late additions and a surprisingly large stock of spare VF-1 parts on base, Ice Guard probably fields the largest number of still-flying VF-1s(most of the the upgraded VF-1R model) in the post-Invid Invasion world. This number includes a number of rare VEF-1s, and the VEF-1IG, a homebrewed conversion of a VF-1A or VF-1D outfitted with the electronics salvaged from Quel-Regult Reconnaissance Pods.

*VFA-8 Logan
Ice Guard gets its first Logan when a tech-bandit steals a Logan off an ASC airbase and attempts to fly over the North Pole in an attempt to sell the mecha to the EBSIS. Instead, he loses his way and lands at Ice Guard figuring on snowing the staff of the ‘backwater reserve airfield’ long enough to get updated navigation information and maybe a bite to eat before getting on his way. He gets eaten by a polar bear on his way across the runway to the base proper, and the stolen mecha is impounded by Ice Guard pending somebody claiming the mecha and coming to pick it up. In the meantime, of course, the pilots of Uce Guard can’t help but try the Logan out, and find it a pleasant little beastie to fly, especially in gerwalk mode. After the time skip, Ice Guard is disappointed to discover the Logan very dificult to find, even wrecked examples, owing to its high attrition rate during the Second and Third Robotech War. Even more teasing are rumors of a ‘SuperLogan’ model.

*VFH-10A Ajax
Ice Guard actually got to test two of the early VFH-10s before the time skip. These mecha were problematic and bug-ridden(those of you who still have the first edition Ghost Ship module may want to use the prototype AJACS for clues on the early teething problems), and both crashed during testing. The UEDF/ASC abandoned both prototypes in place, leaving Ice Guard to tinker with the machines on their own time. IG engineers were able to study the rotor system and this greatly assisted in their modification of the AH-68IGX . Post-time skip, Ice Guard came across a handful of later model VFH-10s, and comparisons allowed them to refurbish their original machines to full functionality as VFH-10IG “Williwaws”.

*VF/A-6 Alpha Fighter
Ice Guard knows of the Alpha Fighter program only as rumor and grapevine gossip, but doesn’t actually lay eyes on one until after the time skip. Between a few examples found crashlanded on the ice cap and a few wandering Resistance fighters discovering Ice Guard, Snow Ball Squadron is able to add a few VG/A-6s to their lineup. The Alphas are generally regarded as good aircraft, especially in the low profile gerwalk mode, but their reliance on protoculture and their brick-like performance in turbulent atmosphere makes them unpopular with the older pilots and those trained on the Valkyries. Ice Guard tends to use its Alphas for infiltrating other Earth groups(to ferret out their demeanor) and for special strike missions.

*VF/B-9 Beta Fighter
Like the Alpha, the Beta is known to Ice Guard only by general rumor prior to the time skip. Afterwards, they find a few crashed examples, but it takes them much longer to acquire/kludge together a working Beta. Like the Alpha, the Ice Guard crews more used to the thoroughbred lines of the Valks find the aerodynamics of the Beta to be bumblebee-like, brute-forcing its way through the atmosphere. Ice Guard’s policy is to reserve the Betas they acquire for long range recon missions(paired with Alphas) and special heavy strike runs.

*FA-112 Chimera
This heavy aerospace fighter is sufficiently different enough from other in-atmo fighers that when an intact one is found bellyflopped and abandoned on the icepack after the time skip, it is claimed by Snowball Squadron. Like the Beta Fighter, Ice Guard regards the Chimera as something of a bear, but a lot more comfy bear with regards to logistics and handling than the Beta. Ice Guard is able to acquire a few more from abandoned bases, and forms them into a long range bomber/strike unit reserved for heavy smiting missions.

*Gnerl
In their exploration of the north polar regions, Ice Guard salvages enough Zentraedi Gnerls, and confiscates enough examples juryrigged for micronized Malcontent crews, that both the pilots and mechanics of IG are familar with the aerospacecraft. Eager to bolster their airwing, Ice Guard makes a few internal modifications, redecorates the Gnerls in IG colors, nicknames them ‘Squamishes’(after a squall wind of British Columbia), and presses them into service. The Mean Rivals take to using them as target practice, claiming misidentification and ‘friendly fire’. Ice Guard continued to use them, however, needing the added air coverage the retasked Zentraedi craft offer them. Diminishing supplies of protoculture cells and growing official disapproval of Ice Guard’s rationed supply of them to power ‘enemy’ mecha, however, ground the ships before the time skip. After the time skip, Ice Guard converts the ships to SLMH propulsion(the conversion limits their endurance, but makes them much easier for the IG to service and maintain) and continues to use them.

The Ice Guard general aviation unit(mainly made up of older helicopters and VTOLs) is the SnowOwls(unit patch features a snowy owl with yellow eyes, wings outstretched against a dark blue background)

Ground Mecha Units:
“You are the most slovenly, mismatched, cockeyed, unprofessional bunch of so-called ‘soldiers’ I have every encountered. Your mecha are just as ill-pedigreed, and a more mismatched collection of tacked-toegther worn-out parts and illegal salvage I have yet to see in my life. But if you can draw fire and pass it back, I welcome you to Ice Guard.”

Ice Guard starts with a full cross-section of Macross-era ground mecha, albeit older examples. After much trial and error, and accidents, Ice Guard’s ground mecha units finally start getting the hang of the harsh arctic environment(much to the motorpool’s relief), though mistakes do continue to happen(most often among new transferees).
More than any other unit at Ice Guard, the Ground Mechanized squads are proactive in acquiring hardware from other sources, and in leading the IMU movement, kitbashing new mecha from whatever they can lay their hands on(at several points in time, in fact, Ice Guard gets mistaken for a Zentraedi Malcontent Stinger garage).
Ice Guard’s ground units have operated virtually every mecha unit they can lay their paws on, including UEEF, EBSIS, Zentraedi, and Tirolian hardware.

*HWR-00-Mk II Monster
Ice Guard started with no less than two ‘Heavy Howards’ nicknamed ‘Moby’ and ‘Happy Bouncer’. A third would be added from battlefield salvage found in an abandoned Zentraedi Malcontent encampment. Monsters didn’t fare too well in the arctic, and constant crashing through ice and bogging in tundra mud became an all too common occurrence, but their heavy firepower makes them too valuable to scrap. Thus, Ice Guard’s Monsters tended to stay at base, serving as artillery positions. Not to say that they didn’t sometimes stampede....

*MBR-07 Mk II Spartan
As arguably the most versatile of the base’s mecha, the Spartans were run hard, and got into the most trouble, The fact that they have HANDS means automatically they have a propensity for getting into the most trouble. Among the more telling shennanigans recorded amongst Ice Guards’ Spartan pilots(and often the reasons they were assigned to Ice Guard in the first place) include large scale kleptomania, juggling live heavy ordnance and/or irrate colleagues, scaling buildings, ‘misplacing’ equipment(like staff cars atop buildings), and making obscene hand gestures at superior officers. It’s a testimony to Ice Guard’s mechanics that at the time of the time skip, almost all of IG’s original complement of Spartans are still in operation, although some of them are real patchwork conglomerations of several other machines.

*MBR-04 MK VI Tomahawk
Walking artillery, Ice Guard’s Tomahawks are respected and envied for the sheer volume of firepower they can throw out. They are vital to Ice Guard’s mechanized operations. Unfortunately, they seem to attract either sociopaths or borderline psychopaths when it comes to pilots. Ice Guard mechanics spend an inordinate amount of time reloading depleted magazines, re-lining burned-out weapons’ barrels, and recalibrating targeting systems after yet another ‘full dakka’ event. Sneezing while hooked up to the hair-trigger nueral control systems of the Tomahawks is NOT advised, nor is it accepted as an excuse at Ice Guard for chewing up a large portion of the landscape for no apparent reason.

*ADR-04 Mk X Defender
Part of Ice Guard’s all-important defensive posture, the Defender destroids’ long range firepower is invaluable in keeping trouble away, far away, from Ice Guard. Ice Guard’s Defender pilots also took to taking up birdwatching and skeet-shooting as hobbies(although the latter often involved a number of objects NOT clay pigeons pitched up into the air). Those same pilots, however, often came to Ice Guard having an accumulated tally of ‘friendly fires’ as extensive as those of actual enemy units.

*SDR-04 Mk XII Phalanx
Ice Guard’s Phalanxes are arguably the garrison’s most important asset, as their missiles can hit targets well in advance of the slow plodding progress of the actual ground units, and even over the horizon. Furthermore, with enough warning, they were most effective air defense unis---as long as their stocks of missiles held out. After the abysmal showing of the Arbalist missile carriers, Major Jones ordered that keeping the base’s Phalanxes running was a top priority. Enough Phalanxes are assigned to Ice Guard, that IG mechanics start experimenting when missiles are in short supply; the most notable outcome of these experiments is the ‘SnoJob’(“STORMKING!!!!”) mobile atmospheric turbulence generator.

*CBH-4A1 Salamander
The Salamander was the first and the last of the ASC battloids that Ice Guard would receive as part any official equipment issuance, and predictably Ice Guard got a half dozen preproduction models that were no longer needed for trial-testing. Hard-worn and buggy, the Salamanders are nevertheless gamely used by Ice Guard pilots wanting for a ride, albeit with a lot of complaining about the hand-me-down nature of the battloids. However, their smaller size and lighter weight made them perhaps better suited for moving across the uncertain arctic terrain. After long days of adaptation and improvization, IG mechanics manage to make over the Salamanders into the more serviceable CBH-4IG Yeti configuration that would serve, post-time slip, as the model for reconstructed ASC battloids salvaged by Ice Guard.

*MBR-12 Mk. II Condor
Part of the disasterous 10th Mars Division comes to grief near the North Pole, where Ice Guard finds the remains of several MBR-12s. Having some experience with jump-capable battloids in the CBH-4IG Yeti, the IG quickly boneyards together a few working Condors and presses them into service as heavy scouts. Nicknamed ‘Nose Jobs’, the Condors prove a mixed blessing, their protoculture-powered systemry proving a logistical liability until IG mechanics switch them over to a bulkier, but more easily serviced SLMH-system, and replace the P-clip-fed weapons systems with alternate types.

*VHT-1 Spartas Hovertank
Like the Alpha and Beta Fighters, the VHT is known to Ice Guard only as a rumor prior to the time skip. Ice Guard’s subsequent acquisitions of the mecha are few and far between, and come with their own pilots, Resistance fighters or mercenaries. The Spartas are a welcome addition to the Ice Guard forces, especially with their mobility, but the open cockpits(at least until IG mechanics cobble up cockpit enclosures) are seen as a liability, especially after one pilot is incapacitated by a leaping bhu-bhu striking from ambush.

*VHR-2 Myrmidon
Similar to the VHT, the VHR-2 isn’t encountered by Ice Guard until after the time skip. Ice Guard is able to find/recruit a few more Myrmidons than Spartas, but the mecha is still a rare and valued asset in Ice Guard ranger units.

*Zentraedi Regults and Glaugs
Ice Guard started out with its share of TRACTs, robot drone conversions of salvaged Zentraedi mecha to be used as live fire training aides for UEDF soldiers. Major Jones found them so useful, however, that he authorized their use as recon probes and communications relays. High attrition rates and sabotage by the Mean Rivals, however, meant that Ice Guard was going to quickly run out of TRACTs, so they made their own from battlefield salvage. Along the way, the motorpool quickly converted a few to (micronian) manned operation, made a few cosmetic changes, added some tools(such as crane hoists) and pressed the resulting machines into action as ‘mobile utility lifts’. The Mean Rivals STILL managed to blow up a few(and almost the crews in them). The few surviving Regults and Glaug-based TRACTs left at the time of the time skip are held in reserve around Ice Guard as mobile observation and gun towers.

*Nousjadeul -Ger Male Power Armor
Ice Guard manages to salvage quite a few of these versatile units from Zentraedi wrecks and battlefields in the ice-locked regions, but claims to recycle most of them into TRACTs. In reality, Ice Guard mechanics are quick to recycle them into frankenmecha, converting them for micronian-use, and adding all manner of cranes and tool armatures. Nicknamed ‘Big Foot Destroids’, the NG-IGs(or also ‘Niggy-Iggies’) are often used interchangeably with Ice Guard’s Spartan destroids, and have just as many disciplinary problems amongst their crews. Their roomy cockpits also earn them reputations as ‘walking bachelor pads’.

*Queadluun-Rau Female Power Armor
The holy grail of Zentraedi salvage; in a rare bit of deliberate insubordination, Ice Guard actually sits on the few they find in the northern wastes(rather than turn them over), and don’t do anything with them until after the time skip, when they bring out their refurbished QR-IC ‘Mistral’ for use as a fast strike unit.

*Quel-Gulnau Recovery Pod
Like the Queadluun-Raus, nobody at Ice Guard talks about the fully operational Quel-Gulnau Recovery Pod they have. They do not talk about the underwater salvage and explorations ops they pull with it. They ESPECIALLY do not talk about the covert black market supply runs they make down to the Canadian coast or over to Scandanavia they pull with it. Nosirree. And they don’t talk about the all-too-close calls they had with UEDF ASW forces along the way. They really don’t want to think about those. They’re in enough trouble without being mistaken for Zentraedi Malcontents, thank you.

*Bioroids
One of Ice Guard’s treasure-trove finds after the time skip is a crashed Quiltra Draenitz transport and its partial complement of bioroids and stockpiles of equipment meant to reinforce the Tirolian beachheads near Monument City. It’s a sign of Ice Guard’s desperation to bolster their forces that they actually work to get the more intact bioroids into operation. The result is an adhoc homebrewed Bioroid Interceptor called the Sasquatch. The most radical chance is a switchover to SLMH power, necessitating the addition of a distinctive ‘backpack’ module to the bioroids; the changeover from protoculture reduces overall performance somewhat, but makes the revived Tirolian machines easier to service and harder for the Invid to target. Other changes include integrated secondary weaponry, such as machine guns or harpoon-launchers built into the forearms, or shoulder-mounted rocket launchers. The resulting hybrids have served to fill out Ice Guard's need for additional battloid units quite nicely. When available, working Bioroid Hovercraft have further increased the utility of these units, though not without some close calls from Resistance units remembering the Masters, or Invid sensing an old enemy.


Power Armor
“You know that thing’s got your head completely in its mouth? That’s one seriously tough helmet!”

Ice Guard initially started out with NO power armor of any sort, but as the environment got arguably worse, the IG found that the concept had considerable merit and bent their skills to either acquiring or building power armor. Whether homebrewed or battlefield-salvaged, power armor is becoming an increasingly important part of Ice Guard’s ground forces.

*PA-IG1---A homebrewed light exoskeleton with heavy armor, designed for dealing with the local wildlife. The ‘Hoobie-Suit’(apparently based on a pre-Rain armored suit) is touted as ‘Bhu-Bhu-proof’, and it isn’t all hollow boasting, as several wearers, badly scared but still sporting all their limbs, can attest. Adopted for use by security perimeter and vermin-control teams.

*CDRC-1 Unicorn---These ASC Civil Defense Corps power armors were never intended for polar use, but several dozen wound up at Ice Guard. Apparently Ice Guard was mistakenly(or all too truthfully) listed in an annual report as a ‘penal facility’, and a well-meaning, but confused, quartermaster forwarded the riot control mecha in order to upgrade the ‘wardens’ security capabilities for keeping the inmates under control. Ice Guard gamely put the power armors into service, made a few modifications, and found them pretty good machines, popular with the fire teams assigned them. The sonic disruptor system worked surprisingly well against the mutant wildlife, and the CCWS-001 proved very welcome in close combat. The CDRC-1 spawned the knockoff IGRC-1B with larger footpads and more lethal weaponry.

*HPSI-4 Fenris ---The ASC TC Cold Squad tends to be rather miserly with sharing their toys, especially specialized equipment like the Fenris, so Ice Guard didn’t get any of them until after the time skip. Ice Guard has since taken to grabbing up as many as they can lay hands on, even if it means hiring the current operators.

*Cyclones ---Cyclones are completely new to Ice Guard when they find one inside a wrecked Alpha Fighter. The UEEF’s efforts to supply Earth-side Resistance forces with guerilla mecha actually help out Ice Guard quite well, when they recover an orbital drop mean for Europe, but landed in Greenland. IG tends to reserve the protoculture-powered personal mecha for their ranger forces and special operations teams, but they’ve managed to kludge together, from salvaged wreckage of Cyclones and M-32 Hovercycles to produce their own SLMH-powered version of the VRM-32 ‘Typhoon’ Hover Cyclone. The ‘Ice Rocket’ quickly became a favorite with Ice Guard wilderness patrols.

[taalismn]

I'm starting to think Ice Guard is becoming its own civilization. And also the thought of the infantry having kids too. Oh God they are breeding sociopaths.

Indeed.
It's not just the infantry having kids either. I imagine once the Ice Guard vets realize they're (pretty much) on their own, they start looking at securing some happiness and building a future. In many ways, they may figure they're free; they've likely outlived most, if not all, of their traditional enemies back in the Warm.

But ultimately blame Kargan3033; he planted a seed that found fertile ground in frozen wasteland(and for some reason, the last few weeks, Ice Guard REALLY started rolling in my imagination, probably because I really needed a positive thing to focus on).

I'm already thinking of some essays or POV pieces on the activities of Ice Guard, the food of Ice Guard, and expanded profiles of characters, maybe recounted by various characters from their own POVs.

[taalismn]

Kiddos mec is an A-6 alpha in like new condition
Hana has taken to working in the mess hall norka sulsberry stake friday is a huge hit as well as Bhu bhu burgers

Oh yeah...Ice Guard gets inventive when it comes to food. They probably have the most extensive database on how to prepare blubber and seal jerky in the modern world.

[SRoss]

I suddenly have to wonder about those rumours regarding what REALLY happened to the Gura-Invid they captured for research.

[taalismn]

I suddenly have to wonder about those rumours regarding what REALLY happened to the Gura-Invid they captured for research.

Well, in the first page of this thread, I leave open the possibility of Mess Srgt. Alvarez crowing about "Alaskan King Crab' and he's shown trying to boil up an Invid Scout, though the timing on that was indeterminate.

However, you gotta consider that Ice Guard has to provide a balanced diet for their people year-round. Read the annals of arctic exploration to see how poor planning provision-wise led to all sorts of problems(scurvey, lead poisoning from improperly soldered food cans, etc.)--Antarctica was somewhat better, because by that time they had a better handle on proper diet requirements. Ice Guard's science teams do double time as dietary chemists, extracting valuable vitamin C from evergreens and other less-than-digestable plants, to bolster the pill stockpiles. And copying the eskimo practice of favoring certain animal organs as rich in particular vities and minerals is high on their survival guide.

Ice Guard's answer to Genesis Pits might be: "Wow, somebody opened up a SALAD BAR! And a BUFFET!"

[taalismn]

Fun idea for sprucing up Ice Guard....they may not get a Strike Force or Return of the Masters 2nd-gen mecha upgrade, but using the mecha from Macross 2 might be so implausible....Remove the rollers from the ground mecha, and they look like they could snowshoe. Oh, and look! Their MAC has hoverjets!
The VF-2J Icarus would make a great VF-1 development(especially, is, say, Ice Guard was collaborating with the Baltic EBSIS or inherited some of their fleeing engineering talent after the Invid Invasion)...excellent in-atmo characteristics, sleek looks(and it comes in blue!), energy-based weaponry. The downside is, the VF-2J lacks he sort of 'missile massacre' capability that would allow it to handle Invid mecha-swarms. But if you wanted to launch anti-shipping attacks with cruise missiles....

[taalismn]

More Critters of Ice Guard

“Wurm sign.”
“Oh good! I was hoping for some fur stockings!”

*Ice-Wurms---At first thought to be thawed-out ancient lifeforms, these giant 12-18 ft(though one reported speciman topped 25 ft long) furred vermiforms are now suspected of being cold-adapted rattlesnakes, complete with rattles, with a mean streak of boa constrictor in them. Using both poison and constriction to kill their prey, ice-wurms can be doubly deadly to the unwary. Fortunately, their rattles tend to give them away, and spotting wurm-sign in the snow can allow potential victims to escape, as a grown man can quickly outrun an ice-wurm. Hardshell body armor also helps, as the wurms cannot crush standard-issue body armor types. They are also fairly stupid predators on the subol, and some ice-wurms have been known to catch and swallow several of the mutant lemmings, before exploding in daisy-chain sequences.

*Krystalkraken---aka ‘Giant Glass Squid’. These predators are mutant giant squid who have taken to lurking under the ice cap during the day, using their giant eyes to watch for the shadows of activity on the ice above. They will then smash their tentacles upwards to seize unwary travellers on the open ice. Their nearly transparent bodies make them very difficult to spot underwater. Fortunately, krystalkraken are both rare and stick to deep water, rather than venture and feed closer to shore.

[glitterboy2098]

*You’ve Embarrassed Your Country, Service, or Unit
“Oh dear god...and in front of the UEG President too!”
Doing something that scandalized your organization is a good way to get shuffled off something where you’re not in the media’s eye, attracting reporters, and where you’ll be out of trouble until a) the furor cools down, b) you recant and repent, c) you vanish into obscurity, or d) the sun goes red giant and swallows the Earth.

sounds like a good place for a quote from the battletech forums;
"because you brought the Colonel's daughter back at 2 AM with her shirt on backwards. Smooth move!"
(originally used by Jadehellbringer to describe the kind of utter screw up a mechwarrior would have to pull to get assigned to an Uziel -3S )

[taalismn]

Somewhere out there, I'm sure I heard it right, but there's a quote about how a supervillian learns how to build an insane physics-bending device because he was sent to an insane asylum...where the mad physicists all are...so naturally they figure it out.
I thought it was 'Mystery Men' to describe Casanova Frankenstein but a quote search turned up nothing. I'm wondering if I saw it in an early script for MM or totally mis-identified it.
It would sum up Ice Guard's scientific community nicely, however.

[taalismn]

Second Generation Ice Guard
“We’ve being invaded by normal people! How are we going to handle this?!”

Second-gen Ice Guard are those who joined post-time skip, and as such, the requirements are a lot less stringent. 2nd-genners are survivors of both the Second Robotech War and Invid Invasion, survivors, renegades, and refugees who have sought shelter in the harsh north and found unexpected refuge in a place called ‘Ice Guard’. The only prerequisite to being a 2nd-gen Ice Guard is a reason for being wandering around the polar regions in the first place.
Arguably, though, 2nd-genners can be just as, if not more, demented and oddball than the 1st generation Ice Guard, albeit for different reasons. The younger carry the fresh memories and scars of the Second Robotech War and the Invasion. while the oldest still remember the Zentraedi Rain of Death as well. Heading north, rather than towards the warmer southlands, takes a further toll on the mental endurance of the hardiest of men. 2nd-genners are beguiled with PTSD, Survivor Guilt, depression, and paranoia. Given half the chance, many are in danger of slidding into alcohol- or drug-dependency(the very things many of the original Ice Guards were shipped up to get AWAY from), while others are already suffering such problems, and face the very real possibility of painful withdrawal in the absence of their chemical crutches. As welcome as the new skills, news, and perspectives that the 2nd-genners bring to Ice Guard, their very fresh wounds and unbalanced psychological baggage also bring tension to the close-knit society of the garrison.
There’s also a greater variety as well; displaced civilians looking for sanctuary, all manner of Southern Cross soldiers orphaned from their units, old Zentraedi Malcontents who have finally put down their hatred of micronians and are looking to come in from the cold, Tirolian renegades just trying to survive on an alien world, lost UEEF soldiers bitterly disillusioned by the outcome of their ‘great crusade’ to liberate Earth, escaped slaves and experimental subjects with ghastly alterations, and then there are any Sentinels who have come down as well.
The Lost---Wherever you started out from, you didn’t intend to wind up here in the middle of nowhere, out of your element. Maybe you were hoping to make for talked-about refuge in Asian Russia, and your vehicles broke down, maybe you were Tactical Corp Humid Climate Squad troopers taking a plane for rapid redeployment to Asia when your aircraft was shot down, or maybe you came from a lot further away and the Invid helped you bungle your landing. You got lost in the blinding white, until you found a sanctuary.
The Running---It doesn’t matter where; just away from what the Invid and the bandits are doing in the lower latitudes. Maybe on second thought running into the harsh cold wasn’t the brightest of ideas, but there’s no turning back now. And just as you thought you were ready to give up, you found a place that would take you in.
The Called----Something about the Deep North called you. Maybe it was the prospect of abandoned UEDF bases with possible stockpiles of military equipment that could be sold to the Resistance, or maybe it was a message from Santa Claus telling you in your head that only you could save Christmas for the children of Earth, but you came up north to find something...and you found Ice Guard.
The Angry---Your world’s been taken over and away from you and you’ve been forced into a protracted retreat, when what you want to do is attack, attack, attack, and deal those #@^%ers some of their own back! Anything and everything is seen as a means to accomplishing your long-denied payback, anybody you encounter is either a tool or a hinderance to your cause. Whether it’s the Invid, other aliens, or other humans, you’re looking to lash out and punch back! The Angry are perhaps the most dangerous to the stability of Ice Guard because they’re throbbing open wounds and raw nerves waiting to bloodily burst into fits of violence. The most extreme of this group want to strip Ice Guard of everything it has and mobilize for a sneak attack on Reflex Point, and even the most conservative of the Angry want more done to advance the Resistance. And with only the official rank of Major, Alex Jones may be called to the floor if any of the Angry include soldiers of superior rank who feel Jones is failing to live up to his service oaths.

Third Generation Ice Guard

“Yeah, my father once fought my uncle before he met my mother and they settled down and had me. Of course, you wouldn’t know my dad and my uncle were once bitter enemies; these days they go out bear-hunting together, Dad in his bioroid and Uncle Marco in his battloid. They take turns letting me ride and teaching me stuff like how to shoot and how to sneak and how to camouflage my position, and sing Tirolian chanties and recite the old Mexacali stories from the Warm...”

The 3rd-genners are the young offspring of the 2nd-genners, or the children of 1st-genners, who have come to know Ice Guard as the only real home they’ve had. They grew up listening to the crazy stories of their parents and extended family, and see nothing wrong with an uncle who blows stuff up or triplet aunts with group minds. They’ve grown up knowing the harsh cold and deadly landscape as their backyard and their normal. These kids have learned out to watch out for wurm-sign, put a thrown knife through a bhu-bhu’s eye, skin and dress the carcass, and recycle just about anything. They played with mecha parts and know how to fieldstrip personal weapons, and they certainly know which buttons NOT to push when they see something funky in Uncle Zomus’s laboratory. They know Praxian legends by heart, speak fluent Aleut and Zentraedi, and can read Tirolian. By the time the Regis leaves Earth, some of the 3rd-genners are just entering young adulthood and looking to see the world for themselves. Some want to see if there’s anything left of the world their parents described, while others already want to change it into something new.
Worse yet, some of the kids might be hybrids, or mutants, or mutant hybrids. Ice Guard’s doctors are tight-lipped on the subject, citing ‘doctor-patient confidentiallity’ clauses, which Major Jones and his senior staffers take as a mixed blessing; hopefully that means that Ice Guard isn’t in imminent danger of being ‘Akira’ed’ out of existence any time soon.
Third-Generation Ice Guard; proof of the human ability to adapt to just about ANYTHING. Also proof that given enough exposure, the definition of ‘everyday normal’ can be greatly twisted and tweaked.

[SRoss]

NOTABLE VEHICLES OF ICEGUARD

M-400B Replenisher Ammo Hauler---After the failure of the Arbalist, the IceGuard techs we're stuck trying to come up with a use for the M-400 chassises. The Replenisher was what they came up with. Basically, after removing the missile batteries, and most of the armour, they were able to mount a frame-work and mechanism to allow the rapid changing of Defender magazines. The unit backs up behind the Defender and the framework rapidly comes over the back of the destroid and swaps out the empty magazines for fresh ones. While capable of swapping both magazines at once, in combat, crews would practice hot reloading (swapping one magazine, while allowing the other set of guns to continue firing). The Replenisher is viewed as a mixed success (it still has problems with terrain), and the techs are currently working on a speed-loader for the Phalanx that will allow the Replenisher to reload that destroid as well.

*MBR-07 Mk II-X Boosted Spartan
Basically, IceGuard was accidentally shipped a supply Super Command Armour parts for VFs, rather then let these go to waste, the forward thinking, some say insane techs experimented with attaching the back pack units to a Spartan. There isn't much data on how successful this conversion is as only Avakuh Khan-Shung has been crazy brave enough to actually use the boosters in combat.

[glitterboy2098]

NOTABLE VEHICLES OF ICEGUARD

*MBR-07 Mk II-X Boosted Spartan
Basically, IceGuard was accidentally shipped a supply Super Command Armour parts for VFs, rather then let these go to waste, the forward thinking, some say insane techs experimented with attaching the back pack units to a Spartan. There isn't much data on how successful this conversion is as only Avakuh Khan-Shung has been crazy brave enough to actually use the boosters in combat.

these sound like fun.. though obviously they'd work better in outer space..
actually, i'd love to see some art of this kitbashed design...

also, i might steal it for an IMU in my invid era europe setting..

i would point out that you ought to be able to mount the leg and arm units on a Spartan as well.

though given the iceguard has VF-1's, i don't know why the parts would go to waste.

[SRoss]

NOTABLE VEHICLES OF ICEGUARD

*MBR-07 Mk II-X Boosted Spartan
Basically, IceGuard was accidentally shipped a supply Super Command Armour parts for VFs, rather then let these go to waste, the forward thinking, some say insane techs experimented with attaching the back pack units to a Spartan. There isn't much data on how successful this conversion is as only Avakuh Khan-Shung has been crazy brave enough to actually use the boosters in combat.

these sound like fun.. though obviously they'd work better in outer space..
actually, i'd love to see some art of this kitbashed design...

also, i might steal it for an IMU in my invid era europe setting..

i would point out that you ought to be able to mount the leg and arm units on a Spartan as well.

though given the iceguard has VF-1's, i don't know why the parts would go to waste.

The Super parts are not designed for atmospheric flight and the IceGuard doesn't generally go into space. That being said, the VF-1s would probably use the arm units for extra firepower. I actually got the idea from one of the GUNDAM series, where their ship, flying over South Africa is attacked by a trio of Boosted Zakus.

[glitterboy2098]

main reason i'm tempted to steal it is because it seems like a good way to add some extra light missile firepower to an old destroid.. and vs invid that's handy. plus it would have a nifty visual that would fit into the highly personalized 'knights' feel i wanted to go with for the mecha pilots of some of the warlord factions..

in terms of firepower though.. you'd have the normal 24 SRM's on the chest launchers.. plus those 40(? iirc) SRM's from the FAST packs..and another 6 on the arms if your using the full set. and IMO, while the FASTpacks wouldn't allow flight.. it would have one heck of a jump ability.. which is one reason to use the leg packs, they'd give better control in mid-jump.

plus being all SLMH powered, the invid ought to have trouble fighting back (plus if your careful on the camofluage and cover, you could sneak it around in invid patrolled areas more easily.)

[SRoss]

And the mental image of a leaping Spartan with the world's biggest Kukri knife is just priceless.

[taalismn]

[The Super parts are not designed for atmospheric flight and the IceGuard doesn't generally go into space. That being said, the VF-1s would probably use the arm units for extra firepower. I actually got the idea from one of the GUNDAM series, where their ship, flying over South Africa is attacked by a trio of Boosted Zakus.

You read my mind, SRoss. Ice Guard wouldn't have much truck with space combat augments*, though they DO use the Armored VF kits when available.

*(Ignoring speculation that FOURTH-generation Ice Guard will essentially take over and colonize every seemingly inhospitable cold-body planet, planetoid and cometary nuclei in the galaxy)

[taalismn]

Strike Force Mecha in Ice Guard
“Yeah, those are teeth marks on the leg armor. Dumb brutes.”

*MAC Mini-Monster
The IG’s sole Mini-Monster, Puzzle Box, came as a result of a disgruntled technician on the Mini-Monster development project leaving in a huff, but not before sabotaging the testbed machine so thoroughly that even after three complete overhauls and four software reboots, they were STILL finding logic bombs and booby-traps in the machine. Since the technician who installed all the traps apparently died(though they never recovered a body) in a drowning accident, the UEG Military Police couldn’t just shake him down for all he’d done. Rather than scrap it, some petty-minded wit had it sent to Ice Guard instead as a booby-prize, where it gave the mechanics up there bleeding headaches. That is, until Corporal Harrison ‘Shotgun Harry’ Miles climbed into the pilot’s seat. Miles seems to have tamed the walking booby-trap, or at least learned to work around its cantankerous behavior, but the machine acts up for any other pilot.

*Crusader Destroid
Ice Guard was completely unaware that they even HAD one of these machines until a headcount in the main garage turned up an extra mecha. It took four more days to find the pilot calmly sitting at a mess table, eating lunch. Self-declared ‘Lieutenant Darklith’ refuses to say how he snuck into base, how he got his rare stealth machine, or what he’s doing at Ice Guard, only that it’s ‘classified’.

*Aggressor and Guardian VTOL
Ice Guard actually got these vehicles nearly brand-new, but as part of a ploy by their Enemies in High Places to confiscate their VF-1s(this was after the Ice Guard turned in a spectacular success against some Malcontents in their area) and replace them with the less capable VTOLs. Though the Aggressor and Guardian types both proved surprisingly effective in the Arctic theatre, they were no substitute for Valkyries, and the Ice Guarders quickly saw through the plot. Some fancy talking and paperwork on the part of Major Jones allowed them to keep both their VFs and the VTOLs, but the Enemies in High Places, when they caught on, then suspended any new replacement VF-1s to Ice Guard. This forced Ice Guard to use the VTOLs as stopgap mecha for those pilots who lost their Valkyries, until the IG could get Amur-manufactured VF-1s from the Baltic EBSIS, or build their own from spare parts stocks.

*T-99 Surgut Battloid
Ice Guard has about a half-dozen of these machines, confiscated from, or assembled from battlefield remains of, Eastern EBSIS forces that have tried to assault Ice Guard over the years. Major Jones has them listed as TRACT units for anybody noticing the machines about base.

*VF-1X Veritech(aka ‘Xiggies’, ‘Vindicators’, ‘Vinnies’)
Ice Guard manages to find two VF-1Xes amongst the clutter and abandoned equipment of their Mean Rivals’ base after the time skip, along with evidence that the veritechs were meant to be tested by BOTH the units. Why Ice Guard never received theirs for field-testing isn’t immediately evident, but the date the VF-1Xes arrived on the facility should be close enough to the time skip that malice on the part of the Rivals isn’t necessarily a factor. In the absence of Ice Guard, the Rivals tested their machines, submitted their critiques, and got assigned the machines until they were eventually mothballed as the Rivals received more modern gear like Logans. The found VF-1Xes are hangar-queens that have seen some scavenging of parts, and they require some work to be made air- and combat-worthy, but nothing beyond the creative mechanics of Ice Guard, especially if they’ve already had a chance to look over an Alpha Fighter. The resulting fighters, which in manyregards end up bearing only a sueprficial resemblance to their original specs, become the basis of the VF-2XIG(‘Xiggy’, but more commonly known among the troops as the ‘Vindicator’ for some reason). The GU-1X railguns, however, turn out to be utterly unreliable in the anomalous magnetic fields of the Arctic, and will have to be replaced with some other weapon types(modified Zentraedi ZPR Rifles or EU-11 gunpods being the most popular, though it’s rumored that the Vindicators were also tested with a cut-down SF-3A Lancer single-barrle plasma cannon ‘carbine’, from workings somehow acquired by Ice Guard).

*RDF MDC Body Armor
These lighter, more protective derivations of the old hazmat armors are, by happy coincidence, available to Ice Guard, and serve as the standard protective suits, even after IG acquires ASC suits. A few modifications include better insulation, and overlaying trenchcoat- and cloak-style windbreakers. The RDF-MDC(L) and (H) models remain in service and limited production with the IG even after the time skip.

[glitterboy2098]

***the management is not responsible for wibbly-wobbly timey wimey problems stemming from strike force mecha being simultaneously exclusivley UEG designed and exclusively baltic EBSIS homebrew designs**

[SRoss]

Vearia & Lorina:---Invid Princesses who formerly worked out of the Siberian Genesis Pit. Vearia wondered on to the base in her blue Invid Commander mecha shortly after the battle of Reflex Point. An avid biologist and anthropologist, she's been considered a welcome addition to the science and medical departments since her arrival. Lorina arrived a day later in her red Invid Overlord mecha on a one Princess mission to rescue Vearia and even succeeded in fighting Grundgy and Kiddo to a stand still. Once Vearia calmed her down, she to joined IceGuard and much to Vearia's dismay has taken to annihilating mutant wildlife with glee. The two princesses are twins except Vearia has blue hair and wears a blue Invid uniform, while Lorina has red hair and wears a Red Invid uniform.

[taalismn]

***the management is not responsible for wibbly-wobbly timey wimey problems stemming from strike force mecha being simultaneously exclusivley UEG designed and exclusively baltic EBSIS homebrew designs**

"Okay, why are there VACUUM TUBES in the electronics bay of your Valkyrie?!"
"It's an off-brand model. Don't worry; it's an Ice Guard thing."

[taalismn]

Vearia & Lorina:---Invid Princesses who formerly worked out of the Siberian Genesis Pit. Vearia wondered on to the base in her blue Invid Commander mecha shortly after the battle of Reflex Point. An avid biologist and anthropologist, she's been considered a welcome addition to the science and medical departments since her arrival. Lorina arrived a day later in her red Invid Overlord mecha on a one Princess mission to rescue Vearia and even succeeded in fighting Grundgy and Kiddo to a stand still. Once Vearia calmed her down, she to joined IceGuard and much to Vearia's dismay has taken to annihilating mutant wildlife with glee. The two princesses are twins except Vearia has blue hair and wears a blue Invid uniform, while Lorina has red hair and wears a Red Invid uniform.

"Lorina!!!! I was trying to STUDY that for scientific purposes!!!"
"Vearia, it looked like it was trying to assess YOU for dietary purposes!"
"...I would greatly appreciate it from both of you if, when you ask me to hold something for you, you supply me with a longer pole to do it with, and, if you're going to blast something in front of me...please watch out where your overkill goes?"
"Sorry, Mister Tolliver."

[SRoss]

Vearia & Lorina:---Invid Princesses who formerly worked out of the Siberian Genesis Pit. Vearia wondered on to the base in her blue Invid Commander mecha shortly after the battle of Reflex Point. An avid biologist and anthropologist, she's been considered a welcome addition to the science and medical departments since her arrival. Lorina arrived a day later in her red Invid Overlord mecha on a one Princess mission to rescue Vearia and even succeeded in fighting Grundgy and Kiddo to a stand still. Once Vearia calmed her down, she to joined IceGuard and much to Vearia's dismay has taken to annihilating mutant wildlife with glee. The two princesses are twins except Vearia has blue hair and wears a blue Invid uniform, while Lorina has red hair and wears a Red Invid uniform.

"Lorina!!!! I was trying to STUDY that for scientific purposes!!!"
"Vearia, it looked like it was trying to assess YOU for dietary purposes!"
"...I would greatly appreciate it from both of you if, when you ask me to hold something for you, you supply me with a longer pole to do it with, and, if you're going to blast something in front of me...please watch out where your overkill goes?"
"Sorry, Mister Tolliver."

Yep! poor boy didn't consult the Colour Code before volunteering.

[taalismn]

Tolliver's main sin is that he wants to be HELPFUL. He's not the only 'sane' one at Ice Guard, but his desire to assert his normality by not being overtly paranoid, and actually be affably helpful, gets him into unintended amounts of trouble. Major Jones and Federoff recognize this, though, and have unofficially(using their limited official powers) promoted him out of the rump-rank he arrived with. In many respects, Tolliver is Ice Guard's version of Harry Kim.

[SRoss]

Tolliver's main sin is that he wants to be HELPFUL. He's not the inly 'sane' one at Ice Guard, but his desire to assert his normality by not being overtly paranoid, and actually be affably helpful, gets him into unintended amounts of trouble. Major Jones and Fderoff recognize this, though, and have unofficially(using their limited official powers) promoted him out of the rump-rank he arrived with. In many respects, Tolliver is Ice Guard's version of Harry Kim.

Of course you realize when one of the Gura-Invid Lisa's finally stumbles in to the IceGuard, she's now destined to choose Tolliver as her perfect mate...

[taalismn]

Yet another critter:

*Tyrant Crabs---Tyrant Crabs are mutant giant Alaskan crabs, a mix of king and spider types, each roughly the size of a compact car. They are fully capable of coming up on land for extended periods of time, but prefer to keep to deep water, scavenging vegetation and carrion. Their shells are tough enough that the native humans have started using their shells to make personal armor, and even Ice Guard is looking into using the chitin for shielding. Worse than tyrant crabs are when suitably large examples find a compatible mate---they fuse, shell to shell, to form a smarter, tougher, self-fertilizing hermaphrodite form known as a crablord, which can dominate lesser tyrant crabs and direct them in defense of a staked-out territory, especially against marauding pods of norca. Arctic Rocs are also known to hunt them, plucking them from the shore and carrying them aloft to drop them, in order to crack open their tough shells. Despite their fierceness, tyrant crabs are sought after by both the Gura-Invid and humans for both their shells and their meat, the latter of which is considered delicious.

[taalismn]

Of course you realize when one of the Gura-Invid Lisa's finally stumbles in to the IceGuard, she's now destined to choose Tolliver as her perfect mate...

Not Necessarily Canon, But Not Necessarily a Dream Sequence Either...

“At Last! We have found our perfect mate!” The gray-skinned brunette with the glowing green eyes smiled the smile of a predator that has finally run her prey to ground. “Our plans may now move to fruition! Come, my handmaidens, and greet our new consort!”
Out of the shadows of the inner hive appeared over a dozen women. Tolliver recognized several of them; missing UEEF or Resistance fighters that had vanished over the past several months. All of them were young and healthy, a fact made evident by the fact that not a one among them wore a stitch of clothing. They also all possessed glowing green eyes and a very....eager... look as they gazed at him.
“You, Toll-a-ver, will impregnate myself and all these others! Together we will engender a new hybrid species of unparalleled strength and vigor!”
Tolliver gulped. “And if I don’t...?”
“I feed you to my OTHER children. You will make them strong and vigorous regardless.”
There came the clacking of sharp mandibles behind him.
“How do I get myself into these things...?”

[taalismn]

More Inmates of Ice Guard:

*(Expanded) Lieutenant-Inspector Inne Spector(original series Ice Guard)---GMP recruit. Assigned to Ice Guard as part of internal security, but believes(believed) himself to be a deep-cover agent slipped in to keep an eye on any illegal activities being carried out by the personnel. In reality, he was exiled to Ice Guard for being such an obsessive noodge he was irritating the hell out of other GMP officers and interfering with real operations, Fastidious detail-collector with a mind-numbing capacity for noticing and memorizing seemingly trivial details...then stringing them into impossible conspiracy theories.
At some point it should come out that Inne Spector comes from a long line of cops(the western equivalent of the Zenigata family), and that young Inne was bullied mercilessly because of his name, so much so that he became an obsessive dirt-digger to get back at those who belittled him.
Spector starts to come around post-time skip, when he begins putting together the pieces that maybe he was set up as a patsy in somebody else’s schemes(mainly, maneuvering him out of the office) and he almost has a nervous breakdown about how after all his work, he’s been played for a yutz. However, it’s discovered that his massive body of gathered information is a treasure-trove of useful data, even post-time skip, and only he knows how it’s all organized.


*Linda “Lafftrac’ Laudry(original series Ice Guard)---USO performer and arguably the world’s worst stand-up comedian. Had the unfortunate habit of making inappropriate jokes at the worst times in the worst places. Her string of disasterous performances came to a crescendo when she made some stinging Minmei jokes in front of an audience of fanatic-fan Zentraedi. The resulting riot took a platoon of Civil Defense mecha to bring under control. Her agent finally booked her to a gig at Ice Guard, put her on a one-way trip, and abandoned her. She’s been at Ice Guard ever since, entertaining the troops.
She does have a good skill at hypnosis, however, that proves useful in surpressing some of the mental illnesses and obsessions of some of the Ice Guard members; she’s able to hypnotize Nurse Johnson to not immediately faint at the sight of blood(although, arguably the zombie-like state she assumes is among the most frightening bedside manners yet observed in the history of nursing).

*Harrison ‘Shotgun Harry’ Miles(original series Ice Guard)---Destroid pilot, transferred to Ice Guard after he used his mecha to shoot up a bar in Thailand in a fight over a prostitute, Unfortunately, the bar and the prostitute belonged to a local Thai crimelord, who happened to be the brother of a prominent UEDF commander in the region, Rather than risk a war with either the local organized crime cartel or the regional militia, UEDF SouthEast Asia Command sent Miles to someplace cooler and out of the way. The tempermental Miles has found a seat in an equally tempermental destroid, the base’s only ‘Mini-Monster’, a machine claimed to be possessed by the spirit of a vengeful technician.

*Millie Vanich(original series Ice Guard)---UEDF actuarial, former Miss Monument City contestant, and former secretary to CMDR. Toombs of Mauve Squadron, before she filled out HER OWN transfer to Ice Guard, having found working for Toombs so aggravating and sanity-testing she needed to escape. Shivering and filling out paperwork for a pariah unit sentenced to the middle of nowhere is actually a RELIEF for her(even though she’s had to hide from mutant arctic wildlife several times), and she finds Major Jones much easier on the eyes and nerves, too. Among her eccentricities is the fact that she’s outfitted one of the larger file cabinets as a capsule bunk where she can hide and sleep(this caused Major Jones a near fatal case of erratic heart palpitations when he first discovered this; for a horrible moment he thought Dr. Smith had moved the morgue storage into the Major’s office).

*Detrich Klench(original series Ice Guard)---Experimental UEDF cyborg soldier(use Ninjas and Superspies cybernetics and bionics). Considered a failure because his bionic limbs seemed to have an uncontrollable tendency to convulsively punch people out, including himself. Thought to be a psychosomatic condition on the part of Klench, although he’d previously passed his psych-evals. The failure of the program DID cause him to fall into depression, so much so that he was transferred to Ice Guard along with the other muck-ups. Detrich continues to struggle to prove that he’s not a cyberpsychotic walking timebomb(he’s partially right; the problems during the trials were the result of an enemy of the cybernetics program using a remote control waldo to usurp command of Klench’s bionic limbs), but he may have developed a few genuine psychological problems along the way.

*Lieutenant Sanisteen Darklith(original series Ice Guard)----The man introducing himself as ‘Lt. Darklith’ just appeared in Ice Guard one day, along with his MBR-010 Mk III destroid. Nobody knows how he got in, where he’s from, or what he’s doing at Ice Guard, and anybody inquiring will be met with a curt dismissal that details of his ‘assignment’ are ‘classified’, or by a mind-boggling list of cross-referencing acronyms and obscure organizational codes suggesting serious deep military intelligence. Even Federoff and Spector have been unable to dig up anything on the man, aside from the fact that the name ‘Darklith’ has surfaced in various parts of the underworld in reference to a shadowy arms dealer out of South America, an assassin in the North Africa sector, a political fixer serving in the Argentine government, or a suspected GMP-sponsored surveillance program, while ‘Sanisteen’ is associated with even more skullduggery. Others on base have ventured the idea that the man is a government spook fleeing a black ops gone bad, a high-rank Zentraedi officer laying doggo in disguise, or a psychops experiment gone lunatic. For his part, ‘Lt. Darklith’ just lounges around the base looking dark and mysterious, and occasionally assigning himself to the odd off-base mission that looks interesting(though he tends to vanish if fighting gets REALLY hot and dangerous).

*Joran “Barbarossa” Veton(2nd Generation Ice Guard)---This hardbitten Tirolian Legionnaire, survivor of the 2nd Robotech War, and wandering marauder, thought he’d raid a Terran settlement for supplies and tribute; instead he wound up staying for dinner, along with his men, and accepting a job as part of Ice Guard’s merry complement. The bald-headed, but crimson-goatee’ed, Veton constantly bemoans how he’s been ‘domesticated’ and how he’s effectively lost his nomad warrior mojo in exchange for regular meals, shelter, and handing off the headaches of command to somebody else, but he hasn’t split for the wastes yet. He pilots an Upgraded Red Bioroid with fully functional Hovercraft, but has added a massive broad-bladed cleaver-cutlass to its armaments. Veton is considered by many to be one of the three founding members of the ‘Slashers’, Ice Guard’s hardcore melee specialists.

[SRoss]

More Mecha of Ice Guard

MBR-11XB (Boosted) Gladius--Because the techs found a Strike back pack and Grundgy was feeling left out.

[taalismn]

More Mecha of Ice Guard

MBR-11XB (Boosted) Gladius--Because the techs found a Strike back pack and Grundgy was feeling left out.

He'll still try to lead from halfway back from the front(surrounded by ablative subordinates)...and he CERTAINLY will, after enemy mecha have been rendered helpless by the disruptor missiles, 'kick'em while they're down'.