Monday, September 14, 2015

The Buffet Assault Group

That was the name of a little, 1-man corp I had in EVE Online (the corp's description was: Coming to a Golden Corral near you...). I created it (1) because the name amused me (it came out of an in-game convo of some sort) and (2) so my alt character would no longer be subjected to the endless stupidity of the NPC chat channel. However, with the sale of that alt. the corp died...in EVE. It will soon live again however, via my 15mm Gruntz army.

As I said last week, I hadn't read any of the fluff for Gruntz, but that didn't stop me from making my own, and still amused by that name, The Buffet Assault Group has now landed in the realm of 15mm and is awaiting its first recruits (who are still out in the mail somewhere).

Any similarity to Golden Corral's logo is purely coincidental...

Like most Merkz units, The Buffet Assault Group was formed around a core of retiring Interstellar-military Gruntz. Unsurprisingly, they were fed up with the low pay, poor equipment, lousy living conditions, and especially the bad food provided by their employers. Fairly typical complaints that many, if not most in their profession (both friend and foe) could easily relate too. Pooling their resources and expertise instead of reenlisting, they formed their own Merkz unit instead.

Dubbing their new outfit: The Buffet Assault Group (after an inside joke of some sort), and referring to themselves as 'T.B.A.G.erz', they built their unit around the core ideal of Merkz FIRST!. Merkz FIRST! doesn't mean that they're afraid to stick their necks out when the shit hits the fan, but rather that their Merkz are well taken care of both on and off of the field in terms of training, equipment, living standards and (perhaps most importantly) the food needed to be really good too!

Overall, the Group's combat prowess isn't exceptional when compared to their competition. However  the one area where they do excel, is in offering potential employers a fighting force of Merkz who are both highly disciplined (Because if you're a fuck up, you're out! and you know that other Merkz units won't be nearly as good to you as we are!) and of exceptionally high morale. That's something even interstellar-government forces can't offer! Happy Merkz tend to stay out of trouble, and the Tbagerz have had few issues with the 'locals' during their contract deployments thus far. There have been suspicions surrounding the Group's so-called BlackOps platoon on occasion, but no evidence of criminal activity has ever been proven. 

Whilst numbers will always vary, The Buffet Assault Group tries to hold its numbers to an understrength battalion consisting of a combat infantry company (the 'Alphas') and a support  company (everyone else). This small size makes them better suited to corporate installation and/or small settlement defense. That said, they are capable of (limited) offensive operations in all ground based environmental conditions.

The Buffet Assault Group operates as follows:

Alpha Company: The proverbial 'boots on the ground'. The Alphas are the best 100 (or so) men and women who will get your shit done! In battle they wear armored Haz-Suits and are armed to the teeth! The Merkz of Alpha Company pride themselves on being the 'meat and potatoes' of the Buffet!

Bravo Platoon (a.k.a.: BlackOps): Bravo platoon like to think of themselves as the 'Black Heart and Happy Soul' of the Tbagerz. The menergie of specialists in Bravo are in charge of medical care, supplies and logistics, and of course, there's the vaunted cooking staff! If the Tbagerz need it, Bravo gets it! Always via all of the appropriate channels of course! If those channels run dry…well, Bravo comes thru anyway. Don't ask how, they just do (which has led to the platoon's unofficial 'BlackOps' moniker).

Charlie Platoon: Charlie is Command! Every officer regardless of which company or platoon that they're in, technically belongs to 'Charlie'. Meaning the Charlies are responsible for everything! From long term 'stratergy' and tactics in the field, to training, negotiating contracts, taking care of and maintaining the discipline of their Merkz, running interference for Bravo, and administrative bullshit up to and including paper pushing, Charlies do it all. Whilst they're called Charlies by everyone in the battalion, the Charlies often refer to themselves as the Migraine Platoon.

Delta Platoon: Delta is the unit's vehicle troop. Delta members like to say that 'Alpha may be the meat and potatoes, but Delta is the gravy'. Delta operates and maintains the Group's combat vehicles, mechs, 'toys' and the Groups' beloved Golden Corral (a refurbished military aero-space landing ship named for an ancient Terran Buffet restaurant chain). To keep everything running smoothly, Delta works closely with Bravo platoon, and sometimes so closely that all to often the Charlies can't figure out who belongs to which platoon!

:-)

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