Sunday 8 April 2018

The New Argentina Campaign: 01. Skirmish at Sodden Rump

The Duchess, (who had a background in some of the various space corporations that were mentioned earlier - namely, Verdurous Corporate (VerdCorp) ) arrived in the system shortly after Phobia made its phenomenal leap from the grim darkness of the far future to the mildly sunnier side of the near to present. She arrived, along with her cherished daughter and her three sons with a ramshackle fleet of barely space worthy vessels. As it turns out, she had stormed out of VerdCorp after an especially unpleasant divorce. It just so happened that she had been a part of an especially heated (not to mention expensive) corporate tribunal where she had been ousted from her position of Corporate Director, by none other than her husband in a nefarious (but bloodless) coup. He was now CEO of Verdcorp... But at least she got custody of the children! 

Now, upon arriving on Phobia and discovering the Duchy of Kalitzfornia she immediately named herself Duchess and assumed control. The now disposed Duke of Kalitzfornia did not seem so miffed about this sudden change in events, in fact, it is said that he was positively relieved to be rid of the office so he could continue his interests in commerce. That is, of course, another story. 

However, the important thing to note is that the People, or the representatives thereof (most likely the latter, there is a distinct difference) seemed to resent this change. (It most likely didn't have anything to do with the actual circumstances but rather simply change in general).  

Therefore, the People's Representatives (otherwise known as the Old Kalitzfornian Army -- OKA) began what they hoped would be a protracted war of resistance against the Duchess. They even went so far as forming their own political party in the hopes that they would be arrested by the foreign government and thus instantly turning them into martyrs, however sadly (for them) all that happened was that the party, the People's Representatives Party (PRP) simply didn't get any votes... 

Old photo of OKA troopers found in a scrap-book in an antique shop in the village of Small Kitchen.


But enough blurb, it is time for some action! 

OKA troopers often resorted to pillaging the countryside for supplies and hiding out in the woods to avoid being caught by the numerically superior forces of the Duchess.



The OKA soon became not very A-Ok with the Duchess, however she had scant resources to deal with them. Her forces were stretched very thin as it was, and those very forces were not always ideal for taking roles in counter-insurgency. 

The majority of the troops at her disposal were members of the Kalitzfornian Naval Brigade (KNB) who had been reassigned to temporarily acting as the main Kalitzfornian military troops until a formal military could be created (at the time of writing, there is NO Kalitzfornian military, as well as no official fleet...)

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"The first rule of the Kalitzfornian Navy is that there is NO Kalitzfornian Navy!" -- Exert taken from a speech delivered by one Admiral Bara'Kuda. 

Please note that Admiral Bara'Kuda was later stripped of all lands and titles following the discovery that he had in fact been embezzling Ducal Funds to finance a secret cult within the ranks of the Ducal Navy, known simply as "the Fight Club". There is no information available at this time about the "Fight Club" as no known members are willing to make any comment on it, simply stating that "There is NO Fight Club". As annoying as this is, this kind of behaviour is typical of such unruly fellows, a trait that is not encouraged in the Ducal Navy by any means. The views presented in this article do not represent the actual views of the Ducal Navy and only express the authors opinion. 

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The first real clash in what is now known as "The New Argentina Campaign" took place in an unremarkable piece of countryside on the fringes of the Sodden Rump Forest. Nobody knows why this forest is known as Sodden Rump, but I can assure you that my researchers in the Ducal University of Saggy Knees are hard at work doing there best to discover the answer. 


What we do know about the skirmish that took place on the fringes of the forest when elements of the Kalitzfornian Naval Brigade and a couple of Ducal Askari Infantry clashed with a small base of OKA troops, was that it was a Ducal Debacle that will live on in the minds of the great military minds of the Duchy as possibly the most embarrassing defeat in their short history (no doubt the KNB when it is at last transferred back to the Navy will attempt to leave this shocking attempt at combat in the Military Records, thus transferring some part of the blame... but we shall have to see.)


KNB to left and right. Askaris in the centre. 


Shaky aerial footage taken by drone of the outskirts of Sodden Rump Forest.  

The KNB objectives were to seize the well (bottom centre), the OKA camp (top left) and some semi-obscured ruins (top right).

Indeed, with planning like this, it is difficult to blame the poor KNB... they were trained for boarding actions by damn! 


The KNB deployed smoothly, one squad moving to secure the well while the other and a squad of askaris prepared to traverse the forest, heading for the ruins.

The OKA wont back down this easily and prepare for action! A sniper with a ridiculous anti-tank rifle ascends a rickety watch tower hoping to get a better line of sight while an assault team (left)  moves off towards the ruins and a rifle team (right) prepares to contest the well.

As a KNB squad moves forward, the OKA sniper lines up a shot...


Bam! To the great surprise of the KNB squad (and possibly the sniper), a trooper is hit! First Blood to the OKA and the beginning of the disaster for the KNB...

Meanwhile the rest of the Ducal forces make their way through the woods, sprinting from cover to cover. Then a KNB squaddie trips and falls and the unit is temporarily pinned as they try to get him back on his feet.


The OKA rifle team advances behind the cover provided by an overgrown hedgerow, steering towards the well.

The OKA sniper sees another opportunity and takes the shot with disastrous consequences for the KNB squad caught momentarily in the open as the squad attempts to get the soldier who tripped back onto his feet. Unfortunately, no amount of coaxing will make that man get up now... or ever again... 

Meanwhile the OKA assault team that has been sneaking towards the objective ends up taking fire from the Ducal forces, however their tough armour combined with the cover provided by the woodland undergrowth will see them through... this time...


OKA troopers moving up on the objective are hit by incoming fire, with one man going down and not getting back up again.

Sound the Charge! OKA assault troopers close to melee with their opponents, having faith in their specialist training to see them through.

What a bloodbath! Both sides took a casualty and these two fought each other to a standstill, before eventually backing away to catch their breath and reload their weapons.

Back at the well, the remaining OKA trooper advances praying that his buddy with the anti-tank rifle is watching his back. However, the OKA sniper is not watching the troopers back, he is in fact too busy popping off head shots as he brings down yet another KNB trooper.

Finally, maximum disaster strikes as the askari squad try to be useful by charging into combat with the surviving assault trooper! But lo and behold, more DISASTER!
At this point the askari were hoping to simply mob the lone KNB trooper and pin him down with their weight in numbers, possibly forcing him to break off the combat and flee. Essentially this tactic was sound and might have actually worked if the KNB trooper hadn't simply killed ALL THREE!


In one last ditch attempt to seize the day, the remaining KNB soldier by the well launched himself forward towards the OKA rifleman. Unfortunately that man had excellent reflexes and gunned him down immediately. 
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DISASTER STRIKES AT SODDEN RUMP! TREACHEROUS OKA AGENTS AMBUSH DUCAL FORCES! READ ALL ABOUT IT! 

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Thus concludes the first scrap in the minor conflict of The New Argentina Campaign. Serious disaster for the Duchy and a big knock to their burgeoning military confidence. (To be fair OKA wrecked the Ducal forces... the sniper outperforming my highest expectations and the assault trooper going on an unbelievable rampage. 

The KNB Master and Commander is not impressed!

Meanwhile the OKA forces retire back to their camp, some of them in need of immediate medical attention! The fight went well for them... this time. But even so, there was no way that they could win in a war of attrition... they needed allies...

To be continued... (next post to be expected sometime in the grim darkness of the far future...)
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Yes I know its a lot... couldn't think of any other ways to do it, although I might have to experiment... Anyways, thanks a lot for reading! If you have any thoughts or suggestions please leave a comment!


Also I would very much like to welcome both  mr airbornegrove26 and to the Governor General (The Duchess sends her regards XD). Both of your blogs are excellent and inspirational! Thank you!


Regards,
Joshua

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