Suggested reading and other sources for a merc campaign
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vitalis6969
Mongoose
Hammer's Slammers books...
-V
-V
justacaveman
Mongoose
Gordon R Dickson's Dorsai books.
Wow, the Dorsai books, I read a couple of them when I was a kid, I'll have to pick them up and thanks for the suggestion about Hammer's Slammers its been a long time since I read that as well.
Real world suggestions and tips from those with military service would be appreciated as well, I tried to title the thread military/merc campign but it was to long to fit the subject heading.
Real world suggestions and tips from those with military service would be appreciated as well, I tried to title the thread military/merc campign but it was to long to fit the subject heading.
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, in particular "Warrior's Apprentice", "Mirror Dance", "Borders of Infinity" and "Brothers in Arms". These (and her other science fiction books) are thoroughly reccommended reading for any Traveller campaign - the tech match and feel is very similar, including no FTL radio (No FTL anything - travel is by fixed wormhole).
"Brothers in Arms" in particular has a focus on the financial side of running a mercenary fleet, in particular what happens when the money hasn't caught up and you have to scramble to cover costs.
"Brothers in Arms" in particular has a focus on the financial side of running a mercenary fleet, in particular what happens when the money hasn't caught up and you have to scramble to cover costs.
These came to mind:
Hammer's Slammers: First one that popped in my head. Great reading for a Traveller merc campaign. Most are short stories so you don't have to read an entire novel. Modern military feel placed in a future setting. Ground warfare.
Starship Troopers: Great book considering the battle dress discussion. The book has details about training in and use of what could easily be considered uber-battledress. About half of the book is political, not military, but still may be my favorite milscifi book.
Honor Harrington novels: I've never read these, but from all of the talk I've heard on Traveller forums, this has to be a good source for Navy Traveller campaigns.
Mote in God's Eye: Another good book for Navy Traveller campaigns. Lots in the book seems to have directly influenced Marc Miller and Traveller down to some of the lingo. The affiliation of Traveller nobles and the navy may have come from this book.
Stephen Ambrose WW2 novels: I know not scifi. But, books like D-Day and Band of Brothers have loads of ideas for creating military scenarios. You just need to be able to convert them to a scifi setting (a.i. Normandy beach invasion becomes an orbital drop on a planet by space Marines).
Hammer's Slammers: First one that popped in my head. Great reading for a Traveller merc campaign. Most are short stories so you don't have to read an entire novel. Modern military feel placed in a future setting. Ground warfare.
Starship Troopers: Great book considering the battle dress discussion. The book has details about training in and use of what could easily be considered uber-battledress. About half of the book is political, not military, but still may be my favorite milscifi book.
Honor Harrington novels: I've never read these, but from all of the talk I've heard on Traveller forums, this has to be a good source for Navy Traveller campaigns.
Mote in God's Eye: Another good book for Navy Traveller campaigns. Lots in the book seems to have directly influenced Marc Miller and Traveller down to some of the lingo. The affiliation of Traveller nobles and the navy may have come from this book.
Stephen Ambrose WW2 novels: I know not scifi. But, books like D-Day and Band of Brothers have loads of ideas for creating military scenarios. You just need to be able to convert them to a scifi setting (a.i. Normandy beach invasion becomes an orbital drop on a planet by space Marines).
Gonna go old school on you here, but Space Vikings and Uller Uprising by H. Beam Piper come to mind. There are also a number of other books he writes that fit well into the high-tech forces fighting against lower-tech ones (and not always winning...). He never wrote about energy weaponry (wasn't around) but the guns and missiles can easily be adapted to Traveller tech. They are available free from http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/p#a8301.
Depending on how you want to run your campaign, there's a great book in the Renegade Legion series called Damned If We Do that's about grav tanks and fighting behind enemy lines (which can get messy when you are talking grav vehicles).
Depending on how you want to run your campaign, there's a great book in the Renegade Legion series called Damned If We Do that's about grav tanks and fighting behind enemy lines (which can get messy when you are talking grav vehicles).
Sturn, thanks mate, really appreciated, I've never read Starship Troopers, just seen the god awful film but I've heard the book is really different so will give it a read.
Mote in Gods Eye was one of my favourite novels when I was growing up, I was a big Niven fan when I was a kid (still am in fact re-read Ringworld recently and enjoyed it as much as I did when I first read it).
The Steven Ambrose books are exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.
Phavoc, wow, thanks for the link, I've wanted to read H.Beam Piper for years and never have been able to find any of his books in stores, even second hand.
Mote in Gods Eye was one of my favourite novels when I was growing up, I was a big Niven fan when I was a kid (still am in fact re-read Ringworld recently and enjoyed it as much as I did when I first read it).
The Steven Ambrose books are exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.
Phavoc, wow, thanks for the link, I've wanted to read H.Beam Piper for years and never have been able to find any of his books in stores, even second hand.
Jeff Hopper
Mongoose
Jerry Pournelle's mercenary stories of John Christian Falkenberg. Great stuff. Not only has good action, but also gives an indelible image of mercenary life along with decent reasons why wars happen which require mercenaries.
superc0ntra
Mongoose
-Starship Troopers, great book, crappy film.
-The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Gives interesting points on technological advancement during space conflict where travel takes years during deep sleep.
-The Bolo series, cybertanks in the future. Don't remember who wrote them though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo_%28tank%29
-The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Gives interesting points on technological advancement during space conflict where travel takes years during deep sleep.
-The Bolo series, cybertanks in the future. Don't remember who wrote them though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo_%28tank%29
alex_greene
Guest
This is more about mercenary warfighters than the regular Army-O. I'm going to be drawing from my research and comments I received from various servicemen here, so expect the details to sound somewhat more prosaic than the flashy SF romances recommended above.
Whether you're in some ground pounder infantry Division or assigned to a Cavalry unit, a merc is a whole different animal to the kind of soldier who draws the King's shilling.
For one thing, the government soldier only draws a shilling. The mercenary gets paid in guineas.
A character becomes a merc because his ticket stipulates a large sum of pay for his services, possibly with bonuses for particularly outstanding work - which, in this case, may mean "saving the hiring company a fortune."
The Company, or Consortium of companies, hiring the merc unit has one objective for your unit in mind - to further the company's / companies' interests.
The thing is, no matter how much you and your unit get paid, or how well-equipped, you are the cheapest, most economically-viable option available. Every operation your character goes on is done with the bottom line in mind. Waste no ammo, or as little as possible. Save whatever resources you have, because the bean counters at the top will be checking and if you go over budget, they dock it from your shares at the end of the contract.
Pretty quickly, mercs learn a most important lesson from this. Don't use up your own ammo. Kill a native, steal his gun and use up his ammo instead.
And that's basically it. Sign up for a one year contract, watch your back, do as you're told, go where you're told, try not to get yourself killed, keep your head down and then come home to the missus driving a posh car.
Just don't expect there to be anyone weeping over your fallen comrades on Veterans' Day, because you're not a veteran. You're just a merc. And there's no such thing as Mercenary Memorial Day.
Whether you're in some ground pounder infantry Division or assigned to a Cavalry unit, a merc is a whole different animal to the kind of soldier who draws the King's shilling.
For one thing, the government soldier only draws a shilling. The mercenary gets paid in guineas.
A character becomes a merc because his ticket stipulates a large sum of pay for his services, possibly with bonuses for particularly outstanding work - which, in this case, may mean "saving the hiring company a fortune."
The Company, or Consortium of companies, hiring the merc unit has one objective for your unit in mind - to further the company's / companies' interests.
The thing is, no matter how much you and your unit get paid, or how well-equipped, you are the cheapest, most economically-viable option available. Every operation your character goes on is done with the bottom line in mind. Waste no ammo, or as little as possible. Save whatever resources you have, because the bean counters at the top will be checking and if you go over budget, they dock it from your shares at the end of the contract.
Pretty quickly, mercs learn a most important lesson from this. Don't use up your own ammo. Kill a native, steal his gun and use up his ammo instead.
And that's basically it. Sign up for a one year contract, watch your back, do as you're told, go where you're told, try not to get yourself killed, keep your head down and then come home to the missus driving a posh car.
Just don't expect there to be anyone weeping over your fallen comrades on Veterans' Day, because you're not a veteran. You're just a merc. And there's no such thing as Mercenary Memorial Day.
.
alex_greene
Guest
Might I further recommend Janissaries (Niven / Pournelle)?
Also the following two links might send you off on tangential directions which, nonetheless, paint a more realistic portrayal of the livelihoods and expectations of uniformed personnel serving in a military or paramilitary unit:-
The Virgin Soldiers
Dog Soldiers
Also the following two links might send you off on tangential directions which, nonetheless, paint a more realistic portrayal of the livelihoods and expectations of uniformed personnel serving in a military or paramilitary unit:-
The Virgin Soldiers
Dog Soldiers
