While I've started a discussion about the general nature of the Solomani armed forces in the past (found here), it was mostly focused on the Solomani Army. I've decided to open a more focused discussion about the Solomani Confederacy Marines (SCM), starting with an overview of the relevant cannon material.
AND
So, the way I see it, the Solomani Marines are ship troops first and foremost, used to give ship captains a ground-combat capacity to use when nescery, be that for boarding, ship security, or handling ground combat when the naval force is the only, or main Solomani military presence around.
Having the Marines as part of the Navy would probably have other implications, especially when ship-troop units are considered, such as the Navy possibly handling part of the logistics, transport, fire-support and artilery (in this case, ortillery) needs of the attached Marine units; that would create relativey "top-light" formations, atleast in small (Company or less? Battalion or less?) ship-troop units, as the Marines will use their mother-ship's Medlab rather than have their own Clearing Station, eat at their mothership's galley, use their mothership's ortillery capacity rather than have attached light artillery, use their mothership's small craft for close-in fire support and so on. Larger units would probably have their own services and support structures to a degree, though parts of their support structure would still be handeled by the Navy.
AM6: Solomani p.16 lists the Marine rank structure, which is still different than the naval one, denoting a certain difference in tadition and organization. Both have the same rank structures as the Imperium depicted in the CT-LBB1 CharGen tables.
AM6: Solomani p.16 also lists the Marines having INT and DEX as the attributes giving them positive DMs to enlist, unlike the Imperium (CT-LBB1) which has INT and STR; that would be fitting for a primarily ship-troop force, trained for Zero-G ops, rather than for prolonged planetside combat.
AM6: Solomani p.17 lists the Solomani Marines' skill tables, and those have one glaring difference from the CT-LBB1 Imperial tables: Solomani Marines get NO Blade Combat skills, atleast under the basic chargen system - no Cutlasses for them! Instead they have Gun Combat and Brawling.
AM6: Solomani p.17 also states that Marines recive Rifle-1 as their automatic skill (instead of the Imperial Cutlass-1), and Marine Lieutenants recive Autopistol-1 (instead of the Imperial Revolver-1). Well, it seems that the Solomani Marines are less traditionalist than the Imperial ones, doesn't it?
Well, this support my theory - no Marine Armor or Artillery here (unlike Imperial marines, as depicted in CT-LBB4 p.5); these needs are provided by the Navy.
AM6: Solomani p.34 shows the Solomani Marines' Assignment Tables, and they are more liky than their Imperial counterparts to serve as Ship Troops; they also do not have a Garrison asignment, unlike the Imperial ones (so who gaurds Solomani naval installations? Naval security troops?)
AM6: Solomani p.35 gives the Solomani Marines' extended CharGen MOS tables. The first difference between then and the (CT-LBB4) Imperial ones is that the Imperial tables have a +1 DM according to the TL of the force (even for Marines!), while the Solomani tables have a +1 DM according to rank; this probably means that the Solomani Marines are probably more uniform technologically than their Imperial counterparts. Also, While Imperial Marines have Heavy Weapons, Forward Obs and Battledress in their MOS, their Solomani counterparts have Admin, Liaison and Vacc Suit instead; the lac of Battledress and Heavy Weapons probaby denotes them being light infantry rather than heavy infantry, and the Liaison skill seems to fit a Marine force working in close coordination with the Navy, but why do they have Admin in their MOS (unlike all other branches of the Solomani Armed Forces)?
Under Solomani and Aslan (p.31), Solomani Marines *CAN* get the Battledress and Heavy Weapons skills, though they are under the "Special Combat" cascade, along with many other Marine-relevant skills (such as Zero-G and Forward Obs). Is this a change in concept or an artifact of the cascade-heavy MT system?
AM6: Solomani p.35 also shows that the Solomani DO have a different rank structure from the Imperium for their ground forces, though the diferences are almost only in the enlisted ranks; the only difference in the Comissioned rank structure is that the Solomani have a Brigadier rather than a Brigadier General.
AND
This would also have implication for the Solomani Army and Marines as well, as less gravitic vehicles would be used by the Solomani than by Imperial forces, not to mention grav-belts. In many cases, a Naval small-craft would probably replace the traditional G-Carrier, though I coud easily envision the Solomani Marines using Aliens-style wheeled APCs.
On the other hand, Solomani and Aslan (p.38) lists a Grav-APC ("Combat Lander") which is said to be "popuar with the Confederation Marines".
This is a point of similarity between them and the Imperium, unike the Zhodani.
(AM6: Solomani p.13)
AND
(Solomani and Aslan, p.29)
So, the way I see it, the Solomani Marines are ship troops first and foremost, used to give ship captains a ground-combat capacity to use when nescery, be that for boarding, ship security, or handling ground combat when the naval force is the only, or main Solomani military presence around.
Having the Marines as part of the Navy would probably have other implications, especially when ship-troop units are considered, such as the Navy possibly handling part of the logistics, transport, fire-support and artilery (in this case, ortillery) needs of the attached Marine units; that would create relativey "top-light" formations, atleast in small (Company or less? Battalion or less?) ship-troop units, as the Marines will use their mother-ship's Medlab rather than have their own Clearing Station, eat at their mothership's galley, use their mothership's ortillery capacity rather than have attached light artillery, use their mothership's small craft for close-in fire support and so on. Larger units would probably have their own services and support structures to a degree, though parts of their support structure would still be handeled by the Navy.
AM6: Solomani p.16 lists the Marine rank structure, which is still different than the naval one, denoting a certain difference in tadition and organization. Both have the same rank structures as the Imperium depicted in the CT-LBB1 CharGen tables.
AM6: Solomani p.16 also lists the Marines having INT and DEX as the attributes giving them positive DMs to enlist, unlike the Imperium (CT-LBB1) which has INT and STR; that would be fitting for a primarily ship-troop force, trained for Zero-G ops, rather than for prolonged planetside combat.
AM6: Solomani p.17 lists the Solomani Marines' skill tables, and those have one glaring difference from the CT-LBB1 Imperial tables: Solomani Marines get NO Blade Combat skills, atleast under the basic chargen system - no Cutlasses for them! Instead they have Gun Combat and Brawling.
AM6: Solomani p.17 also states that Marines recive Rifle-1 as their automatic skill (instead of the Imperial Cutlass-1), and Marine Lieutenants recive Autopistol-1 (instead of the Imperial Revolver-1). Well, it seems that the Solomani Marines are less traditionalist than the Imperial ones, doesn't it?
(AM6: Solomani p.32)
Well, this support my theory - no Marine Armor or Artillery here (unlike Imperial marines, as depicted in CT-LBB4 p.5); these needs are provided by the Navy.
AM6: Solomani p.34 shows the Solomani Marines' Assignment Tables, and they are more liky than their Imperial counterparts to serve as Ship Troops; they also do not have a Garrison asignment, unlike the Imperial ones (so who gaurds Solomani naval installations? Naval security troops?)
AM6: Solomani p.35 gives the Solomani Marines' extended CharGen MOS tables. The first difference between then and the (CT-LBB4) Imperial ones is that the Imperial tables have a +1 DM according to the TL of the force (even for Marines!), while the Solomani tables have a +1 DM according to rank; this probably means that the Solomani Marines are probably more uniform technologically than their Imperial counterparts. Also, While Imperial Marines have Heavy Weapons, Forward Obs and Battledress in their MOS, their Solomani counterparts have Admin, Liaison and Vacc Suit instead; the lac of Battledress and Heavy Weapons probaby denotes them being light infantry rather than heavy infantry, and the Liaison skill seems to fit a Marine force working in close coordination with the Navy, but why do they have Admin in their MOS (unlike all other branches of the Solomani Armed Forces)?
Under Solomani and Aslan (p.31), Solomani Marines *CAN* get the Battledress and Heavy Weapons skills, though they are under the "Special Combat" cascade, along with many other Marine-relevant skills (such as Zero-G and Forward Obs). Is this a change in concept or an artifact of the cascade-heavy MT system?
AM6: Solomani p.35 also shows that the Solomani DO have a different rank structure from the Imperium for their ground forces, though the diferences are almost only in the enlisted ranks; the only difference in the Comissioned rank structure is that the Solomani have a Brigadier rather than a Brigadier General.
(CT-LBB8, p.14)
AND
(Solomani and Aslan, p.37)
This would also have implication for the Solomani Army and Marines as well, as less gravitic vehicles would be used by the Solomani than by Imperial forces, not to mention grav-belts. In many cases, a Naval small-craft would probably replace the traditional G-Carrier, though I coud easily envision the Solomani Marines using Aliens-style wheeled APCs.
On the other hand, Solomani and Aslan (p.38) lists a Grav-APC ("Combat Lander") which is said to be "popuar with the Confederation Marines".
(CT-LBB8, p.14)
This is a point of similarity between them and the Imperium, unike the Zhodani.
