Thinking About the Brutes

Medieval War Elephant

The Brutes are the barbarian faction on Mars. The theme for Brutes are Massive and Tough creatures, weak shooting and strong melee.

We will designate any humanoids as Brutes.  Players can represent them with any kind of alien, barbarian or monstrous model -- Orks, Kroot, Ogres, Ancient Celts, whatever.  Brutes come in many sizes (and species): small Brutes, Brutes, Large Brutes, Huge Brutes and Enormous Brutes.

	Approximate Size	Toughness
Small Brute	Human	0
Brute	Orc	1
Large Brute	big Orc	2
Huge Brute	Ogre	3
Enormous Brute	Giant	4+

We'll call any non-humanoids Beasts. These aren't intelligent species, but the Brutes may use them as mounts or helpers.  We will likewise categorize them as Small Beasts, Beasts, Large Beasts, Huge Beasts and Enormous Beasts.

	Approximate Size	Toughness
Small Beast	Dog	0
Beast	Horse	1
Large Beast	Rhino	2
Huge Beast	Elephant	3
Enormous Beast	Dinosaur	4+

A typical squad will consist of about twenty Brutes. (By default these will all be regular Brutes, but other sizes may be substituted or intermixed.)  Each Brute will be armed with an RoF 1 gun and RoA 2.  Their weapons will have a Massive rating to match their Toughness.

Mathematically, then, a Brute squad will have firepower roughly equivalent to a squad of Free Humans or Colonists, but will be a bit more than twice as hard to suppress and aborb twice as many casualties. It will be much more effective in melee than in firefight.