Imperial Army Classes

Every soldier in the Imperial Army is designated an infantry "class" based on their academic and physical capabilities. Their gear is often stand with the class, although many soldiers choose to customize their gear depending on their preferences.

Marksmen

Spoiler:

Marksmen are the most common class in the Imperial Army, and act as medium infantry. Wielding AGC-15s, marksmen can take down targets at medium to long-range effectively, and have a decent rate of fire. Marksmen tend to pick between carrying a sidearm, such as an AP7, or extra grenades for the AGC-15's under-mounted grenade launcher. If a soldier forgoes an under-mounted grenade launcher, they are issued "Slayer" motorized bayonets for CQC situations. These bayonets can be removed from the rifle and used as knives.

Marksmen armor is comprised of two different key elements. The fabric portions of the outfit are made of an extremely strong fabric material referred to as "Dragons' Skin". This provides high mobility at the joints. Titanium-Yakaium Grade C armor plating is the composition of the durable armor pieces worn by marksmen, which includes a breastplate, shoulder guards, knee guards, elbow guards, shin pieces, and forearm pieces. Pouches on the sides of the pant store grenades and other items, while slots on the breastplate allow for soldiers to keep spare ammo clips in easy reach.

Snipers

Spoiler:

Snipers are specialized solders best equipped for taking down enemies from long range, staying out of the direct line of fire. The one and only sniper rifle used by the common sniper is the OVSR-1 by Bismarck Manufacturing. Troops in arctic conditions are issued the ECTK-344S, although Imperial Army regiments most often leave arctic fighting to the Imperial Marines.

Sniper outfits are rather lacking in armor, actual armor pieces only covering the elbows and knees. The rest of the outfit is simply the fabric "Dragons' Skin" clothing.

Automatic Riflemen

Spoiler:

Automatic Riflemen, while retaining the same armor configuration as marksmen, are outfitted with a Light Machine Gun, such as LPMG-9. Additionally, the breastplate armor of Automatic Riflemen has an extra number of attachments hooks lining the bottom, as the ammo packs used in LMGs are larger and more cumbersome than those of used in carbines and rifles.

Heavy Weapons Squads

Spoiler:

Two-man teams tasked with operating weapons larger than traditional small-arms are referred to as Heavy Weapons Teams. These teams may be equipped with a variety of heavy weapons, such as rocket launcher tripods, Rapid-Cycling Auto Guns (normally attached to the track-guards of tanks), and plasma cannons. Their armor is equivalent to that of CQC specialists, as Heavy Weapons Squads are often shot at more than regular infantry.

Bomb Disposal Troops

Spoiler:

Tasked with removing IEDs, unexploded ordinance, and other bombs, Bomb Disposal Troops are outfitted with massive, bulky disposal suits, armored from head to toe. A small shield generator located in the armor's back helps absorb a small part of an explosion should a bomb go off while being diffused. While the trooper is heavily armored, the suit is not powered like those of Imperial Marines, and thus is very cumbersome and difficult to move in. Men in bomb disposal suits are only able to wear the suit for an hour or two before it becomes too hot on the interior for the soldier. Bomb Disposal Troops are lightly armed, with an AP-7 at best. Most only carry their scanner and hardened field datapad instead of carrying extra weight in the shape of weapons.

Grenadiers

Spoiler:

Grenadiers specialize in lobbing grenades into enemy positions. Outfitted with the same armor as Marksmen, Grenadiers carry around seven grenades each, in addition to the grenade launcher that most of the troops of the class prefer. Troops who are designated as grenadiers are most often picked out during training for having an exceptional throwing arm.

CQC Specialists

Experts in Close Quarters Combat, CQC troopers are issued submachine guns and shotguns, in addition to thicker and more-covering body armor plating. CQC troops will often move from cover-to-cover, attempting to get as close to the enemy as they can before firing on them. In battles involving trench-warfare, CQC specialists will occupy the first and second lines of trenches, with marksmen and snipers occupying trenches in the back.

Field Engineers

Spoiler:

Field Engineers are troops who move forward with infantry to maintain and make repairs to friendly armor, in addition to providing technical support. They often carry CQC weapon, but are issued the same armor as Marksmen. Some Field Engineers are equipped with Electronic Warfare packages, which allows them to jam enemy radios and disable enemy computer systems.

Ooooh! I like the retro feel... it feels like a combination of modern and WW-II... (mainly from the only combat helmet in LDD ) These are some really nice lookin' suits!


It's all great save for two things:

1) the bomb squad armor should easily be able to incorporate climate control.
2) there's no picture on the CQC specialist.

Whining aside, these are some SERIOUSLY cool uniforms!

Nice work! And the weapons mentioned are all those guns you posted earlier, right? Very cool!

Yeah, I took all of the photos, and was posting, when I realized I had shotguns and submachine guns as weapons in my database (so that answers Arik's semi-question. ) I'm way too lazy to go back and take photos, so basically just picture the grenadier, without the big satchel charge or grenade or whatever.

As for tactics and aesthetics, you pretty much nailed it, Dino. The Imperial Army, composed of about one billion (this isn't including branches such as the Navy, Marines, Special Forces, etc.) is big enough that it tends to use WWII-era tactics, combined with modern technology.

And, just as a side-note mostly to myself, I really like how the LMG for the automatic rifleman class came out.

Re-posting pics is a pain, and I have a bunch of other awesome guys to drool over, so I'm happy

That's a good sized army (though reasonable for galactic warfare)

And the LMG IS absolutely epic...