"Need a Name" Topic

I have started planning out my own range of sci-fi troopers.

The planet is a second generation colony world and infrastructure is poor at best.
A few of the more established towns, camps, settlements have joined together to fund a small force of essentially police / militia to look out for them.

These towns are small so the budget for the force is small.
Just a handful of troopers and a single class of vehicle with a few weapon variants.
As the colony world grows and the towns grow so will the budget and so will the force.
However I will be releasing figures based on the very first few weeks they went live.

Now, what name?

I want a name where the initials trip off the tongue.

The RDF – Regional Defence Force is my favourite of the moment but RDF is not cool.

If your name is sooo mega cool that I use it I can be persuaded to send you some of the miniatures when they are made if you are happy for me to use the name.

Any thoughts?

Michael.

How do these sound?
District Interdiction Force – DIF
Sector Security Team – SST
Sector Patrol Force – SPF

Marine Interplanetary Landing Force . . . wait . . . never mind.

;)

Silliness dispensed with, I actually think RDF sounds pretty cool!

Shawn.

United Militias UM

Central/Consolidated Militia CM

Central/Consolidated Defense Force CDF

Central/Consolidated Security Force CSF

Central/Consolidated Police Forces CPF

I'm not sure if those are what you're looking for…maybe something less generic, so I'm throwing in various gov'ts/associations.

Federal Police Force FPF

Unified Gendarmie UG

(Or, Gendarmie Unifie GU)

Unified Colonial Police UCP

Royal Colonial Constabulary RCC

People's Security Force PSF

People's Municipal Police PMP

Unified Popular Militia UPM

Unified Colonial Sheriff's Department(s) UCSD

PAD – Provinical Area Defence

PDF Planitary Defense Force. Or Poor Deluded Fools for the folks that don't like em.

How about these: Colonial Militia, Regional Defense Force, (Planetary name) Department of Public Safety?

Citizens' Unified Militia?

Sorry, couldn't help myself…. ;-)

Sorry, couldn't help myself…. ;-)

I have heard this about you!
Never mind it happens sometimes, NOTHING to be ashamed of!

:P

Occasional Federated Militia.

The Frontier Rangers. Or just the Rangers for short.

Marines of Space?
Guards of the Imperium?

How about :
AB : Alta Brigade (also for you, Angel Barracks)

A line of thought.

We're essentially dealing with a mix of people who gravitate toward policing, some farmers who want to defend their fields full of soylent white, a few conscripted townsfolk, and any military sorts that came along with the original colonists. This means that the group isn't full on military, and aren't actively fighting the population. They're just there to keep the domestic peace and defend against whatever domestic criminal elements there might be on-colony. Naming a group like this with no real "teeth" would fall into a few different categories

-We're the Military, for real:
Colonial Interior Defense : CID
Colonial Enforcement : CE

-We're just like you:
Peace Officer Volunteer Corps : POVC
Volunteer Security Corps : VSC

-We've got Political Goals:
anything involving "People's" (see nvdoyle's good suggestions)
anything involving the word commitee
People's Justice Commitee :PJC

-We've got religion
Keepers of the Vigil :KoV
Haven Brotherhood : HB

-Get offa my lawn!
Border Enforcement Officers : BEOs
Containment Specialist Corps :CSC

PygmaelionAgain, good categories.

I actually like RDF as well…

Although, if you say something too many times it sounds funny.

RDF RDF RDF RDF RDF….

RDF sounds okay to me too.

does as well though, so perhaps you need to take that into consideration…..

How about ICDC – Interplanetary Civil Defense Corps or as they are more commonly known as the "icky dicky"

What about the QLH? (quick lets hide)

Dom was on to something.
Just Citizen Militia.

Just watched mad Max… Main Force patrol ( MFP)

LWDG – Local Warranted Defense Guard (Slang = Lawdogs)

Rapid.Intervention.Patrol

or

Regional.Intervention.Patrol

The Welcoming Committee.

Liking RIP.
Will have a think around that.

Angel Defence Force
Angel Defence Rangers
Angel Assault Marines

Angel Special Service (ASS)

Consolidated
Activities
Security
Patrol

Call them CASPers.

Lets them fill both a local policing role and targets for when heavy military shows up.

Whilst I like your ASS it is a bit too me-centric!

CASP is good too.

Great ideas

How about Colonial Defense Force?

Or Colonial Rangers

Colonial Organized Special Corps – Operational Youth force – or the famous Colonoscopy

Local Defense Volunteers

Colonial Carabinieri

Gendarmerie Local

Bullet Sponges

Colonial Overt Protection Service

… after all, that's what they are !!!

You might like the Angel Special Service, but I'm telling you they're no better than bandits….

Oooh, I like "The Justice League"!

What? Why are you all looking at me that way?

Regional Security Volunteer Patrol (RSVP)

I'd need more info. As a slapped together volunteer militia whose duties seem to be more law enforcement/local defense (against bandits, etc.), they'll likely pick a dramatic name based on their cultural antecedents. Such as:

[Name of Planet] Rangers (as in "Texas Rangers") or Marshalls
[Name of "tough" indigenous wildlife] , such as Wolverine Patrol
[Name of founder/ captain]'s Militia

The above assume a culture descended largely from American pioneer state sources. But if their cultural antecedent is something different, another name might arise:

Planetary Posse Comitatus (PPC)

[Planet's Name's] Paladins or Cavaliers

The Fyrd

Scottish:
[Planet/Founder/Captain] New Highlands Patrol (or "The New Highlanders")

Irish:
Garda Síochána na [Name of planet, which should be Gaelic]

India:
[Planet's] New Gurkha Guard, or "The New Ghurkas"

France:
[Planet's Name's] Chevaliers

Other cultural references would take more thought and a bit of research, but you could easily imagine names based on Japanese culture, Chinese culture, Arabic culture ("Defenders of the Faithful" or "Warriors of the Prophet"), etc..

What sort of cultural antecedent did you have in mind?

Call them the Land Watch Volunteers. Colloquially they are sometimes known as L-Dubs (pronounced El Dubs).

Alternatively they are Pioneer Civil Security.

What sort of cultural antecedent did you have in mind?

A bit of everything, this colonised planet has various settlements, each made up of various Earth nations.

One settlement for example is only about 24 people but has over 6 Earth nations present in its populace.

I should point out that they (the armed force) take themselves very seriously and think of themselves as a proper armed force.
A.S.S. is not suitable or M.I.L.F, though they did make me chuckle!

They are also in a small geographical area and I want this to be reflected in the name.
The Regional Defence Force or Interior DF suggests that the force is for the 'locals' which has been chosen to inspire faith in the locals that that they are there to protect them
So naming them after the planet will not be suitable in this case.

By small area I mean a few thousand square miles.
So about the size of Wales or New Jersey.

The settlements are a combination of farmsteads, private colony projects, small company off world branches and the odd accidental settlement that came into being from a crashed ship.

The forces gear has been purchased from a recognised arms company albiet basic lower spec kit.

The planet is rich in fossil fuel and unique plant life that is used in the pharmaceutical industry.

The area is akin in climate to the UK.
So mostly crappy with the odd burst of not too crappy.
Good for farming though.

Some people say that the force is being funded by EarthGov as it is cheaper than keeping a Military Fleet Vessel (in this case the M.F.V. Wellesley) in orbit around the planet to enforce Earth law.

What do they know they eh?

Hope that helps a bit.

EDIT:

Oh by the way, I don't think I ever stated it was a volunteer force, it is not.
These people get paid.
How much?
That is another matter…

I like RDF too. Does it have some cultural context in other lands?

Battalion Area Defense Force.

Officially BADF but they think of themselves as :Badass

I like RDF too. Does it have some cultural context in other lands?

Real lands or fictional within my game world?
If real do you mean like IRA or the IDF ~(Israel Defense Forces) or similar?

Not really. Just wondering if you were against it due to some context clear to those in UK but not to the rest of us.

nah.
Just thought it was not cool enough.
Seems people like it though!

Well its no "Death Korps of Krieg" thank goodness : )

Fill in the blank Security Forces if you have a specific place name or just Settlement Security Force or as a privately funded operation Secure Arms Inc. then.

District Guard would work for offering a bit of pride to the unit by being Guard. The region would be using this as a means to continue the regional organization of the area into government. And it could be called the Diggers, sorta Earth colonial in a way…and a bit more positve than a police/army/ruling type name.

(isn't RDF the USMC Rapid Deployment Force or similar?)

Nice to know that my ASS is liked!

Oh by the way, I don't think I ever stated it was a volunteer force, it is not.
These people get paid.
How much?

Not enough, but that's a given for any soldier throughout history!

With all those different nations, what's the common language/culture? [Queen's] English?

Well, I'm abusing the "4th Foot-and-Mouth" for a different project, but I'd lean towards naming them [Region] Guides. Yes, like the Queens Own Guides from the northwest frontier.

Tooting Popular Front ….

Slightly more sensibly, Planetary Law Officer Department , or PLOD……

Just use the AK47 rules to generate the words then sort them into order :)

Homeland Guard?
Guardia Civilian?
United Defence Force?

Mick

Frontier Border Infantry?