"Getting onto the ground" Topic

Even with more advanced technologies than are available in a Victorian Science Fiction setting it will be difficult to get a foothold on top of an alien Hive. The aliens can have active units on the surface or have hidden units just below the surface or deep within the Hive that can use tunnels to more about secretly and fairly safely.

So how would an initial landing zone be established? In one game the landing force hit right on top of a hidden unit. As the lander's ramp came down the the bugs got initiative and stormed aboard. The ensuing melee resulting in the troops and crew being eaten. It was ugly.

So how would my VSF guys (or higher tech forces) get a toe hold? I was wondering if their should be a special hardened capsule that drops in and acts like a fortress.

link

Bombs are always a good start. Bomb a known tunnel opening until it is a former tunnel opening and establish your beachead there.

Yes and to add to that, lots of ammo and additional ships looking for the back doors and covering them with gattling guns and cannon.

Drop the VSF version of a daisycutter first.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLU-82

which can destroy near surface cave/tunnel complexes.

Land troops, find entrances, drop or pour semi-liquid gas.

Dust off and hover to lay down mad minutes from the airships, return, send search and destroy teams into the tunnels to set explosives, retreat, dust off, detonate, then have a second flight 'cavedusters' lay down something like Agent Orange, then minelayers paradrop large and small landmines. Next mapgrid, repeat.

All the while fighting a plethory of beserk and organised Bug Swarms, 'Captains Without Eyes', wrong map coordinates, weather…..and Hollywood having a Painfully Bright, Sexy Governess with Strategically Ripped Clothing trying to rescue Noisy Annoying Children that will make such a row that EVERY Bug will zero in on you.

Or just send in Ensign Ripley-she has a handle on these sort of things, you know. That's why she's a Club member…more port, Higgens.

A VSF Mineral Detector could be reconfigured to 'dowse' for creepy-crawlies.

Prep the LZ with some type of bug gas bombs or aerial spray.

Since you actually need to kill the bugs (as opposed to suppressing humans), I'd have to vote for chemical warfare. Either flamethrowers or poison gas, maybe both.

Chlorine gas would be simple and within HQC tech levels, as would hydrogen sulfide (H2S). H2S would be known from mining.

Slow-burn explosives (like coal dust) would be quite amusing in a tunnel complex. They're basically thermobarics, fuel air explosives.

Painfully Bright, Sexy Governess with Strategically Ripped Clothing

Which is often the only redeeming feature of some Hollywood films…

But on topic: The US Army's field manual on air assault operations (FM 3-99) goes into length about using preparatory fire to clear the LZ before inserting troops. Close air support, naval gunfire, or field artillery would be employed first, allowing the infantry to land, deploy, and secure the LZ before proceeding.

Since you're talking about tunneling creatures, I suppose some form of aerosol or liquid insecticide would be necessary, even if it's non-lethal (like when the USMC used tear gas to clear out NVA strongholds in Hue). You just need to move them clear of the LZ long enough to establish your airhead (don't laugh -- that's a real thing! Much like a beachhead, but for air assault ops), so something like ammonia or even vinegar might be sufficient to disrupt the bugs.

As mentioned earlier, the real challenge is keeping the bugs from popping up inside the LZ perimeter, which is why I'm expecting chemical weapons en masse.

PDF link

In case someone wants a copy of the current FM

Is there a British Army manual?

Like a feint landing at one place, while the true one happens at another?

In SciFi deception seems so much harder to pull off, for a landing on a bug planet, I can see some groups sacrificing a large number to get the bugs committed then striking in another location.

Maybe some type of thumper drones each one making the vibrations of 10-15 soldiers, or a tank, that land and start assembling, each with a Tac nuke for when they are pulled under or swarmed.

Here is my current though. Before the game starts a number of daisy cutters will get dropped. Each landing zone gets a daisy cutter. The human players will have a few turns to get to those locations before the bugs can get back into the areas.

I will mark the locations on the terrain at the beginning of the game. The bugs won't be able to reenter those areas for a given number of turns, and the humans won't know how many turns it will be before the bugs can get back in.