Ideas: Shock Troops and Irregulars

Hi, my thoughts for two new types of units are all about infantry.  It’s just a few of my thoughts.  Feel free to expand on them or make other suggestions.

Shock Troops.  The purpose of a shock unit is to have something to break up the enemy with an initial assault so that it can be destroyed while broken in morale and disorganized.  The Germans knew this well and gave their Stormtroopers a position of prestige, but neccnecessity had other countries use their equiequivalentn America, the first real shock troops were the famed foot cavalry of the Stonewall brigade during the Civil War.  During the first World War, the troops in the white leggings (the Marines) where referred to as shock troops because of their tenacity.  Further back, even Sun Tzu made mention of “extraordinary forces” which would be optimized for offense.  In the A&A CMG, these could have an advantage in advancing and may even cause an automatic disrupt if they move into an enemy hex.  Maybe they could even have a movement bonus.
Ideas for the units:

SS Liebstandarte. 1940
Although it later became an armored unit, the Führer’s own was an elite unit with obvious political ties.  Thus they were very highly motivated as the best of the best.

Marine Raiders.  1942
Known for their harsh training, even my Marine standards, and their assault on Edson’s ridge at Guadalcanal, the Marine Raider battalion and their actions have passed into legend.  The common misconception is that these were the predecessors of the recon units, but those already existed and developed on their own.  This unit was able to

Ranger Regiment.  1944
These were the men who scaled the seawall at Normandy, and have been the Army’s finest light infantry ever since.  Their history actually goes back (traditionally) to the Revolution, and Rangers today still learn the standing orders of Maj. Robert Rogers.  As with the Raiders, they were well trained and extremely mobile.

Elite Infantry.  1941
The Imperial Japanese Army was truly a remarkable force.  Equipment shortages, bad assignments, and bad chow were all part of life for these men.  Like the crack soldiers of Gen Kuribayashi’s defenders of Iwo Jima, the most experienced of Japanese soldiers would fight with determination comparable to the Spartans at Thermopylae.  This was, in no small part, because of the belief that it was a sacred thing to die in the service of the Emperor.  If they did have one weakness, it was that they would underestimate an enemy they didn’t understand.Â

Irregular or unconventional units would be those that may have had a different motivation for fighting, but were absolutely loyal to their ideologies.  What they lacked in training and equipment, they made up for in their flexibility and fanatacism.
Irregular fanaticismommunist Guerilla.  1939
RecruiGuerrilla rural regions of China, the guerilla’s of Mao gained guerrilla’s fighting the Japanese which would aid them in their sweep to power.  Highly motivated and single minded, they should fight well in adverse terrain but would be equipped with whatever they could find.

Hitlerjungen Defense.  1945
During the battle for Berlin, the German Army fought with remarkable professionalism even with the downfall of the Reich.  Most feared by the Soviets, however, where the young men who had spent their entire lives in the Third Reich.  These boys, often no older than 12, would appear out of nowhere and were extremely motivated.  Bonus would be “low profile,” or ability to displace in the urban environment.  Maybe a bonus when attacked in an urban hex.

Russian Partisan.  1942
The early defeats of the Red Army made it a necessity for anyone of able body to fight the invader.  The Partisans were especially hated by the Wermacht because of their activities such as train derailing and unexpectedly showing up.

Shinshu Militia.  1945
Okay, this one’s fictional, but the Japanese people were as indoctrinated with loyalty to the Emperor as much as their cities were designed as defense structures.  The fictional part about this is that there was no ground assault on the Japanese homeland, due in large part to the unrelenting fanatacism of the people, and a lonfanaticismof fighting over and for Shinshu (or the ultra nationalist name for Japan, “Land of the gods”).

To go about that, maybe instead of having individual unit morale, they can have a general morale scale.  It would be a sliding marker on a bar with half a side green and the other gray.  That would be to represent overall troop morale, and it would be based on number of points lost by having lost units, key points on the map, and so on.  For alternate scenarios, like attack and defend, morale would be shifted heavily in the defender’s favor, but would plummet if a major point is taken.

That’s just IF morale came into it all though.  The tactical usages of Shock troops and Guerrillas are enough to warrant their use.

Right now I was just putting forward ideas for the nations that already are in the game, but if they include Croats under other Axis nations then I’m all for Serb Partisans.