The 76th Independent Battalion (Part 4) by Tristan

TALK STORY

The 76th Independent Battalion (Part 4)

POSTED BY: TRISTAN
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 16:53
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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 6:00 AM

Greetings! This is the discussion thread for the newly-formed 76th Independent Battalion. We are planning on marching in the DragonCon parade as a Battalion of Independent soldiers.
Last threads:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=25575
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=25503
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=25393
And our new website (thanks, BWTP!):
http://76thbattalion.homestead.com/index.html

I'll see if I can get all of the relevant data in this first post...

We have agreed that it is important to be at least somewhat uniform in appearance...vests, coat or smock, helmet, and weapon...at least close in pants, shirts, and boots. As the war progressed, the Independents seem to have become very hodge-podge...I was aiming for a relatively new group...haven't really had their edges dulled too far yet.
These are photos from the series and the Companion Guide that we are basing the costumes from:

A similar pair of pants that most of the soldiers seem to have worn can be found here:
http://www.wwmerc.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=CM83&type=store&catego
ry=3930
These are the pants I used for my Mal costume...all that needs to be done is a bit of hemming and adding the stripe down the side. You don't have to use these pants, but they are the closest within a decent price range.

Vest:
Tristan is designing one now:

There is still a lot of work to be done, and I may end up changing the way the lines are on the front...go for the simple three-lines and stick with that for everyone.

Chainmail Sleeves:
Artcat is testing out these directions http://upstagereview.org/CostumesArticles/Chainmail.pdf and will be making chainmail sleeves on a limited basis, possibly making a make your own sleeves kit available if there is enough interest.

Helmet:
BabyWithThePower has found an inexpensive Russin helmet that looks very good:
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/LEG140-1717-628.html
They are currently out of stock, but BWTP will let us know when they re-stock.

Boots:
Not really a problem. Mid-calf or knee high boots. Shades of brown would be good.

Scarf:
Depending on what campaign, apparently. Mal wears a blue scarf and Zoe wears a red scarf in Serenity Valley. Tracey, Mal and Zoey all wear red scarves in Du-Khang. As we are our own Battalion, I think we should pick one color and stick with it. We am open to suggestions.

Belts and ammo packs etc:
Look around. A brown belt isn't hard to come by, and holsters are relatively easy to find. SAXON has a large number of holsters available.. saxon1014@hotmail.com for more info.

Patches can be found here:
http://mysite.verizon.net/resp06h7/
AND
www.OutToTheBlack.com will has fully embroidered Independent patches. The star is a navy blue, which is the color in the Firefly Companion book.

Gloves: Up to the individual

Weapons:
This subject has been gone over in great depth in the last thread. I have opted for the generic G36, of which I purchased two different brands:

BrownCoat1 found a more correct version on airsplat, but the price is a bit higher:

Either weapon is alright, but for the sake of uniformity, let's stick with the G36 look. By this I mean let's not have anyone running around with an AK-47 or M16.

Sidearms were also discussed, and it has been decided to leave that to the discretion of the individual. I'll let BrownCoat1 sum it up for us:

Quote:
I find no reason to believe that an Independent army, formed by volunteers from border planets would be all that different. It could be that Mal's pistol was an individual weapon Mal either brought with him, was issued, or found on a dead soldier. I would think it highly likely that other browncoats carried personal weapons as well. I think we should try to stay unified to a point on uniform and long arms, but that if individuals want to add sidearms, knives, etc, it should be okay. It would give us that frontier, individual feel of the browncoats. Unified for a purpose, but still individuals.

There is a lot more we have been discussing...flags, costume pieces, ranking, etc. I'll try to keep adding to this when I get time. Thank you to ArtCat for beginning the "cut and paste" info!

-EDIT-
Boy, have I missed a lot....

We have a patch!

I think the details on that are still being worked out, but there you are.

I also believe we have agreed to wear the Independent patch on our right sleeve/shoulder and the 76th on the left.

BoomerGoodheart will be making lanyards for sale to the 76th, with "76th Independent Battalion" on one side and "We Will Hold the Line" on the other. (Thank you for those!)

Still looking for more stuff I have missed....

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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 6:07 AM

BABYWITHTHEPOWER

Alright folks, I did some digging (and I plan on doing alot more) but my initial find to have our own custom guidon made is $170 single sided, $250 double sided. And that's if we make something as simple as this:

Not to mention the pole is a whopping $151.20

This is, of course, doable, but there is an inherant problem. That is obviously way to much for a single person to pay for a flag and a pole, so the cost will have to be split up. The problem is, unlike the patches, the guidon itself can't be. I've seen this kind of thing before and it'll end badly.

As was stated earlier, we are basing ourselves as a unit 500 years in the future, so I understand that we might not follow modern military doctrine, but my question is, why would we regress to how they did things 150 years ago? The technology is there that they wouldn't need to stitch on battle tags onto their flag, which even in the Civil war wasn't done until after the war was over. The military has always had a 'function before form' mindset, so simpler is better. This is an example of a guidon that's in use today by Delta Company of the 110th MI Battalion.

Notice it's simplicity. It has the Battalion colors (most, if not all MI units use blue as it's the MI color), the number signifying the Bn, the letter signifying the Company and the MI crest (a dagger, star and lotus). This is the norm, units tend to get extravagant flags when the unit's retired into a training Battalion or absorbed into another unit. Those are the flags that have the bright colors and battle patches on them. Cavalry units (and I'm talking old school cav, horses not choppers) had a fancy take on the American flag, but it was uniform over all Cav units. Unit flags tend to be simple. Just something to chew on.

Oh, and here was the picture of the Independent flag someone envisioned. I personally like it:

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I'll be in my bunk.
http://www.myspace.com/babywiththepower
http://76thbattalion.homestead.com/index.html

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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 6:10 AM