Biological experiments in the SSU – and preceding it the Soviet Union – were largely abject failures. Thanks to the terrible cost of Lysenkoism and the effect of its adherents on soviet science. Stalin’s demands have been unrealistic – the creation of hybridised ape soldiers for example – and many leading scientists have been purged or exiled.
Access to VK and the living example of the German gorilla soldiers has, however, galvanised research in many fields and the terrible toll of violence in Zverograd upon SSU forces has leant even more impetus to the research. Academician Ilya Ivanov, son of the late Doctor Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, has been placed in charge of these new programs and between vivisection of captured German undead and ape soldiers and experimental applications of VK he has had numerous successes.
Rat Swarms
Rats breed in large numbers and are eminently expendable, plus they are the only creatures still in ready supply in Zverograd after the long siege. Ivanov’s experiments have produced a number of ‘intelligent’ rat swarms, controlled via a modulated VK signal, which can be sent crawling through gaps and rubble to reach enemy soldiers and overcome them through sheer numbers.
Move: 2
Type: Soldier 1
Special Abilities: Agile, Charge, Squirm*.
Health: 6
Bite: Close Combat only Troop 1: 6/1, Troop 2: 5/1, Troop 3, 2/1, Troop 4: 1/1
Bite: Close Combat only Tank 1-7: 1/1
Cost: 15AP
Cover Save: Blank
NB: The bite-line is for the whole swarm and remains the same until the whole unit is eliminated.
*Squirm: Troops with the Squirm ability can pass through cover, friendly troops and enemy troops as though they were not there. they can co-occupy a space with friendly or enemy troops and can make close combat attacks from that same space. While occupying the same space as a group of soldiers or a vehicle, if they come under attack from outside that space the attack dice are halved (rounding up) and are then rolled as normal for damage against both the rat swarm and the troops or vehicle they share a space with.
Anti-Tank Dogs
Move: 2
Type: Soldier 1
Special Abilities: Agile, Charge.
Health: 1 (3 dogs per unit)
Bite: Close Combat only Troop 1: 3/1, Troop 2: 2/1, Troop 3, 1/1, Troop 4: 1/1
Bomb: Close Combat only (3) Troop 1-4: 2/1, Tank 1-7: 2/2 (Each bomb blast eliminates one dog)
Cost: 15AP
Cover Save: Blank
Half-Breeds
Rumour has it that the half-breed experiments have been restarted using samples taken from German enhanced apes. With a maturation period of at least fifteen years it is unlike this will bear battlefield fruit for some time…
(Knock-off planet of the apes figures would work well for this and you could always retcon that the original experiments worked. I’d make them troop 2 with some special abilities or enhanced cover abilities to reflect toughness, bolster their hand-to-hand a little and use themas anti-infantry troops with – maybe – some very weak anti-tank capabilities).
Postmortem Studios 