THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!

Deadmanwalking wrote:

First off, that's really neat, and seems an extremely effective way of modeling this sort of thing...though I am curious to both see what stats an individual soldier would have, and some samples of more typically encountered fantasy troops.

Also...it says Troops lack an attack bonus, but then shows them with a +20. So...which is it? Or am I missing something? Also, if the Troops make an AoO...do they roll to attack or not? Or is that what the +20 is for? And do they only get one AoO per round?

As Brandon said, the +20 attack bonus on the melee line is a mistake. From the Troop Attack section: A troop's stat block has "troop" in its Melee entry with no attack bonus given.

The troop's melee entry has now been fixed.

Can we expect to see troops in Bestiary4?

Please please please!

I'm curious to see what was the based creature used here and how it got it's bonus to STR, CON and Nat Ar.

Unfortunately, troops won't be in Bestiary 4. Reign of Winter is a bit too new to have pickups in the latest Bestiary.

goldomark wrote:

Can we expect to see troops in Bestiary4?

Please please please!

I'm curious to see what was the based creature used here and how it got it's bonus to STR, CON and Nat Ar.

Unfortunately, troops won't be in Bestiary 4. Reign of Winter is a bit too new to have pickups in the latest Bestiary.

KHAAAAAAAAAN!!!

It bothers me that a troop deals the same amount of damage to a fully armoured knight as to a naked barbarian.

So happy this became a blog background feature. :D

(and not just because the internet's OTP is in it)

((though that's definitely a factor))

It bothers me that a troop deals the same amount of damage to a fully armoured knight as to a naked barbarian.

Actually, they'll probably do less to the barbarian, if the barbarian's high enough level to have DR. AC isn't worth anything against the troop.

I understand that a Troop is an abstraction, but is there a specific formula for determining a Troop's CR and abilities from it's constituent parts? For instance, a Kobold is CR 1/4, so if there was a Troop of twenty Kobolds, then 0.25 x 20 = CR 5?

Rob McCreary wrote:

Concealment and miss chances are a little trickier, but if a troop is occupying the same space as a character and deals automatic damage, I don't think it would have a miss chance.

Perhaps the 'miss chance' would be used as a reduction in the automatic damage? (ie 20% miss chance means only taking 80% of the listed damage).

That keeps the math simple while reflecting the change in average damage if you rolled each of the individual attacks out.

I was thinking something along the same lines. Not sure how mirror image should work, convert it to miss %?

Thanks to Rob for the solid feedback on this, innovative mechanics tend to provoke lots of questions...

But if I didn't say before: I LIKE IT :-)

I understand that a Troop is an abstraction, but is there a specific formula for determining a Troop's CR and abilities from it's constituent parts? For instance, a Kobold is CR 1/4, so if there was a Troop of twenty Kobolds, then 0.25 x 20 = CR 5?

It seems like the system is designed around working from a desired CR and getting stats from that, but I suppose you could just figure out the normal CR for 16-20 Kobolds with the class levels you want, and then take that CR and find the normal Monster Stats for that, with tweaking to make it fit the feel of that specific troop of kobolds.

I understand that a Troop is an abstraction, but is there a specific formula for determining a Troop's CR and abilities from it's constituent parts? For instance, a Kobold is CR 1/4, so if there was a Troop of twenty Kobolds, then 0.25 x 20 = CR 5?

As Quandary said, a troop is created based on the CR you want the troop to be, and adjusting its stats to match the numbers on Table 1-1 in the Bestiary. So there's no specific formula. The actual number of creatures in a troop don't matter, which is why it says its usually 12-30 creatures. Higher-CR creatures in a low-CR troop would likely have less individuals, while lower-CR creatures in a high-CR troop would have more individuals. In the adventure, it says to use 16 minis to represent the rifle troops, but to keep in mind that each mini does not necessarily represent an individual creature.

As for abilities, those are created based on the theme and the base monster that comprises the troop. Kobolds, for example, would likely have some sort of sling volley, for example.

pH unbalanced wrote:

Rob McCreary wrote:

Concealment and miss chances are a little trickier, but if a troop is occupying the same space as a character and deals automatic damage, I don't think it would have a miss chance.

Perhaps the 'miss chance' would be used as a reduction in the automatic damage? (ie 20% miss chance means only taking 80% of the listed damage).

That keeps the math simple while reflecting the change in average damage if you rolled each of the individual attacks out.

I was thinking something along the same lines. Not sure how mirror image should work, convert it to miss %?

(or just have them close their eyes for a flat 50% miss chance?)

Thanks to Rob for the solid feedback on this, innovative mechanics tend to provoke lots of questions...

But if I didn't say before: I LIKE IT :-)

Glad you like it!

Mirror image wouldn't be effective against a troop attack. From the mirror image spell description: "Spells and effects that do not require an attack roll affect you normally and do not destroy any of your figments."

So this is basically like the mobs from DMG2? Sweet.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Can't wait to get my hands on this installment of the AP so I can check out the template.

I was thinking just earlier today how awesome the squad rules were in Star Wars Saga Edition and how useful they'd be for Pathfinder, and here I come and see a post that something will be happening like that. Awesome. Little less specific on what to do than those rules, but nice to have nonetheless.

Great idea, and great concept to have troops in a game in order to bring all that dice rolling down when characters face lots of similar enemies.

In fact, I had that same reaction a couple of months ago when I bought and game-mastered a beginner session of Star Wars Edge of the Empire game, where "minions" is a very similar concept, specifically introduced in the game to keep it more dynamic (like when PCs face stormtroopers and such).

One thing missing here that Minions rules have, is that their stats go down as they take hits (mainly their damage, but maybe other things like their defense: I don't have my copy of the rules at hand to check). That's to reflect the fact that when Minions take damage, some of their numbers are killed and can't contribute to the overall damage of the group anymore.

In the case of troops with the present rules, as an example, you could have this CR11 troop reduced to 1 hp (a lone crippled soldier left standing) and still doing 4d6+8 dam with a single rifle, or a 6d10+6 fusillade (always singlehandedly) or a 12d6 Volley of Grenades...

Maybe a simple way of reducing the damage when troops get hit, would be by reducing it for each 1/4 of it's hp disappearing, in this case removing 1d6+2 for every 37 or so hp of damage taken. This reduction should apply on the other sources of damage that are based on lots of individuals contributing (like Fusillade and Grenade Volley in this case).

Just my 2 cents,
Moonbird

This is really awesome and I like the rules for this. My lame old game group is now defunct but here is an insight. Back in the day I ran Red Hand of Doom. One of the things many of the six wanted was mass combat versus hordes of hobgoblins. So during the main battle, the characters were about 10th level so average hobgoblins were not really appropriate. So I broke out the mob rules in DMG II thinking that I would give them what they want with an easy way to do it. Boy was I wrong, endless complaining about the abstractness of the mob on the battle mat (even though "adam" has used completely different minis to represent stuff on the BM). They literally wanted individual HG to carve up even thought they were already complaining that combats took too long. Frustrated beyond belief I sat powerless as the final epic battle turned into a discussion on mob rules and the inherent unbelievableness of it. Wow. I guess my cautionary tale is to consult with your group before unveiling rules of this nature (I can only imagine what my group would have thought of a russian troop). I for one think its great.

THe whole concept of this adventure sounds really cool to me, and I really like this troop idea. Now I just need to get a job so I can re-start my subscription!

Well see now I'm curious how the hell a bunch of adventurers wind up in 1918 Russia...

To be honest that just unsold it for me. I really don't want my Fantasy game to move to 19th century earth. :-(

Good thing this is set in the 20th century, then.

Good thing this is set in the 20th century, then.

Well played Viking, well played.

Fun thing that I could guess all 12 people that liked Kajehase post before I had clicked it, namely Orthos and Gorbacz. :-D

Fun thing that I could guess all 12 people that liked Kajehase post before I had clicked it, namely Orthos and Gorbacz. :-D

Strong words coming from such an un-predictable person :)

A troop is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures

Are ray attacks an exception to this rule? As written, it seems like troops can't be targeted with spells like Ray of Frost or Scorching Ray. However, if a troop is subject to sneak attacks and critical hits, that would imply that they can be targeted with weapons. Rays count as weapons for the purposes of adding sneak attack and critical hit damage.

If the answer is no, what is the rationale for allowing them to be hit by weapons but not weapon-like spells?

How do skills work with troops? I know this is an abstraction, but depending on the circumstances and the context of what happens I can see the potential gain in skill points due to increased HD and greater ability scores being illogical depending on where they go. A troop having increased perception should make sense most of the time considering there could be twenty sets of eyes looking about. Something like climb is different though. Even taken things like individuals in it using the aid other action there is only so much each individual in a troop should be able to do. Unless I have how it works with them wrong, I can see some of it getting weird for troops unless skill points are purposely left off of them.

I'm not sure how I feel about the high natural armor bonus. I can see it being needed to keep the AC up somewhat with their CR, but I can also see it being kind of arbitrary, and not reflecting they way they are tougher. Maybe giving them a large pool of extra hit points would work better. Maybe looking at it as they are “naturally” harder to hit because they are moving around and chaotic.

I'm also a bit surprised that the base individual that this troop is based on is level 6. That seems really really high. I know everybody has a different opinion on what a normal real life person could achieve in some abstract role playing system that isn't a real life simulation, but I'd put the greatest warrior ever in history at level 5, if I was going to put them in a game, maybe. Somebody like Miyamoto Musashi might be level 5. The best of the best level 4, the greatest of their generation at level 3 and most other people below that. The 300 Spartans at Thermopylae I might fill out with 3 and 4 level fighters if I was to create a game with them. I know a lot of them probably were tough as nails, but to have all the WWI Russian riflemen that are fought be the pinnacle, or even beyond that, of human ability seems to really stretch even in game believability, even if fudging things by assuming some of it‘s due to modern equipment. I always seen characters once they reached around mid levels, even non-casters, to be virtually demi-god by any real life standards which helps explain why they can take on monsters that would roll over conventional small armies, and why they can do things like fall over 200 feet and not die.

I would also like to see a way things like concealment could effect them more. A CR appropriate fighter with something improved invisibility should be extremely devastating on a troop that can't detect him, especially if he can more after the attack and can't have his square pined down. They are different than a swarm in that way as a swarm is usually something that can saturate the entire area they cover where a troop would still have gaps and space between it's members.

Another concern is what happens if they are target to a mass mind effecting spell or ability (or even just a single target one) like dominate person. Strictly by the rules it seems they wouldn't be able to be effected if the spell targets a specific number of creatures , but I can see an argument that if a player gains control over some of them, the ones the player controls should be counted as individuals like any other beings that fail the save for the spell. Of course by the rules that might be denied them. That also seems to really break verisimilitude with what the spell and other abilities should be able to accomplish in the setting. Saying they can’t do that because the rules say so when it’s so out of in setting possibility and logic isn’t a very satisfying thing. I can see mighty grumbling by some players out there because of it. If allowed I can also see them arguing since they are effecting certain members of a troop those individuals shouldn't get the benefit of increased saves the troop has. It also would have the effect that a couple of individuals out of the troops could be almost as tough as the troop it came from depending on what it consist of and how many individuals the troop has even if the troop still has more people. It’s kind of a sticky situation all around.

I can even see some argument why things like disintegrate should still effect them some. With a swarm the idea is that killing one or two individual components of them is so miniscule to their numbers overall that the effect does nothing. Disintegrating a spider out of thousands of them doesn’t do much. With a troop, with say 12 or 20 people if three or four of them get disintegrated that’s a significant portion of their entire whole.

With area effects that deal hit point damage the system does well, but things can potentially get weird when it deviates from that when dealing with troops.

I like the idea of a troop losing effectiveness as they are damaged.

I know it might seem like I’m complaining, but overall I like the idea of troops as a simplification of a large number of weaker creatures. I know that there will be weird corner cases where it doesn’t work well when using a system like this. I’m just throwing out some ideas where problems might come up.

I'm also a bit surprised that the base individual that this troop is based on is level 6. That seems really really high. I know everybody has a different opinion on what a normal real life person could achieve in some abstract role playing system that isn't a real life simulation, but I'd put the greatest warrior ever in history at level 5, if I was going to put them in a game, maybe. Somebody like Miyamoto Musashi might be level 5. The best of the best level 4, the greatest of their generation at level 3 and most other people below that. The 300 Spartans at Thermopylae I might fill out with 3 and 4 level fighters if I was to create a game with them. I know a lot of them probably were tough as nails, but to have all the WWI Russian riflemen that are fought be the pinnacle, or even beyond that, of human ability seems to really stretch even in game believability, even if fudging things by assuming some of it‘s due to modern equipment. I always seen characters once they reached around mid levels, even non-casters, to be virtually demi-god by any real life standards which helps explain why they can take on monsters that would roll over conventional small armies, and why they can do things like fall over 200 feet and not die.

That's...a bit of an extreme position, and clearly not the one the designers are taking per se.

My own opinion has always favored level 5-6 or so as about as high as humans usually get in real life, with a maximum for someone like Musashi being more like level 8-9 or so. Going by that general assumption, these are clearly elite soldiers, the cream of the crop, but not unreasonable as such...and that's clearly the default assumption that stat block is using anyway, since they're Fighters and not Warriors (unlike most random soldiers you're likely to run into most times and places).

Quote:

A troop is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures

Are ray attacks an exception to this rule? As written, it seems like troops can't be targeted with spells like Ray of Frost or Scorching Ray. However, if a troop is subject to sneak attacks and critical hits, that would imply that they can be targeted with weapons. Rays count as weapons for the purposes of adding sneak attack and critical hit damage.

If the answer is no, what is the rationale for allowing them to be hit by weapons but not weapon-like spells?

This is a situation where the abstraction of multiple creatures forming one big creature runs up against what the rules do and do not allow.

It would probably be better to say that troops can be affected by any spell that does damage, but are immune to any non-damaging spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures. This allows spells like disintegrate, magic missile, and scorching ray to affect a troop (the same way weapons do), but still makes them immune to things like charm person or haste.

How do skills work with troops? I know this is an abstraction, but depending on the circumstances and the context of what happens I can see the potential gain in skill points due to increased HD and greater ability scores being illogical depending on where they go. A troop having increased perception should make sense most of the time considering there could be twenty sets of eyes looking about. Something like climb is different though. Even taken things like individuals in it using the aid other action there is only so much each individual in a troop should be able to do. Unless I have how it works with them wrong, I can see some of it getting weird for troops unless skill points are purposely left off of them.

A troop's skill points are based on its type and Hit Dice, the same as every other creature. Like a troop's hit points, they are something of an abstraction. For a Russian rifle troop, they have a full 16 ranks in Perception - as you said, they have multiple eyes - but for things like Climb and Profession (soldier), they significantly less ranks - more soldiers doesn't make all of them better soldiers.

That's...a bit of an extreme position, and clearly not the one the designers are taking per se.

It's basically the one which was espoused by a well known blog entry on an RP site and which is taken as rote wisdom by a lot of RP'ers. Not a position I personally share, but it's there.

It's basically the one which was espoused by a well known blog entry on an RP site and which is taken as rote wisdom by a lot of RP'ers. Not a position I personally share, but it's there.

Actually...his version is slightly more extreme even than the site in question (which has room for interpretations between his and mine, though not much higher)/

For reference, Magnuskn is referencing Justin Alexander's RPG-internet-forum-famous "Calibrating Your Expectations" blog post, which discusses game-mechanic simulation of real-world activities. The post draws the conclusion that 5th-level is the likely penultimate level representing the threshold of realistic human ability. Therefore, 6th level, under this theory, is the beginning of superhuman achievement.

For the record, I *mostly* subscribe to this argument. As a result, I originally statted out the soldiers at 4th level, then upped them to 5th before I finalized things with the justification that they were not only elite, war-hardened soldiers, but also ever-so-slightly augmented and bolstered by the adventure's First World overlay and the presence of powerful, otherworldly magics. The developers took that one step further and assigned them an additional level for balance reasons, and that was the right call to properly present the challenges of this adventure.

I *would* have felt more comfortable writing this adventure in the 10th-level range to represent our world a touch less powerfully, and I discuss some of my design philosophy and reasoning in the foreword, but it is where it is, and ultimately while soldiers and events are slightly in the "holy crap that would be a bad-ass soldier!" realm, I don't think it is *too* crazy as published...

Now that bear hunter, though... =-)

This is perfect for my next military fantasy campaign.

A single Russian soldier is CR6? Seems very high. The stats shown here are for the average troop of Russian riflemen. Sorry, but I just have a hard time seeing a single person in that group having an equivalent CR as an Ankylosaurus, Wood Golem, and a 7 headed Hydra. I can't exactly picture him, realistically, having the potential of rifle butting some of these creatures to death; not even needing to shoot them.

Funny thing I noticed, is they can survive several hundred foot falls all at once, because they are in a group. I guess it makes sense, being that they are a squad of Russian super soldiers xD

It's because of Rasputin. His influence and drawing of magic into the area has enhanced these already-veteran soldiers. When Rasputin is killed, within a week they lose three levels. ;)

It's because of Rasputin. His influence and drawing of magic into the area has enhanced these already-veteran soldiers. When Rasputin is killed, within a week they lose three levels. ;)

So they are supposed to be super soldiers in some sense, then? Alright, then. At least there is a reason behind it.

A single Russian soldier is CR6? Seems very high. The stats shown here are for the average troop of Russian riflemen.

Sauce, please read my post just two above yours for an explanation of the design theories and real-world justifications for both the single soldier's CR as well as that post and others for explanations on the abstract concept of the troop.

The adventure provides a challenging single-soldier statblock for the GM's use in the event you need to interrogate a soldier or have a face-to-face encounter with a foe challenging in small groups. It is also there for those GMs who aren't comfortable with the abstraction of the troop subtype and want to break things down the old fashion way.

The troop subtype is just that--an abstraction--as this whole thread explains. It should not stand to follow that just because we provided a statblock for an elite, hardened veteran of the trenches that *every. single. soldier.* that makes up the 12-30 body troop is represented by that statblock. Again: Abstraction.

BUT, for those hung up on the abstraction matching the statblock, keep in mind that 16 CR 5 soldiers as presented are a CR 13 challenge, and 12 soldiers a CR 12 challenge--not that far off from the presented CR 11 troop statblock. Just a HELL of a lot more dice rolling! And since the troop subtype *does* say that the abstract concept represents anywhere from 12 to 30 troops, you *could* imagine it that way, or, alternatively,you could reduce the individual soldiers to CR 3 soldiers (a perhaps more realistic 4th-level fighter), where 16 of them would make an equivalent CR 11 threat, and your numbers would all line up nice and tidy.

*If* it's worth that much to you to line up the individual with the abstraction. =-)

I love this AP but... I am going to cut the individual soldiers' hit points to 20.

Soldiers in movies are glass cannons (potentially deadly, one shot to kill) and I want my PCs to have the same experience.

Don't underestimate the damage that level 13 and higher PCs can dish out. A level 13 power-attacking fighter with a not unreasonable 24 Strength and wielding a +3 greatsword can drop an individual Russian soldier as written (i.e., with 67 hit points) in less than a full attack. When using Power Attack he'll have a to-hit of +19/+13/+7 and a damage of 2d6+28 (average 35) on each successful hit. He should hit all the time since the individual Russian soldier's AC is so low, so he can drop an individual soldier in two hits and is practically guaranteed to drop him by the end of his full attack. With weapon specialization, he's practically guaranteed to drop the Russian soldier in two hits, not three. And this fellow ain't even optimized.

Meanwhile, his Wizard friend with the same high stat - 24 Intelligence - can drop a disintegrate or prismatic spray (an aside: I know this is not a very good tactic, I'm just trying to illustrate how fragile the individual Russian soldiers as printed are). Disintegrate will do 26d6 damage on a failed Fortitude save (and with a bonus of +8 versus a DC of 21 assuming no DC-boosting feats or items, the soldier will probably fail his save), dealing an average of 91 damage, well in excess of the soldier's 67 hit points. Prismatic Spray, meanwhile, has a 3/8 chance of simply ending a soldier that comes within its area of effect (assuming that, as usual, they'll fail their saves), and can hit many, many soldiers at once. And again, this from a Wizard not even optimized towards dealing damage. A heavily-metamagiced fireball is death, pure and simple, to these soldiers.

The soldiers as written are glass cannons as is, and don't need any help becoming such.

1 soldier should be able to kill another with a single crit. That's how it seem to me.

Obviously we're all different and YMMV.

1 soldier should be able to kill another with a single crit. That's how it seem to me.

You wanna talk crits? The same fighter from before does (2d6+28)*2 damage on a power attacking crit, for an average of 70 damage. That's a one-hit drop. The Russian soldier as printed does (1d10+6)*4 damage on a crit, for an average of 46 damage. That's not quite a one-hit drop (though it might be if the soldier rolls high on his d10s), but the soldier has another two attacks in his full attack with Rapid Shot, so a crit somewhere in the attack routine will lead to a one-round drop.

Your requirements that the soldiers be individually easy to take down are already met, because the damage they can dish out themselves, and especially the damage that the PCs who are meant to be fighting them, is just that high. I just don't see the point of weakening them further when their defenses are already as weak as they are.

1 soldier should be able to kill another with a single crit. That's how it seem to me.

Obviously we're all different and YMMV.

Uh...the average russian soldier crits for 62 points when using Deadly Aim (which they should be if shooting each other). Drop Toughness for some other Feat (I'd grab Iron Will) and that'll kill em right there.

Uh...the average russian soldier crits for 62 points when using Deadly Aim (which they should be if shooting each other). Drop Toughness for some other Feat (I'd grab Iron Will) and that'll kill em right there.

Ah, yes, feats. An excellent point, and one that I neglected. So all a soldier needs to do to kill another soldier in one shot is 1) use Deadly Aim, 2) crit, and 3) roll just a little bit above average on his damage dice. This further reinforces my point that GeraintElberion's requirement that soldiers be able to kill each other in one hit is already satisfied, no tweaking required.

Epic Meepo wrote:

Eric Hinkle wrote:

Now I hope we get to see a 3rd party PDF that consists of nothing but new rules for troops, and sample troops for orcs, dwarves, drow, humans fighters, and whatever.

Already started.

Good news! I'll happily purchase such a product.

If you're still interested in troop stat blocks for orcs, dwarves, drow, human fighters, and whatnot, I've just announced over thirty troops whose stats are scheduled to appear in my upcoming PDF product, The Lazy Gamer's Guide to Wealth and Power. (That same product will also include additional rules for downtime and kingdom building.)

Professional courtesy... :-/

Now if I could just find some Russian infantry miniatures with uber-creepy gas masks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoeA99gu3mw

This might be a good song to play once the PCs start fighting Russians.

Axial wrote:

I understand that a Troop is an abstraction, but is there a specific formula for determining a Troop's CR and abilities from it's constituent parts? For instance, a Kobold is CR 1/4, so if there was a Troop of twenty Kobolds, then 0.25 x 20 = CR 5?

As Quandary said, a troop is created based on the CR you want the troop to be, and adjusting its stats to match the numbers on Table 1-1 in the Bestiary. So there's no specific formula. The actual number of creatures in a troop don't matter, which is why it says its usually 12-30 creatures. Higher-CR creatures in a low-CR troop would likely have less individuals, while lower-CR creatures in a high-CR troop would have more individuals. In the adventure, it says to use 16 minis to represent the rifle troops, but to keep in mind that each mini does not necessarily represent an individual creature.

As for abilities, those are created based on the theme and the base monster that comprises the troop. Kobolds, for example, would likely have some sort of sling volley, for example.

Could you create a formula of some sort and post it for us? I must admit I'd love to have some sort of basis from which to be able to build Troops with, as it seems increasingly likely my current RoW campaign is dead, but I could always modify the end of Runelords (with player permission) so that the PCs "wake" several years after having killed Karzoug at level 10... and using Troops for low-level troops like Winter Pixies or the Irrisen Guard would allow those units to be used against higher level characters while still being a threat.

I truly like the concept of the Troop as it allows groups of lower-level units still be a threat against the PCs. It would be nice to be able to expand this for use with other races and encounters besides the Russian Rifle Troops.

Tangent101, I've discussed troop builds quite a bit here on the boards. Here are a few places to dig around for advice and more info:

This post contains some advice on building toward the vision of your abstraction. My biggest advice is don't look at the troop as an emulation of a group of creatures--work toward your selected CR just like you are building a Huge or Gargantuan creature, and give it abilities that reflect what you imagine a big gang of those creatures could do while amassed. Then apply the subtype.

This thread kind of started the whole discussion, with a lot of talk about the intent behind the subtype and what can be done with it.

There's a lot of continued discussion of my home system and gives direct advice on builds here.

Hope that helps!

Is it intentional that, every round, the troop not only fires a fusillade but also launches a volley of grenades? Somehow I thought it would be one or the other, until I read the descriptions and saw the action types.

Is it intentional that, every round, the troop not only fires a fusillade but also launches a volley of grenades? Somehow I thought it would be one or the other, until I read the descriptions and saw the action types.

Yes. Think of it as the guys in the first couple of rows shooting their rifles, while the ones in the rear ranks lob grenades over the heads of the guys in front.

Is anyone else 100% not interested in bringing their pathfinder game to "real world"?

I definitely don't like taking medieval characters and putting them in a modern situation! Don't we already have rpgs for modern warfare?