THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE HAMMER’S SLAMMERS THE CRUCIBLE RULES SYSTEM HANDBOOK

Primary research work by John-David Karnitz

Brigada Independência (Cobras Fumantes)

Bearing down and steeling themselves for a long, vicious fight, the Cobras reassessed their situation and their strategy.  Instead of a lightning thrust from the rebel-controlled portion of the planet into the heart of the government enclaves, they had to disperse their forces, both as a way to conserve their fighting strength and to preclude the Slammers from capitalizing on local weaknesses and driving a similar assault home.  What followed was a classic, hard-fought campaign that saw many of the smaller mercenary outfits crushed and even the larger ones groaning. In the end, the Cobras were defeated, with many of their companies reporting thirty-to-forty percent losses after being released from the Exchange Camps and reporting for Debarkation Muster.  They had fought well, but the Slammers had, once again, proved pre-eminent.  The Independence Brigade took the next six months off for a period of extended rest and refit around Brazil's major starport.  For the next five years they were forced to take smaller, and less risky, contracts in order to rebuild themselves and their reputation. Since the contract on Sulewesi, the Smoking Cobras have taken generally longer, less intense contracts that have nonetheless allowed them to remain in fighting trim and at top of the mercenary trade.  The most notable exceptions were the fracas on Sphakteria (as allies to the Slammers) and the war on Castleton (where they broke the back of a mercenary force composed of Bartel's Armour, the Poplar Regiment, and the Sons of Mangala amongst others). The Brigada Independência are an extremely capable, if low-key, outfit that commands a high-price for their services-but are worth every credit they are paid for.  Nearly thirty years after their founding they continue to ply the stars as mercenary soldiers.  With the recent rift between Argentina and Brazil over their old colony of Alcântara, the Smoking Cobras may once again be called, full-circle, to the world of their birth-but this time as an invasion force.