Re: Just what will we see on the GZGVerse battlefield?

I think the light equipment scales, reliance on local forces, etc. are
all
valid.	I'd say the best indicator is to look at history.

Light equipment scales:  From the age of sail to the dawn of the 20th
century European armies fighting in colonial environments were always
weak
in cavalry and artillery - the most difficult things to transport.  For
heavy arty, armies abroad usually relied on the guns of the fleet - and
not
just for shore bombardment (i.e. Ortillery).  Scott landed naval guns
for
the siege of Veracruz and Buller's army at Colenso (that was Buller,
wasn't
it?) included a battery of 4.7" naval guns on improvised carriages.  For
Cavalry you relied on local forces or often did without - Chelmsford's
cavalry in the Zulu war was almost etirely provided by local volunteer
forces.  Even in modern times it was the light equipped guys - the
marines
and airborne - who show up first.

Local forces:  Britain throughout the Empire period relied heavily on
local
forces.  Consider all Loyalist troops in the American Revolution (one
regiment of which, the Royal Americans, were incorporated into the
British
regular army) or all the American units (Rangers, etc.) in the French &
Indian War.  There's also the possibility of native "sepoy" troops
raised
from indigenous aliens - like the British Indian Army or the Imperial
German
Schutztruppen (or check out H. Beam Piper's "Uller Uprising").	I'd say
that
Roger's Rangers or the Royal Natal Carbineers from the Zulu War are good
models for local forces - lightly equipped but specialists in local
terrain,
tracking, etc. Colonies with extensive agricultural "outbacks" should
provide useful units of "Light Horse" - basically motorized light
infantry
columns mounted in jeeps/skimmers or light utility vtols - the sorts of
vehicles easily requisitionable from farms and cattle stations (maybe
even
Owen Glover's grav bikes).  Not what you'd want to hurl against a tank
regiment, but handy for counter insurgency work.  Home made MLRS and
mortars
seem likely for support but small amounts of more modern/lethal stuff
might
exist (such as your local National Guard Armoury).  The Boers even
started
out with a nice little train of modern Krupp and Schneider guns (bought
with
gold mining profits) to back up their home-grown "commandos" (actually
the
Boers or even modern South Africa are pretty good models for colonial
forces).

Garrison Forces:  Throughout most of the empire period half the Britsh
army
was tied up in overseas garrisons.  Each colony would likely have at
least a
battalion of regulars on hand.	Garrison units would likely be of two
types - heavier units with tanks, arty, etc tied to one particular
locale
(the starport, the capital, the core region of the colony) but most
would be
light and fast "rapid reaction" forces - airmobile or similar - held as
a
centralized back-up for local militia.

I don't know about considering plantery defense as a Normandy
Beach/Atlantic
Wall kind of thing.  A planet is an awfully huge place.  Thinking along
the
lines of shore defense back to the days of sail (and keeping playability
in
mind), ground based defenses could probably make a specific location
(i.e.
the orbital space directly above a city or starport) fairly unhealthy
for
attackers but would leave lots of back country relatively easy to plunk
your
dropships down on (although capture of an intact port would then be a
priority - unless you landed one like the D-Day Mulberries).  The real
key
to planetary defense seems likely to be dispersion.  Sure you can hole
up in
a city or starport and try and fight a Stalingrad - a valid option since
alot of the value of a colony world would be its fixed installations and
nuking them from space sort of defeats the purpose of capture - the
grunts
will most likely be sent in to try first.  But another option, one where
your local troops would be a real plus, is to pull a Chairman Mao and
head
for the hills, keeping the invaders forces tied down and committed until
relief arrives (both options show up in Los' nifty Rot Hafen saga)

		    -M