Frostblade: Overview

Standard issue rifle used by Vanguard and Security squadron commanders. Lever action, single fire mode, iron sights, uses PTT ammo magazines. Uses higher caliber PTT bullets than the Frostpick, and relies heavily on the user's marksmanship to be effective.

I wanted my squadron commanders to bring something new to the table so they weren't just some other swinging dick with a Frostpick. Rather than leave them stuck on 7.62, I found it'd be worthwhile to have some serious boomsticks added into the mix. Nothing inspires confidence in your leadership than their rifle knocking your eardrums straight into the 100% disability claim bracket.
There's a few changes we made to the Frostblade, so we'll start with the most distinct and work our way down.

First of all it's a good ol cowboy gun, lever action but fed via a magazine that's loaded into the receiver. Now here's why; we found in testing that once some sorry asshole reaches E-6+ through no fault of their own, a legionnaire gets pretty goddamn good with a rifle. At least on our side of the fence that's true, cause back in the UE marines I knew SNCOs that couldn't hit the dirt with a brick. Though if I really think about it, 80% of the SNCOs I ever met were shitbags. The other 20% were cool as hell though.

Anyway, we rounded up a buncha SNCOs and squadron commanders and had them try out two different models of rifle: bolt action, and lever action. What we saw was that their accuracy was goddamn perfect with the bolt action (and I am ever the proud bitch for it) but it was consistent with the lever action when used in numerous stances. Bolt action is great if you're gonna be prone or sitting in one spot, but if you're in a more mobile situation such as direct fire combat you'll want something as ape-brained as possible. Doesn't get more caveman than a lever action, and your hand is already in the right position to rack the next shot.

Not long after we made the decision to go with lever actions, and production was underway, some genius asked what happened if the legionnaire was prone and needed to rack it?
God fucking dammit.
My solution was to just turn the rifle to the side, rack it, and question why you're prone with a lever action in the first place. Yes, a bolt action would fix that issue, yes a semi-auto would solve even more issues, no we aren't recalling the rifles.

A large point we paid attention to during production was to ensure that it's still as easily serviceable as a Frostpick. You can tear down and rebuild the Frostblade just as easily as the Frostpick, give or take uh... six or more additional parts. The lever is actually a bit of a hassle to get back into position but whatever.

There are attachment points on it if a commander is getting a real hankering for some bubba shit, but most stick to iron sights, a bayonet and sometimes the occasional underslung grenade launcher. At this point I feel like putting additional optics and hookups to a legionnaire's helmet throws them off more than anything, but they're gonna have to live with it cause I'll take some scattered groupings over them not having night vision.

I think one thing that also throws off a new user is that the lever action has two purposes, the first being that it needs to rack the next PTT round into the chamber, and the second is to disperse built up heat from the charged shell. Meaning don't put your goddamn hand over the opening unless you'd like 2nd degree burns. I still remember this one VAAST waiver of a legionnaire asking me if it'd be good for quickly and quietly heating rations in the field. Sure thing genius, just place your FRN against a rock or something, point the ejection port towards it and then start shooting a whole mag into the air and pray the enemy all have noise canceling earplugs in.

Last thing I'll touch on for now, is that this gun makes shit explode . Let's say you shoot a wraith with a 7.62 round from a Frostpick, it's gonna laser through the thing and likely cause the wraith’s guts to catch on fire if any plasmatic matter is shed off on the way through. In comparison, a Frostblade can use .45-70 plasmatic hollow-point rounds designed to have enough plasmatic matter to penetrate and then let the bullet flare outwards.

Tungsten 7.62 PTT rounds pass through like combusting needles, but tungsten .45-70 PTT hollow-points create fiery gore explosions.

- FrW Nahli Lok-Riveria