Rogue Trooper

Rogue Trooper is a science fiction strip in the British comic 2000 AD, created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons. It follows the adventures of Rogue, a G.I. (or Genetic Infantryman, a genetically modified, blue-skinned, manufactured elite soldier) and his three comrades' search for the Traitor General. His comrades are in the form of biochips (onto which a G.I.'s entire personality is downloaded at the time of death for later retrieval) and are named Gunnar (mounted on Rogue's rifle), Bagman (on his backpack) and Helm (on his helmet). He is genetically engineered to be immune to almost all known toxins, can submerge in strong acid unaffected, and is able to withstand a vacuum in his bare skin.

Publication history

Gibbons left the strip early on, to be replaced by a succession of artists and writers who have taken the strip in several different directions over the years. Artists to have drawn the character include Brett Ewins, Cam Kennedy and Colin Wilson. This quest continued from 1981 until 1985, when the G.I. had his final confrontation with the traitor general and, after a brief further run set on the Planet Horst, Finley-Day ceased writing the strip. Simon Geller took over, reinventing the character as an intergalactic hitman attempting to end the war by assassinating key figures, but this new direction was dropped in 1989. John Smith wrote a 'flashback' story, "Cinnabar", set in Rogue's deserter days, before original series artist Dave Gibbons returned to write a much more radical revamp of the character.

Rogue Trooper (board game)

Rogue Trooper is the name of a British board wargame based on the 2000 AD comic strip of the same name. It was released in 1987 and published by Games Workshop.

In the comic, genetically created soldiers (Genetic Infantryman) are battling on Nu-Earth in the far future on the side of the Southers, a war without rules and where chemical and biological weapons are used with such frequency that the atmosphere is lethal. At the Quartz Zone Massacre, the enemy Norts - with the help of a treacherous Souther - launched an attack that massacred all but one of the Genetic Infantrymen. He became Rogue Trooper and set out to hunt down the traitor on his own side who helped mastermind the massacre.

Although there was only one surviving Genetic Infantryman in the comic, the boardgame is for several players and thus takes a bit of artistic liberty and declares there were actually several survivors. The opposing players control one Rogue Trooper each and must hunt down the traitor across the devastated wastes of Nu-Earth. The winner is the one who finds and kills the traitor.

Rogue Trooper (video game)

Rogue Trooper is a third-person shooter video game developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox on April 21, 2006. The Wii version, entitled Rogue Trooper: The Quartz Zone Massacre, was released later in 2009.

The game uses several story and plot elements from the original comic. This is the second game Rebellion produced based on characters from the pages of 2000 AD; the first being Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death in 2003.

Story

The story is set on the planet Nu-Earth, which is caught in the gravitational forces of two suns and a black hole (used by Southers to warp into their space station high command), where a perpetual war between the Norts and Southers is being fought, in which millions have been killed. During the war all forms of chemical and biological weapons have been used, poisoning the planet, and the troops of both sides must live in enclosed cities and only venture into the outside if wearing protective gear known as a "bio-suit". The Southers have, through genetic engineering (done by the so-called "gene genies"), developed a race of warriors who are immune to the deadly atmosphere and will therefore be superior troops, the Genetic Infantry. All of the G.I.s were made immune to all toxins, diseases, and acids (except for one). The Souther High Command deploy their secret weapon in an airborne assault, but a traitor has betrayed the secret of the G.I.s to the Norts and they are massacred during the drop. This is known as the Quartz Zone Massacre.