Simulation Troopers

"You know, there's one thing you Freelancers always seem to forget. And that's the fact that we've managed to kick your ass time and time again. Oh sure, you've got all your smart plans, and your fancy technology, and your advanced training, but, in the end, what has that gotcha? Without a team you can count on and your fellow soldier by your side, all that doesn't really amount to squat, now does it?"

—Sarge describing the Reds and Blues to Washington in Reckless

Simulation Troopers is the technical name given by Project Freelancer for the Red and Blue armies. The most known simulation troopers are the Blood Gulch Reds and Blues, who are the main focus of the series. Project Freelancer created the simulation troopers to test their agents' abilities and equipment.

After the Project was shut down the remaining sim troopers joined the Blues and Reds, another group of sim troopers, in their campaign against the UNSC for selling them like slaves to Freelancer.

Overview

Reds and Blues are the key — The Reds and Blues during Season 11

The term for the Reds and Blues was brought up by Agent Washington in Reconstruction: Chapter 12. Simulation troopers are soldiers assigned to either Red or Blue teams by Command and placed in an outpost and faced with scenario after scenario to find out what would happen if this or that happened. It's stated in Change of Plans that the UNSC gave several known locations to Project Freelancer to conduct these tests. Also, revealed in the episode Tenth Percentile, simulation troopers are also known as "low-level operatives", enlisted soldiers pulled out from their units due to low test scores and poor field skills; explaining the events of The Blood Gulch Chronicles.

Halo1rvb — The Reds and Blues during Season 2

However, the Blood Gulch Reds and Blues have proven to have great skills and stopped many major threats including several corrupt Freelancers, dangerous A.I., the Insurrectionist Leader, and bringing Project Freelancer to justice. The UNSC has even honored and rewarded the Blood Gulch soldiers for these actions. Due to their reputation, the Blood Gulch soldiers are considered the greatest military team and heroes in the galaxy by a majority of people, such as those on Chorus. After Project Freelancer was shut down, the simulation troopers continued to operate under the UNSC.

However, in Season 15, a group of sim troopers from Armada 8 known as the Blues and Reds, the team that inspired the troop assignment that brought the Reds and Blues together, begin terrorizing the UNSC, killing several of the remaining living Freelancers and recruiting other Simulation Troopers to invade Earth. Afterward, most Sim Troopers (minus the Reds and Blues) aligned with them against the UNSC, rallied by the Blues and Reds' notions of being used as cannon fodder. When the Blues and Reds leave for Earth, most Sim Troopers join them, leaving a Skeleton crew watching over their base on Armada 8 with the imprisoned Reds and Blues. Many of these remnants were killed when the Reds and Blues escaped, but not before mortally wounding Agent Washington. The remaining Sim troops were taken out by the Reds and Blues upon reaching Earth.

It is unknown if any other Simulation Troopers survived the crew's attack, escaped, or were captured by the UNSC. According to Temple, all remaining Reds and Blues had joined him (bar the Reds and Blues), making the Reds and Blues now the only remaining group of Simulation Troopers left from Project Freelancer, as all other members are now either deceased, MIA, or imprisoned by the UNSC for their crimes.

Known Members

Most Known

Red Sim Troopers

Blue Sim Troopers

Outposts

Trivia

Project Freelancer refer to the teams by letters with Blue as "A" and Red as "B". This is strange because blue is often associated to "B" due to its spelling and the name of the conflict between them starts with red (Red vs. Blue) like how "A" is the first letter in the alphabet.
- Ironically, Caboose is the only character that refers to the conflict as "Blue vs. Red", which would be correct in the case of how Project Freelancer organized it.
While there is an outpost numbered 48, it's unknown if there is at least 48 outposts involved in the simulated conflict.
Because simulation troopers are low level operatives manipulated to test Freelancers, it can be seen as poetic justice that Project Freelancer, despite all of it's advantages, was disbanded because of the actions of the Reds and Blues, a group consisting mostly of simulation troopers.
The fact that all remaining troopers joined Temple's campaign shows that they are either very easy to manipulate or actually wanted revenge on Project Freelancer and the UNSC.
- Additionally it appeared that a large portion of the Simulation Troopers aligned to the Blues and Reds were notably racists, sexists, animal abusers, Holocaust deniers, and global warming deniers. This may indicate that Project Freelancer acquired a large portion of its Sim Troopers due to ethical concerns of the UNSC, or that Temple was only able to recruit members with extremely low morality.

References

Red Team
Blood Gulch: Sarge (ε) · Dick Simmons (ε) · Dexter Grif (ε) · Franklin Delano Donut (ε) · Lopez the Heavy (ε)
Desert Gulch: Surge · Gene · Cronut · Lorenzo · Biff · Shelly
FH57: Turf · Morgan · Drag · Sue · Santos · Peake · Cherry
Colorblind: Hutch · Regina · Cobb · Marlowe
Sarge's Elite Team: George · John · Alex
Other: Lopez 2.0 · Red Zealot · Max Gain · Phil · Walter Henderson · Red Mutineer Burke · Dellario · Tubbs · Hammer · Johnson MacGruff · Hank Daggerknife · Clint Buckshot
Vehicles: M12 LRV · Motorcycle

Blue Team
Blood Gulch: Leonard L. Church · Epsilon · Lavernius Tucker (ε) · Michael J. Caboose (ε) · Tex (ε) Washington · Sheila · Butch Flowers · Andrew D. Kaboom (ε) · Junior · Kaikaina Grif · Freckles
Desert Gulch: Mark Temple · Buckey · Loco
Coloblind: Wynn · Squatch · Deuce
Other: Jimmy · Jacob J. Jenkins · Mickey · Miller · Jones · Blue Grunt Leader · Phil (Falcon)
Vehicles: M808V Main Battle Tank · Chopper