Eye of the Warp

Epic Ogre: Rolling Thunder

by Kenneth Peters

Conventional vehicles on the Epic Ogre battlefield. So close the hatch, strap yourself in, and pray the NBC system holds out.


Overview

Several factors led to the system of mechanized warfare as seen in the Final War period. The first was the development of biphase carbide armor (BPC). Stronger than any steel, it was also so light that even an air-cushion vehicle could carry several centimeters of protection. The equivalent of a megaton of TNT was needed to breach even that much BPC armor - which meant that, in practice, nothing less than a tactical nuclear device was likely to be effective.

Infantry, which had for a time eclipsed the tank, declined in importance. Although an infantryman could carry and direct a tactical nuclear missile, he had to be extensively (and expensively) protected to survive the nuclear battlefield. Thus, the "battlesuit" was developed. Four cm of BPC, jet-equipped, it could guard a man from shrapnel, background radiation, and biochem agents. However, the cost of equipping infantry reduced their value. They were still more flexible and maneuverable than armor, and now they were almost as fast - but they were no longer cheaper.

Long-range nuclear missiles, which and been expected to make a mockery of "conventional" operations, likewise declined in value as jamming technology and laser counter-measures improved. Without satellite guidance, no missile could hit a less-than-city-sized target at more than 30km - and no combatant could keep a spy satellite operational for over an hour. Missiles big enough to carry jam-proof guidance systems were sitting ducks for the big laser batteries. For although lasers had proved too temperamental and fragile for mobile use, they were fine as permanent antiaircraft units.

Thus, the tank-type vehicle - fast, heavily armed and armored, able to break through enemy positions and exploit disorganization, returned to wide use. And once again, planners fretted over priorities. More guns? More armor? More speed? Increase one, and lose on the others? Increase all, and build fewer units?

Some interesting compromises appeared. The Final War infantry-man, especially with the later "heavy battlesuit", was a tank in his own right, at least by 20th century standards. The armed hovercraft or ground effect vehicle (GEV), equipped with multi-leaf spring skirts for broken ground, could attain speed of 120 kph on any decent terrain, and 150 on desert or water. Conventional tanks were slower, but tougher. All fired tactical nuclear shells.

The ultimate development of the tank-type weapon, though was the cybernetic attack vehicle. The original tanks had terrorized unsophisticated infantry. The cybertanks terrorized everyone, and with good reason. They were bigger (up to 50 meters), faster (hovercraft models proved too vulnerable, but atomic-powered treads moved standard units at 45 kph or better) and more heavily armed (some had firepower equal to an armor company). And up to three meters of BPC armor made them nearly unstoppable. What made the cybertanks horrifying though was their literal inhumanity. No crew was carried; each unit was wholly computer-controlled. Although true mechanical intelligence had existed as early as the late 22nd century, and fully automated factories and military installations were in wide use by the middle of the 23rd , the cybertanks were the earliest independent mobile units – the first true war robots to see extensive use.

Once the first cybertanks had proved their worth, development was rapid. The great war machines aroused a terrified sort of fascination. Human warriors devoutly hoped never to confront them, and preferred to keep a respectful distance - like several kilometers - even from friendly ones. They were just too big.

One fact, more than anything, points up the feeling that developed toward the cybertank. Unlike other war vehicles, they were never called "she". Friendly units of the speaker's acquaintance were "he"; others were "it". And the term "cybertank" was rarely used. People had another name for the big war machines - one drawn from the early Combine units and, before that, from dark myth.

They called them Ogres…


Weapons

Most units on the 23rd century battlefields of Epic Ogre use electromagnetic accelerator weapons (i.e. railguns) to fire a variety of projectiles. They can apply devastating direct fire, or use indirect fire by releasing overhead submunitions. Rather then fry everything in an given area with a kiloton nuclear explosion, 23rd century weapons can hit everything in the target zone with a spray dozens of tiny smart-nukes with a shaped charge effect (colloquially known as ‘hivelocs’), increasing the chance of a kill while doing less permanent damage to the landscape.

Tacnukes

The micronuke rounds used during the Final War were small munitions with yields well into the microton range. They were designed to be fired from conventional electromagnetic launchers, just like the more common kinetic kill rounds. At impact, the kinetic energy activated the nuke and it exploded. The "flash" of energy released by the explosion was channeled in a shaped charge for better armor penetration. Even the ultra-dense BPC armor would have the contact area vaporize into plasma.

However, the rounds DID cause collateral damage, though nowhere near the extremes caused by their larger tactical brothers. The blast and aftershock were usually restricted to a few hundred feet at most and residual radiation effects were almost nil.


Armour Units

These units represent the more conventional military forces, controlled not by robot brains but by human minds and reflexes. While also armored with BPC and carrying equally advanced weaponry, they are smaller and considerably more fragile than the monstrous Ogres.

23rd century armored units featured BPC armor, fully integrated holosense communications, and onboard AI systems capable of controlling the vehicle, and even fight if necessary. Though not as well as a human commander.

Although every nation and empire had a few special vehicle types, the great majority of units fielded in the 23rd century fell into the following basic categories, common to almost every force.

Special Movement Rule
Due their design and tactical considerations all vehicles described below may only move 1.5x their normal advance rate. They may NOT Charge at twice their normal movement rate.

Ground Effect Vehicle (GEV)

A variety of fast-strike battleline GEV units were created by the combatants of the 23rd century. The stats provided were typical of units fielded by both sides, though the actual craft may differ wildly in appearance.

Combat GEVs had much of the mystique that had once belonged to aerospace fighter pilots before cheap battlefield lasers drove them from the skies. Their commanders were referred to as pilots, or informally as GEV-jockeys (pronounced ‘jev-jockeys;).

Most GEV designs featured a number of small weapon systems rather than a single large one, simply because large weapons were not only inaccurate when fired from the ground-effect platform, but tended to throw the vehicle out of control.

Because of their speed, GEVs tended to dominate any open battlefield. On such a battlefield the only units that can defend against GEVs will be other GEVs, artillery….and Ogres.

Special Rule: Shoot N' Scoot
GEVs have the ability to fire on the move and quickly retreat. The sweeping attacks and quick fades became a trademark GEV tactic.
GEVs may fire at any point during their move, even if on Charge orders. After firing the unit may make a turn of up to 180° and continue its movement. Firing while on Charge orders does give a –1 to its to-hit rolls however.

SIZE: 2 OGRE POINTS: 6

Light GEV (LGEV)

A single-seat, light reconnaissance hovercraft. Pilots of light GEVs were daredevils by any standards, and professed to look on the heavier armor units as stodgy and boring. Perhaps because of this devil-may-care attitude LGEV pilots had the lowest life-expectancy of any vehicle crew during the Final War.

LGEVs may Shoot N’ Scoot in the same manner as their larger cousins.

SIZE: 1 OGRE POINTS: 3

GEV Personnel Carrier (GEV-PC)

This is a light air-cushioned armored personnel carrier (APC) used to transport infantry units across the nuclear battlefield.  A GEV-PC may carry up to 3 squads of battlesuited infantry, or 4 squads of conventional infantry (such as Space Marines).

A GEV-PC may Shoot N’ Scoot just as a normal GEV can. In addition it may drop off its infantry complement at any point during its move.

SIZE: 3 OGRE POINTS: 6

Hovertruck

The standard military cargo hovercraft of the 23rd century. The hovertruck did not replace regular wheeled vehicles for ordinary road transport, but was used whenever speed or off-road capability – or both! – was required.

A hovertruck may transport up to two squads of infantry. They are also used to carry equipment, spare parts and noncombatants.

SIZE: 3 OGRE POINTS: 1

Heavy Tank

An advanced battle tank, the Heavy Tank is the backbone of most conventional 23rd century forces.  A heavy tank can transport a single squad of infantry riding on its hull.

SIZE: 3 OGRE POINTS: 6

Missile Tank

A lightly armored tracked vehicle, this unit is armed with a reloadable missile delivery system. Its missiles are smart and highly maneuverable, and use submunitions to pepper the target area with lethal effect.

SIZE: 2 OGRE POINTS: 6

Light Tank

Used for reconnaissance and screening, the Light Tank is a small, flexible, and relatively inexpensive armor unit. It is often found in a defensive role.

A Light Tank can transport a single squad of infantry riding on its hull.

SIZE: 2 OGRE POINTS: 3

Superheavy Tank

Designed as both a tank destroyer and a battleline unit, the Superheavy Tank varies significantly from smaller modern tanks. It has no turret, but mounts two forward-firing cannons. The Superheavy also mounts two small antipersonnel weapon turrets similar to those mounted on Ogres.

The first Superheavies were designed by the Paneuropeans, and intended to match – more cheaply – the Ogre Mark I. In fact, the human-controlled units weren’t the equal of the cybertanks in performance, but they were cheaper and still effective enough to prove viable. Soon after the Paneuropean model was put into active serve the Combine put out its own (very similar) design.

The Superheavy moves using the Ogre movement table. A Superheavy Tank can transport up to two infantry squads riding on top of its hull.

SIZE: 5 OGRE POINTS: 12

Mobile Howitzer

A heavy self-propelled gun. It is a lighter version of the stationary howitzer, mounted on a tracked chassis.

SIZE: 4 OGRE POINTS: 12

Howitzer

A heavy missile cannon, towed to a chosen site and deployed. The missiles it fires are essentially identical to those launched by the Missile Tank, but it fires more of them and the launch tube boosts them farther and faster.

SIZE: 4 OGRE POINTS: 12

Light Howitzer

A less expensive version of the Howitzer – almost as large, but much slower firing and with slightly less range.

SIZE: 4 OGRE POINTS: 6

Mobile Command Post

Various sorts of heavy transports and armored personnel carriers were transformed into mobile command posts. The theory was that in an unacceptably fluid situation, they could move – slowly – out of harm’s way. Sometimes they were too slow…

SIZE: 4 OGRE POINTS: By Scenario

GEV Mobile Command Post

The most ambitious attempt to create a speedy command unit was a conversion of a massive transport hovercraft. The largest mobile headquarters unit in the War, it saw limited action on several Paneuropean and Combine holdings. With just a little head start it could outrun almost anything except another GEV…or a missile.

SIZE: 3 OGRE POINTS: By Scenario

EPIC OGRE MINIATURES TROOP SUMMARY
Troop Type Move Saving
Throw
CAF Weapons Range Attack
Dice
Roll
To Hit
Save
Mod
Notes
GEV

70cm

8+

+2

Railgun

100cm

1(T1)

4+

-2

Skimmer, no pop-up
LGEV

70cm

11+

+1

Railgun

100cm

1(T1)

5+

-1

Skimmer, no pop-up
GEV-PC

50cm

8+

+1

Railgun

100cm

1(T1)

5+

-1

Skimmer, no pop-up
Hovertruck

50cm

11+

+0

None Skimmer, no pop-up
Heavy Tank

30cm

6+

+4

Heavy Railgun

100cm

1

2+

-4

 
Missile Tank

20cm

8+

+3

Missiles

200cm

1(T2)

3+

-3

 
Light Tank

30cm

8+

+2

Light Railgun

100cm

1

4+

-2

 
Superheavy Tank

30cm

4+

+8

Assault Guns
AP Turrets

150cm
60cm

2(T2)
2

3+
4+

-6
-1

Superheavy
Mobile Howitzer

10cm

8+

+0

Howitzer

300cm

1(T2)

2+

-6

Artillery
Howitzer

None

11+

+0

Howitzer

400cm

1(T3)

2+

-6

Artillery
Light Howitzer

None

11+

+0

Howitzer

350cm

1(T1)

3+

-3

Artillery
Mobile Command Post

10cm

11+

+0

None CP
GEV Command Post

30cm

8+

+0

None CP, Skimmer, no pop-up