M100 Artillery Track

Confederate M100 Artillery Track

M100 "Husky" 155mm Self-Propelled Gun
File:IconM100.png
An M100, watching over the Texas Coast
Faction	Confederate Revolutionaries
Minor Faction(s)	Cult of the Black Hand
Unit Type	Armoured Truck
Designation	Tactical Artillery
Production Building	Vehicle Warehouse
Secondary Ability	Super Shell
Cost	$1800-2100
Production Time	0:20
Heroic Upgrade	Machine gun; Piledriver
Dev. Status	In game

Country of Origin	Canada
Recovered from	The Boneyard, Nevada
Key Features	» 203mm howitzer  » Crew compartment (cramped)  » V4 engine (overworked)  » Coordinate relay radio  » Speed stripes (ineffective)

"They ain't never gonna forget this."

- Confederate M100

Tactical Analysis

• Guns of the South: Another vehicle dating back to WWII, the M100 is a powerful 203mm howitzer, capable of lobbing devastating high explosive shells into bases at a steady rate, and from considerable range. This makes it the go-to choice for base razing.

• Bigger Stick: Generally, a barrage of 203mm shells is enough to make short work of most targets. However, when even this isn't enough, M100 crews can load and fire a "super shell", an explosive projectile packed with even more explosives than the M100's regular HE shells.

• Slow and Steady: However, such power comes at a price. The M100 suffers from a very slow top speed, poor armour, and minimum range, so it is best to escort it with other units.

• Drop the Hammer: Confederate resonance technology allows some M100 crews to use a scaled down, but still very dangerous, version of the Resonance Jackhammer. However, they only fit weapon on veteran artillery crews, fearing that newbies might accidentally shake their vehicle to pieces.

Operational History

An M100, side by side with the newer Valkyrie Self-Propelled Gun.

A product of Canadian arms factories, the M100 "Husky" Artillery Track combines a 203mm howitzer with a sturdy, wide chassis to create one of the most devastating conventional mobile artillery pieces ever developed. When it was developed in 1948, it was originally intended to be accompanied by ammunition carriers, freeing the chassis to carry merely the gun and its five man crew; however, Allied High Command changed the requirements during development, requiring the weapon to carry a large number of rounds with it. The extra weight and space requirements increased the weight above the original target, leaving the loaded road speed of the Husky a pathetic 16 kph.

At first, the Husky was unpopular with its crews, so much so that the title became associated with military command's incompetence in both military circles and civilian media. In addition to the extremely slow speed and rather thin armour, it had a painfully slow turning speed, and most damning of all, the inclusion of the internal ammunition reserve had meant shifting the weapon so that the three-man loading crew had to leave the vehicle in order to reload the howitzer.

The different upgrades of the M100.

However, while civilian scorn remained, all complaints among military personnel vanished the moment the M100 howitzer fired its first shot. The 203mm howitzer earned a fierce reputation as the strongest artillery weapon of the war, capable of destroying structures, crushing bunkers, destroying tanks and basically any other destructive feat imaginable. Batteries of M100s would flatten entire tank divisions from beyond visual range, and the reload times of the howitzer put the Soviet V2 launchers to shame.

As the Allies began to advance, they began to encounter Soviet "SAM Sites", hardened underground complexes that were practically immune to conventional attack. To counter this, a new "super shell" was developed for the M100, using an experimental high-yield charge to breach these structures and destroy their interiors. Nearly 32,000 of these vehicles were deployed during the Second World War and more would be built later, though it was phased out after 1955 in favour of the UKM-13 Eclipse 155mm howitzer, which despite having a much smaller calibre was ultimately considered the superior weapon due to its greater ammo storage capacity and a greater rate of fire.

The Confederates use a small number of M100s, as their slow speed makes them unsuited for hit and run warfare. They've taken to calling the vehicle the M100 after the American manufacturing designation.

Behind the Scenes

• You should have worked out that it's the Allied Artillery from RA1.

• The fluted end of the M100's howitzer was inspired by the classical image of the blunderbuss, and the general shape resembles the Basilisk Earthshaker artillery from Warhammer 40,000.

Cult Phantom Artillery

M100 "Phantom" Artillery Track
Minor Faction	Cult of the Black Hand
Other Faction(s)	Confederate Revolutionaries
Unit Type	Armoured Truck
Designation	Anti Structure
Production Building	Cult Shrine
Secondary Ability	Switch HE Shells/Incendiary Shells
Cost	Unknown
Production Time	Unknown
Heroic Upgrade	Stealth
Dev. Status	Conceptual

Country of Origin	Canada
Produced by/ Recovered from	Cult Shrine
Key Features	» 155mm howitzer  » Incendiary shells (ironic)  » V4 engine (overworked)  » Cultist iconography  » Identification markers (sprayed on)

"Light of the Morning!"

- Scrawled on an abandoned M100 decorated with strange iconography

Tactical Analysis

• A Surprising Shelling: Armed with the standard 155mm howitzer, the Phantom can level hostile forces with only a few rounds. Add to the fact they can disguise themselves as civilian vehicles means enemy forces will soon find themselves getting hit by disappearing artillery.

• 155 Millimeters of Irony: All Phantoms are equipped with a large amount of incendiary shells, perfect for roasting Talon soldiers and heretic buildings to the ground.

• All the Power, None of the Speed: Much like its Confederate brother, the Phantom lacks speed and any significant armor to defend against attacks. This leaves it painfully vulnerable when they are discovered and most Phantoms will find themselves as scrap metal soon after.

• Leave No Evidence: Veteran crews working the bulky, slow Phantoms have become extremely good at keeping them hidden, such that they even can do it in battle. The loud report of the howitzer will still alert anyone who is within earshot, though.

Operational History

Over the years the Black Hand and the Talon's arsenals have changed as new weapons and systems have come out of development. From the sword to the musket to the tank, the Cult and Talon have fought each other not only with cloak and dagger, but also with swords and shields. Despite being evenly matched in covert ops, the Cult cannot hope to match the Talon in military strength, especially in the area of artillery. Against the Talon's Wraiths and their Apostles, the Cult had no readily available counter. However, this all changed with one battle.

In western Turkey, a shrine holding several M100s to be sold for funds had come under Talon attack. The cultist in charge had been given orders to retreat at the first sign of any Talon forces to avoid losing too much equipment to the militarily superior Talon forces. As Talon troops began to approach the base with artillery coverage to prevent the Cult’s escape, he decided to stay with some troops to destroy as many possible Talon units before fully retreating to buy time.

Thinking quickly, he ordered some of his men to stay in the base and fight to the death while he evacuated some troops, supplies, and the M100s to a nearby town. From there, they disguised themselves as Turkish military and, using a Bavarian fire drill, convinced the local police to allow them to set up artillery in the town. The Talon, thinking they'd won, were soon hit by a barrage of HE shells coming from the village. Unaware the artillery was Black Hand, they retreated, thinking that Reservist forces had somehow arrived in the area and were targeting them.

Soon, all orders to sell any salvaged M100s were put on hold, and the artillery pieces were given the designation of Phantom Artillery. However, it was Seth himself who suggested they be loaded with incendiary shells, in addition to the normal shells, as an ironic gesture to the Talon. The Black Hand's emphasis on using these howitzers from hidden and unexpected locations have caused some experienced crews to become so good at hiding their vehicles they can can disguise it at a moment's notice.