THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE HAMMER’S SLAMMERS THE CRUCIBLE RULES SYSTEM HANDBOOK

Vehicles The Apollo - based on a transport hover truck drive train - was fitted with a 9.5cm DS Railgun which had a substantial sized sabot taking the iridium penetrator core down to only 2.2cm and giving it a very flat trajectory and particularly high speed (around mach 6). The armour was notably thick, around the front and turret, with slabs of iridium and panels of iridium and ceramic sandwich layered against a hull made largely from iridium extrusions and castings (Kalan was, after all, effectively a huge iridium mine...) however the thickness of the armour, combined with the large auto loader in the turret and the haste of production with the onset of war, meant that a planned secondary turret was not fitted. A pintel mounted weapon on the second turret hatch was trialed but not successfully and - in the end - the Apollo relied for the most part on the infantry weapons carried by the crew being fired from the secondary turret position. If flexible, this was less than satisfactory as it left crew members exposed but it was rushed into production before the pintel mount could be perfected… The Stewart military had the same issues with the Artemis MICV. Like the MBT, this was based on a lighter hover transport vehicle drive mechanicals and had a 4cm DS Railgun fitted - essentially a 'miniature' version of the main weapon on the Apollo. The difficulty there was that it lacked stopping power against other MBTs and required a lucky shot - or a side shot - to gain a kill on most tanks. Coaxially it also had a 2cm cannon fitted but this was incapable of independent targeted fire - it had to fire at the same target that the main weapon was aimed at, although it could be slaved to fire simultaneously. Like the Apollo, the Artemis went into combat without a pintel weapon fitted so - again - the practice adopted (suggested by Major FitzAlan, based on his experience in the Thunderbolt Division with their Dragoon range of half-track based vehicles) was for at least one infantryman or crewman to give support fire from one of the hatches in the vehicle with his personal weapons. The Thunderbolt's Dragoons used a similar system. The need for permanent on-board crew to give support fire meant that the deployable infantry was usually restricted to only 4 with space for two others to give supporting fire from the rear hatches. Egress was only via the six top hatches: there is no rear door.

The Stewart Regiment during the 2nd Kalan Civil War - 329TW