Vehicle of the Week: Axel Heavy TankThe Axel is one of those tanks without a lot of fluff. What we really know about them is that they're based on Pattons and Rommels sold to the Free Rasalhague Republic by the Lyrans after the FRR was restored as part of the wheeling and dealing that bought Theodore Kurita ComStar's help in the War of 3039. Later on, after the absorption of the remainder of the Republic into the Ghost Bear Dominion, Rasalhague techs had the opportunity to revisit the design and bring the power of
pure munch Clantech to bear on the problem, producing a regular line tank and a much rarer cavalry variant.
The orignial Axel was a product of its nation's much more limited but still capable industrial base. You need to delve into Record Sheets: 3039 Unabridged to get the details or you could just keep reading. Like its parent designs, the Axel is a 65 ton tracked heavy tank, but the power plant is very different, a mere 195-rated internal combustion engine. 10.5 tons of armor is arranged 36/36/24/36, suggesting that the vehicle may be more closely based on the Rommel than the Patton. The main armament, a class 20 autocannon fed by four tons of ammo for a 20 turn fire endurance, does little to dissuade that suggestion. A turret mounted LRM 10 is fed by two tons to actually have four more shots than the big gun, giving you the ability to either carry alternate munitions or providing a considerable amount of long-range fire endurance. Two machine guns add to the fun, one fixed forward and one in the turret. Both share a single half-ton 100 round ammo bin. Overall, it's slow but fairly tough and flexible enough as an urban defense unit. Not a bad choice for the chosen line tank of a nation just starting out. The only known variant of the Axel Mk. I is the Mk. II, trading a ton of LRM ammo and a half-ton of armor (leaving it at 34 points on the front, sides, and turret) for a rear-mounted vehicle flamer using a one ton ammo supply, an homage to the Patton.
The Vidar fluff notes that Rasalhagian tanks are better designed than Clan models, showing improved performance in the hands of both Spheroid and Clan crews. This is Exhibit A right here in why and it was one of the little surprises the Powers That Be had for us when they released RS3058 Upgrade Unabridged's IS volume. If the original Axel was a pragmatic tank, the Axel IIC is just as pragmatic and far more dangerous and where the original's primary inspiration were the Rommel and Patton, the Axel IIC has taken a lot of lessons from the Manticore, starting with putting the 260 SFE from the Patton or Rommel back on. 11.5 tons of ferro-fibrous is layered on 65/45/30/35, so keep the front pointed forward. The turret mounts are a devastating display of why Clantech is just plain better: A large pulse laser and two LRM 15s mated to Artemis IV fire control suites fed by a shared four ton ammunition supply. It won't last as long as the original's LRMs will but with three times the tubes and an LPL, I'm not really worried about that. The bumper-mounted infantry sweeper was upgraded to an APGR, tripling the reach and increasing the anti-armor damage by 50%, and it has a full 40 round magazine thanks to a ton of ammunition. Finally, the Rasalhagians put ECM on. (Those of you wondering where the XLFE is, there's not one. That was an old error on the sheets.)
Some of those techs went even farther, producing a high-cost, high-end cavalry tank in the bargain. The engine was swapped for a 325-rated extra-light fusion engine, giving it the speed to pace your typical Clan heavy OmniMech in open ground or actually keep up with a
Stormcrow on the city streets. The original pulse laser was swapped for an ERLL mated to a targeting computer - something that also helps the bumper-mounted APGR - and an anti-missile system with a ton of ammo was attached to the turret to help keep the investment mobile. The LRMs and armor are just what they were on the original IIC. Overall, it's pricy but you're getting a nice tank for your money.
Operationally, the two branches of the Axel family are very different animals. The original behaves like a slower Patton, moving forward to beat someone's head in with the class 20. The LRMs give it a marginally better ability to shoot back at range and significantly improve secondary uses of the rack (especially minelaying, something I suspect the FRR may have taken to like religious converts to offset the Clans' general advantage in speed) but that doesn't diminish the fact that you're inherently a close range bruiser. Notably, the Axel is going to be right at home in urban environments, leaving things like 'Mechs more available to charge out into open terrain or push someone into the path of a lance of Axels. The IIC is more of a medium range brawler, not really great at short range (due to the way short range in Clan hardware tends to be brutal, not anything in particular about the tank) and not really armed for the long-range sniper duels, although an LPL or TC'd ERLL isn't useless in that respect, nor are the LRMs. Move them into positions where they can pour fire into someone, especially with limited fire into their weaker arcs, and they'll do a credible job.
Stopping Axels is a matter of cracking them open. The original is best kept at arm's length until you're ready to deal with it decisively. Bring active probes if you're going into a Rasalhagian city after the Axel is introduced - ambushes with AC/20s are nasty, brutish, and short. In particular, the Dracs are
not going to like dealing with them - the combination of ECM and firepower heavily disrupt a lot of C3 tactics. The Wolves have some better options thanks to superior technology and the lack of a heavy dependence on C3 but it's still going to dish some lumps back out. I'm not entirely sure how well the
Night Wolf would perform but it's worth looking at - the mixture of damage and clustering is decent for making tanks die in a reasonably short period of time.
References: The Master Unit List splits the Axel between the
IS original recipe and
Clan extra spicy editions. Considering the artwork, I'd suggest just using the Patton/Rommel miniature.
