Vehicle of the Week: Giggins APCThe Giggins is another answer to the seemingly eternal question of moving battle armor
en masse in safety with some degree of speed. The basic design decisions date back to MW: Dark Age, although the dossier's information is kind of suspect when you actually know something about the BattleTech movement rules. First getting extensive BattleTech coverage in TRO3085, the Giggins is built by Duncan Enterprises on Moore. Moore was gifted to the Republic of the Sphere with a "...request that the dead soldiers of the DCMS be remembered for their sacrifice." It was designed in response to a Republic APC contract that the Pandion also competed for and chosen over the Pandion, reportedly due to the superior anti-infantry firepower. Given that the name honored a
Sho-sa killed in the Day of Fire on that world and the way Moore came into the Republic's arms, GM was rather incensed. They weren't the only ones, though. Two of the heirs of Charles Giggins filed suit over royalties from the use of his name, a matter that was still out for the courts to settle as of TRO3085.
Overall, the Giggins reminds me strongly of a larger, fusion-powered version of the heavy wheeled APC. At 40 tons, it's 60% larger, but the DAV 220 fusion plant drives it to the same 97 kph top speed. 6.5 tons of ferro-fibrous armor are arranged in a nearly equal arrangement of 28/25/25/25, enough to stop any single cluster short of a Piranha, even a point-blank hit from a heavy Gauss rifle. The turret contains a pair of heavy machine guns. The firepower from the guns is impressive, especially against infantry, but the fact that even conventional rifle platoons (or a
Locust with nothing but a small laser left) can stand outside its range and fling damage in without any return fire doesn't recommend them to me as a unit's sole armament, especially not something this large. The lack of CASE and the tonnage they take up doesn't do a whole lot for my opinion, either. ECM was added for defensive purposes, allowing a range of defensive tricks and giving the Giggins an interesting sideline as a reasonably tough, cheap, and fast interdictor. All of this is in support of the 8 ton infantry bay that consumes a full 20% of the unit's tonnage. That's enough capacity to move motorized platoons or a full squad of assault battle armor under TacOps rules, two squads of BA under normal rules, or two platoons of jump infantry. Fireangel
made a few points about that in the heavy APC article that I suggest reviewing. Generally, it's a reasonable high-end replacement for the heavy APC if you've got C-Bills to spend or need to move an entire squad of assault armor under Tactical Operations rules.
Well aware of the fact that this is not, in any sense, an infantry fighting vehicle and that people like me regard killing APCs as a good solution to the problem of ground-slogging footmen in their glorious 'Mech-on-'Mech combat, Duncan Enterprises introduced a fire support variant. Half of the infantry capacity, the ECM module, and the heavy machine guns were removed. In their place we get a pair of ERMLs and an MML 5 with two tons of ammo. The remaining tonnage was added to the armor, now 34/28/30/28. Still no CASE though. This is pretty decent for what it is and compares reasonably well to the original Maxim.
Once again I'll recommend Fireangel's
tactical primer for infantry operations as something to peruse but I'll add something else. This is an infantry transport. The fire support variant is more of a Maxim-esque IFV but its primary job is still moving infantry, not duking it out, and it definitely doesn't have the firepower to force medium 'Mechs (or, for that matter, a lot of the heavier lights) to find someone else to harass unless operating in groups. Move in, get the job done, and get back under cover if the APCs aren't offering direct fire support. The fastest way to cut foot troops' ability to threaten them for many, many 'Mechs is to pop the transport and out maneuver them, not attack the infantry, so don't let the enemy do that. Outside of combat, you can use it to move larger numbers of infantry, transport some cargo, or replace city buses when they break down. Those of you playing with the various Tactical Operations electronic warfare rules may also find the basic model useful as jammers, counter-jammers, or for flooding the battlefield with ghost targets.
Stopping a Giggins is simple and reasonably easy. The basic model is, against most non-infantry units, probably better described as a target than a combatant. Killing it is mainly important if it's an objective or you suspect there's infantry (or battle armor or what have you) in the back. Otherwise, elimination is a matter of opportunity and whether or not you see a need to strand whatever it might have been transporting. The fire support version is more of a nuisance since it has the range to actually threaten something outside of two hexes away. In either case, it's going to simplify your job to apply crit-seekers to slow the Giggins down, then hammer it hard enough to crack the armor.
Art Reference: The Master Unit List
has its usual information, including confirmation of the fact that this is a Republic exclusive. Sarna has
a copy of one of the Giggins dossiers and the original artwork. No current miniature is available and I was unable to locate a picture of the older Dark Age sculpt.
