The weirdest of all moderators, the master of all that inhabits the depths of space, the man known as Zug, has asked that we cover this old scout car, and you know what? I'm glad he did. Because this is one of those units that everyone knows about- I mean, who isn't familiar with the ol' Pack Rat? And yet... how many of you have honestly used Pack Rats? Seriously, don't give me "I have, I don't know what's wrong with the rest of you.", I mean, genuinely, how many people have used them? Not many. Not THIS author, prior to a few test runs over the past few days. So, let's delve in and see an old classic that rarely makes an appearance at gaming tables.
Thing is, as a scout car in 3025-era play, the Pack Rat just doesn't have a lot going for it compared to a bug Mech or something along those lines. So these rarely are seen by players as a good unit to use- but as an in-universe thing, Pack Rats and their various permutations are just the thing for jobs like urban scouting, artillery spotting, riot duty, and all the other things that are vitally important to a military force, but not really something the game does well in that era. So, an important unit that lacks the tools to do its job- uh oh. But, hey, it's not all bad news- in fact, there's some really neat tricks to find on this when you go looking.
We start by sawing open the engine compartment and finding a surprise. Where most scout cars would have an ICE engine, we find the Pack Rat has a fusion motor! The 20 ton craft has a 120-rated engine pushing it to a 7/11 movement curve, and of course being wheeled that means it gains a bonus on pavement- something to remember during 3025-era objective raids on factories and the like. That means it can basically pace a Locust in the urban jungle- no small feat in its day. A fusion engine in this era is a rarity on a vehicle, even on a powerful tank- we see vehicles like the Von Luckner even getting stripped for their engines. And yet the Pack Rat has one- fascinating to see this.
So that's a pretty rare and big investment on a scout. It needs protection. Four tons of armor is pretty hefty protection for a 20 ton unit. With no turret, the Pack Rat has a simple and even sixteen points on each location, plenty enough to withstand all but an AC-20 blast to any location. Even in the modern era, a Gauss slug won't break the armor- a rarity on a scout vehicle. And it's worth noting that the Pack Rat has that on the rear- which means it can safely run away from problems and survive an encounter with something unexpected like a Panther or Manticore and potentially escape. Try that with a Wasp! (WARNING: The author does not actually advise dealing with a Manticore using a Wasp, unless you owe the Mechwarrior money.)
Our usual rule, speed, armor, firepower, pick two. Sometimes you can double down on one, the way the Uller does on guns. It's the rare unit that can pull all three. Welcome to the Pack Rat- we found one! Yeah, it doesn't sound like much, but with good speed and surprisingly tough protection comes an awfully handy SRM-6 in a forward mounting (amusingly mounted on the rear end of the vehicle, but faced forward). That it's fixed forward reduces its utility somewhat- it sure would be nice to be able to throw a few warheads behind you as you flee that Panther- but being a scout car, you shouldn't really be getting in a fight anyway- more on the utility of this later. For now, using standard tactics though, an SRM-6 is a surprisingly hefty weapon for a scout car like this, with its ammo weighing in at a fifth of the vehicle's weight. Well done! We do have one more weapon, to boot- a flamer (the usual model, not the vehicle version- thanks, fusion engine!), mounted to the rear. This is of dubious value, since it's only really useful against infantry, and infantry rarely chase down a 7/11 scout car successfully. Switching the weapon locations would be much handier- as it is, the flamer probably won't fire very often other than to make the car look like it's going faster. (Passenger space is also listed, but one ton of weight is allocated and can be looked at as a fluff item more than anything.)
NOTE: As we learned with the Warrior article, sometimes the older books and the newer ones have minor changes made. The Pack Rat is no exception- the 3039 iteration has only one ton of control equipment rather than the two on the 3025 version, and makes the infantry/passenger compartment have a weight of one ton rather than being a mere mention as in 3025. This really doesn't change the vehicle, since on ton of passenger cargo is kind of 'bleh', but is worth noting.Handy, right? Not near as bad as you'd think. But, again, in the 3025-era, we lack items like TAG, Beagle, Guardian, the kind of electronics that actually would allow our Pack Rat to do the scout jobs it's designed to do. That very much reduces the Pack Rat's utility, unfortunately- and makes it hard to make this work as a combat unit. Sad.
Variants are out there, as you can imagine. That fusion engine? Like I said, we're pulling those out of Von Luckners- why would Pack Rats get away with it? While the TRO notes that there are many variants like this, the official record sheet version puts in an ICE engine in place of the much-needed fusion engine. That meant removing the flamer (no big loss), and a ton of armor (ok, that one hurt), but keeps the rest of the unit mostly the same. I'd much rather have seen the weight pulled from the flamer and dropping the SRM to a four-pack rather than pulling armor, but honestly this isn't the worst 'downgrade' to an ICE one can imagine. It's useable, particularly for militia and small merc units.
The fusion model has an infantry carrying version, as well- a three ton infantry bay gives you room to carry a platoon of foot troops, with whatever weapons they'd like to haul- maybe not the best little APC out there, but in 3025 we can't afford to be picky about how we get around the battlefield, can we? This involves dropping the missile rack down to a two-pack, but were we using it anyway, really?
Still nothing that gives us a decent scout unit though. I guess we'll have to just give up and- oh. Oh wow. Hey, come back, we found it! XTRO: Phantoms gave us our first new Pack Rat in decades, and ohhhhh mama is this one the scout we've been waiting for. Leave it to the questionable-sanity minds in Loki to brew up something insane and useful. The 'Gepenst' starts with... hell, this is almost a whole new vehicle. That's an XXL engine in there now- so if the old fusion engine was a shock in 3025, this is almost jaw-dropping in the Jihad. What did that ridiculous toy get us? Well, first, we move 9/14 now- and again, wheels on pavement, do the math. That's nice- 7/11 was fine in the old days, but feels a bit tired now, so boosting that speed again was a great move. And this Pack Rat finally gains the ability to play the kind of dirty tricks that it never could before due to lack of equipment in the old days- and not just the basic stuff, but the best toys available. That's a Bloodhound probe! And an Angel suite with it! That's the kind of stuff that can allow the Gespenst to spot even the most well-hidden foe, and disrupt enemy electronics to the point of hair-pulling. (Important against the kind of C3i-equipped foes Loki dealt with at this point!). Finally, two more little tricks are included- a four-ton infantry bay for your favorite flavor of battle armor (this author thinks Rottweilers would look nice lumbering out the back of this thing), and of course what department of dirty tricks is complete without making your nasty scout/interdiction machine able to traverse water with basic amphibious gear? Yes, it's unarmed, expensive, and likely extremely rare even at its height, but... this is the scout car the old Pack Rat always wanted to be, and one you MUST try at your next game against the Word.
I promised you a quick look earlier at how to use the original though, right? Ignore the flamer, that's just useless. But that SRM? Don't even bring regular ammo- or inferno! Smoke rounds mean as you flee that Panther, you can start laying down a cloud of smoke to hide in and avoid more enemy fire. Keep dropping smoke a few hexes in front of your intended path, and keep dodging into and past it, and eventually your speed will win the day. Handy indeed! I still wish it was rear mounted, but it's a much better use of it still than standing and fighting against the enemy- you know better than that anyway, it's a scout car! Leave that to the rest of the company!
So. Now you know all about it. But you never used it. Get out there and test some Pack Rats, and report back, will you? Next week we'll cover another ancient and rarely-used design from a more recent book, requested by Redshirt.
