Vehicle of the Week Update: Burke(The original article is no longer available.)Taking a request this week, I'm covering the Burke. And over a year and a half after the repost, I'm coming back to the Burke in light of some recent updates on the MUL. Often compared with TRO3026's Schrek, the Burke is much older, introduced in 2580, close to two and a half centuries before the Schrek's 2813 debut towards the end of the First Succession War, but their origins have a certain symmetry. The outbreak of the Reunification War with the recalcitrant Periphery states left the Star League looking for new hardware and Foretechno looked to seize a piece of the market with a new vehicle design. Ten years of production positioned the Burke as the heart of the SLDF's heavy tank force, with some units fielding entire battalions, but eventually the tank's lack of mobility caused a shift in Periphery tactics to avoid them and it was also left behind as Star League tactics began to more heavily emphasize maneuver rather than static concentrations of firepower. The results of this caused havoc for Foretechno's bottom line. As Foretechno faltered in the mid 28th century, the SLDF took action, restructuring the company and handing it over to Leopard Armor in exchange for a deal to keep maintaining the Burke line. Given the timing and the fact that around the same approximate time, a new factory model of Burke worked its way into the R&D pipeline, I think we can see why Leopard Armor took that deal. The factory was destroyed in 2778, however, in the process of retaking Terra from the forces of Amaris, but the Burke lingers on in the arsenals of ComStar, the Word of Blake, and the armored forces of Clan Hell's Horses. After the Jihad, it looks like the design found some new legs, including the apparent revival of the Royal under the aegis of the Republic of the Sphere.
The basic design of the Burke is where this whole thing goes horribly wrong. At 75 tons with a tracked movement mode, nothing seems amiss until you spot the GM 150 fusion engine. At flank speeds of 32 kph, you might win a foot race with an
UrbanMech but even there, there are times the
Urbie is going to outmaneuver you. You're also hideously vulnerable to movement criticals which are going to turn you into a bunker in short order. If you're this slow, the armor had better be able to pay the piper but it, too, is going to come up short. A mere 5.5 tons, approximately 7% of the tonnage, is layered onto the tank although at least someone was thoughtful enough to use ferro-fibrous, which helps bring the armor up to a 27/18/15/20 layering. While the only instant kill shot is a short-range HGR to the stern (unlikely but not impossible given your speed), the fact that twenty points will go internal across the flanks and thirty will punch through on the snout isn't calculated to make anyone happy. AC/20s aren't a major concern in the Burke's operational role, although nearly every AC/20 platform can run a Burke down if it chooses to, but the number of PPCs, AC/10s, Gauss rifles, heavy LRM racks, and assorted other ranged mayhem out there should compensate nicely. I want to remind everyone that the Burke is the product of a different era's considerations, a time when there was less damage in generally smaller concentrations being thrown around but it was still thinly armored for its time and without the Schrek's excuse of lacking access to Star League gear. Enough about the armor, though. There has to be some reason the Star League Defense Force bought these things and you find it in the turret. Three Chalker Model 25 PPCs, just like Aldis would later install on the Schrek, are nestled up there providing plenty of punch. Apparently thinking that wasn't enough, Foretechno's engineers installed an LRM 10 in the front, which is where the tonnage the Schrek spends on somewhat more armor and a more powerful engine disappeared to. Those of you wondering about CASE, no, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. This is sufficient firepower to make many 'Mechs wary and compares favorably with the AWS-8Q
Awesome, but where the
Awesome just keeps on coming, the Burke is going to find itself becoming a priority to remove from the board in many situations, attention it won't survive attracting. In others, given how slow it is, people are just going to go around it the way Periphery commanders started to.
After over a century and a half of dealing with the original, someone realized that they could do better. As I noted up above, the rough description from Klondike, "...in the years before the Amaris Coup[,]" puts this in the same general timeframe as Foretechno's takeover and the hand off to Leopard Armor. We don't have the details on the timing, nor do we know whose R&D department was behind this, but I'm inclined to doubt the whole thing is a coincidence. Implications of shady deals and government intervention in the marketplace aside, this is really a very significant and positive upgrade. The GM 150 was removed for a more powerful VOX 225-rated extra-light engine. The LRM rack was removed entirely for a pair of Streak SRM 2s fed from a single ton of ammo. Three more tons of armor were added to get it up to an adequate 8.5 tons laid out 42/30/20/30. It's very similar to the original Demolisher's armor layout, actually, which generally gets the job done. Overall, not one of the great legends of combat vehicles but a generally acceptable, useful tank. Since the plant wasn't destroyed until the liberation of Terra, it's entirely possible that forces loyal to Amaris had access to these while the majority of the SLDF regiments would've had to make do with the older model. Unfortunately, the Royals are even more of a dying breed than the run of the mill Burkes, with the remaining examples probably in the hands of the Clans.
Considering the situation in the Inner Sphere along with the ominous lack of news from the Homeworlds and the violence of what little information we do have from there, it's likely that even if the Burke in general soldiers on, this is the last time the Royal model will take to the battlefield. Man, what a difference eighteen months makes! We now know that either the Republic found a stockpile or they restarted production - they're using the design actively but apparently aren't sharing it very widely.
ComStar and the Word of Blake, both inheritors of a certain number of Burkes from the Star League's arsenal, decided to try and improve the Burke themselves once the fur started flying in the Jihad. Unfortunately, their upgrades didn't address the Burke's actual problems and really just contribute to the whole "Kill it with fire!" vibe it already had going on. The weapons were completely replaced. The particle cannons became a pair of Supernova Heavy PPCs, both capable of taking a cockpit off at 540 meters. The missiles are now a Holly Streak SRM 4 rack. Savings in the turret mechanism and the actual weapons tonnage went into a C3i module. Nothing in there really sounds bad, I know, but remember, a Burke is slow and thinly armored and now is a very major priority for neutralization. The armor is not that much heavier than the
Hollander we all laugh at for being 5/8 with one Gauss rifle.
If a lot of these refits hit the field, the older Burke chassis has a good chance of joining its Royal descendant in the dustbin of history. Ironically, we now know these are the variants that didn't survive. The Royal found some sort of second chance and apparently the Burke is actually getting a little more widespread among the Clans post-Jihad, not less, judging from the MUL entries.
The first thing to know about fielding Burkes is to expect losses. The Royal Burke's armor is the only one I'd consider reasonable and even then, it's not that thick. The HPPC model is, plain and simple, a deathtrap. Twin headcappers in a C3i network on a very thinly armored platform that can occasionally be outmaneuvered by an
UrbanMech? Yeah, that's going to get pretty high up the ol' targeting priority list. Operate them in concentrations of firepower. The best way to win here is to convince the enemy to find something better to do than risk the damage he's going to incur eliminating the Burke. Thus, the main model and the HPPC version function better as area denial or in situations where the you can give the enemy a more important immediate problem to concentrate on. The HPPC Burkes usually accomplish this by throwing spotters into the breach. Everyone's always happy to kill C3 spotters! With a little more mobility, a Royal can get into position more readily and the armor makes it better able to hold a position once it gets there but it's not what I'd rely on as "mobile bunker" material in a modern battlefield. In any case, your priority is to find an advantageous firing position, get into it, and keep flinging charged particles down range at the enemy until they either move out of range or send you to the afterlife. Park a close-range guard dog nearby (Demolishers are a great choice) to keep people out of the Burkes' faces. If you're expecting to be dealing with artillery and air cover, remember that Burkes (especially the 2/3 models) are going to make tempting targets so have your counters prepared and don't rely on the Burkes themselves to keep fighters out - they're too easily neutralized by conventional birds. Fighters aren't going to enjoy dealing with those PPCs but I, at least, am perfectly prepared to trade a couple of Boeing Jump Bombers for a pair of Burkes and call it a good deal and I doubt I'm alone in that assessment. A pair of Partisans with flak ammo will keep a lot of the small fry at bay and at least force the big boys to make a PSR if they want to get close. It's a worthy investment. If using Burkes in a fixed defense situation, lay minefields to limit the approaches so the enemy is compelled to move through clear terrain the Burkes can pour fire into. Artillery firing or impassable terrain can have a similar effect. Hull down may be useful if you use that rule but I suggest you consider whether or not you want damage that does hit to strike the turret and whether or not covering the forward launcher is a good idea.
Countering Burkes is simple. Get close - under the PPC minimums - and stay out of the front arc on the variants to avoid unnecessary Streak dings. When approaching, watch for terrain like woods hexes or the like to keep the PPCs off of you until you're ready to clean the Burkes out of wherever they're parked. Don't bother getting fancy, just hit a Burke hard with reasonably-sized clusters (5 points and up) until the vehicle pops. For those not able to close readily - tissue paper armor or not, they do put out damage pretty well and if they're staggered together, closing may be ill-advised - remember that all of them are slow. Crit-seeking weapons (the LB 10-X is a good choice) will immobilize them quickly. If the turrets can be locked, avoid the turret arcs. If they can't, either keep your speed up or use something tough enough to survive some grazes. Static fire positions can also be dealt with through the expedients of artillery (Long Tom HE is going to be hilariously effective against the more common 2/3 models if they're clumped up but any arty will do the job) or airpower but be prepared to accept some thresholding from the PPCs if you opt for the wild blue yonder solution. The C3i HPPC model needs to have the spotters or the tank itself jammed to reduce its threat until you can dispose of it directly. Depending on what else is in the network and your available cover, you may want to go ahead and clean the spotters off the board first if they're moderately dangerous on their own or have something hefty other than the Burkes dialing in on you.
To summarize, a Burke is capable of being useful if employed thoughtfully and with due attention given to its weaknesses but it requires careful planning and a certain amount of luck in being able to get into the positions it needs to be in for proper use. These aren't generalists and are really more like mobile batteries with similar vulnerabilities to enemies who manage to maneuver around them.
Image Reference: The original TRO2750 artwork is
available at the MUL. Exactly what happened to the third gun, I don't know.
Sarna has the current TRO3050U artwork and a piece from the card game.
CamoSpecs has a few painted minatures.
