Vehicle of the Week: PhalanxBilled by Earthwerks on Calloway VI "the Free Worlds League's answer to the Myrmidon", the Phalanx is more of a study in design creep than anything else. Earthwerks makes some wonderful products. The Phalanx won't be joining the
Archer and the
Thunderbolt on that list. I agree with the industry observers cited in XTRO: Marik who knock it for trying to do too much at one time and as a result they wound up with a pricy tank that uses uncommon parts. The price winds up being comparable to a a classic Manticore's, which is not really a ringing endorsement for something that is rightfully called mediocre. Because of the expense, Earthwerks was unable to market it to, well, anyone and ultimately shelved the design, donating four to the FWLM that likely wound up in Oriente hands and retaining the other eight built for use as testbeds in other programs.
At 40 tons with a tracked motive system, it certainly seems like the Phalanx is going in the right direction for a Myrmidon competitor but then it starts swerving around. The power plant is a 160-rated extra-light fusion engine. The good: free heat sinks and lots of free tonnage. The bad: pricy as hell for what it's supposed to be competing against and the 4/6 speed is the same as a Scorpion or Bulldog, either of which are much cheaper and one of them tougher and better armed to boot. Points for trying for a limited amphibious design but considering everything else going on here, those two tons would have been useful just about anywhere else. The armor is passable but not great at 6 tons arranged 21/20/15/20. I don't gripe at, say, the Hetzer for an armor tonnage like that, but the Hetzer doesn't have a turret to deal with, either. Some bright boy stuck on a Sniper cannon to reduce the need for trained gunners at the expense of anything resembling standard parts or ammunition and a weapon the size of a Gauss rifle which goes to explain where all the tonnage went. A machine gun was also mounted in the turret. Perhaps the only thing the armament gets right is supplying the weapons with 20 and 100 shots respectively. The weapon is fairly short ranged for the one serious anti-armor weapon (we're looking at an artillery
cannon here) and has a minimum range as well as being likely to take a significant chunk of the tank's own armor off if someone decides to charge into it. Just to top this off, they decided to play Goblin and stick on a 1 ton infantry compartment. Like the XTRO said, trying to do too much with too little.
TRO: Prototypes's release in time for Fourth of July fireworks brought us a slightly modified version. Contrary to the TRO commentary, it does several things well, and the additional armor is a helpful if undramatic improvement. Additional armor? Oh, yes, a whole 1.5 tons of it arranged 30/24/22/20. I would have preferred to get some additional plating on the turret, personally, but considering that this is supposed to be a siegebreaker, the heavy forward bias makes some sense. They got that tonnage by getting rid of the infantry capacity and moving the machine gun off the turret. Overall, this is a far superior model that retains its predecessor's utility and is better at using it.
Using it isn't too complicated. Drive with all the speed the tracks can deliver to get into roughly medium range and lay fire at the hex containing the enemy. If they bunch up, discourage the practice with a well-timed Sniper smack and hope your mighty 10 point gun doesn't just encourage them to put you out of their misery. BA and infantry will loathe you, though, as will Harassers. Since the FWL has plenty of BA and Harassers to be found, the Phalanx does have
some uses. The
Raptor II that some heathen blackguard posted an article about Friday will also not be fond of seeing one prowling around, although it's not the same lethal threat and the probability of them encountering each other approaches nil. The limited amphibious capabilities mean they're painfully slow but capable of entering or exiting the battlefield from odd directions. What you want to put in the back is up to you but you're only going to get a squad of them. I suggest looking at using them in pairs - it'll keep the fast-movers out of your hair. Having just had the amusing experience of trying to corner a
Fireball to get it to stop dashing around, I think there's something to that idea.
Stopping a Phalanx is even simpler, although there's some things not to do. Either crit-seek or just squash it flat. It's not hard to hit, so crippling isn't necessary. BA and infantry need to stay out of its way if they can. That Sniper cannon is fairly myopic for a main gun these days, oversized, and not particularly dangerous to 'Mechs, but against either of those two, it's very, very dangerous. Most IS medium suits, anything lighter from either tech base, and probably more than one of the heavy suits, are going to come up dead if that thing lands a round dead center. Just get a Sharpie out and mark the records off. Platoons of conventional aren't in such a bad position but they're going to get ripped into heavily, even if they have armor. A pack of them are capable of making fast, lightly armored units nervous, too.
Image Reference: The Phalanx is listed at the MUL in
all its miniscule glory. No miniature exists.
