Vehicle of the Week Update: Rhino(The original article is no longer available.)This week I'm turning my attention to the Rhino. First built in 2669, the Rhino was operated by the Star League Defense Force as a fire support unit. Similar to TRO3026's SturmFeur (very similar in a lot of ways), the Rhino was and still is primarily a defensive asset, particularly in the hands of Periphery nations or other forces lacking extensive 'Mech support, but they're found in every nation's hands and I wouldn't be surprised to see a few turn up among the Clans, either. With a low speed and ammo endurance, Rhinos are extremely unpopular for situations where they can't get resupply or fast-moving campaigns. Given TRO3050U's comments about crew comfort or, rather, the lack of it (a point of similarity to the SturmFeur above and beyond the similar roles and game stats), that's probably a good thing for morale. The notable unit from TRO3050U is interesting and shows the Rhino's power in a defensive situation. A maniple of the Second Legio made up of five Rhinos, operating in a defensive position with reloads handled by frantic technicians, was able to withstand an extended attack by Lothian rebels before relieved.
The basic Rhino has an interesting contradiction about its endurance. At eighty tons with a tracked chassis, the Rhino rumbles across terrain at 54 kph thanks to a 240-rated Pitban standard fusion engine, a very normal thing to find in Star League vehicles. The engine itself is probably better known for its use in the legendary AWS-8Q
Awesome or RFL-3N
Rifleman, which raises the question of how the Rhinos avoided scavenging to supply those 'Mechs, but that's a question for someone else to answer. The armor is brick-like. It's not quite as ridiculous as the SturmFeur but it's still impressive at 17 tons (a ton over the 20% mark) layered on 64/54/40/60. The Mk. IV and Mk. VI Alacorns (the AC/20 and Gauss models) aren't this tough and a Rhino is not unlikely to live well past its ammo load's expenditure. The only real chink in the Rhino's shell is the lack of CASE, the crews' second favorite thing to complain about and usually first on commanders' lists unless they're using one as a command tank and thus have to suffer the cramped conditions themselves. Short of a golden BB to the ammo bin, you're not killing a Rhino without a rather unreasonable amount of fire. The firepower is solid while it lasts. Two LRM 20s in the same five-tube configuration that would later be seen on the
Atlas and two medium lasers are found in the turret while an LRM 10 is parked on the front bumper. With only 3 tons of ammo equating to 9 rounds of fire for the heavy launchers, I really wonder if the secondary launcher was a good idea instead of, say, CASE and some more ammo to take advantage of the tank's basic durability. (As a note, the TRO3050U art is significantly better by actually matching the weapons the tank carries.) Overall, though, the Rhino is a perfectly acceptable unit and can actually defend itself a bit if someone decides to try pestering a lance of them as they haul themselves back for more ammo.
There's a whole cottage industry making minor variants of the Rhino thanks to how widespread they are. Perhaps the most common ones replace the forward LRM rack with an SRM 6 fed by a single ton and a brace of either two vehicle flamers (one ton, 10 rounds per) or three machine guns (0.5 tons, 33 rounds per gun with an odd man out) for defense against infantry. A model using small lasers is known but disliked due to heat issues, although that's not really a problem under the rules. Personally, I'd opt for one of the other models under modern rules - multiple MGs or flamers will really take the starch out of infantry if they consider getting frisky. Another known from the First Taurian Armored Lancers has two medium lasers and an SRM 2 with a single ton of ammo, again considered risky due to heat loads. All of these variants and the primary model could be found anywhere in the Succession Wars and are all introductory rules, so they make a nice expansion for games where that's a concern.
A major redesign, needing either new construction or extensive refits in factory-level facilities, has also come to light in recent years, another one of the Star League Defense Force's Royal models. An extra-light fusion engine was used to free up 8.5 tons. Artemis IV fire control suites were added to all three launchers and the lasers were upgraded to pulse models. The turret received an anti-missile system to improve endurance under fire and ECM was also installed. While the ECM is always welcome, the AMS is probably not the defensive improvement most crews would have chosen. Not a bad upgrade overall, of course, and the Artemis IV will make the LRM fire a lot less pleasant considering that ECM wasn't as common in that era. Today, this model is only found among the Clans.
The Rhino needs to be used with the firm understanding that this isn't so much a tank as a really well-armored LRM carrier. Unlike the carrier, it can operate in the direct fire role fairly safely and, given the limited ammo endurance, that's not a bad idea to maximize your chances of hitting. Assign a screening unit or two to the Rhinos to protect them. There's a wide range of choices here. This isn't the unit to carry alternate munitions in, at least not for the heavy launchers, but you might get a decent return on loading Thunders into the LRM 10 and using it to lay mines to slow someone down while the Rhinos pull back for reloads. That fluff about using Rhinos to defend fixed targets and close to resupply is reasonable advice- take it!
Killing Rhinos isn't the easiest thing to do. As long as the ammo is still there (12 rounds of fire for the LRM 10), crit-seeking has the chance to knock it out quickly and easily, but short of that bit of luck, you need to simply hammer them into scrap to actually kill them. However, like any slower tank, it's not hard to immobilize, and with the main launchers in a turret, you can frequently mission-kill a Rhino much faster than you can actually kill one directly. If a Rhino unit decides to fort up, artillery can flush them out of their hole safely. Keep in mind that Rhinos are usually found as defensive tanks at fixed locations. It'll be safer if you can convince the Rhinos to burn their ammo. A Rhino without LRM ammo is an annoyance to be disposed of at leisure.
References: The
Master Unit List covers the availability and artwork.
CamoSpecs has two miniatures available but exactly what the weapons load is supposed to be is a little dubious.
