Vehicle of the Week: Bolla Stealth TankThe first (and depending on how you characterize a change in Omni base chassis design also the second) reasonably standard production vehicle stealth armor design in the game, the Bolla Stealth Tank is covered this week by request of the inimitable Weirdo, one of the lucky souls responsible for keeping the madness down to a dull roar around here and one of the board's largest proponents of
wacky antics unconventional tactics. First introduced in
Jihad Hot Spots: 3076 and followed up like other material in that book with an entry in TRO3085, the Bolla is, as noted, a stealth armor design. Vehicular stealth armor works just like the 'Mech version, including the fact that the ECM needs to be turned on to work, and you also need heat sinks, limiting the possibilities for OmniVehicles mounting energy weapons and stealth armor due to the fact that an OmniVehicle has to mount heat sinks for all energy weapons and the armor itself, not being able to juggle heat loads the way a 'Mech or aerospace fighter can. Potential operators should note that due to the vehicle stealth armor they feature, each and every Bolla uses experimental rules, meaning this is not something for pure tournament games. This particular optional rule doesn't impose any real difficulty in play, though - if you know how to run 'Mech stealth, you know how to run vehicle stealth since it uses the same rules.
As to the Bolla itself, the design was apparently based on captured samples of Capellan vehicular stealth armor and intended to allow the infiltration of enemy lines with a Level I of battle armor, the first and, at posting date, only known member of the rumored Serpentus vehicles, the equivalent to the Word's Celestial OmniMechs, Sepctral OmniFighters, and Demon battle armor suits. As a Manei Domini tank, it saw extensive service on Galatea, and the stealth functions evidently provided for some very unpleasant ambush scenarios. Inevitably, some of these stealthy OmniVehicles fell into allied hands, with the former FWL, Combine, Suns, Lyrans, and Republic all winding up with at least a handful, but Stone's Coalition got the grand prize when they got their hands on the research center where the Bolla was built. A second manufacturing line for the design was set up in a quiet spot on Terra, creating a new variant for the Republic of the Sphere's special forces to use.
There are two Bolla chassis designs, not one, though they're very similar, putting it into the select group of Omnis that have more than one base chassis design at a level that affects gameplay. (The only other ones I'm aware of off the top of my head is the laser heat sink variant of the
Night Gyr and, arguably, the Inner Sphere model of the
Battle Cobra.) The older of the two is the Word of Blake model at 60 tons, just barely nudging it into the heavy vehicle class, and a number of features are shared between them. A VOX 280 extra-light engine, similar to those on certain models of
Warhammer, provides both ten free heat sinks to accommodate the stealth armor's cooling needs and the motive power to drive a wheeled vehicle at 86 kph in open terrain. The armor on both models is Krupp Stealth arranged 34/32/30/40 - unusually, the front armor is not the heaviest, and the turret armor pokes over it by a full six points. I prefer a little more armor on the body myself, but at 10.5 tons, it's a bit over a sixth of the available tonnage, and it does the job decently with the stealth armor's contribution to survivability. Naturally, ECM was included to 'power' the stealth armor and offer its own defensive benefits. The fixed equipment load is where the two platforms diverge. The Manei Domini variant fixes a C3i module to the base chassis along with a forward-mounted machine gun with a full ton of ammunition, then permanently dedicates six tons to hauling a Level I of battle armor around, with 15.5 tons of podspace, 15 tons of which can go in the turret. The Republic dropped that to a C3 slave and 4 tons of battle armor space as well as dropping the machine gun ammo by a half-ton, freeing up another four tons for 19.5 tons of podspace, though the turret is unchanged. Before any of you can ask, no, the C3 modules do not work under stealth - that point has been made painfully clear in the rule books and a number of rules questions by now. Neither design uses CASE but for once, I can see some benefits since neither the Word nor the Republic want their Bollas recovered by anyone else. Granted, on a battlefield level, this tells your crews to pound sand in the event of an ammo explosion, but there's a method to the madness here.
The first family of configurations, associated with the original Bolla design, has the same configuration designators found on other Manei Domini designs. As with TRO3085, I'm attaching more traditional designators, but will mainly refer to
them by the MD names since those are on the record sheets which feature the original JHS3076 artwork. The Invictus (Prime) has two MML 9s in the turret along with a machine gun, with three tons of MML ammo added. The firepower is not the most impressive thing in the world - with ten percent of the tonnage going to hauling suits and the inability to use energy weapons very well, damage per ton is not something a Bolla is going to do well - but the damage is decent and the number of SRMs should make disabling other tanks fairly simple. The main issue is that ammo endurance isn't great when you have to split for both types, so this one is definitely an ambusher - once the MML ammo is out, your main ability to hurt the enemy goes away, so pick your opportunities to make the shots count.
The Dominus (A) configuration uses two class 5 light autocannons fed by two tons of ammunition along with a heavy flamer with its own two tons of ammo. Personally, I think I'd prefer another ton of autocannon ammo most of the time - if nothing else, the ability to use AP or precision ammo more aggressively is probably worth it - but it's definitely got more endurance and damage concentration than the Invictus.
Apparently I'm not the only one who finds the ammo on an Invictus short sometimes since the Infernus (B), rather than being the incendiary monstrosity some of you were probably hoping for with a name like that, packs in three Streak SRM 6 launchers with two tons of ammo. While that's not an extraordinary amount of ammo, the fact that the launchers don't fire on a miss makes this one a very, very dangerous close-in ambusher. Tanks are likely to get disabled in a point-blank shot while 'Mechs will face a scattering of light fire that's certainly going to annoy even an assault 'Mech. Add in the fact that there's probably a whole Level I of BA firing at the same target and this one gets scary. The only real problem I have is that point-blank ambushes aren't something stealth armor benefits from - at the ranges where the Streaks are getting really nice shots, the stealth armor bonus is gone for most if not all weapons - but you can't have everything. As a knife-fighter, the larger, nastier suits may be a good pair here since an Infernus wants to be right in someone's face to begin with and the extra firepower will make ambushes that much less pleasant. The stealthy Purifier may also be handy.
The configuration other than the Invictus to offer some real range is the Comminus (D). A single light Gauss rifle comprises the main offensive armament, generously supplied with two tons of ammunition for over five minutes of sustained fire. With the stealth armor to increase the range penalties, this one is going to be obnoxious in open terrain where it can leverage the weapon's strong points and has no reason to want to close after dropping the battle armor off. Given the need to stay at a distance anyway, this one may be very profitably paired with Djinn, which can do some of the footwork themselves, or with the heavier suits to use the Comminus to draw an enemy into an ambush. An AMS fed by a single ton of ammo provides some extra defensive oomph.
Starting off the Republic configurations is something midway between the Invictus and the Dominus. The turret has a RAC/5 and two MML 3s along with TAG. A second machine gun was installed to eat up a half-ton. Two tons of MML ammo were provided along with the standard three tons for the autocannon. You lack the ability to really leverage special munitions, although you can get around that to some extent by packing semi-guided LRMs as a standard LRM load despite the light launchers. As usual, save your rapid fire for good shots - getting jammed because you felt like showing off on an 11 is a great way to generate laughs for the other people at the table and force you to burn time unjamming the RAC. The TAG can be used for some truly unpleasant ends, as anyone familiar with the system well knows, and can make ambushes from a Bolla Prime staggeringly unpleasant if the setup is executed properly.
The A is much like the Comminus, but adds a targeting computer and another TAG module. It's used exactly the same way, although you won't have Djinn and will need to find another mobile suit if you're planning something nasty. Unlike the Prime, which is pretty well suited to using the TAG aggressively, the A's designator often functions more as a deterrent - get into short range and you get lit up for something unpleasant. If you're a known user of things like laser-guided bombs, precision artillery, or semi-guided LRMs, just putting the red dot on someone can be worthwhile from a psychological point of view even if it won't do anything as noted during discussions of the point with ItsTehPope. If you suspect someone's playing that game with you, pay careful attention to fire declarations and thrust use by overhead fighters. You may not get any clues to semi-guided LRMs before they're announced without inspecting someone's BV figures, but bombs of any type will cause thrust penalties (which a savvy, experienced player can easily fake for another level of mind games, especially if you don't have any air assets to poke his fighters with) and artillery fire declarations will be made beforehand.
The B is probably the strangest yet, an actual stealth C3 master. Yes, you read that right, a C3 master in a stealth tank. Two MML 7s fed by three tons of ammo provide a somewhat lighter version of the Invictus's warload while three MagShots fed by a single ton of ammo offer some additional short-range fire. My recommendation is to either use stealth defensively or to infiltrate, then flip it off in a safe spot to let your lance mates run wild. Those of you considering ECCM should remember that ECCM mode turns stealth off anyway, but the presence of the module can offer some additional options once you've flipped stealth off. Another little rules note - the Bolla B can either run its own lance, even acting as part of a company-level network, or it can use the slave, not both. It can't flip the master on to replace a blown or jammed one in the middle of combat, either, since networks have to be declared before the game; for that, you need a C3 emergency master. A load of Infernos to give infantry and vehicles a reason to back off may be advisable.
The C is a little more conventional, blending the Dominus and Infernus configurations from the original Blakist model. Two Streak 6s were combined with a LAC/5, each weapon type receiving two tons of ammo. An extra machine gun was added to burn a half-ton. This opens up some real options for special munitions, including precision and armor-piercing given the depth of your ammo bins, and I recommend you act on them. It can even do a passable job of annoying fighters, VTOLs, or WiGEs with flak ammo in a pinch, providing the option of stealth anti-air ambushes.
Using Bollas depends so heavily on the configuration that I can't add too much here aside from a few general points. Remember the vulnerabilities of the wheeled motive type - you can't go into rubble or forests, so pay attention to your maneuvers as you go. Don't offer anyone any free side shots if you can help it, either.
If you want to counter a Bolla, it's more or less like any other reasonably sized, passably armored vehicle: disable it and swat it. LB 10-Xs are an excellent choice and the accuracy bonus will come in handy against stealth armor. As unimpressive as they are in firepower terms, Bollas present their opponent with some interesting tactical conundrums. Something to consider if you know ahead of time you're running into Bollas is whether or not to try and block C3. Ordinarily, I'd recommend that hands down, but if you don't have the accurate weapons and dice luck to counter the stealth bonuses, it may be better to accept the risks and take better shots for everyone if you can convince your enemy to do it. If the enemy is being coy and hiding behind the stealth, you want to strongly consider charging them. It may invite a lot of pain given how dangerous several of the knife-fighter configurations are but it
will shut the stealth bonuses down. On the other hand, the Bollas may simply drop a nest of battle armor in your face at that point and switch to C3, so consider if you know some of the battle armor is loose already, whether or not there are good spots where it (or other Bollas) could be hiding, and similar issues before you commit yourself to reenacting a certain Tennyson poem. At the very least, get to medium range for your own weapons if at all possible - most battle armor will be out of range or at long range against most IS weapons, but it will cut the stealth penalty down a bit.
Image References: A miniature
is available from Iron Wind Metals, with one example painted up colorfully
from the 2nd Ceti Hussars and the artwork and other usual information from is available
on the MUL database.