War in the future is a job for professionals, professional mercenaries. One of the most feared mercenary companies is Hammer's Slammers. The company is based from New Friesland and was founded by Colonel Alois Hammer. Colonel Hammer started the tradition that officers lead their troops from the front instead of just simply giving orders. "Spit and Polish" are not important qualities for the soldiers of Hammer's Slammers. Still, the mercenary soldiers are well trained and equipped with some of the best equipment available.

Hover Artillery is an important component of Hammer's Slammers and they operate two main types of artillery. One is the 20 cm "Hog" howitzer, the other is the 10 cm L 71 Mortar which is normally mounted on a hover jeep.

Unlike most of Hammer's Slammers vehicles the hover jeep is not build by Icarus Industries, but by Spyker Motors, located on New Friesland.

The jeep itself is a relatively lightly armored hover vehicle, capable of holding up to four men, or moving up to 400 kilograms of freight in its compartment. It looks a bit like a inverted bathtub with a open compartment lined by three fans, and hover skirts lining it. Not a very large or appealing design, but for its size it is actually surprisingly lightweight, and as a result it is a very responsive and fast vehicle.

The power plant for the hover jeep is actually a high-performance ion battery: Just like the infantry skimmers the jeep is simply too small to be powered by a fusion bottle. This means that the jeep must be recharged fairly often, but with the Slammers ubiquitous tanks and combat cars all powered by fusion bottles there is always a possibility to recharge the jeep. The ion battery does have a very high power to weight ratio, which actually gives the hover jeep some impressive performance when lightly loaded: on flat terrain speeds of up to 180 kph are possible.

The jeeps armored frame is a fairly lightweight honeycomb of plastics filled with foamed ceramics. This combination is quite effective at absorbing energy weapon fire, but only offers medium protection against kinetic weapons. The skirts of the jeep are made of plain armored steel with a plastic overlay.

Although the basic version of the jeep is unarmed, it is easy to install weapons on it. Usually this is done to the customers specifications, but battlefield modifications are easily done. The Slammers operate three versions of the jeep. One is the standard unarmed version, used to move persons and freight in the rear, or in low-intensity warfare zones. This version is sometimes modified with specialized sensors and detectors, depending on the situation. It then acts as a advanced sensor platform for the Slammers infantry.

The next version is armed with a pintle-mounted 2 cm tribarrel powergun. Unlike the tribarrels mounted on the tanks, combat cars, and hogs, this is an unassisted version, aimed purely by its gunner. Of course the gunner has a holosight and will get information via his combat helmet. This version of the jeep is also used to ferry men and cargo, but is mostly used as a heavy weapons platform and for patrol purposes.

The last version of the jeep carries no freight at all. It's cargo space is taken over completely with a 10 cm L 71 Mortar and it's small allotment of ammo. The 10 cm L 71 Mortar is a breech-loaded semi-automatic weapon that feeds from a four round clip. All four rounds can be fired in six seconds. The weapon as mounted on the hover tank is designed to be fired by two men: one to load the weapon, the other to lay and fire it. In practice the weapon is fired and loaded by one man: the other (there is no room for three men on the jeep in this configuration) is in the drivers seat, ready to move the jeep as soon as the four rounds in the clip are in the air. This avoids counter battery fire from hostile units. Rounds available for the mortar include High Explosive, Fragmentation, Phosphorous, Anti-Armor, Anti-personnel Cluster, Illumination, and Smoke.

Normal procedure is for one man to lay and fire the mortar, and for the second to act as driver: as soon as a four round clip is expended the jeep moves to a new location to avoid counter battery fire. A trained team can set down, fire a four round burst, and be moving to a new position in under fifteen seconds.

Since the jeep only has a small compartment, the onboard allotment of rounds for the mortar is limited: only three clips. A larger and more diverse amount of ammo is carried in a towed (wheeled) trailer, which can hold eight clips and eight loose (specialty) rounds, for a total of forty additional rounds. The wheeled trailer makes the jeep somewhat sluggish and difficult to control, which is why crews will often leave the trailer behind before moving to a firing position, where they will fire a predetermined set of rounds, before scooting and returning for the trailer.

Model Type: T8 hover jeep
Vehicle Type: Hover Transport / Artillery / Recon
Crew: One / Two (Driver, and depending on vehicle type, one Gunner or sensor operator/Commander)

M.D.C. By Location:

	2 cm Tri-Barrel Power Gun	75
	Tri-Barrel Splinter Shield:	100
	10 cm L 71 Mortar	120
	[1] Fan Ducts (3 - Top of Hull):	40 each
	[1] Armored Skirts:	100
	Pilots Compartment	80
	Roof (unarmed versions only)	50
	[2] Main Body Hover jeep:	180
	[2]Main body Trailer	100
	Trailer wheels (2)	40 each

Notes:
[1] These targets are difficult targets to hit and are a -3 to strike. If the skirt takes over 50% damage then reduce speed by 25% with a -2 to dodge and if the skirt takes 75% damage then reduce speed by speed by 50% with a -4 to dodge. Destruction of two Fan Ducts or the armored skirt will ground the hover tank. Simply placing a piece of plastic or flexible metal inside of the holes can temporarily repair skirt damage.
[2] Destruction of the main body will cause the vehicle to crash. All systems will not function. Due to the refractive properties of the iridium armor all energy weapon hits on the main body are reduced by half.

Speed:
Hover Speed: : Can hover at ground level at from a hover to up to 112 mph (180 kph) over paved surfaces and over level ground. It can also travel up to 56 mph (90 kph) over rough terrain when hovering. The combat car can hover over open water at up to maximum speed.
Maximum Range: 124.3 miles (200 km), usually recharges the Ion battery every 62.1 miles (100 km)

Statistical Data:
Height: 4.7 feet (1.4 meters) to top of windscreen.
Width: 6 feet (1.8 meters) for hull
Length: 7 feet (2.1 meters) for hull
Weight: 0.6 tons (0.5 metric tons) empty and 1.08 tons (0.9 metric tons) fully loaded.
Power Source: Duracell MKIV Ion Battery.
Cargo Capacity: The jeep has a cargo space for up to 400 kg or three men.
Market Cost: 1 million credits (bare bones version)

Weapon Systems:

1. 10 cm L 71 Mortar: A versatile support weapon, it lacks the range and striking power of the larger "Hogs" but can be deployed closer to the action, and is very useful for the support of infantry operations. The Mortar is mounted onto the bed of the jeeps cargo space. The jeep does not need to plant before firing: the bottom plate of the plenum chamber acts as a ground plate. The mortar is a semi-automatic breech-fed weapon. It feeds off a four-round clip that fits onto a hopper mounted to the mortars breech, and it can fire the four ready rounds in six seconds. The platform can also be loaded externally to retain the normal rate of fire. For game purposes, use Rifts artillery rounds.
   Maximum Effective Range: 6 miles (9.6 km) for standard artillery rounds.
   Mega-Damage: By artillery round type (Go to Battlefield Artillery for Rifts for more information: Use 105 mm artillery - Non-Rocket assisted for standard projectiles; Fragmentation 1D6x10, High Explosive 2D4x10, Top Attack Anti-Armor 2D4x10, and has a vast number of other type of rounds as well).
   Rate of Fire: 4 Rounds in 6 seconds for a single clip. Reloading takes one action. Effectively no more than eight rounds per round.
   Payload: 4 rounds in preloaded clip and 2 additional clips in the cargo space, for eight more rounds. Can be loaded from exterior to retain rate of fire.
   Special: Cannot fire on the move, must remain at a standstill.
2. Pintle Mounted 2 cm Tri-Barrel Power Gun (1): Mounted in place of the mortar, the power gun is mounted on a pintle in the front of the cargo space and is useful against both infantry and lightly armored vehicles. Unassisted, it is less effective against aircraft. It can rotate up to 360 degrees and can elevate up to 90 degrees. The cannons fire plasma round at the speed of light using polyurethane cartridges holding copper-cobalt atoms. The weapon rotates between three barrels to reduce barrel wear. The cannon can be controlled only by the gunner. With the tri-barrel mounted the jeep can still carry up to 300 kilograms of cargo or three men.
   Maximum Effective Range: 4.8 miles (8 km)
   Mega-Damage: 10 round bursts inflict 3D4x10 (counts as one blast/attack). Single shot inflicts 6D6+4 per round.
   Rate of Fire: Equal to Gunners Hand to Hand
   Payload: 400 rounds in ready magazine.
   Bonuses: Has a link to the standard Hammers Slammers combat helmet: this produces a recticle on the inside of the faceplate: +2 to aim.

Special Systems:
The jeep has all systems standard on a robot vehicle (Radar / UV / IR) plus the following special features:

• Targeting Uplink: This system allows the armored vehicle to upload data to up to 24 other vehicles, aircraft, or ground troops within 50 miles (80 km). Data range can also be extended by the use of satellites. In this capacity, the vehicle can act in the role of forward observer and/or communication/data relay unit. All units receiving this data are +1 on initiative and +1 to dodge.

+2 to driving skill.
-1 to driving skill when towing trailer

[ Phase World TM, Naruni TM, Kreeghor TM, and CAF TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

[Hammer's Slammers is Trademarked and Copyrighted by David Drake.]

By Mischa (E-Mail Mischa).
Copyright © 2004, Mischa. All rights reserved.