Aller

Specifications
Use	Main Battle Tank
Production Code	NT-3
Manufacturer	Brok Enterprises
Height	3.8 meters

The Aller is the pride and joy of the armies of the Norlight Confederation. A hulking main battle tank equipped with the largest railgun currently in use, the Aller has served the Confederation and its allies faithfully for the past 34 cycles. The layout of the vehicle is traditional, with the driver in the forward portion of the main hull and the weapons officer and the commander riding in the main turret.

The Aller’s twin gas turbines are placed on either side of the driver’s compartment, with armored air intakes and exhausts placed around the glacis. Cargo-carrying plates with spring-mounted latches are placed on top of the treads and can accept a variety of storage boxes.

The Aller carries all its offensive punch in a large blocky turret mounted at the rear of the chassis. A pintle mount placed beside the commander’s hatch can also accept a variety of light support weapons, most often a 7 mm machinegun or a 9 mm chaingun.

The early prototypes of the Aller were not as promising as the vehicle later became, however, and it was almost cancelled several times. One of the first problems emerged when the cramped cockpit offered only minimal protection from shocks and a test pilot was suffered severe head injuries despite wearing a helmet. The design team seemed unable to find space to expand the cockpit area and include additional safety features, until the designs specs were changed and the backup batteries were abandoned. Some fuel space was also removed, reducing the Aller’s potential deployment range, but not enough so that it would be missed. Another problem arose when the development budget was cut and engineers had to cut corners to get the Aller finished in time for the official review. Quite fortunately, the vehicle held up for the tests and they could work out the remaining kinks prior to mass production.

Usage

The Aller is the current main battle tank used by the armies of the CNCS. Almost all armored Northern Guard units are equipped with it, with only a few exceptions. The Aller is the favorite tank of the Norlight Armed Forces, although both the UMF and the WFP forces also field a few to supplement their own homemade designs. Its relatively high price, however, makes it less frequent in the two smaller leagues (it appears that Brok Motors gives a preferential price to the Norlight Confederacy, as most of its production plants are located within its borders).

Over the last two decades, more particularly in the cycles following the War of the Alliance, the Aller has participated in several conflicts near the Badlands borders. It has performed very well and has been instrumental in several battles which were later regarded as pivotal by historians. Case in point: the Rover Tempests which plagued most of the Southern leagues following the War of the Alliance were averted through careful positioning of armored companies based on the Aller’s powerful capabilities and blatant advertising of their presence en masse in those areas. Most Rover gangs which were hoping to prey on the post-War weakness of the hemispheres, steered clear of those well-defended zones, unaware that the Allers had too little ammo to carry through with the Northern threat.

External links

• Aller/Naval Support Aller miniature | DP9 online store
• Hardy Aller miniature | DP9 online store

Media

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