Brawler Mamba
The Brawler Black Mamba variant was introduced as a field modification during the last years of the War of the Alliance. As production of the Black Mamba reached acceptable wartime levels with the Territorial Arms production lines back at full capacity, cadres and even sections of Gears consisting primarily of Mambas began to become more common. Wanting to create a variety of capabilities while maintaining the speed and maneuverability of the basic chassis, several alternate weapon configurations come into play.
The Brawler was designed expressly as a counterpart and companion to the Long Fang Black Mamba fire support field modification. While the Long Fang was given a large load of heavier Vogel-B rockets, the Brawler was designed for short-range area saturation. The modifications were fairly simple, replacing the PR-55 autocannon with a HGL-70 grenade launcher and the Vogel-8 rocket pod with a Buzzer-F 44mm rocket pod, but these short-range, high-rate-of-fire weapons were very effective against light vehicles and ground troops, precisely the opposite of the Long Fang.
Usage
The Brawler and Long Fang variants were often deployed together, with the Long Fang first softening the area before the Brawler moved in to clear it. The Brawler performed relatively well against GREL infantry thanks to its saturation abilities, and its HGL-70 could lay out enough damage to face hover tanks if need be. Since the war, the Brawler variant has become a standard, but remains less popular than the Long Fang because of its woeful lack of medium or long-range weapons. Urban combat units (such as the MILICIA’s 11th regiment), which fight in close quarters, however, commonly use the Brawler BM for building-clearing and heavy-assault operations.
The 11th Rapiers’ assault on the Badlands city-state of Lance Point in TN 1931 featured heavy use of the Brawler to devastating effect. Using fragmentation grenades, the attacking Brawlers rapidly cleared buildings held by local revolutionaries — at a great cost in human lives. The revolutionaries who tried to fight back with captured police vehicles were quickly disposed of thanks to intense rocket fire.