Grinder Tank

Template:Directorate Vehicle Header

## Tactical Analysis

* **Chews through anything:** Though lacking conventional weapons, the Grinder can tear through any surface targets in due time. In general, the bigger the target, the longer it takes for the Grinder to chew it up and spit it out.

* **Turbo-charged:** Newer engine upgrade to the Grinder has given it enough power so that its drill can now dig and move through the underground, letting it bypass enemy defenses, before surfacing to surprise the enemy, andit can also grind up wreckages to be turned into money for the war effort. And true to its originally cobbled-together nature, the Grinder incorporates spare parts from Soviet ore collectors, lending it amphibious capability in spite of its massive girth. This is perhaps the least accidental aspect of the Grinder's design: The Soviets knew they needed a heavily armoured combat vehicle that could breach out into contested waters and clear a path for expansion forces.

* **A turn for the worse:** Although the Grinder is quicker than a battle tank, it cannot turn as easily because of its wheelbase. This means smaller enemies can sometimes outmaneuver it to avoid getting torn to shreds. The solution, says PSD strategists, is to attack with multiple Grinders driving side-by-side or have escorts coving the flanks.

* **Rush It!:** An experimental upgrade for the Grinder is an EMP projector fitted on to the grinder that shuts down a vehicle or structures once hit. Now victims of the Grinder are helplessly trapped in place as the vehicle does its work

## Background

Not so very long ago, it seemed as though everyone, not just the Soviets, believed the Soviet Union's Red Army to be unstoppable. Countless battle tanks, overwhelming air power, and legions of infantry comprised the largest and most powerful military force ever assembled. This mighty army suffered terrible losses to the Empire of the Rising Sun's surprise attack. This blow was devastating; the Allied Nations swept in and finally achieved a debatably decisive stale-mate with its old arch-enemy. Nevertheless, the Red Army survives, thanks to the leadership of certain surviving officers and some good old-fashioned Soviet pragmatism.

 File:GrinderConcept.jpg
The Union denies allegations that the Red Army is attempting to rearm, but emerging details of new combat-ready forces seem to contradict those claims. For example, the Soviet Union would like you to believe that its recently unveiled vehicle, best known as the **VZG-3071 Grinder Tank**, is nothing more than an industrial-strength road roller built to smooth out pavement and clear wreckage in the Union's dozens of ruined cities. If this were true, why would the Grinder have military-grade armour and decidedly unsafe top speeds? And why would manufacturers directly linked to the Red Army be responsible for the Grinder's manufacturing? This observation was the result of Allied ACIN agents sent into the Soviet Union to spy on their newest military hardware.

As it turns out, they were not, apparently. Although eye-witness accounts vary, the bottom line is that the operator of one of the Grinder prototypes, unaccustomed to the vehicle's overhauled engine, somehow caused eight deaths, 37 injuries, and several million rubles' worth of additional property damage while attempting to dump several wrecked Hammer tanks into the city's reservoir. This almost led to the shuttering of the Grinder's manufacturer.

On a side note, the Grinder is too bulky and too slow to be of any use for the Soviet military. They apparently really only serve as Construction Vehicles and road cleaners. Any kind of armour is only to serve the crew in case a building ruin topples and crash on the Grinder. There has been a suggestion to give the Grinder a personal *"Iron Curtain"* device to make up for the flaws, but this has been deemed unreasonable. If such a device would exist, it would have already been planted on the Apocalypse Tanks in the first place.

## Revival

Though the Grinder is considered a road-cleaning vehicle. It still has military-grade armouring and its roller, as it turns out, can easily rip apart vehicles. And the PSD, needing any weapon to fight for the security of communism, have started requesting additional Grinders, under the pretense of "rebuilding efforts". And once within their classified areas the PSD began ripping open and rebuilding the Grinder Tank for military use.

The first modification was discarding the overtuned engine, seeing as how it had caused collateral damage because it moved too fast to stop, and instead choosing to use that extra power to improve the grinder and attach a built-in smelter, letting it spin fast enough to dig through concrete and turn any wreckage it consumes into useable resources.

And, since its outside remain somewhat unchanged, the PSD can disguise it as the civlian variant of the Grinder, and any Spies who tries to uncover it will be either ridiculed with tampered information, or simply silenced.

## Behind the Scenes

The Grinder Tank, as with any Uprising unit, will be re-implemented into other PEQAN PIES factions, mainly the more grey/evil counterpart of the original three.
Template:Directorate