Trowel Scout Car

## Background

With America in the Second World War to stop Ultimist aggression, America's titanic powers of industry; still the world's leader in production methods and bringing a power to bear that the armies of the Fullerites couldn't match; were brought to bear. More specifically America's proud automotive tradition was mobilized for all out war to show the countries that Henry Ford had defected to what America had been up to since the revolution. Perhaps most famous of them all was the Trowel General Purpose Motor Vehicle. Existing in twenty-eight distinct variants and marks, the Trowel was the backbone of supply, scouting, patrol, mobile warfare and, well, just about any other role the Comintern could put it to work on. Fighting in every theater of the war; from Latin America and Southeast Asia's humid jungles to the vast landscapes of America, China, and Eastern Europe to the middle eastern desert to the support of African guerillas and the mountains of Chile and Iran and even exotic locales such as the handful of battles at Antarctica. If a job could be done with four wheels and an engine, the Trowel was there.

There was even an anti-tank version of the machine, armed with a recoilless rifle! However, the most common version is the regular GPMV-2, which was designed for combat. The GPMV-2 was a staple of Comintern ground forces, used to support advances as well as on their own in massive "Trowel Fleets", often consisting of hundreds of vehicles probing deep into enemy lines. These fleets would race around the enemy's supply lines, opening fire on anything they felt they could get away with; seeking to tear up enemy supply lines as much as possible; taking out supply trucks and tracks, firing on soft base structures, taking out command staff; cutting communications by attacking radio and telegraph stations or shooting the messenger; and generally making the lives of the blue armies as miserable as possible.

With robust suspension, four wheel drive and a powerful compact V6 engine, the Trowel was quintessentially American; a cheap, robust and reliable model. The survivability of these vehicles is legendary; they could be jury rigged back together with almost anything, and would come back from almost any damage with only a few hours in the repair shop. "The Trowel is winning us this war, without a doubt," quipped famed American General Patton in 1953 as his army was transferred from America to Europe after dealing British General Thomas Smithington a crushing defeat at Sioux Falls and letting the Mexican 3rd and 5h armies have the space it needed to take his 9th Army's place. And when he went to Europe; he insisted that they bring his favourite Trowel with him too, the "Rotweiler", which whether in America or Eastern Europe; earned the affection of Comintern troopers and the undying hatred of Alliance commanders.

After the war, surplus GPMV-2s were sold to various world powers while others were converted into civilian cars or left in storage, often stacked on top of each other due to their sheer numbers. Millions of trowels were constructed by all the various powers during the Second World War, including a limited production run of 25,000 built from captured models in the first year of the war by the Alliance to serve as command vehicles before the Kubelwagon entered full producton, such were their reputation. Millions more have been produced around the world, making it one of the most common vehicles in existence. So many were built that Comintern high command could afford to just give them away to various revolutionary movements and defensive militias; and they soon became a huge hit among the Revolutionary Vanguard, who loved their ease of modification and rugged all terrain reliability and muscular engines.

The Trowel is the workhouse of the Vanguad military, used in every way imaginable. Due to the untold number of vehicles handed to them and produced in war factories, it is estimated that there may, in fact, be more Trowels than Vanguard military personnel. The concept of the Trowel Fleet has been resurrected, and many among them consider themselves the successors to General Chaffee; who famously used his light tanks and combat cars to raid and harass the forces of General Marshall in the second American civil war and bring about victory in Chicago. One of their uniquely Vanguard-ish uses is as a deployment system for Seismic Scanners, which is a small combination of resonance weaponry and remote cameras. They are built cheaply on the move, out of scrap materials and simple ingenuity.

# Militia Trowel Combat Car

## Background

Since the success of the Trowel Scout Car in WWII, they have been constantly serving in the Comintern's military. Although most commonly found transporting equipment to and from the frontlines, they are just as home speeding across the fields and dealing with small squads of infantry. However, their poor armour and light armament meant that it was generally unwise for them to be standing toe to toe against main battle tanks. To fulfil this role, several GPMV-2s were outfitted with recoilless rifles for anti-tank duty and flanking support. This was the beginning of the Battle Trowel project, which eventually led to the Trowel Battle Car.

The Trowel Battle Car is equipped with a cheaper, multipurpose alternative to the inflexible recoilless rifle of the original variants, the "Molly" 40mm grenade machine gun. Although far less effective against tanks, it excels at shredding thin vehicle and battlesuit armour, as well as suppressing infantry with successive volleys of fragmentation grenades. In addition, the Trowel is covered in 1/4" carbon steel plating, enabling the Trowel to take more punishment before being destroyed. In head-on combat, a Trowel Battle Car could stand toe-to-toe with a Syndicate Hydra IFV, an impressive feat for an aging WWII troop transport design.

In addition, after an incident where a Trowel Battle Car and a Howitzer crew won an entire engagement when the Trowel towed the Howitzer to a cliff overlooking the enemy force with nothing but rope, enabling the Howitzer to rain destruction on a enemy caught completely flatfooted. Following that incident, Trowel Battle Cars were outfitted with electrical winches, allowing them to attach to a hard point on the Howitzer, and tow them across the battlefield, greatly increasing the Howitzer's mobility.[{Category:Units]]