Challenger Strider

**Key Features** | »40mm rotary hydraulic cannon»Pigeon-guided missiles»Stabilizer legs unfold when in firing position»Slide ruler and graph paper»Nausea pills

## Tactical Analysis

* **It's a GUN! With LEGS!:** The primary vehicular anti-air artillery system of the Humanitarian Guard, the **Challenger Strider** operates as a highly mobile walker that uses four rotating gun barrels to fire 40mm flak shells at a high rate into enemy aircraft and pigeon-guided missiles for heavier crafts like the Kirov. Though the shells don't pack much of a punch, the walker design allows the Challenger unprecedented mobility for an artillery platform, vastly superior to the Continental Lee platform.

* **Lock to the GROUND! Keep your HEADS DOWN!:** In addition to anti-air duties, the Challenger can also lock down and stabalise its system, increasing their rate of fire and letting them target fround units, most useful against light targets or the sides and back of heavier armor. Due to the configuration of the gun systems, they are capable of following and tracking up to two targets independently and can fire on the move. Their Pigeon missiles still remain usable in such mode, ensuring that they still have anti-air.

* **NO! Not the ILL-PLACED AMMO RACKS!:** As a support piece, the Challenger is made to stay to the rear and lob shells at the enemy. In a straight fight the Challenger's life is measured in minutes.

* **Deadly GAS! OMINOUSLY Orange!:** Veteran Challenger drivers are given the chance to field test prototype “Niebla Naranja” canister shells filled with a disorienting gas, holding enemy units in place until the effects wear off, unable to fire or defend themselves.

## Background

*"Get out of our homeland!"*

-  Challenger driver, chasing down a fleeing Tero
It is said that infantry are the kings of the battlefield, without which any advance, battle, or war would be lost. It can equally be said, however, that if infantry are the kings then it is the artillery that are the queens of battle: immeasurably powerful machines of war capable of bombarding and cracking even the most fortified of positions miles away from position. With enough artillery, there is no position that cannot be taken, no spot that cannot be converted to ruins and glass, no army that cannot be obliterated. All this power, however, comes at a cost. Artillery tend to be more lightly armored than their peers, slower to move and turn, more vulnerable in a close-in fight, and combined with their power make a tempting target for those who find themselves on the wrong side of them.

...

Along with standard HE and DSS shells, a special chemical munitions casing was also developed in order to quickly spread nonlethal but horrific gas into the field from range - nicknamed "Niebla Naranja", or Orange Fog, said gas was readily visible as a thick low-hanging orange cloud that quickly created blood-filled ulcers on the skin and open areas of individuals it swept over, which were not only highly sensitive but easy to burst. Though it wouldn't kill on its own, the sight of fellow soldiers spraying their weapons and clothing with fresh blood every time they moved or fired has been found to have a negative effect on one's willingness to fight. Finally, a second pair of legs were installed into the chassis, though they are usually kept tucked up and folded away when moving: this came about after several pilot head injuries and embarrassing footage of Challengers toppling over when firing their guns on uneven ground.