"Khurasan first look at Federal XM6 grav tank " Topic

After the success of the mobility enhancement program for the Siler, the Federal Army established a research battalion, the 1RB, for testing purposebuilt grav tech vehicles.  The winner in the evaluation was a design now designated the XM-6, a very large anti-grav tank in two submarks, the XM6A, which mounts a very powerful rail gun, and the XM6B, which mounts a fission cannon firing low-yield nuclear warheads.  Each vehicle has two multipurpose laser defence batteries reminiscent of the defence turrets on the Siler, but of greatly enhanced accuracy and lethality.

One benefit of the anti-grav tech is the ability to make a larger craft, and the hull of the XM6 is 12.5 meters long.

Discussions are already underway for an APC version mounting a fixed passenger compartment on the hull in place of the turret.

Some artists conceptions of the vehicle, confirmed by sources to be accurate:

Oh hell yeah! Now that's what I'm talkin' about! :)

Whoa!

-Will

Very cool.

Those are absolutely horrible. The designs are so dated that I can't believe anyone would want them. Darn, only someone looking for really cool new 15mm vehicles would ever want these, I will stick with cheap plastic toy SciFi tanks from Russia . . . . . .

Ok, so I am trying to talk myself out of an order of these that might lead to divorce . . . Jon is just evil in his constant drive to empty our bank accounts. It's like robbery every few weeks the way he parts us from our money for his new and ever improving toys.

. . . . . . .

Jeff

Oh my … those are very nice.

I will stick with cheap plastic toy SciFi tanks from Russia . . . . . .

Actually, if rumor has it correct, these may be available as cheap plastic toy SciFi tanks from Russia a few weeks after they are released ….

Oh hell yeah! Now that's what I'm talkin' about! :)

Sums up my sentiments as well.

They look pretty cool, nice design, but there is something about Grav tank designs that always bothers me… Why bother with the big turret? A grav tank should be very easy to turn, and turn faster then turning the big turret. Wouldn't fixed mount or a swivel mount for the main gun make more sense? You totally skip the equipment necessary for the turret, you have more room to mount a bigger gun, and you end up with a lighter vehicle. Of course you would want to have smaller turrents for point defense weapons on the tank.

The only advantage a turret gives you is if you are taking fire on the front armor and you want to fire on something that isn't in your forward fire arc, a limited advantage at best…

Because it still has to look like a tank. Ask that question and you might as well ask why have tanks at all? It's a gaming piece and it has to connect with the gamers. Tanks have turrets, full stop. Seems a little silly to fight the conceit when there are so many other conceits that are allowed to go by free and clear ….

OOOoo..love it. The Traveller guys are going to really dig this one.

@EW – Sure you could do that. But face it, this is product not military design, and product has to appeal to the people buying it and folks wants tanks to look like tanks.

This has been a topic of discussion on and off again. Remote guns are certainly an option, but they are not as well protected as a turreted main gun.

-Eli

Oh just go and ruin my fun with a completely logical answer why don't you.

Hmm, I really like the body and turret, but the main guns leave me going uhh. If i buy a platoons worth I'll have to look into replacing them with something more…barrel shaped.

I think barrels like that are not supposed to be conventional weapons but some sort of energy weapon.

Wow, thats all I can say!

So are the images photos of actual models, or are these renderings of how the design will appear?

Wow! I'm getting those!

Very nice.

Depends on how your Grav drive works. If it's just a souped-up hover then a conventional tank outline makes perfect sense.

G.

I'm digging the guns. First barrel I've seen that looked like it could be a laser or plasma based weapons.

As to the comment about turrets on grav tanks, you could turn the tank and fire at something but how do you do that while moving? You have to stop tell the driver to turn and line up the shot then adjust elevation and fire. Let the driver do his thing and the gunner can control the turret. The command is just screaming orders and finding the next thing to blow up.

In space, you could have a grav tank that doesn't need a turret but not on land. Even if the grav system neglects gravity they will probably still be faster in a designated forward movement with limited strafing capability. You don't always want to point your tank at what your shooting at. Plus they look cooler!

That's not a bad looking tank.

I don't much care for the barrel of the gun though.

Too … Hmm …

It's too thick and busy. It doesn't seem to go with the clean lines on the rest of the tank.

I don't much care for the barrel of the gun though.

Well, Matthew, as JRacel has pointed out you can always switch barrels if you prefer.

Wow these are cool!

Jon is just evil in his constant drive to empty our bank accounts. It's like robbery every few weeks the way he parts us from our money for his new and ever improving toys.

Quoted for Truth.

Maybe I should just start an allotment going direct from my bank to his.

Oh, yeah. Hey, Jon! What's the ETA to the Exterminator APC?

those rock! get racking on those masters.
CW

WOW! Just plain WOW! Those look great.

I was hoping to see the Cheetah ALSV and Cormorant VTOL, but this is great too.

Very cool stuff. Can't wait to add some to my growing collection of Khurasan works of art!

I am just starting out with 15mm Sci-Fi,and dont have any vehicles yet.For some reason,I just cant get into anti-grav for my vehicles,except for an alien force.I like my Earth type tanks to have their feet planted firmly on the ground.

Awesome!

I wonder what they look like next to a converted Tau Hammerhead 15mm drop ship.Mmmmmmm. All people called Jon are evil and will rob you of all your money.

"They look pretty cool, nice design, but there is something about Grav tank designs that always bothers me… Why bother with the big turret? A grav tank should be very easy to turn, and turn faster then turning the big turret. Wouldn't fixed mount or a swivel mount for the main gun make more sense? "

Why bother with a turret? I'll give it a go! 8)= Because you don't want to have to armor the whole body to the nth degree. More armor and slope on the front is the "logical" way to build a tank. Of course, it IS Science Fiction, so you could claim the power plant is small yet powerful enough to lift any amount of weight. But although I don't think out the background of my games to that degree I also like to imagine at least some limitations to the advanced tech we must have in our SF games.

GREAT design, by the way. This will probably be my human MBT for Tomorrow's War.

How big is it?

A grav tank should be very easy to turn, and turn faster then turning the big turret.

Not sure this is true- the turret is smaller and will likely still rotate faster. Plus it is useful to be able to drive in one direction and shoot in another! I think the turret still makes perfect sense.

I'm digging the guns. First barrel I've seen that looked like it could be a laser or plasma based weapons.

I agree, I like the guns- clearly some sort of high tech weapon and not just a shell thrower.

-Will

Very Cool. Second the question about size. My guess would be about 5-6" at 1/100 scale if I am doing the conversion correctly on the "12.5 meter" description.

Gaaaaasp!

I think I just had an nerd-gasm! I'm SO getting these.

I really like the turret and hull but I also would need to replace the weapons. They are cool looking but just so big that they appear to suffer from GW'itis.

Some answers:

As its modeled in 1/100 scale the hull will be 125mm (5") long. It's big!

Wasn't 100% crazy about the castings I got of the Cheetah so may have it remoulded, am still back and forth on that, as it's not a terrible casting as a matter of fact. The Cornorant is waiting for the nose to be remoulded, it's been with the caster for a few months now.

Everything I would ever want in a grav tank.

Given the size I'm a bit nervous about the price though.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing the model. Then you'll just need to do an equivalent grav tank, but with sharp angular facets, for opposition.

Well, price is going to depend on what the parts cost me, of course. But as I'll be able to make it entirely in resin I'm hoping the price won't be greatly higher than the Siler's. We'll see on that though!

Now THAT is a grav tank!

Leland R. Erickson

Ummm!!! (Lusty groan) Hovering Sex!

That hits a lot of Traveller buttons for me.

Can't wait to see the APC in that family….

Any rough idea on how long till this is up on the site?

We talking 2 or 3 months?

Looks excellent.

That's an NGR beasty, definitely… it'll go well with the Mekanoid Dictator.

The perfect a-grav pocket battleship for taking on Garn gun barges.

Best,
JBR

OOOH! Very Traveller in style and that is no bad thing! Not my scale, but I love the concept.:)

As for a conventional turret – I and the designers for "Phantom Menace" have toyed with another idea – if the vehicle floats, why not mount the turret in a chin mount or underneath the front of the vehicle like a helicopter gun mounting?

ok ok, you just stuck your hand in my wallet and took my money, seriously they look awesome, looking forward to getting some of these

Eh. Not a fan of the design. Looks too much like it should be a watercraft to me.

Looking forward to that Federal Cormorant though. Need moar dropships and gunships.

I love the hull and shapes, however I would prefer a thinner barrel, its almost suffering from Gamesworkitis in the barrel department, also a canvas covering in the mantlet area (where barrel meets turret) you don't want debre getting in there and effecting barrel elevation during battle, great design.