Armored Infantry Carriers and Strike Battalions

Armored Infantry Carriers

In 1912, having fought a desperate struggle for survival, the US Army was eager to find a doctrine to take the war to the
Martians. This would require new aggressive thinking and supporting such tactics with more mobile forces. Early
attempts were less than successful. All-armored forces, without infantry support, were very vulnerable to drone and
Lobototon attack let alone the deadly heat rays. This was especially true when fighting against Martian Scorpion Drones
and the “tanker’s bane”- Sniper Drones. These new mobile columns needed the screening ability of infantry but the
infantry had to keep pace and couldn’t do so on foot. There were three options to solve this issue…mount the infantry on
horses, mount the infantry in flivvers, or have the infantry ride on top of the armored vehicles. All these methods proved
to be very hazardous to the poor dough boys and losses were appalling. While the general concept of a mobile force
providing more offensive tactics against the Martians was an absolute necessity, something had to be done to provide better
infantry support. Looking at the BEF Cardigan carriers as inspiration, the ordinance department conceived the new US
Armored Infantry Carrier.

US Armored Infantry had proven to be effective in fixed positions and showed greater resilience against Martian attack-
especially against Green Gas and Black Dust. Unfortunately, their heavy equipment made them slow to maneuver and
even the shortest of marches created great fatigue amongst the men. For Armored Infantry to be maneuverable on the
attack, a new vehicle was needed with cross country mobility and the capacity to carry the overburdened troops into
combat. Experiments were conducted with the readily available and flexible Mk II Steamer chassis. It was soon obvious
that the internal arrangement was just too small to carry many of the heavily encumbered armored infantrymen. In
addition, the small side doors and the top hatches proved very difficult for the troops to navigate with any reasonable
speed. The Mk II Chassis was stretched to its limits and armored doors were fitted to both sides to improve exit and entry.
This design proved effective in field trials and was put into production in September of 1912.

Armored Infantry Carrier

Unit: 3 Elements
Armored Infantry Carrier
Points per unit: 120
The Armored Infantry Carrier is armed with a heavy
Type Speed Defense Armor Special machine gun in its front sponson. It can carry two
Tank 5” 4 8 Carry 2 Stands of elements of infantry and utilizes the transport rules on
Infantry page 64 of the main rulebook. The stretched chassis and
extra weight of this Mk II variant make it unsuitable for
Weaponry Range Power Special towing duties.

Machine Gun 20” +1 Rapid Fire 3

Strike Battalions
The new “Strike Battalions” based around this new vehicle first saw action in late November of 1912 near St Louis and
Chicago. By April of 1913, they were in all major theaters. Exports of the new Armored Infantry Carrier or “AIC” to
Texas began in February of 1913.

Various organizations of these Strike Battalions are used in combat. Below is the most common:

(The above force in game terms is 2,165 Points)