Fugue

The Fugue is a cheap substitute for conventional artillery. Civilian trucks – often older models considered unfit for frontline service – are fitted with crude rocket rails and used for long-range fire support. The Fugue’s name alludes partly to the “music” of its rocket salvos, and partly to the shock they induce.

Design Features:

- Trucks used in this capacity are only lightly modified. Larger, lower pressure tyres improve offroad handling; simple cabin armour shields the crew from rocket exhaust, stray bullets and shell fragments; and a strengthened chassis and suspension helps support the rocket rails.

- The rails are simpler to build than large guns, have no recoil, and fire faster salvos, but are bulkier, less accurate, take longer to reload and are more vulnerable to enemy fire. Standard armament consists of 16x82mm rockets with high explosive warheads. They are not aimed at individual targets so much as wide swathes of ground, disrupting enemy advances or softening defences in preparation for a strike.

- The rockets’ initial roar becomes a high-pitched screech on descent, increasing the psychological impact of these already terrifying weapons. Fugues usually move after firing as the rockets’ smoke trails reveal their positions and expose them to counterattack. During longer engagements, efficient crews can often reload and fire from a new location, keeping enemies off balance while allies retain the initiative.