Devastator
GUTS AND GEARS — THE BEASTS AND MACHINES OF THE IRON KINGDOMS
Nicknamed the “Bloody Bulwark” by Cygnaran troops on account of its red livery, all-but-impregnable armor, and frustrating tenacity, the Khadoran Devastator boasts an ingenious warjack design. The Devastator is a lumbering behemoth of thick, riveted iron plates nearly twice as heavy as most of the Motherland’s other warjacks. Each footfall hammers the ground with 16 tons of relentless metal. Its signature shield fists form a solid iron barrier before it, which the Devastator uses to provide valuable cover for advancing Khadoran units and warjacks.
When reaching enemy lines a Devastator is apt to plow right into them like a mechanikal battering ram, scattering and forcing back opponents. It will then unlock its shields and set to with its heavily shielded fists or a devastating volley of grenades. The resulting carnage lends the Devastator its moniker and has enabled more than one shrewd Khadoran leader to seize victory. Not for nothing has this warjack become the focus of much loathing among the enemies of Khador.
For all their vaunted armor, Khadoran warjacks suffered ongoing losses against Cygnaran Defenders and long gunners. Concentrated fire and long-range capability could eventually bring low even such stalwarts as the reliable Juggernaut. In the 590s Khadoran mechaniks expressed their eagerness
to implement a number of expensive long-ranged warjack weapon prototype projects, but the High Kommand quickly put a stop to this.
With the treasury already strained and Queen Ayn Vanar stressing practical solutions to military problems, a different stratagem was implemented.
Queen Ayn ordered the mechaniks to do what Khador does best: create a massively armored heavy warjack that could survive long enough to close with the enemy and thereby annihilate them en masse.
Such a ’jack could function without the need for advanced and expensive cortexes, relying instead on the raw materials that Khador had in abundance. This direct approach played to the strengths of Khadoran warjack doctrine and knowledge.
Simplicity was key to the design. Khadoran mechaniks first attempted
to modify the Juggernaut chassis, but everything pointed to the existing chassis being unsuitable for the Devastator’s intended purpose. A new chassis
was hastily drafted, simpler than the Juggernaut and focused less on range of movement and more on infrastructure to support the immense weight of the new warjack. The initial cost of setting up new production facilities was deemed acceptable when balanced against the reduced cost and time involved in constructing the new chassis in bulk and the gains from utilizing lower-grade cortexes. The project was given permission to proceed.
the reduced cost and time involved in constructing the new chassis in bulk and the gains from utilizing lower-grade cortexes. The project was given permission to proceed.
The early prototypes of the Devastator proved unstable on even slightly steep grades and too heavy to function well in the unpredictable conditions of the battlefield. Cost and resource constraints made the Khadoran Mechaniks’ Assembly unable to scrap the design and start over. They opted instead to trim down the Devastator’s torso armor, reasoning that its interlocking shield fists would provide all the torso protection the warjack needed. The reduction in weight made it battlefield-worthy but distinctly more vulnerable when attacking targets in melee, a trade-off that was deemed regrettable but necessary. The simplicity of the Devastator’s overall design allowed Khador to manufacture the warjack at an accelerated pace, and the first finished Devastator thundered onto the battlefield for the Motherland near the end of 598 AR.
Khadoran officers were quick to see the benefits of the new warjack design despite the Devastator’s vulnerability once opened and engaged in battle. It is not uncommon for several Devastators to be arrayed as a walking shield
to cover an advance. Such a wall is difficult — if not impossible — to stop, especially when combined with Man-O-War Shocktroopers with their shields raised. A number of Cygnaran battlefield accounts have testified to the terror inspired by such an approaching wall of death, compounded when
the arms open to unleash countless fragmentation grenades.
The Devastator has served admirably for the last decade. It was put to particularly effective use on the battlefields near Northguard in 607 AR. Surrounded by mud and barbed wire, the Winter Guard had been pinned down by a continuous barrage of fire from Cygnaran chain guns. The Khadorans could do little to stop the steady attrition. Only the timely deployment of several Devastators alleviated their plight. The mobile cover the warjacks provided enabled the beleaguered Winter Guard forces to emerge from their trenches and advance from what had been a largely hopeless position.
The Devastator remained the heaviest Khadoran warjack from its introduction until 602 AR, when it passed that title to the Spriggan, which was based on the Devastator’s chassis. In duty and legacy, the Devastator continues to serve the Khadoran cause with distinction.
3rd Man-O-War Demolition Corps “Rams of the 3rd”
The so-called “Rams of the 3rd” is attached to Khador’s 1st Army and stands at the forefront of recent aggressive advances against Cygnar. This corps played a key role in the victory at Northguard and has since been moved to the fron lines past the Thornwood, along the Dragon’s Tongue River. A number of powerful Devastators are entrusted to this corps, and their relentless advances are supported by cover fire from several handpicked teams of Widowmaker snipers. These forces are eager to build on past successes by toppling the walls surrounding either Corvis or Point Bourne.
Fonte: No Quarter 26
