Hovercraft in T2k

[Raellus]

Apparently, in all our years, we haven't had a thread devoted to hovercraft. Let's fix this.

TIL that the US army briefly fielded a hovercraft (based on a commercial Canadian design) in the 1980s.

https://www.twz.com/42472/the-army-acquired-its-own-hovercraft-in-the-1980s-it-didnt-go-well

The T2k v1-2 vehicle guides included some presumably speculative Soviet combat hovercraft designs (I squeezed one in to a Pirates of the Vistula campaign that I ran some years back).

IRL, the Soviets embraced the hovercraft more than did any NATO country.

Have you featured, or encountered, any hovercraft in your T2k experience?

-

[Vespers War]

The Army also fielded a hovercraft in the 1960s, the Air Cushion Vehicle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_Air_Cushion_Vehicle). Unlike newer hovercraft, it was armed with varying combinations of .50 machine guns, 7.62mm machine guns, 7.62mm miniguns, and 40mm grenade launchers. I've seen the sole survivor at Fort Eustis (there's also a surviving Navy PACV cousin in California).

I haven't used any in my campaigns because generally they're expensive, maintenance-heavy, and fragile, the latter two of which make them difficult for post-apocalyptic use (and the first of which makes it difficult to justify large numbers existing).

The actual Russian hovercraft of the time would have been the Gus, Lebed, Tsaplya, Aist, and Zubr LCACs. Gus had a crew of 6 and carried 25 troops, while Zubr has a crew of 31 and can carry three main battle tanks or up to 500 soldiers. AFAIK they never really went in for combat hovercraft in the style of the KvP-92, only landing craft that (other than Gus) had some armament for self-defense, ranging from a pair of 12.7mm machine guns in Lebed to a quartet of Strela launchers and a pair of 30mm autocannon and a pair of 140mm rocket launchers in Zubr.

[Raellus]

The Army also fielded a hovercraft in the 1960s, the Air Cushion Vehicle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_Air_Cushion_Vehicle). Unlike newer hovercraft, it was armed with varying combinations of .50 machine guns, 7.62mm machine guns, 7.62mm miniguns, and 40mm grenade launchers. I've seen the sole survivor at Fort Eustis (there's also a surviving Navy PACV cousin in California).

Ah, yes! They were reportedly very effective at catching the VC unawares, when they were field-operational. AFAIK, there were no combat losses of PACVs either.

And it probably inspired the G.I. Joe vehicle that I really wanted- but never got- as a kid: the Killer W.H.A.L.E. !

https://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/84/whale/

I haven't used any in my campaigns because generally they're expensive, maintenance-heavy, and fragile, the latter two of which make them difficult for post-apocalyptic use (and the first of which makes it difficult to justify large numbers existing).

I threw one of the apocryphal Soviet combat hovercraft, v1's KvP-92, at the PCs in a Pirates of the Vistula PbP that I ran a few years back. Dubbed the "Winged Hussar", it was operated by a Kurtzean US Green Beret team that had set up a little fiefdom in Tarnobrzeg. It was supposed to be a wow moment.

-

[Tegyrius]

Despite (or perhaps because of) the inefficiency, I have a marauder group in my campaign with an M5 RACV. They were using it to strengthen their control over a stretch of the Warta... until a couple of PCs snuck in and blew up their fuel reserves. I have it statted for 4e but it hasn't made an on-screen appearance yet.

- C.

[Rainbow Six]

An enterprising PC group may be able to build their own hover vehicle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcKSZZsG11I

[Silent Hunter UK]

One of them would probably end up full of eels.