Oba

= Oba Light Landship =

Overview
One of the first landships developed by North Ghurkka, the Oba is classified by some analysts as an infantry support vehicle rather than a landship. Originally the Oba was created as a (relatively) fast moving cavalry vehicle to replace the horses of traditional Ghurkkan cavalry regiments while also able to function as an armoured machinegun nest that would be impervious to rifle fire and grenades. It’s layout of multiple machine guns lead to extremely loud noise while firing, while the cramped space would lead to the multiple sprays of spent cartridges bouncing about the interior and over the crew. This lead to the Oba earning the moniker of “Rattlebox”. The landship is entirely without cooling for its crew, leading to many early Oba crews operating their tanks in underclothes or the nude to try and keep cool. Five soldiers crew the vehicle, arrayed about the engine which takes up much of the interior and would frequently fill it with smoke and fumes. Three crew members act as machinegunners for the flank and rear weapons, loading their own ammunition. The driver sits to the front, controlling the vehicle, while the commander operates the gun turret and in later models, the radio.

Armament
The early model of the Oba carried four 7.62 machineguns, belt-fed and air cooled. One would be mounted on each flank, another in the rear and the last was affixed to a rotating turret. Brass burns on often lightly clothed crews were a constant injury with the multiple guns firing. Only being armed with medium machineguns proved next to useless against Shirudan assault guns, and the mid war model of the Oba saw an upgrade of the turret’s machinegun. This was replaced with a North Ghukkran Royal Armouries 20mm light gun, which proved only marginally more effective.

Combat History
The Oba was originally devised for border wars against the Ghurkkan’s natural enemy of Veda, as well as internal policing. However, despite seeing multiple uses in both these scenarios, it was the Karelian front where these extremely outdated vehicles were used en mass. Initial casualties were heavy, Oba’s suffering from an inability to penetrate enemy armour plate, being vastly outraged by enemy guns and suffering in the cold conditions. At first, the mounted horse cavalry they were created to replace served better in the initial battles.

Variants

 * Oba Mk2 (Early War Variant): Armed with four medium machineguns.
 * Oba Mk3: upgraded variant with the Royal Armouries 20mm breech-loading cannon