Pickup Trucks

Get in loser, we're going hunting!

"Regrettably, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux have effectively become almost part of the ISIS brand!"

– Mark Wallace

This is of course leaving aside the common civilian use of pickup trucks by farmers, construction guys, road crews, other people which need to haul stuff around, country music stars, wannabe country music stars and suburban middle managers who like to LARP as rough and tumble country-folk and tailgate people on the highway.

The Pickup Truck, also known as a Technical, is perhaps one of the greatest weapons of war ever fielded by mankind. And as much as we want to say that is a joke, there is a reason there is a literal war called the "Toyota War".

Yeah when it comes militia vehicles, the Pickup Truck is a tried and tested design. Despite this, you have to remember that for all the memes about the Toyota Hilux the Pickup Truck is literally just that. A civilian Pickup Truck

In Team Yankee

The Pickup Truck is an option for Irregular Militia Groups. And by option, we do mean it's a 1 pt option (2 if you want Machine Guns). The vehicle can help get your militia into position, but bare in mind the rule Resistance. You can already deploy Militia anywhere on the board, so movement isn't that much of a concern. Now granted once the Militia have destroyed their target, they can mount the Pickups to move one. So in that case there may be some advantage to having these things in the unit. But outside of road movement, the Pickup is just barely better than walking. Before you start suggesting using Pickups as a cheap harassing unit, you have to remember the rules Unit Transport and Passenger Fired. Unit Transport basically means your pickup's leader has to stay near the militia leader if you don't want to lose it. Passenger Fired meanwhile means that unless this vehicle is transporting something, you can't fire the MG. Like the Militia, this unit may be situational. But that can change once the book drops.

IRL

What a technical looks like over history, as demonstrated in this meme photoshop.

Ok, where to begin. The idea of creating a fast moving ranged attack unit has pretty much been a thing since war existed. Some of the first complex weapons invented were Chariot's as mobile archer and fighting platforms. But for the sake of simplicity, we will say that the first use of improvising a civilian vehicle into a military vehicle began with the use of Tachanka. The Tachanka was a horse drawn carriage used in WW1 with a machinegun on the back of it. The general idea was to mount a machinegun onto a "Vehicle" that permitted quick movement and response. With the Dawn of the Automobile, it was only inevitable that mankind would start mounting guns on the things like the Orks we are.

While WW2 had instances of Guns being mounted onto trucks, the image of the Technical wouldn't be a thing until the Bush Wars of Africa; particularly the Toyota War where the Chadian military used truck’s mounted with machine guns and anti-tank missiles to rout Libyan invaders in T-55’s. And from here, the glory of the Toyota Hilux would be known. The vehicle would become something of the AK47 of combat vehicles. Rugged, simple to maintain, cheap, are all words that can be used to describe the Technical. So why don't actual armies use the thing?

Well, if you want to be technical (don't laugh) they do. The HMMWV is in essence a pickup truck with a machinegun. A Jeep is a pickup with a machinegun. A BTR is pretty much a pickup with a machinegun. But the thing is these and other vehicles are designed for combat. They have things like dedicated weapon mounts, armor, part familiarity, fuel specifications, ETC. Pickup trucks meanwhile are meant to transport things like lumber or food produce. While they can be used for combat, that's not their main focus.

Mortars are such a good fit for trucks even actual armies use them.

So why then are these things so popular with militias? Well as stated earlier, these things are rugged, simple to maintain, and generally cheap. They are also widely available to the point any insurgent, drug cartels, or third world warlord can buy them in bulk without international trade officials batting an eye. A Warlord may not have access to things like a M113, BTR, or even a Deuce-and-a-Half. But they might have a pickup. And if they need to transport their buddies around the battlefield, the truck is more than adequate.

The term "Technical" for these kind of improvised fighting vehicles has a couple possible origins. One often repeated source is that in the 80's Human right groups operating in conflict regions were disallowed from hiring private security as protection, so instead they hired locals gunmen and marking there payment as for "Technical assistance". Another possible origin for the name is that the money to make these vehicles often came from extorting members of various Medical Aid and Relief organizations, which would write off the money they were forced to give as "Technical Expenses".

Ironically, in the case of Team Yankee, the Pickup can have a place in a US army list. The US military has a vehicle called the CUCV. Its literally a military pickup. It's meant more as a vehicle for when you need to transport small amounts of cargo (especially since CUCV stands for Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle). Still, it's not impossible for a Commander to provide a local militia with these things in exchange for support. In the right circumstances, a fleet of Technicals can be quite effective, as demonstrated in the Toyota wars when the Chad military effective destroyed a Libyan invasion force composed of tanks, artillery and aircraft using a fleet of 400 Toyota Hiluxes armed with MILAN launchers (and the French Air Force enforcing a no-fly zone). Thanks to the rugged terrain, the Toyotas had the advantage and could pick off the enemy in hit-and-run attacks, striking from unexpected routes and effectively routing the Libyans.

Now when it comes to armaments, well, you're pretty much only limited by what will fit in the back and how strongly you can bolt something down to the chassis and not have it shake apart on firing. Machineguns may be the most popular choice, but they're by no means the only ones. Mortars? It's hard to beat a truck for shoot'n'scoot. Want anti-armor? An SPG-9 or M40 recoilless rifle will do the trick. Want air defense? ZU-23-2s will just barely fit on back. Want to spam rockets? Ukraine proves that S-5 Rocket Pods will work (though you'll need to come up with a fire control mechanism since those are intended for aircraft). Got some wealthy nation backing you in a proxy war? You can stick a MILAN, BGM-71 TOW Missile, or the recent L3Harris VAMPIRE rocket launcher on the back to make those tanks and drones think twice (training not included). Some, like the drug cartel and insurgent’s narco tanks, can have weld-on armor applied but that’s only used in urban insurgencies where anti-armor weapons are not prolific and speed isn’t the main consideration. In other cases, most armed pickup trucks are aimed at hit-and-run attacks to avoid being wrecked by heavy weapons or attack aircraft.

Gallery

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  "Bolted down and ready!"

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  "Our clan is strong."