The Japanese VCM


Designation: Advanced Base Construction
Manufacturer: Gomusubi Heavy Industries (unconfirmed)
Country of origin: Japan
Mass-produced at: Imperial Weapons Factory

Key Features:

• Converts into a Construction Yard
• Dual ballast pontoons for naval voyages
• Fully articulated robotic construction arm
• Storage bay filled with nanodrones
• Meditation fountain in the crew quarters



Not all those who lost their lives in the open war saw combat. Take the case of Bart Truxton, who was imprisoned for years for spying for the Empire of the Rising Sun. Although Truxton has recently been exonerated, the full details of his story are so fantastical and incredible that they seem to have come straight out of a modern science fiction novel. Evidence confirming the story and demonstrating the immense complexity and effectiveness of Imperial espionage activities during the war continues to come to light.

When the first VCM flying the flag of the Empire of the Rising Sun landed at the Battle of Orchid Island, Allied security acknowledged that a catastrophic breach had occurred. They simply hadn’t had enough time, senior military intelligence officials had discussed; the Imperials had developed their own VCM because the Allies had publicly revealed their own vehicle – a spy had surely infiltrated their ranks. Through a meticulous investigation, security personnel tracked down video footage of Truxton apparently stealing detailed technical documentation on the Allied VCMC from a German laboratory and transmitting it to a vessel off the coast (which was none other than a Yari Mini-Sub). A military court found Truxton guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in a high-security prison.


The Imperial VCM contains a stockpile of nanodrones to construct all their structures on the battlefield.

It was only when Allied scientists unravelled another mystery of the war – a high-level Imperial code nicknamed ‘Melancholy Flower’ – that the depth of the deception began to become clear. A vast amount of encrypted Imperial information had been intercepted by the Allies during the war, but much of it is still being decrypted in huge databases. When ‘Melancholy Flower’ was cracked, a specialised Allied intelligence division was formed with the sole aim of piecing together the fragments of Imperial communications. After a year and a half of work, it succeeded in deciphering a series of transmissions that told a shocking story.

The Empire of the Rising Sun had deployed a robot that was so lifelike as to be almost indistinguishable from the real thing, modelled exactly on a replica of Truxton, to steal information about Allied vehicles. They had also deployed three other robots to observe Truxton, gathering all the personal, professional and private data required to create a realistic facsimile. These robots then recruited Truxton during a weekly poker game, during which the Truxton double obtained the real Truxton’s security card and carried out the espionage. The Imperial High Command then ordered all the robots to initiate their self-destruction – their remains were burnt in a mysterious conflagration in a warehouse, although its exact nature was not understood at the time – simultaneously destroying both the evidence of the deception and Truxton’s alibi.

As soon as the Allied forces presented evidence of Truxton’s unwitting involvement in these activities, they were taken aback. It was unthinkable that such a complex plan could have been uncovered by the watchful eye of the Allied forces. However, confirmation came when another series of transmissions was decrypted, detailing a similar operation in the Soviet Union. (Unfortunately, Maxim Novikov died in a Siberian gulag before his name could be cleared.)

Whilst the stolen technology undoubtedly facilitated the research efforts of the Imperial VCM programme, their vehicle is by no means an exact copy of the Allied and Russian versions. Instead, Japanese engineers used the acquired designs as a springboard for their own ideas, devising a system that is highly specialised for their own military doctrines and applying the same creativity and attention to detail that the Imperial spies had gathered.


Reconnaissance on the battlefield has at least revealed the following facts about the Imperial VCMs:

• Fully mobile– Like its Allied and Soviet counterparts, the Imperial VCM is extremely mobile, capable of traversing difficult terrain on land as well as in water for naval operations.

-Fully transformable– Furthermore, like its counterparts, the Imperial VCM deploys as a Construction Yard to build all the structures the Empire needs to wage war against its enemies. Fully functional on land or at sea, the Construction Yard can reconfigure itself into its mobile form just as easily.

-Fully productive- Unlike its counterparts, the Imperial Construction Yard does not build structures directly. Instead, it transports a large number of mobile Nanodrones. These Nanodrones can deploy anywhere on the battlefield, regardless of their distance from the VCM that created them.

-Fully flexible - Commanders must carefully weigh up the pros and cons of leaving their VCM at an Emplacement and relying on the mobility of the Nanodrones to expand their base. The extreme vulnerability of the Nanodrones whilst in transit – they are defenceless, just like the VCM, and lack armour to withstand serious attacks – means that a wise Commander will consider moving their VCM close to the Nanodrones’ destination to be the right choice.