Deployed BattleMechs and combat vehicles have always received the limelight, but behind the scenes it is support vehicles that keep their more glamorous cousins fighting. Invisible to the layman, an army’s logistical tail can decide the outcome of a battle before it begins. Although the fastest way to move cargo over distances is aboard a DropShip, sub-orbital hops are often not an option. Maintaining a secure line of supply overland-especially in hostile territory-can sap the strength of an army just as fast as disaster on the battlefield. Fusion-powered ground vehicles have no range restrictions-making them ideal to the role. Inevitably, only the most prestigious formations can expect to have sufficient fusion vehicles to equip their rear echelons. And so it falls to the humble ICE powered vehicles to service most armies, but this introduces problems of its own-the need for a steady supply of fuel. Supplying a single element of an army, even a single BattleMech company, can be a mammoth undertaking. Food and water, ammunition, spare parts, medical supplies, clothing, and a host of other consumables are required.

         Workhorse designs like the Sherpa Armored Truck have been used across known space since the Age of War. Built on a reinforced chassis configured as a half-track, the Sherpa can negotiate terrain impassable to most civilian ground transports. Armored to withstand small arms and light support weapons, the vehicle can also fight back in a limited fashion with its own machine gun mounted in a turret atop an armored cab. Many of the vehicle’s components can be replaced with parts from civilian vehicles-indeed the drive train from many common heavy freight vehicles can be used as a temporary replacement. This compatibility unfortunately works both ways, and local militia can find their logistical support immobilized by light-fingered personnel out to make a few C-bills.
         Capable of hauling over fifteen tons at speed (and significantly more in dire circumstances), the Sherpa’s one weakness is its high rate of fuel consumption. One Capellan commander was recorded sourly making the observation that half his logistical transport was tied up following his Sherpas around with the fuel their GM engines needed to keep running. For any army attempting to conduct a mobile campaign, this is indeed not far from the truth. The Taurians build them with a Magna engine that can burn anything from water, or the hydrogen and oxygen extracted from it, to the most processed liquid fuel, allowing them to be far more strategically mobile.
         A basic but reliable chassis and power train have resulted in a bewildering array of Sherpa variants over the years. Fuel tanker, mobile communication center, MASH vehicle, and mobile canteen-the list of applications seems almost endless.

         Never intended for frontline combat duty, vehicles like the Sherpa are still often employed in poorly equipped mechanized infantry elements of militia and paramilitary formations. Both the Capellan Confederation and Taurian Concordat utilize the truck in this role in their planetary militia.
         The Earthwerks production line in the Capellan Confederation is the most prolific Sherpa factory in the Human Sphere; only Vandenberg Mechanized Industries on New Vandenberg comes close to matching the output of the Grand Base industrial complex. Other Earthwerks facilities throughout the Tikonov Free Repubic and Free Worlds League also build the Sherpa, making them common in the Federation Expanse and Free Worlds League, as well as the Capellan Rump States and the Taurian Concordat.