IPS-N Evans

The Evans exists in response to a development call for a Union Marines armored vehicle suited to accompany mechanized chassis formations: quick, hard-hitting, and transportable under the equivalent weight capacity of a standard GMS Oriole lander. Out of the Big Four manufacturers, Harrison Armory and IPS-Northstar submitted prototypes which made it through to the final competition phases. HA banked on compromising mobility for a classic “big gun” design, incorporating a direct core-tap emitter weapon based off of a derivative of the Sherman’s ZF4 Solidcore; IPS-N, on the other hand, threw all other concerns to the wind to create the most reliable, mobile armored vehicle in their catalog… Concerns such as “armor” and “crew comfort,” primarily. Though the race was close, the inability for the HA prototype to absorb airdrop shock or be compatible with many common varieties of field-printed replacement parts saw IPS-N’s light tank win out, which was then refined over the years before full production into something less worth the derogatory appellation “matchbox” (for its thin, boxy composite hull and initially mediocre fire suppression systems) before it actually went out to Marine divisions as the Model J Evans.

When it did arrive, it quickly became a beloved design despite its flaws: blazingly fast, approximately the weight of an Everest for transport and logistics, and able to be fixed with little more than a wrench and a hand printer, the Evans was well suited to not just keeping up with chassis formations, but often outpacing them entirely. When combined with other Marines-traditional reconnaissance-in-force assets like jump jet-assisted Everest chassis and Manaslu scout drone carriers, the vehicle truly came into its own - embodying the principle of “just not getting hit” familiar to every hotshot tanker.

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The IPS-N Evans is not an official Lancer product; it is a third party work, and is not affiliated with Massif Press. The IPS-N Evans is published via the Lancer Third Party License.

Lancer is copyright Massif Press.