Wild West Iron Horses

Since Armstrong Custer's famous charge leading the Michigan Wolverine's at Gettysburg, the Iron Horse has become a ubiquitous machine across the frontier. Their combination of speed, firepower and durability led to a massive Union contract with the Covenant of the Enlightened during the Ore War, replacing flesh and blood horses in all cavalry regiments. Now more than a decade later, Iron Horses have become easy to obtain, with Union surplus and frontline shipments making their way onto the black market in vast numbers and the machinery itself proving to be simple to maintain with spare-parts in abundance. While older marks and models of Iron Horse prove to be a little on the temperamental side, the Iron Horse's popularity and variety of designs can be found in use across the Union and beyond.

The Blazer was first used by the Confederate Army during the Battle at Gaine's Mill. The Iron Horse was still in limited service in those early days of the Ore War, but already its endurance and potential were obvious. Twenty-six Iron Horses were heavily modified in the field to mount additional gatling guns and armour plating to shield their riders from the huge attention of enemy fire they would receive once they began their attack. With General John Bell Hood on the lead Blazer, the Confederates tore a bloody hole in the two-mile-long Union flank and the day was carried, despite massive casualties on both sides in the 50,000 soldiers that fought that day. By the time of Gettysburg, both sides had units of Blazers fighting alongside their Iron Horse Cavalry and Blackhooves.

Uniquely found in the Union arsenal, the Iron Eagle is seen by many as the pinnacle of technological evolution for the Iron Horse. More than the replacement of the RJ engine with a voltaic power plant, the Iron Eagle boasts additional armor and electro-weaponry. As the ultimate statement that the Iron Eagle represented the future of Union military prowess, Nikolai Tesla incorporated specially programmed UR-31E Automata to pilot these new machines, giving them a resilience unmatched in the field by other cavalry.