Bolo Brigade

This is not particularly great space opera but it was an enjoyable way to waste a day sitting home sick. The story is of a young officer who has been exiled to a distant post because of his brashness. He gets the job done in spite of incompetent leadership higher up. He is assigned to command two BOLOs which are well past their prime. He has trouble from day one because his new bosses do not appreciate his past talent for making them look bad and neither do they trust the sentient armored vehicles (BOLOs) assigned to them. He has to try and cope with laziness and a maintenance unit that sees no point in working hard when nothing much happens in that dist reach at the edge of the galaxy. Also troubling is the fact that the two BOLOs seem to be quite a bit more self-aware than should be expected for their model numbers. Meanwhile, a new set of aliens has decided to invade. These are vaguely like carnivorous dinosaurs and have the same sort of table manners. Their biochemistry means that they cannot eat humans but that does not take the fun out of hunting them. Their civilization depends upon conquering others and looting refined metals. Their fleet is huge and they are without mercy. It is all up to our young hero to stop them. He has two aging tanks at his disposal and will have to fight his own command authority as well as the aliens. Other BOLO books have been better but this one did provide a few hours of enjoyment. It is worth reading and will even be remembered for a while.

Bolo brigade is a well crafted, actioned packed story in the universe of Keith Laumer's Bolos, giant sentient tanks that are humanity's most stalwart defenders.In Bolo Brigade, a bolo officer with a dead end career winds up posted to a backwater planet that is about to become a raging battleground. The Malach, a race of reptile-like aliens appears from the depths of space and invades the planet. The only force that can stop them are two old bolos and whatever forces the planetary government can muster.Bolo Brigade thunders to a crescendo of action that is glittering in in its intensity and at one point seems to literally roar with the fury of battle. The bolos display courage and humanity that goes far beyond the call of duty, and the ending may even leave you with tears in your eyes.Sometimes authors just nail it right on the head and William Keith excels with Bolo Brigade.

This is one of those books you can read again and agian. Entertaining to the last. Believable characters and an extrodinary setting. I really wish (hint HINT) that a followup would come along one day.

William H Keith, JR's book, "Bolo Brigade" (ISBN 0-671-87781-X), is his second contribution to Keith Laumer's Bolo story line. On the edge of the galactic arm and human occupied space, known as the Concordiat, lays the Strathan Cluster Confederation. The Confederation consists of thirty-six human inhabited worlds that gained their freedom from the direct control of the Concordiat, but still maintain an alliance with that larger human political body. Part of the alliance between the two governments is the deployment of sixteen very old, but still powerful ground based war machines, fourteen Mark XVIII and two Mark XXIV Bolos. The Mark XVIII Bolo , was almost the last design to be equipped with only the most advanced super computers of their day, while the two Mark XXIX Bolos, named Freddy and Ferdy, were fourth generation designs using a self-direct and self-aware computer. Lieutenant Donal Ragnor, a Bolo Tactical Officer of the Concordiat, has been transferred to the Confederation as liaison officer as punishment for bucking the Concordiat military chain of command. Soon after Donal's arrival on Muir, the capital world of the Confederation, he discovers the Mark XVIII Bolos have been deployed to fourteen different worlds and that he will be the commanding officer for both Mark XXIV Bolos stationed at the capital. Further, prior to Donal's arrival two member worlds have fallen silent and several starships have disappeared from the space lanes within the Cluster. The Cluster's central government assumes that the loss of communications is due to equipment malfunctions and that the some of the lost ships have been captured by pirates, while others are being reported means of committing insurance fraud. However, the government does not send out investigation teams to verify their theories. After Donal's arrival, Muir receives a garbled message from the world of Wide Sky, near to the edge of the cluster, about an invasion, before communications abruptly cease. Lieutenant Ragnor, Freddy, Ferdy, and Alexie Turner, Wide Sky's Deputy Director General, have to fight off the invasion of an unknown intelligent species on Muir. William H. Keith, JR brings the reader another well-balanced story in Keith Laumer's Bolo saga. This book is another gem for the reader who likes the writings of William H. Keith, JR and Keith Laumer.

When a fleet of visious Malachs (picture four armed Velociraptors) invade two worlds on the edge of human space, the only thing that can stop them are two Mark XXIV Bolos. There's just one problem, the Bolos have been tied down with ill made, conflicting ROE (Rules of Engadgement). Fortunatly, the human officer in charge of the Bolos secretly changes the Bolos' programing, much to the Bolos' relief. There's just one chance to stop the Malach's invasion, but to do it could mean the end of his career.