Mudskipper Light Hovertank H2-C
Mass: 20 tons
Movement Type: Hover
Power Plant: Various 75 ICE
Cruising Speed: 86.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 129.6 kph
Armor: Various
Armament:
4 Machine Gun
2 SRM 2
Manufacturer: Pinard Protectorates Limited (original designer)
Primary Factory: Various
Communication System: Various
Targeting & Tracking System: Various
Introduction Year: 2750
Tech Rating/Availability: D/C-C-C-C
Cost: 282,100 C-bills
Easy to mistake for and often overshadowed by the broadly similar J. Edgar Hovertank, the whimsically named Mudskipper is a fairly common sight the deep periphery, despite very nearly never coming into being. Originally developed by Pinard Protectorates Limited for the Taurian military, the vehicle, then simply designated the H2-C, was soundly rejected by the TDF, which was already using the J. Edgar in large numbers and saw little reason to produce a less sophisticated competitor to that design.
It should come as no surprise that the H2-C's savior was the 28th Century's most prolific arms buyer, Stephan Amaris. Amaris, or more accurately the agents he employed to procure arms for his secret plans to overthrow the Cameron dynasty, wasn't particularly interested in the H2-C's specific capabilities so much as its low cost and relatively simple design, and Amaris would buy out Pinard's stake in the vehicle completely, securing prototypes, plans, and unique tooling. With this exclusive ownership in hand, the Rim Worlds Republic would establish small workshops all over the periphery to produce this cheap, simple vehicle, ultimately manufacturing tens of thousands of examples to be distributed to the other periphery states as well as bolstering his own forces. As the secret armies waded into the Periphery Uprising, these swarms of light attack craft would strike.
Much like the J. Edgar it is so often compared to, the H2-C (which would acquire the name Mudskipper from its opponents in the SLDF) is a fast attack craft optimized for rapid, close assaults, though its method of delivering those assaults is somewhat unique. Paired SRM twin racks are fairly standard and familiar, but the vehicle's primary armament are its four 20mm machine guns, which were specially designed with a lighter bolt and revised recoil system meant to drastically boost their cyclic rate, allowing this quad barreled weapon pack to spray an ungodly amount of fire down range and empty the vehicle's generous two ton ammunition supply in as little as fifty five seconds. This terrifying rate of fire comes with some drawbacks, however. The cyclic rate of the machine guns is so high that the guns are prone to jamming and out of battery detonations, which can disable the weapon mount or even the entire vehicle. The extreme wear on the barrel and bolt caused by the high rate of fire only exacerbates this problem, and the vibrations and recoil from the mount, even when everything is working properly, make it difficult to keep the guns on target. While Pinard had intended to address all of these issues in their attempt at an innovative new weapon system, the lack of military interest had killed their own research efforts, and once the design ended up in Amaris' hands, concerns shifted solely to getting as many vehicles into the field as possible. Vehicle crews in the field therefore simply had to accept spraying as much kinetic mayhem at their enemies as possible before their weapons quite literally blew up in their face.
Given the Mudskipper's small size, relatively light armor, and the tendency of its main weapons to radically disassemble themselves, the vehicle did its best work as a light harasser, delivering short sharp strikes of machine gun fire and inferno missiles at close range, then withdrawing under the cover of the resulting conflagration. Often lacking anti-armor warheads for their missile racks, they would frequently struggle against faster, more advanced hovercraft and VTOLs fielded by the SLDF, and instead Mudskipper crews developed the intricate tactic of setting large swaths of the battlefield on fire with inferno warheads to force the enemy to either flee or get close enough that Mudskipper's machine guns could effectively engage. In response to such tactics, the SLDF, would, where it could, choose to avoid prolonged ground engagements against the Mudskipper, instead relying on VTOL support, which effectively nullified the scorched earth tactics used by the rebels and Amaris' forces.
The Mudskipper would fight on every front of the Periphery Uprising and the Amaris Coup, and would be fielded, and ultimately die, by the tens of thousands. Even so, in the periphery this humble vehicle lives on. Most of the workshops established across the periphery to build the vehicle would actually survive the Periphery Uprising and the Amaris War, though the vast majority of those facilities would be forced to cease production or switch to building even simpler combat vehicles as advanced components like modern armor or fire control systems dried up. Still, new Mudskippers would filter into the hands of various periphery militaries and independent groups to join those examples that had survived the Amaris War, either coming from the last few workshops still able to assemble the vehicles, or later from new production in the Taurian Concordat, where the once rejected vehicle saw a brief rebirth during the lean years of the Succession Wars. The Mudskipper has even seen a very gradual renaissance, with the Oberon Confederation attempting to open its own production facility shortly before the Clan invasion, the Marians and Circinians opening their own factories to build the vehicle in the 3060s, and even the Hell's Horses and Sea Foxes jointly creating their own version in the 32nd century. It seems that this vehicle will be with us for some time longer.
Variants:
Given the wide variety of manufacturing and parts that have gone into the Mudskipper over the centuries, it's difficult to firmly establish what truly constitutes a variant. However By a wide margin the most common tangible and consistent modification of the Mudskipper simply replaces its machine guns with a more typical model, either because of the original weapons' unreliability or because original weapons simply weren't available. While this reduces the shear amount of lead the vehicle can sling in the general direction of the enemy, it also eliminates the accuracy and reliability problems the vehicle has long suffered.
A modification that was reasonably common during the Periphery Uprising saw the short ranged missiles replaced with a single five tube long range missile rack. Originally intended to give the vehicle some long range incendiary or minelaying capability, it would see use later in the conflict as an escort to standard Mudskippers, providing them some protection against the vehicle's true nemesis during the war, the Cyrano gunship. A second variant, seen as almost heretical to some crews, removed the troublesome machine guns entirely, replacing them with a single medium laser. This modification required the removal of a half ton of precious armor, and, even worse in some minds, removed the capacity for a truly frightening volley of led to turn their tank into a J. Edgar knockoff.
Another modification option removes half the machine gun ammunition to make space for either an additional short range missile rack or even more machine guns. While the SRM refit is relatively straightforward, adding additional machine guns requires swapping the missile racks for a single four tube launcher, due to the additional bulk. Even for those Mudskippers still equipped with the rapid fire machine guns, the reduced supply of ammunition is arguably still adequate for most engagements.
The shortage of proper missiles and missile systems in many parts of the periphery during the Succession Wars would lead to the creation of mudskippers mounting a bevy of rocket launchers in place of the original short range missile racks. Both the Marian Hegemony and the Circinus Federation would bring this version into regular production in the 3060s, though they would substitute slightly improved modern rockets for the originals. Though the production facilities on Circinus would not survive the Jihad, the Marian plant remained intact and continues to produce the vehicle to this day.
Winding back the clock a bit, the Oberon Confederation would create their own field modification mounting a pair of flamers in place of the original short range missile launchers in the 3040s. Intended entirely as a terror weapon to cow the targets of their raids, it was never expected to face a real opponent, and would fair poorly when the Wolves came to Oberon VI in September of 3049. The Wolf clan would destroy all captured examples of the vehicle, as well as raze the incomplete production facilities to the ground. Only a small number of flamer equipped Mudskippers would survive the invasion, eventually finding their way to the Belt Pirates of Star's End. These vehicles would take part in a number of raids staged by the Belt Pirates throughout the 3050s before eventually succumbing to attrition.
Finally there is the clan model, officially designated as the H4-C but still unable to completely shake the Mudskipper moniker. This model was jointly produced by the Sea Foxes and Hell's Horses starting in 3128, and was intended for second line use. The clan version retains most of the original's simplicity (even if they are built to tighter design standards), retaining the same armor composition and layout and using an only slightly upgraded multifuel combustion engine. Its clan design only really shows through in the weapon systems, replacing the original machine guns with four anti-personnel gauss rifles and mounting lighter, more compact clan missile systems. The weight saved has gone into an expanded ammunition bay for the short range missile launchers, improving the vehicle's flexibility by allowing crews to carry more than one type of ammunition into battle. The Sea Foxes have deployed their new vehicles to Shoal clusters based on several of their scattered terrestrial holdings, while the Horses have so far concentrated the bulk of these vehicles in Kappa and Omega Galaxies. Attempts to market the H4-C to their fellow clans have shown little to no success, in some cases due to the vehicle's ancestral association with Amaris, and in others because of its more recent association with the barbarians of the Periphery. Even within the Hells Horses and Sea Foxes, the vehicle has something of a poor reputation because of its lineage, with crews and some officers treating assignment to the vehicle as a punishment. So far, the Sea Foxes have stopped short of trying to sell the vehicle to Inner Sphere powers, out of concern that its overall basic design would push away potential buyers willing to spend extra for clan technology.
Type: Mudskipper Light Hovertank
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Movement Type: Hover
Tonnage: 20
Battle Value: 297
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 2
Engine 75 ICE 4
Cruising MP: 8
Flank MP: 12
Heat Sinks: 0 0
Control Equipment: 1.0
Lift Equipment: 2.0
Power Amplifier: 0.0
Turret: 0.5
Armor Factor 56 3.5
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Front 2 16
R/L Side 2/2 10/10
Rear 2 10
Turret 2 10
Weapons
and Ammo Location Tonnage
4 Machine Gun Turret 2.0
2 SRM 2 Turret 2.0
Machine Gun Ammo (400) Body 2.0
SRM 2 Ammo (50) Body 1.0
Features the following design quirks: Ubiquitous (Inner Sphere), Poor Workmanship, Exposed Weapon Linkage (Machine Guns), Ammunition Feed Problem (Machine Guns), Inaccurate Weapon (Machine Guns)
Author's note: To get the "authentic" Mudskipper experience, you should use the rules for rapid fire machine guns found on page 101 of the Battlemech Manual and page 100 of Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules, as this vehicle was originally created with those rules in mind. If you aren't interested in using those rules but still want to be consistent with the fluff written above, consider discarding the Ammunition Feed Problem and Inaccurate Weapon quirks, since those elements are a direct result of the Mudskipper's rapid fire machine guns.Link to the Beyond the Frontier Record Sheet book:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=84454.msg1998958#msg1998958
