Waltzing Matilda UM-R6M
Mass: 30 tons
Chassis: Republic-R
Power Plant: Leenex 60
Cruising Speed: 21.6 kph
Maximum Speed: 32.4 kph
Jump Jets: Rawlings 52
Jump Capacity: 60 meters
Armor: Durallex Medium
Armament:
1 Small Laser
1 Machine Gun
1 SRM 6
1 Flamer
1 Large Laser
Manufacturer: Vandenberg Mechanized Industries (Refit Package)
Primary Factory: New Vandenberg
Communication System: Datacom 26
Targeting & Tracking System: Dynatec 990
Introduction Year: 2971
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-E-D-D
Cost: 1,538,225 C-bills
Not new production but rather a refit package designed for the standard UM-R60 Urbanmech, the Waltzing Matilda is mostly known as a rare bespoke upgrade for true "Urbie fans" who have the money to demand more performance, but the utter cult like devotion to it to consider switching to a different platform to be sacrilegious. In the Inner Sphere, this is a variant most commonly seen on Solaris or in a mercenary hiring hall, piloted by a proud warrior whose paychecks go almost entirely into new Urbie parts, and who will absolutely throw hands if you speak ill of his beloved machine.
However, in the part of the Rimward periphery where the mech originated and is most common, the Waltzing Matilda is instead a symbol of imperial ambitions and pointless, bloody conflict. Its story begins with a cache of two hundred partially assembled Urbanmechs discovered on the mid periphery world of Manchester, once home to one of Stephan Amaris' many periphery training bases. Even though these machines lacked weapons, armor, and control systems, the material value of this find was tremendous, and simply selling the mechs to a buyer in the Taurian Concordat or the Inner Sphere could have been a major boon to the otherwise marginal and overpopulated world. Manchester's House of Elders, however, had other ideas. Instead of enriching their world by selling the machines, they instead raised taxes and cut civil services to contract Vandenberg Mechanized Industries in the Taurian Concordat to restore and refit the mechs to combat capability. The payoff, the Elders insisted, would be so much greater when Manchester used this new army to turn itself into an empire.
Presented with a contract to refit two hundred partially disassembled Urbanmechs to operable status and not terribly concerned with what their client intended to do with the mechs once they were operational so long as the checks cleared, VMI went to work. Simply restoring the machines to their original configuration was certainly possible, but it would have required VMI to subcontract for a compatible autocannon, increasing the cost both for themselves and the client. Instead, some particularly clever engineers devised a new weapons package using components entirely available in house, promising a massive improvement in combat capabilities over the standard Urbanmech.
And those promises weren't simply marketing. A large laser and short range missile rack now made up the primary armament, granting similar ranged capability to the standard R60 model and a substantially improved close range bite, albiet with a greater heat debt to work around. On the other arm the small laser is joined by a machine gun and a flamer in a new mount based on the gun clusters used by the Warhammer, granting this urban combat specialist a vastly improved anti-infantry capability. Just a hair more than half a ton of armor rounded out the refit, providing extra protection for the legs and back of the machine.
Manchester's House of Elders were thrilled with their new toy, christening it the Waltzing Matilda after an ancient folk song regarded as the world's cultural anthem. While the first machines were being delivered by 2972, it would take longer before Machester could actually put them to use, however, as the world still needed to hire mercenaries to train pilots for their would be army, and it wouldn't be until 2974 that the first small contingents of mechs and infantry would begin landing on other worlds around Manchester, "inviting" them to accept Manchester's protection. Over the next fifty years, Manchester would annex eight minor worlds into their small empire, rarely facing more than disorganized resistance or low level insurgency from barely armed farmers. In the few battles of this period, the Waltzing Matilda was all but unbeatable, and only a single machine would be lost during this fifty year period.
But the wealth flowing into Manchester and the pockets of the Elders from a collection of fairly insignificant farming settlements did little to sate their appetites. So for their next conquest, they set their sights on the world of Absalom, a wealthier world with a population in the millions that, regardless, seemed ripe for the taking. In order to subdue this large population in one massive shock, Manchester deployed half of its mech forces and thousands of troops to the initial landings, expecting, at best, a few weeks of fighting before resistance broke. Instead, they were met with massed counter assaults as the Waltzing Matilda found itself confronted by massed formations of light armor, and the key weakness of Manchester's signature battlemech became obvious. On open ground, Absalom's armored forces, though primarily composed of the humble Scorpion tank, were able to easily outmaneuver and even out range Manchester's battlemechs, forcing them to either push forward against a relentless hail of fire to which they could not reply, or fall back into rougher country where the advantage would shift back into their favor. These initial engagements would cost Manchester over three dozen battlemechs before the battle lines would eventually grind into a stalemate, and the short victorious invasion would eventually stretch into a three year long quagmire dominated primarily by bloody infantry clashes, as both sides held back their heavy equipment for a breakthrough that never came. In the end, Manchester simply couldn't afford the expense of continuing the fruitless campaign, and withdrew from Absalom in 3027.
Manchester has learned at least one lesson from the Absalom War, and has since invested heavily in diversifying its battlemech forces to avoid being caught so lacking again, but the Waltzing Matilda is still a dominant part of its military, with more than a hundred examples still in service. And even with the damage taken during the Absalom War, and subsequent clashes with Absalom and Foxhaven, a steady stream of spare parts flowing in from Vandenberg Mechanized Industries means attrition is being kept to the minimum. Maintaining the deal is an easy decision for VMI, as Manchester is basically a captive customer for them, and has little choice but to pay a premium to keep the flow of materials coming.
Variants:
It took only one engagement for Manchester's Generals to realize the fatal flaw of the Waltzing Matilda on the battlefields of Absalom. But it took much much longer for Manchester's Elders to send a request to VMI for a solution to that flaw, and for that solution to actually arrive on the battlefield. This was the 6M2 model, which removed the large laser, downgraded the SRM launcher and shrank its ammo bin, and swapped in a PPC. This weapon would have allowed the Waltzing Matilda to match the range of Absalom's dreaded Scorpion tanks, and plans were to assemble a massed force of refitted mechs as part of a general offensive to finally break the stalemate by 3028. Instead, public unrest and economic woe forced Manchester to abandon the war early, and only twenty 6M2s were ever actually procured. These mechs singly alongside lances of standard Matildas in postings expected to be likely targets by raiders from Absalom or Foxhaven.
Type: Waltzing Matilda
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Tonnage: 30
Battle Value: 557
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure 3
Engine 60 Fusion 1.5
Walking MP: 2
Running MP: 3
Jumping MP: 2
Heat Sink 11 1
Gyro 1
Cockpit 3
Armor Factor 105 7
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head 3 9
Center Torso 10 11
Center Torso (rear) 9
R/L Torso 7 8
R/L Torso (rear) 6
R/L Arm 5 10
R/L Leg 7 14
Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm
Weapons
and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage
2 Heat Sink LL 2 - 2.0
2 Jump Jet CT 2 - 1.0
2 Heat Sink RT 2 - 2.0
SRM 6 Ammo (30) RT 2 - 2.0
Machine Gun LA 1 0 0.5
Flamer LA 1 3 1.0
Small Laser LA 1 1 0.5
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100) LA 1 - 0.5
2 Heat Sink LT 2 - 2.0
2 Heat Sink RL 2 - 2.0
Heat Sink HD 1 - 1.0
SRM 6 RA 2 4 3.0
Large Laser RA 2 8 5.0
Features the following design quirks: Extended Torso Twist, Narrow/Low Profile, No/Minimal Arms
A link to download the Beyond the Periphery Record Sheet Book, which includes record sheets for both variants of the Waltzing Matilda, can be found in this thread:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=84454.0
