Bad ‘Mechs – Yeoman

Sean
2 months ago
Categories: Art, Editorial, Historical

Sergeant Bixonnen had fallen and couldn’t get up.

It wasn’t entirely her fault. Being struck by counter-battery fire isn’t expected to be a walk in the park for anyone, let alone a 60-ton walking death machine. What complicated the issue for her was that her Yeoman didn’t have arms--not really. Although labeled arms on her damage schematic, the boxy protrusions just contained a pair of long-range missile launchers that gave her ‘Mech impressive fire support capabilities.

When it was standing. Laying on its back, her Yeoman was little more than a 60-ton paperweight.

The irony was that she really wasn’t all that damaged. The likely Long Tom blast (she couldn’t say for sure, but the size of the explosion seemed a big hint) had removed a significant amount of her frontal armor, but the Yeoman was fairly well protected for an artillery ‘Mech. Far better than the LRM Carriers that her external cameras confirmed were smoldering wrecks around her. But she might as well have been a smoldering wreck for all the good her ablative protection did. 

Bixonnen knew that it was theoretically possible to right her ‘Mech without the help of upper limbs. She’d seen Solaris fighters do it, and amputee infantry did it all the time. At least, they did on the inspirational holos that she’d often watch before drifting off to sleep. A lot of them performed a sort of martial arts trick that she didn’t think was possible at 60 tons, but the rest of them just had to roll over onto their front, put one leg underneath, and then push. 

She tried just as she saw on the holos, envisioning herself rocking side-to-side a few times before finally tipping onto her front. The only problem was that she had two giant boxes on either side that prevented her from so much as budging. All she managed to do was scrape yet more armor off her backside. 

“Fire support, fire support, calling for grid coordinate zero alpha three six nine, fire for effect!” 

It was Captain Scarl. It sounded like the front lines were taking a pounding, but there was little she could do about it. 

“Sorry sir, this is Fire Lance Charlie, we’ve been hit by counter-battery fire. The firebase is a wreck and I’m flat on my back, over.” 

Scarl’s response was equal parts urgency and fury. “Bixonnen, I don’t care if you’re fending off the third coming of Kerensky! We’re getting slaughtered out here, and we need fire support NOW!”

Bixonnen flinched in her neurohelmet. She once again checked her external sensors to confirm that the three LRM Carriers and both J-27 Ordinance Trucks were either on fire or had been replaced by craters. Support staff were only now reaching the wounded while others wandered away from the blast zone like zombies, clearly shell-shocked. They wouldn’t be much help either.

Then an idea came to her. Bixonnen checked the requested grid coordinates and did a quick mental calculation, using all she’d learned in her ballistics and classical mechanics courses to calculate the theoretical range of her weapons. Then she reprogrammed her fire control computer to remove the missile safeties and to follow a non-standard flight path. Finally, she typed in the grid coordinates and squeezed the triggers on both her control sticks.

LRM’s erupted out of her Yeoman vertically but quickly bent in a ballistic arc toward the front lines. After the first flight left the tubes, she waited for the automatic reloader to clunk the next flight in before squeezing both triggers again. And again. And again. And again, until she’d completely emptied her ammo bins.

The radio crackled for a moment before Captain Scarl’s far calmer voice came through. “Great work, Fire Lance Charlie. We’ve got ‘em on the run. Drinks are on me tonight.” 

Bixonnen relaxed back into her command seat, satisfied with a job well done. And also because she wasn’t sure how to get out of her ‘Mech in this position and felt it’d be best just to wait until the astechs came to extract her.

Watch this video on YouTube.

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Following Curtis Militech‘s debut with the highly successful Wraith BattleMech, the company’s next offerings targeted two requirements of any modern military: training and fire support. The Eagle offered a cheap trooper ‘Mech that could be produced en-masse and used to equip training battalions or fill out empty billets in garrison regiments. The Yeoman, introduced in 3060, offered a cost-effective platform that could provide more long-range warheads than older platforms like the Archer or Crusader.

Curtiss Militech sold the Yeoman to the Free Worlds League Military (FWLM) for most of its production run, with the occasional sale to some of the better-funded mercenary companies that operated within the League. It was seen as a serviceable design by most, with many commanders appreciating the increase in bombardment capacity despite the decreased cost. 

Pilots, however, were less enthused with the design. A lack of defensive weapons and no arms meant that the Yeoman was virtually helpless when enemies closed to within 210 meters. The lack of articulating limbs also limited the Yeoman‘s usefulness in logistics (where a big pair of mechanical arms could be quite helpful in moving munitions) and also made it exceptionally difficult for the pilot to right the machine should it ever topple over. 

At the expense of these arguably non-critical components, the Yeoman does offer several mechanical advantages that further improve its fire support capabilities. Although early models could not torso twist as the legs integrated directly with the large missile pods that served as the ‘Mech’s “arms,” the extremely durable gear-shaped hips could be locked in place and its four-toed feet could dig into the ground to ensure the ‘Mech’s stability when firing volleys of 50 missiles at a time. 

As functional as they may be, these features couldn’t quite overcome the negative reaction to the Yeoman‘s outlandish appearance. Of the many nicknames given to the Yeoman by MechWarriors, the “boom box” is the most charitable. 

Only two variants of the Yeoman were ever produced. The original YMN-6Y came armed with twin Zeus LRM-15 launchers and two Zeus LRM-10 launchers mounted in the arms. Targeting data was provided by the reliable Dynatec MissileTracX system, while Curtiss’s own CurtisComm Mark IV provided communications. Ten double heat sinks kept the ‘Mech cool even when tasked with continuous fire suppression, and eight and a half tons of Kallon FWL Special ferro-fibrous armor provided sufficient protection for a ‘Mech that wasn’t expected to see front-line combat. A Pitban 240 engine gave the Yeoman a maximum running speed (which was more like a waddle given the width of the ‘Mech’s legs) of 64.8 kph.

Curtiss kept costs on the Yeoman low by utilizing standard components throughout the machine save for its endo steel chassis and ferro-fibrous armor. Conversely, The YMN-10-OR spared no expense during the tumultuous days of the Jihad. While the Zeus LRM-10 launchers were retained, the LRM-15 launchers were removed in favor of four MML-5s. These gave the Yeoman the ability to fire short-range missiles, providing a much-needed defensive capacity against close-in opponents. These state-of-the-art weapons were augmented with an XL Gyro, jump jets for added mobility, and additional armor protection.

The Yeoman‘s tenure as the Free World’s standard artillery ‘Mech would be relatively short-lived. The League dissolved in 3079, with Curtiss quickly securing a contract with the Duchy of Graham-Marik to continue production from its factory on Paradise III. That factory would later fall victim to an atomic strike launched by the Principality of Regulus on February 26, 3080. With its production lines destroyed and Curtiss Militech unable to fulfill orders, parent company Curtiss Hydroponis liquidated Militech’s assets in 3085. The Wraith was sold to Hellespont Industrials, which continues to produce the ‘Mech to this day, while the Yeoman and Eagle designs were sold to the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey. The Duchy manufactured a handful of new Yeomans over the years, but production numbers never rivaled Curtiss Militech’s, leading to the gradual phaseout of the design. 

Military reductions over the Republic years meant that Yeomans were often replaced by even less expensive LRM Carriers and other conventional armored units, while after Gray Monday and the reformation of the League in 3139, resurgent rivals such as the Crusader, Archer, and Longbow became more attractive purchases for the FWLM. Most remaining Yeomans can be found in garrisons within the Duchy of Graham-Marik, or the few mercenary units still operating this quirky design.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrup.