Badger

Specifications
Use	Wheeled Infantry Vehicle
Production Code	TTM-8/20
Manufacturer	Shaian Mechanics
Height	2.3 meters

The Badger is typical of the Armored Personnel Carriers used by the armies of the Confederated Northern City-States. It was first introduced in the CNCS in TN 1799 as a replacement to the Mongoose line, which had become too obsolete on the battlefield to be reliable. Its sturdy eight-wheeled design can transport up to twenty fully equipped troopers to battle through almost any terrain.

The Badger is powered by four axial electric engines connected to banks of superconducting batteries. A front-mounted ceramic IC engine constantly recharges them and can also be used for extra power. This gives the Badger greater autonomy, allowing it to travel through the Badlands desert without having to worry about being jammed in the sand or having no heated shelter during the night.

The driver and passenger sections have been specially reinforced to withstand greater damage and to protect its crew. This has had a positive impact on morale, and soldiers who have to spend any amount of time in Badgers are grateful for the extra protection The Badger is crewed by two men: one driver, and one gunner for the turred-mounted M56 autocannons. The initial problems with the suspension were resolved in the 1820s and the Badger’s design was left alone since then.

Its speed, good armor and reliable armament have made it a staple of all northern infantry regiments. One of the Badger’s only flaws is its vulnerable fire control system, which is part of the autocannon turret. Due to weight considerations, it could not be armored sufficiently to protect it against damage. Still, since the Badger is not meant to enter heavy combat, this was deemed a minor flaw and ignored by the engineers.

The Badger has survived almost a century of use with only a few modifications, and its efficiency and affordability is unmatched by other APCs. At little over 80,000 marks, the Badger is the most reliable personnel carrier in the North. Over the long decades of use, several variants have been designed, the most successful of which were the Mark III “Pintle,” featuring four pintle-mounted 7 mm assault rifles, and the Mark IV “Stealth,” coated with radar-absorbing paint and equipped with a low-end ECM pod.

Usage

Before the Badger entered service in TN 1799, the armored personnel carrier of choice had been the Mongoose. It could only carry ten infantry instead of twenty, but it was equipped with better sensors to avoid detection and could achieve greater speeds than any APC at the time (the Raccoon’s record was clocked at 107 kph). When it fell out of grace in the latter half of the 18th century, mostly because the company that had created it in no longer existed and product support had become non-existent, Northern high command turned to the Badger for a replacement. Not only was the design slick, but it performed great services to the infantry regiments which used it, capable of transporting twice as many soldiers as the Mongoose. This proved invaluable during the pre-War North-South tensions, when continuous troop movements required the use of fast and capacious carriers.

The Badger’s great capabilities were further put to the test during the War of the Alliance, when the unpredictability of CEF troops deployment required a vehicle that would handle short response time and immediate counter-deployment. In the early days of the War, a good number of Badgers fell prey to the superior fighting skills of the GREL soldiers, but once the effect of surprise had passed, they handled them with great efficiency.

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