Copyright 2009 by Brandon Cope
 

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PzKpfSchrt I Schwarzewitwe robotic walker

"Soon Hitler's giant, mechanical spiders had pushed past the Maginot Line."
-- Crow, MST3K: The Giant Spider Invasion

The "Black Widow" is an early-war robotic mecha built in limited numbers, designed to be turned loose on unsuspecting infantry. To aid it's fear factor, it is made to resemble a spider and is painted black and equipped with slightly articulated (but non funtional) fangs. The winch is of dubious value, used to hoist fully loaded infantry up after the Schwarzewitwe climbed an obstacle. In combat, this was found to be of little use.

The robots worked well initially, sent ahead of panzers and panzergrenadiers to disrupt and demoralize the enemy. It wasn't until Schwarzewitwe were deployed in close proximity to German troops under combat conditions that a severe flaw was found: Schwarzewitwe had difficulty distinguishing friend from foe. To counter this, the robots were programmed with shut-down commands that could be sent by radio in an emergency. Unfortunately, this shut down all Schwarzewitwe in range. By the time of the Russian campaign, it was decided to no longer operate them near Axis troops. and vehicles No Schwarzewitwe has been known to fire on another Schwarzewitwem however ...

The Schwarzewitwe Ausf B uses 2,25 gallons of gasoline per hour at routine usage.

Subassemblies: Light Walker chassis +1, 8¥Compact Walker legs +0.
Powertrain: 50-kW gasoline engine with 48-kW legged transmission and 18-gallon standard fuel tank; 4,000-kWs batteries
Occupancy: none  Cargo: none.

Armor
Body: F 4/80, RL 4/60, B 4/40, TU 4/60
Legs: 4/40

Weaponry
2¥Ground LMG/MG 34 [Body:F] (1,000 each)..*
Medium Vehicular Flamethrower [Body:F] (30).
* Linked

Equipment
Body: TL(5+1) microframe computer with robotic brain (Complexity 2, IQ 5, DX 9), basic sensor/communication package, short range radio, searchlight [F], 4¥smoke dischargers [B], 250-lb winch [B]

Statistics
Size: 12'¥9'¥6' Payload: 0.13 tons Lwt: 4.43 tons
Volume: 22
 Maint.: 31 hours Price: $42,700

HT: 8.
HP: 75 Body, 18 each Leg,
 
gSpeed: 40
 aAccel: 3
 aDecel: 20 aMR: 1
 aSR: 2
Low Ground Pressure. Full Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes
The mecha and robotic rules from W:WW were used. Leg cost, weight and HP were halves to represent their relatively light construction  Half a winch module was purchased..

To recognize troops or vehicles as friend or foe requires an IQ+4 roll.

Variants
The Ausf A had much lighter armor (DR 30 body, DR 15 legs) with gSpeed 46 and HT 9. However, it was felt to be too poorly protected for the vehicle's expense and was only used to train infantry.

The Ausf C was designed to operate alone deep behind the lines in Russia (and was later used in North Africa). It was uparmored (double DR in all locations, including legs). It replaces the flamethrower with two KwK 30 cannons (20mm Long Ground AC) with 225 rounds each. A pair of MG 34's (with 500 rpg) were added to the rear as "tail chasers". The winch was removed and a smaller engine (42 kW) and transmission (40 kW) were fitted, but it held more fuel (51 gallons, giving a range of 480 miles at 18 mph). HT 7, LWt 6.6 tons, gAccel 2, gSpeed 30, cost $41,900.

The Ausf D was a proposed anti-tank version with a 37mm anti-tank gun fed by an automatic loader. However, it was deided the weapon was obsollete and no Ausf D's were built.

The late-war Ausf E had perfected the legged transmission and used an improved computer (treat as TL(6+1), with IQ 6). This dropped cost to $13,400 and Maint. to 55 hours. Fuel tankage was 18 gallons and lWt 6.5 tons, but design was otherwise the same as the Ausf D. Some were experimentally fitted with 23mm and 37mm autocannons salvaged from downed Russian aircraft.