The Barushka Matushka (バルシュカ・マトゥシュカ, Barushuka Matushuka?) is a heavily armored Feldreẞ deployed by the United Kingdom of Roa Gracia. It is designed to be fielded in a variety of situations. Unlike the Sirin-piloted Alkonosts, the Barushka Matushka prioritizes the safety of its human pilots.
Nomenclature[]
A magical and magnificent horse from Russian folklore, Barushka Matushka (meaning "little mother") was the mount of a cultural hero, the bogatyr, Il'ya Muromets. A gift from his mother, Barushka Matushka would carry Il'ya safely so long as he kept his promise to her to protect the peasantry.
Description[]
Armed and armored like a walking fortress, the Barushka Matushka sported a 125mm Smoothbore Gun as it's main armament, along with a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun attached to the main cannon, a 14mm revolving machine gun on the front below the optical sensor and four pairs of 40mm grenade launchers. The reason for it's unusually extensive armament is because unlike the Federacy, which allowed it's armored infantry to escort Feldreß and handle lightweight Legion types such as self-propelled mines, Ameise and Grauwolf, the United Kingdom's frigid environment made it difficult for the armored infantry to perform well. Therefore, they had to compensate for the lack of infantry complement with a weapon complement.
Vika's personal Barushka Matushka unit, Gadyuka, with it's coaxial turret visible.
It's turrets could be loaded with armor-piercing rounds and it's grenade launchers could be outfitted with anti-armor explosive projectiles. All of it's armaments had a lock-on feature that was typically supported by AI in order to efficiently operate the hard-to-handle weapons system. However, skilled pilots such as Viktor Idinahrok could manually set the targets, claiming it was faster this way. Commander units tended to have specialized equipment to fill out certain roles. Vika's personal unit, Gadyuka, was modified with reinforced communications equipment, enhanced sensors and computational abilities for command purposes. Zashya's personal unit, Królik, was specialized in communication disruption and electronic warfare.
The Barushka Matushka was roughly the same height as a Reginleif and had ten short, thick legs and white armor that gave it an appearance comparable to that of a snow-furred beast. Like the Alkonost, it's optical sensor was blue, in contrast to the Reginleif, Vanagandr and Juggernaut's red optical sensor. Designed with the United Kingdom's unstable, hard-to-maneuver terrain and low-mobility in mind, it's primary strategy is to lie in wait in the snow and ambushing the enemy to destroy them in a single strike.
Trivia[]
- The actual name of Il'ya Muromets horse from the Russian folklore is Burushka-Kosmatushka (meaning "russet shaggy"). Barushka Matushka is misspelling where Matushka is indeed translates as "mother" from Russian, while Barushka is a nonsensical word.
- In terms of appearance and purpose, the Barushka Matushka bears a resemblance to Object 279, a Soviet-era experimental heavy tank designed to fight in cross country environments and withstand blast waves produced by nuclear explosions if necessary. Armament wise, however, Object 279 is fitted with a 130mm rifled cannon and a 14.5mm coaxial machine gun, while the Barushka Matushka uses a 125mm smoothbore cannon similar to the ones used by Russian MBTs such as the T-64, T-72, T-80, T-90 and the T-14 Armata.