28mm Toulmore Twaenhyr Tractor and two crew.
Toulmore’s first indigenously-produced combat tractor is the Twaenhyr, a novel design of considerable promise and considerable complexity. After the Liberation in Year 3 (1764 in the old calendar), the Waenquar Brothers moved from Easky to Toulmore, bringing with them engine schematics and steel formulations from their previous employer, and set up Toulmore’s first tractor company. The first wooden mockups of the Twaenhyr were shown to the War Ministry in Year 6, and the first prototype was delivered for testing in Year 7.
The Twaenhyr is clearly inspired by the Ailthean with its crew of three and its low-mounted engine, and was first delivered with the same Tok-manufactured Bright Beetle Six engine. Large drive wheels and newly-designed caterpillar treads give the Twaenhyr an impressive speed. It also sports a number of electric drives on its clutch and turret traverse, each of which is manufactured in Achon. When these drives work, the Twaenhyr is comparatively faster across ground and faster to traverse than the Ailthean.
Crusader armor doctrine has previously favored relatively large caliber, low velocity guns, but the Twaenhyr was built around the high-velocity 72mm (T) Mod 3 Fort Rill gun - a derivation of the lightweight, direct fire gun employed on airship frigates. The Mod 3 Fort Rill has a heavier barrel, strengthened reinforce and breach, and uses rounds with a more powerful explosive charge. This gives the Twaenhyr a mighty punch against enemy armor.
All of this comes at an eye-watering cost. Although intended to be the signature tractor of the Toulmorese cavalry, Waenquar Brothers can reliably produce only a dozen or so tractors a week, and have not been able to scale their operation to meet projection or demand. The Toulmorese War Ministry is unwilling to compromise on quality, nor on the priority of Toulmore having its own first-rate combat tractor. Critical components must be imported from Tok and Achon, so it will be some time before the Twaenhyr achieves the ubiquity of the Ailthean or the venerable Baeliog.
