hello guys, I'm a newbie to Mech Warrior and I'm going to a tournament this saturday.

the problem is that i've only played MW once and I don't know anything about the factions and their strengths and weaknesses.

so if any of you have a detailed listing on the various factions and you would like to give them to me I would be very glad because I would like to be prepared for the tournament.

hope you guys can help me...

k.

Hey there, newbie. Don't be afraid to ask for more help. We were all new once. Anyway here is my impromptu list of factions and their strengths and weaknesses:
Dragons Fury(DF): the faction I play most. They have high attacks and are typically very fast. The mechs usually have forgiving heat dials and good vent ratings. However, Dragons Fury usually has low defense and range. In fact, only two units have a 14" range!

Highlanders(HL): My favorite faction when I was new. I really liked them till they got stiffed. Anyway, Highlanders typically have low attack, but high defense and good defense special equipment (SE). When paired with their long life, they can stick around for a while but have a hard time hitting. I'll paraphrase a quote I found once:
"Fighting a Highlanders Army is like beating a dead kitten with a Coffee Mug. Its hard to clean up the remains.":P

Steel Wolves(SW): starts out bad on their dials, but get better when they click in a few slots. Good for absorbing low amounts of damage. Have great stats in their "sweet spot" but once they are knocked out they may have trouble. Good balistic attacks.

Bannson's Raiders(BR): They usually have short dials, but this is offset by their ability to get repaired because they usually have no repair markers! They also have a lot of SEs like Camouflage and infiltrate.

Spirit Cats(SC): Relative lack of SEs, stable stats, and an uberlong dial characterize the kitties. They are not that remarkable, but are good all-round pieces. Good with energy attacks.

Swordsworn(SSw): They have great infantry, good vehicles, and typically their mechs do a lot of damage. However, they have crappy heat dials and bad vent ratings. Don't use the mechs too aggressively.

Stormhammers(SH): A lot like Swordsworn, only fewer units cause they're newer. Both SH and SSw have quite a few mechs with 1 vent rating, so its better to let them sit and clear.

Republic of the Sphere(ROTS): These pieces tend to have a hefty price tag, but they have good overall stats (i.e. high attacks, defenses, ect.) and SEs. Their unique mechs are AWESOME!! Look into getting some Knight of the Sphere for your collection if you like these guys.

Liao(LI): Like ROTS, generally expensive, but they have faction abilities that are pretty cool. Personally, I dislike Liao because they stole HLs high defenses and their paint scheme is often similar. Also, Liao got a lot of Limited Edition (LE) pieces for tournament prizes. They were keeping my factions from getting prizes. Last time I checked, the ratio of normal Liao pieces to LEs was almost 2:1. Thats really high.

Two new factions that are coming out in the next expansion are Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Sea Fox. You will get to learn what they're like along with the rest of us.

Sorry the post is so long. I hope it helps. Post what pieces you have on the "Army/Strat Review" with Will63, Narcissus, and Mid! You will see quite often in Latest Discussions. They will help you with an army. Good Luck with the tourney!

If you contact warflail he might be able to hook you up with some peices.

Have a good one,
-john

thanx guys, it really gave me a good look into the different houses and what they are good at, I'm taking Highlanders myself (borrowing some since i've only got 2 boosters) and i really like the fact that they are so hard to kill...

what was this business with warflail, is this a user in here or something???

don't know that many people in this forum (sonce I'm new) so if you could explain a bit better...

thanx again guys...

k.

ps. I will be playing some games tomorrow with the army so i get a better grip of the rules...

Warflail is like the Highlander Dalai Lama. He the spiritual leader of Highlanders. He also runs the Loyalist Newbie Givaway Program, which gives away HL, ROTS, and Merc pieces to newbs such as yourself. PM him. He'll be happy to hook you up.

Nice write up on the factions Bernard.

Welcome to Mechwarrior Kristianj.

Check the link in my sig to a halfway decent article. There's links in it to even better ones too.

PS.

Go to the last page of the thread, since the Mods havent moved the current version up to the top as of the last time I looked.

ANY questions you have send me a PM or email, I'm always glad to help as are many people here on the board.

Thanks for the compliment, fenris. It was most appreciated. The writeup took me forever, but I am always glad to help a new player. I have started 2 more people playing locally over the last few months and have supported and helped them. A may have found a third. I just want more people to play Mechwarrior! And I think Warflail is doing a great thing w/ the LNGP. I told my possible third player about it and he sounded impressed. I took him to a tourney the other day and he did pretty well. We played a round of Solaris VII afterwards and he stomped us all with a Marat Deleportes that I lent him. It was humiliating, but I was proud :grin:

p.s. Keep up the good work, Kristian. Good choice picking Highlanders. They're getting some pretty sweet pieces in Falcon's Prey.

hi Guys, just wanted to thank you for the help, I got some insight into the different clans and it helped me getting 2nd place in the tournament out of 12 players....

I got some really cool models ( a lot of clan jade falcons and a Mech for Clan sea fox... nice)

but thanks again...

k.