First, I'd like to thank Wizkids for giving the original factions their leaders in AoD. It was a beautiful idea, and I bet that I'll make plenty use of Sandoval and Rosse (as SC and Ssw are my factions) . However, I wish that the mechs were a little more.... iconic. The three leaders so far are good, and pretty much in line with their faction, but their is just something.... missing. They all don't represent the pinnacle of the factions strengths like I thought they would. Katana should have had an attack that went from 12 at the start to 11 IT about half way through, and never went below that. Tara Cambell should never have had a 12 attack(an 11 is nice), and should have been given more armor to go through than anyone wants to fight through over the course of a years' tournaments. Kev should have been the statistical beast, stats rarely dropping, 17 life, 3 vent, 16 range, 5 damage energy, and a 4 damage melee, and shouldn't have a single SE showing on the figure. Below are some examples (consider all pilot cards the same, as they were done fine, IMO) :

Katana Tormark - Nyx 270 arc
M 0/0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0
BB 2/8 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 0 0
Speed 12 11 10 9 9 8 7 7
Attack 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 8 8
Defense 17 17 16 15 15 14 13 13
The SEs: four clicks of Agility, three of Armor Piercing, eight of Evade, and four of Improved Targeting(followed by salvage), the first of which appears four clicks in. Katana's ride should finally bring Evade/Agility to the DF, and should have the DF standard late dial IT.

Tara Campbell - Battlemaster 180 arc
BB 2/14 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
EE 0/8 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0
Speed 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 3
Attack 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 5 5 5
Defense 22 22 22 22 22 22 21 21 21 21 20 20 20 19 19 19 18
The SEs: four clicks of Armor Piercing, last three clicks with Salvage, six of Hardened Armor, eleven of Heavy Armor. With the pilot, it still holds a very strong attack, and the defense will make some players cry.

Kev Rosse - Cave Lion 270 arc
M 0/0 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0
EEEE 0/16 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 0 0 0 0
Speed 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5
Attack 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 0
Defense 20 20 20 19 19 18 18 17 17 17 16 16 16 16 16 16 16
The SEs: None. Not even salvage after it loses offensive capabilities. Spirit Cats have never been for flashy SEs over pure statistical effectiveness, and this mech shouldn't have a touch of color outside of his heat dial (it would be a first for this game, BTW) . Note that I would also make his vent rating a three, but leave his heat dial as-is.

Well, if you're still here, thanks. I just wanted to put down my opinion on the faction leaders, and get some feedback to see if I'm alone on this. I still think that the faction leaders were really well done, and this is simply my dream take on them.

Thanks,

- WraithTwo -

There's no reason to have the faction leaders slaved to their faction archtypes. I'm perfectly satisfied with how they look right now.

I think it would make sense if they WERE slaves to their faction archetypes, but I think with this set they're going for more 'individualism' - gunslingers instead of mercs, and faction leaders that are individuals instead of archetypes. It's a good choice IMO, since it gives the 2d cards a little more 'life'.

Otherwise, Tara's "full barrage" would be ours! ('ours' being Swordsworn :p )

Yeah, point taken, but I would still like to see defining mechwarriors for each of the factions somewhere along the lines.


Thanks,

- WraithTwo -

So far I've been pleased with the faction leaders except for Tara Cambell. She should never have gotten a 12 attack. With the HL faction ability she's basically Geoff Bekker, starting on the prime click, with a higher attack, and more life. If they were to do what you are asking for, Tormark would probably not be as good as she is and the others would probably be a LOT more dangerous (raising their point costs significantly).

Well, the only problem I see with the faction leaders(really only Kev Rosse)is their look. I just imagined from all that I read about him(Kev)that he would much different.

Yeah, what was up with making Kev Rosse look like some sort of Native American tribesman or something. Not that there's anything wrong with being one of those people, it's just that it is not how they portray him being in the fluff and it certainly doesn't even look like a BattleTech persona, more like a refugee from the Pirates game...

Chris

i agree, for someone that was a senator, they should look the part.

so what wrong with giving a highlander a good attack value. they've been needing that since day 1. i am fine with her getting a 12 attack when she's piloting "Caber".

There are certain "faction traits" that should be adhered to. One of those is/was that SC and HL had longer lives and higher defenses but lower attacks than other factions. It wasn't until WK decided to appease the HL players in Falcon's Prey that the HL even got an 11 attack (and they got Dock AND Kava). (I believe SC still doesn't have any 11 attacks.) Don't get me wrong, I was happy to see the HL's get some very good and useable pieces in FP, but giving HL's a 12 attack is like giving DF a mech with a 24 defense (w/o evade). Once you start doing that, what's the point in having factions anyway?! They all now have access to any SE they want and now you're giving them all the same stats. Plus, based on what I see, I think that Tara Campbell looks overpowered since she basically has a 24 defense, 12 attack, and a ton more useable life than Geoff Bekker.

well kev rosse in his "Anima" will have an 11 attack. but he is the only one. and the big difference between geoff and the "Caber" is geoff has a 360 fire arc and "Caber" does not. and besides, whe is the faction leader if they didn't make her uber people would've complained and hated wizkids much more than they allready do.

Ever since the first HL novel, Tara Campbell has had a S painted on her chest and a strange aversion to Kryptonite. Everyone #####ed about Victor in CBT, and rightly so, but Tara makes him look like a chump. She always wins the fight, always has pure motives, always has miraculous luck when piloting a mech (especially when she drove that ####ty Hatchetman), always had bad luck with her love life, never appreciated for the work she does,.... She's the new incarnation of Vic S-D. Hell, I'm surprised she doesn't have IT all the way through her dial, a 18 attack, and the inability to die just Salvage. And why not give her a red cape and a permanent place in the Justice League. ;) She is WK archetypal good guy in MW.

Katana should have had better stats since she taught TC everything she knows and turned down Knighthood and stepped down as Military Leader of Tara's Prefecture ( that is how TC got the job IIRC) to form the DF (I thought she took the cream of the crop militarily to form DF. That's why they had such good attacks and the HL had such low attacks.) With that kind of history, Katana should have an attack like Mason Dunn or Ezekiel Crow The only Faction Leaders who should be close to her are Tassa Kay (being a True- born Wolf warrior 3 to 4 generations better than her Clan Invasion forbearers) and Kev Rosse(similar if not as good a background as AK).

With her Gene heritage and Clan training, Anastasia Kerensky should be the best pilot, bar none. Keve Rosse should be top 4 with stats not declining appreciably.

[But everyone complained about DF from the first 2 sets and HL from the middle 3 sets so DF had to be neutered and HL improved. But why couldn't they improve them within paradigm. Give them gradually higher attacks (increase their rank to have more vet and elite versions reflecting all ther combat in the fluff while maintaining high DV and armor make more units that look like Caden Senn, maybe keeping high attack a little longer down yhe dial. Besides, didn't retirement neuter DF of its broken pieces. Couldn't they have kept the original paradigm and adjusted the costs for the pieces, explaining that the original cost equation changed with game changes i.e. tank drop, etc.
I just don't understand why it has to be give good stats to one faction or another. Why not give good pieces to all factions. Isn't that part of the reason for excluding factions from expansions. Not enough slots per expansion to give good things to all factions. So just leave factions out until you can give them good pieces that fit their paradigm. -mini rant, sorry]

Actually I found it appropriate that a Mechwarrior who has visions about the future and calls his 'Mech Anima ends up with a shamanistic look. He called the faction Spirit Cats! And as we all know, FASA had a definite like for Native Americans (cf Shadowrun, Crimson Skies).

Out of curiosity, what is "looking the part" for a Senator in 3134?

I'll also note that Tara Campbell was also a senator, but they don't have her in "Senate-appropriate attire" in her portrait, either (she's wearing fatigues). For that matter, neither is Katana Tormark, former Prefect - she's wearing Samurai armor, yet I don't see anyone complaining about that...

Besides which, he isn't exactly acting as a senator anymore. He's acting as the leader of the Spirit Cats. I'm sure they have their own standards for what is appropriate attire.

@Phoenixhawk:
As for how he's been portrayed in the fiction: the only time he's been portrayed in the fiction at all was in the INN articles from way back, and the Spirit Cats Dossier file. He hasn't been in any books. I've read those articles, and the dossier file. I read nothing that would preclude a Native American appearance. Could you point me to what it is that made you feel the portrait doesn't fit?

As a side note, anytime you find yourself using the phrase, "one of those people" you are probably not being as tolerant as you think you are - and you definitely are not coming off as tolerant as you hope, despite your protestation that you "don't have anything wrong" with them.