That brings up the scarier part of retirement...losing firepower guts us something fierce. Firepower has:

The Roku's are ok; but ultimately have piddly damage. The Shiros are really where we're going to feel it. They have their problems with minimum range and loss of the ranged gun, but they are the big, ranged, Kuritan punch. (more like Kaminari and Yami, Hashira was always 'meh' next to them)

For infantry, it's a bit of a loss of solid units, the Oni and Raidens. Losing the Yashas isn't a huge deal. the Zeus was neat, but nothing that competitive. The Hellions...we had Rokus. Hellions were a little bit meaner with the energy in close for a couple clicks, but still.

That leaves the Scourge as our big ranged unit. It's not bad, but it's no Shiro and it still loses the long-range ballistics. We never really had an assault, and the Nova Cat is our only other heavy. It keeps its range better than the Scourge, but it slower and has less defense. Damage goes lower, though.

Mediums? We have the Hitotsune-Kuzos, and only really Black Blade there. There's 'Ryu', but Ryu suffers from pitiful damage output and an ability that needs big gun-toting friends to use. The Stalking spider is kind of sub-par and needs the damage faction pride which we lose, too. Wonderful.

I was pondering Flamers on the Spider, but that's more a novelty than a competitive unit. Good range, but doesn't hold that ranged punch at all. Maybe with Yulri Wolf at the helm it would be an ok flamer-hopper. Maybe.

For lights, we have the Solitaire as a smacker and the Phoenix Hawk as a shooter, so we're ok in that department. We do lose our +2D pilots, though; no Chu-I and no Wahab.

So, in list form:

Mechs:
Phoenix Hawk I
Solitaire
Jackalope
Stalking Spider
Avalanche
Goshawk
Hitotsune-Kuzo's
Ryu
Scourge
Nova Cat

Vehicles:
huey
MHI APC
Cizin
Coolant Trcuk
Shamash
Enyo
JES III

Infantry:
Minigun
Sylph
Combat Techs
ATV
Ravager
T-Bird

All in all...not all that hot a lineup. We need those new heavies to be something good. After paring down our mech roster to decent heat dials and starting AVs of 9...

Phoenix Hawk I
Hitotsune Kuzo's
Stalking Spider
Ryu
Scourge
Nova Cat

Ditch the Nova Cat for poor D, Spider and Ryu for poor damage...and we're kind of screwed.

PHX 1
H-K's
Scourge

Decent Vehicles:
MHI (transport. Our only)
Enyo (for a drop. But no transport...yay.)
Shamash (but, outshined by ATVs)

Infantry:
At least they're all pretty solid. We have a pulse-drop, repair, harassers, and a solid slugger armored BA.

Kurita mechs got problems with declining damage values, some faster than I like to see.

My most preferred equipment on Kurita mechs that ain't Shiros or Kozos is Pulse, adjusted to the weight class along with the Kurita FP from Firepower. Many mechs got energy running to the last of the dial, minimum 2. With Pulse and FP, you can still hurt for 6. If the mech's energy runs down to 1 instead of 2, or if the mech is using melee, just use Extra Ammo (+2 dmg) plus the FP, to get a 3. IT is generally useless on mechs that can't hurt; when dials on damaged mechs run to at base 10-12 attack, you don't really need IT at the end dials when your total AV can run as high as 14.

No, not PPC Cap M or even RISC Hyper Laser. Pulse or in the case of heavies, Experimental Pulse. You simply have to design mechs to get as much damage in the later part of the dial. Its really a different design strategy than with the Shiros, whose most common preferred gear is IT.

Kurita is screwed for not having a cap 3 transport and a suitable tank to drop, though you still have some Dragon Fury tanks you can use. Sometimes I like to use DF mechs---Kolyu makes a decent damaging light, and Kaze compares favorably to non Shiro mechs.

Good call on the IT, as usually by the end of the dial it's more like 'oh, wow. 14 natural. If I miss your damaged mech, I probably deserve to crit fail with that...'

Ah...actually, I'd wondered about the interaction of things like Extra Ammo and Retractable blade with the FP.

Well, mostly the Blade. It's +1 to damage on a melee attack with primary. Mostly, I'm thinking with the Scourge, since it has speed to walk up and thwack. Still, mechs do at least one damge in CQC based on the rules, so I'm wondering how Blade + rule + FP work on a Scourge that's had its gauss rifle shot off but still wants to play rock 'em sock 'em robots.

I usually prefer a double action attack (pulse, rapid strike) since the FP adds +1 damage for the unit for the entire turn. Which means it can do 1 damage each per attack for 2. At the risk of one more heak click of course. When I am deep down in a Kurita mech's dial, you just got to risk everything. Let the mech do its most damage as it may potentially die in the next turn.

I usually use the speed on the Scourge to get closer so I can use the energy weapons and pulse (as an added gear) instead. I still tend to work from the Dragon's Fury imperative that you got to hurt your enemy badly before they can hurt you. I use the longer ranged gauss for the opportunity shot or whack some infantry if needed.

Have you had luck with the Stalking Spider? I've still been debating it, and possibly with pulse or flamers. With pulse, it's still a maddeningly dangerous damage-dealer, holding at least 3 down the dial with damage pride. Even four, for a couple clicks. It's just that it'll be hogging the pride to do that damage is what bugs me. Still, it's a quad with jump jets, so it can be nasty if it wants to be. If only it had just a little bit of hardened armor...

Ah well. I do concur with the "Die swinging/shooting and to hell with the heat curve" since you might not have another turn.

If you all saw the Wolf Strike poster that was posted last week it shows that Kurita is getting some heavy mechs, Vulture Mk IV & Madcat Mk IV and two light mechs a Raven and Vixen plus an Osiris named Matchstick. Then there are some infantry and vehicles too, but we'll see what the specs look like. Either way I doubt we'll ever see an 18" range until we get an army builders set.

Agree smsluck13,hope WK release HK battle force soon or we must be dead after AoD rotate out.

For Matchstick as it's name,I think it must have Flamer and Pilot ability like burn 3 heat instead of 2.
But hornestly I dont see how Flamer could be any useful.

= ="

Hey. No set retirement.

Looks like we don't have to worry about losing the Shiros and company.

I saw that today and that was all that we talked about during our matches tonight :laugh: Which were all very close too.
I didn't play Kurita tonight but tried something different.
Comstar Marauder "Vindication" w/ Faber & Coolant Pod
Anubis "Hari`a" w/ Sadat & Evade
merc Fenrir x3
merc Undine
WH Mini Gun Cycle

The Com Guards Return!!

The first game neither mech took a hit but I lost two infantry, but they were worth the price of the heavy and light mech I destroyed.
Game two was very close, after losing Haria I salvaged his anubis and killed his Kelswa. The CW Thor did not engage much but time ran out just before I could give the final order to assault the salvaged Anubis and kill it to win the game with VC1 and VC2. So that game was a loss.
Game three was Marauder vs Marauder, Vindication vs Requiem. He had two BR Solitares as well. His first shot hit for 13clicks of damage because of the pilot abilty Cresendo. I then killed off one of his light mechs with Vindication using PPC Cap. After that I just couldn't hit anything and I he got the first shot against my heavy and that was basicly the game.
I guess I'll stick with Kurita more.

Best yet, the Dragon's Fury gets unretired too, and that brings a flood of support for Kurita which Kurita never enjoyed. The DF Maxims for support. The Fenrir from FFE. The legendary DF Schmitt tank. and the return of So Go-Chorkin streak drop. Danni Haag and her 12 attack.

Well I just got me Viki Drexel. I wanted her after seeing how effective she can be.
Deadbolt what is a "So Go-Chorkin streak drop"? I only started playing when AOD was released.

Go-Cho Dmitri Chorkin is a 14 inch jes vehicle with 5 streak and 9 IT. It was a curiosty as the only DF unit with 14 inch when tankdropping became more populair you saw the dmitri reaching new populairty as it could shoot over blocking with good accuracy.

I misspelled it.

Should be Go Cho Sorkin drop.

This one goes back to the Dark Age set. Dragon's Fury Go Cho Sorkin is actually a vehicle that is a unique. It is a JES missile carrier with 5 damage 14" streaks and a 9 attack with improved targeting. Drop it from a Dragon's Fury Maxim. With Streaks, it screams over any obstacle and blocking terrain. Think of it like a Chikako in tank drop.

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mechwarr...sp?unitid=9940

So I'm guessing that you guys who have Go-Cho Dmitri Sorkin like it?
I'm picking one up and will try it for some tank drops. Looks interesting and should put the fear into a few mechs.

I have an interseting battle approaching this Saturday, July 1st; 1200pts only mechs, pilots and gear. Should be fun and is something I haven't played in awhile. I will of course post what my army might be and the out comes. I am curious does anyone play an army that has been listed here? I know that I haven't played a straight copy but I've gotten some ideas.

Thing about Sorkin that's sort of a deal-killer is the 9IT. That's not enough to open up a target on its own without a supporting drop. Now, with the streaks it would be great for slamming wounded units that are running, but the way defenses have gone up it's not as sure a shot any more.