@Marauder
The AA-rifleman thing has been discussed. I think that the point that LTGArchon is making is that alot of us wonder why they made this new rifleman when the old one would have had some cool MWDA abilites, but the new one is slow, and outranged by numerous pieces.

The SH rifleman is an great mech if the guy your playing doesn't have any AP art or anything with a range over 12".

If he has either of those, watch out for that 6 click ammo explosion you have lurking on your third click of heat. It hurts......

Rifleman isn't supposed to have high defense since they were never that well armored. It is an all offense type mech.

An interesting side note about the Orginal rifleman, although the fluff for the mech referred to it as an anti-aircraft mech it had no benefits to attack aircrafts as a matter of fact its range weren't that great .
But I still like it...
Anyway why do you guys think cause the demand for the mini?

In a sealed environment, all of the Rifleman 'Mechs are beastly. In a constructed environment, they aren't very viable outside of more relaxed venus of play.

Would I play one for fun? Sure.

Would I play one if I wanted to win an LE? No way.

The Liao and SH ones are pretty beastly if you run them right. You're going to need some meat shield to ward off charges, and something to get up the field and tie units up. Then it's just a mater of getting in range, and putting a total beating on anything you shoot at.

I've run both, and properly supported they do just fine.

Hey...I agree with Maniac

with the state that this game is in right now, what person in their right mind isn't going to bring at least one armor piercing artillery to the table with some 14"-16" ranged units???

The only use I have for my Rifleman is taking its cocpit and putting it on my modified marauder II...

They aren't increadibly awesome mechs, certainly not competitive.

Try to use one in a large point battle with a couple of bigger mechs thrown in. Then just plod it up the middle till it is in range. Especially the Liao version. Most people don't really fear a big slow mech with low defense. But they will notice the damage after a bit. But don't leave the thing unsupported. And if one of the support mechs is the Liao Shockwave well all the better.

last night in the qualifers, one of the players got a SH rifelman in one of his boosters, and he was very excited. he lost both of his first 2 games with it (he used a different force for the last game, and won it), the heat dial was not good enough to be played without proper support (but he did draw 3 SW mortar teams and a transport, dang those things shot almost as far as the crappy arty that I got, better drift, easier to hit roll, cheaper, and I could not even move my arty, (I didn't draw a transport) with better accuracy, 2 damage 2" pogs kept me hopping, they were the best units that I faced last night), he was forced to move it too much. it can be used easier in a constructed force, but I would never use it even then.

heck, I even beat him (the only game that I won last night). :) my SC Sun Cobra kept out of his range and cooked him like it was BBQ time. even with it in the well placed water that was on the field.

well, the SC marauder, and that dang Laio assult mech (I forgot the name) that can jump 12" got squished too. just not by me (luckily I did not have to play them, I lost bad enough in my other 2 games). ;) again no proper support. the only formation that anyone had was the 3 SW mortar teams.

anyway, after seeing how bad its heat dial is, low defence, and lack of mobility, I would look at my other booster pull units, and try to construct something that does not include it, if possible. :ermm:

Look at the SW Riflemen "Look you hit me for 4 clicks.........Now i haver HARDENED ARMOR and an 11 attack :) THIS IS MY BOOM STICK!"

<_< The SH one is also evil the ELH one is ok but not my fav riflemen.

I have gotten surprized by the Merc Rifleman a couple of times when it turns to Anti per. attack. I moved some inf up for a capture and got wasted. Have not seen the LI or SH in action. Does the Decoy make much diff on LI one?

Rocktroll

Decoy, when paired with a low defense of 20, is not terribly effective. It can save your butt and it is better than nothing, but you should not count on it to any significant degree.

The big strengths of the LI Rifleman are its high Attack ratings with Improved Targeting and its high damage output. It is a Liao elite, but by itself it is not quite enough to give you access to Awe.

Despite these strengths, I feel this unit is overshadowed by its weaknesses. 20 Defense on such an expensive unit is troublesome. In addition, low weapon ranges coupled with sluggish manuvering speed is a combination that often keeps this Mech from contributing significantly in battle.

The Decoy helps on the Liao version, but not much. One thing I liked about the Liao version is that it never gets salvaged.

I have an uncanny knack for picking boosters with Rifleman in them. I'd say out of 16 boosters I've pulled 10. 5 Merc, 2 Liao, 2 Steel Wolves, and 1 Stormhammer.

I don't understand why mechs like these only have a 10"-12" range!?! If it had atleast a 14" range I think they' would be very sweet. The Stormhammer one is my favorite, mainly due to its faction, but if you can get some pieces in with JJ and Grapple to tie up a mech and move the Rifleman up its pretty lethal. But costing 222pts doesn't leave much room to really support the thing well in 450pt games.

The Liao piece served me well in a booster draft but its 10" range cost me the tournament.