Boris Vasilev the Malice pilot is looking better to slap into a FI Assault mech.

Hero Training Institute Motto:
"We can train anyone to shoot well, if they stand very still."

Guys, it's +2 attack on an Assualt 'Mech for 20 points (and it doesn't need to pay recruit costs, either). Who cares about the defense? Defense doesn't win games, killing your opponent on the cheap does.

20 DV Assault Mech=Big Freaking Target...

Heh, sure defense doesn't win games, it loses them :).

That's a good point, but the fluff says the pilot is skilled in survivability. It makes the -1 just laughable.

I guess since a motionless mech (shutdown) is 4 points easier to hit then the
"average" mechwarrior's skills at manuevering add 4pts to the defense. This
academy just doesn't hone those manuevering skills as well as the others, as
already mentioned "we'll teach you to shoot straight as long as you don't move".

Good Defense doesn't win games, but bad defense will surely lose them.

S

If it was just 20 for the 0/2/0, it'd be neat. But the -1 is just...eh. Eh, I say. I think I would ponder just about any other pilot for the role this Hero would fill.

Being a Hero is hazardous to one's health.

This, of course, assumes the -1 to defense is an error, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was spot-on.

Kevin did say that this release was all about offense and not to expect much in the way of defensive modifiers.

I now know what happened to all those mechwarriors who were not good enough to pilot Koshis from the Falcons Prey release -- they all went to the Hero Academy to hone their skills.

Who says that we do not have a good sense of humor.

Judging by Kroger 2/2/0 at 34pts and Banson 2/2/-1 at 23 pts and the
fact that they don't value speed very highly on the pilots, the -1 on the
HERO pilot is NOT a typo as a plain 0/2/0 assault pilot "should" cost around
30 pts.

S

So if you DON'T win Merits in Survivability at the HERO Academy are you a -2 Pilot?

S
(dang no edit)

Costs 20pts. So the Custom pilot costing chart is correct so far....
Don't know if the -11pts is worth the -1 DV...

You are ALL missing the point of this card-

THERE WILL BE NON-UNIQUE ASSAULT MECHS IN THIS SET!!!

Which means either there are going to be non-assaults with higher defenses to reflect the need for pilots like this (22-23 printed) and the gunslingers are gonna be even sicker in the mechs, OR we're going to have a lot of 21-defense assault mechs running around.

I'd like to see more of the A-class pilots, though, and I hope this guy isn't the only non-factioned assault pilot. I want to see at least a 0/1/1 for the assault class for all factions, but that may not be in the cards.

I figure non-unique Assaults won't have starting DVs higher than 21. Of course, I could be wrong...