it's not that difficult, heck, 4 light mech armies usually fare well in a 600 point game as most opt for two heavies and a little bit of filler, or one assault and a light ... the other alternative is tank / infantry heavy, which you can easily out-manouver with fast light mech's ... and once you've taken out their biggest mech (if they've opted for a heavy or assault + gear which is common) you have 3 light mechs against the 300 odd points that's left ... EASY!!

personally, i'd opt for a shadow raven and two anubis' because the anubis' have balistics and laser damage, and can crank up to the 24 decoy defence ... probably along the lines of an anubis with decoy, another with advanced pulse module and a shadow raven with kurt and IT for a 13IT homin beacon shot against any nasty 24 defence kelswa's :)

ok, i really like the theory behind this build, personally i'd put phelen with

vengance - 117
phelen ward - 25
evade - 33

HL anubis - 110
sang wei - 13
risk overcharger - 5

HL anubis - 110
sang wei - 13
risk APM - 10

shadow raven - 110
kurt - 30
it - 23

ok, so the core is still there, vengance with evade to run all over the place, anubis with the overcharger to base your opponents, shadow raven is to crack tanks, 14" range with tsemp & 11IT targeting, failing that, 13IT with homing beacon ... also useful once the zelbreggen has gone off to tsemp their mech's so you can follow up with an APM shot (11IT to shutdown = equivelent 14 targeting to APM)

anyways, just my take on it, deal a lill more damage with the backup, and more versatility with the shadow raven

yeah, seka would catch it ... i managed to catch it with vindication by pushing a lot more than i would have liked, but it's still a daymn annoying army :) and it'll take quite a few turns to catch it ... especially if you're dancing around a H-blocking terrain

I know at Canadian Nationals I went against a Phelan army twice and both times caught him (using CJF Loki). I actually this army and have to attest to how good it is. He had the game almost in his pocket but made one big mistake that ended up leaving Phelan open for the Loki to down in a single turn who then moved on to eat up the rest of the army. Still having seen how he played it and other games the Phelan Zellbrigen then basing is a nasty trick that can be a real pain and the Twins truly are the best support for it in my opinion.

To answer a few people:

Parrot: You have to print out the FAQ and keep it with you so that you can look up relevant rules questions and Stat Errata. Luckily, most of the errata is pretty obvious, save maybe for the change done to the Twins. Your Battlemaster/Volunteer should be able to help you out.

arcjester: Artillery can be problematic, but this army is so mobile it has no trouble running from pogs. You mention also using Grapple on Phelan; that's actually a pretty cool idea but I don't see how you'd get into range of Phelan with the Grappler unless Zellbrigen has already gone off. And if that has happened the Twins have no problem setting up a one-two punch to eliminate your grapple unit. The jump Pack idea is interesting but I value being able to move 26 inches for free more. Also, the change you suggested would leave me 6 points under, something I cannot afford with this kind of army. Although then I could turn that Grapple into Decoy...hmmm...

weezlebub: Although the Liao Anubis is a good unit, I really don't think that they can compare to the Twins. Their maneuverability is unsurpassed and I don't think Shadow's ability, although cool, is really one I'd call top-tier.

grimlock: Ah yes, Seka's Pride. This army was put into place partially to help deal against that Mech. Seka is mobile but suffers from a short(er) range. That twelve range is not that hard to circumvent, especially when there's bound to be some blocking around. Against pieces like this the Soli becomes very important to help block LOS and keep Seka from assaulting. Still, this would be a tough match and it would depend on when Zellbrigen goes off. This doesn't mean anything, but usually my opponents are pretty unlucky with Zellbrigen :p

pumakilla: Well, not much I can do but agree! You definitely got me in that game and the Loki is a fearsome piece.

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

Marc

meanwhile, you could also ditch the solitaire, keep the twins, and for the points from the solitaire have some fast light infantry with grapple, if their big mech attempts to charge phelen you can grapple it with infantry, move tanks into range, he can break, but you can't break & end up in base contact, or break & assault ... so if you can keep the infantry on the opposing mech ... tie down ... make it virtually impossible to catch phelen

Ye know, I've always wanted to play a Zellbrigen army when I'm using my CNC Vixens. That'd be a fun fight. Let's see Phelan outrun a 23" assault range for the whole game :p

I've run Zell before, though I supported it with a WH Kelswa drop and Fell, and managed to catch the enemy's Peacemaker with it. That guy has never been so pissed off in his whole life...every time he sees a Solitaire now, any Solitaire, he growls. Phelan is so much fun...

for the life of me I couldn't think of usin Phelan/Zelbringen, because he's wolf and I'm too much faction pure, but deciding to use it with the cats (SC vixens) sounds too fun too pass up. I'll try that with my RD stuff also.

it's a great mech, main weakness is against tank heavy or army's using light mech's, it pretty much neutralises the usefulness if you've got your mech's sitting under 170 points

I agree that Phelan's ability works best against fatties (Which is what the meta was looking like); that's why I added the Twins. They can easily most cripple most light Mechs with the gear they've equipped.

I definitely agree with Laserlight; a friend of mine played an army similar to this one and went up against Solitude. Zellbrigen went off on the first turn and by the end of the game the guy was (kind of) in tears. Very annoying and underrated ability. I believe that Evade is definitely the best gear for "Vengeance".

what i meant to say sir, is that artillery units that can reach you across the board can easily force the twins to move without doing an attack and there after get an order token which will render their SA useless for a turn. an experienced player would know that that would be his cue to run up and close in on the twins.

with regards to the grapple:

its your solitaire that i meant to equip with the grapple. he'll tie-up the other opposing" Zelled unit. vengeance gets the jump pack for easy breaks should he be based and also for quick jumps across either sides of blocking terrains.

i as thinking that it would be easier to tie-down an opposing unit rather than run away from it.

good plan, why not give phelan evade though? forget the jump packs, gets the same break away rolls, gains +2 d against ranged and can run for free

dosen't really need to have the jump pack
i'd rather have evade

i cant find my phelan pilot card :(

Yeah, Vengeance needs his Evade. His defense is arse as it is, and the extra mobility provided by Evade is key. Especially if ye end up having to hunt something like that CJF Loki that can almost keep up with Phelan.

As for the Twins, I find them an entertaining support choice for this sort of army. Their ability suits them to 'Mech-hunting, when most Zellbrigen armies I've seen tend to try and chew up supports after knocking off the big monkey with Zell. Though I suppose Double Rate can chew up little dudes easily enough. Hmm...if I was running a dedicated Zellbrigen army, I'dprobably throw some artillery in it, help pressure the snared fattie, but the Twins may work as well...well, they would if I still had them :P

I used Phalen Ward without evade in 750pt army, work fine. I had the wolf Thor and the Steiner Mad Cat with Risc hyp/laser a davion Feild Art. and a repair squad. I faced a Kurita Shiro army and ROTS Malice army and I It clean up. I liked to use either heavy to base the Zeld Mech due to their superior ranges. Just make sure you have one water placed 12-14inch from Ward and don't move him until someone heads his way. Hes still a really decent mech even if his ability doen't go off.