Nice thread, D503 :).

SGTShutdown, here's my take on the DF Mongoose, posted somewhere else before. Note, this is purely a fun army, although I did win the weekend I used it :p.

2 DF Mongoose + 2 Albion pilots + 2 Evade
1 DF Raider
1 DF FP

Charge when you can :) and watch out for support. This army packs a fast punch, but is very fragile. So deal your damage, get your VC3, then run, and hide.

Here's one army I thought of:

SW Blade w/Star Captain and IT
SW Blade w/Star Captain and Double Rate
SW Crimson Hawk

443 total

I thought this would be a good anti-fatty and maybe anti-JF army- particularly when in a 450-point environment, assaults don't have as much in support. Here's my reasoning: With Mountain Range or Perfect Day with blocking, I can get my C-Hawk within basing range of the target (IE: a fatty). Once I base it, I can use my C-Hawk as a shield of sorts, protecting the advancing Blades from the hard-hitter. Once I set them up, the C-Hawk will break away, then I would attack using the IT Blade first to soften up the fatty then use the DR Blade to cripple it. Theoritically, I can pull this off with CJF mechs, denying them the use of their MDFA due to the C-Hawk's grapple. :devious: I also figured that infantry won't be a problem with this army thanks to their easy breakaway values and the Blade's Double Rate.

One suggestion: Drop the 16 point infantry and replace the Albion pilot with Lill Turner (SW Recruited).

I used to run dual SW Blades like that. I prefer Inferno Ammo to Double Rate though. Double Rate can't be used on an assault order and can't be used with dual target, but Inferno Ammo can. Often Inferno Ammo's extra click of heat to a mech is all you need and it still does an extra damage on infantry and vehicles.

As far as the Crimson Hawk, have you considered adding grapple to other mechs instead? The BR Mongoose and DF Mongoose would be good options. Or, if you want to stay Faction Pure, try this one on for size:

152 SW Blade w/Star Captain and IT
155 SW Blade w/Star Captain and Inferno Ammo
144 SW Blade w/ Star Captain and Grapple
===
451 DOH!!!

Well, you can go back to your Double Rate on that second Blade and you'll be at 448.

One last thought: If you keep the army as is, for unrestricteds, throw in the "Angry" Mob. For 7 points they can take a 7 clicks of damage. Then if you just want to have fun, play Mine Fields and Active Volcanoes as your PC's. Use the first couple to boost your Blades and the rest of the damage can be absorbed by the Mob.

Here's something for those larger Mech only contest. It's for a contest at 1350.

Yu Huang - Jacyn
Shen Yi - Vincent
Shen Yi - Catalina
Ghost - Felix
Loki - Esperanza w/Dagmar and Decoy
HL/ROTS SA

1350 points.

4 Awe rolls. If it ever hits all four you can freeze an army in its tracks :) .

Well, I took the plunge and tried an almost-all-mech build for an Unrestricted 600 pointer on Saturday. This was a quick build, done the morning of the event, and I had about an hour and a half to think about it while I drove there. (Prays for close venue someday...)

DF Pride 20
Danni Haag 128 (Nordic-featured shooter)
DF Forestry MOD 100 "Chainsaw Dude"HTH wpn and camo DV=23
DF Raider 134 "The end run" evade and AP
DF Hatchetman 129 "the Ratchet" repair, fullstrike for inf.
---mechanical repair 17
---NAIS 19
DF Saxon 27 fast and survivable
-->DF Kanazuchi 20 pulse DZ havoc and harrassment
peasant 6 PIT -- filler for volcanoes and such.

TOTAL 600

Basically, I threw together some favorite pieces, but with a purpose. I figured I could hit almost anything with the two 11AVs, plus Danni's 12IT, plus the DF pride card giving another +1. Max damage was pretty low, and I fully intended to use the Chainsaw if it could be done...

I wasn't happy with my choices of PCs -- I took Tornado, to give me something to hide in with my Low DVs, and Storm, to slow down chargers and fast basers.

I knew Arty would rip me up, and I wasn't wishing for any jumping JF-ers. I had a quick thought as to how many tank drops would fit into 600 on the way there...

Well, Rnd 1 I found out. No PC cards were played. I faced Sarphus (congrats! you have a nice fiancee!) with a sick, wicked, nasty, evil :devious: triple tank drop, triple inf drop, FOUR command roll army. Did I mention it was sick? I did something dumb with the Raider early on, and it went downhill from there. We clustered in hindering, and tried to take down something, anything. My Kanazuchi drop did it's thing pretty well, but of course died. I scrapped one Schmitt, and damaged a few other things a little, but... well. Did I mention it was sick? My Hatchetman limped home alone with very little to show for his efforts.

Rnd 2 was a lot easier. A way-less-experienced player, who is improving however. I faced Alpha / Anastasia, a JF Zeus, and an inf arty. PC cards gave us a lot of water on the board. Oh darn! I figured I could push the two mechs into shutting down or blowing up, cos he didn't have much else to move around. The Raider zipped up close out of the Zeus's arc / AO range, and the other three cooled in the lake in the middle 1/3 of the board, in a formation of Danni, Ratchetman, & "Chainsaw Dude". They faced Alpha and the sick 21" AO range. Yuck. I figured it was a Wolf with a berserk dial, so I saved Danni. Sure enough, the Chainsaw hit a lucky shot, priming her, bu Danni knocked her out of it, and the peasant got there finally, tied her up, and I knew I had her. The Ratchetman repaired both Danni and the 'Saw, (I positioned the 'Saw to block LOS to Danni), and finally the Danni and Ratchet gave cover fire so the Saw could get the kill for a big 5 points on the HTH weapon roll. On the other side of the board, the Raider AO'd, the Zeus, the kanazuchi drop went off, hit & pulsed, pushed next turn, hit again twice and the Zeus was shut down and hurting. The Saxon got VC3 for two turns. I almost never charge, but it was late game, so I did, and killed the Zeus. The Raider even had enough time to go get repaired, and smack the arty piece to death.

Rnd 3 was back to tough. I faced a Roku Okami w/ Wahab, an HK VTOL, an HK toku, and a Loki? unique w/ the pilot ( wasn't too familiar with this one). Mike is a seriously good and knowledgable player who is always helpful. PCs left us with hindering. Which was good cos I was outranged by a mile. I ran the three mechs as before up the middle to a woods, and camped in the formation. The Saxon/Kaz and Raider hooked way left to avoid the VTOL, and ended up in his DZ by turn 3. He moved the roku and toku up, kept the loki behind woods 1/3 of the way up, and sent the VTOL to deal with the Raider and Saxon.

We both crit missed. My dice were really screwed up all game. I needed a 6 and missed. I needed an 8 and missed. The Chainsaw mech had an ammo explosion and then Shutdown(TM). Then the Ratchet decided to Shutdown (TM) too. But they kept the Loki busy for awhile. He didn't make many rolls either. He moved the roku up and was about to deal with Danni, and I pegged him with a crit hit from the Chainsaw. The Ratchetman and Danni came online and were gonna bug out of the woods anyway cos he could hit them with an AV =12 from the Loki once his dice cooperated, so they rushed the Roku - Danni AO'd, and hit of course, then the Ratchet hit, pushed next turn, and no Roku.

Meanwhile the Saxon dropped the Kaz in his DZ, and moved on with the Raider after it cooled. His Loki turned to greet them, and then both of our dice went funky again. We blasted away at each other for 3 rounds, then we both shutdown, the Raider scratched, and his Loki scratched. Whoever restarted was the man... Now my trio had rear arc on him if they AO'd back toward midfield. He started up, but with a rather colorful dial, so he waited. By then the slow peasant was in BC w/ his rear arc, the three mechs were done with the Roku, and my Raider restarted and hit. The Ratchet got another hit in as time was called, but I didn't kill it. Maybe one or two more rounds would've told the tale. I took second place Saturday.

I learned a few things. Four mechs can handle several threats, but not the 6-8 that Sarphus fielded. Even rusty, Steve, you're way better than I am! I didn't have the best PCs for my force. The Raider, Ratchet, and Chainsaw were real stars here, as were the Saxon and Kaz. Danni can hit alot of the time, but she draws a lot of unfond attention, which might be OK if used properly. I was a little starved for things to move and shoot, and Shutdown (TM) at least twice in every game (hey!). Luckily, other than the game with Sarphus, I didn't take damage while shutdown, so I guess it was an acceptable risk. I knew it was coming, and what I gained was greater than what I got. Repair is crucial. And a year ago I posted that in 50 minutes, I doubted there would be time to use it much. I repaired 2x vs Steve, 3x vs Donald, and 3x vs Mike, so yeah it was worth it. Which explained the Ratchet shutting down, because he was shooting too.

Unrestricteds give a lot of potential for nasty armies.

Mostly mech was the most fun I've had in months! I do this more often.

Thanks for tolerating this long mess. :grin:

Now, that's just sick, twisted, and downright evil!

(points finger at nthcircle)

You're the Sith lord!!!


:p

I'll throw this one out, used it in Storyline A this month.

Yami
>Kenshin Tadashi
>Improved targeting
Hellion
>Galedon
>AnP
Hellion
>Stephen Dirks
>Homin Beacon

597 I believe

Went 1-2, would possibly have gone 2-1 or 3-0 if I hadn't had some very bad luck. The third round, when I thought I had it down, my opponent assault orders with his Yami w/ Aiko Ryohara and gets the ultimate crit with a roll of 18 and does 6 AP to my Yami after the Crit and FP he threw in. I then promptly missed, 2 charges, an CC asault order with yami crit misses, then rerolls the one with the IT, fails ammo and shutdown, then one hellion crit misses next turn, the other missed, and all three were quickly destroyed.

It would suck, but the fellow I played either barely wins, or get's thouroughly trounced, usualy the latter, when playing against me, just seems to work that way. I was quite proud of him for winning that one. The other loss I was doing well until the end and then failed an important heat roll and my opponent passed his, one more poke from yami would have salavaged his other mech and allowed me to sit back and wait for time, never thought I'd find myself scared of a DF Gun Nest, he'd have needed an 11 improved to capture my mech, after the extra defense was added.

Still, the army ran great, i just have to remember that Homing Beacon is SU.

Drogeny. I have to say. OW.......

Well, statistically, it should only happen once or so in your lifetime, so at least that's out of your system :).

I have a decent 450 point army thats begging to be tried -

CNC Nova cat
+ Aiko Ryohara (24 defence, baby!)
+ Reactive armour

"Blitz"
+Lil turner
+Anti Personnell

Stormhammer ATV

450 points exactly.

This army is a response to a cheesey dual SW-Arrow 4 army that I faced, and is designed to be completely immune to non ArP artillery, as both mechs have plenty of reactive armour. "Blitz" hides behind the Nova cat and stays put until basers need killing, and the Nova Cat tears huge holes in anything that comes close, while hiding behind its absurd 24 defence and reactive armour. the ATV is there to get VC3 or die in a minefield. I rarely see ArP arty now so I believe this will be a pretty evil army to face, especially with those darned TTL swarms I see so often.

PCs I would use are Subzero Temperatures, Perfect day, Caustic atmosphere and tornado.

D503

I think you messed up on something. Blitz is a Heavy mech and Lill is a Light pilot. Also, Blitz doesn't have reactive armor. Perhaps you meant Bolt?

Here's a 600 pt mech-only army I ran recently...

Milagro - Celina Santos (recruited to JF)
JF Goshawk - Dave Rees (recruited to JF), medium Pulse
DF Mongoose - J.P. Millhew (recruited to DF), light Evade
True Grit

Total comes to 600 pts on the nose. True Grit was there because people at my venue love to use Faction Prides, and left unchecked those can sting sometimes.

I brought nothing but Blocking terrain. The strategy I used was to try to sneak into MDFA range behind Blocking, and when that was not possible, use the Mongoose as a shield. Then smack a target down with double MDFA from the Goshawk and Milagro. Any and all Shiros were eaten for lunch by the Mongoose (immunity to Close Combat thanks to Agility + Heavy Armor).

Didn't lose any games with this army. Fun stuff.

HK Crimson Hawk: 130
> Stephen Dirks: 21
> Pulse: 23

HK :^: Rokurokubi: 115
> Albion Grad: 9

HK :^: Rokurokubi: 115
> Wahab Fusili: 15

HK "Okami" Rokurokubi: 127
> Lil Turner: 25

HK Faction Pride (+1 damage): 20

Basically give +1 damage to the CHK for its Pulse (so initially a 4 damage Pulse). When you get the Rokus in close and after Okami takes damage, add 1 to its damage for a 3 damage rapid strike.

Don't think that mongoose is immune to close combat damage just because of agility and armor----damage is reduced by armor first then agility kicks in and reduces damage to one