Well, this humorous school is actually culled from an "existing" school, as listed in the House Marik sourcebook (#1622) on page 113.
Personally, I like the HTI. We very well may have more in the future.

Heh, thanks Kelly.

More of these guys??!! Head for the hills!!! Course, I like the flavour text :p.

Interesting... HTI teaches their student to have Hero-complexions. They think they're superheroes that they focus more on the offense and foresake defense. They're the kind of pilots who thinks that a barrage of LBX-AC shots would never tear their urbanmechs apart.

Aside from the traditional spandex, I bet they have to wear sombreros to hide their bloated heads. :p

Hey folks, for those that are complaining about this pilot card, and how it is useless compared to various gunslingers, I'd just like to point out what I would have thought was obvious: Not everyone has all the Gunslingers. Heck, some people don't have _any_ of the Assault-class Gunslingers. This card provides an easy to get Assault Class pilot for people who don't have one already. No, it isn't the best pilot out there, by a long shot. But it is cheap.

Also, as bigbro911 pointed out, it could be very interesting in Sealed.

Here's how I see it.
-The +2 ATK for 20 pts is great, but -1 DEF is a death sentence for Assault Mechs

-I think this will ONLY see play in sealed (and only w/ a 22 def Assault Mech)

-I have all but one of the Gunslingers, that being Enrico Fernali, BTW

Congratulations, Gyrfalcon *note sarcasm*.

Aside from your last comment, though, the other 2 do hold.

Ahhh, then that explains the merit in Survivability. People trained in Marik space will learn to keep looking behind themselves in case a civil war starts around them and someone else needs to shoot them in the back. This naturally distracts them from keeping an eye in front of them when fighting elsewhere. :)

For hardcore tournament play? Sure. For fun play? Not necessarily. For players who want to just be able to play that Caber they pulled whey they didn't pull any of the Gunslinger Assault Pilots, it isn't _that_ bad for a mere 20 points. It would make it the same as Trebor Ydek in his Hellfire when it comes to attack and defense.

Another reminder - not everyone plays exclusively in cut-throat tournaments.

Well, sealed and maybe some friendly games, especially by players who want to play their assault 'Mech, but don't have a better pilot for it. I don't think I ever claimed this was a tournament-winning pilot. Of course, the same could be said for more than 90% of all the units/cards in the game...

This proves what? My original statement was: "Not everyone has all the Gunslingers. Heck, some people don't have _any_ of the Assault-class Gunslingers." Just because _you_ have all but one of the Gunslingers doesn't negate anything in my original statement. Or was this point simply to brag?

With all the kidding aside, this pilot is going to see play. The +2 to the attack for only 20 points is going to appeal to some players. We play a no LE/Unique/Gunslinger match quite often. There are not too many generic Assault pilots out there.

I have seen another assault mech pilot - P-022 Sanglamore Academy. It's only 13 points for +1 Mv, +1 Attack, +0 Defense. I think this pilot card will see more play. It's cheap and all the modifiers are positive.

Wow, 13 points for an assault pilot??? Ok, dump this Zero Institue guy.

Are you sure it's +1/+1/0? That would make it 16pts. Leave it to WK to mess up all the hard work the modders have done to break thier formuli.
BTW if I can fit you Assults in an army and have 40pts, I'm surly going to put +2 Attack pilots in them. Who cares what your defense is? After a big AO from an assult classs weapon (Pulse, Alpha Strike,etc), and your not in any postition to fit back. In a game make and broke by bad dice rolls and near hits/misses a +2 is a whole lot of differance.

Oh, can I be the first to coin the phase ChargeApe? With a +2 Attack i don't forsee any charge attack missing from these pilots. Who cares about defense when one charge sets another Mech into Salvage?

Boy is my spelling off.
It should read"..if I can fit two assault Mechs in an.." and "..position to hit back.". "In a game made and broken by bad dice.."
Egh. Makes my head hurt reading the first post. Sorry, but I think you get the point. I play to win and have fun. I'll use it. And this coming from a guy who won his Nat Q by charging Alpha w/ the pilot in it. The things that desperation can lead to can lead to be great monents in your local venues history. Just because you see a -1 doesn't mean it's all bad.

BTW I think the reason poeple don't use Jacob Banson is not the -1, but because his SA just doesn't justify the point cost in that monster of a Mech. Just my 2 C-bills, and change.

I saw the card on eBay (it's still bidding), and the Assault class card works for both mechs/quads.

How do you figure? Dean Sohnle is 28 pts, 9 recruitment to any faction except bansons, which is 6 pts, and is +1 (for either mech or quad mechs) / +1 / +1.

Yes battles are won by rolling and hitting the other guy...unless of course your defence gets lowered so far on your assault mech that the other guy's light mechs beat your assault mech into pieces with below average die rolls in a couple turns.