"This pilot, when recruited to any Battlemech, can remove an opponent's pocket lint from up to 30" away"

....or not.

:)

Here you go:

This pilot can use its special ability when assigned to any 'Mech. AGGRESSIVE STANCE Friendly infantry and vehicles within 6 inches of this unit ignore friendly squadron CECs. This unit and friendly infantry and vehicles within 6 inches of this unit gain the following modifiers: -1 defense, and +2 attack when making an attack that does not use a close combat or ranged combat formation

Is it an optional ability (dear God I would hope so)?

And for that matter what are the pilot modifiers and costs? :)

The A28 pilot's ability (Agressive Stance) isn't listed as optional. For 30 points (and a recruit of +9) you get base stats of 2/1/1.

Interesting. So that gives us a Loki with a 10/11/21 at 259.

So let's break down the usual suspects. A Kelswa becomes a 12/23 nightmare. Huey: obvious. Sylphs (heck, all CJF infantry worth the name) get 10 AV! Hawk Moth and Yasha, 12 AV. Saxons, 9 AV.

Let's be honest: no one, ever, wants to stare down a 12 AV, 23 DV tank drop. Even I don't and I'm the one proposing it. 13 AV Pulse? No. MULTIPLE 10 AV INFANTRY ON YOUR MECH. Nuh uh.

I mean, let's consider a Salamander. No one, ever, would let their mech stay in base with that. Every single CJF infantry becomes a capture nightmare.

And then there are the, IMO, vastly underrated VTOLs. 3 damage, 12 AV and for 50 or so points? Or the Tokugawa? 14 effective AV?

Yeah, I think I'd take one of him.

Pilot stats aren't fantastic (2/2/1 would be nicer) and the ability is certainly a double edged sword. Could be good for infantry and tank drops. CJF R10/Kelswa + A28 ability + Zellbrigen = 20" drop range for 6 damage ArP with 12AV. Tasty.:devious:

Cheers,:)

Goreb

And does he do his own stunts?

Who is this caped Crusader? And what are his true motives?

<dramatic music>

Tune in next week, and we'll hear Highdancer say....

Actually, functionally, unless you formation him, he's a 2/3/0. He gets his own bonuses (and penalties).

Edit: and, interestingly, you can't intentionally turn his ability off, but you can disable it by making a formation attack. Odd.

Talking about the new units, has anyone got hold of the goshawk and used it for falcon?

I haven't gotten one yet. It is high on my list of pressing purchases. I am much more interested in the Gamma regiment pack than the Wolf Spiders, but I'll get them both anyway. Those Hauberks and Black Wolf BAs are unbelievable, and the kage and raiden are insane. Marksman tank, also a monster.

I've played two games against forces incorporating elements of both the Wolf Spiders and Gamma regiment, and the only word for them is formidable. In the first battle I used MDFA to smash the Marksman and the Wolf Spider Vulture, carrying away victory, but in the second game, using the same army against a new variation of Gamma regiment and Wolf Spiders, I got beaten down.

The army I used is one I previously posted incorporating Lucky, Six Gun and a JF Phoenix hawk as well as two sylphs and two formations of :^^: CBA in a 750 pt game.

The first force my opponent used was a CW recruit army with CW carnivores making a formation with the Marksman. The Wolf Spiders Vulture rounded out the force with the GR Hauberk and Black Wolf BAs as well as two saxons.

The second force was specifically designed to destroy my force using a Kurita/NC/SC force with the unique HK night stalker that cancels Evade ( the gear universally ported by the mechs in my force) and the NC Vixen as well as a formation of 3(!) of the Hauberks and 3 of the Black Wolf BAs (a 100$ army) and some hoverbikes. I wasn't expecting to win, I was just letting him try out his anti-DFA force. However, if not for a few EXTREMELY unlikely and unlucky rolls (I was missing 6's and 5's reliably for about 3 turns) My forces would STILL have won due to the lousy heat of the HK/NC mechage and the extreme mobility and pushability of the Sylph BA (Oh, and Lucky's ungodly stats even stripped of evade).

The Gamma pieces did incredible damage to my forces in both games, a single raiden ripping both my CBA formations to shreds in the second one. I am definitely picking up these sets ( maybe not 3 of them though).

I'd watch out for the colours on the Raiden's dial. As its an energy piece, the blue means Grapple SE and not Anti Personnel. The Raiden should only be doing 1 click of damage to 1 of your inf pieces.

The infantry in the WD Pack are all very good pieces. Even the Guila Suit and SRM Battery, which are normally weak units, actually have decent stats. The problem for CJF is the synergy of the WD pieces with our existing infantry.

By this, I mean comparing the speed and range of the WD units with our own CJF offerings. The Hauberk is probably best kept to a Saxon drop as we have nothing that can sit alongside its 14 inch range. I'm not against dropping 2 of these from a 2 Cap transport and using them to formation fire with a tank, but that means buying a second WD pack...

The Kage's speed of 12 matches the Va CBA and the Anti Pers SE can offer a nice compliment to the CBA's basic ballistic damage (both Range 8).

The Raiden's speed of 9 is the same as the CJF variant and the WD's Grapple SE makes for a nasty shock if there are some CJF buddies in the formation. The fact that the WD's range is longer than our own probably means that getting this thing into BC is the better bet. The WD unit can also give the Do CBA an energy option if you run a formation of these together.

The Black Wolf BA's range of 12 can sit alongside our Sniper Teams and LRM batteries to make a powerful (but expensive) inf drop formation.

As for the Goshawk, if you've got a CJF one, then I can't see the WD variant beating it. I'm assuming that you're using the Goshawk as a MDFA piece. The fact that its only 130 points and comes with faction abilities, high speed and a good vent makes it pretty untouchable. Granted that the WD beats it on AV and DV but the Goshawk is a niche piece for me with just the 1 job to do.

This echoes some of my concerns when the Dragoons were first announced. I am personally a huge fan of Jaime Wolf's Dragoons, but I feared that they would also be a sign of the power creep to come. With some of the Solaris pieces showing signs of being rather uber, the Dragoons were next in line. That being said, it would appear that WK have moved away from selling boosters to selling larger sets at an inflated price (so formations like the Hauberk mentioned above become a car payment in value).

There is no way a casual player on my salary can even consider buying a set, let alone three.

So, there you have it. Huge fan. Broke. Use of these pieces in large forces is for the idle wealthy or fanatically crazy.

Oh well.

There is an option. Get 3 players to buy the set and each of you pick 2 of one kind of infantry to get formations of the same kind.

That would work Trothkin if the local players who would be interested could either keep a deal or agree to such a bargain. No such luck for me.

The Power Creep has proven itself to be an unfortunate and unavoidable downside to Wizkids' games. Lately, the solaris packs, champion packs, Undead Lance and Wolf Dragoons have not exhibited Power Creep but Power Blastoff, making them indispensible for tournament play, and leaving players who can't afford three sets (like me) in the dust. If this continues, I may have to quit the tournament scene and just play friendly games.