Star Colonel Raddick does make a valid point. You have been all too eager in the past to watch us fight and even rooting for both sides at the same time. I agree with Raddick if you enjoy the show so much then maybe you should be part of it. Might I suggest we take this else where, this is a strategy thread after all. No sense covering it in snake guts.

The Vixen is faster (with the Evade as a run order) and has better defensive capabilities.

The PHI is more maneuverable (hello JJs) and has better offense.

You pick your poison. I prefer the PHI because I like putting large holes in things and oftentimes my PHI is the main mech in my army (why yes, I do believe in very combined arms, why do you ask?). The Vixen's a better wingman, being able to solo, but without the extraordinary firepower of the PHI. However, they both can 'cross train' very well; the Vixen can pack offensive gear and the PHI can pack defensive gear.

'Conventional' armies would do better with the Vixen; it's got better balance than the PHI. 'Hit first, hit second, find out who's got the most corpses on the field' armies tend to do better with the PHI, assuming they can keep it alive. But if the PHI can take out more than it costs, you still tend to win. :)

Clearly it's been too long since I spouted off about CJF units. So, for all the new people, CJF unit assessments, courtesy of me.

Infantry

Someone may tell you Ghost Bear's got the great infantry. Don't listen to them. Pound for pound, CJF has the best infantry in the game (my opinion, but reasonably so). If you're not packing several battle armors in your force, you're hurting yourself. CJF infantry are baby battlemechs and they will cheerfully lay waste to anything in the game.

It's easier to list the infantry you want to skip than the infantry you want. Avoid the following infantry: Flamer Teams, Gun Emplacements, LRM Batteries, Centaurs, Gray Death Scout Armors and Laser Teams.

Standout units: Sylph. Duh. EBA/GBA/Undine. Classic front line battle armors that will stand in the line of battle and make the most of it. CBA, either AnP or pure speed. Sniper Teams: 12 inches of Armor Piercing love. TTLs: cheap pogs and lots of 'em. Fenrir/Thunderbird: like the Sylph only ground-based.

Vehicles

There's a fair bit more dross here, but there's still everything you want. Every CJF commander should have a couple of Saxons and R10s; they're the key to using those nasty battle armors and tanks. The Cardinal isn't bad, but suffers from lacking both a formation to move with and a formation to carry; you're generally better off with a R10 or a pair of Saxons. The MHI has one role and one role only: carrying TTLs into range.

CJF has fast, nippy tanks. The classic Kite was a nightmare in motion and the baby Kite Shamash carried on that tradition. The Saxon shouldn't be underestimated either. Sure, it's a APC, but it can ram and shoot and we're all Falcons here right? Give your APC crews a chance at glory. The Cizin is a pack hunter nightmare and can attract disproportionate attention (a classic Cizin deployment is three of them in formation - the reader is left to figure out a good way to deal with that as an exercise). Both the Yasha and Hawk Moth are above average AoD era VTOLs; the Hawk Moth has stats similar to the often-castigated DF Donar. The Tokugawa is just a stellar piece of work.

CJF also has heavy, ugly bangers. Clearly, this starts and ends with the Kelswa. But the Huey and Carnivore and Sehkmet all have their own strengths. CJF has a lot of heavy tanks and several of them (Glory, Mars, Hanse) are just degraded versions of the classics. Beware: quantity isn't quality.

CJF also has a wide (!) selection of artillery. Who knew. However, in today's game, arty has... issues. The LT can drop lots of Armor Piercing pogs and will get off, oh, say, one round before it gets slagged. The SM2 is just too short. If you're running CJF arty you want the Hadur (quick and nimble) or the Sniper (10AV, 22 DV and a pog). Those are pretty much your good options.

Mechs

Then there are the mechs.

Light mechs. Pretty simple. Vixens and PHIs. Lots of 'em. You could use others, but why? Unless you have a reason (you got them out of a booster, they were free with a Happy Meal) there aren't any other CJF light mechs that can touch this Gruesome Twosome.

Medium mechs. Unfortunately, this is a fairly empty category. Goshawks and Gyrfalcons are your best bet.

Heavy mechs. Remember all those medium mechs CJF doesn't have? This is the opposite category. CJF is the only faction that has all five Elementals (Sylph, Gnome, Salamander, Undine, Elemental) and the only faction that has all four classic Clan heavies.

Let's start with the clunker: the Thor. Mediocre damage, awful heat dial. But it's the only CJF heavy with JJs and has the best range of any CJF mech short of a Gyrfalcon. If you build an army explicitly around covering up the Thor's flaws, you might be able to pull it off. Otherwise, skip.

The Mad Cat is a CJF mech to the core. Well, okay, it could have JJs. But it has a phenomenal offensive punch and an awful DV that's covered by a collection of SEs. It's fast, it's agile, it's hostile and it lasts forever.

The Vulture is the Mad Cat with a DV. Instead of the electronic marvel Mad Cat, the Vulture just has armor. And Evade. Darn. Where's that briar patch?

And then there's the Loki. Yeah. Unless you have a really good reason, this is the first CJF battlemech you should consider taking. The stats are awe inspiring, the SEs are spectacular and the sheer amount of carnage it can unleash is worthy of Kerensky. It can go hyper offensive, reasonably defensive, but it's a Falcon, so it'll always be at least a little offensive (as if 5 damage Pulse qualifies as a 'little'). There are no situations in which I could see a Loki being a liability. Don't listen to anyone: this is the real CJF totem mech.

Assaults

Well, it's either a Shrike or a Zeus. BR is BR; everyone knows and loves (hah!) her. But her stats are brittle and she's an incoming fire magnet. The Army Pack Shrikes are tolerable. The Zeus is shockingly robust; the heat dial and vent give it roughly, oh, twenty turns before it has to make a heat check. Unfortunately, the range blows. Also, the whole assault class has to deal with the stunning array of heavies (and the Loki in particular).

Basically collect a bunch of battle armor, R10s and Saxons, a couple of heavy tanks, PHIs and Vixens and a collection of Lokis, MCs and Vultures and you have the beginnings of a CJF army. Some assembly required.

Well met, Highdancer.

Add a puppet show, and you could have your own program for young Falcons just out of the nest.

Very well said Highdancer, couldn't have said it better myself. May I also heavily stress the part where he says load up on our BA and Saxons.

@recon_raven

Sorry I've been busy this past week with illness and work so I haven't gotten a chance to go through my stuff for you. I'll make sure to do it tonight and send you a PM though.

First, Trothkin, Highdancer is a she.

Secondly, no problem on the wait. Things have been hectic here too, and we have been exposed yet again to a stomache bug this week. Since the virus goes active within 72 hrs, we are on high alert until Sunday morning.

Just had another opportunity to spread the fame of the Falcon.
900 point Battle vs A ROTS player
I used the Madcat IV with the Frihet Pilot and PPC Cap, A Vulture IV with Frihet and Anti-P, a Thor with the Star Captain and Anti-P, and 4 12 inch speed CBA.
My plan was simple: Get the 1st hit in with the Thor, while my 2 IV's run in to cause Mayhem as the Thor cools down. The CBA are there to pin down other units while I pick on the ROTs player's main assets one at a time.

Nasty ROTs player

Didn't bring any infantry! just 4 mechs: A 16 inch Malice, A Common Loki, A Nyx with the AAMS, and Preacher Scourge.

The battle didn't go very well for me in the beginning, The Thor got the 1st shot in on the Scourge, but between its armor and the Nyx rolling a 6 for its AAMS, I only did 1 click, but did 4 in return, this and then the Loki and Nyx proceeded to smash the Thor to within 2 clicks of death.
Fortunately my CBA's got within range due to lots of blocking and started causing all kinds of problems for the ROTS player: He really hates my Battle armor!

Then, time was about out and I to my shame did a very unclan like act: I charged his Nyx with both the Madcat and the vulture, smashing it and winning the game.

Lessons relearned:
1) Don't go overkill on Anti-P! You may just end up with an opponent that doesn't like to play infantry.

2) Make sure to provide better cover for the Thor so it can cool down after its
1st shot.

3) IF you choose to use the Thor, really consider its mission: If its slapping enemy mechs in the face for a surpise 1st strike, pick Armor-Piercing, especially if you even suspect your opponent of carrying armor. 4 damage only goes so far. Otherwise use it as a mobile support units, AKA a bug zapper.

4) More fast basers! I only had 4 of the little beasts. Next time I'll use more, possibly with transports to get them in faster, then run the mechs in behind to kill key targets.

Actually, truth be told, I am a he. Not that it matters, but there you go. On the internet, no one knows if you're a dog.

AnP is useful, but not essential. Unfortunately we're out of the Kendrick days. Since almost everyone runs some ATVs or something like that, a bit of AnP to soften them up is good. Single hit kills are unlikely. The AnP CBA shows up in a lot (almost all) of my armies for exactly that reason: it's enough AnP to make ATVs break up and ruin formations, but not so much my game is shot if there's no infantry or formations at all.

Streaks seem like the only gear that really works on the Thor, as if anything works on the Thor. The thing's just too touchy. Streaks, Jump Jets, Blocking and a desperate need to take a turn or two off; that's the Thor right there.

Saxons. Seriously. They're about the same price as the infantry they carry, they're fast as all get out and they can Ram. Yes, I know Ramming is sort of pathetic, but they also get Zellbringen from that. I have, quite literally, dealt nine clicks of damage from three Saxon rams in a single turn. Sure, it needs some dice luck, but you were going to base with them anyway, so why not take the off-chance of doing damage?

That being said, if you're running Saxons, don't use all 12 inch CBAs. They're fast (very fast) but they have lousy AV and DVs. Since you've already got (faster) Saxons, pick some battle armor with firepower. EBA/GBAs for JJs and AP, Undines for armor, Fenrirs or Thunderbirds for damage output. Undines and GBA/EBA simply... do not... die. And they tend to pick up IT late in the dial. Give your Elementals a chance for glory and roll that capture! People at my old venue were oftentimes more afraid of my Saxons and Elementals than my mech. They knew I'd play my mech rationally, but they also knew that I would cheerfully and with malice aforethought kamikaze my infantry and they couldn't afford the risk. My 20 point infantry vs. your 240 point mech? That's a 12 to 1 advantage for me; of course I'll roll for that. Even if the mission was a failure tactically, it generally broke up their formations, heated up their mechs and generally played hob.

I've got all of the above, so I'll have to bring out my Saxons again. Maybe with TBA's just to make things interesting. I might even run em in formation with my one and only Cizin.

*shrug*

WOOF!

My bad. Apologies.

Hahahahahaha, gender debate. So what is so great about the vixen?

To simplify things:

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mechwarr...p?unitid=11621

An interpretation would be this:

As a *stock* item (i.e., no pilot or gear enhancements), this Light Battlemech has the capacity to perform a Run of 24" (with no heat), has a DV versus Ranged attack of 22, and can perform a Ranged Assault Order of 18". It's base 10 attack is capable of dealing with most non-assault class vehicle threats.

Now, add a common gear like Pulse and an inexpensive pilot...say...Frihet or Albion (+1/+1 AV/DV for 9 points), and you have a Light Mech capable of 11AV/21 DV (23 versus ranged), and a possible 6 clicks of Energy damage from 18" away.

Or, if you wish to push the AV and pop your move up, add a Minoru Kurita Grad for 18 points. The DV remains as stock (which is not really that bad, actually), but the AV becomes 12, the move shifts to 14" (making it a run of 28" - almost a DZ-to-DZ run, and increases the RAo to 19"). If you can get your hands on the Tamar Grad for Lights, it would be a +1 attack and +3 move, making it a full 30" DZ-to-DZ run and a 20" RAo with an 11AV.

It may be a lot of mumbo jumbo tight now, but in order to achieve the feats above, you really need the right platform.

The Vixen is that.

The Pheonix Hawk I is no slouch either cand could easily be capable of similar performance, with the added punch of a PPC.

Personally, I am having more than a little trouble aquiring a single Pheonix Hawk I. I have yet to try for a Vixen, but have not seen any of them available either.

I'm probably going to dupe a fair whack of Recon_Raven's writeup, but I'm like that.

Built in Evade. Not only does it make it faster, but it provides a high enough DV that your opponent can't throw a relatively weak piece at it. Taking down the Vixen without a pilot reliably requires something like an 11 AV and that's something that's hard to come by on a tank. Compared to the PHI (or most any other CJF light) and a 10 AV tank only needs a 9 or 10 to land a hit; against the Vixen that becomes a 12 and the percentage drops like a rock. Add in a DV pilot (I'm partial to the Hero grad, +1 to everything) and that number climbs to a 13. At that point your opponent either throws a big mech at your Vixen or has to close combat or has to set up a formation strike on it. When they're wasting this much effort on this little mech, that's a situation that's going to end up in your favor.

Secondly, the Vixen's got the potential for extra firepower. Triple Pulse, normal Pulse, whatever, you've got the opportunity to load up on the best possible combo on any mech (generically): one offensive gear (on the base) and one defensive gear (on the dial). Evade is not only the most powerful defensive gear in the game, but it gives the Vixen the maneuverability that makes the Vixen almost impossible to pin down. After all, your DV is irrelevant when you can't be shot.

Lastly, the thing is useful with a generic pilot (Hero works for me, Kurita's good, so on and so on and so on). It's cheap, it's got sufficient firepower on the base, it's versatile past all imagining and it's got Evade. Evade is just that good. And it doesn't pay a significant penalty for that Evade (unlike a couple of other mechs).

If that doe not convince you, Warrior....nothing else will.