UNIT: NSR-K1-M "JACK" NIGHT STALKER #071
PILOT: JULIE "JULZ" KOLCHAK GS-023

Tactics and Secrets
“Ask her out? You ask her out. I’d rather not risk getting a very large blade through my head.”
—Overheard comment

Fitting this Night Stalker, which is intended to be the quintessential urban-combat machine, into your battleforce might seem like a challenge, but it’s one that this unit rises to admirably.

“Jack” comes with starting damage values of 3 in both its primary and secondary slots. With a melee attack for its primary damage and an energy attack at 0/10 for its secondary damage, it may seem like Jack will need protecting before it gets in range of opposing units, and looking at its first click might further that notion: It starts with a speed of 10, an attack of 9, and a defense of 20. Be sure to make use of the Infiltrate on its first click. It’ll take 1 damage for it, but then Jack clicks right into some Agility, Evade, and Heavy Armor, with consistent stats from the first click. This special equipment trails off at the same time, but not before Jack picks up Hand-to-Hand with a damage value of 0. Transition Jack from a distance sniper to a melee attacker and you should get your 149 points’ worth out of it.

On the heat dial front, Jack has only minor heat effects starting on click 4 (counting the starting click as 1). However, once Jack starts running hot, its positive speed heat effects kick in, increasing Jack’s assault ranged combat attack. A vent rating of 3 helps encourage Jack to run hot.

Plug in GS-023, Julie “Julz” Kolchak, and speed, attack, and defense will each increase by a modest 1. For her 27 points, Julz also brings “Marked for Death” to your battleforce. This ability decreases the defense values of any opposing ’Mechs within 6 inches of Jack by 1. If you need more, assign Jack some Beagle Active Probe gear for 35 points to give friendly units +1 to their attack values when they target opposing figures within 6 inches of Jack. In total, an effective +2 attack to both Jack and your friendly figures for 211 points. You might consider loading up on cheaper units to accompany Jack, or just one heavy hitter to wreak havoc when Jack hits the enemy front line.

Design Notes
The Night Stalker is intended to be more of an urban-combat machine—not something that ports over well into Age of Destruction—but the gist of it is there. Interesting articulation points on this piece include the two shoulder-mounted “boxes.” These flip down flat and back up. Originally, the Heavy Armor on this unit was Hardened Armor, but testing brought back comments such as, “You make this, you'll have the random population screaming ‘Arnis with hardened armor! Oh my god! How could they make this unit!’ That said, it does seem perhaps a little too strong.” So I traded Hardened for Heavy. Julz and her pilot art are based on our testing coordinator, Julie Haehn, who works so hard to make all our games great. The “Kolchak” part of her name, as well as the ’Mech’s name (Night Stalker), are nods to Kolchak the Night Stalker, a show from the early ’70s that my mom enjoyed. This one’s for you, Mom! The Night Stalker was concepted by Vic Bonilla and hand-sculpted Jeff Wilhelm.

Julie "Julz" Kolchak

Beagle Active Probe

Pull Together

Crags

House Davion - House Liao