Alrighty, so, having familiarized myself more with the game's changes and new units, here is my first prototype build.

600 pts

Arty Platoon
1 BR Thumper Arty
3 BR Peasant Companies
1 BR J100 Recovery Vehicle

Armor Platoon
1 WH Tokugawa Heavy Tank
1 WH Morningstar Command Vehicle
1 SW SM1 Tank Destroyer

Air Attack/Assault Squadron
2 WD (GR) Anhur Transports
2 WD (GR) Black Wolf Battle Armor Squads
2 WD (GR) Kage Battle Armor Squads
1 HD Gossamer VTOL

Mech
1 CW Raven
*Heavy Armor (L)
*Fetladral, Gwin (Pilot)

The concept idea behind this is pretty simple, though admittedly still slightly poor in execution, since things like ranges or speeds don't match up very well between most elements. The idea is to have the Raven reach out and tag someone from range with a beacon, and then have the Arty and Armor platoons open up on them. The Raven's been given extra armor to supplement the Decoy and Def of 18-19 (20 at prime, with the pilot modifier included), so that in the chance someone does get a snipe at it while it dances in and out of the fight, it can shrug it off pretty easily for the most part.

The Air Attack/Assault Squadron, which are themselves a huge sink in points that could go towards supplementing the Armor or Arty Platoons, or even add another mech to the unit, exist for the purpose of delivering a small, dangerous surgical force to hot spots on the battlefield. The Anhur's recon capability should allow me to bring those infantry into the battle quickly and decisively, without limiting my orders; it'll be as if I had a fresh infantry formation waiting for the moment to jump out of hiding around the enemy. It's later evasion capability and heavy armor will allow it to absorb any damage and safely extract my infantry from a bad situation. The Gossamer, meanwhile, is there to serve more as an aerial escort and gun platform. It is also one of the only units in the force who use energy weapons.

The Arty Platoon is based off an old, but effective formation I used to run. The centerpiece of this formation is my old reliable BR Thumper, which can lay down a rather impressive three markers. In flanking positions lay the old, reliable peasant companies, effective meatshields to delay any attackers long enough for, say, the Raven or Air Attack squads to fall back and assist. The J100, of course, is there to patch up the Thumper when I push the hell out of it to lay down some rather impressive spreads of fire.

And last but not least, the purpose of the Armor platoon is very simple: To accquire the Raven's targets and punch big holes in them. Their ranges don't quite match, I blame both the point limitations and limitations of my unit choice. (You know, the whole trying to be mostly wolves, though the force is actually more mercenary than anything else. Go figure.) Toky's there to lend a share of the punch, while the SM1 is there to punch through any armor hiding around. The Morningstar is capable as well, and adds the bonus of a possible extra order every turn.

Sooo, after the lengthy explaination of the force theory, I hope it sounds like it makes sense on a concept level. Now, rip it apart!

Have not read your whole post but you cant use decoy and grey armour at teh same time... so the gear is a waste for the most part.

lastly the mech itself needs to be in standing shot range to get the homeing beacon off, i dont think anyone will let you get a homeing beacon off with it, they simply wont stay in range of it or will scrap it.

Also you are probably going to have a hard time with high defences with that army, the homeing beacon can give +2 but probably wont. expect mechs to run 22 at the lowest and 24-26 at the highest. lights easily hit the 24, with evade and a +2 pilot, many can hit 24 decoy without issue. Some units can hit 27 in hindering, even 28's are possible givin the right mech in hindering with the right pilot and a +1 defence fp. With risc advanced point defence you can get a light to 28 defence in the open as well. (not to scare you the giant values are not supper common... but plan on 22's to be the average)

I think you will find once you play with assault orders and the higher capable defence that homeing beacon will rarely do what you want it to do unless the situation is perfect.

But you just need to play a few games with the new rules to get a feel for it really. No decoy and armour at the same time is the biggest thing there.

Prepared to be ripped.

To be honest I would not field your artillery formation. 1 damage artillery with out armor piercing and 24” range is pathetic by modern standards. Range aside it is not going to do much armor SE is somewhat common in most armies now and it is going to unable to harm a good deal of modern units. If a pair of those was supporting a better artillery piece in a formation it could be better but pushing a 1 damage artillery and trying to repair is a lot of wasted orders.

There is little synergy with your tank formation, different ranges, speeds, armor, targeting and so on. Morningstar are not really attack vehicles, the SM1 and Tokugawa are both solid units but would do better with units of their type.

Your air unit is all right but you should remember VTOL cannot form a formation with one another so that is a lot of orders bunched up there.

The raven is a great ‘Mech but you have nothing worth to homing beacon for in your force. If you can find it (I think Champions Pack 2 which also has great ‘Mechs) has the Stealth Retrofit which is great for homing beacon ‘Mechs.

Can you post a list of all your units? The Gamma pack had some great models did you get two complete packs? It is rather rainbow trying to limit the factions on the table makes it easier for formations.

You can use Heavy Armor on the dial with Decoy SEC. I need to check but pretty sure you can use it the other way around.

Thank you ntin, this is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for.

I could see a few of the problems with the tank formation you mentioned; I think I'm just trying for too much over there. Need to set the Toky up with something more equal to it in range....

Moving on, the VTOLs are pretty much dependent upon recon SE for their use, since after they lose that they lose their free drop ability.

The one thing thats frustrating me with the raven is that I really want to pair it up with a heavy-hitter mech for it to tag for. Only problem is, I do that, I have to lose flexibility somewhere. Possibly part of the air squadron, possibly the tank platoon, possibly both if I want enough punch on the second mech.

Arty-wise, I suppose a part of me knew my love affair with the thumper would have to end; I remember back at the beginning of artillery, it used to be the devil of the battlefield, and it caused alot of hurt way back when. I just need to let go of the old days!

I'm still working on the total list of what I've got; its quite the mix, the majority of it is still DA stuff, with a decent part FFE and a small smattering of DFA. I haven't found a Champions Pack 2 yet, but I did pick up a pair of Gamma Regiments.

Aye, the card does say they can be used together. Which is about the only reason why I picked it. I really do need to get into some regular games again....gotta get back to NC where I can play!

Yes you are right... my bad, silly me.

Oddly enough the FAQ has your scenario with SE. It would work the way I want but not the other way because the Decoy on the dial rules does not say it can be used with non Decoy equipment. But Heavy Armor with a Decoy SE works. Bottom of page 7 in the AoD FAQ.

I know what you are talking about I use Arachne Gambit with my Kelswas. The Gambit’s pilot lets her move and fire a homing beacon, on top of that she is a 1/1/2 with a base twenty defense ‘Mech. The Marksman from the pack are not bad but they are hard to prime into the armor piercing, the easiest way is to push them in firing formations. I do not really like the Black Wolf Battle Armor the 12 inches is cute but for 30 points you a better off with a Wolf Hunters Clan Battle Armor (Vanguard) or a Clan Wolf Purifier Battle Armor. The Kage are solid and a high enough attack for anti infantry work with out a formation fire. The Hauberk make excellent tank escorts for firing formations since they have a 14 and can close combat basers. The Raidens are also nice to tie up your opponent since they have the group SE and can clear the board faster because of the Jump Jets. The SRM are one of the big jewels they can infiltrate 18 inches into the table then streak for 10” you can hit people in their deployment zone with them. The Guila are great too high attack, good defense, bypass, and infiltrate. It is pretty easy to capture a shut down ‘Mech and with the Guila you can get a free ‘Mech.

The Goshawk and Scourge from the pack are both solid ‘Mechs. The Goshawk is one of the best medium ‘Mechs period. They do not really need gear or pilots with 11 attack and 21 defense, with a 2/2/1 they become that much better. The Scourge is an excellent escort ‘Mech with anti-missile system and good range. An overlooked thing about this Scourge is it is one of the fastest heavy ‘Mechs out there, with Jump Jets. You can do a death from above for 6 damage at 13” out with a 2/2/1.

If you manage to play a pure Mercenary army there is also the Faction Pride or you can buy them into Steel Wolves and do the Bannson's Raiders - Steel Wolves situation Alliance.

So i was correct? this surprizes me since as soon as you said it could i realized my mistake. Guess i learnt something new about decoy on the dial.

Yes the goshawk and scourge are both great mechs, I would dump the arty and raven and try and get one in, nothing wrong with the raven its just not really usefull in that build. The scourge is nice after it single use jump jets or antimissiles it gets armour peircing and then late dial it gets improved targeting.

If you have a nice 3 cap try putting the tokugawa in that, a tank drop with an effective 9 improved targeting that can light something up behind blocking can be very devestating (thats how i prefer to run homming beacon, with the Dragons furry tokugawa it has an effective 11 improved).

And the srm's rock hard... for 18 points they are very nice. just imagine an army of them with you having first turn and a fleet of mobile hq's to support them? might not go well but might be fantastic, if i had a wack of them i would try it but thats alot of gamma packs.

We are both right. If the Raven had Heavy Armor on the dial and you give it Decoy SEC, then both SE can be used at the same time. If the Raven has Decoy on the dial and you you give it the Heavy Armor SEC the Heavy Armor cannot be turned off and since the Decoy on the dial does not have the "can be used with non Decoy equipment" line the two will not work together.

Okay, so, I can NOT use the heavy armor on the raven then, right?

You can but since Heavye Armor SEC is not optional you cannot use Decoy SE.

Alright, so, I would override the decoy at all times then with the Heavy Armor, pretty much negating that entire bit of equipment.

your right where heavy armor isn't optional however, Special Equipment on the dial takes precidence; either the decoy is on in which case the armor cannot be used or decoy is off in which case the armor may be used. either way you would have to declare at the first attack made against it and then for the rest of that turn either decoy is on or off, if however you have decoy on and get hit out of it then the armor comes on automatically as it's not optional.

Are you sure about this? yes on the dial takes precidence but at the same time permanant takes precidence over optional use. So what is more powerfull the on the dial or the always on?

I dont know the awsner and would like to find out for sure.