Now that I have been playing Mechwarrior regularly for several months, I believe I can now weigh in with some of my observations.

First of all, I have not yet decided upon a personal favorite in terms of factions. Although I am leaning more toward the clans in general.
Here's a breakdown of each faction I've played with thus far:

Steel Wolves: What can I say? Hit me, I get mad and hit you back, then you might as well have never hit me at all. Very fun, but a little tricky if you happen to be facing a big gun. That's because a lot of power units have the punch to knock the Steel Wolves past their sweet spot. If you do run into a big gun, you gotta buy some time for yourself to hit your sweet spot(s) before you throw down with the big guy. Luckily, there are a lot of nifty little throw away guys designed to help you do just that. I noticed that my Steel Wolves builds often have quite a few more units in them than the opposition. They are also heavily loaded with ballistics and have fair energy weapons. I didn't mind this much because they didn't have any problems dealing with opposing infantry the way other more energy reliant factions would. Bombard the enemy with ballistics and cheap harrassers that suddenly get tough after a click or two to wear the enemy down a bit, then bring in the bad boys and really have some fun. Interesting faction over all.

Swordsworn/House Davion: These guys would be absolutely great if their mechs didn't try to explode after taking more than one click of heat. They all have very well rounded dials and more than decent stats, but tend to lean toward the pricey side. Toss a little water down if you plan to use these guys. They can be playable without water or certain planetary condition cards, but can be sooo much better when given an edge in the cooling department. If you don't want to use either condition cards or water, you still might do okay by leaning on the vehicles and infantry of the faction a little more. Although pricier than those of other factions, having them in there to take some heat off of the mechs pays off.

Republic of the Sphere: These guys are good, but they are also very pricey. They have moderate heat dials, so their mechs can handle a little heat, but not as much as others. They are a really good all-around faction with good range and a good spread of both energy and ballistics damage types. I don't have too many of their vehicles, so I can't draw any hard conclusions there yet, but I do have more RotS infantry units than any other faction, so I feel I have the right to recommend the little guys. In my opinion, RotS is so well rounded, that they do come off as a little boring. It is nice to have a really well rounded army to play with from time to time, but I prefer something with quirks. To me quirks = personality, personality = fun. These guys are kinda boring.

Rasalhague Dominion: I'm guessing these guys are the product of some sick Wizkids experiment to see what the world would be like if things were turned upside down. Luckily, it turned out to be pretty interesting. I have a great deal of fun finding the appropriate balance of aggression and caution. Playing against them is equally fun. They have low starting values aside from their defenses, but they have long ranges and a more than decent smattering of improved targeting to make up for their starting low attack values. They are sort of like fighting their namesake, a bear. Slap it in the nose, and it'll get mad. Shoot it with a shotgun, and it'll rampage until it has nothing left. My favorite pieces are their infantry. Out of the three games I've used Rasahague Dominion in, each time the infantry excelled at eliminating other infantry and vehicles. When I really want to have a good time, I choose these guys. If only to watch my opponent's face when my mech, which previously had a ballistic damage of 0, suddenly shoots his mech for a damage of 4. Good times.

Highlanders: If you are the kinda person who likes to play really defensively and tends to turtle his army, these are the guys for you. It takes a lot to eliminate even one Highlander mech. It's even more difiicult to eliminate a whole army of them. Thankfully, they aren't packing much punch in the attack department. Their damages are good and they have a pretty even spread of ballistics and Energy weapons with decent range. Their attack values are definitely lacking. To make up for this, I simply maintained several formations throughout the battles I used them in. I also found that their heat dials were a tad finicky as well, but formations solved that problem as well. Being able to vary main attackers until the opponent's defenses drop really helps. Beyond the subpar attack values and finicky dials, these guys are pretty good, they're just not my style. If you happen to be an aggressive player, then I'd say move on.

Spirit Cats/Clan Nova Cat: If there ever were definite style type factions, these guys would fill the role of energy weapons masters. They have nice solid mechs, decent heat dials, decent ranges, but are pathetic when it comes to ballistics. I think these guys were almost definitely geared toward combating opposing mechs. Anyone who faces them definitely better be packing some additional heat sinks and some cold weather type planetary conditions and water terrain. Their only downfall, I think, would come in the form of infantry. All those wonderful energy weapons are mute against a swarm of infantry. Beyond that, I really like these guys.

Dragon's Fury/House Kurita: Here is another really well rounded faction. They have a good mix of both energy and ballistics weapons, moderate defenses and high attack values. They only lack somewhat in the range department. I think they make up for it with lots of fast harrassers. Their Sylphs can jet around at 22 speed, and their atv squads are equally annoying with their starting speed of 14. The House Kurita figures are fun to use as well because of their samurai dials, where the attack keeps going up. It is an odd contrast to the other styles of berserker dials though. Although they do have some fun pieces, I have yet to find that one piece that just makes me want to play as these guys. I have used them quite a bit, but I'm still looking for that special unit.

Those are the factions I have done some hefty dabbling in so far. Feedback is more than welcome. Hints, suggestions, etc. will all help me along the way, and if not me, it will at least help one of my gaming group out.

For the most part I agree with your assessments, but a crafty opponent can bypass the "sweet spots" on SW units. I remember never fearing any of their units, because I knew not to attack any one thing in particular until I was ready to salvage it. Efficient and point effective faction though, just beware any opponent who doesn't play into your hands and trickle damage in.

Good synopsis though, sounds like you're picking the game up fast

I have enough units to build decent sized armies for most factions now. I am only lacking on a few factions. The one faction I have almost no figures for is Bannson's Raiders. From the few BR units I do have, they look to be a fun faction to play. Does anyone here know which sets are fairly BR heavy? I have been buying a lot of boosters in order to fill out a somewhat general collection so my friends and I can pick and choose between seperate factions. So, if I want more BR units, which expansions should I get?

Firepower was bad for them, Annihliation was very bad, and they had nothing in Vanguard or Falcon's Prey. Otherwise they have a smattering everywhere. During the Firepower through Vanguard phase they were somewhat allied and playable with Liao units hence their reduced numbers. Wolfstrike was the beginning of their resurgance and breakaway from Liao, and I think the set coming after Wolfstrike was supposed to be really good for them.

DA- about a dozen non-unique with half a dozen unique
FFE- like 13-15 non-unique with half a dozen unique
DFA - about a dozen non-unique with 2 or 3 unique
Liao - about a dozen non-unique with like 2 unique
CA - dozen and a half non-unique with like half a dozen unique
AOD- a dozen or so non-unique with 1 unique (Bannson himself I think)
FPower- 7 or 8 non-unique
AN - 3 or 4 non-unique
WS - 7 or 8 non-unique and 2 unique
(uniques include LEs, so they may not all be available through boosters, in fact if there is more than 1 or 2, assume most are LEs)

Just from memory I'd say FFE and CA would probably net you the most BR.

In Dark Age you'll find the M1 Marksman Tank (my base BR unit) & DI Schmitt Tank (both heavy tanks with speed), the essential JI 100 Recovery Vehicle, & the Condor Tank which is a descent medium tank.

Fire for Effect has some good infantry like my favored Kage Battle Armor, Elite Infantry, Raiden & Hauberk BA, SRM Team. Sortek Assault Craft & Bellona Tanks are good for infantry/vehicle chasers. A couple good old mechs like Legionnaire & Cynthia Kelly Centurian. Oh yes, Giggins APC, only carries 2 but with 13 & infiltrate.

Liao Incursions has the Regulator II Hover Tank (lika a light, faster Marksman), Glory Fire Support Tank & a couple useful infantry in Clan BA (anti personel) & Fa Shih BA (grapple)

Counter Assault has Behemoth II Tank, MHI AA Heavy Defense Tank & JES II Missile Carrier.

I don't know the newer stuff but I'd look through Warrenborn.com to see what fits your play style & which set has the better mechs.

Played a pretty awesome game the other day. It was a 1050pt game with Jade Falcons(me) and Swordsworn(other guy). The game really gave me some good insight into the CJF and SS factions. I have played both factions before, but it was difficult to draw conlcusions from few games. In a larger game, I saw that the CJF mechs were really top heavy in regards to offensive capabilities. They do lack in defensive capabilities. Only Trovic Nilloba had any defensive abilities of the CJF mechs in my army. Even My Kelswa tank had no defensive abilities beyong its outlandish 24 defense. You'd think that the Black Rose would have had the highest defense. The ranges on my side of the field were a little short as well, with exception to Trovic again.

The Swordsworn were a lot better off in terms of range and defensive capabilities. Unfortunately for my opponent, he wasn't rolling very well. His Ryoken II did some damage, but mostly to my infantry. He had a Cuirass Crusader with a common pilot which attacked my Trovic Nilloba, but missed and was crushed by the combined forces of Black Rose and Trovic. His Skullcap Garret and AOD Valiant were definitely his allstars that game. He also had a Balac Strike helicopter that did in one of my two Skadi VTOLs.

What really made the win possible for me this game was the outstanding venting capabilities of my CJF mechs and the utterly depressing heat dials of the SS. In the end, I had wiped out his army, but he had only managed to destroy my Eve Buhallin Eyrie(which, BTW, had yet to survive a game), one of my two Skadi swift attack VTOLs and a few infantry, including one of my two Sylph BAs. The Black Rose survived without a scratch, as did Trovic Nilloba. Those 23 defense values probably hurt my opponent more than anything I did.

It was a pretty awesome game. Both armies included faction pride cards, pilots and SECs. I believe I had a very firm grasp of the game now and plan to continue purchasing boosters when I can. Considering I am about the only member of my group with a decent job, I will need to furnish my friends with armies for some time. I don't mind that though, because I love the variety and trying master the various strengths and weaknesses of each faction.

You play any 2+ player games? My friends & I often do mech lance battles. Used to play at 600points but have upped that to 900 or more depending on what we want to do. Only having 4 units/commands help speed things up. Having 4 or more players makes for some interesting tactics. When I had my 6 foot across corner Hexigon board & had 6 players we'd do mech lances & roll for teams. Everyone deployed in a corner & then team selection. Some fun times, thats been 6-7 years ago. Now the boards 7 across but only 4 of us.

What are mech lance battles? And how are they played? My largest gaming table is 4ft x 6ft with full turf. I'm certain my friends and I will not want for space.

A Lance is the Inner Sphere base military unit consisting of 4 mechs/vehicles. The Clans use Stars which are units of 5. A mech lance game is mech only combat with each player fielding 4 mechs. From there you can do what ever scenario rules you want. It allows for more players but keeps things flowing compared to multiplayer combined arms games. Those are fun too but can take all night.

Played a fun game the other night. I played as Dragon's Fury, and my opponent played as RotS. He used an all post AoD army while I used a pure DA army.

The Line up:
Me-DF pure, pure pre AoD
Erin Johnston Jupitor
DA Spider mech
Uller (set?)
Cardinal Transport
Sylph BA x 4
VV1 Ranger
MASH Vehicle
Salamander BA

There was one other infantry, but I can't remember what it was at this time.

My Opponent: RotS Pure
Solitude
w/Exarch Jonah Levin
Nightstalker
Oni BA x 3
Enyo tank x 2
Cooloant truck
Sylph BA
ATV squad

Long story short, the Nightstalker and Solitude mowed through the majority of my army. My Spider attacked the tanks and Oni's but was put down by Solitude. My uller ran ahead to get rowdy, but was assaulted and dropped by the nightstalker. The ATV attempted to harrass my Jupiter, but had the two infantries dropped on it by the Cardinal. My Sylphs swarmed the nightstalker and stung it until my Jupiter could finish it off. Then a shootout commenced between my Jupiter and Solitude. Both scored hits, both heated up. I passed my heat effect rolls, Solitude didn't. He had an ammunition explosion followed by a shutdown. It was okay because he had his coolant truck do a quick coolant flush on Solitude which brought it right back, only to miss his attack and be hit by my Jupiter again. Realizing an inevitable defeat, my opponent humbly withdrew.

Barring the fact that my crew does not "dig" artillery, I found Erin Johnston to be more than capable in a post AoD environment. If my opponent had the points to equip the Solitude with armor piercing, the game would probably gone a lot different. Poor heat effect rolls really slew the Solitude as well. I had one critical miss with Erin as well, but thank goodness for Improved Targeting. All in all, it was a great game. Rarely one-sided and with plenty of combat and little posturing.

Been away a while, but been playing a lot. I have mostly been gathering more units. I find I have been dabbling a great deal in the Steel Wolves. I have almost all their uniques now, and quite a few commons. I pretty much have my head wrapped around how to use these guys, but I find their mechs to be a great deal more useful than their vehicles and infantry, although I use those too, considering I play almost exclusively pure faction. My secondary factions are Highlanders, because of the high defenses and necessity of formation attacks, and Swordsworn because they generally have some pretty good dials, but are challenging due to their finicky heat dials.

I tend to divide my games up in two ways. I will either play all Dark Age Era mechs and factions, or all Age of Destruction mechs and factions, but rarely will I mix the two. I do interchange AoD and DA infantry and vehicles, but that's only because they pretty much play the same regardless of ruleset. I use the Age of Destruction era rules exclusively because I find them to be much more balanced and they increase the pace of the games I play.

I noticed that since I have started playing and purchasing MW, sales have increased a great deal. Is it possible that MW might be experiencing a small revival, or do sales of MW products always increase like this around this time of year?

After having played quite a few games with most factions, I have come to the understanding that most factions have that one special mech that makes if worth playing. I have compiled a list of my favorite mech for the factions I have played so far. Here is a list of my favorites:

CJF: Black Rose Shrike w/ Malvina Hazen
Neither her range nor her speed are the greatest, but coupled with terrain and defense boosting equipment, she is truly a force, especially in melee.

CNC: Sabertooth Shadowcat w/ Lennet Lossey
As cool as the Wendigo is, I love the outlandish "Fast and Furious" ability of Lennet Lossey. Even pulling off one in a game can be quite demoralizing to my opponent(s).

CW: Vengeance w/ Phelan Ward
I mostly like this guy because of his role in the Mechwarrior books I have read, but his "Zellbriggen" ability coupled with his constant AV make him an invaluable support piece.

SW: Geoff Bekker
This beast of a mech is neigh unstoppable once one attains his peak stats, plus he looks really cool.

HK: Kuro Ha w/ Katana Tormark
Few things can be as devastating to an opponent's front lines as Katana's "Into the Breach" ability, especially when entering the endgame.

DF: Erin Johnston Jupiter
Although Bounty Hunter is really cool, he doesn't have the damage reduction values to really let him duke it out with other power houses like Erin Johnston can. Sure she'll get eaten alive by artillery, but if artillery is dealt with early on, she can pretty much stomp her way through most opposition.

BR: One Eyed Jack Farrell Jupiter
Although lacking in attack SE's, he more than makes up for it by being the most repairable of the Jupiters in the game. Not only that, but much like Erin Johnston, he still has what it takes to hold his own in an AoD environment.

HiL: Eriabee Childs Atlas
The Highlanders mechs with real punch are few and far between. Much like the rest of the Highlanders big boys, Eriabee can take a whollup and still be fine, unlike the others, Eriabee can give as good as she gets and has little fear of pesky infantry swarms.

RD: Headhunter Karhu w/ Drogo 032
RD is lacking when it comes to mechs that start out with decent stats. Headhunter makes up for some of this shortcoming, but what makes him stand out is Drogo's ability to keep his defense somewhat high even later in the game thanks to his "Steeled Against the Blow" ability. And the whole death's head stylized armor of the Karhu is pretty awesome.

RotS: Solitude w/Exarch JL
This beast practically screams invincible as it stomps across the battlefield laying waste to smaller opponents. Even after taking 12 clicks worth of damage, he still has a possible 12AV. Keep a Coolant truck around him and the possibility of defeat becomes almost zero.

I don't really have enough units from the other factions to really determine a current favorite (including mercs and gunslingers). This list is compiled from the factions which I have played fairly extensively over the six months or so from when I first began to play.

I figure I'll just shoot it out there to see what other people are packing:

What are your favorite mechs from each faction and why do you like them so much?