And we're back.
Two weeks in a row I've covered a big nasty... the Schildkrote, the Hanse, these are pretty nasty customers intended to work on the battle line. So let's change it up this week and work on something NOT intended to slug it out on the line, and look instead into something a little more sneaky. Let's meet the Shandra.
Now, Mechwarrior: Dark Age veterans will already be smiling, because the Shandra was an early unit in that game, and frequently seen in armies at that point. It's just now showing up in Battletech, and while I admit I expected a lightly-armed and armored little buggy, what we got was... well, it wasn't what I thought it would be, anyway. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Built by Brigadier, the Shandra does indeed serve in just about every military out there, testament to its effectiveness. But to mistake this as a scout vehicle- as the name directly implies- is a bad idea. Because there's much, much more to it... not always in a good way. First thing's first, the vehicle is 25 tons- considerably larger than the simple dune-buggy look implies. So let's cut it open and look inside to see what makes it tick... and the first thing we find is NOT a simple dune buggy engine. Where one might expect a small dune buggy to have a small ICE engine, the big Shandra actually packs a fusion power plant. That's unusual, but it allows the little monster to zip around at a pretty good pace- 8/12 might not be the flashy super-fast speed that it used to be a century ago, but it's plenty enough to keep the Shandra's move modifiers up enough to keep it safe from enemy fire. It also means there's no fuel tank to explode, so that's a handy thing. While the price tag goes up as a result of the engine, the freedom from needing fuel means it can remain behind enemy lines for a very long time- it's own kind of value. Wheels aren't the best system for getting around, but work well enough- and of course, their bonus on roadways serves it well in the kind of urban jungles that a scout often finds itself working in.
Another way to tell that this isn't your average dune buggy is the armor. Wow. Now, you'll notice from the artwork that the crew is sitting in the open under a roll bar. Want a laugh? That's a hell of a roll bar, people. The VotW AC-20 is ready to fire, and while one would expect that it would crush this thing like a bug, we're in for a surprise. Four tons of standard plate cover this thing in a surprisingly thick sheath- the AC actually doesn't break the armor forward, despite the vehicle's looks. Twenty-four points of armor- a full ton and a half!- protect the front of the Shandra, enough that it can survive a couple of solid hits from heavy weapons. That's surprising stuff, people. Fifteen points on each side holds against a Gauss hit, and the rear holds ten points. That's a hell of a lot more armor than one would expect.
Within that cloak of plating is a pretty handy array of weapons... sort of. The main gun is an SRM-4, mounted in a rear-view mirror style pod upon the roll cage, with one ton of ammunition. An ER small laser takes advantage of that fusion engines' heat sinks, and is mounted in the front bumper for a little extra punch at close ranges. The two weapons aren't going to kill a decent tank by any means, but it beats shouting four-letter words at the enemy, at least. Twin machine guns are in a WWII bomber-style mount on the rear end of the Shandra to keep people from following too close. And here we run into a problem- the MGs are best used against infantry, but most infantry can't hit 8/12 unless they've been taking methamphetamines or something like that. What you'll find chasing a Shandra are other light vehicles and the like- the kind of thing the SRM is pretty good at killing. So... switching the MGs and SRM around allows the Shandra to get rid of infantry in its way, and throw a few missiles at someone following. Oops. It's worth pointing out though that with the advent of hoverbike infantry, though, the MGs at least can keep them away.
Now, here it gets a little funky. An 'advanced scout vehicle', you'd think, would have scouting gear on it, right? Nope. Other than ye olde Mark 1 Mod 0 Eyeball, the Shandra lacks any scouting equipment. What it DOES have is... a Guardian ECM suite. Huh... interesting. That means this isn't a mere SCOUT, it's something much more interesting. Shandras can work alongside your scouts to maintain an ECM bubble, making life difficult on units trying to find a sneaky scout. They can rapidly deploy to make life tough on enemy scouts, like Narc beacon-equipped units. And of course, if the enemy is using C3 or C3i, a Shandra can quickly move to get in the way of a spotter's connection to the network. So while a Beagle might be more practical for a scout, the Shandra may actually be better for having what it has. Nifty, eh?
So. How to deal with a Shandra? Well... it ain't fun. ECM, tough armor, good move modifiers... You have your work cut out for you. It won't hurt you much in reply, as far as gunfire goes, but it's tough to get rid of them. And it seems like they're so rarely alone! Best bet is to hunt it down with fast units like hovercraft and light Mechs and try to corner it, and hope for motive hits- because it's going to take a few hits to actually put this thing down.
No miniature exists yet for the Shandra, but the MWDA miniature isn't too oversized in case you wish to use one. And there's one other surprise for you... when Wizkids released the Ares three-pack of colossal-class Mechs, there was a little promo video of one stomping around with several Scimitar Mk. IIs and an Atlas III (for scale, I suppose). The video was taken from... you guessed it, the MG mount on the back of a Shandra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipiwSVv42Wk(Not often we get to see a VIDEO for VotW, eh? I'm sure everything turned out just fine for the Shandra!)
OK, you know what to do people. Discuss away! Assuming no one takes control of this thing again next week, I'll try to get a request done on behalf of our MUL head honcho. ;)
