’Mech of the Week: TN-10-O Tenshi
Tenshi. Japanese for “Angel,” though I have doubts that their version is anything like the Judeo-Christian one. Namesake for a 95-ton OmniMech built by the Draconis Combine at the turn of the 32nd Century, and looks like a cross between a
Daishi and a Celestial.
Speaking of which, is it not slightly surprising that they chose to name a machine in the same naming convention as the WoBblies did theirs during the recent Jihad?
The
Tenshi is an outgrowth of the damage caused by the Word of Blake during their Jihad and the disarmament agreements made with (or mandated by) Devlin Stone. The former led to the need to rebuild the LAW factories on Luthien, from which the
Tenshi appears to be the first OmniMech to be manufactured. The second, led to the need to be very proficient with one’s units. (Though it also led to the reuse of the same methods done during the Star League of hiding your increasing military by sending your old machines to miltias or mothballing them where they can be quickly brought back up when needed.)
The
Tenshi is from Technical Readout: 3145.
Now, the
Tenshi was also built with a few newer technologies to take advantage of the general increase in such. It is also a very common sight in frontline units, though it did start its career by being sent to the Ghost Regiments, just in case it turned out to be a debacle on the scale of the
Daboku almost a century earlier. The design is also built with a borderline excessive amount of pod linkages, either from a need for redundancy or just the loss of those used to building OmniMechs during the height of the Jihad. This inordinate number means that reconfiguring is sometimes a labor-intensive process, slowing it down enough that quick redeploy may not be possible.
The TN-10-0
Tenshi first entered service in 3101, and is built around an endo-composite chassis, perhaps the earliest Inner Sphere design to do so (I can’t recall an earlier one). Endo-composite is a blend of endo-steel and standard chassis materials, resulting in a structure with 75% of the weight of standard structures, and half the bulk of endo-steel. Powered by a Hermes 285-rated light engine, giving the design ground speeds similar to the venerable
Atlas. A compact gyroscope opened a bit more internal space. Eleven double-strength heat sink are fix-mounted. Finally, eighteen and a half tons of standard plate gives maximized protection, laid out in a 9, 45/15, 30/10, 32, 40 pattern (head, center front/rear, side front/rear, arms, legs). This leaves forty-eight tons of pod space to be filled by any configurations.
The
Prime variant mounts a Gauss Rifle in the left arm, with three tons of ammunition, five Light-class Particle Cannons in the right arm, and a 10-shot Rocket Launcher in each leg. A targeting computer sits in the right torso, and a Guardian ECM suite in the left. Three heat sinks and a supercharger round out the configuration.
Alpha uses three large variable-speed pulse lasers and a 30-rack MRM launcher, tied into Apollo Fire-Control. Two tons of ammunition are provided for the MRM launcher, stored in the CASEd (II) right torso. A pair of coolant pods, one to a leg, allow for bursts of cooling when the five additional heat sinks are overwhelmed by the output.
Bravo mounts a Tight-Stream Electro-Magnetic Pulse Cannon and a 6-pack Streak SRM launcher in each arm. One ton of ammunition for each Streak launcher is placed in the associated torso (though not CASEd). Additionally, there is a Heavy-class Particle Cannon in the right torso, and two medium pulse lasers in the left torso. Five additional heat sinks moderate the heat output somewhat (though I would suggest using the TSEMP’s in alternating fire). Three jump jets give this configuration additional maneuverability.
The final official configuration is Romeo (or Roars, after the
Dragon Roars supplement where such configurations first showed up for the 3058 Omnis).
Romeo uses two Clantech extended-model mediums in each arm and an additional one in the center. Each side torso contains a 20-rack Extended-model LRM launcher. Three tons of ammunition for each launcher is placed in the associated arm. Finally, one heat sink was also added.
Now, I say official, because the TRO mentions an action involving Tai-i Michelle Taharski and her company of the 16th Galedon Regulars, affectionately called, “The Wall.” In this action, where she and her company chased off some militia and then proceeded to flatten three-quarters of a planetary capital, it is said she had all of their ’Mechs (all
Tenshis) configured with as many destructive weapons as possible. In my mind, if you are going to wipe out that much of a city, you use Plasma Rifles, as they do massive amounts of damage to buildings (when I last used one, I think the rules basically state a plasma rifle does 10 plus 2d6, then doubled to any building hit).
Using one of these is somewhat simple. Frankly, the
Tenshi reminds me of a walking brick. As in, nice to look at, hard to break and something you don’t want to get hit by. March forward, shooting at available targets until they die, and then pick another. This works best when with friends, as since your
Tenshi will likely draw fire, so those friends can use that fact to slip closer unopposed, and gang up on those targets that present themselves.
Fighting one is a PITA. While not a
Turkina, a
Tenshi is like a Timex, taking a licking and keeping on ticking. Perhaps the best way to fight one is to concentrate fire and pound it into scrap. That said, do make sure if he has friends to keep tabs on them. Bringing lots of big weapons is an idea, if only because the more weapons you have, the more likely you’ll hit, and either take his head off or Golden BB his engine (which happens more than it should in games I’m involved in). And if you have it, and are feeling lucky, dropping artillery on him is not a bad plan, either.
The
Tenshi currently serves as one of, if not the main, face of the Draconis Combine in the Dark Ages. As such, it is likely to be at the head of their offensives, and may very well lead the way into Avalon City if the Davionistas cannot get their act together and turn things around. Even if they do, the
Tenshi is so solidly made that it likely will continue on for years to come. That is, unless the Homeworld Clans descend with fire and obliterate the Inner Sphere (which given how they think the Inner Sphere is a major source of taint, is at least one way they would deal with it).
