’Mech of the Week: BZK-F* Hollander II
Hollander II. Slight upgrade of the
Hollander. At 45 tons, ten tons heavier than its predecessor. And one that while striving to correct some of the
Hollander’s flaws, may have stumbled back into the same issues.
Production also having the deal with issues ranging from the Jade Falcon Incursion to the Blakist Jihad.
Details of the
Hollander II are from Technical Readout: 3055, though under the
Hollander entry.
As with the later
Blitzkrieg, it appears the first
Hollander IIs were a reaction to the Falcon raid on Coventry. Notably, the part where the Jade Turkeys attacked and captured the Coventry Metal Works plant. The CMW defense forces on planet had an inordinate number of
Hollanders, and their deficiencies were exposed in vivid form against the Clan units.
Rather quickly, the first
BZK-F5 arrived. Entering service in 3058 (the same year the Falcons attacked), this model basically tries to deal with the main complaint from the BZK-F3
Hollander: it was a one-trick pony. It used the same endo-steel skeleton, though bulked up, and is powered by a 225-rated engine to maintain its forebear’s speed profile. It also maintains the same ten heat sinks (not that it needs more). Weapons consist of a right torso-mounted Gauss Rifle, supplied with two tons of ammunition, a medium laser in the left torso, and a 2-pack Streak SRM launcher placed under the medium laser. One ton of ammunition supplies the Streak. Six tons of ferro-fibrous armor give the design 69% of maximum protection, laid out in an 8, 15/6, 13/6, 10, 10 pattern (head, center front/rear, side front/rear, arms, legs respectively).
I must admit I am unsure how popular this machine was with the FedCommies. Mercenaries probably didn’t mind it, but then most mercenaries will take anything offered to them. Shortly thereafter, the Second Star League went off to destroy the Smoke Jaguars. During that lull, Katherine Steiner-Davion took advantage of her brother’s absence to take over the Federated Suns.
Also taking place during that time was the beginnings of the research into what would become the Heavy Gauss Rifle. Looking for test beds, the High Command chose the
Hollander II for one. Around 3061, the
BZK-F7 arrived, replacing all the weaponry of the -F5 for that massive weapon, fed by three tons of ammunition. A half ton of armor was also removed, and the armor redistributed to an 8, 13/4, 10/4, 9, 14 pattern.
The Jihad seems to have put an end to production of the
Hollander II. At least based on the
Objectives volume for the Lyran state, neither the
Hollander nor the
Hollander II were being produced, so the lines that had produced those machines likely had been casualties in the fighting.
Using a
Hollander II starts with bringing friends. Notably friends that can attract more attention than you do. And since your profile is like that of the
Hollander, you will be attracting a
lot of fire. And if you are using a -F7, as soon as you open fire, more attention will come your way. Frankly, your best bet is to use the
Hollander II as part of your gun line. Trying to fight up-close will only expose you to enemies who are likely better armed than you. And that goes double if he’s Clan.
Fighting one is a bit clearer. Neutralize the threat as quickly as you can. Long-range weapons are nice, since returning fire is never a bad thing. Do take stock of his friends. You will have to deal with them, too. The BZK-F5 can only shrug off a Gauss Rifle slug to its chest (though there won’t be armor after) and the BZK-F7 is even more fragile. This makes targeting locations somewhat superfluous. Though, if you insist of doing so, the center torso will deal with the engine, and the right torso is where the main gun is. Note that since neither
Hollander II uses CASE, hitting that gun will quickly turn the BattleMech into a pretty explosion.
As noted earlier, it is a bit of a mystery if the
Hollander II has managed to make it into the Dark Ages. I mean it is unlikely to be in numbers, as it does not appear on any RAT in either the Era Report for the Dark Ages or the Field Manual for 3145. (Then again with the sheer number of new designs…) Mercenaries might still be using them (since as long as a design exists, there should be a mercenary company somewhere that will use it). It is even possible that the Lyrans have put it back into production. Still, it is a design that needs to be noted. If only because you really need to know what you may be facing.
