The Hellion OmniMech – Proof angry lunatics can make something good.
Clan Ice Hellion are known for many things, their quick to flare temper, their Italian love of speed, the political acumen of a 800lb gorilla on meth and their unique take on Zellbringen.
The Hellions were a rather..different Clan to the ones we were introduced to when they came a calling in 3050 yet we did meet their machines. The Fenris for example started out as a Hellion design, and I’d like to think that the ultra-speedy Gargoyle was also at least influenced by the Hellions or those fighting them, in this case Clan Wolf.
Whilst considered a rather unstable bunch in the Clans the Hellions occasionally had bright sparks of pure genius that were eclipsed by raging hissy fits and spiteful lashing out at anyone near them almost ‘because’.
The Hellion OmniMech is one of these bright sparks and shows what a dedication to speed and firepower can accomplish when the purse is thrown wide open and the Scientists are told to go nuts.
What do I get?You get yourself a 30 tonne light that combines speed, firepower and manoeuvrability into one rather impressive and impressive looking package. Developed well post Operation Revival the Hellion comes ready to play with all the new toys the Clan’s had produced post Revival. And even though the Hellions fell, reduced to bandits and raiders during the Wars of Reaving before joining the remnants of the Scorpions, the Hellion seems to still be in production today with one variant featuring far newer weapon systems.
Although I am not sure who still produces it, perhaps it is refits of salvage hulls, or possibly the Diamond Sharks produced it for sale.
The beating heart of the Hellion is a 210 rated XL engine and an Endo-Steel skeleton, the armour is also of a weight saving Ferro-Fibrous compound meaning that a great deal of weight is saved. And unlike many Clan lights it does not have ANY fixed equipment or heatsinks, the Mech is entirely modular in terms of its outfit. Well I say that…it does have one thing fixed as standard, all of the variants feature a MASC system to boost the speed. Thanks to the engine the Hellion can top out at 119kph but can blitz up to 151kph with the MASC system engaged, this is 7/11/14 in game terms.
The Hellion’s 5.5 tonnes of Ferro-Fibrous armour give it the maximum protection for its weight class and allow it to absorb a considerable weight of fire for a machine its size.
Although ‘only’ a light Mech the Hellion can take a pounding although with any light its speed is its protection. Both the arms and side torso’s can take an AC-10 round whilst the legs require a pair of hits from Clan ER Mediums. The chest can take a gauss slug before going internal so all in all a rather thick hide for a light.
All the weight saving means that you get a lot of space left over for weapons and the various configs of the Hellion do not disappoint, producing a family of Mech’s that can often outgun and outrun anything they encounter, giving the Clan’s one of the most heavily armed and versatile lights in their inventory.
Configs (And yes I have no shame, the NATO Phonetic alphabet rides again!)
Prime – Opting to not use any new toys in the Prime the Hellion’s instead went for an efficient mix of weapons that pack a surprising bite. A quartet of ER Medium’s form the Prime’s main punch and thanks to the power of the Clan ER Medium laser it can tear through light and medium Mech’s with ease and the fact there’s four of them make it capable of tearing through back armour on machines far larger.
To fill those holes a trio of SSRM-2s are fitted and whilst the not most hard hitting weapon system they can’t all be knocked out like the equivalent weight SSRM-6 could with a single lucky crit. Finally the Hellion has a long range punch in the form of a LRM-10 for a long range sting and if needs be a point blank sand blasting. Fitted with only the standard 10 double heatsinks the Hellion can’t handle the heat of a full alpha strike’s 32 heat including movement, but a careful pilot should have no issues in using the Mech’s firepower to its fullest.
Alfa – The fire support unit for a Flurry or Star the Alpha has a simple armament lead-out but one that’s effective none the less. A trio of LRM-10’s form the main bulk of firepower whilst an ER Medium laser provides some ammo-independent backup. Still for a missile platform its not bad, its fast and agile and Clan LRM’s are a threat at long and short ranges. Of course ammo is a problem as the size of the Hellion does constrain how much it can carry due to tonnage limitations but this is true of any small fire support missile unit.
Bravo – Me thinks the Hellions saw the Diamond Shark’s Solitaire and went WE WANT THAT! So with the Bravo the Hellions Scientists produced a Heavy Laser Boat that probably pumps out enough heat and radiation from its laser array that it could probably be confused for an exploding star.
Mounting a single Heavy Large Laser as well as a quartet of Heavy Medium’s and a single Heavy Small the Bravo has an absolutely brutal punch but this is accompanied by an even more brutal heat surge that three tonnes of additional heatsinks in no way shape or form help with if you should push that big red ALPHA STRIKE button. A full broadside will net you 49 heat before any movement and you vent 26 of that. Yes this would probably result in the pilot loosing 90% of their bodies water as they sweat it out but if a Bravo gets behind you, the temptation to press that Alpha button would be strong indeed… Note you may need to remove the pilot from the cockpit with aid of a mop and bucket also, hazmat suits are also recommended for the clean-up teams.
Charlie – Stepping well back from the crazy of the Bravo the Charlie takes a far more constrained approach to delivering firepower. Of importance to note the sensor suite received a significant retrofit allowing for the fitting of a targeting computer. This is then used to tie in the Mech’s quartet of ER Medium lasers and its ATM-6. With the Hellion’s speed I would guess that a large chunk of its ammo bin would be taken up by HE ammo, with the remainder being standard ammo, the speed of the machine really counts ER ammo out and who would not want to fire 6 ATM HE rounds at a Mech’s back.
Delta – This one confused me a bit, to start with it has a meaty long range punch in the form of an ER Large Laser and an LRM-15, yet it also has a pair of Heavy Medium Lasers for close in work. Then I realised this was the Hellions version of a multi-role machine akin to something like a Kit Fox Prime or even a larger machine like a Stormcrow. The mix of armament does give you a big punch although like all Hellions save the Alfa the Delta suffers heat woes, the combination of the Heavy and ER lasers means that you can’t really slap the alpha button too much once you’re within range to do so as you’ll be overheating rapidly.
Echo – Built to turn infantry and battle armour into blazing, molten wrecks as well as playing havoc with tanks the Echo is probably the most specialised of the Hellions configs. The Echo is also a Hellion that can jump, capable of making 150 meter jumps. To carry out its infantry/BA/tank butchering role the Echo was possibly designed by a pyromaniac. Or someone who REALLY hated infantry. Or both.
A quartet of flamers and a pair of AP Gauss Rifles form the backbone of the infantry butchering armament. To deal with Battle Armour a pair of Heavy Medium lasers and an SRM-4 round out the armament and make the machine still capable of hurting other Mech's. Finally an ECM suite mounted in the head protects the Mech from hostile EW systems.
Foxtrot – Possibly a running mate of the Echo or a refit the Foxtrot is fitted with a head mounted Active Probe instead of the ECM and retains the paired AP Gauss rifles of the Echo but features a more capable anti-Mech armament based around an ER Large Laser, an ER Medium and another anti-infantry weapon the ER-Flamer, this weapons package is rounded off by an SRM-6.
If this is a scout it is built for all environments and can still be used to annihilate infantry as well as providing an anti-Mech punch that should not be underestimated. With the Hellions take on Zell something tells me that the Echo and Foxtrot work as a pair, one sniffing out the foe, the other then burning them to death.
Golf – The latest config to come out, and this is the one that had me scratching my head at who made it. The scratching only intensified when I saw part of its armament. To start with the Golf has a rather Prime-esque weapons fit, a trio of Heavy Medium lasers provide powerful punches whilst an LRM-10 covers long range engagements, again, much like the Prime. Now here’s the weird part.
A bit of Inner Sphere tech, and a very specialised one at that. A torso mounted One Shot TSEMP Cannon.
This shows that the Hellion is still in production post War of Reaving and indeed, post Blackout but by whom? I would guess the Sharkfoxes but it could be used by Hellion/Scorpion Remnants as well and there it makes sense. Either this thing charges in, slapping a target with an EMP that either overloads their systems or causes all kinds of technical woes. If a target is shut down it can be captured for salvage and if its overloaded you can batter it with your firepower with ease. So is this a Hellion’s take on a capture machine?
ThoughtsThe Hellion is a nasty nasty machine, not in a bad way though, it’s a light that outguns more than a few mediums and even some old heavies thanks to its Clantech weapons. Its speed whilst not super-fast (save when you turn the MASC on) is more than enough to allow it to bring its firepower to bare and if it gets into trouble it can easily sprint away and disengage.
Whilst it does take a big proud step back towards 3050 Clan Mech heat woes you have to sacrifice something and in the Hellions case its heatsinks but unless you go berserk (or are in a Bravo) you should be able to keep a weatherly eye on the heat whilst still maintaining a barrage of weapons fire.
This machine is up there with designs like the Tiburon and Fire Falcon as a machine that can punch very far above its weight and one that should be respected by any foe. Killing one is really a matter of dealing with any light Mech, you hit them hard enough and they’ll fall over. Of course hitting them might be an issue, but a good solid blow will be decisive. Inferno’s and Plasma is definitely a plus as it will hopefully cut down on the volume of fire being directed at you. Oh and Infantry, if an Echo comes into range, shoot yourself in the face now. Right now. It will be quicker and far less painful. A Hellion pilot should try and move fast, using terrain to keep his targeting modifiers up for anyone shooting at him or her.
Save the heat problems the only other issue is that Hellions tend to be rather pricey in terms of BV, so if you’re looking for a cheap Mech, look somewhere else.
C'mon you know that it has
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Ka0WFqftA playing as its theme song...
http://i.space.com/images/i/000/034/744/wW4/bright-gamma-ray-burst-1920.jpg?1385150051 A Hellion Bravo firing an alpha strike as recorded by an orbiting satellite. Maybe...
Any comments are most welcome and I appologise for any errors as I don't have my TRO to hand. I did this during a few lunch breaks at work.
