'Mech of the Week: Highlander FamilyAuthor's Note: Updated and reposted since people were asking about the Highlander IIC
.Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. I'm going to put some weight on this time and move up to the assault 'Mechs with a venerable, classic 'Mech, one of the oldest in the game outside the Unseen and their companions in TRO3025, the
Highlander. In the game's history (as opposed to the IC, which we'll get to in a bit), the HGN-732
Highlander was first introduced in TRO2750 alongside other bits and pieces of Star League technology and combat units, making it part of only the second TRO in the game's history, and has gone on to find a place in more TROs than almost any other 'Mech can claim. TRO3025R replaced the Unseen with technologically stunted versions of some of the Star League's own 'Mechs, at least one version of the original TRO3050 includes the
Highlander and its fellow Star League 'Mechs, the
Highlander IIC was found in TRO3060, TRO3050U consolidated the mentions of the Star League's 'Mechs, tanks, and fighters into one place with TRO2750 long out of print and outdated, TRO3039 reissued the HGN-733 model from the Succession Wars, and like many other 'Mechs, the
Highlander got the Royal treatment in TRO3075's historical section. Since the original posting of this article, RS3060 Unabridged and TRO3085's Old is the New New section both added a new
Highlander IIC variant while an early Clan model was seen in Operation Klondike's attached record sheet volume. Two more variants came to light in RS3039 Unabridged. That's a lot of face time, especially for a 'Mech that isn't one of the universe's superstars, but the
Highlander lives up well to this scrutiny, as you'll see.
The basics of the design are shared among all variants, all of them 90 tons with a 3/5/3 movement curve. That's a smidgen inefficient, right above the 85 ton cutoff on 1 ton jump jets, but the
Highlander doesn't suffer much from it even though all but one variant sticks with a standard fusion engine. All of them are tough bastards with strong armor, and all of them have a heavy ballistic mount of some kind along with missiles and supporting medium lasers. No
Highlander has outstanding heat issues, although a few can run a touch hot if you aren't smart about your weapons bracketing. That says about all you need in a short reference in an encyclopedia, but I'm not an encyclopedia writer, so buckle your seatbelts, this is going to be a long one. (Yes, Statler, I know they all are, but this one's going to be a long one even for me. Don't bother trying to escape, security locked the doors after you came in, especially the ones for your box, Waldorf.) I'll cover the variants in historical order for the universe, rather than game history, so the oldest and one of the newest will go in back-to-back.
The first
Highlander to appear was the HGN-732, still a classic, and it set both the pattern for the 'Mechs to come and a high standard to live up to, one that by and large, the
Highlander series manages, unlike some designs where you have a "fluke" variant or three. The centerpiece of the armament was and remains a real eye-opener, a Gauss rifle in the right arm, the only one mounted by any of the TRO2750 'Mechs... which at the time, initiated it into the small, hallowed company of 'Mechs capable of snapping someone's cockpit off with a single shot, joining such luminaries as the
Victor,
Hunchback, and
Atlas. This was long before the proliferation of Gauss carriers we've seen in the long years since, long before the
Thunder Hawk walked out of the pages of TRO3058 and the factories of Norse Technologies to menace people with no less than three of what is perhaps the apex of balance between range, firepower, and ammo efficiency of heavy ballistic weapons. At the time, it was only 'Mech with such a weapon able to do so from beyond 180 meters with any real reliability, and hits with fully 75% of the fury of the class 20 autocannon at ranges that would've drawn comparison from the players of the time (or the MechWarriors of the era that TRO2750 was published by ComStar) to the LRM launcher or class 2 autocannon. The impact of that sort of firepower on the games of that time must have been like Zeus striding out with his thunderbolts, and as the first Gauss 'Mech in the game's history, it set the standard for ammunition with the now-common two tons, and the good news doesn't stop with one of my favorite weapons. Those same LRMs are present, a 20 tube rack in the left torso fed by two tons just like the
Atlas's, and they make a fearsome companion to that Gauss rifle at range by offering crit-seeking and additional armor shearing power. In close, the
Highlander is no less formidable. In addition to the Gauss rifle, quite useful as you close, the
Highlander has another
Atlas favorite, a six-tube SRM launcher carried in the left arm above the fist, and two medium lasers in the right torso, and it has two other weapons. The first is the jump jets all
Highlanders mount, giving it a dash of close-in maneuverability to put that firepower where it wants, and the second is the fury of a 90 ton 'Mech's physical attacks, especially the 18 point kicks that can snap some light and medium 'Mech legs off.
Highlander pilots were infamous for using these two together, so frequently unleashing the Death From Above maneuver of jumping up and landing on another 'Mech that its use by the type came to be called a "
Highlander Burial", requiring reinforcement of the legs to stand up to the punishment. To make things worse, those SRMs had two tons of ammunition, and both side torsos are protected by CASE. Personally, I think you could get better mileage out of an additional ton of Gauss ammo to expand its utility and let you take riskier shots while reducing the number of explosive crits in the left side - those crits and the explosive Gauss rifle represent the two main weaknesses of the 'Mech along with the ever-popular decapitation. On the other hand, the daring are welcome to carry a ton each of standard and Inferno rounds to keep things interesting. The other minor limitation is the use of single heat sinks, wasting a couple of tons and making heat management at close ranges a bit more interesting than it needed to be, but this is more of an annoyance than a real problem considering that a full assault from all the weapons useful in close only runs to 11 heat, 14 jumping, against 12 sinks. The Star League Defense Force was understandably pleased with its armored titan of a 'Mech, and it served with them from the end of the 26th century to the SLDF's departure from the Inner Sphere, when units either eventually folded into the Clans or went on to participate in the Succession Wars for the various Houses as mercenaries or new regular units. This was not, however, to say that the SLDF sat on its laurels with this beast, producing a little-known version that only made things that much nastier, the HGN-732b.
One of the Royal 'Mechs limited to SLDF units drawn from the Terran Hegemony, the Royal
Highlander takes the HGN-732 a little bit farther along the curve of destruction using the available technology, highlighting the eventual Clan successor's lineage a bit more clearly. Fortunately free of the modification of an XLFE, the -732b is actually the newest variant of the
Highlander to come to light, debuting in the recent TRO3075 along with many other Royal variants, and the modifications are actually comparatively limited, rating it only a TR D kit, making it easy for the SLDF to take an HGN-732 and upgrade it on the fly, as it were, and they're difficult to discern from the outside without fairly detailed examination of sensor records... records the SLDF rarely, if ever, allowed to be examined by virtue of simply not losing when the Royal regiments were slipped from their leash. The -732b's conservative changes involve stripping that extra ton of SRM ammunition and two heat sinks, then replacing the remaining sinks with doubles, making a jumping alpha come in at 23 heat for a total +3 build-up. (Yes, Statler, I know there's another three heat in there.) The three tons made available went to an additional medium laser mounted alongside the others and an Artemis IV fire control system mated to each launcher, making them that much more effective, and providing a solid boost at all ranges overall. In the universe, this one was a secret that was kept very well, revealed to the Inner Sphere only with the recovery of the New Delos memory core during the Jihad. Note to StarCorps: Putting a version of this back into production would be a
great move from a marketing perspective, because it's a classic, it's a proven design in a lot of ways, and it's going to sell well.
A customized variant of the
Highlander helps to testify to the design's popularity among the early Clans and hints a bit more at where the
Highlander IIC would come from. An unknown model was employed by the original Khan of the Star Adders, Absalom Truscott, on Arcadia, and with Widowmaker Khan Jorgensson at the controls, a
Highlander put ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky in his grave. The variant we have, though, was apparently customized to the specifications of Khan Colleen Schmitt of Clan Blood Spirit. The right arm has an ER PPC. Two MPLs were mounted in the right torso opposite a pair of LRM 15s in the left fed by four tons of ammunition and protected by CASE. The left arm had a prototype version of the Streak SRM 6, but functionally, they were more similar to the standard SRM rack, operating with a -1 targeting bonus and a +4 cluster bonus.
Chronologically, the next version to be "developed", if that's the proper word, was the HGN-733, a product of the brutal grind and technological decline of the Succession Wars. Gone is the Gauss rifle, the ferro-fibrous armor, and the CASE protection on the ammo bins, winnowing it down a bit, but if the
Highlander is a little leaner on sophistication, it's still a mean machine. Replacing the Gauss rifle is the smallest ballistic weapon mounted on any
Highlander, a class 10 autocannon, fed by two tons of ammo, and an additional heat sink balances out the increased heat gain. While it lacks the startling range and ferocious power of a Gauss rifle, anyone who's ever dealt with an
Enforcer or
Centurion knows that gun is quite effective, and the LRMs make an adequate weapon to spar with until you can close in a bit. Another ton of ammo is added to offset the loss of the Gauss rifle's fire at long range, and the armor is actually the thickest of any
Highlander in contrast to the lighter gun, although the whole three points of difference between the HGN-732's 277 points and the HGN-733's 280 is hardly noticeable, which is why I didn't comment on the -732/-732b pair's possession of the lightest
Highlander armor up above. That said, it's a welcome change to the usual thinned out armor of most Star League 'Mechs in their Succession Wars models. Overall, what the HGN-732 was to pure Star League technology, the -733 is to the Succession Wars: solid, powerful, tough, and effective. The only really big change is the loss of the Gauss rifle's ability to really reach out and touch someone, but the AC/10 is a good if not spectacular replacement, and complements the HGN-733's lighter, more maneuverable contrast to the brutal power of the AS7-D quite nicely. The only thing I can really ding it on is the left torso's four tons of explosive ammo, but even there, there's really not a lot of other choices. Just fire it at the enemy and hope nothing gets in there. While a few could be found here and there across the Sphere, most of the HGN-733s were concentrated in the hands of Houses Steiner and Liao, who possessed facilities capable of maintaining these brutes, if not really producing them on any mass scale, although a trickle would come out of plants on Son Hoa and Corey. The latter supposedly shut down in the wake of the Fourth Succession War when StarCorps yanked the license from Hollis, but given the business StarCorps does with the FedSuns (and the Cappies, for that matter), that's a bit odd, since Son Hoa wasn't retooled fully for over a decade, and they still weren't integrated into the Federated Commonwealth at that point. I'm not going to comment extensively on this, though, but assuming they actually fully complied and either the Davions or Liaos don't have access to a
Highlander line of their own, depending on era, could be subject to a rude shock, although I doubt any large scale production went on. One other interesting incident in the -733's history was Sharilar Mori's deal with Theodore Kurita, providing the DCMS with
Highlanders of its own... including a few HGN-732s that slipped through the cracks. If only because of the ironies of history and dramatic principles of the BattleTech universe, one must imagine a duel between the two models occurred during the War of 3039, and given the HGN-732's advantage of having a Gauss rifle and CASE, it has a powerful edge. It wouldn't have been a walk in the park for the Kuritan against the very similar 'Mech, and Steiner has a greater institutional familiarity with assault 'Mechs than just about anyone short of the SLDF and no minimum range on its main gun, so the outcome there was still going to be a close match, down to the battlefield, the pilots, and the (non-existent) tender mercies of the dice gods. You can almost hear Duncan Fischer giving commentary to a replay, can't you?
Two variants of this most primitive of
Highlanders were published in RS3039 Unabridged. The first, the HGN-733C, is much more similar to the
Atlas than the original was. The AC/10 was removed, as were the second ton of SRM ammo and third ton of LRM ammo. In their place, the 'Mech received an AC/20, meaning it matches an
Atlas's forward firepower and ammo endurance. I think it loses a bit of appeal there, especially since it didn't get any heat sinks in the bargain, but in some situations, it's going to be a monster. The other variant is the HGN-733P, the PPC-armed variant mentioned by several posters in the last round of comments on this article, including Giovanni Blasini. This one strips the AC/10 and its ammunition for a PPC and seven heat sinks - overkill in a lot of situations but probably a welcome change of pace for those unused to the heat pigs of 3025. At -1 on a jumping long-range shot, I'd rather have more LRM ammo, and the short-range fire without the LRMs is heat-neutral without movement.
The next variant is the Clan version, known in the Inner Sphere as the
Highlander IIC after its discovery in the wake of the invasion. Unlike some of the IIC models that have come to light, the
Highlander remains very much a
Highlander, but with the addition of the HGN-732b, we have a clear lineage back to the HGN-732, and it looks quite a bit like its forebears. The armor is as solid as ever, and the weapons are familiar to anyone who's gotten this far in. A Gauss rifle is mounted in the right arm, with that extra ton of ammo I wished for on the -732 up above, while the LRM 20 moves to the right torso, with Artemis IV and a staggering four tons of ammunition, enough for three tons of Artemis IV and a single ton of whatever, or four tons to exploit the extra endurance and lack of a minimum range on Clan LRMs. Two Streak SRM 6s are mounted on the left arm, with a trio of medium pulse lasers in the left torso, and 12 freezers keep this firepower cool in close with the selective use of Streaks the single ton of SRM ammo imposes. Overall, this thing is, as it should be as the Clan representative, perhaps the very nastiest of the
Highlanders, but there are a handful of admittedly very minor flaws anyone facing it can try to exploit. First, despite the twin Streak launchers, the limited ammo feeding them keeps their potential shotgun effect under control, as does the heat load (unsurprisingly, of all the
Highlanders, it's the Clan variant that has the worst time juggling heat buildup against weapon utility, although not the worst overheat). Second, the two most powerful weapons are both on the right side and they're also the only ones that reach past 12 hexes. Finally, the left torso has no less than five tons of ammunition in there. If you're stuck dealing with this beast of a 'Mech, taking advantage of them needs to be firmly in mind if you're not interested in being beaten apart by this rugged, powerful assault unit but doing that isn't easy. Several hundred of these 'Mechs have survived out of a total of about 1,500 upgraded and produced over the centuries, and it remains popular among Clan warriors. For some reason, I'm not terribly surprised about that, though I imagine the Spheroid 'Mech jocks who've gone up against these beasts bitterly lament its survival. There are front-line assault OmniMechs that aren't this fearsome. At longer ranges, it's not that scary, but at mid-range or closer, it will rip someone apart with little difficulty.
The next to appear were the HGN-734 and HGN-736, which I'll go over in number order since they arrived roughly at the same time. The HGN-734 is the red-headed stepchild of the
Highlander series, not for being ineffective, but for being
different. The only
Highlander not to use a standard fusion engine or LRMs, the Lyrans used one of "their" new light fusion engines, and they replaced the Gauss rifle with a fearsome LB 20-X autocannon. The one long-range weapon is an ERLL mounted in the old ML position in the right torso, while twin Streak SRM 6s of the Clan version reappear here, only they're in the left torso now and actually have enough ammo. On the left arm is a pair of ERMLs, and a single MPL is carried in the center torso (one hopes tastefully so), another interesting echo of the Clan version. It should be clear by now to the audience what you do with an HGN-734. This isn't a general combatant like the rest of the
Highlanders, this is an in-fighting specialist. With that same 3/5/3 movement curve, plenty of hole-punching and crit-seeking, and heat balance more than adequate with 14 freezers if you drop the ERLL in close, you can see what the Lyrans were planning: a counter to other assault 'Mechs by out-maneuvering them up close while the rest of their assault formations provide fire support. Clan assaults are the most obvious problem, but with the beginning of the FedCom Civil War at the time, they're hardly the only one. Your main vulnerability here is range. 3/5/3 is tricky in close, but it's hardly fast. Unfortunately, given the Lyran "wall of steel" tactical doctrine and possession of a large number of suitable 'Mechs to provide fire support, exploiting it is generally just going to wind up keeping someone in position to get pounded by something else while the -734 just keeps coming. Or, if someone's feeling tricky, keeping you at arm's reach and getting weakened while lighter maneuver elements flank you for a hammer-and-anvil situation. Despite their (admittedly deserved) reputation for being top-heavy, the Lyrans have a number of options for cavalry support for their assault formations, and the HGN-734's power in close and durability, despite the LFE, makes it a good choice to be cast as the anvil in maneuvers like that.
The other
Highlander to emerge is ComStar's upgrade version. Unlike the -734, which veers off to blaze a new trail for the
Highlander, the HGN-736 is a celebration of over four and a half centuries of steady, reliable service by the basic type set out by the HGN-732. Similar in basic concept to the HGN-732b, the -736 removes the extra SRM ammo and heat sinks, then upgrades to freezers. Another half-ton was gained by the removal of the CASE on the right torso - with only the Gauss rifle on the right arm, this isn't as risky as it looks. One ton of this was used to add Artemis IV to the LRM launcher, while the SRMs were replaced by a Streak SRM 4 rack to conserve ammo with no loss in average firepower and a slight reduction in heat load. The remaining 2.5 tons went to a C3i computer for ComStar's networks. In combination with the Gauss rifle and LRM tubes, this gives the HGN-736 a powerful ability to provide very accurate heavy fire, while it can act as a spotter in assault Level II formations by closing in. Basically, this is an HGN-732 that learned a new trick, so treat it like one, just like you would with an HGN-732b. If I had to pick a favorite upgrade, it's a toss-up between this and the Royal
Highlander, really, and the HGN-736 is a damn sight easier to come by.
The last major variant of the
Highlander is another Son Hoa special for the LAAF, and it definitely caters to their love of big guns, a notion I can get behind, along with another, somewhat more dubious quirk Like every
Highlander, it has a big ballistic weapon, and it uses the SFE common to most. Unlike all of them, that gun is in the right torso, because this one can't be carried in the arm, the biggest of big guns for a single ginormous whack, a heavy Gauss rifle, fed by an acceptable four tons of ammo. The right arm receives an HGN-734-style ERLL, with two ERMLs carried, one in the head (perhaps in a
Hauptmann-style "cigar"), and the other in the -734's left arm mount. The LRM launcher gets slimmed down to an LRM 15, though the Artemis IV module helps make up for that (and make the 8 shots count - what is it with the Lyrans and 8 shots for weapons?), and a Streak SRM 4 is nestled in the center torso. Only 10 double heat sinks are carried, partially due to the mass of the weapons, and partially because of the endo-steel needed to cram them all in. I'm not fond of the HGR, generally, although I fully concede the brutal firepower's appeal. On the
Highlander, I kind of dislike the way it loses that right arm mount on an aesthetic level, but it's a natural enough variant for Lyran sensibilities, and the LRM 15's limited ammo is both classic Lyran (the
Zeus soldiered on with it for centuries) and tolerable in light of the HGR and ERLL. It isn't a mainstay of long-range firepower, unlike the other LRM
Highlanders, but something you add in when you've got good numbers. To use this beast, it's basically used like any other Gauss
Highlander, but keep that PSR from moving and firing the HGR and the longer minimum range in mind. Where an HGN-732, -732b, -736, or IIC can get in close and mix it up, you need to hang a bit farther back, but you've got the guns to do it well, and if you do have to get in and knife someone, just drop the HGR and LRMs and use the ERLL and some good old-fashioned kicking. To punch one out, the usual "strip it open and crit-seek" applies even more than usual with the HGR - 11 out of 12 crits in the right torso go "BANG!", so focus on that side if you can.
The oncoming of the Jihad prompted the development of two more variants on the Clan side of fence. The
Highlander IIC 2 is a bit odd in a few ways, not least of which was the use of laser heat sinks. While they are a bit more useful by reducing the risk of ammo explosions, the penalty in night fighting, the fact that they're now off the table for people who either don't have or don't care to use advanced rules, and the sheer aesthetic impact of watching my 'Mech sparkle like Liberace don't make me a fan. The removal of one of them just puts icing on the cake since your heat load went up. The Gauss rifle is still in place, as is one Streak launcher, but the rest of the weapons were removed entirely. An ECM suite was installed in the head while the right torso launcher is now a trio of ATM 6s fed by four tons of ammunition. The left torso's lasers are now ERMLs with six (yes,
six) APGRs in the left arm fed by a single ton of ammo. Ammo for everything but the Streaks and Gauss rifle are a bit short but passable for something this size in Clan combat, even outside of a trial. Infantry is going to have a serious case of dropping dead, too, and vehicles are going to find crippling is a common fate if it manages to close in. The big risk here is that there's a staggering amount of criticals that go "BANG!", so your pilot may be getting knocked out or killed much more readily than you expect. If the left side's armor starts getting thinned out, you absolutely need to start pumping ammo out quickly, turn the APGRs off if possible, and shelter it from fire. Running that chance can have handsome payoffs, though, and risk is part of the business if you want to sit in the MechWarrior's chair.
The
Highlander IIC 3 is more closely based on the original. The primary change is the drop of the Gauss rifle for a HAG/20 - I'd prefer the standard Gauss rifle's hitting power, but it's a workable enough weapon. One of the two tons saved went to another head-mounted ECM package while the other was invested in ammunition to retain the original Gauss rifle's endurance.
To use a
Highlander in general is fairly simple. Aside from the HGN-734 and -738, which have their own peculiarities noted above, you start closing in and firing your LRMs and the Gauss rifle on everything but the HGN-733 on decent numbers. Depending on what you're dealing with, you either want to use your jets to try and stand off a bit, or get into a knife-fight and dance around them. The -733, in particular, leans toward the latter, since the AC/10 doesn't have a Gauss rifle's reach, but it has more LRM ammo than the others to compensate, and a IIC's power only gets worse up close. While you've got very thick armor, once it's breached (or if someone gets a lucky TAC), you've got explosives in there, so don't get stupid, and don't play chicken with the rare 'Mechs that can win a head-on slugging match with you. (
Atlases and
Warhawks both come to mind.) You have jump jets, use them to get around someone or prevent them from getting shots on vulnerable areas. Generally, you want to fight smarter, not harder. As much as the
Highlander is a brutal weapon of war, it's still capable of a bit of grace and maneuver in the hands of a good pilot, and that, combined with the durability and firepower, is what really makes it stand out.
To counter a
Highlander is simple in theoretical terms. It's not
easy by any means, but it's quite simple. Strip the armor and use crit-seeking weapons to find the ammo or Gauss rifles (or, on a -734, LFE crits). Generally, any of them is vulnerable to this treatment, although the 11 HGR crits (everything but the jump jet) in the -738's right torso really stand out. Unfortunately, doing this requires either a lot of luck with your TACs or managing to strip the armor off, both of which are a lot easier said than done. Like the AS7-D I kept mentioning, the
Highlander is sometimes going to achieve pseudo-zombie status by running low on ammo before it does on armor, although the extra rounds and lighter tonnage make it less frequent. If you do get in close, don't get sloppy. A
Highlander's jump jets give it a dangerous maneuverability in a knife fight, and their pilots know it. From in front of you, an HGN can get two hexes back, leaving it with reduced Gauss minimums and at prime range for everything but the LRMs (and the IIC even gets to fire those off), or it can just move into your rear hex and try for your back plates without the Gauss. Against any
Highlander but a -734, there really isn't a good range to engage at because of the solid firepower the 'Mech has at all ranges, and getting into a knife fight is a
very bad idea unless you've got jump jets of your own and not really a great one even then. Against a -734, it's just plain stupid - if you can't take the ERLL fire staying out of reach of the other weapons and win the gun exchange, you need to quit messing with a
Highlander and go find more suitable prey. One last useful tip is to bring your own head-cappers and/or pilot-plinkers of choice for this dance - it's a lot faster to take the pilot out than bring the 'Mech down, so generating chances to get lucky is always a good idea, and the armor you puncture or sandblast off will help if you don't get lucky.
So there you have it, the
Highlander. A legacy of proud, solid service across human space, a history of brutal, infamous killing power and rugged durability, and one of the few 'Mechs to find itself without a lame duck variant. If you have the luck of being able to use one of these noble war machines, you find yourself in the company of the other MechWarriors who have gotten the opportunity to see why the
Highlander is a respected elder among 'Mechs. You won't be disappointed.
Image References: The
wide range of Highlanders can be seen at the MUL along with their Battle Values, though the
Highlander IIC is
listed separately. Interestingly, all the artwork from various source books seems to be there if you poke around in different models long enough. Another interesting little surprise from the MUL is the fact that the Dragoons evidently operate some of the IIC and IIC 3. CamoSpecs has imagery for both the
Inner Sphere and
Clan models.
