Dang, pushed off the first page after less than a week between posts.
For today's update I'm going to cover why and how I ended up with the Medium Pursuit Star. Going back to my limited available mini list, I knew that I wanted to use my Stormcrow and Fire Moth minis, but there was a catch with both, I had already assembled and modded them to variant. I consider myself an amateur mini modder. I enjoy puzzles and finding a way to turn one mini into a cool-looking version of a different variant, using existing parts is a fun puzzle for me. So when it came to this project, I knew I wanted to use two of my minis that I had already modded.
For the Stormcrow I used the included alternate arms to make the B variant because when it comes to making a cool looking mini, who doesn't like a UAC/20 on one arm and 6x ERMLs on the other? I've never been much of a fan of the Fire Moth as a whole. Yes it's fast and it's cheap in many point systems, but it hardly has any armor. Likewise, most of the variants seemed undergunned for my preference, usually requiring you to get up close for not much punch. However there are a few that I like, the D, G, and Aletha Kabrinksi's personal variant are ones I like. With that in mind, I took the unused arms from the Stormcrow for the Prime variant, flipped them upside down, and used them to create a Fire Moth D (minus the hands).
For this project, I decided that if I used a modified mini, then I had to use that variant, or one that looked the same. But if I used an unmodified mini, it could represent any variant. This meant I had two 'Mechs for my star, a Fire Moth D, a 19 point Size 1 Striker, and a Stormcrow B, a 35 point Size 2 Striker. I was on track for a Medium or Light Battle Star, a standard or Light Cavalry/Striker Star, a Recon Star, as well as a Pursuit Star and each of it's variants. The requirements for these stars meant I had to keep to Size 1 or Size 2 'Mechs, with faster speed (at least 10+") and most would need to Striker roles.
That left me needing 3 'Mechs and the following requirements:
-Size 1 or 2
-Speed 10" or 8j", but really 10" or faster, and 12" or faster was best
-2 units with Long range damage of at least 1
-All units with Medium range damage of at least 2
-All units with Short range damage of at least 2
-At least 1 more Striker/Skirmisher
-Averaged 34 PV or less
Looking at my available minis, the only other one I had that fit the faction and timeframe requirements was a Griffin IIC. Pulling up it's AS card, I was disappointed to see it was a Missile Boat, that didn't help the any of the requirements I was looking for. But wanting to purchase as few minis as possible, I decided to look closer and see if it could still be a good fit. Moving 12j" met all the speed requirements, and it's 3/3/2 damage profile met all the damage requirements. While the Griffin IIC wasn't the perfect fit, at 30 PV it met most of the requirements and I still had two more slots to meet the rest.
Counting out the units from the Heavy Battle Star and the ones I'd selected already, I had 73 PV left to spend on two 'Mechs. Knowing I would have to purchase the remaining minis, I decided to let the MUL and faction availability help me decide the remaining 'Mechs. When picking 'Mechs for this Binary, I tried to pick versions that I was likely to use on a TW battlefield as well as at the AS scale. With that and the timeframe in mind, I decided to pick a 'Mech that I wasn't likely to see again, but would fit the unit well, a Coyotl. Specifically I chose the A variant, deciding the mobility of the jump jets, was worth more than the 1 extra point of Long range damage and IF1. The 4/4/2 damage profile, 14j" speed, and Striker role met the rest of my requirements. At 34 PV this fit within the average and left me 39 points to find that last 'Mech.
My last 'Mech only needed to be a Size 1 or 2, 39 PV or less, and have a Short and Medium damage of at least 2. Since the Heavy Star had an Omni to non-Omni ratio of 3/2 I decided to try and stick to that for this Star as well, meaning I was looking for a non-OmniMech. Narrowing things down with my requirements, I came to the Shadow Hawk IIC, Goshawk, and the Locust IIC. The Shadow Hawk IIC got the first cut, simply because I didn't like the looks of the mini. It didn't help that the others could out damage it. While the Goshawk is a nice-looking mini, and it just fit in my remaining points, the fact that it has always been described as a Steel Viper 'Mech was one of the deciding factors against it.
The other deciding factor for choosing the Locust IIC as my last 'Mech was one of it's weapons, the Clan ER Small Laser. The Clan ERSL is a wonderful weapon in TW play, it's low heat (2 heat), it hits as hard as an IS Medium Laser (5 damage), it's small (1 crit) and lightweight (0.5 tons). It only reaches out to 6 hexes, but that range gives it the ability to deal damage out to the Medium range bracket in AS and BattleForce. Combined with the targeting computer and Medium Pulse Laser, the Locust IIC can deal out a whopping 5 points of damage in the Medium range bracket. I already had one glass hammer in the Fire Moth D, so I decided to add a second one to help chase down anyone harassing the rest of my Binary.
Last was the decision of what Star type to use as the main or "Prime" version. I already had one Battle Star and as good as that ability is, I didn't want to just duplicate it. The bonuses from the Striker/Cavalry and Recon Stars would be nice in some battles, but the best benefit for the circumstances comes from the Pursuit Star and the Blood Stalker SPA. In the Star, 75% (4 'Mechs) gain the Blood Stalker SPA, which forces a unit to choose a target to "stalk". All attacks against that target get a -1 to-hit and attacks against any other target get a +2 to-hit. Since this is a Clan unit, in an era when Zellbrigen was still in heavy use, this fits well with the likely opponents my Binary will face. This will help the Fire Moth and Locust IIC hit and destroy the harassers they track down. It will also give the Stormcrow and Coyotl better chances to hit their targets, while the Griffin IIC can take pot-shots where needed without the SPA.
I hope you've enjoyed this update. I promise I'll get to some more posts with actual pictures of minis. At this point I have almost everything assembled (the Locust IIC is 50% and the Orion IIC will need some repairs after stripping the paint).
