Fire LanceChoosing a variant of Fire Lance is perhaps the most interesting of variant choices in Alpha Strike Force Building. Most variants are either more of the same with slightly different requirements, or are purely “better” if you can meet more exacting requirements. The Fire Lance variants can have some very different results, even though they all pretty much give a better chance to hit. I was fairly certain I was going to have some direct fire units, so I ruled out Fire Support pretty quickly. I’m not that big a fan of indirect fire anyway. There aren’t any Artillery ‘mechs in this era, so I knew it wouldn’t be an Artillery Fire Lance, and Anti-Air Lance would be hard to qualify for in this era and I didn’t want to dedicate a third of my force to Anti-Air specialists.
So it really came down to a standard Fire Lance, or a Direct Fire Lance. Eventually, I would end up not qualifying for Direct Fire anyway, the Orion doesn’t meet the long range damage requirement. But I had chosen a standard Fire Lance already. Sniper is just an awesome special pilot ability.
Unit Selection
I didn’t start with anything chosen for the Fire Lance, but I had a few general ideas. First, the 21st Centauri Lancers are a heavy regiment (House Marik Sourcebook, Field Manual: Mercenaries). My Assault Lance was a little heavy, but my last Lance is probably going to be more mediums. So I want my Fire Lance to be fairly heavy. And I don’t care how slow my Fire Lance will be. They’re there to move first, not care too much about where they are going (or where the enemy might go).
The Awesome AWS-8Q is slow, heavily armored, and hits hard at long range. It’s common everywhere, but in the Free Worlds League in particular. It’s the perfect start for my Fire Lance. The Zeus is also a great Sniper. It’s usually a Steiner unit, but I wanted some Steiner salvage in the force anyway. I chose the Stalker miniature more because I want to use my Stalker miniature than for it being a great fit. It prefers medium range rather than long. I do switch to an STK-3H for more LRMs and the Missile Boat role. It’s adequate at long range, and it’s really scary if somebody decides to rush my Fire Lance. It’s high priced (PV) for its 2 long range, but in this case I’m a little limited in options based on using Intro Box Set or Lance Pack minis only. A Longbow might soon be added to my 21st CL .
Finally, I chose an Orion. This is almost entirely a sentimental decision. I’m building a Marik (though mercenary) force, and I need an Orion. It’s only 1 damage at long range, but it can pitch in and it’s a great bodyguard unit. Along with the Stalker, my Fire Lance is not going to be scared if they are rushed.
Note that a Fire Lance only gets two Sniper SPAs. So the fact that my Stalker and Orion aren’t pure Snipers/Missile Boats isn’t that bad a problem. The Zeus and Awesome will have the Sniper SPAs the majority of the time. If I lose one of those, the Stalker would likely be next. By the time my Orion would have to get the SPA, I’d be losing the bonus abilities anyway (less than 3 formation members).
Formation Requirements
Fire Lances have fairly simple requirements. Three of the four must be Snipers and/or Missile Boats. The Awesome and Zeus are Snipers. I picked a variant of the Stalker to be a Missile Boat. And that left my Orion as a requirement free choice.
Other Possible Formation Types
The Assault Lance also qualifies as a Battle Lance, Assault Lance or Command Lance. The Orion actually is important to qualifying for the Battle and Command Lances. I like the thought of those Sniper SPAs to consider switching this lance to any other formation type though.
Special Pilot Abilities
Sniper, two of them. Makes long range work like medium range, and medium range almost like short range. Pretty simple concept. Makes Long range damage really useful. Like Assault Lance bonus abilities, you pick the two units to receive them every turn, so you can lose a formation member without losing an ability.
Painting, part Two
So with the Assault Lance I described the priming, base coat and wash. Next I blacked out, with FolkArt Black Ink, cockpits and weapon ports. This was intended as the start of jeweling those areas. I also painted the bases brown, FolkArt Maple Syrup.
At this point, I was not impressed with my painting. The Anita’s Medium Blue was a bit splotchy on coverage. Most of the weapons ports were too small for me to consider jeweling. Even some of the cockpits were too small to really consider a good effect (at least with my skill). The minis were darker than I planned, though I knew I want to lighten them with highlighting, I wasn't sure if that would be enough. And I hadn’t even gotten to the step where I usually get frustrated with my painting.
Next update, Support Lance and highlighting saves my minis.