Tell me about...the Anvil

[Alan Grant]

I've been spending a lot of time with FWL machines and I can't decide what to make of the Anvil.

I like the speed profile, and the game I'm playing favors standard engines because its cheaper. But I'm not sure...

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

The Anvil is basically an Ostsol that sacrifices armor to mount jump jets.  The thin armor and lack of stuff on the side torsos means that it's pretty vulnerable to crit transfer.

[Weirdo]

Like several FWL designs, the Anvil makes a good bully. It's got the speed to close with a lot of mediums, where the twin LPLs gives it a significant firepower edge. It also makes a very good escort for other heavies and assaults, since few fast backstabbers can stand up to those guns for long either.

[JadeHellbringer]

Furthering Weirdo's advice as a bodyguard, you know all those FWL designs that go heavy on LRMs? Trebuchets, Archers, Apollos, etc.? They suck at close-range fighting, generally. By 3050, the standard medium laser duo/trio that an LRM boat carries just won't cut it against a determined attacker. Light/fast medium Mechs are using new tech to move faster, last longer, hit harder, and those LRM boats are in more danger than ever.

Now, Marik used to use Hunchbacks in the bodyguard role, but 1) the AC-20 hits hard, but has just as much trouble actually HITTING a fast mover as the medium lasers did to begin with, and 2) the 'upgrade' the Hunchback got in '50 means that it's all but incapable of taking a shot at a harassing enemy unit because it only has five shots to use! So a new bodyguard that can actually hit someone is sorely needed.

Enter the Anvil.

Fast enough to rapidly move to where trouble shows up, jump-capable enough to clear low hills or buildings along the way, tough enough to stand up to harasser units longer than they themselves can stay going, and with two powerful and accurate lasers- ensuring not only that they do plenty of damage to harassers, but actually can hit the target in the first place.

Ignore the whole 'pair with the Hammer!' thing, that combo isn't particularly awe-inspiring (LRM-5s, lulz). Using a couple of Anvils, maybe one and a Hercules for the LB-10X assistance, to guard a battery of LRM boats, is where it's at.

[Moonsword]

I've had good luck with them in the bodyguard or bully role myself.  It's a solid design in that area as long as you employ it intelligently and don't expect it to do something it can't, like snipe or skirmish beyond 10 hexes.

[The Eagle]

I love the Anvil so much it's been my avatar for a while now.  It does make for a good bodyguard for fire lances as previously mentioned, but I also like it as part of a cavalry lance.  Both the -3R and -3M are particularly good for this, though for different reasons.  They're fast enough to close with enemies at a decent clip; the -3M has jump jets that let it maneuver terrain quicker, while the -3R drops said jets for three tons of extra armor which in turns increases its battlefield longevity.  Both keep the paired LPLs and paired MLs, which is a pretty respectable amount of accurate firepower especially when you remember that all the guns are in the body, leaving you free to throw two punches as well.  I like my machines durable, so I prefer the -3R: a standard engine, the extra armor, and the ECM suite make it the most survivable of the bunch.  The total package of the -3R makes it, in my mind, a fantastic brawler.

The -5M swaps the LPLs for ERLLs which isn't a terrible swap, but at that point I'd rather just have a WVR-7M: similar armament, same speed.  The -5Q, which pulls the ECM and armor for extra heat sinks, doesn't rate for me at all.  The -6M -- which pulls a medium laser for TAG -- isn't terrible, especially if you pair with the aforementioned missile boats so the Anvil can now designate for semi-guided munitions from said missile boats.  The -8M, which mounts an Arrow IV launcher, is one I've never used and have no desire to use to be honest.  I've never been in a group that put much stock in artillery of any kind so I don't have any experience with it.

[sadlerbw]

The anvil is like a 2nd-grader with a crush...it likes to run up, give you a hug, and then run away...only it's hugs are made of lasers and fists.

This mech really does thrive at super-close ranges. Keeping all the weapons in the torso means there is absolutely no reason not to throw punches as often as you can. You want to be reasonably close to get the lasers into at least medium range anyway, and at that point you are in minimum range for things like PPC's and Gauss, so you might as well close in further to even up the to-hit odds or get in contact and start throwing physical damage. Personally, I prefer to approach under cover, fire everything for a turn or two, and then use the jets to jump behind cover to cool off for a turn. The approach under cover is key. You want to use cover as much as humanly possible until you are 5-6 hexes out. The Anvil just isn't fast or tough enough to run or tank its way through an approach.

The other great use, as mentioned, is as a bodyguard. Two large pulsers and a 60T kick ought to scare the heck out of any light that thinks he can play fox-in-the-henhouse with the LRM boats. The Anvil may be slight overkill for that job, but it will accomplish it well.

As for the Hammer/Anvil pairing...well, it is a little less silly if you use the Claw Hammer, or whatever the variant with all the medium lasers is called. That turns it from an anemic LRM formation with a massively over-grown nanny, into a slightly-slow light striker formation. Three laser-Hammers and an Anvil is pretty cheap, BV wise. The two mechs have almost identical movement and range bands, and while the Anvil (with jets anyway) can be a little fragile for a heavy, the Hammer is pretty tough for a light. Especially in a city or forest, that combo can be effective. If you really want to pair an Anvil with era-appropriate fire support, go with the Apollo.

[Orin J.]

The anvil is like a 2nd-grader with a crush...it likes to run up, give you a hug, and then run away...only it's hugs are made of lasers and fists.

I was gonna say something, but honestly that sums it up a lot better. Great stuff, sadler!

[pensiveswetness]

I love how we're talking about a 'mech that by the mid 3150's should be either obsolete or non-existent since the Factory (as well that planet) has been off the map for decades...

[2ndAcr]

 He never stated what era he was playing in etc. I for one prefer Clan Invasion more than any other. Jihad not so much. 3140 and such, I have never even played in it. I think 3080 is the max I have gone.

 Invasion, I have gone in and swapped the IS large pulse lasers for Clan Large Pulse. Makes it an even better bodyguard for support mechs as it can also reach out and provide support fire with the better range.

[Minemech]

 The simplicity of the Anvil means that if a Free Worlds League member wanted to reverse engineer it, they probably could. The internal structure is the complicated part.

[Alan Grant]

I love how we're talking about a 'mech that by the mid 3150's should be either obsolete or non-existent since the Factory (as well that planet) has been off the map for decades...

The writing/collaborative fiction/rpg game I'm involved in is an alternative universe currently set close to 3100 where the Jihad never happened but the Second Star League eventually collapsed in 3087 under a mountain of problems. So the Anvil factory is still around and the FWL is actually quite active and powerful at the moment in our AU. The current Captain-General, Agatha Marik (Alys Rousset-Marik's daughter) went all Napolean on a tired and battered Inner Sphere and scooped up Terra and the worlds around it, creating a new Duchy of Terra province within the League. So the FWL is fighting everybody and winning, thanks in large part to the fact that the 3060s FWL warship fleet stayed alive and only got better. So in that game there's a lot of FWL-focus right now. Whether working for/with the FWL or fighting against the FWL. That's why this came up. I've been researching FWL machines a lot.

Even if I got away from that toward canon I think I'd still consider finding an excuse to dig up an "old" Anvil for flavor. With a standard engine its cheap and durable, so I can see that popping up as a 3150 FWL-origin, character's family-owned battleMech.