'Mech of the Week: PEN-2* PenthesileaCaught between a rock and a hard place both politically and strategically due to their reliance on Detroit for production of major weapons systems, the Magestrix elected to fund a Majesty Metals and Manufacturing project to produce a large, capable new heavy BattleMech domestically. The design team from the
Eyleuka was tapped to handle the development and the resulting design, the
Penthesilea, was named for an appropriate figure of Hellenic mythology, an Amazon queen and sister of Hippolyta who fought alongside the Trojans. Initially sold to Zeus' Thunderbolts for testing purposes, the
Penthesilea performed well despite an absurdly reflective paint scheme. Afterward, half of the production was routed to the Magistracy's Royal Guard and Chasseurs á Cheval regiments. One note mentions that replaced 'Mechs were diverted back to the Chasseurs and speculates that a certain Colonel deSummersVille may be trying to replace a long missing fourth regiment. I'm
sure that the author of this 'Mech had nothing to do with that, of course. In any case, the other half is approved for sale to loyal mercenaries and other Periphery realms - so far only the Concordat (which is expected to be putting them to use as part of their fire lances in the Federated Suns theater), but other realms are expected to show up on the list of approved customers soon. Exactly who is an interesting question given the way Periphery politics have changed lately.
The baseline PEN-2H design itself is the largest ever built in the Magisstracy, and at 75 tons, it sits in a tonnage that is steeped in history and battle honors in both the setting and the memories of gamers. Storied names like
Orion,
Marauder, and
Timber Wolf fill out the roster of this hallowed tonnage and the
Penthesilea is a solid entry into the club. Powered by the same Vlar 300 engine as so many other BattleMechs and moving 64 kph on a run, the
Penthesilea uses endo-steel and ferro-fibrous armor to save tonnage. 215 points of armor gives it a very solid shell and the distribution reminds me just a bit of the
Marauder with thicker armor on the arms than the side torsos. They still pass the AC/20 test and it takes no less than 30 points to strip the legs or center torso, so it's quite acceptable, and the rear plates boast protection against even a PPC hit. The right arm has an Imperator Code Red LB 10-X autocannon fed by two tons of ammunition located in the arm (theoretically to reduce jamming, something the game doesn't worry about) but CASE is still in the right torso, making this a quite acceptable pseudo-zombie. The left arm has two particle cannons, one light and one extended range, complementing the autocannon nicely, while the center torso has a battery of three Diverse Optics extended range medium lasers thanks to its compact gyro. The whole thing is kept quite happily cool by 13 double heat sinks - you can overheat pretty badly if you try but sensible firing patterns will keep it under control for the most part. Borrowing a trick from the
Gallowglas, the
Penthesilea has three jump jets. Atypical for many designs, it worked pretty well for the
Gallowglas a lot of the time and it works fine here, especially for moving in vertically constrained terrain or getting across streams. Another nice little feather in the
Penthesilea's cap is the ability to flip its arms. Between the armor and the amount of firepower pointed right at whichever unit decided to try slipping in from behind, backstabbers are going to find their job much more "interesting" dealing with this 'Mech.
One variant has been built to date, the PEN-2MAF, and it's a bit of a different kettle of kittens. The ER PPC is still there but everything else is different. The lasers were trimmed down to a single mount with the remaining weapon moved to the head, the light PPC was upgraded to an ERLL, and the autocannon is now a class 20 version, requiring them to move the ammo into the side torso. Unfortunately, the sheer bulk of an LB 20-X removed the ability to flip arms and it only has two tons of ammo. Another heat sink was slotted in to manage the increased heat for the long-range weapons. The need for crits forced a switch to light ferro-fibrous but the total armor value climbed a little higher in the process, with the only locations not getting at least a point the rear side torsos and the head. [legal] Unfortunately, sooner or later you have to pay the piper somewhere for things like this and the misfortunate fine print in this case is an extra-light gyro and the loss of the jump jets. The latter isn't that big an issue. The gyro is; while the armor thickness should keep it from being
too big an issue but my pilots' tendency to botch PSRs, the sight of that gyro fills me with a somewhat irrational dread than even an extra-light engine doesn't. The extra armor on the center torso
should keep the mayhem down to an acceptable level, though, and as I said, this isn't a thing of pure logic.
If you're planning to operate a
Penthesilea, you've made a good choice (or had a fortunate turn of luck in regards to the Quartermaster's office, at any rate). They're solid and hold up fairly well. Heat management is simpler in practice than it might look at first glance. The ER PPC is the bedrock of your firing patterns at any range with the 2MAF and should be strongly considered at most of them on the baseline 2H model for the extra damage. Standing off, supplement it with your other long-range energy weapon (either the LPPC or ERLL). The 2H can then switch in a laser or two along with the autocannon to balance heat. On the 2MAF, when you're not firing the autocannon, just keep it like that; you do
not have ammunition to waste faffing around so pick your shots and make them count. Remember that slugs have their place in LB-X cannon fire - there are times another hefty single hit is more useful than cluster rounds. While the 2MAF does look like it belongs in only close range combat, the long range fire actually works surprisingly well to fence with as you close in to go to town.
Anyone attempting to tame the amazon queen has their work cut out for them. Both variants pump out a reasonable amount of fire at range and both of them can toss enough individual clusters around to exploit the holes their other weapons open quite happily, to say nothing of their lancemates' weapons. The armor is quite solid. Bring your heavy weapons and be prepared to tear the PEN-2H limb from limb to put it down. The compact gyro cuts back heavily on one of the usual mission kill opportunities while the ammo, being CASE'd, is not as much of an instant kill risk as normal. You may want to consider taking your chances at knife-fighting. The PEN-2MAF is a bit easier to bring down thanks to that gyro but not as much as an opponent might wish. If you've got the weapons, stand off and pound it down from range to avoid the grief from its super-heavy autocannon until you're ready to put it down for the count.
Image Reference: While no miniature has been produced as of this edit, the
Master Unit List has artwork, availability listings, and BV.
