Nephilim Assault Battle Armor - Technical Readout 3075 page 39
The shining star of the Demon series, the Nephilim is the last of the Battle Armor designs developed by Precentor Vapula, and appropriately enough it's the best of the six, in my opinion. Fast for its size and type, heavily armored, stealthy and with some solid armament configurations, the Nephilim is a superb design, ranking at the very top of the canon Battle Armor, whether Clan or Inner Sphere.
Every good design has a strong foundation to build upon, and in the case of the Nephilim it's the armor, which is both strong enough to absorb a Gauss Rifle hit and then some, plus it makes the suit hard to hit in the first place. Developed by the Word of Blake and originally seen on their Purifier Medium battlesuit, Mimetic armor is best suited to slow Battle Armor, with the target modifier increasing the less the suit moves, and unlike the various forms of Stealth armor it's also effective against conventional infantry. If a suit equipped with Mimetic armor stands still, it will produce the same +3 modifier as a suit jumping 150 meters, and it can still produce a +1 modifier if the suit instead moves two hexes per Turn. That capability is a natural match for heavier suits, which struggle to match the agility of the lighter classes of Battle Armor, allowing them to remain hard to hit while still packing heavy firepower or thick protection.
Another useful benefit for Battle Armor equipped with Mimetic armor comes from the wording of the rules for dismounting troops, which treats them as having moved zero hexes the Turn they're dropped off, even if their transport had just moved a dozen hexes. Normally, that makes infantry and Battle Armor very vulnerable if they come under fire the Turn that they dismount, but in the case of suits like the Nephilim and Purifier, that's just when their Mimetic armor is working at its best. While it's still generally better to dismount out of sight of the enemy, in the case of the Nephilim you truly can use it as an assault suit, having its APCs drop it off right in the teeth of the enemy if you really need that option.
jymset: An additional factor making Mimetic ideal for assault battle armor is its steep slot requirement. Whereas it eats almost all slots on light and even medium suits, it leaves a respectable 7 free slots on an assault suit. Admittedly, even that is almost too little on such a fearsome suit, as will be seen later... Maelwys: It probably doesn't need to be said at this point, but as an assault suit, the design can't be transported by OmniMechs. If your opponent is playing with canon unit compositions, such as a Choir, you may not see (heh) the Nephilim as often due to its inability to keep up with the rest of the unit. On the other hand, it may just be laying in wait at the foot of the Archangel for you to come closer. With sixteen points of armor backing up the ability to avoid being hit in the first place, the Nephilim is incredibly hard to kill by direct fire, especially if they're using trees, buildings or other terrain as cover. As noted above, unlike other heavily armored and stealthy designs, you can't even try hunting them with conventional infantry to negate their stealth bonus, leaving only area effect weapons as a way to more readily eliminate these miniature nightmares. For most 'Mechs and tanks - or other Battle Armor - the only option is to get close, use accurate weaponry, and simply accept that you're going to miss more than normal. For some attackers, the delay in killing the Nephilim could easily be fatal, or at the very least leave them vulnerable to other foes while they're distracted by the tenacious Battle Armor.
Capable of moving two hexes per Turn, or 21.6kph, the Nephilim is also more mobile than many Assault Battle Armor designs. Although perhaps unimpressive when compared with lighter battlesuits, and readily bettered by the largest quad suits, the Nephilim's speed means it can outrun standard foot infantry, which is a horrible prospect if you put yourself in their boots. Imagine yourself seeing the blurred silhouette that makes it hard for you to draw a bead, while the heavy footsteps get ever closer despite your best efforts to flee, with your comrades falling around you as weaponry heavier than a man rips into your ranks. This speed makes the Nephilim yet another Blakist suit that works well in urban combat, and with that trait it's little wonder that the Jihad got so bloody both for those attempting to oust the Blakists and for the innocents caught in the crossfire. An added benefit for the improved speed is the ability for the base chassis to be fitted with Detachable Weapon Packs, although I'd also liked to have seen a variant that left the basic mobility to maximize the non-Detachable Weapon Pack payload instead.
Rounding out the chassis, we come to the only truly wasteful feature of the basic design. Mounting a Heavy Battle Claw on its left arm, this is purely cosmetic for the BattleTech tactical game and is little more than that for the Time Of War roleplaying game, adding a bonus for melee attacks against anybody crazy or stupid enough to get too close. While providing little benefit, the only solace is that it's just twenty kilograms that could have instead been used elsewhere, which compared to the 470 kilogram payload that remains at least is less of an impact than it would be for lighter suits.
jymset: Exactly, it's just 20 kg for a lot of fluff! The suit is a few kg short of being able to mount a Medium Laser, anyway, so that weight is generally not missed. After all, a Kopis gets a lot of coolness factor from dual heavy claws at 40 kg. It's almost always worth it. Maelwys: Just for the record, in the RPG the Nephilim's claw adds +6M/+6 damage, and +1 to Martial Arts, and +0 to Melee Weapon attacks. You're going to hit hard, but the bulkiness of the suit hampers you. Incorrectly described in Technical Readout 3075 as the last of the Demon series to be seen, the Nephilim quickly stamped its mark on the battlefields of the Jihad from 3071 onwards. Luckily for the Word's opponents, the suit remained one of the rarest of the Demons, with only four of the Shadow Divisions possessing significant numbers. Six common variants were fielded by the Blakists, and like other Demon designs these were split into two batches, with the last three versions introduced four years after the design's debut.
The Nephilim Standard is one of the trio of variants that possesses a Modular Weapon Mount on its right arm, and thus could actually spawn a large number of configurations, although only a single setup has been published. The canon configuration was originally somewhat unimpressive, mounting a Man-Portable Plasma Rifle, that used to be outperformed by the lighter Medium Recoilless Rifle, making it an unsatisfying choice. Thanks to Tactical Operations 2nd Edition, which added increased performance against Battle Armor, the Plasma Rifle now has a use, although when I get the chance to use custom configurations I still prefer to equip at least some of my suits with the ballistic weapon instead. Backing up the modular weaponry are a pair of one-shot SRM2s, that can be salvoed in a potentially devastating alpha, as well as offering the option of the fearsome Inferno. All together, this weaponry allows a Level I of Standards to hit a target with an average of forty points of damage in a single Turn, although for sustained firepower that does unfortunately drop to the less impressive average of just eight points.
jymset: The only blemish on this wonderful design is its lack of alternate canon configurations. After all, its MWM has 2 free slots, allowing for nice little jokes as the MRR that sillybrit stated, or, for giggles, a King David. Why 2 slots and not 3 like normal assault suits? Because of that slot-hungy mimetic armour. Still, 2 slots will get a long way. The Dual SRM-2s are a nice mirror of some classics like the Kanazuchi or the Rabid and beyond being useful, I find them aesthetically pleasing. My original favorite among the canon options, the Gauss variant mounts a trio of Gauss weapons - surprise! - that allow for sustained firepower at the expense of relatively low spike damage; a nice contrast to the Standard. Lacking the Modular Weapon Mount, the Gauss has a David Light Gauss Rifle on its right arm, but it's the pair of shoulder mounted Magshots that form the core of its armament. One of the best Battle Armor weapons available, one that even has advantages that I sometimes wish I had available for Clan designs, the Magshot matches the range of SRMs, except with unlimited shots in the BattleTech game. The armament does have a slight blemish, with the David only able to reach eight hexes to the Magshots' nine, but when the Nephilim Gauss can bring its full firepower to bear then on average it can hit a target with the all important twenty points of damage every Turn. Both the Gauss and Standard spray the target with a large number of hits, making them superb for crit seeking, so you really don't want to face them with vehicles or damaged 'Mechs in particular.
jymset: It cannot be overstated how impressive this variant of the suit is. One of my favourite non-WoB IS assault suits is the Hauberk II. If we pretend that the David Light Gauss is the equivalent of a SPL (bear with me), then the Nephilim carries the same payload and similarly stealthy armour while being twice as fast and 1.5x better protected. Boo yah. The basic suit chassis is sublime and with the Gauss variant, it has an offensive option that is on par. Without a doubt, the Gauss Nephilim is one of the best canon BA, period. Maelwys: This is the variant that made people sit up and take notice of the Nephilim I think. Everyone drooled over the mimetic armor, but the idea idea of multiple never ending shots at long range made people say, "Yeah, this will do." The Seeker variant was perhaps the least purely combat effective of the original variants fielded by Blakists. It earns its name from the installation of an Improved Sensor suite and Searchlight, making it an effective night fighter as well as allowing it to sniff out ambushes. Retaining the Modular Weapon Mount of the Standard, the Seeker doesn't have much space or payload for its configurable weaponry, with the sole canon example chosing to install a Machine Gun. Lacking range by the standard of later, more advanced weapons, the Machine Gun does at least provide reasonable dual-capability firepower in a fairly lightweight package. The main armament of the Seeker consists of a SRM launcher that has a magazine containing nine missiles to split between its triple array of launch tubes. Assuming the use of explosive warheads, the Seeker's spike damage at range is little more than the sustained damage of the Gauss variant, only getting a significant advantage if the Machine Gun can be brought into play. It is obviously more effective against infantry, but the real ace in the hole is the possible use of Infernos. Able to deliver eleven missiles per Turn on average, that means makes an Inferno-armed Seeker unit a fearsome prospect to face while the ammo lasts.
jymset: Latching on to what I noted about slots above, this assault suit has a pitiful single slot for its MWM. But then, seeing it only has 110 kg to spare, this is less of an issue as one may expect, as just about every weapon/equipment of that mass apart from missiles will fit. Maelwys: Surprisingly, its also the only Demon-series Battle Armor to have reloads for its missile weapon. Every other design is limited to single shots. The rules for the Improved Sensors states to use the same rules as a BAP, but with a range of 2. That's close enough to being BAP for me for the VDNI+Multi-Modal cybernetics benefit to come into play. The Nephilim may be spotting you from further away than you might expect. Appearing in 3075 in the second batch of three variants, the Support has an unimpressive armament in my opinion. Built around a pair of Rocket Launchers, each with four tubes, the Support mounts a fixed Small Laser as its backup armament for after the two rocket salvos are fired off. Although the rockets offer a range advantage over SRMs, the poor accuracy and lower damage per missile make them a poor choice overall for my tastes, however they are often favored for anti-vehicle work, relying upon crits to cripple the target. Like the Seeker, once the launchers are emptied, the secondary armament offers relatively little threat due to the short range of the remaining weaponry, although at least in the case of the Seeker its modularity allows for longer ranged options. As ill-favored as the Support variant might be, at least it's not as bad as the next version.
Maelwys: This is another case where the Mimetic armor trips the Nephilim up. There's enough free mass to equip the Support variant with the ubiquitous MRR instead of the SL, or swapping the RL4s for RL5s, but the Nephilim just doesn't have the slots available. Yet another example of the Blakist's obsession with trying to kill their own Battle Armor, the Capture Team variant mounts a 'Mech Taser in yet another waste of 225 kilograms. Like the other Capture Team designs, the Taser is installed as a Detachable Weapon Pack, which at least saves 75 kilograms, although the loss of mobility makes it a trivial exercise for an opponent to shuffle out of range. Compounding the execrable nature of the Capture Team variant, the suit also mounts a one-shot LRM2 launcher. With a primary armament that relies upon short range ambushes to have any effect, the choice of the LRM is bizarre, to use the least offensive description I can imagine. The small size of the launcher and the lack of reloads just exacerbates the issue. I can only assume Vapula hoped that Capture Team units could use the LRM to annoy the enemy, hoping that they'd then be stupid enough to charge into point blank range to avoid the non-existant follow-up puny salvo. If that wasn't enough, the canon configuration opts to mount a Heavy Machine Gun on its Modular Weapon Mount. Okay, it has a heavy punch for its size, against both infantry and armored targets, but the range! Dear Cat, the range! Personally, if I was a Manei Domini assigned to a Capture Team unit, I'd consider removing my cyberware with a wooden spoon and retiring to become a crash test dummy, it'd likely be a lot less painful and have a higher life expectancy.
The Narc variant also mounts part of its armament in a Detachable Weapon pack, in this case the Support PPC mounted on the right arm. Yet another inefficient usage of the weight saving technology introduced into the Inner Sphere by the Word, the suit would have been better served with the Light Recoilless Rifle, losing just a hex of range for the addition of superior anti-infantry firepower and being able to avoid the need to use the Detachable Weapon Pack. What really stings in my opinion is that the PPC isn't even the primary weapon system of the variant. Sure, the PPC might get more use than the other armament, but the key feature of the suit is its Narc launcher. At first glance, the two shots per launcher might not look that useful, but unlike most other weapons, only a single suit fires per unit per Turn, so this effectively gives a full Level I a twelve-shot Narc, assuming it doesn't take any losses. Despite that added extra, I'm not really a fan of Narcs and like many players I prefer the use of Artemis technology to enhance my missile salvos. Like the Capture Team variant, the Nephilim Narc also adds a one-shot two-tube launcher, this time in the form of rockets instead of LRMs, which is yet another waste of mass in my opinion. A TAG would have been my preference, turning the suit into a multirole target designator, but yet again Vapula must have been having a really bad day the day he designed this one.
Maelwys: It gets worse; the Narc variant can actually fit Light TAG even with the Rocket Launcher installed, unless the numbers are wrong in the book (entirely possible, its TR3075). Despite the weakness of the latter three variants, and arguably the Seeker version too in the eyes of some, the base chassis combined with the utility of the Standard and the Gauss models are what really make the Nephilim such a superb design. Okay, the Standard could do with some extra configurations to fully utilize its Modular Weapon Mount, but the heart of the design is there. When custom configurations can be used, then between the two variants you can field a flexible and powerful force, capable of covering a variety of roles. To be fair to the other sub-models, the basic Nephilim design is so good that even though their intended specialization is questionable, most players will be able to find them a useful role. Even with the abyssmal Capture Team suit, I've used them as spotters for other units - although a stray artillery round unfortunately cut that short - all but ignoring the armament while instead exploiting the thick Mimetic armor to the maximum.
That armor is the key to the design, it makes the Nephilim the supreme camper. Unlike the majority of Battle Armor designs, it becomes easier to hit if it moves and so works best if it stands its ground. Inflicting a +3 Target Movement Modifier on enemy attacks when it remains stationary, with the additional +1 Battle Armor modifier against non-infantry, the Nephilim is all but impossible to hit at Long range, particularly if it can find itself some convenient cover to add to its opponents' woes. Add in some Heavy Woods, for example, and the Nephilim can even be impossible for Regular skilled 'Mechs and tanks to hit at Medium range, unless they stand still or have some form of accuracy bonus. So when fielding Nephilims, quickly identify key positiions that you want to hold and get them there fast; if you're the defender and can pre-position your forces, then you're golden. Depending upon the opposition forces and the support units you have available, at the very least the Nephilim can then be a thorn in the enemy's side, if not the anvil on which you break them.
For the enemy, the best response is area effect weaponry and plenty of it. The heavier artillery offers the possibility of a one-shot kill for the entire Level I, and the typical accuracy issues and the delays involved with offboard fire can be mitigated by the typical camping tactics employed by Nephilims. Personally, I have a fondness for LRM Mine Clearance Munitions, that offer superb accuracy and with enough salvos - 3 LRM20s and a LRM15 - will take out a Nephilim Level I with Myomer Full-Body Implants much quicker than could be achieved with non-area effect weaponry. The Mimetic armor makes the use of Inferno-armed conventional infantry less effective than with other heavily armored designs, such as the Ravager. Unlike Stealth, Mimetic also reduces the accuracy of infantry attacks, but this counter shouldn't be completely discounted, because the high lethality when a hit is achieved still makes this a viable tactic if area effect weapons aren't available.
Rare even within the Shadow Divisions, Nephilims were unknown among the ranks of the Militia, and with Gibson gone and the Word of Blake defeated, like the rest of the Demon series the Nephilim is now effectively extinct. Obviously a few scattered examples might still survive, although it'd be a brave trooper who tried to use a captured suit considered how despised all the Manei Domini designs are considered to be in the wake of the Jihad. No doubt the performance of the Nephilim would at least earn it a place in the test labs of the Great Houses and Battle Armor manufacturers, where their desire to pry out its secrets would overcome any distaste for the Word's actions. If that's the case, that would be a sad ending for the Nephilim, but hopefully one day we'll see its like again on the battlefields of the Inner Sphere.
Next up:
- Rogue Bear
- Hauberk
- Ironhold
