There are times in every gamer's experiences- Battletech or otherwise- that stick with him/her forever. Moments that you find yourself telling the stories of and laughing about many years after the fact. (Those familiar with the legends surrounding my dice know that there's more than a few stories about me, for example). Today we're going to cover a vehicle that, for me, is the center of one of my favorite Battletech moments of all time- and yes, the story will be told as part of it. Let's meet a unit that few of you have likely ever used, the Odin.
Odins are pretty much what you expect from a light Clan vehicle- since vehicles are dishonorable amongst the Clans, not a great deal of expense or advanced technology is put into them. The result is that while the Odin is perfectly useable in the roles it's designed for, it's not really a great combat unit outside of a narrow range of jobs. It's worth noting that poor performance by Odins during fighting on Tokasha resulted in the Jade Falcons forswearing combat vehicles altogether (artillery exempted) for nearly two decades, only really coming back to their touman as a result of the rebuilding needed following the Jihad and the fighting against the Society.
Cutting the Odin open, we find that the twenty-ton vehicle has a cramped two-man crew compartment. Odin crews are said to serve together as a team for their entire careers, which likely means they go into combat once together and die holding hands Thelma & Louise style. The little tank's wheels- a fun reverse-tricycle arrangement reminiscent of the modern-day Can-Am Spyder, allows an Odin to carry those hapless crewmen at a clip of 8/12, perfectly respectable for a scout vehicle- and of course, on pavement the wheels gain a little more speed. Since Odins often serve in roles like urban scouting and police work, this is pretty adequate overall. The engine is a fusion 140 unit, a concession made by the Clans due to its energy weapon battery.
Cutting the tank open was remarkably easy though. In true Clan fashion, our old VotW rule "speed, armor, firepower, pick two" resulted in a lot of engine and a heap of guns, with a very thin shell of armor over it all. This is a vehicle not really designed to get in a fight- no wonder the Clans hate it. One and a half tons of overworked armor coat the tank in a nearly M&M-thin shell- interestingly, this is ferro-fibrous, so perhaps the Clans aren't as cruel to Odin crews as they might be. The front, sides, and turret all have six points- enough to stop a Clan small laser once, and not much more. The rear has a nearly laughable three points that an Elemental's laser can strip in one hit. Obviously we're leaving the VotW AC-20 on the testbed this week, there's no point in firing a test shot into this poor thing.
Now, like I said, a good sized engine and hardly any armor to speak of. So... guns? Oh yes. Guns. Why does a scout tank have a respectable array of heavy weaponry? Because it's the Clans, and the idea of a scout tank that focuses on SCOUTING is as alien to them as marriage. The vehicle does make a passing attempt at being a scout with a body-mounted active probe, but much more obvious is the big turret packing twin medium pulse lasers. That was unexpected on a scout tank! These weapons do pretty major damage to similar-sized combat units like VTOLs and other scout tanks, and even an unwary Battlemech could find themselves taking a beating. And since Clan vehicle crews don't exactly get the training a Mechwarrior does (to be kind), their accuracy means the Odin will actually score hits with these guns that it might not with other main batteries. A well-used Odin can cause mayhem to an enemy- more on that later. Backing these two weapons is a turret-mounted Streak SRM-2, never a weapon I'm happy to see, and its ton of ammo. An ER small laser sits forward for the driver to use, although the artwork erroneously put it in the turret as well under the missiles. The result is that an Odin can actually cause a PSR with a full salvo, no small feat for a 20-ton tank- and since they come two to a point, even a medium Mech can find itself in ruins after an attack by a point of Odins.
A variant came out in the Jihad that actually turns the Odin from a gun truck thinly disguised as a scout to... well, an actual scout/spotter. Amazing what focusing on the job at hand can do. Dropping the engine for a fuel cell keeps the same speed, but means the energy battery has to go away. Well, all of the weapons did, replaced with stereo turret-mounted AP Gauss rifles in case trouble looms. The rest of that weight we saved though? TAG, an ECM system, and a NARC launcher. Now THAT sounds more like a scout tank! This excellent variant should be used over the original at any point where the tank needs to serve as an actual scout, but obviously won't do well in actual combat.
Using an Odin depends on what you want to do. As noted, the original is more of a gun truck than a scout tank, probe aside- so use it as such. It might not be a great scout itself, but as a scout HUNTER it is superb. Find and destroy enemy light units with the range and accuracy of your lasers- and don't be afraid to lose your Odins, because... well, with that armor, you're going to lose your Odins. But they can cause a LOT of damage before that happens. The variant, obviously, should be kept out of combat whenever possible, where it shines for breaking up C3 networks, calling in artillery, and smacking targets with NARC pods to make the distant Vultures and such happy with added accuracy for their missiles. (Is that a Bane 3 over there? ;) )
Killing an Odin... seriously? The move modifiers get a little high sometimes, but... a Clan medium laser goes internal anywhere it hits. Just throw some weaponry at the Odin- even if the numbers suck, one good hit and it's gone. So don't let it sting you with that turret any longer than you have to- slap it hard and end this. Long-range units find that the Odin can't hurt them at all, so Donar VTOLs are a great choice for hunting and killing Odins.
I promised you a story, and so I'll close with it. Several years ago, I ran a game at a now-closed game store in Virginia in which a Lyran Alliance force got wind of a Jade Falcon dropship having crash-landed in a large urban area. They were ordered to secure the site and destroy any Falcon units that had survived the landing before more hot-dropped in from orbit. Among the Falcon units that defended the site were a pair of Odins, with pretty questionable-skilled crews. The player running both Odins? None other than our assistant line developer, Ben 'GhostBear' Rome.
It was lunacy. The Lyran players gave as good as they got early in the game, at one point scoring a great kill in which a Drillson hovertank charged a Locust IIC and destroyed BOTH legs, leaving the rest of the Mech to crash to the ground helplessly. But the Falcons mobility and skill began to wear on Steiner's numbers and armor, and Ben's Odins were in the thick of it- he'd decided, as I said above in the article, that since they weren't going to survive anyway, why not crash them into the enemy lines and try to cause some damage? The Steiner players were so busy dealing with the Falcon Mechs that they ignored the Odins for much of the day, only throwing the occasional pot shot their way. At one point, one Odin took a medium laser to the front, nearly stripping it- Ben's response was to turn it around and continue chasing the Lyrans BACKWARDS, where it had more armor now.
One Odin was lost, the other (I think the backwards-driver) did survive, but between them they caused a surprising amount of damage, wounding a Zeus and a Caesar and driving off a Fafnir (!) during the game. Watching a 100-ton Mech with twin HGRs trying to hide behind buildings and be driven away from the crash site by a pair of Odins is a sight that I will never forget- and it was a lesson in both how wily and dangerous Ben can be in a game, and in how dangerous the Odin can really be if used well.
Anyway, discussions below. Next week... well, I don't know yet, but I'll think of something. ;D
