"The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!"
I didn't get a chance to finish my article up on Sunday as I normally do, so the last touches were to be done this evening and then posted a day late... Unfortunately, a thread was started a few hours before I got home about that very unit, the Yellow Jacket. Please, I beg of you, if you request a unit, LET ME COVER IT. So that article had to get scrapped for now, to my dismay/irritation. You're stuck with this instead- not that this is any poor consolation prize.
The Defense is a tank that first appeared in the MW:Dark Age game, but oddly one that never came through the author's arsenal- despite having collected since early in the game's release cycle, no Defense ever came from a booster to my army, for any faction. As such, I actually had never heard of it until the TRO came out- and was surprised to find out that this had existed for all these years. Who knew?
Anyway. Let's talk anti-aircraft weaponry. There's no doubt that the marauding aerospace fighter is one of the most dangerous forces on the battlefield. A well-placed brace of bombs, a well-timed strafing run, and a battle can change from pitched struggle to total rout in no time. It goes without saying, then, that removing that threat is important. We've had dedicated AA units around since the earliest days of Battletech, with the Rifleman and Jagermech, or if you're using vehicles the Partisan... and in the Dark Age, we've had new additions like the Aesir and the neo-Partisan. But something to note about these tanks is that they're reliant on terrain being to their advantage. Even the most minor creek can stop a platoon of Partisans in their tracks, and if they need to get to the other side one must find a bridge- and those are both hard to find sometimes, and always difficult to cross- they make for natural choke points and ambush sites. Nothing sucks more than hearing demo charges go off on the bridge supports while your tanks are halfway across, after all. So Michaelson Heavy Industries came up with the Defense- and the RAF and AFFS have been rather happy ever since. (Or as happy as the AFFS gets these days anyway)
The Defense starts with a fusion power plant, giving the tank a fairly ho-hum 4/6 movement curve. That's nothing to sneeze at
per se, but it does mean that the Defense isn't going to keep up with lightning assaults- and may struggle to retreat if needed. We do find that the engine is an XL fusion plant, which is quite welcome- although the heat sinks go to waste (aw), the Defense doesn't need to be tied to fuel lines, and the engine is so lightweight that we can save room for other tricks- comparing the Defense to older tanks in its weight bracket like the Manticore or Zhukov, it looks pretty impressive thanks to that saved weight. The other important motive system we find here is that the tracked beast has limited amphibious equipment, allowing the Defense to putter across modest water obstacles and keep up with Battlemechs wading across- no small bit of importance in this era of combined-arms warfare! This really is what sets the Defense apart from the competition- if you think you'll deal with a lot of water, such as the infamous River Delta mapsheets, it's a great advantage to the vehicle. If you're out in the open tundra or desert, it's not all that helpful- and you may be better off with a Partisan.
One of the problems to being an AA vehicle is that your job means you're public enemy #1 to the enemy aircraft you're hunting- they want rid of you so they can continue their air support role in relative peace, so you're going to be a priority to kill. As such, you need to be able to survive long enough to hit those fighters harder than they hit you. Well, we're not dodging much fire with that pedestrian movement, so we need to be able to take a hit or two. The Defense is well-named in this regard, with eight and a half tons of heavy ferro plating, backed by CASE. 44 points means our AC-20 test is easily stymied by even two shots, while the sides (31) and rear (37) don't mind much either- interesting to note that the Defense is one of the rare vehicles in which the rear is tougher than the sides! The turret has a surprisingly thin 25 points- with the main weapons located there, that's a surprise.
As for those weapons, Zhukov fans will find the Defense familiar- a pair of class-10 cannons in the turret. Of course, the Defense is an AA vehicle, and as such it goes for the author's favorite Battletech weapon system- the LB-10X. Two of these monsters are parked in the aft-mounted turret, giving the Defense the ability to engage targets in any arc of approach. Four tons of ammo give you staying power, and probably should be devoted at all times to cluster ammo considering the role. If you're not familiar with how LBX shots work on fighters, you're not doing damage to the armor- you're sandblasting off the control surfaces that allow the fighter to fly. That'll suck. Compared to the Aesir's smaller guns these pack a hefty punch in that regard, sending a whole mess of shot into the sky. Backing up the autocannons are a trio of light machine guns, all mounted in the prominently-jutting nose of the vehicle. Fed by half a ton of ammo, it is surprising that these guns didn't get an array added to them. Handy in case of infantry ambush, but moving a couple of them to the side arcs would be helpful. You also have the heat sinks to swap the LMGs and ammo for a couple of flamers, if you prefer your infantry roasted instead of pureed.
It's simple. If you worry about enemy aircraft, and you have smaller bodies of water to deal with in your operation, this is a must-have. If you lack both of those things, it's still a great unit for making enemy vehicles miserable with those clusterguns. This is an incredibly important tank, one that serves in at least modest numbers in most Inner Sphere armies at this point, and you should consider having a couple of them along in any operation you plan in this new and terrifying era. It really is a gem- simple, but effective.
You know what to do- see you all next week for a bit meatier of an article!
