‘Mech of the Week: Storm Raider
MUL Image
Courtesy of Warrenborn.com
Today we will be covering a ‘Mech that has one of my favorite attributes, it first appeared in MWDA. I know there are some out there who aren’t fond of the game, or its impact on the BattleTech universe, but the game will hold a special place for me as the thing that got me into regular tabletop MWDA and TW play and eventually to my role as a freelance writer today.
The reason I like units that first appeared in MWDA is seeing how they translate over to TW units and how they appear in a TRO. The Storm Raider’s first (and only) appearance was in the Falcon’s Prey set. It came as two unique ‘Mechs, both a part of the Dragon’s Fury faction. At the time, the unique figures came with a dossier card giving a small bit of background. While in the hands of a pro-Combine faction, the Storm Raider had Lyran origins.
One benefit (and drawback) to those dossier cards is that they provided a lot of the big details about a unit’s design. The tonnage, engine type, speed, armor type, structure type, and weapons were all listed on those cards. As a player of MWDA it was great to see all that info in a format that the rest of the BT universe would recognize. Unfortunately, this also tended to tie the hands of the folks at Catalyst when it came to translate those stats into TRO and recordsheet formats. The Targe was one example of this. Probably the most notorious example was the Shadow Cat II with a Gauss Rifle that leaves the 60-tonner with just over 100 points of armor, roughly the same amount as the 25-ton lighter Storm Raider R3 and R4.
It was truly a work of art and creative writing to explain how some of these lesser variants made it into production enough to become a notable unit, yet provide units that players would still want to use (or at least try to use). In the case of the Storm Raider, the R1 and R2 variants were detailed on the dossier cards. These two may not be amazing new creations, but they work as run of the mill light ‘Mechs for mercenary and militia forces.
First conceived by Defiance Industries as a light striker/urban defense unit and challenger to the Hollander, the Storm Raider struggles to meet any of those three criteria. The design was eventually licensed out to Coventry Metal Works, producers of the Hollander, in hopes of recouping some of the investment costs. It has found a limited role as a light picket ‘Mech in combat units, but it gained popularity on Solaris VII.
Looking at the Storm Raider in detail it’s easy to see why it struggled on the battlefield, but found a role on Solaris. It’s a 35-ton design, with an Endo Steel chassis and an XL engine. That sounds like a great start, but in the minds of many it fails to advance beyond that. Every one of the Storm Raider’s four variants uses a 210-rated engine, good enough for 6/9 movement, but not good enough for most light ‘Mechs. The R1 and R2 variants use 5 tons of standard armor, good for 80 points (67% coverage). The R3 ups this by 2 tons to 112 points (94% coverage) and the R4 maxes out the armor and switches to impact-resistant armor.
I can see you thinking, all the variants scrimped in speed, and some on armor as well, that must mean the Storm Raider spends a lot of tonnage on some great weapons. The answer is sort of. It spends the tonnage (17, 15, 13, and 13 respectively), but not in the best manner. The R1 uses its 17 tons for an AC/10, a ton of ammo, and a mace. For those that don’t know the mace works like a bigger, heavier hatchet, but instead of the hatchet’s -1 to-hit, the mace has a +1, but on the Storm Raider it hits for 9 damage instead of the hatchet’s 7 damage. And if the attack misses, the attacker must make a PSR with a +2 modifier. I can see how Defiance’s designers thought this might work well against the Hollander in a one-on-one matchup, the Hollander is much more useful on the battlefield.
The R2 variant appears to be an attempt to fix the deficiencies of the R1, without making drastic changes to the ‘Mech. The AC/10 is traded for a UAC/5, now with 2 tons of ammo, CASE, and MASC is added. This attempts to address the in-between speed and adds range to the autocannon without changing the potential maximum damage output. While this version lacks the concentrated punch and ability to use specialty ammo, the speed and range benefits are worth the trade-off in my mind.
Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the R3 again trades damage concentration, this time to increase the armor coverage. Gone in the UAC/5 in favor of a RAC/2, but only a single ton of ammo. While I usually prefer more ammo for a RAC/2 the somewhat limited ammo supply should discourage pilots from sticking around too long on the battlefield.
The last version appears to be geared more towards the arenas of Solaris VII, trading the MASC for impact-resistant armor. The armor reduces by 1/3rd the damage from any physical attacks (punches, charges, hatchet attacks) and falls. Against any other attack it acts like normal armor. Out on the open battlefields, speed is life for a light ‘Mech pilot, but in the arenas, battles often end up at bad breath distances. In the arenas, trading the speed benefits of MASC on the Storm Raider for the improved armor is a worthwhile trade-off.
Now that I’ve done a good job of showing why so many people passed over the Storm Raider I’m gonna explain how and why you should use it. In a light ‘Mech lance, the R1 can be used as a bodyguard for slow fire-support units. Most things that hunt your fire support aren’t going to like facing down a 10-point hit and a 9-point physical attack. The R2 and R3 can work as underpowered fire-support units themselves, with the R3 better able to generate multiple clusters of damage. With their MASC and longer range, the R2 and R3 can essentially keep up with short-ranged 7/11 and 8/12 lances, since rarely will such lances be running in a straight line the whole battle. The R4 will work best in duels and tight battlefields where its close enough to make use of its armor benefits and the slower speed won’t hurt as much.
Campaign Operations added Special Pilot Abilities for TW play and I’ve selected a few I think work well with the Storm Raider. The Cluster Hitter SPA (pg. 73) allows a player to make an aimed-shot with a cluster weapon and if it hits, all the clusters go to that one location. This ability requires the ‘Mech to remain stationary and it can’t make a physical attack that turn, but with only one weapon, that’s not much of a penalty. The rest of the time cluster weapons get a +1 on the determining cluster hits roll.
Next is the Melee Master SPA (pg. 77). This ability gives a physical attack a -1 to-hit and gives an additional point of damage to a successful hit. It may not seem like much, but this bumps the mace up to 10 points of damage, allowing it to go internal on a head hit for most ‘Mechs. And since the mace has the ability to choose the punch table (like a hatchet does) for a penalty, the -1 to-hit will help offset that somewhat.
The last one is the Swordsman SPA (pg. 80). This allows either an aim-shot with a physical weapon or a piercing attack. The piercing attack allows a ‘Mech with a physical weapon to make an attack with a +2 to-hit modifier. If the attack is successful, it generates a critical-hit chance (in addition to any others from damage).
While these abilities would help any ‘Mech with cluster or melee weapons, I think these particularly help the Storm Raider perform better on the battlefield and in the arena.
