Grenadier Battle Armor - Technical Readout 3075 page 35
The impact of the AFFS' Grenadier Assault Battle Armor can probably best be summed up by the initial reaction of a player I knew when he first saw the stats. The uttering of the words "Oh My Grenadier" in an awed tone, followed by a brief stint with the design being nicknamed the "OMG", perfectly suited the ability for a squad to throw up to thirty two points of damage out to nine hexes, and not just once or twice like most missile-heavy Battle Armor, but more than half a dozen times.
First appearing in Combat Equipment in 2005, the Grenadier's write up confirms those first impressions that it was designed to mount the heaviest possible firepower while retaining a reasonable level of mobility, with armor unmentioned as a design concern. Unlike many other AFFS suits that originated in the Suns, such as the seminal Inner Sphere Standard, the Grenadier wasn't the brainchild of the New Avalon Institute of Science, and instead owes its existence to the Hahm-Heinz Design Bureau. A product of one of the longest development projects in Battle Armor history, Hahm-Heinz first began work on the Grenadier in the early 3050s after receiving a request for design via their corporate partner, the military-industrial giant GM. Excusing themselves from that original competition, Hahm-Heinz set to work, with the end result being the Grenadier, although the path wasn't easy due to the designers having to teach themselves how to design Battle Armor.
After the long drawn out development, in 3062 Hahm-Heinz were finally in a position to approach the then-called AFFC with their design, together with a pair of prototypes. No doubt to much surprise and disappointment, the company did not receive a positive response and their Battle Armor concept was turned away, not even getting a trial deployment. Later events were to give the almost stillborn Grenadier another chance, with the outbreak of the FedCom Civil War leading to a desperate need for Battle Armor to replace the heavy losses, resulting in the suit finally entering front line service in 3065. Even then, the Grenadier's early career wasn't smooth sailing due to bureaucratic snafus and limited production capability restricting the number of suits that were produced until the Civil War was actually over, with initial batches serving in the Davion Assault Guards and Ceti Hussars.
The disruption caused by the Jihad that followed soon on the heels of the Civil War continued the Grenadier's woes, with some GM executives even trying to kill off the relatively low rate production to allow resources to be diverted elsewhere, but supporters rallied with an impressive marketing relations campaign dubbed "Operation Parade". By hiring hundreds of retired Battle Armor troopers, Hahm-Heinz and their GM sponsors were able to field several battalions and companies equipped with Grenadiers, plus unnamed prototype suits, deploying them as fire brigades. Sent to reinforce beleaguered AFFS troops as they fought to oust Blakist invaders and other foes, many of these units were involved in the vicious fighting for New Avalon itself.
After its debut in Combat Equipment, the Grenadier later appeared in Technical Readout 3075, which added new configurations as well as a variant design, but in addition it also introduced a so-far unexplained nerf. According to Combat Equipment, the very first batches of Grenadiers had a completely fixed armament, but field experience led to the introduction of configurability, in the form of Modular Weapon Mounts on the left arm and torso. Although the former mount remains, along with an Anti-Personnel Weapon Mount on the right arm, the torso mount has been exchanged for the fixed four-tube SRM launcher. Assuming this wasn't an accident, my guess is that the design was changed to reduce the number that of configurations, thus cutting down on the record sheet count, or to avoid possible clashes with the Hauberk, which had been published in its Classic BattleTech form two years before the Grenadier. I know some players who still prefer to use the original Combat Equipment stats, resulting in non-canon games involving Grenadiers fielding Medium Lasers or four-tube LRM launchers.
Even with the unfortunate reduction in the original Grenadier's flexibility, the suit still remains a monster in combat, especially favored in urban fighting and other environments that allow it to get up close and personal before introducing its opponent to a face full of SRMs. Despite possessing twice the ground speed of foot infantry, its lack of jump jets and the inability of Assault Battle Armor to partake in Mechanized Battle Armor operations does impose some maneuver restrictions in open field combat, but with good APC support and careful planning the Grenadier can also prove just as effective in less confined battlefields. Of course, in the latter cases, a clever opponent will try to keep the battle mobile and thus isolate the Grenadiers, and the suits are at greater risk of being destroyed by enemy units out of their reach, so close coordination with supporting units is very important to obtain the greatest benefit from Grenadiers' ponderous but powerful bubble of doom.
With seven reloads for the SRM launcher, it's not uncommon to see a Grenadier squad die before it runs out of ammunition, but unless it's caught in the open by an enemy with greater range, the enemy is usually going to pay a heavy price for that kill. Offering superb crit seeking, with up to sixteen individual hits per full four-man squad, many players have seen Grenadiers crit out even the heaviest 'Mechs and tanks, and it's not uncommon for an unfortunate Mechwarrior to be knocked over just from the sheer amount of damage inflicted by a single salvo. There's little to be gained from getting up close, with the potential of an additional dozen points of damage from the standard Small Laser often enough to offset the Grenadier's inability to perform Anti-'Mech attacks.
Technical Readout 3075 added some solid alternatives for the Small Laser, even as the SRM launcher became a fixed mounting, and apart from the Flamer, in my opinion it's hard so say what is the best option. The superb Magshot is an obvious choice for many players, with its incredible range matching that of the SRMs and in effect turning the Grenadier into a walking SRM5 battery. For players who expect their enemy to field a mixed force of infantry and armored targets, the Light Recoilless Rifle is another excellent choice, but my own personal favorite for larger combined arms games is the Light TAG. Whether targeting for artillery, laser-guided bombs or Semi-Guided LRMs, the TAG can turn the suit's missiles into a mere sidekick, used only for self defense, with the main punch coming from the friendly fire support. Even with this impressive trio, the oft-overlooked Flamer shouldn't be discounted, particularly in urban fights, with its anti-infantry firepower and incendiary ability making it a solid contender despite its limited range.
To protect this powerful armament, the Grenadier is wrapped in a mere nine points of Standard Stealth armor, which is a major turn off for some players. While the stealth capability can help keep the suit alive, despite the inability to generate a Target Movement Modifier, being unable to withstand hits heavier than an Inner Sphere Large Pulse Laser is a major weakness for an Assault design. With its ground speed of 2 MP being unable to generate a Target Movement Modifier, I know some who argue that the Grenadier would have been better served with halving its speed and thus freeing mass to strengthen the armor. It's hard not to agree with that idea given that the extra Movement Point often has little effect, but I must admit I've gotten used to the flaw and to me it's part of the character of the Grenadier.
jymset: Indeed, the 9 points of armour are an integral part of the design both in terms of fluff and rules. While certainly suboptimal, this armour load firmly places its roots among the design philosophy of the first- and early second-generation suits of Inner Sphere powers. This suit weighs twice as much, but this weight was clearly gained for extra weaponry to be fitted.
And from a game perspective, that's a good thing, too. In my experiences, the Grenadier is one of, if not the best IS suit. When it appeared, it had heavier firepower than all other contenders (and short of the Kopis, it's still one of the top dogs). More crucially, it moved faster than any of them, too. On top of that, it has very competent stealth capabilities. Ooh yeah. The dual Stealth/MWM nerf since CE still does not stop the Grenadier being one of the very best general suits out there.
Having its ammo/MWM weight tweaked to add another crucial point of armour would have optimised it to a level of "sick" that would not have been fun. In addition to introducing new configurations, Technical Readout 3075 and the Jihad gave us the Grenadier Hunter-Killer, a variant that has been optimized for ambushes. Swapping missile endurance for throw weight, the backpack launcher is swapped for a five-tube system that is supplied with just four shots. Unlike the original version, it's not unheard of for H-K units to run out of missiles quicker than they run out of armor, although the standard Magshot mounted on the left arm still allows the squad to reach out nine hexes to remind the enemy that they can't completely ignore them. At closer ranges, the awesome Firedrake replaces the original Anti-Personnel Weapon Mount, giving the Hunter-Killer a powerful but lightweight anti-infantry attack. As many players who complain that the Magshot is unbalanced, I often wonder why so few express similar discontent for the Firedrake; Flamer damage against PBIs for just one third the mass is simply jaw dropping in my opinion.
The alternative configuration for the Hunter-Killer, a Compact Narc, is something of an oddity under Total War, because it cannot be used in the way described in the Technical Readout. As per the standard Total War rules, Inner Sphere Battle Armor have very limited missile options, being able to use only standard warheads or Inferno SRMs - technically they can also use torpedoes, but without UMUs entering water can be a great way for Battle Armor to commit suicide. That makes the reference to the Narc enhanced targeting helping improve the firepower of the Grenadier's own SRMs totally incorrect, an issue shared by the mention of the standard version's TAG configuration assisting LRM-armed Hauberks. Again, this is an area where some players go non-canon and allow the use of other specialty rounds, but even without that choice the Narc can be useful with the right supporting units, although personally I don't consider it a very Davion weapon.
As a side note, while talking about the Grenadier's fluff not matching the rules, I know some who've read the passage that describes Grenadier units armed with both standard and Inferno rounds as meaning that mixed magazines loads are possible. Going by Total War, that is not possible, and in addition I also believe that because the passage in question says "a company of Operation Parade Grenadiers deployed with mixed conventional and Inferno rounds", what was actually meant was that some squads in the company used Infernos, while other squads used the normal warheads.
So, how to use the Grenadier? As mentioned above, it can be simply evil in urban warfare and other confined terrain, where the enemy risks at every turn the possibility of coming face to face with a squad at point blank range. Hidden unit rules make this even more likely, although unfortunately for all models of stealthy Battle Armor, Total War took away the ability to hide from Active Probes. Even with the increased vulnerability to Probes, they can make for a great sneaky bodyguard for fire support units instead of or in addition to the usual bruiser-type 'Mech or tank normally assigned to the role.
I also greatly enjoy using the design as Battle Armor hunter killers, loading them up with Infernos, which enables even a single salvo to take out an entire squad of heavily armored Assault suits like the Kanazuchi, or the more modern Ravager. The standard Grenadier does need to get a little lucky on the Cluster Hit Table for this one-shot kill, with the Hunter-Killer variant more comfortably achieving the result. The Inferno loadout also proves lethal against armored vehicles and even conventional infantry, although the latter can be somewhat wasteful in my opinion.
Although the default Total War rules allow Grenadier squads to be carried by any APCs that possess a four ton infantry bay, I prefer to use the advanced rules and so field those vehicles that can lift at least eight tons. Despite their vulnerabilties, I'm partial to the Maxim (I) Heavy Hover Transport and Karnov UR Transport (BA) for rapid deployments, however when I'm expecting a knock-down drag-out fight in a scenario that allows non-canon configurations, then any of the Ajax, Manteuffel or Schiltron trio of OmniVehicles feature high on my Do Want list.
All in all the Grenadier is a powerhouse of the AFFS' Battle Armor corps, despite some being put off by its most un-Assault-like level of protection. As I noted above, while at times I've also bemoaned the weakness, I find it adds to the design's character; it's the flaw that balances its strengths, and is an issue shared by the other premier AFFS suits, whether it be sub-par armor or mobility. While some may complain that the AFFS lacks a true "tank" or brawler design, a Heavy or Assault suit capable of soaking up damage while it keeps fighting, I find that the Grenadier's balance of expendable firepower and armor works well overall. The Grenadier's abilties promote the do-or-die aggressive attitude that typifies many Battle Armor fights once the bullets finally start flying, and if it can fight its own game it can be a brutal opponent for any foe.
Next up: