Lets talk about...the Battle Hawk

[Orin J.]

i personally like the idea of using the little brawlers as low-priority guards for fire support. they're tough enough to stand up to most backstabbers and carry enough firepower to keep 'em at arm's length with just enough movement to intercept.

also they're fluffed with the full-head ejection cockpit thing, which is a valuable safeguard when you're the sort of player that the gamemaster takes personally.

[cold1]

Isn't it great when that happens? It's no big deal, just a _______, OH GOD I FORGOT ABOUT THAT VERSION!

Hey when I came back to the game I got MegaMek and just started playing a star of my clan favorites versus random IS companies.  Started at equal BV2 then 150% etc.
I had a lot of those moments.  Hello Rifleman meet my Night Gyr prime!  Wait, he fired what at me? A RAC5... oh 2 RAC5's, dang!  Um, why is there a pile of parts where my Night Gyr was... Ooooh, crap.

That and one of the newer IS quads (I don't know which one, too many dang mechs) that killed a Mad Dog and Summoner in pretty short order.  It finally died when my Executioner (which it also chewed on pretty good) Alpha'd it to death at 4 or 5 hexes. 

I like when bad mechs get good updates.  Good enough to become very useable but not impress enough to attract attention.

[Weirdo]

Yeah, had that happen myself a little while back. ;D These days, I like to test out the forces I build for my weekly in-store games by throwing them at 3-4 bots in similar-BVed random forces in a big free-for-all(basically mimicking the in-store games). Recently had a bot spend a while wandering in a corner after defeating the token stuff that deployed near it, then come after me. No real problems, but it was quite a rude surprise when it got close, and who the hell put an Ultra-20 on a Paladin!? >:(

[WarGod]

I actually like it as a light trooper.  tough enough to take a bit of a beating, carries just enough fire power in a small package to be a surprise.  I only used it once though, and it was a escort to keep my heavies, or LRM boats from being flanked.

[GreekFire]

Man I completely forgot about the very existence of this thing

[DoctorMonkey]

I'd see it as a perfect close range support/escort for long ranged units like a Longbow or basic Awesome (standard PPCs and a Small Laser Of Victory) or even the mammoth multi-Gauss Thunderhawk


In a campaign setting, units of these might be good for running recon for slow moving convoys against ambush and using 'Mech sensors to look for mines and things

[Ian Sharpe]

I like it mostly as a BA hunter.  For mech combat its not that its slow, its average speed/mobility and short-ranged, which has made for some frustrating games.  The 305 mixes in kinda nicely with Hollanders and Wolfhounds in all light games.  The 306's ERMLs do a nice job of making it more a threat. 

[Redshirt]

I think either version of the Battlehawk would serve as a great complement to the other predominant 5/8/5 Mech in the AFFS arsenal, the Valkyrie. Have it serve (as several others have suggested) as a close escort in a Medium/Light Fire lance with a pair of the Valkyries and a Dervish...

[Black_Knyght]

Side note- this earns big props with me for being possibly the single most improved miniature in the Battletech line, from just awful to really cool (the Fireball shares this distinction). Looking forward to doing another resculpt sometime.

THAT really is a jaw-dropping improvement! I wish they'd do something similar with the Gunslinger, and fix those spindly arms! Maybe into something more like the arms on the MAD-5L miniature.

[Black_Knyght]

Here's my feeble attempt to improve the Battle Hawk. Not the best of solutions maybe, but it's a tough design to fix.

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=51368.0