Battle Armor of the Week - Ironhold Assault Battle Armor

[Welshman]

This has me highly confused. Hopefully the errata itself will clear things, up, explaining explicitly which leg-motive units may carry infantry, and under which circumstances.

Sorry, wasn't trying to confuse.

It is straightforward. BattleMechs and Industrial Mechs can not mount infantry bays, nor carry infantry as "cargo" in an internal cargo bay. They may carry Cargo Containers (10 tons). Cargo containers can be fitted to carry infantry.

So unless the Mech is equipped to carry a Cargo Container, then it cannot carry infantry.

[Weirdo]

Cargo container can carry infantry, or else the APC best not have legs. Got it.

*dashes to the SupportPole, and slides down to the SupportCave*

That gives us the Kiso...and that's it. Here's hoping some of the workmechs in VA also get container cargo. I really want to use things like the Uni or Powerman to carry stuff into battle.

[SCC]

So for a 'Mech to carry infantry it must have a 10 ton cargo space that is continuous?

[Welshman]

So for a 'Mech to carry infantry it must have a 10 ton cargo space that is continuous?

Essentially. And because it is a cargo container, they can't deploy in battle.

However we've derailed the Ironhold thread...

[SCC]

I think it's something that's going to come up in every Assault BA article, moving it around better

[Moonsword]

Ladies and gentlemen, get back on topic, please.  If you need to create a discussion on 'how to move assault BA', please do it in the Ground Combat section.

[SCC]

The way this one was headed Fan Designs would be better

[Orin J.]

no one topic can contain thread drift, that one was headed to at LEAST three places.

besides, the transport of assault BA is pretty deeply tied to their usefulness as a unit. look at the Ironhold absolutely great design, almost frightening, but if it's without a something that can carry it it's very easy to engage it out of it's effective rage and cripple the the unit or simply move the fight away from it.

[Weirdo]

Tried out the Ironhold (Anti-Tank) today. Dice, but that thing is a BEAST. Good range, and the sheer number of clusters a point can put out is absolutely nuts. I sadly did not face any actual tanks, but even against 'mechs they were doing heavy damage. Sure, it was heavily spread out, but there were also TACs and head hits galore.

[Kojak]

Yeah, from the stats it looks like a point of those are essentially like a sawed-off LB-20X on legs. I look forward to the day they show up in my games.

[Jellico]

I can imagine. Ran a few points of Golem (Support)s last night and they were averaging a head hit a salvo. The LBX puts out a lot more shells...

[Weirdo]

No kidding. While I certainly know that repetition <> statistical certainty, throwing 40 pellets at something does improve the odds of a 1-in-36 event somewhat...

On a rules note, what is the exact procedure for determining the number of pellets? When I played, I rolled for each LB-X "bay", then the nuber of suits that hit in that "bay", and then rolled on the 4-chart for each individual LB-X. Is this correct, or should I be combining them in any way?

[Pa Weasley]

BA LB-X AC ranged attacks are resolved like battle armor missile attacks. So in the case of the Ironhold (Anti-Tank) adding up the total possible pellets shot by the "LB-X #1" for a full point equals 20. If the attack is successful consult the 20 column of the cluster hits table and roll to determine how many pellets hit. Lather/rise/repeat for the "LB-X #2". While not required by the rules, an evil chuckle is recommended at this point.

[Weirdo]

Okay, I can see that speeding things up. I'll do that in the future.

And after seeing them operate, there will always be LOTS of evil chuckles when using these guys...

[Fallen_Raven]

Great, it wasn't good enough that Ironholds made infantry a no go, now my tanks are screwed too. Looks like the Jade Falcons have found a way to force everyone into 'mech duels again!  ;D

[Weirdo]

Oh, and this variant retains the fire-resistant armor, too. 8)

[Trajan Helmer]

Great, it wasn't good enough that Ironholds made infantry a no go, now my tanks are screwed too. Looks like the Jade Falcons have found a way to force everyone into 'mech duels again!  ;D

Nathaculor baby!

[Diablo48]

Great, it wasn't good enough that Ironholds made infantry a no go, now my tanks are screwed too. Looks like the Jade Falcons have found a way to force everyone into 'mech duels again!  ;D

That sounds like a good excuse to break out the Cluster Bombs to me. >:D

[ScannerError]

That sounds like a good excuse to break out the Cluster Bombs to me. >:D

You need an excuse to break out the Cluster Bombs?

[Diablo48]

You need an excuse to break out the Cluster Bombs?

Well, excuses can be flexible things.  Annoying BA are a good one, but there are plenty of other options.  Fast 'Mechs, infantry hordes, urban renewal, boredom, ect. ;D

More seriously, it is really dependent on weather or not I want to bring aerospace assets to the battle.  For example, I am not going to bring an ASF if I know the other guy has a Ryoken II because it is going to go plowing into the ground before I can get a decent return on my investment. :-[

[Welshman]

Perhaps the FedSuns might be willing to sell the Lyrans a few Destriers. That is if the Suns can actually get a functioning government running again...

[Weirdo]

Do they need them, after all their Gulltopprs?

[UnLimiTeD]

Well, I think the main point to vehicles, aside from being cheap, is Artillery (cannons), missile boats, and different motive types.
Unless you have FL armour or something.
So why not bring that LTC while your there?
And as I haven't actually read it:
I suppose the Anti-tank version is 2x BA-LBX?

[Weirdo]

Yup. Two of them, plus an OS-SRM-1.

[UnLimiTeD]

Oh, I suppose they had the weight left over.
Still, that's lame. Should have gone for a searchlight instead.

[False Son]

Do they need them, after all their Gulltopprs?

Rommel Hetzer will get the job done!

[Kojak]

Rommel Hetzer will get the job done!

I think you mean the Rommel (Howitzer)? Yeah, those are probably a more efficient solution than the slow-as-molasses Gulltoppr.

[jymset]

Oh, I suppose they had the weight left over.
Still, that's lame. Should have gone for a searchlight instead.

How so? Came straight off the Salamander, with which it also shares the armor.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

So question: are there any BA that are capable of hitting harder than the Fire Ironhold?  The Support Golem can match it, but has limited ammo (but also better range and +1 on the cluster roll), can any suits actually beat it?

[Kerfuffin(925)]

Yes the Warg can do 16 at 6 hexes. Tortoise II can do 18 at 9 hexes.