Oh man, I remember doing an MotW for this oh... seven and a half years ago. And I found it!
Mech of the Week: BTZ-3F BlitzkriegIt seems to have been about a week, so I’ll punt this quickie MotW up.
Coventry Metal Works presents… The BlitzkriegCoventry Metal Works has a truly hit or miss mech design department. When they hit, you get the Hauptmann, when they miss, you get the Hollander, and when they get drunk, you get the Blitzkrieg.
The Blitzkrieg was designed after the 3058 Falcon Incursion where the Hollanders deployed on Coventry put out a less-than-stellar combat performance. Thanks to some salvaged Clan Jade Falcon class 20 boomsticks and some ultra know-how from the FWL, the Lyrans figured out how to build class-20 Ultra Autocannon. Next thing you know, they go nuts and build a 50-ton mech around it.
The GoodRight, let’s start off on a bright note – The Blitzkrieg is as advanced a mech as you can get pre-TW. It uses Endo, Ferro, and an XL engine to give the mech the groundspeed of a Jenner – 7/11. It’s not going to outrun a Black Lanner, but it’ll pull away from almost anything the Falcons field besides that and the Fire Falcon.
Next, unlike some mechs, the Blitzkrieg sports an enormous 4 ton ammo bin in its right torso feeding the gigantic Ultra-20 autocannon mounted in the left torso. (Although, going by the artwork, the A/C should be center-mounted, much like a Marauder 3R’s AC/5)
And you know what? That’s it for the good news. It’s a running 7/11 UAC/20. Now, you might be asking how this is better than a UAC Saladin at this point. Well… The Blitzkrieg carries more ammo, only requires one mechwarrior instead of three crewmen, carries more armour, uses legged instead of the vulnerable hover movement mode, and has an ejection seat.
The BadLet’s move on to the downsides of the Blitzkrieg. First on the list is a huge, ugly, glaring flaw. The fluff brags about the Blitzkrieg sporting double the armour of the Hollander. What a load of spin. Armour is compared to the chassis’ practical limits and the volume and intensity of incoming fire. Just because it’s somewhat less sucktastic compared to its predecessor is no reason to celebrate.
So how bad is it? 6.5 tons of IS Ferro-Fibrous armour gives you 116 points or protection.
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head: 3 8
Center Torso: 16 17
Center Torso (Rear): 5
L/R Side Torso: 12 13/13
L/R Side Torso (Rear): 4/4
L/R Arm: 8 10/10
L/R Leg: 12 16/16 As you can see, incoming enemy fire is going to start going internal almost from the get go. And make no mistake, as a 7/11 Ultra-AC/20 platform, incoming enemy fire is likely to be intense at the best of times.
Another bad has to be the cost. All those advanced weight saving technologies, big-assed engine, and humongous gun drive the cost up to just short of 10.8 million C-bills worth of gear. To put that in perspective, for the same resources, you can either spring for a half dozen Ultra-20 Saladins, or more amazingly, a base Hauptmann chassis (minus weapons).
The ****** uglyThe Blitzkrieg does not have CASE. Okay, not relevant from a pick-up-and-play standpoint, but if you had it, you could at least salvage that BFG for installation somewhere else, or drag the carcass off the field to cannibalize for parts. As is, the ammo bin is one enormous self-destruct charge, ready to turn your valuable autocannon into metal confetti.
The likelihood of that happening is extremely high, by the way. You see, the Blitzkrieg’s right torso has… 3 crits of XL engine, 4 crits of ammo, and then 5 crits of Ferro.
Speaking of ugly, this ranks up there as one of the ugliest mechs out there
Some mechs badly need to be euthanizedNo arms that I can see, odd rear-biased weight distribution… Now, the fluff says that the Hollander was disliked for its inherent instability among other things, but I’m not sure how the Blitzkrieg is better. The fluff mentions counter weights and careful balancing of the ammo systems, but come ON… Also, VTOLs and ASFs are treated to a brilliant bull’s-eye target on the top of the cockpit…
What do I do with this thing?Well, first off, you must come to terms with the fact that the Blitzkrieg is nothing less and nothing more than a one-use weapon, much like a Saladin without the painful motive crits. The things are almost like ground-bound cruise missiles – able to bring a catastrophic amount of pain to one target if you maneuver it well.
My personal suggestion is to avoid taking the Blitzkrieg unless you have a large enough force to afford a one-shot unit. I would suggest company-sized games or better. Next, as
Templar Coyote notes, they work best in multiples; a pair, trio, or even a full lance to ensure that your gamble doesn’t go down because of one unlucky crit.
Finally, I would prefer to hold them in reserve, waiting for either an opening to blast a distracted enemy, or sacrificing them to buy time for other units to either finish off an opponent or withdraw from an untenable situation.
Another possible use is as a fast flanking unit using cover to surprise the enemy’s sides or rear or to ambush units already in the thick of the fighting. No matter how you use it though, expect your Blitzkriegs to be destroyed or badly mauled whether they win or lose.
A glimmer of hope?The deployment fluff mentions that because of cost overruns and delays, only a trial lance had been sent to the Twenty-fourth Arcturan Guards on Barcelona, and that production was not scheduled until 3061, with the FWL having the option of buying up to 25% of output. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll have fixed some of the machine’s flaws.
My personal take on it is that you have 3 aspects:
High ground speed
Good ammo endurance
Good armour
Of which, you can only pick two. Opt for a 6/9/6 movement curve, and you’ll be able to greatly increase armour and add CASE. Dump a ton of ammo, and you can improve the armour a bit, perhaps adding CASE as well. Alternately, you could change to a LB-20x and 2 or 3 tons of ammo, freeing up two-three tons for CASE and armour. You lose the double-tap, but it would make for a much deadlier ‘finisher’ mech.
