Due to me not really being able to post this due to being at work tomorrow here's this weeks MoTW.
The Rifleman IICOh it’s only a Riflemaaaaaaaaaarrrghh!!
Background and designThe Rifleman as it originally appeared was a rather specialised and high heat machine, it was built to delete aircraft and it could do this rather well, but its heavy armament meant that it was under armoured to mount its firepower. Its biggest flaw was its inadequate cooling system that didn’t even see a ‘Royal’ fitted with double heatsinks. Still it gave yeoman service the SLDF and many went with General Kerensky into exile with Operation EXODUS.
The Clans, looking at their forces at the time before Omni’s were a thing had a long hard look at the Rifleman and really, there’s only so much polishing and fitting of a body kit you can do, it still won’t disguise the fact that at its core, the machine wasn’t that good. So they took their own shot at it. With most IIC’s losing weight, the new Rifleman IIC set the trend to add weight to previously just ‘heavy’ designs, and the Rifleman IIC gained 5 tonnes of weight and its engine was reduced in rating down to a 195 rated engine.
This of course adversely affected the speed, dropping it to 56kph but this wasn’t seen as too bad a thing as the Rifleman was essentially a defensive unit anyhow. Replacing the old machines bones with lighter endo-steel added to the weight saving and the weapons load was completely re-worked as was the armour package.
Stripping out the old 7.5 tonnes of armour the Clans (Clan Nova Cat to be precise) added 11 tonnes of Ferro Fibrous armour to the Mech’s frame whilst a trio of jump jets were fitted to allow for 90 meter leaps. The near legendary Garret D2j fire control was retained and mated with a new sky search radar system, but now the Rifleman IIC could actively defend itself against ground threats and was a far superior machine to its ancestor in regards to being able to absorb damage.
Speaking of the D2j FCS, the Rifleman IIC’s hat. Don’t mock its hat. It will be upset. Whereas the old Rifleman had a rotating and rather small radar dish, the IIC’s air search radar is mounted in a housing that looks like its running around with a massive plate on its head. I’m not sure if this rotates or its an armoured cowling for the radar. But it also has another purpose. In bad weather Elementals will often cluster around a convenient Rifleman IIC to keep themselves dry. Possibly…
The Mech’s armour scheme (for the most part) is as follows;
9/20/30/20 (10/12/10
20/20/30/30
Produced in large numbers the Rifleman IIC rapidly spread across the Clans with them being traded, won in trials and produced by seemingly everyone as the need for anti-aircraft defences was quite real. Queue sounds of booing and hissing Ravens and Cloud Cobra’s.
Put into PGC’s when Omni’s became more prevalent and never retired due to its anti-aircraft capacity the Rifleman IIC trundled into the Inner Sphere and became a common sight for those Spheroid forces who raided and attacked Clan worlds. Like many IIC designs the Rifleman IIC has seen its fair share of variants, growing with the time and is still in service both in the Homeworlds and Inner Sphere, no longer ‘just’ a PGC machine but serving proudly, if slowly, on the front lines.
VariantsPrime – This is why we can’t have nice things. Seriously this is a huge chunk of very fine quality cheddar cheese in the shape of a 65 tonne death machine. Out goes the old combo of AC-5s and large lasers and in goes a quartet of large pulse lasers. Clan ones naturally. Whilst second line pilots in Clan service are not THAT good, if you put a decent pilot in this thing it is quite simply a monster. And with 19 double heatsinks you can pretty much alpha as much as you want with only the odd break for cooling.
Rounding out the tonnage is an ER small laser and an Active Probe, whilst the ER Small’s ..well..its there, the probe is useful for what is a Garrison machine and lets it find any hidden units whilst on patrol. Simple to use. Sit at mid to long range, put a house brick on the fire button and set an egg timer alarm to go off every 3 minutes to stop overheating. Putting a Clan MechWarrior in one of these, not a PGC quality pilot is a quick way to loose friends as this thing is brutally effective.
2 – More in keeping with its original role the 2 is a tonal shift from the Prime. The quartet of large pulse lasers are removed and replaced with a quartet of Ultra AC-2’s fed by a total of 6 tonnes of ammo. Of course all the heatsinks are stripped out, this thing is very cool running to the point that you could probably dunk it in Lava and it wouldn’t notice. The ER Small laser and probe are also removed and the armour is thinned slightly; losing half a ton of protection, but the weight saved is put into the engine, now a 260 rated power plant that can push the Mech up to its traditional speed of 64kph. The jump jets remain unaltered allowing for 90-meter bunny hops.
Under-gunned vs a Mech the 2 is formidable in its role as an AA platform as all it takes is one lucky hit, and with 6 tonnes of ammo you’re not running dry fast so double shot as much as you like.
3 – When Task Force Serpent and Bulldog came a calling the Clans realised that their home defences were rather weak and they set to beefing up their sometimes quite maligned PCG forces. As the Rifleman IIC was part and parcel of this they dragged that in for an upgrade as well. More a kissing cousin of the 2 and Prime the 3 drops its speed down to 56kph again and retains a pair of Ultra AC-2’s with a ton of ammo each much like the 2. But there the familiarity stops, a pair of Heavy large lasers, one in each arm give this machine a brutal punch and if the radiation surges affect the pilot, oh well, its only a second line warrior. 21 double heatsinks keep this machine running cool despite the ferocious heat output of the heavy lasers and make this a nasty customer. Oh and the Active probe makes an appearance again so watch out infantry hiding in buildings.
Whilst not as brutally efficient (to the point of being very cheesy) as the Prime the 3 is a good, solid Mech that you don’t want to let take a bite out of you.
4 – Another machine that came into service after the ‘oh god the Inner Sphere know where we are!’ panic, and again we see more new toys. A Clan Nova Cat design the 4 features a pair of large pulse (one in each arm) lasers sitting atop the boxy forms of a pair of ATM-9 launchers, again one in each arm. Each launcher is fed by 2 tonnes of ammo, limiting their flexibility somewhat but you can still volley out a lot of hate from the ATM’s as and when needed depending on the right ammo choice. Sixteen double heatsinks keep the machine running cool whilst it hammers away. Personally I’d go for a mix of HE and standard ammo, this thing works well at midranges and the weapon ranges mesh well together.
5 – Clan Jade Falcon went a different way with their 5 design of the Rifleman IIC. In a nod to the Prime the 5 is a laser rave, all be it with a more mixed armament. A trio of ER Large lasers (one in the head) give the Mech its main throw weight and punch whilst a pair of Medium pulse lasers cover the shorter ranges. Whilst as slow as the Prime, the 5 does feature a full rack of Improved Jump Jets, which make the normally slow Rifleman IIC rather agile. Its combination of ER large lasers, 150 meter leaps and 19 double heatsinks make this thing a very good and surprisingly mobile sniper.
This Mech would be a pain to face, it has no real need to walk or run and can jump everywhere whilst reaching out to touch you with its trio of ER Large lasers. With a good pilot, this machine could be most vexing to face.
6 – Deciding that they REALLY needed an AA gun again that didn’t plink someone to death like the 2, the scientists of Clan Star Adder stripped out the Rifleman IIC’s guns and replaced them with a pair of HAG-30’s as well as seven tonnes of ammo, a pair of AMS and an active probe.
Whilst in theory not hitting hard due to the sand blaster nature of the HAG’s, the 6 is death on legs for anything on tracks or with wings or a rotor. A superb flak platform the Rifleman IIC 6 can also maul Mechs, wearing them down with clouds of HAG fire for its Star Mates to take full advantage of. Of course to fit the big cannons and their generous ammo bins, something had to go, and the 6 loses its jump jets making it very sluggish for a Mech its size. But in a dug in position or defending something from air attack, you don’t really need to move if someones coming to you.
7 – A Clan Nova Cat design built in the Inner Sphere the 7 is built with fighting combined arms forces in mind and does its job very well. Seemingly based on the 5 it retains that machines full array of Improved Jump Jets allowing for 150 meter leaps. But the weapons are considerably different. A pair of Heavy large lasers are backed up by a pair of the newly developed Plasma Cannons, although these only have a ton of ammo each. A micro-pulse laser provides some anti-infantry firepower whilst all the weapons are then linked into a targeting computer. Whilst a bit hot running with 16 double heatsinks getting overwhelmed somewhat if you fire the lasers the 7 is still a formidable machine and can do horrific things to infantry and tanks with its Plasma cannons.
Its biggest drawback is the shallow ammo bins, 1 ton of ammo simply isn’t enough in most battles, so you have to either husband your shots or go nuts and then rely on the heavy lasers once the Plasma’s run dry.
8 – The latest Rifleman IIC, the 8 is a Ghost Bear design, built within the Dominion’s space and a common feature of their Clusters, although naturally its more common in former Kungs Armee units. The 8 is a very different beast to most Rifleman IIC variants though. The biggest and most noticeable change is the Mech’s speed, topping out at 86kph thanks to an XL 325 rated engine. This allows it to keep up with typical Clan heavy Mech’s whilst jump jets allow for 150 meter leaps making this machine very agile for its type. Whilst the armour is thinned out slightly and cooling is provided by 16 double heatsinks firepower is not scrimped on. A pair of ER large lasers give the Mech its main bite whilst a pair of Streak SRM-6’s each fed by an adequate 1 ton of ammo and a quartet of AP Gauss rifles provide a fearsome anti-infantry punch. Rounding this out is an ECM which can make a fine mess of any C3 systems.
Whilst a bit light on firepower, the 8 is fast, agile and with its mixed weapons load, flexible. Ammo can be a bit of a concern but otherwise this is a very capable heavy Mech.
Thoughts.If you can find a niche, the Clans will seemingly put a Rifleman IIC in it. Filling every role from general purpose trooper to cavalry and AA gun the Rifleman IIC is generally rather good at what it does. The 2 is the weakest and unless you was attacking an airfield I doubt you’d see one in the field, but the rest are formidable. It sticks with what its good at, pounding Mech’s into rubble at mid to long ranges. The 7 and 8 are more general purpose Machines thanks to their armament choices whilst the 8 is a bloody good heavy Mech that can keep up with things like the Summoner and Timberwolf.
Fighting one is all about being willing to take a wallop whilst doing so. Thanks to their Clan weapons you can’t really fight them at range although indirect LRM fire and C3 shenanigans would be the way to go if you was. All bar one have standard engines and most are packed to the gills with heatsinks and are well padded against crits. Their lack of speed is a problem but as 99% of the Rifleman IIC variants can jump even luring them into rough terrain might not work, and won’t work against the 5 7 and 8. Whilst they are ‘only’ a 65 tonne machine and enough firepower will bring one down, expect to get a black eye and bloody nose doing so.
Oh and as a friendly note, don’t put more than one Rifleman IIC Prime on the table. If you do, I think it says in the rules somewhere that your opponent is fully allowed to throw a chair at you. Don’t be that cheesy guy!
The original look, possibly driven by a spiky haired teen (and considering the age of most Clan Mechwarriors...)
The IIC 3, pop pop BEAM!
The IIC 8 in action.
As always, thoughts and comments are most welcome!
