MechWarrior must haves?

[Weirdo]

So I've been getting the itch to actually play MWDA/AoD again, and as such have decided to rebuild my collection using Noble Knight or similar sites. I've decided I'm going to collect the Swordsworn(by virtue of actually still having a Swordsworn Warhammer IIC lying around) and Highlanders(by virtue of being the Highlanders). While I'm mostly going to be getting things by the criteria of "What's cheap to pick up", are there any units for those two factions that are must-haves, and worth shelling out some extra cash for?

[CranstonSnord]

Here's what I consider to be the 'go to' units for each. Particularly desirable units are marked with an asterisk:

Swordsworn:
*Hoverbike
*Behemoth
Srm team
Fenrir ba
*Sniper artillery
*Balac Strike VTOL
Romain Tesarek (Warhammer IIC)
Gray Death Battle Armor
Fulcrum Heavy Hover Tank
MHI Defense AA Tank
*Arrow IV Artillery Tank
Raider
Phoenix Hawk
Sun Cobra
Cardinal Transport
Hasek Mechanized Combat Vehicle
Paladin Defense System
*Towed Gauss Rifle
DI Multipurpose Light VTOL
*Hadur Fast Support Vehicle
Dasher II
Mars Assault Tank


Highlanders:
M1 Marksman Tank
DI Schmitt Tank
SRM Team
Maxim Mk2 Transport
Long Tom Artillery
 Joel Nguyen (Zeus)
Malcolm McPherson (Thumper Artillery)
Crow Scout Helicopter
Eriabee Childs (Atlas)
*Regulator II Hovertank
Donar Assault Helicopter
Shun Transport VTOL
Mars Assault Tank
Behemoth II Tank
Melicien Tetro (Longbow)
Rotem Fridberg (Kodiak)
Sniper Team
Elemental Battle Armor
Paladin Defense System
*Kelswa Assault Tank
Griffin
Kava Graves (Thor)
Dock Steward (Warhammer IIC)
*Towed Gauss Rifle
Hadur Fast Support Vehicle
R10 Mechanized ICV
Ursa
*Battlemaster 'Caber'
*Countess Tara Campbell
Mars Assault Tank
Atlas 'Solitude'
Exarch Jonah Levin

[wantec]

Weirdo, I have two questions for you that might help narrow-down (or expand) the units you should be looking for.

1) As the game expanded, parent factions and allied factions became a part of the game where it was acceptable to use the two together and be considered "pure" factions, as well as the rules allowing for movement & combat formations to be used between the allied factions. Do you want to go this route? It would add House Davion to the Swordsworn and The Republic to the Highlanders.

2) Are you interested in using mercenaries or gunslingers in your forces?

As for what to look for, that varies by faction, since each faction had its own flavor with benefits & weaknesses. The Highlanders often had higher defenses, armor, long weapon ranges, but low attack values. The Swordsworn I don't remember as well, but looking at stats they tend to have high damage, more special equipment. but run hot with average defenses. I can pull up my suggestions tomorrow when I have more time.

[Weirdo]

1: I'd like to stick to just the base factions initially but I'm not averse to expanding in the future, so pointers on those additional factions would also be welcome.

2: Maybe? My initial answer was going to be 'no', but thinking about it, it would be nice to have a few units that work for either side and add some more variety to things.

2b: Who are the Gunslingers? I got out of the game before they got introduced, so I know nothing about them.

[wantec]

1: I'd like to stick to just the base factions initially but I'm not averse to expanding in the future, so pointers on those additional factions would also be welcome.

2: Maybe? My initial answer was going to be 'no', but thinking about it, it would be nice to have a few units that work for either side and add some more variety to things.

2b: Who are the Gunslingers? I got out of the game before they got introduced, so I know nothing about them.

With the Age of Destruction expansion, the game had a minor-ish rules reboot. It added some rules that changed how the game played, one of which was adding pilot & gear cards for 'Mechs. I'm not sure exactly why, but mercenary pilots were termed Gunslingers. In addition in a later expansion the Wolf Hunters were added. Now they had a faction symbol, so they were a specific faction, but they were mercenary as well, so they acted the same as units with no faction symbol.

[Weirdo]

Semi-related question: I've looked around, and dial rings are getting increasingly hard to find/expensive. What do folks who still play use for recalcitrant infantry dials?

[Kerfuffin(925)]

I might have an extra one in my piles of old stuff at my parents house. I can take a gander this weekend

[Nav_Alpha]

Have you checked out the Warrenborn Unit lists - containing all of the various MWDA units divided by faction?
Obviously, not something you need to feel compelled by, but it’s a good list of what kind of kit they had that can inform your choices.

http://warrenborn.com/UnitSection.html

[Weirdo]

Oh absolutely, that was the first place I went. And while I can read the posted stats just fine, I still haven't played in over a decade. I don't know which ones are a very good deal for their points, or which ones look meh but their combination of stats turns out to be overpowering or easy to synergize with when you know what to look for. That's my main purpose in asking here, as this appears to be one of the last MechWarrior -specific discussion areas left on the web.