It's not speedy but it can jump, so that's something. The standard engine makes side torso destruction survivable. The armor is enough that make me sit up and take notice. The arsenal has me feeling conflicted. On the one hand, there is a certain elegance that reminds me of the old 3S Banshee. For some inexplicable reason the weapon combo gives me warm and fuzzy feelings. But when the i start trying to figure out how to use this kilt wearing monstrosity, I start wondering if I can find a set of 'mech scale bag pipes anywhere....
Its totally ammo dependant. Assault 'mechs in the Succession Wars could mount a pair of medium lasers as their ammo-free backup weapons and call it good. This beast doesn't even have one laser. 'Mechs like the Hollander or Blitzkrieg are totally ammo dependant as well, but they are both pack a big single location weapon. Some one might be able to sell me on the math that having 5 medium lasers is better than 1 AC/20, but there is a brown pants factor to those big hole punchers that is lacking from the Blackwatch. Yes, that MRM-40 can throw a lot of metal down range but between the +1 to hit, their fair to middling range, and the 'mech's mediocre speed, I'm pretty confident I can avoid most of the pain there. Besides, so long as I'm not breached, that MRM-40 will hurt the first hit or two but its something I loose sleep over. Which brings me to the LGR and uAC/10. Two great weapons... on a heavy mech. Not enough punch for a 3/5/3 85 tonner.
You can't really afford float at range and nibble the other guy down, especially if the other guy is an assault 'mech. The bins just aren't deep enough.
The Jihad variant would have been great, if the could have kept the MRM's. HPPC and Gauss rifle to float at range and crack the other guy's armor. Move in and finish him off with a Macross Missile Massacre. As it stands, a pair of MML 7s will throw more SRMs down range that I really want to deal with, if I've been getting the business from a pair of 15 pointers for the last couple of turns....
Is there some subtle use I'm missing with this machine or is it just something that looks good on paper?