You'll note Mech's plural because the ones I'm talking about don't come in many variants or flavours and would be small articles on their own so here together are two Light Mech's for your reading enjoyment.
The Night Hawk and Talon.
Night Hawk.The Night Hawk is a rare beasty at its time of introduction. Most Mech's in the 20 - 35 tonne range are built as scouts and skirmishers, only the Panther and Wolfhound for the most part stepped outside of this with the Panther being a rather slow but well armed trooper and the Wolfhound being..well a wolfhound, a hunter and killer of lights and any unwary Medium that let it get close.
Ordered by the SLDF back in 2565 the Night Hawk was designed from the start to be a hunter killer and raider that could find and run down the standard light mech's of the day, namely the Wasp and Stinger who were in use by EVERYONE. The designers the rather awesomely named Mountain Wolf Battlemech's hit the ground running and went for an all energy armament, again not that common on light mechs of the time and even now. Starting with a 35 tonne chassis they fitted a 210 rated XL engine for a maximum speed of 97kph (6/9/0 in game terms.)
Oddly enough no other weight saving materials were used and the Mech is built on a standard chassis and is protected by 7 tonnes of armour for nearly maxium protection.
Speaking of which the Night Hawk is a tough cookie, of course there's the dangers of the XL engine but both arms can take an AC-10 hit before going internal, the legs an AC-10 and AC-5 whilst the side torso's can withstand an AC-10 blast and then a hit from a small laser. The chest has formidable protection too, a pair of large laser hits will reduce its armour to a strip of teflon but it would still have something.
Whilst the speed may be a touch unimpressive the small and light engine saved room for the Mech's weapons and the Mountain Wolf folks did not dissapoint. Most light Mech's tend to go for a bevvy of smaller guns or a large missile launcher supported by smaller weapons, not so the Night Hawk.
Living in the center torso in a housing just under the engine is a standard large laser but this plays second fiddle to an ER Large Laser that lives in the Night Hawk's right arm, for supporting weapons a Medium Pulse Laser lives in the left arm and for additional cooling two extra double strength heatsinks are mounted. For a 35 tonne machine this is a SERIOUS amount of firepower that was not really rivalled until the Clan's came along and you could possibly say that a machine like the Night Hawk served as the inspiriation for Clan machines like the Adder/Puma with its all energy armament and long range focus serving as a fine starting point.
Despite the energy loadout the Night Hawk is also a cool running machine, you're heat neutral if you stand still and alpha strike the lot and the two big lasers let you easily out range anything you are sent after and if you run into something big you can still sting whilst disengaging.
There's only one Variant of the Night Hawk and its more a field refit than a full on alteration. The heavy Medium Pulse laser is removed and the electronics suite is refitted to include an ECM suite and an Active Probe turning it into a heavy scout which still has a significant bite.
Talon Entering service over a hundred years later than the Night Hawk with SLDF units getting their first new mech's in 2670 the Talon is another oddity for a light, especially for the time. Its a fire support unit, designed and built to give long range heavy fire support to light Mech companies or acting as the 'gun' for a light mech group that has found and flushed out larger prey.
Another 35 tonne machine the Talon trades the Night Hawk's heavier punch for a larger engine, in this case a 280 rated XL engine which could push the machine along at 129 kph, and like its older stablemate the Talon lacked jumpjets giving it a 8/12/0 movement profile in game terms.
Like the Night Hawk the Talon does not use any further weight saving materials but does have a thicker hide with 7.5 tonnes of armour giving it the most protection it can carry.
The arms can take an AC-10 and then SRM hit, as can the torso's whilst the legs can take a pair of large laser hits, and like the Night Hawk the chest can withstand a pair of large laser hits and still have a sliver of protection left that might withstand some harsh language.
To fufil its fire support mission the Talon's designers did not go for LRM's or a light autocannon but instead chose an ER PPC for long range, ammunition dependent firepower with a long range punch. Supporting this big cannon is a pair of redoubtable Medium Lasers for close in work.
An additional tonne of cooling systems rounds out the Talon making it cool running with barely a blip on the heat scale if you run and fired a full blast. All the weapons are arm mounted for maximum firing arcs as well, an added bonus when you're running around at 129kph.
The SLDF found that paring the Talon with the Mongoose was a good thing, both mechs had the same speed and in the case of Royal Units, the same weapons range, with the Mongoose acting as a hound to flush out anything whilst the Talon's provided the punch or covering fire before they had to disengage but it wasn't until much later that variants of the Talon began to emerge.
5V - As simple as it comes really, ripping out the ER PPC and replacing it with a standard PPC to make the cool running mech run even cooler (and no doubt be cheaper to build and easier to repair)
5Z - Not so much as a refit as a complete rebuild that i'd say produced an entirely new mech the 5Z replaces its XL engine with a Light one, all be it one that can 'only' move it along at 119kph. Extra weight saving is made with the skeleton being an Endo-Steel one and the armour being a Ferro-Fibrous compound. The extra heatsink was also removed to save even more weight and the armament package completely reworked into a pair of ER Large Lasers, one in each arm. A C3 Slave was also fitted in the head further emphasising its fire support role all be it at the cost of heat issues as you'll be left with 6 heat if you move and fire both lasers. This machine is built to hang back, taking targetting data from a friend before letting rip.
6W - The Hollander's little cousin, the 6W is again an extensive rebuild. It retains the original machines movement profile but saves weight with the use of an Endo-Steel skeleton and Heavy Ferro-Fibrous compounds being used to protect it. Once again the weapons are removed and in their place the 6W now tots a Heavy PPC and that is all. This makes it a fearsome backstabber as not many mechs its size outside of Clan units mount so large a gun on so fast a chassis, turning the fire support Talon into a mid range brawler or backstabber.
Thoughts.I like both these machines, they are simple to use even forgiving due to their pleasant heat curves and both pack a solid, reliable punch. The Night Hawk is more a trooper and general purpose machine whilst the Talon is one of those raritys. Of the Mech design triumvirate it has speed, firepower AND protection (well..for its size.) Whilst a bit pricey in BV thanks to their XL engines there's really not much to criticise or point out. They are very well designed mechs (but then again they are TRO-3058 Mechs and this should be expected, that book produced almost no donkeys).
As always, comments and criticism are most welcome!
