(PROGRAMMING NOTE: This was on an old USB drive from 2016 (!!!), mostly finished but never posted. Rather than delete it, I'm tossing it up here after a quick update and image addition. Any errors are best chalked up to incomplete fact-checking prior to posting. Complaints about the author's writing style will be politely ignored.)
The SLDF had a love of the Hermes, a scouting light Mech named for the 'winged' heat sink array in the feet. Fairly simple in role, the design packed a flamer and a couple of medium lasers, and was excellent at raiding and hit-and-fade attacks thanks to its fleet-footed abilities and reasonable punch (which will be covered in a future article). When the SLDF collapsed, remaining Hermes-class Mechs were no doubt quite popular with military forces they ended up in. Apparently, this was especially true of the Free Worlds League, who attempted to create a new version of the Hermes decades after Kerensky left, but... not really... at all. What did they actually make, is it any good, and what ended up happening with it as time went on? Let's explore the Hermes II.
The first thing we notice, putting a Hermes II HER-2S in the gantry for inspection, is that it tips the scales at 40 tons, 33% heavier than its predecessor. The original Hermes HER-1S utilized endo-steel structure and ferro-fibrous armor, and the bump in weight may have been to cover the use of standard materials instead, although that's simply conjecture. The fact is, we have a low-end medium Mech rather than a light, with all the bonuses and problems that come with that. The choice could be made easier to understand if not for other changes that seem to fly in the face of the 'upgrade' idea that the 2S seems to have been intended to be.
That change starts at the engine, where the lightning-fast Hermes concept falls flat. The 9/14 of the Hermes is not just lowered, but absolutely hobbled- at 6/9, a Hermes II can run flat-out at its older sibling's walk speed. The weight gain could, on its head, be seen as a necessary bump to get a bigger engine in to keep performance, but that wasn't the case- we have a much smaller engine here in the larger chassis, and the results are obviously more humble than the original. It's made all the more dismaying by the lack of jump jets, which means a Hermes II can't really outperform Mechs much larger than itself- despite giving up fifteen tons to, say, a Wolverine, the Hermes II has only a negligible speed advantage and can't jump in difficult terrain, and so is at a huge disadvantage overall to the heavier machine. That's... not great. It even gets worked over in movement by the bug-Mechs, and if you're struggling to deal with a Wasp, you've got problems.
Luckily, the Hermes II's bump in size does mean it's a tougher machine- in fact, for 40 tons, it's surprisingly durable. 7.5 tons of armor gives the machine a pretty hefty coat for its size, and means that the kinds of enemies it will usually run into (scout elements and the like) will have trouble dealing with the Hermes II. It's still not going to go toe-to-toe with a Hunchback or anything like that, but scout elements like Spiders and Commandos are likely to be very frustrated by the toughness of Marik's new toy. This is especially noticeable compared, again, to its predecessor, which even for its smaller size wasn't particularly durable.
Where the 1S rolled with the two lasers and flamer combo mentioned earlier, the Hermes II went in a different direction, and here we find a huge change that seems completely out of nowhere compared to the original. The flamer returns (more on that shortly), and one of the lasers as well, but the torso laser is removed in favor of an AC/5 and one ton of ammo. Wut? Wait a minute, WHAT? The Hermes II suddenly has a big, long-range punch that the original can't match. Of course, the other side of that is that while the gun has longer range, it also weighs an ENORMOUS amount for the size of the Mech, does no more damage than the laser would, and puts a bomb in the torso. (Fluff notes that the gun was mounted centerline on the early Mechs, which of course the rules don't allow- it's actually in the right torso, similar to the Marauder) Whether this is a decent upgrade or not is hard to really quantify- with the slower speed, a longer-range punch is handy, but if not for the super-heavy gun the speed might not have had to suffer so much to begin with. It's worth noting that the performance is similar overall to that of the Clint, but for the swap of a laser for the flamer on the Hermes, and the jump capability of the Clint being an enormous upgrade over the relatively-sluggish Marik design. If it doesn't show yet, the author is not a fan of the HER-2S.
Using a 2S is... honestly, it's not a lot of fun. It's a unit designed to work as part of a force rather than alone, as many FWL designs are, and the more of them you deploy the better it works- an AC/5 is a nuisance, but several can add up fast (as any Partisan fan can tell you). As support for heavier units like Hunchbacks and Awesomes, the Hermes II is a modest success, but it doesn't have the speed to really act as heavy support for smaller scouts like bugs and such. As flankers, they're very handy- set up a firing line with heavier units like Orions and Awesomes, move Hermes IIs and their ilk around the sides, and you've got a good recipe going. Jus tdon't plan on these being the be-all, end-all muscle of your force- if you're totally reliant on the Hermes II as your main unit in a game, you're in for a rough day at the table.
As with most of the early-days Mech designs, we have a whole slew of variants, ranging from the Succession Wars era all the way into the Dark Age- some better than others.
The show starts with the HER-2M 'Mercury' (not to be confused with the SLDF scout Mech, obviously), a lunatic upgrade used by SAFE wetwork teams. If you found the 2S underwhelming, you may want to give this a look. MAY. Not WILL. The original Hermes concept feels much closer to reality here, with the speed up to 7/11 (still not AS fast as its cousin, but much better). The autocannon had to be removed as a result, but the replacement is two medium lasers (for a total now of three), along with a pair of machine guns fed by half a ton of ammo. A single heat sink was added as well to help manage the added heat output, which one will note means that a running strike with all three lasers is heat-neutral, a pretty impressive sting for its size- particularly since the speed allows it to rapidly get behind slower opponents. With the flamer and twin MGs, it's also a nasty anti-infantry/crowd control unit, rapidly redeploying to trouble spots to make life miserable. The author, with a well-established love of eliminating infantry, was a big fan of the Mercury.
HER-4K is, inexplicably, a variant used by Kurita (and later, the FRR), and in standard Succession Wars-era Kurita fashion, they took an established design and turned it on its ear, as they did with the Catapult, Shadow Hawk, etc.- except, this is really, really a fun upgrade. The design is not built in the Combine, rather it's made by buying Hermes II chassis from the FWL, which are then modded for DCMS use. The original weaponry all gets tossed in the trash, and in their place come two large lasers. Owch. Two eight-point hits at good ranges? That's the kind of power you usually see from a Mech half-again this size. Of course, a single added heat sink means that firing both will cause you some major, hideous, oh-noes heat problems, so that part sucks. It's 3025, let those heat sinks get a little worn out, will you? Without ammunition on board, at least you won't explode, right? Look, this is a pretty toasty Mech by any standard, but it's a wily little character, and surprisingly fun.
The Helm core provided lostech, and the Clan invasion provided the impetus to cram that lostech on everything possible- and in Marik's case, then turning around and selling those upgraded units to their neighbors to be thrown into the face of the invaders. With the Hermes II being a staple of FWL formations for a couple of centuries, there was no question that it would be a priority to get upgrades, and the result is the HER-5S. Endo-steel internal structure lightened the frame, the laser became a pulse model (a good/bad upgrade, the accuracy offset by the shorter ranges and doubled weight), and the cannon became an Ultra model (with no added ammo, so watch those shots!). Double heat sinks are used, which is weird since at a dead run the old model didn't overheat to begin with, but whatever, take a bath in inferno gel, I guess. It's an improvement in a number of ways, but still pretty underwhelming, and if you thought the Hermes II struggled against its competitors before, try using this thing against Clan units, or even smart upgrades from the neighbors like the newer models of the Phoenix Hawk and Clint.
Interestingly, the 5S was the only official upgrade in the invasion era- one can understand making a simple swap upgrade, then focusing resources on more extravagant changes to better machines like the Trebuchet and Hunchback (for what little THAT was worth). We have to look forward to the beginning of the FedCom Civil War to find the next version, the HER-6D, a version popular with the Davion Guards. Yeah, DAVION. Where the hell did this come from, and why? To the surprise of absolutely nobody, a Davion Mech is built around a RAC-5. Gasp. An ER medium laser backs up the fearsome cannon, which is a solid idea, and it's likely going to be used heavily, because the cannon has a SINGLE TON OF AMMUNITION. For a RAC. You sometimes wonder how Davion ever wins a war with this kind of thing in their arsenal. The author suggests never, EVER using this garbage, and if you get it off a RAT, it's worth quietly re-rolling and getting something else. The GM will understand.
Debuting at roughly the same time, the Marik-flavored forces of the Word of Blake used the HER-5C. Endo-steel and an XL engine are used to drastically drop weight, and the weapons are totally swapped for... oh wow. An ER large laser is a solid start, giving better range and damage than the autocannon did- and with the double-strength heat sinks, the sole drawback to the laser is negated. Great start. Three ER medium lasers make for an excellent battery when the fight gets a little closer, switching to them in place of the big gun. Off to a great start here. A C3i system allows this nasty customer to tie into a network, making a solid contributor to your army even better than it is alone. Finally, an iNarc launcher (fed by three tons of ammo) allows the Hermes II to contribute all kinds of dirty tricks for its side- the author is a big fan of Haywire pods in particular. It feels like a WoB answer to the Tessen, arguably better than that design, and if you're going to build a Blakist force in this era, this is a great Mech to consider all the way through the Jihad era.
As we get into the Jihad era, we see a new version pop up on Andurien. Intended for use by the Legionary Training Academy, not as a frontline unit, the HER-5SA sure looks like it would work well in a combat role. An endo-steel internal structure is here, as is an XL engine on this 'training machine', which you'll note the frontline Hermes II of the era (the 5S) does NOT have. The medium pulse laser is gone, in favor of a large pulse laser- an iffy weapon, but reasonably useful. The Ultra/5 remains, and a half-ton of armor is tacked on as well. Quite the 'training machine'. Rumors of favoritism by the Captain-General to grant such equipment to the academy are, of course, open to debate.
Who wants another Jihad variant? A field upgrade to the venerable 5S, the 5Sr stuffs an XL Gyro into the Hermes II, strips the old autocannon, and installs a heavy PPC. This is golden- that weapon swap means the main gun does an immense amount of damage, with ranges that aren't totally off from the cannon. Those weird double-heat sinks on the 5S? They sure get used now. There's no reason to use a 5S if you can get it upgraded to a 5Sr. This is a hidden gem- still not as mobile as one would like, particularly in an Inner Sphere full of far faster mediums and even fast heavies, but it's a solid contributor to your forces.
Another Jihad variant, and one that actually works rather well, is the HER-5ME. Used exclusively by the Dark Shadows, this is said to be a follow-on to the 'Mercury' variant above, but has exactly nothing in common with that war-crime design. Losing all of the weapons, as well as a couple of tons of armor (oh?), we're now fighting at extreme ranges courtesy of a light Gauss rifle. The weapon means fighting at extreme ranges that even LRMs struggle to respond at, so losing that armor isn't as huge of an issue as it could be. Two tons of ammo allow it to remain in the field for an eternity. It's like most LGR-boats, incapable of doing a lot of damage on its own, but able to strip half a ton of armor from a target at ranges they can't reply at- so while one is an irritation, a few can be a major problem. Why that would be in the hands of specops forces, or what it has to do with the anti-infantry nightmare of its 'predecessor', is beyond the author's comprehension.
It remains to be mentioned that there is one last version to discuss. The result of bilking a dimwitted duke of his fortune, the HER-7S is an experimental version that likely never was intended to be more than a curiosity (and thus, only three were built). It's... tricked out. An absurd XXL engine (!!!) gives the Mech a ground speed of 8/12, faster than any other version. That's augmented by the jump jets (finally, a jumping Hermes II!), giving an eight-hex jump to the beast. A composite structure is used to support the new weapon loadout, which looks... remarkably... are those CLAN guns? And not just Clan, but top-tech Clan! An ER flamer! And a large pulse laser! A light PPC looks positively crude here! And a Clan targeting computer! And all it costs is more than a company of normal Mechs! What a steal! Look, if you have one in your possession for some reason or other, enjoy it, but no one- even elite FWL forces- are going to ever get their hands on something like this in-general.
So... it's a little bland usually, it's not very quick in-general, it's a little underwhelming in the weapon department... but it's a staple for the League, much the way the Enforcer is for the FedSuns or the Vindicato in the Confederation. Ignore them at your peril, use them... well, also at your peril.
