’Mech of the Week: BRZ-*3 Berserker
The
Berserker. A Norseman with infamous battle rage, wearing a bearskin (literally, bear sark). Evolved into meaning anyone who is a little crazy and violent. A frightening, 100-ton monster that stalks the battlefields and arenas.
Seriously, wouldn’t you be frightened by a fire-breathing machine stalking you with a massive axe?
Designed as a state-of-the-art machine, the
Berserker took years to perfect. Defiance of Hesperus II made it one of the most tested machines in history. They also spared little expense. And it is one of, if not, the best design in BattleTech history.
Then again, I tend to like things that get up close and get their foe’s blood on their hands.
I do have two quibbles with the design. First, no variant has maximum armor, or even
Atlas-like armor. The other quibble I’ll get to later.
Defiance spent massive amounts during research and development. So much that there was a chance the design wouldn’t make it off the drawing boards. Finally, in 3056, the BRZ-A3
Berserker strode forth. From the beginning it was a hit with the Lyran establishment for being a
fast 100-tonner. The FRR also bought some, and the Solaris arenas loved the design. Mercenaries also have access to the design, but being able to afford one seems outside the normal mercenary paradigm.
This machine is built around an endo-steel skeleton and is powered by a 400-rated LTV extralight engine, the most expensive engine outside of large and superlight models. This powerplant gives the
Berserker unrivalled speed at its weight. The use of MASC only adds to this. Armor is a whopping eighteen and a half tons of standard plate (though half a ton under the
Atlas). This is laid out in a 9, 45/15, 31/10, 34, 38 pattern (head, center front/rear, side front/rear, arms, legs). Sixteen double heat sinks struggle with the heat load. Weapons start with the seven-ton hatchet in the machine’s right hand. Hitting with the force of a Class-20 autocannon, this thing alone can tear light ’Mech’s apart. For giving the
Berserker the chance to get close enough to use that cleaver, the design mounts an extended particle cannon in the left arm, and twin large pulse lasers, one in each side torso. A head-mounted flamer adds to the intimidation factor. Finally, there is a Guardian ECM suite and a centerline anti-missile system mounted for added defense. This brings me to the last quibble. While I understand that the internal structure can take it, the placement of the ammo for the AMS is a bit… nerve-wracking. At least in the prior rules set the thing would be empty when someone hit it… unless they got that darn Golden BB.
The BRZ-A3 held the distinction of being the most expensive Inner Sphere BattleMech for two years. At that time, the
Sunder arrived, and its B configuration surpassed the -A3, mostly on the backs of the twin C3 Masters the B carries. The Clan
Executioner also surpasses it, for while its engine is cheaper, being an OmniMech is expensive it its own right. According to my notes, the only things since to surpass any of them either have a superlight (XXL) engine, or have some form of C3 (
Turkina Z, from the Society’s Nova CEWS).
Around the same time as the BRZ-A3 hit the market, so did the BRZ-B3 model. This design is 60,000 C-Bills cheaper, which puts it just under the -A3 on the price list. This model swaps the large pulse lasers for a pair of 10-pack LRMs. All four tons of ammunition are stored in the right arm under the PPC. While able to run cool, this is perhaps the worst of the bunch. After all, it’s hard to close-in if one of your main weapon systems has minimums.
(Just ask the one I took into that first Headhunter game. I’d have killed the
Mauler if I had taken the BRZ-A3.)
After the FedCom Civil War, as the Lyran military machine needed to rebuild, Defiance unveiled a new
Berserker variant. The BRZ-C3 is the best of the bunch. First the engine was replaced with a light model. Second, the MASC system was removed and TSM was installed, now allowing the hatchet to hit with enough force to cut a
Timber Wolf in half. In place of the large pulse lasers, a trio of extended-model medium lasers are in each torso. Finally, one heat sink was removed to install a C3 Slave, so that your friends can shoot what they want as you close in to deliver your axe-blow.
Sometime after the Jihad, Defiance revisited the
Berserker and successfully intergrated a lot of more “modern” improvements. It differs from the -C3 by dropping the Slave, replacing the trio of mediums with paired Clantech variants, swaps the ECM suite for an Angel model, adds jump jets (finally), utilizes endo-composite structure, and swaps the PPC for a Bombast laser to allow for another way to moderate one’s heat (though the gunnery problems with that weapon leave something to be desired). Finally, one point of armor from each leg is removed, as the design uses the new Impact Resistant Armor. While this helps when in melee combat, it is less effective against things like Armor Piercing shells, and breech checks underwater. Sixteen double heat sinks deal with the heat load as best they can.
Using one is simple. Point yourself at your chosen foe and wade forward, spitting fire and PPC blasts until you get there, and then act like a Viking. Hack, hack, hack. Giggling like a maniacal schoolgirl helps with the psychological warfare, too. Use the MASC only when necessary. Or with the BRZ-C3, keep your heat up (not hard) and go all Hulk on some poor fool. Since getting there is half the battle, do use terrain as much as possible. That is, go behind the tree-lined ridge, and burst forth when needed. Since the BRZ-C3 can tie into a network, bring some guys with long-range guns. Always fun to rain Gauss fire down on your foes while the big guy with the axe gets attention. Even better if it draws some fire from him.
Fighting one is not so simple. He is a 100-tonner, after-all. The best strategy is fire at him until he stops moving. But if he has friends this can get dicey. The second best is to put road-blocks in his path. Make him go in ways that spend his movement suboptimally. Whether this is minefields, or expendable units. Or just fast ones that know how to get in with high numbers, and get out with even higher ones. There is also the like-with-like strategy. As in, bring a number of melee machines to go toe-to-toe with him. This can range from a
Berserker of your own, to
No-Dachis or
Ti Ts’angs (if you’re slightly more exotic, Cudgels also work). When he does get in close, do not be afraid to put multiple machines in contact with him. While he can swing once, you can kick or swing multiple times. Against the -C3, making at least one of those huggers have ECM is also a good idea. Actually, that might be the best idea, as everyone else in his network will be at range 1 otherwise.
As said before, I do not know the state of the production lines. I can only hope that this design lumbers forth into the Dark Ages and causes much pain to any invaders that try and stop them. I mean, look, the design’s name practically screams Dark Ages to many…