Tell me about - The Blood Asp.

[marauder648]

When I saw this thing in TRO 3060 I saw and recognised what appears to be a very deadly mech, heavily armed, good protection and with good armour, but what are folks thoughts on this big (and possibly now extinct) beasty?  Does it live up to the meanness of its looks or is it a toothless old earthworm?

[UnLimiTeD]

I learned to love the Blood Asp with Mech Commander 2, where it was the premier Assault Mech of that video game.
From a TT perspective, I still think it's marvelous, Heavy forward firepower, decent speed; It's got it all.
Sure it has shortcomings, but few mechs don't.

Nearly all variants are lacking ammunition for sustained fight, having clearly been designed for Assaults and duels, and again nearly all designs have a clear distinction between main and secondary weapons, one of them long, the other short range.
I personally love the Prime, plain stats wise, with it's two GRs and a blistering array of short range weapons to charge in and beat someone up.
Sure it's no Hellstar, but then again we can't all totally munch out.

[Savage Coyote]

As I said in another thread, it's not one I prefer.  I feel the configurations are too "all over" in terms of what they accomplish for me and I honestly haven't had much of an opportunity to use them often due to faction preference.

That said, while I was playing Blood Spirits several years ago I fell in love with the D due to it's lethality at range and low BV price tag (and an actual gauss rifle with two tons of ammo!)  Sure the UAC-2s are odd, but I see them as ERMG's or ERSRM's and think of them as crit seekers that follow up the ERLL's and Gauss  ;D

[Rage]

Not one of my favorites, though I do rather like the Charlie and Delta configurations. I think it my be my Inner Davvie manifesting itself whenever it's not being beaten bloody by my Inner Capellan Maskirovka-style, 'cause, mmmm.. autocannons.. [drool]

[wantec]

It's a cool-looking piece of artwork/sculpt, but based on the canon configs, like Savage Coyote said, it's not one I prefer. Maybe if I used it more I'd have a config I like, but as-is, there keeps being little things I'd like to change here and there.

[cold1]

It has probably the best mix of armor, speed, and pod space of any clan assault omni.

The canon configurations really do not take advantage of it though.  It's similair to the Ebon Jaguar in that the chasis is awesome but the canon layouts are really lacking.

I'm personally a big fan of the A.  It's a suboptimal heat hog, but at 4/6/3 with those guns and that armor and a tarcomp it can RUIN your day (it would be better with ERLLs in place of the heavies).  Granted in a BV2 balanced world it's on par with the Hellstar.  The E and F are pretty good too.  The prime could stand to trade a couple lasers for gauss ammo, I like to downgrade the MPLs to ERMLs for two more tons of ammo. The G is a monster that is capable of totally smashing another mech.

If you can use custom omni configurations though... this thing is evil.

It does appear to be extinct in the Inner Spher by the Dark Age.  The Horses had some from trade with the Adders and the two Adder clusters that stayed in the IS with the Horses.

[Akalabeth]

In my experience the Blood Asp is never as good in-game as it looks on paper.

[JadeHellbringer]

The B. It looks undergunned compared to the others, but it has NEVER steered me wrong.

[Alan Grant]

The few times I took out a Blood Asp Prime in MegaMek, I always seemed to lose the machine to a Gauss Rifle blowing up in my face.   #P

That aside, its still one of my favorite Clan assault Omnis.

[Rage]

The B. It looks undergunned compared to the others, but it has NEVER steered me wrong.

That the one with the pulse lasers and LRMs? 'Cause that thing doesn't look undergunned at all

[JadeHellbringer]

That the one with the pulse lasers and LRMs? 'Cause that thing doesn't look undergunned at all

That's the one. It's the ammo load- unlike most Asps, this one can sit there forever and pummel targets at range, afford to take some iffy shots (do I need 10s? Screw it, suck LRM!), and only gets meaner if something gets dumb enough to come close. It's a beast- not that it has bad configs (most are terrifying), but that one stands head and shoulders above the others. I wish there were parts to make the miniature.

[Rage]

That's the one. It's the ammo load- unlike most Asps, this one can sit there forever and pummel targets at range, afford to take some iffy shots (do I need 10s? Screw it, suck LRM!), and only gets meaner if something gets dumb enough to come close. It's a beast- not that it has bad configs (most are terrifying), but that one stands head and shoulders above the others. I wish there were parts to make the miniature.

Pretty much. It's a good configuration and all, but it seems so damned boring. Still, if you wanna pummel the hell out of the enemy at range, that's probably the best one to use, even if Delta seems a hell of a lot more fun.

[cold1]

Pretty much. It's a good configuration and all, but it seems so damned boring. Still, if you wanna pummel the hell out of the enemy at range, that's probably the best one to use, even if Delta seems a hell of a lot more fun.

Clan Star Adder designed an omni mech that's is devastatingly effective yet terribly boring.

Not sure why that would surprise anyone.

[Rage]

Clan Star Adder designed an omni mech that's is devastatingly effective yet terribly boring.

Not sure why that would surprise anyone.

More like modified. Thing's a Kingfisher that traded armor and survivability for moar dakka and some cosmetic changes.

[Arkansas Warrior]

In the vein of Rage's RAC-2 Dragon on the other thread, a CRAC-2 replacing the D's Ultras would be pretty interesting.  Frees up a good bit of extra tonnage to play with, too.

[Dragon Cat]

One of my favourite mechs to look at

If my memory of MechCommander serves me House Davion has dozens of them  ;D

[cold1]

In the vein of Rage's RAC-2 Dragon on the other thread, a CRAC-2 replacing the D's Ultras would be pretty interesting.  Frees up a good bit of extra tonnage to play with, too.

Or mix up the various autocannon and twin PPC configurations and go two CRAC 5's with 6 tons of ammo, 2 ERPPCs and a few heat sinks... pure walking doom.

I've got a half dozen or so layouts for the Big Snake that are absolutely devastating.  I'll agree the canon stuff is far from ideal.  I would love to see a few more layouts that were WoR era ideas. 
 

[JadeHellbringer]

Tinkering with a plasma cannon-oriented configuration, but it's not really coming out the way I'd like it to... going with four cannons backed by low-heat ballistics to keep from having heat problems, but it just feels... I don't know, like it's missing something.  :-\

[Scotty]

Plasma and RACs are a match made in heaven.  Use the heat from the cannons to curtail movement, offensive capability, and options, and when the reduced speed and/or lesser risk of closing allow you, charge in and unload RAC busrts at low TNs.  It's like making toasted marshmallows.  Burnt and crispy on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside. >:D

[Diplominator]

Yeah, but CRACs are mostly just bad HAGs.

Which are, in turn, bad SLRMs.

My opinion anyway.



I like the Blood Asp, though. It's not perfect but you still have to work hard to make a configuration that isn't exceedingly dangerous. Plus it looks cool.

[Scotty]

Yeah, but CRACs are mostly just bad HAGs.

Except for the whole, you know, not being 16 tons and getting four shots per ton of ammo?  Or being absolutely hideous BV hogs.  Or being eight crits worth of explodey goodness instead of two or three?

Call them "bad HAGs" if you want.  I'll actually enjoy using them.

[Diplominator]

Isn't RAC-5 ammo twenty shots per ton? That's less than three turns at max fire rate, four or five at a more reasonable rate, and if you dial it lower than that it's doing far less damage than a HAG. Plus a jam chance? The explosion factor is uncomfortable but all that ammo CRACs need to carry is plenty dangerous.

No, thank you. IS RACs are all well and good, and I'll actually even give the CRAC-2 a pass (BEGIN THE PLINKENING), but show me something with a CRAC-5 and I'll show you something that would be better off with a HAG-20 or, even better, a SLRM-20.

[cold1]

Ok I also prefer the RAC 5 to the HAG, the HAG's just don't have enough ammo efficiency.
But on the Asp you could go 2 x HAG20 with 6 tons of ammo (18 shots per) 2 x ERLL, a TarComp, and enough extra heat sinks to alpha and stay neutral before movement.

That would be a very solid long range fighter.  If you're less concerned about zell it really wants to work with a Nova Cat A.

The RAC and PPC combo wants to get to mid range and do large chunks of damage.  It needs to win an engagement in a couple of turns.  The HAG and ERLL combo can sit at range and pick its shots.

It's all about mission and player preference, but the beauty of an omni mech is they can be tailored to meet any need.  And back to my original point, the Blood Asp is one of the best omni assault chasis in the game.

[Wrangler]

I like this toy, I was asked to do a trial for a guy's roleplaying session to see if it was fair try to do a Trial of Position with the beast facing off various inbound 'Mechs in zelbring with the Prime.  I think i made it two Star Commander, when things got hairy.    Hope it went well for the guy doing the mission in the RPG game.

Aside from that, I've think its okay, I'm not in love with the first two miniatures.  1st one was oops by the time I came in where i was getting into it.  Second was huge, now i've found they redid the miniature again, which sort-of turned me off to it. 

[JadeHellbringer]

The miniatures are a weird tale, for sure.

#1 followed the artwork pretty closely, to its credit, but was just so abysmally small that it was outsized by the Cougar! It also had comically-scaled legs, to boot. Awful miniature, do not ever buy one.

#2 was... I'd really like to know the story behind this thing. It's by far and away one of the largest miniatures in the Battletech line- but, hey, it's a Blood Asp, it's not exactly petite, right? I mean, come on. So that's almost forgivable... almost. But then you look at the weapon layout and ask yourself what version this is- because it sure isn't any from a book. It does, however, nicely match the sculpts used on sites like Deviantart as a 3D model (and also used in the Mektek mod for MW4)... so the question has to be asked, how did the sculptor not get the right artwork for it, and how did it get approved? Very weird mini, but it DOES paint up nicely, I do recommend it.

And #3 is almost perfect, with a couple of minor issues. It's big- really, stand a third sculpt next to a second sculpt, and it's not much difference- #2 is still bigger, but much more gangly- sculpt #3 has some heft to it. The stats match up with the Prime again, and unlike #1 the legs are proportioned to the body. There are issues though- the over-the-shoulder Gauss mounts don't fit against the body well, leaving gaps that are a pain to fix. And one of the toes tries to curl over the edge of its half-base, so be sure to file that thing down so the Mech sits flat on its base. It's a tricky mini to build, but it IS very much worth it- if you want an Asp mini, third time was the charm. The second sculpt is also nice to work on- making alternate stats to fit it actually is kind of fun.

[cold1]

If you want a Blood Asp mini without the shoulder gun headache (it is a huge headache) just order the A variant.  It's like 5 pieces and they go together easily enough.

I'm currently plotting ways to bash minis for some of my custom setups.  Not that they will ever see a ton of use but hey a Blood Asp with the shoulder PPC's and big RAC 5 gattlin gun arms is something I want to have.

As for the sculpts, the first two are bad.  Get the third one.  They come in Prime, A, and E flavors.

[Arkansas Warrior]

Yeah, but CRACs are mostly just bad HAGs.

Which are, in turn, bad SLRMs.

My opinion anyway.



I like the Blood Asp, though. It's not perfect but you still have to work hard to make a configuration that isn't exceedingly dangerous. Plus it looks cool.

In this case, I was thinking you could replace three UAC/2s with a single CRAC-2 for the same volume of fire in a weight/crits saving package.  And RACs can at least be unjammed.

[Savage Coyote]

In this case, I was thinking you could replace three UAC/2s with a single CRAC-2 for the same volume of fire in a weight/crits saving package.  And RACs can at least be unjammed.

You can... leaves like seven tons by going to one CRAC-2, ton of ammo.  Drop in an Angel ECM, two medium pulse lasers and a TAG and you are in business.  Of course, now the BV is over 2800 which kills my like of it  :D

[cold1]

You can... leaves like seven tons by going to one CRAC-2, ton of ammo.  Drop in an Angel ECM, two medium pulse lasers and a TAG and you are in business.  Of course, now the BV is over 2800 which kills my like of it  :D

As far as clan assault omnis are concerned BV2 is a dirty Spheroid trick.  It's dishonorable and tainted.

Seriously, you could just add a couple heat sinks and a whole lot more HMLs (hey Adder mech).  6 HMLs up close will end most anyone's day.  Especially if they have to walk through, the RAC, Gauss and twin ERLL's to get there first. 

[Savage Coyote]

As far as clan assault omnis are concerned BV2 is a dirty Spheroid trick.  It's dishonorable and tainted.

Seriously, you could just add a couple heat sinks and a whole lot more HMLs (hey Adder mech).  6 HMLs up close will end most anyone's day.  Especially if they have to walk through, the RAC, Gauss and twin ERLL's to get there first.

BV is what it is.  My group uses it and so I do consider those kinds of things.  I long ago stopped playing in games where you can take whatever and toss 1/2 pilots in.  Just wasn't as fun for me.

Massed HML's won't work due to space issues for the CRAC-2 D.  I got two more on, plus three sinks and an Angel ECM.  HML's suck up space fast lol.