Many moons ago--in the days of yore-- I played in a "maligned 'Mechs" campaign. Players got to basically choose machines per the descriptions of TRO 3025, subject to group discussion and approval. So, while players even then listed a SHD or GOL as a suboptimal design, the lore never intimated that. So, we ran a lance originaally comprised of a Whitworth, Blackjack, Quickdraw, and Charger. At different times, a Clint, Vulcan, Scorpion, BattleTechnology Battleaxe, Stardate Flea, and of course the redoubtable Banshee eventually were seen.
It turned out a lot of designs that were listed as poor actually aren't that bad. If nothing else, it made individual players really find ways and means where they could excel. Even with the original quirks list (from Dragon magazine, printed on yellow pages, with the backlit shadowy horned knight on the cover; Issue 166) in play in a later iteration of the original campaign, most of the designs are not truly terrible.
The original lance listed above can put out some serious close-range hurt on two standard maps. Even at long range it can hold its own. Though it was a campaign, the battles were generally evenly matched. A CGR can do some bad things in a 200ish tonne lance scrum. And it's hard to stay away from the massed medium lasers of that lance on on the 1x2 playing fields seen all to often back then.
Now, I'm a Regulan/Free Worlder through and through, but I got an enduring love of my old PlasTech Blackjack during that campaign, as well as the Clint and Banshee. A well-run BNC-3E can take apart a BLR-1G if played right (just as an RFL-3N is a superb dueling machine if one is willing to invest the time to figure out the nuances). Remember, its not always the speed of the car in the race, its often the relative insanity of the driver.
Well, if anyone here gets a chance to play through such a campaign, it is entirely worth it if done even reasonable right. Give it a shot.
