The Chameleon
is featured in Recognition Guide: ilClan v. 25 and is now available for purchase.
Very rarely in human history, an object becomes a cultural touchstone—shorthand to represent something so commonplace, so utterly ordinary that its mere mention makes legible entire clusters of experiences, memories, and nostalgia. To attain these heights of ubiquitous recognition, such a sigil must either be spectacularly and universally traumatic or so universally mundane that it virtually fades into the inconspicuous fabric of everyday life. For any denizen of the Inner Sphere, and even Clan Space, with a modicum of trivia-level knowledge about MechWarrior training, that exemplar of universal memory is none other than the venerable
Chameleon. Since the early days of the 26th century, virtually every MechWarrior that ever served in any military piloted this purpose-built trainer either in the cockpit or behind the controls of a simulator. No other machine comes close to that omnipresent guide in a common journey shared over six centuries by perhaps hundreds of thousands of men and women. The
Chameleon comes as close to any symbol or idea that has permeated the lives of humanity’s most vaunted soldiers.
Our introduction to the
Chameleon Scout Trainer occurred in
BattleTech, Second Edition, brought to us as a guide to usher players through the progenitor of the QuickStart rules. The rulebook dubs this variant the CHM-3, though the pregenerated record sheet in the middle of the book carries the much more familiar model number of TRC-4B. In a facsimile of 1980s custom, I have scanned the sheet directly from the manual.
This particular version of the TRC-4B is a bit of an oddity, as it installs none of the heat sinks into the engine, a la
BattleDroids construction rules. They have been conveniently piled in the legs, where there are no obtrusive elements such as hips, feet, and leg actuators thanks to the simplified rules. This was an intentional choice as the rules specifically point out the heat sinks-in-water mechanic. While heat is tracked in these rules, you are not allowed to
overheat, which makes the small water holes on the original BattleTech map tactically critical spaces. This is probably also the genesis of the later fluff referencing the ’Mech’s ability to shut down weapons to teach trainees about the dangers of high heat levels. All other weapon placement on the great grandfather of training ’Mechs is what we expect. Like the legs, there are no standard components such as the engine.
The
Chameleon was not given a stat block, as was afforded to the fourteen Macross-inspired Unseen. This would be the last we would see of the TRC-4B as a playable unit for a very long time.
Third Edition used most of the QSR concepts from
Second Edition but allowed for any ’Mech to be fielded so a dedicated intro trainer was no longer necessary.
Apart from
Second Edition, only a few references exist before its write up in
TRO: 3058. A brief mention of it in the
Stinger’s text from
TRO: 3025 notes that the bug ’Mech had supplanted the
Chameleon at some training academies (presumably for cost or acquisition reasons). Additionally, the
Wolf’s Dragoons sourcebook notes that the mercenary unit’s training cadre used TRC-4c
Chameleons. Whether this was a mistake or intentional on the part of the book’s author has long been unknown.
Recognition Guide vol 25 reveals that this was the clan designation for the trainer and only differed in a few non-gameplay-altering ways. To be safe, the Dragoons technicians returned their examples to the TRC-4B specs.
Brush Wars mentions
Chameleons being used in the Battle of New Olympia when Anton’s rebel forces attacked the Allison MechWarrior Institute.
There is also the non-canon (but famous) appearance in the 1988 PC game
Crescent Hawk’s Inception where the
Chameleon can be chosen, unsurprisingly, during the training missions at the beginning of the game. As Jason Youngblood, the player can potentially escape the Combine assault on his academy with the ’Mech by immediately reentering the hanger (rather than
foolishly courageously charging into battle) when the Kuritan attack commences. There is a chance to then escape the destroyed facility, though success is not guaranteed. While not a spectacular machine, it gives the player a BattleMech much sooner than intended, one that cannot normally be used in gameplay.
We are finally given a full write up in
TRO: 3058 that seats the ’Mech’s introduction in the early 2500s and are reminded that it served along with the
Crockett as the flagship training machines for the SLDF (mentioned in TRO: 2750). While the assault ’Mech became exceedingly rare through the Succession Wars, the
Chameleon only increased in popularity. Defiance continued to churn them out in increasingly large numbers due to Inner Sphere’s desperate need for pilots during the Clan Invasion. Even though the line was discontinued in 3053 in favor of the
Nightsky, the TRC-4B would remain common throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery into the ilClan era.
The secret behind the centuries of statuesque uniformity of the design seems impossible, especially in the two hundred years of the Succession Wars and an impossibly large number of owners.
Recognition Guide, vol 25 unearths a bit of legal history with
Defiance Industries v. ’Mechit-Lube Inc of Chara III, from which Defiance won the right to enforce a no-modification clause in their
Chameleon sales contracts. The RecGuide also firmly cements the heat-controling software as a key feature of the ’Mech.
The Lyrans have never been one to turn down an opportunity to profit and when Defiance ceased production, a Tamar businesswoman purchased the rights for the
Chameleon. J.B. BattleMechs began as, in part, a refubisher of the trainer and found themselves in a strong position to pick up production. They did not return the TRC-4B to production but replaced it with the trio of the CLN-7V, -7W, and -7Z. We are given these record sheets in 1996 via FASA1694
Record Sheets: 3055 & 3058, the first playable
Chameleons since 1985 and the first ever usable sheets in the full game rules. It would not be until 2010 within
Record Sheets 3058: Inner Sphere when the sheet for the TRC-4B was finally included (even if originally misnamed as the CLN-4V).
The -4B and -7V are more or less the same ’Mech with a few minor changes.
CLN-4B – 6/9/6, LL, x2 ML, x4 SL, x2 MG (200), 96/169 std armor. 999 BV
CLN-7V– 6/9/6, LL, x2 ML, x3 SL, x2 MG (100), 112/169 std armor. 1042 BV
These are functionally
Phoenix Hawk variants – skirmishers that should eschew close combat and snipe with the large laser when not jumping unless able to deliver a close-range salvo from an unassailable angle. Should pilots of either variant find themselves at close quarters, both variants can potentially force a PSR without firing the large laser. Twin machine guns will mangle opposing infantry.
Such a training ’Mech is and adequate combat unit, but its design is a perfect teaching tool in preparing pilots for the conservative approach to combat required during the Succession Wars to avoid losing exceeding valuable or nigh-irreplaceable equipment. Keep your speed up. Watch your heat. Avoid taking too much damage. Stay at range. Jump away to escape and fight another day. No element of the
Chameleon lulls a pilot into carelessness or arrogance. Pushing too hard in any aspect of combat will punish oversteps quickly.
The two remaining J.B. Variants, the CLN-7W and -7Z drop the short-range weapons for other options
CLN-7W – 6/9/6, ERLL, MPL, ML, 144/169 std armor. 1243 BV
CLN-7Z – 6/9/6 (XL), ERLL, x2 LL, 10DHS, 168/169 std armor. 1527 BV
Both variants are decent (if underwhelming) heavy scouts and skirmishers, though will suffer in shootouts with their clan counterparts and compare poorly with the
Phoenix Hawk PXH-3M, or -3D. The
Firestarter Omni also feels much more flexible and dangerous when it appears a few years later. The -7Z especially must suffer a heavy heat spike of +8-10 on an alpha strike to force a PSR. The 1527 BV cost seems especially cruel on top of all of this. Despite this, the CLN-7W especially is a rugged unit that can survive recon sorties even if it lacks some of the modern Clan Invasion toys like a probe or ECM.
While the Clan Invasion offerings of the
Chameleon were underwhelming, XTRO: Phantoms delivered a truly delightful experimental prototype. Designed as an assassin’s machine, the CLN-7VQ Q-’Mech. Though canonically unsuccessful with a 20% kill rate, it’s so much
fun.
CLN-7VG – 6/9/6 (XL), HPPC + Cap, x3 iHML, cTC, AECM, 11DHS, 144/169 std armor. 2105 BV
Thematically pitch-perfect without lurching too far into munchkinland? I think so. The eleven double heat sinks allow for bracket fire and the speed to get in, spar for a few turns, and escape. The weapons package is cartoonish and marvelously purpose-built by an insane person with too much access and money.
But since 2012, silence. Had the
Chameleon faded into obscurity like so many other chassis after the carnage Jihad? The answer before the Kickstarters would probably have been yes. Its inclusion in the mercenary-themed Kickstarter and cover-’Mech for the fourth wave of Recognition Guides has given birth to not one, but two variants. J.B. BattleMechs continues to churn out the
Chameleon. The demand became so great that J.B. sublicensed the design to several manufacturers including, ironically, Defiance Industries.
We are presented with two decidedly not training ’Mechs, both of which conform to the CLN-7V WYSIWYG standard.
CLN-8V – 6/9/6 (XL), ERLL, x2 ML, x3 XMPL, x2 MG, 12 DHS, 144/169 std armor. 1426 BV
CLN-9V – 6/9/6 (LFE), LPPC, x2 ERML, x3 XSPL, x2 MG, 10 DHS, 119/169 heavy ferro, Reinforced structure. 1276 BV
The 8V retains the sniping laser of the earlier J.B. offerings and receives now-common medium x-pulse lasers. The XL engine should give pause to protracted close-range shootouts, but there is a nice bit of synergy between the standard and x-pulse medium lasers at three hexes. Twenty-four total heat dissipation allows for some combinations of firing, but this is not one for autofire alpha enthusiasts. Like previous iterations of the
Chameleon, the -8V should be used as a hit-and-run specialist that capitalizes on maneuver and an opponent’s target prioritization. It could also be used to bully smaller and more poorly armed units.
The -9V, on the other hand,
invites the pilot to engage in close combat. An LPPC offers little other than annoyance in many contexts, but the suite of lasers is best suited from point blank to about four hexes, which is certainly not a place where most would imagine a
Chameleon operating. The light engine and reinforced structure bolster the pursuit of such tactics. Sign a waiver before diving in, please.
ReferencesBattleDroids Rulebook
BattleTech, 2nd Edition Rulebook
Technical Readout: 3025
Crescent Hawk’s Inception
Technical Readout: 2750
BattleTech, 3rd Edition Rulebook
Wolf’s Dragoons
Technical Readout: 3058
Record Sheets: 3055 & 3058
Brush Wars
Technical Readout: 3058 Upgrade
Record Sheets: 3058 Upgrade Unabridged: Inner Sphere
Experimental Technical Readout: Phantoms
Recognition Guide: IlClan v.25
