Third Star League Strike Team ForcePack

“Terra has fallen. An ilClan has arisen. But IlKhan Alric Ward desperately needs as many machines and warriors as he can recruit to maintain his grasp on the jewel of mankind. That includes ‘Mechs, which were central to the Republic of the Sphere’s power and offer a new bedrock for Alaric.“

Today, I’m taking a look at the Third Star League Strike Team ForcePack. This is the latest miniature ForcePack released by Catalyst Game Labs, specifically designed for the new Third Star League faction emerging in the ilClan era.

Unpacking the Third Star League ForcePack

Starting with the BattleMechs, the ForcePack includes the following:

• Jackalope, Kintaro, Hammerhead, Havoc, and Pre-Painted Lament
• Bonus J-27 Ordinance Transport
• 10 MechWarrior Pilot Cards
• 6 Alpha Strike Cards

For those of you unfamiliar with the BattleMech designs, the Jackalope, Kintaro, Havoc, and Lament were once counted among the ranks of the Republic of the Sphere’s armed forces. At the same time, the Hammerhead was found among the Clan Toumans, specifically, those of the Jade Falcons and Wolves. The design mix in this ForcePack is interesting, with far better balancing in my opinion than some of the previously released ForcePacks.

Since we’re looking at this ForcePack as a unit in the new Star League Defense Force, we’re talking about a four-‘Mech Lance. So, while the Strike Team ForcePack has five different BattleMechs, we’re going to build our SLDF Lance around four of them.

First up, the non-brainers.

The Jackalope and Havoc have similar movement profiles and damage curves, and working in tandem, they’re great for rapid deployment and getting behind slower enemy ‘Mechs. The Jackalope‘s spread of variants also lends the pair some additional options. The IC variant, for example, featuring Ferro-Lamellor armor, gives the little thirty-tonner a surprising amount of protection in close combat. When paired with the Havoc, the two ‘Mechs have six ER Medium Lasers, and SRM4 and an ATM-6, paired with a laser anti-missile system. That’s a potent combination of firepower against the rear armor of an assault ‘Mech. The Havoc is also a prime candidate for carrying alternate SRM ammunition. I haven’t had a chance to try it, but I wonder how well a load of Magnetic-Pulse warheads, Infernos, or even Smoke Rounds would help the two maneuver behind enemy units. Regardless, together, the Jackalope and Havoc make a great “buddy team” and one-half of our SLDF Strike Lance.

So far, we’re off to a good start. Next, we’ll take a look at the Clan Hammerhead.

While slower than either the Jackalope or the Havoc, the Hammerhead is a dedicated skirmisher that presents a good “leader” to our growing Lance formation with its ability to soak up a lot of damage thanks to its Hardened Armor. The Hammerhead design is a smart one. Hardened Armor has some “unique” (read: troublesome) playability when combined with your typical piloting skill rolls. The Hammerhead, however, with its leg-mounted AES, negates Hardened Armor’s negative Piloting Skill penalty. The AES turns the Hammerhead into a serious contender. When combined with the Jackalope and Havoc, the Hammerhead is great for driving into enemy fire or for causing a distraction that the other two ‘Mechs can exploit. The Hammerhead‘s Large Pulse Laser also helps negate some of the ‘Mech’s slowness, though I’d like to see an ER Large Laser variant in the future. One of the better aspects of the Hammerhead in this group is the Fortress variant deployed by the Wolves during the drive to Terra. Outfitted with a barrage of short-ranged lasers and more armor, this variant is designed to get in your face. The variant requires a little more finesse to get into range of its lasers, but for more aggressive players, the Fortress variant can be the perfect “distraction” that opposing units can’t easily ignore. Paired with the Jackalope and Havoc, the Hammerhead fits very well as our third member of the Lance. In the future, I’d love to see a Fortress-based variant outfitted with an ECM suite.

Rounding out our four-‘Mech lance is the Kintaro.

At first glance, the Kintaro seems like the odd man out in our growing ForcePack Lance. A survivor of the First Star League, the Kintaro is the heaviest of the ‘Mechs in our Lance, but with a similar speed profile as the Hammerhead. It’s not particularly fast, nor slow, but the Kintaro‘s weapons profile makes it a good anchor for our Strike Team. What makes the Kintaro seem odd at first glance is the variants. As benefitting such an old, dare I say ancient, machine, the Kintaro has a good number of variants to choose from. However, most of the Kintaro‘s variants are either low-tech varietals or built around a version of the C3 system, neither of which will fit with the rest of our Strike Team Lance. There is one variant, ironically dating back to the original Star League, that works: the 19b. First built for Royal units of the SLDF, the 19b upgrades the heat sinks, LRM, and adds CASE (a necessity these days) to increase the ‘Mech’s firepower and survivability. An extra half ton of desperately needed armor is also slapped on the 19b. The 19b is still without ER Medium Lasers, but they’re not missed if the Kintaro is lobbing LRMs and then rushing forward to SRM range. The Kintaro is another ‘Mech that could benefit from specialized ammunition. I’m imagining a Kintaro outfitted with Thunder LRMs and Inferno SRMs, laying minefields and setting fires to corral the enemy while obfuscating the approach of its Lancemates. It’s quite the combination, and could make for a neat little headhunter unit.

The lame duck in the Kintaro‘s armament is the outdated Narc Launcher. Unless the Strike Team is part of a larger company, I’d suggest foregoing the regular ammunition for the explosive pod to bolster the Kintaro‘s close-range firepower. Having the same range as the standard medium laser, the explosive Narc Pod rounds out the lasers nicely anywhere less than nine hexes. If the Strike Team is part of a larger group, then the Narc might get a workout, but only if you’re willing to get your Kintaro close to the action early on. This is a ‘Mech that WANTS an Improved Narc Launcher.

As we move deeper into the ilClan era, I’d love to see a Third Star League Kintaro variant using mix-tech to update the base 19b to take advantage of an Improved Narc launcher. Clan-built launchers and lasers should save enough weight for an iNARC and some of those lovely specialized pods, like ECM, Haywire, or Nemesis Pods, while retaining the ‘Mech’s general character without totally NERFing it. Nemesis Pods, in particular, could be a nasty surprise for a headhunter attack and a lot of fun to play.

Lament no more, for we have bonus tech!

The last ‘Mech in the ForcePack, the Lament, is just icing on the cake. It’s a good fit to replace the Kintaro if you have the BV, PV, or tonnage, if you’re looking for some heavy backup. The base configuration of the Lament, with its Heavy PPCs and ER Medium Lasers, is nasty, especially paired with fifteen double heatsinks and the Radical Heat Sink System. The RHSS works a lot like MASC, insofar as failing spectacularly at the worst possible moment, but if used sparingly, the RHSS can unleash that one extra Alpha Strike to win a scenario or headcap the enemy commander. Of the Lament‘s other variants, the 3C isn’t all that useful with a C3i slave, but the 3R’s three extended-range PPCs are a good stand-in for the Kintaro‘s LRM fire support. If you happen to use the Herman Manes pilot card, the 2R-Manes variant straddles between providing the Lance with heavy firepower and providing C3 information to support units. Again, if you’re playing with more than four ‘Mechs, connect the 2R-Manes to a Doloire C or similarly C3 Master-equipped unit to make the most of it.

The most exciting or interesting Lament variant is arguably the 2D. Outfitted with an experimental Drone Command Unit and Angel ECM, this variant could provide the four ‘Mech Strike Team with drone backup. While likely declared dezgra by First Lord Alaric Ward at this time, I can foresee a time where the RAF’s drone technology is used to compensate for the Star League Defense Force’s small size. The Third Star League’s access to the Lament‘s 2D variant, plus its addition to the ForcePack, reinforces my opinion that the Strike Team is 100% a dedicated headhunter unit. I can’t confirm the assumption, of course, but it’s a nice bit of head canon and a little “wink, wink” by Catalyst Game Labs regarding the future use of Alaric’s new SLDF, if true.

What about the other bonus item?

The J-27 Ordnance Transport is a nice value add to the ForcePack. Traditionally, a non-combat unit, the J-27 makes an excellent scenario objective for Attacker, Defender, or Special Rules use. With a little creativity, players can create all kinds of combat scenarios around the little-ammo-carrier-that-could. I only hope we’ll see the J-27 sold individually in the future, because it’s a great little miniature, and I would love to get my hands on a few of them by themselves.

Final thoughts on the ForcePack.

At the beginning of the article, I said the Third Star League Strike Team ForcePack showed better balancing than some of the previous ForcePacks, and after unpacking the ForcePack, I stand by that claim. The ForcePack isn’t just well-balanced, it’s downright deadly, with dozens of tabletop options to play and explore, with worthwhile bonuses in the Pilot Cards and the J-27 transport. The ForcePack retails for $44.99 on the CGL webstore, with each miniature costing about $7.50 a pop, not counting the added cards. With plastic miniatures becoming more and more the “thing,” I still find myself comparing individual miniature cost to IWM metal miniatures. $7.50 per miniature is a good deal for six solid miniatures that have a lot of playability and decent faction availability.