Original flavour Jagermech. Under-armed mechs with decent movement profiles, you can do something with that... but 4/6 with weak armor and ammo in all torso locations?
Absolutely the Vulcan 2T. One AC2, one medium laser, one flamer, one machine gun, no armor and barely enough heat sinks to stay functional. Its like a Mech youd give a pilot as a prank or as punishment.
To play devil's advocate, the Vulcan 2t is a pretty cheap option for dealing with infantry and field guns if you play a lot of combined arms games. Its quick enough to respond to hidden infantry ambushes on the opposite end of the board and has just enough armor to shrug off a few SRM volleys from dug in infantry (provided it does not take any TACs or head hits.) In a campaign it makes a solid stop gap for dealing with infantry and lighter structures until you can get something better, and is cheap enough that losing it wont hurt your finances too badly.
TRG-2N Targe. Ammo in both legs and MASC. This mech can potentially self-destruct during the first movement phase of the game with an unlucky MASC failure roll.
Beat me to it, the no weapon ostscout at least has electronic gizmos, the vulcan is great if you play with PBI or vees. I think the Targe is just trash. While there are a lot of "bad' mook mechs or under optimized mechs, they have a niche and or some use. For example a Charger might not have a lot of guns but it'll kick your teeth in even more so if you're a med/light. In 3025 troopers are slower than a Charger and well you don't need to think how ugly those kicks or punches are to say, a Vindicator. Some of the firemoths are past weird to flat bad. But my vote is still with the Targe,
The Kuma 3, found in Record Sheets 3085 Unabridged: The Cutting Edge. 60 Tons, Moving 7/11, jumping 10. Has NO weapons, the armor of a 30 ton mech and a reactor that explodes if you sneeze on it, costs an arm and both legs in C-Bills and at the same time is by far the cheapest Clan heavy BV-wise.
In game ya, the Ostscout is pretty useless. In Lore it's fantastic as a dedicated Scout with excellent mobility and very advanced sensors and was purposely designed without weapons to keep it out of combat since that's not what it's for.
Coming off the HBS videogame, I love/hate the Cicada. Hate to be given them as salvage, but happy to blow through any number of them that are basically dead opfor weight.
I like the Hussar, but the 900-D Variant is the worst Mech I know. Maybe for Objectives, maybe a lucky hit vs VTOLs, maybe in super hot Environments (also most oversinkt Maschine I know) but I cannot see this thing be the winning factor.
Urbanmech UM-R60. The mech is the most memed in the entire universe because of how hilariously bad it is, mocked as the trashcan, its more than earned its name. The default urbanmech is equipped with relatively high armor for a light mech but has no movement to get the needed movement modifier a light mech needs in order to survive, because even high armor for a light mech is so low that a single hit from a larger weapon will immediately pierce armor and start damaging internals. The only defense it would have is its jump sets, but with only two jump the urbanmech is still unable to get a movement modifier higher than +1 and only able to deck behind cover in the most opportune of situations. With only 10 ammo in its main gun, that is not an energy weapon, the Urbanmech suffers from a horrific lack of ammo that renders it totally useless once depleted, and makes the succession wars era mech vulnerable to ammo detonations. The most likely scenario with this mech is that it jumps around desperately trying to keep its +1 movement modifier whilst also taking a -3 movement modifier itself, misses its shots, and is quickly dispatched perhaps from an ammo detonation, running out of ammo long before it can contribute to the fight even it somehow survives. Maybe itll attempt a death or glory if the enemy gets close enough to it, wjich makes a statement when the best thing the Urbanmech can do is destroy itself in a DFA.
If we are only looking at canon designs id vote the shadow hawk, it tries to do everything but lacks the tonnage or tech while its better variants are just worse versions of other mechs. Though if we expand the field my vote is easily on the assorted 10 ton ultralights that are dubiously canon. Designs like the wisp, foxfire, ambassador and mite which average a run around 16, but only bring a small or medium laser if any weapon at all and all look like the art was inspired by the Fresno Nightcrawlers. Yes you could land a potentially devastating 100+ dmg charge with them, but you're likely to gut yourself like a fish in the process.
I suspect that any mech that is Jump-capable is unsuitable for this challenge, because it will DFA with wild abandon as a result of having so little to lose, and could luck its way to glory. My submission is the Sentinel. STN-3K if playing 3025, if game is set around the Star League era, then use the EVEN WORSE Sentinel model, the STN-3L!
I've always held that the Shadowhawk's problem is that it's trying to do too much at once and so only ends up below average at everything. Even it's jump jets are a half measure. It tries to be fast, mobile, armoured, and with both long and short range damage. It's got to pick a lane. When compared to the other 55t Dervish - fast, mobile, with both long and short range damage. But very low armour Griffin - fast, mobile, armoured, long range damage Wolverine - fast, mobile, armoured, short range damage Kintaro - fast, armoured, short range damage, but less mobility and virtually no long range I've always felt that the Shadowhawk should be retrofitted to perform a more dedicated role. Cause it's a great basic platform. 2 I like are: drop the JJs, add 0.5t armour, and then either -drop all the missiles and upgrade the M laser to a PPC. So 1 PPC and 1 AC5 (both have the same rages) making it a sniper. or -Swap the LRM 5 with an SRM 6. So 1 SRM 6, 1 SRM 2, 1 M Laser, and 1 AC 5 making it a close range brawler like the Wolverine (no JJs but an extra SRM 2).
For the 3025 era my picks would be: light: Hussar - extremly lopsided design but with the potential to be very dangerous medium: Scorpion - another very flawed design but with some unusual quad abilities (sidestepping, firing from prone position). heavy: Rifleman - flawed but underrated, can dish out high alpha damage if necessary assault: Charger - everyone makes fun of the Charger until it is actually charging...
New tech is hands down the Fireball ALM-7D. 20 ton with a single Streak 2 SRM and MG. 220XL engine = expensive. Out gunned by a Locust. Weapon grouping in 2 pt damage clusters. 2 ammo bombs for receiving crits. Amusingly the fluff has it as a Clan Elemental hunter. Sadly for it, a unit of Elementals outguns it even at med range and while they have their SRM pods, have the same long range as the Fireball. And even it does hit the Elemental unit, it spreads the damage across 5 armored Elementals. It is just so bad.... You get a single kill much less two in a combat you should treat your friend to a case of Pharaoh Beer. To put it in more perspective, ALM-7D is 385 BV and 3,022,240 CB. The Savannah Master 5 ton vehicle is 215 BV and 91,667 CB. You could almost field two Savannah Masters for one Fireball from BV alone.
The only mechs that I know of that maybe classed as the worst. The Charger 1A1 is well known. But there are nice variants of the Charger including the one with the AC-20’s that is good. Mechs that get lots of flack as being the worst are the Cicada that is an artillery observation mech. The Ostscout that is really good with the hands as one variant lacks hands. The Goliath and Scorpion get lots of flak because of the weakness of side-firing arch for quads. The Goliath stands out when next to an Awesome. Quads are pretty handy when playing with vehicles like the Manticore. The Banshee BNC-3M is one of the worst as it tries to use two PPC’s and copies the Marauders number of heatsinks without the AC-5. Running a lance with some of the worst is maybe good when mixing on of the worst with a lance of good mechs.
Most mechs that suck especially in 3025 are ones who try to move faster than what befits their size. The engine ends up taking up a huge percentage of their total weight. So they end both up under-gunned and under-armoured. Worst culprits are of course the Charger and the Cicada. Slightly better but still bad are the Banshee, the Cyclops, and the Assassin This also applies to a lesser extent to heavy or assault mechs that try to have both speed and Jump Jets. Like the Quickdraw or the Victor. At 60t and 80t JJ are 2x as heavy as a mech 5t lighter, so it's stops being as worth it and something else, usually armour, will suffer. If you really want mobility it's best to choose either 5/8/0 or 4/6/4 (for a heavy) or 4/6/0 or 3/5/3 (for an assault). If you want both speed and mobility, just take a medium mech. That's what they're for. Also anything with an AC2. "Hey kids! Have you ever wanted to go to war with a .22LR? Then you'll love the AC2! I weigh more than a Large Laser, require ammo, but only do 1/4 the damage! Yes I have great range but even a light mech can shrug off what is effectively a single SRM."
Well, if you include canon lore than we got the 105-ton Matar. That thing was so heavy that it's legs didn't work. It's called Anaris' Folly for a reason. For newer books there's the LIB-4T Liberator from XTRO - Boondocks. I mean, c'mon, it's heat sinks are nonfunctional! Now, in terms of tabletop Mechs I'll nominate the JagerMech JM6-S. That thing will go up like a roman candle due to its ammo bins and crappy armor profile. Edit: Oh, the Jagermech waa already taken. Then I'll say the Hornet. I mean, talk about a POS. It's like as if Dr. Robotnik laid an egg and out came this screwed up flipper baby.
Original flavour Jagermech. Under-armed mechs with decent movement profiles, you can do something with that... but 4/6 with weak armor and ammo in all torso locations?
Absolutely the Vulcan 2T. One AC2, one medium laser, one flamer, one machine gun, no armor and barely enough heat sinks to stay functional. Its like a Mech youd give a pilot as a prank or as punishment.
I could bet my balls that at least one comment would be exactly like that. Counterpoint: BT has terrible rules.
To play devil's advocate, the Vulcan 2t is a pretty cheap option for dealing with infantry and field guns if you play a lot of combined arms games. Its quick enough to respond to hidden infantry ambushes on the opposite end of the board and has just enough armor to shrug off a few SRM volleys from dug in infantry (provided it does not take any TACs or head hits.)
In a campaign it makes a solid stop gap for dealing with infantry and lighter structures until you can get something better, and is cheap enough that losing it wont hurt your finances too badly.
TRG-2N Targe. Ammo in both legs and MASC. This mech can potentially self-destruct during the first movement phase of the game with an unlucky MASC failure roll.
Beat me to it, the no weapon ostscout at least has electronic gizmos, the vulcan is great if you play with PBI or vees. I think the Targe is just trash. While there are a lot of "bad' mook mechs or under optimized mechs, they have a niche and or some use. For example a Charger might not have a lot of guns but it'll kick your teeth in even more so if you're a med/light. In 3025 troopers are slower than a Charger and well you don't need to think how ugly those kicks or punches are to say, a Vindicator.
Some of the firemoths are past weird to flat bad. But my vote is still with the Targe,
I have a weakness for bad jumping mechs like the Assassin and Quickdraw, just hopping around the table and kicking stuff.
The Kuma 3, found in Record Sheets 3085 Unabridged: The Cutting Edge.
60 Tons, Moving 7/11, jumping 10. Has NO weapons, the armor of a 30 ton mech and a reactor that explodes if you sneeze on it, costs an arm and both legs in C-Bills and at the same time is by far the cheapest Clan heavy BV-wise.
That TAG only Ostscout is the worst mech in the enitre universe. Especially if no artillery nearby
TAG is so good though if you do, and you should
Lets hear it for the Hussar. Sneeze at it and its going down. Any difficult terrain and its in big trouble.
I agree. I like fast harassers, but it can fall, skid, and core itself out.
Vulcan or the Ostscout with no weapons
Good choices, but Fritz will DFA with them and smash a cockpit. Vote YES on the SENTINEL!
In game ya, the Ostscout is pretty useless. In Lore it's fantastic as a dedicated Scout with excellent mobility and very advanced sensors and was purposely designed without weapons to keep it out of combat since that's not what it's for.
Coming off the HBS videogame, I love/hate the Cicada. Hate to be given them as salvage, but happy to blow through any number of them that are basically dead opfor weight.
I like the Hussar, but the 900-D Variant is the worst Mech I know.
Maybe for Objectives, maybe a lucky hit vs VTOLs, maybe in super hot Environments (also most oversinkt Maschine I know) but I cannot see this thing be the winning factor.
BJ-1 Blackjack, a triumph of mech design
Ooh. The Scorpion LAM?
Urbanmech UM-R60. The mech is the most memed in the entire universe because of how hilariously bad it is, mocked as the trashcan, its more than earned its name. The default urbanmech is equipped with relatively high armor for a light mech but has no movement to get the needed movement modifier a light mech needs in order to survive, because even high armor for a light mech is so low that a single hit from a larger weapon will immediately pierce armor and start damaging internals. The only defense it would have is its jump sets, but with only two jump the urbanmech is still unable to get a movement modifier higher than +1 and only able to deck behind cover in the most opportune of situations. With only 10 ammo in its main gun, that is not an energy weapon, the Urbanmech suffers from a horrific lack of ammo that renders it totally useless once depleted, and makes the succession wars era mech vulnerable to ammo detonations. The most likely scenario with this mech is that it jumps around desperately trying to keep its +1 movement modifier whilst also taking a -3 movement modifier itself, misses its shots, and is quickly dispatched perhaps from an ammo detonation, running out of ammo long before it can contribute to the fight even it somehow survives. Maybe itll attempt a death or glory if the enemy gets close enough to it, wjich makes a statement when the best thing the Urbanmech can do is destroy itself in a DFA.
Arbiter. Great example of an intentionally terrible mech.
If we are only looking at canon designs id vote the shadow hawk, it tries to do everything but lacks the tonnage or tech while its better variants are just worse versions of other mechs.
Though if we expand the field my vote is easily on the assorted 10 ton ultralights that are dubiously canon. Designs like the wisp, foxfire, ambassador and mite which average a run around 16, but only bring a small or medium laser if any weapon at all and all look like the art was inspired by the Fresno Nightcrawlers.
Yes you could land a potentially devastating 100+ dmg charge with them, but you're likely to gut yourself like a fish in the process.
Thunderbolt. Hear me out. It seems to attract heads shots like you wouldn’t believe when I play the thing.
I suspect that any mech that is Jump-capable is unsuitable for this challenge, because it will DFA with wild abandon as a result of having so little to lose, and could luck its way to glory. My submission is the Sentinel. STN-3K if playing 3025, if game is set around the Star League era, then use the EVEN WORSE Sentinel model, the STN-3L!
The two mechs that come to mind as look cool but are terrible, are the shadowhawk and the stock hatchetman.
I've always held that the Shadowhawk's problem is that it's trying to do too much at once and so only ends up below average at everything. Even it's jump jets are a half measure.
It tries to be fast, mobile, armoured, and with both long and short range damage. It's got to pick a lane.
When compared to the other 55t
Dervish - fast, mobile, with both long and short range damage. But very low armour
Griffin - fast, mobile, armoured, long range damage
Wolverine - fast, mobile, armoured, short range damage
Kintaro - fast, armoured, short range damage, but less mobility and virtually no long range
I've always felt that the Shadowhawk should be retrofitted to perform a more dedicated role. Cause it's a great basic platform.
2 I like are: drop the JJs, add 0.5t armour, and then either
-drop all the missiles and upgrade the M laser to a PPC. So 1 PPC and 1 AC5 (both have the same rages) making it a sniper.
or
-Swap the LRM 5 with an SRM 6. So 1 SRM 6, 1 SRM 2, 1 M Laser, and 1 AC 5 making it a close range brawler like the Wolverine (no JJs but an extra SRM 2).
For the 3025 era my picks would be:
light: Hussar - extremly lopsided design but with the potential to be very dangerous
medium: Scorpion - another very flawed design but with some unusual quad abilities (sidestepping, firing from prone position).
heavy: Rifleman - flawed but underrated, can dish out high alpha damage if necessary
assault: Charger - everyone makes fun of the Charger until it is actually charging...
New tech is hands down the Fireball ALM-7D. 20 ton with a single Streak 2 SRM and MG. 220XL engine = expensive. Out gunned by a Locust. Weapon grouping in 2 pt damage clusters. 2 ammo bombs for receiving crits. Amusingly the fluff has it as a Clan Elemental hunter. Sadly for it, a unit of Elementals outguns it even at med range and while they have their SRM pods, have the same long range as the Fireball. And even it does hit the Elemental unit, it spreads the damage across 5 armored Elementals. It is just so bad.... You get a single kill much less two in a combat you should treat your friend to a case of Pharaoh Beer. To put it in more perspective, ALM-7D is 385 BV and 3,022,240 CB. The Savannah Master 5 ton vehicle is 215 BV and 91,667 CB. You could almost field two Savannah Masters for one Fireball from BV alone.
Wow, that mech sucks. If I didn't suspect it might be able to kill something impressive by charging very fast, I would support this choice.
The only mechs that I know of that maybe classed as the worst. The Charger 1A1 is well known. But there are nice variants of the Charger including the one with the AC-20’s that is good. Mechs that get lots of flack as being the worst are the Cicada that is an artillery observation mech. The Ostscout that is really good with the hands as one variant lacks hands. The Goliath and Scorpion get lots of flak because of the weakness of side-firing arch for quads. The Goliath stands out when next to an Awesome. Quads are pretty handy when playing with vehicles like the Manticore. The Banshee BNC-3M is one of the worst as it tries to use two PPC’s and copies the Marauders number of heatsinks without the AC-5. Running a lance with some of the worst is maybe good when mixing on of the worst with a lance of good mechs.
Most mechs that suck especially in 3025 are ones who try to move faster than what befits their size. The engine ends up taking up a huge percentage of their total weight. So they end both up under-gunned and under-armoured.
Worst culprits are of course the Charger and the Cicada.
Slightly better but still bad are the Banshee, the Cyclops, and the Assassin
This also applies to a lesser extent to heavy or assault mechs that try to have both speed and Jump Jets. Like the Quickdraw or the Victor. At 60t and 80t JJ are 2x as heavy as a mech 5t lighter, so it's stops being as worth it and something else, usually armour, will suffer. If you really want mobility it's best to choose either 5/8/0 or 4/6/4 (for a heavy) or 4/6/0 or 3/5/3 (for an assault). If you want both speed and mobility, just take a medium mech. That's what they're for.
Also anything with an AC2. "Hey kids! Have you ever wanted to go to war with a .22LR? Then you'll love the AC2! I weigh more than a Large Laser, require ammo, but only do 1/4 the damage! Yes I have great range but even a light mech can shrug off what is effectively a single SRM."
Comments like this are why I keep coming back to this vid. This is a breeding ground for funny opinions.
Jagermech
Flea FLE-14. It is a mech but... 15 tons 1 medium laser 9/14 and no armor. BUT It is 270bv.
I always saw that as an experiment. "What if we made a mech lighter than 20t?". Interesting try, but ultimately a failure.
Well, if you include canon lore than we got the 105-ton Matar. That thing was so heavy that it's legs didn't work. It's called Anaris' Folly for a reason. For newer books there's the LIB-4T Liberator from XTRO - Boondocks. I mean, c'mon, it's heat sinks are nonfunctional! Now, in terms of tabletop Mechs I'll nominate the JagerMech JM6-S. That thing will go up like a roman candle due to its ammo bins and crappy armor profile.
Edit: Oh, the Jagermech waa already taken. Then I'll say the Hornet. I mean, talk about a POS. It's like as if Dr. Robotnik laid an egg and out came this screwed up flipper baby.