Overview:
In 3019, a cadre of NAIS scientists and engineers assembled on Hoff to conduct the first serious research into 'Mech technology in almost a century. That project is best known for creating the Lyran Hatchetman. It also produced "super" variants of the Wasp and Griffin--the first units to be fully rebuilt and redesigned in more than four decades. All were hailed as breakthroughs.
The "super" GRF-2N--dubbed the Merlin--is produced in small numbers at both Friden Aerospace Park on Hoff and Alliance Defenders Limited on Alpheratz. Rugged and reliable, it is suitable for a variety of assignments.
Capabilities:
In designing the Merlin, its engineers sought to create a Land-Air 'Mech which could stand up to hard use, serve multiple roles, and be easily repaired using commonly available parts. They succeeded on all counts. A versatile mix of long and short-range weapons handles 'Mechs and infantry with equal ease, and ten tons of armor safeguard the 'Mech through most encounters.
Ground speed compares well with most heavy 'Mechs. The leg-mounted GM 140 jet engines traverse difficult terrain readily, although some critics have complained that the poor fuel supply makes aerospace operations challenging.
The machine uses an advanced heatsink design, developed from fragments of studies conducted on Terra centuries before. It was the Hoff lab's first major research breakthrough. Though unquestionably useful, the heatsinks degrade quickly, and are prone to spewing corrosive liquid metals during repair. More than eighty percent are replaced with more common types during their first year.
The 'Mech's chassis clearly derives from Allied Aerospace's unfinished Shadow Hawk LAM. Curiously, House Davion is not known to have possessed technical data from that project. Stranger still is that the heatsinks devised on Hoff bear unmistakable similarities to those used by the Clans. The source of these oddities is a matter of speculation; theorists point to Dr. B. Banzai 's little-known friendship with Colonel Wolf of Wolf's Dragoons, and draw suggestive parallels between the warrior-scientists of Team Banzai and the Trueborns within the Clan scientist caste. [EDITOR'S NOTE: The bombardment of the NAIS in 3068 destroyed any record which could have shed light on the matter.]
Battle History:
The Merlin received its baptism of fire under the toughest possible circumstances. In April and May of 3022, Wolf's Dragoons led House Kurita against the Eridani Light Horse and House Davion in a no-holds-barred struggle for control of the planet Hoff and the research team working there. On May 12 the Light Horse regiment was routed. Eager for glory and expecting little opposition, the Black Widow, the most infamous company commander in Wolf's Dragoons, hastily dispatched her still-damaged recon lance to secure the research facility.
The researchers had an ace in the hole: a pair of untested prototypes. Together with the facility's tanks and infantry, their beefier, more mobile "super" Wasp surprised and disabled a Widow Stinger while the Merlin glided behind the enemy leader. It penetrated the Rifleman's rear armor, detonating its magazines. The last two Widow 'Mechs withdrew to await reinforcements. The research team escaped into the hills, and the scattered Light Horse played cat-and-mouse with the Dragoons, keeping them off-balance until Davion reinforcements arrived to flush Kurita offplanet.
By 3058, the Wolverton Highlanders possessed the largest concentration of Merlins in active service. After that unit disbanded in 3065, half of of these went to House Steiner's 2nd Royal Guard and half made their way to the Eridani Light Horse on Dieron.
Where some mercenaries are little more than highwaymen, the Light Horse holds scrupulously to the ideals of the old Star League. They abhor the Clans and had the rug pulled out from under them when the new Star League dissolved--much like the Word of Blake. The Word might have embraced them as comrades, but Fate had other plans.
When the Land-Air 'Mechs were delivered to the Light Horse, they arrived with a hovertank belonging to a sergeant in the Dieron militia. The Light Horse returned the tank and negotiated compensation, but the sergeant tried to parley this tiny stake into part ownership of the whole brigade. Government arbiters rebuked him. Convinced by days of intoxicated stupor that he had a regiment of the Light Horse at his beck and call, he picked a fight with the Word of Blake, and then trotted off to stars unknown while the Word's Eighth Division fell on the Light Horse with a vengeance.
Their lightning assault found Merlins and other elements of the 19th Cavalry Regiment in the Sükhbaatar Valley, assisting with construction of a dam. The Eridani LAMs enjoyed a natural advantage, darting freely about the Word's precarious footholds on the steep valley wall. Unfortunately, stray weapons fire touched off a rockslide. Both forces were swept to the foot of the dam and entombed there.
More Merlin LAMs accompanied the Black Watch when they attempted a rescue later in 3068. The Light Horse's assault ships had been caught aloft in the first blows of the invasion, so none were around to block a Word warship from making a high-G intercept. One or more LAMs were seen to blast free from the burning wreckage which thundered through Dieron's sky.
The Eighth Division must have realized that their wrath was misplaced. The experience appears to have made them bitter and untrusting, which has impeded relations with the mecenaries supporting them on Dieron.
Variants:
House troops prefer to specialize the 'Mech by adding extra fuel and missiles at the expense of anti-personnel weapons. Two heatsinks are diplaced into the left torso. Alliance Defenders Limited agreed to license this model to Mountain Wolf BattleMechs in 3052, though Mountain Wolf did not complete their factory until 3055.
The simpler but more durable -2A is popular in the Periphery and with mercenaries throughout the Inner Sphere. It removes both hand actuators, shifts the particle cannon into the chest, and replaces half the missile tubes with extra heatsinks.
Taurus Technical Industries introduced the land-bound -2X variant in 3059. Tailored to the needs of the Colonial Marshals, it adds a second Sperry Browning Machine Gun, upgrades one laser with pulse technology, replaces the PPC with a large shoulder laser, and employs fully articulated hands to assist with construction in peacetime. The substitution of conventional Rawlings 55 Jump Jets for the heavier GM jet engines leaves it a little lighter than the -2N.
Notable 'Mechs and MechWarriors:
The Wanderer
This 'Mech is painted with faded white primer which shows signs of irradiation and scarring from acid rain. It is believed to be connected with the so-called "Ghosts of the Black Watch," and has been spotted near Word of Blake internment camps as well as facilities operated by civilian collaborators. Its pilot has pale hair and eyes, and appears to be in his mid-30s. He's shown a genius for waylaying supply convoys on Dieron's mountain roads.
----------------------------------------------- | | Mass: 60 tons
Chassis: Earthwerk GRF Heavy
Power Plant: Pitban 240
Jet Propulsion System: GM 140
Cruising Speed, Ground: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed, Ground: 64.8 kph
Cruising Speed, Air: 780 kph
Overthrust Speed: 1170 kph
Armor Type: Starshield A
Armament:
1 Fusigon PPC
1 Delta Dart LRM 10
2 Martell Medium Lasers
1 Sperry Browning Machine Gun
1 Zippo Flamer
Manufacturer: Alliance Defenders Limited
Location: Alpheratz
Communications System: Neil 6000
Targeting & Tracking System: Octagon Tartrac System
Type: GRF-2N Merlin LAM
Tech/Rules: NAIS 3022/see notes
Tonnage: 60
Equipment: Crits Mass
Int. Struct.: 6.00
Engine: 240 Pitban Fusion 6 11.50
Walking MP: 4
Running MP: 6
Jumping MP: 4
AirMech MP: 13
Thrust MP: 4
OverThrust: 7
Struct. Int.: 7
Heat Sinks: 13 (16)(3 Hoff Type)3 3.00
Gyro: 4 3.00
Cockpit: 5 3.00
Armor Factor: 160 pts 0 10.00
Internal Armor
Structure Value Critical Hit Table
H: 3 9 LSC .SL
CT/r: 20 24/7 EEE GGG GEE E.h
LT/r: 14 21/7 ... ... ... ..h
RT/r: 14 21/7 ... ... ... ..h
LA: 10 14 Xxx X.. ... ...
RA: 10 14 Xxx X.. ... ...
LL: 14 18 Xxx X**
RL: 14 18 Xxx X**
Weapons and Ammo Loc Crits Mass
-----------------------------------------------
PPC RA 3 7.00
Medium Laser RA 1 1.00
Medium Laser LA 1 1.00
LRM 10 RT 2 5.00
ammo(LRM)12 RT 1 1.00
Machine Gun LT 1 .50
ammo(MG)100 LT 1 .50
Flamer LT 1 1.00
ASF 140 Fusion Rocket * * 5.00
Fuel * * 1.50
-----------------------------------------------
TOTALS: 49 60.00
Crits & Tons Left: 29 .00
-----------------------------------------------
Note: Each "Hoff Type" experimental heatsink occupies 1 slot, 1 ton, and dissipates 2 heat points.
Conversion Equipment: Gyroscopic stabilization grants the pilot a TN-2 bonus to all aerospace control rolls, as long as the gyro is undamaged. Critical slots marked with an asterisk each act as a combined jump jet, ASF engine and fuel slot. Hits to foot actuators count as hits to landing gear and, due to the LAM's size, penalties from damaged landing gear are doubled. Hits to the gyro count as hits to avionics. Jumping MP is equal to ASF Thrust; Thrust and AirMech MP are calculated from the ASF Fusion Rocket rating.
In July of 2015 I noticed that the Marshal's stats and "Capabilities" section are barely tweaked from the Merlin's, and that the Merlin (which first appeared as BattleDroid's construction example) looks like somebody tried to convert the Super Griffin (from Tales of the Black Widow) to newer construction rules. So I decided to roll all three into a single 'Mech. This gets a bit awkward because the Hoff entry in FASA's old House Davion sourcebook already replaced the "super" 'Mechs with the Hatchetman; and given the Eridani Light Horse's role on Hoff, it's a good guess that TR:3025 transformed the Super Griffin into the Eridani Thunderbolt variant.
I made the engine an odd size to get as close as I could to the Super Griffin's original 9 Jumping MP: 13 AirMech MP minus 2MP each for takeoff/landing under old rules, or 19.5 AirMech MP minus 5MP each under new rules. It has almost as little fuel as 3085's SHD LAM--this may or may not be a coincidence, I forget. Ditto 3058:Upgrade's description of handlessness as being simpler and more durable. Stats for the Hoff-type heatsinks come from Tales of the Black Widow, though I based their flufftech on Catalyst's descriptions. They explode during repairs as a nod to the XTRO Super Griffin's exploding jump jets.
Obviously, much of the text is adapted from Tales of the Black Widow, TR:3058's Merlin and TR:3060's (reprising the second edition Periphery's) Marshall. The outcome of the first battle comes from the old Mercenary's Handbook, and from comparing the Tales of the Black Widow scenario with the Widow's later roster in the Wolf's Dragoons sourcebook. Curiously, the Dragoons sourcebook dates this battle to 3023 instead of 3022; also curious is that it adds a mysterious Dragoon supply run the same year the Hoff project begins, and expands Banzai's association with the Dragoons from a brief line in the first edition RPG.
The setup for the second battle takes obvious inspiration from the Calbeck lawsuit, and the drunken stupor is inspired by a similar element in Calbeck's version of the ELH history. The name of the valley comes from Turning Points: Dieron. Events on Dieron and the notable pilot are meant to evoke a number of Johnny Cash songs, building on groundwork laid by whoever penned the Jihad Hotspots entries.
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Topic: 60-ton GRF-2N Merlin LAM (for an alternate Jihad) (Read 563 times)