Protomechs

[u/Pandorawaspfox]

How do we feel about protomechs? Any ppl like or that have strong rules in classic? I was considering getting some

[u/Aladine11]

I like them in alpha strike - they are great way to milk initiative advantage and force size diffirences with activations as they all move as one activation. So if i have 5 protos and 1 mech and you have 2 mechs there is great chance my 5 protos would move last and if they got reduced to 1/2 models i would use them to sink initiative. They also like to use buildings like infantry. While i generally hate anything thats clantech i gotta admit gameplay aspect of protomechs is something cool

[u/No_Reference6989]

As somebody who's more familiar with the lore than game rules maybe somebody could help me out. What niche do they fill? They seemed like an interesting addition but I never really understood their point in combat.

[u/AtrociousMeandering → u/No_Reference6989]

It's the closest thing the Clans get to 'cheap' filler without using vehicles, the most expensive protomechs are in the low 400s BV, the least expensive Clan mechs are over 500, the cheapest protomechs are double digits. You can avoid entirely ceding the numbers game to an IS player and go for objectives without giving up all your firepower.

If they've got magnetic clamp systems they can even attach themselves to an omnimech the way elementals do.

[u/135forte]

If you play them as full points (which 0 or 5 seems to be a common tournament rule) and don't spam the super cheap stuff, they aren't terrible. A point (five protos) of the ones that are legitimately good can run you a Clan heavy or assault and still only give you a single activation. I've been eying a point of two Sirens, two Rocs and a Minotaur for a Smoke Jaguar force and that is around 1,300BV. Which is good, the Sirens can spot while the Rocs and Minotaur are four cERMLs, but it is only around 120 armor and the Minotaur is only 3/5/3. If an IntroTech Warhammer or Marauder gets even slightly lucky, the big protos are dead and Kerensky have mercy on your soul if a Pheonix Hawk 3PL or Wraith drops against you.

If you move up the timeline to the super heavy protos, you get a lot more survivable, but a point of Sprites or Boggarts is gonna cost you the same a premium mech. The real problem comes if you decide to pull a Savannah Master and spam out dozens of the dirt cheap ones.

[u/Hanzoku]

They’re sort of an edgecase that in some cases can play as grade-A cheddar because their rules are obscure and easy to misinterpret.

[u/DuDster123]

For me they are a case of dubious lore and cheesey rules so I don’t like them. The only thing they give is clans another lower cost unit on top of elementals. I’m a mech vs mech purist though so each to their own.

[u/Pandorawaspfox → u/DuDster123]

Ah im kinda super loving combined srms in classic so they seemed interesting to me in that regard

[u/NeedsMoreDakkath]

I like the idea of em. Need to get a chance to play with em on tabletop.

[u/1877KlownsForKids]

Love them, but you have to play them right or they end up as smears.

[u/spanner3]

Uninterested.

[u/Brekian]

I enjoy running them, but I usually run them as cheap units that don’t rely on Omni mechs to get around or have the movement restrictions of a vehicle. In use they work the best as objective scorers as some can move quite fast and their 1 hight makes them easy to hide. Offensively it’s like running BA less but slightly bigger guns (some times it’s same size just leas), they can be something that finishes off a mech or put that needed extra bit of damage but rarely do much by themselves. That said I’ve never ran a full point together.

[u/Hyperion_Industries]

I haven’t gotten to use them on tabletop yet, because the group I found myself in is still struggling with the core rules for mechs, but gosh darn if protomechs aren’t some of the coolest things in the setting for me! I love these things. Sadly a lot of the art is bad, but I can’t blame the artist too much, and their lore is so cool that I can imagine a more mechanical design for the bad ones myself.

[u/jaqattack02]

I'm not a fan because of how they break initiative.

[u/Pandorawaspfox → u/jaqattack02]

How do they do that exactly

[u/jaqattack02 → u/Pandorawaspfox]

Because they are individual units on the board but they move in a star as a single unit. So if they are left to be the last 'unit' to move, the player that controls them gets to move up to 5 units after everything else has moved.

[u/Anastrace]

Lore wise they make sense, they were a desperate move to combat dwindling resources and like most desperation projects failed to turn the tide.

Out of game I also understand that the clans needed more cheap options alongside battle armor and vehicles. Kind of a super elemental.

Personally I have no issues with them but no strong attachment either. Just kind of there like ultralights

[u/Teberoth]

They look dumb, they play dumb, and their lore is dumb. 

I think there IS a niche for something more than power armor but less then a mech. But this ain't it.

[u/Several-Feeling3409]

A lot of the "Gen 1" Proto Mechs from TRO:3060 are...meh. The "Gen 2" from later books are substantially better units.  I've got a point of Rocs and one of Minotaurs and I'll bring them out as fillers in a Star.

[u/e4rth80uNd]

They feel like something that doesn't really fit Battletech. Battlesuits that wire up your whole body to the suit, look like monsters of the week from a japanese superhero show, and kill you in five years feels more like something from a completely different setting.

As far as weirdo homeworld clan tech for Wars of Reaving scenarios goes I've slowly gotten used to it, though. And they aren't too weird compared to the blakists in the 3070's suddenly busting out killer cyborgs and sentient nano plagues.

[u/Cykeisme → u/e4rth80uNd]

Yeah I get you 100% here.

These ProtoMechs, Manei Domini DNI 'Mechs, and cyborg infantry are fine,  if contained to "pockets" of the setting in terms of timeline and events.

Things that feel "less BattleTechy" are ok in their corner of the sandbox.

[u/Realistic_Smile2469]

Some where between "not much" and "slightly silly."
By mech or even armour standards Protomechs are slow, under armed and under armoured. A 3025 Wasp or Stinger can burn them down and pond for pond cheaper.

Elementals and Power armour I get. They're a logical extension of infantry and while Elemental can fight mech, they're a terror vs conventional infantry or armour if they get close. Its where they excel.

But Protomechs were a product of Dark Age and most of what came out of that era is kind of iffy.

[u/e4rth80uNd → u/Realistic_Smile2469]

Jihad, not dark age. In-universe invented by the Smoke Jags who didn't exist after 3060 and first published around the time the wars of reaving were happening.

[u/Realistic_Smile2469 → u/e4rth80uNd]

Fair

[u/Anastrace → u/e4rth80uNd]

They were involved in the fighting on Huntress during Operation Serpent, so 3060.