The belligerent whine of my supercharger springing to life whistled through the cockpit, pushing the XL engine in my Fire Falcon’s heart to the brink as we sprinted down the shoreline. Brandt and I quickly fell in behind Star Commander Heko and her Kontio as we linked with the rest of our Star. 

We hurtled down the beach, searching for the last of Käre’s Joiner insurgents that’d fled into the wilds of Tseng-Jorgensson Reserve’s vast forests. The patrol had been quiet thus far, our star trailing the beach, popping into the woods on the shoreline and diving back out. 

Balli and his Star had reported contact an hour ago, dispatching an understrength Star of battered and beaten ‘mechs before having to withdraw for repairs. A half hour after that Star Captain Hallkatla and her Trinary had accepted the surrender of the ramshackle base the insurgents had managed to cobble together. According to Heko that placed us down to a singular unit still marauding through the reserve’s wilds unaccounted for.

Star Captain Käre’s Command Star, or at least what was left of it.

Star Captain Hallkatla and Star Commander Uni’s Stars had engaged him and his command star two days before and recorded significant damage. Reportedly managing to cut down all four of his Star mates before he saw the chance to slip away.  Käre was stubborn as they came, had to be to still be a fan of the Ultrecht Kodiaks after three years of failure in the RAFL.

“Eyes up, Gamma, overflight reports something moving in the treeline to the ea-”

Star Commander Heko’s voice was cut short by the thunderous crash of trees being wrenched from the ground and the sight of a vast blue ‘mech barreling out onto the beach ahead of us. Käre’s Executioner turned, planting a foot down hard and raising its arms towards us.

A twin peal of thunder split the cold evening air as the Executioner’s left arm belched flame, smoke and shell. A pair of monstrous explosions erupted from Haf’s Incubus, leaving him to take another stumbling step or two forward before his ‘mech blossomed with a cacophonous report that blasted the center of the Incubus apart. His cockpit flared, kicking the warrior away from his stricken ‘mech to relative safety as a hateful shaft of light scythed across the beach to our wide right, turning sand to glass in its wake.

“BREAK BREAK BREAK!” Heko commanded, a tinge of panic wavering in her voice as she jerked her Kontio around, bursting into a sprint as a smattering of lasers lanced from her to split the night. “HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT!”

“ON IT!” came Brandt’s hasty exclamation, peaking his mic as he swung his own Fire Falcon’s nose around onto Käre’s looming form. A flight of ATMs flashed, flying free from his launcher before he broke into a run, swinging wide to my left. A smattering of explosions bloomed, pockmarking the Executioners armor as it turned its track onto Ivar and his Griffin, sending another chatter of heavy auto cannon shells screaming through the air, flying just wide of the soaring ‘mech.

The behemoth charged him down, tossing up gouts of sand as it bore down on Ivar, the burning glow of its heavy laser boring through the Griffin’s right torso and into the soft internals beyond. The beam set about blasting away armor, chewing at the mech’s structure for a long, painful moment before winking out as one of Ivar’s jump jets sputtered, dumping sparks and dying flames. His Griffin belched laser and flame to scythe a strip of armor away before sending a twin pair of SRM’s blooming across the Executioners torsos as he threw himself unsteadily into the sky, falling back from the assault. 

My Fire Falcon shuddered as I sent a round from the pop-gun mounted in my arm, the lobbed shell sailing wide of the monster as it lashed out with a kick at the space that Ivar had been in just a few moments before. The shaft of horrid green that belched from my left arm followed the now lost shell, shearing a tree in half as a tinge of creeping heat seeped into my cockpit.

Heko appeared at Käre’s side, her ‘mech accelerating with every step as she blasted him with another salvo of lasers, pecking away at his armor before sliding to a halt and digging her claws into his flank. The claws ripped away slabs of armor with a horrid, ear splitting screech before she ducked low of his arm and the roaring cannon mounted in it as it sent a pair of shells soaring off into the night sky. Brandt zipped past Käre’s rear, letting another flight of ATMs off the rail. His aim sent most of the careening missiles wide but for the handful that bit chunks of armor free from the Executioner’s right arm in brilliant flashes that cast the shoreline in long, momentary shadows.

Heko fired again, her lasers blasting away ever more of Käre’s now whittling armor as his own salvo of lasers scored through her own, blowing past the meager protection the Kontio offered her. She staggered back a step before lunging forward again, burying her claws back into the Executioner’s left side, ripping away the last of its armor with the first swipe before striking home on the second. A roiling fireball poured from the back of the machine alongside a deafening, cacophonous roar that rattled my Fire Falcon’s frame like a sledgehammer. Käre stumbled, his mech taking a slow, uneasy step away from Heko as he fought to keep it upright. I slid my Fire Falcon to a halt as Kare still tried to maintain his footing, my power plant thrumming with excitement as I leveled my sights on the towering mech’s head.

And pulled the trigger.

The hard CRACK of the pop-gun split the air, pinging off the Executioner’s shoulder in a shower of sparks and broken armor before a green spotlight lanced out through the cold night. The shaft engulfed the cockpit for a few long, hanging seconds, illuminating the beach in a sickly green glow before petering out, leaving behind a night that felt all the darker. 

The crackling, headless remains of Star Captain Käre’s Executioner crumpled down to the beach below, settling to lay smoldering at Heko’s feet.

Another insurgent had fallen.

Another step closer to peace. 

• Mech Warrior Sigvat Alfgeirsson, Fire Falcon Pilot, Rassalhauge Dominion Alpha Galaxy Eighth Bear Cuirassiers.

 

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Howdy, Mechwarriors, and welcome back to another ‘mech Overview! We’re still in Clan country this week with the Fire Falcon! I’ve used the Fire Falcon a fistful of times now and it can certainly be very fun but it can also be far more expensive than is reasonable for what it is which really restricts you from taking some of the funnier variants. The Fire Falcon has always reminded me of some kind of James Bondian submersible that should be zipping through the Mediterranean shooting torpedoes at Bond in his Aston before exploding. To be honest a few of these variants kinda end up doing something like that on the table top anyhow.

That being said, I love how it looks. Look at him down there, blitzin’ along the beach and having a good time! Lookin’ like the lil’ speed boat that could! I have a long standing love affair with all things naval or naval inspired and there’s just something about the Fire Falcon that really scratches that itch in the back of my brain.

Chassis

The Fire Falcon is a 25 ton light Omni-Mech which helps simplify things a touch. The chassis of the Fire falcon is moving at 8/12 and has a mighty 10 armor at its thickest points on the CT and Legs making it far more reliant on just not getting hit in the first place rather than being able to eat the hit and keep on going. The chassis has 10 tons of pod space with the standard 10 double heat sinks. It manages to eek out this pod space by using ferro-fibrous, endo-steel and an XL engine.

This level of speed, coupled with the clan tech base’s general range advantage over the IS, leads to several of the Fire Falcon’s standard configs landing nicely in the little bastard zone. Unfortunately all this speed is also going to beef up the cost of anything it throws into that pod space, making Fire Falcons swing anywhere from the acceptable enough price of 822 BV all the way up to a gargantuan 1678 BV. As such, for me, the Fire Falcon can often end up falling into the same trap I find most omni-mechs falling into, that monument of sin that befalls nearly all of them and the deliciously painful vice of the Clan Omni:

Too much of a good thing.

Variants

These ‘mechs have all been reviewed based on a standard F through S scale, which you can find described on our landing page here (along with all the other ‘mech reviews).

Prime

If you’ve got a Fire Falcon model in front of you this is what that is meant to represent and to be honest it isn’t my favorite use of the chassis, especially for the price.

The Fire Falcon Prime starts us off in what feels like incredibly standard clan light mech fashion. For 1451 BV you get two ERMLs, two ERSLs, two SSRM 4s and a singular medium pulse laser. Just about everything here wants you to be in a knife fight, and while that’s not a bad thing it does raise some slight problems. The frame’s ten double heat sinks are fighting a losing battle to try and keep the thing cool, unfortunately.

Going up +6 heat on a running alpha strike you’ll start to give yourself some problems pretty quickly if you keep that up for very long. This is generally fine if you keep it back around 8 hexes, squarely in its medium range bands, so you can use it to harass the enemy with the ERMLs, SSRMs and the MPL. So long as both streaks don’t lock then you won’t be building any heat. That being said, that’s keeping a unit that isn’t exactly cheap for what it is from getting the most out of itself every turn.

What the Prime wants to be doing is shanking people in the kidneys and rifling around in their pockets for spare change and ammo bins but it really doesn’t have the longevity to do it without you always being worried about it just exploding. That’s one thing for something that costs under 700 BV like a Spider SDR-9M that can jump 8 and not contend with terrain so it can be where it wants when it wants. It’s another for something that costs more than double that and has to deal with every tree, elevation change and patch of rocks between it and its target.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. It’s a machine that has a job to do, and it’ll certainly do that job, but there are a LOT of other things that will do this job for cheaper and, arguably, better.

A

Ah! A little bastard! Say hello, little bastard!

The A is, in my opinion, a far better use of a Fire Falcon; especially if you’re looking for a cheap little bastard. The A marks a significant price drop, coming in at 822 BV, being the cheapest variant that exists across all of the currently available configs.

To achieve this price the A mounts up an LRM 10 with one ton of ammo, an ERSL and a UAC/2 with one ton of ammo. This makes it an astounding candidate for being a little bastard, having great ranges, moderate to unnoticable damage, an acceptable line-filler-esque price and good speed to be where you want it when you want it there. As well it has no heat problem, at maximum building 10 heat on a run which is easily handled by the standard sinking capacity of the platform even if you’ve suffered two engine crits. The ton of ammo in each side torso is somewhat worrying but they are protected by standard Clan CASE and if they go off they leave the other primary weapon still functional which is fine.

All in all this is a great use of the platform and makes it come in at a justifiable enough price, I just wish more of them showed such restraint. Not much gets to do the role of being a reasonable, and useful, line filler in the Clan Toumans and the A does an alright job of fitting that slot and still having something to do on the field while doing it.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. Just a little guy with little bastard aspirations.

B

Laser light show on the go!

The B looks at the A’s restraint and decides that all that restraint is for cringe babies and goes hard in the paint on being expensive again while also having the Prime’s heat problems. To do this it mounts up a pair of ERLLs and a targeting computer. That’s it, that’s all it uses the pod space for while costing 1570 BV and CONSPICUOUSLY MISSING ANY ADDED HEAT SINKS.

This thing gets hot fast if you want to get your money’s worth out of it. Going up 6 heat firing both lasers on a run means you’ll have to alternate them, which isn’t a terrible thing but really shouldn’t be an issue on a light mech that costs this much. At the very least you get a simple firing rhythm of 2-1-2-1-2-1- ad nauseum where you shift from 8/12 to 7/11 and back again with your accurate lasers.

Also, if there’s some depth 1 water on the map you could go stand in it and be heat neutral but the Fire Falcon really doesn’t wanna be standing still.

Liberty’s Rating: D. Holy shit is that expensive for what it is.

C

SRMs and Machine guns oh my!

The C comes back to restraint land, costing an acceptable- if still somewhat high -1004 BV while trucking a coherent loadout into the fight. Meaning to be a combat scout the C has an MPL, ERSL and SPL mounted in the left arm, a pair of SRM 6s and one ton of ammo in the left torso and four MGs with a half ton of ammo in the right arm. This is all rounded out by an active probe mounted in the open head slot.

That ton of SRM ammo is the C’s primary problem as, if it goes off, it will take your lasers with it. That being said the left torso has exactly 15 total health in it between the structure and the armor so there’s a good chance that if the ammo is going off it wasn’t very far from falling off anyhow. That in mind though it’s not really all that big of a problem. The C wants nothing more than to jump on a weakened enemy to try and hunt for crits or just scrape those last little bits of armor away.

Liberty’s Rating: C. Go forth and do reasonably priced little guy crimes.

D

Well that’s incredibly boring but for the price how much can you complain?

The D config costs 826 BV and carries an ERML in the left arm, a TAG in the head, a Narc Missile system in the right arm, with its two tons of ammo in the right torso, and two SRM 4s in the left torso alongside their two tons of ammo which gives you room for infernos! This loadout, and the price, makes for a great little front line artillery or indirect fire spotter, giving you the ability to slap a TAG or a NARC onto a target to let your support elements get the most out of their shots while also being able to help try and open something up!

This once again fulfills the role of being a clan line filler and it does a good job of doing that and having a vague reason for existing on the field!

Liberty’s Rating: C. If you want a little spotter this will do the job, do it cheap and do so happily while dip-duck-dodging its way through fire as best as his little legs can carry him!

E

ATM TIME

The E looked at the available pod space and thought ‘huh… you know what could fit there? An ATM 12 and 3 tons of ammo. Bitchin.’ and then did that. And it only costs 1094 BV.

This is cheap for an ATM12. So cheap that it is, in fact, the cheapest canon ATM 12 by OVER 400 FUCKING BV. This is the cheapest way in the entire game to get 12 ATM tubes on the field and it’s not even close. That’s counting ‘mechs, tanks, helicopters, boats or anything else you can think of to haul a gun along.

Jack: Not quite – the Balac VTOL has two configs with a pair of ATM 6s, and the Howler has one with four ATM 3s, both slightly cheaper ways to get 12 tubes. That said, those all are lacking ammo, are less durable, and the Howler is slower.

Liberty:Damn! Guess I missed that howler variant when I was lookin’! Still, cheapest way to get a full ATM-12 on the field I suppose and that 12 cluster table goes CRAZY.

Liberty’s Rating: B+. If you like ATMs and have 1094 BV in your force to use, fuckin’ take it. 

F

Infantry man has been here.

Weighing in at 1135 BV the F is still in the acceptably cheap zone and what it did with the pod space is kinda funny. A single ERLL is mounted in the CT while each arm is packing an ERSL and ER Micro and both side torsos are carrying a machine gun array linked to four standard machine guns being fed from a full ton of ammo in the CT. This is honestly quite a lot of gun for something that goes this fast and comes in at this price which is quite fun.

As well the ten double heat sinks are perfectly happy eating the heat generated by a running alpha strike, keeping you heat neutral as you mag dump into an unsuspecting enemy’s rear.

Liberty’s Rating: C. It’s got crit seekers, it’s got can openers and it’s got speed at a reasonable enough clan light mech price. Can’t ask for much more to be honest.

G

OH BOY, TIME FOR HEAVY LASERS! MY FAVORITE!!!

The G is simple. The G is brutal. The G puts almost all of its eggs in one really big basket, and a second, smaller basket and then throws those baskets at your head hoping the bigger one finds your forehead. The G accomplishes this act of aggression by mounting two guns and two guns only. A Protomech Auto Cannon 4 in the right arm with one ton of ammunition in the corresponding torso and an Improved Heavy large Laser in the left arm. That’s all it does. That’s all it needs. That’s all it wants.

This makes for an interesting, if costly, mech that wants to run up to an enemy, scream bloody murder then ping the PAC/4 off a side torso as a warning before scraping their cockpit clean off of their shoulders in a brilliant shaft of light. I love it.

It also, surprisingly for an IHL mech, has pretty acceptable heat management, only going up +1 on the heat scale at a run when firing both of the guns. This coupled with the fact that IHLs and PAC/4s are in the exact same range bands means they’ll always roll on the same shots. Meaning it might be a tossup of if you get the big-money no-wammy beat stick of the IHL or the little pop gun sadness of the PAC/4. This makes the G more than capable of giving your Mechwarriors that rush of highs and lows they’ve been looking for ever since you made them stop doing ‘battle stimulants’ in the restroom before trying to win it all in a poker game against the ‘mech techs again.

Unfortunately the G has one drawback. BV. As much as I adore the idea of this thing, and it is staggeringly funny, it still has to be taken in the context of costing 1269 BV. That wouldn’t be so bad if it was a touch slower and a bit beefier but, being the squishy little 25 tonner that this thing is, it’s going to explode the second you hit something for 16 damage and the other player decides he’s become a priority target and no longer wants to deal with the G’s shit.

Liberty’s Rating: C. Kinda expensive or not I’m still probably gonna run this thing. It fills the Stinger IIC 2 shaped hole in my heart in the funniest way possible.

H

H is for Heavy Laserer!

The H is the true blue heavy laser variant for the Fire Falcon. Where the G parks up a bloody big gun and seeks to bash in somethings skull with it while screaming its way into Valhalla the H seeks to be a small, shit rat bastard that is trying to overcome inherent inaccuracy by volume of fire. Mounting up two MHLs, two MPLs and two SHLs the H really does go a bit hard in the paint on heavy lasers.

Not hard enough if you ask me but whatever.

This significant volume of fire is supported by 13 double heat sinks, meaning that, on a running alpha strike, the H can go up 4 heat. Reasonably this should only be done when you’re stood 2 feet behind something you really want dead that’s giving you really good target numbers. Outside of that keep your foot off the small heavy laser pedal and you’ll stay down 2 heat until you decide you really want the chance of those two extra 6 point hits on target.

For 1162 BV this isn’t that terrible but it’s still a good clip of BV for something that wants to run up behind something, scream into it’s back and hopefully not explode. Funny as it is, other things do this mission profile far better and far more consistently. While the H has a hilarious possible alpha strike, the possibility of a good chunk of it just missing from the Heavy laser’s inherent +1 is kinda hard to swallow for me.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. It’s a lil’ dude with a job, he’s just not the best at that job. 

I

I is for incineration!!!

The I is a simple machine with a simple purpose:

Go fast.

Burn gas.

And make some pyroclasts.

Unfortunately ‘be a reasonable price for a 25 ton light mech’ is not one of its purposes. The I is flat out the most expensive Fire Falcon in the variant list standing at 1678 BV. To get there it uses the Fire Falcon’s pod space in a somewhat funny way, at the very least.

Rocking up with 5 ERMLs spread across the arms and right torso and a Plasma Cannon with one ton of ammo in the left torso the I has a pretty aggressive armament that, if it were cheaper, would certainly fit into the little bastard zone with that plasma cannon. Unfortunately this level of expense really takes the wind out of those sails.

The heat situation isn’t helping much either. One extra double heat sink has been mounted, moving the I’s capability up to 22 sunk heat. With a loadout capable of generating 32 in an alpha strike standing still. This leaves the I up 10 if it’s standing still, or 12 if it isn’t. Dropping the Plasma Cannon helps a little bit but only so much as, on the run, you’re still hitting the break point of slowing down to 7/11.

That being said the I has a good amount of damage potential in exchange for that heat, cERMLs are only just shy of ISLLs in damage, cheaper on heat and in the same range brackets and sending 5 of those into a target isn’t exactly pretty anyhow.

There’s some heat work you could put in to get the most out of the I and I think it could shine quite well doing it, especially picking on bigger mechs with poor heat management and already beleaguered armor, but there are other things that will do similar enough jobs with SRM-Inf’s for a third the price.

As fun as this thing looks I genuinely cannot recommend it over the equivalent option for a fast heat truck that can still punch pretty well on already harmed enemies: 3 fucking baboon 6s that you blitz over the hill at something.

Unfortunately the I falls into the trap of using the Plasma Cannon like a main gun and it really just shouldn’t be doing it.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. It’s a very funny idea but good god is it hyper expensive for what it is.

L

L is for FUCKING LACK OF RESTRAINT. STOP FUCKING MOUNTING cERPPCS ON LIGHT MECHS THAT AREN’T THE PACK HUNTER, AT LEAST THAT THING HAS THE DIGNITY TO NOT BREAK 1400. STOP DOING IT, THIS THING COSTS FUCKING 1665 BV! 

For some reason the crazy clanner who popularized the L config decided the absolute best use of their pod-space was an ERPPC in the left arm, 4 ERSLs in the right and a targeting computer down in the CT. Why?!

I suspect the answer was something to do with being a jack ass and ‘only’ bidding a Fire Falcon against some fuck-bomination-9000 of a clan assault with the plan to just run onto the field and scrape the other guys cockpit clean.

Bet it didn’t fuckin’ work though.

Fuck this is expensive. There’s no gimmick, no brow beater and no game winner here. You’re relying on blowing the other guys head off or sitting so far in the back that they’re basically forced to pick something else. There are mediums that do this job with nearly the same price and armament while packing extra armor and an acceptable enough speed. Take those instead.

Liberty’s Rating: D. Witheringly expensive. Please stop doin’ this shit, Clanners, I beg of you.

R

Re-engineerin’ all the lasers!

That’s it, that’s the gimmick. The R mounts one medium re-engineered laser in the right arm, a small re-engineered laser next to it, a pair of ATM-3s in the left torso with two tons of ammo, and two micro pulses in the left arm. That’s it.

It has sufficient heat capacity to handle it all at a run which is nice and it only costs 846 BV which is also quite nice. Unfortunately the loadout on this thing feels incredibly disjointed, kind of like it was just tossed together out of the Clan Dark Age bargain bin.

There are other mechs that are better RE laser trucks. There’s another Fire Falcon that’s a better ATM trucks than this one is. And there’s a cheaper variant in the A sitting right there.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. There are other Fire Falcons I wish this was and for that it saddens me.

Conclusion

The Fire Falcon has a fair few variants ranging from funny as shit like the G and the F to incredibly cost effective like the A and the E and then back over to being the dumbest use of the platform possible like the L and the I. In all actuality the Fire Falcon makes for a great little hit and run platform that either wants to be lurking around the wings pitching in chip shots until it sees it’s opportunity to go full dive into something back for one turn before promptly zipping right back out to safety on it’s- hopefully unbroken -spindly little legs.

Unfortunately my hopes for a funny E-War or underwater variant were not realized so I can’t have a Fire Falcon preform my dreams of chasing James Bond around a lake in his retro-fitted submersible rotunda or packrat.

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