Weighing in at a solid 20 tons, the Flea is a tiny little scout mech along the lines of the Locust, though somewhat blockier and more adorable. It’s the lightest mech included in the Battletech: Mercenaries box, and my strongest memories of it are as a little trash mech to kill quickly in MechCommander 2.

Chassis

Most variants of the Flea are 20 tons, though one is only 15, and nearly all start with a 6/9 movement profile. Unlike some locusts, which could have near max armor for their weight, none of the fleas mount more than about 2/3, giving them generally just enough to be hit by an inner sphere medium laser in the torso without it going internal. They really really do not like being shot.

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 of our other ‘mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).

FLE-4

This flea carries even less armor than usual to let it pack on a bigger gun – there’s a large laser in the right arm, pair of small lasers in the left, and a flamer in the rear (why???). To do this the CT has all of 5 points of armor – the side torsos only have 3. It has more structure than armor. It will die to a stern look, but at least at 432 BV you won’t miss it all that much.

My rating: C – it would be lower, but when you get extremely cheap like this there’s value in just being an initiative sink.

FLE-14

The single 15-ton variant of the flea, it only carries a single medium laser, but does so at 9/14 movement. It’s got 4 hexes of jump, which is just enough to take you across a short river. A 2 hex river of depth 1 will take 7 walking MP to cross, which leaves you with 2 additional hexes of movement once you’re on the ground again for 5 total hexes moved – a +2 TMM, which is the same as jumping 4 hexes. Given the PSR risk, only walk through the river if the two additional hexes in a straight line will break line of sight or change range brackets.

It’s got effectively no armor – 3 points in the CT, 1 in each side torso, 2 in the legs. It will die to a stern look. At 270 BV you don’t really need to care if it dies, as it’s again mostly just an initiative sink.

My rating: C

FLE-15

Instead of the large laser on the FLE-4, this packs on a touch more armor, a pair of medium lasers, and a pair of machine guns, moving the small lasers to the rear and the flamer to point forwards. If all the guns pointed forwards this would be OK, but with the small lasers pointing backwards they feel rather pointless. At least it’s only 430 BV.

My rating: C

FLE-16

With the same barely usable armor of the FLE-15, this drops the small lasers and machine guns for more speed, moving at 9/14. As an initiative sink, it’s no better, but that speed is plenty to get around behind things and harass with the medium lasers until you die after getting shot once. 506 BV is still very cheap.

My rating: C+

FLE-17

The first Flea to get any real upgrades, this is packing a pair of medium pulse lasers and MASC for additional speed – up to a 6/9(12) move profile. Small lasers pointing to the rear still makes absolutely no sense, they’re not going to actually deter anything from shooting you in the back. Given the lack of upper arm actuators you’re probably best off just flipping your arms and shooting backwards? That said, at 510 BV I’ll take this over most locusts or other light mechs, especially if I’m playing a game with objectives rather than pure killing (as long as those objectives don’t need hands).

My rating: C+

FLE-19

This is the dream of infantry guy coupled with a bit of periphery madness. Eight light machine guns are combined into two machine gun arrays, there’s still a flamer in the center torso, and it picks up a rocket launcher (so if it gets very lucky it can slam out a single decent damage attack). It’ll make anyone running infantry very very unhappy for only 381 BV.

My rating: C- against anything but infantry, B+ish if you know you’re facing a bunch of infantry.

FLE-20

Carrying stealth armor and MASC, this Flea is much more survivable than previous variants, though will struggle to do much damage. It’s armed with a light PPC and pair of ER medium lasers, but if it wants to get any advantage out of the stealth armor it’s mostly going to be staying in medium range itself. There aren’t a whole lot of targets where you’ll be able to sit at 4 hexes to be in short range yourself while being in their medium range, and unlike stealth armor snipers the Flea needs to constantly be moving to maintain TMM beyond just what the armor provides, as any hit is serious. We’re up to 791 BV, and there’s quite a bit that outperforms this.

My rating: D

FLE-21

Again carrying stealth armor, this has picked up a bigger engine (and is the only variant that uses anything but a standard engine) to boost up to 9/14(18) speed with a supercharger. With the stealth armor it can get quite high TMM for defense, though runs into the same problem as the FLE-20 of not having the weapons to take advantage of it, this time carrying a pair of ER medium lasers and an ER flamer. It’s up to 823 BV, and I feel like there must be something missing from the record sheet because that’s just too much for something this lightly armed and armored.

My rating: D

“Fire Ant”

Infantry guy is here again with another variant designed to kill troopers, this time with even more war crimes. A loadout consisting of six machine guns and three flamers will remove infantry nearly instantly, and MASC gives you a 6/9(12) profile to get on top of them fast. It’s once again a super cheap variant at 332 BV, but relies on there being an appropriate target.

My rating: C- against anything but infantry, B+ish if you know you’re facing a bunch of infantry.

Conclusion

It really is like a mostly worse locust. A touch more gun, a touch less armor. Take a cheap one for initiative sinking, but don’t expect it to accomplish a whole lot.

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