Howdy and welcome back to Mech Overview! Continuing our look at the Merc box mechs, the Ostsol is another one of those neglected and ignored mechs from early BattleTech. While it does have more variants than a lot of other ignored loser mechs due to being in TRO 3025, it is almost never a mech that people think about. The general theme of the Merc box and the whole Merc kickstarter is to give these neglected and non-iconic machines models and a new lease on life, and the Ostsol is a pretty awesome heavy mech with a lot of good traits, and its weird pod on legs look has always been one of my favorites.
As a mech that comes from the very first mech publication, TRO 3025, the Ostsol has some very prestigious peers. However, for various reasons (It was ugly as sin in the OG art, it was canonically rare, and FASA just didn’t seem to give a single fuck about it) the Ostsol was left behind by time. This is a shame because this is one of the very best intro-tech 60 tonners, and by quite a bit.
Chassis
The Ostsol is a 60 ton non-omni with a general identity as a one-mech laser light show. Lasers are very common on Ostsols, and most variants are pretty fast for a heavy mech of its vintage. In most ways it is really competing against the 55 ton trio and other high end medium mechs, with it’s movement and armor more matching those than most heavies. I love the living hell out of this thing and am exceptionally biased. This Kickstarter has had me thrilled, all the piece of shit mechs from old TROs are getting models and basically all of my actual most commonly used game pieces are finally getting models that don’t weigh more than the heart of a sinner being weighed by the great god Anubis, may he be merciful.
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).
OTL-4D
Coming in at 1277 BV the 4D is a screaming deal. You get a 5/8/0 heavy mech with a lot of very good traits. The armor is decently thick, though it is weirdly allocated with insanely thin arm armor, insanely thick leg armor, and every torso having the same armor values up front. 22 points of torso armor and 20 points of leg armor is awesome for AC/20 resistance, and the arms have literally nothing in them so who cares if they get blown off. The guns consist of 2 large lasers, 2 medium lasers pointing forwards, and 2 medium lasers pointing backwards. Unlike most mechs the Ostsol might get some use out of those rear lasers, as it doesn’t have anything in the arms and otherwise can’t shoot anything behind it. The BV discount on those rear lasers makes them more or less a non-issue, but I still would rather have them pointing the right way around. Heat management is pretty ok, building only movement heat while firing both large lasers and easily being able to drop one to add a couple of medium lasers and start cooling off.
The main sin of this mech is that it can’t force a PSR on an enemy mech without overheating, but considering that it is competing in both role and cost with Griffins and Wolverines, that really isn’t unusual. The price tag here is just insane for something with adequate, reliable damage output and enough durability and speed to do what it needs to do. I would love jump jets but I can see why they aren’t here, it would just be too much tonnage. 3025 mechs can be genuinely good, but only if they are costed correctly and the 4D is 100% costed correctly.
RATING: B
OTL-4F
For 1264 BV you can get a bad mech. The 4F trades all the weapons for 2 PPCs, but doesn’t increase the heat sinking capacity, forcing you to volley fire to not cook your pilot. It isn’t the worst thing in the world but when you are competing with one of the best 3025 heavy variants “not literally unusable” just doesn’t cut it. Avoid this variant.
RATING: D
OTL 5D
For 1333 BV you get a weird one. With the same internal components and armor values, the 5D just trades the rear firing medium lasers out and uses ferro fibrous armor to add 5 rocket launcher 10s. I love the hell out of this. While you still have the same single heat sinks, who cares, this mech now can, once per game, turn a good to-hit value into up to 50 points of damage at close range, while still having the good brawling potential from the large lasers. This is a strict upgrade on the 4D in my mind, trading mostly useless medium lasers out for a once per game massive burst of damage. Simple but very good.
RATING: B
OTL-5M
Another upgrade model, the 5M comes in at 1245 BV and is in certain games a fucking unstoppable monster. It swaps the heat sinks for doubles, sinking a mighty 32 heat per turn, and uses an XL engine to swap every laser to a pulse laser. 2 LPLs and 2 MPLs facing forwards is fantastic damage output at close range, and the 2 rear firing MPLs are unfortunate and I wish they faced the right way, but it will heavily discourage any light jumpy bastards from getting right up behind you. The main issue with the 5M is speed, 5/8/0 isn’t fast enough for something with such a short effective range. It can bully light mechs that choose to close in with it but any light mech that does that is actively looking for a beating and you can’t count on that. In certain games where you manage to get the 5M up close it is going to completely rip but it is unreliable at best due to low speed for its intended role. I really love this thing but I’d recommend the other good Ostsols over it in most games, but in the right force or situation this is a fantastic mech.
RATING: C+
OTL-6D
Another fantastic mech, the 6D comes in at a much higher 1880 BV, high end heavy mech BV. It earns it though, with triple strength myomer, significantly thicker armor than other Ostsols, a terrifying weapon load, and great heat management. For guns you have 2 ER large lasers, 2 medium pulse lasers, 2 ER medium lasers, and 2 small pulse lasers, all pointing forwards. It also carries a targeting computer, mitigating the to-hit penalty from heat while you are using your TSM. This mech can hit TSM heat after a single turn and then maintain that heat value easily with it’s wide range of weapons. At 6/9/0 this is a very mobile heavy mech, and the damage output is pretty good both at range and up close. I quite like this mech, but the high price tag does mean that I don’t really think it is that much better than getting a 5D and spending that 500 BV difference somewhere else. Still a good upgrade if you can spare the points for it.
RATING: B+
OTL-7M
The Ostsol just can’t stop winning. At a reasonable 1581 BV you get more armor than a standard model, though mostly added to the arms for some reason, and a decent weapon set. It carries 2 light gauss rifles and 4 ER medium lasers, all pointing forwards. I rag on light gauss rifles quite a lot because most mechs that carry them are pretty bad and overly expensive, but this is not one of those. The 7M has pretty ok damage output at long range, for the price, and can really slap someone around with those medium lasers up close. I love this for the price, it is a bit more of a long range harassment unit than a brawler, but it does it well and I can’t complain. You could do better for the price, but you could also do much worse. Love how this mech literally can’t stop winning.
RATING: B+
OTL-8D
At 1462 BV the 8D is another great one. You get significantly more armor than the base model, and exchange the weapons for a light PPC, a pair of light AC/5s with enough ammo to load precision, and 2 ER medium lasers. This is already a decent mid-ranged weapon set, but the 8D also has a targeting computer, making it pretty accurate and a lot of fun to use. It is also completely heat neutral and uses a light engine, letting it survive one ammo explosion or side torso destruction and keep fighting. This is a very good mech for the price, I use a lot of double or quadruple LAC/5 mechs and this would slot into that role very easily. It won’t be an all star but it is reliable and will never badly disappoint you.
RATING: A
OTL-8E
Wow, who would have guessed, another deeply fantastic mech! Carrying similar armor to the 8D, the 8E comes in at 1552 BV and earns it. For weapons, you have 2 large X-pulse lasers, 2 medium X-pulse lasers, and 2 rear firing ER small lasers for some fucking reason. Heat management is ok, and X-Pulse lasers are just fucking fantastic in every way. This is a good mech and a great upgrade on the 5M, having a longer effective range but otherwise keeping literally all of the positive traits of that mech. Another great one, it is really hard to pick a bad Ostsol.
RATING: A
OTL-8E3
At 1671 BV the 8E3 is the exact same as the 8E, but with TSM. It can use TSM ok, but it has no way to easily hit 9 heat while running, which is deeply annoying, but once it is there it can maintain heat neutrality just fine and the extra speed is very helpful. I think the extra BV is a bit much here, but it isn’t really any worse. It’s a matter of personal preference whether you want this or the 8E, I personally prefer the 8E to save some BV but the 8E3 is more mobile and has much more scary punches, headchopping with each punch and having no arm mounted weapons, letting it blast away at people while punching them.
RATING: B+
OTL-8F
At 1698 BV the Ostsol continues it’s run of dominant and powerful machines, nearly every Ostsol is above average and I direly need to get a copy of this box, holy shit. The 8F trades the weaponry out for a pair of ER PPCs and 4 ER medium lasers, 2 forwards and 2 backwards. The mech is completely heat neutral firing the ER PPCs and from personal and frequent experience with the Catapult K2K, a 5/8/0 pair of heat neutral ER PPCs is fucking insanely good. This is functionally the same as that mech, but with hands to punch people with! Another high grade heavy mech, it will never let you down.
RATING: A
OTL-8M
At 1733 BV the 8M is a bit pricy, but it is still a perfectly good heavy mech. It upgrades the speed to 6/9/0, adds TSM to push it to 7/11/0, and it has more armor than the 4D but less than the 8F. Still more than fine. For guns, it has a basic PPC, a large pulse laser, 3 medium pulse lasers, an ER medium laser, and an ER small laser for TSM management reasons. This is another very high grade TSM mech, with blinding speed for a 60 tonner, good enough armor, and a decent if very eclectic mixture of weapons. I love the hell out of this mech, its a fucking Ostsol dude, Ostsols are just fucking insanely good mechs all the time for no reason. Why don’t more people use this chassis? I don’t think there is a single other heavy mech in the game with this good of mix of fantastic variants that all have their own appeal and reasons to take them, what the hell is it about this mech that turns people into god-tier mech designers?
RATING: A
OTL-9M
A remix of the 8M, the 9M costs an admittedly high 1871 BV and carries another eclectic mix of weapons. It removes the TSM but adds extra armor and MASC, giving it a slightly higher run speed but running the risk of knee explosions if you overuse it. For weapons you get a snub nosed PPC, ER large laser, medium pulse laser, 2 ER medium lasers, and an ECM in case that matters. It manages heat pretty well and that is a decent set of weapons for something that moves like this does with this much armor. A bit expensive for my blood but certainly a very high quality heavy cavalry mech, and it makes a fucking hilariously strong leader for light mech lances, giving a formation of Jenners, Locusts, and Spiders some really significant firepower while it can easily keep up with them and wolf pack with it’s little cheap buddies. Another great mech, god I love the Ostsol.
RATING: A-
OTL-9R
The 9R is a radical departure from every other Ostsol and, indeed, most heavy mechs. At 1654 BV you get a 3/5/0 mech with TSM to boost it to 4/6/0 once it starts overheating. It has thick armor for it’s tonnage and a heavy duty gyro for durability. Weapon wise, it carries a heavy PPC, snub nosed PPC, large laser, ER medium laser, ER small laser, and small laser. This lets it micromanage its heat for TSM decently well, and this is overall just a weird fucking mech. I don’t think it is quite as good as the other high end Ostsols, but it is really built to replace a cheap/low end Assault Mech like a Zeus or Cyclops, and it does a pretty good job at that intended role? It isn’t quite as rugged as an actual assault mech, but it has pretty high damage output at a variety of ranges. Honestly, it does a fantastic job of replacing an assault mech for a low price, and I actually still love it and intend to use it once I get my hands on this box. Complete weirdo of a mech but honestly you will get good use out of it, just use it like a mid range brawling assault mech, not like a conventional heavy mech.
RATING: A-
OTL-C
The Clan Remix, the C comes in at 2277 BV, quite a lot. It has the same armor values as the 4D, but it upgrades the armor to reflective armor, making it incredibly durable when it is being shot by energy weapons, which are very common in every single game. For guns we have 2 medium improved heavy lasers, 2 Clan ER large lasers, and 2 rear firing Clan ER medium lasers, which sucks but whatever. It has more than enough heat sinks, decent mobility, and good damage output. Reflective armor is awesome if you have never used it before, and the C here just has good damage output and good everything. It is expensive, but as a competitor with other Clan grade heavy mechs I think it has a ton going for it. It is allergic to Gauss and AC/20s though, so keep it far away from mechs carrying those and send it after any sort of energy boat on the other end of the table.
RATING: A-
OTL-4D “Ragnar”
This is a 4D with the rear firing mediums swapped to fire forwards. It has a BV listed on MUL but I don’t think we ever got a record sheet for it. Even without an official sheet this is a super easy custom to run/use so who cares, just mark the lasers as forwards facing.
RATING: B+
OTL-4D “Woo”
Allegedly upgraded heavily with ER lasers and DHS, this has no record sheet or listed BV, so doesn’t matter.
OTL-5M “Maki”
Allegedly an upgrade to the 5M, this has no record sheet or BV and therefore isn’t real.
Conclusion
The Ostsol is a fucking all-timer of a heavy mech. Every variant except for the 4F is a goddam menace and I genuinely don’t have any recommendations, just pick the one that sounds like the most fun to you and go nuts. I gave them a range of ratings based on my own personal play style but you literally can’t go wrong with this mech as long as you don’t pick the 4F. Fucking A+ mech, the Merc box is shaping up to be possibly the highest average quality starter box in the entire fucking game.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
