I am a Jade Falcon. 

I am the product of hundreds of hours of the Clan’s efforts, action, and work.

I was made for this very purpose. Made to advance into the Inner Sphere and bring The Great Father’s vision home to roost. 

I was hand chosen by the Khan for this honor, given recognition for talent and dedication to the Clan. For the honor of the Clan I have earned the command of my own star within his force and possession of one of his mightiest assets; so that I may drive these overconfident Spheroids back into the holes from which they came.

I am a Chosen of Turkina.

Columbidae’s reactor thrums with eager power as her weapons systems come alive, the myriad of systems show green, the new machine urging us on into the fray. These ‘Com Guards’ would prove no match for us, even with their dezgra traps and ambushes. 

We pushed on from our landing zone, advancing into the kraggy passes and endless deltas that comprised our vector for this magnanimous trial. The ground shakes beneath her gargantuan feet, the very soil of this damnable world trembling at our, and the Clan’s, approach. 

“Star Commander,” Star Colonel Crichell calls, bidding my attention over the commline. 

“Reading you, Star Colonel,” I acknowledge, pressing Columbidae on around a ridgeline, catching a glimpse of movement ahead.

“Delta Star reports contact on the far ridge, bearing 232 from your position. Another bout of harassment from those dezgra Spheroids. Vector to assist and cut off their retreat. I am done allowing this mockery to continue.”

“Aff, Star Colonel. Bravo Star mov-”

Star Commander Altan Roshak, Turkina Pilot, B Config, Jade Falcon Touman,Turkina Keshik. Tukayyid, May 5th 3052. DECEASED

—

Another day another hunk of salvaged iron, myomer and actuators.

These big Clanners only ever get hauled in in one of two ways: beaten apart and good for little more than spare parts and scrap or with one big hole square in the cockpit. 

Today’s newest arrival was the latter. Untouched but for the scars of a few hits, a nasty gouge from hitting the ground and the cavernous hole that dominated the cockpit visor. It’d been sitting a few days, dried mud and grease had mixed together into a thick, ochre-like paste that dominated the entirety of the lower leg. It’d be hell just getting it all clean and cleared away, let alone servicing the joints that were no doubt filled to bursting with the stuff. 

God willing, I wish they’d just take one intact.

Mech Technician Andrew Callendrel, Comstar Guards, 37th Provisional Garrison. Tukayyid, May 10th 3052.

—

Howdy Mechwarriors and welcome back to Mech Review! This week I’m being forced at gunpoint back into the Omni-mines by my Clan ‘Advisor’ with the Turkina, the ‘Mech of choice for the bird-and-green-obsessed!

I’ll be upfront, I’m not a fan of the Turkina. It’s slow, it’s expensive and it’s another of the Clan monuments to excess that I just can’t really abide putting to table regularly. A good clip of these things will absolutely go rip-shit killing spree if given the chance but good god are they expensive and a lot of them make some fucking choices with their loadouts that I really don’t get.

These things range from the ‘low’ price of 2,478 BV all the way up to 3,935 BV; 3,420 if you don’t vibe with the Society tech which is very reasonable.

I’ve dealt with an opposing Turkina three times now. One time it didn’t do anything but score a random TAC into a Nightstar’s arm to detonate the gauss and the other two times they fired off 3-4 salvos and then got their head staved in by a gauss from something FAR cheaper than they were.

Obviously these are anecdotes and an overall statistical outlier but they do highlight something that we often bring up when discussing ‘mechs that get this expensive: BV Concentration.

If you field a Turkina your opponent is going to look at it and probably decide it does not deserve to exist on the same plane as they do before summarily trying to bring it down with everything they have. It might go down after a long, protracted fight where the rest of your force picks his force apart from the wings and you get your full 3000BV out of the turkina by virtue of just having been a punching bag that slings good damage. Or it’ll explode, falling over dead to lose you a shitload of BV that is now missing from your force as the opposition turn and drag the rest of your list to hell.

Chassis

The Turkina is an Omni-mech meaning it’s got some baseline qualities that are immutable, so lets run over those before we get on into the actual configs.

This is a 95 ton assault with a base movement profile of 3/5/3 meaning it’s got a trio of hard mounted jump jets and an XL engine to save some tonnage for pod space. It is built of a standard structure and clad in 18 tons of standard armor, giving it 32 armor on the arms, 40 on the legs, 30 on the side torsos and 45 on the CT with an even 10 on each rear torso location. The standard cooling system mounts 15 double heat sinks giving it a good spot to start from.

All of these design choices come together to give the Turkina a whopping 42 tons of pod space. Christ, that’s a lot.

The basic unladen frame of the Turkina costs 1235 BV between its movement, armor and structure which paints a picture of what 42 tons of pod space is going to result in… Oh boy.

Also it looks like the Starship enterprise, look at that fucker, getting ready to explore frontiers unknown. The Frontier in question is the wrong end of the Gauss Rifle pointed at their head.

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).

Prime

A turkey shoot, but someone gave the turkey enough ordinance to knock over Fort Knox.

The Prime has a very standard set of long range weapons mounted up, slinging a pair of cERPPCs in the right arm, a pair of LB 5s in the left arm with two tons of ammo and a cLRM 15 in each side torso with three tons of ammo total. Four extra heat sinks have been added to give the prime nineteen sinks and a total heat sinking capacity of 38.

This means that at a running alpha strike you build +6 heat, or +4 standing still. This isn’t an unmanageable amount, especially for what the thing rather obviously wants to be doing. There’s a few firing orders you can do here to keep heat neutral or doing the heat line shuffle but what order that will take is up to you and the situation you find yourself in.

At 2,944 BV this isn’t exactly cheap but at the very least it is quite durable!

Liberty’s Rating: C. It’s a hateful machine but I just cannot justify spending this much on a ‘mech that doesn’t have the savagery that something like a Kodiak can dish out on demand.

A

Ah, explodey arms!

The A config goes down to the standard fifteen DHS and drops all of the Prime’s weapons. Opting instead to put a gauss rifle, and two tons of Gauss Ammo, in each arm. The Torsos are now filled with an LRM 20 and one ton of ammo… stuffing the second ton of ammo into the arms alongside the bigger boom that is the Gauss rifle.

It is not impossible for the Gauss to go off, score a crit as it rips the arm off, blow that LRM bin and knock out the pilot on one of the resulting four consciousness checks. It’s not likely but it’s not impossible either.

Unfortunately this costs 2,906 BV. It’s cheaper than the Prime but between the two I’d happily pay that extra 38 BV to get that extra oomph and flexibility of having the LBs along for the ride… and less explosive components.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. Take a Prime instead unless somehow that 38 BV is breaking your bank it is just better.

B

Holy FUCK is this thing fucking expensive.

This is the second most expensive Turkina, most expensive bar none if we’re ignoring weird Society tech; which you should be. The B has cleared its plate and loaded it back up again, mounting ten extra DHS for a total of twenty five, a pair of Large Pulse Lasers in the left arm, a pair of ER Large Lasers in the right arm, an ER Medium Laser in each side torso and a Medium Pulse Laser in the CT and the Head.

Oh, also there’s a Targeting computer in the right arm. For funsies.

Heat wise you can fire off both kinds of Large Lasers at range and be down 4 heat at a run. Tossing the pile on in a running alpha strike when the enemy gets in close will punch you up fourteen heat to the first shutdown check. I’d suggest ditching one of the ER Larges to make the heat far more manageable… if for whatever reason you chose to pay for this damned thing.

Oh yea! PRICE.

The B costs 3,420 BV, a staggering amount of investment. Of course this thing will kill people. It will rip them apart and spit them out for being Dezgra Spheroids or some Clanner bullshit.

Right up until it takes a Gauss to the face and falls over dead.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. This is far too expensive for me to ever consider fielding. That said it will do the job and if you wanna spend that money then more power to you.

C

OH GOD HE’S GOT A SHOTGUN!

The C is a bit of an odd duck amongst the Turkinas. Adding two heat sinks for a total of seventeen it uses this heat sinking capacity to support two Large Pulse Lasers in the right arm, two Medium Pulse Lasers in the left torso, a Streak SRM 6 in the right torso alongside a pair of MGs and their half ton of ammo, an LB 20-X in the left arm alongside 4 tons of ammo split between the arm and the left torso and…

A pair of flamers in the legs? And a pair of A-Pods? Okay? Sure?

Sure, why not. This Turkina is the Infantry Guy config, he’s gotten his grubby little paws in here but managed to resist the siren call of nine-billion machine guns or some other heinous shit. For once… Also there’s an Active Probe in there, for reasons only he could ever truly know.

At a running alpha strike, with the streak going off, you build +12 on the heat scale. If you drop the Streak and the pair of flamers you’re only going up movement heat which is certainly manageable.

All of this firepower and flash comes out to a more tame but still rather expensive 2,798 BV. God this config makes my head hurt.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. Still expensive as all hell but at the very least it’s expensive in funny ways? Go forth and mulch poor infantry men, ‘mechwarrior. For the glory of Kerensky- or whatever.

D

OUR ATMS WILL BLOT OUT THE SUN. CAST THE IRON RAIN UPON THEM.

The D is our ATM config today and oh boy does it not disappoint. Adding two sinks for a total of seventeen the D packs in a pair of ER Medium lasers, one in the CT and one in the head so it can support its four ATM12s and their ten tons of ammunition. This is more than enough to take your preferred mix of ammo. If you manage to land all four ATMs with HE loaded you’ve got 144 possible damage in 5-point clusters inbound on target.

That’s a lotta damage.

With the incredibly forgiving 12 cluster chart you’re likely to get some real work out of these things. Once the bins are eventually empty you’re down to the pair of ERMLs but that’s going to take twelve and a half rounds to do; at which point it’s quite likely whatever you’re after is smashed to pieces by the time that happens.

Now, all of this anger is going to cost you. Coming in at 3,132 BV you’re paying a lot for the privilege of using this thing but by god is this one hateful ATM caddy.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. Still horrendously expensive if you’re dying to use a Turkina this is probably one of the funniest ways to do it… also probably a fast track to giving someone ATM related trauma but that’s their problem not yours.f it managed to be a touch cheaper it’d be a B of some variety.

E

The Cluster and Crit torture machine.

Do you like resolving a shitload of hits? Do you like hearing the resigned sigh of a person who knows the next five to ten minutes of their life are going to be you telling them where thirty six separate SRM hits and, ideally, eight 5-point HAG hits are going to go?

If that’s your bag then look no further than the Turkina E! Six streak SRM-6s and a HAG/40 make up the entire weapon load, all of which require many hit locations to resolve.

With the standard fifteen double heat sinks aboard a running alpha strike that sees all of the streaks going off results in a +4 on the heat scale. That’s it.

For the still incredibly high amount of 3,147 BV you’re getting a lot of potential for TACs, head hits and just general damage to put in on something. I mean, it’s still expensive as hell and there’s a Mad Dog that will do something similar for less, trading off the Turkina’s monster armor for a good bit more speed and the capacity to force a close on something, but that’s a personal choice, I suppose.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. Angry angry machine but that price is still really hurting it.

H

Heavy Lasern’t.

H configs are usually reserved for Heavy Laser builds and technically the Turkina H is no different. Mounting up a trio of Medium Heavy Lasers technically meets the requirement to be classed as a Heavy Laser build, but that’s all it has on that front.

Sporting an extra five heat sinks the H has twenty doubles to give it forty sinking capacity to support its pair of Ultra AC/10s with four tons of ammo spread throughout the ‘mech, three Medium Heavy Lasers and pair of Medium Pulse Lasers all mated to a Targeting computer to make everything a touch more accurate.

A running alpha strike with the H will leave you at +3 heat which is incredibly manageable and allows the H to really dish out some hate when the fighting gets close.

As per usual Omni-configs with Ultra AC/10s are a bit cheaper with the H here coming in at 2,712 BV which is approaching a reasonable price for what you’re getting and may well be worth taking for what you’re getting as this is the third place slot for cheapest Turkina.

Liberty’s Rating: B-. We love a pair of UAC/10s and this thing can spit out a lot of possible 10 damage hits given the chance and the right target. It’s a B- but only just barely, I could be convinced down to C+ if I’m honest. Genuine King of Shit Mountain here.

M

Huh… well, that’s an odd one.

The M adds one heat sink and then uses the remaining tonnage to add on a pair of LRM 5s, one in each torso with a single ton of ammo to split between them, a medium pulse laser in the CT. The arms here are mirrored with each one mounting an ER Large Laser an LB 5 and an LB 2 with one ton of ammo each. A running alpha strike will net you +6 on the heat scale which is a bit annoying but in reality you can drop a few things and be alright.

This is a weird load out. It’s very weedy for the frame and doesn’t really feel like it’s putting out anywhere near enough damage to justify its 2,495 BV price tag. This is the second cheapest Turkina by a fair margin and I love LB auto cannons but with only two big hitters aboard in the form of those ERLLs I feel like this config just won’t put out the damage to make back its investment.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. Though this is the second cheapest Turkina its doing so by losing a lot of its capacity for violence while not really gaining a whole lot of much else in return.

T

Rec Guide Variants are always weird, and funny, and the T is no different.

Mounting up a pair of cERPPCs in the right arm, a pair of Protomech AC/8s in the left arm with two tons of ammo and a pair of Streak LRM 15s with one ton of ammo each in the side torsos the T is a throw back to the prime with all the fun goodies we’ve picked up since the invasion. This loadout is a bit odd but certainly seems like fun!

With one extra heat sink for a total of sixteen the T config is losing the heat battle against its weapons. A running alpha strike builds the T to +14 heat, hitting that first shutdown check. As well, with four tons of ammo spread about the ‘mech, a failed ammo explosion check will just outright kill both the ‘mech and the mechwarrior.

At 3,080 BV this isn’t the most expensive Turkina we’ve seen but it’s certainly not the cheapest. For that price you get a machine that, while heat neutral popping off both PPCs, really wants to be building a lot of heat which is a bit of a problem when more than half of your damage is tied up in heat problems.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. Expensive, poor heat management and direct competition with the basic Prime Config pushes the T down in the rankings just for the fact that a more coherent design already exists to do this job… as much as I love Streak LRMs.

U

Ground Control to Major Turkey.

U variants are usually for adverse or ‘unusual’ environments and this one is no different being an Assault meant to, I think, board enemy warships.

Starting off, the U mounts a few odd pieces of equipment for use in void ops; namely a Harjel system to seal up breaches, a coolant pod to knock the heat down when operating in hard space, and a pair of liquid storage tanks for the jump jets to keep them running longer so the Mechwarrior can be sure to really get some momentum on their flight into space when they manage to miss the broadside of a battleship. If they do manage to land then they can sink their pair of Talons into the hull to really make sure they’re not going anywhere, or to deliver some monstrous 29 damage kicks or 43 damage DFAs into one of the defending battlemechs. Yeesh that’s a lot.

Weapon wise we’ve got another weird loadout of two LRM 15s with one ton of ammo a piece, an ATM 9 with two tons of ammo and ten ER Small Lasers mated to a targeting computer- presumably to be able to chop holes into the hull of whatever ship it’s trying to board.

Honestly, this is a very funny loadout even outside of boarding operations. Very dumb, I love amassed Clan ER Smalls paired with something to be able to reach out and touch with.

Playing in more normal conditions the U will go up +8 heat on a running alpha. That’s not great but past 6 hexes where the ER Smalls can’t fire off at anything it has absolutely no heat problems.

For this weird ass super-space-marine you’re paying 2,478 BV which is the cheapest Turkina config! It’s also probably not gonna do much but man it’d be funny if it did!

Also there’s an Active Probe here… for reasons.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. I Love it. This is hilarious… unfortunately it’s not good and, more importantly, it’s still expensive. That being said it’d bring a great smile to my face to slap something with an HE salvo from the ATM followed by the ER Small broadside but if they’ve got any idea what they’re doing then they’re not going to get anywhere near enough to you to allow that to happen.

X

DISCO DISCO! DISCO FEVER!

It’s pulse time, buddy. The X mounts an additional pair of heat sinks to push the total to seventeen and then uses the remaining space to mount a pair of LRM 20s equipped with Artemis V, and three tons of ammo each, in CASE II bays out in the arms. Artemis V is great, acting as a Targeting Computer for missiles that also grants a +3 buff to the cluster table. Backing up this pair of missile depots we find an ECM suite and six Medium Pulse Lasers spread throughout the side torsos.

Also it has Talons again, fun fact, the X and the U came out in the same year, 3077!

A running alpha strike will bump the X up a touch on the heat scale to +4 which is perfectly manageable! This is a pretty savage variant that will absolutely tear something up if it gets a good hold of it.

For 3,056 BV though I really feel like you can do better, as angry as this is a Kodiak, or Kodiak 6, will absolutely wreck it’s shit given the chance and it will do it for marginally cheaper.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. God why are they all so expensive? Please Jade Falcon, restraint, I beg of you.

Z

We live in a society.

Do you remember the D variant? I remember the D variant. It’s a funny machine with a bunch of ATMs that I wish was cheaper. Unfortunately this isn’t that.

THIS is an abomination covered in horrid weapons meant to make people not want to play with you ever again. The Z mounts up a Light Tag, a Nova CEWS, essentially clan C3 with some extra goodies, and a quartet of Improved ATM 12s.

These are streak ATMs. That’s not okay.

At close range, if you land all four packs firing HE, you have a guaranteed 144 damage in 5-point clusters. It has no heat issues. It can put infernos in the iATMs to force you to max heat cap with one hit because they’re still streaks. It has enough ammo in it to do that and not give a shit that it did because you’ll be dead by the time it’s empty anyhow.

This thing is not okay.

Luckily it costs 3,935 BV but this thing can cost all it wants, it’s still going to be a problem if it wants to be. iATMs are the debil and you shouldn’t use them. If you do, the people you are playing with probably won’t be doing it again.

Liberty’s Rating: Superposition of F- and S++. This thing is both and neither all at once, it is a horrid game warping machine that you should NOT use. Not because it’s bad but because you’ll lose people to play the game with about it… unless there’s a tournament that lets you do it. At that point it’s about sending a message to the T.O. about imposing limitations on… a lot of things.

Conclusion

The Turkina’s are weird, dangerous and funny.

But most importantly they’re expensive. If you’re ok with that then sink your teeth into them and eat your heart out but I probably won’t be joining you. I’m surprised we haven’t gotten an IJJ + partial wing variant to make some horrid abomination of a machine where Starfleet really is coming after you to collect their taxes.

If you’re looking to run a Turkina I’d say my best picks for configs to field would be the D and the H just because they’re either hilariously effective or at least somewhat reasonably priced.

Until next time! Fair weather, good seas and happy hunting!

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