The Crater Cobras were beaten, confused and quickly broke ‘neath the Dominions oncoming boot; doing their best at fleeing from Yamarovka with their tails between their legs. We were nearly done here, the Cobras defeat paving the way for the rest of Taiga Galaxy to press the knife deeper towards Luthien, stabbing at the Combine’s heart as what was left of them bolted for their dropships.

Some of them weren’t nearly fast enough. 

The distant forms of a pair of Hitmans flanked a battered Ghost and a barely operational Panther, smoke oozing from its shattered plates and protesting joints. A reactor hit, no doubt. The Lance was silhouetted against the pale blue horizon, limping towards the space port in the vain hopes of making it offworld. According to Star Captain Austmathrdottir there was still a pair of Unions waiting to take off, no doubt these stragglers were hoping to get a spot aboard.

Not if we have anything to say about it.

“Kalia, Hall, swing west and grab their attention. Armod, Maria and I will strike them hard from the east the moment they’re open.”

“Aye, Commander.” Kalia affirmed, her and Hall hauling their Hellions to their feet before turning to sprint wide open across the rolling fields. Kalia’s right arm lit up, a blazing, hateful shaft of vibrant green light slamming into the Panther’s left arm, melting the remaining armor away in a flash before rending it free and digging into the torso beyond it.

One of the Hitmans turned, raising a hand to point at the pair, dragging their lancemate’s attention around as the remainder of my star turned and broke east. The jets on Maria’s Pack Hunter flashed, tossing her across the sky, hanging for a long moment before she came screaming down to let a crackling spear of energy fly just wide of the Ghost’s rear. Armod and I pushed out in her wake, his Locust IIC leaving me in the dust as he closed on the bloodied Ghost and I punched myself up into the sky.

I landed just past Maria, planting my feet into the soft dirt and pivoting to swing my laser up to send a flashing spear of purple laser fire into one of the Hitman’s chest. The laser blasted away the last of its armor as it let loose a flash of SRMs from its MML, sending them just wide of Hall’s Hellion kicking up gouts of dirt and fire. My Valkyrie shuddered underneath me as the LRM-10 belched forth its flight, sending a streak of smoke and brilliant blue fire up into the pale blue sky before they fell down like a hammer on the Hitman’s nearly open side torso.

The machine buckled, taking another step and raising its left arm to train a pair of Lasers on Hall before disappearing in a brilliant, cacophonous fireball. The Panther took a staggered step back from the explosion, swinging around to look at me before shifting the PPC arm up and in my direction, sending a streak of lightning into my left arm.

The actuators groaned a little, grinding sharply as I turned and set to running, watching as Maria’s Pack Hunter sailed over my head to land a few hundred meters to my left. She drew her PPC’s barrel down on one of the Hitmans before letting it fly. The particle screamed through the air before slamming into the Hitman’s chest, crashing through the armor and savaging the structure within as Hall shot in, his trio of SSRMs following suit to send the Hitman crumpling to the dirt.

A pair of light PPCs zipped past him, crashing into the treeline as the Ghost chased after the offending Hellion, finally having gotten its bearings. Most of a flight of SRMs pock marked Hall’s left side, sending out splinters of metal and blooms of orange and red fire as he banked wide around the now stricken Hitman. Armod was on the Ghost’s tail, his lasers blasting at the ‘mechs legs, scraping chunks of armor away before sending the ‘mech sprawling to the ground. 

I turned my attention back to the Panther, searching for a new target just as a flight of MRM’s and a PPC shot sailed wide over my right shoulder.  I returned in kind, my pulse laser flashing just to the leftof his PPC arm as my flight of LRMs spattered against his armor, blasting chunks free from the already damaged machine. 

“On your left!” Maria shouted over the comm, giving me a warning as her PPC streaked wide of my stricken arm, slamming into the Panther before sending the last of its center torso armor crashing to the ground. 

And then the rest of the ‘mech with it.

• Star Commander. Beckett Ospaksson, Valkyrie C Pilot, Rassalhauge Dominion Taiga Galaxy, Third Fremen.

—

 

Howdy Mechwarriors, welcome back to another ‘mech Overview! Today we’ve got the Valkyrie, the plucky little 30 ton light that a lot of people forget about but is surprisingly rather versatile across its variants! Now, I own a lot of valkyries, mostly because they come in the same box as the Marauder,  so they find a reasonable amount of use in my lists! I’ve got a couple favorites but almost all of them have some amount of utility to bring to the table.

That being said they’ve got a pretty tight band of cost across the Valk’s 15 variants, with the cheapest of them being 638 BV and the most expensive weighing in at 936. If you’re looking for something that stacks up in the same box as a Wasp or a Stinger for line filling this isn’t quite the frame for you but sometimes there is a roughly Valk shaped hole in your force and there’s probably a variant to fit whatever kind of support role you might want to stick there!

Chassis

The Valkyrie is a 30 ton light that is the very epitome of the ‘Little Bastard’ zone. They all jump. They’ve all got chip guns. And they’re rarely annoying enough to truly earn the wrath of your opponent if you’ve got something even vaguely more threatening around. As well they’ve got almost Panther like armor with most locations having over ten armor meaning you have to shoot it with real guns to make sure it gets put down.

This coupled with an adorable amount of ‘I’m just a little guy!’ energy makes for a ‘mech that has a surprising capacity to just kinda stick around. Usually they’ve got a laser of some sort in the right arm and a long range option in their left torso coupled with some form of 5/8/5 or better movement profile. This also makes them, at least vaguely, maneuverable enough to have them where you want them to be for all your ‘Little Bastard’ needs!

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).

 

QA

Setting the standard of ‘I’m a little bastard!’

The QA is the bread and butter. The standard setter. The most basic of bitch in all of Valkyrie land.

The armament is a simple, yet acceptable enough, one Medium laser in the right arm and an LRM 10 in the left torso fed with a ton of ammo supported by eleven single heat sinks. This does an acceptable job of keeping the ‘mech cool as an alpha strike with the jump jets kicking will net you +1 heat. The ammo is, unfortunately, un-CASEd, but on a somewhat cheap succ. war fodder light like this that isn’t that big of a problem. At least it’s got some amount of crit padding with the pair of heatsinks next to it giving you a 66% chance of not instantly evaporating when you get critted on the right torso

With the lowest armor on the front of the ‘mech being 9 out on the arms, a standard engine and a movement profile of 5/8/5 that allows it to consistently have a +3 TMM, the QA is surprisingly annoying to kill. This has it following, somewhat, in the Panther’s footsteps to be a light mech that is both cheap enough to not care about and annoying enough to kill that it requires some degree of actual attention to reliably put down.

At 723 BV this could certainly be a worse weirdo Panther.

Liberty’s Rating: C-

QF

Peri’s infantry man has been here.

This is a QA. Same armor. Same movement. Same heat sinks. The only difference is, for some reason, the medium laser is now a flamer. At least this makes it cost 653 BV but like… why though?

Liberty’s Rating: D.  If you just want the LRM and need to save some BV take this instead I guess?

QD

Someone found a weird box and now the lasers are just… doin’ shit.

The QD is a QA with almost all of the Helm memory core goodies mounted up. The armor and frame have been upgraded, now being comprised of ferro-fibrous and endo-steel. This has allowed the protection to be uprated, making it PPC or AC/10 proof all over while retaining the previous 5/8/5 movement profile. As well this has bought tonnage to CASE protect the ammo, upgrade the medium laser to a pulse variant and strap a funny fire control computer to the LRM, providing it with an artemis IV to make it do a bit more consistent damage.

You do, unfortunately, pay for these buffs. Making it come in at a still honestly very acceptable 807 BV.

Liberty’s Rating: C. 

QD1

MORE. MORE. MORE.

The QD1 gets a bit bigger. For one it returns to the original armor profile of the QA, retains the same movement profile and mounts up ten double heat sinks. It also loses the MPL, trading it for an ERML supplemented by a TC so it can more effectively back up the LRM15 ART.IV. This is honestly a pretty good armament with the movement and armor profile. To make the room for all of these new toys it mounts up an XL engine and no CASE protection for the two tons of ammo. Which… I mean that’s fine, it’s a little shitbot light. It’s not meant to be horridly survivable… Gonna end up sucking for the guy driving it though!

That being said it’s still just ‘meh’ enough to, probably, not have your opponent nuke it out of spite while being capable of pitching in an acceptable enough amount of damage to help chip away at enemy armor. Hell, if you’re kinda lucky, it can even chuck in a PSR! With two tons of ammo you can also play with some alternate ammo types if you like which is always kinda fun.

These upgrades bump the QD1’s price up even more to 878 BV but that’s still sub 1k for what amounts to like… half of an archer.

Liberty’s Rating: C+

QD2

Careful kid, you’ll shoot your eye out with that thing.

The QD2 is the cheapest Valk bar none. Weighing in at an almost Stinger or Wasp like 638 BV.

To get here we’ve lost a good amount of the armor, no longer being PPC proof anywhere but the legs and made some funny choices for the guns. The ERML is still present but the LRM has been replaced by a pair of LAC/2s and their single ton of ammunition. This is all supported by ten double heatsinks and… a targeting computer?

So, here’s the thing. I love the QD2. It’s not great, it very easily dies and it usually doesn’t do a whole lot before it goes out but its so idiotically funny that I can’t help but field it. For one, the single ton of ammo can be swapped with precision which still gives you 22 shells, meaning you’ve got 11 rounds of peak ‘little bastard’ fire between the two guns where, more often than not, they’ll essentially be acting as pulse lasers. Really shitty 2 damage pulses but pulses nonetheless. It’s quite good at being a long range, fairly reliable SRM-2 to happily peck away at open locations or just generally bother things while you hope for a TAC or a header.

That being said, it’s not good. If you want a line filler little bastard and you’ve got a Valk model sitting around the QD2 will do the job with a maniacal, gnome sized giggle until a PPC screams in and blows a side torso open… then he’ll be crying on the ground that you’re not playing fair and that he’s ‘just a wittle guy!’

Don’t believe him.

Do it again.

 

Liberty’s Rating: D+. I love him and use this variant a lot but it’s a shitbox… a loveable shitbox but still a shitbox.

QD3

WHY WE GOIN’ SO FUCKIN’ FAAAAST?

The QD3 takes the normal QD and does some things to the design to make something… different! For one, say goodbye to the LRM10 and instead say hi to an LRM 5 with a CASE protected ammo bin and an extra ERML! The QD3 also drops some of the armor, retaining its PPC proofness on the torsos. Also its down a pip of armor on the head. Watch out! The Large VSP is coming for you!

Well… this is worse. This is a significant reduction in both armor and armament so… why? Why’d we drop all this important stuff?

Speed.

The QD3 has moved up to a 7/11/6 movement profile, giving it a bit more pep in its step but only a touch more in the jump jet department. I’d have preferred ditching that extra ERML for another JJ but we have what we have.

This is put forward at 882 BV. That’s a lot for something this thinly armed and armored. That 10 hex breakpoint is rough.

Liberty’s Rating: D-. Would be cool with some changes but man does it fall short.

QD4

Oh boy! Choices!

The QD4 drops some armor, losing its PPC proofness everywhere but the legs and CT, and mounts up an MML7 with two tons of ammo. The torso has CASE which lets the pilot at least survive the arm mounted bins kicking off. Sounds good! Love MMLs and the level of utility they can add to a machine, especially something like this that only comes in at 657 BV.

But that’s not the only good thing on the QD4. The QD4 mounts up seven improved jump jets instead of normal ones allowing it to leap a very good distance while also consistently generating a 4TMM. This is a quite good spot to be and allows the QD4 to dictate its engagements and makes it even better for being a support piece or a little bastard!

To make all these changes the QD4, unfortunately, mounts both an XL engine and an XL gyro but for the price it will most certainly do the job you want it to and if it explodes… it was cheap anyhow.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. Funny machine that can bend to fit any force you want to try and stick it in!

QD5

This little guy can fit so many choices inside of it!

The QD5 is a QD4 with the same armor profile and a slightly worse movement profile, dropping down to 5/8/5 instead of 5/8/7. This buys a few tons and they’re used in a very funny way. It seems the MML7 wasn’t enough and a few chunks of the FWL thought it’d be real cool to also have an ATM3 with two tons of ammo on board.

This changes bumps the BV up 33 to an even 690 BV. Nice.

Liberty’s Rating: C. Lot of choice. Lot of utility. A lil’ bit o’ Killin’.

QD6

Well… that’s unfortunate.

The QD6 is a QD with an XL engine, XL Gyro and double heat sinks to keep the ‘mech cold. These two mods are done for the sole purpose of mounting an ERML and an ELRM 10 with two tons of ammo.

I suppose this is an acceptable enough use of an ELRM, giving it just enough maneuverability to dip around to try and keep the other ‘mechs at a good distance but like…

Why? This thing costs 827 BV. That’s too much.

Liberty’s Rating: F+. Just go grab a normal QD and have fun with the Artemis instead.

QD8

You made it worse. Why???

It’s a QD6 with less armor. This less armor is used to replace the ERML with a light PPC.

It’s 787 BV. So at least it’s cheaper, I guess?

Liberty’s Rating: F. Same as before, there’s just better options but like… you could make it work if you’re playing a really big game.

QDD

A return to form!

The QDD has some changes over the normal QD. Namely a light engine, an XL Gyro, double heatsinks to keep the ‘mech ice cold and a 6/9/6 movement profile. This supports the ERML and LRM10 ART.IV rather well, giving you a good capacity to dictate your engagements and keep the QDD where it wants to be while being capable of losing a side torso. It’s a touch expensive at 834 BV but it’s justifiable enough for a little support piece.

Liberty’s Rating: C.

 QS5

The choices are bigger!

The QS5 is a QD that drops the MPL for an ERML and swaps the LRM10 ART.IV for an MML9 with ART.IV. Pretty upgrade package, love it. I’m not entirely sure where the weight for this comes from but I’m not questioning it. The heat isn’t all that big of a problem, only going up 3 from the ML on a jumping alpha strike.

For 774 BV this is a fun, versatile platform that can do a bunch of different things while still being annoying enough to kill/get ahold of to be left alone a while.

Liberty’s Rating: C.

QT2

Oh now we’re doin’ real weird panther shit.

This is a weird Panther that wants to go fast. Plain and simple. It goes 7/11/7 and carries a light PPC and a streak SRM 6 with double heat sinks. Clad in PPC proof armor everywhere but the arms the QT2 is still touch enough to require actual attention to kill while being fast enough to be annoying to actually get ahold of.

For 863 BV this is a pretty great little bastard. It’s got the right gun to chip chip chip away at something until something else cracks it open; at which point it should scream in to try and shred the enemy’s internals in search of those sweet sweet crits.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. Honestly just a good diet medium for filling out lists a little.

QW5

The Wobbies are doin’ shit again.

The Wobby Valk keeps the standard movement profile, good armor and overall layout that has become the Valk’s basis. Armed with a medium laser, an MML7 with ART.IV and a C3i the QW5 has some options for roles to play. For one it can act as a C3 support piece, sitting back and happily shelling enemy units as the rest of its Level II pushes up to get into the enemies face. Or it can be the spotter, loading SRMs and getting stuck in somewhere in or near the enemy formation to give your heavy hitters better shots.

Either way, for 701 BV, it’s really not a bad addition to fill out a C3i force and outside of it its still just a slightly more expensive QD4… though I’d probably just take the QD4.

Liberty’s Rating: C-

As per usual the Clans are here and, due to the chassis popularity, they’ve made a variant all their own that has spread to nearly every corner of the Inner sphere. If you like to play any given clan, house or merc force in the sphere there’s a good chance they have the C on their list.

C

The C sticks, mostly, with the QD’s loadout – just with a clangrade twist. The Clan MPL supports the clan LRM10 well, happily pitching in on any close range fight the C decides to get into. The LRM is fed by two tons of ammo, thus giving the option for specialty ammunition, giving the C a touch more flexibility for whatever it is you’re doing.

As well the C mounts eight improved jump jets, making it very mobile and allowing it to dictate its engagements while maintaining a good TMM to try and keep the bullets out. I find it makes a good anchor for a light star, chipping in those little hits to try and crack something open when it gets the chance or to exploit something that’s already having some kind of problems.

For this wonderful clan filled goodness you pay a solid 936 BV, the highest of any Valkyrie. This is a little steep but I find it makes a good anchor for a light star. Constantly chipping in those little hits to try and crack something open when it gets the chance or to exploit something that’s already having some kind of problems is a good spot for it to be in.

Liberty’s Rating: C.

Conclusion

There’s a good clip of Valkyries, leaving a wide spread of ‘mechs that, at their core, are really all the same things. Some are funny standouts, like the QD2 and QD5 while others are very good versions of the platform like the QD, QD1 and the C, but still all keep that same layout. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it really makes it feel like there’s not a whole lot of difference amongst them. As well, most of them stick the ammo bin on the right side, opposite the launcher and, more importantly, on the same side as the laser. That’s only so important on some of them, especially the ones with XL engines, but can be a real problem if it manages to survive the bin kicking off and is now down to a fist or a moderately sized boot.

That all being said I do think the Valk has a place in a lot of lists as a little back/midline little bastard support piece when you’ve got the space for one!

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