Today I talk about the most meme'd 'Mech out there - the UM Urbanmech! Please support the channel: ko-fi.com/khealos --- All images copyright their respective owners.
yes, Yes I do like the Urbanmech and yes I do field them (well, more did, not a lot of tables here in MX). Low BV means the ability to flood a cityscape. And a gauntlet of pop up ambushers will whittle most forces of fancier mechs down far quicker and more effectively than most folk think. They are absolutely useless, outside of this environment/tactic, for the most part, yes. But the fact they are available in a Company Pack, and your own campaign anecdote, should explain the proper usage. As for my Favorite? The UM-96. Not quite as out there as I wanted, but I was restrained by a WYSIWYG mandate, so I could not add the Partial Wing that would have been the Piece de Resistance. Still, it's "my" variant, so I gotta vote for it. It's night unkillable, hit's hard, and the SN-PPC's 9 hex minimum range is ideal for city fights. And still cheap to make. I'm just sad that I couldn't give it the 5 jump that I wanted. Least favorite canon variant is hands down the AIV. Like the concept, hate everything about the execution. Mind you the original stats were a gag by some players, and I respect that. It's that Herb Beas chose to add it unchanged to canon, in a way that is utterly nonsensical (WoB having to spend billions in R&D to create it's custom Endo, XL engine, etc), when one could have gotten the same net result (lobbing a nuke 5 hexboards) by simply making a reductive build on existing Urbies, stripping things like JJs that serve no purpose for an artillery launcher. You say the Suburbanmech doesn't feel like a proper Urbie, and I agree. But a little added speed IMO is less an affront to the concept than cramming one with custom high tech gear for such a niche use. Hell, one could literally have just used a Hollander and straight swapped the Gauss for an AIV far more efficiently and effectively. Rant over! Cheers! 😝
Fun fact: The UM-R80 is basically a special forces dingbat that goes 2/3/3, has only energy weapons, and mounts both ECM and BAP. It's so close to being perfect. How? By dropping one heat sink and upgrading to doubles, you have just enough weight to max out the armor at 7 tons... And just enough space to swap it for Stealth Armor. Sure, you'd have to put the SPL in the head and move the TAG from the right arm to the left, but then you have a nigh-invisible urban combatant with a 9 hex short range and the ability to call down artillery on your head before you even noticed it's there.
I thought about it, but it doesn't feel like an Urbanmech to me. It feels like someone tried to more "optimize" the Urbie - and the fun of the Urbie (to me) is that it's a waddling trashcan. YMMV Thanks for watching!
That R60L is just a tiny terror. It's a distraction because no one wants to get beheaded by a trash can.
I enjoy all of Khealos’s Gaming Table videos 🎉😂😊😮
Thank you!
yes, Yes I do like the Urbanmech and yes I do field them (well, more did, not a lot of tables here in MX). Low BV means the ability to flood a cityscape. And a gauntlet of pop up ambushers will whittle most forces of fancier mechs down far quicker and more effectively than most folk think. They are absolutely useless, outside of this environment/tactic, for the most part, yes. But the fact they are available in a Company Pack, and your own campaign anecdote, should explain the proper usage.
As for my Favorite? The UM-96. Not quite as out there as I wanted, but I was restrained by a WYSIWYG mandate, so I could not add the Partial Wing that would have been the Piece de Resistance. Still, it's "my" variant, so I gotta vote for it. It's night unkillable, hit's hard, and the SN-PPC's 9 hex minimum range is ideal for city fights. And still cheap to make. I'm just sad that I couldn't give it the 5 jump that I wanted.
Least favorite canon variant is hands down the AIV. Like the concept, hate everything about the execution. Mind you the original stats were a gag by some players, and I respect that. It's that Herb Beas chose to add it unchanged to canon, in a way that is utterly nonsensical (WoB having to spend billions in R&D to create it's custom Endo, XL engine, etc), when one could have gotten the same net result (lobbing a nuke 5 hexboards) by simply making a reductive build on existing Urbies, stripping things like JJs that serve no purpose for an artillery launcher. You say the Suburbanmech doesn't feel like a proper Urbie, and I agree. But a little added speed IMO is less an affront to the concept than cramming one with custom high tech gear for such a niche use. Hell, one could literally have just used a Hollander and straight swapped the Gauss for an AIV far more efficiently and effectively.
Rant over! Cheers!
😝
Rant away, my friend! It was a good read, and some different insight into the Urbanmech!
Thanks for watching
Fun fact: The UM-R80 is basically a special forces dingbat that goes 2/3/3, has only energy weapons, and mounts both ECM and BAP. It's so close to being perfect.
How? By dropping one heat sink and upgrading to doubles, you have just enough weight to max out the armor at 7 tons...
And just enough space to swap it for Stealth Armor. Sure, you'd have to put the SPL in the head and move the TAG from the right arm to the left, but then you have a nigh-invisible urban combatant with a 9 hex short range and the ability to call down artillery on your head before you even noticed it's there.
Iron Wind Metals has a great model based on the new plastics. It has 3 set of weapons including the Arrow IV option.
Why didn't you mention Hanse Davion's little 'Suburban' mech variant? PPC; 2xML; SL and movement 3/5/3.
I thought about it, but it doesn't feel like an Urbanmech to me. It feels like someone tried to more "optimize" the Urbie - and the fun of the Urbie (to me) is that it's a waddling trashcan. YMMV
Thanks for watching!
Meme 'Mech is bad. :P
But it's funny at least. Go Go Flying Trashcan!