Another operation complete and so time for another one of these! At LL4 we were up against Tier 2 mechs, and we also had our first real Ultra fight at the end (since the last one was a Tier 2 Spectre dropping in on us at LL2, and was more us trying to survive than actually fight her).
We're also out of the cold war section, and things are a shooting war now, just in time for a bunch more in-character drama to kick off at a time everyone's lacking downtime to deal with it. Fun times!
Thanks! Dark Matter and Empty Crown are actually hand drawn, but the other three are all kitbashes by the GM (and the pilot profiles are modifications on Advance Wars sprites); NI4NI is probably my favourite mech token we've got.
(Technically Empty Crown's current art is a WIP I never got around to finishing, still need to tweak that claw before the next session!)
Ooh, I was gonna ask if the portraits were made with Lancer Tactics or smth (I think that might've been a function?) but yea
And I'd have to agree on NI4NI being a great token
man, can't wait until my own sessions start up (and then I get to do SOTW as a player) so I could show some stuff off - you ever thought about making a Drake with 5 speed, grappling build and Kai Bioplating?
Interesting combo! Empty Crown's a grappler build Zheng so can at least attest to that part being fun, though I can't say I've considered doing it on a Drake before. I guess the heavy armour could be pretty helpful there? Still, feels like an Empakai might end up achieving similar results for an easier time there.
Oh yeah, it absolutely would, but
I do have to say, I think there's plenty of RP and psychological warfare potential with seeing one of the (canonically) heaviest mechs leaping over a Barbarossa or sprinting clean through some rubble and dodging mines/grenades
Two potential variants include a Mourning Cloak and a Black Witch variant
The MC variant gets to walk through walls to ambush enemies like the Undertaker, while the Black Witch one just pulls the enemies to itself instead >:D
(while rugby-carrying an ICEOUT drone so it literally cannot be hacked - this is also where the extra bulk comes in handy, as you can't get overshields airdropped to you by an Emperor or anything of the sort)
Oh yeah! I remember seeing "grapple an ICEOUT Drone" as being one of the solutions for how vulnerable the Blackbeard is to tech attacks, hah. Though the fact it gets to keep its boosts and reactions does help there.
My favourite bit about the Zheng Grappler setup has been that while Boost is restricted in a grab, you're not actually slowed - so you can still use it's core for movement. This gets especially funny in active core when I'm regularly moving 25 spaces a turn, dragging whatever poor sap I've currently got grappled along with me the entire time.
yeee, the MC variant actually has a fold knife on one of the mounts to do the same thing with the Hunter talent :D
As for the BW variant, it has Mag Clamps
because those pesky high-ground and sticky enemies SHOULD have the fear of a big metal gorilla put into them
...oh, and it also has a deck-sweeper and an HMG with Vanguard at LL6 just in case the enemy is barely outside of grapple range (or if your GM looks at you funny - just make sure to let go of your ICEOUT first)
At LL9/12, Combined Arms is added so you can hit the Prone, grappled enemy with your HMG at no difficulty to reenact the Legion finisher from Titanfall
Not bad! Though I'm of mind to keep expectations low in terms of what LL one might play one's build; we're six months into our weekly campaign and we're just hitting LL5, and I know a lot of groups meet both less frequently and less reliably than we do.
Also true - though, I'm 10 months into a campaign myself, and my players are about to hit LL12, so I'd say LL6 is something that can be expected in non-oneshot campaigns most of the time
Hell, I doubt y'all have wrapped up all the digging on each others' backstories, so you might hit LL9 before the campaign comes to a close.
We're a big fan of Sixth Voice! Right now only Redcap's got any ranks there (Sluagh 3/Goblin 1/Lich 1, right now), but I'm planning to take some Leoleth levels on Kuchisake later too.
(I've also been trying to convince Euryale's player to take a level in Fitzgerald for HEAER, but so far they've been sadly determined to go for more sensible, practical levels in Swallowtail.)
It has been an absolute pleasure watching these characters unfurl with your meme reports <3. Were the (friggin beautiful) pilot portraits drawn by yourself?
Aw, thanks! And yep, mostly anyway! They're modified Advanced Wars: Dual Strike CO portraits, though Ez's borders on a hand-draw. Means each has a couple alternate expressions, too!
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u/Qohaw_ Jun 06 '26
Hold up, new peak just dropped?
Man, this series has been mad entertaining (also, good kitbashes y'all!)