The Locust LCT-1E is a Capellan Confederation variant of the ubiquitous Locust. Created with the intent to increase the mech's rather paltry firepower, while also (and conveniently) removing the volatile machine gun ammo that was lurking frighteningly in the center torso. The latter is an important consideration given that this little mech lives under the aegis of 'speed is life', and the last time I used it, Friggin Hoss' Griffin damn near tore it in half after rolling an 11 (WTF?!?) to hit it!
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| Big guns, little body...perfect! |
The 1E is pretty much the only Locust variant I ever field, and as I'd prefer it to be WYSIWYG rather than a perma-proxy which is more often than not the case in Battletech.
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| The new side profile. |
Digging around the bitz box, I found a pair of 'robot arms' from Hasslefree Miniatures and whilst a bit beefy, I think they work nicely! I trimmed off the chin turret (yay for soft plastic) and popped off the MG 'arms'. Smoothing the plastic out at the joints, I used an 1/8" drill bit to hand drill in two holes to serve as arm sockets, a little glue and violà! All it needs now is paint!
Looks pretty nice, and that's definitely a better loadout than the 1V. There are a number of others I could see using if the time and forces involved were right, but the 1E is solid, and vastly better than garbage like the 1S.
ReplyDeleteWHAT?!?! You mean you don't want to turn a speed demon in a long ranged fire support mech with armor so thing the pilot can see thru it???
DeleteYeah seriously, ya often wonder 'what were they thinking?' though it does fit well with 'real world' mediocre designs and wasteful government spending. Speaking of...I have the epitome of the battletech boondoggle heading my way in the mail as we speak! Stay tuned...
I don't mind the 1M long range version. It's the 1S that ditches armour for a pair of SRM-2s that gets me. Speedy or not, getting up that close, I want the extra armour ;)
Deleteoops, sorry, I got the LRM & SRM variants mixed up.
DeleteThat looks like a nice little conversion there. The version that always made me consider the Locust is the 1M model that the FedSuns fielded. Yes a little less armor, but it had so little anyway .... and then ditch the machine guns for a pair of LRM 5s. A high speed scout that doesn't have to come within 12 hexes of you? Sounds like a plan to me.
ReplyDeletebut...but what about the suicide charges???
DeleteIsn't that what the, well, Charger is for? ;)
DeleteTrue, though it does have a pretty nasty right hook!
ReplyDelete