UEDF - Wave One Mecha

The UEDF has five flavors of Veritech and four varieties of destroid in Wave One. This faction has tougher mecha with weapons that have longer range and deal more damage, but the Zentraedi almost always outnumber them.

I don't explicate these mecha as much as their alien enemies for the simple fact that these mecha are so much easier to use. I mean, how complicated is winning the game that's so skewed in your favor?

In Wave One, the UEDF can field a Valkyrie Squadron (1 VF-1J, 3 VF-1As), Armored Destroid Squadron (4 Tomahawks), Area Denial Squadron (2 Tomahawks and 2 Defenders), Brawler Destroid Squadron (2 Tomahawks and 2 Spartans), Fire Support Destroid Squadron (2 Phalanxes and 2 Defenders), Close Quarters Destroid Squadron (4 Spartans), and the Artillery Destroid Squadron (4 Phalanxes). Weirdly, there's no option for fielding four Defenders.

Super, Armored, Jotun Armored Valkyries, and YF-4 prototype Veritech are in Wave Two, as are the Monster destroid, Ghost UAV, and Lancer II space fighter. We'll get to those later.

VF-1 Valkyrie Veritech

This transforming mecha is the star of your show. It's fast and flashy, with enough firepower to evaporate the enemy's screen of battle pods.

The Valkyrie has three different modes: the humanoid battloid, the hybrid guardian, and the fighter. All modes are capable of flight; they can easily maneuver over terrain.

Battloids can fire their gun pod three times per turn (at a cost of 1 CP per extra shot, of course) and have double range, but can't use their wing-mounted missiles. Between that and the battloid's melee ability, you probably want to use this at the end of the game, when the Zentraedi catch you in close range.

Guardians are my favorite mode - best skills, access to wing missiles, and the Hover rule makes them just as hard to hit at range as the fighter, without the pesky Aircraft, Afterburner, and Fast Mover rules forcing you all over the board.

Fighter mode is saddled with Afterburner rule, forcing them to move their full speed in a straight line at the end of their activation. Aircraft forces it to fly in straight lines, with only the ability to turn up to 90 degrees at the start of its movement, and it must move at least half its speed during movement phase. Fast Mover lets it fire only one weapon system per turn, once per turn. Use fighter mode to get places fast, or to break contact. Be careful you don't fly off the board.

There are four models in Wave One - VF-1A, VF-1J, VF-1S, and VF-1R - which can be told apart by their heads. The most common is the VF-1A. VF-1Js are assigned to flight leaders, and atop their improved Piloting and Gunnery have Leadership 2. The VF-1S has even better skills and Leadership 3, but is expensive. It costs more than a VF-1R, but is slower and frailer.

VF-1As and 1Js can be upgraded to VF-1Rs, gaining three extra hit points, increased speed, and four anti-missile missiles. You can do worse for the points.

Defender Destroid

It's fragile and not particularly fast, but this thing can reach out and touch someone from far away. Defenders aren't exactly exciting, but they do what they do rather well. They're like a cheaper version of the Tomahawk.

Keep them out of melee.

Battletech players know this as a Rifleman.

 

Tomahawk Destroid

Think of these as your main battle tanks. They are tough, if slow (as most destroids are), but when your main gun has a 36" range and deals 8 Overwhelming damage, you don't need to be fast.

I generally prefer to hold my Tomahawks in reserve, moving them out to engage once the veritechs cleared out the first wave of enemy battle pods.

Battletech players know this as a Warhammer.

Phalanx Destroid

There is a power imbalance between the UEDF and Zentraedi, and nowhere is it more obvious than the Phalanx.

A study among rats found that larger and stronger rats would deliberately hold back when play-fighting with smaller rats. If they didn't, the smaller rats would eventually stop playing with them.

Skip the Phalanx if you're stuck with Wave One. It's not fun for you to just blow your enemy away, and it's not fun for your opponent to just get blown away.

If you aren't stuck with Wave One (read: is fielding power armor) or you're less skilled than the Zentraedi player, then stick the Phalanx in your backfield and rain fiery death on your enemies. 

Battletech players know this as a Longbow.

Spartan Destroid

This one is surprisingly fun. Spartans are killer in hand to hand, but have good missiles for close-range fire.  You may want to reserve them for anti-missile fire, but they offer a lot of damage that's hard to turn down - and the Spartan has a lot of MDC to soak fire.

Battletech players know this as the Archer.