Changelog

• Update (Latest): 2025-10-19 Updated to include a new variant from Force Manual Davion.
• Published: 2025-05-25

A ripping wind buffeted over Merrymount’s craggy outcroppings, battering against Twin Pipes’ hull as we stood on a flattened peak to survey the distant approach from Gunnerly Woodland Preserve. Creeping ice had begun frosting the edges of the cockpit visor as pelting flurries were building up in every nook and cranny they could find. Three times now I’d had to hard cycle the breaches to make sure they weren’t frozen over or snowed shut, one of them had required me to crawl outside into the pitch of night to pick the ice free by hand.

If the Force Marshal was gonna send us out here to freeze the least she could do was send us with something that could actually weather the cold with us. I suppose you worked with what you had.

Fresh off the lines on Fronc or not these conditions were far from ideal for Twin Pipes, playing havoc on the Rifleman’s old model Garret targeting system. Obscured sensors and inclement weather confusing the onboard firing computers use of the optical tracking as we scanned through the dense treeline far below. Not a single ‘mech had trundled into view yet, or if they had neither of us had managed to pick them out. The Pirates that’d touched down in the scrap yard were either content to shore up their position, battening down the hatches for the inevitable push they knew would have to come at some point, or they’d managed to slip the net and were already well on their way to raiding Weston or Josensis.

“You got anything Harvey?” Brynn called, Twin Pipes’ classic Garret T-11 crackling and sparking as it spat out her question.

“Nothin’ but snowflakes, wind and trees, Brynn.” I answered, panning my Rifleman’s sensors back across the treeline, letting out a sigh of resignation. “Either they ain’t tried nothin’ or they already got past us, we sure they’re still in there?”

“Buzzards confirmed they still had visual on a landed Overlord a half hour ago, no update on it taking off.” She replied, the pip of her and her lances IFF sigs bobbing into view as we panned back over the horizon. 

“Well then these must be the most patient Pirates I’ve ever had the displeasure of having to deal with.”

“What about that one who gave us the runabout on Portland?” 

“You mean the one who harassed us with that damned Incubus for a week?”

“Yea that’s the one, what was that nickname he kept tryin’ to taunt you with? Slowpoke? Plod-About?”

I rolled my eyes, Brynn always did love teasing me about that run, chasing that pesky Pirate, and my own damned tail, for near on a week until the Force Marshal saw fit to send some extra hands to help tighten the net. “Trundle.”

“That’s the one!” She agreed, bursting with laughter as I felt a flush of embarrassment rise in my cheeks. “Annoyed you enough you had to call us Curiassiers in!”

“Got his ass in the end anyhow.” I grunted in return, cycling Twin Pipes’ tracking system to clear any clutter she’d collected. “Now, how about we get back to the pests at hand, Brynn?”

“Testy today, aren’t we Marshal?” She chastised, the touch of seriousness in her voice barely hiding the beaming smile in her voice. “We’ll get back to lookin’, just don’t let any runners give you the slip!”

“I won’t, Brynn. Let me know if’n you find anything.” 

Silence filled the commline again as I returned to my search pattern, backing Twin Pipes up and swinging her around to peer out over the rolling plains towards Weston’s distant glittering lights. 

All clear…

My eyes drifted from the plains up to the waning night sky and then over to the Garret’s radar display. I’d kept it off the last few hours, only taking to occasionally pulsing it to see what we could find or to interrogate some distant contrail I could make out. Just about all of it had either been Buzzard vectoring for another surveillance pass over the scrap yard or some civilian outfit on a scheduled run.

The Radar set blinked to life as the motor at the array’s base whirred to life, sending sweeping beams out into the cold night. Each sweeping pass tracked, locked, and identified a new signature with a soft ping. Buzzard 1-2 banking back around, a pair of old civilian Karnovs vectoring towards Weston, a shuttle of some kind on approach to Josensis and all manner of small craft zipping from place to place.

Business as usual.

I reached up to end the search, turning my attention to the ground just as a new ping sounded, followed close by another. And another. And Another. The fourth ping was cut short as the system spun down before I frantically turned it back on, seeing a full airwing blazing from the the scrap yard towards Weston. Not a single IFF transponder to be found amongst the lot but the Garret labeled them all as old Meteor strike fighters.

Bingo.

“Brynn, I got something!” I shouted over the comm, bringing Twin Pipes’ guns skyward, putting the crosshairs on a twitching lead indicator, tracking the lead contact as the radar fed targeting data into the Garret. It wasn’t perfect but it was the best I’d get given the circumstances. “Airborne assets, on track towards Weston. Tell Buzzard 1-2 to get clear and bring in some ASF.”

“On it, Marshal. I’ll call ahead to Weston to let them know.” Brynn answered before addressing her lance. “Keaton, Samson, get your guns up and pitch in with Harvey; Payton you’re with me, let’s get moving to put eyes on the approach to Weston.”

I tuned out the scattered, frantic comms as I looked skyward, counting the approaching airwing as the rising sun cast their contrails in brilliant golds and pinks. The lasers would only do so much at this range, though anything was better than nothing, I’d have to get the guns on to put any real hurt on them. Twelve inbound targets when I only had twenty flak shells. 

I’d have to make each one count. 

Twin Pipes’ guns barked in quick succession, the whipping wind stealing the smoke from my viewscreen as fast as it had appeared as the streaking tracers screamed into the sky one after the other trailing a lancing spear of blue light that scorned the air around the formation. My shells found their mark, dirty black spots puffing into existence amongst the formation one after the other battered and shook some of the old planes apart. 

A fistful of planes broke up while the rest began defending. The smarter ones pulled hard and scattered apart as their comrades blossomed into spiraling plumes of smoke, fire, and shed parts. Pins fell on empty chambers as I exhausted the Rifleman’s reserves, sending the last of my shells skyward to burst amongst their shattered formation. Twin Pipes called up the nearest target, giving a slight lead to put the lasers on target before I pulled the trigger, sending a pair of green spears into the sky, chewing away at the target for a few agonizing moments before it popped like a pinata, ejecting a shower of parts into the ever thinning sky.

The fun had just begun.

– Colonial Marshal Harvey ‘Fly Swatter’ Jones, Fronc Reaches Colonial Marshals. Herotitus II, April 3144.

—

Howdy Mechwarriors and welcome to another Mech Overview! This time around we’re looking at the Rifleman, a long time fan favorite and a ‘mech I find entirely fascinating.

Originally built in universe in 2505 to be a medium fire-support/Anti-Aircraft ‘mech the Rifleman was hotter’n hell and had armor about as thin as cheap toilet paper. These issues, largely the heat management, forced the original designers at Kalon to go back to the drawing board for a bit to see if they couldn’t fix it. Eventually the Rifleman evolved into the mid-speed heavy we all know and love today with a large focus on dumping a good clip of damage down range while often carrying generally ‘meh’ armor loads.

So, let’s dive in and see what we’ve got!

Chassis

The Rifleman is, disregarding the 1N, 2N, II and III, a 60 ton heavy that usually goes 4/6 and packs on some variation of a big gun and a small supporting gun in each arm with the occasional supporting weapons in the side torsos. Many Rifleman, mostly the ones from before, or just after, the Clan Invasion, have pretty mediocre armor, often well bellow being AC/20 proof which is fine on a fast light or medium, not as fine on a slowish heavy that’s not really getting away from things that want to kill it.

Now, being ostensibly a Support/AA ‘mech the Rifleman usually prefers longer range weapons, often autocannons of some sort that it could load flak shells into to try and slap down enemy air assets. These are often paired with either more ballistic guns or some bevy of lasers meant to supplement the Rifleman’s anti-air capacities while also always being capable of pulling direct-fire work just in case the bins are all loaded for air. And the best part?

Most of them are capital C Cheap.

Peri: It’s important to note that unless you are playing with Quirks, there is nothing that actually makes the Rifleman better at Anti-Air than other mechs. Its primary gameplay niche is as a dirtbag cheap fire support/backline unit with some good range and mediocre everything else.

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 of our other ‘mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).

1N

Too small to be a Rifleman, Rifleboy maybe?

The 1N is the original 2505 chic Rifleman, built on a 50 ton frame the 1N moves 4/6 and carries a pair of Large Lasers and a pair of Medium Lasers out on the arms. The armor is acceptable enough for a 50 tonner, though it is a primitive ‘mech and as such is clad in primitive armor which is its own slab of problems.

It only has 12 heat sinks which is nowhere near enough to cool this thing off but does at least let it fire off one Large laser at a run while being heat negative which… I mean it’s doing its best with what it had. The Age of War was rough, it seems. Firing both LLs off at a stand still sends you up 4 heat or 6 at a run.

For 931 BV this thing is quite cheap but there are a lot of much better options on hand you could be using.

Liberty’s Rating: F. Primitive ‘mechs usually aren’t great and this sure is one of them.

2N

Second verse slightly different from the first.

After Kalon debuted the 1N they realized it had monstrous heat issues and as such went back to the drawing board…

For fifty years.

After those fifty years they spat out the 2N as a royal only upgrade. What was their solution to the issues of the 1N you ask? Well. They overhauled the Primitive components to be what we now consider to be standard which saved a good clip of weight. They then used this weight to upgrade the Large Lasers to PPCs, and add two more medium lasers!

Wait but that’s more heat?

They also added four heat sinks which is… not enough. This now has the same heat bump firing off both primaries as we had with the 1N. Now for 1,093 BV. Still kinda cheap I guess?

Man, these guys at Kalon must not be very good at math. Interestingly if they had just retained the exact same loadout as they had with the 1N and added all their saved weight as heat sinks this would be a pretty astounding line medium for its time and acceptable enough even in the eras following being heat neutral at a run. Unfortunately that’s not what we got so… Oh well.

Liberty’s Rating: F+. At least the hits are bigger and you’re not using primitive armor, still, this thing’s pretty junky.

3C

I like big guns and I cannot lie.

The 3C is an interesting succ-wars build. Debuting in 3026 it packs the ‘standard’ for pre invasion Rifleman, 15 on the limbs and side torsos with 22 on the CT. This isn’t great, and certainly not enough for it to even try to be a line heavy, but it’s probably enough for a support ‘mech you don’t intend to put too far into harms way.

Sporting  an AC/10 in each arm with a Medium Laser in each side torso the 3C is surprisingly well armed, and sunk for a succ war heavy. With 10 single heat sinks the 3C only goes up 4 heat on a running alpha strike, which is manageable enough. Two tons of ammo occupy the right torso alongside the Medium Laser, making them all that’s present in the torso, which is a bit worrying for bomb purposes but at 1,066 BV this is a fine enough layout to pay for a support heavy that costs about as much as a good light; and besides, if it spontaneously disassembles it won’t hurt too bad.

Liberty’s Rating: C Honestly at this price it can’t be too terrible and I’ve seen this shitbucket used to good effect. It’s just tough enough to be kind of annoying to put down unless you touch off an ammo bin which helps it out a fair bit. Give it a shot!

Peri: I hate giving any ammo to the “In it’s context it is good” succession wars players, but the 3C is genuinely one of the best heavy mechs you can get in 3025, with flippable arms, acceptable armor, manageable heat, and some pretty good damage output. The 3C making a C in 3151 is insane for a canon Intro-Tech mech.

3Cr

More boom for your buck.

The 3Cr is a 3C with a few changes to modernize it into 3071. Firstly it uses Heavy Ferro-Fibrous Armor instead of standard, adding 2 armor to the arms and side torsos and not changing any other armor values. Next it pulls in an XL gyro. It uses all this saved weight to pack 5 total tons of ammunition. Christ.

So, in my mind, this thing has a job and a purpose: Precision ammunition.

Precision ammo was introduced in universe in 3062. 9 years is honestly fast in the world of battletech military procurement, even if it is a small field refit kind of thing like this. This in mind it also serves duty as a nearly endless supply of flak shells if you’re trying to defend a position for a campaign or you have a lot of people in your local area that bring aero-space or VTOL assets that you want to swat from the sky.

For a measly bump of 63 BV over the 3C the 3Cr comes in at 1,129 which is pretty great. The battlefield longevity is mildly improved with the addition of CASE, though once it goes off you’re down to a singular medium laser which could certainly be better but that just means the 3Cr becomes a kickbot that craves violence and death.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. For the marginal increase in price, the ammo options it brings and the touch of survivability granted by the extra armor and CASE protection I’d say this is a direct upgrade to the 3C.

Peri: This is a deeply hilarious mech, and the sort of thing I really wish we got more of. These patchwork, sorta upgraded but not really intro-tech designs from the Jihad all rock and I love them. This and the Rook are probably the best of them, and in a world with precision ammo the 3Cr will actually do some adequate work for a very affordable price. I recommend using it as a bodyguard for something more important than it that has a minimum range.

3N

The standard Succ Wars shitbucket, and a new friend for us here in the Fronc Reaches… man we need some newer toys.

The 3N is what the 3C is built out of, though it’s down on armor from there, now with 12 on the legs. Armament wise the 3N carries a pair of Large Lasers, a pair of AC/5s and a pair of Medium lasers for which its 10 single heat sinks are woefully underprepared. Going up 16 heat on a running alpha the 3N has some… issues heat wise. Also it has CT ammo.

This thing has… problems.

But it is cheap! Coming in at 1,039 BV the 3N is a dime a dozen and an alright enough way to buy a platform to sling a large laser and a pair of AC/5s at things…

You could also spend that money on other things but sometimes out here in the Periphery we make do with what we have.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. Pretty efficient price wise and.. It’s certainly a ‘mech! Remember, succwar, overheating, bomb of a barely 1k BV shitbucket or not, a 60 tonner in the right spot can kick the head clean off a clanner assault ‘mech. And that’s worth something all it’s own I suppose.

4D

Oh boy! 2N but worse!

The 4D is a 2N, but worse. Despite going up to 60 tons and retaining the PPC + Laser in each arm the 4D, oddly, has one less heat sink than the 2N. Wonder why that could be.

Oh.

It’s because those are large lasers now. Oh, and the torsos are completely empty now. This is apparently the heat up and die machine. An alpha strike builds 36 heat on a machine that sinks 15 and does not have enough armor to take the hits and keep going.

Doubles would help this thing immensely.

But it doesn’t get doubles. Because it’s 3021 and we overheat and die in this bitch. Such is the way of the times, I suppose.

At 1,173 BV this is more expensive than the 3C, 3Cr, or the 3N and it’s not better than any of them.

Liberty’s Rating: F. Too Expensive for what it is and with so many better options? Leave this old thing at home.

Peri: It is hilarious how much better this mech gets if you just add double heat sinks. Like it is probably somewhere in high C if you did that.

5CS

WHY WE GOIN’ SO FUCKIN’ FAAAAAST

The 5CS is the Comstar revit of old RFL-3Ns before Tukayiid. It is… well it’s pretty simple.

Take a 3N. Do you have one? Got it squared up in your ‘mech bay? Ok, good, now:

Take that old engine out, dump it out back of the shop, replace it with a fancy new XL engine of a higher rating to boost that speed up to 5/8. Replace the old AC/5s with Ultra AC/5s. Replace those tired old single heat sinks with doubles and put the last of the remaining weight into 3 pips of armor for the legs.

For 1,303 BV this is a pretty acceptable support Cav heavy considering it’s heat neutral standing still and rippling off the Large Lasers and both UACs set to double tap.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. Honestly that armor is the biggest problem here. It’s probably workable but man would it be a fair bit better with some extra armor, maybe some ferro-fibrous or something would have helped?

5D

Ride the Lightning, Asshole.

The 5D is a 5CS in every way except armament. Dropping the UAC/5s and the ammo of the CS the D picks up a pair of ERPPCs, a pair of Medium Lasers and another 7 double heat sinks to better deal with the heat. Note that I didn’t say it loses the Large Lasers.

On a running alpha the 5D goes up 20 heat which is… not great. But! With no ammo on board the 5D can’t explode which is a fair bit better than the other ones. Armor is still trash but such is the rifleman way, it seems.

For  1,395 BV this is a pretty acceptable backline sniper that has a pretty alright spread of backup weapons to try and protect itself with if things try and get in its face.

Liberty’s Rating: C. A support piece with a pair of IS ERPPCs is pretty alright at this price but for the extra 300ish BV I think I’d rather have a MAD-2R/T that actually has the armor to take the hits, goes the same speed, has a standard engine and enough sinking to do what it wants and sling off an AC/LB-5.

5M

5CS but… slightly different.

The 5M, like the 5D, is the same as a 5CS. Except now it’s got worse head and leg armor, 2 more heat sinks, CASE on the single ton of ammo, and a pair of Medium Lasers.

That’s it, those are the changes.

This costs 1,227 BV, which is cheaper than the 5CS by 76 BV!

I mean… yay?

Liberty’s Rating: C-. Mostly better than the 5CS, and for the price it’ll show use, but not enough to warrant an upgrade on the ranking. For the BV if you’re gonna bring one of the two might as well make it this one at least?

6D

Where’d this armor come from? Have the Davions been scrapping captured Dragons for extra Rifleman armor?

The 6D is a fun duck, going 5/8 it packs in a quartet of LAC/5s, with six tons of ammo split between the two side torsos, a pair of ER Medium Lasers and a C3s unit. The standard load of 10 double heat sinks is enough to keep this thing Ice cold firing the lot of it on the run.

With 19 arm armor, 21 side torso, 27 CT, and 24 on the legs the 6D is the best armored Rifleman we’ve seen so far! For a mere 1,274 BV this is a very funny precision/special ammo truck. Would make for a good support piece in a C3 net and the armor makes it a touch tougher but it still has a craving, and a good chance, to just cacophonously explode into orbit when it takes a crit in a side torso.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. Not the most damage but something this simple that puts out a good number of 5 point hits isn’t a bad thing to have around, and it’ll happily do the original job of shitting flak shells into the sky hoping to find something with wings or rotors that needs a talking to!

Peri: This is a Rifleman I use a lot as a certified Rifleman Fan Club member. it is fairly cheap, it has C3, the armor is over the 20 damage breakpoint where it matters, it can poke light mechs to death fairly well, and it can still act as a low-grade bodyguard for something more expensive with a minimum range. Just a deeply fun mech.

Peri’s Rating: B-, getting some precision hits where you need them for cheap has value.

6X

Give ‘em both barrels and run like hell.

The 6X is a 6D with some tweaks, namely the armament. Trading away all its LACs the 6X brings along a pair of LB-10Xs, with two tons of ammo in each side torso, and a pair of ER Small Lasers. The heat is dead neutral at a running alpha which is far from being a problem. Drop the ERSLs and get yourself a 4 heat buffer and things will be great!

For 1,464 BV this is kinda pricey but a pair of LB-10s on a frame for alright armor at this price is a great thing to have on hand!

Liberty’s Rating: B-. I love cheap LB 10s, they are so useful.

Peri: This is far from my favorite way to cram a cheap LB autocannon into a force, but it is a perfectly good way to. As I said in the battle report we did a while ago, LB’s sometimes just win you games and it is good to have a few around.

7G

Well that’s… Rare.

This is a 5D that has decided to be incredibly funny. Ditch everything from the 5D, the guns and the heat sinks, it’s all lame. Now, build it out of Endo-Steel and use all this freed up weight to carry on a pair of Silver Bullet Gauss Rifles with four tons of ammo and a pair of ER Medium Lasers. Heat is not real, the 7G sinks 20 with its 10 double heat sinks and only builds 14 at a running alpha. Not that it’s going to want to do a running alpha very often considering it’s got good range and an accuracy boost!

For 1,302 BV this is the second cheapest ‘mech to carry a Silver Bullet Gauss Rifle in the entire game, with the next cheapest being a wolf-trap and is certainly the cheapest option for carrying a pair! It’s squishy, probably craves death and has a good chance of just falling over dead to XL engine destruction if it’s taken any real damage in the arm when the rifle goes off.

Liberty’s Rating: B-. It’s fragile but SB Gauss’ are very fun. I do have a soft spot for them but more importantly this is one of the cheapest ways to pack an S.B., second cheapest on a ‘mech, and is straight up the cheapest way to drag a pair of them in which makes this Rifleman a very special boy!

Peri: I go back and forth on SB Gauss. I have for a long time been of the opinion that it is better to just take an LB autocannon or a regular gauss, but with more and more thought the idea of lobbing that many hit location rolls that far for that cheap is situationally fantastic. The fact that it carries 2 of the things is insanely funny, and gives it an insanely funny potential play pattern. Because it has the same range brackets as a normal Gauss/CERPPC mech, it can sit next to something like a Nightstar, Hellstar, or Thunder Hawk, and fire after your big boy of choice every turn to try and crit seek after they pop open locations. Normally you need to get something closer to do that, but being able to do it out to the same ranges is insanely funny and, probably, really good. I need to use this thing.

7M

Man the Marik variants are always so funny.

The 7M is built off an endo-steel frame and clad in a mediocre amount of standard armor, giving it 16 arm armor, 13 leg armor, 18 on the side torsos and 27 on the CT. Oddly it has 10/10/10 on the rear torsos which is…a pretty large amount for something built like this, probably could’ve shifted some of that forward and seen a fair bit better work.

Armament wise the 7M is rather… funny. Toting a pair of Light Gauss Rifles in the arms supported by a ton of ammo a piece and a six pack of ER Medium Lasers spread about the arms and torsos along with a singular emotional support Small Laser in the open head slot. As well there’s a Guardian ECM in the CT to both pad it out and help give a little protection to keep some of the Artemis assisted LRM counterfire from chewing up your relatively thin armor.

Heat is a bit of an issue for the 7M. 11 double heat sinks is not managing to keep this pile of guns cold, going up 13 heat on a run, 10 without the LGRs and SL if you’re just looking to dump lasers into a pest that’s bothering you.

Coming in at a cool 1,521 BV the 7M is getting pricey as far as Rifleman go but it’s still a pretty reasonable enough price for what you’re getting. Even if LGRs can be a touch weedy damage wise, that pile of ERMLs can help keep things off your back if they get close… even if it is gonna get a bit hot in there when you lay on them.

Liberty’s Rating: C. Funny plinking piece that may be a bit to brittle for it’s own good but will probably get you good use all the same!

Peri: The 10/10/10 back armor is hilarious on a Rifleman, because they are well known for having universal flippy arms. It is really leaning in to the fact that being behind you isn’t the best idea, and I think that is very funny.

7N

Real Stagecoach ridin’ Cowboy shit. No I’m not just saying that because this is the only good Rifleman I get for my Marshals… Well… I mean it is the good Rifleman I get for my Marshals but still.

For 1,392 BV the 7N is the first of what I would refer to as something even beginning to approach a line heavy, though it’d still really rather sit back a ways. Sporting- mostly -real armor at 20 on the arms and side torsos, 30 on the CT and, unfortunately, only 17 on the legs the 7N can at least take some good hits if it picks its firing locations right. Using an XL engine and an Endo-steel frame to save weight the 7N packs a reasonable take on the OG 3N’s armament. A pair of ER Large Lasers and LB-5s- with 2 tons of ammo in a CASE II bay- split between the arms, backed by a pair of ER Medium Lasers in the torsos really makes the 7N a straight modernization of the original. Wonderfully the ERLL and LB-5s have the same range bands, mostly, which is quite convenient for setting up your shot numbers.

Odd that it took over 100 years since the helm core was discovered to get this thing built. Yea that’s right, this thing is from 3133.

Anyhow, it’s got 13 double heat sinks which means what it wants to be behind the primary fighting line slinging both of those ERLLs and LB-5s at it’s problems to maintain heat neutrality at a stand still for a while. This may not sound like much but for the price I’ve gotten some very good use out of this thing, or a pair of them, as the anchor(s) for a medium brawl focused force.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. Great cost, great value, ‘enough’ protection for that cost and guns that will happily contribute on targets getting beaten on already!

7N2

7N’t

The 7N2 is a 7N in all ways but armament. Same chassis, same armor, same engine. SO. What’s different?

Well, lose the arm guns and 3 of the heat sinks. Now, replace them with a pair of Light PPCs, a pair of LB-10s and three tons of ammo in the CASE II bay. This is a pretty alright trade. Effectively maintaining a similar enough damage output, when firing cluster, to the 7N the 7N2 shores up the range brackets by matching the LB-10s and the LPPCs. No heat problems here either as a running alpha strike only builds 6 heat which is quite manageable.

For 1,452 this is a touch more expensive than the 7N but if you prefer LB-10s to LB-5s and are alright with the smaller solid hits then this is probably the choice for you!

Liberty’s Rating: C+. A matter of preference between this and the 7N IMO. I prefer my 7N but I can certainly see the appeal here, love a good pair of cheap LB-10s!

7X

Need for Speed 2, take to the skies boogaloo.

The 7X is a very stupid, incredibly funny, variant and I love it. Moving at 6/9/6 this is the most mobile Rifleman we’ve seen so far. Pair that with it’s armament of a snub-nosed PPC and a Light PPC in each arm and you have something even stranger.

Cooled by 12 double heat sinks the 7X has some obvious firing patterns to use. You can tap off both snubs, only building heat with a full distance jump, you could do the same with one snub and both lights; or you could go full monty, rip it all off and jump to go up 12 heat.

If that’s your thing, I suppose.

Landing in at 1,645 BV the 7X is a bit expensive but if you wanted an oddball choice to say… help lead a force of only 6/9 or faster ‘mechs. Well the 7X will be there to pitch in some alright hits while ya do it.

Just watch out for that XL engine. :p

Liberty’s Rating: C-. Can be a real pain to chase down but, much like many other Riflemans, it’s gonna die pretty easy when you do.

Peri: This mech is fine and it does ok in game, as you can read in the above linked battle report. The principle issue with it is that it wants to be used in a very particular skirmishy fashion, hovering close to 9 hexes to stay out of the enemy’s short range. If you, hypothetically, fail to do that properly, it doesn’t enjoy trading fair, equal shots with enemy mechs very much.

8D

THE MOTORS. THEY CALL TO ME! I CAN HEAR THEIR CACOPHONOUS CLATTER AND DEAFENING REPORT ONCE AGAIN!!!

The 8D is an actual attempt at a line-heavy Rifleman. Sporting 19 armor at its thinnest out on the arms the 8D carries in two RAC/5s with a pair of ER Medium Lasers, one set in each arm, with three tons of ammunition. It only builds movement heat with the guns set to fun (6) and firing both ERMLs.

Also it jumps! 4/6/4 isn’t the best use of jump jets but any extra positional advantages you can manage is helpful!

Coming in at a deafening 1,777 BV the 8D is here to shatter armor plates  with amassed RAC/5 fire and blow out ear drums along the way.

Liberty’s Rating: C-. I love RAC mechs, and ones that have a purity of purpose like this are always nice, but man that price could buy you a lot of other options that are doing basically this but a touch better. Shit a Marauder MAD-5T fits in there and that thing will put this in the dirt 9/10.

Peri: This one does get points for having a cool ass model and the theoretical damage output is incredibly good. You have to be careful with it and it needs to have things in front to draw fire away from it, but like one game in three you will get it into a good position and it will absolutely rip it with RACs, which is always worth it.

8X

Now we’re gettin’ somewhere.

Now this is about the closest we’ve found to a functional line-heavy Rifleman. With AC/20 proof armor all over and a light engine that pushes it to 5/8 the 8X passes the necessary threshold for not dying under concentrated attention.

Sporting a pair of ER PPCs and a quartet of ER Medium Lasers the 8X has some pretty formidable heat generation to contend with. To handle this it carries 16 double heat sinks, more than enough to eat whichever set of guns you want to pile off. If things are dire a running alpha strike will send you up 20 heat, or you can drop an ER PPC to ditch a good clip of it and make it more manageable within 4 hexes.

With a price tag of 1,798 BV this is entering real heavy costs, and it’s starting to actually be, at least vaguely, worth it.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. I like this, and it could work quite well, but in a world where the Marauder MAD-2T exists and does about the same thing while being functionally tougher and cheaper, if a little slower? I’ll probably take the MAD every time.

Peri: The closest comparative mech to this is the Catapult K2K, a mech I am very fond of. The K2K has marginally better armor and an XL, the 8X trades some armor for a light engine and a more efficient heat layout. I think on balance I prefer the 8X upon giving the sheets another read, but the K2K does have the ability to just blast every turn with its guns without ever having to stop or make a choice, so it is easier to use. It is really just splitting hairs though, they are both very solid Battleline heavies with ER PPCs. The hypothetical squad of a K2K, 8X, and a Banshee 3Mr is very funny. So many PPCs.

Peri’s Rating: B

9T

COMPUTERS??? IN MY CHEST?! JUST DOIN’ SHIT?!?!?!

The 9T is… weird. Built by the Taurians it’s got an odd game plan. Packing a Light PPC and a LAC/5 in each arm, supported by two tons of ammo in a CASE protected bay in the left torso, a Guardian ECM in the CT and an ER Medium Laser in both side torsos the 9T has a pretty weedy loadout with range bands that are all over the place.

Heat sinking wise the 9T carries 10 double heat sinks, meaning an alpha strike on the run sends it up 4 heat which is manageable enough.

So, all of these things are light as hell and rather dumb as primary weapons, what’s going on here? Well. Computers! The 9T has a Targeting Computer which is good, and cool But like… There were definitely better armaments that could be built here. At least these are all pretty cheap guns so the price should be relatively cheap.

1,503 BV. That’s not bad but it’s nearly a 7M which is a more functional machine than this is so what gives?

Oh dammit.

It snuck up on me again.

Stealth Armor.

Well, that fucks the heat math. In reality it would seem that this thing wants to park up on a ridge, turn on the stealth armor and fling LPPC and LAC/5s at something for a while, building 2 heat a turn and being more of a nuisance than a threat. At least it can throw some flak shells at planes and 5 pointers, especially accurate ones, build up quick.

But this? This is just ridiculous.

Side note, only 2 nations get this thing: The Taurian Concordat and… the Fronc Reaches.

I need to go have a talk with the Force Marshal about our procurement strategy. 1,503 BV/6.5 million C-bills or not this thing is dumb.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. Funny gimmick to be trying and it’ll probably do it alright but there’s a world where this is two normal sized PPCs and some extra heat sinks/armor that just needs a touch of heat management on the move to work well. That world is better, and funnier, I’d rather live in that one.

Peri: The Stealth Armor is why this mech has problems, but it isn’t, in and of itself, a problem. The problem is that the stealth would be much better used by a mech with UACs or LB autocannons, not a mech with Light ACs. It just doesn’t have enough range to really hang back and poke people. Why doesn’t this mech have Light Gauss Rifles on it?

X3 MUSE WIND

Catch me out on the General Motors showroom floor on El Dorado, shootin’ down Clanners with their own guns.

That’s right. We built a Rifleman. What? Did anyone buy it? Well no, this dude named Nigel thought it’d be cool to try to put Clan shit on an IS ‘mech and we just kinda went from there. It was very valuable information, I assure you.

The Muse Wind uses an XL engine and XL gyro, paired with 4 jump jets, to move 4/6/4 while carrying a pair of HAG/20s and a pair of Clan Spec Medium Pulse Lasers, one of each in each arm. There’s plenty of armor here, being AC/20 proof all over. The Side torsos have CASE, the boys over in marketing told me its to ‘ensure pilot safety from untested Clan weaponry’. I think they just wanted to give the techs extra shit to do but that’s not my department.

Skating in at 2,012 BV this is the most expensive Rifleman we’ve seen so far, and I’m not sure how much you’ll actually get out of it for that price.

Liberty’s Rating: D. God this thing is expensive for what it is, it’s either gonna sandblast at people all games and be an MVP of consistent damage or it’s just gonna eat dirt hard. Will say, didn’t realize GM built this thing, gonna have to get a Rifleman painted up!

C

Clanners out here screwin’ with shit as always.

Everyone takes salvage, even the Clanners. Well, when they showed up in the ‘sphere and started breaking shit they apparently grabbed enough Rifleman to decide to make a second line overhaul for it. To do this they took all of the guns off of a basic 3N, stuffed two more single heat sinks in it, gave it a pair of Clan Large Pulse Lasers and a pair of LB-5s and send it on its way.

This is… Bad. It can fire one LPL and both LB-5s at a stand still, or one LPL on a run, without building heat. Firing it all off on a run gets you 10 heat and, considering it is still a 3N in all but name, a beating next turn when you only go 2/3.

Did I mention that it costs 1,335 BV? That’s not bad for a pair of cLPLs but man it does not have the heat sinking to actually use them effectively. A shame, if the clanners had stuffed doubles in here this thing would be hilarious. Bit more expensive but still.

Liberty’s Rating: D. Overheat and suffer like most C variants are meant to do.

C2

Yes we’ve had first C variant, but what about second?

So, Clan Jade Falcon, what have you got for me? Two cERLLs? A pair of Improved Medium Heavy Lasers? AC/20 proof armor? Jump 9? Oh. Oh boy. This bitch is expensive.

2,150 BV.

Yup.

Does it at least have good heat sinking?

43 possible heat built on a ju- IS THAT A GOD DAMNED XXL ENGINE???

Ahem. 48 possible heat built on a full jump and 44 on a run. What’s it sink?

24?

Oh. Well. That’s fucking unfortunate, now isn’t it?

Well, have fun dying in whatever you consider honorable combat Mr. Falcon, I’ll be over here in the AC in my Nightstar waiting for you to stop bouncing around like a weirdo.

Liberty’s Rating: F. Incredibly funny concept and wildly entertaining machine. Be a menace and use it, you’re probably not gonna get hit much and you will command how and where the fight is happening. Just a shame it costs that much and overheats that bad. Pick a lane man.

C3

Can I have some restraint, Clanners? Please?

Oh! Restraint!

The C3 is essentially an actual clan upgrade of the 3N that came about in 3132. Trading out the basic guns that it carried for clan variants meaning it packs a cERLL and cUAC/5, and their ton of ammo, in each arm supported by a pair of cERMLs in the torsos. AC/20 proof everywhere but the arms the C3 is also more durable than its distant, ancient cousin.

Cooled by 14 Clan double heat sinks the C3 is happy to park somewhere and let the ERLLs and UACs fly with abandon, only building movement heat doing so. Pitching everything in on a running alpha will net you 12 heat, though this means that dropping one ERLL will square you back to neutral. A good gig of a firing pattern!

For 1,871 BV this is a pretty good entry into the Rifleman field, even if it is a touch pricy.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. A touch pricy for a Rifleman but man is she gonna do some alright work for it! As a back line sniper the C3 has some real potential to be incredibly annoying when supporting some of the bigger and meaner options the Clans can bring to bear.

RFL-4D (Cyrus)

So, Peri says that the 4D becomes a C rated mech if all you do is upgrade to double heat sinks. Here we are, with double heat sinks. Unfortunately, here we also are with ER PPCs and ER large lasers. The gun upgrades more than undo the heat sink upgrades. Now, instead of an alpha strike taking you to 23 heat at a run, it takes you to 26 heat at a run – exactly enough to push you from the avoid on an 8+ shutdown roll at 22 to avoid on a 10+. An 8+ is 41.666%. A 10+ is 16.666%.

In its favor, at least it can choose to fire just the ER PPCs while only building movement heat, then switch to the ER large lasers to cool off. That’s better than the 4D, which would be building heat no matter what pair it fires. It’s still far too much gun, and it costs 1,428 BV now.

Jack’s Rating: D-

Rifleman II RFL-3N-2

What strange new Star League Royal hell machine is this?

So. This thing is 1,543 BV of Star League era ‘I only use this for Royal Units’ good shit. What’s she packin’?

Well, for starters: 20 extra tons and a good clip more armor. An LPL and an LB-10 in each arm, with two tons of ammo parked next to the XL engine in the CT for some fucking reason, a Medium Laser in each side torso and a Beagle Active Probe.

A running alpha strike gets you 4 heat into the red, -2 if you don’t fire off the medium lasers, which is pretty manageable. The armor will hold, for the most part, and the guns are conducive to wading into the thick of it and doing all you can to beat whoever you’re up against apart.

Liberty’s Rating: B-. This price for a weird brawling assault with these guns is honestly pretty fun, I will probably have to start throwing this weirdo in when I find odd 1,543 BV shaped holes in my ‘do what I want’ lists.

Rifleman III RF2-A

STRIKE THEM FROM THE SHADOWS. SMASH THEIR PLATES FROM CONCEALMENT. LET NOT THE ENEMY KNOW THAT WHICH YOU DO UNTIL YOUR SLUGS OBLITERATE THEIR COCKPITS. KILL. KILL! KILL!!!

Coming in at 1,819 BV the Rifleman III was one of the last ditch efforts of a man who could see death on the horizon and as such did what he figured was best: Entertaining every wild fucking idea any random scientist in his regime came to him with in hopes that it would help him win the war.

Huh, sounds familiar.

The RF-2A is essentially an Annihilator that’s been put on a weight-watchers plan, having lost 10 tons down to 90. It goes 2/3, doesn’t carry enough armor and has more guns on it than makes sense.

Carrying a quartet of Gauss rifles, two tons of ammo and a null signature system the Rifleman III is a machine that wants to lie in wait rigggght up until it finds something to pounce on. Then, once it’s got the target it pops out of hiding like a trap door spider and slams a lot of hate into it very very fast. Reports say that, according to its battleROM after it was recently discovered by Republic archaeologists that found it on Terra, the III managed to put down 9 mechs before the machine was destroyed.

For a ‘mech that only has 16 rounds of ammo for 4 guns that’s pretty good!

Liberty’s Rating: C. This is a weird Annihilator so it gets weird Annihilator ratings.

Sneede

RISE MY CREATION, RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!!!

The Hybrid Rifleman RFL-3N, aka the Sneede, is a frankenmech. Frankenmechs are about what they sound like. Built of the parts of several ‘mechs the Sneede is perhaps the poster child for the sub-type.

The Sneede contains the right torso, CT and legs of a Rifleman 3N, a Phoenix Hawk’s head, a basic Warhammer’s Right Arm and a basic Archer’s Left Torso and Arm.

This gives it an eclectic mix of guns not even remotely kept cool by it’s 14 double heat sinks.

One(1) Right Arm mounted PPC.

One(1) Left Torso mounted LRM-20.

Four(4) Medium Lasers spread about the place.

It goes up 2+ movement firing the long range guns, but at least is heat neutral firing off the Medium Lasers when the target gets in close.

The armor is all over the place. 16 on the legs, 20 on each arm, 22 on the left and center torsos, 15 on the right torso with 6 on the left torso rear, 4 on the CT rear and 2 on the right torso rear.

Also there’s nothing but a singular medium laser in the right torso.

Dumb machine.

At least it’s only 1,269 BV?

Liberty’s Rating: C-. It’s all over the place but has a goal and some functional bands to it but man this armor is weird.

Sneede II

Oh, it’s the same thing but new… and without a stolen Phoenix Hawk head.

Also it’s 2,198 BV now

The Sneede II is exactly that. A ‘mech built of the same exact parts as the last one, with once again differing armors, covered entirely in clan weaponry now… except for this random rear facing IS ER Medium Laser and emotional support Small X-Pulse Laser. Seriously, who invited you two?

One(1) Clan ER PPC in the right arm.

One(1) Clan LRM 20 with Artemis V is in the Left Torso with 2 tons of ammo in a CASE II bay.

One(1) Improved Heavy medium Laser is also in the Left Torso.

One(1) Clan ERML is in the Left Arm.

One(1) Clan ECM suite is in the head.

One(1) Small X-Pulse Laser is just hanging out in the right torso.

And a rear facing IS ERML is in the Center Torso.

Also it has a clan Targeting computer in it.

15 clan double heat sinks keep this thing ice cold firing off the ranged options, being down 7 heat on a run with the ERPPC and LRM. When things get close you can pitch in everything but the rear laser to go up 8 heat. Acceptable enough.

If not for the armor.

15 on the left arm.

19 on the right arm.

24 on both legs.

20 on the left torso.

21 on the right torso.

28 on the CT.

6 on the rear left torso.

9 on the center rear.

7 on the right rear.

Man I don’t even know any more.

Liberty’s Rating: C. Man this thing is all over the place and very expensive for what it’s doing. Granted it is incredibly funny.

Conclusion

There are a fucking LOT of Rifleman.

I gotta stop picking boxes because they’ve got one ‘mech in them I like, I keep stepping on landmines I know are there.

There are a lot of good Rifleman. There are a lot of bad Rifleman. And there are a lot of funny Rifleman. Really there are just a lot of Rifleman. That said what you take is up to you. I personally thing the 3C/3Cr are good as are both of the 7N variants. The 7M is a funny way to truck in some long range pieces and the 7G is an absolute steal for a pair of Silver Bullet Gauss rifles! She’s not as glorious as some of the other heavies you can get for this price but she’s always an option and a good amount of them won’t let you down, especially for the price!

Until next time! Fair weather, good seas and happy Anti-Aircrafting!

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