Force Building for Scouring Sands

Hey Folks We’re back with another article! This week should have a product review on Friday, and a breakdown of the Aces system on Wednesday. Today, however, we're going to do some force building for Scouring Sands. Buckle up, we're off to the races.  

Starting off on a high point, I decided to do 2 different ways of building this force. Scouring Sands uses a 400 pv cap for the players, with a minimum of 8 machines. Both of these methods work, its just a matter of player preference.

Option A.  

Working off my collection of Miniatures, I decided to pull forces out of the Mercenaries boxed set and the Alpha Strike Boxed Set. That gives us the following Miniatures to use:

• Wasp
• Locust 
• Blackjack 
• Phoenix Hawk 
• Wraith
• Archer 
• Warhammer
• Atlas 
• Flea 
• Firefly 
• Quickdraw
• Chameleon 
• Ostsol
• Starslayer 
• Caesar
• Devastator 

Also included in this pool is a pair of Maxims and a pair of Galleons. So, lets start building. I'm planning for two solid lances, and lets build the first one. As an added level of complication, I'm going to build out of the Alpha Strike Cards in the box.

Lance 1

Starting with the Archer (in this case the ARC-7C) its going to anchor a heavy lance (and throw fire down range). The Archer is 50 points down, (350 to go). 

Next, I'll add in the Devastator,(the DVS 2). This is actually in the Assault class, but adds massive armor and heavy short to mid range firepower. Devastator is 54 points, (296 to go).  

3rd mech in this lance is a Caesar, (the CES-5R). This Caesar is a massive brick of armor and short range firepower. The Caesar is 51 points (245 points left).  

Rounding out the lance is a Warhammer (the WHM-8R). Faster than the other elements of the Lance, the Warhammer is capable of light fire at long range and brawling up close. It's also the cheapest unit in the lance at 40 points, (205 left).  

Lance 2

Lance 2 I'm leaning into being a scouting force. So, lets dig into some lighter scouting units. The start of this party is going to be the Locust (specifically the LCT-3M). The massive movement range gives it some heavy scouting potential. The Locust is 20 points (185 points to go). 

I'm adding the Wasp for similar reasons. Massive jump movement gives it a lot of potential options. It's also a cheap option at 17 points, (168 points left).  

The Flea is our 3rd choice, (specifically the FLE-21). ECM plus Stealth gives it defensive capabilities alongside its huge movement range. The Flea clocks in at 29 points (139 to go).  

The Firefly finishes up the lance (using the FFL-5A). Reasonably fast jumper that has a similar profile to the rest of the Lance, the Firefly clocks in at a reasonable 26 points, (113 to go).

Lance 3

That leaves us with 113 points to go. I don't think we'll get a full lance, but we can get real close. First up the Starslayer (the STY-4C) at 36 points. It's a solid mid range skirmisher, (77 left) 

Next up, grabbing the Chameleon (CLN-7Z). Another fast, jumping Skirmisher, it and the Starslayer tag off each other very well. It weighs in at 30 points, (47 points remaining).  

Last mech we can swing, we're grabbing a Phoenix Hawk, (the PXH -3M). A solid investment at 31 points, it maintains the same speed profile as the Chameleon and the Starslayer, and fills a similar role. It clocks in at a sweet 31 points (16 remain).  

Finally, we're adding a Galleon Hover Tank to fill the last slot. It moves the same speed as the rest of the Lance and clocks in at 13 points, (3 remain).  

So, our first group looks like

Lance 1

• Archer
• Devastator 
• Caesar 
• Warhammer 

Lance 2

• Firefly
• Flea
• Locust
• Wasp

Lance 3

• Starslayer 
• Phoenix Hawk 
• Chameleon 
• Galleon

We have 3 PV left over, and we'll bank those. Those convert to 120 SP.  

Now, we have to setup our named pilots. For the sake of simplicity, I will list their names and unit types.  

• Captain Noah “Ark” Carter BM
• Lieutenant Jay “Bird Dog” White BM
• Lieutenant Francis “Air” Jordan BM
• Lieutenant Sierra “Fox Trot” Zulu BM
• Sergeant Grayson “Jester” Reed BM
• Sergeant Augustus “Chapel” Grissom. BM

And now we're ready to start the campaign with this force. (I'll put together a log sheet for these guys and post the link next week for those playing along at home).  

Group 2

So, now that you've seen the first group, let's look at the other group. This group is based off the Master Unit List (link here) with the following parameters:

• Republic of the Sphere 
• Late Dark Age
• Battlemech 

The background for these people are that they were warriors who were pressed into service by the Republic Remnant and as the Remnant fell apart they were able to escape into the Hinterlands as Mercenaries. 

Similarly, I'm building a scout lance, a skirmisher lance, and a battle lance. Let's dig into the scout lance.  

Lance 1

My first selection is a Mongoose (MON-86). It has the ever important RCN and PRB special abilities and comes in at 29 points, (371 remain).

Second Selection is a Spector (SPR-ST). Clocking in at 36 points, it has both ECM and STL for defensive benefits and high speed, (335 points left).  

Third up is a classic Locust (LCT-5M3). High speed, decent hitting power for its size, it clocks in at a respectable 23 points (312 points to go).  

Fourth up is a standard Koshi (the 3). It's a fast E-War scout that does a lot of work for 26 points (286 points left).  

Lance 2

Now, the second lance is a Battle Lance, and we lead off with a personal favorite, the Lament (the LMT-3R). It's a reasonably quick heavy that can throw respectable damage down the board. It clocks in at a solid 40 points, (246 points).

Second up is the Uraeus, (UAE-7R). Another solid Brawler, it has armor and structure to go for a while and some interesting special abilities. It costs a solid 41 points, (205 points).  

Grabbing an old classic, the Black Knight, (the BL-18-KNT). (Note, this is the only mech off the Mercenary availability table rather than the RotS list). A solid beatstick with damage st all range bands, with the PRB and RCN abilities. It clocks in at 47 points, (158 points left).  

Last machine in this lance is a Prefect, (PRF-2R). A budget heavy at 37 points, it's a solid addition to the lance, (121 points remain). 

Lance 3

Now, to finish up with the Skirmisher Lance, we are going to grab an Ocelot for 30 points. It's reasonably fast, has a couple of useful Abilities, and can throw decent damage to medium range, (91 points).

Second, time to grab an Osprey (OSP-36). Solid armor and decent speed for 31 points, (60 points remain).  

Third, a Wolfhound (WLF-4W). It's a fast ish sniper with decent armor. It comes in at an efficient 28 points (32 left).  

Last up is a Helllspawn (HSN-10G). With a similar movement profile to the Wolfhound, it also jumps and has indirect fire capabilities. It clocks in at a smooth 31 points (1point left over).  

So, we have 40 SP left and a unit configuration that looks like:

Lance 1

• Mongoose 
• Spector
• Locust
• Koshi

Lance 2

• Black Knight
• Lament
• Prefect
• Uraeus

Lance 3

• Ocelot
• Osprey
• Wolfhound 
• Helllspawn 

 Now, we need to name our pilots. Same Simple process as above ends up with 

• Captain Sadie “Kaiju” Cruz.
• Lieutenant Nathan “Mozartt” Cruz.
• Lieutenant Franklin “Bones” Durant.
• Lieutenant Jay “Switchblade” Grover.

Like I said, I'll put log sheets for these together next week so you can see how they come together. Look forward to the rest of our Articles later this week and we'll see you soon.