Horrid weather for such a momentous task.

Wind and rain shook the canopy above us, their howling grip sending waves across the leaves like an ocean beneath the rage of a tempest. Driving rain pelted against Fang’s armor, the roaring crescendo of the assault a constant nuisance in the last several hours of our advance. I could feel it, smell the promise of my vision mixing with the thick taste of Kalidasa’s ozone, the scent calling me closer; beckoning me forward with every step of the ancient Spartan’s feet.

Scant gray tinted light found its way through the mottled swirling clouds high above, just enough light to trick the eyes into believing they could see all that this treacherous jungle had to offer. Lying to the inexperienced that their ‘Mech’s spotlights would not be needed amongst the dim, but serviceable, light. I would be no such fool.

The Scorpion would not have lied to me, the Venom spoke truth to my dreams and guided my tread where it would find glory and the secrets of the past. A prize of staggering magnitude lay somewhere upon this world, buried among these mountain filled forests. Something that had laid and waited for the Clan, for me, to reclaim it since the days of the Great Father. Now it was but a touch away.

If we could only discern the right mount to search.

“Seeker, Yeoman Ulrich has reported a position of interest.” Yeoman Darius rumbled, the mountain of a Warrior only a few strides to my aft in his Lancelot, the rest of my retinue trailing along behind him.

“Yeoman Ulrich, report.” I ordered, stamping the flutter of hope in my chest as I pushed through a felled tree, spying the glint of distant unobstructed light peeking through the canopy. “Have you found something worth my time?

“Aff, Seeker, I believe so.” The pilot all but barked in excitement, the haughty cackle of the Sabutai’s engines echoing off the mountain range around us in roiling claps calling out alongside him. “I have spotted a mountain with no peak ten kilometers inland of your current position. My second believes this may be in keeping with a Port Castle. I will forward the coordinates should you wish to investigate.”

Praise the Great Father! My Harbinger will have much to work with after this quest.

“Aff, Yeoman. You and your second have done well, forward me the location and we will investigate.” Fang’s actuators quickened beneath me as I pressed her throttle forward, pushing her on down the trail. The data-packet chime of the ancient Blow 300 comms array rang in my ears, paling in comparison to the orchestra that would be dancing over the streets of Valencia upon our return.

Great Father’s will guide me to your lost treasures.

—

A Mesa rose from the mountain range around us, towering over its kin the gargantuan mass of earth was blanketed in snow, ice, and powder.

“Yeoman,” I began, surveying the approach to the vast oddity from the forest’s edge as my retinue fell in at my sides, “I believe you have failed to mention several key details about your finding, Quiaff?”

“Apologies, Seeker, I know no-”

“Yeoman, the mountain is titanic.” The bondsman balked at my cutoff, stammering for a moment as I continued. “What is the altitude of that flat?”

The line was silent as the distant rumble of the pilot’s engines grew from a dull whisper to a thundering roar, the immense wings of the Sabutai screaming overhead as its engines set the forest around us to quaking.

“Thirty-four hundred meters, Enoch.” There was a brief pause as he banked away, the heavy fighter flitting between a pair of mountain peaks before rising back into the clouds. “Twelve-Hundred Meters over the local median peak.”

“Why is this not on the local planetary charts?” I mumbled, staring out across the dwindling tree line at the distant anomaly, doing all that I could to coax any relevant information from the Spartan’s Scope 40 to no avail.

“Scrubbed, if I had to wager a guess.” Darius answered, the flat of his Lancelot’s upper chest bobbing into my periphery as I studied the topographical map on Fang’s display.

“Reported altitude is Twenty-Eight Hundred Meters.” Yeoman Carver agreed, his and his mate’s IFF markers ambling closer as we stared. “Scrubbed indeed, Darius.”

“Likely undercut before the exodus to hide the cache.” Yeoman Pauleen seconded, the steps of her and Carver’s machines shaking the trees around us. “Is it not odd that the Spheroids have yet to stumble upon it?”

“It is possible that they failed to investigate after the Exodus.” The last of my Star chimed in, Yeoman Quinlan’s Battle Cobra sauntering into view at my left, coming to a halt as the man glanced to the side, looking down the edge of the forest. The terminus of the gray mountains and vibrant green treeline melded together, stretching beyond the horizon in both directions. “It may well also be that they simply never bothered to explore this deep into the world’s wilderness amongst all their wars and conquests, taking the maps at face value.”

“No matter the reason the Spheroids are not here, and we are.” The words steeled my heart, confidence that the vision had led me here, that I was exactly where Loremaster Kirov would want me to be. That the Venom had not lied. That I would find my destiny and see the secrets of this Port laid bare before myself and the Clan.

That the will of the Scorpion would be done.

— Seeker Enoch, Escorpión Imperio, Seeker Galaxy Spartan C Pilot. Kalidasa, Free World’s League, May 18th 3139.

Howdy ‘Mechwarriors and welcome back to another ‘Mech Overview! This week we charge forth into the fray with what might well be the best 5/8 Inner Sphere 80 tonner, the Spartan!

That’s right, Charger fan boys, your brick is stupid and bad and you should feel bad. What was that? Sorry I can’t hear you from beyond small laser range, you'll have to speak up. This big old eggy boy is angry, cheap, full of explosive soup, and he’s comin’.

The Spartan is an old platform, first seeing service with the Star League after it was introduced in 2764 with the original N1. Imagined as a heavy - yet fast - fire platform for the brewing war in the Periphery the Star League began production as soon as they could. Before long they made good on the idea that spawned the machine and sent the grand Egg Man off into the great beyond for its, definitely not imperialist, wars in the rimward expanse.

Spartan. Credit: porble

Chassis

The Spartan makes damned good on the idea that spawned it and is one of my favorite ‘Mechs in its weight class, let alone at its speed. Now, saying that, I’ll be honest about something… There are only six Spartans and four of them are the same ‘Mech with the fifth being basically the same and the sixth being mostly the same. So, what is a Spartan?

Simple!

Here, let me lay it out:

80 Tons.
5/8 Movement Profile.
Big energy payload backed by some amount of SRMs.
An XL or XXL Engine.
91% of all total armor giving it 26 on the arms, side torsos, and legs, and 31 on the CT. Rearward it’s a relatively normal 8/12/8 armor belt.

This is a recipe for a simple brick of a light assault that just wants to be tossed to the enemy line to try and get handsy with their backliners before it finally gives up the ghost and quits on you.

So, with the egg’s shell painted and ready let’s get into it!

Variant

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).

SPT-N1

The old standard roars to life, and then bogs down in the heat pits.

The N1 Spartan is everything that I said above, and less. Toting in a pretty good loadout consisting of an ERPPC, 3 MPLs, a pair of SSRM 2s, an AMS, and a TAG makes for a pretty alright loadout when given the protective cladding I outlined above, especially at the cherry price of 1,498 BV.

So what’s the problem?

Uh… 13 Single Heat Sinks.

Yea, this can build 32 heat but only sinks 13. Now, keeping in mind a vague aim at banding and you can make this work but it’s gonna kinda suck doing it. At long range you plink the ERPPC off, building 2+ movement heat for a few turns before doing what you can to dump the heat back out. Once you’re at 4 hexes you can start pressing the MPLs for +1 heat on the run which is better but still not the best. In that bracket you could certainly do some off bore work where you do a cool down turn or two dropping an MPL for the Streaks in the hopes that they don’t lock, or just drop a few guns all together, but it’s got issues.

Oh yea, and that other issue. So there’s 2 tons of streak ammo in here… and 2 tons of AMS ammo. Both of these are in the Right Torso. All that is in there beside it is the XL engine and the AMS. this side torso is 1/2 explosive, 3/8ths engine and has only one ‘does not absolutely fuck your shit’ crit slot in the AMS.

Oof.

At least it’s cheap.

Liberty’s Rating: D+. It’s got problems but in a world where it’s this cheap and still, aside from the off switch in the right torso, pretty tough it’s gonna do something. Would probably be better off with just a normal ass PPC though, all things considered.

SPT-N2

You made the N1 and went ‘is that enough, NOOOOO, LET’S MAKE IT BETTER!!!!’ Good job, engineer man, keep doing that.

This is an N1, except the single heat sinks are double heat sinks now and the ammo has been distributed between the side torsos. This, at the very least, has made it so that the right torso has less of a chance of just hitting the off switch for the ‘Mech but now the left has one at all… I’d’ve preferred to just ditch one ton of each ammo for some extra sinks or bigger launchers or something but I guess that wasn’t on the design table.

So, what do you pay for the privilege of 8 on a full alpha strike or only 3 on an ‘oops all energy’ shot? 1,605 BV, that’s it.

Honestly that’s pretty great. This is a pretty tough, quite mobile, brick of useful guns and armor that is just going to chug through incoming fire for as long as it can like those weird robot-bombs from that ‘Creator’ show before inevitably guttering out and falling over after it’s had its fill.

Bitchin’. I’ll take twelve. Need to tell the Force Marshal to get Colonial Tractors to make a few, the boys’d love this damned thing.

Liberty’s Rating: B. It is a cheap brick that will take punishment right up until it very suddenly doesn’t while being useful and efficient the whole way to its terminus point and that is exactly, the kind of shit bucket that we love here at the Goonhammer offices.

SPT-NF

One… Two… F… Wha?

Look, ignore numerical or alphabetical order because the F is just a 2… but the TAG is CASE now. For this privilege you are paying the exact same 1,605 BV. This is fine, and I am happy with it. Unfortunately uh… It only ever existed on Star League Royal, and eventually as an unlisted unique in some later eras but that’s not real so whatever.

Liberty’s Rating: B. 2 2 gets 2 2 ratings! Unless of course that CASE change goes through, then this thing jumps up to B+ because it becomes way more survivable.

SPT-N3

What’s that? Jerome? Blake? No, thank you, we’re quite happy with our current service provider we do- JESUS CHRIST IS THAT A NUKE?

So, the N3 is the ComStar/Word of Blake refit/rebuild of the N2 that came to fruition in the Civil War era that changes everything.

Oh… wait, no, sorry, that’s the wrong word. This one changes nothing. It drops the AMS and its two tons of ammo so it can mount a C3i. It then changes the MPLs into ERMLs and uses the extra tonnage explicitly to buy 3 more double heat sinks.

Cool.

Keep in mind that this does make it so that an alpha strike on the run, if both Streaks go off, only bumps you up 4 heat which is quite manageable. Heat neutral running around and hammering out the ERPPC and 3 ERMLs with the option to pitch in some streaks when you get the chance is pretty great for 1,631 BV.

Add to that that this is also a good forward spotter for a C3I Level II and we’ve got a good path to a useful ‘Mech for any ComStar or Word of Blake sycophants slobbering at the very idea of getting to ignore a core game mechanic with a funny little computer.

Liberty’s Rating: B. It’s a bit more expensive but still being the same old brick and having the option to have no real heat problems is pretty cool.

Hastati Sentinels Spartan. Credit: Jack Hunter

SPT-N4

What in the god damn… The Capellans are doin’ weird shit again and I don’t know what the fuck they’ve been smoking but I’m stealing some for the guys over at CT the first chance I get.

The N4 is an… improvement(?) over the old N2 that came before it. There are a myriad of changes over her progenitors, some are awesome, some are… odd.

The XL is now a XXL.
The Medium Pulse Lasers are now X-Pulses.
The IS ERPPC has grown up into a Clan ERPPC.
There are an extra 2 heat sinks for a total of 15 to give it 30 heat sinking.
The Standard structure was lame, and stupid, so we made it cool and strong. One could even call it reinforced.
The Ammo is protected by CASE II to keep it from ripping the engine out if it pops.
Also there’s a Clan grade ECM suite here! For Stealth Armor! Fun!

That’s a lot of changes and most of them are good. The XXL is a shame but it’s saving 9 tons to make room for the Reinforced Structure and that ECM suite.

So, what do you pay for all this strange, strange meat?

2,108 BV. That’s 503 BV more than the N2 before it which… honestly is probably worth it. It’s maybe a touch over-sunk for either of the bands it wants to be working in but you could do plenty of damage with this to make up that price before the engine gives out.

Liberty’s Rating: C+. Expensive and in a superposition of survivable and surprisingly death prone that makes me a bit less excited to reach for it over a basic old N2.

C

The Seeker calls this world’s defenders to a Trial of Possession for its treasures. What Surats dare stand before him?

The Spartan C is, in my opinion, the apex of the Spartan line, a horrid machine that wants to beat people to death in fast, dazzling showings of light and hate. How does it intend to do this action?

Simple: 2 cLPLs, 4 cMPLs, 2 cSSRM 4s, backed by 14 double heat sinks entirely contained within its clan XL engine.

That’s either significantly down on heat popping both LPLs or dead neutral firing an LPL and all 4 MPLs. Once things start getting taken apart you can start feeding the problem a fistful of SSRMs for their trouble. I love this thing and the moment someone lets me bring 48+ pulse damage to a tournament this mother fucker will be hitting the table and slamming into whatever ails me.

At a somewhat heavy handed 2,514 BV this is the most expensive Spartan and it’s not terribly close but good god is it going to get its money's worth. This thing is god’s own assault class light and medium hunter and will hound anything it can get within range of until they either kill it, it kills them, or they finally decide that this place sucks and that big ass egg chasing them around is incredibly rude.

Liberty’s Rating: B+. I adore a fast assault with real weight in the gun bays and this thing is certainly in that category by a mile. Add to it that it’s made all the more durable by that Clan XL instead of an IS XL and I fall ever more in love.

Final Thoughts

The Spartan is a good, consistent brick that just wants to run at your problems and throw hands until it is made to stop for one reason or another and there really is a truly simple joy in a machine like that. Honestly with how pure the Spartan line is in their functional application of force I almost don’t think there’s anything missing which is almost refreshing. Sometimes things really should just be what they are…. Even if I really want a Fronc Spartan in a cowboy hat with a Snub PPC or some shit.

Until next time! Fair weather, good seas, and happy committing-imperialism-in-the-peripherying!

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Tags: Battletech | mechwarrior | battlemech | Mech