The Poor Bloody Infantry...

o/

When playing Classic Battletech, one of my favorite things to use (though never effectively) is conventional infantry. Generally when building out a force for a game, usually a mech lance or so, there's invariably 100 or so points left over with no easy way to use when increasing the mech pilot's gunnery/piloting skills. This is what led me to start using infantry, as 'filler' for these unused points. However I started taking APCs & IFVs and soon the infantry was soaking up large swathes of points.

One base = one foot platoon.

It is a game after all, and I do indeed have a history of wasting points for nothing more than my general amusement. A simple platoon of motorized laser infantry has the ability to reach out and annoy somebody. That doesn't allow for any tanks, however APCs & IFVs, aren't really tanks per se...

Also rather than buy actual CBT infantry, I use some old EPIC Imperial Guardsmen. Let's face it, when they're that small does it really matter what brand they are? They all kinda look the same, and besides, that explains why I always give them laser rifles.

 ...snicker...

Here of late, as we start playing CBT again, I've been using my lone Maxim IFV which has lots of variants, is fast, well armed & armored, but kinda pricey point-wise. So I went looking for a cheaper alternative. In that, I more or less have failed (and in all sorts of ways).  Looking thru the Record Sheets: 3039 PDF, I saw that there are now a multitude of standard 10-ton APC variants. Some ways back, as we were gtting out of CBT, I had bought some micro-armor Rachetenjagdpanzer 2s from ebay to use as APCs, but never got around to it. After some digging I found them, added some plasticard with holes punched in it (used a nail for that) to their front glacis' to represent the various missile launcher types, painted them up, and now they're ready to go forth and die!

Painted in the FRR's 3rd Hussars Reg.

To my knowledge, no model was ever made to represent the 10-ton APCs (essentially a rhino, with the motive options of tracks, wheels or hover) hence my using an off brand set of minis. I think they're intended more for fluff than actual use. Indeed, verse the pricey maxim, three tracked SRM2 APCs offer slower speed, shitty armor, a huge reduction in offensive armament, and all for the savings of about 200 points. However I can add in a 'fire support' APC mounting an LRM 5  (pause for laughter) in lieu of an infantry bay using up those saved 200 points. As you can see, I have 2 of those fire support APCs for when I want to waste even more points...

Its not specifically stated where the exit ramps are on the basic APC, the rear or sides I would imagine. However in a galaxy as large as CBT's, I'm sure that there are tons of local variants. Given that the model used is rear engined, I painted an exit hatch on the front facing of the SRM2 APCs, so that the missile launcher can provide covering fire as the infantry dismount. That of course does lead to the issue of having almost stationary infantry now blocking the APC's path, but whatever. They're not meant to be effective anyways, they're just for fun.