Fair enough. I started in Corregidor, so I admit some bias. Tomcats are good for giving a Rambo some redundancy. McMurrough in particular but also Chimeras and Tsyklons. Just run them up the flank and then bring the Tomcats in when they finally go down. I don't really use the Meteor as a Forward Observer. I use it either as an AD repeater coming in on the board edge, as a 6-4 murder bot to run through the back line, or to dislodge something nasty on an objective. Shooting a model in Suppressive Fire with ODD/TO in the back with 3 dice on 8s is very effective. It's not an opportunity that comes up a lot, but it's game breaking when it does.
There are a LOT of situations a BSG drop is good for where Mimetism, Mines and stats are all wasted. 12 points will often buy you NWI (which will also often be wasted to taking many W or mine/Koala shock) and 1 higher PH. Or more realistically, the maneuvers I've been using my Hellcat BSG for will not even be attempted because it is risking too expensive of a guy. Half of what my drop BSG does is hit multiple guys with no shots back, and the other half tends to get him killed if I don't make the ARM. Spector gets a bunch of stuff he can do added and I really like him, but for everything I've been doing he adds almost nothing. So I think it is a mistake to not consider the Hellcat BSG. It's like always taking Datarazi instead of Pretas or Spektrs instead of Zeroes or Atalanta instead of Agema but those are all still used.
Story time: In my last game of MAF vs my friend's tunguska themed nomads he used a BSG hellcat with controlled jump to drop behind my hungries link. Managed to hit 4 out of 5 of them with the template too, but I managed to win the FTF dodge roll. However, he did lock my team up and forced me to spend 4 orders on my hacker to shoot his Hellcat off the table (Hellcat tanked a LOT of shots). So yeah, that was a scary proposition, and I got off mostly by luck than by positioning, so I do agree that BSG hellcat has its merits.
The reason why I wouldn't consider the hellcat bsg is because of Raoul Spector. He's a far superior platform.
When there's enough points, Spector all the way. He's an incredible attack piece. I've erased an entire link team in two orders with him during a tournament (1st order: throw drop bear around corner, 2nd order: walk to corner and let them choose to shoot and die or Dodge and possibly die). That said, sometimes the points difference means a Hellcat BSG will do the job just as well while allowing you to have an extra order on the board. He's a great disposable attack piece, where with Raoul, I feel like I have to have the right opportunity to justify using him.
Spitfire and ADHL are my choices, HMG is great because you can deploy it in sweet range of a developing trouble but I usually bring something else Boarding Shotgun is another intriguing weapons, I rarely use.
I find the versatility of having two different weapon options on my AD troops far outweighs doubling up on shotguns.
The HMG, EMauler is the most well rounded Hellcat version. His range bands take advantage of board dynamics maybe better than the Spitfire. Long fire lanes usually exist on the horizontal axis just due to players seeing the game board only from the deployment zones. This allows you to enter on the board edge and nail models from behind a lot easier. In addition the EMauler deployment options allow you to set up traps for your opponent TAG/REM/HI when paired with additional active turn threats like the Brawler MSV2 sniper or Emily to force a bad situation. I think HMG Hellcat teamed with Raoul can give you amazing versatility and a 65ish point bunker on the enemy half of the board. One of the most important things about the HMG Hellcat over any other version is that with Sup AD, you can perform high risk drops and if you end up off board, so what, you still have a BS 12 HMG iin good range bands rolling around. It mitigates a lot of the down sides of AD.
I never had much luck with Hellcats in regular Nomads. Because he's usually engaging at close range, it was hard to get in favorable range bands so I was often in a straight dice off... and for whatever reason, my Hellcats died to pistols or rifle AROs on a regular basis. I usually only brought Tomcats who typically aren't straight up fighters and normally come on to grab a console or doctor Mcmurrough. With that said, an AD troop that brings mimetism and NWI to avoid the stray crit is a huge deal for me. I brought him in two games that I've played with Starco so far but he wasn't a factor yet - the MB train and Massacre did all the heavy lifting.
If you are both in cover and in range the Hellcat may as well not have AD. Asymetrical cover and especially flanking shots are required unless they are shooting at -3 BS from range. AD is on your terms you can choose to deploy somewhere else or even later if you can't position well.
There is a Hellcat for every range band up to 32. I don't understand what you are saying. Also, you are generally supposed to be shooting people in the back with your Hellcat, so there shouldn't be a dice off. There are going to be times when they have to straight up gunfight, but it shouldn't be the majority of the time.
I tried using them in a half dozen games against ISS and Ariadna and it was always difficult to find a good spot that wasn't defended by cheap warbands/kuang shi/zanshis. There was usually a place to land safely OR a place to flank guys but rarely both. Just too many guys sitting in the DZ with combis/chain rifles. The hellcat with spitfire still has an advantage in those fights... but it's just more efficient to keep working with the Intruder from the front instead. Then there were a couple of games where he scattered and got nuked by a sniper ARO on arrival. Finally, I played against a Morat link team and my spitfire hellcat came on in a perfect flanking spot... and got beaten down due to SSL2 on his target. After that last irritating event, I just stuck with Tomcats who are phenomenal coming on turn 2 for objectives, healing or the occasional flamethrower. Don't get me wrong, I can totally can see the potential as a great concept but I've consistently had more success sticking with staples for modifier-stacking like Intruders from the front for killing visible stuff or flanking bandits/prowlers for killing hidden stuff. Denying cover can be tricky - a consistent camo modifier is not!
@SuperD if you are trying turn 1 that is dramatically harder to do. But as I always say: stick with and amplify what works and change it when you feel bored and experimental.
I generally preferred Tomcats as well, primarily due to the faster movement, but that's irrelevant in StarCo. Intruders are also irrelevant here, but they have their weaknesses as well. Antipodes and Dog Warriors love eating them, but pretty much any WB unit can give them a hard time, particularly fast ones. SKs with mines are also an issue for them. Hellcats are quite good, even if Raoul steals their thunder a bit.
You guys have got me convinced to give the Hellcat HMG another try. I've just always tried to use the Spitfire in combo with a specialist or BSG, but that could be lack of vision. Back in N2 HMGs were the majority of droptroops walking in via AD2, because the rangebands were so boss. I might have to give that a try again, to kill off anything that the shorter-ranged guys can't handle.
