Or: “How to play a Demolisher on Holdout.” From my post on the Six Combat Roles of Lancer, it may be tempting to think Rearguards simply plant their butts on a defensive point and never move. However, such a strategy proves toothless when a Rearguard is on offense, such as attacking players in Holdout sitrep. While some folks may argue that Rearguards have no place in offensive positions, I find them to be an essential source of texture for these scenarios.
Approaches
A GM or player can take several approaches to fielding a Rearguard in an offense-oriented sitrep.
The Cop Out
This is the non-answer: Don’t use Rearguards in offensive roles, or roles that require them to travel a significant distance. This approach relegates Rearguards to an initial deployment near an objective and out of the Reinforcements. Otherwise, the typical Rearguards reinforcing from the map’s edge are too slow to reach the objective on time. In sitreps without an initial enemy deployment zone, this approach says “leave the Rearguards at home.”
The Protector
This approach claims the Rearguard still has a use on holdout: Defend a fragile backliner (like a Sniper, Wizard, or Sniper Wizard). This can deter counter-offensive measures, but it means doubling down on units that aren’t actively contesting the objective. Worse, the Rearguard may lack actions to do anything other than “Prepare” a Boost, Skirmish, or Invade. Their structure and turns per round go wasted on the encounter budget. It is more budget-efficient to just cross-class the Aegis’s Defense Net on that Bombard or include a shield generator object.
The Cheat
Pair the slow Rearguard with abilities or allies that let it aggressively reposition! Subverts the Rearguard’s designed weakness of slow, methodical movement! Give the Demolisher a Mirage buddy, give the Pyro the Acrobat trait so it can cartwheel around, or have the Aegis land exactly where it needs to with an ODST drop pod! In my opinion, this approach works as a spice, but never as a main course. Players will start rolling their eyes if every Pyro they fight is an Acrobat.
The Pressure Cooker
I saved my clearly biased personal preference for last. Who said Rearguards never had to move? Not me, that’s for sure. While the Rearguard may not make it all the way to the objective, they can protect allies as they advance or slowly corner the PCs with projected threat (Flamethowers, Demolition hammer).
I firmly believe that this is the best way to leverage a slow Rearguard on offense, to the point that I added the “Brisk” template to Prototype Pattern Groups:
BRISK
Some Lancer NPC classes possess abysmal Speed. As a result, they may struggle to get to a fight without assistance, especially if deployed as Reinforcements. The Brisk template is intended to alleviate this issue.
BASE FEATURES
You’re Too Slow – Trait
This template may only be taken by an NPC with less than 3 Speed. This NPC’s Speed becomes 3.
This template exists to give slow Rearguards (like the Pyro and Demolisher) deployed at the edge of the map enough Speed to threaten an objective near the map’s center. All it does is set an NPC’s Speed to 3, and yet the difference in pressure is night and day. Most importantly, it preserves these Rearguards’ weakness. Speed 3 is nowhere near fast enough for a Demolisher to become a Vanguard!
Conclusion
Many of the typical approaches to using slow, Speed 2 Rearguards on offensive sitreps are a case of using level design to offset game design. They illustrate that even NPCs with glaring weaknesses can shine when used in the correct context. In contrast, my Brisk template instead directly addresses the game design of Lancer’s Pyro and Demolisher. With the smallest bump in Speed, these NPCs change from laughable chumps to threatening champs without sacrificing their core identities. I highly recommend setting a Speed floor of 3 for any mech (including the Bombard NPC and the Barbarossa player frame) to open their opportunities to reposition. Anything slower might as well have no Speed at all.