Myth Busters: UCM have no Demolisher

PHR wedding in Vegas?

There is a theory, that if you want a building removed, you need PHR or Scourge with their abundance of high energy demolisher (D) weapons. People have been lining the streets and shouting from the rooftops for UCM to have some form of D weapon so that they too, can contribute to the urban renewal......

........but why? UCM have everything they need (and shhh don't tell anyone, but they do it better than PHR and Scourge).

Before I introduce the 'nu kidz' of the demo crew lets take a look at how each faction handles demolition. I'll start with the PHR:

The typical Protagonists are the Enyo and the Taranis. 

Enyo Picture from Hawk Wargames

The Enyo will be found in 2's and without a transport. They will walk on the back on turn 1 (or direct deploy if mission allows) and begin demolition. That is what they do, and they will do that all game. With 2 E10 shots and D2 the maximum output for this squad is 16 damage points on an armour 6 (A6) building per turn, and averagely 4.44 damage per turn each (8.88 for the squad). They have infinite range against buildings as long as the building can be seen. The drawback is that building demo is all they do. It is highly unlikely that you'll get within 12" of an Enyo. Which also means you can basically ignore it and concentrate on the Odins, Hades or other monstrosity that's ready to bitch slab you into next week. Finally Enyo's are not cheap - 65 points each (130 for the squad) to destroy 2.5 medium A6 buildings a game.

 

Taranis Picture from Hawk Wargames

The Taranis is a whole different kettle o'fish. As the Enyo, it is seen in twos and without a dropship. It is a fair bit cheaper than the Enyo at 45 points each (90 for the squad) and it has indirect fire - meaning that any building on the board is a target as long as something in your army has LoS. The problem comes with it being unable to move and fire, this reduces its functionality by 1/6th in most missions. The Taranis can pack an explosive punch. It has an E10 Demolisher d3 shot which means it can do a maximum 12 points of damage to an A6 building a turn (as a squad). Averagely the squad will do 5.56 damage per turn, which over 5 turns would be 1.5 medium buildings. As with the Enyo, you can ignore the Taranis. Building demo is all it does. It has an 18" countered range, so it's hardly worth the odd anti-tank shot as it will more than likely miss (being hidden behind a building).

Hunter Picture from Hawk Wargames

Slayer Picture from Hawk Wargames

On to the Scourge. The gribbly jellyfish-men don't really have dedicated building demolition squads as the PHR do. What they do have is Demolisher on their standard and heavy tanks (skimmers), this makes them more of an opportunist demolition crew. I doubt that you would just set out to blow up buildings with the Scourge tanks, especially with their short range. You need them for making sure that the enemy gets dead, and stays dead. Although if the opportunity arises then having a pop at a populated building is likely to do severe damage. Hunters and Slayers have E11 guns and D2 - these will do as much damage against A6 as it will A8 hardened buildings. For 3 shots from hunters it is a measly 105 points and the squad can do a maximum of 12 damage a turn averaging 6.66 damage points for the squad. 2 Slayers have 4 shots for 108 points. They have the potential for 16 damage and average 8.88 a turn. The problem is the range, the Scourge have no way to destroy buildings in the opponents half for the first couple of turns of a game, which puts them at a massive disadvantage in the demolitions battle.

So what can the UCM do? We don't have any worth while demolisher weapons (unless you count the Seraphim - but let's not even go there with fast movers), what we have is a plethora or high energy shots. Katanas and Eagles are the new hotness, individually they are impressive but together they are a demolition experts wet dream. With 2 E9 shots each the Katana is potent at only 30 points, the Eagle, although costly at 110 points has 4 E9 missiles and 2 E11 railgun shots. Katanas as a squad of 3 can do a maximum of 12 damage to an A6 building and on average do 6.67 damage points. The Eagle can also do 12 points max. and 6.67 average. 
The way I run them is 6 drive-on Katanas supported by an Eagle. This battle group is 290 points, which is a fair whack of your points - but they are so worth it - why? One word answer: VERSATILITY
On average this battle-group will do 20 damage points on a building. That's a dead medium sized building on turn 1. "But Mega Mike, how is this better than the equivalent points of PHR or Scourge?" I hear you ask. Imagine this typical scenario.
It's Targets of Opportunity, your opponent has deployed his troops into his objective building (normally a large building, and at tournaments would be 30dp). More often than not there would be 2 squads inside. Roll-on your Katanas and fly-on your Eagle - 20(or so) damage later and your opponent has a lot to think about. If he doesn't win the initiative on turn 2 he could be down 1 or 2 squads of troops. This is the same if the mission is Recon, or even in Land Grab - destroying the opponents Focal Point early can really help swing a battle. Scourge have no way of doing this - it's not their game. PHR can do this and often do, but after it's done what do they do? I'll tell you - they shoot another building, as that is all they can do. 
After a couple of turns of building Demo the Katanas and Eagle are in the main fight, then they have the option of going after crucial enemy forces or carrying on the demo game. This is what makes them almost irresistible. 

A few shots of my Katanas and Eagle

So now you know the secret to UCM demolitions, give it a go and let me know how you get on.