I really want to use a Mickey because I like the idea of Jump + Fast on a walker, but I'm afraid it won't be able to hold it's own. I know it's not meant for tank duels or front of the line action, but I just wonder if its even worth the points, especially in smaller games. Tomorrow I'm playing a 150 pt game followed by a 250 pt game; with only 2-3 walkers in the force, I feel like I need more firepower.

Any experience or thoughts? Thanks.

The Mickey plays well in mobile forces. You're right it can't go toe to toe with a lot of other walkers but your shouldn't do that anyway. It belongs with mobile force that can take advantage of game terrain by moving quickly to reposition itself to where you can focus a lot of firepower into a few small piece of your opponents army that have little or no chance of fighting back. You will eventually have to get stuck in but hopefully not before you whittle the enemy down and have a chance to make the odds far more favorable to you. As an Axis player what I like to see on my opponents side are slow moving troops that I can out maneuver and drop the hammer on or lots of fast elite models with light walkers that can be damaged by sniper fire and fall victim to overwhelming weight of fire.

The Mickey plus fast moving hard hitting infantry is scary to me. They are just hard to defend against and difficult to react to.

If you want an anti-infantry tank then Mickey is superb, if you do take him, make sure you balance it out by taking a good anti-tank squad and Pounder.

If you're good at making your opponent fight you on your terms and carefully utilize terrain, go for it. If you're less patient and not as devious, avoid it.

RE: the thread title: only if they're good friends.

In seriousness, don't forget that the Mickey also has Self Repair (pg. 56). If it's affected by an effect from the Vehicle Damage Table, it can take a Self Repair action to remove that effect and roll 1D6 which on a hit takes off a point of damage. So it can protect itself a little, and that combined with the Jump and Fast abilities makes it a pretty tenacious walker.

Backing up your infantry? The Mickey is your baby. It's a dedicated anti-troop fighter, dropping 7 dice on an Armor 3 squad and 11 dice on an Armor 2 squad. It and the light walker with qaud 50s are the only anti-infantry walkers the Allies have, and since this game is all about infantry, the Mickey is the all-purpose tank (and no, before you fire-bugs out there start shrieking like chimps about the flame-walkers, said units have to endure reactions - including the target moving out of flamethrower range! - before they get to shoot. The Mickey does not),

I love the Mickey …. and use them as often as possible. As an anti-infantry weapon they are superior to the Petard Mortar on the Steel Rain with no Reload action required. Jump + Fast + Self Repair just seal the deal.

I decided to try the Mickey in my third and largest game (250 points) just because it has intrigued me so.

It turned out to be AWESOME and was the lynchpin of my assault! Truly the Mickey is greater than the sum of its parts. Jump + Fast let me move over a wall and well within range of the enemy front lines. They couldn't react thanks to jump. It then suppressed the snot out of a key enemy unit (while taking two damage from an attack reaction) to buy time for my supporting foot troops to double move into position for the next round. The Mickey survived the spearhead maneuver, allowing my Fireball to Air Drop 12" from the enemy front lines and for Bazooka Joe and a squad of combat rangers with extra bazooka to disembark. (Yeah, my opponent was rather shocked by that, especially since the disembarks got to attack as well!)

On the next round, the Mickey was obliterated by the Konigsluther. The crew sold their lives bravely. The sacrifice was not in vain, as their valor allowed the Fireball, Bazooka Joe & his squad, and the supporting foot troops to dominate that side of the board. The enemy was off balance, never to recover. Basically, the Mickey's spearhead defined the battle and enabled victory!

Next battle, I want two!

The no reaction to jump only applies to soldier models not vehicles (pg. 55). But yeah the Mickey is definantly worth it all the way around.

DoomOnYou72 said:

Thanks for pointing that out! Fortunately, the result would have been the same in this case… the would have shot the Mickey after the move (fortunately only damaging it, not destroying it) and then it would have shot the troops. But it is good to know that there is a risk of being killed after the move before being able to attack.