Miniature Trading

General description:
The Thunder Shiro is a dark-brown and gold mech, House Kurita's colour, and looks very like a Japanese samurai warrior. It carries a large Hira Zukiri blade in its right arm, an autocannon welded to its left arm, and 4 LRM-10s on its chest. It is a heavy mech and carries the House Kurita banners on its back. It is a super-rare. This mech is found in the Firepower series.

Uses:
The Shiro can be used to do point blank melee attacks or ranged autocannon fire. It is a House Kurita heavy mech.

Strategies and game play:
The Shiro combines moderate speed with tough armour and great offense. A great way to kill an opponent quick is to use assault combt moves with the autocannon (secondary damage) at most twice to damage him badly. The triple-attack quantity of the autocannon also help to damage any units within range that might become a nuisance to your advance. The 270 degree front arc gives you a wider variety of targets to hit as well, together with a great range of 18 inches. Advance torward the enemy unit and make base contact with him. At this range, the secondary damage is too close to be of help. Use the melee attack to quickly finish him off.

Combos with other miniatures:
This model of Shiro is worth 258 points, which makes your battleforce much smaller. Thus, the Shiro will become vulnerable to captures despite its speed of 8 if you have few other units in your battleforce. A good way to prevent this is to keep infantry close to your Shiro as it makes its assault combat moves. Another good combo is to use VTOLs with your Shiro. Their similar range would be helpful if you don't want to engage in close combat or want to damage the enemy before they reach you.

Ways to counteract it:
A player who deploys fast, long-ranged units (at least 14) and artillery on the field can do some hard damage to this unit before it begins fighting. Mechs who melee at least 3 damage or above can try to get close and outslug this mech too, provided you don't get too badly damaged first or lose too much attack on the approach.

Strengths/Pros:
The Shiro has 14 clicks of help with 21 defense+hardened armour to lengthen its life in a battle. Its attack is the average 9 for a heavy mech but its damage for the secondary weapon can kill. With a range of 18 inches and 5 damage, most infantry and vehicles can take a punishing for getting too close. If any enemy gets under the minimum range of 4 inches, the Shiro can take care of it with its melee attack. Its heat dial has no colours, giving it excellent heat control+2 vents.

Weaknesses/Cons:
This Shiro has no special effects in its combat dial. Its powerful secondary attack becomes 0 after 9 clicks, leaving it with 2 damage for its melee weapon. Its melee damage is disappointing for a mech its value and the awe of the blade when oe first looks at it.

Artwork and aesthetics:
The aesthetics for this mech is amazing! Its highly detailed samurai armour and the banners make it look like a real samurai warrior and increases its appeal on the battlefield. The massive blade also makes opponents have second thoughts about closing with your Shiro in battle. The paint job by Chris Hart is also very well done.

Overall rating:
Although there are pros and cons for this mech, the pros obviously outweigh the cons, especially with my style of combat. The artworks excels as well. Since it is a super-rare, owning it must be a pride. I therefore give it at least 9/10.