Mech of the Week: WoodsmanThe first Clan Wolf heavy OmniMech and the product of a much more careful design process rather than the rush job of many of its contemporaries, the
Woodsman's shadow over the history of the Clans is long and proud. For all that, the design is still a bit enigmatic, an enigma that I find intriguing. We only have firm knowledge two configurations and hints of a third but one of them is the father of the most famous OmniMech configuration in all of BattleTech. In the end, faced with the raising tide of Clan technology, the
Woodsman went under, the faster heavy OmniMechs pushing the design and ultimately requiring successors to be designed. (Contrary to what's implied in Golden Century, the
Warhawk had little to do with that process. It may have been sounding a death knell but the
Timber Wolf was already off the assembly line at that point.) Finally finding a worthy successor with the 2945 introduction of the
Timber Wolf (itself the father of the
Mad Cat Mks II and III as well as GM's
Rakshasa and contributing to the
Mad Dog), a twin Arrow IV configuration inspired the
Naga, and the
Gargoyle (known as the
Man O' War) to the Inner Sphere also traces its roots to the
Woodsman's design. The indirect influence its victories and defeats may have had on Clan 'Mech design is difficult to estimate but no doubt substantial. For a 'Mech that was extinct by Operation Revival, that's quite a legacy.
The main resemblances to the
Timber Wolf are the podspace, the 75 ton size, and the endo-steel frame. Otherwise, visually, the
Woodsman's design is far closer to the
Gargoyle, especially the limb and hip design, but without giving the impression that the 'Mech is bucking for MVP in the Kerensky League. The torso assembly actually reminds me somewhat of the Reseen
Marauder family, though, particularly the MAD-9M. The engine is a 300-rated Wolf standard fusion engine, providing the housing for 12 double heat sinks and a maximum speed of 64 kph, although a MASC system lets it accelerate to 86 kph for short distances. 13.5 tons of good old Durallex Heavy standard plate provides for protection 14 points lighter than the
Timber Wolf's but fairly similar to the
Night Gyr's in distribution. Everything on the front passes the AC/20 test with 33 points on the CT, 23 on the sides, 22 on the arms, and 30 on the legs, with 10 and 7 points protecting the rear center and sides - not max but quite acceptable. Care was taken to leave the right torso completely open with most of the endo-steel in the legs and head, while the MASC is in the left torso. All of this together leaves a famous figure for podspace, the very same 27.5 tons carried by the
Timber Wolf. While the armor, speed, and engine changes leave a direct match to the
Timber Wolf largely down to the pilots, terrain, and dice, one clear advantage goes to the newer 'Mech with three additional fixed freezers in its larger engine. Those planning to adapt
Timber Wolf configurations for their own games should keep this in mind.
The
Woodsman Prime is very similar to the
Timber Wolf Prime, something Golden Century promptly hangs a lampshade on, and might just have the edge on the more famous successor under some circumstances. I'm sure most of you don't need me to tell you the full specs given just how many of us know the highlights by heart but since I'm such a
swell excessively verbose and loquacious guy, I'm going to do it anyway. The arms sport the classic over/under combination of an extended-range large and extended-range medium laser. Each torso has an LRM 15 instead of the large 20 racks on the
Timber Wolf but their endurance is doubled thanks to the three tons of ammo in the right torso. The torso laser is an ERML instead of the MPL with only a half-ton of machine gun ammo (which is still more than enough to turn the right torso into slag a dozen times over with no help from the LRM rounds). An ERSL was mounted in the left torso to get rid of that hanging half-ton. Instead of the two freezers mounted by a
Timber Wolf Prime, five were carried. At long range, the combination means that it can slam the LRMs and ERLLs downrange without any heat gain, or you can use the an ERLL, two ERMLs, and both racks if you want to move for a neutral heat load. For the endurance or ability to shrug off external heat, it may be worth using on a
Timber Wolf, and the differences fit the
Woodsman like a glove.
The
Woodsman A is the practically obligatory flashbulb sniper that all good OmniMechs have always wanted to have when they grow up or possibly just some crazy Wolf love letter to the MAD-3D. Historically, it was the predecessor to the
Gargoyle A. Each arm hosts an ER PPC for a head-capping doubletap. The centerline has an ERSL and an MPL, with another medium pulse laser in the left torso. Opposite the medium is a large, the third of the heavy weapons. This one runs nastily hot on you if you're not careful, not even able to fire all three heavy energy weapons without losing an MP, but your opponent is definitely going to know they got hit. Personally, I'd use it like an
Awesome at longer ranges, rotating one of the ER PPCs in and out to cool off, while up close, switch to all three pulse lasers and an ER PPC unless you get excellent numbers to just open up completely. This one is going to be an enormous pain to put down without any explosive hazards short of a golden BB, a rare case of a heavy pure zombie OmniMech configuration. If you get the opportunity, an alpha may be worth considering. It's fairly likely to shut the 'Mech down but your enemy may not be around to argue the point.
Respect your MASC failure chance and don't use it thoughtlessly. 5+ is reasonably safe but can still go disastrously wrong - I had one blow during testing that nearly got me drubbed and definitely got the
Woodsman into the graveyard ahead of schedule. Don't ride it any higher than 7+ if you've got any intention of being mobile afterward and I don't recommend doing that without a very good reason. MASC can be a useful tool but be prepared for Murphy to bite you. Otherwise, aggression is your friend here. The Wolf is a cunning predator, cautious when it should be and bold when it must be. Emulate it at a
Woodsman's controls.
Stopping a
Woodsman is... interesting. I can see why it finally went down once it had more competitors on the field - especially with the
Timber Wolf around - but this is not a chump 'Mech. The armor is solid, so you need hole punchers to bore it down or a lot of middling (5 to 7 point) hits to shear it off. You need crit-seekers to punch out a Prime's ammo or score the sort of slow accretion of criticals that wears down a zombie beast like the A. Speed can push it around and, eventually, MASC failure will, sooner or later, catch up with every single one of them at the wrong time but the problem with statistics is that there's no Law of Small Numbers. There's just not a winning strategy here other than perseverance and general good tactics.
Reference: The
MUL's Woodsman Prime page includes a picture and notes on sources. It also has a link to the A for checking BVs and availability. As with the
Lupus, the
Woodsman was extinct by the Jihad.
