Mech of the Week: Howler/Baboon
Ah, yes, the Howler, one of the less powerful escapees from TRO:3055. This is about closest the clan militaries come to bugmechs; most of their mechs in the general price range are either Arrow IV spotters or anti-infantry builds.
It was first printed in the Jade Falcon Phone Book, then appeared again in TRO:3055, and upgraded in TRO:3055 upgrades. It was first seen in Jade Falcon second line forces, and was believed unique to them for a while. The Snow Ravens, Steel Vipers and Star Adders get some later, with the standard eventually becoming sole property of the Falcons, and the II and III becoming Snow Raven exclusives post-Jihad.
Which is a shame, because they’re a decent deal for the (low) BPV
The
standard Howler is a twenty-ton mech with decent speed, capable of getting a +3 modifier reliably and a +4 in ideal situations; you should almost always be trying for these, because the armour – well, it isn’t maxed, nor does it pass the smart armour layout test; there are points on the arms that really should’ve been moved elsewhere. De-legging one takes a single ten point hit, and I shouldn't have to point out how common those are. Everything can be breached by an IS large pulse laser. The side torsos can’t take an inner sphere large without a potential crit, not take a gauss without losing one entirely. This is kinda important, because there is a bloody huge ammo bomb in the right torso, along with all the weapons.
Those weapons are three LRM-5. These have a solid range even for clan weaponry, and can be used in close too. Damage is anemic for a clan mech, yet another reason the mech is 645 BV(2). It’s at this point you have to ask yourself a question – are you an honourable clanner or a pragmatic clanner?
If you’re a pragmatic clanner you can load up on alternate ammo, of which thunder mines deserve a special mention for shutting down routes for other speedy light mechs. It has an excessive amount of tonnage devoted to missile storage, and I suggest you use it intelligently.
The
Howler II is a civil war era and later mech, shared between the Ravens and Vipers until the later suffer existence failure. It’s both slower and faster, as the engine goes down a notch but MASC is added. Armor is the same, and the engine is XLed to save weight. This mass goes directly to weapons. Four right torso ATM-3 provide enough firepower that people notice you quickly. Unlike the standard there are only two tons of ammunition, for a total of ten turns bricking the firing switch; I suggest you devote one ton to ER ammo so you can generate decent to-hit numbers without getting in close. What you do with the other ton is up to you, but HE is a nasty surprise to people used to only taking a few points of damage from the mech.
The
3, AKA the Devil is a Raven exclusive, again in the civil war ere forward. This is basically a straight weapon swap from the 2, with a clan ER-PPC linked to a targeting computer on, again, the right shoulder. The other two variants are cheap filler mechs, but this one is comparable in cost with the Parash and Solitaire. The accurate and heavy punch is nice, but surviving long enough to use it is questionable.
Finally, there's the
TX-1 Devil, a version that is
apocryphal, printed on a flyer from '93. Ten tons heavier, has a 300XL, an ER-PPC, and more armor. It's probably inspiration for the much later 3, and is fluffed as a Jade Falcon exclusive from just post invasion; ROM speculates it is a scout hunter.
Side notes - I own two of the minis for the II, and consider it a decent performer, especially against 3025 mechs. An updated mini is also in the new kickstarter, so I suspect they'll become a lot more common soon. As a fast, cheap mech that can contribute at range, the standard and II rarely mind moving first, make absolutely ideal filler mechs in clan forces.
Update
We have new baboons as of rec guide 8. The Howler 4 is based of the original model, but drops ten tubes and 240 missiles for jump jets and a half ton armor. Upside, it hits the magic +4 TMM while leaping and a hit from a clan large pulse laser won’t go internal on the CT or take off a leg. Downsides, it doesn’t have enough stowage to carry alternate ammo and standard at the same time anymore, and I can only think of one clan mech with less firepower (Myst lynx A, a spotter/electronics/anti-infantry specialist)
I’m not sure you play the 4 to win so much as to annoy your opponents and draw things out. It’s cheap though. In universe it’s a trainer model.
The Howler 5 is now the most expensive of the series in BV. It’s a weapon swap of the base model. You have six tons to play with, and all six go into ER mediums. It doesn’t have the sinks to use more than four without crippling itself with heat, but...
That’s right, potentially 42 damage from a twenty ton mech. I’m getting shades of the Hunchback IIC; a berserker that tries to take something bigger than itself with it. I suspect its other use is distraction carnifex, drawing as much fire as possible while other assets in place. Personally, I think I’ll stick to a Phantom or Dasher if I want to stab somebody in the back, and with Vixen, Peregrine, Conjurers and Goshawk becoming common after the kickstarter I don’t see this guy having much of a battlefield life in clan-on-clan battles.
Howler 6, the last RecGuide newbie is, again, a weapon swap off the base. It has a piece of gear from TacOps, the mech shoulder turret. Assuming I parsed the rules right, this means that combined with torso twisting, the two SRM6 can fire in any direction. Each of the launchers comes with it’s own ton of CASE II’d ammo.
Upside, the thing is 95 points cheaper than the standard Howler. Downside, any range advantage it ever had is gone and it’s only marginally tougher from the CASE II. It's cheaper than a stock Javelin, and I find it difficult to dispute that valuation.
Finally, the 30 ton Devil has been spun off into canon status, though with the Ravens, not Falcons. That’s an article someone else can write
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