The Warwolf, huh? Well, I...I'm not really sure what to say about it. I don't dislike it, that's for sure. However, I feel like I WANT to like it more than I actually do. It's the little things that get me. I'm hard pressed to think of a variant or two and say, "Oh yeah, that one is my favorite for sure." Every single one seems to have SOMETHING that bugs me. Not enough to ruin the mech, but enough to make me feel itchy when I look at the record sheet. First off, there is a whole lot for me to like about the mech. 5/8 on a 75-ton mech has already got my attention. I love fast cavalry units, and that speed is a big 'ole checkbox on the good side of the ledger. Most variants have at least one big gun, and they don't go moving it all over the chassis from variant to variant like some mechs do. It even looks pretty cool. It has some new tech, but not so much it turns into a huge gimmick.
However, there is just something about each variant that bothers me. On the prime, it's the total absence of energy weapons. Seriously? Couldn't even squeeze in a small laser somewhere? Guess no one takes a Prime very far from the dropship. The A: I don't demand absolute symmetry in my mechs, but this thing has seven weapons and 6 different types of weapons. I guess you could call this a generalist or jack-of-all-trades variant, but only because it is too scattered in the loadout to do anything else. This variant needs to hurry up and figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. The B: Where are the rest of the guns? 75 tons and all you could fit was an Ultra 10 and large laser? Yeah, sure, it's a FANCY large laser, but it still only does 10 points of damage. I feel like the jump jets should have been put on a different variant so this one could hit harder than a middle-of-the-road medium. The C: Ok, this one is pretty good, but did we really need the TarComp? There is only one gun it helps and that one is already a pulse laser. Why not fill out the full jump-jet compliment, or have a secondary weapon or something instead? I didn't actually like the one-gun TarComp on the Prime either. It's not bad, it's just...why? The H: I get it's a clan machine but did it really need to be THAT hot? I'm OK with it running a little hot so you have a use for the coolant pods, but you basically need one each turn you fire both your lasers. It wouldn't be as big a deal if you had some other options once the pods are gone, but the mech only has three guns. Either you fire one laser and sink a bunch of extra heat, or you fire both and go rocketing up the heat scale. There is no riding the edge of the curve in this mech. You either blow past it, or don't come near it. I'm OK with mechs that have too many weapons but not enough heat to use them all, as long as I have choices about what to do with the heat sinking available...but this mech only has three guns and only two generate any real heat. There isn't much in the way of choices or options there.
It isn't that any of the variants are out and out bad, they are just quirky in ways that don't make a whole lot of sense to me, or that bother me. I don't need every mech to be optimized, but I do prefer it when they are bad for a good reason. Like the Hunchback 5N. It is disgustingly over-heat sinked. It can take two engine hits, run, and alpha strike, and still not accumulate any heat. There are a wide variety of ways it could better use tonnage than all those extra heat sinks. However, it is fluffed as simply replacing the existing single heat sinks in the 4G model with doubles. There was no fancy re-engineering of the chassis, they just pulled the old sinks out and slapped new ones in because it was all brand new and no one knew exactly what they were doing. It is bad, but bad for a good reason, or at least an interesting one. The Warwolf's less than optimal choices just don't work for me. They don't seem to have a cool fluff explanation, and I'm hard pressed to come up with fluff explanations on my own that I'm satisfied with.
Also, the mini stands up way too tall! It doesn't have that crouched stance from the art, and I haven't yet felt the urge to cut apart the legs on one and try to 'fix' it!
Perhaps the strangest part is that I actually love this thing in Alpha Strike. Once you meld all the stats together and hide some of the rough edges behind abstraction, this thing turns into a real solid heavy. Virtually every complaint I have disappears when you switch to Alpha Strike. Move 10"/6"j is still annoying, but other than that it's all good. I guess that is really the heart of how I feel: I like the summary of the mech better than the details of the mech!
