I am surprised there has not been an article about the Warhawk yet, so I guess I will make one! This is my first battlemech article, but I felt the Warhawk needed to be covered and discussed somewhere!
The Warhawk was designed by Clan Smoke Jaguar engineers, and began production 2999, just in time for the invasion of the Inner Sphere, Operation Revival. But that did not come to fruition. Operation Revival didn't happen on time due to the warden stance of Clan Wolf and the Dragoon Compromise. The Jaguars weren't happy about this, but they felt better after testing their new machine in trials against Clan Wolf.
Once Operation Revival began, the Draconis Combine MechWarriors who faced the omnimech code-named it "Masakari", after a type of Japanese medieval battle axe. Indeed, the Warhawk does cut into its opponents like an axe.
As for the physical looks of the 'mech, it shares some parts with the Dire Wolf, such as the leg and pelvis assemblies and arm parts near the elbows. This makes sense since the Jaguars won the design and production rights to the Dire Wolf and produced it before Clan Wolf, despite the fact Clan Wolf was the original chassis designer. Perhaps the Jaguars redesigned the Dire Wolf so that it shared some parts with the Warhawk for ease of production and repairs.
Let's look at the capabilities of the chassis itself. At combat load, the Warhawk has a mass of 85 tons. At the core of the Warhawk is a General Systems 340 XL fusion power plant, giving the 'mech a top speed of around 65 kph, and providing the juice it needs for its weapons and targeting computer. Surrounding this power plant are twenty double heatsinks, which allows the chassis to favor heat-intensive weapons, like energy weapons and heavy ACs.
The bones are of the Huntress WH Standard type, and the armor is 13.5 tons of Forging X85 Ferro-Fibrous. The armor coverage is near its maximum for what the chassis is capable of holding. The Warhawk is able to shrug off a stream of Class 20 AC rounds to each forward location without breaching and leaving some armor to spare, and it can handle another full stream of such to the center torso, but the armor will be mostly bare by then. Each rear location will melt away when touched by a Clan ER Large Laser. But whoever gets back there will be in for a surprise since the Warhawk is capable of flipping its arms backwards in many of its standard pod configurations to attack backstabbers.
So how many tons of weapons and equipment can this chassis mount? There is 32.5 tons of space left for weapons and equipment. Most of the space for equipment is in the arms of the chassis, but there is a little room for weapons in the center torso.
Before I start talking about configurations, I want to call attention to the fact that every standard pod configuration for the Warhawk includes a targeting computer. Although the targeting computer is not considered fixed equipment, it can be removed for more weapons or other equipment in custom pod configurations (Author's note: The fluff for the chassis states that the Jaguars built in a big, fixed motherboard for targeting computer modules, suggesting that the targeting computer is a fixed piece of equipment, but the actual Tech Manual rules imply that the targeting computer can never be treated as such). But why would anyone want to do that? The targeting computer is a useful piece of equipment, and I feel that it makes the Warhawk unique among omnimechs in that it really does use a targeting computer in every standard pod configuration. I feel that it gives the chassis flavor. I have left the targeting computer in the chassis in all of my custom pod configurations. I find that the accuracy boost the targeting computer gives goes a long way during combat.
Now we're onto the standard pod configurations. The Primary configuration sports four ER PPCs, two in each arm, and an arm-mounted LRM-10 with a single ton of ammunition. There are only the standard 20 double heat sinks available for heat dissipation. The smart way to use this configuration is to alternate fire like the Awesome AWS-8Q model. Fire those ER PPCs in a 3-2-3-2 pattern, firing the LRM-10 in addition to firing the two PPCs in the pattern. Three headcappers in a turn can hurt. I consider the 4th ER PPC to be a spare, in case one gets knocked out in combat. If the 'mech is nearly cored out, firing all four PPCs can be a fantastic last stand and light show for both you and your opponent, but hopefully for you. The LRM-10 can be useful during a cooldown or for laying minefields with Thunder munitions. Additionally, this configuration can flip its arms.
Next up is the A configuration. Two ER Large Lasers and a Streak SRM-6 with a ton of ammunition occupy the left arm. An LBX-AC/10 with a ton each of cluster and slug ammunition occupy the right arm. A LRM-15 with a single ton of ammunition occupies the right torso. The fixed heatsinks are all that's available for cooling this configuration, but they are more than adequate. You can alpha strike and run all day long with this configuration, with some wiggle room for external heat sources and engine shielding damage. The LBX-AC and LRMs provide for some good anti-aircraft fire, with clustering damage proving troublesome for VTOLs and jets. The ER Large Lasers allow the 'mech to burn targets at range as it closes in. This configuration cannot flip arms.
The B configuration mounts a gauss rifle with two tons of ammunition and an ER small laser in the left arm. The right arms holds three ER medium lasers. The right torso holds two SRM-6 launchers with five tons of ammunition. The center torso holds a Narc missile beacon launcher with a single ton of ammunition, also mounted in the center torso. Again, only the fixed heat sinks are available. This configuration is more than capable of hurting targets, and is nearly immune to external heat sources and/or engine shielding damage due to the excess heat capacity. The Narc beacons can help land more SRMs on a target, and the SRMs can spam inferno ammunition to overheat 'mechs and roast vehicles and infantry. At the same time, that can be said to be an inefficiency of the configuration. I think the SRMs could lose two tons of ammunition, and other beam weapons could be used in place of the gauss rifle to make use of the substantial standard heat capacity. I also do not like the ammunition storage in the center torso. That is begging to be nailed and detonated.
The C configuration contains a deadly mix of energy weapons. Two large pulse lasers occupy the right arm, while two ER PPCs occupy the left arm. A flamer is mounted in the center torso to discourage infantry from closing in. An additional three double heatsinks are added to the fixed 20. This allows the PPCs and pulse lasers to be fired all at once, but sustained fire can be maintained by leaving out either a PPC or a pulse laser in the next firing opportunity, depending on how fast the target is moving or how much armor you want to remove. Bear in mind that this configuration cannot flip its arms.
The D configuration has two ER large lasers in the right torso, an Ultra AC/10 in the right arm with two tons of ammunition, and an ATM-9 in the left arm with three tons of ammunition, each ton holding a different type of missile. An ER small laser is mounted in the center torso. The fixed heat sinks match the heat buildup of firing all of the weapons and running at full speed. When firing the Ultra AC at its highest rate in concert with the ER large lasers, the D configuration gives the Warhawk the firepower of a Star League-era Annihilator. The ATM launcher also adds flexibility to the configuration, with ER munitions that can be fired with the ER large lasers, standard munitions for medium range combat, and HE ammunition for knife fighting range. This Warhawk configuration is capable of arm flipping.
The E configuration is like a walking toaster. A trio of plasma cannons are mounted in the left arm, with four tons of ammunition for the cannons. A SRM-6 is also mounted in the left arm with one ton of ammunition. A large pulse laser and an ER PPC are mounted in the right arm. The plasma cannons are great for anti-vehicle and anti-infantry use, and can overheat enemy 'mechs. I would use the SRMs with standard ammunition for seeking holes in the armor punched through by the ER PPC and large pulse laser. The weapons fired all together will overheat the Warhawk's fixed heatsinks. For firing selection, use the large pulse laser, ER PPC, and SRM-6 for more durable targets like 'mechs, and throw in a plasma cannon if you can. For anti-vehicle and infantry use, use the large pulse laser and the plasma cannons, and maybe throw in the SRM-6. This configuration allows for arm flipping.
The F configuration mounts an ER PPC in each arm. In the left arm there is an LRM-20 with two tons of ammunition. In the center torso, there is an LRM-10 with one ton of ammunition also located in the center torso. In the right torso there is an Ultra AC/2 with one ton of ammunition. This configuration finds its home at medium to long range, and it can fire all of its weapons and run with minimal heat buildup on the fixed heatsinks. Punch holes with the ER PPCs at every opportunity, and use the missiles and plinkies to find those holes and do critical damage. Again, the center torso is not the best place to store ammunition. Again, the arms can flip backwards.
Configuration H is the last of the standard pod configurations. Two heavy large lasers are mounted in the left arm, while two large pulse lasers and an LRM-10 with one ton of ammunition are mounted in the right arm. Five extra heatsinks are added to the fixed 20 to control the heat buildup. The firing pattern for the H configuration is similar to that of the C configuration, in which a heavy laser or a pulse laser should be dropped from each firing opportunity to allow for cooling depending on whether accuracy or hole punching is needed most. The LRM-10 can also be used for cooldown firepower or for laying mine fields. Arm flipping is possible with this configuration too.
A non-standard configuration for the Warhawk was fielded by Major Tara Lucas of Zeta Batallion of Wolf's Dragoons. The configuration was based off the standard Primary Warhawk configuration, except that the LRM-10 was replaced with three more heatsinks. The additional heatsinks allow the pilot to fire three ER PPCs with very little excess heat, with the fourth PPC acting as a spare or an extra hole puncher in case of an emergency, like in the Primary configuration. The last half ton went to an ER small laser in the right torso (Author's note: This configuration is in MegaMek, and mentioned on Sarna.net as being from the BattleCorps story "Tales of the Jihad: The Last Day of Zeta").
Besides Major Lucas, other notable Warhawk pilots include Diana Pryde (who later gave the chassis up for a Nova), Jeremiah Rose of the Black Thorns Mercenary Unit, Ranna Kerensky, Theodore Kurita, and Vlad Ward.
Fighting against a Warhawk depends on the configuration. If you are up against any of the energy weapon-heavy configurations, be sure to pack heat-generating weapons to slow the 'mech down and make weapon firing choices more difficult for its pilot. If the configuration you're fighting against has a surplus of cooling capacity, you will have to outmaneuver it. The 'mech only goes about 65 kph at most. Be careful about getting behind it, because some of those configurations can flip arms. Though all configurations have a targeting computer, fast light 'mechs like the Hussar and Fire Moth will create problems for the Warhawk, but pulse lasers in both the C and H configurations can prevent that kind of trouble.
I hope this article was informative and creates some discussion about one of my favorite omnimech chassis. Like I said, I never see much discussion about the Warhawk on these boards, so here is its time to shine!
And by the way, happy holidays!
