The Hippogriff is an odd sort in Alpha Strike. Its low damage output translates pretty similarly, with a 0* damage rating across the board. That said, you do get damage all the way out to long range, even if it's pretty inconsistent. Where the shine comes is in the movement and the points cost. As you may expect, with one armor point and that little damage, even the hilarious 14"j movement only brings the Hippogriff up to a whopping 9 points. It's cheap enough that you can bring one at Skill 0 for 17 points, making it a contender in the same role as the ASN-21 Assassin (17 points), SDR-5V Spider (16 points), FLE-17 Flea (17 points), and CDA-2A Cicada (16 points).
Now, in case that comparison doesn't ring the bells it should, that's for a Skill 0 Hippogriff. At the same time, the Hippogriff is capable of keeping up an absolutely ridiculous +5 TMM (+4 from 14"j, +1 from being a Proto) all game long. That means that a Hippogriff could very well be looking at taking shots against a fairly typical target (+2 TMM) at long range (+4) after jumping (+2) at 8s to hit. that may not sound like much, but combined with the IF0* special, it's the kind of unit that starts the game harassing your units, and then never ever stops.
I want a couple points of them. Badly.