This fortnight, we look at the last, but not least, of the 55-ton trio, the
Griffin, favored 'Mech of House Steiner (or, at least, for displays in the throne room). Like its comrades in tonnage, the
Shadow Hawk and
Wolverine, it has been with us since the good old days and, like the
Shadow Hawk, all the way back to Battledroids. Of course, like every other 'Mech from that era, it suffered from the Unseen-Reseen brouhaha and, like some, has come back better than ever in a plastic Classic sculpt.
If you'd like to know more about its history or how to use it in the game, please see Kotetsu's
'Mech of the Week article. If you'd like to know more about the miniatures through the years, stick around and keep reading.
The
Griffin has had a number of sculpts through the years:
- The first version was a Battledroids sculpt (20-835).
- That was replaced with the standard Unseen sculpt, released in metal (also 20-835) and resin.
- FASA released a plastic version with the BattleTech, Third Edition boxed set, based on the Unseen sculpt.
- The next sculpt, and the oldest one still in production, is for the Reseen Griffin GRF-6S (20-200).
- A slightly modified version, for the custom Francine variant appears in the Black Widow Company Lance set for Starterbook: Wolf and Blake (10-035).
- Then came the Primitive sculpt for the Griffin GRF-1A (BT-346).
- The most recent sculpt is the Classic sculpt from the modern Beginners Box from CGL.
First appearing in
Tales of the Black Widow, tinkering Davion enginners gave us the
Super Griffin prototype. IWM has released two versions:
So let's hear it for an old friend and post those pictures of
Griffins, Unseen, Reseen, Primitive, and Classic! We'd all love to see them!
Thank you for reading and a special thank you to those who post!
Our next two fortnights will be:
- Clan (9/23): Invading Clans: Ghost Bear Edition (Grizzly and Kodiak, with special guest Kodiak II)
- Mixed (10/7): Ostscout and Ostsol
