The Wolfhound.
Flush with the success of designing and building a NEW Battlemech that also actually included innovation and a new development the Lyrans had good reason to be pleased as punch. Whilst this innovation was basically a 3-ton lump of metal with a depleted uranium cutting edge in the form of the Hatchetman’s signature weapon, it was something new. Perhaps the biggest success though was the cooperation with House Davion’s NAIS which helped develop the Hatchetman and helped grow the relationship between the two Houses.
With the success of the Hatchetman, Katrina Steiner then ordered her development and research teams to turn to the tricky problem of building a light mech that could take on all comers. A rarity in the notoriously top-heavy formations of the LAF. Opponents with lighter, faster and more agile had inflicted embarrassing defeats on the Lyran Military and the biggest threat to the realm, House Kurita fielded two potent lights in the form of the Jenner and Panther, which generally outclassed Lyran lights who had no equivalent machine they could call their own.
This situation was to be resolved and overcome at the order of the Archon and so Defiance industry put all its considerable muscle, now backed up by a writ from the Archon and the industrial strength the Lyrans had to overcome this problem.
With help and advice from Team Banzai and the Kell Hounds what went into secret testing in 3028 was a triumph of home grown technology and design, with only its full cockpit ejection system being made with outside assistance. What would be known as the Wolfhound would go on to be the signature light Mech of the LAF and later the AFFC, standing proudly alongside older and more famous designs like House Davion’s Valkyrie and the iconic Zeus.
The Wolfhound was a common sight by the time the War of 3039 rolled around, having been the preserve of elite units like the Kell Hounds and Wolf’s Dragoons, both of whom used the Mech against a reeling Capellan military during the 4th Succession War. Upgraded throughout its long life the Wolfhound remains in service as a hard hitting and popular Mech.
DesignThe 35-ton Wolfhound was by modern standards quite simple, but it was also very efficient. Avoiding the pitfalls and temptations of heavy ballistic weapons, the Wolfhound is a classic laser-rave on legs. Powered by a 210-rated engine the Wolfhound could hit 97kph on flat terrain making it considerably faster than the Kuritan Panther, and not too much slower than their Jenner as well. It could also keep away from larger threats like Medium Mech’s whilst also actually outgunning a fair few of its larger kin.
Seven and a half tons of armour are draped over the Wolfhound, giving it a thick hide for a light Mech, indeed it has the most armour it can carry and every location is well protected, with its arms, chest and legs being proof against a PPC blast. Unfortunately, this considerable weight of protection precluded the installation of jump jets, which somewhat limit the Wolfhounds mobility and can mean it can get in trouble in rough or heavily wooded terrain.
Later variants would alter the Mech’s cooling, structure and engine, but there was not one jumping Wolfhound.
VariantsWolfhound WLF-1 – The grand pappy of the line and the one that caused so much woe for House Liao and House Kurita, the WLF-1 is simple but effective, but don’t touch the big red ALPHA STRIKE button unless you want to turn your cockpit into a sauna.
Armed with a large laser and a trio of medium lasers, as well as somewhat strangely a 4th medium laser firing to the rear arc, the Wolfhound has a surprisingly nasty slap. At a normal engagement range, you actually outgun a Shadow Hawk (24 damage vs 14 (or 19 if you include the LRM) and even outgun a bog-standard Wolverine. But using all that lovely firepower WILL overheat you, fortunately you have nothing explosive stored onboard to cause any troubles.
If facing the Panther, don’t play its game of long range fighting, charge in close, get under the minimum range for the PPC and use your speed to keep out of range of any punch or kick. Against a Jenner, a large laser blast will carve through their centre torso in a single hit, or leave the sides open to damage, and as they pack a wallop up close, try to keep the range open.
Wolfhound WLF-1A – A very simple field refit, the 1A removes the rear-firing medium laser in favour of another heatsink. Whilst this is a logical change, the rear laser can be useful. A Wolfhound can’t jump and a faster opponent could zip round behind it (See Jenner) and go for its weak rear armour. Still the extra heatsink will allow you to run and fire your medium laser battery without affecting the heat scale.
Wolfhound WLF-1B – Another field refit, the simply moves the rear firing laser to a forward firing position. Like the 1A this leaves its 6 vulnerable but now the 1B packs a punch for a Mech its size that wouldn’t be equalled until the Clans came a-calling in 3050 and in doing so utterly outclassed the Wolfhound.
Wolfhound WLF-2 – Thanks to the discovery of the Helm Memory Core a technical renaissance swept across the Inner Sphere and with new developments, the flagship Mech’s of the AFFC were immediately scheduled in for refits, whilst factories were switched over to produce the new versions of the Mechs. The WLF-2 is a very good upgrade, and avoids many of the pitfalls of the new toy/OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!! Syndrome seen in TRO3050 with the arrival of the Clans. First of all, double heatsinks. Can I get a halleluiah? The heat-hog Wolfhound is gone and in its place, is a very cool running customer. The Mech’s hitting range also goes up as the large laser is replaced by an ER large laser, allowing it to out range its traditional foe, the Panther.
Even if you fired the lot, you’ll barely have a blip on the heat scale, and if you’re having to alpha the lot, then you’ve probably got more to worry about than a tiny bit of heat.
This refit is definitely one of TRO 3050’s diamonds in the rough in a sea of QKD-5Ks, PNT-10Ks and ENF-5Ds.
Wolfhound 2C ‘Grinner’ - The personal ride of Phelan Kell, this thankfully unique Mech is a monster and tour de-force of what Clan Tech can do if used right, or if you really want to batter someone to death with a whole wheel of edam cheese. A complete refit, so much so this is basically a new Mech, the Clans changed almost everything about the Wolfhound. The now XL engine can push Grinner along at its traditional 96kph, but the skeleton and armour are replaced with Clan compound Endo-steel and Ferro-Fibrous materials, saving a lot of weight. Four tons of extra heatsinks are installed, double strength of course to handle the heat of its weapons. An ER large laser is backed up by a trio of medium pulse lasers, whilst an ER medium laser covers the Mech’s 6. A Guardian ECM was also installed to help mess with Artemis and other tracking systems, making it even harder to kill. With a pilot like Kell at the helm, this is a lethal Mech, and even without him, its bitey to say the least! Grinner remains a unique Mech and was destroyed/lost during by Kell who seemed to go through Mech’s like babies go through diapers. We should be glad that the Clan’s didn’t look at this config, then look at the Puma and go “Hmmm…..it just might work.”
Wolfhound WLF-3S – A significant upgrade of the WLF-2 the 3S packs a bigger punch at the cost in being vulnerable to engine hits. Powered by the then newly developed light engine the 3S still ticks along at 96kph at full speed. The skeleton has also been replaced with an endo-steel one to save yet more weight whilst cooling is provided by 12 double heatsinks. The punch and reach are a considerable improvement over the 3S as the ER large laser is removed and is replaced with an ER PPC. The laser battery also gets an upgrade, the old standard lasers are now the newly developed ER Medium lasers, allowing the 3S to engage opponents at longer ranges. Certainly not as cool running as the WLF-2 if you press the big red button, it’s still not TOO bad if you have to press the alpha button in case of an emergency. Just don’t do it too often or they’ll be getting the pilot out of the cockpit with a hose.
Wolfhound WLF-4W – Appearing just before the Jihad ripped through the Inner Sphere the 4W turns the Wolfhound from a mid to short range brawler with a long-ranged slap into a long-range harasser. Not so extensive a refit as the 3S, the 4W still requires a major workshop to create as the skeleton is altered to Endo-steel bones to save weight. The rear firing armament is replaced whilst double heatsinks are installed for cooling. The armament is also significantly re-worked with the large laser being replaced by a paired ER Medium and ER small laser. The lasers on the chest are also removed and replaced with a trio of Light PPCs. This allows the 4W to engage targets at long range with no heat risk or ammo concern, and whilst not the hardest punch, no one wants to be hit by light PPC’s repeatedly.
Whilst it is a scenery change for the typical Wolfhound role, the 4W performs its support role quite well and allows it to cover lance mates and avoid the growing array of heavily armed lights and small mediums that were seeing more service Sphere and Clan wide.
Wolfhound WLF-4WA – A simple field refit of the 4W, the 4WA loses its arm mounted lasers but gains an ECM, allowing the Mech to spoof hostile systems as well as jam them. As the Wolfhound isn’t much of a scout, so much a scout-hunter, the 4WA can and will quite happily disrupt a C3 link and then gun down any cheeky scout trying to spot for its bigger friends.
Wolfhound WLF-2X - A wild Jihad appeared and it was terrifyingly effective! Even as the Blakists skipped and danced across the Inner Sphere, lobbing nukes and bio weapons with gay abandon, a hyper-advanced version of the Wolfhound was somehow produced. And this was at a time when interstellar trade was heavily disrupted. Still Arc Royal produced a handful of 2X’s each one packed to the gills with advanced technology.
Using endo-steel bones and an XL engine to save weight the primary weapon was the then quite new Heavy PPC. And as if this wasn’t enough, the folks at Arc Royal then slapped a capacitor onto the cannon allowing it to act as a long-range AC-20, all be it at the cost of a massive heat burden. But wait. There’s more! They even fitted an AES to the arm with the cannon to make it even more accurate and fearsome. The other weapon are more simple, a pair of ER Mediums and an ER small, none of which fire over the rear, provide a punch at short ranges for when a capacitor charged PPC blast just isn’t enough. Unfortunately, there’s only 10 double heatsinks installed and a full alpha strike is NOT recommended unless you’re in dire straits or you have a very juicy target’s back to you.
The engine also had a supercharge slapped onto it to increase the 2X’s speed up to a very respectable 120kph for short periods of time. Finally, the armour was also upgraded, not with anything so pedestrian as any compound of Ferro-fibrous armour, but the brand new reflective armour. This made the 2X very hard to kill with lasers, plasma weapons or PPCs. I would assume that this Mech was also blisteringly rare, and as we’ll see, it was just pushing too many envelopes.
Wolfhound WLF-2H – A post Jihad version of the 2X, the 2H is the ‘production model’ version of the ultra-advanced 2X design. As potent as the 2X was, its AES required specific knowledge, training and tools, making it difficult to maintain as well as requiring a lot of maintenance to work correctly. The glazed armour was also a problem. With the disruption caused by the Jihad, it was very difficult to get the limited availability reflective armour to units that needed it, and it would have been very difficult to repair that type of armour due to it being so very rare.
The 2H instead scaled back on the lunacy, but only a bit. It retains the Heavy PPC/Capacitor combo, which gives this light Mech a massive punch. The supercharger was also retained as part of the XL engine, allowing the 2H to reach speeds in excess of 120kph for short periods of time. The secondary guns were also the same, with a pair of ER mediums supported by an ER Small.
The armour though was 7.5 tons of standard plate instead of the hard to get and hard to maintain glazed reflective armour. This made maintenance in the field a lot easier and there was no incredibly finicky AES either. Once all the bugs were (mostly, kind of) worked out the 2H became a smash hit, and it’s hard to argue with a 35 tonner that tots the equivalent of an AC-20 when the mood takes it. Oh! And an extra heatsink was fitted, which helps mitigate some of the 2X’s heat problems.
Wolfhound WLF-3M – A product of the states that once were House Marik, the 3M turns the Wolfhound into a dedicated support and sniper variant. Based in the 3S that fell into their hands the 3M retains the light engine and endo-steel bones but removes everything else, even trimming a ton of armour off although this is done sensibly, and each section can still (barely in some areas) withstand a PPC blast. With all this weight gone the folks of (former) House Marik then put one of their favourite weapons onto the 3M, a light gauss rifle. Fed by just a ton of ammo the 3M has very limited battlefield endurance but it can engage targets at ranges that almost any other weapon can only dream of. A dedicated support unit, the 3M would have to hang back and engage targets spotted by its lancemates, or as fast-moving gun for a heavier unit.
Wolfhound WLF-5 – The latest iteration of the Wolfhound to see common service the WLF-5 goes away from the ball-busting punch of the 2H and returns the Wolfhound to its more skirmishing/brawling based origins. The biggest change is the speed. A newly installed 245 rated XL engine can push the WFL-5 up to speeds in excess of 100kph, and that’s before the Pilot engages the MASC, which kicks it up to over 140kph. To keep everything cool, the heatsinks are double strength but only the standard 10 are installed, but this is enough to keep it cool in all but the direst situation.
Endo-steel bones also save weight and this is then put into firepower. Unfortunately, a ton of armour was also carefully shaved off the Mech, but this is applied carefully so not to weaken it too much.
The main punch and skirmishing weapon par-excellence is a Snub-nosed PPC whilst the traditional laser battery is removed and replaced with a pair of Light PPCs. This allows the WLF-5 to engage at short and long range whilst using its speed to dictate the range or disengage if needs be. Considerably faster than the 2H, the 5’s less dependent on one big cannon and if it loses its Snubby, it can still provide long range support, whilst 2H without its big gun is far less flexible.
Wolfhound WLF-1 ‘Allard’ – Whilst Grinner was a wheel of edam to the face ‘Allard’ is a dump truck full of boiling hot cheese poured onto your screaming, unprepared face. The chosen ride of Daniel Allard, commander of the Kell Hounds the WLF-1 ‘Allard’ is a strange ride for a commander, and you’d think they would gravitate towards a heavier unit, but not Mr Allard. This was the Mech his Clan Wolf-in-Exile buddies refitted in the early 3060s and it was the Mech he would die in at the hands of the Falcons in 3069. But what they made was a monster. With a Clan XL engine and 12 Clan double strength heatsinks, the tonnage saved is turned into firepower. Lots of firepower, and note that all of these weapons are of Clan quality. The feared ER PPC, the alpha head-capper of the Clans is the Mech’s primary armament. A trio of ER Medium lasers provide additional firepower and at short range an ER small can join in the fun.
And now comes that cheese. There’s a targeting computer tying them all together. And with a pilot of Daniel Allard’s quality at the helm, he WON’T miss. This is another one of those Mechs that we should be glad that Clan WiE didn’t look at and go “Hey..that is actually a good idea.” Before scurrying off to find a Scientist to simply go “MOAR!!!” at whilst pointing at the WLF-1 ‘Allard’.
ThoughtsThe Wolfhound is one of my favourite light Mechs, whilst not overly fast, its well protected and packs a good punch in all but one variant. What you’ve basically got is a 35 ton, non-jumping Phoenix Hawk and this makes it a mean opponent for light and medium Mechs when introduced and let it run roughshod over other light Mechs whilst also giving more than a few Mediums pause for concern due to its combination of speed, firepower and protection. But one could say it suffers from the same problem as the Kit Fox, it’s got a lot of firepower and this means it tends to attract a lot of attention. And, at the end of the day, it’s only a light Mech and a few good hits will mean trouble.
Using one depends on the period you’re using them in, against intro-tech opponents, congratulations, you’ve got a light Phoenix Hawk, be the bully you are and rip other lights a new one if they try to get close and also make a Medium Mech go “Owww! Dude! What the hell!?” if they were expecting a light snack. Against Clan opponents the 1 and 2’s are a bit trickier to use. The Clans outrange you and generally outgun you, unless your opponent’s foolish enough to field swarms of Koshi Primes because those things are rubbish. Against Clanners, hang back and remove any fast movers that try to blitz round the back of your bigger units. Do NOT go running at a Puma or Cougar alone, they will rub you out of existence.
But then the table turns. The 2X and 2H are monsters, a Cap charged H-PPC blast will rip through ANY light Mech’s hide and can snip a limb off without issue, and with their speed, they can dart in behind a bigger opponent, scream something offensive before pulling the trigger and you WILL go through back armour on all but the biggest Mechs. The 3S and 4W are more general-purpose units with the 3S being a direct upgrade of the 2 and the 4W being a harasser which the 5 takes to a logical conclusion.
The only one I’m none too sure of is the 3M. I can understand the idea behind it. After all its basically a lighter Hollander. But the light gauss weaker punch, and its limited ammo mean that this variant HAS to support other units as it can’t really be relied upon to bring down a target on its own, at least not without emptying its ammo bin.
All in all, the Wolfhound is a capable Mech, its tough, it looks good, it’s got a good punch in each iteration (save one). In short, he attack, he shoot back, he also keep opponent off your back. Take a Wolfhound and you won’t be disappointed.
A Wolfhound 1 or 2 in motion. *insert joke about box-heads and lyrans here*
A Wolfhound 2X/2H for all your big gun needs.
Grinner or 'Allard' being deployed.
What happens to other Light Mech's when facing Grinner or 'Allard'.
As always, thoughts, comments are most welcome.