Showing posts with label Vulture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vulture. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2026

UPDATED ***Potato pics of the Dire Wolf and the whole completed lance.

 Stolen Clan tech! This will be 2/A/149. 

I'll have glamor shots up later - they probably won't help much. This is the Dire Wolf. First appearing in Inner Sphere space around 3050, this Clan Mech absolutely wrecked the first IS units to encounter the superior tech. It is a 100 ton Assault class Clan mech.


Better[?] pics:













The Dire Wolf is one of the OmniMechs that became feared throughout the Inner Sphere during the initial Clan Invasion, and rightly so. The Dire Wolf weighs in at an impressive one hundred tons and has a relatively slow cruising speed of 32.4 km/h provided by a 300 XL engine. Its speed and armor protection matches that of an Atlas, but it has superior potential firepower with fifty and a half tons of free pod space for weapons and equipment. It is these traits which saw the 'Mech code-named Daishi (pseudo-Japanese for "Great Death") by the criminal underbelly of the Draconis Combine, a name that would be proven grimly accurate time and time again.

Daishi [Dire Wolf]

Dire wolf with 2 Warrior Helicopters as escorts


Vulture Prime, Daishi, Vulture Prime [2], Mad Cat








The Mad Dog is a heavy Clan OmniMech used for long-range indirect fire support. With hunched shoulders, a protruding head, and reverse-jointed legs, the Mad Dog resembles a vulture, so much so that it was independently named Vulture and Hagetaka (or Hagetaga, "Vulture" in Japanese) by the Inner Sphere forces which first encountered it. The name also fit the perceived battlefield role of the Mad Dog; technical documents from the thirty-first century suggested the role of the Mad Dog was to act as a support 'Mech, and it was theorized to be intended to hold a hill and maintain constant watch over the entire battlefield, like a vulture waiting for its prey.





The Timber Wolf is a fast, heavy OmniMech. A signature design of the Clans' military might, it was arguably the first Clan OmniMech encountered by Inner Sphere forces (as opposed to periphery forces) on The Rock in 3049 by Phelan Kell.[5][8][9]

Vaguely resembling a cross between the MAD (Marauder) and CAT (Catapult) series, the Timber Wolf was tagged with the Inner Sphere reporting name Mad Cat on first contact. The targeting computer on Phelan Kell's Wolfhound switched between MAD and CAT when trying to identify it; upon analyzing the data recording from Kell's 'Mech, Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht later officially designated it Mad Cat.[5][8][9]

The Timber Wolf is vastly more powerful than either the 3025-era Marauder or Catapult, and features approximately as much firepower as both of those mechs combined. It uses its speed and firepower to engage an enemy at the range of its choosing. When first encountered by Inner Sphere forces the idea that a heavy 'Mech could move so swiftly while being as heavily armed and armored as the Timber Wolf was inconceivable. With its twelve tons of ferro-fibrous armor and an arsenal that rivaled most assault 'Mechs of the era, it was completely alien to Inner Sphere military planners, commanders, and even the Precentor Martial of ComStar. First introduced in 2945, the Timber Wolf was designed by Clan Wolf as a second generation OmniMech along with the Gargoyle and the Naga to replace the aging Woodsman. While the Gargoyle may have been a very capable, fast assault OmniMech, and the Naga may have been an excellent fire-support OmniMech, Clan Wolf (and indeed every other Clan) instantly realized the value of the Timber Wolf; thus, production rights to the Timber Wolf were jealously (and successfully) defended. Only through trade, gifts and battlefield salvage has the Timber Wolf entered the armies of other Clans. Until the invasion of the Inner Sphere, production of the Timber Wolf has been limited to a single facility on Strana Mechty.[5][8][9]

The ACR is almost complete. I might actually get it finished by EOY and hit the deadline! Monetary constraints and some time constraints may become obstacles though.

Thursday, January 1, 2026

***MORE UPDATES 02/26: On the table [WIP] The 149th Darkhorse ACR is finally being reinforced!

A classic Marauder and another Vulture Clan Mech has been added to the Order of Battle!



And these are more of the project as they got completed... still working!





The Air Cav wing (which would support the infantry) gets 2 new Kestrels for transport and Medevac and 2 Cavalry Attack Helicopters for fire support.




New Unit Specifications:

+++END OF UPDATE TRANSMISSION+++



Updates for the 149th with new VTOLs and armor. I'm a bit underwhelmed by the quality of the paint going on these units. Too much time and effort spent for them to be this ass bad up close. They're okay tabletop, but that's not saying much.

...and then I go look at the Battletech Forums and laugh. 



These are the new additions to the 149th.


The Archer, Atlas and Catapult all got updated colors.





+++End of update transmission.+++


After three years, I decided to go ahead with completing this 20 year project. I still have a few more mechs and VTOLs to buy and paint, but the 149th is very close to being what I envisioned when I started collecting the miniatures some 20 years ago, picking up different minis here and there over the years and putting them aside until the right time. 

The paint is... okay. Up close, they still look like Picasso paintings, but these old metal minis have a lot of scoring and uneven lines and glue points. They're very hard for me to paint. They are what they are: Pretty good tabletop. The most impressive thing is the whole Regiment in the display. 

This year, I will have some pics of the full ACR along with the OOB with a pic of each lance level and battalion level units. 

The technical specifications are linked down below from the Battletech wiki.


They're a good tabletop addition to the Darkhorse Cav!



The Mad Cat and Vulture are some of the most iconic mechs in Battletech. When I first started playing - everyone had a Mad Cat, and everyone wanted to be Clan so they could run these awesome mechs on the table.



Not the best paint, but they're very good graphic novel level paint!

A big part of the issue is painting with cheap Chinese brushes. Even they are affected by declining quality! I used most of these brushes, and there isn't a good utility or detail brush out of all of them!








The technical specs: