And I always preferred it to the two others. The Griffin should be categorised as a Sniper, anyways, and the Wolverine is just plain superior to the Shadow Hawk. But rather than comparisons with other chasses, let's have a look at the differing variants of this design. And though the basic Wolverine setup remains very similar in all three of them, there is actually a decided shift in doctrine between the models.
WVR-6R - The basic chassis is probably the ultimate SKIRMISHER of 3025. It is a design of sheer beauty. An adequate 9.5 tons of armour protect it. It features 3 weapons, nicely between the Griffins 2 and the Shadow Hawks 4. Unlike the Griffin, it can shoot them all at once, unlike the Shadow Hawk, they can actually be combined quite effectively and will do more damage. It is definitely one of the nicest heat balanced designs in all of the 3025 era, allowing it to jump and be capable of using all of its weapons in the way a good skirmisher must. (First Strike, p. 15, description of why the Dervish is *not* a Skirmisher)
I like the range of the AC5, I like the gun itself (see my sig), the back-up of an SRM6 and a ML are really quite nice, with a bit of luck, this design clearly more of a heavy scout than a line fighter can even force a piloting skill roll.
I love it, I love it, it is one of the most versatile things available!
WVR-6K There are two reasons why the Kuritan Wolverine stops being a Skirmisher and enters the pantheon of BRAWLERs. A) It drops the jump jets, making it more of a line Mech (the only First Strike Skirmisher to not mount JJ was the Hermes II, which does move slightly faster). B) It maxes out the armour to a fantastic 11.5 tons.
Granted, the real qualification for Skirmisher is a relative lack of fire-power. But the Kuritan Wolverine also boasts the greatest number of guns, replacing the AC5 with three lasers one of each size. An additional 2 heat sinks help cool all that, though alpha-strikes are pretty much a no-go. I would venture to call this one of the best medium Brawlers of the entire 3025 era. It doesnt play like a Wolverine, but it definitely beats the pants off of its stable-mate, the Dragon (itself classified as a Brawler in First Strike).
A side note: it also doubles the SRM ammo. This I find questionable, as an endurance of 20 rounds at short ranges is clearly utopic. Another HS would have been more desirable. But at least you can load up with a ton of infernos these days (something that only became a rule with the Master Rules, many years after this variant was first conceived).
WVR-6M SKIRMISHER/BRAWLER. That says it all. Im a bit helpless here; the -6M is a medley of the two prior variants. It has the lasers (sans the SL) and the HS of the -6K, it jumps like the -6R and at the same time its 10.5 tons of armour are exactly in the middle of the two others.
It is as mobile as the -6R, but it cannot fire everything as continuously as its parent (which really kind of mirrors the LLvsAC5 debate of the Marauder, but is exacerbated here by the fact that were talking about the Mechs main weaponry), making the worth of an exchange of the main gun questionable in the first place. And it cannot keep the range quite as open as the -6R (though a jumping Mech would be unlikely to hit much at long range in the 3025 era in the first place). Though while fitting the role somewhat, it isnt as good a Skirmisher as is parent.
Yet compared to the -6K, it clearly only goes halfway to being a brawler. It simply offers the same, minus a SL and a ton of armour. It isnt as good a Brawler as the Kuritan Wolverine.
However, most people will feel that this is the designs greatest strength its versatility ON TOP of it being a very, very solid design in the first place. I know that this is the pin-up of most 3025 Mech jocks.
I personally prefer the mission profile of the vanilla -6R. I have never actually used the -6K, always overlooked it, but will re-evaluate it the next time I lead my Prosperina Hussars to battle. The -6M is way too popular for its own good, which is why I stopped using it after a while. It did way too little for me (over the -6R) that I would be caught using such an obviously popular design!
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