To properly explain myself before I start the report: My love affair with the two humanoid Assault Omnis of 3050 started when I first flipped through the book. Being a typical Falcon, speed is everything to me and the Executioner was the ultimate epitome of that philosophy. Yet the Gargoyle, with its symmetry and no-nonsense looks, much less playful than the larger design, had a fascination of its own. The report on our fellow Invading Clans featured a Smoke Jaguar Gargoyle prowling through the woods of Wolcott no other image in that volume remained as iconic to me (Invading Clans, p.73). In the phase when I tested the simulators [MW2], and was set on using only standard configurations, no other Mech served me better than the Gargoyle A or C. And the single Gargoyle listed in the entire Cluster that was the first Falcon Guards, piloted by MechWarrior Braghero as it followed Star Colonel Adler Malthus to its doom (Twycross, p.18), was the final seal of a life-long fascination with this design.
Yet Iron Mongooses absolutely astonishing article on the original Clan Omnis originally forgot to make mention of the Gargoyle! And CoyoteWarDogs report on this chassis came to the conclusion that it was the Clan version of the Charger: Too over-engined and under-armed to be effective. Truly, that is a great stigma!
The Gargoyle suffers primarily because it was introduced to the Inner Sphere at the same time as the Timber Wolf. This allows for an instant and direct comparison to a design 5 tons lighter and more efficiently constructed. Add to this the fact that the 75-ton range is better suited to an 86 kph top speed, et voila, the lighter design offers anything the Gargoyle can achieve with an extra ton of FF armour and 6 tons pod space to spare.
The crux of the matter is, the Gargoyle was actually developed in conjunction with the Timber Wolf. Both Omnis were created by Clan Wolf as a joint programme in the 2940s to replace the as yet mysterious Woodsman, putting them in even closer proximity in the universe.
Yet, unlike the Timber Wolf, the Gargoyle did see proliferation. In the 3070s, it is built by Clans Wolf and Hells Horses, and is heavily used by the Ice Hellions, while also seeing service in the ranks of the Coyotes, Fire Mandrills, Smoke Jaguars (see above) and generally everyone who feels the need for it!
The armour, while not as optimised as on its lighter partner and nemesis, is very respectable. 11 tons of Clan Ferro Fibrous armour equate to more than 13 tons of standard armour, more than the majority of IS 80-tonner carried in 3025. Now, I already laid out my smart armour doctrine in the treatment of my first reported Mech, the Mist Lynx (smart armour). To that, I would add the qualifier, that once the general average of armour protection surpasses 20 points on any given location, the armour no longer needs to be weighed against specific damage profiles of weapons (as was all-important for the review of the Kit Fox, ultimately leading to condemnation). 20 points will guarantee a little staying time on any battlefield; any prolonged combat will turn any predicted damage patterns into pure conjecture. No, with heavier Mechs that have decent, yet not maximum armour protection, I feel that the most important factor for any sort of evaluation is allocation prioritisation. What does that mean? Well, as a percentage of maximum armour, the Gargoyle carries:
H: 100%
CT: 80%
R/LT: 100%
R/LA: 88.5%
R/LL: 70.6%
Now, I am pleasantly surprised with the armour on the limbs. As we will see shortly, the arms are very important to the Gargoyle. I also think that legs especially on Clan Mechs, which should generally stay away from point-blank ranges need to be the last thing that receives 100% armour, so I really do like the decision to save a little bit of weight on the legs. The side armour surprises me somewhat; one could have possibly reduced it by a few points and added those to the CT. Nevertheless, if one remembers that these tend to have the weakest protection (remember the Executioner!), this does not pose a problem. When factoring this allocation prioritisation into the decent total absolute armour weight of the Gargoyle, I am fully willing to give it my hearty approval. The Gargoyle is well protected!
The 5/8 movement alone puts the Gargoyle into competition with the heavy (not assault) OmniMechs of 3050. The very negative comparison to the Timber Wolf should not be reason enough to condemn the Gargoyle into oblivion. Once you leave out this ubiquitous design, it compares much more favourably. Its speed is up to par with all the other designs. Its armour is a marked improvement. Its integral heat dissipation capacity is far superior. Unlike CoyoteWarDog, I do not mind fixed heat sinks, as long as they are allocated to the engine. It only becomes painfully clear that the 6 extra tons were not there to be spared in the first place: 21.5 tons of pod space is truly anaemic by any standards. In 3050, any Mech heavier than the Nova, had more weight to spare!
Nevertheless, 21.5 tons of Clan weaponry can put out a world of hurt. There are two philosophies towards OmniMechs. While I fully respect the people who like to judge the chassis on its inbuilt merits, I would argue that it is a point of view which instantly renders at least 1/3 of the 41 canon Clan OmniMechs redundant. In these articles, canon Mechs are discussed. And the configurations published in official materials (in this case TRO: 3050U) are the only standards we should be able to use in our evaluation.
Hence, I argue that any and all OmniMechs are only as good as their configurations. Thus, without further ado, we shall evaluate that what we are given!
Primary Configuration 2 LB5-X (40), 2 SRM6 (30), ERSL. It is this configuration purportedly the golden standard that was the final nail in the Gargoyles coffin. The armament, in terms of damage output, is quite laughable for anything heavier than a light Mech. This suffers on any standard: it is extremely oversinked, it causes little overall damage, it causes miniscule damage medium to long ranges, all its guns rely on ammo, with little to no back-up.
Nevertheless, I could maybe accept the configuration if someone was to tell me that the Solaris VII boxed set was being prepared at the same time as TRO:3050. Someone once asked me to make any sort of sense of the configurations, and I replied by reminding him of the duelling rules. Turns are split into 4 sub-turns, with a chance to move and fire normally (ranges were quadrupled, a hex being a quarter of the size of a normal BT one). Many of the weapons, however, had a certain recycling time. Not so the LB-5X or the SRM6, meaning that the Gargoyle Prime could effectively fire its entire arsenal up to four times. This in turn would cause something like 40-50 heat if the result was converted back into standard CBT gaming terms. Suddenly, this configuration had turned into one of the best duellers out there. And its BV2 is a mere 1537 less than half of the Warhawk Primes.
Thus, even though it is an absolute dud in CBT play, not much good at anything apart from supporting other star members when facing combined-arms actions, it is still the Mech I see Ulric Kerensky in, as he was marching off into his death in Borealtown, on December 10th, 3057. He thought he was facing an Executioner in honourable single combat.
Configuration A 2 ERPPC, LPL, MPL, ERML, ERSL. On this configuration, I respectfully, yet completely disagree with CWD who said there was Nothing to write home about here. This configuration is simply fantastic. Basically, with the limited pod space, all-energy configurations will always face the choice of being very efficient yet undergunned or facing overheating problems. This is the latter, the D is the former, both are great. There is redundancy, sure, either fire both ERPPCs (and the MPL), or just one and all the lasers. Either way, it will reliably do a lot of damage at great ranges and/or with great accuracy. To date, this is still probably my favourite configuration.
Configuration B Gauss (16), LRM10/artIV (12), SRM4/artIV (25). Unlike the Prime, this one does not have any redeeming qualities or even sensible explanations. Every drawback of the Prime is present here, also. Plus there is the additional sin of investing in artemis IV on missile launchers that are much too small when the pod space is extremely limited in the first place! That Gauss rifle needed backing by a bevy of lasers to make sense on the chassis in the first place. Truly, more so than the Prime, this is the dud of the lot, head-capper or not.
Configuration C UAC20 (10), 6 ERML, 3 A-Pods. A Stormcrow B on steroids. Not a bad thing. Mounting more heat sinks and armour, it truly is superior to the medium (admittedly not necessarily 25 tons better). It is easy to pilot, there are no questions about its role or efficiency.
Configuration D 2 ERLL, 3 MPL, ERSL, tarcomp, 4 DHS. CWD missed the targeting computer in his original evaluation. When this is coupled with the solid weaponry and the fact that it is the first Gargoyle to pod-mount additional heat sinks, it turns the Mech into a fiercely accurate alpha-striker. This was first published in RS: Upgrades, at a time when most of the other OmniMechs received ATM variants. Maybe the Gargoyle was not ready at that time. Maybe this was an update on a further variant which could well have deployed during the initial invasion, a rather scary thought.
Configuration E ATM12 (15), SSRM6 (15), 4 HML, 2 ERL, tarcomp, 2 DHS. And then, TRO:3050U tells us that the Gargoyle is ready for ATMs, after all. In fact, this configuration turned out so fierce, that the Coyote Khan Silas Kufahl preferred it to his normal Savage Coyote in the Trial of Grievance against Cloud Cobra Khan Kardaan. And I fully believe it to be capable of besting a Warhawk Prime. The ATM will probably normally be loaded up with HE ammo, with just a token ton of ER missiles. The HML, with their targeting computer as accurate as the other weapons, will combine perfectly with the HE ATM and deliver a punch that will make the opponents ancestors dizzy (to paraphrase Yao)! In close ranged brawls this easily rivals the AC20 variants in power.
Configuration G LB20-X (15), 4 ERML, 3 AP-Gauss (40). Speaking of AC20s. A configuration specifically tailored to the needs of the Ice Hellions, the Gargoyle G really puts a new spin on the power of the now-destroyed Hellion Touman. The Jade Falcon Jupiters would only have had an easy job when not facing these monsters! Essentially, this is a Gargoyle C that is improved in every possible way. By dropping 2 ERML and swapping the AC20 type, the model gained endurance, flexibility and heat efficiency. And 3 AP-Gauss compared to 3 A-Pods? No contest! With this configuration, the Gargoyle has reached something of an epitome of effective pod configuration. Now all that remains to be seen, is whether there is an F on the horizon that jump of a letter is rather mysterious, especially as the Hellions would have more warranted the label I, or
Configuration H UAC10 (20), LRM10 (12), HLL, 2 ERML. An older variant, it was the first to strike up the balance between power and efficiency. Truly, in my battles it has served me well, filling a role similar to other heavy Clan Omnis. It is also one of the few configurations that manages to make more of the 21.5 tons of space which is rarely enough to allow the Man-o-War to mount more than one heavy-hitting assault weapon. (TRO: 3050U, p.138) The AC10 and HLL are a nice 1-2 punch which is even nicely supported by the missiles and ML.
Configuration M ERPPC, HAG20 (18), 3 SRM2 (50). This, the last of new configurations of 3050U, would be the other variant to mount two BFGs. Yet, while great on paper, it left me somewhat underwhelmed on the table. Personally, I am quite fond of HAGs, but I feel they need to be supported to become a real threat. A single ERPPC makes for nice but not particularly convincing back-up. As a result, this is a nice configuration, relatively capable and heat efficient at all ranges, with good endurance to boot but it lacks the punch or the flexibility of most of the other variants (discounting the two duds, of course!).
Now one thing, that is also very important to remember, is the location of these weapons. Both TROs always highlighted the fact that most of all configurations weapons are mounted in the arms. Which would explain my fondness of the good armour protection on those limbs. And this is one of the few factors that sets it apart from the Timber Wolf and makes it better at a certain role: that of a heavy Battle Armour transport. Even the later variants (which do mount a small portion of their guns in the torsos) will remain almost 100% combat effective when carrying a point of elementals. In this role, it excels, in this role it is easy to see why it was so endearing to Clan Hells Horses!
Considering all this, the likening to the Charger is not really all that appropriate. Even when put next to the upgraded IS Mech, it is vastly superior in terms of armour and firepower, once its 21.5 tons of pod space are utilised wisely. And they are, in many configurations.
I hope that this article has given some of you a new passion for this oft-ignored design or will at least encourage you to re-evaluate it
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