Mad Dog

Why it earns its tonnage

Sixty tons, walk five, run eight, and twenty-eight tons of that spent on pod space rather than armour or engine. The Prime carries twin large pulse lasers, twin medium pulse lasers and twin LRM 20s, both launchers indirect-capable, for 4/4/4 on the Alpha Strike card: a flat four at every range band. That shoulder-mounted missile silhouette is the reason this chassis is recognisable at a glance.

The insult in the name. Clan Smoke Jaguar built this as a second-generation OmniMech derived from Clan Coyote's Lupus, and it shares tooling with Clan Wolf's Timber Wolf besides. Naming the result Mad Dog, after borrowing so directly from both Clans, was a deliberate slight, and the fact that the machine went on to serve in nearly every touman in existence has not softened the insult with time. It has just made it a very widely repeated one.

One jump jet in fifteen configurations. The S is the only one, and it is not built that way by accident. Twin ER PPCs and three medium pulse lasers draw on no ammunition supply whatsoever, so the single configuration that can reposition under fire is also the single configuration that never has to worry about running dry while doing it. Every other configuration on this page stays on the ground and, in several cases, stays dependent on a magazine.

What that trade buys. Fourteen of fifteen configurations spend the tonnage a jump jet would cost on more pod space instead: more missile tubes, more ballistic weight, more dedicated ammunition. This chassis was built to sit at range and put ordnance downrange, not to manoeuvre for an angle, and the numbers bear that out consistently across a hundred and eighty-one years of refits.

A name chosen to insult its own family tree

Clan Smoke Jaguar designed this as a second-generation OmniMech, built from the bones of Clan Coyote's Lupus and sharing production moulds with Clan Wolf's Timber Wolf. Both of those Clans could reasonably claim some credit for the result. Neither got any. The Jaguars named it Mad Dog specifically as a slight against both, and the choice was deliberate enough that period sources describe it outright as an obtuse insult rather than a coincidence of naming.

The Inner Sphere's own name arrived by simple observation rather than any deeper reasoning. The reverse-jointed legs, the slumped stance and the raised, prominent cockpit resemble a carrion bird closely enough that Vulture was the label from first contact onward, and it never needed revising.

Production spread quickly and widely. Introduced in 2963, this chassis reached near ubiquity across the Clan touman within a generation, though Clan Ghost Bear in particular favoured it, and later took over manufacture at Bergan Industries after their move into the Inner Sphere. The most recent configuration on this page, dated 3144, comes from that continuing production line.

How these are rated

Every verdict below is against other Mad Dog configurations. As with every OmniMech on this site, the Trap test finds nothing on armour, frame or engine, since all fifteen share them. The tiers are judgement, not arithmetic.

Only the Trap tier is calculated. It is worked out from the variant data rather than decided by me, which means it is falsifiable: to argue with it you only have to name something the cheaper machine gives up. The other three are my opinion and you should treat them that way. 0 of the 15 Mad Dog variants fail the Trap test. The full rating scale is here, including what it deliberately does not measure.

The configurations worth arguing about

All 15 are in the table further down. These are the ones that change what you are actually facing.

On the table

Fielding one. Pick the range band before the engagement starts, because fourteen of the fifteen configurations cannot change their mind about it once committed. This is a fire-support chassis first. Let something else hold the front while it puts ordnance downrange.

Opposing one. At 1892 to 2676 Battle Value, close the distance with confidence. Only the S can follow you over terrain a walking machine cannot cross, and every other configuration here is fighting the range band it was built for or nothing at all.

What I observe going wrong. Warriors treat every Clan OmniMech as though it might jump, and spend a turn preparing for a manoeuvre that fourteen out of fifteen Mad Dogs are physically unable to make. Confirm the configuration before you plan around a jump jet that probably is not there.

Against OpFor Command

If you run solo games with our AI opponent, the Mad Dog closes out the pattern this trio of Clan pages has been building.

• Only the S configuration carries a jump jet. The engine will hold ground and shoot at range in every other build, which makes this chassis a predictable, honest fire-support threat rather than a mobility puzzle.
• 4 of the 15 configurations are tagged Missile Boat, more than any single role in either the Dire Wolf or the Summoner. Expect the AI to hang back and let the launchers do the work whenever it draws one of these.
• Field a Mad Dog when you want the AI to sit at range and force your own force to close the distance. That is a genuinely different problem to solve than either of its Clan cousins on this site.

All 15 configurations

Damage figures are the Alpha Strike short, medium and long values. Every configuration shares the same engine, frame and armour, so only the pods change.

Where and when you can field it

Availability for the Prime by era, straight off the Master Unit List.

Related designs

Other machines that do the same job

Take it to the table

Common questions

Stats on this page are generated directly from our variant database, which is reconciled against the Master Unit List for Battle Value, introduction dates and per-era faction availability. Alpha Strike damage values are the standard card figures. If you spot something wrong, tell me and I will fix it.