Conjuror, Summoner, Kraken… one must imagine that the clanner techs in charge of naming these machines are huge fantasy nerds.

5:40 Yeah, this isn't the energy we need in any fucking space.

Fun design

The original Conjurer is a very good design with a good mix of mobility, range, firepower and durability at a very reasonable price. I am not impressed by any of the variants though. I still do not understand why the designers are so eager to use these aweful heavy lasers on each and every Mech. High damage is useless if you can´t hit a barn in front of you. A jumping Mech needs weapons that are accuracte and not excessively hot, like e.g. pulse lasers and SSRMs. The heavy laser is hot and inaccurate.

Always loved that image from the 3050 (I think) technical readout with thee Phoenix Hawk IIC striking the anime pose. After all, this is a Clan 'mech. It doesn't have to be practical.

The Hellcat part just stumped me. The mech that looks more like Ebon Jaguar or Shadowcat than Wolverine - "Nah, it's Conjurer in another chassis"

From what I understand, the version of the Hellcat that Jade Falcon started making actually used an XL. Then Sea Fox put it into full production with that XXL. The same thing happened with the Savage Wolf. Why does Sea Fox keep doing this with Jade Falcon projects?

Nicky K deserves all the mockery for unpersoning Wolverine!

The speed is life quote reminds me of a time I managed to tag a locust running full tilt with both heavy gauss rifles on a fafnir. It suffered a sudden existence failure afterwards.

Wolverine IIc now and forever. Troll your local Clanner today!

It may be that the Conjurer has its design origins on the Pentagon worlds rather than *strictly* a clan background. It is clear that the clans were eager to adopt a practical mech, but their ego gets into the way to a degree.

A simple and effective mech, keeping in line with the original Wolverine

Wolverine IIC is one of my favorite Clanmechs. Very solid in its standard build.

Stares at unpainted conjurer sitting in box full of unpainted 2nd line mechs. One day, one day 😅

47:19 to dude's point, if Wolverine fans don't like YOUR take on the Wolverines, then they should take some initiative and make their own timeline. With BJ-O Blackjacks and Hookers.

this is legally not a wolverine IIC. Everyone with a brain who isn't a clanner simply just calls it one

For that Artemis Comment, I would not advise putting Artemis on anything. It makes it significantly more expensive, heavier, gets countered by ECM which many units have, and also doesn't even work on indirect fire. It's only worth it in the 3050s on a direct fire mech. Sacrificing multiple tons of armor for it seems not great Edit: the Improved Jump Jets are great, I have no clue what you're talking about. They run cooler than standards, give you an incredible +3 or +4 guaranteed TMM, allow you to downsize the engine to get significantly more heavy weaponry or less expense on board if you keep similar jump levels, and Battle Value/cbill wise are extremely cheap for their versatility. Genuinely no clue why you dislike them this much.

I would like to add my mercenary unit the Rabid Skunks as a black ops force to this Wolverine Union. Act like Wolf's Dragoons for the Wolverine Union until the time they are ready to strike. Most of the Rabid Skunks mechs are light and a few mediums for hit and run. The idea of a suicide mech then becomes an idea, a fast light flea loaded with as big of a bomb as it can carry. The favored mech of Rabid Skunk is the Mongoose Gunslinger.

oh you and i are going to get along juuuuuuuuuuuust fine

Clan scientists are a joke!!! From a society of warriors!!! Scientists being second class citizens...Clan tech should b crap!! No better than is!!

Say whatever you want about the effectiveness of the machine, we *have* to agree that this is the most insane deviation from origin to IIC.

I like the Hellcat/Hellhound version, even if its design seems a bit lazy.

3:35 Absolutely disagree with the Rifleman IIC not being suitable for "Honorable Duels". The Prime is a monster that doesn't need speed because a Clan Large Pulse Laser has the same range as an IS ER Large Laser. It has bonus accuracy modifiers and hits hard. With alpha strike capabilities and pinpoint damage potential even with average skilled pilots it can be a nightmare to deal with. The Rifleman IIC 2 is when Smoke Jaguar decided to flush the Prime down the toilet to simply just have ballistic capabilities. If you can refit the IIC 2 you can make some potentially really good loadouts but the most notable variations are the Prime, 5, 8 and 9. As a matter of fact it's the 65 ton bracket that starts to show off the potential capabilities of clan heavies in general. I'm not overly impressed with most ton 65 clan omnimechs, but there are definitely some threatening variations of the Hellbringer and Ebon Jaguar.

I think the only assault mech that I've seen really work that full complement of improved jump jets is another clan phoenix. The Jade Phoenix, A configuration - space and weight limitations make it seem a worthwhile investment for the close-in weapon loadout (UAC-20 with 4 tons of ammo, and one pulse laser of each size). I guess some Falcon decided "I paid for a fixed partial wing, I'm going to use the whole blitzking thing!" God help me, I love it.

Scientist caste dick measuring contest to see who could design a viable Charger IIC. And get one over those dumb brutes by naming it the "Phoenix Hawk IIC".

2, 4, 5, 9, and 10 are the variants I'd recommend using, especially the 10 to maximize use of the speed. Barring that, the 2 is able to dump a lot of hurt from behind cover and book it, minimizing risks to your very expensive engine.

I like to incorporate the meta lore of it being intended to have the name of "Matador" and then headcanon that the designers were worried that the warrior caste might find out this is an attempt to fix the Charger into an actual viable cavalry assault mech. And that would just torpedo the whole project. Even if you ignore the Charger's bad reputation for conventional warfare, the Clans shun melee, which is the only area where the charger shined before they left the Sphere. But give this mech the name of a venerable and beloved design like the Phoenix Hawk, and they will have duels to try it.

Solid Clan mech. I use it to fill the gaps in my stars. 👍

Some fiction had the Clans destroying every Wolverine mech they encountered.

That Mark X upgrade is a fun idea, but you know as well as I do that Triple-Strength Myomer is not an option for the pirates that manufactured that version. After all, Bergan has a monopoly on its production. And, well, *we* control them.

Such a good mech. Its perfect for its bv and fighting inner shere mechs.

Yeah the "Phoenix Hawk IIC" never made sense until I heard about Ashley Watkins (the writer who actually devised the specs) actually wrote it up as a completely different concept called the Matador. In all my games since we've just let it be the Matador and devised plenty of proper clan successors to the PH's role to take the IIC title. Honestly I wish the official writers would just do the same and take the opportunity to introduce another popular piece.

Fatter yes, older no.

I like the lore about the 10 being copied from a pirate by Clan Sea Fox because it works and, well, they sell to anyone. As for the Improved Jump Jets, yeah they are niche and not too impressive. The Partial Wing can give nearly the same mobility boost with less weight overall (5% for Clan, or 7% for Inner Sphere versions, of the Mechs weight rounded up to nearest .5) slightly fewer crit slots (unless in a mech with the speed of an UrbanMech) and more heat control. Granted, they are more impressive on lights and mediums than heavies and assaults, but they work.

I'm glad I found this channel, really enjoying the content there Professor.

You already said it: Its too silly and too expensive for any sane quartermaster or procurement officer to consider. Luckily this is the Inner Sphere ...

BACON! HE POSTED!

Much like all 80 ton mechs using a XL 400 and for that matter the Wraith the Phoenix Hawk IIC fundamentally fails in that if you drop 5 tons you gain 2 tons of available mass and drop costs. Only if you really need the extra armor or prestige of being a assault mech should you increase above that mass

I liked this video. It was nice, concise, to the point. I wish it had been done a little while after people got their Phoenix Hawk TuahC minis, to submit paintjobs for the video, but still a good video.

Big Red Battletech right now: SOMEONE HAS SPOKEN ABOUT MY MECHFU!!

I was just mentioning this on some the official Discords. Just a heads up Rikkard is not a Khan yet, officially, though he runs the Spirit Cats/Clan Protectorate as their Khan. Can you produce the Alpha Strike card for this?