Technical readout 2866 Rise of the Scavengers

GRF-2Px Griffin
History:
The Griffin, first released in 2492, has the distinction of
being the most widely produced BattleMech in the Inner
Sphere today. Manufactured by Defiance Industries on
Hesperus II, Earthwerks Incorporated on Keystone,
Brigadier Corporation on Oliver, Norse BattleMech
Works on Marduk, and Kallon Industries on Talon, it is
one of the few BatteMechs today that can claim to have
a sufficient supply of replacement parts.
The First Generation model, the GRF-1A was built by
Maxwell-Manufacturing Incorporated on Procyon in 2465
and weighed 60-tons. It carried a prototype particle
projection cannon, a LRM-5, eleven heat sinks and 14.5
tons of primitive armor.
During the late 25 th century, the Terran Hegemony was
dumping cash on any and all defense contractors who
were, or planning to enter, the burgeoning BattleMech
market in hopes of cementing its military superiority. Top
executives as Maxwell-Manufacturing, which had gotten
its start producing Industrial ‘Mechs for the Hegemony,
wasted little time in taking massive amounts of money
from the Hegemony while promising to deliver a
BattleMech which could outperform the Mackie.
While they managed to deliver the promised ‘Mech, the
GRF-1A Griffin, they also managed to line their pockets
with enormous amounts of Hegemony money. When
numerous financial irregularities appeared in their books,
the Hegemony launched an investigation, eventually
convicting all the top corporate officers of misconduct.
The Hegemony then seized all of Maxwell-
Manufacturing’s assets and promptly sold them to
Eartherwerks Incorporated.
Earthwerks Incorporated quickly revisited the -1A design
bringing it up to the current standards of technology,
releasing the familiar GRF-1N in 2492. The -1N reduced
the overall weight of the ‘Mech by five tons placing it in
the medium category, while retaining the long range
weaponry, consisting now of a Fusigon particle canon
and a Delta Dart LRM-10.
Having no loyalty to the design, Earthwerks Incorporated
freely offered licenses to the GRF-1N to any other
defense contractors who were willing to pay. Numerous
companies jumped at the opportunity, and the Griffin
quickly became one of the most common ‘Mech in
existence.
It would remain essentially unchanged until 2751when
the Star League asked Earthwerks Incorporated to
produce a “Royal” variant of the long respected design.
Incorporating Endo-Steel, Ferro-Fibrous armor, and
double strength heat sinks, and with the ammunition
protected by CASE, the GRF-2N utilized almost all of the
latest advances in construction and protection. Armed
with an extended-range Fusigon Longtooth PPC and
dual Harpoon-6 SRM-6s, the “Royal” Griffin addressed
its only major shortcoming, the lack of short range
firepower. The GRF-2N was also one of only a few
BattleMechs to carry the sophisticated Guardian
Electronic Countermeasure suite as standard.
With the dissolution of the Star League, the GRF-2N
would fade into history due to loss of the advanced
manufacturing centers needed to produce many of its
components, and Earthwerks would be forced to return
to the older GRF-1N to production.
There have been new developments, however. Defiance
Industries released the GRF-1S just over a decade ago,
in 2857. Replacing the PPC with both a Defiance B3L
heavy laser and a pair of B3M medium lasers, the -1S
also addresses the -1N’s lack of close range firepower.
The LRM-10 was downgraded to a LRM-5 and one ton of
ammunition eliminated so that four additional heat sinks
could be added to help deal with the heat from the new
array of lasers.
Notable ‘Mechs and MechWarriors:
MechWarrior Reese “Pieces” Montgomery
When Daniel McGregor, the Stablemaster for Skye
Tigers Stables, one of the famous Solaris VII ‘Mech
cooperatives, heard rumors Defiance Industries had
developed a potent new BattleMech weapon, he was
determined to obtain one and use it to catapult his stable
to an elite AA ranking and maybe even win a Solaris
Championship on the way.
Traveling to Hesperus II himself under the pretense of
purchasing new BattleMechs for his stable, he was able
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to gain a meeting with Defiance executives as well as get
tour of the massive underground construction facility.
Being well acquainted with the shady underside of the
Lyran Commonwealth from his time on Solaris,
McGregor, with the help of a large number of C-bills,
managed to confirm the rumors of a new prototype
weapon referred to as a “Blazer.”
A consummate and extremely charismatic businessman,
McGregor managed to convince the Defiance executives
to sell him, at exorbitant cost, a customized Griffin which
would carry the experimental weapon. In exchange, he
agreed to take along a “technician” and to provide
Defiance Industries will detailed combat performance
information on the newly designed weapon.
From a technical standpoint, the Griffin is among the
best understood BattleMechs in the Inner Sphere making
an ideal choice as a test bed. At Defiance, they removed
the traditional Fusigon PPC, installing the 9-ton binary
laser cannon in its place. Created by combining two
heavy laser cores into a single weapon, early tests
showed the combination had terrifying damage potential,
well beyond that of even the particle cannon it replaced.
Preliminary tests of the prototype revealed it was
capable of entirely destroying the fully armored head of a
BattleMech with a single shot, something only a Class 20
autocannon could do.
Returning with the Griffin to Solaris, McGregor entrusted
it to Reese “Pieces” Montgomery, the best MechWarrior
in his stable and one of the few with extensive combat
experience. A former member of the Third Skye
Rangers, Montgomery rode the Griffin to a string of
victories, decapitating an number of ‘Mech in the
process, and eventually talking McGregor into installing a
Supercharger into the Strand 220 fusion engine to make
up for its slow top speed. Thus configured, Montgomery
went to become crowned as Solaris Champion in 2870,
naming his Griffin “Trotzige Feuersturm.”
Alpha Strike Statistics
TP: BM SZ: 2 TMM: +2
MV: 8j”/10” Role: Striker
Damage S: 2 M: 2 L: 1
OV: 0
Armor: O O O O O
Sructure: O O O O O
Special: IF1, LRM 0*/1/1