Why Do We Love The Wraith?  

To me the Wraith is a rare example of something that is out of the box dangerous to the annoying Firemoth type clan mechs. It’s fast enough to counter clan light mechs, and its short range matters less in interdiction duty.

An official mechanical frog variant that does not contain a plasma rifle? Are you okay, sir? Do you need to talk to someone? We are here for you.

How come I've never heard about invasion tactics in my water resources engineering classes?

My favorite mech in the entire franchise. My personal refit would be replacing all weapons with a H-PPC + capacitor.

The Wrath is an interesting design for sure, its very fast, its very agile and can zip in there to go after scouts or run around mauling other 'Mechs whilst being a pain to hit. Plus its unique looks make her really stand out among the crowd with all those smooth rounded edges.

Love the Wraith! This was the mech that taught me how scary/annoying a fast, jumpy mech armed with pulse lasers can be.

I love this mech! While the Tempest is my 3055 best girl the Wraith still leaves me feeling all fuzzy and tingly.

I love your variant, It's like combining the Wraith with a Piranha.

The TR2-X Alexander is one of my absolute favorite mechs and a prime example of how useful partial wings are, it's a shame we don't see more chassis with them.

The Wraith is a mech I did not know existed until it showed up in the Alpha Strike box. Love this mech as a fast light hunter and am glad basically anyone can get it.

210 meters is a great jump distance, it gives a very nice bonus-7 heat to jump is a lot with only 10 double heat sinks, though

The Wraith is one Mech that stood out to me largely because of its appearance. The cover art for Binding Force really made it look sleek and rounded, in a way that a lot of Mechs just weren't. Although, it seems like the art reverses the Mech's weapons lol.

On paper I definitely like the TR2, as you put it. That ER PPC definitely allows you to reach out and touch someone, and it has no minimum range so you can still get up close and personal. That loadout you could turn it into a light Griffin. The tr2 is definitely a better overall variant.

Always loved the Wraith as a anti-Harasser mech. It is fabulous at tracking down those other light, fast Harasser POS that backshoot you assaults or fire support mechs. And if your opponent doesnt bring harassers, the Wraith makes an awesome one itself. Never deployed one that didn't earn its BV back either by outright damage or by distracting way more than its tonnage represents.

Ahhh the Wraith. A mech design that's exactly how i like to make my own designs! Ive always wanted to like it more... But i thought it was so ugly. 😢 Funny you posted this great video though, as last weekend i finally had a chance to run with one in an Alpha Strike lance. Dang, it did so well that now i think it looks kinda cool, lol.

One of my all time favourite mechs and one i picked for my very first lance. Underappreciated and underestimated

The Wraith is just a cool mech and a logical counter to super fast Clan light mechs. I adore the art you showed off in the video with the cool custom paintjobs!

"Because a 7/11/7 with a large pulse and two mpulses is just about the perfect recon mech, cavalry striker, or bug hunter." It's in my personal pantheon of ideal 'Mechs.

I usually hate anything that resembles a roach or waterbug, but the Wraith is such a good looking mech. It looks like a fun mech to tickle toes with the lasers then kick a mech in the shins, specifically in that order. On a serious note this would be a good mech to do competitive melee with since its 55 tons with good mobility and decent armor

One of my surprise favorites in the BTA 3062 mod for HBS Battletech. I stripped the jump jets, added Stealth Armor, ECM, TSM and a Supercharger, and left a single ERLL in there. It's job is to run up and punch things in the in head hard enough to kill them, and it does it well! It's also crazy hard to hit, and a great toy. It's cool to hear where the Mech came from!

How did I miss this? Yeah, the Wraith is straight out deadly, period. It's straight - many light 'mechs obsolete and it's very survivable thanks to its combination of speed, jump capability, and solid armor. It's also a scary knife fighter that can prove to be a threat to most designs.

It's a high speed-low drag operator of a mech. Don't stop to engage, hit the enemy on the run, don't stop. Get clear, then turn around and do it again. Stay mobile and whittle the enemy down. Great light mech hunter too.

Playing around with partial wings and speed profiles can yield some very interesting results on the Wraith. A mech that moves 5/8/10 and mounts pulse lasers with a targeting computer can threaten nearly any mech, as well as any chance of being invited back for another game.

Hello Frog I have only used the TR1 Wraith once on the tabletops. In that battle, I used it as the 'command' Mech for a 5-unit 'light' Mech force (meaning that the other four Mechs were all 35 tons or less in mass). The Wraith did well keeping up with the combined force and was able to maneuver well around the broken terrain of the battlefield we played upon. I found that the Wraith was a bit more 'sturdy' than the Phoenix Hawk I was originally going to choose as 'leader', and the added benefit of the pulse laser's to-hit bonus was very nice in enabling me to hit my targets more accurately and more often. The ability to leap 7 hexes often got me on the other side of hills, to where the enemy could not advance to fire upon me for a turn. Allowing me to cool my Mech, and often allowing me to run to meet the engagement and alpha strike without issue or further heat buildup. I cannot stress how useful a 7-11-7, 55 ton Mech can be in combat. I would take another for use as a Light Mech Lance Commander any day. Sign me up as a 'fan' of the Wraith, and if you don't agree, well... we can 'talk' about it... on a battlefield. :) Addendum: I feel that the Wraith with Clan Tech is a good idea, but I don't really like the variant listed in your video. I tend to agree with your idea of swapping the Pulse Mediums for ER versions. That would 'free up' 2 tons. One of which I would expend for more armoring, and the other for an additional Heat Sink. Although this makes the mediums less likely 'to-hit' than the pulse lasers they replace, the range brackets nearly match the Pulse Large Laser's. The additional armor would help armor the torsos a bit more, with the 'extra' going to the arms. I would even shave a couple of points off the legs to max out the torso and arm armor. The additional Heat Sink would go a long ways to making sure the Mech 'runs cool', or at least, be less of a heat burden to bear when multiple alpha strikes are needed while maneuvering. Just some thoughts.

The Wraith is one of my favorite fast mechs in the CCG.

I love the inclusion of a brace of machineguns on the Wraith-MF. Obviously they're going to ruin the day for infantry but that 14 heat-free extra damage could even take a battlemech by surprise.

this thing strikes me as a phenomenal light mech hunter, a good guard or assist to heavier, slower mechs to keep away those pasky back biter mechs

On a side note, I'm enjoying your coloring of the black and white line art from the old manuals.

If any 'mech was perfect to paint in iridescent colors, like a weird rainbow beetle, it's gotta be this one.

I always thought the original art looked like a bad guy from the old Space Ghost cartoon.

That MechFrog Wraith is terrifying! I wouldn't want to be infantry anywhere near it, it's like a flying Piranha. And the phrase "flying Piranha" should scare anyone.

I need a model of one of these, it will get painted blue, and have the warcry of "SPOOON!" on that large laser... Thank you CGL for making it look that way and scream SPOOON! to me.

The Wraith is a personal favorite for 2 roles, raider (grabbing supplies to support guerilla fighting behind enemy lines) and as a light mech eradicator. I also use the C3 unit as a spotter for artillery and LRM's occasionally. Your MF Wraith variant looks promising, and it will see field trials whenever I can justify the mech's presence on the battlefield.

The Wraith fills a niche I found myself quite enjoying. I once ran one in an Extraction op against my brother. Despite having most of his forces ahead because of his initiative, I was able to screen most of them with my Wolverine and get the speedier Wraith in there for extraction. I ended up winning the game by having the objective closer to my zone. It's amazing how fast this medium can be at times

One of the reasons why the Wraith is popular in tabletop is because it's a rare example of an inner sphere medium mech that is fast, agile, hard hitting, has decent protection for it's role and heat management and most useful of all... Isn't really hard to get replacement parts for under advanced campaign rules due to it's use of the ubiquitous modifier. It's only real downside is it's pretty close to being as expensive as some clan mechs, but this is less of an issue then it looks on the surface, as the mech makes a great spotter, vertical fighter or distraction for cheaper but more heavily armed and armored mechs, all while having enough speed to make it viable in more open terrain, a historic weakness of a lot of inner sphere mech designs in the medium heavy bracket. But me, I just like it for how it invokes the sometimes intentionally a bit silly 80's era art for a lot of mechs. It just fits with the whole aesthetic of the game from when I got introduced with it, and basically serves as a constant poke in the eye on these newer gamers that basically want you to stop treating a literal game like what it is, a game. It'll always be one of my favorites for that reason alone.

When I saw this in the alpha strike box i gave to my dad, my first thought was "Thats an ugly bugger" my next thought after seeing the stats was "Holy crap i need one" i need some money so i can get it...

Why do we love… Mechanics Frog? Because he fu$&!ng ROCKS! Congrats on your perpetual growth, it is wholeheartedly well earned!! You have at least on dedicated follower for the duration. Keep up the great work!

I love the wraith, its so funny to bounce around taking potshots

I've found the TR-1 surprisingly effective in Classic. It plays like a big Spider/Venom that does twice as much damage and three times more armor. It's just so obnoxious to take out, but you can't ignore pulse lasers and kicks from the rear. ...Wait, is naming the Spider successor Venom a joke about Spiderman and the character Venom?

Holy hell, that Wraith-MF is a *monster*! I've always loved the Wraith, but you have improved upon it, no question...

It looks very much like a 1990s punk depicted in movies with the fluorescent colors you had the artwork painted with

before now i didn't even know about the wraith but i'm already in love with this little bastard.

Water Management types getting ready to become the Water Barons when things fall apart lol

mine leaves everything the same except add T Com, ER Large in the right, ER Mediums in the left. sniper role makes this mech awesome

When you see it, you immediately pause and think, yeah, I should probably salvage that large pulse laser

I honestly think there was a missed opportunity to call this mech "The Roach", because the antennae and hood really looks like one. Maybe if some madlad were to install some Harjell III and a Clan-spec XL Engine, then it could work.

I've never used the Wraith in game, but the speed, jump distance and the weapons make it look pretty fearsome to me. Sure, it's not going to tear through anyone anytime soon, but the mobility will give it a pretty decent chance to either hunt down lighter units and overwhelm them with superior firepower and armor or it'll jump into really inconvenient places to take potshots at heavier mechs. Even an assault mech will start sweating bullets, when a Wraith suddenly plops down in its rear arc.

Without a doubt, the wraith is my fav FWL mech. An efficient fencer and hunter

I am very "Team Wraith"! The TR2-X Wraith is the Solaris mech that sees the most play in our FLGS weeklies. Keep up the good work. So I know it is not "Optimal" or even "Good", but Dola when lol? It looks so cool!

In the late game in 3062, and just retired my very heavily modified TR2( more like a TR5 by this point). This was my scout and tank killer. Since you can't change the internal structure in game, I went pretty much Clan tech to save weight and Criticals. Clan XL, Clan Ferro, Clan Double HS. Weapons are, IS Plasma.Rifle W/ 2 tons of ammo, and 2 MXPLS. Added an ECM and Active probe for the Scouting role. Nicknamed it Zippy. Since in the late game you need more firepower, I replaced it in the Scout role with a Berserker( how very Steiner).

This is one I've actually got to play a few times, and it's never really done me wrong! Highlight of its carrier has been jumping behind a dervish on a building and pushing it off onto his own infantry!

I am making a FWL unit (haven't decided which one yet, im still researching.) However, I have a Wraith and an Eris earmarked for the first lance. I would like to have a speedy heavy, and a long range assault to finish it up, just have to identify them. As always, good vid, but the Audio did drop for a few seconds!

I got 10 of the new plastic mechs, I really love this mech, I made a 100 ton version called the Spector.

I saw the title and thought "of course people love this mech! its an 8 jumping pulse boat"

Pairing two Wraith TR1s with two Black Hawk-KU O Primes is also quite nasty.

We have a guy at the FLGS who runs the TR1. He generally uses it to flank and forces the opponent to either take shots to the rear armor or turn to try and deal with the speedy mech, thus splitting fire from his real damage dealers. Works well most of the time, but it tends to with under concentrated LRM or Streak fire. Clan pulse lasers usually also cause it to vaporize pretty quick. Though the most insidious killer of at least that particular TR1 is failed pilot checks. I can count at least 4 times he has slipped, tripped, or got knocked over and immediately became the center of attention for a couple of units to make sure it stayed down. Also, the audio cut out during at 10:57 and returns 11:00.

Can’t help but think that this sort of ‘Mech would be absolutely terrifying in an urban environment. Shoot and then scoot behind some skyscrapers before jumping back in again.

The Wraith. The mech of choice for the short, angry Goth Gal.

Personally i like the Wraith, i enjoyed the Aris Sung novels a lot, but the mech is very specific in its strengths and weaknesses. Ideally it should be used in pairs to hunt down enemy scouts and circle the bulk of the enemy´s forces to get in the rear, attacking the long range support machines like Catapults, Longbows, Archers and the occational, surviving Bombardier. The "Alexander" is quite the extreme build but i like it, it´s like the final evolution stage of the Wraith, despite the loss of accuracy for all weapons. Amazingly, i like pretty much ALL the artworks on the Wraith. Your MF version is another extreme, but the "frogginess" of the Wraith definintely fits for you XD One homebrew version i had come up with replaces all the pulse lasers and two jumpjets (due to the mech being battlefield salvage) for regular a large and medium laser in each arm.

The Wraith is one of my all-time favorite 'Mechs and is very affordable when filling out a lance with BV2 with the TR1. Most of my long term opponents curse when they see me pulling one out. I once did a tournament where you could customize your unit and it was fairly open on IS tech up to 3080 even if it no longer existed. So I played around with it and created the annoying sniper. 13 DHS, 11.5 tons of armor, 7/11/7, Weapons: Light PPC, 2 MLs. Equipment: Chameleon LPS and Null Signature System. It could be a tag heat intensive but it became the mosquito in that tournament that everyone wanted to swat!

Those Improved Jump Jets are better than they seem, because they jump at half heat-the TR5 only generates 4 heat jumping 7 meters, which is more easily manageable. Still, with double heat and space, Improved Jump Jets are very mich a niche choice (usually for 'Mechs that move slower on the ground)

One of my all time favourite medium mechs :-) fast, hits easy and does enough damage to worry most opposition :-) ive used and fought against this thing in so many battles and campaigns...its hard to get into a company when looking for specialists but its a great scout hunter :-) cheers for the fun watch

I really want to run one of these once my CCAF Warrior House company is done. It is definitely a unique design among the hundreds of other mechs with its hooded, ghostly look and smooth features. The only other mech coming to mind competing directly with this is the Phoenix Hawk-3PL, which can jump 6 and fire its pulse Large and twin Mediums at the same go (I just used one, it was fun). In any case, I really like the Wraith’s aesthetic, and look forward to deploying one in a future game.

I remember having the IWM Wraith I had painted up I named "Nocturne" I can't remember how but I had it equipped with an Angel ECM so it could be a pest now I have the plastic Wraith from the Alpha Strike set that l'm trying to get painted up in the deep purple I had Nocturne painted in

The wraith is one of those cool mechs that is not just all show and no go. The weapons mix makes sense and mods can just make it better. In a harasser/scout situation this would be a nightmare to hit. Pair it with a lance if more heavy hitters and do the words make it rain come to mind. In all this can a be a very fun mech to play in the game.

The TR-1 Wraith is an excellent anti-light bully and light lance leader. It's fast enough to run with the likes of the Jenner, well armoured and packs enough of a punch to make it a threat to any light 'mech it could come into contact with.

All I can see is the cyber ninja who didn't have time to change out of their cyber beetle hoodie

I got the one from the AS box set painted as W.H. Imarra and it looks fantastic.

I ran a TR5 in my supernatural themed ilClan Merc forcé. It was a blast. So hard to hit it. I would run and jump to get back shots. And it was almost always going last

First time someone brought the Wraith against me it jumped farther then I thought it could and one or two shot my mediums back armor. It’s pretty cool, I bought one soon after

This thing is a demon to fight against. It can move fast, and has a good bit of armor.

If the Wraith had an ECM, and could sustain 7/11/7 movement, it would be absolutely insane. Maybe with the medium pulse lasers downgraded to ER Mediums, you could fit an ECM in there and possibly an additional ER Medium. That would be the IS equivalent to a Shadow Cat

The Wraith in all versions is great fun in a standup game for a good tactician. In a campaign it's often rendered into a hanger queen when that rare crit strikes it in something hard to find. Been there, done that. In our WOB mercenary campaign we thought we were smart having a LvL 2 of TR3 headhunters. It was loads of fun until, over time, attrition hit, and we cannibalized our LvL 2 down to TR3's, a Jenner -F, two Wasps, and a Mirage. The remaining TR's were kept in storage for spare parts and tinkering. Still, it was an absolute blast of a campaign! The MF variant is nice. I tend to enjoy fast knife fighting mechs. Now if there was only a way to put a Plasma Canon in it. I bet you thought about it.

Most of my favourite mechs are just the Wraith over and ovet again. The Nightsky, the Phoenix Hawk 3PL, the Goshawk and Goshawk II... I have a problem.

It feels like someone decided to make a 55 ton phoenixhawk.

You are correct, the TR1 is a good close range brawler. I don't think I've ever played any Wraith on the board. I would see this one from the paper stats see it pretty much in the same row as the Phoenix hawk, a heavy scout, a light or medium lance leader, or the lighter component of a heavier Lance. It would also be great in the pursuit Lance role.

This is one of my favorite 3055 battlemechs. I would run with a load out containing one ER PPC or ER Large laser and 2 ER medium lasers with a targeting computer to assist. It'll run a little hot, but it will be deadly accurate.

Love the thing because it has no ammo dependency and is an amazing bully of coward mechs, like Stingers, Wasps, Locusts, and other flitting thinga. And it skirmishes well with bigger mechs. Biggest weakness, outside of heat management, is other mediums methinks. Not gonna trade too economically. I do love the ER PPC variant, though couldn't say its better. Simply love me a PPC.

Love to see other variations of the TR2-x love the partial wing and looks more threatening. Overall love this design.

The Wraith is such a fun mech to play! The only upgrades I like involve Clan energy weapons, or swapping in a Snubnose PPC and a pair of ER Medium Lasers for one extra heat sink and two tons of armor. It's pretty good in Alpha Strike or CBT.

I just recently discovered the Wraith, not sure how I missed it. Probably the goofy-looking original TRO artwork. The new art from CGL (ilClan recognition guides! YAY!) is MUUUUUCH better. And now, I have a Wraith. I did a field refit on the TR1, swapping out the weapons for clan-tech equivalents. No other changes, just put a clan-tech large pulse in the right arm and two clan-tech medium pulse lasers in the left arm. Better heat curve, MUCH better range, more damage, and easy to do (if you have access to some clan-spec weaponry). Very deadly skirmisher and scout. I run this one as a flanker, either in company with a P-Hawk or protecting/scouting for heavier battle-line mechs.

The Wraith deserves more official variants.

I travel into the past to listen while I finish up the last company of mechs i have BWahaha also always recalled this one novel that had a Wraith on the cover and never forgot the mech evern though I never really got to use it.

I'm just a little bit sad a water management company didn't expand into the military industrial complex by making tanks... Anyway Yeah the wraith is a good one, once you've locked horns so to speak with the bulk of an enemy force, you can scoot up the sides for some sweet back shots on them. Or just spend your time squashing their puppies and kittens running around doing recon and scouting that get a really bad surprise when their hunter is faster than their light mechs.

i really hope they have some kind of ilclan variant for it because this is one of the FEW medium mechs (and a 55 tonner at that) that is absolutely NASTY

Note to self. Make sure to pay the plumbers. Seriously though, used this mech in game a lot. Could tackle Assault mechs 1 on 1 fairly easily.

I think the TR-MF might be a bit butter with Stealth Armor but that is just me. That would of course raise the cost a bit though... Great videos as always.

The Wraith is one of those mechs I love as a backstabber... I generally used one to be that quick little nasty bugger that ran behind the enemy to shoot them in the back... Also to occasionally kick a tank

Specialist designs do have their place in larger units, battalion level and above having a lance or company unit being specialized I'd say. (Prime examples of this are the Sevens and Zeta in the Wolf's Dragoons) Lance and company units, unless they bill themselves as specialists, will most often prefer generalist designs like most militias probably do as well. For the Wraith, it is very good at what it does when in the hand of a proper pilot and given the proper mission. It just is a very expensive investment at over 13 million C-Bills for the original design.

This sounds like a mech that I would LOVE to see in MWO!! Fast and jumpy with some damage output.

Good video. The only real problem with the OG Wraith is that the I/S Large Pulse is a lackluster weapon at best. It does what it's supposed to do but it's range limits it's usage significantly. The ER PPC variant gives it a great deal more options for the main weapon but it's heat limits the use of the mech's secondaries. The OG Wraith is great in the right situations but often struggles to contribute outside of them. It's still usually worth it's BV as a countermeasure .

A great design, and the fact that it looks like a giant cockroach only makes it cooler in my head:)

This was my boy back in '98

TR-3 is a fantastic forward c3 mech.

A even more specialized version, clan endosteel for the extra space, down grade the MPL to ML, add ECM and all the toys that the Exterminator had. Good luck hitting it as it dances around at medium range. And never let it behind your lines.

I did get to run a Wraith with upgrading the weapons to clan. The saved ton went to an additional clan Small Pulse Laser. Worked really well the times I got to use it.

Heck yeah look at all those backers. Another absolutely great video.😊

Got one of these in a bta3062 run as salvage and man it lasted me all the way to the higher difficulties just having it jumping and backstabbing with 7 evade. I should really grab one for my next overide game.

If I ever have an extra $70 in my budget (sigh... Maybe when the kids are in college) I might grab a second alphastrike box. Partially because I'd love to paint another CGL wraith. ironwind has a model of the Alexander that looks pretty cool for significantly cheaper.

Always thought it was an interesting 'Mech when I first read the TRO. Enjoyed the vid, too.👍