Clan Wolf introduced the Timber Wolf in 2945 to help replace the aging Woodsman OmniMech. Debuting with the Fourth Wolf Guard, the Timber Wolf was a nasty surprise for the Sea Foxes. Fast and powerful, two Trinaries composed primarily of the new OmniMech rolled over the Thirteenth Cruiser Cluster defending the oil fields of Priori.
         The Inner Sphere's first brush with an OmniMech was with a Mad Cat on The Rock, Oberon Confederation, 13 August 3049. It was from a broadcast by a member of the Kell Hounds mercenary unit that ComStar learned of these machines and their mysterious masters. ComStar named this design the Mad Cat because its hunched-over torso is common to both the Marauder and Catapult. Much of the credit for the Wolves' success during the Clan Invasion must be laid at the feet of this OmniMech. FedCom and Rasalhague MechWarriors found their equipment woefully inferior to it, and it was in no small part due to the Timber Wolf that the Free Rasalhague Republic effectively ceased to exist by the end of the invasion. It is little wonder that the design soon came to symbolize the entire invasion and the Clans' technical superiority.

         Fast and well armored, the Timber Wolf is also endowed with a generous 27.5 tons of pod space. The most common configuration carries impressive firepower, starting with double LRM-20 racks on the shoulders. The weapons pods on the arms each contain an extended-range large laser and extended-range medium laser. It also incorporates pulse technology, with a medium pulse laser in its left torso. Two machine guns round out its weapon array.
         Alternate Configuration A carries a short-range missile launcher on its right shoulder instead of LRM's, and a box-mount package of three medium pulse lasers in the left shoulder. It also features a particle projection cannon in each arm, with a small laser in the center torso.
         Somewhat less common is a version that mounts a Gauss Rifle in its right arm. Its left arm carries a large pulse laser and a small pulse laser. Version B makes use of the Artemis IV fire-control system for the LRM-10 rack on its left shoulder and the SRM-4 on its right shoulder.
         The Timber Wolf C also concentrates more firepower in its arm weapons pods. Its right arm carries the Ultra-5 autocannon, while the left has two extended-range large lasers. These leave enough pod weight for an LRM-15 launcher on each shoulder and an anti-missile system in the left torso.
         Though rarely seen, Configuration D carries an especially unusual array of weapons. Apparently designed to fight in the enemy's midst, this version has double Streak SRM-6 launchers mounted on each shoulder, one pointing forward, and the other to the rear. Each arm packs the devastating firepower of an extended-range particle projection cannon, and the center torso holds an extended-range small laser.
         Introduced after the fall of Clan Smoke Jaguar, the E, H, and S Configurations have improved the capabilities of the design. In E, 9-tube ATMs replace the Primary config's missile racks. It also lacks the secondary lasers and machine guns, but sports an extra heat sink and a Light TAG system used to call in homing missiles or artillery. This configuration is rare outside the Raven Alliance as Clan MechWarriors rarely use such "dishonorable" weapons, and the mercenaries that would can rarely acquire ATM launchers or munitions. The Ravens of course have no issues with a 'Mech calling in fire from above and so this configuration is feared in their hands.
         H Configuration is more common, with a heavy large laser in each arm and an LRM-20 in each missile box. Easily capable of destroying enemy units with a single salvo, only veteran Clan MechWarriors are allowed the honor of using this configuration. A single "small laser of doom" in the center torso has been the subject of several holovids where the outnumbered Clan MechWarrior fights to the death, bringing down one 'Mech after another with only that weapon.
         Configuration S is one of the more interesting variants of the Timber Wolf. It carries a large pulse laser in the left arm, and twin medium pulses in the right arm. A machine gun in each torso, along with a small laser in the right, gives the design impressive anti-infantry capability, and twelve tubes of SRMs in each missile box allows it to pick apart an enemy weakened by the large laser. Finally, a full set of jump jets across the rear torso gives it impressive mobility for a heavy BattleMech.

         The Timber Wolf is the favorite OmniMech of the Wolf Ascendancy, and most people consider it the symbol of that realm. The Tamar Pact, often considered a protectorate of the Ascendancy, also uses the design heavily. The Wolf's Dragoons build the design on Outreach, and it is no surprise considering their lineage that it is their primary heavy OmniMech as well. They sell it to the most trusted members of the Allied Mercenary Command, but their expense keeps those numbers low. The Raven Alliance fields a version they call the Timber Hawk with the nose modified to look like a bird's beak, but as they do not value ground forces as highly as space forces these are not in the numbers that the Wolf Ascendancy and Tamar Pact enjoy.