Hunter Assault Tank

Description
The HNT-3R Hunter Assault Tank is a wheeled 20-ton combat vehicle armed with a front-mounted Particle Projector Cannon and equipped with a VOX 130 Fusion engine and five tons of armor (front 32, sides 17, back 14). It should not be confused with the tracked, LRM-armed combat vehicle that is usually associated with the name 'Hunter'. Notably, that latter vehicle was also designated the HNT-3R Hunter in its first incarnation in Battledroids.

According to the accompanying scenario, the Hunter Assault Tank is a design used for "Wolf Packs", with Scorpion BattleMechs operating together with fast tanks as independent scout hunter teams at the vanguard of an attack. There is no information whatsoever on who built or used Hunter Assault Tanks, or when, except that it worked in conjunction with Scorpion 'Mechs (which were introduced in 2570).

Canonicity
The canonicity of the Hunter Assault Tank is a complicated issue. It appears only as an extra piece in the TCI Model Kit #1 alongside the Shadow Hawk and Scorpion, as an eight-wheeled tank that seems to have a turret-mounted main gun (while its accompanying game stats explicitly state "no turret").

The stat sheet going with the model kit has both a FASA and a TCI trademark from 1985 and 1986, respectively; it remains unclear if it can thus be regarded as a FASA publication. Advertisements for the model kit set were printed in the BattleTechnology magazine, which itself was considered canon in its time (but is now considered apocryphal).