Wardogs

Wardogs
Apearance(s):	Manhunt
Name:	Wardogs
Type:	Militia Soldiers of Fortune Survivalists
Known Members:	Ramirez (leader)
Front(s):	Wardogs Apartment Carcer City Zoo
Weapons:	Machete Tranquilizer Rifle Shotgun Sniper Rifle Revolver PSG-1 (beta) Silenced Sniper Rifle (beta) Hunting Knife (beta) Alternative PSG-1 (beta)
Enemies:	James Earl Cash Cash's Family Monkeys
Voiced by:	Kendall Clark Rick Aiello Julian Dean Chris McKinney Erik Bergmann P.J. Sosko

"Yep, I'm going to snap his neck like a puppy dog's leg."

- a Wardog.

The Wardogs are a militia gang that appear in Manhunt.

Description

The Wardogs are a sadistic paramilitary group of Hunters composed of retired war veterans, huntsmen, soldiers-for-hire, and survivalists. They are the third gang James Earl Cash faces in the game. They patrol the abandoned Carcer City Zoo and are headquartered in the Darkwoods district. The Wardogs are well-organized and armed foes, operating militia-style and receiving all their orders from their leader, Ramirez. They wear a variety of camouflaged clothing, bullet-proof vests, plaid shirts, trucker caps, and face paint. Some also wear full-on ghillie suits.

The Wardogs are skilled hunters, often setting traps or ambushes for Cash and using squad tactics to flush him out of hiding. Wardogs are just as dangerous up close, hacking away at Cash with machetes. Unlike the two previous gangs Cash faces before them, the Hoods and the Skinz, the Wardogs express genuine satisfaction in killing the runners for Starkweather's movies and treat them like trophy kills, similar to the Innocentz and Smileys gangs (whom they are on-par with in the level of danger); some even talking about skinning Cash's corpse. They can also be heard communicating with army phrases and codes. Although the Wardogs are dangerous in groups, some members lack discipline and easily lose their temper when Cash gets away, leading them to wander off in pursuit.

Their weapons of choice are the Machete, the Tranquilizer Rifle, the Revolver, the Sniper Rifle, and the Shotgun.

Appearances

The Wardogs first appear after Cash leaves the Junkyard and is apprehended by Cerberus operatives, who drop him off at the Carcer City Zoo entrance where he encounters several Wardogs lazily patrolling the ticket booths. Cash makes his way deeper and deeper into the abandoned zoo, fighting off increasingly large numbers of Wardogs. After clearing the area, Cash finds out by Starkweather that the Wardogs have taken four members of his family hostage and he sets out to free them. He frees them one by one while killing every Wardog in his way. After liberating all of his family members, he shoots his way through a final wave of Wardogs before being picked up by Cerberus again.

The Wardogs have their final appearance right after Cash escapes from the Darkwoods Penitentary and finds himself deep inside Wardogs territory in the Darkwoods district where he also faces their leader, Ramirez, after being ambushed by them. He slaughters the rest of the Wardogs in a huge apartment complex that they have claimed, along with Ramirez himself who cowardly escapes from the apartment before he's cornered and ultimately killed by Cash. Although they seemed to be wiped out, while Cash is running from the scene, guns can still be heard going off, implying Cash did not completely kill all the Wardogs, unlike all other gangs. Despite this, the Wardogs are not seen again.

Mission Appearances: Grounds for Assault, Strapped for Cash, Divided they Fall, and Monkey See, Monkey Die.

Gallery

Artwork of one of the Wardog members (note a part of the Fully Equipped cheat code for the PC version is seen)

Official artwork

Ramirez (leader)

Official screenshot

A Wardog executing one of the four members of Cash's family with a single shot to the head.

A Wardog member being choked out by Cash using a Wire (Violent).

Wardogs taking orders by their leader, Ramirez

Wardogs and Ramirez capturing Cash

Trivia

• The Wardogs and the Cerberus are the only gangs in the first Manhunt to have official leaders, as they are lead by Ramirez and the Cerberus Leader, respectively.
  • They also both have names related to dogs, as the Wardogs have the word "dog" in their name, and the Cerberus are named after the mythical three-headed dog from Greek mythology.
    • The Watchdogs and Bloodhounds from Manhunt 2 also share origins of the names from canines.
• Interestingly, the Wardogs have only 8 models. This is peculiar, as all other gangs in Manhunt (except the Police, S.W.A.T., Cerberus, and Monkeys) have 9 models.
  • However, this may be because Ramirez is the leader of the Wardogs, so he would technically serve as the 9th model.
• Cash kills a total of 65 Wardogs in the three missions they appear in.
• A particularly interesting note by the Wardogs' dialogue is they discuss rumors that James Earl Cash himself is a "Sneaky Pete" - a miltary jargon for a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, or a Green Beret, which means the protagonist of Manhunt is possibly, if not likely a former United States special forces soldier.
  • Ironically, their leader, Ramirez, due to the red beret he wears, is indeed such, and in this case, strongly implies he once served in the U.S. Air Force Combat Control Team.
• Like the Cerberus, the Wardogs do not appear in a fixed sequence of scenes.
• They are the first gang Cash encounters to be armed with firearms (although the Skinz have Nail Guns, it is not a true gun).
• They are the only gang in Manhunt not to be entirely wiped out by Cash, as seen in the ending cutscene of Divided They Fall.