Battlemech Primer Episode 9: The Battlemaster

Here we discuss the Battlemaster, battlemech perfection in its rarest form.

[@Sierra0331]

“If anyone watching knows how to separate two pilots that have been fused together” *raises hand* “preferably without killing them” *slowly lowers hand*

[@PaganPilot]

see this why you *DONT* jump anywhere near the California Nebula, jumpships end up _wrong_

[@dayaninikhaton]

You visited the weird part of the Canopian red light district, didn't you.

[@deleonfrancis60]

Call Lieutenant Barkley he might know about thing about fusing.

[@derekburge5294]

To separate the two pilots, tell them that the first one to the mess hall gets to pilot a Battlemaster. They'll find a way to get loose.

[@robrib2682]

Yes, but he wants both of them alive

[@derekburge5294]

@@robrib2682 Really? Oh! Okay, that's a very different animal then.

[@admiralchiraneau1286]

We mentioned the Catapult, any idea when we get a dive into my favorite fire support mech?

[@wavestrider2160]

And the mech of the always wacky sergeant deadeye from mechwarrior 2 mercenaries

[@Lieutenant_Dude]

Catapults are one of my favorites.

[@Lieutenant_Dude]

Battlemaster! What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!

[@katainj9861]

I found this channel by chance and binged the entire series in one go, I've never played Battlemech before and I've never really seen it anywhere. I'm in love with this series though, looking forward for more videos! I'll have to actually see what's going on

[@mageleader3699]

There's a channel called Black Pants Legion that gives a great introduction to the universe. Search for "Tex Talks Battletech" and you'll find an even better series of videos. He's been around longer and his stuff is what inspired me to start making videos.

[@katainj9861]

thank you for the recommendation! I shall certainly check him out!

[@robreitz6819]

@@mageleader3699 Hey man, don't sell yourself too short there. Your content is really good and you do more than just regurgitate facts like a few channels I've tried. Keep up the great work! And ya check out the BPL. You come for the Battletech and maybe stick around fore the rest of the crazy.

[@gusty9053]

I'm new to the setting as well, Tex got me into the lore big time, but if you want something more hands on the game Battletech by HBS is good for an introduction to the "game mechanics" if you are not into tabletop proper. And there are huge mods for it once you are done playing in the shallow end of the pool. Constantly in my gaming list for the past year or so (clocked around 300 h on the damn thing :)). Well at least until Mechwarrior 5 ends it's beta testing phase on the epic store and finally releases :). Or the books can be a good starting point as well. They are decent (what i read so far anyway) and they explain quite a lot of the lore in a digestible fashion.

[@ironboy3245]

Try playing HBS Battletech, it's a decent game and the modding community has enough total overhaul mods to make it basically tabletop without the math

[@kybercat7]

What do you mean its only got one PPC and will likely be focused down before it can brawl!? No no don't go buy awesome for two extra PPCs that costs 2 million C bills less. its literally a master of battle! more of a Nightstar or stalker girl when it come to assaults but hey, you salvage what you can get.

[@mageleader3699]

The Stalker is my favorite as well.

[@atticusthegamingllama8302]

BattleMaster makes a great ride for your comm's officer in a command lance. Give your CO a Marauder or Archer, have a JagerMech run overwatch and stick in a Thunderbolt for bodyguard duty, and headhunting missions become that much harder.

[@Lieutenant_Dude]

The battlemaster is more of an oversized heavy mech.

[@MrSourceMan]

The BattleMaster is probably the most protagonist-y of the mechs. Unique features, sought after and a versatile Jack of all trades. Also you can give it a sword if you wanna be a weeb/knight. Works surprisingly well.

[@ssjjshawn]

Hanse Davion, and several Kuritas agree with you

[@SMAXZO]

Funny you should say that...no wait, that's the Shadow Hawk that's the protag mech.. nevermind

[@Nightmare-cr3iw]

Another great one Mage Leader. I love the Battlemaster for its Command Mech capabilities the most. It gives me something to do while I'm moseying into combat. That and in 3062 Red Devil modified it to have a Gauss Rifle instead of the PPC - The BLR-4S is a sweet ride if you can find the parts have have the money for it.

[@delphaneuxlacroix]

Late to the party but I picked up Mechwarrior 5 and have (slowly) been playing through the campaign. Last night I stumbled across a Battlemaster on the Mech Market and I am VERY happy about what that means :D

[@leechowning2712]

"Do you build a few great machines, or lots of just good enough"... see the Ruskies and the Goose-steppers for how this works. If I can make 50 Urbies to meet your 4 Battlemasters, you just hope to hold.

[@tiberiusnod]

Nice Mech, nice work. I am enjoying your whole series. Keep it that way! :) I would love to see the Wolverine. Why? Because I piloted one in my Mechwarrior Destiny campaign and to see those stupid clanners go ham if you talk about a Mech that is named like the not-shall-be-named clan. May 20th is coming, to remind them that they lost on Tukayyid 😎

[@AbyRemy]

I'm watching this hole series because I'm playing Battletech strategy Video Game right now and I did follow your advice and aimed for the cockpit and hit with my AC 20, so thanks for the advice.

[@thegreatbamboozler4837]

Surprised you didn't mention how the roominess of the cockpit allowed a 2nd command couch for a regimental commander while a pilot does the dirty work.

[@kennethelkins-wulff9644]

LOL Love this series! Can't wait for your next one! BTW I have total if 6 Battle Masters in my unit. 3 are the original BLR-1G's! I love these things. But unfortunately I traded up to a Timberwolf! Sorry! I love my Twolf!

[@brettwerdesheim9767]

Any chance at a video on the grasshopper or dragon

[@stormcrow28]

Of course that sluggish manufacturing rate means nothing after the start of the Clan Invasion, where Battlemaster construction picked up to replace battlefied losses until all of the Houses started building them by the 3060s. As for the Battlemaster itself, it's a solid unit, but it definitely needs Star Leauge tech to allow it to survive against heavy or assault Clan units unless you can fight them in short range terrain/city fighting. The MG ammo is its main Achilles heel. Dump them for more armor or heat sinkd and you're much better off.

[@Mikudude1billion]

Two things. 1) No one has guessed my favorite 'Mech to this day. I swear. 2) how would *you* customize a Blargg?

[@mageleader3699]

Swap out the PPC for a large pulse laser and upgrade the MGs to HMGs. Use the left over tonnage for heat sinks.

[@brianhenry152]

Put the rear-firing lasers to forward mount, reduce the engine to a 255 rating and give it jump jets, and use the extra weight to give it a 2nd PPC and extra heat sinks.

[@Mikudude1billion]

@@mageleader3699 Alright, my guy, could please explain how swapping a 7-ton weapon for another 7-ton weapon, and two half-ton weapons for two *full*-ton weapons leaves you with *extra* tonnage. Is there something you left out? (Meeko Mage used "lacking details". Marik Marauder is confused!)

[@mageleader3699]

@@Mikudude1billion I meant a large laser, not a large pulse. My bad.

[@Mikudude1billion]

@@mageleader3699 that makes sense. Depends on the era for me. SW era I'd remove the SRM, 1 MG, reduce ammo to half-ton, to have more armor (16.5t) and heat sinks (24). CI and on: Endo-Steel, 16.5t armor, 4 JJ, ER PPC, 4 Med. Pls., 2 Sm. Pls., & 19 DHS.

[@yetagain9736]

Subscribed keep it up man! Best quality lore video on mechs. Black pants legion used to do them too. GrimDark narrator is just too grim and too dark for me lol

[@ChaosTicket]

The Battlemaster's key flaw is that its a bug-slayer. It can easily brutalize smaller mechs because of how many close range weapons it has, while being heavier armored and having decent speed. Against heavier mechs with long range weapons it buckles. An Awesome is similar in weight but has 3 times as much firepower at medium range. a Longbow weights the same but has 5 times the firepower at the same range. A Stalker is slower but has greater medium firepower and long range weapons. There are Medium and Heavy battlemechs with more attack range and firepower, such as the Trebuchet medium & Catapult fire support battlemechs.

[@retrosquadchannel2.050]

You said something about not putting one Battlemaster against enemy lance. Hanse Davion put his Battlemaster against three lances. A famous incident on New Avalon, where Death Commando tried to raze NAIS in 3028. Ruler of Federative Suns was alone, when he arrived to institute of science to repent the attack. He made his stand there and trashed three lances of assholes. But we all know - those were no Liao soldiers. That was Comguard, sent to destroy copy of Helm's Memory Core to ensure Comstar's technological advantage. Also there were stories around Inner Sphere about Battlemasters, charging into attack and sustaining enormous amounts of damage and still lead mechs into fight. Those were no legends, that was told about BLR-1Gb, modified version of original Battlemaster. Its weapon loadout consisted of 2 ER PPC, 4 medium lasers and one large pulse laser. It had 16,5 tons of Ferro-fibrous armour. Sorry for small brainwash - it's just my favorite mech and first one I ever saw.

[@louiskemner3216]

Sounds like it’s the Marauder of assault ‘mechs. I’ve been underestimating the BattleMaster all this time!

[@ssjjshawn]

I mean there is a reason the Battlemaster is one of the iconic mechs of Battletech. Personal Mech of several successor state lords and their houses (most notably Hanse Davion, First Prince of the Federated Suns in the most popular eras of 3025-3051, even having his iconic NAIS defense scene from the Warrior Trilogy gracing the Battletech Release Box Art), not even a Mech the clanners could make a better variant of, and when the Green Parrots took Twycross, they didnt make a new chassis they just put BS Clan tech lazers in place. Hell the Royal Battlemaster of 2750 is still Viable as a frontline assault mech until the end of the damned Jihad, let alone upgraded variants of later era's or its own Inner Sphere spawn in the Warlord. Which is an entirely other story, but results in GM in the FedSuns licensing the Battlemaster to see if it was possible the structure could work for a 75 ton Heavy Mech with just about most experimental equipment the Inner Sphere could fit on the thing. However the FedSuns needed more 80 ton Assault mechs, so they leaned on GM to bump up the Warlord to an 80 tonner, which was a saturated market outside of the FedSuns. The Warlord is still used in the IllKlan Era (3152-3250) and possibly beyond. In other parts, the Battlemaster's silhouette is used as a Mod/Admin badge on the Battletech forms, was even an Iconic mech for FASA even in the Pre MadCat days when they licenced the mech from the primary Father series of Battletech: Fang of the Sun Dougram.

[@MADSAHAD]

The Battlemaster is my #1!!!! Just drop the machine guns and ammo for extra heatsinks

[@rolkflameraven1483]

Friend of mines favorite mech, not my cup of tea, but he loves having that many lasers to just hit people in the face with. The amount of headshots he gets is absurd.

[@J4H3AD]

Very nice! Keep them up! What's next on your list of videos?

[@mageleader3699]

Haven't decided yet. I've had the Lancelot requested a few times now, but it's not in the Mechwarrior games so getting footage would be a pain.

[@J4H3AD]

@@mageleader3699 MWLL might have it, but that's a whole different can of worms to get into.

[@gusty9053]

@@mageleader3699 Have you though about giving the whole "poll thing" a try? Has to be easier than sorting through comments for mech requests / suggestions even though it would probably turn into a popularity contest and return the usual results: Marauder, Thor, Catapult, Atlas, Urbie, Locust, Shadow Hawk, MadCat, Warhammer :).

[@theeternalchronicler3072]

Best video yet man

[@kazekamiha]

First Assault I used in Mech 5; helped me out in a real touch mission. Not a favorite but reliable.

[@princeleoofnohr583]

I never played the table top game unfortunately but I started playing the MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries on my ps4. I got to say I do love the BattleMaster. Hated going against one for the first time fist time ot shot me I was like wtf took my armor on my right arm to.... no never mind I lost my right arm. I had to redo that mission till I took out the cockpit.

[@GameAlicornLuna]

*playing MW5. Still early in the campaign. Max deployment weight is 200 tons) Oh. There's a rare mech here. I wonder what it is. Oh, nothing much. Just a FREAKING BATTLEMASTER FOR 7M C-BILLS.

[@nikolajsteffensen6578]

i am sad that you didn't bring up how the royal variant doesn't have just one of those big PPC guns but dual wields.

[@TheGreatDayne1983]

It’s a Master of Battle!

[@tulsatrash]

With a repertoire including the Catapult, Battlemaster, and Highlander they really never looked back after their last abject failure.

[@gusty9053]

I am familiar only with the HBS game versions but Battlemasters and Wolverines i never liked for some reason. Maybe is just the aesthetic "/shrugs" :). I remember now ... the 6th medium laser constantly misses.

[@DocDelray]

The Battlemaster has become one of my main assault mechs on the field. It's smashed and melted enemy units time and time again for my mercs. Best one was when a lone Centurion tried to take it on at point blank, six medium lasers can make a lot of slag.

[@alessandragonzales8190]

F for that Centurion pilot, bravest, deadest bastard in the Inner Sphere.

[@DocDelray]

@@alessandragonzales8190 F

[@mbr5742]

A yes, the missile magnet.

[@Colonel_Overkill]

Ok, to seperate the pilots I need a large knife, a blowtorch, a chainsaw, and a dozen ears of corn, as well as a soundproof room and a few assistants. And no questions asked...

[@DIEGhostfish]

Ah the Janeway Dilema.

[@chesterstevens8870]

This machine sounds like it can bring a three-course meal of pain on anything short of ClanTech. I should look into acquiring some for myself. Out of curiosity, any thoughts on covering the Locust in a future video? Combat Chicken doesn't get enough love.

[@mageleader3699]

I might, but there isn't much to say about it. It goes fast and dies faster.

[@chesterstevens8870]

Fair enough, not exactly an impressive machine. What about the Archer?

[@Vessekx]

@@mageleader3699, “it goes fast and dies faster”. For the record there *are* variants other than the 3M.

[@Kathie1410]

3:19 OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT ABOMINATION

[@mageleader3699]

That's a jpg that looked a lot clearer in the Sony Vegas Pro preview window, lol.

[@Kathie1410]

@@mageleader3699 youtube has crappy video compressing so stuff with a lot of different pixels looks bad

[@knate44]

Would you rather have: more than 1 PPC or 2 rear mounted Medium lasers + also 2 machine guns on an 85 tonner? I'm sorry, but for the price I'll take an awesome or the BV, I'll take a thug. Maybe it is spicy if you play with quirks, but I never saw the appeal over other assaults.

[@CallsignYukiMizuki]

If the Battlemaster does agricultural duties, can you call it a weaponized CattleMaster? :P

[@Kathie1410]

weaponized cattle master cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/thumb/d/de/CattleMaster_color.jpg/347px-gqn8k1bik9lr26vael4ufbosq2x289n.jpg?timestamp=20100603121024

[@CallsignYukiMizuki]

@@Kathie1410 No, that's a Battlemaster :P

[@awittyusernamepleaselaugh7481]

If it's a Battlemaster fitted with only machine guns specifically for killing venomous snakes, would you call it a "Rattlemaster"?

[@Kathie1410]

@@awittyusernamepleaselaugh7481 they would have to be shitty pirate machineguns which would jam and make a rattling noise

[@awittyusernamepleaselaugh7481]

@@Kathie1410 What if it was built in the state of Washington in a city with a big "space needle" in it on Terra? Would it be... A Seattlemaster?

[@edwardmorrissette5817]

Whats this guy's mech warrior 5 mod list look like? 👀

[@Funkin_Disher]

Controversial opinion: id rather take a laserback (hunchy 4P). Same brace of medium lasers plus two more in place of the srms, same speed, almost as much armor, waaay cheaper, and easier to replace. Only problem is getting into brawling range without the 'backup' PPC.

[@BrotherCairus]

Hay what hud mod is that?

[@lukedudley5030]

You were right Pretty much everyone likes it except me lol. I've used them a few times in TT and never been overtly impressed :-) not tough enough and too much of an all rounder I'd rather have a designated assault that had a particular job to do personally :-) cool looking mech though :-)

[@bosukkim8523]

Haha wubmaster goes brrr

[@robin6469]

I like the Battlemaster in concept, but I would never pilot one. Sure its comfy, but there's assault mechs with far more firepower and armour than it for cheaper. I'd take a Stalker over it any day.

[@williamc230]

In mechwarrior 5 I need a assault mech. I use this monster. I hunt it down

[@codybailey5698]

Ok, step one to separate the pilots : Get the biggest pair of scissors you can find trust me I’ve seen doctors before

[@robrib2682]

All I'll say is try Canopous healthcare and if one person is dreadnaght'd then their reconstructive surgeons have made catgirls out of less

[@oneproudbrowncoat]

What's wrong with the Xanthos? Looks just the business to take out some clankers!

[@tenchraven]

Battlemasters, what happens when your T-bolt gets old and fat. For 20 tons, you gain one (1) medium laser, some butt lasers, and a ton and a half of armour, while giving up the LRM rack and a bunch of C-bills. If you really need a BM, buy a Thunderbolt. Swap the existing missile racks for an SRM-6, that will let you mount a fourth ML, upgrade the LL to a PPC, and put in a total of 19 heatsinks, for less money. Overpriced, overweight, overhyped, and over complicated to support. As for your pilots... Sounds like you need a command consol.

[@kailiciousthumbsup]

thats a dugram

[@SMAXZO]

Nope, that's the Soltic Bigfoot, the Dougram's the Shadowhawk.

[@Jkend199]

They stole the design from Robotech, and I can see why, what an awesome design. I can live the with PGI redesign, its not the original but its definitely not bad. This has always been my favorite mech, PERIOD. No OMNI variant (that's cannon) has ever been introduced that I know of, but in the games you can do what you want and my favorite thing to do in Battletech is get one of these and refit it with lost tech. It's an icon and I really wish they would just admit they stole it and pay the patent owners so we could get the Original B3M back, the most gorgeous mech in all of the Battletech univrese.

[@WolfHreda]

That's not at all what happened with the Unseen mechs.

[@olpepaw4747]

3rd like,first comment! WOOHOO😁

[@Gelgoog]

I think your Dougram has downs

[@SMAXZO]

Well, the Battle master is the Soltic Bigfoot. The Dougram's the Shadow Hawk IIRC

[@phildicks4721]

Never was much of a fan of the Battlemaster.