BattleTech Lore & History - Star League Civil War: A Complete 35 Year History (MechWarrior Lore)

[@Ironclockwork]

This is likely the finest scholarly presentation on the Star League era in Battletech to date. Well done, sir.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm glad you think so.

[@roguedexx938]

Facts!!

[@sinjin8576]

Ive seen historical documentaries backed by major networks, institutes and celebrities with less quality than this. Fantastic work by all involved.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, appreciate the kind words. Took about 13 months to finish this but happy with the way it came out.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

FINALLY! Thank you once again to everyone who offered me help and support throughout this series, and of course to those wonderful people who were kind enough to lend their voice to the project. I finished rendering this video back in early June, but because of internet problems I couldn't get it uploaded until just two days ago. It's finally finished processing (KZbin is still working on syncing the subtitles, let me know if they're still not working whenever you watch) so now I can at last share this finished project with you. It's more or less exactly the same as the individual episodes I released earlier, but with a few tiny corrections and additions. Plus, now it's in one handy video that is easier to share (hint hint). Because I rendered it back in June, there are several names missing from the Patreon credits at the end. I will be sure to make sure you are credited appropriately for the First Succession War series. Speaking of... the premiere for the first chapter is next Saturday. Thanks for all your kind words, it means a tremendous amount to me. Cheers, and here's to the next one🍺

[@apierion]

Man this makes me want a mechwarrior game based on the end of the amaris civil war and centered around the Terran campaign. We’ve never had a game set on earth. Want.

[@sms1655]

a series or movie would be great too

[@jamesblackfordjr8553]

I'd play it

[@jamesblackfordjr8553]

Honestly, Having it follow the black watch would be amazing

[@vanringo]

Anything that wasn't the MW2 based cartoon/cgi that was released in the 90s. As Diamond Shark for clans and Rim Worlds player for IS I hated that show

[@jamesperkins191]

​@@vanringo Like your sharkies eh?

[@Nxtl68]

I think my favorite part of all of this is that with all the other mech warrior KZbin personalities that are in here for guest parts. It gives the feel of an in-universe documentary about the event. Like this would not feel out of place on a CommStar transmission in universe while you're sitting in a dropship. This is really fantastic work.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was really going for that documentary feel with the other guests acting as fellow historians, political pundits, or even first-hand accounts.

[@limpedpoodle7596]

This is massive. The niche like me don't deserve you. Thank you BPL for showing me you exist but thank you most of all for existing. House Cameron still lives, Star League for LIFE!

[@muhammadedwards8425]

Amaris did nothing wrong! Periphery Freedom at any cost! For the Concordat! I love this hobby

[@MegaHarko]

@@muhammadedwards8425 Death to the false emperor! Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne! ohh wait... wrong universe....

[@muhammadedwards8425]

@@MegaHarko I don't know, it's only a matter of time for battletech to have a Legio Titanicus

[@limpedpoodle7596]

@@MegaHarko Still funny tho. Hope you're fitting in well after yalls exodus

[@limpedpoodle7596]

@@muhammadedwards8425 Amaris left you in the Rim Worlds to fend for yourself while he had the power of the whole Terran Hegemony, cowering away doing nothing.

[@snideaugustine2143]

Remember the Blackwatch. A truly epic presentation that the BPL sent me over to see. Well done.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thanks for coming to check out the video. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@marley7868]

yeah praise to the one day they were good at there jobs

[@IKMojito]

What an insanely massive project. What you do is amazing for the community and battletech as a whole

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I appreciate it. I had no idea how big this project was going to get. When I wrote it I thought I was insane doing something I thought would be around 5 hours in length. The fact it almost doubled in length during production is ridiculous.

[@smsluck13]

Eight hours of Star League lore and then TTB's two hour Hunchback video, I've got a sound track for my entire day!

[@almsley]

BattleTech was the nerd shit of my childhood. The fact that people like you and Tex and so many others have carried it into the modern age is amazing. You sir, are a legend.

[@EricDKaufman]

When Professor Tex Talks, you listen. Great job getting all these great BT community contributors and creators in on this. This might be 8 hours long but it hits like a fucking snub nose PPC.

[@roostercaffeine426]

Tex's voice spoke and I got chills. This is absolutely amazing. My two favorite BattleTech historians teaching me my history. My thanks and Sic Semper Invictus James "Ramrod" Riker, Mercenary, Nuclear Clubs Mercenary Group.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Glad you enjoyed it. This series wouldn't have taken on the form that it did without Tex's support from the start for which I'm extremely grateful.

[@michaelkimberling7307]

He sounds very angry when talking about the Ares Conventions. I get the feeling his character wouldn’t pee on the convention papers if they where on fire.

[@RouterChain]

​@@michaelkimberling7307 He would,rather,pour some gasoline on it. And remeber: it was not a convention it was a suggestion.

[@awlsond5367]

​@@michaelkimberling7307It was typical Tex. Likely, he was the one that lit them on fire to begin with.

[@TheSpaceHamster]

Amazing. And I can’t explain, but that ending is damn perfect. For being a tabletop game filled with so much lore, it also has the feels. Kerensky and SLDF sacrificed so much, and yet…knew they had to leave.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Cheers, Space Hamster. Really pleased you enjoyed it. I was very happy with the way this series concluded. The individual chapter upload had a slightly different ending (from Critical Rocket's section onwards, most notably a different song) but I had to change it for copyright reasons. If you're interested in seeing my original vision for it, you might want to check that out. Thanks again for the kind donation.

[@marley7868]

well deserved for the bs they propagated karmas a b*tch aint it

[@Sitsinhisroom]

Literally driving through Charlottesville as I'm listening to this and he mentions the battle in Charlottesville. Lol

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Get out while you still can.

[@MysteryMastery69]

The fact that this 8+ hour video already has over 3100 views is a testament to the quality of what you produce, Sven. Thank you for uploading it as a single video. This was a mission for you to get right, and I know we all appreciate it tremendously. The collaborative efforts are even more amazing! Thank you for doing this, youre a legend!

[@OmegablueWolf]

the Tex voice over had a real 'war, war never changes' energy to it!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

His voice recordings (and all the others) really took this series to another level that I couldn't have managed by myself.

[@thesilentninja9255]

I am really happy that all my favorite BTech creators support each other in the way that you guys go. Shows the quality of people that make great Battletech content.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

I cannot thank them enough for how willing they were to lend their support and time to the project. It was a wonderful experience getting to collaborate with them.

[@SPASTICSTONER]

8 hours?!?! YES PLEASE!! I love when so many people from that awesome community are narrating :)

[@kevinschwager4327]

I‘ve just recently joined the Battletech community and boy, i‘m totally hyped for it. Thanks to the work and effort from you and your fellow youtubers, i’m fairly able to access the lore behind all of it. Thank you, mate 🎉🤙🏼🤘🏻

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Welcome aboard. I'm glad I've been able to introduce you to some of the deep lore. I started this series back when there was a bit of a 40K Exodus going on for the benefit of those folks jumping ship, so it's always nice to hear when someone new finds it useful.

[@kevinschwager4327]

⁠​⁠@@SvenVanDerPlankyeah, you definitely did. I‘m also one of those 40k exodus dudes. I left 40k through various reasons and i‘m happy to have found a new place which i can call my new „nerdie“ home. The Battletech community in general is quit welcoming and heartwarming. I made the right choise. Again, thank you mate 🤙🏼☺️

[@GARICON]

Sven recalls the tales of a fictional world with such a passion and understanding that I could believe the people and battles fought in this story were real, and not simply the beautiful imagination of countless authors and game developers. It’s a shame we don’t have more historians to recount true events to the degree Sven has narrated these fictional ones. I feel like I have been given a gift, with these videos! Thank you for the, doubtless, thousands of hours of work you put into making these captivating videos.

[@kieranhosty]

This has been incredible to see come together, and now compiled into one 8 hour video? Glorious, well done Sven, this is an incredible achievement!

[@fredconney2896]

amazing to listen to it all in one complete video, amazing work. people like you and tex are the reason this community is alive and new fans can come into the space to enjoy the hobby and story. youre im only 2 hours in and its just as great to relisten to it as it was when they origianlly aired. your voice is alos really good for these documentary style videos. reminds me of the style of armchair historian lol.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I really appreciate you saying so. I'd have to say my voice is the worst part about the video, lol, especially because it's extremely inconsistent between chapters. But folks tell me it's calming and puts them to sleep. Not sure if that was the desired effect but I'll take it.

[@fredconney2896]

@@SvenVanDerPlank its just a calm and soothing voice that is gentle to listen to. its like we are sitting in a meuseum and youre talking about historical events casually, no need to be overly hype about it. i love falling asleep to lore videos. its just a great way to get info about the stories i love and i get to still support people like you with my watch time. even if it takes a week to actually complete the video you get 8x the watch time so its a win win lol. i really cant wait to see what else you make its been awesome to watch you on this journey over the last 18 ish months.

[@randomnetsurfer]

There was not a moment of this video that I was not absolutely captivated by the content. Holy heck!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thanks for watching. I'm really pleased to hear you found it engaging.

[@theguy3193]

No matter how many issues I have with the game itself, that MechWarrior5 music is doing some serious heavy lifting in the opening of this video.

[@reallyreallymacroscule]

56:30 is pretty heavy for me, the grand mobilization of a the combined might from a legendary conglomeration. This rewatch will hit brutally once I finally reach the second succession war.

[@NimbleJack3]

Currently suffering from a debilitating injury that has rendered me bedridden for weeks - this video has become my lifeline. I drift off at night to long explanations of SDF fleet dispositions.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

I'm sorry to hear that, but glad to be able to provide you with a distraction over the past couple weeks.

[@JeraldSizzler]

YESS, finally all together. I fucking love Battletech. Thank you very much sir.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

You are very welcome.

[@Nola_nadir]

Few hours in on the first watch thru. Absolutely astonishing amount of data/ knowledge to absorb. Many thanks for putting this together & an outstanding job well done by all parties involved.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Cheers. It was a lot of work but I'm really pleased with the way it all came together.

[@Lafavele]

This is a masterpiece, thank you for making this video

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

[@pferris3591]

Epic. Absolutely epic. Your work has had me enthralled for hours, and I do intend to listen again as the sheer amount of data is overwhelming to absorb in one sitting. The various voice talent and your style of storytelling will make it a treat instead of something like forced study for some academic test. Bravo, and heartfelt thanks to you and everyone involved in this project. 😊

[@dantauche7917]

Ho. Lee. Shit. This is insane. What an absolutely amazing video. Outstanding work by ALL involved!!!!

[@Tech_Renegade]

This is a tremendous achievement. Clealy presented with good visuals and thoroughly researched, it is truly a phenomenonal piece of content for such a niche subject. The battletech community is lucky to have such a dedicated creator.

[@olecranon5444]

The amount of work put in this is staggering, I can't imagine how much time, effort and rehearsal, changes you did to have this done! It's mind blowing. It's amazing how on a large scale you managed to demonstrate humanity good and bad sides. It's scary how many soldiers and civilians died across history. Never again I'll see Battletech world as just fun and thinking there are perfect good guys in it, I have a lot of respect for all that has been done by everyone involved in Battletech since the beginning! Again thank you for all this information.

[@matthewdavies986]

Congratulations! Thanks so much for making these, it was your age of war video that got me into battletech, looking forward to the start of the succession wars in the next episode

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

You're very welcome. It's really nice to hear that I was able to introduce somebody new to the franchise. Hope the First Succession War lives up to expectations.

[@GhostRabbiit]

This is phenomenal! I cant put it in words, as someone rather new to the Battletech universe this is just perfect And the ending... its so bitter

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm really pleased you enjoyed it. If you haven't already seen them, there are a couple of videos in this timeline that might interest you.

[@Linkous12]

The amount of work you put into this is tremendous.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

At several points it felt like this was never going to get finished. At times it was a truly miserable process putting it together (looking at you Battle for Terra) but the satisfaction I got seeing it through to the end and getting to read the response has been wonderful.

[@grimos6490]

You are an Inspiration, I now feel I have the resolve to finish something I want to submit, or at least make progress on it.@@SvenVanDerPlank

[@fredlandry6170]

Hopefully you could do the succession wars?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

There premiere is already up on the channel, set for September 2nd.

[@JustShoveJayOhBe]

I cleaned 3 rooms in my house while listening to this and boy did I enjoy cleaning this way

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Glad you enjoyed listening, but those must have been awful big rooms if you only cleaned three in eight hours.

[@JustShoveJayOhBe]

@@SvenVanDerPlank hah - probably not too big but awful messy we only just got a daycare slot this week and I hadn’t deep cleaned in a long time!

[@crashtestdummy9985]

What a choonky video...lovely work, boss. Definitely excited for your SW1 vid coming out in a week. My understanding of the lore basically ends at the SL fall, so that will help fill in the gaps I'm missing. Smashing the like button like it owes me money.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

This will unquestionably be the longest I ever do in this series. What a mountain of work it was to get it done, but so happy to see it finished. I'm definitely looking forward to starting the next series. It's a truly horrific time period in the setting. Already completed the first five episodes.

[@kilrathi827]

Honest to god, this is one of the best lore videos I've ever watched for any franchise. It was like sitting through an all day political and military history seminar and I loved every moment. I particularly got chills when Tex was talking about how the Star League effectively reaped what it had sown; it was the true anger of a son of the Periphery coming out in that moment. Great job.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm really pleased you enjoyed it. Was a big undertaking but very happy with the results.

[@seanbarber6283]

This is phenomenal! Well done to all who put this together! ❤

[@roguedexx938]

Amaris the Palpatine of the Battletech Universe!! This was ABSOLUTELY AWESOME wish you could translate it into a book

[@Jaime-Wolf]

I watched this entire presentation over the last 2 days this is by far the best lore video ive ever seen. Thank you for providing movie levels of entertainment cause that was a masterpiece!!

[@zippita11]

Thanks!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you very much for the kind donation, Boarhound.

[@RiftShredemption]

HUUUUGE collaboration, and epicly informative historical video essay. Awesome work, Sven!

[@Zoneout3058]

This is by far the best video of the Amaris/Star League civil war that I've seen. Well done!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you very much, that's high praise indeed.

[@wesesheskhnemtuhit]

That was so cool. Listened through the entire thing while painting today. Thank you.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

You're welcome. Must have been quite a painting session if you got through the whole eight hours in one sitting. Were you doing a whole company?

[@MissStormcaller80]

Wonderful video, I learned so much more from these videos, thanks to everyone who helped in making it so amazing. ^-^

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Cheers, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it and ever grateful to those who contributed their voices to the project.

[@CheeseTriangles]

The fact that this is 8 hours was enough for me to subscribe

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Ha, well thank you. It was quite an undertaking to put together. Hope it proves worth your time.

[@CheeseTriangles]

@@SvenVanDerPlank well worth the time man. 10/10. You did good.

[@harvestblades]

Thank you Sven Tex & the BPL, BigRed40Tech, & many others that have taught me both the Lire & better how to play BT over the last year & a half. I haven't had the finances to buy up all the sourcebooks & definitely don't have the time to sit & read through them which I would prefer to do. I've really enjoyed learning so much of this rich lore, & more advanced concepts, strategies, tactics & rules for the game which has increased my enjoyment so much during an especially difficult year

[@wimhertogen5979]

Excellent work on the whole thing, I certainly didn't know anything before but this format and content really got me into it.

[@lukestuart7530]

I have now listened to this several times (great for being at work) and I'll probably listen through it again! Absolutely brilliant work, as have been all your BT videos mate

[@hshdjddhd7559]

So, all of this could have been avoided if the Star League had just left the periphery nations alone

[@johnd2058]

This could have been avoided with common sense safety regs & practices: don't put the mindmeld robot within arm's length of anything else.

[@RedNaught2442]

Sir, this is, to many of us, on a similar level to Tex and his videos. Im sure the man himself has told you as such. Keep up the outstanding work!

[@coreystockdale6287]

Oh my now this is a birthday present to never forget.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Happy Birthday to you.

[@JC-nl9yq]

>8 hours Man, this is like a full time job that I actually want to show up to.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

I've heard a few people have my videos on in the background at work. Glad to be able to make the day pass a little quicker.

[@JC-nl9yq]

@@SvenVanDerPlank This is absolutely playing on my car stereo with the phone sitting on the gauge cluster under my dashboard for the next week worth of driving.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

I hope you're just listening while driving and not trying to watch to. As someone who drives for a living, not sure I like the idea of somebody trying to do both at once, lol.

[@JC-nl9yq]

@@SvenVanDerPlank Don’t worry friend, I haven’t had an accident in over 17 years. I’m a professionally safety-trained driver and I know how to divy my attention. I attained additional training in order to teach rookies the ropes at my job and my children will have to learn everything I learned before they ever touch my steering wheel. They’ve seen me steer with my knees as well as text and drive and they both know that each of those comes with a huge risk. I don’t type more than one character on my phone while driving without diverting my eyes back to the road to make sure I don’t become part of the problem. Rest assured, most of your video I don’t see because I’m too focused on the road. I mostly hear the audio and that’s it.

[@sotbs2641]

@@JC-nl9yq "i'm a safe driver: i only **lightly** distract myself from driving"

[@graywolfalphaone]

This is such a well done series and I do love a good long video. I thank you sir and look forward to you're future works. It dose this old, mostly forgotten franchise good for such love a letter to be written.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. BT is having somewhat of a renaissance recently, which is wonderful to see. The fanbase is definitely growing.

[@charlesisaacson5192]

Great work. Glad to hear Tex quotes.

[@KMCA779]

He even got to talk about McKenna's Pride like he said he wanted to in his Amaris Civil War video.

[@StelyDn]

I have been aware of the lore of Battletech... I didn't realize the depth and breath of the lore. 🤯 Thank you for this.

[@atomictraveller]

it's probably all from the original 80s release, when fast movement didn't make crybabies lose

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

The scope of the franchise is kind of incredible. It's unmatched by anything else I'm aware of apart from Star Wars of course. Such a wonderfully expansive universe.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

While the foundations were laid in the 80s, the main source for much of this info (Historical: First Succession War) was written much more recently in 2016.

[@samadams2203]

I love how absolutely gargantuan the military forces involved were. They really fit the scale of the setting.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

It's the highwater mark for the Successor State militaries. The destruction they would cause would ensure that the modern setting will never involve numbers like this again.

[@sendi_sen]

I’m sorry, but I haven’t been able to sleep and this is just the absolute perfect length for me to sleep.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

At 8 hours I should hope so. Probably still be rambling on when you wake up.

[@sendi_sen]

@@SvenVanDerPlankAhuh, I woke up to the liberations of Moscow and the family reunion. I woke up several times throughout the night and the lack of silence let me try to keep on sleeping. Thanks you. :)

[@trevorstein4603]

What a Masterpiece. Truly an Epic. Thank you for all involved, well done!

[@Sullllllllly]

truly an effort of love, art and community

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

At times it was more an effort of frustration, misery and community. Thankfully that last part kept me going.

[@griffingamer8624]

This is an awesome video. At only 14 minutes, I can see the love and craft put into it. I plan to finish it over the next few days or a lazy afternoon of catatonic binging.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you. I really hope you enjoy the video.

[@Korraganitar]

Gonna throw it out there: Kerensky should have listened to his subordinates at the end and taken control. Maybe it would have been a betrayal of his principles, but it could have prevented the Succession Wars, which were apocalyptic. Not to mention his exodus led to the Clans, and indirectly to the Word of Blake.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

There's always the chance that if he remained he could have found some way to prevent the war, but in my eyes it had already reached the point of inevitability. Remaining would have just made the others turn to weapons of mass destruction sooner to reduce the numbers disparity faster.

[@MrJack556]

Pretty sure if he had stayed it would have only contributed more firepower to the succession wars. Besides, if we didn't get the clans then spheroids would never get to gloat about Tukkyid every year.

[@Korraganitar]

@@SvenVanDerPlank maybe. At the same time, a chance to shorten that ever-growing tower of bodies you are starting your 1st succession war videos with would have been worth taking I think.

[@Athrun82]

The problem with that is that the Hegemony which would have been his powerbase was in essence dead. Thanks in no small part to Kerensky himself. He indirectly led to the changes in the Hegemony's administration which kept the experienced but "tainted" officials out of office and put inexperienced ones in place. Plus the entire SLDF was slowly breaking apart as well among loyalties and factions (remember the SLDF was made out of men and women from all Houses with the excpetion of the Royal units)

[@kylevidauri4869]

The issue is Kerensky really only had control over the SLDF because of respect and unity of purpose, even then he didn't have perfect control as defections prove. Had Kerensky remained, its possible more of the SLDF would see the writing on the wall, and take their equipment with them. Imagine the chaos that would erupt.

[@gerritvandenbosch4681]

8 long hours!!!!! Finally something to get me through a Saturday shift!

[@LashanaKaos]

Excellent work! I was fascinated the whole time. Your dedication and passion for Battletech history really shine. KZbin does completely desync and speed up the subtitles starting around halfway through Chapter VI: Vengeance. (Only mentioning because of the pinned comment requesting feedback on that.)

[@DzinkyDzink]

Oh my God... The complete history of it... I now have sleep aid for several months now.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Always amused to hear my voice puts people to sleep. Everybody must love a nice bedtime story that features the death of millions.

[@harbingerx7793]

​@SvenVanDerPlank you do have a great bedtime story voice. I too lull myself to sleep with calmly delivered warcrimes.

[@DzinkyDzink]

@@SvenVanDerPlankFinally finished after 3 weeks. You truely took me on a journey.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Glad you enjoyed it enough to see it through to the end. On to the First Succession War now then. Nothing helps a person sleep like tales of warcrimes and annihilation.

[@RouterChain]

​@@SvenVanDerPlank Of course!

[@davidnemoseck9007]

Wow. Took me a while, but finally got it done. And it was worth every minute of it. Great job!

[@alexnocher3958]

Great work. Will keep my car rides to work entertaining for a a solid while.

[@savior_ru9773]

Well, that is goddamn immense. I cannot imagine amount of work putted into project. And, also, we should thank other contributors to the project. Their elements adds a good chunk of details. P.S: make no mistake like me and do not compare this project and Tex's project. While they shares same goal, they doing it in theirs own ways and focusing on different aspects, complementing each other. And ultimately successful in such gial.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you. I'm glad I didn't track the number of hours because I think I would be horrified with the result. From the beginning of script writing to releasing the last chapter in June was 13 months. I had a conversation with Tex at one point about my initial worries in doing the Civil War again when the BPL had already done it so well. But just like you said, I found that coming afterwards gave me the opportunity to explore new aspects of the story, and trust that my audience was already familiar with the parts that the BPL had focused on.

[@harbingerx7793]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I love seeing all the components together. ❤😊

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

You're welcome. Can't recall who first suggested combining the episodes into a compilation at the end but it was a great idea. Gives me a chance to fix any mistakes and put out something that feels finished, instead of just part of a whole.

[@TheZacorrie29]

This is a great day for battletech this and tex hell yeah

[@spiritoffire3183]

Love the video, question for you. @38:50 you have the SLDF Navy command emblem from the Liberation of Terra Vol 1. But where is the SLDF Army emblem from? I know the emblem is in the SLDF Field Manual, but it's a page break. Where did you find that that's the actual Army emblem? Thank you! Love your work!

[@derekburge5294]

You, good sir, are a treasure. Thank you.

[@dutchduke8864]

Amazing Job. Thank you

[@jmill1334]

It hurts my soul that this masterpiece only has 97k views. Battletech (and of course Sven) deserves a bigger fanbase, such a great setting!

[@fredlandry6170]

This is one of my favorite eras in Battletech, the fall of Star League. What if it was a secret society that had Simon Cameron killed?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

There's an uncountable number of possibilities. The question is, did whoever did it get the outcome they wanted, or did somebody else (Amaris perhaps) take better advantage of the situation?

[@inspiredwon2670]

Love this collaboration and history. So good.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Glad to hear you're enjoying it.

[@nemamiah7832]

Amazing work, good sir. I think I know what I'm going to listen to at work today.

[@christopherbutcher6642]

This is absolutely outstanding

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm glad you think so.

[@MADSAHAD]

8hrs!!!!!! My family is going to have to do without me for a evening as I digest this one😏👍

[@JRufu]

Thank you for all the hard work.

[@thomascollette5953]

I remember playing BT in the 1980s. I have all the old lore books. Well done Sir! Now with BTA 3062 I have caught the bug again.

[@MrJack556]

Just finished this. The end gave me chills. Good job man. And thanks.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

You're welcome. I'm glad you found it enjoyable enough to watch it the whole way through. I'm very happy with how the ending turned out. If you're curious, you might consider rewatching the final sequence in the original upload. I had a specific vision in mind which you can see there but had to change it for copyright reasons in this full series compilation.

[@MrJack556]

@@SvenVanDerPlank i think I will.

[@spiritbomber9359]

Oh lord the full playlist is finally here, time to dig in

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Long time coming, but at eight hours, you can really submerge yourself in this one.

[@IceGavel]

Does anyone have a name for that lovely guitar track you hear a few times in this video (example timestamp 5:42:43 )?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

It's the first track off the MechWarrior 5 soundtrack, "Threshold."

[@IceGavel]

@@SvenVanDerPlankMuch appreciated, thank you!

[@workshoptelescope]

Phenomenal work, Sven.

[@slayeroflore221]

Thank you for this! Excellent work.

[@donsquatch4004]

Is this a compilation of your previous videos? I'd just like to know, because I have the others on a Playlist and will watch this instead. Thanks, love your stuff.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Yes, this is a compilation of all nine Star League Civil War chapters, with all errors corrected.

[@donsquatch4004]

@@SvenVanDerPlank Wow, thank you responding, and thank you for doing this! You are top tier Battletech channel. Much appreciated.

[@scottanderson5581]

Incredible work. Enjoyed this a lot.

[@oldyeller1111]

Absolutely hilarious to me to see the Kurita, almost blatantly, aid the SLDF repeatedly and Kerensky still goes "hmm.... no, they must be in leauge with Amaris"

[@joemomma2189]

To be fair, the stresses of war void sober thoughts, and Kurita doesn't have the...best reputation.

[@MM22966]

I think...If this were about an event in real life, it would rank with great histories such as the Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon, or Victory at Sea or the BBC's WW2 video series.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you. One day I might even reach a point in the timeline where I can use the video games as "archive footage." I've had a few people compare my videos to something Ken Burns might make, which is very high praise in my book.

[@MM22966]

Speaking of Ken Burns, one idea for any future project is add little personal antecedents/interviews/first-person statements, sort of the way the old Battletech sourcebooks had little quotes or stories at the start of each chapter. I still remember how in the Burns episode about the battle of Chancellorsville, all the small animals of the forest ran ahead of the huge mass of Confederate troops moving through the trees, right before they surprised the Union encampment, and one soldier muttered: "Run ol'hare! If I was an ol'hare, I'd run too! Stuff like that. @@SvenVanDerPlank

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

@MM22966 Big Red 40TECH actually suggested that too me way back at the start of this series but most folks I spoke to preferred to voice something as themselves. Big Red did end doing one character bit in Ep.7 for the Battle of Carver, but that was it.

[@MM22966]

@@SvenVanDerPlank I have one other suggestion: You should send a message to Harebrained Schemes/Piranha Games/Jordan Weisman/etc with an offer to do an intro, companion work, or some other kind of audiovisual history addition for the next Battletech game/DLC. They may just ignore it, but if they are LOOKING for something like that, it may be a way to earn serious money for this AND get you canon recognition for your work as a Battletech historian.

[@entr0physt]

Finally finished it! That was outstanding, sir.

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

Thank you, I'm glad you think so. How long did it take you to get through it out of interest?

[@entr0physt]

@@SvenVanDerPlank A little over a week. About an hour a day, mixing it up with other stuff. I’d already binged on the Reunification war and Golden Age before you’d made the HL2 playthroughs, so I knew I wanted to actually watch it and not skim it.

[@Dracobyte]

Thank you for making these documentaries about the Battletech timeline!

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

You're very welcome. Thanks for your support

[@paulmitrovich6339]

I love the voice collaboration with all the creators in this series!

[@odinsrensen7460]

Finally finished this one. Good work. Insert applause.

[@thomasblunt3404]

The Theodor Logan had better have a fighter squadron based on it called "Wild Stallions"

[@donneale7555]

Bogus

[@TheLogan-ir6di]

A lot of work went into this and I appreciate that.

[@jamesperkins191]

4:00:41 Engadine LOL There was a meme a few years ago going about that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison got really drubk after the State Of Origin rugby game and shit himself at the Engadine McDonald's... I'm not sure if that's what BattleTech was going for though...

[@TorricRoma]

5:45:00 question. Why didn't they send their warships and destroy the space defensive before sending the transports?

[@SvenVanDerPlank]

That's essentially what Task Force LEONIDAS did. It's worth noting that these WarShips are themselves massive transports, often with more DropShip docking collars than the traditional JumpShips, not to mention their holds are full of munitions and supplies.