BattleTech: The Grey Death Legion Battle Armor - A Short History

[@michaelkimberling7307]

Satchel charges and crazy were the primary arms of Grey Death Infantry. The guns they carried where just add ons

[@MechanicalFrog]

Fair.

[@robertivey7644]

Let’s be honest besides Cassie Ms. Capellan mechjacker there isn’t a merc company known for anti mech infantry then GDL I miss them.

[@MechanicalFrog]

@@robertivey7644 They're coming back in the IlClan era!

[@WolfHreda]

Ramage wouldn't have it any other way.

[@harbingerx7793]

GDL has always had a special place in my heart as my favorite mercenary unit. And thier scout armor had the absolute best art of any battle armor!

[@MechanicalFrog]

The art for the GDL suits is very good. I just wish there was more of it.

[@merkarion7883]

@@MechanicalFrog Grey Death Standard suit seems for me always a bit like a Terminator Armor from WH40k^^

[@MechanicalFrog]

@@merkarion7883 It has a little bit of that look to it.

[@Ironclockwork]

*Wags finger at the Blakists* This is why we can’t have nice things. Blasted kerfuffles.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Life is full of little challenges.

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

GDTech: Our first design will be known as GDS armor. Marketing: That's snappy, good start to our BA line. What's next? GDTech: The GDS, of course. Marketing: Isn't that the same thing? GDTech: Nope, it's completely different. Marketing: What about the third suit? GDTech: You will love this. It's the GDS! Marketing: Really?

[@MechanicalFrog]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[@defiantmechwarrior2397]

And knowing is half the battle.

[@MechanicalFrog]

5/4ths of the battle. Inflation spares no one.

[@sim.frischh9781]

The Grey Death BAs are generally great, i like their design and their capabilities. Nothing spectacular, but constant solid performance. And with the great background story with the Legion, which is always a plus.

[@Accentaur]

Love their BAs myself tbh. They managed to make a nice variety of them too. Haven't even finished the Gray Death trilogy as of now. Their backstory is pretty great. Last I heard was that some descendants have revived/are reviving the GDL name.

[@sim.frischh9781]

@@Accentaur When i decided to start with BattleTech novels, i intentionally got me the first ones, the Grey Death Trilogy. Honestly, they were not as good as i had hoped, but still good enough to get me hooked on BT novels for a LOOOOOONG time.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Agreed!

[@DrVanBoom]

Battle Armour is such a great addition to BT (tabletop and lorewise). Thanks for your great content!

[@franksmedley7372]

DrVB: You have lived until you have played a battle with NO Battlemechs whatsoever. An all, or mostly Infantry battle, with Battle Suits, Infantry, and Vehicles can be a freewheeling, sprawl of a battle, that most resembles two ant hordes locked in mortal combat.

[@DrVanBoom]

@@franksmedley7372 A suggestion worth considering ... Maybe you gave me an idea for the next mission in the tabletop/rpg campaign i DM ...

[@MechanicalFrog]

When people figure out how good it is... oh nelly...

[@robertivey7644]

@@franksmedley7372this is why the Charger survived the succession wars as an antiInsurgency Battletech. When it’s the only mech on the field nobody cares that it just has 5 small lasers.

[@whitefoxplays]

Information is Ammunition! Always loved the look of the GDL Scout suits! Some of my favorite BA Art!

[@MechanicalFrog]

They are sleek.

[@franksmedley7372]

Hello Frog. I never really used Battle Armored Powered Infantry Suits in the games I played many years ago. The few battles that I did field such armor, I used Gray Death Suits. For my new Mercenary group, the Ghost Lions Legions, and the 'colony' created to support them, I made provision for lots of manufacturing of all sorts, including VTOLs, Vehicles, and yes... Battle Armor. The Legion has its pic of the best of Inner Sphere Battle Armor designs, and yet, the Gray Death Suits amount to well over half of the suits produced in Stygian Compact factories for field use with the Legions. I even designed a special Battle Armor Transport vehicle for them... a vehicle that has six 'pods', in groups of three along each side, where the suit is housed. External, armored, ramps (to visualize, imagine a 'human' sized ramp similar to what was on the Landing Craft during D-Day in WWII) that open directly to the exterior environment, while on the interior side, there is an access hatch to enable the Suits to be maintained, and for the wearer to exit the vehicle's armored core and enter their suit, to be deployed via the armored exterior ramp. The Transport is moderately armored, and armed with 3 heavy MGs (one per side), and a bow mounted ER Medium Laser, and is faster than the suits it carries into battle. The vehicle armor is light due to being a form of mimetic (stealth) armor. The 'Pod' bays are large enough to carry almost any kind of Battle Armor available, although some of the largest need a specialized Carrier for armor that cumbersome. As said, the Transport (nicknamed the Turtle) carries six (6) suits, which is the Legion 'standard' unit size. I have also designed a VTOL to carry a unit (6) of Battle Suits as well. The overall design resembles the Russian Hind helicopter, only a bit larger. It ends up being a bit better armored than the Hind, but just about as fast. Although it has no stealth armor, it is armored enough to survive a few hits and still be able to deploy its cargo into combat. The only Gray Death suit design that I do not field is the scout variant. Several other suits have TAG, or can be TAG equipped, and one design is Mimetic, so the GD Scout is not really needed. At least in my estimation. Loving your videos. Keep at it. speaking 'Frank'-ly.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thanks a bunch for the added fluff!

[@Marianom84]

You can name the transport Landrider... i mean...

[@TygerYasha]

I always thought Grayson Carlyle looked really similar to Owen Wilson. (Era Report 3052, p. 80)

[@MechanicalFrog]

Can't top that 80s rocker hair and jacket with the arms ripped off.

[@TygerYasha]

@@MechanicalFrog Right?! I still think the 90's were only ten years ago. Well, like they say, growing up is giving up!

[@MechanicalFrog]

@@TygerYasha It's still 1992-3 in my brain.

[@jjsheets330]

I was waiting for a good kerfuffle and got it. Keep up the great work

[@MechanicalFrog]

There's usually one.

[@nicolasgodines1129]

First. Also keep up the good work, love these BA videos and hope you keep doing them.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thanks! Will do!

[@Bolththrower]

More BA content! Nice!

[@MechanicalFrog]

More to come!

[@martyh360]

Thanks, great summary!

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thanks for coming by. Have a great one!

[@sebastiang.5032]

I'd love to see you cover the Sylph or Kanazuchi BAs. 😁

[@MechanicalFrog]

Great suggestion!

[@vana.johnson8845]

Another video Brother @Mech Frog 🤖🐸 you just keep pumping them. We will keep Tuning in‼‼

[@MechanicalFrog]

The nonsense train has no brakes.

[@mikegould6590]

I've never used any GDL Battle Armor before, but I may consider it now. My reunion with Battletech after a long drought came with Clix, so BA like the Purifiers, Gnomes, and Clan dominated my forces. Of these, the Purifier saw the most action. It's point cost vs power was too good to question. When CGL took over the reigns, Elementals and Gnomes have seen action in Classic. Clix taught me the value of combined arms, and I'm not going back. That's why I'm proudly Hell's Horse, and will be until I die, regardless of the abuse heaped upon us by poor narrative.

[@MechanicalFrog]

It could be fun. Set them out... fly... be free... slay those Clanners!

[@HDKG-SiF]

Just wanted to say another badass and on point video!

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thanks a ton!

[@seanbrazell7095]

I JUST finished listening to the grey death legion trilogy in audiobook format on audible only to find our my newly beloved characters are dead! HOW do you sleep at night??!! HOW?! ☝️ 😉 Aside from my self induced existension crisis, fantastic video. The GDL trilogy would make for an amazing community animation project, something akin to Hellsreach 40k animation a few years back.

[@MechanicalFrog]

It's a great story. Sorry about the whole mortality thing. :D

[@randomnetsurfer]

Liking for the reference to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs....

[@MechanicalFrog]

:) So glad when people catch the little things.

[@jtjames79]

I get the feeling this channel is about to take off. 👍

[@MechanicalFrog]

I'm just going to keep moving forward and improving the content as best I can.

[@Bluehairedgirl89]

(Thank you very much for all the work you put into this video! I enjoyed it quite a bit.)

[@MechanicalFrog]

My pleasure!

[@ThelemicPotter]

You are on a ROLL! So much great content.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@harvestblades]

Frog, I greatly appreciate this series as while it was Clan Wolf & then Ghost Bear that brought me into this Universe back in the MW2 days I am very much a combined arms doctrine kind of guy and since the Clans generally look down on armor, hovertanks, & VTOLs for Frontline units I really want to learn more about how the Clan's traditionally approach combined arms using only 'mechs & elementals to achieve their goals. I also find how the IS has integrated battle armor intontheir forces. I remember your older "why we love elementals" video but this series has taken that to the next level. Not sure if you have specific videos up, but if you're looking for ideas I would like to get your take on the traditional Clan approach to combined arms utilizing light, & med mechs as well as elementals to fill the needs traditionally filled by mobile Infantry, armor as well as attack choppers & VTOLs.

[@MechanicalFrog]

I will look into that for the future.

[@DapperRaccoon]

This series is some of my favorite Battletech content. Can't wait to see where you go after battle armor!

[@MechanicalFrog]

Thanks a ton!

[@TehSquare]

The Grey Death Heavy BA is in TRO: 3085 and Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged- Old is the New New for those looking for it. Kinda a weird out of the way place for it.

[@MechanicalFrog]

I don't see anything about it my pdf of the 3085 TRO. It's in the record sheets unabridged but not the TRO.

[@TehSquare]

@@MechanicalFrog I’ll let the Master Unit List Team know, its in the RS book, but the MUL lists it as also being in the TRO.

[@williamjanak2013]

As some one that loves Command & Conquer when some one states the GDI did something good. I wonder want angle they are playing. Great video as always.

[@tarazzzs]

You just got a new subscriber. Great video. man.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Awesome, thank you! I'll work hard to keep earning it.

[@tarazzzs]

@@MechanicalFrog Just do your best, no need to go over board)

[@MechanicalFrog]

@@tarazzzs The nonsense must flow!

[@walt_man]

AS a 40k fan, I love these designs in a Rogue Trader, SST Mobile Infantry sort of way.

[@kierdalemodels]

Excellent stuff. I know little about the GDL. That heavy suit looks cool. Shame there isn’t more info on it. Information is ammunition!

[@MechanicalFrog]

Yeah maybe it'll get the ilclan update treatment some day.

[@DanielIsberner]

Nothing on the Reaper variant of the Scout suit 😭 or did I just miss it?

[@MechanicalFrog]

I must have missed that.

[@gabrieliacoboni6951]

Love this group. Glad to see it was brought back in this new Era.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Even though the GDL is the continual punching bag of Clan Jade Falcon, I'm glad to see they are returning in the IlClan era. Including the armor.

[@patriotjedi530]

I'm not sure the GDL Heavy armor is canon, I can't find any information on it anywhere in any official sources, which leads me to believe you stumbled onto a custom/fan-made armor.

[@MechanicalFrog]

The Grey Death Heavy has an officially produced Catalyst record sheet from the 3085 Unabridged PDF pg. 22. It has one piece of art, which I showed, on that record sheet. Beyond that, nuffin.

[@SeismicWolf]

"The word of Blake years were....Unkind" That is all you had to say

[@MechanicalFrog]

You don't want to anger the Word of Blake BT fans. They're crazy!

[@robertivey7644]

@@MechanicalFrogI mean at one gencon we all voted the Word of Blake artillery out MVP and we weren’t playing word of Blake.

[@MechanicalFrog]

@@robertivey7644 Blake's word is love. Blake's word is life.

[@robertivey7644]

@@MechanicalFrog Blake’s Arty drifts to take out Blake’s own infantry, vehicles and mechs every turn for an entire battle:)

[@MechanicalFrog]

@@robertivey7644 That's for the best.

[@JosephMitchell-zw3db]

Thanks for all your hard work 😊😅🎉

[@bthsr7113]

If they bring back the original spec, they should market it as the heavy strike. The premium version that the customers will pay more for to get the extra lethality. Though I do see the basic manipulators and lower cost of the current main version still being attractive enough to still see a substantial portion of used models.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Will New Elemental be sweeter and slightly off-putting until they bring back Classic Elemental?

[@bthsr7113]

@@MechanicalFrog I don't see the classic ceasing production just yet

[@Eulemunin]

Feeding the algorithm

[@MechanicalFrog]

nom nom nom...

[@givemeanaxe]

The destruction of the GDL was.... well, bluntly it was a big motivator in my hiatus from the game.

[@richardolierii5419]

I found the Gray Death Heavy Suit stats on the Mech Factory App

[@MechanicalFrog]

Sweet.

[@biancamitchell-x3f]

Cool thanks

[@MechanicalFrog]

You bet

[@jasonscarborough94]

5:42 The Na'vii

[@keebbles]

Can you do the Water useful Battle Armors?

[@MechanicalFrog]

Maybe. Will look into it.

[@joshuamidgette4846]

Annoyingly, I have Achilleus battlearmor in Battletech 3062 but so far no pilots for it to be used at any of the planets I have been to so far.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Quite the quandary.

[@joshuamidgette4846]

@@MechanicalFrog Not really a problem, I now have two assault tanks to play with. A Puma, and a Challenger X MBT.

[@gregbird5684]

WELCOME TO THE THUNDERDOME!!!!!!😁👏😁👏😁👏

[@MechanicalFrog]

Post-apocalyptic Friday.

[@JosephMitchell-zw3db]

He’ll yes

[@nurgle333]

🥃

[@MechanicalFrog]

Cheers.