BATTLETECH: The Hussar

[@MLCrisis1790]

I used a Hussar to take down a friend's Marauder with some good rolls and getting into his rear arc. He was so livid I thought blood was going to shoot out his ear.

[@BigRed40TECH]

Nice. lmao

[@ThugShakers4Christ]

*his rear

[@camdenharper7244]

There is only one way see to make this mech not useless, and I have hated this mech for 30+ years. Swarm. Roll up with 15+ of these. That's a problem. One, two? whatever. Bring a bunch and you might do some shit

[@jollyjohnthepirate3168]

They called the World War 2 Italian light cruisers the cardboard fleet because of their lack of meaningful armor. I think we have found the Battletech equivalent.

[@jessicalacasse6205]

what if it was suposed to be a hit and run scheme ( like the monghols if you would compare them to a european heavy infantry they would suck but they could blitkrieg your country bypassing army and attacking further inland ...( my thought on jet mechs hit on 1 side of the planet my enemy amass there then attack thousand of kilometers elsewhere no atlas can follow that ) maybe im wrong ...or like the hellcat td in ww2 it needed a big gun and speed nothing much else

[@BoisegangGaming]

A single leaf hits the hussar, lightly tapping its plating. WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE DETECTED

[@robrib2682]

TFW the infantry squad doesn't need to break out the missiles to bring down your lancemate

[@jessicalacasse6205]

what if it was suposed to be a hit and run scheme ( like the monghols if you would compare them to a european heavy infantry they would suck but they could blitkrieg your country bypassing army and attacking further inland ...( my thought on jet mechs hit on 1 side of the planet my enemy amass there then attack thousand of kilometers elsewhere no atlas can follow that ) maybe im wrong ...or like the hellcat td in ww2 it needed a big gun and speed nothing much else

[@clydecraft5642]

@@jessicalacasse6205iirc yeah it has a 360 degree turret

[@niven7953]

With 1.5 tons of armor, it's probably for the best that the Dragoons never got their hands on it. Their mech variants almost always involve stripping off multiple tons of armor to add more guns, so a Wolf's Dragoons Hussar might be the first mech in the game to end up completely unarmored.

[@bthsr7113]

There's something kind of cool about this being one of the few high speed light mechs with actual arms and hand actuators. Doesn't eliminate the survival problems at all, but it is cool, but I like to imagine a skilled pilot grabbing injured commanders and running back to the MASH while firing its laser continuously to keep the enemy at bay.

[@eddapultstab2078]

In the advanced rules I believe you can get better +3 move penalty to hit. Stacking the odds is a quality in itself.

[@Curleyconcon]

Not to mention the mount for the laser would let you shoot directly backwards.

[@Marveryn]

@@Curleyconcon yeah that large laser should be a torrent allow for 360 firing arc add the speed and then you have a calvery design that is workable even if it lack amor for staying power.

[@eopatcjo]

I like the idea that it could punch straight into another cockpit and just steal the mech warrior

[@AWholeLegionary]

*"AND THE WINGED HUSS-"* *CT destruction sound*

[@arisakathedappergoose4796]

non-cannon LAM version; the Winged Hussar. I'll see myself out :)

[@rmcdudmk212]

If I'm going for a weird mech among weird mechs I think I'd go with the Champion or Scorpion LAMs 🤣

[@R17inator]

Non-canon IIC version developed by Clan Jade Falcon with their signature Partial Wing system.

[@crispwhitesheets2175]

Its Piloted mostly by Polish Desended Pilots.

[@arisakathedappergoose4796]

@@rmcdudmk212 it could be the "my First LAM"; the one you pilot before getting a Champion LAM

[@patrickkenyon2326]

Hey, I've heard that song!

[@treevenewson]

The Hussar is a great example of good theory meeting harsh reality.

[@eddapultstab2078]

I actually did a scenario involving royal hussars screening for an armored column. The thing is the ecm and speed made them a serious problem and those allied vehicles covered by them gave them a slight edge. It's one of those mechs that you need to play smartly, especially the high tech versions.

[@FakeSchrodingersCat]

Actually it is a good example of the game not allowing for the complexity that would be present in reality. Here you have a very fast long range harassment mech that is supposed to keep moving at full speed hit the enemy for minor damage and retreat before circling back again, in a game where there is a definite edge to the world that you cannot retreat past. This means that what normally happens is it is simply trapped against the edge of the map and then blown apart at close range. If you play it on a large enough map it is very effective.

[@seannorthern8854]

Just a thought: I never understood the addition of the ferro-fibrous armour on such a lightly-armoured vehicle. For the in-universe cost, it would make far more logistical sense to use endo-steel, and plough the additional 1.5 tonnes back into standard armour.

[@Cobra100]

I think it has to do with repair speed and availability. A normal mech leg or arm is going to be much more available then an endosteal one so you can get the replacement parts quicker. Ferro-Fib can be replaced with standard while waiting for new armor to arrive and even then you don't need as many mech specific parts.

[@jacobp.4593]

It's probably harder to make a new mech with a Endo-Skelton (Which you can't just 'install' endo-steel) compared to slapping FF onto ut.

[@seannorthern8854]

@@jacobp.4593 I believe that was addressed in the lore surrounding the Helm Memory Core discovery. Manufacturers began to manufacture and sell endo-steel and extra-light engine "kits" to upgrade 3025-era 'mechs.

[@clydecraft5642]

@@seannorthern8854 its still expensive to redo your whole mech and put the important bits back in and troubleshoot the whole thing to see if you did something wrong

[@DonaldWWitt]

@@jacobp.4593 Well it's the ENDO. SKELETON. We're talking the literal frame the Mech is built on, probably the bulk of its "Internal components" to what everything else is attached to. While you probably could have Endo-Steel Limbs, game mechanics wise that's just going to be even more awkward to calculate.

[@yoloman3607]

The mech’s design makes it look like it is made of heat sinks, instead if the usual armor plating seen on most mechs. Kudos to the artist for capturing the essence of this mech.

[@tenchraven]

Minutes from a Newhart board meeting: "Like an Urbanmech, but fast" "That means removing the armour, sir." "Exactly! We've had body armour for centuries, pilots need to stop whining. In fact, give them a small gun, to. Do it or you're all fired!" "uhm... sure... Yes, sir! Sir, isn't your brother in law a mech pilot?" The Hussar, another of those mechs were I'd rather be caught dead in a Charger. Easy fix is to switch to endo, and throw 1.5 tons more armour on it so it's at least as well armoured as a Locust. While I not the SLDF officially had so such thing as "punishment units", being found naked in a ground car with the Colonel's daughter by the MPs was probably the fastest way to be granted the honor of riding a Hussar.

[@combativeThinker]

So long as the daughter was assigned as his WSO. It takes two to tango, after all.

[@SimonAshworthWood]

The Hussar: the type of mech you give to your enemies as a gift.

[@MKmaki6094]

It may have tinfoil for armor, but at least it's fast enough for WHEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVE!

[@YoLo-bb2vc]

what ever you do dont play this song after putting red bull into it as fuel lol it would literally be a winged hussar XD all that would be missing is the sabaton song.

[@Gigas0101]

We've done it. We've found the only 'mech threatened by the AC 2.

[@KeystoneCarcajou]

had good luck with the Royal Hussar.

[@guitarhausdoesntknowwhatac3285]

The Hussar reminds me of nothing quite so much as a fencing duelist; every movement, every choice has to be carefully weighted against the oppnent's ability to hit you back and any mistake will kill you. It's a great example of high risk high reward.

[@jessicalacasse6205]

what if it was suposed to be a hit and run scheme ( like the monghols if you would compare them to a european heavy infantry they would suck but they could blitkrieg your country bypassing army and attacking further inland ...( my thought on jet mechs hit on 1 side of the planet my enemy amass there then attack thousand of kilometers elsewhere no atlas can follow that ) maybe im wrong ...or like the hellcat td in ww2 it needed a big gun and speed nothing much else

[@kglguy]

Ah, my favorite 'mech finally gets covered. I love this thing. It's so much fun. You just need to remember the manyra of "live fast and die young". Armor is for wimps, anyway.

[@jasonames145]

Cross this one off the bucket list! The Hussar got its day in the sun :)

[@treevenewson]

I still remember the one and only time I piloted a Hussar. I died from a gauss round at long range while running max out. Frigging tissue paper for armor, ER LL or not. 🤣

[@treevenewson]

That gauss round was from a Highlander. At least I died with 🤪

[@BigRed40TECH]

"There can be only one!"

[@rmcdudmk212]

I got one better for you. Second round my Hassar crashed when running across pavement and destroyed the Large laser so I spent the rest of the game trying to run up behind other mechs so I could kick them. It died round 6 when it ran a foul of a Wolverine. 🤣

[@Dragonblade001]

I remember getting on in the Battletech video game mod. God I regret it as I had to use two of them with my lance and they die so quick I lost two good mechwarriors.

[@eddapultstab2078]

To be fair just about any light mech, aside for the panther would get wrecked by a gauss rifle. It's not a big flex because that's what it's designed to do, give any one on the other end a bad time.

[@Khymerion]

Coming late into this but the Hussar pretty much an example of a mech that was never meant to fight in a table top match, it is like LAMs, a mech meant for campaigns and for commando operations. It is the personification of the battlecruiser doctrine given to mech design, it outguns what it can't outrun... and what could outrun it? What defense force short of employing VTOLs or ultra fast hovers could run the Hussar down? You couldn't ask for a better mech for purposes of raiding supply lines and striking repair yards, able to out maneuver most garrison mechs with ease and forcing an enemy to have to assign forces to defend those supplies and resources that could have been better used elsewhere. I love this mech on so many levels... but despite my love of it, I know I can't use it on any akin to a fixed map sheet. Perhaps on a floating mapsheet but give it the ability to move independent of the main body of a fight like in a campaign and this mech really does shine in ways that you normally only would have the mercury or the spider to enjoy.

[@franksmedley7372]

Hello Red. I was saddled with a Hussar by a prissy 'Battle Master' for a game to be played. Like all Mechs, we were allowed to make alterations, so long as we did not significantly alter the basic Mech's design. So, a HSR-500-D was added to my forces. I altered the Mech by removing the ER PPC and active probe, and instead of those systems, I added 0.5 tons more armor, 6 standard medium lasers, and heat sinks (12 doubles total). I used it as an 'ambush' predator. Luring my Foe into place with my other units, and then running at top speed to get behind the Enemy's Mechs at close range and unleashing the firepower of that half dozen lasers into their thinly armored rear. After such a strike, though, the Hussar HAD to 'run away' for its survival. Running for cover and hiding for a time, until I could gain initiative again. Having initiative, I would always select the Hussar to 'go last', allowing it to run up and pounce again, before running off to hide again. Rinse and repeat. It was the only 'effective' way to use the Hussar that I ever found.

[@the_warpwny]

I had a similar game but I could not modify it. I basically hid when I didn't have initiative, ran behind when I did and sniped everything I could. It did help that there were much more lethal mechs in my unit to distract everyone else. While I never got the killing blow on anything, I did score numerous weapon hits and did leg an Enforcer causing it to fall into fire.

[@Sir_Loin_Of_Beef]

Yesterday on stream I found out... There's a mech that has less armour than my favourite Fire Moth... But much less weapons.

[@BigRed40TECH]

And it's named after a legendary Polish mounted soldier type. It's real sad :\

[@Sir_Loin_Of_Beef]

@@BigRed40TECH yeah someone in FASA or whoever made this mech has some explaining to do :p

[@Bluehairedgirl89]

The name actually makes a fair bit of sense when you think about it. The term Hussar is originally Hungarian I believe and it was widely adopted across Europe to describe light cavalry. Hussars were typically recruited from some of the best horsemen in the army, they had a reputation for being extremely brave and bold almost to the point of being suicidal, and out of all the cavalry they were expected to show the most initiative. There were commonly used as scouts, screening forces, pursuit forces, and raiders. But commands where always cautious about throwing them into a major engagement because they worse little armor and often only carried sabers as weapons. Also any losses they took were valuable experienced soldiers. The Polished Winged Hussars were kind of a anomaly since they were much more in the vein of Lancers or Cuirassiers who wore heavy armor and acted as shock cavalry. At least until after the napoleonic wars where it became fashionable to name any cavalry regiment a Hussar regiment even if the style didn’t fit. But yeah, the name is great and I’d love more mechs named after cavalry and other military terms. Sorry if this got way to “Ummmmm…. Actually!”

[@rahulshah1408]

@@Bluehairedgirl89 worth the read. Thank you.

[@combativeThinker]

@@Bluehairedgirl89 I honestly enjoyed reading this.

[@spuriusscapula6481]

My favourite light mech in Roguetech, this thing has defeated more rear armour plates than the rest of the lance it is in combined As for its durability, I know I'm biased and it's all luck based, but this baby survived dodging a full round of fire and melee hits from a locust, a thorn and a firestarter with me so I cannot be swayed

[@fix0the0spade]

Oh man, I rolled a Hussar on my latest run at BEX. Knowing what it was I sold it to buy parts right off the bat, sometimes it's best to avoid tempting fate. Of course the WOB made use of it en masse, tempting fate is their raison d'etre.

[@cobalt968]

The Hussar might be one of those mechs that work best when it doesn’t need to face down other mechs, not unlike the LAM. It can operate behind enemy lines without much need for resupply, torch vulnerable support targets from a respectable distance and run like hell afterwards. Good luck catching it unless you’re willing to scramble aerospace fighters or other extremely fast mechs in the next few minutes. Kind of like an Ostscout, but for raiding. Oddly enough, there would be another fast-response mech developed by the Federated Suns that would also fall short of its intended role, but would quickly find new life as a recon mech due to its absurd ground speed.

[@tenchraven]

The Hussar can get it's ass handed to it by a platoon of angry hamsters. You might be able to outrun infantry, you can't outrun a laser.

[@andersalbertsson215]

Any vehicle with a medium laser or AC/5 could kill this

[@eddapultstab2078]

The hussar is designed for SL tech in mind, the royal variant is potent scout killer and it's ecm combined with speed made it a dangerous scout mech and hunter. Players have to remember that in the lore, the mother doctrine prevented high technology, even double heatsinks, from leaving the terrain hegemony. Only amaris got around those policies through his manipulation of the first lord. The "standard" variant would be the export version, devoid of its xl engine and ecm suit that gave it the power it needs. The royal variant is its mass production intended version meant for the star league defense force. The rest is just meant to placate the houses.

[@rotwang2000]

If you play on mapsheets, avoid a Hussar like the plague, because you'll never get the room to move fast enough to rack up maximum modifiers, tabletop mini games work better as terrain isn't always optimized to impair movement like certain maps. The Hussar is a mech that relies on a promise to survive its engagements, the promise that if you move fast enough you won't get hit as there is near zero margin when you do get hit. Something the size of a medium laser is already dicey, let alone a PPC.

[@JMcMillen]

It's possible using mapsheets, you just need to use WAY more than most people do. I remember having access to a ping pong table years ago and we would have battles using a 3x3 grid of mapsheets. Inevitably some of them wouldn't really get used, but they were there if anyone needed the room to run around in.

[@eddapultstab2078]

Yeah that's the fast mech flaw in table top, cramped fighting spaces. In such situations I would run for cover at all times, especially if I can't get a 3 or better modifier. In A heavy and and a light between you and the enemy makes you untargetable. It means a long protracted fight but it has the laser.

[@JMcMillen]

@@eddapultstab2078 That's why it would be nice to be able to 3D print mechs so you could shrink them down to have larger battles that fit on smaller tables.

[@canis2020]

It's the Tie Fighter of the Inner Sphere!

[@tayschrinngaming8002]

As the Immortal commander who can't die in HBS's Battletech, this machine is perfect!

[@thestabbybrit4798]

"Quartermaster, I have two questions: why did you buy so many of these deathtraps, and where did these suitcases full of money and cocaine come from?"

[@theapostatejack8648]

Ah yes, another example of a "paper engineer" expecting the battlefield to act as an inert background for their fatally over specialized mech. Managing to make a Locust look robust is quite a feat for a 30 ton mech.

[@frankb3347]

If you get assigned to pilot a Hussar you know you've seriously pissed somebody off.

[@BigRed40TECH]

Why not just ask them to save everyone the time and just have someoen shoot you with the Large Laser? XD

[@RyeFields]

I live, I die, I live again. Witness me! -final words of WoB light pilots

[@justinkong9954]

Glass cannon is too kind of a word to name this mech.

[@piedpiper1172]

I got one in MW5 (Yet Another Gah Dang Mech) and was shocked at how light the armor was on the variant loadouts. Good to see it’s lore accurate, though wow, what an interesting design choice.

[@happywombat]

This mech’s design is so unconventional and almost alien looking, you could slap it on a “Mars attack” or “War of the Worlds” poster and I wouldn’t blink twice at it

[@bthsr7113]

And the Winged Hussars Arrived, turned into balls of burning light!

[@mattikuokkanen]

I guess in BattleForce scale with double blind rule in use, Hussar units could serve as reserves to reinforce other units before enemy force tears through them. Also makes a companion for LCT-1M as what I call a can opener.

[@DarkKnightCuron]

Mechs like the Hussar and similar designs do rather well on the strategic scale for crisis response. They don't exactly need a lot of armor if they have decent stand-off range, as their primary role is QRF and Harassment. If you can delay an enemy advance, or more likely, interdiction against an enemy raid upon your supply lines, that's usually all you need until main battle elements can re-position. I'm sure some will state it good as a scout, but scouts require closer-range survival to positively ID enemy formations before escaping with the data. If this thing engages at maximum range, however, it should be suitable for crisis response.

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

I wish somebody would make a Battletech combat racing game, featuring only the light mechs. Some of these extra light scout mechs sounds like they'd be so fun zooming around in, if stuff like camera and controls were specialized for it, instead of the more generalist configurations needed when you can play every mech class.

[@bthsr7113]

Use an unarmed fireball. One weirdo ripped out all the guns, stuffed in extra mods, got it up to 400kph.

[@RyeFields]

I'm waiting on class specific game modes in MWO. Lights only would be filled with the fastest mechs available with minimal firepower

[@jabronijones90]

Never thought I'd listen about a mech that would make me like the locust so much xD

[@BigRed40TECH]

Well, it is faster than the Locust >:)

[@michaelmills8205]

Oh, The Hussar. I didn't know that the SLDF had purchased so many. I guess that they were converted into the Royal version, unless the SLDF was just trying to keep up with their losses. I a duel, I'd bet on the Hermes taking the standard variant down.

[@eddapultstab2078]

I'm pretty sure it was the one with xl engine and ecm, Alexander kerensky was spending decades on ending stupid spending and red tape. The advanced hussar is actually pretty dangerous in a Lance and if it's played properly.

[@jasonashman9534]

This is one of those mechs that really doesn't have a place on a Tabletop, but "in-universe" is actually an effective mech in narrowly defined roles, most especially the Royal variant. It's an effective deep scout, which has almost no use in a tabletop game, but works well if you're applying military theory to the Battletech universe's battlespace.

[@Joshf4phan]

Pretty much this. It's a deep harasser that fires one shot from ambush, then runs away and does it again in an hour or two. It doesn't hang around to take return fire. Which is not a fun play. Now in terms of cost effectiveness was it a good buy? Probably not. But the Star League at its height had a lot of silly excess.

[@GnarledStaff]

Ok, I see the tabletop role for this. This is purely a recon mech. I suggest placing it just *off* the battlemap so it can zip between combat arenas and ensure that no enemy mechs are wandering around the big swaths of land outside of the area of operations. Edit: its the reason you know that enemy reinforcements are arriving in 10 turns.

[@DarkKnightCuron]

That's more sentry duty, not really scouting. Scouting duty requires you to probe enemy positions, not patrol your own.

[@entropy11]

A lot of people look at battlemechs from a purely mech-on-mech battle standpoint, but clearly that's not the only type of fight. A few Hussars, coming upon a logistics unit or a platoon of vehicles which they outrun and outrange, are free to dictate the engagement, cause severe damage from out of range before repositioning. Such a vulnerable unit would be forced to call in support from elsewhere or be picked to pieces. When the QRF arrives, the Hussars can simply leave, and are likely to outrun any pursuers. This type of harassment action would have been the Hussar's primary role.

[@Demolitiondude]

Storm clouds, fire and steel, Death from above, Make the enemy kneel,

[@lukedudley5030]

It's not very tough or well armed but it is more useful than people think :-) the speed keeps it alive a little longer than expected and paired with other fast lights like the scarabus it can be quite dangerous as it doesn't attract the incoming fire :-) we've had as a mercenary starter mech and it did well early on until we sold it for something more pokey :-)

[@panoramatint]

This thing won't keep you alive long enough to say its name.

[@yoloman3607]

HUSS-

[@panoramatint]

@@yoloman3607 I picture this thing taking an ac10 round like Moses parting the red sea.

[@GliderBane]

To be fair, it is a recon mech. It is not meant for combat. It is supposed to find the enemy and run away. If you do your job right you don't need all that bothersome armor. I, being a little crazy, love fighting with these. Use your speed and keep at range. If a medium laser can hit you, you are doing it wrong! So few fast lights have a good long range weapon. You can zip around the edge of the battlefield, sniping away at the enemy. Yes, sooner or later someone is going to land a luck shot and punch through your paper mache armor, but if you got the enemy to focus on you, and allowed the rest of your lance to fire and maneuver, then you did your job.

[@DIEGhostfish]

1:00 just proof the SLDF had fucked standards.

[@BigRed40TECH]

I mean. It prevented the other Inner Sphere organizations from buying a deathtrap. But bought it themselves....

[@yourseatatthetable]

This is one design that I struggled to accept. The only value that I could find was as a extreme range scout or courier 'Mech. Speed is it's only armor and value, in my opinion. Frankly, I avoided fielding them whenever possible.

[@heirofaniu]

It's actually pretty good for raiding and marauding forces. Its light weight means that it doesn't need to worry about collapsing bridges or tunnels so you have lots of options when crossing rivers or overpasses. Its small size contributes to a smaller target profile and allows it to conveniently hide in small gullies and nooks that other larger assets couldn't fit into. The turreted main weapon gives you a 360 degree firing arc and its top mounted configuration allows you to go completely hulldown, only exposing the weapon itself, meaning that you can position yourself in a manner that makes you almost impossible to see and allows you to shoot and scoot with alarming rapidity. The all laser loadout means that you never need to worry about ammo, which means that you can engage in extended deployments far from friendly forces or resupply, assuming the pilot can handle it. The ERLL is a great weapon for sniping, allowing you to do decent damage at PPC ranges, and with only the one weapon system on board you can do this with no fear of overheating. Where the Hussar excels is in missions where it can utilize its speed and size to get into the enemy's rear and go after soft targets; supply convoys, equipment depots, FOBs, manufacturing centers, dock yards, etc. Get in, hit hard and fast from range before the enemy knows you're there, and then run away before they can scramble anything fast enough to catch you. In an open field battle the Hussar would fight like the Hussars. Light cavalry that can run in swiftly and make a strike while riding through the enemy before retreating to do it again, ideally as a wolfpack rather than just a single mech. Is it a good mech? Debatable. But in universe there is absolutely a niche or two that it fulfills as part of a larger war effort or mechanized force.

[@yourseatatthetable]

@@heirofaniu That's one of the beautiful things about BattleTech. That there are 'good' machines and 'not so good machines', and that many of those 'not so good Mechs' are actually very good in the limited role they were designed for. And this makes sense, too. When the SLDF was in full power, having machines for specific roles made a lot of sense. So centuries later, when necessity forces one to use 'mission specific' machines as front line forces, things become both messy and interesting.

[@heirofaniu]

@yourseatatthetable well and on top of that the tabletop game can be really obtuse and fiddly _without_ combined arms and a strategic level campaign, so there are designs that are wonderful in universe but completely fall apart on a table.

[@oldguycantgame]

This is the definition of "seems like a good idea". I'll just take a locust please.

[@woogle463]

I always liked this mech, I just think it has a neat design. It's always been of use to me (or at least the 200B royal variant has) when I've used it before in atb campaigns, or in Roguetech.

[@roshee5573]

Hussar .....gotta go faster ... gotta go fast !

[@mareczek00713]

With all due respect it's not a walking casket, it's a lightning-fast clanbusting casket and I fucking love it. Sure, kinda bad for tabletop but awesome in BTA3062 with all the evasion I could ever hope for making it a terror until you go about OpFor consistently fielding heavies and assault due to bonkers evasion and fire power usable for support fire and headshots

[@kaideliany12]

I just bought a pewter mini of this mech for a buddy of mine as it's his favorite light mech :D

[@boneshaman8912]

Check out Sabaton Winged Hussars When the winged hussars arrived A cry for help in time of need, await relief from holy league 60 days of siege, outnumbered and weak Sent a message to the sky, wounded soldiers left to die Will they hold the wall or will the city fall Dedication Dedication They're outnumbered 15 to one And the battle's begun Then the winged hussars arrived Coming down the mountainside Then the winged hussars arrived Coming down they turned the tide As the days are passing by and as the dead are piling high No escape and no salvation Trenches to explosive halls are buried deep beneath the walls Plant the charges there and watch the city fear Desperation Desperation It's a desperate race against the mine And a race against time Then the winged hussars arrived Coming down the mountainside Then the winged hussars arrived Coming down they turned the tide Cannonballs are coming down from the sky Janissaries are you ready to die? We will seek our vengeance eye for an eye You'll be stopped upon the steps of our gate On this field you're only facing our hate But back home the sultan's sealing your fate We remember In September That's the night Vienna was freed We made the enemy bleed! Storm clouds, fire and steel Death from above make their enemy kneel

[@Ti-nf4fq]

A mech designed for long range support of med and light mechs. In that role it works well.

[@TroySeward]

Great video nice mech.

[@melonetankberry5211]

so as long as it has room, it's threat provided is on par with most mediums. so: very situational but outstanding if conditions met. i like it.

[@MrDecelles]

This was a formation specialized 'mech. They probably were used in reserve units to quickly support units in a running engagement. But we forget the era and the mass battletech armies the star league and other states were getting "en masse" there were lots of crap ones that were bought to fill up the ranks. This is something that the canadian army would buy for peace missions in Latvia.

[@Goldhawk7]

If this Mech has less armor than a locust you know you’re in for a bad time. The only Mech in the inner sphere to get critically damaged from a hard look

[@Timberjac]

The perfect mech for operations in desert environments with immense lines of fire. This is also one of those cases, in which the royal version is infinitely better. Unfortunately, it is another example that ferrofibrous armor is poorly balanced, because it is always better to use endo-steel. Perhaps if the FF increased the armor maximums, instead of or at par, reducing the weight of this, if it would be a significant advantage, at least for certain mech.

[@lexington476]

I could see big red taking this mech and yelling "Leeroy Jenkins!".

[@richardbell7678]

The Hussar would benefit from mounting 'industrial' grade armor. While industrial armor is ineffective against the larger weapons, the paltry amount of military armor is not useful and, at 24 points per ton, 1.5 tons of industrial armor would allow the Hussar to take most of a medium laser hit anywhere, or fall over.

[@CRAZYUNCLE117]

"Then the winged hussars arrive!"

[@BigRed40TECH]

And unlike the real Hussars, it's not gonna make a difference. lol

[@Reverb154]

This looks like a job for the Light PPC!

[@da_BemBem]

"Walking"? This thing fucking sprints.

[@ChaosTicket]

I love the Hussar in 2750. Incredibly fast, long ranged, no ammunition dependency. The upgraded HSR-200-Db model adds a Beagle Active Probe, Guardian ECM, and more armor. In 3025 its almost useless because it lost everything but the speed. HSR-500-D is an upgrade that uses an ER PPC and a C3 computer. Its a a harbinger is doom. If you see one, youre about to be ganged up on. The Hussar follows what is to me basic asymmetrical warfare design. Its an ambusher, scout, sniper. It doesnt charge the enemy, it runs away shooting

[@pakornwattanavrangkul2550]

The danger pancake

[@TakManSan]

It’s like a Cessna with a howitzer mounted on top. LOL!

[@dhoffnun]

It's like someone designed a high speed hover tank for strikes, but then realized hover technology doesn't exist so they had to slap some legs on it.

[@TheStraycat74]

my 3050 full clan tech version is 10/15 movement, 5 tons clanner Fero-Fiberous, 8 tons of pod space. prime config, AKA "Finger Of Death" version: Extended Range Large Laser in the center torso coupled to a TARGETING COMPUTER. TAG, Active Probe, and ECM just to round things out. that's it. not quite max armor, but really close, and DAMNED fast for a 30 tonner.

[@TheStraycat74]

@@samphadhavihara4035 3057? I haven't played that era yet. I've played upto The Truce, then I had to goto work for a couple DECADES, and haven't really gotten back into it or caught up yet.

[@johnfisher9692]

Nice video and well thought out. Personally I think this mech ridiculous and the designer was playing the rules and not thinking or real life. In an era where light speed weapons are abundant Speed is NOT armour. You can't dodge a laser blast if it's accurately aimed as it moves at light speed and even a light mech is a pretty big target, especially if you have surprise on your side. The Royal variant with the XL engine and max armour is the only mech I'd consider taking onto the field if in charge, anything else and you going to lose pilots.

[@andrewamann2821]

The beam might move at c, but the systems that point and focus that beam most certainly do not, nor do targeting solution programs, nor does the pilot. All of these factors have to get it right, on an active battlefield. It's not quite as simple as using a laser pointer...

[@johnfisher9692]

@@andrewamann2821 Well of course it has to be accurately aimed, but once if is, you press the button and "hit". There is no lead time as with ballistic weapons. This makes the Hussar horribly vulnerable. I have long maintained the rules for movement are biased. As this video states, the faster you are moving the more attention you have to devote to where you are going and the harder it is to aim your own weapons. The penalties for the fast mech firing should be far more then +1 for walk, +2 for run. It should scale depending on fast you are moving. The whole "Speed is life" is something overdone in too many games.

[@eddapultstab2078]

That's because the xl engine version was the original design. the downgraded, 3025 version is meant to demonstrate how far technology has crashed in comparison. An sldf officer, like kerensky would look at the down grade and ask what else do they have, but the 30 ton mech sporting the latest greatest technology to a military that both has the money, the technical expertise, and the logistics to support such a machine with ease makes sense.

[@DIEGhostfish]

LAM version when? I want my Winged Hussars.

[@Demolitiondude]

COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN SIDE

[@Reddotzebra]

Ah yes, also known by it's **other** designation: "Running skeet." Medium laser goes "pew pew", holes appear.

[@FrostyThundertrod]

That thing looks like someone bolted legs onto a hover craft

[@homelessEh]

Its like the dollarstore marauder heh

[@faithmcclosky4528]

Great video as always Red! It's the fastest casket in the Inner Sphere, that line absolutely did it for me. Now I am left wondering why I put all the effort into building the IWM model, as that was such a pain. What am I to do with this mech?????

[@BigRed40TECH]

It's a fun mech. Just not a competitive one. :)

[@StressmanFIN]

I've heard the saying "Speed is life" in BT, but this is just ridiculous. Hussar falls if someone sneezes in it's general direction. 🤣

[@NemFX]

What if HOLLANDER but FAST.

[@PopeMetallicus]

THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED!

[@Irascibanality]

Another excellent video! I had forgotten just how damn soft the Hussar was. It's too damn fast for its own good. Dropping speed to like 8/12 would have added 3 tons of armor and made for a decent scout mech, but i guess the procurement officers here liked to go fast Interestingly enough the Fireball-XF, a mech made specifically to go as fast as humanly possible* is a brick compared to the Hussar. 3.5 tons of ferro on a 20 ton chassis. * the Fireball-XF moves at 432km/h with MASC and the supercharger active. 16/24 [40] in game terms. it also costs 16.8 million C-bills, which would have made it ideal for the SLDF Royal units and their bottomless wallets. hella fast, hella expensive, hella exclusive 👍

[@Alex-pj8nz]

Can’t wait until the black knight is covered.

[@MrDmitriRavenoff]

I mean the LRM Locust has only a single ton of armor, but that is technically a varient.

[@MajorTymojo]

I loved the idea of the hussar, and then saw how horrifically things went for them in practice when fighting clan garrison forces in megamek. A fast light skirmisher with PPC or ER large laser? On paper a great thing. In reality? Ouch ouch ouch. I can appreciate a death or glory machine, but this one seems to just be death even in its role as a skirmisher at the longest range brackets, and any of its closer in roles like reconnaissance? Yikes. I wanna like this mech, but I just can't bring to put any of my pilots in the ones I've salvaged.

[@kylebarrie2887]

Never been a fan and i dont think i would use one but I can see the possibilities...fast and long range sniper.

[@iller3]

lol, these dudes really welded arms and legs onto a Harasser

[@jenniferstewarts4851]

oh the fun of lRM20 field scaterable mine fields and light mechs.

[@krieg4017]

Good.

[@BigRed40TECH]

Very good

[@paulshealy1863]

Give it a Light PPC, Null Signature System, and a Chameleon Light Polarization Feild with Endo Steel and Light Ferro Armor (6.5 tons) and this becomes useable.

[@NomadBunny]

The Hussar when a Savannah Master is a better chooses.

[@steveharrison76]

So… this basically does what an aerospace asset could do (rapid recon) for… what? Ten times the cost? Five? Jesus, if I was that desperate to see the lay of the land I’d get a hot air balloon or something. I like the large laser setup, that’s a point in its favour. But it’s squishier than a locust? Why? Why the hell would I want this thing? As you say, speed is fine and all, but if it’s only able to take one hit, what good is it? Nope. Not for me. I’d be better off with an IFV of some sort or, obviously, a Locust. Hell, I’d take a Flea over this. I’d even swap it for a Jaegermech or a QuickDraw, two mechs that I think are in the same “this looks cool but it isn’t’ category. It gets style points for looking like Marauder Larvae, though. But… no. Thanks but no. The upgraded version with the Beagle and the rest of it is probably useful but the baseline model… eurgh. Me no likey.

[@eddapultstab2078]

The sldf version is way better and is its intended configuration. Er large laser, ecm and 5.5 tons of armor is what your looking at. The "standard" version is actually the downgrade and export model for houses who want a piece of what the sldf has but have to obey the tech restrictions of the mother doctrine. The speed and ecm together makes it a pain to hit, and the better armor means not a guaranteed cripple or kill on a lucky hit, unless you are fighting assault mechs, but if that's the case why are you throwing light mechs in an assault fight.

[@kazekamiha]

The first image makes it look like a hover tank on legs. As infantry support I can see it working, maybe even as a high speed IFV. But otherwise, it's little more then a fast, light sniper.

[@ahorriblebeast196]

I’ll check my collection been many years

[@johnathanblackwell9960]

Looks like something designed to fire from hull down ambush positions before running away

[@donaldcampbell3043]

I like the AC2 choice, it might yield lower damage but extends the range of the unit... and the AC2 worked for the Blackjack

[@spartana1116]

So it's battletech equivalent to gundam Balls: nice speed and 1 good weapon but can be shredded by anything above a pistol round

[@bartlester591]

How much longer till y’all get to the cataphract

[@BigRed40TECH]

Month, maybe 2.

[@Wulfenbach]

Well, if you are fast enough to avoid getting hit, your armour the last line of your defence doesn't need to get tested.

[@BigRed40TECH]

All it takes is one 5 damage weapon rolling hot to literally end this thing. lol

[@Wulfenbach]

@@BigRed40TECH I'm sorry bear, but your words don't reach me. Cause I am to fast xD *mech trips over boulder & explodes*

[@darkspire91]

It feels almost tailor made to be used as cannon fodder for the players to kill.

[@44R0Ndin]

The Hussar seems to me to be the epitome of "eggshells with hammers". It's a glass cannon. A fast one yes, but very much still incredibly brittle and fragile. That being said, an ERLL hitting any other light mech is gonna end fights pretty quickly, which is in the Hussar's best interests in order to minimize the return fire directed "at" it (if that hits or not, well that's another matter, you better be using all your movement every turn with this thing and hope the enemy doesn't have AOE damage of any kind).