Mercenary Star Podcast - Ep 01 - Gray Death Legion

A Battletech podcast highlighting the storied mercenary units of the Inner Sphere that are expected in the 2023 Mercenaries Kickstarter and exploring the news and products surrounding it.
In episode 01 we are looking at our favorite mercenary unit, and the one that started it all, The Gray Death Legion!
Follow Mechfrog on twitter @MechFrog12 and find him on KZbin:
/ @mechanicalfrog
Follow WhiteFox on twitter @WhiteFoxSG
Twitter: @MercStarPodcast
As requested; All the Gray Death fiction:
Decision at Thunder Rift by William H. Keith, Jr., June 1986
Mercenary's Star by William H. Keith, Jr., June 1987
The Price of Glory by William H. Keith, Jr., October 1987
Legion Team (short story in Shrapnel) by William H. Keith, Jr., 1988
Blood of Heroes by Andrew Keith, July 1993
Tactics of Duty by William H. Keith, Jr., August 1995
Operation Excalibur by William H. Keith, Jr., August 1998
The Dying Time by Thomas S. Gressman, January 2002
Golden Rule (prequel short story trilogy part 1, included with the BattleTech Beginner Box) by William H. Keith, Jr., January 2019
Eyestorm (prequel short story trilogy part 2, included with the BattleTech: A Game of Armored Combat box) by William H. Keith, Jr., January 2019
Dragon's Lair (prequel short story trilogy part 3, in MechWarrior: Destiny) by William H. Keith, Jr., June 2020
All Wet (short story in BattleTech: Legends) by William H. Keith, Jr., December 2020
A Rock and a Hard Place by William H. Keith, Jr., September 2021
The Price of Duty, novella, by Jason Schmetzer, 2022 - ilClan
Mercenary's Honor, novella, by Jason Schmetzer, 2022 - ilClan

[@MechanicalFrog]

Glad I could help out. I expect big things for this channel.

[@NewsOfTheInnerSphere]

I totally agree with you, Frog, that its hard to get old BattleTech books at used bookstores nowadays. I recently went to one in Seattle (where CGL is based at) and came up empty. I did have the good luck to find Black Widow Company and Snords Irregulars down in Tucson earlier in the year... and even then they were a hefty price.

[@longinogarcia6310]

The Waco Rangers deserve a lance box. They deserve a Company box! I'm finalizing the text of a Death Oath to avenge the insult of not having a dedicated box!

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

They're a storied Unit for sure! I'm sure we'll get to them as some point. ;-)

[@Guru_Swami]

Been a fan of the podcast and just now found this channel! Working my way through these again. 🤙 Decision at Thunder Rift was my first foray into the novels and Battletech in general. Still remember vividly how the original cover grabbed my attention on the shelf of a bookstore at Summit Place mall in Pontiac, Michigan in 1988. Needless to say, that moment was followed by a few minutes of incessant begging to my parents and I happily walked out with that novel in my hands and started my decades long love of Battletech that day.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

That's AWESOME!! Thanks for sharing! And glad you're enjoying the videos now!! :-)

[@TheOtterpop]

Hansens Rought Riders for the win. But great podcast and cant wait for more episodes.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

We'll get there soon!!! Especially since their ForcePack is on the short list for release!

[@whitefoxplays]

Appreciate you listening!

[@jameshiggins5686]

Rough Riders for life!

[@NewsOfTheInnerSphere]

Another new BattleTech KZbinr! Sweet!

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Hope you enjoy!

[@michaelabdoney9378]

The first BT book I read was "The Way of the Clan" and two more books after that based on the Character Aiden Pryde. I was hooked to BT universe and read almost all these classic BT novel. I'm blessed to this day

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

A Great series for sure!!!

[@WolfHreda]

In the introduction to Decision at Thunder Rift, it's mentioned that Grayson is named after an ancient ancestral lord who decided to change the pronunciation of his middle name from "deeth" to death, and he was a powerful enough individual that no one felt it suitable to try and change his mind.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Excellent reason to do so! Have enough power to do what you want, lol.

[@PhearTheHam]

Nice intro I really need to know how to make synth music to make my own themesong too haha! Congrats on the first episode!

[@wttncfrep3628]

Awesome to hear a new Battletech podcast. I enjoyed it and can't wait to hear more. Can't wait to hear about some of the smaller, lesser known mercenary units

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Thanks! Excited to cover more and learn about the smaller units as well!

[@roguedexx938]

Great Podcast I remember those books!! COMSTAR always into something.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Ahh yes, those early Comstar days. 😁

[@DragonsTomeRob]

Fun show. Can't wait for more!

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

The Regent and the K2 are both high on my must-get list for new sculpts. I"ve never been a huge fan of the GDL. The nail in their coffin morally was when they blindly joined up with Mad Katherine, especially when they rolled in to fight against Free Skye. It was pleasing to me that Free Skye effectively killed the unit. I don't mind seeing them revived, especially compared to the strange decision to bring back the Smoke Jaguars of all factions (and to kill any hopes of a ComStar revival), and it'll be interesting to see if the new generation of Carlyles will have any better judgment than their forebears.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

I'm a huge fan as well! Can't wait to see where they go from here!

[@raymondarrastia366]

Thanks for the podcast. Looking forward to more. 👍

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Thank you! Glad you liked it!

[@jasonashman9534]

Carlye's middle name is actually pronounced "Deeth". When everyone mispronounced it, he ran with it. Its mentioned in one of the book, or the Mercenary's Handbook, IIRC.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

well Tren Sparks who narrated the novel said Death in the traditional pronunciation as directed by CGL. If you could find the exact reference I'd love to know! Thanks for the reply!

[@pelmen1294]

Cranston snords irregulars (Scenario book) was my first book besides the original "A game of armored combat" It was out before the thunderrift book.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Then you'll be excited to listen to Episode 8! Recording it tomorrow. ;-)

[@135forte]

Great, now I have to buy thay lance pack. The K2 is one of my favorites, that Gargoyle might be worth using and the Regent is Space Pope's ride.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Right?! Wish it was released already! Can't wait! Such a good spread of mechs!

[@dallassukerkin6878]

It's a hard pick when it comes to a favourite mercenary unit but it's a good call to go with the Grey Death - without them there's no tech revival after all. Of course, being Third Crucis Lancers, I am not at all sure about the actual loyalty of mercenaries but they don't *all* cut and run at the first sound of an AC20 :D

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Many don't! Hope you liked the episode!

[@dallassukerkin6878]

@@mercenarystarpodcast Absolutely :) I have been playing since the mid-80's and the BattleTech universe has ever been fascinating and rich - such a shame the copyright wars made such a mess of the franchise. I had *everything* for it at one time - all the novels, all the source books, all the boxed sets ... loved it. We used to play up in my mates loft where he had made a huge hex-marked base-board suspended from the rafters, with proper re-positionable 3D models of the 'proper' map-boards terrain and each of us in the group had a House or a Mercenary Unit that we played. A few years back we were on the verge of moving countries so I gave my god-son all my roleplaying stuff ... so I am now bereft of kit :(. But, before I run out of years I really should get on with writing the BattleTech novel I have had on the back burner for thirty years!

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

@@dallassukerkin6878 haha, yea if you have one definitely submit it to Shrapnel! Also the Boxes are a great place to start to get back into it! ;-)

[@bobderpenstein6117]

Painting a company of minis in Gray Death camo as I listen to this. I was introduced to Battletech in exactly the same manner as both of you, in the early 90s as a teen.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

awesome!!! Hope they turned out well!

[@HapaxLegomenon12]

I’m a fan of The Black Thorns unit, purely because it’s led by my namesake (close enough), so it’s my unit 😂

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Awesome!!! Cool connection!

[@Cyberfender1]

Yes, I was was 19 in 1986 and this was the first BT novel I read and GDL became my fave Merc unit! It is a shame what RL identity political shenanigans have crept into the game. I prefer those not be in my fictional escapism..Shout out to Wolf's Dragoons!

[@thebatt6183]

I always play as The Federated Sun's

[@harbingerx7793]

Great little podcast. Welcome to the KZbin battletech community. Looking forward to more.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Thank you so much!!!!

[@RecklessFables]

19:50 Grayson if he'd led MegaForce

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

It's a pretty awesome look for sure!

[@seanbrazell7095]

Itd be fantastic if people collaberated to make the grey death legion novel trilogy into a seriese of animations in yhe same vein as that fan made 40k Hellsreach movie ls.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

That would be awesome!!!

[@DDVargas1983]

Great show guys, a minor critism. Can you lower the volume of the music? It was hard to hear you two in some parts of the video.

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

Thanks! Yea, I had it lowered to like 5% in the editor I was using, and increased our audio to like 175 and it was still loud. I have different software to use now, so hopefully I can adjust it better. Thanks for the feedback!

[@Marveryn]

grey death legion dying time was the one book that i toss across the room. It was just one massive death spiral that i couldn't enjoy

[@mercenarystarpodcast]

I've had a few books like that! I haven't read that one in a long time though so I've forgotten most of it. Will have to revisit it. 😁

[@jasonashman9534]

​@@mercenarystarpodcastEveryone dies in it 😂