THE HATCHETMAN | hitting the enemy with a giant axe in glorious melee. | Battletech lore

[@WolfHreda]

The Hatchetman: It won't live long, but it will leave a mark. For anyone who wants to know, the Battlemech Hatchet does one damage for every 5 tons of the mech wielding it. The Hatchetman can deal 9 damage with it using standard myomer. The Clanbuster variant of the Black Knight can do 15. It's glorious. Future reference: Light: 20-35 Tons Medium: 40-55 Tons Heavy: 60-75 Tons Assault: 80-100 Tons Wretched Abominations That Serve Little Purpose But to Be Expensive: 100-200 Tons

[@spacewolfblackmane19]

The Berserker C3 is a monster for this exact reason

[@deepstrike9750]

Hey! I like sueor heavy!

[@spacewolfblackmane19]

@@deepstrike9750 I would like them too, if they weren't all ugly tripods, if anything would work as a quad, then it be that.

[@camerongunn7906]

Clanner: "Technology will win the day." Lyrans: "Sometimes, the old ways are the best."

[@polaris30000]

Clans: We engage in honourable, long range, one on one duels! Draconis Combine: We are warcrime samurai! Fed Suns: Noooo, you can't be the First Lord! We're better than you! Cappellans: Engage maximum backstabbery! Mariks: Death to Marik! Glory to Marik! Lyrans: Ha ha, hatchet go smack!

[@weldonwin]

Taurian Concordat: *(Sound of shotgun racking)* GIT OFFA MAH PROPERTY!!! Magistracy of Canopus: What happens in Canopus STAYS in Canopus! Wolf's Dragoons: How Do You Do Fellow Kids!

[@rotwang2000]

Clan Wolf : We just sit around in deckchairs and when we look up things seem to fix themselves. Clan Jade Falcon : Do I have to say this ? You sure you do not want a ride in the Turkina ? Really ? sigh ... You dare to refuse my Batchall ??? There, happy now ? Clan Ghost Bear : What ? Just because we are Clan does not mean we are idiots. Oh hey Alaric !!! Clan Smoke Jaguar : Chaaaarge !!! Clan Nova Cat : We will exterminate the Spheroids, remove their taint from the Inner Sphere ... and we're gone !!! Clan Wolverine : Ya didn't see me, right ? Clan Sea Fox : 'Ello guv, fancy a nearly new Mad Cat II ? Fell off a lorry !

[@weldonwin]

@@rotwang2000 Smoked Jaguar: HOLY SHIT! ITS THE ERIDANI LIGHT HORSE!!!

[@greyjedi4794]

Head are some of the best comments that I have ever read on YT

[@racspartan1]

👍

[@eddapultstab2078]

The story about the head pod, on designing the hatchetman wanted to try to encourage mechwarriors to eject rather fight to the very death, mechs are people's livelihood and would do everything they can to keep and or save their mech. The head assembly was designed to provide consolation as its a a very valuable part of the mech, the cockpit alone is worth about an eighth of the mechs value at 300 thousand cbills.

[@fess3932]

“It took them 100 years to graft a stick to a mech…” ~Jayden of Smoke Jaguar

[@Deepkeel]

Makes me wonder what you will do for it's big brother, the Axeman.

[@Axzealot]

Why stop there we can go for the Berserker.

[@BlackIce3190]

@@AxzealotPlease. Bow to the Chad that is the Huron Warrior.

[@vidfan1701]

Whatever he'll do, he'll get a handle on it.

[@bulbafett5001]

The Axe-Man from the Battletech Cartoon is entirely why I got into the setting. My brain was blown away that in the far fu ture of all the tech and war crimes possible... the good'ol AXE TO FACE still reigned. I had alllll the toys for that Cartoon. I thought it was part of Robotech actually, cause of all the Unseen Mechs in both settings. And they both had 'Tech' in the name. Figured Robo-Tech was them in the far far future dealing with Aliens, and battletech was before t hey figured out how to make Veritechs.

[@topcatcoast2coast579]

I had the Axman and Hunchback toys as a kid. Wish I still had them. Inner sphere Battle Armor too. Axmans whole head came off as an ejection seat😊

[@therealbahamut]

"The random axe of kindness." You know what? I don't have the right to be upset in the slightest. The thumbnail clearly warned me and I clicked anyway. That's on me.

[@corywilliams2255]

When puns are outlawed, only outlaws will have puns!

[@petersmith6513]

Basically if Top Gear was asked to design a mech...The Hatchetman.

[@Kalabajooie]

"How hard could it be?"

[@weldonwin]

*"POWAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"* - Mechwarrior Clarkson

[@nibblitman]

Dr Banzai defeated the world crime league and then went on to be a great mech warrior and scientist. For anyone who doesn’t know, Dr. Banzai and the whole Team Banzai is a reference to the amazing 80s sci-fi movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension.

[@danielvandersall6756]

Peter Weller, that pretty guy who gets the crap beat outta him in "Fight Club," John Lithgow, and Jeff Goldblum. Fun film. Definition of a Cult Classic.

[@ardvark8699]

No matter where you go...there you are.

[@be-noble3393]

Came here to say this, well done.

[@jtjames79]

Now I'm imagining a hatchetman modified with a giant guitar instead, and a cowboy hat.

[@wilemelliott]

@@be-noble3393 ditto

[@crashstudi0s]

In the Battletech PC game I built a Hatchetman with a PPC/Snub PPC and a AC5 so I could deal some damage at distance, use the PPC aim debuff, close the distance in a sprint, and using the pilot hability to skip one initiative level, it could basically attack for free twice with tha axe before being mauled by the other enemy mechs. It was a "punishment" mech for pilots who kept failing their shots, like "oh so you can't aim? Get the axe as you can't shot", it was hilarious. Surprisingly, no one died on that mech, but after getting the arm axe choped, the pilot clearly didn't wanted to stay in it for long, as they always found their way to the infirmary

[@jimvenanzio6561]

Science Insanity: "This video's bad for your health. You should turn away and leave before the puns--" Me: *Joke's on you, i'm into that!!!*

[@franksmedley7372]

Hello SI The Hatchetman isn't a bad Mech. It has its niche in combat, which is NOT front lines, or out in the open. If you use them that way, you deserve to lose your Mechs. When deployed correctly, and used efficiently, the Hatchetman can tilt battles in one's favor quite nicely. As a defensive unit, ambushing Mechs and vehicles, the Hatchetman is fairly good. Especially if your opponent does not know of the Hatchetman's deployment. I used this to good effect in several games. Where the Op-For invaded a town and was hit by multiple Hatchetman Mechs. This led to the opponent returning with heavier units to take the town, whereupon he discovered that during the lull in combat, that I had replaced the Hatchetman Mechs with Heavies and Assaults, all loaded up with LRMs and long ranged weaponry. This was more to his liking, and it was one heavy unit against another, with my own units having to use cover and concealment due to being outnumbered. But as the opponent pressed forwards into the outskirts of the town, hidden Hatchetmen attacked his damaged units and destroyed them. The battle ended with the opponent losing well over half his forces and withdrawing from the field of battle, leaving all the salvage to me. After the battle, I was told in no uncertain terms that I was a nasty, underhanded, lying and cheating bas***d. To this day, I don't think I've had quite such a nice, backhanded compliment aimed at me in a very long time.

[@WolfHreda]

The mission where you get to work with one in HBS Battletech's Flashpoint DLC, that thing was an absolute terror against every light and medium mech on the map.

[@grygaming5519]

@@WolfHreda In MW5 I run one exclusively of course this menace of the IS uses mix-tech. XXL Engine, AC20...enough defensive armor and a EMS.... Its basically AC20+ axe swing to core out any mech with enough evasion to dodge anything that may chase it.

[@vortigern33]

45T is axetually in the lower part of medium mech bracket, still dangerous mech, but relatively light, and there is the axeman a more proper fighter mech, and an obvious upgrade to the hatchetman

[@jeffallison09]

Don't enlighten them, it won't stick.

[@legokill1019]

the dad joke levels are off the charts this episode

[@medikohl]

They go all the way past the bottom

[@Apyr404]

40 tons is the bottom of the med weight class and 55 tons for the top of the med class

[@bohba13]

My ideal battlemech will _always_ have a mix of long and medium range weapons capped off with a melee weapon for the coup de grace. btw, do the Axeman.

[@RvnKnight]

Regarding the IP infringements, FASA did seek out and receive the rights before Harmony Gold brought Macross over. There was confusion by the rights holders and Harmony Gold claimed the entire artwork and toys even when FASA legally had the rights to use the images and make the minis

[@NewGuy2534]

Lasers cooking your piolets alive? Auto canons jamming again? Did those damn Lyrans spam Atlas on you again during one of their scouting operations because they are overhyped as that damn mech is?! Have you ever considered “Decapitation”?

[@Talon1124]

The clarion call of the Hatchetman pilot. DFA! DFA! DFA!

[@hazcat640]

Came for the mech, stayed for the puns. You had my sides splitting, I had been in a bad mood but you made me sheath my anger. I mean I was ready to maul somebody but you drove a wedge between me and the rage. Just chopped it in two. 😁

[@duncankelcey9281]

45 tons is in the middle bracket of Mediums. 40-55 tons is medium

[@UncleNavi]

"Anything under 50 tons is a light mech and therefore useless" :)

[@andrewszigeti2174]

Dr, Banzai was rather heavily based on the titular character of the Buckaroo Banzai movie of the 1980s. It flopped at the time, but became a cult classic fairly quickly.

[@hakonsgaming535]

to be fair the blackjack was a 300 year old meme for how bad it was until a bunch of kuritans tried to use banzai tactics on a fedsuns militia gunline of the things and collectively died of stupid and now there's a fucking omnimech variant of it...

[@AnonD38]

I physically and mentally left my room after the random axe of kindness pun.

[@inquisitionagent9052]

How do you mentally leave a room? Where do you go???

[@CharliMorganMusic]

I refuse to start a RogueTech campaign without at least one of these.

[@nilswassem7209]

Fun fact: Bandai was a great scientist, and like grayson carlyle, tried to safe and rediscover technology. He also was a Good medic, saving other Mechwarriors on and off the battlefield.

[@TheClassicDoomGuy]

Mechwarrior asks the question, is it cool to have a giant stompy mech split another giant stompy mech in half with a pickup sized metal axe? And it answers its own question - "Yes"

[@KnightofRome01]

Love the content you guys put out. As a long time Battletech fanboy this is always great to see. You guys should do a follow up video on the Axeman, the Hatchetman's bigger cousin.

[@kelleylafitte6503]

"This thing is close range in a nutshell" Don't you mean a nut shot?

[@brillcrafter7417]

quick thing I noticed, at 18:01 the mech in the centre is not a hunchback, it is a nightsky. a similar design idea but done in a slightly different way

[@NamNguyen-sz4yq]

Nah it is a hunchback 2c you can see 2 massive gun on it both shoulder

[@brillcrafter7417]

@@NamNguyen-sz4yq I am talking about the mech that is jumping down onto the hunchback IIC

[@calvinbutler1919]

The second I received a warning for puns I gave this video a thumbs up. I really have an axe to grind for people who don't like puns. They really put me on edge.

[@darkhobo]

When Juggalos get to write Battletech lore you get the hatchetman

[@supsup335]

21:12 that phoenix hawk and the trebuchet (or centurion without tge sensor mow hawk), that meme is so funny, i fell from my chair. Why? Well, if you ever butchered chickens, you know why.

[@blight4216]

You may have been deprived of the benefit of 80s Comedy Sci-Fi, but B. Banzai is a nod to Peter Weller's character in a movie. Genius, Rock Star, Scientist, interdimensional warrior. Look for the Banzai institute

[@thrawn3236]

I never get Tired Of Axing questions!

[@Roknese]

Hatchets do take internals just as an aside

[@jedder]

I need to look into Battletech more. The way they canonize the stupidest things is incredible. 😂

[@99zxk]

Those "stolen" designs were actually licensed.

[@starsiegeplayer]

Thank you. People keep repeating that misconception. FASA paid for the anime designs it used. It just ended up that Macross mecha licenses were .... insanely complicated, leading to legal action to settle it.

[@TempestsFist]

Best episode yet. Truly... axelent.

[@sohrabroozbahani4700]

Yeap, I finally climbed up to the newest video of the channel... alright my Canadian scifi loving friend, this is a good channel, performance is gradually and noticeably improving, jokes are wild and fun, and overall vibe of the channel is good and refreshing... I'm sticking 😌 more power to you and hope to see this grow even bigger 🙌

[@Navidson1]

I had so much of my childhood devoted to pretending to being a hatchet man mech, carving up other mechs, at 8 years old. I miss the 80s

[@Scudboy17]

The Hatchetman has it's uses. Much like the Assassin it's a great scout killer, able to drop any light mech dumb to let it get too close real quick. As you said, its also a great city brawler, where its jumpjets and point blank firepower really shine. Way way back in the day, fpr a Solaris 7 game, I ran a Hatchet man with 12 machine guns in the torsos replacing the AC10 and keeping the rest of the armament and moving all the armor for the torsos to the front. Its main attack was just jump/run in close and shred the enemy in close range. It worked very well, almost getting me a championship in the medium catagory, but a guy with a heavily modified Shadowhawk beat me in the finale. I named it Leatherface and painted the axe so it had a chainsaw like look to it. Still have the mini over 30 years later.

[@harvestblades]

While I was exposed to Classic BT in the early 90s I fell in love with the universe with MW2. The first time I played a tabletop game was the HeroClix Dark Age in the early 2000s. That was when Agro & Construction mechs were prominent & I hated any melee mech because why would you want a close in weapon vs a PPC or lasers?! Yes, I'm a Clanner at heart. Well finally started playing Classic, learning the rules for fisticuffs & melee, & definitely after seeing how nasty the Yen Lo Wang is with a hatchet & TSM as well as seeing .else weapons in novells I am definitely sold. I still prefer ranged weaponry, but the effectiveness of Melee or even brawling has definitely grown on me. This video is a cut above the rest! Keep up the good work.

[@ELPMCFlashFrame]

Who is Dr. B Banzai? Why he's an adventurer from across the 8th dimensions! Doctor Banzai is one of the instances of BattleTech crossing over with other media, in this case a little 1984 movie called: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Buckaroo_Banzai_Across_the_8th_Dimension

[@Quincy_Morris]

The fact it has a luxury escape pod is hilarious. They know it’s a suicide bot.

[@daduronronron3955]

The thing about the Hatchetman's hatchet it gives you a 1 in 6 chance for a head shot. 9 dmg will only strip off all the armor in TT. I created a 60 ton max armor mech called the Mohican. It initially had 2 axes, both capable of 12 points of damage, completely crushing the head armor and internal structure because the only thing better than one one-in-six chance to decapitate your opponent is two one-in-six chances to decapitate your opponents but I found out that you only get one chance a turn to use a hatchet so the other one was wasted tonnage.

[@phillipgrubb2443]

Love the dialogue in the new mechwarrior. When the clan star sees this for the first time.

[@benwelsh4330]

You shall all be Pun-ished

[@bradj9772]

Would LOOOOVE to see a video of this kind about the Hunchback!

[@vidfan1701]

This is comedy on the cutting edge.

[@jacktaylor6253]

Me: *reading that opening 'quote'* "We now I HAVE to watch this"

[@eddapultstab2078]

The hatchet man is the reason for triple strength myomer

[@khosegier3182]

Paused at 0:01to comment: Jokes on you, funny man, I'm into puns. "Warning" me about them only makes me want to see the video more!

[@nexus371]

9:46 “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” with the Hong Kong Cavaliers, who were all scientists and techies in addition to being a top flight merc unit

[@danielvandersall6756]

LOVE this battlemech; usually upgrade mine with a RAC-5 for maximum punch.

[@lazerlad89]

These puns are giving me a splitting headache.

[@thomascarpenter8177]

There is a good reason for the head lifepod, your in a mech know for close range to toe to toe combat, so if you need to eject the last thing you need is to land in a close combat situation

[@TheRaptor0101]

21:31 ... I looked at it in Mercs 5 and I was like "Why is the head shaped like a tiny helicopter?" - So this is why...

[@RatEdbumP3936]

Anyone else notice how the hatchetman’s body seems a bit chunkier with a smaller head in BATTLETECH flashpoint than it does in mechWarrior 5 call to arms?

[@joshkellemen5931]

When kai allard liao defeated 25 elementals in a mech he had never piloted before, with an angry passenger, and then defeated another cluster of mechs only with his ax and his fusion engine.

[@NemFX]

I want to see a version where it has 2 hatchets, triple strength myomer, jump jets, and if there's room, medium pulse lasers to get the heat up for the tsm. Flying double axe!

[@HenrikEbert]

I loved your puns.... and the video. But the puns were the best.

[@mikeyjordan5439]

Just so yall know: Buckaroo Banzai & The Hong Kong Cavaliers (his science team/merc crew that work for the Feddies is a straight 1 to 1 homage to a movie called "Buckaroo Bonzai, across the 8th Dimension" The character is a crazy awesome brain surgeon/partical physicist/rock star Yes im serious And yes its pretty awesome

[@joshuamidgette4846]

The Hatchetman is the pale imitation of what would eventually be The Axeman and Berserker.

[@charlesballiet7074]

love how the axe says "the severance package" on the side lol

[@Blacklagoon003]

with 45 Tonns its on the lower end of the Medium Mechs. They range from 40 to 55 Tonns. But love the Hatchetman and play it regularly

[@dspserpico]

9:42 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984). Starring Peter Weller (aka RoboCop) as Dr. Buckaroo Banzai. Jeff Goldblum was in it.

[@kazekamiha]

I want the Axeman in the games... Also; why did they put the Autocannon on the same torso side as the hatchet? You can't use both at the same time.

[@logandaley1544]

I got to use a Hatchet Man in Mechwarrior 5. I used a city wall as cover and jumped behind an enemy heavy and cleaved through it’s back armor. I rarely use it but man when you get the right situation it’s awesome.

[@obliviousfafnir01]

"Leave before it gets to painful" Jokes on you. I'm into that shit.

[@TheHitman267]

I will not lie, I was giggling the entire time during those cringey puns.

[@avsbes98]

I really hope that you'll next cover one of the best/batshit crazy designs the Lyrans ever came up with: The Hollander / Blitzkrieg Mech line. There are few things as funny as a Light Mech with a Gauss Rifle or a fast Medium with a UAC/20.

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

The ultimate assault mech killer.

[@TheMegamaster44]

The hatchet man be like you have my axe

[@derekhinger1343]

MW5 melee additions work based of off the size of the mech/size of weapon/damage count of the weapon used. If you get hit by a heavy or an assault with a heavy melee weapon, it's not going to be pretty. But you can avoid that by staying mobile and moving AWAY from an enemy you recognize carries a melee weapon :P

[@mattmaddogwheaton4724]

Ah, the Axeman, quite possibly the GOAT medium mech next to the Phoenix Hawk, Shadow Hawk, and Griffin.

[@Mastercheap]

4:06 Hey, you probably won’t see this, but have you heard of the axegun?

[@theloregoblin2]

I hit like literally for the axe pun at the start. Bravo!

[@marcjuu]

this mech demonstates that you can get the caveman out of the cave but you cant get the caveman out of the man

[@AccessAccess]

The hatchet is no joke. An extra 5 in punch damage (going for 4 to 9) is a big deal when a sixth of all punches hit the head. An extra 5 damage may not seem like a big deal, but a hatchetman that gets lucky with a one-two combo punch to the head can take out any mech.

[@tha_dealler4811]

why my rotten brain is now having fun Imagining Dr Banzai with a Hatchetman but the weapon is a 3 ton Baguette and constantly saying some ANGERY FRENCH GIBBERISH while charging against the enemies

[@brandonbalfanz7536]

Should take a look at the ultimate example of choppy boy. The Berserker. 100 tons of fire breathing charging anger.

[@Ju66alo4Life]

Every time I watch this, I always wonder what Steve said lol😂😂😂 20:12

[@therakshasan8547]

The cost of replacing a head on a Mech is greatly lowered when the head is saved .

[@tomarmadiyer2698]

Hi Steve. Good work handling this episode.

[@TheAnon03]

Had a Hatchetman Toy when I was little.

[@jeanpaulantoine1206]

When I think of the Hatchetman, I think of Rogu from “American Dad” doing that Alamo charge.

[@toddkes5890]

Puns are usually measured with a sighsmometer

[@shayminthedoctor9663]

I did not heed the warning in the title screen and i got hit with 4 axe jokes in a single sentence

[@catloverjerrygarcia5086]

"There probably are versions with two hatchets." No doubt on Solaris.

[@ASNS117Zero]

As to MW5: Even with a tier 5 melee weapon on an assault mech, I don't think I've seen anything in the same weight class get one shot by a melee weapon before unless it was on a headshot. Generally, the enemy mech needs to be medium or light to get one shot by a melee weapon, or explicitly getting hit in a weak spot.

[@MrAsaqe]

The Greatsword was my mech slicer that sent many unsuspecting mechs into a salvage pile. it was a nasty piece of work that made my Banshee a feared assassination mech because it was mounting arena supercharger with MASC and only small laser to make sure what I wrecked stayed dead

[@FenrirStriker]

great content as always guys. looking forwards to seeing more content. request for the future the odin and thor from starcraft 2

[@18corderro]

A Hach is German for Axe so Hatchet (Hach-et) means little axe bomb he was right it is a Axe

[@britishrex5515]

Those puns should be logged for future reference

[@jrwilliams7534]

SCI you ever think that the Bagpipe blasting was revenge for this opening?

[@brianvanveghel7815]

The message just enticed me becouse puns are fun and I am a punner and its funner

[@randallblanton4671]

Fuckin random axe of kindness was chefs kiss bro 😂

[@Sierra2S9]

In MW5 my friends and I always call it the Crackhead Mech cuz it's coming for your Mech's catalytic converter XD

[@Attaxalotl]

In speaking of IP Theft: The IPS-N Blackbeard is literally just this stompy boi, spiderman edition.

[@SlenderNSK]

Axman will be a fun episode in the future

[@ralphsexton8531]

@Science Insanity - Professor B. Banzai is a reference to the 1984 movie The Adventures of "Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension," and Professor Banzai is played by Peter Weller - yeah, Robocop - so not exactly Asian. XD The Hatchetman isn't large for a Medium Mech... they run 40-55 tons, so 45 is in the lower half of the range. Just a quibble. As always, enjoy the videos!