Clanners: We are the future! Comstar: No WE are the future The great houses: NO! WE are the future! Civilians: guys? Did you know that there’s been a famine going on out here for three centuries?
@@CatholicDragoon great houses Clans and even comstar self might one day all pass into the annals of history, nothing more than myths and legends. But BattleTech mercenaries will keep roaming the battlefields for a paycheck until the day mankind is extinct.
@@CatholicDragoon we're out of C-Bills but we do have House Bills belonging to a house Ka-Mur-In? we've got like 80 Trillion of these things so they must be worth something right?
"A true victory is to make your enemy see they were wrong to oppose you in the first place. To force them to acknowledge your greatness." Gul Dukat; Fredrick Steiner in another life apparently.
Tukkayid is one of the best examples of a modern set piece battle in sci-fi. It's a multifront defense in depth that shows exactly how to conduct a defensive operation against an invasion force. High usage of arty, airspace, ambushes, willingly letting go of defensive positions to get to a better spot, recon assets constantly roving and harassing enemy units to stop them from gaining any sort of initiative. This battle was basically modern day military force vs a Children's Crusade.
Remember the Wolves and Jade Falcons, along with the Bears, were the only ones who really adapted, with the Dogs pulling out a full win and showing that change was needed. I would also like to point out that the Clans were not playing war, but cause they went thru a war that was worse that what happened in the IS, the rules were developed to keep themselves from self destructing during their self imposed exile. Their way of fighting was good considering their situation, but bad against people who could use their rules against them. Just saw this comment and it fits perfectly to what happened to the Clans: The Clans knew how to fight, but forgot how to wage war.
'Children's crusade' is inaccurate. The failings of the clans in this campaign were due to a mountain of factors, one of which being internal sabotage. In most cases, the clans punched way above their weight. Taking the Smoke Jaguars as an example, since everyone likes to pick on them: They were two galaxies (roughly equivalent to three Comstar Divisions, each) both of which were depleted from prior fighting, against 8 fresh divisions that had the luxury of being on the defensive. Of these 8 divisions, several were mauled to such a degree that ComStar disbanded them rather than reconstitute them. So while they failed to take their objectives, and decidedly lost, it isn't as if they were helpless 'children.' Rather, they were undermanned and on the offensive.
@@revolrz22 yeah, it was more of Carl XVIIs Napoleons and Nazi Germanys offencives vs Russia... three elite armies equipped and trained for quick, violent conquests counting on beeing able to forage what the intentionally under dimensioned logistics couldn't supply from their home bases forced into an extended war of attrition on a scorched earth battlefield with supply chains so long it's impossible to monitor them, let alone actually defend them against enemy partizans and troop remnants conducting guerilla warfare as they see fit behind enemy lines cut off from their own high command.
SO IT HAS BEEN: ONE FOUGHT FOR HONOR AND ONE FOR FINALITY, STEEL AND MAN FACING DOWN THEIR MORTALITY, FOR THEY ARE HARDENED WARRIORS THAT SHAPED THE GALAXY, AS THEY CLASHED IN THE BATTLE OF TUKAYYID
I chose this video, on this day, to formally introduce my youngest sister to BattleTech. She's genuinely interested in the setting because of this. Thanks for this chance for some precious family bonding, Tex. It's been a rough few years for her and I.
"They dismissed him as a joke and failed to respect him. And for that, he fucking broke them." So good. I second everyone here who says Tex should do more lore vids. This was fantastic and I'd love to hear Tex recount other events like the War of 3039 and the lives of Justin and Daniel Allard.
Tex should do a video on the Allards. Justin, Daniel and Kai were probably the three best Mechwarriors in the Inner Sphere. According to some articles, shortly after the beginning of the Clan Invasion, Jaime Wolf had the more proactive IS leaders and notable Mechwarriors fight it out in a pseudo-Trial of Position. Kai was the second-last standing, just narrowly losing to Jaime Wolf and downing at least five of his opponents (which was exceptional even by Clan standards. Achieving that kill count in a ToP would net you the rank of Galaxy Commander or even Khan). Wolf even admitted to Kai that had Kai managed to down Jaime's Mech he would have had to hand Wolf's Dragoons over to Kai.
Aww yiss, this will be the most enjoyable 25 minutes X) Dude, seriously, continue this. There must be a lore channel for Battletech with your level of production quality, to rival Warhammer and Star Wars ones. Keep it up, good sir! Edit: Now that I watch this proper - I stand by my point ever firmly. This is your best Battletech work this far, Tex. You actually made me feel that nightmare of a battle through that narration. Atmospheric as all hell. Nice work indeed. tldr: MOAR
I wholeheartedly agree. I think this is the stride episode right here. The voice, narration, the jokes, down to even just the pictures, transitions, and even the voice and narration, all the way to the end credits. All future episodes should follow this as a template. (apart the odd beginning and ending). I loved the logo at the end with a part of the narration. "Hippity Hoppity get off my property" was absolutely hilarious!
@@umngyr Much to my wife's dismay, I take the 20th of May off every year and play BT all day. HBS BattleTech, MechAssault 1 and 2 along with MWO. Drives her nuts :)
I tell you what: I happened upon this channel last year, and have listened to all the lore episodes a dozen times. It never gets old, and is still compelling. The humor is top notch.
My favorite part is this: At the same time that ComStar pulls off Tukayyind, where the did everything right, they also performed Operation Scorpion, where they failed spectacularly at trying to conquer the Inner Sphere. They tried to force the great houses to bend the knee, threatening to shut off the HPG network... so the Great Houses just took over the HPG facilities. It's a bad idea to say "You and what army" when the other guy has an army and yours is fighting a battle elsewhere.
Sorry for the thread necromancy; Operation Scorpion primarily failed because Precenter Dieron - Sharilar Mori - was a mole for the Draconis Combine, and passed on information about the planned activities.
As AWESOME as an 80 ton Steiner mech with a trio of PPCs. I love how you tell the story your own way, with your own style instead of just read it out of some sourcebook. Gonna re-watch this one a few times today.
The Clans came out soon after I started playing Battletech. Early on, I got into an argument with a Clan Fan over what I felt were terrible practices after his description of the Clan bidding process. It took me mere *minutes* to figure out there was a problem. But, he knew the lore and read all the books, while I just played the game. So, I lost the argument, unable to enunciate what should have been obvious. Later, I drifted away from the game, playing a little MechWarrior but not much else from the franchise. Fast forward to May 20, 2019, after years out of the loop and following this channel for like a week (bumped into the Catapult video), I learn the exact problems I pointed out were real. I'm not stupid or crazy. Well, not about the Clans, anyway. All of that to say, thanks, Tex.
@@Splozy I'm not sure I understand. You're asking what wrong with the Clan bidding process, past what was already explained in the video? I'm also curious if you think the Clan bidding process is actually a good idea?
@@annagramgaming8934 no I don't I'm just curious about your story :) I watch these while I do other things and might have missed a bit out. You don't have to go into more detail of you don't want to.
@@Splozy The issue of the clan bidding process is wrapped up in efficient use of force. Purposely benching portions of your projectable force, barring situations where more units in an area results in them fighting ineffectively (al la Agincourt), only leads to negative results, such as increased losses on your side and increased chance of failure to achieve the tactical objective. Terms of engagement are so critical that sometimes the battle is more about the terms than the fighting. Jutland comes to mind. So, to put into perspective of the Clan nonsense, what I was referring to was being told how cool the Clans were because of their bidding process, when it is strictly at odds with effective military doctrine. At the time, I wasn't as knowledgable of the Battletech setting, the Clans specifically, or military history in general. So, I could not formulate an effective defense of my feeling that there was something wrong with the bidding, even if it seems 'cool,' which is all the Clan Fan seemed to actually care about. I hope that explains it adequately.
Remembering May 20th as a day of Will, Resolve, Strategic Vision, and of course my favourite, Crazy. Everyone says it cannot be done until some great genius bastard comes along and says 'hey, yes it can. And this is how we do it.'😎
Shout out to Tex and the rest of the BPL crew. Love your content, love your work ethos, and most importantly love your work on behalf of charity. The style in which you present this lore is one that inspires my own writings. The phrase "tactical fuckery" will forever have a place in my lexicon.
What i find great about this series, what brings me back to these videos time and again, is that it feels like someone who actually studied history. Not just in how accurate it is but how colorful the explanation is. This isn't some stuffy "ho ho ho i know all so much about history now listen up luddites as i educate you for your failure to learn." it feels like someone who passionately poored over history and will absolutely enjoy debating with you the actual problems of the past and the ramifications of it. This sounds like a real person talking about real events. A stuffy 'i am smarter then you' type would say that Diamond shark simply had minimal surviving forces. A person with real passion will say something like "An entire invasion force relegated to the past tense" in that kind of tone.
Thank you kindly sir. I am a historian by education, and I always felt it was . . . poor form to speak down to the audience. History of anything is a tangle of human stories. People forget that all too easily. Thank you for the kind words.
@@theblackpantslegion No, Thank you for doing this. This whole series renewed my interest in battletech which had come and gone over the years due to not having many reliable sources for it's knowledge. I had 1 friend who was as into the series as I was, but thanks to you I've at least shared a lot about this world with a few others and now we have some of your jokes as running gags in our group. It's been a wild ride and I hope to see more of it in the coming years, even in this chaos this series has helped me stay focused on the world around me by taking my mind off things for just long enough at a time to recenter myself. Now I'm going to get back to my AU writing, but thank you for making a fans day sir.
For someone who only knows like the Bare Basics of BattleTech, this was amazing and I believe you and your team have great talent and should do more videos based on battles and wars and different companies and important time periods in universe.
While the video is funny and cute, he really underplays the clan effort during the fight and makes it seem like a one-sided curb stomp. The clans punched well above their weight in most cases, and absolutely left most of the ComStar units in various states between 'mauled' and 'absolutely thrashed' by the end.Numerous Comstar divisions were just disbanded after the battle, the damage they had taken being so great that it wasn't worth it to reconstitute them.
@@revolrz22 well, he does mention afterward that Comstar's losses were incalculable, showing that he did acknowledge comstar's substantial losses, and he goes pretty in depth with Comstar's losses describing how they "bulldozed the corpses of their comrades aside and kept fighting."
I'm so glad they stripped all if their garrisons to face off with space knights in order to save Terra. Defence in depth always loses to a knife in the back!
As a proud member of clan wolf, I'll take a loss like this just to hear you tell me how bad smoke jaguar failed. Screw you smoke jaguar! You're not a thing anymore, hah!
If I remember from the games that Clan Wolf is the only clan to achieve it's objectives since they were getting intel from the Wolf's Dragoons for years and predicted how ComStar would fight by equiping more energy weapons so they didn't worry about ammo. Plus, they were the largest of all the clans due to absorbing another entire clan. If I remember they were the clan that didn't even want to invade in the first place.
@@stonegolem1835 They weren't really the largest force by absorbig a clan( they did this many years prior to the invasion) but simply due to fact, that they were forbidden by the other clans (main instigators Smoked jaguars) to bid for first landfall, for the audacity to accept the terms of the challange, and so were able to field thier whole forces of aobut 4 Galaxies iirc istead of reducing them to half like most the other did. Also Khan Radick did not head Ulrics advice and tried to fight the traditional way with his galaxy and lost pretty bad, killing himself in the process and reducing his forces almost as badly as most of the other clans.
Truly a heart warming remembrance of those who gave their lives to protect us decent folk from the clan menace. Now if only Piranha Games would follow suit and release the Clanbuster King Crab 001 today instead of tomorrow....
"Mech after mech, tank after tank, infantryman after infantryman, from PPC to bayonet, Comstar fought them... and died for every inch of soil." This is such an impact full line. Courage and self sacrifice on full display. Comstar may be awful, but this was heroism.
The thing that people seem to forget or not realize about the strategy that Focht implemented is that even if comstar had LOST on tukayidd is that the losses accrued by the clans would have stopped the clans basically in their tracks. Tex compares the strategy to that of Zhukov and the comparison is apt since Zhukov's strategy was to force the germans to throw so many resources at the conflict that even if he had lost stalingrad the germans would not be able to as effectively push farther into the interior of Russia. I have heard conjecture that this was actually the point for Zhukov but I am not a historian and I haven't seen really any official history that he was prepared to actually loose at Stalingrad, where as with Focht if I remember correctly it is outright stated in several places. Grinding the clans to a halt at Tukayidd, win or loose, would have given the IS the time to muster its resources to a stiffer defense as well as a concerted counter attack against strategic resources.
"We possess, so it seems Two of man's greatest dreams Solar power and zero-G sex" The song at the end is hilarious. I̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶d̶i̶t̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶g̶i̶n̶g̶/̶p̶l̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶?̶ ̶(̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶M̶a̶d̶A̶s̶g̶a̶r̶d̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶)̶ Edit: I have since learned more about the BPL and know that Goat is the music man.
"Hippity hoppity get off my property." That might be the single greatest line I have ever heard in my life. House Davion thanks you for this contribution, and will endeavor to utilize it to maximum effect during its next play-date with House Weeaboo.
Goddamn! Thats some good shit! Theres one thing about BattleT, Its just people and metal. No aliens, no mutants, no psykers, no elder gods, just people and what they make.
This is my fourth view of this glorious exposition. I thought I was alone in celebrating May 20th (or as I like to refer to it, "Veinte De Mayo"). Thanks for validating my misspent youth.
It was also the beginning of the end of the Smoke Jaguars home world. When a plucky Star Captain took a Bondsman from a crab and skipped down the Exodus road.
Tex - It is your responsibility to narrate every war documentary of the history channel. “Apparently when you sneak attack a neutral arms dealer that is staying out of the fight in the Pacific Ocean things don’t go well and your island is glassed”.
Clan Diamond Shark: Uh, hey, we ran out of ammo. Can we get some more? 321st ComGuard: We have some. 401st ComGuard: You guys can still find a use for second hand ammo, right? Used just once. Promise.
I remember the conversation between Focht and Il-Khan Ulric. Where he pointed out that the results of the battle greatly favored Clan Wolf even though they’d lost the over all contest. Almost all their enemies within the clans were decimated and rendered useless against them. It also drove home the lesson of the Wards and how wrong the crusaders were. Taught the clans all the lessons they needed to be stronger. Ulric accomplish all of his goals in one lesson. Also Focht went home and killed the crazy bitch who headed Comstar for being utterly fucking mad.
Man, here I am again watching this for like the umpteenth time. the very video that got me into Battletech. kinda early but Merry Christmas Tex (it's already the 25th in my timezone). Thanks for all the awesome content you've put up and hope that you and the rest of legion are doing alright.
"This is called 'asymmetrical strategic planning'. In layman's terms, this is called 'tactical fuckery'." But I didn't see thousands of Savannah Masters ramming 'Mechs until they fell down . . .
I'd say the reason the Wolves won on Tukayyid was that, unlike the other Khans, Ulric Kerensky had actually taken the time to do research on Anastasius Focht and study him while Focht was travelling with the Clans. As I recall, the Wolves also configured their forces to make greater use of energy weapons and thus reduced their logistical burdens. Not to mention that Ulric Kerensky made extensive use of the knowledge of Inner Sphere tactics and strategies possessed by Natasha Kerensky and Phelan Kell and this, combined with the knowledge gathered by Ulric's own study of Focht allowed the Wolves to comprehensively beat the ComGuards on Tukayyid. And no, it wasn't anything like the Wolves landed last and the battle was decided before they landed - the Wolves landed on the fifth day of a battle which lasted for _three weeks._
It turned out that EVERYONE needed help. Mainly in picking up what was left of their stuff, to shuffle off back home to cry. Except Smoke Jaguar. They can leave their stuff. They won't be needing it.
Clan Wolf: "Ok. Y'all just lost this for us, and nothing we do will have any impact here anyway. BUT... we can't let you scrubs and your shitty performance here represent all of us, so we're going to drop anyway, just to show you how it's done and make sure everyone knows we're not all as lame as you just made everyone think we are." "Oh look, we won. You guys must *really* suck then..."
To be fair, Wolf landed last and Constar had already won 51%+ of the objectives. So, Comstar didn't have to try and win those objectives. In fact, the only objective Jade Falcon "won", they actually lost, but Comstar gave Jade Falcon the draw "because JF's Aiden Pryde fought so well", but really just gave them the victory because Comstsr already won the planet at that point. This show of respect was only done to encourage Jade Falcon to honor the terms abd bo go on a tage filled vengeance crusade against the Sphere .
I just realized something after listening to this for the... well I lost count how many times now. The joke about Michael Vick babysitting your dog being a bad idea. Hilarious for sure... but if this is supposed to be an in-universe lecture that means Michael Vick is STILL infamous for dog fighting almost a thousand years in the future... damn...
So basically space robot version of the American civil war. While the Clanners were busy marching in formation through the wide open streets of the cities, space at&t were shooting from the bushes and trees.
If Comstar = intelligence, then the Clans = vainglory. Misplaced pride can never defeat well placed artillery. Kerensky took the dreamers. Blake kept the realists.
Realists like Myndo Waterly and the Word of Blake? Are those the realists you're referring to? The Clans did suffer greatly from Hubris, which they paid for dearly. But let's be real here, sometimes Focht has seemed to be the only intelligent, realist Comstar has.
@@khyron666ok8 Actually, according to the Second Succession Wars sourcebook: Conrad Toyama was only acting under the orders of Blake. So Toyama was only doing what Blake wanted him to do. It so happened that Toyama was a bit too convincing in his role as apostle to Blake, and a bit too good at creating religious zealots. Blake realized that religion would be the only way for Comstar to instill loyalty in its followers that would keep Comstar from being torn apart by the Succession Wars and old loyalties to House and family. Also, Operation Scorpion was a culmination, a culmination of Comstar plotting and operations going back to the Second Succession Wars, if not further. Note, Focht had no trouble with all the plotting Waterly had done prior to Operation Scorpion, it was only when her plotting threatened the Truce and Comstar's carefully built reputation for impartiality that he acted to take her down.
Thanks for this. I have known of the BOT since I played BT back in the 90s. But never have I really realized the implications on what it did to the clans.
"Get bent weirdo" - Space AT&T
I loved the phrase so much I made a shirt design for it imgur.com/gallery/uAxtNwq
"AND PAY YO FUCKIN' BILLS"
@@marshall104 I want one :)
@@marshall104 I was going to say we need t-shirts
Why can't I like twice?
Best part of this event is its actually two twisted remnants of the SLDF facing off, both believing they are the future of the SLDF.
Clanners: We are the future!
Comstar: No WE are the future
The great houses: NO! WE are the future!
Civilians: guys? Did you know that there’s been a famine going on out here for three centuries?
@@benvacco8997 Mercs: We're the PRESENT. Now who's paying me wo kill whom. Oh, if you pay me enough I'll go grab some chow.
@@CatholicDragoon great houses Clans and even comstar self might one day all pass into the annals of history, nothing more than myths and legends. But BattleTech mercenaries will keep roaming the battlefields for a paycheck until the day mankind is extinct.
@@CatholicDragoon we're out of C-Bills but we do have House Bills belonging to a house Ka-Mur-In? we've got like 80 Trillion of these things so they must be worth something right?
*Spoilers* It was fucking ComStar
"To make a long distance call, please insert 20 more Long Range Missiles. Thank you for choosing Space AT&T."
"If you don't pay promptly we'll send 12 armies to 'requisition' the funds directly."
Wait... i just this week joked about my LRM stockpile in MW5 being an alternative to C-bills in case i go broke or the ATM breaks.
"A true victory is to make your enemy see they were wrong to oppose you in the first place. To force them to acknowledge your greatness."
Gul Dukat; Fredrick Steiner in another life apparently.
And Sun Tzu in a different Species, also apparently. :D
Except Focht had a far better capacity for strategy and truly understanding your opponent.
House Kurita: Then you kill them?
Steiner: eeeehhh... *wobbly hand wave* only if necessary
@@E100Omega123 that being All the Time
Dukat did nothing wrong.
Yet another glorious May 20th
Tukkayid is one of the best examples of a modern set piece battle in sci-fi. It's a multifront defense in depth that shows exactly how to conduct a defensive operation against an invasion force. High usage of arty, airspace, ambushes, willingly letting go of defensive positions to get to a better spot, recon assets constantly roving and harassing enemy units to stop them from gaining any sort of initiative. This battle was basically modern day military force vs a Children's Crusade.
So pretty much the peoples crusade?
Remember the Wolves and Jade Falcons, along with the Bears, were the only ones who really adapted, with the Dogs pulling out a full win and showing that change was needed.
I would also like to point out that the Clans were not playing war, but cause they went thru a war that was worse that what happened in the IS, the rules were developed to keep themselves from self destructing during their self imposed exile. Their way of fighting was good considering their situation, but bad against people who could use their rules against them.
Just saw this comment and it fits perfectly to what happened to the Clans: The Clans knew how to fight, but forgot how to wage war.
@Crashie-J also Kursk. They had multi level defense there.
'Children's crusade' is inaccurate. The failings of the clans in this campaign were due to a mountain of factors, one of which being internal sabotage. In most cases, the clans punched way above their weight.
Taking the Smoke Jaguars as an example, since everyone likes to pick on them: They were two galaxies (roughly equivalent to three Comstar Divisions, each) both of which were depleted from prior fighting, against 8 fresh divisions that had the luxury of being on the defensive. Of these 8 divisions, several were mauled to such a degree that ComStar disbanded them rather than reconstitute them. So while they failed to take their objectives, and decidedly lost, it isn't as if they were helpless 'children.' Rather, they were undermanned and on the offensive.
@@revolrz22 yeah, it was more of Carl XVIIs Napoleons and Nazi Germanys offencives vs Russia... three elite armies equipped and trained for quick, violent conquests counting on beeing able to forage what the intentionally under dimensioned logistics couldn't supply from their home bases forced into an extended war of attrition on a scorched earth battlefield with supply chains so long it's impossible to monitor them, let alone actually defend them against enemy partizans and troop remnants conducting guerilla warfare as they see fit behind enemy lines cut off from their own high command.
War. War never changes.
Unless you don't pay Space AT&T.
I am so using that
Pay your HPG bills, fucko.
@@RedShocktrooperRST Comstar for life, baby.
ya im stealing that term Space AT&T LOLOLOL great opne lad got a sub for it
Hippity hoppity, get off my property!
SO IT HAS BEEN:
ONE FOUGHT FOR HONOR AND ONE FOR FINALITY,
STEEL AND MAN FACING DOWN THEIR MORTALITY,
FOR THEY ARE HARDENED WARRIORS THAT SHAPED THE GALAXY,
AS THEY CLASHED IN THE BATTLE
OF TUKAYYID
Amen fellow Stringstorm Brother! "Await their fearsome brothers of 3 centuries divide!"
“And although Comstar won, they are harrowed and maimed”
Preach
Not their best work, even for Battletech.
@@bthsr7113true, but it's fantastic song
I chose this video, on this day, to formally introduce my youngest sister to BattleTech. She's genuinely interested in the setting because of this. Thanks for this chance for some precious family bonding, Tex. It's been a rough few years for her and I.
HAPPY TK DAY!
“Amphetamine soaked circus monkey” is going to be my new phase for crazy. I love these vids!
Gadget 19K I literally did a spit take all over my phone at that one.
i lost it when he said that funniest thing i have heard.
Also a Great BAND Name!
@@belliott538 And don't forget their hit song, "Technical Fuckery"
@@jbarton8508 No, not Technical. Tactical. Tex was talking about screwing with Asymmetrical Warfare. Listen to it again. And yes, it is very funny.
"They dismissed him as a joke and failed to respect him. And for that, he fucking broke them." So good.
I second everyone here who says Tex should do more lore vids. This was fantastic and I'd love to hear Tex recount other events like the War of 3039 and the lives of Justin and Daniel Allard.
What was the name of the music track playing during that
Tex should do a video on the Allards. Justin, Daniel and Kai were probably the three best Mechwarriors in the Inner Sphere.
According to some articles, shortly after the beginning of the Clan Invasion, Jaime Wolf had the more proactive IS leaders and notable Mechwarriors fight it out in a pseudo-Trial of Position. Kai was the second-last standing, just narrowly losing to Jaime Wolf and downing at least five of his opponents (which was exceptional even by Clan standards. Achieving that kill count in a ToP would net you the rank of Galaxy Commander or even Khan). Wolf even admitted to Kai that had Kai managed to down Jaime's Mech he would have had to hand Wolf's Dragoons over to Kai.
Aww yiss, this will be the most enjoyable 25 minutes X)
Dude, seriously, continue this. There must be a lore channel for Battletech with your level of production quality, to rival Warhammer and Star Wars ones. Keep it up, good sir!
Edit: Now that I watch this proper - I stand by my point ever firmly. This is your best Battletech work this far, Tex. You actually made me feel that nightmare of a battle through that narration. Atmospheric as all hell. Nice work indeed.
tldr: MOAR
Yeah thanks Tex this was fantastic.
I will be officially celebrating Tukkayid day every may 20th from this moment forward. CHEERS!
Yes, please! Battletech deserves so much more recognition than it has now. Such an awesome universe!
-random 40K fan just learning about the setting
I wholeheartedly agree. I think this is the stride episode right here. The voice, narration, the jokes, down to even just the pictures, transitions, and even the voice and narration, all the way to the end credits.
All future episodes should follow this as a template. (apart the odd beginning and ending).
I loved the logo at the end with a part of the narration.
"Hippity Hoppity get off my property" was absolutely hilarious!
@@umngyr Much to my wife's dismay, I take the 20th of May off every year and play BT all day. HBS BattleTech, MechAssault 1 and 2 along with MWO. Drives her nuts :)
Remembering May 20th.
o7
I tell you what: I happened upon this channel last year, and have listened to all the lore episodes a dozen times. It never gets old, and is still compelling. The humor is top notch.
My favorite part is this: At the same time that ComStar pulls off Tukayyind, where the did everything right, they also performed Operation Scorpion, where they failed spectacularly at trying to conquer the Inner Sphere. They tried to force the great houses to bend the knee, threatening to shut off the HPG network... so the Great Houses just took over the HPG facilities. It's a bad idea to say "You and what army" when the other guy has an army and yours is fighting a battle elsewhere.
But Operation Scorpion was earlier.
Sorry for the thread necromancy; Operation Scorpion primarily failed because Precenter Dieron - Sharilar Mori - was a mole for the Draconis Combine, and passed on information about the planned activities.
As AWESOME as an 80 ton Steiner mech with a trio of PPCs. I love how you tell the story your own way, with your own style instead of just read it out of some sourcebook. Gonna re-watch this one a few times today.
The Awesome is a Free Worlds League design though... ;)
The Clans came out soon after I started playing Battletech. Early on, I got into an argument with a Clan Fan over what I felt were terrible practices after his description of the Clan bidding process. It took me mere *minutes* to figure out there was a problem. But, he knew the lore and read all the books, while I just played the game. So, I lost the argument, unable to enunciate what should have been obvious. Later, I drifted away from the game, playing a little MechWarrior but not much else from the franchise. Fast forward to May 20, 2019, after years out of the loop and following this channel for like a week (bumped into the Catapult video), I learn the exact problems I pointed out were real. I'm not stupid or crazy. Well, not about the Clans, anyway. All of that to say, thanks, Tex.
Welcome, bud
can you go into more detail? what's wrong with the bidding process?
@@Splozy I'm not sure I understand. You're asking what wrong with the Clan bidding process, past what was already explained in the video? I'm also curious if you think the Clan bidding process is actually a good idea?
@@annagramgaming8934 no I don't I'm just curious about your story :) I watch these while I do other things and might have missed a bit out. You don't have to go into more detail of you don't want to.
@@Splozy The issue of the clan bidding process is wrapped up in efficient use of force. Purposely benching portions of your projectable force, barring situations where more units in an area results in them fighting ineffectively (al la Agincourt), only leads to negative results, such as increased losses on your side and increased chance of failure to achieve the tactical objective. Terms of engagement are so critical that sometimes the battle is more about the terms than the fighting. Jutland comes to mind.
So, to put into perspective of the Clan nonsense, what I was referring to was being told how cool the Clans were because of their bidding process, when it is strictly at odds with effective military doctrine. At the time, I wasn't as knowledgable of the Battletech setting, the Clans specifically, or military history in general. So, I could not formulate an effective defense of my feeling that there was something wrong with the bidding, even if it seems 'cool,' which is all the Clan Fan seemed to actually care about.
I hope that explains it adequately.
you have the voice of an 80s action hero, brilliant. better than actually.
Asymmetrical warfare, otherwise known as tactical fuckery - that made my day. Love your videos Tex!
Remembering May 20th as a day of Will, Resolve, Strategic Vision, and of course my favourite, Crazy. Everyone says it cannot be done until some great genius bastard comes along and says 'hey, yes it can. And this is how we do it.'😎
Oddly it has become a tradition to watch this every year
New game= Drink whiskey every time Tex says honour.
Die at around 4:30
I like my liver, thanks.
Shout out to Tex and the rest of the BPL crew. Love your content, love your work ethos, and most importantly love your work on behalf of charity. The style in which you present this lore is one that inspires my own writings. The phrase "tactical fuckery" will forever have a place in my lexicon.
What i find great about this series, what brings me back to these videos time and again, is that it feels like someone who actually studied history. Not just in how accurate it is but how colorful the explanation is. This isn't some stuffy "ho ho ho i know all so much about history now listen up luddites as i educate you for your failure to learn." it feels like someone who passionately poored over history and will absolutely enjoy debating with you the actual problems of the past and the ramifications of it. This sounds like a real person talking about real events.
A stuffy 'i am smarter then you' type would say that Diamond shark simply had minimal surviving forces.
A person with real passion will say something like "An entire invasion force relegated to the past tense" in that kind of tone.
Thank you kindly sir. I am a historian by education, and I always felt it was . . . poor form to speak down to the audience. History of anything is a tangle of human stories. People forget that all too easily. Thank you for the kind words.
@@theblackpantslegion No, Thank you for doing this. This whole series renewed my interest in battletech which had come and gone over the years due to not having many reliable sources for it's knowledge. I had 1 friend who was as into the series as I was, but thanks to you I've at least shared a lot about this world with a few others and now we have some of your jokes as running gags in our group.
It's been a wild ride and I hope to see more of it in the coming years, even in this chaos this series has helped me stay focused on the world around me by taking my mind off things for just long enough at a time to recenter myself.
Now I'm going to get back to my AU writing, but thank you for making a fans day sir.
Damn Tex, you should definitely be doing more of this stuff. I'm an ooold school battletech lore nerd and would love to see more.
For someone who only knows like the Bare Basics of BattleTech, this was amazing and I believe you and your team have great talent and should do more videos based on battles and wars and different companies and important time periods in universe.
While the video is funny and cute, he really underplays the clan effort during the fight and makes it seem like a one-sided curb stomp. The clans punched well above their weight in most cases, and absolutely left most of the ComStar units in various states between 'mauled' and 'absolutely thrashed' by the end.Numerous Comstar divisions were just disbanded after the battle, the damage they had taken being so great that it wasn't worth it to reconstitute them.
@@revolrz22 well, he does mention afterward that Comstar's losses were incalculable, showing that he did acknowledge comstar's substantial losses, and he goes pretty in depth with Comstar's losses describing how they "bulldozed the corpses of their comrades aside and kept fighting."
"The nerve on those bastards." I about died.
Greetings from the imperium, just want to wish you all a happy "dunk on clanners" day
I'm so glad they stripped all if their garrisons to face off with space knights in order to save Terra. Defence in depth always loses to a knife in the back!
Side note, this reminded me to pay my AT&T bill. I get to live another month. Thanks Tex
As a proud member of clan wolf, I'll take a loss like this just to hear you tell me how bad smoke jaguar failed. Screw you smoke jaguar! You're not a thing anymore, hah!
Oh, they're still around. They just went to the Republic and call themselves Fidel *piff* *thunk*
I'm also clan wolf pack baby :)
Clan Wolf is a bunch of Sues, though. Their writing is bereft of creativity and their projection of perfection is nothing short of eye-rolling.
If I remember from the games that Clan Wolf is the only clan to achieve it's objectives since they were getting intel from the Wolf's Dragoons for years and predicted how ComStar would fight by equiping more energy weapons so they didn't worry about ammo. Plus, they were the largest of all the clans due to absorbing another entire clan. If I remember they were the clan that didn't even want to invade in the first place.
@@stonegolem1835 They weren't really the largest force by absorbig a clan( they did this many years prior to the invasion) but simply due to fact, that they were forbidden by the other clans (main instigators Smoked jaguars) to bid for first landfall, for the audacity to accept the terms of the challange, and so were able to field thier whole forces of aobut 4 Galaxies iirc istead of reducing them to half like most the other did. Also Khan Radick did not head Ulrics advice and tried to fight the traditional way with his galaxy and lost pretty bad, killing himself in the process and reducing his forces almost as badly as most of the other clans.
Holy good lord you did it. You mad lad.
REMEMBER TUKAYYID!
We are still watching and enjoying!
Happy Asymmetric Warfare Day to all you ComGuards out there 🍻cheers!!!
Almost forgot to watch this on the 1030th pre-anniversary
Oh my god, it's my childhood made manifest. Memories of MechWarrior 2 31st century combat are rushing back. MORE YOU GLORIOUS BASTARD! MORE!
First of your videos Im watching, Arch sent me over.
Welcome to this weird part of the internet!
@@noahdimario1379 thank you!
Welcome brother!
@@jonnarterius3163 Thank you brother!
Sir, I salute thee ...Goddamit this is the stuff of legends...
Having fanatics from COMSTAR so willing to die makes for effective soldiers.
Fanatical warriors are great when they're on your side, not so much when they're not, as the Word of Blake Jihad showed.
@@Prich319 That arc was really silly, though.
I think I watch the 2 dozen times and it never gets old.
The stringstorm song about this is quite epic in my opinion
Its a pretty good song. I feel it paints the clanners . . . in some odd way but, I mean, I'm biased.
@@theblackpantslegion at least it's going to raise interest in battletech :)
Truly a heart warming remembrance of those who gave their lives to protect us decent folk from the clan menace. Now if only Piranha Games would follow suit and release the Clanbuster King Crab 001 today instead of tomorrow....
Hell yes that totally awesome
This video has lived in my head, rent free for the past 4 years. You're my fav. storyteller, Tex!
"Mech after mech, tank after tank, infantryman after infantryman, from PPC to bayonet, Comstar fought them... and died for every inch of soil."
This is such an impact full line. Courage and self sacrifice on full display. Comstar may be awful, but this was heroism.
Yet another happy Battle of Tukayyid day
I learned more in 20 minutes than I have my whole life. Also, Laser Pointers do not have a safety. More you know.
The thing that people seem to forget or not realize about the strategy that Focht implemented is that even if comstar had LOST on tukayidd is that the losses accrued by the clans would have stopped the clans basically in their tracks. Tex compares the strategy to that of Zhukov and the comparison is apt since Zhukov's strategy was to force the germans to throw so many resources at the conflict that even if he had lost stalingrad the germans would not be able to as effectively push farther into the interior of Russia. I have heard conjecture that this was actually the point for Zhukov but I am not a historian and I haven't seen really any official history that he was prepared to actually loose at Stalingrad, where as with Focht if I remember correctly it is outright stated in several places. Grinding the clans to a halt at Tukayidd, win or loose, would have given the IS the time to muster its resources to a stiffer defense as well as a concerted counter attack against strategic resources.
Rewatching this once more on the day.
"We possess, so it seems
Two of man's greatest dreams
Solar power and zero-G sex"
The song at the end is hilarious. I̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶d̶i̶t̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶g̶i̶n̶g̶/̶p̶l̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶?̶ ̶(̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶M̶a̶d̶A̶s̶g̶a̶r̶d̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶)̶
Edit: I have since learned more about the BPL and know that Goat is the music man.
GOAT, that's the music guy... for anyone that doesn't know by now.
@@ShadrachVS1 I eventually found my way to Goat's SoundCloud and realized who he was, but thanks for answering
Returning once again on this day to remember Tukayyid.
"Hippity hoppity get off my property." That might be the single greatest line I have ever heard in my life. House Davion thanks you for this contribution, and will endeavor to utilize it to maximum effect during its next play-date with House Weeaboo.
There can be honour in defeat, but not when honour is why you were defeated.
Goddamn! Thats some good shit! Theres one thing about BattleT, Its just people and metal. No aliens, no mutants, no psykers, no elder gods, just people and what they make.
That last quote is something that too many people in the real world need to hear and take heed of.
At 15:40 when the names scroll by it says Ghost Jaguar instead of Smoke Jaguar, but it still fits, because they all dead
Yet again we are here to laugh about the clans
"Get wrecked, Clanners."
- Anastasius Focht, 20 May, 3052
This is the 2nd best thing on UA-cam! (The fall of Star League videos are the best thing. )
Thanks
Damn Space AT&T
This is my fourth view of this glorious exposition. I thought I was alone in celebrating May 20th (or as I like to refer to it, "Veinte De Mayo"). Thanks for validating my misspent youth.
its obviously not misspent
I just woke up from my celebration party that started on May 20th. I might be 1030 years early. But still a good reason to celebrate.
Never forget Tukayyid! Happy May the 20th!
This will always be the best BattleTech channel. You cannot convince me otherwise.
Tex & Co. - Seriously your best Lore Vid... Well done.
It's because of Tex that I decided to go back and finally beat Mechwarrior 2.
I am so happy I got the Zhukocv reference on the first watch.
never underestimate your service provider using underhanded tactics to come ahead
It was also the beginning of the end of the Smoke Jaguars home world. When a plucky Star Captain took a Bondsman from a crab and skipped down the Exodus road.
Ah, the long awaited VENGENCE that was so sorely overdue for ALL their transgressions...
Tex - It is your responsibility to narrate every war documentary of the history channel. “Apparently when you sneak attack a neutral arms dealer that is staying out of the fight in the Pacific Ocean things don’t go well and your island is glassed”.
May 20th 2024 we remember bent clanners
And on this day we remember two things: The Battle of Tukayyid and the importance of paying your bills.
Clan Diamond Shark: Uh, hey, we ran out of ammo. Can we get some more?
321st ComGuard: We have some.
401st ComGuard: You guys can still find a use for second hand ammo, right? Used just once. Promise.
ComGuards: You don't mind if we deliver it at muzzle velocity, right?
Happy May 20th Clanners!
_Bandits Bane will hold..._
You sacrifice is remembered Precentor Derion.😥
This entire conflict was the two halves of Star League doing the spiderman meme
Remember this day lads. Never forget!
"And for that, he fucking broke them." Love it.
Yet again we remember when the clans Fochted around and found out.
Drinking Game: write your will. Take a shot every time Tex says honor.
We of the Arch Alliance thank you for the lore videos.
Welcome to the family! Now pay your bills!
-comstar
Welcome fellow brother!
I remember the conversation between Focht and Il-Khan Ulric. Where he pointed out that the results of the battle greatly favored Clan Wolf even though they’d lost the over all contest. Almost all their enemies within the clans were decimated and rendered useless against them. It also drove home the lesson of the Wards and how wrong the crusaders were. Taught the clans all the lessons they needed to be stronger. Ulric accomplish all of his goals in one lesson.
Also Focht went home and killed the crazy bitch who headed Comstar for being utterly fucking mad.
Today is Tukayyid Day! Remember to say thanks to your local Com Guards!
Thank you Tex and team, this was an extraordinarily well done and highly entertaining performance !
Thanks much
I've watched this episode 20, maybe 30 times, and it Never. Gets. Old.
I want more!
Man, here I am again watching this for like the umpteenth time. the very video that got me into Battletech.
kinda early but Merry Christmas Tex (it's already the 25th in my timezone). Thanks for all the awesome content you've put up and hope that you and the rest of legion are doing alright.
Glad to hear it!
"This is called 'asymmetrical strategic planning'. In layman's terms, this is called 'tactical fuckery'."
But I didn't see thousands of Savannah Masters ramming 'Mechs until they fell down . . .
Rumour has it, the Clanners refused to leave all rough and wooded hexes...
@@dfhuscarl Truly, honorable combat to do that and let the Saladins have a gun run at them.
I'd say the reason the Wolves won on Tukayyid was that, unlike the other Khans, Ulric Kerensky had actually taken the time to do research on Anastasius Focht and study him while Focht was travelling with the Clans. As I recall, the Wolves also configured their forces to make greater use of energy weapons and thus reduced their logistical burdens. Not to mention that Ulric Kerensky made extensive use of the knowledge of Inner Sphere tactics and strategies possessed by Natasha Kerensky and Phelan Kell and this, combined with the knowledge gathered by Ulric's own study of Focht allowed the Wolves to comprehensively beat the ComGuards on Tukayyid. And no, it wasn't anything like the Wolves landed last and the battle was decided before they landed - the Wolves landed on the fifth day of a battle which lasted for _three weeks._
Giving it a rewatch a) because it's good and b) it's the 20th of May today
Clan Wolf: ok team I got my OBJ who needs help? guys?......guys?!.........GUYS!?!?!?!
It turned out that EVERYONE needed help. Mainly in picking up what was left of their stuff, to shuffle off back home to cry.
Except Smoke Jaguar. They can leave their stuff. They won't be needing it.
Nobody would accept. Clan honour demanded they win on their own!
@@Gorbz Yeah, but by the time Clan Wolf dropped, it was all over, but for the crying.
Clan Wolf: "Ok. Y'all just lost this for us, and nothing we do will have any impact here anyway. BUT... we can't let you scrubs and your shitty performance here represent all of us, so we're going to drop anyway, just to show you how it's done and make sure everyone knows we're not all as lame as you just made everyone think we are."
"Oh look, we won. You guys must *really* suck then..."
To be fair, Wolf landed last and Constar had already won 51%+ of the objectives. So, Comstar didn't have to try and win those objectives. In fact, the only objective Jade Falcon "won", they actually lost, but Comstar gave Jade Falcon the draw "because JF's Aiden Pryde fought so well", but really just gave them the victory because Comstsr already won the planet at that point. This show of respect was only done to encourage Jade Falcon to honor the terms abd bo go on a tage filled vengeance crusade against the Sphere .
Space AT&T - Dear Clanners: You REALLY should have read the terms of service...
“Pay your bills”.
Truly, in all history, no more terrifying battlecall has been uttered.
Although “get bent weirdo” is also pretty stronk.
I see what you did with the Latin at 8:10
I just realized something after listening to this for the... well I lost count how many times now. The joke about Michael Vick babysitting your dog being a bad idea. Hilarious for sure... but if this is supposed to be an in-universe lecture that means Michael Vick is STILL infamous for dog fighting almost a thousand years in the future... damn...
This was the first of your videos I've ever watched and I must say, pleaseeeee keep this up!!! It's fantastic!
So basically space robot version of the American civil war. While the Clanners were busy marching in formation through the wide open streets of the cities, space at&t were shooting from the bushes and trees.
Comstar - "I don't know how many they have, but I know how many they're gonna use."
Amen.
The Battle of Tukayyid takes place on my birthday.
Huh.. Well... In that case.. Fight with honor, die with glory.
On this day we remember
If Comstar = intelligence, then the Clans = vainglory. Misplaced pride can never defeat well placed artillery. Kerensky took the dreamers. Blake kept the realists.
Realists like Myndo Waterly and the Word of Blake? Are those the realists you're referring to? The Clans did suffer greatly from Hubris, which they paid for dearly. But let's be real here, sometimes Focht has seemed to be the only intelligent, realist Comstar has.
@@khyron666ok8 Actually, according to the Second Succession Wars sourcebook: Conrad Toyama was only acting under the orders of Blake. So Toyama was only doing what Blake wanted him to do. It so happened that Toyama was a bit too convincing in his role as apostle to Blake, and a bit too good at creating religious zealots. Blake realized that religion would be the only way for Comstar to instill loyalty in its followers that would keep Comstar from being torn apart by the Succession Wars and old loyalties to House and family. Also, Operation Scorpion was a culmination, a culmination of Comstar plotting and operations going back to the Second Succession Wars, if not further. Note, Focht had no trouble with all the plotting Waterly had done prior to Operation Scorpion, it was only when her plotting threatened the Truce and Comstar's carefully built reputation for impartiality that he acted to take her down.
This is BY FAR one of their best vids!
Thanks. It took a lot of effort.
Thanks for this. I have known of the BOT since I played BT back in the 90s. But never have I really realized the implications on what it did to the clans.