BattleTech: The Com Guard - A Short History
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- Опубліковано 8 тра 2023
- Today we take a little journey through the history of the Com Guard, ComStar's military wing. I hope you enjoy it!
Big Thanks to Tuppy for lending a voice for the video! Check out the youtube channel for Warhammer/Battletech fun. / @tuppytheducky
Channel memberships are go, so that's now the best way to help support the creation of this and other videos on the channel. Thank you!
#Battletech #CatalystGameLabs #Lore #SciFi #Comstar - Ігри
Had a giggle thinking of the reaction to the possible title, “why we love Comstar”
My history with ComStar is actually my starting point with battletech.
I was invited to a birthday party, where the guys dad would paint a battletech mini for everyone so everyone could pilot a fully painted mech. Now, well over two decades later I would find out, i was not the person intended to be at that party, I was an emergency last minute replacement and 4th ot 5th on the list. Drunk friends are great at telling on themselves. Hilariously of the twelve people at that bday party only three of us still play.
So, by the time I got invited every single house, gray death legion and wolfs Dragoons were taken. My options were random mech, I think it was a battlemaster in periphery colors or a white comstar mech that no one couldrememberthe name of. No one in the 90s wanted to paint white, we had sh t acrylics. But i had experience with oil paints on minis, so i was all in on the white paint scheme. I showed up and got a Flashman painted white with blue glass and every laser port was red.
I never piloted my mech that day though. Because the person I had replaced made it to the party. So I joined his old man piloting smoke jaguar Clan mechs. We rolfstomped the IS scum into paste, as everything was "balanced" on tonage. We lost 3 mechs a Warhammer iic (it fell off a level 3 hill), a Hunchback iic (lucky headshot round 2) and a mad dog (that just got peppered into scrap).
But at the table in 92, I instantly became a smoke jaguar fan boy and com guard rep. Well, until the word of Blake caught my attention. I love a good religious nut job story and part of comstar always sat funny with me... ya you can have your nice happy white mechs, they look stunning... but who does the dirty work when you don't want to leave a message, just the results. So I have 90s metals as my comguard to this day. But my new plastics are all Word of Blake, aka a "merc company" with a lot of com guard mechs and configurations.
My Clan stuff from the 90s is all smoke jaguar, and smoke jaguar is a little to one note for me these days, but man i have a soft spot for them. Jade falcon just makes me roll my eyes and laugh, discount smoke jaguar with worse paint jobs and better PR. i have had an irrational hate for clan wolf since 94 when our birthday boy from 92 dunked on me so hard it make the 92 birthday massacre seem kind. yes i was playing my comguard but thier entire eight mech team took me off the table before firing at anything else, both of my mechs were scrapped before turn two ended. My new plastic clan stuff is all sea Fox, i wanted a painting challenge and the indo-pacific tattoo seemed like a wonderful challenge. Also, i mainly I just wanted to run secondary line mechs. Then justified it as sea Fox advertising tools for future sales, with only a Star or two of omnis in an alternative paint scheme for creating repeat customers. i also see sea fox becoming, "comstar 2.0", so yah i am there for that.
Excellent hearing all these stories of the roundabout ways people discovered BattleTech. If you hadn't gone to that party, who knows where your hobby interests would have ended up...
It makes me so sad that they dissolved the com guard. They are my favorite faction. The small few who decided the inner sphere was worth trying to save, instead of abandoning. I think the ideals got lost along the way over time, but they still rose up when they were needed, conflict of interest aside. I don't see them as heroic, but I do see them as trying to do the right thing in their own weird, cult-like way. I love the idea that someone was behind the scenes making sure the other houses didn't get too big for their britches, as absolute power corrupts absolutely. Finally, and maybe mostly, they were a victim of the old adage in the end: no good deed goes unpunished. I'll miss them and I hope Catalyst brings them back.
It would be nice if CGL at least kept the door open to some little faction holding onto a planet somewhere and calling it ComGuard.
@@MechanicalFrog Maybe the explorer corps running into a deserter in the periphery? That would be a juicy one :D
@@TsugeSenpai who knows...
Actually the Com Guard have no direct link to the SLDF forces who chose to remain behind in the Inner Sphere beyond the physical equipment. The creation of the ComStar Guards and Militia wasn't proposed until 2933
@@kithran The Com Guard section of the ComStar field manual directly states that Kerensky persuaded some of the SLDF to return to Terra and help rebuild after the civil war. It is entirely reasonable to assume they would be involved in the early militia-building that would eventually officially be the Com Guard. imgur.com/Sf7tlEM
Blessed is Blake. He guards the righteous and protects those who serve in his name.
From some of these comments, I suspect we missed a few Blakists...
It is proper to praise Him.
It is still a sad day that COM STAR is no longer a fictional character/Military force in the Battletech Universe. Yet just like the empire in. THE DUNE Universe, it suffered under its own weight and chicanery. LONG LIVE BLAKE and All who served in his Holy Name.
It would be nice if Catalyst could throw Comstar/ComGuard players a bone and create something they could flee to in the IlClan era.
@@MechanicalFrog we should just tell them that Comstar is very pro transgender and anti Trump they'll get on it right away
I picked ComStar because I liked that a Level II incorporates vehicles and infantry, while a lance was just mechs or vehicles. Plus painting white is rewarding.
And to bring my ComStar into the ilClan they are a mercenary company that found an old Com Guard stockpile and just named themselves ComStar.
It makes sense to me that there would be a few ex-ComGuard wandering around.
was fun recording the words of the delusional war criminal for you! hope you guys enjoyed it
Thanks for helping out, Tuppy!
Great feature!
Fitted the video well!
@@Fryepod3628 for the last couple of ones I’ve done I’ve tried to do some different voices, but I think the Marian hegemony one will still be the peak one for me, that one was an absolute blast
"Cannon" or not, the Explorer Corp lives on. And by default the Com Guard by the mechs/mechwarriors they employ. As the NEC grows, survives, thrives it will need to protect itself and its assets.
Heh! yes!
@@MechanicalFrog The "logic" I used may explain why a few of us has painted NEC "camo" on one or more of our mechs in anticipation of that day.
@@thomasrobson6370 I'm just glad I can be a BattleTech booster.
Honestly i like and relate to secular comstar the most. A bit lost on what to do and who to be but always putting your boots on and try to do some good no matter how great the odds are.
There's definitely something noble there, even if ComStar itself was pretty shady.
5:26 😂 "So much for protecting technology right"
Very good point.
I'm just mad that the Taurians didn't get a warship...
I do wish they had a spiritual successor that ComStar players could move to in Ilclan. It does not need to New ComStar or new Word of Blake but maybe something new that gamers could use their Celestials. Just a bad choice for the gaming community where lore overrides the logic of that this is a game.
Yeh I hope they can find something that will appeal to those ComStar players.
I like the pseudo-religious trappings of older Comstar and Word of Blake. It made them a unique entity in the franchise. No one’s and yet everyone’s enemy. There will never be another faction like them. Blake be praised!
Yeah It's a shame there isn't at least a nominal ComGuard presence somewhere on the edge of the periphery that managed to hold out.
Great video. Com Guards are legendary. Sent the clans packing,
Thanks a ton!
Allegedly, the blakest allegedly killed everyone.
Allegedly.
40k fans. *Emperor Protecs*
ComGuard fans: *That's cute*
This can only be settled through a friendly game of Regicide.
I understand that Comstar as a functioning entity is defunct, but I ain't gonna deny I loved having them exist as a counterpoint to the Clans in regards to both factions being twisted legacies of the Star League. Perhaps one day we will get more mainstream Battletech video games covering the ComGuard as a faction such as in Tukayyid. HBS Battletech and Mechwarrior 5 were more like shadowy glimpses of the ComGuard doing shady shenanigans.
That would be fun to see some more from that time period.
Once you peel back the memes, the Com Guards are one of the few forces that you could reasonably call *morally good enough.*
Definitely some murky business going on but no more than any other Great House.
Oh man youre going through everyone. Looking forward to other factions
I suppose we'll get around to everyone eventually.
Comstar to quote Tex of the Blackpantslegion "A jumped up telecom company"... LOL
But at least the ComGuard did kick some serious clanner arse in the proxy-battle of Tukauyid that started a chain of violent events that eventualy saw the technical annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar.
True. They really had the key to the Clanner's skates.
I honestly wasn’t aware that some ComStar units had fled to the deep periphery. You learn something new every day.
I doubt anything will come of it, but the lore doesn't go into much detail beyond, that soldiers went awol. They could be anywhere.
@@MechanicalFrog Like Clan Wolverine/Minnesota Tribe. The Inner Sphere may never know. (Until it comes Outbound Light style!).
@@vana.johnson8845 I like things to be open to interpretation like that because there are always more stories to be told. IPs that are locked down aren't as fun.
In the canon-of-my-mind I created a Comguard 13th Army during the Clan Invasion. They're still out there. Doing... Things.
@@ogrehaslayers605 Off...doing things... secret things...
Nice to the point summary of their story. I personally choose Comguard as my tabletop faction because I wanted to play something with alot of freedoms of unit choice that prefers mixed units of not just mechs and i wont find players to play against with sldf because all my local players prefer clan invasion or succession war eras. Also i did want to play something from the Lore and not a custom merc company. Personally i imagine my comguard more the clandestine kind than the defenders of humanity that they became during their later existence.
Excellent reasoning. I didn't expect to end up with an army of Explorer Corps mechs, but strange how things turn out.
well that explains a lot when it comes to the history of the battle tech universe. I stopped reading the novels after the FedCom civil war ended. Then the next book i see is set like over a decade in the future and i had no clue what happened. This explains a few things and fills in that gap
Yeh things get... complicated.
It great video love Comstar.
Thank ya!
(Thank you for all the work you put into this.)
Not much for me to say here, as a periphery merc I’ve thankfully never had much to do with the Com Guards. But some of the older people do remember the days when they were out trying to make the galaxy a better place by hunting pirates and doing humanitarian work rather fondly, despite our natural mistrust for inner sphere types bearing gifts. So I’ll trust what my elders say and think well of them. It’s a shame what happened to them and a few survivors of the old Com Guards and the Republican military have drifted into the Periphery over the years since everything went all cluster fuck. They rarely need to look hard for work or buy their own drinks, we definitely remember what the Wobbie bastards did to use and we remember who fought to put the boot to them at the very end. And of course we all know what it feels like to become the target of great houses greed and hunger.
Glad you enjoyed it.
@@MechanicalFrog (Of course! I can’t wait to see what you post about next!)
Nefarious? NEFAFFFFARIOUS???? Ok, that checks out. 😅
Nefarious, downright duplicitous...
You will be missed 😢 my boys in white gone too soon
o7
My gal Stacy Church would like a word.
Really good quality, and thank you for this! You have leveled up my lore knowledge yet again, teacher.
Props to Tuppy! Really like it when he makes a cameo appearance.
Thanks for coming by!
Good one. I like the overall charting of time for both the ComGuard's growth/development and it's eventual decline. Nice work.
Thanks!
woo hoo comstar!
woo hoo indeed... woo hoo...
I've never played a game of Battletech. Get my first set last week. Now I find this little gem. I've found a faction I like and now I've lost them. In the entirety of this video I have watched, admired, and lost a faction that might be my style. This hurt. Thanks for all that. Maybe the first mech I paint will be white. I'd like to have a Comstar lance of progenitors.
The faithful will return. The Sphere will burn for the blasphemy of rejecting Blake’s holy word. They shall submit or BURN! And we will usher in a golden age for the worthy of mankind. Glory to Blake Glory to the master .
That's the most romantic statement I have ever read.
Game over man!! We pissed off the phone company, they’re sending the phone cops after us!
Indeed...
One ringy dingy...two ringy dingy...You're dealing with the phone company, Mr. Veedle. We are not bound by city, state, or federal regulations. We are omnipotent.
The Corn Guard. Thanks for the video!
Corn!
Were the Com Guard actually known to the house lords prior to the end of the 4th Succession War? I thought the fact that ComStar had mech forces wasn't known otherwise why the surprise when the mechs were sighted and mechwarriors training were discovered by Akira Brae which would have been passed on to (at least) Davion and Lyran sources - Morgan Kell would have told Katrina Steiner (and would have had the access to be able to) and Riva Allard would have told her father.
I think the surprise was how many mechs and other military equipment comstar had. Everyone assumed they had one regiment for defense of Terra, plus a merc unit with combat experience.
The source I pulled that from said that they were known but purely as a defensive force.
@@MechanicalFrog My source is Warrior Riposte chapter 32 where Morgan Kell, Jaime Wolf, Yorinaga Kurita and Akira Brahe are discussing what was discovered (and bear in mind this is after the four of them have killed some ComStar guards the night before who had the tattoos of a periphery pirate band) and Morgan states 'We have not truly determined ComStar's purpose in keeping those mechs. I believe that it is advisable to keep the news of Chu-Sa Brahe's discovery secret for the time being'. Given this I think it was not known at that point that ComStar had _any_ mech forces.
They had hired mercenaries to protect one of the hidden worlds by this point but I don't think those mercenaries ever left ComStar employ to spread that news.
The most telling statement that the Com Guard was _not_ known about though occurs at the od chapter 54 of Warrior Coupe where Myndo Wtaerly is stating what concessions ComStar was receiving from the Federated Suns ' I have also won from the Prince the right for ComStar to station armed forces, 'Mech forces, within the precincts of our stations'. She then goes on to say 'Yes. We will station troops on every world where we have a station. At first, we will make do with mercenaries, but slowly, over the next ten or twenty years, we will bring our own, "newly trained" into place at the stations'
Succession
@@kithran We'd need to wrangle over the specific years. Not disbelieving you.
@@MechanicalFrog One big advantage of using the novels as sources - they have date/location details at the start of each chapter. The first quote from Warrior Riposte is just prior to the wedding of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner - and it was in his groom's speech Hanse Davion effectively announced the start of the 4th Succession War. As such it wasn't known at that stage that ComStar had any forces beyond ROM.
The second quote is from December 2029 with the end of the 4th Succession war ending January 2030.
At this point Hanse Davion would have been aware that ComStar had some mech forces - he knew that AFFS troops hadn't attacked the HPG on Sarna as the unit that supposedly carried out the attack wasn't on planet and he also knew the Death Commandos hadn't been behind the attack on NAIS in September 2029 as they were involved in the attack on Kathil and he had Justin Allard back who also knew where the actual Death Commandos had been deployed.
What was your source for information btw?
Biggest mistake ever made in Battletech lore was wiping out the ComGuards.
It would be nice if there was some remnant around, even in a different form.
It may not be canon yet.
Good video as always, thank you for your efforts in making quality content.
Thank you.
Hmm that's weird, I could of sworn all of the scientists were all still alive this morning.
*scratching head* Where did all this blood come from?
Blessed is Blake.
First time seeing your content and it's the history of the Comguard, love it!
Thanks for giving it a go. Hopefully it's worth it.
@@MechanicalFrog well you've got a subscriber from me for what it's worth.
Blake Dominatus.
@@Sigil_Firebrand Much appreciated!
A bit off topic but the thumbnails you put up for these videos with the Comstar mechs in white and blue paintjob, be nice to see a showcase video one of these days. Im working on a similar scheme with white/blue panels and stripes.
Thanks.
I do have this 5th Army video which shows most of the process. I just swapped in metallic blue for the NEC mechs. ua-cam.com/video/QIQREW1pDEk/v-deo.html
The Comguard lost their strength when they lost their faith. They should have held true to Blakes blessed words.
Oh... oh dear...
I see …. I click “Like”
I see your comment, and I appreciate it.
For me, World of Blake = Clanners. And all we know, that Good Clanner is dead one!
aww
What is that sex machine below and to the right of the longbow at 1:35 ?
It's a Crockett. It's a part of the Comstar Level II Box.
@@MechanicalFrog looks like the Fafnir's hot cousin who moved out to Hollywood and got a part on a pretty good TV show that didn't last but everyone loved.
Victor Ian Steiner - Davion was short.just saying
Life is full of little challenges.
Good riddance to Blake and comstar
C3I is very cool tho let’s keep it pls