Primary Resources used to make this video: TRO 3039: store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-record-sheet-3039-pdf TRO 3085: (For variant info) store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-technical-readout-3085-pdf Recognition Guide 31: store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-recognition-guide-ilclan-vol-31 To get the Savannah Master in metal, it is at IWM here: www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/product-listing/product/battletech-bt-372/category_pathway-2 They will however, come in plastic soon enough.
great video!, and yeah i remember having a diskussion with a friend regarding the use of them in campaigns… We opted tofor the START treaty! no side was allowed more then two of them. 😅 btw you failed to mention all savannah Masters are painted red and go faster!
Yeah the plastic ones from Mercenaries are geared toward the support-deck system I guess? Since they come 2 to a base. At least they stuck 4/2 of them in the salvage box.
The only thing stopping you from running 8,000 BV worth of Savannah Masters is the fact that you probably aren't getting invited back to play again afterward.
If you play with a good mix of terrain options and roll randomly what sort of planet/terrain, then the hovercraft could end up in a map of complete forest (I recall one of the paper maps being nothing but forest across the whole thing back in the 90s. My friends and I never played on it because it would be annoyingly slow, but I remember it being there.) or in a densely populated city, or the good old Canyon Network map.
And this is why you bring a Warhammer, a Battlemaster and a Marauder for 5000 BV. Then use the rest for say 5 Kestrels with a Piloting of 3 and a Gunnery of 4. And that is 6000 BV. Gives you plenty of shots into the back of any enemy Mechs, or the option to go Kamikaze on any targets of opportunity, as a flank movement of 18 hexes gives you great damage when charging... For 8000 points you could round this up with the required number of Savannah Masters for Maximum fun factor...
I remember reading somewhere that a GM or shop owner or other ref set up a rule that anyone spanning these suicide sled needed to write a backstory for each pilot anc a compelling next-of-kin condolence letter of a minimum wordcount for any casualties. To limit their use in general, and especially as leg-seeking torpedoes.
I remember reading about this also. I think it was back before TW nerfed hovers when you had a better chance of surviving a ram attack under BMR rules.The story may actually predate the official BT sight as well.
These days that rule won't last 5 seconds, someone will come in with a flash drive full of AI-generated backstories and condolence letters of whatever wordcount is needed, and then still (by that rule) be allowed to run as many Savannah Masters as they want to. I'm not saying anyone should do that, I'm saying you need to think of a different rule (something more cut and dry with no spurious ways to complete it, no matter how much effort needs to be expended to do so) in order to prevent running swarms of Savannah Masters at your own table, if it becomes a problem.
Star Commander Yamashi retched in horror, as his entire Star of Blood Asps looked apon the grazing hills of the Lyran World of Rochester. First, a single one appeared over the hill. Slow, yet followed by torrents like rain, a single Savanah Master was followed by two more. Then Seven, then twenty, as if an endless calculation, the factors only grew and grew, before soon, a herd of hundreds races twords them. In daze of disbelief, the only thing that pierced the fraying psyche of these Clan Hells Horse warriors, was a single chant. It pierced the mind, ringing and echoing like the waves of an ocean, a single defiant scream; YUB YUB, YUB YUB, YUB YUB!!!!!!!
I love the savannah master, not even because its a rocket fast hover Toyota Hilux with a laser strapped on, but because of the name. The sheer, unadulterated diss of naming a 5 ton vee the name of the MechWarrior it beat in field testing, and putting master after the name like some BDSM allusion, not killer, king or chief, but MASTER. Damn. Stephen Amaris never received such an insult, and his body is a preserved cadaver at a med school. I've always loved that since I learned the title didn't originate from some vague relation to being some predator or hunter on the African plains. Pour one out for Savannah Johnson, the enduring butt of the joke.
I know, that's the best part of the story. She got so frustrated she put her weapons on full. So did the SM and quickly chewed through her rear armor. Everyone who saw it was stunned.
I'm not saying it's a good idea morally, but throwing these guys at your enemies in bundles of 500 is both financially do-able and psychologically damaging to everyone involved.
Do you remember in the original Mechwarrior rpg, your character could either be a mech pilot or a scout? This is what you drove if you picked scout......and nobody chose scout.
Nobody you knew chose scout. I loved the heck out of being just that kind of maniac. Only to give up my beloved Savannah Master to take the control of specially modified PPC armed variant of the Warrior VTOL.
I always remember the ambush of the 5th Syrtis Fusilier's as they dropped into a McCarrons Armored Cavalry ambush during the 4th war. The rush of Savanah Masters was just the opening round of a really bad day.
@@Aladine11 Yup. Lashing out in anger over their traitor dukes death and getting wiped out. Which at the same time damaged an elite regiment with questionable loyalty to the First Prince.
Way back in 2004 when I was 19, I got invited to play Battletech with someone new. This guy even let me use Clan mechs. He brought 10 Savannah masters in addition to his lance of mechs. The first couple of turns were normal with the Savannah masters going wide. He fell back so I put three of my five mechs on a ridge to shoot down at him and then he used those Savannah masters to ram my two remaining mechs on the ground crippling their legs before he focused them down with indirect LRMS using one last SM to spot. I didn't shake his hand after the game and didn't play Battletech again until 2014-2015 at Gencon. He ruined the setting for me and I found out from a friend he NEVER got to play Battletech again.
People like that should never be allowed to introduce new players. I’d never play this way as I find it absolutely boring. Playing only to win is absolutely abhorrent to me…
I read somewhere that the most cost effective - both in BV and C-Bills - unit in tabletop Battletech would be a dirt dike with a nitro boost and a small laser attached. This thing comes as close to that as possible without being immersion breaking.
There is a Savannah Master with 2 small lasers. Its 1/3rd less BV than the standard. The thing is, its very difficult to use. The range modifiers basically limit you to being within 2 hexes of your opponent. Optimally 1 hex because of the range modifiers. If you are trying to occupy your enemies rear arc... that is only 3 valid hexes. 6 if you are willing to take a -4 range penalty on 3 Savanna Masters. With a medium laser you can fit 6 Savanna Masters in at short range, and another 15 at medium range. If you happen to have more than 21 Savanna Masters, you might consider shooting at more than one mech per turn.
yeah, love these little gadflies. One tabletop game back in the day we were given 120 tons to build a lance to fight a mass grand melee minature game. They looked at me like I was crazy when I fielded five vehicles: a slow mobile double sniper tank (using an old Ral Partha supertank) and a bunch of Savanah Masters: two regular ones and two built around TAGs instead of lasers. Sent the little buggers around spotting mechs and tagging them for artillery barages. Never got a direct hit with a shell but the AOE collateral damage added up to gain me the win when time ran out at the end of the tournement.
Thing is even a lone Savannah Master could be a real pain. If you're going moving at max speed every turn you're doing something wrong. So the lone Savannah Master will be hard to hit. In a campaign screening Savannah Masters so they can't scout out every position could eat a lot of time and resources.
I play in a Battletech Rpg Game, if you have to face Savannah Masters during an escort mission, you really see what a thread they are when these machines start to hunt down your transports after slipping too your escort lines.
I remember reading on of the novels that they removed the med laser and put a point of Wolf Dragoons powered armor as cargo. That means a company of SM was carrying an s---ton of Power Armors. They didn't win the battle by themselves,but put the fear of god into their opponents.
We had a house rule, that whenever a light hover (especially Savannah Masters or Gabriel Hover) dies all other must make a Pilot check and if they fail, they are in forced withdrawl. Limited the number of them without taking them out entirely. And it makes sense in my point of view, the Pilots might be crazy but seeing others die should give them second thoughts. As always, great video.
I love those little devils. Thanks Red. Truly one of the most terrifying piece of Lyran wargear. People think of us as the Heavy Metal faction... then the Savannah Masters come out.
Some people think the worst environment to face a swarm of Savannah Masters is a dense Urban environment because these things just zip between buildings and come out of parking lots into your rear arc. I disagree. The worst environment would be an open field or over water. Sure, this means the Savannah Masters are going to be subjected to a round of fire where they have to suck it up and take it. And after that round the Savannah Masters will continue to take losses every round. But from that second turn onward you'll have mechs with Savannah Masters drilling their back armor. Urban Environments offer tons of opportunities for Mech to put their back to a building. A mech can easily destroy some light buildings to create rough terrain that is impassible for hovercraft. A smart mech pilot can take as much advantage of the terrain as a tank commander and in an urban environment the Savannah Master's superior movement is the one that gets countered. An open field lets these pests position themselves without worry. The only way to beat a horde of these is to put your back to somewhere they can't go. Even that only slows them down as they have to resort to melting your main armor.
Back before a hover had to roll a PSR every time it turned and continued at flank I think the worst place to face them was on the old River Delta/ Drainage Basin maps. Mechs had to have jump jets to get anywhere and good arm mounted weapons to even fight back. Improved pilots, lucky hits, or both were a must. Remember-if a hover rams a mech that's standing in lvl 1 water the damage is applied to the Mech punch location table and if it fails a follow up PSR any locations stripped of armor are automatically flooded.
I've found that the best terrain is either rolling hills or open plains/marsh with a few scattered copses of trees. The key to hit and fade/ ambush tactics is being able to break LoS when you lose the initiative or have to "reset" the attack.
I remember the stream last year that brought forth the Savannah Horde. I believe one of my chats during I said “No Valhalla for the MechWarrior, but for the Savannah Masters.” When the video started with Ride of the Valkyries I remembered that crazy tangent. Great video Red, I put a like on it 10 seconds in. Long Live the Savannah Horde!
It fills me with joy thinkng of that "what the hell just happened to us" look on a Star Commanders face after having just finished getting swarmed over by of a company of SM's. :)
The cost of Savannah Master pilots is quite probably much greater than one would think. Consider: imagine training a driver for a fragile vehicle that is not only faster than an F1 race car, has basically minimal braking, a tendency to slide in turns, and will crash if it encounters even minimal rough terrain. For every SM pilot that completes training, two or three probably died or were permanently disabled in training.
The best argument in universe for why armour like the Savannah don't swarm the battlefield is production ability limitations. Sure you could buy 100 Savannahs for the cost of a Lance, but by the time your Lance is here you'd only have 10 Savannahs delivered, and you needed both yesterday, and House Armies aren't limited by money while Mercenaries and Pirates are limited by space and manpower.
That´s true. Also we need to understand that, how works the space travel in BT universe, is easier and cheaper transport a battalion of mechs that the same cost of Savannah Masters.
This is what happens when your rule system overpowers hovercraft, has the medium lazer be the most powerful damage deeler by weight, and puts no practical minimum size on fusion engines. For a system that wants mechs to be the kings of the battlefield, this little piranha shouldn't be possible to create in the rule system (especially for the price).
Eh, you probably couldn't churn out four factory fresh mechs in that time either, but like @corsariosandrorect5238 says, you'd need way more dropships to transport the Hovercraft.
I love the Savannah Master. Slap in TAG, C3, or an ER Medium (IS or Clan) and it becomes even more deadly. In later eras pulse lasers, TCs and mines help against such swarms, but the Savannah Master is still deadly. I also love that it's a second hand Steiner product. It pairs well with Harassers and other hover speed demons.
I love the vehicles and fighters in TR 3026. I dont play but I had it and the classic 3025 back in the 80s from a local toy/hobbie store. Blew my 13 yr. old mind. Even had the poster size blueprints for Warhammer, Battlemaster & Locust. My nose was always in those books with imagination in overdrive. Still love the franchise.
i recall in a game where we agreed to only use mechs and didnt care too much abt bv and focused on tonnage i made a wisp(10 ton ultralight design) with a tag as a scout- absolute blast and i highly reccomend it
"The Fuzzy Wuzzy Fallacy" from the Ogre Book by Steve Jackson Games... What the SM reminds me of are GEVs from Ogre/GEV, and the manner in which enough of them will humble the most mighty war machines.
Great video especially considering how quickly it was done. I learned something today. I honestly had no idea that the SM was first produced so late in the timeline. Official production start year is listed as 3025. I think most players (myself included) thought it started production well before that. Looking back I can remember playing quite a few games with SMs fielded by opponents in games that actually took place before it was even produced.
Only one error in the video. I re-recorded a bunch of sections, fixed a bunch of errors on images... and missed the bottom conclusion during the introduction, total oversight. lol
The Renaissance has already started in the traditional 3025 "LosTech" era, it's just that no one has realized it yet. The long low tempo combat of the 3rd Succession War has allowed some recovery. Sure the tech base is still well below Star League, but the Sphere is recovering with genuine invention instead of reverse engineering recovered tech. The Striker, Savanah Master, Merlin, and Hatchetman are all brand new designs entering production in the last 15 years. There are also a lot of major variants of old chassis coming out in the same time, and the Cataphract, Raven, and Wolfhound are prototyping at the end.
The only knock I can give to the Savannah master is a critiques on the costs of war that most people don't consider as tragic but rather as another statistic: that of the human cost. For the cost of one locust: you can purchase SIXTEEN Savannah Masters... but the human costs start adding up. Each Savannah Master requires ONE pilot. For the cost of sixteen Savannah Masters, you also must house, feed, and maintain sixteen pilots. For each Savannah Master you lose: you lose one pilot. You replace costs in C-Bills for costs in human lives. Such is the Universe of BattleTech: where technology and metal is expensive... and lives are cheap.
It was the early '90s, and I went to NorWesCon, a sci-fi/ fantasy convention in the Seattle region, that year being held in downtown Tacoma. I was invited to sit down for a 4 player free-for-all, no limits on what we could bring to the table (aside from what we had in the TROs 3025 and 3026). The other 3 players had already sat down -- 2 Atlas and 1 Battlemaster. They laughed when I took a Savannah Master. If I won initiative, I moved in for a back strike. When I lost, I'd bugger off behind hills or forest to ensure that there could be no return fire. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. At the end I had taken a single hit from the Battlemaster's rear medium laser on my front, but I was the only thing still moving.
So apparently some Lyran engineer got drunk, played a shit ton of F-Zero, and decided to build the Fire Stingray and slap a medium laser on it. Edit: Hold on that’s not the Fire Stingray, that’s the Wild Goose.
It's kind of a funny emblem of the notion some people throw around about Battlemechs themselves being essentially so inefficient that the only in universe explanation, in comparison to using more 'conventional' military investment, for their use is that they possess such cultural prestige.
I haven't been watching much in the way of Battletech videos recently, just the way my brain has decided to go. But you bet your ass I clicked on this one as soon as it popped up in my feed. Love these little menaces. A threatening 'mech pilot: 2/3 A threatening Savannah Master pilot: 5/3 _And_ a Firefly reference? Love you, Big Red.
According to A Time of War, the annual salary for a Regular quality E6/O3 ranked Vehicle Crewman or MechWarrior is 10.8k and 18k c-bills respectively, which is insignificant cost wise compared to the vehicles they pilot. It'd take just about 6.7-8.5 years for the Savanah Master crewman to afford their ride, and 84-87.5 years for the Locust mechwarrior.
Ah yes, the "Death by a thousand cuts. Now with added artillery!" approach towards fighting the Clans. For the cost of one Timby you can take 8 UMR-AIVs and 120 Savannah Masters. That's 8 Arrow IV launchers (with 10 rounds each), 8 ER medium lasers and 120 medium lasers vs the stock Timby loadout. I believe that translates to "Oh you're so screwed bottle boy!" and I'm here for it :D
According to Campaign Operations, there is a minimum 4x-5x multiplier for the price of clan gear. So, if you just did a straight-up 4x multiplier of the cheapest canon mad cat configuration, you could actually field 16 Arrow urbanmechs and 163 standard Savannah masters for the minimum price of a single mad cat.
I brought several companies of these guys modded with a single medium laser each and such speed. More than half survived because I max moved them every turn. They were always behind the enemies and the few low point mechs I brought were barely useful. It was AWESOME! They never let me do that again.
Fun video, always swatted these things like flies in Mech Commander 2. Breaking down how nightmare these would be to fight as a low cost swarm, has made me much more respect these little things.
Excellent video as always, Red! I love little annoying hovertanks like the SM, and also the J Edgar! High TMM and high annoyance value make them a Capellan favorite!
My head says one of the most common field modifications for these demons is the addition of external speaker to play music for phycological warfare. Ride of the Valkyries is both popular and traumatic.
I had a company of these as lead minis back in the 90s. Best way to deal with clanners who like to sit back and snipe. For true charge madness, get a HiScout with its 2 ton cannonball NapFinds. That little bugger could line up a charge across a map board.
Glorious to see some more hover tank coverage. I always loved seeing these little suckers living their best lives in our tabletop battles. Felt like some plucky underdogs singing through the battlefield with beers in hand while the mechs hammered each other. Who needs a scout lance when you have these?
We definitely limited it to 4 per side or not at all. This thing is s nightmare. The clan similar vehicle with 4 er small lasers is a favorite. The clan units had no problem killing these things with better pilots and pulse laser.
Even with better pilots and Pulse, its no guarantee that it'll end up in their favour if they pair them with a good couple anchors. Backstabs are devastating.
Oh hey, I gave one of these to the governor of my original Canopian planet! She stripped off tbe guns and armor to make it faster and used it as an escape vehicle when someone tried to kidnap her. Turns out hovercraft dont care if its land or water, so long as the cushion has contact you can ride right over it
These little buggers can be useful. I played a game one time a few years ago where we had to each bring a vehicle. one of the other guys bought a Savannah master. I blew it up pretty quick with two large lasers for my Hermes 3, but he's then pointed out to me that the Savannah Master done its job by drawing a round a fire from a mech. Which made sense to me after the fact.
Listening to the video, the first thing I though about this sucker was that pulse laser and TAs will eat it good. Then you informed us about the reflective armor ER Med L and I orgasmed.
There is a variant of this that fits a SRM-2 and a ton of ammo instead of a Medium Laser. Range is less, true, but what it gains is ammo versatility. Did you want war crimes for some reason? Inferno SRM's are right there. There's a lot of other kinds of SRMs besides Standard and Inferno, such as the Fragmentation SRM (useful in an anti-infantry role), Listen-Kill warhead (targeting bonus, but only a very very limited window of usefulness), and many others, so that's worth looking into to tailor the loadouts of your Savannah Masters to their opposition.
I appreciate that you didn't bring up the "Savannah Master as a manned missile" concept. When used as a real combat vehicle it is plenty good enough without pretending that charges are what it's supposed to do normally.
“RULE OF TWO” FOR LIFE!!!! I don’t waste my time with players that “swarm”. Last time somebody tried that with me, I promptly packed up my ‘Mechs and left. There was this real dillhole in my first BattleTech group that would field Savannah Master swarms. He would surround and immobilize units, then hit them with massed fire. He is the reason I rarely field non-jumpers to this day.
These are one of my favorite vehicles in the game, I love tacking a lance of them onto a force if I have a little bit of BV to spare, the Small Laser variant is really underrated, being so cheap on BV, if nothing else, it's a leg torpedo.
I won our regional championships in the old Dark Age Clix game with 12 hover bikes and 3 hover tanks. The bikes would run down and base the opposing mechs, disallowing their firing phase to anything but the bikes. When the tanks were in position, the bikes would unbase, the tanks would fire, and other bikes would base the mechs again. I steamrolled every game for the majority of that year. The firing rules for mechs were changed later that year, and I would like to think that my hover lance was a part of that. These were fully Savanna Master tactics 🙂↕️
I've always thought that if the clans were really going to be based off the Mongols, then the bulk of their forces should have been something like the SM with a few fast heavy battlemechs to finish when the enemy formation broke.
Make a rocket launcher valiant and use them with normal one which have medium laser. And also make a drone valiant and mix that with manned Savannah Master as a royal buddy. Drone Savannah Master will be more expensive but consider the trainning/education cost of pilot will justify that. You don't have to write a letter to fallen pilot's family when lost drone. Swarm of them will become terror of the battlefield. Thank you for video. I always enjoy that.
I looked at this way back in the day and decided that I would try to make a cheaper effective vehicle. 4 tons, wheeled, 2 machine guns. 11/17 movement. 27,200 cost. Called it the El Cheapo.
Primary Resources used to make this video:
TRO 3039:
store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-record-sheet-3039-pdf
TRO 3085: (For variant info)
store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-technical-readout-3085-pdf
Recognition Guide 31:
store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-recognition-guide-ilclan-vol-31
To get the Savannah Master in metal, it is at IWM here:
www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/product-listing/product/battletech-bt-372/category_pathway-2
They will however, come in plastic soon enough.
I see you saw that accidentally leaked production video…
great video!, and yeah i remember having a diskussion with a friend regarding the use of them in campaigns…
We opted tofor the START treaty! no side was allowed more then two of them. 😅
btw you failed to mention all savannah Masters are painted red and go faster!
I'm surprised no enterprising engineers have put RLs on Savannah Masters yet.
Great video as always!
Yeah the plastic ones from Mercenaries are geared toward the support-deck system I guess? Since they come 2 to a base. At least they stuck 4/2 of them in the salvage box.
The only thing stopping you from running 8,000 BV worth of Savannah Masters is the fact that you probably aren't getting invited back to play again afterward.
If you play with a good mix of terrain options and roll randomly what sort of planet/terrain, then the hovercraft could end up in a map of complete forest (I recall one of the paper maps being nothing but forest across the whole thing back in the 90s. My friends and I never played on it because it would be annoyingly slow, but I remember it being there.) or in a densely populated city, or the good old Canyon Network map.
And the wheel-barrow you have to lug around that many Savannah Master plastics.
😂
And this is why you bring a Warhammer, a Battlemaster and a Marauder for 5000 BV. Then use the rest for say 5 Kestrels with a Piloting of 3 and a Gunnery of 4. And that is 6000 BV.
Gives you plenty of shots into the back of any enemy Mechs, or the option to go Kamikaze on any targets of opportunity, as a flank movement of 18 hexes gives you great damage when charging...
For 8000 points you could round this up with the required number of Savannah Masters for Maximum fun factor...
worth it
I remember reading somewhere that a GM or shop owner or other ref set up a rule that anyone spanning these suicide sled needed to write a backstory for each pilot anc a compelling next-of-kin condolence letter of a minimum wordcount for any casualties. To limit their use in general, and especially as leg-seeking torpedoes.
I laughed at that more than I should’ve 10/10 shopkeeper 10/10
You know what? I'd fucking do it. Iron Blooded Orphans is my favorite anime
I remember reading about this also. I think it was back before TW nerfed hovers when you had
a better chance of surviving a ram attack under BMR rules.The story may actually
predate the official BT sight as well.
These days that rule won't last 5 seconds, someone will come in with a flash drive full of AI-generated backstories and condolence letters of whatever wordcount is needed, and then still (by that rule) be allowed to run as many Savannah Masters as they want to.
I'm not saying anyone should do that, I'm saying you need to think of a different rule (something more cut and dry with no spurious ways to complete it, no matter how much effort needs to be expended to do so) in order to prevent running swarms of Savannah Masters at your own table, if it becomes a problem.
Laughs in Battlearmor
Installing a improved heavy medium laser on a Savanah Master is a terrifying thing.
Hey, how did you know about my custom Savannah Master??? :P
Good idea
Does it over heat?
@@Dracobyte No it produces 7 heat, a fusion engine has ten weight free heat sinks inside
Smoke Jaguars, "They came at us, from... behind."
Star Commander Yamashi retched in horror, as his entire Star of Blood Asps looked apon the grazing hills of the Lyran World of Rochester. First, a single one appeared over the hill. Slow, yet followed by torrents like rain, a single Savanah Master was followed by two more. Then Seven, then twenty, as if an endless calculation, the factors only grew and grew, before soon, a herd of hundreds races twords them. In daze of disbelief, the only thing that pierced the fraying psyche of these Clan Hells Horse warriors, was a single chant. It pierced the mind, ringing and echoing like the waves of an ocean, a single defiant scream; YUB YUB, YUB YUB, YUB YUB!!!!!!!
As soon as he said 5 tons, I knew what the primary armament was gonna be. Best gun in the game, period, the mighty IS medium laser.
At one ton it is just too cheap.
@@0MoTheG The Clan ER medium's pretty up there as well. Basically a one ton IS large laser.
It is the perfect weapon, and the only reason to replace it with something else is to achieve a specific objective.
Nothing defeats the classics!
No one would ever pay mind to a single army ant. But together? The colony can kill anything. The same is true of the Savanah master
I love the savannah master, not even because its a rocket fast hover Toyota Hilux with a laser strapped on, but because of the name. The sheer, unadulterated diss of naming a 5 ton vee the name of the MechWarrior it beat in field testing, and putting master after the name like some BDSM allusion, not killer, king or chief, but MASTER. Damn. Stephen Amaris never received such an insult, and his body is a preserved cadaver at a med school. I've always loved that since I learned the title didn't originate from some vague relation to being some predator or hunter on the African plains. Pour one out for Savannah Johnson, the enduring butt of the joke.
I know, that's the best part of the story. She got so frustrated she put her weapons on full. So did the SM and quickly chewed through her rear armor. Everyone who saw it was stunned.
"You're being assigned a Savannah Master"
_"Great!"_
"You're being sent out alone."
_"Why do you hate me!?!"_
No problem. I took out 3 assault mechs with one and no backup. You just need to use speed and terrain to your advantage.
@@mikedowd6015 *Engage Eurobeat!*
RIP
Sounds like it exists to remind everyone of a proverb from ancient Terra.
"Quantity has a quality all of its own."
I'm not saying it's a good idea morally, but throwing these guys at your enemies in bundles of 500 is both financially do-able and psychologically damaging to everyone involved.
Including your own pilots...
@@dubuyajay9964 that’s what combat drugs, training, conditioning and good leaders are for.
@@dubuyajay9964 The Word of Blake loved these things, can't imagine why.
@@fix0the0spade Because they are nuttier than 🐿💩?
@@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvusmostly the combat drugs.
The reflective version seems nicer when you remember how common pulse lasers are at that point and that they are one of your biggest threats.
True.
Do you remember in the original Mechwarrior rpg, your character could either be a mech pilot or a scout? This is what you drove if you picked scout......and nobody chose scout.
looks at the crowd... I loved playing the scout of my MWRPG crew - it was a challenge but worth it imho
Nobody you knew chose scout. I loved the heck out of being just that kind of maniac. Only to give up my beloved Savannah Master to take the control of specially modified PPC armed variant of the Warrior VTOL.
Third here. My buddies hated my little beast. 😅
@@raymondjacobs1955you have the free world's league grindset
I always remember the ambush of the 5th Syrtis Fusilier's as they dropped into a McCarrons Armored Cavalry ambush during the 4th war. The rush of Savanah Masters was just the opening round of a really bad day.
and a really bad six months for those guys
@@Aladine11 Yup. Lashing out in anger over their traitor dukes death and getting wiped out. Which at the same time damaged an elite regiment with questionable loyalty to the First Prince.
In the battlefield of Battletech, speed is king.
Up until you find those areas where speed is excessive or actively detrimental.
Way back in 2004 when I was 19, I got invited to play Battletech with someone new. This guy even let me use Clan mechs. He brought 10 Savannah masters in addition to his lance of mechs. The first couple of turns were normal with the Savannah masters going wide. He fell back so I put three of my five mechs on a ridge to shoot down at him and then he used those Savannah masters to ram my two remaining mechs on the ground crippling their legs before he focused them down with indirect LRMS using one last SM to spot.
I didn't shake his hand after the game and didn't play Battletech again until 2014-2015 at Gencon. He ruined the setting for me and I found out from a friend he NEVER got to play Battletech again.
The Savannah Master is a dangerous tool, to both the enemy, and its operator. Use it too thoroughly, and you'll never fight again XD
Oof!
People like that should never be allowed to introduce new players. I’d never play this way as I find it absolutely boring. Playing only to win is absolutely abhorrent to me…
"He killed me with a savannah master, Mal."
Anastasius "Can't stop the signal." Focht.
I read somewhere that the most cost effective - both in BV and C-Bills - unit in tabletop Battletech would be a dirt dike with a nitro boost and a small laser attached. This thing comes as close to that as possible without being immersion breaking.
100%
There is a Savannah Master with 2 small lasers. Its 1/3rd less BV than the standard. The thing is, its very difficult to use. The range modifiers basically limit you to being within 2 hexes of your opponent. Optimally 1 hex because of the range modifiers. If you are trying to occupy your enemies rear arc... that is only 3 valid hexes. 6 if you are willing to take a -4 range penalty on 3 Savanna Masters.
With a medium laser you can fit 6 Savanna Masters in at short range, and another 15 at medium range. If you happen to have more than 21 Savanna Masters, you might consider shooting at more than one mech per turn.
Basically a Hound tank hunter bike from Venus Wars.
yeah, love these little gadflies. One tabletop game back in the day we were given 120 tons to build a lance to fight a mass grand melee minature game. They looked at me like I was crazy when I fielded five vehicles: a slow mobile double sniper tank (using an old Ral Partha supertank) and a bunch of Savanah Masters: two regular ones and two built around TAGs instead of lasers. Sent the little buggers around spotting mechs and tagging them for artillery barages. Never got a direct hit with a shell but the AOE collateral damage added up to gain me the win when time ran out at the end of the tournement.
A lone Savannah Master is of no significance, easy prey for and no threat to Mech or tank alike. But a Savannah Master is never alone.
Like wolves, they hunt in packs.
Never turn your back when there's a Savannah Master, either.
You'll die for doing so.
It’s not the one in front of you that you need to be worried about. It’s the two coming in from the sides that you never even knew were there
Thing is even a lone Savannah Master could be a real pain. If you're going moving at max speed every turn you're doing something wrong. So the lone Savannah Master will be hard to hit. In a campaign screening Savannah Masters so they can't scout out every position could eat a lot of time and resources.
"And that kids is how I met your mother"
-Samuel Lewis inventor of the Savannah Master and husband of MechWarrior Savannah Johnson.
I play in a Battletech Rpg Game, if you have to face Savannah Masters during an escort mission, you really see what a thread they are when these machines start to hunt down your transports after slipping too your escort lines.
I remember reading on of the novels that they removed the med laser and put a point of Wolf Dragoons powered armor as cargo. That means a company of SM was carrying an s---ton of Power Armors. They didn't win the battle by themselves,but put the fear of god into their opponents.
That sounds like Wolf Pack. But I think that was built from a different chassis since the factory was *on* Outreach.
We had a house rule, that whenever a light hover (especially Savannah Masters or Gabriel Hover) dies all other must make a Pilot check and if they fail, they are in forced withdrawl.
Limited the number of them without taking them out entirely. And it makes sense in my point of view, the Pilots might be crazy but seeing others die should give them second thoughts.
As always, great video.
The greatest challenge in fielding SM's is finding pilots both insane and skilled enough to drive them properly.
I love those little devils. Thanks Red. Truly one of the most terrifying piece of Lyran wargear. People think of us as the Heavy Metal faction... then the Savannah Masters come out.
"Quantity has a quality all its own" - Great video Red and thanks for the content!
Some people think the worst environment to face a swarm of Savannah Masters is a dense Urban environment because these things just zip between buildings and come out of parking lots into your rear arc. I disagree. The worst environment would be an open field or over water. Sure, this means the Savannah Masters are going to be subjected to a round of fire where they have to suck it up and take it. And after that round the Savannah Masters will continue to take losses every round. But from that second turn onward you'll have mechs with Savannah Masters drilling their back armor. Urban Environments offer tons of opportunities for Mech to put their back to a building. A mech can easily destroy some light buildings to create rough terrain that is impassible for hovercraft. A smart mech pilot can take as much advantage of the terrain as a tank commander and in an urban environment the Savannah Master's superior movement is the one that gets countered.
An open field lets these pests position themselves without worry. The only way to beat a horde of these is to put your back to somewhere they can't go. Even that only slows them down as they have to resort to melting your main armor.
Being back-to-back means no one can get behind you!
Back before a hover had to roll a PSR every time it turned and continued at flank
I think the worst place to face them was on the old River Delta/ Drainage Basin maps.
Mechs had to have jump jets to get anywhere and good arm mounted weapons to even fight back.
Improved pilots, lucky hits, or both were a must.
Remember-if a hover rams a mech that's standing in lvl 1 water the damage is applied
to the Mech punch location table and if it fails a follow up PSR any locations stripped
of armor are automatically flooded.
I've found that the best terrain is either rolling hills or open plains/marsh with a few scattered copses of trees. The key to hit and fade/ ambush tactics is being able to break LoS when you lose the initiative or have to "reset" the attack.
Can't run: too slow.
Can't hide: no where to hide.
I used the skid rules of Pavement hexes to slam them into mechs, so there's that,
I remember the stream last year that brought forth the Savannah Horde. I believe one of my chats during I said “No Valhalla for the MechWarrior, but for the Savannah Masters.” When the video started with Ride of the Valkyries I remembered that crazy tangent. Great video Red, I put a like on it 10 seconds in. Long Live the Savannah Horde!
I am the man who grabs the sun, riding to Valhalla!
My favorite thing about the Savannah Master is how it got its name from beating a MechWarrior named Savannah
I can't wait to hear your take on the test of the Savannah Master when the Locust pilot got irate and turned her weapons hot 🙂.
Then so did the SM. The Locust's reactor made a pretty mushroom cloud as I recall.
It fills me with joy thinkng of that "what the hell just happened to us" look on a Star Commanders face after having just finished getting swarmed over by of a company of SM's. :)
The cost of Savannah Master pilots is quite probably much greater than one would think. Consider: imagine training a driver for a fragile vehicle that is not only faster than an F1 race car, has basically minimal braking, a tendency to slide in turns, and will crash if it encounters even minimal rough terrain. For every SM pilot that completes training, two or three probably died or were permanently disabled in training.
Get real friendly with Canopus if you want to get injured trainees back into piloting condition to recoup costs.
I AM AWAITED IN VALHALLA
damn im out here expecting an out of season april fools joke only to get completely lore stomped. banger content as usual good sir.
The best argument in universe for why armour like the Savannah don't swarm the battlefield is production ability limitations. Sure you could buy 100 Savannahs for the cost of a Lance, but by the time your Lance is here you'd only have 10 Savannahs delivered, and you needed both yesterday, and House Armies aren't limited by money while Mercenaries and Pirates are limited by space and manpower.
That´s true. Also we need to understand that, how works the space travel in BT universe, is easier and cheaper transport a battalion of mechs that the same cost of Savannah Masters.
This is what happens when your rule system overpowers hovercraft, has the medium lazer be the most powerful damage deeler by weight, and puts no practical minimum size on fusion engines.
For a system that wants mechs to be the kings of the battlefield, this little piranha shouldn't be possible to create in the rule system (especially for the price).
Canonically the engine is probably a stumbling block too. It's Star League tech, you can't just mass produce that before the Helm Core
@@KillerOrca true, but you'd think something like that would affect the price, though
Eh, you probably couldn't churn out four factory fresh mechs in that time either, but like @corsariosandrorect5238 says, you'd need way more dropships to transport the Hovercraft.
"Ride of the Valkeries" was a nice touch. However, I think you missed an opportunity to discuss the 5th Syrtis Fusliers on Sarna in the Fourth War.
I just picked a couple examples when putting this one together sadly.
The Savannah Master is the hero you never knew you needed.
I love the Savannah Master. Slap in TAG, C3, or an ER Medium (IS or Clan) and it becomes even more deadly. In later eras pulse lasers, TCs and mines help against such swarms, but the Savannah Master is still deadly. I also love that it's a second hand Steiner product. It pairs well with Harassers and other hover speed demons.
For some reason I have a terrible urge to say, "Dey should allz be painted red den"
I thought hovercraft are only hit on a 12 by mines?
One of the most UNDERRATED weapons platforms, ever. Well done Sir.
I love the vehicles and fighters in TR 3026. I dont play but I had it and the classic 3025 back in the 80s from a local toy/hobbie store. Blew my 13 yr. old mind. Even had the poster size blueprints for Warhammer, Battlemaster & Locust. My nose was always in those books with imagination in overdrive. Still love the franchise.
The story of this things defense trials are hilarious. Named for the mech pilot the thing killed. “How do you like my savanna master” indeed.
even better, Savanah didn't get killed in the trial, and in fact eventually married the Hovercraft's inventor
Used for scouting and spotting, you cannot find a better platform for the BV. We made a TAG variant and used it to great effect.
i recall in a game where we agreed to only use mechs and didnt care too much abt bv and focused on tonnage i made a wisp(10 ton ultralight design) with a tag as a scout- absolute blast and i highly reccomend it
When you can choose between four mechs, or three mechs and a company of Savannah Masters...
Step 1- Raid the children's micro machines
Step 2- turn up to game day with 3kg of micro machines
....
Step 4- winning!
Step 5 Being uninvited from the store.
Step 6 Having to explain to your kid why their favorite micromachines are missing.
It's a great tool to bring in vast numbers to play against someone you never want to play again.
"The Fuzzy Wuzzy Fallacy" from the Ogre Book by Steve Jackson Games... What the SM reminds me of are GEVs from Ogre/GEV, and the manner in which enough of them will humble the most mighty war machines.
Great video especially considering how quickly it was done.
I learned something today. I honestly had no idea that the SM was
first produced so late in the timeline.
Official production start year is listed as 3025. I think most players
(myself included) thought it started production well before that.
Looking back I can remember playing quite a few games with
SMs fielded by opponents in games that actually took place
before it was even produced.
Only one error in the video. I re-recorded a bunch of sections, fixed a bunch of errors on images... and missed the bottom conclusion during the introduction, total oversight. lol
The Renaissance has already started in the traditional 3025 "LosTech" era, it's just that no one has realized it yet. The long low tempo combat of the 3rd Succession War has allowed some recovery. Sure the tech base is still well below Star League, but the Sphere is recovering with genuine invention instead of reverse engineering recovered tech. The Striker, Savanah Master, Merlin, and Hatchetman are all brand new designs entering production in the last 15 years. There are also a lot of major variants of old chassis coming out in the same time, and the Cataphract, Raven, and Wolfhound are prototyping at the end.
The only knock I can give to the Savannah master is a critiques on the costs of war that most people don't consider as tragic but rather as another statistic: that of the human cost.
For the cost of one locust: you can purchase SIXTEEN Savannah Masters... but the human costs start adding up. Each Savannah Master requires ONE pilot. For the cost of sixteen Savannah Masters, you also must house, feed, and maintain sixteen pilots. For each Savannah Master you lose: you lose one pilot.
You replace costs in C-Bills for costs in human lives. Such is the Universe of BattleTech: where technology and metal is expensive... and lives are cheap.
It was the early '90s, and I went to NorWesCon, a sci-fi/ fantasy convention in the Seattle region, that year being held in downtown Tacoma. I was invited to sit down for a 4 player free-for-all, no limits on what we could bring to the table (aside from what we had in the TROs 3025 and 3026). The other 3 players had already sat down -- 2 Atlas and 1 Battlemaster. They laughed when I took a Savannah Master.
If I won initiative, I moved in for a back strike. When I lost, I'd bugger off behind hills or forest to ensure that there could be no return fire.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
At the end I had taken a single hit from the Battlemaster's rear medium laser on my front, but I was the only thing still moving.
So apparently some Lyran engineer got drunk, played a shit ton of F-Zero, and decided to build the Fire Stingray and slap a medium laser on it.
Edit: Hold on that’s not the Fire Stingray, that’s the Wild Goose.
It's kind of a funny emblem of the notion some people throw around about Battlemechs themselves being essentially so inefficient that the only in universe explanation, in comparison to using more 'conventional' military investment, for their use is that they possess such cultural prestige.
Being a Savanna Master pilot beats being infantry. At least you've got air conditioning.
Though if you really want to be a battlefield adrenaline junky, then Jump Infantry can't be beat.
I haven't been watching much in the way of Battletech videos recently, just the way my brain has decided to go. But you bet your ass I clicked on this one as soon as it popped up in my feed. Love these little menaces.
A threatening 'mech pilot: 2/3
A threatening Savannah Master pilot: 5/3
_And_ a Firefly reference? Love you, Big Red.
When pulse lasers are a threat, reflective armor is a useful upgrade.
Also doubly vulnerable to everything else.
Though it leaves to weak to a streak.
According to A Time of War, the annual salary for a Regular quality E6/O3 ranked Vehicle Crewman or MechWarrior is 10.8k and 18k c-bills respectively, which is insignificant cost wise compared to the vehicles they pilot. It'd take just about 6.7-8.5 years for the Savanah Master crewman to afford their ride, and 84-87.5 years for the Locust mechwarrior.
Ah yes, the "Death by a thousand cuts. Now with added artillery!" approach towards fighting the Clans. For the cost of one Timby you can take 8 UMR-AIVs and 120 Savannah Masters. That's 8 Arrow IV launchers (with 10 rounds each), 8 ER medium lasers and 120 medium lasers vs the stock Timby loadout.
I believe that translates to "Oh you're so screwed bottle boy!" and I'm here for it :D
According to Campaign Operations, there is a minimum 4x-5x multiplier for the price of clan gear. So, if you just did a straight-up 4x multiplier of the cheapest canon mad cat configuration, you could actually field 16 Arrow urbanmechs and 163 standard Savannah masters for the minimum price of a single mad cat.
@@LiberalApplicationOfThud Even better! I stopped paying much attention after TRO 3025 TBH.
Imagine this puppy with a Clan ER Medium laser, or a Heavy Medium Laser.... Simply horrifying..
Love the little hovercraft 👍
Thank you Bob!
I brought several companies of these guys modded with a single medium laser each and such speed. More than half survived because I max moved them every turn. They were always behind the enemies and the few low point mechs I brought were barely useful. It was AWESOME! They never let me do that again.
1 medium laser isn't scary, but 13 of them to the rear sure is.
Imagine a bunch of Valkyries facing a swarm of Savanah Masters that have loud speakers playing flight of the Valkyries
Fun video, always swatted these things like flies in Mech Commander 2. Breaking down how nightmare these would be to fight as a low cost swarm, has made me much more respect these little things.
I thought the intro tune was just in my head as I clicked on the video; amazing sir, just amazing to know you appreciate the SMaster just as much
Released right on the tail of the Savannah Master salvage box leak. Good timing, Red!
I made it after the leak happened. lol
Personally tested one of these on the Lyran world of Australia. Took two zaps from the medium laser just to kill that giant kangaroo.
Excellent video as always, Red! I love little annoying hovertanks like the SM, and also the J Edgar! High TMM and high annoyance value make them a Capellan favorite!
My head says one of the most common field modifications for these demons is the addition of external speaker to play music for phycological warfare. Ride of the Valkyries is both popular and traumatic.
you've gotten so much better with these videos, big props!
I appreciate that!
I had a company of these as lead minis back in the 90s. Best way to deal with clanners who like to sit back and snipe.
For true charge madness, get a HiScout with its 2 ton cannonball NapFinds. That little bugger could line up a charge across a map board.
Glorious to see some more hover tank coverage. I always loved seeing these little suckers living their best lives in our tabletop battles. Felt like some plucky underdogs singing through the battlefield with beers in hand while the mechs hammered each other. Who needs a scout lance when you have these?
We definitely limited it to 4 per side or not at all. This thing is s nightmare. The clan similar vehicle with 4 er small lasers is a favorite. The clan units had no problem killing these things with better pilots and pulse laser.
Even with better pilots and Pulse, its no guarantee that it'll end up in their favour if they pair them with a good couple anchors. Backstabs are devastating.
Oh hey, I gave one of these to the governor of my original Canopian planet!
She stripped off tbe guns and armor to make it faster and used it as an escape vehicle when someone tried to kidnap her. Turns out hovercraft dont care if its land or water, so long as the cushion has contact you can ride right over it
Short but very interesting video!
I hope you can do another one about how mechs shot backwards, or maybe about the Leopard Transport ship.
Speed is armor! Savannah Master is life!
These little buggers can be useful. I played a game one time a few years ago where we had to each bring a vehicle. one of the other guys bought a Savannah master. I blew it up pretty quick with two large lasers for my Hermes 3, but he's then pointed out to me that the Savannah Master done its job by drawing a round a fire from a mech. Which made sense to me after the fact.
Love the Savannah Swarm :-) my niece is named after this little terror!
Loved the video (I do enjoy the non-mech videos), interesting to see extra details for the setting
Awsome video can't wait to get the plastic ones to come out.
Listening to the video, the first thing I though about this sucker was that pulse laser and TAs will eat it good. Then you informed us about the reflective armor ER Med L and I orgasmed.
There is a variant of this that fits a SRM-2 and a ton of ammo instead of a Medium Laser.
Range is less, true, but what it gains is ammo versatility.
Did you want war crimes for some reason? Inferno SRM's are right there.
There's a lot of other kinds of SRMs besides Standard and Inferno, such as the Fragmentation SRM (useful in an anti-infantry role), Listen-Kill warhead (targeting bonus, but only a very very limited window of usefulness), and many others, so that's worth looking into to tailor the loadouts of your Savannah Masters to their opposition.
I appreciate that you didn't bring up the "Savannah Master as a manned missile" concept. When used as a real combat vehicle it is plenty good enough without pretending that charges are what it's supposed to do normally.
“RULE OF TWO” FOR LIFE!!!!
I don’t waste my time with players that “swarm”. Last time somebody tried that with me, I promptly packed up my ‘Mechs and left. There was this real dillhole in my first BattleTech group that would field Savannah Master swarms. He would surround and immobilize units, then hit them with massed fire. He is the reason I rarely field non-jumpers to this day.
For only a few more c-bills you can upgrade to a er medium laser and they will throw in air conditioning and a rocking sound system.
I love this vehicle, i ran a double company of these against a heavy star of Jade Falcons and won with less than 50% losses
These are one of my favorite vehicles in the game, I love tacking a lance of them onto a force if I have a little bit of BV to spare, the Small Laser variant is really underrated, being so cheap on BV, if nothing else, it's a leg torpedo.
I smashed the like button and now I have a cracked screen. I hope you're happy, Bear.
This pleases me greatly. :P
i love running these in game
Thanks again BigRed
I won our regional championships in the old Dark Age Clix game with 12 hover bikes and 3 hover tanks. The bikes would run down and base the opposing mechs, disallowing their firing phase to anything but the bikes. When the tanks were in position, the bikes would unbase, the tanks would fire, and other bikes would base the mechs again. I steamrolled every game for the majority of that year. The firing rules for mechs were changed later that year, and I would like to think that my hover lance was a part of that.
These were fully Savanna Master tactics 🙂↕️
outstading video red like always.
The savannah master is the future equivalent of "All men, fix bayonets!"
You can't stop the signal indeed.
I've always thought that if the clans were really going to be based off the Mongols, then the bulk of their forces should have been something like the SM with a few fast heavy battlemechs to finish when the enemy formation broke.
Make a rocket launcher valiant and use them with normal one which have medium laser.
And also make a drone valiant and mix that with manned Savannah Master as a royal buddy.
Drone Savannah Master will be more expensive but consider the trainning/education cost of pilot will justify that.
You don't have to write a letter to fallen pilot's family when lost drone.
Swarm of them will become terror of the battlefield.
Thank you for video. I always enjoy that.
But writing letters is so personal! lol
Its like the old Toyota Hilux of the Battletech universe
I forgot about this little vehicle. I main Alpha Strike these days so I wonder how it translates to those rules.
1 armor
1 internal
1 short, 1 medium
TMM 4
Move 26
PV 15
Also, a very good reason to invest in Thunder/FASCAM munitions.
This is why you invest in hovertank traps.
I looked at this way back in the day and decided that I would try to make a cheaper effective vehicle. 4 tons, wheeled, 2 machine guns. 11/17 movement. 27,200 cost. Called it the El Cheapo.