one of my best paint jobs on a battletech mini was a clan jade falcon summoner, took me 4 hours. Even though I dont play tabletop anymore , I held on to that one.
The secondary story line from the Battletech novels. (clan ones) It gave the reader a look into what a Crusader clan looked like. And in my option a better look into the culture of not being the cream of the crop as a clan warrior. (the clan wolf novels dealt with the top ranks vs. the Falcon look as a warrior that failed to make the cut and had to work his way up the ranks the hard way) Clan Wolf being the first and main story line from the novels. But we learn later on that Wolf was not as completely in the Warden camp. And would later be split because of it. Also used as the "bad guys" for the Battletech cartoon. (Crusader clans wanted to return to the Inner Sphere to invade, the Wardens understood the teaching as needing to wait until the Inner Sphere needed to be rescued. And that whole blood feud thing is not unlike the Hatfield and McCoy. Being first loser to having the great leader be part of your clan has never been forgotten. As from a mech MTOE, Falcon ran all the "non Wolf" mechs. So no Dire Wolfs or Timber Wolfs. But not as bad as some of the mech that Clan Ghost Bear get stuck with.
+Mike George The inter-clan rivalry is something that could work well and should have probably been shown in the original material rather than the novels. It would have been cool at the time of the clans launch into battletech to read a piece about an Inner Sphere unit coming across two clan forces fighting and just being "what the fuck?" before relaying it to command. Little snippets that could have drip fed to fans as they fleshed out the clans more and more with each book. It's annoying really because the clans taken in their own space and planets are different and dare I say fun to read about and see in action against one another. The pretense of honour and abiding by rules always being bent or sometimes usurped for victory is a neat plot device. However when you plop them into the feudalistic setting of the Inner Sphere all of that is gone and they just break that dynamic up completely. Neither side really being what they were on their own and instead being this boring power creep situation where players either want to use clan tech in their inner sphere 'mechs or just want to play as clans or take clan 'mechs. I find the post invasion setup to be completely dumb because the Inner sphere just sit back and go "well we got rid of Smoke jag and nova cat, but let's leave the bears, wolves and falcons in control of our planets." Made no sense to me and the inter-clan stuff only really got going then with the whole clan jade wolf plot and Martha Pryde's attempts to kickstart the invasion once more. Cool 'mechs and an interesting society of their own but I don't think it worked when you slammed them together sadly.
Critical Rocket I think about the time after the annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar, FASA was feeling the pain of its financial situation. And everything with Battletech suffered as well. I believe that the storyline would of been better or at least more robust with more people supporting the storyline. But in difficult times it was more like what can they get out the door for the fans to buy to keep the company afloat.
Mike George Yeah, it's kind of shame we will never really know what the behind the scenes settlement cost FASA back then. Or was it that? Or was it over extending themselves with other products using the Battletech name? It would be cool to hear Jordan Wesiman's account of the dying days of FASA and just what went wrong. Still it's an immense shame that the company went south and was broken up the way it was.
I think they put too many eggs into the battletech centers / virtual world. I went to the one in Chicago many times as a teenager. The sheer amount of hardware needed to network that many games together was insane.
One of your descriptions of Martha Pryde describes her battle at Coventry as costly. This seems disingenuous though. Khan Pryde had engaged this mini invasion to blood all the new warriors that were introduced to her ranks. Though it cost her warriors it also produced many veterans that were not only schooled as staunch traditionalists but also wouldnt be taken by surprise from "less than honorable battle tactics of the Inner Sphere." This action had provided veterans for the war against Steel Viper that would give the Falcons sole possession of their invasion corridor.
Also looking at the battle of Coventry. Since it happened after the battle of Tukayyid, Pryde had plenty of options to bloody her troops outside of a full on attack to capture a world. She could have for instance requested a trial against the Comguard who would have happily accepted as a means to gain experience for her troops. Or even skirmish against the numerous border defenders on the Lyran border, but she chose to invade a world and basically claim more territory for her clan. Nothing wrong with her decision but the end result was a loss and the very real potential that she could have been annihilated by a newly formed Star League in retaliation. Essentially getting your ass kicked as a reason to gain experience is like saying Dunkirk was a training exercise for the French and BEF for later battles against Germany. The only good thing to come out of that book for Jade Falcon and the overall Battletech playerbase was the Cougar :)
Critical Rocket Pryde didn't simply invade just one world. She invaded many and had many successful campaigns. She also didn't have all her forces on Coventry. So yes she could have chosen other opponents but as I said these were new warriors. So fighting the Com Guard, very seasoned warriors might not have been the best route. I also doubt your view that they would happily except. They aren't clan. She chose to fight and blood her warriors against what she thought would be the enemy of the future. Martha did get bogged down at Coventry however against a superior force. Victor didn't want the battle to happen just as Martha didn't and so Victor offered her a way out without losing honor. He offered her surkai. She would be allowed to retreat without shame and dishonor. This was a victory in Prydes eyes because she accomplished her goal which was the training of her warriors.
Coventry isn’t just to blood her troops, its other purpose is to discourage other clans from declaring a trial of absorption against them. Fighting on the border will only match them against militia maybe a lance or two kell hounds, not enough to impress other clans. But Coventry is near the truce line, ensuring that the Inner Sphere and ComStar will send their best troops against her and thereby showing the other clans that the Jade Falcons is still a force to reckon with.
Jade Falcon - the clan that can just keep spawning new armies out of nowhere.... utterly decimated in 3057 during the Refusal War, takes heavy losses on Coventry in 3058, but still somehow has the strength to win another total war against Clan Steel Viper in 3061. Within only four years the JF triumphed in two full scale wars against two of their biggest oldest Clan rivals. I mean I love the Jade Falcons, but their miraculous capacity to keep rebuilding is one of the reasons I started to lose respect for the Battletech universe lore after a while. It was the beginning of the march toward munchy units that could be magically summoned out of nowhere that would define the Jihad.
It was because of Elias Crichell's secret breeding program. If you read more, you would have realized he prepped for the future. He was a terrible warrior but an excellent strategist.
Lovely lore :) It's funny but when I was watching this a funny bit of clan trivia popped into my head from one of the background books. They have a cartoon for their kids where a group of young clanners take on the "spheroids" IIRC and show them what for in a series of adventures. Start 'em young as they say!
+leakycheese Yeah I remember reading something similar to that recently but can't remember what it is. It's kind of hard to picture clanners sitting around planning a cartoon or anything remotely fun really. They seem so harsh and militaristic that finding out they have things like bars, entertainment and even relationships is a bit weird.
+Critical Rocket Yeah, I know what you mean, the trueborn elements of clans really are 'alien' in their social behaviour. I liked the novels that got into the freeborn side of things more, The Exodus Road was good in that regard.
leakycheese The whole class and caste system in the clan society is different and it does create some nice Gamemaster scenarios with freeborns trying to show up those trueborn pilots and what not. Still I would much prefer mixing words and lasers with a Kuritan officer than a clanner any day. Way more character and personality there :)
+Critical Rocket I suppose in that regard the writers of Battletech were quite successful in making the clanners as cold and artificial as birthing vats the trueborns are grown in. How about that for a video, clanner personality of the year?
+Kilercrab321 Every friday will be a new clan video. The only time this will change will be when the Archer arrives later this month and next month when the Kodiak is launched.
+Elliot Szarvas Smoke Jags are going to be the fourth clan covered. Going to struggle a little with that one since the book doesn't have a full write up for them since it's written from the perspective that they were wiped out recently.
+VectorGhost A long while away since I will try and go through the remaining 19 clans (although some like Burrock, mongoose and widowmaker might be put into a single video) and then it's comstar followed by the best of the best, the periphery. Go Taurian Concordat!
Critical Rocket i just got some battletech audio books. Your channel has really pushed me into learning more about the lore an what not. i do fully regret not backing the BT turnbase game. So will the word of blake get its own video as well since they are a sub faction?
VectorGhost They are canon as far as the writers are concerned but they precipitated a pretty poor time in the products history with the dark ages and jihad.
+lord6617 The three shown in this video are considered pretty close to being genuine Jade Falcon battlemechs but they do make a few of their own. These aren't in game but 'mechs like the black lanner, eyrie, gyrfalcon, Jade hawk, shrike and turkina are all totem 'mechs of the falcons. Of those the black lanner and Turkina are eligible to be in MWO with the timeline being 3053 at the moment. Most of the others listed are much later creations.
Kit fox/uller, hellbringer/loki, and summoner are definitely the most common, tho not the only ones used, nor were they exclusive to the Jade Falcon Touman
I have a question as a noob that just watched the Battletech cartoon. Why is it that the Steiners are the protagonists in this story line, and then they are antagonists in MW4 Vengence?
+Elprise1 Because the timeline moved on. The series is set during the early clan invasion in 3050. The game takes place during the fedcom civil war in the 3060's. Steiner are the antagonists there because of the machinations of archon katrina steiner davion. Jade falcon end up fighting the lyran alliance as a means to test their troops against inner sphere forces.
+Elprise1 The roles always flip during the timeline. For instance you could argue that Davion and Steiner are the antagonists when they invade house Liao during Hanse Davions wedding. But then Davion are the protagonists when they are defending themselves from Kuritan invasion.
Critical Rocket That is one of the things I love about the Battletech Universe. Just like in reality there are no real "good guys" and "bad guys" faction-wise, but rather nations of people trying their best to survive and thrive in an often hostile environment. You only get "good" and "evil" when you get down to the individuals within each faction and even then there is plenty of gray area.
Yeah coyote gets kind of bum deal really. They make so many advancements like the Hell's horses do and both clans get sort of left behind for the writers choice of so called favourite clans. Shame really since the others get largely ignored for the big four in the Inner Sphere.
No, I think that you got that wrong. Here's my take on it: Wolves: Imperial Russia (Alexander Kerensky was an actual historical figure: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kerensky) Smoke Jags & Steel Vipers: Nazi Germany Widowmakers: North Korea or Iraq under Saddam Hussain. Wolverines: Ireland and/or Scotland Ghost Bears: Vikings. Nova Cats and Coyotes: Native Americans/Polynesians Jade Falcons: Mongol Hordes under Genghis Khan. Snow Ravens: Brazil (big enough to be noticed so that they're cool to visit but really just wants to be left alone on the grand stage) Other Clans: Filler Space/Fluff Text. House Kurita: Shogunate Japan House Davion: British Empire House Steiner: Germany when they're not trying to rule the world. House Liao: Communist China House Marik: United States of America (when we're not being globalist pricks)
one of my best paint jobs on a battletech mini was a clan jade falcon summoner, took me 4 hours. Even though I dont play tabletop anymore , I held on to that one.
+healthyfire All Battletech mini's are worth holding on to :)
Worthy monument
Getting ready for MW5 Clans! Great to get refreshed. Thank you.
The secondary story line from the Battletech novels. (clan ones) It gave the reader a look into what a Crusader clan looked like. And in my option a better look into the culture of not being the cream of the crop as a clan warrior. (the clan wolf novels dealt with the top ranks vs. the Falcon look as a warrior that failed to make the cut and had to work his way up the ranks the hard way) Clan Wolf being the first and main story line from the novels. But we learn later on that Wolf was not as completely in the Warden camp. And would later be split because of it. Also used as the "bad guys" for the Battletech cartoon. (Crusader clans wanted to return to the Inner Sphere to invade, the Wardens understood the teaching as needing to wait until the Inner Sphere needed to be rescued. And that whole blood feud thing is not unlike the Hatfield and McCoy. Being first loser to having the great leader be part of your clan has never been forgotten. As from a mech MTOE, Falcon ran all the "non Wolf" mechs. So no Dire Wolfs or Timber Wolfs. But not as bad as some of the mech that Clan Ghost Bear get stuck with.
+Mike George The inter-clan rivalry is something that could work well and should have probably been shown in the original material rather than the novels. It would have been cool at the time of the clans launch into battletech to read a piece about an Inner Sphere unit coming across two clan forces fighting and just being "what the fuck?" before relaying it to command. Little snippets that could have drip fed to fans as they fleshed out the clans more and more with each book.
It's annoying really because the clans taken in their own space and planets are different and dare I say fun to read about and see in action against one another. The pretense of honour and abiding by rules always being bent or sometimes usurped for victory is a neat plot device. However when you plop them into the feudalistic setting of the Inner Sphere all of that is gone and they just break that dynamic up completely. Neither side really being what they were on their own and instead being this boring power creep situation where players either want to use clan tech in their inner sphere 'mechs or just want to play as clans or take clan 'mechs.
I find the post invasion setup to be completely dumb because the Inner sphere just sit back and go "well we got rid of Smoke jag and nova cat, but let's leave the bears, wolves and falcons in control of our planets." Made no sense to me and the inter-clan stuff only really got going then with the whole clan jade wolf plot and Martha Pryde's attempts to kickstart the invasion once more. Cool 'mechs and an interesting society of their own but I don't think it worked when you slammed them together sadly.
Critical Rocket I think about the time after the annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar, FASA was feeling the pain of its financial situation. And everything with Battletech suffered as well. I believe that the storyline would of been better or at least more robust with more people supporting the storyline. But in difficult times it was more like what can they get out the door for the fans to buy to keep the company afloat.
Mike George
Yeah, it's kind of shame we will never really know what the behind the scenes settlement cost FASA back then. Or was it that? Or was it over extending themselves with other products using the Battletech name?
It would be cool to hear Jordan Wesiman's account of the dying days of FASA and just what went wrong. Still it's an immense shame that the company went south and was broken up the way it was.
I think they put too many eggs into the battletech centers / virtual world. I went to the one in Chicago many times as a teenager. The sheer amount of hardware needed to network that many games together was insane.
Mike George
Back then I can only imagine how much it must have cost as well.
another great job. not a clanner myself but still interesting
+GutterBoy5 Thank you. Once the clans are finished I will move onto Comstar and then the periphery states.
One of your descriptions of Martha Pryde describes her battle at Coventry as costly. This seems disingenuous though. Khan Pryde had engaged this mini invasion to blood all the new warriors that were introduced to her ranks. Though it cost her warriors it also produced many veterans that were not only schooled as staunch traditionalists but also wouldnt be taken by surprise from "less than honorable battle tactics of the Inner Sphere." This action had provided veterans for the war against Steel Viper that would give the Falcons sole possession of their invasion corridor.
Also looking at the battle of Coventry. Since it happened after the battle of Tukayyid, Pryde had plenty of options to bloody her troops outside of a full on attack to capture a world. She could have for instance requested a trial against the Comguard who would have happily accepted as a means to gain experience for her troops. Or even skirmish against the numerous border defenders on the Lyran border, but she chose to invade a world and basically claim more territory for her clan. Nothing wrong with her decision but the end result was a loss and the very real potential that she could have been annihilated by a newly formed Star League in retaliation.
Essentially getting your ass kicked as a reason to gain experience is like saying Dunkirk was a training exercise for the French and BEF for later battles against Germany. The only good thing to come out of that book for Jade Falcon and the overall Battletech playerbase was the Cougar :)
Critical Rocket Pryde didn't simply invade just one world. She invaded many and had many successful campaigns. She also didn't have all her forces on Coventry. So yes she could have chosen other opponents but as I said these were new warriors. So fighting the Com Guard, very seasoned warriors might not have been the best route. I also doubt your view that they would happily except. They aren't clan. She chose to fight and blood her warriors against what she thought would be the enemy of the future. Martha did get bogged down at Coventry however against a superior force. Victor didn't want the battle to happen just as Martha didn't and so Victor offered her a way out without losing honor. He offered her surkai. She would be allowed to retreat without shame and dishonor. This was a victory in Prydes eyes because she accomplished her goal which was the training of her warriors.
Coventry isn’t just to blood her troops, its other purpose is to discourage other clans from declaring a trial of absorption against them. Fighting on the border will only match them against militia maybe a lance or two kell hounds, not enough to impress other clans. But Coventry is near the truce line, ensuring that the Inner Sphere and ComStar will send their best troops against her and thereby showing the other clans that the Jade Falcons is still a force to reckon with.
Jade Falcon - the clan that can just keep spawning new armies out of nowhere.... utterly decimated in 3057 during the Refusal War, takes heavy losses on Coventry in 3058, but still somehow has the strength to win another total war against Clan Steel Viper in 3061. Within only four years the JF triumphed in two full scale wars against two of their biggest oldest Clan rivals. I mean I love the Jade Falcons, but their miraculous capacity to keep rebuilding is one of the reasons I started to lose respect for the Battletech universe lore after a while. It was the beginning of the march toward munchy units that could be magically summoned out of nowhere that would define the Jihad.
Shut your mouth , freebirth trash
It was because of Elias Crichell's secret breeding program. If you read more, you would have realized he prepped for the future. He was a terrible warrior but an excellent strategist.
Can’t even watch the Vid...I have watched the Wolves one many times though :)
Thank you so much for making this video.
Freebirth trash! We are the noble heirs of Kerensky. Batchall! BATCHALL!!
Hey, Jade Falcon, eat a snickers...
Those daring to refuse our batchal would feel the wrath of our CLAWS
Jade Falcon and the Ice Hellions are my favorite Clans
Zak Lewis
One of those destroyed itself attacking the other, guess which one😜
Ice hellions are lower than freebirth shit
Lovely lore :) It's funny but when I was watching this a funny bit of clan trivia popped into my head from one of the background books. They have a cartoon for their kids where a group of young clanners take on the "spheroids" IIRC and show them what for in a series of adventures. Start 'em young as they say!
+leakycheese Yeah I remember reading something similar to that recently but can't remember what it is. It's kind of hard to picture clanners sitting around planning a cartoon or anything remotely fun really. They seem so harsh and militaristic that finding out they have things like bars, entertainment and even relationships is a bit weird.
+Critical Rocket Yeah, I know what you mean, the trueborn elements of clans really are 'alien' in their social behaviour. I liked the novels that got into the freeborn side of things more, The Exodus Road was good in that regard.
leakycheese
The whole class and caste system in the clan society is different and it does create some nice Gamemaster scenarios with freeborns trying to show up those trueborn pilots and what not. Still I would much prefer mixing words and lasers with a Kuritan officer than a clanner any day. Way more character and personality there :)
+Critical Rocket I suppose in that regard the writers of Battletech were quite successful in making the clanners as cold and artificial as birthing vats the trueborns are grown in. How about that for a video, clanner personality of the year?
leakycheese
Clan society could be an interesting side series along with info on the great houses and periphery.
Nice video. Can't wait to see the other clans.
+Kilercrab321 Every friday will be a new clan video. The only time this will change will be when the Archer arrives later this month and next month when the Kodiak is launched.
Thanks for the video
Thank you for taking the time to listen to it :)
Awesome! Keep making these videos.
+Dom M Will do :)
All hail the Mighty Green Parrots!
wow wow wow what? shard world?!?!?! is it diamond shaped
"Jade Falcon"? That's a funny way of pronouncing Smoke Jaguar :P
+Elliot Szarvas Smoke Jags are going to be the fourth clan covered. Going to struggle a little with that one since the book doesn't have a full write up for them since it's written from the perspective that they were wiped out recently.
Oh, I guess you forgot which one still exists and which one doesn't, surat.
Shut up losers to inner sphere trash, you are dezgra, a stain upon the true children of Kerensky
0:32 the lack of bagpipe music here is very disappointing...
Excellent, as usual.
+brann1999 Thanks :)
freakin awesome. Can't wait for the comstar vid
+VectorGhost A long while away since I will try and go through the remaining 19 clans (although some like Burrock, mongoose and widowmaker might be put into a single video) and then it's comstar followed by the best of the best, the periphery. Go Taurian Concordat!
Critical Rocket i just got some battletech audio books. Your channel has really pushed me into learning more about the lore an what not. i do fully regret not backing the BT turnbase game. So will the word of blake get its own video as well since they are a sub faction?
VectorGhost
Possibly. Not decided if they count for the original lore yet or not. Most likely they will since they are so popular.
+Critical Rocket Word of blake isnt apart of the orginal lore?
VectorGhost
They are canon as far as the writers are concerned but they precipitated a pretty poor time in the products history with the dark ages and jihad.
Ahh yes
Clan Emerald Parakeet
interesting as usual great job
+Tom Caravetta Appreciated Tom :)
Are any of the mechs in MWO considered "Jade Falcon" mechs? What color schemes would you use if you were going to fly falcon colors?
+lord6617 The three shown in this video are considered pretty close to being genuine Jade Falcon battlemechs but they do make a few of their own. These aren't in game but 'mechs like the black lanner, eyrie, gyrfalcon, Jade hawk, shrike and turkina are all totem 'mechs of the falcons. Of those the black lanner and Turkina are eligible to be in MWO with the timeline being 3053 at the moment. Most of the others listed are much later creations.
Kit fox/uller, hellbringer/loki, and summoner are definitely the most common, tho not the only ones used, nor were they exclusive to the Jade Falcon Touman
What about Clan Blue Falcon?
You mean Clan Sapphire Eagle? Just made that up, but, sounds cool.
@@mbe102 Blue Falcon is military slang for "buddy fu__ker" aka...a backstabber or a screwup. 😑
Is that the superhero clan that uses cybernetic dogs rather than battlemechs?
i looked on you-tube and your home page i don't see anything when your streaming or a link to join you while streaming thanks
+fire storm A good point, I never thought to add it. I will add the links now.
The best clan
Will we ever have a video on the actual animal?
I have a question as a noob that just watched the Battletech cartoon.
Why is it that the Steiners are the protagonists in this story line, and then they are antagonists in MW4 Vengence?
+Elprise1 Because the timeline moved on. The series is set during the early clan invasion in 3050. The game takes place during the fedcom civil war in the 3060's. Steiner are the antagonists there because of the machinations of archon katrina steiner davion. Jade falcon end up fighting the lyran alliance as a means to test their troops against inner sphere forces.
+Critical Rocket That is soo cool. I grew up with MW3&4, so rooting for house Steiner seemed kind of odd to me. Thanks for the clarification!
+Elprise1 The roles always flip during the timeline. For instance you could argue that Davion and Steiner are the antagonists when they invade house Liao during Hanse Davions wedding. But then Davion are the protagonists when they are defending themselves from Kuritan invasion.
Critical Rocket
That is one of the things I love about the Battletech Universe. Just like in reality there are no real "good guys" and "bad guys" faction-wise, but rather nations of people trying their best to survive and thrive in an often hostile environment. You only get "good" and "evil" when you get down to the individuals within each faction and even then there is plenty of gray area.
@@GhostBear3067 There's a reason the cartoon was quasi de-canonized into a Inner Sphere propaganda show.
normal clan))))))))))))))))
No mention of how they were cast as the villains of a certain piece of inner sphere propaganda?
When these books were written the cartoon had not been made sadly :)
Falcon = nazis, Wolfs = america, coyote = Europa, other clans = usless and thats all you need to know about the clans
Yeah coyote gets kind of bum deal really. They make so many advancements like the Hell's horses do and both clans get sort of left behind for the writers choice of so called favourite clans. Shame really since the others get largely ignored for the big four in the Inner Sphere.
No, I think that you got that wrong. Here's my take on it:
Wolves: Imperial Russia (Alexander Kerensky was an actual historical figure: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kerensky)
Smoke Jags & Steel Vipers: Nazi Germany
Widowmakers: North Korea or Iraq under Saddam Hussain.
Wolverines: Ireland and/or Scotland
Ghost Bears: Vikings.
Nova Cats and Coyotes: Native Americans/Polynesians
Jade Falcons: Mongol Hordes under Genghis Khan.
Snow Ravens: Brazil (big enough to be noticed so that they're cool to visit but really just wants to be left alone on the grand stage)
Other Clans: Filler Space/Fluff Text.
House Kurita: Shogunate Japan
House Davion: British Empire
House Steiner: Germany when they're not trying to rule the world.
House Liao: Communist China
House Marik: United States of America (when we're not being globalist pricks)
Freebirth garbage