Bagpipes | Tex Talks Battletech Amaris Civil War 1, Part 5 Reaction 

"So Hanni Schimdt took her mechwarriors into hell to buy time... and amazingly for a time she stopped the 4th Amaris Dragoons dead." Without a doubt one of the most awesome lines I have ever heard. Second only to "And so Kerensky made a choice that would change everything... Kerensky... said no. Thus began the Amaris Civil War."

27:20 This fictional battle takes place in a real life location. The Gorst flats near Puget sound is a lowland area on the coast of Washington State. When the tides are low, it is a narrow stretch with ocean on one side and dense forests on the other. It was a perfect bottle neck to hem in the numerically superior Amaris Dragoons. Going around would take too long since Amaris and his troopers in the palace needed help immediately. So, much like Thermopylae, a small group of elite fighters held off many times their number through smart use of terrain.

To me, what makes Amaris so believable is that he makes the same mistake as history's other methodical madmen: he won everything he planned for, then kept trying to win more.

The thing about the "Cameron survivors" is it is, an in-universe rumor. The original Author of the Sourcebook in question has stated (recently) that he loves that it is still an unknown point of contention. And the original sourcebook came out in 2005, and has not been cleared up, purposefully, since. Also, the mech's used by the Blackwatch are Highlander, which is a nearly max assault mech, which has jump jets, and is known for a "Highlander burial" where the mech will jump ONTO a light mech, and just smash into the ground. Also, the Black Watch is a real regiment, that really exists right now. Those pictures are legit pictures of the legit Black Watch.

It wasnt that the Black Watch failed...it was that Richard, in his lunacy, had them effectively replaced w/forces loyal to Amaris because Amaris convinced him he couldnt trust them to protect them. Because ofc he did.

I like how this video is just called "Bagpipes". That means Airier now understands one of the many things Tex brought to the table out of this whole two-part discussion. Another is the infamous: "And Kerensky said 'no'."

The reason they didn't just go around the Black Watch was pretty simple: It took the numbers they had just to keep them where they were. If they tried to circumnavigate their position the Black Watch mechs would be able to relocate and start marauding around their back line.

Have you figured out why every last one of us who knew the story have been chanting bagpipes for the last two videos? The crest that they show there is the national crest of Scotland. The translation of the Latin on that crest means "f*** around and find out". The direct translation is "no one can harm me unpunished". The Black Watch is a special select division of the British armed forces. They were effectively the first special forces to ever exist... And have seen action in every British war since the end of the 1800s. Interestingly they have a tendency to win or die. Reformed as a part of the British military in 1881, they saw action in Egypt, in Africa, in India, in France and Germany during the first world War, in Turkey... If I listed every action since that day in 1881 that they were transformed from a police force to a member of the British military... I would effectively be listing every single conflict. The black watch was there. And if you look up the Wikipedia page... At the very end someone has tacked on a comment about the royal black watch... And BattleTech.

The game designers did include a scenario in which you can play sort of the first wave engagement of the legendary last stand of the Black Watch. It can be found in the Northwind Highlanders book, Scenario 3: Fall From Glory. It also gives a little history and except of the situation. Though Tex covers it pretty thoroughly. What's fun to note, tabletop wise, skill ratings for a veteran MechWarrior's piloting/gunnery is 4 (normally on a scale of 1-6 because of the use of six sided dice). You roll equal to or above your skill and stuff happens... you get pluses and minuses depending on actions you take making things easier or harder... The Black Watch skills include many members with skills of 0. Cause F-YEAH BAGPIPES! They were able to kill so many of the Dragoons because they're essentially going "New target, designation Atlas. Engaging. Headshot. Target down, acquiring new target..." and proceeded to mow through 250+ mechs, tanks, aerospace assets, and infantry before being nuked.

The Inner Sphere use of mechs for melee was a feature from near the beginning, as early pilots frequently resorted to it when out of ammo/to preserve ammo or to prove their valour or a billion other reasons. Tex mentions in his video on the Marauder that its arms were reinforced from the start explicitly as a selling feature after GM observed Mech Pilots' tendencies to be brutal on their equipment.

23:55 The venerable Highlander, a jump-capable 90-ton assault 'mech with a Gauss Rifle in the right arm and a whole lot of armor. Also, your exclamation of, "They re-nuked them?!" 🤣 Perfect.

A Lance is 4 Mechs. A Company is 3 Lances (12 Mechs). A Battalion is 3 Companies (36 Mechs). A Regiment is 3 Battalions (108 Mechs). I believe that means those 2 Lances of the Black Watch were outnumbered 13.5 to 1.

The Blackwatch favored the Highlander It’s a 90 ton assault mech with a Gauss Rifle Aka a weapon that can one shot lighter Mechs at long range and accurate enough to sniping Two lances of them could gang up on a single target and destroy them in a very short time.

Yes the black watch did fail to kill Amaris, but the fact that they held out for so long and came so close to blowing his bib-wearing ass up, that ended up slowly cranking up Amaris's paranoia over time because he was never absolutely sure that he had gotten ALL of the Black Watch (which he hadn't). And the Black Watch is one of those groups that if you did what Amaris had done and there is even one member left alive.... They're coming for your ass, possibly with satchel charges strapped to their torso.

6:50 To Amaris' credit, he actually hacked into the palace's security system before hand (which included a lots of unmanned anti-personnel weapons that the palace guards now had to fight). What he didn't know was the throne room had it's own sensor and alarm system that are isolated from the main security system. 9:45 I like to add one thing. I mentioned the palace had a lots of unmanned anti-personnel weapons. So when they jump pack onto the roof, all the anti-personnel and anti-air turret immediately started fire at them. It was not just simple as "jump pack to the top of throne room", it was "jump pack to the top of throne room while dodging all the laser fire and fly suicidality close to the palace's structure so you'll be a harder target." 24:55 Tex didn't exaggerate when he said Fourth Amaris Dragoons barely survive in time. The palace guards had already disabled the palace's security system and was literally at throne room's doorstep when one of the Fourth Amaris Dragoons' IFV ram into the palace at full speed and gun down the palace guards. It was a history's what if moment as the palace guards probably need only one more minute to kill Amaris.

As far as fighting the Blackwatch went...you can plan for the main event. You can train for the main event. You can prepare for the main event. But you still gotta fight the champ, and the champ is the champ for a reason. No plan survives contact with the enemy, and when you're enemy eats a nuke and the best measurable effect this has on them is it pisses them off, you got problems son. And a Lance is four mechs. Hanney Schmidt and two lances, so nine mechs. Granted, they were all Assault mechs (the heaviest armed and armored mech class available until fairly recently). A Star is five mechs, and is a Clan organizational unit. Those mechs the Blackwatch were using were Highlanders. Yes, this isn't a joke. They were named such because they were made for the Blackwatch specifically, though some wound up other places.

When I was deployed to Iraq during my time with the USMC I actually met some guys from the real life Black Watch. Consumate professionals who knew their business, every last one of them. I was relieved to hear that their name lives on after the UK folded them into the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Such a storied unit should live on and trust me, their real life record from WWII is just as impressive as this fictional story. Their motto is "No one provokes me with impunity" for a reason.

The Black Watch was charged with protecting the Royal Family, While this included Richard Cameron, his falling to Amaris's treachery was only a partial failure of their duty; as long as member of House Cameron survived, then they had a partial success. Plus, they cannot be blamed for Richard letting his killer in uncontested, nor for the failure of teh less well equipped and trained ceremonial guards in the throne room. That's on those idiots...

The mech at time mark 25:20 is called the Highlander. A 90 ton assault mech with a respectable jump capabilities and a Gauss rifle as a primary weapon(throws a nickle iron slug at hyper velocity speed) . Also it has a great close in capacity with battlefists and lasers. Also the terrain around Puget Sound made their last stand viable. (I live in that area). To add insult to injury Highlanders can crush lighter units with a maneuver called the "Highlander burial"(using you jump jets to jump on a lighter mech and crush it underneath your feet)... Good times.

And this is why I say that Battletech is operatic. It is a grand tragedy and, in this circumstance, all the more elegant for it.

The mechs from 24 minutes are Highlanders, 90 tons of pure hatred, famous for crushing enemies underfoot with the "highlander burial"

The blackwatch would have the So called "Royal battlemechs" which are typically the most advanced, and superior variants, with the best armor, the best weapons, and special equipment. the Highlander, in particular, with it's Gauss rifle, is an Infamous "Headchopper" easily able to decapitate most mechs in a single shot.

A lance is four mechs. The Clans use a different unit, called a Star, which is five. Understandable confusion. So it was 8 mechs of the Black Watch fighting the 4th Amaris Dragoons.

If you thought the Black Watch was impressive in this battle, you should look up their records from WWI...

"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" Noone Provokes Me With Impunity. The motto of the Royal Highland Regiment. Also known as the Black Watch. A unit that has roots in Scotland and has satellite branches in many of the commonwealth nations and that survived into the 28th century

19:06 Nope, 5 Mechs would be a "star"-unit in Clan-military. An inner-sphere lance is composed of 4 mechs and 3 lances make a company. So 2 lances are just 8 mechs. 24:00 aw, come on, dude. That's the Highlander (the ideal mech for scottish-bagpipe-players). 90 tons of the greatest balance between armor, mobility ans weapons an assault-mech can have.

Few things let you register your displeasure that something exists like a 90 ton Assault mech firing 250 lbs. solid metal slugs at super sonic speeds.

What happened was that Schmidt and her mechwarriors were on standby, so when Tim Trip triggered the hardened palace security systems, they were given just enough of a heads up to reach minimum safe distance from the nuke headed for Fort Cameron. The nuke destroyed all but the lowest, hardest levels, from which Hazen and her few people emerged from while Schmidt's 2.25 lances of mechs (9 mechs total) were attacked with a couple direct nuclear tactical strikes. The Mechs used by the Blackwatch were mostly Highlanders, which, aside from being famously armed with a gauss rifle and reinforced legs to jump jet all 90 tons of angry onto other mechs' heads, also carries a 20 tube long range missile system, a 6 tube short range missile system, and 2 medium lasers. Of course, that's the factory default version, and a royal regiment like the Blackwatch might be packing an additional medium laser, and Artemis IV fire control for the missiles. Or possibly some custom variations. Oh, and the Highlanders all come with a cowl, meaning they're harder to kill than most when it comes to headshots.

This section of Tex's video is perhaps the best example of what I love about Tex's lore videos. he never reads verbatim from a wiki, he reads and researches the material, and puts it together into a new and unique presentation more suited to the video format than, say, READING A WIKI LINE FOR LINE. My favorite line(s) are "this wasn't going down like it should have, nobody was supposed to be this hard to kill!" the perfect way to describe a well laid plan falling apart because 8 soldiers proved to be just a bit tougher than expected. Its great stuff, and I enjoy getting to watch someone react to this for the first time! Keep it up, have fun, and buckle up when you hear Bagpipes!

A lance is 4 mechs, three lances make a company. So the Blackwatch had 8 mechs The 4th amaris dragoons is a full regiment

woooooooooooooooooooooo! edit: 12:10 oh hohohohoho just wait until you get the Pentagon Civil War in the Exodus lore vids, you will very quickly learn that how bulletproof a person can be outside a mech solely relies upon how god damned angry you've made them x'D

3:20 Those are NOT AK47s, those are L85A1s (also known as the SA80). It was the UK's standard issue assault rifle from the 1990s onwards (and updated versions, the L85A2 and L85A3, remain in-service today). The initial variant came in for some significant criticism (some deserved, some not so much) due to shortcomings of the design that were rectified in the A2 and A3 variants. Some in the firearms community, however, will not accept that it is now a decent and reliable firearm choice for two main reasons, firstly that it's a little heavy, and second (perhaps more significantly) because of its "bullpup" configuration (some folks REALLY hate bullpup configurations).

Speaking of the Hot Gates. Did you know that there have been 5 battles of the Hot Gates? Guess which the most recent one was. 1941 during the German invasion of Greece.

Something to note about the Highlander at 15:35 He's missing his entire right arm. He's literally saying 'Yeah, my Gauss rifle just got taken offline. I'm good still'

It should be noted that Fort Cameron wasn't completely destroyed by the nuclear strikes, for it is a 'Castle Brian' or, in simple terms Cheyenne Mountain on an ungodly amount of steroids. While Schmidt was fighting the 4th Dragoons, the rest of the Blackwatch cleared the rubble blocking the entrances and fought for _days_ before Amaris ordered a battleship to blast it from orbit _for hours._ That's how tough these guys were.

23:45 - that is the HGN-732 highlander. Signature Mech of The Royal Black Watch and the Northwind Highlanders. Its 90 tons of angry and carries a gauss rifle. It also fits jump jets - one of the largest mechs of the era to do so. The term "Highlander Burial" describes what happpens when a Highlander uses its jump jets to land on the head of a victim, with predictablely catastrophic results.

Black watch mechs Highlander (units depicted in last stand) 90 ton Assault mechs bonus: standard commands Lance (inner sphere): 4 mechs Star (clan): 5 mechs

8 mechs, 4 to a lance. Clans operate in Stars which is 5. Keep in mind its a combined arms confrontation so its companies of infantry, vehicles, and mechs. Also if sure its been said but Hilanders are the mechs you couldn't identify. 90 ton assaults.

Punch it in the face was, by this time, a common Mech warrior tactic. The weapons pods on the marauder, for example, were designed with this in mind.

Couple of points: The SLDF forces under Kerenski weren't touched by the coup. Amaris was targeting the garrisons within the inner Terran Hegemony territory. He had no information on what he did. Kerenski himself is now on the upswing with a fully armed and operational military force that could potentially threaten Amaris' hold. Trying to get Kerenski on his side was a long shot, but would have given him the military might to secure his holdings in perpetuity and the experience and resources to build. Trying to bribe Kerenski was stupid, but it was necessary for him to do something to try and secure that force. On the houses doing a sit and wait, right now Amaris has the single largest and most advanced army, but the houses each have their own internal militaries and have Amaris mostly surrounded. At this moment he solved an issue that they had for years and they have the luxury of time on their side. No one is going to be the first to strike at Amaris in the event the other 4 houses are in league. Similarly, if Amaris strikes first to conquer them, they will likely almost immediately unite (for the first time in history) to combine their individual military forces. And considering the houses have vastly superior hdings as far as territory, manpower, and raw materials, even the superior training and tech of the Amaris and SLDF militaries won't help much as they are completely surrounded. The smartest move for everybody right now is to co solidity their holdings and wait. Until Amaris can first strike all of the houses at once, he's fighting a losing battle against the houses. Until each of the houses has the support of all the other houses, they are fighting a losing battle.

FASA was based out of Seattle, and it shows. BattleTech's Unity City is located where modern day Seattle stands, and Seattle was the primary setting for ShadowRun. Heh.

I am no battletech lore nerd but even I can understand why 2 lances (8 mechs) can in theory hold off larger lances. 1 - Not all mechs are created equal. 2 - Not all pilots are created equal. 3 - not all load outs are created equal. If memory serves me correctly the Blackwatch uses Highlanders, or 90 ton assault mechs equipped with Jump Jets. One way to look at it is 90 tons of precision shooting, highly mobile, highly defended, ANGER. In theory the black watch could easily grind through the opponents armor while their armor took little damage (IE longer to grind through). Jump jets means that they could reposition much quicker by flying away. If the enemy had 6 lances to the Blackwatch's 2, it would be safe to theorize the heaviest mech would be a, heavy mech. I have seen skilled mech pilots destroy a mech in seconds (this is from the MMO game but I think that is close enough). I am taking away from this is that they did not expect the BlackWatch to survive the initial assault, and they underestimated the Blackwatch's training and equipment.

When they say "set fires" in the Battletech universe, they mean skyscraper sized bonfires in the literal sense.

Airier- The Black Watch 'mechs at 24:20 are Highlanders. It's a very good 90-ton assault machine. Available in miniature form either in metal from Iron Wind Metals, or in the new plastics as part of the Comstar Command Level II pack.

So to note on the numbers a bit here. A lance is 4 mechs, a Clan Star is 5, and Comstar typically organizes in units of 6. A IS Mech Company is 3 Lances or 12 Mechs, so the Black Watch was essentially going 9 (the two lances plus Commander Schmidt) vs 12 at a time with those first two companies. Those three mechs you were wondering about are Star League era Highlanders.

"I still hate Amaris less than the idiot that was in charge" that feeling is not going to last.

a lance is 4 mechs(essentially a tank platoon but mechs). 3 lances (12 mechs) make up a company. 3 Companies a battalion. and a regiment consists of 3 to 5 battalions and so it continues upwards with the numbers generally being 3 to 5 of X makes a Y.

A standard lance is 4 mechs. SLDF assault units have 6 mechs to a lance as is referenced in the first printing of the Star League source book. I have never seen a cannon breakdown of the two lances so they could be standard 4 or reinforced Assault 6. This is where the later Com Guards get there organization.

Short technical thing About IS unit sizes 4 Mech = Lance 12 Mechs = Company 36 Mechs = Battalion (plus air support) 108 to 180 Mech = Regiment What you had with 5 is Clan unit structure 1 Mech = Point 5 Mechs = Star 10 Mechs = Binary Star ...... The Mechs that you don't know about, the 4 from the Black Watch) are called Highlanders and like in the movie with its name those thinks are tough. At least I had many good games with these on table as well as computer games. The mech is also what introduced the "Highlander burail" to battletech where a freaking 90t Mech comes crushing down on its enemy from above, using its jumpjets and its specialy reinforced legs. Beside that, the battle of the Black Watch is "overdramatizised" I think but the Highlander is, in a cityfight, indeed quite an interesting mech. Mix of longrange and shortrange weapons with lots of armor and jumpjets means it can wither your down at range, go into hiding and then crush you with its shortrange weapons and get away by jumping behind the next building. PS: If you get your hands on some Highlanders, espacialy the new ones I will envy you. Tried to get some myself but didn't had any luck. Still I love my Highlander IIC...yes the clans took a good mech and stuffed it with clantech to make it even better. PPS: Your reactoin to this part was gold. Getting home form the last day of work before chrismas, beeing totaly tired, was such a joy. Now can't wait for the next round.

Lance is 4 mechs, a company is compromised of 3 lances or 12 mechs in number. A battalion is 3 companies or 32 mechs, a regiment is the largest unit that any house can field. It compromises 3-5 battalions in strength. Technically it'd be 2-3 mech battalions, 1 infantry battalion and 1-2 mechanized battalion with all their support units. In essence the mechs in a regiment can range from 72-108 mechs, depending on the Regimental structure. The Inner Sphere before the Star League also known as the Age of War had a total of 5 states. The Terran Hegemony, Lyran Common Wealth, Draconis Combine, Free Worlds League, Capellian Confederation and Federated Suns. The Hegemony was squished between all 5 empires and boasted the strongest defensive and offensive capabilities. Partly due to its doctrinal leadership of always advancing tech, maintaining military readiness and being a neutral party. This worked to their advantage as neither house would want to mess with them. As the decades went by many of the House lords tried to create a unified or at least a 'UN type' governance as a means to regulate or at least bludgeon any aggression to their state. This lead to significant treaties mainly after the Tentenvel incident. The Aries Convention pretty much stopped the usage of WMDs (yes throwing Asteroids was considered a forbidden action). The ones who pursued the Star League Accords were the Free Worlds League and Capellian Confederation. The Confederation had its own motivations...pretty much they didnt want to get slammed by AFFS and...after their venture into Space W. Virginia (Taurian Concordant) the cost of munitions and manpower for 3 systems was rather high. So its not like The collapse of the League made it so the House powers scrambled for the scraps. Its more of the House powers were released from being civil with each other. Bonus notes....the reason the Draconis Combine declared themselves first lord....was because the Cameron's as part of their Accord plan labeled the Combine as 'successors' to the First Lord (and when that got out....it spread to the rest).

The Blackwatch were veterans who went into the Gunslinger program, and when they came out, it was because it got too EASY for them. 8 mechs against the entire 4th Amaris Dragoons doesn't sound like much... but those 8 mechs were pulling nat 12 headshots with EVERY trigger pull. The Amaris troops were well trained, but the Blackwatch was so far beyond that it's scary. The fact they lasted so long as they did is terrifying. The damage they did was staggering. No wonder Amaris lived in terror after that, because he couldn't be sure he'd actually nailed them all. And just one Blackwatch was worth probably 1000 or more of his own troops.

They were holding a peninsula, which is why the Dragoons couldn't bypass the BlackWatch

The Mech you are asking about is the Star league Highlander. My favorite of the Star league era mechs. Assault class, gause Rifle armed Jump jet equipped mech of lore. The mechs death from above attach was named in lore as the Highlander Burial. The clans loved the mech so uch they perfected it as the Highlander IIc. Comstar ues the Highlander in their defense ageist the clans. The mech is truly iconic. The Black Watch were equiped with them and the Marauder

Lance = 4 mechs, Company = 3 to 5 Lances, battalion = 3 to 5 companies, regiment = 3 to 5 battalions. To answer your "what mech is that" question, it's a Highlander, the standard issue Assault Mech of the Royal Black Watch, 90 tons of walking insane mad-bastardry.

just for reference a Highlander is 90 tons can move at 54.0 km/h jump 90m and is armed with 2x Medium Lasers 1x SRM-6 1x LRM-20 1x Gauss Rifle which is a good long-range payload with nice close range back up although a guass is fine in close.

HAPPY ANGRY BAGPIPING MAXIMUM INTENSITY, also the motto is latin for 'no one attacks me with impunity'

a lance is 4 mechs, a star (clan lance) is 5 mechs. a company is three lances. so the black watch were out numbered 9 to 24 and all but anhilated then. the black watch were depicted using the highlander (the royal SLDF varient) equiped with a gauss rifle, lrm 20, srm 6 and 2 or 3 medium lasers. you get one in HBS battletech 2016 as a mission reward its amazing.

The image of Hazen is from much later on. AT this time she was in her Prime about late 20's early 30's. The giveaway of that picture is the Bird. That's all i'll say on that. To paraphrase "Schimdt happens" is very apt here. As good and well trained Amaris' forces were. The Black watch had the Home Field advantage. They knew what they were up against and had the lay of the land to pick their fights. Yes this whole part is basically the preshow, what comes next is a work of military execution bar none. The General that said NO is more intelligent than anyone he's facing and he'll prove it in the next part. Oh and Hazen has some unfinished Business with Stefan but that's for later. Also you haven't heard the last of the bagpipes. Think of it like Capt Hook and that darn Crocodile. Yeah he's going to be a bit jumpy.

Let's be honest: the Blackwatch got a hella-sweet buff to their plot armor from writer fiat. I know everybody loves the "whiskey, kilts and murder" meme, but with how many odds were against them They should have, in all probability, got wipes off the face of Terra by Amaris.

"Nemo me impune lacessit" is the regimental motto of the Blackwatch, as with most mottos the phrase is in Latin. It means, "No one provokes me with impunity." You have to admit, it's quite apropos.

A lance is four mechs. A company is twelve. Those mechs are the Highlander, it's not fast but jump jets and urban combat compensates. Most of the blackwatches mechs were wiped out, the two lances were all that had mobilised and moved out of the immediate blast radius before the nukes hit.

24:12 Those were Highlanders, identified by their unique heads, and the fact were talking about The Blackwatch. If sources are correct, its the HGN-732 model made for the Royal Regiments. The Highlander is historic in the setting because of the crazy things pilots would do with it, and The Blackwatch's last stand. Its so greatly revered for this that its seen battle across time and space in the setting. Also, because Clan Jade Falcon have their roots in The Blackwatch, they made a clan varient of it naturally called The Highlander IIC. I got DFA'd by one last night on Mechwarrior online, which was kinda what The Highlander was modified to to in the first place.

15:50 Battletech, where it's warcrimes O'clock twice per day.

2 lances.... So you know how Urbanmechs are good in city combat because their jumpjets allow them to go around obstacles instead of through them and they have a big autocannon for burst damage potential? Well the SLDF royal version of the Highlander is a 90 ton assault with jump jets, 3 medium lasers and an upgraded-guidance SRM-6 to hurt anyone close, and a Gauss Rifle and upgraded LRM-20 to provide fire support at a distance. I think a more experienced commander would have resorted to nukes sooner.

4 mechs in a lance, 3 lances in a company, 3 companies in a battalion, 3-4 battalions in a regiment.

There is a group of us that play Sunday afternoons just northwest of Pittsburgh.

Part of the reason the Great Houses did nothing is a simple fact they knew they would lose. The fact is that their military was so small and technologically inferior that even united, and had twenty years to build up their forces, they still lost for their enemies could steamroll through them for they had the numbers and the technological advantages. Even the SLDF without logistic support can and will be able to do it against any major power. So they did nothing, and waited for both sides to deplete their forces before trying to take over.

Remember one guy triggered the alarm. One guy mistake messed up the plan.

A lance is 4 mechs. A company is 3 lances, a battalion is 3 companies. A regiment (the 4rh Amaris dragpons) is 3 battalions. These would be mixed battalions of mechs, aerospace, armor and infantry. Hanni Schmitt's command was a short company - 2 lances + 1 command mech - 9 in total - all of which were royal grade battlemechs (Schmitts personal Mech was an exceptionally rare and st*pidly powerful Atlas-II) each of which vastly outclassed anything in the 4th Dragoons' arsenal. The watch were all gunslingers - so forget about the typical approach of coring through the opponents heavily armored cenrer torso. They were good enough to target exposed joints and cockpits. Nearly every shot the Black Watch fired would sever an arm, or a leg, or delete the cockpit and pulp the pilot within. A single salvo from those 9 mechs would drop nearly their own number in an instant, and the dragoons had no hope of answering that kind of lethal precision in kind. The terrain of the flats meant they couldnt go around them or even hope to flank them. Thr dragoons could only march straight in, and be greeted with a quick and merciless death.

3 Lances to a Company, 4 Mechs to a Lance

21:00 - no, the inner sphere mechwarriors were perfectly happy to throw hands at the first opportunity. Look at Tex's video on the Hunchback, or remember that the Marauder's arm weapon pods were speicifally overbuilt to accomodate bludgoning.

After orchestrating Richard Cameron alienating his most powerful vassals and top general, then getting him to tax the shit out of his most disloyal vassals, then convincing Cameron to give HIM the money and using that money to arm the most disloyal vassals and encouraging them to rebel, then moving his entire army into the Hegemony, before executing Cameron with his own birthday present- I'm just saying, if Amaris wants to wear a bib, he's allowed to wear a bib; he's earned it.

Given just how well-armed the throne room would have been... it would likely be a turret with a _small vehicular laser_ (or, in output terms, something around 100MJ per sustained beam) that the goon accidentally tripped.

19:05 Not ten. Eight mechs. Only ones using five mechs per unit are Clanner scum. Eight mechs held the line against an entire regiment of Amaris' finest. 22:00 A company consists of three lances, so 12 mechs.

Stringstorm well known for Warhammer 40k songs will be releasing a song for The Black Watch in the near future

When I want background noise and want to listen to Tex and Airer, the part about the God-damned Black Watch is my go-to. The slowly building realization of what the Black Watch is and what their fate is is great.

Tip: rewatch everythingvup to this point, except the blackjack. This will help you understand the coming shitstorm

There were 9 mechwarriors of Black Watch - commander and her 8 fellow warriors. Lance is 4 mechs. And one of the reasons, why other lords chose Kerensky as regent of idiot Cameron - was not only his neutrality, but also honour and loyalty to SLDF. Later you'll see how honourable Alexander Kerensky was. What of remaining Camerons - after that massacre in throne room, history lost track of surviving Camerons.

18:40 - when most of your shots are either headshots or kneecappers, 9 of the best mechs ever made, piloted by the deadliest mechwarriors in existence are enough. And yes, most of their shots were headshots. "Target engaged. Headshot. Target down."

4:15 - yes. That is exactly what he did. And 10 days later, fat Ghengis Khan removed his head with a fancy laser pistol.

Use the terrain to your advantage.

So 4 mechs in a Lance, the 4th dragoons were a regiment so roughly 150 battlemechs plus support.

It's time for the G_dd__ned Blackwatch

Amari's ONE great error was the assassination and extermination of house Cameron... that was a BIG nono. It would be expected that he would put them under house arrest or imprisoned... but to murder and exterminate them if not 100%, then nearly so, yeah imagine a noble lord in the middle ages doing so and how fucked he'd be for not respecting status and protocol.

Maxim 20. If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win.

Yep, a mere two lances held up the Amaris Dragoons. Fighting in Urban environments does /wonders/ when you're the defender and know the terrain. Plenty of opportunities to isolate enemy units and cut them apart before they can respond.

the mechs the blackwatch are piloting in the picture you can't recognize are Highlanders. Because of course they are. Granted Highlanders are one of the most deadly and popular mech designs out there.

That would be a Highlander, they also liked the Black Knights.

Your understanding of the Greco-Persian Wars and the relevant geography causes me physical pain.

24:23 Since it's the Blackatch, I'd guess that the Mechs are Highlanders.

A lance is 4 mechs. The 5 mech squads are found in the clans, not the sphere (and are called Stars). So the Blackwatch held an army.. with 8 mechs.

24:06 I'm sure others have already said it, but those mechs are Highlanders: (arguably) one of the best IS mechs in the game.

To the Blackwatch, nukes are merely an inconvenience.

This was Thermopylae. It was a narrow spot and the defenders were the elite of the elite. The Spartans held for 3 days until a traitor led the Persians around behind them. The RWR solution was more nukes.

I know someone else is probably going to mention it in my messages going to be redundant but 4 mechs is one Lance so essentially it was only eight mechs left fighting.

SOUND THE BAGPIPES

Don't know if you all know this...but Cameron is a Scottish name.

Black Watch. Nuff said.

24:40 mech is a Highlander.

A Lance is four Mechs. So the Black Watch had nine Mechs in the tight confines of the restricted terrain. Unlike Thermopylae, the Armaris force(s) could not out flank the Black Watch's position. Add to this that the Black Watch favored the Highlander battlemech, a 90 ton machine with Jump Jets and a Gauss Rifle, and you have a real problem. Then add that the Black Watch was the 'best of the best'... a force that literally trained ALL the time. In Battletech, you have a 'Legendary' pilot if your pilot has a Gunnery Skill of 2. The Black Watch's Gunnery Skill was ZERO. They could literally make Mechs do things that were totally impossible for any other pilot, no matter how skilled. They could specifically target cockpits at long ranges, and hit accurately most of the time. And being inside 90 ton, jumping death machines, they could perform the Highland Burial (Death From Above maneuver) while shooting at range accurately. This literally was a battle where the Black Watch held the best Tactical position, had the best trained units and pilots, and the best Mechs for the job. The only thing that was against the Black Watch was numbers. Had only another pair of lances survived, they would have held easily and defeated both Regiments of Amaris' forces with minimal loses. By my estimate (and I've been playing since 1984, AND I am a former USMC Weapons Instructor) the training of the Black Watch of that Era was even superior to anything the Clans have ever fielded, or could field. Clan warriors are bred from the best gene stocks, and trained from birth to be warriors. But, on the other hand, are 'retired' by the time they are in their 30's. So, at most a 15 year period of being militarily the 'best', before forceful retirement to 2nd line, or support positions. The Black Watch however trains their entire lives when not in combat. Given the outcome of the battle, and starting positions, I would assume that every member of those two lances, as well as their Commander, were at least in their 40's. A level of skill NO Clanner would, or could ever achieve. But, that's just MY opinion.