id imagine one of the reasons that terms like "dragoons" and "hussars" are usually the elite troops and the wrong weight of mech in the modern inner sphere is a lot of them seem to have that name due to being incredibly old Star League units in many cases, who would understandably end up the best troops a given succesor state had especially as the star league used a lot of vaguely victorian british unit nomenclature for their regiments, in at least one case because the unit was actually a genuine highland regiment that still existed after thousands of years and presumably dozens of changes in government honestly the anachronistic mech unit names were one of the big things that got me interested in BattleTech (weird reason, i know) because i saw a mercenary company of futuristic giant robots being named the "eridani light horse" and was just like "yeah if we invented giant robots they would definitely still be named stuff like that"
I dont find it weird at all, especially being an 80s kid; we had our choice of big stompy robots. BT gave us human frailties and traditions alongside the unibtainium
Shoot... we use the term "cavalry" or "armor" for main battle tanks. And the term "tank" itself is a weird carryover from using a water-tank as a cover for those early mechanized monsters of WW1. I love nomenclature. :)
A small side project I worked on to distract myself from the struggles I'm having covering the Battle for Terra. The end result is a bit unfocused, ended up talking more about Napoleon than I did BattleTech. Don't want to spend any more time doing revisions however. Hopefully some of you find this vaguely interesting. Let me know if you would like to see more BT videos like this outside the main chronology I'm doing. There are some godawful French pronunciations in this video. I don't know what possessed me to try since I've never had a single French lesson in my life. Feel free to laugh at me there. If they're REALLY heinous I'll reupload with those cut out.
Great structure and very informative. I already knew some of the origins, but didn't pay too much thought to their translation into Mech combat. I'll definitely use that, when making up new units. Take that from a german whose school french lies a few years in the past, but I'd say your french pronounciation was pretty good actually.
im going with Tirailleurs for the name of my Mercenary unit (since they're mainly lights and mediums plus infantry and wheeled vehicles) but i didnt even have a clue as to how to pronounce Tirailleur so thank you very much for making this video!
I adore this video. it is both a great way of explaining things to new players and explains things that I never knew. The thing about lancers being anti-mech units for example. I always thought it was just a cool name for elite units.
32 years into being a BattleTech fan, and I can still learn new stuff. Shows how deep and awesome the setting is, and it helps to have a nicely laid-out video like this to put things nicely into perspective. Thank you for your excellent work!
I've been playing Battletech for more than 30 years, and it never occurred to me to look up the history behind the regimental names and types. Thank you for this, it was both interesting and highly useful! I had no idea that the designation types all went back to the Napoleonic era, though in hindsight it makes a lot of sense, as there are a lot of parallels between that era and the era of the succession wars.
There are a few in the SLDF sourcebook but I've no idea what happens to them after they leave the Inner Sphere. There's maybe a loose link to some clan units but I'm not even sure they survived the Fall of the Star League, let alone the Pentagon Wars. There are the 82nd and 101st Jump Infantry (formerly US Airborne), a whole bunch of regiments descended from the French Foreign Legion, and the oldest are the four British regiments within the 59th Jump Infantry. The oldest in the House Militaries go back to 24th century, with a very few rare units from the 23rd.
Not to forget the Black Watch, which was formed as a British regiment in 1739 (thought descending from independent companies formed in 1725). Thought this regiment was later amalgated with other units (the resulting units keeping the "Black Watch" moniker), losing the status of an independent in 2006 when it became the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Thought there is also a currently existing Canadian regiment of the same name as well, formed in 1862. (There is also an Australian Battalion/Company of that name as well apparently)
@@gokbay3057 Presumably the Jade Falcons (through the Hazen Bloodname) and possibly the Northwind Highlanders both maintain some link to the Black Watch lineage.
@@SvenVanDerPlank Some of teh SLDF units have assigned names in the SL Sourcebook that hint at what the lineage might be. The 29th CAAN Marine regiment is "Saipan" and the 32nd is "Iwo Jima", clearly a link to United States Marine Corps units. I think what throws off some of the SLDF lineage possibilities is that their NUMBERS are so absurdly high/don't match with a historic formation. For example, the 245th Battlemech Division is the "Marne". That might match up with the US Army 3rd Infantry Division, "Rock of the Marne"....except 3 goes into 245 waaaay too many times!
Dragoons can also refer "mounted infantry"- troops who rode to but not into the battle, dismounted (with one in ten or so holding horses, or leaving them with the artillery's pickets) then marching into battle to fight dismounted, usually as light infantry. Quick response forces usually, or execute an ambush or spoiling attack, then get ride like hell back to their main force. In the modern, infantry with IFVs and APCs. Although all of this comes down your military and it's doctrine and applying any of this in a blanket statement is as idiotic as Napoleonic squares against modern artillery and airpower.
I listened to this, then thought back to the ACW, then hit Sarna looking for Zouaves. I'm not sure all these names are really descriptive vs. rule of cool, especially when you're trying to sell your merc company to prospective clients. Here's some names I don't think you covered. Zouave. Janissary. Mamluk. Provisional. Light Horse. Cossack. Yeomanry. Sharpshooters. Independent. Sapper. Companion. Fyrd. Bannerman. Have you considered doing a brief unit size video? How big is a regiment/battalion/company/division/RCT/Level III etc?
I have thought about reviewing unit structures but I more or less covered it already in Chapter 2 of the Star League Civil War. Might be good to have it separated but I don't want to go over it again so soon. I recognise many of those terms but I've never seen them used in BattleTech beyond nicknames. Didn't want to go on too many tangents where I couldn't relate them to an actual example in the lore. I think some units post-3025 maybe adopt a couple of those names but we'll get to them later.
THIS, is the type of content CGL should advertise and perhaps even commission you to make for them to be displayed on their RUclips channel instead of a badly narrated (the dude souded bored the whole time) fluff videos on a certain units history.
Thanks for making this! I have always been a fan of the Battle Force boxed sets, as well as “inner sphere at war” rule set found in the ‘Interstellar operations’ book. Your videos motivated me to to start getting a battalion or regiment sized tabletop game underway! Im nearly done and will be looking for players soon.
Beautiful. Really succinct explanation of something I spent ages trying to search for online, and only half understood. Really, really helpful for world generation for the fiction nerd in me as well as naming my mercenary units. I'd love to see the other side of this, the smaller scale formation names - assault, battle, fire, striker, cavalry etc.
Hi Sven, I find your videos very informative and detailed. Long time Battletech fan and player. Last time I was this early I was playing the game tabletop and with paper tokens. Keep up the great work.
Thank you so much for posting this! I've always been curious as to what the various terms meant. It's also nice to know that the mercenary unit I created over twenty years ago (Before the dark times, before the Microsoft buyout.) was actually accurately named. (Lambert's Lancers)
Just yesterday curiosity finally got me and I looked up what a dragoon is, great timing! As someone who is just watching lore videos about Battletech, I really like how your videos help me learn more
2nd, 4th and 7th Crucis Lancers ( somewhow still survived pocket resistance against DCAF ) will be remembered after mad Caleb Davion disastrous campaign in Palmyra.
Hello Sven. A well presented, and informative video. One that should help many players decide just who and what their Mech units are and how they are used. Personally, I would point out this video to new players to inform them of the historical and practical uses of various names in Battletech. For myself, this video, in no way invalidates my choices for my Mercenary group (s). Originally, my unit was named the Star Lions Mercenary Unit. After it had grown to more than three regiments in size, and more, it was renamed the Star Lions Corps (Being a Marine, I felt this was appropriate). After retiring, the unit to the closer edge of the Deep Periphery, and establishing their own Colony, the old Star Lions changed. Most of the Mechs were now 'outmoded', 'inferior' in firepower, or just plain lying in scrap heaps due to most of their equipment being salvaged for other uses during the colony building phases. When a new Unit was constructed, it was designated the Ghost Lions Legion. The name Ghost Lions paying homage to the original Star Lions, and a Legion, since all the various colonies on various moons would contribute to the building of the force that would return to the Inner Sphere as Mercenaries, as well as be the primary defensive forces for the Stygia System. Over time, the Legions would number in excess of four Regimental Combat Teams in size, along with a further 'Legion' comprised of newly trained warriors and their machines. In addition, each moon-colony of the Stygia system has its own defenders. But rather than designate them as totally different units, the Stygian System Government created the Xth, or 10th, Legion. A 'Legion' that is vastly larger than a RCT in total size, but broken up into Lunar Guardian units for each of the colonized moons of the solar system. The 10th Legion also enfolds the protective forces of other installations in the Stygian System, such as those that protect the various resource extraction sites on the larger planetoids and asteroids, and things like the hollowed out asteroid used as a repair and graving yard for Jump Ships, known as 'Casper Station' (Casper, being a friendly ghost, from an ancient children's cartoon). It should be noted that the Casper Station is different from the Caspar Base, which is the primary testing grounds for new Mech designs for the various Legions. Caspar Base is actually named in honor of the Founder's bodyguard, Caspar Detwiller. Two of the training sites are named for historical figures. Von Stuben's Anvil (American Revolutionary War army trainer) General von Steuben. The other site is named for General Casmir Pulaski (American Revolutionary War) Calvary General. The Ghost Lions Legions use a 6-Mech 'Lance' size for most 'formations'. A Company numbers 18 Mechs, a Battalion being comprised of 4 Companies, and a Regiment consisting of 4 Battalions. A 'Legion', for the most part, is (with exceptions noted above) usually allocated up to 6 Regiments, although rarely seen or deployed as more than 2 or 3 Regiments. And before anyone screams: 'That's just plain nuts!'... Please remember that the original colony site was founded by the Star Lions Corps (Mechwarriors, Infantry, Vehicles, and Aerospace assets, along with their dependents, as well as over 400,000 civilians recruited from various worlds before settling the Stygia System). Add just under 150 years of expansion of the colonies, and no population limits, and you get a total System Population of around 150 Million people (Including various recruited personnel and their families, as well as the families of various 'free trader' jump ships that have joined the Stygian System). More than enough to build and support such 'large' units that spend most of their time deployed on various Mercenary Contracts, both in and out of the Inner Sphere.
I have another one: Shadow= shade, something hidden, mysterious and sinister. Division= Troop size above the Brigade but below the Corps, is also a mathematical Term used to denote a dissection in science. Shadow Divisions = Dark Nerds 😉 Nice video that explained a lot about the Napoleonic Age in addition to Battletech.
An unit I am building (as a list, not really enough freetime or expendable money for minis) is the Lyran Freikorps (a mercenary units of mostly, but not exclusively Lyrans). Regiment sized, with a command lance and three battalions. Each battalion being a command lance and three companies. The unit is combined arms in naturei thought mostly battlemechs. The battalions are divided by weight, heavy, medium and light. Heavy Battalion consists of (other than the command lance) two mech companies, Cuirassiers and Dragoons, which are heavy and assault units. The third company is armoured cavalry, consisting of heavy tanks. Medium Battalion consist of two mech companies, Hussars and Uhlans (mostly medium with some light mechs). As well as an Infantry Company (with tracked APCs and 2 SRM and 2 LRM carriers for fire support). Light Battalion is the Chasseur company of ligh mechs, Armoured Recon Company of hovercraft (Saracens and Scimatars) and an Infantry Company of Hover APCs with Harassers providing infantry hovercraft carried missile fire support. Haven't decided on the mechs for the Heavy Battalion yet, but otherwise built each lance in the other units. Probably not very optimized tbh, but I am doing it for fun rather than having a competitive force. Have played a few games with MegaMek against AI thought.
Damn. Adam Steiner WAS right in saying “Information is Ammunition.” Now I know. And knowing is half the battle. 😝😉😎 Joking aside another AWESOME video Sven. I have always wondered about these particular naming conventions. Thanks for the breakdown I could understand first thing in the morning without my caffeine. Keep all these vids coming. You’re doing an amazing job!
Great Video, Sven. I'd say one that was a long time coming as I've never encountered another that educates what unit classifications mean in relation to Battletech.
Hey great video man. I learned some stuff myself. Its great how this stuff keeps coming up. From Rome to Napoleon to World War II to modern to the far future. I'm looking forward to your coverage of Terra. I'm always open to colab if you are ever interested.
Thank you, hopefully it won't be too much longer. I'm open to collaborating with other folks in the future but at the moment I just want to get this project done and then go back to doing my own thing for a while. Maybe a future series later in the timeline.
Wonder video, by the best breakdown on BattlTech I have found as you do a deep dive in it's history. Regiment type breakdown is more than just informative, solid staple which I think current publishers of the game may be hesitant to detail as they are trying simplify the some aspects setting.
Awesome video! What are your thoughts on light dragoons in the 31st century? I imagine they would cover similar roles to standard dragoons but with increased mobility, operating medium weight battlemechs. I am building a combined arms regiment serving under the Fronc Reaches called the 5th Appalachia Light Dragoons.
Dragoons are almost always the veterans of a given military so I imagine anything called Light Dragoons retain that aspect but move to lighter 'Mechs. As I said in the video, modern Dragoons trend heavier so calling a unit Light Dragoons doesn't necessarily mean Light 'Mechs. Could easily be Medium weight which would be perfect for you.
Maybe at one point in their history but that's not how they typically operated at their peak circa French Revolution. Not to the best of my knowledge anyway. Blunderbusses (Dragoons) had been largely phased out in military service by that point as far as I know but the name stuck around.
That's their origing, mounted infantry. But by Napoleonic era they had pretty much become premier heavy cavalry (as lancers of the era were light cavalry). Indeed, before they adopted continental terms like Lancer and Hussar essentially the entire British cavarly arm consisted of dragoons (Dragoon Guards for the heavy cavalry and Light Dragoons for the units that later became lancers or hussars). While French Dragoons were the core of their heavy cavalry alongside Carabiniers and Cuirassiers (with the original lighter mounted infantry role being found more closely in the Chasseurs a Cheval, thought rather than mounted rifles/hunters as the name implied Chasseurs a Cheval were essentially Hussars but less fancy and prestigious).
In a current-day context I'd probably call Elementals something like "Mechanized Heavy Infantry" or something like that. But your comparison is actually pretty excellent. I like it.
Thank you. There's definitely a few others I didn't mention here that appear later in the lore but I tend to keep my videos within 3025, at least until I finish covering the early timeline in my history series.
I like these ideas a lot and love the root of the names, however I'm curious if the distinctions are also in line with inclusion of armor and VTOLs. I could easily see plenty VTOLs as Light Cavalry or Light Horse. What would Recon essentially be? Is there an option for EWAR mechs and units?
I've usually seen VTOLs and hovercraft referred to as cavalry. Famously the Eridani Light Horse was a mixed unit that was 2:1 BattleMechs and Armour, but that Armour varied in weight significantly.
Not that this has anything to do with your excellent and fluffy video but: Cadre is such a funny word from a linguistic standpoint. You gave two different pronunciations, but off the top of my head I've heard more variations. Wiktionary supports this claim, however factual a source it could be. In IPA, US pronunciations: /ˈkɑ.dɹeɪ/, /ˈkæd.ɹeɪ/, /ˈkɑ.dɹə/, /ˈkæd.ɹi/, /ˈkɑ.dɹi/, /ˈkɑ.dəɹ/ and for the UK: /ˈkɑː.də/, /ˈkɑː.dɹə/. Fascinating that such a simple enough looking word has such a fluid and variable expression. As if it's still being decided where it should settle! :D
Yeah, it doesn't look like an English word to me. Think my first inclination was to pronounce it like "padre." In British English we spell words like metre and centre so the "re" isn't too unfamiliar, but for Americans they don't necessarily have that same connection.
My friends and I enjoyed watching this video and getting to u derstand naming conventions. However, 1 friend and I play mood music when we GM and were wondering what is the title and artist of the background instrumental?
In this video they all come from either the HBS BattleTech or MechWarrior 5 soundtracks. According to my notes, the tracks I used are For the Reach, Counterforce, The Loneliness of Revenge and Zero Signal, but that might not be accurate.
nice vid but this really has very little to do with BattleTech as the ELH are not a scout force and have not been basically ever and most BattleTech Dragoons are closer to the later mounted infantry troops of the same name so heavy horse but not always mounted combatants
Adding this to my Favorites for sure because god damn does BT like throwing words like "Hussars" at you when it comes to divisions. Now someone explain to my what in the fuck a Light Horse is and why Canopus, Eridanus and the DC have them.
"The Hussar regiments keep asking us to prioritize LAM development and production. You'll learn to tune them out."
id imagine one of the reasons that terms like "dragoons" and "hussars" are usually the elite troops and the wrong weight of mech in the modern inner sphere is a lot of them seem to have that name due to being incredibly old Star League units in many cases, who would understandably end up the best troops a given succesor state had
especially as the star league used a lot of vaguely victorian british unit nomenclature for their regiments, in at least one case because the unit was actually a genuine highland regiment that still existed after thousands of years and presumably dozens of changes in government
honestly the anachronistic mech unit names were one of the big things that got me interested in BattleTech (weird reason, i know) because i saw a mercenary company of futuristic giant robots being named the "eridani light horse" and was just like "yeah if we invented giant robots they would definitely still be named stuff like that"
I dont find it weird at all, especially being an 80s kid; we had our choice of big stompy robots. BT gave us human frailties and traditions alongside the unibtainium
Shoot... we use the term "cavalry" or "armor" for main battle tanks. And the term "tank" itself is a weird carryover from using a water-tank as a cover for those early mechanized monsters of WW1. I love nomenclature. :)
A small side project I worked on to distract myself from the struggles I'm having covering the Battle for Terra. The end result is a bit unfocused, ended up talking more about Napoleon than I did BattleTech. Don't want to spend any more time doing revisions however. Hopefully some of you find this vaguely interesting. Let me know if you would like to see more BT videos like this outside the main chronology I'm doing.
There are some godawful French pronunciations in this video. I don't know what possessed me to try since I've never had a single French lesson in my life. Feel free to laugh at me there. If they're REALLY heinous I'll reupload with those cut out.
Great structure and very informative. I already knew some of the origins, but didn't pay too much thought to their translation into Mech combat. I'll definitely use that, when making up new units.
Take that from a german whose school french lies a few years in the past, but I'd say your french pronounciation was pretty good actually.
im going with Tirailleurs for the name of my Mercenary unit (since they're mainly lights and mediums plus infantry and wheeled vehicles) but i didnt even have a clue as to how to pronounce Tirailleur so thank you very much for making this video!
It's not French, it's 'future' French, so who really knows what the correct pronunciation is?
Sweet simple video Sven! Glad my money is going to these side projects too!
Thank you for your efforts!
Good to know FASA and Catalyst didn't just use random words to describe units. Wish we got more information on non-mech units in the setting.
The Big Red 40-Tec channel has some videos about non-mech units.
I adore this video. it is both a great way of explaining things to new players and explains things that I never knew. The thing about lancers being anti-mech units for example. I always thought it was just a cool name for elite units.
32 years into being a BattleTech fan, and I can still learn new stuff. Shows how deep and awesome the setting is, and it helps to have a nicely laid-out video like this to put things nicely into perspective. Thank you for your excellent work!
No problem. It was a learning experience for myself as well, as while a recognised many of the names, others were a complete mystery to me.
I've been playing Battletech for more than 30 years, and it never occurred to me to look up the history behind the regimental names and types. Thank you for this, it was both interesting and highly useful! I had no idea that the designation types all went back to the Napoleonic era, though in hindsight it makes a lot of sense, as there are a lot of parallels between that era and the era of the succession wars.
Great breakdown! I'd love to see one on BT units that in fiction trace their lineage to real-world military units.
There are a few in the SLDF sourcebook but I've no idea what happens to them after they leave the Inner Sphere. There's maybe a loose link to some clan units but I'm not even sure they survived the Fall of the Star League, let alone the Pentagon Wars.
There are the 82nd and 101st Jump Infantry (formerly US Airborne), a whole bunch of regiments descended from the French Foreign Legion, and the oldest are the four British regiments within the 59th Jump Infantry.
The oldest in the House Militaries go back to 24th century, with a very few rare units from the 23rd.
Not to forget the Black Watch, which was formed as a British regiment in 1739 (thought descending from independent companies formed in 1725). Thought this regiment was later amalgated with other units (the resulting units keeping the "Black Watch" moniker), losing the status of an independent in 2006 when it became the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Thought there is also a currently existing Canadian regiment of the same name as well, formed in 1862. (There is also an Australian Battalion/Company of that name as well apparently)
@@gokbay3057 Presumably the Jade Falcons (through the Hazen Bloodname) and possibly the Northwind Highlanders both maintain some link to the Black Watch lineage.
@@SvenVanDerPlank Some of teh SLDF units have assigned names in the SL Sourcebook that hint at what the lineage might be. The 29th CAAN Marine regiment is "Saipan" and the 32nd is "Iwo Jima", clearly a link to United States Marine Corps units.
I think what throws off some of the SLDF lineage possibilities is that their NUMBERS are so absurdly high/don't match with a historic formation. For example, the 245th Battlemech Division is the "Marne". That might match up with the US Army 3rd Infantry Division, "Rock of the Marne"....except 3 goes into 245 waaaay too many times!
Ah Last, but certainly not least, the Highlanders.
*Bagpipes intensify*
Dragoons can also refer "mounted infantry"- troops who rode to but not into the battle, dismounted (with one in ten or so holding horses, or leaving them with the artillery's pickets) then marching into battle to fight dismounted, usually as light infantry. Quick response forces usually, or execute an ambush or spoiling attack, then get ride like hell back to their main force. In the modern, infantry with IFVs and APCs. Although all of this comes down your military and it's doctrine and applying any of this in a blanket statement is as idiotic as Napoleonic squares against modern artillery and airpower.
I listened to this, then thought back to the ACW, then hit Sarna looking for Zouaves. I'm not sure all these names are really descriptive vs. rule of cool, especially when you're trying to sell your merc company to prospective clients. Here's some names I don't think you covered. Zouave. Janissary. Mamluk. Provisional. Light Horse. Cossack. Yeomanry. Sharpshooters. Independent. Sapper. Companion. Fyrd. Bannerman.
Have you considered doing a brief unit size video? How big is a regiment/battalion/company/division/RCT/Level III etc?
I have thought about reviewing unit structures but I more or less covered it already in Chapter 2 of the Star League Civil War. Might be good to have it separated but I don't want to go over it again so soon.
I recognise many of those terms but I've never seen them used in BattleTech beyond nicknames. Didn't want to go on too many tangents where I couldn't relate them to an actual example in the lore. I think some units post-3025 maybe adopt a couple of those names but we'll get to them later.
THIS, is the type of content CGL should advertise and perhaps even commission you to make for them to be displayed on their RUclips channel instead of a badly narrated (the dude souded bored the whole time) fluff videos on a certain units history.
Thanks for making this! I have always been a fan of the Battle Force boxed sets, as well as “inner sphere at war” rule set found in the ‘Interstellar operations’ book. Your videos motivated me to to start getting a battalion or regiment sized tabletop game underway! Im nearly done and will be looking for players soon.
Do they have a name yet?
Awesome video. Thank you
Beautiful. Really succinct explanation of something I spent ages trying to search for online, and only half understood. Really, really helpful for world generation for the fiction nerd in me as well as naming my mercenary units.
I'd love to see the other side of this, the smaller scale formation names - assault, battle, fire, striker, cavalry etc.
Hi Sven, I find your videos very informative and detailed. Long time Battletech fan and player. Last time I was this early I was playing the game tabletop and with paper tokens. Keep up the great work.
Thank you, I'm glad you've been enjoying them.
I find this video very helpful for my lore based regiments, thank you sven
No problem, glad you found it useful.
Thank you so much for posting this! I've always been curious as to what the various terms meant. It's also nice to know that the mercenary unit I created over twenty years ago (Before the dark times, before the Microsoft buyout.) was actually accurately named. (Lambert's Lancers)
No problem. Glad you enjoyed it.
Just yesterday curiosity finally got me and I looked up what a dragoon is, great timing! As someone who is just watching lore videos about Battletech, I really like how your videos help me learn more
My Mercenaries are ingeniously named Kelly's Bushrangers . 2 light/medium Bns and a heavy/assault Bn
Let me guess: the Heavy Bn is called "Ned".
2nd, 4th and 7th Crucis Lancers ( somewhow still survived pocket resistance against DCAF ) will be remembered after mad Caleb Davion disastrous campaign in Palmyra.
Hello Sven.
A well presented, and informative video. One that should help many players decide just who and what their Mech units are and how they are used. Personally, I would point out this video to new players to inform them of the historical and practical uses of various names in Battletech.
For myself, this video, in no way invalidates my choices for my Mercenary group (s).
Originally, my unit was named the Star Lions Mercenary Unit. After it had grown to more than three regiments in size, and more, it was renamed the Star Lions Corps (Being a Marine, I felt this was appropriate).
After retiring, the unit to the closer edge of the Deep Periphery, and establishing their own Colony, the old Star Lions changed. Most of the Mechs were now 'outmoded', 'inferior' in firepower, or just plain lying in scrap heaps due to most of their equipment being salvaged for other uses during the colony building phases.
When a new Unit was constructed, it was designated the Ghost Lions Legion.
The name Ghost Lions paying homage to the original Star Lions, and a Legion, since all the various colonies on various moons would contribute to the building of the force that would return to the Inner Sphere as Mercenaries, as well as be the primary defensive forces for the Stygia System.
Over time, the Legions would number in excess of four Regimental Combat Teams in size, along with a further 'Legion' comprised of newly trained warriors and their machines. In addition, each moon-colony of the Stygia system has its own defenders. But rather than designate them as totally different units, the Stygian System Government created the Xth, or 10th, Legion. A 'Legion' that is vastly larger than a RCT in total size, but broken up into Lunar Guardian units for each of the colonized moons of the solar system.
The 10th Legion also enfolds the protective forces of other installations in the Stygian System, such as those that protect the various resource extraction sites on the larger planetoids and asteroids, and things like the hollowed out asteroid used as a repair and graving yard for Jump Ships, known as 'Casper Station' (Casper, being a friendly ghost, from an ancient children's cartoon).
It should be noted that the Casper Station is different from the Caspar Base, which is the primary testing grounds for new Mech designs for the various Legions. Caspar Base is actually named in honor of the Founder's bodyguard, Caspar Detwiller. Two of the training sites are named for historical figures. Von Stuben's Anvil (American Revolutionary War army trainer) General von Steuben. The other site is named for General Casmir Pulaski (American Revolutionary War) Calvary General.
The Ghost Lions Legions use a 6-Mech 'Lance' size for most 'formations'. A Company numbers 18 Mechs, a Battalion being comprised of 4 Companies, and a Regiment consisting of 4 Battalions. A 'Legion', for the most part, is (with exceptions noted above) usually allocated up to 6 Regiments, although rarely seen or deployed as more than 2 or 3 Regiments.
And before anyone screams: 'That's just plain nuts!'... Please remember that the original colony site was founded by the Star Lions Corps (Mechwarriors, Infantry, Vehicles, and Aerospace assets, along with their dependents, as well as over 400,000 civilians recruited from various worlds before settling the Stygia System). Add just under 150 years of expansion of the colonies, and no population limits, and you get a total System Population of around 150 Million people (Including various recruited personnel and their families, as well as the families of various 'free trader' jump ships that have joined the Stygian System). More than enough to build and support such 'large' units that spend most of their time deployed on various Mercenary Contracts, both in and out of the Inner Sphere.
Dragoon's; Hussars; and Fusiliers, oh my! (Sorry, couldn't help it)
I have another one:
Shadow= shade, something hidden, mysterious and sinister.
Division= Troop size above the Brigade but below the Corps, is also a mathematical Term used to denote a dissection in science.
Shadow Divisions = Dark Nerds 😉
Nice video that explained a lot about the Napoleonic Age in addition to Battletech.
An unit I am building (as a list, not really enough freetime or expendable money for minis) is the Lyran Freikorps (a mercenary units of mostly, but not exclusively Lyrans). Regiment sized, with a command lance and three battalions. Each battalion being a command lance and three companies. The unit is combined arms in naturei thought mostly battlemechs. The battalions are divided by weight, heavy, medium and light.
Heavy Battalion consists of (other than the command lance) two mech companies, Cuirassiers and Dragoons, which are heavy and assault units. The third company is armoured cavalry, consisting of heavy tanks.
Medium Battalion consist of two mech companies, Hussars and Uhlans (mostly medium with some light mechs). As well as an Infantry Company (with tracked APCs and 2 SRM and 2 LRM carriers for fire support).
Light Battalion is the Chasseur company of ligh mechs, Armoured Recon Company of hovercraft (Saracens and Scimatars) and an Infantry Company of Hover APCs with Harassers providing infantry hovercraft carried missile fire support.
Haven't decided on the mechs for the Heavy Battalion yet, but otherwise built each lance in the other units. Probably not very optimized tbh, but I am doing it for fun rather than having a competitive force. Have played a few games with MegaMek against AI thought.
Love this video. As a fan of both Battletech and Napoleonic history, this hit me right where I live.
This is super useful to know and have clarified
Thank you for this addendum
Damn.
Adam Steiner WAS right in saying “Information is Ammunition.”
Now I know.
And knowing is half the battle.
😝😉😎
Joking aside another AWESOME video Sven.
I have always wondered about these particular naming conventions. Thanks for the breakdown I could understand first thing in the morning without my caffeine.
Keep all these vids coming.
You’re doing an amazing job!
Thanks for this. I've always wondered what all those names meant.
Another incredible documentary as always!!
I've always heard Cadre pronounced Kad-ray or Ca-dray like Dr Dre.
Yes, that's the American way. British pronunciation is Kar-duh.
Great Video, Sven. I'd say one that was a long time coming as I've never encountered another that educates what unit classifications mean in relation to Battletech.
Hey great video man. I learned some stuff myself. Its great how this stuff keeps coming up. From Rome to Napoleon to World War II to modern to the far future. I'm looking forward to your coverage of Terra. I'm always open to colab if you are ever interested.
Thank you, hopefully it won't be too much longer. I'm open to collaborating with other folks in the future but at the moment I just want to get this project done and then go back to doing my own thing for a while. Maybe a future series later in the timeline.
@@SvenVanDerPlank Hey man. Anytime is good for me. Let me know if i can do a read for you if you need a quote or something.
This was incredibly informative! Thank you!
Great listening as always.
Wonder video, by the best breakdown on BattlTech I have found as you do a deep dive in it's history. Regiment type breakdown is more than just informative, solid staple which I think current publishers of the game may be hesitant to detail as they are trying simplify the some aspects setting.
Another great video as always!
I know a few people into playing BattleTech Alpha Strike and this is perfect for their narrative. Thank you!
Such a great video, I never fully came around to look up the names. Now I have them all in a neat tight package. Thank You!
Great video Sven, more like this
This is absolute gold! Never knew I needed it, but yeah, this is perfect. Thank you!
Awesome video! What are your thoughts on light dragoons in the 31st century? I imagine they would cover similar roles to standard dragoons but with increased mobility, operating medium weight battlemechs. I am building a combined arms regiment serving under the Fronc Reaches called the 5th Appalachia Light Dragoons.
Dragoons are almost always the veterans of a given military so I imagine anything called Light Dragoons retain that aspect but move to lighter 'Mechs. As I said in the video, modern Dragoons trend heavier so calling a unit Light Dragoons doesn't necessarily mean Light 'Mechs. Could easily be Medium weight which would be perfect for you.
Great vid! Makes it so much easier to understand what the name implies for making your own Merc co!
Love this video! This is a great chunk for such a broad concept.
I'm not familiar with the Napoleonic era terms, so this was very educational.
Thank you! This was so informative and helpful! Excellent source to look into when deciding what mechs to choose for your units!
This was a neat info vid. Heard of the terms but didn't know of their historic meanings.
Outstanding work. I thought Dragoons were infantryman who rode horses to get into position.
Maybe at one point in their history but that's not how they typically operated at their peak circa French Revolution. Not to the best of my knowledge anyway. Blunderbusses (Dragoons) had been largely phased out in military service by that point as far as I know but the name stuck around.
That's their origing, mounted infantry. But by Napoleonic era they had pretty much become premier heavy cavalry (as lancers of the era were light cavalry). Indeed, before they adopted continental terms like Lancer and Hussar essentially the entire British cavarly arm consisted of dragoons (Dragoon Guards for the heavy cavalry and Light Dragoons for the units that later became lancers or hussars). While French Dragoons were the core of their heavy cavalry alongside Carabiniers and Cuirassiers (with the original lighter mounted infantry role being found more closely in the Chasseurs a Cheval, thought rather than mounted rifles/hunters as the name implied Chasseurs a Cheval were essentially Hussars but less fancy and prestigious).
thank you for more great battletech content
The key is to stay informed on the units in your region
5:23 - Concerning the Voltigeurs, isn't their historical function more-or-less how Clan Elementals ride 'Mechs into battle?
That's a good analogy actually. Haven't really talked about Clans in any of my videos yet but it's an apt comparison for the future.
In a current-day context I'd probably call Elementals something like "Mechanized Heavy Infantry" or something like that. But your comparison is actually pretty excellent. I like it.
The Crucis Lancers are my favorite unit besides The Eridani Light Horse.
This is a top video though I would point out Jade Falcon aka bin chickens use velites
Thank you. There's definitely a few others I didn't mention here that appear later in the lore but I tend to keep my videos within 3025, at least until I finish covering the early timeline in my history series.
I need to look up crusade formations. For my NACC force.
glorious!
Legion of vega represent!
I like these ideas a lot and love the root of the names, however I'm curious if the distinctions are also in line with inclusion of armor and VTOLs. I could easily see plenty VTOLs as Light Cavalry or Light Horse.
What would Recon essentially be? Is there an option for EWAR mechs and units?
I've usually seen VTOLs and hovercraft referred to as cavalry. Famously the Eridani Light Horse was a mixed unit that was 2:1 BattleMechs and Armour, but that Armour varied in weight significantly.
Not that this has anything to do with your excellent and fluffy video but: Cadre is such a funny word from a linguistic standpoint. You gave two different pronunciations, but off the top of my head I've heard more variations. Wiktionary supports this claim, however factual a source it could be. In IPA, US pronunciations: /ˈkɑ.dɹeɪ/, /ˈkæd.ɹeɪ/, /ˈkɑ.dɹə/, /ˈkæd.ɹi/, /ˈkɑ.dɹi/, /ˈkɑ.dəɹ/ and for the UK: /ˈkɑː.də/, /ˈkɑː.dɹə/.
Fascinating that such a simple enough looking word has such a fluid and variable expression. As if it's still being decided where it should settle! :D
Yeah, it doesn't look like an English word to me. Think my first inclination was to pronounce it like "padre." In British English we spell words like metre and centre so the "re" isn't too unfamiliar, but for Americans they don't necessarily have that same connection.
I mean the mech is basically the rebirth of the cavarly in a very real way to the future battlefield so them having cavalry names makes sense
Man your stuff is good. I bet you are at least aware if not a fan of a great show called Sharpe?
Now what gave you that crazy idea? It definitely wasn't because I was binge watching the show for the second time that I decided to make this video.
Awesome!
My friends and I enjoyed watching this video and getting to u derstand naming conventions.
However, 1 friend and I play mood music when we GM and were wondering what is the title and artist of the background instrumental?
In this video they all come from either the HBS BattleTech or MechWarrior 5 soundtracks. According to my notes, the tracks I used are For the Reach, Counterforce, The Loneliness of Revenge and Zero Signal, but that might not be accurate.
Unit ID confirmed: 1st Forlorn Hussars, LCAF.
Status: Allies, under strength.
Possible mechs.....
Aw man. I love this shit. This is like crack to me.
nice vid but this really has very little to do with BattleTech as the ELH are not a scout force and have not been basically ever and most BattleTech Dragoons are closer to the later mounted infantry troops of the same name so heavy horse but not always mounted combatants
Huh. I thought Dragoons where riflemen on horseback. They would ride somewhere on horses and then dismount to fire on the enemy.
They are. There are little mistakes like that, or possibly just because he had to limit things to a couple of sentences for each type.
are there any lore videos on y3000+ ?
Not yet (apart from the intro vid I did back at the beginning). I'm working my way through the timeline. So far I'm up to 2830.
What would your unit be called?
Are the Canopian Cuirassiers required to go into battle with cat ears on their 'mechs? 🤔😜
In American English its pronounced "Cad-ray." You threw me off when you called it "Cad-er."
Adding this to my Favorites for sure because god damn does BT like throwing words like "Hussars" at you when it comes to divisions.
Now someone explain to my what in the fuck a Light Horse is and why Canopus, Eridanus and the DC have them.
??? 11:53
@@SvenVanDerPlank Just what I was hoping for
"If it's not Scottish it's crap."
Great video as always!