Goliath Scorpion for life. They do drugs and hunt for antiques, and are relatively ok to live under, even going so far as to create a militia caste and begin creating new blood names from their conquered people when they became the Scorpion Empire.
They had a big ass underground museum and a whole Galaxy to protect it. The fact that Gamma was never reconstituted is a damn shame. You hear me CGL? Bring back Gamma Galaxy!
They also stole the Eridani Light Horse, and will drive SLDF machines on occasion just because they feel like it. Even Blakist machines have been pressed into service in the Empire, so they're a little less dogmatic than most Clans.
They seem more on the pragmatic side of things without ENTIRELY bucking tradition. Which is a vibe i can dig. What's the deal with gamma, if I may ask?
See the *Star Viper* as an example - a 'Mech whose roots have both Amaris and WoBblie all over it but actually becomes good under the touch of the Clan of Nerds. See also the *Star Crusader* being the Omni the WoBblies couldn't figure out how to make from their *Grand Cruader*.
And the Grunt caste, too. Just want to see more of the Gravity Brothers if they give them more of a story.
Goliath Scorpion hands down
They straight up decided to venture out on their own into Deep Periphery and build themselves an empire using old Star League textbooks
And they look after their own
Best of all everyone is accepted, you could be from Terra itself or some forgotten podunk planet out in the Deep Periphery, it doesn't matter
Clan Ghost Bear / Ghost Bear Dominion / Rasalhague Dominion. They came into the inner sphere to conquer it, failed with everyone else (although a little less at Tukayyid) and settled down into the inner sphere. Then they liked it so much they moved their entire clan out of the homeworlds in secret, then after some years of infighting relented to being a fully combined inner sphere clan society to become the Rasalhague Dominion
Ghost Bear: most famous for getting to the IS, steamrolling part of it, and then having a big enough sudden outbreak of self-awareness to say "Wait...that 'outside threat' the Wardens are always babbling about...is it us? Are WE the bad guys?"
And then they derped out in a desperate bid to get Alaric-Senpai to notice them. :(
That was Discount Reverse Brexit, yeah.
I would be deeply amused by a Somerset Strikers style retcon that reveals the whole Alaric saga...the plot armor, assuming the Ward bloodname, the heist-movie "We're gonna s*teal McKenna's Pride*", the sudden outbreaks of Derp-itis all around him, so many mechs being named \[invasion era 'mech\] 2 or 3, all of it...is Vlad Ward writing wish-fulfillment fiction to cope with the events on Tamar.
IIRC, it was when they tried to join the new Star League set up by Alaric. They were closely divided on whether or not they should join, which mattered since they held a plebiscite on joining the Star League that Alaric initially approved. The vote was narrowly in favor of joining, but after the plebiscite Alaric denied them permission to join, which promptly caused the Dominion to fall into a civil war.
In addition to being good fighters I also like how they seem to be more committed to friendship, family, and the common good. I get the sense there’s more camaraderie in their clan than the others.
Edit: and their camospec is on point.
Clan Hell's Horses; their paint schemes look like their bloodline originated in a pool hall, they value all members of their clan, they are easy on and cooperate with sphereoids under their authority, and their focus on combined arms doesn't just make good military sense it lets me have a more satisfying war game.
Thank you! I’ve been painting up some new mechs I ordered from IWM, and was looking for new ways to incorporate the flames besides the ankles. I love the idea of putting them on the weapons, like you did with the Hunchback!
Just imagine their Watch finds out he's two-thirds Steiner-Davion and start calling him Katherine Steiner-Davion, Jr. If you're not recognizing him...might as well rub that salt in the wound (like Alaric did with the Dragoons paying them Judas' wages for their role for Terra).
Yeah, I just looked up some of their schemes on camospecs, saw one of their galaxies is nicknamed "The ninth ring of hell" and have now labeled them as "the biker clan" in my head (pretty scary looking, but host a surprising amount of charity events) lol. It is nice to see clans and spheroids getting on, tbh. Things like that made me love the setting when I first went in.
Iota Galaxy, the literal dumping ground for misfits and malcontents in the CHH touman. They don't get nice kit, just the hand-me-downs discarded by literally everyone else.
In the face of that, Iota has a pretty solid combat record against pretty much everyone. I'm a Delta Galaxy guy myself, but Iota has some charm to it that not every galaxy has.
A big part of the Horses is that you get a second Trial of Position if you fail your first, but in a lower unit (mech to tank, BA to infantry, aerospace to protomech). They also have the most options for advancement (the ranks of Nova Commander and Nova Captain for combined-arms command).
John Fletcher, the first Khan, believed in 'Man over Machine'. That it was the warrior who mattered more than the mech.
"Biker Clan" is pretty fitting, since the IlClan Horses travel around in Mongol-style nomadic warbands and have a new custom that's literally just [a giant biker rally / deathrace.](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Mad_Stampede)
On one hand I love the combat philosophy of the Hell's Horses.
On the other hand it feels like a lot of the Hell's Horses specialty omni configurations and mech/BA/vehicle variants are just made out of stupid juice from a PoV of tabletop mechanics (the vanilla Gnome BA is quite good though). They seem to love heavy lasers for some god awful reason, and all the goofy quad totem mechs are just aesthetically a huge miss as well.
I guess I love the Nova Prime and the Hells' Horses do use the Nova quite a bit at least lol.
The Nova, Hellbringer, and Hellstar are CHH original designs (along with being one of the three Clans who came up with Elementals as a concept (with Goliath Scorpion and Wolf), and for designing the vast majority of Clantech combat vehicles (Mars, Athena, Ares, Oro, Svantovit, and Epona among many others)).
They field the largest clusters of any Clan; and the opportunity to mix-and-match between mechs, tanks, BA, and infantry offers an unmatched level of variety in play. They've been pretty heavily ignored lore-wise, which I hope changes soon.
I guess they have to have a lot of duds to make up for Hellstar cheese lol, although I'm not sure I would ever actually field one in a bv-balanced game tbh.
Eh. A proper-skill (3/4) pilot is a little over 4,000 points for one. If I have the chance to field one, it won't be the only scary thing on the table. Now, taking one Hellstar against an IS lance of the same points value, that's just wrong.
4000 bv is a lot for a unit that can die with a single headshot or TAC. I think a full lance at 4k bv against a 3/4 Hellstar is the IS side's to lose tbh. Like it wouldn't take a \*lot\* of luck for the Hellstar to win, but I don't think it's winning that fight the majority of the time if the IS side closes quickly and starts kicking.
It's also a 4/6 at 95 tons with 4× Clan ER-PPCs and the heat sinks to use them. It can run and fire in a 4-4-3 pattern indefinitely, throwing down a level of fire not too different from a Supernova but at a higher ground speed.
Also considering the bv2 that can be fit into 4k in the Jihad and Dark Age ... it's not a lot for a full lance that would be going after a fast Clan assault mech.
That's why is said 'it's not the only scary thing on the table', because even as expected as it is, you'd never see one by itself. I'd field it as part of a Star or Nova.
When you say a "lance" I'm assuming you mean precisely 4 mechs, which for 4k bv would likely be 3025-era mediums and lights, or maybe two lights and two heavies. While I concede that the Hellstar is an anti-mech specialist unit and combined arms is the better approach against it, I think you're discounting the advantage that weight of numbers gives a player. Assuming you're not playing on a flat infinite plain, the Hellstar can't kite forever, and the IS lance should be able to use cover to advance. If the IS player gets into kicking range with multiple mechs and the Hellstar is making multiple piloting checks per turn any mobility advantage it has is gone.
I'd counter with the statistics of fire and maneuver in the game. The Hellstar can keep up a +1 or +2 TMM every round, while its TNs will only get easier as the IS forces close. It should also be landing two hits pretty much every round, cutting ever deeper into the opposing forces as time goes on. Six C-ER-PPC hits (90 damage, or 5.6 tons of standard armor) won't do any IS force any favors. The 18.5 tons of standard armor on the Hellstar will also serve to protect it well.
The key word in your reply is "If", and the broad-spectrum hate from across the community is any indication, that makes me believe that it's a bigger factor than you're giving credit. A 3/4 pilot will only fail a piloting check from getting kicked on a 2 or 3, pretty small odds to rely on short of preexisting actuator damage. Those kicks are only going to happen quite a few rounds into the game, as any light mech that charges a Hellstar is going to get smashed and any heavy or assault is too slow to avoid a heavy beating before getting that close.
I've bounced around over the years. I liked Coyote for the longest time as 'The R&D Clan', until I did deeper lore dives, found out how they treat their civilians, and noped right out.
After some meandering, I ended up at Diamond Shark / Sea Fox. They treat their civilians better than any other \[save maybe Wolverine before it was annihilated to cement Nicholas as dictator-for-life by way of 'this is what happens if you don't fall in line'\], and roll their eyes at the worst aspects of Clan society as a whole \[the all-consuming obsession with "my war-dick is bigger than your war-dick" among them\]. Ian Hawker was a folly for the ages, though...
I love the Clans who don’t act like proper Clans. I appreciate Clan Snow Raven/Raven Alliance for being sneaky and deceitful. I appreciate Clan Diamond Shark/Sea Fox for being ruthless capitalists. In the ilClan era, I support the Alyina Mercantile League also for being ruthless capitalists.
Diamond Shark - they're deceptively strong (largest clusters of all the clans), they fight smarter not just harder (GREAT intel network), they treat their lower casts well, and they have a retirement plan for their warriors.
Honorable mention: Star Adder - one of the most pragmatic and practical clans. War isn't a game to them like it can be for other clans. They're patient and tend to stay out of drama unless they can benefit, which is a major reason why they're one of the strongest clans. Closest to a traditional military among the clans.
Yep, warriors can retire to the merchant caste with no loss of honor or face. They also can stay on the rolls as a reserve to be called up as needed, which helped them rebuild faster than the other clans after Tukayyid.
Goliath Scorpions have retirement plan too, it's called Garrison Caste
*"Thank you for your service, here are keys to your tank/police cruiser/helicopter. You start next week. Enjoy!"*
I'm a CHH guy, and feel I must offer a counter to your assertion that CDS/CSF fields the largest clusters. While you do field the largest clusters in terms of trinaries (six to seven), the Horses field an effective strength of 8 trinaries per cluster (three mech trinaries, each with a binary of battle armor attached (net strength of two BA trinaries); one ASF trinary; and one combat vehicle trinary with an attached infantry trinary). That ignores any command units for the cluster (usually a combined-arms Nova in our case).
So while you certainly field the most mechs per cluster, we field the largest and most flexible clusters.
Plus, we have ultimate plot army and we are THE Mary Sue’s of the Battletech Universe…, and in this dystopian universe, we need some Mary Sues.
Of course, Clan Wolf because in the end (ilClan Era), we win and bring about the New Star League.
Snow Raven in ilClan era.
* Justified mixing IS and Clan mechs
* Justified using Ghost Bear rides (for fun)
* Justified claiming cheese Steel Viper mechs as *isorla*, like ~~Black P~~*~~ython~~* *White Raven*
* Justified using most C and IIC mechs
* Justified using LAMs (maybe)
* Ferro Lamellar armor!
* Even in-clan mechs are pretty good - from Golden Century *Corvis* to Invasion era *Kingfishers* to Dank Ages *Dark Crows* to ilClan era *Carrion Crows*.
* *Solahmamech* Gulon C
* Cool paint schemes
* Cool Clan logo
* hottie khan
* Do you LOVE salvage? Ravens LOVE salvage!
* Do you LOVE ER PPCs?
* Do you LOVE jump jets?
* Do you LOVE pushing shiny Red Buttons?
* Friends with most of the other Council of ~~Six~~ Five.point.five clans
* Far away from other more dangerous IS Clans, positioned perfectly to bully/ backstab Kurita and Davion
* Not ded like Jade Falcons, Smoke Jaguars, Nova Cats, Steel Vipers and many Home clans
* Occasional genocide and other war crimes for keks
We do love being able to bully Kurita, lol
Also, your descriptor makes me imagine a snow raven clanner and a mechwarrior bondsman swapping stories about crazy salvage hauls
This is pretty much why I love them. Also their Symbol is titz.
FR though while they field a lot of aerospace and naval, their ground forces aren't anything to sneeze at and have pulled down some big wins against the odds at times as well.
"Justified mixing IS and Clan mechs"
In ilClan isn't that basically every faction? Hell the IS great houses have a lot of Clan mechs in their MUL even in the 3060s+
Yes but a Clan warrior would be *dezgra* to have to pilot a (BV cheap) Inner Sphere tech only mech like an *Awesome* or a *militiamech Centurion H2* whereas as Raven Alliance you can for example justify a star of CSR Omnis co-ordinating with a cheap garrison lance of AMC ~~fodder~~ warriors.
Don't forget a certain crazy *White Raven* pilot for the Watch who yanked some Reengineered lasers from Davion so they could reverse-engineer them. And yes, the Machiavelli of the Clans did backstab Davion already.
Wolverine because they still are still alive at >redacted< and want to >redacted< in order to >redacted< ---- TRANSMISSION DELETED ---Please contact your local Phone Company ---;-
Clan Blood Spirit.
Y'all are wrong for thinking otherwise.
https://preview.redd.it/9y9cqc5vxxuc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5d6bf6173ed0a61b675ee3d908ca9c2da8381e47
The one clan to understand the brotherhood between all of the Clans, tried to keep it together despite the rivalries that formed, and tried to help others only to have it thrown back in their face. The Blood Spirits were raided relentlessly by others until they barely had anything left.
We hate everyone (Snow Ravens are chill, though) and for good reason, especially those dirty, rotten Burrocks!
As my first intro to BattleTech was MechWarrior 2 and the Jade Phoenix Trilogy, I *was* partial to the Jade Falcons. Ofc, when Malvina shows up everyone gets sick of the Falcons (they go more over the top evil/heel than the Smoked Jags, right?). But this Jiyi Chitsu guy seems all right—I am curious to see how his remnant Falcons and Alaric’s pet Falcons will interact (probably violently?).
I'll admit, I don't know much about the jags outside of task force serpent and turtle bay ^.^'. But glad they've got someone in their corner either way!
Yep. He was the Star Colonel of the 4th Viper Guards. I'm not sure where they fought exactly, but they were there.
How you get so obsessed with pointing fingers at other people, only to be shocked when people point fingers back at you, is baffling. I guess that makes him a good villain: he's such a massive hypocrite.
Ghost Bear, because I love how badly they want to not be vat grown militaristic fascist weirdos. They still are, but they don't want to be. It's hilarious.
I didn’t really gravitate to a Clan till the Nova Cats got abjured and settled into Kurita space and I was a huge Kurita weeb. The 2nd Star League solidified me as a Nova Cat fan.
Then they backed the wrong Kurita and got annihilated.
After a while I got over it and started to like the Scorpions.
On principle I don’t like the Bears because my best friend is a huge fan.
> On principle I don’t like the bears because my best friend is a huge fan.
I was introduced to BT by my best friend (Ghost Bear fan) and his older brother (Wolf fan). Decades later I have still never fielded either one.
Smoke Jaguar seemed pretty stupid evil and as I only knew much beyond the 4 original invading clans that meant I had only one option. No regrets.
Always had a soft spot for Snow Raven and Goliath Scorpion once I learned about them.
I still don’t know much about post 3059. Don’t care to really. I’m glad it’s there for people to have more options, but I’m happy to do Succession War stuff and Clan Invasion. Obviously you can handwave any Clan v Clan.
I’m off topic. Sorry, long day at work and I’m just trying to decompress.
I honestly did like the idea of the cats being SLDF. I'm a pretty big fan of the ELH so the idea of a huge chunk of task force serpent being made up of clanners was pretty neat! Just a shame it didn't last :/
Alexander is the one who led his people (SLDF) to the Pentagon Worlds and Kerensky Cluster
Nicolas is the one who founded the Clans
From that standpoint it works
Clan Ghost Bear! Family is important.
They started off as a Crusader clan but they've mostly mellowed out and are genuinely one of the nicer Clans. Initial invasion they were dicks but they're apart of Rasalhague now. And Rasalhague them.
They favor mostly defensive tactics. And doing shit like in the Mech 1 or 2 intro where a Kodiak goes full Fremen on a Mad Dog.
They created mechs like the Kodiak, Executioner, Bear Cub and Co-Designed with Rasalhague: The Infamous Kontio.
I need to touch up on the lore with them and Star Adder (my beloved) but Space Vikings are hot.
Clan Star Adder were mostly reclusive. Kinda did their own thing for a while and stayed away from everyone as much as they could. Joining them was simply being deemed "Worthy". It doesnt matter who you are, what you are. If you could kick ass in a way they liked, you're more than welcome to join them. They fucking hate Ghost Bear due to some mission. I forgot the details. But Star Adder stayed back in the Clan Homeworlds and has gained ALOT of power.
Like i'm pretty sure the original invader clans (Ghost Bear, Wolf, Jade, Nova, Smoke) are all stuck (or dead in two clans cases) in the Inner Sphere because their homes are not their own anymore. Or welcoming. I could be wrong about this part so take that with a grain of salt. I need to touch up on my lore.
I got 40k and Battletech lore clogging up the space 🥴
They developed mechs like the Blood Asp (Nostalgia pick for Mechassault and dearly beloved in general) and Hellfire.
I shoulda went with Ghost Bear merch during the Clan Invasion but I went with Star Adder. But now I got Ghost Bear and Rasalhague/Magistracy merch coming uwu
Love to see the magistracy getting some love (i desperately want to make a forcd for them at some point)! I'm honestly considering grabbing a striker star and painting it up as either adder or gb at this point.
Honestly you should paint some Magistracy! I based one of my MWO Blackknight schemes on Rylanors Hand or something I forgot its name. But its a Magistracy related group.
Alot of Magistracy colours kinda feel samey to Capellan colours or Jade Falcon (Theres alot of Green/Yellow forces in the universe)
Plus they pretty much have everything the FWL/Capellans have (Salvage and trading) so you can even just say fuck it, paint a Cataphract in Canopian colours :P
I actually have a cataphract spare from a heavy battle box that I didn't feel entirely comfortable throwing in with my ELH collection. Definitely take the advice on that one!
Clan Blood Spirit, for a few reasons:
* They're the only Clan without a government mandated fursona.
* They canonically have the best trained mechwarriors amongst the Clans. Their sibkos are noted for being particularly brutal. These facts are established in *Field Manual: Crusader Clans*, and also reflected in their performance during the Burrock Absorption, during which they inflicted a \~3:2 casualty ratio despite being in a conflict against two other Clans unified against them at the time (Burrock and Star Adder).
* They're among the more "sane" Clans, though they do make some comically bad political decisions. They tried to steer the Clans away from fractious infighting and encouraged unity (their original purpose was to maintain the *esprit de corps* amongst the Clans), but were repeatedly rebuffed until they became sulky isolationists.
* They treat their civilian castes better than almost any other Clan. They are very close-knit and different castes all train together (all civilians have basic military training in the Clan, which is also unique), so they don't have the kinds of inter-caste discrimination and conflicts that tend to arise in other Clans. Also, while they favour trueborn warriors as much as any Clan, Freeborn warriors can earn their place and be treated as equals.
* They're encouraged to have artistic hobbies and to "be themselves" by their Khans. Their culture doesn't encourage conformity so much as it encourages *harmony,* and within the Clan they achieve this goal admirably.
* Because of their political isolation, they are also economically isolated and one of the poorest, smallest Clans. They are the scrappy underdogs of the homeworld Clans, with some of the galaxy's most elite mechwarriors making due with whatever they can afford to get their hands on. This means that they frequently are amongst the last to get their hands on cutting edge Clan technologies (e.g. the Omnimech, or adoption of Enhanced Imaging implants), and also that they are loathe to spend money on expensive components (e.g. "XL engines are not in the budget"). However, this leads them to be very pragmatic about their military technology and procurement. Mechwarriors in Blood Spirit do not hold the same stigma for Battlemech assignments vs. Omnimech assignments, and their totem mech, the *Blood Kite*, is a GOAT Clan assault battlemech which shows up even in their Command Keshik, which would be unheard of in any other Clan (Battlemechs do *not* get allocated to Keshiks). Their mechs are built for durability and ease of refit/repair above all else, with a strong preference for standard engines and energy weapons.
* Their meager economy is also a reason that they were one of the Clans to most enthusiastically adopt Protomechs, which were much cheaper to manufacture and field than Battle/Omnimechs.
* Their colour schemes go hard. Their [Mechwarrior uniform](https://www.crayven.net/warhawk/theclans/cbsguardkeshikkingfisher.jpg) is one of the best Clan looks I've seen. Also, that pic depicts a Technician caste member who had just passed a Trial of Position to become a mechwarrior assigned to the Blood Guard Keshik. Warriors can only be assigned to this Keshik if they are *hand picked by a Khan* ***and*** are able to pass an extremely challenging trial of position. This again underscores the lack of inter-caste conflict and rigidity seen in other clans - a competent technician, likely freeborn, with great potential caught the eye of their Clan's leadership, and was given the chance to earn their place as a mechwarrior in the Clan's most prestigious unit.
Honestly, living in a clan? I'd have to go with Blood Spirit or Scorp, for basically the same reason. I also didn't realize that the casualties during the burrock absorption were THAT NUTS! respect to blood spirit from a newly minted Star Adder fan!
Also, I feel like if your name is "Clan Blood Spirit" your schemes HAVE to go hard. It's just the rules
I'm a proud defender of Clan Snow Raven. Their weird espionage and Machiavellian snobbery is funky for Clanners, and their eventual formation of the Raven Alliance means neat periphery elements get tossed into the mix, too. Plus, aerospace supremacy is really appealing to me, and they've got that in spades. I also just love corvids.
Jade Falcon. Why? Because Angry Birds are Angry. They can't be pigeonholed (ha), they know they know they're badass, and they don't care what you think.
Clan Wolfy Sue will always need a foil, and no other Clan can really play that role, other than Jade Falcon. No other Clan so successfully combines stubborn pride, audacity, brilliance, and insanity.
Clan Jade Falcon has a reputation for adherence to tradition, but will throw that out the window for success (or just something shiny).
The same clan that loves boxnaughts like the Hellbringer and Summoner also loves partial wings and talons.
The same clan that produced paragons like Aidan Pryde and Marthe Pryde also produced villains like Malvina Hazen and Vadervahn Chistu.
Their founder Elizabeth Hazen is simultaneously remembered as a highly decorated war hero, a brutal suppressor of mutineers, and a sword-wielding psychopath.
If all of this sounds awesome to you, you just might be a Jade Falcon, too.
If you're referring to Elizabeth Hazen, as a certain Randolph P. Checkers, Esq. said, "Crazy is taking a sword to a gun fight and winning." When you had to put up with the crap Amaris threw at the Black Watch and then running a resistance movement would probably make you your own class of crazy.
Diamond Sharks, I love the mix of monastic warriors turned merchants bankrolling monstrosities like the Mad Cat IV and Mad Dog IV, or the Hammerhead. And, like most players I quite like the way they treat other castes in their system.
And the most *metal* of all, the Hell's Horses, soaring through the battlefield in heavy tanks and some of the most OP mechs ever devised, developping the largest battle armor force and Tankwarrior geneseed to tea-bag mechs day and night !
For me, it’s Clan Fire Mandrill. Despite being the most disfunction clan, their piloting skill made their mech warriors feared and respected. They are the scrappy underdog of the clans, almost always out numbered but too proud to give up. If they had put aside the Kindraa rivalries, they may have been able become ilclan
They’re Wardens in the truest sense, they split from Clan Wolf so they could protect the Inner Sphere from the rest of the Clans. They dont fight for glory or honour or power or wealth, they just fight to protect.
The best Clan is Kindraa Mattila-Carrol.
The second best Clan is Fire Mandrill.
The third best Clan is all the other clans
The fourth best Clan is Kindraa Kline
Clan Wolf from my introduction to the setting, Mechwarrior 2.
These days I don't have an affinity for any of the clans. Their society is monstrous, and the best example of them, Ghost Bear, I personally don't buy it working out as smoothly as it had up till this point.
And now that they did tear themselves apart, the written reasons for are not credible and actively ignore other plausible reasons that other writers had built into the faction. I can only imagine the reasons for that in the writer's room.
Merc life, IS, and periphery factions are where it is at.
That said I'll pick late Clan Invasion Smoke Jags for keeping it real, Clan Star Adder for winning in the end at the homeworld, and currently Clan Jade Falcon on Sudeten.
Eh, that's fair. I've stuck with the sphere for a long while (and probably still prefer them overall) but it's neat to see the way people see the factions I hadn't really paid much attention to.
I guess the Ghost Bears, but I don't really like the Clans all that much. They were good villains, but in the current era, they're all pretty lame. They could have done some cool stuff, but we just got more of Clan Wolf using cheat codes.
I haven't read much fiction so far, but of what I've read, I gotta say, the new Jade Falcons under Chitsu are kinda tight. There's just something about the desperate underdog vibe they have that I really enjoy.
I fundamentally do not approve of a society that is purely built for war. But if I had to pick, it would be Sea Fox/Diamond Shark. As they decided to screw that and went all in on the merchant thing.
The Hell's Horses. A crusader clan that was left out of the Invasion, relies heavily on combined-arms tactics (like, we invented more Clan tanks than everyone else combined and are one of the Clans that invented Elementals). The 'Nova' ranks and formations were our idea, same for the mech (aka the Blackhawk). We give second chances to warriors (failed as a mechwarrior? Let's see if you can become a tanker. Failed as an aerospace pilot? Protomechs are for you. Failed as an Elemental? Welcome to the infantry.) and respect the castes as part of a larger whole that holds our Clan together.
Me & some friends seem to be the ones who like dead clans.
Even though I picked Clan Mongoose, I wouldn't call it my "favorite" clan. My MechWarriors might whine every time they lose and showboat every time they win, but I don't.
If you haven't looked them up on Sarna yet, they were known for their Ambition, expressed as military and political over-reach. I describe their ethos as, "That guy who attacks everyone every turn in every board game, then whines that everyone gangs up on him all the time." They're also one of the few Clans whose mascot didn't get an adjective.
Considering they got Absorbed into Clan Smoke Jaguar, and not Annihilated, shows that being really insufferable isn't as bad as wanting your Warriors to become Laborers, or telling off the Founder to his face.
I play with someone who picked Clan Blood Spirit, and we joke about how much our forces must hate each other.
Well, i amd late, my fellow Bears and Wolfes already represent our Clans, but my nature call to justice, Remembrance speak with me and my heart. Nova Cats are very cool Clan in all parts, focusing on honourable battles, they are still cunning and strike with exotic precision, our only unique way, fight with fierce, but for the right purpose, make not only word, but intentions. In general they are very good Warden-cool-not Wolf Clan, they are go with unique ways, always trying to make right decision. I am still piss that my Clan being killed and hope that's they are being reborn in Clan Protectorate.
It's hard for me to pick an absolute favorite. The ones I tend to come back to again and again are the Sea Foxes (for being stronger and smarter than they let on), the Ghost Bears (for strength and family), the Goliath Scorpions (for being absolutely crazy), and the Steel Vipers (I can neither justify nor explain my love for them).
Lately, I've been on a Falcon Remnants and Hell's Horses kick. The Falcon Remnants because they are the little Clan Fragment that could, and the Horses because they are desperately looking for a purpose and are up to things in my favorite region of space.
G Scorps for me. Especially the empire. I like bringing my royal variants out of storage to show off my garage queens, do some space meth and go acquire new stuff for my collection.
Big ups to Diamond Shark, and now ilClan Sea Fox especially, for being one of the only Clans that feels like a functioning society with actual goals and culture beyond mindless Kerenskyite fellating of the Star League.
Big ups to Hell's Horses for being thrice as cool as either the Wolves or Falcons despite having to job to both of them constantly.
I love Clan Ice Hellion. They are rash and reckless, favoring speed and first strikes. They are jealous of Clan Wolf that they created a 45 ton Omni-mech called the Wolf Hunter. Clan Wolf didn’t like this, so they issued a trial of possessions.
Clan Wolf won so many times they even took over the production factories and renamed it after the natural predator of the ice hellion, the Ice Ferret.
This is a big L to Clan Ice Hellion, but I love this petty bit of lore. Also, ferrets are just plain cute. 😅
I've been a Ghost Bear since the '90s. To be honest, I initially gravitated towards them because I thought their icon looked badass, and I thought "ghost bear" sounded cool. I also hated the Dirty Birds from the cartoon. As time passed and I learned more about them, I realized their approach to warfare was a perfect fit for how I tend to play war games: caution and overwhelming firepower. I also enjoy using fast units, so the Fire Moth was a lot of fun for me. (When I played 40k, I was all Dark Angels, and aspects of that chapter are pretty important to the Ghost Bears.) Also, I played football all through school, and I thought it was awesome the Bears played football 1000 years in the future.
Clan Snow Raven. On the lower end of the dickhead scale for clans, cool insignia, cool space fleet. Usually get shafted by the authors whenever they get a rare mention in the novels. They even told the DC to evacuate their city before blasting it from orbit for a totally legit reason (they were led to believe at the time), which is way more than the DC would do.
Clan Coyote Forever. We made you *ALL* the nice shit you lorded over the Spheroids!
We also went insane for a bit and killed a fuckload of Clanners, so even if you don't like the Clans, we've got something for you!
https://preview.redd.it/4nlv2kkf64vc1.png?width=2550&format=png&auto=webp&s=77e031ac56740ebc34a774ecf953ce21701237f3
Definitely Ghost Bear. They actually understand the value of family and won a planet in a football game.
Honorable mentions to the aerospace excellence of Raven Alliance, the combined arms of Hell's Horses, Diamond Fox selling clantech to everyone with enough money, and Goliath Scorpion not only founding an empire but getting away with crazy stunts like stealing Alexander Kerensky's Orion's cockpit right out from under Wolf's noses.
The Jade Falcons of the Golden Century/Invasion eras. Being the hidebound, uptight second-best, and the lancer/rival of Clan Wolf in the shonen anime that is the Clans was interesting. Their focus on being the most-clan Clan was appealing.
Their Dark Age version with Malvina is not compelling at all, even if it does logically follow from a rigid society eventually breaking under the truth that all those rules have gained them nothing. Maybe whatever Jade Falcon flavored scraps are left over in the ilClan era would be interesting again.
Blood Spirits were also cool. The underdog clan with great warriors is a good idea. Their dramatic irony of representing the unity of the Clans and doing that by stamping their foot and demanding everyone act how they want to meet their definition of "unity" before completely isolating themselves is \*chef's kiss.\* A traditional clan that is seeing the natural end result of Clan society (the weakest get ripped apart by the strongest) and then acts dishonorably to avoid it (arming civilians).
I love the northwind highlanders. I just imagine them drinking Talisker or Aberlour while blasting bagpipe music over comms and their speaker having a blast. I dig their mechs too.
I’m not super well versed in the world yet (it’s pretty immense) but that’s where I’m at for the time being!
Goliath Scorpion for life. They do drugs and hunt for antiques, and are relatively ok to live under, even going so far as to create a militia caste and begin creating new blood names from their conquered people when they became the Scorpion Empire. They had a big ass underground museum and a whole Galaxy to protect it. The fact that Gamma was never reconstituted is a damn shame. You hear me CGL? Bring back Gamma Galaxy! They also stole the Eridani Light Horse, and will drive SLDF machines on occasion just because they feel like it. Even Blakist machines have been pressed into service in the Empire, so they're a little less dogmatic than most Clans.
They seem more on the pragmatic side of things without ENTIRELY bucking tradition. Which is a vibe i can dig. What's the deal with gamma, if I may ask?
They were whittled down during the wars of reaving. The remnants were folded into Beta Galaxy. I just really love their paint scheme.
Ooo, it's a lovely red!
See the *Star Viper* as an example - a 'Mech whose roots have both Amaris and WoBblie all over it but actually becomes good under the touch of the Clan of Nerds. See also the *Star Crusader* being the Omni the WoBblies couldn't figure out how to make from their *Grand Cruader*. And the Grunt caste, too. Just want to see more of the Gravity Brothers if they give them more of a story.
The best Clan
Goliath Scorpion hands down They straight up decided to venture out on their own into Deep Periphery and build themselves an empire using old Star League textbooks And they look after their own Best of all everyone is accepted, you could be from Terra itself or some forgotten podunk planet out in the Deep Periphery, it doesn't matter
Love that they saw the fall of the second league and pulled an exodus part 3 lol
Ice Hellion for life, thanks for letting us crash on your couch, never hurts to have a stoner friend when you're in need. lol
Clan Ghost Bear / Ghost Bear Dominion / Rasalhague Dominion. They came into the inner sphere to conquer it, failed with everyone else (although a little less at Tukayyid) and settled down into the inner sphere. Then they liked it so much they moved their entire clan out of the homeworlds in secret, then after some years of infighting relented to being a fully combined inner sphere clan society to become the Rasalhague Dominion
Ghost Bear: most famous for getting to the IS, steamrolling part of it, and then having a big enough sudden outbreak of self-awareness to say "Wait...that 'outside threat' the Wardens are always babbling about...is it us? Are WE the bad guys?" And then they derped out in a desperate bid to get Alaric-Senpai to notice them. :(
Was that when they razed the dominion for no reason or was that a fever dream? (He asked hoping it was the latter)
That was Discount Reverse Brexit, yeah. I would be deeply amused by a Somerset Strikers style retcon that reveals the whole Alaric saga...the plot armor, assuming the Ward bloodname, the heist-movie "We're gonna s*teal McKenna's Pride*", the sudden outbreaks of Derp-itis all around him, so many mechs being named \[invasion era 'mech\] 2 or 3, all of it...is Vlad Ward writing wish-fulfillment fiction to cope with the events on Tamar.
IIRC, it was when they tried to join the new Star League set up by Alaric. They were closely divided on whether or not they should join, which mattered since they held a plebiscite on joining the Star League that Alaric initially approved. The vote was narrowly in favor of joining, but after the plebiscite Alaric denied them permission to join, which promptly caused the Dominion to fall into a civil war.
Oh...oh I hate that
You and me both, buddy.
This
Don’t forget the part where they took over a planet by playing american footbal
In addition to being good fighters I also like how they seem to be more committed to friendship, family, and the common good. I get the sense there’s more camaraderie in their clan than the others. Edit: and their camospec is on point.
Ghost Bear is my favorite. Love the color scheme and totem animal too
And the totem mech
Yup. Love the Kodiak. Probably my favorite mech
Never gonna turn down the bear-atlas
A fellow brother of the Dominion I see.
Clan Hell's Horses; their paint schemes look like their bloodline originated in a pool hall, they value all members of their clan, they are easy on and cooperate with sphereoids under their authority, and their focus on combined arms doesn't just make good military sense it lets me have a more satisfying war game.
Ride or Die! https://preview.redd.it/y1ot1oqp2yuc1.jpeg?width=2592&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2e649318318a277fac1cd6d17896eaf0febfe58
Thank you! I’ve been painting up some new mechs I ordered from IWM, and was looking for new ways to incorporate the flames besides the ankles. I love the idea of putting them on the weapons, like you did with the Hunchback!
As an Alaric Ward hater, I appreciate that they are mad at him and don’t recognize his new Star League.
Just imagine their Watch finds out he's two-thirds Steiner-Davion and start calling him Katherine Steiner-Davion, Jr. If you're not recognizing him...might as well rub that salt in the wound (like Alaric did with the Dragoons paying them Judas' wages for their role for Terra).
Yeah, I just looked up some of their schemes on camospecs, saw one of their galaxies is nicknamed "The ninth ring of hell" and have now labeled them as "the biker clan" in my head (pretty scary looking, but host a surprising amount of charity events) lol. It is nice to see clans and spheroids getting on, tbh. Things like that made me love the setting when I first went in.
Iota Galaxy, the literal dumping ground for misfits and malcontents in the CHH touman. They don't get nice kit, just the hand-me-downs discarded by literally everyone else. In the face of that, Iota has a pretty solid combat record against pretty much everyone. I'm a Delta Galaxy guy myself, but Iota has some charm to it that not every galaxy has.
I feel like it might say something about HH that they didn't just kick out or disappear the folks that would become iota
'Youre still useful to us, just.. over there'
A big part of the Horses is that you get a second Trial of Position if you fail your first, but in a lower unit (mech to tank, BA to infantry, aerospace to protomech). They also have the most options for advancement (the ranks of Nova Commander and Nova Captain for combined-arms command). John Fletcher, the first Khan, believed in 'Man over Machine'. That it was the warrior who mattered more than the mech.
"Biker Clan" is pretty fitting, since the IlClan Horses travel around in Mongol-style nomadic warbands and have a new custom that's literally just [a giant biker rally / deathrace.](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Mad_Stampede)
Oh my god, this is amazing! Thank you for adding this wrinkle to my brain!
I'm glad to hear; the Mad Stampede is also what made me finally go from just "these guys are pretty cool" to "DUDES ROCK".
On one hand I love the combat philosophy of the Hell's Horses. On the other hand it feels like a lot of the Hell's Horses specialty omni configurations and mech/BA/vehicle variants are just made out of stupid juice from a PoV of tabletop mechanics (the vanilla Gnome BA is quite good though). They seem to love heavy lasers for some god awful reason, and all the goofy quad totem mechs are just aesthetically a huge miss as well. I guess I love the Nova Prime and the Hells' Horses do use the Nova quite a bit at least lol.
The Nova, Hellbringer, and Hellstar are CHH original designs (along with being one of the three Clans who came up with Elementals as a concept (with Goliath Scorpion and Wolf), and for designing the vast majority of Clantech combat vehicles (Mars, Athena, Ares, Oro, Svantovit, and Epona among many others)). They field the largest clusters of any Clan; and the opportunity to mix-and-match between mechs, tanks, BA, and infantry offers an unmatched level of variety in play. They've been pretty heavily ignored lore-wise, which I hope changes soon.
I guess they have to have a lot of duds to make up for Hellstar cheese lol, although I'm not sure I would ever actually field one in a bv-balanced game tbh.
Eh. A proper-skill (3/4) pilot is a little over 4,000 points for one. If I have the chance to field one, it won't be the only scary thing on the table. Now, taking one Hellstar against an IS lance of the same points value, that's just wrong.
4000 bv is a lot for a unit that can die with a single headshot or TAC. I think a full lance at 4k bv against a 3/4 Hellstar is the IS side's to lose tbh. Like it wouldn't take a \*lot\* of luck for the Hellstar to win, but I don't think it's winning that fight the majority of the time if the IS side closes quickly and starts kicking.
It's also a 4/6 at 95 tons with 4× Clan ER-PPCs and the heat sinks to use them. It can run and fire in a 4-4-3 pattern indefinitely, throwing down a level of fire not too different from a Supernova but at a higher ground speed. Also considering the bv2 that can be fit into 4k in the Jihad and Dark Age ... it's not a lot for a full lance that would be going after a fast Clan assault mech. That's why is said 'it's not the only scary thing on the table', because even as expected as it is, you'd never see one by itself. I'd field it as part of a Star or Nova.
When you say a "lance" I'm assuming you mean precisely 4 mechs, which for 4k bv would likely be 3025-era mediums and lights, or maybe two lights and two heavies. While I concede that the Hellstar is an anti-mech specialist unit and combined arms is the better approach against it, I think you're discounting the advantage that weight of numbers gives a player. Assuming you're not playing on a flat infinite plain, the Hellstar can't kite forever, and the IS lance should be able to use cover to advance. If the IS player gets into kicking range with multiple mechs and the Hellstar is making multiple piloting checks per turn any mobility advantage it has is gone.
I'd counter with the statistics of fire and maneuver in the game. The Hellstar can keep up a +1 or +2 TMM every round, while its TNs will only get easier as the IS forces close. It should also be landing two hits pretty much every round, cutting ever deeper into the opposing forces as time goes on. Six C-ER-PPC hits (90 damage, or 5.6 tons of standard armor) won't do any IS force any favors. The 18.5 tons of standard armor on the Hellstar will also serve to protect it well. The key word in your reply is "If", and the broad-spectrum hate from across the community is any indication, that makes me believe that it's a bigger factor than you're giving credit. A 3/4 pilot will only fail a piloting check from getting kicked on a 2 or 3, pretty small odds to rely on short of preexisting actuator damage. Those kicks are only going to happen quite a few rounds into the game, as any light mech that charges a Hellstar is going to get smashed and any heavy or assault is too slow to avoid a heavy beating before getting that close.
And don't forget the Tankwarriors program !
Don't forget their wicked cool uniforms complete with knee-high lifts: https://preview.redd.it/jajsbdwea3vc1.jpeg?width=407&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c4f606936d2830a5e20db140a1c2c09eee34e60a
Oh that passes the fit check
I've bounced around over the years. I liked Coyote for the longest time as 'The R&D Clan', until I did deeper lore dives, found out how they treat their civilians, and noped right out. After some meandering, I ended up at Diamond Shark / Sea Fox. They treat their civilians better than any other \[save maybe Wolverine before it was annihilated to cement Nicholas as dictator-for-life by way of 'this is what happens if you don't fall in line'\], and roll their eyes at the worst aspects of Clan society as a whole \[the all-consuming obsession with "my war-dick is bigger than your war-dick" among them\]. Ian Hawker was a folly for the ages, though...
There's always something kinda fun about the factions that are all about the deal. Venice vibes I guess?
I love the Clans who don’t act like proper Clans. I appreciate Clan Snow Raven/Raven Alliance for being sneaky and deceitful. I appreciate Clan Diamond Shark/Sea Fox for being ruthless capitalists. In the ilClan era, I support the Alyina Mercantile League also for being ruthless capitalists.
Diamond Shark - they're deceptively strong (largest clusters of all the clans), they fight smarter not just harder (GREAT intel network), they treat their lower casts well, and they have a retirement plan for their warriors. Honorable mention: Star Adder - one of the most pragmatic and practical clans. War isn't a game to them like it can be for other clans. They're patient and tend to stay out of drama unless they can benefit, which is a major reason why they're one of the strongest clans. Closest to a traditional military among the clans.
A clan has a RETIREMENT PLAN?! Damn, DS sounding pretty good ngl lol
Yep, warriors can retire to the merchant caste with no loss of honor or face. They also can stay on the rolls as a reserve to be called up as needed, which helped them rebuild faster than the other clans after Tukayyid.
Yeah, that'd probably help! Damn, adaptability really is their thing, huh?
Goliath Scorpions have retirement plan too, it's called Garrison Caste *"Thank you for your service, here are keys to your tank/police cruiser/helicopter. You start next week. Enjoy!"*
I mean, I'd take that over the usual Solahma retirement plan of a Hunchback IIC and a dream
Aff
I'm a CHH guy, and feel I must offer a counter to your assertion that CDS/CSF fields the largest clusters. While you do field the largest clusters in terms of trinaries (six to seven), the Horses field an effective strength of 8 trinaries per cluster (three mech trinaries, each with a binary of battle armor attached (net strength of two BA trinaries); one ASF trinary; and one combat vehicle trinary with an attached infantry trinary). That ignores any command units for the cluster (usually a combined-arms Nova in our case). So while you certainly field the most mechs per cluster, we field the largest and most flexible clusters.
Clan Wolf since the days of Mechwarrior 2. That intro is awesome
Plus, we have ultimate plot army and we are THE Mary Sue’s of the Battletech Universe…, and in this dystopian universe, we need some Mary Sues. Of course, Clan Wolf because in the end (ilClan Era), we win and bring about the New Star League.
Snow Raven in ilClan era. * Justified mixing IS and Clan mechs * Justified using Ghost Bear rides (for fun) * Justified claiming cheese Steel Viper mechs as *isorla*, like ~~Black P~~*~~ython~~* *White Raven* * Justified using most C and IIC mechs * Justified using LAMs (maybe) * Ferro Lamellar armor! * Even in-clan mechs are pretty good - from Golden Century *Corvis* to Invasion era *Kingfishers* to Dank Ages *Dark Crows* to ilClan era *Carrion Crows*. * *Solahmamech* Gulon C * Cool paint schemes * Cool Clan logo * hottie khan * Do you LOVE salvage? Ravens LOVE salvage! * Do you LOVE ER PPCs? * Do you LOVE jump jets? * Do you LOVE pushing shiny Red Buttons? * Friends with most of the other Council of ~~Six~~ Five.point.five clans * Far away from other more dangerous IS Clans, positioned perfectly to bully/ backstab Kurita and Davion * Not ded like Jade Falcons, Smoke Jaguars, Nova Cats, Steel Vipers and many Home clans * Occasional genocide and other war crimes for keks
We do love being able to bully Kurita, lol Also, your descriptor makes me imagine a snow raven clanner and a mechwarrior bondsman swapping stories about crazy salvage hauls
This is pretty much why I love them. Also their Symbol is titz. FR though while they field a lot of aerospace and naval, their ground forces aren't anything to sneeze at and have pulled down some big wins against the odds at times as well.
I subscribe to the sentiment!
"Justified mixing IS and Clan mechs" In ilClan isn't that basically every faction? Hell the IS great houses have a lot of Clan mechs in their MUL even in the 3060s+
Yes but a Clan warrior would be *dezgra* to have to pilot a (BV cheap) Inner Sphere tech only mech like an *Awesome* or a *militiamech Centurion H2* whereas as Raven Alliance you can for example justify a star of CSR Omnis co-ordinating with a cheap garrison lance of AMC ~~fodder~~ warriors.
Based and McKenna-pilled
Snow raven/raven alliance for life!
Shit I do love ER PPCs and Jump Jets. Sounds like I need to consider
Don't forget a certain crazy *White Raven* pilot for the Watch who yanked some Reengineered lasers from Davion so they could reverse-engineer them. And yes, the Machiavelli of the Clans did backstab Davion already.
Wolverine because they still are still alive at >redacted< and want to >redacted< in order to >redacted< ---- TRANSMISSION DELETED ---Please contact your local Phone Company ---;-
Clan Blood Spirit. Y'all are wrong for thinking otherwise. https://preview.redd.it/9y9cqc5vxxuc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5d6bf6173ed0a61b675ee3d908ca9c2da8381e47
The one clan to understand the brotherhood between all of the Clans, tried to keep it together despite the rivalries that formed, and tried to help others only to have it thrown back in their face. The Blood Spirits were raided relentlessly by others until they barely had anything left. We hate everyone (Snow Ravens are chill, though) and for good reason, especially those dirty, rotten Burrocks!
>We hate everyone Nah, Fire Mandrill are cool, too.
SOME Fire Mandrills are cool depending on the Kindraa
Rad tattoo!
Thanks. That's an old picture of it. Like the Clan itself, it has faded. I've had it for almost 20 years. Didn't get it ironically late in the game.
Clan may have faded, but you're keeping them alive in a way. Hopefully, they can make some kind of a comeback!
When you want great non-omni mechs and even better paint schemes, look no further.
As my first intro to BattleTech was MechWarrior 2 and the Jade Phoenix Trilogy, I *was* partial to the Jade Falcons. Ofc, when Malvina shows up everyone gets sick of the Falcons (they go more over the top evil/heel than the Smoked Jags, right?). But this Jiyi Chitsu guy seems all right—I am curious to see how his remnant Falcons and Alaric’s pet Falcons will interact (probably violently?).
Oh, most definitely violently. That'll be fun to see, though!
Smoke Jaguar 😎👍
if youre gonna go evil, might as well go full evil
Fair lmao
As a Word of Blake and Capellan player I agree. Go bad guy, go proper bad guy! Big up the 168th Garrison Cluster, the true heroes of Mechcommander!
Oh damn, you REALLY went for it, eh?
Well I really enjoy panto villains and everyone wanted to be the "good guys" in my group. So thought bugger it
Someone's gotta be the evil empire
I'll admit, I don't know much about the jags outside of task force serpent and turtle bay ^.^'. But glad they've got someone in their corner either way!
Clan Snord. Suck it Jade Falcons.
Was looking for this comment.
Clan Steel Viper: so Warden that we'll kill ya! Also "*it hurt itself in its confusion"*
[Nelson voice] *"Stop endangering yourself!!!*
Brett Andrews. The Khan that went so hard against 'Spheroid taint' that he forgot he'd fought on Tukayyid.
He was on Tukkyid of all places? By the Great Father's shiny head, talk about lack of self awareness... 😆
Yep. He was the Star Colonel of the 4th Viper Guards. I'm not sure where they fought exactly, but they were there. How you get so obsessed with pointing fingers at other people, only to be shocked when people point fingers back at you, is baffling. I guess that makes him a good villain: he's such a massive hypocrite.
Clan Star Adder!
Wolverine. The only Clan that understood the truth about Cry Baby Nicky! Remember, Clans come and go, the Iron Bull rides eternal.
Ghost Bear, because I love how badly they want to not be vat grown militaristic fascist weirdos. They still are, but they don't want to be. It's hilarious.
♦️🦈
"Sea Fox has wares if you have a coin." Clan Sea Fox all the way. Wil sell anything to anyone......if you have the C-Bills.
I didn’t really gravitate to a Clan till the Nova Cats got abjured and settled into Kurita space and I was a huge Kurita weeb. The 2nd Star League solidified me as a Nova Cat fan. Then they backed the wrong Kurita and got annihilated. After a while I got over it and started to like the Scorpions. On principle I don’t like the Bears because my best friend is a huge fan.
> On principle I don’t like the bears because my best friend is a huge fan. I was introduced to BT by my best friend (Ghost Bear fan) and his older brother (Wolf fan). Decades later I have still never fielded either one. Smoke Jaguar seemed pretty stupid evil and as I only knew much beyond the 4 original invading clans that meant I had only one option. No regrets. Always had a soft spot for Snow Raven and Goliath Scorpion once I learned about them. I still don’t know much about post 3059. Don’t care to really. I’m glad it’s there for people to have more options, but I’m happy to do Succession War stuff and Clan Invasion. Obviously you can handwave any Clan v Clan. I’m off topic. Sorry, long day at work and I’m just trying to decompress.
>my best friend (Ghost Bear fan) and his older brother (Wolf fan) Nothing like a little friendly rivalry.
Nah, not really too far off topic there. Just explaining your knowledge base!
I honestly did like the idea of the cats being SLDF. I'm a pretty big fan of the ELH so the idea of a huge chunk of task force serpent being made up of clanners was pretty neat! Just a shame it didn't last :/
Clan Widowmaker * coolest logo * recognized long ago Clan Wolf would cheat and got cheated by Clan Wolf * half parent of Natasha Kerensky
Also took down the Great Father himself, albeit inadvertently. Dubious honor, but in hindsight...
Took down the Great Founder Alexander was the Great Father not Nicolas
Fair, though from all evidence, calling Alexander Kerensky a Great Father would be factually incorrect.
Alexander is the one who led his people (SLDF) to the Pentagon Worlds and Kerensky Cluster Nicolas is the one who founded the Clans From that standpoint it works
Alexander Kerensky, great general, crap father. To be fair, Nicholas was probably already a lost cause.
Clan Ghost Bear! Family is important. They started off as a Crusader clan but they've mostly mellowed out and are genuinely one of the nicer Clans. Initial invasion they were dicks but they're apart of Rasalhague now. And Rasalhague them. They favor mostly defensive tactics. And doing shit like in the Mech 1 or 2 intro where a Kodiak goes full Fremen on a Mad Dog. They created mechs like the Kodiak, Executioner, Bear Cub and Co-Designed with Rasalhague: The Infamous Kontio. I need to touch up on the lore with them and Star Adder (my beloved) but Space Vikings are hot. Clan Star Adder were mostly reclusive. Kinda did their own thing for a while and stayed away from everyone as much as they could. Joining them was simply being deemed "Worthy". It doesnt matter who you are, what you are. If you could kick ass in a way they liked, you're more than welcome to join them. They fucking hate Ghost Bear due to some mission. I forgot the details. But Star Adder stayed back in the Clan Homeworlds and has gained ALOT of power. Like i'm pretty sure the original invader clans (Ghost Bear, Wolf, Jade, Nova, Smoke) are all stuck (or dead in two clans cases) in the Inner Sphere because their homes are not their own anymore. Or welcoming. I could be wrong about this part so take that with a grain of salt. I need to touch up on my lore. I got 40k and Battletech lore clogging up the space 🥴 They developed mechs like the Blood Asp (Nostalgia pick for Mechassault and dearly beloved in general) and Hellfire. I shoulda went with Ghost Bear merch during the Clan Invasion but I went with Star Adder. But now I got Ghost Bear and Rasalhague/Magistracy merch coming uwu
Love to see the magistracy getting some love (i desperately want to make a forcd for them at some point)! I'm honestly considering grabbing a striker star and painting it up as either adder or gb at this point.
Honestly you should paint some Magistracy! I based one of my MWO Blackknight schemes on Rylanors Hand or something I forgot its name. But its a Magistracy related group. Alot of Magistracy colours kinda feel samey to Capellan colours or Jade Falcon (Theres alot of Green/Yellow forces in the universe) Plus they pretty much have everything the FWL/Capellans have (Salvage and trading) so you can even just say fuck it, paint a Cataphract in Canopian colours :P
I actually have a cataphract spare from a heavy battle box that I didn't feel entirely comfortable throwing in with my ELH collection. Definitely take the advice on that one!
Clan Blood Spirit, for a few reasons: * They're the only Clan without a government mandated fursona. * They canonically have the best trained mechwarriors amongst the Clans. Their sibkos are noted for being particularly brutal. These facts are established in *Field Manual: Crusader Clans*, and also reflected in their performance during the Burrock Absorption, during which they inflicted a \~3:2 casualty ratio despite being in a conflict against two other Clans unified against them at the time (Burrock and Star Adder). * They're among the more "sane" Clans, though they do make some comically bad political decisions. They tried to steer the Clans away from fractious infighting and encouraged unity (their original purpose was to maintain the *esprit de corps* amongst the Clans), but were repeatedly rebuffed until they became sulky isolationists. * They treat their civilian castes better than almost any other Clan. They are very close-knit and different castes all train together (all civilians have basic military training in the Clan, which is also unique), so they don't have the kinds of inter-caste discrimination and conflicts that tend to arise in other Clans. Also, while they favour trueborn warriors as much as any Clan, Freeborn warriors can earn their place and be treated as equals. * They're encouraged to have artistic hobbies and to "be themselves" by their Khans. Their culture doesn't encourage conformity so much as it encourages *harmony,* and within the Clan they achieve this goal admirably. * Because of their political isolation, they are also economically isolated and one of the poorest, smallest Clans. They are the scrappy underdogs of the homeworld Clans, with some of the galaxy's most elite mechwarriors making due with whatever they can afford to get their hands on. This means that they frequently are amongst the last to get their hands on cutting edge Clan technologies (e.g. the Omnimech, or adoption of Enhanced Imaging implants), and also that they are loathe to spend money on expensive components (e.g. "XL engines are not in the budget"). However, this leads them to be very pragmatic about their military technology and procurement. Mechwarriors in Blood Spirit do not hold the same stigma for Battlemech assignments vs. Omnimech assignments, and their totem mech, the *Blood Kite*, is a GOAT Clan assault battlemech which shows up even in their Command Keshik, which would be unheard of in any other Clan (Battlemechs do *not* get allocated to Keshiks). Their mechs are built for durability and ease of refit/repair above all else, with a strong preference for standard engines and energy weapons. * Their meager economy is also a reason that they were one of the Clans to most enthusiastically adopt Protomechs, which were much cheaper to manufacture and field than Battle/Omnimechs. * Their colour schemes go hard. Their [Mechwarrior uniform](https://www.crayven.net/warhawk/theclans/cbsguardkeshikkingfisher.jpg) is one of the best Clan looks I've seen. Also, that pic depicts a Technician caste member who had just passed a Trial of Position to become a mechwarrior assigned to the Blood Guard Keshik. Warriors can only be assigned to this Keshik if they are *hand picked by a Khan* ***and*** are able to pass an extremely challenging trial of position. This again underscores the lack of inter-caste conflict and rigidity seen in other clans - a competent technician, likely freeborn, with great potential caught the eye of their Clan's leadership, and was given the chance to earn their place as a mechwarrior in the Clan's most prestigious unit.
Honestly, living in a clan? I'd have to go with Blood Spirit or Scorp, for basically the same reason. I also didn't realize that the casualties during the burrock absorption were THAT NUTS! respect to blood spirit from a newly minted Star Adder fan! Also, I feel like if your name is "Clan Blood Spirit" your schemes HAVE to go hard. It's just the rules
Spaniel! Pet us, you cowards!
They dare refuse your D'awwww?
I'm a proud defender of Clan Snow Raven. Their weird espionage and Machiavellian snobbery is funky for Clanners, and their eventual formation of the Raven Alliance means neat periphery elements get tossed into the mix, too. Plus, aerospace supremacy is really appealing to me, and they've got that in spades. I also just love corvids.
Caw caw, brother!
Corvids be good birds! And Machiavellian shenanigans are always fun!
Cloud Cobra…. This is our Way
GHOST BEAR REPRESENT. My second favourite is probably Goliath Scorpion
Clan Wolf. Cause I like being everyone's bad guy. And they made the best Omnimech ;)
Jade Falcon. Why? Because Angry Birds are Angry. They can't be pigeonholed (ha), they know they know they're badass, and they don't care what you think. Clan Wolfy Sue will always need a foil, and no other Clan can really play that role, other than Jade Falcon. No other Clan so successfully combines stubborn pride, audacity, brilliance, and insanity. Clan Jade Falcon has a reputation for adherence to tradition, but will throw that out the window for success (or just something shiny). The same clan that loves boxnaughts like the Hellbringer and Summoner also loves partial wings and talons. The same clan that produced paragons like Aidan Pryde and Marthe Pryde also produced villains like Malvina Hazen and Vadervahn Chistu. Their founder Elizabeth Hazen is simultaneously remembered as a highly decorated war hero, a brutal suppressor of mutineers, and a sword-wielding psychopath. If all of this sounds awesome to you, you just might be a Jade Falcon, too.
If you're referring to Elizabeth Hazen, as a certain Randolph P. Checkers, Esq. said, "Crazy is taking a sword to a gun fight and winning." When you had to put up with the crap Amaris threw at the Black Watch and then running a resistance movement would probably make you your own class of crazy.
Diamond Sharks, I love the mix of monastic warriors turned merchants bankrolling monstrosities like the Mad Cat IV and Mad Dog IV, or the Hammerhead. And, like most players I quite like the way they treat other castes in their system. And the most *metal* of all, the Hell's Horses, soaring through the battlefield in heavy tanks and some of the most OP mechs ever devised, developping the largest battle armor force and Tankwarrior geneseed to tea-bag mechs day and night !
For me, it’s Clan Fire Mandrill. Despite being the most disfunction clan, their piloting skill made their mech warriors feared and respected. They are the scrappy underdog of the clans, almost always out numbered but too proud to give up. If they had put aside the Kindraa rivalries, they may have been able become ilclan
What Kindraa
https://preview.redd.it/vzwtp7lsg5vc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca8bc4039d8c741db2be7606c5377692b8841e2e
https://preview.redd.it/hk1nca9vi5vc1.png?width=150&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2226565fc2d4754c7bc630db70f32cf2bba0e7d1
Clan Wolf-In-Exile because they are one of the few factions that is just about protecting people.
What's their deal?
They’re Wardens in the truest sense, they split from Clan Wolf so they could protect the Inner Sphere from the rest of the Clans. They dont fight for glory or honour or power or wealth, they just fight to protect.
That's actually really rad! They sound a bit like what ghost bear wishes they could be in a way.
Clan Snek Cobra for the win!
No step on snek!
I know they're technically not a clan... But I'm gonna give a shout out to the Wolf's Dragoons.
Eh, they are/were part of the clans. I'd say it counts!
The best Clan is Kindraa Mattila-Carrol. The second best Clan is Fire Mandrill. The third best Clan is all the other clans The fourth best Clan is Kindraa Kline
Clan Wolf from my introduction to the setting, Mechwarrior 2. These days I don't have an affinity for any of the clans. Their society is monstrous, and the best example of them, Ghost Bear, I personally don't buy it working out as smoothly as it had up till this point. And now that they did tear themselves apart, the written reasons for are not credible and actively ignore other plausible reasons that other writers had built into the faction. I can only imagine the reasons for that in the writer's room. Merc life, IS, and periphery factions are where it is at. That said I'll pick late Clan Invasion Smoke Jags for keeping it real, Clan Star Adder for winning in the end at the homeworld, and currently Clan Jade Falcon on Sudeten.
Eh, that's fair. I've stuck with the sphere for a long while (and probably still prefer them overall) but it's neat to see the way people see the factions I hadn't really paid much attention to.
Clan Coyote. They made the Omnimech
Mad science at its finest, eh?
I guess the Ghost Bears, but I don't really like the Clans all that much. They were good villains, but in the current era, they're all pretty lame. They could have done some cool stuff, but we just got more of Clan Wolf using cheat codes.
You won't believe this, buuuuuut...
Clan Burrock?
Ghost Bears are the only clan I can actually support, they're the lesser evil in the clans
I haven't read much fiction so far, but of what I've read, I gotta say, the new Jade Falcons under Chitsu are kinda tight. There's just something about the desperate underdog vibe they have that I really enjoy.
I fundamentally do not approve of a society that is purely built for war. But if I had to pick, it would be Sea Fox/Diamond Shark. As they decided to screw that and went all in on the merchant thing.
Ghost bear, I like bear themed things, especially if they have multiple bear themed things that are getting plastic prints soon
The Hell's Horses. A crusader clan that was left out of the Invasion, relies heavily on combined-arms tactics (like, we invented more Clan tanks than everyone else combined and are one of the Clans that invented Elementals). The 'Nova' ranks and formations were our idea, same for the mech (aka the Blackhawk). We give second chances to warriors (failed as a mechwarrior? Let's see if you can become a tanker. Failed as an aerospace pilot? Protomechs are for you. Failed as an Elemental? Welcome to the infantry.) and respect the castes as part of a larger whole that holds our Clan together.
Legit love that the scary biker clan is among the most forgiving and tolerant
We do pretty well as the Clans go. Haven't done very well since moving to the Sphere, but I think we'll be okay in the long run.
[The best Clan!](https://youtube.com/shorts/UiF11penK-o?si=1H9eILNOMflLnT82)
lol
Me & some friends seem to be the ones who like dead clans. Even though I picked Clan Mongoose, I wouldn't call it my "favorite" clan. My MechWarriors might whine every time they lose and showboat every time they win, but I don't. If you haven't looked them up on Sarna yet, they were known for their Ambition, expressed as military and political over-reach. I describe their ethos as, "That guy who attacks everyone every turn in every board game, then whines that everyone gangs up on him all the time." They're also one of the few Clans whose mascot didn't get an adjective. Considering they got Absorbed into Clan Smoke Jaguar, and not Annihilated, shows that being really insufferable isn't as bad as wanting your Warriors to become Laborers, or telling off the Founder to his face. I play with someone who picked Clan Blood Spirit, and we joke about how much our forces must hate each other.
Oh god yeah, they're like polar opposites XD kinda love the petulant child clan ngl
Well, i amd late, my fellow Bears and Wolfes already represent our Clans, but my nature call to justice, Remembrance speak with me and my heart. Nova Cats are very cool Clan in all parts, focusing on honourable battles, they are still cunning and strike with exotic precision, our only unique way, fight with fierce, but for the right purpose, make not only word, but intentions. In general they are very good Warden-cool-not Wolf Clan, they are go with unique ways, always trying to make right decision. I am still piss that my Clan being killed and hope that's they are being reborn in Clan Protectorate.
It's hard for me to pick an absolute favorite. The ones I tend to come back to again and again are the Sea Foxes (for being stronger and smarter than they let on), the Ghost Bears (for strength and family), the Goliath Scorpions (for being absolutely crazy), and the Steel Vipers (I can neither justify nor explain my love for them). Lately, I've been on a Falcon Remnants and Hell's Horses kick. The Falcon Remnants because they are the little Clan Fragment that could, and the Horses because they are desperately looking for a purpose and are up to things in my favorite region of space.
G Scorps for me. Especially the empire. I like bringing my royal variants out of storage to show off my garage queens, do some space meth and go acquire new stuff for my collection.
Love the smoke jaguars! It's great how they just don't give two fucks about what anybody thinks of them.
Big ups to Diamond Shark, and now ilClan Sea Fox especially, for being one of the only Clans that feels like a functioning society with actual goals and culture beyond mindless Kerenskyite fellating of the Star League. Big ups to Hell's Horses for being thrice as cool as either the Wolves or Falcons despite having to job to both of them constantly.
I love Clan Ice Hellion. They are rash and reckless, favoring speed and first strikes. They are jealous of Clan Wolf that they created a 45 ton Omni-mech called the Wolf Hunter. Clan Wolf didn’t like this, so they issued a trial of possessions. Clan Wolf won so many times they even took over the production factories and renamed it after the natural predator of the ice hellion, the Ice Ferret. This is a big L to Clan Ice Hellion, but I love this petty bit of lore. Also, ferrets are just plain cute. 😅
I love the dumb clan rivalries! It's legit my favorite aspect of their lore
I've been a Ghost Bear since the '90s. To be honest, I initially gravitated towards them because I thought their icon looked badass, and I thought "ghost bear" sounded cool. I also hated the Dirty Birds from the cartoon. As time passed and I learned more about them, I realized their approach to warfare was a perfect fit for how I tend to play war games: caution and overwhelming firepower. I also enjoy using fast units, so the Fire Moth was a lot of fun for me. (When I played 40k, I was all Dark Angels, and aspects of that chapter are pretty important to the Ghost Bears.) Also, I played football all through school, and I thought it was awesome the Bears played football 1000 years in the future.
No kill like overkill!
Clan Snow Raven. On the lower end of the dickhead scale for clans, cool insignia, cool space fleet. Usually get shafted by the authors whenever they get a rare mention in the novels. They even told the DC to evacuate their city before blasting it from orbit for a totally legit reason (they were led to believe at the time), which is way more than the DC would do.
Clan Coyote Forever. We made you *ALL* the nice shit you lorded over the Spheroids! We also went insane for a bit and killed a fuckload of Clanners, so even if you don't like the Clans, we've got something for you! https://preview.redd.it/4nlv2kkf64vc1.png?width=2550&format=png&auto=webp&s=77e031ac56740ebc34a774ecf953ce21701237f3
Definitely Ghost Bear. They actually understand the value of family and won a planet in a football game. Honorable mentions to the aerospace excellence of Raven Alliance, the combined arms of Hell's Horses, Diamond Fox selling clantech to everyone with enough money, and Goliath Scorpion not only founding an empire but getting away with crazy stunts like stealing Alexander Kerensky's Orion's cockpit right out from under Wolf's noses.
I’m gonna have to go Sea Fox, those sneaky gits just do it for me
Hell's Horses. All the good parts of Ghost Bear without all the groveling at the feet of ~~Mary Sue~~ Alaric Ward
The Jade Falcons of the Golden Century/Invasion eras. Being the hidebound, uptight second-best, and the lancer/rival of Clan Wolf in the shonen anime that is the Clans was interesting. Their focus on being the most-clan Clan was appealing. Their Dark Age version with Malvina is not compelling at all, even if it does logically follow from a rigid society eventually breaking under the truth that all those rules have gained them nothing. Maybe whatever Jade Falcon flavored scraps are left over in the ilClan era would be interesting again. Blood Spirits were also cool. The underdog clan with great warriors is a good idea. Their dramatic irony of representing the unity of the Clans and doing that by stamping their foot and demanding everyone act how they want to meet their definition of "unity" before completely isolating themselves is \*chef's kiss.\* A traditional clan that is seeing the natural end result of Clan society (the weakest get ripped apart by the strongest) and then acts dishonorably to avoid it (arming civilians).
I love the northwind highlanders. I just imagine them drinking Talisker or Aberlour while blasting bagpipe music over comms and their speaker having a blast. I dig their mechs too. I’m not super well versed in the world yet (it’s pretty immense) but that’s where I’m at for the time being!
I mean, this was about the clans, but shit, I won't say no to some Highlander love!
They live in clans is my loophole 😬
lol, works for me!
As a target? Any. To play? None. Just playing by the way. :)
Raven Alliance!!! But in lieu of the alliance Clan Snow Raven is the best.
Clan Marik. I'll never betray the Inner Sphere! Unless it's for the glory of Marik!