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secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Secrets of BattleTech
@secretsofbattletech.substack.com
390 followers 130 following 600 posts
I don't own #BattleTech or #MechWarrior, I just write about the lore at secretsofbattletech.substack.com.
You can support me at https://ko-fi.com/secretsofbattletech
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secretsofbattletech.substack.com
You probably got it right the first time, but just in case the T-Bolt's not enough...
The "Iron Cheetah" 'mech from BattleTech. It's a big bird-legged walker bristling with weapons. This particular image shows a team of battle-armored infantry perched on the 'mech and using it as a fire platform.
October 17, 2025 at 11:01 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Happy Tentativa Day to all those who celebrate - and if you're a BattleTech fan reading this, why wouldn't you be celebrating?
Drawing of the BattleTech character David Santos from "Historical: Reunification War". Dave's a clean-shaven middle-aged dude with a crew cut. He looks pensive, as though he knows what happens after Tentativa.
September 28, 2025 at 3:03 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
There's also the post-MW5:C variant. Please use it responsibly.
BattleTech-ified Sickos meme. MechWarrior 5: Clans villain Cordera Perez looks out at us from the controls of his Timber Wolf. He happily says, "Aff... ha ha ha... AFF!"
August 31, 2025 at 12:32 AM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
"Say the line, Bart!"
Snip from MegaMek, a BattleTech emulator. Allied Free Worlds League artillery is firing on Allied Free Worlds League 'mechs. Mercenary command described the situation as "typical".
August 23, 2025 at 5:55 AM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Janos Marik's kitschy charm and very OK priorities (such as celebrating the year 3000 with a giant party instead of a war) always make me smile. One of the least-bad House Lords, for sure.
Black-and-white sketch of Janos and Hilda Marik from House Marik (The Free Worlds League) in the style of a holiday photo. They're a middle-aged couple wearing "future of the 1980s" getup. Hilda is smiling so hard you could check her molars for cavities. Janos looks like his feet hurt.
August 6, 2025 at 6:15 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
After some testing and a bit of grumbling about compromises between MekHQ viability & lore fidelity, I'm leaning towards starting with militarized industrialmechs.
Screen snip from MegaMek (a BattleTech emulator). The partial shot shows a Table of Organization and Equipment from within the MekHQ campaign manager. Details: The Company shown is the 1st Somerset Volunteers, under the command of Supervisor Knut Espeland. The Volunteers have a Sphinx symbol and a combined Battle Value of 8720. They field four Platoons, each with four Units. 1st and 2nd Platoon each mass 280 tons and are marked with the Heavy Mech symbol. 3rd and 4th Platoons each mass 60 tons and are marked with the Light Mech symbol.
July 31, 2025 at 12:10 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
An issue discussing some entirely happy BattleTech events should be with subscribers in about eight hours.

(And yes, there will be talk about travel times.)
A promo graphic for the upcoming Secrets of BattleTech newsletter issue "Tintavel and Ares". In the background is a starmap showing the systems on the Free World League - Capellan Confederation border. The issue has the subtitle, "Sparing a thought for the lives of ordinary people in BattleTech's 25th Century."
July 27, 2025 at 11:14 AM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Recently I've been writing a lot of newsletters about how bad things can be in the Inner Sphere and this week will not be that different.
Snip from the MekHQ app showing a BattleTech star map. We're zoomed in on the Free Worlds League - Capellan Confederation border near Andurien. The world Tintavel is highlighted.
July 25, 2025 at 6:35 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
I'm not sure if anyone told them about my crazy plans, but this is quite a "hold my beer" from the MegaMek developers.
Snippet of Pull Requests from the MekHQ subpage on GitHub. A list of six Improvements: Implemented Major Psychosis - Hysteria Implemented Clinical Insanity - Berserker Implemented Clinical Insanity - Catatonia Implemented Clinical Insanity - Regression Implemented Minor Psychosis - Clinical Paranoia Implemented Minor Psychosis - Confusion
July 19, 2025 at 2:34 AM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Modding MegaMek's universe data turned out to be easier than expected. Expect a moderate-to-high chance of Historical BattleTech shenanigans.
Partial screenshot from MegaMek's MekHQ application. The interstellar map can be seen. The Coreward third of the Lyran Commonwealth is in the bottom half of the image with a thin slice of Draconis Combine worlds along the edge. Wrapped around the edge of the Commonwealth are the worlds of the Rim Worlds Republic, some in the Rim's olive, others in pink, most split between the two colors.
July 18, 2025 at 1:17 AM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
I think it's this one. Though to be fair to Purple Birb, they're pretty good at mending their fences.
Scenes from "The Simpsons". In panel 1, Groundskeeper Willie stares out the winder and mutters, "It won't last. Brothers and sisters are natural enemies, like Englishmen and Scots! Or Welshmen and Scots! Or Japanese and Scots! Or Scots and other Scots! Argh! Damn Scots! They've ruined Scotland!" In panel two, Principal Skinner mildly observes from his desk, "You Scots sure are a contentious people." In Panel 3, Groundskeeper Willie looms over Skinner's desk and roars, "You just made an enemy for life!"
July 14, 2025 at 10:17 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Battletech family - who is your favorite Clan?

Mine is Smoke Jaguar for a whole lot of reasons. The main one is that I very much enjoyed the puzzle of using the statements of these people's enemies to work out what they were really like.
Emblem of Clan Smoke Jaguar from BattleTech. It's a stylized silhouette of a powerful cat, leaping forward with its teeth and claws bared.
July 10, 2025 at 6:56 AM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
I like the late contract #MegaMek battles but they do get a bit samey. This gif could be any of four that I fought in the last month of the first job - skirmish with opfor until the employer shows up, then provide fire support while they finish the fight.
Automatically generated gif showing the shape of a MegaMek (emulated BattleTech) battle on a hex map with a long north-south axis. The friendlies are denoted by green rectangles and start in the south, meeting opfor (red rectangles) in the south-center region before a large allied force (blue rectangles) arrive to carry the day.
July 1, 2025 at 3:12 AM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Last week I cursed my BattleTech rolls by talking trash about James McKenna. This week I turned my scorn on House Davion and there were results. #MegaMek
Partial screencap from MegaMek, a BattleTech tabletop emulator. OpFor's Rifleman takes an SRM6 and Medium Laser to its paper-thin rear armor and suffers catastrophic engine damage.
June 30, 2025 at 12:10 AM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
So last week I decided to badmouth James McKenna. (I'm aware that this rules out ever having a hot streak of luck in BattleTech again.) Web version of the letter is at:
secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/hegemony?r...
Black-and-white drawing of the BattleTech character James McKenna. He's presented as a lantern-jawed blond man just entering middle age. McKenna seems to be deep in thought, as though contemplating a coup against a tottering democracy.
June 23, 2025 at 5:33 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
It's a shame that by the time the storyline was picking up in the 3020s we only had old & busted Janos - just a shadow of the guy who once declared a year-long party for his whole realm.
Black & white image of Hilda and Janos Marik, characters from the BattleTech franchise. The two are posing for a holiday snap in front of an alpine landscape. They're a middle-aged couple wearing sunglasses and "future of the 1980s" outfits. Janos is a bearded man with light hair. He might not be having a good time. Hilda is a tall brunette woman smiling so hard you can inspect her molars.
June 18, 2025 at 5:51 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
This week's newsletter went out to subscribers yesterday, but the web version's live now at:
secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/tukayyid-d...
A version of the "Apology Form" exploitable for Khan Ian Hawker, a BattleTech character. Reasons for behavior are; (1) I was jealous of Khan Ian, (2) I did not study his codex, (3) Living in the degenerate atmosphere of late-stage capitalism has conditioned me into a slavish adoration of parasitic merchants, (4) ChatterWeb convinced me that everything was his fault, and (5) My Transit Disorientation Syndrome was acting up. The bottom line tick box is "I will hereby respect Ian Hawker and I will NOT talk down on the savior of Clan Diamond Shark"
May 12, 2025 at 8:23 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
One of these men is the greatest hero of his Clan, a man whose skill and sacrifice saved his people from a dark fate - and the other guy's Aidan Pryde.

This week's newsletter will be with free subscribers tomorrow & it's already live for supporters old & new at: ko-fi.com/post/Tukayyi...
Star Colonel Aidan Pryde from BattleTech. He's a hard-faced man with dark hair and dark eyes. Aidan wears an armored mechwarrior vest and seems to be standing inside a hive built by giant bees. (Or he's in front of a hex map, you decide.) Khan Ian Hawker from BattleTech. Khan Ian is a man just hitting middle age with a sharp nose and short blond hair. He's wearing what looks like a dress uniform with a high collar. Ian's looking out at us like we might be lunch.
May 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Me: "OK, I have some time to focus on reading this stuff about Khan Ian Hawker and-"
My brain: "Dia-mond Shark doo doo duh-doo duh-doo doo" (repeats endlessly)

😬
The logo of Clan Diamond Shark from BattleTech. It's a big honking grey shark in front of a blue diamond. Three red arrows behind the diamond point to the top left, top right, and bottom. If I ruined these guys for you by associating them with that song, don't worry - they mostly operate under a different name.
May 6, 2025 at 5:24 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Big Red was mostly right. The Nova Cat plan was kinda crazy - but the inconsistent Khan among these three was our boy Bjorn.

If you haven't seen the newsletter yet, the free web version's at:
secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/tukayyid-s...
Khan Bjorn Jorgensson from BattleTech, as portrayed in Era Report 3052. Bjorn's young and new on the job as Ghost Bear Khan at this point. He's a lantern-jawed dude with a widow's peak.
May 5, 2025 at 7:09 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Difficult decision meme. Top panel shows a hand hesitantly reaching towards two buttons, one labeled "offend people by only talking about catgirls" the other labeled "offend people by mentioning anything else". In the second panel, a man mops his brow.
May 3, 2025 at 5:13 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
This week's newsletter discusses the strategies of the first three Khans on Tukayyid. 1 kinda crazy, 1 inconsistent, 1 unlucky - but which is which?

Free subscribers will get this issue via Substack in about 26 hours. Early access for supporters is already live at ko-fi.com/post/Tukayyi...
Khan Lincoln Osis from BattleTech. He's a thick-necked man with a short mohawk and a furrowed brow. Khan Severen Leroux from BattleTech. An old man wearing a high-tech aerospace pilot suit. Khan Bjorn Jorgensson from BattleTech. A strong young man with a widow's peak.
May 3, 2025 at 4:59 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
Me, a humble fan trying to understand Tukayyid: "Hey Nova Cat, wh-"
Clan Nova Cat: "AAAHHHHH!"
The logo of BattleTech's Clan Nova Cat. A snarling black cat's head imposed on a red-yellow sunburst on a blue circle.
April 30, 2025 at 2:03 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
The anniversaries of the Battle of Tukayyid are almost upon us. This week's newsletter discussed the challenge to battle and looked at the Clans' bidding strategies in the context of their supply situations.

secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/tukayyid-t...
Anastasius Focht, a character from BattleTech. He's a lean old white dude with long hair. He has an eyepatch on his right eye, the other is blue-grey. He's wearing a white-grey ComGuards uniform with a high collar and stares out over the viewer's left shoulder.
April 29, 2025 at 3:42 PM
secretsofbattletech.substack.com
What else was I going to talk about on Smoke Jaguar week? The most recent issue of my newsletter could have been about the Fidelis - but instead it discussed the atrocity at Turtle Bay:

secretsofbattletech.substack.com/p/on-the-edo...
Logo for Clan Smoke Jaguar from BattleTech. It's a stylized grey-eyed cat captured in the moment of the pounce, claws and teeth bared to strike.
April 23, 2025 at 11:08 AM