History TabletopGame / Battletech

* ChickenWalker: Quite a few 'Mechs have reverse-joint legs, including favorites like the ''Marauder'' or the ''Timber Wolf.''

* CoolHelmet: The Neurohelmet. The pre-Succession Wars/post-Clan Invasion neurohelmet are similiar to jet fighter helmets, while the Succession Wars era helmets are massive 10 pound monstrosities that limit the wearer's field of view.

* TheChessmaster: [=ComStar=] had a hand in instigating a good number of conflicts during the Succession Wars.
* ChurchMilitant: The Word of Blake, its predecessor pre-schism [=ComStar=], and Clan Cloud Cobra
** Modern-day [=ComStar=] itself may be considered one as well, though with the religious aspects toned well down. Still, old habits die hard.
** The Brotherhood of Randis straddles the line between this and [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights In Shining Armor]]. At any given time, a Knight can be studying the Bible, helping to build a hospital, or blasting the hell out of pirates.
** Also astride the same line above are the Knights of the New Avalon Catholic Church, who formed out of House Davion [=MechWarriors=] fed up with their comrades-in-arms who'd formed secret societies called [=MechWarrior=] Brotherhoods. The Brotherhoods were abusing their position in society to extort, harrass and brutalize civilians, and the [=KotNACC=] fought to put a stop to it, with the blessing of the Church.
* TheClan: The different Bloodname families in the Clans work like this.

* YourSizeMayVary: Official artwork tends to be a bit inconsistent about how big various 'Mechs are, both in relation to each other and to real-world things like tanks, buildings and people. It seems Catalyst (or whoever happens to be holding the license) like to be cagey about this, as while various pieces of spinoff media will occasionally give figures for a 'Mech's size (the most accepted one for the Atlas being 18 meters, similar to other iconic giant robots such as Anime/MazingerZ or the Anime/MobileSuitGundam) they are conspicuously absent from any official stars in the tabletop game.

** This trope is also Deconstructed with Clan Smoke Jaguar. Turns out that being a Clan of mostly warriors and little to no scientist, engineers, and even basic workers, means that you have to raid other people for basic supplies. This lead to them having no allies during the Clan Invasion, Mechs and weapons that could not be replaced anywhere near fast enough, and lower caste members defecting to the Inner Sphere. There is a good reason Clan Smoke Jaguar no longer exists; their over-emphasis on the Warrior caste and completely ignorant eschewal of their other castes resulted in both CripplingOverspecialization and being TooDumbToLive. This served as a begrudging lesson to be learned for the Clans as a whole and that is 'never undervalue the potential of your other castes besides your Warriors'. Even the Jade Falcons, one of the strictest clans when it comes to enforcing the caste system, value and honour their civilian castes per Nichola Keresnky's vision and understand that their clan would be nothing with them. Interestingly, the first Khan of the Jaguars, Franklin Osis, sought to ''avert'' this trope during his reign while still keeping a heavy emphasis of martial prowess within his Clan. Unfortunately for him, after his reign ended, the less charismatic successors of him focused only on building the strength of the Warrior caste, and did little to nothing to improve their civilian castes to the point that they outright scorned their very existence within the Clan; thus, the Clan's self-destruction would slowly but eventually be ensured until it ultimately reached its breaking point after the Battle of Tukkayid.

** [=ilKhan=] Brett Andrews, the "Bloody Khan" of the Steel Vipers got hit hard with this at the end of the Wars of Reaving. After overseeing the Annihilation and Absorption of several Clans during the war, Star Adder Khan Stanislov N'Buta turned around and declared a Trial of Reaving against Andrews and the Steel Vipers, using the exact same language and rhetoric he'd been using to label his enemies as "tainted". Andrew's response was to kill N'Buta with a laser, which got Andrews killed by N'Buta's ''[=saKhan=]'' and the charges of Reaving upgraded to Annihilation.

* InUniverseNickname: Hunchback variants that replace the 'Mech's signature shoulder-mounted [[{{BFG}} AC/20]] with anything else are collectively referred to as "Swaybacks" in-universe due to the dramatic change in their profile. Note however that despite the nickname implying thay Swayback Hunchbacks are hobbled by the replacing their main gun, many variants are still extremely dangerous, sometimes even arguably moreso than the original. In particular, the HBK-4P replaces the AC/20 with [[BeamSpam six Medium Lasers in addition to retaining the two arm-mounted medium lasers from the standard HBK-4G model]], freeing it from the ammo limitations of the original and doing 33% more damage when performing an AlphaStrike.

** In one scenario from an early gamebook, a pair of Mackies from the original production run, the first [=BattleMechs=] ever designed and ''centuries'' old, passed down through a family from the days of the Terran Hegemony, are powered up to fight the Black Widow Company. They usually acquit themselves with great distinction.

Unlike other wargames such as ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', which require official minatures, ''[=BattleTech=]'' has no rules on what can be used to represent units; an index card on a stand with a stick-figure 'Mech could be used to represent your [[MightyGlacier AS7-D Atlas]], or you could buy official pewter or lead miniatures. The game's quick-start rulebooks can be [[http://bg.battletech.com/?page_id=27 downloaded for free]] off of the official ''[=BattleTech=]'' website, even, including basic rules and the ability to print out a map and paper stand-ups of four 'Mechs, two variants each of a tank, hovercraft, [[PoweredArmor BattleArmor]] and infantry platoons to wage a quick, easy-to-understand skirmish.\\

* MultiNationalTeam: [=ComStar=] and the Word of Blake are generally staffed by individuals who are adopted from other factions rather than born into the orders; all the better to use them as spies and sleeper agents. More mobile mercenary groups tend to pick up recruits as they travel, [[DefeatMeansFriendship often from enemy defectors or prisoners,]] resulting in this trope once the command becomes established. The armies of the Republic of the Sphere are from the forces of Inner Sphere houses. And going back some further, the Star League Defense Forces were made up not only of warriors from the late Terran Hegemony, but from the other Great Houses, as well.

* TrialByCombat: Present in the Combine and one of the key pillars of Clan society, who have several variations; including [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Position]], [[MightMakesRight Absorption, Refusal, Possession]], [[MeaningfulRename Bloodright]], [[ThrowingDownTheGauntlet Grievance]], [[TheExile Abjuration]] and Annihilation.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: How the Absorption of Clan Widowmaker went down after [[spoiler:Nicholas Kerensky was killed]]. The results were...[[KillEmAll not pretty.]]

* TrialByCombat: Present in the Combine and one of the key pillars of Clan society, who have several variations; including [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Position]], [[MightMakesRight Absorption, Refusal, Possession]], [[MeaningfulRename Bloodright]], [[ThrowingDownTheGauntlet Grievance]], [[TheExile Abjuration]] and [[KillEmAll Annihilation]].

** Among vehicles, we have things like the [[{{BFG}} Demolisher]]. If you know your BT weapons, the [[MacrossMissileMassacre LRM and SRM Carriers]] and [[ShockAndAwe Schreck PPC Carrier]] are this, too.

** They weren't terribly broken up by the error -- [[https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,5611.msg125368.html#msg125368 Here's then-Line Developer Herb Beas' recollection of how he reacted to the situation.]] Complete with a SincerityMode NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer.

* PlanetTerra: The Terran Hegemony.

** This trope is also Deconstructed with Clan Smoke Jaguar. Turns out that being a Clan of mostly warriors and little to no scientist, engineers, and even basic workers, means that you have to raid other people for basic supplies. This lead to them having no allies during the Clan Invasion, Mechs and weapons that could not be replaced anywhere near fast enough, and lower caste members defecting to the Inner Sphere. There is a good reason Clan Smoke Jaguar no longer exists; their over-emphasis on the Warrior caste and completely ignorant eschewal of their other castes resulted in both CripplingOverspecialization and being TooDumbToLive. This served as a begrudging lesson to be learned for the Clans as a whole and that is 'never undervalue the potential of your other castes besides your Warriors'. Even the Jade Falcons, the most ardent leaders of the Crusader philosophy of the Clans, don't ignore the value of their Scientist, Technician, and Worker castes that balefully. Interestingly, the first Khan of the Jaguars, Franklin Osis, sought to ''avert'' this trope during his reign while still keeping a heavy emphasis of martial prowess within his Clan. Unfortunately for him, after his reign ended, the less charismatic successors of him focused only on building the strength of the Warrior caste, and did little to nothing to improve their civilian castes to the point that they outright scorned their very existence within the Clan; thus, the Clan's self-destruction would slowly but eventually be ensured until it ultimately reached its breaking point after the Battle of Tukkayid.

** DependingOnTheArtist, some Ultra Autocannons take the form of large gatling cannons. From the somewhat reasonable ArmCannon of the [[https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/8/85/Atlas_II.jpg?timestamp=20160905004436 Atlas II]] to the utterly unrestrained monument to munitions found on the [[https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/9/90/Burrock.jpg?timestamp=20150928232424 Burrock]].

** [[spoiler: At the start of Il-Clan era the combination of Lyran Commonwealth's inability to respond and the Jade Falcons leaving behind a massive power vacuum in their haste towards Terra gave rise to various opportunists carving out their own private kingdoms.]]

** After the failure of HPG network most of the Republic of the Sphere border prefectures seccedded either to strile it on their own or to join the Successor State or Clan they originally belonged to.

* BreathWeapon: The [[http://i.imgur.com/I3V1I.jpg Berserker]] mounts a flamer where a person's mouth would be.

* AlwaysAccurateAttack: The entire philosphy behind Streak SRM launchers. They utilize a built-in targeting computer to lock a target and prevent wasting ammo by only firing when a direct hit is virtually guaranteed.
** Clan Coyote managed to accomplish the dream of many Star League weapons techs when, in 3057, they rolled out Streak LRM launchers. They proved very popular with Clan mechwarriors, despite several drawbacks compared to standard Clantech launchers, such as being unable to use alternate ammo types, doubling the launchers weight and lacking indirect fire capability.