Ugh, even the artwork is sad. So many lost limbs...Some Mechs simply earn the term 'legend' from the moment the prototype walks off the test room floor for the first time. Hallowed machines with great abilities and (eventually) extensive combat records to cause their names to be spoken in hushed tones over drinks for centuries to come. Marauder. Archer. Mad Cat. Atlas. Targe. The list goes on. Others may not have seemed like much when devised, but have earned a name for themselves with tough fighting over the years, like the Centurion, the Vulture, the Valkyrie.
And sometimes you get a machine that no matter how hard it gets used, it just never really earns the respect it probably deserves. Today we'll look at one of them and see if it's as bad as its reputation traditionally claims it to be, the Blackjack.
Now, first thing's first. This article will cover the Blackjack, but NOT the BJ-2O Omnimech version that debuted in the late 3050s. That machine is different enough (and has enough configurations) to warrant its own article, one of which I believe is still in the archives here. This is going to go long anyway, people, adding a whole different Mech and over half a dozen Omni variants won't help that cause. If you need to find info on the Omnimech, it won't be here.
That aside, what we do have here is a fairly homely little 45-ton machine designed in theory as a fire support unit. The BJ-1 is one of those ideas that works really well in the imagination of a Battletech fan, standing tall over a battlefield and chattering autocannon fire down into the grueling front lines, but in gameplay... Well, more on that later. The 180-rated power plant provides a stately 4/6 movement speed, abysmally slow compared to similar-sized machines like the Phoenix Hawk, but leaving lots of room for other equipment. The addition of four jump jets means the Blackjack can scale hills and such quickly to gain good firing positions, always a good thing in a fire support unit (see: Catapult), and just as importantly be able to hop away to safety if its position is threatened. So long as you don't use it to chase down the enemy, 4/6/4 is fine for a machine in this role.
The armor is remarkably tough little shell, far more capable of protecting the Mech than one might expect. A PPC won't break the armor on any limb or front torso location- they'll all even still have a little left over. That's handy, particularly since the intended use of a Blackjack is to hang back away from where most weapons will reliably reach in reply anyway- so it won't take much fire to begin with, and what it does see, it can survive. One can't ask for more than that.
Well, actually they can, because when we reach the weapon loadout we find there's a problem. The AC/2 is a neat idea in theory- a small, rapidly-chattering cannon roaring at its target, peppering them with a stream of shells at ranges they can barely see the attacker at... but, if you've ever played Battletech, you're probably aware of how underwhelming this thing really is. Two points of damage. TWO. There's good sides- yes, the range is ludicrous, longer than any other non-artillery weapon in its day, so you really can keep someone under harassing fire at a point where they can't really respond. And at 45 rounds per ton of ammo, you can afford to take wild shots all you like. But at the end of the day, the Blackjack invested twelve tons of a 45-ton Mech (plus one more ton for ammo) into two 2-point hits per turn. There's no way to make that look good, people- if you're using a Blackjack as your fire support, your opponent is going to enjoy his open-field advance. Luckily, in-close the Blackjack tacks on four medium lasers, mounted coaxial with the cannons. That's a solid mid-to-short range punch, though heat gets a little dicey if you use all four and move. The Mech does include an extra heat sink in addition to the ten in the engine as-standard, but repeated use of the lasers (particularly if the jump jets are used as well) can make things a little roasty. Luckily, there's no reason to worry about heat on a Blackjack, other than the AC/2 ammunition parked in the center tors... hmmmm. Do you owe money to one of your Mechwarriors? Put him in a BJ-1 and watch your money troubles vanish.
Now, remember that I said the Blackjack wasn't viewed well by the Inner Sphere's militaries? Yeah, that's because it sucks. But following a victory by the FedSuns over the DCMS on Xhosha VII in 3022, the FedSuns began looking closer at the Blackjack. Can't imagine why- with two autocannons, one expects Hanse had a poster of one on his bedroom ceiling to begin with. But, this victory prompted the Davions to begin tinkering with their Blackjacks, and the results were... interesting. The first is the BJ-1DC, which drops the jump jets (hmmm) to gain a pair of small lasers and a heat sink. If you're turning your screen sideways to see the hidden genius in doing this, let me save you the trouble- if you owe one of your Mechwarriors a LOT of money, put them in this lemon. There's no good rationale for this thing, period- the added heat dissipation isn't bad, but the loss of the jump jets is crippling, and the addition of small lasers is just bizarre- if your Blackjack is in small laser range, things have gone pear-shaped and those lasers aren't going to save you, particularly since you can't jump away from danger anymore.
Davion's next experiment is slightly less get-drunk-worthy. BJ-1DB removes the autocannons, to the surprise of Davion techs everywhere, and tacks on a pair of large lasers in their place. Marik fans are fanning themselves. To accomplish this, the AC/2s, their ammo, a ton of armor, and two of the medium lasers are all sacrificed. That allows for more heat sinks, because oh man do you need them now. Surprisingly, firing both heavy lasers and walking produces zero heat, a rarity in this era (and thus making it a pretty nice Mech to teach new players on, hi, people who just bought the box set!) Luckily, the torso bomb is gone at least. If you have to use a Blackjack in the 4th SW era, this is a good choice- it isn't really fire support anymore, but it proves remarkably handy as an urban warfare machine (hop in, fire, hop away).
Likely extinct by the time the 1st Succession War began, by the way, was a prototype model that seems so different that it hardly registers as the same design. The BJ-1X has a much larger 225-rated engine for a 5/8 movement, but no jump jets. The cannons are gone, in favor of a pair of flamers. Which... the damage is the same, but the range is absurdly cut down. But, you have more speed to advance on your target, and infantry are best served medium-well. A few extra heat sinks round out this oddball, but chances are 1) you'll never see one and 2) if you do, you won't really care. If you want something that zips around lighting things on fire, get a Firestarter.
The final variant in the 4th Succession War has a murky history. It's the BJ-3 (why?), produced by the Capellan Confederation as they fought off the FedSuns hordes. The most notable change is the swapping of the autocannons for a pair of Ceres PPCs. Good lord- that's neat and all, but your pilot will look like a creme brulee by the time... wait. Double heat sinks? In THIS era? Yes Virginia, the Cappies had acquired some spiffy new tech from the past, by way of questionable methods (one suspects the Steiners and Davions should check their inventories...) The Mech is a remarkable one, then, for a couple of reasons- first, because it's the first Mech in a few hundred years to use double heat sinks in its construction rather than one-off field mods and the like. And second because it's remarkably GOOD. I mean, it runs warm if you're not careful obviously, particularly since the extra heat sink from earlier models was removed (along with the ammo bin) to make up the extra weight of the new guns, but as a bracket-fire machine this is superb for its era. St. ives ended up with most of these machines postwar, and continued to build the variant afterwards (and rightly so!) for their own forces.
So, the Blackjack got a little love during the 4th SW era. Guess what happened to Blackjacks when the Clans arrived a few years later though? AC/2s against Mechs like the Thor and Ryoken. Yeah, that must have been pretty funny for the invaders. Clearly things needed to improve if the Blackjack was going to stand against the new threat, and a new variant based on the BJ-1DB concept rose to meet the challenge. The BJ-2 used the newly-rediscovered ER Large Laser as the core of its combat abilities, with one in each arm. These were the best of both worlds, combining the power of the large lasers on its parent with range at least comparable overall to the autocannons of the original BJ-1. A switch to double-strength heat sinks (see below) made for a cool-running (ish) machine that could lay down fire efficiently when needed. Oddly, the medium lasers were replaced with a quartet of Streak SRM-2 packs, sharing one ton of ammo. Now, a note on this one is that it has eleven double heat sinks, so after firing the lasers for a while it does warm up a bit. However, early versions of TRO:3050 (such as the authors) show this as eleven SINGLE heat sinks, and that's just... there aren't words. Do NOT use the wrong record sheet, people! A corrected BJ-2 is a joy to run, one of the hidden gems of its era.
The BJ-4 pops up in the Civil War era, and it's got even more new tricks. A light fusion engine is installed, freeing up plenty of weight. The armor is switched to light Ferro-Fibrous, but half a ton is removed (cancelling out, roughly), and adds CASE to the ammo bins. This baby-Jagermech then installs a light AC/5 in each arm, mounted with a paired ER medium laser. If you're into special munitions for autocannons, this has potential. Four tons of ammo (!!!) mean you can flavor your shots however you wish all day long, and the targeting computer tacked on means those shots are more likely to hit. Generally I'm not a fan of Mechs like this, but there's some fun to be had here if you're into the Department of Dirty Tricks. Alone, this is a waste of time, but as part of a group one can find some great fun to be had, supporting your friends with precision shots and the like.
It remains for us to cover one last Blackjack, and for that we look past the Jihad into the Dark Age, where apparently the BJ-2 is still used. The BJ-2r strips weapons from that Mech to gain a pair of Re-Engineered Large Lasers. Your opinion of these weapons likely varies considerably, dear readers- I myself am not a huge fan, since they're very situational on whether they're useful or not- otherwise they're just warmer and slightly-stronger large lasers for no real gain. A single medium laser pokes from the left torso. Note that the machine sinks all the heat from a run and firing both big guns, which is handy for sure.
So, a Mech that earns little love in-universe, tends to be overlooked by many players- but does it deserve that reputation? Well, yeah. The 3025 cannon variants are pretty bad, honestly. The BJ-2 is a lovely machine with a few warts to work out, and the 3 is a fantastic machine that likely is rare to the point of unicorn-status during the 4th SW in even elite units. Not one variant is particularly dominant over similar-sized machines in-general, to the point that the author found himself regularly wishing to trade in the Blackjack in favor of a Whitworth or Vindicator instead. It's slow, tough, and either hits hard at mid ranges or hits lightly at long ranges (depending on the version), and in no situation is it all that terrifying. Used intelligently it can be a very handy addition to your army, but if you're shopping for fire support Mechs it's best to keep on looking generally.
CHECKERS! CHECKERS FOR ALL!
