Dr Nightstar: "Congratulations, Mrs Warhammer, Mr Marauder, it's a Thug!" Mad: "Aww, look honey, he has your SRMs." Whm: "And your legs." Mad: "And...Hand actuators?! Where did he get THOSE?!" Nightstar:

As any wise Mechwarrior knows, you do not choose the Thug life. The Thug life chooses you.

The Thug is a VERY solid assault, 80 tons, dual PPCs and SRM's and ALL of the heatsinks, the 2750 one is absurdly oversinked but that just means you can put a brick on the fire button and leave it there. Great vid on a solid 'mech!

Maltex took a look at the Warhammer when designing the their Thug and said “So, you think you’re untouchable”. Thugonomics 101.

The Thug: meant to surpass the Warhammer in every measure, eventually settling into a strange frenemy relationship. Thanks for the video.

There's something inherently funny about the name Thug. It is kinda menacing but it feels so mundane in between all the other mechs. It's like naming a mech Bully or Grunt.

There aren’t a ton of mechs that are so good that the massive downgrade of the succession wars barely effected the devastation it can throw out.

I always knew Mechfrog was living that Thug life.

The extra heatsinks on the original Thug means it can lose a few and still keep operating at full capacity.

When your group only plays in the Succession Wars era and you pilot a Thug: "Been spendin most my life livin in an Amish Paradise. . . "

I know it's meant to be designed after the warhammer, but it reads to me like they just took two panthers and fused them together. Double the PPC, double the SRM, same amount of "variation" between models. Like having something other than a PPC and SRM in the mech would bring great dishonor to their family. It works though. Haven't had a chance to field one myself yet but I've faced them and they take a lot to put down.

But really the Thug is amazing no matter what form it takes. The fact that there isn't any Clan version still boggles my mind given how tough and effective the base design is.

Played a Thug for the first time last night- the 11Eb! It was a monster

The THG-MF is an absolute beast. Got to love a design with twin Plasma Rifles. I could see it running a pair of small lasers instead of medium, and try to shoehorn in an ECM.

Love the MF variant. Two Plasma Rifles are just nasty, but they fit the theme of the Thug so well!

One of my favorites. This guy is tough, durable and just plain nasty:)

My favourite assault mech. Put it in any assault formation and it will hold its own. While not a spotlight holder, it will always hold a special place in my heart for just being so damned reliable.

I bought the Inner Sphere Support Lance simply because it had a Thug in it. I tend to prefer faster mediums and lights, but the Thug really is THAT great.

as soon as the Star League TRO 2750 (1989) was released the Thug was a regular sites on my table. They have a special place in my memory. I warmly remember one of my thugs wielding a leg of a commando smashing anything that got to close with SRMs and Clubbing, mech was eventually named the Knight Clubber after this became a regular tactic. - it did have a single DHS and 1/2 ton armor removed for an ECM. Ok removed is not correct - more - not replaced after a battle and the ECM was recovered. One build i did for a clan what if - ended up with 2xATM6 2xERPPC ECM AMS FF +2 DHS and of course I had to have a jumping thug Another good one Mr Mech Frog

Gotta love the thug 😂 my first campaign to be a part of when I first got into Battletech was my Marauder getting its cockpit punched out by a thug 😂

Can't go wrong with such a weapon combo. In tabletop: 2 ppc = 20 dmg for 20 heat 1 ppc and 2 srm6 = up 34 dmg for 18 heat 1 ppc and 1 srm6 = up 22 damage for 14 heat 2 srm 6 = up to 24 dmg for 8 heat Many ways to cause a knock down at any range and the armor to deliver it. In video games, ppcs and srm are always heavy hitters. Solid design.

Oh, the Thug… the mech that truly brought me into Battletech, I remember watching something that had art of the Thug and I thought ‘that’s so cool!’ Thanks for doing a video on it!

I actually appreciate when designs are not 'perfect' Ala the Thug's notorious 'over' sinking.

The real fridge logic is when you realize the stock thug is really just a faster, even more heavily armored Awesome, which trades the third PPC and small laser for SRM's. It's basically saying "look at what this already pretty nice, cost effective mech can do with only minor modifications."

"As the entire idea of a Thug being stealthy amuses my primitive mammalian brain" but MF, i thought your brain was amphibian!

If there were two words that would sum up the Thug for me they would be “simple” and “reliable”. Also that “downgrade” is still damn good.

Once you pilot a Thug, you know its *Thug Life for Life*

Always loved piloting the Thug in Mechwarrior 2. The lack of torso twisting made it feel like a spiritual successor to the old WW2 German tank destroyers and assault guns, namely the StuG

Thank you so much. I absolutely love the Thug! The addition of things like ERPPCs and snub-nosed PPCs feel so right, a machine with the heat-stinks to alpha strike with two SRM-6s and two PPCs deserves PPCs with no minimum range.

I played a Thug in a tournament at a con in like the summer of '95, I didn't win but did go to the second round. The Thug is the best zombie mech, it keeps coming.

It's really hard to go wrong with dual PPCs. And then the follow-up wave of SRMs gives you twelve potential chances for critting something out. It's simple and effective. Absolutely love it.

At first glance, the Thug didn’t look like much for an 80 ton assault mech. You soon find out otherwise-as do your opponents.

The Thug sounds like a lot of fun to play.

Love how the original weapons payload of the thug remain unchanged from the star league era all the way to to the ilclan era. Dual PPCs and SRMs are timeless for that Thug Life combo.

This is one of my favorite mechs of all time. I was extremely upset when I discovered MW5 Mercs didn’t add it in. Lovely video, sir!

I love using the Thug against clan mechs since its beefy enough to just park in front of several clan mechs for several turns and just absorb damage

We love the Thug because it's a four-letter monosyllabic word in the form of consonant-consonant-vowel-G, and all the best words are like that (see also: FROG)

Very well done. I really enjoyed the coverage. A great video, for a great Mech.

Another great awesome video there. I've never played with the Thug myself, but I love tinkering around with the design. It's a good solid design.

I like big stompy robits with guns and lasers. Thus, I love the Thug and all battlemechs, even the Urbanmech.

Had a thug in Mech warrior 2 mercs it was my Warhammer cope mechanism as the undean had just got going then. Also yes painting more minis a lance of Northwind highlanders!

Love how the corporate shenanigans continue with the Kuritans mixing the Thug load out with the Charger chassis .

I can attest to the Thug the last time I ran one in a lance with a Catapult K2, Dragon N1 & Hunchback 4G in a Long Ranged Fire lance it didn't disappoint

Such a solid mech , anything that can cop engine crits and that you can still just hold the trigger down is fantastic

Honestly, the -11E and -10E are probably my favorite canon variants of the Thug. And while I do like your THG-MF variant, I still made my own - which I'm sure you expected to happen. The THG-ISM utilizes, of course, some Clantech in the form of its DHS, XL engine, and internal structure. It replaces the standard gyro with a heavy-duty version, the 15.5 tons of standard armor with 18.5 tons of Hardened armor, and swaps the PPCs for Clan ER versions. It drops the SRMs completely in favor of 2 Medium Re-Engineered Lasers in each side torso, as well as an additional DHS. While this is inadequate to handle the heat load of an alpha strike (38 heat dissipation against 54 heat generated), it negates the need for CASE - which admittedly might be such a good trade-off. Mounting TSM helps to take advantage of the heat load, but still doesn't really make it worth it. I did add jump jets to it as well, which probably doesn't help with the heat but improves its mobility. In spite of that, I do like it. Plus, if you're familiar with the way 'Mech combat went in the Succession Wars as well as the Clan Invasion and just afterward, a high heat burden would something pilots would be used to.

The Thug is such a beast in almost all its variants....

I once ran a 13U in a headhunter lance, very effective at getting in quick, smashing anything at or below its weight and then getting out.

I hope this can be on MWO Legends.

DANG!!! No notification KZfaq!! - just started the video. Thank you much MechFrog!

Thug just all around bad ass. Only thing I would change on the Royal variant with the ER PPC's is going to four streak-2's in the SL era. Then that leaves the options of getting rid of a extra ton of ammo, and case in a torso if desired. I'd go 19th Double heatsink, and a half to of whatever.

I love this mech it does well with its mix if not number of weapons...sometimes less is more :-) we love the thug cause it looks good and hits hard :-) a regular opponent of mine loves the ppc and this is one of his must go toos so ive learnt to respect it :-)

It is not often that you hear of a mech, regardless of it's class, weight, or use case, that's *so good* that the great houses _didn't_ want to send them into the meat grinder of the succession wars and kept them like prized possessions. That should say something about the design. I admittedly never thought about the Thug that much until I watched this video. Maybe I'll give it another run if I ever encounter it in the various games I play. :)

Great video! I like the Thug. Looking forward to more videos.

I love the Thug, being a fan of pew pew pew I tend to switch it's SRMs for some other energy weapons, though it makes it quite toasty. To this day I don't know how it's supposed to use it's hands with those phat PPCs in the way...

I'm not a big fan myself, even though it is a solid design. But my first thought seeing it was they took bits of the Zeus, Warhammer, and Titan and crammed them all together. (Yeah, I know the Titan is only marginally canon, having only appeared in the Battetechnology magazine. But it's hard to ignore 2 PPCs, 6 ML, and 22 SRMs...)

I loved the Thug since I I first saw it in MW2 Mercenaries!

Honestly, I just like the idea that someone used those hands to grab an enemy mech and hold them still in front of their chest. Then they dumped as many SRM's in to them as it took with no chance of missing.

I run a Mixed tech thug with clan double heat sinks, ferro fibrous armor, ER PPCs and 4 medium pulse lasers. Basically a 10E that swaps everything but the engine and chassis.

We love the Thug when we cant get our hands on an Awesome, Marauder or Warhammer. Ride the lightning to victory, and stand on their smoking scrap!

I've pulled the SRM's out of an 11E as well as the left PPC to put a targeting computer and LRM15 in the right and left torso respectively, two Defiance C9M clan-grade ER Medium Lasers each in the left arm and center torso, and shaved one ton of armor and I think a few heat sinks to fit. Still fully cooled and it's a mid-range monster

I heard about the 3 Hppc thug and the Awesome 8Q came to mind.

You know, the Thug was never one of my favorites to use in my lances, but perhaps I should reconsider that going forward. Always had a preference for the Awesome for PPC shenanigans.

I used a Thug 11E my last game. Charged it into the fray to cover my medium units and had it punching, kicking, and shooting, as you do with a Thug. Got a nice end of game kill on a Crusader, even after its whole right side was blown off from an ammo-crit. Thug life baby!

I love it because it is simple, and gives me an excuse to utter the pun "thug around and find out." I do prefer the one with the kurita body kit, but with the classic thug loadout (aka put the dhs back in, comstar isn't looking). there is little i could do to improve it beyond ditching some dhs to add case II but that is such a minor change. and with it being so oversinked the ERPPCs of the royal version and later 12E sort of make sense as you paid for the entire thermometer, you might as well use it to shoot rather than just as TAC absorbers. PS: on the Wild Geese version you (visually) list it as having 3 clan erppcs instead of two. audio correctly mentions it as having two

18:33 that could have been two flamers 🙂🔥👩‍🚒🧑‍🚒❤‍🔥.

18:20 loaded with infernos, of course 🤠.

I really, really like the Thug. Pretty much the only thing that could make me like the Thug even more would be if there were a standard variant that could jump, but that would probably only be achievable by under-sinking it more or doing something like what you did with the XL gyro. Zombie mechs are my jam, the Grasshopper is my favorite mech, so obviously I dig the Thug.

Thug is an anagram for "Oh my God, we're about to get horribly killed !"

The only modification I'd do to my stock thug would be to pull 4 very much not really needed DHS and add 4 medium lasers massively beefs up the close up close punch and can still fire a PPC every other turn when using the SRMs and medium lasers

I enjoy all of Mechanical Frog videos

Solid video. Love the Thug. 4 out of 5.

The Thug: Because a hamner may be simple, but sometimes all you really need is a hammer.

Never used it, never owned a model, never even sat in the cockpit in a game. Why do I love the Thug? Honestly, the name.

The Thug is flat-out better than a Warhammer for most things-the problem is it costs 38% more and uses advanced technology to do it. It is rugged, though not quite as much as the Warhammer either. And you can get and run a full Lance of Warhammers for cheaper than three Thugs, too-and for most jobs, a Lance of Warhammers is good enough. The Thug has aged well, especially the upgrade with ER PPCs, but it's a shame there hasn't been a version with CASE II (not the 13U, it's way too specialized and lacks the long range) to truly set it into the new era. A Sea Fox upgrade package giving it a part-for-part replacement (two Clan ER PPCs, two Clan Streak SRM-6s, two Inner Sphere CASE IIs, and maybe a Clan ECM Suite for some extra defense? kinda like the Wild Geese version) would be a real killer product, i think. There's no real Thug counterpart to the Warhammer 8R-though the appeal of the Thug, perhaps, is that there doesn't really need to be.

The combination of TSM and Ballistic armour makes me think the 13U was designed specifically for hot environments. It seems like a mech designed to brawl in a Solaris arena filled with lava.

👏👏👏Excellent stuff. It’s in the same ForcePack as the Dragon, right? I must get one. It looks so cool, hit so hard. And a great name!

I tried the ilclan era Version last week, this Thing is a real menace in City fights

I've never played a Thug before, it may be time to remedy that.

Thug is good, so I like it. While it may be slightly undergunned for it's weight class, I think the extra mobility more than makes up for it. Side note, my theory for the extra double heat sinks is actually for if the thug takes an engine hit. If it's engine is damaged, it can still run and alpha strike and have 1 heat capacity to spare. I feel it gives it slightly more longevity, though how much more value that longevity brings is debateable.

I'd change the ppc to large lasers and add 2 more medium lasers in the left right torso.

This is one of my fave mechs and I used it in my first league to end up winning the B side

When in doubt, thug it out.

I expected Plasma Rifles for the MF variant and was not disappointed

A great Star League era Mech. Always took one for a ComGuard unit.

I play both IF and Clans. The Thug is one of like, maybe four of my Inner Sphere mechs I don't have to worry about. (The others are my Zeus, Awesome, and strangely enough my Caesar holds better than my King Crab) which for Inner Sphere mechs is rare. Meanwhile my Clan mechs, I basically don't worry about. But the Thug in particular, is tough enough to tank any singular hit, and can generally give as good as it gets. In a game where I can pick my weapons, I'd trade in the srms for lasers, just for battlefield longevity, but they work in the games.

Never seem to be on the giving end of the Thug, just recieving...so Ugh Thug. love the MF version though not sure if BTA will let me make it. it has been problematic for many of mech refits, save for omnis...sigh. Once again an brilliant review of an iconic Mech. Once again I must now go into the field of Big Stompie mechs.

The TSM Thug would likely have been served better by moving the snubs to the torso, but that might have put critical space at too much a premium. Always found that two chances to punch with the upper body track is more advantageous than a single kick with the lower.

Other than some of the variants being under-sinked, I have always thought that the Thug is a decent machine.

Thanks for the video. Looking at the artwork I have to wonder if the hand actuators are even usefully with the PPCs protruding past them.

Loved it since the day I picked up TRO 2750. Only thing better in that TRO was the passage on Highlander Burials (and perhaps the original warship pics)

Hello Frog. YOINK! I am taking that variant for testing with my Ghost Lions Legions. I have something for you as well... my own 'take' on the Thug. Version:1.0 Thug THG-13-GL Config:Biped techbase:Inner Sphere era:3081 source:TRO 3075 rules level:2 mass:80 engine:320 XL Engine(IS) structure:IS Standard myomer:Standard heat sinks:16 IS Double walk mp:4 jump mp:0 armor:Ferro-Fibrous(Inner Sphere) LA armor:25 RA armor:25 LT armor:26 RT armor:26 CT armor:36 HD armor:9 LL armor:33 RL armor:33 RTL armor:8 RTR armor:8 RTC armor:12 Weapons:6 ER PPC, Left Arm ER PPC, Right Arm Large Laser, Left Arm Large Laser, Right Arm Large Laser, Left Torso Large Laser, Right Torso Left Arm: Shoulder Upper Arm Actuator Lower Arm Actuator Hand Actuator Large Laser Large Laser ISERPPC ISERPPC ISERPPC IS Ferro-Fibrous IS Ferro-Fibrous IS Ferro-Fibrous Right Arm: Shoulder Upper Arm Actuator Lower Arm Actuator Hand Actuator Large Laser Large Laser ISERPPC ISERPPC ISERPPC IS Ferro-Fibrous IS Ferro-Fibrous IS Ferro-Fibrous Left Torso: Fusion Engine Fusion Engine Fusion Engine Large Laser Large Laser IS Ferro-Fibrous ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink Right Torso: Fusion Engine Fusion Engine Fusion Engine Large Laser Large Laser IS Ferro-Fibrous ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink ISDoubleHeatSink Center Torso: Fusion Engine Fusion Engine Fusion Engine Gyro Gyro Gyro Gyro Fusion Engine Fusion Engine Fusion Engine IS Ferro-Fibrous IS Ferro-Fibrous Head: Life Support Sensors Cockpit -Empty- Sensors Life Support Left Leg: Hip Upper Leg Actuator Lower Leg Actuator Foot Actuator IS Ferro-Fibrous IS Ferro-Fibrous Right Leg: Hip Upper Leg Actuator Lower Leg Actuator Foot Actuator IS Ferro-Fibrous IS Ferro-Fibrous

Cool! Just saying hi :) great video

I made my own silly variant based on 11E with two plasma rifles and one ton of inferno missiles for the SRM-6 in addition to a ton of regular missiles.

Extra heatsinks means you can lose a few and keep going and less chance of ammo criticals.

The Thug: What happens when someone redesigns a Warhammer so they can market it for House Steiner.

I mean, I'm one of those "it's a worse Warhammer" guy- but I like to look at the pricetag. The Thug is a classic menace, and the setting is better for having it- even if I don't like it very much for my own lances.

The same day i read the novel i got the quote from it in the video.

I always wonder why the Thug never got a 2750 Era "All Energy" variant. The "All Energy" Warhammer seems to be from that time period and switching the SRMs for a Medium and M-Pulse + Heat Sink (getting to 20 Doubles). Yes, a bit less damage in the M-Laser/SRM long range bracket but lasers are more constant in damage and require no resupply.

Not a bad one. Tough, reliable and relatively versatile. It's no Orion but it can do the job.

Solid like for the intro music alone, plus I do like the Thug... Pity there is no Clan IIC variant.