I adore this design so much, but I think it’s also very funny how often “a mech specialized for duels,” translates to “one of the best skirmishers and head-hunters a battlefield could have.” Very much an oddity of labels

The new art for the Vapor Eagle is a rare case of the artist using the style of the Project Phoenix artwork rather than that of the original TRO: 3055 artwork. And in this case it works well, since the Vapor Eagle was one of those cases where the 'Reseen' artwork was able to improve on the original. That made it very cool to see the new artwork for the original configuration.

Genuinely feels like a a more traditional Phoenix Hawk IIC. You have that same movement profile, with a load of accurate weapons for light and medium hunting. Genuinely terrifying. My own mess around variant dropped a MPL and two machineguns. This dropped the TC to two tons instead. Upgraded the launchers to SSRM4s, added an extra heat sink and a half ton of armor so it's 3 points off max. Not fully optimized but still. You're right, making this thing "Better" is a hard ask

Vapor Eagle, a mech that I really enjoy the redesign of and love on the board. It's a clan duelist in pure form and it's great.

I've said it many times before, but Vapor Eagle is everything the Phoenix Hawk can only dream to be. It's very fast for a non-omni, heavily armed, extremely mobile, ridiculously accurate at any range, offers amazing protection for it's weight class and has enough heat sinks to jump behind the opponent and fire most (a ludicrous number) of it's weapons into the enemy's soft back without overheating. It brutally murders light mechs, vehicles and infantry, brutalizes most mediums with ease and it's mere presence is enough to force heavies and assaults to constantly keep their backs against a wall or risk becoming a smoking wreck of an example what "punching above it's weight class" means in BT. And to top it all off, Vapor Eagle looks STUNNING. My absolutely favorite medium of all time.

The Vapor Eagle prime is my favorite clan mech. It makes a perfect medium mech that has such incredible maneuverability combined with awesome killing power. I primarily play AS, and it is a little costly, but the ability to get easy rear shots, OV at short and blast 7 damage that can easily kill most other mediums in 1 round and seriously scar or kill a heavy or assault makes it worth the points. I love its style and its lore and it is just so damn perfect!

Love using this mech in MWO and Tabletop. It just fits my niche of extremely fast and accurate light hunter mechs.

Such a fantastic mech, also the new artwork captures the sleek aggressive lines of a predatory hunting bird. The original loadout is the best IMO, effectively able to outgun anything it can't outrun.

Gods I remember Razorfist's reading of "Ghost of Winter". This thing went against a (albeit Pirate), Madcat and won with fighting knowledge of the location they fought on.

I started loving this Mech in BTAdvanced 3062 and then totally had to paint one for my Clan Sea Fox Spina Khanate force. Such a brilliant medium Mech. 🌊🦊

Vapor Eagle one of my favorite Clan mediums. The 7 variant is a BEAST in Alpha Strike.

I like the MF version. Keep in mind that PW acts as 3 HS and saves on heat by the "free" 2 hexes jump distance. It also allows you to get a critical extra +1 defensive THT mod. Those 2 hexes can be the difference between the side and rear arc.

Vapor Eagle is my absolute favorite medium mech. Takes me back to one of my first major battles against an old friend of mine. His merc company of clan tech refitted IS mechs vs my binary of mostly clan second line mechs. I sent my Vapor Eagle flanking into his back field to murder his Archer. High risk, high reward glory kill. I was able to use the terrain and Eagle's jump jets to get to point blank range. Used the targetting comp to pinpoint the Archer's center torso. Took a wave of missles from the Archer's 4 cLRM 20s, that blasted half the armor on my Eagle in damn near every location. A few lucky piloting skill rolls, and initiative later, and the Eagle jumped behind the Archer and cored it out the next turn. It was a grand battle of much glory that day.

I always thought that the clans should have had more dueling mechs. Awesome as always

Vapor Eagle is one of those mechs that is so freaking good, I don't know why most clans dropped it for the Goshawk II in later eras. They aren't even similar mechs, you can have both guys.

I'm leaning towards a trio of Linebacker D, Black Lanner C and Goshawk (standard) to just run-and-gun

About a year ago, I reread Ghost of Winter, so this was the perfect opening for the Vapor Eagle, if you ask me.

I adore this mech, it takes a special kind of will for me to leave it at home when I play my Clans. The base load out is so perfect too 🙌

My perhaps unpopular theory on this mech: While it is good at dueling, it is low key an urban environment clearing death machine. Ideally suited to built up heavy terrain as found in a city environment, this thing has enough machine guns to clear any hidden infantry ambushes. Add it's mobility and high accuracy primary weapons and this thing can rapidly relocate and backstab the thin armor of a enemy mechs rear arc.

This is my all-time favorite clan-spec 'mech. I have defeated sooooo many arrogant tube-brats with this baby who thought their Omni was invulnerable and hadn't done their homework. This machine is just DEADLY. And the mobility lets you go after bigger prey if you wish. The only tweak I've ever done to it is to pull the MGs and streaks for more medium pulse lasers. But honestly, I almost always run this one 'stock'. Its the most versatile striker I have and it pairs OH so well with P-hawk and Wasps. 🙂

I was like "what in Blake's name is a Vapor Eagle? OH a Goshawk!" 😂 I like the new artwork! And the new name 😉

The Vapor Eagle along with the Conjurer are two fantastic designs that hold out through time in their standard loadout quite easily and I can get behind the MF variant with the partial wings on it... Imho these Mechs can be excellent in a multitude of situations

Ah the Vapor Eagle, the other cursed design I love. Much like the beautiful T-bucket, this clan secondary ate up crits. I really wanted to make it work, so I kept it in storage till I had the guts to drive it again, but only after I jokingly paid a Shaman in the Shatter wastes to remove its curse during a role play session. Oddly enough, the plucky 55 hasn't had a crit since. It became my go too mech after my Pillagers dismemberment by a Mexican hat dance of zone gang lights. The Shaman is now a well paid team member.

The Vapor Eagle 7 seems like someone tried to make a fat Piranha, but with more pew and less dakka.

One heck of a duelist and the feature mech in the Ghosts of Winter where the protag wipes out a Timberwolf with it. Something that can happen if you are careful.

One of my all time favorite mediums. Not just because of its visual similarities to another popular mecha franchise, but also because of how fun it's primary configuration is! I fielded this in my first semi-compeditive event as part of a star. It teamed up with a horned owl to take down an Atlas. Then it got its head vaporized by a Maskari in the first turn second round. Win some, lose some.

The Vapor Eagle is the whole package, from its excellent equipment, feel-good playability, as well as its absolutely gorgeous visual design. It is my favourite mech in Battletech. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out its origins were with the Snow Ravens rather than Steel Viper, although that is almost certainly a more recent retcon.

We love the goshawk because it has an awesome head :-) loved painting this mech; great shape :-) cheers for the fun watch...I'm inner sphere forever but love the look of this medium fighter :-)

My favorite clan standard mech! With a name and design like that, I'm honestly surprised it didn't come from Jade Falcon. It unfortunately suffers from "only the prime is good" disease like a few others. Luckily though, the prime is one of the meanest 55-tonners on the tabletop. A beast in BT as well as in MWO.

I'm on board with you on this one... it's VERY hard to improve on the original. personally I wouldn't even try as the VE-1 is right down my alley... I just wish it had more armor. so I'd drop the MG's and add that to the armor tonnage (if there is room).

I love this mech, and was super excited to pilot one in MWO when it became available. My personal preference for its loadout is a mix of the 1 and 3 variants with a personal tweak. Large pulse laser in the right arm, two ER medium lasers in the right torso, an SRM 4 with 1 ton of ammo (and case) in the LT and an ATM 3 in the left arm with two tons of ammo and case in one of the torso's (don't remember which 😅) Kept the targeting computer, but I think i yanked a jump jet or two and I think it ran with base heat sink count. I know that ATM's do not work quite the same way in MWO as they would with the tabletop game, but I find them quite fun to use.

Really enjoy second line clan mechs. And a background of panel blocks and prom zone is hilarious.

I've run the Vapor Eagle/Goshawk in a number of Clan Stars and it hasn't disappointed

The only critique is that the UAC/2 version does have a targeting computer, but you are right, the other variants are either cheaper but then need to upgrade the pilot, making it more expensive then the original, or more expensive from the start, making it dezgra. This mech is my favorite medium mech in the game. I can imagine it almost dancing across the battlefield like its an invader from an anime, assassinating VTOLs, hovers, and light mechs. I purposely only have one of these in each faction i paint because of how powerful that agility + armor+ pulse + targeting computer mounting demon is. This mech is a beautiful friend killer.

This isn't a Mech-specific comment, but it bears saying. I've truly grown to love the orange/blue camo you use enough that I feel I have to try and replicate it on my minis.

They're a serious bit of work, I kind of see were they headed with some of the variants and others tended to be a little bit odd. Like someone was always going to need 'big gun' and 'more missiles' even if it cost quite a bit to cram it all in there. I do like the idea of a partial wing system as well as throwing the SRM-2's in the bin and maybe sticking something in there like a probe and ecm suite to open up some other options on the approach.

Appreciate the bits from Ghost of Winter. - I always enjoyed the bizarre look of the old Ral Partha Vapor Eagle, but CGL artists knocked it out of the park with this redesign. The OG Vapor Eagle I would agree is hard to improve upon. Funny thought, I always envisioned one of these painted up as Samus Aran’s powersuit (from the Metroid Series, of which I love). I would need to come up with some lore about a orphaned girl being adopted by a “bird clan” or something and learning to use a Vapor Eagle (maybe Raven Alliance), and then becoming a “mercenary” of sorts, hunting down space pirates.

Have a happy New Year Frog! I love the aesthetic of the Vapor Eagle, it cuts hard and in combat is the great TarComp and LPL combo from hell. Similarly the Republic of the Sphere version is equally unique in terms of looks.

Last time I used the Goshawk I just the standard one and it was an incredibly reliable mech on the field. I had it bouncing from engagement to engagement and helping out other mechs, as well as tracking down fast light mechs while running hot itself. Truly a fantastic mech that can take a good beating and still keep going and working reliably. Would gladly take one of these into another battle, you just can't beat pulse lasers with a targeting computer

We all love this one because "Vapor Eagle" sounds like taking all the drugs is involved. "There I was in my Centurion on patrol and suddenly then that Vapor Eagle got me." "Sure Mitch how many beers did you have before you got so bad you crashed your mech into the building?"

One of my favorite Clan mechs from 3055. Thanks MF!

I love this Mech for its design and tonnage.

The VE-6 sounds like someone wanted to see how annoyed opposing players would get with having to roll TAC every turn before calling quits...😅

In MWO, it's my favorite Clan Mech to run. In a fit of irony, unlike all the Omnimechs, the Vapor Eagle is a true wild card that can be configured however you want since you can change out its internals as well as its weaponry, armor, and auxillary equipment. And it has enough diverse hardpoints between its many variants to where it can cover ANY role reasonably well when subject to modification. Consequently, the list of Vapor Eagle configs I've acquired over the years is legion. It's also on a short list of mechs I wholeheartedly recommend to new players when starting MWO because it doesn't have any major weaknesses apart from being under-powered in Mech-Quirks, but full access to Clan-Spec weaponry and internals. Beyond MWO, it's an amazingly practical design set right at the Magic Tonnage range for where you're maximizing the value of a lot of things per capita of tonnage, and you really can't go wrong fielding one if you're lucky enough to win one as salvage.

AWESOME vid, Frog!!! With the exception of the Dire Wolf, Warhawk, Timber Wolf and Mad Dog, why do I find myself loving the second-line mechs and 2C versions MORE than most of the Omni mechs?! Maybe simple aesthetics...?

MF - great video on a great mech! Just one of those mechs that always made me wonder why the Clans would build anything else. Really like the MF variant as well!

The standard Goshawk is a monster, the cheese of putting a Clan LPL and Targetting computer together is spicey, and pungent, and really this is one of those things that you'd not bring many of to a table because they can be the Fun Police for lights and mediums and a Goshawk will outgun more than a few IS Heavies and only the generally heavier armour of a heavy is its saving grace if it gets ganked by a Goshawk. The real cheese is if you put a Clan pilot in one, yes that spikes the points cost up considerably, but you're then looking at a -4 to hit and that's monstrous. As you said its very hard to improve upon perfection and the other variants are a bit of a scattershot which are either flavours of the standard version or weird kissing cousins who've been taking illegal things and are basically a mess (looking at the UAC-2 variant here). I like your MF version, yes you loose some of the accuracy, but that mobility, especially with that level of still accurate firepower is still very nasty, as you'll be able to dance with the lights with that kind of jumping distance. The original art was different but the new design and art is a case of "Yes I would do the sex." it is one of the best looking 'Mechs in the setting now, along with the Black Python which takes the cheddar of the goshawk, adds a whole load of smelly French cheese, boils it, and then dumps it on your screaming face, but dear god does it look good whilst doing so!

Like I've said before, this is one of my favorite Clan 2nd-line 'Mechs. Although really that only applies to the main variant - and your MF variant. As always, I've created my own; though I'm ashamed I didn't think to do a partial-wing for it. The Vapor Eagle ISM replaces all but the Streak SRM-2 launchers of the standard, though it only has one ton split between the two launchers, with an additional half-ton of armor. Replacing the Large Pulse Laser is an IS Plasma Rifle with 2 tons of ammo, while the 4 MGs and their ammo is replaced by 4 Micro Pulse Lasers (3 in the left arm, 1 in the left torso). Unfortunately, I had to sidegrade the Medium Pulse Lasers into ER Medium Lasers, but I did retain the 11 DHS, 6 Jump Jets, and the Targeting Computer. I'm thinking of doing another ISM variant with the partial-wing, and maybe some Re-Engineered Lasers. Okay, no longer thinking about it, I'm gonna do it.

Good video. It really is hard to improve upon the original for this one. The only things I might change are removing the MGs and SRM-2s to mount small pulse or micro pulse ( depending on when the mech is made) and putting any remaining full ton lots into heat sinks. Any fractional remains go to armor. This just removes ammo from the mech while keeping it a conventional infantry killer.

I love the vapor eagle! Ghost of winter was the first BT/MW novel i read. I bought a forcepack just to get one. Are yours printed? They look great

Thanks for the video! You're right that most of the variants are just... bad compared to the Prime, which is a bit hot but otherwise quite powerful. The partial wing on the MF variant is a great call, i love it!

I do think the Partial Wing on the VE-MF does improve the mech. Adds additional cooling and increased jump distance, something this mech wants as it mainly energy weapons and wants to move around quickly.

I’d always admired its sleek good looks but I didn’t know it was originally a Snow Raven design! Now I want one. It’s got good stats in AlphaStrike too!👍

The Vapor Eagle, because using a Firestarter is for Scavenger Lords. Thanks for the video

A counter-argument to the pulse and T.C. setup is that you can't do aimed shots with pulse. Swapping the LPL for an ERPPC is a valid argument for those times you need the precision shot, while keeping the nasty, low modified hit rolls for when jumping into a target's rear arc and unloading with the medium pulses.

I'm quite fond of the original load-out. Like the Horned Owl, I don't see much use for the variants. I think the only change I would make would be to swap the MGs out for small Pulse laser and an extra .5 tons of armor.

Let’s go! Starting the new year out strong! I painted mine as a jade falcon such a cool mech!

I tried a Shadow Hawk IIC and Vapor Eagle IIC as a pair within my star in my last game. They were brutal and the Shadow Hawk lived to see victory at the end since the Vapor Eagle was such a fire magnet.

I like this physical redesign as opposed to the original. A truly nasty scalpel to cut out enemy units. As far as load outs, I agree with you. The original is a great one.

This is an interesting 'mech I like your variant too Good use of the partial wing

The Vapor Eagle feels like a mix between the Phoenix Hawk and the Assassin (if the Assassin didn't suck). Possibly one of the best medium mechs out there.

Clan duelist mech. Nasty.

I love running this guy with a uac20 in BTA3062, with all the evasion and armor money allows.

Sure my consumption of BT material is much more video game oriented than table top, but I still enjoy those videos, watched a few so far and I'm a fan of the simple and concise delivery. Coincidentally I'm also a big fan of the Veegle, the first mech I was able to really enjoy and play well on MWO, tho it was the unloved vgl-4 ^^; With stock loadout it is trash but in MWO it was possible to make it a very fun atm platform.

Great dueling mech , and pretty rugged for being one . Thank god it's not 7/11/7 and I'm saying that as someone who likes to squeeze a Vapor Eagle in . It's definitely in consideration

Used one of these guys during a game set during the Battle of Huntress. It positively dunked on IS heavies and assaults, and practically commanded a full lance's attention before dying a hero's death. It is 55 tons of pure, unadulterated hatred that exists only to kick you in the teeth and wiz in your Cheerios. The Clans relegating this to secondline duty is more idiotic than sentient bird-people.

Standard variant takes the cake. Love your inclusion of a partial wing into the MF variant :)

The Vapor 6 is also know as the anti MechFrog variant, seriously I love this medium with my preferred loadout is a Lg Pulse, 2 Medium pulse, 4 small pulse and a targeting computer , all Clan tech with the leftover weight going to heat sinks ( double) and some more armor

Often, I feel like the OG Goshawk is the logical evolution of the M Wolverine, which for good reason is considered pound for pound one of the best machines you can have in introtech. The 1-2-3 punch of large and med lasers and SRMs on top, the sweet spot between mobility and toughness, it's all there, just better. Hard not to love it, and yeah exchanging the mgs for something more valuable to the rest of the design feels like the best move to improve on it.

Ghosts of Winter is one of my favourite BattleTech stories. The Vapour Eagle has been on my "to-buy" list for some time, and it looks damn interesting. Only the original looks to be any good to my untrained & educated eye in Mech loadouts. I'd drop the MG in the torso, but otherwise its a perfectly fine machine. The rest are a bit rubbish to varying degrees. Much like the Hellhound, the base model is perfectly adequate. While the rest are trying to fulfil mission profiles the machine isn't designed or intended to fulfil.

The vapor eagle is my dads favorite mech and always includes one in any star he makes he always uses it to bully my little light mechs

Way to start the new year, Frog¡ Happy New Year¡

Vapor Eagle would be a great name for an 80s hair metal band

pefect timing mate i was just looking for something to watch thanks mate and happy new year mate still waiting for that discord link oh my NEC mechs are coming along massa black hawk KU king crab avatar and a thor to round it out have a good one frog

Good Lord, I captured or salvaged so many of these through my groups play through of the Hegira war...

One of the few clan mech I like.

I do see what you did with yours, and the difficulty, and for my bias which is missile spam is for the weak who cannot aim, I would go with the standard core, swap the machine guns for something LBX. If needed, I would pull the SRMs for weight and ammo, maybe even armor, which never hurts. The crit values of the shotgun LBX is some of my favorite, and some versions the damage goes up the closer you go too(MW3-4 I believe), meaning short range is covered. I might go sometimes PPC for the large pulse, but mostly who needs to spent more crit space on case II for srrm 2s? Once for an lbx in the left, big enregy in the right, sniper mode is ppc, lancer front line is large pulse. Sure that is 2-4 load outs, but is still has all or more armor, jumps, and possibly spare for that partial wing thing maybe. I don't know it to say.

Wait, you're not a broken holovid? ~fiddles around with playback controls~ Ah, that's what the "loop" button does!

a partial wing is nearly *always* worth it, if only because its not something seen every day

I love this mech.

Hey I think this is the mech from Ghost of Winter... Man I love Razorfist so much, I need more audio books from him.

The Vapor Eagle/Goshawk is a near perfect design that is difficult to improve upon. Best I can do is remove the Streak-2s, and the 4 MGs and ammo, and place a trio of AP Gauss Rifles with one ton of ammo in the left arm and add two more double heat sinks. It keeps the improved accuracy and improves cooling while getting an anti-personal weapon with greater range. Thought about putting in SRM-2s like the 3, but felt the improved cooling for the other weapons was worth it.

The Vapor Eagle is a cool design, i don´t like its first artwork but the current one is just SWEET, and the mech in general is basically a Phoenix Hawk after a steroid enema. I also like the Project Phoenix artwork, but i won´t deny just how much better the new one is. Still, clearly an improvement over the very first iteration. Giving the MF variant Partial Wings is an interesting idea, in my opinion they are too heavy for the advantages they give but they are definitely a bonus.

Huh, didn't know about the "Nimble Jumper" quirk, and I'm surprised I don't hear about it more with partial wing Jade Falcon designs. Though even without that trait, this thing would have been terrifying in the invasion era. For all the talk of dueling, this thing would be pretty nasty in combined arms and asymmetrical fighting. Especially if they replaced the twin SSRM2 with a pair of conventional clan SRM launchers (twin 2 or twin 4) and more ammo for flexibility/endurance Or maybe throw in some electronics package over ammo with the tonnage saved by replacing launchers... Yeah, some ECM and active probe could make this thing plain nasty for hit and run. Maybe even a TAG. I dig the 5 for my personal tastes. 7 is interesting, but needs to try to do one less thing. I was considering the Partial Wing too. It's fitting as this is a progenitor of that tech, and it has a quirk tied into jumping. I underestimated the opportunity cost though. That's a lot of shucked systems to only have 1.5 tons left. I do like the results though. Really lives up to the names.

Im writing this comment as i go Ghosts of winter was my first battletech book. i listened to it in audiobook form again a while ago on youtube. Personally, i think its ok. its not a genre defining best seller but its a good story Imma stick with Gosshawk. It makes more sense to me haha yeah i gotta agree on variant 4. the manuverability is what made it so lethal i think 2 UAC/2? what am i supposes to do, annoy a mech to death? your right, that is an awful variant. especially for my agressive "pick on heavier mechs" style the 7 is nuckinfuts. i have to try it asap! i want to see somebody melt under an absurd amount of microlasers a mf variant with no plasma? im suprised! ill have to give this variant a go as well. I know your just bein silly but the comment ""for the southpaws" made me smile. is nice to feel acknowleged, even with mechs. you are a big part of this small community being so nice! I think the partial wing is good personally, but i havent tried it yet

I might have to try the MechFrog variant, but most of the time the official variants are just lackluster compared to the base loadout, but then my favorite weapons are pulse lasers and Gauss Rifles, so I might be a bit biased against the rest of the weapons on the list.

I feel your pain on the redesign. No real wiggle room before you ruin it wind up asking 'why not Phoenix Hawk' instead of a custom Vapor Eagle. Even the mgs consistently feel worthwhile to me.

I fear no man. But that thing, it scares me. 😂 Great mech in every aspect imho.

The Vapor Eagle is one of my favorite mechs, though i have to admit that's mostly for aesthetics.

Heck yeah new year new video

Because it's BROKEN. :P More seriously, this is IMO the ultimate evolution of the fast medium 'mech paradigm epitomised by the Phoenix Hawk. It's fast, fearsomely armed, and decently armoured. It's a killer, and there's good reason it's got a BV equal to some IS Assault 'mechs.

Partial Wing is all ways worth it.

one of the nastiest clan mech you don't want to run into...on occasion I run a partial start with a Goshawk, Peregrine, and Viper and watch the fun unfold

The vapor eagle is.one of my go tos in alpha strike.

Little editing error; on the MF variant you said 4 med. pulse lasers but the graphic says three. Love your videos in any case!

Great mech to start the year off with! Balius next?

I quite dig your MF variant but a part of me misses those streaks and machine guns from the original. Just something about its loadout feels s purpose built and I totally agree with you about how perfect the original is. If anything else tho, your variant could make for a really cool conversion with those partial wings!

One of those mechs that makes me wonder, “Why didn’t I like this earlier?” Then the original artwork pops up and it’s suddenly clear why young me let it drop off my radar - I just don’t like that look.

Hmm. I'd have to later check on my computer if it would work heat, space and otherwise, but... I do wanna try out a version with two LPL's, six AP-Gaussrifles, at least six JJ's or three IJJ's and the traditional TC. Probably needs a lower XL-engine rating to go with it's endosteel and ferrofibrous armor. Slower groundspeed, less alphastrike damage, but twice the accurate long range damage and still very deadly (with better range than MG's) against infantry and able to later go for some critical hits when enemy armor has been peeled of. A more boring version than the original though. Only two different weapon types to play around with, making it very simple comparably...

Happy New Year and quit spying on me. Just finished a star anchored by a Vapor Eagle. Add this to the War Crow, Valkyrie, Wasp, and Ostroc and you’re making me very uncomfortable.