BL6-KNT Black Knight for Battletech

The Black Knight was introduced in 2578 both as a front-line combatant and as a command BattleMech at the company and battalion level for the Star League Defense Force. Its advanced communications gear allowed the Black Knight to effortlessly coordinate an entire company of 'Mechs simultaneously, could easily link together the command frequencies of an entire parent regiment and connect with orbital support satellites. Advanced building materials gave the Black Knight a light but strong chassis able to carry more weapons and armor for less weight. Given the type and amount of firepower the 'Mech carries the only issue facing the Black Knight is heat management.

The Black Knight first debuted in the Reunification War when they were fielded by the 3rd Heavy Assault Regiment in combat with the Taurian Concordat; following its success it was soon adopted by I Corps and the rest of the SLDF. When the Star League collapsed, Kong Interstellar continued producing Black Knights until their Connaught orbital factory was destroyed in 2802. In 2809, Kong was able to restart their production line, but was no longer capable of producing many of the more advanced components found in the Black Knight. As a result, Kong was forced to design a downgraded version, the BL-7-KNT. Finally the Black Knight production line was permanently destroyed in a raid by the Capellan Confederation in 2820, reducing the company to producing low-grade spare parts and performing maintenance.

During the Succession Wars many Black Knights fell into the hands of the Great Houses, although as the years progressed they were increasingly forced to repair them with inferior components and their numbers slowly decreased. Some were modified with a number of non-standard components such as jump jets but few if any survived into the Thirty-first century. ComStar's stockpiles of Star League 'Mechs included the Black Knight, which they found to be an excellent command unit for Level II and Level III units when the Com Guards were formed, but the very few Black Knights gifted to the Draconis Combine during Operation Rosebud was apparently the result of a clerical error. For their part the Clans maintained the Black Knight, although by the time of the Clan Invasion it was reserved for solahma units.

The Black Knight was one of several Clanbusters put together by ComStar leading up to the Battle of Tukayyid, and in the 3063 Robinson Standard BattleWorks secured a license from Kong Interstellar to build a new variant, the BL-12-KNT. Two years later KIC finished rebuilding their plant and began producing Black Knights of their own.

Model is printed in a grey resin and supplied with a base.

Mech design by Matt Mason.