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Anxiously waiting for those ideas Ice, one week left to go! Here is one of two concepts I have for the Blackjack. Both are rather high end. Hope you enjoy!

BJ-2S BLACKJACK

Mass: 45 tons
Chassis: GM BJ-2 EndoSteel
Power Plant: Edasich Motors 180 XL
   Cruising Speed: 43 kph
   Maximum Speed: 65 kph
Jump Jets: Whitworth Jetlift
   Jump Capacity: 120 meters
Armor: StarGuard II
Armament:
   1 Defiance Disintegrator LB 10-X Autocannon
   1 Maxell Large Pulse Laser
   2 Intek Medium Lasers
   2 Defiance B3S Small Lasers
Manufacturer: General Motors
   Primary Factory: Freedom
Communication System: Dalban Micronics
Targeting & Tracking System: Dalban AQ

Overview:
The Clan Invasion was a mighty blow to the pride of once nigh invincible Federated Commonwealth. The alliance’s glory days seemed well behind it as the juggernaut that was Kerensky’s descendants blitzed through the Tamar March absorbing some sixty-seven star systems. One of those systems, Blackjack, was home to a rather unorthodox military academy named the School of Conflict. Its colorful graduates included native General Charles Rhodes who was displaced by the conquest and returned home to take charge of the planetary militia. Using his innumerable contacts within the AFFC he began gathering those who very much like him wanted to return to Blackjack and worlds surrounding it one day to eject the Clans. Rhodes realized they would need further industrial backing to succeed in building such a Freedom Legion to liberate these occupied worlds. Thankfully for them General Motors was also looking to expand its facilities into the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth and a deal was struck. GM would establish a new high-tech factory on world for a new upgraded version of their flagship product which had special meaning to his assembling formation. Thus, was born the BJ-2S Blackjack.

Capabilities:
General Motors was able to use EndoSteel and two Defiance B3S Small Lasers manufactured for the WSP-1S Wasp made on Furillo for its new Blackjack. GM is making do with this imported advanced structure while a new EndoSteel foundry is being constructed in the Freedom star system. The Edasich Motors 180 XL Engine used on the HCT-5S Hatchetman is also imported as is the Defiance Disintegrator LB 10-X Autocannon. Together with the Maxell Large Pulse Laser used on the upgraded Chippewa Aerospace Fighter made on Chukchi III these twin big guns provide the BJ-2S with its main firepower. These weapons are quite accurate and can be devastating at close quarters especially to conventional forces and Battlearmor. Two Intek Medium Lasers from the original BJ-1 model supplement this mid-range firepower which combined with the Small Lasers at point blank ranges give the Blackjack a solid arsenal. Ten Double Heat Sinks can dissipate these Alpha Strikes but movement can send the BattleMech overheat so careful management has to be kept. Nine tons of StarGuard II armor plating provide improved protection from its predecessors which also use four Whitworth Jetlift jump jets to give the Blackjacks their trademark mobility.

Deployment:
Production has been slowed by the lack of pre-existing construction facilities on Freedom but thanks to partnerships with Defiance Industries, who is likewise trying to expand into the Davion half of the Federated Commonwealth, the first models have already reached the Freedom Militia. The new GM assembly plant on world has been skillfully bringing together components shipped from Furillo, Edasich, Hesperus, Chukchi III, and even far away Talcott. Production should steadily increase as on-site component plants come on line until one day everything on the BJ-2S will be made on Freedom. Many units are anxiously awaiting reports of the BJ-2S whose loadout looks like it will be one hell of an Elemental hunter in the days to come. Inquiries have been made by the Tamar March Militias, the Crucis Lancers, as well as other AFFC regiments deployed along the Clan front. Some closed minded Lyran traditionalists have already dismissed the Blackjack as a flawed Davion concept but that has done little to dampen its reception on Freedom.

Type: BJ-2S Blackjack
Technology Base: Inner Sphere - Level 2
Tonnage: 45

Equipment                        Mass
Internal Structure:      EndoSteel             2.5
Engine:         180 XL             3.5
Walking MP:      4
Running MP:      6
Jumping MP:      4
Heat Sinks:         10 (20)               0
Gyro:                           2
Cockpit:                        3
Armor Factor:         144               9

         Internal Structure   Armor Value
Head         3      9
Center Torso      14      20 / 8
R/L Torso      11      15 / 6
R/L Arm      7      14
R/L Leg      11      18

Weapons and Ammo      Location      Critical   Tonnage
LB 10-X AC          Right Arm      6      11
Ammo (LB-X AC) 20      Right Torso      2      2
Large Pulse Laser       Left Arm      2      7
Medium Laser         Right Torso      1      1
Small Laser         Right Torso      1      .5
Medium Laser         Left Torso      1      1
Small Laser         Left Torso      1      .5
2 Jump Jets         Right Leg      2      1
2 Jump Jets         Left Leg      2      1

Blackjack BJ-C (Conjectural)

Overview
  The arrival of the Clans brought massive change to the armies of the Inner Sphere – among those, the most jarring was considered to be the armored infantry that accompanied them.  The armored suits were small, but their durability and mobility brought fear into the cockpits of even the most dangerous Heavy and Assault ‘Mechs of the AFFC and DC.  In order to safeguard these valuable units at close quarters on the battlefield, tacticians, military planners, and engineers concluded a ‘bodyguard’ able to engage these ‘Elementals’ was vital.
  Compiling a list of specifications that included a top speed of roughly 65 kph, heavy armor, and enough energy-based weapons to quickly decimate an attacker, repeatedly, several options were considered before Blouschitz Enterprises proposed a conjectural variant of the Blackjack being renovated at BE’s facilities in the Federated Commonwealth near the front lines.

Capabilities
  Having learned the necessity of paying close attention to requirements, CEO and major stockholder Manfred A. Blouschitz insisted none of the specifications were to be skipped, resulting in a disorderly collection of equipment dumped on the floor of the makeshift ‘Mech hanger until they could be shoehorned into the prototype. 
  Hastily stripped to the frame and kept as mechanically simple as possible, the cavernous Internal Structure of the Blackjack was gutted of its original weapons in favor of a heavy energy battery of Medium Lasers.  Cooling capacity proved the Achilles heel of the design, forcing engineers to reduce offensive potential to accommodate the limited numbers of the new ‘Freezers’ that quickly filled the available space and choked out the remaining equipment specified by the AFFC Department of the Quartermaster.
  Equipment not in common use among the several variants of Blackjacks converted by BE was left out of the prototype, with appropriate mass and space left vacant, until a sample could be obtained by the company.  This piecemeal method of development found the design changing several times a day, as time began to run out for engineers to finalize which equipment would find its way into the design.  According to a formal submission to the Quartermaster by BE, the design incorporated advanced electronics in the form of a Beagle AP to locate concealed enemy units lurking in ambush before bringing the heavy laser battery of eight Defiance B3M Medium lasers to bear.  Aware of the need to avoid becoming heavily engaged, the 120 m Jump capacity and twin AMS kept the Blackjack from getting too close to the enemy.
  Anti-personnel pods offered a quick defense against troops the Mechwarrior failed to prevent from closing, with the nine and a half tons of standard armor providing the maximum amount of armor in case the last-ditch defense was called into play.
  Aware the Blackjack would need to offer a defense to these ‘Elementals’ in open-field situations outside the range of its main weapons, a single LRM-5 assigned to carry the new ‘Thunder’ FASCAM munitions was provided, with engineers forced to provide a prototype with the appropriate mass and space required for Cellular Ammunition Storage and the C3 Slave to enhance accuracy at long range manufactured by the DC left carefully empty.
  As Quartermaster inspectors and technicians examined the Blackjack with a jaundiced eye, BE executives decided to hedge their bets by approaching the DCMS with the design, to be politely rebuffed.  (In hindsight, Procurement officials aware of the rushed development of the Komodo by LAW would have refused to purchase the design regardless, as no production facilities for the Blackjack existed to produce the numbers required by the DCMS in Combine space.)
  The eventual decision not to adopt a specific anti-Elemental design had severe consequences for BE; the expense of holding up contracted work on converting the various Blackjack variants to the -1B standard in favor of pursuing a contract with the AFFC and licencing the design to manufacturers across the FC caused cash-flow problems which led to a hostile takeover of the company by creditors before BE’s successful Blackjack conversion line was acquired and shut down permanently by Defiance Industries.


Blackjack BJ-C (Conjectural)

Mass: 45 tons
Chassis: Standard Biped
Power Plant: 180 Fusion
Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph
Jump Jets: Standard
     Jump Capacity: 120 meters
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     8 Medium Laser
     1 LRM 5
     2 Anti-Missile System
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3145
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-X-D
Cost: 4,368,125 C-bills

Type: Blackjack
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 45
Battle Value: 1,327

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                  4.5
Engine                        180 Fusion              7
   Walking MP: 4
   Running MP: 6
   Jumping MP: 4
Double Heat Sink              10 [20]                 0
Gyro                                                  2
Cockpit                                               3
Armor Factor                  152                   9.5

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Head                    3         9     
     Center Torso            14        21   
     Center Torso (rear)               6     
     R/L Torso               11        17   
     R/L Torso (rear)                  5     
     R/L Arm                 7         14   
     R/L Leg                 11        22   


Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm

Weapons
and Ammo                        Location  Critical   Heat    Tonnage   
Anti-Personnel Pods                LL        1        -       0.5   
Active Probe                       CT        2        -       1.5   
Anti-Missile System Ammo (12)      RT        1        -       1.0   
3 Medium Lasers                    RT        3        3       3.0   
LRM 5 Ammo (24)                    RT        1        -       1.0   
CASE                               RT        1        -       0.5   
Double Heat Sink                   RT        3        -       1.0   
2 Jump Jets                        RT        2        -       1.0   
Anti-Missile System                LA        1        1       0.5   
Medium Laser                       LA        1        3       1.0   
3 Medium Lasers                    LT        3        3       3.0   
LRM 5                              LT        1        2       2.0   
2 Double Heat Sinks                LT        6        -       2.0   
2 Jump Jets                        LT        2        -       1.0   
Anti-Personnel Pods                RL        1        -       0.5   
C3 Computer                        HD        1        -       1.0   
Anti-Missile System                RA        1        1       0.5   
Medium Laser                       RA        1        3       1.0


*Yes, most of the lasers are mounted in the torsos – given this thing is meant to chaperone Heavy and Assault units, its not inconceivable that it could be in the crosshairs of units that would absolutely dominate the BJ-C.  Keeping them in the torso and relying on keeping the enemy battlearmor in the front arc was a small price to pay for not losing them with the 15th point of potential damage, keeping them in the field longer to boot.

You’ll notice also the expensive electronics are kept in the CT and Head respectively – as long as those get back, you can rebuild the ‘Mech around them.  These two items add up to 652,500 C Bills – about 15% of the cost of the ‘Mech – and are much rarer than a ML, LRM-5, HS(x2), or AMS.

I wanted to cram a Flamer on there too, for starting fires, but they were just too heavy at a full ton apiece.

And, its a ZOMBIE!  You're Wel-Come!   

There isn't much a 4/6 low-end Medium can really do - artillery and bodyguard kinda top the list for me, unless you want me to dip into my AU tech.  I was going to do something with a Mace (an actual 'blackjack'), but it's hard to make an urban ambushed that traditionally doesn't have hand actuators.

I agree with ya Red Pins.

Good stuff Abele!

Cool Ice!

Yup just after Tukayyid my friend, and take it from there.

The early 3050s is a time of developing Clan technology for the InnerSphere who is still trying to understand some of it's simple concepts. Except for unique individuals (Victor, Hohiro, and Kai) and the Wolf Dragoons such equipment will not be possible. So, no.

There is a list of available equipment on page 1 of this challenge.