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International with Hubs: We've learned that most shipments have arrived at UK and Asia and are getting checked in. Both have started sending address verifications and are eager to get started! EU and Australia are largely still in transit, but we are expecting news any day.
The Australian distributor asked us to let you know that fulfillment will not be able to start in AUS until January due to their approaching holiday closures. As soon as the new year kicks off, they are excited to hammer these shipments out to backers as soon as possible.
Domestic, CAN and RoW (without hubs) continue to fulfill as short shipments arrive.
We have had a few issues reported where game stores have been able to order several Kickstarter items for pre-order. Each instance we have tracked down, and corrected the distributor's incorrect release dates. Those distributors are contacting their stores to hold those items until street date.
A few weeks ago, we communicated the release dates for the next several months. We keep pushing those dates every month dependent on the Kickstarter fulfillment news. We will continue to track erroneous releases, and correct the workflows with our partners, as we are committed to completing fulfillment before retail release.
Just checking in for all international hubs: we continue to wait on shipments to arrive at the hubs. We've gotten word that some have arrived already, some are arriving in mere days, and some we are still waiting on tracking information. Things are moving.
For US, Canada, and RoW without hubs, over 19,000 orders are complete or in process (shipping label printed, but haven't been sent out yet). There are about 1500 remaining, including short-stocked items and retail for those regions (which will complete at end of fulfillment). So close!
Additionally, those backers that completed pledge manager or shipping was paid after the August 12th date are in Wave 3 and that file has been sent to QML to schedule fulfillment. That list is just over 500 backers. We'll update you when they are ready to start sending address verification emails.
Arano Coins have arrived to QML and those orders have been released for fulfillment if that was the only item missing. No further adjustments will be made. Art of War and Cookbook shipments are processing as well.
---------
Reminders:
Damages/Missing Items Contact QML at the following link if you have damaged items, or if you believe a package/shipment has gone missing. This applies to all backers, regardless of country.
* You have gotten more than one vehicle (as all potentially affected backers are receiving one additional salvage box) from Mercs salvage boxes
* You have potentially defective miniatures (Please include a picture in your first email)
Late Backers
If you are a backer who backed via BackerKit rather than Kickstarter, and require support regarding your pledge, you can reach out to us using the following steps:
4.) If the pre-filled answer does not answer your question, use the "Still have questions?" button to send a support request to Catalyst. (Check your spam folder)
Store Credit
Backers who have not yet received their store credit, please message tbuckner@catalystgamelabs.com for this issue along with the appropriate email address to send these credits to. These must be done in batches and we will be sending them out as soon as possible
Not much new information this week. Waiting on a couple straggling stock orders to ship, meanwhile some stock orders are showing tracking to be delivered in mere days!
We are in a waiting game for the next few weeks for the shipments to arrive, but we are inching forward. Wave 2 Domestic, Canada and RoW orders are still moving along.
We are so excited for international hub fulfillment to begin soon (and we know you are too!)
_______________________
Additionally, for anyone still in need of support:
If your pledge contains House Arano Challenge Coin, you can choose to message QML to see if that is the only item holding your order. If so, you can choose to have it removed from your order permanently and you will receive a CGL store credit of $10. Contact QML through their customer service link below if this applies to you. This is the only item available for cancellation at this time.
Also, contact QML at the following link if you have damaged items, or if you believe a package/shipment has gone missing. This applies to all backers, regardless of country.
* You have gotten more than one vehicle (as all potentially affected backers are receiving one additional salvage box) from Mercs salvage boxes
* You have potentially defective miniatures (Please include a picture in your first email)
Manufacturing is largely on track with almost all items finishing production this week. One or two items may finish production next week and will then immediately ship. We are shipping shortages directly to the international hubs from the manufacturers, rather than sending all of them to QML for separation and shipment, so we’ll save some time there.
We do not yet have estimates for arrivals, as items are coming from all over the world to hubs all over the world. Expect this process to take a few weeks and we’ll update as things start to ship and arrive. We are getting closer!
Shipments from Wave 1 are largely complete except for the short shipments, with fulfillment for Wave 2 ongoing for remaining orders and ongoing efforts to complete the remaining missing items as quickly as possible.
There has been a brief hold during the storm and operations will resume as soon as it's safe.
Remember that Wave 1 were orders paid by May 17th, and Wave 2 orders were paid by August 12th. There are less than 1,000 orders since August 12th where the backer has completed their survey and are awaiting shipping costs to be applied. We are mindful of the holidays approaching and want to get retailers fulfilled as soon as packages are done for regular backers. To keep to that time table and the honored exclusivity, we will be fulfilling retailers at the end of Wave 2.
Wave 3 will still be fulfilled, but given the due date was originally May, we feel it important to honor our commitments to the backers who submitted their pledges on time. There are always late pledges that roll in on Kickstarters, and will be for years to come. We plan to fulfill all of them as they come in.
Have a great week, everyone! We are getting there!
Not much new news since last week, but checking in nonetheless.
Wave 2 Address Verification (Domestic, CAN, and RoW) went out last week, and shipping for Wave 2 has already begun this week.
For domestic/CAN/RoW (areas without hubs), as the shorted merchandise arrives, complete orders will be placed in the queue and will receive an Address Verification email ahead of the order being shipped.
For Europe, Asia, and Australia/NZ, hubs are still waiting for all shipments to arrive before beginning fulfillment.
Clarifier from last week on the Arano Coins in a nice bulleted list. Apologies for the confusion:
*The plain coins were add-ons available that came from the Clan Invasion Kickstarter
*The Enamel coins are from THIS campaign, and these were the ones we were short
*You can contact QML if the Arano Coin is the only item holding up your order and choose to remove it from your order entirely for a $10 store credit.
We are aware of strikes and inclement weather world-wide and it may cause complications, but we won't know for sure unless or until it happens. So far, we are still on-track with our updates from last week.
Fresh off of the weekly meeting with QML, here’s some information we can share.
Shortages
We know you’ve been waiting for information on shortages, so here we go! About 20 SKU shortages were found across the hubs and QML. After assessing what CGL, QML and the hubs could all ship amongst each other, we also had to work with our various manufacturing partners to produce merchandise to backfill shortages. Those items should be finished production within 2-3 weeks, then ship directly to both QML and the worldwide hubs.
Several of the short items are in the majority of international orders, which is the reason shipping isn’t able to begin until everything gets to the hubs. We also want to be sure that shipping from a hub can begin at the same time for all of that region’s backers in order to reduce customer confusion and stress. (Note that each hub will fulfill when their own stock arrives, not when stock arrives at ALL hubs, so some regions may begin before others.)
One of the items that is causing a hold-up for NA shipments is the plain House Arano Challenge Coin (Please note: This is different than the enamel House Arano Challenge Coin). If your pledge contains this coin, you can choose to message QML to see if that is the only item holding your order. If so, you can choose to have it removed from your order permanently and you will receive a CGL store credit of $10. Contact QML through their customer service link below if this applies to you. This is the only item available for cancellation at this time.
Waves
Wave 1 (shipping was paid on or before May 17th, 2024) has stalled while awaiting restocks.
Wave 2 (shipping was paid after May 17th, 2024 but before August 12th 2024) has not yet begun but will begin soon once restocks arrive.
Wave 3 (shipping has not been charged) will be communicated at a later date.
Retail backers who have paid shipping prior to August 12th, will be fulfilled at the end of Wave 2, and will not be held for Wave 3.
We will be sending Address Verifications on Thursday for Wave 2 backers that are not short any items in their order. Fulfilment is expected to start for Wave 2 sometime next week. This should not cause any additional inventory issues for those Wave 1 backers that are waiting for stock to arrive at QML.
Damages or Lost Shipments
Contact QML at the following link if you have damaged items, or if you believe a package/shipment has gone missing. This applies to all backers, regardless of country.
Late Backer Support
If you are a backer who backed via BackerKit rather than Kickstarter, and require support regarding your pledge, you can reach out to us using the following steps:
4.) If the pre-filled answer does not answer your question, use the "Still have questions?" button to send a support request to Catalyst. (Check your spam folder)
Street Dates
We are still committed to waiting to release any KS Backer exclusive rewards until after the Kickstarter has fulfilled globally AND all Company Store-level retailer backers have had 30 days to sell before we release items through our own retail avenues.
There are a few items where we committed to pushing production sooner, and those will be released over the next several months.
Here’s a summary of where we are for now on releases through the rest of the year:
Not bound to Kickstarter fulfillment:
Force Manual: Davion – September release
Universe: Standard Edition – September release
Mercs Paint Set (Army Painter) – September release
Hot Spots: Hinterlands – November release
IlKhan’s Eyes Only – December release
Drop Ships – 2025 release
Kickstarter Release First
Some of these were slated for an October release but have since been moved to November, and release dates may be further adjusted pending Kickstarter fulfillment.
Planned for November 11/27/2024
Mercs Box Set (Standard Edition)
Inner Sphere Recon Lance ForcePack
Battlefield Support: Recon & Hunter Lances ForcePack
Battlefield Support: Assault & Cavalry Lances ForcePack
Clan Cavalry Star ForcePack
Salvage Box: Battlefield Support (Point of Purchase)
Salvage Box: Mercenaries (Point of Purchase)
MapPack: Savannah
Planned for December 12/11/2024
Battlefield Support: Battle & Fire Lances ForcePack
BattleTech Encounters
BattleTech: Inner Sphere Security Lance ForcePack
Salvage Box: Visigoth (Point of Purchase)
Statistics
These are the approximate total order counts from Wave 1 and Wave 2 (see: Waves, above)
Aus/NZ: 1000 orders
EU: 3000 orders
UK: 1700 orders
Asia: 400 orders
US/Can/Rest of World: 20,575
Orders completed for US/CAN/RoW: 14,500 (currently waiting on restocks)
Wave 3 orders expected: Approximately 400 orders worldwide
A personal note…
We’d like to thank our backers for your support and patience. This is the largest Kickstarter that either Catalyst or QML have ever undertaken and you helped us to get there. Those who haven’t received their items yet – we know you are excited to have them delivered, and we are excited to get them to you!
Before we launch a Kickstarter, we are required to put in an expected fulfillment date to the Kickstarter page. We went for June 2024, but were hopeful for earlier. We also expected a maximum of $4 million for this Kickstarter. Including the pledge manager, we almost TRIPLED that! Still, we pulled through with our manufacturing partners to start delivering in June.
There are also over 25,000 orders worldwide, and over 400 individual items involved! This is a logistical mountain, and anyone who has experience with fulfillment knows there are always unexpected roadblocks along the way. The CGL team and our partners have all been racing to mitigate these as much as possible, while still ensuring orders will be accurate when they get out the door. Again, we are so grateful for the kind words of support from so many of you as we keep pushing through our last hurdles.
Once those shortages arrive, everything will be full steam ahead on delivering your rewards! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Keep posting your paint jobs, unboxings, and excitement for playing with your new mechs, and we’ll all be joining you soon!
European Retailers It has been brought to our attention that several European retailers received notifications from their distributors that shipments were on their way for items from the Kickstarter that are not due for release yet. Our sales manager has contacted all distributors to put an embargo on those items, and to stop any shipments they can to stores. Our release dates were communicated in July, and we expect our partners to communicate and honor those dates. Thank you to the retailers, fans, and friends that reached out to us to tell us about these issues.
Fulfillment During fulfillment, QML and its hubs, through no fault of their own, identified incorrect stock levels for items that had originally shipped from the manufacturers. Catalyst is working with QML to shift stock between warehouses and hubs.
Other than the stock shifts, The EU, UK, and AU hubs are still short a few items that were either in the US or were first shipped to the US before being parceled out to the needed hubs. The remaining short-stocked items are Catalyst's focus for the week, and we expect to have those stock levels fixed quickly, including the House Arano Challenge Coin. These items are being sorted now into the needed shipments and we hope to begin international fulfillment in the near future. As these are planned to be resolved quickly, QML is going to wait for these items before shipping.
Parts Replacement QML has now received the parts catalog and will be able to fulfill defective/missing parts replacements following the completion of full orders.
Art of War / BattleTech Cookbook These items, for any backer who may not have received them, are being shipped separately from the rest of the orders and will be on their way following full orders. We are prioritizing full orders in this case to expedite the shipping process.
Store Credit Backers who have not yet received their store credit, please message tbuckner@catalystgamelabs.com for this issue along with the appropriate email address to send these credits to. These must be done in batches and we will be sending them out as soon as possible.
Segment 6 Fulfillment and Address Verification QML will be sending out the next batch of address verifications on Thursday to run over the holiday weekend. If you have received your address verification email and have still not received your pledge, please do not worry, as these are sent out in advance to give backers ample time to reroute their order if necessary.
Thank you backers for your patience as we work to fulfill one of the largest Kickstarters out there!
The team is back home from Gen Con, and many are recovering from con-crud and/or COVID. We did get a quick update from QML. Last Monday, the shortage reports were due from the hubs, and they've all been turned in, reviewed, and sent to us as Catalyst. Our team will be working on those shipments for the rest of this week and into next week. Just wanted to pop in with a quick update on progress from the steps given 2 weeks ago.
Also, US and Canada fulfillment is about 50% complete!
Thank you all, and we'll check in as soon as we have more news.
We met with QML today, and here is where everything stands.
International Shipping VAT has been secured for the UK and EU. We are waiting on one more document to clear for the UK.
Hubs are counting inventory and providing understock/shortage reports (due Monday)
Then, final shipments for any stock shortages will be sent to each hub. Shipments will take 2-4 weeks depending on location and size of shipment
Once that is complete, regional fulfillment begins
Domestic Shipping Approximately 6,000 orders are completed. About 1/3 of the total orders that have been provided to QML as part of the first segment have shipped.
QML Assistance QML is getting hundreds of emails asking about the status of individual orders. They are unable to provide shipping time estimates for specific orders
Before reaching out to QML, please make sure you’ve locked your order and you’ve paid for your order AND shipping within BackerKit.
You will receive an address verification email from QML prior to your order shipping AND you will receive a tracking email once it has shipped. (likely from shipping@qmlogistics.com)
If you paid for your order and shipping in Backerkit by July 2nd, QML has your order. If you paid after July 2nd, Catalyst will give QML your order once first segment fulfillment is closer to completion. This can be the reason that QML may report they cannot find your order.
Segment 1 fulfillment includes all orders fully locked and paid (including shipping) on or before May 17th. If you paid after May 17th, your order will be included in the second segment of fulfillment, which will begin shortly after completion of the first.
Cookbook It was recently reported that a majority of the recipes in the soon-to-release BattleTech Cookbook were compiled from internet sources. This is correct. The contractor assembling the cookbook relied on relaxed copyright protection concerning internet-published recipes. Our own investigation into this turned up a lot of confusion and uncertain procedure, but at the very least our preference would have been to publish a credits/source listing as part of the copyright page.
While this has been corrected in our ebook version of the BattleTech Cookbook, it was missed on the print version. Still, we are frustrated by this oversight. As such, Catalyst Game Labs will donate all profits from this product among several charitable organizations.
We are grateful to the community for its understanding and ongoing support.
Audiobook Releases Audiobooks will be released via the Catalyst Online Store in the coming days. All backers receiving them will be sent instructions on how to claim these in your email. We will let you all know about this process once it is finalized, so that backers can claim Close Quarters as well as the other Audiobooks to come.
Amazon It was brought to our attention that one of the Mercenaries Forcepacks was temporarily available on Amazon last week. The street date was listed incorrectly, and has been fixed. It is now available for pre-order only. Our team is partnering with our distributors to make sure all other street dates are correct and will not be available through Amazon until after Kickstarter completion. According to our distributor, only 13 individual forcepacks were purchased before the problem was corrected.
Thank you all for your continued patience and support!
Thanks to reddit user kahadin, it was brought to our attention last night that some Mercenaries Salvage boxes contain vehicles. Catlayst has confirmed this error.
Loren and Randall have been meeting with Liya, our manufcaturer in China, to identify how the error occured and how widespread it is. Then they had more meetings with Liya and our fullfilment agent QML to determine how to fix it, together. Out of the 300,000 Salvage Boxes manufactured 6,008 have vehicles. Liya has been onboard from the first call to help make things right – as such, they have committed to comping an extra Salvage Box to every order going out to keep shipping from stalling.
For those who have already received a shipment, or have a shipment already in the mail, we are working on the best way to correct this for you. Because of the holiday weekend, please give us some time to find the best way to do this in collaboration with Liya and QML.
On the small chance that anyone received TWO vehicles in the same shipment we will work with you individually to correct this mistake. We will post instructions next week so we can resolve this as efficiently as possible.
Thank you to our wonderful community for bringing this to our attention. We are committed to getting this straightened out and continuing forward with fulfillment – we know you are all as excited as we are!
In other news and as many of you have seen - all completed digital downloads are finishing up now! We have EPUB, MOBI and PDF files galore all found in your BackerKit, including:
-The Battletech Cookbook - The Art of Cooking
-Kell Hounds Novella 2 - A Tiny Bit of Rebellion
-Kell Hounds Novella 3 - A Clever Bit of Fiction
-Kell Hounds Novella 4 - If Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot
-Fortunes of War 3 - A Skulk of Foxes
-The Mercenary Life Anthology
-Legends II - (In two parts)
-Sun Tzu’s The Art of War
Happy reading, MechWarriors!
EDIT: 7/01/24:
Digital downloads are available via your BackerKit page. On the left side of your Order Confirmation, you will see the 'Get Your Digital Downloads' button.
BattleTech: Mercenaries from Catalyst Game Labs has commenced packing and shipping this morning!
This is quite the undertaking, our largest single project to date, so we'll have updates on this and other projects that are shipping alongside in the coming weeks!
Fantastic news and progress to report, with all of you backers reaching out so quickly to deliver your address updates, we are now able to move onto the next stage! We have run our checks to make sure that backers get every last piece of plastic, books, and swag.
Address Changes and Order Inquiries All backers that have received a confirmation from our support team can consider their shipping address updated, for all future inquiries including worldwide address changes on the project please use the survey here:
Please note that the QML support team will be out of office in observance of Juneteenth, but will be able to follow up in the days following.
Address Verification Emails QML is still on track to get the first orders out this month and will start sending out Address Verification emails to the first randomly selected batch of US and Canada backers over the next week or so. The worldwide hubs are in need of additional items from the manufacturer, we aim to have more precise information in our next update. These emails will be sent out in multiple batches throughout the fulfillment process, so if you do not receive yours during this timeframe - even after checking your spam folder - please do not worry. Digital rewards are planned to be released as soon as those boxes leave their hands!
Excess BackerKit Funds and Store Credit We have returned excess funds to all backers that have paid using a card, and had a large enough charge to have that amount returned to them.
As for those who have not yet seen this return, we are building a process for this amount to be returned to you. As for backers that have opted for the store credit, we are still planning on having that credit available for you during our window of fulfillment.
Questions on excess BackerKit funds and store credit should be directed towards the messages here on Kickstarter, please have patience as we work to get these to you! To send us a message go to the main page of the project, and click on our name - Catalyst Games. Then, click “Contact Me” on the pop-up.
Thank you backers, for every kind message, and bit of support as we push to get every order to your doors!
First, for any backers that need to make an address change and were not able to have the request made and confirmed before our export on May 17th, please do not attempt to make these changes in BackerKit. Please message us here or email us at store@catalystgamelabs.com or bucknert@remalternis.com and we will be happy to have those logged for you!
We are very close to having the initial phase of shipments ready to go, all of the SKU information and we have the first GIANT (20,000+) batch of orders and most of the US stock! We've got dice, patches, pins, books, coins, freebies, Salvage Boxes, BattleMechs, Forcepacks, and more all getting prepped to make their way out the door!
Once QML has accurate counts and confirmation from each hub, they will be able to prepare shipments to each hub for anything that they may be missing or short of.
There are a lot of remaining steps to be taken to make sure that the fulfillment goes as smoothly as possible. At this time, without having all stock at the fulfillment centers, we are unable to provide a start date estimate. But we will provide a better timeline once a couple more pieces have fallen into place.
Additionally, for any backer who chose to go with store credit for additional assistance, we are working to get those credits implemented into the online store ASAP and will be notifying you once they go live!
We are also working with BackerKit to have the remaining funds in backer's accounts returned to them, if correct shipping has been paid, and we are expecting most backers to have those within the next week. There are a couple of exceptions to the automated process, such as limitations due to one-time payment routes, that may hold up those particular refunds and will be manually completed by our team. Please hold as we complete the automated process and we will provide you with the correct routes to handle any particular issues as they arise.
Sincerely, thank you backers for all of the support in this project, and to the backers that left messages that made our support team's day.
To go off of the last post, backers will be able to charge their shipping themselves only if they had initially paid through Paypal and had recharged through your Paypal account. If you had initially paid with PayPal, and you would like to make this payment through PayPal again, click the link below to access your survey, then click "Edit Your Address" at the top right. You can then click "PayPal Check Out" or enter a credit or debit card if you prefer."
If you are planning on paying shipping charges with a card, that will have to be charged beginning of the day on Monday (around 11AM ET). This charge will happen automatically through BackerKit so long as there is a valid card attached.
If you have questions about the total please reach out to Catalyst Game Labs through the Kickstarter messages, in order to do this navigate to the project's main page, click on the name "Catalyst Game Labs", and select "Contact Me" from the pop-up menu.
Backers will be receiving an email tomorrow from BackerKit with instructions on how to have everything set up for the charging to work smoothly.
If you do not have shipping charges on your order, your shipping charges will be calculated after this point, as well as the backers that have requested change of address that includes a change in country.
As we are working through adjustments on backer’s orders for shipping, we are planning to press the charge button on Monday, May 13th at 12:01AM PST!
Until then, if you would like to go ahead and take care of your shipping, some backers have the option to charge their card manually in BackerKit. To do this, please go to BackerKit and press the button that says “Charge this Payment Method” on the final page of your survey. Otherwise, please wait until May 13th, when that charge will take place as long as you have a usable payment method attached!
If you have moved since December 12th, 2023 and that move has taken you out of the country that we had on file, please email us at bucknert@remalternis.com or store@catalystgamelabs.com, with your updated shipping address and we will be happy to assist in initiating your recalculations! These adjustments will push you into the second wave of fulfillment.
To note: If you have moved to a different state or region within the same country, your shipping rate would not be noticeably changed and will not be recalculated, and will remain in wave 1.
As a reminder, Catalyst has established an amount of funds, in addition to the initial subsidization, that can be pulled from for orders that seem high compared to the amount of items in your shipment. Please reach out to us in the Kickstarter messages here to see if you may be eligible for an additional subsidization on your shipping charges. To do this, please go to the project's main page, click on the name "Catalyst Games," and select "Contact Me" from the pop-up menu. We have already been able to assist hundreds of backers that have reached out! If you have already reached out for this and have not heard back, please rest assured that any and all changes will be made prior to the charge date.
We have also noticed a QML quoting sheet being referenced in messages and comments about shipping rates. Please note that this quote sheet is for shipping a single package, does not account for dimensional weight, counts and size of said boxes, as well as potential factors such as PO box fees for holding and rates of last mile shippers. This quoting sheet is meant strictly as an educational reference for single packages and does not reflect Catalyst’s contract with QML.
Also, after looking further at state-specific tax rules, we have removed taxes on shipping fees in BackerKit for most states, including but not limited to:
If you are unsure of whether or not your shipping charges have taxes applied, please check your BackerKit.
We are currently on track to have fulfillment completed this summer, thank you to all of you backers for your patience and understanding while we work to get your minis to your doorstep!
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks trying to identify and update our lists for shipping. Here are some of the issues we’ve identified and the updates made.
Savannahs Map Pack issue:
The dimensions were incorrectly entered as a BattleMat, resulting in a larger box size. While the majority of backers will see a reduction in costs due to the larger box turning into a smaller box, some may notice an increase due to a 2nd box being added to their order to fit all merch.
Combination columns of Shipping, Pick, and other Fees:
As mentioned, in the initial upload fees that Catalyst is covering were included. All Catalyst covered costs have been removed from the uploads.
Savannah Master Salvage Box Surprise:
This item hadn’t been entered into the BackerKit system due to the surprise. It has now been updated for all backers, which could affect packaging needs.
People with $1 shipping now have shipping:
These were people who hadn’t entered address information by the time the first upload was sent to QML. An updated list has been sent to them for processing and upload.
People with $1 shipping had an error in upload:
The data set showed correct shipping, but there was a formatting error that resulted in shipping showing $1.
Shipping Taxes:
We have had some wonderfully helpful backers that have pointed out some states that do not get charged taxes on shipping that were missed during BackerKit setup. Michigan, Iowa, and Wyoming have had shipping taxes removed. Thank you to those backers for your help and pointing us in the right direction to get these fixed. If you still see something off about this, please let us know.
VAT Structure:
There are different VAT rates for books/toys/games and since boxes contain an assortment of items, QML has worked with us to provide the best rates we could.
UK to EU shipping Errors:
Several countries were erroneously quoted with UK shipping instead of from our EU hubs. This has been fixed, and those affected should see decreases.
Summary:
Some backers will see small or large decreases in their shipping rate due to these findings, while others may see an increase. When we got the most recent updated data set, Rem did a spot check for approximately 80 random community members on Discord and all but one had lower costs. We believe that the majority of backers will have benefited from these findings.
Support:
Catalyst has set aside an additional fund in excess of the initial subsidization to help those in need. Please reach out via the Kickstarter messaging system (instructions below) and we’ll take a look at your account and see if we can help. We will be prioritizing those with the largest costs. Please note that we will not be offering refunds this late in the project.
Send a Message:
From the top of the Kickstarter Mercenaries page, click on “Catalyst Games” under “Created by.” Click on the “Contact Me” button. This will allow you to send a message to us. Please note that it may take a few days to hear from us as we expect an increase in messages.
Address Changes:
If you have reached out for an address change since December, then your shipping charge will not automatically change in BackerKit. For this, please reach out to QML for recalculation: https://www.qmlogistics.com/contactUs.html
Pre-Orders:
The pre-order store has also been closed to not extend our secondary calculation period. If you do not have a shipping charge on your order yet, you will be part of this second wave of fulfillment. That second wave will happen as soon as orders are processed and shipped from this first wave.
Refunds of Credits:
We will begin processing refunds of remaining credits (or overcharges from those who already paid in the initial upload) as soon as next week. Thank you for your patience as shipping costs have been reuploaded.
Sourcebook PDFs:
The following week we will begin fulfilling pdf copies of sourcebooks to backers through BackerKit. You’ll receive them via an email from BackerKit.
Shipping Timeline:
QML is still planning to begin shipping by the end of May/early June. All plastic and books have arrived at the hubs. We are only still waiting on smaller items like dice, pins, patches, etc.
Thank you all for your patience. This is a massive project, and every Kickstarter has taught us something new. We appreciate your support, and are excited as we get closer and closer to shipping!
QML has been busy recalculating shipping charges with correct weights, and for backers that previously did not have shipping charges, your shipping will be estimated in a second wave. We will continue to keep you updated on the progress as we move forward!
For any backers concerned with taxes, we're currently exploring how state/regional taxes affect our campaign bundles and how to better optimize this.
To follow-up on last week’s update, QML is currently working their way through our list and making adjustments to shipping prices that will correct both the error with the Savannah BattleMat and the packing fees. This recalculation could take a couple of weeks, and we will be doing everything in our power to help expedite this process on our end.
For any backers who have already charged their cards based on what they saw in BackerKit, please rest assured that we will be refunding the remaining amount after we have posted the correct shipping charges. We are also looking further into the complexity of taxes and VATs to certain areas to double check that everything is correct, thank you backers for pointing us in that direction.
Thank you backers for any and all feedback, it truly does help us do right by you.
After researching these shipping charges, we have discovered a couple of errors. First, there was an error in the upload of the shipping charges form that included the total amount of shipping, handling, and fees, instead of JUST shipping. Additionally, we identified that the Savannahs Battlemat listed the wrong dimensions (instead, with the dimensions of a BFM). Most backers receive the free Battlemat with their order, so this erroneously upped the shipping fees due to large box dimensions. Because this affects all Veteran and above backers, QML needs to re-work the entire shipping upload, which will take some time.
Once both fixes are made, 95% of all orders are going to be under $150 for your total amount of shipping. Those remaining we believe are non-continental US, the rest of the world (outside of hub centers) stores, and similar extremely large orders.
Backers that had zero shipping listed were finalized after QML received their last data pull in December, so we'll be sending the updated list to them, as well. There were also some odd $1 shipping amounts that did not import correctly through the upload, and this will be updated.
Finally, the April 12th deadline is removed. We will take as long as it needs to fix all issues.
We had genuinely hoped that this would be an easy process, and are deeply apologetic for the undue stress this has caused all of you. But rest assured that we are committed to getting shipping issues fixed. This is a monster project, and we are so grateful to all of you for your support.
Thank you dearly to all backers that reached out about these charges to bring them to our attention.
Come join us over on Tuesday Newsday as well! Live now!
Quick update, as we know you are waiting to hear from us today. We have a meeting set with QML at 4-5pm ET today to go through all of our questions and anomalies we've found. We'll then make an action plan, and get a backer update out this evening.
The QML meeting is also the same time as Tuesday Newsday, so we'll be pushing the stream back two hours, and Rem will talk about the plan of action.
Stay tuned, and we'll have more for you later today.
We have received notifications from backers that the shipping charges for orders, primarily internationally, have been above what was expected for this project. This is to say, we absolutely agree.
For some context, these are not charges that have been generated by BackerKit or Catalyst ourselves. Our fulfillment house has generated these shipping charges based on the current price of shipping as they see it and how it is to be shipped (PO boxes, sizes and amount of boxes to effectively ship, etc.) These charges are not meant to make profit on any backer's order as they are being paid separately by us.
While we knew going with a higher quality shipper would be pricier, we did not know it would be to this level for some of you. There could be packing inefficiencies with especially small and large orders that could be leading to higher shipping charges to the best of our knowledge. We've spent last night spot-checking and pulling some of the more pricey charges to bring to our fulfillment house to see exactly how these charges are being calculated. If there is any part of these charges that does not seem correct to us, we will let you know and have these charges re-evaluated, likely pushing back our lock date.
There is a chance that these charges are correct and this is just the state of mass distribution. If that is the case, Loren and the distribution team plan to come up with a solution to help us stand with our backers.
We can assume that they will not be able to get back to us until after Easter weekend, where we should have a statement that I will post here updating all of you about the re-evaluation.
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Address Changes
We've been notified by a wonderful member of our Discord that backers may be able to change their state in BackerKit. While we do not currently have a way to open the state field for backers within the project, you may be able to solve it independently.
If you are having issues changing your state, please try going to your account information in BackerKit by going to "My BackerKit" and changing your address information in your profile. If this worked, you should be able to see the change reflected in your Mercenaries order page. If this works please let us know down here in the comments!
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We love being able to bring BattleTech to new fans of the game all across the globe and we are working to make sure even more people can enjoy it, you backers come first. For now, rest easy and enjoy your Easter weekend, from what I hear painting minis makes great practice for painting eggs!
We have the low down for what you can expect in the next few days.
Here soon we will have addresses unlocked where you will be able to update all of your shipping information excluding changing your Country. After updating this you can lock your address again, if you have no need to change your address then do not worry, we will be re-locking all of these on April 5th.
We also have provided shipping fees to BackerKit, which they are currently plugging in for all of you. We will post another update when we are told they are payable! Once they are payable, you will be able to pay on those until April 12th at 12AM ET, when we will be locking the Pledge Manager.
After review, there have been estimations in the US and Canada that have had some larger charges for oversized orders heading to PO Boxes.
Please note that QML has provided these charges based on how your order was at the end of December last year, as it does take quite a while to calculate charges for this large of a campaign. Any backer that has made additions since then may receive a secondary charge closer to the time of fulfillment which will make up the difference there. This will not effect your current order in BackerKit as the final export will be happening on April 12th just after locking the Pledge Manager.
This is Rem (Community & Marketing Director) stepping in for a moment to talk about BattleTech: Encounters. I found out about this yesterday, and it is important to all of us at Catalyst to communicate as quickly and transparently as we are able. To refresh your memory, Encounters is a dice game that was planned for future release, but we moved up production as a reward once reaching the $1 million stretch goal. Regiment backers and above will receive a free copy as part of fulfillment.
We had planned to release this after the Kickstarter fulfilled.
On Friday this week, a photo and link was sent to me showing that Encounters was in the wild at Barnes & Noble stores. I immediately asked the CGL team, and no one knew. After some back and forth, here is the context I got:
Our fulfillment agency and distributor has an exclusive relationship with Barnes & Noble. One of the only ways in the industry to get a game into B&N is to go through them. The distributor is constantly pitching games to them that they present from their warehouse stock. B&N has been incredibly happy with the results of having BattleTech in their stores, so when the distributor pitched a stand-alone game set in the world, they jumped. It is exceptionally rare to be accepted into B&N, so the distributor moved quickly. So quickly, that it seems they forgot to communicate with us at Catalyst.
Once a game is in the wild, it’s very hard to pull back. And the reach that B&N gives us to the next generation of BattleTech players that might not have found the hobby otherwise is exceedingly valuable to the future of this game. There is nothing we can do at this point about the B&N release.
However, we have made the decision that Catalyst will still not yet release via our store until after fulfillment. This may hurt our overall sales, as buyers seek it out at B&N, but it is important to us to honor our commitment to our backers as much as we are able. All backers will still receive their games as promised when we fulfill (we are still on track for June as of now).
Thank you all for your understanding, support, and patience. This is further proof that the reach of this game keeps exceeding ALL of our expectations.
Here’s Randall showing off some 40th Anniversary Editions of the Beginner Box and A Game of Armored Combat! I hear that he’ll have a combat manual coming out in the next one!
Here's a hint for what house the combat manual is about: During the Fourth Succession War, who united with House Steiner to create the Federated Commonwealth?
With the large amount of address changes coming in, we would just like to announce once more to message us here on Kickstarter if your shipping address will be different in 2024 so we can get that updated for you! To send us a message go to the main page of the project, and click on our name - Catalyst Games. Click “Contact Me” on the pop-up to send us a message!
We hope that you all have had a great holiday season so far and are looking forward to 2024!
And of course, we have another bonus for everyone, here we have Randall unboxing some Salvage Boxes!
EDIT: 12/27/23: From the Comments in Update #76
When we gonna be shipping?
Catalyst Games - CREATOR wrote:Early 2024 by our estimations, mid-2024 if there are any additional speedbumps!
Thank you to everyone who dropped by to say hey during PAX Unplugged! We are still working to ensure everything stays on track and is on course for our projected fulfillment period early-mid 2024! If you run into any issues please message us here on Kickstarter from the project's main page, and click on our name - Catalyst Games. A pop-up will appear. Click on "Contact Me." This will open a Kickstarter message to us.
In the meantime, we have another showcase from the man himself, Randall!
In addition to the livestreams, we're thrilled to share the news of our partnership with Veiled Resin! Art has played a crucial role in shaping the world of BattleTech, and collaborating with such a talented artist is sure to elevate BattleTech even further.
And as a bonus, we've got a video featuring Randall giggling while unboxing the BattleTech Core Rulebooks, showcasing the stunning BattleTech Universe books!
We love the enthusiasm that you bring to this project. Thank you all for your patience as we finalize the Salvage Box additions, plan for the disbursement of finished digital rewards, and sort and format all the various data needs for the manufacturer.
An issue has been brought to our attention - we've already traced and resolved it, but we want to communicate openly with you, our fans, and backers.
Some of the limited edition hardcover and leatherbound fiction for this project was sent by our warehouse partner to distribution. This means that a few retailers were able to get copies of the books to sell. We are committed to fulfilling for YOU, our backers first. We have contacted our warehouse and the distributors affected and asked them to pull the books. Our investigation indicated that less than 1% of the total quantity of books to fulfill were impacted. We apologize that the leak occurred, and are working diligently to make it right.
This will not impact fulfillment in any way, and we look forward to blazing forward toward fulfillment.
Thank you so much for your support, backers. BattleTech is alive and well because of YOU!
After going through several hundred messages and emails for the salvage boxes and EdgeZone Tokens, we are now coming to the end of those revisions! Once we are done and have received any additional information that is pending from you we will be sending off these orders, currently aiming for early this week.
If you still have an open request for a change of address or any simple swaps to your order please try to have those adjustments in as soon as possible, that information can be provided in your initial message and we can let you know if this is possible. We are also organizing all of the digital rewards, so please stay tuned - more is coming!
For backers who need to message about adding salvage boxes to your order, this is your last call! If you qualify, send us a message here on Kickstarter with your selections.
To clarify, backers who qualify are those who have chosen an add-on pledge level bundle at the battalion, company, or regiment level and have also selected either the Inner Sphere or BattleField Support: Objectives Forcepacks as part of their add-on pledge questions. If you meet these criteria, you qualify to receive additional salvage boxes in equal quantity (Excluding Battlefield Support). We apologize for any prior confusion or misunderstanding.
Let's shoot for no backer left behind, we will keep you updated as we gather all of your requests.
A huge thank you to all of you backers for making this a smooth operation!
Great news! With the PM officially closed, we're gearing up for the final production phase thanks to your incredibly helpful responses.
If you haven't completed your survey yet, please do so ASAP. We want no backer left behind! If you need your survey or haven't received it, check your spam folder. Use your Kickstarter email and this link to access the PM: https://battletech-mercenaries.backerkit.com
We attempted charges last week; however, some didn't go through. We'll make one more attempt.
And a reminder to everyone who chose an Inner Sphere ForcePack or Battlefield Support: Objectives ForcePack, you also get to choose a Salvage Box (excluding the Battlefield Support Salvage Box)! Please leave a message on Kickstarter with your choice and we will be adding them shortly!
Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm, and we look forward to the next steps in the process!
We're thrilled to announce that the Pledge Manager has ended and the last of the cards have been charged! We're currently in the process of assembling all the digital rewards, keep an eye out for the next update!
For those of you who added a Pledge Bundle Add-On and selected Inner Sphere Forcepacks, please send us a message specifying which Salvage Box (other than Battlefield Support) you would like to include with your order! Let us know, and we'll make sure it's added to your package.
Great news for those of you who have also supported Edge Zone! Edge Zone Damage Tokens will soon be available as an option to be added to your Pledge Manager orders. If you'd like to include these tokens with your rewards, message us, and we'll make it happen free of charge.
A quick reminder that the Pledge Manager will lock everyone's orders tomorrow and charges go through over the weekend. Again, this is an automated process so we do not have a specific time for this. Make sure you have your pledges updated!
It's been brought to our attention that some cards have begun being charged, and we have informed Backerkit to stop these charges. We are unsure as to why these charges have begun this early but we are looking into it with them, more to come on this as we know.
Just a couple of things as we sit 10 days away from the end of the pledge manager!
On September 15th the Pledge Manager will lock everybody's orders, since this is an automated process we do not have a specific time for this, so try to have everything locked in the night before! On the 16th we will be running the payments, since there is quite a bit of payments to run, there is not a specified time.
On any new content that has been released, please message us to unlock your pledge and you'll be able to view the full catalog!
Letting all of you know that all pledge levels have been unlocked! While the pledge levels themselves are locked, you have the flexibility to adjust your questions and add-ons. If you would like a change of pledge level, please message us!
To ensure the most accurate shipping rates, we'll be holding off the collection of shipping costs until we're closer to the actual shipping date. The pledge manager is now set to close on September 15th, so be sure to make any desired adjustments before then! Thank you everyone for your incredible support!
We have been working to make the Pledge Manager fully customizable by all of you and we believe we have found it! We are ready to open adjustments and here’s how it will work. We just opened the Recruit tier today as a smoke test to make sure nothing breaks and then we’ll open the rest of the tiers in the next few days, meaning the PM will no longer be closing on the 31st.
You’ll still need to message us to change your pledge level, but you can adjust your pledge choices and add-ons.
Some great progress is still being made on the War of Reaving novels and we can't wait to share it with you.
Of course, with the end of the Pledge Manager as we get closer to the end of August, try to submit all of those alterations to your orders! For now, we are shooting for August 31st to have all alterations in.
More updates as we get closer to the closing of the Pledge Manager!
War of Reaving novels are underway! The writers are writing! We won't know too much more until they turn in their drafts, but progress is being made.
BattleTech: Universe:
You've been asking and we finally have some great details for you! And who better to walk you through what comes in the Precentor Martial Edition of the BattleTech: Universe book than lead developer, Randall Bills! Check out the video!
It was so great to meet so many of you at Gen Con and share our love for BattleTech together! Seeing the amount of people shopping, playing at the demo tables, laughing and sharing stories are just a few of our favorite things about this passionate community!
We had so many great games and panels - from BattleTech authors, developers, and fiction writers to games of Alpha Strike and Ray vs. Brent in AGoAC!
Quick update - Dice credits will be FINISHED being added tonight! There were so many! Thank you all for your patience as we got these sorted.
Now that we are home from the convention, we'll be leaning heavily on Backerkit about those adjustments. Stay tuned - we are hoping for a final answer and course of action any day now.
Once all pledges are locked down at the end of August, we'll start on the Salvage Boxes from pledge add-ons. As a reminder, it is infinitely helpful if you select ForcePacks that come with a free Salvage Box as part of your main pledge. The bundles we will have to add manually at the close of the pledge manager, which means going through a lot of messages - more work for both you and our small team.
Thank you all so much for your patience as we work to make sure everything is clean before we wrap this massive, record-breaking campaign!
Coming to you with another update, we are postponing the end of the Pledge Manager until late August! Make sure you are getting all of those adjustments in so you get everything you want!
We are also looking to get everyone's dice credit added by the beginning of next week, so be looking out for that so you don't miss out. We are also incredibly excited to see you all at GenCon, come on by the booth and check out all that we have!
The unlock for Backerkit has finally gone through! As always, there are a few glitches we are working through. At the moment, Backerkit is not allowing adjustments to previous selections – apparently, too many adjustments of adding/removing from carts cause code issues. However, we all expected to be able to make those adjustments, and are working with them to try to fix that.
Other News:
Ironwind Metals are some dear friends and partners of ours, and one of their core team are going through a terminal medical issue. We’ve partnered with them to bring 3 new Drop Ship miniatures to the pledge manager. All profits from these minis gained from the pledge manager will go directly to Ironwind to help cover medical expenses. Once the pledge manager closes, we’ll purchase the minis from them to keep producing under the Catalyst flag.
Thank you all for your patience as we get through the next set of pledge manager glitches. We are in the home stretch!
We have some fantastic news to share! The pledge manager will be unlocking over the next few days and you will have until the end of July to lock in your final choices for your pledges. We'll send another announcement as soon as the unlocks go through. Don't forget that once you confirm your order, it will lock again, so be super sure of your choices!
Big Kappas – items that qualify for the 2 years of product are being automatically added to your orders, so double check everything so you don’t pay for extra items you don’t need! One of our delightful Kappas has been maintaining a list of what items are (or not) not included in the 2 years of product, so check out the exclusive discord server to review!
Pause for Dice Sneak Peek:
Retailers – we appreciate the support of our retail partners and value the opportunity to collaborate with you in bringing our product into a wider audience. Please remember that you MUST submit your resellers certificate to us and a photo of your store to store@catalystgamelabs.com. If we do not receive those items, any retailer tier items will be removed from your pledge before we close the pledge manager. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and we will be happy to help.
Clan Invasion Backers: Your dice credits should be applied to your orders! If you don't see your credit, please contact store@catalystgamelabs.com and we can check on it for you.
Thank you all so much for your patience as we prepare for the final sprint of the pledge manager. We'll be in touch again over the next few days.
The tax issue you’ve reported should now be fixed. If there is still anyone having an issue, please reach out to us.
Please send in your verification of your resellers certificate and photo of your store. You can email this to store@catalystgamelabs.com. By the end of the pledge manager, anyone who does not submit those certificates will have their retail pledge items removed from their orders.
Due to a programming error, many retailers were given credits instead of being charged when they did their initial surveys. This has been fixed, so please check your account for a remaining balance, and please reach out if you have any questions.
Dice Credits
Backers of Clan Invasion may have noticed – our team has started applying dice credits to your pledge manager accounts! This is what is covered:
· The free dice set we put into place at the end of the Mercenaries campaign covers your free dice set from Clan Invasion that were either missing or badly manufactured
· If you purchased additional dice and/or the collectors set during Clan Invasion, your credit will be applied to the pledge manager
· If you purchased decks from the Clan Invasion Kickstarter (these were the ones that could not be fulfilled), your credit will be applied to the pledge manager
· Our team will be working through the week to get these credits applied. There are a lot of them, and our list is alphabetical by email address, so keep that in mind while checking for your credits.
More Add-Ons
The team has been adding additional items to Add-Ons here and there, so when the pledge manager reopens near the end of the month, keep a close eye out to make sure you got everything you wanted, and don’t miss out on those new items.
Over 15,000 of you have locked in your pledges for this first round! That's more than half!
We've made our way through the majority of messages - there are a few that have some unique questions that are taking additional time to research, so we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
For those sending in questions to the store@catalystgamelabs.com email, or sending messages through BackerKit (which go to that same store email), Chris is doing his best to catch up, but there are a lot of requests. Please be patient and he will answer your questions as soon as he's able.
Many of you have seen that we've opened the retailer wholesale prices. We'll be following up if we haven't heard from those retailers about their Resellers Certificate and proof of store, so watch your emails.
Additionally, we are looking into how to send Pre-Order/late backers an email to get them their digital content/locked updates we've made here on Kickstarter. We are trying to find a way to do that without emailing EVERYONE, but we may have to. Either way, you'll receive an email by the end of the week.
As a reminder, if you need Add-Ons unlocked, just send us a message here on Kickstarter. On the main campaign page, click on the Catalyst Game Labs name at the top. From there you can click Contact and send us a message.
We are not planning on closing the pledge manager until AT LEAST the end of June. If we stick to that schedule, we'd be reopening the second round of selections in about two weeks, but that could get pushed or pulled early depending on the number of locked orders and if we feel we've resolved all needed issues.
Thank you all so much for your continued support and patience!
Thank you so much for reaching out with questions and unlocks. We've gotten hundreds of emails, comments, and messages. We are going through them ALL so no worries if you haven't gotten your response yet. Promise it's coming.
Glitches:
You guys are ON IT! You've helped find some programming errors and a few of our own mistakes. Thank you for your communication and patience through such a massive pledge manager launch. This community is AWESOME!
Tamar Rising: Many of you reported that this item was showing up as $0. We've fixed it . If you chose it as an add-on, please make sure it is showing up in your add-ons. If you grabbed it at the wrong price, there's a chance the system removed it from your add-ons when it was reset.
The Faction Swag Bundle II had a glitch where a ton of product was showing up as add-ons that had nothing to do with the Faction Swag items. This has been fixed. If you grabbed it, there's a chance the system removed it from your add-ons when it was reset, so double check it in your order, please.
The laser chevron collector sets was showing up as $10. This has been fixed. If you chose it as an add-on, please make sure it shows up in your add-ons as they may have been removed from your order when reset.
Just want to make sure everyone gets what they need!
Update:
We discovered something with the free Visigoth for backers from the first 48 hours. The Visigoth is showing up in the back end for us, but not on the front end for backers. We are asking Backerkit for how to fix. Some people have commented that they now can see theirs, so it may have been fixed already, but we still plan to followup. Once we're told it's fixed, we'll send another update to you so you can double check your order and make sure no one is missing these who should be getting them.
News:
I saved the best news for last. We understand the frustration about the Salvage Boxes being unavailable for selection with the Pledge Bundle Add-ons - we're frustrated too. The challenge for a solution outside of Backerkit is complexity. The spreadsheet of backer surveys and total orders for fulfillment is MASSIVE, and we don't want to risk messing with the formatting, which could ultimately impact the distributor's fulfillment process and cause mistakes.
We've had a lot of conversations about how to work around Backerkit or the spreadsheet and what we can do, and we have an idea, but we need your help:
* As mentioned in the previous update, please use your Pledge Reward ForcePack options to choose as many of the Inner Sphere and Objectives ForcePacks that come with the Salvage Boxes as possible.
* After we reopen orders near the end of the pledge manager timeline, if you still need additional Inner Sphere or Objectives ForcePacks through your add-on bundle, go ahead and choose them . Once you submit your order and close it again, send us a message and we can add a free Salvage Box for you for your selections. This is a manual process, so please prioritize your choices to the main reward as much as possible.
We will continue to look for an easier solution in the meantime, but we have a plan!
Thank you all again for reporting the issues you find, and for all the encouraging words and enthusiasm for the pledge manager. We'll be back at it in the morning!
Firstly, thank you very much to our early-access smoke testers. Your feedback was super helpful in catching some phrasing and option issues.
The good news:
Over 1,000 backers got the first test email, and we got less than 50 questions and bug reports (many of them duplicates), so we feel comfortable opening up the pledge manager. Loren has been pushing through another 5,000 backers every few hours (hoping to not crash the system by unleashing smaller numbers at a time).
The OK-ish news:
One of the largest complaints we've received is that the add-ons selected in the Kickstarter are locked in Backerkit, instead of allowing for flexibility. We thought it would be more flexible as well. The bad news is there is no way to unlock everyones' Kickstarter add-ons at once. The good (but frustrating) news is that we have the ability to manually unlock those options for backers - that could mean A LOT of unlocking. But we are here for you. Rem Alternis' team is back with Bri and Tyler who will be responding to questions, comments, and messages for the rest of the week. If you need your Kickstarter add-ons unlocked, please send a message through Kickstarter. Bri and Tyler will review and unlock the items you request (so please be specific!) and let you know when you can go back in to make changes.
Next, when the Kickstarter was live, part of why we delayed adding pledge bundles as an add-on for so long was that we wanted to make sure with Backerkit that their system could do everything we needed it to for selections. When they said yes, we made those pledge bundles options as add-ons. Now, they tell us that their system can't nest multiple questions into their add-on items (meaning we can't ask 1. which forcepack do you want? and then ask 2. If you choose forcepack a,b or c, you get a Salvage Box to choose).
This is why there are no Salvage box choices for pledge bundle Add-Ons. BUT, there are a couple options you have:
* For your pledge reward (not add-on) choose all ForcePacks that come with a Salvage Box, and then for your pledge bundle add-on, choose ForcePacks that do NOT come with the Salvage box.
* Message us and ask us to unlock your pledge bundle add-on. Then your funds will open for you to spend them in other ways to customize your choices.
Other FAQs
How do I confirm my free Visigoth Fighter?
If you qualify for backing in the first 48 hours of the Kickstarter campaign, you should see the Visigoth Salvage Box in the list of items to the right on the Add-On screen. If it isn't there, and you think you qualify, please send us a message here on Kickstarter.
What if I pledged for a Legendary Mecharrior I pack as an Add-On on the Kickstarter?
Unfortunately, these were added to the Kickstarter in error, and once a single backer pledges for it, we can't delete it. We tried to communicate that, but it's understandable with such a big campaign for news to get missed. In the pledge manager, you'll be able to choose a different ForcePack with a $5 discount savings credit instead. If that doesn't work for you, reach out to us and we can either unlock your add-on for you to spend the funds on something else, or issue you a store credit or refund.
Any ideas of shipping costs yet?
We are still interviewing distributors for this campaign. Once decided, we are hoping to get quotes from them before we unlock the pledge manager options for the final time before closing. We'll keep you posted if that isn't possible for some reason, but we expect it to be doable.
How will the Clan Invasion credits work?
If you backed Clan Invasion and are owed a single set of dice, those will be fulfilled as the free set of Chevron laser dice we communicated at the end of the Kickstarter campaign. If you were owed multiple sets, we will be adding those credits manually in the pledge manager over the next few weeks. We'll communicate more about that in a separate update as the process starts.
How do I choose digital items, or make sure they are added to my pledge?
Our first goal was to get the physical items working in the pledge manager without breaking the system. We'll be getting digital items added shortly, definitely before the final unlock of pledge choices.
Thank you all again for the kind encouragement, feedback, and support through this process and test phases. Keep the questions coming, and we'll get answers out as soon as we are able.
Exciting news! Tomorrow we are starting the "smoke test." About 5% of backers will get an email with access to the pledge manager to make their selections and test out that everything is working.
If you are one of the lucky, randomly-selected backers and you find something off, please send a Message so we can fix it!
We ran into some issues with the Pledge Manager setup. We gave y'all so many options to pick from that Backerkit is having difficulty tweaking the infrastructure so we can do everything we need to or want to. We're putting them through their paces, and most of the issues are figured out, but we need a little extra time to get it finalized. As of now, we're thinking early next week to launch.
An update on Digital rewards progress:
*Double-Sized Mercenary issue of Shrapnel: Due by December 2023 as the end of year issue.
*Fortunes of War #2: Draft in edit, will be released in May!
*Fortunes of War #3: plan to release in June
*Fortunes of War #4: plan to release in July
*Fortunes of War #5: plan to release in August
*Tales of the Bounty Hunter: In production, no date yet
*Sun Tsu's Art of War: in editing, no pdf date yet
*Splinter of Hope: In production, no date yet
*Rock and a Hard Place: In production, no date yet
*Close Quarters: In production, no date yet
*Eclipse: In production, no date yet
*Graphic Novel: Getting authors on board
*Cookbook: In production, no date yet
*Wars of Reaving #1: In production, no date yet
*Wars of Reaving #2: In production, no date yet
*Wars of Reaving #3: In production, no date yet
Have questions about BattleTech Mercenaries or BattleTech Essentials? We'll be hosting an AMA on Wednesday, May 10th at 9pm EDT with Randall, Ray, and Aaron on https://www.youtube.com/@catalystgamelabs9349 See you there!
The pledge manager is ALMOST ready! We have a team reviewing each and every item to make sure we are ready with all the items we (and you!) want in the pledge manager. Unless something big comes up, we expect it to launch NEXT WEEK!
For digital rewards:
We’ve replaced the large desktop wallpaper image in the google folder (located in the previous update).
Fortunes of War #1 had just the epub file – now it has the mobi file too!
BattleTech Essentials
Many of you saw the social media announcement about the BattleTech Essentials box set coming to Target. We are so excited for this partnership as it targets (heh) an entirely new generation of potential BattleTech players. This is essentially (heh again) a starter set that will be placed in front of an audience that often wouldn’t otherwise run into BattleTech.
While we don’t have any information at this time about how long this set will be exclusive to Target stores, we do hear the concerns of international customers. To answer questions and talk about the future of BattleTech, we’ll be hosting an AMA live at 9pm EDT Wednesday, May 10th (Thursday, 1am GMT) on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@catalystgamelabs9349.
If you can’t make it, please feel free to drop your questions here, and we’ll do our best to answer as many as possible.
We are still hard at work typing away at the pledge manager to make sure it’s ready when we launch. There’s still a lot to do, so expect about 1-2 weeks more before we’re ready to go live.
A couple of things:
Those who missed the Kickstarter will get a chance to pre-order in the pledge manager. When it goes live, you’ll see a “Pre-Order” button on the top of the Kickstarter page. Pre-Order purchases do not count toward stretch goals, but they DO qualify for getting stretch goals based on pledge levels, as they do during the Kickstarter campaign.
Big Kappas:
This week Rem will be reaching out to you via KS message for your Discord ID to add you to a channel in the CGL server. This gives us the ability to announce news directly to the Kappas, and begin to plan KerenskyKons, or talk about product shipments. Please check your KS messages!
Digital Rewards:
The Digital Rewards that are for all backers will be in a link in the next update which gives Backers access, but not public access. Not all digital rewards are ready for release, yet, so here is the list of what is available at this time. Future Backer Updates will announce if anything has been added.
Digital Rewards for all Backers:
*Digital short-story: “A Night at the Lake” by Michael A. Stackpole (in the google link)
*Digital novel: “Double Blind” by Loren Coleman (in the google link)
*Digital novella: “Not the Way the Smart Money Bets (Kell Hounds Ascendant #1)” (in the google link)
*Digital novella: “Fortunes of War #1” (in the google link)
*Digital novel: “No Greater Honor” edited by John Helfers and Philip A. Lee (in the google link)
*Audiobook novella: “A Splinter of Hope” by Philip A. Lee (alternatively available as a digital novella – See FAQ) Not released in the google drive yet. *Audiobook novel: “A Rock and a Hard Place, a Gray Death Legion Novel” by William H. Keith. (alternatively available as a digital novel – See FAQ) Not released in the google drive yet. *Audiobook Novel: “Close Quarters” by Victor Milan (alternatively available as a digital novel) Not released in the google drive yet. *Digital copy of the “Cracked Canopy Cookbook: Recipes from the Inner Sphere” by Jennifer Bixby (in production.)
*Audiobook novella: “Eclipse” by Jason Schmetzger Not released in the google drive yet.
Digital Rewards that are for certain levels and above are still being coordinated. We’ll have more news in the next several updates. Same with audiobooks as we decide on the best way to deliver those to you.
That’s all for now! Thank you all for your support.
See the Kickstarter for UPDATE #45 for access to the digital rewards for backers.
Most of us are home and recovered from the 24 hour livestreams, and we're hard at work getting the pledge manager ready to launch.
Once again - we are so grateful to each and every one of you for your support of this project, and love of this game!
There are over 400 items, bundles, and pledges to add and configure to the pledge manager JUST from this campaign. We are compiling a list of everything we want to add from the online store and the previous Kickstarter as well. For every item, we need to prepare an image, description, and price, and enter them into Backer Kit. We expect that to take 2 to 3 weeks before it's ready to launch.
You can expect a minimum of one update a week between now and fulfillment - more when we have news to share. We'll also continue the video updates with Talon, and an occasional AMA to get some face time with you all and answer your questions about the project.
Next week, we'll have some more information for our Big Kappas and get you information for your point of contact.
Thank you all again, and we'll see you at the next update!
*The Faction Officer Swag package comes with a lapel pin, patch, and challenge coin. The Faction Officer Swag+Dice comes with a pair of laser dice, lapel pin, patch, and challenge coin.
*The Liquid Core Dice are only available in the BattleTech Chevron.
COMPANY STORE/RETAILER CLARIFICATIONS
There have been questions from retailers regarding accessibility to all the add-ons for the BattleTech: Mercenaries campaign. A few things may change as we begin building out the Pledge Manager, but overall here is what we can say with fairly strong confidence:
Pledge Level: You do not have to pledge for multiple “Company Store” reward levels to get more Mercenaries box set or other basic rewards. You will have access to the 6-box cases in the Pledge Manager. (The Pledge Level already includes the appropriate discount.) Currently, there is no “Company Store” bundle.
SWAG: A Company Store reward allows for a choice of six Officer Swag items, which should include faction dice, patches, lapel pins, and challenge coins. Currently, after these choices, you can purchase entire collectors sets of each of these items at your discretion at a standard 50% discount. There might not be additional chances to customize with individual SWAG choices due to restrictions in our fulfillment service.
ForcePacks: All ForcePacks from the Mercenaries and Clan Invasion campaign will be available at the standard 50% discount.
Add-ons: With a few exceptions, retailer backers should be able to get all Add-ons made available through the campaign. Exceptions will be noted after we have prepped the entire Pledge Manager.
4" Timber Wolf: These will also be made available at regular retailer discount.
Tax Free: If you have a valid reseller’s certificate, we should be able to supply you with everything free from domestic taxes. We have no idea how foreign taxes (VAT) works for retailer purchases. We are looking into this. (We assume you do not pay VAT as you are collecting VAT form your customers.)
Free Shipping: Domestic shipping is often free for retailers. If the Pledge Manager technology does not allow for this, we will create an ‘offset’ product or bundle to make up for any shipping costs.
Fulfillment: Retailer backers should get their shipment toward the end of the fulfillment cycle, after the bulk of our fan backers.
Street Dates: Retailer backers should get all materials at least 30 days ahead of any release of product to the hobby trade. Since ForcePacks will be released at a rate of only 2-4 per month (at best) retailer backers should have some ForcePacks at least 90-120 days ahead of a full hobby release.
With all of the Actual Play videos for Aces from the last few days, people have been asking where they can find those files. Here is a quick link to said files.
Additionally, in part of last night’s livestream, the community requested access to the pdf rulebook for the A Game of Armored Combat.here is that fil:
Finally, we are incredibly excited to share a preview of our upcoming Universe Book. As you will see from some marks in the pdf, this is a prefinal version. But it is close enough that we felt we just had to show you how glorious this book will be for brand new fans or long-time fans.
Thank you everyone! With your help, and the help of some really shiny dice, we made it to $6.5 million with a little over 24 hours to go!
That means you all get the free audio book: Close Quarters by Victor Milan! It also means you've unlocked the Blue Star Irregulars and Tamar Pact swag items as choices for pledge levels and add-ons!
We've also reached the TOP 25 FUNDED KICKSTARTERS OF ALL TIME!!!!! Backers, MechWarriors, new and old fans alike - THANK YOU! What an achievement! Who would have thought that BattleTech would make it to this???
We love this game! We love this community! We love how all of YOU made this possible!
We’ve some fantastic news to share today as we near the final 24 hours of this record-breaking campaign. We are incredibly excited to announce we have just finalized a deal for making high-quality dice for BattleTech.
We have chosen to work with Fanroll (by Metallic Dice Games), a domestic manufacturer with nearly a decade of experience making a wide range of high quality dice. In this update, you can see some renders Fanroll has provided of the two different types of dice that will be available: Laser and Liquid Core.
As a celebration of this stunning campaign, every Veteran level backer and above will receive one free pair of BattleTech Chevron Laser dice (as depicted in the render). This free pair of dice are not part of any pledge or add on; simply one pair of these dice will be sent to every Veteran level backer and above.
In the Clan Invasion Kickstarter from 2019, we included faction dice. Despite our best efforts, those dice failed to match the high quality of the rest of the components for that campaign. These free Chevron Laser dice make good on our commitment to those backers from that campaign; these precision-edged, laser foil-effect dice, manufactured with cutting-edge techniques, are simply superior to the Clan Invasion offering.
Furthermore, right now you can go to the Add Ons, and you will find a pair of Laser faction dice that will cover every single faction from the Clan Invasion as well as every single faction ultimately unlocked as part of this campaign. (Yes, nearly 60 of them!) You will choose the specific faction in the Pledge Manager. There will also be one BattleTech chevron Laser dice, as noted above, as well as one BattleTech chevron deluxe Liquid Core dice.
We have also added various bundles. The first is the Faction Officer Swag: one each of the lapel pin, patch and challenge coin for a given faction. The next is Faction Officer Swag + Dice: one each of the lapel pin, patch, challenge coin and a pair of dice for a given faction. And of course, Collectors Set Bundles. There are four Mercenaries Collector Bundles that allow you to grab every single unlocked faction item; all of the lapel pins or all of the patches, and so on. And finally, there are four Total Collector Bundles that net you every single faction item from both the Clan Invasion and Mercenaries. (The final cost of these might be adjusted up slightly, as there are still eight factions that could be unlocked.)
Also, you will find new Dice Trays by Fanroll, featuring the following factions: Houses Kurita, Davion, Liao, Marik and Steiner; Clans Wolf, Ghost Bear, Jade Falcon, Smoke Jaguar and Sea Fox; mercenaries Wolf’s Dragoon’s, Kell Hounds, Eridani Light Horse, Northwind Highlanders, Gray Death Legion, and Hansen’s Roughriders; as well as the BattleTech chevron. You will choose the specific faction in the Pledge Manager.
As a final note, anyone that purchased multiple dice from the previous Kickstarter will take a survey for how they wish to receive their credits as part of the upcoming Pledge Manager.
Thank you again for this amazing campaign and pushing BattleTech to all new heights.
We're in the final stretch! Starting to see increases in backer count and pledge amount each day!
If you missed day one of the livestream of Ash vs. Randall - Ash won 2! Randall clearly needs to step it up. The third game saw big casualties on both sides, that will carry into this morning's 4th game. Tune in at www.twitch.tv/sixsidesofgaming now until we are done playing the final 3 scenarios today!
We'll get the final 24 hours livestream schedule out later today, so keep watching here and on socials.
We have a couple more FAQs for you too:
The Add-On list and the Backer Update 17 list of books that can be upgraded to leather or hardcover differ. The Update is correct. Gray Death Legion trilogy (Decision at Thunder Rift, Mercenary's Star, Price of Glory), Warrior trilogy (En Garde, Riposte, Coupe), Blood of Kerensky trilogy (Lethal Heritage, Blood Legacy, Lost Destiny), Legends of the Jade Phoenix trilogy (Way of the Clans, Bloodname, Falcon Guard), as well as, Main Event, Close Quarters, Double Blind.
Are any of the posted LosTech dice pucks new releases? No. The most recent dice pucks were released during GenCon last year, and some haven't made it to the website yet.
Excited to see what today brings to the Kickstarter!
Well, everyone - we are in the final four days! We want to create some more excitement for the end of the campaign - so here's the news:
Randall, Talon, Rem, and Michael are all headed to Toronto today for the final 3 days of livestreams and events. You know about the Ash vs. Randall event for day 3 and 2, and the 24 hour livestream for the last, well, 24 hours. We'll be releasing the calendar of events shortly so you don't miss a moment!
Less than $150K to $6M when we promised to reveal the $8M stretch goal, so stay tuned.
-----------JUST KIDDING!-------------
Ya know what? We're too excited and don't want to wait another minute!
We've finalized the $8M stretch goal and we want to tell you about it NOW! There are still 4 days left - let's go for it!
We have a mission, MechWarriors! Let's execute it together!
BattleTech Paint Starter (The Army Paint)
CountersPack: Alpha Strike
CountersPack: BattleForce
Pledge Bundle Add-Ons for Veteran, Company, Battalion and Regiment
(These pledge bundles include all pledge rewards and stretch goals. They do not include digital rewards or special per-backer gifts like the 48 hour Visigoth Salvage Box or the 4" Timber Wolf. It does not combine with a Kerensky double-reward offer).
Just a note - at this time, we plan to release the Faction and Collectors Swag Bundles at the time of the Pledge Manager.
Even MORE exciting - we have some videos from the manufacturer! Check out the PVC Injection video and the assembly vid they've posted!
BattleTech Mercenaries is now the 39th most funded Kickstarter of all time, across all categories! You all clearly love this game, and so do we!
19,000 backers! Just – wow! How much this community has grown! As a reminder, Clan Invasion reached
11,277 backers by the end of the campaign, so this growth means so much!
$5.5 million! That means several things:
· All backers will receive a free audiobook full-length novel: A Rock and a Hard Place, a Gray Death Legion novel by William H. Keith
· The Lindon’s Battalion and Oberon Confederation swag are unlocked as pledge level choices and add-ons!
· We are only $500,000 away from the announcement of the $8 million dollar stretch goal!
News:
To clarify some questions, in Update 9 we mentioned that Veterans will receive a free Salvage Box as part of their stretch goals at $5M. When we released the graphic for $5M, we forgot to include it. To confirm, Veterans WILL receive a free Salvage Box. We’ll get the reward and stretch goal graphic updated shortly.
Based upon the wonderful suggestions from backers to unlock more faction swag alongside the fiction, we've dug into the lore. Finding some great old and new factions, along with much-requested mercenary outfits. Thanks for the idea! Many of you have already noticed that we stealthily updated the graphics already for $5.5M and $6.5M to include these options.
We’ve also revealed the $7.5M stretch goal! Check out our graphic for that one too! Now, who’s ready to hit the $6M mark and see that $8M stretch goal?
We’ve already announced that on April 17th and 18th, Randall and Ash from Guerilla Miniatures Games will be facing off for two days of BattleTech! There will be ways for the audience to “help” your favorite side gain the upper hand, so don’t miss it! Both days, games will start at 10am EDT and run until the day’s games are done. You’ll find us on www.twitch.tv/sixsidesofgaming.
Finally, we are planning for a POWERFUL final 24 hours of the campaign. Starting on April 19th at 10pm EDT, we’ll be livestreaming for 24 hours straight. AMAs, interviews with gaming luminaries, writers, freelancers, artists, developers, world builders…you name it! The final hour, we’ll assemble the Catalyst Team on stream to ring in the end of the campaign together with you.
We can’t wait for all the fun, the laughs, the sleepless nights and ending the campaign with the people that made it all happen. Our backers.
We’ve seen some confusion regarding maps over-all, so we thought we’d spend an update clarifying matters.
WHAT IS A “MAP”?
To help define “map” for everyone, when we use that term, we are specifically referring to a single side of a physical paper mapsheet measuring 17” x 22”.
MAPPACKS
While MapPacks are always paper, they can be slightly different in their content, which changes the price. Hence you have MapPack: Alien Worlds for $25, MapPack: Grasslands and MapPack: Deserts for $30, and MapPack: Battle of Tukayyid for $35.
MapPack: City ($35)
Like MapPack: Grasslands and MapPack: Deserts, MapPack: City contains 6 double-sided, folded 17” x 22” sheets of paper. And each side then is a map, giving us 12 total mapsheets to play on. The names of those maps are as follows:
Corporate Campus
HPG Offices
HPG Heliport
Central Park
Family Quarters
HPG Engineering
Roundabout
Plaza
Shopping District
Business District
Observatory Hill
Park District
The reason this set is $35, is that like MapPack: Battle of Tukayyid, it includes a diecut sheet of extra counters (such as rubble hexes for tracking destroyed buildings).
MapPack: Savannahs $30)
This MapPack also has 6 double-sided, folded 17” x 22” sheets of paper, giving us 12 total mapsheets to play on. The names of those maps are as follows:
Large Lakes #1
Large Lakes #2
Desert Sinkhole #1
Desert Sinkhole #2
River Delta/Drainage Basin #1
River Delta/Drainage Basin #2
BattleTech
Box Canyon
City Ruins
CityTech
Mountain Lake
Wide River
For long-time players they’ll note that these maps are pulled from various old mapsets. However, the art has been reimagined to our latest quality. Additionally, as needed, maps have been modified to make them fully playable. For example, the previous River Delta maps were nearly unplayable. We’ve taken our modern experience of map designs–such as using Depth 0 Water hexes–to turn those maps into wonderfully looking, but also wonderfully playable, with lots of fun new strategies.
As this MapPack does not contain a dicecut sheet of counters, it is the more standard $30 price.
WHAT IS A “BATTLEMAP”?
A BattleMat refers to a double-sided, high-quality neoprene play mat. They measure 34” x 22”. In other words, they are “two paper mapsheets wide”.
BattleMat: City & BattleMat: Savannahs ($40 each)
Currently there are six BattleMats as part of the campaign. Their size represents four total mapsheets to play on: two on one side and two on the other.
BattleMat Bundles ($100)
Three BattleMats would equal $120. The bundles, then, give you a $20 discount.
We hope this walk through of all the maps currently available answers any final questions.
Thank you to everyone who rang in the $5 million milestone with us last night on livestream, and thank you ALL for helping us get there! We are in awe of this campaign. Because of you, BattleTech: Mercenaries is in the top 50 Kickstarter campaigns of all time, across all categories (46 as of this post)! Just – wow. Thank you.
A couple of updates for you, and then a whole list of FAQs.
We’ve unlocked the $5M goal, which means Company backers receive 1 free ForcePack and Battalion backers and up get 2 free ForcePack choices.
We have updated the reward tier graphics to include all stretch goals and retail values through the $5 million goal.
The $2M graphic has been expanded to include more information about the “BattleTech: Universe” book.
Add-On Info
We have increased the maximum ForcePack and Salvage Box Add-On quantity to 99. It should no longer block you from ordering more than 10.
Plushies are now available as Add-Ons!
Mercenaries Retaliation is now available as an Add-On!
Alpha Strike Retaliation is now available as an Add-On!
Salvage Boxes with Legendary Mechs are now available as Add-Ons
Salvage Boxes with Vehicles are now available as Add-Ons.
FAQs
1. Will there be an additional ForcePack bundle added as an Add-on or as a reward tier?
We are looking into the possibility.
2. Will plushies be available as Add-Ons?
Yes! There is an Add-On option to put $30 toward your choice of plushie that you can choose in the pledge manager. $30 is the minimum cost of a plushie, but may be more depending on which one you select.
3. (UPDATE) Will retaliation boxes be available as Add-Ons?
Yes! And they are live Add-ons on Kickstarter now.
4. Will there be swag bundle Add-Ons?
Yes. You will be able to choose from collector sets of all patches, all pins, or all coins as well as faction packs, which would allow you to grab the patch, pin, and coin set for the faction of your choice.
5. Will more Big Kappa spots be added?
Yes, we will add 10 more shortly.
6. What is the cost of the poster bundle?
Poster bundles will be available as Add-Ons in the pledge manager for $10 for all three supersized posters.
7. Can we order posters rolled instead of folded?
Unfortunately not. Poster tubes can not be packed easily within packages, which means they have to ship separately, which means a large increase in shipping costs. Additionally, the way they are handled in post means they can often get easily damaged and we have no control over these types of shipping issues.
8. How does VAT work with this project?
To our knowledge, VAT applies to what you pay for an item, so theoretically you wouldn’t be required to pay for freebies. BUT we are not experts and have no control over what each country’s government qualifies or doesn’t. Please refer to your local government tax websites for information.
9. Can I back multiple reward tiers?
Yes. While Kickstarter does not allow you to select additional reward tiers, there will be options for additional reward bundles in the pledge manager. (Optional: add additional funds to the Kickstarter now to help achieve new stretch goals, and then spend those additional funds on the reward bundles/add-ons of your choice in the pledge manager)
10. If I back for multiple reward tiers, do I get the stretch goals for each reward?
We are reviewing our numbers to ensure this is doable – we’ll get a definite answer for you soon.
11. Will the double-sized Mercenary Themed Shrapnel have a print copy, and will it be available for this KS as an option?
The Mercenary issue WILL have a print copy available, but all the stories still need written, so it won’t be ready to fulfill physically be the time we start shipping. Therefore a physical version will not be available as part this Kickstarter.
12. Currently, only the 1st and 2ndgraphic novel pdfs are part of the pledge/reward levels. Will volume 3 and 4 be added as future stretch goal rewards?
It’s possible, but we will need to review timelines. Producing graphic novels will be a new venture for us, so we don’t want to overcommit to an unreasonable timeline. Our goal is to fulfill this Kickstarter quickly for everyone, so we want to consider carefully.
13. When do the 2 years of product for Big Kappa begin?
It begins at the close of this Kickstarter campaign.
14. Is it possible to swap swag items in the pledge manager?
Very likely. We are working on making all swag options interchangeable as long as the pledge manager allows us that customization.
15. If you increase your pledge level in the pledge manager, do you still get access to all unlocked stretch goals for that new pledge level?
Yes. You can change your pledge level until the pledge manager is locked for fulfillment.
16. Will the Visigoth Salvage Box be available as an add-on?
Yes.
17. What are all the items and prices of add-ons for Clan Invasion items and retail store items?
All of these will be available in the pledge manager. This is a LOT of items that aren’t relevant to the live Kickstarter. While we are committed to making as many things available to backers as possible, you’ll have to wait for the pledge manager to see the full details.
18. What vehicles will be possible to get in the Salvage Box: Vehicles?
ALL of them will be available, and each box will contain two random vehicles, with the exception of the Long Tom. If you get a Long Tom, you will get both models that make up this miniature.
EDIT: 4/6/23: ADEPTICON INTERVIEW WITH RAY ARRASTIA
Hey all! Just decided as a team to jump on stream to celebrate the halfway point (and maybe $5M???), answer questions, and talk about the whole experience!
Tune in on the page, right here, or chat with us on YouTube!
A summary of the livestream taken from the Kickstarter comments
- the logistics for Retaliation boxes have been sorted out and they are now available on the add-ons tab.
- An option to reserve plushies has been added to the add-ons tab.
- The 4" Timber Wolf and Early Bird Visigoth are both 1 per backer.
- Additional 4" Timber Wolves might be available as an add-on but they currently do not have the numbers ready to be completely certain about the specifics.
- Because of how the pledge manager works they cannot confirm what you get in a second "pledge" with the same account at this time as you technically cannot pledge twice on the same account, "pledge levels" as add-ons are manually created bundles and stretch goals might not be included (depends on some behind the scenes stuff)
- there will be another live stream on Saturday
- The cookbook is coming regardless of hitting $7 million, it would just take longer if we don't reach the stretch goal.
- Audio Books will start to be released in more places once some royalty paperwork has been figured out.
EDIT: 4/4/23: ADEPTICON INTERVIEW WITH RANDALL BILLS
Excited to share this special release with you! Catalyst contracted Rem Alternis Productions to create a Crescent Hawks training video, educating new recruits about the types of 'Mechs & Mercs they may face in the field.
This video covers notable events, persons, and dates of the Kell Hounds mercenary unit.
We hope you all enjoy it! Give us a like, a subscribe, and tell us what you think, especially if you'd like to see more content like this in the future!
Less than $160,000 to $5 Million! Wow, everyone!!! Thank you all so much for being part of such a massive event! Keep an eye out - one of our next updates will be a special content release for you!
Here are some more questions and answers for y'all!
1.) Will there be an unboxing video?
Not at this time. No copies have been printed yet. Rest assured when we get a copy, we'll produce an unboxing.
2.) What books are available to choose from for Paper Pusher?
Paper Pusher will be able to choose from the following books (in both Premium Hardback and Collector Leatherbound editions): Gray Death Legion trilogy (Decision at Thunder Rift, Mercenary's Star, Price of Glory), Warrior trilogy (En Garde, Riposte, Coupe), Blood of Kerensky trilogy (Lethal Heritage, Blood Legacy, Lost Destiny), Legends of the Jade Phoenix trilogy (Way of the Clans, Bloodname, Falcon Guard), as well as, Main Event, Close Quarters, Double Blind.
3.) Will posters be folded or rolled? Will we be able to get them as an add-on?
Posters will be folded for ease of shipping. The poster bundle of all 3 will be available as an add-on.
4.) Will there be swag bundles as add-ons?
Yes. You will be able to choose between all challenge coins, all pins, or all patches. You'll also be able to choose a complete clan set.
5.) Which items will be available in pledge manager from Clan Invasion?
That would be way too many items to list. The short answer: most of the items.
6.) Which items will be available in pledge manager from the online store?
That would be way too many items to list. The short answer: most of the items.
7.) Tell us more about the BattleTech Universe book!
This is a comprehensive BattleTech lore book. Timelines, notable people, factions, in-world events, etc. We'll be releasing the back cover copy soon.
* Premium Mech Sheets
* Legends II book
* Legends II book Limited Edition
* Legendary MechWarriors I
* Legendary MechWarriors II
* Legendary MechWarriors III
We also updated the Mercenary Box Set graphic with what minis come in the box. AND the FAQ about what could possibly come in a Mercenary SalvageBox has been updated with the complete list of possible Mechs.
And FINALLY, my last update for today is about STRETCH GOALS! Here's what's coming:
The most pertinent information from the interview for the Kickstarter:
Will the products from the new Kickstarter start releasing this year or next year? Oh, it'll definitely be next year. We will fulfill to our backers end of this year/beginning of next year, probably. We predicted June 2024, but things are going so smoothly at the moment that it looks like we'll fulfill very early. Backers first, then the hobby trade will be somewhere within three months after all backers are fulfilled.
Big shoutout to James B. Hill Jr. for collecting these and organizing them. Here are the Q&As I have so far from James and from the Messages:
1: What miniatures are included in the Mercenary box?
Chameleon, Starslayer, Caesar, Devastator, Flea, Firefly, Quickdraw, Ostsol, Galleon Light Tank (x2), Maxim Hover Transport (x2)
2: Will there be a graphic for the Battlefield Support: Rifle And Command ForcePack?
It won't have a graphic because it's not completely designed yet. (About 70% there)
3: Will the Premium Mech sheets be available as Add-Ons?
Yes. Will be adding soon!
4: Will the double sized, Mercenary Themed Shrapnel have a print copy, and be available as an Upgrade or Addon?
Still getting answers - stay tuned.
5. Will Legends II have a premium edition like Legends I? Will it be possible to upgrade a given copy?
Working on it! Will be available in the add-ons and upgradable in the pledge manager.
6: Currently only the 1st and 2nd Graphic novels pdf are part of a pledge, what are the chances of volume 3 and 4 added? AND will they have a print copy available as an Add On?
For the first part of the question - still getting answers. For the second part of the question - no. Print copies will not be ready until after the Kickstarter is fulfilled.
7. Will we get a Reinforcements 2 Boxset, like the Clan Invasion KS had?
No plans for this at this time.
8. Will items from AdeptiCon be available as add-ons?
Mostly. We are still looking into the feasibility of the premium mechs and Destiny Scale Marauders, but everything else should be available.
9. What is available in the Mercenary Salvage Boxes?
The Mercenaries box and 5 Inner Sphere ForcePacks include 28 Inner Sphere 'Mechs, and the 2 Clan ForcePacks include 10 Clan 'Mechs, for a total of 38 'Mechs. The Mercenaries SalvageBox will include 1 random 'Mech from those 38 'Mechs. (This will not include any of the vehicles, or the 'Mechs from the Legendary Packs.)
10. Do free Visigoths apply per backer or per Pledge? For example, if I pledge 1 Regiment now and 1 Batallion in PM, do I get 1 or 2 Visigoth?
Still getting answers.
11. Which Merc Lance/Star Boxes will be available in the PM for Addon?
All Clan Invation Standard Forcepacks will be available. We are still looking at the Legendary Pack I. Mercenary ForcePacks are still TBD as we figure out what we are beholden to for exclusivity contracts. If it's not exclusive, it will be available. These will definitely be available: Wolf's Dragoons, Snord's Irregulars, along with the UrbanMech Lance and Proliferation packs.
12. When do the 2 Years of Product for a Big Kappa Start? Is this KS Included? Is Adepticon included?
Still getting answers.
13. Can we have a FAQ telling people the various ways to find their Pledge Number, and what was the last Pledge Number qualified for Early Bird?
You can find your backer number in your backer confirmation email, or by clicking on View Pledge, but it doesn't show a time stamp. We won't know until we get the full backer report. If you pledged before 10am CST on Saturday, you get the Visigoth.
14. Do we have graphics of any of the new Maps / Battle Mats?
Working on it.
Will there be more details/descriptions of each Add-On?
Yes. Stay tuned.
15. What is the BattleTech Universe book?
This is a book with a fancy box (we're going to dig in to what the distributor can pull off!). It will have about 6 sections of multiple acetate sheets featuring various units. There will be multiple gatefolds of high quality artwork, envelopes with additional specialized content (still under development), and more!
16. What is the minimum pledge to ensure I get access to the pledge manager?
$1. And if you miss the campaign, the Kickstarter page will have a "Pre-Order Now" button that will allow you to join the pledge manager until fulfillment is ready.
17. Are more stretch goals coming?
Yes! You'll see an update with more soon!
18. If I have a refund credit from Clan Invasion, can I use it on this Kickstarter in the pledge manager?
To show our gratitude and love for you all, we decided to add alittle extra something for you for surpassing $4.5 million!
You'll be receiving the audio files for "A Splinter of Hope" audiobook novella. The fiction and audio line is near and dear to our hearts, and we are thrilled to share this with you.
Thank you all so very much for making this Kickstarter such a success.
This community still astonishes me every step of the way.
As promised, here are the details for the $4 Million stretch goal:
We are about to post the updated reward graphics that include all stretch goals and savings.
$5 million is coming with more plastic, as promised, and we’re still working out the final details on specifics. Stay tuned for news on that.
We are also updating the Swag and ForcePack listings so you know all your options and what is included. More graphics of the minis themselves will be coming (likely after the convention), but in the meantime there is a TON of content still over the next two days on twitch with Six Sides of Gaming. Here is the link and the schedule for Saturday.
Ava, Thor and Chris did an amazing job today and are taking a well-deserved rest. I'm here with one final update for the evening (Chicago's evening, anyway).
I'm Rem Alternis and I'm the new Community and Marketing Director for Catalyst. I was at AdeptiCon today getting Ava, Thor and Chris answers to all of your questions, and discussing the next stretch goals with the team, and we have news!
First, I've got to say, you blew us all away! We planned for up to $2 million in stretch goals and thought we'd have a day or two to iron out the rest of the details. WRONG. Y'all DEMANDED more BattleTech, and we're thrilled! THANK YOU.
So I'm here to fill you in on the next couple of stretch goals, and we've got some bigger plans I'll be releasing within the next few days.
$4 Million: a new Battlefield Support Forcepack will be unlocked for Add-Ons AND all backers will receive the "Tales of the Bounty Hunter" digital shortstory anthology.
$5 Million: Veteran level backers and above get a free Salvage Box. Battalion level backers and above get a free salvage box and a free ForcePack. ALL backers will receive free audiobook files of a novella (to be decided soon).
These are a baseline - we might add more to these or our higher levels over the next few days (we have some calls to make to vendors to see if they can bring these ideas to life, and we have to see what Anthony can actually sculpt for us in a reasonable amount of time to fulfill).
Additionally, we are reviewing our Big Kappa quantities over the next few days. We hear you - we know you want more! But we need to figure out logistically how many we are able to accommodate without the quality of the KerenskyKon experience declining.
Thank you again for an AMAZING day one. I'll be here with you all day tomorrow to answer questions. I'm even trying to get another video update from Talon so you can get a peek at AdeptiCon.
Streaming with Six Sides of Gaming also continues tomorrow. Here's the schedule and you can tune in again at https://www.twitch.tv/sixsidesofgaming. Have a great night everyone!
PLAYING CATCH-UP UPDATE #9
Hey all!
Rem again. I'm taking today off from AdeptiCon and GaryCon to dive into comments, messages, etc. AND to address some of your requests.
I'm working with our graphic designer to update the Rewards levels to include ALL stretch goals that each reward is currently getting (including 4 million, as I'm hoping to have the graphics as we cross that line). We will also be calculating the total retail range for each reward and stretch goals so you can directly see your savings. This will be within a range since several items vary - like ForcePacks, for instance, which can be between $30 and $40 depending on which you choose on the Pledge Manager.
We are also getting graphics for the newer stretch goals for you so you can see what you are getting.
One of our initial goals of the campaign was to have all pre-production, sculpts, art, etc. DONE so that we could fulfill quickly for you. All ForcePacks up to the $3 million stretch goal mark are already completely ready to produce.
However, one of the main things we've gleaned from the feedback you've given is MOAR MINIS! Got it, loud and clear.
So here's our new plan. Every $2 million starting at $4 million we are going to unlock a new ForcePack for add-on. We have 2 ForcePacks that are 70% designed, but each one will extend the time of fulfillment to put the work in. All said and done, we're talking 2-3 more months for up to $8 million on the Kickstarter. ($8 million is going to be REALLY special, but we're ironing out some final details before I can announce what is in each of the ForcePacks).
Additionally, every $2 million starting at $3 million means more plastic for you. More Salvage Boxes and ForcePacks.
AND, like I said in the last update, we are working with some vendors and crunching some numbers to see what else we can add to sweeten the pot as we continue to grow.
Remember, we are only in day two and most of our team is at the convention. Let's celebrate this first weekend together, and then make some more decisions as we go.
Today, my focus is on updating the Kickstarter page for clarity and responding to this passionate community.
Ava, Thor, and Chris are here supporting me too, but taking some time to rest for themselves after the excitement of yesterday.
Thank you all for the feedback and support.
EDIT: 3/23/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
Early bird reward? Yes please!
Back within the first 48 hours for your FREE Visigoth Aerospace Fighter!
You know your mission:
EDIT: 3/22/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
Choose wisely, Mechwarrior.
We've been giving you some sneak peeks at the Battletech: Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign reward tiers. Whether you are a new recruit, a veteran, or you control your own regiment, there is something for everyone.
Check it out, and don't forget to follow the pre-launch page so you are in the front lines of this project!
Finally, we have the Big Kappa. Check out the LONG list of rewards for our biggest backers!
EDIT: 3/22/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
Choose wisely, Mechwarrior.
We're giving you some sneak peeks at the Battletech: Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign reward tiers. Whether you are a new recruit, a veteran, or you control your own regiment, there is something for everyone.
Check it out, and don't forget to follow the pre-launch page so you are in the front lines of this project!
Next up, we have something for the Regiments, including the Mercenaries Box, 12 ForcePacks of your choice, 4 Challenge Coin of your choice, 2 swag items of your choice, the "Double Blind" digital novella, and a 4" Timber Wolf!
EDIT: 3/22/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
Choose wisely, Mechwarrior.
Over the next few days, we'll be giving you some sneak peeks at the Battletech: Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign reward tiers. Whether you are a new recruit, a veteran, or you control your own regiment, there is something for everyone.
Check it out, and don't forget to follow the pre-launch page so you are in the front lines of this project!
Next up, we have something for the Battalions, including the Mercenaries Box, 6 ForcePacks of your choice, Challenge Coin of your choice, 1 swag item of your choice, the "Double Blind" digital novella, and a 4" Timber Wolf!
BattleTech: Mercenaries Launches in 24 Hours! Plus, Final Preview Designs
Launching at Adepticon near Chicago, Ill., there is a ton of news surrounding this project. Back the Kickstarter starting Thursday, March 23 at 10 a.m. CDT at http://bit.ly/3FCjPrO.
At funding:
All backers at Recruit level and above will receive a link to the Night at the Lake short story by Michael Stackpole, as well as an Eridani Light Horse wallpaper.
Early Bird Reward:
If you back within the first 48 hours, you’ll receive a Salvage Box: Visigoth aerospace fighter for free!
4” Timber Wolf Model:
All backers at the Veteran level and above will receive a FREE 4” Timber Wolf model.
ForcePacks & Swag
Choose which ForcePacks and swag you want through the pledge manager at the end of the campaign. More ForcePacks and swag option are unlocked through Stretch Goals.
Content
Don’t worry if you can’t make it to AdeptiCon or any of the launch parties, we’ve got you covered. Six Sides of Gaming will be livestreaming all day from Thursday through Sunday. Check out the schedule on our social media, and tune in at www.youtube.com/@SixSidesofGaming.
Mercenaries Kickstarter Preview 08
We continue our in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the development of the miniatures for this Kickstarter Preview 08 PDF is now available–for free as always–covering the Scorpion and the Warrior VTOL!
Over the next few days, we'll be giving you some sneak peeks at the Battletech: Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign reward tiers. Whether you are a new recruit, a veteran, or you control your own regiment, there is something for everyone.
Check it out, and don't forget to follow the pre-launch page so you are in the front lines of this project!
Next up, we have something for the Company Store, including 6 copies of the Mercenaries Box, 6 Challenge Coin of your choice, 1 swag item of your choice, the "Double Blind" digital novella, and THREE 4" Timber Wolf models!
EDIT: 3/21/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
So what does 'swag' mean?
EDIT 3/21/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
Choose wisely, Mechwarrior.
Over the next few days, we'll be giving you some sneak peeks at the Battletech: Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign reward tiers. Whether you are a new recruit, a veteran, or you control your own regiment, there is something for everyone.
Check it out, and don't forget to follow the pre-launch page so you are in the front lines of this project!
Next up, we have something for the Company, including the Mercenaries Box, 2 Forcepacks of your choice, Challenge Coin of your choice, 1 swag item of your choice, the ""Double Blind"" digital novella, and a 4"" Timber Wolf! (What's included in the swag? Guess you'll have to watch out for the next post!)
EDIT 3/21/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
What was that about a 4" Timber Wolf statuette? Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so check it out for yourself!
EDIT 3/21/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
Choose wisely, Mechwarrior.
Over the next few days, we'll be giving you some sneak peeks at the Battletech: Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign reward tiers. Whether you are a new recruit, a veteran, or you control your own regiment, there is something for everyone.
Next up, we have something for our Veterans, including the Mercenaries Box, Challenge Coin, Double Blind digital novella, and a 4" Timber Wolf! (You read that right! Watch for tomorrow's post to learn all about this awesome part of the reward).
EDIT 3/20/23: From Facebook
Spoiler:
It's time to ramp up the excitement and start sharing some sneak peeks into the Kickstarter launching THIS THURSDAY at Adepticon!
Let's start dropping some rewards! The recruit is the smallest reward level for those dipping their toe into Battletech.
The next exciting chapter of BattleTech history will launch March 23, 2023 at AdeptiCon in Schaumburg, IL!
In 2018, Catalyst Game Labs built upon the thirty-five-year legacy of BattleTech with the release of the A Game of Armored Combat and Beginner Box sets. Those boxed sets included re-imagined miniatures which retained the core of each ’Mech’s identity, updated with modern aesthetics. Upon that foundation, our Clan Invasion Kickstarter unleashed nearly one hundred additional miniatures and finished among the top 100 Kickstarter campaigns ever. By the end of this year, more than four million high quality, affordable, ready-to-play plastic ’Mech miniatures will have hit gaming tables in just four years.
The next chapter of BattleTech’s titanic resurgence will be the Mercenaries Kickstarter campaign. The new campaign will introduce more than 50 new designs, including ’Mechs, armored and support vehicles, a VTOL, additional battle armor, and a new aerospace fighter–all to the same high-quality standards and ready to play right out of the box.
We are beyond excited to officially announce that Catalyst Game Labs and AdeptiCon have partnered to launch the BattleTech: Mercenaries Kickstarter on March 23rd, 2023, 10 a.m. Central/11 a.m. Eastern–the first day of AdeptiCon. We’ll be livestreaming throughout the weekend, including the campaign’s launch, Q&A sessions, developer interviews, actual-play events, and more!
“I’ve been to hundreds of conventions all over the world, and AdeptiCon is a wonderfully unique experience,” said Randall N. Bills, Managing Developer for Catalyst Game Labs. “I’m an equal-opportunity gamer and enjoy playing nearly any type of game. But walking past endless tables of amazing terrain and fantastically painted miniatures is an incredible experience unto itself. If you love miniatures games, AdeptiCon is the place to be. And we couldn’t imagine a more perfect venue for launching our Mercenaries Kickstarter.”
AdeptiCon is the world’s premiere wargaming convention, running more than 650 tournaments, event games, and hobby seminars–along with hosting over 115 exhibitors–each year. AdeptiCon 2022 also saw the return of the prestigious Golden Demon painting award to North America, which will return in 2023. Catalyst’s presence at the convention has continued to grow over the past few years, with Catalyst Demo Team events drawing experienced MechWarriors and new players alike to the battlefields of the Inner Sphere.
“For quite a few of us in this hobby, BattleTech provided our first foray into the world of table-top miniatures gaming,” reminisced Dave Pauwels, AdeptiCon Media Director. “The idea of replacing cardboard tokens with painted models of two-story high ’Mechs was a revolutionary one back in the day and a lot of us were hooked (one of the first miniatures I ever painted was a Demolisher). To see the game experience a sort of renaissance now, in 2022, is incredible and AdeptiCon loves being an event where you can find finely painted ’Mechs waging war over beautiful terrain tables. By partnering with Catalyst Games for the Kickstarter launch, AdeptiCon proudly plays its role in the continued success and popularity of one of our favorite games.”
Stay tuned to AdeptiCon.com and bg.battletech.com for future news surrounding all the games and events you can experience with BattleTech–and Leviathans (monstersinthesky.com)–at Adepticon in 2023!
About Catalyst Game Labs
Catalyst Game Labs is dedicated to producing high-quality games and fiction that mesh sophisticated game mechanics with dynamic universes—all presented in a form that allows beginning players and long-time veterans to easily jump into our games and fiction readers to enjoy our stories even if they don’t know the games. Find Catalyst Game Labs online at www.catalystgamelabs.com.
AdeptiCon
AdeptiCon has grown consistently over the past seventeen years, from the humble 110 person event in 2003 to over 5,700 attendees AdeptiCon hosted in 2022. Over those 20 years, AdeptiCon has been held at five different venues. We have expanded from a handful of events to well over 650 tournaments, event games, and hobby seminars covering all aspects of the miniature wargaming hobby. Despite the continued growth and necessary expansion, we have made every effort to keep consistent focus on one major priority: to present to our attendees the highest quality wargaming event possible. This will remain our priority for 2023 and beyond. Find Adepticon online at www.AdeptiCon.com https://www.adepticon.org.
Across the BattleTech universe, mercenary warriors are an undeniable presence on the battlefield. Whether they fight for pay, personal glory, the thrill of combat, or just the hope of keeping their unit together a little longer, mercenaries have played a decisive role in conflicts around the Inner Sphere for centuries.
Building on the wild success of the Clan Invasion Kickstarter, the new campaign from Catalyst Game Labs will bring more than 50 new plastic miniatures to your battlefields, including BattleMechs, and for the first time ever, plastic combat vehicles to augment your ’Mech forces. Among the miniatures in production are the Firestarter, Griffin IIC, Ostroc, and Kraken ’Mechs, as well as the Galleon Light Tank, SRM/LRM Carrier, and Demolisher Heavy Tank. A variety of mercenary-themed stretch goals will also be included.
This message was edited 411 times. Last update was at 2024/11/08 23:11:13
2022/11/07 21:04:56
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
2022/11/08 00:57:31
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
Miguelsan wrote: Unless Catalyst adds plushies I'm not enthused.
M.
Spoiler:
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/04/25 20:34:53
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2022/11/08 01:50:03
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
No. Tax Day (i.e. when taxes are due) is on or about April 15th. Tax refunds may come earlier if you file early.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2022/11/08 04:49:01
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
No. Tax Day (i.e. when taxes are due) is on or about April 15th. Tax refunds may come earlier if you file early.
It doesn't matter, pledge manager will be open when your returns come in.
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2022/11/09 20:39:22
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
BattleTech: Mercenaries Kickstarter Preview #1 PDF Only: Free!
In 2018, Catalyst Game Labs built upon the thirty-five-year legacy of BattleTech with the release of the A Game of Armored Combat and Beginner Box sets. Those boxed sets included re-imagined miniatures which retained the core of each ’Mech’s identity, updated with modern aesthetics. Upon that foundation, our Clan Invasion Kickstarter unleashed nearly one hundred additional miniatures and finished among the top 100 Kickstarter campaigns ever.
In the last four years, the avalanche of high-quality, affordable, ready-to-play plastics–coinciding with exciting original fiction and campaign play set in the new ilClan Era–has unleashed a massive wave of BattleTech interest, with more gamers of every age and type playing than ever before. By the end of this year, more than four million high-quality, affordable, ready-to-play plastic ’Mech miniatures will have hit gaming tables in just four years.
And soon we’ll be leaping back into that action: the Mercenaries Kickstarter launches on March 23, 2023, live from AdeptiCon!
We found during the Clan Invasion Kickstarter that the community loved behind-the-scenes looks at how we transitioned fan-favorite BattleMechs into our modern plastics. And we want to offer that again. This time, well before the Mercenaries Kickstarter launches, as we are so much further along on the project!
Today we’re launching the first of a series of preview PDFs that will roll out over the coming weeks. Each PDF walks you through that re-imagining process: basing each, of course, off of Duane Loose’s amazing original illustrations (as well as other artists). And then, starting with sketches (often several), through the renders, into the final plastic samples, and finally gloriously painted miniatures by the Camos Specs team.
We hope you love this journey as much as we have, and look forward to joining you on launch day!
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2022/12/16 16:37:45
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2022/12/16 16:39:37
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
I hope this doesn't suffer from rescaling, with 30 ton tanks being the same size as a 50 ton mech's foot.
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2022/12/16 16:53:59
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
Orlanth wrote: I hope this doesn't suffer from rescaling, with 30 ton tanks being the same size as a 50 ton mech's foot.
The prototype of the 35-ton Pegasus Hover Tank seen at KerenskyCon fills the majority of its hex base.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2022/12/16 19:55:21
Subject: Re:BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
Sabotage! wrote: Yes, so pumped for the this. Firestarters, Ostrocs, Ostsols, Merlins, Vehicles!
I got into Alpha Strike pretty hard earlier this year and love it. Honestly I haven’t even followed GW stuff since.
GW? What's that?...
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2022/12/16 20:11:33
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
I guess I'll have to try and recreate my mercenary armor company (4 Manticores, 2 Bulldogs, 2 Galleons, 2 SRM Launchers, 2 LRM Launchers) with the new plastic miniatures, or find suitable alternatives.
Alex Keller wrote:Just looked at the Kell Hounds Striker Lance box a little bit more closely... the Nightsky has been replaced with a Hatchetman. :-[ I hope that is not the case!!!
Not the case. I mistakenly used the year+ old render image without realizing it. Sent in an updated PDF but it probably hasn't filtered through the system yet (if it will). Contents have not changed.
You also missed that the Crusader should be the one with the removable jump plume
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2023/01/02 17:37:59
Subject: Re:BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
As the calendar turns to 2023, and we prepare another exciting year of BattleTech for customers and fans, we thought it appropriate to pause, and look back at the unbelievable success of the line over the past few years.
January 2023 will mark four years since the release of the A Game of Armored Combat and Beginner Box sets, the match which set off the current explosion of the game we all love so much. It’s the perfect time to journey back to see the arc that brought us here, reveal some data about that success, and talk a little about the shape of things to come.
In 2015, Catalyst embarked on a radical plan to redesign all of the unseen ’Mechs that, for legal reasons, had been removed from the universe. Our publication of those first redone images–in the Warhammer and Marauder–spurred other BattleTech licenses to embark on their own redesign efforts, resulting in all of the fan-loved classics appearing in Piranha Games’ amazing MechWarrior Online and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, along with Harebrained Schemes’ award-winning BattleTech.
But we wanted to take it further. That meant all-new, ready-to-play, high-quality plastics–and completely redesigning the core products to match that quality, including a brand-new, never-before-seen item for BattleTech: the Beginner Box. These were a success from the moment they became available in January 2018; advance order sales were so high that we began second printings before the first even got to market. The seventh printing of A Game of Armored Combat and the eighth printing of the Beginner Box were being loaded on ships at the end of 2022, and once they go on sale there will have been 160,000 copies between these two boxes moved into the market in four years.
A full spread of the redesigned miniatures so far.
But this was just the foundation. While it was brilliant to see the core products in the market again, they offered redesigns of just nine ’Mechs. What we really wanted was a massive redesign of a huge swath of ’Mechs, with corresponding plastics. So, in July 2018, we ran what became one of the Top 100 Kickstarters of all time, unlocking nearly a hundred additional BattleMechs. It was amazing, stunning, and fantastic!
Yet, the question remained of whether those 15,000 backers–awesome, brilliant backers!–were the ceiling of this new resurgence? Or was this success only a taste of what was possible? Once the nearly two dozen different ForcePacks from the Kickstarter hit the market, once again, they exploded. More than 600,000 ForcePacks have been printed, with more than 500,000 selling within the last two years.
Coming out of the Kickstarter, the Clan Invasion boxed set has absolutely kept up with the first two boxes, despite releasing two years later: the fourth printing is being put on a ship at the end of 2022, and will bring the total number of copies of that box in the market to 55,000.
Four new mercenary ForcePacks–Eridani Light Horse, Kell Hounds, Northwind Highlanders, and Hansen’s Roughriders–will reach Catalyst’s warehouse in January, and four more ForcePacks will finish printing by March, including the Gray Death Legion and Snord’s Irregulars ForcePacks, along with an UrbanMech Lance–four different variants of that iconic ’Mech–and a surprise pack. All told, this will total another 160,000 ForcePacks.
Of course, we can’t discuss the success of those ForcePacks without talking about our new Alpha Strike box set, showcasing the BattleTech game designed for the modern tabletop player. The initial run of this box set was the largest amount we’ve ever printed before: 25,000 copies. We retained 5,000 of those for shipping to Australia and Europe (they’re on ships now). The rest, we brought to the U.S. We sold through two thirds of that printing in mere days, and worked with our fantastic printer to quickly get a second printing of 20,000 copies done ASAP; that will get loaded on a ship in mid-January.
Once all that material moves through game stores by mid-summer 2023, we’re looking at more than nine million plastic miniatures put into the market in four-and-a-half years!
Painted versions of upcoming ‘Mech miniatures
But it’s not just the miniatures. Sales of our rulebooks and sourcebooks have exploded as well.. Every single rule, campaign, and plot book we’ve published has immediately gone back to reprint. This includes the brand new ilClan Era campaign books. One of the best sellers is Total Warfare, whose tenth printing hits the warehouse in January. All told, we’ve sold more than 100,000 books in that same time frame. Supporting these products are our numerous digital-only items as well, such as the long-running Recognition Guides, arguably the best-selling digital-only series in our history. Not to mention all the ancillary products: for example, in the last four years we’ve published nearly fifty new BattleTech maps via paper and our deluxe neoprene, and we’ve got many more to come.
The BattleTech fiction line has also grown to match the game’s current lofty heights. We republished the entire Dark Age Era novel line–all 30 volumes–with all-new covers. Eleven issues of the official BattleTech magazine, Shrapnel, have seen print, as well as twenty-two new novels, eight short novels, eleven novellas, and fifty-seven short stories. All told, we’ve published more than 6.2 million words of new and re-issued fiction in the last four years!
And we’re just getting started! We’ve paired up with AdeptiCon, “The World’s Premier Tabletop Miniatures Convention,” to live-stream the launch of the Mercenaries Kickstarter on March 23, 2023.
A selection of ‘Mechs and vehicles coming in the Mercenaries Kickstarter.
Our upcoming Kickstarter will unlock more than fifty new plastic designs, including a slew of long-desired, fan-favorite ’Mechs, such as the “Ost” series; the Goliath and Scorpion, the first four-legged ’Mechs; as well as the original Technical Readout: 3055 Clan IIC ’Mechs. Plus, we’re beyond excited to bring more than a dozen vehicles to game tables, all molded in the same high-quality plastics and ready to play straight out of the box–including working turrets! The Kickstarter will also deliver a new Mercenaries box, a dozen new ForcePacks, new challenge coins, patches, pins, and all of the paraphernalia needed to celebrate mercenary life!
We’ve started releasing behind-the-scenes PDF previews of those coming designs; Preview 02 is available right now! That preview also teases the launch of The Mercenary Tales in January, a monthly installment of mercenary action all throughout next year!
Dominions Divided, the third ilClan Era campaign book, releases in January, along with a new series of Recognition Guide PDFs. New premium miniatures, fiction, t-shirts, plushies, and always more epic tabletop play, both at conventions and at your local friendly game stores….
By any metric, BattleTech is now more successful and more popular than ever before. With the coming Mercenaries Kickstarter and the lead-up to BattleTech’s 40th anniversary, there’s an excellent chance our current staggering success will be eclipsed as BattleTech reaches even more fans.
Thank you. To all the fans that have stuck with us through all these years. To the returning fans, and to the new fans finding us now. Welcome to all of you. This explosion of popularity–where we watch actual-play videos, painting photos, lore videos, excited discussions and more, happening every day on social media channels–is because of all of you! We could not do what we do without you by our sides.
We hope you love what’s happened with BattleTech over the last four years, and will join us as we charge onto even larger battlefields in our desire to ensure that everyone, everywhere knows how amazing BattleTech is, and have them give it a try.
Team Catalyst
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2023/01/02 20:28:25
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
9 million plastic mechs are more than all the mechs in the official universe combined
M.
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
2023/01/03 01:09:03
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
The plastic mechs are what got me to finally pull the trigger... I'd been eyeing off Battletech for years, but the dorkiness of so many of the mech designs just didn't do it for me. The redesigns were a huge improvement, and plastic instead of great lumps of metal just sealed the deal.
2023/01/03 01:33:11
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
Finally jumped in with the Alpha Strike set. Kind of a redemption project from when I failed to figure the universe out in the early 90's. Now I've got to figure out what else I need before this KS adds more to the pile.
2023/01/03 21:36:13
Subject: Re:BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
Are these going to be actual plastic, or the same trash material they've been using so far? I wanted to get into battletech, but the soft detail and preassembled models was a hard no.
2023/01/03 21:37:53
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
LunarSol wrote: Finally jumped in with the Alpha Strike set. Kind of a redemption project from when I failed to figure the universe out in the early 90's. Now I've got to figure out what else I need before this KS adds more to the pile.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2023/01/03 21:43:37
Subject: Re:BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
Irdiumstern wrote: Are these going to be actual plastic, or the same trash material they've been using so far? I wanted to get into battletech, but the soft detail and preassembled models was a hard no.
The material they've been using so far is actual plastic. Probably PVC. It's not High Impact Polystyrene, which is only one kind of plastic... and these days it might be questionable as to whether it's even still the most common plastic used for miniatures.
2023/01/03 22:42:48
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - New Kickstarter, new thread (coming March 23, 2023)
LunarSol wrote: Finally jumped in with the Alpha Strike set. Kind of a redemption project from when I failed to figure the universe out in the early 90's. Now I've got to figure out what else I need before this KS adds more to the pile.
