Update: Apparently someone asked about the premium mechs during the recent "Hour of the Wolf AMA" and the reply was that their moulds are wearing out much quicker than expected, so it might be that Creative Juggernaut simply can't keep up production.
Creative Juggernaut wrote:When we began this relationship between Catalyst Games Labs and Creative Juggernaut it was our mutual intent to do limited production runs of variant BattleMechs. We were successful in that we did deliver multiple product releases, and the fan base liked what they received. The great news is that the demand for such unique variants is far greater than either company anticipated.
Having met our initial order commitments, we are moving onto other exciting and fascinating projects, including our own game, Land & Sea. We are still working closely with CGL on other fantastic products that you will likely be hearing about in the near future.
can't tell if thats a "we're not doing these things anymore" or "theres more coming down the pipe but they aren't going to come right away" more coming down the pipe but the
chaos0xomega wrote: can't tell if thats a "we're not doing these things anymore" or "theres more coming down the pipe but they aren't going to come right away" more coming down the pipe but the
CGL added the below text to the Black Knight page so I'm guessing they're looking for someone else to make them...
NOTE: This item will be discontinued after this release, as the manufacturer has shifted away from its previous plans. Future premiums are being re-sourced.
H.B.M.C. wrote: "We did this thing that everyone really liked! Demand far outstripped supply. To celebrate, we're not going to do it in the future."
Error. Does not compute.
Likely more hassle to constantly create new molds and maintain a supply for the manufacturer of the Clan Buster mechs than the income was agreed upon for the contract.
Just got my steel warriors order in for new terrain bits and my battletech scale bocage mat from frontline. i was off playing another game but the steel vypers ended up getting love from the inner sphere in my absence.
Yay, for getting individual Mechs. Boo, for not being able to see what you're getting.
Yay, for getting in to Retail. Boo for it being one store's exclusivity.
Also, it's about $8, while average Clan box runs $25 to $30.
Yay, for getting individual Mechs. Boo, for not being able to see what you're getting.
Yay, for getting in to Retail. Boo for it being one store's exclusivity.
Also, it's about $8, while average Clan box runs $25 to $30.
Yeah, it's more expensive per mech, but B&N has a lot less floor space to dedicate to stocking Battletech. This let's them stock a total 5 products(this, the 3 "starter" boxes, and their exclusive Force Pack). If this means more Battletech players(and potential demo days like they did with X-Wing), I'm all for it.
Yeah I have that problem ("problem") too lol. Once I "level off" my collection a bit (need to get a 2nd box of 3 or 4 more force packs) I might graduate to just buying a blind box or two each visit to get random mechs.
I have been epically resisting the urge to buy more since i already own most of these mechs (and they are already painted) in metal from ironwind. the only boxes i got were to get the unseens i didn't own-marauder, rifleman, warhammer. fortunately, most of the stuff they are releasing are more well known mechs so my collection of the more eclectic units are not going to be redone anytime soon.
I do admit the beautiful resculpts are hard to deny.
The resculpts have ruined me for the rest of the range. I got into the game with the resculpts and have since held out buying any other minis, because I'm a stickler for scale consistency and also hate most of the older sculpts.
I am really interested in getting a collection of the superheavy tripod mechs though, but I don't want to take the risk of then having resculpted versions of them down the line that are of a different size/shape/detail, etc.
Core Rulebook Reprints Now Available! on FEBRUARY 16, 2022
We’ve got a raft of reprints of our core BattleTech rulebooks back in stock today, including some with never-before-seen covers, and all featuring updated, corrected errata.
BattleTech wrote:Now Available: Wolfhound IIC premium miniature, and Touring the Stars: Rocky. And, coming soon: Clan Invasion Blind Boxes! http://ow.ly/gTIp50HZ06y
Spoiler:
In 2021, Catalyst ran production and marketing tests of premium BattleMech figures, producing the Tukayyid variants of the Black Knight and the Stormcrow. Only a few hundred of these were ever offered for sale.
Now, thanks to our friends at Monster Fight Club, we are taking this to the next level.
Available now is the Wolfhound IIC. A Clan-rebuild of Phelan Kell’s original Grinner, this fast, aggressive design comes with three different pairs of legs and four arms, allowing fans to assemble it in a variety of poses. The ultimate in battlefield customization! Also, with 4x initial availability, improved efficiency brings the price down $10 to an amazing $14.99.
Due to fan enthusiasm for this design, we will limit sales during the first week to two per person. However, we guarantee future print runs will be made available as we continue to optimize the premium line to your expectations.
In 2021, Catalyst ran production and marketing tests of premium BattleMech figures, producing the Tukayyid variants of the Black Knight and the Stormcrow. Only a few hundred of these were ever offered for sale.
Now, thanks to our friends at Monster Fight Club, we are taking this to the next level.
Available now is the Wolfhound IIC. A Clan-rebuild of Phelan Kell’s original Grinner, this fast, aggressive design comes with three different pairs of legs and four arms, allowing fans to assemble it in a variety of poses. The ultimate in battlefield customization! Also, with 4x initial availability, improved efficiency brings the price down $10 to an amazing $14.99.
Due to fan enthusiasm for this design, we will limit sales during the first week to two per person. However, we guarantee future print runs will be made available as we continue to optimize the premium line to your expectations.
chaos0xomega wrote: interesting, seems there was a bit of a breakup between creatove juggernaut and Catalyst then.
Monster Fight Club seems to be rapidly expanding. I got some of their terrain (Autumn Forest) when it was on clearance - it's good but I wouldn't pay RRP for it.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, and:
Blind on the Battlefield
As part of our 2019 Clan Invasion campaign, Catalyst offered a Salvage Box in order to create parity between Inner Sphere (lance) ForcePacks and Clan (Star) ForcePacks. These Salvage Boxes contained one of only fifteen OmniMechs pulled from “wave 1” Clan forces.
The response by our players was unexpected. For those who enjoy the gamble, these blind-purchase products became one of our bestselling items.
To show our appreciation, we are releasing a new wave of Clan Invasion Salvage Boxes, this time offering a random selection from the 93 individual ‘Mechs that were part of our Clan Invasion campaign. Each one is the same high-quality, fully-assembled miniature as found in the new BattleTech ForcePacks, and is packaged fully assembled with a MechWarrior card and an Alpha Strike card.
This product is already available through Barnes & Noble, and will be available soon in domestic and international hobby stores, and through the Catalyst Game Labs web store.
I should have taken pictures of our Aurigan Reach campaign match yesterday. We utilize the Quirks for our Mechs, a few Special Pilot Abilities, as well as a few other special rules like Flamers doing both Heat and Damage like the BMM suggests.
It was performed on the Circle of Equals map. Let's just say, I hated Rubble before, and I hate it now, but bridges are interesting...
Anywho, our company was put in to this arena to face off against 2 lances led by Victoria Espinosa herself.
We fielded: Myself - Modified Lancelot, Modified Wolverine 6M, and slightly modified Mercury II (2 Small Lasers to a Flamer) Our Force Commander (FC) - Grasshopper, custom Wolverine II, and a modified Phoenix Hawk (called Hatchet Hawk give you 3 guesses why) Player 3 (P3) - modified Rifleman 3C, 3C Cicada, and BJ-1 Blackjack Player 4 (P4) - modified Awesome, modified Stag II, modified Ostsol
Against us: Campaign Manager (CM) - Victoria Espinosa in her K2 Catapult, Orion, and Grand Dragon Player 5 (P5) - modified Shadow Hawk, Centurion, and FS9-A Firestarter
The Mission begins: Our force gathers around the circle, with myself and the Force Commander close to the middle, my Lancelot sitting on top of a Level 2 building to put his swapped in 2 ERLLs to good sniping use. Player 3 takes the back end of the circle and puts his mechs against the far edge of the circle, with Player 4 hugging the middle on the other side.
OpFor gathers mostly in the far edge opposite of Player 3.
As we begin, the FC's and my Wolverine and Mercury II start maneuvering up to engage along our edge and get a feel for what we're fighting. Player 3 has a Long Range Master pilot in his Blackjack (normally pilots the Pulverizer) hop up to a good sniper position to commmand the area, with running his Rifleman up the middle and his Cicada runs up to meet up with My and the FC's mechs. 2 of Player 4s mechs also start moving up along the edge while the Ostsol moves to support the Rifleman.
CM's and P5's mechs slowly move up to engage mine and the FC's mechs. A few shots made, and little damage is done.
FC, P3's Cicada, and I keep pushing up to the OpFor's deployment zone to get in to better positions to make shots and push the OpFor. One of us gets a lucky shot on the Centurion putting two crits in to the Gyro, putting him on the ground for the rest of the game. The rest of the OpFor seems to surround him so we can't take advantage of the fact that he's going nowhere. It could also be that we were pushing aggressively so they didn't NEED to come rushing up so fast.
About that time, P4 announces that he's betraying us. P3 and I are shocked at this news (FM and P4 are roommates, so FM knew). P4 is one of the better players in our group, and he's got some of our best pilots including a Long Range Master in the Awesome! And his Ostsol had maneuvered to have the Rifleman's back. The player mentions that he was surprised that we didn't notice that he was moving up the side, but hadn't shot anyone yet.
I have my Wolverine pull back to try and support P3's mechs, but I can't get there in time as the CM's Orion breaks in to the middle. The FM, Lancelot, and Mercury II keep trying to put pressure on the rest of the OpFor, but it's a hard slog. We're allowed to do Sensor Ghosting, but as its pilot only just upgraded to 3/5, I keep rolling too low to activate it. P4 ends up devastating the Blackjack (CM whispers something to him after it dies) and the Cicada before I could get close enough to help, and the Rifleman is severely hurting, eventually getting legged. As my Wolverine rushes up to try and help, a lucky shot from the Orion takes out his head with the autocannon, as previous damage had earlier reduced its armor.
This is when the CM tells me, "As your pilot sees the autocannon round coming towards his face, the screen turns black and says, 'Simulation Ended.'" The look on my face must have been priceless to see this recently promoted pilot had just been killed, only to find out that it was only a sim.
As we continue on, I drop my Lancelot down to try and move up closer and engage the middle group with as much speed as I can. The Mercury II keeps hugging the edge of the circle to try and flank around to behind Espinosa's Catapult and then engage P4's Awesome from behind. The Hatchet Hawk gets pressured by the Dragon, and the Wolverine II pushes in the middle. The WVR II and Mercury move in to the OpFor's starting area and start pounding the Catapult as much as we can.
A Hatchet Hawk's leg gets destroyed, so he goes down. The Dragon rushes up to try and punish him, but exposes his back to the Grasshopper, which takes full advantage of it. The Dragon falls as well, and gets pounded by the Grasshopper. The Dragon finally stands up, but its movement has been curtailed, not even managing to get turned around to face the Grasshopper, but enough not to show its back.
The Catapult falls down, knocking Espinosa out. FM's WVR II and the Mercury II rush in to take advantage of this weakness and begin to pound it with our weapons and legs. I even tried a couple called shots on it, trying to damage a weakened head, but to no avail. She manages to wake up and stand up, just to turn around. The WVR II's leg gets blown out from beneath it, leaving his movement dead. My Mercury II rushes around the Catapult to continue savaging its backside.
My Lancelot had rushed ahead, getting shots in on the Orion, while managing to avoid enough fire from the Ostsol, Stag, and Awesome to keep running, bursting behind them. But the Awesome had a different target in mind and fired in to the Mercury II, finishing off the head that earlier damage had weakened. The WVR II was hammered to death in the meanwhile. The Mercury II's final shots still hammered the K2, but were not enough to bring down the Commander's Catapult.
At this point the game ended as it was starting to get late, and the only two functionals on our team was the Lancelot and Grasshopper, while the OpFor still had 7 mechs that could maneuver, with several being hardly touched.
After action report/In-Character News & Events: The simulator pods wind down, and Lady Arano greets the mercenaries. "A difficult fight. I lost my throne when I was betrayed by my cousin, my uncle, and my royal guard. I'd have lost my life if Raju, the captain of my guard, didn't sacrifice himself and stay behind to cover my escape. On the battlefield, we have to be ready for anything..." She is pensive for a moment, clearly remembering that fateful day.
Finally, she speaks again. "Let's boot up another simulation. This time, it will be a combat drop into the middle of a battlefield, with enemy fighter cover..." The simulations go on through several days as the mercenaries' battlemechs are repaired and customized using cutting-edge Star League fabrication and automation. Even the simulator pods are top-of-the-line, SLDF quality. The mercenaries' skills continue to improve as they play out battle after battle while resting, recuperating, repairing, and reloading.
Finally, the orders are given, and the Restoration army departs, heading for Guldra, just one jump away from the capital: Coromodir. Lady Arano explains that the information the mercenaries obtained from the ruins of the bombed-out capital of Itrom led her to a secret hiding place on Guldra, where loyalists placed information that will allow her to decisively win the war. Lady Arano and her combat command quickly depart for the surface.
After some time passes, an emergency transmission comes through. Lady Arano has obtained the hidden information, but her bodyguard was ambushed and she is caught in a trap. Her mech is damaged, and she is making her way to a rendezvous point, but hostile mechs are closing in and will reach her before she can escape. The mercenaries are the only unengaged combat command, and they have just enough time to scramble one lance of mechs to come to Lady Arano's rescue. The fate of the Aurigan civil war hinges on this moment. Lady Arano must survive, no matter the cost.
So hold off ordering anything on the CGL store right now guys, there's, presumably been a bug on their shippping and only the most expensive option is avaliable.
BrianDavion wrote: So hold off ordering anything on the CGL store right now guys, there's, presumably been a bug on their shippping and only the most expensive option is avaliable.
It's back down to normal for me in the US, but the site now has a disclaimer that the charges may be wonky for the next couple days as they correct.
I can't tell from the site if those shirts are officially licensed. They are fantastically ugly and I'd consider grabbing one but I try not to support unlicensed work at this level.
Our slow plod of printing out steel warrior studio terrain moves forward. you can see a bit of the solar collector, generator and radiators in some of the shots. we have a few more bits to print of that then we move onto the defense walls and airfields.
This was a city battle so i broke out loads of terrain. as it is with battletech there were all sorts of critical shenanigans that sped the game along. the jaggermech crited the atlas's engine. the templar had an ammo explosion that killed the warhammer standing behind him. and other such sillyness.
I've recently made the decision to get into BattleTech. Still haven't played. I'm curious what the customary protocol is for, like, arranging a balanced casual game with a friend (or even a pickup game with an acquaintance/stranger).
Would you say something like, "Wanna play a XXXX Battle Value game?" Does that work, can you generally build a list towards an agreed-upon value even though there's such a wide variance in BV numbers? What's the widest gap between BV totals where it would still be considered a fair pitched battle?
Welcome! Typically, you'd do a BV and a number of mech limit for a casual pickup style game. Just in case you get somebody who wants to pour a dozen Locusts onto the field.
Additionally, you'd agree on a rules level or era limit, because some of the later gear, (clantech especially) can be tough to deal with.
BV is only really useful for scenarios or structuring an event.
As somebody who has been playing BT regularly for the last 20 years the reality is
The critical system exists in BT that negates BV quite quickly. in a game last week, a RAC jagger mech killed an atlas in the first round of shooting by taking out its engines with a critical hit.
The easiest way to run a pickup game is follow the lance/star layout.
1 vehicle, battle armor squad, mech, aerospace fighter etc... = 1 point of the lance (of 4). you can mix and match as you please as it is a combined arms game.
Our group tends to favor theme overall. using the mechs/units or specific loadouts your faction would use. As an example, a davion player would be more likely to run a house specific mech like a templar VS a steiner running a hauptmann or a RAC loadout VS a heavy gauss loadout.
against clans the rules are 1.3/1- meaning to have a "fair fight" with standard pilots on both sides (4/5 for inner sphere, 3/4 for clans) you need to bring 2 lances of 8 mechs to face off against a single clan star of 5 mechs. one small cavoite for clans with vehicles. clanners consider vehicles less than honorable so they are usually crewed by lower quality pilots. unless you're playing hells horse most clan vehicle pilots are 5/6s but they get 2 vehicles for every mech you replace as a point in the star.
Another one of the optional official rules we like to use to speed things up is forced withdrawal. battlemechs are very expensive and as such in the lore fighting to the death is rarely done.
Forced withdrawl rules retires mechs from the fight when they have taken 2 engine hits, 1 gyro hit, or have gone to internal damage on 3 limbs or 2 torsos.
I'm still figuring out the whole "clans are way better than IS" element of the game... are the pilot characteristics the primary difference? And could that not be addressed merely by using 3/4 pilots in IS mechs?
At the moment I have no interest in using era- or faction- specific builds, and very little interest in the lore. My gaming group generally agrees with that, although I could see us changing our minds down the road. But for the moment I kind of just want to field mechs I think look cool (partly because, for me, there's a huge gulf between ones that hit that feeling and ones that look ridiculous).
Altruizine wrote: I'm still figuring out the whole "clans are way better than IS" element of the game... are the pilot characteristics the primary difference? And could that not be addressed merely by using 3/4 pilots in IS mechs?
That isn't the primary difference, no. (And depending on the pilot generation or advancement rules in use, you might not even notice).
Tech is the big difference. Range and damage and tonnage and critical slots. You'll see the first two particularly on energy weapons, weight on missiles (clan LRMS are literally half the weight which makes a HUGE difference) and XL engines, ferro-fibrous and endo-steel take up significantly fewer critical slots (as do a fair few clan weapons) which makes a big difference on mech assembly. Its almost a completely different game (douly so in campaigns where you track repair and refit times)
At the moment I have no interest in using era- or faction- specific builds, and very little interest in the lore. My gaming group generally agrees with that, although I could see us changing our minds down the road. But for the moment I kind of just want to field mechs I think look cool (partly because, for me, there's a huge gulf between ones that hit that feeling and ones that look ridiculous).
The easiest 'fix' to that is that the clans do use inner sphere designs as reserve and garrison mechs. And regularly fight and raid each other, so if you want to mix things up without worrying much about lore etc, clan raids are the best excuse to do 'anything goes.'
Altruizine wrote: I'm still figuring out the whole "clans are way better than IS" element of the game... are the pilot characteristics the primary difference? And could that not be addressed merely by using 3/4 pilots in IS mechs?
That isn't the primary difference, no. (And depending on the pilot generation or advancement rules in use, you might not even notice).
Tech is the big difference. Range and damage and tonnage and critical slots. You'll see the first two particularly on energy weapons, weight on missiles (clan LRMS are literally half the weight which makes a HUGE difference) and XL engines, ferro-fibrous and endo-steel take up significantly fewer critical slots (as do a fair few clan weapons) which makes a big difference on mech assembly. Its almost a completely different game (douly so in campaigns where you track repair and refit times)
Pretty much.
The Ballistics see the lowest reward for taking Clan over Spheroid, but it is often enough. For Inner Sphere, the base AC/10 is 12 tons, LB-10X is 11t, and the Ultra AC/10 is 13t. In Clan tech, both their LB-10X and Ultra AC/10 are 10t.
A Spheroid LRM-20 is 10t, while the Clan one is 5t. They both do the same damage and the same range bands, except the Clan LRMs don't have a Minimum Range.
It's most noticeable with the heavier energy weapons. The Large Laser is 5t, 2 Crits and does 8 damage with a range of 15 with the Spheroid ER going out to 19. The Clans don't use a standard Large Laser (though, they do have more primitive Chemical lasers), their ER Large Laser is 4t, 1 Crit, and does 10 damage to a range of 25.
Then there are the exotic weapons. Clans have Advanced Tactical Missiles (ATM) which can fire 3 different missiles with 3 different range bands and 3 different damage profiles. Spheroids have the Multiple Missile Launcher (MML) which can fire either LRM or SRM loads. The Clans have the Hyper-Assault Gauss weapons which Cluster their damage, while the Inner Sphere have alternate ammos for their basic Autocannons. The Clans developed Heavy Lasers which do double the damage of their classic counterparts for a severe heat price, but the Spheroids developed Re-Engineered Lasers which ignore armor special rules that Reflective, Hardened, and Ferro-Lamellor have which would reduce every other laser's effectiveness.
Now, to make things more confusing, there are Mixed Technology units like the Atlas III, the R Configurations of Spheroid Omnimechs, and others, where there is some Spheroid tech and some Clan Tech used in its construction.
daedalus-templarius wrote: Doing a triple lance per side battle right now on one of the larger hex maps, alpha strike rules.
24 mechs on the field is pretty nuts! A daishi got taken out on turn 1, shockingly enough.
Actually, that isn't shocking at all. alpha strike rules were meant to be fast and easy to allow huge forces to be played in a short amount of time.
You can still take out a big boy like that in normal battletech if you get one of several lucky critical hits or do enough damage to the head to kill the pilot outright, but generally it is going to be loads of work to wear down a daishi.
daedalus-templarius wrote: Doing a triple lance per side battle right now on one of the larger hex maps, alpha strike rules.
24 mechs on the field is pretty nuts! A daishi got taken out on turn 1, shockingly enough.
A while back for our campaign, our company was sent on a mission to salvage what we could out of a crashed dropship. We were supported by a lance of Combat Vehicles.
We faced a merc company sent to secure it in the name of ComStar. We also faced the Black Widows. Took us a good while, but we had a person controlling each of the OpFors, and our side where we were controlling our pilots with an attached CV.
All told, 40 models on the table, not including the Dropship (which was non-operational).
Most of our unit made it out, and we only lost one mech all told (my just modded Centurion, and the pilot had lost his Thunderbolt just a a couple missions earlier) and all the CVs, but we did manage to salvage some gear and some unusual mechs bearing the insignia of the state of Minnesota: a Mercury II, Stag II, Pulverizer, and Wolverine II. Our boss also gifted us a Star League vintage Lancelot.
Shrapnelsmile wrote: Did you all see they are doing some blind booster boxes with a single mech for a pretty low price point? Up for pre order on mini market.
The new Salvage Boxes? They've been around for a few weeks now.
Shrapnelsmile wrote: Did you all see they are doing some blind booster boxes with a single mech for a pretty low price point? Up for pre order on mini market.
The new Salvage Boxes? They've been around for a few weeks now.
They've been around for a few weeks now via Barnes and Noble or the Catalyst store--not general retail.
I may have grabbed a bunch...
Ended up with 2 complete Direct Fire Lances(Atlas, Crusader, Marauder II, and Orions) out of them, alongside a few other goodies. No Kodiak though
Kanluwen wrote: They've been around for a few weeks now via Barnes and Noble or the Catalyst store--not general retail.
Ah - OK. Given some of the posts in FB groups I thought they were general release in the US.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Kanluwen wrote: Ended up with 2 complete Direct Fire Lances(Atlas, Crusader, Marauder II, and Orions) out of them, alongside a few other goodies. No Kodiak though
Apparently there's a code on the box that might give a hint as to the contents - I'll see if I can find the FB thread about it.
I need one more Locust for this unit. That happens to be the 1st merc unit I created after I bought the 2nd ed box.
There are 5 mechs out of place because I don't think some second rate mercs would be able to buy a top of the line Raven, or a Ti Ts`ang in 3025, but I'll use them as something else in 3025 games.
Showing off a bit of a different table setup and some of my new 3d printed terrain.
The table-
Spoiler:
Given the terrain i decided to play with my typhoon urban assault vehicle, i also tossed in a couple quad mechs. so the force was pretty themaitc around heavy gaus and AC 20s as a proper steiner scout lance should be
My force was a hauptmann, barghest 4T, goliath and typhoon.
The marik player was using an orion, stalker, longbow and a marauder.
I lost both quads to concentrated torso damage/gauss rifle explosions.
So marik wins this round but it was a fun little battle.
Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Demo Team will be out in full force at Adepticon 2022, happening March 23 to 27 in Schaumberg, Ill. Stop by and play a game of BattleTech, or check out some of our latest and greatest products.
Available in very small numbers will be the next compilation Technical Readout, Technical Readout: Dark Age.
Technical Readout: Dark Age expands on Technical Readout: Succession Wars, Technical Readout: Clan Invasion, and Technical Readout: Clan Invasion by combining the ’Mechs previously found in Technical Readout: 3067, Technical Readout: 3075, Technical Readout: 3085, Technical Readout: 3145, Technical Readout: 3150, Technical Readout: Irregulars, and Technical Readout: Prototypes, this volume features some of the most common ’Mechs from the Jihad. Each machine is accompanied by an illustration, a description of its history, capabilities, and game stats.
We also hope to have on hand the next series of four Alien Worlds BattleMats, showing the amazing MapPack: Alien Worlds battlefields! We truly won’t know whether these products will make the convention until we’re on the floor opening boxes. We had hoped these BattleMats would ship out before Chinese New Year, be available in force at Adepticon, and then be available in our web store just a few weeks later. Unfortunately, the vagaries of international shipping reared their ugly head, and that didn’t happen. However, we’re trying to airlift in a few copies of each, and the full shipment is on the water and should be available in coming months.
CLAN INVASION SALVAGE BLIND-BOX QUICK START RULES
If you’ve picked up your Clan Invasion Salvage Blind Boxes, check out our all-new Quick Start Rules, designed to get your minis out of the blind box and onto the battlefield as quickly as possible, Full-color record sheets are included!
I try to avoid getting too many duplicates, mostly because they tend to all look the same, and because variety is more interesting. I also don't like fielding Lances/Stars/Levels with all the same 'Mech, even if that is the Draconis way.
And yes, I say this as someone who owns 7 Mad Cats, Zeus, Catapults and 6 Hunchbacks.
Still, multiples of different types can be nice and handy at times.
I have the Project Phoenix models and CGL plastics of the Thunderbolt (as well as the Primitve version), Wolverine, Battlemaster, and Shadow Hawk. I also have some of the really old plastics of the Panther Commando, and Jenner, while having the CGL plastics, too.
As an example, I can place 3 Thunderbolts with 3 different configurations, and they rather work
I can play the Primitive on the left as a TDR-5S, the Phoenix on the right as a TDR-5SE, and the CGL in the middle as a TDR-5SS.
But I would try to avoid getting duplicates of what I have, if I have a choice. Having 7 Timber Wolves that are all exactly the same would be boring. One reason I'm not too enthused by the blind-pick salvage boxes.
Still, it would allow one to... modify them to be closer matches to the different variants. For a campaign we're running, the CM gave up extra an Hatchetman and Phoenix Hawk model for the force leader to rebuild it as a Hatchet-armed Phoenix Hawk (which was done in the game).
A). 123 of them are unique. B). 55 of them I own 2 of each type. C). 28 of them I own 3 of each type. D). 22 of them I own 4 of each type (the bulk of this are starter set/Kickstarter plastics!). E). 8 of them I own 5 of each type (Jenner, Centurion, Dragon*, Grasshopper, Warhammer, Awesome, Daishi, Atlas). F). 2 of them I own 6 of each type (Puma and Hunchback). G). And as mentioned before, 3 of them I own 7 of each type (Catapult, Mad Cat, Zeus).
If something had a one piece metal mini (Hunchback, Grasshopper, Blackjack, Quickdraw) then I 100% own it. Of them, I think the Mad Cats have the most variety: Two CityTech 2nd Ed plastics, 1 normal metal (converted to a WYSIWYG Mad Cat A), 1 Anniversary plastic, 2 Kickstarter plastic, 1 Legends plastic.
What this has taught me is that I do not yet own a star of Ryokens. This is sacrilege!
My collection is not quite as... diverse. I used to have the 3rd Edtion Box and the CityTech 2 box, but that was a LONG time ago. When I started collecting again, it was piece meal for years as the local scene wasn't much, and in-store procurement was low. When CGL started producing their plastics, my income was low and I didn't have a local group. That changed in the last year.
At present, I have 81 Mechs:
1 is a CityTech model, a Dervish.
15 are the same quality as the 3rd Edition boxset. I rebased and painted them, then left them in a box at the store for people to use.
37 are models from Ironwind Metals.
25 are from CGL packs.
2 are alternative 3D prints of Mechs I use in a local campaign and the original metals are horrible (Lancelot and Firestarter)
Of those, all but the Dervish, the FASA builds, and 9 Ironwind models were acquired since January 2021 when I found a local store and group.
I have 3 Commandos (2 the old FASA style) and Thunderbolts. 2 Dervishes and Enforcers (FASA style), with the Battlemaster, Shadow Hawk, and Wolverine being duped with Ironwind Phoenix models and CGL plastic, with Jenner and Panther having duplicated with CGL plastic and old FASA style.
If played chassis WYSIWYG, 3 models cannot be played with Total Warfare rules (Gauntlet, Sarath, and Wendigo). 13 of the remainder are not Introtech chassis, but I have a habit of creating "Downgraded" versions of them.
And no, this is not some grand memory, I created a Google Sheet to help me keep track of them all. I don't think I could track 478 by memory if I couldn't handle those 81.
total-159 units
of the mechs 72 unique, 8 for vehicles
as for duplicates
mechs-
.dragon-2 versions-IWM metal, 3d printed plastic
.thunderbolt-2 versions-IWM reseen metal, catalyst new plastic
.crusader-2 versions-original metal, catalyst new plastic
.obakemono-2-because my artillery lance NEEDS 2
.awsome-2 versions-9Q metal, 9M catalyst new plastic
.archer-2 versions-original metal, catalyst new plastic
.wolverine-2 versions-original metal, catalyst new plastic
.battlemaster-2 versions-orginal metal, catalyst new plastics
Vehicles
Since clans count 2 vehicles as a single mech i have quite a few of these-
.X2 enyo strike tanks
.X2 TYR IFVs
.X2 garuda VTOLs
.X2 huey artillery tanks
.X2 xerxes ASFs
IS side
.X2 goblin IFVs
.X2 challenger Xs
.X2 ontos
So 16 sets of duplicates
I also tend to run all sorts of non popular/well known mechs just because i like them. you see all the old classics t-bolts, warhammers, madcats etc... but it is fun to see things on the table like the shugenja, daikyu, cestus, jackalope, nighthawk, bowman etc... showing up.
Seems 25 tons is the least represented there. *shrugs*
Vehicle wise there's 188 of them - 158 Inner Sphere and 30 Clan.
Clan Armour/Protos is... I don't have that written down, would'ja believe? Looking at the notes, which aren't complete, it would seem to be:
20 points of Elementals 10 points of Gnome BA 5 points of Afreet BA 5 points of Corona BA 5 points of Golem BA 5 points of Rogue Bear BA 5 Rocs 5 Centaurs 5 Minotaurs 5 Gorgons 5 Orcs
And for the Inner Sphere... umm... I'm honestly not sure how they're organised so, I'll just list the figures:
6 bases of Inner Sphere Standard 6 bases of Hauberk 6 bases of Kanazuchi 6 bases of Rotweiller 6 bases of Void 6 bases of Infiltrator Mk.II 6 bases of Phalanx 6 bases of Grenadier 6 bases of Kage
And I think 6 or so bases of Fa Shih BA, but I got them from a friend who over ordered them and I've never put them together, so I'm unsure of the number. Yeah I kinda just started collecting for Davion, Kurita, Ghost Bear and Jade Falcon and, along the way, ended up with a Liao force. And a pirate force. And part of a ComStar force. Things like that happen to me. It's weird.
Charistoph wrote: And no, this is not some grand memory, I created a Google Sheet to help me keep track of them all. I don't think I could track 478 by memory if I couldn't handle those 81.
Oh no I've had an Excel sheet with all this stuff for years now.
Miguelsan wrote: Now I want one of those too! I have 1 unassigned Griffin, need the other 3.
M.
The really nice bit is that I picked it up in the 80's... so they're the "Unseen" versions - Ral Partha #10-802 with the Skull Squadron painting on the front.
I thought they were Robotech at the time given the cover. I didn't actually start BattleTech until the mid 2000's, so most of my collection is preassembled plastic. I'll build them up one of these days when I finish the plastics.
H.B.M.C. wrote: The weight breakdown I've got is:
...
Seems 25 tons is the least represented there. *shrugs*
My least represented weight class is my poor plastic FASA Cyclops at 90 tons. Next most common are triples it is 20, 60, 85, 95, and 100. My most represented are 55 tons at 11.
I don't have any BT Vehicles or Infantry. At best, I have an old DropZone Commander Shaltari starter box which I use its hovercraft for proxying.
I could use the infantry in there for that (technically they are Battle Armor), I suppose, but the bases are rather big and I'm... hesitant to take them off of it. And if I did, I think a Hex base would be too big, so I have wonder if I should just keep it to a big enough base to keep them balanced, but not consume a whole hex. Too which, I wonder how much I should keep together, just one so I can maximize how much I put out, or set them up in the triples they are based as.
Charistoph wrote: And no, this is not some grand memory, I created a Google Sheet to help me keep track of them all. I don't think I could track 478 by memory if I couldn't handle those 81.
Oh no I've had an Excel sheet with all this stuff for years now.
I thought it might be something like that. That is a LOT of data.
When I ordered the new plastic Annihilator I picked up the Wolf's Dragoons Blackjack as well... or I thought I did. Turns out I just ordered the regular Kickstarter one again.
So I found someone selling the actual Wolf's Dragoons Blackjack, and that arrived today. Except it broke in transit, which brings me to my question and the reason for this post:
Does anyone know if these Kickstarter plastics take plastic cement like GW minis? Or do I need superglue?
I have never had to do repairs to any of the new catalyst plastics, however after all the years of metal models (battletech included) along with resin or plastic i swear by CA+ zapagap (green thickness)
H.B.M.C. wrote: Does anyone know if these Kickstarter plastics take plastic cement like GW minis? Or do I need superglue?
From what I understand, only GW plastic works with GW's plastic glue. Since it is a reagent-based bonding system it requires the plastics to be within very specific parameters, and GW doesn't tell if it doesn't have to.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Does anyone know if these Kickstarter plastics take plastic cement like GW minis? Or do I need superglue?
From what I understand, only GW plastic works with GW's plastic glue. Since it is a reagent-based bonding system it requires the plastics to be within very specific parameters, and GW doesn't tell if it doesn't have to.
Pretty sure HBMC meant just regular plastic glues like Testors, not GW's specifically.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Does anyone know if these Kickstarter plastics take plastic cement like GW minis? Or do I need superglue?
From what I understand, only GW plastic works with GW's plastic glue. Since it is a reagent-based bonding system it requires the plastics to be within very specific parameters, and GW doesn't tell if it doesn't have to.
GW plastic is just HIPS. Anything that works on HIPS will work on GW plastics, and vice versa.
As to the question, Btech plastics seem to be boardgame ABS, so most probably not.
Next time you're in your friendly local game store, look for the March issue of 'Game Trade Magazine' # 265. It has a full sized poster of the Battle for Tukkayid art with the sword wielding Black Knight fighting elementals, and on its reverse is a really sweet piece of a Banshee and a Stalker firing off into the middle distance that says Battletech at the top, and Mercenaries at the bottom. I hadn't seen the art before, and was really happy with it. It also has a little folder which has a guide for the order of rulebooks to purchase. Not bad for 3.99.
Fist off showing off my new 3d printed terrain additions with a solar collector station.
Spoiler:
The first game was a lance on lance battle. the other player just used some random mechs as proxies. i decided to take a few mechs i do not use very often from my second dieron regulars.
He had the advantage of a C3 network but since i was running a medium lance i had a speed advantage over him.
I used the terrain to pincer him and stay out of the firing lines of his assault class command mech.
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My black hawk KU went down to critical hits and i was losing a string of initiative rolls so i was fighting on the defensive.
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My wolverine (lance commander) stepped up and took down 2 mechs forcing my enemy to flee-
The other game i just snapped a couple of pics of as i was off playing a warmachine game at the time-
It was the same player i was up against before but he was running a clan star against marik-
Spoiler:
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After that we did game 2 of the new campaign for the brown shorts legion mercenary company.
The players arrived in the landing zone and were set upon by a medium harasser lance. who managed to hold them long enough for the inbound heavy lance could engage them.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
The MVP for the players was their lance commander in his wolverine who took out the enemy hunchback with an ammo explosion that then took out his own friendly raven in the blast radius.
So do we know what that Highlander lance box has in it yet?
Also, I noticed some stores have Interstellar Operations reprints on preorder, one labeled "Battleforce" and the other "Alternate Eras". Any clue what they contain? Was there an announcement about these? Can't find anything on the Catalyst site, they don't even have it listed on their webstore from what I can tell.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Does anyone know if these Kickstarter plastics take plastic cement like GW minis? Or do I need superglue?
From what I understand, only GW plastic works with GW's plastic glue. Since it is a reagent-based bonding system it requires the plastics to be within very specific parameters, and GW doesn't tell if it doesn't have to.
This (specifically the underlined/bolded part) is grossly, horrendously incorrect. GWs plastic glue will work with any HIPS based plastic regardless of manufacturer (aside from knowing this on a scientific basis, I also know it from a practical basis as I regularly use GW plastic glue on non-GW minis). It will not work with the Battletech plastics, because they are not HIPS (I believe they are vinyl/PVC but not 100% positive).
They split Interstellar ops into two books like they have been doing with all of the books.
Battleforce is the rules for running galaxy level battles and allowing macro-level roles and rules. Essentially if you want to run an entire greater house or clan and do sector battles in the sphere - this is for you. This is the tippy top of the scale in Battle Tech... entire battleforces engaging.
Alternate Eras is the second of the two books and has rules for every era of the game from the beginning of battletech timeline to 3151.
I have the original printing which had both of these in one book, and it was a pretty good, if not highly detailed, slog.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Does anyone know if these Kickstarter plastics take plastic cement like GW minis? Or do I need superglue?
From what I understand, only GW plastic works with GW's plastic glue. Since it is a reagent-based bonding system it requires the plastics to be within very specific parameters, and GW doesn't tell if it doesn't have to.
This (specifically the underlined/bolded part) is grossly, horrendously incorrect. GWs plastic glue will work with any HIPS based plastic regardless of manufacturer (aside from knowing this on a scientific basis, I also know it from a practical basis as I regularly use GW plastic glue on non-GW minis). It will not work with the Battletech plastics, because they are not HIPS (I believe they are vinyl/PVC but not 100% positive).
You're a little late to the party on this.
However, how many other miniature lines are made using that same plastic? Not as many as would be liked, and often even less than that, from what I understand. That was more the point. This was what I was told at the time by modelers with far more experience than me. That was a few years ago, though, so obviously circumstances can change. Still doesn't change the fact that super glue is more consistent as a bonding medium, especially if you can get a gap-filling one.
The vast majority of miniatures that are sold to you on sprues are HIPS, and therefore compatible with citadel plastic glue. E.G. Warlord plastics, Perry, Wargames Atlantic, Wyrd miniatures, Para-Bellums plastics for Conquest, Battlefronts plastic Team Yankee/Flamrs of War vehicles (not sure about infantry), Mantics plastic kits, Star Wars Legions newer plastic kits, Marvel Crisis Protocol, etc etc etc. Plus on top of that, any gundam, tamiya, trumpeter, etc plastic model kits are also compatible. Theres way more priduct lines out there that do work with citadel plastic glue than those that don't.
Only brand I know of that isn't would be Ruvicon which used PVC.
chaos0xomega wrote: The vast majority of miniatures that are sold to you on sprues are HIPS, and therefore compatible with citadel plastic glue. E.G. Warlord plastics, Perry, Wargames Atlantic, Wyrd miniatures, Para-Bellums plastics for Conquest, Battlefronts plastic Team Yankee/Flamrs of War vehicles (not sure about infantry), Mantics plastic kits, Star Wars Legions newer plastic kits, Marvel Crisis Protocol, etc etc etc. Plus on top of that, any gundam, tamiya, trumpeter, etc plastic model kits are also compatible. Theres way more priduct lines out there that do work with citadel plastic glue than those that don't.
Only brand I know of that isn't would be Ruvicon which used PVC.
That may be true now, but maybe not when I was told this. For context, AT-43 was being sold in the store as a current product and Star Wars Imperial Assault wasn't even out yet. It wasn't usable on my Warmachine models. I haven't kept up with it, honestly, as my focus on such lines has been minimal, and I haven't looked back on plastic glue since I built my first metal miniature.
Still, if one does not know or is not sure, super glue (cyanoacrylate) is still the best option to use as it is relatively agnostic on what it joins. In Battletech, there are far more metal miniatures than plastic at present, as an example.
if the contact points are pre-painted, your best bet is to use superglue as plastic glue won't necessarily be able to react through layers of paint. Otherwise I have no idea as I've never handled those minis.
PS: Rubicon is ABS not PVC, AT43 was PVC
for those other plastics, Tamiya or Pattex (or whatever Brand in your countries hardware store) have plastic glues that work with those
chaos0xomega wrote: The vast majority of miniatures that are sold to you on sprues are HIPS, and therefore compatible with citadel plastic glue. E.G. Warlord plastics, Perry, Wargames Atlantic, Wyrd miniatures, Para-Bellums plastics for Conquest, Battlefronts plastic Team Yankee/Flamrs of War vehicles (not sure about infantry), Mantics plastic kits, Star Wars Legions newer plastic kits, Marvel Crisis Protocol, etc etc etc. Plus on top of that, any gundam, tamiya, trumpeter, etc plastic model kits are also compatible. Theres way more priduct lines out there that do work with citadel plastic glue than those that don't.
Only brand I know of that isn't would be Ruvicon which used PVC.
That may be true now, but maybe not when I was told this. For context, AT-43 was being sold in the store as a current product and Star Wars Imperial Assault wasn't even out yet. It wasn't usable on my Warmachine models. I haven't kept up with it, honestly, as my focus on such lines has been minimal, and I haven't looked back on plastic glue since I built my first metal miniature.
Still, if one does not know or is not sure, super glue (cyanoacrylate) is still the best option to use as it is relatively agnostic on what it joins. In Battletech, there are far more metal miniatures than plastic at present, as an example.
AT-43 and early (circa 2013) Privateer Press plastics were not HIPS (source 1, source 2) and thus plastic cement would not work on these kits. It's not that GW plastics would only work with GW's plastic glue. it was just that GW's plastic glue would only work with HIPS.
Not much to report on this one, got the new airfield partially assembled, one of the other guys was teaching a \new player how to play the game. while i was off playing something else.
This year's April Fool's joke is a full colour, print-on-demand, fully play-tested 47 page book filled with power ups, achievements, and game-based scenarios (Mario, Mortal Kombat, Tetris) for BattleTech.
Yeah, the BTech guys kinda go all out for April Fool's, and make fully functioning "joke" products.
Game one of the day was a combined arms raid- kurita sent in some special forces to raid the flight tower at the cities airbase-
the kurita forces had a tokugamaw, shadowhawk, X2 goblin IFVs transporting 2 squads of raiden BA.
The marik forces countered with a hetzer (LRM) his own wheeled IFVs and a couple points of heavy BA-
The table was showing off the newly printed airfield terrain and some new building from steel warrior studios.
Spoiler:
the kurita force pushed right and took heavy losses losing one IFV and the tokugawa but managed to get the BA into the building to steel the data.
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The game ended in a most honorable death. during extraction the last goblin took an ammo crit and detonated killing most of the kurita force, half the marik derfenders including thier mech support and the flight tower.
The lone kurita survivor was the shadowhawk who had been left behind after he took a nap for 3 turns.
Game 2-
was the second of 3 in a planetary campaign-
the brown shorts mercenary unit was sent to mop up the last stronghold of the rebels.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
The defenders had placed minefields and collected a mass of cheap light vehicles to defend the evacuation.
MVP of the game for pure humor was the sirocco pilot who managed to fall down (in a quad) 3 separate times on double 1s making some basic terrain checks.
Spoiler:
The big debate after taking the compound was trying to decide what to do with the survivors that the planetary governor had ordered liquidated once they realized there was a large contingent of un-armed civilian non-combatants.
This year's April Fool's joke is a full colour, print-on-demand, fully play-tested 47 page book filled with power ups, achievements, and game-based scenarios (Mario, Mortal Kombat, Tetris) for BattleTech.
Yeah, the BTech guys kinda go all out for April Fool's, and make fully functioning "joke" products.
So much battletech-so i do not know if it is because of how terrible GW has become but the explosion of classic battletch interest and new players is quite nice-
This was tonights table-
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
The first game i was in was my "desert" lyran strike force. in true steiner scout squad style i brought assault mechs....and one battlemaster for extra fast scouting.
I scouted them very hard, there were no bee's in my cockpit. it was a pretty brutal fight. against marauders, marauder IIs and an arrow IV artillery mech.
My battlemaster and atlas were forced to withdraw from damage. the viking 2 was destroyed through structure damage. on the flip side i took 2 of his mech with head shots (heavy gauss at medium ranges do that) and the other 2 with ammo explosions. unfortunately my fafnir was to close to the last mech when it exploded so it took us both out.
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The second game i got in was an introductory game for a 40K refugee. he bought his first lance last week.
To make it more interesting this time i sent my close combat unit after him. not ideal outside of the close confines of a city or other built up terrain areas, but i wanted to give him a feel for various aspects of game play. he was also learning how to play a fast heavy C3 lance kurita style.
Spoiler:
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I was off playing a different game so i just took a couple pics of the 3rd game where me previous 2 opponents did battle against each other.
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Next week we should be seeing a new clan player if all things go to plan.
Got next week off work. Hoping to get some BTech games in. Plus I have to give a friend of mine his birthday present: the fancy Star box with the Stone Rhino in it!
Four CLPLs with a TargComp backed up a quarted of pocket large lasers. Yikes...
I've heard the same about the Supernova 5. With it's four Coolant Pods, that's four turns you can fire all six ER Large Lasers for a net +0 heat from weapons fire.
aphyon wrote: So much battletech-so i do not know if it is because of how terrible GW has become but the explosion of classic battletch interest and new players is quite nice-
Modern products makes a huge difference. I technically bought the game in the early 90's in cardboard standee form but I'm sorely tempted to finally buy some models and give it another go a quarter century later.
On that note, what's needed to play Classic/Alpha Strike beyond the Clan Invasion box? I'll likely just pick up a star or two as a painting project, but I'm curious if that's enough to get started or if I'm going to wind up needing to buy the Inner Sphere box as well.
LunarSol wrote: On that note, what's needed to play Classic/Alpha Strike beyond the Clan Invasion box? I'll likely just pick up a star or two as a painting project, but I'm curious if that's enough to get started or if I'm going to wind up needing to buy the Inner Sphere box as well.
From what I understand, the CI box lacks the basic rules the AGoAC box has, as it just expands on it with more advanced/standard technology like Pulse Lasers.
That being said, it isn't needed if you get the Total Warfare book or the Battlemech Manual. The Battlemech Manual is solely for Battlemech use, but does include some things beyond what Total Wafare contains like Quirks and some more advanced equipment. Total Warfare is best to get if you want to expand in to combined arms, like Infantry, tanks, and helicopters, or fighter support. Alpha Strke: Commander's Edition pretty much has what you want for Alpha Strike play.
That covers the basics, but for unit construction you want the Tech Manual. Beyond that, both Tactical Ops: Advanced Units and Equipment and the new Interstellar Ops: Alternate Eras provide very advanced, even experimental technologies, which can be more complicated in their use or usually limited to a certain era, like Chemical Lasers or Tripods.
There are many other books which enhance the ruleset, go in to space with Warships, or how to handle campaigns and table-top RPG systems.
TL;DR: I'd recommend getting either Alpha Strike: Commander's Edition, Total Warfare, or Battlemech Manual, depending on how deep of gameplay you want. AGoAC is a great buy if you want those 8 models, but isn't needed for the rules if you have those other books.
What it takes to play
Well as i understand it they have broken the big books down into supplements now if you want them that way, but when catalyst fist released them i bought-
.total warfare- for the core rules mechanics
.tactical operations-for all the optional rules and ammo types
.strategic operations- for aerospace on ground map rules as well as the 3d terrain rules
When it comes to minis, well that's the easy part. for a one off pickup game you just need a single inner sphere lance of 4 or a clan star of 5. if you want them to fight against each other the balance conversion is 1.3 to 1-meaning for a clan star of 5 mechs you will face off against 2 lances of 4 inner sphere mechs or vehicles.
battle value and tonnage value restrictions are good frameworks for campaigns or structured pre-planned events, but it isn't necessary or required outside those setting as the crit system exists that can easily negate that.
We always point people in the direction of theme and lore. as an example there are many atlas loadouts in the universe but you would be hard pressed to see the one with a heavy gauss rifle outside of a Lyran unit, or the one with the RAC 5 outside of a Davion unit.
As for alpha strike, i have absolutely no interest in it as it removes much of the immersion that i play classic battletech for. as such i cannot help you on that subject.
i forgot to mention there are several programs you can use to print out record sheets and just the official record sheets you can buy.
I have owned heavy metal pro/aero/vee/light for so long i swear by it especially since it allows me to print the record sheets out in inch/3d terrain rules as well as giving me the ability to build cannon loadouts that may not be in the database..
aphyon wrote: i forgot to mention there are several programs you can use to print out record sheets and just the official record sheets you can buy.
I have owned heavy metal pro/aero/vee/light for so long i swear by it especially since it allows me to print the record sheets out in inch/3d terrain rules as well as giving me the ability to build cannon loadouts that may not be in the database..
Heavy Metal is a little out of date, from what I've heard. Not having it, I can't say for sure, just passing on what I've heard from those who claim to have it.
For every plastic model released in the AGoAC/Clan Invasion lines, there are Record Sheets available for free download.
For alternatives, there is Solaris SkunkWerks (SSW) and MegaMekLab (MML), both running on Java. I find SSW to be more user-friendly, but also lacking in certain capabilities like Super-Heavies and Tripods, as well as their provided 'Mech list being only up to ilClan Recognition Guide 10. SSW provides a good force builder (BFB) that calculates the BV of a selection, including C3 as well as a Combat Vehicle Builder (SAW). MegaMekLab is a bit more robust, even having options for building Conventional Infantry units and Warships. It's Mech list was up to ilClan Recognition Guide 12 last I checked. Both can print the Record Sheets with added tables, making looking up information like Movement Modifiers, Hit Locations, and Cluster Charts easier.
Then there's MechFactory, an Android app and website service. It is different. How it handles mech construction puts some things out of place, particularly the Head location. One of our group uses it exclusively, and aside from putting the free slot for the Head in slot 4, it defaults to being slot 6. He also has issues with it maintaining the armor allocation properly.
If you are just using standard loadouts and pre-generated variants I have found MechFactory to be great.
Really like their roster sheets, it can feel a hair cluttered if you go from a standard sheet to that, but having the quick reference sheet built into the roster makes life so easy.
I have found that after all the patches are updated, other than a few of the new weapons after 3132 such as plasma and TSEMP, HMP has pretty much everything you need.
Gunsmith-heavy metal has the option to print out all the movement, hit tables etc on each control sheet, it is a nice quick reference especially for new players.
2500kgm3 wrote: "Yes, Kael Pershaw. I have read the reports. If the Wolves want to take the city, I dare them to try"
I have to admit, the presence of the circus tent somewhat undermines the display of Jade Falcon power.
Charistoph wrote: For alternatives, there is Solaris SkunkWerks (SSW) and MegaMekLab (MML), both running on Java. I find SSW to be more user-friendly, but also lacking in certain capabilities like Super-Heavies and Tripods, as well as their provided 'Mech list being only up to ilClan Recognition Guide 10. SSW provides a good force builder (BFB) that calculates the BV of a selection, including C3 as well as a Combat Vehicle Builder (SAW).
I swear by SSW.
The guy who made it basically wanted to do an updated version of The Drawing Board, the previous best mech design program out there. Sadly he stopped development of the program, leaving it to never receive updates... until he suddenly started working on it again! Now it's no longer a dead program, which is fantastic. I presume that eventually we'll get super-heavies and tripods.
As for the provided 'Mechs, I just ended up making the record sheets myself by hand, going through each of the Rec Guides and carefully adding everything in. I like making 'Mechs, so it's fun for me.
Miguelsan wrote: The circus is back in town. I can see all the clowns!
I would challenge you to a circle of equals for that jab, but we both know you aren't even close to my equal...
Come to the Confederacy and we will talk. You Green Chickens do well against the fat militias of the Blue Prusians, but not so well against the Warrior Houses of the Celestial Throne.
H.B.M.C. wrote: As for the provided 'Mechs, I just ended up making the record sheets myself by hand, going through each of the Rec Guides and carefully adding everything in. I like making 'Mechs, so it's fun for me.
I've done that with some of the MWO mechs as well. I only mentioned it so as not to set expectations too high in that regard. Realistically, I have both SSW and MML on my computer, so opening up the mechs they have (aside from the units SSW can't make) and building them there isn't too much.
One other thing, if one's group is allowing for Quirks, MML will print them in the Weapons area right below the ammo count if you have MegaMekHQ's Quirk file. They don't always work with custom units, though, and one needs to edit the file in order to get them to show. Positional Quirks (like the Firestarter's Arm Flamers) don't show, either. We're doing a Campaign right now where Quirks are allowed, so it has been mostly convenient for that.
SSW's interface for adding Quirks is actually pretty good. Though, with the build I have, the Quirks aren't printing yet. SSW also can help provide for Alpha Strike Cards, except their PV is set to Battleforce values.
I love quirks, but I don't play competitive Battletech, we play co-op or game mastered Battletech, so if we do get to design our own mechs... it has to clear a GM and not just be a munchkin mech.
Miguelsan wrote: Come to the Confederacy and we will talk. You Green Chickens do well against the fat militias of the Blue Prusians, but not so well against the Warrior Houses of the Celestial Throne.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Being threatened by a Cappie is like being attacked by a light breeze...
H.B.M.C. wrote: I didn't even know SSW could add Quirks. Where do you do that?
It's under the 'Fluff' tab.
And underneath Manufacturers. There isn't much point, at present, as they don't print out on the Record Sheet nor can it export it to MML, but it can be nice when it can print it.
aphyon wrote:Sorry quirks are an abomination, they suddenly started appearing in my new TROs when they never existed before.
I know they are just more optional rules, however they do encourage the power gamer in some people.
Our local group doesn't use them on our weekly game nights, but we do have a campaign going, and the CM has decreed them in use. These aren't games balanced by BV, though, which Quirks aren't really priced for.
It made a Dragon really hard to kill as we were Glancing the heck out of it. Of course, that goes the other way as the Mercury II and Lancelot I have both have that Low/Narrow Profile feature. Quirks like that can also make a Thunderbolt a monster with MultiTrac and the original Stalker with Combat Computer.
The Wolverine is an interesting case, as it carries the most Quirks of any 'Mech in a TRO (at present). However, one of them is Cramped Cockpit, which can make a Regular Pilot fall pretty easily, and another is more Strategic in use (Ubiquitous which makes finding parts to repair it easy).
Yeah competitive BattleTech seems like an odd thing in a game where you can literally design the most efficient design you want, and where there is a clear divide between ClanTech and not-ClanTech.
As more 40k players begin examining BattleTech and starting the game (especially with the new excellent plastic models) you will start to see more and more competitive battletech be a thing. Particularly in the Alpha Strike format.
Tournaments are starting to spring up more and more.
Well Alpha Strike isn't really "BattleTech" in the traditional sense, so the problems you'd get with competitive BattleTech play have no relevance there as the rules might as well be in different languages they're so far removed from one another.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Yeah competitive BattleTech seems like an odd thing in a game where you can literally design the most efficient design you want, and where there is a clear divide between ClanTech and not-ClanTech.
Outside of a campaign with a special op4 NPC mech design. in our group we do not allow any custom mechs of any kind. some mechs are more specialized than others but they have flaws/weapon groups for a reason.
If there is a kind of build you are looking for start looking through the available cannon designs. there are 698 base models (not counting the many variants of the chassis) of just mechs, not counting vehicles, VTOLs etc... i am certain any player could find something that fits the idea they are after.
And that isn't even counting the fact that the basic crit mechanic exists. sure you could power game the hell out of your mech design, and then get shot in the head with a weapon that does more than 9 damage, or an automatic crit (or 3) that destroys your engines are gyros.
The very concept of classic battletech being a tournament minded game for hardcore 40K players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game.
auticus wrote:Tournaments are starting to spring up more and more.
CGL is sponsoring one at the Atlantic City Open this June.
Ruleset is BMM, though TW may be used, especially if you're running Elementals (AGAoC and Clan Invasion, too).
Looks like 6000BV, 3-6 units, no cost for 3/4 pilots, but one can have increases for Pilot for 1.1x, Gunnery for 1.2x, or both for 1.36x. 6 points of Battlefield Support Cards may be used (good to have the BMM for this).
Units restricted to chassis and variants in the Wave 1, 2, and Wolf's Dragoon free Record Sheet downloads. So no Hellstars, Republic, Society, or Wobbie Mechs.
CGL, Iron Wind, or Ral Partha models may be used, or their standees as well. They must represent the chassis in question where possible. 3D prints are only allowed for variant arms, but 80% of the model must remain original from the above.
My local campaign manager is also setting one up a little sooner (first Saturday in May), and he MIGHT be using a similar format, but limiting to Intro tech.
H.B.M.C. wrote:Well Alpha Strike isn't really "BattleTech" in the traditional sense, so the problems you'd get with competitive BattleTech play have no relevance there as the rules might as well be in different languages they're so far removed from one another.
It's close enough that it should be workable. I might find out this weekend as we have a Alpha Strike veteran learning to play CBT in our campaign mission this Saturday. The biggest differences is how Movement works, separation of Physical and Shooting Attacks, and the multiple ranges one might have to work with.
aphyon wrote:The very concept of classic battletech being a tournament minded game for hardcore 40K players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game.
I wouldn't bet on it. Unless they themselves mature to a point to not be a hardcore tournament player any more, there will always be that push. Of course, they may leave the game, too.
Charistoph wrote: It's close enough that it should be workable. I might find out this weekend as we have a Alpha Strike veteran learning to play CBT in our campaign mission this Saturday. The biggest differences is how Movement works, separation of Physical and Shooting Attacks, and the multiple ranges one might have to work with.
Close enough? In Alpha Strike units don't even have individual weapons. They're not close at all.
Charistoph wrote: It's close enough that it should be workable. I might find out this weekend as we have a Alpha Strike veteran learning to play CBT in our campaign mission this Saturday. The biggest differences is how Movement works, separation of Physical and Shooting Attacks, and the multiple ranges one might have to work with.
Close enough? In Alpha Strike units don't even have individual weapons. They're not close at all.
If you use the Multiple Rolls rule (which we do), it is a little closer, and I DID mention having to deal with multiple ranges, which comes due to the individual weapons situation. Then there are the Special Rules which can demark out other affects like AC, IF, SRM, LRM, and HT.
To a lot of people, myself included, Battle Tech is Battle Tech.
Alpha strike is as much Battle Tech as classic is.
I don't play Alpha Strike, am not interested in Alpha strike, so I'm not cheerleading Alpha strike.
It is however the most played version of Battle Tech near me, and the 40k players are jumping over to that format of the game and tournaments are starting to crop up more and more so... I see things swinging more to that end of the spectrum.
From a commercial standpoint... the game designers are likely paying attention to that as well. As the new rules coming out are more and more just battlemechs and the other elements are being weeded out... we will always have the classic rules available... but their latest offerings have been indicative to a lot of folks where their mind is currently at.
I was roasted pretty tastily by several people on one of the big BattleTech FB groups for saying I enjoy infantry and vehicles and hope that the new material they release starts including those again.
YMMV
I continue playing BT as a campaign game, and Catalyst continues to at least update the classic rules so I am still very happy with the game. I am not blind to where my community around me is moving toward pretty aggressively though - and thats toward alpha strike and tournament formats.
Wolfnet is trying its best to make a fun experience with Alpha Strike (and succeeding, this is delightful) but there's still too much blind chance to consider it truly competitive. You can spend half your list on a mighty Daishi, and watch it explode to doulbe boxcars from a tiny warrior helicopter- or your opponent execute a perfect ambush, and whiff with 10 or 12 attacks.
It is very fun- but it really only tells you how your list and luck fared against your opponent most times. You're not going to enjoy yourself if you're taking it seriously.
I just know from the german speaking countries, but the BT event scene was big here in 90ies (it was also the first country wide organized scene something that 40k tries but still struggles), and I mean several different printed fanzines big
there was a time were it was the dominant tournament game and Warhammer Fantasy just took over because Dark Age was not received well and the scene died over night (and 6th Edi was released at the same time)
leagues between clubs (3025) were a famous format (including extensive sheets for salvage)
if 40k can have a large scene, BT can have as well and classic would be a much better system for it (at least how tournaments are done here, but there is a reason why 40k tournament scene is much bigger in the US)
auticus wrote: Alpha strike is as much Battle Tech as classic is.
They don't share a common rules base. It'd be like saying that the 40kRPGs are as much 40k as 40k Proper. Or that Necromunda is. Or Adeptus Titanicus. You know they're not. They're spin-offs. Side games. Side games can even become more popular than their originators (hell, 40k spun off of GW's work on Fantasy, and look where that is now!), but don't act like they're the same.
auticus wrote: I was roasted pretty tastily by several people on one of the big BattleTech FB groups for saying I enjoy infantry and vehicles and hope that the new material they release starts including those again.
That's not really indicative of much. There are still tons of BattleTech players who lose their gak completely if you even suggest playing a game set any later than the 4th Succession War.
auticus wrote: Alpha strike is as much Battle Tech as classic is.
They don't share a common rules base. It'd be like saying that the 40kRPGs are as much 40k as 40k Proper. Or that Necromunda is. Or Adeptus Titanicus. You know they're not. They're spin-offs. Side games. Side games can even become more popular than their originators (hell, 40k spun off of GW's work on Fantasy, and look where that is now!), but don't act like they're the same.
I'd say they are as close as 40K 7th and 40K 8th Edition are. Many of the principles are the same, just adjusted here and there, then constrained in other areas to speed up gameplay.
auticus wrote: I was roasted pretty tastily by several people on one of the big BattleTech FB groups for saying I enjoy infantry and vehicles and hope that the new material they release starts including those again.
That's not really indicative of much. There are still tons of BattleTech players who lose their gak completely if you even suggest playing a game set any later than the 4th Succession War.
That is true. Our "Battlemaster" prefers Introtech, and it is nice to go with such simplicity than worrying about fancy ammo, armor, and equipment considerations.
Personally, I think things get interesting with with the pre-Invasion Inner Sphere or what Inner Sphere tech is in Total Warfare and Tech Manual. A lot of decisions are much harder with that then they are with Clan Tech (for a variety of reason), and it even shows up in Alpha Strike translations where an Introductory is actually tougher than a Standard Mech. Heck, the last few configurations I did with "Anything Goes" basically just did minor upgrades to 3025 'Mechs to fit in advanced ammo and CASE II, with maybe an ECM suite. That was it. Though a favorite with some is putting an AC/20 in a 55 ton mech and putting as much Precision Ammo in it that they can.
aphyon wrote: The very concept of classic battletech being a tournament minded game for hardcore 40K players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game.
40k players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game. CBT just doesn’t work like 40k or other miniatures games. The plastic mechs will start hitting ebay in a big way soon enough.
aphyon wrote: The very concept of classic battletech being a tournament minded game for hardcore 40K players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game.
40k players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game. CBT just doesn’t work like 40k or other miniatures games. The plastic mechs will start hitting ebay in a big way soon enough.
As long as it just the power gamers, we can pretty well manage the one guy we have that does that by forcing him to use stock designs, using forced withdrawal rules and call him out when he tries to use some of the optional rules that we do not like to play with. the game gets stupid to the point you are just throwing dice at each other if you allow to much "one up" rules outside of campaigns like the quirks.
For the new players we seem to be having some good results from the 40K players coming to the system fresh.
aphyon wrote: The very concept of classic battletech being a tournament minded game for hardcore 40K players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game.
40k players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game. CBT just doesn’t work like 40k or other miniatures games. The plastic mechs will start hitting ebay in a big way soon enough.
Depends why they are playing, (Europe is different here I know) but there are those who come to BT because they want more from a game and welcome the complexity
Others that switch because of the fluff don't really care about the rules anyway (neither in BT nor 40k)
And those that want a better 40k but without GW in the back, never stay long no matter what the other game is or offers
The players that desire combo chaining that are hallmarks of GW games tend to have the most problems though there are some ways to do combos and buffs in BT as well - its just not as off the charts.
Did a solaris match with 1 new player that already bought his first star, and a brand new interested player who has only ever played 9th ed 40K (he may be appearing agains as he showed some interest in joining out 5th edition 40K group).
I loaned the new guy a Hauptmann and i took an awesome and we did a small 4 way brawl.
Spoiler:
In this game we learned that heavy gauss to the face at short range tend to end things quickly.
The next game after that the new player with the new star did a game to destroy an objective (command vehicle) assaulting a city.....the clanners assaulting an IS city *shocked pikachu face*
this was the full table-
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
The battle commences-
Spoiler:
The clanners started out strong, effectively destroying an entire lance in one turn for the loss of 2 mechs.......and then dice happened.
2 lucky head hits put the clanners on the back foot.
The last game of the night was part of the ongoing 3061 campaign adventures of the brown shots mercenary company. this was mostly a roleplay session so there wasn't much action to speak of.
well aside from the comms interaction between the players and the lance commander.
aphyon wrote: The very concept of classic battletech being a tournament minded game for hardcore 40K players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game.
40k players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game. CBT just doesn’t work like 40k or other miniatures games. The plastic mechs will start hitting ebay in a big way soon enough.
some will, some won't. if they're looking to roll a ton of dice and sweep models off the table, they'll hate it. if they're looking for a game with greater depth and tacticvs where there is randomness, but intelligent manuver etc can really chnage up the odds they'll love it
aphyon wrote: The very concept of classic battletech being a tournament minded game for hardcore 40K players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game.
40k players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game. CBT just doesn’t work like 40k or other miniatures games. The plastic mechs will start hitting ebay in a big way soon enough.
Depends why they are playing, (Europe is different here I know) but there are those who come to BT because they want more from a game and welcome the complexity
Others that switch because of the fluff don't really care about the rules anyway (neither in BT nor 40k)
And those that want a better 40k but without GW in the back, never stay long no matter what the other game is or offers
Seems most of the GW to BTech exodus was done over politics and feelings of entitlement over who and how IP gets used more than anything else. I imagine some segment of the "refugee" crowd will stay, but most will move on to other games or back to GW.
aphyon wrote: The very concept of classic battletech being a tournament minded game for hardcore 40K players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game.
40k players will quickly go away when they actually start playing the game. CBT just doesn’t work like 40k or other miniatures games. The plastic mechs will start hitting ebay in a big way soon enough.
So... what changed? I remember a LOT of hardcore-tournament focus on BT back in the day (early 90s). The general attitude was the stock designs were stupid, and you absolutely had to do custom mechs and all the trivial accounting for BV (or whatever the system was at the time).
Also a lot of attempts to 'fix' it. At one convention I got involved a huge game with an organized that decided to incorporate phased initiative turns and weapon recharge rates (adapted from Starfleet Battles) that made it stupidly complex. It was a nightmare, especially with ~30 people, all controlling a lance or star, using a completely unfamiliar system. But everyone seemed to think the attempt to 'salvage' or adapt the rules to be pretty normal.
that is interesting, in Europe it was only stock designs for tournaments, and you were not allowed to use the same chassis twice (except for a bloodname tournament were you had to use the same single Omni Mech in all games)
chaos0xomega wrote: Seems most of the GW to BTech exodus was done over politics and feelings of entitlement over who and how IP gets used more than anything else. I imagine some segment of the "refugee" crowd will stay, but most will move on to other games or back to GW.
from my personal impression, I think the US community is experience now the same situation as Europe did ~2015/2016, were a lot of people came over from 40k to other games in general because of the personal problems they had with the company behind 40k and as soon as the company announced that they changed and the new 40k is coming, most left again
yet a lot of people stayed with BT, specially the older ones and now the new plastic models give a big push to BT on its own with the struggles of 40k being a side effect (at least here)
Voss wrote: So... what changed? I remember a LOT of hardcore-tournament focus on BT back in the day (early 90s). The general attitude was the stock designs were stupid, and you absolutely had to do custom mechs and all the trivial accounting for BV (or whatever the system was at the time).
For only doing Mech v Mech, a lot of stock designs ARE stupid. The Firestarter is practically worthless and the number of Machine Gun Ammo Bins with no where near the guns to use half of it in a game is quite ridiculous (unless you use the Advanced BRRRT rules for MGs).
However, if one is looking at doing Combined Arms, where Conventional Infantry can show up and be annoying, then having a unit like the Firestarter to hunt them down and burn them out makes sense. The Machine Guns on a TDR-5S also work great, and you can stick Infernos in to the SRM-2 to help destroy them, too.
Maybe once CGL starts looking at allowing Combat Vehicles and Conventional Infantry in to tournaments (which means providing free Record Sheets), having those more generalized Mechs might work better.
Stupid stock designs represent both the bureaucracy and politics that go into designing just about anything.
I like that the game has inefficient designs, where compromises were made, where corners were cut, where people went for the lowest bidder, where nepotism or rivalries got in the way of efficient design. Shows the world is more real.
Without it everything would be a 5/8 max armour 75-ton Clan 'Mech with Gauss Rifles, Medium Pulse Lasers, Streak 4's and a TargComp.
Agreed, inefficient designs with weird and silly quirks is a feature more than it is a bug. F-4 Phantoms being torn apart in air combat maneuvering because they were reliant on missiles which didn't work as advertised and lacked guns as a backup and Hurricanes and Spitfires stalling in negative-gs because of the design of the Merlin engine are real world examples that come to mind. I appreciate those small details as helping make the tabletop game more of a simulation/representation of the setting, whereas other games just seem to want to handwave away those design inefficiencies and problems and represent everything as a successful and efficient combat system with a flawless production history, etc.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Stupid stock designs represent both the bureaucracy and politics that go into designing just about anything.
I like that the game has inefficient designs, where compromises were made, where corners were cut, where people went for the lowest bidder, where nepotism or rivalries got in the way of efficient design. Shows the world is more real.
Without it everything would be a 5/8 max armour 75-ton Clan 'Mech with Gauss Rifles, Medium Pulse Lasers, Streak 4's and a TargComp.
Charistoph sort of hinted at it but the reality is that in universe many of these designs make perfect sense because they were built to do certain jobs, not every battlemech is designed to face off against other battlemechs (thus not making sense for the tournament mech on mech battle some players are after). the wealth of information on to the history of how and why certain models were designed also fills out the setting. TROs are fantastic for this.
H.B.M.C. wrote: I like that the game has inefficient designs, where compromises were made, where corners were cut, where people went for the lowest bidder, where nepotism or rivalries got in the way of efficient design. Shows the world is more real.
So what is people's preferred era to play in and why?
Been playing some games, and I think I am starting to favor the 2901-3019 part of the Succession Wars. A lot less tech, and a lot more brawling. Really like how inefficient the mechs feel.
3050+ that way we can play any era and pit clans VS inner sphere. we always encourage all players to pick a faction from both sides so they can get the full battletech experience.
We use the old ammo explosion rules, anything during the succession wars era tends to cause the Michael Bay effect, that doesn't mean they do not still show up from time to time.
I have really been enjoying the new ilClan era 3150+. In a weird way, it levels the playing field for new players, and the seasoned veterans who know which side of a 3025 mech the ammo's stored on, and bracket fire while they're going to sleep. Partial wings, more armor types than you can shake a stick at, and exotic weaponry galore makes for strange games. Tamar Rising has been a perfect setting for running it, and easily explains why you'd have relics of 3025 tech going up against these high tech marvels.
H.B.M.C. wrote: I like that the game has inefficient designs, where compromises were made, where corners were cut, where people went for the lowest bidder, where nepotism or rivalries got in the way of efficient design. Shows the world is more real.
Beautifully explained, agree 100%.
It bugs me how some players zoom in on stats, and add the useless tag to mechs and vehicles at the drop of a hat. Of course a Manticore MBT is going to be more effective than a Po at 60 tons. That is if you ignore that the Manticore is a state of the art SL design that costs 2.6 millions , and the Po is a stop gag tank designed to be as cheap as possible at less than half the price (also 993 bv2 vs 719).
The lore/game experience sweet spot for us is right around the FedCom Civil war and WoB invasion.
It introduces all the best (imo) themes from the BT universe: clan invasion, inner sphere drama, WoB treachery. Narratively and thematically it is (again imo) BT's golden era. Never quite got into anything that happens after that lorewise.
Some of the books are ok, I guess. But man some of the Dark Age novels...what a slog to get through.
H.B.M.C. wrote: I like that the game has inefficient designs, where compromises were made, where corners were cut, where people went for the lowest bidder, where nepotism or rivalries got in the way of efficient design. Shows the world is more real.
Beautifully explained, agree 100%.
It bugs me how some players zoom in on stats, and add the useless tag to mechs and vehicles at the drop of a hat. Of course a Manticore MBT is going to be more effective than a Po at 60 tons. That is if you ignore that the Manticore is a state of the art SL design that costs 2.6 millions , and the Po is a stop gag tank designed to be as cheap as possible at less than half the price (also 993 bv2 vs 719).
M.
I also agree. And that is why the best games for me are game mastered and not letting players cherry pick whatever they want. Inefficient designs are a part of warfare. Sometimes you have to get that jury-rigged vehicle out onto the front line because you only had a day or so to get it ready and you don't have the super efficient mega unit available.
Part of being a good commander is being able to use less effective equipment and doing so well.
I'll continue to echo the vibe hear and say that I'm glad that seems to be such a large part of the CBT community's focus. I see BT games as a storytelling opportunity and have been writing scenarios and campaign ideas in a way that I have ever engaged with a game before. The idea of competitive BT using 'optimized' designs could not be further from what I am looking for. My next game is going to be the first major engagement of the Clan Invasion campaign I've been writing and I'm the OpFor IS player. I'm going to get rocked, but that's the point and we'll see what exciting moments come out of the battle even if the outcome is all but inevitable. Showing up for pickup games with degenerate custom designs sounds miserable.
NH Gunsmith wrote: So what is people's preferred era to play in and why?
Unless one is playing in a campaign, I find eras too restrictive to regular game play, especially for new players. Total Warfare has MMLs, but they aren't available till the Jihad, as an example.
So for our group we just use tech levels to establish an easy standard. Introtech is what's available in AGAoC. Standard is what's available in Total Warfare and Tech Manual. And then there's Anything Goes where if you can find the rules, you can use them. We also often limit unit types, such as only doing Mechs, not allowing for Artillery, that sort of thing. For a weekly gaming group, this is best way to manage those expectations.
That being said, I don't really have a favorite era. Some of us are doing a campaign track originally set in the Auregan Reach of HBS' Battletech game. The GM even gave us opportunity to acquire LosTech, and even a few Clan Wolverine designs, out from underneath the nose of the Black Widows and ComStar. I'd have been as happy if it was Clan Invasion, FedCom Civil War, Jihad, or even facing off in the ilClan War.
Prometheum5 wrote: I'll continue to echo the vibe hear and say that I'm glad that seems to be such a large part of the CBT community's focus. I see BT games as a storytelling opportunity and have been writing scenarios and campaign ideas in a way that I have ever engaged with a game before. The idea of competitive BT using 'optimized' designs could not be further from what I am looking for. My next game is going to be the first major engagement of the Clan Invasion campaign I've been writing and I'm the OpFor IS player. I'm going to get rocked, but that's the point and we'll see what exciting moments come out of the battle even if the outcome is all but inevitable. Showing up for pickup games with degenerate custom designs sounds miserable.
That's what I love about BT.
You're going to get absolutely spanked, but if you manage to take out more than one Clan mech, you'll be a hero and get to declare yourself the winner!
Prometheum5 wrote: I'll continue to echo the vibe hear and say that I'm glad that seems to be such a large part of the CBT community's focus. I see BT games as a storytelling opportunity and have been writing scenarios and campaign ideas in a way that I have ever engaged with a game before. The idea of competitive BT using 'optimized' designs could not be further from what I am looking for. My next game is going to be the first major engagement of the Clan Invasion campaign I've been writing and I'm the OpFor IS player. I'm going to get rocked, but that's the point and we'll see what exciting moments come out of the battle even if the outcome is all but inevitable. Showing up for pickup games with degenerate custom designs sounds miserable.
That's what I love about BT.
You're going to get absolutely spanked, but if you manage to take out more than one Clan mech, you'll be a hero and get to declare yourself the winner!
Absolutely. We're doing a Chaos campaign and blooded the Clan warriors beforehand so we have some actual characters to follow and I am gunning for them!
We've played games at both ends of the era spread and I haven't found a preferred setting yet. Design and fluff-wise I greatly enjoy the late SW era, but we have had some real pillow-fight games where lances of crap 'Mechs with potato pilots basically bounced off each other for three hours. We did a late Dark Ages game with fully teched out Falcons vs. IS mixed nonsense and that was fun but we also screwed a couple of gear rules up so still have some learning. Our Clan Trial of Position games were fun in a different way, but we've only got one Clan Invasion scenario under our belt so far so I'm excited to find a groove in that setting. My tastes certainly seem to focus more on IS 'Mechs and conflicts. I really want to work my way through some of my favorite of the old scenario books, but do some work to update them beyond using the same two starter set maps in different configurations with all forces being a combination of Wasps, Stingers, Shadow Hawks, and Marauders I've actually been looking more closely at the Sword and Dragon starter book and some War of 3039 scenarios and that seems like it could be a fun era to mess with.
Aries Games & Miniatures wrote:Well...well...well. Been waiting & waiting for the long rumored Highlander Force Pack to get listed on any of my distributors sites, and guess what popped up today...
Hansen's Roughriders Battle Lance
Supposedly, if this is a real product coming from Catalyst, it will have the following mechs...
Penetrator
Jumping Hatchetman
Reposed Atlas
New Variant of the Enforcer
For terrain, do you guys prefer it mounted on hex bases or without? I’m looking at making some 6mm scale buildings and thought I’d ask what people might prefer. Also trying to figure out if the best route is to offer 3D prints, cast resin, or just sell 3D files.
Totally kinda new and probing around battletech a bit, I was poking at Sarna for this info but got lost, are there any big influential pirate factions, or are they sort of just the one off people I was able to find.
Some_Call_Me_Tim wrote: Totally kinda new and probing around battletech a bit, I was poking at Sarna for this info but got lost, are there any big influential pirate factions, or are they sort of just the one off people I was able to find.
RedDogMinis wrote:For terrain, do you guys prefer it mounted on hex bases or without? I’m looking at making some 6mm scale buildings and thought I’d ask what people might prefer. Also trying to figure out if the best route is to offer 3D prints, cast resin, or just sell 3D files.
I swear by steel warrior studios now, for 3d print STL files, well worth the investment. you can also print the hex bases separate from the terrain items like buildings and such if you want.
If you look back at my previous battle reports in this topic you can see us using loads of steel warrior studio terrain along with some nice bits from a few other companies.
H.B.M.C. wrote:Penetrator, huh?
I actually don't own that 'Mech.
Wait what? full stop!
We had a guy that was a regular back a decade ago before he moved away that ran one, we always joked about how it couldn't penetrate anything with his terrible dice rolls...now his devestator on the other hand.
Restocks of Core Products; Major Update of Coming Releases
on APRIL 22, 2022
Happy Friday, MechWarriors! We’ve got a huge update for you today, starting with significant restocks of a few of our products.
Back in the Catalyst Game Labs web store and available again through retail distribution are:
A Game of Armored Combat box set
Clan Invasion box set
Alpha Strike Succession Wars cards
Alpha Strike Clan Invasion cards
Total Warfare (existing mercenary cover)
TechManual (existing mercenary cover)
BattleMech Manual (existing mercenary cover)
Alpha Strike Commander’s Edition (existing mercenary cover)
Strategic Operations: Advanced Aerospace Rules (existing mercenary cover)
Interstellar Operations: Alternate Eras (existing vintage cover)
Wolfhound IIC premium plastic miniature
Of note, the reprint of A Game of Armored Combat boxed set totalled 25,000 copies, the largest single printing of any product that Catalyst Game Labs has ever done, and the largest of any BattleTech product by any company since the mid-1990s. This huge print run comes on top of 40,000 total copies of that boxed set alone already on the market–not counting the Beginner Box or Clan Invasion boxed set!
To celebrate this achievement, we’ve worked hard to put together a comprehensive preview of the year ahead in BattleTech, including never before seen artwork and covers of upcoming products!
Redemption Rites
A BattleTech novel by Jason Schmetzer
Late April 2022
In 3151 four-fifths of Wolf’s Dragoons listened to the honeyed words of Marotta Kerensky and followed Alaric Ward to Terra. There, they helped him destroy the Republic of the Sphere and establish the ilClan. Most of them died doing it. The remainder are injured, shell-shocked—and, finally, insulted by Alaric Ward’s payment of thirty pieces of silver.
In one leering gesture, Alaric Ward did what no other enemy had ever done. He broke Wolf’s Dragoons. The decimated survivors were allowed to limp off of Terra to rendezvous with their remnant who never set foot on the birthworld.
The emergency rendezvous is Savannah, in the Free Worlds League. Two striker battalions, the Tarantulas and the Wolfsbane, were the only Dragoons spared the debacle on Terra. Colonel Hack Kincaid, senior striker officer, is waiting when the Dragoons convoy appears. The DropShips are full of wrecked machines, but their personnel berths are empty.
Kincaid is a man of reputation in the Dragoons. His word carries weight. And he hasn’t been tarnished by Terra. Three regiments and one of his irreplaceable striker battalions have been ground to dust. His people are mourning, defeated, and rudderless. They look to him for leadership, for answers. They need a purpose.
Kincaid’s purpose is revenge.
Land of Dreams: Founding of the Clans Trilogy, Vol. 3
A BattleTech novel by Randall N. Bills
May 2022
Return in triumph…or not at all…
Two thousand light years from Terra, two brothers leave behind the shattered dreams of their father, the great General Aleksandr Kerensky. For a second time, war drives them into the dark and cold of the void, as the raging conflict engulfs the Pentagon Worlds and the nascent Star League-in-Exile.
For nearly fifteen years on the world of Strana Mechty—the land of dreams—Andery Kerensky has watched his elder brother Nicholas shape an all-new society of warriors that follows their ilKhan with near religious fanaticism. And despite the costs already paid in blood for that transformation, Andery knows the worst is yet to come. For Nicholas will stop at nothing to mold his followers into something never-before-seen in human history. And all with one singular goal: to return to the Pentagon Worlds and punish those that destroyed their father’s dream.
Can Andery continue to be his brother’s conscience, even as Nicholas’ final hammer blows forge the Clans into the great and terrible society it is poised to become? Or will the titanic assault of Operation Klondike, and the Clans’ return to the Pentagon Worlds, shatter what Nicholas has built entirely? And just how far will Andery let Nicholas go to pursue his zealous quest of a united Clan Homeworlds…
(This novel will be released to Kickstarter backers shortly before its standard release in e-pub and print-on-demand formats.)
MechWarrior: Dark Age Novels
May 2022 through December 2022
The remaining six novels of the MechWarrior: Dark Age line will return to print, completing the series and featuring all-new cover artwork!
Shrapnel #9
June 2022
More Shrapnel, featuring fiction from both new and established BattleTech authors, and new game material.
Premium Miniatures: Timber Wolf (Mad Cat) TC Variant
June 2022
In conjunction with Monster Fight Club, we continue to expand our Premium Miniatures line throughout the rest of 2022 and into 2023. Including expanding the availability with increased production: for example, the Wolfhound IIC “Grinner” is now back in stock in the Catalyst store.
The next Premium Miniature is the Timber Wolf TC, a close-combat variant optimized for the battlefields of Tukayyid!
Battletech Tactical Companion App
Second Quarter 2022
Updates continue for the BattleTech Tactical Companion App, now primarily focused on increasing content. The first, this spring, will include all record sheets corresponding to Wave One of the Clan Invasion Kickstarter, while this summer will see all Wave Two record sheets included.
Empire Alone
An ilClan Era sourcebook
July 2022
From the new ilKhan on Terra comes word to the Wolf Empire of their Clan’s victory. With no further communication from Alaric Ward, Star Colonel Othar takes the reins of the Empire, attempting to weather the assaults of his neighbors, and ensure the ilKhan’s realm remains inviolate.
Hungrily eyeing their worlds lost to the Empire, now stripped of the Wolves’ best, factions within the Free Worlds League launch offensives across the border and risk carrying Nikol Marik into a war she may not be ready for. At her back, the Spirit Cats and Clan Sea Fox lair in their Clan Protectorate, eager to pursue their own ends.
And out among the stars, the Wolf’s Dragoons and their new commander are on the hunt…
Empire Alone is a BattleTech sourcebook providing full details of the events around the Wolf Empire and Free Worlds League from 3151 to mid-3152. Included are a full historical summary of events in those regions of space, personality and unit profiles of key players—many appearing here for the first time, and game information to bring it all to your BattleTech tabletop.
Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules (merc cover reprint)
Tactical Operations: Advanced Units and Equipment (merc cover reprint)
Summer 2022
The two Tactical Operations core rulebooks receive their mercenary-themed covers, and full errata updates!
CountersPack: BattleForce
Second Quarter 2022
$19.99
Five punchboards representing two armies of nearly eighty Unit and Command counters each.
Two maps that form a large Strategic BattleForce map; laminated, the back side can be used to create your own worlds.
The first ever published, super-sized Inner Sphere at War map (2786 & 3025)
A Question of Survival
A BattleTech novel by Bryan Young
Summer 2022
Khan Jiyi Chistu finds that his greatest need lies not in BattleMechs, but in the MechWarriors to pilot them. The new Khan seeks the warriors he needs across enemy lines, mounting a daring raid on the Rasalhague Dominion world of Quarrell. There, the young Dominion warriors in training attempt to navigate their realm’s internal strife and learn that their dreams of glory as Ghost Bears may be dashed by a future none of them expected.
Technical Readout: Dark Age
Third Quarter 2022
$39.99
Darkest Before the Dawn
From the star-spanning devastation of the Word of Blake Jihad arose the Republic of the Sphere, a new nation dedicated to breaking the centuries-long cycle of warfare plaguing the Inner Sphere and creating new innovation and prosperity for all.
The ideals of the Republic worked–for a time.
Then, in 3132, hyperpulse generators across thousands of worlds went offline, enveloping the Inner Sphere in silence. Paranoia and opportunism ran rampant as age-old hostilities reignited and chaos ruled the day. The Republic, the grand experiment in hope, was torn asunder by hostile forces on every side.
The Republic Era–better known as the Dark Age–was a time of upheaval and opportunity. Fortunes rose and fell, nations crumbled and others reconstituted. And at the center of the whirlwind lay Terra, the crown jewel of the Republic, a prize waiting for the warrior strong enough to seize it.
Technical Readout: Dark Age expands on Technical Readout: Succession Wars, Technical Readout: Clan Invasion, and Technical Readout: Jihad by combining the ’Mechs previously found in Technical Readout: 3075, Technical Readout: 3085 (and its Supplemental), Technical Readout: 3145, Technical Readout: Irregulars, Technical Readout: Prototypes, and more. This volume features some of the most common ’Mechs from the Dark Age. Each machine is accompanied by an illustration, a description of its history, capabilities, and game stats.
The Damocles Sanction
A BattleTech novel by Michael Ciaravella
Third Quarter 2022
First Prince Julian Davion and Prince’s Champion Erik Sandoval-Groell prepare to reclaim the Federated Suns’ capital, New Avalon, and throw back the Kuritan invaders who hold so many Suns worlds in their clutches. But ambitions grow alongside glory, and the two leaders may find their greatest threat lies not among the Draconis Combine samurai ready to die for the Dragon, but in each other.
Alpha Strike Boxed Set
Third Quarter 2022
Clashing Armies
The commline ablaze with determination.
An army of war-forged metal titans on the heights.
The enemy entrenched in the valley below, weapons charging.
On your order, your force surges toward their foes, banners streaming as weapons sear and render and shatter! Will your star-spanning empire win the day? Only you will decide!
It is the thirty-second century. Mankind has waged a millennia of war across thousands of worlds of human-occupied space. The Great Houses. The Clans. The Periphery. A myriad of star empires claim ascendance, as others wane or fall. Fighting and dying for their ambitions are the MechWarriors who owe them fealty, each the master of a towering avatar of destruction: the BattleMech. You command a detachment of these brave warriors dropped onto an unforgiving battlefield: only your wits and tactical acumen will bring victory, or leave you a casualty on a forgotten world.
BattleTech is the world’s greatest armored combat game. In Alpha Strike, you take command of large-scale engagements, fueled by tabletop miniatures gameplay designed for the modern wargamer. Inside is everything you need to start tossing dice and moving miniatures on your game table.
Contents
13 high-quality, fully assembled (unpainted) miniatures; including two new redesigned miniatures, the Wraith and Pouncer, and seven all-new variants, in new poses.
32-page Rulebook
24-page fiction novella
16-page Universe Primer
13 Alpha Strike Cards
13 Pilot Cards
25 Battlefield Support Cards
1 heavy-stock reference sheets
2 Punchboards of trees and game counters
9 small fold-up cardboard buildings
6 medium fold-up cardboard buildings
2 dice
Shrapnel #10
September 2022
More Shrapnel, featuring fiction from both new and established BattleTech authors, and new game material.
Eridani Light Horse Hunter Lance
Fall 2022
$30 – Initially exclusive to Barnes & Noble
AVAILABLE FOR HIRE!
The Eridani Light Horse are an elite mercenary outfit boasting one of the longest histories and the deepest traditions in the Inner Sphere. From their origins with the Star League Defense Force, they have fought through the triumphs and the tragedies of Succession Wars, emerging as one of the finest and most honorable fighting commands.
Unleash the Eridani Light Horse Hunter Lance on your enemies! Included is the new Sagittaire, as well as a re-posed Banshee, and new variants of the Cyclops and a jumping Thunderbolt—no assembly required—along with four MechWarrior pilot cards and four Alpha Strike cards. Perfect for BattleTech and Alpha Strike action!
Hansen’s Roughriders Battle Lance
Fall 2022
$30 – Initially exclusive to retail outlets via Alliance Game Distributors
AVAILABLE FOR HIRE!
Whether it’s a running battle, a defensive stand, or an all-out planetary invasion, Hansen’s Roughriders will always be in the thick of it. Though lacking the technology of some commands and the traditions of others, the Roughriders get the job done—regardless of how dirty they get in the process.
Unleash the Hansen’s Roughriders Battle Lance on your enemies! Included is the new Penetrator, as well as a re-posed Atlas, and new variants of the Enforcer and jumping Hatchetman—no assembly required—along with four MechWarrior pilot cards and four Alpha Strike cards. Perfect for BattleTech and Alpha Strike action!
Northwind Highlanders Command Lance
(Image not final)
Fall 2022
$30 – Initially exclusive to retail outlets via ACD Distribution
AVAILABLE FOR HIRE!
The Northwind Highlanders trace their lineage back to the pre-spaceflight age of ancient Terra. From small-scale uprisings to epic struggles, as a House regiment and as mercenaries, every generation of Highlanders have added to their forebears’ battlefield glory.
Unleash the Northwind Highlanders Command Lance! Included is the new Gunslinger, re-posed and jumping Highlander, and new variants of the Grasshopper and Warhammer—no assembly required—along with four MechWarrior pilot cards and four Alpha Strike cards. Perfect for BattleTech and Alpha Strike action!
Kell Hounds Striker Lance
AVAILABLE FOR HIRE!
Fall 2022
$30 – Initially exclusive to Catalyst Game Labs web store
From their very first days, the Kell Hounds—and their infamous founding brothers, Morgan and Patrick—took the Inner Sphere by storm. The steadfast Hounds changed the very course of history, facing down Yorinaga Kurita and saving Melissa Steiner, and swiftly building an elite reputation.
Unleash the Kell Hounds Striker Lance! Included is the new Nightsky, a re-posed Wolfhound, and new variants of the Griffin and jumping Crusader—no assembly required—along with four MechWarrior pilot cards and four Alpha Strike cards. Perfect for BattleTech and Alpha Strike action!
Dominions Divided
Fourth Quarter 2022
Across the reinvigorated Federated Suns, the call goes out: the time has come to retake the jewel New Avalon from the Dragon, and throw back the Draconis Combine invaders. But the demands of war and politics will test the fragile alliance between First Prince Julian Davion and Prince’s Champion Erik Sandoval-Groell, and threaten to renew the chaos they seek to conquer.
The Rasalhague Dominion, so long a bastion of stability and internal harmony, greets the news of the ilClan’s accession with anything but a united front. Between those who believe that joining the newborn Star League is the Dominion’s destiny, and those not willing to deny the power and promise of their fusion culture, a single vote could secure a bright new future, or ignite the flames of violence.
Dominions Divided is a BattleTech sourcebook providing full details of the events within the Federated Suns, Draconis Combine, and Rasalhague Dominion from 3151 to mid-3152. Included are a full historical summary of events in those regions of space, personality and unit profiles of key players—many appearing here for the first time–and game information to bring it all to your BattleTech tabletop.
BattleTech Universe
Fourth Quarter 2022
Leap into the rich history of the BattleTech universe and get up to date for the new ilClan era with this comprehensive tome! BattleTech Universe includes sections for all of the major factions, offering concise histories for each from their founding through 3150.
In addition, BattleTech Universe highlights the major moments across the history of the Inner Sphere through fiction excerpts from some of the most beloved BattleTech novels of years past—and today! An easy-to-follow guide in each segment offers suggestions for further reading.
Whether you’re just starting out in BattleTech and want to dive deep into the history of its factions, or you’re ready to jump into all the action of the ilClan era, BattleTech Universe is your indispensable guide to get up to date on 3150 and beyond!
Force Manuals
Late 2022 and beyond
Alongside the new Alpha Strike boxed set, we’re excited to announce the return of companion sourcebooks for each BattleTech faction, detailing the combat commands, force building, unique battlefield abilities for each. Formerly known as Combat Manuals, this rebooted line of sourcebooks is fully compatible with Total Warfare or Alpha Strike play. Revamped versions of the Kurita and Mercenaries sourcebooks will join the all-new Force Manual: Davion in relaunching the line.
BattleTech Mercenaries Kickstarter
Fall 2022
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.
Gray Death Legion ForcePack
Spring 2023
$30 Initially exclusive to Barnes & Noble
AVAILABLE FOR HIRE!
The betrayal and death of his father forced young Grayson Death Carlyle to forge a new mercenary outfit from nothing. From such humble beginnings, the Gray Death Legion rose to become one of the most feared and respected mercenary commands.
Unleash the Gray Death Legion Heavy Battle Lance! Included is the new Regent, a re-posed and jumping Shadow Hawk, and new variants of the Gargoyle and Catapult —no assembly required—along with four MechWarrior pilot cards and four Alpha Strike cards. Perfect for BattleTech and Alpha Strike action!
Also In Development
If all of these products aren’t enough for you, don’t worry–we’re got much more in store. Keep an eye out for future announcements of sourcebooks such as the Brush Wars PDF series, MechCommander’s Handbook and ilKhan’s Eyes Only, and other BattleTech tabletop game experiences such as BattleTech: COMMAND, Resurgent Empires: A Succession Wars Game, and more!
Of note, the reprint of A Game of Armored Combat boxed set totalled 25,000 copies, the largest single printing of any product that Catalyst Game Labs has ever done, and the largest of any BattleTech product by any company since the mid-1990s. This huge print run comes on top of 40,000 total copies of that boxed set alone already on the market–not counting the Beginner Box or Clan Invasion boxed set!
To celebrate this achievement, we’ve worked hard to put together a comprehensive preview of the year ahead in BattleTech, including never before seen artwork and covers of upcoming products!
Fall 2022
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.
Some_Call_Me_Tim wrote: Totally kinda new and probing around battletech a bit, I was poking at Sarna for this info but got lost, are there any big influential pirate factions, or are they sort of just the one off people I was able to find.
For those worried about the jumping 'mechs in the new mercenary force packs, Adrian Gideon (BattleTech Line Developer Ray Arrastia) posted this on the BattleTech forums:
We’re trying to them done as separate pieces. So you can put the mini on the base without the plume, and they were all sculpted with that intent.
Good on that. I don't like the way jumping mechs are modeled. On the other hand why the hell Hansen Roughriders get a lance and the Big Mac do not. Designers discriminating the CC as always.
M.
Edit: I might be an old Btech fart, but I do recall the time where the Eridani Light Horse didn't have mechs heavier than 60 tons.
Miguelsan wrote: On the other hand why the hell Hansen Roughriders get a lance and the Big Mac do not. Designers discriminating the CC as always.
Hansen's Roughriders are one of the five mercenary units in the original BattleTech boardgame (with the Eridani Light Horse, Wolf's Dragoons, 21st Centauri Lancers and Lindon's Company). Additionally McCarron's Armored Cavalry is no longer a mercenary unit but a house unit so they don't fit with the theme that all of the announced force packs are mercenaries.
I do really wish that the packs weren't 75% things we've already made, but now with a new hat new pose, plus one new thing you can't get anywhere else!
Premium Timber Wolf (Mad Cat) TC Variant (June 2022)
Alpha Strike Boxed Set - "13 high-quality, fully assembled (unpainted) miniatures; including two new redesigned miniatures, the Wraith and Pouncer, and seven all-new variants, in new poses." (Third Quarter 2022)
Eridani Light Horse Hunter Lance - "new Sagittaire, as well as a re-posed Banshee, and new variants of the Cyclops and a jumping Thunderbolt" (Fall 2022 – Initially exclusive to Barnes & Noble)
Hansen’s Roughriders Battle Lance - "new Penetrator, as well as a re-posed Atlas, and new variants of the Enforcer and jumping Hatchetman" (Fall 2022 - Initially exclusive to retail outlets via Alliance Game Distributors)
Northwind Highlanders Command Lance - "new Gunslinger, re-posed and jumping Highlander, and new variants of the Grasshopper and Warhammer" (Fall 2022 – Initially exclusive to retail outlets via ACD Distribution)
Kell Hounds Striker Lance - "new Nightsky, a re-posed Wolfhound, and new variants of the Griffin and jumping Crusader" (Fall 2022 – Initially exclusive to Catalyst Game Labs web store)
Gray Death Legion ForcePack - "new Regent, a re-posed and jumping Shadow Hawk, and new variants of the Gargoyle and Catapult" (Spring 2023 - Initially exclusive to Barnes & Noble)
Mercenaries Kickstarter - "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." - Fall 2022
I hadn't heard of the Regent before, and it's ilClan - 3145.
I haven't got the faintest clue what that final trio are meant to be. Any guesses? As I have since discovered, we're looking at a Shadow Hawk IIC, Phoenix Hawk IIC and Griffin IIC in that last pic.
At some point between the previous KS campaign running and Wave 2 delivering, I bought a 3d printer. It's great. I've used it to fill in the gaps from the KS, along with the odd mech or two that I didn't order because I didn't realise that I wanted them at the time.
As a result, I thought that I would have no further need for anything that CGL can produce, but how wrong was I?
It's an interesting example of how 3d printing augments, rather than destroys a market for traditional minis in a similar way to how their previous KS has created a demand for the retail product, instead of saturating the market and killing off the books and minis at retail.
Just look at that Devastator render! Just look at it! I have no idea how I'm going to be able to mentally justify having one in a Clan Invasion era merc company, but I'll manage it.
I'm going to continue holding out hope for a Cochraine's Goliaths lance pack. I want to buy that sculpt in bulk.
I'm excited about everything shown, only drag with having this much info is having to wait now. It's still better than the outlook a week ago when the future was a big mystery. I am glad I didn't get to my modern GDL yet, I have a Goliath ready to cut up and convert but I can wait now. I was a little peeved at the idea of the Regent being in the GDL pack and being so far out, but the IWM metal version will be out this summer so I should already have a year of Space Pope action under my belt by the time that pack ships.
Ok now that i have recovered from game night i can put up the report of last nights action at the game matrix our local FLGS.
First off i grabbed a new terrain mat originally made for infinity, it looked so nice for a battletech outpost i had to get it.
Spoiler:
Most of the terrain is from steel warrior studios with a few pieces from brigade miniatures as well as monpoc and some old JR minitures terrain.
Game one happened while i was off playing a game of warmachine so i do not know much about what happened here. i know they were fighting over building objectives
It was a single lance on lance battle of kurita VS marik.
I do know the most epic part of the game was the guillotine taking an ammo explosion that destroyed it and knocked over both opposing atlas's that were near by. and the thung taking an ammo explosion to the face shooting the stalker from behind. the stalker had standard engines and case so it survived as did the thug but just barely.
Kuirta side
Spoiler:
Marik side
Spoiler:
The battle
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Game two i got to take part in.
Since the kurita player is somewhat new and has not experienced the full joy of the classic battletech line i decided to give him an introduction to fighting a combined arms force of my hells horse.
We used the standard 1.3/1 trade off so 2 IS lances to one clan star. i threw in some proto mechs and vehicles to spice things up a bit as well as some clan HH iconic mechs.
I broke out my mobile HQ tank as the added objective this game with an 8 turn limit to destroy it.
The clans invade-
Spoiler:
The defenders rally
Spoiler:
I kept my mechs together on the left flank and pushed hard with my faster protos and tanks on the right.
Being a bit new to the game he deployed to far back even though he had half the table. he also had a fear of my range advantage so he hid from my mechs for the first few turns.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
He was more focused on the fast movers. he did manage to jam the turret on one tank in the rear firing direction that i never had a chance to fix...but that was ok because he was chasing me from behind for the next few turns. he also managed to damage 2 protomechs, one heavily.
By that time however it was a target rich environment and they were gleefully jumping around harassing anything close enough.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
I managed to pincer his command tank into a corner so we ended the game on turn 6 since there was no way he could escape.
Spoiler:
There were surprisingly very few losses on either side this game. the clans took some heavy damage to the vulture, one proto took a couple pilot hits from leg damage and then there was that tank turret but otherwise everything survived the battle on my side.
The Kurita force lost the spider early (2 clan large pulse to the same location tends to do that). and the cyclops to cumulative damage.
The protos and tanks were doing the harrassing thing that they do as expected but the most impressive output was the vulture that scored nearly max damage with it's ATM 12 on more than one occasion. the last being a 10 and 12 missile volley with the intermediate 2 damage missiles as well as an ER medium laser on the atlas.
I am sure we will be adding some more to the battles next week. battletech is thriving in our local area with this Kurita player and a Ghost Bears player joining us recently. They are also spreading the love to their other friends we do not know who play at other locations.
Sure, but IWM releases minis at a glacial pace and their site is awful for identifying which minis are based on the latest CAD remodels being done by Catalysts crew vs ones which IWM is doing in house (and therefore don't quite match my 400+ catalyst plastics minis in terms of scale and aesthetic design elements). I know its probably not an issue to most of you, but Catalysts redesigns are the reason why after 20 years in the hobby I finally decided to give BT the time of day - scale and aesthetic consistency matters a lot to me.
H.B.M.C. wrote: And I imagine that, as these are metals based off the new designs, they should be in scale with the new plastics.
A new Ryoken sculpt is very tempting...
I can verify the new minis from IWMs are indeed scaled up. i will post a pic of the new blood asp mini next to one of the CGL plastics for comparison in a few.
The warhammer and awesome are CGL plastics, the osteon and blood asp are newish IWM metals.
Does that mean we will be able to buy singles in metal rather than plastic packs? If we are talking about the same designs Catalyst offers I'm looking forward to it even if I have to eat the extra int shipping cost..
The scale isn't all that different for most mechs unless you get the really old ones from the late 80s early 90s. they tend to be a bit on the small side.
The re-sculpts of the CGL plastics do look very good, i almost want to buy a few packs to replace some of the old metals i have like the cauldron born, masakari, behemoth and others....but i would need to buy so many replacements for all the mechs i already have assembled and painted.....so i resist the urge.
Trust me, I have old metals, plastics from the 2000s, and the new ones. In some cases I feel bad for the old guys when compared to the new stuff.
As I'm not really collecting for painting but rather to complete my fictional units I don't mind, aactually I need, doubles as long as the mechs fit in my TO&E.
Well considering there are 698 base models of mechs + all the variants (not counting all the vehicles) you are talking thousands of mechs that CGL has never released in plastic.
At least with IWM most of them are available and they also sell bits to make the alternate variants for many mechs if you feel the need to be WYSIWYG.
Painting is not required in a BattleTech Championship Circuit event unless the venue hosting the event requires it. Whenever possible, at least 80% of each mini in use on the table should be a mini currently available for purchase by players from either CGL or Iron Wind Metals. Older miniatures from CGL, Iron Wind Metals or Ral Partha are also acceptable. You may not use any miniature produced from another company, reproduction minis from a non-official mold, or 3D printed miniatures. You may 3D print arms if you wish, but 80% of the model must be from the original mini you are trying to represent.
I anticipate the "no fully 3d printed minis" clause is going to result in mass kvetching from the community, even though the majority of people who will complain will never ever participate in said circuit.
chaos0xomega wrote: I anticipate the "no fully 3d printed minis" clause is going to result in mass kvetching from the community, even though the majority of people who will complain will never ever participate in said circuit.
Can confirm.
It certainly did when we ran a wolfnet premiere tournament at our store!
With 3d printing becoming more and more a thing, and with Battletech not really having an official championship tournament scene until today going forward... I can see where some people will lose their mind because they don't want to buy models and print them instead.
But if you want to be a tournament circuit pro-style gamer, thats part of the costs. And owning a lance of models won't break the bank. Especially if you are going iron wind for singles. And if not then you can hit ebay for singles as well.
For anyone wondering how my Clan Invasion scenario went, I was the IS Periphery OpFor and we did not kill a single Clan 'Mech I nearly crippled an Adder and the best I did was to tag the Star Commander's Cauldron Borne with a MG to the cockpit and knock the pilot unconscious for a turn, which I took advantage of to kick while they were down with my Thunderbolt.
Prometheum5 wrote: For anyone wondering how my Clan Invasion scenario went, I was the IS Periphery OpFor and we did not kill a single Clan 'Mech I nearly crippled an Adder and the best I did was to tag the Star Commander's Cauldron Borne with a MG to the cockpit and knock the pilot unconscious for a turn, which I took advantage of to kick while they were down with my Thunderbolt.
Prometheum5 wrote: For anyone wondering how my Clan Invasion scenario went, I was the IS Periphery OpFor and we did not kill a single Clan 'Mech I nearly crippled an Adder and the best I did was to tag the Star Commander's Cauldron Borne with a MG to the cockpit and knock the pilot unconscious for a turn, which I took advantage of to kick while they were down with my Thunderbolt.
Prometheum5 wrote: For anyone wondering how my Clan Invasion scenario went, I was the IS Periphery OpFor and we did not kill a single Clan 'Mech I nearly crippled an Adder and the best I did was to tag the Star Commander's Cauldron Borne with a MG to the cockpit and knock the pilot unconscious for a turn, which I took advantage of to kick while they were down with my Thunderbolt.
Working as intended!
M.
Edit: I hate the Clans.
Ha! Freebirth scum!
Wait what Clan were you up against? Please say it wasn't Clan Wolf... Oh, the embarrassment
I'm with HBMC here. it depends on what era. if it as 4th succession war era stuff (where a clan ER medium laser is equal in almost every way to an IS large laser minus 1 point of damage) then it is a no brainer that the clans are going to roll face over the IS unless they can trick them into zellbrigen duels and wear them down. with a standard force multiplier of 1.3/1 there is a chance but it grows increasingly viable for an IS victory by 3055+
I think it also depends if you are playing a scenario, or straight kill them all battle. IS troops trying to get away from a superior Clan force might be more interesting than 400 v 400 ton haveing at it.
i have an entire bag of visigoths, i think i will be handing them out this weekend.
Also clans should never be equal force VS IS they should always be outnumbered to make up for their better pilots and weapons. the official trade off is 1.3/1 or 2 lances per star. in my long experience it works out pretty close.
If you look at that battle i posted from 2 weeks ago the ghost bears VS marik the bears were using mostly 2nd line mechs VS a marik player running all the power gaming he could muster(obsessed with TAG, semi-guided munitions and ECM everywhere). and the bears took out an entire lance in 2 turns (well most of it in one). the bears lost that game but only because of some epic head hits. the star commanders behemoth took no damage anywhere else, just a heavy PPC to the face for example.
For general pick up games IE not a campaign or scenario. BV and tonnage do not work as a balancing mechanic. the 1/1 conversion for identical forces or the 1.3/1 when IS fight clans as recommended does because the crit system exists and negates any perceived benefit. especially when using the more realistic (for the setting) forced withdrawal and safecon rules.
We were running the Assault mission track from ER:3052. Clan Diamond Shark binary (wrote some fluff for a small task force of DS doing a ride-along with the Falcons and actually getting to participate in the invasion). They had a medium/heavy force with one 'Mech swapped for a point of Elementals to try. I was running a company off the Periphery RAT in the same book since we're starting with a couple fights on Gotterdamerung before they reach the IS proper. I had basically all the bog-standard mechs you can think of, rolled a 1 for the force distro so 4 lights, 4 mediums, 4 heavies, with one medium swapped for a Heavy Tracked Vehicle using the simplified vee rules from the new Tukayyid book. 3/4 pilots for the Clan with the Star Commander having earned being a 3/3 thru their Trial of Position, and 4/5s for the IS with the commander being a 2/2 per the scenario, mounted in an Orion that took an AC10 crit like three turns in. By the end of turn 6 or 7 I think, it was down to an Archer who had hung back the whole game, a Phoenix Hawk who had so far dodged any hate, a Jenner that was surrounded by problems, and maybe one more straggler who was in a bad way. The IS force opted to retreat, which leads into the Pursuit mission we'll run next.
aphyon wrote: Also clans should never be equal force VS IS they should always be outnumbered to make up for their better pilots and weapons. the official trade off is 1.3/1 or 2 lances per star. in my long experience it works out pretty close.
Indeed, and that 1.3:1 ratio only really applies to units running Star League stuff, like with CASE and such. If you're using Introtech/4SW equipment, then it's probably closer to a Company to a Star. BV can help balance that even further.
Also Clanners want as close a fight as they can get to both win glory and to make the battle "efficient". With their "glory", they can attain Bloodnames, rank, and authority.
Interestingly enough, I've noticed that with AS, Clan tech isn't quite as useful, as even though they CASE everything, their use of XL engines in almost everything makes their Structure absolutely horrible and easier to kill. Sure, their Attack numbers tend to be higher, but they can't take it in return. It does get better with Multiple Attack Rolls, too.
Edit: I have found it interesting that the Clans adopted a 5 man unit for their standard considering their desire to make things even. It's almost like, "I have a Star, but to face your Lance, I'll pair off 3 of them and face you with my 2 lightest units". Like they never expect to actually USE their advantage in numbers their organization gives. But I guess fighting the same standard for 200 years can make anything stagnant.
We tend to play with 3050+ so the 1.3/1 ratio seems to work just fine for us. when we play older era stuff the clans usually are not around, so it isn't really an issue (other than more stuff exploding).
If that new Pouncer model is accurate to the photo, I've just found my stand in for the Hammerhead until they get around to releasing the official model. All it needs is a fist and some shoulder slabs!
Gitzbitah wrote: If that new Pouncer model is accurate to the photo, I've just found my stand in for the Hammerhead until they get around to releasing the official model. All it needs is a fist and some shoulder slabs!
Yes, it looks like the concept sketch I've seen of the new Pouncer. Future artwork that features 'mechs that have been redesigned and have a 3D sculpt will use that sculpt as a reference for tha artist(s). No longer will the same 'mech look radically different based on which artist is doing the artwork.
Ghaz wrote: First sketch of the new Maxim Hover Transport.
These pleases me, as my company uses Maxims to carry my Infantry.
We did a campaign mission a couple weeks ago, and part of our job was to escort a couple Maxims carrying a platoon of engineers each, and the engineers were to de-fuse explosives on 3 bridges.
They worked pretty well as transports and pretty decent as weapon platforms, with some very interesting weapon configurations, like the broadside SRM-2s and rear-firing LRM-5.
A Wraith? One of these things is not like the others...
Glad they really upgraded that art, though. The original design was laughable.
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/File:TR-Wraith.png
I do like the locust and the stinger visibly wanting no part of this scrum.
I also enjoy critical rockets channel about all things battletech
When it comes to warhammers i usually run the 8D it has the full package of weapons and a C3 slave for kurita goodness, ocasionally i will run the 9D if i need a sniper. but the XLs make it far less durable.
Oh I watched it the day it came out. Made popcorn and everything. It's a fething fantastic video, and the comparison to the WarShip construction problem was so well put together.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Oh I watched it the day it came out. Made popcorn and everything. It's a fething fantastic video, and the comparison to the WarShip construction problem was so well put together.
glad to know I am not the only one who watches Tex with popcorn (and everything)
Ghaz wrote: First sketch of the new Maxim Hover Transport.
These pleases me, as my company uses Maxims to carry my Infantry.
We did a campaign mission a couple weeks ago, and part of our job was to escort a couple Maxims carrying a platoon of engineers each, and the engineers were to de-fuse explosives on 3 bridges.
They worked pretty well as transports and pretty decent as weapon platforms, with some very interesting weapon configurations, like the broadside SRM-2s and rear-firing LRM-5.
Gotta have something to cover you when you inevitably have to run away lol. I might look at doing the SRM2 to Turret mod Sarna talks about.
Kanluwen wrote: Just making sure the premium version of the Wolfhound IIC from Catalyst wasn't missing anything!
That was a fun little blighter.
Note that while it's sold on the Catalyst Game Labs web store, the model itself is a product of Monster Fight Club (like the previous Black Knight was from Creative Juggernaut). Neither the press release from Catalyst nor the online store listing mentions a card so it seems like you're not missing anything.
Poor Vindicator. It's going to get a bad reputation being matched up against a Griffin so much. If it had to a 55 tonner, at least they could have put it up against a Shadow Hawk!
Gorgeous box art though.
Gitzbitah wrote: Poor Vindicator. It's going to get a bad reputation being matched up against a Griffin so much. If it had to a 55 tonner, at least they could have put it up against a Shadow Hawk!
Gorgeous box art though.
The Shadow Hawk is already in the AGoAC boxed set as is the Wolverine. That's why they decided to replace the Wolverine with the Vindicator in the updated Beginner Box, so the same sculpt is not featured in two products (outside of the salvage boxes).
The... the beginner box doesn't have a Vindicator. It has a Griffin and a Wolverine.
I had to double check, as I could'a sworn that the last Kickstarter had a new Cicada and Quickdraw. Why they insist in making more Quickdraws is beyond me - they're terrible 'Mechs - but here we are. The rest are pretty cool, even if I have most of what's there (other than the Quads and IICs).
H.B.M.C. wrote: The... the beginner box doesn't have a Vindicator. It has a Griffin and a Wolverine.
I had to double check, as I could'a sworn that the last Kickstarter had a new Cicada and Quickdraw. Why they insist in making more Quickdraws is beyond me - they're terrible 'Mechs - but here we are. The rest are pretty cool, even if I have most of what's there (other than the Quads and IICs).
You did notice that the description under the image I posted says NEW Beginner Box?
Pretty happy it’s the Griffin rather than the Wolverine paired with the Vindicator for the new Beginner Box. But would have preferred a different mech altogether.
I am not buying another Beginner Box just for Vindicator. Do I look like I like nerve gassing crowds of civilians? I can live without it.
Hopefully it will pop up in the KS the same way that they bundled the Beginner Box mechs with the AGoAC mechs. It is a nice one, though.
It does look like they'll be filling in the blanks, but you can bet that someone's Favouritest Evar Mech will be excluded and that person will make an ungodly hoohah for the duration of the campaign and beyond.
Oh! I didn't even see that pic. Only the big group of 'Mechs.
Yeah, ok, a new Beginner's box? I mean yes, it's good that now, when buying it and the main box, you won't end up with two Wolverines, but... uhh... I'm not buying another one to just get a Vindcator.
Unless it has new map sheets. Then that becomes a different story.
Does anyone know what the deal is with the novels there?
Are they just the latest reprints or something a bit more special? Whatever they are, I'm totally getting a new copy of Close Quarters - mine is a bit wrecked, to say the least.
Huh glad to see a new Vindicator but isn't that not a very balanced pair for a beginner box?
Had some old GEO-Hex terrain from a friend and we had a game yesterday - first in years and first with all the new plastic (well there is one ancient Ral Partha in the mix - need a new plastic Javelin someday ha)
More transplants from GW tonight, did 2 separate small 1v1 training games for a couple brand new players.
Then we did a full normal lance V lance battle for another relatively new player.
he was a bit overwhelmed by the complexity of the rules or more how i could remember everything (but after 30 years playing the game it is kind of second nature for me)
I just put down some random mechs and gave him a few. record sheets to use with what he had on him.
It was a bit odd but i ran 2 t-bolts at the same time-a 10SE and a 7SE. along with my dragon fire and marauder II
He ran a rifleman 6X, warhammer 8D, atlas S2 and a crusader 8S
In the first few turns he was having some bad dice rolls seeing through my ECM ghost imagining, but in the end he turned it around using his own ECM in counter mode to shut down some of mine...and well heavy gauss rifles at short range do bad things to 65 ton mechs.
The table
Spoiler:
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The battle start
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Around the 3rd turn-
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Also a an old "new" edition to my Lyran forces, i had this ASF sitting in the model cabinet and finally decided i should finish it.
To introduce myself; I've played basically every battletech computer game going, along with the Mechwarrior Destiny RPG, and I've had a copy of Battleforce 2 since ever, but I've never really had a chance to try the tabletop game.
I picked these up from my local game store, and there seems to be a reasonable cadre of disaffected X-wing players; if was an x-wing store championship and its fair to say a lot of them are not happy at recent rules changes.
Quite a few now battletech via the Michael Stackpole novels.
I'm planning on running some tryout intro games for people to see if it grabs them. I dont have the starter box but have the quick start .pdf, so I considered the Wolverine vs Griffin standees 1v1 with the 'just the top half of the sheet' but if there are enough people interested I might do a 2v2 or more with each player handling a single medium weight 'mech.
Advice and suggestions for intro events are welcome!
In terms of painting them up, I was looking at painting the inner sphere lances as a pirate/mercenary force as a sort of hobby project with my daughter.
Since she's a toddler with a copy of the battletech activity colouring book, I'm expecting "Cassie's Corsairs" to havw some rather...uh...distinctive...colour schemes.
Spoiler:
Meanwhile I'm tempted to do the clan force as a bit of a joke; I remember the references to the "Spaniel Clan" being a kids TV series in-universe, so the mechs will be white with brown highlight plates.
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Cassie's doggy big brother; soon to be the happiest and fluffiest star captain imaginable.
Started doing some inventory on my collection and realized that I presently own 35 lances (technically 3 of those are Shilone flights) and 23 stars (2 of which are elemental stars + 2 extra mechs that are looking for a star to join). Well on my way to fielding an entire Regiment and Galaxy.
Posted by Adrian Gideon on the BattleTech Forums in regards to the new Beginner Box:
Adrian Gideon wrote:Hey folks, going to apologize up front—the Beginner Box is done. There was plenty of discussion—AND FIGHTING—to land at this point. I lost. And for the one simple change of one miniature swap, it created a LOT of work and ate resources. So what I’m saying is, you can talk about what would be a better swap, what would be a better pair, but it’s not happening. This is a done deal, please be aware.
See I understand all those words individually, but in that specific order they simply don't read as English.
Are you implying that there's no theoretical upper limit to the desirable number of mapsheets that one should own? Curious.
That would make them the gaming equivalent of Chocolate Hobnobs. I think that I might be able to get behind this theory.
After the hunt for my AGoAC box (think that I must have got the last one in the UK from the first run) and the excitement that happens every time on the UKFB group when a couple of BT boxes are found in a gaming shop, I've come to the conclusion that my best bet is to get all of my things on the KS.
It's simple things like not having to fuss about getting a flipping rulebook without having to get it shipped from Catalyst themselves - which reminds me, I really should get a hardcopy of Total Warfare next time round...
but for a minute I thought I was in the 
