aka_mythos wrote:Purple Pawns has a nice breakdown of the box contents and a unboxing video: http://www.purplepawn.com/2011/03/hands-on-battletech-25th-anniversary-boxed-set.

In the video he looks at everything except what's in the larger of the two cardboard 'holders' at the top of the box. What was under there? Was it just taking up space?

Looks great! If I get this and TRO 3039, and already have Sword and Dragon, do I really need anything else? Is there a corresponding set of sheets for the TRO? Or do the TROs have sample sheets for each mech I can just copy?

They have sample sheets. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to pick up a few extra 'Mechs from IWM, just so you have a 'Mech for all the ones in the back of Sword and Dragon.

Those 'Mechs are:

1. Hornet
2. Javelin
3. Longbow
4. Mongoose
5. Wolfhound
6. Centurion
7. Charger
8. Sword & Dragon 'Mech Pack #1 (Black Knight, Cataphract, Hatchetman, Enforcer)
9. Sword & Dragon 'Mech Pack #2 (Hatamoto Chi, Jenner, Grand Dragon, Hunchback)

And that's all. With that you have one (or more) of every 'Mech in that book and will have endless hours of games.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

aka_mythos wrote:Purple Pawns has a nice breakdown of the box contents and a unboxing video: http://www.purplepawn.com/2011/03/hands-on-battletech-25th-anniversary-boxed-set.

In the video he looks at everything except what's in the larger of the two cardboard 'holders' at the top of the box. What was under there? Was it just taking up space?

I suspect those were there to keep the bits from knocking around inside the box. I.e. a bit of wasted space.

jmw23 wrote:Looks great! If I get this and TRO 3039, and already have Sword and Dragon, do I really need anything else? Is there a corresponding set of sheets for the TRO? Or do the TROs have sample sheets for each mech I can just copy?

If I am understanding your question correctly when you mention sample sheets you are actually referring to the `Mech record sheets and not the data entries in the Technical Readout. If you are looking for additional `Mech record sheets to use in games you may want to pick up this product as it has the record sheets for all of the entries in the TRO 3039 book.

So what's the deal with this, Dakka Bros? Amazon shows 2 sellers selling this, but neither is Amazon, which makes me think I could order it only to get an email from the third-party seller going lol, no. I've gotten stuff from Troll & Toad before but would prefer Amazon as I already have a prime membership. Any updates I don't know about? Catalyst hasn't had an update since Septemper (GG, guys).

The CBT website updates more often.

Just ordered my copy from here. Instock and ready to ship!

Ooooh, they have it at the warstore. Ordered one. I also got some Iron Wind mechs off ebay - for some reason they are cheaper there + free shipping.


/stoked

Cheaper from where?

I got a Mad Cat & an Uziel from this guy for $20 + free shipping. Iron wind direct is $24 + a rather unfortunate $10 shipping.

Disclaimer: I'm not this guy. I don't know this guy, I've never gotten anything from him before, so I can't even vouch for this guy. Your mileage may vary. Seek medical attention for all erections lasting in excess of 4 hours.

Ouze wrote:Ooooh, they have it at the warstore. Ordered one. I also got some Iron Wind mechs off ebay - for some reason they are cheaper there + free shipping.


/stoked

Thewarstore shipped mine yesterday, along with my copy of Mantics Dwarf Kings Hold...

...and GW shipped my GKT yesterday...

...and the loyalist Termies I got on ebay shipped yesterday...

it should all get here between friday and monday. A good weekend for sure.

My set turned up. Impressive. Nice, big, heavy box. The minis themselves are servicable, a few were broken, but nothing a bit of glue couldn't fix.

Catalyst is very responsive to its customers; they already have the remedy to broken miniatures:
http://www.catalystgamelabs.com/battletech/minis-replacement/

Or email them: customerservice.catalyst@gmail.com

It wasn't that big a deal. No missing parts, and clean break so went back together without an obvious mend showing. They'll get painted soon, and you'll never be able to tell.

I got mine on friday. Its a pretty nice set. There is a bit of new stuff compared to the Older Intro Box Set. One huge thing...the 2 premium clan mechs are spectacular. I would be very excited if they released many, many more mechs done the same way.

What kind of plastic are those mechs made out of? How do those mechs in the little boxes compare to the IW ones?

The 24 'mechs from the introductory set are made from a similar plastic you'd find in quarter-machine bubble toys, it seems like. The details aren't bad, for what you get in the set. Loki and Thor, the two "premium" 'mechs that come in the set (rounding out the total number of models at a respectable 26) are made from a plastic very similar (if not identical) to 40K plastic models and have a much higher level of detail. I painted my hunchback mech today and I have to say that when you prime/paint even the cheaper plastics that come in the box set they look very respectable.

I got my set as well and have to admit, that I am pretty underwhelmed from the quality of the minis.
I started playing Battletech in the early 90s, so I am used to the medium quality plastic minis from the earlier starter (those with the Unseen) as well as the Citytech and Plastech minis.
The minis from this new set are way below the early 90s standard. Some of them look pretty decent ("Hunchback", "Panther") with good details and acceptable mold lines. But others are simply horrific and I cannot understand how such a product could pass through quality controls. The "Awesome" for example need serious trimming around the hip before painting, most of the multi-part mechs in my box came with their limbs broken off (though I am almost glad it did happen now, because on the CBT forum they said, that the glue tends to dissolve after a few years, so better now then later when the minis are painted), many of the minis had holes that need greenstuffing and the "Catapult" is so deformed that it is almost unrecognizable (the mini is far to flat and the missle tubes are filled with plastic).

Do not get me wrong, the value of the box is ok - you get nice heavy duty boards to play on, a high quality documentation (rules, painting guide, fluff), two superior minis (yeah, the are just the way all of the plastic minis should be) and lots of mini you can play with.

I just do not understand how Catalyst can sell those lousy plastic minis that are worse than the stuff you could buy twenty years ago. I would gladly pay ten or twenty bucks more to get some decent plastic minis. That it is possible to sell cheap plastic minis for low prices is e.g. proven by EM4, so Catalyst could do this as well.

tetrisphreak wrote:The 24 'mechs from the introductory set are made from a similar plastic you'd find in quarter-machine bubble toys, it seems like. The details aren't bad, for what you get in the set. Loki and Thor, the two "premium" 'mechs that come in the set (rounding out the total number of models at a respectable 26) are made from a plastic very similar (if not identical) to 40K plastic models and have a much higher level of detail. I painted my hunchback mech today and I have to say that when you prime/paint even the cheaper plastics that come in the box set they look very respectable.

A coat of paint helps the cheap plastics a lot. They still arent top notch, but useable for a starter set. The whole idea behind them is something better than cardboard counters. They are board game quality. Think of them more like pieces from games like Risk and not true wargaming minis. They are just fine for folks who will play just this box game and never expand it, and make a good start for folks to eventually replace with metal mechs.


The premiums are awesome, I like them better than the IWM metal mechs. Its sad there seems to be no plan to expand byond these 2 mechs. Even if they sold for the same price as the IWM metals Id still buy them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Heres a pic of the 2 premium mechs in the box set:

Mad4Minis wrote:

Lord_Astaroth wrote:I've also got DOZENS of 'Mechs, many unseen and lead still in blister packs. Haven't painted half of my other ones I've built and converted too. It's just multiple shelves in my game room full of gleaming metal. Pretty depressing really.

You could probably make a quite large amount on those...esp the unseens like Marauder, Battlemaster, Griffin, Shadowhawk, etc.

Great timing for me, moved house last month and found my 300 plus battlemechs, including 3 unpainted unseen archers

Basically have 1 of every 2750 and 3025 and 3055

Oh my. If it included Mad Cat I think I'd go for it.

The version of Battletech I have at home is incredibly old, and it's mechs are all of cardboard cut-outs :/

before the first omnimech figs were made, we made madcat out of marauder legs, arms and gun on a catapult body.. vulture was an archer body with riflemen arms underslung with side to side barrels instead of over-under, and catapult legs... thor was a thunderbolt body with marauder arms, archer legs, loki was warhammer body with marauder arms, thunderbolt legs. all we had to work with. Cool thing is, they were all identifyable, if a bit frankensteinish. In those days that was considered an awesome conversion attempt. Oh for the good old days.

I just got mega mek up and running. It has been wasting a lot of time. Wish I had a mech design program for it though but the version I got no such luck.

So what is the "Sword and Dragon" thing you guys have been mentioning about? Anybody got it? Only scenario books I ever had was super old Cranston Snord's Irregulars, Tales of the Black Widow, and Grey Death Legion - with just a unit roster, personality descriptions, and a string of scenarios. Is it that kind of format?

yeenoghu wrote:before the first omnimech figs were made, we made madcat out of marauder legs, arms and gun on a catapult body..

My friend, who is into Battletech, says this is also how THEY made the Mad Cat. That's even what the name is from: Marauder Catapult.

My Mad Cat and Uziel came today, and the box set is tommorow. These are my first Iron Wind figs. I was suprised that they were kinda small, and also, did not include a base. Nice detailing though.

Solaris Skunk Works is a nice design program that works with Megamek...

Ouze wrote: did not include a base.

This has been all the way back to the Ral Partha days. I always thought it was dumb, but its the way it is. Get in the habit of keeping 2 or 3 blisters of hex bases around. You can never have too many. Nothing sucks more than ordering a mech and finding you dont have a base for it, and now you have to put in (and wait for) an order for some bases. Best to just have a bunch on hand all the time.

Does anyone know a good source for cheap plastic hex bases in the same scale as Battletech? Iron Wind sells metal bases(!) at $6 for four (!!!).

LuigiX wrote:Does anyone know a good source for cheap plastic hex bases in the same scale as Battletech? Iron Wind sells metal bases(!) at $6 for four (!!!).

Heroscape. Plus Heroscape is a great game in and of itself so it's a win-win situation!

LuigiX wrote:Does anyone know a good source for cheap plastic hex bases in the same scale as Battletech? Iron Wind sells metal bases(!) at $6 for four (!!!).

A friend of mine got around 200 on ebay a few years ago. You might still be able to find them there.

Chessex (the dice people) sold plastic hex bases in bags of 50 for cheap. I just poked around their (awful) website and couldn't find them but it might be worth shooting an e-mail to Chessex and see if that is an item they still offer.

I bought mine here:

http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/MINIAATURES_BASES.html

very cheap and of good quality.
em4miiatures also offers a few mechs for a very low price, so checking them out is a good idea.

INTERCEPTED COMMUNIQUE:

"Within the Inner Sphere, in an isolated quadrant of Stiener lies a forgotten binary system. Eleven planets orbit the stars, two of which are habitable. Prochyon II was established as a scientific research hub, but it's colonists became isolated after the feudal wars of conquest raged and erased it from the memory of Terra and the Great Houses. As the Houses wallow in their ignorance and the corrupt officials of Comstar allow even the bossom of humanity, Terra, to decay - a new hope emerges.

Carefully, the science of "lost tech" was retained and cultivated through ancient schematics and legend.

The era of Science is emerging. The lost Republic of Reason will rain fire on the ignorant. No one will be spared - neither Comstar, Terra, Marik, Davion, Steiner, Liao, Kurita, or the prodigal General Korsakov. Beware. Return to reason or perish.

Orion House is rising!"

END OF TRANSMISSION

LuigiX wrote:Does anyone know a good source for cheap plastic hex bases in the same scale as Battletech? Iron Wind sells metal bases(!) at $6 for four (!!!).

DP9 (I'm their web guy...) has 1" bases at 25 slotted for $13. Not the best price, but a lot better than the IWM metal ones...

(Plus, hey, if you want to give our mecha game a try I'd appreciate it. We're not evil, no matter what you've heard. Just Canadian owned. There's a Two Player Starter Kit that just got released to give people a taste of the game...)

Balance wrote:(Plus, hey, if you want to give our mecha game a try I'd appreciate it. We're not evil, no matter what you've heard. Just Canadian owned. There's a Two Player Starter Kit that just got released to give people a taste of the game...)

not just regular ol' canadian but FRENCH canadian!

as a side note, what's the difference between that set and the interpolar war box?

warboss wrote:not just regular ol' canadian but FRENCH canadian!

But you can't even tell. I promise!

Balance wrote:

LuigiX wrote:Does anyone know a good source for cheap plastic hex bases in the same scale as Battletech? Iron Wind sells metal bases(!) at $6 for four (!!!).

DP9 (I'm their web guy...) has 1" bases at 25 slotted for $13. Not the best price, but a lot better than the IWM metal ones...

One problem with that...Battletech hex bases are 1.25" (31mm) across the flats. 1" bases could be a problem since some of the battletech minis barely fit on the base official base.

Also, the Battletech bases have a sunken to to accommodate the bit of metal most IWM mechs have under their feet.

If someone made an exact copy of the Battletech bases in plastic or resin Id love to try them.

For those looking at IWM mechs & such...you can get them from ebay, thewarstore.com, and frpgames.com for a good bit less than IWMs website, which advertises at full retail.

Sorry... Been a long time since I saw a BT mini.

Balance wrote:Sorry... Been a long time since I saw a BT mini.

No prob, and those bases would work for some of the BT/IWM line, but not all. As long as someone didnt mind having a mix of hex sizes they would be fine. Conveniently there are no rules for actual hex base size (that Im aware of), as long as it fits within the hex on the map sheet.


EDIT:...if you did come out with a line of 1.25/30mm plastic hexes they would probably sell quite well to the BT folks

warboss wrote:as a side note, what's the difference between that set and the interpolar war box?

Near as I can tell, the new set adds the new rule book companion, but only includes half a dozen miniatures (three Hunters and three Jagers, including command variants of each) instead of the ten in the Inter-Polar set. And it only costs about 2/3 of what the Inter-Polar set does.

Hey though, 50 bucks for basically an entire game is pretty darn good. That's an entire game, models, two rulebooks, nice 'tables' and artwork all included, for the price of an unassembled, unpainted Battlewagon. That's a real nice deal.

Mad4Minis wrote:

Balance wrote:

LuigiX wrote:Does anyone know a good source for cheap plastic hex bases in the same scale as Battletech? Iron Wind sells metal bases(!) at $6 for four (!!!).

DP9 (I'm their web guy...) has 1" bases at 25 slotted for $13. Not the best price, but a lot better than the IWM metal ones...

One problem with that...Battletech hex bases are 1.25" (31mm) across the flats. 1" bases could be a problem since some of the battletech minis barely fit on the base official base.

Also, the Battletech bases have a sunken to to accommodate the bit of metal most IWM mechs have under their feet.

If someone made an exact copy of the Battletech bases in plastic or resin Id love to try them.

For those looking at IWM mechs & such...you can get them from ebay, thewarstore.com, and frpgames.com for a good bit less than IWMs website, which advertises at full retail.

Chessex makes plastic hex bases scaled perfectly for Battletech. But they aren't on the website, you have to call them. The more you order, the cheaper they are. Normally, it is 100 bases for $20, or it was the last time I ordered from them. I got 500 for just slightly over $100 shipped, but since I live in Indiana (where Chessex is) I had to pay tax on them as well.

Eumerin wrote:

warboss wrote:as a side note, what's the difference between that set and the interpolar war box?

Near as I can tell, the new set adds the new rule book companion, but only includes half a dozen miniatures (three Hunters and three Jagers, including command variants of each) instead of the ten in the Inter-Polar set. And it only costs about 2/3 of what the Inter-Polar set does.

ahh, didn't catch the second rulebook there and that does make the difference since it effectively upgrades the game to blitz 2.5 after reading about it.

Anvildude wrote:Hey though, 50 bucks for basically an entire game is pretty darn good. That's an entire game, models, two rulebooks, nice 'tables' and artwork all included, for the price of an unassembled, unpainted Battlewagon. That's a real nice deal.

$50 is a great price point for a starter set and i'm glad that battletech and heavy gear decided to go with it. once you get too much above that (i'd say $60 is my cutoff), people start having second thoughts about spending the money on a new item that they haven't tried. While i still think the 40k AOBR starter set is a good value for the amount of minis you get, it's priced to high now for alot of people to just buy it without too much second guessing. tabletop games have been competing for hobby and game time and money with videogames since the 70's; minis companies IMO need to price their intros to compete with the average price of a new video game if they want to lure people off the fence. i'm glad that at least some of them realize that.