So last Friday was the first mission of a monthly CJF-based campaign I'm running for our local group. Last month was a Trial of Position, and got a bit crazy. This month, these nestlings being called the Falcon Wing were called upon to do some work some Solahma and Freeborns couldn't handle. A bunch of bandits grew too big for their britches and took over an abandoned Elemental Trial Site.
[Star Captain Jillok]
Mechwarriors! You have chosen your 'Mechs and are on assignment. As I mentioned earlier, a local bandit problem that has become more than just an irritant. Last report had them holed up in the abandoned Elemental Trial Area Hotel. While there are buildings there, they are not strong enough to hold a Mech, so be careful with your movement.
Remember, your assignment is to destroy the bandits in the area and recover whatever resources they have stolen from The Clans. It will be even better if you can figure out where they are receiving support from.
Recall that these bandits have proven to be sneaky and more powerful than expected, so plan accordingly.
Arriving on scene, the under-strength binary (7 showed up) saw 2 T-12 Tigers (proxied by 3D-printed Pattons), 2 J. Edgar hovercraft, and 2 platoons of Motorized Infantry to their left and a supply truck (proxied mostly by Life vans, but also one IGMakes cargo truck) along with another platoon of Motorized Infantry just off the highway near some Woods. The Active Probes in the Arctic Cheetah and Mist Lynx detected some blips (noted by Privateer Press tokens) over the mountain (up to Level 10 in height at one place) to their right, but could only determine a few Vehicles and Mechs.
The Supply Truck and their escort, seeing the incoming Mechs decided to take off. One of the Tigers moved forward to engage while the other Stood Still and relied on the Woods it was in and its Camoflauge Command Ability to keep it safe. The other 2 Platoons started moving up to support them, but then veered off to support their fellow against the rapidly advancing Mist Lynx and Arctic Cheetah along with the J. Edgars. The Fire Moth and Adders moved to engage the Tiger tanks while the Horned Owl and Howler (Devil) moved to see what was happening over the hill.
The blips behind the mountain started moving, and a Royal Stinger came around the bend.
Spoiler:
The advancing T-12 became Immobilized and then smashed by the Fire Moth and Adders, but not before its AC/10 took off a Fire Moth Arm. The hunkered down Tiger moved out of the Woods to try and hunt down the Fire Moth as it whizzed about, and paid for its efforts by being Immobilized. One of the J. Edgars was caught by a fusillade of Adder Missile Fire and was Immobilized to be eventually destroyed. The other J. Edgar rushed up to avenge its fellows. Meanwhile the left flank PMI slowed sped across the desert to avenge their fellows.
The Arctic Cheetah plinked away at the escorting PMI with Missiles and Lasers till he could deliver some Machine Guns to wipe them out. Taking control of the first truck, the Arctic Cheetah tried to escort him away from the rest of the Bandits. An early Clan Phoenix Hawk jumped over the hill and started getting aggressive with the Mist Lynx causing him to back off, and the Stinger took up a position to try and intercept the Arctic Cheetah. A Javelin soon followed the Phoenix Hawk around the corner, and saw the PPC Adder getting hot. A perfect target for its Infernos.
Getting over the Hill, the Howler and Horned Owl were able to positively ID the blips the others detected. A Sentinel, Panther, and Commando were waiting for them, while a pair of Bandits (C) escorted some supply trucks away from the area. They also identified 2 Heavy Wheeled APCs, a Badger (C), and a Daimyo Command Truck (proxied by an IGMakes wheeled APC) escorting more supply trucks away. The Howler challenged the Sentinel and the Horned Owl challenged the Panther. The Commando, feeling left out, Ran to join the escort of the supply trucks.
The Horned Owl got some good hits on the Panther, and the Panther lost its Right Arm as well as the PPC it carried. It Jumped to try and get away or join its fellows, but it was just too slow, its remaining Missiles only once finding its mark. The Sentinel also ended up losing its Right Arm, but had difficulty landing shots with its SRMs and Ultra AC/5.
Spoiler:
On the left flank, with the Tiger immobilized, the Adders moved up to add their considerable firepower to the efforts to secure the supplies by removing their escorts. The remaining J. Edgar did a drive-by the Adders and moved to distract the Fire Moth. The Fire Moth continued dancing around the Immobilized T-12 till it was dead.
The Phoenix Hawk and Javelin moved in to position to engage the Adders, but weren't able to do more than light up the air around them.
The APCs and Supply Trucks moved as quickly as they could to the highway, but were blocked by the Arctic Cheetah. The Cheetah then started pouring fire in to the lead Heavy APC (Yellow), but couldn't land the hits to disable or destroy it quickly enough. The Mist Lynx also poured fire in to the Stinger, but didn't do enough Damage to disable anything.
The duel between the Horned Owl and the Panther raged on, with the Horned Owl stripping more and more Armor of the Panther, but not quite getting a finishing blow. The Panther was pretty much running scared, but not willing to admit it to the trashborn who challenged him. The Sentinel also feeling the heat from the Howler's PPC, ran in to a building for Cover, damaging his own 'Mech in the process.
The Bandit crews were cursing the speed of the trucks they were escorting, as it made it impossible for them to engage with their usual speed.
Spoiler:
(apologies in advance, I have no more screenshots, but the story must be finished!)
The Fire Moth finally managed to get a killing blow on the remaining Tiger, but by then, the mission was completed.
The remaining J. Edgar flew up to the LRM Adder to try and flank him, but was punished by the PPC Adder, killing it.
The LRM Adder scored the first kill of the APCs (Blue) as well as the PBI inside, but the PMI platoons laid in to him with rifle fire, scoring two hits on the Head, knocking him out and toppling his Mech.
The Javelin soon lost its leg and its life to the PPC Adder. The Phoenix Hawk was largely untouched throughout the fight, though, its ability to hit, kept it from doing much touching itself.
The Panther finally lost its leg and so lost its Duel. The same with the Sentinel as it tried racing down the street away from the Howler. The Stinger was Damaged, but still able to fight, and the Commando remained untouched by the end.
The Arctic Cheetah was finally able to kill the Yellow APC, as well as the PBI inside, and they were able to take control of half the supplies. The Command Truck realizing its force was outgunned, surrendered.
[Star Captain Jillok]
Adequately done. While you were not able to secure all the resources these bandits were transporting, you did get a notable amount. It is unfortunate that you weren't able to destroy all their Mechs, but you did shatter their Vehicle compliment and hindered their Mech compliment.
You were also able to secure a command vehicle the bandits were using to coordinate their activities. Well done. Through our interrogations we have discovered that a Clan has been providing them the materiel they need to become a problem for us. They had just finished dividing up the spoils of the last delivery when you arrived. They have also given us a schedule for their next meeting date and location.
Due to your fine work, and the obvious inability for the solahma and Freebirths to deal with this situation, you are called upon to intercept this group when they come for this meeting and make sure that they do not add to our bandit problem again. I will notify you as to that time.
A few notes for my future self, I should have applied some pre-existing Damage to most of these bandits, particularly the Tiger tanks. And why the h*** are motorcyles only able to pull 32 kph? It would have been interesting if I had used the Mechanized Infantry instead... Also, Ballistic Rifle PBI can be deadly if they all hit. That's what knocked out the Adder. Next time, just go with the Mobile HQ option, as it is more defenseless.
Still, everyone still had fun, and that's the most important part.
Flinty wrote: Keeping to time is nice, but with all the Liya videos I was harbouring secret hopes of a March or April delivery. Oh well
Most of it is due to how shipping has been disrupted at the Suez Canal. While China shipping to the US usually ignores it by going straight across the Pacific, more ships have to be devoted to going around Africa to account for lost time, thus making fewer ships available for Trans-Pacific shipping.
My first game was a team battle against a word of blake force. The WOB player is a rather new initiate from 40K so he tends to have some power gaming tendencies. he went out and got himself an orca and an omega.
Since he wanted to play with artillery i decided to oblige him with part of my derion regulars lance (i was in a team of 2 players with 3 mechs each). with a maelstrom backed up by 2 arrow IV Obakemono's. they proved their worth right away by decapitating a nightstar on turn 3.
the game ended when we lost our fafnir. as the pilot of our atlas was sitting at 4 head hits and had just woken up and the only other mech on our side was one of the Obakemonos that was nearly out of ammo. in the process of the battle we had not only killed the nightstar, but also the orca and did some serious damage to the remaining king crab and omega.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
The second game for me was another team match with my lyrans teaming up with some davions in a good ol fedcom style defense of the realms from a clan incursion.
The davion heavy guards-
.temaplar
.centurion
.thunderbolt
.hammer hand.
My 10th lyran guards
.goliath
.black knight
.challenger XI
.challenger XII
The clanners-
.dire wolf
.executioner
.timber wolf
.nova cat
.mad dog
the executioner was nice enough to jump up on a hill in front of the majority of our force so we rewarded him with all the pew pew we could send his way. he promptly found the ground.
realistically the challenger XII that was taking point for the C3 network on the right flank should have died....but then the clanners did the silly thing and spread the damage all over the tank instead on the side it was facing. not making any critical hits also helped.
The only mech....as ironic as it was, being forced to withdraw, was the black knight.....from internal torso damage not from loosing linbs if you can beleive it.
with only the mad dog and dire wolf left facing down 7 IS mechs the clanners decided the give up the field..
he executioner was nice enough to jump up on a hill in front of the majority of our force so we rewarded him with all the pew pew we could send his way. he promptly found the ground.
My old group called that "Fool on a hill". It was a frequent rookie mistake.
Miguelsan wrote: It always amazes me that your guys can take hits on the head yet survive! With me it's always the headcapping weapons.
M.
I've had a pilot survive a hit with a Head-capping weapon, sort of. First off, let me explain that it was a campaign game and we use Design Quirks as part of it. This is important.
The 'Mech I was using was a Lancelot, a windfall of LosTech that the GM provided for us. It has the Design Quirk 'Narrow/Low Profile' which means that if the Margin of Success on a hit is a 0 or 1, the hit only does half Damage or -4 on the Cluster Chart, while also providing a -2 on the Determining Crits Roll.
A Charger runs up to my Lancelot, only this isn't the normal 5/8 Charger, but the 4/6 carrying an AC/20. Guess where it goes? That's right the Head. But it was within that Margin of Success, so instead of taking 20 to the dome, it was 10. It barely Crit. Unfortunately, it also Crit the Cockpit, and due to other Campaign rules in force, he managed to luck out with 2 Wounds and a functioning 'Mech.
It didn't help him in the next mission he was in because, yeup, he took a Bomb to the Head before his Wounds had healed, and well, took a nap for that scenario and the linked scenario after that.
Still, most of the ones I do end up not being with Head-Cappers, either. The craziest is when a I took a pair Rifle Motorized Platoon up to short range with an Adder and their combined fire did 2 Heat Hits as well as TAC'd his Gyro.
Your relying on special scenario rules. in general head hits can come from a variety of things aside from just head capping weapons like gauss rifles.
Cluster LBX rounds, individual SRMs, ammo explosions, or failing a pilot shock test from falling. all of which will not instantly kill the pilot. it can still stack however making it harder and harder for the pilot to remain awake.
Yep. Floating crits can make for the occasional brutally short battle. First shot, single LBX pellet to the head, possible crit, crit confirmed, one crit to the cockpit, and once you hose out the cockpit you've captured a virtually intact mech.
What can suck worse is having several LBX pellets hit the head, each one causing a pilot hit and increasing the odds the pilot will spend the rest of the battle knocked out...
Vulcan wrote: Yep. Floating crits can make for the occasional brutally short battle. First shot, single LBX pellet to the head, possible crit, crit confirmed, one crit to the cockpit, and once you hose out the cockpit you've captured a virtually intact mech.
What can suck worse is having several LBX pellets hit the head, each one causing a pilot hit and increasing the odds the pilot will spend the rest of the battle knocked out...
Some time ago we were doing a rare Clan day, and I rolled up a Bane (Kraken). [Our host always had us roll up random mech tonnage regardless of what era or faction we were playing that day. You could then choose a model or variant from that tonnage.] Not the best Clan assault mech, but when someone is foolish enough to give you partial cover at short range "quantity has a quality of its own". This was when partial cover added +3 to the TN, but all shots were rolled on the Punch chart. Double fired of course, and got six head hits as well as incidentals we did not bother to resolve. So my Bane sandblasted the target's head off (12pts), critted the cockpit at least once, and six wounds on the pilot. Our host marveled and said, "If we were playing the Mechwarrior RPG, that would take 3 Edge points to survive."
The really amazing thing about that incident was my opponent learned nothing from the experience, and upon generating a new mech, walked it right back into the same partial cover. The bane now had broken two of the ACs, but double-firing still sandblasted the target's head and nailed the cockpit. "Dude, are you paying attention?" Apparently not.
Vulcan wrote: Yep. Floating crits can make for the occasional brutally short battle. First shot, single LBX pellet to the head, possible crit, crit confirmed, one crit to the cockpit, and once you hose out the cockpit you've captured a virtually intact mech.
What can suck worse is having several LBX pellets hit the head, each one causing a pilot hit and increasing the odds the pilot will spend the rest of the battle knocked out...
One night we had a kid take out a 'Mech with a Small Laser. It TAC'd, and we Float. It went to Head. He rolled at least one Crit Result, and it took out the Cockpit.
Still, dying to LB-X pellets that never pierce the Cockpit really promotes the use of Ferro-Lamellor Armor.
We don't use floating crits in our group generally. we just apply double 1s to the facing torso (where all the good stuff is at anyway). with the amount of crits we do get and confirm i think it would be punishing for gameplay, especially combined with head hits, pilot damage from falls and expanded ammo explosion rules that we do use.
Second swords of light did battle against those annoying crucius lancers.
I brought out something a bit different in the C3 lance
.hatamoto-chi 27T Daniel II
.hatamoto-chi 28T
.hatamoto-chi 28T "shin"
.no-dachi 2KC
he brought his usual
.nightstar
.atlas K4
.thunderbolt 9SE
.centurion D5
He got real luck on the first turn taking out the shin with a gauss rifle head shot. that pretty well won him the game as i managed to take nearly everything else out with an assault mech missing. he only had the thunderbolt left.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Game 2 we decided to play a later era so i brought out the 10th lyran guards (in both games we were using unit special rules).
My force-
.trebaruna
.stalker II
.black knight (clan spec)
.gauntlet
He broke out his mostly davion stuff
.king crab
.marauder II
.marauder
.centurion
i lost the little guy early to a through critical center torso hit and we managed a single headcap with my improved heavy gauss, but we made up for that with streak 2s and LBX 10S sandpapering everything else.
the centurion purposely ammo exploded all over the stalker II who was forced into withdrawal because even that much hardened armor has a limit.
The other freak thing was i only missed one time with the improved heavy gauss the entire game.
While I'm not interested in pre-paint, it is more precise than mine.
I'm more interested in the Royal Orion Record Sheet that should be coming out with it.
The clan side-
.marauder IIc
.dire wolf
.executioner
.timberwolf
.linebacker
My allied force of Davion heavy guards
.highlander
.marauder
.thunderbolt
.sagittaire
My force was a combine C3 lance mostly wheeled for the urban fight.
.schiltron
.Manteuffel
.typhoon
.tokugawa
The player running the clans was obsessively scared of my tanks and spent a great deal of effort to kill the typhoon. he also managed to get the tokugawa but the manteuffel took the hits and kept on. it wan't until the very end that the schiltron took some critical damage but by that point the clanners were down to one mech. we lost the pristine marauder to a head cap and the highlander survived the game with only 6 points of internals left in the CT.
Seeing as he was down to the executioner and still facing 2 tanks and 3 mechs....he chose to retire from the field. everything on our side had critical damage to some extend but were still combat effective.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
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The second game was 10th lyran guards VS his curcius lancers. the game went so fast i didn't take many pictures. his orion and warhammer made a strong effort for find the ground with their faces. this helped me out later when i shot the hammer 2 times in the face with medium lasers. granted i didn't confirm the crit but he went to sleep and then fell. not waking back up again.
His commander got gauss to the face and as i intended the grand crusader exploded killing the orion but sadly the victor (his lone survivor) was to far away to take any damage....he also ran away since facing 3 mostly undamaged assault mechs with a mix of gauss, heavy gauss ERPPCs and medium pulse lasers was not conducive to living.
My forces-
.gunslinger
.cerberus
.grand crusader
.stalker 8S
My opponent decided to go axe happy
.thunderbolt
.axeman
.nightsky
.hatchetman
We did battles in the frozen north, then it turned into a conga line cabree, especially given every mech on the table could jump except the cestus. funny enough the cestus barely got touched as he stayed just at short range for his large lasers/gauss and plinked away at anybody that happened to be in sight.
for some reason my opponent really hated the tempest (perhaps because he head capped the hatchetman) and focused much hate at him. forcing him out, but he was the only mech i lost. aside from the hatchetman i managed to force out his thunderbolt and nightsky leaving him with just the axeman to face 3 of my mechs. 10th lyran guards win the day.
So a couple errors in the shipping order is what is causing the shipping issues. They've delayed the submission deadline on the 12th till they can get it uploaded and resolved.
I saw that. Cautiously optimistic about it, but there's still some oddities (I'm at a company level backing and still had to pay 70$ (+VAT, making it 85$), which I find very high given what is actually in that box).
- They mention all veteran+ backers get the Savannah map pack, causing high shipping... I thought that was just Batallion and upwards. So I don't get how the mistake with the map-pack size is going to benefit me.
- If handling is now covered by CGL, that probably will reduce my shipping I hope?
- I hope they can get that sorted, because on a $376 pledge, my VAT and shipping/handling came down to another $163... Pretty nuts.
Elmir wrote: I saw that. Cautiously optimistic about it, but there's still some oddities (I'm at a company level backing and still had to pay 70$ (+VAT, making it 85$), which I find very high given what is actually in that box).
I'm at the same level, but with no add-ons. Since I'm Stateside, I have no VAT, but they were still taxing the shipping, which my State does not do.
Elmir wrote: - They mention all veteran+ backers get the Savannah map pack, causing high shipping... I thought that was just Batallion and upwards. So I don't get how the mistake with the map-pack size is going to benefit me.
It was a double typo in that it was for Batallion+ pledgers, and the Map Pack not the Battlemat. Still, you're under $150, unlike Batallion+ pledgers, as well as those who did add-ons (like the aforementioned map-pack).
Elmir wrote: - If handling is now covered by CGL, that probably will reduce my shipping I hope?
I'm hoping a little, but I doubt I'll see much of a change myself. The Shipping number may change, but I doubt the VAT will. I did a test shipment from Aries using the slowest USPS method, and it was only about 50% more than what Aries would have charged (though the list was missing on the swag and Salvage Boxes). That's not much different than if I had Aries ship faster with FedEx.
Elmir wrote: - I hope they can get that sorted, because on a $376 pledge, my VAT and shipping/handling came down to another $163... Pretty nuts.
Agreed. Unfortunately, I doubt the VAT will change because that's your government's side of things. Only 2 guaranteed things in life, after all.
The flexibility in choosing the difficulty level and the variety of game modes can really make the gameplay fun and varied. It is important that the game is fun and satisfying, and that everything seems to work out for you! Continue to enjoy the game and have a good time at the gaming table!
Did a couple early jihad era games to try out some different mech variants.
Game 1
My side
.fafnir 5X
.trebaruna
.barghest 4T
.crusader 9S
-improved heavy gauss all day
the other side
.atlas
.night star
.thunderbolt
.centurion
The other side started out strong scoring first kill on the barghest coring out the CT. this was quickly upset when his night star took one of those heavy gauss rounds to the face plate. the centurion decided to play slap fight with the fafnir..didn't go so well for him. with both the atlas and thunderbolt being forced to retire.
Spoiler:
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Game 2 we went smaller and faster.
My force this time was a C3 lance
.grand dragon 9KC
.ninja to 4
.cronus
.jenner C2
This time i was up against-
.caesar
.thunderbolt
.hatchet man
.centurion.
This game actually took twice as long since verything was so much harder to hit. a major swing happened when the hatchet man took a critical hit to it's RAC ammo nearly killing both the nearby jenner and caesar in the ensuing explosion. in the end the centurion lost a leg and the caesar was engine killed from internal damage. leaving me with the dragon and ninja to left to run down the thunderbolt. the cronus didn't survive long enough to do much as it took a gauss to the face on turn 1.
Finally finished finagling my paint projects per past period.
First is a culmination of Coromodir Corsair 'cquisitions, and Clan Campaign contentioneers.
Strikers on the flanks, Goliath 2H model without Rockets, Zeus-X with AC replaced with another LRM hand, Thunderbolt IIC, and Raptor
Erring on eradication is the Eridani Light Horse Hunter Lance.
Jumping Thunderbolt, Banshee, Sagittaire, and Cyclops
Having Hansen's Roughrider's Battle Lance up next.
Enforcer, Atlas, Penetrator, Jumping Hatchetman
Now Northwind Highlander's Command Lance commandeers the stage.
Grasshopper, Jumping Highlander, Gunslinger, and Warhammer.
Kell Hounds Striker Lance Strikes it's own pose for the field.
Nightsky, Jumping Crusader, Griffin, and Wolfhound.
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Colors are mixed up per lance due to there being so many secondary acquisitions with the Merc Lance Forcepacks. The Brown Pants Legion units are those who are my first purchase (such as Sagittaire or Nightsky), or had been painted up in other colors already (Cyclops and Highlander). The ones done up in Coromodier Corsair colors (yellow center with black sides and white limbs) are units I have pilots running in our local bi-weekly campaign. Those who are in neither camp are done up in my own "Fetid Claws" scheme which I like to consider my ersatz Wobbie scheme.
Did 2 games this weekend-the first was a re-enforced lance facing a comstar level 2, i ran a heavy gauss focused force (stalker, fafnir, atlas), along with a viking 2g and some challenger tanks.
your a little late to the party. steel warriors studios (RIP) designed all the hex tech terrain and when they shut down GF9 got a deal to start releasing them fully painted. It is fantastic and really affordable for what you get. the line is so large i really hope they keep releasing more of it. the power station/solar collector has got some giant buildings in it that may be a bit to large for GF9, but the airfield would be a really good set for them to release.
This was a table i did a few weeks ago with mostly GF9 and some old JR miniatures terrain.
I like them, but I don't know about using them on the standard paper maps.. I'd be worried about their size being quite overpowering/incongruous compared to the scale of the hexes. For hexless play? Or Alpha Strike? I think they'd be pretty sweet.
Did a bit of a rematch against the comstar force from last week, this time i countered with my own re-enforced c3 lance from house kurita.
My side was
.battlemaster CM .akuma 2X
.hatamoto-chi
.shugenja
.wolverine
.cronus
The phone company brought
.king crab
.highlander
.maruader II
.flashman
.shadow hawk
.raijin
This time around we had much less ECM on both sides with just the rajin and shugenja.
So it ended up being a close game. with the battlemaster/wolverine combo facing the flashman and shadowhawk at the end. it turned into a narrow combine victory.
aphyon wrote: your a little late to the party. steel warriors studios (RIP) designed all the hex tech terrain and when they shut down GF9 got a deal to start releasing them fully painted. It is fantastic and really affordable for what you get. the line is so large i really hope they keep releasing more of it. the power station/solar collector has got some giant buildings in it that may be a bit to large for GF9, but the airfield would be a really good set for them to release.
This was a table i did a few weeks ago with mostly GF9 and some old JR miniatures terrain.
Spoiler:
They still sell them as stls, but with the original Thunderhead Studios name instead:
first off was a battle of the quad lance-
.trebaruna
.sirocco
.goliath
.barghest
I was facing off against
.night star
.atlas
.gunslinger
.king crab
It turned into a stand and deliver fight to my advantage as the intervening hill between us granted my quads partial cover to over half my hit locations(legs) I did manage to score a head hit with an improved heavy gauss on his atlas.
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The second game my opponent chose the set up in the form of 3 heavies and a medium-
I brought
.dragon fire
.falconer
.rifleman
.bushwhacker
The other side brought
.ceasar
.thunderbolt
.warhammer
.centurion.
The highlight of the game was the centurion doing a ram attack on the rifleman for a 50 points worth of collision damage.
other than that and the occasional critical hit from all my LBXs his dice were really not with him. the only mech he managed to go internal on was the falconer before he lost his last mech.
So we did this thing and it was as he said. they were like the wind and the hammer was Friedreich. i lost one grand dragon. and killed all but the wolverine.
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Then i went up against an old gaming friend who picked up some new mechs to try out.
i decided to go marauder chassi themed with a marauder II, dragon fire, falconer and gauntlet,
My enemy went with a marauder II, blackjack, orion, crusader
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We did a second game. i brought out a hatamoto-chi "shugo" with a C3 master computer, along with a catapult, crusader (using the archer mini) and no-datchi all in the C3 network. this time i was facing and orion, rifleman, archer.crusader.
Had a scenario mission set up- this was a intel raid mission. i had to get my raiden battle armor in to steal the intel and get at least one squad out.
they were riding in some goblin IFVs.
I went with something i do not often run-an MRM themed C3 heavy lance.
.shugenja
.catapult
.crusader
.grand dragon
My opponent brought in a re-enforced heavy lance of his own-
.marauder
.archer
.warhammer
.avatar
.thunderbolt
.caesar
When the dust has settled we had brutalized each other pretty well. on my side the shugenja, catapult and one goblin were out. all of them having most of their armor stripped off before they went down. the remaining crusader was missing an arm. on his side he lost the avatar, ceasar, warhammer, and marauder. the dragon surprisi9ng while suffering some actuator damage ended up being the least overall damaged mech on my side. one squad of battle armor had to hoof it off the table as their transport was destroyed. the other made a clean get away giving me a minor victory in the scenario.
the first one was a 3067 scenario mission kill the VIP vehicle
minor victory-kill the target vehicle
major victory-kill the target vehicle and get your lance clear while keeping you own VIP vehicle alive
total victory-kill the target vehicle and defending mechs while keeping you VIP vehicle alive.
The VIP vehicles were a striker and a drillson.
i only managed a minor victory with my heavy gauss lance-
Spoiler:
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Game 2 was a marik/combine 4th succession wars fight, my dice were not loving me this game.
this one was a loss that included a successful DFA by my opponent.
Elmir wrote: Yeah, no escaping VAT.. That's big government in Europe for ya!
But the 70$ shipping was a shocker. Especially since I've had several tons worth of soil/building materials delivered at my door for less!
late to the party, but CGL are either lying or my stuff is going to be delivered by 4 oiled up JAV models in swimsuits. I did some calculations based on the size and weight of what im getting and, after VAT, came up with a rough estimation of £70. They hit me with £180, which is utterly absurd as I have had parcels of roughly the same size and weight sent from Japan and delivered to my door for £30 plus VAT (which on occasion you get away without paying. If your lucky. Having typed this im going to be hit from now till 2026.) Given that this is coming from a regional depot (IE, its already in the country) to my door, just over £130 for postage seems utterly absurd.
Indeed. I’m continually amazed at the number of people on the Kickstarter comments section that just don’t seem to mind being stiffed on postage. And not even a bit stiffed, like 3 or 4 times as much as necessary.
Its a weird combination of brand loyalty and CURRENT THING'ism, it was visible on the discord as well (at least before I was booted it was). I dont think that many of these people realise that Battletech is far older than CGL and will, if they keep messing up this bad, outlast CGL.
To be fair though, CGL seem to be forgetting that last bit themselves, what with the crackdowns on 3d printing and files. Not that I care, I will continue to source alternatives to CGL's minis. They dont deserve an ounce of respect after this latest stunt.
It's a little easier for me to check, since I'm here in the States, but it seems like those who pledged at Company level and didn't add on to much got off a bit easy. Those who pledged more (particularly the Regiment and Full-K) were the ones who got nailed.
In my test, I went to a reliable online source and built an order that was roughly equivalent in size, at least in regards to boxes. They didn't have any Salvage Boxes for a full source, and I didn't see any equivalents for all the SWAG. The shipping for it came out to be about $5 less than what QML shipping posted for theirs. That was with the slowest speed with the most unreliable service. Of course there was a Shipping Tax included, which wasn't part of my State's protocols, but that was ironed out. That was with a Company Pledge, though. One of the other guys here also put in a Company Pledge, and there's like a dollar difference.
They did provide an option to get a better shipping rate, but you had to have done it a month ago. Any other request right now will only go for credit on the CGL store, if that. They did send an email out to everyone to the email registered with BackerKit a week or two before that deadline.
I will say, though, in my group, we have had all the levels higher, including a Full-K. His shipping cost was scary, even if it doesn't include the shipping for all the double kits he will be getting over the next few years.
Oh hell, that email. I didnt even notice it had come due to work and not having time to check my emails until it was way too late. Might as well put in a claim though, though any credit would be wasted on postage to the UK.
Might get me the Campaign ops book though.
Flinty wrote: I’m being charged £45 and it shouldn’t be any more than £15. So I’m grumpy, but it’s not killing me.
The question is, "In comparison to what?"
Effectively speaking, you're expectation is to be charged less for shipping than I am.
If you're getting a Company Pledge or higher, £15 is amazingly cheap. If you're getting the Battalion, you're getting off better than one my local friends.
Flinty wrote: 48 hour registered delivery for 20kg in a massive box. The UK just isn’t that big.
From where to where is also important, not to mention how it is being transported. Solely ground? Is air involved? Will they use a boat because the origin point is in mainland Europe? Are they using a shipping specialist or government post?
Those are answers I've not seen provided, even here in the US.
Flinty wrote: The UK is supposed to have a delivery hub, and postage everywhere in the country is basically flat rate, except for the really remote islands.
Yeah, "supposed to". Until I have a tracking number, I have no expectations as to the origin of shipping. As it is, I'm not sure I'm getting mine shipped from Florida, California, or Washington.
Postage is flat rate for government-based shipping. I don't think it's the same for FedEx, DHL, or non-government shipping.
i had-
.battle master
.stalker
.marauder
.scorpion
My enemy had
.atlas
.awesome
.marauder
.griffin
At the end i was down just the scorpion facing off against a mostly undamaged awesome. i managed to hit him in the head with the PPC and scored a double 6 on the crit roll severing the head for a narrow victory. the terrible scorpion wins the day.
So I picked up my 1st Star League Command Lance with the prepainted Orion, Atlas II, Phoenix Hawk 1B/1C and Thunderhawk. The first two mechs are "named characters" being Alex Kerensky and Theodore Kurita, with the Atlas II piloted either by Nicholas "Brat Prince" Kerensky or Devlin Stone. The remaining two are generic models, although pilot cards are provided. The Phoenix Hawk 1B/1C requires assembly: it has more of an action pose so the held medium laser would create a packaging problem if preassembled. The prepaint is better than I can do, so I can't fault them there. As I am painting some of my IS mechs as Eridani Light Horse, my choice of green does not match theirs. Oh well.
Might get the 2nd Star League assault lance, but will not buy anything ilkhan era. (Spits)
I've been busy with my painting, including a 1st Star League Command Lance.
Spoiler:
Phoenix Hawk Special, Atlas II, Thunder Hawk, and Orion K.
Most of it has been with Battle Armor, though, at least in numbers.
Grenadier Assault/Heavy Battle Armor
Spoiler:
Gray Death Standard Battle Armor
Spoiler:
Second Set of Inner Sphere Standard Battle Armor
Spoiler:
I also repainted the tops of my Gray Death Battle Armor to match the Gray Death Standard to be used as Gray Death Scout Battle Armor.
Spoiler:
And because I like to see the difference in size of models, someone else might, so a Perspective Shot.
Spoiler:
Shown with a Tread-Cycle for Motorized Infantry, APC with Trooper for Mechanized Infantry, and Foot Infantry in front. A Roc Protomech, Phoenix Hawk Special, and Striker Tank in the rear.
while waiting for the main event we did a quick 3050 battle between my lyrans and some mercs-
Spoiler:
then i got to advance the timeline to 3067 for some light and medium action-
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Then it was time for the main event-clan invasion 3050 4 players with the inner sphere using forced withdrawal rules and the clanners fighting to the last.
The clan side
.dire wolf
.war hawk
.timber wolf
.stormcrow
.viper
My force-
.marauder
.thunderbolt
.rifleman
.guest player in a wolverine
My davion allies-
heavy guards-
.atlas
.archer
.warhammer
.blackjack
.crucius lancers
.atlas
.ceasar
.archer
.griffon
Surprisingly there were not that many one shot kills. many minor head hits, a couple big ammo explosions and near the end we got super lucky and nailed that annoying viper/dragonfly in the head with a gauss.
The only real high point for my lance was early on when my marauder putting down the stormcrow with a triple floating crit to the center torso with his large pulse.
We managed to take the clanner down to 2 heavily damaged mechs....the timber wolf and warhawk. unfortunately by that point all we had left was an equally messsed up atlas.
Clanners win another narrow victory against overwhelming odds. as one would expect in 3050.
lots of pictures of this one-
the starting positions as the clans try and take the facility-
I wish I could play local games on a scenery filled table like that! It would certainly make me like Classic better.
I'm rapidly tiring of my group only playing head-to-head matches on 2x2 mapsheets or pairs of the neoprene maps. Last week after a full year I finally played my first Battletech game that even included buildings, because it used the Grasslands map with the base on it!
Mostly it's long, slogging games among the endless box canyons and across the giant's causeways that the mapsheets illustrate hills as.
This is our usual scenario set up, though BV, unit types, and tech level often change.
Spoiler:
BV: 8000
Units: No artillery/aerospace
Pilots: Per Purchase Rules
Tech: Standard
Rules: Total Warfare, Tactical Operations, Strategic Operations
Customs: No
Forced Withdrawal: Yes
Rounds: 1hr 30min (90min)
VC:
1) Units Destroyed: Total BV of opposing units destroyed.
2) Control of the Battlefield: Total BV of friendly units not in withdrawal plus half value of withdrawing opposing units not in their controller's DZ or withdrawn.
3) Control of Deployment Zone (DZ): 1 point per friendly unit that starts and ends a turn in the opposing DZ.
Special: see VCs above. Force with 2/3 VCs at the end of 90 min wins.
We have also, at times, stolen borrowed from the 40K terrain and just use Miniature Rules.
Spoiler:
Miniature rules usually involve:
Doubling Range and Movement values and converting to inches;
Using a ruler on the back of the hex to gauge turns, each turn taking 2 inches of Movement;
Closer to True Line of Sight ala Alpha Strike;
Things like that.
Yeah at my local store it's basically 10,000BV2, Clan Invasion. We are pretty lax about force requirements, as long as you aren't being "that guy". Mostly any mech that is from 3060 or before, as long as you play casual. SLDF royals, bring an ancient Mackie, play a unique like Bounty Hunter in his 3015/3044 Marauder, etc. are fine. But no real scenarios or victory points, just basic deathmatches.
I've brought up the idea of hexless play with terrain on mats (mostly from seeing your games on here!!) but have had no interest from the other players as they say that the terrain on hexmaps are more interesting than 3D terrain. Which is bummer, as I think that what I have seen of hexless play is less 'fiddly" than constantly counting hexes, and true line of sight is just plain easier overall.
AegisGrimm wrote: Yeah at my local store it's basically 10,000BV2, Clan Invasion. We are pretty lax about force requirements, as long as you aren't being "that guy". Mostly any mech that is from 3060 or before, as long as you play casual. SLDF royals, bring an ancient Mackie, play a unique like Bounty Hunter in his 3015/3044 Marauder, etc. are fine. But no real scenarios or victory points, just basic deathmatches.
Do you have anyone setting the scenario before hand, or is it just, "everyone shows up and that's what they all have", kind of thing?
We've had someone who used to run ClixTech tournaments organizing MOST of ours, and that's more or less what he used during there. It encourages different build styles than pure MurderTech.
Sometimes someone gets an idea and suggests it to him, and we try it out. One of the more fun ones, thanks to his HeroScape collection, is doing a King of The Hill scenario. Bring an Introtech Heavy, or a pair within X range, and try to take the top.
I'm currently working on developing a Capture the Flag scenario based on Halo/Red vs Blue Blood Gulch simply using the bases in the Grasslands Map arranged opposite each other. I put it to a vote which style they'd like to see, and so far Halo is winning, but I offered a Team Fortress option, too. Once I get it finalized, I'll post it here for anyone who wants to try it.
AegisGrimm wrote: I've brought up the idea of hexless play with terrain on mats (mostly from seeing your games on here!!) but have had no interest from the other players as they say that the terrain on hexmaps are more interesting than 3D terrain. Which is bummer, as I think that what I have seen of hexless play is less 'fiddly" than constantly counting hexes, and true line of sight is just plain easier overall.
I won't agree that hexmaps are less interesting than 3D terrain. I've seen some amazing maps both in 2D and 3D. However, I will agree that it is less fiddly and less prone to someone doing the infamous "Eldar Drift" while moving their models using hexmaps.
AegisGrimm wrote:I wish I could play local games on a scenery filled table like that! It would certainly make me like Classic better.
I'm rapidly tiring of my group only playing head-to-head matches on 2x2 mapsheets or pairs of the neoprene maps. Last week after a full year I finally played my first Battletech game that even included buildings, because it used the Grasslands map with the base on it!
Mostly it's long, slogging games among the endless box canyons and across the giant's causeways that the mapsheets illustrate hills as.
AegisGrimm wrote:Yeah at my local store it's basically 10,000BV2, Clan Invasion. We are pretty lax about force requirements, as long as you aren't being "that guy". Mostly any mech that is from 3060 or before, as long as you play casual. SLDF royals, bring an ancient Mackie, play a unique like Bounty Hunter in his 3015/3044 Marauder, etc. are fine. But no real scenarios or victory points, just basic deathmatches.
I've brought up the idea of hexless play with terrain on mats (mostly from seeing your games on here!!) but have had no interest from the other players as they say that the terrain on hexmaps are more interesting than 3D terrain. Which is bummer, as I think that what I have seen of hexless play is less 'fiddly" than constantly counting hexes, and true line of sight is just plain easier overall.
I find the 3d terrain play much more fluid and intuitive. aside from the fact the tables look way more immersive and inviting (and being an experienced mini wargamer with other systems that use 3d terrain). the other problem i have with hex maps is reading the fine print on the hexes, differentiating the elevation etc... our group also speeds things up a bit by skipping the declare fire phase entirely and using fire as you bear rules. so shots are not wasted on dead units. the very old ammo explosion rules from max tech also really speed things along. especially when there are units around without case.
Many of the guys use BV especially for scenarios with miss matched numbers. outside of a framework for games like that i find BV pretty pointless for pick up games, as the crit systems exists, pilot damage exists etc... when i play we typically pick an era from where units can be taken from, give them all standard pilots (IS 4/5 clan 3/4) with the lance or star commander being an ace with 1 better stats. post 3051+ we use the book recommended force allocation of 1 star VS 2 lances when facing off against the opposite sides(with forced withdrawal rules in effect). succession wars era 3050 or prior we bring 3 lances VS 1 star as set up in the game i posted. it ends up being a pretty close game in my 30 or so years of experience of playing the game.
Flinty wrote: The UK is supposed to have a delivery hub, and postage everywhere in the country is basically flat rate, except for the really remote islands.
Yeah, "supposed to". Until I have a tracking number, I have no expectations as to the origin of shipping. As it is, I'm not sure I'm getting mine shipped from Florida, California, or Washington.
Postage is flat rate for government-based shipping. I don't think it's the same for FedEx, DHL, or non-government shipping.
Mate, the UK is smaller than Commiefornia. We are smaller than most of the States. Hence why theres a lot of discussion around just how absurd these prices are. Plus, as I have mentioned on the last page, I have bought parcels - large, 300ish KG parcels - from Japan and paid far, far, less in shipping to my door than these jokers charged.
AegisGrimm wrote: Yeah at my local store it's basically 10,000BV2, Clan Invasion. We are pretty lax about force requirements, as long as you aren't being "that guy". Mostly any mech that is from 3060 or before, as long as you play casual. SLDF royals, bring an ancient Mackie, play a unique like Bounty Hunter in his 3015/3044 Marauder, etc. are fine. But no real scenarios or victory points, just basic deathmatches.
Do you have anyone setting the scenario before hand, or is it just, "everyone shows up and that's what they all have", kind of thing?
We've had someone who used to run ClixTech tournaments organizing MOST of ours, and that's more or less what he used during there. It encourages different build styles than pure MurderTech.
Sometimes someone gets an idea and suggests it to him, and we try it out. One of the more fun ones, thanks to his HeroScape collection, is doing a King of The Hill scenario. Bring an Introtech Heavy, or a pair within X range, and try to take the top.
I'm currently working on developing a Capture the Flag scenario based on Halo/Red vs Blue Blood Gulch simply using the bases in the Grasslands Map arranged opposite each other. I put it to a vote which style they'd like to see, and so far Halo is winning, but I offered a Team Fortress option, too. Once I get it finalized, I'll post it here for anyone who wants to try it.
AegisGrimm wrote: I've brought up the idea of hexless play with terrain on mats (mostly from seeing your games on here!!) but have had no interest from the other players as they say that the terrain on hexmaps are more interesting than 3D terrain. Which is bummer, as I think that what I have seen of hexless play is less 'fiddly" than constantly counting hexes, and true line of sight is just plain easier overall.
I won't agree that hexmaps are less interesting than 3D terrain. I've seen some amazing maps both in 2D and 3D. However, I will agree that it is less fiddly and less prone to someone doing the infamous "Eldar Drift" while moving their models using hexmaps.
No, each night of Battletech is basically two or three 1v1 games being played at the same time where each player brings 10k of mechs, Clan Invasion era, with no more than 6 mechs on each side, played as basic deathmatches.
We had a brief stint before Randall Bills made his visit to our store where I got everyone to play Alpha Strike for about 4-5 weeks in a row (we game every Wednesday) as a kind of "prep" for his big Alpha Strike event, and most of those games were 2v2 where each player brought 250pts, and usually it was a variation of King of the Hill, sometimes with multiple "hills".
Unfortunately I don't have enough of a working knowledge yet of Classic to be a big pusher for scenario play.
I'm on a Battle Armor kick lately, it seems. I have 17 bases of Elementals to post today! That's a lot of small detail work that's a little hard for my fat finger potato painting capacity.
I'm trying out a new style, trying to do a little Hell's Horses Delta Galaxy color scheme (though, not the stripy style).
First off, some good Heavy Battle Armor. GNOMES!
Spoiler:
Some quick ponies for the Horses. BURAQS!
Spoiler:
And because I'm devoting myself to this new scheme, I need some... ELEMENTALS!
Spoiler:
And of course, another Perspective Shot. Number 7!
Spoiler:
Front: Tread bike Motorized Infantry, Inner Sphere Standard Battle Armor, Foot Infantry, Elemental Battle Armor, Wheeled Mechanized Infantry.
Middle: Roc Protomech, Gray Death Standard Battle Armor, Buraq Fast Battle Armor, Elemental Battle Armor, Gnome Heavy Battle Armor, Grenadier Assault Battle Armor, Bandit APC.
Rear: Fire Moth because BA transport.
Flinty wrote: The UK is supposed to have a delivery hub, and postage everywhere in the country is basically flat rate, except for the really remote islands.
Yeah, "supposed to". Until I have a tracking number, I have no expectations as to the origin of shipping. As it is, I'm not sure I'm getting mine shipped from Florida, California, or Washington.
Postage is flat rate for government-based shipping. I don't think it's the same for FedEx, DHL, or non-government shipping.
Mate, the UK is smaller than Commiefornia. We are smaller than most of the States. Hence why theres a lot of discussion around just how absurd these prices are. Plus, as I have mentioned on the last page, I have bought parcels - large, 300ish KG parcels - from Japan and paid far, far, less in shipping to my door than these jokers charged.
I'm not in Commiefornia, though close enough to be infected by those who can't make it across the country, but it is bigger than the UK (to say nothing than about half my ancestor's Scotland, which is a reluctant smaller part).
Was your shipping from Japan done by air? If so, what speed? What if the transport hub is in Germany so all that fun Brexit stuff getting involved, and they're shipping to the UK by air?
So, again, without a tracking number and knowing all the details, it can be a bit presumptuous to toss all shipping in to one basket. I've worked for FedEx and UPS, and can tell you that there are a LOT of things that go in to calculating shipping that the normal person just doesn't see. Of course, it could also just be QML being aft ejection ports, too.
AegisGrimm wrote:No, each night of Battletech is basically two or three 1v1 games being played at the same time where each player brings 10k of mechs, Clan Invasion era, with no more than 6 mechs on each side, played as basic deathmatches.
So, basically, it's "everyone shows up and that's what they all have". No more than 6 Mechs to a side can be crippling to someone who is playing against the Clans, honestly. Of course, at 10K, they likely aren't bringing a full Star, unless they're doing Ice Hellions.
Note sure what paints your using but they look very caked on. i usually do my base color in krylon from the local walmart and detail colors with model color, finished with a wash.
AegisGrimm wrote:No, each night of Battletech is basically two or three 1v1 games being played at the same time where each player brings 10k of mechs, Clan Invasion era, with no more than 6 mechs on each side, played as basic deathmatches.
So, basically, it's "everyone shows up and that's what they all have". No more than 6 Mechs to a side can be crippling to someone who is playing against the Clans, honestly. Of course, at 10K, they likely aren't bringing a full Star, unless they're doing Ice Hellions.
Yeah it can be rough. I am relatively new and that coupled with my godawful bad luck has me with an almost unbroken losing streak over the last 8-10 games.
Bad luck as when I played a recent game against a Clan force, my Marauder, Thunderbolt, Wolverine and Wraith all firing together took 6 full turns to kill an Executioner.
I would have had a Battlemaster in the mix during that battle, but in another show of horrible luck, my opponent managed to kill it on turn 3 with a single turn of firing with a Gargoyle's 2x SRM6's. The first two SRM's to hit both did through-armor crits to the center torso, which both proceeded to EACH roll 2 Crits, and the first three were Engine hits.
Nah your bad luck is nothing compared to our team of seatbelt checkers and self detonating players. they tend to do more damage to them selves than we do to them in the game.
Our scenario organizer usually has the capacity to commonly roll To-Hit -1. We swear he has an aura where even being close to your rolls, your rolls will be cursed. Heck, for the first 2 years I played, I wasn't much different.
He also has an interesting capacity to hit where the Armor is strongest.
Charistoph wrote: Our scenario organizer usually has the capacity to commonly roll To-Hit -1. We swear he has an aura where even being close to your rolls, your rolls will be cursed. Heck, for the first 2 years I played, I wasn't much different.
At my old store in the 90's/early 2000's, we called people that exude a bad roll aura like that Dice Titans. Store even had a Warlord made of artillery and scatter dice made to award to whomever was the current Dice Titan.
Did a 3050 clan on clan battle where i decided to take out some odd mech loadouts.
My side
.Bowman 2
.Timber wolf C
.Warhawk C
.Stormcrow C
.Adder A
The other side
.Gargoyle
.Timber wolf
.Mad dog
.Stormcrow
.a point of epona hovercraft
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
It was a brutal fight, looked like it was going bad for me but the timber wolf turned it around taking down the last mech (gargoyle) leaving only the 2 epona's alive on the table. Since my mech was jump capable i could force him to play catch up with me with all the high terrain features on the table. so we ended it there.
Figured I'd post this here, because I've been properly bitten by the BattleTech bug by now, having uh, picked up both the Alpha Strike and Game of Armoured Combat sets recently. If the set containing the Bushwacker was available locally, I would've gotten that one as well. 😅
Not sure what they put in the fluff of this setting, but I am quite hooked. Aside from reading through Fox Tales, which is a bit Young Adult in its writing, I've been gorging on fluff through both Sarna and YouTube. I've also been watching gameplay tutorials by 4 Hands on Deck, who've done a great job explaining the core mechanics enough to me that I've gone and gotten some actual demo games in with the starter box mechs, still fluffing things up with GATOR, but slowly getting there.
As a side-effect of this, I've also found a drive to paint again, something I've been struggling with for a long, long time now for well, raisins. Maybe it's trying something in a new setting, maybe it's GIANT ROBOTS in pintsized format that's doing it for me, letting me paint stuff without sweating too much about the fine details? I may or may not have also committed crimes against fluff, but I'm sure I can get away with those hehe.
I thought I did a good job of painting up the starter box mechs as units belonging to the Lyran Commonwealth and Draconis Combine respectively, only to find out that they actually belong to the Federated Suns (Davion Guards?) and the Capellan Confederation, because the Vindicator is hardly seen anywhere else apparently, whoops! 😅
Also, these guys.
The Angry Pickle and Large Ricky, based on the loveable chungus currently acting as my avatar. They were really fun to paint and in case of Large Ricky, fun to try and convert, who would've thought that a spare Avenger gatling cannon from an Aeronautice Thunderbolt would make for a great rotary AC5 and a pair of needle pistol grips could make for the bulges that are Ricky's eyes? I am quite pleased with how well they look on the tabletop. Now that I understand the rules a bit better, I also now know why they are what they are in the setting.
Right now drying next to me is a Madcat in Eridani colours, as a homage to Mechwarrior 3, dotting in the missiles in the pods is a right pain in the arse alright! After that, maybe a Battlemaster, belonging to whatever unit the one of the cover of Rolling Thunder belongs to. Also the first time seeing a mech that is a two-seater.
But yeah, having fun with something hobby related for the first time in a long time now. 🤘🏻
BrookM wrote: I thought I did a good job of painting up the starter box mechs as units belonging to the Lyran Commonwealth and Draconis Combine respectively, only to find out that they actually belong to the Federated Suns (Davion Guards?) and the Capellan Confederation, because the Vindicator is hardly seen anywhere else apparently, whoops! 😅
You did a good job at painting.
And don't worry about who is painted what, so long as you're happy with the colors. There is trade between nations, particularly those whose border isn't broad, so a Combine soldier in a Capellan Vindicator isn't unusual. The Griffin is fairly ubiquitous as well. In addition, 'Mechs are salvaged all the time and put back in to play against the enemy, so a Davion Guard Vindicator wouldn't be unheard of.
That's one of the best parts of the universe. Give enough time and there's plenty of reason why Faction A has its hands on equipment that is produced only by Faction D.
Yep nice work! now the hard part-choosing a faction, that happens when you get into the lore. in fact i play specific units outlined in the field manuals-
Kurita-second swords of light and 2nd deiron regulars
Steiner-10th lyran guards
Clan hells horse-iota galaxy
While you can mix and match, take mercenary forces etc... there is also a bit of fun in staying with thematic forces fielding variants or proprietary mechs and vehicles for each faction.
The really great thing about the game is you can play any era with any of the myriad of official optional rules with the same minis and the core mechanics for the games have not changed in many decades.
Picking a faction will be a tough one indeed, though taking a merc company or some Periphery militia seem like great options, in the meantime I am going to keep on absorbing fluff and poke away at models. I may or may not have also ordered the Clan Invasion boxed set.
Is there any word on whether or not the Essentials box will be sold elsewhere overtime, or is it a Target only product until they stop producing it? Because it'd be a pity if a Solaris themed starter was limited to one vendor only.
Also, repost from elsewhere; I played five games using the introduction rules today, I took to the field in the blue one, my friend was the red one. 😉
The first two games really didn't go my way, abysmal rolling on my part, plus some pretty good rolls from my opponent, who in game one pretty much shot my torso out and in the second game blew away my entire right side, disarming me and forcing me to resign.
Come the third game, I bravely decided to set up camp in a forest, much to the annoyance of my opponent, who wanted a straight up fight, but had a much harder time hitting me and after way too much shooting, I managed to win.
Fourth game was more of an open slug match, with us walking around exchanging fire, took forever, but I finally managed to down my opponent.
Final game, here I decided to go all out and take the fight to her, instead of the other way round, trying to be as in her face as possible, which wound up saving me, as running made me harder to hit, paired with about the only really good rolls of the day! This game was over in two rounds, as I managed to land both PPC shots on the centre torso. 🤘🏻
My pilot earned herself a nickname, at first she was called "Crash" mockingly by my opponent because of my rather lacklustre performance, but after the final game, where I charged in like a loon, it took on a whole other meaning.
Really enjoyed it, still need to look at the reference sheet way too much, but it was fun and the last game was one of those pissing-yourself-with-laughter kind of moments you get in a game sometimes. Next time, we'll give it a go with the rules for heat management and criticals in play.
Changing gears a bit, battle tech is a great game in the sense it can be played in any setting at any level of scale. So we scaled up...way up to space combat with warships.
I got some of the guys at the store interested in building up faction specific fleets.
On the plus side aerotech warships only number in the dozens not the hundreds for mechs and vehicles.
My fleet for both games was a Lyran force
.Mjolnir
.Tharkad
.Sovetskii soyuz
.Mako
I had a delay in shipping so the only actual correct ship i had was the Mjolnir, i had to proxy the rest.
The first game was against clans
.Mckenna
.Liberator
.conqueror
.York
I got incredibly lucky against the Mckenna-hit the bridge 2 times with through armor criticals. causing it to spin out of control and exit the battle space.
The little Mako was the luckiest ship in both games. this game it survived with a single internal structure point left. i did lose the Mjolnir as the clans managed to maneuver behind it, but i did manage to eliminate the remaining clan warships.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Game 2 i was facing
.Avalon
.Kirishima
.Fox
.Whirlwind
This game ended up being a real slog. i ended up taking out his entire fleet, with no major losses, even the lucky little Mako survived again with 5 internal structure left, but missing all it's armor on 3 facings and then some. the Avalon was the hardest thing to take down as expected with the Davions flagship class of ship.
Another round of aerotech- this time out we brought fighters....unfortunately one of my new minis was not sent by accident so i still had to sub in the cappellan cruiser as the Tharkad, But at least i had my mako and soyuz on the table alonf with my thunderbird ASFs.
This game ended much quicker than expected. i targeted the fox first with both my Tharkad and Mjolnir and deleted it. The fighters savaged each other trying to prevent them from doing gun runs on the opponents cruisers. the game turned when i managed to hit the Avalon with broadsides from the Tharkad and Mjolnir with threshold critical damage that completely destroyed it's bridge and spun it out of control heading off the table (again).
The actual Tharkad model just came in the mail so i will have it ready to go for the next fight.
Jade Phoenix E of the Jade Falcons (totally not redundant). I've spent more time on this one than I'm used to, mostly because I wanted to play a bit with transitions, edge highlights, an an assortment of other echniques that I usually am a bit too lazy to use:
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The E has an assortment of tech that should make it fun to play with, I think.
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Finally got all my fleet assets in for my Aero tech stuff-
The lyran fleet with fighter support-
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Then my Clan fleet-
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I ended up against my former allies in a fedcom civil war scenario.
We had very few important through armor threshold criticals. So the game took a bit longer than normal especially since we put in 2 flights of ASFs on each side.
My only ship loss was the poor little mako when it ate an aegis cruiser broadside. in exchange i put down both the avalon and aegis.
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Later on we did a couple small games, the first one when to me since i couldn't seem to miss and almost all my fire hit the left arm/left torso's of the mechs.
It was over so fast we had him upgrade his clan options and we had another go. the second game went very much better for him, winning most initiatives and forcing most of my mechs into forced withdrawal.
Not to much on this battle tonight, forgot to take many pics-
We brought a steiner and davion lance circa 3rd succession wars era tech-single heat sinks, standard lasers, etc. VS a clan invasion 3050 generic list.
The clanners-
.war hawk
.timber wolf
.mad dog
.storm crow
.adder
We got stupid lucky, my battle master managed to face PPC his commanders madcat and kill the pilot with a single crit. even though the clanners fought to the bitter end. the Davions had a catapult and awesome left on the field, albeit in need of massive repairs.
Our Davion player lived up to his reputation as the "seatbelt check" guy, having his wolverine fall down 3 time, his battle master twice (and go to sleep), and his catapult once
I have some questions about the whole Raven Alliance situation I'd like clarification for.
1) Do they have stuff from the "Periphery General" section of the master unit list? It says the units there are "available for all tracked Periphery factions" but the Outworlds Alliance is only there until Early Republic 3083 and after that there's no Raven Alliance listed. Not all the Periphery General units are on the RA section of the MUI so did they just stop using them in relevant amounts?
2) Since the RA is split up into two military organisations, how do you tell which unit belongs with which org? The mech list is pretty much a selection of Clan mechs, a few Star League designs and then suddenly Inner Sphere assault mechs. I can hazard a guess as to where the Clan designs came from but surely the AMC guys can't have been loaded up with assault mechs before the Ravens showed up?
Battletech's freedom in force construction is very nice but having a real army list does do wonders for inforning you of the vibe and style of an army. This is kinda like checking if you like these Ailatoc Eldar guys you heard about and having to thrawl through three fan archive sites to find out what colur scheme they even have.
I'm not really keen on the Il clan era and i only occasionally dabble in the republic of the sphere era preferring the 3rd succession war up to the fedcom civil war (3067) as my preferred era to play in. to your point of playing thematically appropriate era/faction units i fully understand. i do the same thing myself using faction specific loadouts or mechs only made by the factions i play. Fortunately i have a force faction list as well as a computer program that lists the faction affiliation of every unit. Sarna is also a good resource to look up mechs and who makes/uses them. at a quick glance for inner sphere many of the variant loadouts will have a letter at the end that usually aligns them with a house-
K-kurita
S-steiner
L-lao
D-davion
M-marik
etc...
You will also start to notice weapon and mech loadouts that 90% of the time will belong to a specific faction just by looking-I.E. if it is a fast heavy with a PPC of some sort and/or a C3 network it is likely a kurita mech same goes for RACs-davion, heavy Gauss-steiner, stealth armor-capellan, light gauss -marik and so on.
When it comes to snow raven specifically the only late era mechs that come to mind right off the top of my head are the crow variants-carrion crow/war crow
There is also this resource page, it's mostly for alpha strike, but the unit availability is there for each faction-
Sarna is pretty extensive but laid out more for maximum information than it is for "40k codex"-style purposes.
I guess I just have to spend a little time this weekend with a notebook and some research. I've heard something about "field guides" and such, maybe that's the ticket. Maybe I should be interested in a less obscure faction but I'm held back by my love for protomechs. Worst comes to worst, I'll resort to the time-tested classic of; making it up myself.
If you love proto mechs (as do i) blood spirits made them, hells horse loves using them. to the point they made a special super heavy WIGE protomech. it also fills out the horse desire to bring something that counts as infantry if you wish to use the field manual special rules (all hells horse galaxies suffer a -1 initiative penalty of they do not bring a point of something that counts as infantry).
On the Clan side I've thought about Hell's Horses, Smoke Jaguar, Blood Spirit, Fire Mandrill, Ghost Bear/Rasalhague Dominion and now Raven Alliance.
I'd pick Hell's Horses if it was my only faction but I want the Clan side of things to contrast maximally with my IS pair of Free World's League and Capellan Confederation. You gotta have a classic IS matchup, you know? So that means making use of protomechs, a unit I like and that is exclusive to a few clans.
What caught my eye about the whole RA thing is that they also use some non-Clan forces so I could mix and match some classics from either side.
I do prefer Raven Alliance's Protomech selection when compared to the Hell's Horses.
In fact, when I first started looking at Protomechs, I ended up picking Protomechs that were Snow Raven/Raven Alliance. Satyrs for Scouting, Rocs for Skirmishing, and Gorgons for fire support, and they work well.
I've started going Hell's Horses recently, though, and picked up some Centaurs. I'm not too confident in them, but they'll be better than Harpies (but then, what isn't?).
I own actual models for ROCs, Minotaurs and Orcs, i actually prefer to run them as Svartalfa or some of the mechforce UK protomechs. my favorite hands down is the demon tick- 9 tons, max armor, max engine, X2 ER-small lasers and a movement profile of 7/11/7, the other one is the blood drinker, effectively a ROC with the medium laser swapped for 3 ER smalls.
Finished painting some support units. Mostly Kickstarter receipts, but also a little more.
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Battle & Fire Support Lances.
LRM Carriers, SRM Carriers, Vedettes, Manticores.
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Savannah Master Support Lance.
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Centaur Protomech Point.
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Perspective Shot with other Protomechs and a Wolverine.
Front Row: Satyr, Basilisk, Centaur, Gorgon, Roc, Savannah Master
Back Row: Wolverine, Vedette, Manticore, LRM Carrier.
Played my first game of Battletech in a couple of months.
Comstar (me) vs. Clan Diamond Shark
Black Knight, Lancelot, Archer, Mercury vs. Dire Wolf, Timber Wolf, Elementals x 2
My pilots were actually a little better than the Clan pilots for once, mostly 3/5 or 3/4
An adapted Alpha Strike Mission with six objective markers, numbered 1-6. You had to hold consecutive markers to score (e.g. 1 & 2, or 4 & 5. 6 & 1 were consecutive as well). Only a single hex map, because that's all we had.
Everything was going great until turn three when, in the first real shot of the game, the Dire Wolf's Ultra AC hit my Black Knight in the head, knocking the pilot unconscious. The pilot then failed to wake up at the end of the next turn and, not surprisingly, was totally destroyed.
The Archer decided, rather stubbornly, that it was only going to hit with one (out of four) LRM per turn. This was better than the Lancelot, which didn't hit anything in three turns of shooting. I think the Mercury did the most damage out of all my mechs, which was... not good.
I lost, obviously. I actually scored a fair number of scenario points (light mechs are great for scoring), but I lost 2 mechs (Black Knight and Lancelot) and in return killed some elementals and dinged up the Timber Wolf a little. Perhaps my poor gunnery was a sign to take some C3i.
He managed to land head hits on every single mech on my side with at least 5 damage, but only one critical hit to sensors on my no-datchi
The atlas withdrew from critical damage, the tank got motive crited and as expected with my friend he ammo crit exploded, first his hatchet man, and the resulting explosion while catching 2 of my mechs it also caught his goliath, criting his ammo as well. fortunately he had CASE unlike the hatchet or all the mechs would have been dead.....save the no-datchi that was behind a building.
Oh and a side note the goliath actually got to do the vaunted mule kick on the no-datchi nearly taking off it's left leg.
We had a bunch of battle tech planned for the evening so i set up this power station table-
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My first game was a continuation from last weeks planned games. some classic medium mechs fighting it out.
I brought 2 wolverines, a shadow hawk and a scorpion. my opposite was running a hatchet man, hunchback, centurion, and bushwhacker.
It was a brutal fight that left me with 2 mechs and him with 1. MVP definitely when to the wolverine 8C with it's pulse weapons and streaks in the semi-urban environment.
A new scheme appears! Did the Timber Wolf and Annihilator in my personal Hell's Horses scheme. A mix of a couple of different galaxies in styles. The rest done in the local biweekly campaign's unit, Coromodir Corsairs.
Rifleman, Timber Wolf, Annihilator, Archer, Blackjack.
I danced around the feddies while my atlas played the anvil. i kept the dragons with an effective 3 move mod the entire game.
I took a splattter of damage here and there with the Grand dragon 5 taking the worst of it losing his ERPPC arm.
I focused the Cerberus hard and he was the first to go down. then it was the T-bolt but not before he scored a head kill on the atlas with his gauss.
The 5 with he missing arm having only a single forward firing medium laser and LRM 10 left at his disposal pulled off a decent charge attack on the marauder with some successful dragon bowling. Scoring 36 damage on the charge, knocking the enemy mech down and the pilot to sleep..... the Caesar ran away.
I lost one mech to his 3 with my fistful of dragons.
My opponent was also having some serious underperformance issues (well i mean they were Davions). that T-bolt fired it's gauss 6 turns in a row each time rolling double 1s on the to-hit roll.
Last Friday ran a little Protomech Training Camp. We did a Capture The Flag scenario, but added some Halo-style considerations.
Everyone was give a Protomech model, and the Record Sheet was a Custom 7 ton Protomech that went 6/9 and was equipped with an ER Micro Laser in the Right Arm. Each Protomech would act as its own individual unit and not as a Point.
As they went around and stopped on a old generic black Privateer Press token, they could pick up a piece of equipment that either added a Weapon to the Left Arm, a Weapon to the Main Gun, or some equipment stored in the Torso like Jump Jets, Myomer Booster, or some gamified bonuses like Structure Restoration. We also used card-based Initiative.
It ended up being 5v5, and I should have had each team use a specific Protomech model, but whatever. I went by their individual base markings if they were more winter or summer colors (as I have 20 Protomechs all told).
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People enjoyed it, and some even said that they are more comfortable with Protomechs now. Strangely enough, we didn't manage to get a single kill all night. Part of it may have been a little "Armor Recharge" special rule that allowed them to "heal" 3 Armor during the End Phase if they weren't hit.
Hell yeah! Love to see protomechs! I really should get some models of my own, but it's hard to decide which and they get pricy real quick. Do you have a favourite proto?
Rosebuddy wrote: Hell yeah! Love to see protomechs! I really should get some models of my own, but it's hard to decide which and they get pricy real quick. Do you have a favourite proto?
For a Starter Proto, go for the Roc. It's 7 tons, 5/8/5 and near maxed out Armor for it's weight, and carries a Clan ER Medium Laser for it's primary configuration. Most variants focus on that class of Weapon with the Roc 2 dropping some Armor to carry a Heavy Medium Laser, the Roc 3 dropping Jump Jets to carry a Pulse Medium Laser, and the Roc 5 getting Extended Jump Jets to carry a Medium Chemical Laser and Jumping 7.
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After that, it depends on what you want to focus on. I got a pair of Satyrs for TAG and scouting Purposes, and 4 Gorgons for Fire Support.
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Among them, since I hadn't seen any body get any, I also have 4 Basilisks.
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I've started focusing on Hell's Horses, so I also got a Point of Centaurs. My next set is either going to be their Orcs or Minotaurs.
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As a side note, I've found them oddly satisfying to paint. Don't know why.
I've been getting them through a supplier here in the States that sells them pretty cost-effectively. Only about 50% more to get 5 than a single Mech. However, I don't know what the European market is like.
Having only played the mechwarrior computer games before, I got an opportunity to try battletech this summer and got instantly hooked. The rule system is bit old and clunky but still very fun I like that a lot of rules feels optional so that you can use the rules you like.
Starting out was a bit tricky since there seems to be a ton of different rulebooks, I got armored combat boxset and the total warfare book it seems to be a good starting point.
I have painted the mechs in the armored combat boxset. I think I need to get some vehicles and infantry next does anyone have any tips where to get some suitable 6mm vehicles and infantry?
I have managed to get some games in using the tabletop rules which I find more fun than the hex based system. Does anyone know if there is a rulebook that includes scenarios preferably that is objective driven?
For power armour and Elementals, CGL do them, but they are super expensive for what you get, and the quality isn’t great just because of the material used. Better to get printed or cast alternatives.
There is always the Iron Wind range
https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech Keep in mind though that these are not really scaled against either each other or the Force Pack Mechs, they are metal and they don't come cheap.
Otherwise 3D printing if available to you might provide an alternative.
Generally speaking... not yet, at least not officially. There's a Handbook in the works that supposed to help with unit organization, and may include some general scenarios.
There are quite a few "historical" scenario packs around, but they aren't always balanced affairs. There are a few objective packs that have been set up by a few groups like Wolfdragoons.com provide. My local group has a standard scenario when we aren't trying to do anything fancy borrowed from the old MechClix Dark Age tournament scene.
As for Vehicles and Infantry, there are several different sources. Battletech is pretty proxy-friendly (aside from some very specific instances). Officially speaking, Ironwind Metals and Ral Partha Europe handle most of the official metal models that can date back up to 30 or 40 years in some cases. CGL just did a kickstarter to launch new vehicle lines and has been shipping out over the last 2 months or so, and should be reaching local distributors before December (hopefully).
Dropzone Commander models are pretty close in size to be useable with Battletech (I've used my Shaltari hovertanks a few times), but the Infantry really need to be rebased.
Another company made a game called Solar Rift whose models are compatible with Battletech. Another company called Metalcore Collectables also makes their 3D printed stuff that's pretty compatible with Battletech, too.
There's a pretty big 3D printing scene out there, if you don't mind not being completely official.
Thank you for the suggestions regarding vehicles and infantry, I will definitely check them out. For me just having mechs on the battlefield makes me lose the sense of scale, having infantry on the table will give a good reference point. I tried putting some 6mm historical miniatures next to mechs then you realize how big they really are. Just need to get some sci-fi infantry I don't think pike and shotte era infantry will work .
The support striker lance-
.axeman
.thunderbolt
.blackjack
.phoenix hawk
The inner sphere forces started out pretty strong, but the table started to quickly turn. the first casualty was the battle master taking an ERPPC to the face.
By the end we had the thunderbolt and a phoenix hawk left facing off against a summoner, dire wolf and timber wolf.
The IS force thought better of their situation and lived to fight another day, after being granted hegira-
Added some new shiny to my second swords of light.
the unit special rules allow the lance to use 1 clan mech or 1 mech with clan equipped weapons. so i added the signature direwolf hohiro to my force, along side an awesome, archer and wolverine.
My opponent brought a nightstar, goliath, archer, hunchback.
It turned out to be an explosive game with the hunchies running right up on my dire wolf and archer. it got deleted but also exploded killing the pilot of the dire wolf and vaporizing the archer in the collateral damage.
all i had left facing the night star and archer was my wolverine. i managed to critically damage the archer. so his remaining 2 mechs decided to flee instead of trying to deal with the high mobility target of the wolverine.
Second game out running the hohiro in my kurita lance. up against the age old foe house davion.
We use forced withdrawal rules and quickly started sending mechs home with critical damage. first we traded a warhammer for a rifleman, and then an annihilator for an awesome.
He got ahead on me taking down my archer. then my hohiro took down the templar. and got into a MAD fire fight with the orion.
Did a quick test game with an MRM heavy C3 land for my swords of light, (just got the crusader from my friend so it is not painted).
My force-
.shugenja
.sunder
.catapult
.crusader
My opponent
.atlas
.banshee
.night star
.archer
I ended up facing a Steiner assault lance. it began well with critical damage removing the nigh tstar. but it turned south for me when i started missing shots that should have been easy.
in the end a slew of crits left me with only the crusader facing an undamaged atlas and a heavily damaged banshee.
Got a rematch in with the Steiner lance form last week. this time i countered him with a kurita assault lance-
.dire wolf hohiro
.sunder
.orochi
.catapult-Jester (yes the hero mech loadout from MWO).
This game went much better for me. the Jester smoked the enemy banshee in one go with multiple critical hits. after i took down his atlas he decided the fight was not going in his favor and withdrew.
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Next up i teamed up with the davions to fight some nova cats. i brought the C3 MRM heavy lance from the previous week, i managed to score 2 kills. my team mate only scored one giving the clans a narrow victory. with only a badly damaged madcat MKII and huntsman left on the table.
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We also took it to space with some federated suns navy attempting to stop a clan task group in aerotech 2.
As the saying goes-don't get on the bad side of a Mckenna......which means the broadside.
I lost the destroyer and conqueror. and took some serious damage on the Mckenna but the Liberator was untouched. in exchange i destroyed his entire force.
The beginning was very much a slug match as we started whittling each other down.
i lost the super nova first from center torso damage. i traded him for a banshee and the goliath.
near the end i had him down to the gunslinger and awesome.....he got a couple really lucky shots in and then i was down to the asp VS his gunslinger. he scored a win with a headshot gauss.
The 2 turns prior to that the asp used his ERPPCs to decapitate both the stlas and awesome...and the warhawk did the same to the nightstar.
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p.s. @Charistoph
Throw a wash on those and they will look so much better
The great news about battle tech is you can play it any way you like with or without any rules/optional rules you like.
I play 3d terrain rules and have been loving it ever since i switched, however i am not a fan of alpha strike as it is to simple for me as a fan of battle tech as it removes far to much of what i love about the game.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Things didn't go so well for kurita this time out. we did a couple heavy lance. with his ECM pretty well winning the game for him. ghost targeting making it nearly impossible to hit him-
in the end i only put down his warhammer, and i lost everything but my black hawk KU-
My force-
.crusader
.catapult
.black hawk KU
.komodo
HIs force-
.warhammer
.thunderbolt
.penetrator
.marauder
Still gorging myself on the fluff, still quietly collecting stuff, may host an Urbie Derbie at some point.
Not a gambler, but when a batch of blind boxes popped up for sale here, couldn't resist. 😅 Quite pleased with getting a Black Knight, Shadow Cat and KING CRAB, which will be going to a fellow MW5 player, as the KGC-CAR Carapace is his ride of choice.
No harm in having another Atlas alright. Still need to finish mine at some point and see if I want to apply that scheme to the mercenary company as a whole. Also need to get started on that King Crab, want to try and paint it up in the "Carapace" paint scheme as seen in MW5.
So far though, quite pleased with what I got:
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The three starter set mechs have seen the most game time so far, the Wolverine being a favourite of one of my club members, while I've been enjoying the Griffin a lot myself, maybe have to get another one and paint it in my own colours at some point.
Will say, painting up the Urbies in various schemes has been a lot of fun and a great excuse to finally start messing around with Tamiya's panel liner and clear paints for once. And not just for quick cockpit windows either, quite like how Cherry, the R27 turned out. Favourite still is Large Ricky and his rotary AC.
Wolverine is one of those mechs where it is hard to find a bad one, unlike the mauler where it is hard to find a good one.
The atlas problem for me is i already have an old metal one that is painted to be part of my Lyran desert lance with a heavy gauss. i needed a kurita one for my C3 dragon lance so i could run the meme.
BrookM wrote: No harm in having another Atlas alright.
I currently have 3 (not including the II), and the only time any of them has seen table play is under someone else's control. I have other Assaults I prefer, especially since I need them to have more long range firepower, more speed, or more maneuverability.
Right now we're mostly playing with mech sheets from the Star League era, so the GRF-1N and WVR-6R, light on everything, easier to learn the rules with hehe. But at some point we'll be moving the clock forward for sure.
Can't comment on what's good or not haha, I go with rule of cool for the most part, am really looking forward to adding a Charger 1A1 to the collection, because Tex really sold me on the idea that any Mech, no matter how bad, can be of some use when push comes to shove.
My own personal, unexplained favourite Mech is the Archer, maybe because of MW5, where I went from a Rifleman that get shot out from under me in record time, to a regular Archer to getting a hero version that our resident tech turned into an SRM brawler, because it also has fists, punching is so underrated. But somehow, I've got three Archers in my collection, once I find a colour scheme I like, I am turning one of them into my personal ride for sure.
ARC-4M Archer Ismail
Personal 'Mech of Lieutenant James Ismail of the Lexington Combat Group's 180th Dragoon Combat Group has been refit for close combat. This is achieved by dropping both the Artemis-enhanced LRM-20s for eight SRM-4 launchers, four per torso, while the two rear facing medium lasers are also removed for two forward facing medium pulse lasers.
My own personal, unexplained favourite Mech is the Archer, maybe because of MW5, where I went from a Rifleman that get shot out from under me in record time, to a regular Archer to getting a hero version that our resident tech turned into an SRM brawler, because it also has fists, punching is so underrated. But somehow, I've got three Archers in my collection, once I find a colour scheme I like, I am turning one of them into my personal ride for sure.
Yeah, I've managed to acquire 3 Archers over the course of collecting the boxes and Forcepacks. The most recent being the one in the Alpha Strike box. I have a hard time recommending one or the other as we don't always use the same Era or tech level in our games.
Figuring out schemes to work with can be hard at times. For me, I like to have a story go along with it, or it's based on what paints I've collected, and I think are interesting.
For example, originally I was going to go with a drab green as a good Merc like the Eridani Light Horse. That can be a bit boring, though, and then I came across Tex and his Black Pants Legion. I was reminded of a skit from when I was a kid about a captain who would wear a red jacket when going in to battle so that when he was wounded his blood wouldn't show. Then they came across a really big ship and he asked for his brown pants. So, adding in a "brown pants" to my camo green scheme it became my default Inner Sphere scheme, the Brown Pants Legion. It also makes sense as it it would also match trees with a brown base and green leaves. The Archer below was one of the first plastic models I painted like this. I've since added either flesh, yellow, or golden brown accents to the scheme.
The middle one shown below is based on a campaign I've been playing for over 3 years now. We finally chose a name, the Coromodir Corsairs, and one of the guys decided it should be like the Jolly Rogers or Skull Squadron from Macross. I can't do stripes that tightly, so my tends to be a broad yellow section up the torso and head, with black side torsos, and white limbs. I started feeling that was boring, so I added black hands, feet, and knees, and then added accent markings on the limbs.
The one on the left is my newest scheme to represent Hell's Horses. Originally, I was going to do Delta Galaxy with a desert-striped scheme. I got nervous about doing that, so I compromised with going with a light black core, burnt sienna upper limbs and head, and light golden brown for the lower limbs to indicate a fire. Jade is used as accents to break up monotony.
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My Warhammers have been able to be more eclectic. The Corsair Warhammer getting red accents on the limbs for Beta Battalion.
The Warhammer that came in the Highlander box was given my evil "Wobbie" scheme. Using a carapace color as a main armor overlay. I used a castle gray for feet and sub spaces around the parts, with using yellow to accent points. I also use an interesting technique for the green, basically putting white or bright light gray underneath and then washing it with a green wash. I've taken to calling them my "Fetid Claws" group due to the vertigras on the lower Arms.
The IWM Warhammer IIC on the right was my first Clan scheme, trying to capture a color style reminscant of the Cloud Cobra (species). Dark sea blue up top with purple for the waist and legs. A scheme I kept up with for all my IWM models (until I started doing Hell's Horses).
It was feeling too dark, so when I started getting plastics, I reversed it, going with the purple up top and the dark sea blue on the bottom. I also started adding in blue (either medium or light) for accent points.
I like that in this setting as well you can have Mechs look like professional military hardware in camo and drabs, or make them as colourful and garish as you like and it will work either way. Thanks for sharing the inspiration! 🤘🏻
Do like the idea of turning the Archer into a sandblaster with that many SRM launchers. Is there a place or site where mech building can be done easily?
Also, haha, I love how some mechs just have rear-facing weapons, highly situational, but still a weirdly cool detail.
BrookM wrote: Do like the idea of turning the Archer into a sandblaster with that many SRM launchers. Is there a place or site where mech building can be done easily?
I'm not sure about a site that can do customization. I know there is Flech's Sheets and Mordel.net that offer Record Sheets, but I don't use them, personally, so I don't know about their customization capacity.
MechFactory also offers Record Sheets online, but any unit editing is done on their Android App, sorry Apple users.
My usual go to involves installing Java to run either Solaris SkunkWerks (best UI, but not the most up to date, only does Mechs and Tanks) or MegaMekLab (UI is wanting, but it is the most up to date and one can build anything one would care to use).
BrookM wrote: Also, haha, I love how some mechs just have rear-facing weapons, highly situational, but still a weirdly cool detail.
Some can really use them. The Atlas isn't a Mech that can easily maneuver, so having rear-firing weapons can be somewhat helpful (+2 for Rear Secondary Target is less so). The Archer is usually supposed to be focusing their LRM racks forward, so shooting a Light to their Rear with them is counter-productive (particularly with the LRM minimum range). Things like that.
The funniest one is the Falcon, though. Medium Laser and Small Lasers in the Arms, but Machine Guns facing out of the Rear Torsos. Why, Wolf Dragoon Sourcebook writer? Why?
Thanks! 👊🏻 Modifying mechs to suit my own needs is something I am going to be looking into for sure at some point, but baby steps, only got my copy of the Mech Manual earlier this week. 😅
And speaking of Warhammer mechs:
Spoiler:
Don't know when I'll find the time for this one, but after getting the BT bug good and proper, I couldn't resist. It'll make for a display piece at some point.
In table top rules there are certain location on a hex map and in 3d terrain rules where a mech cannot shoot directly behind it, as such mechs with no lower arm actuators can flip their arms to shoot behind them otherwise they have a blind spot which is where the rear facing weapons come in.
As for building mechs, most people use mech factory. however i am still a stalwart fan of the official (under FASA) heavy metal pro program. with the updates it allows you to both build any mech up to 100 toms as well as infantry, protomechs, vehicles, aerospace etc...it also has all the mech force UK official (from FASA) variants. it also has all sorts of options that can be on your mech sheet-expanded heat scale, movement mods, hit locations, missile cluster tables etc...
aphyon wrote: In table top rules there are certain location on a hex map and in 3d terrain rules where a mech cannot shoot directly behind it, as such mechs with no lower arm actuators can flip their arms to shoot behind them otherwise they have a blind spot which is where the rear facing weapons come in.
As a side note, one Arm can generally shoot in to the Rear Arc so long as you Torso Twist in their direction.
aphyon wrote: As for building mechs, most people use mech factory. however i am still a stalwart fan of the official (under FASA) heavy metal pro program. with the updates it allows you to both build any mech up to 100 toms as well as infantry, protomechs, vehicles, aerospace etc...it also has all the mech force UK official (from FASA) variants. it also has all sorts of options that can be on your mech sheet-expanded heat scale, movement mods, hit locations, missile cluster tables etc...
CGL uses MegaMekLab to print out the Record Sheets you can download from Battletech Downloads now. FYI. It also offers a few options for adding reference charts to each sheet. I've also set mine up so that the central image is replaced with a GATOR chart.
aphyon wrote: If you look at the rules for hex maps there is a "magic hex" like 3 or 4 directly behind a mech the arms cannot hit even with a full toros twist.
It is often difficult to get in to, and doesn't guarantee a Rear shot on the target. Hence the Arm can "generally" hit in the Rear Arc with a Torso Twist. In addition, if one Twists the other way, the other Arm can generally engage it.
did the fist game of the night for battle tech with an all marauder chassi lance
.marauder II
.marauder
.night star
.dragon fire
I was fighting-
.atlas
.stalker
.archer
.axeman
The dice gods were not with me on this one, missed so many shots that i should have hit, still a fun game though, break point was when my mostly undamaged nightstar took an axe hit to the face.
Spoiler:
Game 2 was a bit more silly-Steiner scout squad style-
I ran my 3 grand dragon variants and an atlas VS 4 atlas
Spoiler:
With a C3 network and a mod of 3+ most of the time i was a hard target to hit so i was doing better than expected-
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
I even got to do some dragon bowling- a 7K with mask doing a ram attack from behind taking out an atlas-
A frined of mine forgot his battle tech stuff so i loaned him some of my clanners so we could get a game in.
We did a standard 3060+ 2 lance VS 1 star battle.
It was my fist game with my new devastator.
The clan side-
.tomahawk II
.osteon
.blood kite
.cauldron born
.storm crow.
My side-
Lance 1
.marauder 4l
.devestator
.night star
.gunslinger
Lance 2-vehicle lance
.X2 typhoon urban assault vehicles.
.challenger MK XI
.challenger MK XII
I lost this one but i managed to take him down to 2 mechs, just the tomahawk and the storm crow. i got a crit pilot kill on the blood kite and the devastator took an AC20 to the face. those were the only 2 head cap kills.
the first was a second swords of light VS the crucius lancers-a little Davion/Kurita border fight.
I was running some odd mechs i normally don't run-
An LBX 10 shadow hawk, a sniper warhammer, a clan equipped sunder, and the MWO laser "jester" hero mech.
My opponent brough the RAC centurion, dervish, warhammer and the LBX 10 saggitaire.
Spoiler:
The most epic thing happened at the end. i kicked his last mech with the shadow hawk ( was down to 2 mechs myself by this point), he failed his pilot skill check and fell, critting his center torso rear 4 times.....
Spoiler:
My second game i ran a C3 MRM themed kurita lance-shugenja, daikyu, catapult, crusader teaming up with a comstar light force-mongoose, phoenix hawk, uziel, nightsky.
We faced off against a warhawk, nova cat, timber wolf, summoner, proto mechs.
since i was the easier (read slower) target i took the brunt of the damage. loosing both the crusader and the shugenja with the remaining 2 mechs both being badly mauled, my ally lost the mongoose. the clanners gave up after their 2 remaining mechs (timber wolf and summoner) failed pilot checks and fell.
I didn’t realize the dropships were add-ons for the Mercs KS or I would’ve added some.
Regardless they are now available from CGL. I ordered two Unions and one each of the Overlords thanks to the 25% off sale (as well as two more half-priced Essentials sets).
Yes, It constantly gives the security warning, and has for about two or three years that I know of. Every time I save Alpha Strike cards as .jpg's, I have to click a "download blocked" warning away for the download to happen, which is annoying, but harmless.
Nobody I know of has ever had a virus problem because of it, it's just something the site owners keep forgetting to update.
Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.
BrookM wrote: Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.
Have you tried Camo Specs yet? They have some decent infantry paint jobs for every fa tion you can think of.
Also, I asked the AI...
In the BattleTech universe, the CCAF (Capellan Confederation Armed Forces) infantry uniforms are in shades of green, gray, or black, often with red or gold accents, which are colors associated with the Capellan Confederation.
BrookM wrote: Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.
They do have the books to look in to under the CCAF page, namely: Field Manual: Capellan Confederation and Handbook: House Liao.
CGL has restarted their Force Manual series with Davion and Kurita. Mercenaries is next, but they do plan on filling out the rest of the Houses eventually. At the rate they're going, they should have Force Manual: Liao out before next Christmas, if not much sooner.
BrookM wrote: Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.
They do have the books to look in to under the CCAF page, namely: Field Manual: Capellan Confederation and Handbook: House Liao.
CGL has restarted their Force Manual series with Davion and Kurita. Mercenaries is next, but they do plan on filling out the rest of the Houses eventually. At the rate they're going, they should have Force Manual: Liao out before next Christmas, if not much sooner.
Remember that Force Manual: Kurita and Force Manual: Mercenaries were adapted in large from the appropriate Combat Manuals. Therefore, new Force Manuals will take more time to write and publish as there's no existing Combat Manuals to draw from.
BrookM wrote: Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.
They do have the books to look in to under the CCAF page, namely: Field Manual: Capellan Confederation and Handbook: House Liao.
CGL has restarted their Force Manual series with Davion and Kurita. Mercenaries is next, but they do plan on filling out the rest of the Houses eventually. At the rate they're going, they should have Force Manual: Liao out before next Christmas, if not much sooner.
Remember that Force Manual: Kurita and Force Manual: Mercenaries were adapted in large from the appropriate Combat Manuals. Therefore, new Force Manuals will take more time to write and publish as there's no existing Combat Manuals to draw from.
And the Combat Manuals were drawn from the previous Field Manuals and Handbooks. Most of the differences are layouts and adding in the Force Command Abilities, and maybe a new character along with the Special Pilot Abilities.
BrookM wrote: Does anybody know of a good source to look for what CCAF infantry uniforms look like? Sarna is not of great help here, unless I'm not looking in the right place.
They do have the books to look in to under the CCAF page, namely: Field Manual: Capellan Confederation and Handbook: House Liao.
CGL has restarted their Force Manual series with Davion and Kurita. Mercenaries is next, but they do plan on filling out the rest of the Houses eventually. At the rate they're going, they should have Force Manual: Liao out before next Christmas, if not much sooner.
Remember that Force Manual: Kurita and Force Manual: Mercenaries were adapted in large from the appropriate Combat Manuals. Therefore, new Force Manuals will take more time to write and publish as there's no existing Combat Manuals to draw from.
And the Combat Manuals were drawn from the previous Field Manuals and Handbooks. Most of the differences are layouts and adding in the Force Command Abilities, and maybe a new character along with the Special Pilot Abilities.
The Force Manuals have more in common with the Combat Manuals than they do with the Field Manuals. Comparing the three, the Force Manuals and Combat Manuals are nearly identical.
The Force Manuals have more in common with the Combat Manuals than they do with the Field Manuals. Comparing the three, the Force Manuals and Combat Manuals are nearly identical.
Well, yeah. The Combat Manuals are the more recent of the two. Yet the Field Manuals still had the story of the faction development, and the organization of the military within them, and even guidelines on how they operated at certain points.
Running a Jade Falcon campaign, I've had to dive in to both Field Manual: JF and Field Manual: Lyran Alliance for scenarios and how the OpFor fights. I'm basically making my own psuedo-Force Manual: Steiner as I go as a result. The Combat Manual: Mercenaries has helped for a scenario or two so far (we're only starting Wave 2 the 2nd Friday in January).
Comparing them to the Force Manual: Kurita someone gave me for Christmas, the biggest difference is, as I said, the layout and the inclusion of Force Command Abilities and Special Pilot Abilities that simply didn't exist in the 90s when the Field Manuals were written.
Sure some things are left out for brevity and other things added in, but that still doesn't change that the Force Manual is the updated Field Manual.
And there was no Combat Manual: Liao (the original request), only Kurita and Mercenaries.
The Field Manuel for the Capellan Confederation says the standard infantry are issued dark green fatigues "trimmed in Liao green along the shoulders and the seam from underarm to ankles." But none of the color plates in the book are for infantry, so it's hard to say what, exactly, 'dark' green and 'Liao' green actually are.
Played a pair of beginner level games today, my mate was available so we figured why not?
My opponent claimed her beloved Wolverine again, while I took the Griffin for our first game, which ended in my defeat, oh well.
The second game I got to take my Archer out for a spin, after nattering on about how much I loved using it in MW5 and well, I won, but damn that Wolverine just kept taking it on the chin, in the end tenaciously cutting away at me with just the head-mounted laser, because IT. WOULD. NOT. DIE. Also, a lucky AC/5 hit to the cockpit as she made her advance on me (I figured hiding in heavy forest terrain would keep me safe, nope!) was a nasty wake-up call and a reminder that GM makes a damned fine autocannon.
Looks like I'll have to paint up a custom Archer at some point now.
.lance 1-
.thunderhawk
.maruader
.night star
.archer
Lance 2
.atlas
.axe man
.bushwhacker
.goliath.
He got lucky through armor criticals and killed my doom courser and my heimdall, both of which were basically untouched. with an engine kill and crew kill results.
I overheated and blew up the stalking spider my self (dang 3 on a 4+ ammo explode avoid roll). by that point i had pretty well mauled him with only his bushwhacker and archer facing my thunder stallion and 4 protomechs.
the archer blew up with an ammo crit and killed the bushwacker, after taking off a leg on my stallion.
MVP went to the protomechs for getting in there and mauling any mech they could get close to. i hardly missed with them the entire game.
Is the Wolverine a zombie mech, or just that tenacious when paired with my dodgy dice rolls? Hunchback 4G is also scary, it was a lot of fun to try and wreck, but damn, it did its job of walking up to me, taking everything I got and shooting me in the face perfectly, it really does feel like a heavy mech in medium format.
Question, with the Merc KS stuff slowly out in the open now, did they say when the record sheets for the new mechs and vehicles would be put online? Or are the support vehicles used through the enclosed support cards? My mercs boxed set is still a few weeks away from getting here, so sorry if that's answered there. But any word on the new mech sheets? Because there's a Charger incoming, I am going to do so many stupid, stupid things with that one.
Final bit of waffle, the support weapon the left-most mini is holding, what would be the most BattleTech appropriate kind of weapon to use it as?
Got a crapton of these models and they are generic enough for this setting, so going to turn them into whatever the bottom rung is of the CCAF structure, armed servitors?
Played another pair of IntroTech games yesterday, SLDF versus DCMS, where we each had two mechs and were more or less in the BV range. Not even sure if this was a historical accurate fight haha, but fluff it.
I played the mighty SLDF with Griffin and Rifleman, while my opponent had her beloved Wolverine backed up by a Hunchback.
The first game was a win for me, I landed with a lot of my shots, but as luck(?) would have it, it took forever to take them both down! Saving grace was the poor rolls the AC20 made, I'm sure there's a meme in there somewhere from the community.
And the second game, which ended in a tie, as the Hunchback and Rifleman destroyed one another in the last turn. If the AC20 hadn't missed so often at close range it would've gone differently for me for sure.
I've finished up painting some Christmas gifts and secured Salvage.
First off McCarron's Armored Assault Lance. 2 units in Cormodir Corsairs (local campaign unit), Brown Pants Legion (personal Merc scheme), Fetid Claws (personal Wobbie scheme).
Spoiler:
Black Knight, Awesome, Tian-Zong, Starslayer (jumping)
And 2 Blisters and an LE Salvage box, all done in Coromodir Corsair colors.
Spoiler:
IWM Falcon, Bounty Hunter Marauder II, IWM Ostscout
So I was playing MWO and, perhaps inevitably, the thought of playing some real Battletech came up...
Is the beginner set a good jumping on point? I like that there is only 2'Mechs and that it appears to have all the stuff to play included, but the price makes me think there must be some kind of trick! After all £24 doesnt even buy you a squad of 10 boyz...
Kroem wrote: Ah OK, so no point buying the beginners box? Shame as I'm certainly not going to buy the "Game of Armored Combat" box with 27 flippin 'Mechs!
You might want to double-check the listing you're looking at for "A Game of Armoured Combat", as I believe it has eight mechs, not 27.
The beginner box has a simplified rules system which doesn't include heat management for example. You could still get it and one of the hardcover rulebooks (MechManual or Total Warfare) and could start playing with the full rules. The cost difference to the Armored Combat box wouldn't be that big anymore and it only has 8 mechs not 27. This would give you the usual amount of mechs for two players.
A Ghost Bear MechWarrior is assigned a salvaged Inner Sphere mech, which has been modified by its previous owner, including blasting sound effects whenever a weapon is fired, filling the cockpit with perfume every time the Mech is booted up and a digital assistant talking to him in an UWU voice. He is not amused.
From the short story "Great Work" found in issue #14
Dysartes wrote: ...and this is why some people shouldn't be allowed to submit fiction.
To be fair, considering the situation and pure numbers available, I can see it happening. However, I wouldn't want to be the Tech in charge of that machine after the Warrior found out about it.
Dysartes wrote: ...and this is why some people shouldn't be allowed to submit fiction.
What, do you think there's no anime in the 31st century? House Kurita still has bushido, samurai, ninja, and all the other 'ancient' Japanese traditions. From 3050, the late 20th century is EVERY BIT as ancient.
And given the game itself originated from a couple guys trying to make a game about anime mech fighting, I'd say it's 100% appropriate for its anime origins to return to the game, if only in the fluff.
It's a fun short story that made me like the clans just a little bit more, which is quite a feat as no matter how many stories I read, I find it hard to root for them and their horrible way of doing things. And it's funny that the tech is mentioned, this takes place during the Jihad and the pilot is pretty much told to figure it out himself by his commanding officer, as they got 99 problems and a pilot who can't run basic maintenance on his own mech probably shouldn't be a pilot in the first place.
In better news, got a copy of Essentials coming in today, a small amount of stock made it across the pond and it was sold out in just a few hours. Quite chuffed to have it in my collection and wahey, not just another Rifleman but also a Centurion, Yen-Lo-Wang, at that, for the lances. Also, the arena map will make for a fun alternative IntroTech map to play on.
Got the Somerset Strikers incoming as well, the store I bought it from backed the KS, so that's why they got this stuff on sale right now. Now if the core Mercenaries set would arrive already, want to do stupid stuff with my Hetzers.
Ah, the big scary, wordy book that handles everything? The one that has a hobby section still using GW paints from two decades ago? I have it! I am mostly sticking to the slimmer A Game of Armoured Combat rules for the time being as we're still at the IntroTech stage in terms of mechs. And if I'm being really honest, CGL has a way of writing rules sometimes that makes it feel like they're using a hundred words when twenty would've sufficed.
I do hope CGL puts out the record sheets for the new stuff soon, the end should be in sight by now. Locally the Mercenaries street date has been changed to sometime this week instead of mid-February now, so hopefully that'll happen this week as well. 🤞🏻
Also, were there ever any good Hetzers? I have the cards, but I'll be damned if I know how to read those hehe! Did pick up a few of the boxes as they came in; heavy battle & sweep lance, battle & fire lance and the rifle & command lance, do want me some tanks and SRM carriers for future stuff.
BrookM wrote: Ah, the big scary, wordy book that handles everything? The one that has a hobby section still using GW paints from two decades ago? I have it! I am mostly sticking to the slimmer A Game of Armoured Combat rules for the time being as we're still at the IntroTech stage in terms of mechs. And if I'm being really honest, CGL has a way of writing rules sometimes that makes it feel like they're using a hundred words when twenty would've sufficed.
Pretty much, but Total Warfare is the only source of rules for using Combat Vehicles with Record Sheets until a Vehicle Manual or Combined Arms Manual is produced. Keep in mind that Vehicles can be Introtech, too. What defines that is what equipment they are built with. The "Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun" is one such Combat Vehicle.
And yeah, Total Warfare is a bit of a mess. It's coming up on it's 20th Anniversary, so hopefully CGL will either replace it or announce the release of the Manual series so we can drop it all together.
BrookM wrote: I do hope CGL puts out the record sheets for the new stuff soon, the end should be in sight by now. Locally the Mercenaries street date has been changed to sometime this week instead of mid-February now, so hopefully that'll happen this week as well. 🤞🏻
The Record Sheets exist, and have for quite some time, particularly most of the Introtech. There are several ways to obtain them before CGL releases ForcePack PDFs.
First is to buy a Record Sheet pack from CGL. However, this can get expensive, particularly if you want all the variants.
Second is to use a Battletech Design Program or Site. Solaris SkunkWerks has one, but I prefer MegaMekLab, as it can add Reference Tables to the side (which include which terrain a Vehicle cannot enter). Unfortunately, they both require Java on a PC to work, but that's not too bad to set up (if you're not using an Apple OS).
MechFactory is an Android App, but they also have a website where you can download PDFs of specific units. So a good back up option.
Of course, the final method is to copy/print the Record Sheet from the back of the Tech Manual and fill it out like "ye olde days" using stats found in a TRO or Resource book (oh, that method takes me back).
BrookM wrote: Also, were there ever any good Hetzers? I have the cards, but I'll be damned if I know how to read those hehe! Did pick up a few of the boxes as they came in; heavy battle & sweep lance, battle & fire lance and the rifle & command lance, do want me some tanks and SRM carriers for future stuff.
As bad as you think Record Sheet Hetzers are, the BSP Assets are much worse. About the only advantage a BSP Hetzer has over a Record Sheet Hetzer is being able to keep a maximized TMM no matter how they move. Being forced to move in a pre-Movement Phase really hurts ambush units that aren't hidden. Nothing is easier to avoid than a unit that has already moved, and a BSP Hetzer will ALWAYS move before your opponents 'Mechs, even if you win Initiative.
The BSP Asset cards aren't too hard to read. The basics only take about 3 pages of the Merc Manual, with another 3-4 pages regarding Specials. Even then, some of those Specials are pretty obvious, like "No Turret".
For Movement, they follow their type, just like a regular Record Sheet Vehicle, so no parking those Hetzers in Woods. However, they cannot Flank (Vehicle equivalent of Running), so as fast as the Move is, that's all you're getting out of them. They always keep their TMM, though, even if they only moved a couple of hexes. Kind of like Alpha Strike in that sense.
For Attacking, you use the Skill for both the "G" and "A" in GATOR. The only time you consider a BSP Assets Movement for calculating To-Hit is for Spotting, at which they are all (except for Infantry and Emplacements) "Running". They will do a number of Hits based on the second number, and the Damage is based on the first. So a Hetzer will have a Damage of "20x1" for its lone AC/20. Easy to figure out.
For receiving Damage, each Asset has a Threshold number. That's how much Damage it can take before you see if it can been destroyed. I don't have the Rifle & Command set yet (I had 2 more Vehicle sets I wanted first), but going by the Vehicles I do have, I'd estimate the Hetzer to have a Threshold of 5 or 6. For sake of example, I'll go 6. If your opponent manages to hit your Hetzer with a standard Medium Laser for 5 Damage, it didn't meet the Threshold, so no Destroy Check is to be performed. However, if they hit it with a standard Large Laser for 8 Damage, a basic Destroy Check will be performed at the End Phase.
For the first Destroy Check, your opponent then rolls 2D6 and see if it meets or exceeds that Destroy Number. I'm going to assume 8 for the Hetzer for now to keep with the explanation, as it is a common value. For that Medium Laser, no Check. For that Large Laser, they need to roll 8+ to take it out. If successful, the unit is removed as Destroyed.
However, there is an addition to that. If the amount of Damage received is higher than 10 (i.e. 11+), you can add 1 to your Destroy Check. So if an AC/20 hits that Hetzer, the Destroy Roll would be on a 7+. For every additional 10 from there you add an additional 1 to that roll. So if an AC/20 and a Medium Laser hits that Hetzer, it would be on a 6+, and so on.
If a Destroy Check is made, but is not successful (blasted snake-eyes), the Destroy Check degrades. This will be by 1, except for Infantry facing off against AI weapons like Machine Guns. So that Hetzer could be hit by 2 AC/20s, but if your opponent rolled snake-eyes to destroy it, it survives, but with a Destroy Check Target of 7+ on the next Turn (that's what the blank spot next to the 8/ is for).
Everything else either deals with specific motive types and the Specials.
Charistoph wrote: The Record Sheets exist, and have for quite some time, particularly most of the Introtech. There are several ways to obtain them before CGL releases ForcePack PDFs.
First is to buy a Record Sheet pack from CGL. However, this can get expensive, particularly if you want all the variants.
Second is to use a Battletech Design Program or Site. Solaris SkunkWerks has one, but I prefer MegaMekLab, as it can add Reference Tables to the side (which include which terrain a Vehicle cannot enter). Unfortunately, they both require Java on a PC to work, but that's not too bad to set up (if you're not using an Apple OS).
MechFactory is an Android App, but they also have a website where you can download PDFs of specific units. So a good back up option.
Of course, the final method is to copy/print the Record Sheet from the back of the Tech Manual and fill it out like "ye olde days" using stats found in a TRO or Resource book (oh, that method takes me back).
From Tuesday Newsday Episode #39 (14 January 2025)
-Josh Perian is also working on MUL 2.0. Work has restarted on it and they’re close to getting an early release, Josh is hoping for Q1 2025.
--It will have record sheets
--It will be able to combine Alpha Strike cards and record sheets for force building
--The search filter has been rebuilt from the ground up
--The look and feel will be updated.
--They’ll be able to show more detail closer to release and talk about features that are planned but further out.
--They’ll have advanced aerospace cards as an option instead of the PDF on the CGL shop
Ghaz wrote: From Tuesday Newsday Episode #39 (14 January 2025)
-Josh Perian is also working on MUL 2.0. Work has restarted on it and they’re close to getting an early release, Josh is hoping for Q1 2025.
--It will have record sheets
--It will be able to combine Alpha Strike cards and record sheets for force building
--The search filter has been rebuilt from the ground up
--The look and feel will be updated.
--They’ll be able to show more detail closer to release and talk about features that are planned but further out.
--They’ll have advanced aerospace cards as an option instead of the PDF on the CGL shop
Mercenaries has arrived and almost everything of the new release wave, bar a few support boxes, has already sold out in hours around here, damn!
Had a chance to sit down and read through the new rules, I can see what people now mean by support assets being weaker and being very much lite rules, but for a newbie like me, it does look accessible enough.
Also really looking forward to putting the campaign rules in action, we'll be going with early Succession War era mechs for our budding companies. On my end, my beloved Archer and Rifleman versus her dreaded combo of the Wolverine and Hunchback. We're very much going with rule of cool with this one. 😅
Have not done this in a while.....actually forgot to put out my wasp but i did a beauty shot of all my Kurita forces, a company level force of second swords of light, and just about 2 lances worth of second deiron regulars.
Lathe Biosas wrote: Are the new support rules optional or do they wholesale replace the old ones used in... say the BattleMech Manual? (Which is my favorite book).
They are to replace the old ones in the BMM and Battle for Tukayyid book.
Most of that is just pricing however, the actual process of using them, aside from the Vehicle Assets, hasn't really changed.
Question for the group - if I've already got the "A Game of Armoured Combat" box, is there any reason to step back and grab the Beginner Box? Are the Mechs/Maps exclusive to it, etc?
Dysartes wrote: Question for the group - if I've already got the "A Game of Armoured Combat" box, is there any reason to step back and grab the Beginner Box? Are the Mechs/Maps exclusive to it, etc?
If you want a Vindicator, the Beginner Box is the only product that has it (you can get different Griffin models in other ForcePacks).
A buddy asked me for a game to try out an assault lance he wanted to run-
All gauss all day-
.fafnir
.devestator
.pillager
.thunderhawk
I was a little under tonnage on him as kurita is not a big fan of 100 tonners it seems so i tossed a close enough assault lance back at him.
.dire wolf-hohiro
.akuma
.orochi
.battle master
The first half of the game he was rolling ghost targeting on his ECM like a champ and i almost never had a decent shot.
He mangled the akuma bad enough it had to withdraw. but then a silly thing happened-crits
the fafnir took 10 to the face with 2 crits killing the pilot. the devestator took crits that pilot shocked the pilot to death, and the pillager took a 15 to the face.
He tried really had to take the battle master with him, but it wasn't quite enough before his remaining mech(thunder hawk) withdrew.
OK so I got the Game of Armoured Combat through at the weekend, pretty excited to get the minis painted up so I can give it a try!
I'm trying to decide on colour schemes, but the impression I'm getting is that it's not as strict as 40k? i.e. although the Capellans have a green theme, they also have plenty of units with little no on green in their colour scheme!
Also can someone just confirm that damage is resolved simultaneously? i.e. If 'Mech A shoots and destroys 'Mech B, 'Mech B still gets to shoot back that phase before being destroyed.
Kroem wrote: Also can someone just confirm that damage is resolved simultaneously? i.e. If 'Mech A shoots and destroys 'Mech B, 'Mech B still gets to shoot back that phase before being destroyed.
Kroem wrote: I'm trying to decide on colour schemes, but the impression I'm getting is that it's not as strict as 40k? i.e. although the Capellans have a green theme, they also have plenty of units with little no on green in their colour scheme!
Yup, you do you! My own early adventures in painting the minis had me worried I did stuff wrong with regards to certain factions but as others have told me, the sky is the limit and you can do whatever you want.
Big example would be the beginner boxed set cover art: a Cappie Vindicator that isn't green?! IIRC, it belongs to the Big M.A.C.
Kroem wrote: Brill thanks for the confirmation both!
Now I just need the weather to warm up a bit so I can get the undercoat sprayed...
Also, feel free to come up with your own scheme. Plenty of mercenary units, bandit kings and other odds and ends in the BT universe. Someone posted on reddit an Urbanmech he'd painted in the Judge Dredd colors from the 2000 AD zine. Somebody else did C3PO and R2D2 (don't remember the first mech, but the second was an Urbanmech again). So paint them as you like.
Kroem wrote: OK so I got the Game of Armoured Combat through at the weekend, pretty excited to get the minis painted up so I can give it a try!
I'm trying to decide on colour schemes, but the impression I'm getting is that it's not as strict as 40k? i.e. although the Capellans have a green theme, they also have plenty of units with little no on green in their colour scheme!
Also can someone just confirm that damage is resolved simultaneously? i.e. If 'Mech A shoots and destroys 'Mech B, 'Mech B still gets to shoot back that phase before being destroyed.
Cheers
Kroem
Correct on both counts.
While there is 'canon' unit colors (https://camospecs.com/ has a vast selection to refer to), in various sourcebooks there is constant reference to individual Mechwarriors painting their 'Mechs in non-standard colors.
One of my favorite examples of this is Sorenson's Sabres (Company), Tarwater's Battalion, 5th Sword of Light Regiment of House Kurita. House Kurita is known for being very traditionalistic, and the Sword of Light Regiments are basically THE elite of the Kurita military. However, out of the 11 'mechs and one aerospace fighter in Sorenson's Sabres, only five are painted in the standard 'Sword of Light' overall red color scheme - and one of those is listed 'in desperate need of a paint job'. The other seven have various custom color schemes including countershading, blue-and-gold vertical stripes, two different camo schemes, and white with red polka-dots...
If even this elite unit can get away with a majority of the unit in non-standard colors, YOU certainly can paint your 'Mechs however you like.
BrookM wrote: The beginner box map is basic, but great for intro games.
So question to our resident cappies, when servitors were still a thing, were they also used in an armed capacity, or only as a source of labour?
IIRC my House Liao sourcebook if you fail to be useful to the state in some capacity you fall into the servitor caste. By that metric I don't think servitors can be trusted with defending the Confederation after failing to become a citizen though desperate times call for desperate measures, and also the reigning Celestial Light's will reflects (pun intented) on the policies of the state. So under Kalvin, or Tormano servitors are lucky if they get to eat...
I've been quietly following this thread for months and finally picked up the beginner box after many years of knowing about Battletech but never seeing it being played. Figured I'd just have to just in and see what all the fuss is about!
Slowly but surely finding the spare moments to paint up my first lance of mechs, 100% just going with the ones I find most visually appealing so I guess I'll figure out the tactical aspect of how they'll fight when they get onto the battlefield later.
Currently got a Wolverine and a Flea finished with an Urbie (in black and white police livery complete with police lights!) sat on the desk.
Spoiler:
Particularly happy with how the bases turned out, really wanted to get a lot of detail into them and show the scale of the mechs with some recognisable objects.
Spoiler:
Thanks for all the inspiration in here, it gave me the motivation to finally add some paint to them!
Miguelsan wrote: IIRC my House Liao sourcebook if you fail to be useful to the state in some capacity you fall into the servitor caste. By that metric I don't think servitors can be trusted with defending the Confederation after failing to become a citizen though desperate times call for desperate measures, and also the reigning Celestial Light's will reflects (pun intented) on the policies of the state. So under Kalvin, or Tormano servitors are lucky if they get to eat...
Hell yes, always go with rule of cool and the cars are a nice addition to the bases, indeed helps convey that scale just a bit more.
On my end, snatched up some more lance boxes, including the Snord's Irregulars, which I thought had the jumping Highlander, but didn't.. derp! Will have to keep an eye out for the Northwind Highlanders box, rare as it is around here. But it did include this thing, which is just stupidly awesome, as it combines a few of the mechs I really like: Archer and Rifleman, with a dash of Warhammer and if I go for the OG build, a Phoenix Hawk head as well? Sold! Not sure what the two remaining bits (claws?) are for though.
It's apparently time to upgrade. I've been using the BattleMech Manual for all of my games, since I prefer to play with 'Mechs and have an undying hatred for Boomerang Spotter Planes.
I was told that there have been some updates. What am I missing, and what do I need to invest in to keep up to date?
You should be able to get to the file via a Google search, I found out I could get the mercenary set record sheets that way after Catalyst for some reason pulled that page.
With yesterday's arrival of my Inner Sphere direct fire lance I find that I am now unintentionally one Atlas short of a Steiner Scout Lance. 😅
Lathe Biosas wrote: It's apparently time to upgrade. I've been using the BattleMech Manual for all of my games, since I prefer to play with 'Mechs and have an undying hatred for Boomerang Spotter Planes.
I was told that there have been some updates. What am I missing, and what do I need to invest in to keep up to date?
Nothing major has changed, aside from new technologies being introduced. IIRC, the biggest rule change is for partial cover. Instead of giving a +3 modifier to hit, now you roll to-hit normally but any hits to legs are discarded. The core rules have withstood the test of time remarkably well.
In between doing many-many layers of pinks, I wound up wrapping up my Liao Raven instead, with a merc Catapult ("Koffin 2.0") for my brother hopefully wrapped up today:
Keeping my Liao mechs simple as I need to paint a small horde of those for later this year (2 Blackjacks, Urbie, Catapult and Axman), though when I get around to the Vindicator and Cataphract, I'll be giving those more attention for sure.
Lathe Biosas wrote: It's apparently time to upgrade. I've been using the BattleMech Manual for all of my games, since I prefer to play with 'Mechs and have an undying hatred for Boomerang Spotter Planes.
I was told that there have been some updates. What am I missing, and what do I need to invest in to keep up to date?
Nothing major has changed, aside from new technologies being introduced. IIRC, the biggest rule change is for partial cover. Instead of giving a +3 modifier to hit, now you roll to-hit normally but any hits to legs are discarded. The core rules have withstood the test of time remarkably well.
That changed with Total warfare, 11 years before The Battlemech Manual was printed.
There have been 7 reprintings and 1 additional Errata since then, though. Much of it is either changes in rulings over the last 8 years, typos, or where a couple more words were needed for clarity.
The latest errata since I last checked a month or two ago was on September 17, 2023, roughly a year and a half ago. I don't know of there has been one since, as the page that it is found is currently down.
Stil, there are about 5 pages of updates for the 7th printing and later that comprise pages 21-26 of the errata document. They also show up in the previous 20 pages, but they add a section for the latest set in case someone already has the latest printing, and so can minimize any printouts/PDF space.
Koffin 2.0, the Catapult my brother used throughout the early days of our mercs campaign. Taken as salvage from pirates, he never bothered to repaint it. The name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to his habit of taking a mech, stripping out everything but the bare minimum in armour and heat dissipation, then loading it up with as many LRM's and ammo as it could fit. He did the same with his Stalker and Atlas builds.. ever seen an Atlas be bullied to death by a Commando because it ran out of missiles (he always alpha-striked) and couldn't land a punch?
Kinda hating myself for not having a decent pink paint with more pigment now.
Inherited a vulcan tonight....even got to use it, briefly until it got double tapped by an ultra 20.
This game went over 18 turns.....i know be cause i ran my valkyrie out of the 16 rounds of LRM 15 ammo i had. After which he had to withdraw....as he had already lost both arms and his back up energy weapon.
OK I tried to paint up some 'Mechs today and the damn paint won't stick to them! ?
I've sprayed them with GW leadbelcher and tried to paint them with GW base paints and contrast paints and neither will stick unless I keep applying again and again.
Did I need to wash them first or something? What should I have used? I'm only used to GW miniatures where I can paint them straight out of the box :-(
It's rare, but sometimes yeah, they can be a bit greasy and need a good wash.
On my end, wrapped up, minus decals and tidying tiny spots that always show up in pictures, my "hero" mech, "Punch-out", named as such by my brother because either I'd wind up ejecting due to poor piloting (one mech too many wound up utterly destroyed with me dangling from a parachute..), or the enemy getting a fist through their cockpit, because why else would they put those massive mitts on a missile boat?
Kroem wrote: OK I tried to paint up some 'Mechs today and the damn paint won't stick to them! ?
I've sprayed them with GW leadbelcher and tried to paint them with GW base paints and contrast paints and neither will stick unless I keep applying again and again.
Did I need to wash them first or something? What should I have used? I'm only used to GW miniatures where I can paint them straight out of the box :-(
I haven't used Citadel spray in a decade, I think, but I've been using Krylon and Rustoleum (since they cost a third of Citadel's), and over the last year or so, I've noticed that some of the primer paint hasn't been allowing other paint on them, or the paint I'm using just flows off like a wash.
:shrug:
I've learned if I just stroke slower, it keeps.
And yes, since I've used a fair number of metal and resin models, I've gotten in the habit of washing even plastic, after I do my mold line review, both to make sure that any release agent is off, but it also is good for getting random debris off of it be it removed mold lines or dust.
I tried washing with warm soapy water anyway even though they were already sprayed and it does seem to have helped. I got some green paint on the Awesome yesterday without too much issue. Weirdly Bugmans glow seems to be the paint that sticks best so I'll be having orangy pinky 'Mechs!
i base paint all my battletech minis metal or plastic with Krylon spray paint. a few light coats from a distance and it bonds no problem. the Krylon for plastics is fantastic.
then i go back over it and do the detail work on weapons and such or more complex paint schemes.
Did a little clan on clan battle with the stipulation is we had to use second line mechs-
My opponent brought along a bunch of CII variants and loads of ATMs-
He ran
.highlander IIc
.kraken
.rifleman IIc
.phoenix hawk IIc
.grizzly
I brought-
.stone rhino
.thunder stallion 2
.marauder IIc
.bowman 2
.a point of gnome battle armor riding in a TYR IFV.
We were both trying to focus fire and i shredded the kraken and then the grizzly. he eventually killed all my battle armor and destroyed the bowman, at the end of the game he crippled the thunder stallion but by this point he had also lost his highlander (command pilot) and his Phoenix hawk was mauled.
"Mech 7" is a Battletech: Mechwarrior Destiny actual play featuring Battletech: Alpha Strike Aces where a scrappy band of mismatched gladiators are forged into a mercenary team and thrust into the shadows of galactic conflict across the Inner Sphere. Secret agendas, heavy metal, and heavier firepower collide as these misfits must fight to survive, protect their own, and maybe save the Inner Sphere from a rising storm.
Synopsis:
On Solaris VII, where money is fast and fame is short lived, a pair of down on their luck mercenaries find themselves amidst a unique opportunity to assemble an elite team under the watchful eye of a peculiar employer. Launching a chaotic "tryout" tournament, they assemble a ragtag band of elite castoffs for a mysterious mercenary contract. But the stakes skyrocket as the crew, now dubbed the Mechnificent 7, are drawn into a deadly covert op against the fanatical Word of Blake on the embattled world of Hall. With secret agendas, heavy metal, and even heavier firepower, these misfits must fight to survive, protect their own, and maybe save the Inner Sphere from a rising storm.
Aside from Tex playing as his Randolph P. Checkers, esq character in his beloved Awesome, another player is running around in a Scorpion.
I finally gave Alpha Strike a go last weekend. Fast light mechs are scary.
Took 1 lance of 40 tonners, and 1 lance of mixed lights against a much heavier opponent, and ended up bagging an Orion, a Thunderbolt, and a Centurion in exchange for an Assassin, and a Fireball.
With regular hit table my mechs wouldn't have been able to paper cut the heavies to death before being blown up to kingdom come. Lights surely got a boost in Alpha Strike.
Or maybe.. indulging in an obsession..? I love my Urbies, a lot of fun to paint as well, these will probably be painted up in various Great House colours for a future arena event, as soon as I get the LAM version done.
Other than that, rule of cool and some models I just want for the sake of the collection, like that last Atlas for the scout lance, but damn it's ugly. Also, Firestarter! I think that was the last of the mechs I was missing from my time playing MW5, it being my starter mech.
The Big MAC box should be coming in tomorrow and maybe in April I'll get my hands on a 3D print of the Steiner arena, courtesy of a friend with a printer. 🤞🏻
Wow that is a lot of 'Mechs!
I was looking for a CRM-20, as that was my first 'Mech in MWO, but it looks like there isn't an official version from Catalyst Game Labs?
I see some 3D printed versions, but as most are based in USA it is more than the price of the 'Mech for the shipping.
Normally I show more restraint, but as new stuff trickles in that catches my fancy I tend to snatch it up while it's available around here, as stock is very, very limited. 😅 Also managed to secure a dead tree version of BattleTech Universe, which should be shipping late next week.
I've been looking into prints as well, as I'll have my own printer up and running later this year, but so far, I don't like the look of what's available, though I've mostly come across people who have taken the files directly from MWO and MW5 and turned those into STL's. Love the game, just not the look of their mechs, I much prefer the tabletop look and feel.
What's a CRM-20 though? Google only points me towards the CRB-20 a.k.a. mighty Crab.
Ah yes you're right CRB-20!
I like how it's a Starleague 'Mech which they're swapped more simple components in as the technology base got more disrupted, just a cool concept for me :-)
BrookM wrote: The Crab can be found in the ComStar Battle Level II set.
I uh, got that set, just for the Crab, don't know anything about the other five mechs. 😅
Covering the rest:
Rear row:
Crab - Good energy-based Medium Trooper.
Crockett/Katana - Originally an Assault weight trainer. Actually pretty good and can hop.
Guillotine - Think of a Grasshopper without Hands and SRMs instead of LRMs, and that's about it.
Front row:
Flashman - Good Heavy Trooper. 3 Large Lasers and an array of Medium Lasers. Some variants can keep up with a Timber Wolf.
Mongoose - A Scout Command Mech. Very good at its job. Can chase down a Locust and tear it apart.
Lancelot - A quick energy-based anti-air Mech. About as fragile as a Rifleman, but less likely to blow up from an Ammo explosion.
Managed to secure a copy of the Highlander Command Lance at a reasonable price from Amazon at long last.
On the hobby front, I did more than just buy boxes of 'Mechs thankfully! 😅
Redid my Archer in a lighter green, still need to find a decal or two for my beloved. Also did my second Griffin in more or less the 40th Anniversary boxed set colours, minus the checks and whatnot, not that barmy just yet.
And rebased my bugs and painted up a Commando for future demo games.
Right now working on the Firestarter, a gaggle of Urbies and some Davion stuff.
Picked up a few new bits of GF9 hex tech terrain, along with the sommerset strikers box-
i can finally do my all "hatamoto" lance-
.27T daniel II
.28T
.28T shin
.hitotsume kozo
Spoiler:
I set up my city/industrial area table with a
mix of old JR miniature and hex tech battle tech terrain with a bunch of scattered vehicle wrecks for added atmosphere.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Game 1 was a mixed lance battle-
.battlemaster
.mauler
.warhammer
.cronus
I was facing off against the AXE lance-
.caesar
.nightsky
.axeman
.berserker
My opponent tried to sucker me into the industrial area but i opted to use my range advantage and deployed where i had long narrow streets.
The warhammer took the worst of it loosing his entire right side, but since it was an 8D i had a standard engine and continued to fight.
He did manage to get me into melee range, but bad dice luck on his part saw him fall repeatedly and he finally gave up. he had 3 mechs left and all were damaged. i had all 4 of my mechs left with the battlemaster untouched and the mauler with minimal damage.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Game 2 i didn';t take many pics of, we decided to do a little civil war era medium battle
I brought a vulcan, 2 variants of bushwhacker and a phoenix hawk. this time i was facing a hatchetman, axeman, wolfhound and shadow hawk.
I managed first blood taking out the hatchetman, but i lost the LBX10 arm on one of my bushwhackers in the process. That ended up hurting me later since he was the last man standing on my side facing off against 3 enemy mechs.....not a fight i could win.
Be sure to "Adjust donation" before checkout to give a better percentage to charity. They let you apportion the price without raising the cost but the default doesn't give much to charity.
It was a chore to find the right green, but so damned satisfying to have finally nailed it down. May try and go the extra mile with a LAM Urbie on the highlights at some point.
Last night, my vacation project has arrived, printed up by a friend:
Spoiler:
One part short, but that will be printed up soon and probably be in hand next Tuesday. The final build will be glued down to a board, the perfect Essentials demo board / Urbie Derby arena for a future charity event.
My Highlanders set also came in and heh, only now do I see that the optional base piece for the Highlander is a crushed Urbie, uncalled for!
Eilif wrote: Be sure to "Adjust donation" before checkout to give a better percentage to charity. They let you apportion the price without raising the cost but the default doesn't give much to charity.
Definitely agree with this - I want to say the bundles used to default to giving more to charity, but that might be a rose-tinted memory talking.
There used to be a visible slider on the page that allowed you to adjust the percentages, but they've hidden those away now. They're still there, but you need to click through now to get to it.
BrookM wrote: There used to be a visible slider on the page that allowed you to adjust the percentages, but they've hidden those away now. They're still there, but you need to click through now to get to it.
They put the button to "Adjust Donation" below the "Checkout" button so most folks probably won't even notice it. I think having to click that button and then click "Custom Donation" again before the sliders for adjusting appear is a fairly intentional, sneaky way of doing it, especially since this is the currently the default donation:
-$13.75 to Catalyst Game Labs
-$1.25 to No Kid Hungry/Share Our Strength
-$10 to Humble
I used to split it pretty evenly, but now I push the Humble level to the lowest every time (which is usually pegged at about 25 percent) and split the rest between Charity and the author/company.
When Humble got bought out some parts of their site got predatory - eg pausing on Humble Choice is a nightmare. You have to go through several pages confirming it and on each one they swap the highlighted yes/no buttons around and such.
Used to be very single one soft-encouraged you to unpause/not pause now its a mix so even when it is soft guiding you toward the thing you want you have to pause and double check.
Oh yeah, the pausing on the Humble Choice is a right pain in the arse and very scummy, I've had twice now that I thought I had paused it, the amount of times you need to click to confirm you want to pause it is absurd and still I got charged for it.
So, I got one of those map scale Union class dropships, figured it would make for a neat display model and it is nicely detailed, but damn, feeling a bit ripped off what they're asking for it ($45 USD!) and what you get for that amount: a hollow plastic ball with four feetsies.
Also got a Visigoth at least, plus a long overdue Inner Sphere heavy lance.
BrookM wrote: So, I got one of those map scale Union class dropships, figured it would make for a neat display model and it is nicely detailed, but damn, feeling a bit ripped off what they're asking for it ($45 USD!) and what you get for that amount: a hollow plastic ball with four feetsies.
Also got a Visigoth at least, plus a long overdue Inner Sphere heavy lance.
Ah... it's probably the most spheroid of spheroid dropships. What were you expecting?
BrookM wrote: Nice! I really need to find a Clan I don't completely hate and do some work on my backlog of Clan 'Mechs at some point as well.
On my end, printed and painted up a 'Mech pilot for a future (maybe Destiny?) thing. Meet sergeant Florence Saunders, former AFFS:
Neat fig. Where's it from?
I've used Hero Forge, which has gotten some nice clothing options that more or less (in my head canon at least), make for neat 'Mech pilot attire, in this case a diving rig making for a nice cooling vest and the pants + knee protectors from a luchadores outfit remind me of the pilot art from MW5. I used their kitbash function to put a helmet under her arm for that fighter pilot feel I sometimes get.
BrookM wrote: Nice! I really need to find a Clan I don't completely hate and do some work on my backlog of Clan 'Mechs at some point as well.
2 points on this for everyone:
1) There might be a Clan scheme you like, even if you don't care for their Clan. Not every Galaxy uses the same scheme in a Clan.
2) Unless you're being very dedicated, or running a campaign, it doesn't matter what you paint them. Make it up, or paint them in camo colors like olive drab or desert tan. Heck, make up your own scheme so you know which models are yours.
BrookM wrote: Nice! I really need to find a Clan I don't completely hate and do some work on my backlog of Clan 'Mechs at some point as well.
On my end, printed and painted up a 'Mech pilot for a future (maybe Destiny?) thing. Meet sergeant Florence Saunders, former AFFS:
Neat fig. Where's it from?
I've used Hero Forge, which has gotten some nice clothing options that more or less (in my head canon at least), make for neat 'Mech pilot attire, in this case a diving rig making for a nice cooling vest and the pants + knee protectors from a luchadores outfit remind me of the pilot art from MW5. I used their kitbash function to put a helmet under her arm for that fighter pilot feel I sometimes get.
Alrighty, new project time! I'm putting together a pirate band for use as NPC's / cheapo opposition for future narrative games, pretty much grabbing whatever I had on hand that would work during the Succession Wars era. So far the theme is.. old stuff nicked from militia and recovered from scrapheaps, mostly energy weapons over slug throwers and missiles (ammo is expensive after all), plus if it has one or two hands, all the better to nab stuff with. I am aware that the Flea is probably the outlier here in terms of rarity (not seen again until Wolf's Dragoons returned was it?), but we're not too fussed about that stuff for our thing.
Flea
Javelin
Ostscout
Stinger
Blackjack
Chameleon
Centurion
Sentinel
Starslayer
Ostsol
Warhammer
Banshee
As for support, a pair of Maxim's and Galleons to ferry around troops and haul off the good stuff too small for a 'Mech to grab.
And a work in progress test model, which will all have a weathered, rusty, chipped away scheme. I may do the odd 'Mech in different colours, maybe try and do a former Lyran 'Mech this way.
Set up a river city table for some battle tech tonight.
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
A couple of the guys got in a game while i was busy elsewhere.
Spoiler:
My first game was over in 4 turns....loads of crits, leg amputations, and we both decapitated each others lance commanders on turn 2
Sad, i wanted more action for my hatamoto themed force.
Spoiler:
The lace game was against a comstar lvl2 with a re-enforced 2nd swords lance.
The hohiro really saved the day once he got into the fight (comstar did their best to hide from his guns much of the first half of the game). taking down the marauder II, king crab, and battle cobra, i managed to tag team the flashman with mediums. the only loss on our side was self inflicted critical falling damage on our no-datchi. even with the win, most of the mechs in out force were pretty battered.
BrookM wrote: Alrighty, new project time! I'm putting together a pirate band for use as NPC's / cheapo opposition for future narrative games, pretty much grabbing whatever I had on hand that would work during the Succession Wars era. So far the theme is.. old stuff nicked from militia and recovered from scrapheaps, mostly energy weapons over slug throwers and missiles (ammo is expensive after all), plus if it has one or two hands, all the better to nab stuff with. I am aware that the Flea is probably the outlier here in terms of rarity (not seen again until Wolf's Dragoons returned was it?), but we're not too fussed about that stuff for our thing.
Flea
Javelin
Ostscout
Stinger
Blackjack
Chameleon
Centurion
Sentinel
Starslayer
Ostsol
Warhammer
Banshee
As for support, a pair of Maxim's and Galleons to ferry around troops and haul off the good stuff too small for a 'Mech to grab.
And a work in progress test model, which will all have a weathered, rusty, chipped away scheme. I may do the odd 'Mech in different colours, maybe try and do a former Lyran 'Mech this way.
The Outscout was also pretty rare. Premier scout mech if original sensors were still intact, pretty much worthless if not.
Catalyst Game Labs Acquires Iron Wind Metals
May 9, 2025
Catalyst Game Labs is pleased to announce it has acquired full ownership of Iron Wind Metals, located in the Greater Cincinnati area. While Iron Wind Metals (and its Ral Partha brand) is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Catalyst Game Labs, it will continue as its own division, specializing in metal miniatures manufacturing for a variety of companies, with a heavy focus on BattleTech.
“I purchased my first Ral Partha miniature–a Warhammer–in 1987, with no idea of where BattleTech would take me,” said Randall N. Bills, Creative Director at Catalyst Game Labs. “By 1996 I was working at FASA Corporation, and of course had a regiment of heavy metal by that time—including a swath of Earthdawn and various dragon miniatures from Ral Partha, which my wife Tara painted wonderfully.
“Soon thereafter I met Mike Noe for the first time and continued to work with him–and his great team–in a variety of capacities for the next thirty years, continuing through the transitions from FASA to WizKids to FanPro and to Catalyst, and Ral Partha to Iron Wind Metals. To me, Mike Noe is Iron Wind Metals. And Iron Wind Metals is BattleTech. While it’s been magnificent to launch millions of plastic miniatures onto gaming tables around the world, the metals will always have their crucial place, mortaring the seams of BattleTech.”
Catalyst is committed to this portion of the Ral Partha legacy begun fifty years ago, ensuring metal miniatures of all kinds continue to flow to the tens of thousands of hobbyists who enjoy the craftsmanship and passion in this all-important part of the hobby industry.
“Last July marked my 42nd anniversary in the game industry, and I had no plans to quit any time soon,” said Mike Noe, President of Iron Wind Metals. “However, Melissa, my partner in life and in Iron Wind, has been battling health issues and now needs me with her as often as possible. So, after more than 40 years in the game industry and more than 20 with Iron Wind Metals, it was time for me to step back and take care of my family.
“Fortunately, Loren Coleman and Catalyst Game Labs stepped up, allowing me to gradually back away and stay home with Melissa while letting Iron Wind continue with business as usual, bringing metal BattleTech under their wing. I remain involved with IWM on a limited basis and will continue to do so for as long as my help and input is needed or wanted, but it brings me great joy to know, as I let go of the reins, that Iron Wind is in such experienced and capable hands.”
“I cannot thank Loren, Randall, and the rest of the Catalyst team enough. Nor can I sufficiently thank all our loyal customers and friends for all their help and support these many years. The last four decades have been an amazing run, but as they say all good things must come to an end. I leave with many happy memories, secure in the knowledge that the company I founded and the legacy from which it began will carry on stronger than ever under Catalyst’s able stewardship.
“I hope to see many of you at game cons in the years to come, but for now, farewell and good gaming…”
I think some people are not going to be happy about this.
I've already seen a video from one saying to buy Ironwind Metals models because they aren't CG! And they just posted a video on this purchase... Haven't seen the second one yet.
Last Friday we did a little King of the Hill, with the terrain from Heroscape making up the hill. We could choose 5 Heavy Introtech Mechs, and then pick one to try to take it to the top.
I made a bit of a meme list and started off with the trusty STK-4P Stalker. "But wait, a Stalker's 85 tons!", you say. In this case, not so much. Dropping an LRM-10 and its Ammo Bay, along with a ton of Structure, you basically have the same Armor, almost the same weapon load out (sans one LRM-10), and same cooling (speed is still the slow 3/5/0, though).
Somehow, I managed to get this slow, lumbering beast up the hill and to the top by the next to last Turn. Even more surprising is that I took an early Gyro TAC hit, and fell down 2-3 times before reaching it.
Spoiler:
I was in Forced Withdrawal at the very end, though, but oddly just barely. Who knows how I made it that far.
Since i am going to be out for a couple months after this weekend i did a big send off with house kurita-
Got in 3 games and won 2 of them.
I ran my themed MRM/C3 lance 2 times with one small change. the first time i ran a mauler one of the only good ones with C3 and LBX10s, and then later i replaced it with the MRM sunder.
otherwise i had a shugenja, catapult and crusader. the first game i got spanked pretty hard. the crusader basically got one-shot by an ultra 20 alkl hitting the same location and i basically couldn't hit anything the entire game. the last game i ran the sunder loadout and managed to nearly table my opponent. i was hitting average but i scored an amazing amount of through armor crits. i was fighting a guillotine, ceasar, banshee and thunderbolt. the only one i didn't crit engine kill was the guillotine (i only severed and arm (with a crit) and a bunch of other damage and he was the last one on the table.
The second game was more silly, we did all mediums. this time i was facing a hunchback, nightsky, bushwhacker and enforcer. i brought a Non C3 lance (well i had some C3 slaves but no master so it wasn't on) a wolverine, shadow hawk and 2 goblin IFVs with raiden battle armor squads in each.
We were using expanded ammo explosion rules this game and it pretty much won me the game when the hunchback detonated. i lost the wolverine, one goblin and both battle armor squads, but he also additionally lost the bushwhacker and nearly lost the nightsky, i got to it the next turn. the enforcer decided to with draw instead of facing my remaining two units.
Been too busy with work, life and whatnot for hobby stuff, but managed to get a Grey Death Legion set at long last.
Also had a chance to snatch up some Legendary Mechwarrior blind boxes, got three and I got.. two Warhammers and a tank destroyer. 😭 No more gacha for me.
Groundwork has been lain for a future cooperative campaign after I introduced my brother to the core rules. He loves the heavy crunch but is more keen on playing cooperatively, so with another friend we'll be doing a Chaos Campaign at some point, using pretty much the same restrictions as found in the Mercenaries booklet. Okay, we're starting off with three Mechs instead of two for the same starting BV and heh, it was a fun challenge to find a small enough bug to squeeze in alongside the Catapult CPLT-1C and Blackjack BJ-1DB, so I went with the Locust LCT-1V, acting as the canary and spotter for the others. Succession War era by the way, before things get too crazy tech-wise. Plus, the intro level Mechs are still great to play around with, especially for new players.
But before the grand adventure begins, going to have my brother and friend do a training mission against one another first, in a Chameleon mech each. After that, our first PvE mission, the "Trial by Fire" scenario from the Armoured Combat boxed set, where two lights and a medium need to take down a damaged BattleMaster that's trying to escape. After that, high adventure!
Campaigns have received positive response here locally, even with regular games during the week.
The Chaos system as found in the Mercenaries box, and expanded in Hot Spots: Hinterlands, has proven useful in keeping paperwork to a minimum and easy to process.
Yeah, we'll be trying to keep the paperwork to a minimum for running the company, unless someone really wants to go all in on tweaking every contract to their heart's content for better salvage or payout.
Two main problems I am struggling with right now are the following, we're not starting anytime soon thankfully (still need to paint up that Blackjack and Locust) any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated!
1. Any ideas on how to best run NPC opposing forces? My initial thought is to assign each Mech a very simply pilot profile to dictate how they would behave in battle (GREEN = cautious and always heat conscious, YELLOW = takes some risks with combat and heat while RED = aggressive and not fussed about running hot), but would love to hear if there’s any better suggestions or maybe even tools out there for this sort of thing?
2. How do people go about purchasing mechs during their campaign? I am aware of the requirements, but how does one represent a marketplace and prevent players from just saving up and buying that Atlas?
BrookM wrote: Yeah, we'll be trying to keep the paperwork to a minimum for running the company, unless someone really wants to go all in on tweaking every contract to their heart's content for better salvage or payout.
Two main problems I am struggling with right now are the following, we're not starting anytime soon thankfully (still need to paint up that Blackjack and Locust) any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated!
1. Any ideas on how to best run NPC opposing forces? My initial thought is to assign each Mech a very simply pilot profile to dictate how they would behave in battle (GREEN = cautious and always heat conscious, YELLOW = takes some risks with combat and heat while RED = aggressive and not fussed about running hot), but would love to hear if there’s any better suggestions or maybe even tools out there for this sort of thing?
2. How do people go about purchasing mechs during their campaign? I am aware of the requirements, but how does one represent a marketplace and prevent players from just saving up and buying that Atlas?
I don't know about the new rules, but the original Mercernaries rules had rolls you had to make to see if a particular piece of equipment was available. Common stuff might be available on a 4+ on 2d6, while rare stuff might require a 9+,10+, or even more. And if you failed all the rolls for the category, NO mechs of that weight class were available at the time.
But by and large, merc games work best if you either have some sort of 'referee' to run the Bonding Authority and the OpFor, or the missions are set up so two merc units can go head to head, but have mission objectives beyond (or even instead of) 'kill the other side to the last 'mech'.
BrookM wrote: 1. Any ideas on how to best run NPC opposing forces? My initial thought is to assign each Mech a very simply pilot profile to dictate how they would behave in battle (GREEN = cautious and always heat conscious, YELLOW = takes some risks with combat and heat while RED = aggressive and not fussed about running hot), but would love to hear if there’s any better suggestions or maybe even tools out there for this sort of thing?
If it's a co-op campaign, ACES would be the option to use, if it were available.
Otherwise, I've basically set up the OpFor based on what I know people have, and proceed from there. Always trying not to bring anything too nuts or over-powered.
BrookM wrote: 2. How do people go about purchasing mechs during their campaign? I am aware of the requirements, but how does one represent a marketplace and prevent players from just saving up and buying that Atlas?
First step is to use the MUL, and make sure they are restricted there. I.e., if they are Mercs, they have access to Mercenary and General Inner Sphere faction.
Upon completion, maybe allow an option to purchase a Mech from their faction, but limit it based on their reputation with that faction. I.e., you're not getting an Atlas from the Lyrans after their first mission, but maybe after your 5th successful contract with them?
One way that I've limited them, and another campaign runner has done it, is to limit 'Mech access by weight certifications.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Finished painting all the rest of my Battle Armor, as well as some Tanks and 'Mechs.
Isn't ACES Alpha Strike only though? I've had it on my wishlist for quite some time now though regardless.
I'm slowly painting up three lances of pirate mechs as the first real op-for, even went so far as to build them as a command lance, recon lance and battle lance for those bonuses and whatnot.
BrookM wrote: Isn't ACES Alpha Strike only though? I've had it on my wishlist for quite some time now though regardless.
I'm slowly painting up three lances of pirate mechs as the first real op-for, even went so far as to build them as a command lance, recon lance and battle lance for those bonuses and whatnot.
Yes. They're working on a version of Aces that works with the Total Warfare rules, but it's a way off.
) Warriors.
I have the cards, but I'll be damned if I know how to read those hehe! Did pick up a few of the boxes as they came in; heavy battle & sweep lance, battle & fire lance and the rifle & command lance, do want me some tanks and SRM carriers for future stuff.
