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H.B.M.C. wrote:And the good news is Catalyst is about to reveal their new boxed sets - the 25th Anniversary box, which should come with new plastics of all the unseens, and the Clan box, which comes with 15 of the original 16 invasion-era Omni-Mechs.

Those two boxes combined with the standard Intro Box will give you enough 'Mechs to last a long, long time.

Yes sounds great.

H.B.M.C. wrote:And the good news is Catalyst is about to reveal their new boxed sets - the 25th Anniversary box, which should come with new plastics of all the unseens, and the Clan box, which comes with 15 of the original 16 invasion-era Omni-Mechs.

Those two boxes combined with the standard Intro Box will give you enough 'Mechs to last a long, long time.

NEW PLASTICS OF THE UNSEEN?!?!

OMG.

Catalyst is bringing Happy back.

That isn't confirmed, but hoped for by a lot of people.

Balance wrote:I've also assumed that 'conquered' in the BT universe often just means that certain chokepoints are controlled: the capitol, any startports, and similar. There's still going to be a lot of guerilla fighting if the natives are capable.

"conquered" meaning all the enemy can scrape together is scarecrow infantry. Guerillas can still strike at softer targets, but with aerospace assets under control it would be difficult to mass enough troops to potentially do any significant damage on a planetary scale....

Balance wrote:Was the clan advantage as described above (I.E. Outnumbered 5-1 when taking a planet) intended to in part represent the mobility advantage an attacker in orbit would have? I.E. the defender has 50 mechs but needs to spread them around several hot-spots, possibly on several continents, so it's not as big a deal for the 10 clan mechs to pick a single critical point to focus on.

Nope. The Clans were really ballsy sons-of-bitches and TOLD the defenders before hand where they were landing, and politely (for a Clanner) asking what the planet was defending with. It is a Clan ritual called batchall designed among the Clans to limit casualties by having a small number of units fight away from an objective for control of it. The Clanners then bid among themselves for the right to take the objective with as little force as possible and still gain victory. Very glorious, honorable, and ballsy. Stopped working as well when the Inner Sphere just lied to them about what was on planet...

So no. They would land, see the Inner Sphere forces and beat the Holy gak out of them. Hard and fast.

I've also assumed that 'conquered' in the BT universe often just means that certain chokepoints are controlled: the capitol, any startports, and similar. There's still going to be a lot of guerilla fighting if the natives are capable.

The people of the Battletech universe are pretty jaded. On some border worlds, they almost don't care how the fight turns out. It is just a change of flags, currency, and government forms. Also, guy with pistol of rifle, even with a dozen of his closest buddies, aren't much of a match against a 'Mech.

Mattlov wrote:

Balance wrote:Was the clan advantage as described above (I.E. Outnumbered 5-1 when taking a planet) intended to in part represent the mobility advantage an attacker in orbit would have? I.E. the defender has 50 mechs but needs to spread them around several hot-spots, possibly on several continents, so it's not as big a deal for the 10 clan mechs to pick a single critical point to focus on.

Nope. The Clans were really ballsy sons-of-bitches and TOLD the defenders before hand where they were landing, and politely (for a Clanner) asking what the planet was defending with. It is a Clan ritual called batchall designed among the Clans to limit casualties by having a small number of units fight away from an objective for control of it. The Clanners then bid among themselves for the right to take the objective with as little force as possible and still gain victory. Very glorious, honorable, and ballsy. Stopped working as well when the Inner Sphere just lied to them about what was on planet...

So no. They would land, see the Inner Sphere forces and beat the Holy gak out of them. Hard and fast.

Huh. I didn't know that... To be honest, that makes the Clans sound a bit 'cheesy as designed' but admittedly the ER weapons were a big advantage.

One thing that has always been jarring about Battletech for me is the idea that a planet can be 'defended' or assaulted by a miniscule number of mechs. No matter how big they are, it's just the ability to actively cover land mass!

I can completely accept that many worlds, specifically border worlds, don't care about changes of allegiance. Very reminiscent of historical periods where allegiances, even religious, would change based on the last army that came through the area, and definitely fits the 'pseudo-feudal' feel of BT. I'm surprised the Clans would get the same effect, as their culture seems much more focused on submitting to rule by the warriors than the IS cultures.

The Clans had a really HOLY CRAP feel to them. Most of the planets taken wanted to fight back, and many did in very small, relatively pointless ways.

It was the WAY the Clans did it. Nobody fought a battle like that. It was silly to CHOOSE face to face assaults as the way of fighting. 'Mechs were too precious to waste like that.

Add to the fact that Elementals scared the bejeesus out of people and you can pacify some people really quickly.

I saw the Elementals mentions elsewhere to. What exactly are those?

Elementals were the original battle armoured infantry units in BTech. Coming in little squads of five and armed with 'Mech scale weapons (the smallest ones - Machine Gun, Flamer, ER Small Lasers and SRM2's) and having enough armour to survive hits from things like Medium Lasers, they became wel known for their swarm and leg attacks, where a squad of them could bring down a 'Mech many times their own weight. They were crazy effective, and as they could be carried into combat via hand-holds on Omni-Mechs, a Clan 'Mech could race in, drop off a Point of Elementals, and then continue fighitng. The Inner Sphere had nothing like them, and regular infantry were just no match for them.

It was a dramatic shift in the way infantry were used in the BattleTech universe and now, nearly 30 years on, everyone has their own form of BattleArmour.

pombe wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:And the good news is Catalyst is about to reveal their new boxed sets - the 25th Anniversary box, which should come with new plastics of all the unseens, and the Clan box, which comes with 15 of the original 16 invasion-era Omni-Mechs.

Those two boxes combined with the standard Intro Box will give you enough 'Mechs to last a long, long time.

NEW PLASTICS OF THE UNSEEN?!?!

OMG.

Catalyst is bringing Happy back.

This is what happens when the Fans keep a game alive for decades. God I love Battletech...

H.B.M.C. wrote:
It was a dramatic shift in the way infantry were used in the BattleTech universe and now, nearly 30 years on, everyone has their own form of BattleArmour.

But the Elemental is still the gold standard to which all other Battle Armor is judged. It really is an excellent all around design.

Finally my order arrived. The Kurita and Davion minipack, starterbox, Sword and Dragon and the advanced rulebook.
^^; i'll have reading to do! And people to harass with questions on the rules!

Seriously, go to www.classicbattletech.com and get on the forums. You will get a LOT more people answering questions.

Mattlov wrote:Seriously, go to www.classicbattletech.com and get on the forums. You will get a LOT more people answering questions.

It's always nice to get some Battletech action on Dakka though...


Maybe we should try to get some of the CBT.com guys to post here.

Yeah i'm already there, i was semi-joking. ^^
I'm also on the Dutch site of Battletech.

Latest info seems to indicate that the 25th Anniversary box will have the 24 'Mechs from the original Introductory Boxed Set, plus high quality plastic miniatures for four of the Unseen - smart money's on a Warhammer, Battlemaster, Marauder and Phoenix Hawk.

So basically it'll be the starterset with a few extra minis?
Any info on what the Clan Box will have?

Been reading the Quick Start rules and will try the starter scenario tonight with my brother.
The rules all are sensible so far. Though it may take some getting used to. As i'm more accustomed to WH40K, VOID 1.1, Anima Tactics etc which are non hex/non turning around orientated.

Darthvegeta800 wrote:
Any info on what the Clan Box will have?

15 of the original 16 Clan Omnis (no Dasher/Fire Moth) and 5 Points (bases) of Elementals.

Been reading the Quick Start rules and will try the starter scenario tonight with my brother.
The rules all are sensible so far. Though it may take some getting used to. As i'm more accustomed to WH40K, VOID 1.1, Anima Tactics etc which are non hex/non turning around orientated.

Just remember it doesn't take many 'Mechs for a good game. You can have a lot of fun with just a lance (4 'Mechs) on each side.

Yup. Don't plan to use more early on. Heck i may try a few games with just 2-3 on each side until me and my brother master the rules.

2 on 2 is a good game too. I'd recommend staying with the Medium weight stuff to start with. Enjoy balance before moving to ridiculous speed or firepower.

Okies will do! Thanks for the advice.

So the 25th anniversary set, is it just a box of mechs? Or will it also include quickstart rules and maps and stuff?

Hordini wrote:So the 25th anniversary set, is it just a box of mechs? Or will it also include quickstart rules and maps and stuff?

assuming they follow the standard model, it should have maps and rules. The boxed set should be an "Everything you need to start playing" sort of affair.

So maybe it would be better to wait and just get the 25th anniversary box, rather than pick up the current starter box?

Is there any info on when the 25th anniversary and Clan boxes will be released? Sometime this year I guess?

I was told to buy the current one. As the release date may be still quite a while away. And given the price i could just as well pick it up again later for extra mini's.

Well, you buy the boxed sets for the mechs. This current boxed set has 24, which would cost $240.00 for the metal equivalents. Granted, the plastic is a little bendy, but at 1/6th the cost of metal, that's fine. The only reason to wait would be if there was going to be alot of duplication between the mech types, and even then it wouldn't be a tragedy to get multiples of a single mech.

So I think you should go ahead and pick up the current boxed set and enjoy some Btech while waiting for the latest boxed sets to be produced, neither of which have I seen a release date for.

It is probably a safe bet the 25th Anniversary box will come out at GenCon.

I can almost guarantee it will be this year...

I'd get all three:

Current Intro
25th Ann
Clan

You've then got a reinforced Battalion of Inner Sphere 'Mechs (4 Companies + Command Lance), and a full Trinary of Clan 'Mechs (including one Nova of 5 'Mechs and 5 Points of Elementals).

The plastic miniatures aren't the highest quality in the world, but really that doesn't matter. Aside from a few bigger mould lines here and there they look good once painted, and with two of each type you can paint one set one colour and the other set another colour and have two distinct forces. With 67 'Mechs to start with you'll be playing a lot of games before you even think about buying another 'Mech.

As for what scenario to start with, the Introbox's scenario is a good one - Cicada & Enforcer vs Hermes & Hunchback. It's the one I first played and it changed the way I viewed the game completely - I played the side with the Cicada, but thought it was 'crap' because it had low armour and pathetic guns. I quickly learnt what speed in BTech was all about, and the Cicada is now one of my fav 'Mechs. In the Introbox, the Cicada config they give you for the demo scenario is simply the best Cicada variant ever made - decent armour, speedy, and great firepower. You'll respect what it can do by the end.

I remember starting with the 3rd Edition box, in a game that was Wolverine/Stinger vs. Griffin/Wasp.

I have hated the Wolverine since that first game.

What did it do to you?