BattleTech: Clan invasion Kickstarter live.

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**Dryaktylus**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
Thanks for showing up...

You're welcome. As far as I know it's not forbidden to look at threads and share opinions. Keep your excitement and maybe we'll see us in this thread in 25 years.

**Albertorius**

Dryaktylus wrote:
I never understood the excitement for this game. Played it ith a friend I guess 25 years ago and it was extremely boring. And the miniatures were garbage.

Erm... after all those years they come out with this? A cheap board game miniature from the early 90s?

Well, there's a strong community out there I suppose. Can't understand why, but we're all strange guys collecting miniatures of soldiers, tanks and robots.

And the question is... why are you here, then? People don't usually go out of their way to crap on stuff they don't like or follow. I mean, there is probably a reason other than "hey, I'm going to piss on these people's cheerios, it will be fun!". Right?

**kodos**

why are people excited about a game?

because it is fun to play and/or because of the backstory

BT has fluff were only 40k comes close (by the pure amount, not in quality) and if someone likes the game depends on what people want

I cannot understand how people play 40k just because there are good looking but expensive wound markers
but each his own

PS: and BT is a boardgame, so having good looking boardgame models in the right scale to each other (so already better than GW) is a big thing

**H.B.M.C.**

Albertorius wrote:
People don't usually go out of their way to crap on stuff they don't like or follow.

That'd be like me hunting down every Mantic or Prodos thread I could find to gak on everyone who enjoys their stuff. Wouldn't make sense.

**warboss**

Albertorius wrote:
Dryaktylus wrote:
I never understood the excitement for this game. Played it ith a friend I guess 25 years ago and it was extremely boring. And the miniatures were garbage.

Erm... after all those years they come out with this? A cheap board game miniature from the early 90s?

Well, there's a strong community out there I suppose. Can't understand why, but we're all strange guys collecting miniatures of soldiers, tanks and robots.

And the question is... why are you here, then? People don't usually go out of their way to crap on stuff they don't like or follow. I mean, there is probably a reason other than "hey, I'm going to piss on these people's cheerios, it will be fun!". Right?

Yeah. This... This is not the way. And that's coming from someone who for 30 years has wanted to like tabletop Battletech but never actually did because the rules and minis actively discouraged it. That said... Objectively speaking, the miniatures and designs have finally markedly improved in quality across the line for the first time in decades with the latest series of mega releases so I'm happy for fans of the game.

**Alpharius Walks**

Glad to see you got your stuff HBMC.

**ChargerIIC**

Dryaktylus wrote:
I never understood the excitement for this game. Played it ith a friend I guess 25 years ago and it was extremely boring. And the miniatures were garbage.

H.B.M.C. wrote:
I am now a proud father!

Just look at how cute he is:

*snip*

Awww!

Erm... after all those years they come out with this? A cheap board game miniature from the early 90s?

Well, there's a strong community out there I suppose. Can't understand why, but we're all strange guys collecting miniatures of soldiers, tanks and robots.

I don't think you are remembering the 1990s BT plastic very well....

**Stormonu**

Gad, Plasttech...

Personally, I've always loved the original Dougram & Robotech/Macross mechs (& Crusher Joe) the game was based off, and wouldn't have picked it up if it hadn't had those mechs. That initial buy-in got me interested in the whole game overall, and there's been some designs beyond the originals I love (Axeman, Vulture & Mad Cat, just to name a couple)

So, I'm really glad to see the reseen return - and they look good to me, and it's nice to see all the mechs get a similiar facelift.

Now, if MM would just get me my sets...

**TalonZahn**

Got the bog box today.

Everything looks fantastic, although I'm missing a coin and my Legendary Salvage Box....

Other Salvages were:

2 x Grendel
Puma
Shadowcat
Stormcrow
Fenris

Urbie of course.

On to the pile of shame!

**H.B.M.C.**

Would've loved a Ryoken in one of my salvage boxes over that third Shadowcat.

Boy I hope my friend gets a good duplicate he doesn't want.

**ChargerIIC**

Any news on when Wave two ships? I'm debating getting a couple salvage boxes as sticking stuffers

**totalfailure**

ChargerIIC wrote:
Any news on when Wave two ships? I'm debating getting a couple salvage boxes as sticking stuffers

Not going to happen. IF nothing goes wrong, the earliest wave 2 would be arriving is March/April 2021. If there are production problems, deadlines missed, world situations, it could be quite a bit later.

**weasel_beef**

Wave one came in this week. Awesome stuff, aside from the slightly misshapen dice. Even then...I gave them a few throws and wasn't rolling the same number every time so that was encouraging. Hopefully they'll do something about it.

Other than that...great stuff and I couldn't be happier w/ the new models. T-shirt I ordered was too big...which is my bad. Hoping it shrinks in the wash.

**H.B.M.C.**

Friend of mine managed to order both the Inner Sphere Lance boxes twice over. Not sure why.

He's offered up the following as a trade for my extra Shadowcat:

Legends Archer
Marauder
Warhammer
Rifleman
Mad Cat
Stinger
Koshi
Phoenix Hawk

My brain says "Phoenix Hawk" but my heart says "Warhammer"... or "... steal his Ryoken!".

**BrianDavion**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
Friend of mine managed to order both the Inner Sphere Lance boxes twice over. Not sure why.

He's offered up the following as a trade for my extra Shadowcat:

Legends Archer
Marauder
Warhammer
Rifleman
Mad Cat
Stinger
Koshi
Phoenix Hawk

My brain says "Phoenix Hawk" but my heart says "Warhammer"... or "... steal his Ryoken!".

If you don't have a Phawk for god's sake get yourself a Phawk.

**H.B.M.C.**

Of course I have a Phoenix Hawk. I have the Project Phoenix one, and the one that came with this Kickstarter.

They're a very common 'Mech, which is why my brain is saying "Phoenix Hawk", as it makes the most sense.

**Nurglitch**

It's pretty cool to see how the line of otherwise random designs is growing to have design similarities, like between the Awesome, Thug, Zeus, Dragon, or like the Warhammer and Crocket.

**BrianDavion**

So check your email folks, I just got a code for my free PDF of the battle of Tuyykkaid sourcebook. some fun stuff.

**H.B.M.C.**

That new Ryoken. 4 ER Meds and a Gauss Rifle. Nice.

**BrianDavion**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
That new Ryoken. 4 ER Meds and a Gauss Rifle. Nice.

agreed. Tied to a targeting computer too. mmmmm nummy

**H.B.M.C.**

Friend of mine who managed to order extras by accident brought his stuff around for me to sort out today.

Another friend kept going on about how if there was a spare Kodiak and/or Hellion he wants those. I doubt my friend ordered a second Ad-Hoc star by accident, so I decided to change my pledge again and add a second Ad-Hoc star so he can have them when it finally arrives.

Also added a Ghost Bear T-Shirt. Wore the Jade Falcon one I got all day today. Surprisingly good quality.

**infinite_array**

So apparently Catalyst is working with Brent Evans and Blaine Lee Pardoe to make unassembled/variant plastic minis.

**Kanluwen**

There's a huuuuuuuuge bit of info there:

With that said, we’ve never found a viable way to deliver unassembled or variant versions of our plastic miniatures… until now. Two of Catalyst’s very own–Art Director Brent Evans, and mainstay author Blaine Lee Pardoe–have teamed up to embark on a massive venture: creating a new plastic miniatures production company here in the United States.

This is going to be a massive adventure, and Catalyst is absolutely behind Brent & Blaine, as having a US-based company that can manufacturer high-quality, variant plastic miniatures–both assembled and unassembled–has long been gaming’s unreachable unicorn.

In the next couple of months they will produce the first two 'Mechs that will be offered through the Catalyst store: the Stormcrow TC and the “Clan Buster” Black Knight, both from the technical readout section of the Battle of Tukayyid campaign book above.

The miniatures team has authorized our sharing some behind-the-scenes peaks into the production efforts, starting with relatively raw shots of the designs as these variants were “pieced and parted,” as well as some of the first test prints. Worth noting is that the Stormcrow will have both the B variant, and TC (Tukayyid Configuration), whereas the Black Knight will have optional poses for forward leg and hands. Finally, we also feel its worth emphasising that these are not simply 3d printed models but instead will be fully cast, high-quality plastic miniatures.

Not only are their own staff doing the designs...they're trying to start up a plastic company here in the US!

**Overread**

Interestingly Warcradle (model end of Wayland games) is starting up plastic casting for Dystopian Wars in house next year (based in UK). It seems as if perhaps some of the start up costs for injection moulding plastic have gone down or those firms have saved up a lot or there's new more affordable avenues that weren't around 10 or 20 years ago.

I think also enough miniature firms have had issues with China in terms of quality control and such, plus the huge time lags (you have to get your stock ordering right else you'll go months without stock that you need or months with stock that won't sell as fast as you need it to) that doing it in-house is a much more attractive proposition.

**H.B.M.C.**

Multi-part plastics is a big step.

And they are, of course, taking that first step with the best 'Mech in the game: The Ryoken.

**kodos**

Warcradle already started with plastic for Wild West Exodus

problem with China is not only quality but time
taking 6-12 months to the minis delivered is way too long for the fast changing industry now and a bigger problem as if you miscalculated the demand and run out before you ordered new have to wait (and if you ordered too early or too much you end up with more models than you have storage space)

and this is a thing for lot of industries, clothing brands faced similar problems years ago as if the stuff they ordered from China did not meet the expectations (like wrong colours) there is no way to get replacement in time

**Overread**

kodos wrote:
Warcradle already started with plastic for Wild West Exodus

problem with China is not only quality but time
taking 6-12 months to the minis delivered is way too long for the fast changing industry now and a bigger problem as if you miscalculated the demand and run out before you ordered new have to wait (and if you ordered too early or too much you end up with more models than you have storage space)

Thinking on it more but I recall that another issue is that the worker culture in many/some/key factories in China is such that workers might not report production problems to higher ups. Thus many a time an error or issue persists for a whole production run - which is a disaster for a company who waits a long time to get stock, then when the customer gets it its a return and replacement for more incorrect stock. By the time you've realised you might have lost a lot of consumer faith; spent out on shipping and replacements (lost stock and money) and then have to fight with your factory half a world away to sort it out.

It's an extra problem for wargames because wargame customers are very picky with quality control. A few inconsistencies might slip through on toys or cups or such, but wargamers will notice missing details or soft parts or missing tiny bits and such.

**Kanluwen**

One of the things mentioned by Privateer Press is that there's only a few that can do certain things, so there ends up being huuuuuuuuuge waiting times for those specific companies.

**Mr. Grey**

Kanluwen wrote:
One of the things mentioned by Privateer Press is that there's only a few that can do certain things, so there ends up being huuuuuuuuuge waiting times for those specific companies.

I've also heard that Privateer Press had major problems of some kind with their Chinese manufacturer, and they're effectively holding PP's molds hostage; a big part of the reason that PP is trying to move everything in-house again and back to pewter/resin mixed models.

I'll buy some of those plastic Mechs on release just to show support for a US-based plastic production factory.

**Nurglitch**

One of the hardest things to do is to translate 3D printable robot bits into plastic-moldable robot bits. Overhands especially, and I'm trying to figure out how they'd do that Stormcrow and Black Knight would having to redo the models.