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Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





West Michigan, deep in Whitebread, USA

They are larger and chunkier. I have a couple old metal mechs, and I really like the new ones a lot.



"By this point I'm convinced 100% that every single race in the 40k universe have somehow tapped into the ork ability to just have their tech work because they think it should."  
   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




North Wales

They're definitely larger than the old minis, even the ones that got resculpts.

As people will have said previously, the so called 1:285 scale thing wasn't even a suggestion, the scale was all over the place. I've been comparing them over the past few weeks, the odd one is close in height, but width and bulk wise, the new ones are universally larger.

I've been trying to work out which of my old mechs would work with the new ones and decided that there are almost none that I'd be happy sticking on the table now. Pandora's Box has been opened, I have said "sod it!" and bought lots and lots of the new ones to basically replace 30 years of mech collecting.

Turns out that I'm picky about scale... which is why I'm not going to start playing any Star Trek games until I buy a 3d printer so I can get things done right.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





My handful of IWM models all look wrong aside the KS plastics, but there's no going back for me. The new plastics are too awesome, and their consistent scale within themselves is excellent.

11527pts Total (7400pts painted)

4980pts Total (4980pts painted)

3730 Total (210pts painted) 
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

 Chillreaper wrote:
They're definitely larger than the old minis, even the ones that got resculpts.

As people will have said previously, the so called 1:285 scale thing wasn't even a suggestion, the scale was all over the place. I've been comparing them over the past few weeks, the odd one is close in height, but width and bulk wise, the new ones are universally larger.

I've been trying to work out which of my old mechs would work with the new ones and decided that there are almost none that I'd be happy sticking on the table now. Pandora's Box has been opened, I have said "sod it!" and bought lots and lots of the new ones to basically replace 30 years of mech collecting.

Turns out that I'm picky about scale... which is why I'm not going to start playing any Star Trek games until I buy a 3d printer so I can get things done right.


You cant take scale from the mechs at all, as they changed a lot too. Early Battletech was somewhat more sensible in that there was little difference in size between a light and an assault mech, the latter was just far more bulky. Late edition battletech for a while had a nonsense where lights were half the height of assaults, with other mechs grading inbetween. This made far less sense doubling the dimensions cubes the volume. The same scale illustration reduced vehicles to about the size of mechs feet.

The currently produced designs are a fair balance with some effort to rescale some miniatures and fix others.

For me the scale was not from the mechs or vehicles but from the people. To back up my old school mechs (80's sculpts) I used Epic imperial Guard. The infantry looked ok compared to the mechs and due to the lack of other reference I used that for scaling. I still do.

n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in ca
Ragin' Ork Dreadnought




Monarchy of TBD

The new line is to scale, internally. The previous lines had massive scale issues- you might end up with light mechs bigger than assault mechs, or assault mechs looking up to mediums. They are undoubtedly out of scale with the older minis- but many of them are as well. The most notorious were the old starter set Catapult, which was often repurposed as a Raven because it was so small, and the plastech Fatapult which looked like it had eaten 2 Atlases. Keep in mind.... those were both plastic models of the same mech.


I hasten to add that all these mechs are still usable- treat them as different variants, or being produced by different manufacturers, or field modifications. It's a big galaxy.

Klawz-Ramming is a subset of citrus fruit?
Gwar- "And everyone wants a bigger Spleen!"
Mercurial wrote:
I admire your aplomb and instate you as Baron of the Seas and Lord Marshall of Privateers.
Orkeosaurus wrote:Star Trek also said we'd have X-Wings by now. We all see how that prediction turned out.
Orkeosaurus, on homophobia, the nature of homosexuality, and the greatness of George Takei.
English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleyways and mugs them for loose grammar.

 
   
Made in us
Guardsman with Flashlight





 Gitzbitah wrote:
The new line is to scale, internally. The previous lines had massive scale issues- you might end up with light mechs bigger than assault mechs, or assault mechs looking up to mediums. They are undoubtedly out of scale with the older minis- but many of them are as well. The most notorious were the old starter set Catapult, which was often repurposed as a Raven because it was so small, and the plastech Fatapult which looked like it had eaten 2 Atlases. Keep in mind.... those were both plastic models of the same mech.


The out-of-scale miniatures and varying degrees of artistry (and talent) in the preexisting lines of Battletech miniatures was part of what gave the game its charm. It had a very underdog feel, and in a certain way, could help solidify the rickety world of 3025 with similar rickety models.

That's what I used to tell myself at least. Now that the new plastics are out, I say "to hell with charm and underdogs, give me top of the line minis." Now I can show Btech and alpha strike to people without beginning every conversation with "Okay, I know the minis aren't great, but..."

Some of those plastech models... and then the anniversary box set models... even a lot of the IWM models... they're just bad. Scaling wasn't even taken into consideration. Why is the Kit Fox just as big as the King Crab? Why are all of the cockpits different scales?

Current Armies: Guard, Dark Eldar, Raven Guard, Bretonnians 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

While i'ts more likely and issue of sculpting a lighter mech/vehicle could be larger than a heavier one (especially armoured vehicles) depending on how it's made,

just look at some of the tanks developed between WWI and WWII, while physically large and imposing their thin armour meant they were larger than later designs which both had thicker armour and were deliberately made lower and shorter to make them less easy to see and target

 
   
Made in us
Storm Trooper with Maglight





Denver

As others have said when you compare the old stuff to the new range it is instantly noticeable. That did make some stuff obsolete or at least makes me reluctant to put it on the table. There is no going back though, the new quality is a big jump.

Interested in gaming related original artwork?* You can view my collection of 40k, BattleTech, L5R and other miscellaneous pieces at https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=158415

*This means published works by professional artists, not me of course. 
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut





The Battle Barge Buffet Line

Thanks for all the above confirmations. I just wasn't sure if there was an overall change (even with the wiggle room that every scale range affords for even the same weight/mass classes I assume) or if I was imagining it. The minis looked nice FWIW coming from a non-BT player.

We Munch for Macragge! FOR THE EMPRUH! Cheesesticks and Humus!
 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





West Michigan, deep in Whitebread, USA

I like the new figures because they look like big honkin' war robots. Too many of the old mechs looked far too much like 80's Transformers (unsurprising due to the Robotech mech connection), and while some love that look, it just wasn't for me. It used to be that with a few exceptions, I really only liked the looks of the digitigrade mechs like Catapults, Daishi and Timberwolves, but the new Catalyst mechs are making me like the humanoid ones more and more.

The Wave 2 mechs are really freaking awesome and even as a layman to the universe, some of the non-posterboy mechs that I had never heard of (like the Crockett) look absolutely sweet.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/01/03 01:21:20




"By this point I'm convinced 100% that every single race in the 40k universe have somehow tapped into the ork ability to just have their tech work because they think it should."  
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut





Rocked my CLAN GHOST BEAR shirt today for the first time- very solid. I got an XL and definitely should have gone for a smaller size, but that's on me. Also I wish they had gone w/ grey or something instead of black. I don't really wear much black but that's not CGL;s issue. 10/10, will keep in the t-shirt rotation.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/01/03 02:42:50


 
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

Update #160 has just arrived and it's not good news - they've missed the CNY deadline.
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

Spoiler:
AAAARGGHHHHH!!!!!!!
Okay. Needed to be done.


You may have sensed that psychic scream last week when our plastics factory confirmed what we all feared, letting us know they weren't going to make the shipping deadline for Wave 2. I've been screaming in private and shouting politely (if there is such a thing) in conference ever since, trying to make the factory keep to the promises and schedules THEY set. Then there were a few days of denial, then a few days of anger and bargaining, leaving me only with depression and acceptance.


Bottom line: Wave 2 product will not leave China until after Chinese New Year.


IIf any of you backers are angry or disappointed, amp that up to “10” and you'll have an idea how everyone at CGL feels. We put so much effort into hitting our targets for each deadline (again, all set by the plastics factory), at the end pushing 12-16 hour days while coordinating no less than 8 different production lines in China, and had even resigned ourselves to paying exorbitant shipping rates to move everything before CNY. And all the other factories hit the deadline!


That's what really stings. We had contingency plans in place so if one of our auxiliary lines went down the rabbit hole, we could cope. Maybe even two of them, depending on which ones.


But plastics... That's our main product: The ForcePacks. The #1 item(s) most people are still waiting to claim from their Rewards. Even if the factory had missed by 10-20%, failing to deliver the last 2-3 ForcePacks, we might have found a way to deliver Wave 2 and just create a minor 3rd wave later on.


It was possible, anyway, until they told us how short they were going to be.


The last possible day they could, they told us that they would be short sixty percent of our product. That's right. They could only ship us six of the remaining fifteen ForcePacks. WTH??


I’m ranting a bit right now, because it's still a very raw wound. I wouldn’t have even been coherent last week. And my “Navy language” would have been VERY prevalent. CGL staff worked their backsides off, hitting the necessary deadlines on a calendar that they built. "Do this and we can hit your CNY deadline." That's what they promised. So we did. We didn't miss one of those critical dates that I am aware of.


What we're hearing from the factory (by way of reason or excuse) is that parts of China are locking down again because of COVID, and workers have been walking off the job at the factories since late December or early January. We've heard that from more sources than China, recently, so maybe it's at least somewhat true. But 60%? Hard to image they were ever going to deliver the full Wave 2 product list to us as originally promised. That is was not a matter of if they would fail, but by how much. Or so it seems to us.


So, where does that leave us?


We’ve been frantically shutting down our shipping plans this week, delaying all factories from shipping until after CNY. There is also a global container shortage right now thanks to COVID and various shutdowns/lockdowns, and shipping a single container is about twice as expensive as it was two months ago. Despite that, we were prepared to fork it over to get Wave 2 out to all of you on time—until this happened. Delivering Wave 2 was going to come with an additional $100k in "premium services" costs. If we'd had to pay those on top of losing the Wave 2 delivery schedule? That might have likely meant layoffs and product release rollbacks. Looks like we (barely) avoided that.


The factory promises(!) they will have all ForcePacks finished before the end of March. (Of course, I made them admit that was with the caveat that their workforce returns on time from CNY!) I'm betting April 1-15 is more likely. So let's pencil that in.


All other factories are ready to ship. Still! So, assuming this one gets their act together, we will move all of Wave 2 toward the shipping hubs in April. That sets an arrival at the main hubs on or around May 15th. And fulfillment starting by the end of May for a mostly-June delivery.


Like I said up top. Second verse. Same as the F*@$&##^ first.


[For our Asian backers, a slight ray of better news. Our Asian partner, VFI, has already picked up a lot of the material, and they will be back at this before anyone else in March, so this time Asia should fulfill in a timely manner with the rest of the world. Or so they say.]


I'm not sure what else to publish in this part of the Update. I hate having to come in and dump a truckload of bad news like this. We will put some production vids at the bottom of the Update, because as part of the factory’s chagrin they've been awesome recently in sending us production shots and videos. See how hard we are working! Like that makes up for blowing up our deadlines and Wave 2 shipment. (Yep, still some anger left in there. ARGH…. Okay, moving on...)


In the meantime, everyone at CGL wants to thank our backers for the awesome support you've showed us, and the incredible loyalty and love you have for BattleTech. We all know this is only possible because of you! And we still have lots of great plans for the future! We just need to get there!


Not even the Star League got it right the first time, either, I guess.


Best wishes,


Loren Coleman, and the CGL staff

(Fourteen curse words were discovered and humanely destroyed in the review of this message.)
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

beast_gts wrote:
Spoiler:
AAAARGGHHHHH!!!!!!!
Okay. Needed to be done.


You may have sensed that psychic scream last week when our plastics factory confirmed what we all feared, letting us know they weren't going to make the shipping deadline for Wave 2. I've been screaming in private and shouting politely (if there is such a thing) in conference ever since, trying to make the factory keep to the promises and schedules THEY set. Then there were a few days of denial, then a few days of anger and bargaining, leaving me only with depression and acceptance.


Bottom line: Wave 2 product will not leave China until after Chinese New Year.


IIf any of you backers are angry or disappointed, amp that up to “10” and you'll have an idea how everyone at CGL feels. We put so much effort into hitting our targets for each deadline (again, all set by the plastics factory), at the end pushing 12-16 hour days while coordinating no less than 8 different production lines in China, and had even resigned ourselves to paying exorbitant shipping rates to move everything before CNY. And all the other factories hit the deadline!


That's what really stings. We had contingency plans in place so if one of our auxiliary lines went down the rabbit hole, we could cope. Maybe even two of them, depending on which ones.


But plastics... That's our main product: The ForcePacks. The #1 item(s) most people are still waiting to claim from their Rewards. Even if the factory had missed by 10-20%, failing to deliver the last 2-3 ForcePacks, we might have found a way to deliver Wave 2 and just create a minor 3rd wave later on.


It was possible, anyway, until they told us how short they were going to be.


The last possible day they could, they told us that they would be short sixty percent of our product. That's right. They could only ship us six of the remaining fifteen ForcePacks. WTH??


I’m ranting a bit right now, because it's still a very raw wound. I wouldn’t have even been coherent last week. And my “Navy language” would have been VERY prevalent. CGL staff worked their backsides off, hitting the necessary deadlines on a calendar that they built. "Do this and we can hit your CNY deadline." That's what they promised. So we did. We didn't miss one of those critical dates that I am aware of.


What we're hearing from the factory (by way of reason or excuse) is that parts of China are locking down again because of COVID, and workers have been walking off the job at the factories since late December or early January. We've heard that from more sources than China, recently, so maybe it's at least somewhat true. But 60%? Hard to image they were ever going to deliver the full Wave 2 product list to us as originally promised. That is was not a matter of if they would fail, but by how much. Or so it seems to us.


So, where does that leave us?


We’ve been frantically shutting down our shipping plans this week, delaying all factories from shipping until after CNY. There is also a global container shortage right now thanks to COVID and various shutdowns/lockdowns, and shipping a single container is about twice as expensive as it was two months ago. Despite that, we were prepared to fork it over to get Wave 2 out to all of you on time—until this happened. Delivering Wave 2 was going to come with an additional $100k in "premium services" costs. If we'd had to pay those on top of losing the Wave 2 delivery schedule? That might have likely meant layoffs and product release rollbacks. Looks like we (barely) avoided that.


The factory promises(!) they will have all ForcePacks finished before the end of March. (Of course, I made them admit that was with the caveat that their workforce returns on time from CNY!) I'm betting April 1-15 is more likely. So let's pencil that in.


All other factories are ready to ship. Still! So, assuming this one gets their act together, we will move all of Wave 2 toward the shipping hubs in April. That sets an arrival at the main hubs on or around May 15th. And fulfillment starting by the end of May for a mostly-June delivery.


Like I said up top. Second verse. Same as the F*@$&##^ first.


[For our Asian backers, a slight ray of better news. Our Asian partner, VFI, has already picked up a lot of the material, and they will be back at this before anyone else in March, so this time Asia should fulfill in a timely manner with the rest of the world. Or so they say.]


I'm not sure what else to publish in this part of the Update. I hate having to come in and dump a truckload of bad news like this. We will put some production vids at the bottom of the Update, because as part of the factory’s chagrin they've been awesome recently in sending us production shots and videos. See how hard we are working! Like that makes up for blowing up our deadlines and Wave 2 shipment. (Yep, still some anger left in there. ARGH…. Okay, moving on...)


In the meantime, everyone at CGL wants to thank our backers for the awesome support you've showed us, and the incredible loyalty and love you have for BattleTech. We all know this is only possible because of you! And we still have lots of great plans for the future! We just need to get there!


Not even the Star League got it right the first time, either, I guess.


Best wishes,


Loren Coleman, and the CGL staff

(Fourteen curse words were discovered and humanely destroyed in the review of this message.)


ComStar has been editing messages for 'profanity' again, I wonder what else the robes have been redacting.
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Not a huge shock for anyone that's been following various China-produced Kickstarters, the container thing especially.
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Catalyst have put out a free PDF with all Wave 1 record sheets.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in gb
Martial Arts SAS




United Kingdom

Aww man, no TDR 5SS!

   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Is there somewhere on those record sheets where it tells you how many heat sinks a mech has? I mean, you can always scribble it in, but given all the other info it seems pertinent.

Edit: Nevermind, found it by the heat scale thingy.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/02/15 22:17:29


 
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

Project Update #162: BATTLETECH: CLAN INVASION by Catalyst Games

Spoiler:

Fall From Glory epub, Operations: Klondike POD, Fang & Claw fiction, and other PDFs

Hey backers!

We're incredibly happy to announce that every backer of Warrior and above should be receiving an email by this coming Monday night notifying you all that you can go grab a digital copy of the author's definitive edition of the novel Fall From Glory (Founding of the Clans, Book One)!

For those that want a physical copy (and there are many of you!), we're releasing it first digitally to backers, as promised. In roughly two weeks we'll then make it available to the general public, which will also include the option for ordering a Print on Demand copy.

We're also pleased to announce that the BattleTech: Historical Operation Klondike sourcebook is available just now for Print on Demand as well.

This sourcebook remains one of our all-time favorites, and is a perfect companion to the Founding of the Clans trilogy. While the PDF has been continously available, it's been out of print for a lot of years. It's great to have it back available for physical copies for shelves.

And even more fiction! We've got the first of of the Honor & Glory fiction (the short story, Fang & Claw), available for all Ristar backers and above (once more, look for that email by this coming Monday night).

Finally, we're also happy to make the PDF for the new vintage-cover printing of Strategic Operations and Campaign Operationsavailable to those that ordered them; again, you who ordered these books will be receiving an email by this coming Monday night to go and claim the PDFs (physical books will be shipping later)!

As a final aside, China production is just starting to come back on line. However, for those that are not aware, China has one of the most unusual worker turnovers in the world. People come from all over China to work for a year, and then when they go back home for Chinese New Year, a large chunk of them stay home. So then every year manufacturers are "back" right after Chinese New Year, but it actually takes a week or three or them to rehire and retrain the large portion of their workers that didn't return.

What all of that means is that we do not yet have an update of when they will finish production and start shipping. But we are mostly through the other side, and hopeful to have updates within that next week or two timeframe.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy some great fiction!
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

Any link for the print on demand?

A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

 Overread wrote:
Any link for the print on demand?


BattleTech wrote:Continuing our series of print-on-demand revivals of long-out-of-print sourcebooks, we're pleased to offer one of our longtime favorites, Historical: Operation Klondike - now available in PDF and POD at http://ow.ly/mjpl50DPqls


   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Finally, we're also happy to make the PDF for the new vintage-cover printing of Strategic Operations and Campaign Operationsavailable to those that ordered them; again, you who ordered these books will be receiving an email by this coming Monday night to go and claim the PDFs (physical books will be shipping later)!
Oh cool.

Very happy to get my hands on the revised Campaign Operations.

I imagine that the unit rating for Chaos Campaign rules will still be functionally broken.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

Thanks and nice thing seems that Drivethrough RPG at least has a base in the UK too.

A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

Just got an email from CGL about them launching their new web site, and the first four ForcePacks are on there:
Inner Sphere Command Lance: Marauder, Archer, Valkyrie, and Stinger.
Clan Command Star: Dire Wolf, Summoner, Stormcrow, Mist Lynx, Shadow Cat
Inner Sphere Battle Lance: Warhammer, Rifleman, Phoenix Hawk, Wasp
Clan Heavy Striker Star: Gargoyle, Hellbringer, Mad Dog, Ice Ferret, and Viper
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

Update #164 has just gone out. Shipping is looking like June now...

Spoiler:

   
Made in us
Ollanius Pius - Savior of the Emperor






Gathering the Informations.

On that note, my brother and I got our retail preorders today!

I LOVE that the box has wraparound art on the inside. It reminds me of old Exo-Squad toys and I am 100% here for that nostalgia.
   
Made in us
Lieutenant General





Florence, KY

In the meantime, you can get this today...


'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents
cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable
defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'

- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty
Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Mmm... the Night Gyr is so nice. As is the Black Lanner and Linebacker.

And as for that IlClan TRO... the Daishi X is a weird machine.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut





New minis and boxes look good. Size of the minis relative to each other in the IS Direct Fire lance look a little off (like the orion seems small) but probably perspective of that pic to blame.

I do really like the new take on the Crusader - badly wish they would sell the stl file for that one so I could print it bigger scale
   
Made in us
Stormblade



SpaceCoast

petrov27 wrote:
New minis and boxes look good. Size of the minis relative to each other in the IS Direct Fire lance look a little off (like the orion seems small) but probably perspective of that pic to blame.

I do really like the new take on the Crusader - badly wish they would sell the stl file for that one so I could print it bigger scale



Well it is standing between 2 100 ton beast. It looks like its prolly a little taller but similar bulk to the 10 ton lighter crusader nearby.


And I agree with you that crusader looks sweet. All my Kickstarter stuff was wave 1 but I'll be grabbing that lance pack at retail.
   
 
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