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Been playing BT for a few weeks now. I bought Blake Ascending and Jihad Hotspots 2070. Now I'm interested in a WOB force. Any recommendations on mechs, BA, infantry, and vehicles would be appreciated.

Tonnage-wise I don't prefer a particular class. I like my mechs shooty more than melee. I'm also wondering if there are any WOB forces before 3060 or so? I have the starter box, and I'm thinking about painting it WoB.

The Word of Blake was created in 3052, right after the Battle of Tukayyid.

All the Starter Box 'Mechs are fine for Blakist forces. Not the most up to date unit, but everyone needs a garrison somewhere!

More up to date units would be the Celestial OmniMechs: Malak, Preta, Grigori, Deva, Seraph, and Archangel. These are the most advanced unit the WoB has, and are pretty nasty. Any of the Star League designs are also good choices, such as the Husssar, Highlander, Kintaro and others of that generation.

Actually, you can get a LOT more answers if you talk to us on the official CBT forums at

www.classicbattletech.com

We'll give you plenty of advice.

The only Word of Blake mech that I know of is one that I saw on Encyclopedia Battletech. It's the newest version of the Scorpion.

The toaster lovers have almost any mech they like. According to fluff before everything went down the drain, the WoB was buying, building, misplacing or stealing thousands of mechs around the IS to equip their secret armies. So the short answer is averything you like.

Roughly I would divide the WoB in three timelines.

From the split up until Bulldog Operation they have the old SL designs and the few mechs C* was manufacturing in Terra (TRO 3055 and C* sourcebook)

The build up to Jihad, (TRO 3060, 3067) They have a bunch of own designs plus the FWL ones, but at this time the WoB was also buying everything they could put their little greedy hands on. The project Phoenix refits come in this period.

Jihad forward, everything plus the celestials series. This last group is used for the maneus domini mainly. And with the IS in flames anything can and will be salvaged to send it to hell an back once again.

M.

Ok, and after Jihad, what comes next? What happens to WoB?

Noisy_Marine wrote:Ok, and after Jihad, what comes next? What happens to WoB?

The WoB are "destroyed" in the Jihad, but ComStar reverts back to a lot of their old ways. They like keeping secrets and information and such, which is very WoB-like without the somewhat over the top fanaticism.

It is rumored that the Blackout of MWDA is actually a WoB plot that just took a lot of time to get working, and other such weirdness in the Dark Age timeline is suspected WoB activity.

Noisy_Marine wrote:I'm also wondering if there are any WOB forces before 3060 or so?

The Word of Blake exist as an entity from mid 3050 (when they split from ComStar after the Battle of Tukayyid) right to early 3080 (at the end of the Jihad where they were finally defeated). The 'Mechs in the Starterbox are so common that they could appear in WoB forces, but lower-grade militia forces.

The 'Mechs that the WoB's use come in three different varieties:

1. Star League era 'Mechs (Black Knight, Mongoose, Crab, King Crab, etc.)
2. First Generation WoB Designs (Red Shift, Toyama, Blue Flame, White Flame, Legacy, Vanquisher, etc.).
3. Second Generation WoB Designs (Deva, Preta, Grigori, Archangel, etc.).

The WoB started only with the stuff they had when they were still part of the ComGuards, so the Star League era stuff. As the years went by, and after 3058 when they took Terra and got its production lines up and running, as well as alliances with the Free World's League, the first generation of actual WoB 'Mechs came about. Some of them are quite good - the Toyama especially. I liked that 'Mech. By the time of the Jihad (3069-3080/3082-ish), the WoB had their elite cybernetic Manei Domini forces up and running, and created a high-tech series of Second Generation WoB 'Mechs, known as the Celestial Omni-Mech series. These things are quite powerful, some more than others, and piloted by nutcase super elite and enhanced pilots.

I will warn you that if the deadline hasn't already been reached, Iron Wind Metals are archiving a bunch of their stuff, and 'Mechs like the Toyama, Blue Flame, White Flame and Red Shift are about to be removed from production. You'll still be able to order them, but you'll have to tack an extra US$8 archive fee to each one. It's one of the reasons I recently bought two Toyamas.

So have a look around www.sarna.net/wiki, www.chaosmarch.com and www.solaris7.com to get a feel for the 'Mech stats and histories, and go from there.

BYE

http://www.classicbattletech.com/downloads/ForceFactionTables_110906.pdf

Force Faction Tables are only half the story.

BYE

Atlas, Atlas. Atlas

H.B.M.C. wrote:Force Faction Tables are only half the story.

BYE

Yep, but it's a good start.

'Enyclopedia Battletech'?

Never heard of that.