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aka_mythos wrote:

BrookM wrote:I just looked up the term protomechs on the Battletech Wiki and I've got to ask: why? Why give them stupid animal heads?

Well somethings just can't be unseen! (I did that).

Protomechs, a sub-light mech/plus size power armor was a decent idea, sans stupid animal heads. Its a shame they haven't fixed those.

My thoughts exactly.

Cool, big robot fights are awesome. Is there any shots of the minis?

Its been said that all but two of the minis are a reissue of the old plastics... which looked like these:
The two deluxe minis are newer miniatures:

Hmm, no complaints from me, just means I've got to claim those two exclusives for myself when the time comes for battle.

The two deluxe minis are just plastic versions of the Iron Wind Metals, minis. They sell all the other weapon options for these two loose as well as these two in metal.

Okay, newbie question: If I want to field a Madcat or Timberwolf or whatever you grognards call it, besides owning the proper mini, do I need a source book or something to field it in games?

Well their are a number of techinical books with mechs from different periods... and several mechs appear in different books with different variants. So you just need any one of those books. This is part of my "problem" I stated above about the organization of game.

I've got the feeling I'm in for quite a journey then. Oy vey!

BrookM wrote:I just looked up the term protomechs on the Battletech Wiki and I've got to ask: why? Why give them stupid animal heads?

We playtested them. But of course, when we playtested them in the 3060 book, they didn't have the artwork for them. We liked the idea, but they still look awful. In fact, I think that whole book looks awful personally. Doug Chaffee is a fine artist, but I wonder what happened with them.

aka_mythos wrote:Its been said that all but two of the minis are a reissue of the old plastics... which looked like these:
The two deluxe minis are newer miniatures:

hmmmm, when I heard mech I was thinkin' more along the lines of this


not of that quality but design.

Battletech's remind me more of Japanese manga mechs,
not a bad thing just not to my taste.

Tho the one with the 07 on its leg is cool.

The one on the left in that first picture is one of the "unseen" that was just a licensed design from the anime Macross/Robotech.

I think its funny you say "more japanese" because at the time the look of battletech is what distinguished American mecha from Japanese mecha, both here and there, with the exception of those licensed designs. At the same time I think the Madcat is a better example of a identifiable design and probably would have made for a better kit paired up with the Vulture which has the bottom half and arm weapon mounts in common just as the Loki and Thor do.

Well its "more japanese" to me.

Maybe thats a bad choice of words so I'll say more "humanoid" instead.

I grew up on the Mechwarrior games and tho they did have the humanoid design in it I liked the look of the other mechs,
the ones with the inverted knee and sort of airplane shaped cockpit.

I don't think I'll be buying this but I will be keepin' an eye on battletech in the future.

The thing about battletech is there are so many diverse designs it is easy enough to avoid the ones you don't like. For every humanoid design there are almost as many chicken-legged and four-legged designs.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BrookM wrote:Okay, newbie question: If I want to field a Madcat or Timberwolf or whatever you grognards call it, besides owning the proper mini, do I need a source book or something to field it in games?

Just to come back to your question in a more helpful way...

Look into... the "Technical Readout 3050 Upgrade" book. They sell the PDF for $25: http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1915
Or you can get a paper copy off amazon "new" for ~$30.

Edit: For better advice see Mad4Minis advice below.

aka_mythos wrote:Its been said that all but two of the minis are a reissue of the old plastics... which looked like these:

This is is not true. These are the crappy plastic mechs that are being reissued:



The Unseen you picture where a much higher quality plastic miniature than Catalyst has ever produced.

aka_mythos wrote:The thing about battletech is there are so many diverse designs it is easy enough to avoid the ones you don't like. For every humanoid design there are almost as many chicken-legged and four-legged designs.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

BrookM wrote:Okay, newbie question: If I want to field a Madcat or Timberwolf or whatever you grognards call it, besides owning the proper mini, do I need a source book or something to field it in games?

Just to come back to your question in a more helpful way...
Look into one of these:
Technical Readout 3039:
http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_176_207&products_id=2037

Technical Readout 3050 Upgrade:
http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_176_181&products_id=1916

Technical Readout 3060:
http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_176_181&products_id=2380

The later period of the Jihad isn't as interesting (my opinion), and the stuff from the earliest books that preceeded these were included into the 3050 book as an update... which unfortunately is sold out from Catalyst. The 3039 book is what Catalyst recommends for getting started, beyond the core rulebook and starter set... but it doesn't have the Clan mechs you want, nor would anything preceeding it.

So in summary... the "Technical Readout 3050 Upgrade" book. They sell the PDF for $25: http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1915
Or you can get a paper copy off amazon "new" for ~$30.

Also entirely unnecessary. To answer BrookM's question, to field a Madcat mini you need only a counter(any) to represent the Madcat(preferably a Madcat mini) and the record sheet for the design you wish to use. Technical readouts are loads of fun and I recommend them over buying any other battletech product, however they basically are the fluff of the Battletech universe except that you can make designs yourself when a Record sheet is unavailable but exact cannonzied placement of equipment requires an official record sheet to be 100% accurate.

You also do not need to spend a dime to field the Madcat as you can download the program to print the record sheet for FREE from here: http://www.solarisskunkwerks.com/

NecronLord3 wrote:
Also entirely unnecessary. To answer BrookM's question, to field a Madcat mini you need only a counter(any) to represent the Madcat(preferably a Madcat mini) and the record sheet for the design you wish to use. Technical readouts are loads of fun and I recommend them over buying any other battletech product, however they basically are the fluff of the Battletech universe except that you can make designs yourself when a Record sheet is unavailable but exact cannonzied placement of equipment requires an official record sheet to be 100% accurate.

You also do not need to spend a dime to field the Madcat as you can download the program to print the record sheet for FREE from here:.../

I'd be careful with that. By virtue of the old game not being available for some time people have been kinda lax about Battletech source material, but they have as much right to protect theirs as GW. While not all companies are tyrants like GW, yes, you can find all the things needed to play, floating around online for no cost, but Catalyst is not as large a company, so it hurts them disproportionately more to take liberties with their copywritten material. But yes you can play with just the Record sheets which are also sold by Catalyst in their webstore in a PDF format, with rights to print yourself as many duplicates for personal use as you like.

I'm no cheapskate, nor a thief. If I'm getting into something I do it proper, with actual books and minis where possible.

BrookM wrote:Okay, newbie question: If I want to field a Madcat or Timberwolf or whatever you grognards call it, besides owning the proper mini, do I need a source book or something to field it in games?

Not really. All you really need is the proper record sheet for the variant (weapons/equip load) you want to use. It falls under all the normal game rules.

All you need for battletech...a main/core rule book, and a few minis or counters, record sheets, and dice.



EDIT: Most of the Battletech books are fluff books. There is a main rule book, now and then they put out a book with supplemental/optional rules. Eventually they update the main rule book and include some/all of the rules.

The nice part of Battletech is anything outside the core rules is optional. The core rules have remained almost unchanged for many, many years. No worries of a new edition making everything you own useless.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

BrookM wrote:I'm no cheapskate, nor a thief. If I'm getting into something I do it proper, with actual books and minis where possible.

Solaris Skunk Works is a widely accepted design program, and possibly the most up to date.

The official design program is Heavy Metal Pro. Its a bit out of date, but if you arent going to be playing the newest/highest tech stuff (and most dont) then you can use HMP with no problem. Its only like $22, comes with 500 mechs already loaded, and you can design your own versions of existing mechs or completely new ones. You can print record sheets directly from the program. Theres a bunch of other little things it does as well. Its gotten some flack in this thread, but I recommend it.

You don't actually need record sheets either if you know how to use a pencil and paper.

Mine look something like this:

MECH: "silly mech name"
PILOT: "John Doe" (Green, 6/4)
DAMAGE:
H: 9/3 --- : C/S/L/
CT: 20/8 ----- / -- : Ex3/Gx2/ am20(AC5)
RT: 18/5 --- / - : AC5x4/LLx2/HS/HS/HS
LT:....

MOVE: 5/8/5
HEAT: 12
AMMO: AC5 (20): ----
: SRM6 (15): --
: MG (200): ------


and so on, with the numbers being armor/structure, "-" being hash marks for damage taken or ammo spent and the letters being shorthand for components in critical hit location, to be marked out when damaged.

Whatever system works for you. All you really need is the game data for the mechs and a rulebook. Record sheets are nice and flashy looking, and okay for organization if you can't do it yourself, like a D&D character sheet, but hardly necessary if you know how to translate game data into your own shorthand. handmade counters for mechs and whatever way you make your map (we have used notebook paper with hand drawn hexes before). It's nice to have a pretty map, pretty miniatures, and pretty record sheets - but just to play the game, the only absolute need is a rulebook and D6, everything else can be DIY'ed. I learned this when working overseas with nothing to do, and found an old battletech rulebook and tech readout at a used bookstore with no other associated playing aides.

Mad4Minis wrote:
Solaris Skunk Works is a widely accepted design program, and possibly the most up to date.

The official design program is Heavy Metal Pro. Its a bit out of date, but if you arent going to be playing the newest/highest tech stuff (and most dont) then you can use HMP with no problem. Its only like $22, comes with 500 mechs already loaded, and you can design your own versions of existing mechs or completely new ones. You can print record sheets directly from the program. Theres a bunch of other little things it does as well. Its gotten some flack in this thread, but I recommend it.

How about for a Mac?

I've been needing a good 'mech designer/records sheets program.

BrookM wrote:I'm no cheapskate, nor a thief.

Don't think of it this way. Solaris Skunk Works and MegaMek are both discussed openly on the official forums. MegaMek (which is a computerised version of the tabletop game) even has its own sub-forum, despite being a free game that Catalyst has nothing to do with. That'd be a bit like GW having their own forums and having a sub-forum for Vassal.

The Catalyst guys are far more into supporting the community rather than shutting it down. They embrace the internet rather than treating it as some strange passing curiosity.


Get Solaris Skunk Works - it's one of the best 'Mech Design programs ever released - and it comes with all the record sheets. You only need print one and you can use the 'Mech. I prefer the miniatures, but you don't need them. I like having the Record Sheet PDF's, which you can print to play with if you want, and the TRO's (thought, as was said, the TRO's are unnecessary to play the game - they are mostly fluff only), but none of these things are needed, and using SSW isn't 'illegal'.

pombe wrote:

Mad4Minis wrote:
Solaris Skunk Works is a widely accepted design program, and possibly the most up to date.

The official design program is Heavy Metal Pro. Its a bit out of date, but if you arent going to be playing the newest/highest tech stuff (and most dont) then you can use HMP with no problem. Its only like $22, comes with 500 mechs already loaded, and you can design your own versions of existing mechs or completely new ones. You can print record sheets directly from the program. Theres a bunch of other little things it does as well. Its gotten some flack in this thread, but I recommend it.

How about for a Mac?

I've been needing a good 'mech designer/records sheets program.

Im not sure, but Id imagine they have a mac version. Ive never used one so I dont pay attention to mac stuff.

aka_mythos wrote:

NecronLord3 wrote:
Also entirely unnecessary. To answer BrookM's question, to field a Madcat mini you need only a counter(any) to represent the Madcat(preferably a Madcat mini) and the record sheet for the design you wish to use. Technical readouts are loads of fun and I recommend them over buying any other battletech product, however they basically are the fluff of the Battletech universe except that you can make designs yourself when a Record sheet is unavailable but exact cannonzied placement of equipment requires an official record sheet to be 100% accurate.

You also do not need to spend a dime to field the Madcat as you can download the program to print the record sheet for FREE from here:.../

I'd be careful with that. By virtue of the old game not being available for some time people have been kinda lax about Battletech source material, but they have as much right to protect theirs as GW. While not all companies are tyrants like GW, yes, you can find all the things needed to play, floating around online for no cost, but Catalyst is not as large a company, so it hurts them disproportionately more to take liberties with their copywritten material. But yes you can play with just the Record sheets which are also sold by Catalyst in their webstore in a PDF format, with rights to print yourself as many duplicates for personal use as you like.

Solaris is an approved program for Battletech. Though HMpro has the license to design the official record sheet software, that license is with the Battletech license owner Topps and not Catalyst. Considering HMpro is so out of date and Rick Raisley has done such a pointless job on that project Catalyst sanctions Solaris Skunk Works by featuring a forum on their own official Classic Battletech website and the free computer program MegaMek for playing Battletech by yourself or with others on your PC.

However if you want pirated PDF's those are readily available as well though I'm not going to instruct you on how to obtain those either.

That isn't true actually. There is no "pointless job" that's being done. My father, Rick Raisley, is working on it, and working hard I'll add. When last I spoke with him, he was working on additional equipment, and working on a way to better integrate Omni Support. As said before, I am biased to HMPro of curse, but others are good too I've heard. With HMPro, you can actually design your own weapons and it will calculate the BV for them, so many of the new weapons aren't a problem. Also, Catalyst "sactions" any groups that further the development and intrest of Classic Battletech.

I'd have to say one more thing. No more bashing people you don't personally know, interact with, or understand. It infuriates me to no end when people bash another person on how long something is taking when they do not understand what has happened to him and our family in the past 5 years. I do not want to go into details as it is not anybody's business aside from our friends and family, but it is indeed being worked on.

So please, watch the bashing, and consider for once that others on the other end of the computer are human beings as well.

Actually I am very well aware of Rick Raisleys problems. And I'm quite up to date on his excuses. Everyone has given him more than his fair share of slack regarding those personal issues and enough is enough.

As has been mentioned before, if I was to take as long doing my job and giving excuses, my employer would have found someone else to do it for me long ago. Regardless of anything I have going on in my personal life. Its business not personal and when confronted with a reasonable request that was posed to Rick, he became a beligerent A-hole and was entirely rude and unprofessional. So you can tell him again from me exactly what he can do with himself and HMworthless.

I somehow doubt that he was beligerent, and I'm not going to stoop so low as to name call, and the like. As you said, if you failed to give results, you'd be fired. You are most likely correct on that, however this is his own business, of which he has made many successful programs and is working on the update for the newest one. He understands more than ANYBODY about the need for this to be updated. He isn't making money on a program that does not exist and he is excited to sell this one when it is finished. Regardless of what transpired, this topic has gotten off track. Though I am no mod, I can see this. The original post is regarding the new box set for Classic Battletech. Let's get back to that point please.

I am excited to see the new box set on the shelves as I'm sure many others are, so let's get back to that.

Thank you.

Lord_Astaroth wrote:Let's get back to that point please.

I am excited to see the new box set on the shelves as I'm sure many others are, so let's get back to that.

Thank you.

I pre ordered mine yesterday, along with Mantics Dwarf Kings Hold. Not sure of the exact release dates, but Im pretty sure both are slated for late March.

Conveniently I'm having my birthday in April, so this one might just make it onto the list alongside Mantic's dungeon crawler. Can't complain about good releases now.

Heh, isn't it funny that everything you want comes out around the time of one's birthday? And as always, you never get all of what you want, so you have to spend some of that birthday cash to do so!

Chances are Battletech, Mantic's Game, Battlefleet Koronus and my big Dust Tactics order all pop up around the same time. Choices, choices..

NecronLord3 wrote:Actually I am very well aware of Rick Raisleys problems. And I'm quite up to date on his excuses. Everyone has given him more than his fair share of slack regarding those personal issues and enough is enough.

As has been mentioned before, if I was to take as long doing my job and giving excuses, my employer would have found someone else to do it for me long ago. Regardless of anything I have going on in my personal life. Its business not personal and when confronted with a reasonable request that was posed to Rick, he became a beligerent A-hole and was entirely rude and unprofessional. So you can tell him again from me exactly what he can do with himself and HMworthless.

Funny how you seem to have problem with someone being a beligerent A-hole.