Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Grizzly looks very chunky.

I've loved the Grizzly since I first saw it in Invading Clans. I even have the IWM model.


Still, the head is mounted a smidge too low. Kind of like the Archer in that respect.

 Ghaz wrote:

 Charistoph wrote:
It just doesn't have that Assault Mech feel. It feels more like a Heavy. The torso and legs and upper arms need to be thicker, imo.

Catalyst has been using volumetrics to insure the new 'Mechs are an appropriate size for their tonnage

At best it is feeling like the Ymir, and only the length of its legs gives one the idea that it could be an Assault, otherwise it still feels like a leggy Heavy.

Meanwhile, its original line art is quite intimidating in a chunky way.


Still, reviewing its stats, it IS a 4/6 90 tonner, so I guess some leanness should be expected?

Oh that Grizzly looks great, a few of those will llook good in my Rasalhague Dominion collection.

Wohoo. Locally one guy popped to discord wondering about players so suddely mujtiple interested responded. Got myself box of wolf dragoons for that sweet sweet timber wolf that warms my heart(can tell i found bt from mw2 )

Now to paint to clan wolf(yea mw2) colours and 1st game next week.

In the Grizzly concept art, is it twerking?!

Had a game Monday. My Catapult sure got it's work in, but it single handedly saved a Shadowhawk from a Hunchback, then gave a Jenner a death from above.


I love my missile rack on legs.

It looks like they've made a decision....

The book's not called Decision at Thunder Hawk.

 Ghaz wrote:
It looks like they've made a decision....

A decision on what?

It's a few pages back they were trying to decide between a rounded front torso or a flat torso, they went with flat.

BrianDavion wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:
It looks like they've made a decision....

A decision on what?

THIS.

Part of the Inner Sphere Recon Lance ForcePack...

Ohh, Fancy. Do like that one a lot.

that's the spector, always been one of my fav light mechs, it'll be packed with an ostscout, javalin and firestarter. proably one of the best packs you can buy if you want a lance of light mechs

How accurate battlevalues generally are? Is vs is, is vs clan?

And how pilots affect those? Are clan mech bv's on assumption they have clan pilots or should they be factored up?

tneva82 wrote:
How accurate battlevalues generally are? Is vs is, is vs clan?

And how pilots affect those? Are clan mech bv's on assumption they have clan pilots or should they be factored up?

In short it isn't.

I know you come from a 40K background where points/power level have been a thing forever. classic battle tech however has many ways to set up games.

it is up to the players to choose the framework-era, battle value, tonnage, cbills, standard formations or any combination there of.

Where BV specifically is useful is in setting up frameworks for leagues and tournaments or when somebody wants to do some crazy mismatched force say a lance of mechs VS equal BV in savannah masters and foot infantry.

In a basic pickup game with standard pilots (4/5 and 3/4- IS/clan) inner sphere lance VS lance (4 v 4) of mechs, vehicles, vtols etc/clan star VS clan star ( by 5s) or 2 inner sphere lances VS a single clan stars (especially post 3055) is pretty well balanced where either side can win.

The big factor in the game is the crit system or the fact you can just decapitate the pilot without having to fight the mech itself very much. this is compounded even more if your group uses special ammo.

The key is to keep it fun for all players. an example of something i would not do in a normal pickup game outside of request or scenario is bring multiple arrow IV artillery equiped units and a TAG spotter. doing 20 point hits on a 4+ on a tagged unit from across the table is not a fun game.

This lends itself well for thematic forces using weapons, chassis and equipment in the manner each faction or specific unit prefers to fight.

Right off the bat you start noticing things-Davions love autocannons and RACs, Kurita loves fast heavies, c3 networks and PPCS, Marik has a weird obsession with light gauss and LRMS, while the cappellans love thier electronic warfare and stealth.

The core mechanics of the game have only had slight modifications since the late 80s some of them very needed (fixing AMS), but mostly minor. but there are entire books of optional rules you and your group can choose from if you so desire.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just a couple small games-
the first was a second swords lance on lance fight against taurians. got to break out my cronus for the first time. great medium mech. it is also a super fast lance aside from the master in the shugenja.





the second game was a bunch of clan second line mechs against an oddball mix of things....a longbow with double U/AC 20s for example.

Battle Value is USEALLY good for a quick game, but yeah it's not perfect, certain things tend to be over BV'd (anything that has both jump jets AND MASC is one of the more obvious ones) it's certainly better then 40k's "throw a dart at the wall" points stragety though.

and yeah the thing about battletech is due to the way luck works, sometimes a game that SHOULD be even just goes weird, if you have a BV balanced game and lose two mechs turn 1 to Gauss slugs to the head, you've got a MUUUUCH harder game.

that said......... I've seen people have that happen and STILL pull out a win. Battletech really is a game where tactics matter.

tneva82 wrote:
How accurate battlevalues generally are? Is vs is, is vs clan?

A little better than GW point-costs because of the consistency in Construction Rules. As others have said, it isn't perfect, but nothing really is unless you're doing a Mirror Match.

Clan equipment is practically cheating. It's generally smaller, lighter, and in the case of energy weapons, more powerful and longer ranged. but also costs much much more in Battle Value.

As an example, the ER Large Laser in the Inner Sphere weighs in at 5 tons, takes up 2 Critical Slots, does 8 Damage for 12 Heat out to a Long Range of 19 hexes (or 38"), and has a BV of 163.

The Clan version weighs in at 4 tons, takes up 1 Critical Slot, does 10 Damage for that same 12 Heat out to a Long Range of 25 hexes (or 50") for a BV of 248.

So the Clan laser costs more, but weighs less, that means you have 1 more ton to add something else in to the mix, which is adding some more Battle Value on the unit.

That isn't the end story of it, though, as a lack of capacity for the unit to consistently dispel all of that 12 Heat could reduce the cost of that ER Large Laser, too, depending on what else the unit is carrying.

tneva82 wrote:
And how pilots affect those? Are clan mech bv's on assumption they have clan pilots or should they be factored up?

Pilots modify the BV based on their Gunnery Ability as well as their Piloting or Anti-Mech Ability, and quite possibly the biggest change one can make. No matter what their origin is or their "status" among that group, it is their Skills which define their end cost.

Here is the method of calculating Battle Value. How pilots affect them is pretty much the very last page, #23, for their Skill Rating chart. In fact, unless you're designing your units by hand (which you shouldn't when there are a few good programs that will do it for you), this last page (and the introduction on the bottom of page #22), is all you really need to focus on, and even then, it's often only the Pilots that matter.

As an example, The Average/Regular Inner Sphere Pilot is 4 Gunnery & 5 Piloting (or 4/5). This is a 1.0 modifier (base value). The Average/Regular Clan Pilot is 3 Gunnery & 4 Piloting (or 3/4). This is a 1.32 modifier, and it would affect Clan Mechs with Clan Pilots of that same rating.

If you had 2 of the same Mech, that was valued at 1000 BV, the above Average Inner Sphere Pilot would be presented as 1,000 BV, while the above Average Clan Pilot would be presented as 1,320 BV.

To give a practical example, if you have an AWS-8Q Awesome from the Game of Armored Combat box with that Regular Inner Sphere pilot of 4/5 would start with 1,605 BV, and remain at 1,605 BV.

The slightly lighter Clan Timber Wolf starts at 2,737 BV. Putting the Regular Clan pilot of 3/4 would then make it 3,613 BV.

And BV values certain things over others. You can make 'Mechs that have a base BV of just over 4000, but they're essentially useless and only have that high BV because you've taken a bunch of mis-matched high-BV items (like TSEMPS and whatnot).

Imagine if a Devastator Squad was 150 points with 4 Lascannons, but 250 points with 1 Lascannon, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Heavy Bolter and 1 Multi-Melta.

The latter squad has a load of mismatched weapons all designed for different roles, and isn't as effective as the one with just 4 of the same weapon, yet it costs more.

That's BattleValue.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
And BV values certain things over others. You can make 'Mechs that have a base BV of just over 4000, but they're essentially useless and only have that high BV because you've taken a bunch of mis-matched high-BV items (like TSEMPS and whatnot).

Imagine if a Devastator Squad was 150 points with 4 Lascannons, but 250 points with 1 Lascannon, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Heavy Bolter and 1 Multi-Melta.

The latter squad has a load of mismatched weapons all designed for different roles, and isn't as effective as the one with just 4 of the same weapon, yet it costs more.

That's BattleValue.

Meanwhile, in GW, that Devastator Squad with Codex Marines was 250 points, but with the Blood Angles its 225 because they came out later, but 275 for Dark Angels because it came out earlier, and the Chaos Marine Havocs are 300 points because they're still from the previous edition.

The TSEMP with BV is the same BV no matter what it's on and which faction made it. Yeah, it's probably over-costed because it requires a REALLY high Roll for it to do its best, but it is consistent for everyone.

Or if you want to keep it easy and skip all that math breakdown of every weapon and system for a quick pickup game-

.pic an era-my favorite is 3050-3070
.pick 4 mechs/vehicles/battle armor etc.. you want to play with for a lance on lance fight
.give them standard pilots
.your opposite does the same
.play a game.

We like to add the additional flavor of using units and weapons the factions are known for. IE the Atlas with the RAC 5 is used by Davion primarily, the one with the heavy gauss is used by Steiner primarily etc... and if you feel the need to go deep into the lore. there are field manuals for all the factions so you can play specific units with their own minor battlefield rules. for example-2nd deiron regulars are mountain fighters. if you are fighting in a mountain setting they get +1 to their initiative roll. or the 2nd robinson rangers- +1 to long range shooting penalties but a -1 for melee attacks and -2 for pilot checks in urban settings. etc...

The nice thing about BattleTech is that none of them are either/or. Use as many of them in any combination that you want. Personally, I like era (or sometimes even a specific year) BV, tonnage, # of 'Mechs and occasionally Formations.

I have gotten into a group that plays locally and we have been playing two modes. One we call 4,000BV Duos, where you just bring a pair of mechs totaling 4,000 BV, with modified Gunnery or Piloting to make them fit. (more or less, like going over a small bit like 4,050 is fine)

I have been playing that format as I learn the game. The only oddity is that it tends to see both players bring a pair of heavies, or an assault and a medium. Lights don't really show up much, other than the time I got my first solid win by using a Marauder and a Thunderbolt against a Timber Wolf and a Wolfhound.

Then there is another larger format that is I think either 8k or 10 BV, more geared towards complete Lances/Stars, but It's too much data for me to keep track of at the moment.

But yes, Battletech sees some weird things happen even with "balanced" forces. In one 4K Duo game I found out how incredibly nasty going up against a force with a Nightstar is and it took 6 turns for me to even force a crit on it, but then the next week, I watched the same Nightstar die in turn two by taking two Gyro hits in a single round of firing.

Or when I was trying to teach a newbie to play the game, and got my first classic Battletech insta-kill by having my Awesome firing two ER PPC's at a Hunchback on the second turn. One misses with snake eyes..... and the other goes through the Hunchback's head.

Friend of mine, for my birthday, 3D printed and painted a 28mm Urbanmech.

It's on a giant hexbase as well.

Birth! Birth! Birth!

So this is kind of my fault. about 6 months ago i started corresponding with the owner of -Baron of Dice- because he was making some fantastic 40K and infinity dice sets. i talked him into jumping into battle tech dice, and he just released the first wave of boxed sets.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BaronOfDice?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1156882662&sort_order=date_desc&page=2#items




Coming down the pipe are-
.the great houses+ comstar
.the invading clans
other clans-hells horse, snow raven, diamond shark
mercenaries-kell hounds, wolfs dragoons, eridani light horse, grey death legion, northwind highlanders, greenbergs godzillas

They look good!

 Mr Morden wrote:
They look good!

Yes they do. Like I need more dice ...

Direct link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BaronOfDice?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1156882662&sort_order=date_desc&search_query=Battletech

And he's got Middle Earth dice too ...

Did a couple classic games this weekend.

The first was IS lance on lance-era-3070+

I was running a wierd mix of stuff-

.battlemaster K3
.akuma 2x
.hatamoto suna
.archer 9R

He was running
.atlas-S3
.fafnir
.zeus
.gauntlet-B

By the end the hatamoto was down on my side with some decent damage to the akuma and archer, he lost the gauntlet, zeus and some decent damage on the atlas so his forces withdrew.






Game 2 was a clan battle.

My forces-
.Turkina-d
.doom courser (thunder stallion proxy) prime
.glass spider 2
.storm crow A
.adder-A

His forces-
.iron cheetah-B
.nova cat-E
.timber wolf
.vyper-B
.locust IIC


It was a a pretty even exchange most of the game, my opponent came out on top mostly through multiple gyro hits across a couple mechs. and a single head cap.

still a good game.

Speaking of BattleTech dice...