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What mech is on the cover? If is something similar to a Warhammer, the mechs are of a lesser quality material and probably some defects (bases not complete, that sort of stuff). If its an Atlas, the material is better and you'll probably won't see any defects.

As to mechs, both should have the same: Commando, Spider, Jenner, Panther, Assassin, Cicada, Clint, Hermes II, Whitworth, Vindicator, Enforcer, Hunchback, Trebuchet, Dervish, Dragon, Quickdraw, Catapult, Jagermech, Grasshopper, Awesome, Zeus, Cyclops, Banshee and Atlas.

Had something strange happen today. Was at my local store and playing battletech and a few people come over to watch, they recognised the models from that new battletech game and didn’t know it was a tabletop game too.

Looks like words getting around and people are becoming aware of battletech, this is only a good thing in my eyes.

 Albertorius wrote:
What mech is on the cover? If is something similar to a Warhammer, the mechs are of a lesser quality material and probably some defects (bases not complete, that sort of stuff). If its an Atlas, the material is better and you'll probably won't see any defects.

As to mechs, both should have the same: Commando, Spider, Jenner, Panther, Assassin, Cicada, Clint, Hermes II, Whitworth, Vindicator, Enforcer, Hunchback, Trebuchet, Dervish, Dragon, Quickdraw, Catapult, Jagermech, Grasshopper, Awesome, Zeus, Cyclops, Banshee and Atlas.

It has a MadCat on the cover.

 Mmmpi wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:
What mech is on the cover? If is something similar to a Warhammer, the mechs are of a lesser quality material and probably some defects (bases not complete, that sort of stuff). If its an Atlas, the material is better and you'll probably won't see any defects.

As to mechs, both should have the same: Commando, Spider, Jenner, Panther, Assassin, Cicada, Clint, Hermes II, Whitworth, Vindicator, Enforcer, Hunchback, Trebuchet, Dervish, Dragon, Quickdraw, Catapult, Jagermech, Grasshopper, Awesome, Zeus, Cyclops, Banshee and Atlas.

It has a MadCat on the cover.

Hmmm, ok, wasn't aware that it was different. Then I'm assuming is this one:

http://www.ulisses-spiele.de/sortiment/tabletop/battletech/produkte/#1543-battletech-starterbox

the new starter box set that was released in June 2017 includes a mini-campaign about the Jade Falcons' attack on Barcelona and two of the new high-quality gaming boards (double-sided), with two entirely new hexmaps named "Country Side" and "Mine". Not sure what the other two (classic) maps are.

According to product manager Michael Mingers on the Ulisses forum, the eight plastic miniatures are Daishi, Nova, Mad Cat, Uller, Centurion, Orion, Victor, Javelin (the eight 'Mechs from the More Mechs box).

Apparently the minis are old stock from the Citytech 2 box, and aren't of very good quality... but hey, plastic Clan mechs!

How cheap and nasty.

Catalyst should hire a decent plastics company to make decent plastic kits. Renedra would be a good choice.

Those mechs were ok for the early 90's, but not for today, besides Citytech contained two sprues. It you are going to produce fugly soft plastic mechs you could at least provide a fair few of them.

I think this may have come up before, but - are the Alpha Strike minis the same as the classic Battletech mechs? I found some cheap sets, but if I get them I'd like them to be in same scale as the old metal & plastic mechs I already have.

Yeah, they're supposed to be the same size. You just get to use more of them.

On that note, what is a good sized game for Alpha Strike, in terms of points I mean.

 Mmmpi wrote:
Yeah, they're supposed to be the same size. You just get to use more of them.

On that note, what is a good sized game for Alpha Strike, in terms of points I mean.

IIRC, company sized games play quite decently.

Yeah, but a company of locusts is a lot fewer points then a company of heavies.

I'm mostly just wondering if there's a settled upon good "average" points level, like 40K and 1,500 (ish) or Heavy Gear and 150.

All the example forces in the book skirt the 370-380 PV, so that's probably a good starting point, around 400 PV.

Ok, thanks for the help (My book is on a separate continent).

 Mmmpi wrote:
Yeah, but a company of locusts is a lot fewer points then a company of heavies.

I'm mostly just wondering if there's a settled upon good "average" points level, like 40K and 1,500 (ish) or Heavy Gear and 150.

It takes about as much time to handle a Locust as an Atlas. A Locust has three guns, an Atlas seven, and an Atlas will be on the table longer but that is about it.

Company-a-side is a reasonable suggestion for you. For low points games a company of lights and vehicles, for higher points games a company of heavies to assaults.

At the same time the Atlas is about four times the price of the Locust and then some, and it is also a lot slower.
Though in AS you should aim for maybe a Lance to start off with, and then build up to 400ish points. Start with the basics though, and leave vehicles, artillery, and all the other rules out until you are ready.

 Orlanth wrote:
How cheap and nasty.

Catalyst should hire a decent plastics company to make decent plastic kits. Renedra would be a good choice.

Those mechs were ok for the early 90's, but not for today, besides Citytech contained two sprues. It you are going to produce fugly soft plastic mechs you could at least provide a fair few of them.

The original CityTech box they were in had two of each, so at least got 16 plastic mildly shaped turds. I would not be surprised if those were original molds that have now seen 20 years of use.

Yep, two sprues.

The Javelins were passably ok. I had a lot of Plastech CityTech and unseen Battletech mechs. They still form the core of my Battletech collection and have for neigh on twenty five years.
They were servicalbe for plastic miniatures of the time, not they are completely inadequate.

And yes they are very likely the same molds, they wouldn't choose those mechs otherwise, its not even a decent lineup of mechs.

I was poking around amazon and this popped up (https://www.amazon.com/Catalyst-Game-Labs-Battletech-Beginner/dp/B07D3GGP73/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1526956796&sr=8-8&keywords=battletech+starter+box)

says the beginners box is available September 28 (another said August 31'st, but they were also charging 25% more).

 Orlanth wrote:
How cheap and nasty.

Catalyst should hire a decent plastics company to make decent plastic kits. Renedra would be a good choice.

Those mechs were ok for the early 90's, but not for today, besides Citytech contained two sprues. It you are going to produce fugly soft plastic mechs you could at least provide a fair few of them.

The plasrtics from CityTech weren't even good for the early 90s. They were a massive step down compared to the plastics from the 3rd edition Battletech boxed set - which were still the same shiny soft plastic, but at least had some details on them, and painted up OK.

They were basically crap, yeah. Shame.

That said, from what I understand they have not made a new batch for the german starter: it was rather that they existed and the german publisher needed a new starter set, so they used them.

Which means that a lot of those sprues must have been gathering dust for 20 years somewhere...

I've got quite a bit of mileage out of the Citytech minis, myself.

Okay, so all of them, bar the Javelin need a varying amount of modification (arm reposing at a minimum), but they're not useless after they've been painted up.

None of this applies to the Victor, though. I have not managed to get that thing to look right, no matter what.

Well, my GermanMechs came in. While not the highest quality, they have managed to escape any noticeable mold defects. A coat of paint should cover any of the remaining sins of these models.

Nice!

Pics or it didn't happen

 Albertorius wrote:
Nice!

Pics or it didn't happen

Here you go! Eight GermanMechs.

I still use those CityTech minis today. Hell, I remember being at home studying for my final school exams when my sealed copy of CityTech 2 (bought off eBay) arrived. Exciting day. And trust me, when the only BattleTech mini you own is an old Warhammer from the 3rd Ed box, and everything else you have is a cardboard standup from the 4th Ed box, those CityTech 'Mechs are fething amazing.

But forget the mins for a second... are those new maps in that German box?

 Orlanth wrote:
Amen to that. Though I cant afford company sized UrbanMech forces.

Yeah I've got two. An an Urbie IIC. And the big Urbie, the Imp, to lead them. I call them The Egg Men.

As requested, here are the two maps that came with it. They're on thick card board, like in a board game. Also, double sided.

You posted the first one twice.

Man... my kingdom for some new maps.

How can I get these without ordering a big box'o'German stuff?

You're right!

Here's the 4th.

Thanks for the pics mmmpi.

Nice, those maps look great. The mechs though, not so much, but a mech is a mech I guess, and they do beat card counters.

They are old but to be fair they were pretty poor even when they originally came out in the mid-1990s. I never really understood why the Daishi and Madcat had to be posed with their arms linked to their knees, but I'm assuming that there was a reason of some sort.

Look at the gates on the sprue. There's one per 'Mech. That might've been the only way they could get those arms to properly fill out.