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.

JOHIRA wrote:I played a couple of games of someone's Battletech set once. I remember really enjoying it, despite thinking the plastic minis were really, well, pants. About half of the problem was just bad robot design and the other half was just sloppy execution. But for that price I think I can live with that.

In fact, Battletech may be pretty much what I'm looking for at the moment. A small, fun, very detailed game that would allow future expansion but doesn't require hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get a decent starting force.

Part of the charm of 3025 was that all the designs had flaws. Not to go into detail, but 2 tons on a Stinger or Locust taken up for a machinegun system? mechs with crippling heat problems all over the place, ammo in the CT on many mechs just begging for a crit? The existance of the Jagermech? some had more flaws than others but in general, none of them were the most efficient as they could be. I can count on one hand the number of mechs I would take from tech readout 3025 without wanting to swap something or other out for something else.

THose pinkish mechs in Warboss' post above look like the sculpts from the old Ral Partha line, I have 2 of them. They might be plastic instead of metal, so not as crisp, but that Whitworth is in exactly the same pose as my old lead figure.

Nostalgia will force me to buy this as Battletech was the first miniatures -based wargame I ever played.

Seeing as I have not played a game of Battletech in about 20+ years I'm looking forward to revisiting it with my sons.

Anybody have a comparison of how the different miniature lines throughout the years measure up to each other? IE, if I have a bunch of old school plastic mechs from the starter, and old reaper figs, are they the same molds as the new Iron Wind Metals stuff?

Also, for people wanting different minis to use, ever thought of kitbashing Heavy Gear and CAV minis?

whitedragon wrote:Anybody have a comparison of how the different miniature lines throughout the years measure up to each other? IE, if I have a bunch of old school plastic mechs from the starter, and old reaper figs, are they the same molds as the new Iron Wind Metals stuff?

Also, for people wanting different minis to use, ever thought of kitbashing Heavy Gear and CAV minis?

i'd be interested in that comparison too (i.e. pics of the same mech over the 25 years of production). as for the last part, i've never seen heavy gear minis used in battletech games (there used to be a bit of a friendly rivalry back in the day... with the gencon booth giant life size gear's bazooka purposely pointed at the old fasa booth!) but i have seen a CAV mech or two in various con games. Most of my experience is from looking at convention showpiece games and they tend to be put on by superfans who don't need/want to substitute minis but i'm sure some people do use them as stand-ins or homebrew mechs.

Ouze wrote:What kind of terrain would work with this sort of scale?

misterfiveseven wrote:
You actually don't need terrain. The boards are hex-grid 2d maps, making it pretty straight foward (and lord knows i have like 200+ of them).

However, you can use scale terrain. Problem is, a battlemech is 10 meters, while a hex is actually 30 meters wide; the mini is more a placeholder than a scale model. That means when you're using scale terrain and TLOS, you have to multiply everything by 3 (ranges movement, etc.). This makes for a very large game table.

However, I haven't played with the rereleased rules, so they may be different...

ninja'd by 2 min :(

I believe the rules have changed a bit for the hexless terrain. I think they are in the Strategic Operations rule book. The best thing about this game is that you can use as little or as much rules as you want. Adding more rules does make the game more complex. You can literally fight a battle on a heavy gravity world in/on a sinking mega-ship, while a storm is raging, and have your units pick up and toss opposing units overboard. Or just a basic game using the printed mapsheet, and basic equipment.

For those of you that might be interested in the rules set of Classic Battletech, but don't like the plastic minis, check out Iron Wind Metals:
http://www.ironwindmetals.com/store/index.php

I've ordered from them in the past, and while they don't have EVERY 'mech, they do have a large selection.

::Edit:: Space bar fail

If you can't find a particular mini there, I've found many mechs on ebay.

Our gaming group plays battle tech twice a month. Fun game. If these are just re-released minis from the last boxed set, we'll probably pass. We have those already.

olympia wrote:All these posters hating on non-GW products! What is this, warseer? Personally I can't wait to get my hands on this thing.

There is no hate for Battletech from me. There is just disappointment from a good majority of the product releases that Catalyst puts out. I want to give them money and I want Battletech to grow. But putting out crap products like the 25th anniversary box set gives me no incentive to buy their products. They need to concentrate on growing a quality product line such as miniatures that are able to keep up with the releases of each Technical readout. And/or producing quality miniatures products like the Premium Mechs in addition to or as a replacement for the existing miniatures available.

While I agree with the sentiment its better than cardstock minis that the original was reissued with and this helps to break down the biggest barrier for new people getting into the game.

We'be been spoiled and the reality is simply Catalyst, unlike other miniature game companies doesn't have the resources to capatilize by internally producing a miniature range.

aka_mythos wrote:While I agree with the sentiment its better than cardstock minis that the original was reissued with and this helps to break down the biggest barrier for new people getting into the game.

We'be been spoiled and the reality is simply Catalyst, unlike other miniature game companies doesn't have the resources to capatilize by internally producing a miniature range.

That is true. Having one of their owners embezzle 3 million dollars probably did put a dent in their miniatures producing ability.

They've never had an in-house miniature producing capability, nor have they ever tried to have such a thing. They are not a miniature war-gaming company.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

yeenoghu wrote:Part of the charm of 3025 was that all the designs had flaws.

That didn't stop after 3025. Flaws and bad designs are part of the game and even in the most recent releases they still have 'Mechs with serious flaws.

The minis aren't the best, but seriously, for 2 companies worth of 'mechs, it is a bargain. If I were to purchase all 24 'mechs from Ironwind Metals, that would cost me around $200. And sure, they aren't the minis that you would enter in a painting contest, but for tabletop play, they paint up well enough. And from couple feet away, they are indistinguishable from their metal counterparts.

H.B.M.C. wrote:They've never had an in-house miniature producing capability, nor have they ever tried to have such a thing. They are not a miniature war-gaming company.

No one ever said they did but the premium mechs were produced under the direction of Catalyst and then very shortly after the finical troubles came to light.

Catalyst isn't a miniatures, that is true and that is also much of the problem.

Puscifer wrote:No Madcat for the premiums??? Strange, that is like the most recognisable mech.

I still have all my books from when I played, but no models as some bastard stole them all.

Anyone know where I can get models in the UK???

Ral Partha UK. Licensed BT producer across the pond. They don't have some of the super newest stuff, but they don't have an archiving fee either, IIRC.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

NecronLord3 wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:They've never had an in-house miniature producing capability, nor have they ever tried to have such a thing. They are not a miniature war-gaming company.

No one ever said they did but the premium mechs were produced under the direction of Catalyst and then very shortly after the finical troubles came to light.

Catalyst isn't a miniatures, that is true and that is also much of the problem.

Not a problem. They are a bunch of writers. Battletech is a simulation board game more than a minis game. The people in charge know that. They stick to what works. The Battletech people make sure the universe, game, and minis all stay in conjunction with each other for the utmost consistency. IIRC there are only MAYBE a dozen full time Catalyst employees. The rest are freelancers who happen to spend a lot of time doing Battletech and Shadowrun.

They know their limits. Imagine if GW had truly separate departments for rules and miniatures. Don't you think the quality would go up for both?

Mattlov wrote:

Puscifer wrote:No Madcat for the premiums??? Strange, that is like the most recognisable mech.

I still have all my books from when I played, but no models as some bastard stole them all.

Anyone know where I can get models in the UK???

Ral Partha UK. Licensed BT producer across the pond. They don't have some of the super newest stuff, but they don't have an archiving fee either, IIRC.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

NecronLord3 wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:They've never had an in-house miniature producing capability, nor have they ever tried to have such a thing. They are not a miniature war-gaming company.

No one ever said they did but the premium mechs were produced under the direction of Catalyst and then very shortly after the finical troubles came to light.

Catalyst isn't a miniatures, that is true and that is also much of the problem.

Not a problem. They are a bunch of writers. Battletech is a simulation board game more than a minis game. The people in charge know that. They stick to what works. The Battletech people make sure the universe, game, and minis all stay in conjunction with each other for the utmost consistency. IIRC there are only MAYBE a dozen full time Catalyst employees. The rest are freelancers who happen to spend a lot of time doing Battletech and Shadowrun.

They know their limits. Imagine if GW had truly separate departments for rules and miniatures. Don't you think the quality would go up for both?

Obviously not. Battle tech is a prime example of how NOT having all your eggs in one basket leads to financial instability, poor coordination, and stagnation. Catalyst needs to concentrate on one thing growing it's consumer base. The box set is a good attempt at doing just that, however it could be done in such a better way that it would grow the consumer base, attract players from other games, bring old players back AND have something for the existing player base. 10 high quality plastic minis would do just that instead of 24 rereleased poor quality miniatures. Or they simply could have labeled this set a second printing of the box set and not have undue expectations for an anniversary boxed set.

Mad4Minis wrote:

cygnnus wrote:

If it doesn't have a Wasp, Stinger, Locust, Phoenix Hawk, Griffin, Wolverine, Shadowhawk, Rifleman, Thunderbolt, Warhammer, Archer, Marauder, and Battlemaster, it ain't Battletech (Battlemech, anyone? ) to me!

Valete,

JohnS

You do realize that all the original versions of those, the ones that were taken from Japanese anime, are no longer allowed to be made right?

Of course... And that has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on my opinion. You can count the "good-looking" mechs after those original Robotech ones on one hand, and probably have some fingers to spare!

Cruddy designs aside, the whole Clan deal is my exhibit A in why GW should not advance the 40k timeline...

But, hey, that's just one grognard's opinion.

Valete,

JohnS

yeenoghu wrote:

JOHIRA wrote:I played a couple of games of someone's Battletech set once. I remember really enjoying it, despite thinking the plastic minis were really, well, pants. About half of the problem was just bad robot design and the other half was just sloppy execution. But for that price I think I can live with that.

In fact, Battletech may be pretty much what I'm looking for at the moment. A small, fun, very detailed game that would allow future expansion but doesn't require hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get a decent starting force.

Part of the charm of 3025 was that all the designs had flaws. Not to go into detail, but 2 tons on a Stinger or Locust taken up for a machinegun system? mechs with crippling heat problems all over the place, ammo in the CT on many mechs just begging for a crit? The existance of the Jagermech?

I'm not talking about technical design flaws, I'm talking about visual design flaws. Some of them just plain look ridiculous (see the photo in pombe's post, the 'mech with long, spindly legs on tiny hip joints that pop outside its torso and a freaking helmet.)

But then as I understand things I can just not use that mech in most games, right? How does choosing a force work for Battletech anyway? Is it possible to assemble a collection of all the mechs you like and only use those mechs for every battle?

I played a game one time where you could go in after the battle and scrounge up mechs, and whoever held the land, and the ability to transport the dead mechs got them back to thier base and could use them again, or for spare parts.

As to making up your lances and companies, you could either make up your own, or get the mechs that corrisponded to a comparable "Fluff" company.

They had a bunch of historical units, and other ones were just run of the mill, ( some were heavy mech lances, some were recon lances, some were fire support, etc.)

What you do is just pick a couple of mechs, make up some fluff for your unit, and just go in and play. Some people put the little patches on them, others paint them all the same colors, still others play it with Book related content, and play campaigns including thier RPG characters, and other stuff from the game universe.

Good stuff, I'm checking out some of the material, and pricing a few lances. I've been sold on that 25th set, and I'll be picking up a couple more lances and relearning about my House Stiener stuff.

Do they still have those hybrid mechs, like the Phenox Hawk? Those remind me of Transformers.

JOHIRA wrote:

yeenoghu wrote:

JOHIRA wrote:I played a couple of games of someone's Battletech set once. I remember really enjoying it, despite thinking the plastic minis were really, well, pants. About half of the problem was just bad robot design and the other half was just sloppy execution. But for that price I think I can live with that.

In fact, Battletech may be pretty much what I'm looking for at the moment. A small, fun, very detailed game that would allow future expansion but doesn't require hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get a decent starting force.

Part of the charm of 3025 was that all the designs had flaws. Not to go into detail, but 2 tons on a Stinger or Locust taken up for a machinegun system? mechs with crippling heat problems all over the place, ammo in the CT on many mechs just begging for a crit? The existance of the Jagermech?

I'm not talking about technical design flaws, I'm talking about visual design flaws. Some of them just plain look ridiculous (see the photo in pombe's post, the 'mech with long, spindly legs on tiny hip joints that pop outside its torso and a freaking helmet.)

But then as I understand things I can just not use that mech in most games, right? How does choosing a force work for Battletech anyway? Is it possible to assemble a collection of all the mechs you like and only use those mechs for every battle?

There are no restrictions on what you can take. Players generally will get together and come up with a limit. So some groups will play an era specific battle, for example you will only play mechs from 3050 or earlier. Some groups will play a tonnage level, for example any units you want with a total tonnage not to exceed 1000 tons. But the most common way to play is based on battle value, for example any units you want not to exceed 8,000 BV points. And there are many combinations and limitations that are used as well.

Now visually there are allot of very cool and very exciting designs as well as allot of outdated visually unappealing designs. IMO, what Dark Ages brought to the battletech universe was a change in the aesthetic appeal of mech designs. More and more mechs have more visually appealing designs while possibly having lack luster weapons and armor layouts or simply just being repackaged designs of older units.

JOHIRA wrote:Some of them just plain look ridiculous (see the photo in pombe's post, the 'mech with long, spindly legs on tiny hip joints that pop outside its torso and a freaking helmet.)

The Catapult is a personal favorite of mine.

However, yes...that was not the greatest sculpt. If you prefer a better version, you can buy the resculpted version here:

http://www.ironwindmetals.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1955

Grot 6 wrote:I played a game one time where you could go in after the battle and scrounge up mechs, and whoever held the land, and the ability to transport the dead mechs got them back to thier base and could use them again, or for spare parts.

As to making up your lances and companies, you could either make up your own, or get the mechs that corrisponded to a comparable "Fluff" company.

For our game, our group is a Mercenary Company assigned to planetary defense. Part of our payment is salvage rights from the enemies mech and vehicles. You can amass quite a collection of spare parts and extra ammo this way. It's a bit of a logistical/book-keeping nightmare to keep up with it, but one of our players just loves that stuff.

If you recover a mostly intact vehicle, you can repair it then sell it. Or, keep it as a back-up in case one of the primary units is destroyed or damaged.

For lances, we picked similar speeds or weapon ranges to divide up the mechs. There are 6 players with PC's and about the same # of NPC's, so our battles can get rather large.

cygnnus wrote:

Cruddy designs aside, the whole Clan deal is my exhibit A in why GW should not advance the 40k timeline...

But, hey, that's just one grognard's opinion.

Valete,

JohnS

Ill agree. When I first started Battletech (around 18 yeas ago) I played clans...simply because they womped my buddies IS stuff with ease. However, after a while I learned that the older stuff was more fun. 3025-3050 IS vs IS is the most fun overall.

kronk wrote:I'm holding off until I see pictures of the mechs. But I am excited about the news.

Here is a better link to a higher quality pic of the 24 sub-par mechs from Boardgamegeek.com: http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic247121_lg.jpg

pombe wrote:

JOHIRA wrote:Some of them just plain look ridiculous (see the photo in pombe's post, the 'mech with long, spindly legs on tiny hip joints that pop outside its torso and a freaking helmet.)

The Catapult is a personal favorite of mine.

However, yes...that was not the greatest sculpt. If you prefer a better version, you can buy the resculpted version here:

http://www.ironwindmetals.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1955

Don't get me wrong, I guess the Catapult (don't know the names) is the one I like. In principle any robot chicken-walker gets a big from me. It's the more humanoid 'Mechs where I think the designs get silly.

Did i really first play battledroids 25 years ago. wow i am so old. hmmm. this might be a new purchase.

Why would anyone spend more precious hours of their life playing Battletax? I have to do my taxes more than once this year? Oh Khorne, why?

More to the point, why would people play this when games like Heavy Gear exist? A better, more realized universe, quicker and more intelligent gameplay, and way better art. I mean, I was raised on Battletech novels, but that just served to underline the deficiencies of the game as a simulation.

Wow. Whole lotta hate going on this this thread. If you don't like BattleTech, that's cool. But please, let you're opinion-as-fact bull-gak at the door.

mm Battletech so yummy.

<-- must buy

AHHHHHHH no Battlemaster model, no Archer, no Warhammer. GAK.

sennacherib wrote:AHHHHHHH no Battlemaster model, no Archer, no Warhammer. GAK.

Grab em on eBay or Iron Wind Metals?