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Bad Syntax posted some pics of minis next to a ruler for size comparison, thought I'd share.

 Manchu wrote:
Aside from buying KS pledges, the cheapest way to get more figs is buying another base set. Lots of people will end up with multiple copies of the book.

Oh, absolutely. While the price point and work required are significantly spicier than the X-Wing core, the same basic premise exists, though FFG were cunning with the X-Wing stuff and bundled cards in the X-Wing/TIE expansions that don't exist in the core box, presenting some reason to buy at least one of the actual expansions themselves.

Given that a core contains;
2.5 VT expansions (plus an extra Battloid)
1 T/D expansion
2 Battlepod expansions
1 Command Pod expansion
That's ~$240 MSRP worth of stuff there for $100 (obviously less if one buys from the usual retailers), plus contains the book (having 2 so both players can look things up while showing the game to a friend), 2 templates, a pile of dice and whatnot, it's not a bad idea. Expensive, time consuming, but efficient.

That may be the strength of the secondary market, at least initially. Paying $30 for a pair of VTs when one can get that plus another 29'ish figures for an extra $40 might be a tough call. Getting them for $15-20 or so, however, might appeal to people wanting to slowly expand their collection, rather than dump a pile of cash down for a whole second box at once.

The other side will be availability. If the game proves popular enough for that to be a common thing that people do, it'd effectively double the demand, which could cause supply/availability issues.

But this is all 'theorycraft' for now. The coming weeks, with actual product in actual hands, will be where things get interesting.

Between the core box and extras (7 expansions, at my count, roughly $500 MSRP in total), even just 1/2 price, still works out to just under double the original asking price.

Sort of a funny trade off with all the speculation. If the game is strong and demand for the models is high, the secondary market could be spicy. If things are weak, sure, people might get BC's and cores for a song, but it also means a much higher hill to climb for there to be any real future for the product line.

Even as "one of the haters" and a "terrorist" on the KS comments, man, why would I want this to tank? I want this gak to take off so I can pay off my backerage and still have models left over to play with! :-P

Edit: Ummm, Mike, a little context?

@Forar, fixed, sorry had people coming in and out of office.

What MM is asking, 75 USD (about $2.70/miniature totally disregarding everything else in the box), is a really nice price for the Base Set. The expansions are really overpriced IMO. Zent arty for $9.25/model is crazy.

It almost seems like they are taking a cue from microsoft and selling the main product below cost so they can sucker you into buying overpriced expansions.

I would guess the base set is their loss leader rather than that the expansion prices are jacked up.

I say overpriced because the model count seems to have little bearing on the MSRP.

I dunno. The VTs are 6 figures, pods are 6, artillery pods are 4 but come with a pile of extra bits to make them into heavy, light or particle beam variants. Destroids are 4, but at a reduced price (though they're also tiny). I know the command pack has like 2 large(ish?) sprues, but that's the one I see being a bit of a question mark. $12.33 per model MSRP?

Especially if what mike says is true and the recovery pods are kind of a waste, making it like $25+ for a command pod and a recon pod. Not a great deal, and unlike the destroids, the officer's pod is significantly out of scale for Battletech players.

I totally agree the expansions are overpriced (see above) and you make a good point about model count. But that base set is a sweet, sweet loss leader.

No doubt. ~$150 for 70 models and all the fixings is pretty solid. Not quite as cheap as some skirmish games, but a hell of a lot cheaper than many army games.

Add in nostalgia and I'm sure there'll be some people nibbling.

Just got my shipping notice, let the bidding for my battlecry begin.

Shipment #970
Backer #1438

Just assembled Valkyrie fighter
easy peasy
except put the head on before the gun pod. I did not and I had to use tweezers to get the head there past the gun pod I had already used
it's very cute. Of course I held it aloft and flew it around making zooming noises and dakka dakka at my regults

Oh btw I checked the cards. They are 100% printed on a digital press with a glossy laminate applied on a finishing unit. It's a thin coating that is not nearly as thick as traditional pouch lamination. However it is very much an upgrade as a normal digital press does not do it by default
(We just got some konika digital presses at work after a year of shopping and comparing and every press has separate finishing units. Not cheap. An HP indigo press fully loaded is north of 800 thousand dollars)

That being said they are very flimsy. Forar your earlier suggestion of relaminating them would make them indestructible. I can see the default ones falling apart with a fewyears of weekly play


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Cyporiean $140?


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BTW I cannot recommend plastruct plastic weld enough
it begins melting the parts almost immediately
brush it on and press the parts together and the slight melting fills in the seams
I'd honestly be less happy if I was using a different glue
as most of the seams are disappearing as I glue them

Yeah, my group ended up laminating our Malifaux 1.5 cards, and they are very much all but indestructible.

And good to know on the Plastruct. I've never used it, but some fiddling with a few scrap sprue pieces ought to let me sort it out.

I mean, I've got time to kill. I'll be lucky if I have my boxes by December at this rate.

Edit: and congrats Cyporiean!

I'll pay for your Battle Cry with a Battle Cry of my own! BAM, eat that math, fethers!

Okay the GERWALK is a pain in the ass
correction the GERWALK with both hands holding the gun pod
that was a nightmare
However the GERWALK with only the right hand holding gun pod and left hand free is a cinch
biggest seams so far on GERWALK legs.

GERWALK = Guardian


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Watch the battroid shoulder lights
I just clipped a part off one off :(


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The battroids have a lot of optional parts. I recommend cutting all the parts out of the first sprue you assemble. So you can dry fit the arms and such to get the configuration you want

 judgedoug wrote:
Just assembled Valkyrie fighter
easy peasy
except put the head on before the gun pod. I did not and I had to use tweezers to get the head there past the gun pod I had already used
it's very cute

How noticeable is the head? Would it ruin the overall look of the model just to leave it off?

. Of course I held it aloft and flew it around making zooming noises and dakka dakka at my regults

@Cyporiean: $150?

This may very well change, but as it stands, there are some wave 2 items I don't really want: the Lancers, Ghosts, and a pack of YF-4's that I regret getting.

Okay folks, discussion about selling that pledge needs to go to the Swap Shop. Thanks!

 judgedoug wrote:
Just assembled Valkyrie fighter
easy peasy
except put the head on before the gun pod. I did not and I had to use tweezers to get the head there past the gun pod I had already used
it's very cute. Of course I held it aloft and flew it around making zooming noises and dakka dakka at my regults

Oh btw I checked the cards. They are 100% printed on a digital press with a glossy laminate applied on a finishing unit. It's a thin coating that is not nearly as thick as traditional pouch lamination. However it is very much an upgrade as a normal digital press does not do it by default
(We just got some konika digital presses at work after a year of shopping and comparing and every press has separate finishing units. Not cheap. An HP indigo press fully loaded is north of 800 thousand dollars)

That being said they are very flimsy. Forar your earlier suggestion of relaminating them would make them indestructible. I can see the default ones falling apart with a fewyears of weekly play


Automatically Appended Next

Cyporiean $140?


[size=9]Automatically Appended Next Post:
BTW I cannot recommend plastruct plastic weld enough
it begins melting the parts almost immediately
brush it on and press the parts together and the slight melting fills in the seams
I'd honestly be less happy if I was using a different glue
as most of the seams are disappearing as I glue them

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Eh, all my posts are turning to crap?
Is it laminated or cello glazed?

 judgedoug wrote:

BTW I cannot recommend plastruct plastic weld enough
it begins melting the parts almost immediately
brush it on and press the parts together and the slight melting fills in the seams
I'd honestly be less happy if I was using a different glue
as most of the seams are disappearing as I glue them

Plastruct it is, then, as it seems it's stronger than the one I'm using right now, and the seams very much need filling (I was thinking about making ABS sludge to fill the gaps, personally). Thank you very much for your input.

I'll have to get me a bottle of that before they ship my stuff... which means I'm not in a hurry >_>

Could you take a couple pics of the Spacy stuff you've assembled, if it's not too much of a bother? I'd love to see the end result (Also, I'd love to see Spacy stuff primed, as it looks like the brown plastic doesn't really helps to see the detail or lack thereof).

EDIT: ...anyone knows where to buy this from the EU? Even better if there's no need for air travel, as I suspect it is not allowed to.

Joyboozer wrote:

Is it laminated or cello glazed?

Well gak. You know, they might be celloglazed. Now that you mentioned that... celloglazing has that slick varnish quality, if I remember correctly, right? the Robotech cards are definitely slick. Let me see if we still have a bunch of sample stock at work and I'll bring it home to compare it.


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 Albertorius wrote:


EDIT: ...anyone knows where to buy this from the EU? Even better if there's no need for air travel, as I suspect it is not allowed to.

This might help!
http://plastruct.com/Pages/IntlDealers.html
http://plastruct.com/Pages/IntlDist.html

double post?

Here's a rather low quality pic I took last night


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Yeah, that's a container of Secret Weapon weathering powder. I have a USMC micro armor force with air support and even I was startled but how small the Valkyries are.

BTW the battroids really do come with an insane number of options. It made much more sense to put two on a sprue so they could have like 8 different left and right arms - instead of a smaller sprue with one per and only 4 different left and right arms.

The sprue designers also did some neat tricks to allow more interesting poses. You can see it on the GERWALK I assembled - the GU-11's top rear fin is cut a little short, so that it can but up against the upper arm/shoulder; same with the battroid's right arm - the GU-11 has an indent cut across the length of the gun so that when you affix it to the arm, it actually rests against the arm. These tricks allow the models to emulate more of an animation pose, versus say the Yamato/Arcadia 1/60 Valkyrie toys which - while you can get reallllly close - you're still limited by the fact it's a physical item and not animation, which can get away with exaggerating or diminishing certain details.

The plastruct really seem to fill most of the seams in those, and sanding that should be much, much easier than filling a gap afterwards. If that's so, it will make me much happier with the Spacy stuff, TBH. Thank you very much for the pic!

I still shudder to think how long it will take for the whole Showdown, though >_>

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
Just assembled Valkyrie fighter
easy peasy
except put the head on before the gun pod. I did not and I had to use tweezers to get the head there past the gun pod I had already used
it's very cute

How noticeable is the head? Would it ruin the overall look of the model just to leave it off?

On the fighter, you'll never see it, unless for some reason you were lying face up across your gaming table and had your Valkyries on really high flight stands. Perhaps you're dressed as a crashed Zentraedi cruiser and your friends are playing Robotech Tactics across your motionless body? But seriously, nah, it won't really matter if you don't plug the heads in, other than leave an empty indentation where the head is supposed to go. It'd bug me.

They give you a TON of heads though. Each Fighter and each GERWALK sprue comes with one each VF-1A (one part), 1J (two parts - head and then head lasers), 1S (two parts, left and right half), and 1R (two parts, head w/ single laser and second piece with two head lasers), and the Battroid sprue comes with two each VF-1A and 1R and one each 1J and 1S.

OH!!! And the missiles! dear god the missiles. Each fighter and GERWALK comes with dozens of missiles. The triple-cluster of missiles was kind of a pain to assemble, but the missile box and the RMS-1 nuclear missiles look way easy (I wonder if they'll make rules for tactical nukes!)


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 Albertorius wrote:
The plastruct really seem to fill most of the seams in those, and sanding that should be much, much easier than filling a gap afterwards. If that's so, it will make me much happier with the Spacy stuff, TBH. Thank you very much for the pic!

I still shudder to think how long it will take for the whole Showdown, though >_>

After the first of each (where you're discovering where each part goes and such), the second and subsequent become way easier. Each subsequent Regult after the first took maybe a song (was listening to a bunch of Front 242 and Metric). As I mentioned previously, cutting the parts out into little piles and assembly lining them makes it go real quick. The GERWALK took a good 30 minutes because of lining up the arms and extensive cursing. The Fighter took like 10 minutes, and the missiles another 10 minutes, but I can see assembly lining 3 at a time in the same amount of time.

There was a seam that was bugging me, though I cannot remember which one it is now and looking at the pics doesn't really help. I think maybe the GERWALK legs? Regardless I remember thinking I might rub some Vallejo liquid putty across it. But I think I might just prime these guys white maybe tonight to see if any seams show up after priming. That'll determine if I want to spend any extra time on them in the future with liquid putty.

 Albertorius wrote:
The plastruct really seem to fill most of the seams in those, and sanding that should be much, much easier than filling a gap afterwards. If that's so, it will make me much happier with the Spacy stuff, TBH. Thank you very much for the pic!
I still shudder to think how long it will take for the whole Showdown, though >_>

I find building models the easiest part of the hobby.
I am not looking forward to my first couple Veritechs, my big fingers are going to be a problem for these I suspect.

I must admit, playing with the models and making noises may be inevitable, I am glad my hobby area is a man-cave in the basement.

Will see if I can find plastruct in my area, practice on the sprues may give me an idea of what works best before melting itty bitty pieces.

The tone has changed slightly to excitement, but must remember, I am in Canada and got all kinds of options so Christmas may not be an unreasonable time to wait...

 Talizvar wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:
The plastruct really seem to fill most of the seams in those, and sanding that should be much, much easier than filling a gap afterwards. If that's so, it will make me much happier with the Spacy stuff, TBH. Thank you very much for the pic!
I still shudder to think how long it will take for the whole Showdown, though >_>

I find building models the easiest part of the hobby.
I am not looking forward to my first couple Veritechs, my big fingers are going to be a problem for these I suspect.

I'm 6' and 180 lbs with big manly hands and I found the following areas difficult:
plugging in the head on the fighter (because I had glued the gunpod on the undercarriage first, so was in the way)
gluing the third missile to the triple-missile cluster
arranging the GERWALK shoulders/arms

the parts ARE small. If anyone only has experience with, say, Dark Vengeance and clip together models, this will be a challenge. I've put together micro armor, 1/72 plastic model kits, Battletech mechs (like the reseen mechs that come in like 500 parts), etc, so I'm used to small parts. I can easily imagine someone being overwhelmed - with the Valkyries at least. Since the Zentraedi models are 50-100% larger, they are MUCH easier to deal with.

 Talizvar wrote:
I must admit, playing with the models and making noises may be inevitable, I am glad my hobby area is a man-cave in the basement.

Will see if I can find plastruct in my area, practice on the sprues may give me an idea of what works best before melting itty bitty pieces.

The tone has changed slightly to excitement, but must remember, I am in Canada and got all kinds of options so Christmas may not be an unreasonable time to wait...

If Plastruct Plastic Weld is not in your area, it's just dichloromethane with a brush on applicator, there might be another manufacturer/brand.

Oh trust me you will be making lots of noises:
cursing
squeals of delight
zooming afterburners
more cursing
dakkadakka
explosiony noises
"oh, rick!"
triumphant cursing


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If you're going to use the Robotech Tactics rules, I would recommend assembling the mecha based on the introductory scenarios on page 73.

Scenario 1: 2 VF-1A (so 6 models) and 6 Regults.

Scenario 2: 3 VF-1A and 1 VF-1J (so 12 models) and 12 Regults.

Scenario 3: 3 VF-1A and 1 VF-1J, 12 Regults, 1 Glaug.

Scenario 4: 2 VF-1A, 1 VF-1J, 1 VF-1S, 2 Tomahawks, 12 Regults, 1 Glaug.

that way you can assemble some models, play a scenario, assemble more models, play the next scenario, etc.

 judgedoug wrote:
"oh, rick!"

To be in looooooove must be the sweetest feeling that a girl can feeeeeeel.

Exalted for the:

"oh, rick!"

 Manchu wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
"oh, rick!"

To be in looooooove must be the sweetest feeling that a girl can feeeeeeel.

To liiiive a dreeeaaammm with somebody you care about... like no one elllsseee.
A special man, a dearest maaann who needs to share his life with you alone.
Who'll hold you close and feel things... that only love brings, to know that he is all your ownnn!!

Seriously though, I love Minmei. RoboTech would not be RoboTech without Minmei.