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.

The Kickstarter has also hit 2m, but that's a computer game...

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
The Kickstarter has also hit 2m, but that's a computer game...

The kickstarter actually has all the Tabletop Wargame(?) sourcebooks available for add-ons, which is pretty neat.

Oscouts don't have arms...

 DarknessEternal wrote:
Oscouts don't have arms...

... they do now. They stole them from the Tau Stormsurge

I am a proud backer of the kickstarter. I have been playing the game since the first boxed set. It was my first strategy/tactical game. Once I started reading the novels I was hooked. I have collected them all. Glad to see this making a comeback

I love the new Shadow Hawk, can't wait to get a few of the new minis whenever they arrive. I'm somewhat ambivalent on the new Ostscout. Its a nice looking design, but it just does not look like an Ostscout to me.

 DarknessEternal wrote:
Oscouts don't have arms...

Huh? Where did you get that idea? The original drawing has arms.

http://www.solaris7.com/TRO/HTMLBattleMech/BattlemechInfo.asp?ID=12641

Maybe that poster meant that it didn't have arms, just articulated lasers?

But other than that, I gotta agree that it has the appendages. Awwww geez, those knees are skinny as heck.

The 'mech's sole laser is in the center torso.

According to the Ostscout's original fluff, it did not have arms. What looks like arms were actually sensor rods which would move about as the scout performed its mission.

Mmm, yeah the tech sheet only says "beagle active probe" so maybe they gave it arms under the impression those rods were were meant to be arms.

I still prefer the armed look.

Not all variants had the Beagle Active Probe, and not all 'mechs with Beagle Active Probes have sensor rods.

The BattleTech developers are very detail-oriented. If the updated art has arms, its because it was an intentional retcon on their part and not because they thought those were 'arms' in the older artwork.

FWIW, my copy of the 3025/3026 Record Sheets book lists the Ostscout (OTT-7J) with upper and lower arm actuators, as do the -7K, -9CS, and -9S variants in Heavy Metal.

The fluff that they're not arms is in TRO 3025.

I see where you're getting that, but I disagree that the intent is that there are no arms.

"To avoid interference from the magnetohydrodynamic systems, the sensor arrays were installed outside of the main chassis. The OTT uses its actuator systems to aim its sensor arrays."

Any updates on the MI is or when they will be avaliable? Are they just going to be a part of the alpha strike box set next year?

The last rumor I heard was that these would be in the Alpha Strike Box set, when it comes out. I haven't heard anything official though.

I did preorder the Alpha Strike box set at my FNGS he knows it's coming, just not when, he has me down for a copy when he is actually able to order it.

Nice resculpt of the shadow Hawk. I'd be more impressed if not becuase I have a plastic model of the original Dougram next to my computer.

M.

 Ghaz wrote:

 DarknessEternal wrote:
Oscouts don't have arms...

... they do now. They stole them from the Tau Stormsurge

Hahahaha +1

Wait a second, is the Ostcout just a really badly done redesign of the Regult Battlepod? How did I never notice that before?

 Barzam wrote:
Wait a second, is the Ostcout just a really badly done redesign of the Regult Battlepod? How did I never notice that before?

All the Ost series, actually, and no idea

Ostscout, Ostroc, and Ostsol are all redesigns of the Battlepod.

Whether you consider them bad or not is a matter of taste, I suspect.

Yeah, they're pretty ugly. I wonder why they didn't just keep the original design like they did with the Marauder?

When's this out and when do we get to see models?

That's the real question. Theories abound that it will herald an alpha strike starter box, with all 12 of these reseen in plastic opposite 10 Clan plastic omnimechs. If not, I assume they'd end up in alpha strike lance packs, much like they did last year. Either way, there isn't any release date information that I'm aware of.

Release date for Catalyst products seems to be "Sometime in the *mumble mumble mumble*".

I mean, just look at their list of upcoming products and product lines (discounting novels/fiction):

Interstellar Operations - I think that's been in beta since before my parents got married.

Combat Manual: Mercenaries - Just went into beta.

The First Succession War - Yo DJ, spin that wheel (to avoid having to commit to writing anything for the new post-RotS era)

Combat Manual: Kurita - For Alpha Strike, and likely won't be out until CM: Mercs is out, which will be never because CGL 'beta' means 'no work to be done here'.

Campaign Companion - I want this book more than I need oxygen to live... so... 6 years away? 7 maybe?

Combat Manual: Steiner - As above with the other two. If this comes out before 2020 I'll be shocked.

Turning Points: Epsilon Eridani (E-Publication) - This has a graphic for the front cover, so this probably isn't far off.

Experimental Technical Readout: Primitives V - Another online only thing, and they're pretty good at churning these out (and that means they don't have to work on ilClan).

Combat Manual: Davion - Etc. etc. For Alpha Strike.

Experimental Technical Readout: Succession Wars II - Subtitle fore this one would be "Another One!".

Record Sheets: Prototypes Unabridged - Fair enough.

The Second Succession War - Just when you thought it was safe to assume CGL would actually do something with ilClan, they go backwards to another SW to keep the groggy's at bay.

Technical Readout: Golden Century - When people drive through muddy fields they don't intend to get stuck there because they want to get to their destination. Not CGL. They see ilClan up ahead and know it means putting in the effort, so they try to get as many wheels on their vehicle bogged down at the same time.

Technical Readout: IrregularTech - Shouldn't this be Technical Readout: Bottom of the Barrel?

ilClan - By the time we get this it will be 3155!

Or maybe it won't be 3155 as they have 5 - count 'em - 5 new whole product lines they're going to never finish:

Milestones

OpFor

Spotlight On

Touring the Stars

Gladiator Gazette

And in none of that is there any mention of an Alpha Strike box.

I just purchased the AS, AS:C, and new mercs beta pack. I am not a fan of digital products but am glad I can finally play AS (kids have limited my game times to less than two hours).

The new mercs beta pdf is great! They have pics of a few of the mwo unseens (yay warhammer!!) They also have a gallery of painted minis, several of which are the new warhammer sculpt we have been teased.

Really excited for that mini and the AS starter set. I hope they start producing more mwo sculpts. They seem like the best 'modern' but yet classic mech design without the over the top looks some have had recently.

Kudos catalyst... Now don't keep us waiting!

 455_PWR wrote:
They have pics of a few of the mwo unseens (yay warhammer!!)

Note that they're not MW Online designs. Similar yes, but still not the same. Ever since the debacle with the Unseen, Battletech has a strict policy that all artwork is done "in house".