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2022/09/27 14:40:12
Subject: Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
Asmoridin wrote: Are the Shrapnel magazines worth purchasing? Are they mostly fiction? Is there a decent amount of gaming related content in them?
I'm considering picking some up (they are pretty affordable), I'm just curious what I should expect from them, in general. I can see a summary of what's included... but not really an indication of how much of what is in there (is it 90% fiction and 10% game-related stuff, etc).
If you go to masterunit list, sources, and search shrapnel, then you can see what is in each one. So far my experience has been that Shrapnel introduces one, maybe 2 variants of existing mechs per issue, some quite odd- there's a Thunder Stallion variant used by the Lyrans and Jade Falcons, for example.
Klawz-Ramming is a subset of citrus fruit?
Gwar- "And everyone wants a bigger Spleen!"
Mercurial wrote:
I admire your aplomb and instate you as Baron of the Seas and Lord Marshall of Privateers.
Orkeosaurus wrote:Star Trek also said we'd have X-Wings by now. We all see how that prediction turned out.
Orkeosaurus, on homophobia, the nature of homosexuality, and the greatness of George Takei.
English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleyways and mugs them for loose grammar.
Asmoridin wrote: Are the Shrapnel magazines worth purchasing? Are they mostly fiction? Is there a decent amount of gaming related content in them?
I'm considering picking some up (they are pretty affordable), I'm just curious what I should expect from them, in general. I can see a summary of what's included... but not really an indication of how much of what is in there (is it 90% fiction and 10% game-related stuff, etc).
If you go to masterunit list, sources, and search shrapnel, then you can see what is in each one. So far my experience has been that Shrapnel introduces one, maybe 2 variants of existing mechs per issue, some quite odd- there's a Thunder Stallion variant used by the Lyrans and Jade Falcons, for example.
That's just for the 'Mechs, Combat Vees, Aerospace Fighters etc.which show up in the magazine. For the full contents you can check out Sarna:
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
I take full credit for the existence of this page. I bitched about there not being a quick way to identify which minis were being released in "catalyst scale" on the forums. After some back and forth where IWM pushed back on the idea that this was needed, they relented and now the page exists.
Cubby wrote:AS Box is on a ship, due in the warehouse early November. Hoping the turnaround into distribution will be quick. Understand that as much as y'all want it, distributors want it at least as much if not more. There's a lot of heat around this product, so we're not at all going to sit on it.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2022/09/30 19:37:49
Subject: Re:Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
Bad news for those who were looking forward to getting a Glass Spider in the Kickstarter. From the BattleTech Forums:
Anthony Scroggins gave away that it won't be in the Kickstarter. But as you say, they created a prototype and that probably means it's coming out in plastic. I guess it'll feature as part of an IlClan-era mercenary pack?
It looks like we'll be getting this 'Mech instead...
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2022/10/01 21:58:58
Subject: Re:Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
You could say that the UrbanMech is BattleTech's equivalent of squigs, snotlings, etc.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
Anthony Scroggins gave away that it won't be in the Kickstarter. But as you say, they created a prototype and that probably means it's coming out in plastic. I guess it'll feature as part of an IlClan-era mercenary pack?
It looks like we'll be getting this 'Mech instead...
So we are getting the Grizzly.
I saw a few people on the official site asking about that as a potential inclusion. Good to see it show up.
I picked up one of their king of the hill maps a while back, hadn't see the island map yet. I'm trying to figure out what kind of scenario I could use that for...
It's like infantry. One dude with a rifle is helpless before a 'mech unless he has plot armor. A battalion can wreck a mech in one go.
Likewise, one UrbanMech is pretty useless. Twelve can dominate the whole area in range of their AC/10s, especially in dense terrain. You need significant long-range firepower to root out a company of UrbanMechs.
And let's face it. There are a lot of bad 'Mechs in BattleTech. As one of (if not THE) worst of the lot, it becomes a challenge to make good use of them in the actual game.
That's a good way to look at it... at least from a PC's point of view. The OPFOR has to cover large numbers of targets simultaneously, while you are only attacking one. Having a cheap company of relatively static defenders allows you to economize, and reinforce the point of actual attack with mobile reserves. So if the PCs attack in, say, two lances or a company, a company of Urbies backed up by a lance of fast heavies is a reasonable OPFOR. They probably outclass all the defenders individually, but are outnumbered. This makes the victory all the more meaningful.
And if the OPFOR wins, well, winning with UrbanMechs is pretty special too.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/10/06 09:30:32
CHAOS! PANIC! DISORDER!
My job here is done.
2022/10/06 13:45:31
Subject: Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
Pointman wrote: each one carrying a nuclear reactor and mechwarrior inside don't sound cheap.
AC/10's in carriages would probably last longer too if hidden in ambush.
It is a matter of comparison. micro fusion reactors are cheap in the battletech universe as an "old" common technology. and a single mechwarrior is far cheaper than training an entire tank crew.
In the right setting the urbie does just fine. i once ran a scenario game where i had 3 of them along with some light tanks as part of a corporate defense force defending a factory.
The players had infantry, APCs and a couple medium mechs. in that game the urbies did the job just fine.
GAMES-DUST1947/infinity/B5 wars/epic 40K/5th ed 40K/victory at sea/warmachine/battle tactics/monpoc/battletech/battlefleet gothic/castles in the sky,/heavy gear
An update on some BattleTech books (not novels) from the BattleTech Forums:
Cubby wrote:Universe is still coming, it's been much more of a bear to get across the finish line than we could have imagined, coupled with getting pushed back in favor of some other opportunities that have come up. Still planned--we really want this book out as the definitive setting guide, it's a big part of our strategy to bring folks into the ilClan era.
Brush Wars is very much alive, near-daily progress on that. We'd hoped to drop the series of products for the first installment of season 1 this month, but that looks like it'll be pushed possibly to next month. The product developer, Mendrugo on these forums, has written an intro I'd like to publish in the next week or two.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/10/06 19:05:18
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2022/10/06 22:03:41
Subject: Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
Whelp, I decided to indulge the meme and order the Urbies.
You know you're really doing something when you can make strangers hate you over the Internet. - Mauleed
Just remember folks. Panic. Panic all the time. It's the only way to survive, other than just being mindful, of course-but geez, that's so friggin' boring. - Aegis Grimm
Hallowed is the All Pie The Before Times: A Place That Celebrates The World That Was
2022/10/07 17:11:55
Subject: Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
TalonZahn wrote: I got a copy of the new Alpha Strike, very nice set.
The one thing of note, to me at least, is that the minis are a darker more solid plastic and have FAR less flash/slip lines.
These minis are a big jump up in quality.
That has my interest. I just received my Urbanmech company box and picked one out at random, I didn't notice a difference in the plastic itself but it was a very clean cast with minimal mold marks. Looking forward to the AS box!
Honestly the ADHOC star is one of the best sets. warhammer IIc, marauder IIc, hunchback IIc, super nova and stone rhino.
The rest of the boxes are a mix of good and not so good mechs or they mix iconic mechs from various factions together. i understand it is great marketing. but who really wants to have to buy 3 different sets to get all the iconic jade falcon mechs?
GAMES-DUST1947/infinity/B5 wars/epic 40K/5th ed 40K/victory at sea/warmachine/battle tactics/monpoc/battletech/battlefleet gothic/castles in the sky,/heavy gear
2022/10/08 08:01:20
Subject: Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
A falcon star with a turkina, warhawk, night gyr, summoner, black lanner
GAMES-DUST1947/infinity/B5 wars/epic 40K/5th ed 40K/victory at sea/warmachine/battle tactics/monpoc/battletech/battlefleet gothic/castles in the sky,/heavy gear
2022/10/08 16:55:46
Subject: Re:Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
I'm not as much a fan of the Salvage boxes as many people are. I like to know what I'm getting, and I hate getting duplicates of 'Mechs I think are lack luster. Someone gave me a Salvage box last night (nice of them), but it was a Crusader. Not a 'Mech I like to use, generally. I ended up giving it someone who was looking in to starting the game.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2022/10/08 17:06:37
Are you a Wolf, a Sheep, or a Hound?
Megavolt wrote:They called me crazy…they called me insane…THEY CALLED ME LOONEY!! and boy, were they right.
2022/10/08 17:31:08
Subject: Re:Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!
The Salvage boxes are an impulse buy and a gotcha. They're cheap enough to buy one at a whim at a FLGS and some people love the excitement of the randomness.
I'm with you though. I prefer to buy the boxes where I know what I am getting,
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/10/10 23:40:00
No points for this fellow as it's just a fine tuning of the original artwork. Can't wait to add him to my 2nd St. Ives Lancers. Now I just need the Emperor, Yu Huang, Helios, Ti T'sang, Thunder, Men Shen and Sha Yu and I'll be ready to go...
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim