Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!

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**H.B.M.C.**

Huh... so that has a name.

We always referred to it as the "Macross Missile Swarm". Fit really well in some places.

**aphyon**

The version in our area was the MMM-Macross missile massacre

**Ghaz**

Some news out of GenCon:

Matthew Swerid wrote:News from the Developer interviews at Gencon that just ended:

- Possible Force Pack that might release before the Mercenaries Kickstarter fulfilment, it all depends on how shipping goes.

- Catalyst is looking at producing company boxes as a retail product, earliest release 2025, more of a special event product then something we will get often.

- Word of Blake Celestials Level II was mentioned as something they want to do but not yet in development.

- New round of Battletech Aces playtest coming soon. Release plan will not be finalized until after Mercenaries fulfilment is complete.

- Battletech Universe Precentor Marshal Edition includes metal box, sound chip when the box opens, 48 page rememberance book with bits from as many people who worked on Battletech as they could reach.

Other stuff shown off at gencon:

- Blood asp and Loki II minis, not sure if prototypes or early production samples.

- Mugs and Hats, will be in the Webstore sometime in the future (Probably September at the earliest)

For the record this is all from livestreams and I am not at Gencon to get more information. There will likely be more panels over the next three days.

**Charistoph**

Honestly, I expect to see an Avatar model before the Archangel model.

**Ghaz**

They said pretty much the same thing about the Celestials during the Mercenaries Kickstarter launch as they do here, but yeah I expect the Inner Sphere OmniMechs first as well.

**LordofHats**

For someone curious about maybe getting into the BT tabletop game...

Can someone explain the books for the game?

Took me all of a few minutes to realize there's a lot of them and I have no idea which ones you'd need.

I get that Total Warfare is the big rulebook with all the rules. Does it include the stats pages for all (or most? any?) of the mechs and vehicles? If not what does list the stats?

I'm aware of the MUL but the MUL only gives a battlevalue from what I can tell and an Alphastrike stat card. It doesn't seem to fully list all the stats you'd need for Classic BT.

Not that I'm against Alphastrike, I'll probably try that too but I'd like to figure out where I can find out which publication lists the full sheet for the mechs.

**Charistoph**

LordofHats wrote:
Can someone explain the books for the game?

Maybe...

LordofHats wrote:
Took me all of a few minutes to realize there's a lot of them and I have no idea which ones you'd need.

To put it simply, it depends on what you want to play and what your group is playing. Basic equipment and rules don't require much. Doing a campaign of a multi-planet invasion with both space and ground warfare takes a fair bit.

Usually, I reccommend starting with either The Battlemech Manual or Total Warfare, but if you just want to get your feet wet to start with the rule basics, you can find a Quick Start Rule book on the Downloads Page. A copy also can be found in either the Beginner Box or in A Game of Armored Combat box, but the Beginner Box is more limited.

The Battlemech Manual covers most of the stuff a Battlemech will use, but little else. It carries more special rule options and more advanced equipment than Total Warfare carries because it has more room to do so.

Total Warfare is needed when you want to include Infantry, Vehicles, Fighters, Dropships, or the rare Protomech. This is generally considered the "Standard/Tournament" level of rules and equipment.

If you want to design new units, The Tech Manual is where you want to start.

Start with those before moving on to all the different "... Operations" books which either offer some alternative ways of modifying the game, advanced equipment (some really crazy, too), or both.

LordofHats wrote:
I get that Total Warfare is the big rulebook with all the rules. Does it include the stats pages for all (or most? any?) of the mechs and vehicles? If not what does list the stats?

Each unit has its own stats which can be found on its Record Sheet. Total Warfare will have the stats on weapons for Ranges, Damage, etc, and how to use them, but not which unit has what.

Free Official Record Sheets for what has been released can be found farther down on the Downloads Page.

There are also programs which can handle unit design from the ground up like Solaris SkunkWerks (SSW) or MegaMekLab (MML) who also carry a considerable library of units based on the units they build. I prefer SSW's interface, but MML is both more up to date and can handle pretty much any unit you could want to use.

There are also a few websites that have record sheets, too, like Mordel.net, Flechs Sheets or Mech Factory. The latter two also have Android options as well.

LordofHats wrote:
I'm aware of the MUL but the MUL only gives a battlevalue from what I can tell and an Alphastrike stat card. It doesn't seem to fully list all the stats you'd need for Classic BT.

Not that I'm against Alphastrike, I'll probably try that too but I'd like to figure out where I can find out which publication lists the full sheet for the mechs.

Alpha Strike can be a little easier to get in to if you're used to playing GW's games. It's faster and more forgiving in rules, but deadlier (but you tend to field more units).

However, Classic Battletech tends to have more opportunities for story creation, such as a recent campaign game, the last target to take out was a Thunderbolt, and we had it surrounded. Our Highlander decided to do its trademark move called a "Death From Above". Think the Mech Jumping and doing a two-legged drop kick in to the target. The Highlander is one of the heaviest 'Mechs around that can Jump, so it's become known as a "Highlander Burial".

Anyway, Physical Attacks take place after Shooting Attacks, and the "Highlander Burial" is announced as part of Movement, but it takes place later. So we shoot the Thunderbolt enough that it Falls Down. It shoots the Highlander, causing a Critical Hit in an Ammo Bay. The Left Torso of the Highlander explodes while it's leaping towards the Thunderbolt, the whole Highlander only saved from becoming a huge firecracker by a special piece of equipment known as CASE.

We have another unit come up and hit with a Hatchet while it's down, and the Highlander nails the Death From Above Attack, crushing the Thunderbolt.

If I had half the skills of my sisters, I'd be drawing an animation of that scene.

In Alpha Strike, such an action just wouldn't hit the same as we wouldn't be seeing which part of the Highlander blew up. It just registers as a tick of Structure Damage there.

**Ghaz**

There’s also You bought the box set and are ready to expand your BT experience. Now what? on the BattleTech Forums.

**LordofHats**

I think what I'm trying to find are the Technical Readouts.

Not unfamiliar with the setting at all (lots of Mechwarrior PC games, and the book series). Just the game and trying to figure out where I can find things like the sheet for a Crab 27 and such. The downloads page didn't seem to have a full list of sheets for all the mechs and variants and that's what I've been trying to figure out where in the publications they are.

Seems like the Readouts are what I'm looking for, though.

**H.B.M.C.**

TROs are not what you're looking for.

TROs are background sourcebooks, with minimal rules. Most do not even contain record sheets. There are record sheet books that contain just record sheets and nothing else (100% crunch/0% fluff), but I wouldn't bother with them either.

The various BattleTech programs - like the aforementioned Solaris Skunk Werks, which I use - have the ability to create and, more importantly, print record sheets. And people have created all the 'Mech files for you already.

So, in truth, you don't need anything beyond Total Warfare/BattleMech Manual/maps/dice to play BTech if you have a program that can print record sheets. You don't even really need miniatures, but we'll assume you want those.

**LordofHats**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
we'll assume you want those.

I have a hankering for some painting minus the hassle of assembly admittedly XD

But that works I guess.

**aphyon**

The great joy of battle tech is you can play with as many or as few rules you want. the core mechanics basically have not changed in 30 years. but there is an entire book of optional rules/weapons/equipment etc... heck there are what 5 or 6 versions of just using basic ECM.

As for record sheets. you can buy the books for them and just make copies or you can access various programs. i myself swear by heavy metal pro, but it still has access to the old BMR/max tech rules i prefer to use. TW has changed a few things in a manner i dislike.

**Flinty**

Charistoph wrote:

In Alpha Strike, such an action just wouldn't hit the same as we wouldn't be seeing which part of the Highlander blew up. It just registers as a tick of Structure Damage there.

That’s not quite true. Alpha Strike also has critical hits that are the equivalent to ammo explosions, and CASE is a special rule to prevent extra damage from such events.

**Gitzbitah**

LordofHats wrote:
I think what I'm trying to find are the Technical Readouts.

Not unfamiliar with the setting at all (lots of Mechwarrior PC games, and the book series). Just the game and trying to figure out where I can find things like the sheet for a Crab 27 and such. The downloads page didn't seem to have a full list of sheets for all the mechs and variants and that's what I've been trying to figure out where in the publications they are.

Seems like the Readouts are what I'm looking for, though.

It sounds like you want sarna.net. It does not provide record sheets, but it does list where the record sheets are for all the variants of the mechs, and tells you what's in those variants in a fluffy paragraph. When you find the variant you want, just note the little number that is slightly raised toward the end of the description. At the bottom of the entry, that's the source the Record Sheets can be found in.

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Crab

**H.B.M.C.**

Sarna is great. And their references is very useful for finding out where everything is located in print (or at least what publication if it's digital only).

**Charistoph**

Flinty wrote:
Charistoph wrote:

In Alpha Strike, such an action just wouldn't hit the same as we wouldn't be seeing which part of the Highlander blew up. It just registers as a tick of Structure Damage there.

That’s not quite true. Alpha Strike also has critical hits that are the equivalent to ammo explosions, and CASE is a special rule to prevent extra damage from such events.

You need to go back and read what CASE does. In a Crit Roll of 2, you have an Ammo Explosion. If the Mech does not have the ENE, CASE, or CASE II Special, it is destroyed out right.

With ENE and CASE II you ignore the Crit. ENE means there is no Ammo to explode. CASE II in CBT only applies 1 Point of Structure Damage, and you're done.

With CASE, you apply a tick of Structure Damage, but no more. This represents that while CASE does divert the explosion in CBT, it does not spare the section it is in if the explosion is powerful enough.

In either case, you don't know where an Ammo explosion occurs without looking at a completely separate document because the Structure Damage in Alpha Strike isn't related to a location.

**Flinty**

It’s like a mystic battle between the concepts of CBT and AS

In my mind it doesn’t matter precisely where the hit goes for my internal cinematics to see an epic highlander burial with the added fireworks, while it is apparently important to you

**LordofHats**

Huh.

I use Sarna (Mechwarrior) and it actually didn't occur to me to check the citations there to figure out where the info is XD

**Ghaz**

A few pics from the CGL Facebook page at Gencon:

**LordofHats**

Welp, the good news is I still remember how to do bare-bones painting.

The bad news is I did a stupid and pained the Griffin in the starter box a light color first and forgot to get some dark in the recess areas of the joints so the whole thing looks a bit off. Especially since the sculpt is not the best in the world with some ill-defines bits here and there.

So the whole thing looks kind of wonky.

Should have put the gray down before I did the ivory, but that was how I painted space marines back when I did that, but I also used black primers for those, but I used a light gray primer for this. I should have darkened the gray and joints first. I also ned to trek down to the shop and grab a darker base gray I didn't realize I didn't have one.

So yeah... Don't repeat that mistake. The happy thing is that I can get the ivory/bone color I was aiming for! Some wraithbone, then some skeleton army wash, and then a nice brush of wraithbone back on top (still need to do that here but I'm waiting for the wash to dry).

The end result ain't winning any contests, but I'm okay with it.

Really need to do the colors in the right order next time tho.

The red isn't quite the partner for it I'd hoped for, though. I need a browner red? Maybe get a dark wash over it. I used a red one but I think the color just need to get dulled a wee bit to match the bone.

Fortunately, I don't give a damn about the griffin and will carry these lessons into painting the Vindicator, which I also don't care about XD Hopefully by then I'll work out the kinks before doing this with any of the mechs I actually like *looks at that Kodiak sculpt*

**Chillreaper**

How do you feel about having a go with some cheap oil paint and white spirits?

Varnish the thing and make a pin wash with dark brown or black (as you see fit), apply to the recesses.

It's a great way to get the crevices done after the base coats are on.

**LordofHats**

Might help the griffin if I try and go over it again, but I'm glad the mechs in the starter box are two that aren't mechs I'd ever use. Gives me a chance to remember how to paint things.

But I've always been more of a gamer than a painter.

**Flinty**

I have found that the catalyst mechs are perfect for contrast style paints if you want quick and easy.

**Ghaz**

From the BattleTech Forums

Lorcan Nagle wrote: Went back and watched the BattleTech AMA again and took note of updates and answers to questions

Stories:
Randall mentioned playing in a "vs the developers" game at one of the first Gencons he went to, played in the Factory where the players got little crappy mechs while the devs had powerful ones. He and Dan "Flake" Grendel managed to take Jordan down, who then signed the record sheet and Randall has it in a file somewhere to this day

Before he got into working on BattleTech Ray had been doing loads of personal fan projects like making 3D turntables of the 'mechs, writing scenario packs and the like. From there he reached out to the official fanzine (not sure if this is Commando Quarterly or late-era BattleTechnology) and offered his design skills and basically took over the layout and design. He jokingly said that if he hadn't been hired to work on the game he would be doing all the same stuff but nobody would see it.

Ray also told a story of a BT writer and developer, younger than him or Randall who visited the FASA offices as a kid. On one hand it was a magical experience but on the other hand it was still just some guys in an office. A few months later he was rooming with a FASA veteran at a con who told him about when "a kid" visited FASA HQ and he was really excited to be there - and Ray loved how he got both sides of the story. Randall shared that he was working at FASA by that point but was away at a con the day he visited. He then went on to talk about him and his gaming group visiting the office before he joined the company. He and his friends kept distracting Bryan Nystul so one of them could sketch the hand-drawn map of the Clan Homeworlds that was pinned up in his cubicle.

Products:
Hats will be added to the webstore "in a couple of weeks"

They hope to have all the same swag at PAX West, so long as they don't sell out at the con.

One thing they've added to the Precentor Martial edition of Universe is a Remembrance book, 48 pages of stories and notes from significant people who've worked on BattleTech over the last 40 years, ranging in length from a paragraph to a full page. It will also include art that hasn't appeared in a long time, and a new piece by David Dietrick - he was so excited to contribute he volunteered to do the new work despite having arthritis in his hands and it slowing his output.

Randall is working on a short piece about Abdoun Ricol, and a series about Jennifer Winston.

Randall is very excited for the support rules from the Mercs box, especially the vehicles.

Q&As/comments:

Any word on the EU Store? The Australian store showed up a lot of issues on their store side of things which they think they can fix but it takes time and money. Randall mentioned they have two upcoming meetings for prospective EU distribution partners after prior ones have fallen through.

Will there be any new forcepacks between now and delivery of the Kickstarter? There might be one out early next year that might make it to retail before the Kickstarter.

Are the Sea Fox shirts going to be restocked? Yes, a big restock of shirts needs to go through

Will there be a ComStar hat? If sales are good on the existing line, they'll expand out to other factions.

I jokingly asked about a Spectral LAM forcepack (primarily to annoy Ray), which was when Randall mentioned the possibility of a Celestial one.

I asked about UK Games Expo next year, Randall say they're 95% positive about coming over.

Are we going to get a Black Widow Company Command Lance? Possibly, they have a spreadsheet of possible forcepacks and that's on the list

Was the UrbanMech Company box set successful and if so, could we maybe get the companies from the old scenario packs as sets? It was successful, and maybe. There's never enough time and capacity to do everything though. Randall said the Urbie company box was a test, and he'd like to see a full company box at retail in 2 years. Ray pointed out that a Black Widow company box, say would be a very different product in terms of production (multiple minis instead of 12 of the same) and demand.

Are the mugs Dishwasher/Microwave safe? Yes

What is the plan for Aces? Nothing they're ready to discuss. They're in the second wave of development right now. A second wave of playtest was being prepared but got sidelined by Shadowrun Takedown. Randall mentioned the regular Six Sides of Gaming Aces streams.

Could companies of mechs be a more common release model? Probably not. It's more flexible for players to build forces from Lance/Star Forcepacks. Companies should be a more special event.

Out of the upcoming sourcebooks, what are you most excited for? Randall said his Nova Cat novel, Ray can't pick one thing, his were Universe because it's a product the game really needs, ilKhan's eyes only (which is a little bit stalled), Hot Spots Hinterlands, a Campaign/Scenario/Merc Contract book set in the former Jade Falcon OZ, and the MechCommander handbook should start development soon. The Mercs box and Hot Spots Hinterlands have elements that will help towards developing that book.

When can we expect the next fiction/novels? This was more a John question, work is in development but they didn't have the schedule.

Universe page count? 280.

Will we see more fiction about the mercs from MW5: Yes, Randall has a short story half-written about them, as well as the former Marik character from The Mercenary Life

**Thargrim**

Hmm a black widow company box would be an insta-buy. I hope a Mccarrons Armored Cavalry merc box is on that spreadsheet as well.

**H.B.M.C.**

"... the MechCommander handbook... "

Do we have any idea yet what this actually is?

**Ancestral Hamster**

Thargrim wrote:
Hmm a black widow company box would be an insta-buy. I hope a Mccarrons Armored Cavalry merc box is on that spreadsheet as well.

Same here, although the question is what year?

3025-29
Captain Natasha Kerensky - WHM-6R Warhammer
Colin Maclaren - MAD-3R Marauder
Lynn Sheridan - CRD-3R Crusader
John Hayes - GRF-1N Griffin

3031
Colonel Natasha Kerensky - Warhammer
Captain Takiro Ikeda - Shogun
Lynn Sheridan - Crusader
John Hayes - Griffin

I've assembled most of the mechs needed for the BWC's 3025 composition, so in that sense I don't really need a specialist ForcePack for the command lance. I supposed they could issue the 3072 version when it was reformed. But the Widow would have been 15 years dead by that point.

**Thargrim**

The 3025 year version would be more iconic I suppose, and I wouldn't complain about a newer more improved sculpt of the marauder. I've found the marauder from the legendary mechwarriors box is a cleaner sculpt than the one from the IS command box.

**Ghaz**

GenCon 2023 Diorama - A coalition of Clans Wolf, Smoke Jaguar, Jade Falcon, and Raven Alliance engage Capellan House Hiritzu on New Home, 3151

44 pics in total, here's some of the highlights...

**Charistoph**

Is that the plastic Visigoth in the last two pictures?

If so... Noooiiice.