Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!

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.

**Apple fox**

13thWarrior wrote:
I really am hoping to make BT my new game. Outside of AoS, and KT/BB I dunno if I wana keep going with GW. Blood Bowl and Battletech have been the most fun I've had on the tabletop with in ages.

However I def am not used to the scale. I bought the starter set, Clan Invasion and the Alpha strike box. Plus a handful of boxes. I'm def used to 40k and it's scale. I've way more then I need. So I'm trying to organize my mechs into various lances and the Clan equivalent.

I really like the Ghost Bears, Draconis Combine, Rasalouge and the Northwind Highlanders.

Any of the factions can be a lot of fun to try and work with, are you going for specific lore faction style play? Or just a what feels right at this point.
For myself I enjoy working within the idea of a military and what’s available, making each of mine feel different to play even when it’s all the same rules.

**Charistoph**

One of the nice things about Battletech is that thanks to the acceptance of proxying in general, what you need is a very small amount.

There is also less faction-only focus in this environment as well. Outside of the Elementals, the only units that are really "faction-only" are in metal, 'Mechs like the Celestials or Society designs with locked in Nova like the Osteon. From there, if it exists, it can be salvaged. If it can be salvaged, you can use it in your army. This even applies to the Celestials and Society Mechs (it's just most of the people didn't WANT to salvage them due to really bad blood).

That being said, it is nice to have the models to match the models that you will want to bring.

Not every match will be the same. What tournament concepts are out there vary in the size and power of the force you can bring, so having those options available when you want them is very nice to have.

Some of the bigger tournaments lately have wanted players to match the chassis, too, such has if you want to use a Mad Cat M, you need to have a Mad Cat model there and not a Marauder or Catapult.

**13thWarrior**

@Applefox.

I'm still too green to really know what's what. I know the Clan's add a whole other layer to the game. What with how much stronger their tech is. I know there's a series of ways to play by date. But I just haven't absorbed enough to play.

I guess...So far? I've painted my guys up as a Sword of Light, my Clanner's as Bears and a small force of Highlanders.

I really just need to play more and absorb some rules/lore. I do like how you can equip your mechs as you see fit. Like how the Catapult can go from being a walking missile boat to replacing them with two big ol' lasers.

**Ghaz**

Ghaz wrote:
News from Pax West via the BattleTech Forums:

Lorcan Nagle wrote:So Catalyst are streaming all weekend again, and there doesn't seem to be much discussion of it on the boards. Or, to be fair much promotion of it on their social media as far as I can see. They went for about 8 hours yesterday and seem to be planning the same all weekend. And here's yesterday's streams timestamped. It's mostly Shadowrun Takedown because the Kickstarter is closing out in 7 hours as of the time I'm typing this.

Intro and quick chat with Randall
Takedown prototype unboxing
Takedown playthrough with Dylan, Devon and Tommy from Lynnvander
Discussion between Randall, Tommy from Lynnvander and Jerry and Eric from Penny Arcade
Takedown development chat with Tommy and Dylan
Second Takedown playthrough with Dylan, Devon and Tommy from Lynnvander
Wrapup and chat with Randall

BattleTech stuff from Randall's chats:

*There should be an Aces update in the next few weeks
*Hour of the Wolf Audiobook is almost complete
*No plans to move the GoAC mechs to Forcepacks at present. It'll only happen when and if new minis are swapped in for a new edition.
*Ongoing global shipping issues mean Randall doesn't want to commit to any solid dates for Kickstarter fulfilment, but things are still looking good.
*BattleTech COMMAND is still progressing through development. It's designed by FASA veteran Jim Long, of Black Thorns fame.
*Randall didn't want to say much about the 40th anniversary but he did reveal that they'll be issuing a reprint of The Succession Wars, like how they're reprinting Shadowrun 1st edition for the 35th anniversary.
*The new grand strategy game is "about 85% done", needs 2-3 playtest cycles.
*They're still working on getting con swag onto the store as a standard thing.
*Kickstarter stuff should start hitting stores 2-3 months after backer fulfillment.
*Force Manual: Draconis Combine is heading into layout, art review is just complete
*Universe is finished now, Randall is very proud of it.
*Discussions for Kickstarter 3 have begun, it'll probably be 2-3 years before we see it
*The PoD program is still getting back on its feet, the guy they hired to do this got dragged into working on Universe
*House Arano will probably get more products - an advantage of the Kickstarters is they can get a good look at what factions people love, and Arano are in the top 10.
*Samples of a lot of material including the first 7 forcepacks and the 2 mercs boxes are on their way to Randall at the moment, he'll be taking photos as soon as he can.
*John Helfers will hopefully be putting out a new fiction announcement in a few weeks, he's at Dragoncon this weekend.
*No plans to return to the Homeworld Clans at present. They're still waiting for the right story to come along.
*Den of Wolves has only a couple of chapters left to complete.
*There will hopefully be an update for the Clan Invasion Kickstarter digital products soon.
*The GenCon mugs will hopefully be on the store in a month or so
*They are continuing to have problems finding a partner for the EU store, they're in discussion with some new people now. But when Kickstarter fulfillment ramps up it's going to take up most of the company's bandwidth for a few months.
*Randall's been too busy to write recently but he's still working on his Nova Cat/Spirit Cat novel.

And the Day Two news:

Lorcan Nagle wrote:Day 2:

Intro and chat with Randall
Shadowrun Takedown with Randall, Dylan, Tommy and Devon
Centurion playthrough with Randall and Bryn
Shadowrun adventure with Devon, Tommy and I think Ryan from Lynnvander
Shadowrun Edgezone playthrough with Talon and I think his name was Kasai Boller, a friend of Talon's
Wrapup and chat with Randall

Additional info from today's chats (there was a lot of joking around and repeat questions):
*ilKhan's eyes only will be out next year at this stage
*CGL are 99.9% locked in to do UK Games Expo, pending a meeting at Essen
*Aces development will be "full bore" after the Kickstarter fulfills
*Randall would love to do more variant mech minis, the Hunchback 4P was specifically mentioned
*Alpha Strike Commander's Edition reprint is on a boat, hopefully be available before the end of September
*The Universe book will hold a hint on the new financial normal for the ilClan era
*Half the Clan Invasion forcepacks have gone back for a 4th printing.
*When the Mercs Kickstarter fulfils, CGL will have shipped 10 million plastic minis in the last 5 years.
*No definite plans to do anything pre-Amaris civil war at present, but they want to write more in every era.
*Tamar Rising is probably Randall's favourite of the new campaign books because of how fresh and new it makes the universe feel. He's very proud of the big map as well, he talked about the campaign he's running in Zulus and how he pulled the map out, laid it down and said "you guys are here, where would you like to go?" Randall plotted the course on the map and one of the players said it felt like he was in the HBS game at that point.
*There are plans for ForcePacks next year outside of the Kickstarter, Randall was unwilling to give any more details at this time.

**Apple fox**

13thWarrior wrote:
@Applefox.

I'm still too green to really know what's what. I know the Clan's add a whole other layer to the game. What with how much stronger their tech is. I know there's a series of ways to play by date. But I just haven't absorbed enough to play.

I guess...So far? I've painted my guys up as a Sword of Light, my Clanner's as Bears and a small force of Highlanders.

I really just need to play more and absorb some rules/lore. I do like how you can equip your mechs as you see fit. Like how the Catapult can go from being a walking missile boat to replacing them with two big ol' lasers.

All sounds great, I am trying to get my hands on a horde of light mechs now.
It’s great that so much of the force building is left to the background, lets new players learn at a better pace I do feel.
I just get a lot of fun from that immersive list building so I enjoy listening to others as well.

Also news happenings makes me happy and excited, I spent to much money and I have too many mechs. So campaign time is coming up!

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

Stupid bloody Katrina!

**BrianDavion**

the entire FCCW was annoying, it was very much a "we want this to happen and will ignore whatever facts and setting info we need for it to happen"

**LordofHats**

I'd have been fine with it if only Kathrine got her long (LONG) overdue comeuppance at the end.

Instead, Vlad Ward followed his dick (which I content was completely out of character from the start) and swept her away.

She's easily one of most unlikeable villains I've ever read. A complete monster. If anyone deserved some horrible fate in fiction it was her but nope.

**Charistoph**

There are several meanings of "unlikable" when it comes to villains.

There are some which you are meant to hate, and they do the job well in getting you to hate them. Delores Umbridge in Harry Potter is one of these characters.

There are others where you just hate them for what they did, but how they come across one just hates to have on the "screen". I think Katherine is one of these.

**BrianDavion**

Yeah letting her get away was bad, even worse when you realize she effectively got ehr vengence through Alaric

**Ghaz**

Ghaz wrote:
Ghaz wrote:
News from Pax West via the BattleTech Forums:

Lorcan Nagle wrote:So Catalyst are streaming all weekend again, and there doesn't seem to be much discussion of it on the boards. Or, to be fair much promotion of it on their social media as far as I can see. They went for about 8 hours yesterday and seem to be planning the same all weekend. And here's yesterday's streams timestamped. It's mostly Shadowrun Takedown because the Kickstarter is closing out in 7 hours as of the time I'm typing this.

Intro and quick chat with Randall
Takedown prototype unboxing
Takedown playthrough with Dylan, Devon and Tommy from Lynnvander
Discussion between Randall, Tommy from Lynnvander and Jerry and Eric from Penny Arcade
Takedown development chat with Tommy and Dylan
Second Takedown playthrough with Dylan, Devon and Tommy from Lynnvander
Wrapup and chat with Randall

BattleTech stuff from Randall's chats:

*There should be an Aces update in the next few weeks
*Hour of the Wolf Audiobook is almost complete
*No plans to move the GoAC mechs to Forcepacks at present. It'll only happen when and if new minis are swapped in for a new edition.
*Ongoing global shipping issues mean Randall doesn't want to commit to any solid dates for Kickstarter fulfilment, but things are still looking good.
*BattleTech COMMAND is still progressing through development. It's designed by FASA veteran Jim Long, of Black Thorns fame.
*Randall didn't want to say much about the 40th anniversary but he did reveal that they'll be issuing a reprint of The Succession Wars, like how they're reprinting Shadowrun 1st edition for the 35th anniversary.
*The new grand strategy game is "about 85% done", needs 2-3 playtest cycles.
*They're still working on getting con swag onto the store as a standard thing.
*Kickstarter stuff should start hitting stores 2-3 months after backer fulfillment.
*Force Manual: Draconis Combine is heading into layout, art review is just complete
*Universe is finished now, Randall is very proud of it.
*Discussions for Kickstarter 3 have begun, it'll probably be 2-3 years before we see it
*The PoD program is still getting back on its feet, the guy they hired to do this got dragged into working on Universe
*House Arano will probably get more products - an advantage of the Kickstarters is they can get a good look at what factions people love, and Arano are in the top 10.
*Samples of a lot of material including the first 7 forcepacks and the 2 mercs boxes are on their way to Randall at the moment, he'll be taking photos as soon as he can.
*John Helfers will hopefully be putting out a new fiction announcement in a few weeks, he's at Dragoncon this weekend.
*No plans to return to the Homeworld Clans at present. They're still waiting for the right story to come along.
*Den of Wolves has only a couple of chapters left to complete.
*There will hopefully be an update for the Clan Invasion Kickstarter digital products soon.
*The GenCon mugs will hopefully be on the store in a month or so
*They are continuing to have problems finding a partner for the EU store, they're in discussion with some new people now. But when Kickstarter fulfillment ramps up it's going to take up most of the company's bandwidth for a few months.
*Randall's been too busy to write recently but he's still working on his Nova Cat/Spirit Cat novel.

And the Day Two news:

Lorcan Nagle wrote:Day 2:

Intro and chat with Randall
Shadowrun Takedown with Randall, Dylan, Tommy and Devon
Centurion playthrough with Randall and Bryn
Shadowrun adventure with Devon, Tommy and I think Ryan from Lynnvander
Shadowrun Edgezone playthrough with Talon and I think his name was Kasai Boller, a friend of Talon's
Wrapup and chat with Randall

Additional info from today's chats (there was a lot of joking around and repeat questions):
*ilKhan's eyes only will be out next year at this stage
*CGL are 99.9% locked in to do UK Games Expo, pending a meeting at Essen
*Aces development will be "full bore" after the Kickstarter fulfills
*Randall would love to do more variant mech minis, the Hunchback 4P was specifically mentioned
*Alpha Strike Commander's Edition reprint is on a boat, hopefully be available before the end of September
*The Universe book will hold a hint on the new financial normal for the ilClan era
*Half the Clan Invasion forcepacks have gone back for a 4th printing.
*When the Mercs Kickstarter fulfils, CGL will have shipped 10 million plastic minis in the last 5 years.
*No definite plans to do anything pre-Amaris civil war at present, but they want to write more in every era.
*Tamar Rising is probably Randall's favourite of the new campaign books because of how fresh and new it makes the universe feel. He's very proud of the big map as well, he talked about the campaign he's running in Zulus and how he pulled the map out, laid it down and said "you guys are here, where would you like to go?" Randall plotted the course on the map and one of the players said it felt like he was in the HBS game at that point.
*There are plans for ForcePacks next year outside of the Kickstarter, Randall was unwilling to give any more details at this time.

And the final two days...

Lorcan Nagle wrote:Timestamps for today's bits. There wasn't a lot on!

Intro and Chat with Randall
Alpha Strike with Randall, Bryn and Jared who painted the minis
Aces with Tommy and Josh from Lynnvander, Jerry and Eric from Penny Arcade and Jared what painted the minis again
Goodbye from Randall

Notes from yesterday and today's chats

*CGL are intending to sell the buildings that were seen at Adepticon and other streams (including PAX) which were based on the renders made for the new city maps and Randall printed out for the con. They haven't worked out the way this will happen, but hopefully it'll be announced late this year/early next year.
*Randall fought hard to get unseen art into the Remembrance book that's part of the Precentor Martial edition of the Universe book. He didn't want to get further into the nuances of the decision.
*New swag will be in part based on how items sell in the Kickstarter. For example they see the Star League is selling very well and they didn't do a Star League dice tray, so they're now intending to do ones for when the trays hit the store.
*The inflatable UrbanMech is called Ralph, Randall wants to make a kill stamp and put a mark on Ralph every time they tell a Kickstarter fulfillment company how many SKUs the Kickstarter has and they're taken back.
*The top 10 factions by swag choices in the Kickstarter: Gray Death, Star League and Wolf's Dragoons are the top 3 in that order, the rest of the top 10 in no particular order are are ELH, Kell Hounds, Northwind Highlanders, Rasalhague Dominion, Sea Foxes, House Arano and Taurians. Randall assumes this is because loads of people got the Clans and Great Houses in the last Kickstarter
*Vesper Marches is the lowest selling swag.
*There are more Spotlight on... books in the pipeline
*The main product Randall wants to get out there which hasn't happened yet is a grand strategy/4X one, and it's a big part of why he and Bryn are still working away on one. Their current version is "halfway between Risk and 4X games"
*When asked about WoB's return, he said "don't hold your breath"
*The last con they'll be streaming from this year is probably gonna be PAX Unplugged.
*They hope to do more RPG support in the future

**Apple fox**

Wow, some great stuff coming.
The sale share for swag isn’t that surprising when thinking about it.

I really do want more RPG stuff, it still feels like it’s in a weird place right now. Also a bit of a pain to buy it.

**Charistoph**

My swag was Comacho's Caballeros.

Though, I have to say that Gray Death, ELH, Highlanders, Hell's Horses, and Goliath Scorpions were temptations.

**Ghaz**

My swag (all challenge coins) was Clan Diamond Shark, Raven Alliance and St. Ives Compact.

**LordofHats**

Charistoph wrote:
There are several meanings of "unlikable" when it comes to villains.

There are some which you are meant to hate, and they do the job well in getting you to hate them. Delores Umbridge in Harry Potter is one of these characters.

There are others where you just hate them for what they did, but how they come across one just hates to have on the "screen". I think Katherine is one of these.

Vlad Ward was a character I loved to hate. Like Gul Dukat or Kai Winn, the sacred cows of perfectly written villains I love to hate.

Kathrine I just hated. It didn't help that most of her so-called political expertise was kind of an informed trait and most of her success really came not from her own ability but the slow response Victor had to realizing how dangerous she was. And that after she'd done even more bs, he chose to ignore her until one of his sibling's died.

**BrianDavion**

LordofHats wrote:
Charistoph wrote:
There are several meanings of "unlikable" when it comes to villains.

There are some which you are meant to hate, and they do the job well in getting you to hate them. Delores Umbridge in Harry Potter is one of these characters.

There are others where you just hate them for what they did, but how they come across one just hates to have on the "screen". I think Katherine is one of these.

Vlad Ward was a character I loved to hate. Like Gul Dukat or Kai Winn, the sacred cows of perfectly written villains I love to hate.

Kathrine I just hated. It didn't help that most of her so-called political expertise was kind of an informed trait and most of her success really came not from her own ability but the slow response Victor had to realizing how dangerous she was. And that after she'd done even more bs, he chose to ignore her until one of his sibling's died.

not only that but a lot of her sucesses where simply illogical

**Jihadin**

Vlad got burned severly when he came for Katherine. Nuke level burn by Victor saying "You bargain well and done" pretty much calling him a merchant

Following the civil war's end, Vlad traveled to Arc-Royal in August 3067, where Katherine was being transferred to a prison there. Meeting Victor and Phelan Ward, Vlad pointed out that the Truce of Tukayyid had expired and his Clan was free to attack the exhausted Lyran Alliance. In exchange for peace, the Wolf Khan demanded that Katherine be turned over to him. Victor agreed without protest and Vlad left Arc-Royal with the former Archon.[36]

**aphyon**

Some brutal games tonight. the first was a game that lasted less than an hour. we were doing late era.

I ran-
.trebaruna
.goliath
.stalker II
.barghest 4T

i was heavy gauss across the board except the stalker 2

His side had

.Regent
.gunslinger
.sagittaire
.penetrator

the reason it went so fast was head capping 3 of his 4 mechs with heavy or improved heavy gauss and the last mech took an AMS ammo crit center torso that took out his internal structure.

Spoiler:

We then moved on to an urban fight and everybody wanted to do vehicles and such.

My side
C3 kurita lance with
.schiltron
.manteuffel
.typhoon
.tokugawa

My ally
.X2 demolishers
.X2 alacorn MK VII

The clan side-
.X2 tyr IFVs with gnome battle armor
.X2 enyo strike tank
.X2 garuda VTOL
.Mars XL
.Heimdall ATM.

This game was also pretty fast with 6 turns, and a stupid number of crits. the IS side lost the typhoon and an alacorn with heavy damage to the other alacorn and one demolisher. the clan side lost a garuda, both enyo, and the turret got blown off the mars.

Spoiler:

**Vulcan**

Regular long-range headcapping is one of the big reasons I prefer 3025. It can make games way too short to be fun.

There's a reason the only 3025 weapon that can headcap in one shot has such a short range.

**Charistoph**

Vulcan wrote:
There's a reason the only 3025 weapon that can headcap in one shot has such a short range.

Well, the only one that's regularly available. There is an experimental project that could do it a little further out. At least in the Inner Sphere.

The Clans still had Gauss, and their superior ER PPC was already online for about a century.

**aphyon**

Vulcan wrote:
Regular long-range headcapping is one of the big reasons I prefer 3025. It can make games way too short to be fun.

There's a reason the only 3025 weapon that can headcap in one shot has such a short range.

I prefer any era we feel like playing, that way we are not handicapping ourselves of the entire universe of possibilities.

**Vulcan**

To each their own. Whatever you feel is most fun.

**Ghaz**

Blood Asp Test Casting

**Charistoph**

Not quite as intimidating as the art.

**chaos0xomega**

I find that issue with a lot of the sculpts. Art looks amazing, renders look decent, production mini looks ok. I think some stuff is being lost in the sculpting process as a result of adjustments to proportions and perspective translating a 2d image to 3d, and then the production process is softening some details up and further exacerbating the issues IMO.

**Charistoph**

It just doesn't have that Assault Mech feel. It feels more like a Heavy. The torso and legs and upper arms need to be thicker, imo.

**Ghaz**

Charistoph wrote:
It just doesn't have that Assault Mech feel. It feels more like a Heavy. The torso and legs and upper arms need to be thicker, imo.

Catalyst has been using volumetrics to insure the new 'Mechs are an appropriate size for their tonnage (note the 100-ton Crucible in front of the Blood Asp in the second pic).

**Gimgamgoo**

Ghaz wrote:
Blood Asp Test Casting

Spoiler:

**Ghaz**

And for the Ghost Bear fans out there...

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

Grizzly looks very chunky.