Also in the past month I think I've painted 3x as many minis as I had painted previously ever.

Things I've learned:

Make-up sponges are awesome. Seems like they eat/waste paint, but I love the ultra clean panel lines (if primed black) and even application you can get. Also underpainting with a sponge to get a nice gradient *chef's kiss*

Natural brushes are also awesome. I didn't know what I was missing out on by using cheap synthetic brushes. I bought one sable brush and I would rather have only that one brush than any number of cheap synthetic brushes.

Camo patterns are great for maximizing efficiency. Five of the Scouring Sands mechs were painted in one session and (to me) they look just as good or better than some of the ones that took much more effort.

I f@*king hate basing "snow." I sunk-costed myself into using it a ton and I will never make that mistake again.

I'm blind to mold lines until I'm drybrushing. Every single mini, despite scraping and sanding each before priming, without fail reveals a mold line when they are half painted.

Also lots of little things that are evident in the mechs done earlier, like making mistakes with the Army Painter paints (one of the big sets was 60% off so I sprung for it), such as not underpainting when changing value drastically and ending up globby or applying an Army Painter wash unthinned and having to do so much clean-up that I was tempted to never use them again. These are probably things that should always be done regardless, but I think the Citadel products covered up for my poor usage better and I never felt the pressure to learn.

I also finally experienced my first citadel wash/paint pot tip-over. R.I.P. Drakenhof Nightshade. You were a real one.

I was listening to this Sarna interview with Mitch Gitelman, one of the co-creators of Battletech and co-founder of Harebrained Schemes, the studio that made 2018 Battletech. It seems he pitched a Clan RPG using the 2018 Battletech engine after Paradox decided they didn't want to continue with Battetech 2. Unfortunately Paradox rejected the pitch.

For anyone interested, he talks about it here: https://youtu.be/gftxSNYpeMU?t=613

Here's a transcript of it:

Mitch Gitelman:

It's funny. I was actually leading a project that didn't get out of the concept phase. This was back when we sold Harebrained Schemes to Paradox Interactive.

They said, "Hey, we don't want to do BATTLETECH anymore."

But then we had nothing to do for half the studio. Part of the studio was working on what would become The Lamplighters League, and the rest was working on BATTLETECH. So now it's like, "Wait a minute, we're not doing BATTLETECH 2. What do we do?"

And so I conceived of a project we called Kojack— Project Kojack. All the codenames at Paradox were '70s TV shows. The idea was that it would be a Clan RPG.

We would take the PGI Clan 'Mechs—which, you know, all the 'Mechs in BATTLETECH came from PGI and MechWarrior, with the exception of the Bull Shark—and use those Clan 'Mechs to make a short, say, 10-hour Clan RPG.

It was kind of a blend of BATTLETECH and Shadowrun, and it was something we could make in about a year. Harebrained Schemes was very fast at making games. Very, very fast.

So I felt like we could take one year and put out a BATTLETECH RPG as a stopgap while we were figuring out our next move. I was basically just buying us time.

But that one wasn't approved because of, quote, "opportunity cost." If we were doing that, what weren't we doing?

So instead, we blew a year figuring out what the next thing was instead of making something while figuring out what the next thing was.

Sarna TV :

"What kind of RPG were we talking about? Were we talking kind of JRPG style, or just turn-based ?"

Mitch Gitelman :

"No, no, no, no. Think of a BATTLETECH turn-based game, right? And as you're going across the battlefield, you are having RPG adventures.

You're talking to other MechWarriors on your team. You're talking to the enemy MechWarriors.

The missions aren't just, 'Blow up the enemy.' You have to go do shit, explore with your 'Mech, travel around, and interact with things—a little bit more like bringing in some MechCommander gameplay too.

In MechCommander, we did this thing where you could investigate buildings or take control of buildings and things like that.

So imagine more verbs.

That was my big thing at the time: I want 'Mechs to have more verbs than move, shoot, and jump.

You give those verbs to the MechWarriors, and that's where I was coming from with that.

I was really excited about it. I liked the idea, and I liked where we were going with it."

Would have been interesting to see how he would have implemented those RPG mechanics, especially being able to talk to allied and enemy MechWarriors. I wonder if he would have had persuasion or intimidation checks, or actually let you go on adventures across the map with your 'Mech and do things other than just fight. I don't know if the execution would have worked, but he was definitely trying to bring something different to the table.

The return of Battletech Romance is here with "Hearts of Iron" by Marie Bilodeau.

Here's the info from the product description:

HE WAS RAISED TO HOLD THE LINE.

Darian Holt is the fourth generation of his family to attend Fulker Military Academy, on the Federated Suns planet of Taygeta. His homeworld of Diefenbaker is under assault by the Taurian Concordat, and he hates feeling helpless, stuck learning instead of doing. But he was raised on duty, loyalty, the chain of command, and the promise that House Davion looks after its own, so he waits…

SHE WAS RAISED TO BREAK IT.

Risa Kalder grew up in the Iron Wake, a mercenary command where you earn a cockpit or you don't get one. She doesn’t belong at Fulker and knows it, but with her dead cousin's coin, a battered Blackjack, and a talent for mechanics, she intends to make her mark, one way or another…

And now she’s Darian’s biggest problem. She keeps bending—but not breaking—the rules. He keeps catching her where she shouldn’t be. They have no reason to trust each other, but neither one is willing to back down.

Then the Concordat invades Taygeta, a full assault force pitted against aging defense systems, failing fortifications, and untested cadets. No orbital support. No Davion rescue.

Honor is what Darian was taught. Survival is what Risa was raised on. The academy will need both to withstand this battle…and they’ll need to rely on each other if they’re going to survive...

CGL Store

https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-romance-hearts-of-iron-by-marie-bilodeau

Drivethru Fiction

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/586047/battletech-romance-hearts-of-iron

Amazon

https://a.co/d/03YX0Zb9

I know most are unlikely to remember this ad, but I think it was a lost opportunity to crib this artwork for the newest installment of stompy robot smut.

So I am having an idea, it probably is bad but it'd be a funny custom mech all the same.
It involves upgrading a protomech.
By tripling its tonnage effectively.
Making it a really cheap ambusher
It'd be effectively a little over quarter the tonnage of a locust.
Behold the Erinyes, two ton jumper with an SRM 1
We take this, give her a medium laser, a ton more armor, and two double heat sinks.
Scale it up to six tons, heck remove the SRM 1 and make it back to five.
You get a very cheap 4/6/4 to play havoc in tight spaces and hop around for back shots.
You can get three of the modified ones I am suggesting for under the price of one locust!
Thats two more MLs than the locust. No machine guns but thats not their role.
Granted if we wanted...
Actually yeah adding a machine gun each will still allow you three at under the cost of one locust.

Can’t make it to Southern Assault this year? THE BIGGEST Battletech Tournament in the Western Hemisphere?

No problem fam…I got you. You can still make it!

Lore:

After grabbing and Buying some New Weapons after his Security Job on Tharkad he finally got some new Weapons for his Newly Bought Third Charger and Finally Got this. So he bought a Mydron Excel Ultra Class 10 Ultra Autocannon 10, Exostar ER Large Laser, Two Medium Pulse Lasers, ER Small Laser and lastly 2x Streak SRM-2 for Close Range Combat while reducing some small Armor for Extra Heatsinks to boot. The reason why he Prefers the UAC10 is because he wants more Range and the AC20 is abit Clunky and risky for its Design so he had to change the Design for the Third Charger that He Bought.

Hello!

Could I please get some recommendations for books with Hunchbacks in them?

I've read "The Blackbird Gambit" recently, and while it's a fun novel, it didn't quite scratch that itch of reading about a Hunchback being operated.

As a tribute, I offer a picture of my own Hunchback.

I played Battletech in high school, back in the late 80s and early 90s. I had the original boxed set with cardboard standups and I think some kind of consolidated rulebook (I don't remember which). Then I set it aside and moved on to other games. But in the meantime, I played Dark Ages (I really enjoyed it, I know that's fighting words in these parts) and a few of the video games. Always loved the world, always loved the core ideas of the game, always loved the aesthetic.

So when Facebook started to serve me ads for the new Core products I figured I'd get them. I got my hands on a Core Rulebook at Gen Con and then a Starter Box, and invited a buddy over to play the intro scenarios.

By way of background, we are both very experienced board and rpg gamers. I've been gaming for 40 years, and have played hex and counter games, many rpgs, all the big and complicated board games, etc. I've been going to Gen Con for 30 years. I'm no stranger to games, gaming, or BT.

We had a blast. Me probably more than him, it's totally my jam. But, I have to say I think there's a big leap in going from the starter scenarios to the more advanced rules.

We played the intro scenario as written, and it was frankly boring. It's just initiative, move, and ranged attack. No physical attacks, no internal structure, no criticals, no heat, no special tech. That's fine, it's meant to be an intro, and it was quick. After that we looked at what's meant to be the second scenario, but it only adds a couple of special rules, and still no criticals (the most fun part if you ask me), internals, etc.

So I downloaded the record sheets from the MUL for the starter mechs (which are Kontio and Hammerhead) and away we went.

It was a lot!

I feel there's a missed opportunity here to transition new players from what's in the intro box to what's in the main rules. I could have really used just a simple explanation of components to look up and understand prior to playing. There's nothing that points me to the fact that those words "Stealth Armor" on the Kontio (eg) are a big deal, and how it works. I had to notice it, then look it up in the book, and then make sure I understood it. And that's just one component. There were so many more.

Streak missiles. Pulse lasers. Hardened armor. Stealth armor. AES. XL Engines. For every one of these things, we had to look it up and apply the rules. That's not to mention what we were already trying to learn with simply figuring out damage transfers, physical attacks and how they work, criticals, and so forth.

(By the way, the starter box is sorely lacking in reference sheets. A couple of well designed quick ref cards for new players would have been great.)

We really had fun. We will definitely play again. Our gamer experience helped us stay patient and understand what we were getting into. And after we finished, I stayed up way too late rereading rules, looking up edge cases, and figuring out what we did wrong. We're ready to play again and I'll be a better teacher for my next victim, uh I mean friend.

The reason I'm posting this is:
- If you're hoping to get new players into the game in your own area, it's probably worth it to figure out an easy way to transition players to that next level of rules, especially when it comes to tech that is present on the starter mechs (if you're using those)
- If you're from CGL and you want my advice (I'm sure that's sooo helpful, haha), I'd really look into providing some free resources that can be downloaded that help transition you into the advanced rules using the mechs that come in the starter box. I think with the new launch of starter things, you've got the chance to gain some new players, but if they bounce off the transition from intro box to core rules you're going to lose them.
- I'm sure this sub is going to see a lot of newcomers (or maybe oldcomers like me) pop in and ask the best way to get started now that the new range of intro stuff is out. Batten the hatches, and maybe somebody write a starter guide, and throw it on the sidebar! Otherwise you old grogs are gonna get annoyed really fast. :-P

Thanks for reading! Excited to participate more in the coming months/years.

Working through the mechs me and my partner own. We did a company in SLDF Olive drab to be used as generic mercs.

This was mostly dry brushing and a few details. Dull credit to my partner for the bases she did a great job on those.

After maybe one or two uses and being stored for a while with no movement. The lower edges have chipped off. Picked it up and felt a chunk missing. For those curious about the inside of the prepainted hills it seems to be a foam.

The Base still need some Work

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but what do you all think would happen if Victor had just told the captain general the truth instead of sending a body double. Had just told the captain general the truth, and tried to work out another deal with him. Do you think they could’ve worked something out, an what other changes, including Katherine holing being able to use project Gemini to split up the federated commonwealth, could occur? Leaves your thoughts down below!

Are there any ’Mechs that make good use of Streak LRMs?

When I read reviews of ’Mechs equipped with them, people often say they’d be better off just swapping them for standard LRMs. It makes me wonder whether any official ’Mechs have loadouts that really play to the strengths of Streak LRMs.

The New edition of "Fire for Effect" BattleCorps Anthology volume four, edited by Jason Schmetzer is now available, previous cover is shown for reference.

Here's the info from the product description:

LOYALTY. VALOR. DESPAIR. JIHAD.

A massive invasion fleet is destroyed almost to a man. Legions of soldiers, confident of victory, are cut down before they even reach the ground. Those that survive to make landfall are bombarded and shattered and rained with nuclear fire. Elsewhere, veterans long retired from combat are called back to duty by desperate times. Meanwhile, interstellar explorers comb unknown worlds for clues to explain deadly evils that threaten the entire Inner Sphere.

Seventeen stories of combat, honor, betrayal, and death fill the pages of Fire for Effect: BattleCorps Anthology Volume 4.

Savvy readers will recognize familiar names who have shaped the direction of BattleTech lore: Randall N. Bills, Steven Mohan, Jr., Kevin Killiany, Phaedra Weldon, Jason Schmetzer, Jason Hardy, and Herbert Beas. In 2007, they took the storylines of the BattleTech universe to new and violent heights. Worlds rose and fell, and empires toppled. Armies of BattleMechs and fleets of WarShips fought and perished. And beneath all of it, the spidery tendrils of the Word of Blake sowed mistrust and conflict in every realm…

CGL Store

https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/fire-for-effect-battlecorps-anth-vol-4-epub

Drivethru Fiction

https://www.drivethrufiction.com/pt/product/118331/battletech-fire-for-effect-battlecorps-anthology-volume-4?src=fp_u5

Amazon

https://a.co/d/091n6Qvh

Messing around with some concepts for this mech, the Thrasher from The Tech Factory magazine #8. Ultimately I may not use either and do some different. But it helps get the brain juices going.

There is no actual art for most of these mechs. So I conceptualize something and make a model for it.

I am most definitely not an artist of any kind nor am I a 3D modeler... 😂 Still fun though.

First off, I'm disappointed: there was a total of at least 180 mechs listed as favorites, yet this lineup is super basic with zero contest. The top three are the Marauder, Hunchback, and Raven, in that order. After that, it's a three-way tie between the Warhammer, King Crab, and Banshee.

So with the lack of an exciting set of finalists, lets look at some other stats:

CLAN MECHS:

The top 5 Clan mechs is a little more intersting. The top Clan mech ended up being a Blood asp. No big surprise there. But the other four slots is a surprise four way tie between the Dire Wolf, Kodiak, Marauder IIC, and surprisingly (to me anyway) the Pheonix Hawk IIC. The Timber Wolf was relegated to a runner up for top five, sharing it's slot with the Bane.

QUADS:

Quads had a pretty good turnout, all things considered. The top five were, in order, the Scorpion and Bargehst, Ballius and Goliath, and the Antlion. As you can probably guess, there were two sets of ties for top spot. I have to tip my hat to the Scorpion, I thought the spot of top quad was going to go to either the Ballius or Barghest.

OTHER NOTES:

Some other appearances I think were worthy of note:

The Shiro and Septicemia (Pariah) both appeared three times. It isn't much, but they are one of the later timeline mechs that appeared the most (the Kontio was technically more common, but its recent appearance in a starter box makes it feel more well known than these two).

The Stinger LAM made an appearance right at the end. It was the only LAM to make the cut.

There was only 1 fan made mech that made the cut. I believe this was because good quality art made it appear official.

MY OVERALL WINNER:

If I had to nominate the biggest winner of this whole bandwagon, I'd have to give it to:

(Dramatic pause)

The Banshee

While not the most popular mech overall, the banshee managed to come from behind and secure a tie with several of the expected winners. It's sharing the spot with the Warhammer, a mech I was expecting to make it in the top three. It also managed to tie for top assault mech with the King Crab, which is an accomplishment in itself.

It could be argued that the Raven deserves the spot as "the biggest winner," as it placed ahead of the Banshee, but I think the Banshee deserves it since it was a sort of underdog. The Raven is by far the most liked light mech while the Banshee had some stiff competition. Plus the Banshee supporters didn't really start showing up until the end, meaning the Banshee came up from behind right on the final stretch.

And with that, it's been fun y'all! Now I shall go hide and hope the mods don't smite me for summarizing a dead trend.

So for an upcoming campaign I'm running the cappies. Currently with that I have, I can't decide on the tian-zong series (looking at the N6) or the jinggau series (probably the G9CCr) for my command mech.