Friday 2 August 2019

Back to Battletech




I recently purchased, read, and enjoyed Battletech: House Arano, which interestingly appears to only be available through DriveThruRPG. It’s a source book based on a recent Battletech video game. I know next to nothing about the video game, but the book was a fun read, none-the-less. It covers the previously unmentioned periphery state, the Aurigan Coalition.

It is very easy to get lost in the vastness of the Battletech universe, so it’s nice to sometimes see these self-contained books, which presents a smaller setting, with all of its notable personalities, and give a few scenarios to play.

Anyway, it got me in the mood to paint a mech, so I pulled a Griffin out of the ‘lead box’ and slapped some paint on it. He’s the newest addition to my Firehawks legion – you can see the unit’s emblem displayed proudly on the left leg.

At the same time, I painted up a little APC. It’s a nicely detailed model from Strato Minis – kind of like a sleeker version of the APC in Aliens. It’ll be useful for moving around VIPs or maybe special strike teams.

Of course, all of my Battletech reading and painting is somewhat overshadowed by the massive Battletech kickstarter that is running. It’s already well over $1,000,000, which is doubly impressive with only just over 6,000 backers. 

I am not one of those backers. I looked at it, and looked at it again, and again, but I just couldn’t see a reason for me to back. I have no need or interest in the core ‘Clan Invasion’ box set. I’m not much of a fan of the ‘Clans’ as a concept, and most of their mech designs, even the new, admittedly much improved, versions, leave me cold. It looks like there is going to be some awesome new mechs coming out of this kickstarter, but they don’t need my money to help with that.


Most importantly, nothing is going to be delivered on the kickstarter for a year, assuming it stays on schedule. I have no idea what I’ll be interested in at that point. Maybe it will be Battletech, in which case I’ll buy some of the new mechs when they come market. If not, I’ll just wait until the mood hits me again.

This is not to put down anyone who has backed the campaign. If you are a long time Battletech player, you can probably feel pretty confident that you’ll be excited about the new stuff whenever it arrives. But I run hot and cold on these things, and if it hits me when I’m cold, it’ll all just get chucked into a box, which isn’t much of an investment.

11 comments:

  1. Digital assets are being released to backers as we speak, while the KS is still going. That's a bit unusual, but there will be a steady drip of rewards for quite some time. With 18 lances announced, though, it will be quite some time before all inventory is generated and burned through - true. A good bulk of the promised rewards are slated for March 2020, a little under 8 months away.

    Half the announce machines are IS, so if any of the redesigns appeal to you I'd recommend jumping on it while you can. If not, no worries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A fair point about the digital stuff, as I have heard people are already receiving things - which is great. I'm a print guy though, just haven't learned to love ebooks. Some of the new Inner Sphere stuff is great - I've been wanting that new Warhammer for a long time, it is true!

      Delete
  2. I backed with the $1+ Comstar option, which is basically screw the Clans, but will let you get the Add On stuff including the Inner Sphere lances

    ReplyDelete
  3. Digital Rewards are pretty good (I've been enjoying the fiction).

    I'm in at the Star Captain pledge so I'm getting the two ComStar boxes, and then two Clan stars and two IS Lances as well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Star captain as well, full IS lances though.. don't really care for much of the clan offerings

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ha! I have rarely identified with a comment as strongly as I have the hot-and-cold streaks comment for individual games. I want to throw money at the KS, but I don't want shiny new OmniMechs sitting in boxes until I'm in the BTech mood again. Plus Robotech Tactics has me somewhat leery of a project of this scope and it's ability to deliver on time.

    Also, you should definitely look into the HBS game. Mercs in the early 3020s, out in the Periphery making and breaking kings with a single 'Mech lance, it's all great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought that the PC game was quite fun, with some nice artwork, and a tale of nobility and villainy splashed across 10,000 worlds; well, a few dozen worlds, but that hardly sounds dramatic, does it?

      I found that the game play could be a bit repetitive, but then, it is a game about giant robots smacking the crap out of each other, so that is massively surprising. :D

      Delete
  6. Did they say if they have agreed licence terms with Gundam for the IS missing mechs?
    If they haven't ther is the possibility that the IS part of the KS may disappear suddenly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There have been several court cases over this, and it's really complex, but I gather the last one seems to have settled it so that BT can use them - or at least use their re-imagining of them.

      Delete
  7. Lovely work on these minis and the Griffin in particular.
    While the new models look a thousand times better than the ones I have, I decided to stick to and paint up what I have first before jumping into yet another KS.
    Happy to see BT is getting so much attention though and that the new releases are doing so well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am slowly getting better at NOT backing kickstarter projects... though I did get a 2'x1'x1'box of Zombiecide:Invaders turn up today :O

    ReplyDelete