ETA: Tomorrows the end.  They funded every stretch goal, to include the PVP.  Any extra they receive now will be to get co-op going after (before?) launch. Pledge here:  Battletech Kickstarter campaign  

ETA: 10/30/15:  Four more days to go.  They need about $250k to unlock the PVP stretch goal.  They've also posted the first in-engine video:



ETA: 10/9/15:  Kickstarter is cruising along with $1.65 million (after PP pledges are figured in) and 24 days remaining.  If they can get $1.85 million, they'll unlock the expanded, open-ended mercenary campaign.  

ETA: 9/29/15.  The Battletech Kickstarter campaign is live and already funded the initial $250k goal in less than an hour.  Hit it up!



So I'm a huge fan of the Battletech franchise.  I started tabletop miniature gaming through the gateway drug that was Classic Battletech.  I've read almost all of the novels, played all of the games from Crescent Hawk to MW:O, and still play Battletech: Alpha Strike to this day.

There's quite a lot a foot in the Battletech universe right now.  First, MechWarrior: Online just announce the Marauder will be in the game, and it looks pretty bad ass:



Which is more than slightly similar to the Shimmering Sword Marauder seen here (this is my desktop and one of the best pieces of fan art ever made):




In other news, Harebrained Schemes, the company Jordan Weisman (creator of Battletech, Shadowrun, and Crimson Skies) started to kickstart a new Shadowrun game, has announced he'll be doing a Kickstarter campaign at the end of this month (roughly) to help fund a new turn based Battletech game where you run a mercernary lance (or company if they get the potential stretch funded) in a 3025 era, open ended story campaign.  Sounds awesome so far.  PC Gamer interview and article with Weisman.

Finally, for you true old-school grognards, Catalyst Game Labs, the current license holder from Tops for the tabletop stuff, has announced they'll be redoing the art for the old Unseen mechs that used the old anime art such as the Warhammer, Marauder, Griffin, etc.  They've released some of the first art and sculpts for these mechs and they are fucking amazing.  Behold:

Natasha's Warhammer


3D model for the new mini:



and the first 3D printed sculpts that were painted up and shown at Gen Con:


Finally, CGL announced they are bringing back true novels and not just compilations of short stories, with Stackpole and Pardoe already in contract to write (Stackpole's will specifically follow the Kell Hounds) among others from the past and, hopefully, some new comers.

I know this is a long, picture heavy post, but I also know there's some old school BT and MW lovers that may not be up on the latest developments with this awesome universe.

Long live the First Prince and Federated Suns!

Tag.

Needs more Mad Cat

Nah SIEG ZEON!

I'd kill for a new mw5.

The console games were trash and MWO was pretty underwhelming early on.

MW3 had a good campaign but has some issues on newer systems. I still replay 4 and mercy once a year, though.

MW3 rocked, and I loved 4 because of the online tournament system that was set up at the time. Didn't get into MWO until last year and couldn't sustain any interest sadly.

Aslo, Thor > Madcat

cool.

I still have a lot of the miniatures and assorted mech data books.  I loved the art and the novels.  Aidan Pryde and Joanna books are awesome

i'm pretty sure it just moved

Why the fuck won't they release a Mechwarrior 5

Tag. Haven't played MW game since Mercenaries I'm ready for a new game.

What just moved?

Originally they announced MW5 with an Atlas fighting a Warhammer.  Then Harmony Gold got involved due to the Warhammer art and they pulled the video well after it had saturated the internet.

MW:O looks suspiciously like a 75% done MW5.  My friend and I have a theory that PGI bought the incomplete MW5 and finished coding it as much as they were able to the point MW:O is currently in.  They don't have the funding, time, or ability to completely finish it.

controlled pair tap.

mini-gun tap

I love battletech. Loved the cartoon, and I'm about 7 books into the 80+ book series. Amazing.

Alpha Strike is the mass-combat rules now, right?

Hellz yeah... I think I still have my old Battletech cards around here somewhere...

Sort of.  It's much more abstract while keeping the flavor of CBT without all the record keeping. My friend and I can play a company on company battle in less than two hours.  To me, it's a more modern rule set for using miniatures and terrain vs. playing with chits or counters on a hex map.  

I vastly prefer it to the old-school stuff.  CBT has a special place in my heart, but it's...old.  AS isn't perfect by any means, but it's a big step in the right direction, IMO.

Oh, gotcha.   So it's more like 40k, where a unit is alive/damaged/dead instead of a few hundred dots of armor and structure?

Huge Battletech/Mechwarrior nerd here.

I still have all the FASA game books/maps/miniatures/novels. Don't play anymore though.

Not a big fan of the direction Catalyst is taking the universe though.

 
The Twilight Of The Clans series is amazing.

Well, you still track armor, internal, and heat.  They just took out the pilot skill and tracking ammo.  Like I said, it's abstract, but still BT.  This is the "record sheet" for AS that's the size of a M:TG card:

Top right corner: Point value (to put this in perspective, a Timberwolf is something like 32 or 35 points and will double the damage values below while being faster and almost equally armored.
TP: BM (battle mech)
SZ: 4 (assault)
MOVE: 6 (inches)
SKILL: 4 (you add your modifiers to this, basically your gunnery skill)
S(+0): damage value from 0"-6" (modifier added to your SKILL)
M(+2): damage value from 7"-24" (same)
L(+4): damage value from 25"-48" (same)
A: Armor value.  For each S, M, L value that is successfully rolled you take it here until you don't have any left, then it rolls to S.
S: Structure value.

OV:1 (how much damage is added to your S/M/L value if you over heat)
Heatscale: certain effects happen with each step such as plus to hit and reduced movement.

Special: IF1 (indirect fire for 1 damage.  This mech can use it's LRM to shoot with the aid of a spotter at +1 to hit to your skill for 1 damage if successful).

*Not shown on this old card:  TMM (target movement modifier) this is your move modifier if you're targeted for fire.  For an Atlas it's a 1.  For a light mech is a 4 or more.  Jumping adds a +1 I think.  Being in woods adds a +1.  6" or more of intervening woods blocks LoS, etc.

If you believe what the authors tell you this was the planned direction all the way back to the FASA days.  Not sure I believe it past the Word of Blake's Jihad, but there was certainly elements building up to that even back in the "Twilight" days.

Personally, I wish they'd reboot the fiction/universe back to 3005 and focus on Wolf's Dragoons arrival and go from there.  Keep the houses perhaps, but change everything.  Certain people that died are still alive (Ian Davion), Clans come from Capellan/Suns area, etc.

Bad kitteh

I see a Jade Falcon Timberwolf, Mad Dog, and Jenner on patrol.  WTH is a Mad Cat?

ETA:  Last MW I played was II and Mercenaries.  I got a copy off eBay last year that runs on windows 8 and played it through again.

Thanks for the summary, Paulie!  I'll have to check it out!

Agreed. Everyone likes the Timber Wolf until they find themselves trying to pilot one that has lost it's legs. The Summoner is the best overall chassis of the weight class.

That's a Shadow Cat, not a Jenner.

all the blood in my body toward my nether regions

www.mwomercs.com

If you start playing send me an IM and I will get you and invite to my Merc unit.

Unfortunately it looks like they are going the minimally viable route by reusing the rigging and animations from the King Crab rather than actually making a Marauder. It's too bad that FlyingDebris is apparently being restricted in that manner in coming up with the new design.

Mad Cat is the clan upgrade of the Timberwolf

That would be par for the course for Piranha.

I was the highest tier of backer in MWO during closed beta. Fuck PGI/IGP. No voice comms for over a year in a squad level game? 3rd person view to appease Russian cheaters,  etc.

Kharn

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Hope that wasn't taken from MechAssault reasoning which incorrectly uses Clan and Inner Sphere Mech names like they are different Mechs. The Mad Cat is the Inner Sphere name for the Clan Timberwolf, because when it was encountered it was confused by Inner Sphere targeting systems as a cross between a Marauder and Catapult. It's like the NATO code names for Russian military equipment when the Russian name wasn't known.

Robotech ripoff.

Timberwolf:

Mad Cat:


same mech different name, dont know why.

eta:  clan stuff i see

If only someone would put the throw down on H-G & make a serious Valkyrie/Veritech game for the N. American market...

I've been playing / collecting Battletech since 1986. Use to play with lots of Mil back in the day. Alfa Strike is a great addition.

You shut the fuck up.



 

Wouldn't it all (including Robotech) actually be a Macross ripoff?

I loved pairing Archers with Warhammers in tabletop.

Still have all my old miniatures,  maps, books, dice, record sheets. Haven't played in years but would like to get back into it.

One of my happiest memories as a child was having my mother drop me off at Phoenix Games (I suppose I was in 7th-8th grade?) on Lake Street in Minneapolis where I ran a medium lance of IS mechs in the weekly GeoHex BT game there.  

Right, we were all gamers and we probably all smelled like Cheetos, but most of these guys were in their early 20s and had real jobs.  And they let the 14yo run with them.  I think I learned a lot about life during those Sunday afternoons.  Nothing like walking cornfields for pheasant with your dad, but it still impacted my young life.

20+ years later, I still have multiple totes of minis in my basement, just waiting for a similar group.  Of course, now I have twin 10 mo olds, and even getting to the dojo a few times a week is an exercise in negotiation.  But if you know of a group in MN, I'm listening.  

(Lyran for Life!)

Yeah I preferred this Era. When you got into targeting computers, masc, CASE, LB-X autocannons, I went numb.

I want the MW fps game back that I played in like 2001 over dial up. Was that 4?

When the clans returned they brought mechs the Inner Sphere had never seen.  Included was a mech that looked like a cross between a Marauder and a Catapult.  Having not gotten a memo as to its actual name being the Timber Wolf they just called it the Mad Cat.

This thread is relevant to my interests.  I've read most the books and played the video games but never got into the board game.  I do have most of the technical readout books for reference when reading.

I gotta get back into painting minis.

Thanks.  I didn't get into the universe, just liked MW2 a lot, hence my limited knowledge.  Those mech are enemy, btw, I was always a Clan Wolf guy.  I liked Ghost Bear, but I'll always be a Wolf.