Battletech: Clan Wolf is "Licensed to il"

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Battletech: Clan Wolf is "Licensed to il"

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

So I started playing Battletech back in 2nd edition. Dropped out when the clans kept wiping me out. Currently trying to finish a campaign of the Battletech HBS game.

Which board game do I need to buy these days to get a boxed set with a map, rules and more than 2 figures? It's really confusing and I'm at the point of spending the big bux and get a copy of 2nd ed from ebay instead because it has the cardboard figures of old.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2022 10:13

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 05:14

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Atlas Hugged posted:

You want "A Game of Armored Combat".

Thanks!

Ok, bought that, next question for my next pay day- what other boxes or rules follow on from that one and play at the same scale? Does the beginner's game come with anything the "A Game of Armored Combat" does not? Which game do I need for some campagin rules or rules for infantry/tanks/aerospace?

Also, are my old 2nd edition technical readouts still usable or are they completely out of date to the new rules?

Comstar fucked around with this message at 10:54 on Jul 10, 2022

# ¿ Jul 10, 2022 10:46

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Why does Catalyst not want to take my money? I ordered the Battletech: A Game of Too Many Words of What Book I should Buy Combat, from Amazon, and the next thing I get is an email saying thank you for returning it, your refund will be coming soon. I never got it.

And none of the Mech packs I want to buy except the Madcat in the Wolf's Dragoons is available, like anywhere. And the campaign book is TWICE the cost of the box with figures, rules and maps. And al lot of the books and 95% of the figure packs are on backorder.

What's the story with all of this- are they crippled by covid or do I need to wait for 2 years for some kickstarter to actually be able to buy anything? I just want to get a Battlemaster, Warhammer, Riflemen and Wasp and fight pretend single player because I doubt anyone else around here plays it.

Comstar fucked around with this message at 09:42 on Jul 21, 2022

# ¿ Jul 21, 2022 09:35

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Floppychop posted:

edit: Holy gently caress, clans were introduced in 1990. They've been part of the game for as long as I've been alive. I got into the universe as a kid with Mechwarrior 2, so clan mechs have always been cool to me.

Back in the �90s there were no points- only way you balanced anything was tonnage. Try doing equal tonnage Clans vs IS and play IS and see how much you like it.

Yes I�m still bitter.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2022 06:01

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Has the game changed in any way to actually make any point to bringing a light fast mech or a mech that's not at the old optimal weight of 5 tons below the next weight class?

For that matter, I haven't played tabletop since 1996 or so. I have read that a lot hasn't actually changed. What has for the normal game of armored combat? (Gave up trying to get it from Amazon. Changing target to close range and go to MilSims tomorrow).

Comstar fucked around with this message at 13:17 on Jul 22, 2022

# ¿ Jul 22, 2022 13:14

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Dr. Lunchables posted:

I�m still laughing that a goon named Comstar is upset over the Clan Invasion. World class stuff.

I bought the rule book that had rules for the Clans ('92 I guess I think it was the Compendium) , played IS Mech's and then lost every single game vs Clan Mech's my friend used.

The irony is not lost.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2022 14:32

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

So I traveled the long way to Milsims and got Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat, the Technical Readout: Succession Wars, and Battletech: Campaign Operations book.I am still waiting for Battletech Beginners Box to arrive from Amazon.

Is there any online tools that might..automate some of the stuff in the Campaign Operations? Also, what books do you need to actually play it? it talks about the Advanced Rules for Tactical Operations on page 1 like it's missing a page 0 where it actually should be mentioning Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat at some level.

Does it go from Alpha Strike to B:AGOAC to Tactical Operations or is another level in there somewhere? What level do people play at conventions?

Finally, has anyone in the history of the world actually done a campaign using the Campaign Operations rules? The detail and 1000 and 1 things to keep track of remind of RoleMaster. It seems more like a dream to read about than actually play, though the idea itself of it ever happening is a nice one.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2022 06:54

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Is the Technical Readout: 3039 the one I need for the Unseen 2nd ed mechs? I got the Succession Wars book but it pointedly does not have many of them.

I also note I don't seem to be able to actually BUY it anywhere. Is it out of print and PDF only?

# ¿ Jul 23, 2022 15:18

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

What's the site that allows you to build a lance to a BV(?) point value?

Is there a standard point value used for tournaments or a random match up? The numbers I've seen vary by 100-200% but I figure there has to be SOME standard "Bring 4 standard Mech's" that people play.

What was the standard lance in 3025 - 1 light, 1 medium, 2 heavies and one of them having LRM's?

# ¿ Jul 24, 2022 15:46

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

I'm trying to get my wife into Battletech. She want's to paint her Mech's...pink..

Apart from doing a Panther (I know there was one Mercenary group called the Whippits that used it for one Mech) that had one painted in that colour, are there are any other in-universe units that use that colour?

I had a look at the Camo Spec's site but somewhat disappointingly it doesn't provide much of an answer.

In other returning vet questions, how do you all choose what Mech you want to buy the miniature for? I presume there's a lot of "This Mech counts as this other Mech" so long as you can tell them apart and facing but I'm wondering how everyone decides to choose what Mech to represent on the table.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2022 10:05

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

I'm really confused though - I thought the original Battletech political theory IS based on Federalism, Fascism and some people are just better than others based on their bloodline. Like, all the major powers including the clans follow that - the Clans just add castes to it as well. Have I been misinformed about this? The only democratic group was destroyed by the Clan invasion very deliberately.

I suppose what I'm surprised about is why it took this long.

(Note, I have no idea what the current ilKhan political culture is for anyone apart from the Wolf Clan are called out for being Hypocritical?).

Comstar fucked around with this message at 07:34 on Jul 31, 2022

# ¿ Jul 31, 2022 07:19

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Is there any explanation on why the technical readout books are such a weird shape? 50% of then page is blank white space, it does not go flat and reading the lore pages is a painful experience for me. They don't stack in a bookshelf with anything else and it would seem like the text and pictures were written for legal or A4 size instead.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2022 12:36

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Saman posted:

Have they published a timeline for when the Alpha Strike box will be going up for sale outside Gencon?

I keep seeing mention of November.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2022 04:46

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

What's the changes for "Mercenary-themed" Beginner Box, beyond it having a Vindicator (and a 10 ton difference between the two mechs. How is that going to work?). Is it just the box art or are there other changes?

# ¿ Aug 7, 2022 06:49

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

So the recent kerfuffle about a writer leaving because he's going to kickstart his own Big Giant Robots universe and game has shown up many many different Battletech channels on YouTube for me.

Which ones are good to watch and which ones are there to avoid? The one's with "Cancel Culture" video's in the last 2 weeks, seem to be ones to avoid.

In the lighter side of the news, I magically found what seems to be the last box of Inner Sphere Battle Lance available on the planet for sale- in a wargame store that has no internet sale presence and only a few books left. It's the box of plastic dolls I always wanted.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2022 14:15

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

I want to dream of making a Periphery Mercenary/Pirate company/battalion who fled the Magistracy of Canopus and set up their own world with catgirls (is that an actual thing?) and better blackjack. What books or which source books should I get/buy/read to get a better background? There's several and I can't work out which is the latest one.

Field Manual: Periphery
Field Report: Periphery
Handbook: Major Periphery States
The Periphery (sourcebook) (1st or 2nd edition)

Anything else?

Comstar fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Aug 10, 2022

# ¿ Aug 10, 2022 08:56

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

So after spending hours reading and catching up to the policies of Battletech (last time I was up to date it was 3025...) and reading threads on the Battletech forums...how are the large empires still in existence if no one has FTL communication and there's less than a half dozen (?) places making jump ships?

Is it a matter of "bad writing" or am I missing something? Hard to have a war if no one can actually co-ordinate little lone transport more than a company of mech's at a time.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2022 14:14

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Everything I�ve read in my whirlwind tour in sarna since 3025 is the universe would work better if all the great houses and bigger clans are broken up so everyone has a side they can pick and not feel too bad about it.

Though I would hope Wolf clan losses everything at some point. Again.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2022 05:28

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Well this just got posted on the battletech forums:

quote:

There are no immediate plans for a time skip. We've got plenty of things to do in the here and now, both coming out of the Dark Age Era and setting up the ilClan Era.

One thing I'd mention: the idea of a "time skip" tends to come up only when you have too many stories/conflicts that look at the Inner Sphere as a whole. WizKids stuff aside, to me, time skips are only necessary when you're incrementing the story in terms of the WHOLE Inner Sphere, rather than sections of it. If you're hitting everything all of the time with one big meta-conflict, then sure, in-universe plausibility starts to point toward needing a down cycle to let everyone catch their breath. That need increases exponentially, the more frequently you do it.

But that's specifically not what we're doing in this most recent cycle of books. We're creating more localized conflicts, and ratcheting down the scale from "FedCom Civil War" and "the WHOLE CLAN went to Terra." Yes, those big picture conflicts are exciting, but 1) diminishing returns are real and 2) they drastically cut short the storytelling runway for what comes next. Think of the current model as keeping a lot of differently-sized plates spinning at different speeds, rather than spinning one huge plate and having to stop and restart every so often. That strategy is a bit more demanding on the developers, but it opens up and sustains many more story threads that "universe-shattering events."

And remember, the Inner Sphere as big. As Jason Schmetzer correctly reminds us in development meetings, sourcebooks are not all-encompassing looks at a period of time. Just because it wasn't in the sourcebook, doesn't mean something couldn't have happened in a particular region or time, if there's not a fact-check bar to it otherwise. I'm not in favor of going back and painstakingly caulking in each and every gap in continuity, but I also don't grant the reverse, "the relevant sourcebook didn't mention that thing happening at that time, so it couldn't have happened."

As far as 3250, I don't expect we'll see too much more of that in the near future. They were fun breadcrumbs to leave, and they DO still "count." (You'll see some initial groundwork laid for Gunslingers in the not-unforseeable-future.) But it's work enough to develop this new era, without straitjacketing ourselves into detail that's still over the horizion.

Which is news I liked to read.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2022 13:15

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Ferrosol posted:

Said cousin then started a low-level border war/skirmish with the Draconis Combine which dragged on for 50 years until the DC decided enough was enough and threw a full invasion at the area and just steamrolled the entire March and headed on a road trip to New Avalon.

How did THAT work- in that why didn't their supply line collapse pretty much immediately or get cut off, little lone take and hold an enemy capital.

Also, why didn't everyone else join in if the FedSuns were so weak.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2022 11:39

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Working links and better formatting on the original post. Gives a lot more background I was not aware of.

quote:

[Tabletop Wargames] The self-inflicted decline and fall of a Battletech author (or when your blog overheats and suffers an ammo explosion)
Hobby History (Long)

Disclaimer: I have tried to be as factual with this write-up as possible, however, some parts will remain as unconfirmed rumours. The information here has been harvested from a number of sources, including my personal interactions with the subjects of this post through social media.

Background: Battletech is an American science fiction wargame of giant robot combat set in the 31st 32nd century. Originally released as Battledroids in 1984, it has remained in print more or less continuously ever since. While the original game was a relatively straightforward tabletop wargame, it has had numerous expansions to cover aerospace combat, mass combat, miniatures combat, squad-based infantry combat, collectable miniatures game and even role-playing expansions. The franchise has spawned numerous novels, video games, short-lived comic books and even an animated series. It has also survived numerous dramas over copyright, ownership and a host of other issues.

Deployment: The subject of today�s post is Blaine Lee Pardoe (henceforth BLP) an author who has been tied to the Battletech universe since it�s inception. BLP was one of the founding fathers of the franchise in the 80s, having done a considerable amount of the early foundational writing for the universe. During the 80s and 90s he co-authored a considerable number of sourcebooks, created numerous �Mech designs and contributed fiction to the franchise. However, he wouldn�t start writing full-length tie-in novels for the franchise until the mid-90s. By 2009, he had become one of the most prolific novelists for the line.

Outside of Battletech he was an avid historian, a fact that would inform his writing going forwards. He liked to pepper his works with historical references, ranging from blatant allegories to characters quoting historical figures, especially military leaders. Two of his Battletech novels, Measure of a Hero (2000) and Call of Duty (2001), specifically heaped praise on a couple of Confederate Generals. At the time, this didn�t raise many eyebrows due to the state of discourse on the subject at the time (�romanticised� depictions of the Confederacy were still very much mainstream at that stage) but would serve to be a harbinger of things to come.

It also has to be said that behind the scenes, BLP was considered to be somewhat affable and friendly. He was a regular at GenCon, would gladly interact with fans and seemed to be quite likeable. Beyond simply working with others on the Battletech franchise, he was friends with a number of the other writers, most notably Loren Coleman and Randall Bills.

By 2016, the Battletech IP had changed hands several times. It was now owned by Topps who licenced it to various partners. Chief among those is Catalyst Game Labs (henceforth CGL) which produces the Battletech wargame and related products and fiction, and is run by Loren Coleman. Randall Bills serves as the product developer, and is in charge of rules and the overall direction of the line. Ray Arrastia serves as the Line Developer.

Initiative Phase

In 2016, BLP quit his day job, a well-paid position within a multinational firm rather than take part in diversity and inclusiveness training, a fact that should have been a harbinger of things to come. Having gone into retirement, he chose to engage in other past times, as well as interact with the Battletech community. He became an active poster on the official Battletech forums and Reddit(1), as well as running his own personal blog. He even took to playing MechWarrior Online, a video game based on the Battletech universe.

During that time he shared a lot of his own experiences with working on the Battletech franchise. He posted a lot of early materials, such as a hand-drawn draft map of the Inner Sphere, early drafts of BattleMech statistics, lists of designs and so on. It was a definite double-edged sword; on one side, he presented fans with a treasure trove of behind the scenes material that would have never been seen otherwise. On the other, he also took shots at other writers who had worked on the franchise for making decisions that he didn�t agree with. He was especially irate about writers killing off characters he had created(2).

One incident during this period should have been taken as a warning sign. A poster on the Official Forums asked about Rhonda Snord, a character BLP had created for a sourcebook. They noted the coded language BLP had used around her, and asked if she was intended to be a lesbian and in a relationship with another one of his characters. BLP�s reaction was not only to refute the idea but to come off as somewhat repulsed by the mere suggestion.

Outside of Battletech, he babbled in True Crime writing, but found little success. His posts on his blog and other social media began to trend more conservative, while he also seemed to be embracing the �Lost Cause� view of the Confederacy. However, for the moment, it was more low-key, angry old man stuff than anything immediately dangerous or reactionary.

Attack Declaration

The next couple of years were good to the Battletech IP. The success of the Harebrained Schemes Battletech video game bought in a host of new fans to the game, as did CGL�s own Clan Invasion Box Set Kickstarter. One very important point to note is that this included a lot of younger fans from a far more diverse audience than in past; up until that point, Battletech had very much been seen as an �old white guy� thing(3). Likewise, several long-standing legal bottlenecks had been cleared that allowed CGL to finally publish new Battletech novels and other fiction.

BLP was tapped to write new material for the line, based on his past experiences (while I can�t verify this, I gathered that the failure of his other endeavours meant that he needed the money). Starting with short fiction, he worked his way back in with novellas and eventually full-length novels. These were generally of middling quality by the standards of franchise fiction(4) but there was one recurring point throughout them that BLP kept bringing up. That was the idea that pulling down monuments or statues to historical figures was a bad thing and something that only villains do. Given that this was while the narratives surrounding the Confederacy were being re-examined and being cast in an entirely justifiably bad light(5), it became clear that BLP was trying to make some sort of statement.

And then 2020 happened.

Over the course of the year, BLP�s personal politics, as expressed through his blog and other social media, shifted further and further to the right. No longer just at �angry old guy� levels of conservative, he was going full mask-off Trump supporter. As can be imagined, his reactions to events in 2020 were not pleasant to behold. Between COVID, BLM and a host of other matters he became more and more reactionary. However, he managed to keep this all reasonably distanced from the fandom for the moment.

One new development in 2020 was the launch of Shrapnel the official Battletech magazine, one of the stretch goals of the Kickstarter. Shrapnel featured a combination of short-story fiction, serialised stories, �in-universe� articles and game material such as scenarios, adventures or technical readout entries. The most important part for this story is that, in theory, anyone could write for Shrapnel. The magazine had submission guidelines and a site through which potential authors could submit material. It appears to have been successful; as of this writing, the backlog on submissions is about a year. It needs to be said that Shrapnel has become a great venue for representation within the Battletech IP, and features a far greater diversity in its characters and writers than has been seen before in the franchise and its fiction.

The end of 2020 saw the release of Hour of the Wolf, a full-length Battletech novel written by BLP. To say it was being eagerly anticipated would be an understatement. It represented an important turning point in the franchise�s story, one that had been building for decades. And when it hit, there was a lot to be said about it, and none of it was positive. Between dry writing, terrible characterisation, a dull story that consisted almost entirely of bland, one-sided battles, nonsense plot twists and BLP actively trashing characters created by other authors(6), it was hard to find anything positive to say about it at all. Furthermore, to many, the book felt like it had not been anywhere near an editor, as if it had gone straight from author to release while skipping everything in between.

Physical Attack Phase

As can be imagined by this point, BLP took the results of the 2020 United States federal election well. And by that I mean he descended into full alt-right insanity, going on about stolen elections, fraudulent ballots and whatever other Trumpist talking points came to mind. His social media became more and vitriolic, attacking anyone who disagreed with him. He even took to attacking customers who left negative reviews of his books.

At this point I need to introduce a new player to the story. I am going to refer to them as Author X throughout, simply because I do not want to use their name and make them a target for attacks or dogpiling any more than they have been so far. And, again in the name of transparency, I will say that I have had personal interactions with them via Discord and other social media.

Author X appeared from seemingly nowhere on the Official Forums shortly after the release of HotW and quickly became a very vocal critic of BLP. They put down his work at every opportunity, but were careful not to step over the line to attack him as a person or go after his politics. Author X attracted a not inconsiderable following of their own, aided by a combination of being very vocal and present and leaning heavily into whatever Battletech meme was popular that moment. Having made themselves into an instant Big Name Fan, Author X had a story published in Shrapnel in mid-2021. It was positively received and well liked.

A few weeks later, BLP made a post on his blog containing a number of claims about Author X. These started with claims that they had sent him death threats and were actively stalking him and his family. They also claimed that Author X was deliberately mis-representing themselves for �clout�. It needs to be said that none of these claims were otherwise verified. And in the name of being as awful as possible, BLP did this all while promoting his own (non-Battletech) original novel, a �political thriller� about the �woke left� taking over the United States in a coup. Yeah.

Unfortunately, Author X�s reaction was to quickly escalate to public attacks on BLP (including death threats) in response, and then other members of the CGL staff and even other Battletech fans. The result was that Author X went into full meltdown mode and quickly scuppered much of the goodwill they may have built up along the way. They remain active within the fandom today, but have a considerably reduced presence.

Sadly, BLP was not done by any means. His attacks on other Battletech writers through his blog and social media became a lot more public going into 2022. He also took shots at the fact checking team, apparently seeing them as being the enemy for daring to edit his work. Rumours suggested that he was deeply disliked within the company and had become a nightmare to work with; while I cannot confirm this, it does seem to bear out with BLP�s public behaviour.

Rumours also circulated that he had somehow managed to sidestep fact-checking; while I can�t verify this claim, I will say now that it would explain a lot about the quality of HotW. His next Battletech novel, No Substitute for Victory had to be re-issued with a completely new ending simply because the original was openly contradictory, further supporting this theory.

Outside of Battletech he became even more awful. His social media filled up with (warning: lots of ugly, hateful stuff) racist, misogynist, homophobic and transphobic screeds, as well as attacks on anyone who he simply didn�t like. He continued to remain pro-Trump and circulate �stolen election� myths, while also becoming more and more blatantly pro-Confederacy.

Ammo Explosion, Avoid on 10+

On July 29th, 2022, BLP posted on both his blog and (warning: alt-right dickery) an alt-right �news� site, claiming he had been �cancelled� by a �CGL caving to a woke mob� and that they had terminated their relationship with him. He also used the opportunity to promote his second original novel, which was the same sort of reactionary terror of a �woke left revolution�.

On the morning of July 30th, CGL issued a statement confirming that they had indeed terminated their relationship with BLP. The carefully worded statement claimed that it was due to his online activities, while making it explicitly clear that this termination was their choice and not something forced on them by Topps or any other external party. Several now-deleted tweets by CGL editor Johnathan Helfers seemed to confirm this.

Over the next few days, BLP would appear on a number of alt-right podcasts and YouTube channels, continuing to spin his personal message that he was the victim. He also made personal attacks against Loren Coleman and Randal Bills, two men who had been his friends for decades. Likewise, he also went after Ray Arrastia(7) for �pandering to the woke mobs�. As can be imagined, his twitter and blog filled up with rants and attacks.

One thing that did emerge was his claim that Catalyst had actually terminated him in March, four months prior to his public meltdown(8). While not verified, this does beggar the question of why he waited so long to go nuclear. The most likely theory is timing, with BLP choosing to kick up a storm the weekend before GenCon in order to garner as much attention to his cause as possible, while also making things awkward for CGL.

End Phase

If BLP was expecting a tidal wave of support then it was not forthcoming. Support for him within the fandom proved to be surprisingly lacking outside of a few hard-right groups, specifically Everything Battletech (which itself has been subject to plenty of drama). While his firing did make the news within some alt-right blogs and groups, the support for him was less about the Battletech franchise and more about sticking up for a conservative talking head.

Having destroyed his professional relationship with the company that he had worked for as well as being forcibly severed from the universe that he created, BLP took to appearing on any alt-right podcast, YouTube channel or blog site that would take him. As can be imagined, he blamed everyone else under the sun for his termination, while refusing to accept that his own behaviour and toxicity had been the cause of the problem.

In general, fan reactions to the situation have been one of indifference at internal company politics to those that are glad he�s gone. At GenCon 2022, CGL sold through most of their stock of new Battletech product in the first three hours of the show, suggesting that there was no real backlash against his firing. Likewise, if BLP was expecting his supporters to stage some sort of protest at GenCon, then it didn't happen. For their part, CGL�s handling of the matter has been entirely professional, limiting matters to just the same statement.

Why did BLP remain employed by GCL for so long? I can�t say for certain, but I can give several theories. He was one of the founders of the Battletech universe, and had been attached to it ever since. He�d written massive amounts of fiction and sourcebook material for the line. He was (emphasis past tense) personal friends with the two most important figures within the company. And above all else, as a retiree with a lot of time on his hands who could quickly and cheaply churn out franchise fiction.

BLP has announced that he is creating his own giant robot wargame(9) that will be funded by Kickstarter. Given the past history of tabletop wargames on Kickstarter, I have no doubt that we will see it here some day.

Notes

(1) BLP�s Reddit account was banned at some point, but I couldn�t say when or if it was in response to his meltdown or some other factor

(2) Michael A. Stackpole, the godfather or Battletech fiction, has noted that one of the truths of writing for franchise fiction is losing control of the characters you create. He�s stated that its something writers need to accept and not dwell on.

(3) In the name of transparency, this poster is an old white guy.

(4) Loaded statement

(5) As of this writing, the Battletech IP has lasted nearly ten times as long as the Confederacy did. I just want to mention that fact and laugh. A lot.

(6) And yes, more �people who pull down statues are bad� stuff, because of course there was.

(7) Ray once described Hour of the Wolf as being a �difficult novel�. Take that how you will.

(8) As of this writing, BLP's MechWarrior Online account has not been active since mid-May, which does lend some support to the claim. The author of this post has played both against and alongside BLP and finds that he plays MWO as well as he writes.

(9) Whether it will have strippers and blackjack remains to be seen.

Comstar fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Aug 21, 2022

# ¿ Aug 21, 2022 03:25

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

So I was role playing in my head a small pirate/mercenary force/minor state that lived on the borders of Stiener and Marik, had picked up some of the unsavory habits of the Marian's and was being funded by someone bigger.

Turns out I re-created the Circinus Federation on first principles. How do you pronounce "Circinus"? Is it SIr-Sin-es?

And what's more, their leader, capital and merc force was taken out utterly after the Jihad and it's now wide open real-estate!

# ¿ Aug 21, 2022 13:59

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Battletech: The Clans took Terra. Nobody cared

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Battletech: Wolf Clan captured Terra. Everyone else laughed at them

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Battletech: All Sphere Systems, Nominal

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Battletech: New Alpha Strike, Detected

# ¿ Aug 23, 2022 10:09

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Contuning the drama of Blaine Pardoe, ex-Battletech Author and confederate-symp-around-town:

quote:

ValkyrieRaptor
�
14 hr. ago
� edited 13 hr. ago
GoldSilver2

oh hey I sat through this whole thing and took notes so nobody else would have to

Disclaimer: I went into this with a strong dislike of Razor for being obnoxious, and a healthy distrust of Pardoe's motivations, but I do sit right of center so I'm not completely in opposition of the two on all subjects.

Here's the highlights:

The video opens with Pardoe sitting in front of a banner for Blue Dawn. There's a tombstone with a sad emoji on it in the lower right corner. This goes away eventually and I'm not sure whether Razor or Blaine put it there, but it's really loving funny to me either way.

Within about 6 minutes, Pardoe is calling Confederate statues - quote - "one of a kind works of art." Guess we know what that passage in Forever Faithful was about now.

Pardoe notes that at one point, he and McClosky agreed to drop their little issue entirely. Evidently Faith broke this agreement within about 48 hours, and while I'm not convinced Pardoe is completely truthful with his recollection of these events (at bare minimum there's some lies-by-omission going on here), it's important to note that there was mutual antagonism going on last year.

loving Roy Calbeck is in the comments whining about how CGL treated him. looooool

Pardoe admits CGL's actions are due to them "running a business [...] I have a very slanted perspective on that"

Razor stops to give a shout out to Arch, because of course he does.

Razor also claims he's a writer but has never written "political anything." Bullshit dude, you know drat well you write your own videos. It counts.

Pardoe jumps to talking about Blue Dawn pretty quickly, because of course he does.

In regards to McClosky's "threats," Pardoe says it's a rare instance where he may favor a red flag law. This is the exact point at which I fully turned on him, because either you oppose red flag laws on the principle of them targeting people who have not been convicted of a crime, or you don't. Someone saying "wow these suck except when I can use them against my enemies" is the exact reason one should oppose them.

Both Razor and Pardoe talk about bots skewing Renegade HPG's poll about Pardoe's release. I have to ask, how much do you think people actually care about a loving Twitter poll? Do you really think someone threw hundreds of dollars into a bot campaign to skew it, or is it far more likely that it got a huge influx of attention after Razor shared it and it immediately got flooded with votes that Twitter's system then threw out under the presumption that it was a raid (which, yeah, kinda)?

Pardoe talks about the political books he self-published, such as "The Democratic Party Playbook." This isn't problematic in and of itself, but if you really think about it, this is probably the actual reason CGL let him go, because Amazon isn't going to make much distinction between "Blaine Pardoe" and "Blaine Lee Pardoe," and getting recommendations for A Most Uncivil War or The Democratic Party Playbook after you bought Hour of the Wolf and No Substitute for Victory is 100% a thing that will happen. It's not a great look for CGL if they want to stay out of politics. (Also, CGL was apparently listed as the publisher for Blue Dawn at one point?)

Pardoe says his least favorite 'Mech is the Charger. As a Kurita player, I'm deeply insulted. Maybe he'd like it more if it was painted orange and had the Army of Tennessee Battle Flag on the back?

Pardoe accuses CGL of "firmly planting a knife in his back." Unsurprising, but it's probably worth noting that they did in fact also tell McClosky to gently caress off when she submitted another story, so it's increasingly sounding to me like they just didn't want any part of these two's drama anymore.

Pardoe says "there's a lot of people who want to bring real-world politics into gaming." Meanwhile, in Forever Faithful, p.110: "They do not understand that defacing or destroying a monument or destroying other ones does not change history. In fact, it often ends up reinforcing history. Rewriting the history books to impose a new social order rarely works in the long term."

Pardoe claims that he was the intended target of a "trap" by a fan asking if there were/are/will be trans characters in BattleTech. He responds by saying "it's interesting that they think by the 32nd century that this will still be an issue and will define characters [...] it's not central to who they are." He then claims that he can't be transphobic, because his son is gay. Maybe he's not, but he sure is loving wrong about this being a fad. Ask any trans person if it's central to who they are, whether they want it to be or not. You're not going to get a lot of "no"s.

Pardoe thumps his chest a bunch about how he refused to back down and "shut up and write" as a conservative author (my words, not his, for the record). I just want to point out the hypocrisy here, as conservatives constantly tell liberal figures to "shut up and dribble" or "shut up and sing" or "shut up and act," etc.

A viewer points out the obvious: "what happened in Blue Dawn is happening to you!" Did it, or is it being framed that way?

Pardoe takes a moment to talk about Creative Juggernaut's new IP, saying BattleTech was a "passion project" and that it never paid him a lot of money. He does this while showing off a prototype mini from said new IP. hmmmmmm

Pardoe and Razor both reiterate their calls for his supporters not to brigade or harass others. Despite everything going on in this video, I think this is legit, because they're both smart enough to know that brigading/harassing their opposition weakens their intended optics of being the victim.

Pardoe expresses his dislike of Three Points of Pride, the Ghost Bear football short story. Well, poo poo, if you really needed a reason to cancel the man before...

Razor asks Pardoe: "Inner Sphere or Clan?" Pardoe responds that he prefers the Clans, because he thinks that they're hopelessly flawed, doomed to failure, and a tragic civilization. It's like he thinks their entire reason for existence is a lost cau-...Oh. Oh no.

Pardoe ends this utterly grueling bitchfest by telling his supporters "go buy my stuff from my other publishers, is all I can say," as if that's not the motivation behind everything he's been saying since GenCon weekend.

There, I sacrificed 2.5 hours of my life to this poo poo so you wouldn't have to. Updoot me.

A sacrifice we were all willing to let him take.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2022 08:55

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

I just ordered 4 Urbies from local gaming store (who for some reason didn't put them anywhere I could actually find them, but found via local fuckbook page). A lance of 0/0 pilots is BV 4880.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2022 11:12

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

I now have a lance of Urbanmech's. What paint job would be most likely to cause a Clan Mechwarrior to erupt in utter rage when I met their Batchal with 4 Urbi's.

Comstar fucked around with this message at 11:52 on Aug 26, 2022

# ¿ Aug 26, 2022 11:39

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

PoptartsNinja posted:

Blue and Red, the colors of the Amaris Dragoons.

The problem with that is that Red and Blue are the same colours everyone ELSE seems to use too! Are shark teeth the way to tell they are Amaris units?

Didn't Clan Wolverine use SLDF colours when they came back? Camospecs has a nice colour though. But would a clanner ever actually know what they looked like by the time they came back to the Inner Sphere?

# ¿ Aug 27, 2022 11:47

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

From Battletech Facebook

# ¿ Aug 29, 2022 12:52

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

My 5 year old told me this morning he wants to play Battletech.

How do I teach him at that age? I require assistance.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2022 02:48

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Which Alpha Strike thingy to get? I know there's a new box coming out...soonish (November?) but I also have read there's multiple rulebooks or versions?

# ¿ Sep 2, 2022 13:01

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Is the commander edition getting replaced in November or is it the other versions?

# ¿ Sep 2, 2022 23:15

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

General Battuta posted:

New (really most post-3050) Clantech is cool. ilClan debuted some mechs that were meant to be the sort of acme or epitome of various factions' design philosophies, and it's neat how different they are. None of them are munched out PPC or pulse laser or LRM boats.

Can you tell me what the different factions acme or epitome actually is? Or a link to where I can read it.

I got the impression that the Wolves one is "Plot Armour" but it hard to tell.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2022 13:30

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

If I were to get the new Alphastrike boxed set...what other books and rules are also needed? I get the impression you also need the commanders book (if you want to play with tanks?) and another book for the mech rules. And the website to choose the mech and print it out.

This is unnecessarily complicated.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2022 09:41

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Dr. Lunchables posted:

You just need the box. The rules will cover everything in the box. If you decide you wanna go farther, there�s the Alpha Strike Commanders Edition book. That�s it. One box, one book.

Is the box like getting aGoAC but the full rules are in the Battletech rulebook and advanced rule books? If that's the case, ok, that makes more sense.

What other books can you use with Alpha Strike beyond the commanders one?

# ¿ Nov 29, 2022 11:22

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Has anyone ever played with ALL the optional rules including building their own mechs and playing with the campaign rules? Or played in a Tournament with all the "Tournament" rules?

Was it worth it, and did it get any faster or was it as slow as I suspect it will be?

# ¿ Dec 7, 2022 09:21

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

PhotoKirk posted:

You have to define which optional rules are allowed. Trust me.

We all the current catalyst games books.

Ok not including the galaxy at war rules for a galaxy wide war played at the company level.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2022 00:55

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Why was I not informed of this level of awesomeness!

Battletech: the CGI movie. Well, 9 or so minutes of it so far. With Tex I think doing one of the voices?

Only thing I didn't like is the too quick passing of Reactor Online, Sensors Online, Weapons Online, All Systems Nominal.

(edit, oh, it was 9 months ago. Hope we get more of it).

# ¿ Dec 12, 2022 10:50

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

The odds of a Battletech movie or series have gone up a tiny amount with Amazon signing an agreement to work on a40K one with Superman and Games Workshop.

The obvious thing would be a Game of Thrones...but it seems to me the 1st and 2nd Succession war are a tad too much, and the 3rd is too spread out? It's not over a small timespan and the scale seems too big.

Keep it small to one side of the great houses...maybe near Space Texas and Space Las Vegas...Oh dammit I've recreated the HBS game haven't I. Though in the main game we never actually got a sense of the other nations or why they worked the way they did.

Hell you probably wouldn't want Mechs vs Mech's much- they would be big set piece battles that only happen once a season.

Not sure who makes the best bad guy - I can't see the Capellen's really...working very well these days.

Maybe go North instead and have the birth of the Raselhague with the pirates to the north...and then THEY show up a few seasons later to make a very dramatic entrance.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2022 14:49

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

Carbolic posted:

Movie by the numbers:

1. Big battle. Tukayyid or whatever. Our hero fights bravely but is traumatized in victory/defeat. Quits the military and goes back home.
2. Back home there is a new threat! Pirates/rebels/mercs harass our hero's homeland.
3. Hero can't bring themselves to fight again, or the local militia arrogantly refuse their help.
4. Second battle. Militia sally forth but are outmatched and suffer a serious defeat.
5. Can our hero overcome their reluctance and trauma to win the day? Yes.
6. Final battle ends in triumph, or bittersweet victory, or whatever.

You just described Zero Hour. Also Aiplane.

Surly you can�t be serious.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2022 05:48

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 05:14

Comstar: Apr 20, 2007; Are you happy now?

The Riflemen IIC is wearing a hat.

For some reason I think more mech's should be wearing them too.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2023 08:28

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Battletech: Clan Wolf is "Licensed to il"

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