|
BattleMaster posted:There are a lot of notable mechwarriors in IlClan Recognition Guide Vol. 1; as in, way more than usual. For instance, there is an entire page just for Griffin pilots. Are these Kickstarter reward OCs? Some of them may be old MechWarrior Clix unique pilots. They show up from time to time in the new TROs. I just got "Divided We Fall" in the mail today, psyched to read it tonight. Glad but also a little sad that the Dark Age Era is coming to an end in a year or two. I got into BT/MWDA through the clix game, still play that with a few friends who kept all their minis. Been almost 15 years, now we're finally getting a resolution to the Republic of the Sphere and the Dark Age.
|
#
¿
Jun 21, 2020 00:22
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 17:16 |
|
|
New BattleTech novella just came out "Grey Watch Covenant" (part 1 of 3?), about the Battle of Northwind as detailed in Shattered Fortress. While the outcome it already known, I really enjoyed Shell Games which did the same thing (For the Battle of Dieron), and I enjoyed Blaine Lee Pardoe's last two books he just released, so I'm getting it. Real nice to see BattleTech have all this new fiction now.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2020 17:05
|
|
|
PoptartsNinja posted:Does Pardoe still "Stackpole" 'Mechs left right and center? I don't recall that happening at all in 'Divided We Fall' or 'Forever Faithful'. There might have been one instance in FF, but it was over so quickly as another mech got cored right behind the explodey one. May have just been an ammo explosion, now that I recall. I will say that the dialog in them both was a bit stunted, but hey, I'm not a writer. And stunted direct dialog sounds correct for Clan characters. I still need to read my copy of A Splinter of Hope/The Anvil, too bad I can't find it in PoD.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2020 21:09
|
|
|
Defiance Industries posted:Funny you should mention that, I'm working on something for Shrapnel. Is the ability to submit ideas to Shrapnel contingent on being a kickstarter backer? I ordered the first issue from Amazon 'cause I heard it had lots of Dark Age stories.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 27, 2020 18:22
|
|
|
So does DrivethruRPG do sales on Field Manuals every once in a while? I want to get Field Manual 3085 but I ain't paying 25 bucks for just the few pages I want to read out of it.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2020 15:23
|
|
|
From Rock of the Republic, it sounds like Devlin Stone planned on initiating the Blackout eventually while he was cryogenically frozen, but someone beat him to the punch way sooner. Devlin overestimated people's loyalty to the Republic and underestimated how much the Houses had Demilitarized, so when the Blackout came, the Republic fractured, and the Houses invaded, which was the opposite of what he thought would happen. Basically, defeating the Word of Blake, creating the Republic, and ruling it for 50 years caused Stone to drink his own Kool-Aid to an unhealthy degree. Doesn't help that most people in the Republic while Stone was around believed in the whole demilitarization thing too much. Had the Republic just stayed at it's 30 Line Regiments + Stone's Brigade strength, it would've been fine come Blackout. It should be noted that the original plan for the Republic per Wizkids was that after a year or two into the game, the Republic would collapse and die, and just become a huge chaos zone. Wizkids changed it and kept the Republic going because the player base really dug their Knight and Paladin pieces, and demanded a full-fledged faction for them.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 10, 2020 14:34
|
|
|
Defiance Industries posted:The idea that the Jaguars have spent the past 75 years secretly loathing Devlin Stone would be pretty great. The second he goes "hah I have my own Clan and I'm making them the ilClan!" and they shoot him in the face and then proceed to grind the Republic into a fine powder is a pretty fitting ending for the faction nobody liked. Uh excuse me there are plenty of Republic fans. Most of them just play the clix version of BattleTech. There's talk of a multi-state clix tournament meet-up next July, so yeah that'll be cool. My prediction is that Clan Wolf will become IlClan, but it's not what happens, but how it happens that I think will be interesting. I don't think Alaric Ward is just going to roll in and conquer Terra. Some of the products with forewords set in 3250 have mentioned there's still an Exarch in the era of the IlClan, and Shattered Fortress has Devlin mention striking a "deal with the devil", so the Republic and Clan Wolf striking a deal seems the most likely outcome of "Hour of the Wolf" Also, new BattleTech fiction out today, Honor's Gauntlet. Here is the link. No POD version available yet. PoptartsNinja posted:Those are very cool.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 14, 2020 14:36
|
|
|
The short story "Redemption and Malice" has Wolverine survivors in it, hinting at their society. Not sure where to find it though.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 14, 2020 17:47
|
|
|
Icon of War is out which details something very important that happens during the Reavings. Children of Kerensky, the 1st part of the "IlClan" novels, is being teased by Pardoe on Facebook. The 2nd Part "The Hour of the Wolf", is still being written. Children of Kerensky probably will drop soon this month. I think it was 2-3 weeks after Pardoe teased Rock of the Republic that the DTF dropped.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 12, 2020 13:15
|
|
|
DrPop posted:Was gonna just ask for a spoilered summary but since it's actually set during the Wars of Reaving and not the hated Dark Age I will buy the book and read it The Dark Age is great and you should embrace it. Bring back clickytech. I'm well aware the license is split three-ways and likely clickytech will never exist again, it's a shame.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 12, 2020 15:05
|
|
|
So my brother surprised me with a birthday present from last year (He put in to the Kickstarter). I got the Base set, Clan Invasion Expansion, and 4 salvage boxes, plus Clan Nova Cat dice, challenge coin, and Kerensky star keychain. All cool stuff. Unfortunately I know I have zero talent for painting, so I'm going to ask a buddy of mine who paints WH40k for funsies to do all my Clan mechs in Spirit Cat colors (White with grey highlights, and a single black or red panel somewhere), and the Inner Sphere in House Marik. Maybe if I find people to play with I can justify buying some other mechs.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2020 00:35
|
|
|
Anyone ever have any problems with the official battletech website forums? For some reason, it won't accept my username/password despite it being correct, and when I ask for a reset, an email is never sent to my account. I made a new account to circumvent this months ago, and the same problem is happening now. They need to update whatever code they used for those forums. I want to discuss the new book and can't.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 7, 2020 16:03
|
|
|
So has anyone read 'Icons of War' or 'Children of Kerensky' yet? Pretty good reads. Icons of War Spoilers: Clan Wolf sends a commando team to kidnap the body of General Kerensky aboard the McKenna's Pride. A lot of the book is spent on the Commandos enveloping themselves into Clan civilian society. Apparently there's groups called Free Guilds that can travel around Clan Space taking work from Clans that are short-staffed. Good look at the Dark Caste/Civilian side of things. The book also includes a Clan Detective Sherlock Holmes-like guy, so that's fun. Also IlKhan Baracek of Clan Star Adder is pretty Machiavellian; after the body of Kerensky gets stolen he simply takes the body of a dead Wolf warrior of Kerensky stock, has doctors surgically alter him to look like Kerensky, and claims DNA problems is from space radiation damage. I haven't finished the book yet but it was fun read in Clan society with minimal Battlemech fighting. Children of Kerensky Spoilers: Alaric and Malvina are both racing to capture Terra. Alaric has been building a 'super-Clan-friends Coalition by declaring Trials of Possession for useful people from other Clans, while Malvina simply murders people. Apparently the Wolves-in-Exile are set to rejoin Clan Wolf, also Alaric lays out his plan for the IlClan: Resurrect all the dead Clans in the Inner Sphere (Nova Cat (wheee!) and Smoke Jaguar), then take all the Clans and after conquering Terra, conquer every Inner Sphere House to re-establish the Star League. At the end of the novel, a Ghost Knight leaks how to break thru the Fortress Wall to Clan Wolf, and Alaric shares it with Malvina. Both are gonna hit Earth within a month or two of each other. Decent read but it suffers from a lot of recent BT fiction which means it is very dialog-exposition heavy, trying to cover lots of material that fans may not have read up on back in the old fiction books. Oh well. EDIT: VVV Oh Defiance, how did I know you'd say something like that. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Nov 10, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Nov 9, 2020 18:59
|
|
|
So Kickstarter questions. I'm sure they've been asked before. Is the only way to get the Kickstarter models right now to back the Kickstarter again? Or is there a secondary market or store that sells individuals or packs of mechs. I'd like a Nova Cat and Kit Fox, but don't want to have to drop 100+ to get the kits with a bunch of stuff I already have. Also if that isn't avaiable right now is the plan to make it available eventually?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 10, 2020 16:13
|
|
|
Defiance Industries posted:If you've ever lived in a decaying post-industrial town in the US, it's actually not that hard to figure out. Nobody has any new ideas, they just sit around talking about how to get the mill back. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, it's a lot more complicated than that. There are plenty of new ventures and ideas going on, but people in those areas are competing with several things that make it difficult; A) Other areas of the country have either lower standards of living or booming economies (Or both), making them more attractive to new businesses B) Population growth has been stunted as most people in the Rust Belt leave for growing areas (I was one of them), which further stunts economic growth (For instance, not going to have new teacher jobs if student population remains the same or shrinks). C) Climate and geography, businesses don't want to be in areas with snow 6 months of the year and coal/steel/railroads don't dominate the economy like they used to, whereas new industries like tech sectors are located entirely elsewhere (Doesn't help either the Fed Govt. in the 40s and 50s subsidized huge, newer factories on the West Coast). All of these are entirely different from the motive in Battletech, which was typically "We've forgotten how most of this stuff works, so we're keeping with the basics". That said, I think most economics in Battletech can be explained as; the Successors states don't really do much, planets just trade with each other and the Great Houses take a cut; because otherwise trying to manage interstellar trade networks has got to be a nightmare.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2020 14:55
|
|
|
PoptartsNinja posted:"Devlin Stone" almost certainly isn't his real name. He Joseph Stalin'd himself, poorly. That implies he deliberately chose a different name though, which, based on the DA fiction and Jihad sourcebooks, he may truly just not know due to Blakist torture. Being a clix guy, Devlin Stone and his Republic are favorites of mine. Here's hoping they survive in some format into the IlClan era.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 18, 2020 13:16
|
|
|
DrPop posted:The Legends PDF is also out and is pretty solid. Included for most backers. Do they email a code to active it? My brother bought me the kickstarter stuff so I'll have to go through him.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2020 16:59
|
|
|
Baron Porkface posted:I'm thinking of getting Hour of The Wolf tomorrow, does the author have a good reputation? I like Blaine Lee Pardoe, his Classic Battletech and Dark Age Wizkids novels are all really good. He wrote one of the best Battletech Novels, Surrender Your Dreams for Dark Age, it's one where The Republic of the Sphere launches a tons of covert ops and false flag operations involving assassinations and war crimes in order to buy themselves more time, and introduces The Fidelis, I can't recommend it enough. Some of his more recent Battletech novels haven't been as good, but I blame that more on the shortness of them (most are less than 150 pages), and the need to catch a lot of grognards up on Dark Age fiction, because they all raged during Wizkids time and refused to read any of the novels. Looking at Hour of the Wolf on Amazon and the first two spoiled chapters, I would get it, it looks like it is good level-Pardoe writing. As far his personal opinions, he does like the Confederacy a bit much, but I chalk that up to him being a Virginian. I think it only really bled through in his writing during the FedCom Civil War books, so if you don't read those it won't even come up. Living in Southern Maryland, I still meet a ton of people who like the Confederacy, and they were part of a Union State (They had a lot of ancestors who crossed the border to join apparently). You'll enjoy it. Just be warned it's going to have a ton of reveals, as it is culminating the 19 year Dark Age era. Fun fact, Mechwarrior: Dark Age was released in 2002, and its story arc is concluding in 2021, 19 years. The Dark Age Era started in-universe in 3132, and is concluding in 3151, 19 years.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2021 15:20
|
|
|
DI, spoiler tags man.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 2, 2021 02:24
|
|
|
So I got a bunch of minis to paint, what paint do you all recommend? Looking at a couple different options, don't want to break the bank. My POD copy of HoTW is coming this week, I'll spoiler a review when I finish it.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2021 16:38
|
|
|
Snake Dance posted:The book is a major slog with zero tension. You know the Republic will attempt something and then the brilliant Wolves will counter it. The only actual advancement of the plot comes at the end. Some of it is pretty interesting (like the Dragoons) but yeah, it's a bad book. Naturally the official BT forums are full of people gushing at how epic it is. Truth be told it sounds to me like old-school Battletech fiction during Stackpole's writing of Hanse, Phelan, etc. Which is unfortunate give that between 2002-2013 we had a really excellent line more or less of fiction going. And is even stranger given that BLP was able to write Surrender Your Dreams and several other Dark Age novels that did not have that problem at all. I guess this is what happens when the story is kind of already pre-ordained and the authors are rushing to fill in novels to fill the gap between the last sourcebook and this one. Truth be told The Wolves not falling for any Republic traps or tactics makes sense though because in Children of Kerensky Paul Moon of the Fidelus/Smoke Jaguars completely sold the Republic out in exchange for Alaric promising to let the Smoke Jaguars be reborn. Paul got all the details of Terran defenses out of that one Republic Knight while she was in jail under Damien Redburn, and then gave all the secrets to Alaric. gently caress Paul Moon. PoptartsNinja posted:If you're going to invest in Citadel Contrast paint, it's a good idea to transfer it out of their (lovely) pots and into dropper bottles. You can get 20oz dropper bottles for pretty cheap on Amazon, and they'll help keep the paints from drying out. Sounds like Army Painter is the way to go if there's that much work involved with Citadel paints. This is supposed to be a fun hobby, not laborious. I think I'll stay away from washes/highlights until I get the hang of it. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jan 4, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2021 18:26
|
|
|
I appreciate the advice everyone, I think I may have to try painting with a buddy of mine who's been doing it for a long while, so I don't screw up on the first try. Lot of stuff to keep in mind.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 5, 2021 00:56
|
|
|
Alright, so got my copy of Hour of the Wolf, read the first 160 pages, then skipped to the last 60 to see what the end result was. Pretty mixed feelings, here's a sum; Alaric Ward invited Malvina Hazen to Terra, and the two of them curbstomp the Republic of the Sphere into the ground. That's the first 200 pages of the book. The next 50-80 pages are Alaric and Malvina having an "IlClan Trial" to see who gets to be called IlClan. Clan Wolf wins. Alaric tells all the Clans this. Sea Fox and Snow Raven are 'Ok, Ghost Bears are suspicious, Hell's Horses is MAD AS gently caress they did not get to participate. Clan Jade Falcon is whittled down to 100 warriors. Clan Smoke Jaguar is reborn as a Provisional Clan. At the end of the novel, right before his Coronation Ceremony as First Lord, Alaric meets with Devlin Stone one last time, who is in the hospital dying. Stone laughs in his face and claims credit for Alaric's achievements (Saying he gave Alaric the code to get thru Fortress Republic, he sent his best soldiers to whittle down CJF before the Trial, etc. etc.). Stone also reveals it Wobbie Sleeper Agents who caused the Blackout, that he was a failed Wobbie agent who rebelled against them. He also tells Alaric basically he is now in the same situation that Stone was; stuck on Terra with a depleted military surrounded by hostile states and probably doomed to failure. He basically says "good luck lol" before Alaric's 2nd Chance Vickers smothers him with a pillow in his hospital bed. Literally. So let's go over what I thought was good vs. bad. Bad first: Way too many Clan Wolf characters. I think there was... 6 or 7 Wolf POVs, including several just created for this novel, versus 2 CJF, 3 ROTS, and 1 for every other faction in the universe. Some of the POVs just felt like wasted space that I would have rather read the battles from the ROTS perspective. Tyrina Drummond, a Republic Paladin who's been 'sorta hyped' for the last three battles goes out in true Nova Cat style. By that I mean she gets zero dialog or even a single POV and gets murdered by brand new Clan Wolf characters who drive a tank that had no right to survive as long as it did versus an Assault mech. The tank runs over her cockpit when she crashes into the ground. Go go Nova Cats. The Wolves getting victory. Just seemed like they were winning too quickly and easily. Every engagement they fought in turned into a rout against the ROTS, the ROTS always suffered heavier casualties. While some of that can be explained away with the fact that Alaric got all of their defense plans from Custos Paul Moon in the previous book (Once again, gently caress Paul Moon), it just killed a lot of tension. The ROTS' biggest victory against them was 4 regiments against a single Solhama Cluster, which immediately gets wrecked by a Clan Wolf counter-attack. Clan characters being huge rear end hypocrites as usual. Alaric and Malvina invade Terra, commit war crimes, and then get super pissy when the Republic does a head-hunting operation that nearly succeeds in decapitating both Clans. When they meet with Stone they're holier-than-though "you're so dishonorable". At least Stone gets a zinger on Malvina saying "Yeah but that's nothing compared to dropping a warship on my own capital you dumb bitch" that was worth a lol Malvina's characterization. Something just has felt off about her since the Battletech novels. In the old Dark Age novels her craziness seemed genuinely dangerous, and she was highly competent. In the new ones though she seems to do atrocities and brute force tactics, and keeps getting out-thought or out-argued by subordinates. Steiner logic continues to not make sense. They see an opportunity to reclaim worlds lost to the Jade Falcons... and decide not to... because it will make the Falcons mad. Even though in a previous novel they totally attacked a Jade Falcon planet with 2 regiments. They are executing Operation "Black Ice" where they are arming partisans and left-behind military on occupied worlds who will free the planets for them, but... it's still not consistent. Tara Campbell becomes a bondwoman to Clan Wolf, and then Alaric sends her to Clan Jade Falcon as their new Sakhan. WHAT. THE. gently caress. Lastly, no Noritomo Helmer. Just... why? Noritomo is about twice as interesting as Stephanie Chistu as an "honorable Jade Falcon" Even Shattered Fortress name-dropped him on the Battle of Skye and getting claimed by Clan Wolf as a Bondsman. He was the original Traditional Jade Falcon set up to oppose Malvina, feels like a wasted opportunity. Okay. Now the Good. Devlin Stone's characterization. It's interesting to see a character who's arrogant, with a huge ego, they gets steadily punctured until he's lost everything. I got some serious Hitler vibes from him hunkered down in a Republic bunker as his capital city collapsed all around him. You really see him completely destroyed as a character in his 2nd-to-last appearance; wheelchair bound, colosotomy bag/breathing tubes, etc., etc. Still, he shakes Alaric the gently caress up in the last scene which was nice to see, but I still would've rather seen him beat Alaric to a bloody pulp. Oh well. Malvina gets killed by her slave Cynthy. So that happened. Alaric in the last couple scenes is a total dick to A)The Hell's Horses, and B) The Dragoons. He laughs in the HH's faces about their anger over not being invited ("Since when do the Clans need invitations to battles?"), and basically humiliates them. He also reveals to the Dragoons he only invited them to Terra to take revenge for them betraying the Clans in the original invasion; he let them completely destroy themselves against the Jade Falcons (80% losses), gave them 30 pieces of silver, saying "We don't want traitors in our ranks, here's your pay". Basically, the Dragoons may never be able to recover as a unit, which Alaric thinks is great. I found it interesting because it reveals Alaric is making some serious mistakes. He is down to 40% of his Clan's strength, he really shouldn't be pissing off potential allies for the IlClanate, yet he can't seem to resist. The book prose and battle scenes are mostly good, typical Battletech writing fare. This is a step up from what a lot of the other new novels have been. I didn't feel like I had to brush through a lot of sections or imagine how they could've been written better, I could actually just read and enjoy. It was a tough read for me as a Republic fan. I think I will paint my IS mechs up in ROTS colors in memory of them. Overall, an okay book. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Jan 6, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2021 14:17
|
|
|
PoptartsNinja posted:You can only write a character as clever and interesting as you yourself are, and Pardoe is neither of those things. Everything Stackpole takes heat for, Pardoe typically does far more egregiously. That's the thing though, he has written really good novels. Target of Opportunity and Surrender Your Dreams are two of my favorite, and they're top tier for the Dark Age fiction line. Even Exodus Road back in the old line was pretty good. So what changed in 10-15 years I'm not sure of.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2021 18:50
|
|
|
PoptartsNinja posted:I admit I haven't read any of the Dark Ages novels, the first one by Stackpole was so bad I gave the whole series a miss. I really should rectify that at some point. I've come to genuinely like the Dark Age era for what it is, I just didn't get into any of the fiction because the "hard men making easy choices" thing put me off the whole novel line. I strongly recommend you give the Dark Age Line a chance starting with Flight of the Falcon. You kinda have to skip #3-6, then Patriot's Stand, then all of the rest (Except for the two Isla Bick Combine ones) are all pretty good. Surrender Your Dreams is very good because it has Republic Knights doing very dirty things to try to give Fortress Republic a fighting chance. You have these idealistic knights who get faced with implementing some very terrible plans given to them by Devlin Stone himself (well, a recording, via the current Exarch), and the way the novel is structured, you see how doing all these things puts them through a psychological wringer. If you read any Dark Age novel, I'd make it that one. Wizkids made the mistake of giving a lot of brand new writers a chance to write in the Battletech universe, but didn't apparently prime them on anything before, or at least nothing beyond the basics. I have never owned a copy of Ruins of Power or Patriot's Stand, and never will. I own the Proving Grounds trilogy only because as a teenager I didn't know any better when I bought them. I read them and immediately realized they were horrible.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2021 00:06
|
|
|
Holybat posted:I legit really liked Wolf Hunters and the Free Worlds League reformed novels in the MWDA line. Marik (and pretend Marik) shenanigans are fun! Yeah, after I wrote my review above I remembered that Alaric had totally butchered civilians and killed surrendered forces during the Clan Wolf/Steiner invasion of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth (Dark Age books). I think in the former, one of his officers got sniped so he murdered an entire city block, 5k people. He's little better than Malvina. I really wish Tara Campbell had just pulled the trigger when she had the chance and killed him, even if it cost her the Highlanders. The Wolves without Alaric will die an even quicker on the quicksand that is holding Terra. HOTW seriously needed more ROTS perspectives so that it wasn't just Clan Wolf is Awesome 24/7.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2021 00:55
|
|
|
I think I'll be painting my Clan minis Spirit Cat colors (Gray with white, more white symbolizes purity of the warrior), and Inner Sphere mechs clix Republic colors (Red and gray-teal), in memory of the Republic. Victario ves Republica! 
|
|
#
¿
Jan 11, 2021 15:53
|
|
|
What pledge level do you have to make in the kickstarter to get custom faction dice (I.E. Jade Falcon dice)? Asking for a friend.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2021 21:55
|
|
|
Baron Porkface posted:How did the Fedsuns get blitzed the way they did at the start of Shattered Fortress? Era Report 3145/Field Manual 3145. Caleb Davion, a schizophrenic rapist First Prince of the Federated Suns, wanted to launch a huge invasion of one of his neighbors. He was originally going after the Capellan Confederation, but then the Draconis Combine finally succeeded in conquering the "Draconis Reach" (Basically a no man's land of 10 planets between them) using the Wolf's Dragoons to do it. Caleb decided to switch targets and concentrated 13 regiments of Mechs on a single planet (Palmyria) with 1 of the 2 Davion warships (About 20% of House Davion military at the time). He also coordinated these plans with his "allies" Clan Snow Raven. Clan Snow Raven gave the plans to the Draconis Combine, who showed up with two warships, and proceeded to completely lay waste to the planet. Caleb was killed and the Davions lost 20% oftheir military in a single week or two. Then the Capellans jumped in and attacked with their 50+ regiments. So now the Davions are defending against 40 Combine regiments, 50 Capellan regiments with only 33 or so Davion regiments. Shattered Fortress Spoilers Eventually, the lords of New Avalon choose Julian Davion as the next First Prince, and bring him back from Steiner space. Along the way, Julian stops in Fortress Republic and is given a free Assault regiment from Devlin Stone, in exchange for promising to help when the time comes for the Republic. So Julian arrives with 3 regiments of troops. The Capellans get caught in an embarrassing trap and agree to a cease-fire, which Julian breaks to reclaim New Syrtris, before nearly losing it to a Liao mega-terrorism attacks and counter-attack. The Draconis Combine meanwhile continues to roll through House davion and captures New Avalon. The Republic when it drops its fortress wall first goes and helps the Federated Suns liberate a bunch of their planets, before shifting back to focusing on the Clans. Julian gets some breathing room because the Draconis Combine freaks out over the Republic attacks, and the Capellans are obsessed with getting to Terra. Hour of the Wolf Spoilers Clan Wolf and Jade Falcon invade Terra and Devlin Stone asks Julian to return the favor. Julian says "That's a naw from me dawg", and Devlin Stone gets crushed". This is actually really bad for Julian because now the only thing holding the Capellans and Combine from turning back and attacking his nation again, the Republic is now dead. The Capellans and Combine have ZERO neighbors interested in loving with them, although maybe the Capellans will want to attack the Wolves on Terra? Lol who am I kidding the writers aren't going to do that, plus the Capellans have no warships. Federated Suns is dead man walking. EDIT: Also, gently caress the Capellans and Combine for always getting away with terrorism. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Jan 15, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Jan 15, 2021 14:19
|
|
|
If anything I'd put my money on Capellan Suns (Federated Confederation?) for the following reasons; 1) Draconis Combine is really overstretched, and no longer has the Wolf's Dragoons assisting 2) Capellan Confederation has no nearby neighbors threatening them, Draconis Combine has Ghost Bears AND Alaric Ward said he wanted to take revenge on the combine for the Nova Cat genocide 3) Daoshen Liao is angry about Julian breaking their truce I COULD see a Draconis Suns if Julian and Yori Kurita (Can't remember her name right now) decide better to ally then die from Clans and Cappies, and get royally hitched. The writers have been stringing all of these rulers along for over a decade without any marriages, they got to see that in a game of space feudalism, marriage alliances should play a part. But that would require Battletech to do something interesting other than "Oh noes, Combine is killing House Davion, BUT THEN LOST... while the Ghost Bears sit and do nothing".
|
|
#
¿
Jan 15, 2021 16:13
|
|
|
Ah, the Gandhi Nuclear Maniac Paradox.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2021 17:18
|
|
|
Got my paints, painted up all my Inner Sphere mechs in Swordsworn colors. Swordsworn was one of the various splinter factions that broke away from the Republic military following Black Monday in 3132. Led by Duke Aaron Sandoval, the Lord Governor of Prefecture IV, Swordsworn played a dangerous game of providing security to planets in the local area, feigning loyalty to the Republic and fighting off other pirate groups, while disseminating pro-Davion propaganda and trying to engineer a soft-flip. Aaron Sandoval was upstaged by his cousin, Erik Sandoval, who pre-emptively declared the Swordsworn loyal to House Davion following Fortress Republic being announced, and while Erik became Prince's Champion to Caleb Davion, Duke Aaron was left in semi-exile on Tikonov in charge of the new "Republic March" Paint jobs are blue and green, majority blue with some green their Elite Regiment (Davion Guards), half and half Veteran Regiment (Ghost Legion), majority green, some blue green regiment (Prince's Men). Two lances of Swordsworn, plus an Urbie  Davion Guard Battlemaster  Prince's Men Awesome  Davion Guard Thunderbolt  Ghost Legion Catapult  Davion Guard Wolverine  Ghost Legion Urbanmech  Prince's Men Wasp  Ghost Legion Commando  Missed a picture of Shadow Hawk individually. First time painting, I haven't done washes yet, those are in the mail. Feel free to offer any pointers. I am going to do my Clan Mechs in Spirit Cat colors. Some of them need a bit of touch up. When applying washes, do you just wash the whole mech over with appropriate wash colors, or do you only wash inbetween panels? Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Feb 10, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Feb 10, 2021 14:22
|
|
|
Fidel Cuckstro posted:Maybe a dumb question- but how do people get the inside of a laser barrel (like the chest mounted medium lasers on your Thunderbolt) to pop with color like that? I tried to drop a little dab of a bright green in my last model and it just never really seems to "pop". Is it just using a lot, or is there some sort of technique to help? I honestly just painted the gun the silver plate metal color, then used a round brush to hit it with a dab of red. :shogon: It will probably look better with a wash.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2021 18:19
|
|
|
Clan Invasion Mechs (mostly) done. Two still need washes and highlights, but I'm pretty happy with them and want to move on to finishing my Wasteland Warfare minis. An incomplete Binary of Clan Spirit Cat mechs. In the Spirit Cat military, the better the warrior, the more white they are permitted to have their 'mech painted in.  Angus Drummond pilots a classic Timber Wolf. Angus was the Star Colonel of the Purifiers Cluster during the early Dark Age. After conquering and settling on Marik, Galaxy Commander Rikkard Nova Cat began to re-establish Clan norms, including the need for an Oathmaster. Angus fought in the Grand Melee and won, securing the post he had coveted for so long.  Warrior Youree Nova Cat is an abtahka, a former House Liao mechwarrior captured in battle in a skirmish between the Spirit Cats and Liao on Ningpo in 3134. Originally he piloted a Thunderbolt, but after 10 years with the Spirit Cats, he was upgraded to a Clan machine.  Star Commander Sariah Vozka is diminutive warrior who has used her size to trick countless opponents in a circle of equals. Following the conquest of Marik, she gained her non-unique bloodname, and just last year was responsible for propagating it for the first time in a century. Given the low numbers in the Spirit Cat Touman, there was not much resistance to such a move. (Still needs a 2nd coat and wash)  Star Captain Dot "Patches" Nostra. One of the few Nova Cat pilots to survive the Combine Genocide of the Nova Cats, Dot refuses to divulge any details on her harrowing journey. She pilots a Nova, although its slower land speed compared to her old Shadow Cat is a frequent complaint from this otherwise quiet warrior.  Star Captain Malisa Nova Cat is a freeborn warrior, her parents a Nova Cat civilian and a Republic Guardsman. She fought ferociously hard to test as a warrior and was placed in the elite Shiva Keshik Cluster right before the Blackout of '32. Her previous ride, a Uller was constantly pushed to shutdown by her all-out attacks. Eventually in one such encounter her Uller met its match, but Malisa survived. She now pilots an Adder, whose ERPPCs require a slower rate of fire. (Needs a wash still)  Star Colonel Joseph Bedford is Galaxy Commander Rikkard's aide-de-camp. He took over Shiva Keshik Cluster following Rikkard's ascension to Galaxy Commander and leader of all Spirit Cats. He originally piloted a Hellstar, but during a Trial of Possession against Wolf Empire forces, his 'Mech was totalled. He did however manage to take down and capture an enemy Gargoyle, which he claimed for his new ride. While he misses the reach of his old 'Mech, he does enjoy the damage inflicted by a well-aimed Gauss shot.  Warrior Rasputin is undoubtably the fiercest Mechwarrior in the Purifiers Cluster at this time. Disheartened by the death of Janis Nova Cat at the end of the conquest of Marik, Rasputin set himself to emulating her in every way possible, save one; he is the epitome of obedience to his superiors, and especially Galaxy Commander Rikkard.  Star Commander Janus, not to be confused with the deceased Janis, is another member of the Purifiers Cluster. Apparently the Republic of the Sphere confused the two, forget Janis was dead, and then made her the Star Colonel of the Purifiers in the FM3145 (Seriously Catalyst are you that lazy). The Spirit Cats all had a good laugh at that, then got back to being the coolest part of the nu-FWL.  I think I'm going to wash the white parts of all the mechs that haven't gotten it. I really like how the Timber Wolf turned out.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2021 13:54
|
|
|
kingcom posted:As someone who played a bunch of Dark Age way back when, knowing the top poo poo super mechs were things like a Cougar and an Arbalest make its seem like these enemies are built to make that work. I got into clix around Liao Incursion, so I must have missed out on Janis Nova Cat (Arbalest) being top tier (I guess she did get 23 defense in hindering, prior to artillery). Shame since I played Spirit Cats a lot.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 1, 2021 00:13
|
|
|
kingcom posted:Once the great houses started being rolled in again Janis lost their shine but real talk the entire meta had to be designed around Janis just crossing the map in one go and they still had a pretty critical role in the game. You had to build walls of peasant infantry to protect anything like artillery for example (and the whole game was about artillery at a certain point). See I jumped in right when Arnis Drummond (Spirit Cat Dasher II) was huge and Arnis being able to charge in, wreck face, then retreat and repair was the meta. Interesting to hear about Janis being so important early on, guess that explains why the Spirit Cats had so few uniques for so long. Too bad she died in the books. I miss official Mechwarrior games, although we are organizing a lot of the veterans to do a world tournament in Ohio (And Maryland) this summer.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 1, 2021 14:16
|
|
|
Atlas Hugged posted:I've always loved the feudal themes of the setting and how outside of the official regiments of the Successor States, each mech represented the sum total wealth of some obscure noble family. To that end, all of my random rear end mechs are flying their individual family colors, like sci-fi Bretonnians. I really wish the current fiction would lean more heavily into the feudal noble families set-up more. We got all 5 Great Houses and all five leaders are unmarried, after over 10 years of in-universe fiction. Just write them up a spouse and children and call it a day already. EDIT: Another thing to add to my criticism of The Hour of the Wolf. The Republic of the Sphere is supposed to be THE PREMIER IS Military that practices combined arms. And yet... in every battle the Republic fights, they only ever use Battlemechs. No tanks, no Battle Armor, no stinking artillery. Only Clan Wolf uses Battle Armor at all during the campaign. And only Clan Jade Falcon uses Artillery in their big trap during the IlClan Trial. Just so freaking stupid. I really am disliking this book more and more except for the last 50 pages. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Apr 23, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2021 17:46
|
|
|
Defiance Industries posted:Yeah you'd think someone would take Jasek Kelswa-Steiner dying as a wakeup call, since he's the fourth only child of his house in a row. Given how Jasek was written I'm sure he'll have a dozen bastard children revealed whenever necessary to keep the line going. quote:I think that claim probably comes exclusively from Republic characters, just like anything about the Federated Suns and "freedom" comes exclusively from Feddies. Because I cannot for the life of me find a difference between their doctrine and that of the AFFS and LCAF, right down to having three tiers of units with increasingly complex arrangements of conventional support regiments. Look all I want is a couple Wolf Clusters to run into a barrage of Long Tom Artillery and get shredded. Is that too much to ask?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 26, 2021 14:26
|
|
|
Rhymenoserous posted:
Dark Age is awesome, read the Wizkids novels before your try the Catalyst stuff. The Catalyst Dark Age era products are literally just trying to advance the timeline along and get out of the Dark Age. Wizkids stuff was actually trying to establish and do new things. Just don't read Ruins of Power.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2021 16:35
|
|
battletech is basically a game of pick your era now.
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 17:16 |
|
|
Disclaimer alert: I got into Battletech through Mechwarrior Clix, so yes, my favoritism of that Era and its fiction is gonna be biased due to that being the "Battletech" I knew and played first. No different from the bias CBT players had Hating New Thing *tm about it.Rhymenoserous posted:Are you trolling me? I have most of the Wizkids novels and I choked them down the same way I do most current star wars media. With my nose clamped in hopes that maybe something redeemable will come out of it. The entire story is Deus Ex Machina 1 (Devlin stone) retires and suddenly Deus Ex Machina 2 happens (HPG NETWORK SHUTDOWN) and something something bad things, no sense of continuity in the fluff and for some reason we're back to strapping machine guns on agromechs like the Grey Death Legion is acting as cadre in some backwater shitville again. A time jump will often seem like a Deus Ex until more of it gets fluffed out. And the best Dark Age novels (Sword of Sedition, Fortress Republic, Surrender Your Dreams, all the Steiner/Marik ones) are easily on par with the best of the old Battletech books (minus Wolves on the Border, because nothing really equals that one). Sure there's some really bad ones, there's also some real lovely old Battletech books (Far Country? That one that's just letters? Ideal War?). Arming agromechs made sense for the setting because one of the Republic's policies was de-armenent and a focus on social spending, which meant more agro/industrial mechs and if you're a ragtag pirate group with limited means it's easier to arm an industrial mech than it is to just get a Battlemech. quote:I'd like to take this moment to state how much I hate Devlin Stone as this out of nowhere Dues Ex Machina who suddenly fixes everything while a lot of succesful military commanders who have a lot of experience (Cough, Victor, Hohiro, etc...) fighting enemies with vastly superior technology just so they'd have an excuse to do Star League Lite. Devlin Stone emerged as a successful resistance leader who told nobles to shut the gently caress up during the Jihad while all the other Great Houses decided to get into more squabbles and get people killed while Blakists were going around nuking poo poo. He was one of the few leaders to actually fight the Word of Blake back and people rallied to that. The Great Houses eventually came around because they didn't want their heads on pikes and after nearly 70 straight years of massive wars the average Inner Sphere person was pretty damned tired of the nobility like Victor causing billions of death by being dumb as poo poo. By the end of the Jihad Devlin Stone had a huge coalition force because he Got poo poo Done and basically told the Great Houses to give him the old Hegemony planets as a buffer state so they wouldn't have another reason to fit more pissant wars with each other. He also had the most regiments to throw around so arguing with him was a bad idea (See what happened to Liao and Marik after 3081). Steiners, Davions, and Kurita went along because Victor Steiner-Davion decided Stone was the way to bet and he had clout with at least 2 of those Houses. The Clans went along because Stone flattered them and told them their system was best (And encouraged them to do more reavings of bloodnames to make the # of warriors even smaller, lol). Stone and his Republic then managed to start rebuilding the economies of their planets because they didn't spend all their C-Bills on mechs like an inbred two-headed Kurita samurai cosplayer, and people actually appreciate it when you do some social spending on poo poo like medicine, the environment and food. Cue the Republic recovering from the Jihad, and everyone else in the Great Houses saying "Why can't we have that too?" putting pressure on their Great House leadership to do the same. At the same time Stone encouraged de-armament to prevent another all-out war. Stone's bigass problem was eventually he started believing in his own hype way too much and allowed de-armament to go to far, because you still need a viable military force to keep bad actors in line. Most of the loyalty in the Republic was to Stone himself, so when he left in 3130 (Because his ego had got too big to fit in the Exarch's office), a lot of Republic people suddenly looked for new authorities to be loyal to. 2nd and 3rd generation kids looked to their grandparents' ancestries, ignoring the reasons their grandparents left the Great Houses to begin with (Something that happens pretty common with 2nd and 3rd generation immigrant families). Then the Blackout happened, which isn't the first time in Battletech lore the HPG system has gotten turned off or broken (Amaris did it back during the Amaris Civil War), and suddenly you had lots of little separatist groups formed by those 2nd/3rd generation kids forming up declaring the Republic was dead and they wanted back in with their Great Houses. Cue all the intercine fighting in the Republic. Then the greedy rear end Clans and Great Houses see this Republic, wracked by Civil War, as a juicy target, and they all come in for a slice. Then they starting fighting everyone else and you basically have the 6th Succession War (Jihad was the 5th). Dark Age is loving awesome. Defiance Industries posted:"Hey kids, wanna see me do a somersault, cartwheel and handstand?" -This fucker in a Dark Age novel Rhonda Snorrd. Or maybe it was some Solaris pilots who did stuff like that, can't remember. Point is, that poo poo happened in 1 book and that author never got to write Battletech again due to fan complaint. Also, the splinter factions were pretty cool. It was no secret from Day 1 the big parent factions were still around, and they were re-introduced pretty quickly in the clix game. But the goal of the game was to do small-scale combat, and having House Davion and House Kurita throw around regiments like nobody's business wasn't going to help with that. The splinter factions were also interesting from a socio-cultural perspective. You got 2nd/3rd generation families with split loyalties to their ancestor's realm vs. their current realm. There's a lot that can be played with there for good stories. Strobe posted:Always cool when someone accidentally phases through from another reality for just long enough to hit the post button. Always cool when the old CBT crowd shits all over Dark Age and its fans not realizing they're turning a lot of the old Clix players away from converting to BT because they don't want to deal with the grognards always being angry. Can't tell you how many friends who played clix explicitly pointed that out as why they steered away from their local BT group once Clix was shut down. But I guess making GBS threads on the game that literally saved the Battletech IP is more important than growing the fanbase. In the first ten books you got Ghost War, Call to Arms, Fortress of Lies, Flight of the Falcon, and Blood of the Isle, all decent Battletech books. That's 50% decent to good vs. 50% garbage. And it got better from there. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 15:00 on May 4, 2021 |
|
#
¿
May 4, 2021 14:41
|
|