2014 Con Specials Announcement (Updated 8/2/2014)

[speck]

BTW, the Ares and Poseidon look amazing, the Zeus Ares and Poseidon just arrived to get assembled and painted for Gen Con. As soon as one of them is assembled we will get a quick picture up. But to give you something to look at, check out The Assembly Instructions to see how you can assemble them. I will also post on first thread here and on the post at IWM.

[Sentinel373]

I was wondering when those were going to go up :)

Note these are my first attempts at doing assembly instructions for anything really. What do you guys think? :)

[DarkISI]

Having done a lot of assembly guides, I can honestly tell you: They look great. :)
The only thing lacking is something to tell you in which order to build every single part and in which order to fit them together as a whole, but that is already nitpicking, since the guide does explain everything else, you don't really need an actual order.
Great guides. Good work. :)

[Dragon41673]

I was wondering when those were going to go up :)

Note these are my first attempts at doing assembly instructions for anything really. What do you guys think? :)

They are awesome, and honestly, WAY better than the Omega instructions. Maybe IWM can get you to re-do those! LOL

[Sentinel373]

They are awesome, and honestly, WAY better than the Omega instructions. Maybe IWM can get you to re-do those! LOL

LOL if i had to re-do those i'd need to re-model the entire Omega :P i think its more effort than its worth just to get a better set of instructions.
these instructions were created using the 3d files for the mini itself. so in theory this is what the final mini should look like. I've seen some of the pieces in production and from what i've seen thats pretty much the case :) i'm really happy with it, and i'm eager to see one assembled and painted :)

[The Wayfarer]

Phew I can finaly talk about the ares :D all 5 variants ( Hepheastus, Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite and the Hades)+ the poseidon.

Okay, I will bite on this hook since it sounds like you may have had some hand in sculpting these pieces.  Three questions.

How was the design/sculpting process for the tripods different as compared to a "regular" mech and what did you like/dislike about it?

What direction and art were you given to guide you in the process?

In a real sense, some of the tripods were already sculpted with the clix pieces created not too long ago by WizKids.  How, if any, did these factor into your design?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[Sentinel373]

I get the sense you dont believe i modeled the Ares. I know i dont have a beamer next to my name but i can assure you that the mini iwm is producing is my work. In anycase questions. :)

Okay, I will bite on this hook since it sounds like you may have had some hand in sculpting these pieces.  Three questions.

How was the design/sculpting process for the tripods different as compared to a "regular" mech and what did you like/dislike about it?

The mini was modeled using 3D modeling software so the legs were essentialy a matter of make one and copy it 3 times since the leg is symetrical and there are 3 of them. With a bipedal mech i'd just mirror the legs. In terms of attaching them to the pelvis i had to use a cylinder joint and socket rather than the ball joint i would have prefered to use because of how the leg is designed in the art.

I don't really think a tripod is different from working on a regular mech in any other aspects than the scale. This one is big, and i could go nuts with detailing because of its size. Something i hope you guys will like :)

What direction and art were you given to guide you in the process?

I was art directed by Anthony Scroggins, you might know him better as Shimmering Sword we took Matt Plogg's design in the TRO 3145 as a primary base design. Then we took elements from other canon artwork and the mwda mini's to make what we think is the best looking amalgamation of all the existing Ares artwork. Ofcourse the guys in charge at iwm and catalyst had the final say. Then once we finished the visuals of the mini, we worked with the production guys at iwm to come up with the best way to part it up so it could be casted and also have a big range of posing options. Once that was done i handed in the files and a master was 3d printed. Then the guys at iwm did their magic.

In a real sense, some of the tripods were already sculpted with the clix pieces created not too long ago by WizKids.  How, if any, did these factor into your design?


Thanks in advance.

Mike

We looked at the click mini mainly as a reference for some of the shapes that were unclear in some of the other art. And for the variant weapons. Though we took the basic design for the variant arms and weapons and in all cases we updated the design. And we changed the weird looking ultra ac arm on the hades configuration so it was more in line with the other arms.

I hope that awnsers your questions.

[Baron RedSkull]

So when it comes to size and scale,  how big is it? How does it fit on a standard hex base? Were you able to keep it small enough to fit comfortably on a map sheet while still felling like it's bigger than the other mechs?

[Sentinel373]

It does not fit on a standard hex, the mini itself is 56mm tall in its neutral pose (not including the shoulder missile boxes of some of the variants), however it is wider than it is tall. We made a custom base for it which is 1 standard hex in the middle and 3 smaller hex like shapes layed out in a triangle patern on which each of the feet sit.
We made it much smaller than it was in the preview. The preview was 72mm tall. Even still its a huge mini.

[SteelWarrior]

It does not fit on a standard hex, the mini itself is 56mm tall in its neutral pose (not including the shoulder missile boxes of some of the variants), however it is wider than it is tall. We made a custom base for it which is 1 standard hex in the middle and 3 smaller hex like shapes layed out in a triangle patern on which each of the feet sit.
We made it much smaller than it was in the preview. The preview was 72mm tall. Even still its a huge mini.

Perfectly acceptable imo, Omega doesnt fit on a standard base anyhow

Look forward to getting one

[Dragon41673]

Speck,

Can you confirm the Hex Base is, or is not, included with each Ares and/or Poseidon?

If it is not included with the mech, can you please list what the part number will be so people can order one?

Thanks!

[speck]

Speck,

Can you confirm the Hex Base is, or is not, included with each Ares and/or Poseidon?

If it is not included with the mech, can you please list what the part number will be so people can order one?

Thanks!

The two I received did come with them, I am double checking with Mike.

[speck]

Suna.  :)

It looks great, I will try and get a quick picture of it up. I have it fully assembled now.

[Baron RedSkull]

So how is this going to function in game? Will it only count as taking up the center hex, or will is it considered to be occupying multiple hexes like a building does? If it takes up multiple hexes, how does that work with game rules such as LOS and cover/partial cover, targeting, ETC?

[Dragon41673]

So how is this going to function in game? Will it only count as taking up the center hex, or will is it considered to be occupying multiple hexes like a building does? If it takes up multiple hexes, how does that work with game rules such as LOS and cover/partial cover, targeting, ETC?

It will probably be up to the group running the game. I would prefer from the center hex for anything concerning the mech, especially electronics like ECM, but for firing some would prefer to use the front hex.

[speck]

So how is this going to function in game? Will it only count as taking up the center hex, or will is it considered to be occupying multiple hexes like a building does? If it takes up multiple hexes, how does that work with game rules such as LOS and cover/partial cover, targeting, ETC?

It would function as one Hex, and since LOS would be the same as any other unit when playing traditional Battletech since its on Hexes. Except for any of the special rules for Super Heavy mechs, since they are larger. If we made the mech to fix on a traditional hex size, it would be to small and not look right. The final product is smaller then when Alex started working on it. We had to make adjustments so that it would be playable and not extremely expensive.

[DarkISI]

So how is this going to function in game? Will it only count as taking up the center hex, or will is it considered to be occupying multiple hexes like a building does? If it takes up multiple hexes, how does that work with game rules such as LOS and cover/partial cover, targeting, ETC?

In game, the unit does not take up multiple hexes, only a single hex. Please remember that BT is not a WYSIWYG game. So the mini has no influence on the actual game.
You can find the tripod and super heavy tripod rules in FM 3145.

[Sentinel373]

To give you a better impression of the size of the ares. The torso of the ares is as long from front to the back as the museum scale atlas torso is tall, From pelvis to the antenae. Its a massive piece of metal :p and can't wait to see it assembled :)

[Dragon41673]

To give you a better impression of the size of the ares. The torso of the ares is as long from front to the back as the museum scale atlas torso is tall, From pelvis to the antenae. Its a massive piece of metal :p and can't wait to see it assembled :)

Yeah, we all want to see it assembled...but I want to see a variant each painted by the likes of Savage Coyote, Psycho, GunjiNoKanrei, phlop, and any of the other CSO guys that are up to the challenge!!!

[SteelWarrior]

It looks great, I will try and get a quick picture of it up. I have it fully assembled now.

Oh god cant wait! 

[speck]

Speck,

Can you confirm the Hex Base is, or is not, included with each Ares and/or Poseidon?

If it is not included with the mech, can you please list what the part number will be so people can order one?

Thanks!

Base is included.

[TheDean]

It would function as one Hex, and since LOS would be the same as any other unit when playing traditional Battletech since its on Hexes. Except for any of the special rules for Super Heavy mechs, since they are larger. If we made the mech to fix on a traditional hex size, it would be to small and not look right. The final product is smaller then when Alex started working on it. We had to make adjustments so that it would be playable and not extremely expensive.

So it's out of scale? :( By how much?

[Weirdo]

He's not saying the mini is out of scale. He's saying that if they reduced it in size so that it fit in a hex, it would be out of scale.

[GRUD]

So it's out of scale? :( By how much?

If we made the mech to fix on a traditional hex size, it would be to small and not look right. The final product is smaller then when Alex started working on it. We had to make adjustments so that it would be playable and not extremely expensive.

Sounds to me like the detail would Suck if they made it even the size of the Xanthos, for example.  That sucker needs TWO hex bases to work.   :o   Besides, there's nothing saying you can't use a Flea as a Proxy for it.  :D


"That Flea just took out my Assault Lance, then violated the rest of my Company!  :'( "

 ;D

[Savage Coyote]

Yeah, we all want to see it assembled...but I want to see a variant each painted by the likes of Savage Coyote, Psycho, GunjiNoKanrei, phlop, and any of the other CSO guys that are up to the challenge!!!

I'm getting one... and will paint it up after I get a couple commissions done.  But I'm getting one!  :D

*Activate CSO Super Secrete GenCon Shopping Ninja Squad*

[GRUD]

*Activate CSO Super Secrete GenCon Shopping Ninja Squad*

Two Questions.

1. Are they the "New & Improved" ones with the Kung-Fu grip?
2. What do they secrete, or do we really want to know?  :-X

 :D

[GunjiNoKanrei]

So it's out of scale? :( By how much?

The size of the Tripods was one of the most heavily discussed topics during the creation and great efforts were made to have them in scale. Obviously scale is not very consistent across the line (yet), but the Tripods should be a good fit regardless.

[speck]

Check out first post for early preview picture of an Assembled Poseidon. Note this is just a quick picture taken when my brother finished assembling it to paint for display at Gen Con.

[Sharpnel]

That looks like it was beast of a thing to build. It's a good thing that it is way too expensive for my budget. Not that I would by it anyway. It's a niche product that I wished CGL had never made. I don't mind superheavies, but the Tripod design just doesn't have any appeal, aesthetically or logically.

[DarkISI]

Wow. Just wow.
Hoping for more pictures. More pictures. Oh an: more pictures. ;)

The Poseidon looks really beautiful. Great work from everybody involved. :)

That looks like it was beast of a thing to build. It's a good thing that it is way too expensive for my budget. Not that I would by it anyway. It's a niche product that I wished CGL had never made. I don't mind superheavies, but the Tripod design just doesn't have any appeal, aesthetically or logically.

Take a look at the assembly guides: they look like they are really easy to assemble.
As far as Tripods themselves: Tripods have been part of the BTU for a long long time. They were first mentioned about 20 or 25 years ago as industrial 'Mechs. Then came MWDA and build them into BattleMechs.
They weren't CGL's idea. They weren't even Wizkids idea. Tripods have been around since forever.
What change is, that we finally have rules for them - and really great minis. :)