BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Game Systems => General BattleTech Discussion => Topic started by: cchase33 on 12 May 2020, 12:28:11
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Hey Guys,
I played Mechwarrior: Dark Age a long time ago and have always love the Mechwarrior Universe. Mechwarrior 2 was the first PC game I ever played. I recently got Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat for my birthday, so when I saw the kickstarter for Clan Invasion it was kind of a shut up and take my money situation haha. I realize this is kinda putting the cart before the horse, but can someone explain to me how the Kickstarter works? Do we just wait to see when the items we ordered will be shipped? How do "waves" work, and which wave are we on? Thanks in advance for the help and sorry for my ignorance, but I am more than happy to support the revival of Battletech/Anything with this universe.
Cheers
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Note that even though I'm a mod here, I have no inside knowledge here and hopefully if I get anything wrong, someone who is more involved can correct me.
The Kickstarter actually ran last year, but Catalyst were allowing late backers and apparently still are as of now.
The Wave side of things was to control expectations and provide a workable timeline for providing the initially planned products as well as ones that were unlocked later in the campaign. Wave 1 consists of the box set, the first 2 (IIRC) lance and star boxes, the faction packs, dogtags and keyrings, some of the posters and a handful of the other bits and pieces, most notably the new map set, two of the mechwarrior card decks and the new RPG rulebook, everything else is wave 2.
However, at this point the timeframe to put orders through for wave 1 has passed, so if you can put in a late backer payment now you won't receive anything until Wave 2 ships.
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Lorcan covered it pretty well.
Due to a small production quality-related delay and then a bigger delay due to the minis factory working at 50% staffing because of Covid-19, Wave 1 is scheduled to ship in July (assuming the virus doesn't result in additional delays, which it could).
That means the Wave 1 retail products could be available for general purchase sometime this fall.
We don't know when Wave 2 will ship. Maybe early this winter, maybe late spring. If you were to become a late backer now, you'd get all your stuff (including Wave 1 products and swag) at that time - well after the Wave 1 products hit stores, but likely at a discount. The backer packages are a pretty good deal, especially Star Colonel. At that level it's easy to justify the extra wait; it might not be if you want a smaller amount of stuff.
The images on the Kickstarter "Campaign" tab are the best place to see what's included in each level, but a few changes were made afterward. They pulled out items that were Wave 2-only, as well as the neoprene mats, because those added shipping costs that not everyone would want to pay. They reduced the package prices accordingly; if you add them back in in the pledge manager you should end up around the same number.
At higher levels you can also "sell back" the canon character later on. I think you get $75 back if you give up the Star Colonel-level canon character, and maybe $125 for the higher-level one that was supposed to include pilot art. You'd have to wait to receive an email specifically about it, if you signed up at a level that got you a canon character.
For the mechs coming out, here's one of the (many) Google Sheets people have created. Go to the Mini Packs tab:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kTrEFEnAM_pfQT_SQug2FUZDttkffw_XEtN5GYCfVDU/edit?usp=sharing
Wave 1: Clan Invasion, Clan Command Star, Clan Elemental Star, Clan Heavy Striker Star, IS Command Lance, IS Battle Lance, UrbanMech, and (not shown) the Legendary Heroes pack: Pryde's custom TimberWolf, Natasha Kerensky's custom Dire Wolf, and a reposed-but-stock Archer and Marauder.
Wave 2: the rest
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The backer packages are a pretty good deal, especially Star Colonel. At that level it's easy to justify the extra wait; it might not be if you want a smaller amount of stuff.
I may have gotten 2 Star Colonel pledges to get all the minis as well as some extra boxes a friend wanted...
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Thanks gents this is the info I was looking for. I appreciate it!
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Hi,
just joined to ask some questions, as this place is quite overwhelming trying to find the answers and I keep getting sidetracked. You guys go straight to the nuts & bolts of stuff I haven’t revisited in years. I don’t know where to ask, and now I can’t remember what I wanted to ask...
But I know I have heaps to ask about the Kickstarter. I missed it and just discovered there’s still a chance, maybe? I would have been in without a thought had I known. There’s a lot to read up on this... I hope you guys can help.
1. As a late backer what would I miss out on? Are there exclusives solely during the Kickstarter? Like the different box art and dice would have limited production number set by pledgers and already fixed.
2. Neoprene mats - so they removed them all from the pledges, and only as add ons. Are they worth it and is this the new way to go? I’ve been seeing more of these for war games and card mats everywhere. They look pretty nice. And did I notice terrain cards somewhere?
3. Recordsheets - I just revisited with the beginner box as the Wolverine is my fav. Are the clan ones laminated too? I assume these things are becoming obsolete as we start using tablets and phones. It’s pretty neat though.
4. Alpha Strike cards - I have no clue to this game yet, but it looks interesting and I think I could get into it. Does the core Invasion set include any rules for this, the cards aren’t used for anything else? Are the cards like record sheets so I’d need one for each mech used?
5. Pilot cards - this seems to be a big one for questions. I think I know what they are. Character cards you can use in the game to give each mech a unique quirk or skill level. I’m getting confused to which are pledged and which ones they correspond to as add ons, as they seem to be named a little differently. So there are 7 decks of 55 cards available? Three offered as a part of the pledges, and four as add ons. Are the 10 from invasion and pilot 1-3 “boosters” collected in these sets in any way? Or even those from the miniatures? Does booster mean this is a collection of random card pilots to collect from a bigger set?
6. Salvage boxes - I assume they don’t come with dead clan warrior or Alpha Strike cards?
7. Dice - they look etched out, are they? Any more discussion about those? I might start a dice collection...
8. Comstar mechs - there are six in these sets. Is there some clause I’m missing or do they work the same as clan or IS+salvage?
Much appreciated.
Thanks!
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"Overwhelming" is what this universe is all about!
1. The only definite miss is that you'd get all your Wave 1 stuff in Wave 2, potentially months after Wave 1 boxes hit retail. The earlier posts in this thread explain the two waves. CGL warned that there might be some swag that could run out in Wave 1 without enough demand to justify another production run for Wave 2 - they said if it happened, it'd be most likely with patches, pins, or dice for the least popular clans (and they mentioned Clan Ice Hellion as the least popular).
1b. A lot of the Kickstarter "exclusives" will be sold on CGL's website, but not distributed to other stores. That should include the dice, pins, patches, and the Legendary mechs pack (described three posts up). Not sure about the digital fiction, that might actually be campaign exclusive.
2. They removed them because their length adds quite a bit to shipping costs so they didn't want to make it the default for whatever pledge levels included one. They're great, but I wouldn't say they're widely used in Battletech. It's still mostly paper hex maps, with a decent amount of people using hexless neoprene mats with 3d terrain.
3. The Beginner Box doesn't have full record sheets; no heat, for example. The Game of Armored Combat box does, and they're in the old style. We'll get access to an experimental app as part of the Kickstarter, and there's also an option for fancier record sheets, but for now it's just the old fashioned ones.
4. Yes, they're like record sheets. No, the rules aren't included. There are free quick start rules up on Catalyst's website, I think, and you'd want to buy the Commander's Edition rules if you decided to dive in. It's a great way to play company-on-company or larger battles.
5. You're right about what they are. I haven't followed what we get... I'd go into the "BTI CGL Kickstarter" Facebook group, search "pilot decks" and read through the responses to questions.
6. May have changed, but last time someone asked, the official response was that no, no cards with the salvage boxes.
7. Yep, etched. Translucent with painted etching. They showed sample photos in the updates on the Kickstarter page - you should be able to see them even without being logged in as a backer. Scroll to the updates around #70-80.
8. Yeah, you essentially get the sixth one for free if selecting as a reward. If taken as add-ons, IS, Clan, and ComStar packs cost $20, $25, and $30, respectively.
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Each Box Set and Mini Pack comes with pilot cards. None are random.
BattleTech Beginner Box Set comes with 4 pilot cards.
A Game of Armored Combat Box Set comes with X pilot cards.
Clan Invasion Box Set comes with 10 pilot cards.
Each Lance Pack comes with 4 pilot cards.
Each Star Pack comes with 5 pilot cards.
Then there are separate pilot decks and pilot packs. None are random. Pilot packs are 9 pilot cards. Pilot decks are 55 pilot cards.
Pilot Card Pack #1 and Pilot Card Pack #2 are the two pilot packs.
Mercenaries of the Inner Sphere, Battle of Tukayyid, Champions of the Inner Sphere, Warriors of Kerensky I and Warriors of Kerensky II.
Each pilot card has the piloting and gunnery skill, special pilot abilities, and text describing who the pilot is and what mech they pilot.
Pilot Cards are not Alpha Strike Cards, those are separate items.
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Thanks guy, that’s helping tremendously. Especially pgs 70-80!
I’m now going through the options and add-ons. There’s so much...
(Lol, having trouble remembering those darn clan mech names!)
a) Alpha Strike
There are decks for Clan invasion and Succession wars.
Do they have every mech from the two corresponding readouts? I have the TRO’s on order, don’t know how many mechs they contain yet. The deck says 98 + 10 (what are those?) combat cards (um yeah, the Commanders edition is also coming, lol).
Would these be the same thing that comes with the miniatures? So I wouldn’t need them unless I use mechs I haven’t picked up?
b) swag
I don’t know why I’m so into this. I usually don’t care at all. I guess maybe it’s all the options you get to look at and they all look stunning. It also looks like I can choose different factions, and I think I will and get a variety of those insignias. The dice are gorgeous, and I can’t decide which one I want! And then I noticed those aluminium ones further down...
Also, that plush and the legends book is probably something I’d want. Chances would be pretty slim unless I paid for it now? The plush would have extra shipping?
I was only in it for the Clan Invasion set with some mechs, but it seems the add-ons could make it much more... need to rethink I think.
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https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=67933.msg1572740#msg1572740
The contents of the AS decks are listed in that thread. But basically yes they are a direct relation to the two TROs of the same names.
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2. Neoprene mats - so they removed them all from the pledges, and only as add ons. Are they worth it and is this the new way to go? I’ve been seeing more of these for war games and card mats everywhere. They look pretty nice. And did I notice terrain cards somewhere?
As carlisimo noted, most players are still playing on the old paper/cardboard mapsheets or use 3D terrain.
There are basically two collections of mats in production or being produced as part of the Kickstarter. Each mat is the equivalent of two maps wide and 1 long.
A collection of 5 mats were released a year or two ago. Each of these has two maps from the recently released Map Set: Grasslands on one side and a new unique map on the other. 4 are available from the CGL webstore and IIRC are orderable via retail as well (Grasslands A/Alpine, B/Desert, C/Lunar, and D/Savanna), with a 5th (Tundra) available from CGL at conventions if you buy the other 4. There was also an option to buy 6 in the Pledge manager, one of which would be Tundra and you also get a free map case.
Map Set: Grasslands is available at retail and was also an add-on for the kickstarter.
The second collection is being prepared for the Kickstarter. This is also 5 mats. 4 of the mats have a notable battlefield from Tukayyid on each side - Wolf/Diamond Shark, Jade Falcon/Steel Viper, Ghost Bear/Nova Cat, and Smoke Jaguar/"Deployment zone". The 5th mat has half of a Grand Melee Circle of Equals on one side and the Lachenka Basin on Strana Mechty on the other, the site of the 10th Lyran Guards' battle against the last of the Smoke Jaguars.
The first 4 mats are also offered as a set of paper maps in an add-on.
The Neoprene mats should be more-or-less compatible with paper maps, though the difference in thickness might cause issues. The heavy card maps didn't line up perfectly with the paper maps, but I think that's not a problem with the neoprene mats?
For card pieces to alter terrain, there have been a handful of sets. Between 2010 and 2012 three sets called HexPacks were released, each with a heavy card map (that matched the thickness of the card maps in the 25th anniversary box set) and a sheet of counters of varying sizes to alter the map. Each of these sets of maps and counters was based around a theme - so the Cities and Roads counters were buildings and road/pavement hexes for the most part for example. These sets are long out of print and tend to command high prices on the secondary market (but are pretty cool!). There was also an exclusive additional counter sheet with a grounded DropShip and some bunkers if you pre-ordered the Lakes and Rivers set direct from CGL.
After that, the current Introductory Box and Game of Armoured Combat boxes include a sheet with BattleMech standees and some terrain counters of similar thickness and quality to the HexPack ones. The Clan Invasion box set is listed as having a sheet as well
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I have also recently jumped back in to the game and I missed the actual Kickstarter, but I was thinking of doing a late pledge. Is there a cutoff for the late pledge? When will the Pledge manager be closed?
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Pledge manager is closed for Wave 1. There's been no specific confirmation on late pledges entered now but presumably anything you put in now will be delayed until Wave 2.
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Thats fine and I understand that, I was wondering if there was a cutoff for Wave 2. If I delayed a few weeks to save some money for a larger pledge will it be open. Thats what I am curious about.
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Thats fine and I understand that, I was wondering if there was a cutoff for Wave 2. If I delayed a few weeks to save some money for a larger pledge will it be open. Thats what I am curious about.
Catalyst has not released any details of when a wave 2 cutoff would be, but I would think waiting 2 weeks is pretty safe.
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Wave 2 is still a long way away, so no worries there. Wave 1 is in production, but hasn't shipped yet. The Pledge Manager hasn't really reopened for Wave 2 yet, so closing it isn't on anyone's radar. I would assume, once it reopens, it will stay open for a couple months before Wave 2 goes into production.
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Also, that plush and the legends book is probably something I’d want. Chances would be pretty slim unless I paid for it now? The plush would have extra shipping?
The plushie shouldn't affect shipping - though it hasn't been confirmed yet. The neoprene mats do so because their length requires moving up to a really big box.
The legends book should be available from Catalyst later, but the leather-bound edition is campaign-only iirc.
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Thats fine and I understand that, I was wondering if there was a cutoff for Wave 2. If I delayed a few weeks to save some money for a larger pledge will it be open. Thats what I am curious about.
IIRC the pledge manager won't be reopened until after Wave 1 ships, so you likely have months to save up.
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I just found their store to browse. It looks like those metal dice are sold out.
You talk about the pledge manager reopening, but isn’t that crowd ox thing the pledge manager? I’m like trying to decide what a want with it. So that is all fruitless? Haven’t been through checkout coz I’m still going through all the product.
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So I just took a look at the late pledge page and it's basically the full pledge manager with the ability to order any of the add-ons. Presumably if you do fill out a request now it'll ship, but not until Wave 2. I'd suggest checking directly with Catalyst to be 100% sure though.
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From what the Khans have said, Wave 1 is now in production and nothing can be added to it. Everything added now should be Wave 2 only. Thing is, I have no idea if the Pledge Manager currently available for late backers does cover that. If it doesn't, I would strongly advice to select "single Wave" shipment to get everything in Wave 2, to avoid any problems.
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Thanks! I sent out a couple queries but haven’t heard back yet. Otherwise, the Commanders Edition has arrived and been enjoying flicking through that.
On a bummer note, the local store had sold out of the std box set I’d been eyeing all week. Outta curiosity, what tech level are the rules? I’m guessing no clans, but IS upgrades?
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Thanks! I sent out a couple queries but haven’t heard back yet. Otherwise, the Commanders Edition has arrived and been enjoying flicking through that.
On a bummer note, the local store had sold out of the std box set I’d been eyeing all week. Outta curiosity, what tech level are the rules? I’m guessing no clans, but IS upgrades?
The Game of Armoured Combat box only has the 3025 Inner Sphere standard weapons.
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The Game of Armoured Combat box only has the 3025 Inner Sphere standard weapons.
TRO: Succession War and RS: Succession War was made as possible companion to the GoAC box so newer player wouldn't need to hunt down as many books after their initial purchase.
Along with TRO: Clan Invasion and Jihad, you have the tech base divided by era.
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Check out the 'So you bought the Boxset . . ." topic stickied above.
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Box Set - IntroTech (3025 stuff)
TRO: Succession Wars / RS Succession Wars
IntroTech / Star League / Post-Helm Recovery. For the most part, what was in the core up until the Field Manuals started introducing new equipment in the late 90s. (they also kind of randomly threw in some mid to late '60s upgrades for SL era stuff like the emperor with stealth armor).
TRO: Clan Invasion / RS Clan Invasion
Includes most items found in Total Warfare (through ~3067) (they get wild in a few spots and add some advanced stuff like the Crossbow C that has Mech Mortars)
TRO: Jihad
Will do a more complete inventory when RS Jihad drops but after a quick scan it doesn't add much as far as equipment - Improved Jump Jets, Thunderbolt Launchers, Retractable Blades, Void Sig stealth system, maybe a few other things.
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Thanks! I just ordered AGoAC.
I sent a couple emails a week ago, but haven’t heard back yet. While I’ve been waiting, the Alpha Strike book and Clan TRO arrived. I’ve been enjoying those.
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Well I ended up pulling the trigger and jumped in on the KS. Cant wait to see the new stuff.
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This is how it starts ;D
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LOL
Technically it started at least 30 years ago. I have been playing since high school. Just took a break for a bit. Now I am back.
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It’s started. I’m now a Star Colonel.
Sorry, been a bit too busy, but thanks! Finally figured what pledge managers are and how they work and took the plunge. Decided on a full dice set as well, coz the look so delicious.
On another note, another couple books arrived, but something bugs me...
(https://i.imgur.com/blQfIHn.jpg)
I’ve had that RPG on my Amazon Wishlist since it came out, but simply forgot about it. Had the first four as bookshelf books to look back on more than anything. No chance for reprints with that spine?
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I’d put it at about zero percent unfortunately. Doubly unfortunate because A Time of Wars secondary market price runs near or at felony extortion prices
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I'd love to get hold of that full image on the spines of those core rule books to use as a wall paper for my PC...never been able to find it though, unfortunately...
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I could probably buy a car from what my leather bound collector's edition could get me ...
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Hmmm... I could use a new car about now... ^-^
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Maybe an ‘82 Tercel with 175000 miles on it
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As long as it runs... my 2001 Insight is currently a 3-cylinder carrying the dead weight of a hybrid battery it can't use...
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On another note, another couple books arrived, but something bugs me...
(https://i.imgur.com/blQfIHn.jpg)
I’ve had that RPG on my Amazon Wishlist since it came out, but simply forgot about it. Had the first four as bookshelf books to look back on more than anything. No chance for reprints with that spine?
Nope, I asked about that awhile ago. Ray said that spine art would not be on the new books. You'll have to trawl used book sellers to find the matching edition.