BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
Other BattleTech Games => MechWarrior: Age of Destruction => Topic started by: Sigil on 30 December 2016, 01:15:37
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I just got a box full of MW:DA miniatures. They including the Atlas, Jupiter, Arbalest, Centurion, Templar, Spider, Firestarter, Legionaire, Koshi and Black Hawk BattleMechs.
Do these miniatures correspond to an official Table Top version published in a Technical Readout and if so, which TRO is it?
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Their spread out. Most of the units prominently featured in:
TRO: 3067, TRO: Project Phoenix, TRO 3075, TRO 3085, TRO:3085 Supplemental (or TRO3085S), TRO 3145 and 3150 (couple in this later one), XTRO: Republic I, II & III, Era Digest: Dark Age
If you go on Sarna.net, you can find a link on the bottom of one the pages named Category:Dark Age Mechs.
If you type in this "Category:Dark Age Mechs", these MWDA mechs will show up. The included the ones not prominently shown in the click games, but all the one you mentioned are in there. The individual articles WILL tell you which sources these mechs come from.
EDIT: Adding the other missing TROs
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To add in, TRO 3067 and TRO Reseen were designed specifically with MW:DA in mind, even though they predate it by a little.
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To be more precise:
TRO3075 - Legionnaire, Jupiter
TRO3085 - Arblest, Atlas, Spider
TRO3145 - Black Hawk, Centurion, Firestarter, Koshi Templar
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Just FYI, i'm sure you maybe aware. MWDA Templar and Atlas are listed as new units, aka Templar III and Atlas III. The Odd looking Atlas, that clicky game started with is a variant in TRO: 3085 thou there it sort of looks like an American Football player.
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I think some of those are in TRO 3150 instead of 3145.
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I'm confess I'm still trying to sort all of this out. So I have this batch of MW: DA miniatures I described. I believe they are all from the first "set." Is there a "year" or a range of years this set is suited for? Given they are spread across so many different TROs, I'm just trying to figure out what "time" I'm playing in. I'm a long time classic TT player, so this "version" of BT is basically all new to me.
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I'm confess I'm still trying to sort all of this out. So I have this batch of MW: DA miniatures I described. I believe they are all from the first "set." Is there a "year" or a range of years this set is suited for? Given they are spread across so many different TROs, I'm just trying to figure out what "time" I'm playing in. I'm a long time classic TT player, so this "version" of BT is basically all new to me.
Mechwarrior Dark Age is initially set in the year 3132 and progresses forward from there. The units used are a mixed bag as the initial factions are small groups based in the Republic of the Sphere who either profess loyalty to different larger factions in the Inner Sphere (The Swordsworn to House Davion, Highlanders to the Republic, Dragon's Fury to House Kurita) or are using the confusion of the Blackout to further their own agenda (Steel Wolves wish to carve out their own territory as a Clan Wolf offshoot, Spirit Cats want to find a stable homeland, Bannson's Raiders expand their owner's holdings).
As the game progressed, another loyalist faction, the Stormhammers for House Steiner was added, but then more Inner Sphere factions were added - House Liao, the Republic and Clan Jade Falcon first, but the smaller factions were gradually phased out in favour of just using the main factions.
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Technically all DA minis are "available" in the Dark Age period - 3130 and onwards, or thereabouts.
The problem is that some of the units are old, "familiar" ones to the TT player, which have soldiered on for centuries (eg. the Phoenix Hawk, admittedly in its Reseen shape, or the Timber Wolf). Others are new designs from the Jihad or Republic eras, or fresh off the production line for the Dark Age.
Two simple ways to check a unit's age:
1) The MUL will have introduction dates & factional availability. For example, the Jupiter comes into play in the Jihad, restricted to the Falcons & Hells Horses, before being produced in the Republic.
2) Sarna will give you similar information, but much more descriptive text.
It's a little running around, but you get the information in the end. Remember, WK kept producing new units while Fanpro, then CGL, kept producing TROs.
Are you looking at converting units for TT play in IWM scale, or hexless play in DA scale?
W.
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Are you looking at converting units for TT play in IWM scale, or hexless play in DA scale?
I'm primarily interested in repurposing the miniatures for use with Total Warfare.
However, I have the rule set for MW:DA as it was included with the box of miniatures. However, in all truth, the bases of the most the units are incredibly hard to twist, either that or there is some trick to turning them that I have yet to discover. I was afraid I'd brake some of units with the amount of twisting it was taking them to click. Then again, I suppose they're 10+ years old at this point.
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For infantry, use a 4X4 lego block.
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There are some threads in Miniatures talking about which work best with other TT minis. Infantry, field guns, and most BA work just fine.
Plus, they're the best feedstock - plastic is so much easier to work with, cut, & combine ;)
W.
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Does anyone know of a repository with high-quality photographs of all (or most) of the original MechWarrior: Dark Age miniatures? A number of the ones I received are damaged and I've got a collection of small parts in the bottom of the box that go somewhere. I was also considering making myself a little TT guide to them all for quick reference.
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Warrenborne (http://warrenborn.com/)is among the best sited got pictures and stats.
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Warrenborne (http://warrenborn.com/)is among the best sited got pictures and stats.
Do you know if he follows this Fourm?
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Do you know if he follows this Fourm?
Yeah, his post is inbetween yours and Worktrolls
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Do be aware that the admin for Warrenborn is an evil son of a bitch, and you're more likely to get help from him if you bribe him first with dark beer or an Anubis miniature first.
;D
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MW:DA or Mechcommander II style?
I can figure the answer for myself, but I had to ask. ><
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I originally posted this question in Dec., 2016. Well over two years later, I now know the answer, intimately. From FASA's TRO: 3055 to Catalyst's Era Digest: Dark Age, to the faction-based TRO 3145 series, the range of units available in MW:DA/MW:AOD spans a breathtaking number of products.
And I've harvested them. I've compiled tabletop statistics for somewhere just north of 160 MechWarrior 'Mechs and vehicles and soon I will release the beta draft of it. Along the way, my own MW collection has grown and I've taken to removing the original Clix base, replacing it with a traditional, if a touch oversized, hex base and playing classic BattleTech games set in the Dark Age with them. A truly revolutionary thing for an old grognard like to me do.
All in all, I will say that in many cases the aesthetics of the miniatures have grown on me over time, but most importantly, the entirely different style of the miniatures has enhanced my Dark Age campaign by making it look just so damn different from any of our previous games. I will also confess to forcing my group to start out in IndustrialMech Mods ;)
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the most fun i had running a campaign was when the players started with a lance of two quasits and two coppers along with some infantry and light vehicles. unsure if they felt the same way :))
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I've enjoyed running armed IndustrialMechs so much in random games that I'm planning to add a lance of them to my shitbox militia battalion
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After playing MWDA way back . . . I decided my engineer platoon would be supported by two armed Indi mechs piloted by MW apprentices. So the infantry platoon of engineers, a APC for their movement which a dozer blade, a ForestryMech with AC/5 and a ConstructionMech with a LRM5 and I think a RL10. Good support element for the mercs while training replacement mechwarriors.
Also on a lark did a MWDA starter campaign, involved the Republic planet's Standing Guard arming IndiMechs, with pirates visiting and a Dragon's Fury drop. The Fury popped a unarmed LoaderMech that rushed out from behind a hill to melee and a pair of gun trucks- but managed to steal a DS shipment of fresh IndiMechs in early 3133.
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Talking about TRO entries for MW:DA units - did the Mining Mech MkII (aka 'dump truck on legs') ever get a TRO entry?
Sarna only lists the Mining Mech I: https://www.sarna.net/wiki/MM-1_MiningMech
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We may not ever know, there was planned book called TRO: Irregular Tech, which was suppose carry usual civilian-militarized units in it which could have included MineMech, but i guess plans changed.
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For the MiningMech II MOD, I came up with a RAC/2 and 3 x Rocket Launcher 10's... (see attachment)
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Nice find! That thing terrible. With out even a basic fire control the modifier to hit makes impossible do really to hit.
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In other words - the Miningmech II does not appear in any (official) TRO yet.
Thanks everyone.
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shitbox militia
I found the new name of our next band!
Or better yet, our next Chaos March (Periphery) Merc Unit.
I can see the slogan now.
"5 Regiments of Elite Clan Tech Wolf Dragoons out of your budget?"
"Kell Hounds & Eridani Light Horse all tied up saving the Inner Sphere from the Clans?"
"Grey Death Legion too morally pure for your plans for the local Barony next door?"
"Well then give us a call at 'Shitbox Militia' where we will take any garrison or riot control contract with no questions asked, if the price is right & the transport is included"
"Our infantry & 'combat mechs' (armed industrial mechs) are guaranteed, 80% of the time, every time, to inspire just the right amount of loyalty in your population"
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The MININGmech II seems to be this one:
http://masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/7162/carbine-con-8h-haulermech
No MOD version however.
I am working on my own Militia Industrial mech force
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Now that I've been playing "classic" BT with Wizkids MWDA miniatures for a while now and I've got another observation.
There is an astonishing similarity between most, if not all, Wizkids MWDA miniatures and their corresponding IWM version, and the FanPro/CGL published artwork in the TRO.
Take, for example, the LCT-5M Locust. The FanPro Project Phoenix art, the MWDA miniature and the Iron Wind Metals version are essentially identical (although the scale of two miniatures varies a bit).
Or, as a newer example, the Osiris, introduced in FanPro's first TRO: 3067. Again, the published art and both MWDA and IWM miniatures are in good agreement.
Which brings me to my classic "which came first: the chicken or the egg question", or in this case: Who provided the original concept art: FanPro, Wizkids, Iron Wind Metals?
Given that CGL didn't publish TRO: 3075 until 2008, the same year that the MWDA franchise ended production, I'm fairly confident that Wizkids gets credit for initially envisioning many of the DA 'Mechs that later appeared in CGL TROs and from there went onto production as IWM miniatures.
Or said in a different way, Wizkids is responsible for the Uziel and Thanatos among many, many other designs. Thanks, Wizkids!
Thoughts, corrections?
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Uziel and Thanatos were from the Mechwarrior video games first I believe and were in TR 3067. SAme with Osiris. MW4: released in 2000. TR3067 in 2002.
The Project Phoenix were FanPro first. TRPP was released in 2003.
But MW:DA 'mechs that were new to tabletop BT with TR3075 and later were indeed Wizkids first. Ryoken II, Sun Cobra, DI Morgan tank, etc. but not all of 3075 was MWDA. Legionnaire and Wight were never MWDA for example.
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Wasnt th legionnaire in the first set?
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Wasnt th legionnaire in the first set?
yes, my mistake.
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Depends on the model . . . for the Osiris, it was MW4 that came before it all just like the Uziel, Chimera, Thanatos and maybe missing one.
Locust 5M, not really sure but I THINK the TRO PP came first as part of the first re-vamps of the Unseen. The MWDA made a appearance in a RS before TRO3075, it was a product early in the Dark Ages line to let folks play with those designs . . . basically if it appeared in the first or second MWDA set it was in that RA with some noted exceptions.
Yeah, the Legionnaire is one that got picked up very quickly by BT- I love the design, the IWM mini works pretty well but the arms are just so thin . . . just too bad its beyond my skills to put something on to thicken them up.
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Depends on the model . . . for the Osiris, it was MW4 that came before it all just like the Uziel, Chimera, Thanatos and maybe missing one.
Locust 5M, not really sure but I THINK the TRO PP came first as part of the first re-vamps of the Unseen. The MWDA made a appearance in a RS before TRO3075, it was a product early in the Dark Ages line to let folks play with those designs . . . basically if it appeared in the first or second MWDA set it was in that RA with some noted exceptions.
Yeah, the Legionnaire is one that got picked up very quickly by BT- I love the design, the IWM mini works pretty well but the arms are just so thin . . . just too bad its beyond my skills to put something on to thicken them up.
So the Record Sheets: Dark Age I is a direct port FROM MWDA TO “classic” BattleTech? The RS appeared before any published “classic” TRO fluff?
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Yeah, I want to say we had a lot of forum discussion about converting the MWDA Dossiers into the mechs (my biggest disappointment/disgust is with the Ghost) and so they provided one for us.
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So the Record Sheets: Dark Age I is a direct port FROM MWDA TO “classic” BattleTech? The RS appeared before any published “classic” TRO fluff?
Yup. Randall basically did them up on the fly.
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Yup. Randall basically did them up on the fly.
I appreciate the insight. I find such minutiae interesting as it provides a bit of context for what I'm looking at, especially given I was on a BT hiatus during the whole FanPro / Wizkids Jihad / Dark Age period. It also explains why the "Dossier" versions feature a relatively low tech level given the time period and what was theoretically available.
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The dossiers are a real mixed bunch since you have restored antiques, armed Indimechs and cutting edge stuff in small handfuls at the beginning simply because you were dealing with the little factions. You started seeing more advanced stuff once the Republic and CapCon started showing up more.