Upcoming Releases Volume XV: Pitter Patter Let's Get At'er

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, Amazon has a few and mostly the later books of the Free Worlds League arc so you can get the build up to Bonfire of Worlds.  Earlier books like Ghost War and others covering the Republic's struggles (VSD's death, Levin's election to Exarch) would be good to offer to get people into the 'current' era even if it occurred 15-20 years before the 'date' of ilClan.

[jimdigris]

That DRT cover needs more banana hammock.

I don't follow.

[Colt Ward]

From the original cover, you could say the title of the book, DRT, stands for Dinky Red Thong . . .

[RifleMech]

Quote
The XTROs were in the majority a Jihad-era project (with the second most coming from pre-exodus periods) and have slowed considerably - the most recent by my count was Primitives vol 5 in 2016.

Those mostly pre-date my involvement in the line, but my sense is that they were fairly demanding products to create--in terms of art, if nothing else. Of all the PDF-onlys, they might be the trickiest to re-establish.

I know new art takes a long time and is expensive but I was wondering if using existing art from sourcebooks that have never been given stats or maybe alternate versions of the Retconned might speed things up? Or maybe be used for XTROs set in earlier time periods?

Just a quick look in the Comstar sourcebook has art for mechs on pages 3,5,29, 75 and 79. That I've never seen stats for. There's also aerospace units and infantry units. And that's just one book. I know there's more in others. I guess they could be called the seen but never named? Would using them help with XTROs or even TROs?

[Adrian Gideon]

No.

[RifleMech]

ok


Will they ever get stats?

[Adrian Gideon]

It’s certainly possible but unlikely.

[SteelRaven]

Fasa let allot of artist run wild. You can find a mech that is modeled after a Xenomorph in the opening on The Periphery 2nd Edition and I for the life of me can't figure out if it was a original design on something heavily modified. One SB also has a Thug firing ACs vs PPCs which I'm sure is a mistake

[Failure16]

The autocannon-wielding Thug is in Brush Wars (the beginning of the Rules Annex, I believe). So, not FASA.

[SteelRaven]

The autocannon-wielding Thug is in Brush Wars (the beginning of the Rules Annex, I believe). So, not FASA.

Oops! Caught the image second hand on the net, thanks for the correction. See, make my own mistakes :D 

[Wrangler]

Thug with ac/10s sounds like art boo boo.  Be nice to have Succession Wars II XTRO.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Repaint the Masakari? :)

I agree!

The mods and the devs demanded it, so

[RifleMech]

It’s certainly possible but unlikely.

Okay. Thanks.

[Kitsune413]

The mods and the devs demanded it, so

Thumbs up!

[Kit deSummersville]

The mods and the devs demanded it, so

[Kit deSummersville]

The mods and the devs demanded it, so

Hmmm...it's like I've seen that before....

[Bosefius]

We're excited to announce that the first three Gray Death Legion books are available as a collected omnibus.

NOTE: This is an electronic version only, this is NOT a print version.

https://books2read.com/BattleTechLegendsTheGrayDeathLegionTrilogy

"THE FIRST TRILOGY IN THE EPIC SAGA OF FUTURE WAR...
Thirty meters tall, seventy tons of quick-striding death and destruction, the armored war machines called BattleMechs are the front-line forces of the crumbling star empire locked in the horror of the endless Succession Wars. Their pilots are MechWarriors, 31st-century knights riding armored machines powerful enough to destroy an entire city.
AND THE BEGINNING OF A LEGEND…
The Gray Death Legion Trilogy brings together three complete Battletech novels featuring one of the most popular mercenary units very created—the Gray Death Legion.
DECISION AT THUNDER RIFT
Grayson Death Carlyle had been training to be a MechWarrior since he was 10 years old, but his graduation came sooner than expected. With his friends and family dead and his father's regiment destroyed, young Grayson finds himself stranded on a world turned hostile. Now he must learn the hardest lesson of all: it takes more than a BattleMech to make a MechWarrior...
But to claim that title, all Grayson has to do is go out and capture one of those giant killing machines...if it doesn't kill him first.
MERCENARY’S STAR

Galatea. The Mercenary's Star. Even the most down on their luck units can find work here. Leading the new Gray Death Legion has been challenging for Grayson Death Carlyle, so when a job comes their way, he’s only too happy to take it. The mission: train the local resistance on the planet Verthandi to resist their Draconis Combine masters.

But things do not go well from the moment the Legion arrives. Trapped on Verthandi and facing a superior force and a fractured populace, the men and women of the Legion find themselves in a situation that makes the campaign on Trellwan look like a walk in the park. And Grayson quickly learns that repeating his past successes may not be so easy this time…

THE PRICE OF GLORY

The Gray Death Legion is in the employ of the Free Worlds League, and has even been given a landhold on the planet Helm. But dark forces conspire against them, and the Legion soon finds themselves declared renegade war criminals, fair game for anyone to attack.

Now they are on the run on their home planet, trying desperately to reach safety before the might of House Marik falls upon them. They are about to discover the true motives of those who engineered their downfall.

And what they discover will change the Inner Sphere forever…"

[SteelRaven]

 :drool:
The nostalgia just hit me.

[Ogra_Chief]

I'm not crying... you're crying.  :'(

Must save Lori...

[BirdofPrey]

Not exactly. No new ones are in production, as far as I'm aware, but that doesn't mean none ever could be. I'd had some ideas of how to try to better unify them and produce them more consistently, but didn't get much traction with it before the KS happened. I'll add "figure out mini-PDFs" to my 2020 planning notes.

I wonder how well it might work for the mini TROs to get dead tree compilations for store shelves.

ok


Will they ever get stats?

It’s certainly possible but unlikely.

What we REALLY need is Record sheets for the rest of the units that have stats/writups but aren't yet in any of the record sheet products.

Speaking of TROs, any chance of any of the reprints having Scroggin's new art in them instead of the old stuff?
It seems like a HUGE missed opportunity and even a bit of a brand erosion to have nice new minis and art only for players to pick up the TROs being advertised with it, and being greeted with the older stuff.
The brand identity is a huge thing, because this is the first time in quite a while that everything's seemed to have a fairly consistent design aesthetic which I'd imagine is good for marketability.  Being able to point at something and say, yeah that's a Battletech/Mechwarrior robot for sure.

[klarg1]

I wonder how well it might work for the mini TROs to get dead tree compilations for store shelves.
What we REALLY need is Record sheets for the rest of the units that have stats/writups but aren't yet in any of the record sheet products.

Speaking of TROs, any chance of any of the reprints having Scroggin's new art in them instead of the old stuff?
It seems like a HUGE missed opportunity and even a bit of a brand erosion to have nice new minis and art only for players to pick up the TROs being advertised with it, and being greeted with the older stuff.
The brand identity is a huge thing, because this is the first time in quite a while that everything's seemed to have a fairly consistent design aesthetic which I'd imagine is good for marketability.  Being able to point at something and say, yeah that's a Battletech/Mechwarrior robot for sure.

I have to assume that updated reprints would depend entirely on how well those products are still selling. If they are flying out of the warehouse, then maybe?

I'm sure CGL would prefer never to maximize the mileage they can get out of the refreshed art, but the layout and editorial work to make it happen isn't free.

[nckestrel]

just slap Technical Readout in front of the MechWarrior Legends book? :)

[Sartris]

How long until we get books that update like PDFs?

[BirdofPrey]

That's one of several reasons I prefer digital copies, though one thing I am missing is the ability to have one rulebook link another (eg. if something in strat ops says see page x in tac ops being able to click the page number and open that page of tac ops.).

Could do that if there were an app or some sort of wiki like thing (maybe something along the lines of what DnD Beyond can do even), but that costs money CGL can better spend elsewhere.  Maybe one day if BT ever gets popular enough to print money. (hey I can dream can't I?)

[klarg1]

How long until we get books that update like PDFs?

I think your question answers itself.

eReader + digital content = self-updating book.

Personally, I still like to combine it with durable DTF, which can't run into network or licensing issues, but as you say, it won't update either. I don't think a perfect form will ever exist.

[Maingunnery]

How long until we get books that update like PDFs?

HolyShroud compatible?  ;)

[Sartris]

It’s really just ROM burning all your books and giving you a lobotomy

[Bosefius]

That's one of several reasons I prefer digital copies, though one thing I am missing is the ability to have one rulebook link another (eg. if something in strat ops says see page x in tac ops being able to click the page number and open that page of tac ops.).

Could do that if there were an app or some sort of wiki like thing (maybe something along the lines of what DnD Beyond can do even), but that costs money CGL can better spend elsewhere.  Maybe one day if BT ever gets popular enough to print money. (hey I can dream can't I?)

That's an awesome idea but I imagine it would involve multiple linked databases. I did it years ago in Access, I presume it would be easier in SQL but you would still have to add all the rules for each book into databases.

[RifleMech]

I wonder how well it might work for the mini TROs to get dead tree compilations for store shelves.
What we REALLY need is Record sheets for the rest of the units that have stats/writups but aren't yet in any of the record sheet products.

We can use the blank record sheets for those until we get official ones. Stats for unnamed/stated artwork though is more of a problem. The entire thing has to be made up and can change drastically from one person to another.

Speaking of TROs, any chance of any of the reprints having Scroggin's new art in them instead of the old stuff?
It seems like a HUGE missed opportunity and even a bit of a brand erosion to have nice new minis and art only for players to pick up the TROs being advertised with it, and being greeted with the older stuff.
The brand identity is a huge thing, because this is the first time in quite a while that everything's seemed to have a fairly consistent design aesthetic which I'd imagine is good for marketability.  Being able to point at something and say, yeah that's a Battletech/Mechwarrior robot for sure.

I'd agree with replacing the art for the Retconned as they're needed. Replacing the art for the rest? New art can be good but I don't think everything needs to be redesigned. I know no one will agree with me but I think having everything have the same aesthetic is a mistake. These are units made by various fractions over hundreds of years. They shouldn't have the same aesthetic.

Now I can see designs changing over the years and the aesthetics changing with them. Like how the Ford Mustang changed over the years. I can even see multiple versions with different aesthetics being made at the same time, like the VW Beetle. It's okay to have different aesthetics. History shouldn't be changed to erase the Classics just because the older aesthetic doesn't fit the aesthetic currently in vogue. Let both aesthetics exist. The Succession Wars can have the older version and Clan Invasion or later the newer versions. That way your Classic can still be a Classic. It can also be upgraded with newest tech and it can be a new design based on the Classic. Otherwise you're constantly retconning the classic designs to meet changing aesthetics instead of moving things forward. You also loose some of the richness and depth of the universe with everything being the same.

[Sartris]

Several copies of 6th printing TW sighted at my flgs along with other books. The response to the boxes must have been encouraging