Your GenCon Reports Here

[cavingjan]

Wolf Alpha Galaxy is forest green with tan trim and some gold.

[Weirdo]

Well, that answers that, then.

[cold1]

Turkey's fighting with the Wolves would have broke the everything anyway

[The Wayfarer]

Hi,

The diorama is awesome.  Spent some time around it today.  Snapped some photos.  Spent some more time around.  The CamoSpecs guys did a great job on it.  I missed seeing it last year and was glad to see it back.  If your into painting minis....its inspiring.  Got a chance to speak to Plop (sp?) aka Phil and Dak (sp?).  Great guys to chat with.  Very friendly.  I know I messed up their forum names so please correct me.  I will try to post some pics tomorrow.   It is the final battle on Terra between the Wolves and the Republic.  The Wolves are in grey.  The Knights are some of the more colorful pieces.

Few quick notes on the What's Up With Catalyst Game Labs.

First, it was only an hour.  Catalyst thought they had two.  It needed to be two hours.  The room was almost full.  40 people or so.  Here's a brief on what was discussed:

Catalyst understands that some of us may be feeling our favorite properties are being pushed to the side.  It's kind of true but it is because the company is trying to expand their offerings like we've seen with the Valiant RPG and the new Vikings properties which Randall Bills and Loren Coleman were very excited about.  They're working with MGM and a lot of big companies which they think is only good exposure for Catalyst. 

Leviathans was described as a frustrating product both in the production process and keeping it in production.  But they are determined to continue to support it.  They want to repackage it more along the X-Wing line rather than the big box that it is.  Finding a manufacturer for the minis is in the works.

Catalyst is working on relationships with two good mini printers, one of which is in the US.  This way they aren't depending on one printer.  So BT will have one printer and the new SR Sprawl Gangers minis (which look great!) will be with a different printer.  This may give them the ability to move to one printer or the other if needed.

Randall Bills and Coleman both said that a lot of Catalyst effort went into the production of the Battletech new plastic box sets into production.  They were expensive for Catalyst to produce.  This also took away from other things Battletech.  So the hint was made to support the product.  I already posted pics of the next four lance packs that should begin releasing next year.  Catalyst is excited about this. Bills mentioned being an advocate for plastic lance packs for a long, long time. 

House Kurita Handbook should be going to printer in September.  Bills and Coleman told a funny story how they always felt the house books were the best kind of source book but no one at FASA ever told them that they didn't sell.

IO is still being worked on.  Now that the Valiant is out of the way more effort will be put into finishing this book. No ETA.

Historical Succession Wars is in the pipeline. 

Few other interesting tid bits.

Bills and Coleman were never in favor of the huge Dark Age time jump and preferred smaller leaps (10-15 years) in the timeline but
the(y) "lost that fight."

With the company moving into plastic minis, plans are in the work for another company to produce Catalyst (SH/BT) mini bags.  Names were not thrown around but it was a company here at the con.  More news on this should be available before the next con season if not earlier.

Some one asked about novels and they remain a possibility but there are a few other challenges on the BT side, mainly timeline issues.  Timeline issues would need to be solved also (ie, what timeline do you support with the novels).

Some one asked about software license.  Catalyst did approach Herolab about software for unit construction but when they read the Tech Manual they got leery.  Battletech is a complicated property.

Ilcan book is written but has no release date.

This covers most of the details.  Will try to clarify more later.  I certainly may have got some details wrong.  Don't shoot the messenger.  I just took a few notes.  I'm beat and will try to get some pics up tomorrow.

Mike

[Spaceman]

That's good about the Catalyst panel. Some Good BT news also. It would be nice to have US made Plastics!

[Atlas3060]

Some one asked about novels and they remain a possibility but there are a few other challenges on the BT side, mainly timeline issues.  Timeline issues would need to be solved also (ie, what timeline do you support with the novels).

I would hope the time after Republic Fortress, though that's a personal fantasy.

[Deadborder]

I'd defintely buy the Lance Packs if they showed up locally. That's the big leap, however, because distribution in Australia blows goats.

[Klat]

You know what concerns me? What appears to be a Vulture IV in green and yellow among the Wolf forces.

That might not be all Wolves there... ^-^

Good eye there.  O0

Glad it's not just a Wolf party. well, it seems it is a Wolf party after all. Carry on then.

[IronSphinx]

Thanks for the info Mike!  O0

[RABIDFOX50]

Awesome report Mike!  O0

[I am Belch II]

Thanks for the good report. I didn't take notes but that helps summarize the seminar.

[Wolf Lancer 4]

The Alpha  Galaxy scheme has evidently changed in the DA era just like Beta Galaxy did. Hence the new colors as SavageCoyote said.

[Sereglach]

The FireStarter mini's poor rep?  ??? I think it's great!

The DA Firestarter, true, doesn't appeal to me. But the classic burninator -  O0

I agree wholeheartedly!  I love the original Firestarter (even if I want to kit-bash the hell out of one for my own kind of "resculpt").  However, despite being kind of iffy on the Dark Age one (I think it's the hoses . . . I'd have to chop them off or something), Mastergunz did make it look amazing!

I would love to know how the fire effects are made for the weapons systems, as I'd like to try the same for my own at some point.    It makes me want a new plastic support lance that much more . . .

Will these plastic minis ever be sold individually?  Was that ever hinted at?  Any idea at how big this expansion of mini-manufacturers is supposed to be?

Anyway, the diorama as a whole is impressive, and I look forward to seeing where Battletech goes from here.  Also, thank you to all at the convention, who are taking the time to give us this information.

[YingJanshi]

Hi,

The diorama is awesome.  Spent some time around it today.  Snapped some photos.  Spent some more time around.  The CamoSpecs guys did a great job on it.  I missed seeing it last year and was glad to see it back.  If your into painting minis....its inspiring.  Got a chance to speak to Plop (sp?) aka Phil and Dak (sp?).  Great guys to chat with.  Very friendly.  I know I messed up their forum names so please correct me.  I will try to post some pics tomorrow.   It is the final battle on Terra between the Wolves and the Republic.  The Wolves are in grey.  The Knights are some of the more colorful pieces.

Few quick notes on the What's Up With Catalyst Game Labs.

First, it was only an hour.  Catalyst thought they had two.  It needed to be two hours.  The room was almost full.  40 people or so.  Here's a brief on what was discussed:

Catalyst understands that some of us may be feeling our favorite properties are being pushed to the side.  It's kind of true but it is because the company is trying to expand their offerings like we've seen with the Valiant RPG and the new Vikings properties which Randall Bills and Loren Coleman were very excited about.  They're working with MGM and a lot of big companies which they think is only good exposure for Catalyst. 

Leviathans was described as a frustrating product both in the production process and keeping it in production.  But they are determined to continue to support it.  They want to repackage it more along the X-Wing line rather than the big box that it is.  Finding a manufacturer for the minis is in the works.

Catalyst is working on relationships with two good mini printers, one of which is in the US.  This way they aren't depending on one printer.  So BT will have one printer and the new SR Sprawl Gangers minis (which look great!) will be with a different printer.  This may give them the ability to move to one printer or the other if needed.

Randall Bills and Coleman both said that a lot of Catalyst effort went into the production of the Battletech new plastic box sets into production.  They were expensive for Catalyst to produce.  This also took away from other things Battletech.  So the hint was made to support the product.  I already posted pics of the next four lance packs that should begin releasing next year.  Catalyst is excited about this. Bills mentioned being an advocate for plastic lance packs for a long, long time. 

House Kurita Handbook should be going to printer in September.  Bills and Coleman told a funny story how they always felt the house books were the best kind of source book but no one at FASA ever told them that they didn't sell.

IO is still being worked on.  Now that the Valiant is out of the way more effort will be put into finishing this book. No ETA.

Historical Succession Wars is in the pipeline. 

Few other interesting tid bits.

Bills and Coleman were never in favor of the huge Dark Age time jump and preferred smaller leaps (10-15 years) in the timeline but the "lost that fight."

With the company moving into plastic minis, plans are in the work for another company to produce Catalyst (SH/BT) mini bags.  Names were not thrown around but it was a company here at the con.  More news on this should be available before the next con season if not earlier.

Some one asked about novels and they remain a possibility but there are a few other challenges on the BT side, mainly timeline issues.  Timeline issues would need to be solved also (ie, what timeline do you support with the novels).

Some one asked about software license.  Catalyst did approach Herolab about software for unit construction but when they read the Tech Manual they got leery.  Battletech is a complicated property.

Ilcan book is written but has no release date.

This covers most of the details.  Will try to clarify more later.  I certainly may have got some details wrong.  Don't shoot the messenger.  I just took a few notes.  I'm beat and will try to get some pics up tomorrow.

Mike

That is all very interesting!!!!!

Thanks Wayfarer for taking notes! O0

Sounds like there is a lot of cool stuff coming down the pipe. (And the more Cat does to get more exposure is great!)


Hm, but as far as the HeroLab....why not just make SSW the official program? (And one for AToW character creation would be great!)


And novels would be awesome! If they do make a jump to 3250 (or whenever) that would be a good point to start them again. (And then every once in awhile do an "Historical" novel set in a previous era. A story that doesn't move the plot along, but just gives a good story. Sort of like the "MechWarrior" line.)

[NeonKnight]

So, we had HEAVY METAL for Unit creation, and it seems to work really well, also tried SOLARIS SKUNK WERKS, why re-invent the wheel? I don;t understand.

[Mastergunz]

The Jade Hawk is one of mine. It's a custom knights scheme. I based it off of the Donegal Guards blue/grey and added crimson trim. The Green/Tan/Gold is indeed a wolf galaxy; I did the Vulture Mk IV in that scheme.

-Gunz

[Deadborder]

Gonna say this now; the MWDA Wolf Empire colours are a huge improvement over the original Wolf Clan Beta Galaxy ones.

[Lorcan Nagle]

I would love to know how the fire effects are made for the weapons systems, as I'd like to try the same for my own at some point.    It makes me want a new plastic support lance that much more . . .

They're metal pieces made by armorcast.  I've got some and they're very cool.

So, we had HEAVY METAL for Unit creation, and it seems to work really well, also tried SOLARIS SKUNK WERKS, why re-invent the wheel? I don;t understand.

HMP has yet to update properly to Total Warfare and TacOps standards, and as a fan project, there'd be legal complications with making SSW an official product.

[NeonKnight]

HMP has yet to update properly to Total Warfare and TacOps standards, and as a fan project, there'd be legal complications with making SSW an official product.

But isn't HMP Already official? Also, was not aware that it was not updated to TW and TacOps. What's lacking?

[Colt Ward]

Looks to me like . . .

 . . . the Republic's Knights are surrounded with the Wolf Empire forces pushing in.  Which is interesting since most the knights were distributed to the RAF to be line officers . . . makes me wonder if this is some Trial for Unity City.  Either way it could be the end of the Terran invasion or the beginning.

Did I see a Maruader IIC in the line up?  Also wonder if Anastasia is around . . .

[GhostBear]

Does this mean that Alaric kills Stone and takes over the Republic, Wolf becomes the IlClan? Not sure how I feel about that then.

It means planning for this diorama started two years ago, and the shift of IlClan made everything suck balls with regards to timing. Oh well; at least the spoiler damage is minimal.  >:D

House Kurita Handbook should be going to printer in September.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. *looks at notes and other works in progress* Riiiiiiight.

And there's a lot more to the novels than Loren and Randall will say, but can't due to reasons. Timeline is certainly an issue, but it's not the major roadblock.

[YingJanshi]

But isn't HMP Already official? Also, was not aware that it was not updated to TW and TacOps. What's lacking?

It is...but as has been said, it's terribly out of date. Lots. Pretty much all of the new equipment (though there is an unofficial, I think, patch that adds some). As for the common units (Mechs, vees) there's just lots of little stuff that's been changed (such as how FF is rounded). I believe things are drastically different on the Aero side of things. I'm sure others here could provide more info though.

[Sharpnel]

But isn't HMP Already official? Also, was not aware that it was not updated to TW and TacOps. What's lacking?

It's official but hasn't been updated in years. Rick is working on it, last I heard, but it looks like he has a way to go. He's a one man operation and he has RL job and family that cut into his time to work on Heavy Metal

[The Wayfarer]

So I may get a chance to post later tonight.  I'm stacked with events today and want to get one last go through of the exhibitor hall.  I leave for home Sunday morning.  Will post again Sunday night with a round up once I get home.  Will get up a few more pics then.  Hoping a few other attendees post.  Would like to get their impressions.

Amazing!



Loving the Malice.  It is huge!  Awesome piece.  Awesome paint.  Looks sooo good in person.  The Marauder was also sweet.



Tripod



This was my favorite scene.



Devlin Stone to the rescue?



Mike

[SteelWarrior]

Cannot wait for my Ares to get here in the mail.....

[The Wayfarer]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. *looks at notes and other works in progress* Riiiiiiight.

And there's a lot more to the novels than Loren and Randall will say, but can't due to reasons. Timeline is certainly an issue, but it's not the major roadblock.

I'm 99% positive that's what I heard with the "should".  I'm gonna swing by the Catalyst booth one more time today.  If I see either Coleman or Bills will ask again. 

Yes, other things are preventing the novels from going forward though they didn't get into them.  Shadowrun novels have been going to print.  But timeline was one of the reasons.  It was mentioned that the WizKids Dark Age novels just didn't sell well.  Maybe another reason.

Also, someone did ask about A Time of War character generator and I think the response was "we'll look into it."  But don't quote me on that.

I was using a cell phone camera to take the pics of the diorama.  Quality issues are all mine.  And I'm not sure the Wolves in the diorama are Beta Wolves.  THINK I heard Wolf Keshik (sp?) and Alpha.

At IWM booth.  Some of the new pieces:



Part of Catalyst booth.




Mike

[DarkISI]

Yes, other things are preventing the novels from going forward though they didn't get into them.  Shadowrun novels have been going to print.  But timeline was one of the reasons.  It was mentioned that the WizKids Dark Age novels just didn't sell well.  Maybe another reason.

Interestingly enough, while the new German novels Ulisses Spiele is producing sell well (at least in E-Book format) the translations of the Dark Age novels didn't. So they stopped translating them about a month ago and will now produce more new German novels.
Personally, I think the Dark Age novels had problems, because they had a very poor start. You could read the first novel, but then had to pretty much skip the next ten to get to anything you wouldn't want to pull your eyes out while reading (and that's even without the Proving Grounds Trilogy that I can't describe here without breaking dozens of forum rules).
I simply cannot imagine a lot of people fighting through all the bad novels to get to the good ones. Most people will never find out, that it gets better - a lot. Dark Age novels didn't have an era problem, thy had a quality problem during the first dozen novels and never recovered from that.
The novels Ulisses is producing are set in a lot of different eras, so people obviously like to read BT and don't care much about when the novels are set. I'm currently writing a six part E-Book cycle for them set in the Jihad era - which will be a first, even for the German novel line. Let's wait and see how that one will go, but I assume it will sell just as well or even better than the novels set in other eras - the Jihad is undiscovered territory after all, as far as novels are concerned. :)

[mike19k]

The problem I had with the novels is I have never see any for sale. I bought one in format but as I do not have a reader and it did not come in PDF I can not read them on my computer. I do not have them here with me but I have bought every novel I have seen up to I think the first of the Dark age after that I have never seen one for sale in any book store, or game store.

[DarkISI]

The problem I had with the novels is I have never see any for sale. I bought one in format but as I do not have a reader and it did not come in PDF I can not read them on my computer. I do not have them here with me but I have bought every novel I have seen up to I think the first of the Dark age after that I have never seen one for sale in any book store, or game store.

When did you buy them?
They have been out of print for a long time, so they are only available as used books at the moment. I can't say if they were available in book stores during the original print run. They were not in Germany, but that's because English novels usually aren't hold as stock in German book stores (that has changed by now, but it's about a decade later, so...).

[I am Belch II]

The rules of battle tech and construction of all things Battletech has changed very much over the years with game. It's hard to keep up on them. One of the best things about Battletech is that you can create and make your own customs units. Have a record sheet for a different variant, different model or something right out of your head, then print a record sheet and start rolling dice for it. Some of that has gone away but will come back. Other games to me don't have that.