The Wolf Empire: Our Khan Beat Devlin Stone in a Savage Wolf! Buy Savage Wolves!

[Jaim Magnus]

I was unaware that it was the job of TRO's to reveal the intricate workings of the universe. I thought their job was to talk about stompy robots n stuff.

[nckestrel]

I was unaware that it was the job of TRO's to reveal the intricate workings of the universe. I thought their job was to talk about stompy robots n stuff.

That is their job.  But for the game line as a whole, TR 3150 is the only book covering post 3145, so regardless of its intent, it is serving as the only sourcebook presenting the "current" status of the universe.  As a teaser, that's fine.  As an overall plan with no coming releases to do anything more, I can see why someone would object.  IE. TR3150 isn't the problem, TR3150 being all we have and seem likely to have for a long while is.

[Jaim Magnus]

I was actually being kinda snarky there, not serious.

[ColBosch]

While the story arc is good, the writing was anything but. The faction TRO releases were mishandled and if you're a fan of the wrong faction in the FM, the lack of details will majorly frustrate. I'm not going to describe all the ambiguous writing of everything post-Bonfire of Worlds as "polish a turd to a high-gloss shine", not when you have to pay for TRO re-runs that tease everything without revealing anything even remotely concrete.

I understand, and I agree. I am not happy about CGL pulling that shit. I am finding it very hard to justify continued purchases; if First Succession War hadn't been written by someone I consider a friend, I doubt I would've bought it.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

That is their job.  But for the game line as a whole, TR 3150 is the only book covering post 3145, so regardless of its intent, it is serving as the only sourcebook presenting the "current" status of the universe.  As a teaser, that's fine.  As an overall plan with no coming releases to do anything more, I can see why someone would object.  IE. TR3150 isn't the problem, TR3150 being all we have and seem likely to have for a long while is.

Exactly. Now I understand given the economic situation and all, that TPTB would hold back on risky or overly-ambitious release schedules. But the universe-shaking events happening to most everyone after To Ride The Chimera is on a bigger scale than the 4th Succession War and FCCW, but as a comparison we got NAIS 4th SW Military Atlas(in dual volumes!) and the Fed Com Civil War sourcebook, which were jam-packed with details down to units and blow-by-blow accounts. Those were excellent must-haves.

While for the post-To Ride The Chimera stuff, we only have the Era Report(whose niche is to provide a broad overview on major things and characters without going into details) and the Field Manual(see my previous comments).

[ArkRoyalRavager]

I understand, and I agree. I am not happy about CGL pulling that shit. I am finding it very hard to justify continued purchases; if First Succession War hadn't been written by someone I consider a friend, I doubt I would've bought it.

I'm not saying Historicals are bad products(Reunification War was great, Op Klondike set a new standard for me) but it's really weird seeing First SW and HB:HK getting released when ilClan is what most people would be waiting for.

[Gaiiten]

The next step will enter undiscovered land, this will be of great risk for CGL.

They must be successful. If not, Battletech is finished.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Might I suggest they increase the IP visibility through more videogames? MWO and Battletech are in their own niches, but if more SP-focused games are available, market share and support would increase again.

Look what Dawn of War did for 40K. And now the 3rd one just got announced, with all 3 games not even needing to jump on the MMO bandwagon.

[SteveRestless]

Of course, some of those voters might not necessarily hate the Dark Ages, and just figure that CGL/FP/Wizkids has already covered it, and want the story to progress, rather than staying in an era that has already had sourcebooks and novels dedicated to it. A vote for ilClan may not be a vote for hatred of DA, but an expression of "Lets get to the next part of the storyline."

This. Almost exactly this.

I have little beyond contempt for everything from 3132 until the novels start focusing on oriente. But by the time we reach FM3145/Bonfire of Worlds, we've pretty much broken free of all the terrible crap that got established early on in the dark ages, the focus is on the full stage of the inner sphere again, we're seeing stories about the big movers and shakers rather than some dude with a lawnmower he turned into a technical, and it's finally starting to taste like battletech again...

... and we want to throw it all out, just when it's getting good? for a Timeskip? So far, every time skip we've HAD we've gone back and filled in what happened after the fact. 3039? filled in. the period between the end of the jihad and the start of the dark ages? disappointingly filled in. the early succession wars? we just got a sourcebook for that, another one's in the works.

Seems inevitable to me that we'd see another "fill in what happened during the timeskip" book. So, rather than jumping ahead and backfilling, and either straightjacketing ourselves, or creating potential retcon problems (i.e. Were the clans fighting Introtech foes like the Blood of Kerensky novels detailed? or was Advanced tech a thing, like the 3039 soucebook put forward) why not do something battletech hasn't done before? move linearly between major eras.


Now, in a futile attempt to make this thread more wolf-relevant, I hear tell from friends who bought the 1SW sourcebook that the framing device for the book is a document prepared by a Paladin in 3150, and they reference the Fortress Walls still being up as of 3150. However, it does not state a particular date and time in 3150 that the walls are still active at. TRO 3150 gives us a foreward by Tucker Harwell, and that one, dated January 21, 3150 IIRC, references the walls being down.

So, I think this means that the Fortress Walls come down no earlier than Jan 1 3150 (and likely later than that unless the 1sw doc was published at 1am after new years eve) and no later than Jan 21 3150.

ooooor that much like the Tomahawk II not appearing on our RATs in FM 3145, it might just mean that the Left hand doesn't know what the Right is doing once again. *shrug*

and in other news, I finally got the Wolf Logo pin that Arlith picked up for me at Gencon last year  :D I'll have pictures of it soon, I'll link them here.

[ColBosch]

Might I suggest they increase the IP visibility through more videogames? MWO and Battletech are in their own niches, but if more SP-focused games are available, market share and support would increase again.

Look what Dawn of War did for 40K. And now the 3rd one just got announced, with all 3 games not even needing to jump on the MMO bandwagon.

You can suggest whatever you want, but there already is a new video game in the works, and its influence seems to be turning the clock backwards for the board game.

[Sartris]

You can suggest whatever you want, but there already is a new video game in the works, and its influence seems to be turning the clock backwards for the board game.

Combat manuals set in 3054
Dice sets with a 3025 theme (units in the hbs game maybe?)
Branding matched with hbs game for #SYNERGY
Rumblings materials focusing on post-3145 (ilClan, spotlight on) delayed

brace yourself. the soft reboot is coming.

[Natasha Kerensky]

So, rather than jumping ahead and backfilling, and either straightjacketing ourselves, or creating potential retcon problems (i.e. Were the clans fighting Introtech foes like the Blood of Kerensky novels detailed? or was Advanced tech a thing, like the 3039 soucebook put forward) why not do something battletech hasn't done before? move linearly between major eras.

There should still be time jumps for eras of relative peace.  But agree that it would be great to see eras of significant warfare proceed linearly and avoid major backfill going forward.

With the Clan Homeworlds, we could also see parallel but unrelated story arcs going forward, as happened with the WoR in the Homeworlds and the Jihad in the Inner Sphere.

Would be cool to establish another one or two more geographic areas for parallel but unrelated story arcs.  If the Fortress "walls" stayed up, it would essentially create a third if the Republic turned on itself in a civil war within those "walls".

(And then the Wolves can come sweeping in, establish the ilClan, and recreate the Star League... yeah, that's the ticket!)

FWIW...

[ColBosch]

*snip*

You're making a big assumption here, and that is there are stories left to tell in the Dark Age. There are not. All of the products we've seen for the era were moving towards IlClan and whatever the next era was going to be. If the brakes had been applied sooner, this would not be an issue, as the story could've been rewritten to slow down the pace. As it is, the third act of the Dark Ages has already begun, but we're left without the final resolution.

The really frustrating thing is that the new video game is going to take a year or two to finish anyway, so why not use this time to close out the Dark Age on the boardgame side of things, then see if a reboot to 3025/3050, a continuation of 3150+, or a time jump to something new is the best option.

Branding matched with hbs game for #SYNERGY

Brand management is an important part of marketing, but the first thing is having a product to sell. When I see a Twitter ad campaign that consists of mostly buzzwords and hashtags, that tells me that the product is inferior. It tells me that there is no care involved, just the minimum effort needed to have something to sell. It tells me that the people involved have not done their research.

Here's a recent "synergy" tweet from the CGL Twitter/Facebook feed: "RT @WeBeHarebrained: ‪#‎Battletech‬ fans! Meet the ‪#‎MechWarriors‬ of DeathFromAbove! https://t.co/hsUSziQMoM" Handle, hashtag, buzzword, hashtag, product.

The preview for the linked video is even worse: "BattleTech Death from Above on the HyperRPG Twitch Channel In partnership with Jordan Weisman, the creator of BattleTech, HyperRPG on Twitch.tv, @Hyper_RPG on Twitter presents Death From Above, a new way…" BattleTech is mentioned twice. Death From Above, mentioned twice. HyperRPG, three times. Twitch, twice. Actual content is cut off in favor of branding, and that's the Wrong Answer. (The video itself is utterly cringe-worthy and barely watchable, of course; when I think BattleTech, I think royalty-free jazz, right?)

Sadly, I think BattleTech is in the hands of the marketing wonks now, and they're using a plan from 2010.

[Gaiiten]

With the Clan Homeworlds, we could also see parallel but unrelated story arcs going forward, as happened with the WoR in the Homeworlds and the Jihad in the Inner Sphere.
Would be cool to establish another one or two more geographic areas for parallel but unrelated story arcs.

THIS.

This would be great.

[Colt Ward]

Sure, and the product cost for the fans of the what . . . four Clans? . . back in the Homeworlds would have to pay a heavy price tag to make it worth it.  Its why they cut down the number of Clans, along with cutting down the number of factions, because products that did not having something about a individual's favored faction did not have as much appeal.  Same reason we were told we would never get individual FMs again, rather FM3145's combined format.

[SteveRestless]

You're making a big assumption here, and that is there are stories left to tell in the Dark Age.

I'm making the assumption that there will be things that happen during whatever timeskip occurs. That Battletech has never seen a period of time in which absolutely nothing happened. I'm suggesting that rather than coming back in 6 months, or 6 years, and detailing the War of 3199, we just go from the conclusion of the dark ages, straight to the next little thing, and from there, to whatever significant events come after that. Jumping WAY ahead, and leaving those things un-detailed is REALLY unappealing to me after how things went with the jump from Jihad to Dark Age.

As it is, the third act of the Dark Ages has already begun, but we're left without the final resolution.

And this is exactly why "Forever145" is so much worse than Forever67 was. At least in 3067, the majority of active plots were either wrapped up, or too early to call anything but foreshadowing. There wasn't the agonizing cliffhanger.

The really frustrating thing is that the new video game is going to take a year or two to finish anyway, so why not use this time to close out the Dark Age on the boardgame side of things, then see if a reboot to 3025/3050, a continuation of 3150+, or a time jump to something new is the best option.

In this, I more or less concur with you. It would be so much better if they just concluded the active storylines and left the future open, whether that's continuing with or without a timeskip, whatever they decide on.

Sadly, I think BattleTech is in the hands of the marketing wonks now, and they're using a plan from 2010.

So how do we convince marketing wonks that it's in their best interests to end the cliffhanger before navel gazing on the succession wars until the end of time?

[ColBosch]

*shrugs* I have no idea. BattleTech is in the hands of the investors now. I'll still finish up my collection and keep painting my little robots, but my emotional investment in the game is about done.

[Gaiiten]

Sure, and the product cost for the fans of the what . . . four Clans? . . back in the Homeworlds would have to pay a heavy price tag to make it worth it.  Its why they cut down the number of Clans, along with cutting down the number of factions, because products that did not having something about a individual's favored faction did not have as much appeal.  Same reason we were told we would never get individual FMs again, rather FM3145's combined format.

True.
However, the Hoemworlds could be used to introduce some more experimental concepts and to enlarge the universe. Independent from the Inner Sphere. Somekind of a testbed.
So they could win new buyers and improve the fanbase.
IMHO the concentration on the Inner Sphere is boring.

[Colt Ward]

I am not disagreeing . . . merely giving the company line.

[Colt Ward]

A couple of things tonight . . .

Walked into the state's main con to find the evening's BT scenario was Hesperus!  Wolf Empire vs Jade Falcon & Hell's Horses.

Wolf-
Alaric Wolf/Savage Wolf A
Star Colonel Marcus Radick/Warwolf Prime
Summoner B
Shadow Hawk IIC 4
Wulfen H
2 points of Warg
Carnivore
Asshur

Falcon & Horse
Malvina Hazen/Shrike 'Black Rose'
Thunder Stallion
Grand Summoner Prime
Eyrie
Carnivore
Ishtar
Ironhold 'Fire' x2

My heavies backed up the Carnivore which was traveling down the center of the road headed into the edges of a town the Falcons held.  The Wargs were positioned to their right flank in some hills with the cavalry forces taking the left flank.  Fire was initially exchanged between the Carnivores (I thought mine was parted out of range, 22 hexes oops) and then Alaric and the Warwolf also tried to pile on the Carnivore.  A few hits where exchanged while no fire was spread on the left where cavalry units had closed up to some hills.  Wargs were trudging forward on the right.

Next turn was bad for the Falcon Carnivore which was a bit of a better gunner than the Wolf tank . . . but it was the Carnivore and a Ishtar against the Wolf Carnivore, Alaric, Warwolf and Summoner B with the Shadow Hawk IIC 4 using some ER ATMs (that missed).  This is where it got bad . . . I cannot remember if the Carnivore connected with one or missed with both (miss I think) but the Wolves pounded on the Falcon tank.  Playing with the TacOps rules, the Falcon still took motive damage and some stabilizers for the ERMLs.  The Ishtar peeled off to support the flank where the Thunder Stallion was trying to get around the edge to see the lights coming its way.  Malvina leaped to the top of a L1 building and unloaded everything at the Wulfen 8 hexes away in heavy woods after it had ran into them.  Big light show, everything missed the Wulfen.  The Wulfen did not miss, putting 2 iHML into the front of the Ishtar.  Malvina's mech was glowing (21 overheat, survived rolls), the Falcon Carnivore was badly shot up and the Eyrie and Grand Summoner had not gotten into the fight.

Next turn the Wulfen ran past the Thunder Stallion to park 3 hexes behind the motionless Shrike.  The Asshur passed the Thunder Stallion as well, which found the only target available to it the Shadow Hawk IIC 4.  Supporting the TS was the Ishtar which had topped a hill to get short range shots.  The Falcon Carnivore was falling back towards the Ironholds and the Grand Summoner which was trying to close up but behind a building blocking LOS to the Wolf heavies.  The Eyrie was racing to the right flank, sniping at the Warwolf- where its shots were negated by reactive armor.  The Carnivore died without connecting again, the Shadow Hawk IIC 4 lost a arm to the Ishtar while the TS whiffed . . . and the best part IMO was the Wulfen connected with the iHLL to Malvina's torso, unfortunately the CENTER!  1 point of damage went internal, failed the critical roll.

The next turn I learned to give the Ironhold Fires space- 4 APGRs on each of 5 troopers is no joke.  I did not get hit bad, but the Asshur does not have much of a margin.  The Eyrie tried to use HE ATMs against Wargs . . . who unloaded on the Eyrie.  Combined the points hit with both their SPLs, 1 LMG and 3 of the 4 SRM3s- the Eyrie was savaged but not much was critically hit.  Alaric started drawing more attention after the Falcons decided their missile weapons were best not used against the Warwulf.  Malvina did not fire off to the point of heat problems, but she managed to strip the armor off a Savage Wolf arm and ding the other one.  Things progressed from there with damage exchanged as the Wolves started pulling back for a bit of distance while the flankers on the left got behind them.

Final turn the Eyrie stumbled past the Wargs with its limited mobility to take a position behind the backpedaling Summoner B and the Grand Summoner rushed into the midst of the other 2 Wolf heavies and Wolf Carnivore.  Alaric was singled out for everything but even though Malvina had stripped off the armor on a side torso they only made a single hit there with a SRM later, critting a XXL slot.  The Wargs took down with their remaining weapons (both points hit with SPL & LMG) after it failed its attempt on the back of the Summoner B- no rear torso armor and some internal hits that failed crit checks.  The Wolf heavies, Carnivore and Shadow Hawk IIC4 all combined on the Grand SUmmoner . . . with the last shots from the Warwolf finally killing it with a Gauss slug to the open damaged CT to take out the last internals.  The Grand Summoner seemed almost crit proof.  The Asshur was sacrificed to draw the Thunder Stallion away from the heavies with its LBX . . . which also set up the Wulfen to hit it from the side with iHMLs.

Malvina was ignored . . . you know her feelings about that . . .

Wolf victory IMO . . . JF lost the Carnivore, Grand Summoner and Eyrie while the Wolves lost the Asshur (and most of Alaric's armor).  The Wolves had removed all the Falcons from the right side of the battlefield and their most mobile units while still having their own mobility.  Sure Alaric had been hammered but he still had a lot of ER ammo left, so it would have been time to back off and the front of the Summoner B was solid.  Malvina was left as the most mobile Falcon unit remaining.

Its the first time I have played with a Warwolf . . . and I like the Prime except for those half-arse pod'd JJ.  It really was funny to see the Falcons decide they did not like firing at the Warwolf since their missiles came down to doing nothing.  Only way it would have been better was if the Crusader Wolves had been allowed to pack Semi-G ammo on that Summoner B so the Warwolf TAG (TC enhanced?) would have been in play.

I would also have liked to have some AE to give love to the Ironholds . . . the Phalanx ISV definitely looks nicer having faced those armored monsters.

Totally separate question . . .

Longinus C . . . it has a Adv SRM4 rather than IS SRM2.  Does it still have a King David?  Or did the Wolves dump the MWM for a APGR?

[SteveRestless]

I actually find the Warwolf Prime a little undergunned. It is the configuration built to match the MWDA mini, and while a capable mech, it isn't the hardest hitting Warwolf Variant. I'm a huge fan of the Alpha config, it really rewards Streak Gamblers like myself.

as for the Longinus C, that's a mystery still. TRO 3150 NTNU hasn't received any record sheets yet, despite how bloody long it's been out.

[Colt Ward]

Not a streak fan . . . but the Warwolf Prime wastes 3 tons on JJ and perhaps another half ton on CASE II- maybe a ton on the TAG though if the Wolf Empire starts using Semi-G LRMs its worth it.

With another 3 or 4.5t you can make the LRMs larger and put ERML on it to use more of the TC.

[SteveRestless]

I'm actually a fan of tossing on a HAG (just because I love HAGs) and bumping up the LRM Racks.

[Colt Ward]

Here is a picture of the Falcon tank burning . . . right as the Wolf heavies are about to pivot to the Grand Summoner.



The Eyrie is out of the shot about to get shot up.

Second to last turn, next turn the Wolf heavies are going to all pull back along with the Carnivore.  Malvina comes over but gets ignored while the Thunder Stallion about faces to kill the Asshur spotter . . .

[Colt Ward]

This is what I am looking at right now for a Wolf Empire force-

Atlas C
Timberwolf
Blood Reaper
Tundra Wolf
Arcas
Savage Coyote
Rabid Coyote
Savage Wolf
Warwolf
Wulfen
5 or 10 Elementals
1 Clan Med BA- Bar?
maybe a Mars Assault Tank
maybe some MWDA plastics converted to TT

Thinking about splitting it between two clusters, but which ones?

[SteveRestless]

What's the Atlas C's config? is that the slapdash isorla refit, or a personal custom? You might consider the Atlas II Kerensky config (Basically a mixtech Atlas II with clan guns)

I'd consider a carnivore point over the mars tank

[Colt Ward]

Mars is the mini I have, it either goes with the Wolves or off with the Horses.  And yeah, the Atlas C is a upgrade of some of the isorla captured by . . . Epsilon? . . . whoever ended up eating a big link in the Lyran supply chain when the Wolves kicked back at the Lyrans.

Its also already painted in Beta colors, lol.

Basically I figure I have a set of Omnis

Savage Coyote
Savage Wolf
Warwolf
Timberwolf
Wulfen
and 5 points of BA for a Nova

Atlas C
Tundra Wolf
Blood Reaper
Arcas
Rabid Coyote

[SteveRestless]

I pity the BA that has to ride on the Savage Coyote.

[Colt Ward]

Lol . . . slow stuff, might be some Hauberk suits if I can find it . . . hmm, I have some MWDA Hauberks I think.

[marauder648]

I've found a video perfectly representing the Wolves 'enthusiasm' at Operation REVIVAL when it was agreed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTpBcHOO_Nk&feature=youtu.be