BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Game Systems => General BattleTech Discussion => Topic started by: The Wayfarer on 14 August 2014, 11:23:04
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Hi All,
If your at GenCon post here!
Wanted to put up a few pics for you from GenCon. Will try to follow up with updates and stuff later.
New Kurita Lane pack. I think I have some photos further on from the IWM booth.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141135_zps9q8gnhhc.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141135_zps9q8gnhhc.jpg.html)
Here they are:
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141020_zps0079hpi7.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141020_zps0079hpi7.jpg.html)
I wasn't planning on buying the pins. They weren't cheap. An impulse buy but they look good. I didn't see any dice.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0817141815_zpswuali0li.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0817141815_zpswuali0li.jpg.html)
New lance packs. Gotta say, I just got the new Intro Box Set from Amazon the other day and the plastic minis look so good. These look just as good.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141048a_zpsups05ol6.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141048a_zpsups05ol6.jpg.html)
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141048c_zpsamjtaqzw.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141048c_zpsamjtaqzw.jpg.html)
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141048b_zpschtl3zl0.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141048b_zpschtl3zl0.jpg.html)
My haul from IWM and packaging.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141133_zpsq2uex5fi.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141133_zpsq2uex5fi.jpg.html)
The Scapha tanks look great but they are kind of on the large side. I generally don't mind the beefier mini for battletech but these have a large foot print. A 40 tonner right?
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141134_zpsx1f8afk7.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141134_zpsx1f8afk7.jpg.html)
Gotta run. I apologize for the size of the pics. Time is tight. Mods, feel free to resize if you need to.
First day of the con is kind of crazy. Have a Battletech event at 2 so can't stay on long.
The Catalyst booth was doing well. Shadowrun Crossfire was selling like hotcakes. I got in line early. One of the first 50 I would say. The line and booth was much improved from last year. Open and allowed for better movement. Staff was helpful. IWM guys were great. And man, the quality of the new minis, the entire IWM 3145 line just look amazing! Keep up the good work.
More later as time allows.
Will try to make the What's up tomorrow.
Mike
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Thanks for the pics and the update
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Those pins look awesome!
(Too bad us non con-goers will never see them...)
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Those pins look awesome!
(Too bad us non con-goers will never see them...)
Except on e-Pay for 2-3 times the actual retail
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Is that 3145 era report cover a mouse pad?
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Looks awesome! thanks for the update :) the Mini quality really is pretty good. Hopefully next time i'm up in Portland theres some to buy ;D
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All I have to say about all of this is
(https://31.media.tumblr.com/67197ddce056556462d705d7865e3f19/tumblr_inline_n2015melho1qafrh6.gif)
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I need a ninja...
Thanks for the update and pics
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Great Report! O0
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So is the pattern for the fire lance the new wolfs dragoon Tarantulas color scheme?
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As recently as Tuesday night, I was trying to find a last-minute co-pilot friend for a cannonball run out there from Md.
After seeing all this...that's it, I gotta go next year. I don't care if there are 50,000 people there or not.
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So is the pattern for the fire lance the new wolfs dragoon Tarantulas color scheme?
No. It is the classic red/black scheme usually associated with the Dragoons. The Tarantulas have a different scheme.
EDIT: Just checked CSO and we have published the scheme so I can talk about it ...
The Tarantulas paint their machines jet black, adding rust-red, almost orange stripes around knee and elbow joints.
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Any chance of a closeup shot on the Suna?
-Gunz
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No. It is the classic red/black scheme usually associated with the Dragoons. The Tarantulas have a different scheme.
EDIT: Just checked CSO and we have published the scheme so I can talk about it ...
So we should see some pictures of the scheme soon then? I could not find any in the wolf dragoon section
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So we should see some pictures of the scheme soon then? I could not find any in the wolf dragoon section
The description is in the dragoons section, but we don't have any painted examples up. There are also none in the immediate pipeline, but we will get to them ... eventually ;)
This was the inspiration for the scheme btw: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_redknee_tarantula
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Good stuff, I was there and feel like I missed some things.
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More. Photos.
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:'( :'( :'( :'( :'( Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaautiful.
Stuff i can't have...*sigh*
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Oh Ghu that Guillotine and Flea, so adorable.
I want to adopt lances of them and conquer known star systems!
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By the time I'm done with those lance packs, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to field a batallion or two for each Great House just of plastics
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Oh Ghu that Guillotine and Flea, so adorable.
I want to adopt lances of them and conquer known star systems!
I find your idea strangely attractive, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
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I love the Stone's Lament painted Ares, that must be sight to be seen on the battlefield. If Inner Sphere saw THAT coming, the mystery of who heck was behind them would be solved for sure. ;D
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Any chance of a closeup shot on the Suna?-Gunz
I'll try to get a close up of the painted minis at the IWM booth today. This may help.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814142159_zpsflkuwcj_edit_1408069071641_zpsxu1jazv2.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814142159_zpsflkuwcj_edit_1408069071641_zpsxu1jazv2.jpg.html)
On the way out of the airport were greeted with this. All around Indie you get the sense that gamers are appreciated.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0813141225_zpsvdl6dbdd.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0813141225_zpsvdl6dbdd.jpg.html)
Small part of the Catalyst booth:
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141013_zpsecptulyt.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141013_zpsecptulyt.jpg.html)
Yes, they did have Battletech mouse pads. I wanted one but resisted.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141016_zpsqpn8uqbr.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141016_zpsqpn8uqbr.jpg.html)
I played in two storyline events yesterday. Here's a shot of the board:
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141251_zpsbhedet5a.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141251_zpsbhedet5a.jpg.html)
Had a lot of fun. It's been a while since I played Battletech on a hex board so I as a little rusty. Been playing a lot of Alpha Strike at home. Basically, Banson's VS Liao. You scored points for getting uncrippled units into the opponents deployment zone. Everybody around the table was great to play with. The Catalyst staff did great and were on top of the rules.
Gonna try to make the What's up event this morning and will follow up later. Its sold out so I'm not sure about my chances in getting in. This event got posted so late I had already signed up for another event in the meantime and already had my tickets in hand when it went up. I hope next year Catalyst get all the event up before event registration.
More later.
Mike
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Inspiration for my stack of heroscape stuff (tho I wonder how they distinguished heavy from light woods?).
Those pins - neato keen. Thanks for posting!
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Inspiration for my stack of heroscape stuff (tho I wonder how they distinguished heavy from light woods?).
Since that hero scape is what I usually play on these days I'll let you in on the secret of woods. There's a dark green hex near top left-middle. That's the heavy wood. Light green is light woods.
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Ah, thanks, would never have noticed that! Painting some of my 'swamp' hexes dark green would work. I did notice the 'cobblestone' hex tiles under the buildings to mark their footprint.
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Happy to see Heroscape continues to be used for other games! ;D Its like the most wonderful game made for other games. O0
For Heavy vs. light woods I have used two different types of trees to distinguish. Conifer trees for Heavy, deciduous trees for light.
One tree in the corner of the respective hex, works just fine, and looks nice too.
Hold them in place with poster putty, only issue is the putty is white, if I could fine green or brown putty it would be even better.
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Since that hero scape is what I usually play on these days I'll let you in on the secret of woods. There's a dark green hex near top left-middle. That's the heavy wood. Light green is light woods.
My Heroscape woods secret....I use the flat swamp tiles and Heavy Woods has a tree on it...Light woods currently does not ;)
Soon it's be type of tree :D
But DAMN It looks good!
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Here is a full shot of that board. I did a later board that probably had two or three times as many trees. All together I have probably spent four evenings just making trees. Basically I have a shoe box full of trees now to use for when I do this.
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Another batch of mechs has been posted on Camospecs...this time it's the Republic Standing Guard painted by Mastergunz, who made the DA Firestarter look friggin AWESOME!
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Thanks for the kind words. I have been working on gencon stuff since feb (thats why I haven't posted much of anythign new to the miniatures forum). I was tasked with making the Firestarter shine given the minis poor reputation and I am glad to see you all seem to be enjoying it. I wanted to do a DA Hatchetman as well but a mix up in an order an an absolute shipping nightmare that has still not been resolved (not with IWM mind you) so that didn't pan out. I did however get to add 2 of the brand new sculpts to the diorama in it's place so it worked out well I think. Soon as pics of the board get posted im sure you will spot them. ;)
-Gunz
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Very nice Gunz! Excellent, superb work! O0
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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
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Please put the mousepads in Battleshop!
I have a need, my poor dinner table is wearing out in certain mouse spots.
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Yeah, Sorry DA Firestarter, not the original which I too love. ;D
-Gunz
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Any word on what is depicted in the diorama?
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Oh I know what the diorama is, just not sure if it has gone up yet and I can't find any pics here or on Facebook. There were some 'issues' with shipping this year but last I heard it should have gone up this morning.
-Gunz
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Just found this, for all you lance pack lovers:
http://www.crittohit.com/events/gen-con-2014-catalyst-game-labs-day-one
Edit: Raven and Cataphract confirmed!
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I too was under the impression that the diorama would be up this morning. However, I can't find anything. Hope it went alright.
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It's probably fine. Remember, most of the people there are too busy drooling over the diorama to actually take the time for pictures. The rest of the people there are probably too busy basking in their adulation.
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U am curious as to what went on in "What's going on With Catalyst?"
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Yes. Yes I r.
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It's probably fine. Remember, most of the people there are too busy drooling over the diorama to actually take the time for pictures. The rest of the people there are probably too busy basking in their adulation.
Fair enough. I had this image of someone dropping all the minis on their way to setup the diorama. I would totally be that guy; which is another reason I probably shouldn't go to GenCon. Or be allowed near anything, ever...
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Another batch of mechs has been posted on Camospecs...this time it's the Republic Standing Guard painted by Mastergunz, who made the DA Firestarter look friggin AWESOME!
I love the Firestarter it makes the original look like it's a punk. Plus, Gunz made good use of the weapons effects stuff and the glow 'effect' painted onto the mins is awesome. Nice work on the Hunchback, too.
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Fair enough. I had this image of someone dropping all the minis on their way to setup the diorama. I would totally be that guy; which is another reason I probably shouldn't go to GenCon. Or be allowed near anything, ever...
You'd be surprised. They let me help out once. On the other hand, it's probably a good thing that helping out was for tearing down the booth instead of setting it up, since any help I gave was likely to end up being destructive instead of constructive anyway.
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So much nice items available at there. Not there to get :'(
Would be so nice for those that can't attend cons to get a chance to get stuff thru the Battleshop when con season is over. Would like to get some of the items. O:-)
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I made some comments somewhere around here about the lance packs and CGL better do it right...
I'll take my crow deep fried with a side of "I will shut up now"
Those minis look awesome, but more importantly the packaging looks like it belongs on store shelves where it WILL grab new players.
I will buy these. I waAaant these! Please sell lots so I can get my clan mechs in plasticy goodness too!
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Hilarious they decided to throw the near extinct Shogun in one of the Lance Packs. Whatever, I'll take it still. ;D
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I made some comments somewhere around here about the lance packs and CGL better do it right...
I'll take my crow deep fried with a side of "I will shut up now"
If it makes you feel better, you just spiked in my esteem, putting you well above many other posters on this forum. O0
Hilarious they decided to throw the near extinct Shogun in one of the Lace Packs. Whatever, I'll take it still. ;D
That might be hilarious, but what's disturbing is that you've made me want to paint and/or dress up a Shogun mini in a lace nightie.
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That might be hilarious, but what's disturbing is that you've made me want to paint and/or dress up a Shogun mini in a lace nightie.
Hey, whatever you have to do to get through the day my friend. ;)
* and now I see where everything went horribly wrong. ;D
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If it makes you feel better, you just spiked in my esteem, putting you well above many other posters on this forum. O0
You're a Mod, aren't you supposed to not like all posters??? ;)
I wasn't bashing CGL for screwing up or anything. I was 1.) confused by the story progression coming to a halt, 2.) hoping CGL would put out a nice finished product that could step AS up a notch and still attract the money of us old hats. They hit number 2 on the head and I can see where the resources went away from story to get this done.
I applaud the effort.
I also think I'm going to make it to Gencon next year. Which means I'll get to celebrate the Star Adders Ilclanship in person now! ;D
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So much nice items available at there. Not there to get :'(
Would be so nice for those that can't attend cons to get a chance to get stuff thru the Battleshop when con season is over. Would like to get some of the items. O:-)
It could be worse! I'm 'there' but have seen so little due to my responsibilities as a father instead of responsibilities as a demo agent this year. I've been at the convention centre for a few hours since Wednesday evening, and that includes a big team Ontario versus team Michigan battle I took part in during the late hours of setup night. I think I've found a new torture. It's so close, I'm constantly seeing GenCon badges, and yet mine sits on the floor of my hotel room for much of the day...
Oh well. No complaints about decisions made. I should be taking part in Masters and Minions tomorrow night.
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I will buy these. I waAaant these! Please sell lots so I can get my clan mechs in plasticy goodness too!
No crow servings needed, I bet just hearing that you'll want and purchase them made CGL smile. ;)
...probably, I'll still warm up a dish in case.
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Thanks to Wolf Lancer for the photo:
(http://solaris7.com/files/members/3402/10409470_909128159102138_7444904337160384052_n.jpg)
Republic vs Wolf Empire!
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Finally :)
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Looking good. Can't wait for some high-res shots
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Is that supposed to be the Cameron Star there? That implies bad things for the Republic if I'm right.
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It might be a daggerstar, but there does seem to be two points larger than the rest.
That said, I'd be surprised if such a momument to the Camerons survived on Terra during the Amaris Empire, let alone the Jihad.
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...or it could be something that someone put there recently. Do we know what the scenario is?
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Is that supposed to be the Cameron Star there? That implies bad things for the Republic if I'm right.
I think it it is and I think it does as well.
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(http://solaris7.com/files/members/3402/10562982_909140319100922_4975388903983687650_n.jpg)
(http://solaris7.com/files/members/3402/10603795_909140235767597_2488559415961506784_n.jpg)
(http://solaris7.com/files/members/3402/10615511_909140539100900_3980740849092614472_n.jpg)
(http://solaris7.com/files/members/3402/10616622_909140639100890_8148645573075089506_n.jpg)
Again, thanks to Wolf Lancer 4 for the first images of the diorama! :)
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Definitely a Cameron Star then.
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Do we know what world this is taking place on?
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Either Wolves attacking Terra or the invasion of the Wolf Empire by the Republic. Hell both could be wrong and it's the beginning of "My Little Mech: Friendship is Magic"
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Aside from where this is taking place, and what the significance of the Cameron Star is for (i.e. what kind of building)...
I'd like to know what the building is here circled in red in the picture...if it's not a home made building, I want one!
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I want to know who that Jade Hawk belongs to...
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It looks not just sci-fi, but 1970 sci-fi, like a prop from Logan's Run or UFO. Almost certainly a scratch-built.
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Those weren't the first photos of the diorama were they SavageCoyote? ;)
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Just a bit of diorama info:
Wolf vs. RotS
Alaric vs. Stone
Ruins of Unity City
Final Battle
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Final Destination? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9bPD50SGeg)
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Just a bit of diorama info:
Wolf vs. RotS
Alaric vs. Stone
Ruins of Unity City
Final Battle
Unity City where? Terra? Another Planet?
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Unity City on Terra was the old Capital of the Star League. I'm sure with this latest round of invasion and fighting, the inhabitants just get the insurance paperwork out.
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Just a bit of diorama info:
Wolf vs. RotS
Alaric vs. Stone
Ruins of Unity City
Final Battle
Is that a RotS coalition? They seem to have a lot of different paint schemes versus just a few for the Wolves.
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The weird schemes are individual RotS Knights.
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Whoa, really is the final battle if they're all involved. :o
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Does this mean that Alaric kills Stone and takes over the Republic, Wolf becomes the IlClan? Not sure how I feel about that then.
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I have three Knights on the field and three Golden Keshik Wolves :)
Most of the Wolves are Alpha Galaxy though thanks to wackrabbit and phlop!
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I look at the diagrama and hear the Alaric vs Stone, i think of the title of a old Star Trek TOS episode title: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield".
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Anyone else scouring the map looking for a Savage Wolf fighting some sort of Atlas?
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U am curious as to what went on in "What's going on With Catalyst?"
What he said. O0
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Anyone else scouring the map looking for a Savage Wolf fighting some sort of Atlas?
Last picture I posted has a Mad Cat IV facing two Atlas' a little ways away (the mk IV is in the "crater" like thing)
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Amazing diorama! Props to everyone involved!
I can't wait to see high quality pics, I couldn't identify most of these mechs. Where's Alaric and Stone?
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Does this mean that Alaric kills Stone and takes over the Republic, Wolf becomes the IlClan? Not sure how I feel about that then.
Whilst this is my assumption there is no evidence that I know of to support it. For all we know at this point Malvina will nuke Terra to a cinder and kill them both so she can be IlKhan ::)
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And now I want to be surprised by new superbook from Ben Rome... like it been in other time. :) ;)
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I can't wait to see high quality pics, I couldn't identify most of these mechs. Where's Alaric and Stone?
I believe that Atlas II next to one of the long daggerstar points is Stone. No clue on Alaric.
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It's nice seeing the diorama. The Tripod just fits in there so well.
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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... ^-^
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Last picture I posted has a Mad Cat IV facing two Atlas' a little ways away (the mk IV is in the "crater" like thing)
Yup I see it now. The Atlas looks like a II and looks like it has Stone's paint scheme. That's definitely a Savage Wolf leading the charge towards it too.
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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... ^-^
Don't the Wolves have a green galaxy scheme though?
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Pants if I know. I've never cared enough about the Wolves to learn much about them, though they did rise in my esteem when they formally named themselves an Empire. (Now if they want actual respect, they need an Emperor.) I just saw that Vulture, and immediately thought of the Falcons' Delta Galaxy, known to be hardline followers of Malvina.
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Wolf Alpha Galaxy is forest green with tan trim and some gold.
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Well, that answers that, then.
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Turkey's fighting with the Wolves would have broke the everything anyway
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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
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That's good about the Catalyst panel. Some Good BT news also. It would be nice to have US made Plastics!
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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.
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I'd defintely buy the Lance Packs if they showed up locally. That's the big leap, however, because distribution in Australia blows goats.
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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.
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Thanks for the info Mike! O0
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Awesome report Mike! O0
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Thanks for the good report. I didn't take notes but that helps summarize the seminar.
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The Alpha Galaxy scheme has evidently changed in the DA era just like Beta Galaxy did. Hence the new colors as SavageCoyote said.
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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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
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Gonna say this now; the MWDA Wolf Empire colours are a huge improvement over the original Wolf Clan Beta Galaxy ones.
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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.
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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?
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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 . . .
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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.
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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.
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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
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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!
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141610_zpselebibcz.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141610_zpselebibcz.jpg.html)
Loving the Malice. It is huge! Awesome piece. Awesome paint. Looks sooo good in person. The Marauder was also sweet.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141354_zpsvqiz9igk.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141354_zpsvqiz9igk.jpg.html)
Tripod
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141352a_zpsvrmp7ie1.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141352a_zpsvrmp7ie1.jpg.html)
This was my favorite scene.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141351_zpsih24vv36.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141351_zpsih24vv36.jpg.html)
Devlin Stone to the rescue?
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141350_zps6tmw8caz.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141350_zps6tmw8caz.jpg.html)
Mike
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Cannot wait for my Ares to get here in the mail.....
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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:
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141020_zps0079hpi7.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141020_zps0079hpi7.jpg.html)
Part of Catalyst booth.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141013_zpsecptulyt.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141013_zpsecptulyt.jpg.html)
Mike
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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 (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Silent_Reapers) 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. :)
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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.
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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...).
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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.
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The new lance packs look great; very interested in the Fire Lance to fill out my OPFOR Kurita forces.
Any ideas when these packs will be available across the pond in the UK?
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Generally stuff CGL debuts at Gencon is on general release before the end of October, and Esvedium is very good about getting stuff to shops on or aound the street date.
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Nice minis. I especially like the Atlas III crushing the Mad Cat
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The new lance packs look great; very interested in the Fire Lance to fill out my OPFOR Kurita forces.
Any ideas when these packs will be available across the pond in the UK?
Of the two distributors I will be ordering these from for my online store, one has no availability date, the other says November. Take it for what you will, but that is NO guarantee that they will be available then or earlier.
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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.
I'm glad that CGL is trying to expand their portfolio but I'm sad that it is coming at the expense of their core games. The core games should be the money makers. They should be generating consistent revenue for the company. If they are being put on the back burner, then they can't generate the money that is needed to expand into other games. This also indicates to me that CGL doesn't really have the personnel in place to handle the additional workload of a successful game expansion.
And I wish that I could be positive about the Viking news but most of the games associated with TV/Movies end up being horrible or falling by the wayside. While I have enough faith in CGL that they will produce a quality game, I suspect CGL will have to strike fast and hard in order to make money off of this venture. Once the popularity of the show ends I would expect sales to plummet.
Anyone still playing the Ghostbuster's game, Indiana Jones, or Hercules & Zena? How about the Red Dwarf game or Army of Darkness?
Sorry to be so negative. All I can say is good luck to CGL and I hope it all works out.
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But isn't HMP Already official? Also, was not aware that it was not updated to TW and TacOps. What's lacking?
It's great if you still play with BMRr. If not... :(
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It's been pretty clear that CGL has been spending resources on Shadowrun and some of their new products, and that's maybe the smart thing to do. Gaming companies should be diverse to protect themselves from the inevitable end to any particular game's marketability.
I think there's still a place for Battletech and that it could be popular again. The success of X-Wing makes me think that Alpha Strike could be quite popular if given more marketing and preprinted high quality miniatures.
Above all, I just appreciate transparency from CGL. It helps maintain trust and interest.
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New beauties up on Camospecs!!! Just no Hi Res pics of the Diorama yet.
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It's been pretty clear that CGL has been spending resources on Shadowrun and some of their new products, and that's maybe the smart thing to do. Gaming companies should be diverse to protect themselves from the inevitable end to any particular game's marketability.
I think there's still a place for Battletech and that it could be popular again. The success of X-Wing makes me think that Alpha Strike could be quite popular if given more marketing and preprinted high quality miniatures.
Above all, I just appreciate transparency from CGL. It helps maintain trust and interest.
The number of new plastic minis they've put into production this year proably cost more than the last couple of years worth of book production. It's not that money isn't being spent on BT, it's just being spent differently.
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I think there's still a place for Battletech and that it could be popular again.
If Catalyst didn't think so, I doubt they'd be investing in these plastic lance packs. :)
EDIT: Ninja'd by Lorcan Nagle
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I think som of this goes back to us being spoiled with lots of information on what's coming next. That changed, it's been covers here so let's not rehash it. All we saw was new product stopped, no new storyline at least.
Then lance packs... ok cool I can get some of the box set minis piecemeal with AS cards. We were all, yeah that seems pretty cool but we alrea... what do you mean there's new plastics?? :o. Raven! Shogun! SHINY!!! MWAAHAHAHA! :D
Now... some of us are like, whoops spoke too soon have faith in the CGL overlords sorry go about your business.
The product looks awesome. Just in years past we would know it was coming and that it was to the scale of what we would see. It's not CGL doing anything wrong just a bunch of needy fans who truly were spoiled in the past.
The lance packs look awesome. My one question, do they all have quick star rules for Alpha Strike. Can two dudes walk in a game store, but two packs and nothing else and throw down?
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Very nice! Shogun isn't good choice though, I think they should got a non-super rare Mech in that group though.
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Snip
Is it just me or does that Blue, Yellow, and Red Atlas shout out "One-Eyed Jack Farrell!" to anyone else? He is the Knight after all...
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Still waiting for someone to pick up on my little tribute Easter egg in the diorama.
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Still waiting for someone to pick up on my little tribute Easter egg in the diorama.
I was wondering about the white and pink scheme...
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A nice, subtle tribute for James aka rpgsheets aka Amalor Myrnynx
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I forthwith announce without any tenure of retention I despise EVERYONE who attended GenCon. Ever.
;D
Living in Australia, my jealousy is overcome only by my immeasurable admiration for the goods on sale and the experience it must be. Year on year I follow it closely on various forums and swear I'm going to start saving pennies BIG TIME and make it over soon - those pins, the tables, all the magnificent tables and participation games, the friendliness of the attendees, the video reports I've been oogling, this thread and many like I've seen on the intrawebs....those plastic lance packs.....
I simply MUST make it over if not next year (Europe's on the cards) then certainly I hope the year after.
Please keep up the updates, much as I may be seething with jealousy I'm a broke Uni student BUT - one day I will make my way over and piss off all the airport check-in chickies as I try and bring back the amazing bargains and new releases which clearly make conventions like this such a seminal foundation of our beloved hobby.
Can't wait for the new lance packs to be available downunder, great thread!
O0
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Still waiting for someone to pick up on my little tribute Easter egg in the diorama.
Is there pink that I cannot see on the Rook...or am I completely missing the tribute?
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Is there pink that I cannot see on the Rook...or am I completely missing the tribute?
I think I see a Rook in white with pink highlights.
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Very nice! Shogun isn't good choice though, I think they should got a non-super rare Mech in that group though.
It's about to become less rare.
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I think I see a Rook in white with pink highlights.
You do. This was an in-progress pic of "Melody's Rooker". It got cleaned up a bit more before shipping out for Indy.
It spoils the CSO-posting surprise a little, but I want James' other friends and fans to know we valued him and his contributions to the community.
(http://www.savemstateathletics.com/images/MelodysRookerInProgress.jpg)
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You do. This was an in-progress pic of "Melody's Rooker". It got cleaned up a bit more before shipping out for Indy.
It spoils the CSO-posting surprise a little, but I want James' other friends and fans to know we valued him and his contributions to the community.
(http://www.savemstateathletics.com/images/MelodysRookerInProgress.jpg)
Dawg...thank you (and to anyone that supported this to be on CSO). James would be VERY proud!
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You do. This was an in-progress pic of "Melody's Rooker". It got cleaned up a bit more before shipping out for Indy.
It spoils the CSO-posting surprise a little, but I want James' other friends and fans to know we valued him and his contributions to the community.
(http://www.savemstateathletics.com/images/MelodysRookerInProgress.jpg)
That is great. And if there aren't any other plans for that Rook, might I suggest a charity ebay auction for either his family or a cause in his name?
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Dawg...thank you (and to anyone that supported this to be on CSO). James would be VERY proud!
And that's why this http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,40221.0.html (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,40221.0.html) was answered the way it was... O0
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And that's why this http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,40221.0.html (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,40221.0.html) was answered the way it was... O0
Yeah, usually when there's an answer of "at this time" it turns out months later...something came of it!
Can't wait to see them up on Camospecs!
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It's about to become less rare.
It's my (insert whatever you want to keep here) and you can't have it so I put my Shogun C on it.
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That is great. And if there aren't any other plans for that Rook, might I suggest a charity ebay auction for either his family or a cause in his name?
Please announce it here if this happens. I'll bid!
I didn't think about it until Dawg said something... it hit me right away, there's a white and pink mech!
CSO y'all deserve a serious pat on the back! O0
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Can anyone get a close up of Stone's Atlas? It looks like a completely custom job.
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Can anyone get a close up of Stone's Atlas? It looks like a completely custom job.
It's a crazy bash of Atlas'... check out CSO tomorrow for more detailed shots! >:D
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And because Wolf Lancer 4 posted another photo or two on his Facebook, I figured I'd post up my contribution to this years Wolves:
(http://solaris7.com/files/members/3402/10606397_909711009043853_8489814111511551904_n.jpg)
Tundra Wolf 2, Timber Wolf Prime "01," and a Lobo 2
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This may sound strange, but..is there no book product released for Gencon?
I know there's the minis which are nice (though I have to question a Shogun for Kurita), but isn't there usually a large book release to advance the plot?
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Please announce it here if this happens. I'll bid!
I didn't think about it until Dawg said something... it hit me right away, there's a white and pink mech!
CSO y'all deserve a serious pat on the back! O0
Yes please if you do opt to auction it off I will be in the bidding!!!
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I didn't understand that getting plastic minis takes more financial resources than novels/sourcebooks etc. Makes more sense now as to why we didn't get many BT products over the last year. Thanks!
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Can anyone get a close up of Stone's Atlas? It looks like a completely custom job.
As Savage Coyote said, it will be in the next CSO update later today. I will post some additional pictures in the mini forum once the update is live.
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This may sound strange, but..is there no book product released for Gencon?
I know there's the minis which are nice (though I have to question a Shogun for Kurita), but isn't there usually a large book release to advance the plot?
Alpha Strike companion was released at the con. It's a major book release—but no, every GenCon does not see a major current-storyline-plot-advancing book release.
The Shogun is in a Wolf's Dragoons themed pack.
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Ah, sorry, though tit was the Kurita pack. Should've checked.
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I didn't understand that getting plastic minis takes more financial resources than novels/sourcebooks etc. Makes more sense now as to why we didn't get many BT products over the last year. Thanks!
Oh yes, plastic minis have a low per-unit production costs, but the molds are insanely expensive. On the right side, the molds don't need to be replaced as often, so CGL should be able to keep the boxes in print.
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From Australia - please take my money Catalyst!
Usually purchase through Joe Dodgy or Alpha Strike in WA, can't wait for these packs to be available to the general public worldwide.
So much 'Mech goodness, a pleasure to paint up - and much as I'm loving my small lances of IWM metal figures the price per unit of plastics means Alpha Strike is so much more accessible to a beginner player like myself.
On a side note as I posted in my collection thread on Facebook, accidentally placed the minis in front of the heater for a game that evening and the quality plastic used in the casting became malleable. I moved the poses, making each of the intro set minis truly unique, then ran under cold water and they maintained their newfound poses.
I hope the same plastic is used with the new sets as that'll mean even more unique 'Mechs, no doubles - what started out as an accident can and will, with a little forethought, hopefully produce a whole host of unique figures and poses for my Eurekan Merc faction.
Very much looking forward to these being available downunder.
Regards
:)
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The plastic models look great, I'm sure with a good paint job, you couldn't tell the difference.
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Looks like pics are going up finally of the Diorama...only 3 there now, but probably more coming later today. The main one I'd say is the Atlas bash for Devlin Stone. Awesome work on that Gunji!!!
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And because Wolf Lancer 4 posted another photo or two on his Facebook, I figured I'd post up my contribution to this years Wolves:
(http://solaris7.com/files/members/3402/10606397_909711009043853_8489814111511551904_n.jpg)
Tundra Wolf 2, Timber Wolf Prime "01," and a Lobo 2
Savage...they look great! I really like them, but which Wolves are they?
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Looks like pics are going up finally of the Diorama...only 3 there now, but probably more coming later today. The main one I'd say is the Atlas bash for Devlin Stone. Awesome work on that Gunji!!!
Every Atlas should be that menacing. I can't imagine painting those bones, the skill level of CSO artists never ceases to amaze me.
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Savage...they look great! I really like them, but which Wolves are they?
All three are members of the Golden Keshik though the Timber Wolf is a homage to an older character :)
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All three are members of the Golden Keshik though the Timber Wolf is a homage to an older character :)
Interesting...Vlad maybe?
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In every Gencon diorama, the CSO artists will include a killed mini of the same model of mech. It's a type of "Where's Waldo?". Now, go find it.
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This may sound strange, but..is there no book product released for Gencon?
I know there's the minis which are nice (though I have to question a Shogun for Kurita), but isn't there usually a large book release to advance the plot?
I picked up Wars of the Republic Era and FM 3145. Wasn't sure if they had been released yet, but they were there and that is what I bought. They did Inner Sphere pins. The lance packs did seem to be moving quite well. I was able to look at the quality of the mins as Wackrabbit paint a box in Davion Guards scheme while we were answering questions about the diorama. Thanks to all that stopped by and it was an enjoyable time. We were kept quite busy and when not we all were painting some minis.
I would especially like to pat Dave Fanjoy on the back as 3 lads that play MWO online asked if they went over and bought some minis would someone give them guidance on assembly and painting. They spent all day assembling and painting the minis. They seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.
Met God and Davion and he too painted a mini while there. It was almost a paint along with CSO. A wonderful person and a pleasure to meet. Also, met others that frequent this and other forums and now can put a face to a forum name.
This being my first Gencon and I hope it isn't my last. Now on to next years diorama planning. O0
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Interesting...Vlad maybe?
Bingo! A couple years ago I told Wolf Lancer 4 I'd paint up a Timber Wolf as Vlad for him. While doing the diorama real life got in the way of the star I was supposed to do and with time running out, I didn't have time to assemble three of the star (well, and I was missing arms for two of them.) I did have Vlad's TWolf running around assembled, primed, and base coated so it was quick turn around to get a third Golden Keshik miniature on the board :)
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Cool...hopefully we will get to see the rest of the diorama soon
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I was tasked with making the Firestarter shine given the minis poor reputation and I am glad to see you all seem to be enjoying it.
-Gunz
Sir, you succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imagination. That is an excellent piece of work. Does GenCon have a "best mini" contest - if so, you should submit that.
I've always liked the semi-utilitarian walking industrial war machine look of BattleTech, and you captured that and added hot napalm sauce.
W.
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Hi All,
I just got back home to Florida this afternoon. I've been going through my pics and will post a few more here. Again, cell phone quality and I'm having a funky relationship with Photobucket so excuse any twisted photos.
First up, one of the future lance packs that I didn't get in my first post.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141255_zpsfmmk8386.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141255_zpsfmmk8386.jpg.html)
Another shot from the diorama.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141611_zpszd62oq7k.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141611_zpszd62oq7k.jpg.html)
A comparison of the new Ad Hoc Alpha Strike Cards box and the old.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0817141812_zpswnkoik71.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0817141812_zpswnkoik71.jpg.html)
And a shot of the new cards. They are double sided and seem to be made of a thicker paper without the rounded corners. I like them as they seem more durable than the last set. Plus the new point values and the crit chart makes things so much better.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/b0529cd8-bdb9-4a03-a8a7-ed050acbb959_zpsaec8aa7d.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/b0529cd8-bdb9-4a03-a8a7-ed050acbb959_zpsaec8aa7d.jpg.html)
Then a few of the pins participants received for playing in Battletech events. Very cool and a nice, unexpected bonus.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0817141818_zps8daqkyca.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0817141818_zps8daqkyca.jpg.html)
A close up of two of the new plastics.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/916e6859-b377-4d11-87b9-79218c3b7e1a_zpsc8b605a8.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/916e6859-b377-4d11-87b9-79218c3b7e1a_zpsc8b605a8.jpg.html)
A look at some of the new IWM releases at the IWM booth.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141109a_zpszvbij69b.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141109a_zpszvbij69b.jpg.html)
And what the Storyline board looked like on Saturday night. A king of the hill fight.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0816141357_zpsu4rmddos.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0816141357_zpsu4rmddos.jpg.html)
More than a few of the Battletech tables had these huge printed maps. Most of them were for the Grinders. I've seen them on the boards before. Can someone point me in the direction of who produces them? Generally, I like them for their size but I think they are a little too busy with terrain.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141255_zpsnsdt3iln.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141255_zpsnsdt3iln.jpg.html)
A quick and terrible shot of the Catalyst booth.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141008_zpssjksg1lf.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141008_zpssjksg1lf.jpg.html)
A shot of the IWM booth in all its Battletech glory.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141106a_zpsqi6c9ogq.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141106a_zpsqi6c9ogq.jpg.html)
The new Battletech models from that "other" company that ran a Kickstarter that raised an ungodly amount of money to produce crap. Why they didn't go the traditional mini route with the budget they had....we'll never know. Yes. Although these are the finished models and look pretty good, the picture is deceiving. These are not miniatures but tiny plastic models akin to model cars and planes. The arms, legs, guns are all split in half on sprues. They will be a pain to assemble and despite how hard you try, you are going to see seams. They don't show in the picture. But trust me...they're there. I saw them. Funny story here, I watched Palladium demo the game twice to passerbys in their booth. The opening question from staff: "Are you familiar with Robotech?" Twice I heard a reply from the con-goer that went something like this, "Well I've seen the cartoon and played Battletech before." Made me smile. These actually will scale well with Battletech figs. The Marauder fig will be a little tall but I think you can adjust the stance to make it less so.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141033a_zpsludrasko.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141033a_zpsludrasko.jpg.html)
Next my roundup.
Mike
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The huge printed maps you saw are from MapMaster. He's on these forums under the same name. He also has a facebook account and a website where he sells these maps. He has several different ones in 2 different sizes. They look awesome and I'm thinking about getting one.
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So jealous I don't have the time or money to go, but thanks for the info and pictures. O0
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Then a few of the pins participants received for playing in Battletech events. Very cool and a nice, unexpected bonus.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0817141818_zps8daqkyca.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0817141818_zps8daqkyca.jpg.html)
I want that Republic pin!
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Hey,
Well I just wanted to post a few more thoughts about my 2014 GenCon experience to kind of summarize some of the pics and my time there. I've been to GenCon twice before, once in 2011 and again in 2013. I'm planning on making one more trip next year, hopefully with my son.
Battletech events have occupied most of my gaming slots on all three trips. This year I played in three Storyline events. Always, the volunteer staff running these games have been polite, kind and willing to coach and guide players. They also have a phenomenal grasp of the rules. I've marveled at one volunteer (I didn't catch his name) for the past few years who's always at the Storyline events. He has the Mech Hit Location Table and Cluster Hits Table memorized. It's amazing. He told me he was a mathematician and it shows. It just makes things go so much faster for guys like me who have to look at the table on every roll. The Storyline events were great and a lot of fun. And as some of you have commented, the board was pretty cool as were all of the players crowded around the table. Great bunch of guys and gals to spend the hours with. I've been playing Alpha Strike pretty exclusively since it released but playing in these storyline events reminds me how great regular Battletech is on hex maps.
I also played in an Alpha Strike intro event both staff members stated they were new to Alpha Strike and just learning the rules themselves. It kind of showed. There was some confusion on the jump modifier for the attacker and target and what happened when units were in base to base contact. Further, my table was using a homemade Alpha Strike unit cards. I'm not sure why they just didn't use the actual MUL cards to promote that resource. Despite this, the game was fun and played quick just like it should. And to be fair to the agents running the event, Alpha Strike has seen a lot of revision especially when it comes to the TMM. The table rules tried to incorporate some of these changes and I think this was a mistake. What the player ends up hearing is, "Well in the old rules its this way, but we do it this way now." I realize there are changes to the core Alpha Strike rules but when your teaching new players, those original rules work just fine. Alpha Strike needs a revised/updated rulebook to reflect the new point values and changes to the TMM. I hope one is in the works. Further, I hope we see more than intro level events for Alpha Strike at Gencon 2015.
The other tables running grinders and Solaris matches stayed packed throughout the con. It was good to see.
Further, like last year, at the last event on Saturday night, Catalyst splurged on a load of pizzas for all the players at the events running there. The pins for participating in events was also a nice and unexpected touch. Thanks!
The Catalyst booth was much improved over last year. It was more spacious and the traffic flow through it better also. I think they may have had more registers running compared to last year too. Then again, Shadowrun 5 wasn't releasing either. The Shadowrun Crossfire deck building game sold fast. Honestly, the Shadowrun RPG lineup is pretty impressive to put it bluntly. I've tried playing it a few times and just find it very rules heavy....yes, worse than Battletech which is easier to scale to your level of desired complexity. The new plastic Battletech lance packs seemed to be doing very well too. I picked up one of each myself. The new Alpha Strike Cards are also a great improvement over the last batch. I think they are still a little too dark but the quality is much improved. I wanted to buy two packs but worry that there still might be changes to the cards in the future. Again, the staff in the booth was great. Very polite and eager to please.
Despite this, I find the Ironwind Metals Booth to be the shrine of Battletech at GenCon. It's hard for me to walk into this booth and not salivate. For the past two years I've blown 75% of my spending budget here. But then, I'm a minis fan. I think the con exclusives were very cool this year. I'm hoping next years con specials are a little cheaper, however. Overall, I'm so pleased with the direction Battletech minis are going. The detail on the new sculpts is amazing and I'm liking the beefier mini to boot. Again, staff here were very helpful in searching the huge inventory. One thing to improve on, is the Piranha decals that are sold here. There are typically two boxes jammed full of them. It would be great if they could be organized by houses or something. I always pick up a few but usually wind up frustrated leafing through the hundreds of packets in the jammed confines of the booth.
A side story on Piranha Graphics. Friday, while I was admiring the diorama I was introduced to Brian who owns Piranha Graphics. (I may be getting some of the details wrong here so excuse me.) He was sitting by the diorama and I mentioned my dilemma with the decals at the IWM booth. I told him I would contact him after the con to place an order because I couldn't find any Sorenson's Sabers decals in the boxes. He said, "No problem. I'll print them up and bring them to the con tomorrow." He said he lived nearby and would be able to get them here. I thanked him but wasn't sure what to expect. Sure enough, the next day waiting at the IWM booth were two sheets of Sorenson's Sabers sheets. The kindness and service was overwhelming! Thanks again!
The diorama was incredible. As I stated earlier I got a chance to talk to phlop (aka Phil). What a great guy. Very easy to talk to and you could tell he was passionate about the game and painting. So much has already been said about it in this thread I can't say much more. I was glad to see it return. I really missed it last year and its such a great draw for people passing by in the hall.
Thanks to all that stopped by and it was an enjoyable time. We were kept quite busy and when not we all were painting some minis.
I would especially like to pat Dave Fanjoy on the back as 3 lads that play MWO online asked if they went over and bought some minis would someone give them guidance on assembly and painting. They spent all day assembling and painting the minis. They seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.
Met God and Davion and he too painted a mini while there. It was almost a paint along with CSO.
This is a great idea for CamoSpecs! First, if I would have known that the CamoSpecs staff would be sitting by the diorama, painting and helping people paint.....I would have brought stuff to the con to paint! To be able to sit next to them and get painting tips?! What a great idea! There was so much painting going on by the diorama I actually sat around and watched for a little while. Could it be an event.....sure. But what a great way to spend some time. Second, I'm gonna bring something to paint next year in the hope the same happens.
The What's Up With Catalyst was good but could have been better. Catalyst thought they had two hours when they only had one. Further, this event got posted so late it wasn't even in the con print catalog and I already had other event tickets in the mail by the time it popped up in the event database. So I had to return an event ticket in the hopes of attending. Otherwise it was informative and I walked away from it feeling like Battletech is where it belongs. Like many here I don't know Randall Bills or Loran Coleman but I definitely got the "good/smart people" sense from the hour spent with them. You can tell they love the game. Due to the brevity of the seminar both Bills and Coleman offered to answer questions in the Catalyst booth afterward. Over the course of the remaining hours I caught up with both of them. I spoke to Bills about how much I was enjoying Alpha Strike and he clarified some of the "timeline" issues I wrote about in earlier posts. Talking about Alpha Strike he said that it really is kind of an experiment on getting new players into the game. We have the regular Battletech ruleset and then Alpha Strike which is similar to many other mini games that utilize stat cards. Later I caught up with Coleman who confirmed that the House Kurita book SHOULD be going to the printer in September. I also asked him if they planned on getting a Battletech Line Developer again and he gave an emphatic, "Yes." He said Bills has a lot on his plate and they are still looking for someone to fill the position.
Other notes. Fantasy Flight and Piazo booths were always busy. I didn't even bother to try as there was always a line. I did get a chance to try 5th edition D&D and really like it! It is so much less codified than 3.0, 3.5, 3.74 and 4.0. and puts control back in the DM's hands rather than the players. Indie is a great city. Its clean and the weather is great. This year it seemed like their was a huge increase in the amount of homeless sitting on street corners begging for change and that was a little disturbing. Businesses appreciate GenCon and the people it attracts and that is a welcoming feeling. The city is small enough that you don't get lost and big enough that you feel like your some place...different. I worry that GenCon is outgrowing it though. Finding housing downtown is becoming increasingly difficult and for people traveling by air, that is a problem and a huge expense. I paid almost $1000 dollars for four nights. It hurts.
Well, this ended up being longer than expected. Just my thoughts and a few things I heard. I hope to hear from others who went also.
I'm gonna try to go back to lurking now.
Mike
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Sir, you succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imagination. That is an excellent piece of work. Does GenCon have a "best mini" contest - if so, you should submit that.
I've always liked the semi-utilitarian walking industrial war machine look of BattleTech, and you captured that and added hot napalm sauce.
W.
+1
-------------------------------
Thank you, Wayfarer, for all of the information that you were able to dig up and share with all of us here who didn't have the privilege/luxury of going to GenCon. It's great to hear all of the new information regarding Battletech and CGL's future. Thank you, again.
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Thanks for all the reports Mike. They were much appreciated by us poor, non-GenCon attending souls
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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
That Black Knight was sexy also!
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Hi all,
I had a great time this year at Gencon. On Thursday, I ran 2 events: "King of the Hill: The Lonely Mountain" and "The Battle of Five Armies." KotH:TLM used TW rules with a couple of TO & Tac Hdbk additions. Bo5A used Alpha Strike rules and fielded 70 mechs, 3 LAMs and 3 VTOLs in a 4 hour slugfest for 10 players. I have posted the after action report for the "KotH: TLM" here: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,41189.0.html. I will post the other when I get it written up. I was shocked when both events sold out the first day of pre-reg and I hoped that all the work all summer had paid off.
On Friday, I played in the Bloodright tourney, losing in the second round to the eventual champion.
On Saturday morning I attended the 30th anniversary of the "Killer Breakfast" hosted by famed Dragon Lance author, Tracy Hickman. The opening was memorable as Gencon event coordinator, Derek Guder , publically proposed to his girl friend, who accepted. And there was much rejoicing.
On Saturday night, I was seated across the table from Randall Bills and Brent Evans. My teammates 3 Sphinx's and my own Stormcrow B found out just how tough it is to take down a Great Turtle and won a narrow decision. One turn saw the Turtle take 213 points of damage that did not phase it.
Special thanks to Andrew Krull who worked the Virtual World mech pods and played in the "Bo5A." His knowledge of the Alpha Strike rules helped me tremendously in teaching the rules to new players.
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I love the orion...I don't love the goofy pose its always in #P . The raven looks awesome! Glad everyone had fun at Gencon, hope all those that helped run it had more kicks than stress :)
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I've learned to embrace the Orion's "come at me bro" pose now.
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That Black Knight was sexy also!
Thanks Craig! I was honestly surprised I didn't see any comments regarding the scheme it was in. I thought the homage would have been picked up on by most battletech fans.
-Gunz
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I picked up Wars of the Republic Era and FM 3145. Wasn't sure if they had been released yet, but they were there and that is what I bought. They did Inner Sphere pins. The lance packs did seem to be moving quite well. I was able to look at the quality of the mins as Wackrabbit paint a box in Davion Guards scheme while we were answering questions about the diorama. Thanks to all that stopped by and it was an enjoyable time. We were kept quite busy and when not we all were painting some minis.
I would especially like to pat Dave Fanjoy on the back as 3 lads that play MWO online asked if they went over and bought some minis would someone give them guidance on assembly and painting. They spent all day assembling and painting the minis. They seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.
Met God and Davion and he too painted a mini while there. It was almost a paint along with CSO. A wonderful person and a pleasure to meet. Also, met others that frequent this and other forums and now can put a face to a forum name.
This being my first Gencon and I hope it isn't my last. Now on to next years diorama planning. O0
Many thanks sir! It was a pleasure to be with you and to paint with you was a fullfiled dream O0 O0
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Two things, both related to the city:
Its clean and the weather is great.
The weather this year was an aberration. Usually it's about fifteen to twenty degrees warmer.
I worry that GenCon is outgrowing it though. Finding housing downtown is becoming increasingly difficult and for people traveling by air, that is a problem and a huge expense. I paid almost $1000 dollars for four nights. It hurts.
The Super Bowl a few years back meant that a few more hotels were needed in the area, so available housing is higher the last few years over the early years of the show. If there is a need for it, there will be more hotels in the area.
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Thanks Craig! I was honestly surprised I didn't see any comments regarding the scheme it was in. I thought the homage would have been picked up on by most battletech fans.
-Gunz
Can we see pics of it, then? :)
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Does GenCon have a "best mini" contest - if so, you should submit that.
GenCon does have a big painting competition (where CSO painted Mechs have done well in the past). Unfortunately you have to be there in person to participate. I checked this prior to the con ;)
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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
So just a fanboi's wet dream then ...
Ilcan book is written but has no release date.
6 weeks!
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So just a fanboi's wet dream then ...
6 weeks!
It's comming but other things got in the way.
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Thanks Craig! I was honestly surprised I didn't see any comments regarding the scheme it was in. I thought the homage would have been picked up on by most battletech fans.
-Gunz
I'll be honest. I don't recall seeing a Black Knight in the diorama. Do you have any closeups of it?
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Its Monday morning!
Hope all you Gen Con attendees survived! ;)
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Hi All,
I just got back home to Florida this afternoon. I've been going through my pics and will post a few more here. Again, cell phone quality and I'm having a funky relationship with Photobucket so excuse any twisted photos.
First up, one of the future lance packs that I didn't get in my first post.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141255_zpsfmmk8386.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141255_zpsfmmk8386.jpg.html)
Another shot from the diorama.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141611_zpszd62oq7k.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141611_zpszd62oq7k.jpg.html)
A comparison of the new Ad Hoc Alpha Strike Cards box and the old.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0817141812_zpswnkoik71.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0817141812_zpswnkoik71.jpg.html)
And a shot of the new cards. They are double sided and seem to be made of a thicker paper without the rounded corners. I like them as they seem more durable than the last set. Plus the new point values and the crit chart makes things so much better.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/b0529cd8-bdb9-4a03-a8a7-ed050acbb959_zpsaec8aa7d.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/b0529cd8-bdb9-4a03-a8a7-ed050acbb959_zpsaec8aa7d.jpg.html)
Then a few of the pins participants received for playing in Battletech events. Very cool and a nice, unexpected bonus.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0817141818_zps8daqkyca.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0817141818_zps8daqkyca.jpg.html)
A close up of two of the new plastics.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/916e6859-b377-4d11-87b9-79218c3b7e1a_zpsc8b605a8.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/916e6859-b377-4d11-87b9-79218c3b7e1a_zpsc8b605a8.jpg.html)
A look at some of the new IWM releases at the IWM booth.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141109a_zpszvbij69b.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141109a_zpszvbij69b.jpg.html)
And what the Storyline board looked like on Saturday night. A king of the hill fight.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0816141357_zpsu4rmddos.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0816141357_zpsu4rmddos.jpg.html)
More than a few of the Battletech tables had these huge printed maps. Most of them were for the Grinders. I've seen them on the boards before. Can someone point me in the direction of who produces them? Generally, I like them for their size but I think they are a little too busy with terrain.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0814141255_zpsnsdt3iln.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0814141255_zpsnsdt3iln.jpg.html)
A quick and terrible shot of the Catalyst booth.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141008_zpssjksg1lf.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141008_zpssjksg1lf.jpg.html)
A shot of the IWM booth in all its Battletech glory.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141106a_zpsqi6c9ogq.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141106a_zpsqi6c9ogq.jpg.html)
The new Battletech models from that "other" company that ran a Kickstarter that raised an ungodly amount of money to produce crap. Why they didn't go the traditional mini route with the budget they had....we'll never know. Yes. Although these are the finished models and look pretty good, the picture is deceiving. These are not miniatures but tiny plastic models akin to model cars and planes. The arms, legs, guns are all split in half on sprues. They will be a pain to assemble and despite how hard you try, you are going to see seams. They don't show in the picture. But trust me...they're there. I saw them. Funny story here, I watched Palladium demo the game twice to passerbys in their booth. The opening question from staff: "Are you familiar with Robotech?" Twice I heard a reply from the con-goer that went something like this, "Well I've seen the cartoon and played Battletech before." Made me smile. These actually will scale well with Battletech figs. The Marauder fig will be a little tall but I think you can adjust the stance to make it less so.
(http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a579/1he_Wayfarer/0815141033a_zpsludrasko.jpg) (http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/1he_Wayfarer/media/0815141033a_zpsludrasko.jpg.html)
Next my roundup.
Mike
Hey Wayfarer,
I'm a long time Battletech and Robotech fan. If not for the unseen I may not have picked up my first copy back in the early 1980's. I have been a playtester for Robotech and I have played many a game. I hope to get some Alpha strike games under my belt soon too. I have both the Alpha Strike PDF and the Companion book. I also bought into the Mekton Kickstarter a while back and downloaded the Heavy Gear rules. I figure I'll play and compare all 4 rules sets and see what I like the most. The Robotech one is basically a faster playing Alpha Strike, you lose some of the detail, but in the exchange I played out a 13 vs 29 figure battle in just about an hour. I hope Alpha Strike can get close, from what I know that battle would take and extra 30 minutes to an hour but is also has more detail having infantry and conventional vehicles to play with.
The minis are pretty, Unseen(RDF) pretty much in scale with Battletech. I've used BT minis as stand-ins. I think they tried for too much detail on too small a mini but they do look good. I hope to test out my first Alpha Strike game using unseen units with stats converted over so that they are similar to how they would function in the cartoon but useable in Alpha Strike, plus I want to test the new LAM rules out.
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I've learned to embrace the Orion's "come at me bro" pose now.
I'm starting to see it that way, myself. O0
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So where was the CSO display!? I walked through both the catalyst booth and their area in the minis hall every day and never saw it. :(
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I saw it at the minis hall near the Catalyst minis HQ. I assume it stayed there.
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When were you there? The diorama was delayed.
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Further, my table was using a homemade Alpha Strike unit cards. I'm not sure why they just didn't use the actual MUL cards to promote that resource.
Those cards were printed out using the Alpha Strike files for Army Builder.
What the player ends up hearing is, "Well in the old rules its this way, but we do it this way now." I realize there are changes to the core Alpha Strike rules but when your teaching new players, those original rules work just fine.
I made that call. I chose not to teach rules that were no longer in effect, and just cause them further confusion down the road. The rules changes made in the companion were of the type that improved play. In hindsight, I wish I had prepared a standardized explanation that would then be delivered by all running the event to players explaining that some of the core rules from the Alpha Strike rulebook had been replaced in the newly released companion to create a better game, and the new correct rules were being used in the event. Those rule excerpts were provided in a Alpha Strike Companion excerpt handout, but a better description of the how and why may have been helpful.
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By the way, congrats to Ion Raptor for his prizewinning Battletech costume (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,25335.msg951121.html#msg951121)! [rockon]
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By the way, congrats to Ion Raptor for his prizewinning Battletech costume (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,25335.msg951121.html#msg951121)! [rockon]
:o [AAAH] :o
O0 [applause] [cheers] [notworthy] {>{> [rockon]
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I'll be honest. I don't recall seeing a Black Knight in the diorama. Do you have any closeups of it?
It was there, I spotted it in one of the overhead shots that Roy took. I have it on my home computer. I'll check and see what its position for update posting on CSO is. If it's far off then I will post a pic.
-Gunz
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Was there a sit down with Catalyst Game Labs? Did they say / announce anything that happening or what coming down the road?
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Was there a sit down with Catalyst Game Labs? Did they say / announce anything that happening or what coming down the road?
There was. The Wayfarer put something up here: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,41127.msg950337.html#msg950337
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There was. The Wayfarer put something up here: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,41127.msg950337.html#msg950337
Ugh. I missed that, it got too buried for me to find at first. Thank You.
Randal and Loren lost the fight for mini-Time jumps? I wonder what their going to do, year-by-year? That's going be painful. Like paint drying on the side of a house, in rain storm.
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No no. They lost the fight against the 3067-3132 jump. NOw, they're kind of the people who make that decision ><
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Well crap, no that's not what they said, that was in the '3250' discussion. I guess noone got a recording? JPArbiter maybe?
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Well crap, no that's not what they said, that was in the '3250' discussion. I guess noone got a recording? JPArbiter maybe?
Ah Recording would be nice. Would love to hear (or even see?) the panel. :)
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When were you there? The diorama was delayed.
I was there each day, but I couldn't say what time since lack of good sleep put me in a fog most of the weekend. I know on sunday I wasn't there until after 1pm.
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I usually never quote posts....but that's an insane collection in one store!
Why can't we have one here in Australia, dagnabbit - take my money, Catalyst/IWM!
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Well crap, no that's not what they said, that was in the '3250' discussion. I guess noone got a recording? JPArbiter maybe?
If he did, I haven't seen it yet.
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It was there, I spotted it in one of the overhead shots that Roy took. I have it on my home computer. I'll check and see what its position for update posting on CSO is. If it's far off then I will post a pic.
-Gunz
You mean this guy? ;)
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....nice. 8)
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That 'Knight is sexy. [drool]
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I don't get the tribute reference at all but the mini is absolutely awesome!
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Megas XLR. Hence my response.
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Megas XLR. Hence my response.
....nice. 8)
Yes! Someone got it, lol! The CSO pics are much better than this phone shot but you get the idea. It was one of my favorite Cartoon network shows from a few (10+?) years ago. I saw the Black Knight and something about it reminded me of ol' Megas.
(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff214/RaphaelWrestlingBrazil/Outros%20Anothers/TV%20Series/MegasXLR0.jpg)
I had to take some artistic liberties to make it 'flow' but Ithink the general idea was there. O0
-Gunz
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/DrkSpde/Gencon%202014/WP_20140815_003_zpsef130962.jpg)
From IWM booth
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/DrkSpde/Gencon%202014/WP_20140815_003_zpsef130962.jpg)
From IWM booth
NICE!! It's amazing what you can do with an Urbie. ;D
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Well crap, no that's not what they said, that was in the '3250' discussion. I guess noone got a recording? JPArbiter maybe?
I don't know if he recorded it, but his podcst Saturday night did go over the semanar....
Craig
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....nice. 8)
Living here in Jersey, fighting villains from afar
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I remember someone made a good C3P0 and a R2 using a Wyvern and a Urbie.
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That Black Knight is a thing of beauty
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Living here in Jersey, fighting villains from afar
You gotta find first gear / In your giant robot car...
Megas Knight’s Dashboard: Lasers - More Lasers - DISCO INFERNO!
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Megas XLR. Hence my response.
I have no clue what that is...
But then again both my sci-fi and stompy robot knowledge ends at the edges of the BTU
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I have no clue what that is...
A short lived cartoon series on Cartoon Network.
It features a giant warbot from the future landing in the ancient past of the late 90's - early 2000's.
It was found in a Jersey junk yard (no jokes on that being a redundant phrase folks).
The owner is a hefty dude/bro who loves all forms of video games and food.
He fought aliens from the future who covet the robot's power.
The whole show was a tongue in cheek tip of the hat to nearly every pop culture reference from Transformers, Voltron, to MTV.
Worth finding if you can, I remember it being on hulu once or at least for purchase on the XBox market.
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Most importantly, the head of the mecha was missing, so he replaced it with his car.
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Has no one posted a picture of the 23" tall Warhawk we had sitting on our HQ in the Minis hall?
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A short lived cartoon series on Cartoon Network.
It features a giant warbot from the future landing in the ancient past of the late 90's - early 2000's.
It was found in a Jersey junk yard (no jokes on that being a redundant phrase folks).
The owner is a hefty dude/bro who loves all forms of video games and food.
He fought aliens from the future who covet the robot's power.
The whole show was a tongue in cheek tip of the hat to nearly every pop culture reference from Transformers, Voltron, to MTV.
Worth finding if you can, I remember it being on hulu once or at least for purchase on the XBox market.
There might be a reference to it in a BT sourcebook.
Or five.
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I remember Kiva being a news reporter I think.
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Kiva Cooper, in the Jihad HotSpots books. She's on Solaris, in one of her reports the PopTV building gets smashed.
I assume her cameraman is Jamie.
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Has no one posted a picture of the 23" tall Warhawk we had sitting on our HQ in the Minis hall?
That was pretty neat, I just didn't get a pic of it.
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Has no one posted a picture of the 23" tall Warhawk we had sitting on our HQ in the Minis hall?
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,25335.0.html
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No, not the cool costume, the statue display we had in the gaming hall
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No, not the cool costume, the statue display we had in the gaming hall
Oops.
That sounds cool :)
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Looks like it was the year of the Warhawk. If I had the time I would have brought the costume over for a picture with my mini-me. One of the Catalyst guys stopped me on the street as we were carrying "The Beast" back to storage and asked me to drop by the demo area for a chat. Unfortunately I couldn't find you the next day so I'm very sorry for that.
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No, not the cool costume, the statue display we had in the gaming hall
I saw it on Facebook and was jealous and wanted one but I don't think that will ever happen (scratch built right?)
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I saw it on Facebook and was jealous and wanted one but I don't think that will ever happen (scratch built right?)
Awwww that's sad. I want a two foot tall Warhawk in black and blue with gold trim.
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anyone can show us a picture of that Warhawk? Or a link to the facebook post please? I want a 2 feet high 'mech as well!
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anyone can show us a picture of that Warhawk? Or a link to the facebook post please? I want a 2 feet high 'mech as well!
Its can be found on this thread. (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,25335.120.html)
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Its can be found on this thread. (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,25335.120.html)
I'm not seeing a 2 foot tall Warhawk in that thread. (I see a ~ 2m tall Warhawk, which is not the same thing).
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No, not the cool costume, the statue display we had in the gaming hall
I was referring to this one and someone later said they saw it on Facebook...
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Has no one posted a picture of the 23" tall Warhawk we had sitting on our HQ in the Minis hall?
You mean this guy?
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Are the cookies his isorla? :D
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Are the cookies his isorla? :D
Aff. O0
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gooseman, yer da... man! That Warhawk is sick! I guess it's a one off made for Catalyst :(
I need to lay my hands on a 3D printer! :P
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Are the cookies his isorla? :D
I certainly wouldn't try to take them.
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gooseman, yer da... man! That Warhawk is sick! I guess it's a one off made for Catalyst :(
Neg, it's my understanding the model was the owner's and he graciously displayed it at the HQ for the CGL miniatures gaming section.
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Just a note to say that I put up a DropBox Gallery for CSO & Catalyst here:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,41225.0.html
Enjoy!
Dak
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You gotta find first gear / In your giant robot car...
Megas Knight’s Dashboard: Lasers - More Lasers - DISCO INFERNO!
Does it have a "Button you should have pressed at the beginning of the fight to outbid and destroy the clanners." button?
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My first set of pictures:
https://plus.google.com/photos/108372043424768835489/albums/6049438015629073217 (https://plus.google.com/photos/108372043424768835489/albums/6049438015629073217)
Pics and details of the Clan Grand Melee and Trial of Bloodright will be posted in AARs as soon as I get the details written up.
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Are the cookies his isorla? :D
I..*munch munch* Warrior Coop have defeated the 103rd Girl Scout Troop.
They are now bondsmen of my Clan.
I claim these Thin Mints as isorla!
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I..*munch munch* Warrior Coop have defeated the 103rd Girl Scout Troop.
They are now bondsmen of my Clan.
I claim these Thin Mints as isorla!
Those are no mere girl scout cookie, those are the much vaunted Oreo IICs
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Those are no mere girl scout cookie, those are the much vaunted Oreo IICs
Those are rare ever since the Mystic Order of Keeb-lar mothballed the facilities after the great Food Fight.
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Those are rare ever since the Mystic Order of Keeb-lar mothballed the facilities after the great Food Fight.
Only the facilities in the Inner States, the Northern Periphery retains several facilities
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You mean this guy?
That's just awesome :)
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Has no one posted a picture of the 23" tall Warhawk we had sitting on our HQ in the Minis hall?
Dak posted a link to a dropbox gallery down in the Miniatures forum. I seem to be the only one who's asking questions about it. (found this post of yours doing a forum search.) [edit: and then I pull the rookie mistake of not reading the rest of this thread :D ]
It looks absolutely amazing! What can you tell me about it?
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A nice Daishi/Dire Wolf sized version would be pretty awesome!
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So jealous I don't have the time or money to go, but thanks for the info and pictures. O0
We should all plan to go next year. Me, you, Master1955, Fidel Cashflow and the others. Geekout weekend! :D
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I'm already organizing via FB with a bunch of friends and setting money aside a bit at a time so it doesn't sneak up on me like it did this year. Is it next August yet?! :D
-Gunz
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Is it next August yet?!
GenCon was moved to July for next year.
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Starts the last couple days of july and ends August 2nd I think, which is why I'm eyeing to go since I don't have to worry about my job starting the day after I'd get home...
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GenCon was moved to July for next year.
:Jumpy: [rockon]
-Gunz
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Did they say why their moving the con? My local con I go to properly need change to August because of that.
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Probably something else already booked at the convention center.
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I prefer it when Gencon is earlier in the summer. It gives me more time to play with my loot before work resumes.
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Did they say why their moving the con?
I've heard nothing official, but the unofficial rumblings are that the Colts/NFL requested the change so as to not conflict with preseason. Both teams book out pretty large blocks of hotel rooms for the games, and GenCon's housing requirements pretty much kill any hotel availability.
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There is also another large event that this year (Drum Corps Internationals Finals week) was the weekend before Gencon and is the same weekend in Indy next year. This shift back to the beginning of August for this year was announced at least two years ago if not longer.
Gencon posts their future show dates on their website here: http://www.gencon.com/attend/futuredates
Also pushing Gencon back earlier actually should end up helping attendance because it doesn't run up against schools; with a lot of districts starting in mid August now you end up with people who are in education (like Savage Coyote) who either can't come to the con or have to run on very tight travel schedules to be able to attend.
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I've heard nothing official, but the unofficial rumblings are that the Colts/NFL requested the change so as to not conflict with preseason. Both teams book out pretty large blocks of hotel rooms for the games, and GenCon's housing requirements pretty much kill any hotel availability.
I finished playing the afternoon canon session on Saturday and walked outside to grab dinner from the food trucks. The street was packed with congoers, obviously, but there were also hordes of Colt fans walking past headed to the stadium. Seeing the blending of these two subcultures was highly amusing :)
So yeah, the NFL preseason thing would totally make sense. (And remember, someone wearing an Andrew Luck jersey is cosplaying too!)
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Also pushing Gencon back earlier actually should end up helping attendance because it doesn't run up against schools; with a lot of districts starting in mid August now you end up with people who are in education (like Savage Coyote) who either can't come to the con or have to run on very tight travel schedules to be able to attend.
And thank you for helping with that tight travel schedule a few years ago! O0
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August is crazy for cons.
There's already WorldCon, Dragon Con, Pax Prime, and Official Star Trek Convention. In fact, WorldCon and GenCon were on the same weekend this year.
Especially for Pax and DragonCon, that's a lot of cross-over.
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August is crazy for cons.
There's already WorldCon, Dragon Con, Pax Prime, and Official Star Trek Convention. In fact, WorldCon and GenCon were on the same weekend this year.
Especially for Pax and DragonCon, that's a lot of cross-over.
And also the massive convention up in Toronto this weekend (Fan Expo?)
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Lots of conventions and not a lot of money.
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Grand Melee and Bloodright reports posted in After Action Reports.
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Had a blast at GenCon. Next year hope to get in on more BT events that just the Boot Camps. Hopefully there will be more story events too like the Bansons Raiders event I saw. Sorry if I missed this, but was there a summary of the BT points from the what's happening with Catalyst talk?
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How big was the diorama from gencon last year?