BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Player Boards => Fan Articles => Topic started by: worktroll on 30 January 2011, 17:02:59
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A while back, I came to the conclusion that it would be useful to have "transition" products aimed at people who are coming from other games with a more formal organisation - army lists, codexes, that sort of thing. BattleTech is a huge, sprawling universe - one of its main attractions, IMHO - but in all fairness if you're not used to that frredom, if you dont' have access to the mass of back-story and fluff, it can be a bit overwhelming.
Now the free downloads available on this site are amazing resources, but even then, they're also a little overwhelming to someone new to the game. And I've seen a fair number of posts to the effect of "How can I find out a bit more about the (Draconis Combine, Free Worlds League, etc etc)?" or "Which house will suit me and my style of playing best?". So I decided to create something myself to cover this gap. Thus were born the Army Reports.
Basically, they're digests of the 3025-era House Books. They give a brief summary of each state and its leader, their interstellar relations, and then their military, along with a map of the realm produced by forum member Blacknova. The information is all taken from canon sources - I kept the editing to an absolute minimum, and supplemented lightly from other sources like the Field Manuals or scenario books where appropriate. Then, they provide highlights of ten notable - or representative - regiments, including unit mottos and paint schemes, along with beautiful pictures of CamoSpecs minis belonging to some of the units. Finally, they include Random Assignment Tables (RATS) allowing people to quickly "roll up" random representative units, and a larger list covering common & uncommon 'Mechs and vehicles serving in that state's armed forces, all with BV2 point values and a brief section on balancing games using BV2.
Five have been completed so far:
Army Report: Free Worlds League Military, 3025 (http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/602/Army_Report_House_Marik_v1.3.pdf)
Army Report: Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, 3025 (http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/602/Army_Report_House_Kurita_v1.2.pdf)
Army Report: Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, 3025 (http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/602/Army_Report_House_Davion_v1.1.pdf) (now v1.1!)
Army Report: Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces, 3025 (http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/602/Army_Report_House_Steiner_v1.2.pdf) (now v1.2!)
Army Report: Capellan Confederation Armed Forces, 3025 (http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/602/Army_Report_House_Liao_v1.0.pdf) (new!)
Sorry folks - above links are dead, please use these for the moment!
Army Report: Free Worlds League Military, 3025 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uoZpjZ4cVDNVU2a2dBdWFTTUE/view?usp=sharing)
Army Report: Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, 3025 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uoZpjZ4cVDaWktd25WNXdKZnM/view?usp=sharing)
Army Report: Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, 3025 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uoZpjZ4cVDMWtwUnZYd09McDQ/view?usp=sharing)
Army Report: Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces, 3025 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uoZpjZ4cVDcXBxX0poSXIzTnM/view?usp=sharing)
Army Report: Capellan Confederation Armed Forces, 3025 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uoZpjZ4cVDckdXRUU5djJSRVk/view?usp=sharing)
(I'd appreciate if someone tries to access the new links, and let's me know if they're all good now. Thanks!)
Three more are planned: the Periphery, Mercenaries, and ComStar. The series is currently on hold because I need a break ...
Note: these aren't be-all, end-all books. They're introductions. It's unlikely that I'd do 3050 versions - the Field Manuals do a better job in depth, and I do think there are advantages in starting people off in the 3025 era, even if they move on to play 3050s right away.
Anyway, enough of me - please feel free to d/l them, read them, share them freely. I have permission to use the canon material I have as long as it's freely distributed with all the Catalyst registered names & details still on, so by all means share them with your friends, print them out, make them available at games, etc.
Always open to suggestions, within my stated goals, and more than happy to talk about how I did them.
Cheers,
Worktroll
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Nice to see these back :)
Might want to change the date in the title though ;)
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Lysdexic there WT? ;)
Thanks for the articles though. Good stuff.
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Excellent work! A near perfect introductory product, but I think it needs just one more little thing: record sheets. Not for every mech in the book (or any of the vehicles), but just for a few of the more common ones in each weight class that are not in the boxed set. That way new player can start building more thematic forces before going to TRO3039.
For Example: add a sheet for the Locust, Wasp, Stinger, Wolverine, Orion, Archer, Thunderbolt, Stalker, and Battlemaster to the Marik book, Locust, Wasp, Shadow Hawk, Griffin, Phoenix Hawk, Crusader, Archer, Stalker and Longbow to the Kurita book, Locust, Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk, Centurion, Crusader, Archer, Rifleman, Stalker and Victor to the Davion book. Just the mechs in the 6, 7 and 8 rolls that aren't in the intro-set.
Also, would you be able to do a book for Mercenaries? With history for most of the major companies (Wolf Dragoons, Kell Hounds, Eridani Light Horse, Northwind Highlanders, Big MAC, etc.) and either a general mercenary/pirate RAT?
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Not impossible, but depends on how much time work & Leviathans give me (currently fighting my way to La Paz). Thanks for the kind words!
W.
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Awesome books- nice clear introductions!
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Great to see this return.
Looking forward to the next two.
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Awesome work!!! I love it. I am sooo looking forward to seeing the rest of the houses done up, and if you do more I am sure they will be great too. I have been needing resources like these for some ideas I have but have been unable to spend the time myself doing it. Thanks!
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...Found you again! Great books, Worktroll!
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Great Books! [notworthy]
Personally I'd like to see the 3025 TO&E for each military. First to see the size of the army as well as the structure of the military (e.g. PDZ in FS, Theater in LC, District in DC, and so on).
Also the section Modifying the BV of a unit (e.g. p. 23 in House Kurita) should be updated to the adjusted Skill improvements (e.g. 1,38 vs. 1,50 for Regular to Veteran).
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Great books and PERFECT to hand to my son and say "this is what a Kurita Army looks like" in read-in-one-sitting format. Plus, useful tables!
If, one day you decide to do Liao and Steiner ...
[notworthy]
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I'd love to, but work and Levs keep me from having much spare energy ... :(
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Thank you for reposting these.
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They're cool - I really like these Reports! [rockon]
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Nice to see these back :)
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These kick-ass,,,we bow to your greatness,and wait patiently for the others [notworthy]
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...Just post start a thread when the next ones are ready. I'll want it for my collection of fan books.
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I'd love to, but work and Levs keep me from having much spare energy ... :(
WT, there are a few corrections that could be made, should discussions be on this thread, or a new one?
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Great job [notworthy] [notworthy]
Can't wait for Liao ;)
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WT, there are a few corrections that could be made, should discussions be on this thread, or a new one?
Please feel free to list anything here! However, be aware:
1) I tended to leave the 1980s grammar how it was, with only very minor corrections
2) Matters of fact will be viewed in terms of a 3025 viewpoint; I've tried to keep a balanced view (for example, removing the steaming man-love from the HB:Davion while retaining the flavour).
W.
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Yay Army Report
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Just received Blacknova's proofing comments on the text of AR:LCAF ...
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Excellent news [notworthy]
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Just received Blacknova's proofing comments on the text of AR:LCAF ...
Nice, another fine addition to the house book 'lite' series. Keep 'em coming!
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Well done Worktroll. Thank you.
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awesomeness!
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Please feel free to list anything here! However, be aware:
1) I tended to leave the 1980s grammar how it was, with only very minor corrections
2) Matters of fact will be viewed in terms of a 3025 viewpoint; I've tried to keep a balanced view (for example, removing the steaming man-love from the HB:Davion while retaining the flavour).
W.
Army Report - House Davion 1.0
Pg 18, 1st paragraph
The following rules are optional, and may be used when creating House Kurita-themed units for the 3025 era.
Pg 20 - Top of the page
The following units are provided as examples of typical Free Worlds League BattleMech forces in 3025.
Pg 24 - End of the Example paragraph halfway down the second column
... or for a King Crab KGC-0000, which is not available to Marik MechWarriors.
Pg 28 - Where to go from here
Consider changing the Intro Box set graphic to the 25th Anni box set pic
Change the old RS 3039 graphic to that of the new 3039u.
Thanks again for sharing!
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Many thanks, Sartris - AR:AFFS v1.1 now posted (see top of thread!)
And AR:LCAF now in its own thread - share and enjoy!
W.
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Please feel free to list anything here! However, be aware:
1) I tended to leave the 1980s grammar how it was, with only very minor corrections
2) Matters of fact will be viewed in terms of a 3025 viewpoint; I've tried to keep a balanced view (for example, removing the steaming man-love from the HB:Davion while retaining the flavour).
W.
OK, starting with the FWL (what else ;D )
Your province listing has incorrect #s of worlds, Oriente does not have 40, Andurien does not have 33 etc etc. Those numbers are actually number of seats. While each independant worls is guaranteed one seat in Parliament, the major worlds have many seats per world. Andurien should have just 12 worlds, and Oriente 15. ;)
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And now, 5 for 5! Share and enjoy.
W.
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fyi
Army Report - House Liao
Pg 18
The following rules are optional, and may be used when creating House Steinerâ€themed units for the 3025 era.
Pg 18, paragraph above "Determine Equipment"
Example: Alex wants to roll up a lance belonging to the 10th Lyran Guard (“The Saucy Sixthâ€) The regiment has Veteran experience, and is classed as Medium for ‘Mechs.
Pg 23, example paragraph of Balancing Games Based on Battle Value
Example: Alex’s 2nd Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Fusiliers of Oriente are having combat with Chris’ DCMS forces of the 2nd Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Donegal Guards.
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Bra-vo! [notworthy]
Off I go to the nearest printing/binding shop
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What are the chances of finding/getting something like this for Aerospace/Warships?
I love the new files. I still have the original ones you made to create my collecting templates for each House. [notworthy]
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Well, I left aerospace out for a number of reasons:
1) Integrating the air & ground game gets a little complex, and these are primarily aimed at entry-level users.
2) At the time, Xotl hadn't produced 3025-era aerospace lists. I must check his latest versions, I might revise at some point to include them.
3) No WarShips in 3025 (although who knows what might be in AR: ComStar 3025 8) )
THanks for the kind words!
W.
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Yea, I'm thinking of setting up the whole campaign thing from space to ground.
Would make it nice and complicated if some of your dropships get waxed on the way down and reduce your forces. ;D
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Hi WT,
Lovin what you done with the Army Reports. I noticed something in the profile for the Shepard's Mounted Fusiliers on page 15. The article says the Fusiliers formed in 2995, where in the following sentence 2987. Why was the typo carry over from the old house book?
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Possibly because I failed to check that - either that error came verbatim from the old book, or it was a difference between that and FM:CC (which I used as a secondary source). Noted for the next version, thanks!
W.
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These are pure gold, sir. Thanks!
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With MadCaps Objective Raids Fanbook and this...You know,
Herb could easily have had these proofed, revised slightly, and made
money from them WT...Glad he chose to let you do them as fan-books.
Makes the game even more accessible for new players who are coming
straight from the boxed set an TRO 3039
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I just went through Army Report House Steiner. I have some nitpicks here:
1. Flashman is highlighted as common 'Mech. Sure it's zombie and there's even production line making new ones, but c'mon! Highlighting it more common than Marauder just doesn't feel right. Lessee what Xotl says in his RATs... Flashman 5, Marauder 4 ::) Why in novels and BattleCorps fiction Marauder seems to be more common Lyran 'Mech than Flashman?
2. BLR-1S more common than standard G model? Really?
3. BNC-3S is among common 'Mechs even though in 3025 it is only refit of the BNC-3E just entering field and combat testing. For comparison ZEU-6T has just replaced ZEU-6S as main production model and it is uncommon, which seems right to me.
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Please take up any 'Mech frequency questions with Xotl; he kindly allowed me to use his data.
Cheers,
W.
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I just went through Army Report House Steiner. I have some nitpicks here:
1. Flashman is highlighted as common 'Mech. Sure it's zombie and there's even production line making new ones, but c'mon! Highlighting it more common than Marauder just doesn't feel right. Lessee what Xotl says in his RATs... Flashman 5, Marauder 4 ::) Why in novels and BattleCorps fiction Marauder seems to be more common Lyran 'Mech than Flashman?
Because Harmony Gold is not your friend.
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Please take up any 'Mech frequency questions with Xotl; he kindly allowed me to use his data.
Did you notice those are for no earlier than year 3028?
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Very nice work! Would you believe I only just noticed these?
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Little bit of errata: pg. 4 of the Marik report under the Duchy of Andurien heading says "helped forge the foundation of the Free Worlds League in the 23rd and 34th centuries." Should read "23rd and 24th centuries."
Pg. 7, under the Summary heading says "not because Anton’s rebellion was perceived as illegal or treasonous, but because Anton has sought help from the hated Liao enemy." Change "has" to "had."
Pg. 13, bottom of the page, left hand column. Last sentence on that side of the page, "TO" shouldn't have both letters capitalized.
Pg. 14, first paragraph of the 6th Marik Militia, "aptly names" should be changed to "aptly named."
Also pg. 14, under the 4TH BRIGADE, FUSILIERS OF ORIENTE section, the unit colors section is a different sized font. This is not consistant through other unit colors sections (and sometimes insignia as well).
Pg. 15, Second Sirian Lancers Unit Profile. "The 2nd’scommander" to "The 2nd’s commander."
Also pg. 15, under the 2nd Oriente Hussars section, "engineering the 2nds’s unconventional reconnaissance and intelligence gathering" should remove the superfluous s from "2nds's
Pg. 16, 1st Orloff Grenadiers' Unit insignia and unit colors sections are differnt font sizes from the main text. 1st Regulan Hussars' unit colors has the same problem.
Also pg. 16, under the Unit Profile for the 1st Regulan Hussars, last sentence: "and his bravery in the cockpit his battered Cyclops has been demonstrated time and time again." is missing a preposition between cockpit and his.
Pg. 17, the 4th Regulan Hussars unit info (CO, Experience level, etc) is a different font size than previous units.'
Also pg. 17, in the unit profile: "substantial number of Hermes lis" The second I in Hermes II should be capitalized.
Also pg. 17, the unit colors section has spacing issues.
Pg. 23 has a weird example that messes with all sorts of math. "This reduces his lance total BV to 2607. Alex then elects to make all his recon lance pilots Veterans, which increases his lance total BV to 3506. As these are now within 10% (360) of each other" It might make sense if this was an either/or example, but it assumes both are taken, which is NOT a 10% difference.
Pg. 24. "Herb, playing this force, could reasonably swap his Hunchback HBKâ€4G, for the HBKâ€3P variant" There is no HBK-3P on the common/uncommon tables.
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Thanks for the errata, and hope you found them interesting/useful! :)
I'll probably combine all the errata when I finally get back to looking at AR: Periphery, and AR: Mercs. Deciding how to handle the different structures is the biggest thing at the moment.
W.
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I'll be posting more in that post when I get done with it.
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Post heavily updated with everything I could find on a quick read-through.
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Errata:
Every Army Report, chapter MODIFYING THE BV OF A UNIT (mostly p.23):
All BV values are given assuming that the pilot of the
unit has Regular skills. You can increase (or decrease)
the BV of a unit by increasing the skill level of the pilot
by the following values:
• Regular to Elite BV x2.1
• Regular to Veteran BV x1.5
• Regular to Green BVx0.85
Example: In order to help balance the scenario, Chris
elects to make 2 of the MechWarriors in his medium
lance have Green skill levels. [...]
Should be:
• Regular to Elite BV x1.82
• Regular to Veteran BV x1.38
• Regular to Green BVx0.86
According to the updated skill modifiers.
Of course the examples then need to be recalculated...
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Errata part II: Davion edition.
Pg. 4, under Hanse Davion's bio, it reads "wrestled for control of key positions in the fFderation government." Remove the redundant f in Federation.
Pg. 10, first column. "The coior of the stripes shows to which branch of the service the soldier belongs." Change "coior" to "color."
Also pg. 10, picture caption. "From top left, clockwise: MechWarrior, Aerospace Pilotr, Ship Crewman, Infantryman with body armor." Change "Pilotr" to "Pilot".
Pg. 11, add a period to the end of the last sentence of the Fighter Pilots section.
Pg. 12, remove the redundant period at the end of the Mech Production section, likewise with the Aerospace Craft Production section.
Pg. 15, under the Davion Assault Guards section, there is a floating period between them and the next section.
Pg. 25, again, there is no HBK-3P on the Davion tables, making the example on the previous page sound weird.
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Paging through House Steiner, and as much as I like rolling up a Griffin 1S, I don't think it should cost 101k BV to get one out of the RAT table. ;)
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That's because of all the gold paint on the Royal Guards versions, Kit :D
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Here's a table with the correct BV, Cost and availablitity (by house) for the mechs
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Here's a table with the correct BV, Cost and availablitity (by house) for the mechs
Where are you getting cost and availability from?
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I plugged all the variants into Solaris Skunk Werks to get Cost and BV. (Took a while, but now I have a copy that I can print as needed)
I ripped the common and uncommon availabilities from worktroll's Army Reports (and he got them from Xotl) and then filled in the empty spaces with Rare.
I also use the ratio of 1 rare per company and 1 uncommon per lance to give a reasonable feel for their availability.
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If you made reports of the larger merc units and bound everything together I would throw 30-50 bucks down with a huge grin on my face. This would be a great way to get people to "take up a faction." Getting people a bit deeper into the lore is what I've found generally hooks them into Battletech. It would be a great bridge between the somewhat generic overviews in the beginning fiction and plumbing 300 page tomes on one faction to see if you even like them; 2 thumbs way up.
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If you made reports of the larger merc units and bound everything together I would throw 30-50 bucks down with a huge grin on my face. This would be a great way to get people to "take up a faction." Getting people a bit deeper into the lore is what I've found generally hooks them into Battletech. It would be a great bridge between the somewhat generic overviews in the beginning fiction plumbing 300 page tomes on one faction to see if you even like them; 2 thumbs way up.
Hatachi - that's exactly why I wrote them. I'm glad you, and others, like'em. Maybe I'll get some time to revisit them over the break - we'll see what happens!
W.
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Are we likely to see the last 3 books or not? Or have I just missed them?
One things I did notice was that whilst the FWL bad supply of PPC's was covered, the AFFS love affair with AC's wasn't oversight or not worth mentioning?
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What last three books?
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What last three books?
"Three more are planned: the Periphery, Mercenaries, and ComStar. The series is currently on hold because I need a break ..."
from original post.
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[whipit]
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What's the Laser Carrier mentioned in the CCAF booklet? The MUL entry for it has no useful infomation: http://www.masterunitlist.info/Unit/1861 and Sarna has even less to say, the only thing I can find on the boards is a breif mention to it being a LRM Carrier variant here: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,5667.msg126785.html#msg126785
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Odd Sarna doesn't have it (quick fix coming up?). It's from a mention in TRO 3026, specifically:
Though other types of support units do exist, including AC/2 and laser carriers, they are far from being as effective as missile carriers.
From memory, the laser version carries 2xLL, 4xSL, 20 heat sinks, and power amplifiers. The AC-2 carrier carries 4 or 5 AC-2s, and a good pile of ammo - it's acceptable AA for the 3025-3039 era, but unfortunately probably isn't worth devoting 60 tons of your force for.
W.
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And the Laser Carrier is in RS 3039 unabridged. But Worktroll gave the entirety of the fluff on it. LRM Carrier with lasers instead of LRMs.
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These are excellent!!! Thank you for your efforts! Three cheers for the Worktroll!
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And you're very welcome. Unfortunately some official CGL stuff is occupying my available time at the moment, preventing me from moving further with these - but never say never!
W.
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WOW!! Just found these. They are amazing! Truly a great piece of work. Is there a possibility of a periphery one?
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WOW!! Just found these. They are amazing! Truly a great piece of work. Is there a possibility of a periphery one?
Worktroll has plans to do periphery and mercenary ones when his workload with CGL allows.
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I must say I have found these 'books' very, very useful in setting up games, O0
Are they classed as Official (canon) or Fandom ? IMHO they should be Canon if they are not already O:-) .
Dave.
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...'Fanon', most likely.
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I must say I have found these 'books' very, very useful in setting up games, O0
Are they classed as Official (canon) or Fandom ? IMHO they should be Canon if they are not already O:-) .
Dave.
Books are non-canon, but the content comes from canon FASA publications (House sourcebooks).
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I just found out about these files; the one for the FWL is appreciated, thank you. I look forward to seeing what the Periphery one might look like. (Is your intent to cover only the near periphery realms, like the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat, or would you want to cover the likes of the Hansa and Nueva Castile also?)
As an aside, is there enough material in print to support an equivalent "3025 as seen in Clanspace" document, or would that have to wait for a future era digest set in the pre-Invasion period to be viable? (At present, there seems to be a gap between the end of Era Digest: Golden Century and the details of REVIVAL covered in Era Report: 3052, in terms of specific coverage of the Homeworld goings-on.)
While the Pentagon Worlds and Kerensky Cluster were still unknowns in the Inner Sphere (unless you were a Dragoon in the know), there would still be scope for no end of Trials between rival Clans; or operations against Bandit Caste raiders, for that matter. (It could be a way of introducing new players to Clantech, and to key concepts like Zellbrigen, before unleashing them on their eventual Spheroid foes.)
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Nerroth, thanks for your kind words!
The Periphery one will amost certainly concentrate on the main, hence inner, periphery states. THe Nueva Castillians and Hansa make little impact on the 3025 era. Likewise, the merc one, whenever I get to it, will concentrate on major mercenaries - although I may pass on the uber-mercs, those that have books about them (albeit these days only in PDF) in favour of some of the lesser-known; we'll have to wait and see.
As for ClanSpace - remember, these are all made by mining existing documents. My starting point was "there's all this lovely stuff, almost 30 years worth, but what would a new player need to get a force to play with up & going ?" Hence the potted history & personality, the RATs and available equipment lists, and scenario ideas. There's simply no documentation to mine - and if I did have access to any, it'd have been under NDA and I wouldn't have been able to use it.
Cheers,
W.
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These are fantastic!! I hope that the site will have an official announcement when the next one comes out. These are perfect for beginning players. Just enough to set the hook. Thank you for all your hard work. Off to read them all.
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The Periphery one will amost certainly concentrate on the main, hence inner, periphery states. THe Nueva Castillians and Hansa make little impact on the 3025 era. Likewise, the merc one, whenever I get to it, will concentrate on major mercenaries - although I may pass on the uber-mercs, those that have books about them (albeit these days only in PDF) in favour of some of the lesser-known; we'll have to wait and see.
Understood; though I always like to see more on the Hansa in particular, the near Periphery would be more than welcome even so.
As for ClanSpace - remember, these are all made by mining existing documents. My starting point was "there's all this lovely stuff, almost 30 years worth, but what would a new player need to get a force to play with up & going ?" Hence the potted history & personality, the RATs and available equipment lists, and scenario ideas. There's simply no documentation to mine - and if I did have access to any, it'd have been under NDA and I wouldn't have been able to use it.
I see, thanks for the clarification.
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The Periphery one will amost certainly concentrate on the main, hence inner, periphery states. THe Nueva Castillians and Hansa make little impact on the 3025 era.
but you will still make a quick mention of the smaller periphery states, yes?
even if it just to change their entries from "Harmless" to "Mostly Harmless" ?
:)
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...pass on the uber-mercs, those that have books about them (albeit these days only in PDF) in favour of some of the lesser-known...
}:)...the Crescent Hawk's... O:-)
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...oh, and I love the Army Reports!
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And now, I patiently await the ComStar Army Report. ::)
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And now, I patiently await the ComStar Army Report. ::)
3025...ther is no "ComStar Army" except ome infantry and a few vehicles at each facility, and a contracted merc unit
of 'mechs at the more important ones ;)
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A great series of articles. O0 Thanks for all the work you've put into them. Looking forward to the next one.
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Amazing work. This is better than a some of the stuff i've paid for for other games.
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Saved on my PC,thank a lot! O0
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Thanks so much for this!!!
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Do you intend to pursue additional Army Reports for other time periods and/or factions?
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I've always intended to do Army Reports for the Periphery, Mercs, and ComStar (the last being a joke product with every page marked "REDACTED" probably ;) ). There seems little point in doing later eras, as the Field Manuals tend to cover the same territory in greater detail.
There's also the intent that the Army Reports are meant to be introductory items. Going past (say) 3039, you run into the Clans, tech increase, etc etc. That's why I set them in 3025 - simple rules levels, the base Inner Sphere history, enough to whet your interest and give new players, particularly from other more structured-faction games, somewhere to stand.
W.
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What about in the opposite direction? :D
Army Reports: 2750 sounds like it'd be fun.
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To date? Lack of appropriate source material. Remember, I never claimed them as original work - just a "Reader's Digest" version of the old House Books :)
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What about an update for 3039? Or is that better covered by other books? A post 4SW may also be good, I think the materials that covered what happened in the 4SW are out print.
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I have to say GREAT i love these pdf's big help to my newer players.
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You're very welcome, Katya!
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these are fantastic! Thanks for working so hard on them. :)
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First off,
Thanks a bunch for these, Worktroll. I plan on making extensive use. :)
A few questions:
1. Why is the EXT-4A Exterminator listed on the Davion rarity chart in 3025, but not on the Liao one? It was produced starting in 3007 by Kallon Industries on Nanking, which wasn't taken by House Davion until the 4th Succession War after the Tikonov Free Republic was absorbed.
2. Why does Steiner not get the Highlander 733 in 3025? I thought they retained a facility to produce small numbers, just like Liao did. Did that not come online until after 3025? (I don't have 3050 Upgrade, so if the answer is in there, please let me know).
3. Now that those two are out of the way, would you be able to share your general thought process on how the Star League downgrades were parcelled out? I figure it would be clear cut if the House in question manufactured the design (like Marik with the Thug and Guillotine), but what about those who didn't manufacture the designs on their tables (like the same Guillotines on the Liao table)? I'm very curious as to how that all came about.
Again, great job, and thanks for saving us all so much time.
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Mitch,
You need to direct those questions to Xotl - I used his random assignment tables to generate the simple RATs and availability lists.
If I had to give an answer on Xotl's behalf, it would come down to how many of that design remained in operation in the given House & time period. The RATs in the Army Reports are purely meant to allow generation of representative forces; the availability lists give a finer-grain idea of the possible. I'm sure there's a King Crab somewhere in the FWL in that era, but the odds of meeting it are just too small to include in a common/uncommon matrix. And so on.
Cheers,
W.
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Mitch,
You need to direct those questions to Xotl - I used his random assignment tables to generate the simple RATs and availability lists.
If I had to give an answer on Xotl's behalf, it would come down to how many of that design remained in operation in the given House & time period. The RATs in the Army Reports are purely meant to allow generation of representative forces; the availability lists give a finer-grain idea of the possible. I'm sure there's a King Crab somewhere in the FWL in that era, but the odds of meeting it are just too small to include in a common/uncommon matrix. And so on.
Cheers,
W.
Thanks. I'll direct those questions to him. Is there a particular thread for his fan product where I can do so?
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1. Why is the EXT-4A Exterminator listed on the Davion rarity chart in 3025, but not on the Liao one? It was produced starting in 3007 by Kallon Industries on Nanking, which wasn't taken by House Davion until the 4th Succession War after the Tikonov Free Republic was absorbed.
EXT-4A was produced by Kallon on Thermopolis, so no Liaos or Davions, but Mariks were users of this Succession Wars model. (per TRO: 3050U and Handbook: House Marik)
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Thanks. I'll direct those questions to him. Is there a particular thread for his fan product where I can do so?
Xotl's excellent RAT project thread is found here:
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,1219.0.html (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,1219.0.html)
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EXT-4A was produced by Kallon on Thermopolis, so no Liaos or Davions, but Mariks were users of this Succession Wars model. (per TRO: 3050U and Handbook: House Marik)
OK, Sarna.net should be updated, then. They list it as Nanking in both the Exterminator's own article and the article on Kallon Industries. I still need to get 3050U. Will probably do that this week. Supposedly, the Nanking reference comes from Tech Readout: 3025 Revised. Don't have that book either (since I was trying to get by with both the original 3025 and the original 3050). Did that get retconned or was it just wrong?
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Sarna's a great place to start looking, but for minutia at this level I'd be wary. Sarna is only as good as the people who contribute, so if you find an issue, why not fix it? I've done a few things myself - and if I can do it ;)
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Sarna's a great place to start looking, but for minutia at this level I'd be wary. Sarna is only as good as the people who contribute, so if you find an issue, why not fix it? I've done a few things myself - and if I can do it ;)
Yeah. Once I get the books in question, I may do so, since I already have HB: Marik and I'll have the other primary sources involved. As someone who's had work published in peer-reviewed journals, I'm well aware of the pitfalls of anything with "wiki" in its title, but I figured I'd take a shot at leaning on it because I was hesitant to buy the books that were referenced. I'll see what I can do about that issue once I get them. The EXT's been one of my favorite machines since I was 12, and it would be a fitting first contribution.
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This material is great. Any update on new books? 3025 is an awesome period. I would love to see a mercenary book. Keep up the great work!!!
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I'd like see alternate eras used too. Arguably these enhanced Army Reports, based on old House Books are best fan products out there for this time period. Gives actual fact what variants are in use and how scares they maybe. I'd rather have a listing like this used in CGL producted books, but i guess this more product of love than something that can turn profit.
Thank you again, worktroll.
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You're all very welcome.
the Field Manuals sort of replicate this for the other eras. The intent was that you could start with 3025 & the basic rules using the Army Reports, then move to the FMs and a more detailed set of information. These were very much intended to help transition people from either no BT background, or background in more traditional minis games which imposed far more structure, into the more open BT environment.
And yes, I should consider picking up the Mercs book again.
And minor point - fans aren't in any way obliged to do anything to support the game. But I can say it's a whole lot of fun, and satisfaction, bringing an effort like this to completion - and a real blast when real live peopleTM
get some use out of it!
Cheers,
W.
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Need to looks these over for an AS game sometime.
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Have you ever considered adding these to the Battlecorps store with a $0 price tag to gauge community receptiveness and interest to an actual product of this nature?
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I had pitched the idea to Herb Beas, the line developer, way back when. The main issue was in order to go up on the BattleShop, the products would have to get professional layout. Layout is one of the production bottlenecks, and these would have taken up a layout person's time time better spent on work that made the company money.
I was OK with this; I asked if it was OK for me to do this as a fan-work, and Herb kindly agreed. As the ARs are based on
- information freely available through the old House Book PDFs
- public domain work like Xotl's RATs
it wasn't like I was competing directly with new product, even the Era Reports for similar periods.
So, shorter answer: No, and this way, I can make my own mistakes and not cause CGL problems ;) Interestingly enough, if you look in the back of Alpha Strike, you'll find representative companies for the Clan Invasion period. Maybe I had some small influence there? (Formally - I doubt it; it's the sort of thing you'd put in that book anyway, even if I hadn't done my ARs ;) )
Although I think their companies are more flavour-driven than pure stats-driven - 'Mechs particularly associated with that faction.
W.
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I tend to think that a product like this could be slapped up for a hefty $0 without any layout changes at all, just to gauge interest. I know that I was most certainly helped by it during my formative period in BattleTech, and it's really an excellent resource even after.
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I tend to think that a product like this could be slapped up for a hefty $0 without any layout changes at all, just to gauge interest. I know that I was most certainly helped by it during my formative period in BattleTech, and it's really an excellent resource even after.
Whether electronic or dead-trees, the publishing industry just doesn’t work that way. When a company puts a product on its web-store, even as a freebie, the customer automatically assumes that it meets that company’s quality-control standards and reflects its degree of dedication to its craft. If your ‘free tastes’ look like something thrown together in someone’s living-room in the fifteen minutes between dinner and Monday Night Football*, it sends a message about your company’s skill, professionalism and how much you love what you do. That being so, it becomes imperative that any product you intend to release doesn’t go out to the public until it does meet your standards.
If you’ll pardon the language, the TL;DR version is “free or not, every product put on the BattleShop has to get full layout treatment, or it’ll look like CGL doesn’t give a shit about doing things properly”.
* That’s a general comment, worktroll, not a slam on the ARs; IMO, there are many publishers in the Pathfinder 3PP industry who could stand to take some pointers from you. O0
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Sorry for the thread necromancy, Worktroll i was wondering if you've had any time to do a periphery one of these? Or hoped to in the future?
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Sorry for the thread necromancy, Worktroll i was wondering if you've had any time to do a periphery one of these? Or hoped to in the future?
Well...he *DID* do a FWLM one...isn't that kind of the same thing?
*ducks!*
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Well...he *DID* do a FWLM one...isn't that kind of the same thing?
*ducks!*
If it was for the period where the FWL was broken up it would make sense
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If it was for the period where the FWL was broken up it would make sense
no..the FWL matters very little, even then, in terms of effect on the universe. So, it
is very much a Periphery state, even though they have delusions that they are an
actual Successor State.
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no..the FWL matters very little, even then, in terms of effect on the universe. So, it
is very much a Periphery state, even though they have delusions that they are an
actual Successor State.
Bit harsh.
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Bit harsh.
But true.
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But true.
Unfortunately.
Although it does mean for that 3145 FWLers can arguably roll on the Periphery General RAT, and Pirate RAT. :D More variety so to speak.
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I'd like pipe in and say, I still love this work, Worktroll. I'm sad it never was made into canon product, but i having it makes these awesome.
I wish you were able round out rest of the series with Periphery, Mercenaries and etc!
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I'd like pipe in and say, I still love this work, Worktroll. I'm sad it never was made into canon product, but i having it makes these awesome.
I wish you were able round out rest of the series with Periphery, Mercenaries and etc!
Amen.
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Just saw this from a link in the main area. Great stuff. While going over the Kurita file I found myself a new unit, the Legion of Vega. I'm sure I have read it before at some point but right now I'm looking for another unit to paint and this really popped out.
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Every time I see a reply like this it makes me really glad I did these. Thank you so much, StoneRhino!
Being on the mini side myself - having graduated decades ago from ancients and Napoleonic minis combat - I've always been aware of the Heritage books, and how important they were for allowing new gamers to explore those convoluted historical periods, units and combats. The idea of doing a BT Heritage series - swoon! But in the meantime, hence the Army Reports - some small shadow of that great tradition.
W.
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Saw this on my "recent unread" list, and popped in to say: thanks for these, worktroll! Since I realized I haven't yet.
P.S. How is this thread not stickied?
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Because these are totally unofficial works. I proposed the idea to Herb Beas way back when, as a free product designed to help people transition from more structured list-based minis wargames to the free-form chaos that is BT. However, "free" products aren't really free, even when the author doesn't want a cent - there's layout, which is professionally done, plus competition for scarce fact-check and similar resources. Herb kindly decided not to block me taking the idea and doing it fan-work wise.
Speaking as forum admin, we try and limit the number of stickied threads. The body of knowledge in the "otW" articles, for example, makes having the article directory stickied. If we stickied any useful contributions by a member, it'd look like Shelob's Lair soon ;)
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...I've been making units for the first time in a LONG time for the last couple days. How about doing some simplified books for unit construction? One for combat, Primitive, and civilian Mechs. One for combat, Primitive, and support vehicles. One for ASF, Primitives, and small craft. One for Protos and BA. One for Drop-, Jump-, and WarShips.
I'm jumping through the book, looking at the master engine chart, checking Primitive rules out of another, and keeping TacOps on the table just in case. And carrying them - its around 10 pounds on my kitchen scale - with my lunch and work stuff in my back pack is annoying. Not to mention that I'm carrying almost $200 in game books around.
How about it, Worktroll? Could you find time to start a new project for us? [whipit]
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snip...
I gotcha. Makes sense. O0
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RedPins, that's a project I'm unlikely to tackle. Firstly because that's core rule territory, and something lying at the heart of the IP. The only "rules" I covered were the BV & balancing stuff; the RATs came from Xotl's fan work, not official stuff. Similarly I'm unlikely to produce (say) 3050 versions, because there are various still-around sourcebooks and housebooks covering that stuff.
And secondly, as Welshman can testify, I'm not really a rules guy. Broad-brush, top-down sort of things, yes. Put it this way - I don't answer rules questions on Leviathans because I still can't consistently work bracketing fire properly ...
OTOH, if anyone wanted to come up with wholly fan-written "tactical primers" - a few hundred words about how each Great House fought in the 3025 era - there might be an opportunity for a v2 of the Army Reports. Would have to hit a delicate balance between dictating how people ought to play (ungood), and vague generalities, though.
W.
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RedPins, that's a project I'm unlikely to tackle. Firstly because that's core rule territory, and something lying at the heart of the IP. The only "rules" I covered were the BV & balancing stuff; the RATs came from Xotl's fan work, not official stuff. Similarly I'm unlikely to produce (say) 3050 versions, because there are various still-around sourcebooks and housebooks covering that stuff.
And secondly, as Welshman can testify, I'm not really a rules guy. Broad-brush, top-down sort of things, yes. Put it this way - I don't answer rules questions on Leviathans because I still can't consistently work bracketing fire properly ...
OTOH, if anyone wanted to come up with wholly fan-written "tactical primers" - a few hundred words about how each Great House fought in the 3025 era - there might be an opportunity for a v2 of the Army Reports. Would have to hit a delicate balance between dictating how people ought to play (ungood), and vague generalities, though.
W.
...I did tactical primers for the Omega Sector Hivers and won second place to be published, but that was a long time ago for me. And I'm still 40/60 in terms of win/lose, even if I have played for over two decades, so I don't feel competent to write such a thing. And comparing the number of project started compared to ones actually finished... Well. It's unlikely to see the light of day.
I think it might be useful for the community, but those are good points.
Now, where's my 3145 faction books, hmm? Stop shirking your responsibilities to the BT community, Workie! :D
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I think it would be great to approach these from a clan perspective as well since there is gossip of an Alpha Strike box set with 10 clan mechs with 12 IS mechs. Perhaps a mercenary one as well.
I have shown these pdf's to so many people. Thank you for creating them. It is a shame Herb did not see the value in making thee official. Gee, might sell more mechs lol. Catalyst's approach of play whatever you want is fine but people want to add the flavor of the army they are building. I had a buddy who loves Steiner and wanted people to look at his Alpha Strike company and see the Steiner in the mechs chosen. He loved your pdf.
Catalyst is so careful not to have army lists which boggles my mind, but that is a topic for another time. I loved the old Fasa for aligning mechs to houses.
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I thank you, Panthros! Sounds like the ARs have found their way into the hands of the sort of people they were intended to help!
And it wasn't that Herb didn't see value in them - far from it, he was very complementary. It's just that between the author and the fan there exists a layer of people who do wonderful things - art & layout. And there's never enough of these. It came down to (roughly) "use limited time to layout & produce Army Reports, or use that time for product that generates revenue". And I can hardly fault that argument.
Besides, I had a lot of fun - I'm sure compared to the regular art & layout guys this was done using the equivalent of blunt sticks and leftover mascara ;) But I had a lot of fun.
(Handy hint - if you have access to a handy colour laser printer, print "booklet mode" (which automatically does 2 pages per sheet in most cases) - a perfect A5 booklet!)
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Tagged for later review.
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Folks,
With Solaris 7 down, and likely to be so for some time (move to new platform, which isn't currently supporting some older Solaris 7 functions), I've put up some temporary links to the Army Reports on Google Drive. Hope these work!
Cheers,
W.
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Thanks, Worktroll!
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Folks,
With Solaris 7 down, and likely to be so for some time (move to new platform, which isn't currently supporting some older Solaris 7 functions), I've put up some temporary links to the Army Reports on Google Drive. Hope these work!
Cheers,
W.
Thanks for the info, I was wondering what happened to it. Your new links all do work as well.
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WT, just a heads up. All the new links work fine, except the Lyran one. When I click on it, it goes to the FWL.
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Hidden bias? ;)
Now fixed. Thanks for the catch, Colonel! Steiner goodness now in place.
W.
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Thanks for fixing it. People must see the wonderfulness that is #STEINER!!! :D
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worktroll , just ran across this thread and would like to thank you and the other gentleman for your brilliant but hard work on the 5 army books you've compiled . just 1 question , did the two of you ever complete the other 3 books .
i have quite a library of fan produced works that really brighten the game up . i'm sure i had read what you 2 complied from all the canon material available . just not in so few source books . both of you keep up the good work .
if the other 3 books are available would you give me a kink to them .
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Thanks!
Sorry, never moved past these five. The mood had passed.
Cheers,
W
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These are great!!! I've been looking for something like these for a long time! I'm introducing 4 new players to the Btech world and these will be PERFECT to print out and give to the players as short consice primers, sort of like "player handbooks" to the setting so they can choose their factions! So much less intimidating than sorting for info in multiple150 page printed books! I love these little manuals so much... :-*
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Many thanks!
W.
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I honestly wish you have enough desired to considered doing the Periphery since their smaller forces/factions.
Give this is going to be the only Combat Manual like books we have, frankly these are superior.
This is truly a master piece of fan-made products.
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These are amazing. My friend and I used to play back in college 25 years ago and now his son wants to learn. I WILL be using these to aid his introduction. Thanks for doing these!
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Thank'ee kindly, young master! :worktroll:
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Just a heads up, Work Troll, but the links are now in a "request permission" mode.
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I updated the Battletech Tech Fanon Wiki's links so they include the Wiki's G Drive which is the back up to Worktroll's stuff. So their still downloadable from there. (https://battletechfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Works_by_Worktroll)
Just go to the page you want look in the info page for the download link. Not the original one i kept at the bottom of the page.
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Just a heads up, Work Troll, but the links are now in a "request permission" mode.
Yup. Noticed that last year. I actually quite like being able to see the interest, and try to respond quickly to requests; some folks are kind enough to add comments, and I've conversed with a couple of them.
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Yup. Noticed that last year. I actually quite like being able to see the interest, and try to respond quickly to requests; some folks are kind enough to add comments, and I've conversed with a couple of them.
Is there any chances of seeing one or two more such as a Periphery version or more interestingly ComStar book?
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Is there any chances of seeing one or two more such as a Periphery version or more interestingly ComStar book?
I'm going to guess the answer is no, but if it was possible it would be great to see a Mercenary's one.
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I updated the Battletech Tech Fanon Wiki's links so they include the Wiki's G Drive which is the back up to Worktroll's stuff. So their still downloadable from there. (https://battletechfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Works_by_Worktroll)
Just go to the page you want look in the info page for the download link. Not the original one i kept at the bottom of the page.
Thanks. I was puzzled by the permission links. This is much better, if a bit add-ridden.
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Thanks. I was puzzled by the permission links. This is much better, if a bit add-ridden.
Permission Link? I'll look at it, the wiki Gdrive may not be fully enabled. I'll take quick glance.
It seems to be fine, it looks worktroll's links aren't working on his google drive. His isn't enabled. The ones marked Battletech Fanon Wiki Google Drive Download Link will work.