CGL were going to create a specific thread, from the FAQ on Mercenaries Kickstarter
"Additionally, a thread dedicated to the BattleTech: Aces playtest will be posted in the official forums at
bg.battletech.com, in the Rules Questions forum. Questions can be posted and answered in that thread."
it never materialized.
The full system will need to integrate formations with unit roles in line with AS 20222 boxset and Commanders Edition as AS(and medium/large Classic scenarios) are formation based games at their heart. It will be useful to run Aces controlled Lances/Stars and Battlefield Support units in competitive games allowing players to focus on individual lances within the bigger campaign missions.
Feel this would expand interest in BT products so CGL is not tapping a big market, at local FLGS know many non Battletech gamers who play AOS etc that really enjoy big format faster play (1-3hrs as opposed to 30hours) scenarios/missions.
At big local con (2000+ footfall weekend, 20 competitions from bloodbowl, FoW, to 40k) I ran AS participation games using commanders edition, AS 2022 boxset plus, for 3 days the sessions were fully booked, plus evening games, totally positive feedback, fun, challenging, expandable, also from feedback many younger (teen to mid 30s) and the older ex Classic players wouldn't play Classic but really enjoyed AS. They felt all the marketing largely ignores playing AS format, most didn't know about it. This tells me they were interested in Battletech theme but not the format they saw.
The market is there but CGL are largely ignoring it, despite success of AS2022 boxset and likely product sales on the back of it.
Picture from con (10-5) - larger games during evenings 5pm-1am in competition hall.
