>>88985162
>Eridani Light Horse are the coolest mercenaries
>Hell’s Horses are the coolest clan

[ride of the rohirrim intensifies]

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>>88985198
Hell yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiMUOuYUy1w

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>>88985198
I like that their combat uniform incorporates a bit of horseness but avoids looking idiotic.

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>>88985341
The plateau shoes will never not get me, but the dumb not quite knight helmet makes up for it. Though this guy has more regular shoes. The dress uniform is a shitpost waiting to happen though as it's just one of those horse masks with a long mane attached to it.

>>88985328
People have posted an Atlas flying horseland colours without knowing, or perhaps knowingly, more than a few times here.

>>88985365
Every Clan dress uniform is a shitpost waiting to happen.

>>88985402
Exactly as Kerensky intended

>>88985466
maybe one kerensky

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>>88985198
Unironically, Hell's Horses seem like one of the more sane Clans. They get shit on a lot, but their autism seems to be lower on the spectrum.
Unless that all changed in more recent lore. I kinda zoned out after the whole FedCom explosion.

>>88985820
>intentionally creates man eating horses and releases them into the wild
>more sane

>>88985842
You wouldn't if given the chance?

>>88985820
They came up with the mongol doctrine thing that the Falcons then perverted for their edgy warcrime phase and in a recent shrapnel or so it says they basically have Redline tier races on random hostile planets for fun. So if anything still fun, but my lore also falls off pretty quick.
They're also in opposition of the ilclan so I am sure they'll just get deleted because we can't have the main characters lose.
Still big on quads and vees as far as I know, still reasonably heavy on combined arms.

>>88985365
Oddly enough high heels were originally an adaptation to help keep feet in the syrups. If there is one faction where you could justify 16thC manly high heels, the Horses would be it.

>>88986050
True, but those are just plateau shoes. Although I could absolutely see them with a random assortment of cavalry garb for their uniforms too.
As is the dress is:
>Dress and Ceremonial Uniforms
>The dress uniform favored by Clan Hell 's Horses features a simple red jacket, trimmed with black leather, over a high-collared black undershirt. A single pentagonal gold button, matching the jacket's cuff-links, pins the right flap of the jacket securely over the wearer's left breast. The warrior's rank insignia adorns the right side of the collar, and veterans of the Clan may wear up to two rows of campaign ribbons over the right breast. From the simple, black leather belt at the uniform's waist, a ceremonial sword may be worn, usually a rapier accented with a brass hilt and handguard. Red trousers trimmed with black leather and polished black leather shoes complete the uniform. Many Hell 's Horses warriors also wear black leather gloves with the dress uniform.
Ceremonial is the same with gold trim and the aforementioned horse mask.
Not sure if those ever got depicted so you could probably add cavalry inspired stuff to the designs of the jacket, pants and shoes. Combat is what you see above in the pictures.

>>88985894
They also respect other castes, non-mechwarriors, and even freebirths who prove themselves.

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quad PAL battle armor

How many IS copies of the nova have there been? I swear there's the IS omnimech, the komodo was based off it, and then I think there's a crusader variant too

is battletech better than x wing>?

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Love this dumb thing.

>>88986938
better how?
it's certain that vastly more people play battletech.
perhaps the game that is better is which one you enjoy more?

>>88986938
That just depends on what you want. I think it has an almost unmatched damage system in the "big" games that are around with just enough crunch to be interesting but not enough to slow things down terribly, so it's better at emulating actual battle damage and reduced performance than something like X-Wing from what I remember of it. You also have the construction rules and probably about as many canon mechs to pull from as random Star Wars starfighters.
You can have space battles and flying stuff, but that's a different beast, the main game is obviously mech and ground stuff.
I'd say give it a try by just reading the rules or playing some matches in Megamek against the bot to see how it plays.

>>88986972
>not enough to slow things down terribly
Isn't battletech notorious for how ridiculously long it takes to do anything?

Anyway are there any decent post helm stalkers or grasshoppers? Those two seem to get a bit shafted as most of their later variants kind of stink

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>>88986941
same, but imo the mwo one looks better

>>88987032
STK-7D
STK-9F

>>88987110
Extending legs
Mechs with this quirk may fire over terrain that is 2 levels high instead of the normal 1

>>88987005
Sure, but it could be a lot slower and more autistic about it is what I meant. Ultimately once you get the ropes it's not that difficult or complicated, it's just knowing where what is and maybe having your cheat sheet. It also depends on how many rules beyond the "standard" you are using and how many units there are on the field of course along with the era because some guns or tech get a bit weird.

At least that's my experience with it, but I also just really love these kind of systems for a wargame because as said it tickles my autism for battle damage and the randomness of dying to a stiff breeze or surviving hits you really shouldn't.
And again, for which is better, you probably just want to check it out, my experience with X-Wing is limited but both have their merits.

>>88987032
The royal Stalker is a bit of a shame given it just removes the SRMs entirely, but is otherwise sensible. As for good, the 3Fk doesn't seem bad on paper, mostly upgrading the existing bits a bit and adding double sinks.

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>>88987110
I like both, the new mini has a neat shape for the mid/rear fuselage section behind the cockpit and a good heatshield around the laser gun. MWO one has one downside though and that's the weird placement of ballistics on the left arm in versions that use it.
Running around with one that has a PPC and LL along with some SLs as a bootleg Phoenix Hawk Special is fun though, unfortunately I recall making that configuration on tabletop means it overheats way too much.

>>88987139
I'd imagine it ducking for hull down scenarios and then peaking up to fire.

>>88987005
Kind of, but it's not entirely warranted. BT was started as a quick beer and pretzels game in the mid 1980s. And for lance on lance actions with people who know the rules and the tables it goes quick.

The problem is people started expanding the game in size to company to company and then adding in infantry, vehicles, VTOLs, ASF, and artillery. The rules started adding onto a relatively simple system and started slowing down.

Then you add in new weapons and equipment and even more new weapons and equipment and then Clan tech and Battle Armor and Protos and C3 and alternate munitions and this and that and the other thing. It would be fine if the system itself had been designed with all these additions in mind but they were just added to a system never designed to use them in the first place. So the the basic Battletech system is still solid, if surpassed by 40 years of game design theory, but it definitely suffers from rules bloating. We went from the original Rule of Warfare that covered everything you would find on the battlefield in 1988 and was 90 pages or so to six core rulebooks that each number in the hundred of pages.

>>88987359
In fairness all of those rules are usually stated as very much optional and pick and choose with the core remaining relatively solid. That includes adding vehicles infantry or other stuff to a game. So while I generally agree, I'd say it's not in a bad spot either as the additions provide a lot of options to eventually expand into should you be interested.

>>88987433
NTA but yeah the ruleset additions being pick-and-mix is its saving grace, the game would would be fucking impenetrable otherwise.

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Where did he go wrong with Phelan?

>>88987528
Arguably one of it's strengths too, but yes.

Just saw the new battlefield support rules for vehicles. I was thinking of using them as cannon fodder for a campaign, anyone figured a good way to balance them or just wing it, they can't be that dangerous?

>>88987634
Oh absolutely, it's both.
Big part of why i gravitated to the system. Sometimes i want startertech levels of simplicity, sometimes my autism wants all the niche stuff.
That it can accommodate both is sexy as hell.

>>88987678
Where did you find those?
Also are they any different from the old ones or what?

>>88987721
They are in Update 28 for the kickstarter. Never read the old ones but from what I've read the big new thing is vehicles and infantry for BSP, not just artillery and aero.

>you get double blind in both the kickstarter and the humble bundle Battletech book bundle

Are they just giving this shit away to everyone? You guys said this was some weird shit

>>88987678
Just read a summary, it's interesting. I kind of like the idea of not bothering to stat them up like weird battlemechs and treating them more like a simpler filler unit. It could really open up massed battles of combined arms that is still primarily focused on the battlemechs themselves. I've been hankering to use anti-infantry weapons.

>>88987808
Supposedly that's exactly the idea.

>>88987808
Honestly not sure what to think of it, seems a bit weird given that the TW rules exist and it introduces a bit of a split again in a game that doesn't need it. But on the other hand it does make it simpler if you don't want the autism but still want some tanks.

>>88987895
I used to do something like that when running an RPG campaign. Rather than actually stat up fodder fully, I just had them die when it seemed like they would be killed. I never told the players that they weren't actually shooting at real record sheeted units, although they also weren't really familiar with how vehicles and infantry worked anyway.

>>88987895
We used to have rules that meant you didn't need the autism to use infantry and vehicles since they died so quickly, but then the loudmouthed assholes on the Official Message Boards pitched such a fit about if a dead trooper was really dead or only mostly dead and that tanks should be more survivable that the rules were changed so that we're at the point that we now need new rules so we can use infantry and vehicles without it dragging the game down.

That's why we're a BMRr group.

>>88987928
>>88987932
I just think it is neat to go all in because it feels like they are proper units then rather than just window dressing. i.e. You could just play a game of tank vs tank or a dogfight with them if you really wanted to without it feeling too removed from just basic Battletech.

https://youtu.be/6frp2PUsmxg

1st Radio Free Butte Hold podcast.

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>>88985365
*the sound of clan hell horse vehicles approaching*

what is it about plantigrade legs and minimal arms that causes them to mix so poorly?
reverse joint legs never look bad or out of place.

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>>88988176
>what is it about plantigrade legs and minimal arms that causes them to mix so poorly?
It instantly recalls trainwrecks like the Cicada.

Are there clan invasion pdfs listed above? Did not see

>>88988176
strays too far from familiarity perhaps we see bird legs and Digi grade i think it comes off as predatory where as losing the arms on plantigrade leaves you with a crippled human

>>88988176
It works on some not so much on others. Jenner for example just looks like a dinosaur.

>>88988201
That is worse than the Stalker janky leg. The fuck happened there

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>>88988092
>Get in loser we are going on a mad stampede

>>88987005
Alpha Strike fixed that.

>>88988015
I get it. I think vehicles have their place, whether it is as infantry carriers, plinkers, scouts, something like the Demolish that makes Mechwarriors crap their pants, and so on. Even using something like a platoon of Savannah Masters smartly can score some real damage against Mechs. I just think that BattleMechs were supposed to be THE King of the Battlefield and that vehicles, while having their uses, shouldn't be on par with them when it comes to survivability. Vehicles should put up the best fight they can and then die gloriously for their lords. The same goes for infantry.

If you're going to make them last longer, at least adjust vehicle BV to reflect that.

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>fictional military unit has “Wolf” in the name
>names all of their shit after wolves
>get jerked off in the lore to be super cool and marketable to the fanbase
it just keeps happening.

>>88988407
Yes but not only are they like that, but they're also given the Ultramarine's presence and plot armor. This also applies to the Clan they represent as well

>>88988359
>I just think that BattleMechs were supposed to be THE King of the Battlefield and that vehicles, while having their uses, shouldn't be on par with them when it comes to survivability
That's the thing where I'm not sure if that even holds true in setting with the mech being kind of a fluke that stuck around because they're versatile and decent on the mobile wars of the future, but not because they're massively better in a straight fight than an equivalent tank for instance, which is more economical for defensive purposes. I think part of what made it appealing in BT is that you can almost pit them equally and get good mileage out of both and then the ASFs arrive and rightfully assert their dominance. And I say that as someone who would generally want less traditional armies like it usually is in BT and more mech knights doing whatever, with or without levies or support teams.
But those are just preferences at the end of the day anyway.

That all said they do still take motive crits and all that other jazz fairly quickly in my experience and they're more likely than mechs to get a crit in general. So while it may not be as fast to kill a vehicle it's usually pretty quick to disable them and mission kill them.
Similarly they can't survive losing any location either so that also speeds it up a bit.

>>88988318
>barrels arent numbered even one side odd the other

fucking clanners I swear

hey guys, looking to get some 3d prints of mechs off of Etsy for stuff that's not coming out until the Kickstarter ships, and i was thinking of getting a scorpion, but I saw someone in the last thread, and it looked like their legs were too wide to fit on a hex base, does anyone else have any experience with them and if they would fit nicely or if they would hang off the edge to an annoying degree?

>>88988943
Pretty sure even the new CGL sculpt has that issue. Unless you downscale it a bunch its got wide splayed legs that are gonna hang over.

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Are there any good FWL versions of the Hermes, or is the original sin of the AC5 too strong?

>>88989079
Hermes III has 2 large lasers

>>88989087

Ain't that a Drac only ride?

>>88989098
Not according to the MUL

>>88989079
There's a RAC5 version

>>88987678
The current beta has a 1 BSP = 20 BV conversion rate, so in theory you should be able to balance them that way.

>>88989139

Huh, must have hallucinated that.

>>88989146
Now that one I'm nearly certain is Davion

>>88987117
>>88987141
What about the grasshopper?

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>>88989232
I hear they're fine when honey-roasted.

>>88989195
My bad I was looking at the Hermes I, who also has a HER-4K, that is FWL exclusive.

Confusing.

>>88988533
I'm a Combined Arms Retard and I agree. I like that every unit has as much autism as the Battlemech but it can be a bit much, which is why the Battle Support rules are nice. Some times you just cant be granular about everything.
In terms of lore, I like mechs being a step above everything else: too much armour, too much weapons, and total unfair bullshit. Worth their weight in gold. But I like the idea that a war cannot be won by battlemechs alone; and that vees and even infantry are needed, and under a competent command and with the right equipment, every mech has a fair shot at getting BTFO'd by conventional units. See Scorpion's Nest. Also makes me laff thinking about some dipshit hotshot mech jock getting vaporized out of existence because "muh king of the battlefield why do they even bother making tanks anymore lmao" hubris biting him in the ass.

>>88986745
Also the Penetrator. They'll never understand what makes the Nova the perfect clan mech though
>ristar machine, decently armored, mobile, DD to befriend elemental ristar, tailor able weapons suite with enough heat curve to show your great skill
>solahma machine, yeet yourself with a nuclear alpha strike at every opportunity
And everything in between.

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>>88986745
Mlas spam just works.

>>88989415
Fair. I think ultimately with these two rulesets it'd be neat to just see it either incorporated into Tacops or TW or whatever as an alternate set eventually. You know kinda like they did for the aerospace flyover rules. that way you'd at least have it all in one place as with the rest of it.
Mind you I'll probably end up using them occasionally too, I like mixing two mechs with some vees because I think that fits the fluff I set up for my dudes with the knight stuff more than a full lance does.

>>88989232
Nope, not really. I did a stupid meme one on the OF once, I don't strictly know if it'd actually be good on the table, though.

>>88988802
There is a logic to it, it's just clockwise. Should probably just be numbered sequentially left to right from the view of the gunner but whatever.

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>>88986745
Where's the problem?

>>88989918
There isn't a problem, i just find it amusing there are so many nova copies

>>88989232
The 6K is ehh, I'd prefer 4 ERML and 1 LPL

>>88989942
Everybody wants a piece of the perfect mech

>>88989942
As it turns out everyone loves Medium Lasers of any type.

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>>88990009
That's not the Nova, though.

>>88989534

The Nova really is the ultimate Clan machine.

Not in terms of being good; it's definitely not very strong compared to the other Gen 1 Omnis. But in terms of philosophy? Definitely.

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>>88990105
I dunno.

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>>88990285
You posted the wrong mech.

>>88990327
Go away green birb

>>88990349
Fun fact: falcons are much more closely related to parrots and passerines ("perching birds", most of the little birds you think of when you hear the word "bird") than they are to raptors.

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>>88990349
Nah I think I'll stay right here running around at full tilt.

>>88990383

How is MASC? I've always been too scared to use it. I know that if you only use it every other turn, it's minimal risk, and it's not like a single crit to each leg ends the game, but I'm a filthy Spheroid and lack the will to run to eternal glory.

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>>88990327
So did you, queer.

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>>88985162
BOLOLO!

>>88989942
Medium laser is the most efficient IS weapon, so it makes sense to make mechs built around carrying as many of them as possible.

>>88990582
Is it not also the most efficient Clan weapon?

7 damage/5 heat/1 ton

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>>88990431
It depends, I find it's not too punishing, but I've also used mechs with both a MASC and a Super at which point you double your chance of just dying.
There's a houserule or optional rule that makes it so that it's free on the first turn, but after that it becomes a roll, that makes it a lot less random. Though I think the first two turns are pretty safe usually, rolling a 2 or 3 on two d6 is not too common.

As far as damage goes, if it hits you you may be fucked as it may just half your movement if it hits the hips, but that's a 1 in 4 too IIRC. I'd try to avoid it so keep the MASC use to two maybe three turns in a row turns or something unless you absolutely need it to get out of dodge.

As for the general fear, think of it like an XL or any of the explody things, if it's gonna go wrong it's gonna go wrong, but if it doesn't you usually get some good benefits from having it, in this case speed you wouldn't otherwise have. Lastly, making vroom noises while you activate the MASC reduces the chance of failure.

>>88990431
NTA, but i've enjoyed them greatly.
I might just have good luck with dice but i dont recall ever crippling my legs. They have been worth it every time.

A three-way battle between the Outworlds Alliance, Clan Nova Cat, and the Eridani Light Horse ended in an ELH victory. The ELH captured an Executioner, the Nova Cats salvaged three light mechs, and the OWA managed to steal the Executioner's severed arm.

This victory over two opponents gives the ELH two victory points, tying them with Naginata Battalion and making them a serious contender for the overall victor of the campaign. Unfortunately, the ELH's player has to leave for most of June due to military training reasons of some sort.

>>88990805
>Unfortunately, the ELH's player has to leave for most of June
Awww man, does that mean the campaign is on pause until he returns ?

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>>88990805
(Why do I always forget my pictures)

>>88990836
It's actually looking more likely that we'll be wrapping up the New Exford campaign in the next month or so, and be ready to start the 3039 Aurigan campaign by the time he's back.

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>>88990890
Bonus post for those who liked seeing Nicky yesterday. Here he is with Bucky.

>>88991010
You should all gang-roll the ELH player. The cats would wish it.

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Surprised they had b tech and Barnes and noble, exclusives at that

>>88991095
B&N has been real big on the board games market last few years, and Battletech is close enough to qualify. There's even a target exclusive box set coming.

>>88991095
I check mine once a week. Last time I was there I scored the Wolf's Dragoons star.

>>88991095
Im always tempted but I already have those mechs. So unless i plan on learning Alpha Strike and picking up those cards or getting that jumping Tbolt sculpt I cant really justify it.

Plus i usually just grab some salvage box's that they have there to scratch whatever itch I may have

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What color should this dude's cockpit be? We're gonna go make a pirate yee his last haw.

>>88991144
Yellow/Orange

>>88991144
Bright green.

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>>88991144
Pilot

>>88987932
>That's why we're a BMRr group.
So what you're saying is that you don't actually play Battletech.

>>88990577
>BOLO
is off topic spam.

>>88991198
Is that freehanded on, or is that a decal of some sort?

>>88991198
How terrifying

What's life like for the average person in BT? And what about people on clan occupied IS worlds?

>>88991144
Cyan is opposite on the color wheel, but since your base color is pretty light I'd go with a darkened cyan.

>>88991431
I recommend you try reading the lore to find this out.

>>88991431
>average
Ranges, I would say probably similar to what you find on Earth today.
>clan
Kinda shit. It's a caste system with a lot of competition all over. But even then it also depends on the specific clan and the when and where. Arguably ranging from being completely expendable to a regular IS life but your government is some clanners.

Whats your favorite Battle Armor?

>>88991538
Kanazuchi. Big ol slab of armor with a full size medium laser. Can take a gauss rifle to the face and keep on truckin.

>>88991538
Elemental. I'm surprised that the Foxes haven't made a smaller sized suit to sell to IS militaries.

>>88991538
Classic Elemental, just looks good. Sylph, Phalanx and Longinus can stay too.

>>88991370
No, I'm saying we still play with a set of rules that worked and weren't turned into total dogshit by a thief and his lackey.

>>88991538
Kanazuchi and marauder, the raiden and tornado also look very nice

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>>88991095

>>88991095
Why the Sagittaire?

>>88991704
Because it's a big sexy bastard.

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>>88991144
when i saw your thumbnail i thought it was blade runner

>>88991733
I remember getting the record sheet for it at Monte Diablo and while it's an absolute murder machine up close, at 95 tons and only an ERPPC for anything past 10 hexes, most of the IS lights and mediums of the FCCW era have a good chance at picking it apart. It's a big cheese wedge of doom, but needs to really be used wisely.

>>88991431
>What's life like for the average person in BT?
No such thing. It's a wider gap than "What's life like for the average person on earth?" You run the gamut from subsistence farming on a low-tech dirtball until a bad harvest kills you to living in a super high-tech wonderland where disease is almost unheard of and you can spend all your time masturbating in the holodeck.

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>luv me elementals
>luv me hovers
>loik the 'Yotes
>'ate the Mandrills

Simple as.

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>>88991538
TinStar.

>>88991619
>start a company with your own money
>remain in ownership of said company
>take some money from your own company's coffers
>people call you a thief

>>88991909
You forgot

>'ate Bears

>>88992156
Just like the devs!

>>88992156
Yeah, fuck 'em.

>>88992165
As if the Bears weren't just Wolf: Lite.

>>88992177
The Hell's Horses have a feud with the Bears.

When it was first described, it was described as possibly the feudiest feud in the Clans.

And now the Horsies and Bears have shared a border for 100 years in relative peace, because the devs forgot about that and none of the writers can ever be bothered to care about "history".

>>88992188
Misread what you meant. My feudiest feud blinded me.

>>88992135
Yes

>>88992135
Even when you're the sole owner and employee of a company, you can't just use company funds for personal use; you have to formally pay yourself.

>>88992212
This

>>88992135
>as a result, contracts go unpaid, product suffers, employee job security tanks as layoffs are common when funding is at risk
Thief.

So there was some discussion on homemade terrain in the last thread or the one before, and i'm hoping to catch one of the the two guys that showed their work.
If y'all are reading this, how tall did you make your hills per level? I know technically it doesnt matter as long as it's clear what's Height1 vs Height2 etc, but my autism wants it to look nice and sensible.

>>88992550
I do Alpha Strike, but it should apply to Classic as well. AS uses 1 inch as a level, so use that.

>>88992550
So, game rules are that each level of height is 6m.

Since a hex is 1.25" and represents 30m, if you make each height level 0.25", you can easily measure sightlines. That's also a pretty reasonable height for something like that.

>>88992550
I know the new miniatures scale is 1:265, and each elevation is supposed to be six meters.
That's about 2.26cm so I ended up going to the hardware store and picked up foam board that was 2cm thick. A big ass thing of insulation foam was like five dollars.

The more elevations and the bigger the hills, the more work you're making for yourself. It's less of a hastle if you have one of those hot wire cutters. I bought one but rather than go for the $40 plug-in type, I cheaped out and went for the one that was seven dollars and took a D-cell battery, assuming I was only going to use it for the one project. The cheap one was worse than I expected, so I ended up using a box cutter. small projects are fine but a big mountain takes way too fucking long.

>>88992188

"We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. The honour and interests of the Clan are eternal and perpetual, and those it is our duty to follow."

- Khan Palmerston

Alternatively, Malvina's Falcons convinced them that, relatively speaking, the Ghost Bears weren't that bad.

>>88992550
>>88992715

Honestly, just way easier to buy some heroscape stuff and then print whatever custom tiles you need.

>>88992634
0.25 inches? (i'm a eurofag with insomnia) that sounds like it would make some awfully flat terrain. I guess it does make make measuring easier like you said, but it just sounds weird.
Doing 1 inch like >>88992614 would fit in with some of the Thunderhead studios buildings i've printed.
Eh fuck it, i have enough foamboard laying around to experiment with both and see what i like best.

>>88992715
For some reason i had a hard time getting my hands on insulation foam, but i got two big foamboards instead, 1cm and 0,5cm respectively. So the choice seems to be either 2 cm or 2,5. 2cm would be a compromise between what the other anons suggested.
>>88992735
Am poor and my printer is smoll. Printing heroscape would be a pain.

>>88992735
Wire foam cutter and some pink insulation is cheap and easy. MUCH more so than buying heroscape stuff or even printing anything.

>>88992758
>0.25 inches? (i'm a eurofag with insomnia) that sounds like it would make some awfully flat terrain. I guess it does make make measuring easier like you said, but it just sounds weird.

I dunno. 0.25" is ~6mm, by the way, and hexes are 30mm.

I can understand that it doesn't look as dramatic, but the levels will still be pretty easily distinguishable, and it's more realistic to be honest; there aren't a lot of things that are actually so steep. Maybe it'll help buildings look less weird, scale-wise.

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>>88991538
my boy

>>88992723
Alternatively, Malvina's Falcons convinced them that, relatively speaking, the Ghost Bears weren't that bad.

Sure, in 3135 or whatever. But what about the previous 70 years?

Anyway, this is one of those things where trying to come up with a bullshit post-facto in-universe explanation just makes it worse. We'll take the hit of bad fact-checking and go on from there.

>>88992846
Oh yeah i know what it would be converted to cm/mm, i just wanted to be sure that's what you meant.
>and it's more realistic
Eh, to a degree. Yeah it makes traversal more believable. but it makes cover make less sense. Comes down to priorities i suppose.

>>88991556
A. Maybe Elemental suits can't be scaled down?

B. Isn't that "Clan Battle Armor"?

>>88992884
>but it makes cover make less sense

That's a good point; it's probably better for verisimilitude to make each level be more like half the height of a Mech, which is, what, 20ish mm?

Meh, the scale's all fucked up anyway you do it.

>>88992905
>Meh, the scale's all fucked up anyway you do it.

Horizontal map scale is 1/700ish. Map levels in miniature rules are based on mech scale levels so 1/285. Mechs at actual map scale are about the size of 6mm infantry minis. Just look at the map scale dropships that are the size of a bar of soap. That's why buildings and everything look funky on maps.

You can always just bump everything up to actual mech scale. That would be like 2.5" to a hex.

>>88992905
Yeah the scale being fucky is why i posed the question in the first place, so i could see what's working well for others.
The input has been much appreciated and i hope to have some test pieces to show by the end of the weekend.

I think what can be gathered is that using the official numbers for how much space a hex represents is a bad idea. The models both old and new have never been scaled to match a hex being 30 meters or whatever. Except for maybe Battleforce? but i assume the movement values are different in that system as well.

>>88992966
It's good if you want all your terrain and things to look correct next to your mechs. With all the map files being digital these days and being able to print them whatever size, the only thing stopping you from running big hex maps where everything is perfectly scaled is table space.

Has anyone run a MW2e game integrated together with BattleTech? To what extent is the result RP-ish, or is it basically just normal BT but with skills determined by your MW skills?

>>88993059
>just normal BT but with skills determined by your MW skills?
Pretty much this, I would assume. I haven't actually tried MW+BT but I play a hybrid homebrew RP system with BT battles and we're basically just rolling skills off the character sheets for anything involving the pilots.

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>>88993059
It was a long time back. I actually got my copy of MW2e before even getting my first rulebook, but I GMed it in a very rollplay'ish style, when the fights happened I ran them as a wargame, and when I got my first copy of BMR, my in-mech stuff was straight wargame battletech. There were few special skills involved outside of edge rolls, so the only real exception was that warrior hits applied to the character sheets, but character sheets had the same consciousness check modifiers as the wargame so very little difference.

>>88992550
I do 1inch foam cut outs of various sizes under my neoprene mats. But I do hexless classic, so probably not what you are looking for. Looks great but due to the slight incline the level change sometimes has to be fudged a bit.

>>88993300
Some day i have to look into hexless, just to try it out.

>>88993325
There's a lot to recommend it, but at the end of the day hexes are just easier.

>>88992933
Bigger. 30 meters so we're talking almost 4.5" per hex.

Of course, things in battletech are scale but not to-scale, necessarily. hex maps are small because few people have the tables to compensate, and if minis were small enough to fit we'd be moving elementals around the table at best. You make elevation changes at map scale and it just looks like a step and doesn't visually reflect that the minis now get partial cover.

To get the right scale, you'd need closer to 2x2 meters per hexmap. With regular games being on 2X1 or 2X2 mapsheets there's not a lot of people playing on banquet tables or using reaching-poles for their minis.

>>88993345
It could be fun to take a room and play on the floor, people walking around wearing socks or something.

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>>88990890
>aurigan campaign

based, who will you be fighting for? the taurians?

Are there any fans of rasalhague and the outworlds alliance that actually liked it when those factions got taken over by the clans? I guess the scorp empire is my only exception because from my understanding they're not really clanners anymore and their treasure hunting is amusing. But you have these 2 factions noted for being stubbornly defiant, who just allow the clans in. It's even weirder since the OA is supposed to be rather pacifistic, and the clans whole society is predicated on war. As an outsider looking in it just seems weird. The Inner Sphere should be for actual people and not souless people grown in jars

>>88993367
>on the floor, people walking around wearing socks or something.
Maybe if they were unpainted or given a quick spray coat so I wasn't attached to them, but I'd be dreading the "Cronch" of someone finding a mini with their foot.

>>88993379
My limited personal experience with rasalhague fans is incredible amounts of saltiness over the clans.
A funny silver lining i've heard is that at least they weren't around long enough for them to "shift" in their character, so their identity remains rather pure. Kinda of how people might not like what their fav faction in 3025 looks like when it has progressed to the ilclan era (rip purple bird)

>>88993467
Fuck i need to go to bed, my spelling is slipping

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How should one go about trying to do this paint scheme? The yellow I'm not so worried about (back when I played 40k my guardsmen were yellow and I never got the hullabaloo around the color) but the other details I'm not so sure about freehanding those

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mods are asleep, post Stalkers

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>>88991392
>all the anime posts are fine.
>posting a battletech paper is bad.
Shut the fuck up pleb

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>>88993467
I paint a lot of factions so I have a nice selection for whatever BV and era the group wants to play. I painted up some clan invasion era 1st Hussars as my IS clan invasion guys

>>88993492
>giant Arabic lettering
>sweet suns
This paint scheme rocks.
>how should I got about this?
The GW contrast paints would do that kind of finish quickly. They are essentially high-pigment inks.

>>88988259
I believe the hatchetman got served, son

>>88993367
My friend once did that with his family and their older friends.
They used something like 8 of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA boardgames to set up an untie universe in their lounge room and spent the entire weekend having colons vs humans fight. As they tried to seize the galaxy for one faction or the other.

OG bsg, not the fucktarded failshit that is Nu BSG, that is.

>>88991111
>>88991095
It's because Barnes and noble want to keep their business existing. Book stores are suffering because ALL the publishing houses only shit out interminable crappy true crimes and bla bla bla. The same shit that almost no one is buying. Massive inventories of crap stock they can't ever really sell.

So any smart bookstore has basically told the big publishing houses to go get fucked, and branched out to other things so they can actually do business.
Successful book stores now have massive BD sections, graphic novel / manga. They pretty much have a vestigial publishing house section for rhe 50 year old women. And 60 men. Etc.

Board games and such is where they actually make money. The 'bestsellers' that make the nyt list sell pathetically low numbers that even some fairly shit manganese defeat.

Simply because the west refuses to make good books any more.

So you got the French BD scene that has steadily been going apeshit and great guns since about the 80's and now is starting to explode as SC and MARVEL commit SEPPUKU. Or Japan. That's like it. No one else is making good books.

So you NEED other shit. Board games are a necessity.

>>88993710
I bet you're fun at parties

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>>88991010
I see your fluffballs and raise you...

One demented floofy bag of feathery silliness

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>>88991010
AND one doggo of cuteness.

>>88993379
I was separately an OA fan and a Snow Raven fan, and I think the merger is complete bullshit. "I like fighters, you like fighters" is not a great basis for a relationship.

I think the Ravens should have thrown themselves upon their CLOSEST ALLIES THAT THEY JUST HELPED WITH AN ENORMOUS PROJECT the Bears.

A shared occupation zone would have been awesome to see, and how the Ravens figured in to the whole integration thing...I think that they would have been tentatively on-board with closer integration.

>>88993710
>failshit
Yeah I can’t believe they didn’t have a robot pupper or a Cylon cowboy. By yeehaw command y’all!

>>88993710
I, for one, welcome untying my future colon overlord.

>>88993861
Fucking autocorrect. Which is supposedly disabled... keeps going back and changing words it THINKS are wrong, sentences after the fact. To make the written paragraph 'make sense'.

So apparently CYLON has to be turned into colon. As if that doesn't make the sentence fucking retarded.

Jesus fuck I hate 'smart tech'.

>>88993817
You best not be mocking MUFFETT, you ass! And cowboy (damaged) cylon was a hilariously goofy episode.

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>>88993710
Man, I wish I could have been there to see what things were like when BT was new. I'd always heard these stories from the old guard bragging about being 14 in the 80s or 90s, and playing regiment-on-regiment games in their community center or gaming club with their friends, over the course of several days.

These days though, these same guys are now pushing 60, or are already retired so have nowhere important to be, will bitch about the same game at lance scale taking more than fifteen minutes to complete, and immediately gravitate towards alpha strike instead.

It's not even a "Kids these days" argument. As dumb as the "I wish I was born in another era" argument is, I think finding anyone willing to go bigger than a Trinary in regular Battletech in meatspace has gone from slim to nil since AS came on the scene.

>>88993922
I mean, the whole point of alpha strike was to completely kill off the Battletech game rules, so it can't be that surprising that people will gravitate to it when they realize how much more quick playing and more fun it is.

>>88993922
Fun fact, Alpha Strike was fucking buried by most of the fanbase and real Battletech has always and will always be more popular. The only people that think otherwise are Johnny-come-lately's post-2018. Well, plus Vroom Vroom but that motherfucker is dead. Same crowd that has only felt plastic in their hands and whines about how there isn't miniatures for X or Y when those chassis have had minis for ages.

>>88993956
Newb here and LOVING Alpha Strike. It's fun.

>>88993756
>Simply because the west refuses to make good books any more.
Probably a part of it, but I'd put my chips on epub getting people to put everything on e-readers, tablets, or phones being a big factor, too.

I mean, the few bookshelves I've seen in peoples houses these days are more decoration to show off some fancy coffee table books they never actually read or already have in e-pub.

>>88993972
Agreed. Only jobless gorms shittalk what is a perfectly viable game system for fast pickups with multiple lances that can be done in <3 hours.

>>88993922
As adults, we play in our own homes with good friends on weekends. I have a 12 foot solid oak table literally for my game room with one of those mega chessex maps to draw crazy terrain on and be able to leave stuff on for days at a time. It exists, just not in a random shop.

But hey, I'll trade you. You give me an invitation to some other hard to find underground thing like a swingers party and I'll give you one to my regimental face offs.

>>88993987
Well said. Things change and evolve. Either you grow with them or get left in the dust.

>>88993972
Same as every other bland hitpoint game. Nothing to call battletech about it. Just grab another piece of slop with a different label. You'll be just as happy.

>>88994008
To YOU. To me, I like the emphasis on actual terrain instead of the flat ass maps. I like making terrain and painting and doing the actual hobby stuff. You know, for FUN? Unless you design games, SHUT THE FUCK UP. Alpha Strike fucks, it'll be going on for a while and you'll still be bitching. Have fun shitting yourself.

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>>88993999
Ironic that you're repeating the same song as 2012 trolls who were defeated. How has Alpha Strike grown and changed? It hasn't, because it's just Battleforce 3 with individual cards.

>>88994018
Oh, terrain, just like Warmachine and Warhammer and every other flavor of the month. Not like the Alpha Strike miniature rules are from regular Battletech in 1987 anyway.

>>88994018
>SHUT THE FUCK UP
No. Never. I don't even mind the ruleset, but I'll be fucked if I ever forget that AS was created not for the purpose of expanding alongside Battletech, but to replace it entirely and to force EVERYONE to either change or leave the fandom. Fuck AS and fuck everyone who plays it, you included. Never forget, and never forgive. Kill AS players on sight.

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>>88993999
>I'll call them all dinosaurs

Battletech is a fun mech game and alpha strike is a middling skirmish game, and there's a lot more competition for skirmish games.
For a pickup skirmish game to succeed, you need simple combat and lots of fun special rules. Alpha strike did the opposite, you still do full hit modifier maths but most units are just IF1 or ENE at most. Literally just moving, hitchecking, and shooting. Who the fuck had the bright idea of featuring one attack statline anyway?

>>88994097
Seyla.

>>88994119
>Who the fuck had the bright idea of featuring one attack statline anyway?

Attack damage at fixed range and a simple hitpoint system are the failed mimic of other games that Alpha Strike is. It was invented to copy what was popular a decade ago. There's no more substance to it.

>>88994074
>How has Alpha Strike grown and changed?
How has Classic, other than throwing out more and more broken weapon systems and retarded Clantech? I'm not sure this is a road you want to tread if lack of evolution is your only actual gripe about AS, when Classic has barely shifted in play since the '80s except to fling an increasingly more pedantic arms race at its players.

>>88990890
kind of nice to see other players actually recognize the Aurigan Reach as something cool and worth doing something with. I feel like I'm the only person who really liked the HBS campaign around here, sometimes

>>88994157
I loved it, personally, but then I'm also not a Taurian simp.

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Got an opinion?

>>88994157
The HBS campaign was okay, but the Aurigan Reach is still stupid.

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>>88994183

>>88994151
You know what's really fun? You're the one who said things have to change and evolve. That means you're the one that's stuck with that proposition. Battletech is great because it is a relic. In 1984, it was one of tons of chit games. Now it's unique in its survival. While what you want is more of the same bland mash as is currently popular, Battletech won't change for you. The market of it being unique in the current market by being and old type of game and not conforming to dumbed down bullshit is actually what keeps it around. That's what the failure of Alpha Strike to become the primary game the last ten years has showed us. There's nothing that Alpha Strike offers that a hundred other games don't. But actual Battletech does, and that's what's driven its increase in popularity, the very things you hate about it.

>>88994183
>crew: 3
do BT starships usually maintain crews that small? I came here from Star Wars way back when, so I'm more used to crew sizes that align with WW2 naval vessels

>>88994172
>>88994190
I like the Taurians fine, but I really enjoyed seeing something done with otherwise empty Periphery space. I wish the outer edges of the Sphere were a lot more decorated with relatively small space-kingdoms that maintain a single-digit count of planets or systems. BT could use a biiiiit more bordergore IMO, and that's actually part of what I appreciate about the ilClan era so far

>>88994157
I played the HBSBT campaign because I thought I might be missing something if I just played the sandbox campaign.
Turns out I would have missed nothing of value. The majority of the crew was such an annoying waste of space that I would have preferred their absence in the sandbox campaign as well.

>>88994209
Ah, so your chosen fallacy is 'muh tradition'. Got it. When no one has time for your relic, you're welcome to come over when you're ready to actually play.

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>>88993972
This. Its simple its fun, i dont need to spend 12 hours playing one fucking battle mate

I got twinks to jizz in

>>88994211
It's a small craft. It's the BattleTech equivalent of one of those little boats to take people between ships when the admiral wants a face-to-face meeting.

Most DropShips have 20-50 crew, JumpShips similar, and WarShips in the hundreds. The biggest battleships approach 1000.

>>88994211
>>88994230
The Leviathans are around 2k.

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>>88994157
>something cool and worth doing something with
Every complaint about the Aurigans could have literally been fixed by tossing them on the other side of the Taurians. They had to go fuck up the lore instead. They can always get bent for that.

>>88994211
The K-1 is special. It's technically a Small Craft (IE, shuttle), but it can actually interface with jump ships just like a dropship. It makes more sense to just put it in a Small Craft Bay on a dropship, but it is fully capable of rolling up to a jump point and hooking up to one for a jump. Sometimes it's used as a low budget research/exploration option to poke around unexplored solar systems. This Avalance thing is based on the K-1, so it's in a similar boat. Incidentally, if you take out all the guns, a K-1 can get itself up to 23 tons of cargo space, so it could hold a light mech as long as it doesn't need to hold much of anything else.

>>88994211
The periphery has like 30 nations and a bunch of independent systems in it, there's even a couple in the deep periphery, that's plenty.

>>88994252
>tossing them on the other side of the Taurians
Wasn't that Davion space?

>>88994245
>The Leviathans are around 2k.

That's including marines and bay personnel, which usually aren't counted in the "crew" number.

But I guess it does matter for comparing them to contemporary naval designs.

>>88994223
Oh please, tell me more about how something hated and thrown in the trash for 11 years is the new hip thing. Maybe you'll champion clicktech as the future next.

>>88994230
>>88994245
this makes sense and it feels much better than when I look up the crew and complement of a Star Destroyer and it's 47 thousand and change

>>88994252
I honestly couldn't care less about a section of space where the writers went "and here, nothing happens! that's the lore!" park a faction there instead any time, so far as I'm concerned

>>88994261
No, it was a big empty void with super famous pirates on the other side,

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>>88994267
the time has come to revive the CCG

>>88994274
The whole "This is a dead zone and super important for making colonies in the 3060's." actually means a lot when actual areas with nothing described are all the fuck around around it.

>>88994280
Well, the HBS game is set in 3025. Maybe the Aurigan Reach has collapsed by then.

Though I guess that would be more absorbing worlds than establishing colonies...though maybe the collapse was bad enough that the planets depopulated.

>>88994274
The problem is that that section of space actually isn't very empty. Damn near every interaction the Taurians and Canopians have happens in that "empty" space between them. The only major Succession Wars nukefest between periphery powers happened there. Fronc happens there, that must be awkward when the Taurian half of the deal is that they'll supply all the military materiel needed at the start of the joint colonization project and then have to transport all of it directly through Aurigan space, huh?

>>88994279
>
It's actually how I got into BT in the first place.

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Liao player here, what mech will cause the Total Davion Death?

>>88994294
It's not entirely clear how many of the New Colony Region's worlds were already inhabited. "Some" were newly colonized by joint nation projects, but some were known to have already been colonized before that. Fronc itself was actually canonized as already having a population by the Aurigan book, funnily enough. No other source mentions whether it had any population before the colonization efforts.

>>88994294
we KNOW it collapses by then, CGL did an official book about it. the Sword of Restoration does her best, but her own regime eventually caves to pressures both internal and external and a failure to properly reconstruct after the war, and it becomes almost as totalitarian as the regime that you and she fought over the course of the game. eventually it has a soft collapse and by the time the devs need it to be empty for the 3060s stuff, it effectively is

>>88994297
when do those events happen? it's not nearly as big a deal if the Aurigan state isn't really a multi-planet empire when that happens, and we know that it doesn't last especially long after the events of the game. there are still people living there on populated planets, but they aren't a STATE in the way that we're used to seeing them represented in BattleTech

>>88994311
>Fronc itself was actually canonized as already having a population by the Aurigan book, funnily enough.
>by the Aurigan book
>the Aurigan book

Okay, so a writer actually remember past lore while writing their new retcon book.

>>88994318
>Okay, so a writer actually remember past lore while writing their new retcon book.
A shocking turn of events, to be sure.

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>>88994299
the Ti T'seng is a very fun TSM hatchet-armed striker, I'm a big fan of it. otherwise, a proper super-Capellan lance should include either or all of a Raven, Vindicator, and Cataphract

>>88994133
I can't speak for the loss of the hit locations - honestly the soul of the system - getting nerfed to a few hit points, but I think the range brackets thing might have been a holdover from aerospace rules.

Still, the longevity of Battletech stems from the focus on the game itself, not trying to ape the other wargames out there. Arts and crafts hour and making little figurines is tertiary to the core game itself, and that's the root reason why I don't play other games - they usually exist as the opposite; a framework to peddle overpriced models. For those that want it, those systems are a dime a dozen, and often have flashier models and faster play than AS does. Battletech on the other hand is a game first and foremost, and is detailed enough to actually get enjoyment out of. Whether you play that with full diorama quality terrain or hex and chit it doesn't take away from the core game mechanics themselves. The granularity of making decisions about where to move, taking or pulling extra shots with heat and hit-probability in mind, positioning to improve chances to hit weakened locations, and even firing order to make your shots more effective. This kind of detail is missing from all other active wargames. The closest we might get would be Starfleet Battles.

The AS and the wargaming industry in general is going, you might as well just put a bunch of figurines on a table, snap some pictures for internet clout, then flip a coin to determine the winner, pack up, and go home. I use miniatures, but the way I see it, if you can't use paper standies and still have fun, then the game at its core isn't fun.

If the day comes that CGL tries to kill off Battletech proper and forcefeed AS only, I guarantee the game will die a fast death as soon as the next new flashy thing rolls around from Games Workshop or the ilk. AS does not differentiate itself enough from the rest of the pack outside of being 6mm scale.

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>>88994330
>>88994330
seconding Ti T'seng. It has a great mix of weapons to easily stay at that key 9 heat.

I've had a lot of luck with the Thunder and Men Shen too. People shit on IS pulse lasers but the Shen is fast enough to get into short range. It is also a omnimech so can carry some cappie BA into the fray quickly

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I told myself I wasn't going to paint the skull face, because EVERYONE paints the skull face. And then I painted the skull face.

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>>88985162

Lore question.

When did the general public of the Inner Sphere learn about the existence of battlemechs?

I know that the Mackie was produced and then utilized against Dracs as its first use in combat. Still, this was a single sortie and the Combine probably kept it top secret for some time because they didn't know what they were dealing with. The rumor mill among rank and file soldiers was probably enough to cause whispers though.

So when did the average working class guy in the Hegemony or in one of the Great Houses first learn about battlemechs?

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>>88994357
Your surrender brings no shame.

>>88994340
You said it, man. Now, let's talk some actual Battletech

The year is 3075. Unicorns have been rolling off the lines since 3054 and now ancient beasts rumble to life from Industrial Mech plants. Clanner merchants sell to the highest bidder, and that bidder is usually Blakists.

In this time, build me a lance worthy of Mordor.

>>88994357
don't feel too bad, brother. it's too good not to do

>>88994363
>when did the general public of the IS learn about battlemechs?
during the Mackie's infamous test where it killed a bunch of tanks and stomped on the last one. the Cameron who--damn near violently--shoved the Mackie through the pipeline did so because he had a lot of bad luck in his reign and desperately needed a win. he took advantage of the Mackie's immediate psychological success as soon as he felt is would work

>>88994363
Never really discussed. I assume a few years after the first use in combat.

We know that the Hegemony was putting out the Orion about 15 years after the Mackie premiered

>>88994373
4 Timber Wolves

>>88994252
I imagine it had more to do with them wanting players to have access to contracts with the most factions possible, which would have put it exactly where it was. The only other choice would have been something near terra, which would have had HBS stepping on even more toes when it came to the fiction. As it was, it was pretty weird to get Lyran and Drac contracts way the fuck out on the polar opposite side of the sphere.

I treat the Aurigans as an AU made out of necessity for HBS to make they game they wanted, but not as an overwrite of the established canon. I see an army painted up in Aurigan colors, if I recognize it at all I'd call it a cool homage army to a fun game, but wouldn't include them as a faction in anything I'm trying to keep canonical. People have painted things up that are far less believable, and most Battletech RPG groups I come across routinely commit bigger sins against the setting.

>>88994279

You could even do "what if" expansions.

The one where Kerensky bitchslaps the Great Houses. A "Cameron Restoration" set. Alternatives to the Jihad. Hell, they could even do a yearly fan expansion where people can submit cards and possibly get them printed.

I'd be so down for this. Someone convince Topps.

>>88994396
>contracts with the most factions possible
Instead of the MoC, you would have the Tortugans. Instead of the FWL, you would have the Dracs. Plus all the minor pissants like the Mica Majority or the Outworlds or the Jarnfolk.

It all would level out.

>>88994405
>Tortugans

I mean...seriously?

>>88994409
Considering how many fucking pirates you fight, it would be nice to be situated next to an actual hive of them don't you think?

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>>88994375

I think it's dead ass hilarious that there is some equivalent of "Future Weapons" in the BT Universe, where they wax poetic about the merits of a Battlemech and a guy drives it around and blows up mock targets.

>>88994415
Fair enough.

And then if you wanted you could actually go full pirate.

I bet a lot of people would have liked that. Probably more than became proud FedSuns house troops or whatever.

>>88994375
>psychological success as soon as he felt is would work

This feels like Textalks bullshit. You look at the OG fluff and the Battlemech was the first to have.

>BAR 10 Armor
>Ground Scale PPC
>Compact fusion engine

Those things meant blowing the shit out of basically everything and surviving ridiculous amounts of return fire. The Mackie wasn't some crazy propaganda win, it was a literal leap forward in battlefield technology that would dominate the next half a millennium.

>>88994417
I kinda hate it. The writers shouldn't be randomly inserting modern shit.

Like that random girl in Dominions Divided who became a social media star, which felt incredibly out of place in the BattleTech universe.

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>>88994402
>The one where Kerensky bitchslaps the Great Houses
That was never going to happen, no matter how 'what if' you want to go, unless you neuter the Houses under Amaris before Kerensky even gets started on his way to Terra. The Combine's military was already outclassing the SLDF on the field before the Amaris coup, and that's just one example of what Kerensky would have been facing off against post-Terra.

>>88994440
Not him but it would have made an interesting AU if he had thrown his weight behind one of the lords and gone "You are the rightful StarLord." That would have been a hell of a fight.

>>88994440
I think it could have worked. All of the other Houses would have been fighting each other as much as the Hegemony, and even if they had more numbers, the SLDF had better technology and all of their soldiers were crack veterans by that point. They might lose their permanent First Lordship, but I have little doubt that the Hegemony could have been preserved.

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>>88994396

I just always assumed the Aurigan reach would eventually become a failed state by 3045ish and it devolves into a set of independent planets before getting swallowed by their neighbors. It kind of seemed like a state where a few strong minor houses united with the biggest warlord and just created a state. It would be funny if Kamea idolized the old SL and her ancestors were actually pirate terrorists being hunted during the Amaris Civil War.

The nationhood of the Reach always seemed kind of flimsy to me. Like, what separates them from their neighbors? They kind of went Polynesian with the faction but, it wasn't "enough" to really sink my teeth into. They glossed over so much about the faction and that to me was worse than them being canon-breaking.

I mean, if you're going to have a faction of pacific islanders, at least musubi should get referenced at some point in the story or your doing it wrong. I wonder if HBS had actually done any work on this or did it get destroyed in the flood with the original game data?

Did anyone ever pick up the sourcebook for them?

>>88994450
That would be really compelling, true. Like, a 'what if' even ONE of the House Lords decided to act along with Kerensky against Amaris instead of sitting the fight out? Would the other Lords follow suit, or declare for the Usurper? I could get behind this.

Speaking of alternate media, I find it interesting how well EI worked out in the game.

It was obviously some bullshit to show off cutting-edge computer graphics and to make Nicolai Malthus more visually distinctive, but it got incorporated into the game in a way that felt very true to existing lore, in a way that made it powerful but not game breaking...just generally very smoothly. And they even built up off of it to do the ProtoMech thing.

>>88994373
>Clanner merchants sell to the highest bidder, and that bidder is usually Blakists.
It was my understanding that the Blakists and Clanners hated each other with such a burning passion that they wouldn't be caught dead using each others' technologies.

What you're asking is for me to make a cheesy lance from the Jihad period basically. Usually that means fitting as many gauss rifles in there as possible, which means shopping in the former fedcom. Thunderhawk/Nightstar/Gunslinger, ML Berzerker, Fafnir, and maybe a Enfield, Rifleman... something with an LB-X 10 or two to poke at the internals that have been opened up. I'd suggest the Hauptman's LB-20 but its short range and slower speed makes it iffy. A Charger SA5 from the dracs might be a more flexible choice. I think that's available in the right time period. A Mauler 3R is also similarly pretty good at exploiting weakened targets.

Of course, this is assuming the role is going head-first and just shooting up everything in sight, and BV is unlimited. Usually there are some alternate objectives or limitations to consider.

>>88994477
Didn't the Davion guy almost join it?

>>88994483
Davionfags like to claim so, but the meme of 'House Lords Continue To Do Nothing' exists because 'almost' doesn't fucking count.

>>88994496
The post was about "what if", it's relevant to bring up the one that was most likely to do it.

>>88994428
I didn't mean to imply that it was ONLY a propaganda win, just that it was--on top of being a good weapon platform--also such a massive propaganda win that Cameron (I can't remember which it was, the guy with the mullet and round shades) immediately capitalized on it

>>88994417
I love it desu, but I agree with >>88994431 in that any phenomena that happens after 9/11 (stuff like social media influencers, etc) feels weird and out of place in BT, which feels mostly like an 80s/90s "peak USA," setting

>>88994466
this is more or less what happens desu, there were enough houses that made up the nation's upper crust who got utterly destroyed by the civil war, and there weren't really enough resources around to help with reconstruction across the entire nation, and on top of all that the capital planet was undergoing a case of rapid-onset ice age from the crash-landing of that massive Taurian dropship. Kamea ended up having to deal with multiple insurgencies, including a couple who wanted the Directorate back, and in the end the Coalition just kind of fizzled out

>>88994508
>massive Taurian dropship
It was just a Fortress-class.

>>88994516
it was big enough to fuck up the planet

>>88994519
Tiny planet if true. A DropShip is basically an egg of empty space, it lacks the mass to generate that level of climactic change.

>>88994516

Even the Successor States respect the Fortress class.

A barely functional state in the ass-end of the Periphery that, by rights, should have maybe a company of 55s and bugs? A Fortress could definitely dominate the battlefield all by itself.

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>>88994279
This is what they should have done instead of make AS.
Honestly, it's simple, fast playing, looks great, but stays in its lane and doesn't step on the toes of the wargame proper.
If they bring it back though, I hope they commission proper artists to make it. The paintings by Chaffee, Langley, Jock, Vohwinkel, and the like were a major part of the charm. I fear a new version would get a lot of recycled sourcebook art and/or repurposing and reposing the 3D models as per the Legends book to make everything look campy and about as timeless as the 3D animation in The Mummy.

>>88994596
No, thank you. The ancient pedants would just bitch about it being Magic without a color wheel.

>>88994537
the Fortress is an empty egg of space approximately 6000 Star League Tons(TM) heavy, which is quite a lot to throw at a planet at such an extreme speed. the planet wasn't destroyed at all either, it was just suffering a small ice age because of the damage to its climate from the crash on top of the war being fought on its surface at the time, which is entirely believable

>>88994596
And we could have "The Ghost Bear Dominion" to allow playing both Bear and Rasalhague cards together!

>>88994330
It FOCHTs hard

>>88994480
Blakists are fine with using Clantech. The Celestials all have configurations using Clan weapons, and they were using salvaged protomechs in a program to develop their own versions. The high-end WoB RATs also feature some Clan mechs, likely salvage from Tukayyid.
Clanners would have less reaso to adapt IS tech because their own stuff is flat-out better 99 % of the time, but the Wolves copied the Blakist interface cockpit for their Ryoken III and the Bears were interested in copying C3i until Stone told them it would be maximum dishonorable because he realized how gamebreaking C3-linked CLPLs would be.

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>>88994228
>I got twinks to jizz in
But we're playing Classic Battletech, and don't have time for you.

>>88994626
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cciO9eWtZ_A

>>88994684
>LAM
You are the twink being jizzed in.

>>88994702
...that's literally what he's saying, anon. "we," as in "twinks."

>>88994663
>gamebreaking C3-linked CLPLs
They killed the NOVA CEWS and C3i too.

>>88994742
>NOVA CEWS

Everything related to the Society was stupid and deserved to die.

>>88994663
EI was a thing before the Horses deployed the Parash3 in 3083. The WoB developments were parallel. It is hard to believe the Horses had access to much more WoB tech than rumors. Though that could be helpful.

>>88994684
3:

With my current project almost done I'm thinking of tackling the 8 Game of Armored Combat box mechs as my next project.
I'm thinking of either painting them in FWL colors (probably Marik Militia?) or maybe as Taurian Concordat. Any input or suggestions one way or the other? Any lore reasons I may not want to paint these particular mechs as one or the other? If I do go Concordat, any cool color schemes to suggest?

>>88995181
Go with a different FWL unit, we have enough MM around here already. If you can do whites, do the Free Worlds Guard. If you can't, do Fusiliers of Oriente.

>>88994157
It was okay but like many things fans ruined it by constantly going how Kamea is the greatest leader ever because she's female and they've deluded themselves into thinking she's some great statesman.

>>88994315
>CGL did an official book about it. the Sword of Restoration does her best, but her own regime eventually caves to pressures both internal and external and a failure to properly reconstruct after the war, and it becomes almost as totalitarian as the regime that you and she fought over the course of the game. eventually it has a soft collapse and by the time the devs need it to be empty for the 3060s stuff, it effectively is
Oh shit really? What's the name so I can bring it up when people slobber over the Aurigans

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Done enough for gubmint work. You can't even see the cockpit on the table most of the time anyway since it's so downturned.

>>88995236
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/House_Arano_(The_Aurigan_Coalition)

>>88995232
Hmm. Is MM really that popular? I wanted to do something that incorporates the purple. I've painted a little bit of white before, I guess I could give it a try.

WORST mechs of all time? No charger, jaegermech, or hoplite

>>88994684
But im 6'2 and im hot...

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>>88995347

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>>88995347
>we have panther at home

>>88995339
It certainly seems popular around here at least, there have been at least three or four anons (including me) who have MM.
You could try the Protectorate Guards, they use powder blue with "key panels highlighted in purple" and black edging, which most painters interpret as having entire purple panels. Most canon paint schemes are really just suggestions. Even the Marik Militia has a bunch of different interpretations, some of the paintjobs on Camospecs have edge highlights in red or blue, some of us paint whole panels in those colors, and there's at least one guy who does one big racing stripe all the way down each side.

>>88995385
The Panther wishes it was as good as the Scorpion.

>>88991525
Remember that in Clan space, your performance matters and there's no bullshit stopping you from rising in life. You can literally, legally challenge your boss for his position anytime.

>>88995474
That is the one good-ish part and also the one that means it is kinda shit because you will be constantly fighting over nearly everything even with the prerequisites for such trials.

>>88994690
>Massively expanding the seattle bay for free
>taking out the flyover countries
>hitting the Irish where it hurts
What exactly did they do wrong again?

>>88995385
6/9 PPC with OK armor (for the time) with ability to go hull down and hide behind cover is not that bad.
It's nowhere near the worst mech, it's not even the worst 55 tonner of 3025 (that'd be the Shadow Hawk followed by the Dervish)

>>88995715
they didn't go far enough

>>88985162
Anyone got any good rules for running map based campaigns?

>>88996182

If/when Map Campaign Anon comes around he can give you some pointers. Otherwise someone might have the latest of his rules set lying around

>>88991095
I ducked in to B&N recently and got the Wolf's Dragoons Assault Star, and could not resist one of the last 2 Clan Invasion Salvage boxes they had. It was a Nightstar. I already had one, but I've got half of the existing product so far.

Currently cutting up the mechs to repose them. The minis' default pose is also some weird way where you can't tell what the front arc is.

>>88995347
How about the Hermes II?
It's the "Staple faction mech" that you're the least likely to see on the table out of the lot. There's a time and place for a Commando, Vindicator, or Jagermech, but the Hermes II is less than a Shadowhawk. It is only good as a mook for a first-timer to fight, or for warriors in bug mechs to feel tough.

>>88996207
Oh there is a map campaign anon? I would love to get some tips.

>>88995236
Seriously? I really liked the game, but Kamea Arano clearly has no idea what she's doing at least 80% of the time.

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>>88996719
Hi, you're in luck, I just got home from work. I've developed a full system for running PVP focused map campaigns, in which each player controls a Company, Binary, or pair of Level IIs. Have a look at the rules: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_VHxrPU_oeZ5ojOKk6tYXWh366WxnK9ThzH32OlS_Ao/edit?usp=sharing

These can be played with any hex map - I've got a 3D print friendly set of files in the works, but you could use a drawn or generated one, since the map tiles I used in pic related have been out of print for over a decade

>>88995385
HOW THE FUCK IS SCORPION STILL BEING PRODUCED!?

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>>88997432
Because it's a good mech? In my experience it's about on par with the standard Griffin as far as the intro 55 tonners go even if it's more lightly armored.
Plus as the other Anon mentioned it can hull down and snipe all day. The SRM6 is a pretty good close range weapon too to scare off anyone getting too close for the PPC.

Beyond the introtech one it recently got some good upgrades and also has some across the eras otherwise as something with a 10+ point gun and some missiles is never really a bad option.

The C is great because suddenly you have a CERPPC with a capacitor and a supercharger to run around like an idiot and shoot 20 damage at people, or you don't charge and lob some ATMs down range with the PPC. It's expensive of course, but details.

>>88995347
The Urbanmech is trash. It's not even good as a city mech because it's still only 2/3/2. If the whole point is to ambush things with an autocannon just bring a hetzer.

Yeah the memes are fun and it's cute and dumpy but it is absolutely worthless.

Arrow IV variant gets a pass for warcrimes.

>>88994315
In 3025 the Augian Reach is a viable state, even if on the edge of collapse.
In 3026 it's gone entirely and no one even mentions it, none of the planets show up on maps, neither the Taurians or MoC, nor Cappies, no ComStar even bother to acknowledge it was ever even there.

That's some mighty fine retconning boys.

>>88998061
Comstar deleted them off the maps to hide their secret king crab factories

>>88998104
I knew that chick was a Comstar plant!

>>88998061
ComStar did it, they fear the Argo and its 500 royal Assault Mechs it salvaged.

HBS BT would have been cooler if the final battle was you trying to take down the King Crab with a bug swarm

Hear me out, /btg/. I'm a game master and want to play a Battletech game with my group. The problem is, they're loathe to learn systems that aren't 5e or similar dnd dross. I'd like to play a campaign with the players being mercenaries, either controlling a single mech or a lance of mechs. I understand this can be done with Megamek and there are all sorts of systems and shit to make that easier, however, is there something else that is lighter on rules for my brainlet players to enjoy? They like the video games but when I told them we could play the tabletop they balked at the idea saying it's much too complicated

>>88998394
No.

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>>88998552
With enough time, patience, and caffeine, you could easily create a d20 version of both the BattleTech tactical game and the RPG.
Why you would want to, however, is anyone's guess.

>>88998552
I mean megamek is probably as easy as it gets, since most of the stuff is automated.
But I highly recommend just sitting them down for a session of regular BT or two and see if it doesn't click. People assume it's complex, but it really isn't hard to learn.

>>88998552
Just get the basic set, play a few game of that before you even think of a campaign. Play some MegaMek first to get a hang of the rules and flow of the game so when they do come over for the first game you have at least some of a handle on it.

>>88998749
It only gets complicated once you start adding in advanced and Clan tech, and vehicles, infantry, BA, Protos, VTOLs, and stuff like that. But the basic rules aren't hard to get.

And start with lance verse lance or four units on each side. Forget about company sized battles until you can handle that. Walk before you try to run.

>learn about faction
>Go to look up what their mech colors are
>Black and red

Every time

>>88998778
Aesthetic.

New thread
>>88998889

>>88998889

>>88994537
Climates are more fragile than people like to think. Krakatoa blowing its stack in played all kinds of merry hell with the weather and global temperature for about a year. A large object crashing from space and kicking up a bunch of dust could, conceivably; have similar aftereffects.