I know there are at least a few BattleTech fans on this board, and wanted to pass on that the current producers of that game are running a Kickstarter to fund a refresh of the art of many of the older mechs in the game as well as making brand-new plastic miniatures for said mechs. Here is a link with all the details:

http://kck.st/2xTgIZm

Lately I've been playing the faster "Alpha Strike" version of the game with my son, and he loves it. However, I'm always a little skittish letting him use my metal minis as they are just so dang easy to break. The prospect of getting a slew of more durable, and easier to mod, plastic minis was enough to pry my wallet open. Also, I have an unhealthy fascination with tiny, stompy, death-bots!

Plus, thanks to some recent legal wins, BattleTech is FINALLY allowed to re-make some of the original mechs that had to be excised from the game previously thanks to crazy multi-national legal shenanigans. We can finally have our Marauders and Warhammers back looking the way God intended! Suck it Macross!

Lastly, if you don't really want buckets of little plastic robots, they are also making a ton of faction-specific merch, new books/stories, and game maps. If all your old paper maps are looking creased up and nasty, this might be a good time to get some fresh ones. I already own a couple of the new neoprene battle mats, and they are really nice. I'm planning to pick up pretty much all of they ones they make through this Kickstarter.

Anyway, the campaign has already met its goal so it WILL happen. At this point, I just wanted to pass the info along in case, like me, you don't do Facebook or Twitter where they announced the kickstarter, or are an old player that hasn't thought about the game in a while. Or heck, if you like mecha-centric miniatures games and have no idea what BattleTech is, take a look. The production value on the new game boxes is really good, and if you avoid getting into the weeds with optional rules, BattleTech can be a fun little war game.

- Bret

Hope it brings in a new generation of fans.

My first memories of Battle Tech go back to the Commodore64 my buddy had.

13 people bought the $5,000 level?! True fans.

Funded in seven minutes!

Way to go!

The Unseen return!?!

If so, I'll buy some minis just for that.

I like the renders. I can only hope the final product has the detail level. I mean, I'm sure it's more than the original minis. I was just staring at some of an old pewter Vulture the other week.

Nifty. I still play (25+ years later) but only the original (3025) technology. Lately, I play 2-4 times per year.

These days I mostly play at conventions or with my kids, but I still have a soft spot for BattleTech. I happen to live really close to IWM, who make the current line of metal minis, which helps. While their quality has improved greatly over the years, I’m still dying for pre-assembled plastic minis to let my kids use. The metal ones, while good-looking, are still pretty easy to break.

Despite the fact that the Kickstarter is technically for the Clan Invasion box set, one of the huge benefits is finally getting new art and minis for the Unseen. There was a lawsuit last year between Harmony Gold and pretty much every company making BattleTech games of any sort over the Unseen. This time around HG basically got stomped and had to accept a pretty lopsided settlement. The upshot is that all the BattleTech related games can do just about anything they want with the Unseen short of publishing screencaps from Macross. So, we FINALLY get some of the original mechs back, but updated from their 80’s cartoon levels of detail!

- Bret

Lets see . . . I have every technical readout until 3075. I have every field manual. I have every original novel until they stopped publishing them some years ago including all the Gray Death books. Backed the Battletech PC game reboot to the tune of . . . well, let's just say I have a lot of House Kurita crap around the house.

So I'm going to say: yes, yes I'm in.

Thanks for the head's up!

Just a reminder for anyone who was sitting on the fence about this: only three days left to get in on the Kickstarter. If they make it to $2 million, they are going to sell a plush Urbanmech! That alone convinced me to throw more money in. I want to get fuzzy little trashcans of death for...uh, for my kids! Yeah, that's it, for my kids!

- Bret

I just played Btech on Sunday (and won I might add). 3025 carnage!

quote:

Originally posted by sadlerbw:
Just a reminder for anyone who was sitting on the fence about this: only three days left to get in on the Kickstarter. If they make it to $2 million, they are going to sell a plush Urbanmech! That alone convinced me to throw more money in. I want to get fuzzy little trashcans of death for...uh, for my kids! Yeah, that's it, for my kids!

- Bret

Plushy unlocked! Woot!!

If they are bringing back the original models of the Marauder, Warhammer, and Archer then I am all for it. When I saw their modern spin on some of the Unseen from a few years ago I was a little disappointed. I used to play the board game and computer games back in the '90's and loved the series. Heck, BattleTech and Wing Commander were basically my entire childhood.

Yes, the "Phoenixes" are gone and the old ones are back, more or less because some "Phoenixes" are now canon, but for the Warhammer, Archer, Marauder, Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk, Rifleman, etc. from 3025, they are all back more or less unchanged.

They are updated with more detail and a less cartoonish look, but they look like the originals...just not as drawn by an underpaid 80’s animator!

Also, if you find that, being all growed up, you can’t spend the time for massive 4+ hour battles anymore, take a look at the Alpha Strike version of the game. It plays much faster, and lets you get more units on the board without bogging things down. I play the Alpha Strike rules way more often these days. My kids like it better as well.

- Bret