I recently saw that a LGS had a hodgepodge of Clan and Battlefield support salvage boxes and decided that for fun I would buy 4x Clan and 2x Battlefield support to randomly drum up a Mercenary or specialized faction lance (depending on pull).

I haven’t been this excited to open stuff in a while and with a world as big as BT I could easily see this as being a phenomenal way to do intro events of Classic or AlphaStrike.

It feels like things are in transition right now but I would love to see more consistent and well supplied salvage boxes with a decent enough variety in them for stuff like this.

I will post my final pulls eventually but I am stretching it out to spread out the dopamine and give time to build story concepts in my head. The first pull is an EXT-4D, so we are off to an interesting start already.

Have you all done events like this officially or unofficially with friends?

Edit: Didn’t realize I would hit a nerve with the salvage boxes. I certainly was not trying to recommend that CGL move into a random-box primary model altogether, but as someone who enjoys the randomness and drafting styles of play to avoid getting too meta, it’s a fun method on the side. Glad to see some good conversations though!

Can anybody tell me what unit this is? Someone gave it to me for free. I'm looking into starting the hobby but there's an overwhelming amount of datasheets to sift through. Thanks.

Photos show all the painting sins but I like how it turned out. Have a few more to do for the other Draconis Reach forces.

I've seen plenty of configurations that remove the hands on an omni, but so far I haven't seen them be added for a configuration. I'm mainly asking cause I'm wanting to do an elite Smoke Jaguar Star with a pair of Ebon-Jaguar, Raptor-II, a Shadow-Cat, and assorted elementals and logistics vehicles. The problem comes with only one mech having hands, so I was curious if I could make an Ebon-Jaguar variant that has a pair of hands, partly for more usefulness and for the funny.

Stop sending me Behemoths! I have 9 already!! Please!!

Following on the heels of Wolves on the Border. At some point they gotta do the Stackpole trilogies, right?

Morning y'all! I'm trying a funny event for my crew to shake things up. I'm going to host a Battletech themed Family Feud style game show at our LGS for my players and I have made a Google form with a few questions I will likely use for the game. I want real surveys from our community, so if y'all could take a couple of minutes to help answer these questions it'd be much appreciated!

Headhunter One stood his ground.

Hellcat’s gotta be one of my favorite CW Era machines, and even though MUL says it’s a Jade Falcon exclusive, I’m integrating one into my Merc outfit. My logic is; if I can get it in game, my guys could get it too.

I’m wanting to make the datasheet reflect the classic MW4 model by removing the LA mounted ER Large Laser and replacing it with 2 ER Mediums and either stick an extra double heat sink in each side torso or add 2 more tons of armor.

Which would you choose with this slight reconfig? Extra cooling or extra armor?

Group has players interested in customs but reasonably shy of min-maxing.

My reflexive response [1] is on the crunchy end, and the solutions I'm familiar with [2] are too campaign-oriented. I'm also surprised I don't know more folk-formats given that the opportunity for abuse is long known.

So I'm looking for battle-tested alternatives for pickup play that are more interesting than hard limits, while also being slimish and ideally a bit self balancing.

[1] My boardgame brain cells immediately jump to storage-wars like bidding with players spending BV on collections of random bits, and/or a "I cut, you choose" twist where players sort pools of bits into allotments other players draft from -- all aimed at letting players self balance things like pulses and jump jets etc. while granting the fun of solving optimization problems, and maybe granting a novel/funky decision spaces for the old hats.

[2] Resource-tight campaign play offers the simple "can't afford all that you want" as an easy control. Another entertaining one I've played under was where omni-mech podding was allowed _but via request to the quarter master (GM)_ who'd give you back half of one thing you wanted and just Fing your shit up. "Yea so we got the large pulse and three of the five jumpjets you wanted -- had remove half the heat sinks and then someone ganked them off the tarmac so had to balance her out with a gaggle of flamers." Good times for another time.

[Edits for typos]

A buddy of mine got me a c scale Timberwolf as its has been one of my most loved mechs since mech assault (my intro to this amazing universe). I normally am a wolf’s dragoons red and black fan boy but wanted see what some other suggested for painting.

I want this to look amazing and do it justice.
So far clan wolf beta galaxy caught my eye thanks to an amazing piece of art work I’m struggling to find.

Any other suggestions for factions or units?

Hey, I just recently began to ready the books since the Warrior trilogy, and reached Prince of Havoc. I still can't get over the fact that she killed Melissa in a "Cersei Lannister" manner. So, in what book does her crime is finally exposed to everyone?

6000 BV. I brought a Yeoman, Catapult, Longbow, Spyder, Flea and several Branth Aerial Infantry Dragons. Cleveland Ohio

Link to the Share Drive containing the necessary files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ga_a3wZOcRZjsvsOOVOXkH2FKncE4eiI?usp=sharing

Hey, everybody. After seeing how many people have expressed interest in my base tags, especially in the post I created recently as a small memorial dedicated to my dad after his passing last month, I've decided to post the files I've been utilizing, along with some notes and instructions on how to reproduce them for your own use. Pictured above are some sample pictures of the lance who I painted up with urban street bases as an example of how this looks in practice, and a picture including the brand of sticker sheets I use which can be bought online.

A little disclaimer: none of this is monetized, and despite my constant references to the site in my responses to comments, I'm not sponsored or anything by Photopea. All files referenced and provided here have been created by myself and are not official.

APPS AND MATERIALS:

• Home printer (laserjet or inkjet).
• Sticker sheet sized for your printer (standard size: US Letter, 8.5"x11"); a picture of the brand I use has been included for reference.
  • Alternatively: while I have yet to test this, you could potentially produce these base tags as waterslide decals - there are tutorials online on how to make your own, but it essentially boils down to purchasing waterslide decal sheets for your home printer, printing out your desired designs and spraying the printed sheet with your choice of varnish in 1-3 layers while allowing to dry overnight. I would recommend using white decal sheets, not transparent, which I've heard has issues with color bleed through from the material behind the decal.
• X-ACTO or razor blade for cutting out your decals.
• Photo editing software to create new tags - I utilize a free online web version of Photoshop called Photopea for my work. I have included both tags I've made myself and the base Photoshop files, organized by weight class, in the link above.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Open up the weight class Photoshop image file you want to work with in your photo editing software of choice.
2. Optionally, upload the provided font into your photo editing software - Markton is a free font intended for personal non-commercial use that provides a large, bold capital lettering that I find works well for legibility at tabletop distance.
3. Write up whatever tag you're currently working on. Note: I regularly have to play around with text size in order to fit names of various lengths into the image borders without massive compression or size loss. Generally speaking, longer names fit in around the 200px size, while shorter names work better around 400px. You're going to have to experiment to figure out what works for you.
4. Export your new base tag as an image file in the format of your choice (a basic .png should work).
5. Insert your new image file into a word document and size it for your mini's base. Note: I have provided a test sheet in the link above with inserted image files already sized to be roughly within 1-2 millimeters off the edge of a base's hex face. If you are struggling to size out an inserted image file, simply edit it down to match the size of those found on the test sheet.
6. Save your word doc and print at maximum resolution/quality on your printer. Note: if your printer works like mine, it takes sheets off the top of the loaded stack and prints on the surface facing downwards first. This matters, as your sticker sheet will only have adhesive on one side, so you should definitely do a test print first.
7. Cut out your stickers for a given miniature; you will need to separate the two layers of the sticker, which can be achieved with careful application of the point of your knife between the two halves and gently running the blade down into the divide. Then gently press them onto the hex face of your choice. I personally use the name and tonnage to indicate the front and rear hex face, respectively, both for the sake of clarity and as a learning tool for new players.
8. Optionally, touch up edges of your sticker as need be with paint, perhaps if you struggle to make a clean cut like I tend to. On a related note, I will also apply my stickers prior to clearcoating - as long as you aren't completely inundating your stickers with paint, they can be safely sprayed and painted as necessary.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Download files off of the drive before working with them - not all of them have supported formatting compatible with Google Drive and may not work properly if you try to work directly out of Google's programs without a download!
• Similarly, the provided Photoshop files are only compatible with photo editing software. One could probably roughly approximate my work out of a basic word program, but I haven't tested that methodology yet.
• The base files provided are color-coded by weight class: green for Light, yellow for Medium, orange for Heavy, and red for Assault. I did not originally plan anything separate for Ultralights or Superheavies before dedicating to this system. Battlefield Support tags that have been provided are colored in the same method, except for infantry and battle armor, which I have kept a basic white. This was intended as a way for my friends and I to begin memorizing mech names, appearances and tonnage as I originally came up with this idea when first getting into the game.
  • On a related note, as can be seen on the provided test sheet in the drive, I originally intended to include production years stickers but found them to be next to useless for identifying mechs as a new player due to quickly moving out of Succession War-era games and because of the way new variants exist in the game's timeline.
  • Regarding infantry and battle armor, I have considered (but have not currently implemented) a different system for identification: in place of tonnage on the rear hex face, I plan to use roman numerals to track squads as they will be less visually distinct and more likely to include larger numbers in deployment than individual mech chassis.
• The provided test sheet file is in .odt format because I don't pay for Microsoft Word. It should be compatible with most word programs, however.

If anybody has any questions, please let me know in the comments - I'll do my best to help out with any extra info folks might need.

And for anybody who does give this a shot, I'd love to see pics of your projects with the tags in use. Good luck, MechWarriors!

I'll be introducing a total novice to the game soon, and the idea is to begin with a 2 vs 2 cooperative game, where I control the opposition as NPCs and we each control one mech on the “player” side. He gets a flashy mech with a superior pilot, I get an inferior mech with a novice pilot and allow him to tell me what to do.

I was originally planning on setting it in 3025ish to keep it simple and go for the classic vibe, but the superior speed of IlClan era games makes me question that decision.

So: two scenarios. In 3028, we have a Lyran patrol hunting down a straggling Kuritan assault mech and its light escort. In 3150, we have a Tamar Pact patrol encountering half-trained Jade Falcon stragglers from a forgotten sibko.

Which of the two scenarios would you recommend? In the 3028 game, the new player would have the Wolverine. In the 3150 game, he'd have the Phoenix Hawk.

—

Adding some clarifications:

* The reason for the Wolfhound with the novice pilot is because that is the mech which I will be piloting. The game is staged to make rookie player feel like the leader & hero compared to me.

* Playtesting the 3028 mission against Princess on Megamek has given victories to the Steiner side each time, with the Kuritan Commando going down quickly and the Awesome having much more bark than bite once you surround it and get inside minimum range. But it does take a fair few turns to wear through its armour.

* I haven't playtested 3150 yet, but one factor there is that my supply of painted Clan mechs is pretty much just the Invasion boxset. For IS, I have AGOAC plus the Battle, Urban, Striker and Direct Fire lances.

Looking to model some ground units (Tanks, wheeled, and hover) in the older styles and would really love an all in one source where I can look at the old designs. Photo just for example.

I've been messing around with the latest release of Megamek to get a feel for the new rules.

I'm unsure if this is a new feature or just something that I hadn't noticed before, but it now asks if you'd like it to generate a GIF summary of a battle once it's completed.

The green team here (controlled by me) was representing the Tamar Pact with a Rifleman IIC 8, Lineholder LH2, Locust 7S and Phoenix Hawk 7S. Princess controlled the Alyina Mercantile League red team with a Gyrfalcon, Hierofalcon B, Baboon 6 and Phantom F. Pilot skills were tweaked to make both sides exactly 7,500BV.

Is this actually new, or have I just not been paying attention?

Men shen, and a printed Ti Ts'ang with lance.

What do you guys play and what are your opinions on each?