Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Battletech Battle Report

Last Friday the new player added to my current ATOW campaign was out for a World of Warcraft event, so Mark and I decided to play some regular battletech. First I thought to have a general battlemech brawl with some vehicles on the side, but I eventually changed to an objective driven scenario since general fights tend to bore me.

King of the Hill


Maps

The game scenario ended up being something I cooked up in my mind, a strange variation of King of the Hill with different objectives. For maps I used two copies of the map from Hex Pack: Lakes and Rivers. I set the maps with the River Valley side face up connecting the long sides with the largest mountain facing each other. Each map's large mountain would serve as the home player's main hill and the smaller mountain would serve as the home player's alternate hill. I originally thought to use the Large Mountain maps, but I feared LRMs might be wasted, then again the River Valley maps posed challenges as well. I think I seem to like these maps a lot for some reason.

Scoring

We both agreed any battlemech could score a number of points equal to their respective weight class on the main hill. The main hill scoring area was limited to the peak, the north and south hex of the peak and the front hexes facing the opposite main hill. The main hill peak would award an additional point. The small hill scoring area was limited to the peak. The small hill peak would score one point regardless of weight class. The small hill peak would score according to weight class for an opposing battlemech. Regardless of which hill a battlemech had to stay on a hill a full turn to score.

Forces

Having two copies of the Introductory Boxed Set I limited battlemechs to those sets using only the standard variants to make things easier. I picked out twelve battlemechs per side selecting battlemechs I rarely or have never used and both players received the same battlemechs. This was a general experiment to see how certain battlemechs function and a way for Mark to see some battlemechs before they make an appearance in the ATOW campaign. Plus this is another way to examine Mark's ability to adjust tactics for the game, which I then use in turn to challenge his character in the ATOW campaign.

The company of battlemechs

COM-2D Commando
JR7-D Jenner
VND-1R Vindicator
ENF-4R Enforcer
DV-6M Dervish
DRG-1N Dragon
CPLT-C1 Catapult
GHR-5H Grasshopper
ZEU-6S Zeus
CP-10-Z Cyclops
BNC-3E Banshee
AS7-D Atlas


Deployment

Both players were free to deploy their battlemechs as they wish by simply moving each battlemech unto their home map from their home map edge on the first turn.

Turn 1

I deployed on the West map and Mark deployed on the East map. I deployed with the intention of using the water channels and the sides of the main hill to help push my assault mechs through and generally use them as hill attackers and defenders. I sent a small force to take the small hill and faster small force to take the main hill. Mark eventually told me his initial deployment ideas was a murder pile to gain as many battlemechs up top the main hill as fast as possible. To his admitting this plan broke apart quickly.


Turn 2

Mostly movement and no fire lances outside of blind luck shots. However funny enough Mark laughed as my Atlas crashed to the ground while crossing the river. "They'll never think of this!" I then laughed as his Banshee did the same thing. I took the lead by jumping my Catapult to my small hill for an early point grab. Mark was able to jump two mechs into scoring position on his main hill first which caused me to do the same. I also showed Mark I was going for his small hill by moving four mechs directly towards it. I believe Mark had his Catapult in position to provide LRM support and was not fully aware of my intentions to take his small hill.


Turn 3

I believe Mark's initial murder pile idea had failed at this point as my Catapult was in position to score on the small hill along with a couple of mediums on my main hill. I advanced my Dragon into Mark's territory acting as the lead for a lance of additional mechs following. Mark responded to my Catapult by sending a much larger force of mechs in the hill's direction along with an almost equal force to his own small hill. Mark shifted his main hill mechs loosing his initial possible point grabs. His decision was for the better as he would shift in larger mechs to core. One thing I will note for the Catapult obtaining just one point it took a large amount of damage by basically being  a fire magnet.


Turn 4

At this point all mechs had moved into firing range. All the mechs atop the main hills continued to hammer each other with Mark's forces succeeding in knocking my Dervish to the ground.

Near my small hill I jumped my Catapult to counter Mark's Grasshopper, but the plan did not work well at all and I nearly lost the Catapult to an ammo explosion. Even though I had two assault mechs coming to the Catapult's aid, I was vastly being over run. I thought to use the Banshee as a close range brawler, but opted to utilize its longer range weapon systems. Both the Banshee and the Zeus were ill equipped for this job as Mark was overrunning me with superior fast short range firepower.

Although outnumbered and outclassed, Mark was putting up a heck of a fight in order to not loose his hill. My Dragon took way too much damage and was nearly lost to an ammo explosion twice. Mark blew the left arm completely off, damaged the rear medium laser and a heat sink missing the LRM ammo completely. Mark's Zeus was acting as an anchor and morale booster as the heat sinks in the legs kept it very cool.


Turn 5

One thing had to happen this turn, ammo dumping on multiple mechs. My Catapult jumped to safety in the woods and dump any remaining LRM ammo, next my Dragon would lie prone for safety and dump any remaining LRM ammo, and my Dervish would stand tall and dump the unused SRM ammo.

On the main hills, Mark's Atlas arrived to take the peak while the Dervish jumped below to support his retreating forces. Mark's Atlas would soon tip the scale of point accumulations in his favor and even more so if my Dervish was taken out. I was able to put out more damage which was helping a bit. Since the Dervish jumped away I concentrated all firepower on Mark's Dragon and knocked it to the ground.

Since my Catapult had left the small hill, the Zeus and the Banshee moved back into the water. I had lost the small hill and abandoned trying to retake it. More importantly, I needed to protect my main hill from invasion.

In response to me loosing my small hill I forced Mark's forces into retreat from his small hill and took it. Most of Mark's mechs couldn't fight toe to toe with my Cyclops and my Atlas within a turns movement was adding to the pressure. Mark's forces put a valiant effort into knocking my Grasshopper on its face.

A Chex Mix dropship prepares for departure.

Turn 6

Dumping ammo helped keep my Catapult and Dragon in the game a bit longer and I am amazed the Dervish was still standing.

Atop the main hills nothing significant happened. Mark was outright ignoring my other mechs and concentrating on my Dervish as I was to his Dragon. Many components were breaking on the Dervish.

My left flank was collapsing fast around my small hill so I made some force adjustments. I jumped the Catapult to the main hill in response to Mark's Catapult doing the same although his Catapult was in scoring postilion. The Zeus climbed the main hill while the Banshee slowly made its way to the main hill. Mark pushed his Cyclops to the banshee and must have had an agenda to either damage it severely or destroy it entirely. The Banshee absorbed a great amount of damage buying serious time for the Zeus to escape unscathed. Sadly the Banshee fell as its gyro was destroyed, but not before its PPC blew the head clean off of the Cyclops. Talk about a critical influenced luck and a trade kill. When the Banshee fell, my left side had effectively collapsed.

Around Mark's small hill his forces were scattered forces and retreating to higher ground leaving only the healthy light units to stop the onslaught of approaching assault mechs. The Catapult has jumped away to the main hill for a more valuable scoring position. The Zeus was in full retreat as its center torso armor had been opened up from a devastating AC/20 hit from my Cyclops. Mark put a lot of focus on my Atlas in hopes to slow it down.

A Record Sheet dropship arrives on map.
Turn 7

I forgot to take a picture Du-oh!

Atop the main hills, Mark had succeeded in tipping the point scoring in his favor. I would be able to tip the scale back in my favor the next turn with the inclusion of the Catapult and the Zues. I could afford to lose the Dervish and still be ahead or lose the Catapult and be tied for points scores. Miraculously the Dervish survived another turn. I believe the Dervish and the Dragon may have both fallen down though.

Over by my small hill, my left flank was completely collapsed and the Catapult was easy pickings and the prime target for destruction. Having dumped the ammo previously gave the mech a lot of additional life span as it was on horrible shape.

Over by Mark's small hill his forces were in full retreat unable to hold the line or push back my forces. He choose to sacrifice his Jenner to hold my Atlas and take heat off of his Zeus. The Atlas honored the sacrificed and pummeled the pilot to oblivion with an AC/20 hit to the head. Mark never laughed so hard before, he was very pleased.


End Game

We thought to capture the game and finish it later, but Mark considered his options and conceded. To be sure of his decision we both considered what we would do the very next turn. I explained I would try to put his Dragon down for good atop the main hill denying him a point scorer and put the Zeus out of commission removing another of his assault mechs and a possible point scorer. Mark believed his options were to remove my Dervish and or my Catapult possibly removing two point scorers. By the end of the last turn I had a higher point lead which would take a few turns to even, but that far ahead is difficult to predict.

It was a great game.


Points Scored

Key

H/B/C/P(P)

H = Hill: Home or Enemy, Main or Small
B = Battletmech
C = Class: Light, Medium, Heavy, Assult
P = Point(s) Scored (Peak Point)

T3

H
HS/Catapult/H/1
HM/Dervish/M/2(1)
---------------------
Turn Total = 4

T4

H
HM/Enforcer/M/2
HM/Vidicator/M/2
HM/Dervish/M/2(1)
---------------------
Turn Total = 7

M
HM/Dragon/H/3
HM/Dervish/M/2(1)
---------------------
Turn Total = 6

T5

H
HM/Enforcer/M/2
HM/Vidicator/M/2
HM/Dervish/M/2(1)
---------------------
Turn Total = 7

M
HM/Dragon/H/3
-----------------
Turn Total = 3

T6

H
HM/Enforcer/M/2
HM/Vidicator/M/2
HM/Dervish/M/2(1)
ES/Grasshopper/H/3
---------------------
Turn Total = 10

M
HM/Dragon/H/3
HM/Atlas/A/4(1)
ES/Grasshopper/H/3
---------------------
Turn Total = 11

T7

H
HM/Enforcer/M/2
HM/Vidicator/M/2
HM/Dervish/M/2(1)
ES/Grasshopper/H/3
---------------------
Turn Total = 10

M
HM/Dragon/H/3
HM/Catapult/H/3
HM/Atlas/A/4(1)
ES/Grasshopper/H/3
---------------------
Turn Total = 14

H
Game Total = 38
M
Game Total = 34

If the next turn happened it might have gone something like this as more mechs would have been in position to score.

T8 (Prediction)

H
HM/Enforcer/M/2
HM/Vidicator/M/2
HM/Dervish/M/2(1) *
HM/Catapult/H/3 *
HM/Zeus/A/4
ES/Grasshopper/H/3
---------------------
Turn Total = 17

M
HM/Dragon/H/3 *
HM/Catapult/H/3
HM/Atlas/A/4(1)
ES/Grasshopper/H/3
---------------------
Turn Total = 14

I don't remember Mark adding more to his main hill on the last turn such as the Dervish, he was too busy trying to slow my Atlas from invading his hill. If things had gone smooth and no mechs were lost I would still have a lead in points that turn. If I lost the Dervish I would stil have a lead, if I lost the Catapult the points would be tied. More to it the three mechs marked by * were all close to being destroyed in a turn or two so with those mechs destroyed the points would have been tied.

It felt that about half of each player'scompany of mechs were either destroyed, critically damaged, trashed or damaged and the other half were in working condition.


Overview
Now for an overview of each battlemech's performace.

COM-2D Commando
Both of us used our commandos as persuit mechs following the original purpose I believe the mech is designed for. Mark has little respect for light mechs, but I think he liked the firepower the Commando can put out.

JR7-D Jenner
Both of us used our Jenners as harassing units against eachother's heavy mechs. Their jump movement kept them safe during the game. Mark tossing his as a sacrifice to hold an Atlas for a turn in classical to his hatred for light mechs.

VND-1R Vindicator
Origanlly as a hill attack mech, I used mine as a sniper atop the main hill while Mark used his as a persuit mech.

ENF-4R Enforcer
I used mine as a sniper atop the main hill while Mark used his as a hill defense mech.

DV-6M Dervish
Both of use used them as point scorers and Mark switched his to hill defense. This mech has way too much ammo for comfort, the dual SRM ammo bins could be useful down the line, but not much armor protects them.

DRG-1N Dragon
I used mine as a hill attacker while Mark used his as a point scorer/sniper. Eventually my Dragon became nothing but a glorifed AC/5 glass cannon. This is another mech with way too much ammo. I have yet to gain any liking for Dragons myself and Mark could say much less fot them.

CPLT-C1 Catapult
Both of us used our Catapults as a point scorer and hill defense. The Catapult might have served better purpose atop the main hill raining LRMs around the battlefield. Sitting atop a hill would have negated the usefulness of its jump sets and battery of medium lasers.

GHR-5H Grasshopper
We both used our Grasshoppers as hill attackers and point scorers. I think the idea of base attacking was obvious, their jump jet capability made them both accessible to score points as well.

ZEU-6S Zeus
A Zeus loves water, plain and simple. Both of us used our Zeuses for hill defense. I found the zeus is far better at range due to the AC/5 and LRM15 minimum ranges. The Zeus in general seems like a jack of all ranges, but mastering in no single range. I think the Zeus might have been far better suited to sit on the main hill and score as it had the movement to get up there in a decent amount of time.

CP-10-Z Cyclops
Both of us used our Cyclopses for base attacking. The Cyclops not having a protective HQ job was perfect to run right to the enemy lines and wreak as much havoc as possible. The Cyclops was really a gamble and may have been better to not have been included, but for the sake of never beeing used I included it.

BNC-3E Banshee
I used my Banshee for hill defense while MArk used his Banshee for hill attacking.  Like the Zeus the Banshee felt like a mixed bag range wise and severly limited in weapon options. It might have been better to use it as some say as a huge mech brawler with one hell of a kick.

AS7-D Atlas
I used my Atlas for hill attacking while Mark used his Atlas for point scoring. I figured the Atlas would waste most of its deadly short range firepower atop the main hill so I opted to attack Mark's small hill. The decision to attack Mark's small hill proved to be the superior decision for two reasons; one it helped me overun and take the small hill, two it helpded. Mark using the Atlas as a point scorer sort of limited the overall firepower capability, but the amount of points it could score was just as valuable.

I hope you enjoyed this battle report. I feel this scenario might be something I can refine possibly if given enough opponents who think its an interesting idea.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Blood Angels versus Tau 7th Edition Battle Report

The title should really be.

Pie Plate versus Pie Slice.


Thanks again reddit for your services. ;)

This post we see the return of Yoda of the Blood Angels, a long forgotten creature of wisdom. He will provide comments where needed.

Neverness demands humor lets see if we can deliver.

Daniel and I met again for a game of 40K and this time I brought my Blood Angels as my Tyranids are undergoing a slight paint scheme update. Again you ask, yes, well sort of. I have found a new way to paint them faster, but that is another story. Daniel brought with him some new dice, new dice, we'll out those dice to the test.



Force List

Blood Angels

I did something different for a change and that was I used a special character, not the best choice, and I didn't take any Sanguinary priests.


Astorath

1x Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon, Drop Pod

1 x Sanguinary Guard squad

1x Tactical Squad with 5x Additional Marines, Plasma Gun, Plasma Rifle, Lascannon, Power Weapon

1x Assault Squad with 5x Additional Marines, 2x Meltagun, Power Fist

Baal Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons

1x Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter

1x Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter

1x Devastator Squad with 5x Additional Marines, 4x Missile Launcher

Tau

I wasn't exactly sure of the loadouts so I improvised there, but the unit types should be correct.

Commander w/ BattleSuit and a bunch of other stuff

Ethereal

Firewarriors x 12

Firewarriors x 12

XV-104 Riptide with a bunch of other stuff

Stealth Suit Team with 4 x XV15 battlesuits w/ burstcannons and 2 x XV25 battlesuits with fusion blasters

Pathfinders with 7 Pulse carbines and Marker lights, and 3 with Rail rifles

Hammerhead Gunship with a bunch of other stuff

Broadside with a lot of missile launchers

Broadside x 3 with a lot of big guns


Deployment

We rolled for the mission big guns never tire. Along with a roll of three mysterious objectives, heavy support choices would be worth extra victory points. I placed the first objective in the middle somewhat, Daniel placed another where the Pathfinders would eventually be deployed and I placed the last objective where the Baal was eventually deployed. The objectives resembled a game of Domination setup in BF4, sort of. Night fight was a failure, but with Tau it really didn't matter much at all.

Daniel got to go first again, bah.

We used the same table as last time. I changed the terrain a bit to give both sides a nice amount of cover and minimize the middle dead zone, although it was still kind of was a dead zone.
I gained an excellent warlord trait which Daniel so nicely enhanced by failing three leadership tests, pinning his entire middle to right flank minus the Hammerhead. New dice indeed.


The Baal Predator scouted about 6 inches into the middle dead zone.


Turn 1

First turn was very frustrating for both of us as all we did was take whole units right off the table. I wish I had photoshop skills or a side artist to pay for artwork.
Tau

Hammerhead
Pie plate Assault squad, safe.

Riptide
Imagine ... a pie just rolling across the field landing on the Tactical squad.
Pie plate Tactical squad, goodbye Tactical squad.

Blood Angels

Enter Drop pod, hello Furioso Dreadnaught, oh my what a big Frag cannon, Frag cannon, WTF is a Frag cannon?
Dreadnaught
Imagine ... a pie slice emerging from the barrel and slicing through the Pathfinders.
Pie slice Pathfinders, goodbye Pathfindes.

Devastator Squad
Mini cake Firwarriors, GTFO Farewarriors, lolz panzees. Firewarriors routed.

Astorath and the Sanguinary Guard assaulted the Tau commander. One Sanguinary Guard dies.



Turn 2

Tau

Hate upon the Assault squad who have done nothing wrong to thee, kill all but three.
Enter Stealth suits, Stealth suits destroy Landspeeder, goodbye Landspeeder. Stealth suits jump away into cover to hide, cowards.
Tau commander fails to harm Astorath in a challenge, Astorath cleaves the Tau commander in half with his mighty axe. Goodbye Tau commander, I love killing Daniel's Tau commander.

Blood Angels

The Baal Predator removes half of the untouched Firewarrior squad, lolz, eat my AP4 rounds.
The Landspeeder and Devastator squad not able to deal with the cowards below opened fire on the previously demoralized Firewarrior squad. With some Heavy Bolter and lovely crack rounds the Firewarriors were no more. Goodbye Firewarriors, lolz, panzees.
The Furioso Dreadnaught strolled over to the lone Broadside and stated "It looks like you are trying to kill Blood Angels, Would you like help?" The Furioso Dreadnaught showed the Broadside a thing or two on how to open up to the Blood Angels squishing the battle suit and the Tau pilot within to a bloody pulp. There was no official reply from the Tau pilot.
Astorath morphed into true model form, actually another Blood Angel player named Chris swapped my librarian model for Astorath. Astorath and the Sanquinary Guard failed their charge, lame.



Turn 3

Tau

The Stealth suits failed to destroy the Landspeeder, "Idiots, says the face-palming Ethereal.

Then much death the blood angels felt.  Yes, hmmm.

The Riptide killed the rest of the Assault squad, bully!
The Broadsides killed Astorath after making three Instant Death Invulnerable saves and the rest of the Sanguinary Guard, so sad. Astorath promptly dissipated and traveled back to his rightful owner. Well played Chris, well played.

Blood Angels

The Landspeeder and Devastator squad combined firepower and rained death down upon the Stealth suits and killed four of them, leaving two of them to cower as presumed.
The Furioso Dreadnought walked to the Hammerhead with a fist of friendship. Evidently the fist of friendship was not friendly at all as the Hammerhead was torn apart and rearranged into the a throne for the Furioso. The furioso didn't like his new throne and strolled back to the nearby objective.



Turn 4

Tau

The Tau did nothing spectacular by moving the Riptide closer to the middle objective and moving the Stealth suits into cover, again, cowards, again.

Blood Angels

The Devastator squad tried to kill off the remaining Stealth suits, but too many were obscured. The Baal Predator shot the rest of the Firewarriors off the battlefield as they had nothing else to do, but hide in the trench lines. The Landspeeder moved to the middle objective to contest it and force the Riptide to stay put and maybe move the Stealth suits away.



Turn 5

Tau

The Stealth suits moved away and up keeping out of the sight of the Devastator squad possibly moving to an objective.
The Broadsides finally destroyed the Baal Predator, finally.

Blood Angels

The Devastator squad was not able to harm anything at all.



End Game

Once Turn 05 was finished I was tired of such a frustrating game and wanted to get home before Midnight. The cool thing was my friend Ralph was online for a few games of BF4 which is always a good thing.




Victory Points

Tau

1 First blood
1 Slay the warlord (A special production, directed by fail and produced by cheese)
1 Objective held by the Riptide

Blood Angels

1 Slay the warlord
1 Linebreaker (This was almost tied, but the Stealth suits were moved out of the Blood Angel's deployment zone)
1 Objective held by the Furioso Dreadnought
1 Tau Heavy support Broadside suit destroyed
1 Tau Heavy support Hammerhead destroyed

Somewhere about half way through the game we noticed we forgot to reveal the mysetrious objectives and in turn we both agreed to treat them as normal objectives.



Awards

Most deadly, MVP
Furioso Dreadnought
Once the Furioso dropped and deployed he was never removed and decided to have his own one dreadnought blood bathed destruction fest. This model needs some paint.

Most annoying
Stealth suits

Most didn't do didly shit
Tactical squad, Pathfinders, Firewarriors

Most missed chances
Astorath and the Sanguinary Guard
Failing their assault, and the constant annoyance of BS rolls of 6 with added BS re-rolls ofS 6 overwatch AP2 BS fire

Most hated
Broadside suits
Lawn chair cowards protecting a coward, lol. The Devastator squad was about the same, but they didn't have those 2+ saves.

Most almost Kenny
Riptide
This jackass managed to wound himself three times from lolvercharging.

Most cowering, not able to hang with the grunts, let the commander and grunts die in shame
Ethereal




Thoughts

Be honest in this game Astorath was not the best choice. I hate using characters for the most part and I rarely use them. If I don't use a character Blood Angels are left with an expensive boring captain, a sub par wanna be chaplain, and a librarian with no special save. I usually take the librarian as he is the cheapest of them all.

Failing <6 inch charges makes me face palm so hard the earth shakes.

The Sanguinary Guard might not have been the best choice either, but they are fun to use.

Sanguinary priest(s) might have helped, but the amassed AP2 firepower coming down in the open might and might not have saved some. They really helped the most when used after a normal/cover save, but without the normal save, marines with a 5+ save are simply dreaming with luck.

I am so glad I brought a full Devastator squad, anything smaller might have been easily been destroyed.

I wonder if I maybe should have combat squad the Tactical squad. Keeping a small squad with the Lascannon for shooting purposes and a small squad to grab the objective later. Keeping a squad hidden just to grab an objective on the last turn possible seems dull and why would I be playing this game anyway. Not my style.

Feel no pain on the Riptide is BS. It felt like the ONLY unit doing any work. I couldn't wound it at all and most of the time I just ignored it. Even ignoring it, the unit was still so powerful it could practically if rolling well remove whole units each turn if it really wanted. Models for money I suppose.

The Tau Commander's ability to do a similar smash attack is kind of silly. This should be reserved for monstrous creatures alone. I understand giving all your attacks up, but strength 10? A Blood angel can only achieve strength 8 with a PF, and strength 10 with certain characters (maybe) and with good rolls on the psychic power table. More models for money I suppose.

I lost my only AP2 weapon, again my only AP2 weapon when the Tactical squad went bye bye. The assault squad had two melta guns, they died.

I fought Necrons before and the Warriors ability to repair after an opponent's shooting and after an assault began to frustrate me. The Riptide's ability to charge up here, there, everywhere E-I-E-I-O, sigh. The warriors are kind of minimized by a normal 4+ save, but it is a 4+ save/4+ repair roll. The riptide a walking firepower machine, 2+ save, feel no pain, mounstrous creature, f^%& me.

This game displayed two things in the first turn I detest in this game a lot. Dick measuring and taking entire units off the battlefield in the first turn. More importantly it seems to be the norm with this game and the only way it seems to be going.

The first turn of this game and most 40K games feels like dick measuring and that is who can remove as much of the opponent's models as possible before they even take their first turn, stupid. A lot of strategy is lost in my opinion.

My Tyranid army constantly suffers from having to take huge chunks or whole broods off the table before first turn, early on, during play, but when my Blood Angel's are doing the same thing it gets dull fast.

By the third turn my army assault and mobility had been decimated. Fourth turn I was barely holding on doing what I could barely do. Fifth turn forget it I was down to two units. I almost got tabled which isn't fun for anyone, I think, some like the abuse.

Will Yoda of the Orks ever return?

Does anyone actually crave massive heavy infantry and support tanks games without all the crap in the center or without the lawn chair guy on the other side laucnhing shit and never moving?

Keep in mind I rant against the game and stupid rules and never Daniel, Daniel was a great player.



I hope you have enjoyed this BR and Rant , my Blood Angels will be back again for more abuse soon just you wait.




Monday, July 21, 2014

2014 Introductory Battletech Boxed Set Figure Comparison P2


Continuing from where I left off with the light battlemechs I will now compare the medium battlemechs between the 25th and 2014 Introductory Boxed Sets. Before I begin I discovered the reference cards in the 2014 Introductory Boxed Set are thicker and feel like they can take a bit more abuse and get more use out of them. When taking pictures of the next class of battlemechs I noticed the 2014 miniatures seem to be shorter than their 25th counterparts. I have also noticed the 2014 miniatures tend to be a little fuller than the 25th counterparts. In my opinion so far you will find the 2014 medium mechs got much shorter and in some cases don't stack well against their 25th counterparts.

Follow after the break for Part 02 of the comparison articles.



Part 02 Medium Battlemechs


Assassin

25th Introductory Boxed Set


25th Assassin leans back more.

2014 Introductory Boxed Set



25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Assassin is much better molded, fuller, visually appealing.

Cicada

25th Introductory Boxed Set


25th Cicada leans back and stands crooked.

2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Cicada stands crooked.

25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Cicada's legs are stronger.


Clint

25th Introductory Boxed Set


25th Clint's left hand is missing and body appears formed incorrectly.

2014 Introductory Boxed Set



25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


25th Clint and 2014 Clint both stand at the same height.


Hermes II

25th Introductory Boxed Set



2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Hermes II lost some of the armor lines on the rear center torso.

25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


25th Hermes II stands taller than 2014 Hermes II.
Without all the excess flash, 25th Hermes II might be better than 2014 Hermes II.


Whitworth

25th Introductory Boxed Set


25th Whitworth has nothing bad besides excess flash.

2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Whitworth shrank in size, even with the right leg bent.

25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


25th Whitworth has serious edge over 2014 Whitworth.


Vindicator

25th Introductory Boxed Set


25th Vindicator is a good model.

2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Vindicator improved in both mold and looks.

25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Vindicator looks much fuller like it has a brand new suit of armor to wear.


Enforcer

25th Introductory Boxed Set


Good model.

2014 Introductory Boxed Set


Good model, leans inward a bit and the center torso armor lines changed a bit.

25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Enforcer appears fuller despite the inward lean.


Hunchback

25th Introductory Boxed Set



2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Hunchback shrank in size almost a head' length.

25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


25th Hunchback appears to be better than 2014 Hunchback where size matters.


Trebuchet

25th Introductory Boxed Set


25th Trebuchet leans forward a bit more.

2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Trebuchet is shorter, but does not lean so far forward.

25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Trebuchet' center torso is better formed.


Dervish

25th Introductory Boxed Set


25th Dervish is taller, has a smaller head, and skinnier arms and legs.

2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Dervish is shorter, has a larger head, and has matching bulk arms to bulky legs.

25th Introductory Boxed Set and 2014 Introductory Boxed Set


2014 Dervish although shorter is a more appealing model.


Be honest I was a little let down by the medium battlemechs as a lot of them shrank and some fell terribly short. I wonder if these are still early run batches or maybe this batch didn't bake too long. I have said before I am not a bit nit-picker so I will leave with those thoughts and move on. I still recommend the 25th and the 2014 Introductory Boxed Sets.

Next article I will compare the heavy battlemechs which will brig some needed improvements.