Father's Day 52 Battlemech Haul

Father's Day Gift Ideas

Prior to Father's Day my wife asked me for some gift ideas. I did some searching and remembered I have been wanting a few more BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Lance Packs to add to my collection of battlemech miniatures. The reason I like the lance packs is each lance pack contains four battlemech miniatures for a reasonable price expanding upon the miniatures contained in the 25th Anniversary Introductory Box Set. The four battlemech miniatures consist or two new battlemech miniatures not featured in the Battletech 25th Anniversary Box Set along with two battlemech miniatures featured in the Battletech 25th Anniversary Box Set.  The new featured battlemechs are BlackJack, Cataphract, Centurion, Charger, Firestarter, Flea, Hatchetman, Orion, Raven, Shogun, Stalker, Victor, Wolfhound, and Vulcan.I found a store online who sold them at a remarkable 35% off retail price. In additonal I already own three lance packs, Assault and Pursuit when they first came available and Fire lance as a gift from a friend. Taking into account what I already owned, I sent her a list of I what I wanted.

Wish List

BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Assault Lance Pack  x 1

BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Battle Lance Pack x 2

BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Fire Lance Pack x 1

BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Pursuit Lance Pack x 1

BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Recon Lance Pack x 2

If can swing

BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Command Lance Pack x 2

If can really swing

BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Support Lance Pack x 2

Father's Day Gift Reveal

I kind of left my ideas at this for awhile. Before I could give her some other ideas she had taken the list I gave her and made an order. She told me she ordered everything I wanted on the list except some things might only have one. I was more than happy to hear this as my collection of battlemech miniatures was about to be bolstered further. My future games and campaign games would now have access to a host of new battlemechs.

Soon enough a good sized package arrived at my doorstep. Inside I found way more than I expected. I received everything I asked for minus one copy of the Battle lance pack and she told me they only had one in inventory. I can get another Battle lance pack at another time. I think I did quite well with this gift haul.

If you noticed I don't own and didn't ask for the Striker lance pack because currently I don't want it. It is the only one of the lance packs which has only one new battlemech miniature not featured in the 25th Anniversary Box Set being the Guillotine along with three battlemech miniatures featured in the 25th Anniversary Box Set being the, Panther, Dragon, and Quickdraw. I don't use Quickdraws all to often, I despise Dragons and dislike using them besides cannon fodder, Panthers I suppose I could use for future campaigns/games featuring Draconis Combine forces. To obtain the Guillotine I may have trade or purchase a pair somehow.

BattleTech: Alpha Strike: Striker Lance

The Grand Scheme

My grand scheme of things is to obtain four copies of each lance pack, four copies of the 25th Anniversary Box Set and four copies of the Third Edition Box Set. I have since passed on the idea of obtaining a copy the City Tech boxed set as it's miniatures are much less than desirable. The battlemechs within these box sets and lance packs blend perfectly together with each other giving me many opportunities in my various Battletech games. However, four copies is a bit unrealistic and possibly overboard especially when it comes to the Third Edition Box Set. Third Edition miniatures are tough to purchase in a full set, people complain about the quality and still sell them at high prices because they are unseen. Two copies is more realistic without going overboard. Two copies will suffice mainly because I like to use battlemechs in pairs using the same or different variant. On top of this idea, I recently purchased a PDF copy of the new First Succession War source book and there are rules for playing games with multiples of the same battlemech.

All these battlemech miniatures are plastic miniatures ready to play right out of the box, no assembly required minus the Third Edition miniatures. Buying plastic miniatures is the best way to expand a battlemech miniature collection extremely fast. Trying to purchase all of the miniatures contained in the Alpha Strike lance packs alone is a lot. There is constant sway on whether the Alpha Strike lance pack miniatures are good or not, but they are good. They are of the same quality of the miniatures contained in the 25th Anniversary Box Set and far better than the quality of the Classic Box Set. The Third Edition miniatures are fine by to me as they were the first Battletech miniatures I owned and played with so they will forever be in high favor, this makes them far valuable to me past reasons of quality and unseen.

I own one Third Edition Boxed Set and luckily I was able to purchase a full set of the Third Edition miniatures in excellent condition. This second set has already made a mark in campaign games. I also own one copy of the Classic Boxed Set and one copy of the 25th Anniversary Boxed Set. Honestly I would like to replace my copy of the Classic Boxed Set with another copy of the 25th Anniversary boxed set. Honestly I would like to replace the copy of the formal with a copy of the latter as the latter has better quality miniatures. Nonetheless, both box sets see heavy use in my Battlemech games.

My Plastic Battlemech Collection So Far

Since this recent haul of plastic miniatures is pretty significant to me I wonder how many plastic battlemech miniatures I now own in my collection. I like numbers so lets see some numbers and lets do some math.

Lets see some numbers!

I have thirteen 13 BattleTech: Alpha Strike: lance packs with each lance pack containing four miniatures for a total of 52 miniatures. I have one copy of the 25th Anniversary Box Set containing 24 miniatures. I have one copy of the Classic Boxed Set containing 24 miniatures. I have one copy of the Third Edition boxed set containing 14 miniatures plus one extra full set of  14 Third Edition miniatures for a total of 28 miniatures. I am not counting the exclusive miniatures which came with the Classic Box Set or the 25th Anniversary Box Set. I consider those exclusives like collectibles which never see any use.

Lets do some math!

Alpha Stike Lance packs x 13 = 52 miniatures
25th Anniversary Box Sett = 24 miniatures
Classic Box Set  = 24 miniatures
Third Edtion Box Set  = 13 miniatures
Third Edition Box Set  = 13 miniatures

52 + 24 + 24 +28 = 128 Plastic Battletech battlemech miniatures!

Conclusion

I think anyone can conclude I love Battletech, the new lance packs, and plastic battlemech miniatures. I use every plastic battlemech miniature I own as much as I can and look forward to using my new plastic battemech miniatures. I already have plans to use a lot of these new battlemechs in my ongoing Battletech ATOW RPG campaign and hopefully I can play out some generic games suing these new battlemechs as well.

Battletech Battle Report | Draconis Combine versus Word of Blake

Here I bring another Battletech Battle Report for your reading pleasure. This battle report is for a Battletech game consisting of a small non-campaign lance on lance engagement in the Word of Blake designated Draconis Theater. I added a small narrative in the beginning followed a battlefield analysis at the end.  The battle report itself is a review of the engagement discovered on a damaged battle feed recorded long after. Please read and enjoy.

ATOW Battletech Campaign Update Part 4

ATOW Battletech Campaign


This post details information concerning my ongoing ATOW Battletech RPG game I currently run. This post will help catch up readers and bring them up to speed on what events have unfolded revealing further story line since the last update was posted. If you are a current reader or by chance a new reader please follow along and check back for the next update.

Bonus LARGE 20 turn Battletech Battle Report inside.

ATOW Battletech Campaign Update Part 3

ATOW Battletech Campaign


This post details information concerning my ongoing ATOW Battletech RPG game I currently run. This post will help catch up readers and bring them up to speed on what events have unfolded revealing further story line since the last update was posted. If you are a current reader or by chance a new reader please follow along and check back for the next update.

Bonus Battletech Battle Report inside.

ATOW Battletech Campaign Update Part 2

ATOW Battletech Campaign

This post details information concerning my ongoing ATOW Battletech RPG game I currently run. This post will help catch up readers and bring them up to speed on what events have unfolded revealing further story line since the last update was posted. If you are a current reader or by chance a new reader please follow along and check back for the next update.

Bonus Battletech Battle Report inside.

ATOW Battletech Campaign Update Part 1

ATOW Battletech Campaign

This post details information concerning my ongoing ATOW Battletech RPG game I currently run. This post will help catch up readers and bring them up to speed on what events have unfolded revealing further story line since the last battle report was posted. I have garnered the attention from a few new readers thirsty for information along with some nice compliments to my posts. My RPG players are encouraged to check and read these types of posts for information as well. Sometimes they may find hidden details, leads, and secrets in these posts and I know one player has been checking and waiting for the next post.

If you are a current reader or by chance a new reader please follow along and check back for the next update. This will be the first of possibly two or three updates leading to a few battletech battle reports posted one after the other.

Battletech Battle Report

I bring you another Battletech Battle Report. This battle report is a Battletech game from an encounter during the second campaign of my ongoing ATOW campaign.

Battletech A Time of War Campaign Complete

The turn of 2014 to 2015 marked a lot of gaming changes apparently and another one of those changes was the successful completion of my ongoing Battletech A Time of War campaign. The campaign is not 100% complete by any means as there is plenty of story to develop and reveal along with general character development alongside. The campaign completion was the end of the player character's involvement in the self designed Katerra system story line. What follows is a brief overview of the first campaign and some notable player information. Also I will provide a brief run down of the how the players available resources appear going in to the second campaign.

312 > 174

Why is 312 greater than 174?

174 is the amount of miniatures I received in the last few months of 2014 for three different games.

140 miniatures are from a kickstarter campaign for Robotech RPG Tactics. 25 miniatures are from a Christmas present for Warhammer 40,000. 8 miniatures are from a Christmas present for Battletech. 1 model is from a surprise birthday present for Battletech.
140 miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics Wave One
25 miniatures for Warhammer 40,000 Deathstorm
4 miniatures for Battletech Assault Lance
4 miniatures for Battletech Pursuit Lance
1 miniatures for Battletech (King Crab) :)
174 miniatures in total.

Breaking down 174

I pledged for the Showdown in the Robotech RPG Tactics kickstarter which gave two times the Battle Cry pledge which basically was the core set and unlocked stretch goals. In other words I have a shit ton of miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics.
The Deathstorm boxed set was perfect for me as it includes both armies I own and use, plus the handy small updated rule book. This boxed set was such a bargain as it gave my Blood Angels a new captain, new terminators, new dreadnaught (magnetize for all flavors if can), and additional death company. The box will also bolter my Tyranid forces with a new broodlord, genestealers, a carnifex (magnetize those dual devourers), and warriors. :( Warriors, hmm ... they are the new sculpts with swords and lashes and they can make a prime. :) I am very interested in playing the scenarios from the campaign booklet for some easy quick games.
The Battletech lances gave me some new battlemechs to use and especially new battlemechs to throw at my players in my ATOW campaign. :) I love torturing them with challenges just as much as one of my players loves getting head hits. Best of all they don't need to be assembled, they are ready to play. The birthday present was a surprise and I can't wait to play a game with two of these death machines running around terrorizing and destroying everything they can. Only one player I know off hand would say game on. Needless to say this probably will make an appearance in the ATOW campaign.
There is more, eventually and hopefully anyway.
84 miniatures for Reaper Bones II 2013 Core Set
54 miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics Wave Two
138 additional miniatures in total will eventually be added. I say eventually as the updates from

Reaper concerning the Bones II kickstarter point to a successful delivery soon. Actually today Reaper confirmed they have started Wave I fulfillment and I am in Wave II. I still have no idea what I will do with them to be honest. Hopefully is all I can say for Wave two of Robotech RPG Tactics and that’s all I have to say about that.
If you add all the received miniatures and the additional miniatures up you will get a hefty sum.
312 miniatures in total. This is why 312 is greater than 174.

I could be off by a few.
Actually I could say 313 miniatures as I assembled a Wolverine II model for battletech last Sunday I purchased in late 2014.

Goal for 2015

I have set a goal for 2015 of assembling and painting miniatures once a week. It doesn't have to be much, just assemble and paint something once a week. Any easy goal in all respects. When it comes to the assembly portion of the goal I can use assembled minatures in game as soon as they are assembled. I can assemble small things or large things, this game or that game, or start something this week and finish something next week.

Proof

The first week of January I started my once a week assembly goal and I think it went well. I got two battlemechs assembled. One battlemech was the Wolverine II I mentioned earlier which will go to a Marik unit I am building for the sake of building. The other battlemech was a Thug which was sent as a return fire birthday present to a friend. It has found a happy place in the ATOW campaign.
I started assembling the captain and terminators from the Deathstorm boxed set during the first week of the New Year and continued some more. I used my bag of bricks for basing materials on my previous Devastator squad I finished a while back. I intend to glue the miniatures to their bases before priming them to make it easier and so I can use them. I post about these units later.
During the first week of the year all the way to the end of January I assembled a lot of the Robotech RPG Tactics miniatures from one of the boxed sets. I tried the valkyries first and went WTF over the amount of pieces and which arms are for what. I have a lot of battle pods together. I got two destroids together as well. The amount of parts for some of the miniatures is huge and daunting, they will take time. The amount of time to remove mold lines takes time as well. I need to focus on what is needed to play the scenarios in the back. Whatever some may say I think those are easy step up battles to help learn the rules very easily and fast.
I did cheat one my never buy expensive GW tools, but I ended up buying the mold line removal tool and so far it is very helpful.
Painting I have been sticking to as well. I started with the repainting of my Tyranid Ravener. I changed the overall paint scheme to make it much easier and faster to paint them by eliminating certain complicated steps, paints which dry too easily, and adding a few steps to better the miniatures. I have picture of them, but I would rather post about them later. I have actually moved into painting my Hive Guard now.

TL;DR

I have a large backlog of combined old and new hobby work. This backlog needs to be worked on to get more game time. I’ll have plenty to post about soon. I was going to post pictures of everything stacked high, but does anyone really want to see hobby backlog porn?


I’ll have plenty to post about soon with pictures.

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.

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.