Battletech Alpha Strike does have simplified rules. SOMEWHAT simplified rules. Very different core mechanics (one roll for all weapons, non-random damage, no hit location table…). It’s weird because I feel they have simplified totally the wrong way… The mechs feel generic now.
Was it Battletech that invented the term “alpha strike”?
The US Navy was using “alpha strike” for large carrier-based air raids going back to Vietnam.
Oooh, bested by the grape stepper.
I was hoping to get my hands on one of the 25th anniversary Battletech re-release boxes, but I missed the first batch(es) and forgot about it.
If the rumors upthread are true and the unseen are really settled and returning to play/production, I’d love to see another ‘classic Battletech’ boxed set full of previously unseen plastic minis.
What rumors? It’ll be a cold day in hell before Harmony Gold surrenders any of it’s ex-Japan rights to its mechs - particularly with a newly-ish inked Hollywood deal. :( To be clear, the use of unseen Harmony Gold-inspired mechs have never been authorized by HG. There was a brief re-release that Wizkids did ~10 years ago that featured them, but that was quickly pulled from publication after an alpha-strike of lawyers.
The 25th anniversary box is pretty hit-or-miss. As I mentioned upthread, the mechanics are unchanged and the mechs aren’t of particularly high quality (only two are even poseable). But hey, there’s ~25 mechs to play with (or paint, if that’s your thing) and at ~$2/mech it’s tough to go wrong. :)
Supposedly, the 2014 edition introductory box has higher quality minis. I think it’s still available in certain stores.
The rumours are because of this:
And this:
And the post at the bottom of this thread.
It’s hard to believe Catalyst is doing this if they think they are going to get slapped with another C&D.
That’s mighty awesome, Soapyfrog. Somehow I had completely missed the earlier linkage to that. Love the Marauder in the background, but the Whammer has always been my favorite.
I still have trouble believing that HG/ is going to just let it go now that Warner Bros has their movie in the pipeline again. Obviously they know more than I do, so I’ll have to trust in that. Besides, it’s their money and only my emotions they’re playing with :)
Well I am cautiously optimistic; nobody has come out and definitively said everything is legal and above board, so who knows! I am just delighted to see the Warhammer again (and a pretty nice looking rendition of it as well!!).
And then StarFleet Battles adopted it long before Battletech.
Great, now you’ve really gotten my hopes up. A fiction reboot around 3025 would be the icing on the cake. Michael Stackpole’s effects on the Star Wars universe have already been erased from the timeline, why can’t we do it for BT too? Also, a chance to avoid some of the dumber stuff about the clans etc. that was FASA’s fault. I mean in-game fiction though, the world doesn’t need more tie-in novels.
It sure is. The one sold at Barnes and Noble(BN No Results Page | Barnes & Noble®) looks like the 2011 edition, but the publication date says 2014. I got a copy from there, so it’s definitely the newer printing.
Be careful of what you wish for. Along with Stackpole’s effects, they also erased Timothy Zahn’s effects. BT’s equivalent might be nuking of the William H. Keith’s work.
Yeah, that’s the set I have. The mechs are functional in their appearance, but compared to gaming minis, they’re pretty blah.
That’s not all that much of a loss, I could do without force cancelling sloths.
NEVER! Those sloths were awesome, and every bounty hunter should have one!
The first three Keith novels are the earliest in the timeline, and they’re all set on backwater planets, like every other book that wasn’t by Stackpole. I doubt anyone would go out of their way to have the Gray Death Legion written out, especially for a video game. The rest of BT’s Game-Of-Thrones-In-Space-Except-With-Mary-Sues-Who-Always-Win canon? Don’t really care too much.
I’m also okay with the Zahn Star Wars books being overridden. I wish they hadn’t replicated the practice of filling in every gap left by the movies with ancillary tie-in media. Does Disney need the revenue from paperbacks that badly?
I really hope that they at least keep Grand Admiral Thrawn in some capacity. He’s probably my favorite villain in the SWEU.
I really like the ‘new’ Warhammer since it looks pretty darn similar to the original. My favorites were always the Marauder and Griffin though, so I’m excited to see them making a comeback too. (Is that a Griffin over the Warhammer’s left shoulder?)
As for the fiction: Well I guess I may be in the minority, but I liked the storylines created by Stackpole and others that followed. The planet of Tukayyid is too ingrained in my childhood brain for me to give it up.
I also didn’t realize that Timothy Zahn’s books had been completely disavowed. That’s too bad; I was hoping the new movies might build on or incorporate the Zahn trilogy somehow. Maybe they weren’t the best sci-fi ever, but I think they compare pretty favorably to the prequel trilogy…
I still maintain Stackpole was one of the best authors doing Battletech fiction, among other licensed fiction lines. Not that that’s a hugely high bar, for sure. His original fiction is better, of course. Star Wars drew a better class of author overall, so he doesn’t stand out quite as much there and I’m fonder of folks like Karen Traviss, Greg Keyes, and Matthew Stover. (Stover even managed to make Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader feel almost believable and tragic in the Episode III novelization, which is quite a feat when working from such a terrible script. Not actually believable, you understand. But closer than the movie ever comes by a long, long shot.)
Kickstarter is going up at 1pm EDT today. I’ll link it when it is available. Let’s get this thing funded!! One of the stretch goals is to have Stackpole write the story elements.