funded Catalyst Game Labs: BattleTech Clan Invasion box set

[Corsair]

Okay, the new update #20 the mechs from the Clan starter box are only add-ons.

[Zink]

8 hours ago, Corsair said:

If you still have your rule books from back then the ones in the two current starters are "light" duplicates of those. The Basic box has a Griffin and Wolverine in it [only place to get a Griffin if you are a lover of it]. The AGOAC bow has 8 mechs all IS. Bloodnamed and above really start getting more mech goodness. The new front page of the KS has just added some very good visual explanations. There is also a $40 dollar add on for all 10 mechs from the 2 Starter IS boxes. Here is the spreadsheet with the current post 300k packs

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15gzi0ah_F2xKHcsN1KNnArS0kb38f_UZIbYEi5kcfuo/edit#gid=0

They also added one more Clan Star consisting of Kodiak, Fire Falcon, Hellion, Pack Hunter and Howler.

 

It's been awhile since I looked at all of it but we have Battletech, Citytech, the technical readouts up to the clans arrival and a bunch of other stuff. Nice to know it's all still compatible. So you think I could skip the starter sets and just grab the Inner Sphere Retaliation Force. Need more mechs if I go for this.  Looking like Bloodnamed with a couple addons as a minimum but Star Colonel is tempting as it drops the price per mech. $340 (with the starter box mechs) for 77 mechs and all the other stuff. A lot easier for me to pick 12 lance packs I like than only 4 too. 

[Corsair]

@Zink I have not seen the rule books from either Starter, so I can't get too definitive. However, I have spoken to several other folks who describe them as "Quick start " type rules. SO I would say you could safely use what you have now. And I am debating about the IS 10 mech pack too. Been fiddling with planning out where the new units will plug into my existing forces.

[Zink]

My existing forces are 1 medium lance of my mechs and another lance or two belonging to a friend that left a bunch of his games and models with me because his wife didn't want all of them in "her" house. So that's why I'm so interested in getting large numbers of mechs as cheaply as possible. Nothing to do with my obsession for minis of all kinds, really. 

[Corsair]

None of us have that obsession.....

[Club]

10 hours ago, Zink said:

 

It's been awhile since I looked at all of it but we have Battletech, Citytech, the technical readouts up to the clans arrival and a bunch of other stuff. Nice to know it's all still compatible. So you think I could skip the starter sets and just grab the Inner Sphere Retaliation Force. Need more mechs if I go for this.  Looking like Bloodnamed with a couple addons as a minimum but Star Colonel is tempting as it drops the price per mech. $340 (with the starter box mechs) for 77 mechs and all the other stuff. A lot easier for me to pick 12 lance packs I like than only 4 too. 

 

Mostly compatible. Infantry and tanks got really worked over and buffed. The biggest difference for mechs is the change to the partial cover rules. Instead of +3 to hit and the punch table, it's +1, and leg hits on the standard table hit the ground. Narc got a buff, other assorted trivial differences.

 

The battletech boards have fan articles that describe the various units. Here's an index of the mechs in this kickstarter. Start with the Turkina

 

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=66378.msg1532123#msg1532123

Edited August 11, 2019 by Club

[Zink]

Just backed at Bloodnamed level. Cash is tight but I'm hoping I'll get that straightened out soon and can upgrade. If not I'll still have a good start.

[WhiteWulfe]

Oooooh, interesting...  They've gone and updated some of the graphics, and now Ristar comes with TWO salvage boxes....  I'm also contemplating the idea of adding in a Bloodnamed! bundle in the pledge manager, since it will be open long enough to be able to have the extra cash for that...

Spoiler

 

As previously looked into...

Star Colonel would wind up getting me most of the Clan and Inner Sphere packs

• Clan: Command Star, Fire Star, Heavy Striker Star, Heavy Battle Star, Support Star, Heavy Star
• Inner Sphere: Command Lance, Direct Fire Lance, Striker Lance, Urban Lance, Heavy Lance, Support Lance
• eight salvage packs (two included with the bundle, and six from Inner Sphere Lances)
• one coin, one set of dice, one faction pack, one pack of premium pilot cards, two points of elementals, and the Strana Mechty neoprene map.

 

Ristar would give me...

• a Wolverine and Griffin
• two salvage boxes, and a challenge coin.

 

If I were to add in Bloodnamed! at $150 USD, I'd be able to add in the following...

• Clan: Ad Hoc Star, Striker Star
• Inner Sphere: Battle Lance, Fire Lance
• five salvage packs (three included with the bundle, two from Inner Sphere Lances)
• one coin, one set of dice, one faction pack, another pack of premium pilot cards, two more points of elementals (bringing it up to four points)
• Doubles: Clan Invasion

If I were to do such with addons, it would cost $180 USD factoring in the premium cards and clan retaliation pricing but excluding the cost of the salvage packs ($215 USD if you factor in the addon cost of the salvage packs).  Intriguing, to say the least, doubly so that if I stuck to my thoughts on reducing (or eliminating) doubles it would cost... The same amount of money.  There'd also be a higher chance of doubles on the mechs due to 15 salvage boxes, but in the end I'm not necessarily worried about that, since I'm looking at those purely from the basis of they're a nice little extra treat, and as the swing vote if things are too close to use cost as the deciding factor.

 

And since I'm contemplating addons....

• 2x Clan Elemental Star ($50)
• 1x Inner Sphere Retaliation Force ($40)
• 6x pair of dice ($30)
• 1x challenge coin ($10)
• 1x Tukayyid Neoprene map ($30)
• 1x Heavy Battle Lance ($20)

Total addon cost: $180 USD

Overall cost: $660 USD 

 

 

I'm... Going to have to think about all that.  It's tempting, I won't lie, since the idea of Star Colonel + Bloodnamed! + Ristar and a few addons would get me every single pack, some guaranteed doubles (Clan Invasion, 8 mechs from the Beginner's Box and A Game of Armored Combat, and 4x Wolverines, lol), the two faction packs I was hoping for (three would be nice, but I probably can't justify the $40 USD extra to get Coyote and Hell's Horses for myself), and then probably more doubles because of fifteen salvage packs, and five sets of dice (4x Clan Wolf, 4x Clan Coyote, and 4x Clan Hell's Horses, 4x Kell Hounds) but...  Man, that's going to be a LOT of mechs - 65 clan mechs (15 being in salvage boxes) and 56 Inner Sphere mechs..  And of course 70 elementals on 14 bases.  o_O

 

Sure would give me a nice base of mechs to work with though!  Then I'd just have to worry about new packs coming out, and of course paint schemes, and getting them all painted, but...  Tempting.

 

That's also going to be a decently sized box when it comes in, I'd suspect...  If I did go with this plan all in as written, I'll actually be spending more in the pledge manager than I would in the Kickstarer, and even now I'm contemplating the idea of one or two more things (a second Tukayyid neoprene map, and a second star of Elementals, for example)... Wow.  

 

 

EDIT: I still stand by my original idea though - that of Star Colonel + Ristar + extras, as it gives me most of the ones I know I want, but the larger delicious where'd I get all this bbq'd money version does have one kiiind of "big" advantage to it...  I really could wind up building up several forces, and the more I think about it (and Google things), the more I'm seriously contemplating some Clan Wolf, Clan Coyote, ~and~ Clan Hell's Horses, which will probably make splitting things up a tad harder, but eh....  Not quite sure which Inner Sphere factions I'll wind up going with, but still.  Knowing me?  Kell Hounds and Draconis Combine (probably a mixture of Genyosha and Sword of Light, knowing me...)

 

EDIT 2: Challenge coins would be same as the dice, so Wolf, Hell's Hounds, Coyote, and Kell Hounds.

 

EDIT 3: Changed some numbers around.  I keep looking at the idea of a dual Star Colonel setup, but it's just... Yeah, I know it's too much for my budget.

Edited August 16, 2019 by WhiteWulfe

[Werkrobotwerk]

mildly disappointed crab and king crab are in different boxes... will make it difficult to build the all crabs lance...

[Corsair]

Less than $300 to go to get the new Star map and ID poster! Depending on how long the Pledge stays open I will probably add the $40 IS Retaliation pack as well.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Corsair

[WhiteWulfe]

11 minutes ago, Corsair said:

Less than $300 to go to get the new Star map and ID poster! Depending on how long the Pledge stays open I will probably add the $40 IS Retaliation pack as well.

Yeah, it staying open is going to determine exactly just how much I get...  Won't lie though, for some reason it's rather tempting to try and get as much as I can >.>;;;

[Zink]

5 hours ago, WhiteWulfe said:

Yeah, it staying open is going to determine exactly just how much I get...  Won't lie though, for some reason it's rather tempting to try and get as much as I can >.>;;;

 

You aren't the only one. I don't back a lot of Kickstarters but when I do I jump in all the way. Dreamt of having a bunch of mechs since I was a kid and this is probably the most economical way. Would like to try and get nearly every mech but pretty sure I won't be able too. 

[Corsair]

Yeah, that $40 retaliation pack will let me finish off my Northwind Highlander's regiment.

[WhiteWulfe]

Speaking of building up armies, I've a question for you @Corsair (and anyone else who's got a good amount of knowledge about unit composition and whatnot)....

 

Do you think that getting pretty much one of everything, plus both of the retaliation packages as well would be enough to get a versatile company of Kell Hounds, as well as Genyosha?  Bonus points if I could make at least one of them a Battalion?  As to why these two units, I don't really have any particular affiliation or obsession with either, they're just ones I recognize >.>;;;;  I think it's also that these two had somewhat of a.... rivalry between each other for a while.

 

...As well as a trinary for Clan Wolf, Clan Hell's Horses, and Clan Coyote?  (or even just a versatile trinary for Clan Wolf, and Clan Coyote).  Overall goal would be to be able to have a skirmish between two factions of Inner Sphere, two factions of Clan, or one clan versus Inner Sphere, even if hubby might not wind up wanting to play (I figure it's easier to coax someone into trying it out if, y'know, there's mechs)

Edited August 12, 2019 by WhiteWulfe

[Corsair]

Okay, looks like the Salvage boxes are going to be made up of the Omnis from the $300k and below mechs:

Timber Wolf

Executioner

Adder

Grendel]

Nova

Dire Wolf

Summoner

Storm Crow

Shadow Cat

Mist Lynx

Gargoyle

Mad Dog

Hellbringer

Viper

Ice Ferret

Fire Moth

Kit Fox

Cougar

Nova Cat

Warhawk

This is not official, just my guess based on other comments that the 300k level is what they are planning to ship First batch. There's lots of them I like, but seriously hoping I draw a Hellbringer [Loki] I don't have one and am not getting that Star.