funded Catalyst Game Labs: BattleTech Clan Invasion box set

[WhiteWulfe]

Why...  why am I contemplating the idea of tweaking things and ideas so I can also squeeze Jade Falcon into my plans >.>;;;;  I guess it's the fact that go back to the BattleTech:Commander CCG days and, uhm, guess who I ran as...  Wonder if I still have that deck kicking around somewhere...

[Corsair]

@White Wulfe  Okay, sorry I think we both posted at the same time and I didn't see your question. Okay, the Wolf and Coyote Clans are one of the oldest and strongest alliances. Wolf is also on good terms with Hell's Horses, Clan Coyote sort of ambivalent to the Horses and vice versa. Jade Falcon is openly hostile to all three. Later on, Clan Wolf will split and part, Wolf in Exile, is strongly allied with the Kell Hounds. DCMS has fought hard against the Ghost Bears, Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats.

[Corsair]

Standard IS force composition is as follows:

Lance 4 mechs

Company 12 mechs

Battalion 36 mechs

Regiment 3-4 Battalions, also if you have an extra Lance you can add them to an existing unit, creating a reinforced Company or Battalion, or you can run an extra Lance as a Command Lance.

 

Clan forces are as follows:

 Single mech is one point

2 Aerospace fighters, 2 armored units or 5 Elementals are also one point

5 points of the above make a Star

10 points make a Binary

15 points make a Trinary

3-5 Binaries or Trinaries make a cluster

3-5 Clusters make a Galaxy

If you add Elementals to a Binary or Trinary, it is called a Super Nova, and to be clear would be 5 Omnis and a Star of Elementals. Elemental can ride on Omnimechs but not 2nd line mechs.

Whoops, forgot to mention that Hell's Horses are really the only one of the Clans to run much armored units and they are experts at it.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Corsair

[Corsair]

Oh, and Jade Falcons have gone against Lyran Alliance and Kell Hounds. Clan Wolf's entry into the IS was against the Lyran Alliance. Crusader Clan Wolf is still going against the Lyran alliance, Kell Hounds and especially Wolf in Exile. Jade Falcon is a problem for both Wolf factions and the Lyran and Kell forces. Wolf, Jade Falcons and Hell's Horses all have fought the Ghost Bears. Later, the Bears move their entire Clan into the IS, Nova Cat will actually turn against the Clans and join Kurita. The Smoke Jaguars are wiped out of existence by the IS.

 

And Fighting Piranha Graphics has decals for everybody.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Corsair

[Corsair]

10 hours ago, WhiteWulfe said:

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...

  Reveal hidden contents

 

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)
• 4x pair of dice ($20)
• 1x Tukayyid Neoprene map ($30)
• 1x Heavy Battle Lance ($20)

Total addon cost: $160 USD

Overall cost: $640 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 three sets of dice (4x Clan Wolf, 4x Clan Coyote, and 4x Clan Hell's Horses, although I might not get the Hell's Horses, even if they'll be BLACK AND ORANGE DICE (of flaming horse head dooooooom)) 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...)

Okay, with these numbers you would have 3 Trinaries and 2 Binaries of Clan plus your 14 points of  Elementals, which would let you make 5 Trinaries if you add the Elementals as your extra points and 4 points to ride an 4 Omnis. And Elementals on an Omni take damage first, so you can have 50 points of meat shield on a mech. So you could have 3 Trinaries [a Cluster] of Wolves or Coyotes with pure mech Stars and here's a really fun idea, two full Trinary of Hell's Horses by picking up 2 packs of Eponas! This would give you 4 fast omni hover vehicles to deliver your Elementals right in the enemy's face.

 

You would also be able to build 4 Companies of IS mechs, with 2 additional Lances. So, you could build a Battalion of DCMS regulars and a full Company and 2 Lances of Kell Hounds [or vice versa] then all you would have to do is pick up 4 individual mechs to give you 2 Companies.

[WhiteWulfe]

9 minutes ago, Corsair said:

@White Wulfe  Okay, sorry I think we both posted at the same time and I didn't see your question. Okay, the Wolf and Coyote Clans are one of the oldest and strongest alliances. Wolf is also on good terms with Hell's Horses, Clan Coyote sort of ambivalent to the Horses and vice versa. Jade Falcon is openly hostile to all three. Later on, Clan Wolf will split and part, Wolf in Exile, is strongly allied with the Kell Hounds. DCMS has fought hard against the Ghost Bears, Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats.

No worries at all - yours contained useful speculation, mine was all "trying to keep some semblence of structure without spending another $50 on dice" (but we all know I'm going to if/when they come out with a die/coin combo and it's a decent offer...).

 

Truth be told, the more I think about it, the more I'm tempted to just do Wolf, Hell's Horses, and Coyote for clan paint jobs, and might just pile all of the Inner Sphere stuff together into one faction - but it's a question of WHICH faction would I want to paint that many mechs in a similar colour scheme...  2nd Sword is also tempting, because all red is... Interesting to say the least. >.>;;;

 

6 minutes ago, Corsair said:

Standard IS force composition is as follows:

Lance 4 mechs

Company 12 mechs

Battalion 36 mechs

Regiment 3-4 Battalions, also if you have an extra Lance you can add them to an existing unit, creating a reinforced Company or Lance, or you can run an extra Lance as a Command Lance.

And that's where things get tricky now, isn't it...  Do I go for multiple companies, so I have different factions, or do I go for a Battalion for one, and a Company for the other.

 

6 minutes ago, Corsair said:

Clan forces are as follows:

 Single mech is one point

2 Aerospace fighters, 2 armored units or 5 Elementals are also one point

5 points of the above make a Star

10 points make a Binary

15 points make a Trinary

3-5 Binaries or Trinaries make a cluster

3-5 Clusters make a Galaxy

If you add Elementals to a Binary or Trinary, it is called a Super Nova, and to be clear would be 5 Omnis and a Star of Elementals. Elemental can ride on Omnimechs but not 2nd line mechs.

I'm getting the vibe that, for now, it's probably best to look into a trinary for each, with the Hell's Horses having a Supernova since they're more well known for their combined arms.  Either that or I'll be thinking for a while longer, and probably still thinking all the way through opening up salvage boxes *laughs nervously*

 

One main thought that's come to mind is to mostly focus on Wolf and Coyote, and just have a star nova of Hell's Horses...  With Wolf quite possibly being Wolf In Exile, because of it having a mixture of red, orange, and black...  Or I could just say "eh/meh" to canon, and paint things however I wanted to...

 

Why is it so hard to just pick one faction? *laughs nervously*  I know why I have a strong bias towards Mercenaries versus the houses...  I've always liked mercenaries over "standard" houses.  Actually, come to think of it, it wouldn't be all that hard for me to choose Clan Wolf in Exile alongside Kell Hounds >.>;;;;  ....And then take some of the canon paint jobs as the base, then modify as I see fit, because y'know what they'll be my mechs! :P  Still kind of want to do at least a star of Hell's Horses and Coyote though, to have something different to paint, as well as.... *sees the most recent reply*

 

5 minutes ago, Corsair said:

Okay, with these numbers you would have 3 Trinaries and 2 Binaries of Clan plus your 14 points of  Elementals, which would let you make 5 Trinaries if you add the Elementals as your extra points and 4 points to ride an 4 Omnis. And Elementals on an Omni take damage first, so you can have 50 points of meat shield on a mech. So you could have 3 Trinaries [a Cluster] of Wolves or Coyotes with pure mech Stars and here's a really fun idea, two full Trinary of Hell's Horses by picking up 2 packs of Eponas! This would give you 4 fast omni hover vehicles to deliver your Elementals right in the enemy's face.

 

You would also be able to build 4 Companies of IS mechs, with 2 additional Lances. So, you could build a Battalion of DCMS regulars and a full Company and 2 Lances of Kell Hounds [or vice versa] then all you would have to do is pick up 4 individual mechs to give you 2 Companies.

I really, really like the sound of that, doubly so since I was planning on filling out the Hell's Horses with Iron Wind Metal armour later on.  Yeah, 3 trinaries of Coyote alongside 2 binaries of Hell's Horses with a bit more hell added in definitely sounds like fun.  And as for Inner Sphere, a full Battalion of Kell Hounds and then the Company + 2 Lances of Genyosha (or 2nd Sword of Light, hard to decide between the two).  Thanks for taking a deep look at what I'm plotting on getting and giving some tips, it was really useful to help bring things down to a more manageable level and helps kick all this thinking I've been doing out of my head (aka it helped "solve" the conundrum in my head).  Guess this means I'll be getting five sets of four dice, but that's mainly because hubby was rather specific about wanting a set of Clan Wolf dice alongside a challenge coin.  I technically could just get two of each, but I'd rather have four, especially if they do wind up remaining a Kickstarter exclusive.

 

Interestingly enough, that mix of forces would allow a nice diversity for painting, so I wouldn't just be painting red (or blue, or pink, etc) for months.

 

 

...I also discovered that a local store has a really nice price on "A Game of Armored Combat", and supposedly it's in stock too!!  $67.15 with GST makes me a happy fox, because that means I can pick it up locally for cheaper than it would be to get it from Miniature Market or the Kickstarter, AND they have a hold for pickup option.  Only thing that sucks is they don't open until 11:00, which makes stopping by there tricky, but it's still technically doable.

[Corsair]

Yeah, I just got an offer from Amazon for a $50 gift card if I sign up with them. It would make AGOAC cost a whopping $2.48. Just gotta make sure the Missus hasn't already got one!

[WhiteWulfe]

Just now, Corsair said:

Yeah, I just got an offer from Amazon for a $50 gift card if I sign up with them. It would make AGOAC cost a whopping $2.48. Just gotta make sure the Missus hasn't already got one!

That's pretty awesome either way...  We sadly don't have an Amazon card up here at the moment...  It'll be an eventually thing, but such is life (there's rumour of it coming soon^tm)

 

As for colours, I wound up using M3T4L R0N1N's thread over on the MechWarrior:Online forums titled "Invasion Camo Specs" to help narrow things down at least a little bit - I'd link it, but since you can buy stuff on that site I've no idea if it would break the commerce rules or not here on the forums.  It helped me get a few more ideas, because while CamoSpecs is nice for referencing things, a lot of the paint jobs on there seem to very specifically follow whatever canon patterns have been written.

 

I can say with certainty why I seem to have a fondness for Clan Coyote - their lore.  Oh my, that lore is intriguing.  Kind of the same thing with Hell's Horses

[Corsair]

Yeah, especially since Coyote invented the Omnimech.

[WhiteWulfe]

5 minutes ago, Corsair said:

Yeah, especially since Coyote invented the Omnimech.

For me, I think it's the spiritualism, but yeah, having been founders in a number of areas there is that too

[WhiteWulfe]

Not too sure what to think about the 2mil update.  Cardboard standees are an awesome addition, but the UrbanMech, and UrbanMech plush... 

 

I don't quite know what to think of the meme becoming real. 

 

Was kind of hoping for the two points become a star of Elementals, but I can live :p

[Werkrobotwerk]

4 minutes ago, WhiteWulfe said:

Not too sure what to think about the 2mil update.  Cardboard standees are an awesome addition, but the UrbanMech, and UrbanMech plush... 

 

I don't quite know what to think of the meme becoming real. 

 

Was kind of hoping for the two points become a star of Elementals, but I can live :p

if we're getting on to goofy stuff that people want, I would love a 28mm elemental.

 

 

cough push elemental when?

[WhiteWulfe]

9 minutes ago, Werkrobotwerk said:

if we're getting on to goofy stuff that people want, I would love a 28mm elemental.

Oooh, that I'd buy, doubly so since it's 28mm scale instead of double scale....  Would be fun to paint as well! 

 

9 minutes ago, Werkrobotwerk said:

 

cough push elemental when?

They just said they'd commission a plush UrbanMech, no timeframe given in the email sadly. 

 

 

I do have to say though, an UrbanMech in its own box, included for free...  Doesn't say if per pledge, but it says every backer gets one for free, and if you want more, you can buy more.  Wonder if that's per pledge...  Would be nice if per pledge, lol

 

I'm happiest about the cardboard standees - sadly it's Star Colonel and above, which limits its usefulness.  Would have worked better in my mind if it was Star Captain and above, so those with less money wouldn't feel "slighted" by not getting the thing they could use the most.  I'm guessing it's a case of trying to coax some pledges higher maybe?  Either way, standees mean it's easier to field larger armies without having a ton of minis.  Wonder if it'll be two of each mech, or just one... 

[Zink]

28 minutes ago, WhiteWulfe said:

 

I'm happiest about the cardboard standees - sadly it's Star Colonel and above, which limits its usefulness.  Would have worked better in my mind if it was Star Captain and above, so those with less money wouldn't feel "slighted" by not getting the thing they could use the most.  I'm guessing it's a case of trying to coax some pledges higher maybe?  Either way, standees mean it's easier to field larger armies without having a ton of minis.  Wonder if it'll be two of each mech, or just one... 

 

Yeah I think that's kind of backwards too. By Star Colonel you have 50+ minis. Standees aren't as necessary. Now at the low levels where you'll only get a few mechs standees would be a great thing to have. 90% of our playing was done with paper standees way back when.

[Doug Sundseth]

For painting 10m tall armored vehicles, I've always thought the place to look for inspiration is naval camo rather than armored-vehicle camo. You're not going to make it disappear or even make it hard to see, so the best you can do is add visual confusion.

 

The best thing about this (for me), is that you can do some remarkably striking things with your paint schemes -- dazzle, splinter, apparent changes in size, horizon lines, ....