Hey folks, today we’re going a little differently, and instead of reviewing a product from CGL, I'd like to share one of my opinions. This isn’t going to be as long as my usual product reviews, so kindly bear with. Today I'm going to chat about Legendary Mechwarriors in the context of them showing up in regular lance and Star Packs. The way Catalyst currently does this annoys me for a couple of reasons, which I'm about to dig in. Grab a shovel, we might find some worms to take fishing later.
Background:
Catalyst started releasing Lance/Star/Level II packs for BattleTech and Alpha Strike in the aftermath of the Clan Invasion Kickstarter (Wildly successful, made some cash, and some cool stuff was had by all in that campaign). For those unfamiliar, these packs contained anywhere between 4 and 6 fully assembled miniatures that shared a common set of traits like “Direct Fire” or “Command” or “Scout” that gave them a unified theme.
More importantly to me as a player of the game (and miniatures in general) they had the stat cards I'd need to play them for Alpha Strike in the box, (Further, online downloads were available to provide Record Sheets for BattleTech but those don’t fit in small boxes very well). This means, i could buy a Pack at a store and if i didn’t care about painting them beforehand, could get in a game of Alpha Strike virtually on the spot (Assuming i had you know, Friends, a rulebook, and terrain. Oh, and Dice).
The Situation:
Some of the newer force packs (specifically the Star League Command Lance and the 2nd Star League Assault Lances, so far) come with several Legendary Mechwarriors on Alpha Strike cards. Why is this a problem? Well, there are a couple of points.
Not every situation requires Victor Steiner-Davion or Devlin Stone. These Legends are neat to have cards for, of course. Their actual usability in a pick up game is extremely limited.
Their inclusion in the box is taking a slot for cards for generic versions of their feature mechs This means that at the barest level, these aren’t the Lances or Stars they are billed as, because unless you’re using them with at least one of their legendary Mechwarriors (and in some cases, multiples).
Solutions:
Here’s the one i hear all the time: “Just use the Master Unit List!” Well, that’s a great solution if
I know what the Master Unit List is
I have internet access
Are these viable solutions? Yes, Situationally. If i have the time to plan ahead, i can grab the cards i need. I can even use the Force Builder to check points and make sure that i did the points right. Even if i don’t plan ahead and i have internet access (Which to be fair, with the amount of tech we have laying around, is usually an easy yes), i can grab the card off the Master Unit List and go.
However, the underlying problem is still there, and has another very easy solution from Catalyst’s side.
So how do you solve this problem? Make sure that there’s at least one generic version of each mech featured in the box. It’s not a rocket science problem. “It’ll cost more money!” Yeah, probably but how much? Are you, dear consumer of fine BattleTech items, going to tell me that the cost of double sided Alpha Strike cards are going to move this product outside of a reasonable price to produce point, or a reasonable retail point? It’s possible, but i think it’s highly improbable.
Again, this is focused entirely on the “Out of the Box, Christmas Morning” Test. (I blame Ash Barker for this) For those of you unfamiliar, how long does it take me, as a new consumer of this item, to get it from opening the package to being able to play with it. Some games have a pretty steep investment (Models to assemble and paint, terrain to build, siblings to bully into it), but Catalyst’s line of Plastics are very easy on this test. Pre-built minis, with stat cards to go means you can play this box as it sits within five minutes of getting it.
Ease of accessibility increases player buy in, and increased player buy in means we have more folks to play the game with. Increased player buy in means more players playing, and more players playing is good for the game.
Catalyst can spend a couple more pennies to make sure that all of their Force Packs are playable out of the box by including a generic version of each card for Alpha Strike. It would be great for making sure that New Players have ease of use for the product they just purchased.
Ultimately, is this a minor issue in the grand scheme? Yep.
Does it irk the absolute shit out of me? Yep.
Is it easily solvable by Catalyst? Yep!
Is it something that we can solve as players for other Players? Yep
Notes:
Note: This does not work in the slightest for playing BattleTech, as it requires detailed record sheets. Catalyst has made free packs available for the mechs in some of the force packs, but not all of them yet. Again, this requires a little bit of pre-planning for grabbing the sheets online and printing them out.
Note: I don’t have the slightest issue with the Legendary Warriors packs not having generic cards for it’s machines. Those aren’t sold as a Lance/Star/Level II pack, and don’t have the connotation of being expected to be fielded together.
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