Hey Folks, we’re back with another product review. We’re still waiting for our Kickstarter Pledges to arrive, but we have high hopes. Speaking of High Hopes, today we’re reviewing the Star League Command Lance. This is the first of four Star League related Force Packs, and features the first of the Pre-Painted minis Catalyst is releasing. Let’s dive in and take a closer look at the Star League Command Lance.
Contents
4 Plastic ‘Mechs! (Note, that like all of CGL’s boxed releases, these come fully assembled and ready to play right out of the box). In this box is a Thunder Hawk, Atlas II, Phoenix Hawk, and an Orion. The Orion is the first of the Pre-painted Minis (pictures below) and I would rate the quality as high. It’s not the same caliber as a dedicated hobbyist sitting down and lavishing the model with hours of work, but for a mini right out of the box, it’s pretty damn solid.
The Phoenix Hawk model in this box is the “special” meaning it comes with a special add-on gun piece that you can mount in one of its hands, (i needed glue for this, but you may not). Be advised, the shoulder mounted cannon on the ‘mech is slightly bent (you’ll see in the picture below)
The two Assault ‘Mechs in the box are excellent, with the skull features on the Atlas II marginally more defined than the regular Atlas. The Thunder Hawk is a big solid piece of plastic. Everything has a little bit of flashing to take care, and you’ll need to do a little bit of clean up to get them ready for paint. .
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4 Alpha Strike Cards (Dual sided) that feature 2 different versions of the four mechs above. Note, the versions for both the Orion and the Atlas II are feature mechs with legendary pilots.
7 Mechwarrior Pilot Cards that feature notable pilots of these machines. This set has a lot of different choices, but features Theodore Kurita, Aleksandr Kerensky, Aaron DeChavellier, and Nicholas Kerensky as choices to try. Devlin Stone is also here
Breakdown:
Oh the ‘mechs alone, this box is fantastic. The mech selections are iconic for the Star League (with the Thunder Hawk being the only ‘maybe’ in the bunch). This is a command formation, with any of these mechs being technically able to carry a commander into battle and the rest of the lance filling in. The Phoenix Hawk is the lightest in the box, but is a traditional command mech for lighter units. The Atlas II and Orion are Command mechs operated by famous commanders across the Inner Sphere (and beyond). The Thunder Hawk is a big bodyguard for any of the other units in the box, using its’ long range firepower to keep threats at bay.
Eras for these ‘mechs get a little exotic. The Orion is good to go for the entire normal play cycle of BattleTech. The Phoenix Hawk is likewise a universal constant from its introduction date. The Atlas II can be fielded as a regular Atlas during the Eras when it’s not available (Succession Wars through Early Clan Invasion ish). The Thunder Hawk becomes lostech during the Succession wars like the Atlas II, and becomes available again around the same time.
AS Point Cost (in the box) This is a box i can’t really do this for because of the legendary mechwarrior pilots. None of these pilots are operating in the same era. As a result, this box can’t really be fielded as a single force like other force packs. This box could have been tremendous with the addition of two more Alpha Strike Cards for generic versions of the Orion and the Atlas II. I would absolutely encourage you to go on the Master Unit List to find generic versions for your game.
Battle Value isn’t calculated for these boxes, and i would suggest you use the Master Unit List to identify what the BV of your force (and specific variations) is.
Thoughts: These will take a little bit to get ready (mostly checking for bent barrels and such) but the Pre-Painted Orion is one of the nicest pre-painted minis i’ve ever seen. With a little bit of work, you can color match that to do an entire Star League era force in these colors. I like the box, but the AS cards being specifically for legendary pilots makes this less of a value for me, as it’s harder to play right out of the box.
Overall Rating:
4 stars.
This is a solid group of ‘mechs, but you’re going to need to do some prepwork to get the maximum bang for your buck. The Pre-painted mini is wonderful, but you’ll need to print AS cards for generic versions of the Atlas II and the Orion.
You can order this directly from Catalyst Game Labs online store here, Also check your local game store for availability, and you should be able to order this. Support your local Game Store if you can, and that’s it for our review of this Force Pack. Hopefully we get to the 2nd Star League box next week.
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