We’ve hit an interesting point in the Clan Invasion Kickstarter for Battletech by our old friends at Catalyst Game Labs. We’re still crushing stretch goals, but they’ve been stretched out a little further, and while i would prefer a couple more tangible rewards than some of the things we’ve seen, (like put in a full star of Battle Armor in the Clan Invasion Box), overall the stretch goals are ostensibly things that I, as a long time Battletech fan am interested in. But, we have hit a snag of possibly epic proportions coming up the pipe. Two of the stretch goals unlocked say basically “All right Battletech Fans, it’s your invasion now, and what ‘Mechs do you want to see?” I see Doom coming for us all. Bear with, i have charts and a couple of other things to dive into, so we’re going to examine these seemingly innocuous choices and find the spot of bother i see coming.
The Battletech Master Unit List (which you can find here) is an amazing resource that will tell you what units are available in each era of battletech. Now we’re looking at the Clan Invasion era, (3050 to 3061), and that’s a lot of units. On the Clan side, there are 89 distinct battlemechs with several variants or Omni configurations of each. The Inner Sphere side is a little more cluttered with 237 distinct designs, (For the sake of clarity, several units were added to the list because of their placement in Technical Readout: Succession Wars). Of those two trees, 40 of the 89 clan designs are getting tooled up for production (plus Elementals), and 40 of the Inner Sphere designs are likewise getting tooled up. Added to the 9 new plastic miniatures in the new boxes released last year, and it’s a growing collection. (You can find my Spreadsheet for this here)
Now then, we’re going to hit a tricky spot, because the Battletech fans get to pick two new lances/stars to become a part of the growing collection. The criteria for selecting this treatment is multi-step and involves some bookkeeping. If you’re a backer, go read update Day 3 for the skinny. For those of you that are not, let me give you the TLDR version.
Point 1. What else is in the campaign? What other formations/units have been put together for the campaign and is this realistically a role that hasn’t already been filled?
Point 2. Artistic Redesign! Every 'mech selected will get an artistic rebuild to bring it in line with Battletech’s modern aesthetics.
Point 3. Good Design/Fan Favorite? Is this something that a lot of people play with and does it routinely see play with the fans?
Point 4. Era appropriate? Is this unit available in this time period, and if it’s not, you better have a good reason why it’s going to be included?
Point 5. General Accessibility? Is this ‘mech available to a lot of factions in the Inner Sphere or Clans, or is it a specialty, like the Kurita Dragon or the Fire Mandrill’s Mandrill?
Point 6. Formations? Using the rules from Campaign Operations, can we make these four or five units a coherent lance or star that meets all the criteria?
Point 7. Ephemera? Is this ‘mech just one of those things that everyone talks about and can draw the attention of casual fans who may not be Battletech tabletop players?
As much as i love Battletech Fans, we’re a very factionalized lot, and everyone has a personal clan, or house that they wish to see win and conquer the rest of the galaxy. Getting them to agree on anything is like herding cats to a dentist for a check up, (because you know, cat dentists are a thing). I’m not sure how we build these two fan selected formations without causing a great deal of animosity in the fan base and still keep true to the heart of the campaign, showing off the clan invasion and the galaxy changing consequences of that event.
My personal wants for these two formations are as follows:
Inner Sphere Response Lance: These battlemechs were put into production to deal with the clan threat and are a direct Inner Sphere reaction to their technological advantages. Contains Bushwacker, Gunslinger, Falconer, Penetrator. Alternatively, sub in a couple of the Inner Sphere Omni designs from 3058.
Clan Innovation Star: These battlemechs were designed (or refitted) to deal with the realities of conflict with the Inner Sphere and are a direct result of the changing face of warfare. Contains Pouncer, Phantom, Night Gyr, Linebacker, Blood Asp.
Those would be in my opinion the best representations of the later half of the Invasion Era where the two sides are getting a grip with each other’s capabilities and learning from each other. Again, that’s my opinion and there are dozens of great choices to get the redesign process, and i can see people making valid points and complaints about things getting omitted in favor of other designs. However, if this Kickstarter continues to succeed and prove financially viable for Catalyst Game Labs, the revenue streams that it generates could fund the development of more new redesigns and that’s a wonderful thing.
I think Catalyst missed one point in their formation building update. “Is this going to be financially viable product that Battletech fans will want to purchase either online or at their Friendly Local Game Store?” I know none of us want to look at things like that in terms of our favorites, but are the boxes they put together going to sell at all after the kickstarter and are these products that other people will want to buy? If yes, then we continue to fund the growth of Battletech with our wallets and encourage the developers to make products for everyone. If no, then is this really a product that needs to be put together for a mass retail release?
I know those are hard, sucky questions, but we’re at a really neat place right now as Battletech Fans. The game feels like it’s back on track after spinning its wheels for a while. We’re getting redesigned books, new materials, reprints of things that have been out of stock for a while, and the rising tide is raising all of our boats in the fandom. I just hope we can keep the momentum rolling for everyone to enjoy this wonderful time we’re having.
My Personal Wishlist of stretch goals btw is this
1. Task Force Serpent/Task Force Bulldog campaigns like the Battle of Tukayyid campaign.
2. Small mapset release to coincide with this, including major battle zones during that campaign especially Huntress.
3. A full Star of Elementals in the Invasion Box, and the option to select Elemental Stars with picks from the Backer Rewards
And yeah, that’s really it. This era is one of the mosts pivotal for defining the story of Battletech and shaping its narrative, and we’ve seen the opening of the invasion and how it stalls, i would like to see the campaign for how to play out its conclusion.
Those are our thoughts for where the campaign is going and what we’d like to see. We’re sure that you have different perspectives and opinions, and that’s awesome. Everyone plays Battletech for different reasons and has their own narrative for doing so. Have fun, and keep playing. Game On, Game Fans.
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