Dear Readers, I think I might have a problem. An addiction if you will. You see, when Catalyst Game Labs decided to re-release the Battletech game with affordable plastic miniatures and put them out on the market, the Battletech community went wild.
You have to understand, the only way to get Miniatures in the past were these cheap paper stand-ups or rather pricey pewter miniatures that you had to assemble. If you remember, the first BattleTech miniature that I painted was one of those metal pewter ones by Ironwind Metals. A good miniature to be sure, but a pain to assemble and paint, what with all the washing, pinning, and glueing. Then CGL comes along.
They show up with a box set of all the rules Plus 8 battlemech miniatures all for the low low price of $60. $60 used to be the cost of around 3 to 4 miniatures of the pewter variety. In fact, you can still buy packs of mechs at that price from Ironwind Metals. I know because I consider buying them.
Then they start coming out with what they callech packs. These are groups of mechs that form some sort of unit or another. Like a command lance or a heavy striker lance. Things like that.
And for those of you who are not schooled in all things Battletech, battlemechs are organized thusly: with the Inner Sphere faction, 4 mechs = a lance, two lances = a company, 3 companies = a regiment. For the Clan faction, a battlemech is a point, 5 points are a star, two stars are a binary (with three being a trinary), and two to three binaries/trinaries = a cluster. For the ComStar faction, a mech is a Level I, 6 mechs are a Level II, and it goes up from there. There are larger organizational structures than this, these are generally not used during gameplay.
Generally.
That said, I have the equivalent of a larger organizational group equivalent of Mechs for both the Clan and Inner Sphere factions. For the ComStar faction, I only have a single Level I. Poor ComStar.
In any case, here is what I am adding to my collection(s):
Not sure what to do with my Shilone yet. I mean, it is an inner sphere aerospace fighter, so I might be able to incorporate it into my Alpha Strike game.
Next is my ComStar Level II.
Of note, in this particular set, it comes with a Guillotine and a Crab. Yay!
Unlike the rest of my Inner Sphere mechs, which I will be painting up to be Wolf’s Dragoons, this group will most definitely be painted up to be ComStar. My Kickstarter is still on the way (at least that’s what they tell me!), which includes another two Level II’s, so I will have a nice, small ComStar unit.
Now let’s get to the inner sphere mechs:
I really wanted all four of these battlemechs, if for no other reason than for collector value.
A Banshee, Grasshopper, Centurion, and a Hatchetman. All good and solid mechs.
I was really excited about this next lance, the Inner Sphere Urban Lance.
Man, did I want this set! A Victor, a Hunchback, and a Raven. Sure the Enforcer is a good mech, but a RAVEN!! Now I have that sweet, sweet ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) capability. So excited.
Last up for the Inner Sphere is the Heavy Battle Lance. I wanted this box almost more than ANY other box. Why? It has my absolute favorite battlemech inside! The Nightstar!
There he is, on the bottom right. Ahh… So pretty.
Of course it comes with some other solid mechs as well: the Bushwhacker, the Crocket, and the Cataphract.
Now on to my Clan Faction finds:
First up, the Clan Heavy Battle Star:
Of this one, the only mech I was truly excited for was the Ebon Jaguar, as it’s a Clan upgrade of the Bushwhacker. The Turkina was a nice one, too.
Next up, the Clan Striker Star:
I’m not familiar with the majority of these mechs, with the notable exception of the Piranha. The rest look pretty cool, though.
Lastly, we have the Clan Ad Hoc Star:
Not gonna lie, I’m not familiar with the vast majority of these mechs either, with the exception of the Kodiak. A staple of my favorite clan, Clan Ghost Bear, I was excited to pick up this set.
The last three things I got were a Stana Mechty neoprene battle mat, a Wolf’s Dragoons challenge coin and a Clan Ghost Bear challenge coin. The latter two are late birthday gifts for my Dad, along with the Black Knight I previously painted.
The battlemat on the other hand… I goofed. I goofed hard. I realized today that I already had that mat on order with my Kickstarter. Oops. I guess now I have two? Maybe I will find someone to give or sell it to.
So that’s it! That’s all I got today. Of course this only covers a portion of my overall collection, but I’ll end up showcasing those as I finish painting them. My goal is to finish painting my Inner Sphere mechs and my ComStar mechs by end of year. I may get sidetracked and start painting on my Clan mechs. We’ll see how it goes.
All that aside, I still have commissions and other painting jobs I will be doing for D&D miniatures as well, so those of you who like to see those won’t miss out either.
Thanks for tuning in to my current obsession. Tell me what you think in the comments section below!
Until next time, Dear Readers…
The Daily Dungeon Master Blog 