Mechwarrior 2 Mechs

[Dimple Belousson]

Giventhat from prior dabbling in the BattleTech universe you have to buy additional books to get additional 'Mech designs, I'm a little concerned that this is more of the same and I'll be splashing out for more books in little to no time.

While the rules for doing vehicle combat are included in the core book, actual Vehicle stats are not included. This is because (like in older editions) the information for 'Mechs is not as simple as a two line stat block. To properly be displayed, it takes at least half of a page. This is why they defer to Total Warfare for the larger scale combat and to the books of record sheets, which thankfully the system really hasn't changed much over the years.

There is software to get the 'Mech sheets by demand so that you can print whatever you need whenever you need them, but they like to sell the books (which I believe allow you to copy as much as you want [legally] once you own the record book).

The tabletop or boardgame of Battletech has long been the primary focus of the Battletech designers. In all previous incarnations of the Battletech RPG (with various names - A Time of War is just the latest), the Core RPG rulebook referred players to the tabletop game for mech stats, or to play games focused on mech combat. As far as I can tell, this edition is no different. Contrast this with a game like Heavy Gear that features a similar setup, but has vehicle/mech stats as an intrinsic part of the RPG game system.

All mech designs for Battletech these days are to be found in the TROs (Technical Read Outs). The occasional special design might be found in other books. However, Total Warfare, the current core boardgame rulebook, does not have rules for mech construction, meaning there is not even the usual example design in the main rulebook, unlike previous editions. Instead, the construction/design rules for all types of Battletech vehicles are all encapsulated in the the Tech Manual.

If it helps, there is an independant Battletech Wiki with descriptive details of almost all variants of mechs (but no actual stats). There is also an official Catalyst-maintained site that lists all known Battletech units, and their Battle Values, but basically no other design information.

Time of War is the RPG formally known as Mechwarrior. This for role playing mechpiolets or other soldier types. If you want the mech stats then the Battletech books (tech spechs, Battletech tabletop game) are still needed.

Other books which have mech sheets include "Spotlight on:" series. I have the "Spotlight on The Crimson Hawks" and it includes the mech sheets for all their mechs, including the famous Phoenix Hawk LAM."Technical Readouts" are focused on mech stats, while "Record Sheets" solely have the Mech sheets.

This mech buying guide is designed to give players who want to get into competitive MWO an idea of what to go for in terms of mechs and builds. I tried not to go on for too long about the intricacies of each point, but if you have any questions feel free to post them in the MetaMechs forum.

The Arctic Cheetah is the first Clan Light which fits the role established by the strong IS lights as a super-fast small mech which can do a lot of damage over time at short range. Occasionally, you have an added benefit of it offering an extra 5 tons to play with in tonnage drops, over the 35-tonners. Its popularity has been losing out to the Jenner IIC and Oxide, but it is still a very solid choice.

Being a light pilot is definitely the least financially taxing choice with the lowest entry bar, since light mechs in general are the cheapest. Being a competent light pilot is much more about skill than it is about being able to buy mechs, so the most important thing is to practice, rather than farming C-Bills.

The modern meta has elevated the Banshee to supremacy with its focus on XL-viable (not gonna say safe) mechs running high-alpha mid-range lasers vomit builds. With high mounts. And good quirks. As you can see, it ticks a lot of boxes. But it does have a few builds that are all competitively viable, and they all do some serious work. Like many Assaults, its strength comes from its offensive power rather than any sort of durability, using its health pool to extend the amount of time it gets to spend on target rather than tanking for its team. But it performs this role exceptionally, and has the bonus of being one of the easier mechs to play.

The Battlemaster is, in many ways, a budget Banshee. Its hitboxes are a bit more even (making it a bit riskier to run XLs), but it carries many of the same loadouts and performs almost exactly the same. There is a bit less flexibility to be had, but it does have the bonus of 6 high mounts that can all fit 2- or 3-slot weapons, whereas the BNC-3M is limited to 5 and requires extra weapons to use them. It also is 10 tons lighter, which makes it a great choice for tonnage-based drops.

Oh boy, the Dire Wolf is in a real sad state, but it manages to cling on to the competitive scene by the barest of grips. This chassis reigns supreme as the offensive powerhouse, and it is doubtful that any mech will ever replace it there (not even the Kodiak), but it comes at a hefty loss of durability, speed, and of use. It can be a very rewarding mech if your comp is built to include it, but there are very few comps that can afford to just slot in a Dire Wolf.

With the return of more traditional SRM brawling, the Nova has fallen out of favor a bit. This does not mean that it is weak, though, as it still has the ability to tear off limbs like no other. Indeed, its numerous jumpjets and laser-heavy arm mounts still lend it a flexibility that some times find most appealing, even if it means giving up a bit of potential DPS in a full-on brawl engagement.

With those pilot skills unlocked and modules bought, you can dedicate all of your C-Bills to buying mechs, but still hold on to your GXP because you need weapon modules too! In general, you want to prioritize the Cooldown modules over the Range modules, but having both is nice too.

Hello mechwarriors, I am very excited to bring you all the remastered mechassault mechs along with other high quality mechs brought to you by the wolves team!

I will try releasing new mechs from the wolves mechassault game in waves, whenever they are available!

Thanks to a recent trade with a gentleman on DakkaDakka, I acquired a huge box of mech toys for 28mm gaming. With this acquisition of figures, my collection has gotten pretty big, so I took some time to write up a guide to Robogear, Battletech, Mechwarrior, Macross and other mecha suitabable for 28mm gaming.

Throughout the review I'll refer to them by the name under which they were sold, with the Battletech universe name alongside in parentheses. The figures provided for scale are all Games Workshop Cadian Imperial Guardsmen with Pig Iron Kolony heads. The squares on the background are in inches, but the grid starts about three-quarters of an inch off the table. The angle of the photos will make the largest mechs appear a bit taller.

Exo-Squad/Robogear

In the 90s, after the Playmates toy company had produced the last of its original designs for the "Exo-Squad" line of toys, they reached outside the cartoon (and back a decade) and reissued a wide range of Robogear toys from the 80s. Robogear was the English language version of the Japanese cartoon "Macross." The early years of Battletech also used many Macross designs in the artwork and background. You can see the whole range of ExoSquad toys at the excellent Virtual Toy Chest. Most of these figures are still available for decent prices on Ebay.

Battletech

These toys were released for the Battletech cartoon of the 90s. They were the first toys made based on non-Macross Battletech designs. Though not in scale with their action figure pilots, most (though not all) of these mechs are very close to 28mm scale.

Back row, from left: Bushwacker, Axeman, Thor, Hunchback, Mauler. Front row: Toad (Elemental Battle Armor)

Mechwarrior Die Cast

Released by the Joyride company in the early 2000s to accompany the "Mechwarrior: Dark Age" collectible miniatures game, these metal and plastic models were described as 1/56 scale, but came with 1/87 scale pilots. The same models were produced both as pre-assembled action figures and self-assembled construction kits. Though not all perfectly sized for 28mm, this line contains some of the finest Battletech models yet produced. The Mad Cat in particular (disregarding the size of the pilot) is one of the best. Absent from the picture below is the Jupiter mech, which is very nice looking, but even more out of scale than the rest.

These become available with some regularity on Ebay, but unfortunately they often command extremely high prices, especially the Mad Cat. From left: Legionnaire, Mad Cat, Forestry Mech (comes with an interchangeable claw arm, awesome!)

Here's another photo showing a comparison of the largest of the various lines along side each other. From left: Macross 1/72, Robogear/ExoSquad Medium 7-inch, Robogear Exosquad large series, Mechwarrior by Joyride

Conclusions

Most of the unmodified mechs described above were recently acquired in the "big box." I've been searching for many of these (especially the Battletech toys) at a price I an afford for a very long time. Unfortunately most of them are significantly larger than the majority of the mechs I have. In my 28mm mech gaming, I'm not a stickler for mech sizes, but the majority of the Battletech and larger Robotech toys are drastically larger than the rest of my current collection of mechs (most pictured below) and would look out of place.

On the positive side, it's great to be able to finally see these toys in person. The Mechwarrior die cast figures and the additional Robogear medium kits will make excellent reinforcements. Even if I end up selling the Battletech and larger Robogear toys, perhaps they can fund the acquisition of some other rare mech models.

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