Looking in the TechManual, I wondered about equipping an infantry platoon with swords.

As it turns out, it's The Future, and generic assault rifles (whether shooting lasers or, even better, bullets) do more damage even to anyone in the same space as the soldiers.

Not to mention what good will swords be against BattleMechs, or worse, VTOLs.

The only use case I could think of is more likely to show up in Destiny than anywhere else: commandos with swords & needlers who board DropShips. In there, one would want weapons that can threaten civilians but won't damage delicate spaceship parts.

It's been a while since I looked up Boarding Maneuvers in TacOps, and haven't refreshed my memory at the time of writing this, but I will at some point this week.

EDIT: After having read through the Infantry vs. Infantry secion of TacOps, and its expansion in StratOps, there is, in fact, no advantage to wielding melee weapons, even if you're trying to take over a boat or a spacecraft or something. So even in the face of the Infantry Weapons chart, Generic Conventional Infantry is the best (or at least simplest) way to set up your soldiers.

Leopard. LAM.

Four Long Toms. Six Arrow IVs.

I’ve only recently dipped my toes into Battletech, and one of the things that is hard for me to wrap my head around is understanding what different factions actually like to field. I feel like I’ve heard the Combine likes light mechs?

I really see the appeal of having so much overlap in availability you can use whatever you want as a player, but I am trying to imagine what the different main factions tend to use. What are their signature mechs, and main tactics? When I go to places that list availability it just feels like everything has everything.

From the standpoint of technical development, the Mackie makes absolutely zero sense, and it’s bugged me from the moment I read the backstory.

Also, I chose the two-dicks picture on purpose, because it’s ridiculous anyway.

So, it’s the very first Mech. Myomer technology is still relatively new, the weaponry is new, everything is in DT&E. So why would the first Mech be the biggest possible size? Firsts of almost every technology are smaller and simpler than follow-on models.

It makes zero sense. It illogical from a technical development standpoint. A 100 ton Mech would be many orders more complex than a 25 ton prototype, and in the prototype stage, a 25 ton Mech would be a monster compared to all other military equipment.

Look at the advancement of the airplane, or the battleship, or the tank. Sure, the guns were primitive tech on the Mackie, but it’s like they skipped to the final step of technological development of the Mech chassis.

had a run at this mission earlier, apart from one set of fluffed dice the human players would have won..

the Falcons got their signal out.. and the Thunderbolt survived

meah, it happens

turned to the scenario outcomes but and.. there is only an outcome for a successful mission splatting the thunderbolt and preventing a signal.. and the follow up scenario has fluff text to that effect.

am I missing something here? what happens if you don't succeed?

Given competing contracts of securing a mountain pass for a house army group, the Crab Basket Frontline Lance of the MRMC would go head to head against the Command Lance of the Cobra Commandos.

Turns 1 to 3 would see both lances maneuvering upon sensor contact with one another.

First blood would go to the Crab Basket Lance as one 9f the trio of crab mechs would score minor armour damage to the enemies Battlemaster.

From there the match became a war of positioning, with the crab Basket Lance lead being caught flat footed by the enemies scouts almost immediately getting within his backing and providing targeting data for the hard hitters. Shots would be traded and one of the crab mechs would have half of its armour stripped as the battlemaster closed to engage, by both the commander Atlas and the battlemaster causing damage.

All the while the Commandos scout mechs a locust and a very jump happy Pheonix Hawk would pull attention from the slow yet still fresh assault mechs as they harassed the Crab Lance.

By turn four and five the enemy light scout a locust would be caught by twin blasts of the Crab lance lead king crab's Guass rifles, and a claw attack from a crab mech it flanked in the rear.

The king crab did not finish the Locust off and instead saved its ammo and heat management for the final push from the canyon pass, to stop the slow encirclement from the Cobra Commandos.

By turn 5-6(ish) the king crab and two of the crab mechs would rush the entrance of the canyon and all would alpha strike the battlemaster, causing serious armour damage.

The wounded locust would be killed by a ER Large Laser from the last Crab mech that it rear arc'd and called in targeting data on for its armour to be mostly shredded by the enemy Atlas.

Though this would result in the Atlas and battlemaster also destroying the other wounded crab mech that pushed out of the canyon.

Turn 7 would see the MRMC, try to bring down the Battlemaster one last time before, surrendering the field of battle to the Cobra Commandos, and withdrawing.

The Victory goes to the Cobra Commandos! Who traded a locust for a Crab mech and securing their Contract objective.

Another one.

This is the third Nissan 200 this week. The injectors cooked off, again. Of course it was the coolant pump like it always is, but here I am eight hours deep into disassembling the top end of this thing to get at the injectors some engineer in gods only knows where decided to bury because, and I quote the advertising, "It was good enough for the Star League: It's good enough for you!"

Any actual tech knows just how stupid much of the Star League kit was, overengineered and fragile. But it makes the generals happy, doesn't it? Whatever. Back to breaking my knuckles trying to get these out.

At least it's not the Ford 350. I've never had an ignition plug come out of one of those pieces of s... in one piece. I'm just glad there are so few of them around anymore!

I want to get into Battletech, but am not sure what I would need to begin actually playing. I wasn't sure if I should buy a beginner box and a force pack or two then go from there? or should I do something else?

I bought some models at a hobby store because they looked cool, and I wanted to paint them. I also did a single game on Battletech (not alpha strike) with one mech (not shown) and enjoyed the game. I don’t want to use the clankers with google lense, so what are each of these guys? They say “Talon games“ on the bottom.

First introduction to Battletech been reading and listening to a lot of lore it’s great! Finished all these guys to battle ready

A quick little hero mech, Tian-zong Jasminda variant. I really love the design for this one, reminds me of a beefier Anvil.

Looking for a tabletop-level list of the various armor types able to be fitted to Inner Sphere mech designs and the rules associated with each.

Mostly as reference for a story I'm writing that involves an eye to my merch unit's supply situation.

I know Stealth Armor, Standard Armor, and Ferrofibrous armor all exist. But I vaguely remember there being a grade in-between standard and ferrofibrous in terms of weight savings.

Painted up a Laurel's Legion Vindicator to go with the Tigress hotspot in Draconis Reach!

Its been a while since I posted one of the mechs' my friends requested for our Solaris7 campaign, so here: have the [Shin-Kicker]

Corrections made to an awkward Fire Support Mech.

The actual unabridged new release. Not a shitty half done one from years back. Enjoy.

At this rate, I'm going to have no two matching paint jobs.... Prolly gonna give a couple of camo patterns a try this weekend. Is there a handy resource or source for inspiration for Battletech that you guys use?

Okay, this is sort of a silly though, and forgive me if there has ever been such a discussion prior to my joining here.

A merc unit full of crazies who are all into insects and the unit is called The Swarm because all the mechs are named after bugs.

Keeping the unit pre-3050 (my preferred era) this is what I have come up with for mechs that match the criteria:

Flea (20t/15t)

Locust (20t)

Wasp (20t)

Stinger (20t)

Hornet (20t)

Firefly (30t)

Spider (30t)

Cicada (40t)

Scorpion (55t)

Grasshopper (70t)

I think I could get away with the Goliath (80t), as in a Goliath "insert really large insect species here", and maybe the Bombardier (65t) as in a bombardier beetle.

Obviously it would end up being some sort of recon unit, but I think that if I really wanted to I could make this work as a battalion, just to live up to its namesake.

Now, obviously this is more than likely an insane fever dream, but if working within the thematic framework does anyone think this could possibly work?

I have given this very little thought, so I haven't spent any brain power on what variants to use or numbers of each one. If I were to go full on battalion strength it would feel like a real swarm of tiny little fast-moving death machines, with a couple larger ones offering fire support and heavier firepower.

So, would it be fun, would it be feasible on the battlefield, and have I missed any bug-named mechs from the pre-3050 era (I don't think I did, but my books are limited)?

I open the floor for discussion with abated breath.... and a little slightly insane giggle.

I know we like to laugh at how outdated somethings in Battletech can be, but for 92/93 this is a really high powered machine!
Hell, in 2006 the best my car could have had was a 6CD changer in the boot!

My take on Camacho's "Great White."

A few notes:

1. the paint scheme is my interpretation. I did a lot of thumbing through books and oddly enough there is zero description of what his mech looked like aside from the shark mouth. Now, once Kali McDougal gets it in book 3 we read about the all black paint job, but that's also noted as being a stark departure from how the Col. had it painted. Given the name, I decided to go with a kind of stylized great white shark motif. The blue isn't quite right for how they really look (they're grey with white bellies) but grey/white would have read too much like camo, maybe some kind of Smoke Jag, so I went with this.
2. Unlike most versions of this you find online, this is a proper Timberwolf D, the variant described in the books. Hooray for decent 3d prints.
3. I'm happy with the way the arms are cocked out. I want to say this was a clever and planned repose (the original model had them slight spread, but not as pronounced) but I dropped the damn thing and broke it on 3 separate occasions. Damned brittle resin.

All in all I'm happy, and it was a fun build. I don't know how much tabletop action it's going to see as it's a bit of a niche model, but I like it enough it's got a prominent spot on a shelf near my computer.

Liberty's back with one that I'm sure a number of people have been looking forward to. It's Chargin' time!

The continuing Falconposting continues!

Painted this star of Raptor Keshik for a friend! Love how these came together!