Refit & Redeploy! - New Core Products & AdeptiCon 2026

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Mercenarieshar podcast.

My name is Seth, and I'm super excited to be here, guys.

As you all know, we are highlighting storied mercenary units in the Baltic universe,

but today, on episode 29, we are actually talking about some new announcements.

We're talking about refit and deploy, redeploy CGL's new core products line that they

announced during Tuesday, and on day one of Adapticon 2026.

So today, I'm joined by two returning guests, friends, and people that I regularly hang

out with way too late in the evening because they just bring such good conversation.

We're going to have a good conversation, whether anyone else enjoys it or not, we're

going to enjoy it.

If you're having fun, they'll have fun.

I imagine so.

I imagine so.

There has been quite a few videos about this out already, and that's okay, because

they are not us, and we are not them.

But I know we all got to watch a little bit of the Adapticon livestream today at, you

know, a mere 12 hours ago.

And there wasn't really much new that we didn't get from Randall in the Randall leak verse,

but where he basically spoiled everything like three days early.

That's okay.

Oh, and special shout out to Randall.

Thank you, good sir, for pointing to the mercenary star sticker on the booth at Adapticon.

That was awesome.

I love that it's still there.

So I'll have to add a new one the next time I make it to a con.

Yeah, Brent, we need to start getting some old man.

I know.

I know.

How the club stickers in their hands.

That's right.

They have them.

Yeah.

They have them.

They didn't put them on there.

I put that one on there because at Jincon two years ago, there was one or two people.

There was only one or two stickers on there already.

And they said, oh, I recognize that sticker.

And I think it was Brent was like, yeah, you have a sticker you should pull it up here.

And so I'm just like, slap it up there.

So I think they got several during that time.

So so yeah, we are on the iron wind cash register though.

Oh, nice.

Nice.

Very good.

Yeah.

That is good.

That is good.

Unless they've cleaned it.

That's which hopefully they haven't.

That's where all your money goes anyway, right?

During the conventions.

Yeah.

Well, this little of that, you know, you know, well, we have a lot to talk about in not

any really particular order, but somewhat arranged to be in a grouped conversations.

Just going to dive into some of the things now.

Most of this was from Tuesday, news day, but they could go over a lot of it in day one

of a depth, depth of cons so you can go check out the VOD for that as well.

If there's anything we missed, please, by all means, let us know in the comments.

Also let us know what you think of all of these things because we have opinions, but we

want to hear your opinions.

So yeah, put them in the comments of the YouTube video or hit us up on social media or hit us

up in discord in the VOD club podcast discord.

That is where all of us hang out on a regular basis.

You can hop in and talk to us.

You can send us a message.

You can even send me an email at mercenarystarpodcast at gmail.com and I'll definitely read it because

I don't get tons of emails.

That's okay.

Yeah, I mean, like, let's just like go down the list there.

Brian, why don't you take this first one because I know it's near and dear to your heart.

Rinse the one who's read the most on the subject out of the two of us.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And I almost know how to play rules is written out aerospace rules almost, but not quite.

Rules is formally written.

I can do it.

Yes, it's formally written.

I can do it with the assistance of mega mech.

I can do it.

Okay.

Mind you.

That's okay.

So one of the things they announced is that the aerospace game is in closed alpha.

So they're pretty far along with that.

Now I don't know if that is now, are you guys aware if that was just aerospace BSP or is

that also literally, no, that's the full game aerospace.

That's the full game.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Or because of course the rules or whatever new tabletop rules for aerospace, yeah, like

the full.

Yeah, the full.

Yeah, it wasn't just the BSPs.

So.

And that was mentioned specifically by Randall.

Which was fast.

I mean, I didn't think they were going to have that stuff ready this soon.

The way they talked about it in previous live streams.

Yeah.

For sure, but they're, they're also not going to call Randall did say this.

He's not going to call the aerospace rule set like complete until you can like successfully

play a game where you follow a dropship down the planet to intercept it.

So they're definitely not at that point.

If that's the benchmark they have, but I'm looking forward to what they do.

It's nice to.

I don't know how the aerospace rules are going to look, but I do know there are some folks

in the community who have taken inspiration from Baltech's aerospace and built on it to

make their own aviation games.

So I don't know if there's going to be some sort of parallel there.

If they're going to take the same cues, I don't think so.

But other people have made air.

They made air combat work on hexes.

Oh, yeah.

Well, and they did, he didn't mention that they will likely try to get it into like some

sort of beta, maybe even open beta later in the year, you know, pretty much every, every

time they talk about, well, when's that going to happen?

They're like, oh, maybe late summer early fall.

So that was, that was like, yeah, maybe late summer early fall.

We'll try to get it into like open beta or something.

So, so I don't know, I would, I would maybe, I would maybe bet that we see some sort of

beta rules drop by the end of the year, at least, but you know, within 2026, which is way

sooner than I was expecting, which is cool because they've also announced force packs,

yeah, specifically for aerospace as well.

Um, so hopefully there's kind of kind of inside with each other and box sets.

So it's not just going to be like, hey, here's some squads.

They mentioned they're doing them in level twos.

So it's going to be big sitting six.

Is that right?

I believe that's why we started during the streams.

They're going to have six was like two or whatever.

That, I mean, that would make sense though.

It'd be six figures.

Interesting.

Uh, the aerospace force packs that they've announced so far are the Shilone Slayer, uh,

Showlegar, and then the, uh, pack two is a Chippewa Lucifer in, uh, Cedalitz.

I can never see that one.

Oh, uh, that's as close as I got.

So that's three chassis per box, if they double it up, that's six units, yeah, which

makes sense.

Yeah.

There was also a clan aerospace squadron, apparently, announced with the Sabatai, Jagatai and, uh,

Sherona.

Tries.

It's a, it's a, yeah, it's a light aerospace fighter with a, uh, just a, a single clan ERPBC in

it.

Uh, okay.

Yeah.

Nice.

Very nice.

Yeah, very exciting, uh, with Alpha Strike as is, um, I've enjoyed taking aerospace to

those games because it's a lot less of a headache than it is for classic, but hopefully with

the new rules set, we'll have a lot more fun with aerospace in the future.

So there was also other stuff that they brought up during, uh, during talks.

They mentioned we're going to be getting more C scale.

Yeah.

So they announced a couple of them as well.

Yes.

Uh, there was a couple.

We already knew there's going to be a marauder coming.

Uh, that was previously announced.

I don't know today teased the region earlier.

Was that the, uh, but I didn't, I didn't know about it until, uh, they talked about

dot com.

So error here today.

All right.

I wasn't

and exciting thing about the region is that the region has a, um, allegedly, um, if they

can do it, it's going to be able to be comfortable between the, uh, prime and

the a very, I believe, nice.

So they'll have, yeah, arms or whatever.

Maybe it might, it might not be multiple arms, but it might be like, you know, you could

swap out the lasers on the prime for the PPC's of the alpha.

I think it's specifically.

So the, you know, the prime, uh, has a SRM, it has a SRM 4 launcher.

I can't remember if it's streak or, um, a standard clan launcher.

And then it also has the, uh, the 20 cannon on the, uh,

right side.

So I'm assuming those are going to be the two things that like you swap.

Yeah.

Because the A is the one that's supposed to be like the awesome.

It has the three PPCs and clan ear PPCs.

Yes, three clan ear PPCs, which, yeah, with, yeah, with capacitors, dang dude.

You know, it's funny though.

On that, they're, um, I think how laser two or a couple lasers, um, the alpha

config, I don't know.

It might have like a small laser or something on there.

But I think it's just the PPC's, um, so it's, that is the one that's on the

cover of the core box, which we'll get to in a little bit.

So the region A, just so that it's all, uh, clear, three clan ear PPCs,

three capacitors, a targeting computer and a ER medium laser in the head.

Which, uh, I mean, is just excellent.

It is almost 3,500 BV.

Yeah.

Well, it's a 90 ton clan assault.

So, yeah, that everyone in the inner sphere has access to everyone

have access to these, these things, um, which, since we're still talking about it.

Um, and it was noticed by, um, the person in

I saw talking about this is, um, he always changes the first part of it,

but it's like something to brasskin on, on X or Twitter or whatever.

And he wrote this like big thread about how the regent is apparently becoming

the poster child for this new era that it's on like multiple books.

It's on multiple boxes and, uh, and we're getting a C scale of it.

And so I think for good reason, I do to for good reason, uh, it's a cool

mech. I do too.

Um, and that was one thing that, uh, that, that it was during the session with

Ray and Randall and Sierra Bella today, that I think Ray said, you know,

all of our boxes, all of our intro boxes, which again, this will kind of go

into some stuff here in a minute, but they said all of our intro boxes are,

have been 30, 25, they've been intro tech, like the entire time.

And he said, basically, um, this goes to the regent kind of like,

becoming like the new poster, poster child is that like, you know,

if we want them to embrace the ill clan era, then we have to as well.

And that it was kind of the core logic behind what we'll talk about, uh,

kind of we can kind of transition to now if you guys are ready, which is the core

products that they announced. I say core products, because two of the products

have the word core in it.

They, uh, they certainly leaned into it arguably dived in.

Oh, day first, yes, which I'm excited, uh, there's a lot of cool stuff in this

era. And it's cool to see them finally kind of because it's weird because

they were pushing the ill clan fiction and source books, but we weren't

getting miniature products to back it up outside of Ironwind.

So I for one, I'm happy to see we're getting this.

And then there's enough old minis in here for old heads that are like, well,

I, you know, these new minis are cool.

But, you know, I want some of, uh, like some older era stuff as well.

And they, uh, uh, they, I think they hooked those guys up to, uh,

specifically with the mechs they chose.

Absolutely. If you are watching on the YouTube, um, then on the YouTube, if you're

watching the live, you know, video, not live, if you're watching the video

on YouTube, live stream. Oh my gosh, it's not a live stream because

what the kids call it. Uh, if you're watching the inner

webs, uh, you know, if you're watching on YouTube, uh,

I'm, we're showing it right now. If you're listening to the podcast,

uh, you know, continue listening, but in that's your convenience,

you can either go watch this segment on YouTube or you can go and, and click on

the links. I'll have links to these pages in the

descriptions, um, because there's a page on CGL's website and a page on

baltech.com, uh, that have all this information.

But they announced the battle tech refit and redeployment,

which, uh, was kind of the title of today's episode.

But basically they announced a new starter box, a new core box,

and a new core rulebook. Um, and basically they said, you know,

this is the first time that we will be launching all of these at the same

time. Um, you know, uh, I mean, I guess maybe I'll have to,

maybe they did do it before, but it's at least been the first time in about

30 years that they've done it. So in end, they are planned to release in

August of 2026, uh, my money is on GenCon. They'll have it at GenCon.

And then they've said they're going to have it at GenCon.

All right. Right. I was saying, I hope they are able to stick to that.

Yes. Yes. Um, I'm just saying they'll have it there. And then wide retail would be

after, um, they said August, which could be a week, could be

end of August. So I hope it's not end of August because I'm not planning

going to GenCon this year because I'm, I'm moving. So I don't,

don't have the funds to go to GenCon.

Um, but, uh, they all look fantastic as far as like the cover art goes.

Um, what do you guys think? Just initial impressions.

Looking at the boxes, what do you think?

Well, we will scroll down in the video and, and you'll see

details of what's in the boxes in a moment. And we'll talk about them.

But just looking at them, what do you think?

So I think for those who are listening and not watching the video,

yes, describe them. We'll just, yeah, we'll just hit you with what we see on the box.

Um, so, uh, of the mechs, we have the Hollander Rocks Chazza, Solitaire,

Yuziel, Mad Cat Mark II, the Vulture Mark IV, Regent and Aris.

These are the eight mechs that are going to be in the new core box.

And within the new starter box, we're going to have the Contio and Hammerhead.

Yes, um, the Contio and Hammerhead, I find really interesting because there are no variants

of these mechs. You get the like standard variant and that's it. Yeah. Um,

not yet. Anyway, we have a, um, there was, at one point,

a hammerhead three announced. I don't know if it ever came to fruition. Yeah.

For one of the, um, force packs, but, um, I think we don't even have a hammerhead too.

I know. Interesting. We don't talk about the Hammerhead too. We don't talk about the Hammerhead too.

But, um, the only ones we have in plastic are definitely just the one variant of the Hammerhead.

And, uh, but it would be cool if this box saw, um, different variants of both these mechs,

um, which would be awesome. One with maybe four training wheels and then one with, uh,

a bigger tech, not bigger tech, uh, advanced, uh, more advanced tech, uh, like kind of as you

learn the rules. Well, we definitely have information on that that we'll talk about in a minute.

Yeah. I think we're getting a little ahead of us real quick with the,

mentioning the starter box, but just with the core box itself. Um, I think this is a really

cool spread of mechs. I was just talking to a buddy of mine who I used to play tabletop with

regularly. And he had to ask me, he asked the question like, what are these machines?

Yeah. Most of his, most of his experience, uh, not too dissimilar to me. Uh, I'm a fairly young

player to the setting. Uh, but he even more so I've been around Baltech for a few years now. Um,

but him not so much. Uh, he didn't know what a rock shot that was. He only heard of a mad cap

mark too. He saw the Yuziel in the mech assault game. Yeah. But a lot of this, he had no idea what

a haul under was, but he's so down for it. Uh, when I explained what this mad little machine can do.

Yeah. Well, and like looking at the boxes too, um, that the artwork on them is fantastic. I'm

going to go left to right. The starter box has a great shot of the contio, uh, punching the hammerhead

while the hammerhead is lasering the contio. Um, and, and it's, I don't, you know, it's kind of

funny, but like yellow is like a really, uh, prominent color in a lot of this. If you've noticed

that, like it is all the, all the text for the, like what box it is or what book it is is in yellow.

Um, which I don't, I don't mind. It's, it's kind of refreshing. I don't know why it looks good

and it catches the eye. It does my guess. It does. Um, um, through their choice in using it.

But one of the things, um, well, you know what, no, I'm not going to say that. We'll talk about

the boxes in a second. Uh, on the core box, it has the regent a configuration

on the cover in yellow and white, which is the, what are they? The Don something?

Don guards. Exactly. Um, and they're fighting against, um, what looks like, there's some other,

you know, there's other intersteremex in the Don guard colors and it looks like they're fighting against,

uh, what, um, what are the climax that they're fighting against? Do you know? I mean,

that's the mad cat mark two in the background. But what are the, what's the pain scheme?

Is it sea fox? Me a second to pull up the, uh, uh, pictures because, uh, I don't remember

off the top of my head, but I've got them right here. I was trying not to scroll and reveal it to

too soon. Uh, new stuff. Um, so the hammerhead in the starter box, that is, uh, spina con it,

con it. Yes. Uh, that's, uh, it's likely Peter's mech even because he pilots a hammerhead. Uh,

and, you know, he's a member of spina con it. Um, there are a couple other, uh, the

contio is in units. Uh, is it delta galaxy or gamica? It's the blitzkrieg bears. That's not

the name of them, but it's like the bear with the lightning bolt. It's that, it's that unit. I

can't remember what it is. Uh, but it's, um, it's like, it's a yell mostly yellow

contio with blue on the edges, which is kind of crazy.

And then the, I'm assuming the other, the blue, um, mark two, uh, mad cat, uh, that's behind the

region. I assume is, um, I forget which, uh, galaxy, but I believe it's another sea fox galaxy.

Okay. Um, that we're looking at here. Yeah. Um, okay. We'll see that in a second. Um,

but then also the core rule book also has the region, but it looks like the prime

regions. Yes. And it is in red sort of light colors, sort of light colors. Uh, it looks

fantastic. It's got like gold trim around the head or, or yellow, I guess, but it looks amazing.

I love that it is got the spine. Yes. Uh, torn out of the gunsmith. And it, it's so funny

because it's very reminiscent of predator because the gunsmith looks like a xenomorph.

It kind of does. It whoever decided to artistically to make these choices, they, they were making smart moves

in my book. Yeah. In this one, it's the, this is, this is, uh, I don't know that we've had,

have we had Carita as like the protagonist on a cover of a box or a book like that other than a

Carita books or book. So the universe book has, um, a, a, a carina, a carina list. That's right.

That's the first one that comes to mind. Okay. Um, and of course, like Carita books usually have

a Carita mech on the cover, of course. As far as box sets, I believe, um, there was a Carita

Griffin. If memory serves me for the big box. Um, but, but maybe, maybe, I'm, I'm a little foggy.

I'm like, yeah, I believe it was recall, do recalls Griffin would not, not his Griffin, but a one in,

in house recalls colors. Um, and it was part of that, uh, the Duke recall mech art, I think.

Gotcha. Don't hold me to that guys. Uh, I'll show this thing is a lot closer in a minute as well.

So it's got, uh, it's got an aerospace fighter in the background and also, uh, a bundle of what

looks like a Tomo, um, inner sphere, uh, battle armor as well. Yeah. And, uh, is there a turret in

the background? Uh, yeah, it looks like the turrets from the turret box, uh, from a earlier last

year, which we do know the BSP rules will be in there. So we'll talk about that later.

Okay. Well, let's just move on to what's in the boxes because I'm scrolling down now. Uh,

if you're watching the video again, we're going to start with starter box because it's what's

next on the, on the page. Uh, there's incredible shots of the minis for these two mechs, also the

half record sheets that come in the, you know, the current beginner box and essentials box will also

be in this new starter box. However, they are redesigned. And one thing that, um, we're going to

address right now. There was a lot of people that were like, why isn't this intro tech? You know,

why isn't this, um, you know, why is this, why are these two mechs that have a lot of advanced

equipment, right? Isn't, isn't, isn't, isn't going to, isn't the starter box too advanced?

And, uh, this was asked of Randall and he gave a really good explanation.

Um, because again, before this, every box was always intro tech. It was always started with

30, 25 intro tech. And he said, you know what, when we did the grinder, uh, kits, when they,

when they, when CGLs created and sold the grinder kits and dispersed them out over the last

couple of years. And then they had all this feedback about it. And they got to see these grinders

being played at cons and tournaments and stuff like that. They basically found out that

it didn't matter if new players sat down and were given a record sheet.

And if there was advanced tech on it, they just learned how to play it. They didn't

stumble over it. It wasn't like a big hurdle for the new players. And, and frankly, I, I even,

I even kind of proved this with some new friends that I was teaching a couple of weeks ago, where

they picked mechs that were, you know, ill-clan era mechs. And three of the four of them had never

played battle tech or any miniature game, let alone battle tech. And, um, they were able to pick up

all the advanced tech. I mean, they were looking up, what is an ECM? I mean, like, they were looking

it up, something like one of them was looking up on his phone. One of them was looking up in the,

the battle mech manual that I had at the table. And like, they were looking up the rules and like,

they were like, oh, yeah, this means that like if you've got, you know,

Artemis on your long range missiles, which is again, advanced tech, right? They're like, oh,

that means you can use that, right? I'm like, you're right. That means that I can't use that one.

I'm firing at you as long as you're in the bubble. And they just got it immediately. So,

I liked that it was kind of a, you know what? Let's just trust players to be able to understand

this advanced tech. I also think it's more indicative of what modern battle tech looks like,

especially, um, like tactics wise. Uh, like these are two styles of play that I think you see regularly

in lists, both both narrative as well as, um, um, you know, skirmish list. Um, and where I feel like the

uh, intro tech, you know, the Griffin versus the Wolverine, um, while it's a cool fight. And all it

is like, they're, they're much more homogenous mechs. And I think for newer players that are like, I

think, um, especially if there's just two mechs in the box box. And we're going to expect them,

they're going to play this kind of over and over again. Um, I think that, um, especially like, like,

with a newer audience, a younger audience, I think that this isn't that much of a stretch. And the,

the, the advanced tech that's in here, TSM might be the most complicated thing. And it's not

that complicated. And heavy armor and AES are very simple to comprehend. So it's, you know, there's

nothing really too wild here, even when it comes to the advanced tech. But, um, these two mechs,

like are fulfilling different, like tactical roles, um, that are gravely different, which I think

is a better example of what Battle Tech is overall, especially in the later eras. Um, so I, I

think, I mean, uh, these are ill clan era box sets, uh, because like I said, like Ray was saying,

like, the wider fandom is not going to embrace ill clan until they,

are fully invested in ill clan. And I get that like, there's a lot of people that are going to be

like, well, it doesn't have the atlas or the war hammer on the front of it. I'm, you know,

intro tech is the best way to teach people. I mean, like, I, I learned on it that way. And I'm

not saying anything bad about it. But you know, like I said, I certainly, anyway, it's really anyway.

And I, yes, there are, intro tech is simpler for sure. Um, but I think that we can give,

you know, new players credit that they can understand more complex stuff. Um,

some other things to plan out that they meant go ahead. It's over.

Also, it might draw more people in if you're showing more depth. Oh, yeah. When you lay out mechs

in front of people, um, and it is just intro tech stuff. Like, this is so basic. This is so basic

here. You're, you're meeting potatoes, medium laser, like, for as much work as it does, it's kind of

boring. Oh, okay. So it goes, it reaches out to this may hex and it does this damage all right,

whatever. Yeah. Um, as soon as you start including like all, all this weird or stuff, it does like

open up people's minds to the possibility in a smaller way because this is just alpha strike and

alpha strike is not classic, classic is not alpha strike. Um, but I, I remember I got so much more

engagement from my players. Once we moved out of the clan invasion and they were looking up all

these special abilities, uh, my players absolutely fell in love when they saw those two letters CR

on their mechs. Uh, then all of a sudden, like, oh, what does crit resistance do? Oh, I don't

have to suffer ahead shots. Like, I am just this big tanky thing now. Um, all of a sudden,

the charger became very popular with one of my players. Uh, when the charger see variant. That's

awesome. Uh, so I, I think it could get players more excited instead of just showing them the

bare bones stuff that was designed a long while ago. Well, they mentioned on the, like,

the beginner box and the previous beginner boxes did not transition well. They didn't have a

easy transition to a game of our combat and how it, you know, it didn't, it didn't move players

from that box to the next box because all I had was the simplified version really. Um, on the backs

of these new half record sheets, they actually have the advanced tech. And so there is a full-size

sheet that's going to be included in this box, um, that says, um, first mission and that first mission,

you don't play with hardened armor, you don't play with TSM or claws, you just play like basic

standard armor, basic, what, you know, weapons and movement. And that's it. And then you flip it over

and you can see the new technology and then you can play with the TSM and the claws and you can

play with the hardened armor and AES and, um, and so it transitions it to kind of playing the

full version because then there's a second mission. And so I think that is a huge step up for a

beginner or for, for any kind of intro box in that it, it is giving you the basics, but then it

is helping you advance into more, which are the other ones we're not doing.

I also think the art and the both, both like the box art as well as the actual design of these

two mechs and their miniatures are both very evocative. Oh yeah. Um, and don't be wrong. I love the

Griffin and the Wolverine and, you know, later the Vindicator and the Wolverine.

Sure. But, but they're, they're not, you know, they're, they're just cool.

They're just cool. Let's be honest. Um, well, well, I think they're very distinct for us.

Right. But like for someone who, who's kind of new or just looking at this on the shelf,

those mechs aren't that distinctive. Um, where these two have very different, um, like art styles,

right? You have this like big, tanky looking shark dude. Uh, you get, you, you guys

remember street sharks, right? And then, uh, and then you have this like anime, uh, almost like

cyberpunk looking mech with these long arms and claws. I mean, those are like two, like you can get

a buddy in on this, right? There's something here that, that, that like your buddy down the road

likes. Uh, and I think, especially for even like younger, again, younger audiences, um, I,

I think that these, that the character of these miniatures is way more interesting for a starter

box before we even get into any of the rules. Yeah. Uh, and way more likely to bring people in.

Well, and that was brought up, um, that in their design meetings, uh, Bren actually said, you

know what? We should have him like why these two mechs were a good choice because he wanted

new or younger players to be like, well, do you want the shark or the bear?

And it, and it's funny because it hits funny because it is both the mech and the faction that

these mechs belong to, right? Yeah. And so you have instantly, you have, oh, yes, the hammerhead,

the shark like mech or the contio with its claws, the bear like mech. Um, and again, they both

represent factions that hold those names and and totem animals. And so you can instantly,

like new players, especially younger players can instantly connect to it. Um, so I think they did

a great job with this beginner box or starter box, excuse me. Um, yeah.

So, uh, but anything else on that box? Guys, before we move on to the next one.

I do want to mention within this box, they have confirmed and we can even see it in some of the

pictures that they've shared, uh, for promotion material. We are getting new variants of some of

the mechs that are featured. So, um, the usel is a good example of one. Um, uh, also I think they

also stated the holander is getting a heavy gloss variant, which is nice. So just holander,

Sasha, Uziel, madcat mark two and holander are all confirmed to have new variants specifically for,

uh, from, from these boxes. Nice. Thank you, Brian. And yes, and the holander, as Zebra said,

was announced to be heavy gals, which I do know if those four are in the beginner box as the

cardboard standees because there are at least in the beginner box, they still have the cardboard

standees, which I love. And they for sure have the solitaire and the zeal in there. We can actually see,

I believe, a new variant of the usel, the nine s, which I'm going to, I'm going to fact check

myself on this, but I, uh, I believe, no, you're correct. And we can see from the image what,

what the new variant is, it's two light PPCs, two medium lasers and an SRM six, uh, which is,

uh, pretty cool and very usel loadout. Yeah, it is. But I do like that. It's got the cardboard

standees still. Um, okay. Well, let's move on. Uh, oh, I am showing some a painted version of

the contio real quick. Uh, first, it looks incredible and plastic. Second, this was painted by, uh,

poor bull, right, Zimmer? Yes. Uh, you're talking about the art with the green contio, uh, over

his, uh, timber wolf kill. Yeah. Yeah. That artist, uh, is poor bull. I love following this guy's stuff

because he goes the extra mile and he does these very intricate dioramas. Yeah. Like you could see

from the pictures here, like, it's beautiful what he does with the little flame effect there.

It's just like, that's a little 2D cut out. Yeah. But it really sells the scene. It really gives a vibe

that I love. Even the basing on the, on the contio matches the, the road that he has there.

Yeah, it does. It's incredible. Um, if you want to, I know he has a blue sky account. I don't know

if he posts anywhere else. Uh, I think you can find him on, uh, the painter's union, uh, cam

us back. Those are websites where you could check for paint schemes all the time. Yeah. Um,

just do check out this guy's work. Uh, I'm so glad to see that he's collaborating with catalyst

in this capacity. Yeah. Um, all right. Well, let's chat about the core box because this box

gentleman is the, uh, replacing a game of armor combat. It comes with eight mechs.

The ones we mentioned earlier, the regent, the ruckshasa, the holander, the solitaire,

the usil, the ares, the mat, madcat mark two, and the vulture mark four. Uh, and they are different

variants of some of them as well. Like I said, that the, is it the a, it's the only, the only one

that I think is a variant is the a configuration region. I think everything else is the standard

of the model. Okay. Well, that region has a missile insurance left arm. It looks like 10 missiles.

That is the ruck sashes. Um, oh, just kidding. You're right. Man, look at me. It's too late.

I'm gonna wait. It is a trick of the light. I didn't zoom in. The magic of editing. It didn't happen.

Didn't happen, actually. No, editing will allow me to tell you how late it is. That's never wrong,

people. Oh, there's plenty of times that's on, on record. So as I like to tease my wife, I say,

well, you know, I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong. Anyway, yeah. So these max looking

incredible as well, the skulls are going to be great. Uh, one thing they did mention is the maps

in both of these boxes. They are the standard maps from the old boxes as far as where the trees are,

where the hills are, where the water is, but they are aesthetically designed to be like alien world's

maps. Cool. So, um, I expect bright colorful maps, um, or at least maps with some bright colors on

them, which will be fun. Well, looking at the promotional images, um, it's just standard. Sorry.

I said, it just looks standard on the promotional, doesn't it? You don't know what we green?

You got green. Yeah. And then on the other side, you could see the like the rocky

paint stones. So maybe that's the alien they're talking about. Who knows?

I mean, I don't know how much of that's accurate and how much of its mock up. So

um, but yeah, so the core box is, um, that there's again, there's going to be

I think like first mission, second mission. Um, there, uh, there is something in there that I can't

see without zooming in and totally ruining the video quality. Um, but there's something with a record

sheet. Oh, it's the, um, the damage path indicator for the record sheets. Do you see that?

Yes. So it shows how damage transfers in I think it's a new, um, like card stock card reference card.

Um, which is cool. I do appreciate that. Uh, I believe, I believe the one in the, uh,

the image is for the solitaire. Is it might be, I believe so. Okay. Um, anyway, we'll get something

like that. Um, we, we'll get the off start cards as well, of course, as well as the record sheets.

Also, the record sheets, excuse me, the alpha strike cards for the two mechs from the starter

box will also be in the core box. They did that with the beginner box and the game of armor combat

because they didn't want to include the alpha strike cards in their beginner box because

they didn't want to confuse people. They're doing that again. Um, so you'll, you'll look at that in

there. Um, we also see in the image, this isn't the biggest deal, but I like we're, we're getting

new style pilot cards. And I really like the way the new style of pilot cards looks.

Yeah. Um, I have a question and, and, or maybe even a theory, there's three colors on there.

There's red, yellow, and like a teal. Can I teal a screen color? Do you, hold on, I'm scrolling

back up to look. Was that the same as the other one? No. Okay. So it's just, I think the color is

purely based on design or, or faction. I believe it's the action. Yeah. Action. Okay.

For a second, I was trying to get too complicated with it. And I was like, are those going to

be later useful for aces with like how, like aggressive pilots, you know, like, because there's

like the different aggressive colors. I was, I was, I was thinking way, way to, to, uh,

heavy there. I don't think you're right, but that is an interesting theory. Yeah. No, no,

it's, I think it's definitely faction. Cause when I scrolled up to look at the ones in the,

uh, starter box, it's like a dark blue for the rossel hog, Mac and a gray for sea fox. So it's,

it's, uh, it's, uh, it's snow rations. By the way, what is,

the, uh, region. Oh, no, no, no. I was talking about those pictures,

I was saying the pilots, the pilot cards, uh, in the, in the starter box. One is dark blue,

because it's, it's for the contio and ghost bear or rossel octaminion. And the other one is gray,

and it's the sea fox hammerhead. That's what I'm saying. Me and Brent were looking at the

core box. That's, oh, yeah. You're saying the core box. The region is, you said Raven Alliance.

Yes. I see that. Yes. Got you. Oh, and Torian concordat for what is that? Yeah. Torian.

What is that one for? Um, which one has the bad, or the vulture mark for? Nice. Interesting.

We're getting some periphery pilot in the core box. Look at that. Yeah. Somebody's going to be

who want to took it. We get the name of the vulture now. Yes. Yeah, but who's the Ilcon?

Some wini with mommy and daddy issues. Oh, um, yeah. So anyway,

um, the, the box also has a new version of the primer that is now called battle tech sagas.

And apparently, uh, it's a been redone from the ground up and it's made to help

new players, um, understand the factions better and, and choose a faction like if they, if they like

it. And so there's even some amazing artwork they showed off today. It was so cool. Yeah.

I've never been excited about a primer. All right. But, but the art in there looks excellent,

as well as, uh, there's some very like big descriptions. I don't know how different they are from

the original primer, but it does look like they've gone into even more detail than they have

previously. So, well, I think they did a good thing where they're like, all right, well, you,

you're part of the, you know, lear and alliance or commonwealth, whichever one they're calling it.

And, you know, this is who you are and blah, blah, blah. And they basically have,

in each of the factions, they have, um, they try to connect you the player to a character in showing

a, um, a person on the page from behind like kind of like how we would identify with the master

chief, because we never see a space. Um, it like that. Like you're like, oh, yes, well, I see this,

come, you know, I see this trichon's combine mech warrior helmet from the back and looking,

looking at this really cool, um, you know, group of, uh, sort of lightbecks. And so I just really want

to, you know, be a part of this like Japanese feudal samurai society as Brent does.

Uh, and so, uh, I think it's going to be good. Although, I would I will say when he held it up

today, I was like, kind of sat up and I was like, what is this book that he's teasing us with?

And then I realized it was the saga's book and I was like, ah, he got all of us RBG players

excited because the front cover is, is a cockpit shot like destiny. And I was like, what is this

destiny-related book? I got excited because I was like, oh, where are they going to try and push

old playing kind of into the core box, which I thought was a great idea. But technically,

it turns out that is what they're doing. Kind of, yeah, but maybe, but, you know, maybe not

necessarily with rules, but they want to get you in that mindset, which I think is great.

Yeah, 100%. Um, anything else from the core box for you guys?

I just want to say, like, you go ahead, Brent. No, you got this.

I was just going to say, um, so let me start over. Make Seth edit this right now.

Um, I'm not editing anything. Let's be honest.

So, uh, I just, I heard that Byron, I'm sorry, I'm heard that

Brent, uh, is who chose these mechs, which, uh, power to him, this is like the best lineup,

for ill clan era, uh, mechs for, for these boxes. I think that this is a great,

there's, there's some civil war air mechs that are going to bring in older players,

uh, because everyone will loves the usual. Everyone loves the Hollanderer. I don't know if

everyone loves the solitaire, but I certainly do. Um, surprisingly, everyone is super excited for

the Rakshasa. And the, and the Rakshasa, which is fantastic. Yeah, the Rakshasa.

The new scope looks excellent. It, yeah, it much more matches. It's a lure, um,

background now, which I, I appreciate, uh, and, and it looks like a little marauder that they

put, uh, Mickey Mouse hat on. And so now you can't, um, and then we've got the Aris,

which is cool. We did have the Aris as a premium mech. I bought two of them. One of my favorite,

I did as well. I also bought two hammerheads. So, I love, they, it's a, it's like a Griffin and a

Wolverine, um, made, made a just beautiful, um, fast attack, uh, mech. And, you know,

it's got those partial wings. Uh, so it can cruise for some long jumps. Um, it's going to be nasty.

It's, it's for some newer players. Is it 35? 45 tons. I, I'm not sure. I don't know. It's 45 tons.

You know what? It's somewhere between 45 and 55. I feel like it's a new version of the Phoenix

sock. Like an ill-claimed version of the Phoenix sock. I'm not saying it. I think it for, I think it's

like the spirit of spirit of Phoenix sock in this box set is what I'm saying. So, um, go ahead,

but flag me in the comments. Don't worry. I love the Phoenix sock guys. Don't, don't, don't

get me wrong. I'm just saying it's got those partial wings. Like the Phoenix sock had the,

the, the jump jet fins over its back, you know, I see. Um, the, the cockpit, even though it's on kind of

like a, like squat chest, it kind of reminds me of like a little bit of like the Wasp and Phoenix

Hawk, uh, like early, early artworks. What I will agree with you on is that like the Phoenix

sock, it has main character energy. It does. Um, and, um, it, it feels like it when you're playing

it. And I, if you haven't played the Ares, um, like get out there and, you know, to sub something

in, uh, it's a, it's a good time. Um, but like, I mean, the rest of this lineup, you know,

and then you've got the Mark II also for older players, but then the ill-claimed mix that they

add, like the Ares and the region, I think are ones that even like some of the older guys can get

in. So I think this is, it has, it, and they all are very distinct. So I think it has good

curb appeal, but it also, like, I think older players can easily jump in and be like, you know

what? These do look cool. Yeah. Um, absolutely. I think they did a great job. Absolutely.

Listeners, if you're struggling to fight Ares's, because your friends are just taking nothing,

but that, um, remember, they're not so scary without their snub nose PPC. That's right. That's

right. I know from experience. So for those folks, though, who do look at this box and now they're

wondering to themselves, like, what's happening to the old game of armor combat and the old beginner

boxes? Uh, what's happening with those mixed guys? Yeah. So something very special is happening. Um,

well, not just game of armor combat and the old beginner boxes, uh, Zimmer, but also the

Clan invasion box set as well. Uh, what is happening with these old boxes is that they are going to

discontinue selling the box sets, but they're going to create force packs out of these collections

of mechs. And so they already have planned a force pack for the Clan invasion, uh, five mechs. Um,

they'll be calling it the battle star. Correct. The Clan battle star is the name of it. Uh,

and that's just going to be the five mechs. If you need the elementals, you're going to buy the

elemental pack. Right. Right. Because they have a pack of, uh, or of a star of elementals. So

already. So, um, but then for the, for the game of armor combat and the beginner boxes and stuff,

yes, they're going to have force packs with those mechs in them. Um, I don't, did you catch names

for any of them? I didn't think they named them or anything. I didn't catch names. Did you, Zimmer?

I don't think they gave names for, uh, I think they said they're coming later boxes. Yeah.

Well, they said they're, they have enough stock that they're expecting to still have the old boxes.

Yes. Up until the end of summer. So at least, yeah, again, yeah, that they're probably, uh, not

planning to release those boxes till next year. If not later. Right. So if you need those mechs,

buy them now in the box. Uh, right. Many of those mechs are already in other boxes though.

Um, they've been out long enough that many, most of those mechs are in other boxes.

Some of them, the, the, the, not the core box, but the original, um, game of armor and combat.

That one actually, I think is the one that has the least amount of mechs that are not included in

other places. Um, I can't think of anywhere else to get a vindicator. A commando vindicator. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, the catapult. You can get a K2 catapult, but those are very distinctly different models.

No, we've gotten, we've gotten some others. Now, now I will say the, um, the main box set is all,

almost all in iron wind metal minis. So if you need like a battle master or a commando,

like you can, or a locust, you, you can, uh, go get the iron wind metal one. And I think the iron wind

metal catapult actually comes with K2 arms as well. Um, so there is that option. Now, as far as

clean mechs goes, um, the Grendel has never come out anywhere until something we're going to talk

about here a few minutes. The, um, the catapult is in the initial fire lance, by the way.

Yeah. Um, so like there, there, there are places to get most of them, I think.

Are you sure it's in the inner sphere fire lance? I think so.

It's either a fire lance or direct fire lance. One of them has, has a catapult.

Supposedly. I, uh, the only two lances I'm seeing are the Game of Combat,

Armored Combat, and then the Grey Death Legion box, which has, well, yeah, that one has the K2.

I had to look it up because fire lance definitely tickled something in me because that's the box

you get the stalker in. It does not have a couple in the trebuchet. What about the direct fire lance?

Longbow. The direct fire lance has a crusader. Maybe that's what you're thinking of. But no catapult.

I'm also looking on meck Bay, and they have the. Oh, that's right. They do that.

What are we doing? That's like the place to look meck Bay dot com with a K.

I just kept it up. I just keep it open on my computer. I have it. I turned it into a web app,

and just, uh, like, when you launch the computer, it just opens up the meck Bay. I mean,

they have it. You can do that. You can install it. Yeah, I was trying to look, but it's not

loading very fast for me. So I mean, I'm looking at it. See, though, it's, it's, uh, uh,

it's okay. I swear there was another one. Was it not in one of the mercenary ones?

I swear we have one besides. Well, it was at the Grey Death, uh, it was in the Grey Death one.

Um, which, but it's a K2. Okay. Um, all right. I'll stay incorrect.

For now, somebody tell me in the comments how right I am.

Yeah, and I'll decide the double check. The indicator is only available in the second edition of

the beginner box. So I think that is going to be maybe the most coveted, uh,

miniature of these. So here's, here's what you do, though, you look for sales of these.

Oh, yeah, they're probably by the end of summer. They're going to be if they're going out,

you go find them. Uh, check barns and no, if you're in the US, check barns and no, well,

because they do sell all of the box sets. They now have all the force packs, but they do sell

the box sets usually if they have stock. So, uh, speaking of barns and nobles, there's something

else we can go into. We can use that as a great segue. Absolutely. Great segue.

Before we talk about the core book, there is going to be an exclusive barns and nobles,

Kamacho's, Kabayeros force pack coming. Um, it is going to have an albatross, a grand titan,

a phoenix hawk seven K and a hunchback. What is it called? The one with all the meeting

letters, the disco back. Yes. My, my favorite, uh, version of the hunchback. I know it's

heresy. So that'll be, that'll be fun. That'll be fun. I'm a big fan of the Kamacho's Kabayeros.

I keep telling Brent, he needs to read the three books that have them because they're so good. Um,

um, I, I let it slide. I let slide because of the sick or, uh, the black pants Legion commission

of the swayback. We're sorry that this go back shredding a guitar. Nice. Yeah, there's, uh,

it's gonna, it's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. The albatross is a super cool

mech and very distinctive. It has this long snoot, um, with the cockpit kind of in the middle

of said snoot. Uh, it kind of looks like the front of a ship kind of. Yeah, it does. Or if

not the front of a ship, I mean, it kind of looks like it has a beak. Well, like the old one at

least looks like it had a beak. Um, I'm excited to see how they glow it up because, did it have a

turret? I feel like it had a turret for some reason. Maybe I'm completely wrong, but

I'm, it was a weird, weird mech, but like, it's not a bad mech. I do want to point out with the

albatross. If you need an example of it, uh, earlier this year, the, uh, uh, Sarnathott net released

an article a part of their bad mech series on the albatross. And they have the art of the, uh,

the mech warrior, like, kind of, uh, hunched be like, on all fours behind, like a tiny albatross mech,

uh, art was done by Aldonius Rex. Uh, it's so silly. That art is, uh, funny. Uh, I, I, I was just

looking at that today, believe it or not. It is funny. They did that, though, because I don't really

consider the albatross to be a bad mech. Weird. I'll be it. Yes. But I definitely wouldn't say bad.

I always thought it was a, I always thought it was a pretty good mech. Uh, the only thing is, like, in

earlier, well, I would say the mid-range band of eras, it is mostly just free world's league

in mercenary. And I think, I think, uh, Blakeus also, um, get it. They have the variants of it in

later years. Um, so that's like my only problem with it is it is, it's kind of like you have to kind

of use it with a league box, which this admittedly with the grand titan, it kind of is, um, yeah,

which, uh, the amount of the, the, the Kamaachos Kabi eras, because you don't know, Brent,

they come from worlds in the free world's league. It's a Trinity, they're called, they're called

the Trinity worlds. And there's three worlds. And that's where they're from. Uh, this set makes

up a load of cents now, doesn't it? The Phoenix Hawk, uh, seven K is from when they served in

the draconis combine. They served there for a long time at, uh, under Uncle Chandie, uh,

because I'm not going to try to say his name right now, because I have to read it in order to

try to pronounce it properly. Um, I think the kids called them, uh, uh, call them Uncle now.

Yeah, probably Uncle, Uncle Chandie. Um, but yeah, so, um, and then the, the last one, what was it?

Oh, the hunchback. Um, yeah, it's just, I don't know, they just decided that was a good fit. So,

I know we didn't get another Phoenix, uh, sorry, good, true. I know we moved past the Albatross,

but I did want to point out that, uh, this machine, probably one of its biggest drawbacks,

is the fact that it has an XL engine and five tons of ammo on board.

Does it not have a case though? I thought it had case. It has case, but still, um,

I think those things get to go like a Roman candle when you do get hit. Um, I mean with,

well, with the new survivability role, uh, rules, you do only suffer a max of 10 damage to your

structure. Maybe your Albatross will still be standing, but I don't think you'd be in a good

good way at all. Yeah. Um, so here's the thing. I think that there are going to be some new

rules changes in the core book that I think will benefit the Albatross greatly. Yes. Well,

so we've seen from the playtest, definitely. We'll talk about that. Yeah. Which they are.

So, um, but yeah, okay. Um, I feel like we got to spend a little bit more time on the

great height and, uh, this thing is cool. The, the battle tech Optimus Prime. It really is.

And, uh, we do already have new from it from Big Red's, um, uh, video on it. They've released, um,

art, uh, that's updated of the Grand Titan. And it looks great. It does. The problem with the

Grand Titan is that it can't fire half of its weapons without overheating, spicy, spicy meatball.

Yeah. Well, you're not satisfied with 24 heat dissipation.

Um, I'm gonna say no. At a peak of 46. Yeah. Exactly. But it's cool because it's a, it's almost

like a free world league, uh, at least it takes the kitchen sink approach to a loadout, which is

just like we got a little bit of everything for any situation. And so, you know, with bracket firing

and, and it's super cheap. It's super. Yes. For what it is, uh, it's 13 on Mac. It's 1364 BV.

That's insane. Excuse me. It's 18. I was looking at BV1. It's 1817 BV, which is still super cheap

for 100 ton Mac. It does have a lot of old lasers. Yeah. But, uh, well, that's, that's the only reason

that it's that expensive is it has an XL engine and the pole sazers. So, um, but yes, it is

kind of the free world league atlas. Kind of like the Akuma is the trick on his combine atlas.

Absolutely. Yeah. I completely agree with this assessment. Yeah. I'm okay with, um, with each of them

having their own atlas. Kind of. So, um, but yes, uh, let's move on just a little bit. Before we

go too much further into the news, we didn't quite finish talking about the core products.

I just want to mention, and then we can talk about the rules changes later, the core rule book.

Okay. Because this is, um, this is probably the most controversial of the three items that were

announced for not, for in my opinion, not really good reasons. I mean, I, I, I mostly agree for sure.

Um, because I think that there was a lot of people freaking out about a new rule book, right?

Um, the, the intent and how I think it is panning out is that this core rule book is essentially

the battle mech manual with some added rules to make it a little more exciting than just

mechs because it is going to have the BSPs. It is going to have a few rules for, um, some other stuff,

but it's not going to have full rules for combined arms, but it will have some. It's a, um,

it's a more robust battle mech manual. Exactly. Exactly. Which I have wanted for a while,

personally, um, I, I, you know, I know there's some people that like, well, we're just playing

the battle mech manual today. And I'm like, but I want to play this and it's not in the battle mech manual.

This is going to include a lot more stuff. Um, there are some rules changes that we talked about

from the playtest. And we've talked about those play tests in the past on this podcast and on

the others. Uh, we've talked about the rules changes that were play tested. And a lot of them

are making it in one that specifically is not is the left and right torso, you know, change that

they talked about. Um, but we'll go, we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute,

but mostly people have been upset or excited about this. Nothing kind of in between. And if

they've been upset, it's been because they can, they feel like CGL is trying to bring a new edition

of battle tech. Um, and that it's going to change a bunch of the numbers and it's going to, um,

you know, just make it, you know, if you still want to play with total warfare, it's going to make

it obsolete. Um, to those people, I, I had, I had, you know, logical polite discussions about, you

know what, 95% of the rules are still the same. Uh, they specifically said they are trying to

make sure that all of the like tens of thousands of record sheets that are out there

are still completely viable. Yeah, the number, which was, it was a double digit number,

but a low double digit. Yeah. Of, I think your sheets affect 40 out of out of tens of, out of tens

of thousands of record sheets, only 40 needed some sort of tweaking, which is amazing considering

the amount of that they are adjusting. And I think they're adjusting them for, um, ease of play

in a way that, that isn't in any way like, um, I think we're moving anything from like older play,

like a lot of them are like, it's weird that this one table, um, it's actually better to roll like

low on instead of, uh, high, you know, and, you know, unlike every other, uh, table that we roll on.

Um, and so, uh, a lot of adjustments are things like that. Um, and then others are mostly,

there's not really any nerfs and it's mostly buffs to things that have been broken for a long time

that people have been informs begging people from CGL to fix. Well, it's not, it's not just that.

It's like some of them are, some of them are just clarifications of bad wording. So like,

in the past, a rule might have been written. And maybe it was written in two different editions,

like, you know, back in the day, which I pointed this out as well to some people back in the day,

and I, I say that as someone who played back in the day, I started playing in 1989. Okay, I am

that old. Um, we got a new rulebook every three years. And we pretty much all had to convert to

the new rulebook. There was not a lot of people that kept playing the old rulebooks, um, mostly

because when they added changes, they were quality of life changes. And I think there are some

quality of life changes in here, for sure. I think, yeah, I think any of the things that they

changed were quality of life. And some of them were older rules that were written poorly. And they

changed the wording to, to clarify them. There was also some that they, um, that maybe, you know,

there was a rule in one version. And then it got kind of expanded on in another version. And then,

you know, then you're having to roll like five PSRs in one turn.

You know, just for taking damage in the legs, like in a leg, right? And there, there's a lot of

things that are done. Maybe we don't have to roll five PSRs. Maybe we just have to roll two.

You know, it's like, right. Okay.

But some of them are like, I know, I know there's a lot of people

vehicle stacking disappearing. Um, but again, like, I don't think those were done, um, to

upsetting, they were done to simplify it for newer players, which is like, it's much easier to

understand, like, uh, one thing can be here instead of two. Um, and I would even say, like, it's,

it's more intuitive to know that like, oh, a bunch of infantry can be here. Um, but, um,

you don't understand Brent Hell's horses. This is in shambles. Um, well, another thing too,

is that, sorry, go ahead, Brent, I interrupt you. I was just going to, I was just going to say,

well, I mostly play Hexless. So really is an effect to me. Uh, there's no stacking rules.

True. Uh, in classic, in the miniature rules. Uh, well, so there's, I will briefly show this

change log document that they did put out. And there was a long list of things that are changing.

And basically this change log is this was in the battle mic manual and we're changing it or

this is being added to the rules that are in the battle mic manual or this is being removed

from the battle mic manual to create this core rulebook. It does not mean that, um, most of those

rules are going away. It does not mean, um, that they're not still playable. Um, because that,

you know, one of the things that is being removed is like full head ejection, right? Well,

there's not a lot of mechs that have full head ejection, but there's some. And so that's not going

away for purposes of the rules. Yeah. Um, like, like, ejecting is ejecting. Like, and if you want

that extra flavor, that's exactly what a book like in advanced rules book is for right.

An advanced rule books will have that. Um, and so that's the thing that I try to encourage

people that have had fears about it is to say, hey, these rules are not all going away. They're

just being removed from this core book. They're still going to have a tack ops style book. They're

going to have an urban warfare style book because skidding is being removed from this or at least

for mechs. I don't know if it's for vehicles or not, but skidding is being removed. And then,

but skidding is not, it's not like it's no longer a rule that can be used. It's just going to be

in one of those more advanced books. And end, I think something. Okay. Oh, go ahead.

I think something, I think something that the core rule book is trying to establish is like

a floor or foundation for catalyst to say, this is our baseline. And we're going to continue to

build off of this. Um, they've already stated that they're going to release the core rule book.

You have BSP vehicles in here, but not the full vehicle rules like you would in a time of

war, but they've also stated they are interested in making supplemental material later down the line

that will, uh, include an expanded rule set for those things. So you can play something

closer to a time of war. But if you want the time of work experience, don't play the core rule book

or play the core rule book and just reference a time of war when you want to play full rule

tankery. Yeah, no one's taking away your time of war book, right? Like, yeah, like all of those

books you have on your shelf, you could still, no one's going to stop you, you know, sure, maybe

league play might move on, but like you and your buds can still play total warfare. But to,

to specifically want to talk about what is Zeemer's point, which is, um, I think this is more

about organization and total warfare in my opinion is kind of a mess because the approach is

kitchen sink. You get everything here and it all works together. Um, and so, and then you buy

expansions based on the amount of rules you have where this new approach looks like they're taking.

It's like, what are you using in your game? Are you going to just use battle mechs? Well,

the or battle mechs and BSPs even then where you can just have the core rule book and then

this leaves them up, uh, this leaves them room to have things like, oh, here's a vehicle expansion

and this is just so, um, like maybe today you're only going to play battle mechs and vehicles. You

can just grab those two books and you, everything's going to be organized in like a much more

needer manner and like, like the way it is in a battle mech manner. Exactly. Or we're going to add

aerospace today. Well, let's, let's pull that book out. Um, and everything's going to be organized

in aerospace in a way that like makes sense. And so I really think that these changes are more

about that. They went ahead and we're like, let's, while we're updating all of this, let's do some

of the big rules changes we've wanted to do. But I think that's kind of supplemental to reorganizing

these so that, um, they're better for modern audiences who are used to rules, rule books,

acting and looking a certain way. Total worthers been out there for, they said today, 19 years,

which is a 19 or 19 still 19 because Randall wanted it to be an even 20, uh, just that you would

pay attention. Uh, but, uh, it was one away. So, uh, you know, 19's a long run for a rule book.

Yeah. Well, and even in those 19 years, they're, the thing about it too is a lot of people don't

understand or don't necessarily realize is that there is, there is a full 64 pages of erata for the

total warfare book. 64 four pages, not just 64 bits of erata. Um, and then on top of that too,

you know, you know, like I said, that that is a long run for a rule book. And even going from

total warfare to the core rule book, 95% of the rules are still going to be the same.

The math is still going to math the same. The numbers are still going to be the same for 95% of it.

Yes, you may, you know, have like a plus two instead of a plus one, or you may only have a

plus one and, you know, instead of that old plus two in certain areas, there might be a few things,

but it's mostly mechanics, not necessarily how everything maths together. So it's going to be,

it's going to be good. Um, but again, I think what Simmer said is right. This is the,

this is the foundation for what they're going to do in the future. So I just want to look something

up for quick comparison for my own amusement. Uh, you said 60 pages of erata. The ace's rule book,

you know, that rule book you get in garringsands now and eventually the next one, which we'll talk

about, but that rule book is less than 40 pages of reading. So you guys feels pretty sick of those.

Yeah. Yeah. You have one and a half of those. And this is just the erata. This is like, hey,

we kind of, we wanted to touch back on this back here. Uh, you know, that's just absurd. I wouldn't

want to go back and thumb through that. Yeah. I mean, like I said, I'm also at a point where

I'm trying to get friends to, to join me in this. And so I do appreciate some of the changes.

Also my kids who are preteen and teenagers. And so I'm trying to get them. And so some of these

real changes really benefits them. So for me, I'm excited about these changes. Um, I think that

it's going to be a great starting point for some of my friends who, you know, they, they like

getting into new games sometimes. And this is a good starting point for them without having to be like,

oh my gosh, like I have to like buy 40 year old, you know, stuff from 40 years ago just to get caught

up with what's going on. So. And also, like I, you hit something on the head there,

getting your kids on board, battle tech players are getting up there. Um, they have kids. They have,

you know, and like we need new battle tech players. Uh, if we want battle tech to keep going.

Right. Uh, like, and, uh, so it does battle tech, even though as it is, it's still pretty good.

It needs some modernization, which is what we've been seeing catalysts doing. Um, and not,

not necessarily modernization with the rules, but more of like presentations.

Yes. And that's a lot of this is. Yeah. The new boxes are a lot new presentation. I think

they're going to go over well. I'm excited to see how well the, the new starter box does as I can

onboarding. So, um, yeah. Um, one thing they did say, which was sad for a lot of people is that

all as they're releasing these new real books, they are not going to have spine art anymore.

So, I think for, I think for some people, that's a, that's an upside for others that's a downside.

Yeah. I know. Yeah. Um, because if you're only going to, especially with their, the idea that

I think they're going for here, if they go with the, we've got the aerospace book, we've got the

tank book, well, then you only want to buy the stuff that you need. If you're like, I'm never

going to play aerospace, then you don't need to buy that book. And so you don't want to have to

try and fit like all the spines together. And so, you know, it kind of,

because there are some people that want them just for that. Absolutely completionists. I don't know

if I'm outside of that category. I'm going to have all of it. But, um, you know, I, I think that

the people that are just going to want to buy a few are going to be thankful that, um, they don't

have to ignore that they don't have all the spine art. Yeah. I know I myself, I do not display my books

because I do not have all of them. And it would just tickle me in the wrong way. If, you know,

I had the partial lineup just on there. Uh, uh, yeah. Um, real quick before we move on,

if you want to look at the core rule changes that they are making, uh, in preparation for this book,

it's not like every change is like a sentence. It's not even a full explanation of how they're changing.

But you can go down on the pdf log. It is a change. It feels like, and if you work in any kind of

corporate industry, you may have used a change log before. And so that's why I was trying to say,

like these, this is not like a hundred new rules or a hundred rules that are changed. It's just

a list of some of the new rules, some of the ones that are taking out of this book that are still

viable and some of that they're putting in to make it a more complete package. So, uh, but you can

go download it. Uh, it is on, uh, both it's linked on, on, uh, boutique.com. Under the core products,

but we'll have a link to it. And, um, you know, if you're looking at the, the YouTube video I'm showing

you here, it has really great developers notes by Keith on about the decisions that were made.

And so I definitely encourage you to go give that a read. Uh, it has information on the play

testing, what they did for that. The survivability, the mobility, the gears, the missions,

in the battlefield support aerospace tests that they did. Um, and then he gives like a full,

you know, half page or more on each one. And, um, which is also some great artwork in this too,

by the way. But it breaks, it breaks down all the different things that they're, like I said,

the change log of things that they're doing. And you like I said, there's a fair amount,

but it's not crazy. And like I said, it's also, it's also not something that is going to change

the way we play battle tech really at the end of the day. We, we are going to continue to play

battle tech. And some of us will use these rules, whether they're in, in the core book or not. So

yeah, hex door, hex list will play battle tech the way we want to. That's right. And that is one

of the things that battle tech has going for it. So, you know, battle tech as a miniature war game

is often more ran like an RPG. In that, there are so many homebrew rules, so many different ways

that tables play. Um, that, that it's okay. It's okay to, um, play from the, you know, master rules book

from 2001. So, uh, we've got a, uh, guest on the show. Uh, yes.

I think this is the longest I've seen her let you hold her.

She, she, uh, at late at night, she's like, begs for attention. And, uh, she was going to start chewing

on my computer cables. Oh, yeah, I didn't pick it up. So, uh, yeah, so I was just gonna,

you're just going to be an extra special guest. This is absolutely, um, well, you know what,

let's talk about a whole bunch of the other, um, announcements that were made at adepticon. Uh,

let's start with aces because some people were waiting for that, because there's two bits of news

for aces. One, they did confirm that they will have a PDF, uh, of the aces rules at some point.

They didn't give us timeline, but, uh, and then most of what they talked about was aces snow blind,

which is the box set that I am most looking forward to because ghost bear are going to go spare.

Um, and what are the next that's ever?

Yes, they are. I, let me double check. I know earlier, I read them out of order. Do we have an

order for, oh, no, we don't have the, uh, the official lineup yet. This has only been leaks,

correct? This first no blind. No, we've got no, we know, we know. Yeah. Okay. I, I can

blur it out the names. I just don't know. Well, then anyway, we do have it in the, in the document.

So if you want to read it there or brain can read it. Sorry. I've got it here. I got it. I got it.

Uh, so we got the fire moth. This is going to be in the G configuration. We have the Arctic Cheetah A,

uh, the Riemutter Prime, Mongrel A, Novacat B, Kingfisher C, Grizzly 3, and the Viking 2C.

Uh, we have some new mechs coming in this box. Uh, but most of these are going to be variants of

models that we already have. Yeah. We've already had fire moths, Arctic Cheetah, the Mongrel, Novacat,

Kingfisher, Grizzly, but these are just alternate poses and configurations. So it's great to see.

This is also very flavorful for the section of the space this ace's campaign is going to be taking

place in. Yeah. The, the Riemutter and the Viking 2C are the two new mechs in here. I am super

excited for the Riemutter and I know that brand is super excited for the Viking 2C. Uh, he was

excited. His medal in earlier. It's true. I, uh, I love the Viking 2C is a, uh, extremely annoying mech

to face on the tabletop and I don't recommend, uh, putting it against friends you want to keep

outside of a campaign setting. Uh, but it is a super cool mech and they really, uh, made it look

awesome. Uh, but the Riemutter also pretty cool. And it's a mech we haven't had in any medium

previously. We came out of the wreck guides. So the Riemutter is the baby Grizzly and it has

a, it is an art. Yes, it is an, an Omni Grizzly, but as it is the, it looks like a baby Grizzly

and it has two large pulse and an LRM 10 with Artemis for its prime configuration.

It, it does have a speed like it goes 5, 8, 10 because it has a mask. It's a 55 10 mech, by the way.

So, uh, that is not something to seize at, by the way. It's, it's made by Yotenworks, uh, and it,

and it also is kind of the younger brother to the mastodon, which is another excellent.

The mastodon is the, is the big boy Grizzly.

Um, literally the history of them is that they are, they were both inspired by the Grizzly,

they were both, um, kind of in the, in the Grizzly family. Uh, let's see, the mastodon is,

is also pretty crazy. I have to say it's, yeah, the mastodon is an incredible looking mech.

That's one of the first pewter minis I actually ended up picking up.

Oh nice. Kind of have to have it. It looks good then. Yeah, I need it. Uh, but that it has,

the prime configuration of it has two streak LRM 20s and two ERPPCs with capacitors,

which if you don't know the capacitor is, it's a way for you to charge up your PPC one turn

and get an extra five points of damage. Uh, which makes those, um, AC 20s that can go the same

distance as an ERPPC. Yes. Uh, PPC 20. Uh, yeah. So that's crazy.

Um, but yeah, I think that both of them, now here's what I think is cool. We now have three

Grizzly mechs. Okay. We have the Grizzly, the Rhyme Otter and the mastodon.

We could pit them against the three crabs, the hermit crab, the crab, and the king crab.

Um, but we don't have a hermit crab model yet. And that was something that was

asked that's true on the stream. Uh, I think the specific question was what war crimes do I have

to come in or to get a hermit crab? And we did not get a straight answer. We didn't know.

I guess we're just going to have to go through the checklist. No, absolutely. Um, but yeah,

so that those, so the mastodon is not part of that. But the, the snow blind mechs very excited

about it. They did playtest snow blind on stream today. So go check out that VOD. Um, it,

when you call the playtest, they were demoing what they've all tested. This is all tried and true.

Absolutely. It was a demo. Um, they have, uh, snow hills or snails, as we like to call them,

right, Zimmer? I do not like to call that. I did. I said, I said it. They said snow hills and I

in chat said, snills. Okay. And Zimmer in chat was like, do not call it snills. And then

Zimmer, you may have been gone, but somebody else said it later. And I was like, yes, it lives.

Um, it was a few people at the point where I didn't realize you started this.

I did. I did. Um, I mean, you know, it's not a big shame to say anything, but, but I will say they,

they look incredible in that they made them to stack a little easier. They also made them to

fit together to make one big plateau. If you want also in aces is they are including

hunch card walls. That looks awesome. And I would argue the panels and solar panels and

buildings. They had some big buildings. I think that those walls, they should have come with the

Essentials box. Because Essentials box is that Solaris map that has nothing but these walls,

and you're supposed to pretend that they're there. It would have been awesome to have

actual walls. You could put out there. Um, I, I imagine the price point was what made that

prohibited. Um, sure. Like you know, like your kid could point out in the board game section and

then be like, it's 20, 20 bucks fine. We'll throw it in the cart. But that's my presumption,

but I agree it would have been cool to have Seattle's for that map. That map was Steiner's

Stadium, I believe it was. It was actually a smaller version of Steiner Stadium. And I know

that because I have the full version of Steiner's. I have the full version of Steiner Stadium over

here. Uh, because you can still buy from fan pro's website, the Solaris map pack for retail price

and get like 15 maps with, uh, special Solaris rules and everything. Um, yeah, not gonna lie.

It's like 25 or 30 bucks. Yeah. Still, you can get out other places too, but I just

surprisingly, you can still get, they still have that much stock of it. It's amazing. Yeah.

They are, there's also, uh, card stock units in there and they, they announced some of them.

Yes. Uh, and it's a good little lineup. So it'll be cool to see these used in the campaign

potentially. There's mantis for debts, LRM carriers, SRM carriers, long toms and elementals

as well as pirate motorized infantry. And so they also learn from these, they're on snowmobiles,

which is cool. We also learned that they were going to be, uh, Zeemer helped me out here,

but I think they were like tokens that are going to have civilians on them.

Oh, they mentioned two inch area tokens. So it's going to be the same sizes like you would use

for marking your, um, uh, for artillery strikes and alpha strike, just two inch area. Um, on one

side, you're going to have like passive or neutral, uh, civilians. I forget the exact terminology,

but on one side, they're passive on the other side, they're frenzied. And they explain like,

there's going to be a mechanic in some missions where like if the, uh, if the people get frenzied,

like they'll start messing with your matkirk gang in your way. So it, it sounds like a fun mechanic,

they're going to play with. Yeah. Because the whole point of snowblind is you are a mercenary company

contracted for like security during the Russell Hague Civil War. So yeah, uh, there's, uh,

it sounds like good fun. In the demo, there is a pirate who pilots the, the kingfisher,

the kingfisher. Yeah. That looks cool. So, um, yeah, but still,

I'm sure Charlie agree with the kingfisher variant. Absolutely. I love the kingfisher.

You only say that because it's got a year of PPCs. Uh, but yeah, snowblind is set to release again

in that same window of late summer early fall. Uh, we were speculating earlier that if they're

going to launch the core books at Jincon, would they, would they also release aces snowblind or would

they try to have it just before or just after to not compete with it? You tell us in the comments.

Okay. We want to know what you think. Anything else about aces? The art thing. I,

the, the, the, the box art looks awesome. I haven't seen much of it because I didn't get to, uh,

I missed that part. But yeah, I heard it. It was incredible. The rhyme order is a front and center.

And, uh, I tried to be slick and, uh, uploaded in this side chat for you, but now it's going to take

a second and now, uh, but so front and center, there's a rhyme order. Um, and it, uh, it, it's like

firing over a crowd of very riled up protesters. Um, and then behind it underneath its legs is a

Novacat B, um, letting loose. It's just absurd amount of, uh, LRM fire. And then, uh, here we go.

Now you should be able to see it. Um, and then we've got a mislinks to the left and then that

Kingfisher Charlie config is, uh, directly to the right. And then the Viking 2C is on a platform

just also releasing absurd amounts of LRM fire at, um, who knows what, and they're taking a, uh,

a good amount of LRM fire in return. Um, it's a great composition like the blues with the like, um,

the fire from the LRMs and the, uh, laser from the rhyme order. Uh, it looks, it just looked great. Um,

and it's just cool that they picked the rhyme at the rhyme order out of all of those mechs in the

box. They picked the rhyme order as kind of the hero in the front. Um, and, uh, I just think it's kind of

neat. I really like looking at this art, despite like all the action going on, it feels cold.

Yes. I, I like the, the dude in front, honestly, like the, uh, the alpha strike cooperative

campaign right there. It almost feels like that's his like, breath cloud. Yes. It does. I'm sure

that's just coincidence, but I don't know. No, it looks fantastic. I'm showing it on there.

I'm sure scouring fans had the same thing, but showing it on there now. So yeah, it looks,

it looks good. So, uh, yeah, it feels cold. Uh, that, that's great. Well, it should,

it should feel cold. It's, it's snow. It's snow. It's snow. Uh, yeah, no, I do like it. It looks

incredible. Rhyme water looks great. The kingfisher and the Viking to see in the background.

And the Arctic cheetah. And then even your missile boat Nova cat over there.

Which is crazy. I like how Nova cats, but the Nova cat bees is, is very good as well.

Yeah. So, um, awesome. Well, that's it. I was good. I was gonna finally add with a snow blind.

They're also adding, they were able to fit in the budget. They made a mistake with scouring

sands. They have missed. Yes. Uh, they forgot to add BSP cards for the Fulcrum hover tank.

And they did too. So it's going to be included in snow blind. So if you get snow blind,

you get the BSP cards. Thank God. Um, because I definitely want to use this Fulcrum elsewhere.

Yeah. Just nightmares to deal with. Yeah. And yeah. Also, I'm not too upset. I feel like if you're

getting scouring sands and you love scouring sands, you're going to get snow blind. So I agree.

Yeah. I think that's, I think that's pretty good. Um, okay. So that is aces looking forward

to that. Same timeline as everything else. Uh, they, somebody did ask in chat if we, we're going

to see an update to the alpha stripe box anytime. And they said 18 to 24 months for a possible

new aces box. Um, so that's two years away. Yeah. I, I think that's fair. Honestly, I don't think

we need a new one any sooner than that. No. In fact, I, that may, to me, that's even a little

soon. Like we've got other things that I want to see first. Now I think in all those things done,

awesome. Bring it out. Um, they did also announce that the MUL 2.0. They are hoping to get out

mid delayed summer. Um, and they did make, uh, they mentioned BSPs. This was asked

about the stream. Yep. Uh, BSPs are okay. I couldn't remember. I wasn't paying. That one was

my paying that close attention. All right. You get all the crap, my guy. Um, so BSPs will be coming

to MUL 2.0. But possibly not at launch. Uh, maybe sometime after summer. So I think in order to

see them be start to really be used by classic players, it's going to have to be, you're going to

have to be able to go and find it just like you can in the Alpha Strike card or record sheet

and print it off. Because otherwise, then you're only limited to like the 30 or 40 units that they,

we have access to right now. So totally. Yeah. For sure. So looking forward to that. Um,

um, they did say, um, kind of mentioned, forgot to mention this earlier, but they did say they

would have a final printing of total warfare and tech manual, uh, still, uh, there'd be one more, at

least, um, for the tech manual and time of war. Yeah. Uh, or at least that's what he said at the time,

or it was in the same conversation. So, um, it was, I took it as such.

All right. Uh, it was also mentioned that there is possibly going to be a continuation of print

on demand for older books as well. Oh, nice. That's good. So that's nice. Uh, also, uh, weapons

free. The third book in the battle core series is back in print or going to be back in print. Um,

which is awesome for a lot of people. That was one of the ones that was really hard to find

those battle core stories. Um, also go ahead. Speaking of, uh, on fiction, the starter box and

core box are both going to have new fiction in them. Oh, good. They should. I mean, it's ill-claim

there. So yeah. Yeah. All right. Um, I wonder, uh, just thinking how loud, uh, the old

fiction, I, I did like those little excerpts from them. Uh, will those be carried over somehow,

digitally? We don't have the answer for these, but yeah. I don't know that they don't just

to preserve them. Uh, they may be out there in digital. I don't know. Um, I know sometimes they

have them like some of the box content in digital, but they only provide it to like demo agents or

something. So, you know, maybe they'll put it out there at some point if it's not. Uh, more

fiction news, uh, words of reading is still in the works. No, nothing new about that, but that was

just a question. Silent Reapers book is supposed to drop on Friday. I don't know. That's the name of it,

but it's about the Silent Reapers, at least. Uh, so we're supposed to get a new fiction tomorrow.

They're probably the day this comes out episode. Um, they also are going to continue working on. Uh,

they, they said that they, they still have bleakest era novels in the works. Okay. And also, uh,

Randall's Novaket book is finally starting to come around. Uh, so very excited about that.

Obviously. Yes. Um, absolutely. As you would be. And by Novaket, I mean clan protector it,

because it is in the ill clan era. Yeah. Nice. Absolutely.

Additionally, since we're going through the fiction still, um, there was a slight update given to

the graphic novel like the first two pages are produced and, um, it's looking good. It's just

going to take a long time. Uh, I know from experience that, uh, the graphic medium,

such as that could take a heck of a long time. So the, the fact they are getting pages out, uh,

is good. I don't think they gave any kind of timeframe for when that's going to finish though.

They did reconfirm that they are in color. Oh, yes, that's good. Yeah. That's nice.

Um, they also talked about, there is still planned, but obviously pushed back.

The medium cart. I know. The medium crunch, McHoyer RPG is still planned, just got pushed.

Like a lot of things did because of the development of these new core products.

Um, they actually started them about 10 months ago, I think they said.

So I guess that gives some explanation now that we know of some of the delay. I don't think

it's a good excuse for some of it, like the fiction or audiobooks that were being worked on already.

But, um, but yeah, now, you know, obviously Brent and I as big, uh, big RPG fans and Zimmers,

big RPG fans too, but I know we're all waiting for that. Um, waiting for my Goldilocks,

RPG battle to campaign. If they take too long, I'll just write it for them.

I mean, fair enough. Fair enough. That's what Shrapnel's for my guy. That's right. You're submission in.

Any other things you guys can think of that we missed from announcements today for

adepticon or what not. Also too, if you've made it this far, we are almost at two hours. Thank you.

Please, please, uh, let us know if there's things that we missed or what you're most excited about.

So anything else you guys have?

Oh, great answer. My question. I asked, did he think the crabmini would taste better dipped in butter?

Nice. I never got an answer. Oh, that's shame.

Roon my day.

That is a shame. Um, there is, uh, oh, there is something. There was a comment apparently

in the future, it is possible. Battlemix are able to carry battle armor in the future.

Oh, interesting. Oh, interesting. Like a little baby. Like carry like this.

No, I assume in the same manner. That, uh, that beautiful, glorious, uh, clan OmniMex, uh, do. But, uh,

um, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, uh, OmniMex as well. Of course. Yes. Um,

well, there's fear OmniMex have always been able to carry battle armor, right? Yeah, that's

what I think he's saying. Like, just any Omni can do it. Yeah, I, I do remember there is a brief

discussion about like, you know, hey, what's the real difference between an Omni and a battle

mech? Cause like, we're not like managing loadouts in campaign games, like, unless you're doing that,

what's the difference? Uh, yeah. Um, I think it's a valid thing to bring up, but like, I think

it really comes out to like play campaigns. My guy, the difference between the Omni and

battle mech becomes very apparent. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And I think that they really

are finally encouraging campaigns. Not, yes. I mean, in both classic and alpha strike, because

obviously, aces has a huge implications for campaigns for alpha strike, which honestly weren't

really pushed before aces. Um, that was kind of an afterthought for, for that. Um,

but with the mercenary box at Hunterlands, and then what's the next one that's coming out?

The next book is like, it's the Korean one thing talked about it today. Um, and it is just,

yeah, not coming to mind. But yeah, the next quadrant of the inner sphere book that's coming

out, um, it's not Dominion's divided. It's, it's in that area, area, though. Yeah.

It is the area of the reason why I'm thinking, remember it, because, yeah, I'd have read that

somewhere. Anyway, but those books and, and that box have really pushed narrative play again

for classic, because it gave, in my opinion, a better way to play campaigns than chaos campaigns.

And not that you can't do chaos campaigns, but, um, like the, the mercenary system is just more

refined and moves faster. And I love it. I mean, the mercenary system, I would argue, is a refined

version of chaos campaign, but, but in, made to work even more so, uh, like, uh, kind of classic

campaign operations, but on this front, they said that the mech commander handbook, which is,

I'm going to be kind of the culmination of this from my understanding anyway, um, is still being

worked on, which I'm also very excited for that book. Um, I wish I had it right now for the campaign.

Oh, I don't currently running. So that would probably be, I mean, that probably won't be till

2027, because we'll have to wait to get the other two books, uh, from that series or three books

if they do ill clan eyes only. Um, but one thing they did say is that in hinterlands and the

mercenary box set, I think there are rules for infantry, probably BSP infantry. Um,

to basically that you get like a bunker of infantry or barracks, excuse me, not bunker,

a barracks of infantry. So instead of just being like, oh, yes, I have one squad of infantry.

Oh, if they all died, I got to go find another squad. It's more like when you're running the

campaign, you get a barracks of infantry and you may get like three squads or you kind of

refill and take one out at a time. Um, but they said that if you were to, there's a system in place

that if you were to take a bunch of infantry, maybe it would, there'd be penalties for trying to

replace them all if you lost them also. Yeah. So the rules for barracks are actually in hot spots

hinterlands. Yeah. It was never mentioned in scouring sands and they were making the comment like,

they didn't see a lot of people taking it because like that gets really expensive real quick.

Uh, if you take those out because infantry are oftentimes squishy. Me and Brent had this case,

like one of the first units we lost in our scouring sands campaign was a squad of battle armor,

which we're like, all right, cool. We're like two missions in and now we lost the dude forever.

We're just not going to buy him back because this is too expensive. And I believe, and so don't

hold me to this one, but I remember somewhere that when you know an alpha strike when infantry go down,

it's not like a total wipe. It's that they become to combat and effective. So they've removed

themselves from the board because they're no longer like able to fight. So it's not even when you

lose infantry in alpha, it's not like you've lost an entire platoon of dudes. Right.

They just hit that combat and effective status and then they are nullified. Exactly.

So I think that between, you know, kind of averaging those two concepts,

I think it makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Being able to do that.

Yeah, I can't remember the exact barracks rules, but it does say like you could take a

stand of miniatures per mission. It doesn't affect the barracks. You could take multiple,

but you run the risk of exhausting your barracks if those dudes go down. But as long as you're

only taking like that one squad every time, even if they get wiped each mission, you're just paying

the repair costs to replace those that went down. Yeah.

I do have one last, I should have said this during the rule thing, but I'm very excited.

A lot of the rules, and this is something we didn't hit, a lot of the rules are going to be

as far as changes go, our changes based off of what people have been playing.

You know, I think floating crit is one of those that's being put in there because

it's so commonly used. They switched some of them from optional to default,

believing what used to be the default as an optional rule.

As an optional, which I think is, you know, completely fine. One I'm really excited about is

their front loading initiative. And this is something that my play group, like basically for classic

and alpha strike, is just we mandatory do it. It's just always for one, I think it's easier.

Conceptionally understand like who should go when and I think it's fairer.

Which I think there was a cool, that's one of the, it was an option. Now it's default.

And the other way is the optional. Because there are some ways I've seen and I've seen

argued pretty logically that like, if you've got one side of the board that has like double

the amount of units that the other side has, then it's not quite as great.

There was a cool, that it's like why I'm on Reddit.

And they like, they like literally mapped out when it kind of becomes unfair. And the best thing

is to do kind of a like a ping pong initiative where like you switch between the two based on

the situation I think, but overall, but the less complicated one that was where was the front

loaded initiative. No, I mean, I'm fine with it at the end of the day, you know, kind of thing.

It is what it is for me. Like literally you're not going to have one side that has 10 units and

one side that has three units, you know, or five units. Unless you're doing something campaign-wise

or you're just having a bit of fun. And in that case, you know, who cares?

Clearly, the solution to this is to get a whiteboard in every unit. It rolls initiative individually

and you write down their names on the whiteboard. Now you just added two hours to your play session.

No, absolutely. Funny enough, for a campaign I'm running, I am considering adding a stat,

which will act as their initiative position, not unlike X-Way.

If any, I know you guys have played, but I don't have your listeners, which I think is an

interesting thing for, yes, surely. And for campaign play, I think, I don't know how well it would

work in a regular game, but I've always thought that would be a fun thing to play with in

battle tech. I have the battle tech initiative deck and I've never used it. I've got to use it

at some point. So I used to use the initiative deck all the time.

I would say, literally, it was just for initiative. Like, hey,

he didn't do any extra stuff. No, okay. I heard that the extra stuff can be a little broken.

Probably. Some of them look broken, for sure. I haven't, like, said, I've never used it. So

mostly I got it because I wanted the battle tech playing cards.

Yeah, it's fun for that. I mean, that's essentially what I got it for.

A battle tech theme playing card deck. So I have heard that if you have a lot of people playing,

like that are on individual initiative, right? Like, so if you have like three or four individual

factions, like at the table playing, the cards can absolutely be a much faster way than rolling

and figuring all that out. I can see that. That's exactly what I used it for. Like, hey,

we got four groups on the on the map. I'm going to pull out just the first four cards of the deck.

Everybody's going to draw a random card. That's how I did initiative for the longest time at the

local game store because it was a lot easier to do than like, okay, roll your dice. No, just

pull a card. Yeah. And especially like a Solaris match for everyone. It just has one mech, but

they're all separate initiative roles. Like, yeah, yeah, I think that could be really good.

Hopefully they come out with a new one. And this time it has the ill-clan factions on it.

That would be pretty sick. That would be awesome. That would be awesome. I have

graduated making my own with alternate variants of said art logos or something. So

just because and not necessarily not necessarily to use as the initiative deck, but just to have like

biotech playing cards. All right. Well, is there any final things for a debt to con 2026

announcements or core products? These were the final things. These were the final things.

I'm just giving you one more chance, which you know, I'm just a nice guy like that. Okay,

shout-outs. Hi, shout-outs to Reindupe. Good. You go ahead. I'm on the piecast. I'm good to

shout out myself. Let's do it. Shout it out. Yeah, the Valhalla Club. If you haven't heard of us,

please do come check out the podcast. We have a few episodes. We've not too long ago. We were

talking with Bren about Aerospace. So if you want to learn about China incorporating that into your

Alpha Strike game before the new Aerospace rules for Classic come out, give it a look. I'd say try it.

Yeah, absolutely. Bren? You know, I'm obviously from of Mix and Men. I want to shout out my two

co-hosts. First and foremost, Cain and Aaron. And if you have, if you're living under a rock and you

haven't heard of us, we're of Mix and Men. We're a lower podcast and we go into excruciating detail.

Chapters at a time, we dissect the battle tech books. Starting with the Great Ethelogen books and

we're just carrying on. I also want to shout out Randall Bills, my hero. Thank you. As it was quoted,

I guess early in the stream, but I missed it somehow. The Novakats have returned and I'm just

very happy about that. We just got to get Randall published. That's right. Yeah.

And by extension, I should shout out Merwin, who was in the livestream today in the chat.

And who is a fellow Novakats, who has been also helping me pester Randall over the years.

So thank you, Merwin. Yeah, absolutely. So the Jaguars came back. The Novakats came back.

When am I getting calm start back? So I don't have all these white minisling around.

Yeah, right. It's sad times, sad times. Nobody wants these word of Blake anymore. We just want our

calm start back. Hey, I bet you could play those calm star mix as some weirdos on the periphery

hiding out from a not so long ago war. I think you could get away with it.

Probably. Yeah. You know, they have to get to your table somewhere. It's your table. So

play what you want. Awesome. Well, for me,

huge shout out to the show sponsor fortress miniatures and games.

Definitely check them out if you do not have a local game store to go to. They not only have

battle tech, but they also have other things. Other game systems like Halo Flashpoint. I think

they're even going to get the Starcraft miniatures game. So you know, something to check out.

Also shout out to Brent and Zimmer for coming on and hanging out and chatting all this stuff

super late because yeah, it's like 1.19 a.m. for me. So which means it's 2.19 for Zimmer.

But you know what? How do you open up the podcast, my guy? Where are you now?

Where are you? Exactly. But you know what? We suffer to bring

you the players and battle tech fans glorious content. So you might be suffering. I'm enjoying every

moment talking about my favorite game. Well, that's true. I'm only going to suffer tomorrow when

I have to wake up early. So all right. Well, thank you all for joining us. If you again made it this

long, your legend, let us know in the chat. If you did make it to this last moment,

give us a word, Brent, for them to put in chat. I'm a granite. I'm a granite. There it is.

All right. Good night and God bless everybody.

That's how we know how to win the stop.