BattleTech: Mercenaries – CGL does a shipping booboo? Internet rages!

[limburger 22419xp 1]

I wonder who will get the first update … Battletech of Voltron ?

[grantinvanman 9590xp 1]

Mercenaries is now up for pre-order at my localish shop, so I’ve put down for about 10 or 11 things, including a big Timberwolf. Mostly vehicles and the fancy boxed set. As usual, I have zero clue what I need.

[limburger 22419xp 1]

I thought the big mech would be a kickstarter exclusive ?

Unless the store got a retail pledge.
OTOH given how CGL has been handling things I can understand stores wanting to do a firesale for the franchise. There’s no way there incompetence doesn’t affect their dealings with 3rd party stores as well.

I didn’t have a clue what to pick for my pledge either. I think I got ‘one of everything’ for the Mercs, rules and the two drop ships, because who doesn’t like big shiny things ?

I have no clue what will arrive (or when for that matter).
And then there’s this salvage box thing, which CGL messed up during the kickstarter as well.  No clue what that’s going to be like. Probably a lot of useless units and duplicates. I’m not having high hopes for that bit.

Christmas is here … and as predicted no updates.

[grantinvanman 9590xp 0]

What are “salvage boxes”? Are they random boxes of a type? I avoided them thinking they might be that.

 

[dawfydd 12656xp 1]

Yeah, blind boxes for the most part – those branded as Clan Invasion, Legendary Mechwarriors, Mercenaries, Battlefield Support and Legendary Mechwarriors II & III contain a random ‘mech from the respective campaign or two vehicles for the Battlefield Support. If you see ones marked as Urbanmech, Shilone Aerospace Fighter, Visigoth Aerospace Fighter or Blood Asp then that is what the box contains.

They’re honestly fun to open though. Some places run specific events based on opening a set number of Salvage Boxes per participant (price included in entry fee) and then running whatever you pull.

[sundancer 44337xp 1]

I had The Black Widow in a blind box in the CI box. Was nice.

Still waiting for Mercs.

[grantinvanman 9590xp 0]

Oh cool, that would be a fun tourney format.

 

[dawfydd 12656xp 1]

I think I ended up duplicating all of the Legendary Mechwarriors from my Clan Invasion rewards, and then the main Salvage boxes gave me a really nice spread across the range

[limburger 22419xp 0]

@grantinvanman I’d avoid them myself as well, because I don’t like randomness when paying for things with money.
Kinder eggs are the only exception, but then that’s because those always have chocolate and the ‘surprise’ is guaranteed to be crap anyway.

@dawfydd I’d assume that the mechs in the salvage boxes come unpainted.
So at best you’re getting a unique unit card, right ?

Are the profiles for these units in the rulebook somewhere ?

[dawfydd 12656xp 1]

Nah @limburger, the minis come with the same Alpha Strike & Pilot cards that come in the standard release of the mech (be it boxed set or Lance/Star pack). Record sheets CGL sell in packs (I have a bunch from the last KS) which you can photocopy, and they have several packs of them for the various boxed releases available as free downloads here. Most of the Technical Readouts also include Record Sheets at the back of the book of all the featured variants you can either photocopy or print out depending on if you have the physical or digital versions. There are also unofficial resources – I make use of Flechs which lets you search & print from all currently available variants of a chassis. The Master Unit List (MUL) is the official resource for print & play Alpha Strike cards, but the site is due to be updated to 2.0 and I’ve heard some more recent variants have not been uploaded to it.

[grantinvanman 9590xp 0]

@dawfydd – thanks for the clarification, and the links! Great resources.

[dawfydd 12656xp 1]

No worries.
And if it helps anyone here is a link to my Battletech resource folder on Dropbox 🙂
Fill ya boots!

[grantinvanman 9590xp 1]

So this what I have on upcoming hold from my localish shop:

[tankkommander 6455xp 1]

What are they charging for the 100mm timber wolf? I have seen them selling on eBay for £60. I was going to flip mine but ended up painting it. The rest of my Mercs KS stuff is sitting unopened.

Given the lacklustre Voltron KS i’ll put a bet on that CGL rush out the FrostPunk RPG KS to fill the coffers.

Maybe they can keep getting in enough new backers to keep the wolf from the door for a bit longer? The more unfinished projects they have, and the more unhappy backers they leave in their wake, the more toxic the company reputation will become.

[grantinvanman]

@tankkommander $60 Canadian – so the eBay prices are inflated by almost double.

They were supposed to be exclusive, or whatever, but obviously not; same with the boxed set – the one I’m getting is the “exclusive”.

I will be painting mine, not flipping it. I think my localish shop shows 3 coming for the pre-order.

I don’t think for all the aggravation this KS would have been worth it. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have gone down nostalgia row without this thread, causing me to jump headfirst into Battletech 🤣

 

Also I agree with the near-ponzi scheme level of one KS funding the prior one that seems to be happening. CGL needs to kick the KS addiction and operate like a normal business, or you’re right: this will catch up to them.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by grantinvanman. Reason: Add

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