A little while ago, Tex suggested that I reach out to a group of BattleTech players in a faraway place doing some pretty amazing things under pretty difficult circumstances. Despite having no local distributor, Ukraine has a small but thriving BattleTech community, and they won’t let a little thing like an invading foreign power keep […]
Read More →Category Archives: Interviews
Community Outreach – Locust Labs And Creating The Hunchback For Tex Talks BattleTech
Welcome back to Community Outreach, where we sit down to chat with the movers and shakers in the BattleTech universe. With the release of Tex Talks BattleTech: The Hunchback, we thought it’d be a good idea to speak to one of the artists featured in the documentary. Locust Labs created many of the 3D models […]
Read More →Your BattleTech News Round-Up For July, 2023
July is not traditionally a particularly busy month for BattleTech, with Gen Con usually taking up all the oxygen until August. However, we seem to have gotten a blockbuster month for BattleTech news, so I won’t waste time. We got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s hop to it! New BattleTech Products From […]
Read More →Your BattleTech News Roundup For April, 2023
April fools! Your prank came at the end of the month instead of the beginning. Tricksy, eh? But seriously, I’ve never understood the appeal of April Fool’s Day. Maybe that’s because I have a lot of news to write and dealing in anything but facts just makes my job harder. These days, truth is often […]
Read More →Bad ‘Mechs – Fireball
Private Ensha heard the growling tone of his Fireball’s Streak SRM launcher as it locked onto the Toad leaping from cover. Secure in the knowledge that the missile’s homing seeker would find its target no matter what the Toad did, he pulled the trigger and sent two contrails spiraling into the flying battle armor. As […]
Read More →Your BattleTech News Roundup For July 2022
Where British Columbia and Europe both suffer record high temperatures, it’s been uncharacteristically cool in Southern Ontario, and I feel like I’m being cheated out of my hot-hot summer. I haven’t needed to turn on the air conditioning, and I’ve even been writing these articles in sweatpants when I should be down to my skivvies. […]
Read More →Community Outreach – Gaming Jay And His Crescent Hawk’s Style Remake
Welcome back to Community Outreach, the ongoing series where Sarna reaches out to the BattleTech community to see what makes it such a vibrant and evolving place. Last month, I found out about Gaming Jay’s personal project to remake The Crescent Hawks’ games for modern audiences, so I decided to sit down with Gaming Jay […]
Read More →Community Outreach – Ben “Bishop Steiner” Myers, Concept Artist For Catalyst Game Labs
Before we close out the year, I’d like to share this interview with artist Ben Myers, one of the concept artists working with Catalyst on the newly designed models for the Clan Invasion Kickstarters and recent resculpts. Instrumental in redesigning some of the best bad ‘Mechs, including the Assassin, the Sentinel, and the iconic UrbanMech, […]
Read More →Community Outreach – Mark Nicholson, 3D Artist At MechWarrior Online Developer PGI
Welcome back to another edition of Community Outreach. This week, Sarna sat down to talk to Mark Nicholson, 3D artist at PGI, and one of the architects turning ‘Mechs from mere ink on a page (or pixels in a digital image) into an actual moving, stomping, Autocannon-blasting giant robot. Mark has been talking about his […]
Read More →Your BattleTech News Roundup For August, 2021
No jokes, no quips, no higgeltybips. We’re jumping straight to the straight facts today because there’s a load of BattleTech news this month and it ain’t gonna get spoon-fed to your eye holes with flowery language about summer rains. Besides, we got some big news to start us off. Clan Invasion Wave 2 Shipping Has […]
Read More →Sarna Interviews Ray Arrastia, BattleTech Line Developer At Catalyst Games
A little while ago, BattleTech got a new line developer. We wanted to interview him back then, but he was busy with the Clan Invasion Kickstarter, then ilClan, and then there was a global pandemic, and it just never really worked out. But now that Wave Two is on its way and ilClan has shipped, […]
Read More →Community Outreach – Converting HBS’s BATTLETECH Campaign To Tabletop With Riley Centrella
Hairbrained’s BATTLETECH is still a masterpiece and I recommend anyone with a personal computer purchase it. My recent playthrough of the game has convinced me of that more than ever. But what if you wanted to experience BATTLETECH’s story without playing the game? Maybe you just don’t have the time, or maybe you just don’t […]
Read More →Community Outreach – The Cauldron’s Bear_cl4w and Krasnopesky Talk MechWarrior Online
Welcome back to Community Outreach, the ongoing column where we learn more about the people that help keep BattleTech alive and swinging. To get the lowdown on MechWarrior Online’s renaissance (which you can read all about in my last piece), I sat down with the Cauldron’s Bear_cl4w and Krasnopesky to talk about where the group […]
Read More →MechWarrior Online’s Renaissance Is All Thanks To The Developers Putting Players In Charge
Something pretty remarkable is happening in MechWarrior Online. After years of falling player counts and being basically put on life support as developer PGI diverted funds and resources into developing MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, MechWarrior Online players are returning to this once nearly-dead game. There are a number of reasons for this unexpected renaissance. To start, […]
Read More →Your BattleTech News Roundup For May, 2021
It’s May, and I’m finally vaccinated! It hurt like hell and I was feeling like hot garbage for several days, but it’s a small price to pay for life to get back to some semblance of normal. A normal that probably won’t come for at least several more months as more people need to be […]
Read More →Community Outreach – The Art Of BattleTech, Renegade HPG, And The Remastered BattleTech Cartoon
Watch this video on YouTube. Something borderline miraculous has been happening on YouTube lately. The old BattleTech animated series has been appearing on Renegade HPG in a remastered form that makes it a heckuva lot better than a bootleg VHS, and way better than the version we’ve got stored here on Sarna. Besides making these […]
Read More →October News 2020 – Supplemental
I knew there’d be more news before October was done, and I wasn’t disappointed. Here’s all you need to know before November hits and our COVID quarantine turns into shelter in place due to armed insurrections. I’m kidding. I hope. Anyway, on with the news! Michael Stackpole Interview On Renegade HPG Michael Stackpole Talks BattleTechWatch […]
Read More →Your BattleTech News Roundup For August 2020
Welcome, ‘Mech fans, to your August news roundup! The West Coast is on fire and the Gulf Coast is underwater, which is not a great way to end the summer. For all those in affected areas: stay safe, stay healthy, and stay in your cockpits if at all possible. Most ‘Mechs have an air filtration […]
Read More →Community Outreach – Michael At Metal Core Collectibles Talks About 3D Printing And Making Fan Designs
Welcome back to Community Outreach, the series where Sarna reaches out to various members of the BattleTech community to ask them “what’s up?” And what’s up this week is Metal Core Collectibles, both a custom miniature’s small business based in Canada as well as a person! He’s a recent BattleTech convert but a longtime fan of giant stompy […]
Read More →Catalyst, Coronavirus, And Clan Invasions – Interview With BattleTech Art Director Brent Evans
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, I get closer and closer to the day where I shave my head–a measure I didn’t think would be necessary until my male pattern baldness had progressed to critical levels. But it’s not just my barber that has faced business disruptions as a result of COVID-19. We’ve already heard […]
Read More →Community Outreach – How Michael Todd Met Robert N. Charrette
So in my earlier article, I mentioned that I got to speak to Robert Charrette thanks to Michael Todd, a BattleTech fan and historian who’s got his hands in a lot of personal projects (some of which we’ve even covered). Michael gave me what I felt to be a rather touching story of how he […]
Read More →Talking BattleTech Fiction with Philip A. Lee
A few weeks ago, Nic managed to catch up to prolific BattleTech writer Philip A. Lee at GenCon 2019, who graciously agreed to an interview. I’ve read a few of Philip’s stories, so it was my absolute pleasure to pick his brain on how he got into BattleTech, how he started writing BattleTech, and how he […]
Read More →Community Outreach – Tex Talks BattleTech
Welcome to another edition of Community Outreach! It’s been a while since the last time we’ve taken a look at the wider world of BattleTech, one that is still as vibrant and alive as ever. This time I am honored to introduce a big personality and iconic voice in the world of BattleTech YouTube videos: […]
Read More →Community Outreach – Interview With BanditB17 And mdmzero0 On The 2018 MechWarrior Online World Championship Finals
It’s that time of year again, ‘Mech fans! The MechWarrior Online World Championship is just around the corner. The three final teams have crushed all others to become the best three teams in the world, and we sit down with MWO shoutcasters BanditB17 and mdmzero0 to get their take on this year’s tournament.
Read More →The Art of War – An Interview with Matthew Plog, BattleTech Artist
They say a picture speaks a thousand words. That saying applies indescribably well to BattleTech. From the clean, sleek lines of scout ‘Mechs and vehicles to the thundering awesomeness of the largest assault machines, art brings the turmoil of the BattleTech universe to life. The images in our TRO’s and Source books lets us imagine […]
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