Most of us probably look at Sarna as this monolithic repository of BattleTech lore, but it’s actually anything but. As a fan-supported wiki, we rely on fans to ensure the information stored in Sarna stays up to date with the latest official releases, all without stepping on copyright. Anyone can edit Sarna, but some go that […]
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Sweet baby Blake, it’s only been winter for a few days, and it’s already colder than most winters of the past two decades. I don’t know what we did to piss off Jack Frost, but I am collectively sorry for the entire Sarna staff. Please spare us your freezing wrath. The only thing keeping me […]
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Some overarching themes can be picked out in MechWarrior 5: Clans and each of its DLCs. The base campaign is a coming-of-age story about a group of youngsters who discover the true price of war and what blind doctrine can cost. Ghost Bear: Flash Storm is all about family, loyalty, and sacrificing for the greater […]
Read More → We are mere days away from experiencing a momentous event in BattleTech history. For the first time, players will be able to experience the Battle of Tukayyid virtually through the eyes of Clan Wolf. Wolves of Tukayyid brings MechWarrior 5: Clans to the pivotal planet to determine the fate of the Inner Sphere and the […]
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In solidarity with the oncoming winter, of which I most detest, I have painted up some Ghost Bears. I’m hoping this somehow bestows me with frost resilience if not outright resistance to the cold, onrushing ice. I doubt it will. Truly, I am the worst Canadian. But no matter! Despite rapidly dropping temperatures, Sarna is […]
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I’ve seen several postings about BattleTech: Aces out in the wild, and I must say, I’m jealous of all the Germans (or other Europeans who were able to get to Spiel Essen) who were able to grab some of the first boxes publicly available. I know that the odds are relatively good that Canada will […]
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What does September bring besides Earth, Wind & Fire? Two things. First, Pirate Point Issue #2, of which I am the third story entry. It’s a tale about an Elemental who can’t go if you’re watching. I can relate. The second thing it brought for me was the Barrie Batchall, an annual Alpha Strike tournament […]
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The Clans have arrived in Shadow of Kerensky, the new expansion for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. They came a full game later than I’d expected with the preceding MechWarrior 5: Clans arriving last year, but now we finally have the Mercenaries DLC to tie the timelines of both MechWarrior 5s together. The only question is, was it […]
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While MechWarrior 5: Clans has given us the narrative experience that fans have been craving for decades, Mercenaries has quietly continued to be the best way to explore the Inner Sphere. Originally a sandbox that leveraged procedurally-generated systems to ensure a fresh experience with every drop, expansion after expansion has repeatedly added the missing story […]
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It doesn’t matter how old I get; the end of August is always a somewhat melancholic time of the year. The heat of summer has finally receded to be merely comfortable during the day, the yellow jackets are all up in my business as soon as the sun rises, and children are walking around like […]
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In honor of MechWarrior 2‘s 30th anniversary, Sarna is hosting a guest piece by Emil Lundedal Hammar, better known as The Art of BattleTech on social media and renowned MechWarrior 5 modder BoukObelisk over on Nexus Mods. Emil has been a lifelong fan of BattleTech and MechWarrior, and with a PhD in Game Studies, he’s […]
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Update on my painting quest! Apparently, Speedpaints are a better option for BattleTech ‘Mech painting, so I’ll be looking into that for my next faction. In the meantime, I’m learning to drybrush over these contrast-painted ‘Mechs, which so far is a painstaking process that I truly do not wish to repeat another two-dozen times. How […]
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I’m still on the market for a quick and easy way to get my grey BattleTech miniatures tabletop ready. My most recent experiment involved contrast paints, but they seem to be more trouble than they’re worth. The initial coat looks good and makes those panels really pop, but closer inspection reveals numerous flaws that have […]
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Sarna moves! DLC arrivals! Fan projects! Big industry news! It’s a May unlike any other! So much news that I’m desperately trying to keep the word count to a minimum. But BattleTech has other plans. So I’ll stop running my actuators and dive straight into all the BattleTech news for May 2025. Sarna Has A […]
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Everybody loves the Ghost Bears. Maybe it’s their focus on the family, or how they turned into one of the Inner Sphere’s few semi-functioning democracies in the ilClan Era (a minor disagreement about said ilClan notwithstanding). There’s just something about these big, cuddly protectors that draws in fans, so it makes sense for PGI to […]
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I know this sort of flies in the face of some very good advice from a certain Hitchhiker’s Guide we’ll talk about later, but the whole tariffs thing made me panic-purchase a new computer earlier this month. The good news is that I now have a top-of-the-line machine that’s going to absolutely crush the new […]
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In perhaps the greatest example of my prognostification being utterly incorrect, MechWarrior 5: Clans is getting a Ghost Bear DLC after all! Ghost Bear: Flash Storm will have players take on the role of a Star Commander within the Silveroot Keshik as the Ghost Bears fight to regain their honor as the most powerful of […]
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Spring has sprung itself on BattleTech like a female lion on an unsuspecting antelope. It starts with the KerenskyKon teasers, which set the antelope running. Then, it gets ambushed by another female lion [ed. or ‘lioness,’ as I have been recently informed] that jumps out of the bushes at Adepticon. Then, the rest of the […]
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I don’t need to tell you that a big part of why BattleTech has stuck around for so long is because of the incredible art that seemingly gets better and better with each passing year. From the line drawings of the original TROs to the breathtaking multi-page art spreads that use cutting-edge software alongside the […]
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As I write this, dump trucks full of snow haul their icy cargo down recently plowed roads. The ice banks reach up to my shoulders while the bottom half of my window is nothing but mud-speckled white. We are in the deep of winter where I do not go outside unless absolutely necessary. Like for […]
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We try not to get too political in the introduction, but the 25% tariff the United States plans to impose on Canada is quite likely to tank our dollar to the point where it’s going to be mighty difficult to continue purchasing those delightful BattleTech products. Us Canadians are going to have to make some […]
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About a decade ago, a group of friends came together to make some MechWarrior machinima, a hobby which eventually led them to create the best BattleTech animations the fandom had ever seen. Hired Steel was so great, it eventually led to them getting hired to create official cinematics for an actual MechWarrior title. I refer […]
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It’s Christmas time, except for those in Canada. Because of the mail strike (which for the record, I totally support), all our Catalyst and Iron Wind Metals orders aren’t going to be here until January at the earliest. So my Christmas isn’t going to be here until next month, but oh boy, it’ll be a […]
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Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends! I’m Canadian though, so I’m doing things a bit differently. November has been a MONTH, so I’m spending the last weekend of it up in the wilds of the Canadian North with a select group of friends where I will get totally bent. I will then come back, […]
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Back when I was but a wee MechWarrior, I remember seeing ads for what seemed like a heavenly place in Chicago where I could hop into a simulator to truly experience what it would be like inside the cockpit of a multi-ton death machine (or at least, the closest approximation to what that could be […]
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