April showers? More like May showers. And they’ll also certainly bring hordes of angry mosquitoes even this close to the urban centers of Southern Ontario. But you know what makes inclement weather and ravenous insects bearable? Spirit Cat Irregulars reinforcements! I love all these little guys, from the Crimson Hawk‘s goofy sculpt to the Avalanche doing its best “we have Shadow Cat at home” impression. Special thanks go to my brother for not only painting and sourcing these minis but also kitbashing the Koshi P and its many Micro Lasers.
I’m expecting a Scorpion Empire trinary to follow alongside plans for a new Bad ‘Mechs mercenary company. But that’ll be in June. For now, we’ve got a bunch of May BattleTech news.
Mercenaries Kickstarter Fulfillment Confirmed For June!
The biggest news of the month is easily a shipping update on the Mercenaries Kickstarter. According to Rem and Loren on the most recent Tuesday News Day broadcast, the Mercenaries Kickstarter will begin fulfillment next week. Loren specifically stated packages will begin leaving the warehouse within “seven to ten days” (just after they receive a few remaining “tchotchkey items”) and then it’s however long it’ll take the shipping company to get things to your specific locale.
Basically, June will be the month of Mercenaries. Excite!
For those still looking for an explanation of what went wrong with shipping, several updates on the Mercenaries Kickstarter have confirmed details on what went wrong, such as taxes being incorrectly applied or box quantity being increased due to the Savannah Master Salvage Box surprise. All of these corrections were completed earlier in the month and cards were charged on May 13. Any and all questions surrounding shipping fees, or requests for additional consideration due to unexpectedly large shipping charges, should be sent to Catalyst through Kickstarter’s message system (go to the project page, click the Catalyst Game Labs name, and then select ‘Contact Me’ in the pop-up menu).
Without Question Is Out Now!
This is your reminder that Without Question is available now. I reviewed this novel earlier this week, and I must say it’s a page-turner. Definitely didn’t think I’d ever feel sympathetic toward Clan Jade Falcon, but Bryan Young can sure write a sympathetic character. There’s still a lot of “please forgive the war crimes, we’re better now” going on, but BattleTech is a universe where people seem to either forgive or forget war crimes relatively easily (giant robots with lots of guns will do that to ya).
Hungry Like The Wolf Answers The Question Nobody Asked: How Horny Is Alaric Ward?
I had originally assumed that Hungry Like The Wolf was just a fun April Fools cover for a novel that would never exist. Little did I know that Stackpole had actually written the opening pages of this novel, which you can download from his Patreon. And then Big Red came along and narrated this passage in his absolute horniest voice.
For years, I’d threatened to create a BattleTech pornography starring some enormous Elementals. Now I’m not sure if I should bother. Clearly, BattleTech will never be hornier than this.
Big Red Provides A Full Overview Of The Upcoming BattleTech Universe Book
It’s been described by multiple folks at Catalyst as the most important sourcebook they’ve ever worked on, and indeed, could be the most important sourcebook in the entire BattleTech canon. BattleTech Universe will bring a brief summary of the entire BattleTech lore under one roof up until the ilClan era. It will certainly become the book recommended to anyone looking to get started with BattleTech as a hobby in order to center them with several centuries’ worth of history. And it will be coming out alongside the hotly anticipated Mercenaries Kickstarter.
We’ve seen a few hints of what’s inside BattleTech Universe, but Big Red provides us with a full overview of the book as well as more peeks inside its cover. This is probably the best look we’ll get before the book arrives with the Mercs Kickstarter, so I encourage you to view the video above.
Star League Command Lance Reveals Kerensky’s Orion Looks Pretty Good
Star League Command Lance has arrived
byu/phoenixgsu inbattletech
Speaking of upcoming products, here’s the Star League Command Lance in the wild. There were some concerns that the pre-painted Aleksandr Kerensky Orion wouldn’t be up to snuff, but I think it looks pretty good. It’s certainly not as good as I’ve seen from some of BattleTech’s more prolific painters, but I think it’s certainly better than the average mini painter, and definitely worth it for the time you’d save, provided you wanted to recreate this iconic ‘Mech yourself. Kudos to phoenixgsu for the reveal.
I’ve also just been informed that the Star League Command Lance ForcePack is now available for purchase. Catalyst says they’re available now and I’ve got confirmed reports of people receiving their Star League ForcePacks in the mail.
Why Isn’t There A Crab IIC?
Marauder IIIC (art by Jesse Serrano)
byu/krika-makura inbattletech
I know this is supposed to be some fictional version of the Marauder IIC, but it’s hard not to agree with the top comment: all things evolve to crab eventually. Even the venerable and iconic Marauder. Credit goes to Jesse Serrano for bringing us yet more evidence that carcinization is inevitable.
This sort of made me wonder why we haven’t seen a Crab IIC? Certainly, the Star League Exodus fleet had a number of Crabs, and certainly these ‘Mechs would have been beloved enough to warrant re-making in the IIC way. It makes you wonder if all things truly do lead to Crab or if maybe Crab needs a better publicist.
MechWarrior 5: Clans Expected To Launch In Q4
Looks like @MW5Clans will be launching sometime in Q4 of this year based on @enadglobal7 report. Also to note, @MW5Mercs does not have any planned DLC for the rest of the year, probably following a very lack luster launch of latest DLC Solaris. pic.twitter.com/EusOCJ7pja
— A hobbit named Phil (@NoGutsNoGalaxy) May 14, 2024
This comes from Phil over at No Guts No Galaxy, who dove into MechWarrior 5 publisher EG7’s recent financial release for clues on when we can expect MechWarrior 5: Clans to hit digital store shelves. That date still hasn’t been disclosed, but EG7 did have a section discussing its expected game releases, and MechWarrior 5: Clans was listed as arriving in the fourth quarter of the 2024 financial year. Unlike a lot of companies, EG7 seems to have their financial year line up with the calendar year, so we can expect to receive MechWarrior 5: Clans somewhere between October and December.
Also of note, there’s no mention of any additional MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries DLCs or expansions, so it looks like MW5: Mercs is finally done. On the one hand, pour one out for what eventually became one of the best MechWarrior games ever released. On the other hand, now the modders can go to town on Mercs without fear of having their work invalidated by another DLC (although it should be noted that PGI has done a great job working with modders to keep things working smoothly on the mod front).
However, there are still some persistent rumors that there will be one more DLC dropped just before Clans that ties the two games together. I’d expect anything like that to be extremely small, maybe just a mission or two, with a fun and foreboding cinematic to get us all in the mood. If we’re really lucky, it might even be free.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Gets Patch For Solaris Showdown
Speaking of MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, the older MechWarrior title got a patch this month to fix some of the lingering issues with the latest DLC, Solaris Showdown. Arena Exhibition Missions were some of the most problematic, with some maps spawning too many enemies, some ‘Mechs spawning underground, and some enemy ‘Mechs standing completely still even after the match had begun. Those have all been fixed, as has another bug that would cause lancemates to freeze up when ordered to attack a specific target.
There are still a few complaints regarding Solaris Showdown, so I’d expect to see another patch before PGI lays this game to rest to focus solely on MechWarrior 5: Clans.
The Bullshark Comes To MechWarrior Online (And There’s A Free ‘Mech Available)
Last on the MechWarrior front are a slew of announcements for MechWarrior Online, starting with the Bullshark. You might remember this 95-ton behemoth from BATTLETECH‘s Heavy Metal expansion. Assumed to be designed by Clan Wolverine, the Bullshark originally came equipped with four ER medium lasers, two UAC/5s, two LB 10-X autocannons, and a Thumper Artillery Cannon. Thumper Cannons don’t exist in MWO, so instead, you’ll get a selection of different assault ‘Mechs armed with autocannons, PPCs, missiles, and lasers. The full details of each variant are available on MWO‘s site here. Note that some variants are based on Inner Sphere tech while others are Clan.
The Bullshark arrived in MechWarrior Online on May 21st along with a new patch. May’s patch contained just a few adjustments, with Hyper Assault Gauss Rifles all getting their heat reduced, Thunderbolt Missiles having their spread increased and their velocity reduced, and a few ‘Mech quirks being adjusted. All Cougars and Jenner IICs now have 15-percent heat reduction, all Victors and Hunchback IIC variants now have 100 percent increased jump jet initial thrust, and several adjustments have been applied to variants of the Nova, Black Hawk-KU, and Linebacker. You can read more about MWO‘s recent patch in the notes here and purchase one of the Bullshark packages on its dedicated site here.
And finally, there’s a free ‘Mech up for grabs! To celebrate the Cauldron’s anniversary of taking the reins with balancing MWO, you can grab a free Ebon Jaguar B (which was designated Cauldron Born when it was first seen by the Inner Sphere) with a 30 percent C-bill boost and a green glow effect by taking part in this event. The event runs until June 3, so you still have a few days to grab this 65-ton ‘Mech.
Redesigned ‘Mech Sculpts Seen In The Wild
All four of the unreleased 'mechs I've painted so far this year.#battletech @catalystgamelab pic.twitter.com/acQyeMN5F7
— FaithAndHeresy (@faithandheresy) May 7, 2024
Besides Mr. Kerensky’s Orion, the Atlas II, the Thunder Hawk, and that fancy Phoenix Hawk, we have several other new ‘Mechs on the way. The Grizzly, Thanatos, and Black Python are coming in various ForcePacks in the Mercs Kickstarter, while the Argus arrives with the second Star League ForcePack later this year (hopefully). We got to see painted versions of all four as well as a Demolisher and more courtesy of FaithAndHeresy over on Twitter.
Gotta Keep Those Cat Paws Clean
Working on your Mad Cat is (probably) a tough job. Keeping those laser lenses clean is priority number one, otherwise, you’ll just be a light show on the battlefield. Here we see a MechWarrior doing her best to keep those lenses clean, starting with what appear to be the heat sinks. Or maybe they’re the power couplings--I’m not a technician. Kudos to Remmor for sharing this piece.
MegaMek Celebrates Milestone Release, MRC Announces MegaMek Tourney In June
We talked about MegaMek getting a big story-based beta update last month, but this month brings another big milestone for MegaMek: the release of MegaMek v.0.49.19.1, or “One-Ninety-One” as it’s being called. This is the first new stable release of the year and the first stable release under the development team’s new milestone system. This release backports fixes from the development version of MegaMek, including fixes to one-shot weapons, issues with the Partial Wing, and a “nasty surprise around Gun Emplacements.”
There are a bunch of changes players should be made aware of, which you can review in MegaMek‘s official release here.
Also, the MechCommander Review Circuit (MRC) has announced a MegaMek tournament for June. The “Summer of Profit”, as the tourney is being called, takes place in the year 3152 with Clan Sea Fox hosting. Teams will take part in combat trials based on famous past battles that heavily featured mercenary units. For more details, check out this video explainer or ask around in the MRC Discord.
Opinion: Clan Sea Fox Is Great, Actually
Courtesy of Eldoniousrex
One of the problems with BattleTech is having a favorite ‘Mech that wasn’t part of your favorite faction. You might love the Jenner, but it’s a hard thing to explain how a Draconis Combine ‘Mech managed to make it all the way out to the deep periphery to become part of the Magistracy Armed Forces, for example. It could happen, but it’d require a big story as to how that Jenner traveled a couple of hundred light years.
That’s all changed thanks to Clan Sea Fox. Now, if you want a ‘Mech, or a tank, or anything at all, anywhere at all, you could always just say a traveling Sea Fox sold it. How’d they get it? Who cares. Sea Foxes trade with anyone and everyone in a vast galaxy-spanning network that can easily transport any given weapon system from one end of the Inner Sphere to the other. And maybe even beyond.
In the ilClan era, if you want a Turkina but you’re in the Taurian Concordat, just say a Sea Fox sold it to you. Want an ancient Star League Excalibur (and not one of those WOB models), just tell ’em a Sea Fox sold you a museum piece. Want something cutting edge, like an Alpha Wolf? An indebted Sea Fox trader gave it to you as a gift. Narrative explanation solved.
Of course, some of you prefer coming up with wild backstories for how you managed to steal a Malice from a former Republic garrison and smuggle it aboard a DropShip without anyone noticing, but for those of us who just want to play with whatever ‘Mechs we want, there’s Clan Sea Fox.
Leave your thanks in the comments for these mercantile foxes, and thanks to Ollie Garkey for this humorous take on the Sea Fox menace.
Remembering Tukkayyid
May 20th is the day we all remember ComStar‘s sacrifice in defending the Inner Sphere from Clan aggression after spending centuries fucking with the major Houses. Meanwhile, the Clans collectively found out after fucking with the Inner Sphere for just two and a half years. Nobody would have expected the galactic phone company to be the deliverer of justice, but remember: if the Clans took over, ComStar would have been out of a job. Thanks to agentlou44 for the reminder of this blessed day.
BattleTech’s 40th Anniversary Edition Box Set Now Available
Earlier this year, I asked Ray and Aaron at Catalyst how they planned to celebrate BattleTech‘s 40th anniversary. Their answer was to send Randall on a world tour and release a special 40th-anniversary version of BattleTech: A Game Of Armored Combat. Inside you’ll find the usual eight ‘Mechs (Locust, Commando, Griffin, Shadow Hawk, Wolverine, Catapult, Thunderbolt, and Awesome), the same 56-page rulebook, the same 16-page universe primer, and the novella Eyestorm. What new stuff you’ll find are eight ilClan-era Record Sheets for the eight ‘Mechs in the box, a one-page ilClan rules sheet for some of the new tech on those modern variants, and a four-page ilClan primer to add onto the universe primer. Oh, and a special new box, of course.
Pre-orders are available now on Amazon and at your local games stores. BattleTech’s 40th Anniversary Edition arrives on June 12 if you order through Amazon, but I’ve got reports that folks are getting these boxes now from other sources.
How To Fit A PPC Onto An Archer
It’s a bit of a FrankenMech, but this Archer has the goods courtesy of a Shreck. If by goods I mean PPC, which I do. Kudos to _masaka for sharing, and for this similar animation of a custom Centurion.
Itty Bitty Orion Diorama Shows The Star League Bracing For War
Bracing for the Oncoming Storm: A BattleTech Diorama
byu/TheLegendBoss inbattletech
This tiny diorama by TheLegendBoiss is roughly two and a half hexes long, which makes it absolutely incredible. The Orion is already a very clean paint, but then there’s the cherry picker, the fuel and ammo trucks, the tiny garage with the soldiers standing watch, and “fuck Amaris” graffiti on the back wall. Throw in a bunch of battle damage and this is one of the coolest dioramas I’ve ever seen. Click the pics for some fun dialogue, and check the comments for info on where some of these models were sourced (the Orion is all CGL).
Someone, Please Animate This Hunchback Sprite
Pixel Art Sprite of the Hunchback (Took longer than I thought it would, but I love how it turned out. Tell me what you think.)
byu/PanzerMagus inbattletech
It’s hard not to love the Hunchback. Even folks that are normally assault ‘Mech fans still hold the plucky little Hunchback in high esteem. That’s probably because the Hunchback still demands respect from even the largest of ‘Mechs thanks to its heavy armament and decent armor. A ‘Mech that can take your head off in a single lucky roll is something you can’t write off. And for the rest of us, it’s the medium ‘Mech that punches way above its weight class. It’s efficient, cost-effective, and best of all, cool.
And what’s cooler than a pixel art remake of five Hunchback variants? Thanks to PanzerMagus for giving us these gems. Somebody give these bad boys a 2D fighting game stance (maybe with their weapons firing) so I can start throwing them around on Discord.
Fan TRO Reveals Way More Stone Rhinos Than I Ever Knew
I’ve seen high-quality, fan-made TROs, but I’ve never seen a TRO dedicated to a single chassis. To close out this month’s news blast, I present Technical Readout: Behemoth, by Mark Charke. He started working on this TRO back in 2018 but decided that the release of the Stone Rhino in MechWarrior Online was as good a time as any to unleash this beast onto the world.
As you’d expect, there are a lot of Behemoth variants inside, from the standard Gauss-toting Stone Rhino to the progenitor Matar, better known as Amaris’ Folly. Once done with the official stuff (with some excellent edits of the original Behemoth artwork by Dana Knutson), Mark then gets into the fan-made stuff with some pretty great original artwork. My personal favorite is the Smoker, which looks like a steampunk version of the Stone Rhino. You can head to Mark’s website to download the PDF.
And that’s it for May! Join us next month for a celebration of plastic!
And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.
Alas, the redirect for TRO: Behemoth is broken!
Anyways, I am very excited for mercs to ship, and hopefully once the headache is behind them CGL can get back on track with ilKEO, Rec Guide Volume 2, and others. But in the mean time, I will have plenty of combat vehicles to paint.
It works for me? What error are you getting?
It is working now, before I was getting a file not found error on Sarna’s side.
Considering that Bryan Young is fighting everyone on Facebook, Amazon, Reddit, and X, who does not like his book, I would disagree that it is a page turner. Bryan also violated the TOS for Amazon by giving himself a five-star review which was later removed. You may want to put Bryan’s works in the “Bad Mech” category. Finally, please do not either hide or remove this post, should this happen, it will confirm what many different groups are currently speculating.
He hasn’t fought anyone who read and disliked his book. where’s this happened? There’s an attack against him, yeah, by people outright lying about him and who don’t actually like BattleTech. stop drinking their kool-aid and stop getting ridiculous when people defend themselves from bad faith attacks
the only people who dislike the book are raving mad BLP fanboys who don’t actually like battletech because it’s not being used as pro-confederate propaganda, Screw Pardoe, the guy’s a Hack whose bitter and disgruntled that he couldn’t bully himself into the role of defacto line dev
I’m a huge BattleTech Fan, and I dislike Bryan Young’s book and writing. Look, Pardoe is no Hack My friend, and basically wrote a hell of a lot of BattleTech, which would not exist without Him. Dislike Him for his politics or whatever, but there would be no BattleTech without his contributions. That is Factual. I’m seeing FAR too much Real World Politics being brought into BattleTech by Authors and Fans alike. Stick too BattleTech Politics… They are the only ones that matter here.
Blaine’s real world political inclusions didn’t bother you but Young’s did? I wonder why that is… hmmm…
Young’s books are some of the best in BT i’ve ever read. I really don’t think you’ve read them, you’ve just heard stories on youtube about what they might include.
It’s not Youngs political crap that pissed Me off… It’s the fact He wanted to fundamentally completely change a well established legendary character! I hate the Rings of Power for the same thing, they have destroyed the character of Galadriel… Ye don’t mess with Focht, and ye don’t mess with Tolkien.
Youngs books are NOT the best in BattleTech, that is hilarious. I’m starting to think yer his Brother or something lol. I’m also not the only BattleTech Fan on this site, that dislike his books, and his BS with Focht.
there wasn’t any bs with Focht. Focht could have been trans and no one cared. If he was, no one should care. the only reasons omeone would have an issue with Focht turning out to be trans is if they were transphobic because they think trans is somehow bad.
He hasn’t fought anyone who read and disliked his book. where’s this happened? There’s an attack against him, yeah, by people outright lying about him and who don’t actually like BattleTech. stop drinking their kool-aid and stop getting ridiculous when people defend themselves from bad faith attacks.
No, no, what Crusader says is absolutely true. Bryan Young is currently arguing with Me on Sarna as We speak. I read his post/tweet, and Stackpole shot Him down. He wanted to fundamentally change Anastasius Focht, a legendary figure in BattleTech, just to change him really. Ye don’t mess with Focht. He is a legend to the Inner Sphere. It doesn’t add layers, or dimensions, or whatever crap to the character, no, it should never happen. Characters like that should stay the way they are. Focht has been CLEARLY defined for years. Writers, Artists, etc. need to STOP doing this, especially with beloved characters. Respect the Lore and Canon, or don’t contribute to it at all.
Yeah, that’s… not what was going on with the Focht discussion. It’s pretty clear that’s not what was going on. But there was a Narrative made about that whole thing and that’s what’s being remembered. Not what the post actually was.
LOL,,, Ye can READ the post My dude. So… Pretty clear… When did everyone start defending Authors, they CAN be wrong, they are Human beings.
Kereminde is right on this one. across the board.
I read the novel and was one of the people who pointed it out more than once that it was floated as an idea and not entirely dismissed until a better one came along. I can’t read the post again because, well, I don’t Facebook and that’s where it went down. I saw a screenshot of it, and y’know… I’ve heard worse slips out of other authors and writers for the line. (I reached out and corrected him with a note about which book to look it up in, too.)
And I even said “you phrased this poorly” – paraphrased because I don’t have access to that right now to double-check.
But I dunno, why HAVE people been defending authors? Probably because some of us have done writing before and know how hard it can be.
Yeah, that’s just not really accurate.
And who gets to decide what is “respecting the lore and canon”? You? Should anyone be able to go “I don’t like what they did with this, therefore this person should be fired?” (Never mind that you couldn’t answer Bryan’s simple question on the last post, namely “what difference would it have made if Focht was trans?”)
If that’s the case, then you should get in line, because us Jade Falcon fans should get to take a crack at whoever greenlit the Malvina arc first.
Friend, I didn’t answer that question because it was an OBVIOUS trap lol. He purposely asked that question to get any answer He could to call Me a Bigot, or Phobe, or Misogynist, etc. Ye know, all the Key Words media likes to use, to label people who criticize their works. Bryan Youn thinks the Star War Franchise is Fine… With 650,000+ Dislikes to their new trailer… He thinks the Witcher is Fine, and Rings of Power, a billion dollar Failure…
If ye love Him so much, great, but Myself, My friends, etc. won’t be buying His books. The reason these Franchise’s I mentioned are Failing… They DIDN’T respect the Lore and Canon. If they did, they WOULDN’T be failing… Pretty simple really. You might like what He did, or wants to do, but the majority do not. Stackpole Himself told the guy “No”, that he was NOT CORRECT. There ye have it.
uh oh, bigots and russian bots brigaded the new trailer to a show that looks rad. Yeah, Star wars is fine.
Did you read the rest of the stuff with Stackpole? Stackpole’s own words from twitter after the youtube ragebaiters tried to start the controversey?
“Are we beefing? No truth to that at all.
Trans folks have always been in BattleTech. If they weren’t, why would Phelan consider that possibility while trying to crack Focht’s identity?
Some folks just don’t want to see what’s before their eyes.”
and i think Mike is talking about you.
Do you guys get like, some sort of kickback for just going on the internet and making things up?
Brain Surgery is extremely hard too… But, if the Doc cuts too deep, and Grandma forgets how too speak, do You forgive the doctor? Or sue him for malpractice? Just a thought.
PGI… If You do another MWO style game, don’t do it like MWO, and don’t do it like CoD. I know you guys have been playing CoD, DON’T! Battlefield is the format to go! IS vs. clan, or IS vs. IS, etc. Three Lances contesting positions like Battlefield, that is the way… Or make it like Planetside 2, with Mechs and Vehicles. CoD sucks… Don’t do CoD.
I don’t care about MW5, it was barely playable without Mods. And I don’t care about Clanners, and Dead Clans either. Though it looks better than CoD.
That’s a loaded question, you know it, and you also know there’s no simple answer. You chose it because you wanted to drag out a logical response so you could lambast it in an emotional manner… or to drag out an emotional response and lambast it for not being logical.
I have seen you. I have no more time for your nonsense. I hope other people catch on to you too.
@huskwindlass, if You think the Star Wars Downvotes are Bigots and Russian Bots, You are the most naive person I have ever encountered… Seriously, that is ludicrous to think… Stackpole said they weren’t beefing AFTER He told Young “No, You are incorrect about Focht.” Stackpole Shut Him Down, because that would completely change Who Focht was. This is NOT hard too see. You are focusing on a tiny modern thing, and not the big picture! Ye don’t fundamentally change a character like Focht for no friggin reason!! Geez…
Who cares mate, none of its real. You don’t have to like it.
My thoughts on Clan Sea Fox is this: They’re alright, I just think they need to be explored a bit more. Them having a sphere-spanning network could be believeable, but it’s always going to feel gamey. What I’d like to see is a story (or stories) that explores what kind of deals, exploits, and alike the Sea Foxes had to do to get it all set up.
Also, I just want to know what Sea Fox logistics are like. Like once I place an order, how many days/months/years will it take for it to arrive?
Or at least how the different exclaves interact with each other and hopefully not have the Aimags at each other’s throats. Especially their Aimags in the Clan Protectorate and near the FedSuns/Taurian border. How they will react to the ilClan would be interesting if some of those Aimags and Arcships don’t necessarily follow him.
OK, folks it was fun, but it’s time to stop this nonsense. Greetings from Europe (I/We don’t really feel this politics thingy)!
Agreed. Shutting this thread down. Discussion will be limited to the immediate to subject of the post.
Crab IIC? You mean the Battle Cobra?
Lore-wise, I think that the Night Chanter is the closest thing to the Crab IIC. They’re (supposedly) old Crabs that Clan Coyote got to use omni-pods, which kinda disqualifies them from being IIC’s in my eyes.
Now that you mention it, the Battle Cobra does have the same feeling as the Crab, with the Prime and H configurations feeling the most similar. Though again, the omni-pods would disqualify it from being a IIC in my eyes, seeing as all the IIC’s I can think of are standard battlemechs.
I would also love to see what a Crab IIC would be like. I’d want to see what they did with it, since I feel the crab has so little left to improve on.
Isn’t the Night Chanter the crab IIC?
But the Magistracy of Canopus does have access to the Jenner… the rights to the design are commonly sold to periphery mech manufacturers. Same with the Commando and Panther.