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, fresh as a daisy but simultaneously frozen and soaking wet, where my new mental perspective will allow me to endure the trials of Christmas shopping and the incessant crooning of Mariah Carey.
I will also be taking part in my first Alpha Strike tournament, where the Spirit Cat Irregulars will surely be victorious. And if not, they’ll at least look pretty.
As usual, we’ve got a ton of BattleTech news to get through, and since now is the time of our commercial frenzy, I will begin with Black Friday sales.
Black Friday Sales Are On Now!
We’re going to blitz through these fast for those looking for bargains.
- Catalyst Game Store has up to 50% off select items, including BattleTech: Essentials at $12.50 and the Clan Invasion Box Set at $25.00.
- DriveThru RPG and DriveThru Fiction are hosting sales on digital books, with BattleTech Universe as low as $13.99, and the recent Letter of the Law at just $4.89.
- Iron Wind Metals is offering 20% off on orders over $100 with the use of the code IWMBF24 (excludes resin products).
- Aries Games & Minis has 10% off everything and free shipping on orders over $275 until December 3.
There are probably more I haven’t even gotten to, so go to your preferred retailer and see what’s on sale.
New Release Updates, Mercenaries Fulfillment, And A Third Star League Teaser
We will continue the retail frenzy with an update on recent and upcoming official products! First, the most recent Mercenaries updates and Tuesday News Day bring news on when to expect certain products to be released. As with the Black Friday sales, we’re going to list everything below for convenient reference, with the proviso that all dates, even ones that are just a month without a specific day, are always subject to change (unless they’re in the past, which cannot be changed without a time machine).
Available Now:
December:
- McCarron’s Armored Cavalry Lance (Barnes & Noble Exclusive)
- Hot Spots: Hinterlands
- Expect Announcements at PAX Unplugged
January:
- Second Star League Assault Lance 1/15
- ilKhan’s Eyes Only 1/15
- Overlord, Union, Union C Dropships 1/15
- Mercenary Box Set 1/22
- Recon Lance 1/22
- Hunter Lance 1/22
- Cavalry Lance 1/22
- Cavalry Star 1/22
- Salvage Mercs 1/22
- Salvage Support 1/22
- Map Pack Savannahs 1/22
- Battle Map HPG Heliport 1/22
February:
- Inner Sphere Security Lance ForcePack
- Battlefield Support: Battle & Fire Lances ForcePack
- Sun Tzu’s The Art of War: Translated by Jaime Wolf
- Encounters: BattleTech
- BattleMat: Savannah: Large Lakes
March:
- Inner Sphere Battle Armor Platoon ForcePack
- Salvage Box: Visigoth
- Somerset Strikers ForcePack
- BattleTech: Legends II
- MapPack: City
- BattleMat: City: HPG Engineering
April:
- Inner Sphere Heavy Recon Lance ForcePack
- Battlefield Support: Objectives ForcePack
- Legendary MechWarriors II ForcePack
- Salvage Box: Blood Asp
- BattleTech Cookbook
- BattleMat: Savannah: River Delta
May:
- Clan Direct Fire Star ForcePack
- Battlefield Support: Rifle & Command Lances ForcePack
- Salvage Box: Savannah Master
- BattleMat: City: Central Park
June:
- Inner Sphere Assault Lance ForcePack
- Battlefield Support: Heavy Battle & Sweep Lances ForcePack
- BattleMat: Savannah: Sinkholes
- Salvage Box: Mercenaries Legendary II & III
July:
- Legendary MechWarriors III ForcePack
- Inner Sphere Pursuit Lance ForcePack
August:
- BattleMat: FieldTech: Grasslands/Desert
In addition to the usual ‘subject to change’ fine print, these items won’t be available everywhere at the same time. That’s due to the Mercenaries Kickstarter and how certain regions have received their fulfilments ahead of others. Since North America (and RoW) is expected to be mostly complete with its Mercenaries fulfillment in December, NA retailers will be selling their Mercs inventories before Christmas, and then the one-month exclusivity period will start the general retail release in January.
However, the EU and UK aren’t expected to complete fulfillment until January, so the general retail release there will include both the February and January items. Australia isn’t expected to complete fulfillment until February, so they’ll get access to all January and February items in March.
Of note above is ilKhan’s Eyes Only, which will truly set the stage for the ilClan era, so mark January 15 on your calendars.
And finally, a very compelling image briefly appeared on the Catalyst Facebook (with thanks to AGBell64) page showcasing the Third Star League ForcePack. That’s the one with the Jackalope, the Havoc, the J-27 Ordinance Truck, the Lament, the Kintaro, and the Hammerhead. I’m digging pretty much all of these, but we aren’t likely to see it in stores until May 2025.
MechWarrior 5: Clans Gets Surprise PvP DLC, Trials of War
With pretty much only a few days’ notice, MechWarrior 5: Clans developer PGI has surprise-launched the game’s first DLC. Trials of War introduces several new game modes, new OmniMech variants, and a free update that also adds a new campaign difficulty level.
First up, we have the new PvP Arena Mode which, as the name suggests, allows up to five players to duke it out in an arena. Those five players can be on teams or in a free-for-all, and you can fill out those five players with AIs with up to five different difficult levels. Going into a melee means racking up as many kills in an allotted time limit, while ‘Last ‘Mech Standing’ means everyone gets a limited number of respawns.
Next is cooperative ‘Horde Mode,’ where you’ll fight against as many waves of ‘Mechs as possible. There are light, medium, heavy, and assault hordes, with the different weight classes unlocking as you unlock those classes of ‘Mechs throughout the single-player campaign.
I was hoping to see a New Game Plus mode, but that will apparently need to wait for a future update.
There are no new ‘Mechs, but we do have new variants and their associated OmniPods. There’s the Puma “Cinder,” Kit Fox “Purifier,” Mist Lynx “Ebon Dragoon,” Nova “Breaker,” Shadow Cat “Mishipeshu,” Stormcrow “Larcerator,” Hellbringer “Virago,” Mad Dog “Revenant,” Summoner “Pride,” Dire Wolf “Widowmaker,” Executioner “Sovereign,” and Warhawk “Nanuq.” MechWarrior Online fans will see a few familiar names, so I suspect those variants will be the same as their MWO counterparts. The Timber Wolf “Warrant” was already given out as a pre-order reward, while a few more heroes are likely waiting for future DLC.
There’s also a free update even if you don’t buy the DLC which adds a new ‘Trueborn’ difficulty level and eight new standard OmniMech variants. That’s the P configuration for the Arctic Cheetah, Kit Fox, Shadow Cat, Viper, Hellbringer, Gargoyle, Dire Wolf, and the S configuration for the Mad Dog.
I’ve seen some criticism online that this DLC is relatively content-light, with nothing added to the campaign, no new actual ‘Mechs, and only some game modes to tide fans over. PGI president Russ Bullock took to Twitter to explain that these concepts were created well after MechWarrior 5: Clans had shipped and the plan is to add to these game modes over the coming months with more free updates.
Although Russ wasn’t willing to divulge anything, MechWarrior 5: Clans is apparently selling well and is “poised to perform better than its predecessor, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries.” And since Mercenaries received a ton of DLC, we can likely expect the same for Clans.
And if you’re still on the fence for MechWarrior 5: Clans, there’s a 20% discount on Steam from now until December 4.
I Too Would Put An AMS On A Warhawk
I always thought that LRM-10 was a bit like putting a hat on a hat. When you have four ER PPCs, what’s a sprinkling of missiles going to do? Better to toss it and add some armor and an AMS so you can avoid taking some of that return fire as you snipe away with those PPCs. Evidently, whoever commissioned DMoser for the above piece agreed.
A Quickdraw In Its Natural State
Twelvecheek, who we saw last month with this incredible animation of Rhonda Snord, has returned with an accurate depiction of one of my favorite ‘Mechs, the Quickdraw. You’re either quick or you’re dead, but the Quickdraw is usually both. At least the pilot walked away. Thanks for sharing, Twelvecheek.
MechAssault Set To Return As MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Mod
I’ve talked at great length about Wolves, the spiritual successor to MechAssault, but some of you just can’t let an old game die. While we’re still waiting for a MechAssault remaster, TheMonkeyMann and mapmaker Alexis Salazar have taken it upon themselves to recreate MechAssault in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries.
As you can see in the trailer above, it’s sort of a weird mashup of MechWarrior 5: Mercs assets and MechAssault models, animations, sound effects, and textures. It’s actually quite impressive to see what TheMonkeyMann and Alexis have accomplished so far, and we’ll be able to experience the first act of this multi-part campaign when it releases this Christmas.
We’ll be sure to keep an eye on this project to update everyone when it releases in December.
Hail To The King, Baby!
It seems that a point-blank PPC blast is totally unnecessary. Not when you put 75 tons into a giant metal fist and aim it straight for the cockpit. Kudos to ThePBG48 for this incredible depiction of a Dragoon getting its just desserts during the Amaris Civil War.
Space City Brawl ‘25 Alpha Strike Tournament Coming To Pelicon In February
Spotted over on the BattleTech subreddit, a 350-point Alpha Strike tournament has been announced for Pelicon 2025 in Houston, Texas. Starting bright and early on February 8, 2025, at 10 AM at the Galveston Island Convention Center at The San Luis Resort. Players will be required to purchase a convention badge and provide a $10 entry fee for the Space City Brawl ’25. Your ilClan-era list is required no later than February 5.
For the full tournament rules, scan the QR code in the image above.
TheB33f Picks MW5: Clans’ Top Five ‘Mechs
You might remember TheB33f from such informative and amusing MechWarrior Online videos as the Dire Star, the Centurion Phalanx, and the Horrid Little Locust. Now TheB33f shares his syrup-infused accent with the official MechWarrior 5: Clans channel where he describes the best five ‘Mechs in the game.
I generally agree with this list, especially putting the Nova in the top spot (massed ER Small Lasers offer truly apocalyptic power). However, the Stormcrow can mount a similar number of Small Lasers with more armor and speed. As much as I love the Nova and its jump jets, I think I like the zoomies just a teensy bit more. And frankly, the Warhawk doesn’t impress me much, so I’d swap my Stormcrow in at number three!
Opinion: Solve MechWarrior’s Dire Wolf Railroad With Dynamic Enemy Spawns
Courtesy of Eldoniousrex
As I pontificated in my review of MechWarrior 5: Clans, one of my few complaints was how the game railroads most players of average skill into heavier and heavier ‘Mechs as the campaign progresses, eventually resulting in a star full of Dire Wolves. Bringing smaller ‘Mechs is simply impossible (in solo play) as those ‘Mechs won’t have the armor or firepower to survive against the forces arrayed against you, which often includes dozens of ‘Mechs, tanks, and VTOLs.
After taking some time to think about the problem, I have come to a solution: dynamic enemy spawns. Rather than the same units spawning every time, the size and number of those units change depending on the total drop weight of the Star and the difficulty level selected. So if you decide to run into the final mission with a mixed Star of heavies and mediums, perhaps you won’t have to fight waves upon waves of assault ‘Mechs. Maybe some of those ‘Mechs even turn into tanks or more VTOLs. You can make it so there’s a ‘floor’ to what will spawn, so taking a Star of Mist Lynxes might still be too difficult for the average player to succeed, but at least there’s some range on what players can bring on any given mission.
The downside is that now you have to balance for multiple potential drop configurations rather than just whatever the maximum weight limit for the mission happens to be, which means more QA testing. MechWarrior 5: Clan‘s scripting might also be programmed for specific ‘Mechs, so swapping out those ‘Mechs for others might not be as simple as it sounds.
But hey! If you’re a MechWarrior 5: Clans modder looking to cut your teeth on this new MechWarrior game, consider this a special request for your ol’ pal Sean at Sarna.
How would you make it so it’s not suicidal to bring a Summoner to MechWarrior 5: Clans‘ final missions? Let me know in the comments below.
Vigilance Wins MechWarrior Online Championship Series 2024!
Markolai returns with our last recap of MechWarrior Online‘s Championship Series, covering the grand final match between the Dark Sea Corsairs and VIGILANCE. The matches were exciting but resulted in a decisive win for VIGILANCE. The final rankings for the top 12 teams are listed below:
- 1st Place: VIGILANCE (NA/EU)
- 2nd Place: Dark Sea Corsairs (NA/EU)
- 3rd Place: 10th Lyran Guards Revenants (NA)
- 4th Place: Mantra (EU)
- 5th Place: FJORD Visigoths (NA)
- 6th Place: 228 Reapers (NA)
- 7th Place: Potato Carry Society (PCSx) (NA)
- 8th Place: BLanner Observ Battalion (NA)
- 9th Place: 1st French Regiment (EU)
- 10th Place: KDCM CFKWCRGAWWLTDOSGT (NA)
- 11th Place: Skye Ranger Jaegers (NA)
- 12th Place: FJRD Focus (NA)
The final prize pool was $37,545 USD, which means roughly $2,000 for each player on VIGILANCE. Everyone who placed got tons of rewards, and one player, Monk Gyatso of the 10th Lyran Guards Revenants, received a unique cockpit trophy for embodying the spirit of competition and sportsmanlike conduct. If you’re wondering what the top ‘Mechs are, the pros used the Flea, Osiris, Viper, Shadow Cat, Crusader, Stone Rhino, and Executioner more than any other chassis. Use that information as you will.
Congratulations to all the winners, and we’ll see you all again next year!
Bring the Warhammer IIC To Your Next Mercenary Unit
Emil of the Art of BattleTech has once again brought a classic to modern MechWarrior. The Warhammer IIC is a workhorse design that often outperforms its OmniMech cousins and vastly surpasses the original Warhammer. The model used is an updated MechWarrior 2-style design from Kromlek, with Emil providing the animations.
Alongside the Warhammer IIC, you can also grab the new Unseen Locust on both Nexus Mods and the MW5: Mercs Steam Workshop page.
Some Lego ‘Mechs For November
Mechwarrior inspired Lego build
byu/SessionPowerful inmechwarrior
November is the month of Lego ‘Mechs it seems. First, we have Obstanasig with this Mad Cat of monstrous proportions. It’s apparently inspired by but not entirely adherent to the design philosophy of the Mad Cat (note the extra missile pod and the forward-canted legs), but I still thought it was cool enough to note.
Second, we have SessionPowerful with several designs, including a Hollander, Hatchetman, what looks like a Talon, and another ‘Mech I can’t quite identify (maybe a Javelin or Commando, but it’s a little tall). They’ve also provided a ‘Mechbay and several earlier prototypes, one of which has definite Flashman vibes. Kudos to you both!
BattleTech Pride Anthology 2025 Is Back On, Baby!
It seems that reports of the BattleTech Pride Anthology’s demise were somewhat overstated. Or perhaps it did die and was simply resurrected once everyone had a chance to calm down. However you slice it, the unofficial BattleTech Pride Anthology 2025 will now go as scheduled.
Just as with 2023 and 2024, the 2025 Pride Anthology is open to queer writers looking to spin some BattleTech tales. Previous anthologies had a ‘soft theme,’ but this year will come with no such guidelines. Write whatever you want, but if you’re looking to be inspired, the BattleTech Pride Anthology recommends pondering the phrase: “Pride was a riot.” That’s a reminder that the original Gay Prides were not joyful parades, but rioters fighting for their rights.
All submissions should be ‘Sarna Legal’ and be between 4,000 to 6,000 words in manuscript format. Submissions are due no later than May 1, 2025. Head over here for the writing guidelines, and to submit your story, follow this link here.
The Bane Arrives In MechWarrior Online
We talked a bunch about the Bane arriving in MechWarrior Online last month, so we’re not going to spend too much time going over it again. If you want to look at the quirks and hard points of the Bane, check out this page here. It generally looks pretty strong, even by Clan assault ‘Mech standards.
Elsewhere in the update, we’ve got general adjustments to the Arctic Cheetah, UrbanMech, Wolverine, and Nova Cat, as well as a few one-off quirk adjustments for the Trebuchet 5N, Thunderbolt 5SS, Summoner Prime, Zeus 6S, Banshee 3E, and Stalker WU. As usual, these are basically all buffs, so check out the patch notes for full details.
The annual rewards period for MechWarrior Online has ended, so if you’re looking to make purchases now and in December, that’ll have to wait until next year’s rewards period.
Hasta La Vista, Baby
#Battletech commission with Banshee backstabbing it’s opponent.
I am very much in favor of Bluesky becoming the new defacto short-form blogging slash social media site. Sarna is currently working on ensuring full functionality with Bluesky, and in the meantime, I will assure our audience that this piece from fed0t came from Bluesky and not Twitter. Also, it’s a Banshee blowing up a Quickdraw, and I love that.
Lots of dead Quickdraws this month. Wonder what that’s all about?
Big Red Tributes The Best ‘Mech To Come Out Of The Nova Cats
Pocket assaults like the Nova Cat and the Night Gyr aren’t my preferred Clan OmniMechs, but I will admit, they’re way more efficient sources of firepower than most Clan assault ‘Mechs. Who needs a Warhawk when you can get all the long-range firepower you need in a ‘Mech 15 tons lighter?
I’ve come around on the Nova Cat, and that’s why I direct you to Big Red-40Tech’s most recent video on the subject. Of course, it also dives deep into Clan Nova Cat, my favorite Clan, and why they’re such hopeless idiots, bouncing around from cause to cause depending on who’s in charge and what visions they’ve experienced. The ridiculousness of the Nova Cats is what draws me to them, but there’s nothing ridiculous about the Nova Cat.
Plus, there’s a ton of really cool art and animations in here as well as that sweet sweet lore.
Randall Bills Wraps BattleTech’s 40th Anniversary World Tour In Guelph, Ontario
For the past year, Randall Bills has been touring the globe to thank BattleTech players and fans for 40 years of BattleTech. Now that year of traveling comes to a close in my own backyard of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
On Tuesday, December 10 at The Round Table in Guelph, Randall, Michael Ciaravella, and Lynnvander Studios will join the Focht’s News Network to close BattleTech‘s 40th anniversary in style. Expect interviews, live games, BattleTech: Aces, and an open grinder table for players to enjoy. Everything will be broadcast live on Six Sides of Gaming. More details are available on the Facebook events page.
The event kicks off at 5 PM and runs to 10 PM. If you can’t make it, be sure to tune in.
BungleTech Survey Reveals Nearly Half Of Players Know Jack $#!7
A few months ago, our friends over at BungleTech began surveying BattleTech players to see how much we actually know about our beloved game. I myself took the survey and averaged about 40%, but that was only because I started answering randomly after 100% of my early answers came back wrong.
I was somewhat below the actual average. Out of 326 unique respondents, the average test was a barely-passing 52%. The ‘Boot Camp’ section scored the highest, but even an average 62% reveals a woeful understanding of BattleTech‘s most basic rules. The advanced ‘Wargames’ section only averaged 34%.
Nate over at BungleTech also shared a few more interesting tidbits:
- As a general rule, the more experienced a player identified themselves as the better they did with Elites scoring on average 61%, Veterans scoring on average 60%, Regulars scoring on average 51%, Greens scoring on average 41%, and people identifying that they had no idea what BattleTech was scoring on average 35%.
- People stating superiority of the Clans scored 50% on average, whereas people stating superiority of the Inner Sphere scored 53% on average.
- Extremely surprisingly, there was no correlation found between length people took to complete the test and score. This is likely due to the challenge of the test!
- The top 3 questions in which people performed the best were on the base sequence of the game, how ‘Mechs land when they fall, and the GATOR acronym.
- The top 3 questions in which people performed the worst were on WiGE movement, Vibrobombs, and Stabilized Weaponry.
Listen to BungleTech’s latest episode for the full survey breakdown alongside Keith Hann, BattleTech‘s official rules guru.
And that’s it for November! Join us next month for more BattleTech goodness and hopefully some good cheer for all people.
And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Gobbly.
My Jade Turkey Mech made the cut! Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was great! Now on to December!!
Out of interest, what makes a story submission “Sarna legal”?
Ah, ok, found it. The writing guidelines use Sarna as essentially a measure or definition of the canonical BattleTech universe. That’s flattering… but it’s a slippery slope as errors can and do creep in. Sarna’s mission is to collect and report on canon, not curate or even define it.
The whole you must take the heaviest Mechs you’ve got isn’t unique to MW5: Clans, and I would argue is less egregious in Clans as getting to those Assault Mechs at the end of the campaign is part of the progression. The issue is just as bad in HBS’s Battletech or MW5: Mercenaries, though at least in those games there are areas where you can take lower difficulty missions and afford to use lighter Mechs. But if you want to do any of the higher tier missions, especially the last missions of the main MW5: Mercs campaign if you’re of average skill you need to be rocking a Steiner Scout Lance in order to have a hope of beating those missions.
One part of the issue is that you are locked into using only 4-5 Mechs. If the game gave you the option of taking any number of Mechs within the tonnage limit you could take like 10 Novas in a 500 ton game and get more use out of lighter Mechs. I think another issue is that the difficulty doesn’t scale well in the game and in the more sandbox games like Battletech and Mercs it disincentivizes taking major damage, so you need to have the armor and firepower to not just squeek out a win, but you need to win convincingly so that you aren’t having to pay in time and c-bills to repair all the damage you took, which can slow down or entirely derail your campaign. At least in MW5: Clans if you aren’t penalized nearly as much if all your Mechs are trashed after winning a battle. I think one solution is to design missions more intelligently where the difficulty isn’t derived from sheer weight of enemy equipment that turns battles into wars of attrition, but where the mission objectives and enemy placement create interesting tactical challenges and opportunities. More mission variety would probably help as well.
I can confirm that the mercenary stuff is finally beginning to show up in retail. My LGS had some of the collector’s boxes, some salvage boxes. (got a Bane out of one.) and even some map scale dropships.
Nice!
Unfortunately for me, Eastern US has yet to begin receiving these I think. if not the East Coast, then my area.
still, I’m happy to see this game taking off again! it’s like 40k without the insanity and greed of Games Workshop. but when they hit my area, I’ll be deploying and ostscout to find’em
Man, would’ve loved to buy some stuff in the Black Friday sale, but $150 shipping to the UK really put the kibosh on that. Especially when you know the shame type of shipping is only $38 on the Fedex website…
Gonna be that guy, but you can’t add armor to an omni, it is fixed equipment.
But yeah, the LRM-10 doesn’t work. Go ahead with the AMS and add one more DHS.
You can add modular armor using omnipods, though it has all sorts of drawbacks tacked on.
Hi Sean — have you considered reaching out to Jerry Holkins at Penny Arcade and discussing their Black Remnant (Mechwarrior dynasty + alpha strike) live campaign (https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZRIC6PMEFmQRei16bLtae7Fb18EA_Oi) and their recent collaboration with Catalyst to make the PAX “Black Remnant” command lance (https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2024/12/09/keep-on-rocking-in-the-etc)?
I bet he’d be psyched — email him at tycho@penny-arcade.com
I like the illustration of the Masakari/Warhawk armed with only(!)four, count ’em, FOUR Clantech ER PPCs and an AMS system, but what about short-range weapons, like pulse laser and SRMs? You can’t just stay away at long-range and fight all the time: your opponents WILL find a way to close in on you! Of course, PPCs run hot, so in the illustration the mech has got every spare space crammed with double heat sinks just to stay cool otherwise they’d roast! And while the Masakari/Warhawk may be “one of the most technologically advanced mechs ever built” according to the history, it is NOT a speed demon!