2019 Clan Invasion Crowdfunding Campaign

This article is about the crowdfunding campaign. For the actual product, see BattleTech: Clan Invasion.

The 2019 crowdfunding campaign for the BattleTech: Clan Invasion boxed set was successful beyond expectations, and led to a slew of additional digital and physical products, many of them new and some exclusive to the crowdfunding campaign.

This was Catalyst Game Labs's first crowdfunding campaign for BattleTech, but it was neither CGL's first crowdfunding campaign (they had previously had similar, successful campaigns for other games, namely Shadowrun) nor the first crowdfunding campaign for BattleTech.

Background

CGL announced on 13 June 2019 that they would run a crowdfunding campaign for a boxed boardgame set that was set in the Clan Invasion era of ca. 3050 and beyond, instead of the Succession Wars era of around 3025 that all previous boxed sets of the game had depicted.

Fans had repeatedly requested such a boxed set in the past, but CGL had been uncertain wether or not it was a viable product. One problem was the high production costs, especially creating moulds for the plastic OmniMech miniatures that would be included; another was that the Clan Invasion brought new technologies to the game which came with a significant expansion of the rules, and might thus primarily appeal to experienced players, whereas previous boxed sets were aimed at new players. By 2019 BattleTech was perceived to be in a general upswing though (boosted through Harebrained Schemes' successful BattleTech video game that had a very successful crowdfunding campaign in 2015), and CGL was also already in the process of redesigning and updating 'Mech art. Thus CGL committed to producting a Clan Invasion boxed set. The crowdfunding campaign specifically sought to fund the 3D models and high-end tooling necessary to create redesigned models of the OmniMechs that originally debuted in Technical Readout: 3050, beginning with a star of five OmniMechs released as the core of the BattleTech: Clan Invasion box set, with additional options available as stretch goals.

Campaign

The campaign proper was launched on 17 July 2019 through the Kickstarter funding platform, and lasted until 18 August 2019. The stated funding goal was only 30,000 US$, which was surpassed in less than seven minutes after the campaign went live. The Kickstarter concluded with $2,586,421, with additional funds raised from late backers. CGL later indicated that they had only expected to raise around one million, and that two million had been their most optimistic forecast.

The campaign featured a number of different levels of possible funding, with various rewards available, drawn from existing and new products. The names of the individual reward levels reflected ranks within the hierarchy of the Clans, as well as a number of other recogniseable terms from the BattleTech universe. The campaign was successful; compared to an initial target of $30,000 USD, the total funding raised was a grand total of $2,586,421 - more than eight times the minimum necessary. During the early period of the campaign, numerous stretch goals were actually exceeded before they could be posted to the website. While some stretch goals consisted of additional physical products, some enabled upgrades to planned products (such as the additional of Elementals to the Clan Invasion Box Set) and others created events.

Rewards

The following products were available through the Kickstarter, either as core items, stretch goals, or add-ons:

Name Item Type Status
MechWarrior: Legends Art Book (digital) New
MechWarrior: Legends Art Book New and exclusive
Campospecs Unit Art Manual Art Book (digital) New
Shrapnel (magazine) Magazine New
Break-Away Short Story (digital) Pre-existing
Den of Wolves Short Story (digital) New
A Dish Served Cold Short Story (digital) Pre-existing
Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight Short Story (digital) Pre-existing
Fall From Glory Novel (digital) Pre-existing
The Field Is Lost Short Story (digital) Pre-existing
Forging Of Blood Novel (digital) New
Honor and Glory Short Story Series New
A New Game Short Story (digital) Pre-existing
Nothing Ventured Short Story (digital) Pre-existing
Prometheus Unbound Short Story (digital) Pre-existing
Rules of Engagement Novella New
The Spider Dances Short Story (digital) Pre-existing
Visions of Rebirth Novel (digital) Pre-existing
Camospecs Painting Guide Reference Text New
Batchall Scenario (digital) New
Diminishing Returns Scenario (digital) New
Grand Melee Scenario (digital) New
Last Stand Scenario (digital) New
Trial of Position Scenario (digital) New
Chaos Campaign: Battle for Tukayyid Scenario (digital) New
BattleTech Record Sheet Proof of Concept App (digital) New and Exclusive
Expanded Clan Invasion Guide Sourcebook New
Clan Juggernaut Digital Wallpaper New and Exclusive
Inner Sphere Response Digital Wallpaper New and Exclusive
Technical Readout: 3050 Digital Wallpaper New and Exclusive
BattleTech Leather Dice Bag Accessory New and Exclusive
Challenge Coins Accessory New and partially exclusive
Challenge Coins Collector Set Accessory New and partially exclusive
Clan Juggernaut Poster New and exclusive
Clan and Inner Sphere 'Mech Recognition Poster Poster New and exclusive
Clan Daggerstar Dog Tag Accessory New and exclusive
Clan Daggerstar Keychain Accessory New and exclusive
Double-sided Poster Poster New
Faction Dice Accessory New
Faction Dice Collector Set Accessory New and exclusive
Faction Pack Accessory New and exclusive
Inner Sphere 3025/3052 Map Map New and exclusive
Lapel Pin Collector Set Accessory New and exclusive
Patch Collector Set Accessory New and exclusive
Tactical Map Case Accessory New and exclusive
T-Shirt Collector Set Accessory New and exclusive
UrbanMech Plushie Accessory New
BattleTech: Beginner Box Box Set Pre-existing
BattleTech: A Game of Armored Combat Box Set Pre-existing
Clan Invasion Box Set New
Clan Invasion with exclusive box cover art Box Set New and exclusive
Clan Command Star Star Pack New
Clan Heavy Striker Star Star Pack New
Clan Fire Star Star Pack New
Clan Support Star Star Pack New
Clan Heavy Battle Star Star Pack New
Clan Heavy Star Star Pack New
Clan Striker Star Star Pack New
Clan Ad Hoc Star Star Pack New
Inner Sphere Command Lance Lance Pack New
Inner Sphere Battle Lance Lance Pack New
Inner Sphere Direct Fire Lance Lance Pack New
Inner Sphere Heavy Lance Lance Pack New
Inner Sphere Striker Lance Lance Pack New
Inner Sphere Fire Lance Lance Pack New
Inner Sphere Heavy Battle Lance Lance Pack New
Inner Sphere Urban Lance Lance Pack New
Inner Sphere Support Lance Lance Pack New
ComStar Command Level II Lance Pack New
ComStar Battle Level II Lance Pack New
Battlemat: Alpine Battlemat New
Battlemat: Desert Battlemat New
Battlemat: Lunar Battlemat New
Battlemat: Savanna Battlemat New
Map Pack: Alien Worlds Map Pack New
Map Pack: Grasslands Map Pack Pre-existing
Strana Mechty Battlemat Battlemat New
Map Pack: Tukayyid Map Pack New
Clan Retaliation Pack TBC New and exclusive
Clan Elemental Star Star Pack New
Legendary MechWarriors Pack Lance Pack New and exclusive
Inner Sphere Retaliation Force TBC New and exclusive
Champions of the Inner Sphere MechWarrior Card Set New
Defense of Luthien MechWarrior Card Set New
MechWarrior Pilots I MechWarrior Card Set New
MechWarrior Pilots II MechWarrior Card Set New
MechWarrior Pilots III MechWarrior Card Set New
MechWarrior Pilot Deck: Battle for Tukayyid MechWarrior Card Set New
MechWarrior Pilot Deck: Champions of the Inner Sphere MechWarrior Card Set New
MechWarrior Pilot Deck: Mercenaries of the Inner Sphere MechWarrior Card Set New
MechWarrior Pilot Deck: Warriors of Kerensky I MechWarrior Card Set New
MechWarrior Pilot Deck: Warriors of Kerensky II MechWarrior Card Set New
Warriors of the Clans MechWarrior Card Set New
Fortress Miniature New and exclusive
Legendary MechWarriors Salvage Box Miniature New and exclusive
Salvage Box Miniature (random) New
UrbanMech Miniature New and exclusive
Warhammer Statue Miniature New and exclusive
Alpha Strike: Commander's Edition Sourcebook Pre-existing
BattleTech Manual Sourcebook Pre-existing
MechWarrior: Destiny Sourcebook Pre-existing
MechWarrior: Legends Sourcebook Pre-existing
Premium Record Sheets Sourcebook Pre-existing
Reinforcements (record sheets) Sourcebook Pre-existing
Tactical Operations Sourcebook Pre-existing
TechManual Sourcebook Pre-existing
Technical Readout: Clan Invasion Sourcebook Pre-existing
Technical Readout: Succession Wars Sourcebook Pre-existing
Total Warfare Sourcebook Pre-existing

Individuals who backed at certain levels eligible to submit a name for a character who would be canonised in some form in fiction and/or sourcebooks. The higher the level of the pledge, the more prominent the character would be, with custom artwork included at higher levels. It was also possible to purchase the canon character reward as a $200 USD add-on. Those who backed at the highest level were guaranteed that their canon character would star in upcoming fiction, and a free copy of everything produced for BattleTech in the two years following the Kickstarter campaign, including limited edition items. Furthermore, those backers at this level were invited to attend a three-day Catalyst excursion, accompanied by a friend, which included social events, gaming, and attendance at a high-level strategy summit; this offer came with a $500 USD stipend towards travel costs.

A special "What Would Victor Do?" live-stream event was also funded as a stretch goal, as well as a series of four-play Co-Op Missions within the upcoming MechWarrior 5 computer game staring Randall Bills, Brent Evans, Russ Bullock and a fourth, unnamed staff member. Another live-stream event was also funded, repeating the "Beard-Off" challenge between staff members from Catalyst and Harebrained Schemes.

During the course of the campaign, the backer reception to the announced contents of the various Star and Lance Packs was somewhat mixed. This led Catalyst Game Labs to engage in a consultation exercise, announced via the updates page, in which opinions were sought on the makeup of the various packs, particularly from those who were backing the campaign at the highest pledge levels. As a result, a number of the Star Packs which had already been announced saw their contents amended, and three previously-announced packs - the Clan Light Fire Star, Clan Pursuit Star and the Berserker Lance - were removed from the lineup, effectively becoming Vaporware.

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