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Catalyst Game Labs Gen Con 2010 Wrap-Up NEW

Head on over to CatalystGameLabs.com for a mega-post wrap-up of this year's GenCon!

Catalyst Game Labs Gen Con 2010 Wrap-Up

Posted: 17 Aug 2010 ...read more
Catalyst Game Labs Gen Con 2010 Wrap-Up   17 Aug 2010 Close

Head on over to CatalystGameLabs.com for a mega-post wrap-up of this year's GenCon!

Catalyst Game Labs Gen Con 2010 Wrap-Up

 
Catalyst Game Labs At Gen Con Game Fair NEW

Catalyst Game Labs will be at the 2010 Gen Con Game Fair at our usual spot right in front of the main doors. Next week, come check out the latest and greatest for BattleTech and Shadowrun. You can also take a look at our growing casual game line–such as Merchants, High School Drama, and Ergo–as well as grabbing demos of our coming games in Leviathans, Balance of Power and Hex-A-Gon.

For those playing in Catalyst-sponsored events, below is a link to a PDF you can download showing the complete schedule for BattleTech, Shadowrun, and our casual games. You can also learn how to play Leviathans, a new miniatures game under development.

Catalyst Game Labs Gen Con Events

We’ve also got a host of authors and artists scheduled for signing at the booth (we’ll have a detailed schedule of days and times at our booth).

Artists

Klaus Scherwinski

Alex Iglesias

Echo Chernik

John E. Kauffman

Authors

Michael Stackpole

Steven Mohan

Blaine Lee Pardoe

Randall Bills

Jason Schmetzer

Loren Coleman

****

Also, don’t forget to stop by the booth and check out these ENnie Award Nominees!

Shadowrun 20th Anniversary Edition

BattleTech: 25 Years of Art and Fiction

See you in 3 days!

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 ...read more
Catalyst Game Labs At Gen Con Game Fair   02 Aug 2010 Close

Catalyst Game Labs will be at the 2010 Gen Con Game Fair at our usual spot right in front of the main doors. Next week, come check out the latest and greatest for BattleTech and Shadowrun. You can also take a look at our growing casual game line–such as Merchants, High School Drama, and Ergo–as well as grabbing demos of our coming games in Leviathans, Balance of Power and Hex-A-Gon.

For those playing in Catalyst-sponsored events, below is a link to a PDF you can download showing the complete schedule for BattleTech, Shadowrun, and our casual games. You can also learn how to play Leviathans, a new miniatures game under development.

Catalyst Game Labs Gen Con Events

We’ve also got a host of authors and artists scheduled for signing at the booth (we’ll have a detailed schedule of days and times at our booth).

Artists

Klaus Scherwinski

Alex Iglesias

Echo Chernik

John E. Kauffman

Authors

Michael Stackpole

Steven Mohan

Blaine Lee Pardoe

Randall Bills

Jason Schmetzer

Loren Coleman

****

Also, don’t forget to stop by the booth and check out these ENnie Award Nominees!

Shadowrun 20th Anniversary Edition

BattleTech: 25 Years of Art and Fiction

See you in 3 days!

 
Technical Readout: 3085 PDF Now Available! NEW
Technical Readout: 3085 PDF Now Available!

We wanted to wait until Gen Con…but we just couldn’t. We’re so excited for the BattleTech community to dive into this book we just couldn’t wait any longer…not to mention giving those not attending Gen Con a boost in the arm!

CAT35131 TRO3085_580.jpg

In December 3076, Devlin Stone marshaled the nations of the Inner Sphere and began Operation SCOUR. The two-year final push to Terra was the bloodiest fighting seen in centuries. In the end, Terra had been freed with the Word of Blake scattered to the darkest corners of the universe. Stepping into that vacuum, Stone forged a new “Terran Hegemony” in The Republic of the Sphere. With the end of the Jihad, the survivors are rebuilding their shattered armies, introducing new machines to replace those whose factories ceased to exist in the fires of the Jihad.

BattleTech Technical Readout: 3085 gives a detailed look at the machines introduced during the waning days of the Jihad and into the founding days of Devlin Stone’s Republic of the Sphere. This book includes the latest ‘Mechs, battle armor, aerospace and vehicles as well as new late-Jihad support vehicles. In addition, this sourcebook heralds the long-awaited update of Technical Readout: Project Phoenix, featuring brand-new art and additional variants. Conventional infantry make their Technical Readout debut with fifty-six individual infantry formations from classic foot infantry to xeno-planetary soldiers. And finally, after more than twenty years of silence, Land-Air BattleMechs explode back into a Technical Readout with a look at the original four LAMs and their Star League history.

Technical Readout: 3085 PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Technical Readout: 3085 PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Or order the Book & PDF Combo (Buy From BattleShop)

CAT35168_RS3085_580.jpg

You’ve grasped the tactics involved with the additional units and weapons from Total Warfare to defeat your opponents. Now you own Technical Readout: 3085 and want to deploy some of those ’Mechs, vehicles, conventional infantry and Land-Air BattleMechs on your gaming table. Grab your dice and start rolling, because these sheets are for you!

Record Sheets: 3085 contains 71 pre-printed ’Mech record sheets that will have players firing autocannons, missiles and PPCs at each other in no time. More than twenty vehicle and conventional infantry sheets bring the excitement of combined-arms game play to any table top. Two ready-to-play scenarios focus on the highlights of this volume, while an extensive Rules Addendum section provides a sneak peak of all the advanced rules options provided in Tactical Operations. Finally, Land-Air BattleMech Quick-Start Rules allow players to instantly field the three record sheets for these unique, Star League-era units.

NOTE: This is a PDF of the print Record Sheet book. All the record sheets in this PDF (except p. 111) will be included in Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged PDF when it is released.

Record Sheets: 3085 PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Record Sheets: 3085 PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Or order the Book & PDF Combo (Buy From BattleShop)

Some additional PDFs are available, including the print Record Sheet books 3060 and 3075, as well as the novel Highlander Gambit in epub format.

Record Sheets: 3075 PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Record Sheets: 3075 PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Record Sheets: 3060 PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Record Sheets: 3060 PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Highlander Gambit PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Highlander Gambit PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 ...read more
Technical Readout: 3085 PDF Now Available!   29 Jul 2010 Close
Technical Readout: 3085 PDF Now Available!

We wanted to wait until Gen Con…but we just couldn’t. We’re so excited for the BattleTech community to dive into this book we just couldn’t wait any longer…not to mention giving those not attending Gen Con a boost in the arm!

CAT35131 TRO3085_580.jpg

In December 3076, Devlin Stone marshaled the nations of the Inner Sphere and began Operation SCOUR. The two-year final push to Terra was the bloodiest fighting seen in centuries. In the end, Terra had been freed with the Word of Blake scattered to the darkest corners of the universe. Stepping into that vacuum, Stone forged a new “Terran Hegemony” in The Republic of the Sphere. With the end of the Jihad, the survivors are rebuilding their shattered armies, introducing new machines to replace those whose factories ceased to exist in the fires of the Jihad.

BattleTech Technical Readout: 3085 gives a detailed look at the machines introduced during the waning days of the Jihad and into the founding days of Devlin Stone’s Republic of the Sphere. This book includes the latest ‘Mechs, battle armor, aerospace and vehicles as well as new late-Jihad support vehicles. In addition, this sourcebook heralds the long-awaited update of Technical Readout: Project Phoenix, featuring brand-new art and additional variants. Conventional infantry make their Technical Readout debut with fifty-six individual infantry formations from classic foot infantry to xeno-planetary soldiers. And finally, after more than twenty years of silence, Land-Air BattleMechs explode back into a Technical Readout with a look at the original four LAMs and their Star League history.

Technical Readout: 3085 PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Technical Readout: 3085 PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Or order the Book & PDF Combo (Buy From BattleShop)

CAT35168_RS3085_580.jpg

You’ve grasped the tactics involved with the additional units and weapons from Total Warfare to defeat your opponents. Now you own Technical Readout: 3085 and want to deploy some of those ’Mechs, vehicles, conventional infantry and Land-Air BattleMechs on your gaming table. Grab your dice and start rolling, because these sheets are for you!

Record Sheets: 3085 contains 71 pre-printed ’Mech record sheets that will have players firing autocannons, missiles and PPCs at each other in no time. More than twenty vehicle and conventional infantry sheets bring the excitement of combined-arms game play to any table top. Two ready-to-play scenarios focus on the highlights of this volume, while an extensive Rules Addendum section provides a sneak peak of all the advanced rules options provided in Tactical Operations. Finally, Land-Air BattleMech Quick-Start Rules allow players to instantly field the three record sheets for these unique, Star League-era units.

NOTE: This is a PDF of the print Record Sheet book. All the record sheets in this PDF (except p. 111) will be included in Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged PDF when it is released.

Record Sheets: 3085 PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Record Sheets: 3085 PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Or order the Book & PDF Combo (Buy From BattleShop)

Some additional PDFs are available, including the print Record Sheet books 3060 and 3075, as well as the novel Highlander Gambit in epub format.

Record Sheets: 3075 PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Record Sheets: 3075 PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Record Sheets: 3060 PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Record Sheets: 3060 PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

Highlander Gambit PDF (Buy From BattleShop)

Highlander Gambit PDF (Buy From DriveThru)

 

BattleBlog

THE MAKING OF THE OLD IS THE NEW NEW SECTION

 

 

So we discussed how the Old is the new new came to be and some of how the contest ran. But that really only scratches the surface of this project.  So before I announce the contest 'winners', indulge me in a little background.

 

So the ONN contest was opened up to BattleTech Fact Checkers, Catalyst Commandos and BattleCorps Subscriber. We got an absolutely awesome amount of response to this contest. There were so many entries, that I was starting to boggle at how I would process through them all.

 

Enter one of the BT unsung heroes. Someone recently asked me "What exactly does Worktroll do?" My honest response was "Worktroll is." John has been a fixture of the community for an absolute ice age and a half. Any doubt of that, you just have to take a look at his post count to get an idea.  He's done this, that and the other thing for the BT community. One of the many things he's done was the BattleCorps Unique 'Mech contest. It was the these contest rules that formed the inspiration for the ONN entry criteria.

 

ONN entry criteria? You mean I can't just slap all I can fit on the design? Or to flip this around "Why didn't you put ferro fibrous armor on that?" Long time BattleCorps subscribers will remember the Unique 'Mech contest. Entrants were given 8 'design points' with which to modify an existing chassis to a unique. Different things cost a varying number of points. Swapping a PPC for ERPPC might cost 1 pt, while a standard to XL engine might cost 4 points. We updated these rules for the ONN, giving people 8 points with which to make their modified designs.

 

Back to Worktroll. Being as he wrote the rules I used to start the ONN contest and he happens to be someone who has no issues slogging through a mountain of data (Former meteorologist turned IT type guy), I dropped a mountain of emails on him and said "Sort this all out!"

 

Worktroll took all the ONN entries and put them into a spreadsheet. He verified the entries for rules compliance, and basic legality (We had probably five designs that were entirely unbuildable as described). He then provided a rating of each design on a scale of 1-10, based on his decades of BattleTech experience.

 

Work done, he passed the spreadsheet on to me. I promptly hid the columns for who submitted the entries and poured through every entry. For all the designs I then assigned my own 1-10 value. I then had a sorted list with point value ratings and design point costs. Okay great, but then there were the special factors.

 

No Omnis- We decided to not cover Omnis in this. Refits are refits, not new Omni loads. Later on in development we did put in a mention about Config U models of OmniMechs, but we chose not to describe these in the TRO.

 

No Project Phoenix- I've mentioned this before, but essentially if the unit was getting a full write up in the TRO, we wouldn't use them form ONN. There were a couple of truly great designs that just couldn't be left on the cutting room floor and those were put into the variants section for that design.

 

Is there a mini?- In Catalyst's continuing close ties with IronWind Metals, we worked with them on what designs were their best selling units. Where an ONN entry matched up to this best sellers list, the entry got an added boost. If it's a good selling mini, then it is probably a well loved design.

 

Only one- It is truly amazing how many designs that saw repeated entries. We received multiple Pegasus entries and Cyclops got an amazing amount of LOT love. When this happened I had to weed out the best from the rest. This was sometimes very, very hard as the designs were all good.

 

Too many Heavies- Some weight classes got more attention than others. There were far more heavies than I could justify putting in. Balance of weight classes was something we worked very hard on. Different players prefer different weight classes and we wanted to give attention to them all.

 

With all the special case stuff jumbling around my mind I carefully constructed the list of keepers.  There were a lot of designs that ended up on the cutting room floor, just because someone elses was just a little better, or I already had too many heavies.


Then once all the accepted contest entrants were placed on the list, I was left with the holes. The King No Longer section didn't get nearly the entries that the Field to Factory section did. Also, because of the pretty strict purpose of these units, there were a lot of great designs that just didn't fit the flavor. This meant the product developer had to roll up his sleeves and start designing. Then there were the very well loved IWN designs that no one had submitted an entry for. Starslayers appear to be a really popular mini, so once again I hit the design books and came up with a variant for it.

 

With all the holes filled in, we finally had a completed ONN.  At this point I actually looked at the names of the people who's entries were picked. I was surprised to say the least. Had I seen the numerous repeats of names, I certainly would have been concerned. The last thing we want is cries of favoritism. But these designs were judged on stats alone. 

 

So with one last nod to Worktroll, who went back through the ONN and matched them to the contest entrants, I give you the ONN stars.

 

Longinus (Magnetic) - Inspired by BattleCorps subscriber "Talz "

 

Sloth (interdictor) - Inspired by MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Scimitar (C3) - The Incredible Hawk

 

Chapparal (Case) - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Fulcrum III Heavy Hovertank - MUL team member Joshua "NCKestrel" Franklin

 

Brutus (HPPC) -  MUL team member Joshua "NCKestrel" Franklin

 

Zhukov Heavy Tank (LBX) - BT Freelancer, Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

Ontos Heavy Tank (MML) - BT Freelancer, Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

Demolisher II (MML) - BattleCorps subscriber "Talz " 

Fireball ALM-10D - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Spider SDR-7Kr - BT Freelancer, Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

Urbanmech UM-R80 - Fact Checker Mark Yingling

 

Hermes II HER-5Sr - BattleCorps Subscriber "LastChanceCav"

 

Vulcan VT-5Sr- BattleCorps Subscriber and CamoSpec artist plkangus / Wackrabbit!

 

Snake SNK-2Br - Catalyst Demo Team Agent Alex "GreyWolfActual" Kaempen

 

Vindicator VND-3Lr - BattleCorps Subscriber "LastChanceCav"

 

Enfield END-6R - Catalyst Demo Team Agent Craig Gulledge (Agent 200)

 

Nightstar NGT-6T -  Catalyst Demo Team Agent Jason M Rhodes,  (Agent 402)

 

Dervish DV-6Mr - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

StarSlayer STY-3Dr - BattleCorps subscriber "Gravedigger"

 

Quickdraw QKD-5Mr - Inspired by BT Freelancer and BattleCorps subscriber, Craig "trboturtle" Reed

 

Catapault CPLT-C5A - Catalyst Demo Team Agent Alex "GreyWolfActual" Kaempen

 

Gallowglass GAL-2GLSA - BattleCorps "Wolfhound88"

 

No-Dachi NDA-2KC - Inspired by the Battle Corps Legion "Fan" regiment.

 

Bandersnatch BNDR-1Ar - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Falconer FLC-9R -  BattleCorps Subscriber "LastChanceCav"

 

Hammerhands HMH-6# - MUL Team Member Chris "Alex Knight" Marti

 

Rakshasa MDG-1Ar - MUL Team Member William "Mad Capellan" Gauthier

 

Hatamoto-Chi HTM-28Tr - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

Warlord BLR-2Dr - Inspired by the Battle Corps Legion "Fan" regiment.

 

Longbow LGV-8V - Fact Checker Chris "Goose" Searls

 

Cyclops CP-11-B - MUL team member Joshua "NCKestrel" Franklin

 

Albatross ALB-3Ur - MUL Team Member William "Mad Capellan" Gauthier

 

Banshee BNC-3Mr - MUL team member Dan "DarkISI " Isberner

 

King Crab KGC-005r- Inspired by BattleCorps subscriber Joseph Mallan

 

Hunchback IIC 4 - Fact Checker Andreas "Gaiten" Rudolph

 

Highlander IIC 3 - BattleCorps subscriber Steinbjorn07

 

Savannah Master (Interdictor) - Catalyst Demo Team Agent Alex "GreyWolfActual" Kaempen

 

Pegasus Scout Hovercraft (sealed) - BT Freelancer and BattleCorps subscriber, Craig "trboturtle" Reed

 

Plainsman (sealed)- Catalyst Demo Agent and BattleCorps subscriber Max "Medron Pryde" Prohaska

 

Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun (sealed) - MUL team member Joshua "NCKestrel" Franklin

 

Goblin (sealed) - Inspired by BT Freelancer Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

Drillson Heavy Hover Tank (sealed) -Inspired by BT Freelancer Chris "Chinless" Wheeler

 

 

 

 

Finding a Vendor

First you should see if the there is a Demo Team member near you, as they are supported by Venues, local game stores that carries Catalyst Game Labs products.

Visit your local game store to purchase the item you're looking for; if they do not have an item, order it through them (feel free to let the store know about www.CatalystGameLabs.com, where they can find a complete list of distributors used by Catalyst Game Labs).

BattleCorps is Catalyst Game Labs’ only source of canon BattleTech fiction and news since 2004. Monthly subscriptions are still available, and bulk rates offer noticeable savings. Read new stories by your favorite BattleTech authors, such as Steven Mohan Jr, Kevin Killiany, and Phaedra Weldon or purchase back-issue fiction by benchmark authors like Loren L. Coleman, Randall N. Bills, Michael Stackpole, and Robert Thurston. In addition, BattleCorps is currently releasing in PDF two previously-published BattleTech novels every month, free with your subscription or available for back-issue purchase! There’s never been a better time to be a subscriber, and if you’re not already there’s never been a better time to join at www.battlecorps.com.

In addition Battlecorps has launched the BattleShop, offering a wide array of products including poster sized maps, miniatures, software and PDF files of both new and out of print products in partnership with DriveThruRPG.com.

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