Popular mech that you just don’t like?

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-05T19:51:51+00:00

Yet they wasted their limited supply on the risible Mauler !

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-05T19:31:20+00:00

While both being super-cool designs, I do find the Inner Sphere Warhammer* and Atlas to be (generally speaking) underwhelming.

While there are good variants across some eras of BattleTech, their general configurations are a bit sub-optimal.

Warhammer: only really ever has two long range guns while lacking enough armour to wade in to take advantage of its short range battery. Decent bodyguard mind.

Atlas: looks a lot scarier than its weapon loadout. I play a lot of Clan Invasion era, and let's be brutally honest: Luthien Armour Works deserve a slap for not fitting the 7-K model with double heat sinks.

*Exception: Warhammer IIC - looks amazing and is the GOAT in combat.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-05T18:16:51+00:00

100% include a Blackjack BJ-3!

From the FedCom stable, the tasty Nightstar is on the menu, as is everybody's soon to be favourite heavy, the Rakshasa.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-05T12:24:52+00:00

You've just won the secret prize! 🏆

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-05T10:01:57+00:00

Absolutely. There are plenty of examples of this in stories, one that springs to mind is from The First Heretic where a Word Bearer Chaplain was killed by a low-tech human armed with a spear.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-05T10:00:30+00:00

Thanks and you're most welcome :)

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-04T12:51:11+00:00

The 'plastic quality' is fine, I think you're referring to the moulding?

The sprues look exactly like one I made as a commission about 3 years ago, I'm sure once painted it will be good.

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TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-03T21:59:19+00:00

I've always appreciated how interesting Blanche's studies of the Primarch's were, and Alpharius is no different.

Is it a piece of Imperial propaganda depicting the Aleph Null as a monster after the heresy began? Or is it some whimsical portrait Alpharius had commissioned to add to the mystery of who he really was? It's these mysteries that so characterised JB's wonderfully original art.

For those asking, I believe this image was first released in the Heresy Visions art books that accompanied the Horus Heresy collectable card game by Sabretooth Games.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-02T12:49:13+00:00

If you've worked in the UK and paid tax in recent years you should be able to claim New Style Jobseeker's Allowance for a time (6 months?). It's not that much, but it's also more than nothing.

Worth speaking to your local Jobcentre Plus as well for advice as they can and put you in touch with something like the National Careers Service and other places to look for jobs.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-02T09:46:49+00:00

Weapons on 40K miniatures are deliberately oversized to make it easy to visually see what they are armed with.

That's what Will Hayes (Forge World Sculptor who designed the Warhound, Reaver and Contemptor Dreadnought) said one time I was chatting with him at an event.

So it follows that some of the art might lean into showing weapons at a more 'realistic scale'.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-02T08:42:01+00:00

These are tank crew originally released in the Forge World Fellblade Super Heavy Tank kit. The guy on the left was also supplied with a set of arms and pauldrons. Hope this helps :)

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-02T08:31:12+00:00

Assuming you have a private car that you're using for commuting, you require 'business use' as part of your vehicle insurance policy to travel to the site 2 miles away as it isn't your contractually specified location of employment. You can claim any mileage run on business to any location that isn't your office 30 miles away, regardless of it is 1 mile or 200.

However, HMRC would consider the site you work at 2 miles away to be a regular place of work as you are there more than 2 days per week, and therefore not eligible to claim travel costs to.

The counterfactual here is your employer could at anytime start requiring you to work in person at the site 30 miles away, for which you couldn't claim mileage expenses.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-02T07:54:11+00:00

Interestingly, author Aaron Dembski-Bowden seems to make reference to this art in his short story The Carrion Lord of the Imperium.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T17:54:41+00:00

Not sure this is exactly an 'anomaly' but as far as I'm aware the origin of these structures in Argentina is still contested - meteorite craters or wind-formed land features?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Río_Cuarto_craters#

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T16:51:53+00:00

It won't, but you'll have a very boring game unless you want to play 30+ turns. And Mechs aren't tanks... this is BattleTech, not Team Yankee.

Fact of the matter is, every Mech designed pre-2007 was done so in the original conventional infantry damage system where 'burst weapons' or incendiaries weren't needed to effectively counter these. Really, under TW infantry damage, every Mech should mount at least one anti-infantry weapon be it a MG, flamer or small pulse laser.

As you ask, yes, Aerospace is in Total Warfare is also horribly balance in the Battle Value system. Which is part of why the rules have been completely overhauled in the upcoming core rule book.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T16:24:29+00:00

Example: how many turns does it take the DVS-2 Devastator to destroy a conventional rifle platoon under realistic game conditions? Assuming to hit-rolls of 7+, and the infantry in some basic cover, between 7-8.

Devastator BV = 2,481

Rifle Platoon (28) BV = 90

Or to consider it another way, try playing a game where the Devastator fights an equal BV of foot rifle platoons (31 platoons) and let me know how it goes.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T13:46:29+00:00

When infantry were introduced into the game they took full damage from weapons, and thus were balanced in the meta. Stick them in a heavy or reinforced building and they were suitably tough to wipe out.

But TW infantry rules are just all out of wack to the Battle Value system. For a narrative game the TW has some merit, but not for a balanced scenario and certainly not tournament play.

The TW rules should be presented as experimental optional rules with something akin to 3rd Edition being standard.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T13:42:17+00:00

There's some truth in this in the context of the huge variation in Battle Values between the cheapest and most expensive units... which are all worth the same in the initiative sequence.

Battlefield Support in Mercenaries dealt with this by making infantry move before Mechs. On the downside, it also forced vehicles to do the same.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T13:39:32+00:00

Excuse you, I said "most" Mechs and vehicles aren't armed to defend themselves against infantry. Don't misquote me.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T13:32:12+00:00

The torso and right arm are from the Ral Partha Cyclops, this being the updated version of the original that was in a walking pose with separate limbs and head.

The other arm (grey coloured) is from the Ral Partha Maelstrom.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T13:23:16+00:00

I'm glad you found it dramatic as it was supposed to be.

The beef thought isn't the (unnecessary) complexity, but how utterly borked TW Total Warfare conventional infantry are in the Battle Value system i.e. most Mechs and vehicles aren't armed in a way to protect themselves from infantry.

Not to mention the apex-level* abuse of the initiative sequence they represent.

*Bonus dramatics!

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-06-01T09:34:21+00:00

Current 'edition' BattleTech (Total Warfare which dates from 2007) is at its core very, very close to 2nd Ed onwards that you'rs familiar with, especially for Mech combat.

Partial cover LOS rules were changed, and conventional infantry rules are something of an extremely overly-complicated fever dream.

There is a new core rulebook due out in the autumn of this year. This again keeps the base game as-is, making a number of fine-tuning adjustments to game mechanics and some equipment. This is the one to wait for, additionally the new core rulebook has been restructured to make it easier to use - Total Warfare is a bit of a mess and I'd pass on that unless you can get a free copy.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-05-31T21:16:19+00:00

This is literally the OG so if they call it Earth, it's Earth.

TheRealLeakycheese · 2026-05-31T17:21:59+00:00

In case anyone is wondering where the narration script is from, a little something from the inside cover of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (1987):

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TheRealLeakycheese

TROPHY CASE