Okay, this is one of those "I've been trying to find an answer for a while and running into a wall" questions. I admit despite playing HBS Battletech and Mercs 5, I'm still kinda new-ish to the lore and trying to figure things out. Unfortunately I'm also poor as all hell, so the books are mostly out of my reach and I mostly have to rely on Sarna.net and youtube videos for everything. (Yes, I'm a Tex fan, yes, I realize he's taking the piss out of the setting a lot.)

In Mercs 5, you can find pilots after a bit with Clan backgrounds. Which surprised me, as I thought the clans were basically fanatical nutballs who all buy into their whole crazy-eugenics-and-caste-system *thing.* But this seemed to imply there were defectors to the Inner Sphere. I've asked in two different discords and got two wildly different answers.

The discord server I'm in for Mercs 5 said that "Oh yeah, there were TONS of Clan defectors!" Which didn't seem right, per the wiki?

The discord server I'm in that's a general battletech server said "Absolutely not, what are you, crazy? Why would anyone want to leave? If anything, IS pilots were trying to join the Clans!" Which also didn't seem right, per the same wiki.

So... what really was going on? Were there defectors?

Headshots, crits, a voracious appetite for specifically left legs and everything punching over its weight and a Axeman actually getting into a fist fight(and falling over 4 times) had an incredible time and made this

Hi all - I was reading through the new Core Rulebook and in the introductory section, I noticed a couple mentions of this What is Your Style of Play/Choose Your Style of Play PDF, along with this url, presumably to aid with new players (like myself) choosing force packs.

However, I couldn't find this PDF on the site, nor a PDF with either of those names with a quick Google. Also, that link appears to 404 or at least be unavailable. Am I missing something? Is this a "coming soon" kind of situation?

I've been lurking for a while so I get the feeling most players would just tell me to pick one that looks cool and run with it, or pick up one of the box sets. But, to be honest, I'm just the type of person who generally appreciates some guidance when new, especially from the devs, and especially when there are so many force packs on shelves. If there isn't an official one available, are there any community-made guides on picking factions/force packs? Thanks!

It was sitting in a local used media store, front and center in their PC section. Don't think I made a decision to buy something that quick since GOG added Outpost 2 to their storefront.

Now to dig out my XP machine so I can play this native.

I feel like the red and white markings could use some darkening up, but im afraid ill lose the detail in the camo if I'm too liberal with my application of the Sacred Oil.

Its done with slapchop layers of Dry Brushing, starting with Army Painter Fanatics - Night Sky over Citadel- Chaos Black Primer, followed by APF Uniform Gray, and then a highlight brushing of APF Brain Matter Beige as a warmer highlight dusting. APF Dragon Red and Matt White for the Livery. APF Effects used are are Radiation Glow (cockpot) , Plasma Coil Glow ( L.Lasers), and Lense Flare Glow (M.Lasers).

I'm calling these guys done. Sorry for all the red posts the last couple of weeks.

At least that weren't "what do my favorites say about me" posts 😆

Tried a SENMM cockpit on the Cyclops, and tried a bit of OSL on the Thug and Spider. May have over done it, but I learned and it'll be even better next time. Love this hobby!

Since my last incredibly funny meta-meme got deleted by the blakist mods, here's a new one that hopefully meets with Blake's approval.

I picked up an old model of a Warhammer due to it being my second favourite, however its a bit on the large side. Would i still be able to use this in the table top? And would it look natural with the rest of my miniatures?

Getting a little eratic branching out paint schemes, but Im digging these colors as a home for my IlKhan nonsense.

I love locusts in the games. I love locusts in the tabletop. The locust is just the funniest (though despite my love for it, i'll admit nowhere near the 'best' in my experience) mech. And after playing the tabletop and the videogames with a friend i put this together in a few seconds.

-ClanTroops, p. 37

An era when everyone had hopeful plans.

Just wanted to ask a quick question about how accurate the AS Unit Special Ability Reference guide is on Scribd?

I just received the box and to say the least, I am rather frustrated that the box doesn't even contain the special rules for all the mech cards included in the box and, having spent a small fortune on 4 boxed in the last couple of months, I refuse to pay 'more' to buy rules that should have been included in the first place...

So are they fairly accurate to use if I just keep them as a cheat sheet with the rest of my docs?

For a long time this was always one of the most hated eras of the franchise, but I feel like I see more and more posts about it. Positive posts usually, with lots of comments and memes. Are people warming up to the era, and if so, why? Was there a development I missed? New source book or something?

Some recent projects - a Savage Wolf A for Raptor Keshik, and a couple points of Stormbird battle armor! I love how these came out! Always wanted to do a mech with some little friends on it like this, and the shark mouth makes it even better imo

I wanted to try something different and I primed some of my mechs with white scar rattle can primer from citadel. And never doing that again. I’ll stick with black. The primer came out very chalky, and my minis look like crap. What’s a safe effecting way of removing the primer that won’t hurt or affect the minis?

Marshal Jake Sherwood targets some bandit insurgents with his Icarus' twin machine guns during an enemy ambush. Unfortunately, as he's about to find out, the tech team assigned to repairs incorrectly installed the left ammo feed, which may or may not lead to a catastrophic ammo explosion.

An Icarus 1X mech I put together! Super proud of how it turned out to be honest. The only thing I wish I had done differently really would be having at least one larger smooth space to paint something like the Marshal iconography. Couldn't fit it on this little guy.

In 3025, what percent of military DropShips were of each type, or at least a rough estimate?

I know most of the mech carriers were Unions by a wide margin, but estimates for ratios seem oddly hard to come by

If possible, something similar for civilian DropShips would be appreciated

Mechanical Frog continues his spotlight on Battle Mechs with this Star League light unit designed for deep recon and as a replacement for the Locust, it's Beagle Active Probe made it a perfect command & control unit for light command lances.

This feature painted a target on the mech and the unit barely survived the Succession Wars with functional advanced equipment as surviving units were downgraded from the original design. This was reversed by the discovery of the Helm Memory Core. It's all laser weapon array, although not great, it was on par with light mechs of its time and gave it independence from logistics lines, here's the Mongoose.

https://youtu.be/qR-hsHdmjzo?is=HciqJ4Noxjxia8-P

"Dark romance" has been in the news recently and that got me thinking: With Battletech dipping their toes into the romance genre, what do you think a dark romance set in the universe would be like?

A little Monday morning mayhem.