CLASSIC BATTLETECH CATALYST game labs

Over the weekend Catalyst Game Labs began selling the first premium-quality plastic miniatures for BattleTech: the Clan Thor and Loki OmniMechs. The reaction to date has been wonderful, with some great questions being asked in that announcement thread. While we’re not yet in a position to answer every one, we can try and answer the frequently asked questions.

Q: Are these the same scale as the Iron Wind Metals Miniatures?

A - Randall: Yes. The CAD files that Iron Wind Metals used to create the re-sculpted Thor and Loki OmniMechs some years back were used to create these plastic miniatures.

Q: What does Iron Wind Metal think of this?

A - Randall: Iron Wind Metals has told us that they are very excited about this development. They saw their first significant increase in BattleTech miniatures sales since the closing of Ral Partha with the release of the Introductory Box Set in 2007. They know that a thriving BattleTech line of paper products means a thriving line of metal miniatures. And as Garrand pointed out in the announcement thread, the depth of the line means Catalyst has no intention of producing everything in plastic, but instead concentrating on those with the widest appeal to help increase the accessibility of BattleTech to new players, while allowing Iron Wind Metals to cater to the entire depth of the line. We recently had a big face-to-face meeting here in Seattle of how better to work together and how to ensure that our plastic releases are supporting and helping to push the metal miniatures…we’ve some exciting plans for next year.

Q: Why are two of the same figure sold together, one assembled and one un-assembled?

A - David: As BattleTech's sales have exploded over the past few years, we find that there are a lot of new players coming into the game, and a lot of returning players who are parents with less time on their hands. In an effort to help ease people into the game, we made the decision to invest in a strategy that allows those people with less time to simply open a miniatures box and play. Just like the Introductory Box Set, this lets people get in and enjoy their game, as much as they enjoy the hobby. As a matter of fact, its so important that we made the decision to not raise the price any higher with the assembled figure than if we had included two unassembled figures.

Q: The announcement says “the first two.” When will others be released and are we talking a whole line, or just a few here and there in box releases?

A - Dave: Well now, that's an interesting question. You'll have to watch a bit longer to see what the answer to that one is. ;-)

Q: Will the ’Mechs in the 25th Anniversary Introductory Box Set all be of this caliber?

A - Randall: No. The tooling (the creation of just the mold, not counting CADing or production) for these high quality miniatures is several thousand dollars for a single ’Mech (we’re talking cutting edge, slide-core molds here). That’s hundreds of thousands for those 24 'Mechs just on tooling…a price that this box set can’t possible bear. While we’re doing everything we can to make the 25th Anniversary Box Set special (better paper quality throughout, moving the paper playing maps to board-game quality boards and so on), the 24 miniatures as they appear in the current Introductory Box Set will appear in the 25th Anniversary Box Set. With that said, however, there will be two premium-quality miniatures added to the 25th Anniversary Box Set.

Q: Will these first two currently on sale through BattleCorps.com be available through retail at my local FLGS?

A - Dave: The first two are only available direct from Catalyst. These were done as a limited run proof of concept. A proof that proved so amazing, so much higher than even our high standards were expecting, that we had to share. There's only a limited number available though. If a retail store is interested in getting a sample though, they can submit a request (include store name, address, and phone number) here: http://support.catalystgamelabs.com/index.php?_m=tickets&_a=submit&step=1&departmentid=13

Q: Do the Loki and Thor two-OmniMech packs currently for sale at BattleCorps.com come with multiple variants?

A - Randall: No. However, since they're from the same CADs used to create the IWM versions, they're fully compatible with their parts!

Q: If future BattleMechs are released, will those come with multiple variants?

A - Randall: While we're not saying that we're working on future 'Mechs, if we were to be working on them, we would be working very hard to ensure that any future releases will come with multiple variants.

Q: Do the miniatures come with hex bases?

A - Randall: Yes, though they’re smaller than standard size. However, they fit seamlessly into the larger bases available from Iron Wind Metals.