Earlier this year Catalyst Game Labs began releasing mercenary themed lance boxes for Battletech. In addition to providing some cool new mechs they've themed the boxes around the play style of the factions represented.
The first of these boxes I was able to get my hands on was the Hansen's Roughriders battle lance. The Roughriders are historically a fairly rough and tumble unit not given to the kind of finesse of say The Eridani Light Horse, or the trickery of the Snord's Irregulars. As such their lance box may the most 'meat and potatoes' of all the Battletech lances, but to be honest I really liked the mix of battlemechs.
The lance's most recognizable mech is the Atlas. The Atlas has long been the official (unofficial?) mascot of the Battletech line. This brute is a 100 ton assault mech and in the earliest iterations of the game was the most powerful and heavily armoured mech available.
The new mech, and arguably the box set's best feature is the Penetrator. The Penetrator is a newer 75 ton heavy mech that looks really fantastic and menacing, and also includes a pilot card for Archer Christifoli a significant and popular character in Battletech fiction. On a person note I also decided to try out some blacklight neon paint I had for the searchlights and I'm REALLY happy with how the effect turned out!
Next up is the Enforcer, a highly flexible 50 ton medium mech that boasts a really balanced mix of mobility, armour, and firepower. I'm hoping to add an Enforcer to my next force as well.
The final model is a new jumping variant of the 45 ton Hatchetman. The Hatchetman was one of the first mechs introduced to the game to feature a dedicated melee weapon, so early in the game's history in fact that at the time of it's introduction there were no rules for such weapons and they were merely there for flavour.
That's it for now (after a lengthy absence) , but I've got a lot of stuff on the horizon so expect more regular blog posts from now until the end of the year!
Thanks for stopping by.
-Jay
