Well, nothing much is going on with me at the moment, Battletech-wise. I'm still waiting on a couple of proposed projects I submitted, but I have no idea if or when they will see the light of day. I contributed to a couple of upcoming projects, but again, have no idea when they will see the light of day.
But there are a few things I will comment on. First, the Kickstarter. . . Whoa. I was surprised as the rest of the fanbase when Catalyst announced the upcoming Kickstarter. The minis look incredible, including the classic designs. I have no idea what the actual contents will be, but it has my attention.
Next up is the House Arano: The Aurigan Coalition. Written by the people who created the story for the HBS computer game, the House book, this books is just like the major State handbooks, giving the history, social structure, government, and military of the Aurigan Coalition. It fills in some of the background the game didn't get into and gives the tabletop player/RPG player enough information to play games in and near this small state. A nice crossover and hope we'll see more of it.
Last up is Iron Dawn: Book 1 in the Rogue Academy Trilogy by Jennifer Brozek. Fiction is a major part of the Battletech line, and one way to bring new blood into the game is appeal to younger people. Once way is writing fiction for those younger would-be fans. While Battletech fiction has never been overly "adult" (IE lots of swearing or graphic scenes of sex/violence), they are not really written toward teenagers. Novels like Iron Dawn, while not "written down" from the normal Battletech novels, that are geared toward the younger reader, mostly by having younger than average main characters. It's a good way to pull in younger readers and I hope we'll see more of them in the future.
Origins Game Fair has come and gone without anything new in Battletech beyond the announcement of this year's World Wide Event. It's set in the Dark Age/IlClan era, but I won't say anything more than that so as not to spoil anything for those who haven't played it yet. Gencon is where the new products will premiere. I will be waiting not only for the new products, but for the "What's up with Catalyst," Seminar.
Hopefully, the last half of 2019 will see more new stuff and the advancing of the timeline.
Later!
Craig
