Battletech Inner Sphere Command & Battle Lance Review

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

I for one really like these new bulkier designs. They look heavy and rugged, it adds a visual weight to the model.

[@Daemonettee]

That sexy Tex intro! 😍 Wonderful review, you guys are doing such a good job! Thank you so much for sharing ❤️

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@lexington476]

Anything Tex does is gold.

[@dennisduszynski2755]

Thanks for the review and inspection of these new mechs. I have a tip for you that I learned back in the 1980s for scale modelling. If you want to put pilot holes into those stubby antenna mounts on the Wasp, but don't have a small enough drill bit, you can heat a pin over an open flame like a candle until it gets hot, then using a magnifying glass to see, push the pin tip into the center of each antenna mount. It will melt through the plastic and make a pin hole that you can mount an antenna in. Modelers sometimes do this to make bullet holes in models. Also you can use a hypodermic needle to drill out tiny holes in those antenna mounts. I have done the hot needle trick hundreds of times, and it works great. The needles that I used normally have the white plastic ball on the head to make them easier to hold while the needle is hot.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Thanks for the great tip, hobby smart!

[@lexington476]

My dad showed me that same thing back in the eighties, I put bullet holes on a number of my GI Joe tanks. Of course dad always was watching his ten-year-old when he was doing this. Completely forgotten about it until seeing this comment.

[@christophermavromatis7724]

Stinger's antenna, for when you need to contact dropship command, in orbit, 2 systems away.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

😆😆😆

[@youtmeme]

ha!!😁 but really, if u compare the size of the mech to the, like archer ones, it would b comparable, it just sticks out more bc the mech is soo small!!😉

[@YuriPRIMErpg]

Those new models are just beautiful. That's the quality I always wanted from mech minis. The redesigns inspired by work from MWO, whatever your views are about the game, it must be said the new mech aesthetic nails that militaristic warmachine looks I had in my mind. Will be buying all the new sets for IS... and even Clan mechs if given a chance.

[@Lieutenant_Dude]

I think the differences between catalyst and phi’s redesigns do highlight some issues with pgi. For example, PGI’s marauders (regular, II, and IIC) all have issues with not maintaining canon design cues. And PGI’s Timberwolf has the flattest ass in the world and too thick arms. I much prefer catalyst’s new designs.

[@Heldermaior]

@@Lieutenant_Dude i use both together as they match quite well. Especially inner sphere ones I use them as design variations of eachother.

[@keithm4953]

Looking forward to these! The new sculpts are not just beefier, they look more purposeful and dangerous. Some of the old RP metals looked anemic, and were just 'standing around' on a smoke break!

[@henryortega9203]

LOL! So true!

[@xyonblade]

Man... they gotta restock their inner sphere lance boxes!

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

it's tough when they are so popular and it's difficult to get fresh stock in a supply and shipping strained environment. Trust me, Catalyst wants more of their production runs delivered as much as we do. $$$$$$$

[@sullivanmkii]

Your vid´s are the only solid reviews of the new Mini´s, thanks for the effort.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

I appreciate that!

[@rfernandz2001]

Those light mechs will look a lot better if/when they're done in metal. Still, nice looking. I love that those antenna nubs exist. modellers can use them to add their own wire. I wish the TR-1 Wraith had nubs on its back cowl.

[@corvusferox2869]

Thank you very much for all those clear structured reviews. Thanks to Tex from Blackpants legion i wanted to buy some Mechs for painting, but i really dislike the older ''80-90 style'' sculpts, so your reviews really help to get a clean look on what you get on your plate from Catalyst games. My favorites are the new Marauder and the rifleman.. as soon as my german onlineshop of choice gets a restock i will grab some boxes and paint up some clan snow raven ^^

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Glad I could help with you deciding what you like.

[@CountLuciferLeviatha]

I’m glad I found this channel! This video convinced me to go out of my way to find these box sets plus my brother and I enjoy the miniatures as well!

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@miklawson211]

Would you prefer that these mechs were offered as a kit as well as fully assembled? It would make making customs easier.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Of course I’d love the kit option but the limited release options for CGL right now meant they took the option of a ready out of the box approach. It does make the mechs more appealing to new players that may not have any interest in assembling mechs.

[@shaneflickinger]

I will definitely add my own antennas to the Wasp. Those little nubs aren't going to do the job. Thanks for the closer look at these figs.

[@youtmeme]

I HATE those little nubs!!!😡😡😡😡

[@das_gruuben]

I've been cleaning up the Battle Lance, the Starter Box and the Urbie Company Box for my eventual first mini painting project. I'm glad that I've seemed to notice most of the same flashing and contact points, but now I gotta go check my Warhammer to see if the head tilting is present on what I'm assuming is a much later production and edit in what I find here. I'd rather know about it than not, but we'll see if it triggers OCD, lol.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

There's definitely some minor faults in areas of some models and while it's frustrating when something isn't perfect, the overall shift in design and detail increase over most metal sculpts well outweighs the detractors in my opinion.

[@nerdfatha]

thanks for the unboxing! I'm hoping to pick these up at Gencon this year.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Glad you liked it and wish I was able to attend this year.

[@Digitalfiendscom]

Thank you for the review. It'll be nice when these become available, though given the "softness" of the resulting plastic, I must admit I'm tempted to look into metal minis (though I prefer plastic). I have to wonder why CGL use harder plastics, more inline with say what GW uses, to capture more details (unless the models are that poor, in terms of detail)? BTW thanks for the Ironwind Metals info posted below - had never heard of them before but it gives me another place to source mechs. :)

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

The GW plastics require a different kind of mold process from what I understand so cost is a factor on that for sure based on volume of sales. I recommend you at least try to get your hands on one of the new plastics to try out and see but I understand an affinity for metal as well.

[@floppymcdankus2905]

you can also source the MWO designs of mechs in battletech scale on etsy from folks like hesparus II

[@shellbackbeau7021]

Is it wrong to want to take these, slice into every joint, and add Ferrous/REM to the joints for when you lose a limb you can remove in that moment.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Lots of folks magentize minis, have fun with them, they're your mechs!

[@shellbackbeau7021]

@@CamoSpecsOnline oh I know! But maybe other people will like the idea and implement it themselves

[@Rocketsong]

Have to say, the open missile doors on the Archer make an impressive sculpt. Don't like the new Marauder. It doesn't look "Macros" enough, which is no doubt intentional. My old metal Ral Partha Marauder is (as you say) in a bunch of pieces though, so the new one definitely has robustness on it's side. I like the Wasp a lot more than the Stinger (the gigantic antenna looks terrible). Radar on the Rifleman looks great. Missile Rack on the Warhammer looks "wrong" for those of us who grew up on Macros, but makes a lot more sense from an actual construction standpoint.

[@ruthiekest3218]

I like the new and old marauder.dont forget battletech got sue from robotech,they looked like there mechs.

[@erwinzyx]

Some nice looking 'Mechs there. Especially the Archer, Rifleman and Phoenix Hawk. The Valkyrie is okay, it certainly looks better than the original. As does the Marauder, but there's something about the look of the new Marauder I just don't like. I'm not sure what it is though. I don't really care about the Stinger and Wasp, because they're a Stinger and a Wasp. They're just terrible 'Mechs. Then there's the Warhammer. It looks good, if a bit too big. It looks like an assault 'Mech. I initially thought it was a IIC variant.

[@john88benson]

@14:11 I've been using hardware store paint brush bristles for all my antennas. With a sowing needle I was able to seat them directly inboard of the Wasp antenna stubs. While I would have liked to set the antennas directly in the stubs I was leery of damaging them and at this scale you honestly can't see the difference. Overall I really like the new Sphere sculpts, I suppose my one gripe is that the Stinger, Valk and Phoenix Hawk all have a roughly similar pose, it would have been nice if they had one of them have a left foot forward pose like the Wasp.

[@basecoat1966]

I'm wondering if heating a needle or thin paperclip to make a small hole for the antenna would work?

[@john88benson]

@@basecoat1966 I just use the sowing needle straight up, the plastic they use for these minis is pliant enough that it can bore out a hole deep enough to seat the bristle. If it was a hard plastic heating up the needle first would do the trick.

[@FreeFragUK]

Will be looking to get these although I'm curious if RPE and IW plan to update their metal sculpts, admittedly both companies have a huge amount of Battletech stuff on offer. I'll have to have a look and see if there are more sets on the horizon in addition to these two sets.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Ironwind Metals has been periodically releasing the new sculpts in metal so it's likely you'll see some of these out in metal form as well.

[@davidmackey4627]

I know that the Catalyst Labs Command Lance pack is scheduled to come out around the 10th. I've seen it listed pre-order from multiple web sites. But the price range is from $14.99 to $34.99. Can you tell me where I can order from.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

I don't really have a good lead on that as I already have mine from the kickstarter. I'd always choose a reputable seller and avoid any deals that appear too good to be true. You can always contact the retailers to find out when they expect them in as well.

[@kedar52]

Marauder model is awesome

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

It really is!

[@deleonfrancis60]

I’m giving these guys my to the Federated Commonwealth forces.

[@regisblue2614]

Have these boxes gone out of print, I can’t find them anywhere online

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Not out of print, they were initially fulfilled for the Kickstarter and now are available at retail but they're very popular and supply chains from overseas has slowed a lot of things down including the second wave of kickstarter mechs. Don't worry they'll be back on shelves as things get back to normal.

[@ruthiekest3218]

@@CamoSpecsOnline thanks.i am waiting for them

[@raymondwright5996]

Can you mix and match Clan and Inner Sphere mechs in a lance? Thanks for the review.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

If you’re playing with friends and agree then you can do pretty much whatever you like. If you want to stick with the lore, the timeline advances from the clan invasion through the fedcom civil war and Jihad eras and beyond that you would see inner sphere units using combined clan and IS machines.

[@lexington476]

10:48 around what temperature would the hot water need to be to moves to sculpt?

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

I typically get the water to boiling, then let it sit for about 30 seconds or so.

[@MikeKnell2884]

Oh wow. I didn't notice the issue with the armor panel/cockpit glass on the left side of the Marauder cockpit, until now. It is supposed to mirror the same part on the right side, and you can confirm that if you compare it to the same location on the Marauder from the Legendary Mechwariors set. It's clear that a detail is ruined completely. This is bad mold design. Who in their right mind would design a mold seam to go over such details? This probably wouldn't be a problem to those who want to paint only the panel on the front as glass, but people who want to paint all of the cockpit panels as glass (like me) are screwed. People with scuplting experience could probably fix that, but how are regular mortals supposed to fix it?

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

The Legendary Marauder has different depth panels in that area and are much cleaner in their appearance. You can see them on the model in the Grey Camo video I posted not long ago.

[@nexusofice9135]

Any way you can do some of the mods you can to to these new plastic models with 3d printing? Like the catapult K2 Mod. There are also some Griffin and Awesome mods out there that are print and size ready.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

We’re only able to use official Catalyst or Ironwind Metals parts for customs displayed here and on the website as the CSO channel is directly affiliated with both.

[@nexusofice9135]

@@CamoSpecsOnline So buying officially made Mechs and modifications to them with fan made printed parts are not allowed? That is a bit sad... I get the restrictions on fully printed minis, but why can't you do that official minis.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

@@nexusofice9135 Just to be clear, you and anyone else can do as they please with your own models. CSO represents official models and their associated IP so we are limited in that. We do have an artist that makes his own printed parts as add ones like barrels, missiles and armor but they’re limited and allowed as a special case.

[@nexusofice9135]

@@CamoSpecsOnline Keep up the good work that you are doing here. It is always a pleasure seeing your content.

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

@@nexusofice9135 Thank you and we'll do our best.

[@davidmackey4627]

where does one get these great Mechs

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

These were the Clan Invasion Kickstarter fulfillment. They'll be making their way to stores in the coming months of early 2021.

[@theTemplar08]

Where do we find any mechs?

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

The fulfillment of the Kickstarter is nearly completed. Game stores that ordered retail packages will have their stock soon if not already. There should be more online retailers getting their distributions in the coming months. Ariesgamesandminis.com and fotressminiaturesandgames.com both specialize in battletech minis and would be my first suggestions.

[@pelmen1294]

The wasp had the antenna style

[@terratorment2940]

Would have been nice if there was enough supply for us to buy them

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

They're incredibly popular for what you get and with the slowdown of production and shipping from China this past year, the restocks have been delayed like so many other things. It's unfortunate you aren't able to get them at the moment but they will become available again and continuously kept in production by CGL.

[@olliski2802]

So not one assault in either pack?

[@CamoSpecsOnline]

Correct, Wave 2 releases next year will have them.

[@edgyebi1610]

The Warhammer is a huge disappointment, there's something very wrong with the head.