Inner Sphere Battle Armor Platoon Unboxing

[@Geeko170]

Once again, I am simultaneously impressed and underwhelmed by Catalyst. Good models, horrible marketing, horrible social media, and horrible contract comprehension.

[@DrBanzai]

So far, the inner sphere PA are the weakest of the new era of CGL model; most are actually pretty decent

[@mikeriley1702]

“DOOOCCC!!!! Captain Mike ”Ranger” Riley reports fer duty…My THUG and assault lance is ready! Hey, you got any Cope on ya? Old lady made me quit…”

[@sputnik128]

"Nuh uh it doesn't ship until December!" they told you. With smug faces.

[@DrBanzai]

They were operating with the information available; I’m an internet stranger after all, being suspicious is probably the correct stance lol

[@MilitaryStyx]

​*I'm

[@DrBanzai]

@@MilitaryStyx no you 🤣

[@sputnik128]

@@DrBanzai A very magnanimous response. I, on the other hand, am an internet asshole

[@DrBanzai]

Fair 🤣

[@jccraftmage2313]

The thing is it could have been a private seller. It could have been somebody who just invested a buttload into the kickstarter and is just reselling them. The real wild thing is that they're selling it for $30. That's approaching some games workshop crap

[@DrBanzai]

@@jccraftmage2313 was sold and distributed by Amazon, per the package I showed.

[@Whitewing89]

Get real. $30 is like one single infantry model from gw.

[@EverythingBattletech]

I can hear Valk calling you a Bigot

[@DrBanzai]

As a great lyricist once said: “just another day in paradise,”

[@DarkKnightCuron]

Hope you're doing well!

[@tomtheconqerur]

I managed to get my pledge yesterday and I am glad that I didn't choose the battle armor. I recognized that voice of yours from the Discord server!

[@DrBanzai]

@@tomtheconqerur oh no! 🤣

[@tomtheconqerur]

@@DrBanzai *in Kool-Aid man's voice* OH YEAH. I'm just happy I'm getting better now. I got sick while visiting some friends in Texas with sinus stuff only for that to get worse as now I am dealing with acute tonsillitis.

[@ChristopherFryeWA]

Some Retailers got their product that they backed it on kickstarted the product.

[@snowstalker36]

I would generally be quite happy with these. For the amount of play and attention they will get on the table, they look fine. A bit sad yes, better would be nice, but totally fine. It's a heck of a lot better than the cardboard cutouts or markers I have mostly been using for infantry or PA until now. Honestly, if it weren't for the shockingly good Elementals already existing I doubt there'd be much discussion of it. People would just attribute it to working at that small size.

[@renegadeleader1]

I spent 18 years at UPS, and Amazon shipping through them isn't unusual even in spite of Amazon setting up their own logistics and delivery network. They're not fully set up yet so they use UPS and the Post Office as an escape valve for volume they can't handle in house or in areas too remote or rural.

[@walt_man]

Looks like Mechwarrior Darkage had sharper infantry models, bigger of course [10mm?], but sharper.

[@J4H3AD]

Oh yeah, Amazon shipping with UPS isnt uncommon. Amazon trucks don't get up where I live.

[@jccraftmage2313]

Yeah that's not too unusual

[@michaelkimberling7307]

I’ve seen several up close photos of these things and I can say with certainty the camera does ugly them up a little bit. The detail isn’t great, but it’s not much different than the elementals I have. They’re about 10% to 20% smaller than the elementals so the loss of detail is understandable. In all honesty I think they just need to 3d print the battle armor like they do with the premium mechs. They’re small so mass manufacture is technically possible at a reasonable rate. That and the detail would be better.

[@Ruggedtoaster]

LRR is a light recoilless rifle. Functionally it’s a low tech AP guass (more range less damage than a small laser)

[@PRC533]

It is likely that this was a retailer (or even independent) that just did a pledge like everyone else and got their stuff early on and are now selling it through Amazon. I've had my pledge for weeks, which is going to happen with a campaign as large as this one was in North America. A large chunk of product sold on Amazon is done through third parties and they are just handing the transaction. I don't necessarily think it's reasonable to jump to the conclusion that they opened their retail floodgates, especially when they know they have literally tens of thousands of people scrutinizing every detail of shipping. Is it possible some warehouse employee snagged some product to scalp early? Maybe. If that was the case though, they would have charged more than MSRP.

[@DrBanzai]

@@PRC533 check mercenaries kickstarter update 96; apparently I was one of 13 lucky recipients direct from Amazon before CGL figured out the issue

[@GeekControl2MajorTim]

Clan Elementals vs IS Battle Armour mould comparison be like: RTX with/without ray tracing videos

[@DrBanzai]

@@GeekControl2MajorTim 🤣

[@J4H3AD]

Solid review. Weird that you got a box before I got my Kickstarter. Yet another CGL issue that slipped through the cracks. Also, agreed. Elementals need to get BSP cards and AS cards if they do another printing. Not that I use the cards but the box was incomplete.

[@yojimbonin]

Not strange. It’s Money. They have product in warehouse gathering dust. They don’t care what they promised, there’s money to be made

[@Timuroslav]

it could be people scalping. or people who are upset with the quality and doing sell backs. or company over stock due to bad back stocking.

[@chriswilson6486]

I checked my Backerkit and I still don't show shipping charges. Considering the fact I no longer even want the Merc stuff I don't know how much I care.

[@fredgilbert2032]

Where I live UPS handles a lot of Amazon packages.

[@DrBanzai]

@@fredgilbert2032 I think the UPS connection for me was a red herring.

[@VelcroSnake93]

I didn't bother getting any of these during the KS because the value just seems terrible compared to a mech or vehicle forecpack.

[@2012blueridge]

Wait are they the same size? Clan Elementals are like 10ft tall because the pilots are much bigger than humans. The IS troops however are not

[@DrBanzai]

@@2012blueridge if I remember correctly, they scaled the IS power armor up, which means they’re the same size as elementals, because they didn’t sculpt the elementals the correct scale height

[@LiberalApplicationOfThud]

I have to wonder how wide spread this issue is? While I have heard reports of the sculpture being bad, it is not super prevalent yet (at least not from what I have heard). I wonder if it will be similar to the dice issue from the CI Kickstarter?

[@DrBanzai]

One guy that got his KS had bad dice. Interpret that how you wish

[@SpudsMcHaggis]

@@DrBanzai Problem is he only showed a picture from one angle and therefore some of us believe he received 1 x 16mm die and 1 x 18mm die.

[@Fallouttec]

Im less concerned about the fact Amazon where shipping these earlier, I’m more concerned about how diminished the quality is compared to the ones they showed off during the previews of the Kickstarter. Seems like quality definitely tanked between the prototyping and the production for at the very least this batch. Will this translate down the line with the other products from the KS or not only time and people actually getting them will tell.

[@pointmanfrosty7206]

I’ve been using the click tech infantry, battle armor for years, but I also have some old iron wind, battle armor which Way better than those

[@Stormeris]

I will be shocked if i get my pledge in 2024.

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

I wonder if the Amazon boxes aren't effectively stolen goods using borderline reject stuff being sold on the side by the manufacturer.

[@StefanAmarisDidNothingWrong]

That's copium and you know it

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

@@StefanAmarisDidNothingWrong I trust the communists less than I do CGL, which isn't much.

[@ScarriorIII]

Did they dump them in turp or something? For real. All that the rainbow touches melts.

[@kudosbudo]

They look fine on camera. You wont get much detail at that scale anyway

[@DrBanzai]

@@kudosbudo the elementals still look better than they do

[@DarkKnightCuron]

Hey, thanks for the review all the same! Love the content. Makes you wonder if they're trying to sell these at retail using an alternative name to avoid the boycotters?

[@DrBanzai]

Good question!

[@Dazzxp]

TBH Honest clans need elementals because their mechs are so expensive you need to fill the roster out with something.

[@DrBanzai]

@@Dazzxp that and power armor steals the lunch money from vehicles

[@warlok363]

Mine from my KS look fine enough :shrug:

[@DrBanzai]

I’d love to see a well molded set; post them someplace and l’ll look at them!

[@whitardesigns7572]

The Elementals had some issues, especially with badly cast weapons and claws, but if these are worse, I can't even say anything in their defence.. Would better for them to release the files for 3d printing, or produce only in metal/resin. Terrible quality for such price.

[@AlexDenton0451]

I'm curious if this is a 3rd party who got access to Kickstarter stuff and is selling it as early as they can.

[@DrBanzai]

My theory is Amazon talking to the fulfillment warehouse of CGL uses without CGL’s direct input

[@DrBanzai]

@@AlexDenton0451 if other folks hadn’t shown off the same lack of quality I would agree, but the sculpts have all lacked the same detail

[@AlexDenton0451]

@@DrBanzai oh I more meant a third party distributor

[@DrBanzai]

I don’t think so. Sold/distributes by Amazon

[@speeddemonpainting7050]

man, the primer on this is going to have to be ultra light to not mess up the detail. That's not good. I am cautiously optimistic about battlefield support rules though. If it means players can no longer "play the actication game" by spamming lots of cheap support units, it's probably a win in its own right.

[@DrBanzai]

I’m excited to see the final rules for the BSP stuff that includes the vehicles/infantry

[@agamelift]

So... Since I won't make use of the cards and have access to a huge variety of clickytech infantry.... This would be more of a waste of money than I thought hahaha.

[@djfailsafe]

I hope catalyst doesn't send the Pinkertons like Hasbro! Either way, shocked you got this from amazon and still waiting for my ks. Which is my last ever because they just keep getting worse.

[@DrBanzai]

@@djfailsafe waiting on some Black Powder, Red Earth Fireteam Scorch door kickers with a kill no capture order

[@readwatchlisten2863]

Wait... they cancelled your pledge?!? Holy shit.

[@DrBanzai]

@@readwatchlisten2863 yup. Made a crack about one of their videos showing the physical mini production in china, I said it looked like Sl@ve Labor, and they cancelled my pledge.

[@readwatchlisten2863]

@DrBanzai bruh. I'm glad the Kickstarter was the last time I gave them any money. I feel more and more vindicated. Be nice if that damn thing shows up sometime soon.

[@thedocklighter]

I use the MWDA Clix myself. They fit map sheet hexes and are larger sculpts. Plus, having Clix flight stands allows easy stacking. The only downside is not having AS or BS cards for them (using print-outs from other sources is just a slight inconvenience).

[@Mojito465]

They should have been about 20% larger at least. Trying to make infantry in scale with the mechs was a pointless endeavor with only downsides for the sculpts.

[@JERRYR708]

They look almost the same size as my army in military fatigues. So they could have scaled them up a little with the armor.

[@bronco5334]

LOL if you paid the ridiculous 30-40% mark-up to get this from amazon, you're a fool. You could get more figures of better battle armor, in metal, from Iron Wind Metals. And you have more battle armor types to pick from there, too.

[@DrBanzai]

@@bronco5334 $29.99, MSRP for this pack so cope harder?

[@bronco5334]

@@DrBanzai It's not MSRP, that's Amazon pricing. Every CGL pack so far has been $6 per mech or battle armor stand. You get 4x4 (16 figures) for $30 in this pack. The clan elementals, with 5 stands of 5 (25 figures) are $30 MSRP. But this is an IS pack, and should be at the 4x MSRP, for $25. So, yes, you paid above MSRP. And *certainly* paid above what it's worth. If CGL set the MSRP that high, they're dumb (or just know they have a customer base of idiots they can exploit) And none of that changes the fact that you could get 18x better-quality IS basic battle armor for $15.60 from Iron Wind Metals. So, you could get two more figures, of better quality, for half the price. Yes, buying the CGL IS battle armor is dumb.

[@silenthbomb2025]

hold on. you have a problem with where and how the product was made so they said ok dont have our stuff and your now going out of your way to buy the stuff.... i'm dun here

[@DrBanzai]

@@silenthbomb2025 mostly as a science experiment. Then when I actually got the minis whooo BOY the salt was real.

[@ericjohnson1289]

So it's too hard for players to run vehicles and infantry these days in BattleTech that they had to revamp the rules again? Wow. I think it's time to go back to the 90s Compendium Rule set and ditch the current rules.

[@DrBanzai]

@@ericjohnson1289 I think it’s less of that, and more presenting an alternative way to play vehicles.

[@kudosbudo]

​@@DrBanzaiplus not everyone has the time to play classic full rules battletech.

[@kennetheisenbraun5217]

A buddy of mine got his Kickstart so we did a 3-way battle involving battlefield support. I'd say these new battlefield support options are mainly to add vehicles and infantry to a big classic game, rather than to supplant the old system in its entirety. Basically these are just a way to quickly add stuff, especially if you don't have the record sheets. Personally prefer the full in depth rules to these though.

[@Josco83]

Super happy I canceled my (very large) Kickstarter order. CGL is trash.

[@DrBanzai]

Hey at least you keep your powder dry and spend it with a company that cares

[@brothersgt.grauwolff6716]

well I know what to get for Christmas

[@mattcarper9853]

I still cannot fucking believe this. Christ, man....