#RPGaDAY2024 Day 27: Marvelous Miniature
The question for Day 27 of #RPGaDAY2024 is a hard one for me in that I tend not to mix miniatures with my roleplaying games. While I do not hold with the notion that these tools are inherently disruptive to the imagination, the time and space they require, in conjunction with the influence they have on decision making – plus the strong force of ingrained preference – means that I rarely even consider having them be a part of a session. However, character miniatures aside, I am deeply fond of them and a considerable amount of my shelf space is taken up by them (Cthulhu Wars players will know what I mean).
For this response, it’s time to touch on Mechwarrior and its parent game BattleTech. My first experience in the Inner Sphere was with the wide release of the newly renamed BattleTech following the trials faced by it in its original guise as BattleDroids. I wonder if, like me, most players are glad of the name change. The miniatures in question were paper standees, double-sided, in color.
It was enough to give me such focused attention that gameplay was both immersive and engaging, including vivid imagination of the terrain, the mechs, the cockpit, and the weaponry in use. As a first game, it stands out as having made a good impression. I was piloting (I say it this way on purpose because of how it felt) a Warhammer. That game, that mech, and that unnamed mechwarrior are still with me 36 years later. A part of that is due to the image of the mech on the standee, and the harmony of physical connection and movement, the interaction of spatial elements and opposition, the dice, most of all the imagination it all conspired to inspire.
I still play the game and the roleplaying game. Whenever I play the one, I want to play the other and vice versa, and am always considering how to get the action of both to mix in convenient and manageable ways given my circumstances here in Korea (I don’t have a permanent set up at home due to our large number of rescue dogs and their varied opinions of people).
“Recently,”, a new wave of miniatures for the game have become available and they are excellent. Best yet, they are coming in themed packs of 4 for ready-made lances that are easy to buy, store, and sort through. Combined with the amazing newest version of the introductory box set, it is perhaps the easiest it has been to play BattleTech, and add it to Mechwarrior (A Time of War RPG or Destiny RPG) since the 80s with those captivating paper mechs~
Casting Shadows 
We’re all Battletech players in the house. I’m a relative newcomer, started playing when my boys did.
I love the current run of Battletech minis. Never bought a single one for myself. However, my middle son, the one thing that will get him off video games is painting Battletech minis. So I’ve bought numerous boxes, and he’s painted a few dozen of them.
They’re lots of fun at the table.
I’ll give a shoutout also to Catalyst’s rubberized play mats. Unlike old school paper or paperboard maps, the rubberized mats lay flat and don’t move, can’t be bumped. Pure awesome.
Couple more points:
To be fair to my middle son, many things will get him off his computer, now that I think about it, so I’ll note them for the record. We’re all very active hikers/campers outdoors – he went straight from Boy Scouts to the Navy. And he loves tabletop play, both virtual and real.
I’ve been very impressed how reasonably-priced Catalyst’s miniatures are. (My oldest son was into WH40k, and holy cow, their minis are silly expensive.)
I haven’t ordered any of the mats for all of these years, but that detail changes everything…