In case you missed it yesterday, Catalyst Game Labs announced their first post-Kickstarter force pack. The Wolf’s Dragoons Assault Star is a Barnes & Noble exclusive that comes with an Annihilator, a Timber Wolf, an Archer, a Rifleman, and a Blackjack. The Annihilator is entirely new, the Archer and Blackjack are new variants (ARC-2W and BJ-2), and the Timber Wolf and Rifleman are new poses. The force pack can be pre-ordered from Barnes & Noble and has a mid-December release date.
With that force pack announced and the Kickstarter being delivered, I find myself looking forward to even more miniatures releases from CGL. The Kickstarter included most of the ’Mechs that exist in what seem to be BattleTech’s most popular eras. On the Inner Sphere side, it included most, but not all, of the designs that were featured in the original Technical Readout 3025 plus some of the Star League designs used by ComStar. On the Clan side, the current set of miniatures includes all of the original OmniMechs from Technical Readout 3050 as well as a selection of later designs.
So, what would be necessary to fill out those eras? The below lists are my attempt to catalog which designs feel like the most logical next steps if CGL decides to keep releasing miniatures from the early Clan Invasion era and then moving forward from there. The designs marked with an asterisk have already had their new art previewed either in a Recognition Guide or on Anthony Scroggins’ Patreon.
The Inner Sphere
For the Inner Sphere, this list is the set of designs that would finish out Technical Readouts 3025 and 3050.
The Remaining Unseen
Most of BattleTech’s unseen designs were included in the Kickstarter with updated designs. The two groups that haven’t gotten new miniatures are the Ost- designs and the quads. The Goliath is my most wanted from this set since it would be great to have one to add to my Free Worlds League force.
- Ostscout*
- Scorpion*
- Ostroc*
- Ostsol*
- Goliath*
Star League Designs
There are a number of Star League designs that were in use by ComStar that weren’t in the Kickstarter. From this set, I personally like the Thorn, Hussar, and Bombardier, but all of them would be great to see for building ComStar or Star League forces.
- Thorn
- Hermes
- Hussar
- Wyvern
- Kintaro
- Champion
- Bombardier
Wolf’s Dragoons
In addition to Marauder II and the new Annihilator, Wolf’s Dragoons had a lot of designs that they brought back to the Inner Sphere. When rumors first started about a Wolf’s Dragoons force pack, I was expecting some of these to be in it alongside the Annihilator. They ended up not being part of that pack, but I think they’d be great to see.
- Flea*
- Hornet
- Falcon
- Firefly*
- Hoplite*
- Shogun
- Imp
Miscellany
The rest of the missing designs from 3025 and 3050 don’t fall into as neat of buckets. Some of these are associated with particular factions, but others could show up anywhere in the Inner Sphere. Personally, the Hermes II, Vindicator, JagerMech, Hatamoto-Chi, and Mauler are my most-wanted miniatures from this set since I’d really like to field them with their respective factions.
- Javelin*
- Firestarter*
- Assassin*
- Cicada*
- Clint*
- Hermes II*
- Vulcan*
- Whitworth
- Vindicator*
- Wolf Trap
- Dervish*
- Quickdraw*
- JagerMech*
- Caesar*
- Charger*
- Hatamoto-Chi
- Mauler / Daboku
The Clans
The Clans have fewer designs and every design in Technical Readout 3050 is already covered by the new miniatures. So I decided to look at what designs would need new miniatures to cover Technical Readouts 3055 and 3058.
Remaining OmniMechs
The only OmniMechs from those technical readouts that don’t have new miniatures are these three. All three of them are from Clan Wolf, but proliferated to at least a few other clans.
- Phantom
- Pouncer*
- Naga
Remaining IIC Designs
A good number of the IIC designs still need miniatures and most of these have new artwork already.
- Locust IIC*
- Phoenix Hawk IIC*
- Griffin IIC*
- Shadow Hawk IIC*
- Rifleman IIC*
- Jenner IIC*
Other Second-Line ’Mechs
Beyond the IICs, there are also a few other second-line ’Mechs from 3055 and 3058 that weren’t included in the Kickstarter. The 3055 designs already have new artwork.
- Thresher
- Grizzly
- Glass Spider*
- Black Python*
- Bane*
What Else?
Which designs are at the top of your wish list from CGL? I know I’m eager to get new sculpts of some of my favorite later era designs like the Grand Titan, Albatross, Fafnir, and Devastator* even if I expect the earlier designs listed above to be next in the queue.
Update 21 October 2021: Some more of these designs have been previewed. New art of the Scorpion was in Recognition Guide 19. Anthony Scroggins has showed off the Flea, Javelin, Clint, and Devastator designs on Patreon since I posted this. Seeing the new Devastator design was especially exciting because it means we might not have to wait as long for some of the later designs as I was thinking.
Update 26 November 2021: New designs for the Charger, Quickdraw, and Rifleman IIC have been previewed on Patreon during the past few weeks, so I’m marking them with an asterisk.
Update 11 March 2022: New designs for the Goliath and Pouncer have been previewed off this list. Previews have also been shown for the Penetrator, Sagittaire, Wraith, and Starslayer from later TROs.
Update 1 May 2022: With the recent update on upcoming releases and photos from KerenskyCon, we’ve now seen the Hermes II and some vehicles. We also know which products will have some of the miniatures and that a lot of them will be part of a new Kickstarter this fall.
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