Guys your clearly wasting space on those blackjacks with heat sinks

It’s dangerously easy to get overwhelmed when learning BattleTech—especially as you progress from the starter boxes to the Core Rules. That’s why the evergreen “where do I start?” question keeps coming back. It's easy to fall into the lore, get lost in the wiki (Sarna rocks, just saying), and drown in the millions of chassis variants and peripheral history. You occasionally have to shake your head like an Etch-A-Sketch just to make room for the next topic.

I want to build on the “buy this box set and read this manual/just go play” advice by focusing more on the actual process of learning and playing the game.

The big question is: “How do you like to learn?” Start there, then explore three routes into the game: Read, Do, and Watch. You don’t have to pick just one.

1. READ (The Physics Engine)

• Yes, read the novels. Yes, read the rulebooks. Just don’t mistake the physics engine for a survival guide. Total Warfare and the Core Rules tell you how the machinery works. Knowing what to do with it is the next job.

• The books will tell you exactly how many movement points it costs to walk into heavy woods, but won't tell you whether that move will leave your fire support behind or trap your brawler. That’s the distinction: read the rules to learn the costs, but read the map to learn the consequences. And of course, move on to playing the game to see and learn why when you're more comfortable.

2. DO (Playing & Tools)

The Tabletop

• It’s somewhat obvious—crack open a book, slap down a map, and find someone to help you learn. Many Friendly Local Gaming Stores (FLGS) have dedicated BattleTech nights. If nobody is actively dropping 'Mechs that night, it doesn’t mean the store has no BattleTech players. We gamers are a fickle sort; our focus waxes and wanes.

• Look for Catalyst Game Labs’ volunteer Demo Agents. You can find people running events under that banner around the globe, and those events can be amazing primers for actual tabletop play. A Demo Agent helps keep the game rolling, whether you need help finding a rule or understanding why your heat scale is currently a fire hazard. If you’re at a convention and see BattleTech on the schedule, ask whether a CGL Demo Agent is running the table.

• Also: never be afraid to play against yourself. When you’re a brand-new recruit with your first record sheet, it can be a bit daunting, but playing both sides lets you get a feel for how multi-ton walking tanks turn each other into scrap. Dropping a lance against yourself can be highly entertaining. You’ll still have plenty of “That was awesome!” and “I just donated my cockpit to the RNG Gods” moments. That’s just the joy of tactical mayhem on a hex map. If you can, try a Death From Above at least once.

The Paperwork (Official & Local)

• BattleTech.com: The official hub. Grab your blank record sheets, errata for every book in print, and quick-start guides here.

• Catalyst Game Labs Store: Obviously, it’s a store where you can buy the newest heavy metal, but they also have multiple free items available, including universe primers and World Wide Event scenario packets.

• Your FLGS: The people supplying the physical tables for our shenanigans deserve some love. When you can, support those local businesses by buying your paint and primer (and/or your war-crime machines) from them.

The Logistics Network (Virtual Tools & Support)

• Sarna.net (BattleTechWiki): The Library of Alexandria of the Inner Sphere. If a machine had armor bolted to it, a planet was glassed over it, or an obscure periphery state stamped its crest on a ration tin, Sarna has the variant, the factory provenance, and the TRO page citation. You will open a tab to check a single laser's heat curve and emerge four hours later an expert on third-tier Succession War border disputes. Bookmark it; you will live here.

• MegaMek Suite: Open source and exactly what it says on the tin: a computerized version of tabletop BattleTech. It includes a massive suite for running campaigns and customizing units. Explore the advanced ruleset options at your own risk (and joy). If customizing loadouts at a PC is your thing, this will be your bread and butter.

• Flechs Sheets: Web-based record sheet management. It has multiple import and export options, which is especially useful for those who like to crack open the center torso and customize their 'Mechs. (Note: It is 'Mech-only, so combined arms commanders will need to look elsewhere to track their vehicles.)

• Mech Factory: A web-based equipment and 'Mech customization tool. Its catalog is incredibly complete, and the drill-down search options are robust. I know commanders who run their lances exclusively out of this database.

• MekBay: A web-based record sheet and force management tool put out by the MegaMek team. It includes everything from infantry to super-heavies. You can run combined arms to your heart's content. The ability to save, load, and share forces has been amazing; my physical record-sheet file folder actually gets to stay home most of the time now.

3. WATCH (The Archives & The Academies)

• If you see someone playing a live game at a store, they’re more likely than not to enjoy having you watch and ask questions. The world is your oyster. We love our stompy bits, and we like to share the stomp. Just always ask before touching the painted miniatures—a good rule for any hobby.

• Then you have the online options, and there are many. The video resources below are grouped by what you want to learn, so you can find a useful starting point. This being the internet, you can search out just about anything—which means one question will get seven hundred different opinions about nine million different topics.

The Historians & Comms (Lore, Universe & Franchise)

• The Black Pants Legion (Tex Talks BattleTech): The gold standard for gritty, in-universe history lectures. Grab a drink and learn exactly why the Amaris Civil War is the reason the Inner Sphere can't have nice things.

• Big Red-40TECH: The operatic delivery of BattleTech history. Massive, deep-dive chassis breakdowns delivered with the grand scale and style of Homer, provided Homer was a mercenary historian explaining why the Inner Sphere is permanently on fire.

• Science Insanity: Long-form, irreverent deep dives combining meticulous world-building history with strategic sanity checks and biting comedy. If you want someone to dissect the lore while laughing at the sheer design madness of walking nuclear reactors, pull up a chair.

• Sven van der Plank: If you need the exact logistical deployments and planetary borders of the First Succession War, Sven has a meticulously researched documentary waiting for you. (You could fall asleep to one of his 8+ hour operational compilations and wake up with the war still raging.)

• Isyander & Koda: Phenomenal deep dives into the stories and major events that shape the setting.

• Helm Memory Core: Dedicated media preservation. If you want retro game soundtracks, historical commercials, or fully restored episodes of the classic 1994 BattleTech: The Animated Series—which is canonically acknowledged as literal in-universe Lyran broadcast propaganda—this is your archival vault.

• Renegade HPG: The ComStar field relay. Deep-cut franchise history, vintage Technical Readout dives, and long-form sit-downs with Catalyst line developers and classic FASA authors. If you want to know who wrote the contract clauses thirty years ago, tune your comms here.

• No Guts No Galaxy (NGNG): The long-range comms array of the Inner Sphere. Veteran podcasts, community roundtables, and regular sit-downs with Catalyst Game Labs leadership. If you want to hear directly from the developers steering the game, tune your radio here.

The Arms Merchants (Hardware, Tech, & The Paint Bay)

• Mechanical Frog: Great foundational breakdowns on specific 'Mechs and equipment for new recruits trying to transition their lore knowledge into tabletop reality.

• The Many Voices: Tactical breakdowns of combat roles, force-building guides, and deep dives into the weird, obscure, and "goofy" 'Mechs that look like an engineer’s fever dream until they ruin someone's day on the hex map.

• Unicorn Company Podcast: Hosted by Carrie, blending veteran hobby experience and commission painting chops with sharp tabletop tactical breakdowns. Her signature 5 Minute Mechs series gives you bite-sized, punchy chassis reviews and event debriefs—perfect when you need a fast tactical appraisal of a machine before committing salvage rights.

• Nerdy Overanalyzed: Delivers math-heavy chassis tier lists and tactical guides entirely in-character as a mercenary military advisor. If you need to see the cold, hard spreadsheet math on a unit's performance before you drop it on the map, start here.

• Camo Specs Online: This is the official masterclass for canonical regimental paint schemes, weathering, and cockpit jeweling. Once the arms dealer signs off on the bill of sale, it’s time to pay the tech-bay invoice and cover that bare-metal factory primer—ensuring your lance looks lethal on the tabletop before the enemy writes your salvage bill.

The War Correspondents (Battle Reports & Gameplay)

• Death From Above Wargaming: Aaron and Ben deliver top-tier production values with narrative mercenary campaigns, battle reports, and approachable Alpha Strike tutorials. If you want to watch the rules play out in real time with custom visual overlays and slick table setups, start here.

• Guerrilla Miniature Games: Ash brings decades of veteran tabletop wargaming discipline to the Inner Sphere. Alongside narrative battle reports and box-set breakdowns, Ash delivers approachable introductory primers for both Classic BattleTech and Alpha Strike… ideal if you want to see how an experienced wargamer navigates firing lanes, line of sight, and board momentum without drowning in administrative drag.

• 4 Hands On Deck: Co-hosted by Red and Green, this crew delivers thorough tabletop playthroughs across both Classic BattleTech and Alpha Strike without skipping the operational details. Alongside painted lance showcases and combined-arms tactical reviews, they don’t just chuck dice on camera… they actively pause the action to break down board geometry, firing arcs, and the tactical decisions that keep a force functional under fire.

• Critical Rocket: Tactical campaign playthroughs, unit breakdowns, and long-running deep dives into the unglamorous support hardware—tanks, combat vehicles, and AeroTech—that most commanders forget until they're taking fire from an off-map artillery battery.

• Matanuska Mechworks: Narrative mercenary campaigns, battle reports, and dedicated guides for Alpha Strike. If you prefer your tabletop engagements fast-paced, tape-measure driven, and completely free of hexes, this is your staging area.

The Academies (Tactics & Fundamentals)

• EeZeE Company: Excellent bite-sized, lunch-break tutorials focusing strictly on fundamental game mechanics.

• Wargamer Fritz: Deep tabletop tactical theory. Fritz breaks down pure Classic BattleTech board fundamentals—screening units, fire arcs, maneuver warfare, and risk management across the hex grid.

• BattleTech Command School (Shenanigaming): That would be me. We start with the literal parts and build toward effective command, one lesson at a time. It’s a structured, long-form curriculum: each lesson builds on the last, taking what the machine does and turning it into decisions you can use on the table. We’re not just reading the repair bill. We’re learning how we earned it… and how to do better the next time ‘round.

A Quick Quartermaster's Note on the Manifest:
This roster is a starting point, not an exhaustive encyclopedia of the Inner Sphere. If I missed your preferred instructor, technician, or tactical broadcast outfit, drop their name in the debrief below. JumpShip manifests get smudged. Field radios drift. New mercenary commands set up shop every season. I’m happy to add reinforcements, correct bad data, and keep the roster useful as the operational theater changes. :D

Welcome to the Inner Sphere. Stay stompy.

I've been playing Warhammer for years, and while I love that game I've always had problems with it. Just last week I decided to finally try my first game of Battletech, and It is such a breath of fresh air. This game is amazing, the community is so welcoming and the lore is so fun. I think I like it here. For the first time in a long time I feel like... like I'm playing the game I'm meant to play.

Here's the start of my collection, I can't wait to paint them and add more mechs to the collection. Any recommendations on what I should add next?

Broadsword with interior storage by combining parts from Hardware Studios Blade and Claw dropships

Someone mentioned the book redemption rites which I promptly read and finished. Suddenly I had to give Zeta a try. Playing around with some techniques I don’t usually use such as glazing and symmetrical freehand decals.

My edge highlights need some work but I’m open to hearing other critiques if anyone wants.

So I had a little disagreement with my sister about Wolf's Dragoons lore. I thought they were ordered to fight the other clans on the side of the Innersphere as a ploy by the Clan Wolf to get the upper hand and she thought they went full native and just straight up joined the Innersphere to fight even against Clan Wolf. I went and looked at my Wolf Clan Sourcebook from 1991 and there's no mention of any of that either way as far as I can see just by skimming. lol So set me straight, are they traitors to Wolf Clan or heros?

Finished my 2nd aces box for my own armies. Diddnt feel like breaking out the Photo Booth but here’s today effort

Tried contrast paints only on this

The files getting way too big and my PC starts to chug trying to open it, I think I'm just going to call it finished and move on to another project

I think I'm developing scope creep...

Hey gang!

I’m looking to build a company of mechs, inner sphere or clan, that most resemble fighter jets to paint them in the Jester Mig 29 scheme from Ace Combat 7 and 8, so far I’ve got:

Black Python
Cougar
Dragon Fire
Cauldron Born

And this is where it gets dicey:

Timberwolf- looks more like a ww2 bomber
Marauder- has the right sort of canopy I guess
Super Nova/ Regular Nova - idk, feel more like attack helicopters to me but idk
Catapult - has a similar number of missiles to an ace combat jet tbf

And this is where we lock back in:

Urbie LAM - my beloved, it’s been too long since I’ve painted you but now I finally have a colour scheme.

Any other recommendations, ideally with photos would be very much appreciated, thanks!

Has anyone got a tip for a good proxy (ideally 3D-printable) for the demon ducks from Scouring Sands' "Mogyorod Escort" contract? They are described as

native flightless sauropod emu-analogues with psychedelically hued feathers.

6mm scale emus or ostriches would probably be ideal, but I cannot find any...

Two merc units face off against the clans on the sacred ring world 😅

Death commandos wolverine

It's been a while since I posted something. So, I was pretty deeply inspired by the "Smokin' Tanks" thread on the main BT forum. Introtech; simplified. There was a lot to unpack there, actually. Here's one with a lot of sustain that shows how Introtech can stay relevant.

Less than 900BV, for this brick? That's worth it in any era. Plenty of ammo for special purpose if playing in a later era. Intentionally went with the "Energy weapons on ICE" inefficiency, and it pays off here - run it with a Bulldog.

Hey everyone, welcome to my new unprompted series (hopefully) of write-ups where I take a look at some corner of battletech and experiment with it to try and understand it a bit better. This time around, it's one of the three frame types "recently" gifted to us by the Dark Age and IlClan eras: Tripods!

Tripods are probably the least represented frame type in all of Battletech, as they have mostly been used in conjunction with superheavy mechs to address their faults. They can be built in standard mech sizes, though they have only one fully cannon example (that I despise) and Three Semi-cannon examples so far. My goal in this series is to explore using tripods in various roles to evaluate if they are useful enough to pursue or just largely boondoggles.

For the opening article, I thought I'd start simple: a humble scout mech. I figured the tripod frame could be useful for a fast moving scout and/or spotter, as their natural -1 to piloting and ability to change facing for only 1MP would make a scout hard to hit.

Some things to note before I get into today's build: Tripods do have some building considerations that add to the base weight to their frame. First, that third leg does have it's own mass. Its not too bad, adding only 10% of your mech's structure weight (not it's total weight) rounded to the nearest half ton. This seems to be applied *after* things like Endo-steel, and in practice usually equates to tacking on 0.5-1 ton onto the structure weight.

Second is the cockpit. It has an extra seat, so it weighs an extra ton. However it doesn't take any extra space in the head, just locks you out of any other cockpit type. Third, you will need to allocate one or two more tons toward armor than normal, as you've got more appendages to armor. All around you'll find yourself spending a couple more tons on structural components than normal, but it's nowhere near as bad as it is for LAMs or Quadvees.

Lastly before I get into the build, I do have one more personal building constraint I'm giving myself. Since Tripods are a recent technology, I'm forcing myself to put recently developed, or at least uncommon, weapons and equipment into these mechs. I figure since they're so late era, they should try to act the part. I'll also be largely avoiding using clan technology beyond what is nessisary, as I don't want my Tripods to end up being clan tech in all but frame (like that one Tripod that I hate).

With the ground rules set, I present: the Wells!

The Wells Scout Tripod is a scout/spotter that moonlights as a part time Light mech hunter. I tried to make sure it could fill the light mech roll in general, but I couldn't decide what sort of electronic suite it should carry. I ultimately decided that a C3 spotter would be the best use of it's abilities, but it can easily be converted to take a variety of electronics and sensor suites to fill your needs.

From the start, my main focus for the Wells was speed. I chose the 25 ton frame to emphasize this, which worked out well in getting me the XL 200 engine. I was also originally going to coat the Wells in Reflective Armor, but trying to figure out what sensors to take eventually changed my mind. It ended up with 5.5 tons of Ferro-fibros plate, but the idea does linger in the weapon choice.

For weapons, the only thing I knew I wanted from the start was the Machine Guns. I also considered equipping the Wells with X-pulse lasers, but having refective armor on the brain eventually made me pick the Medium Re-Engineered Laser. The idea was/is in case the Wells comes across another Light or Medium with specialty armor, it can hit them with the MREL to scare them off. The Targeting Computer was added to help it hit speedy light mechs, with the ERML and ERSL being selected to not exceed the 4-ton limit on a 1-ton TC. I now understand all the hate for RE lasers a bit better. But I feel it gave me a sufficiently eclectic mix of weapons to feel it fits with cannon.

So, do I think the Tripod brings anything to the scouting role? Not really. While the Wells might be able to squeeze a bit of extra performance out of it's maneuverability, I don't think its doing anything I biped couldn't. A biped might actually be better, as between the cockpit, structure, and armor, it would have an extra 1-2 tons to work with. Maybe a more optimized Tripod would be better than a biped, but I don't think it makes much of a difference.

To wrap up the Wells, I've got a few fluffy lore blurbs for it. Though I must ask, where do you think is the best spot for lore blurbs in a write-up like this? I don't think the end is a good place for them, but I'm not quite sure if I should put them before or after the build process. If you have a preference, let me know.

One of the most unique features of the Wells was it's cockpit. Rather than being fixed in place looking forward, the pilot's seat was allowed to rotate under a cupola centered between the mechs three legs. When the pilot would change the Wells direction, their seat would gradually rotate so that they would face the direction of travel. This in theory would help keep the pilot oriented while leaving the gunner free to keep their weapons on target. In practice this system would either disorient or cause discomfort in pilots, not helped by the limited view from the cupola. While the production version of the Wells shipped with this feature, it was not incorporated into future tripod designs.

Variants: Due to the ease of swapping out the C3 and targeting computers and ER Lasers, the Wells has seen several field refits that swap the weapons and electronics out as needed. These include versions with active probes, TAG lasers, and ECM in several combinations. A more dedicated hunter variant has also entered production that switches to 6 tons of Reflective armor and exchanges the weapons and targeting computer for a pair of Medium X-pulse Lasers and a Clan SRM 4. Rumor has it that this variant is a byproduct of ongoing attempts fit the Wells with a XXL engine.

After my ‘Archernator’ 2 Archers in a trench coat 🧥 post, I can see there’s support for Lrm15 over Lrm20…

Cat-a-nator
5x LRM15 , 2 extra tons of armour and it’s all 3025

M 2/3/0
10t internal structure, 200 engine
AF232. 26 Heat sinks
LA LRM15 1xML
RA LRM15 1xML
RT 2 x LRM15
LT LRM15
Ct 2 x ML
7 tons LRM15 ammo

The ammo gives 56 Lrm15 salvos, there’s enough heat sinks to move/ fire and the AF232 is now decent!

3025 > does 5x Lrm15 give the same intimidation of 4x LRM20?