I'm with you on the single packs, or the All painted or none painted. Some of use aren't great at painting, so if this is a stint to raise the price by 20 I'm kinda meh about it.
If you play classic, that coolant truck comes with a fluid gun and you can use special rules in Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules to basically use it as a fire truck dropping mech heat levels. Some guy did this with a pair of trucks and a Malice that would cook itself every turn firing everything but it refused to die to enemy fire because of modular armor.
Loving the regular force pack releases so far, and I think the prepaints are pretty well done. At the very least, they look good enough to open the box and put that mini down on the table, ready to go
I think fully painted box would meet that niche better. I’d buy them just for the ease of using them on my channel especially for forces I don’t wanna paint up but would play. Same reason I liked XWING minis.
I think there are probably a large contingent of players who will still enjoy getting a pre-painted mech, since it may be at a quality level that they're not yet experienced enough to produce on their own. I passed on it when I saw it at GenCon, but that was more because I have a big pile of unpainted plastic already, and more incoming from the KS.
I think a larger number would have been more excited about a fully painted box vs not. Those same people excited about them being pre painted would likely be excited about not having to worry about painting minis to match (especially the first box).
I actually really like the pre-painted minis, but you're right they need to be their own thing. They just won't match the paint jobs I do with others in the same unit so I need to repaint anyways.
The coolant truck is part of a second "objective set" requiring the purchase the next two Star League boxes to complete: A J-27 ammo carrier and a Savior Recovery & Repair vehicle. That will give players a Battlemech Field Support unit.
Hard agree that it would be better to sell fully painted or unpainted packs, this mix and match is frustrating everyone. If you hate painting you still don't have more than 1 model painted, if you want to paint you are spending more for more work.
As a very novice painter, I don’t mind getting a painted mini, especially of a character I know and generally like from the books. But yes, selling painted minis separately would make more sense.
They got the right idea but I think if they primed every miniature in either a basic color or a color that matches the unit that the box it is focusing on. It would be a lot better 4 matching the colors and is a good baseline to start working on other techniques such as highlights glazing pin washing and other things.
Its a bit lazy & cheap tbh, Other named characters have there own cards, e.g. Natasha Kerensky, has her data card front and special rules on the back. Tyra Miraborg has the faction logo and special rules on the back of her Shilone card. What If you want to run Sun Zu and Victor? have to flip the card and risk wiping off damage makers. They are selling it as a premium product but you can see where they tried to skimp on the cost. Yes I know you can print your own but should you have to for a "premium" product?
Are they raising the price of the boxes *because of the prepainted mini that nobody wants? Also no alpha strike cards for some of the mechs included? Catalyst is unfortunately moving in the wrong direction with these seemingly random decisions
@@ObiwanNekody ok cool. Kinda goofy that you wouldn't be able to play with all these mechs at the same time, but better than not having a card at all I guess
I do agree whole heartedly that it would be nice to have the backsplash be a removeable placard opposed to cutting the box apart. Seeing already painted minis is cool. Agreement in that it really should be a stand alone thing and not forced in a pack.
Agreed, painted mech is an unnecessary cost to me. I'm going to scrape the mold lines off then brush liquid glue over the area and smooth it out. I'm sure it would be impossible to salvage the remaining paint job after that. Unpainted mech option would be nice.
I like the painted 'mechs. BUT what they should be doing is including a 'painting guide' card that at least tells you the relevant Army Painter colors (who they have partnered with for the paint sets). This would be a slam dunk.
Details depending on the tooling. We can do higher detail with less models in the tooling. But then the price goes up. Hard part about having PVC vs HIPS.
Over all this is a very solid pack. Emperor is a Capellan assault which they kind of need Helios is solid and Argus is one of my favorite Davion cavalry mechs. Victors Prometheus is the one painted mech I want to be painted. Hate doing checker patterns admittedly.
Having to pay extra for a pre-painted mini when I would just strip it and paint it myself is going to prevent me from getting these forcepacks. I already avoided buying the Star League Command Lance pack in favor of just buying the Phoenix Hawk individually. Yes, it was worse value for me getting the one mech from a seller that broke them out of the pack, but it just annoys the crap out of me to pay extra for pre-painted minis. And I really don't need more Assault mechs on top of that.
I didn't even bother stripping the Orion, just primed right over it. It's not even really "painted" so much as the bulk of it was colored plastic with some details filled in with different colors.
Thank you for your review! An excellent job, as always. “CT” is cargo transport. I am not a fan of the pre-paints in the slightest. If I do not run that faction, but need the unit, I now have a unit that I have to put extra work into to put on the table. Hell, even if I do run the faction, there is no guarantee that it will match the color/quality/paint scheme of my stuff. The only way I would conceivably want pre-paints is if I could pick the units and the scheme they were painted in (but that would be prohibitive $$$). I am also not a fan of the double-sided “hero” cards. Even though, just being honest, I would never deploy VD as anything but target practice. Also, I believe it shows a significant amount of bias that you would have a 2nd Star League force pack and not have the ‘Mech of the literal First Lord be the pre-paint. I am not a fan of the AS cards in the box in the first place. When there are adjustments to the MUL, it can completely invalidate a card because of PV change. The only cool thing about them is being able to learn the skills of personalities within the universe (I have been playing for just short of 30 years and never knew Sun Tzu was a 5G/4P. I do not mean for this to come off so negative, but I have to be honest. What I do know is that I will be looking for the Emperor and coolant truck as single miniatures on Fortress, as those are the only two I want.
Between the pre-painted Dire Wolf and the missing Emperor card this box was a bit of miss. The Emperor sculpt is disappointing. The -1A redesign Iron Wind Metals sells is significantly better looking.
Get yourself Mechfactory, the advantage of CBT is , that you can describe the mechs a bit better. The chunky gun on the Helios is a Gauss,the Shoulder"Guns" are SRM6 Launchers. The Argus has a Rotary AC5 and an LRM. The Emperor 2 LBX10 (Arms) and two large Lasers. Victor has an UAC20 and 3 Clan Large Pulse as Main guns
Gotta agree about the pre painted mini: the paint job isn't great and I'd rather have an unpainted Dire Wolf. That paint job is nowhere near as good as the Orion from the first pack...
honestly id rather them not include any of the alpha strike and weird pilot cards with skills and stuff - first things to go in the trash when i open a new forcepack just before the packaging itself. the prepainted dire wolf looks dope af tho
As someone who runs events I’ve seen players first hand buy a box and then immediately start playing because they have cards. The MUL takes time to get used to. The pilot cards though could absolutely go, I don’t think anyone uses those in classic and they are useless for AS.
I agree. The Daishi paint job isn't awesome. I liked the Orion better. I'm a fan of the Argus. Just looks cool and yes not ideal for the Emperor to be on the back of the Daishi for AS. I think if they want the prepainted to be picked up, it has to improve vastly. I personally, would rather it come unpainted. The actual sculpt is great though.
Second Star League - this is when Steiner-Davion tried to claim they were a star league united against the clan invasion and he salvaged one for himself
I don't mind the single pre painted mech. I don't think I'd ever paint a force pack in a single color scheme instead of mixing and matching across packs. So, having 1 painted hero mech is fine for me.
Man, I have been looking for the Battletech Second Star League Assault Lance force pack and now that we’re in the 3rd the next box. Anyone know when these will be available?
This pack is very meh for me. I'm indifferent to the prepainted minis, but don't like having to pay a premium for it, and the only mech from the box I'm really looking forward to is the Emperor.
I was going to be OK with the prepainted mini even though I didn’t really want that …. But then the whole sneaking the emperor on the opposite side so you have less variants? No thank you. I am going to pass on this lance and wait to see what they do with the other boxes that are forthcoming.
You don't need to strip them, just prime over. The Orion in the command lance was mostly just colored plastic and what paint there was wasn't so thick that it would make any kind of notable difference.
Charging us an extra $5 for prepainted minis that absolutely no one wanted still pisses me off. Completely agree that they should have been a separate product.
I confirmed after the video because I couldn’t remember. I paid $40 for this box. So keep that in mind when listening to my review.
all the pre painted minis will be and are available in other force packs unpainted...at least that's what they said when the announced them
I'm with you on the single packs, or the All painted or none painted. Some of use aren't great at painting, so if this is a stint to raise the price by 20 I'm kinda meh about it.
100% agree painted mechs in solo boxes would be nice
If you play classic, that coolant truck comes with a fluid gun and you can use special rules in Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules to basically use it as a fire truck dropping mech heat levels. Some guy did this with a pair of trucks and a Malice that would cook itself every turn firing everything but it refused to die to enemy fire because of modular armor.
I am not sure the price point is right for me for the pre-painted Daishi.
Loving the regular force pack releases so far, and I think the prepaints are pretty well done. At the very least, they look good enough to open the box and put that mini down on the table, ready to go
I think fully painted box would meet that niche better. I’d buy them just for the ease of using them on my channel especially for forces I don’t wanna paint up but would play. Same reason I liked XWING minis.
@@Thearmedpainter that actually makes more sense, yeah. By faction maybe - a whole lance of prepainted Davion Guards, for example
I think there are probably a large contingent of players who will still enjoy getting a pre-painted mech, since it may be at a quality level that they're not yet experienced enough to produce on their own. I passed on it when I saw it at GenCon, but that was more because I have a big pile of unpainted plastic already, and more incoming from the KS.
I think a larger number would have been more excited about a fully painted box vs not. Those same people excited about them being pre painted would likely be excited about not having to worry about painting minis to match (especially the first box).
Even if I wanted to keep that livery, I could not paint my other mechs to match it. Into the isopropanol bath it goes.
The Emperor looks kinda like a Pacific Rim jaeger to me.
I actually really like the pre-painted minis, but you're right they need to be their own thing. They just won't match the paint jobs I do with others in the same unit so I need to repaint anyways.
The coolant truck is part of a second "objective set" requiring the purchase the next two Star League boxes to complete: A J-27 ammo carrier and a Savior Recovery & Repair vehicle. That will give players a Battlemech Field Support unit.
Hard agree that it would be better to sell fully painted or unpainted packs, this mix and match is frustrating everyone. If you hate painting you still don't have more than 1 model painted, if you want to paint you are spending more for more work.
As a very novice painter, I don’t mind getting a painted mini, especially of a character I know and generally like from the books. But yes, selling painted minis separately would make more sense.
I was a big fan of XWING minis. If these were up to that quality I’d have been happier with them as well.
They got the right idea but I think if they primed every miniature in either a basic color or a color that matches the unit that the box it is focusing on. It would be a lot better 4 matching the colors and is a good baseline to start working on other techniques such as highlights glazing pin washing and other things.
The Dire Wolf and the Emperor 'Mech cards are both for named characters. I can see now why they were sharing a card.
Its a bit lazy & cheap tbh, Other named characters have there own cards, e.g. Natasha Kerensky, has her data card front and special rules on the back. Tyra Miraborg has the faction logo and special rules on the back of her Shilone card. What If you want to run Sun Zu and Victor? have to flip the card and risk wiping off damage makers. They are selling it as a premium product but you can see where they tried to skimp on the cost. Yes I know you can print your own but should you have to for a "premium" product?
Are they raising the price of the boxes *because of the prepainted mini that nobody wants? Also no alpha strike cards for some of the mechs included? Catalyst is unfortunately moving in the wrong direction with these seemingly random decisions
@@elementz301 the missing alpha strike card was on the back of the painted mech's card.
@@ObiwanNekody ok cool. Kinda goofy that you wouldn't be able to play with all these mechs at the same time, but better than not having a card at all I guess
Spot on about the painted mechs. Also, shared Alpha Strike cards are absolutely maddening!
I do agree whole heartedly that it would be nice to have the backsplash be a removeable placard opposed to cutting the box apart. Seeing already painted minis is cool. Agreement in that it really should be a stand alone thing and not forced in a pack.
I really like the Argus
Agreed, painted mech is an unnecessary cost to me. I'm going to scrape the mold lines off then brush liquid glue over the area and smooth it out. I'm sure it would be impossible to salvage the remaining paint job after that. Unpainted mech option would be nice.
I like the painted 'mechs. BUT what they should be doing is including a 'painting guide' card that at least tells you the relevant Army Painter colors (who they have partnered with for the paint sets). This would be a slam dunk.
C3BSS is C3 that isn't blocked by ECM
Thanks! I hadn’t seen that one before.
Details depending on the tooling. We can do higher detail with less models in the tooling. But then the price goes up. Hard part about having PVC vs HIPS.
Great unboxing! Looking forward to more videos.
Over all this is a very solid pack. Emperor is a Capellan assault which they kind of need Helios is solid and Argus is one of my favorite Davion cavalry mechs. Victors Prometheus is the one painted mech I want to be painted. Hate doing checker patterns admittedly.
I mean they got a couple assault options already. Like the Pillager when that comes out to retail.
Question for the group. Do you clean your mold lines with a blade or a file?
I use a blade, I’ve got a video about cleaning mold lines.
Having to pay extra for a pre-painted mini when I would just strip it and paint it myself is going to prevent me from getting these forcepacks. I already avoided buying the Star League Command Lance pack in favor of just buying the Phoenix Hawk individually. Yes, it was worse value for me getting the one mech from a seller that broke them out of the pack, but it just annoys the crap out of me to pay extra for pre-painted minis. And I really don't need more Assault mechs on top of that.
Same for me. I'll be picking up the 3 other mechs as singles.
I didn't even bother stripping the Orion, just primed right over it. It's not even really "painted" so much as the bulk of it was colored plastic with some details filled in with different colors.
I'm really only wanting the Emperor out of that pack, the Dire Wolf paint job is okay I guess but I'd rather paint it myself.
These paint jobs are like when a car dealer puts pinstripes on a new car and wants to charge you $100 extra.
What is the best way to handle repainting the Prometheus? Is airbrushing over it okay, or is stripping the only real option?
You could probably clean the mold lines and prime over it reasonably.
I think the Helios is my favorite of the bunch. Best glow up.
Thank you for your review! An excellent job, as always.
“CT” is cargo transport.
I am not a fan of the pre-paints in the slightest. If I do not run that faction, but need the unit, I now have a unit that I have to put extra work into to put on the table. Hell, even if I do run the faction, there is no guarantee that it will match the color/quality/paint scheme of my stuff. The only way I would conceivably want pre-paints is if I could pick the units and the scheme they were painted in (but that would be prohibitive $$$).
I am also not a fan of the double-sided “hero” cards. Even though, just being honest, I would never deploy VD as anything but target practice. Also, I believe it shows a significant amount of bias that you would have a 2nd Star League force pack and not have the ‘Mech of the literal First Lord be the pre-paint.
I am not a fan of the AS cards in the box in the first place. When there are adjustments to the MUL, it can completely invalidate a card because of PV change. The only cool thing about them is being able to learn the skills of personalities within the universe (I have been playing for just short of 30 years and never knew Sun Tzu was a 5G/4P.
I do not mean for this to come off so negative, but I have to be honest. What I do know is that I will be looking for the Emperor and coolant truck as single miniatures on Fortress, as those are the only two I want.
Solid critique and I don’t think you were overly negative :)
Between the pre-painted Dire Wolf and the missing Emperor card this box was a bit of miss. The Emperor sculpt is disappointing. The -1A redesign Iron Wind Metals sells is significantly better looking.
I found the card, technically, they just saw fit to put it in the back of another which is weird to me.
@@Thearmedpainter I saw that, but the fact that there is no "Generic" version is disappointing
Emperor looks like Hulk Smash!
I gave up stripping the orion after trying for a month, and the plastic itself was colored all along? wow.
Get yourself Mechfactory, the advantage of CBT is , that you can describe the mechs a bit better. The chunky gun on the Helios is a Gauss,the Shoulder"Guns" are SRM6 Launchers. The Argus has a Rotary AC5 and an LRM. The Emperor 2 LBX10 (Arms) and two large Lasers. Victor has an UAC20 and 3 Clan Large Pulse as Main guns
Gotta agree about the pre painted mini: the paint job isn't great and I'd rather have an unpainted Dire Wolf. That paint job is nowhere near as good as the Orion from the first pack...
honestly id rather them not include any of the alpha strike and weird pilot cards with skills and stuff - first things to go in the trash when i open a new forcepack just before the packaging itself. the prepainted dire wolf looks dope af tho
As someone who runs events I’ve seen players first hand buy a box and then immediately start playing because they have cards. The MUL takes time to get used to.
The pilot cards though could absolutely go, I don’t think anyone uses those in classic and they are useless for AS.
@@Thearmedpainter they go in the trash for me because they are useless for Classic lol
all painted or none. Then buyer has a choice.
It really annoys me that they advertised the coolant truck as bonus, but it just makes the price go up.
I agree. The Daishi paint job isn't awesome. I liked the Orion better.
I'm a fan of the Argus. Just looks cool and yes not ideal for the Emperor to be on the back of the Daishi for AS. I think if they want the prepainted to be picked up, it has to improve vastly. I personally, would rather it come unpainted. The actual sculpt is great though.
If it was on par for XWING minis in quality they’d have a money printing machine.
Did the Dire Wolf exist during the SLDF? I thought that was exclusively a Clan mech.
Second Star League - this is when Steiner-Davion tried to claim they were a star league united against the clan invasion and he salvaged one for himself
This forcepack is a Second Star league set, representing the reborn Star League of the late 3050s-3067.
@@timunderbakke8756 Victor got that Daishi during the Clan Invasion, it was a gift from Wolf's Dragoons at the end of the Outreach Summit.
That probably explains the colors as well.
I don't mind the single pre painted mech. I don't think I'd ever paint a force pack in a single color scheme instead of mixing and matching across packs. So, having 1 painted hero mech is fine for me.
First! I'm not crazy about the pre-painted mechs since they are unlikely to be painted for the faction I'll be using them for.
It was sealed! Promise i didn't steal the Emperor card!!!
The Emperor is on back of the Daishi!
lol I found it later on in the video 😂
Man, I have been looking for the Battletech Second Star League Assault Lance force pack and now that we’re in the 3rd the next box. Anyone know when these will be available?
Id keep an eye out for Fortress, hopefully he'll have them soon! =)
how tall is the Diashi model?
Approximately 2-3iches tall. Without a ruler on hand that’s my best guess and I’m currently at work :)
I think a painted solo mech would work, then you wouldn't be forced into it for the others. People would still buy them.
When you didn't find card for Emperor I was hoping they didn't do what they did in the AGOAC Box (Battlemaster and Awesome). :(
Where can we purchase one of these?
I’m not sure when they will be available:/
This pack is very meh for me. I'm indifferent to the prepainted minis, but don't like having to pay a premium for it, and the only mech from the box I'm really looking forward to is the Emperor.
100% the Dire Wolf will get repainted when I'm able to buy the box in the EU. I like the sculpt, but I'm no fan of the pre-painted minis.
Doing only 1 mech seems wierd. All or nothing would be better and I agree that salvage boxes with painted mechs makes more sense than this.
The thing that bothers me the most is the price creep. That's a crazy price!
Is it possible that's two cards stuck together? I once had a couple cards stuck together so perfectly I though I was missing a once.
Great review and wow that blue one is disappointing.
Not a fan of pre painted. I prefer to use my own patterns, especially using a “mercenary” lance.
PROMETHEUS GIVE ME FIRE!!!!
I was going to be OK with the prepainted mini even though I didn’t really want that …. But then the whole sneaking the emperor on the opposite side so you have less variants? No thank you.
I am going to pass on this lance and wait to see what they do with the other boxes that are forthcoming.
Cards need to be unique per mech.
Commenting for algorithm.
I really dislike the pre-painted mechs. Paint-stripping minis is a royal pain.
You don't need to strip them, just prime over. The Orion in the command lance was mostly just colored plastic and what paint there was wasn't so thick that it would make any kind of notable difference.
@@wolfehoffmann2697 - that's useful to know. If they'll take a coat of primer without issue, I could certainly live with that.
Argus is definitely the star here, I picked up two at Gencon myself.
I picked this pack up. Wasn't impressed by the paint job. Not nearly as good as the Kerensky Orion.
Why a truck in a mech pack! Put that in something else! Give me stompy robot.
Charging us an extra $5 for prepainted minis that absolutely no one wanted still pisses me off. Completely agree that they should have been a separate product.