I honestly didn’t think IWM could be more irrelevant, but here’s proving me wrong!

I dont see how - a Star League era ship when one of the major rulessets in the works is the one that folds Battlespace, Battleforce, and all the other bits of rules for a strategic level game. Saying IWM is irrelevant because your not interested in thier products doesnt make much sense.

Considering how many generic/universal spaceship rule sets there are out there, I don’t think any ship mini contributes towards ‘irrelevancy’.

evernevermore, let me clear up my previous statement.

IWM is currently the sole license holder to produce miniatures for Classic Battletech. Being that they hold the license, you would think that to support the game they hold the license for, they would mirror the products they make to the product set that Catalyst is currently producing. I own a game store. I also carry CBT. It is _laughable_ to try and stock minis for the game currently. When I tried to order the full compliment of mechs that were placed into the 3039 TRO, I walked away with being able to find about 1 in 9. That level of support for a miniatures game is atrocious. I don’t have the ability to order some of the most iconic designs in the game through either distribution or though IWM directly. You see, a few years back, they weeded a bunch of skus out of distro/direct sale. Now, If I want to sell them, I have to order them just like you would through the IWM site at a margin that actually _costs_ me money to put on the shelves. Of all the minis line/games i deal with (and there are MANY) this is the only miniatures company supporting a game in this fashion. I know for a fact retailers WANT to carry CBT on the quality of products Catalyst is doing. I have access to forums where retailers converge to discuss such things. Two just this week said they wouldn’t try stocking the game due to IWM.

To add more fuel to the fire, the fan funded/direct only sculpts are just one more incentive for retailers to take a pass. While it’s nice that IWM choses to focus on minis for game systems that have been OOP for YEARS, and sustain that small vocal minority…great. But as license holders for the “Classic Battletech Intellectual Property” they have made themselves hugely irrelevant. So sure, it’s a nice ship…but in the end, that’s not what CBT needs. It needs a company who will support the game, get minis out there that relate to what is in print, and supply the people who are doing a better job of supporting the game than they are.

Ive heard some of the issues with ordering IWM but I have also seen Battletech go through a massive drought and stand at the edge of oblivion before first FanPro and especially Catalyst manage to rebuild the line. As far as the iconic mechs I would think the reseen have brought them back pretty throughly. What iconic models are you talking about?

I’ll have to check with my Commando and the game store I use for minis to see how things are for them with IWM.

And sorry about the typos. Long convention weekend already here….