House Marik: The Free Worlds League

News Archive

Available on this page is our archive of previous news articles. Please feel free to read through them. Please note, however, that we keep only the ten most recent news articles in our archive. Older articles are purged from the site due to space restrictions.

1. 8 March 2006: — Argent Fire Volume 2 Issue 1 Released
2. 1 February 2006: House Marik Exclusive — Win a Free Copy of HB:HM!
3. 12 December 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — A Foul Wind Blows!
4. 26 October 2005: BattleCorps Update — BattleShop Update!
5. 22 October 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — Kings and Pawns
6. 20 August 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — Back in Print!
7. 12 July 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — BOHICA!
8. 1 July 2005: BattleCorps Update — The Changing Face of Battle
9. 29 June 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — We have a BattleChat!
10. 7 June 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — Dawn of the Jihad
11. 1 June 2005: Email Virus Alert
12. 14 May 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — House Marik HB Previews!

8 March 2006: Argent Fire Volume 2, Issue 1 released

Well it's been but a month since the revival of Argent Fire was announced, and in good time the first issue of the newly born magazine has been produced.

This first/fifth issue contains many exciting fan-produced BattleTech related articles, including a Lyran themed painitng guide, a competition showcase, original fiction and much more besides.

This latest issue is available for download here. However it is also worth noting that subscription to Argent Fire is free, and entitles you to receive your copy of Argent Fire via e-mail.

To subscribe, simply send an email to editor@argentfire.com requesting to sign up for a free subscription. Please include your name (though this is optional) and a valid email address (this is a requirement) in the email.

1 February 2006: House Marik Exclusive — Win a Free Copy of HB:HM!

Racked by civil wars for centuries, House Marik´s Free Worlds League endured through the tenacity and diversity of its people. Now, under the strongest Captain-General in half a millennia, House Marik has stretched its wings, pushing the shadows of its influence across the Inner Sphere. Whether through its revitalized military, or an economic might that challenges even the ages-old dominance of House Steiner, the eagle soars proudly, as do the people who wave its banner.

The second in a new, dynamic Classic BattleTech® series, Handbook: House Marik™ compiles the crucial history, politics and cultures of the Inner Sphere´s first Great House. More than just a sourcebook, Handbook: House Marik includes rules for both Classic BattleTech and Classic BattleTech RPG™ campaigns, including new support vehicles, creatures, personnel weapons, life paths and more!

The above paragraph is an excerpt from Handbook: House Marik, now available in stores and online. But who wants to pay for something they can get for free? If you want a free copy of this book (you don't even pay for shipping and handling), just enter this contest. Please note the contest begins on 1 February 2006, and that entries will not be accepted before then. Read the rules before entering the contest. Please direct all questions to us via our contact page.

12 December 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — A Foul Wind Blows!

For a year, the winds of chaos have scoured the Inner Sphere, as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are used on a scale not seen since the First Succession War. Confusion reigns, and each faction finds itself isolated amid its own turmoil. All seems lost. Yet as a new decade dawns, glimpses of the greater whole begin to appear through the dark clouds. The true battle has only just begun...

Jihad Hot Spots: 3070 continues the stunning events revealed in Dawn of the Jihad, using the same rolling format and immersing readers directly in the action as never before. Players of both Classic BattleTech and Classic BattleTech RPG™ will find framework rules to run any type of campaign in regions throughout the Inner Sphere.

For those fans who are interested in the war between the Free Worlds League and the Lyran Alliance, Jihad Hot Spots: 3070 contains an extensive list of League and Lyran worlds involved in this conflict. We have included some spoilers from the upcoming book. If these are not enough to persuade you to buy the .pdf or print version, nothing will.

• Apparent confirmation that League WarShips were built with fail-safes which allowed Word of Blake personnel to commandeer them.
• The man thought to have been "Thomas Marik" has been replaced by Colonel Corrine Marik, formerly of the Second Free Worlds Legionanires (The Stygians) as Captain-General by her father, Paul Marik (Corrine fought against the Blakists during the assault on Atreus, which allowed the former Captain-General to escape into exile).
• The Word of Blake did not manage to suborn the entire Free Worlds fleet. The League Central Coordination and Command (LCCC), backed by the Word of Blake, has issued an advisory warning that the FWLS Menelaus, FWLS Lancelot, and FWLS Galahad (at the very least) remain free, and have destroyed the WoBS Xanthos (formerly the FWLS Xanthos) and WoB Impetuous (formerly the FWLS Nueva Badajoz) in a brilliant ambush.
• Alys Rousset-Marik, Duchess of Augustine, has called on her supporters to back her "uncle" (the man who impersonated Thomas Marik) after his true identiy was revealed before the communications blackout, and a unit based around the mercenary Kristen´s Krushers is waging a guerilla campaign against the Blakists within League space.
• Several units, including the Sixth Free Worlds Legionnaires (which went wholesale and formed part of the Word of Blake´s Twelfth Division), Silver Hawk Irregulars, Stewart Home Guard, and the Border Protectorate´s Steel Guard and Haemetite Guard have defected to the Word of Blake, and severed all ties with the Free Worlds military.

26 October 2005: BattleCorps Update — BattleShop Update!

The BattleCorps BattleShop has now added a selection of Fighting Pirannha Graphics High Quality Waterslide Decals!

These 19 Factions (one for each member faction on BattleCorps.com) plus the Chaos Irregulars are available for purchase by members and non-members. In addition, for BattleCorps.com members only, we have BattleCorps.com decals! Now you can add the Official BattleCorps logo to your regimental mini!

Also, we have faction Badges so you can show your faction pride at your next game!

Here are quick links to each of the main sections!

• PDFs
• Decals
• Miniatures
• Sourcebooks
• HeavyMetal Software
• Novels
• Resin Models
• Faction Badges
• T-Shirts
• Posters & Maps

22 October 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — Kings and Pawns

The FanPro Commandos are on a roll! Ray completed the Kings and Pawns scenario packs! If you don´t know what Kings and Pawns is, read on...

Kings and Pawns, the Battle for Hall, is a set of three scenarios detailing the battles between the Allied Mercenary Command forces of the Third Dismal Disinherited (Johns´ Hostile Hellraisers) and Burton´s Brigade against the combined forces of Hall's de facto ruler, "Emperor" William Baranov, which includes the remnants of the former FedCom´s Fourth Tikonov Republican Guard, the Stealthy Tigers mercenary command, and the Free Worlds League´s Fourth Oriente Hussars.

Kings and Pawns is a three-part scenario detailing the events of Hall, which historians would later consider the opening shots of the Word of Blake Jihad. Played at many locations at once, the Kings and Pawns scenarios were the latest Commando canon event.

The campaign PDF is available for download at Classic BattleTech.com from the Downloads page:

• King and Pawns Print Version .PDF - 3,477 KB
• King and Pawns Screen Version.PDF - 1,546 KB

If you never had a chance to check these out before, grab them now! Even if you can´t play them, they're a great read. Enjoy!

20 August 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — Back in Print!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the boys and girls from BattleCorps have pulled it off. Hopefully some time in 2006, we can expect to find CBT fiction back in print! Check out the link for all the information that's currently available.

Also available today is the BattleChat Randall [Bills] put together before he left for GenCon. Find out the latest and greatest of the various products currently under developement here!

12 July 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — BOHICA!

BOHICA

Slang — Ancient Terran military acronym meaning "Bend Over, Here it Comes Again!" Commonly used by infantrymen to warn friendly forces of incoming enemy fire. Also the name of a bar in Chicago, Illinois.

We have incoming! First on the list is the latest panel from the upcoming Handbook: House Marik — the 960,000 metric ton Thera class super-carrier, the pride of the Free Worlds fleet. The cover panel is available as a free download at Classic BattleTech´s Desktop Downloads page.

Next we have two new official BattleTech sites, one in Dutch and the other in Swiss. They are www.battletech.nl and www.borantech.ch. The latter was designed by one of our own forum members, so please be sure to check it out and give the site designers a stein of lager or Timbiqui Dark — especially Direktor_Andreijew for his dedication to designing the official Swiss BattleTech Web site.

Randall Bills has also released another BattleChat! In this month´s edition, he discusses briefly the upcoming Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade. Currently scheduled for release next spring, TRO 3050U will contain new artwork (along the same lines as the artwork that was commissioned for TRO 3055U) of the Inner Sphere BattleMechs, and Clan OmniMechs, along with never-before seen insights into these designs, including battle histories and notable pilots. The Clan OmniMechs will also include details about "their development in the Clans, predecessor ´Mechs, notable Clan battles and so on." Take a look at what he has to say this month (please note, the following was written by Randall Bills in his July 2005 BattleChat):

Technical Readout: Vehicle Annex

This is going to be a very different and unusual Technical Readout. Why, you might ask? Well, all the units in this book will be constructed using either the Support Vehicle Construction Rules (from Combat Equipment), the exoskeleton portion of the Battle Armor Construction rules (from Classic BattleTech Companion), or the IndustrialMech Construction rules (from Classic BattleTech Miniatures Rules). That´s why pretty much all civilian vehicles, or military support vehicles. Of course I believe that will actually be one of its selling points, as it will provide a visual and text-based holistic slice of the universe as never-before-shown; yep, it will include a section on both exeskeletons and IndustrialMechs (check next month's BattleChat for the outline).

From the moment I conceived this book, I thought of it more as a companion to the universe, than necessarily a companion to the board game. While all of the units can be used in combat, I seriously doubt most people will use them in that fashion. For example, while all the units in Technical Readout: 3057, Revised can be used in combat, I'm willing to bet the majority of people don´t use most of them that way. Instead, it is the fictional content of 3057 that, in general, makes it work for so many people. When I first picked 3057 up back in 1994, I was blown away by how much pure universe information was in each entry. In place of an endless description of the 'unit can do this, and mounts this and so on,' 3057 provided details of the history behind a unit. Often it even described the history of the faction at that moment and what was occurring that led to the development of a given unit. Each entry practically became a small short story around which the universe blossomed and expanded, growing more real.

With that in mind, here´s a first draft I put together to use as a rough example for the authors: see the attached landtrain sketch I based this off of; next BattleChat I'll show the final art for this piece, along with a rough lay out template (i.e. how it will appear in the book) and a new series of sketches to show the cool breadth and depth of this unique product.

Battle Value System 2.0

Maximum Tech, published in 1997 (wow, can't believe it's been that long), presented to the players the Battle Value System. While I think it is a testament to the strength of the system over all that even after half a decade, most players (that I've seen on-line, or at conventions and so on) still use the system, it has its weaknesses.

With that in mind, I've begun work on a Battle Value System 2.0, which will address such weaknesses that have appeared over the years through constant play.

The following is a list of potential problems that are under review for possible revision (this is only addressing ground based units; once the system is refined for ground based units, I'll tackle aerospace units). Whether all of these areas will be adjusted, or not, and in what form, is up to the play testing that will start shortly and continue through at least the beginning of next year. This also is not meant to be comprehensive list at this time; other issues may arise as heavy play testing begins, but it is a solid start.

In the coming months, as appropriate, I'll update with play testing commentary, whether other issues have been solved and so on.

1. Armor is both undervalued, while rear armor is overvalued.
2. Light/XL engines appear to be undervalued in how much they should subtract from a 'Mech's defensive value.
3. As jumping replaces running movement, the two should not be correlated when determining the Speed Factor, but should be taken into account separately.
4. Heat. There are several issues with how heat is generated, in particular the 'flamer effect.'
5. Overlapping weapon systems. There is a suggestion that some units (such as the Penetrator) have overlapping weapon systems to the extent that the unit as a whole is undervalued. i.e. a given unit has very potent long range weaponry that it can fire continually without heat issues, then similarly potent short range weaponry that it can fire continually without heat issues once it has closed to target (you almost never fire both together).
6. It has been suggested that the battle value system take into account the angle of coverage of a weapon; i.e. a weapon in the arm (especially if both arms can flip) is much more potent than a weapon mounted in the torso for how much area it can cover.
7. It has been suggested that the most effective units are those with equal defensive and offensive values. The further these two values diverge, the less effective the unit.
8. Ammo is too valued.
9. The C3 system appears to be undervalued.
10. Targeting Computers appear to be undervalued.
11. Vehicles appear to be undervalued in comparison to BattleMechs.
12. It has been pointed out that Gunnery Skill has no effect on Defensive Battle Value and so should only be applied to the Offensive Battle Rating.
13. It has also been pointed out that the interaction between Gunnery and Target Computer is much more complicated than the current straight modifier. i.e. modifying a 1 gunnery to a 0 will likely have no effect at short range (as it is likely an auto hit anyways), but at long range could have the effect of doubling the chance of hitting.
14. Off-board artillery, minefield, aerospace strafing and bombing (as stand alone effects, not actual aerospace fighters) and so forth need to have battle values assigned to them.
15. The rules from Operation Stiletto should be included to account for differing number of units in two opposing forces.
16. All extent maps should be given a modifier, which will apply to a given unit based upon its various movement capabilities; players can be instructed to use the given modifiers as examples when using constructed terrain, or their own unique maps to generate said modifiers.

1 July 2005: BattleCorps Update — The Changing Face of Battle

In 3055, a new breed of Inner Sphere BattleMech started rolling off assembly lines—'Mechs specifically designed to counter the Clan invasion—at the same time that second-line Clan 'Mechs began to appear. Now, twelve years later, those designs have become a staple of the modern battlefield, giving rise to notable MechWarriors and new variants, while the demands of the ever-popular Solaris VII Games have resulted in a plethora of new dueling ’Mechs designed using prototype technology.

Classic BattleTech Technical Readout: 3055 Upgrade presents, for the first time, 'Mechs built using technology from Maximum Tech, Revised and MapPack: Solaris VII. Upgraded in appearance and technology, the designs first presented in the Solaris VII box set and Solaris: The Reaches are now back in print, along with several new Solaris VII designs. In addition to the upgraded appearance of selected Clan designs, all the art work for Technical Readout: 3055 Upgrade is new, providing fresh illustrations of now-classic Inner Sphere BattleMechs and Clan OmniFighters.

The 'Mechs in the Solaris VII BattleMechs section of this book are constructed using select equipment found in Maximum Tech, Revised and MapPack: Solaris VII. To use those designs, players will need the appropriate book.

Purchase an electronic copy of TRO: 3055 Upgrades now at BattleCorps!

29 June 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — We have a BattleChat!

After four long months, ClassicBattleTech.com has finally published a new BattleChat. This month's edition covers Dawn of the Jihad, Interstellar Players, Handbook: House Marik, as well as Technical Readouts 3055 and 3058 Upgrades.

Handbook: House Davion was supposed to be released at GenCon 2005, but due to production difficulties, it will not be available until September. However, and this is excellent news for fans of the Free Worlds, Handbook: House Marik will be available at GenCon. The PDF copy of the House Marik Handbook should be available for sale through BattleCorps sometime in July.

So head over to CBT and read Randall's latest BattleChat, then discuss it on the forums!

7 June 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — Dawn of the Jihad

Pandora's Box Revealed!

Two centuries in the making, November 3067 sees the culmination of work begun by Primus Conrad Toyama of ComStar, successor to Jerome Blake and the man singly responsible for turning ComStar into a pseudo-religious organization with a vision: to lead mankind to the light... by any means necessary.

With the dissolution of the Star League, a shadowy power behind the fanatical and secretive Word of Blake pulls the strings taunt in righteous anger, launching a war to bring humanity to its knees.

But amidst the chaos and confusion swirling across a thousand light years all it not as it appears. Friend becomes foe and today's truth is the falsehoods of tomorrow. Can the Inner Sphere survive the opening of ComStar's box of secrets?

Dawn of the Jihad hammers and shakes the Classic BattleTech® universe to its foundation, describing the opening year in a decade's long struggle for the very survival of humanity. The series of events presented in this book unfold in a rolling format, allowing readers to immerse directly into the action as never before. Players of both Classic BattleTech and Classic BattleTech RPG™ will also find framework rules to run almost any type of campaign set in this chaotic time.

1 June 2005: Email Virus Alert

It has been brought to our attention that spammers have been using our Web site to send fake emails to individuals informing them that their accounts have been suspended due to security reasons. It is our stated policy not to send email notices from this Web site regarding security notices to our forum members and our guests.

Due to the recent "outbreak" of spammers spoofing our site by using non-existant email addresses, we are asking anyone who has received an email to forward a copy of any and all emails they may receive to us via our contact page.

We will read each and every virus report we receive, and will be cooperating with our attorneys and law enforcement officials to bring suit and criminal charges against anyone we catch defaming our Web site's character and reputation. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

Thank you.

14 May 2005: Classic BattleTech Update — House Marik HB Previews!

Racked by civil wars for centuries, House Marik´s Free Worlds League endured through the tenacity and diversity of its people. Now, under the strongest Captain-General in half a millennia, House Marik has stretched its wings, pushing the shadows of its influence across the Inner Sphere. Whether through its revitalized military, or an economic might that challenges even the ages-old dominance of House Steiner, the eagle soars proudly, as do the people who wave its banner.

The second in a new, dynamic Classic BattleTech® series, Handbook: House Marik™ compiles the crucial history, politics and cultures of the Inner Sphere´s first Great House. More than just a sourcebook, Handbook: House Marik includes rules for both Classic BattleTech and Classic BattleTech RPG™ campaigns, including new support vehicles, creatures, personnel weapons, life paths and more!

Slated for release in June 2005, Handbook: House Marik promises to deliver, and more.  Already, desktop wallpapers are available at FanPro's Official Classic BattleTech Web site, along with a .pdf file copy of the full book cover available for download.  While the artwork is more than impressive, the title of the first wallpaper piece is incorrect.  The unit depicted is the Free Worlds Guards, not the Free Worlds Legionnaires.  Both the Guards and the Legionnaires use a white paint scheme, but while the Guards use the purple and gold highlights along with the heraldic shield, the Legionnaires use purple and green highlights on their equipment.  It is our hope that this error will corrected as soon as possible.