"A Robotech miniatures game?" Topic

There have been a couple of threads out there about this becoming a possibility, but this was on the most recent press release from Palladium Books regarding the matter:

● Rifts® (and Robotech®?) Miniatures. Carmen Bellaire and I also continue to discuss the feasibility of releasing a Rifts® and/or Robotech® miniatures game even if it's on a limited basis to start. Let us know whether you might be interested in such products.

● In addition to Carmen's efforts, Palladium has been approached by two different people about making a Robotech® miniatures game. We are currently entertaining the possibilities.

You can find the original here:

link

What's interesting is the first bullet point: "Let us know whether you might be interested in such products."

That does open the door to the possibility of official Robotech miniatures. Kevin is asking Palladium fans, and the public too, to chime about whether there is any interest in Robotech miniatures. The last thread out there shows that there is some interest:

TMP link

This fellow has even put his money where his mouth is and has had some miniatures casted for him. So the miniatures are there and Kevin is curious and is asking if the interest is really there.

Is it? I know I'm interested. I fell in love with Battletech, back in the day, because of these mecha. In fact, it was this batch of mechs that got me interested in Macross and the whole genre actually. I honestly think that one of the reasons why I lost interest in BT was because they lost the rights to the "unseen" Macross mecha… the mechs that WERE BATTLETECH from roughly 1985 to the early 90s.

It would be awesome to be able to buy miniatures of these mecha. Nice scaled, and reasonably price, models of the original Macross mecha. Heck, I would even buy the Southern Cross and New Generation mecha too (the stories were fairly lame, but the background and the mecha were cool!). I personally would fork out some of my cash (and divert, a bit, from 15mm) to build a collection of 1/300 or 1/285 scale models of these mecha.

Is there anyone else out there interested? If so, then let Palladium Books know. Perhaps enough voices out there could be what it takes to get the ball rolling. You don't have to like Palladium or Kevin either. Just tell him that you think it would be a great idea and that you would be willing to purchase the product. What you do with it then is your business really. Play the RPG, try out the miniatures rules, or fill out your unseen lances. Do whatever.

I'm going to contact Palladium Books and find out the appropriate way to let Kevin know. I'm also going to start up a thread on Palladium Book's forums about this. If you have a membership there just jump in. I'll link that thread to this one to facilitate things. I'll also report back about how to contact Kevin… I don't want us to potentially kill them with responses!

I might be wrong about this and it's just a few of us who are really interested in this.. but who knows? It would be great to get the minis and who loses there?

Like these you mean?
link

Yes, I think that's the general idea. Generally around 1/285 to maybe 1/144 scale.

There were miniatures out for these mecha in 1/285 scale but they either died out (Dark Horse) or were shut down (FASA) due to IP issues:

Google Battletech Unseen and you'll get a good idea about what was out there "once upon a time". You can still get them but be prepared to get them second hand and at $15 USD+ each. Plus the Zentraedi battle pods NEVER made it out there in this scale.

That was key (to me): masses of affordable Zentraedi.

Zero interest if Kevin is involved. Otherwise, sure…

To be more specific, I'd be open to Super Dimensional Fortress Macross/II/Plus/7/etc, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and/or Genesis Climber Mospeada miniatures.

Rifts minis would also be cool, of course, but I can already get some of those and proxy/convert the rest.

How about these:
link
Scroll down to "Mechs" Code SFP3

I would love to see them in 1/100 scale.

I would love to see them in 1/100 scale.

Go to HobbyLink Japan, click scifi, search by series for 'Macross'. Search inside those results by scale for '1/100'.

Including discontinued items, 85. link

Just remember that a 1/100 scale Battroid is ~18cm tall. Little big for most of the gaming we do.

Even 1/285 or 1/300 is a bit big, really, but I'd prefer that scale for compatibility.

Zero interest if Kevin is involved. Otherwise, sure…

Aside from his inability to write a game that doesn't suffer from hideous power-creep, what's with the hate? Palladium does have the US license for gaming in that setting, so you do need to have them involved in getting minis produced.

I'll agree, anything Simebiediadaaieada is involved with is a non-starter with me. Fall out from the (trademark) 'Crisis of Treachery' that had him sitting like a hobo with a cup rattling begging his fans for a handout rather than, I don't know, making something to actually sell.

Palladium does have the US license for gaming in that setting, so you do need to have them involved in getting minis produced.

Does it though? You've got at least three distinct settings on the Japanese end with different characters, factions, bad guys, and story lines, and then an entirely different one that is the Robotech Macekre. Unlike the other two, SDF Macross itself has a much longer run of sequels, OVAs, and source material to draw from, but SDC Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada stand on their own much better than the crap that got thrown together.

As for Kev, he's a litigious jerk who sues his fans and then turns around and begs from them. The various gaming communities would be much better off without his involvement.

As long as they're BT scale combatible and not more expensive than IWM, I'll buy robotech minis from whomever makes them.

Surely any potential licensor knows that one of the biggest markets for any line of figures is going to be BT fans. Even those who don't play anymore are going to want some of these if only for nostalgia's sake.

Zentraedi and invid all day, every day!
(even if kevin "MDC's" all over the game I can still use the minis for any number of other ones)

Zentraedi and invid all day, every day!
(even if kevin "MDC's" all over the game I can still use the minis for any number of other ones)

Indeed! Who cares about the game and so on.

We probably need Kevin's okay to move on so lets do what it takes, hold your nose if necessary, and get whatever go ahead is needed to get this product to market! Once they're out then do what you want. Use the "official" Palladium rules, use another system, make-up your own, paint them up and never game with them, leave them in your gaming closet for a decade and then drool over them…

Whatever really.

Just let the powers-that-be, who ever they are, know that this is a product that you'll buy and then buy the things.! Heck, I'm not a huge fan of Palladium and its gaming system but I would happily buy from them (or a company that gets the licence) if that means that I get Robotech mecha to game with. If that makes Kevin rich and turns Palladium into the next GW… well then, okay. More power to him and Palladium.

Otherwise, who cares! Let's get these toys to market!

Margard: Cool link. Thanks for posting that. Not quite Macross but clearly inspired by it. Also, thanks for the accidental tip to a supply of Silent Death minis!

Tgunner,
I can vouch for the EM4 Mechs (formerly known as "Steel Warriors") being nice models. You can make convincing versions of quite a few classic BT/Macross mechs. They aren't quite as nice as BT metals, but their certainly better than the plastics that come in the BT box set.

Also, EM4 is a nice company to deal with. I've had no hassles even when ordering from the USA.

Fine, lemme be explicit here: Palladium has the 'Robotech' gaming license. The easiest way to be able to talk to Big West and/or Studio Nue is to use Palladium as a contact. Frankly, the Japanese will not do business with you if there isn't a shared acquaintance that introduces you. That's how things work in Japan.

Yes, I'd rather have pure Macross stuff than the hack&slash abomination that is Robotech. But the only way to start the discussion is to make it about Robotech.

What Lion said.

Well, if that's what it takes to get some Sturmvogels and Nightmares produced, I guess dealing with that scumbag is a necessary evil.

If it is done in 1/285th scale, I will buy many, many, of these miniatures.

Anyone know how to contact MechDude? I can't IM him since he's not a sponsoring member, and his blog has no links at all for reaching out to him.

Ditto…

If it is done in 1/285th scale, I will buy.

"Yes, I'd rather have pure Macross stuff than the hack&slash abomination that is Robotech. But the only way to start the discussion is to make it about Robotech."

What does it matter if you want the Macross stuff or I want Robotech stuff? It's the same designs.

I'd definitely be interested in Macross/Robotech minis, especially if they're done a "little" larger, because than the Tomahawks/Defenders/Phalanxes/etc can do double duty as Battletech minis (the old ones suffer next to the newer generation Btech minis, due to scale creep). I used to have several of the old lead ones from back in the day. The battlepods were especially a lot of fun (even if most didn't actually ship with bases!)

Damon.

Dealing with the Robotech License is like catching a falling sword.

Yes, I'd rather have pure Macross stuff than the hack&slash abomination that is Robotech. But the only way to start the discussion is to make it about Robotech.

What does it matter if you want the Macross stuff or I want Robotech stuff? It's the same designs.

If you get Macross licenses, you lose the stuff from the Southern Cross and Invid Invasion arcs, but you get access to Macross Zero, Macross: Do You Remember Love, Macross II, Macross Plus, Macross 7, and Macross Frontier.

More products, more cool stuff. But if you get Robotech licenses, I don't think you will be able to get the rest of the Macross lines. I don't think Big West/Studio Nue want to get the rest of the Macross stories confused with Robotech.

Will the new Robotech rules be set in 3025, or will there be rules for the Clans?

Ah, okay, Lion in the Stars. I never caught the Macross bug and didn't think of the sequels.

Will the new Robotech rules be set in 3025, or will there be rules for the Clans?

Robotech != Battletech, despite FASA having licensed a few images.

As the guy primarily working on the miniature designs hell yes I'm interested.

I wanted it so bad I started building my own stuff simply because it's not available. I figured as long as I'm building these why not try and see if we can get these produced? As far as the rules or who it's published under I don't see a reason for people to react negatively. I'd played a lot of their rpg stuff back with their old versions of robotech and rifts.

The palladuim system wasn't one of my favorites but the settings were always killer, and any sort of minis system would be moving into an area that they've never done before. So it's not going to be tied to their standard rpg system in any manner.

I think the fact that they are seriously considering a miniatures game shows they they aren't as dead set in their ways as some would suspect.

I think that rules asside what we all want to see is good quality Robotech miniatures. As long as there's mini available nobody forces you to a particular system and you are free to use whatever rules set you'd like.

Because they have the liscense for gaming set in place that means working with Palladium and HG. So I'm perfectly willing to look past people's personal distaste and negativity in order to get them made.

When I spoke to them I honestly found the guys at palladium to be pretty cool and not the anal retentives people make them out to be. They've stayed a float making rpgs for close to 25 years that's a good track record IMO.

If anyone wants to contact me: paulson_jon at hotmail

I've set up a project page for the miniatures on facebook. If we are able to drive traffic there, gather friends and like comments we can show the guys ate Palladium and HG that there is ample interest to support a Robotech Miniatures line.

What we need people to do is help support the idea on face book or on palladiums forums stating that you'd buy minis if they were available.

I've set up a project page on facebook to help

link

Here is the link to the stuff on the new Robotech game:

robotechbattles.blogspot.com

Looks like fun!

To everyone, Thanks for the support. We are at a standstill at the moment with Palladium and we need to community to lend a hand. We need some direct suppport in letting Palladium know that WE want to see this project happen. start some more posts, emails or even an old fashion letter.. Lets get a fire lit to get you people some Robotech minis and a game to use the minis with…
-Thomas Roache, PE
Developer – Robotech Battles

To All. Everything is full steam ahead and we should be seeing the minis soon.. SO far the game is very quick and fun to play.. but that will pare in comparison to the minis coming..
Tom

Red Duke Games
Robotech Battles

Less teasing, more showing, please.

Hype is not going to get me to drop $100 USD on the Battle for Macross Island box/game.

Good minis might, and good minis plus good (ie, fast and furious) rules will.

Ditto with Lion. Teasers are fine but let's see a little more. I'll happily drop $100 USD on a nice, balanced, starter set. But I want to see something too. Maybe it's still a bit early but toss us a bone of some sort please.