***UPDATE*** The Beginning of the End

As I stated before, the beginning of the end in the Harmony Gold case is in sight. And today, it was proven right. This recent court filing with the Eastern District of Washington has put an end to the case against Harebrained Schemes with prejudice. The case against Piranha Games still ongoing, but with this dismissal, any reasonable supposition is that the case Harmony Gold has brought does probably not have a lot of time left.

The good news is this, it seems that Harmony Gold has finally run into a proverbial brick wall and the ignominious end of Robotech Tactics, as well as this current court case, has covered that franchise in mud. It’s a sad end for such a franchise, which got many of us into Battletech in the first place. The only good news in this is that perhaps the legal legacy of the “unseen” can be mercifully put to bed at last.

I can’t by any means predict how long this will go, or what path it will take, but make no mistake, I cannot see the Piranha Games case going the distance. While I am no legal scholar, all law is based on precedent, and Harmony Gold has already had two strikes against it because of the arbitration “victory” and now this dismissal. While the law is supposed to make all decisions independent of such considerations, judges are human, and as such, will make human decisions, and logic suggests, that there will more than likely be a dismissal in the remaining case.

But, let’s remain vigilant and hopeful until it does.

Battletech, it keeps rolling on doesn't it? And, some new 'Mechs for Alpha Strike (A request from a reader)

  Hello everyone, so sorry I have been absent of late. Frankly, its because I have been busy with my "500 Miles.." blog. Admittedly, this has hurt my other two blogs, so I do apologize sincerely to my readers.

But there is a lot to report out there, no?

So, let's get started:

Harmony Gold versus the World

Certainly seems that way, doesn't it? Harmony Gold (HG) has been floundering a bit since everyone found out that they don't in fact, hold the copyright to a good chunk of things Robotech, and in fact, aren't even going to hold that once 2021 rolls around. It seems Piranha Games, owner of MechWarrior Online, has gotten tired of the silly, and is making legal motions of their own. After they filed their summary judgment going for outright dismissal..HG decided to amend their complaint to stave off the inevitable. But, as far as I can read, and I maintain I am no attorney, the court isn't going to entertain this for too long.

1. HG's case is shaky at best, and the fact that they yanked Palladium's Robotech license, says to me "circling the wagons". To me, it's the last act before you see the legal version of unconditional surrender. It has got to be humiliating all around to see the number of Battletech players rejoicing at getting "cheap unseen". 

2. I still maintain that HG will TRY to settle out of court, but the mood I have seen in this case from both sides, I would not count on Piranha, HBS, or IMR showing much in the way of mercy. I don't see the judge being real amused either.

3. How does it end? Badly if you're HG, I see summary judgements, court costs, and all sorts of punitive stuff being leveled at HG, and probably enough to crush them as a company. I feel badly for the folks who work there, as well as for Robotech as a whole, as it got me INTO Battletech, but at this point, HG did this to themselves.

It's going to take a while, probably the rest of the year in my estimation, as courts do not move quickly when making decisions on civil cases, but barring any more surprises in a case that has seen quite a few? This is going into the home stretch.

Box Sets, We Got Your Box Sets!!!

We have confirmed MSRPs on both the Beginner Set and the main set. Both are looking great at first blush, or at least as well as one can tell from photos.

The MSRPs according to the bg.battletech site are: 

Looks great, No? (Taken from the CBT site)

• $19.99 for the Beginner Set, which is due to release sometime this summer (Q3 they're saying).  You only get two 'Mech miniatures as well as the bare bone basics you need to play, but this is perfect for introducing someone new to Battletech!

Hanse Davion's idea of "Anger Management" (Taken from the CBT Site)

• $59.99 for the full-on box set. This thing comes with it all. 8 plastic 'Mechs, pilot cards, double sided mapsheets, the works. And brace yourselves Alpha Strike fans! WE GET ALPHA STRIKE CARDS!!! Yes indeed. More new cards. I mean, we have the card maker on the MUL, but this is so much better. I know the 'Mech types included were affected by certain litigation, but I suspect once things are resolved, there's gonna be some new plastic 'Mech packs hitting the market.

Am I excited? Yes. This is a chance to bring back CBT and Alpha Strike in one fell swoop. I am also encouraged by the quality of the miniatures. Plastic miniatures in general have really taken a step forward lately, and I credit CAD technology advances for much of the improvements we have seen.

Tell me that doesn't look badarse? Right? (Taken from the CBT site)

New Mechs for Alpha Strike (some old Mechforce UK 'Mechs got statted)

Yes, I got a request from a reader for the old Tree Frog of Mechforce UK fame. Hey, can Panzerfaust 150 say no to a kind request? No, no he can't. So, I stated all the variants up of the Mayfly version. (No idea as to what the Ground Hawk is). 

So, without further ado, let's talk about this 'Mech and her place in Alpha Strike:

The base design is fast with a 14" jump and a TMM of 3 in the 30-ton weight class, she will dodge a respectable amount of fire coming her way. She had better, frankly, because if she eats more than 5 points of damage, she is toast. Clan XLs do horrible things to structure points, kids. But it was designed in the 90s, when XL and mirrorshades were cool. Now we know better.

The armament fits of the variants tend to run the usual range, autocannon centered, PPC centered, laser boat, LRM boat, and finally a mixed weapon Prime design. Nothing too bad, but the laser boat might have taken it too far. This thing is light on heat sinks and it shows.

Tree Frog Prime: 

The Prime has a typical clan weapons fit for the Invasion era, a LPL coupled with some ER Mediums and a Streak-2. Frankly, the Streak-2 is a waste, but c'est'la'vie. She is a decent PV for a clan light, and she can put the hurt on quite a few Inner Sphere mediums and lights of the period. God help this 'Mech if she runs into a Scarabus or a Battle Hawk, they'd kill her outright, hence why I call her a skirmisher.

Tree Frog A:

The A isn't much different from the Prime really, with an ER PPC, 2 ER Smalls, and a SRM 4. Frankly, I'd never get close enough with this 'Mech to use the ER Smalls and the SRM, with a Clan ER PPC, why in the world would you want to? Again, the name of this design is to hit, and run. Stress on the run. Screw Zell in this design, that's a good way to die. 

Tree Frog B:

The B is a bit of an oddball, with an Ultra AC/5 and 2 ER Mediums in a design that frankly, shouldn't carry a lot of ammo. It tends to underperform a bit at long range, which makes me REALLY question the Ultra, but, at least with CASE, you aren't quite piloting a bomb. 

Tree Frog C:

The Tree Frog C is a good idea, (best of the bunch if you ask me) if you gotta carry ammo in this design, make sure it lets you fight at a distance. I know the role of Skirmisher is still a bit of a stretch, but think on it. This thing is the fire support for the rest of it's Light Star, and if it has to get into a close range fracas, Clan LRMs have no minimums, and the damage numbers show it. But frankly, with this thing, use your mobility to get into a good firing position, fire a few volleys, and then run..run fast. 

Tree Frog D:

As much as the C is a good idea, the D isn't. A pair of Medium Pulse Lasers, and three ER Mediums make this 'Mech entirely too hot for it to really use it's firepower. It also has NO long range capability, which yes, it's speed can help it define the range of the engagement, but I've said it before, if you are choosing to close with this design, you have done something very, very wrong. And the PV of this variant agrees with me. At least the ENE special keeps you from blowing up. 

That's it for now, enjoy everyone!

Been away a bit, but more news, of a sort, on the HG front.

 

Taken from the Robetech Tactics Kickstarter

 

As many are aware, Robotech Tactics, the miniature game based on Robotech produced by Palladium and Ninja Games, has died a fairly ugly death by the looks of it. Worse, Palladium LOST it's Robotech license as a whole. It can't even produce the RPG anymore. Going by the reading of the post linked above by Kevin Simbeada himself, it seems the game didn't find a market.

Now I know the mix of angry posts by Robotech fans aside and some (undeserved) gloating by Battletech fans along with thoughts of "Cool, cheap unseen in the bargain bin for a while!" I wanted to take some time to give my own potential analysis of where this might go from here.

1. The Lawsuit: Harmony Gold already has a bunch of trouble in that they're fighting for a license they won't own in three years. They already don't own a number of the iconic likenesses already and the arbitration they won is, as I said before, probably going to bite them in the ass. The fact that they pulled Palladium's license, is to me a) telling that they do not want to be anywhere near exposed to the crapstorm that is about to come Palladium's way when enraged fans come after them for the Kickstarter awards they didn't get, and b) Harmony Gold realizes they can't subcontract out something they don't own, and are probably going to soon settle out of court. I would. You don't need to be a lawyer to know at this point that HG is going to be throwing good money after bad if they continue to fight this.

2. Palladium: Palladium Books is probably in deep trouble here. Even if they are financially solvent, I can see enraged fans entering a class-action suit over this. The fans were already pretty hot under the collar about this, but this may be the last straw, especially with the terms Palladium is setting to exchange Wave 2 funding for Wave 1 items.Yes, Kickstarter is always a speculative enterprise, and people know that going in, but this thing raised 1.4 Million without result. Yeah, someone's going to want to see someone in court over this. And nothing kills a game company faster than legal bills.

It's also not the first time Palladium's been in this kind of trouble due to some seeming mismanagement or malfeasance. First, there was the "Crisis of Treachery" as Mr. Siembada put it:

(Quoted here from Wikipedia)

Embezzlement case and financial difficulties[edit]

On April 19, 2006, Kevin Siembieda issued a statement that revealed Palladium Books' critical financial difficulties due to alleged embezzlement and theft resulting in losses from $850,000 to $1.3 million, coupled with a series of delays in negotiating license deals for their properties in other media (the Nokia N-Gage game, the Jerry Bruckheimer movie, a massively multiplayer online game license, and other potential deals).^[2] They raised money to continue operations by selling a signed and numbered – but not, strictly speaking, "limited edition" – art print by Kevin Siembieda, as well as by urging fans to buy directly from their online store if their financial situations would allow for it.

An April 26, 2006 article in the Kingsport Times-News revealed that Steve Sheiring, Palladium's former sales manager, had been sentenced in a plea bargain to a misdemeanor conviction, one year of probation, and ordered to pay $47,080 in restitution to Palladium Books in connection with these thefts. It also provided more information about the thefts, which took place from 2002 to 2004 and were only discovered when Palladium took inventory.^[4]

Responding to the controversy engendered by such a low settlement amount in relation to the large loss figure claimed in his earlier press release, Kevin Siembieda posted an open letter to the Palladium forum explaining the matter. Siembieda stated that he had not wanted to make public Sheiring's identity out of the fear that overzealous fans might get into trouble by committing acts of reprisal. He explained that the heaviest punishment Sheiring had been likely to receive even without the plea bargain was probation. Siembieda had a choice between getting any amount of settlement money at all to pay critical bills, or spending more time and money to attempt to get his "pound of flesh" from a man who was reportedly broke anyway. Given the urgency of Palladium's situation, Siembieda did not feel he had any real choice but to take what little he could get.^[5]

During the week of May 7, 2007, Palladium announced that revenue from increased sales of books, admissions to its first annual Open House, and purchases of the special art print had covered most of the short-term damages it had incurred. This period of financial instability became referred to by Siembieda as the "Crisis of Treachery" in keeping with his stance that the root cause of the difficulties was the embezzlement perpetrated by Sheiring.

Add this in to multiple complaints to the Better Business Bureau over Robotech Tactics and one can see how truly ugly this is about to get. Mr. Siembada is going to have to work very hard to get a lot of goodwill back, My thoughts to all the RRT backers is simple but stark. Weigh your options carefully. I would advise you to get legal advice personally, as well as carefully read over the Kickstarter terms. I would also advise you to not get too heated on the internet, these days that can bite you very easily.

3. Battletech/Alpha Strike: Battletech’s future, ironically, seems quite bright going forward. With the new box sets on the horizon and the HBS PC Game dropping in April, which was announced yesterday, I think Battletech is finding it’s way back. Now, that said, the paper and pencil game has some growth to do and some recovery to make of its own. I have some small suggestions along those lines:

·         Push the box sets hard, and do some more gaming in the older periods, perhaps linked to the computer game coming out. Methinks that would get some real buzz for the old girl!

·         Consider a time jump. A lot of things post-Jihad have not sat well with the diehard fans, and it’s time to throw them a bone. Put the last bits of the Jihad to bed, start over and have some fun with it. A very smart game writer once said to me, “When gaming out a cataclysm, better to have the cataclysm and then game out the aftermath, then to do the during, sacred cow may make great burgers, but nobody wants to watch it made.”

·         Alpha Strike, bring it back. It was the best idea that’s come out for Battletech in a very, very long time. People like it. It may not be granular, but it wasn’t meant to be. It’s meant to be operational level Battletech. You can put a battalion plus on either side of the field, and game it out to conclusion in 4 hours (Yes, I have done it). I get the Combat Manuals were a bit expensive. Ok, ask the fans for help. We’d do it for free. Yes, free. You see the amount of fan-based material out there? It’s gigundus. And while it’s been a lot of hit or miss, a lot of it is becoming hits lately, such as TRO 3028, and Kiro No Torii.

If Alpha Strike isn’t the direction Battletech is going, then let the fans take over. We’ll keep the flame.

Well, that’s enough from me. Love to hear your ideas as usual, and please, no gloating as to Robotech right now. I can imagine what those guys are going through, but we can be better than that. Who knows? Perhaps we can turn them into Battletech fans?

More News on the Harmony Gold Lawsuit

"Only an idiot fights a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts."

Londo Mollari, "Ceremonies of Light and Dark" Babylon 5

Yep, it seems as if Harmony Gold (hereafter referred to as HG) must have a ton of money for copyright attorneys, as they are suing someone else in a copyright infringement lawsuit. This time, they're suing Tatsunoko Productions, the guys that sold Harmony Gold the rights to the images for Macross that made Robotech possible. 

According the to the referenced article, it seems the rights to those images were not Tastunoko's to sell in the first place, but instead with another outfit, Studio Nue, and that HG's rights were distribution of the Robotech/Macross cartoons in North America. 

Court documents have been filed as of last week, and according to Sarna.net, it seems that this is more of an arbitration case, but there are no details as of yet. How this turns out, noone knows. Anything could happen at this point.

But, if I may give my three cents? It's pretty clear HG has gotten quite lawsuit happy, and is clearing the legal decks for something, the live action Robotech movie we hear so much about seems to be the leading possibility in my opinion, but it could be other projects? Whatever happens, the fact that the are willing to arbitrate rather than go before a jury suggests even HG knows that their case might be weaker, or that they are looking towards a long fight with the Piranha Games/IMR/HBS suit.

Either way, it does seem like it's pretty silly to pick two or three lawsuits at the same time. I suspect this may not play overly well with a jury, assuming the judge allows this into evidence.

So, to be continued folks.  

News and Commentary

There has been a lot, and I mean a lot of news for Classic Battletech in the last 72 hours, I was waiting for all of it to shake out a little before I posted this, but then Sunday's bombshell required I get to a computer and write.

So, first the good news. 2nd Succession War is out in PDF! The word is that limited copies will hit the street for Gencon, but hey, I can wait...that is assuming the other news I will talk about in a bit doesn't screw everything up.

I have been waiting for this for a while. I like fluff, fluff gives me ideas to write about, to write scenarios for, and to inspire painted units. I can take a throw away sentence or two in a given sourcebook and turn it into a 12 turn scenario, and I have done it many, many times.

Naturally, I already have a copy, (author's credits for Red Star, White Lights have been doing well of late) and on first blush, I liked what I saw. I cannot wait for the dead tree version, but it looks as if we are going to have another quality product on our hands to reenact some great CBT history.

The *meh* is the PDF releases of the Battletech Manual and the Technical Readout: Succession Wars. This is not to knock the effort that went into the former product, which was a lot, but honestly? This was a product that should have been released a long, long time ago in my opinion. The fact that it was not, seems a bit of a silly decision. Battletech, for all of the talk about combined arms (and such an idea is important, make no mistake) is primarily about the 'Mechs. It's why people play. It's what attracted me to the game in the 1980s. So, yeah, a 'Mech oriented rule book should have been one of the first projects to hit the street in the 2000s back when they were doing the Total Warfare series.

As for the latter product. It's the TRO version of a clip show. I hate clip shows. Yes, I know, it's got the reseen artwork. Cool. But I am not going to plunk down money for a product that I already have most, if not all the information for. If this is different, please let me know, as I am a person who is not above eating humble pie when required.

Now, the ugly. As we all know, Harmony Gold, the creators of Robotech (which is partly responsible for me *being* a Battletech player) alleges that the images created for the upcoming computer game by Harebrained Schemes and the images being used by Piranha Games for Mechwarrior Online are a threats to the Robotech copyright as those images resemble images in Robotech, or at least that's what their recently filed legal action says. They also named In Media Res Productions, the parent company of Catalyst Games Labs in the suit.

Now, I am not a legal scholar. but, my understanding is that if an image differs more than 15% from the original, than it is not an infringement on said copyright. Now, Harmony Gold has been kind enough to show their images, versus the images of the reseen and how they allege the similarities are actionable. Personally, I do not see it, but, hey, I will let you the reader decide. And if there are any IP experts or legal scholars out there, I welcome their comments on the case, and would love for them to set us straight.

Ok, let's take a look at the video tape, so to speak:

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Warhammer and Archer (left) and the Destroid Spartan and Destroid Tomahawk (right). Image taken from Case 2:17-cv-00327

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Atlas and Shadow Hawk (left) and the Armored Valkyrie and Destroid Spartan (right), note lack of captioning on the left. Image taken from Case 2:17-cv-00327

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Marauder (left) and the Officer's Pod Glaug (right), again, note lack of captioning on the left. Image taken from  Case 2:17-cv-00327

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Marauder/Marauder IIC and Phoenix Hawk (left) and the Officer's Pod Glaug and Super Valkyrie on the right. Image taken from  Case 2:17-cv-00327

Found here is the comparison taken from the legal filings of the Rifleman (left) and the Destroid Defender (right). Image taken from  Case 2:17-cv-00327

I am not at all convinced that Harmony Gold has much of a leg to stand on. The Atlas has similarities to the Armored Valkyrie? You have got to be kidding. I'd get it if they were up in arms if the Crusader was being reissued, which I have not seen a reseen for it yet. Could be wrong, and the Shadow Hawk? Who in their right mind says it looks like a Spartan? Sorry, but this smells to high heaven to me. And I might have good reason to think so, as Sony Pictures has announced they are going forward with a Robotech movie.

Now, that said, the suit was filed in March of this year, and the directorial announcement was made last week..but one might think all sorts of uncharitable things about Harmony Gold and seeking to destroy any potential competitors to any marketing of oh, say, toys and games ahead of a movie release? No, we wouldn't think that, would we?

Lets ignore the fact that Harmony Gold has done little with the IP in the last ten years. Yes, they released Shadow Chronicles (poorly received), and Love, Live, Alive (which was little more than a clip show!). Not to mention the remasters of the original episodes which while the sound and picture clarity was good, some of the questionable fan service was not (endless scenes of Dana showering in the Robotech Masters series, for example).

I won't even bring up the fiasco of the Robotech Miniatures Game and how kickstarter participants STILL have not gotten all they paid for. In fact, things got so bad there, one of the designers was almost driven to suicide. Where was Harmony Gold there? Filing dubious lawsuits it seems.

In short, this smacks of what is called "IP trolling" and while legally. Harmony Gold might be in the right, they are alienating a lot of fans...and those fans aren't probably going to take this lying down. I have already heard rumors of letter writing campaigns and defense funds. I would not be surprised if both go forward.

I will let you, dear reader, decide what you think of it all, but I am pretty convinced this is little more than "lawfare" and I hope it doesn't bleed dry some really good attempts to bring the game back from the brink. But, considering the nature of what the players are, I will quote Han Solo, "I have a bad feeling about this."