On this episode of The Second Circuit, Jesse, Avalyn, and Jo talk Mercenaries contracts and The Hinterlands. What is the Peacekeeper for? We each have a slightly different way of looking at our ideal BattleTech gaming experience. Hinterlands and Mercenaries rules combine to make Jo's ideal BattleTech long-term engagement. How a long-term campaign differs from quick encounters. How the contracts work. How they generate stories. Love is the most important thing. And why fight at all when you can play off both sides and make the big bucks? This is our last episode for the season but we'll be back in the New Year!

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, Jesse, Scott, and Avalyn talk video game tie-ins and units you've never heard of. What's up with Tigress? Where does the influence come from? It's a little too army-porn for Star Wars. Some thoughts on Wolves of Tukayyid. Why make 'Mech games when you aren't in a 'Mech? What about an Elemental game? Kidnapping Chris Lowery. Think of the cool unique units and how they could be bosses. Discovering the Large Portal (Mobile Structure) - that's a very heavily armed door! BattleTech community, we have a challenge for you! Also Tripods would be pretty cool in a video game.

The Roving WarDoor, as discussed: https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Large_Portal_(Mobile_Structure)

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, Jesse, Scott, and Paul recount the excellent adventure that was PAX Unplugged, and the North American launch of BattleTech Aces Scouring Sands! We have a road-trip adventure! Friendships with Catalyst crew are renewed before we all plunge into the fire of the con floor. We all feel proud watching those shelves empty themselves of Aces boxes. Scott becomes the man in the chair as he masters the streaming booth and Jesse all but completely solos the demo games, and people have a blast at both! Aaron, Ben, and Dan from DFA Wargaming come by to say hey in-between a bevvy of curious new players. Jesse gets to meet Jerry Holkins, delighting his inner early-20s ager. Paul seduces some security guards while Jesse and Scott do all the manual labour. On the way home, we launch a coordinated military assault on multiple Barnes & Noble stores! 

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, Jesse and Scott welcome to the show Josh Derksen, Dylan Birtolo and Russell Zimmerman, the creative minds behind BattleTech Aces! While the Automated Opponent through the Aces cards is the cover model for the box for sure, these three worked hard to bring us an incredible Choose Your Own Adventure-esque campaign book that is, as Josh puts it, the party that the the Tuxedo of the cards are attending. We talk about how it came to be, what the process was like, wins that the creators are particularly proud of, and some thoughts about upcoming Aces boxes. Also, what the hell is up with Mountain Wolf BattleMechs, anyway?

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, Jesse, foolishly allowed to be left to his own devices, ruminates hard on a hypothetical ultimate MechWarrior experience. We'll be back to the regular crew next week!  

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, Jesse, Henny, and Jo talk scenarios and scenario design! Jesse is pleased to complete his Focht's Network Pokedex by getting all of Focht's on the show. Henny is a big Mercenaries guy, but with maybe a bit of a lean towards the Northwind Highlanders. The best of scenarios tend to have multiple objectives and be super heavily themed based on stuff in the lore. Henny is responsible for writing a lot of those but an editor like Jo is a big help. Sometimes that stuff is gritty and serious, sometimes...less so. Scenario design is also affected by campaign design, and some cool stories can happen naturally as a result of playing them! 

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, Jesse, Austin, and Scott consider how their Halloween special event scenario went. Abominations made a big splash, and do they offer interesting possibilities for classic play? Thanks to @counterpixel on Instagram for the great paint job! We also recently had the Anime North Halloween party where we ran Henny Henderson's Visitor's Pass event - guest starring Tex of the Black Pants Legion! We discuss narrative play versus more traditional, and how much it adds to the otherwise doldrums of standard fare. Some talk about the newest playtest packages. Did Autocannons get TOO buff? What's with C3 and ECM? How are feeling about the Aerotech assets? And finally, those retractable blade rules, I mean that's gotta be for Celestials, right? Are Brian Caches going to be phased out in favour of Blakist Caches?

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, it's Jesse, Austin, and Scott, and Scott is playing like a lot! What does the CV in Leopard CV stand for? BattleTech Gothic! The universe probably won't be a home for us, but Jesse and Scott like the minis. Austin a little less. It seems perfectly reasonable that they could make it, but Jesse misses the Celestials he could have had. They should have put the Abominations in! We do some hypothesizing about Rockets and Rayguns and Anime Tech - do you have to shout "PPC!" to make them fire? Use an ultrasonic cleaner and some chemical stripper to easily clean a bad paint job off of your minis! Jesse learns that Branth Riders are actually really real. The Black Marauder is great, and there are some other little horror things too. Emplacements can be fun, but not if they're too powerful. Check out mekbay.com!

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, we are joined by Focht's Network veteran and Periphery Frankenstein (the doctor, not the monster) Jo Becker from Focht's Monday Knights game at Sir Games-A-Lot in Barrie Ontario!

Jo got into BattleTech the way all good hobbyists want it to happen, he walked up to a table and was intrigued! Then discovered his spirit animal in 'Mech form and was locked in for life. The Barrie game is one of a few games being held at their store that is a major centerpiece for the 'Lakeward Periphery' area. Is the Outworlds Alliance the most normal nation in the setting? What's with their pilots? Where is the video game for that, FreeSpace or Star Fox, or Ace Combat? Jo hacks up minis to make them better, sometimes just to improve poses and sometimes for cool variants. Don't use plastic cement, and green stuff is optional! 

Check out some photos of Jo's kitbashing work on the Focht Hyperpulse Discord and the Focht's Network Facebook page, links below! 

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

On this episode of The Second Circuit, Jesse, Austin, and Scott are getting in to some of the specifics of what's happening at our tables.

We are cautiously optimistic about the rule changes in the playtests so far! Scott learned to love being able to shelter a side and target it besides. Jesse is concerned about what it means for focusing on the sides instead of the back. Austin is bringing some Long Tom Cannons to Alpha Strike! That means bad things for a DropShip, but DropShips are weird on the table anyway. And what's the deal with those Samurai Pizza 'Mechs coming out?

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming and powered by MSI. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of those entities unless otherwise stated.

Come find us and all the other cool things we're doing!

Focht Hyperpulse Discord: https://discord.gg/8uNkRGM5Nu

Theme song 'Spacesynth' by Liborio Conti: https://www.no-copyright-music.com/