Jesse and Avalyn hypothesize everything they would need for the ultimate BattleTech event. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss would be required. Simplifying rules in exchange for fielding more units. Cool events run at places like Torchlight Hobbies and Games in Burlington Ontario. Hexes versus measuring tape? Putting the game in the narrative rather than the other way around. What to eat? 3D terrain. The BattleTech Great House of Leaves. Painting yellow. Lyran C3 networks.

Avalyn's C3 Lyran / Merc list is:

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, and is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming. 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/

Jesse and Jo have a fireside chat about Aces Legacy, the new Aces-focused event coming to BattleTech convention spaces. Aces Legacy! How and what. Hobby stuff - new swords? Well, hatchets. Big Tukayyid battle coming to Monday Knights in Barrie! Recreating historical events and the dice fighting you. Playing with hero characters and making them fit in to the game. Is it weird when they can't die? Clue the movie - and Jesse is an absurdly old man. All of these are things that will slot in neatly with Aces Legacy and you should come play it with us at Adepticon! 

Adepticon will hopefully have tickets for sale for Aces Legacy shortly! https://www.adepticon.org/

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Gaming Labs, and is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming. 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/

--EXPLICIT LANGUAGE WARNING ON THIS ONE, FOLKS--

Jesse and Scott are joined by Mr. Tex of Tex Talks BattleTech from the Black Pants Legion to talk Mech7 memories, BattleTech, community, and cautionary tales regarding kitchen appliances. What exactly is the BPL? What is making fan film like? Gambling on Star Heroes. Community and creators. What made Randolph P. Checkers the way he is? The Black Knight (and the Charger!) and the real world lessons within. The logistics of space war. What the Davions are really like. Machine guns and origami - and putting butter in your iron. 

Check out and support the Black Pants Legion at: https://theblackpantslegion.com/

Dan Bruins of Star Heroes fame: https://www.artstation.com/sirdubdub

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/

Jesse, Scott, and Avalyn talk the holidays and how they spent them, BattleTech-wise. Scott upgraded his 3D ice-river battleground. How many minis is too many, and how should we paint them? What about decals? Where would a VTOL crash, and should those rules even matter if it's fun? Why doesn't everyone love the Somerset Strikers as much as Jesse? And why isn't more BattleTech happening in full motion video? Also has anyone tried this colour-shifting paint? Oh and oops, what about The Black Knight Video? Guess we'll have to talk about that more in next week's episode with our special guest!

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, 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/