Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The 100th Machine makes its debut...



Hello there!


Gosh, it sure has been hot the past few days here in Bremerton. It is now 2215 and I am still sweating outside at the table as I type this. Temperatures are still in the mid-80s, although hopefully it will drop down into the upper 60s later tonight. We had to shut the house to maintain cooler temps, but the day peaked at 100 degrees and when I got home, it was at least 87 inside the house. Still much cooler than outside.

We turned the housing ventilation fan on about 2000, and things are slowly cooling off. But it is distracting, to say the least. I was hoping for warm weather, but this is ridiculous.

In TRO news, Geoff turned in the edited Diatryma, Leopard, Uragan and Werewolf, as well as the back cover text. They look very good and are ready to go to the proofers.

Dan Eastwood was kind enough to proofread the Catapult, Velite and Centaurus. He made several good catches, especially the part about ‘transfer of technology’; it is what I meant, but I did not say it. Most changes have been made, and the writing tightened up on the Velite and Centaurus. I give thanks to Paul for the sharper eye I bring to each piece.

While pondering the lack of hi-rez art for the Fox, I took a look at the writing for the Federated Commonwealth’s Fox upgrade and discovered quite a few things which needed smoothing. I may have to go into Vehicles again in the next few days and see what else is in that condition. Again, I believe the new eye Paul loaned me is responsible for this.

There are only thirteen designs left which lack art. I know that sounds like a lot, and it is, but they are nearly all commissioned to artists and it is just a matter of time. The following is a status report on the unfinished art:

Vehicles:

Diatryma armored car [commissioned to Jeremy]
Leopard attack helicopter w/ infantry bay [commissioned to Jeremy]
Horatio Bridgelayer [commissioned to Lee]
Mastodon Minesweeper [commissioned to Lee]
Cortes Light Tank [commissioned to Lee]
CM-33 Ammo carrier [commissioned to Daniel]
Zhukov II – [commissioned to JP]
Crinos I – [commissioned to Mike]
***NEW*** - Fox – [commission not assigned]

‘Mechs:

Culverin – commissioned to Eriance, sketched.
Fedcom Centurion – commissioned to Eriance for correction
Blackjack – commissioned to JP.
***NEW*** – Argus – [commission not assigned. 100th addition to TRO.]

Excepting the new additions, the estimated cost of this art will be about $300, bringing the total spent on art to about $1500.

On the topic of money, I have decided to drop the two additional interior color plates. We won’t have the extra $200 to spend on them. They have been bouncing around in my head for over a year, but will probably never see the light of day. To compensate (slightly), I have added another ‘Mech to the Mercenaries section. It is battle-tested and a good addition to any gamer’s stable of BattleMechs. Like the Nimravus, this one was designed by my son from a stock ‘Mech (a requirement of our gamemaster) and has been run intensively in our game for nearly a year. It is different enough from the stock models and effective enough to warrant inclusion in the TRO.

The Argus AGS-3D is a blend of the AGS-2D and a new machine coming off assembly lines in 3062 (the AGS-4D). It is based on an AGS-4D captured from House Davion, but has been modified to carry a warload similar to the AGS-2D and combines it with the close-combat potential of the newer machine.

This will be the 100th (and final) machine featured in the TRO.

The Fox lacks hi-rez art and will not be getting any from the original source, so I am going to put it up for commission. Let me know if you are interested.

Our projected publishing date is late September. This is after GenCon, of course. Hopefully nothing will appear to necessitate changes in our written material, but anything can happen.

Thanks for stopping by.

Steve

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