Also on the horizon, but with no set release date as of yet, is another product I'm eagerly anticipating, BattleTech: Alpha Strike Commanders Edition.
er, no, sorry, that was Palladium
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium_Books#Embezzlement_case_and_financial_difficulties)
...the company that published the Robotech RPG!
- A 12-page full-color quick-start rulebook
- 36-page book of pre-generated BattleMech Record Sheets
- 80-page full-color rulebook
- Inner Sphere at a Glance, a 56-page full-color book of universe background and BattleMech technical data
- 16-page full-color Painting and Tactics Guide
- A heavy-duty card of compiled tables
- and 2 18″ x 24″ game-board quality reversible hex maps
- along with 24 plastic miniatures
- as well as 2 "premium-quality plastic BattleMech minis"
The new boxed set was specifically intended to be financially sustainable, so that it can remain in print as a gateway product for new players.
Additionally, it should be noted that the 25th Anniversary set was plagued by quality control issues. "Catalyst Game Labs has started a broken model replacement program for box sets with damaged or missing contents, particularly the plastic miniatures which are often damaged, miscast, or incomplete."
(http://www.sarna.net/wiki/25th_Anniversary_Introductory_Box_Set)
From reviews of the new boxed sets from those lucky enough to acquire early copies at Gencon, the miniatures are of much higher quality and beautiful new sculpts.
This was an incredibly controversial decision for several reasons. Most notably, this was one of the only examples of a retcon in BattleTech's continuity. One of the unique aspects of BattleTech is that the lore has remained substantially unchanged since the second edition boxed set. Unlike, for example, Warhammer 40K, where multiple revisions to setting and history are common with every edition, with such a vast cumulative alteration to the setting over the years that the universe of Rogue Trader is nearly unrecognizable in comparison to the current (eighth edition) of 40K (Games Workshop has even gone back and edited old Warhammer novels and short stories before re-releasing them). Contrast this with BattleTech, where a sourccebook or novel released in the late 80s is just as viable and a reliable source of information as one released in the last year. They'll go back and clarify and expand, but for the most part BattleTech has a consistent history, and even the few contradictions that occasionally pop up over 30 odd years between hundreds of authors, are easily explained as the natural occurring conflicting information and misinformation from frist person perspectives of characters in the fictional history (the vast majority of BattleTech sourcebooks are presented as in-universe accounts and historical documents).
This is one of the reasons BattleTech has sustained a devoted core audience for years. And brings us to the second primary reason the Reseen are controversial - many players still own the original products featuring The Unseen, and regardless of the copyright void they've existed in for years, they remain a core part of the BattleTech experience for many. Moreover, and though this is largely opinion, the Reseen designs simply aren't on par with the originals. But I'll let readers judge for themselves on this: