If you’ve ever been to a tabletop gaming convention, especially Gen Con and AdeptiCon, and seen BattleTech, you’ve likely seen the Grinder. It was developed by the original iteration of the Catalyst Demo Team, the FanPro Commandos. In 2002, a group of commandos based in Michigan made the bones of the format. It was then passed to another group of commandos out of Ontario, where it was adapted to fit a large convention format.
Later, it was expanded and reformatted by the CDT’s Mary and Alex Kaempen into a “Teaching Grinder.” It rolled everything about BattleTech into an easy-to-understand package with layered rules, explosive moments, free-for-all action, and the ability to pit up to ten players against each other. The Grinder was crafted to be the ultimate expression of BattleTech in a convention setting.
The CDT still actively runs the Grinder at any convention with a BattleTech presence, and several agents craft their own kits to use at local events. There are many versions of the Grinder, from thematic era-specific lines, to all-CGL plastic iterations, to “janky metals” kits. The large convention kit you would see at places like Gen Con focuses on ease of introduction, with the lower tiers of ‘Mech generally having IntroTech rules and later tiers having things like advanced armors, weird weapons, and unique movement capabilities.
Catalyst Game Labs saw a niche with Grinder that we wanted to expand on. Making entry-level BattleTech exciting and easy to hop into.
To make that goal happen, a few years ago, we announced the new BattleTech Grinder Kit. This local game store-exclusive box set was a distillation of the goals of the Grinder into something easy to set up and easy to run. It came with a custom neoprene mat, enough dice for 6 players, all of the paperwork needed, dry-erase record sheets, the BattleTech: Initiative Deck, and more.
Oh, and thirty BattleMech miniatures.
This box, designed to run with a copy of the BattleMech Manual, was a great way to get stores involved and to build local BattleTech communities with an easy plug-and-play system. It doesn’t take much to get started, and the chaos at the table would quickly become a frenzy of excitement. From the new player performing a lucky DFA with a Stinger and taking out the veteran’s Marauder, or someone making an impossible long shot and critting out someone gyro, there are several exciting ways a Grinder can go.
But nothing can last forever, and soon we ran out of those kits. With the way the economic landscape was shaping up, getting in more pieces of the kits was not financially viable in the current climate.
However, we still had the miniatures.
Each Grinder Tray contains thirty plastic miniatures, cast in the color of their tiers, then treated with a wash to bring out the details that make each one stand out. The miniatures are actually the exact contents of several ForcePacks that came out with the fulfillment of the Clan Invasion Kickstarter.
Tier 1 (Purple)
- Locust - A Game of Armored Combat
- Stinger - Inner Sphere Command Lance
- Wasp - Inner Sphere Battle Lance
- Commando - A Game of Armored Combat
- Koshi (Mist Lynx) Prime - Clan Command Star
- Valkyrie - Inner Sphere Command Lance
Tier 2 (White)
- Phoenix Hawk - Inner Sphere Battle Lance
- Shadow Hawk - A Game of Armored Combat
- Wolverine - A Game of Armored Combat
- Crusader - Inner Sphere Direct Fire Lance
Tier 3 (Red)
- Rifleman - Inner Sphere Battle Lance
- Catapult - A Game of Armored Combat
- Thunderbolt - A Game of Armored Combat
- Archer - Inner Sphere Command Lance
- Warhammer - Inner Sphere Battle Lance
- Orion - Inner Sphere Direct Fire Lance
Tier 4 (Blue)
- Ryoken (Stormcrow) Prime - Clan Command Star
- Marauder - Inner Sphere Command Lance
- Awesome - A Game of Armored Combat
- BattleMaster - A Game of Armored Combat
- Marauder II - Inner Sphere Direct Fire Lance
Tier 5 (Green)
- Puma (Adder) Prime - Clan Battle Star
- Grendel (Mongrel) Prime - Clan Battle Star
- Shadow Cat Prime - Clan Command Star
- Thor (Summoner) Prime - Clan Command Star
- Atlas - Inner Sphere Direct Fire Lance
Tier 6 (Orange)
- Black Hawk (Nova) Prime - Clan Battle Star
- Mad Cat (Timber Wolf) Prime - Clan Battle Star
- Gladiator (Executioner) Prime - Clan Battle Star
- Daishi (Dire Wolf) Prime - Clan Command Star
As you can see, that is quite the spread!
Whether you are looking to jump-start your collection, or are wanting to build a Grinder kit of your own, these sets will be made available very soon at the Catalyst Game Labs webstore! They will not include the Alpha Strike and pilot cards that you see in most ForcePacks, but you can easily grab game information like that from the Master Unit List, even before the coming MUL 2.0 update. If you would like to run your own Grinder, you can find all of the printable content of the original Grinder Kit here!
No matter what, you’ll see this awesome set of miniatures coming soon!
- Meical Kingfisher
