BATTLETECH: The Ghosts of Obeedah
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- Опубликовано: 31 окт 2023
- A new book has dropped form CGL over the last week, a 62-page document for the Time of War RPG, but it is littered with history and new information regarding the ever mysterious #WordofBlake and #Comstar. Including giving a great deal of resolution to the #HiddenWorlds.
So, let's talk a bit about this, in both the good, and the bad. Because I also want to bring up something I keep seeing, and it just seems to be continuing, regardless. :\
Baiting.
#Comstar #WordofBlake #WOB #DarkAge #Ilclan #BlessedOrder #CGL #TimeofWar #GhostsofObeedah #Obeedah #RPG #TimeofWar #Destiny
#artificialintelligence #Drones
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Note: I am not associated with the Battletech / Mechwarrior IP, and create this under fair-use. Ownership of the Battletech IP resides with several companies at this time. I support all official releases. 
Игры
The Ghosts of Obeedah is Available right now, it's worth your time. And it's only 3 dollars. Check it out:
store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-adventures-ghosts-of-odeebah
It was free the first day and I'm glad I grabbed it. I just need some friends to run it with
The loss of WoB, even more than the return of Clan Smoke Jaguar or Alaric Ward, is the greatest error in modern battletech. Change them, sure, but the loss of the cyborgs seems like a missed opportunity. Battletech has always been a relatively grounded setting and the Manei domni seemed like the opposite side of the coin to the clan’s gene modification.
Completely agreed.
Not having the Word of Blake, Comguards, Blessed Order, or Shadow Divisions basically leaves a hole in the setting. It's really frustrating, and it's not only bad thematically, but it just leaves a large number of players behind.
@@BigRed40TECHLike me. I’m a ComStar player.
I sort of agree, but I can't see how to resurrect a faction that everyone else agrees to nuke on sight without hesitation or mercy. They sort of had a go with The Blessed Order, who promptly got nuked without hesitation or mercy.
.
I could see them working as a sort 'Monsters on the edge of the map,' faction the way The Clans were originally. The WoB ran away, they're still out there, if you go too far over the edge you just might find them. Or just have them flat out go and pick a fight with the Homeworld Clans, Religious Zealot Cyberpunks vs Hyper Fascist Eugenicists, what could possibly go wrong?
@@fix0the0spade That's a problem of Wizkids making, they're the ones who wanted to soft reboot the setting and so decided to make the "weird" religious faction into one dimensional genocidal villains in order to "advance" the setting.
Wizkids are the ones to blame for creating this dilemma for the Blakeists in all their forms.
@@CatholicDragoon It'd be easy to resurrect them and have them playable. But they'd just not be a faction that is visible all the time.
The best comparison I can give, which I am giving because it is easy, is think more Genestealer Cultists, rather than Tyranid invasion.
Remnants of a highly advanced faction fleeing beyond the reaches of the inner sphere to never before seen territory, wonder where I've heard that one before.
I am shocked. Shocked I tell you.
Blake has not abandoned us. He's putting our faith under test, until the day our blessed order will be restaured in all its glory. Praise Blake
Praise be unto Blake.
Comstar/WoD was always one of those BIG selling points for battletech for lot of people (such as me), so finding out that they been just killed off seemed odd.
They were a big selling point to me too. My first non-TRO sourcebook was the Comstar sourcebook.
@@BigRed40TECHditto! It's still one of my most cherished books. Even though it's falling apart and taped back Together in' several places.
The Same here... I love religious Comstar/Blessed Order (screw secular Comstar and the Republic), I wasn't a huge fan of the cybernetic/apocolyptic fanaticism of the WoBbies... I always thought that a Comstar/WoBbie civil war might have been interesting
The recent stories regarding Comstar and the WoB feels like closing loopholes in a contract to keep someone from staying with them.
The secret planets that might contain holdouts? Meh nothing there to work with.
The remants of Comstar that might be forming new units? The Republic of the Sphere caught them and wiped them out.
In a time when factions like Smoke Jaguars are being brought back to life and Clan Wolverine is getting constant hints at being alive it feels as a Comstar fan it feels sometimes vindictive that any possible way to play the faction is being ground out of existence.
Oh your right on the money. And while I like CGL, there are too many Comguard and Wobbie fans out there for me to abandon. So I will bring light to this until there is change, or until they stop stamping on their grave at the very least.
Yeah, I don’t really like the WoB, but it very much sounds like the company is not treating this correctly.🤨
I'm in two minds about this.
On one hand this a good way to tuck commstar away until they are ready to write a plot line with them in it. Or perhaps, until they get a writer willing to champion them.
On the other hand this makes we worried that commstar is going to come back in a clan-invasion like event. The last thing Battletech needs is more major plots trying to recapture the glory days of the invasion era.
I know it will probably never happen, but I would like to see them take over some of the Periphery Pirates and the Shadow Caste and invade the Pentagon Worlds. "Fallen! Fallen! Babylon has Fallen! Mene mene tekel upharsin!"
I just want my Archangel to run rampant again. The Tenshi's good, but it's just not the same without a religious cyborg supersoldier in the cockpit.
Seriously, the Mannei Domini and the Celestials were some of the more unique things in BattleTech. Hell, give us back the Blakist LAMs. Been binging Macross recently so I want to rain hellfire upon Clanners with a LAM or two.
Nice to know they are still alive. Sucks that they dont matter and my hopes that some one anyone will save us from a clan dominated story. "Sighs and puts away his celestials and omega."
It's honestly just bad for the setting. It's very frustrating.
@BigRed40TECH you know I'm in complete agreement. WoB was my one hope for the survival of a Blakist faction. Well, I got it as a slap in the face. I hope their people are reading this as I am not happy as a fan.
don't worry. in a couple hundred years they'll be back as a "new" faction... probably with new BS tech or something.
Maybe not so fast. Some were given to mercs, Liao, and Marik. And I have no doubt Terra Jade Falcon and Wolf got some as isorla from the caches of the Sol System.
Solid opinion piece, it's good to hear that they are putting out high quality books but a shame they are using to bury a faction rather than trying to find ways that it can find a role in the current setting seems a shame.
The burying is real. :\
The sad thing with all of it is that all the set pieces are there to actually use them. The deep periphery has a glut of potential factions that could be clashing with each other as a side-plot separate from the inner sphere stuff. The Blakists and several flavors of Clan sub-factions could be jockeying for dominance of the deep periphery.
I contest that it doesn't even make sense that the Blessed Order be dead in the Inner Sphere itself. Let alone the WOB in the periphery.
Nothing's on the horizon, and I will be critical whenever baiting happens as a result.
They would become the Clans 2 Electric Boogaloo, which would be great.
The Virgin Todd Howard: 16x the detail!
The Chad BigRed40Tech: 1000x the detail!
Clearly the Wobbles are going to return in a Word of Blake Invasion because gotta farm that Clan Invasion nostalgia /s
In all seriousness, I think the idea of Hidden Worlds and the Wobbles and Comstar being "shadows of their former selves" could have been interesting if there was a payoff to that. The concept of there being two communication networks- the ones operated by Clan Sea Fox and the ones operated by what remains of the Blessed Order- could have been an interesting narrative device, especially since the Blackout destabilized the HPG network. The Blakists being a boogeyman for the IS, operating out of Hidden Worlds and using propoganda to create cults on occupied worlds rather than directly fighting their battles, would have been interesting.
Would have, could have, ideas. Unfortunately, we didn't get that.
I don't mind Clan factions or the Republic of the Sphere being killed off. For the RotS, I think the fact its a government that was doomed to die gives it a sort of appeal of a "cursed faction"; we've seen the fate of every civilization that tries to control Earth and the Sol system, and it never goes well for them (unless they're Clan Wolf, I guess). I don't even mind the idea of the Wolf Empire because it could have given the Clanners an existential crisis (they accomplished what they were supposed to, didn't they, so now what?) but that direction isn't what we're getting. Again, no shade to the CGL writers, there's likely a lot of executive mandates they have to follow, but it is dissapointing.
I agree that it certainly has an exodus feel to it. I hope it isn't but in a way I hope it does, I want them back, eveb if I don't play them.
Considering the rest of the Sphere and Periphery refuses to accept their authority...I would say their mission is far from over...quiaff?
Its a shame the killed the blessed order, between that and the Smoke Jaguar revival it makes it longer/less likely for a blakist return. I’m hoping the baits are more we know you want them back but we don’t have a solid idea on how to bring the back yet.
I doubt very much there is a desire to bring them back at all. There is a reason I point out nothing will happen in this video. :|
@@BigRed40TECH it almost makes it feel like Disney Light Saber wounds for everyone else except Blakists. They're non lethal. 😢
Games need that 'other' option, the 'different' one.
The Clans are 'different' for sure.
But for me it has always been ComStar/Word.
It is the faction that made me learn to paint a passable white.
I'm the same way on all of those statements lol
Blake be praised!
I always considered Comstar to be the real heir to the Star League, which gives me rather complicated feelings towards the Word of Blake. WoB's complete destruction was a misstep, and I'd have preferred if they were still supported in the rules in some way for those who still like cyborgs, dogma, and nightmare machines. Where are we gonna get our retractable blades now!?
Where are they Gigas?! WHERE ARE THEY?!
I'm not a Blakist, but after seeing the Blakist stream last night that I was too busy to check out & now this I had really hoped CGL had done a 180. I was excited for the universe & community knowing what bringing back your boys in white would bring to the table. This module definitely seems worth the $3, but still feel letdown. Thanks for the review Red!
At least products like this give player confirmation that a dead faction are still out there, and give home-brewers something to work with, like Redemption and Malice for us Wolverine fans. Now to have the Blakists and Wolverine enclaves go to war out in the deep dark void.
As someone who loves the WoB and CommStar, looking towards the IlClan and beyond… sadly I agree there’s nothing for us. That said, lack of official faction lists when it comes to Neo-Blakists shouldn’t be seen as a limitation. That’s when players get way more agency and freedom without having to worry about the lore. If anything, we need to look into making our own Neo-Blakist fit into the setting. Just the Knowledge that the Neos exist and are out there is enough. So they don’t have all the fancy toys and are pretenders to a dead empire? Sounds like we need to get in touch with an “Insurgent” mindset. Become quasi pirate-partisans who commit acts of terror in the name of a religion, while wielding outdated equipment and weaponry. Time to revel in our own “dark age.” Time to take our fates into our own hands.
Or had backing by another faction as pseudo protagonist like the red Corsair ny clan jade falcon
It really is a limit. No mech-support, no faction listing, no MUL updates. No sourcebooks or expansions.
Homebrewing is fine, but there is imo, a limit to what it can offer. Especially when CGL keeps dropping info that kills off homebrewing ideas.
@@BigRed40TECH While true, still, I’m more a “find the silver lining” type than wallow in despair.
For a lot of folks, the Jihad and WoB, even later CommStar and the Blessed Order, they represent a dour time in the game’s IP History. Reminders of clicky-tech. Of the true “Dark Times.” It’s hard to overcome that stigma, even to the current creative team. The fact that we even got this… proves that we aren’t forgotten at least. I hope some day we’re viable enough to see a resurgence. I just hope I’m not in my 60’s when it happens! Besides, we haven’t been retconned. Unlike how some other games have handled factions being dropped. The Jihad happened. We brought the Inner Sphere to its knees. Blake willing, we will rise again, and perhaps achieve what the Master could not.
I always felt the Word of Blake should be too hard to kill off, given how powerful and how fanatic they were. It's only fair they return
It kinda covers Comstar as a whole to be fair. But yea, killing off fanatical cults should be not really easily done. Especially given, you know, people play them in pretty meaningful numbers.
Great video. I really like the Ghost of Obeedah.
Yep, I thought it was good too, even if it was more baiting :|
Well they did a whole series on why Clan Smoke Jaguar didn't die and now they are back. The Smokies even made the cover of the new camo book. I think if we are patient they will show up again someday.
I'll believe it when I see it. Lots of clan love in the office. It's sadly, not a comparable situation.
In other words, the book is good but changes nothing:
If I want to play with a Blakeist force in the IlClan era, I am still stuck with my remnants in the periphery (which are a complete Homebrew).
Pretty much, yea. :|
Ditto. I got remnants that are homebrew. But I guess it's better than nothing. The book sounds cool
If you were in charge of the line, inheriting it after the Dark Age was already entrenched, how would you handle the WoB? It seems to be something your passionate about, I'd love to hear your take.
I'd have probably just used the Blessed Order. It's less divisive and there is more stories to tell there. I'd rather not go into detail on what I'd do, because it'd not happen, but also, fanfiction more or less directly reduces the chances of anything getting adopted ever in the franchise, unless its filtered through Shrapnel first. Even outlining it in writing imo is just not wise.
Note, I don't write for CGL or Shrapnel, but I just don't want to limit options.
But yea, I'd use the Blessed Order, and I'd have them as a minor faction to give players somewhere to park themselves and you know, play the game they built their armies for. There are tons of fun stories that could still be written without them controlling the HPG's or Terra. Anyone who thinks otherwise completely lacks imagination.
The WOB are the last Blakist faction left. Them being "Alive" at least gives them a chance to allow players to keep using their forces. I'd prefer not to use them, as I think their deaths should've been permanent at the end of the Blakist era, but fundamentally speaking, giving Blakist fans SOMETHING is better than the entire faction tree literally having nothing.
I'd not be sad at their return, I'd be happy for WOB and Comstar players even, but I would be disappointed that they've trimmed the tree so much, that they are the only ones who could now fill that role.
@@BigRed40TECHAgreed! The Blessed Order was a nice mix of Old Comstar, Reformed Comstar, and Word of Blake and was their best bet toward keeping that faction tree alive.
My son and I play every weekend these days, and we've mostly switched to Alpha Strikes rules. I just recently purchased the RPG book and we have plans to give that a try. I used to play the RPG back in the day, with my friends.
This new book will help me flesh out my own homebrew a little, and give me something official to read about heretics from my favorite faction 😂
CGL and Blake-baiting
Name a more iconic duo
:(
Helstar players and no friends
Brutality. lmao
Loved the book, and it's too late, I already got my hopes up for a future with the Word of Blake in it. You can't bring me down!
Maybe you'll get something in 20 years :|
@@BigRed40TECH Haha! I hope not. Don't lose faith, Brother.
After a quick thumbing through the book, I believe this is setting up the WoB for a big part in the future. We may have lost the Blessed Order and others but the most fanatical sects are what usually survive. Like Homeworld Clan & Periphery fans, the wait for page space may be too long for liking. I, for one shall look forward to the future.
They're likely to appear in 3250.
Which is in 15-30 years.
:|
Wait. Solid hints at what really happened on Grey Monday? That alone is worth buying the Ghosts of Odeebah.
It will at least tell you who didn't do it.
As much as it sounds like a great lore book, I'm disinterested in all the bait. If CGL doesn't want Blakists anymore, then let them lie down and rest
Absolutely fair.
I think the Word of Blake left the Inner Sphere to fight Alien together with Clan Wolverine.
Nah. It's probably based on the original scenario for 3250, but we're not going to see that happen for another 15-30 years. Which frankly is basically the same as leaving them to rot indefinitely.
Sounds like the WoBbies are turning into Moriarty from BBC's Sherlock: gets killed in season 2, then spends the next two seasons having his return teased, even though he blew his own brains out on-camera in front of "the World's Greatest Detective".
Granted, if the Smoke Jaguars could survive Task Force Serpent, the WoB could survive the Jihad, but teasing their return like this is just undignified. Shit, or get off the pot.
On reading the book, I really love the lore it brings. But overall? - It kinda reminds me of that girl that keeps stringing you along picking up free meals (yes keeping it PG here) but never actually committing to anything... but hey, she's cute right?
I call it how I see it.
Thanks for the product review red. I'm gonna pick this one up.
Hope you enjoy it!
Another fantastic video.
As long as sea fox doesn't replace comstar with yiffnet or whatever i'll be happy. I also wish the corporations of the inner sphere would take a bigger front seat.
Sorry dude. :\
I think my like of ComStar will remain in the Battle of Tukyyid-era.
WoB I only really liked in a "We have Adeptus Mechcanicus too!"
They'd not give you Comstar at this point anyway to be fair. :|
I like the Word for a lot of the same reasons that Red likes the Smoke Jags... they make for great bad guys. I do also miss ComStar and that whole side of BattleTech. I know we can't turn the clock back, but they provided a lot of the weirdness and uniqueness to the setting. Yea ok, lots of political infighting, horrible wars, factions and agendas, and armed forces contrived to use mecha as their main combat platforms. I mean Gundam is great. Battletech. I mean Battletech. Don't get me wrong, still my favorite tabletop wargame and mecha universe, but making space AT&T/pseudo Catholic monks one of the most powerful and dangerous factions in the game was *different* and cool.
Now most of the mysteries built into the setting have been solved, lostech is a downgrade from what folks are using, and all that there is left is to get the shiniest new mechs and throw down. Again, still my favorite, but I do miss some of those things.
I adopted WoB because of the hate for reseting the era and was the time I quit BT. I was going to do RoS and that got shafted when I saw ilclan coming. Then I read their lore, found some other snippets that they are definitely still out there, then this drops. Yes WoB fanboi I suppose. It just means THEY will come back eventually.
20-years from now is not really an acceptable thing, at least to me. Given their plan to slow walk to 3250.
And also, that 3250 is janky anyway. :|
Praise be to blake
Praise Blake
On my game table there's a batch of blessed order in exile.
Praise be unto Blake.
If I have one complaint it's that they released it under the 'Battletech Adventures' label which... has historically had a kind of loose connection to canonicity.
Necromo Nightmare we learned was basically 100% canon, and part of Empires Aflame before the misjump are considered canon, but ever since it's been kind of non-canon central, like War of Tripods and Escape from Castle Wulfsteiner.
So taking a hard swerve for the label back into being even partly related to canon has been... pretty head scratching, not gonna lie.
For the moment, and it was worded as for the moment, Ray mentioned on a Discord that most of the main fact points in this book are canon.
Going to get Red, seems good for fill ins as you say and worth the price
Honestly don’t care for new timeline because comstar was my fave. ❤
This is a sentiment I've heard more often than some might think.
Spoken like a true fan!
I can only speak for myself, but I think that the way the Blakist audience has been treated has been truly unfair. Especially when you see so many mechs getting painted in Comguard schemes especially, or Shadow Division Colours. Its hugely demotivating when your primary faction is offed, and you get baited time and time again.
It's bad for business. It's bad for the setting. It's bad for everyone.
Either they should stop baiting and dancing on their graves, or they should actually do something.
Only the faithful find light in the darkness.
Excellent review
Thanks!
I sympathize with comstar/WoB players but I see why ghosts of obeedah is written the way it is. After the events of the blakist era there really isnt a good explination for them returning with sufficient force to avoid being destoryed by an IS who dosent want to take chances. They need space and time to avoid blessed order 2. The aknowledgement that they exist was actually more then i was expecting. I hope that this wont end with clan invasion 2 (there are more unique options). But with the massive burden of writing them out of the corner that they got into in the blakist era, this is the only way I can see them bringing them back without so much plot armor that would make aleric ward jealous.
Truly sucks to be teased this often but I suspect silence is the alternative.
Silence is frankly better. If your not going to give people stuff, don't tease them imo.
Because make no mistake, nothing is happening on the Comstar / WOB front. :|
@BigRed40TECH I'd agree, but I fear silence would result in a Dominions Divided situation where people will be angered over comstar, seemingly returning arbitrarily. Kinda like how Ghost Bears is doing an apparent 180 with no good explanation.
They should stop here tho, the update is given, and people are teased. Hopefully, the next time we hear of them (probably after an unfortunately long ass time) we kick off a more substantial arc.
@@rookiemechwarrior They really aren't bringing back Comstar. Even the "WOB" won't be coming back for 15-30 years. This is not foreshadowing for anything of note anytime soon.
I feel like having the WoB/Comstar returning as an awkward amalgamation with another lost faction would be a nice change of pace, like them merged with the Fidelis, RotS holdouts, or an "emergence" of clan wolverine from the shadows using a mixture of clantech and celestial tech.
I feel like they are setting up a clan-like invasion
3250 is 20 years away.
I get the disdain for the Word of Blake. I mostly missed out on the Jihad era, because nobody around these parts carried Battletech materials back when the Jihad first hit. The faction is also something of a ret-con. When WizKids bought the franchise they skipped forward a century to get passed all the possible IP entanglements with the setting at the time. Then when CGL got the rights to publish the game they went back and filled in the jumped time to cobble together where the Republic had come from with the Word of Black jihad. So, from the start, the whole faction is a flash-in-the-pan with a lot of aspects that don't really fit into the franchise. At least Rassalhague (as much as it, too was a flash in the pan before being swallowed by the Clans) fit into the setting.
When Focht and Mori blew the lid off all of ComStar's lies, most of us were happy. Sure we lost the manipulative behind-the-curtain villains of the setting. But we now had over a dozen new eugenics obsessed militaristic factions to replace them (and Katie Steiner, too). And now we were looking at a ComStar and ComGuard who might actually become a force for GOOD in the setting and actually show up to protect civilians and actually contribute to the Inner Sphere instead of constantly squelch the recovery of lostech or stop the development of new tech. And, given how heroic the ComGuards were stopping the clans - a lot of us were kinda hopeful.
But then we find out - NO! not only did Focht and Mori not blow the lid off all of ComStar's lies, there were FIVE whole systems sequestered off of everyone else's navigation charts that absolutely NOBODY who wasn't completely and utterly loyal to the folks who splintered off to become the Word of Blake even knew about with massive factories cranking out armies of never-before-seen OP battlemechs and fleets of never-before-seen OP warships and cybernetically enhanced escapees from Shadowrun as their OP infantry and assassination squads. They were a bunch of people who, having had their ENTIRE RELIGION PROVEN to be a sham, bitterly clung to it that much harder - still hoping to rule the galaxy in the name of the Sainted Blake (and then went ballistic when even the prophecies they still clung to blew up in their faces along with the Second Star League - and by ballistic we mean literally using NUKES). And they were being led by a mustache-twirling, Snidley Whiplash villain as comically diabolical as Roger Delgado playing the Master back in the days when John Pertwee was the Doctor - and they even had the unmitigated gall to name the guy "The Master" as a -rip off- _homage._
So there are a lot of us old-school fans that have never seen the Word of Blake as anything more than silly - a villain so cartoonishly evil that it was obvious they were trying to make the Clans look less evil so they could start to try and recast them as "good guys" (or at least "cool" enough that people would play the space nazis from the Kerensky cluster for some other reason than "they have all the best mechs") - and also some desperate need by the game devs to keep trying to reset the universe back to the same technologically hamstrung, hardscrabble scavenger economy the setting "started at" in 3020.
So, yeah, I don't miss the Blakists much. I wouldn't be surprised that there were pockets of them scattered around, and that some tried a Kerensky-like exodus. And now, with the Republic gone, you don't have folks obsessed with making sure those pockets are completely and thoroughly erased. Though I would love to see that turn as radically as Kerensky's exodus did. The Clans bear no resemblance to what Kerensky wanted the SLDF to be when he started the Star League in Exile on the Pentagon Worlds. I would love for the Blakists to return a century or two down the road as the exact opposite of warmongering jihadis, almost pacifist missionaries starting schools and hospitals and communities of people (churches) dedicated to peace through education and science.
But, it is a tabletop war game, so you need playable factions with distinctive mechs and such.
BattleTech's narrative history is replete with hooks that are left out only to be picked up decades later.
^
Blake Be Praised!
May we keep his light alive in the darkness!
I've said it before I'll say it again. Told you. Told you WOB escaped. They escaped to their hidden worlds or deep periphery
They did both, but the last of them left after the Blackout.
*looks at Thumbnail* i thought this was a Mechanicus video for a moment
Its a little sad, Comstar/WoB are great parts of the setting. If only this was some long bait for a blakist return to help defeat clan Wolf and its corpse puppets. Praise Blake!
Clan Wolf's not going anywhere. :\
@@BigRed40TECH Sadly…I don’t want em to disappear…just get a bit of well deserved backbench time
@@solidshot7849 Whoops! Sorry, responded to a different post. XD
They're nto going to disappear anytime soon, lol
And every once in a while they release something that tells us that the 3250 prophecy will be fulfilled.
-.-
Sure WoB is gone but in a few hundred years they will return with smart phone shaped battlemechs, and they will be foldable.
Just too long for players imo.
Would it be possible that they might have the WOB deal with the honeworld clans?
Very doubtful that. Both sides would just wmd one another
They hate one another too much.
i mean when literally at least 5 WOB warships are known to have escaped I figured the WOB was still around. And would be a major threat if they ever bothered to come back to the inner sphere.
Several Shadow Divisions got away too. It has never been about if WoB is alive. It has always been about were did they go?
They left the Inner Sphere.
well lets hope they never come back at all save maybe to YOLO vs clan wolf and beat them in a battle that leaves both parties at best crippled@@BigRed40TECH
Thing it was always obvious WOB was to big to just vanish A shame they lack the courage for some form of resurgence in a less over the top mustache twirling war crime hobo role.
The Fleet Division left the Inner Sphere to find a new home?
Did thy send a single 2 word message over the HPG network-
Second Exodus.
Don't give me hope.
If they do come back, it won't be for 20-30 years IRL.
I really wanna see any semblance of ComStar return. But from what I've gleaned of the Ilclan era, it might just be best to wait until the IP changes hands again. At some point maybe some new blood in the writing staff could accomplish that. But there's so many ways to screw it up, and so few left to do it right.
There is no one coming in to pick up the IP after this one. Topps won't do anything with it, they wouldn't know what to do with it, but they know they'd only sell it for big money.
Is there a hard copy of the book available?
Not at this time.
@@BigRed40TECH aw that's a shame, I really don't like reading pdfs lol
I could care less about WoB, but losing ComStar as a faction in universe is a tragedy and lends nothing positive to the game.
Yea i wandered onto obeedah during a meck hq game and when i discovered its lore in this module i had to buy and read it being really excited for WoB....
It... Felt like a way for an rpg group to get closure on interstellar players rumors. A skeleton to pose the "their out there... Somewhere!" Where a GM would run with that or tweak it for their group. Rule 0 rpg stuff.
The official options is super lame tho, and neoWoB are a cute idea but kinda lame. Felt like bait like u said but atleast its quality bait.
interested, but not hopeful. wouldnt mind if they even just threw out a few Guard/wobbie descendant merc companies, anything that fans could use other than your guys out of thin air. But there just isnt any taste for them at HQ apparently and until that changes in the future (hopefully) we will just be left holding the bag of the Big toaster party.
I dislike the fact they removed WoB. Dedicated fan but it’s all gone :(
No Comstar. No Blessed Order. No WOB. No Shadow Divisions. :|
They should be rolled into another faction which allows a vestige of what they were to continue.
No real faction for them to join that'd welcome them. And merging them with a Clan would be even a worse idea if that was on the table, as most Blakist fans are very much not in the Clan camp.
How many pages for the book?
62!
@@BigRed40TECH oh wow, 62 for $3. Even though I don't play the role playing game I'll probably pick this up.
What gets me is that there are tens of millions of Blakist faithfuls spread throughout the Inner Sphere.
Not ComStar personnel, or WoB fanatics, or Neo-Blakist posers. I'm talking about normal men and women with families that live their lives by the Word.
CGL is not just getting rid of a faction, they're getting rid of a religion that's been around for centruries and I don't think they've done enough to address how that affects the setting.
They are absolutely getting rid of a faction, and its just bad for the game.
I'll not be quiet about it either. When its relevant to talk about, I will talk about it.
@Big Red, does this mean they’re listening to us? Tge Devs and Writers that is? That we wanted a Blakist group and they listened.
We didn't get one. The book basically confirms that the WOB is gone, not because they're dead, but because they left.
There just isn't anything out there. :|
I’d rather have them involved than not. Maybe after the blakist era they wanted to give them a rest.
Nah. That doesn't seem to be why.
And remember, the Blakist era was 20 years ago now. :|
So if you want more WoB teases. Best thins fans is can buy this super cheap really good product. Sales are the only thing that can force changes. The problem with this Tease is they now Have to give me WoB or they can not get me to fully buy in in this era. It can even be more teases every six months. But if they dumb this after giving me this tease. Were ....... is still a live into the Dark age ear and not ..... CGL has put themselfs in a corner. Because the lore is to big and I enjoy Jihad era and back to much for me to feel forced to have to buy into a new era. Your move CGL........ (For the price of the prodouct even if you hate WoB you should buy it to tell CGL this is the type product they should do for there online products.)
Comstar products sell very well. It's not made a difference as far as I can tell tbh.
@@BigRed40TECH Here is the thing I know those two lance packs are Comstar Level II. But the thing to keep in mind since the units in those packs are not exclusive to the faction someone could buy a ton of those and never play Comstar or WoB. So the only thing we can really do is when they put out a product that leaves no gray area on why someone bought it is to buy in mass.
While true, when you go looking, tons of people paint those as Comstar or WOB. You'd be surprised how commonly thats done.
@@BigRed40TECH Look you know I love me some Wobbies. But lets be honest of the minis actually painted. So few of the packs ever get sold get posted online. So I don't know what we see online is a good sample. So many of the samples of what we see posted online seem to think whatever is in a Pack is how the units are supose to be deployed too. I get were you are coming from I do. I just see this is really the first real WoB product in a very long time. Sales matter. A few dozen people talking in the internet mean a lot less than sales.
Sure. But I think I already stated I think people should buy the book. I even put a link in the comments section and pinned it. lol
Looking forward to the Republic of the Sphere coming back to fight the Wobbies.
I was never really a fan of the Jihad-era WoB, but man their fans just got done dirty. The Blessed Order was a great option to "keep the dream alive" without the ugly plot asshattery of the Jihad, and CGL screwed the pooch having them deleted.
Yea, they got treated very ugly. The Blessed Order was a fantastic continuation without breaking the system. Killed them off anyway. It's the biggest misstep in modern Battletech imo, even more than bringing Smoke Jaguar back.
@@BigRed40TECH@BigRed40TECH Wait, so bringing one faction back was a "misstep" but bringing back another one would somehow not be? How does that compute?
Smoke Jaguar's my favourite Clan. They died to cement the end of the Clan Invasion. You'll note from one of my other responses, I don't think the WOB should have been chosen as the Blakists to survive, and even though they're not in the setting atm, they at least give Comstar fans somewhere to go.
They are the unideal saviours of a faction branch, only they're not going to be used.
ComStar and the Word of Blake are gone in the ilClan era. Clan Sea Fox is, basically, replacing them.
I'm keenly aware.
Can't say that the WoB will be returning, but I think the book left enough loose ends to keep stuff interesting, and leave the door open for a possible potential return. And there's nothing stopping you from running Jihad era stuff in ilClan.
We talking about Battletech or 40k? 40k has been a giant nothing burger for like 12 years and it's just starting to do... Something
Nah. It's more that they killed off a very popular faction in all of its forms, but keep on baiting that there in the background somewhere, whether it be the WOB or Comstar in some form. Spoilers, even if they are alive, your not going to get anything for decades irl, that's my problem. :|
The WoB or ComStar could get more material, material set in earlier eras.
I really don't feel like, at least in my area, that comstar was ever as popular as you make it out to be. Then again the group was like half a dozen people with most being either grogs, periphery fans, or clanners. 😂
Regional areas will never translate into the broadest groups. The Great Houses are the most popular part of the setting, followed by Mercenaries, for instance. But a lot of areas will have wildly different localized groups.
I run polls consistently, and I'm surrounded by Battletech all the time. The amount of Comguard units painted out there is ridiculous.
The cost and the lore is cool, but its warring with my refusal to support catfishing. Constantly teasing Blakist factions just so they can slap you in the face and tell you they aren't playable is horrible. Its an abusive relationship preying on people's hopes that their faction isn't dead and yet CGL is delighting in teasing the possibility of the faction with zero intention of delivering a playable faction. That's how it seems to me and I can't condone that. Sorry for the negativity, but I really abhor this angle they are on for this faction.
I think the book is cool, but I also agree that yea. It's super bunk that the audience is getting treated this way.
This all sounds solid to me. WoB disappeared for a really good reason and the lore is better for it instead of keeping them artificially running somewhere within sphere and being an active. The only logical way for them to survive is to make an exodus like the SLDF did and then return but much later.
I applaud them wholeheartedly for this, keeping the setting grounded. A shame they didn't have the same considerations when resurrecting Clan Smoke Jaguars. That made no sense and is the type of artificially keeping factions active that they didn't do with WoB.
So it's strange how they did it right with WoB, but so wrong with the Jaguars, leaving no one satisfied.
Comstar is a major faction tree that's been entirely killed off, leaving a huge chunk of players disinterested or behind. Even if its not the WOB, they should have had something.
Jaguar fans migrated to other clans in the 90's. The same can't be said for the Comstar fans. It's a bad deal, I stand by that. And it's a wargame. Killing off major, popular factions in wargames is literally bad for business.
@@BigRed40TECH Not killing of factions was why I left 40K and came to Battletech. So in my case it was good business.
But since 40K is the biggest wargame they might have picked the more popular option. But if Battletech did the same, it would just be another 40K.
And granted, it's probably harder to migrate unique WoB mechs to other sphere powers than from clan to clan, but then they shouldn't have written the Jihad. That's when the only logical outcome became an exodus.
@@LupusGr3y The Blessed Order had a perfectly reasonable storyline that they straight up cut short, and was a faction that once more, would've been fine. We didn't even need the WOB. Killed them too, giving the playerbase NOWHERE to go.
Literally. This is vindictively bad for business.
@@BigRed40TECH No, The Blessed Order was as doomed as WoB. No one would trust anything that smelling the slightest bit of WoB.
At the end of the Jihad, there really wasn't any room for them in the setting anymore. If they should have been saved, it should have been done before that.
Either that or make some major retcons.
So I don't even see it as them dying in the ilClan era or The Dark Ages, it was before that. Whoever wrote the Jihad killed them and maybe The Dark Ages could have saved them, but we are now beyond that.
I mean, given that the WOB hid in the Inner sphere undetected for at least 52 years after the end of the Blakist era, there is definitely things that could've been done. And that's as of the current lore that sent them on their way.
And they swerved the Blessed Order's storyline too. 100% they did, its change and end were put in place after broader decisions came down to start the Ilclan era.
ymmv but i never met a WoB player that i didnt think should quit and play something else. They tended to pick WoB because of 40k or because they were OP. Not exactly the creme of the crop
I play the WOB. And I don't powergame. And I had a Comstar sourcebook before I ever played 40k.
@@BigRed40TECH don't believe we've ever played tho son so I can't place you under that umbrella.
@@Randomcrapname80 Right. I'm just telling you that putting all those people under that umbrella isn't exactly fair. And that description doesn't match my own experience in the slightest.
Not gonna lie, I took one look at that book's cover art and swore I could hear Games Workshop's lawyers sharpening their knives.
The WOB are not the Mechanicus.
@@BigRed40TECH I'm aware, but that color scheme though.
@@BeastLingo42 Nobody owns acolour scheme thankfully lol
Within context, anyway.
@@BigRed40TECH Games Workshop tried to copyright the concept of a genetically engineered super soldier. The bit/joke I was making was that Games Workshop is overly litigious and someone at CGL was having a bit of fun with Wobblies (or pseudo-Wobblies) cosplaying as AdMech.
There were a handful of reasons i mostly stopped buying Battletech products for the last several years.
It started with the beautiful, but extremely poorly organized rule books they put out several years ago.
Then, the timeline got super weird and the Republic of the Sphere happened.
Then the killing off of Comstar
Then the firing of Blaine Pardoe.
I did purchase some products, as they were very good. Mostly the new plastic minis. A couple of the new boxes sets were pretty good too. I wanted to reward them when they did something correctly and only purchased those products.
Thank you for this review. I would likely not have heard about it otherwise. I'll prob go purchase it, even if it is only bait, so i can read about some splinter sect of my favorite faction. 😊
COMSTAR like to USSR died, it happens. They were fun while they lasted. But when a big organization does die, it takes a while for it to finally fade away. These lore "teasers" only seem logical to me. How long and how often did we have to hear about "lost Star League era bases"?
Sweet. Did you notice my intro, talking about how this is a wargame?
@@BigRed40TECH Oh I caught it. And relistened just in case I missed something. I simply disagreed. Nothing personal.
You would consider me in that former camp you described. I view Battletech more like a historic wargame like Flames for War that will have early, mid, or late-war units or Black Power that cover almost two centuries of war in which factions came and went, instead of something mostly static like 40k.
COMSTAR, Word of Blake, and Star League, wonderful for what they were, had their era and were destroyed. Much like nations in our own history, to me that gives BattleTech some stakes and gravity to it.
@@readwatchlisten2863 Yea, did you know only the ROTS, Comstar, and Steel Viper have ever really died?
Most deaths in the setting are fake. 2 of the 3 factions that died had nearly no playerbases.
There are no real stakes. Its an illusion.
@@BigRed40TECH yea well aware. If the writers want to bring back the FedCom I suppose they could. Not really my point. All I'm saying is factions die, that's okay, and for a faction like WoB or Comstar it's their time, and lore that alludes to them makes perfect sense.
And who knows, if it is all an illusion they come back.
The Fedcom didn't die, it just became Davion and Steiner again.
Rasalhague is a core part of the Dominion.
St. Ives just went home to the CC.
All those units are still playable. They're still around.
By contrast:
In order for their to be no stakes, ie, keeping the Ilclan itself alive.
They had:
-Clan Ghost Bear have a civil war, over something they institutionally, and publicly, didn't believe in from 3060 forward, and then had them dumbly invade the Combine to prove that they love Wolf-kun. When the real, actual response would've been them likely attacking Wolf for destroying their legitimate ally the ROTS.
-They had the FWL sanction its own generals and prevent them from liberating the Marik Commonwealth, which is the core of the FWL's economy, and also the most easy place to liberate in the world.
-They're going to have Snow Raven turn up, to turn the tide on the Capellan Confederation.
This is all literally magic-things happening, people making decisions they'd never make, populations being hit with delirium, and the world bending to turn events to one outcome. These are all just as bad, if not worse, than just going "hey, the Blessed Order lived" just in the opposite, and in the extreme.
There are no stakes at this stage of the setting. For real. There haven't been real stakes since the Wars of Reaving, because those factions didn't matter. The last time there were stakes before that was the end of the Clan Invasion. Whose results they reversed.
Oh sure you can just hit delete on factions and characters. Just ask Disney IRT the old Star Wars EU and it's worked out perfectly for them....
A lot of Battletech fans who don't support a faction, will often root for the other factions permanent demise. But it's still a net-bad for the setting.
All those Teasers without something Happening is kinda getting Boring. I know that the IP is chasing the succes of the early Clan invasion and maybe with all those hints its trying to set something up. But if some Faction will be attacking from the great unknown i would like it to be something new and not just the Word of Blake, The Surviving Wolverines. I dont need Aliens in my Battletech univers even if it would be Hillarious to finally see other intelligent live thats not Human. But from what i know in the early age of expancion Humans just went out there so why couldnt there be a hidden Human Empirer that can rival the Iner Spehre in Power. Its that i dont see the great houses not going away so if they want to refresh it they need new factions.
I enjoy your content 99% of the time but come on, really? CS and WoB have both had significantly more time as either power players or the focus of entire era's than any other factiins except the wolves the fedcom. To me this video came off like a space marine fan boy whinning because another faction got new nodels and lore and they didn't.
Comstar and the WOB have been functionally dead for 20 years IRL.
You realize the Dark Age has been the primary storyline for decades now, right?
It's fine to disagree. But the world has moved past 2002.
Oh i don't know about this eras. I know only the J-era as focus on WoB and Comstar. Can you tell me more?
good review, I wanted to pick up this module to show my support behind Blake’s blessed word. It might be bait, but sometimes you get a catch.
It's honestly worth the read.
Welp, I still have that coupon from the starter set, so I'll pick up the pdf among other things. Still, one can use the rumours and neo-Blakist elements as potential leads to something more substantial in homebrew games.
4vr
Blake Be Praised!
Blake be praised :(