Loren Coleman: The big news that came out this week is BattleTech ‑ Gothic. It is an alternate universe BattleTech; there'll be only a couple of products for that. Mostly, it's alternate-aesthetic miniatures and a new universe book to describe BattleTech as if it was a more of a Gothic‑flavored universe.
It's the first of our five BattleTech continuum universes. Following that will be a rockets and rayguns 1950s sci‑fi edition. Following that, about a year later, will be the BattleTech anime‑style universe.
These are all just quick little detours. The main timeline is still moving forward with full product support, but we wanted to push the edge of what we can do with the plastics and the BattleTech story. Those will be little side branches.
Are those going to be on an annual schedule?
Coleman: One a year or when it gets done. We're not going to rush it. This one took 18 months because it was a really big redesign on some of the plastics. We don't want to get in the way of the other main timeline and the main aesthetic. That has to proceed on schedule.
What's the product range for BattleTech ‑ Gothic?
Coleman: Just the main box set and then probably a little salvage box run. Then maybe we'll do a ForcePack for the Abominations, which are a little creepy monster back there with the gun on his back. That'll be the run for that. Then we'll move on to rockets and rayguns (that's a Robby the Robot, Buzz Lightyear kind of an aesthetic), followed by the anime aesthetic.
Are you going to keep them in print, or is this going to be a one‑and‑done kind of thing?
Coleman: That'll depend on the fans, if they're just loving the miniatures and want more of them. What I don't think we're going to do is produce hundreds of mechs in this style. We've got eight now. Maybe an Abomination ForcePack. Really, we have too much more to go to. We will not sacrifice the main line.
What else is coming this year?
Coleman: We're showing off Aces here at the show. Aces is collaborative or solo‑play BattleTech; for the first time ever, you can play solo. You can get your friends together, and you can all fight the board game.
The Aces provides a gamemaster deck which runs the opposing side and runs it fairly well. It's a battle you can lose. It's planned for four campaign boxes over the next year. Each box has miniatures as well as some fold‑up terrain, some new maps and the decks you need to run the opposing forces.
It's currently based on the Alpha Strike rules. We're also working on an Aces version for the Armored Combat rules as well.
When's the first product in that line coming out?
Coleman: Aces ‑ Scouring Sands will be out for Gen Con, same as Gothic.
Anything else in the works for this year?
Coleman: Leviathans is hitting fulfillment very soon here and will be hitting the market by the end of the year. I'm not going to say Gen Con for sure, but it could be, depending on how well fulfillment goes.
That was from your big Kickstarter, right?
Coleman: Yeah, from about a year and a half or so ago. The ships took longer than we wanted them to, but they look great. We didn't want to rush it and sacrifice the quality. We think they came out awesome.
Then we announced The LOK, working with [former NFL player] Tommy Rice. It's a more of a skirmish‑level game with some awesome miniatures support. We're looking for that as a 2026 property.
Tommy Rice: My game is called the Partha Wars miniature game. It's from The LOK, a book I wrote. I set out to create this game that could be skirmish, or it could be tournament‑style, and really make it different than other people have done it. For instance, I measure from the middle when you set up, not from the board edges. My combat system has never been seen before.
I was able to customize the rules to where our tournament players have a blast doing it, but also it makes it very strategic. You can't set your best model down and get alpha strike in the first turn. You have to be strategic, and it's resource management, along with the way move goes and everything else in the game.
Did you design the miniatures too or just write the story and help with the minis?
Rice: I did the story myself. My father and I used to do stuff when I was a kid. All the cool stories that we came up with, when he passed, I took that and turned it into a book. It really helped me get through that. I knew I was going to do a game with it eventually, so I made it into a game.
Where do the minis come from?
Rice: The minis are sort of out of my brain. I drew them. Then Nestor Ossandon did my art, and Javier Ureña did my sculpts.
Javier is one of the best in the business, one of my friends and works with me. Javier did the sculpts for this game. He does stuff for Infinity for Corvus Belli, which is a great miniatures game in itself. Javi's one of the best in the business.
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