The Second Circuit

Jesse, Extended-Range Jo, and Avalyn are revisiting an old beef due to new cards. The reporting names were always bad, come at me. When did new reporting names get added? Why are there NEW reporting names for brand new 'Mechs? Solving problems with time travel. Hey TRO 3058 was pretty great. Clan Nova Cat Nova Cat. Some cool campaign ideas coming out of Barrie. Avalyn's DeckWarrior format! Spina Khanate, but damn if I can remember ...

Jesse, Scott, and Extended-Range Jo are trying to get the core of just what makes something BattleTech. Does it need big stompy robots? If not, isn't it just anything else? A love story with 'Mechs is a BattleTech story, but what if they're in planes? Can they also be in C&C or Star Wars? This Romeo and Juliet but also Marik tankers idea has legs; or treads rather. Jesse gets hungry!...again.

Focht's Network is affiliated with ...

Jesse, Scott, and Extended-Range Jo are back from GenCon 2026! We're catching you up on all the adventures, from new BattleTech products to the one-two punch of flood and tornado! We're talking events, the streaming setup, cool games, personalities, and people, Pop Darts (!?!?!?), demos, Lorescape tiles, DropShips, and more! 

Check out all the live streaming we did with Catalyst Game Labs, including creator interviews, product...

It's another fireside chat with your very loud pal Jesse Kay, as the crew is busy prepping for GenCon and Jesse has thoughts about the future of BattleTech. 

Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Game Labs, and is the Events Team for Six Sides of Gaming. However all opinions expressed on this show belong solely to the people expressing them and do not reflect those of any of tho...

Jesse, Scott, and Extended-Range Jo are looking at art with their eyes and describing it for your ears! Retro-futurism. Updates over time. Washer dials. Feel and nostalgia. Just some guy. Big robots, little cover space. Weight and feel. Warrior House Imarra? Camo versus parade. Minimum range. The big banner. 

Take a look at the work of the artists we discuss: Marco Mazzoni - https://www.marcommazzoni.com/ Alan Blackwell - http...

Jesse goes of on a bit of a tangent with Extended-Range Jo! We're talking everything from our convention setups, to campaigns being run. Using Aces as a teaching tool. Table and game etiquette. Competing Periphery intelligence agencies. Being open to new and exploding things. And of course it's been far too long since Jesse reminded everyone about the long suffering Federated Suns and how badly they could use a win. 

Focht's N...

Jesse, Scott, and Extended-Range Jo are talking about the all new BattleMech variants included in the record sheets that come with the new BattleTech Core Box! There are SIX new variants (Jesse mistakenly says seven until we figure out the thing with the Eris / Hel) covered:

- Solitaire 3 - Hollander BZK-W4 - Uziel-9S - Mad Dog Mk IV E - Rakshasa MDG-3D - Mad Cat Mk II 7   You can get a close look at the new minis here: https:...

Jesse, Jo, and Avalyn are talking the first major public play of Aces Legacy: A narrative organized play experience! We're talking what it was and how it worked, what went well, what we could refine, and how everyone did! We're hoping to refine this until it becomes a major event experience so come and tune in to find out how it all started! Huge thanks to the folks at Torchlight Games & Hobbies and the Southern Ontario BattleT...

Jesse, Jo, and Avalyn are talking Jo's "home board" project, and working towards the ideal game setup. The Solitaire! Time travel. Bad tables. Jesse's luggage. Terrain history. Jo destroying pink foam. Where we're playing, we don't need roads. Urban board = lunar board? Comparison is the thief of joy. Tree templates. How to transport worlds. Form versus function. Jo's homeworld in the Alliance. Jesse at the NAIS. Avalyn (and Henny!...

Jesse is talking the Mechnificent 7 with three of its biggest stars and noted BattleTech luminaries: Paul Clarkson, Director of Focht's Network, Mr. Tex of the Black Pants Legion & firearms enthusiast, and Randall N Bills, Creative Director of Catalyst Game Labs and saKhan of all things BattleTech - who was somehow perfectly okay with what these maniacs did to his franchise!

Haven't had a chance yet to watch the Mech7? Both sea...

Jesse and Avalyn are talking self-propelled boom sticks. Jesse got spanked! C3 at WWAC; Aces doesn't recognize it. The MetroMech! It's Long Tom is scarier than we thought. ATMs - are they too crazy? Lasers go extinct. Fire Falcon E! Where are our alternate munitions? Hel C! Savage Wolf A. Build some of this onto something more accessible; a Javelin? What the hell were Listen-Kill Missiles? Let's make an alternate missile munition s...

Jesse, Scott, and Jo are talking flying machines!New minis! The Wingmate Tournament: close game! BattleMech baseball sidebar. Star Wars. FFG's X-Wing and Heroes of the Arturi Cluster. Clan fighters. World War II trumpets. Is it still the Cold War? Society X variants. A brief history lesson. RACs in space. Snow Raven exclusivity. R-Teams and Triads. Hurting Paul Clarkson, semi intentionally. 

Focht's Network is affiliated with ...

Jesse saw the launch trailer for Chaos Reign and lost his mind with enthusiasm over the animated series. Avalyn tries to keep things grounded. 

"This is the Inner Sphere—thousands of planets colonized by humankind. Once it was united under the Star League, but for the last three hundred years it has been consumed by savage wars... until a new enemy appeared—mysterious invaders known as the Clans. Powerful and ruthl...

Jesse, Scott, and Jo are joined by Joshua "Kestrel" Franklin, "Metal" Ed Stephens, and Mike "Kirby" Bisaillon, the creative minds behind Hot Spots Draconis Reach! We're talking how it came about. Changes and improvements from Hinterlands and the grueling playtesting schedule. The massive Loneliness Island campaign. Working your way up to it or jumping straight in. The other contracts. How to pronounce things. Ravens! All the factor...

Jesse, Avalyn, and Scott talk the next Battle of Luthien! Woo woo Wednesday wepwesent! Too bad the first one was a lot better in the games and the novels than the actual sourcebook. Let's come up with something more practical. Alpha Strike for sure, right? Recreating the tension from the book is not just objective focused, it's character focused. Dracs, tradition versus modernity. Rasalhague, joiners versus deniers. Overlapping and...

Jesse, Scott, and Jo are 'MechTechs today! Remember MechWarrior 2? Customizing works in the videogames but not on the table. How do we solve that? Scott's made some killer LAMs in MegaMek, but would never bring them to the table. Does BattleTech have to change to allow for customs? Compounding BV? RAT tables for equipment? Can tonnage, C-bills and BV work together in a way to make that work? Are we just reinventing the MUL? What if...

Jesse and Jo are getting in depth with a brush! How do I paint missile launchers?? Sometimes there are missiles and sometimes there are not. Jo says it's a question of scale. Some mistakes can be interpreted as battle damage. Art versus 'realistic'. Context specific is important for the art. Make different parts different colours. Yell-oh-no! This applies to bases as well - Jesse can't do basing because of the risk that a desert ba...

Jesse and Scott are exchanging memory cores about their homebrew gear!  - Loitering Missile Ammunition (It's a floating long-range minefield!) - Plasma Sword (Tsushima/Yotei fans get hyped!) - Magnetic Grapple (Lasso up a Fire Moth!) - Torvold Drone Targeting System (Behold the Hammer of Dawn!) - Rotary Micro Pulse Laser (Cutting down on attack rolls!) - Scott Pod (It's a BattleMech briefcase!) - Continuous Beam Laser (The GTV...

Jesse, Scott, and Jo are talking Warships! Jesse likes sc-fi because of big machines that shoot lasers. BattleTech scales well, so let's see what happens at the biggest scale. The Hunters has a cool space battle! Naval assets - using a lot of ECM? Some of the secrets are buried in many old books. The wargaming table could be like a holotank! Please don't mess with electronics if you are untrained, and please don't sue us if you do....