The Tactical Flex of a Big Battletech Collection

Posted by E.S. Wynn May 06, 2025

The Tactical Flex of a Big Battletech Collection

Every six months, I photograph my entire collection. Takes about an hour now, and I have to stand on a chair to take the photo, but it's totally worth it.

There’s a certain moment in every BattleTech player's journey when the storage bins stop closing, when foam trays turn into banker’s boxes, and you start running out of room for the toolboxes or beadboxes that become ubiquitous at this stage. Maybe you’re just starting out, and maybe you’ve just realized you’ve got more ‘Mechs than the ComGuard brought to Tukayyid. Either way, you’re here, and you’re reading this, and I’m about to tell you why I have over 800 painted units in my collection.

Obsession. That’s it. Yep.

That’s all there is to it. You can stop reading now.

(Unless you want to look at all the pretty pictures. That’s ok too.)

Lunch with the big boys

But let’s be real, having a big-ass collection of BattleTech miniatures isn’t just a ridiculous nerd flex, it’s a toolbox. It’s a creative arsenal, a playground for wild force compositions, for scenario-building, and for miniature-accurate cinematic campaigns. It turns every game night into a buffet of tactical possibility, and when you lean into WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”) and MUL (Master Unit List) accuracy, an oversized collection can become a living, breathing expression of your love of the game.

Shadow Cat H - Clan Sea Fox - IlClan Era

Never Field the Same Lance Twice

If you’ve only got a handful of minis, your rosters are going to start to look the same game after game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you have one lance or one star that you’ve optimized for one really killer strategy, but it does mean that your tactical options are limited by what you’ve got in your foam insert. Proxies are fine in BattleTech (one of the things I love about the game) but 3d printers have become so cheap and so easy to use that there’s no reason not to have all of your favorite variants on hand, whether it’s a stock CGL mini modified with printed parts or even just a wholly resin-printed proxy unit. A lot of my favorite pieces are resin prints of stunning sculpts made by dedicated and talented creators who have shared the fruits of their talent with other fans simply out of love for the game.

Just think– you want to field an all-jump-capable recon unit made up entirely of urban-optimized light ‘Mechs that stick to the rule of WYSIWYG without using proxies? You can do it. Need a Steiner scout lance (i.e., four Atlases)? No problem. Want to do a themed force from a specific year in the FedCom Civil War with accurate variants? Hell yes, and it’ll be beautiful.

It's Hammer Time!

Having a huge collection opens up the opportunity to explore the full depth of the MUL. Suddenly, you can run rare units, oddball variants, or faction-specific designs without having to proxy anything. At that point, you’re not just playing BattleTech, you’re curating your experience within it. You’re running formations that feel tailored to the universe rather than just throwing together whatever happens to be painted this week.

If you want to get really granular with it, having a big collection is stellar in campaign play too. You can rotate specific miniatures in and out for repair, bring reinforcements that actually look like reinforcements, field OPFOR that actually look the part, and even slap together your own frankenmechs. Also, few things make a Mechwarrior: Destiny player more invested than seeing their own personal mech, painted to reflect battle scars, trophies, and past upgrades, walking back onto the table for the next mission. When the minis have history, the games just hit harder.

Warhammer IIC-8

Specificity and Visual Appeal

There’s something almost sacred about placing a ‘Mech on the board that’s not just thematically accurate, but visually accurate. You can point to the model and say, “That’s a Wolverine WVR-10D,” and your opponent doesn’t need to ask what it's carrying, because the big, angry barrel of a Rotary AC/5 is right there on its arm. There’s no guessing about the loadout.

WYSIWYG isn’t mandatory in BattleTech (thank goodness!) but when your collection is deep enough to support it, it can make gameplay smoother and more immersive. No mental gymnastics trying to remember whether the opponent's Blackjack is the one rocking the ERPPCs or the AC/2s before he fires them at you. No “count as” confusion halfway through the game. What you see is what you shoot. This also adds tension to the battlefield. Your opponent sees the Longbow with twin Arrow IV launchers and knows exactly what kind of hell is about to rain down all over the battlefield. There’s clarity in the stakes, and every variant becomes its own character, not just a tweak to a stat block.

Orange you glad to see a Marauder in this post?

MUL Mastery and Lore-Faithful Forces

The Master Unit List is like a palette of paints if you use it right. It gives you the tools to tell the story of which units were available when, where, and to whom. Having a big collection means you can build forces that are historically and factionally accurate, right down to the exact variants most likely to be fielded by which factions during any given Succession War.

Don’t even get me started on the joy of pulling out obscure or one-off designs. Things like that are my bread and butter. That “Gargantuan” from Tech Factory #7 that you painted last week might only see the table once, but when it does? It’ll be in exactly the right battle, at exactly the right time, looking like a four-legged war god crab-walking through whatever hellfire your opponent decides to throw at you. The MUL is rich with forgotten gems, limited-run nightmares, and mechs wielding hard-to-find hardware. With a massive collection, you don’t have to dream about those units anymore. You can actually field them.

Everybody needs a JagerRAC

Hobby and Legacy

A big collection is a personal museum and you’re the curator. Every ‘Mech you glue together and paint tells a story, not just in-universe, but in your own journey as a hobbyist. The collection grows with you. That first plastic CityTech Centurion you slathered with too many coats of gloss, the Marauder II you got when you were a kid, the Mad Cat painted by a friend in high school– these are all examples from my own collection, sure, but I’m certain that you have (or will have, in time) yours as well.

A huge collection also lets you compare manufacturers (Iron Wind, Catalyst, 3D prints, old-school Ral Partha), show off rare sculpts, and preserve multiple versions of classic designs across their aesthetic evolutions. There’s always another obscure variant to track down. There’s always some piece of history in metal or shiny silver plastic waiting for a dedicated curator. Are you a bad enough dude to track them down and do them justice with paint and acrylic pen?

I’ve rambled enough. Enjoy some more pictures of some of the beauties from my collection.