The Second Circuit

Jesse, Extended-Range Jo, and Avalyn are having a heated discussion about plasma! Plasma Cannon? Extra damage to non-'Mechs. Diamond Sharks. Nova I. Hellbringer D. Mirage II. Plasma Pike. Nova L. Are they just too expensive? Pouncer F. It's for combined arms. The Plasma PPC. Lose the AC/10? New Axmans. Pouncer X. It works out better in Alpha Strike. Warhammer IIC 8. Kodiak Prime and the poor Coola...

Jesse, Extended-Range Jo, and Avalyn are giving some high-tech wonder machines a bit of a Periphery-priced makeover! Here is the list of the units we're frankly absolutely gutting for some incredible savings! Bane Black Wolf Battle Armor Amarok Piranha Goshawk Jade Hawk Black Lanner Warhammer IIC Savage Wolf  Summoner Horned Owl Hammerhead Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team...

Jesse, Avalyn, and Extended-Range Jo are talking Alpha Strike Formations! What the hell formations. They're like quirks; kinda broken. Society dorks. The Probe Lance is not for probes. The Recon Lance is a better example. This makes a lot of sense for very VERY big games. The Battle Lance is just free re-rolls. Daft Punk. Throw out or clean up? Abstraction of the narrative. The 75 percent has got...

Medium 'Mechs are the best 'Mechs in the game(?). Nightsky. Centurion. Phoenix Hawk. Not the Assassin. Variety of roles. Specializing versus generalization. Later eras extra weapons. Hunchback C. Alpha Strike is cruel to Mediums. Blackjack. Bodyguard units and bait. Hatchetman. Kontio. The extra punch you get with just a few more tons. But then the Clans. Huge gaps. Nova versus Swayback. Versus Cr...

Jesse wants to shoot at 'Mechs from space and Scott, Avalyn, and Extended-Range Jo are helping him figure out how. Is there any way to balance it? Turtle Bay. BattleSpace. Strategic Ops. 1000 BattleMech damage! They punched from ... behind! Does the Blue Shield help you? Damage vs Area of Effect? Reflective Armor Superman. Alpha Strike Companion. Jesse going the wrong way. Cruise missiles and arti...

Jesse, Scott, and Extended-Range Jo are trying to solve getting game information presented on the table. Movement dice. Enforce the colour? Providing them as a host. Replicators. Immersion. Dice vs chits. Different dice sizes. TMM, elevation, status, terrain. How to standardize? Blue for elevation. Terrain modifiers? Hex frames. A speakeasy. Clix dials. Magnetic devices. Jo doesn't like playing in...

Jesse, Scott, and ER Jo are celebrating the One Year Anniversary of The Second Circuit by talking about Quads. Quads! Quads? Dougram, Fang of the Sun. Sidestepping. Jesse Two-Legs. 4x heat sinking. The Tarantula is a better looking Scorpion. Elephants, animals, and bugs. Can tanks do the same thing but better? Quads will be better at terrain! QuaDFA. Talons. The AeroGirder. It's subtle but you may...

Jesse, Avalyn, and Scott are talking their weekly BattleTech event: Weekly Wednesday Armored Combat! Things we like and things we don't, appreciation for each other and the crew, lessons that you can learn if you want to be doing it too! We're looking forward to playing with you! Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Game Labs. However all opinions...

Jesse and Extended-Range Jo have a little palaver about prepping their players for the new BattleTech Starter and Core Boxes. Onboarding to ilClan. New Tech. Change the covers! Loneliness Island. Many different armour types. Acid missiles? Why are pulse lasers easier to aim? Do you have to learn all this to play right off the bat? There are no energy shields! Reflective armour and how cool it is i...

Jesse, Extended-Range Jo, and Scott the Hot Sauce Air Boss are winding down from FanExpo Canada! We're all very tired, and the internet is bad thanks to a storm. Second Circuit, the Pizza. Focht's first time demoing Snap Ships Tactics. The Alpha Strike Learn to Play Table and how to organize it. The Main Event against the Word of Blake on Solaris VII! Sariana Pryor (and Mat Saunders') Assassin. Co...

Jesse, Extended-Range Jo, and Avalyn are giving some old Periphery crap the Sea Fox treatment! Here is the list of chassis we're looking at that chances are you may not have seen on your table! Phoenix Anubis Brigand Talos Eyleuka Toro Hound Agrotera Marshal Night Hawk Penthesilea TinStar Focht's Network is affiliated with the Catalyst Demo Team and associated with Catalyst Game Labs. However all...

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 K...

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....

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, includi...

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 n...

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.marcommazz...

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 th...

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...

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 & Hobbi...

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. Je...

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 chan...

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 m...

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.  Foch...

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....

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 prono...