Came upon this the other day: https://stratominis.com/hardwar/ Battletech was my first miniatures game at around 12 years old and I've definitely got a soft spot for big stompy mechs. Unfortunately the game is really stuck in that 1980s design sensibility - tons of dice rolling, charts up the ass, and too many bespoke and corner case rules for every system. It takes way too long to play and has a lot of easily exploitable rules despite how complex the system is. I tried to get into Alpha Strike but it didn't really appeal to me. It cuts out some of the Battletech kludge but at the expense of feeling kind-of soulless, and then it goes and re-complicates the rules again with a million different subsystems and add-ons. Hardwar looks to be a new game, very similar both aesthetically and thematically to Battletech, but with a (relatively) streamlined rules system and some pretty good looking minis. The rulebook was $16 for a pdf so I figured I'd give it a try. Did a little test game with some of my old Battletech minis and it's not bad. Of note, Hardwar has a very unique system of attacking wherein you roll a number of D12 (equal to your Firepower rating) and then add them together in batches to equal or beat the range of your target in inches (adding to that range value based on the target's defense). So there are no range bands for anything- you can take a shot at extreme range and add up multiple dice to try and get a single hit, or unload at short range with everything you've got. I'm a sucker for novel combat systems, and this is one of the more unusual ones I've found. Though this kind-of has a different version of the Battletech/Alpha Strike problem, wherein all attacks generally get better (or more accurate in Alpha Strike's case) the closer your get. I do have to say I love how Infinity's range bands work to make certain weapons more accurate the further you get away, and encourage long range shooting from certain units, rather than the general rush to get in close with every unit. Hardwar also has a gradual reduction in combat-worthiness mechanism similar to Battletech, wherein every hit requires you to reduce your movement, firepower, armor, or defense capacity (with the opponent being the one to choose which one to reduce on critical hits). The rules aren't perfect (they feel like a first edition for sure), but I just figured I'd put this out there in case anyone is interested. Looks to be a good option for people who want the Battletech feel without being tethered to a 35 year old game system.
