Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

[RomanesEuntDomus]

The most basic way of playing tabletop is a good old fashioned deathmatch, but it gets old quick and it's always nice to have different objectives to spice up gameplay. Especially when someone skirts around your own mechs and avoids combat once he's in a weaker position, it's nice to have an objective that forces the player to make a stand, even if he's at a disadvantage.

Protecting a convoy, attacking a base, holding ground, king of the hill or maybe even something like capture the flag comes to mind.

So, what's everyone's favorite 'mission type' in tabletop? And how do you play longer campaigns?

I've not yet gotten myself into the respective rulebooks, so I was looking for recommendations and first hand experience. Looking through some sourcebooks with different scenarios shows that there's a plethora of pretty sweet stuff, so what's your favorite mission that gets people fighting?

 

[Corn Flakes]

The most basic way of playing tabletop is a good old fashioned deathmatch, but it gets old quick and it's always nice to have different objectives to spice up gameplay. Especially when someone skirts around your own mechs and avoids combat once he's in a weaker position, it's nice to have an objective that forces the player to make a stand, even if he's at a disadvantage.

Protecting a convoy, attacking a base, holding ground, king of the hill or maybe even something like capture the flag comes to mind.

So, what's everyone's favorite 'mission type' in tabletop? And how do you play longer campaigns?

I've not yet gotten myself into the respective rulebooks, so I was looking for recommendations and first hand experience. Looking through some sourcebooks with different scenarios shows that there's a plethora of pretty sweet stuff, so what's your favorite mission that gets people fighting?

I'm a fan of the classic base attack scenario. A heavier attacking force vs. a somewhat lighter force with good cover and a couple emplacements to balance out the tonnage disparity. If the attackers get a unit to a target location in the base and hold it uncontested for a full turn, they win.

For simpler/faster matches, king of the hill works fine. It even gives light mechs a use, since someone has to rush the objective area before the other team can get there. Also, watching two Spiders punching the shit out of each other while the mediums and the heavies are moving up is always fun.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Doubleposting, but it's been long enough, so...

A friend linked me this today, and I'll be damned if those don't make for really good unit patches for merc units.

They're all resized, by the way. You can always click on them to enlarge. Me, I really like the first and the fourth. Edgy? Yes. But what's the fun in playing a mercenary unit if you don't get to be edgy sometimes? Also, that antenna on the eighth patch is supposed to be a radio antenna but it works so well as a HPG array.

 

[Fat Gay Riker]

Doubleposting, but it's been long enough, so...

A friend linked me this today, and I'll be damned if those don't make for really good unit patches for merc units.

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They're all resized, by the way. You can always click on them to enlarge. Me, I really like the first and the fourth. Edgy? Yes. But what's the fun in playing a mercenary unit if you don't get to be edgy sometimes? Also, that antenna on the eighth patch is supposed to be a radio antenna but it works so well as a HPG array.

That 4th one is absolutely metal and I would use it if I ever got into the tabletop.

 

[Bassomatic]

I used to not mind much, but more I play both TT and vidya, lights with out jump jets are fucking retarded, the Commando gets a free pass because it's comically strong for it's weight and I can't tell you how many times one of those little SRM vomiters has saved me by popping something twice it's size with a good TAC.

 

[Snekposter]

He ain't wrong, fellas. He ain't wrong.

And patches 1 and 9 are my favs there.

 

[StevieLasVegas]

Have been busy working the past 6 months, but I finally got around to painting my Taurian based mechs. I have another Etsy order coming in to give me 12 Taurian mechs total (3 each weight class). Once they're in and painted, I'll post those alongside my Lyran mechs.

 

[Bassomatic]

So for some ungodly reasons MWO is doing 8v8 and and event. I also got the free mech of the month an Uziel 6p (non cannon for MWO) and lordy those mechs are SHIT. comical hit boxes, tall and all around not good. It's a shame the 2s and 8s are real fun mechs and I liked em a lot from MW4 days. Also good on Table but MWO they are trash my best setup is a bigger XL engine two Snubbies and 4 ER smalls few times over 500 dmg a match but it's still a turd I tried slowing it down and running Heavy PPCs or even normals and god I got slapped to death.

So yeah, get it for the free mech bay lol. The other event is loot bags and bonus time.

 

[StevieLasVegas]

Wish I could play MWO. Ignoring how fast they made everything, my biggest issue is shitty internet on my end

 

[Bassomatic]

Wish I could play MWO. Ignoring how fast they made everything, my biggest issue is shitty internet on my end

Eh, you aren't missing much and the devs pretty much said it's going to die in 4 years when the IP goes up for grabs.

I refuse to "meta" things so I never fly up to top spots but a lot of players even mid or top are potatoes for real, the options of quick play S7 duels (oh god the meta and twitch shooter feel) and the faction stuff is pretty cool. Also for a game I sunk 0 dollars into ever and not a lot of time really (i've gone years with out log ins) it's really good for not being pay to win.

Now that I have merc tech on MW5.. I could waste a lot of time, but there's a lot of silly non canon stuff that's derp or game breaking. Mostly if I'm doing vidya, I do battletech (HBS) advanced 3062 that's solo play as well so don't need to stress about your net.

 

[StevieLasVegas]

I keep putting off trying 3062. As long as it runs faster than RogueTech, I'm sure I'll be happy with it. Mind you, I have the mod that let's me swipe all of the mission salvage, so I'll probably break it like I did the normal campaign.

 

[White Devil]

MWOs death knell for me was the engine rework that made Assaults unplayable. Haven't played that piece of shit since.

 

[BlackDragoons]

So for some ungodly reasons MWO is doing 8v8 and and event. I also got the free mech of the month an Uziel 6p (non cannon for MWO) and lordy those mechs are SHIT. comical hit boxes, tall and all around not good. It's a shame the 2s and 8s are real fun mechs and I liked em a lot from MW4 days. Also good on Table but MWO they are trash my best setup is a bigger XL engine two Snubbies and 4 ER smalls few times over 500 dmg a match but it's still a turd I tried slowing it down and running Heavy PPCs or even normals and god I got slapped to death.

So yeah, get it for the free mech bay lol. The other event is loot bags and bonus time.

Not a fan of the Uziel so I'm pretty meh about the whole event.

Get back to me when they do something like a Marauder or even a fricken Commando.

MWOs death knell for me was the engine rework that made Assaults unplayable. Haven't played that piece of shit since.

IDK they must have change something I average about 800 damage and round 2-4 Kills when I pilot my Annihilator with its 2 Heavy Gauss Rifles.

 

[Snekposter]

Now that I have merc tech on MW5.. I could waste a lot of time, but there's a lot of silly non canon stuff that's derp or game breaking. Mostly if I'm doing vidya, I do battletech (HBS) advanced 3062 that's solo play as well so don't need to stress about your net.

I prefer YAML. MercTech has issues with proper dependencies, and its an utter pain getting add-ons like PirateTech to work right with it.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

I've tried painting mechs with grey contrast paint. It turned out like shit and I had to strip them and start from scratch.
I just tried painting a Karnov with green contrast paint. It turned out like shit and I will have to strip that thing and start from scratch.

I guess contrast paints are decent when you have round shapes like DnD characters or Warhammer Orcs, but for Battletech, these paints suck and I doubt I will ever be convinced otherwise, cause neither did these paints look even remotely not shit on three different mech designs nor a Karnov.

The paint just turns out way too uneven on flat surfaces. I will try them out on my Saga miniatures, but if they turn out similarly unsatisfactory, I'll give the colors to friends who will be more happy to use them.

 

[Corn Flakes]

I've tried painting mechs with grey contrast paint. It turned out like shit and I had to strip them and start from scratch.
I just tried painting a Karnov with green contrast paint. It turned out like shit and I will have to strip that thing and start from scratch.

I guess contrast paints are decent when you have round shapes like DnD characters or Warhammer Orcs, but for Battletech, these paints suck and I doubt I will ever be convinced otherwise, cause neither did these paints look even remotely not shit on three different mech designs nor a Karnov.

The paint just turns out way too uneven on flat surfaces. I will try them out on my Saga miniatures, but if they turn out similarly unsatisfactory, I'll give the colors to friends who will be more happy to use them.

Just asked a friend who does a lot of painting and his verdict is that you're SOL using contrast paint on BT minis. The paint is made for a specific scale, and that scale is much larger than what BT uses. So while the fuckery it does with surface tension to achieve that effect looks okay with Warhammer-style 25mm-scale details, on something that's supposed to look larger like a 6mm-scale 'Mech it just looks like a mess.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Just asked a friend who does a lot of painting and his verdict is that you're SOL using contrast paint on BT minis. The paint is made for a specific scale, and that scale is much larger than what BT uses. So while the fuckery it does with surface tension to achieve that effect looks okay with Warhammer-style 25mm-scale details, on something that's supposed to look larger like a 6mm-scale 'Mech it just looks like a mess.

In the end, it depends on the shape of the surface it is applied to, but no matter what shape of mech I used it on, it always had these really weird spots of too much color and areas with color that ended up too thin. Trying to fix that with an additional coat to even things out just makes it darker and you still end up with a mess of different opacities.

Camospecs has a few videos, where he uses contrast paints and it looks fine there, but I've not yet had any results that I was happy with. A bit of a shame, since I hoped it would allow me to do green drab paint quickly, but it just doesn't work.

 

[Bassomatic]

I keep putting off trying 3062. As long as it runs faster than RogueTech, I'm sure I'll be happy with it. Mind you, I have the mod that let's me swipe all of the mission salvage, so I'll probably break it like I did the normal campaign.

Do it !! I even have a mech using one of my old Screen names ... so I'm kinda biased. I've been playing since it first dropped and still it's my go to when I have a few free mins.

MWOs death knell for me was the engine rework that made Assaults unplayable. Haven't played that piece of shit since.

I'm pretty trash and bad at twisting so Assaults are my weak spot, but I have a few just so well laid out they wreck house, you just need to plan your moving really. Also I'll give up some guns for getting to the low 60s high 50 kph range all the firepower in the world means nothing if can't get in range or use it.

I just started skilling out a Marauder IIC with twin lbx5s med pluses and er ppcs, keeps heat even brawling and the ppc to open till in range or give that final big bang.

In the end, it depends on the shape of the surface it is applied to, but no matter what shape of mech I used it on, it always had these really weird spots of too much color and areas with color that ended up too thin. Trying to fix that with an additional coat to even things out just makes it darker and you still end up with a mess of different opacities.

Camospecs has a few videos, where he uses contrast paints and it looks fine there, but I've not yet had any results that I was happy with. A bit of a shame, since I hoped it would allow me to do green drab paint quickly, but it just doesn't work.

camo specs is great for that stuff, I just can't paint, I've come to terms and one of my friends does it all for me, but he charges very fairly and since we just play for fun only a few of my "favs" get real nice jobs the rest just simple table ready vs a proper display.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

camo specs is great for that stuff, I just can't paint, I've come to terms and one of my friends does it all for me, but he charges very fairly and since we just play for fun only a few of my "favs" get real nice jobs the rest just simple table ready vs a proper display.

I've got a lot of fun painting and my paintjobs so far worked out quite nicely, even some of the more complex ones with color gradients.
I thought the contrast paint would cut down on the somewhat tedious part of putting on the primary color. Thankfully, I got decent results when painting over the sorta messed up paint, so I don't have to dunk that mini in paint stripper.

It's a Karnov intended to be played with some Killer Bees lances, so it's got a bluish grey belly, the sides and top are dark green and it has yellow-black invader stripes. It's not even remotely finished, but it already looks pretty snappy.

 

[Bassomatic]

I've tried a few and frankly when it comes to edge work like on molding and shit I'm really good I can paint walls and shit fine, I have good motor skills but minis are just something that I suck at and I rather support my friend because it's something I also found no joy in.

That sounds cool as fuck don't forget to post when done. After trying a few I really really like seeing people do good work and all esp since can appreciate the time and skill it takes.

Speaking of minis I have a new bush wacker in need of paint and already have a 1st SS (yes .. I like the cartoon) one but thinking another unit to paint it. I think it would look pretty snappy in FWL and could head canon salvage.