Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

Corn Flakes said:
Hey, the 'Mechs may be pulverized and the men may suffer horrifying deaths, but the regimental colors stay alive for as long as someone is still using them. Or re-using them, as may be the case.

Looking at you, Northwind Highlanders.
Click to expand...
Their gear was handed over to Devlin Stone, who made the Knights of the Republic with it. The League didn't even get to keep their own shit. But it is true, we'd...repurposed the Defenders of Andurien into the Free Worlds Legionnaires after all.

And fuck the Highlanders. They're worse than cockroaches with their ability to survive.
 
Corn Flakes said:
What, not giving that title to the Eridani Light Horse?
Click to expand...
Nah, the ELH haven't pulled five regiments, their own planet, and their own mech factory out of their ass. The Dragoons are bad enough, but their back story makes it and everyone thought it was weird how they turned up with five regiments. The Highlanders? Naw, just happen to have all that shit. Fucking Scottish fetishists in the Powers that Be.
 
Through the magic of working remotely, long lunch breaks and Tabletop Simulator, I finally got a game of Alpha Strike in again today. We weren't in the mood to check the tables to see which faction had access to what, so we just played it Mercs vs Mercs, three lances a side, fighting over a ruined HPG station. Used DeathFromAbove's attack rules as well (1 fixed dice, +1 dice per damage in the selected range bracket) for some more damage variation and so lighter 'Mechs didn't pop the moment anyone looked at them funny.

It was a little clunky for the first fifteen minutes or so as we remembered the rules but holy fuck that game is fun when it gets rolling. Special mention goes to a completely myopic missile duel between my Archer and my friend's Catapult, parked on opposite sides of the board, overheating and and missing each other with every. single. volley. the entire game. Another highlight was my Warhammer finishing off an enemy 'Mech two turns in a row, then getting turned inside out by an ammo explosion from a charging Jenner headbutting it in the ass.
 
Corn Flakes said:
Through the magic of working remotely, long lunch breaks and Tabletop Simulator, I finally got a game of Alpha Strike in again today. We weren't in the mood to check the tables to see which faction had access to what, so we just played it Mercs vs Mercs, three lances a side, fighting over a ruined HPG station. Used DeathFromAbove's attack rules as well (1 fixed dice, +1 dice per damage in the selected range bracket) for some more damage variation and so lighter 'Mechs didn't pop the moment anyone looked at them funny.

It was a little clunky for the first fifteen minutes or so as we remembered the rules but holy fuck that game is fun when it gets rolling. Special mention goes to a completely myopic missile duel between my Archer and my friend's Catapult, parked on opposite sides of the board, overheating and and missing each other with every. single. volley. the entire game. Another highlight was my Warhammer finishing off an enemy 'Mech two turns in a row, then getting turned inside out by an ammo explosion from a charging Jenner headbutting it in the ass.
Click to expand...
I never thought of using TTS to play Battletech. I'd like in on a game sometime if you don't mind.
 
Corn Flakes said:
Through the magic of working remotely, long lunch breaks and Tabletop Simulator, I finally got a game of Alpha Strike in again today. We weren't in the mood to check the tables to see which faction had access to what, so we just played it Mercs vs Mercs, three lances a side, fighting over a ruined HPG station. Used DeathFromAbove's attack rules as well (1 fixed dice, +1 dice per damage in the selected range bracket) for some more damage variation and so lighter 'Mechs didn't pop the moment anyone looked at them funny.

It was a little clunky for the first fifteen minutes or so as we remembered the rules but holy fuck that game is fun when it gets rolling. Special mention goes to a completely myopic missile duel between my Archer and my friend's Catapult, parked on opposite sides of the board, overheating and and missing each other with every. single. volley. the entire game. Another highlight was my Warhammer finishing off an enemy 'Mech two turns in a row, then getting turned inside out by an ammo explosion from a charging Jenner headbutting it in the ass.
Click to expand...
This is why you dump MG ammo first turn.
 
So, got word that Catalyst has no intention so far to sell their new plastic minis individually, but they might change their plans in the future. That's a really bad choice, the plastic minis in the AGOAC box are really cool, I wouldn't mind owning a couple of Awesomes in that style but I certainly won't buy mutliple boxes just for that. Same with the Clan box. Do they expect someone to buy another Clan Invasion box to get another Mad Cat? They should at least offer those mechs in lance/star sets without the base rules for the same price that they sell their other lance/star sets.

Wasteland Ranger said:
This is why you dump MG ammo first turn.
Click to expand...
Maybe it was the SRM ammo, though.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: StevieLasVegas
It's Alpha Strike, you can't dump ammo*! On the bright side, the game goes by quick. As I said, we had 24 'Mechs on the board total and had it finished in a (admittedly long) lunch break.
* But yes, I just assumed it was the SRM ammo.

White Devil said:
I never thought of using TTS to play Battletech. I'd like in on a game sometime if you don't mind.
Click to expand...
Well, I'm not sure how much fun it would be to play actual honest-to-Blake Battletech on TTS. As I said, we were playing Alpha Strike. There is a lot less bookkeeping with that ruleset, so I think you would probably need some custom assets to play Battletech. You know, record sheets you can actually fill in and check boxes as you play, as opposed to having to rely on something like Google Sheets to keep track of everything.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: White Devil
Corn Flakes said:
Well, I'm not sure how much fun it would be to play actual honest-to-Blake Battletech on TTS. As I said, we were playing Alpha Strike. There is a lot less bookkeeping with that ruleset, so I think you would probably need some custom assets to play Battletech. You know, record sheets you can actually fill in and check boxes as you play, as opposed to having to rely on something like Google Sheets to keep track of everything.
Click to expand...
BT in TTS can look pretty damn cool:

They mention that there's some list of assets that they use in some video, but I'd have to look through the videos to find where it was. Apparently, all of this is on Steam, you just have to gather all the stuff.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Corn Flakes and White Devil
RomanesEuntDomus said:
BT in TTS can look pretty damn cool:

They mention that there's some list of assets that they use in some video, but I'd have to look through the videos to find where it was. Apparently, all of this is on Steam, you just have to gather all the stuff.
Click to expand...
Finally managed to slog through that one. BattleTech is definitely not a spectator sport, not without a good commentator. I have to say, Alpha Strike did spoil me. I had a game twice as big as that end in 90 minutes or so.

Still, the assets look pretty damn good. Love the hex terrain there. I think the only thing missing would be arrow assets like in HBS-BT or MegaMek, to show where everything is firing at at a glance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: White Devil and RomanesEuntDomus
Thinking of getting into the tabletop game. Can't decide if I want to go for House Steiner based army or Taurian Concordate
 
StevieLasVegas said:
Thinking of getting into the tabletop game. Can't decide if I want to go for House Steiner based army or Taurian Concordate
Click to expand...
What era? Guessing 3057 or later because of TC being an option.

Steiner has a lot of great choices for unit comp. Taurians have some OK stuff.
 
Can't go wrong with either. On the one hand, House Steiner has eye-watering levels of firepower on some of its 'mechs. On the other hand, the Concordat are hard as nails. Plus they're Periphery, and trolling people with massed Rocket Launchers at point-blank range never gets old.
 
  • Like
Reactions: More AWS-8Q Than You and RomanesEuntDomus
As someone that used to roll Lyran Guards, you should deffo go Steiner.
 
Atlases with shoulder-mounted UrbanMechs as turrets.

Jokes aside, though, the nice thing about BT is the varied eras give you an opportunity to expand (or limit) the tech you want to deal with. Want to tighten the belt and force people to pay attention to heat? Succession Wars era all the way. Want to see how tough your guys really are? Drop them into their bog standard stuff and make them face the Clan Invasion. Cool toys mode? Jihad or Civil War era.
 
  • Winner
  • Agree
Reactions: StevieLasVegas, White Devil and RomanesEuntDomus
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back