Also for those who haven't learned it. 'A Game of Armored Combat' is the replacement for the old Introductory box. It is the starter set for Classic Battletech. Battlemech Manual is the condensed and clarified rules for mech only gameplay but ultimately is the same rules from Total Warfare. Total Warfare and its related books are basically the current 'edition' of Classic Battletech. And can be surprisingly easy and quick to play once learned. The main issue is the learning curve. Which is why the Battlemech Manual and A Game of Armored Combat exist.
The Timber Wolf is an original design of Clan Wolf. Its was given the destination "Mad Cat" because it looked like a cross between a Marauder and a Catapult. This mirrors the NATO reporting names of Soviet vehicle, such as the Tupolev Tu-95 being called "Bear", and happens to all clan 'mechs. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_reporting_name Interestingly, fluff-wise, as the clans merged with Inner Sphere, they adopted the Inner Sphere designations to better sell their designs. After Star Trek, Star Wars, and WH40k, Battletech has the best developed sci-fi fluff.
The Clans still use their designations, only Clan Sea Fox (formerly known as Clan Diamond Shark) use the Inner Sphere designations, and then only when trading with Spheroids. Sea Fox also uses the Inner Sphere names when developing new 'Mechs based on existing designs if they're intended specifically for sale to Inner Sphere powers. Which is why the Mad Cat mk.II is only known by one name, for example.
I’d say battle tech has the most well developed fluff. 40k has this problem that it makes an interesting or cool scenario that doesn’t take the other parts of the lore into account then after the fact goes back and comes up with some reasoning for it which ends up being really dumb, like the Horus heresy, Star Wars has an interesting setting that allows it to tell good stories and it has incredible detail in the few areas that matter to it, Star Trek is several largely disconnected operas in space, they use the same setting and technology but don’t know the details about the other stories.
"Its was given the destination "Mad Cat" because it looked like a cross between a Marauder and a Catapult." Partially it is true, but i copy the sarna true descroption: Vaguely resembling a cross-over between the MAD (Marauder) and CAT (Catapult) series, the Timber Wolf was tagged with the Inner Sphere reporting name Mad Cat on first contact. (The targeting computer on Phelan Kell's Wolfhound switched between MAD and CAT when trying to identify it; upon analyzing the data recording from Kell's 'Mech, Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht later officially designated it "Mad Cat".
Nice game Ash! Those minis look really great on the table. A few fiddly rules issues I thought you might be interested in. 1) That’s not quite how hull down is supposed to work. You’re supposed to have to roll to see if you succeed, and most importantly when you are hull down you do less damage (presumably representing weapons you can’t bring to bear). Finally, you have to pay the movement to get out of hull down position when you next move. 2) You don’t seem to be applying the to-hit penalty for heat. When you’ve got a non-zero heat score your target number goes up by your heat score, so retaining heat has a pretty significant cost, you can’t just spam it willy nilly. 3) You should be doing a lot fewer crits. When you use the variable damage rules you’re sill supposed to max out at 1 crit for hitting internal structure and 1 crit for boxcars. You don’t get to do 1 for each individual boxcars or internal structure damage. Looking forward to more Alpha Strike games on the channel!
One of the dice hacks I know for Battletech is to get a pill box or sewing box. Basically, use something that is transparent and has multiple open little storage squares. Partition it into as many little "sections" as possible and fill each section with 2d6. When you need to roll multiple 2D6s, just shake and set.
When your mech has pips on the jeat scale, each pip of heat adds +1 to the users shooting and subtracts 2" from their ground move... so when the Archer is sitting at 3 on the heat scale, it only moves 2" and has a +3 to its attacks... and Auto shutdown doesn't happen until you reach 4 points on the heat scale. Lots of rules to remember and I know you play a ton of games, so it is very forgivable. Just thought you might want to know. Thanks for the video of Alpha Strike! Keep em coming!
More! Also, Rookie pilot mistake dropping a Phoenix Hawk directly in front of a Timber Wolf at close range. I hope the PH pilot punched out before he got cored.😉
So happy to see BattleTech on the channel! Really helps give me the motivation to attack my pile of plastic from the Kickstarter. In particular, thanks for showing off the rolling per point of damage rule. It works so well for this smaller scale engagement and strikes the balance between the battalion level games I was playing and Classic BattleTech. I will have to give it a go sometime.
You should give Death From Above Wargaming a look as well if you want more BT. They're also doing a lot of Alpha Strike at the moment, with a few house rules as well to spice things up. (sorry to talk about other channels in the comments!)
27:04 When using the optional rule to role dice for each point of damage, you limit structure crits to 1. So you would have gotten 1 crit for the 12 and 1 crit for the structure damage.
I am so Happy you guys are playing this. I just now got into Battletech. I used to play the clix game when I was a teen. I always look forward to you guys playing Infinity and now this. 😍
The stupidest part is it wasn't even with the actual designers just Harmony Gold and their bullshit "We own the rights in the US to these designs" ignoring the original mech designers made the Maurader themselves
"Can't walk in circles and count as being moving." When that was a thing in an older edition, our group called that a "Curly Shuffle" because you'd walk a couple hexes forward, then backward.
It is a classic tactic in first person shooters. Why stand still and make yourself an easy target while aiming down sights? It takes more skill to stay on target, but also makes you harder to hit.
I remember friends trying to get me into this in the early 90’s during my college years. I couldn’t get into it; way to crunchy for me. This looked like it was a lot of fun!
1. I think battle armor (elementals) get an additional +1 modifier to shooting attacks at them. 2. You also need to test when firing at an omnimech who is transporting BA to see if you hit the BA. That being said, this was very enjoyable to watch and I’m looking forward to more!
I would like to add to the list of people who thank you for this. I am sure you know by now that there were some rules mistakes, most of which hurt the Inner Sphere player, which is why a fair point value game looked so one sided. Better luck next time, and I hope you have made more since this video from 11 months ago. I am now off to find them!
Consider doing alpha strike on hex map : it's the perfect bland of old and new, makes most reluctant old timers grow fond of alpha strike, is easier to set up and keep at home (not everybody can keep all the terrain features a gamestore can hold), and avoids any ambiguity for range and terrain effect/nature. Also consider colored dice with meaning : the number indicati g the tmm and the color indicating the movement type (red for jump, black for sprint, white for normal and blue for standstill/hull down works great for me) Besides that : good video, some small unimportant mistakes rule wise and tactica wise, but that's easy for me to say when not imply in the heat of a fast paced battle like alpha strike. Also loved your heroquest videos. Keep it up!
Yeah, Alpha Strike was written pretty much for the prupose of playing company level games. I love me some Classic Battletech, but once you get above a singe Lance/Star it just bogs down too much and takes forever. AS is great for playing fast with big armies on the table.
@@jctxcboy36 They both have their pros and cons. The good news is that with the Beginner Box, A Game of Armored Combat and one of the upcoming lance packs you can have an entire IS Mech company ready to go for AS and a ton of options fot CBT.
@@LaBambaMan True, I am waiting on my Kickstarter to arrive which will come with quite a few of the lance packs....I think it just depends on how you like to play. Introducing both to my kids but have always enjoyed the mechanics of game play
Battletech, very nice! Thank you for covering this fun game. In order to minimise the dice rolling without losing too much detail, maybe consider an official alternate rule: you use 1 pilot die every time you shoot. This die needs to be distinguishable, so maybe larger or the only die of a certain colour. Then you add 1 die per damage the attack can deal. Roll them all together and use the pilot die as the 2nd die for each damage die. So for example, your for a 4 damage attack your pilot die rolled a 3 and the damage dice rolled 1, 3 and 6 respectively. Your attacks rolled a 4, a 6 and a 9. Speeds up the game and uses fewer different dice sets :)
@@GuerrillaMiniatureGames I played the old style battletech way back in the day but just don’t have the free time to crunch on that, so I like to modify it a bit further. For the damage dice I take a look at the mechs’ old school record sheet to find out which weapons actually contribute to a certain range’s damage output. Then I use a specific colour code with the damage dice to add the narrative of which weapon hit or missed. Basically no additional effort, but brings back memories of the novels and games played in the past. For example a Timber Wolf firing 2 large lasers and 2 LRMs at long range would use 2 red and black dice each. I know at a glance which weapon actually dealt the damage :)
Excellent stuff! I've never done Alpha Strike even though I had plenty of mechs before I got all my Kickstarter stuff, so this was a great intro for me! A couple notes about traditional Battletech: it's the exact same game that came out in 1985, the "current" version simply has all the errata and FAQs built in. Catalyst made some very minor changes when they took over from FanPro in 2007, the biggest one being a change to how partial cover worked, but that's it. Any old book is still 99% valid and the rules from A Game of Armored Combat are mostly unchanged. "Classic Battletech" was just the name under FanPro to differentiate it from the prepainted plastic Wizkids game in the early 2000s, as you said. Also, a minor correction on the clans and Inner Sphere tech, Clan tech isn't Star League tech, it's even more advanced than Star League tech. New players looking to get into regular Battletech should be aware that all the newest stuff catalyst makes are the prettiest books that have ever come out for the game, but if you find an old copy of the Battletech Master Rules or an old Technical Readout in a second-hand store somewhere, it's still perfectly relevant. The base game has always been set in the year 3025 during what's called The 3rd Succession War. 3025 is Level 1 tech. This base setting is about 300 years after the collapse of the unified Star League into the 5 individual Major Houses (and a bunch of minor factions on the outskirts of mapped space). 300 years ago, as the Star League's government collapsed, the military commander decided to avoid the ensuing chaos and take most of the Star League Defense Forces out into uncharted space. After that commander's death, his son wanted to retain power so he MASSIVELY restructured the SLDF into The Clans, Clan society is completely and utterly different from Star League. The Inner Sphere spent the next 300 years bombing itself back into the stone age, very much like how Warhammer 40K has regressed in technology from 30K. In the Battletech year 3028, a group finds a HUGE cache of lost Star League technology and broadcasts it to the entire Inner Sphere, so that EVERYONE has access to the old Star League gear, this is Inner Sphere Level 2 tech which is the same as Star Star League tech. Meanwhile, The Clans had never lost the Star League technology AND they then had 300 years to further advance it, so the Clan Tech is essentially Level 3 tech. The Clans come back to the Inner Sphere in the year 3050 to reconquer and recreate a new Star League. They fail, and their technology gets slowly adapted amongst the Inner Sphere factions after that. Basically The Clans are Belisarius Cawl creating the Primaris Marines and bringing Guilliman back. And just like Cawl and the Primaris, some Battletech "fans" still cry about The Clans ruining Battletech in the EXACT same was that some current Warhammer "fans" cry about Primaris ruining 40K, new Battletech players should be aware of this outspoken minority and should be prepared to ignore them completely and play with what they like.
Never met someone who cried about the clans. The Jihad though... Don't think I've ever heard a kind word. Though the clans are almost 30 years old at this point.
Those icons on the right hand side of the card are the "eras" of play that configuration can appear in. The top one that wasn't greyed out on the Wasp, for example, is the Clan Invasion era, so you wouldn't use it in a game that took place during the Succession Wars era. Also, your heat adds to your to-hit number as well as reducing your MV, so normally you wouldn't use your OV as liberally.
Now if I could just figure out why the pilot cards are different colors - something along the same lines? And did I overlook where these things are explained?
It never ceases to amaze me how much Lore you know about all the games you play, even the games you're relatively new to. However that being said Jade Falcon are my favourite clan, but I will need to read up on my Battletech Lore. The new miniatures just look incredible.
Well except calling the elemental battle suites "Omni" Omni is a classification of battlemech where critical points are interchangeable rather than being a specific hard point, e.g innersphere mechs have limited critical points, like energy, ballistic, missile, specials etc. While omni mechs don't have this limitation and just have generic criticals e.g 3 slots so can use 3x 1 or 1x3 or even 2x1 + 1x1. This gives them far more fixability in how you can equip the mechs if you want more ballistic hardpoints to mount gauss rifles etc.
I am very here for Alpha Strike content, I feel like it's a good balance between the more fast-moving nature of contemporary 40K/Warmachine level games and the crunch of regular BattleTech. It very much feels like playing BattleTech and fits into the milieu of the universe in a way that a lot of people felt MechWarrior Dark Age didn't. When you get into the themed lances, some of the special abilities are downright nasty. The Artillery Fire Lance's ability to have half the unit fire indirectly without penalty if they have a spotter, or with a minor penalty if they don't is brutal with LRM carriers and other LRM boats. Similarly the pursuit lance giving three quarters of the unit Blood Stalker makes them fantastic for hunting down the most dangerous enemy on the board. As a tactical decision, once you have some good cover form woods or partial cover, it can be advantageous for heavy and assault mechs, or mediums that can attack at long range to stand still and get the -1 to-hit bonus. It also might have been worth having the Archer and Valkyrie hide at the back of the table and use their indirect fire to pick apart an enemy that the Wasp or Stinger designated instead of firing themselves On hull down, you need to roll a 7+ to enter the state, or 5+ if you're in terrain that causes a movement penalty or within 2" of an elevation change. Once you're in hull down you keep the +1 cover bonus until you move, and this stacks with any bonus from the terrain - so it's +2 to hit you if you go hull down in woods or partial cover. You keep the hull down bonus until you move again, so you can stand still once hull down and get the -1 to hit. So 'mechs like the Archer, Warhammer, Rifleman and Marauder can essentially stand still and keep the same defensive mods as if they moved. It's worth noting that partial cover in Alpha Strike is "between one third and half the target is obscured from the attacker", depending on angle of attack you wouldn't have to go into hull down to get a defensive bonus from occupying the damaged building in the middle of the table so long as the mech was positioned correctly. I don't recall seeing you addressing it, but overheating mechs reduce their movement by double the number of heat points they have, and have a ranged attack roll penalty equal to the heat points, so a mech on 2 heat suffers -4 move and +2 on ranged attack rolls (but not melee attacks!) On rolling a bunch of paired dice, my group does that a lot for regular BattleTech. We haven't used any of the variable damage options for Alpha Strike yet, but I play a lot of homogeneous vehicle lances, so I'll roll them together, especially if they're firing on the same target. at 18:00 or so, overheat only effects short and medium range unless the unit has the OVL ability. It didn't matter for that shot as it was medium range, but it's worth noting. (and Donegal is pronounced like Du-knee-gaul rather than doh-neh-gal)
Love BT! So happy to see you FINALLY playing it. I'm really looking forward to "classic" BT. I love AS, but to me, BT is the way to go. So much minutia lol (kinda like playing a spreadsheet). I understand though not wabting to have a 3-4 hour long bat rep, but I'd watch the whole thing.
Me as he’s showing the Steiner mechs: “A Rifleman in the Battle line? Bold strategy, let’s see how it works out for him.” Seriously though, the Rifleman is meant for rear line Anti-Air and Direct Fire Support. They’re not very tough for their size. I’d switch the Rifleman with the Marauder.
Been playing since the late '90's and the rules for Classic have not changed much. Alpha Strike is a faster paced version of Battletech. Prefer Classic due to the high level of game play but Alpha Strike is great also....Alpha Strike has some slightly modified rules to allow the use of the game cards but it is a great concept. You can also play Hex play with Alpha Strike rules.
The simplified combat of Alpha Strike seems like a fun casual game, but for people that regularly play WH40K, I think you can easily handle the real thing of BattleTech, which seems much deeper and richer than this. I would love to see some real BattleTech from you and Owen.
It's less a matter of complexity and more a matter of time investment and size of battles. Even veteran BT players are going to take a long time to play out a company-level clash, where AS lets you get through one in an afternoon. Lot of long-time players with gigantic minis collections out there, and AS gives them an opportunity to put potentially dozens of them on the table without having to plan out a marathon game in advance.
I ran an awesome campaign game back in high school ('88) for my friends - loved classic battletech (the FASA years), but have to admit this looks like some quick fun (less crunchy sure, but fun).
I’ve been looking forward to this one. I got the Wave 1 mechs from the Clan Invasion Kickstarter, but added the Alpha Strike book to my Wave 2 shipment. Full, crunchy Battletech with a couple of mechs per side is fine, but if I ever get to play with full Lances/Stars I’d rather use quick-play rules and not (a) take a full day to play the game and (b) hurt my brain. Lol. Thanks for playing this one for us. :-D
This actually has me pumped to try out Alpha Strike. Been playing Classic Battletech a while but these skirmish rules make it feel like reading the mech action from an old Battletech novel.
Love it man 😀 I haven't actually played the original TT game for so long, I do have a bunch of those heroclix Dark Ages figures, barely played it though but they look cool
The damage system is very interesting. Certainly makes the game much faster and vastly more streamlined but you lose out on any ability to customize. Customizing is easily the most enjoyment i got from old Battletech.
there an few programs that let you make custom mech load outs in classic that converts them into alpha strike cards, there also the master unit list that has all the units you can print out for free
There was a crazy amount of hull downing in that. I think you guys missed that hull downing reduces the hiding mechs attack value also so it is a bit more tactical in usage. Fun overall to see you give it a go.
Yeah, there's also a skill roll to see if you manage to find a spot where it would be effective. They didn't reduce their MV or increase TN for their heat, either. That being said, they play lots of different games so its understandable they get some stuff wrong on occasion.
Glad to see you are using the variable damage for Alpha Strike, I don't think I have seen anyone who is a fan of the flat all or nothing in base rules. I don't know what your dice pool is, but Death From Above Wargaming has one generic die, and then they roll an additional die of a different color for each point of damage. So you are still rolling 2d6, it averages out the same, but it is nicer for dice pools where 4 dice might do what you are using 6 for. For example Yellow die for the pilot die rolls a 3, that is a 3 + whatever the other die is for each point of damage to hit. It reduces the amount of dice needed, and over all dice rolling. Not saying you have to adopt that, I do think it is mentioned in Total Warfare where they took it from? but it is one they put a lot of tests into to make sure it's balanced, a channel dedicated to classic and alpha strike Battletech
Also I need to double check the Alpha Strike Commander's Edition, but I think you are rolling crits wrong. You need to confirm it but it isn't an "automatic" critical hit even through armor, just threat of one. Or i am just getting confused because anything less than a 7 or is not a crit in standard Battletech even when you hit through structure.
I love it! I see that CATALYST makes only the box you painted as Clan Wolf, but where is it possible to buy the other Mechs? Thank you Ash keep it coming!
Please at least try to go through the Classic Battletech Starter Sets. Seeing you go through A Game of Armored Combat and possibly going into the Battlemech Manual (streamlined ruleset focused only on mechs) would be great. And would be a great way to show the game to other people. Edit: Plus seeing you run a MegaMek/MekHQ campaign would be awesome. Edit2: Also Battletech has some miniature movement rules in one of its core rulebooks.
Thanks for this battle report and reveiw. I have heard about Alpha Strike but never seen it until now. I've been sick for the Battletech mechs since the mid 1980s but always loathed the traditional ruleset. With the new plastic miniatures, and these Alpha Strike rules, I think it's going to be a much easier sell to my current group, who prefer simple rulesets with lots of stuff getting blown up. I hear you can get the rules as a free PDF, but are there " hard copy " rulebooks available? Anyway, thanks again! Hope to see a campaign for this in the future....!
You can get the Commanders Edition hardback to get it all together. Not sure about stockists but I’m sure your FLGS can probably order it. The link in my description is for the digital version of those complete rules. :)
I don't know. I'm still not sold. Too much bookkeeping. But those minies are after me for about 30 years! Maybe I'll just wait next 10 years for the next game iteration. :-)
So, whats the difference between this mode of play and the one i used in the 80s with a sheet of paper with lots of weapon and heat sink location information on it? This seems WAY more streamlined.
Question! I just got my Alpha Strike box and started reading the rulebook. It calls for a 6x4 foot table. The biggest I have at the moment is 4x2 feet. I read some people set up city maps on a smaller table. But what else can you do? Can you just scale everything down to half inches?
Interesting with rolling to hit multiple times instead of the all or nothing approach. It might get a bit tedious with some of the mechs that have a lot of fire power. Maybe roll for clusters of three instead? I also had the idea of using only a single dice roll to hit, but add a "FATE" system dice to the damage (i.e. modifying the damage by -1, 0 or +1).
Sarge, "What in Sam Hell is a Poo-mah?" For me, Crunchy-Mech seems like a good game for the PC rather than the tabletop. Maybe someone could come out with an App Enhanced version of something like Battletech; where your phone processes all the damage and heat effects on your individual Mechs.
One thing I wish they would emphasize in the games is the concept of honorable surrenders. If the game is clearly one sided, just stop. Ask your opponent if they want to surrender, or leave the field with the units that they have left. Just do that. Prolonging a game until the bitter end and every last enemy is destroyed is both tedious, and unrealistic. Surrender or honorable retreat under a white flag is a great way to end a game and not take up any more time.
Same, i am kinda regretting it cause there will be a lot to paint, 88 mechs + Metal Timberwolf. At the time i was meh not in any real rush then the delays due to the thing that can't be talked about and now thinking nearly 100 models to paint it's gonna be daunting.
Also for those who haven't learned it. 'A Game of Armored Combat' is the replacement for the old Introductory box. It is the starter set for Classic Battletech. Battlemech Manual is the condensed and clarified rules for mech only gameplay but ultimately is the same rules from Total Warfare. Total Warfare and its related books are basically the current 'edition' of Classic Battletech. And can be surprisingly easy and quick to play once learned. The main issue is the learning curve. Which is why the Battlemech Manual and A Game of Armored Combat exist.
The Timber Wolf is an original design of Clan Wolf. Its was given the destination "Mad Cat" because it looked like a cross between a Marauder and a Catapult. This mirrors the NATO reporting names of Soviet vehicle, such as the Tupolev Tu-95 being called "Bear", and happens to all clan 'mechs. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_reporting_name Interestingly, fluff-wise, as the clans merged with Inner Sphere, they adopted the Inner Sphere designations to better sell their designs. After Star Trek, Star Wars, and WH40k, Battletech has the best developed sci-fi fluff.
The Clans still use their designations, only Clan Sea Fox (formerly known as Clan Diamond Shark) use the Inner Sphere designations, and then only when trading with Spheroids.
Sea Fox also uses the Inner Sphere names when developing new 'Mechs based on existing designs if they're intended specifically for sale to Inner Sphere powers. Which is why the Mad Cat mk.II is only known by one name, for example.
Star Wars has no fluff.
I'd say Battletech's fluff is WAY better than Star Wars....
I’d say battle tech has the most well developed fluff. 40k has this problem that it makes an interesting or cool scenario that doesn’t take the other parts of the lore into account then after the fact goes back and comes up with some reasoning for it which ends up being really dumb, like the Horus heresy, Star Wars has an interesting setting that allows it to tell good stories and it has incredible detail in the few areas that matter to it, Star Trek is several largely disconnected operas in space, they use the same setting and technology but don’t know the details about the other stories.
"Its was given the destination "Mad Cat" because it looked like a cross between a Marauder and a Catapult."
Partially it is true, but i copy the sarna true descroption:
Vaguely resembling a cross-over between the MAD (Marauder) and CAT (Catapult) series, the Timber Wolf was tagged with the Inner Sphere reporting name Mad Cat on first contact. (The targeting computer on Phelan Kell's Wolfhound switched between MAD and CAT when trying to identify it; upon analyzing the data recording from Kell's 'Mech, Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht later officially designated it "Mad Cat".
Did you pay your phone bill? - Every ComStar player
Rather fight for a group that can give me free wifi then fight with others with paid wifi. XD
Pay your HPG bills fucko.
Nice game Ash! Those minis look really great on the table.
A few fiddly rules issues I thought you might be interested in.
1) That’s not quite how hull down is supposed to work. You’re supposed to have to roll to see if you succeed, and most importantly when you are hull down you do less damage (presumably representing weapons you can’t bring to bear). Finally, you have to pay the movement to get out of hull down position when you next move.
2) You don’t seem to be applying the to-hit penalty for heat. When you’ve got a non-zero heat score your target number goes up by your heat score, so retaining heat has a pretty significant cost, you can’t just spam it willy nilly.
3) You should be doing a lot fewer crits. When you use the variable damage rules you’re sill supposed to max out at 1 crit for hitting internal structure and 1 crit for boxcars. You don’t get to do 1 for each individual boxcars or internal structure damage.
Looking forward to more Alpha Strike games on the channel!
Good to know - that did look too easy didn't it?
One of the dice hacks I know for Battletech is to get a pill box or sewing box. Basically, use something that is transparent and has multiple open little storage squares. Partition it into as many little "sections" as possible and fill each section with 2d6. When you need to roll multiple 2D6s, just shake and set.
When your mech has pips on the jeat scale, each pip of heat adds +1 to the users shooting and subtracts 2" from their ground move... so when the Archer is sitting at 3 on the heat scale, it only moves 2" and has a +3 to its attacks... and Auto shutdown doesn't happen until you reach 4 points on the heat scale. Lots of rules to remember and I know you play a ton of games, so it is very forgivable. Just thought you might want to know. Thanks for the video of Alpha Strike! Keep em coming!
What a gift (and I didn't even have to fight the Black Friday crowds)! Looking forward to seeing more Battletech mechanized mayhem!
More! Also, Rookie pilot mistake dropping a Phoenix Hawk directly in front of a Timber Wolf at close range. I hope the PH pilot punched out before he got cored.😉
So awesome to see you cover Battletech. It was my first miniature game back in the 90s, so it holds a special place in my heart.
Alpha Strike and Gamma Wolves in the same week!? It's a Mechsgiving week miracle, thank you!
Looking forward to your let's play of the classic game! Glad to hear you enjoyed Alpha Strike!
Donegal Guard, huh? Not a *bad* choice per se, but they're no Lyran Guard 😉. Great paint and super excited to see Alpha Strike on your channel.
I hope you know what you’re letting yourself in for! Battle tech fans are *very * loyal to the game 😂
So happy to see BattleTech on the channel! Really helps give me the motivation to attack my pile of plastic from the Kickstarter. In particular, thanks for showing off the rolling per point of damage rule. It works so well for this smaller scale engagement and strikes the balance between the battalion level games I was playing and Classic BattleTech. I will have to give it a go sometime.
You should give Death From Above Wargaming a look as well if you want more BT. They're also doing a lot of Alpha Strike at the moment, with a few house rules as well to spice things up. (sorry to talk about other channels in the comments!)
@@RedHarbinger Already follow them! Love their tech breakdowns and comparisons between chassis.
27:04 When using the optional rule to role dice for each point of damage, you limit structure crits to 1. So you would have gotten 1 crit for the 12 and 1 crit for the structure damage.
Really impressed with how they managed to translate the classic Battletech ruleset to a skirmish-style game mode!
I am so Happy you guys are playing this. I just now got into Battletech. I used to play the clix game when I was a teen.
I always look forward to you guys playing Infinity and now this. 😍
Ah the Marauder. that one brings back memories of the fight with Macross/robotech due to the design
The stupidest part is it wasn't even with the actual designers just Harmony Gold and their bullshit "We own the rights in the US to these designs" ignoring the original mech designers made the Maurader themselves
Your impulse is correct. The super crunch version is called Classic Battletech; AGoAC is the name of the starter set.
"Can't walk in circles and count as being moving." When that was a thing in an older edition, our group called that a "Curly Shuffle" because you'd walk a couple hexes forward, then backward.
It is a classic tactic in first person shooters. Why stand still and make yourself an easy target while aiming down sights? It takes more skill to stay on target, but also makes you harder to hit.
I remember friends trying to get me into this in the early 90’s during my college years. I couldn’t get into it; way to crunchy for me. This looked like it was a lot of fun!
1. I think battle armor (elementals) get an additional +1 modifier to shooting attacks at them.
2. You also need to test when firing at an omnimech who is transporting BA to see if you hit the BA.
That being said, this was very enjoyable to watch and I’m looking forward to more!
Also, I don’t think BA suffers penalty for jumping and firing.
Battletech was my jam back in high school.
Nice to see Battletech on this channel. Keep posting games and I will keep watching.
I would like to add to the list of people who thank you for this.
I am sure you know by now that there were some rules mistakes, most of which hurt the Inner Sphere player, which is why a fair point value game looked so one sided. Better luck next time, and I hope you have made more since this video from 11 months ago. I am now off to find them!
Consider doing alpha strike on hex map : it's the perfect bland of old and new, makes most reluctant old timers grow fond of alpha strike, is easier to set up and keep at home (not everybody can keep all the terrain features a gamestore can hold), and avoids any ambiguity for range and terrain effect/nature.
Also consider colored dice with meaning : the number indicati g the tmm and the color indicating the movement type (red for jump, black for sprint, white for normal and blue for standstill/hull down works great for me)
Besides that : good video, some small unimportant mistakes rule wise and tactica wise, but that's easy for me to say when not imply in the heat of a fast paced battle like alpha strike. Also loved your heroquest videos. Keep it up!
I have been waiting for you do this one! I've loved Battletech since Junior High! So awesome!!!
Classic Battletech is so fiddly, used to take all day to play a good sized game. Interesting to see how this version goes.
Yeah, Alpha Strike was written pretty much for the prupose of playing company level games.
I love me some Classic Battletech, but once you get above a singe Lance/Star it just bogs down too much and takes forever. AS is great for playing fast with big armies on the table.
I prefer Classic Battletech, but Alpha Strike is awesome also....requires more to play vs playing classic Battletech
@@jctxcboy36 They both have their pros and cons.
The good news is that with the Beginner Box, A Game of Armored Combat and one of the upcoming lance packs you can have an entire IS Mech company ready to go for AS and a ton of options fot CBT.
@@LaBambaMan True, I am waiting on my Kickstarter to arrive which will come with quite a few of the lance packs....I think it just depends on how you like to play. Introducing both to my kids but have always enjoyed the mechanics of game play
check out battletechs battle force rules it lets you play on planetary level invasion/battles ware an single marker are lance/stars/squads
Battletech, very nice! Thank you for covering this fun game.
In order to minimise the dice rolling without losing too much detail, maybe consider an official alternate rule: you use 1 pilot die every time you shoot. This die needs to be distinguishable, so maybe larger or the only die of a certain colour. Then you add 1 die per damage the attack can deal. Roll them all together and use the pilot die as the 2nd die for each damage die.
So for example, your for a 4 damage attack your pilot die rolled a 3 and the damage dice rolled 1, 3 and 6 respectively. Your attacks rolled a 4, a 6 and a 9. Speeds up the game and uses fewer different dice sets :)
That’s a cool variation!
@@GuerrillaMiniatureGames I played the old style battletech way back in the day but just don’t have the free time to crunch on that, so I like to modify it a bit further. For the damage dice I take a look at the mechs’ old school record sheet to find out which weapons actually contribute to a certain range’s damage output. Then I use a specific colour code with the damage dice to add the narrative of which weapon hit or missed. Basically no additional effort, but brings back memories of the novels and games played in the past. For example a Timber Wolf firing 2 large lasers and 2 LRMs at long range would use 2 red and black dice each. I know at a glance which weapon actually dealt the damage :)
That's not an "official" alternate rule. That's a house rule from DFA Wargaming. It may be popular, but its not in the rule book.
I played exactly ONE game of Battletech when I was younger... my Centurion got it's head blown off by a Hunchback's AC/20 on the first turn... :/
Excellent stuff! I've never done Alpha Strike even though I had plenty of mechs before I got all my Kickstarter stuff, so this was a great intro for me!
A couple notes about traditional Battletech: it's the exact same game that came out in 1985, the "current" version simply has all the errata and FAQs built in. Catalyst made some very minor changes when they took over from FanPro in 2007, the biggest one being a change to how partial cover worked, but that's it. Any old book is still 99% valid and the rules from A Game of Armored Combat are mostly unchanged. "Classic Battletech" was just the name under FanPro to differentiate it from the prepainted plastic Wizkids game in the early 2000s, as you said. Also, a minor correction on the clans and Inner Sphere tech, Clan tech isn't Star League tech, it's even more advanced than Star League tech. New players looking to get into regular Battletech should be aware that all the newest stuff catalyst makes are the prettiest books that have ever come out for the game, but if you find an old copy of the Battletech Master Rules or an old Technical Readout in a second-hand store somewhere, it's still perfectly relevant.
The base game has always been set in the year 3025 during what's called The 3rd Succession War. 3025 is Level 1 tech. This base setting is about 300 years after the collapse of the unified Star League into the 5 individual Major Houses (and a bunch of minor factions on the outskirts of mapped space). 300 years ago, as the Star League's government collapsed, the military commander decided to avoid the ensuing chaos and take most of the Star League Defense Forces out into uncharted space. After that commander's death, his son wanted to retain power so he MASSIVELY restructured the SLDF into The Clans, Clan society is completely and utterly different from Star League. The Inner Sphere spent the next 300 years bombing itself back into the stone age, very much like how Warhammer 40K has regressed in technology from 30K. In the Battletech year 3028, a group finds a HUGE cache of lost Star League technology and broadcasts it to the entire Inner Sphere, so that EVERYONE has access to the old Star League gear, this is Inner Sphere Level 2 tech which is the same as Star Star League tech. Meanwhile, The Clans had never lost the Star League technology AND they then had 300 years to further advance it, so the Clan Tech is essentially Level 3 tech. The Clans come back to the Inner Sphere in the year 3050 to reconquer and recreate a new Star League. They fail, and their technology gets slowly adapted amongst the Inner Sphere factions after that. Basically The Clans are Belisarius Cawl creating the Primaris Marines and bringing Guilliman back. And just like Cawl and the Primaris, some Battletech "fans" still cry about The Clans ruining Battletech in the EXACT same was that some current Warhammer "fans" cry about Primaris ruining 40K, new Battletech players should be aware of this outspoken minority and should be prepared to ignore them completely and play with what they like.
Never met someone who cried about the clans. The Jihad though... Don't think I've ever heard a kind word. Though the clans are almost 30 years old at this point.
Those icons on the right hand side of the card are the "eras" of play that configuration can appear in. The top one that wasn't greyed out on the Wasp, for example, is the Clan Invasion era, so you wouldn't use it in a game that took place during the Succession Wars era. Also, your heat adds to your to-hit number as well as reducing your MV, so normally you wouldn't use your OV as liberally.
Thanks! I was wondering what they were for as well - looked like something from a Led Zeppelin album but I knew they weren't merely decorative.
Now if I could just figure out why the pilot cards are different colors - something along the same lines? And did I overlook where these things are explained?
@@HeadHunterSix Not sure about the pilot card colors. Maybe for different sets?
You can only overheat long range shots when you got the OVL skill. Otherwise overheating is short & medium range only.
It never ceases to amaze me how much Lore you know about all the games you play, even the games you're relatively new to. However that being said Jade Falcon are my favourite clan, but I will need to read up on my Battletech Lore. The new miniatures just look incredible.
They’re fabulous. Great value and nice detail!
Well except calling the elemental battle suites "Omni" Omni is a classification of battlemech where critical points are interchangeable rather than being a specific hard point, e.g innersphere mechs have limited critical points, like energy, ballistic, missile, specials etc. While omni mechs don't have this limitation and just have generic criticals e.g 3 slots so can use 3x 1 or 1x3 or even 2x1 + 1x1. This gives them far more fixability in how you can equip the mechs if you want more ballistic hardpoints to mount gauss rifles etc.
Found this channel because of this video. Would love to see more Alpha Strike in the future!
I am very here for Alpha Strike content, I feel like it's a good balance between the more fast-moving nature of contemporary 40K/Warmachine level games and the crunch of regular BattleTech. It very much feels like playing BattleTech and fits into the milieu of the universe in a way that a lot of people felt MechWarrior Dark Age didn't.
When you get into the themed lances, some of the special abilities are downright nasty. The Artillery Fire Lance's ability to have half the unit fire indirectly without penalty if they have a spotter, or with a minor penalty if they don't is brutal with LRM carriers and other LRM boats. Similarly the pursuit lance giving three quarters of the unit Blood Stalker makes them fantastic for hunting down the most dangerous enemy on the board.
As a tactical decision, once you have some good cover form woods or partial cover, it can be advantageous for heavy and assault mechs, or mediums that can attack at long range to stand still and get the -1 to-hit bonus. It also might have been worth having the Archer and Valkyrie hide at the back of the table and use their indirect fire to pick apart an enemy that the Wasp or Stinger designated instead of firing themselves
On hull down, you need to roll a 7+ to enter the state, or 5+ if you're in terrain that causes a movement penalty or within 2" of an elevation change. Once you're in hull down you keep the +1 cover bonus until you move, and this stacks with any bonus from the terrain - so it's +2 to hit you if you go hull down in woods or partial cover. You keep the hull down bonus until you move again, so you can stand still once hull down and get the -1 to hit. So 'mechs like the Archer, Warhammer, Rifleman and Marauder can essentially stand still and keep the same defensive mods as if they moved.
It's worth noting that partial cover in Alpha Strike is "between one third and half the target is obscured from the attacker", depending on angle of attack you wouldn't have to go into hull down to get a defensive bonus from occupying the damaged building in the middle of the table so long as the mech was positioned correctly.
I don't recall seeing you addressing it, but overheating mechs reduce their movement by double the number of heat points they have, and have a ranged attack roll penalty equal to the heat points, so a mech on 2 heat suffers -4 move and +2 on ranged attack rolls (but not melee attacks!)
On rolling a bunch of paired dice, my group does that a lot for regular BattleTech. We haven't used any of the variable damage options for Alpha Strike yet, but I play a lot of homogeneous vehicle lances, so I'll roll them together, especially if they're firing on the same target.
at 18:00 or so, overheat only effects short and medium range unless the unit has the OVL ability. It didn't matter for that shot as it was medium range, but it's worth noting.
(and Donegal is pronounced like Du-knee-gaul rather than doh-neh-gal)
Love BT! So happy to see you FINALLY playing it. I'm really looking forward to "classic" BT. I love AS, but to me, BT is the way to go. So much minutia lol (kinda like playing a spreadsheet). I understand though not wabting to have a 3-4 hour long bat rep, but I'd watch the whole thing.
Me as he’s showing the Steiner mechs: “A Rifleman in the Battle line? Bold strategy, let’s see how it works out for him.”
Seriously though, the Rifleman is meant for rear line Anti-Air and Direct Fire Support. They’re not very tough for their size. I’d switch the Rifleman with the Marauder.
I remember really liking the cartoon that was on in the 90's. Held up pretty well on recent re-watch.
I love the old novels by Michael Stackpol and others. You can get them on Amazon Kindle. Never saw the cartoon...
I love that the cartoon is Cannon in universe as a licensed cartoon
@@DarkAutumnScribe I rewatched the Cartoon on UA-cam, you may still be able to find it
You DARE refuse my batchall!!!
that old cartoon is cannon as an IS kids propaganda cartoon
Awesome! The game is even better when played with objectives.
I'd check Owen's dice - they were on fire! Good to see a game, though I think a mission would be more interesting. Thanks for posting!
Thumbs up and subscribed!! I am totally in for more Alpha Strike!!!
love this hope to see a lot more alpha strike in the future
Ash, I know this is an older video but I've got the Battletech bug...did you prefer this version or the classic version?
This one lets you play with your bigger collection which was a big draw for me.
Great video, always good to see battletech being played!
Need the famous House Steiner Atlas Scout Lance!
It's mech day here today! My Gamma Wolves book arrived this morning + Battletech let's play.
Great to see this batrep a few mistakes but nothing major. Great terrain and nice paint jobs. I love BT and AS even more.
You should do Mech Mondays :)
Ever since i played gamma wolves with you ive been collecting big stompy robots. Now this makes me want to collect little stompy robots
Been playing since the late '90's and the rules for Classic have not changed much. Alpha Strike is a faster paced version of Battletech. Prefer Classic due to the high level of game play but Alpha Strike is great also....Alpha Strike has some slightly modified rules to allow the use of the game cards but it is a great concept. You can also play Hex play with Alpha Strike rules.
The simplified combat of Alpha Strike seems like a fun casual game, but for people that regularly play WH40K, I think you can easily handle the real thing of BattleTech, which seems much deeper and richer than this. I would love to see some real BattleTech from you and Owen.
It's less a matter of complexity and more a matter of time investment and size of battles. Even veteran BT players are going to take a long time to play out a company-level clash, where AS lets you get through one in an afternoon. Lot of long-time players with gigantic minis collections out there, and AS gives them an opportunity to put potentially dozens of them on the table without having to plan out a marathon game in advance.
I ran an awesome campaign game back in high school ('88) for my friends - loved classic battletech (the FASA years), but have to admit this looks like some quick fun (less crunchy sure, but fun).
14:50
You mean the classic FPS video game tactic?
This looks like great fun! Definitely interested in grabbing it (and brushing up on some lore in the meantime :) ).
Gamma Wolves is on my Christmas list so I feel kind of guilty even watching this but I used to play Battletech hex based stuff as a kid so...thanks!
Even using the better damage rules. Fantastic
I’ve been looking forward to this one. I got the Wave 1 mechs from the Clan Invasion Kickstarter, but added the Alpha Strike book to my Wave 2 shipment. Full, crunchy Battletech with a couple of mechs per side is fine, but if I ever get to play with full Lances/Stars I’d rather use quick-play rules and not (a) take a full day to play the game and (b) hurt my brain. Lol. Thanks for playing this one for us. :-D
This actually has me pumped to try out Alpha Strike. Been playing Classic Battletech a while but these skirmish rules make it feel like reading the mech action from an old Battletech novel.
It’s snappy and it’s super fun being able to play with so many models!
Nice to see some battletech played .
Great to see some battletech here!
Love it man 😀 I haven't actually played the original TT game for so long, I do have a bunch of those heroclix Dark Ages figures, barely played it though but they look cool
Also also... this makes me want to play Mechwarrior Online again and thats a hard drug I am avoiding...
The damage system is very interesting. Certainly makes the game much faster and vastly more streamlined but you lose out on any ability to customize. Customizing is easily the most enjoyment i got from old Battletech.
there an few programs that let you make custom mech load outs in classic that converts them into alpha strike cards, there also the master unit list that has all the units you can print out for free
There was a crazy amount of hull downing in that. I think you guys missed that hull downing reduces the hiding mechs attack value also so it is a bit more tactical in usage. Fun overall to see you give it a go.
Yeah, there's also a skill roll to see if you manage to find a spot where it would be effective. They didn't reduce their MV or increase TN for their heat, either. That being said, they play lots of different games so its understandable they get some stuff wrong on occasion.
Looking forward to more battletech 😃
My favourite is the Steiner recon lance... which is just four atlases. Because... reasons?
Glad to see you are using the variable damage for Alpha Strike, I don't think I have seen anyone who is a fan of the flat all or nothing in base rules.
I don't know what your dice pool is, but Death From Above Wargaming has one generic die, and then they roll an additional die of a different color for each point of damage. So you are still rolling 2d6, it averages out the same, but it is nicer for dice pools where 4 dice might do what you are using 6 for. For example Yellow die for the pilot die rolls a 3, that is a 3 + whatever the other die is for each point of damage to hit. It reduces the amount of dice needed, and over all dice rolling.
Not saying you have to adopt that, I do think it is mentioned in Total Warfare where they took it from? but it is one they put a lot of tests into to make sure it's balanced, a channel dedicated to classic and alpha strike Battletech
Also I need to double check the Alpha Strike Commander's Edition, but I think you are rolling crits wrong. You need to confirm it but it isn't an "automatic" critical hit even through armor, just threat of one. Or i am just getting confused because anything less than a 7 or is not a crit in standard Battletech even when you hit through structure.
I love it! I see that CATALYST makes only the box you painted as Clan Wolf, but where is it possible to buy the other Mechs? Thank you Ash keep it coming!
The Game of Armoured Combat box has 8 unique plastic mechs to get you going!
Check places like miniature market for more Mechs from the kick starter. The wave 2 mechs will be available April-ish.
This is so awesome to see! How I've missed hex bases
Who makes the 6mm MDF terrain?
Yes !!!! Been waiting for this ash , thanks :)
YES! Ash that bush at the end gave you a TMM of +4. It was a bush of saving.
Please at least try to go through the Classic Battletech Starter Sets. Seeing you go through A Game of Armored Combat and possibly going into the Battlemech Manual (streamlined ruleset focused only on mechs) would be great. And would be a great way to show the game to other people.
Edit: Plus seeing you run a MegaMek/MekHQ campaign would be awesome.
Edit2: Also Battletech has some miniature movement rules in one of its core rulebooks.
Love it! Thanks for an amazing video!!
Alpha Strike!! Thanks for the battle report! 🙂
Thanks for this battle report and reveiw. I have heard about Alpha Strike but never seen it until now. I've been sick for the Battletech mechs since the mid 1980s but always loathed the traditional ruleset. With the new plastic miniatures, and these Alpha Strike rules, I think it's going to be a much easier sell to my current group, who prefer simple rulesets with lots of stuff getting blown up. I hear you can get the rules as a free PDF, but are there " hard copy " rulebooks available?
Anyway, thanks again! Hope to see a campaign for this in the future....!
You can get the Commanders Edition hardback to get it all together. Not sure about stockists but I’m sure your FLGS can probably order it. The link in my description is for the digital version of those complete rules. :)
I don't know. I'm still not sold. Too much bookkeeping. But those minies are after me for about 30 years! Maybe I'll just wait next 10 years for the next game iteration. :-)
Jade falcon would like a word with you about who best clan is
That's an odd way to spell Diamond Shark.
he certainly ruffled a few feathers with that statement
Battletech 😍😍😍
Did you guys remember that you might have different damage values depending on range? Some of those shots seemed a bit high damage given the range.
ITTERATIONS??? It is almost exactly the same rules for 37 years.
Ash, are you adding your heat value to your TNs?
Can you get away with the Alpha Strike box and rules or do I need Armoured Combat as well?? thanks!
Looks cool- a mixture of regular and trading card game in a sense 😊
Is there an Alpha Strike card for the Elementals? I can't seem to find one in my Clan Invasion box.
Looking forward to seeing more Battletech stuff! Do you plan to show any painting of the mechs?
So, whats the difference between this mode of play and the one i used in the 80s with a sheet of paper with lots of weapon and heat sink location information on it? This seems WAY more streamlined.
Question! I just got my Alpha Strike box and started reading the rulebook. It calls for a 6x4 foot table. The biggest I have at the moment is 4x2 feet. I read some people set up city maps on a smaller table. But what else can you do? Can you just scale everything down to half inches?
Where did you get the game mat? Found some at Frontline Gaming but looking for other designs for Battletech
This one is from GameMat.eu
I couldn't stop admiring it in the video. Really nice mat.
Interesting with rolling to hit multiple times instead of the all or nothing approach. It might get a bit tedious with some of the mechs that have a lot of fire power. Maybe roll for clusters of three instead? I also had the idea of using only a single dice roll to hit, but add a "FATE" system dice to the damage (i.e. modifying the damage by -1, 0 or +1).
All Systems Nominal!!!!!!!!!
Back shots is +1 damage, the madcat got hit in the back on multiple turns.
Normally you start touching the board edge since the models are so fast.
Sarge, "What in Sam Hell is a Poo-mah?"
For me, Crunchy-Mech seems like a good game for the PC rather than the tabletop. Maybe someone could come out with an App Enhanced version of something like Battletech; where your phone processes all the damage and heat effects on your individual Mechs.
do the google for MegaMek.
sheets.flechs.net/ is basically automated record sheets for the "classic" game. It automates all the to-hit, damage, PSR's, etc. (mechs only though).
MAD CAT
It's a Timber Wolf, freebirth!
awesome ! couldn't wait for this!! great Battle report
One thing I wish they would emphasize in the games is the concept of honorable surrenders. If the game is clearly one sided, just stop. Ask your opponent if they want to surrender, or leave the field with the units that they have left. Just do that. Prolonging a game until the bitter end and every last enemy is destroyed is both tedious, and unrealistic. Surrender or honorable retreat under a white flag is a great way to end a game and not take up any more time.
Is this how/why I get back into Battletech after 28ish year break?
It might just. Alpha Strike drew me back in over a year ago after a 25 year break.
i took single ship from the kickstarter so i gotta wait till next year to get a giant box of 'mech
Same, i am kinda regretting it cause there will be a lot to paint, 88 mechs + Metal Timberwolf. At the time i was meh not in any real rush then the delays due to the thing that can't be talked about and now thinking nearly 100 models to paint it's gonna be daunting.