The Official Battletech Thread

[Laughingmonk]

Here is the thread to discuss anything battletech related.


Acronyms:

For convenience, I have devised a set of acronyms (and definitions) for those of you who wish to follow the discussion.

TW - Total Warfare. The current core rulebook.

TM- Techmanual. The unit construction rules.

TO- Tactical Operations, the book of advanced rules and equipment.

SO- Strategic Operations- A very large (and awesome) book containing more than can be summarized. In short, it is the book of large scale actions and engagements in the battletech universe, but also expands on other aspects of regular play. Contains its own game system, Battleforce 2.

IO- Interstellar Operations. An as-yet-to-be-released book dealing in even larger actions than the SO book.

TRO - Technical Read Out. usually followed by a year, such as TRO: 3039. TRO's give background information and basic stats on units developed and used during the listed time period. DOES NOT CONTAIN RECORD SHEETS.

MRPG- The Mechwarrior Role Playing Game. A new book is slated to be released that will be in full compliance with the remainder of the Battletech rulebooks.


Enjoy!

[Christine]

I'll get the ball rolling then! Just got back into battletech and picked up the new starter box, was wondering if anyone else had and whether they shared the same thoughts that I did that the new plastic mechs aren't as nice as the old plastic mechs from 3rd edition.

[mughi3]

The starter set is junk mostly, really bad molds, but then again all i have are the metal IWM/FASA miniatures. i see it as something you get is you need spare mechs for campaignes and scenarios.

I'll start by listing my mechs and units that i use regularly( bring with me every saturday, not counting whats sitting in my display cabinet). there is some mix and match sometimes but here is the basic make-up.

INNER SPHERE

steiner/lyran
10th lyran guards

Assault lance-
.fafnir
.atlas (lyran heavy gauss variant)
.nightstar
.viking(gauss variant)

Choppy lance
.berserker
.axeman 1N
.nightsky
.hatchetman(RAC variant, steal some love from the davions)

Scout lance-
.cestus(gauss)
.bushwacker(AC/20 ERLL)
.talon
.night hawk

Vehicles-
.typhoon (twin RAC 5)

Combine/kurita
2nd swords of light(steel dragons) C3 lance
.sunder C3 master
.hatamoto-hi
.ninja-to
.grand dragon

.a full star of raiden battle armor

Vehicles
.tokugawa heavy tank

2nd dieron regulars
artillery support unit
.maelstrom
.komodo(A)
.X2 Obakemono

.kanazuchi BA(one point)


CLAN

Hells Horse 9th galaxy

Assault star
.marauder IIC(100 tonner)
.blood kite
.mascari C
.thunder stallion -2
.point(2) of xerxes aerospace fighters

Medium star
.stalking spider
.crimson langur
.demon tick protomech point
.minotaur-3 protomech point
.ROC protomech point

Light and fast
.puma
.piranha
.fire falcon b
.point(2) enyo strike tanks
.point of elemental BA

vehicles and spares-
.super nova
.rifleman IIC
.point of huey(2) artillery tanks
.XL mars

SOLARIS VII

.no-datchi 2KO
.black knight

[Laughingmonk]

I find that the starter box figs are usually a mixed bag. Some of my friends and I all got the starter box and the qualities of the different figs vary between each box.

I've seen the that while some of the casts can be prett dismal, they usually range from sufficient to good.

Out of my set, the catapult, dragon, and cyclops are dismal, most of the others are good, while my grasshopper, awesome, commando, banshee, quickdraw, assassin and panther are all ver close to the metal casting.

Personally, I would recommend the starter set to anyone who wants a large amount of 3025 tapletop quality mechs on the cheap. As it is, even with flaws man of the casts can be fixed up with some basic sculpting.

Not to bad, really.

[shakespear]

Im a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooong time Battletech player with well over a 100 mechs, that being said:

I hate the current timeline, I play 3025-55.

I really wish it more of a "point system" to facilitate even play easily.

I am interested in SO because of the new Battleforces rules because it helps these problems.

I cant seem to do more than 8 mechs a side without getting bogged down in paper work, no chance to add infantry or areospace fighters, what about you?

[Laughingmonk]

BV 2.0 seems to be pretty decent, its not perfect but its certainly no more flawed than warhammer 40k or fantasy.

I agree on the unit limits. I'm also waiting for battleforce, just waiting for the dead tree version of SO.

[mughi3]

Im a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooong time Battletech player with well over a 100 mechs, that being said:

I started about 87' how bout you?

I hate the current timeline, I play 3025-55.

Thats the great thing about CBT rules, you can play any era and use the same base rules. although we generally play in the 3058-3072 timeline so we can play with all the toys. 3025 lvl 1s tend to die horribly to ammo explosions. and DAs is the clicky game which we loathe.

I really wish it more of a "point system" to facilitate even play easily.

Throw the baby out with the bathwater. CBT needs no BV2 or points balance because the system lends itself to instant game changers. things happen in war....like when my pristine berserker rounded a corner on a crippled ryoken, the ryoken scored 1 floating crit CT getting 2 and took out the gyros. my mad berserker was out of the game in one shot. i've had a protomech blow out the engines on a similar role against a WOB legacy and thats not counting all the random head-caping that tends to go on.

We either play a set scenario or follow the old lance/star rules. if i am fighting clans i get 1 star to their star or 2 IS lances to their one star. for IS on IS it's just lance on lance combat. bring whatever you want and throw down.

I cant seem to do more than 8 mechs a side without getting bogged down in paper work, no chance to add infantry or aerospace fighters, what about you?

Dry erase markers, movement dice and slip sheets are your friend.
notice the mech control sheets on the table in the background.



We had 20 mechs/VTOLs on the table between us in this game. and it was quite organized.

[Christine]

I agree with the catapult comments - the cast of the catapult I had in my set is terrible. My only criticism coming back to battletech is that there is no easy way to balance forces, I'm well aware of the bv system but last time I looked at that it seemed terribly complicated.

[nanktank]

I bought the starter set a while ago and yes the the quality of the plastics is pretty bad, but nothing a good weekend needle filing and dremeling wont fix. Me and my mate have played a few starterbook: Sword and Dragon scenarios. Which leads me to ask the question, does the game always take so long to play? granted we are both noobs and I guess we are still learning but a 4 mech battle took us the better part of 3.5 hours to play. I cant imagine how long a company sized battle would last.

[Epicenter]

It gets faster once you learn the system, but there's a certain slowness to the game. An "afternoon" game of CBT was (and is) pretty much a lance vs. a lance. When I was in high school, I used to do like all-weekenders with like company vs. company with like vehicles and Elemental / Infantry support. These days, I'm sure I could still clear like a weekend a month to play such games; I simply don't have the patience to do that anymore.

Basic Battletech era (3025) is slower than later eras because the weapons and the basic TR designs are well-balanced (for the most part). The benefit is that player skill means a lot more - manuver means a lot more. The downside is that games can draw out because of it.

Later eras of play, you get stuff like Clan ERPPCs and Gauss Rifles (and Arrow IVs) where you can tag people from 20+ hexes away as well as increasing speeds mean that you'll be able to get a good range faster. The downside is that luck ends up dominating games a lot more - tactics mean less if someone just happens to tag the head of your mech off at 20+ hexes.

[nanktank]

Fair enough, Ill give it another try, I do have plenty of clan mechs I have only just started to paint after my Davion mechs from Sword & Dragon. BTW has anybody heard any more news about the forth coming clan starter set?

[Slaaneshi Ice Cream]

I just started playing and I'm trying to figure out what happens to Word of Blake in later centuries. Do they disappear in the 32 century only to come back later? The wiki I checked says WOB becomes an agri-community and becomes "a footnote in history."

[Laughingmonk]

To answer a few questions...


@nanktank

Well, this was at tabletopgamingnews:

As part of the Classic BattleTech briefings at GenCon, Catalyst Game Labs announced that they will soon be releasing a Clan Boxed Set that will act as an expansion to the Classic BattleTech Introductory Box Set that they released last year at GenCon.

The boxed set will include:

* Clan OmniMech and battle armour miniatures
* Rules for battle armour
* 3050 upgrade variant record sheets for all 24 ‘Mechs from the Introductory Box Set
* Primary and Alpha configuration record sheets for the Clan OmniMechs and battle armour
* Map tiles: cardstock hex tiles to add terrain items to existing map sheets

The boxed set will not be a stand-alone product and will require the purchase of the Classic BattleTech Introductory Box Set. The map tiles are part of a larger HexPack product that Catalyst is currently developing. There is no word yet on the number of minis or hex tiles that will be included in the boxed set.

@ Ice Cream

I have no idea what happens to the WOB. Would be shame to see them go. I'd rather have them driven to the periphery, or maybe an exodus type move.

[ghost hunter]

Erm hi guys id like to get into battletech after looking it up a bit and playing my old copy of Mechwarrior 4 so can you guys recommend books to buy mechs to buy and where to buy them from?

Thanks in advance

[studderigdave]

i have a few mechs and total warfare. i played it alot when i was in my early teens (12 years ago or so) but then it died in my area. i tried to get it going again to no avail, but i still have my 12 mechs and total warfare. i never played with vehicles (besdies the mechs) or infantry.

[AndrewGPaul]

When I first started out with Battletech (not Classic Battletech, because there was no Mechwarrior: Dark Age at the time), we played 3025-era 'Mechs. Being simple types, and none of us having the Master Rules book, we just used tonnage as a balancing system. Using book designs, and restricted to 3025 technology, it works reasonably enough. Vehicles count as half tonnage, Clan Omnimechs count as double, Battle Armour counts as 5 tons, IIRC.

It's interesting to see it pick up again; I've got nearly a complete set of Unseen that could do with an outing.

[mughi3]

Erm hi guys id like to get into battletech after looking it up a bit and playing my old copy of Mechwarrior 4 so can you guys recommend books to buy mechs to buy and where to buy them from?

Thanks in advance

It would help if we knew a few things first-

.you interested in clan or inner sphere or both?
.what combat tactics do you favor?
.what faction do you favor?

The only thing i can say for sure is to get the main rules-total warfare and we can work from there. i also highly recommend you pick up the computer program "heavy metal pro" so you can print out the various mechs and vehicles as well as make your own if you so desire.

[ghost hunter]

It would help if we knew a few things first-

.you interested in clan or inner sphere or both?
.what combat tactics do you favor?
.what faction do you favor?

The only thing i can say for sure is to get the main rules-total warfare and we can work from there. i also highly recommend you pick up the computer program "heavy metal pro" so you can print out the various mechs and vehicles as well as make your own if you so desire.

well to answer your questions i have an interest in clan mostly namely Jade falcon , wolf ,jade wolf but innersphere is also cool (steiner)

As for my favoured combat tactic i tend to favour the heavier weapons rather than small and skitish

And faction has been covered above

+ Ill look into that heavy metal pro thingy

[Slaaneshi Ice Cream]

Ok, I bought Blake Ascending and Jihad Hotspots 2070. I'm interested in starting a WoB force, and am looking for recommendations. What sort of meks might I get? Are the WoB starters any good?

Also, looking for sources for infantry, BA, and tanks. I want the whole shebang.

And suggestion on other books to buy (other than Total Warfare, that's the obvious one I need atm) would be appreciated.

Here's my likes:

Faction: Word of Blake
Mechs: I don't prefer a single tonnage. Small fast mechs have their place, as do heavy mechs.

I prefer a shooty style to a more melee oriented style. I really like gauss rifles, they are flat out my favorite weapon.

Also, for playing in earlier time periods, should I just paint the starter box in WoB colors?

[mughi3]

Well for clans you can never really go wrong with any of the IIc variants, but for jade falcon specific i can recommend the following mechs-

.black lanner
.night gyr
.turkina
.loki/hell bringer(clan name)

and the following omni's with falcon specific weapons loads if you so desire-
.the ubiquitous madcat/timber wolf(clan name)
.mascari/warhawk(clan name)
.daishi/dire wolf(clan name)

For the lyrans staying with the heavy guns theme i can recommend

.thuderhawk
.nightstar
.goliath
.fafnir
.barghest
.hauptman
.marauder
.manteufell(tank with good speed, great armor and a nice choice of weapons although i recomend the heavy metal pro damage table from the previous edition/tactical ops since they purposely weakened tanks in total warefare to make mechs the "king of the battlefield" again).

Thats more than enough options for a lance or star to start you out.




For additonal ideas and official paint schemes try here-
http://www.camospecs.com/Gallery.asp

p.s. i also recommend protomechs(ROCs in your case, ver falconish). they are alot of fun and can really annoy your opponent especially when they hit you with that gauss rifle and roll a 3 or 11 on the chart for a "near miss" because they didn't really hit you.