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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kronovan" data-source="post: 9752762" data-attributes="member: 6775134">I remember the attempt at simplified rules in the 25th Anniversary box set, which every player I knew despised. I thought they might be about right for my 12 year old son, who I was introducing to Battletech. He'd briefly browsed the thicker, condensed rule booklet in that set, which was a subset or the Total Warfare rules. When I handed him the simplied rules he was like; "what the heck are these?!" So yeah, even a complete n00b hated that attempt by CGL to come up with simpler rules.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f606.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":LOL:" title="Laugh    :LOL:"  data-smilie="17"data-shortname=":LOL:" />Yes, Alpha Strike is a much more simplified version.Firing distances are simplified to 3 range bands of Short, Medium and Long. The complex head, torso, leg and arm armor is simplified to 2 rows of Armor and Structure. Movement is simplified into 1 uniform stat, so walking vs running isn't a thing and if your jump jet equipped Mech can run 12, it can jump 12 too. Critical damage is simplified to 4 rows of 1-4 bubbles, that track  Engine, Fire Control, Movement and Weapon crits. Heat's a thing and there's a heat scale, but it only has 4 increments of 1,2,3 and Shutdown! In the default rules a Mech can only fire once per turn, but the Commander (2nd) Ed. of the rules introduced options for multi attacks, which everyone I know now uses. Best of all...all of the stats fit onto a 3"x2" laminated card that you can doodle on with a dry-erase marker to your heart's content.There's a fairly wide gulf between the complexity of Classic Battletech and Alpha Strike. I mention those details, so you can get an idea of where a simpler, streamlined CBT might fit in.The biggest difference between the 2 is at first the least apparent - that AS is more targeted towards playing on larger areas (4'x6' table is recommended) with 3D terrain and a higher number of Mechs.  You can play As on the smaller CBT maps, but you need to chop movement values in half. To really experience AS in all its glory, you really need to play Battalion Vs Battalion with some cool, 3D tactical terrain.  With experienced players, you can fight battles with 50 Mechs a side in a single afternoon. I remember spending almost an entire weekend at a local gaming con doing that with the the CBT rules - ouch!</blockquote>

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