Payn;s Ponderings@ Battletech General Discussions

[MGibster]

If you had asked me in 1998 which would be more popular today, Battletech or Warhammer 40k, I would have gone with Battletech. I played quite a lot of it starting in the late 80s through the late 1990s, but it seemed to have practically died off for a few years there. I know it never ceased to exist, but its only in recent years that I've started to see more BT stuff for sale and hear of people actually playing it.

I did play a game around Christmas in 2019, and while it brought back a lot of memories, I found the rules to be rather clunky and the game time consuming. A simply two mech duel went on for far longer than it should have in my opinion. The version of BT out today looks and feels remarkably similar to what I was playing almost 25 years ago.



In my heart of hearts, this will always be what Warhammer is supposed to look like.

 

[payn]

If you had asked me in 1998 which would be more popular today, Battletech or Warhammer 40k, I would have gone with Battletech. I played quite a lot of it starting in the late 80s through the late 1990s, but it seemed to have practically died off for a few years there. I know it never ceased to exist, but its only in recent years that I've started to see more BT stuff for sale and hear of people actually playing it.

I did play a game around Christmas in 2019, and while it brought back a lot of memories, I found the rules to be rather clunky and the game time consuming. A simply two mech duel went on for far longer than it should have in my opinion. The version of BT out today looks and feels remarkably similar to what I was playing almost 25 years ago.



In my heart of hearts, this will always be what Warhammer is supposed to look like.

View attachment 257078

I ran up to the FLGS last night and picked up a couple more mech packs. I got my favorite the Grasshopper! I really want to put together that campaign now to run my friends through. Just a merc company flying around inner sphere learning about the factions. I do want to give them some pilot things to upgrade, but that doesn't seem to be part of the armored combat system that Catalyst has. I was close to picking up the campaign sourcebook last night. Decided that minis would be more fun to collect right now.

G>A>T>O>R has become easy enough to understand, but takes a few rounds to get. I am curious about Alpha Strike which seems to be a much simplified minis wargame. Not sure if its too stripped down though. Hard to say. Anybody have experience with these different takes?

 

[Mezuka]

I am curious about Alpha Strike which seems to be a much simplified minis wargame. Not sure if its too stripped down though. Hard to say.

Alpha Strike QSR:

https://bg.battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/AlphaStrikeQuick-Start-Rules.pdf

 

[Jagga Spikes]

check out MegaMek/MekHQ. it's free fan-made adaptation of Battletech and true to source, with tons of optional featurs. computer does most of calcs, and company vs company is doable within an evening play. there is also possibility of running a campaign against a bot, or against/with other people.

 

[payn]

check out MegaMek/MekHQ. it's free fan-made adaptation of Battletech and true to source, with tons of optional featurs. computer does most of calcs, and company vs company is doable within an evening play. there is also possibility of running a campaign against a bot, or against/with other people.

I've heard of MegaMek; is it more like Battletech by Haribrained Schemes, or more like Mechwarrior FPS? I'd love to get something going in Foundry, but I never see anything about systems or modules for BT .

 

[mcmillan]

I've mostly been exposed to BattleTech via Mechwarrior 2 and the new Battletech video games, but have liked the idea of the setting and been interested in getting into different aspects. I saw there's a BattleTech bundle right now on Bundle of Holding. What do people think of the books being offered as an introduction? Any books not in the bundle that might be worth also picking up?

 

[payn]

I've mostly been exposed to BattleTech via Mechwarrior 2 and the new Battletech video games, but have liked the idea of the setting and been interested in getting into different aspects. I saw there's a BattleTech bundle right now on Bundle of Holding. What do people think of the books being offered as an introduction? Any books not in the bundle that might be worth also picking up?

Holy mackerel, Im glad I didnt pick up campaign operations last night! Im in on this bundle for sure.

Total Warfare is the only book I have along with the Armored combat and Clan invasion box sets. So, this seems like a great deal for the money.

Sarna.net is the wiki for BT stuff. You can learn a ton about the setting and mechs just browsing there too.

 

[gamerprinter]

Had a friend who was big-time into minitiatures gaming - mostly Warhammer 40K and Battletech. We did get him to play D&D once, but he wasn't a fan. We never played WH, but he did get us to play Battletech, which we ran for about 6 months. Because our friend was trying hard to get us to like the game, in the beginning he helped custom design some mechs based on our ideas. The mech we designed for me, I called the Werewolf, which included Claws (as a physical weapon), which at the time didn't exist as an option - another BT release did include Claws eventually, and the claws we designed turned out to work with the new rules (no changes needed with 5 tons and 5 crits per claw). I built a 75 ton bipedal mech, with triple-strength myomer for internal structure (we built both an Inner Sphere and Clan version, both work, though the Clan version is better). It's got jump jets. As a 75 ton mech it's movement with jump jets was a 3/4/5 mech, until you achieve "Heat" then it's a 5/8/5 mech. Until you took some damage, this mech design had perfect movement, and weapons to achieve Heat, no matter which option it required. If I remember right the Inner Sphere version had 6 medium lasers, 3 per side torso, and 1 small laser in it's head. Whereas the Clan version had 6 medium pulse lasers (3 on each side torso) a small pulse laser in it's center torso and a small laser in it's head. It was a fun mech to play, if you enjoy the risks of physical combat. It tended to hide in heavy forest waiting to ambush passing mechs.

I've even designed a few Battletech maps... this one I call The Pit...

 

[payn]

Had a friend who was big-time into minitiatures gaming - mostly Warhammer 40K and Battletech. We did get him to play D&D once, but he wasn't a fan. We never played WH, but he did get us to play Battletech, which we ran for about 6 months. Because our friend was trying hard to get us to like the game, in the beginning he helped custom design some mechs based on our ideas. The mech we designed for me, included Claws (as a physical weapon), which at the time didn't exist as an option - another BT release did include Claws eventually, and the claws we designed turned out to work with the new rules (no changes needed with 5 tons and 5 crits per claw). I built a 75 ton bipedal mech, with triple-strength myomer for internal structure (we built both an Inner Sphere and Clan version, both work, though the Clan version is better). It's got jump jets. As a 75 ton mech it's movement with jump jets was a 3/4/5 mech, until you achieve "Heat" then it's a 5/8/5 mech. Until you took some damage, this mech design had perfect movement, and weapons to achieve Heat, no matter which option it required. If I remember right the Inner Sphere version had 6 medium lasers, 3 per side torso, and 1 small laser in it's head. Whereas the Clan version had 6 medium pulse lasers (3 on each side torso) a small pulse laser in it's center torso and a small laser in it's head. It was a fun mech to play, if you enjoy the risks of physical combat. It tended to hide in heavy forest waiting to ambush passing mechs.

The only physical brawler I have played is the Banshee.

 

[ephemeron]

I've mostly been exposed to BattleTech via Mechwarrior 2 and the new Battletech video games, but have liked the idea of the setting and been interested in getting into different aspects. I saw there's a BattleTech bundle right now on Bundle of Holding. What do people think of the books being offered as an introduction? Any books not in the bundle that might be worth also picking up?

If you want to get seriously into the Battletech board game, it's an amazing deal. The base tier is the core rules and unit-construction rules for the board game, and the core and so far only book for the latest RPG for the setting. Then the bonus collection adds lots and lots of extra optional rules and systems for the board game.

The biggest omission from the bundle is 'Mechs. I'd recommend getting Technical Readout: Succession Wars (link is to DriveThruRPG) for the 3025 era (which Harebrained Schemes' Battletech and Mechwarrior 5 are set in), and/or Technical Readout: Clan Invasion for the 3050 era (Mechwarrior 2).