Category Archives: Battletech

Mech on Mech

Saturday saw Diego and myself squeeze in a couple of learning games of BattleTech using the Alpha Strike ruleset.

Bank holiday traffic had made getting to Diego’s gaff a nightmare.

Our first game was the first scenario from the quick start rules, using the suggested mech teams from the Alpha Strike starter set.

This starting scenario is basically last man standing with the only scenery used being trees.

Which makes sense for a first game. Keep it simple whilst learning the rules.

Keeping to the spirit of keeping things simple we used the 3D printed woods templates printed for me by Duncan to represent woods on the tabletop. They looked pretty cool.

In this game I was the attacker with two mechs. Whilst Diego was the defender with four mechs.

I did take out two of Diego’s mechs before the numbers worked in his favour and I was defeated.

Game two used all the mechs in the starter set. It was Diego defending again with two lances against my attacking lance.

Instead of buildings we used the 3D hills I had bought to use with the game. Time was a consideration. We didn’t have long before I had to leave for work. So putting together the cardboard buildings would have eaten into that scare playtime.

Before I had to leave I had taken out two of Diego’s mechs to him eliminating one of mine. So a moral victory for me I think.

I liked how the two intro scenarios slowly introduced you to the rules of the game, but not all of them.

Plus as starter sets go there is a lot here to play with for beginners. I like it. Great value.

As for Alpha Strike itself. I liked it a lot. It has just about the right level of complexity for me. Especially on the combat side. Not sure I’d want to play with the optional rule on multiple dice rolls for damage.

Once you get used to the flow for calculating your target number it becomes very second nature.

Can’t wait to get to the table again and get my revenge on Diego.

Mechtastic

The BattleTech Alpha Strike Starter Box has just landed in my grubby mitts.

So why have I chose BattleTech Alpha Strike as my first miniatures game to get into?

The first reason is the cost of entry. Compared to other miniature games out there such as the 800lb gorilla Warhammer 40k, is the relatively low cost to get into it. The starter sets are amazingly affordable being around the £50 mark. The beginners set is £26. Then picking up lances (what BattleTech calls teams/warbands) is also relatively cheap too. The majority I’ve seen on Amazon are in the £26-£35 range. These lances are not just for the core rules but also have cards to allow them to be used with the Alpha Strike rules.

Alpha Strike is a streamlined version of the “classic” BattleTech rule set. This will be the main way that I play the game. But everything I have or get will be compatible with the core more advanced rules. Plus the BattleTech rules hardly change. So I can if I have the time step up to the classic rules without having to buy new models. Either use the rules from a starter set or buy the £36 core rule book. That’s a big saving. And I don’t have to worry about a new edition of the rules coming along and making all my models redundant. The core rules are apparently literally unchanged from its release in the 80’s! There might be additional rules. But the early rules are still present. That gives you a bit more faith in investing in the game.

I’ve never played BattleTech. But mechs duking it out does appeal to me. It has that Pacific Rim vibe. Or going back to my younger years Starfleet, or just about Power Rangers when we got to the final boss battle for the episode. It even gives me a Transformers vibe to some extent. And obviously some anime I watched in the late eighties such as Patlabor, and Ghost in the Shell comes to mind.

Another major deciding factor is none of this having to construct your minis. No cutting parts off sprews and gluing. Ok you are meant to paint you models. But I’m not going to be entering competitions and will eventually get round to painting them.

This means BattleTech passes my board game test. You can buy a starter set (or lance) in a shop, open it up, and be playing/learning the game in under 20 minutes. None of this having to spend hours constructing minis be for you can even start playing. This for me removes such a big barrier to entry and helps noobs like me get into the game.

I just need to get it to the table now. Which will mean finding some-one to play with.