So in the space of about a week I have painted the lance (four mechs) in the BattleTech Inner Sphere Fire Lance, the thirteen mechs that come in the BattleTech Alpha Strike box set, a mech from the BattleTech Beginner Box, and a mech and ground support vehicle BattleTech Mercenaries Box Set. There are three more mechs drying off before the bases are done to make them complete.
The remaining mechs and vehicles for the Mercenaries box set have been primed and started the paint process.
Obviously I still have four more box sets to paint up and a support vehicles pack. Plus the nine blind gothic boosters.
Next box set to go through the process is the BattleTech Aces Scouring Sands box set, and a single gothic booster.
The gothic booster is to test an idea for a gothic colour scheme I have in mind. I have a plate armour gray primer coming. Which obviously will be the underlying colour of my gothic mechs.
It’s no great secret that the part of the miniatures gaming hobby I dislike, nay hate, get no enjoyment from at all, is the assembly and painting side.
So it will come as a big surprise not only to you but me that I’m painting some BattleTech minis.
At last years UKGE I bought some paint pens. Which saw me paint two or three bits of Halo Flashpoint scatter terrain. I even primed some miniatures. However the novelty wore off and I stopped.
However in an attempt to delay, even stop the nagging by Diogo in the mornings to have a walk and be fed, I changed our morning routine.
So now instead of barely having time to drink a coffee before the nagging (barking) starts. I get up, make my coffee, open the back door, and put down half of Diogo’s breakfast. I stay down stairs doing something like sleeving two Wingspan expansions whilst drinking my coffee. Diogo is much more chilled, comes down, goes out, eats. Then goes back upstairs to destroy the evil pillows on my bed. However I’ve managed to delay our morning walk by an hour, and there is no nagging. Although we still get the excited getting ready barking.
Once the card sleeving had been finished I needed something else to do downstairs. So I started out with the Inner Sphere Fire Lance that I had.
Zeus BattleTech mech
I primed them with a green primer, then using red, light grey, gunmetal, black, and dark aluminium I painted parts of the mech armour.
It’s not the best painting in the world. Thanks to old age effecting the eyesight, and fine motor control of the paint pens. Although I never was the best painter.
However with the pot of shader that you just dip the models in I’m getting that used universe look I like.
The models look barely tabletop ready. But from a distance they are ok, just don’t look at them close up.
I just need to flock the bases now (stuff on the way).
The models of the Alpha Strike box set have been primed and I even finished painting the easiest of them, the Atlas mech.
With each of the BattleTech box sets comes a twenty four page novella set in the BattleTech universe.
At the moment I have four such novellas. I imagine when the two new box sets that arrived today are opened there will be a further two.
I started with the novella that comes with the BattleTech Beginner Box (40th Anniversary), Golden Rule by William H. Keith.
It turns out that this is part one of a trilogy of novellas. The second part is a novella in the BattleTech Game of Armored Combat (40th Anniversary) box sets. Then from my research the third and final part is in the MechWarrior: Destiny rpg.
Yes there is a BattleTech rpg that “Includes rules for incorporating gameplay with BattleTech’s Total Warfare and Alpha Strike for a richer experience.” Amazon product page.
So to finish this story arc you need to splash out for two other products. One (the rpg) that you most likely won’t use! Good for potential sales. I can see players having the Beginner and Armored Combat box sets. But that extra purchase of the rpg, a step too far for me.
I actually enjoyed the story in the novella.
Having only a very limited page/word count every word counts. So not much time is spent setting up the rest of the story before we are in the thick of the action.
The basic story is a mech team has been hired to deal a blow to an upstart warlord before that warlord can become a problem. A straight hit and run. Give the warlord a bloody nose, put them in their place, and get out. Naturally the simple mission does not go to plan.
As an introduction to the BattleTech universe it’s a light, brief introduction. The writing or story are not going to win awards. It’s functional and does the job.
Yes there is terminology about the mechs and weapons etc used throughout the novella. Luckily the last four pages or so are taken up with pictures of the mechs, and explanations of terms used.
I was left wanting more, particularly with the “cliff hanger” ending.
I want to read the next part of the story. But I’m also now curious about other BattleTech novels. As expected with a forty year history there are a lot of novels. The main issue where to start, and are the books in print?
I’ve not played the classic BattleTech rules. I was attracted to the Alpha Strike ruleset. It offered a streamlined ruleset and a more “traditional” wargame experience on the tabletop.
So to compliment the Alpha Strike starter set I got the Alpha Strike Commanders edition rulebook. Which is the full Alpha Strike rule set. It has additional rules, scenarios, etc. There are four pages though in the Commanders edition that allow Alpha Strike players to use the hex maps that the classic rules use.
Which means the hex maps that come with the various box sets that I have purchased for the mechs are useful for quick games.
At the moment on top of the mentioned Alpha Strike stuff I have the following BattleTech box sets and books:
BattleTech Mercenaries Forcepack Battlefield Support: Battle & Fire Expansion
BattleTech Universe Book
BattleTech Game of Armored Combat 40th Anniversary Base Game
BattleTech Campaign Operations
BattleTech Beginner Box 40th Anniversary, Strategy Board Game
Battletech Clan Invasion Expansion
BattleTech: Gothic – Core Box Set
BattleTech: Mercenaries Box Set
BattleTech Inner Sphere Fire Lance
BattleTech Gothic Salvage Display Box
The draw back of the Beginner Box is that it doesn’t come with the Alpha Strike cards for the two models in the box.
The last item in the above list is my first display box for the game.
Outside of buying box sets, or pre-made lances (of which there are a few). The only way to buy mechs are these salvage boxes. The contents are random. So you might find them on eBay or find other players to swap with if you don’t get the ones you want. So yes they have that draw back, but at least they don’t have that exploitative secondary market.
So I wanted more models for the Gothic box set. I found a source to get the display box at a cheaper cost than buying the boxes individually. Ok yes it’s a false saving.
But still this is the miniatures version of cracking open booster packs.
It’s not quite the same as cracking open a booster, but still rather satisfying as you see what cool looking mech you have pulled.
With a game that’s over 40 years old, there is obviously a lot of lore. To be truthful I have been rather put off from diving into the lore. The share amount of it seems so daunting to a noob like me. However the BattleTech Universe book seemed like a great starting place.
So now while having a soak I’m working my way through this lore primer.
I think the cool thing about my investment in BattleTech stuff is that I can use the minis with the Gamma Wolves ruleset too.
There are still one or two items in the postal system working their way to me:
BattleTech Initiative Deck
Battlefield Support Deck Revised
BattleTech Aces Scouring Sands box sets
I’ve had to get the Aces Scouring Sands box set from the US Amazon. Couldn’t find a place online with it in stock. I particularly want to see how this campaign box set for Alpha Strike works. As far as I’m aware it’s also a co-operative campaign.
Then once it arrives I need to find some-one to work through the campaign with. Harder than you would think these days.
A brief bit of reflection before finishing this post. Looking back I hadn’t realised I had so much BattleTech stuff. More than enough to start building my own lances now. Apart from the recent batch of purchases, this current situation seems to have crept up on me.
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.
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.
