What are the proper Oosik colors again? I'd assume white, grey, blue and orange from everyone's sigs but I don't remember seeing an Oosik 'Mech all painted up.
Pretty sure it's White with blue and orange highlights/accents.
Off work, figured I'd share my favorite use of the Oosik color scheme.
Here's my Protector (hero Orion for those that don't play MW:O). I've been told it looks cool in the game, though I believe the bright white tends to draw fire on maps that aren't snowcovered wastelands (that explains why I always die quick, well that and the fact that I'm terrible at the game).
I think a lot of us use blue as the main base with white and orange accents. I do blue as the main because i feel it draws less attention. Anything that isnt in Oosik colors is typically some shade of grey.
I think a lot of us use blue as the main base with white and orange accents. I do blue as the main because i feel it draws less attention. Anything that isnt in Oosik colors is typically some shade of grey.
Probably. I know I tend to eat a lot of sniping attacks when I'm in my Prot. Even when I politely ask the other team to not scratch the paint ("Come on guys, I just had her detailed").
On the other hand, stealth/camouflage/just not sticking out like a shiny white "Shoot me" sign isn't likely to be as much of an issue when playing the tabletop game.
Now i have a question i hope someone can answer...
Back when i got into BT (1988) my friend, who introduced it to me at the ripe old age of 8, had a pile of just Mechs printed out on cardstock tbat looked very military like. I have a reinforcement pack like this, but theyre all cartoony looking and includes a shitload of clan mechs. (Battletech Reinforcements 2 i think) and i dont have the whole range of old 3rd succession war era mechs sadly.
Minis are nice and all, but theyre expensive. Id like something i can just punch out and put on a hex base, or even print off.
Does anyone know where i can get my hands on something like this?
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited July 2014
If you're looking for doing it on the cheap, you should be able to find Hex Slot bases and images of mechs to print on cardstock through Google. "hex slot base" gave me this as the top result. Or for something slightly higher quality, you could troll through Litko's catalog; I know they do stands for paper miniatures, but at a quick glance I didn't see ones with hex bases.
As for painting, I'm going back to my reference notes for my planned Oosik paint jobs:
"Stealth" Oosik camo - Black basecoat, Blue and Orange Highlights
"Standard" Oosik parade dress - Grey basecoat, Blue and Orange paneling with white accents.
"Visible From Orbit" Oosik parade dress - White basecoat, Blue and Orange paneling
???? is a Shogun and the Banshee is actually a Charger
Also the Assassin is a Vulcan and the Panther is a Wolfhound
Good catch. I was never going to figure on the Shogun, Charger, and Wolfhound (never seen them before). I'm a dork, should have known the Vulcan, I own one!
That means everything here is non-Intro box. Aside from the Lance packs we know about (Victor, Blackjack, Grasshopper, Atlas; Centurion, Jenner, Wolfhound, Clint), I wonder how CGL is going to parse the other mechs out into packs.
Now i have a question i hope someone can answer...
Back when i got into BT (1988) my friend, who introduced it to me at the ripe old age of 8, had a pile of just Mechs printed out on cardstock tbat looked very military like. I have a reinforcement pack like this, but theyre all cartoony looking and includes a shitload of clan mechs. (Battletech Reinforcements 2 i think) and i dont have the whole range of old 3rd succession war era mechs sadly.
Minis are nice and all, but theyre expensive. Id like something i can just punch out and put on a hex base, or even print off.
Does anyone know where i can get my hands on something like this?
IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
Battle report!
Attendance was light today. Dave wasn't feeling well, Dallas was working and Chris C. was probably packing for his move so it was just me, Chris F. and Ryan in a non-campaign battle. We messed around with the rosters and put Ryan's RK-4K versus my PNT-12A and Chris F.'s Venom.
Field was two sets of the starter maps with one quadrant swapped for the store's Cities map. The Venom wound up taking both Gyro hits and falling, leaving me to finish the job. While I took a few good hits from his ER PPC he lost one Gyro and eventually crashed after I took out one leg's Foot and (upper?) Actuator. Even from the ground he shot my left arm off but I eventually took out his sword (and the rest of the arm a bit after).
With only one arm he can't prop himself up to fire while prone. He spent a whole movement phase trying to stand up. He couldn't. We decided to call the game at that point, seeing as he'd also taken heavy damage to plenty of places. So yeah, victory!
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If you're looking for doing it on the cheap, you should be able to find Hex Slot bases and images of mechs to print on cardstock through Google. "hex slot base" gave me this as the top result. Or for something slightly higher quality, you could troll through Litko's catalog; I know they do stands for paper miniatures, but at a quick glance I didn't see ones with hex bases.
As for painting, I'm going back to my reference notes for my planned Oosik paint jobs:
"Stealth" Oosik camo - Black basecoat, Blue and Orange Highlights
"Standard" Oosik parade dress - Grey basecoat, Blue and Orange paneling with white accents.
"Visible From Orbit" Oosik parade dress - White basecoat, Blue and Orange paneling
Let's be honest here, when you're stomping around in a 100 ton robot, tossing laser beams and missiles around like candy on halloween, "stealthy" doesn't really exist...
Going to try and find some time to introduce my 9 year old to the game. Start off with some 1v1 battles and go from there. Hes already excited to play the Hunchback. So proud. Thats the very first mech i chose too.
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
If you're looking for doing it on the cheap, you should be able to find Hex Slot bases and images of mechs to print on cardstock through Google. "hex slot base" gave me this as the top result. Or for something slightly higher quality, you could troll through Litko's catalog; I know they do stands for paper miniatures, but at a quick glance I didn't see ones with hex bases.
As for painting, I'm going back to my reference notes for my planned Oosik paint jobs:
"Stealth" Oosik camo - Black basecoat, Blue and Orange Highlights
"Standard" Oosik parade dress - Grey basecoat, Blue and Orange paneling with white accents.
"Visible From Orbit" Oosik parade dress - White basecoat, Blue and Orange paneling
Let's be honest here, when you're stomping around in a 100 ton robot, tossing laser beams and missiles around like candy on halloween, "stealthy" doesn't really exist...
That's why the "Stealth" lance is going to be Commando/Spider/Jenner/Cicada.
"Visible From Orbit" lance (AKA "Gives No Effs" lance) is Jagermech/Battlemaster/Awesome/Atlas.
What the hell MekHQ. The new version is.... Different. My techs "maintain" my mechs and end up doing more damage to the mechs before even entering combat.
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
So... Good place to get scenarios or short running campaigns?
Are you looking for a set of loosely connected battles, or something deeper with refit/repair and pilot progressions? And what era? In either case, I'd start with the back catalog of stuff. Look for Scenarios:
Im looking for 3rd succession war stuff. Even just ideas and overviews to create my own. We had that very short BT campaign here we never got to finish, and i was having a lot of fun playing it. Getting a friend interested in the game and i want more than just 4v4 death matches.
one thing to keep in mind about campaigns is that the BattleValue system in its current form is, for the first time ever, a good way to create a fairly balanced fight. This makes the game a lot more interesting (so many crappy one sided "equal tonnage" battles).
But balanced fights do not make for long campaigns. In an equal BV battle expect very heavy losses on both sides (with 3rd succession war tech attrition will be especially high on pilots). You will need to include a way to replenish both sides heavily after each match but especially the loser.
Most BT campaigns make the mistake of giving more rewards to the winner creating a terrible snowball effect. Winners get even better and losers get worse. Very not-fun to play.
Im thinking of a choose your own adventure style campaign. Track everything with MekHQ, resolve the battles manually. Try to come up with some plausable final goal and have my friend work his way towards it. Battle outcomes and his actions will determine what happens next kinda thing. Maybe even have a couple different fronts that need to be resolved and the next section of the campaign depends on the outcome of those. Trying to keep it free flowing and loose.
Reeealy need (want) the Battletech Reinforcement cardboard dudes for this so i can eventually have a nice 12v12 combined arms battle. Old plastic pieces from Axis and Allies work great for vehicles and infantry.
I may have a lead on aquiring the original BT:R guys, but we shall see.
Any program out there make decent looking maps? Heavy Metal Map looks a little too cartoony.
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IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
In our current Solaris 7 campaign, the losers of each match still get 75% of the C-Bills that the winners do and there's plenty of opportunities for all players to earn money in-match. In addition, one player bringing a high-BV team into their match means the other players get Underdog bonuses for being undervalue.
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Im thinking of a choose your own adventure style campaign. Track everything with MekHQ, resolve the battles manually. Try to come up with some plausable final goal and have my friend work his way towards it. Battle outcomes and his actions will determine what happens next kinda thing. Maybe even have a couple different fronts that need to be resolved and the next section of the campaign depends on the outcome of those. Trying to keep it free flowing and loose.
I ran a campaign similar to this a few years ago. I had a group of guys that collectively bought a handful of mechs, and then played through a long series of back-to-back scenarios. They started off fighting pirates with wimpy vehicles, which then led into pirate mechs. This got into bigger things as the group collected salvage and payment (as a merc group on the side/rear lines of a Lyran-side FedCom offensive on a Periphery-fringe planet), which allowed them to buy new chassis and repair/refit their existing rigs. They defended towns, rescued an elite cadre of technicians*, stole pirate supply caches, and hunted down routes through sectors with rougher terrain ahead of the main FedCom force. Unbeknownst to the guys, this was going to lead into the Clan Invasion, and the group's desperate escape to the last Dropship off-planet. Sadly we took a break, started playing D&D for a change of pace, and haven't gone back to Mechs since. (Which is funny to me, because the Battletech campaign was basically a light RPG with BT as the combat rules. )
A couple of pointers from that campaign:
1. For every scenario, I balanced the opposing force on a BV-basis against what the guys were fielding, plus-or-minus some value to adjust the difficulty. When I wrote the scenarios out ahead of time, my notes included a BV scale value (e.g. x0.7 or so for easier battles, x1.25 for harder ones, etc.) and a short list of units available to the OpFor. When we got together to play, I could then figure out (roughly) what the group's total BV was, and select units quickly to fill the OpFor roster. It was a little work, but the scenarios played out really well as a result. I'm not sure if there's a way to deduct BV for fielding damaged units, so I just kept this in mind when I chose the total BV value for the OpFor.
2. I loved running the rearm/refit rules, but it was a ton of at-table work. There was a set amount of in-game time between each scenario, which led to the group having to make some hard choices about what parts to fix with the resources they had. It eventually boiled down into a game of Spreadsheet Hero, but the verisimilitude was great to play out. Still, an ass-ton of work. Were I to do it again, I'd probably try to find a way to streamline the refit/repair process, while still allowing for interesting decisions for the players.
3. Variety is important. Vary up the maps, vary up the OpFor units, vary up the objectives. It made every game interesting.
If you'd like, I can go dig out my notes.
*Do you know how valuable good technicians are? My guys didn't, until their green starter techs permanently broke several very valuable pieces of equipment :P
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IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
edited July 2014
@Nips that sounds wonderful and I for one would love to try something like this with MegaMek.
Ianator on
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Catalyst has published campaign rules recently for Battletech called Chaos Campaign. The rules are available for free, but you'd have to either purchase Campaign Tracks or use a fan-created Campaign Track. They use a resource called Warchest Points that can be converted into either strategic resources or Support resources to repair/refit 'Mechs. It's basically a simplified way to run an extended campaign of Battletech.
I ran a Battletech game campaign-style (also during the invasion of the Clans... seems to be the most popular era for this) for several sessions, using homebrew rules, and this seems to be a hell of a lot easier than the shit that I was doing.
So i picked up Alpha Strike and its Companion. Its definitely different. Its nice that you can play larger forces in a shorter time frame. Lots of battle types and how to run a scenario complete with a system for repair/rearm and all that jazz.
Now i just wish there was a mekhq type program for it.
Catalyst has published campaign rules recently for Battletech called Chaos Campaign. The rules are available for free, but you'd have to either purchase Campaign Tracks or use a fan-created Campaign Track. They use a resource called Warchest Points that can be converted into either strategic resources or Support resources to repair/refit 'Mechs. It's basically a simplified way to run an extended campaign of Battletech.
I ran a Battletech game campaign-style (also during the invasion of the Clans... seems to be the most popular era for this) for several sessions, using homebrew rules, and this seems to be a hell of a lot easier than the shit that I was doing.
Huh. Thats very interesting. Going ro need to read that tomorrow.
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
So i picked up Alpha Strike and its Companion. Its definitely different. Its nice that you can play larger forces in a shorter time frame. Lots of battle types and how to run a scenario complete with a system for repair/rearm and all that jazz.
Now i just wish there was a mekhq type program for it.
I'm hoping to get some time with Alpha Strike at Gen Con in a couple of weeks. It's so....different. But the appeal of a faster-playing game of stompy Battlemechs is just...unf. Wants. I really hope I like it.
So i picked up Alpha Strike and its Companion. Its definitely different. Its nice that you can play larger forces in a shorter time frame. Lots of battle types and how to run a scenario complete with a system for repair/rearm and all that jazz.
Now i just wish there was a mekhq type program for it.
I'm hoping to get some time with Alpha Strike at Gen Con in a couple of weeks. It's so....different. But the appeal of a faster-playing game of stompy Battlemechs is just...unf. Wants. I really hope I like it.
i really like it just by reading the rules in the book. Its not quite Total Warfare, not quite Battleforce. Its nice. Its a plus that it converts to hex maps very, very easily too.
also, messing around in megamek against the bot...
BattleMaster BLR-1S (Princess) must make 2 piloting skill roll(s) (leg destroyed; 20+ damage).
The base target is 5 [5 (Base piloting skill)].
Roll #1, (leg destroyed); automatically fails.
BattleMaster BLR-1S (Princess) falls on its right side, suffering 9 damage.
BattleMaster BLR-1S (Princess) takes 5 damage to HD.
SECTION DESTROYED,
*** BattleMaster BLR-1S (Princess) DESTROYED by damage! ***
Critical hit on HD. Roll is 3; no effect.
UNF!
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IanatorGaze upon my works, ye mightyand facepalm.Registered Userregular
@HydroSqueegee sounds like a beautifully lucky turn of events you had there. Next stop: three criticals from a center torso hit!
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HAH! Guy sent me a scan of the original BT Reinforcements cardboard stand guys! Just have to pint and cut out.
Battalion size Alpha Strike games are within reach!
All my old Axis and Allies pieces can stand in for tanks, infantry and VTOLs. May need to modify them a bit to tell the difference between wheeled, tracked and hover though.
BAAAAAHAHAHAHA! i was just hoping to kick a hole in his CT rear armor.
Physical attacks for Grasshopper GHR-5H (My Campaign)
Kick (Left leg) at Highlander HGN-733 (Princess); needs 8, rolls 10 : hits (using Rear Punch table) HD
Highlander HGN-733 (Princess) takes 14 damage to HD.
Armor destroyed, SECTION DESTROYED,
*** Highlander HGN-733 (Princess) DESTROYED by damage! ***
*** MechWarrior Lieutenant JG Aki Nakamura (My Campaign) was trapped in the wreckage. ***
Critical hit on HD. Roll is 5; no effect.
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NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
So, reading back over my campaign notes, here's some things that were never written down:
1. The PCs were operating as a Merc unit, assisting FedCom on Bensinger with a Pirate incursion shortly before the Clans crashed the party. The mission descriptions are in the voice of the Merc CO.
2. The Battletech games were played per the Battletech Master Rules (BMR). The BMR rules for repairing and refits were used as-is. Each PC started with a Mech, and a Green technician to do the R&R.
3. The PCs could earn Requisition Points [RP] (essentially, C-bills) for completing mission objectives, and spend it with the FedCom forces to buy new mechs, equipment, and pay for R&R.
4. They also got salvage from kills. Scrap and excess equipment could be sold back to FedCom for half its listed C-bill cost, for RP.
5. When a new Mech was requisitioned, it would be delivered after the next mission in the sequence. (Group completes Mission 3, and buys a new Mech. The Mech is available starting with Mission 5.)
6. Each mission objective earned the group the listed amount of RP, and each PC's Pilot earned the listed Experience Points [XP]. A PC can spend their Pilot's XP between missions to improve his/her Gunnery, Piloting, or to buy a special Skill as noted on page 3 of the rules. (I hacked that stuff together from some preview Maximum Tech thing I had in my random pile of rules stuff. No idea if any of it was balanced. It didn't get used much.)
7. Each PC's Pilot started as Green, with some amount of XP before the campaign began. I think it was like 6 XP, so the Pilot could improve their Gunnery by one, or Piloting by two, or start with a Skill.
8. In the event that a PC's Pilot was killed, it would be replaced with another Green pilot. This never came up, despite my guys' best attempts at getting killed.
9. The PC's had access to the Commando through Atlas on the Unit List page. The Pirates used the Locust through Warhammer 6D. The Clans used Invasion era builds as listed.
10. The Pirates also had access to low-BV trucks and skimmers with very small weapon loadouts. I couldn't find the record sheets, but I know I have them; I could dig a bit more if anyone's really curious.
11. I love mixed unit games, so there's a few sprinkled througout the campaign. It doesn't say it anywhere, but the Clans had the option to use Elementals where it was appropriate. (Mostly to fill BV)
12. For R&R, there was a set amount of time between each mission (again, following the BMR rules). So for example, Mission 2 says "Time: M1 + 720 minutes (12 hours)", which means after Mission 1 the guys' techs had 720 minutes to repair and refit their mechs. If a particular PC's technician didn't need to work on his/her mech for the full time allotment, that tech could work on one of the other PC's mechs. (After one mission, it took a team of four Elite and four Green techs all working on one mech to get it back in working order in time. It was tense as each repair roll was made, and fucking great.)
13. A lot of this stuff was made up by the seat of my pants at first. It was chaotic, slightly unbalanced, and a ton of fun. My only regret is that we didn't play it out.
With any luck, some of this is useful to you guys.
And now, for a few highlights from the notes:
-My guys had a weird love of Spiders when they started out. In their stable, I see one that is totally missing its right arm, one that's missing its entire left leg, and a third that had a destroyed Right Arm, Right Torso, and a blown off Right Leg. None were repaired; I remember they bought into heavier stuff to replace the Spiders.
-The guys eventually all moved into Mediums, and the Hunchback was a group favorite. Because fuck yes, Hunchbacks.
-The guys kept a number of Wasps and Stingers for salvage (despite them being cored out), and a Rifleman that they downed with two Gyro hits. They had designs on fixing the Rifleman, I think, which would have been bad ass. I'd forgotten how much I love the RFL-3N.
-An anecdote: While moving through one of the city maps, one of my guys decides to just haul ass. Unfortunately, skidding is a thing. He made one wrong turn, flubbed his Piloting roll, fell down, broke through his back armor from the fall damage, and crit a ton of ammo in the torso, blowing his mech to pieces. To this day, my group never lets this guy forget how badly he botched that.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
I wouldn't be against trying to run something like that on the boards here. However, I have zero experience with any online BT tools, and don't have the time at the moment; I'm prepping for Gen Con, so most of my free time is dedicated to that.
Once Gen Con's come and gone, I could be convinced to try running it.
Aspirationally: You heard it here first: Oosik Bash 5 will be a PbP Battletech game :P
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Now, to figure out how to paint these buggers.
Orange... why yes, I do have orange that hasn't dried up yet.
Blue... gonna get some tomorrow.
Now I just need to see if any new 'Mechs came in that I'm looking for.
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Here's my Protector (hero Orion for those that don't play MW:O). I've been told it looks cool in the game, though I believe the bright white tends to draw fire on maps that aren't snowcovered wastelands (that explains why I always die quick, well that and the fact that I'm terrible at the game).
On the other hand, stealth/camouflage/just not sticking out like a shiny white "Shoot me" sign isn't likely to be as much of an issue when playing the tabletop game.
Back when i got into BT (1988) my friend, who introduced it to me at the ripe old age of 8, had a pile of just Mechs printed out on cardstock tbat looked very military like. I have a reinforcement pack like this, but theyre all cartoony looking and includes a shitload of clan mechs. (Battletech Reinforcements 2 i think) and i dont have the whole range of old 3rd succession war era mechs sadly.
Minis are nice and all, but theyre expensive. Id like something i can just punch out and put on a hex base, or even print off.
Does anyone know where i can get my hands on something like this?
As for painting, I'm going back to my reference notes for my planned Oosik paint jobs:
"Stealth" Oosik camo - Black basecoat, Blue and Orange Highlights
"Standard" Oosik parade dress - Grey basecoat, Blue and Orange paneling with white accents.
"Visible From Orbit" Oosik parade dress - White basecoat, Blue and Orange paneling
In other news, CGL is teasing us!
http://catalystgamelabs.tumblr.com/post/92831165911/cool-things-falling-on-your-desk
I spy a Stalker, Assassin, Hatchetman, Panther, Raven, Firestarter, Guillotine, Orion, Cataphract, Banshee(?), ???, Blackjack, Flea, Centurion, Victor.
I have no clue what ??? is, and that might not be a Banshee.
Freaking sweet.
Also the Assassin is a Vulcan and the Panther is a Wolfhound
Good catch. I was never going to figure on the Shogun, Charger, and Wolfhound (never seen them before). I'm a dork, should have known the Vulcan, I own one!
That means everything here is non-Intro box. Aside from the Lance packs we know about (Victor, Blackjack, Grasshopper, Atlas; Centurion, Jenner, Wolfhound, Clint), I wonder how CGL is going to parse the other mechs out into packs.
http://d15yciz5bluc83.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/BattleTechQuick-Start-Rules.pdf?28cf69
http://bg.battletech.com/download/CAT3500A_BoxSet_RecordSheets_with_Counters.pdf?28cf69
Attendance was light today. Dave wasn't feeling well, Dallas was working and Chris C. was probably packing for his move so it was just me, Chris F. and Ryan in a non-campaign battle. We messed around with the rosters and put Ryan's RK-4K versus my PNT-12A and Chris F.'s Venom.
Field was two sets of the starter maps with one quadrant swapped for the store's Cities map. The Venom wound up taking both Gyro hits and falling, leaving me to finish the job. While I took a few good hits from his ER PPC he lost one Gyro and eventually crashed after I took out one leg's Foot and (upper?) Actuator. Even from the ground he shot my left arm off but I eventually took out his sword (and the rest of the arm a bit after).
With only one arm he can't prop himself up to fire while prone. He spent a whole movement phase trying to stand up. He couldn't. We decided to call the game at that point, seeing as he'd also taken heavy damage to plenty of places. So yeah, victory!
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Let's be honest here, when you're stomping around in a 100 ton robot, tossing laser beams and missiles around like candy on halloween, "stealthy" doesn't really exist...
That's why the "Stealth" lance is going to be Commando/Spider/Jenner/Cicada.
"Visible From Orbit" lance (AKA "Gives No Effs" lance) is Jagermech/Battlemaster/Awesome/Atlas.
Are you looking for a set of loosely connected battles, or something deeper with refit/repair and pilot progressions? And what era? In either case, I'd start with the back catalog of stuff. Look for Scenarios:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/List_of_BattleTech_products
There's a whole bunch of scenario packs, with a handful of latter-day ones (Jihad Hot Spots) available as PDFs through BattleCorps.
(Edit) It turns out, BattleCorps has a whole slew of the old scenario packs as PDFs for sale as well.
http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27_35_74
Im looking for 3rd succession war stuff. Even just ideas and overviews to create my own. We had that very short BT campaign here we never got to finish, and i was having a lot of fun playing it. Getting a friend interested in the game and i want more than just 4v4 death matches.
But balanced fights do not make for long campaigns. In an equal BV battle expect very heavy losses on both sides (with 3rd succession war tech attrition will be especially high on pilots). You will need to include a way to replenish both sides heavily after each match but especially the loser.
Most BT campaigns make the mistake of giving more rewards to the winner creating a terrible snowball effect. Winners get even better and losers get worse. Very not-fun to play.
Reeealy need (want) the Battletech Reinforcement cardboard dudes for this so i can eventually have a nice 12v12 combined arms battle. Old plastic pieces from Axis and Allies work great for vehicles and infantry.
I may have a lead on aquiring the original BT:R guys, but we shall see.
Any program out there make decent looking maps? Heavy Metal Map looks a little too cartoony.
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I ran a campaign similar to this a few years ago. I had a group of guys that collectively bought a handful of mechs, and then played through a long series of back-to-back scenarios. They started off fighting pirates with wimpy vehicles, which then led into pirate mechs. This got into bigger things as the group collected salvage and payment (as a merc group on the side/rear lines of a Lyran-side FedCom offensive on a Periphery-fringe planet), which allowed them to buy new chassis and repair/refit their existing rigs. They defended towns, rescued an elite cadre of technicians*, stole pirate supply caches, and hunted down routes through sectors with rougher terrain ahead of the main FedCom force. Unbeknownst to the guys, this was going to lead into the Clan Invasion, and the group's desperate escape to the last Dropship off-planet. Sadly we took a break, started playing D&D for a change of pace, and haven't gone back to Mechs since. (Which is funny to me, because the Battletech campaign was basically a light RPG with BT as the combat rules.
A couple of pointers from that campaign:
1. For every scenario, I balanced the opposing force on a BV-basis against what the guys were fielding, plus-or-minus some value to adjust the difficulty. When I wrote the scenarios out ahead of time, my notes included a BV scale value (e.g. x0.7 or so for easier battles, x1.25 for harder ones, etc.) and a short list of units available to the OpFor. When we got together to play, I could then figure out (roughly) what the group's total BV was, and select units quickly to fill the OpFor roster. It was a little work, but the scenarios played out really well as a result. I'm not sure if there's a way to deduct BV for fielding damaged units, so I just kept this in mind when I chose the total BV value for the OpFor.
2. I loved running the rearm/refit rules, but it was a ton of at-table work. There was a set amount of in-game time between each scenario, which led to the group having to make some hard choices about what parts to fix with the resources they had. It eventually boiled down into a game of Spreadsheet Hero, but the verisimilitude was great to play out. Still, an ass-ton of work. Were I to do it again, I'd probably try to find a way to streamline the refit/repair process, while still allowing for interesting decisions for the players.
3. Variety is important. Vary up the maps, vary up the OpFor units, vary up the objectives. It made every game interesting.
If you'd like, I can go dig out my notes.
*Do you know how valuable good technicians are? My guys didn't, until their green starter techs permanently broke several very valuable pieces of equipment :P
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
Backlog Challenge List
Here's the Chaos Campaign rules:
http://bg.battletech.com/download/CAT35600_ChaosCampaign_Rulebook.pdf?28cf69
A quick review from Boardgamegeek about it:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/359126/quick-review-new-battletech-campaign-system
Some free Chaos Campaign tracks:
http://www.scrapyardarmory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Chaos-Campaign-War-of-3039.pdf
http://www.scrapyardarmory.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Chaos-Campaign-Pirate-Haven.pdf
http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,13529.0.html
I ran a Battletech game campaign-style (also during the invasion of the Clans... seems to be the most popular era for this) for several sessions, using homebrew rules, and this seems to be a hell of a lot easier than the shit that I was doing.
Now i just wish there was a mekhq type program for it.
Huh. Thats very interesting. Going ro need to read that tomorrow.
I'm hoping to get some time with Alpha Strike at Gen Con in a couple of weeks. It's so....different. But the appeal of a faster-playing game of stompy Battlemechs is just...unf. Wants. I really hope I like it.
i really like it just by reading the rules in the book. Its not quite Total Warfare, not quite Battleforce. Its nice. Its a plus that it converts to hex maps very, very easily too.
also, messing around in megamek against the bot...
UNF!
Twitch | Blizzard: Ianator#1479 | 3DS: Ianator - 1779 2336 5317 | FFXIV: Iana Ateliere (NA Sarg)
Backlog Challenge List
Well his Atlas also just killed itself trying to stand up, but he was almost dead anyhoo...
11000 BV each. Lost my hunchback, 1 Hunter and 3 Pegasus. Killed his Orion and Atlas so far.
Battalion size Alpha Strike games are within reach!
All my old Axis and Allies pieces can stand in for tanks, infantry and VTOLs. May need to modify them a bit to tell the difference between wheeled, tracked and hover though.
So.... If anyone needs them. Just hit me up.
The Bensinger Campaign
I also rediscovered this sweet BV balancer spreadsheet in my files.
So, reading back over my campaign notes, here's some things that were never written down:
1. The PCs were operating as a Merc unit, assisting FedCom on Bensinger with a Pirate incursion shortly before the Clans crashed the party. The mission descriptions are in the voice of the Merc CO.
2. The Battletech games were played per the Battletech Master Rules (BMR). The BMR rules for repairing and refits were used as-is. Each PC started with a Mech, and a Green technician to do the R&R.
3. The PCs could earn Requisition Points [RP] (essentially, C-bills) for completing mission objectives, and spend it with the FedCom forces to buy new mechs, equipment, and pay for R&R.
4. They also got salvage from kills. Scrap and excess equipment could be sold back to FedCom for half its listed C-bill cost, for RP.
5. When a new Mech was requisitioned, it would be delivered after the next mission in the sequence. (Group completes Mission 3, and buys a new Mech. The Mech is available starting with Mission 5.)
6. Each mission objective earned the group the listed amount of RP, and each PC's Pilot earned the listed Experience Points [XP]. A PC can spend their Pilot's XP between missions to improve his/her Gunnery, Piloting, or to buy a special Skill as noted on page 3 of the rules. (I hacked that stuff together from some preview Maximum Tech thing I had in my random pile of rules stuff. No idea if any of it was balanced. It didn't get used much.)
7. Each PC's Pilot started as Green, with some amount of XP before the campaign began. I think it was like 6 XP, so the Pilot could improve their Gunnery by one, or Piloting by two, or start with a Skill.
8. In the event that a PC's Pilot was killed, it would be replaced with another Green pilot. This never came up, despite my guys' best attempts at getting killed.
9. The PC's had access to the Commando through Atlas on the Unit List page. The Pirates used the Locust through Warhammer 6D. The Clans used Invasion era builds as listed.
10. The Pirates also had access to low-BV trucks and skimmers with very small weapon loadouts. I couldn't find the record sheets, but I know I have them; I could dig a bit more if anyone's really curious.
11. I love mixed unit games, so there's a few sprinkled througout the campaign. It doesn't say it anywhere, but the Clans had the option to use Elementals where it was appropriate. (Mostly to fill BV)
12. For R&R, there was a set amount of time between each mission (again, following the BMR rules). So for example, Mission 2 says "Time: M1 + 720 minutes (12 hours)", which means after Mission 1 the guys' techs had 720 minutes to repair and refit their mechs. If a particular PC's technician didn't need to work on his/her mech for the full time allotment, that tech could work on one of the other PC's mechs. (After one mission, it took a team of four Elite and four Green techs all working on one mech to get it back in working order in time. It was tense as each repair roll was made, and fucking great.)
13. A lot of this stuff was made up by the seat of my pants at first. It was chaotic, slightly unbalanced, and a ton of fun. My only regret is that we didn't play it out.
With any luck, some of this is useful to you guys.
And now, for a few highlights from the notes:
-My guys had a weird love of Spiders when they started out. In their stable, I see one that is totally missing its right arm, one that's missing its entire left leg, and a third that had a destroyed Right Arm, Right Torso, and a blown off Right Leg. None were repaired; I remember they bought into heavier stuff to replace the Spiders.
-The guys eventually all moved into Mediums, and the Hunchback was a group favorite. Because fuck yes, Hunchbacks.
-The guys kept a number of Wasps and Stingers for salvage (despite them being cored out), and a Rifleman that they downed with two Gyro hits. They had designs on fixing the Rifleman, I think, which would have been bad ass. I'd forgotten how much I love the RFL-3N.
-An anecdote: While moving through one of the city maps, one of my guys decides to just haul ass. Unfortunately, skidding is a thing. He made one wrong turn, flubbed his Piloting roll, fell down, broke through his back armor from the fall damage, and crit a ton of ammo in the torso, blowing his mech to pieces. To this day, my group never lets this guy forget how badly he botched that.
God, I love this game.
Once Gen Con's come and gone, I could be convinced to try running it.
Aspirationally: You heard it here first: Oosik Bash 5 will be a PbP Battletech game :P