I have been playing in a Battletech campaign over the last 4 weeks that will end on April 29th. I had forgotten what a fun game this is; we are playing the tabletop miniature game whereas we are in a classic campaign of clan vs inner sphere; am playing Jade Falcon and gobbling up space sectors as fast as I can. Looks like some real slugfests coming up real soon vs house Steiner or Davion. Does anyone else play this game? been years for me, but is a hoot so far.
We've been doing a Mechwarrior game (the roleplaying game) set in Solaris VII recently and it's a blast! It's all the fun of Battletech mixed with all the fun of the WWE in a grungy organized crime owned den of scum and villany with the glitz of Vegas.
My character is named Berney "the Animal" Martin and pilots an old 3030's Thunderbolt repainted with a chainsaw for an arm--renamed the Chupacabra. It's painted yellow with big brown fur patches on the arms chest and lower leg actuators with a big flying-tigers style scary face painted across the gunner-slit head visor.
Oh the things we've been doing to people...
Nice; since I have been playing the game; one of the other gamers said "dude; you dont have any miniatures so I got together some if you wanna buy em; $2 a piece; they were assembled and painted and in great condition so I bought the whole lot for $34 and now I have an army; that was totally cool of the dude considering they are all basically collectors items and current minis sell for about $10 or more each unpainted and unassembled.
I always feel both good and bad about that sort of thing. It's kind of bittersweet. While on one hand I always enjoy picking up more stuff for the nerdy hobbies I love, it always makes me sad to see people clearing out their collections because they've "outgrown" the hobby. It's like people think you can't be a grown-up adult and still get together and game with your friends. It's sad. Yeah, people will have my roleplaying stuff someday--when they pry it from my cold dead hands!
I know what you mean, Grim. I just got into a HUGE debate with a friend of mine who was raised on this game and got me into it on how the miniatures followed by the re-release of classic mechwarrior is killing the game or somesuch. We went back and forth and it turns out he just felt that he got out of the game because he "grew" up (and then turned the conversation to how he felt the same way about all RPGs outside of LARPs). It was disheartening to say the least. It's good to hear that people are still playing the game, whether it's old or new, miniatures or bubbles on a sheet of paper.
he wasn't clearing out his hobby; is still much into it but said he only wants to collect the metals so was letting the plastics go cheap; he just posted over 160 bucks for some collector metal minis online so no worries bout him quitting; he has the largest battletech army I have seen; got nothing on my warhammer minis though.
You know what I love? The Mechwarrior Dark Age storyline. I don't know if you've heard much about it, but they've updated the story.
The Word of Blake wage a jyhad on all the rest of the Inner Sphere, fearing another thousand years of genocidal infighting and trying to orchestrate the speedy fall of the Sphere prophecied by Comstar's founder. They very nearly succeed. But a hero named Devlin Stone rises up to lead the combined forces of the Inner Sphere in a galactic counteroffensive, finally bringing the purge to an end.
At the close of the conflict and in command of the largest army since Kerensky in the days of the Star League, Stone demands each of the Houses grant him a section of their territory from Terra out to a certain radius, forming his own independant realm--the Republic of the Sphere. What is not granted him voluntarily is taken by force. Over the next several decades Devlin Stone creates the first genuinely benevolent society the Inner Sphere has seen in centuries. Battlemechs begin to be decommissioned, people originally from rival Houses are encouraged to move to areas where they can get to know their former enemies. Peace and a new Golden Age ensue, such that the citizens of the Houses rise up and demand a real society for themselves as well and an end to the useless endless wars.
Eventually Devlin Stone, like King Arthur, departs his new kingdom for parts unknown in a starship promising he'll return when they need him. Fast forward to the present. For some reason the Hyperpulse Generators have gone down across the Republic. No one knows why, but the tension precipitates the ignition of brushfire fighting all around the old Republic. Various factions immerge, building their forces out of whatever they can--construction mechs, old half disassembled mechs rescued from the scrapyard, infantry and vehicles. Meanwhile the old guard of the Republic are trying to hold back the tide of violence to preserve the dream that Devlin Stone helped build.
*sniffle* I love that story.
Grim, you will forever be welcome at my house and table. I've been following the storyline of Dark Ages from the beginning and I love it. I love the cobbled together mechs, the desperation and confusion, and the fact that the politics take a back seat(but an active hand) to the people. Basically, all the things the hardcore old schoolers seem to hate. :-P
Our new campaign is starting and we are doing all the fluff :)
Our new campaign is starting and we are doing all the fluff :)
Hey Valegrim. I just saw this post, and was wondering if you would like a 3050 atlas and 3050 catapult? if so ill let'em go cheap!!!
If ya want them shoot me an e-mail @ jonesja77@comcast.net
Later.
P.S. just cant find anyone in utah that plays Battletech anymore. :(
tell me about them; even if I dont; our group has about 16 battletech players and somebody else might; i know someone right off who will purchase them if they are metal. give the specifics... thanks. What I need are some of the books cheap :)
tell me about them; even if I dont; our group has about 16 battletech players and somebody else might; i know someone right off who will purchase them if they are metal. give the specifics... thanks. What I need are some of the books cheap :)
Well they are the metal ones, and they are professionally painted. They also already have the hex bases. The Atlas is red and the catapult is a brownish gray metal color. neither one have any house insignia on them so you can do that yourself. By cheap. I mean I'll let them go for $10 plus shipping for both.
Grim, you will forever be welcome at my house and table. I've been following the storyline of Dark Ages from the beginning and I love it. I love the cobbled together mechs, the desperation and confusion, and the fact that the politics take a back seat(but an active hand) to the people. Basically, all the things the hardcore old schoolers seem to hate. :-P
Awesome! Heh. Thanks for the invite. Yeah most of our grous are all old hardcore Battletech fans and are just crazy about Dark Age. We keep meaning to do a good Dark Age game. One of the DMs in our group has become the guy we have run all our Battletech games because they all turn out so well. So far we've done a 3025 Davion campaign (tears still well in these ol' eyes o' mine) and are in the thick of a 3050 Solaris VII game. I ran a Dark Age game once, but none of the people who were in it really had the love of real Battletech and so it never really took off. There's another guy in our group that we're subverting, who never really understood Battletech besides really loving the video games--I think we may be turning him, and I hope so because he's one of the best heavy drama gamers in our group.
Grim, you will forever be welcome at my house and table. I've been following the storyline of Dark Ages from the beginning and I love it. I love the cobbled together mechs, the desperation and confusion, and the fact that the politics take a back seat(but an active hand) to the people. Basically, all the things the hardcore old schoolers seem to hate. :-PAwesome! Heh. Thanks for the invite. Yeah most of our grous are all old hardcore Battletech fans and are just crazy about Dark Age. We keep meaning to do a good Dark Age game. One of the DMs in our group has become the guy we have run all our Battletech games because they all turn out so well. So far we've done a 3025 Davion campaign (tears still well in these ol' eyes o' mine) and are in the thick of a 3050 Solaris VII game. I ran a Dark Age game once, but none of the people who were in it really had the love of real Battletech and so it never really took off. There's another guy in our group that we're subverting, who never really understood Battletech besides really loving the video games--I think we may be turning him, and I hope so because he's one of the best heavy drama gamers in our group.
I didn't REALLY get into battletech until I played the video games for PC(NOT X-box- UGH!). I truly loved mechwarrior 3- I truly enjoyed the Task Force Serpent and Smoke(d) Jaguars storyline(even to this day- check out the latest Mechwarrior Dark Ages Novel for a surprise!!!!) Does the new classic mechwarrior book have stats for cobbled together mechs/agro mechs/construction mechs outfitted for war?
Alas classic Mechwarrior is a Fan Pro product, whereas the good stuff (read: Dark Age) is produced by WhizKids, so no luck there. The Classic products are still written in the 3060's and don't nearly push the storyline along as much. There were some very good rules for patch together mechs in the old Solaris VII products, since on the game world people in the fringe cities would run tournaments with whatever they could find. They work quite nicely for the kind of rough and gritty take what you can get warfare that you see in the Dark Age era.
Any idea if there is going to be a Dark Ages tabletop? I know a LOT of people at my LGS would pick it up.
Well the story was based around a tabletop wargame, granted with different (but in some ways better) rules. The new minis are, I kid you not, something like twice the size of the old minis and awesomely detailed. Plus unlike the old game, they are all built to the same scale with the vehicles and infantry. It's really great. The figures are built on little round bases that have the stats and movement and whatever right on them. The one downside (which can totally be avoided by buying them online) is that they're all mixed in together in the boxes so you never really know what you're getting when you buy a box. It could be an Atlas, it could be an Agromech.
well, were starting a new campaign this weekend; guess i am clan Ghost Bear this time; will mention the minis for sale. we are playing year 3060 will all the fluff and clan is trying to take a world that is controlled by inner sphere so there are objectives worth points; at the end of so many turn; team with most points/objectives wins controll of the world.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
|
Ah I much prefer the current classic storyline. I don't like how the entire inner sphere got a case of the stupids, but maybe it will eventually make the dark ages make sense to me.
I prefer the Penetrator myself when it comes to mechs, the Warrior VTOL in vehicles, and of course the Infiltrator II for the best in battle armor.
Oh, and like I always say:
Alamo, when you care enough to use the very best.
I'm the last thing most hardcore Battletech fans want to see- an otaku, and one who kneels at the altar of macross, no less. So I love the Wasp, Rifleman, Marauder, and Warhammer. I also love missile boats, especially the Jenner/Owens and Catapult. When playing the PC games, I always go with a Jenner/Owens with an ECM of some kind, Beagle Active Probe, and a laser painter so that slower mechs know where to send their missiles. Yowza.
I preferred the Locust/Archer combo. Missle boats FTW!
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
|
I preferred the Locust/Archer combo. Missle boats FTW!
Mad Cat (a.k.a. Timberwolf) all the way for me. Those sissy Inner Sphere 'mechs can take a back seat, thanks. Clan tech rocks! My favorite 'mech ever was a customized Mad Cat which replaced the heavy and medium lasers in the arms with a Clan ERPPC in one arm and a Clan Gauss Rifle in the other. It necessitated downgrading the LRM20s to LRM10s, but it was worth it. So much carnage!
If we're going Clan Mechs, then I'm all in love with the Mad Cat Mark IV. My first experience with BattleTech was pre-Clan/3050 sourcebook - played House Kurita, my brother played House Steiner-Davion.
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
|
If we're going Clan Mechs, then I'm all in love with the Mad Cat Mark IV. My first experience with BattleTech was pre-Clan/3050 sourcebook - played House Kurita, my brother played House Steiner-Davion.
Feh on the clans. If forced to, I'll take Nova Cat (Morris bloodname FTW) and a Turkina B. Nothing says loving like a penetrator clan style.
funny infantry story.
Playing in an open one year, I had a squad of Infiltrator II face off against a Sagitare (100 ton monstorsity) Here's the funny thing. I fire off a salvo of Magshot Gauss at the Mech chipping paint. The guy chases after my infantry, but due to all the terrain and mods, can't hit me meanwhile I'm chipping paint off and he ends up clear off in the corner. It was called on time, but the infantry was unscratched.
Well, I am hoping you guys could help me out; I am stuck playing Clan Ghost Bear and we are following the fluff so can only play mechs th Clan Ghost Bear has; I dont have any of the books; could one or more of you tell me some Ghost Bear Mechs? I have 5000 BV to use and can only use plain jane; no custom models; i could really use some advice as the Solaris7 web site has a bunch, but I can sort out the custom models so the list sorted by Ghost Bear is to exhaustive and full of custom jobs. Thanks in advance. Tech level 2; 3060 or before.
Hrm...The only Clan Ghost Bear mech I know of is the Kodiak. I think it was 100 tons, or perhaps 80. Man, the guy who got me into this game is probably weeping at this post!
The Grizzly is a nice 70 ton Clan mech (not that I'm much of a clan player myself). It's got that winning combination of jump jets and long range weapons. It only has one configuration, which mounts an LRM 10, Gauss Rifle, and one each Large, Medium, and Small Pulse Laser. It moves a 4/6/4 and sports fair armor. It reminds me a lot of the Grasshopper--one of my favorite Inner Sphere mechs.
EDIT-Oh, and the Kodiak is a 100 tonner.
Funny, when we play BattleTech, it's usually a one-shot-mega-battle-to-the-death. We usually gather four to eight players, get them to prepare a Mech, set up the table, and fight it out in a last Mech standing match. Sometimes, if we're six or more, we'll play as two teams.
The battle simulation usually lasts about six to ten hours (cause we add gun turrets on the field that fire on the closest target, hidden land mines, and other hazards that we have to take into account every turn).
Once the battle ends, then we have our quotta (is that spelled right?) for at least six months.
Ultradan
I like the "last mech standing" one-shots as well. They work great, until you overheat and the missles in your Archer start to blow up...*sigh*
|
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
|
I like the "last mech standing" one-shots as well. They work great, until you overheat and the missles in your Archer start to blow up...*sigh*
I feel your pain. Mad Cats have a heat problem, too. If I'm allowed to customize, replacing a Large ER Laser and a Medium ER Laser with a Gauss Rifle definitely eases the strain on the heat sinks.
I've always hated heat sinks. The idea that firing off weapons somehow superheats your nuclear engine was a conciet of the game I could never really stomach. Didn't make much sense to me. Another reason I like Dark Age so much is that they backed off from micromanaging all the nitty gritty (and often laughable) details and handle things in a much more wide scale, general way I like a lot better.
In the Solaris game, we've ruled it that heat sinks are added to specific components and regulate how often they can be fired without turning to slag. Engines need heat sinks too, but they dissipate engine heat from extended manuvers, damage and environmental factors--not because you're firing your lasers too much.
yeah, I havent seen any heatsinks in the legs anymore which makes standing in level one water useless
I've always hated heat sinks. The idea that firing off weapons somehow superheats your nuclear engine was a conciet of the game I could never really stomach. Didn't make much sense to me. Another reason I like Dark Age so much is that they backed off from micromanaging all the nitty gritty (and often laughable) details and handle things in a much more wide scale, general way I like a lot better.
In the Solaris game, we've ruled it that heat sinks are added to specific components and regulate how often they can be fired without turning to slag. Engines need heat sinks too, but they dissipate engine heat from extended manuvers, damage and environmental factors--not because you're firing your lasers too much.
You're not the only one- a lot of people didn't care for heat sinks in anything other than a mechwarrior video game, where they were done VERY well, and necessary for game balance. In the Dark Ages game, I LOVE the idea of a "vent" order.
|
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
|
I think I might favor the 'sci' a little more than the 'fi' in my case. I like heat sink management. The way I understand it, it's not the nuclear engine that's overheating, it's everything else. The Mech is equipped with an auto-shutoff to prevent the insane temperatures from cooking the pilot. Think about it like your typical home computer. We all know that advanced video cards and high-speed processors need extra cooling in order to continue functioning without melting. It's not the power supply (in this case) which overheats, its the components. Now imagine instead of a little cooling fan keeping a Pentium 4 processor cool, you've got an intricate system of liquid coolant regulators and heat dispersal devices connected to a massive ERPPC (read: lightning gun) in order to prevent the wiring from melting together and shorting out the whole works. Not only that, but within this self-contained environment, you've got a living, breathing human being at the helm who is subject to these temperature extremes because all that heat has to go SOMEWHERE if the heat sinks aren't catching it.
To each their own, but I kinda like the rules for heat sinks.
yep; heat sinks are a crucial part of tactics as much as movement and terrain; game would be less interesting without it.
yep; heat sinks are a crucial part of tactics as much as movement and terrain; game would be less interesting without it.
Your Mech is moving at full speed to get away from that 100 ton monstrosity that won't get it's targetting computers off of you. You stop, do a torso left twist, and target him... You shoot with almost everything you've got...
For some reason, you've only dented his exteriour plating... Damn! You hear the alert signals telling you that your Mech is overheating. But you choose to keep firing (those three medium Lasers you have left)...
You managed to hit large Large Laser mounted on his right shoulder, but he still has those missiles, and not to mention that PPC instead of an arm. Now your computers are telling you that everything will shut down in 10 seconds due to overheating ammo (it never rains but it pours!). Quickly, you eject the remaining missiles from you back and avoid a total shutdown (whew!).
(You manage to win the next initiative)
The 100 tunner slowly closes in for the kill... You could shoot again, but this time a shutdown will be unavoidable (gotta cool down!). You resume your course at running speed and make a dash for those heavy woods for some cover...
Made it! You fall prone and wait a few minutes for things to cool down... You already start targetting the approaching enemy (next turn, you'll hit'em with everything you've got again... Hoping that this time, you'll hit something more critical that armor plating.
Ultradan
I buy that they're interesting--and Ultradan that's a dang nice little story you had going there (you should get into a PbP!)
Ultimately I just like having them be something closer to what Fatespinner suggests. They're for dissipating heat in all the different parts of a giant mech sized thing. Things are going to get hot, but they're going to have to be cooled individually (mechs are too big for a single CPU fan) and really it should have little to do with engine heat. The problem with high heat isn't that your mech shuts down or blows up, or even that it cooks the pilot (life support systems and all). The problem is you try and fire those medium lasers and the hot circuitry fritzes out and black smoke comes out. The problem is you use your jump jets too often and a hose melts and they explode blowing your mech's legs off. Granted that's too much detail for the board game, but for roleplaying games it works quite nicely--and not badly in Dark Age either where they aren't so picky about what exactly "heat" means, letting you treat things a bit more cinematically. It's always nice when a wargame lets you think in dramatic terms.
Wow was Saturdays game scrappy; my partner didnt show up so i had to run his mechs so lil ol inexperienced me had to fight a huge game against twice BV I had on the table; I have played three times and guys against me been playing for decades; one said he eats and sleeps the game; hehe, but I killed two of their mechs and greatly wounded a few others, but had not lost one yet though got pretty banged up; BUT, I dont know how the game ended; after 4 hours of play I had to turn it over to someone else as I went to the Heaven and Hell concert with Dio-Black Sabbath, Megadeth, and Machine Head; so I dont know if I won or lost; got wiped or a glorious vicory.
Sounds like you've won...
Ultradan
God I love BATTLETECH. My group talks about getting into it every now and then, although only me and my brother have ever played it (although, when we played it, we played it OFTEN).
We were never very big on the clan stuff - we played pre-clan invasion, just because we felt it was cooler. I remember using my Crusader/Griffin combo to great effect in many fights... even against a buddy's Warhammer/Phoenix Hawk.
We used to play Mechwarrior games that were really just Battletech games with maybe one scene outside of the mechs, but it was still a lot of fun. Around this point, we were using the clans (as bad guys!). I was running a game for mostly Steiner/Davion characters (with the obligatory Kuritas), and we ran a whole "invasion" scenario. Whole lotta fun, there.
Personally, though, my favourite thing to play in Battletech wasn't the mechs, but the helicopters. That was always scary as hell - outgunned, outarmoured, and knowing that any second the enemy would hit your rotors and you'd fall to your death. But lots of fun.
Personally, though, my favourite thing to play in Battletech wasn't the mechs, but the helicopters. That was always scary as hell - outgunned, outarmoured, and knowing that any second the enemy would hit your rotors and you'd fall to your death. But lots of fun.
The Long Tom artillery. Lots of fun. And the Clan infantry suits.
|
Rasalhague Uber Alles... or something scandanavian...
The final wars in the inner sphere before the clans arrived are probably the best time period. Either 3025 or even the 3040s.
Clan stuff, while cool, was mostly broken. Unfortunately the fluff was suppose to limit their power by defining the zelbriggen, but their were no rules for the zelbrigen, just "clans fight this way"
The result was loading up on the good stuff, and only following the rules that made clans better.
My personal worst experience was a custom configuration of an omni (years ago don't ask me which) with pulse lasers and a targeting computer... right torso, right torso, right torso, right torso, mech dies, wash, rinse, repeat.
On the other hand, my friend and i once played a massive game at a FLGS with 36 mechs on the field each, and we were letting people jump in all the time. Met about 30 people that 1 day, and got lots of them interested in B-tech, the good old days...
I've always been really interested in the Blakists. The problem is the one friend I have who knows the most about them just mercilessly and unappologetically scrambled tons of weird Warhammer 40K tech-priest stuff into it so I just have no idea how much of what he came up with is canon or what. So what are they really like--if you'd be so kind as to give me the paragraph blurb? I've always had a deep and abiding love for Comstar though and have always wanted to know more about them and the Blake sepratists.
Oh and totally. It warms my old heart to hear 3025 getting the love it deserves. It's my favorite era. I love them all with a passion, but my heart is really in 3025 back when mechwarriors were mechwarriors in a technofeudal society of courtly pomp and intrigue, back before the mercenaries took over and everything became all paramilitary.
...my friend and i once played a massive game at a FLGS with 36 mechs on the field each...
I can't see this happenning... lol... I had a game once with only six players and used around 140 tons to create two to three mechs each. We used a very large battlemat where there were two cities (with buildings that all had calculated 'hit points'. There were gun turrets, bridges, wind direction (lol... wind direction!), fires, smoke, land mines, random artillery crashing down everywhere on every turn. It lasted over TWELVE hours, we only did six or seven turns and nobody died!
Lol... I still giggle when I hear the words 'Wind Direction'...
Ultradan
...my friend and i once played a massive game at a FLGS with 36 mechs on the field each...I can't see this happenning... lol... I had a game once with only six players and used around 140 tons to create two to three mechs each. We used a very large battlemat where there were two cities (with buildings that all had calculated 'hit points'. There were gun turrets, bridges, wind direction (lol... wind direction!), fires, smoke, land mines, random artillery crashing down everywhere on every turn. It lasted over TWELVE hours, we only did six or seven turns and nobody died!
Lol... I still giggle when I hear the words 'Wind Direction'...
Ultradan
Maybe everyone in this thread should check out the Front Mission video games- they're great for anyone who enjoy strategy and mech design, and while the game itself is japanese, the designs and combat is universal enough for all to enjoy, imho.
|
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
|
Maybe everyone in this thread should check out the Front Mission video games- they're great for anyone who enjoy strategy and mech design, and while the game itself is japanese, the designs and combat is universal enough for all to enjoy, imho.
I actually own Front Mission 4. It is a pretty high-quality game, though I wish there was a 'versus' mode in which you could battle a second player using pre-determined tech levels and team sizes. :(
Maybe everyone in this thread should check out the Front Mission video games- they're great for anyone who enjoy strategy and mech design, and while the game itself is japanese, the designs and combat is universal enough for all to enjoy, imho.I actually own Front Mission 4. It is a pretty high-quality game, though I wish there was a 'versus' mode in which you could battle a second player using pre-determined tech levels and team sizes. :(
You OWN front mission, Fatey? I thought you hated japanese stuff! Still, it's a great game. I doubt 5 is coming here, although myself and a few diehards will never stop waiting for its release. Maybe Squeenix will see the light, considering how well FFXII did.