Kicking off a Battletech Campaign

Hi everyone,

After enjoying a fun Starfinder campaign with several friends, we've decided to kick off a Battletech RPG Campaign.

But, after having played Battletech RPG for a while here and there (mostly trying the tabletop rules along with the Mechwarrior 2.0 RPG rules), we've decided to roll some innovations into our RPG sessions:

1) Make the RPG like the new computer game

We have been wondering if we can make our RPG sessions more like the computer game by Harebrained Schemes ??  Seems a worth goal!

• Several of us in the campaign are *really* enjoying the new turn-based Battletech game created by Harebrained Schemes http://battletechgame.com/  And, there are several rules and order-of-play mechanisms in the HBS version which we would like to try to emulate in our table-top RPG sessions.

2) Use 3039 - border of House Kurita and House Davion

• It sort of came about somewhat through discussion.  We didn't want the classic Clans vs. Inner Sphere battles -- but we did want the chance of some 3050 technology entering into our sessions.

• Our thinking is that we can always have 3050 type things showing up here and there (as highly prized items or mechs) as prototypes which are under test.

3) Have fun with terrain

• We've learned over time that this makes RPG sessions much more fun.  Easier to visualize the crazy things which could happen if there are fun terrain models.

• In the past we've used made pink foam pieces to match our terrain maps.  Going forward going to try to do better than even that.

4) Use Obsidian Portal for game tracking and forums and such

Here's a quick example of our Obsidian Portal page - with one of our characters - Bob Bobson - call-sign "Buckaroo".

• Heard about this from our friend Mr. J -- who uses it for his D&D sessions.  After a little bit of practice, it is extremely handy!  https://www.obsidianportal.com/

• It's already been lots of fun to include character back-stories there - along with NPCs.  Going to take a little bit of practice, but feel this will help all of us to keep track better.

• Had previously been using Google Docs or Google Slides for this in Starfinder.  This seems like an easier method :)

5) Create mechanisms to make the table top turn-based experience faster and more aligned with story telling.  Have some ideas on this already :)

• We had seen how some people have used a d6 to mark walking, running or jumping of 'Mechs.  Not sure whether this is a new idea or an old idea - but we are thinking to mark the points of "evasion" with the d6's.

• Also, one of our players proposed that we figure out a way to make all dice rolling simultaneous.  We think we may have this sorted out!!

We'll post more soon on how it is going!

(Battletech) More Mechs from Craigslist

Hi everyone,

This weekend, we found some a posting on Craigslist -- with lots of old Battletech Mechs!

 A few of our favorite newly added Mechs....

We called as quickly as we could -- and were able to arrange buying them.  It was a bit of a drive for us - but worked out to be more or less on the way we needed to drive - so it all worked out well.

This was really exciting for us, because the lot of Mechs we bought included quite a few we couldn't easily get these days.

When we talked on the phone - the Seller mentioned that he loved playing Battletech (just like us!), but hadn't had a chance to use his Mechs in quite a while.

The Seller had done a nice job of taking care of his Mechs.  One trick we learned from him is that egg cartons make a very nice and convenient holder for miniatures.  They have done a nice job of protecting these!

Unpacking the Mechs.  Very slick use of egg cartons to store the Mechs!

Here are the Mechs we are most excited about adding to our forces:

1) Warhammer
2) Wolverine
3) Archer
4) Marauder
5) Thunderbolts (he had two)
6) Stinger
7) Phoenix Hawks (2 painted, 1 unpainted, 1 missing an arm)
8) Longbows (he had two, one of them painted)
9) Griffin

Picture of the list of our favorite Mech additions.  :)

We know that quite a few of these are "Unseen" Mechs.  But, since we have been playing quite a bit of "early years" Battletech in our campaign, it's fun to have these models since they go well with the really early rule books we've scrounged up.

Also interesting to look at the Seller's Marauder.  We're not sure - but maybe that's the top of a Rifleman on his Marauder ??

It was interesting that he also had some plastic Mechs.  These look like different castings from the ones we got in our boxes sets -- or in the lance sets we have purchased recently.  The ones he had seemed a bit bigger and beefier than the ones we have.  (His Atlas looks like a football player compared to the ones we have.)

Different plastic molds.  Models from the beginner's set on the right; models from this batch on the left.  Some differences in scale and "bulkiness"

Repairs planned:

- We need to figure out some way to come up with an arm for the Phoenix Hawk.  (Maybe we can print something with the 3D printer ??)

The lot of Mechs came with this one-armed Phoenix Hawk.  We'll have to see what we can figure out as a repair.  (Or, maybe we just play with this one as-is -- figuring that the arm was blown off and not repairable.)

- We have some bits we need to sort out (not sure which Mechs they may have fallen off of)

- And, not 100% related - but we discovered that our not-so-great packaging has caused our Mad Cat to have both legs broken off.  Repair certainly in order!! 

How to make a MadCat "Mad"!  Clearly we needed to use some egg cartons!  Glue time....

Battletech - learning from the experts....

Hi everyone,

While we were playing 40K last weekend we had a chance to watch the group who plays Battletech at the Fremont Game Kastle on Saturday nights.

 Watching the experts play -- here's a zoom-in of the battle mat they were using

It was really exciting to see what the experts had set up.

Battle Mat!

They had a HUGE battle mat.  Wondering if it was even larger than 4' x 6'.  Worked well on the tables where we have played Warhammer 40K.

Here you can see the massive size of their battle mat!

Pretty sure we understood that they get these huge mats from MapMaster.  (Here's a link)  What's very cool about these battle mats is that they are all set-up for Battletech.  They have the altitudes and tree densities and things like that marked on the hexes.  But, they are printed over very nice and detailed maps.

Dice for Movement.

A long while back we had worked on how to keep track of which movements our mechs had made.  We came up with writing on our mech's sheets with dry-erase markers.

[Here's a link to that older posting.]

Several people who read our write-up suggested that using dice was a very good way to do it.  And, sure enough that's what the experts were doing.

Other maps and mats....

Then, just happened to see this display at our favorite game store in Delaware.

A (new?) Magik board game has very cool puzzle-piece sheets of map which can be interlocked in different ways to form a hex map.  This looked like it might be very cool for making different maps for Battletech.

Also they had a set-up of some raised plastic tiles which we learned came from HeroScape.  Sounds like it would be pretty expensive to have a whole table of them -- but would be pretty neat!!

 Here is the set-up from the store in Delaware -- you can see the "raised" HeroScapes hexes positioned on top of the Magik puzzle piece hex sheets.

Battletech: 4 vs 4 - Scout Lance takes on Clan Kurita HQ (with Special Effects)

Hi everyone,

First some set-up explanation....

Yesterday we played a smaller scale battle of 4 mechs vs. 4 mechs.  At first we were thinking to use our Scout Lance (the blue good guys) vs. the lighter mechs of the red team.  But, we worked out the tonnage and found that we were 175 tons vs. 190 tons - 15 ton underdogs.

So, we pulled the Cicada out, and used that mech to start the battle.  We replaced it with the Jagermech.  Turned out to work pretty well.  And, taught us some good lessons in terrain tactics (assuming we figured the rules out properly).

We're still not playing with piloting skill rolls (maybe next match), but adding in the cover effects from woods made for a very interesting game - and was key to us even having a chance in taking out the Kurita guys :)

One more item about the set-up.  We had decided that the HQ building at 20 armor on each side (our big green D6) - and that if a Clan Kurita mech was not guarding a side, it was fair game for a blue team mech to shoot at it and do damage.

Regarding the Special Effects....

We thought it would be fun if we could make it look like our mechs were really shooting in our Bat Rep.  So, here's what we came up with....

- First we tried using Power Point - and drew some laser shots onto the battlefield.  It looked sort of cool - but not totally convincing.

- Then we remembered that there were lots of nice mobile device apps for this.  So, we tested a few.

- We ended up using the App "Eye Candy" almost exclusively.  Used the following messy procedure:

1) Cropped photos (used Power Point) - so that you couldn't see the pizza we were eating.  (Sorry about this if you did want to see the pizza.)  Saved them out of Power Point as JPG files (though lower in resolution after this :(

2) Added Special Effects with Eye Candy.
- We used smoke plus pink sparks thingys for autocannons
- Green laser effects were (you guessed it) lasers
- Yellow streaks effects for waves of LRMs
- White glow plus lightning for PPC
- We also added some explosions and fire and other things for damaged mechs

3) Then, we used Picasa to crop again.  (We had to sort-of unzoom the photos in Eye Candy to be able to place our effects without having the mechs be blocked by the command buttons of Eye Candy).

[Anyway - please let us know what you think ??]

Here's the Bat Rep:

Turn Zero:

[Blue Team, Cicada] "Found Kurita HQ, under heavy fire, right leg damage.  Bugging out.  Scout Lance - They're all yours!"

Turn One:

In turn one, the Scout Lance landed and advanced on the Clan Kurita mechs.

• Kurita Catapult and Scout Lance Trebuchet exchanged fire with minimal damage
• Scout Lance Jagermech got a lucky head-shot on the Kurita Enforcer - but the pilot made his consciousness save
• Kurita Enforcer shots toward the Jagermech went wide, both AC10 and Large Laser missing
• Scout Lance Jenner and Hunchback were covered by hills, and spent the turn moving into position.

Turn 2:



In Turn 2 the Hunchback and Jenner emerged from cover.  The Jagermech moved into Heavy Woods (to obtain the +2 advantage - and use its long range capabilities).  The Trebuchet moved behind the hill to move into a hex with Heavy Woods as well.

• Scout Lance Jenner fired on Kurita Panther and did first damage
• Scout Lance Jagermech connected with all two AC2's on the Kurita Enforcer
• All other mechs exchanging fire miss - too much movement, too much range and cover

Turn 3:

In turn 3 the Jenner moves to work behind the Kurita HQ and the Hunchback advances to put the AC20 into range.  Both the Jagermech and the Trebuchet fire from Heavy woods.

• Scout Lance Hunchback fire on the Catapult hits the center torso.  Trebuchet damage does as well.  Two engine hits result.  [We tried to show the heat and flames with effects.]  By the end of the round, the Catapult is at 19 heat - but avoids shutdown and ammo explosion.
• Kurita Enforcer connects with AC10 and puts the Scout Lance Jagermech right arm AC2 out of commission

Turn 4:

In turn 4 the Jenner has gotten behind the HQ and the Hunchback has moved to short range with the Kurita Hermes

• Scout Lance Jenner does serious damage to the left side of the Kurita Panther
• Scout Lance Hunchback punishes the left arm of the Hermes
• The Kurita Catapult limits weapons fire to get heat back under control
• The Jagermech (with left arm functional) and Enforcer exchange fire without major result

Turn 5:

In Turn 5 the Kurita team uses their initiave to put the Panther into a better position.  This allows the Jenner to scoot around the back of the HQ and "block" for the Hunchback.  The Hunchback worked left around the blocking Jenner -- and, the result is a clear shot for the Hunchback and its AC20.  We might have overdone it on the explosion effects :)

Battletech: How to Manage the Game - Playing with Introductory Set

Hi everyone,

Playing a practice battle with our friend Mr. E last night.  We worked on showing him the basics of the game.  He's taught us a lot about Warhammer 40K -- so we're teaching him about Battletech :)  Interesting to see how Battletech is different.

[Please check out our earlier post where we first opened up our introductory set.]

One big difference is that you have to somehow manage a fair amount of information for each mech through several turns.  Doesn't work to use dice-markers the way people do in 40K.

The game figures you'll use character sheets for that - and mark them up as the battle goes.  Here's how we have been handling that....

In our battle, a good guy Atlas managed to get toe-to-toe with a bad guy Assassin.  Not a good deal for the Assassin!  (Zeus and Whitworth in the background....)

When we played our first battle a couple of weeks ago, it got really tricky to manage the attacking phases.  In Battletech all attacks are "concurrent" - so you can't just resolve things one by one.  We got mixed up all the time.  "Did the arm get blown off that one this turn?  Or was that last turn?  Can this mech still use weapon XYZ?"

So, we came up with the idea (probably the whole world has been doing this already ??) of putting our mech sheets into plastic sleeves -- and marking off things in different colors for each turn.

Here's how the Atlas sheet looked during Turn 2....  (Orange for Turn 1 stuff; Red for Turn 2 stuff.)  We put "W" (walked); "R" (ran) or "J" (jumped) and then the number of hexes so that we could keep track of what the mech did.  W2 = walked 2.  And, we had marked the heat from the prior turn (notice that 's orange) so that we can remember whether it's updated THIS turn or whether that update is from the PRIOR turn :)

And, here's how the Assassin's sheet is looking....  In turn 1 it had taken some arm damage (Orange), and in turn 2 it jumped 7 (J7 marked in Red).

Then, we had some lucky dice rolling for the Atlas....  Hit with its Autocannon 20.  Where did it hit?  Worst case for the Assassin!!!

With the whiteboard markers + the plastic sleeves, two people had no trouble managing a battle of 26 mechs.  We had about 8 colors of pens.  But, it would probably have been OK if we had only 4 colors - we could have rotated through....

The big question....  Are there even better ways to manage this?  Trying to do it without using a computer - but maybe that's best.  Would appreciate any suggestions or ideas.

Battletech Introductory Box Set (Review and Test Run)

We just purchased the Battletech "Introductory Box Set".  Here is a quick run through of how we liked it.

 

Pretty cool - introductory rules - 24 models of mechs; plus 2 that you get to glue together.  Also 2 fold-up hex maps.

 

We painted the mech minifigures using the Warhammer 40K tricks we've been learning.  (Even just priming makes them look way better.)  Here's how they turned out.  We've highlighted the two which we glued together - the others come fully assembled.

Test battle was pretty fun.  18 good guy mechs defeated 8 bad guy mechs.  Here you can see our layout.  We used both hex maps.  The green post-it is the entrance to a "Uranium Mine" which the red Clan Kurita mechs are protecting.  We painted most of the mechs blue.

We pretty much added rules as we played.  At first we didn't use heat.  Then after we had most of the basics under control, we added heat rules.  By the end, we were using pilot consciousness rolls when we had double-six head-shot hits.  Here's a photo of the inevitable result -- all Kurita mechs destroyed except for one -- where the pilot honorably surrendered (we're not sure that really would have happened, but it was bed-time).