I have a mixed relationship with Battletech.
The 2nd ed boxed set and maps all over the floor was my first experience. The game took seconds in game, but many hours in real time. Still, I loved the concept. Yeah, mechas are goofy and makes no sense, whatever.
When I bought and tried Alpha Strike it was as if all the promise of the game had been fulfilled! Big games of combined arms where possible. Just imagine. I will never play Classic again as long as I live.
1/
RM2 was a millstone around the neck of Rolemaster for years. People refused to accept the game had aged, and talked down all attempts at development out of spite. Look where RM is today.
Classic players generally don't do that. Maybe it's the goofiness that keep people together, eh?
But, considering how bad CGL are at keeping deadlines and how much work they do reprinting stuff to fix their excessive errata, I sometimes wonder if Classic isn't slowing Alpha Strike down?
2/
Business aside, my main beef isn't Classic per se, but the issue of heritage.
Battletech is a military wargame. It's about war. In the English speaking BT fandom, lots of people are from the US armed forces. When communicating online these days, it happens that someone you though was decent turns out to harbour repulsive or offensive opinions.
Sadly, those poor bastards having been processed by the military-industrial complex don't always come out whole again.
3/
This sometimes makes me wary of engaging with fellow fans of the Battletech games.
It's a strange situation, being something of a pacifist playing a game where people try to murder each other in gigantic mecha.
It is an interesting game setting, though. How many science fiction game settings have there been published where the enemy is just other people? No aliens.
Conflicted though I might feel about the game and its fans, I own many minis and books. The future is complicated.
4/end
There’s not much to slow down. Most of the books support Classic and Alpha Strike, all the units have alpha strike stats online, and all the force packs come with alpha strike cards.
The only real alpha strike only products are the Aces boxes, and they will likely release one a year. If you don’t have Scouring Sands yet it’s amazing.
@deinol I guess I just wish they didn't spend time developing a new version of Classic (or Core if that's this week's name) and just put out those AS boxes faster.
"Scouring Sands" is on my list, but I have not pulled the trigger yet. Some of that apprehension I mentioned above has kept me back. It looks really far out, though!
Fair, but I think they are intentionally spacing the boxes out. And it’s a different team developing them than the classic stuff.
I’m probably going to try a Hot Spots Draconis Reach campaign using the Aces deck for automated opponents.
I’ll let you know when we try it. We’ve got 2-3 more Scouring Sands missions to go.
As far as I can tell you mostly need to generate an opposing force from the book, then assign Aces decks to each mech.
There are some special modifications for specific types of mission objectives, but it should be easy enough to figure out.
I have Hot Spots Hinterlands and Draconis Reach, I haven’t looked at the older ones.
@deinol You are starting to convince me I need to get hold of "Scouring Sands" sooner rather than later.
I'd love to hear more of your exploits with Aces and Scouring Sands.
Here was our last mission: https://dice.camp/@deinol/116665931642968602
I ran the two tutorial missions to teach my friend Alpha Strike, and now we are two missions into the campaign.
It’s been a lot of fun, and the new named pilot experience system is very cool.
We like it for being able to play co-op, and plan to adapt it to everything going forward. Scouring Sands is definitely a must buy. It assumes you have the terrain from the AS box (or AS terrain pack), and is a great expansion.
Attached: 4 images Scouring Sands Mission 2 (Sortie 5) My commander’s King Crab took the brunt of the attacks for two turns and was destroyed, but it gave us a chance to pick off other mechs and forced two to withdrawal after turn 2. Successful defense of the city, but my commander was injured and will miss the next sortie. #Battletech #ScouringSands #Aces #AlphaStrike
AndreasDavour
Calico Jesse