Any interest in Battletech/Mechwarrior?

[Primarch]

A few years back, I played Battletech a few times with Colonel Voss, (who has since moved back to the U.S.). Since then my collection of mechs and AFV's has been sat gathering dust. Recently the game was mentioned in an unrelated thread and that got me thinking about it again. I'm currently contemplating ordering the stuff I need to be able to demo/play the game as I'm lacking quite a bit, such as a map boards and so forth. Before I pull the trigger and place an order, I figured I would check and see if anyone locally had any interest in trying the game. I know Miguelsan plays, but as he only comes to Nagoya infrequently I'm hoping that there are people in town willing to give it a whirl.

Some of you may not be familiar with Battletech, but it has been around for absolutely ages. You may be more familiar with MechWarrior, a series of PC games that puts the player in command of their own mech in a 3D environment. Battletech is a board/tabletop game where players control units of mechs, sometimes with infantry, tanks and aircraft in support. It is usually played on a hex-grid map, though it is possible to play on a normal wargaming table. Rules-wise, the game is very complex, being designed for Grognard-y type players who love rolling dice to determine where every single shot lands. Players have to manage the movement, shooting and facing of their minis, while also managing the heat output from their guns and checking ammo as it is used. Once you get the hang of it, the game plays fairly smoothly, but the rules are very deep and provide a lot of options for players.

At this stage, I don't expect anyone to buy into the system, I'm just wondering if anyone would like to try a demo game, whether from old-time nostalgia or just as something different to play.

[Karantu]

Short answer, yes.

Long answer:
I've always been interested in Battletech universe due to exposure to video games like Mech Warrior and Mech Commander growing up. By the time I started wargaming, 3 years ago, I was more into the 40K universe since I wasn't actively playing any Battletech video games at the time.

Early on I heard pretty terrible things about how it was a mess of a game and that it's impossible to play the game without spending hours flipping through rules, which put me off at first. However, after 40k's transition to 8th edition which involved shedding a lot of fat just to regain all the silly rules bloat split among multiple books while still missing complex(interesting to me) base game concepts like facing, AoE damage, and proper LoS rulings.

Recently after doing my own research I've ended up buying the armoured warfare box that was released relatively recently as well as backing their kickstarter. I'm a sucker for complex rules and proper simulation style games, (there is a computer game that I enjoy that is 99% spreadsheets, it's called Aurora4X) so I'd be interested in playing some Battletech from time to time. I just wish we had chances to play games more frequently. Once a month isn't cutting it given how many game systems I want to juggle.

P.s. Don't judge my spending habits.

[Primarch]

P.s. Don't judge my spending habits.

Hahaha, oh that made me laugh.

[YellowStreak]

Have they streamlined the rules at all, or is it just the old system?

I played battletech (original version - pre all that clans nonsense) a lot in high school. My friends and I had games that literally lasted days during school holidays with massive maps and a company of 'mechs per player (formed into recon, support and command lances!). I still have the 3025 technical readout book somewhere...

I happened to recently reread the Grey Death Legion books too, as the ebooks are fairly cheap. Also lots of material here: http://www.fillinsheets.com/pdfs/indexbt.htm

None of that helps you Prim, as I'm in Texas for now....

[Primarch]

Have they streamlined the rules at all, or is it just the old system?

I played battletech (original version - pre all that clans nonsense) a lot in high school. My friends and I had games that literally lasted days during school holidays with massive maps and a company of 'mechs per player (formed into recon, support and command lances!). I still have the 3025 technical readout book somewhere...

I happened to recently reread the Grey Death Legion books too, as the ebooks are fairly cheap. Also lots of material here: http://www.fillinsheets.com/pdfs/indexbt.htm

None of that helps you Prim, as I'm in Texas for now....

I never played the old system, so I am not sure. I think, (and I could be wrong here), that the current edition is simply the older one reformatted so that all of the rules you need are all in the same place. The Total Warfare book covers the entirety of the game, the Tech Manual covers every part of building your own Mech and so on.
There is a streamlined system called 'Alpha Strike,' which is meant to be an intro level game for beginners OR as a mass combat game when you want to have companies of Mechs running around and don't have days to play.
I haven't read any of the novels, but maybe I should. Most of my game knowledge comes from the MechWarrior PC games which were mainly set around the 'clan nonsense', so for me the Mad Cat/Timber Wolf is the poster-mech for the system. (I have 2 ).

[YellowStreak]

Have they streamlined the rules at all, or is it just the old system?

I played battletech (original version - pre all that clans nonsense) a lot in high school. My friends and I had games that literally lasted days during school holidays with massive maps and a company of 'mechs per player (formed into recon, support and command lances!). I still have the 3025 technical readout book somewhere...

I happened to recently reread the Grey Death Legion books too, as the ebooks are fairly cheap. Also lots of material here: http://www.fillinsheets.com/pdfs/indexbt.htm

None of that helps you Prim, as I'm in Texas for now....

I never played the old system, so I am not sure. I think, (and I could be wrong here), that the current edition is simply the older one reformatted so that all of the rules you need are all in the same place. The Total Warfare book covers the entirety of the game, the Tech Manual covers every part of building your own Mech and so on.
There is a streamlined system called 'Alpha Strike,' which is meant to be an intro level game for beginners OR as a mass combat game when you want to have companies of Mechs running around and don't have days to play.
I haven't read any of the novels, but maybe I should. Most of my game knowledge comes from the MechWarrior PC games which were mainly set around the 'clan nonsense', so for me the Mad Cat/Timber Wolf is the poster-mech for the system. (I have 2 ).

If it involves filling in hundreds of tiny circles on record sheets, then it probably hasn't changed!

[Primarch]

If it involves filling in hundreds of tiny circles on record sheets, then it probably hasn't changed!

That's the best part! Battletech ticks all the right boxes for me as a game.