The Procrastinator in the 31st Century!

Recently there has been a resurgence of Battletech. It is a storied franchise with lore that spans over 30 years. I stopped playing just before the clans story line dropped, but it wasn't related to Battletech at all. Rather it was because I was focusing on other aspects of my life. But my love of Battletech has never waned. The game by HBS that came out a few years ago is directly responsible for bringing me back to Battletech. Not just because it was a fun and oft time challenging game, but because the community went nuts adding fan content which even ended up being supported by the game devs.

So I started playing and, so did it turns out, a lot of other people too! Fans that had gone missing for decades. Suddenly there was interest in the game again and it created an appetite to start pushing mechs around like the good old days. Turns out about a dozen people in my area felt the same so we formed a Facebook group and started planning events. Finally, I had an excuse to dig out my old mechs and start force building. Now don't get me wrong, there is no right or wrong way to play Battletech, but I gravitate towards the hexless way to play because it appeals to the miniature gamer in me. Turns out this group felt the same way so I started planning events with them. But, first we needed to decide if we want to use classic rules or the more recently released Alpha Strike rules which attempts to streamline the system and allow for larger forces that don't require a weekend to play.

I immediately started building some units. I started with pirates. Specifically Redjack Ryan's nefarious pirates! My friend had already started on his Eridani Light Horse unit so we threw together a scenario to try out the Alpha Strike rules. A company of Redjack Ryan's Pirates vs a company of ELH's 50th Battalion. My friend and I met up at a local game store for our first game of Alpha Strike. So without further adieu may I present...

ELH v Pirates in How Redjack Almost Stole Christmas. A Comstar Christmas Special.

Redjack Ryan seizes any opportunity to oppress and steal joy. A veritable Grinch he eyes the three grey warehouses that hold his prize. Just a few militia boys to contend with (or so he though).

A mech-eye-view of the three toy filled warehouses.

I am aware that the Pheonix Hawk has its jets on backward. This game took place in December 2018 and they have since been fixed.

These trees stand were a WIP at the time but have since been completed and will be the subject of a future post. I have a few more to make so i'll be doing a tutorial and possible other Battletech terrain guides.

Into the woods we go! Not playing with the advanced rules this time around, or my Firestarter would have lived up to his name.

Alerting command of the situation those ELH boys call in reinforcements while advancing to intercept the enemy force. There in the break between the woods, a Crusader. No real paint to speak of (gasp, lazy gamer, yup that's me) must be pirates!

ELH Rifleman and Pirate Crusader mix it up with the Rifleman coming out on top. The pirate is to busy spotting for indirect fire and gets hammered. Unfortunately, return missile fire is ineffective.

Oh no!? Is that a Behemoth? This is no militia unit! Eridian Light Horse!!! Hey, Roman. Your contact that told us about this opportunity better have a knife in his back by the end of the day, Snarled Redjack to his XO.

A pirate Phoenix Hawk jumps out of the southern woods landing between a warehouse and SRM Carrier. I should have gotten a face full of SRM's, not to mention fire from the ELH Kyudo and the other two vehicles. Luckily, very luckily, Lady luck was smiling at that pilot. Only the Kyudo managed to get in a hit. (Just a note: I jumped there with the intent of shooting the further SRM Carrier and kicking the adjacent one. Today, I learned you can't make a physical attack after making a weapon attack. Oops. You live you learn.

Gotta say this game was amazing.

Uh oh. These ELH boys are good. A medium recon lance comes to support the defenders. Caught between the new arrivals and the seasoned ELH defenders things turned south fast. One good bit of news, I finally got a pirate Shadow Hawk adjacent to a warehouse. Let the looting begin!

The pirate Shadow Hawk makes his get away (loot was worth the carrying mechs PV), while a pirate Hermes and Thunderbolt begin looting themselves. It's all men for themselves as only moments before fire from the Kyudo, behemoth, and Archer bring down Redjack Ryan's Warhammer. Ironically, it was just as Redjack's PPC's slammed into the ELH company commanders own Warhammer. War, war never changes. But, no one will shed a tear for Ol' Redjack Ryan, scource of the Periphery!

By this point, turn 6, it's clear under the given victory conditions I can not win. ELH 145 v Pirates 121. Pretty close, really. Okay, gotta say I got mad love for Alpha Strike. 100% converted. Company v company 4 hrs start to finish. Which mean with 6 players you could easily run battalion size games!!!

Yup we greatly enjoyed this game. I was an impatient, sloppy and unlucky player. Which made my tactics suffer and I lost far more games than I ever won. I am learning, and I am having fun doing it. During our unfortunately short group campaign, with six players, I went 2-1 before the campaign ended. Its also possible, as I wrote the scenario, that the scenario I lost was ill conceived, but I don't really know. Speaking of campaigns, I will be discussing our groups campaign and posting the batreps from our group as well as the rules I wrote. They aren't complete but they are a starting point. So tune back in next time. Meanwhile, stay safe out there!

Warmaster Day - August 2011

Its been a while since my last post, primarily due to me not having the time to get any hobby work done recently. I moved my painting space and unfortunately it was to an area with much less light. I have fixed that in the last few days after returning from the most recent Warmaster Day at our local game store. I had been dying to get some gaming time in and the announcement for a new Warmaster Day seemed just the thing to get back into the swing of things.

Since I met Ed, the main organizer for Warmaster events in this area, in January he has been tantalizing me with rumors of a plethora (read as "more than two") Warmaster players in the vicinity. I had previously met two of the other players and to my delight this last Sunday I finally got to meet a few more of them. We had seven players total and played in two rounds. Ed sat out the first round to facilitate new people playing each other. Then after a quick bite to eat we commenced with round two in which I sat out so Ed had a chance to play and I had a chance to take pictures. So with out further pomp and circumstance, the pictures...enjoy!

The generals gather in the basement preparing their forces and scouting the fields of battle.

The tables all set and ready for battle - now we just need the little men.

This is from my only battle of the day - 2000pts Orc vs High Elves. We were affected by a nasty plague which made issuing orders harder on the first turn. More debilitating for my green horde than the pansy elves... which seems wrong.

Light cavalry units face off over a small wooded area.

Blast it! The sneaky elves have advanced on the woods... now they will spend the whole game hiding in the trees shooting me!

Bad die! The Elves fail a command roll.

But this unit of mixed archers and spearmen seem pretty motivated to shed blood today.

Gah! Now the Elven warmachine is starting to move!

The elves and are in great position to receive any charges.

This is a shot of the neighboring table... a 2000pt Dwarf vs Dog of War game.

Those pikemen look pretty intimidating as does that Tuska (I think that's what they are called).

The elven light cavalry and archers make short work of my own Goblin Wolfriders. After this my right flank fell apart but I managed to get my troops running around quite effectively (while the elves were stunned into a stupor). We did some nice damage but the elves held and won by a decent margin in the end. Still I'm quite happy with how the army moves now I just need to get better tactics in my playbook.

The third table arrayed for battle. 2000pt Orcs vs Undead.

I liked the terrain on the Dogs of War table so I took a picture when I had the chance. I was told the ruins on the right are from the BoFA set and the buildings on the left are J R miniatures line. They looked really good, I'll have to pick some up.

Between games, after returning from lunch I spotted Ed's excellent pikeman conversion and took a shot.

The after lunch games begin with 2000pt Dwarf vs Undead. All of the games have a single objective. If someone can get 33% of their total army points within 15cm (I believe) the game would end at the conclusion of that players turn. The other two games would end fairly quickly with the objective being met but this table would go to the time limit. It looked like a great battle and a true nail bitter!

The shot from the dwarf side.

The second game - 2000pts Daemons vs High Elves. This shot shows Ed's Daemons lined up and ready to rend flesh.

The High Elf side - Not a bit of makeup out of place. Good show boys!

The Daemons and High Elves prepare to battle over the badlands.

The third and final table - 2000pt Orcs vs Dogs of War! Orcs are on the far side and Dogs of War on the near.

Dwarves pour forth out of the hills prepared to hack down those old bones keeping them from their objective!

The Deamon's new hero, A Daemoness of Slaanesh, is obviously still a novice at leadership. She makes four consecutive blunders. Ouch!

Orcs storm across the fields towards the outpost (the objective on this table).

A shot of table two - Elves are advancing nicely towards the objective.

The Dogs of War commanders fail to get their sections going and this would prove fatal to their battle plan.

Dwarf Warriors, undead chariots and cavalry clash over a small hill and valley.

The Dogs of War get moving.

The shot from the Orc reserve force (cough, cough).

A shot of the table just before the Daemons and Elves converge.

A battle ensues around the dwarf statue objective while in the background the battle on the hill rages on!

Ed moves up some of his forces (which I'm sure were peppered by arrows).

Joe commands his undead legions to advance.

The Orcs reach the observation tower (officially winning the game), now lets see if they can hold it.

Daemon cavalry slams into the Elf lines!

Notice the undead mercenary chariots along to observe the carnage. They look great, don't they?

A Tuska goes wild after a failed command roll but ends up advancing regardless.

The undead, having broken the Dwarf lines at the statue, press their advantage!

The battle on the hill still rages with each commander committing fresh troops.

The battle on table two heats up with troops converging from every direction into the scrum!

The Orcs, never good at waiting, charge the Dogs of War.

A good shot of the action on table three - Advantage: Orcs.

A Bone Giant and Undead Sphinx advance into another unit of Dwarf Rangers.

Things are looking grim for the Daemons.

Just before the Orcs and Dogs of War clash.

Determining attacks and casualties.

The Dogs of War are determined to draw some blood today!

The Undead Sphinx and Bone Giant pursuit the Dwarf Rangers as they withdraw...

...and find themselves surrounded by Dwarf Warriors and cut down!

The Daemons, having lost a significant scrum in the middle, marshal their forces to try a counter attack.

Dwarf warriors position themselves to prevent a unit of chariots from falling back, which leads to their destruction.

The battle on the hill continues without a clear victor.

The Dogs of War finally get their heavy cavalry in position for a charge on the Orcs right flank!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I mostly captioned them from memory of what I saw happening. I got them mostly right, I hope. But in any case I feel more motivated to get some further hobby work done. I hope to have another post up soon.