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!
