ScrapYard Armory

The economy sucks.

But there is no reason that should get in the way of your Classic Battletech fix.  Even after Iron Wind Metals raised prices twice in as many years, you can still get a decent Inner Sphere company for under a Benjamin and a Jackson.

Here is a full company of ‘Mechs available from Iron Wind Metals.

Scout Lance

Strike Lance

Command Lance

Battlemaster 20-210 $12.95

Total cost is $120.00 to the penny.  You can probably do even better if you look at other retail shops available online such as Exodus Roads.

I tried to pick good group of ‘Mechs not included in the Intro Box set that would give some options to players while keeping the cost down.  Obviously you are not going to be able to get a proper Lyran company but I can’t perform miracles. You have very good proxy material including a full lance of lights, a full lance of mediums, two heavies, and two assaults.

It goes to show you that minis are not always that expensive if you keep you options open.

Happy hunting.

A recent post on the official Classic Battletech forums got me thinking today. The Click-tech Mechwarior game is on the ropes. No new products have been released at all in 2008. Supported organized play is also coming to an end this July.

Mechwarriors troubles can be to our benefit however as the market floods with cheap miniatures that can be used to play out games with Classic Battletech.

I have personally converted over a battalion worth of Mechwarrior miniatures to use in Grinders. And all of them are ‘Mechs! There is a wealth of infantry and vehicles that can be easily used for a combined arms experience.

Lets look at some of the reasons Mechwarrior figures can be a worthwhile addition to your Classic Battletech collection.

Cheap and Plentiful

The market is flooded. eBay is ripe with good deals and lots of online resellers are flush with unsold Mechwarrior inventory. Flea markets at the last several conventions I have attended all had Mechwarrior figures for sale for pocket change.

When I decided to brew up a Grinder with Mechwarrior figures for NJCon08, I paid out $60 for a full batallion of ‘Mechs from an online reseller. An equivalent number of figures from Iron Wind Metals would cost well above $300.

No offense intended to Iron Wind. Metal miniatures are always going to be of superior quality and detail.

Easy to Throw into a Game

They are already pre-painted and ready to go. If you wanted to get fancy as I did, then you can pop them off their click-base and mount them on a hex base but that is all extra. All you really need are the figures, a 2″ hex map, and your usual Classic Battletech utensils.

A Bridge for Potential New Players

There are going to be disenfranchised Mechwarrior players out there potentially searching for a new game. What better way to get them into Classic Battletech than presenting them with something familiar to wet their appetite?

They are walking around a convention or friendly local gaming store and instantly recognize figures they used to play with, being used in an entirely new way. Their curiosity is piqued, and they ask a few questions. The rest is history. The snowball has started down the hill. Before they know it, they are on the Classic Battletech leap page, then picking up an Introductory Box Set, then Total Warfare. Another gamer joins the ranks!

Mechwarrior figures can be an invaluable tool for the Classic Battletech community. Mechwarriors loss can be our gain if we are conscious enough to take advantage of the opportunity.

I wrote in an earlier post about playing in War of the Clans, a play by email/forum game. At the time, I had high hopes for it making the grade. This was just after the Capellan game at the Classic Battletech forums fell apart.

The War of the Clans had a lot going for it. The rules were complete and written. They had a very elaborate and well done spreadsheet for each faction leader to track their clan’s abilities and resources. The spreadsheet automatically calculated stats for your particular clan. Those stats along with your turn orders were used by the game masters to complete each turn.

Sadly, the War of the Clans never got off the ground. There were two false starts as the game masters tried and failed to get all of the players onto the same page. When the main game master went AWOL, the second in command took the reigns and tried to put the pieces together.

Several days had already passed and players naturally became bored and wandered off. New delays followed in order to fill those empty spots. The second game master has tried a few times to rally the remaining players but to no avail. The forums still have a few lurkers, including myself, but that’s it.

This experience reinforces the point that in order to make a play by email game successful, you need to remove the requirement for a game master.

Demand for a grand strategic game is definitely out there. The game had attracted players for just about every single spot available before things went to hell. And it did not take long either. Only after several delays did players begin to defect, never to return. Classic Battletech players just want to play and have fun. When game masters inhibit their ability to do so, they will leave for greener pastures.

Wow, what an April Fools. Catalyst pulled out the stops and offered up a preview of Tactical Operations featuring Classic BattleTech power ups. Thats right, mushroom power for your ‘Mechs. The power ups include everything from weapon upgrades, instant healing, and yes even a super size ‘Mech effect!

From the download,

For some players. however, this approach may lack a certain zeal found in today’s computer and console games. Players interested in more exotic game play options that combine elements of this cinematic medium may thus incorporate the following advanced rules into their Classic BattleTech games for an added challenge.

The best part of this gag is that it is actually usable. It’s a clever idea that has been prepared and polished. While not everyone’s cup of tea, it can make silly games with friends even more fun.

JediBear on the Classic BattleTech forums summed up the gist of the negative reactions out there.

That’s actually kinda scary.

Okay. Battletech is in its essence a simulator. Beer and Pretzels it may be, but every rule in the game is designed to somehow simulate “real” variables in “real” 31st Century Combat.

With TacOps, what the fans are expecting is rules to cover special cases not otherwise covered in the rules that might occur on a “real” battlefield.

These are the first ever “alternate-universe” rules ever proposed (to the fans. I have no idea what ya’all do behind closed doors anymore) for official Battletech publication. They’re also unavoidably silly — not fun, silly. Many people have contemplated using them for a pick-up game or two or for special events, but no one is planning on using these as a regular feature in their games (unlike, say, artillery.)

We can do fun without being silly. As I said earlier, you can easily find a better use for four pages.

I agree with those sentiments. Power ups ought not be included in Tac Ops, but I will be using these rules in a few games with friends.

Made for Grinders

I love the idea of using these rules in a Grinder. All of a sudden it becomes slightly more advantageous to lose initiative. Here is what I had in mind.

• Start the game with all combatants in light ‘Mechs arranged around the center of your arena of choice.
• One power-up starts in the center of the arena.
• Once a ‘Mech is destroyed, the player gets out his medium/heavy/orca ‘Mech to play on, while a new power up scatters from where he was destroyed.

There are countless possible variations. Infinite possibilities for fun and hilarious antics. While I would not introduce players to Classic BattleTech with power ups, it is a great tool to inject some spontaneous hilarity into a casual game session.

If you are like me, you just love playing in slow Battletech games that are doomed to never finish. I’m talking huge games. Massive games just because we can.

Who needs resolution? We can just conjecture about who won the game. And let me tell you, it should be plainly obvious even if only two ‘Mechs out of twenty-four bit the dust after the 8th hour of play.

Here are some ways to make sure your own games never come to a completion.

Make it One Big Game, Regardless of the Number of People Playing

Splitting a scenario into manageable sub missions is absurd. The goal is to have so many people fielding so many units that each firing phase takes at least an hour. We all love waiting in line to fire at the lead assault ‘Mech in the opponents army. It builds character and gives you time to strike up conversations with your team mates on just how the next turn is going to go. After all its going to be at least an hour from now, so you have the time to chat and get distracted.

A huge mess of people playing in a game also makes for long and involved discussions about who should move first. Initiative should be carefully thought out to make sure your company-plus of ‘Mechs has the best opportunity to waste more time later by baiting your opponent to fire on your nifty light ‘Mech with the plus-four modifier.

Use Ambiguous Terrain

I’ve got some great ideas for terrain. Lets sprinkle flock around the map to make forests. You heard me, just sprinkle it wherever you want forests to be. Who cares if the players won’t be able to see where the woods begin or end. It’ll look great with my model railroad trees! The best part is when the player end up arguing whether or not one ‘Mech or the other really is inside cover.

And while we are at it, lets use realistic water and paint it varying shades of blue to confuse the players even more. The should have to get a game masters ruling each time a ‘Mech tries to forge across the hazard. That’s a piloting skill!

Make the Battlefield As Big As You Can

If you happen to have a 6 foot by 4 foot gaming mat then that’s what you are going to use! Players love spending forty minutes playing out a first and second turns that involve nothing but moving units towards each other. Effective shooting should only be a concern in the third turn at the earliest.

After all, who actually wants to shoot at the other ‘Mechs anyways? This game is more fun moving units than actually accomplishing anything in combat.

And while we are at it, throw in objectives but make sure they are so far away that the become inconsequential. Objectives are nice to look at. But once they become obtainable it takes the fun out of the inevitable middle-of-the-field assault ‘Mech pile on.

Sarcasm Off!

Ok ok, I’m done, but I just had to get that off my chest. And I’m sure that you have probably been in a similar situation if you have played the game long enough.

Classic Battletech is a great game. I love it. But it seems that there are a lot of commandos out there who insist on handicapping their games with some rather absurd tendencies.

There is a better way. I hope to apply what I’ve learned from the many many commando sponsored events I’ve played in at my own event in June.

We all know how frustrating it can be when your game progress comes to a screeching halt. Classic Battletech is a very detailed game and once you start playing company level battles or better, you run the risk finding yourself unable to finish your games in a decent amount of time. This is especially true at conventions where you often only have 4 to 6 hours before the next game is scheduled to start. Or dinner for that matter.

I’ve compiled a short list of tips to help speed up your games or at least make them a bit more reasonable in length.

Movement Dice

This is probably one you have already seen used if you have played enough Battletech. Once you are done moving a unit, mark it with a die that corresponds to the total target movement modifier. You can expand the idea by using different color dice. I use white for walking, red for running and blue for jumping.

Now any player can, at a glance, know the exact state of the game. To-hit rolls can be calculated on the fly without having to ask your opponent, or several opponents if you are playing a big game, what their movement modifier is. Colored dice help you remember what movement mode your units used without having to resort to tedious record keeping.

This has an added benefit of keeping your players honest. You reduce the risk of anyone forgetting if there ‘Mech walked or ran for that plus 3 modifier.

Playing Cards for Initiative

If you have a large number of units on the board and you can split them into functional groups, give playing cards for initiative a try. Assign each group of units a card out of the deck. Before each turn shuffle the cards together, and when it comes time to move units, flip over the top card. The unit that corresponds to that card has to move.

This idea works great when you have lots of people playing a game, which often happens at conventions. Assuming you are mature enough to have someone on your team being assigned the queen of hearts this can be a huge time saver. Each player has a group of units under his command and an associated card. When his card comes up, its his time to move.

Total Warfare and Heavy Metal Record Sheets

Record sheets can make a difference. If you are using infantry, battle armor, or vehicles then Total Warfare record sheets are an invaluable resource for you. Printed right on the sheets are the tables you will use most often. This is especially true for vehicles who have a new critical hit table and motive system damage tables since Total Warfare.

For ‘Mechs, there still is no better resource than Heavy Metal Pro. Using the reduced size record sheet option, you can have hit-location tables, attack modifiers and cluster tables right on the sheet for easy lookup.

Now if only we could have an updated Heavy Metal program that would print Total Warfare record sheets…

Refresh Yourself on Special Rules

When you know that your upcoming battle will more than likely include situations not regularly encountered on the tabletop you should make sure you know the rules before you sit down to play. Game time should not have to be used looking up and confirming rules. If you know you are going to be using hovercraft for example, take a moment before the game to reread the side slipping rules.

For conventions, this should fall to the Commando in charge. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played a game with a Commando where some obscure equipment or unit was used that no one, not even the Commando running the game, knew for sure how to use it. If you are going to try and use ‘Mech taser equipped Battle Armor or Aerospace units on mapsheets, please do yourself and the players a favor and carefully read the rules before the game.

Commandos can go a step further and make a small cheat sheet for the player that will end up using that obscure unit so that no time is wasted flipping through the rules.

No one can be expected to know each and every rule perfectly from memory. Situations will come up every game but you can reduce the frequency of these trips through the rule book with a bit of reading before hand.

Give Combined Arms a Chance

A well respected poster on the Classic BattleTech forums recently chimed in when discussing the Inner Sphere in Flames rules.

The main problem with ISiF is that there’s no real reason to build much of anything but 3025 Light ‘Mech Companies.

He is absolutely right. When you look at the combat strength of all the units available in the game, those light companies are the most efficient cost wise. Add in the fact that factories produce units in batches (each line produces 3 resource points worth of units per month) and it is obvious we have a problem.

On page 15 under a section labeled “Battle Field Tactics“, combined arms is described as a vital component of a leaders military arsenal. The rules should fit that fiction.

Solution: Give a bonus to all forces that use combined arms.

It’s simple and the bonus can be modified to reflect the wants and desires of the particular group playing the game.

Combat and the Game Turn

Each turn in the Grand Strategic Game lasts one month. Each force can be given up to four orders in a turn. This makes perfect sense. The average recharge time for a KF-Drive is around a week. Sounds innocent enough, but when you start moving multiple units around to conquer planets, the cracks in the foundation show.

The critical flaw is in how combat is resolved. Whenever two forces end movement on the same planet, you get a battle. Each move takes one week to resolve. Combat is resolved all at once however. If two opposing forces are already on a planet at the start of the turn and are not ordered to retreat, they fight for the entire turn. Now what if the invading force is two jumps away? First order is to move, the second order is to assault the plant in question. Combat occurs just the same, even though the invading force is only on planet for 3/4 of a turn, the damage potential remains the same as if they had been fighting the entire month.

What if the invading force is three jumps away?  What if there are three forces invading, each different distances from the target?

You can go on and on making up examples that just don’t make sense.

Solution: Break up combat into four parts to reflect what is already happens with movement.

The record keeping becomes a bit more convoluted, but the damage dealt in combat is properly synchronized with the game turn.  We deal with the record keeping next.

Cutting Out the GM

As previously mentioned on this blog, my own venture into a forum based Grand Strategic Game failed. By the time we got to turn 8 or so, the game master was simply overwhelmed by the workload required to process our orders. And all we did was a regional conflict. Imagine the chaos a full Succession War sized conflict would have wrought.

To make matters worse, we weren’t even using most of the espionage rules or the advanced economy rules. It just was beyond what one or even a group of people are able to accomplish between forum posts and emailed spread sheets.  Its a shame really.  The prospect of tangled webs of espionage and special ops forces behind enemy lines is something that made the game so appealing to me.

Military actions are just as screwed.  The more forces in play the bigger and badder the record keeping becomes.  Spreadsheets balloon and sooner rather than later mistakes creep in.  Most gamers don’t cheat.  But I unashamedly admit to making a mistake now and again.  Simple innocent mistakes can possibly undermine the credibility of the game.  No game master can possibly keep proper tabs on a cache of information required for even a regional conflict.

Solution: Design and program a stand-alone computer program that automates the whole game.

I’m talking about a program that will allow any group of gamers to host their very own Grand Strategic Games in any era that will handle regional conflicts as well as full blown succession wars.

I have no delusions about my programming ability.  It is going to be tough and I’m likely to have to learn a thing or two along the way to make it happen.  I’m nothing if not persistent.

I have some gamers from the Classic BattleTech community in the wings kicking my ass along the way.  Want to join them?  Leave a comment or contact me.

Combat Operations was printed in 2003 and privided fans with an incomplete rule set for a grand strategic game set in the Battletech universe.  It was bad.  Really bad.  I have to beleive that a better job could have been done on this product on a number of fronts.  This is the first of a series of posts on building a better grand strategic game.

Please keep in mind that the intent of this article is not to bash Fan Pro or those who worked on the product.  I love Classic Battletech and want it to succeed but recognize that this sourcebook was not their best effort.  My hopes are high that when Strategic Operations is released (2009?) the new overhauled rule set will be everything we could want and maybe a bit more.

Without further adieu, on to the analysis.

Where were the proofreaders?

Doing something besides proofreading that is for sure.  This section just stinks of a understaffed product that was rushed to the printers well before it was ready.  I’m sorry but it’s true.  Lets look at some evidence.

Page 83:

Terminology: This section uses the same terminology as described in the BattleTech Operations Rules, p.XX

The ‘XX’ is actually in the book.  It happens there and two more times within the next two sentences.  This is basic stuff here.  I understand as you write a book you need to use some TBDs but you need to fill them in before going to the printers!

On page 89:

Warships are prime targets for enemy sabotage and so factions may spend RP to protect them against such endeavors.  Each RP spent reduces the chance of sabotage against one Warship by 25 percent.  See Espionage, p. 94.

See page 94?  Don’t mind if I do:

Agents may attempt to cripple or destroy enemy Warships, with each attempt costing 10 RP.  The chance of success is 10 percent, +5 percent for each extra RP spent and -3 for each RP spent on security by the controlling player.

So we have two sections of the rules saying completely different things.  Players attempting to piece these rules together have a hard enough time without these inconsistencies.  This brings me to my next bone to pick though.

Where is the Flow?

There are those in the CBT community that have this issue with Total Warfare.  If you want to look up rules for aerospace fighters, you might find yourself parsing three separate sections in order to find what you are looking for.  The Grand Strategic Game shares this issue.  You will find espionage rules within the spending resources section, security rules mixed between special operations and spending resources and other inconsistent placements.

This just adds to the confusion and makes it difficult for players to get a firm grasp on whats happening.  And if you need to look up a rule?  You might find yourself combing the pages one by one until you wander across what you are looking for by accident because whatever it is you needs is never where you assume it should be.

That’s enough for part I.  As I’ve mentioned in a prior post I am in the process of reworking the Grand Strategic Game rules to be playable and automated.  The next post on this topic will examine game mechanics and balance concerns.  Please post a comment if you’d like to share.

The first quarter of 2008 will bring 3 new products to Classic Battletech, and only one of them is designed for established players.

New players to the game and perhaps some returning to the game after a long hiatus will find plenty to be thankful for. The Starter Set is an amazing entry into Classic Battletech. It is astonishing how much Catalyst Game Labs fit into a $39.99 MSRP.

Starter Book Sword and Dragon continues the introduction with vibrant full color pages. The Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine rivalry is an excellent backdrop for new players to dive into the game. The presentation of this book is top notch.

For the first quarter new and returning players are now being treated to Technical Readout: 3039 as well as Blake Ascending: Jihad Conspiracies.

Older established players may balk at a TRO based on old designs they already have stats for. And everyone who already has Dawn of the Jihad and Jihad HotSpots has absolutely no need for Blake Ascending.

The fall of FanPro and the transfer to Catalyst surely cost some dollars. The chain of new products is a financial gamble to get enough new players through the door. If they stick around long enough to buy up other Catalyst products then we all win.

Classic Battletech needs to grow or it will die. I for one hope this gamble pays off.

Fans of Classic Battletech have yearned for a Grand Strategic Game probably as long as the game has been around. FASA made an passing attempt when it released The Succession Wars board game. Now out of print, the game has become highly sought after, routinely fetching end prices of a hundred dollars or more on eBay.

FanPro gave us Combat Operations in 2003. Within a scant 23 pages (8 of which are more artwork and tables than rules) of hurried writing, FanPro gave unto the Classic Battletech community an unfinished ruleset and said, “Good luck!”. Here is a quote from the second paragraph of the Grand Strategic Game section:

“These rules do not constitute a complete rules set – that is beyond their scope. Instead, they are intended as a framework around which a diligent player can construct a campaign that spans a few worlds or literally takes into account all two thousand plus worlds in the Inner Sphere.”

Fantastic.

Not to be deterred, fans across the world flocked to make sense of it all. Several websites have sprung up over the years since Combat Operation’s release to provide fans with a way to play on a grand scale.

Fan Grand Council

The FGC is a forum based role playing game with megamek thrown in for good measure. The turnover and delays are laughable. From what I can tell, they have been on the same turn for months now while they completely redo the rules, again. The complete and utter reliance on GMs to do anything is a complaint heard over and over.

InnerSphereInFlames

This one seems to be less role playing and more strategy. Units and orders are tracked with the aid of spreadsheets while the GMs muddle everything up. Currently they are in a state of rules rewriting. How unexpected.

TheSuccessionWars

I had the most hope for this one for one simple reason; they cut out the GMs. Using databases and web development savvy, the entire game is effectively automated. Three cheers! However, the supposed Beta game is nowhere to be seen. I believe that this one has the best chance for success. However, it is reliant on a few developers who may have bitten off more than they could chew, turning TheSuccessionWars into vaporware.

When the opportunity to play a forum based version of the Combat Ops rules presented itself, I jumped at the chance and found myself quickly at the helm of the Cappellan Confederation during the reunification war. To our credit, we actually got to turn 8 before things went to shit. Along the way, there were many arguments over rules interpretations as each faction attempted to “outwit” the other with rules lawyering. Record keeping mistakes began to pile up and eventually our GM slipped into obscurity, leaving us the players to wonder what could have been. Please don’t take this as a bashing of our GM. He seemed to me to be a swell guy who quite simply was overwhelmed. I don’t blame him for a thing.

So where do we go from here? Well, I know what I’m going to do. I’m making my own damn rules and will be building a stand-alone Java application to go with it. I’ve got a shortlist of CBT players helping out. Want to lend a hand? Contact me.