19 replies to this topic

[Iacov]

Hey guys!

I was about to buy a vulture miniature for collectible purposes, but then i though, how awesome it would be to introduce my fiancee and her siblings to BT (we regularly do game nights with board and card games)

yet i know that classic battletech would be far too complex for us (in terms of how long it would take to learn and explain everything) to have fun - is there a simplified way to play battletech?

if yes, is there a ruleset i could buy?
what else do i need to get started?
how many mechs per player would you recommend?
plastic or metal minuature-bases?
for assembly/coloring: what glue/brushes do you recommend?

i thank you very much!

[Stormwolf]

Here's a starter kit:

http://bg.battletech...ductory-box-set

[Fiachdubh]

..and a damn fine starter kit it is.

It has all you will ever need for many years of BT goodness from painting guide to game manuals but it also has a booklet explaining where and how to go about expanding on your BT experience in the future if you so wish. It is great value. Just hope you have better luck finding people to play than me!

Order it now. You will be pleased you did.

Edited by Fiachdubh, 26 February 2013 - 05:20 AM.

[DarkDevilDancer]

It gives 2 nice double sided maps, 24 mechs and alot of useful stuff thats well worth the money.

[Iacov]

yeah this introductory box would be great, but i can't find it anywhere in austria
and ordering in the US comes pretty expensive, considering the taxes and fees...

i have already assembled a little diorama with dark age swordsworn mechs in a little acryl show case and wanted to do the same with either the vulture museum scale or vulture +3 other play-miniatures
if i would choose the play-miniatues it would come in handy to be able to "play" them...but i don't know if it's worth investing the 60$ plus the metal vulture plus paints and everything

and would i need different colors for the metal and the plastic miniatures?

[Fiachdubh]

http://www.amazon.co...62322499&sr=8-1

Here are a few, around €10 - 15 more expensive than the gaming online stores but since they all sold out not much choice. At least it is cheaper than buying from America. It is still definitely worth it if you are serious enough to consider spending $60 on a Vulture. This would be much better value.

[Iacov]

but how "easy" are the easier rules of the introductory box?
is it "hey, let's play battletech, derp!" easy...or rather "hey, let's play battletech - after we red 10 pages of rules" or "hey, let's play battletech, once we've got our PhD in mech-warfare"?

[Escef]

Iacov, on 03 March 2013 - 08:05 AM, said:

but how "easy" are the easier rules of the introductory box?
is it "hey, let's play battletech, derp!" easy...or rather "hey, let's play battletech - after we red 10 pages of rules" or "hey, let's play battletech, once we've got our PhD in mech-warfare"?

IIRC, the intro rules throw torso twists, internal structure, critical hits, and a few other things out the window.

They are available as a free PDF download: http://bg.battletech...Start-Rules.pdf

[Elyam]

http://bg.battletech.com/?page_id=27

Go here for the quick-start rules, which are thin version of the normal. This booklet also includes a page-sized map that can be copied/printed many times and placed together to make a larger map, and includes paper mech stands. It lets you try to game for free without even buying the box-set.

You'll need to read through and do a preperatory game by yourself, possibly twice, so you know the rules (and where to look things up in the guide) well enough to teach others on the fly.

I'll try to post a quick guide later that gives you a step-by-step to teach the game to others (something I'ver done many dozens of times)

(edit: Escef beat me to the post by 3 min)

Edited by Elyam, 03 March 2013 - 09:55 AM.

[DarkDevilDancer]

Well i hadnt played battle tech for a decade and my friends never had before but we picked up the basics after 2 games, just ordered the advanced rules se we can try vehicles aswel.

But i have been wargaming ages so i probably had an easier time than a complete newb would have, but really give it a go its not that hard to pick up and get into.

[Fiachdubh]

I never wargamed or played anything like BT before (played Axis & Allies, Diplomacy, Game of Nations type games) and found the intro rules very easy. Play a few games (I only had myself to play against sadly) with the intro rules and you will find it much easier when moving up to next level when heat and other stuff introduced.

[Iacov]

i've ordered me a vulture miniature at ral partha...
and i'm totally gonna try to get an introductory box somewhere...but i really have no idea where to (succesfully) get it in austria/germany (in new condition)
can you still order it online at the manufacturer in the US?

[Osski]

The starter boxed sets for Battletech have always been very adequate, and the latest is supposedly one of the best, though I don't own it.

The only real thing you'd probably want shortly after the starter sets would be some additional record sheets to play with, and maybe some additional maps.


Record sheets: Miniatures can be substituted for one another if you don't want to dish out lots of cash for lots of miniature variety right away, and there are also cardboard stand-ups you can probably find online and print out for something a little less cool-looking. But the record sheets are sort of a must-have, as creating your own is time-consuming, and it's very easy to be inaccurate about critical slot placement and things like that. It also just looks and feels a lot nicer and neater to have it all there for you, officially printed and pretty.

A highly recommended trick is to use clear plastic sleeves for your 'mech sheets along with wet-erase markers. You stick your 'mech sheets inside the plastic sleeves (you can do front and back) and then mark damage, heat, ammo, etc with the wet erase marker. When you are done you can simply wipe the wet-erase marker marks off of the plastic sheet and use everything all over again. Also, this allows for corrections if you should make a mistake, and allows you to adjust your heat scale every turn without a lot of scribbling and mess. You'll have very colorful hands and fingers when the battle is over, but hey! No paper waste except for a paper towel, and it saves printer ink, to boot.

Good ol' Vis a Vis does the trick!

http://www.amazon.co...63083357&sr=1-7


Maps: Supposedly the maps provided in the latest boxed set don't meet up neatly at the edges, meaning that in order to play on any battlefield larger than 1 map in size, you'll need to acquire more map sheets. Check ebay; I'm thinking you can happen upon some map sets there for a little cheaper, but don't quote me.


Your other questions:

How many 'mechs per person? Well, how much time have you got?
When you are first starting out, juggling lots of 'mechs can get overwhelming, and even veterans end up marking the wrong info on the wrong 'mech sheet from time to time. So start small, maybe just two 'mechs per person as you learn the rules. Soon you will be wanting more and will field entire lances and even combined-arms companies against each other. But that pretty much requires an entire evening.

Miniature assembly and painting: There are lots and lots of youtube vids on miniature assembly/painting that I'd recommend, just go crazy searching on there and you'll get lots and lots of guides on miniatures, including making interesting bases for them and all that good stuff. Mini painting is an art form all by itself and you can spend as much time and money on it as you want to, depending on the final product you want to attain. You can literally spend hundreds just on painting and assembly supplies, but you can also get away with using cheap supplies if you don't need the absolute best. I really like the Army Painter brushes and Vallejo paints (but I still use a lot of very cheap Apple Barrel brand paints as well), to give you something to go on.

If you learn to use the techniques for painting that are suggested by the aforementioned video tutorials, it's my experience and opinion you can make even cheap paint look pretty awesome (but it will never have the colorful pop of the best paints, to be sure). Perfectionists and hardcore folks will tell you you need the best of everything, but as I said, if you don't need the absolute best result, which will cost you, just learn to do a good paint job, learn some techniques like priming and sealing, drybrushing, washing, thinning your paints, etc, and you'll be good.


And if I may, one last suggestion about your approach to the game:

I recommend to anyone saying they are going to start tabletop Battletech to start from the beginning. The year 3025, as the timeline goes.

http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/093178784X

This is classic Battletech, before the Clan invasion. It's a great time in the timeline, during the 3rd and 4th Succession Wars. Since this is the time when the Inner Sphere had been devastated by war for many years, it represents the most bucket-of-bolts type of Battletech there is. It's sort of a dark ages in the Battletech universe: the best technology was lost and unable to be replicated, and so it translates into the most challenging and therefore rewarding board game experience, in my opinion. The Clans and their technology make the game much more stand and shoot, if you ask me, but that is all a matter of preference. If you love your Madcat, by all means don't let me stop you! I suggest starting here simply because if you start much later on you may regret missing some of the best Battletech there is!

Good luck to you and hope you have fun with it and I hope this helped a little!

Edited by Osski, 12 March 2013 - 02:34 AM.

[PsihoKekec]

For easy play, you can try BattleForce rules, they can be downloaded at official site.
http://bg.battletech.com/?page_id=27

[whiteknight]

You can find events, players and demo agents in your area by visiting www.catalystdemos.com and signing up

[Iacov]

thank you very much

because i can't get the introductory box at a sane price in europe...and battlecorps hasn't answered my mail yet, wether they are shipping to europe...i'm going to buy the revised master rules
do you think this book will serve me well?

and thanks for the links to the quick start guides

(and besides that...where/how can i generate custom record sheets similar to a mechlab? because for example i would like to give my vulture machine guns instead of mpulses)

[whiteknight]

The official software is Heavy Metal Pro (www.heavymetalpro.com), but there are also a number of freeware alternatives, the best is probably Solaris Skunk Werks (www.solarisskunkwerks.com)

[Iacov]

thanks
i'm going to look at ssw
is there anything else i need besides the 0.6.81.zip?

and does this tool work like a mechlab? (in terms of, that it tells me, if i try to fit things in a mech that don't fit in there, because too heavy, too big etc)

[whiteknight]

You need to get the SSW Master file as well, that has all the mech files in it.

Its not quite as simplified as the MWO mechlab, it will tell you when the equipment you've selected put the mech overweight or when you run out of critical space.

[Escef]

whiteknight, on 18 March 2013 - 08:30 AM, said:

The official software is Heavy Metal Pro (www.heavymetalpro.com), but there are also a number of freeware alternatives, the best is probably Solaris Skunk Werks (www.solarisskunkwerks.com)

I'd avoid HMP like the plague. Total Warfare rules have been out for over 6 1/2 years now, and it still isn't fully compatible with it. Official data files for equipment that was new for Total Warfare were not released until January of last year. When it takes over 5 years to get something like that out, there is a problem. Meanwhile, SSW works quite well, is fairly up to date, and is free.