13 replies to this topic

[MechFrog1]

So... I wrote this little piece for a website recalling one of my less than stellar moments as a Battletech fan back in the early 90s

http://themittani.co...etech-chemistry

But I'd like to hear your stories. What kind of wacky antics did you or your friends get into over the game?

[KalebFenoir]

I'd love to contribute to a topic like this.

Story 1:

Being a Battlemech pilot means you are now honorary Irish (sorry to actual Irish, but it's stupidly funny).

Me and my friends would get together for our semi-monthly Battletech Marathon, where we'd put heavy metal music on in the background, load up with all sorts of alchohol, and have the most insane Star-on-Lance-on-Star-on-Whatever battle possible. Soon after the drinking began, a mysterious thing began to happen. First we'd start slurring, as is standard, but then at some point, someone would playfully affect an Irish lilt to their voice (Boondock Saints being a preferred movie to watch during such sessions). Not long after that, EVERYONE was cursing and speaking in that fashion, and debating whether certain headshots had been fair and legal.

It was some time later before we started speaking normally again, but whenever we play, the accent comes back for just the game.

Story 2:

Misspelled Custom Mech names

My friend was always the 'better' mechwarrior, and actually could build mechs using the in-book manual (this was long before things like Drawing Board or Skunkwerks, so it was really hard to do). One day he told me he built a really killer OmniMech named the [insert name for evil being with five letters]'. We took a few rounds testing it out, and it was pretty good (but totally illegal by today's rules), but then I noticed something odd.

His mech's written name, in ink on the page, was 'Satin'. Not [evil being with five letters]. SATIN. Like the fabric.

Nuff said. He never lived it down.

Edited by KalebFenoir, 15 March 2013 - 07:27 PM.

[Stormwolf]

My fondest memory was when I borrowed a copy of TRO3050 (revised) in preparation for my first BT game. Prior I had only only known MW2 and knew only the Clan names, so I was pretty surprised that I couldn't find the Timber Wolf or Mad Dog anywhere.

Then I spotted the Mad Cat and I though that it was a mislabeled Mad Dog, after some more reading I quickly figured out that there were seperate IS and Clan names for the mechs. It was even later that I spotted the seperate names in the profiles:



I consequently read the book from cover to cover looking at all the designs, I even built a number of them in MW2: Mercs and played them in the campaigns (Panther or Jenner rebuilt into a Wolfhound, etc). Great stuff, unfortunately the fluff and design reasons for the mechs themselves are pretty much missing in the MW series, so everybody immediatly rebuilds a mech the second they have enough C-Bills.

[WANTED]

LMAO off at OP story. Definitely read his article, it's hilarious and and very well written...lol.

My best story was when I was 15 I won an official FASA Tournament called King of the Hill at an event in Dallas that they would have every 3 months or so called a Mini-Con. It was obviously comic book focused but they had Battletech contests and the host would bring all the elements to create the best atmosphere on the table, complete with miniature trees, styrofoam hills and mountains and cotton as smoke. As well as the Ral Partha figurines. I brought my Grasshopper mech and after a long day of battling on one map, we were down to the final round with a Warhammer on the top of the hill. He had to stay for 3 rounds and I made a choice to do a Charge on him. It worked and I knocked him off the hill while he tumbled taking damage all the way down. I lasted the final round taking shots from everyone on the map and survived. I ended up getting a Coupon for a free FASA product.

Funniest moment was killing my friend's mech across from me with a wild shot and blowing his Warhammer's head off in a gauntlet type game ( race to get from one end of map to other and if you wanted you could attack the other team but there were super 100 ton plus mechs standing in the way ). I had only one shot and I took it on him at the start of the game and rolled a 12 and then another 12 for his head. Ended up killing him immediately. He was so mad we quit the game before it really started even though we took hour or more to set it up. lol

Edited by WANTED, 17 March 2013 - 07:17 PM.

[Mr Blonde]

I played a MW campaign where my character was the drunken Scotsman Angus MacBain. My character drank so much he took battlefield penalties (offset by his awesome skills) and had to keep a minifridge in the cockpit as the character disadvantage meant I usually had to usually drink DURING combat. I piloted a standard King Crab-000. Once my character was so drunk he saw two Battlemasters in front of him when there was, in fact, only one. I fired one AC/20 at each (just to be sure) and got a clean headshot. My character bragged till the end of the campaign about getting a double headshot, and could not be convinced it never happened.

Other than that my best game was where my customized 50 ton mech (the ORC-1X) singlehandedly defeated an entire company of Mechs in urban combat (6 lights, 6 mediums). I was playing a Death Commando so perhaps that's not surprising, but nevertheless it was quite embarrassing for the opposing player.

Funniest moment was when I let my 10 month-old drop the dice to roll my hit location, and he got a Gauss headshot on my buddy. 8 years later I still taunt him without mercy.

[GumbyC2C]

at a BattleTech Tournament, I was piloting an Archer. A Warhammer got in close and hit both PPCs to my left leg, taking off all the armor there. Dude rolls a 12 on his number of crits roll, blowing the leg off. Next round, he comes right up to me to finish me off with some kicking I suppose. I stand up with a roll of 11 on my piloting skill check. He didn't do enough damage to me to force a piloting check so I was still standing. Instead of firing weapons, I pick up my blown off leg and club him with it and roll a 6 for the hit location killing him with my own leg. The look on his face was priceless. He connected with his kick and I went back to the ground but he was done and it was totally worth it.

[dal10]

i was playing a jihad era campaign(i know people hate the jihad but deal with it). My company consisted of 2 assaults (my highlander IIC, and an AS8-D Atlas(we were a Lyran sponsored merc unit, so we got some new toys to help with an assault on a blakist held planet) 3 heavies (2 k3 catapults and a rifleman RFL -8D) though the rest of our unit consisting of 3 mediums and 4 lights (2 shadow hawks, 1 griffon, 1 firefly then 2 wasps one locust) was much more low tech. my highlander suffered TAC leg damage turning it into a 2/3 mech. the rest of my company left me behind to get to the objective (we were trying to seize control of a planetary defense cannon, our primary objective was to destroy 4 anti-aircraft guns that were preventing our infantry support from landing) when they were about 2 clicks ahead of me, i walked around a corner into a lance of assault mechs(it was a GM trap that was supposed to kill me then hit the rest of the company in the back when they engaged the cannons defenses), consisting of a Victor, Himoto-Chi, a Naginata, and an AWS-8Q Awesome(dude liked ppcs). my first gauss shot decapitates the naginata. while i proceed to gnaw through the victors armor, before i manage to crit its AC/20 with my streak 6. return round sees half the armor on my left side gone. 2nd round for me i proceed to decapitate the awesome (GM is freaking at this point) i actually miss every other shot that round. next round for them sees my gauss explode taking my arm with it. i run up to the victor and unload on it with everything but the lrms which get thrown at the himoto 150 meters away, killing the victor. the himotos next shot takes out my lrms. but i then run up to it and roll for a punch, roll a 12 followed by a 12 to decapitate it with my fist.

GM was pissed.

Edited by dal10, 19 March 2013 - 07:36 PM.

[Karl Streiger]

You know Hook...and the crocodile...same story...here me and the Warhammer IIC.... every battle I fought in and a Warhammer IIC appeard i loosed - hard.
First time i faced it if fielded two Munchkin IS Lance of mine...facing a garrison Star commanded by my vicitm - friend....i had more BattleValue, more Tonnage and more Numbers....he had the Warhammer IIC.
His Warhammer IIC killed 6 of my Mechs...and hardly got any scratch - I believe... right from my memory i can count 5 times were the Warhammer IIC in the enemy team did kill 4 or more mechs.

And this was just the beginning.... I knew it is out there - some where stalking in the shadows of MWO or source books just to come out of cover to ******* again.

[KalebFenoir]

Karl Streiger, on 20 March 2013 - 01:51 AM, said:

You know Hook...and the crocodile...same story...here me and the Warhammer IIC.... every battle I fought in and a Warhammer IIC appeard i loosed - hard.
First time i faced it if fielded two Munchkin IS Lance of mine...facing a garrison Star commanded by my vicitm - friend....i had more BattleValue, more Tonnage and more Numbers....he had the Warhammer IIC.
His Warhammer IIC killed 6 of my Mechs...and hardly got any scratch - I believe... right from my memory i can count 5 times were the Warhammer IIC in the enemy team did kill 4 or more mechs.

And this was just the beginning.... I knew it is out there - some where stalking in the shadows of MWO or source books just to come out of cover to ******* again.

WarhammerIIC's seem to be unfortunately cursed. I've used them before as my walking-wall-of-death, but they always seem to attract the freak shots that end them too fast.

One match, in the first round, the second mech to die was my Warhammer, killed by a mech I killed with my other mech, a Cerberus. We determined that the pilot I killed, when he died by gauss-to-head, the damage to the cockpit caused a minor overload in the weapons, making them all fire off. My opponent chose three mechs to 'target', and split his misfiring weapons among them, and let fly.

The majority of the damage was small, and missed, but one gauss went wide and caught my Warhammer as it was stepping up to the line. No chance for the pilot. Suddenly I had a pristine mech with no pilot. Damn shame....

[Karl Streiger]

sounds for me that your warhammer has same luck as my BattleMaster.
If you tell me that the BattleMaster is your personal menace. we need to play a match. you and your Warhammer IIC me and the Battlemaster maybe we can calibrate our personel Mechs karma

[Elyam]

While there have been many favorites over the last nearly 30 years around the Inner Sphere, the one I'm thinking of at the moment was humorous but also very cool for instilling in new players a healthy respect for the dangers of the Battletech battlefield...

As was the case many times, I had been introducing a new group of players to the game, running through a Mechwarrior RPG campaign with them as cadets in our established merc outfit. I usually do this as 6 sessions representing slices of their training period culminating in a surprise mock battle pitting them (on their own) against one or more primary officers of the outfit, which is, unbeknownst to them, a main piece of their 'final grade'.

Some of these cadets join the outfit already in possession of mechs inherited through family or acquired through various means, others earn mech assignments based on evaluation. So on the day of this tale, we had 7 cadets, and the heaviest mech among them was a Battlemaster, of all things (the player had a superb and well-developed background story which earned her the right to start this way). Year was 3053, I believe. I don't recall the world, but we were on contract with the FedCom in Lyran space at the Falcon/Viper border.

So here are the players, maneuvering through the field on what they think is a real security sweep, and we go through a sensors phase of them detecting an incoming bogey moving behind thick woods and building ruins. They eventually peg it as a likely heavy to assault mech, oddly alone, and eveything fits for it to be labeled hostile (which is part of the design of the scenerio). They maneuver for both investigative and defensive positions.

Suddenly, their neurohelmet HUDS and comms throw an alert declaring that this mission has now become a graduation test and all systems are shifted to simulation mode. Simultaneously, a 100-ton Marauder II steps out from behind the remains of a heavy wall, a mech they all know instantly as their Colonel and mercenary commander. They knew a test like this would one day happen with one of more officers, and here they drew the old man himself astride a mythical titan?

Now, this was my character (Colonel Elyam Gryphon, Commander, Apocalypse Brigade), and what was about to happen I couldn't have dreamed for a better intro to not only the new cadets, but the players themselves and spectators who naturally couldn't be quite sure that I could live up to a certain reputation. God knows you pray at times like this to not have your hero fall prey to the negative side of the dice repeatedly.

The Behemyth looses all longe range weapons at the target that I hope will have the strongest psychological effect if a good result can be had, and the most logical target tactically - the Battlemaster. 2 Clantech ERPPCs and a Gauss Rifle all hit, and I try to hold only a serious and sure face with each drop of the dice as each location roll comes up the same, all impacting the right leg. The armor is boiled away and internal structure penetrated. I then roll the chance for crit...12...and the leg is blown off.

But we're not done yet. The player makes her piloting skill roll to remain standing...and fails. Rolls to determine direction...falls flat backwards. Rolls falling damage, and it's a crit chance to the rear CT. Rolls the crit chance...and the 12 comes up again, 3 crits to CT...and she rolls each to the engine...

Based on some home rules for what our community disaffectionally has labeled Stackpoling, she gets results of an engine detonation but with her pilot ejecting and landing safely. Since this is a sim, her character complies with orders, shuts down the Battlemaster, climbs out and moves to a position 150m away at the spot where she would have ended up if she went through an actual ejection. She'll continue the scenario from that disposition

I turn the M2's torso in a sweeping motion looking across the field at the others, and radio them cooly, "A Jade Falcon Daishi could have done the same thing. I expect you to overcome this threat cadets, and look forward to welcoming you back to the hanger as full Brigadiers!" I hit the jumpjets and on they came, and on the day went. The Battlemaster's mechwarrior actually climbed onto my leg at one point and dropped a bandalier of grenades into an open wound, getting some revenge. They repelled my intrusion (I took it easy on them to some degree, these were just cadets after all) and 5 of the 7 graduated. It was a good day.

Edited by Elyam, 22 March 2013 - 09:18 AM.

[KalebFenoir]

Elyam, on 22 March 2013 - 09:10 AM, said:

The Behemyth looses all longe range weapons at the target that I hope will have the strongest psychological effect if a good result can be had, and the most logical target tactically - the Battlemaster. 2 Clantech ERPPCs and a Gauss Rifle all hit, and I try to hold only a serious and sure face with each drop of the dice as each location roll comes up the same, all impacting the right leg. The armor is boiled away and internal structure penetrated. I then roll the chance for crit...12...and the leg is blown off.

But we're not done yet. The player makes her piloting skill roll to remain standing...and fails. Rolls to determine direction...falls flat backwards. Rolls falling damage, and it's a crit chance to the rear CT. Rolls the crit chance...and the 12 comes up again, 3 crits to CT...and she rolls each to the engine...

Based on some home rules for what our community disaffectionally has labeled Stackpoling, she gets results of an engine detonation but with her pilot ejecting and landing safely. Since this is a sim, her character complies with orders, shuts down the Battlemaster, climbs out and moves to a position 150m away at the spot where she would have ended up if she went through an actual ejection. She'll continue the scenario from that disposition

I had a similar thing happen to me in a Survival type match. My friend was bringing out his Daishi as his active mech (we each had two Stars, but only one mech could be on the field at a time.) and I had a Cauldron-Born H. He outmassed me by 35 tons, so I knew I'd get pasted if I didn't do something good.

Luckily, that variant of the C-B has a nice little Targetting Comp tied in to the direct-fire weapons, of which that's ALL it had. My friend thought I was going to try and disable a torso or two, or an arm, and then die horribly under his fire, but instead I flat-out targetted his Center Torso with everything, letting that nice bonus to target do all the work.

I hit with EVERYTHING. My UAC/20 spins up and dissolves about 90% of his chest armour, but doesn't go internal. The HLL proceeds to strip the rest of that away, and DOES go internal. Roll for crit, and get nothing. The next hit is a HML. Goes internal. Crit roll? 12. Three solid hits. All engine components. My friend's engine drops out between his mech's legs,and rolls down hill, as the body collapses inward on itself, given that its skeletal structure in the body suddenly isn't there anymore.

I think my friend stared for about 10 minutes before we continued. Just stared at his mini. It was the first round of combat, and I'd just completely cored his mech front to back. (I personally like the idea of the UAC on the Cauldron-Born to be a chaingun/gatling gun style, instead of a two-shot cannon-pistol like here in MWO. Makes it more dramatic.)

[MechFrog1]

Here's the second article in the series. Just one of the many times that my brother nearly killed me.

http://themittani.co...ech-brotherhood

[Devillin]

Oh boy, I have so many to tell. I'll just stick to the ones involving Warhammers for right now. The first one occurred back in '89. I had just picked up the BT boxed set during my summer vacation. My family was taking a train trip out to Colorado, so I figured that would be the perfect time to figure out the game. To test it with me, I shanghaied my sister to play against me. I was feeling pretty cocky, so the first battle I took the Chameleon training mech. She took the Warhammer. She had read the rules as was just going off of what I was explaining to her. She beat me, handily. I asked for a rematch. This time I took my first custom built mech, the Devillin. In front of a bunch of onlookers, she beat me again. I spent the next couple of days during the trip redesigning the Devillin and demanded a rematch on our return trip back home. Needless to say, she beat me a third time. After that she declared that since she had so thoroughly whipped up on me in the game, she wasn't going to play me again. It's been 20+ years and I still can't a rematch out of her.

The other Warhammer story involves my cousin as well. We used to love playing The Game of Life, but after a certain point, it gets kind of boring. So my sister, cousin, and I remade it as "The Game of Life, Starring Battlemechs." You start out with an armored vehicle with a single gun. Every time you get a wife or kid, you get an extra gun and crewmember. Many of the Life events would get you armor upgrades. The best part was that each of the major events on the board involved a battle with a battlemech. The Tax Man was always played by the Warhammer. You had to defeat the mech with your tank, wife, and kids. Critical effects would still do stuff like "lose a crewmember/a kid got killed." You have no idea how many times my grandparents would hear someone yell, "The Taxman killed the kids!! Darn you Taxman!!"

Edited by Devillin, 26 March 2013 - 05:01 AM.