95 replies to this topic

[WonderSparks]

Certainly, playing MWO (and MW4 before that, and the SNES games before THAT) has made me want to see how it all started, what fun could be had on a table instead of a computer. (I like actually being able to hold the things I'm playing with anyways, which is why I made a few Timber Wolves out of LEGO)

And I would totally buy some of those minis if they ever made MWO 'Mechs. Especially if I learned how to paint them myself. 8D I'd be giddy as a schoolgirl to get my hands on a few miniature Stalkers and have fun "alpha striking" everything around them.

[GumbyC2C]

I started playing Battletech when it was called Battledroids. I played in lots of tournaments and really enjoyed the game for a long time. My gaming group got away from BT when Magic:The Gathering came out. Eventually around 1998 or 1999 I sold off all my Battletech stuff and my Magic stuff. But recently, when I started playing MWO, I decided I wanted to teach my sons Battletech so I replaced most of what I had sold via ebay and we have been playing TT. It has been really great playing with the kids.

[SteelWarrior]

Just placed an IWM order.....Cant wait !!

[Vox Scorpus]

Been playing BT TT for 30 years off and on. I hope MWO will create a resurgence in TT. It is slower but how can you beat an afternoon with friends rolling dice, laughing, cursing, and eating pizza! Great fun. BTW anyone who is paint brush challenged (me) look into the Hero Clix mechs. Their prepainted plastic movable figures. They are a little bigger than 25mm hex size but they look great.

[Bartholomew bartholomew]

Still have my boxed set from the 80's with the unseens. And Also have an original TRO3025. Which is amusing as all get out since I got a friend hooked on MWO. Because when he asked about the various mechs, out came the technical readout!

Unfortunately I don't know anybody to play the TT version with, but I do have mechcommander on my PC. So can do a litttle group therapy when I need to!

Edited by Bartholomew bartholomew, 24 July 2013 - 05:00 PM.

[Tharkan Stuermer]

SteelWarrior, on 12 October 2012 - 01:53 AM, said:

Yea I have no idea how it isnt more popular. I mean in essence the rules are simple. A game of Battletech is similar to a game of Axis and Allies in most ways, expect for the turns progress faster. Buy the box set for like 50 bucks. Grab 1-3 friends and get started. 1 mech each to learn. Painting is optional though its alot of fun once you get into it. But even just using the models. I mean....Battletech.....or Monopoly.....Easy choice for me.


I was thinking when i bought my box set maybe id throw up some youtube videos teaching the game or giving basic painting lessons.

BT is still pretty complicated, especially compared to other TT games. As far as I can tell, many-would-be players are chilled, if you throw the recent rules and standards at them. Unfortunately, the game gets even worse, considering that almost every newer weapon has it own set of special rules. In addition, some of the recently introduced tech is either extremely overpowered (for example HPPCs, or IJJ), almost useless (for example Bombast lasers, or iHG), or unplayable (for example different kind of armor, like reactice, or reflective armor) for anything but PC supported gameplay (i.e. MegaMek), or just plain stupid (like XXL engines, which are extremely overprized, an BLR-6X Battlemaster costs more, than a Leopard Dropship).
Unfortunately, the game developers don't realize, that the rapid introduction of ever newer, more complicated rules killed of MW:DA in the first place, and are doing the same to BT itself.

In addition, many of the old players (you know, not old people, but people who play BT for a long time ) I know, are severly annoyed, because the line developers screwed up the storyline pretty well. In fact, the post 3052-storyline has almost nothing in common with the original 3025-BT-universe. I am not talking about the Clans, or Operation Revival, though...

Edited by Tharkan Stuermer, 24 July 2013 - 09:40 PM.

[Benjamin Davion]

I went to a small private school. My mom was the assistant administrator, so even during the summer, I was usually there. One of the teachers played TT and left most of his collection there one week. One summer, I think I was ten or eleven, I was bored and roaming the building, reached into a box, and I pulled out an Atlas in Davion colors... I immediately fell in love. Spent the rest of the summer reading various technical manuals and fiddling with miniatures. I admit, I was a little young to really get into it, but the teacher saw how much I loved it. Mechwarrior: Dark Age had come out, and he introduced me to that. It was a much simpler game (for which many deride it and to which I respond with one finger) that ended up pulling 30+ guys (and a few girls) from 10 to 18 throughout the school into it. I still have a tacklebox of Dark Age units somewhere. We had tournaments on a biweekly basis and improvised, one-v-one games were virtually daily. The Solaris rules came out, and we had rolling Solaris brackets for months at a time. At one point, the teacher and I pushed together four tables in an empty room, with a train-set for a playing field, complete with hills and buildings, and we had three commanders to each side, with each leading a reinforced regiment of forces. The battle raged for two weeks with wide flanking manuevers, dug-in defensive lines, massed artillery support, and at one point, over a dozen mechs brawling for control of the high ground. We even worked out our own specialized rules for resupply and rearmament for realism sake. I was a master of combined arms, which I often proved by obliterating teams based on one or two assault mechs by pairing light mechs with a lance of battlesuits and fast vehicles. Nothing was funnier than watching someone confidently swagger an Atlas or a Zeus into the middle of the field, only to find itself bracketed by my artillery with whole lances of Purifier and Gnome infantry surrounding them when they overheated running away. Even people who didn't play often came to watch, and Battletech/Mechwarrior books were all over the school. Waverly Hall Christian Academy was suddenly the School of Battletech for two or three years until a lawsuit shattered the school. The teacher (the one that actually started the mess) left, as did 80% of the students and 60% of the staff. Mechwarrior games carried on, with myself and two others, until about 2008, when my playing partners lost interest. Two years later, I graduated, and the school rolls on, but Battletech is forgotten. Other than a House Davion crest I sketched in a locker and my dusty tacklebox, the School of Battletech is gone. I still read the books from time to time, but Battletech was a part of my past, not my present.

And then came Mechwarrior Online.

Suddenly, I dug up the old tacklebox just to look at my old armies, my agile Spider, my trusty Centurions, my mighty Atlas, all proudly wearing the Davion crest. I started buying up books again. I started to FEEL like a Davion again. Battletech was once more in the forefront of my mind, and I felt energized, like I had just reached into that box for the first time.

So yes, the answer to your question, is yes. MWO can revive Battletech's popularity again.

[Villz]

SteelWarrior, on 12 October 2012 - 01:53 AM, said:

Yea I have no idea how it isnt more popular. I mean in essence the rules are simple. A game of Battletech is similar to a game of Axis and Allies in most ways, expect for the turns progress faster. Buy the box set for like 50 bucks. Grab 1-3 friends and get started. 1 mech each to learn. Painting is optional though its alot of fun once you get into it. But even just using the models. I mean....Battletech.....or Monopoly.....Easy choice for me.


I was thinking when i bought my box set maybe id throw up some youtube videos teaching the game or giving basic painting lessons.

probably something to do with the fact people enjoy beating people with skill nowdays as opposed to rolling dice. Might aswell go play craps if you like dice rolling maybe make some money

[Mongoose Trueborn]

Villz, on 25 July 2013 - 04:16 AM, said:

probably something to do with the fact people enjoy beating people with skill nowdays as opposed to rolling dice. Might aswell go play craps if you like dice rolling maybe make some money

Meh, I just enjoy sex too much.

[justin xiang]

Check out mekwars.org if you want to play some TT BattleTech.

SteelWarrior, on 19 October 2012 - 01:01 AM, said:

I got my hands on a 2 gig PDF file full of Battletech ebooks from over the years and all i can say is holy ****. lol. My father had a photo copied TRO of the 3025 era and the 3rd edition rulebook and that was it. I now have like 20 years of Classic battletech manuals on my PC and the wealth of the universe is just incredible. I mean inside these books theres endless artwork and canon material. I think if there was just more public knowledge of Battletech it would draw in tons of people. I really enjoy painting my Warhammer 40k army, still have yet to play an actual game. But holy christ is it ever expensive. I mean a basic squad of troop models sell for 40 bucks here. Ill be paying close to 100 bucks canadian to get a full 10 man Terminator squad. The mark up on GW miniatures is stupid. Not to mention the 80 dollar ******* rulebook + 30 dollar codex just to play lol. Nice thing about Battletech is you can get your hands on some nice models in bulk for a good price.

So I am guessing you pirated all this material? You know that is illegal and sure as hell doesn't help the franchise out financially... It's also not smart to admit to this kind of **** on a public forum.

[Overkill C7]

SteelWarrior, on 12 October 2012 - 12:03 AM, said:

Also as an afterthought I would love to see PGI contact Ironwinds and create some miniatures of the MWO mech designs and sell them. Sure a good chunk of people would buy the mini's just to have a display version of their favorites from the game. Could create interest in the TT version.

I agree fully! I'd love to have the MWO versions as some of them look a lot better, IMHO, than the current models. I wouldn't even mind it if they made 'em in plastic like they did with the Thor and Loki in the new Box Set.

[Beik Ross Norst]

been playing since '85! My oldest boy was raised on it, when he watches me play MWO he identifies mechs visually and is usually spot on with their weapons.

[Steinar Bergstol]

Hmm. Is that an unseen Crusader I see there front and center on that board? And back in the distance to the far left that's definitely an Archer unless my eyesight is failing me in my old age. The rest of them. Hmm, The one to the right of the Crusader looks like a Panther seen from behind, and that's gotta be a Spider standing right behind it, but with the "wings/jump jet pack" upside down by the looks of things.

Can't ID the rest though.

[Koniving]

Awesome to see. Personally I play tabletop in the online form of Megamek (never had local fans around me, never had anyone to play with so wasn't much point in collecting the minis though I did start on it at one point before the hurricanes).

So, when private messaging works and if you play tabletop online via megamek, let me know as I'd love to get into some games.

[Sears]

I want to play TT. Well saying that, I want to try out the Tabletop RPG/Boardgame combo at some point. But the table top will come first. None really in print at the moment. Though apparently there's a new revised print intro box set coming in the near future. So, hopefully soon.