The demise of WizKids has been playing merry havoc with its intellectual properties. Of them, the most interesting to us has been BattleTech, but a recent interview with the folk at Catalyst Games (who produce the Classic BattleTech line) has clarified quite a few matters. Classic BattleTech is dead. Long live BattleTech! There is no longer a “Classic BattleTech” brand – it’s back under the … Continue reading BattleTech: The times they are a-changing
Well, Thursday evening through Saturday went like this: Thursday evening: BattleTech Friday lunch: played Cosmic Encounter with my students. (Go Virus!) Friday afternoon: went to see Milk Friday evening: played Star Wars RPG: Dawn of Defiance Saturday afternoon: played BattleTech Saturday evening: played Starcraft: the Board Game. Yeah, something of a good weekend. BattleTech was something of a disaster for Rich & Josh’s team, which … Continue reading BattleTech, Star Wars and Starcraft… a normal weekend
Well, we played through the first of the Sword & Dragon Touchpoint missions yesterday: Sorenson’s Sabres (played by Martin and Rich) came up against a lance of Fuchida’s Fusiliers (played by Sarah, Randy, Stephen and Merric). Despite the Sabres terrifically out-tonning and out-gunning the Fusiliers, the mercenaries gave a good account of themselves. Shakir Jerrar’s Hunchback was crippled early in the confrontation: a head hit … Continue reading BattleTech: Touchpoint Udibi
Well, I’ve finally reported what happened in our last group of BattleTech missions. For those who are interested: The Fox’s Teeth Mission #5: Supply Run Mission #6: Recon-in-Force Sorenson’s Sabres Mission #5: Pursuit Next up will be missions #6 and #7 for the Sabres, which will be run on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon. As a change from the revision of the rules in S&D, we’ll … Continue reading BattleTech reports
Well, we had a pretty good weekend of gaming – or at least, I did. 🙂 Friday night saw Martin take Adam, Greg and me through the end of part 5 of the Dawn of Defiance campaign, The First to Strike. We’ve struck a blow for the rebellion and the rights of all enslaved aliens everywhere! The campaign may need another player with Nathaniel likely having to leave. … Continue reading BattleTech and other boardgames over the long weekend
I’m very fond of the format that Catalyst Labs have created for their new BattleTech Record Sheets. I think they’re very stylish, and far, far better than the ones that the HeavyMetal program produces. However, for our S&D campaign, it’s likely we’ll be modifying some of the mechs at some stage. How do you get a CL-style record sheet when there isn’t a program to … Continue reading BattleTech Record Sheets
Missions – Basic Errors or ProblemsI’ll get to the problems with the optional complications somewhat later (and I’d appreciate any advice you have about them), but there are a few true oddities about the way the missions are constructed. In particular, none of the missions list in their “next missions” the Recon-in-Force mission! Yes, you can’t get to it at all! So, here are the … Continue reading Sword and Dragon – more Mission notes
Basic Mission Analysis:The various mission tracks show signs of good ideas not properly thought through. Why do you gain bonus points if its raining (making it harder to hit) in a Recon track where there is no Salvage option… so only helping the player? I’ve just done some analysis of the potential WP rewards from each track. This assumes you manage to salvage an average … Continue reading Sword and Dragon – Basic Mission Analysis
Laurie rather enjoyed our BattleTech game on the weekend, and inquired about what he needed to play the game. So, here’s an annotated list, with links to the products on MilSims (click on teh prices): BattleTech Introductory Box Set – $68 – 24 plastic mechs, 2 double-sided maps, quick-start rules, introductory rules, universe book, universe map, 2 quick reference cards. Definitely start with this. Starterbook Sword … Continue reading BattleTech for Laurie
For those uninterested in my BattleTech posts, I’d advise looking elsewhere. This is going to be one of a series of posts looking at the Starterbook: Sword & Dragon campaign from the perspective of someone who is currently playing it, and finding one or two relatively minor problems that need fixing… or just wants to tinker with it a bit. So, here’s the first bit to … Continue reading Sword and Dragon – Maintenance and Updates
