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I got a gift card thingy from my employer that was redeemable at Amazon so I figured I’d grab the Alpha Strike counters pack. Thought 30€ was too much for it but I didn’t mind paying 15€ for it. I don’t want more mechs right now but figured all the terrain would be useful in my other game projects too. Those trees are pretty huge and are perfectly sized for 15mm. As someone who’s been building a shitload of paper and cardboard terrain lately, I’m very positively surprised by the quality of the buildings. This is some top notch cardboard. The gaming club I’ve been going to here has the Dropzone Commander buildings and they’re made of MUCH flimsier stuff, plus they designs are really boring. So one point for Catalyst for that one
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Jun 29, 2023 19:53
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I remember Heir to the Dragon being fun
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Jun 29, 2023 23:39
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Charette's just a better writer than all his contemporaries in BT, no question.
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Jun 30, 2023 00:21
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Thurston isn't as good but he definitely understood the assignment.
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Jun 30, 2023 00:41
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a cyborg mug posted:Stackpole’s name is kind of funny so he’s got that going for himself at least We should stack his books on a pole, and then push
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Jun 30, 2023 00:48
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I actually honest-to-God like William Keith. The Gray Death Trilogy is pretty solid pulpy action with likeable stock characters that does a good job of setting up the Inner Sphere. They're simple stories written in a pretty workmanlike manner, but I would have loved them as a 12 year old and I wouldn't feel bad about recommending them to a kid today, unlike some of the other sketchier stuff from the era. They're also perfect as inspiration for the game itself: small unit actions with only a few 'Mechs per side, mercenary companies fighting on planets with weird or interesting environments, they're perfect! I constantly see people asking what the best intro to the setting is on reddit or in discords and I always see the Warrior trilogy recommended and it makes me want to pull out my hair. The Gray Death books are at a scale people will actually play games at, have better characters and settings, and do a better job of evoking the weird, almost post-apocalyptic feudalism of the Succession Wars.
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Jun 30, 2023 00:53
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They also are about an underdog who has to overcome a more powerful antagonist, instead of a hero who starts out in the most advantageous position and then retains it while beating up his weakest neighbor and simultaneously telling us about how that neighbor is inferior in every way.
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Jun 30, 2023 01:11
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Defiance Industries posted:Ghost War is bad. But it's bad licensed genre fiction for a tabletop wargame. I didn't mind it, but I've survived a lot of truly horrible Star Wars and Warhammer 40k novels so it could be that my standards have just been irretrievably warped by the experience. It was also my light bedtime reading that I would do to shut down my brain so that might have something to do with it.
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Jun 30, 2023 03:35
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Defiance Industries posted:Charette's just a better writer than all his contemporaries in BT, no question. That's an odd way to spell Victor Milan.
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Jun 30, 2023 14:57
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PhotoKirk posted:That's an odd way to spell Victor Milan. I like both Milan and Charette but I think Charette has an edge on him. Also, some people are going to look at Milan weirdly forever now due to his creation of Malvina Hazen.
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Jul 1, 2023 00:18
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A friend of mine really likes Malvina Hazen because she is the absolute and unquestionable best person for the job of Khan by the logic that the Clans use, but also 100% incompetent at anything that isn't murder, and her rising to the top and having a real shot at being ilKhan shows just how broken Clan society always has been. I can't really argue with him there, since she is a detestable villain.
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Jul 1, 2023 01:41
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Milan is more colorful but I'd trust Charrette more with worldbuilding.
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Jul 1, 2023 01:43
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Everyone another After Action Report. 300 pts Alpha Strike, Republic Triarii vs. Capellan Poznan Guard (Unique group I made for my friend, they're colored the Portuguese flag because he's Portuguese). Sorry for picture quality being eh, lighting in my friend's house wasn't the best. Republic Forces, Striker Lance and Heavy Battle Lance (I didn't take a pic of all the Capellans because they're not all done).   The Capellans are attempting to recapture Poznan, a planet in the Republic's Prefecture V. Orginially colonized by Poles from Terra, who were later suppressed by Portuguese colonizers, who were later suppressed by Chinese colonizers, the Portuguese descendants have thrown their lot in with Liao, and a local noble has raised a company of 'Mechs to cause trouble.    Republic scouts move up to intercept a Capellan Wraith and Stinger.   Heavier Capellan elements move to support the Wraith and Stinger, while the Republic battle lance forms a wall of steel.   The Republic light mechs surround and tear apart the Wraith, but receive fire shredding their armor. The two heavier lances shoot across the river from each other but make no hits.  Liao advances on both fronts, and a lucky shot from a Liao Wasp hits into the King Crab cockpit. The pilot survives, but his targeting computer is damaged (1 pt of damage on King Crab -> Crit -> Fire Control Hit, lol)   The Liao Wasp moves closer, but none of the Republic heavies can the bugger. Suddenly, he performs a Death From Above on the King Crab!   The Republic forces have managed to scrap the Wraith, Stinger, and the King Crab grabs the Wasp and crushes it in one of its claws. Down three 'Mechs, the Liao forces decide to pull back to plan a new strategy. The Republic forces likewise retreat.   We stopped after round 5 because I was dead tired and had to get home 40 minutes away. My buddy definitely liked Alpha Strike, although I think he prefers Clix more still. We'll have to play again soon.
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Jul 2, 2023 01:13
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I had a Catalyst Games Store voucher to burn so I spent some of it on BT ebooks, I got “Battletech: Legacy” which is a collection of short stories about a single Grasshopper mech changing hands over the course of like 300 years, and one called “Rules of Engagement” that had a Mad Cat on the cover and was $1 and not written by Stackpole. Did I make bad choices?
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Jul 2, 2023 05:50
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Xenomrph posted:I had a Catalyst Games Store voucher to burn so I spent some of it on BT ebooks, I got “Battletech: Legacy” which is a collection of short stories about a single Grasshopper mech changing hands over the course of like 300 years, and one called “Rules of Engagement” that had a Mad Cat on the cover and was $1 and not written by Stackpole. I think the Battletech Legacy stories are a pretty good purchase, yes. EDIT: Seeing Crazy Joe Wilson's game above reminded me to ask the thread. any more experienced Alpha Strike players, have any of you used the lance formation movement rules instead of the back and forth of standard play? Does it seem to screw with the games much? Holybat fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Jul 2, 2023 |
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Jul 2, 2023 06:27
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MW:5 and all the dlc is on sale. It's pretty good with the dlc right? I remember reading some of the AI was messy but apparently moving away from bracket builds helps with that?
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Jul 2, 2023 06:28
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The DLC is just more of the same thing so if you finish the game and wanted more then buy it, otherwise it's not going to do anything that fixes the many problems of the game
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Jul 2, 2023 06:46
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Preparing for some of my last games here in Berlin today and the era was set in the Lostech junk mech time. Found out that there’s an absolutely hilarious Wasp variant from that era that’s basically a miniature Charger with SIX small lasers and decided to base my list around that, including a Hunchback variant with eight medium lasers Battlemaster BLR-2C Hunchback HBK-4P Vindicator VND-1R Wasp WSP-1W In total my dumb list has 21 lasers. 13 medium, 8 small. I’m sure it’ll be entirely impractical but I’m really excited to play it
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Jul 2, 2023 08:09
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The 4p is the best mech
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Jul 2, 2023 08:44
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Arquinsiel posted:A friend of mine really likes Malvina Hazen because she is the absolute and unquestionable best person for the job of Khan by the logic that the Clans use, but also 100% incompetent at anything that isn't murder, and her rising to the top and having a real shot at being ilKhan shows just how broken Clan society always has been. Nah the ultimate product of the Clan system working exactly as designed is Khan Asa Taney of the Ice Hellions. A badass aerospace pilot who defeated every enemy thrown at him in a trial, and also a gibbering moron who had trouble deciding anything more complicated than which trouser leg to put on first. His 15 years of being top of his clan turned them into a joke and would end with his clan being annihilated not long after he was killed. At least Malvina had a plan, a goal and came close to actually pulling it off.
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Jul 2, 2023 10:22
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ilmucche posted:The 4p is the best mech I've been playing the bot campaign in mekhq. 4p and a pilot with medium laser spec and it's just a blender
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Jul 2, 2023 11:54
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Both the WSP-1W and HBK-4P are now dead but they were hilarious Fav mechs
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Jul 2, 2023 12:59
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Holybat posted:I think the Battletech Legacy stories are a pretty good purchase, yes. Whenever I play a game unless both sides have only 1 lance we always use lance formation movement. It makes things far quicker and adds to that tactical feel that Alpha Strike is trying to get at.
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Jul 2, 2023 17:35
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Ferrosol posted:Nah the ultimate product of the Clan system working exactly as designed is Khan Asa Taney of the Ice Hellions. A badass aerospace pilot who defeated every enemy thrown at him in a trial, and also a gibbering moron who had trouble deciding anything more complicated than which trouser leg to put on first. His 15 years of being top of his clan turned them into a joke and would end with his clan being annihilated not long after he was killed.
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Jul 2, 2023 18:49
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I finally backed the Kickstarter …and I only bought books? Not a single miniature? Wtf is going on with me I’ll tell you what’s going on. I basically really wanted the BattleTech Universe book that’ll likely be sold at a crazy price in Finland, if at all. Then I figured I do want to read the Grey Death Trilogy so I got that set. Oh yeah and the Art of War book seems like a hoot and probably won’t be available everywhere so I got that too. And, when I eventually buy the miniatures, I want to buy them from a Finnish FLGS to support the game in Finland - and the FLGS. I was backer number 22870  Edit: Well, the KS page says there are 23654 backers so I don’t know where that 22870 came from, but that’s what the BackerKit page is telling me. a cyborg mug fucked around with this message at 18:57 on Jul 3, 2023 |
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Jul 3, 2023 18:50
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People are probably holding off on their BackerKit surveys still.
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Jul 3, 2023 18:56
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Arquinsiel posted:People are probably holding off on their BackerKit surveys still. Ah, makes sense
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Jul 3, 2023 18:59
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Holybat posted:I think the Battletech Legacy stories are a pretty good purchase, yes. It doesn’t screw with the game because you still have a chance to shoot no matter what, because it’s considered to be “simultaneous” for both sides. Moving a whole lance (which we’ve done even with lance vs lance or star vs star) is really only moving the game along a liiiittle bit faster. I think we’ve broken it down to standard mech “I go you go” stuff when we’re at a lance or less, since you’re being much more careful with your Swiss cheese mechs. That said; try it. If the folks you’re playing against don’t like it, you can set up the entire game again from the top and still finish in an evening. Moving whole lances (since that’s the scale intended for AS) just kind of feels appropriate, and more so on bigger maps.
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Jul 5, 2023 22:02
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I just realized the Coyotl Prime record sheet has a hand actuator on the left arm, but I've never seen a model or art with it actually shown. The new one that Catalyst has made doesn't even have it shown.
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Jul 11, 2023 06:10
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Maybe it pops out of that little box.
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Jul 11, 2023 14:24
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Spring actuated boxing glove fist. Punch with kick damage, 1 round to recharge.
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Jul 11, 2023 14:28
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Kickpuncher
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Jul 11, 2023 14:36
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I assume four little claws reach out of the tube at the top.
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Jul 11, 2023 15:13
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Enforcer III has a flippable arm/hand actuator. It looks cool. And makes more sense than all those mechs with vestigal hands that their weapon barrels shoot out past. Looking at you Nightsky. I want to make a meme about BattleTech deep lore. Everyone give me your best deep lore that once you know it, BattleTech just looks different.
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Jul 12, 2023 13:26
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Only one variant of the Enforcer III has the hand, but stuff like that is why BattleTech is fun as hell. All kinds of weird stuff like being surprised when a particular variant of a mech has hands. Or doesn't have hands.
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Jul 12, 2023 13:34
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Mechs are made by GM so I assume that there's a luxury Cadillac and a bare bones Chevy version of every one of their mechs.
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Jul 12, 2023 13:35
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We get a lot of mileage out of the fact that it's all 80's future tech. So we marvel at digital watches and internal combustion engines.
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Jul 12, 2023 15:04
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HootTheOwl posted:Mechs are made by GM so I assume that there's a luxury Cadillac and a bare bones Chevy version of every one of their mechs. That's the Marauder and the Blackjack, respectively. EDIT- Every great House is stuck in the era of thinking digital watches are a really neat idea. That's the real reason no alien races have tried making contact with them yet.
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Jul 12, 2023 15:25
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One of the very first acts Ian Cameron did to mark the formation of the Star League was to repeal the Ares Conventions and any other laws and treaties concerning conduct on the battlefield.
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Jul 12, 2023 16:52
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Crazy Joe Wilson posted:I want to make a meme about BattleTech deep lore. Everyone give me your best deep lore that once you know it, BattleTech just looks different. Apple owns a planet. They named it Macintosh.
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Jul 12, 2023 17:03
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