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My experience is a great deal more with Battletech, but mostly back in the day.
I have only had one game of Mech attack, but I find that I like how the rules work very much. I played just the one game, and my oponent was my nine year old son, but it went really very well. By that I mean I won. But not by much. In fact he had hit my armor harder and had rolled more crits, but I happened to crit once and roll a "mech destroyed."
The same night I played a couple beginning scenario fights with Battletech with the boy and in each fight, the same mech won (we played the scenario with him defending with a Hunchback and me attacking with an Enforcer, and then vs versa. The Hunchback won each fight.) The rules we used were the free download of the new set, so quite simplified, but it sufficed to show us how the game plays.

For us the comparison between the two games was pretty close. The boy likes the Battletech just a tiny bit more, while I slightly prefer the Mech Attack. He is not sure that his preference will survive playing by the full rules. Unable to afford much for now, I got an old 4th edition of Battletech on E-bay and have it coming this way. I have all but the latest "Mech Factory" set for Mech Attack.

As a note, the assembly of the paper models is still going rather slowly for me. I reckon I would strongly prefer rebased Mechwarrior: Dark Age models, but for the mo I'm working on paper miniatures that are quite simplified. The AG:MA models look great when built, but getting them all cut out is kind of painful in my hands. Driving an older dump truck all day will do that.

i would probably play Total Warfare if I had it, but the old rules are good enough for us, no need to upgrade if you dont play beyond the 3026 book.

Both systems have their merits but at the moment Mech Attack is winning as it is easier to get the younger players into playing. Plus the costs are obviously far lower. - albeit my sausage fingers make assembling the paper models a chore.

Tip - look uo the old Steel Warriors plastic mecha sets (EM-4 or Red Box have them). Okay not to the quality of BT minis but modular and cheap and if you have younger players, you can afford enough to hand out for them to painting their own.

All you need for Battletech is a Starter set. It is a board game before a minis game. You don't need any minis for it at all, just a counter so you can identify the unit and which way it is facing. Battletech is one of the cheapest games out there if you want it to be.

I would say pick up the Battletech Introductory set...you get all the rules you need, along with like 20-something plastic mechs. This will give you 2 a chance to try BTwith the full rules, and if you dont like it you have a ton of minis for Mech Attack.

Mad4Minis wrote:I would say pick up the Battletech Introductory set...you get all the rules you need, along with like 20-something plastic mechs. This will give you 2 a chance to try BTwith the full rules, and if you dont like it you have a ton of minis for Mech Attack.

Yeah, but it's going for nearly $90 at this time, and my gaming budget is shot for the year on what I already have.

wilycoyote wrote:Tip - look uo the old Steel Warriors plastic mecha sets (EM-4 or Red Box have them). Okay not to the quality of BT minis but modular and cheap and if you have younger players, you can afford enough to hand out for them to painting their own.

They have those over at Michigan toy soldier, too. How is the scale on those and how many mechs can you make from each box? The nominal scale of Mech Attack is 15mm, with the heavy mechs being about 50mm tall or so, while Battletech is nominally 6mm, from what I can gather.

Where are looking for the intro box set? The 25th Anniversary version (the latest) should still be available for $50.

Chugosh wrote:

Mad4Minis wrote:I would say pick up the Battletech Introductory set...you get all the rules you need, along with like 20-something plastic mechs. This will give you 2 a chance to try BTwith the full rules, and if you dont like it you have a ton of minis for Mech Attack.

Yeah, but it's going for nearly $90 at this time, and my gaming budget is shot for the year on what I already have.

Here it is at FRP Games, $40 http://frpgames.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=39883

Its also the same price at thewarstore.com which I would recommend over FRP.

They must have finally started to reprint it! Yay!
Still it will be a bit till I can score a copy.
$10 is too much if all you have is $5

I got a few more of the paper minis done for Mech Attach. I need better tools.

Chugosh wrote:They must have finally started to reprint it! Yay!
Still it will be a bit till I can score a copy.
$10 is too much if all you have is $5

I got a few more of the paper minis done for Mech Attach. I need better tools.

Thats cool, nothing wrong with Mech Attack...Ive printed up a copy, looking forward to playing it soon.

Do recommend picking up a copy of Battletech when you get the chance.

Mad4Minis wrote:Do recommend picking up a copy of Battletech when you get the chance.

It does look pretty in all the unboxing videos.

Chugosh wrote:

Mad4Minis wrote:Do recommend picking up a copy of Battletech when you get the chance.

It does look pretty in all the unboxing videos.

The basic plastic mechs look pretty junky in bare plastic, but a paint job or even a base coat and wash job makes them decent. The 2 premium clan mechs are very nice. All the books, etc are well done too.

BattleTech all the way. Proven system over a quarter of a century of gameplay and still going strong over on www.classicbattletech.com and other sites. Very deep universe with lots of books, novels, and other things to immerse yourself into the universe of BattleTech.

I've played Mech Attack many times and absolutely love it! I use the rebased mechwarrior clix figures as they are dirt cheap and nicer than paper.


Here's a couple of the Mech Attack games I've played.
http://rpgdiehard.blogspot.com/2010/12/rebased-mechwarrior-clix-in-action.html

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/399309.page

I just don't have the patience for Battletech and battle tech is an investment in terms of the books, models and expansions.

All that said... I love battletech fluff and TRO's. Also your son seems to really like battle tech and quality time with the kid is probably the most important factor. Remember also that MA paper mechs (15mm) Mechwarrior clix (10mm) and Battletech (6-8mm) are all different and largely incompatible in scale, so you don't want to jump into one before you're sure.

Here's what I'd do:

-When the 4th edition rules arrive, give them a few run through with your paper mechs to see if his interest holds.

-If he keeps enjoying them, buy the introductory boxed set. It comes with a ton of mechs (smaller scale than MEchwarrior figs) and everything you need to get into BT and will keep you busy playing and painting for a long while. Also, it covers the pre-clan BT world which isn't as complicated in terms of rules and theres no reason you have to advance beyond the box set and the single Technical readout that covers the pre-clan era. Also, you can always use the mechs in the BT boxed set to play Mech Attack.

-If his interest in the 4th edition BT (nearly the same as the current rules) you've already ordered doesn't keep up, then stick with mech attack, save a bunch of $ and buy and rebase mechwarrior figs instead.

One last thing.
If he really takes to Battletech or if you decided to go with battletech as your chosen scale for minis for whatever game, the EM4 mechs are nice models to use to bulk up your forces or start a force until you can afford the BT box set. They scale perfectly with BT minis and are great for conversions.

Here's a good review of them
http://www.reviewingwargames.com/wargamereviews/em4steel.html
and here's where they are sold.
http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Science_Fiction.html
I ordered them a while back (EM4 shipping from UK is quite affordable) and I must say that they are fairly nice mechs (on par with Battletech starter box plastics) and 5 mechs for 4 bucks is hard to beat!

I've seen the steel warriors models around here and there, and they do look pretty good, and way cheaper than the metal figs out there. I have been curious about them.

I was thinking of going with the small scale Battleforce models, if I was going to go in metal.

But I had this crazy thought when I was looking at my pair of Robotech toys.

And their comparative scale to a plastic soldier from the dollar store.

"Liscense and Registration, sir?"

A few plastic tanks and jeeps, and a couple dozen of these soldiers arranged on bases for units, maybe with card model cannons or rocket launchers, and these toys on proper mech bases, for a 3X or 4X scale game of Mech Attack. I'm not sure I'm going to make it happen, but it would be kind of cool, I think.

Do you change movement or shooting scale for the mechwarrior minis Mech Attack games? I am so inspired by those pics!!

The robotech toys are quite nice and are actually almost exactly 28mm scale, so you can just use whatever 28mm infantry you have lying around.
Here's a fellow that's doing just that.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/376470.page#3291348

I have 3 of them. Unfortunatley they're quite expensive if you decide to expand beyond what you already have. Think 25 bucks or more each for the toys and there is a guy making resin kits of current BT models in near-28mm, but they go for 75 and up!

Battleforce figs are one way to go, but if you go that way, you're better off just sticking with 6mm standard battletech scale. The selection of battleforce mechs is pretty small. With 6mm, not only can you use the cheap plastic mechs (starter box and steel warriors), but you can play against other BT players.

As for movement and shooting ranges, I keep it exactly as written. One thing I have learned is to keep the boards fairly small. a 3x3 table is more than enough for a game of mech attack unless you want to spend alot of turns moving. The game in the pictures used a table that was too big and it really messed up the scenario I was trying to create.

Those are some impressive paint jobs on those toys!

I think that mech attack mechs are smaller by scale than Battletech mechs, which is to say while the toy would be 28mm scale for Battletech, maybe they fit better as 54mm in Mech Attack. Or maybe I just want to have the excuse to use dollar store toy soldiers.

Chugosh wrote:Those are some impressive paint jobs on those toys!

I think that mech attack mechs are smaller by scale than Battletech mechs, which is to say while the toy would be 28mm scale for Battletech, maybe they fit better as 54mm in Mech Attack. Or maybe I just want to have the excuse to use dollar store toy soldiers.

I think you mean larger in scale. The scales are roughly as follows

40-54mm:Toy soldiers
28mm Robotech toys if measured by the battletech universe.
15mm (1/100):Mech Attack paper models
10mm (1/144) aka "N" scale:Mechwarrior Clix and CAV (previous edition)
6mm (1/258 to 1/300) aka "Z" scale: Battletech, Steel warriors, CAV (current edition)
3-4mm scale: Battletech Battleforce

I noted CAV in there CAV doesn't offer any more affordability in miniatures (they're about the same as BT) but the rules aren't as crunchy may be a nice comprimise between the complexity of BT and the simplicity of MA. Also, Troll and Toad has the CAV book ane the two expansions (Journal of Recognition 1 and 2) for less than a buck each! Definitely worthit if only for art and background.
http://www.trollandtoad.com/products/search.php?searchmode=basic&search_words=%22CAV%22&search_category=

Note that while I've read through it, I've not played it. I just use the books as pictorial refference since (try and follow this...) Future War Commander has stats for CAV vehicles and I use those stats for my rebased mechwarrior clix figs.

Put another way I take a Mechwarrior vehicle, the CAV books to find a vehicle that looks similar and then look up the stat in FWC.

Chugosh wrote: Or maybe I just want to have the excuse to use dollar store toy soldiers.

No shame in that. Regardless of the "right" scale, the robotech mechs will look fine next to toy soldiers.

My vote is Battletech without question. Any ruleset that, at it's core, hasn't changed in 25 years is terrific in my view. Great strategy, tons and tons of designs, option for custom mechs, etc. It's the game that defined the genre of "big stompy robots".

So for Cyber Monday, the Armor Grid stuff is all on sale, and I had to make mention of it.
http://www.wargamevault.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=3148

I got my 4th edition Battletech box, and I'm really pleased with it. I'm not sure I'll settle on a preference. I like both games plenty.

Chugosh wrote:So for Cyber Monday, the Armor Grid stuff is all on sale, and I had to make mention of it.
http://www.wargamevault.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=3148

I got my 4th edition Battletech box, and I'm really pleased with it.

Great reminder. I picked up my Armor grid stuff at a similar sale last year.

Chugosh wrote: I'm not sure I'll settle on a preference. I like both games plenty.

Glad to hear it, especially since it's the game that your son prefers. If you like both rulesets, there's no reason to have to settle on one or the other. They are very different games for very different styles of play. If you really like B-Tech, I'd recommend going with their scale of models. Between the aniversary box set and some em4 mechs, you'll have enough mechs to keep you painting and playing for years!

Nothing saying you can't collect multiple scales of models, but "that way lies madness...."