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I just got the PDF and am giving it a look over. I play BT every month or so and we've been talking about switching to something a bit faster.

I couldn't find the cards, but I did fine a list of stats for a variety of mechs starting on page 135 (using the page numbers printed on the page if anyone as the physical copy).

EDIT: Ninja'd by judgedoug

So it turns out all the BattleForce QuickStrike stats will work fine with Alpha Strike, you just need to double their movement and turn it from hexes to inches.

You can go to the master unit list and just type what you are looking for into the search field. Find the unit you want and scroll down for the stats.

http://www.masterunitlist.info/

Also, anyone interested in either BT or Alpha Strike should check out Solaris Skunk Werks. I just found out about it from a guy on Facebook. It's a free mech designer program and if you download the master library files you'll have the stats for tons and tons of mechs and vehicles. It also generates the BattleForce stats talked about above if you want to use them for Alpha Strike (just double the move to make it into inches).

it is java based and executes as a jar file, so it should work on any platform.

http://www.solarisskunkwerks.com/

The master library files are found on the downloads page under reference sheets.

I use EM4 plastics and Reaper's CAV stuff.

The master unit list website has gotten updated with like 4500 updated Alpha Strike card images.

http://www.masterunitlist.info/



I think I'll copy them into a word process, make them 3.5x2.5 and put them in card sleeves and use a dry or wet erase pen on them.

judgedoug wrote:

 frozenwastes wrote:


I think I'll copy them into a word process, make them 3.5x2.5 and put them in card sleeves and use a dry or wet erase pen on them.

Get them printed on 3.5x5 photos, glossy, and you won't need card sleeves. Dry erase works perfectly on true photographic paper. I use http://richmondcamera.photofinale.com (you need to install Silverlight) for 19 cent 3.5x5 and 4x6 prints.

This is such a good idea.

There's also card maker software here:
http://btengineer.blogspot.ca/2013/08/alpha-strike-card-maker-update.html

So I can look at the Master Unit List, put the stats into the card maker and produce full colour images I can take to have printed as pictures anywhere that prints digital camera prints. Fantastic!

EDIT: It looks like the card maker can load directly from the MUL. Also, I found a local place that does 4x6 prints for $0.15 + tax. Now all I need to do is get someone with a digital camera to take pictures of my mechs so I can put them on the cards.

I was thinking of putting some transparent tape of adhesive clear vinyl over the armour and structure dots anyway. Though in the end, I might just fill a page with colour 3.5x2.5 images, get it printed locally and still put them in sleeves. We'll see.

I'll just slide the land in behind the print. No reason to glue it.

So I've played six games of Alpha Strike. Half were introductory games with 4 mechs vs 4 mechs. The other was more of a full game with a few lances per side.

My thoughts:

It is fast. The 4 vs 4 games took half an hour. The full size games less than two hours.

It feels like Battletech. It has the same interactive back and forth turn structure and the same attack roll with a target number.

It supports a fuller and more conventional approach to warfare. Units like vehicles and artillery work and work well without any real slow down.

If you're willing to familiarize yourself with the classic BT rules and the construction system and the conversion process to Alpha Strike, you can build pretty much anything for 6mm sci-fi. And that assumes that of the 4000+ unit cards on the Master Unit List, you can't find what you're looking for already. Programs like Solaris Skunkwerks can do the building simply and easily as well.

I have a bunch of 6mm sci-fi that I might pull out and try a more infantry and tank heavy game.

I like the abstract aerospace rules and the off board and on board artillery rules.

Let's be honest about the points system:

It's just the Battletech BV2.0 points system divided by 100 and rounded appropriately. So that means you have the stuff statted out for one game, but the points system is based on how it performs in another game.

It's probably thought of as a good guide that will work most of the time, but it's very, very breakable. Just like in classic Battletech, plus now you're using it for a different game.

I would not recommend a 40k or Warmachine/Hordes approach to force building for either Battletech or Alpha Strike. If people go into it with the idea of making a broken force, they'll probably succeed. You have 4500+ units to choose from, then narrow them down to your era/technology base and then hunt for optimized choices.

You can break it if you want, but if you use it as a general guide, it should work. I built two 50 point demo lances and have played both and won and lost with both yesterday night. I gave each one a light, 2 mediums and a heavy and put a veteran pilot in the heavy. The end result was a very even matchup.

Now imagine I took that same 50 points and bought 20 2 point vehicles with indirect fire and 10 1 point fast spotting vehicles.





Things are going to breakdown unless you do some sort of force design beyond just "spend your points on whatever."

Korthu wrote:
Stinger vs Locust; Stinger 1/1/0 while Locust 2/1/0. Same weapon load-out. The Stinger with 2 Med lasers has the same states exept its 1 point more expensive and has the energy weapon trait. I can eye ball changes but wanted to see how they came up with the stats themselves. Some of the old 3025 mech just don't feel right.

-K

I found a few different stingers and locust variants with different weapon loadouts, so I can't comment on the specifics as you didn't list the model numbers you are comparing (though they are pretty similar). Which two variants have the exact same weapon load out?

It's based on adding up possible weapon damages at different ranges and then some adjustments are made. Like if the mech doesn't have so many turns worth of ammo, it gets a damage downgrade. If it has heat issues, it can get a damage downgrade.

3025 mechs feel right on the table top, even if there are some stat discrepancies. The Stinger STG-3R is better than the STG-3G because it's just not worth it to pay an extra point for ENE on something that is likely to not have to worry about taking multiple critical hits (ENE means you have no on board ammo to explode on a crit).

Alpha Strike is also a different game than original battletech. It's simply not going to feel the same. Some designs that are total crap in one game are going to be great in the other. Other mechs will just stop making sense.

I think the points system works fine if you stick to the small selection of mechs in the Alpha Strike books. And as they publish more era specific supplements, they too will probably have small selections that if you stick to, everything will be balanced.

The problem is that such an approach sucks if you want to field anything else or play in another era. And it's contradictory to their provision of 4500+ stat blocks for free on the Master Unit List.

The most obvious problem with BV2 converted to Alpha Strike points is that it's a points system made for another game entirely. Imagine, for example, if you took a 40k codex, divided the points by 100 and used that as a basis for Epic:Armeggon army lists.

From the actual games I've played so far, the points system sort of works as long as you approach the game game as something you are setting up together with your opponent and not as a "I build my army, you build yours and then we fight" like it's 40k or Warmachine or something.

 Ronin_eX wrote:
All in all, despite what I may sound like, Alpha Strike is probably my favourite new Battletech release in years and I can't wait to see more stuff for it. If it ever gets its own Tech/Tactical supplement with a new costing system and other goodies then I may well bow down to it as my favourite way of playing Battletech.

Me too.

I've played it a handful of times already and the thought of going back to a 4 hour slog playing classic has become less appealing. They captured the feel of BT and it resolves a lot faster and allows for larger forces and better integration of aerospace and conventional military assets into a given scenario.