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I see no threads about Battletech Alpha Strike. Anyone playing this game?

Though I haven't joined them at table, there's a local Battletech club that alternates between Classic BT and Alpha Strike. 75 members on the FB page, though I think only about half of those are actually playing.

It seems like the game needs more push in the sense of youtube videos and tutorials.

I don't visit the FLGS too often this year but there is a local group regularly playing it. There was one kid (and by kid I mean under 21) but most were mid 30's and up veterans that wanted to play with more of their models. They seemed to be having a good amount of fun. The look and quality of the minis and the level of abstracting in the rules aren't for me personally but it is the most played mech game locally for me at least. YMMV.

We've played it once or twice (see the blog in my sig). A good game to be sure, though we've only done it at lance level. A company level game is on the club calendar for mid December. We use rebased Mechwarrior 10mm prepaint figs.

I personally have no interest in the CBT rules that I find overly complex and map sheets are entirely uninspiring. However I love the BT universe and Alpha Strike seems like the ideal way to play. That it is designed for terrain play is icing on the cake.

There is an Alpha Strike starter coming soon.

Heavily likely rumors based on chatter from people "in the know":

Set in 3050, with plastic mechs - a company of twelve inner sphere mechs, from the recently announced redesigns of the older "unseens", and a binary of ten modular clan mechs.


Less likely rumors:

CGL is considering a Kickstarter to produce the set with stretch goals for hard plastic Battletech terrain and plastic scale dropships and more "classic" mech redesigns (to put them more in line with modern MWO style art)

 judgedoug wrote:
There is an Alpha Strike starter coming soon.

Heavily likely rumors based on chatter from people "in the know":

Set in 3050, with plastic mechs - a company of twelve inner sphere mechs, from the recently announced redesigns of the older "unseens", and a binary of ten modular clan mechs.


Less likely rumors:

CGL is considering a Kickstarter to produce the set with stretch goals for hard plastic Battletech terrain and plastic scale dropships and more "classic" mech redesigns (to put them more in line with modern MWO style art)

Damn, I hope those less-likely rumors turn out. Plastic scale dropships would be amazing. The foam Leopard IWM put out 12 years ago is nice but really too bulbous to be a true representation of that design. And foam.

I can't imagine they'd go bigger than a Leopard with plastics, though I'd gladly punch my grandma in the face for a plastic Union.

I know that is like to see some of the older stuff updated to MWO models.

Two friends of mine have some 700+ BT miniatures so Alphastrike is the big push.
I have about 100 so fitting in as Mercenaries.
It is a bit nuts.
BT is playing at the FLGS on Sunday, not a bad crowd.
Some drop ships would be welcomed.
258 scale terrain fits with my Robotech stuff and can be subbed in as "unseen".

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
There is an Alpha Strike starter coming soon.

Heavily likely rumors based on chatter from people "in the know":

Set in 3050, with plastic mechs - a company of twelve inner sphere mechs, from the recently announced redesigns of the older "unseens", and a binary of ten modular clan mechs.


Less likely rumors:

CGL is considering a Kickstarter to produce the set with stretch goals for hard plastic Battletech terrain and plastic scale dropships and more "classic" mech redesigns (to put them more in line with modern MWO style art)

Damn, I hope those less-likely rumors turn out. Plastic scale dropships would be amazing. The foam Leopard IWM put out 12 years ago is nice but really too bulbous to be a true representation of that design. And foam.


I can't imagine they'd go bigger than a Leopard with plastics, though I'd gladly punch my grandma in the face for a plastic Union.

Not to revive a 3 week old thread but Iron Wind Metals has map scale resin dropships available now in both Inner Sphere and Clan designs (Link is below)

http://ironwindmetals.com/store/index.php?cPath=16_44_109

As an example of what's available here's an IS Union Class dropship fully painted

Just played Alpha Strike last night. It's my third try and definitely my best experience. We used the introductory level rules with each of us fielding two Stars. As always we used rebased Mechwarrior minis.

I was soundly beaten, but what a great game! It flows quickly and yet still really reflects the Battletech universe that I am very fond of. I hope to get pics and a batrep up soon.

Hex-based or hexless, Eilif?

I'm considering getting the Alpha Strike rules for use with the starter set miniatures, but the rumblings of an alpha strike boxset has me holding off.

It'd be a good reason to buy a Map Master playmat:

All Hex-less. Our rebased Clix figures are on 45mm hex bases and wouldn't fit on a battletech map and I've got too much affection for 3d terrain anyway.

We used the Dropzone commander city which is quite good looking as cardboard terrain goes. After I finished the game, it really made me want to do a desert game with my relatively scale-less desert rock terrain.

I played two demos with two different players. I used a 3x3 hex terrain for being easier for new players. I think I made the mistake of using the Sphinx in both games, its a beast that delivers 8 damage on close range. One player ended up not liking the game. Now I look into Master Unit List and decided to download the standard version.

 Capt. Camping wrote:
I played two demos with two different players. I used a 3x3 hex terrain for being easier for new players. I think I made the mistake of using the Sphinx in both games, its a beast that delivers 8 damage on close range. One player ended up not liking the game. Now I look into Master Unit List and decided to download the standard version.

Maybe give the Sphinx to the other side in a demo? I always try to give those trying a new game the advantage.

It was my mistake thinking the small units will kill the Sphinx in concentrated fire. I read in forums the smaller units are better because of the higher TMM. The other problem when you divide the MV in half for hexes, slower units like the Sphinx are moving close to the speed of the others. Not the same 5-7 hexes and 5"-14" inches.

Can't say I'm a fan of Alpha Strike. I like BTech specifically because it's rules are complex, and also because it's a digital/binary game (you're either in LOS, of you're not, you're either in range, or you're not, you move X or you don't move X). None of the ambiguity of measurements and eye-balling LOS exist in classic BattleTech. Plus I don't want to go and get 6mm scale terrain.

 judgedoug wrote:
There is an Alpha Strike starter coming soon.

Heh. CGL's definition of "coming soon" in no way matches what the rest of us would assume.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Can't say I'm a fan of Alpha Strike. I like BTech specifically because it's rules are complex, and also because it's a digital/binary game (you're either in LOS, of you're not, you're either in range, or you're not, you move X or you don't move X). None of the ambiguity of measurements and eye-balling LOS exist in classic BattleTech. Plus I don't want to go and get 6mm scale terrain.

If you're a fan of complex rules without ambiguity, then BTech on a hex map is definitely a fine game. As much as that isn't my cup-o-tea, I think it's a very well constructed and thought-out ruleset for that type of game. There's a reason it's lasted for 30 years with no major changes to the mechanics. I can't think of another ruleset that has anywhere near the longevity, number of publications and number of versions where the supplements from the beginning are still game-legal/useable today.

 judgedoug wrote:
There is an Alpha Strike starter coming soon.

Heh. CGL's definition of "coming soon" in no way matches what the rest of us would assume.

No reason to wait for a kickstarter though, the BT introductory box plus the Alpha strike rulebook will get you playing fast with plenty of mechs.

And the Alpha Strike Lance boxes are really good. 4 plastic 'Mechs (almost half of which aren't in the Intro Box), plus nice double-sided Alpha Strike cards for all 4 'Mechs (so you get 4 'Mechs and then rules for 4 variants of those 'Mechs) plus the boxes contain an extra Alpha Strike card with another 'Mech on there (one of the metal ones Iron Wind make) plus special rules for the type of Lance it is (pursuit, assault, recon, etc.) and some background fluff on a faction and a specific unit within that faction.

It's a great way to expand your 'Mech collection with basic plastic minis, and it also gives you a good start for expanding into the metal minis (you could buy 8 metal minis to go with the 8 extra 'Mechs you get rules for).

Some of the club members have expressed interest so it looks like 4 of us will be playing alpha strike in two weeks!

I've got the army from a dude who left the club, so I think I'm going to sell it to one of our newer interested members. A nice Banson's Raiders force (we use rebased mechwarrior clix units) to add to the fray!

How do Clix figures work for BTech? Are they too big/too small?

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
How do Clix figures work for BTech? Are they too big/too small?

Entirely too big, unless you use them for everything. Classic Btech/AS minis are 1/285, whereas clixtech are about 1/144.

Even the Infantry, if put onto hex bases? That's a shame.

The clix scale is perfect scale with the Dropzone Commander city buildings

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
How do Clix figures work for BTech? Are they too big/too small?

As mentioned they don't generally work for BTech. Being aproximagely 10mm, They range form around 1/144 to 1/160 in scale.

We do the whole game in 10mm since most of us have fairly large armies of rebased mechwarrior clix that we've used for other games over the past few years. Mech Attack, Panzer 8 Sci/Fi, Future War Commander, etc. 10mm works fine with the ranges and movements as-is.

The DZC buildings are 10mm in scale, but from what I've seen they look good with battletech 6/8mm stuff also.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Even the Infantry, if put onto hex bases? That's a shame.

There's actually quite a few folks who use the infantry on hex basses in regular battletech. The EM4 25mm bases are great for this. Supposedly alot of the infantry (and some mechs) in battletech have scale crept toward 8mm anyway so the 10mm Mechwarrior clix infantry aren't much of a stretch. There's also a couple of really undersized mechs a few vehicles and some of the flyers that are closer to 6mm than 10mm.

Oh yeah, there's tons of scale creep in BTech with the metal models. It's kinda shocking really.

Just to throw in my US$0.02 here-
The Alphastrike Quick Start PDF rules are available for free from Catalyst Game Labs. They are basically the entire rules set, without some of the "advanced rules" you get in the full book. Also at the CGL website is the Master Unit List that has EVERY Battlemech ever made for Battletech and the cards to use them in Alphastrike.

I always found the table for Battletech to be way too abstract. A flat map with hexes and terrain on it, but I'm using models... so the move to a 3d table without hexes is awesome. Also, filling in bubbles on a record sheet was just never any fun. Game mechanic wise, a 1v1 Battlemech fight that would take 1-2 hours to play would exponentially increase when you fielded lances/stars. Alphastrike not nearly as bad. Yes, I kinda miss out on rolling for each weapon to hit and damage, and there was some real finesse when it came to maneuvering your mech around on the table. For me though, Alphastrike embodies true Battletech play with lances/stars, companies/galaxies on a game board with "real" terrain.

There has been at least one other game that I know of that is older then Battletech and is still around- Star Fleet Battles.

My only real problem with Alpha Strike is that it defaults to treating the miniature as the unit, and that unit for LoS and such. The problem is that the minis are not to scale with each other.....like at all. When a Stinger is the same size as a Phoenix Hawk, and a Scorpion(55 tons I believe) Battlemech is larger than the Goliath(80 tons IIRC) Battlemech, there is a problem.

As to the to scale plastic dropship....a Union would be around the size of a Yoga/exercise ball. I seem to remember someone making an Overlord Table to battle on/in at some point as well. It was a multistory table, with the battle going on in the Dropship.