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So I have a ton of old Battletech figures around, and I still love that ruleset. But my friends are interested in trying something different.

What other rulesets are available that would allow the use of BT mechs?

We have the hex maps as well, or free form terrain from 40k if the rules call for that. Generally looking for something lighter that plays well, is fun, and doesn't have a ton of fiddly rules or lookups during play. I've heard Armorgrid: Mech Attack! is good, but otherwise I'm unfamiliar with alternatives. So...hit me!

 bosky wrote:
What other rulesets are available that would allow the use of BT mechs?

http://bg.battletech.com/?p=4890

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/528495.page

Haha the Alpha Strike rules are actually what kicked off this renewed interest in Mech games.

Is that the rule set (via StratOps) that your friend is tired of playing?

We played the "Classic" Battletech rules 4 or 5 years ago, and they don't really want to revisit them.

Well, take a look at the dakka thread I linked above. Look for posts by judgedoug. He's an IRL friend of mine with the same outlook as what you're describing and he's pretty excited about Alpha Strike precisely because it's nothing like CBT.

Oh yeah I'll for sure be buying Alpha Strike when it comes out. In the mean time I want to play something though

So besides Mech Attack and I guess Heavy Gear are there any rulesets?

You could have a look at CAV from Reaper (the rules are now free)

http://www.reapermini.com/Games/CAV

Paulson games is beta testing their Mecha Front rule set (free download at the moment)

http://www.mechafront.com/page/page/8798042.htm

A fellow dakkite came up with a set of mech rules a few months back but judging from the facebook posts linked in his sig his site had some issues last week and was lost. I don't know if he's got an alternate source for the rules (haven't tried them myself despite the $1 price sadly) but they seem alot less complicated than CBT.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/483561.page

If you fancy pitting them against some monsters or dinosaurs, could always try Giant Monster Rampage

Here's a few more:

CAV 1: The original CAV rules are still thought by many to be a great ruleset. You can currently get the rulebook and both of the "Journals of Recognition" at Troll and Toad for less than $9 shipped TOTAL! A neat set of books that every mech fan should have.
http://www.trollandtoad.com/products/search.php?search_category=&search_words=CAV&searchmode=basic

Mech Attack: A Fast playing game that has many BT'ish elements (Heat tracking, Multiple weapons systems and a damage grid) in an extremely streamlined package. One of my favorite games. A nicely laid out PDF that is a bargain at 8 bucks from the "Armor Grid Games" company.
http://www.wargamevault.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=3148

Wardogs. I don't know much about it, but it has a pretty good reputation amongst fans of the Magestic 12 game company.
http://www.mj12games.com/wardogs/

Mecha Tac. A free ruleset, one for which many CBT mechs have already been statted up. The "Giant Stompy Robots" updated version is suppsed to be the most fun.
http://home.dejazzd.com/broadsword/Giant_Stompy_Robots/GSR_Index_Page.html

MechaWar. The website is currenlty down, but this is a mech game for one GBP!
http://precinctomega.co.uk

Gruntz15mm.
Ostensibly a 15mm rulest, it's more than that. It actually began as a ruleset designed for battetech mechs. Full unit creation, a really well presented set of rules and a fair price.
http://www.gruntz.biz

Lastly, it's not a mech centric ruleset (in fact, mechs are over costed) but if you want a free ruleset that will get a ton of sci-fi units on the table for a really fast battle, then Panzer 8 Sci-Fi is a great 2 page ruleset. I really enjoy it and use it (and Mech Attack) with my big collection of rebased mechwarrior clix figures. The Sci-Fi rules are in the main rules download here:
http://panzer8.weebly.com/rules.html
Also, after a number of games my club tweaked the rules a (very tiny) bit added a few indirect fire elements and reorganized the rules to make them more user friendly. join the PZ8 yahoo group and you can find a PDF of the CSW (Chicago Skirmish Wargames) version of the Sci-Fi rules in the "files" section.

Beyond this, there are many other small scale (3,6,10 mm) sci-fi games that accommodate Mecha. Future War Commander is one, and there are others.

Is Heavy Gear still around?

 Azazelx wrote:
Is Heavy Gear still around?

LOL, have you tried googling it? It's obviously long past its popularity heyday in the late 90's but it's still kicking.

 warboss wrote:

 Azazelx wrote:
Is Heavy Gear still around?

LOL, have you tried googling it? It's obviously long past its popularity heyday in the late 90's but it's still kicking.

That is one product that could do with a full rules update (seems they're in the process of it i think?) and a new line in plastic. Seriously it's a fine game just....the prices to play make GW seem reasonable.

 doc1234 wrote:

That is one product that could do with a full rules update (seems they're in the process of it i think?) and a new line in plastic. Seriously it's a fine game just....the prices to play make GW seem reasonable.

That has always been a problem unfortunately, even way back in the 90s when I was first interested in it. The game is not popular enough for them to do plastic and they don't have the money for it.

Redeemer31 wrote:

 doc1234 wrote:

That is one product that could do with a full rules update (seems they're in the process of it i think?) and a new line in plastic. Seriously it's a fine game just....the prices to play make GW seem reasonable.

That has always been a problem unfortunately, even way back in the 90s when I was first interested in it. The game is not popular enough for them to do plastic and they don't have the money for it.

Which creates the unfortunate catch 22 of the game would likely pick up more if the game wasn't more expensive to play than SOB. Seems to me the Kickstarter they ran for the videogame would have been better spent on the tabletop game.

I think the minis for CAV are sweet, and they are priced really good for pewter models. A standard CAV mech can be the size of something that GW would put on a 40mm base, and is usually around- or less than- $10us from Reaper. A larger game scale than Battletech, too.

Plus, like stated above, the 1.0 rules are very cheap to come by, and the 2.0 rules and unit data cards are totally free, other than printing. Frm what little I have experience with it, the RAGE ruleset is a very good one.

The idea behind CAV is sound but I've never personally liked the minis. They all felt, for a lack of a better term, too CADish. While it's been years since I've seen their new releases, the first 5+ years of the releases seemed to lack any dynamic visual quality that most other mech games had (even CBT).

See, I rather liked them. Especially for their non-humanoid aesthetic. I liked how tons of mechs in CAV are chicken walkers with a cockpit that's not a "head".

One of my absolute favorites:

That's quite a nice mini!

OP, Paulson Games is developing Mecha Front... designed for his larger scale mechs, but the rules should be adaptable to a smaller scale, with fewer models required. He's looking for playtesters, too, so you'd have input on the final rules if you were interested!

The biggest thing calling to me from CAV, at least for the models, is that the minis are on 30mm hex bases (I believe), so you get a pewter mini that is that big for around $10US. The best comparison I can describe off hand is that my Starhawk mech (the same model as above) is about the size of a Warmachine Light Warjack. So larger than a 40K terminator.

Some of them are even larger. The Emperor CAV is this big, and evidently the Reaper site lists them at $7.99us ...............

I think they'd be a great set of models to use with the Armor Grid: Mech attack rules, if you want sweet models with low-complexity rules.

I'll chip in for Mecha Front. The ruleset needs sum' lovin' right now and it could turn into something really interesting.

Plus the limited edition resin mecha look really good.

I ended up buying Mech Attack! and will be trying that this week. The damage system looks cool, sort of reminds me of the old FASA game Renegade Legion.

I never seriously looked at CAV since I was always a Battletech kind of guy, and CAV seemed like "the other woman" at the time.
I'll take a look at the CAV 2 rules since someone mentioned they were free. How do they compare to the first edition? I hope 'Mechs aren't just soldiers-with-hitpoints and actually have some locational damage and structure. BTech did very well making you at least feel like you were piloting a giant robot and not just moving standard soldiers around.

Heavy Gear is actually a very good game.

It's got a lot of detail and thought put into the basic attack mechanics that are unlike most games I've played. It's about the same duration as a normal wargame, but captures the *feel* of a battletech style 'bookkeep everything' game, without being too bogged down.

A few of the rules areas have clunky parts, but the game itself really is good. A pity the company has no idea how to market.

 Killionaire wrote:
A few of the rules areas have clunky parts, but the game itself really is good. A pity the company has no idea how to market.

C'mon man, I'm right here. I have feelings, you know.

(Actually, I just make website work, so not personally offended.)

Don't mean for that, Balance. But like, it's a sort of' 'Man, I'd love it if that game could take off, but am saddened by what can be seen as sub-optimal decisions'.

The new stuff is a lot, LOT nicer than old though. Website included.

The number of responses is far more than what you can see in the official forum for CAV in a week. I seriously wonder whether those suggesting it are still playing it at all. I tried CAV before. The lack of any support from Reaper simply kills the game. End of discussion.

Heavy Gear Blitz has a very solid set of rules and it is way more challenging to play than CAV/BT combined. It is also more realistic, reflecting the real current battlefield. On the other hand, it has a steep learning curve. On average, it will take you 4 to 5 games to get a good handle.

Mecha Front is not officially out yet and Alpha Strike is too new for me to make a judgement.

If we'd been asked about a current game supported with new releases I guess CAV may well have been ruled out (although Reaper are thinking of CAV amongst others for their new Bones material which could bring it back to the land of the living somewhat)

but we were asked for a mech game to use with a bunch of old battletech figures

so something freely available/cheap seems a decent response

(personally when I play Mechs I like the old, complicated battletech rules, but hey, more choice is better)

Here's some WIP rules I have been using lately...

https://www.box.com/s/0b5nnx4677j09lpjpqho

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
If we'd been asked about a current game supported with new releases I guess CAV may well have been ruled out (although Reaper are thinking of CAV amongst others for their new Bones material which could bring it back to the land of the living somewhat)

but we were asked for a mech game to use with a bunch of old battletech figures

so something freely available/cheap seems a decent response

(personally when I play Mechs I like the old, complicated battletech rules, but hey, more choice is better)

Yeah I've played plenty of dead and unsupported games so a live community doesn't matter in this case.

I wish there was a middle ground between Mech Attack and Battletech. I love the more in-depth custom design system of BTech, plus the huge amount of existing designs, but I like the fast playing and unique damage track approach of Mech Attack.