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So I have about $100 to burn on vehicles to add to all my BT mechs. Any suggestions on what to get?

Its the wife and my first foray into adding non-Mechs, but as we're starting a campaign, I want a bunch of stuff to represent op-for on missions etc.

Any tips for buying in scale, getting bang for my buck, and any staple vehicles I will definitely want?

Any particular era? Are they also infantry transports or just tanks? Just IS or are you doing Homeworlds or Invasion Era Clans too?

Generally anything in TRO 3026 (https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Technical_Readout:_3026) is going to be pretty widely available regardless of era. Classic OPFOR choices include things like Scorpions, Maxims for APCs, Vedettes, Hetzers (AC/20 in a cheap cheap package) and the hover trio of Saladin/Scrimitar/Saracen. Warrior is another one if you want to include VTOLs.

Definitely get a pair of Warrior H7s to explore how choppers impact the game. Very interesting stuff.

No vehicle collection would be complete without SRM and LRM carriers.

In addition to Scorpions, think about Bulldogs and Manticores for tanks.

Also depends in the faction.

For clans my hands down favorite tank is the enyo strike tank. it has decent armor for a clan tank, it's extremely fast and rock a large pulse laser and 3 streak 6's ...but then i am a hells horse player



in the same vain the tyr infantry transport and epona pursuit hovercraft are also on my list.





If you want ridiculous amounts of firepower....but no armor there is always the XL engine variant of the mars assault tank.




On the inner spehere side there are lot more viable options

hovercraft that stand out are the regulator-the flying guass rifle, and the musketeer with it's RAC 5






When it comes to tracked vehicles the Manteuffel rates up there. it is fast decently armored and has a RAC 5, some lasers and most importantly a C3 network slave computer. a buddy of mine runs it in a C3 lance with 3 ajax assault tanks another fine tank






I am a huge fan of the challenger X as a good all around assault tank and one cannot forget the alacorn MK VI triple gauss tank when you want to bring the pain.





i like using goblin infantry support tanks for my battle armor.



for wheeled vehicles the typhoon and shiltron variants are very good.






I would advise against the schrek, it may look good on paper with triple PPCs, but the amount of armor they gave up to fit all those heat sinks makes it less durable than a clan tank.

All are available from iron wind metal , hope that helps out some

https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-oe/category/online-exclusive-combat-vehicles

I've always viewed vehicles as secondary, and far more likely to be varied by the individual world's manufacturers... so I'm not worried about official versions. With that in mind, Kenner Megaforce is durable, about the right scale and generally pretty cheap. I see 6 tanks shipped for 20 on ebay right now. Micro Machines stuff is a bit too big. They are limited to main gun using tanks though, so you'll probably want something else for your APC and laser and rocket style tanks.

Ogre miniatures make great hovercraft proxies.

Otherwise, the clickytech versions work great and are generally available on the cheap. Bv trader has them for about a buck a vehicle.

http://www.bvtraders.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=28_102

If you want nice 6mm futuristic vehicles for cheap as chips, try Khurasan:

https://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/6mmscifi.html

Man. The Alacorn. That thing is... wow.

I've always viewed vehicles as secondary,

So did the clans, until comstar taught them differently on tukayyid.

Gameplay wise while mechs are generally the main focus of the game for coolness factor. the reality is game mechanics wise vehicles are just as viable as mechs (especially if you use the optional max tech level 3 vehicle damage chart like they game designers suggest to keep vehicles from turning into pillboxes).

Lore wise is another matter. vehicles are easier to produce for cash strapped smaller powers. the downside is unlike mechs they require a large trained crew to operate and are limited in their ability to multi-terrain. as an example hovercraft cannot navigate forests, tracked vehicles cannot traverse water hazards etc...

Finally playing a game (or even two games) tomorrow. Going off the recent Tukayyid hype, it's Clans v ComStar.

ComStar Level II:
Champion 1N
Archer 5CS
Rifleman 5CS
Marauder 5CS
Warhammer 7CS
Thunderbolt 7M

vs

Clan Star:
Ryoken TC (I have to try this one out!)
Grendel Prime
Dragonfly A
Puma Prime
Koshi B

I out BV him by 4,125.
He has literally twice the tonnage I do.

Should be interesting...

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
So I have about $100 to burn on vehicles to add to all my BT mechs. Any suggestions on what to get?

Its the wife and my first foray into adding non-Mechs, but as we're starting a campaign, I want a bunch of stuff to represent op-for on missions etc.

Any tips for buying in scale, getting bang for my buck, and any staple vehicles I will definitely want?

Stick to the common generic ones first, with a wide smattering of capabilities.

I will assume you are getting these from Iron Wind metals, if not you might get a better deal. This is how I would spend $100 on generic vehicles. All these will be classic 3025/6 designs.

Demolisher tank
https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-cv/product/battletech-20-822
Double AC20, extra nasty.

Hetzers (2)
https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-cv/product/battletech-20-829
Double AC20, extra cheap.

Manticores (2)
https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-cv/product/battletech-20-779
Versatile solid heavy tanks.

Schrek PPC Carrier (2)
https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-cv/product/battletech-20-753
Triple PPC fire platforms.

SRM Carrier (2)
https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-cv/product/battletech-20-623
10x SRM6, clanner b-gone. So long as you shoot from defilade, otherwise these just die.

J-27 carrier plus towed Thumper
https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-cv/product/battletech-20-741
Basically a vignette you need not use them together, you get some basic artillery (not in 3026) and a generic ammo carrier (i.e objective) that is. Nice bit of background colour and a cost effective and non broken way to get artillery in your games. Hint, pay for the Thumper but leave it off board for easiest use.

H-7 Warrior Attack helicopter
https://www.ironwindmetals.com/index.php/categories/cat-battletech/cat-bt-cv/product/battletech-20-723
For a long time the only unit of its kind. Armed with an AC2 to plink at annoyingly long ranges, and 2xSRM4 for high risk attack runs.

All this totals to $102.40. I do not know if you add shipping to that.
Frankly I think you need four Hetzers and Manticores for full platoons of them. I would be comfortable with the numbers of the other units listed above. For further expansion I would suggest Saladin, Scimitar and Pegasus hovercraft, total 8-12 hovercraft, choose which to duplicate. Hovertanks are supposed to be used in numbers, I would sticks to the above basics before adding anything more exotic. I would get the hovertanks in stage 1, but you set the budget.

The last thing to add would be infantry and APC's. Again you don't need many as they are just background colour. I use old Epic Imperial Guard and Rhinos, you may or may not be able to source this, it will require some luck, but Epic sells at random prices, wait until a lot comes up and passes cheaply before buying.

As i said previously BV is irrelevant outside of sanctioned events. the only 2 things that matter or standardized pilots for both sides (clan 3/4 IS 4/5) and the 1.3/1 variable between clan mechs and innersphere forces.

As far as your clan star makeup....looks almost like your playing ice hellions LOL

Especially considering you went for an all close range brawl list with fast lights/mediums (not familiar with the TC loud, out it isn't listed in heavy metal pro). could work well on your built up city map. especially considering all your "medium" lasers are on par with his standard large lasers in range and damage.

My preference for the dragonfly is always the B model(i have had my ass kicked by it enough times by our nova cat player) combined with it's speed it's like a free ERPPC sniper since it will almost never get hit with a (hex) movement of 7/11/7

Also i see no stats on any mech with a CS designation there are 5M's 5S's etc.. but the bolt and champion are set up for brawling as well.

My pledge is locked in.

2x Star Colonel
1x Ristar

BattleMech Manual
Tactical Operations Advanced Rules
Tactical Operations Advanced Units & Equipment
Total Warfare
TechManual
Campaign Operations
Strategic Operations
Alpha Strike Commanders Edition
Alpha Strike Clan Invasion Deck
Alpha Strike Succession Wars Deck

4x Tukayyid Premium BattleMats
2x Strana Mechty Premium BattleMats

2x Comstar Command Level II
2x Comstar Battle Level II
1x ForcePack Legendary Mechwarriors
1x Clan Command Star
1x Clan Heavy Striker Star
1x Clan Fire Star
1x Clan Support Star
2x Clan Heavy Battle Star
2x Clan Heavy Star
2x Clan Striker Star
2x Clan Ad Hoc Star
1x Clan Elemental Star
1x Inner Sphere Command Lance
2x Inner Sphere Direct Fire Lance
1x Inner Sphere Heavy Lance
2x Inner Sphere Heavy Battle Lance
2x Inner Sphere Battle Lance
2x Inner Sphere Fire Lance
2x Inner Sphere Urban Lance
2x Inner Sphere Support Lance
1x Inner Sphere Striker Lance
9x UrbanMechs (+3 Included with Pledge)

Also includes 12 regular savlage boxes and 2 legendary salvage boxes, alongside some assorted miscellany.

Did I mention that the only thing I own for the game so far is AGoAC and have yet to actually play a game? LOL

Well you seem to be off to a strong start.

Wow. Even if the stars align with USPS, by this Saturday I will only have two opposing IS forces of 6-7 mechs each, with 4 of each side being from AGoAC....

I have yet to decide if I do some clan stuff as a third faction.

The answer to that question is, AFF!

 aphyon wrote:
As i said previously BV is irrelevant outside of sanctioned events. the only 2 things that matter or standardized pilots for both sides (clan 3/4 IS 4/5) and the 1.3/1 variable between clan mechs and innersphere forces.

I don't really care about BV. I just think it's interesting as a comparison. As far as pilots go, it's pretty much that, but with a bit of variation, with the leaders of each side being a bit better, and the Rifleman pilot being 4/4 as I feel sorry for that 'Mech (it's not very good! ).

 aphyon wrote:
As far as your clan star makeup....looks almost like your playing ice hellions LOL

Literally using many of the lighter 'Mechs from the Kickstarter. I wanted to put a Shootist on the ComStar side, but that mini is buried in a case that is buried in my gaming room. The Champion was already out, so it gets to be part of the Level II instead.

 aphyon wrote:
Especially considering you went for an all close range brawl list with fast lights/mediums (not familiar with the TC loud, out it isn't listed in heavy metal pro). could work well on your built up city map. especially considering all your "medium" lasers are on par with his standard large lasers in range and damage.

TC is a new one from the Battle of Tukayyid book. There are a few Omnis that get it, but in the case of the Ryoken it's a Gauss Rifle, 4 ER Meds, and a Targeting Computer. The TC doesn't stand for Targeting Computer though, it is 'Temporary Configuration'.

 aphyon wrote:
My preference for the dragonfly is always the B model(i have had my ass kicked by it enough times by our nova cat player) combined with it's speed it's like a free ERPPC sniper since it will almost never get hit with a (hex) movement of 7/11/7

I wanted something with lots of ER Meds, hence the A. And it's even faster than you remember - 8/12/8. I'll see if I can ensure it never gets hit.

 aphyon wrote:
Also i see no stats on any mech with a CS designation there are 5M's 5S's etc.. but the bolt and champion are set up for brawling as well.

The CS designs are, again, new ones from the recent Tukayyid book. They're "ComStar" configs!

For the Rifleman it's 2 LL and 2 UAC/5's. Doesn't have overheating problems, which is a first.

For the Whammy it's got max armour coverage, ditches the Small Lasers and Machine guns, has double heat sinks, ER PPCs, 4 MLs, 3 Streak 2's rather than an SRM 6 and has 4 JJs.

Finally the Marauder 5CS fiddles with the standard armament to give it DHS, ER PPCs and an LB-10X. Has a pair of Med Pulse Lasers as well. Hilariously the LB-X ammo is in the CT.

Ah CT ammo....that makes ammo explosions "interesting"


That calls for firing off as many shots as you can rather or not you have a good chance of hitting, to dump the ammo. "just in case"

We use the ammo explosion rules form max tech, it makes playing succession wars mechs death on a stick. we killed 17 mechs in one turn via chain ammo explosions and not a bit of C.A.S.E. around to save anybody

Had another game where i was playing the op4 in a scenerio and i tried to get back up after a gyro hit and repeatedly failed my pilot check until i critted my SRM ammo.....destroyed one player mech and severely damaged 2 others.

the player back and forth went like so-

"he you want to surrender (after watching me fall down multiple times)?"

Me-"no i got this!" fall+ammo crit "oops" and WIN! did more damage in one go than i could every do in an alpha strike

The amount of times I've seen a K2 die thanks to it's CT machine gun ammo.

Anyway, the first game is progressing. The speed of my 'Mechs is really playing into my favour, as my opponent has done very little damage to me in about 6 turns (the Koshi is almost done, having lost an arm and with no armour left).

The Dragonfly is about to run off the table to complete part of my objective, and I reckon my Ryoken can take down the Thud this turn (it has almost no CT left).

The Rifleman died much as I expected it would. I tore off a side torso, killing the engine, but we rolled criticals anyway. Ammunition went up. That 'Mech is a crater.

I've been lucky with the Archer as it's only been in a position to fire it's 4 LRM15's three times so far, always hitting on 12+. So no hits thus far.

Puma's a bit beat up thanks to being the only stationary target for a while. The 7 and 8 jumps on the Grendel and Dragonfly (respectively) are very helpful.

Opponent is making good use of partial cover, whereas I'm jumping from woods to woods. We're up very close now, so the +4 from Long Range plus my movement isn't going to help for much longer. That Whammy has a lot of guns.

The Ryoken TC is amazing. 4 ER Mediums is managable heat, and with the Gauss Rifle it just makes that TargComp worth every ton it takes up.

I really wish the Grendel had something with more oomph than the ER Large.

In 3025 I prefered CT ammo, what I didn't like was side torso ammo with no other items in the location. The centre torso never has that problem.

IIRC if the centre torso goes you don't have time to eject, and if you have naked ammo in a side torso your centre torso will still go unless the bin is nearly empty.

Oh, and since the 80's we played a house rule that MG ammo is inert, probably caseless with seperate propellant, with gas expansion provided from the reactor. This also accounts for the crappy range.

Y'know, I kinda think that that should be a standard rule for Machine Guns. And AMS ammo.

Might make them less of a liability.

NOOOoo machinegun ammo is the best BOOM per ton.

In all seriousness that is why the ammo dumping and rapid fire machinegun rules exist. .

Game has finished.

ComStar losses were the Rifleman (ammo go asplode!), the Thunderbolt (drilled that thing until it fell over, taking out the last of its CT structure), and the Archer (2 ERML hits to the head). Warhammer and Marauder were quite damaged, and I believe the Champion eventually lost a leg.

Clan losses were the Koshi (it fought the Marauder and Warhammer by itself... it did not survive), and the Puma is near crippled (no armour, into internals everywhere, missing an arm, on 25 heat at the start of the turn.

The Puma is actually lucky, as the Champion managed to get up into its rear arc, at kicking distance, alpha strike (needing 8's for everything), proceed to miss with every shot, and then kick me (needing a 7) and miss with that as well.

Dragonfly made it off the table, and the Ryoken and Grendel (both lightly damaged) were near the edge, choosing to fight on against the Marauder and Warhammer rather than run away like Spheroid cowards.

I am so impressed with the Ryoken TC. I'm very happy with the tiny oven that is the Puma, as being able to put 30 damage down range so accurately is great, even if it can't handle the heat.

Overall the big winner here was speed. 7 jump is lethal when combined with woods and partial cover. Even at short range the ComStar goons were hard pressed to lay a finger on me. The Archer, the thing I was worried about most, never scored a hit all game.

Hopefully we can get to the second game in a few days, where a Level II consisting of a Griffin, Wolverine, Shadow Hawk, Valkyrie and UrbanMech can hold out against a Mad Cat TC, Executioner Prime and a Daishi W.

I think I played a few games of Battletech in the distant past, but I couldn’t really say which version, or whether it was an imitator.

What I do remember is PPG, heat sinks, and models made from an awful wangy, greasy feeling plastic/resin/restic. And the board had a hex grid.

I kinda enjoyed that game, and am hoping someone can point me in the right direction of its rules, and suitable modern models (because I am not dealing with the material described above!)

Edited because I’ve no idea what’s happened to my spelling and grammar today. It seems I forgot how to English gud.

Rules are more or less the same
if you already have a book just look for an Errata (of your version) online

otherwise
Catalyst Games makes the new shiny plastics while Iron Wind up to date metal models

grab some quick starter rules here
https://bg.battletech.com/new-to-the-board-game/

and the models either from you FLGS, or Amazon

another good way to start now is to get the Beginner Box or A Game of Armored Combat Box and the Clan Invasion AddOn Box

yeah LRM missiles are much less scary in actually game play than they are on paper, unless you got a whole lot of them.

Glad you had fun, i did something similar to a guy who power gamed a lance V lance game with nothing but the biggest assault lance he could take, when i told him there was no BV, i ran my kurita fast heavy /C3 lance, never had less than a +3 mod .

He on the other hand could never get anything better than a +1 if he had a move mod at all.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I think I played a few games of Battletech in the distant past, but I couldn’t really say which version, or whether it was an imitator.

What I do remember is PPG, heat sinks, and models made from an awful wangy, greasy feeling plastic/resin/restic. And the board had a hex grid.

Sounds like you played the real Battletech!

Although, your description of the minis doesn't narrow it down between 3rd edition or the anniversary box versions...

Would’ve been 94-96ish? Maybe even 93.

I was thinking the Anniversary Boxed set for MDG as well.

I just blew the dust off that one myself recently.

That would be 3rd edition. The one with the vile plastic Unseen minis; nasty as they are, decades of tweaking and repainting them has made me rather fond of them.

Oh yeah, it has PPCs, not PPGs... You're not on Babylon 5 anymore, Mr. Garibaldi...

glad im not the only one who was thinking of B5 reading that lol