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Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of warm and fuzzy nostalgia for Battletech, and even the Clix version MechWarrior, but the game is clunky and needlessly slow to play by modern standards and there has to be something better out there.

What game or games do you know of that let you build custom giant robots and do battle with them that any good that would scratch the itch for an old time Battletech enthusiast?

Well, there's always Alpha Strike, the quick-er play Battletech ruleset.

Wiley Games has recently announced Battle Suit Alpha. It's based on their Fistful of Lead rules, which was originally made for Wild West skirmishes but is perfect for general skirmishing, and the mech version should have plenty of chrome to help distinguish it. I'm looking forward to trying it.

I like Adeptus Titanicus a whole lot and every time I wax nostalgic for Battletech I remember how much better A.T. feels to me in every respect.
There's also the newish game, Steel Rift, by Death Ray Designs (written by Ash Barker from Guerilla Miniature Games). I haven't played it, but the ruleset seems interesting if not totally inspiring. And it was designed around Battletech proxies, so there's at least SOME intent there.

Lots? It comes down to what sort of game do you want. Giant robots is the skin as it were, but what sorts of system do you want? I assume you dind't like the masses of detail of the old Battletech? Hell there is a lego version...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/JoshuaACNewman/mobile-frame-zero-rapid-attack

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samandfuzzy/mobile-frame-zero-002-alpha-bandit/

Horizon Wars is explicitly written to enable mecha battles and has quite a flexible mech generation system with various upgrades.


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Even the background states that the British came up with mechs to enable their tanks to physically kick the French

the game is clunky and needlessly slow to play

I disagree with your entire premise. all skirmish games by their very nature are designed to use more rules to increase play depth and time (one of the reasons i love classic battletech) when you only use a very small model count.
If i played a standard lance V lance game in alpha strike it might take 30 minutes VS a couple hours for a normal game.

As noted by others. there are loads of other games that are built for huge scale battles which by necessity means simpler and faster rules. currently for battletech you have alpha strike, for 40K you have AT. heavy gear uses a system (structure/system hit boxes) similar to alpha strike.

Adeptus Titanicus is the best ruleset GW has ever written

I will always recommend the old MECHA! game, from Seventh Street Games, it is hard to get but it feels a lot more dynamic and dramatic, more like anime mecha action than plodding dreadnoughts ducking it out in a field.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8131/mecha

It have mecha/vehicles building rules.

Otherwise I would recommend Heavy Gear Blitz (3.1 are the current rules), it doesn't lets you build mechas but there is so much variety you don't really have a reason to and there is a bit of customization for some units (some have modular packs and other are duellists that can have more variety). It is more combined arms but gears (the mechs) are versatile, they main reason to exist in the setting, and can fill many different roles.

AT is good but component heavy and can be a bit complex at times, and also the Knights need revising.

Horizon Wars is ideal too with simple and custom mech rules. Pretty much my favourite wargame.

Battletech. When something endures, relatively unchanged for nearly 40 or 50 years.... accept that it got most everything right.

The thing is, slow and clunky actually HELPS the idea of a big, ponderous robot- especially one that is meant to be set in the far future as envisioned by the 80s. Don't try to resist it.

 Flinty wrote:
Horizon Wars is explicitly written to enable mecha battles and has quite a flexible mech generation system with various upgrades.


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Even the background states that the British came up with mechs to enable their tanks to physically kick the French

I'll throw in another vote for Horizon Wars. Good little system, with enough flexibility but not too much crunch and bookkeeping.

I enjoy Alpha Strike for battles with over 10 units per side but it's not really a classic Battletech experience, it's "Battleforce" with miniatures.

For more of a Battletech replacement with just a lance or so per side, I prefer "Mech Attack!". I like to tell folks it's like Battletech with 10% of the rules and it plays in 25% of the time. It does a really good job of abstracting alot while keeping what is familiar about Battletech: heat, damage tracking, building and equipping mechs, etc.

Been playing it for about a decade. And blogging it over the years here: https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/?s=Mech+Attack

As written it works for 6mm to 15mm and we use it with 10mm Rebased MechWarrior Clix. I also double measurements and run multiplayer games at conventions with big 28mm Mecha.

It's a nice cheap download.
https://www.wargamevault.com/m/product/82663
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

You might enjoy Gamma Wolves

https://ospreypublishing.com/gamma-wolves

If the clunkyness of battletech annoys you, try Alpha Strike

 adamsouza wrote:
... but the game is clunky and needlessly slow to play by modern standards...

To you perhaps. I love the crunch of BTech.

And who the hell cares or decides "modern standards" anyway? Modern standards, it would seem, involves ever-escalating amounts of cards, tokens and counters.

No thanks. I'll stick to my all-in-one record sheet.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 adamsouza wrote:
... but the game is clunky and needlessly slow to play by modern standards...

To you perhaps. I love the crunch of BTech.

And who the hell cares or decides "modern standards" anyway? Modern standards, it would seem, involves ever-escalating amounts of cards, tokens and counters.

No thanks. I'll stick to my all-in-one record sheet.

I do understand why many folks still enjoy Battletech and it's a well done game that is almost the last-man-standing among its contemporaries. Folks forget that for it's time, the first couple editions of Battletech (basically 3020's tech) were middle-of-the-pack-or-less as far as complexity compared to what had come before. Compared to Tractics, Starfleet Battles and many of the RPG's and historical and chits wargames folks had come from playing, a game of Battletech might have seemed like a rather streamlined affair. Battletech is still a good game, but it's very much a product of an 80s way of looking at games that is as much a simulation and a board game as a miniature wargame.

"Modern standards" (a vague term admittedly) does not have to mean lots of play aids, rather it can also mean a streamlined game, with less charts, fewer modifiers, shorter play time, etc that still rewards tactical play and good strategy. The last 10 year especially seems to have produced a stream of games that attempt to make miniature games that offer much of the experience that came before, but have a fast flow and wrap up in one to two hours.

If a player desires crunch and detail, then Battletech does that well without burying a player in rulebooks (like 40k) or cards-and-counters, but there are quality mech games that deliver a good game, with an all-in-one sheet with a more streamlined play experience.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 adamsouza wrote:
... but the game is clunky and needlessly slow to play by modern standards...

To you perhaps. I love the crunch of BTech.

And who the hell cares or decides "modern standards" anyway? Modern standards, it would seem, involves ever-escalating amounts of cards, tokens and counters.

No thanks. I'll stick to my all-in-one record sheet.

Largely agreed. One thing that people overlook with Battletech is that it just SEEMS clunky and needlessly slow because of its crunch.

To exemplify this, the base rules for Alpha Strike and Battletech are pretty much the same, just with slightly different values. Where the differences lie is the variation of values in the units involved. With Alpha Strike, the offensive values are pretty much single digits, as well as the Armor and Structure. Most of Battletech armor and structure is in the double digits, while the weapons tend more to the single (especially in application).

Alpha Strike allows for more models on the table, just like Warhammer does, but that doesn't mean that the values are better, just more spread out.

On the RPG side of things, the Lancer RPG is bloody amazing, and basically comes from the idea of "how would I design a Mechwarrior RPG with deep tactical combat using the tools we currently have available?"

And during a long time Heavy Gear was a contender with Btech for the mech game. I'm not too fond of the current version of it, but it's free on DTRPG. Unfortunately, and unlike the RPG/tactical game of yore (1st/2nd edition), the current game doesn't have a construction system.

 Charistoph wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 adamsouza wrote:
... but the game is clunky and needlessly slow to play by modern standards...

To you perhaps. I love the crunch of BTech.

And who the hell cares or decides "modern standards" anyway? Modern standards, it would seem, involves ever-escalating amounts of cards, tokens and counters.

No thanks. I'll stick to my all-in-one record sheet.

Largely agreed. One thing that people overlook with Battletech is that it just SEEMS clunky and needlessly slow because of its crunch.

To exemplify this, the base rules for Alpha Strike and Battletech are pretty much the same, just with slightly different values. Where the differences lie is the variation of values in the units involved. With Alpha Strike, the offensive values are pretty much single digits, as well as the Armor and Structure. Most of Battletech armor and structure is in the double digits, while the weapons tend more to the single (especially in application).

Alpha Strike allows for more models on the table, just like Warhammer does, but that doesn't mean that the values are better, just more spread out.

Additionally -and perhaps most significantly- is the number of values per unit. As you point out, AS has one attack roll that is applied to what is essentially one damage line. Each Battlemech can have several attack rolls, each of which must be assessed for degree of success and location applied and their may be additional effects to attacker and target as well.

the church for battletech also really gives some depth to it, the game is best fought with 1-4 mechs aside which is great because each mech feels important etc. it's not like a lot of games where you're sweeping tens of minis off the board every turn

 Eilif wrote:
Additionally -and perhaps most significantly- is the number of values per unit. As you point out, AS has one attack roll that is applied to what is essentially one damage line. Each Battlemech can have several attack rolls, each of which must be assessed for degree of success and location applied and their may be additional effects to attacker and target as well.

I've found using the Multiple Attack Dice rule helps provide for that level of variability. It has become a standard rule for our group's Alpha Strike nights.

 infinite_array wrote:
Well, there's always Alpha Strike, the quick-er play Battletech ruleset.

Are those rules included in the new box set or are they seperate?

 infinite_array wrote:
Wiley Games has recently announced Battle Suit Alpha. It's based on their Fistful of Lead rules, which was originally made for Wild West skirmishes but is perfect for general skirmishing, and the mech version should have plenty of chrome to help distinguish it. I'm looking forward to trying it.

Looks interesting, too bad it's just a pre-order at the moment.

 Rihgu wrote:
There's also the newish game, Steel Rift, by Death Ray Designs (written by Ash Barker from Guerilla Miniature Games). I haven't played it, but the ruleset seems interesting if not totally inspiring. And it was designed around Battletech proxies, so there's at least SOME intent there.

https://deathraydesigns.com/product/steel-rift-core-rulebook/ Only $15. I think I'm going to pick up a copy.

The_Real_Chris wrote:
Lots? It comes down to what sort of game do you want. Giant robots is the skin as it were, but what sorts of system do you want? I assume you dind't like the masses of detail of the old Battletech? Hell there is a lego version...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/JoshuaACNewman/mobile-frame-zero-rapid-attack
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samandfuzzy/mobile-frame-zero-002-alpha-bandit/

I looked into it a few years back. I couldn't convince my friends ti buy into it. Did build a dozen or so mobile frames for myself.

 Flinty wrote:
Horizon Wars is explicitly written to enable mecha battles and has quite a flexible mech generation system with various upgrades.

Appears to be out of print, which could be an obstacle to get others to play. Did just snag a copy on Ebay for myself though.

 aphyon wrote:

the game is clunky and needlessly slow to play

I disagree with your entire premise. all skirmish games by their very nature are designed to use more rules to increase play depth and time (one of the reasons i love classic battletech) when you only use a very small model count.
If i played a standard lance V lance game in alpha strike it might take 30 minutes VS a couple hours for a normal game.
As noted by others. there are loads of other games that are built for huge scale battles which by necessity means simpler and faster rules. currently for battletech you have alpha strike, for 40K you have AT. heavy gear uses a system (structure/system hit boxes) similar to alpha strike.

That's the thing though, Battletech isn't crunchy with added detail. You just have to make way too many dice rolls and constantly consult charts. It's AD&D compared to D&D 5E. they both work, but one is much more streamlined . I used to play games with 1-3 mechs and those battles would last all night, and not because those battle were epic.

 Pointman wrote:
I will always recommend the old MECHA! game, from Seventh Street Games, it is hard to get but it feels a lot more dynamic and dramatic, more like anime mecha action than plodding dreadnoughts ducking it out in a field.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8131/mecha

It have mecha/vehicles building rules.

Otherwise I would recommend Heavy Gear Blitz (3.1 are the current rules), it doesn't lets you build mechas but there is so much variety you don't really have a reason to and there is a bit of customization for some units (some have modular packs and other are duellists that can have more variety). It is more combined arms but gears (the mechs) are versatile, they main reason to exist in the setting, and can fill many different roles.

I am hoping to find something that will let us use Battletech Mechs. One of my buds has hundreds of of old Battletech mechs and I have more than a few Mechwarrior Clix Mechs myself.

SamusDrake wrote:
Horizon Wars is ideal too with simple and custom mech rules. Pretty much my favourite wargame.

I did manage to grab a copy, so hopefully this will scratch the itch.

 Eilif wrote:
I enjoy Alpha Strike for battles with over 10 units per side but it's not really a classic Battletech experience, it's "Battleforce" with miniatures.

For more of a Battletech replacement with just a lance or so per side, I prefer "Mech Attack!". I like to tell folks it's like Battletech with 10% of the rules and it plays in 25% of the time. It does a really good job of abstracting alot while keeping what is familiar about Battletech: heat, damage tracking, building and equipping mechs, etc.

Been playing it for about a decade. And blogging it over the years here: https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/?s=Mech+Attack

As written it works for 6mm to 15mm and we use it with 10mm Rebased MechWarrior Clix. I also double measurements and run multiplayer games at conventions with big 28mm Mecha.

It's a nice cheap download.
https://www.wargamevault.com/m/product/82663
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

I actually bought this years ago when it was released. Was in a paper miniatures phase at the time. Never did get around to actually playing it. Just redownloaded it.


As for everyone recommending Battletech Alpha Strike, it appears to be long out of print and selling for over $100 on the secondary market. If Catalyst games does another pint run I'll probably pick it up.






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Looks like Alpha Strike is available in digital form for $19.99, but not print.
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/282217/BattleTech-Alpha-Strike-Commanders-Edition

I believe there is a new boxed set for Alpha Strike out like very soon? I have seen previews of the contents already on the u-toobs

 petrov27 wrote:
I believe there is a new boxed set for Alpha Strike out like very soon? I have seen previews of the contents already on the u-toobs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf_Z4f2sSxg

It looks good, but I can't find it for order anywhere.

 adamsouza wrote:

 petrov27 wrote:
I believe there is a new boxed set for Alpha Strike out like very soon? I have seen previews of the contents already on the u-toobs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf_Z4f2sSxg

It looks good, but I can't find it for order anywhere.

November most likely.

 adamsouza wrote:

 petrov27 wrote:
I believe there is a new boxed set for Alpha Strike out like very soon? I have seen previews of the contents already on the u-toobs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf_Z4f2sSxg

It looks good, but I can't find it for order anywhere.

It will be available soon. In the short term, if you want free rules, there is the Quick Start Rules that's available for free (though not nearly as robust as the Commander's Edition), and the cards can be downloaded from the MUL Online.

You can still appear to get horizon wars on Kindle through Amazon.

adamsouza 806932 11433219 wrote:

 Eilif wrote:
I enjoy Alpha Strike for battles with over 10 units per side but it's not really a classic Battletech experience, it's "Battleforce" with miniatures.

For more of a Battletech replacement with just a lance or so per side, I prefer "Mech Attack!". I like to tell folks it's like Battletech with 10% of the rules and it plays in 25% of the time. It does a really good job of abstracting alot while keeping what is familiar about Battletech: heat, damage tracking, building and equipping mechs, etc.

Been playing it for about a decade. And blogging it over the years here: https://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/blog/?s=Mech+Attack

As written it works for 6mm to 15mm and we use it with 10mm Rebased MechWarrior Clix. I also double measurements and run multiplayer games at conventions with big 28mm Mecha.

It's a nice cheap download.
https://www.wargamevault.com/m/product/82663
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

I actually bought this years ago when it was released. Was in a paper miniatures phase at the time. Never did get around to actually playing it. Just redownloaded it.

As for everyone recommending Battletech Alpha Strike, it appears to be long out of print and selling for over $100 on the secondary market. If Catalyst games does another pint run I'll probably pick it up.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Looks like Alpha Strike is available in digital form for $19.99, but not print.
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/282217/BattleTech-Alpha-Strike-Commanders-Edition

Hope Mech Attack works out for you, but nice that is free anyway since you've already got it. We never bothered with the paper Mecha.

If Alpha Strike is getting a reprint then I'd wait for that. IMHO, it's a great game for bigger battles, but it's not really a Battletech replacement anyway

 adamsouza wrote:

 petrov27 wrote:
I believe there is a new boxed set for Alpha Strike out like very soon? I have seen previews of the contents already on the u-toobs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf_Z4f2sSxg

It looks good, but I can't find it for order anywhere.

A lot of this stuff seems to go through stores like Barnes & Noble rather than the kind of places you'll find 40k.

Personally, I keep hoping for something between Classic and Alpha Strike. Classic is a little clunky to me. I'm not sure if over detailed is the right description so much as I think its rules could be resolved quicker with some modern ideas. Alpha Strike goes too far the other direction and gets so simple it doesn't really interest me and really doesn't have the mech flavor I want.

 LunarSol wrote:


Personally, I keep hoping for something between Classic and Alpha Strike. Classic is a little clunky to me. I'm not sure if over detailed is the right description so much as I think its rules could be resolved quicker with some modern ideas. Alpha Strike goes too far the other direction and gets so simple it doesn't really interest me and really doesn't have the mech flavor I want.

See my previous posts. Really.