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So every now and again we get a big group players together for some classic battletech and have an arena free for all where every player gets one mech of each weight class (inner sphere only) starting in lights and moving up as each mech is destroyed or is forced to withdraw.

we did one of those last night and it looked like this


The table-








Some shots of battle

lights



funny story on the pic above. i was in the painted lyran razorback and those two other lights decided to gang up behind me.....but i have no lower arm actuators in the ERPPC arm..so a single shot back into one of them tore into a torso and critically hit ammo causing it to detonate killing both mechs as they were standing very close to each other.....2 for one kill=winning.




mediums



heavies

Looks very cool. I'd prefer a big selection of hex maps, but overall I like the aesthetic and variation of terrain.

It kinda combines two things that we've done in the past:

1. Solaris matches, using a roster of 'Mechs that each player has, playing on the Solaris maps with specific weight classes. Tons of fun.

2. Endurance Battletech. Printed out 300-odd record sheets, put out the miniatures on one table, a big map on the other, and people just play whatever 'Mech they want until they die and get another.

everybody starts with hex maps usually, however given the fluidity of 3d terrain rules and the simplified firing arcs (not to mention the visual asthetics) i will never go back to hex maps...especially after i have collected all my 6mm terrain.

the only thing i think is comparable for hex play is the fantastic heroscape stackable pre-painted hex tiles.

A couple guys at my LGS have been gathering up as much as they could, and they were playing with them last Friday. Straight CBT not Solaris, but they are VERY good for setting up a good Solaris map, too.

 aphyon wrote:
So every now and again we get a big group players together for some classic battletech and have an arena free for all where every player gets one mech of each weight class (inner sphere only) starting in lights and moving up as each mech is destroyed or is forced to withdraw.

we did one of those last night and it looked like this

Love the tables! I try and drop into the Solaris 7 match at Gencon every year. 2019 I manged to get a Fenris Prime. It felt dirty running around with a ERPPC and 3/4 pilot. Nobody could touch me and I was tearing everyone else up! Anyways... How did you play the game hexless?

The rules for using 3d terrain are right there in the total warfare main rule book

2"=1 hex and making a facing change/turn up to a full hex side uses 2" of movement. Heavy metal pro has an option to print out control sheets in inch rules instead of hexes.

terrain levels are measured in inches ( a building that is under or up to 1" high is a level 1 building granting mechs partial cover when shooting over them). and you always round up when measuring height or distance.

You also use simplified facing rules.

Our group also uses a few of the advanced rules to speed up game play

.fire as you bear-removing the need for a declared fire phase
.forced withdrawl rules-mechs taking 1 gyro/2 engine or take internal damage on 3 limbs or 2 torso's the mech retires from the field.
.Ghost imaging (jamming) for ECMs
.rapid fire machineguns

They’ve shrunk things down; I remember it being 3” to one hex. However, we always just used 1” to one help avoid the mental arithmetic.

Heavy metal pro does all the conversions automatically so it has never been an issue