Am I missing someithing?

[CDAT]

This coming weekend we are going to give alpha strike another try. Each of us are to show up with a lance and we have up to 150pts to spend on it, max pilot skill of 3. Other than that we do not really have any outer guidance, most have said that they are looking at taking a light, medium, heavy, and assault (one is thinking of taking a super heavy in place of assault). So with that in mind I am looking at taking a Javelin (JVN-11B), Dervish (DV-7D), Helepolis (HEP-3H), and a Cyclops (CP-10-Q) all at level 4 using 148 out of my allowed 150 points. Last time we played was back when units cost something like 2 to 10 points, and lights killed everything on the board. But we have decided to give it another try, my goal is to have a mix of unit that let me try most of the features of the game and I just wanted to make sure that I am not missing a major feature that will make the game feel like battletech as last time we played that was one of the few things we all agreed on that it did not feel like battletech. We know that they have made some (OK, according to the guy running it this coming weekend lots) of changes to the game (when I last spoke to him, he had been going through putting all the changes into his book and he said that there was only one page that he did not have to put at least one sticky note for a change).

I do not know what the specials of each unit do (am starting to look them up, getting ready for the game), but just wanted to make sure I am not missing any major things that will really mess me up.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Keep in mind that Alpha Strike isn't about smashing warbots together in the same way that CBT/Boardgame Battletech is.  I'd suggest thinking of lances as the lowest common denominator in AS and not the individual mech.  Think of a single mech in AS as being as important as a single location on a mech in CBT.  This also means that playing a single lance in AS is like playing a game of CBT with only one mech per player.  Nothing at all wrong with that, but it's not a representative sample of what the game is built to do.

One of the strengths of Alpha Strike (other than facilitating larger-scale combat) is seamlessly integrating combined arms.  If you want to play a Clan force on a budget of 150 points (and based on your avatar, I'm suspecting you might be interested in that) you can take a few OMNIs with each packing a squad of Elementals.  Do keep in mind that anti-mech attacks are both easier to do in AS than in CBT, and also more effective to boot!

Lights are still the best bangs for the buck under the current point value system.  By far.  If someone realizes this and just takes nothing but a swarm of lights, it'll be his game to lose unless someone brings some TMM-ignoring attacks like artillery.  Lights get owned by Arrow IV-carrying units, so I'd suggest considering something along those lines "just in case".  One of the many changes they made to the rules is to allow Artillery into standard (ie non-optional) rules.  It's one of the few things in the rules keeping lights from dominating the game, so food for thought there.

Segueing from that thought, my alarm bells are going off about you saying one of your buddies is thinking about a colossal class mech.  He'll almost have to take lights (or infantry..) to finish out his 150 points... I'd beware a swarm of high TMMs backed by an Ares-class colossal from that guy...

You didn't mention anything about SPAs from building themed lances, so I'll presume you're not using those.  (but if so, consider building an Assault Lance if you fear a high TMM swarm... Assault Lances give Demoralizer and Demoralizers kill lights dead)

Alpha Strike is about synergy.  In the pre-game force selection stage, a good and obvious choice is to find something with TAG if you're going to take an Arrow IV carrier (denoted by the ARTAIS or ARTAC specials).  Or find a Narc carrier (SNARC special) and get lots of SRM/LRM specials on the rest of your lance.  If you're using the optional rules for alternate munitions, a mech with the AC special can make use of precision ammo which is another option for countering high-TMM annoyances.  And if alternate munitions are in play, absolutely remember you can fire Infernos from mechs with the SRM special! At a game size of only 150 points per player I wouldn't bother trying to do a C3 lance, but it is much much MUCH more viable than in CBT... so in bigger games don't rule it out!

[Scotty]

If everybody is using the same number of 'Mechs, then one Superheavy and three smaller units will probably not be a huge problem.  Superheavies are basically walking targets.  The LRG Special makes them -1 to hit, and they frequently can't generate a TMM at all, which means that your skill 4 'Mechs are hitting more than half the time at long range alone.  By the time it gets to Medium it should be swiss cheese trying to hit you once a turn on 9+ at minimum.  Lights that are outnumbered are not a huge threat.  Especially since you've got a Helepolis.

By limiting the number of units, using a fairly low points cap, and (presumably) not using Formation Bonuses from the Alpha Strike Companion (which Tai Dai Cultist has already mentioned), you should have a good foundation to start.

Just about the only advice I can give new players is stuff where the change from standard BT to Alpha Strike is non-obvious.  First off, when you move to the Combat Phase, each player declares and shoots everything on their side first, and then it moves to the next player, and each player declares and resolves attacks in sequence.  If the target you were going to shoot at with all of your 'Mechs dies after two shots, you can decide to shoot different targets afterward.  Second, you only have to move an inch, and then you get your full TMM.  A unit with 14" move will get that +3 TMM even if it only goes a couple inches.  This is generally what makes Light 'Mechs so good, but it also helps out Assaults that want to play turret, but don't want to lose their TMM.  You can just do the truffle shuffle behind a hill moving an inch back and forth every turn and have full defense.

[CDAT]

If everybody is using the same number of 'Mechs, then one Superheavy and three smaller units will probably not be a huge problem.  Superheavies are basically walking targets.  The LRG Special makes them -1 to hit, and they frequently can't generate a TMM at all, which means that your skill 4 'Mechs are hitting more than half the time at long range alone.  By the time it gets to Medium it should be swiss cheese trying to hit you once a turn on 9+ at minimum.  Lights that are outnumbered are not a huge threat.  Especially since you've got a Helepolis.

By limiting the number of units, using a fairly low points cap, and (presumably) not using Formation Bonuses from the Alpha Strike Companion (which Tai Dai Cultist has already mentioned), you should have a good foundation to start.

Just about the only advice I can give new players is stuff where the change from standard BT to Alpha Strike is non-obvious.  First off, when you move to the Combat Phase, each player declares and shoots everything on their side first, and then it moves to the next player, and each player declares and resolves attacks in sequence.  If the target you were going to shoot at with all of your 'Mechs dies after two shots, you can decide to shoot different targets afterward.  Second, you only have to move an inch, and then you get your full TMM.  A unit with 14" move will get that +3 TMM even if it only goes a couple inches.  This is generally what makes Light 'Mechs so good, but it also helps out Assaults that want to play turret, but don't want to lose their TMM.  You can just do the truffle shuffle behind a hill moving an inch back and forth every turn and have full defense.

Yes everyone is supposed to show up with four mechs, and to the best of my knowledge we are not using any SPA or formation bonus. The point total was set with the intent for one of each weight class (light to assault) so that we can get the feel for the different units, so we will not be using the lance as a unit (I do not know if that is going to cause a big issue with how the game flows/works/feels) about once a quarter right now we play a battalion on battalion in Battletech, but thought we would look at this to maybe do regiments, but like I said this is just the trial to try and get the feel for it with all the new changes.

So the possible issues, things to look/watch for (some already cover, but will do so again just to make sure I got them all correct).
1) The Lance is the basic building block - Unfortunately we are not doing this as we are trying to keep it small and get the feel for each class, is this going to cause a big issue?
2) AS is really set up for combined arms - We are also not doing this (at this time) again is this going to be a big issue?
3) Lights are more powerful in AS than in BT - This is partly our understanding and why we are limiting pilots to skill level 3, does this help or hurt the light mechs?
4) The Super heavy may be an issue - If I understand correctly it is an issue because of the cost, making that force have to take smaller units to back it up. Right now we are only using mechs, so no infantry and I thought that they fixed the point cost of the lights, so if he is limited on points is he not going to be stuck using worse units?
5) SPA can be a game changer - Right now there has not been any talk about them, as we are still trying to wrap our brains about the basic mechs and how they work, but we did not specifically exclude them if only one player is using them (do they cost points) how big of a issue will that be?
5A) Formation Bonuses - Same as the SPA
6) The TAG, ARTAIS or ARTAC specials that you are talking about are the things listed in the box at the bottom of each cord? - Again we did not exclude any, but we also did not talk about any it is up to each player to decide what units they are going to take. For example my force has Case, ECM, PRB, RCN, SRM1/1, IF1, LRM1/1/1, ARTS-1 now right now I do not know what any of these mean (still looking it all up) but my understanding is that we will be using all of them.
7) You are talking about how a skill 4 should be able to hit the superheavy about half the time even at long range. - Have they changed the shooting rules, or is this just because of the LRG (I am guessing this is Large giving the -1 to hit you were talking about)? Last time we played (a long time ago and I do not remember how we got the to hit numbers) almost everything was 9+ to hit at medium range, most were imposable or at best nearly so at long range and the game took for ever as no one could hit, and maybe just bad mech picks but most could do very little damage at short range. (One of the reason this time I took units that do not lose damage from medium to short).
Thank you for your help and advice (even if it is not used this time) so far our experience with AS has been poor or worse (we did not save any time playing same number of units, and to us did not feel like battletech), but we have heard they made a lot of changes (and this is backed up with the errata being almost as many pages as the manual) so we are giving it another go.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Yes everyone is supposed to show up with four mechs, and to the best of my knowledge we are not using any SPA or formation bonus. The point total was set with the intent for one of each weight class (light to assault) so that we can get the feel for the different units, so we will not be using the lance as a unit (I do not know if that is going to cause a big issue with how the game flows/works/feels) about once a quarter right now we play a battalion on battalion in Battletech, but thought we would look at this to maybe do regiments, but like I said this is just the trial to try and get the feel for it with all the new changes.

So the possible issues, things to look/watch for (some already cover, but will do so again just to make sure I got them all correct).
1) The Lance is the basic building block - Unfortunately we are not doing this as we are trying to keep it small and get the feel for each class, is this going to cause a big issue?
2) AS is really set up for combined arms - We are also not doing this (at this time) again is this going to be a big issue?
3) Lights are more powerful in AS than in BT - This is partly our understanding and why we are limiting pilots to skill level 3, does this help or hurt the light mechs?
4) The Super heavy may be an issue - If I understand correctly it is an issue because of the cost, making that force have to take smaller units to back it up. Right now we are only using mechs, so no infantry and I thought that they fixed the point cost of the lights, so if he is limited on points is he not going to be stuck using worse units?
5) SPA can be a game changer - Right now there has not been any talk about them, as we are still trying to wrap our brains about the basic mechs and how they work, but we did not specifically exclude them if only one player is using them (do they cost points) how big of a issue will that be?
5A) Formation Bonuses - Same as the SPA
6) The TAG, ARTAIS or ARTAC specials that you are talking about are the things listed in the box at the bottom of each cord? - Again we did not exclude any, but we also did not talk about any it is up to each player to decide what units they are going to take. For example my force has Case, ECM, PRB, RCN, SRM1/1, IF1, LRM1/1/1, ARTS-1 now right now I do not know what any of these mean (still looking it all up) but my understanding is that we will be using all of them.
7) You are talking about how a skill 4 should be able to hit the superheavy about half the time even at long range. - Have they changed the shooting rules, or is this just because of the LRG (I am guessing this is Large giving the -1 to hit you were talking about)? Last time we played (a long time ago and I do not remember how we got the to hit numbers) almost everything was 9+ to hit at medium range, most were imposable or at best nearly so at long range and the game took for ever as no one could hit, and maybe just bad mech picks but most could do very little damage at short range. (One of the reason this time I took units that do not lose damage from medium to short).
Thank you for your help and advice (even if it is not used this time) so far our experience with AS has been poor or worse (we did not save any time playing same number of units, and to us did not feel like battletech), but we have heard they made a lot of changes (and this is backed up with the errata being almost as many pages as the manual) so we are giving it another go.

My opinion on your 8 points:

1) You can play AS with a single lance per player. But as I mentioned earlier it's like doing a one on one duel in CBT.  Perhaps like a Wasp vs Stinger, at that.  Yeah it's the game but do you really get a feel for the game with that?  I suspect that if your earlier game was also lance on lance that may help explain why you didn't get the impression AS felt like "BattleTech".  You played a CBT scale game under AS rules; obviously there were jarring differences.

2) Segues with #1.  Playing AS without combined arms is almost like playing CBT without mechs.  You can do it, but it's not catering to the game's strengths.

3) Lights are vastly more powerful in AS than in CBT.  That's part of the charm of AS to me to be honest.  AS is much less about the capability of a given unit than your ability to make a team of units perform.  There's a powerful levening of capability across the board; this dramatically helps light units (as does full TMM for any move of 1" or more, as Scotty pointed out).  Skill, however, is also a bigger deal in AS than in CBT.  As you probably know attacks in AS are all-or-nothing.  That makes hitting or missing vastly more profound.  Furthermore, attack mods tend to come in batches of +2 (cover, forest, range increments, etc).  2TMM is also a pretty common value, making "skill plus 4" or "skill plus 6" very common TNs.  3+4 is more than one pip better than 4+4 due to 7's place on the 2d6 bell curve compared to 8.

4) If you are indeed locked into a unit count as well as a PV cap, the superheavy shouldn't be an issue.  The PV system may undervalue fast/high TMM units, but it's largely very sound.  Much more reliable than BV2 at any rate.

5) SPAs are very powerful and change the game.  They can do amazing things in proper combination like making artillery auto-hit.  (this is largely why light swarms don't rule AS even though they're so good)  If noone is using SPAs however, you shouldn't miss SPAs.

6) By all means read up on the specials.  They're pretty much what differentiates one SZ 3 mech that does 3/3/2 damage from another.  PRB and RCN are not going to do much if certain optional rules are not in play (like Battlefield Intelligence).  I wouldn't prioritize getting those specials unless of course you know there'll be hidden units or the aforementioned BI rules.  ECM is also a meta-y special... it only turns off other people's specials.  If you don't suspect anyone else is using C3 or NARCs, ECM won't do much or anything for you.  The "weapon" specials like AC, LRM, SRM allow you to use alternate ammo.  But as I mentioned before, even if you're not using that optional rule SRM and LRM do still trigger a bonus if you have NARC in play.  They will also trigger the AMS defensive special on your target if it has it.  Indirect Fire (the IF special) is a common one, and allows you to do IF attacks that basically work like they do in CBT.  Need a spotter, and they do the numerical damage listed if successful rather than your full damage value.  ARTS-1 means the unit has artillery.  Specifically, 1 Sniper piece.  If you are going to play with artillery, I'd look for an Arrow IV version instead.  More powerful, and can make use of TAG even under standard rules.

7) He was assuming the superheavy had no cover or anything.  So, skill 4 plus 4 for long range, minus 1 because it's got the LRG special, means hitting on 7s because they usually can't generate a TMM.

Hope you guys have a good time.  Personally, I've abandoned CBT for AS because I feel it better represents the warfare of the BTU than CBT does.  To me it feels MORE like Battletech than CBT does :)

[Scotty]

Weighing in myself on your 8 points:

1) When playing Alpha Strike, in terms of time to play a game, complexity, and general ability, try to think of things as one level "smaller" than they usually are.  A Lance in Alpha Strike performs in such a way that you'll probably end up finishing this game as if you were all playing single 'Mechs in standard BattleTech.  A Company in Alpha Strike is the same complexity and time cost as a Lance size battle in standard.  Battalions in AS are roughly equivalent to Company size games in standard, and so on.  You may want to bring two copies of all your cards, or use card sleeves/page protectors and dry erase so you can get a second game in after the first.  It could be over quicker than you might think.

2) Nope, no issue.  It's just a lot easier to use infantry, vehicles, aerospace, and 'Mechs all in the same game under Alpha Strike than it is under standard BT.  Most of my games feature at least two, if not all four of the things I just mentioned.

3) Putting a cap on skill helps Light 'Mechs.  Or, more specifically, it hurts their non-artillery counters.  Bell curves are fickle things, and the difference between an 8 to hit and a 10 to hit is a lot bigger than the difference between a 5 to hit and a 7 to hit.  Less capable pilots means a fast Light can easily stay out of short or even medium range, and end up needing an 11 or 12 to hit, while shooting back and only needing a 9.  It's not a fast way to play the game, somewhat ironically, but it generally favors the Light 'Mech, especially point for point.  That said, this problem is something that literally just flat out does not exist if you're only using things like Commandos and Wolfhounds.  There aren't any problems to speak of until you start getting into +3 or higher TMMs.

4) That's one way to look at it.  The reason I brought it up is that a Superheavy will frequently underperform for its points, in the same way a Light will overperform but in reverse.  It's very hard to miss Superheavies, and that means they die quickly.  Even though they have lots of armor and structure, they frequently won't be able to do much damage before they're destroyed.  Generally speaking, Alpha Strike values armor and structure more on a point for point basis than damage.

5) Nope, no issue.  It's just a fun way to spice things up once you've gotten the basics down.
5A) See above.  I really like them, because they give you new and different ways to make units, and they give you a good reason to use something like a Jagermech or Rifleman that you would otherwise never think of including anywhere a good place to be.  Or, failing that, make them suck a little less.

6) The Specials that start with ART are all artillery.  There's been some substantial errata to the way artillery works in Alpha Strike, so I really suggest taking a look at what has changed before you throw down.  Guns do much less damage than they used to, but they can also be used in basic Alpha Strike rules without having to crack open the flight time calculator pages and whatnot.  They're also very good against Light 'Mechs, because artillery tends to flat out ignore most TMMs. 

7) If everything was at 9+ to hit at medium range, that's... an anomaly.  A typical game will probably see to hit numbers at medium range between 7 and 9 (+1 to +3 TMM), which are doable.  Things like woods and partial cover make it more difficult, and if we're being frank here don't play with woods.  They only slow down the game.  If you're just getting a feel for the game, I'd recommend using hills and terrain features that block line of sight without giving defensive bonuses, and not much else.

Actually, thinking about it, maybe you guys were adding an Attacker Movement Modifier?  Those don't exist in Alpha Strike unless you're jumping.  Walking is a big fat +0 to hit.  In a typical round, the only things you need to add up are:

Gunnery Skill + TMM + Obstacles/Overheat + Range = TN.  "Gator" for a quick mnemonic.

A typical 4 skill pilot will be looking at:  4 (Skill) + 2 (TMM) + 0 (no terrain/overheat) + 2 (medium range) = 8 to hit for most of the game against the most common units.  Jumping pumps that up a fair bit, but one of the biggest pieces of errata to Alpha Strike is that jumping is optional if your 'Mech has it.

[CDAT]

OK, so I guess the next question is what is a normal sized battle for AS? In BattleTech we normally have a company of mechs with air (always) and armor and/or infantry (sometimes) support on each side so this is what we are used to. In the past when we have played AS we used companies (some times with mostly with out armor/infantry but never anything else) for each player and maybe it was the old rules, maybe we were doing it wrong, and/or maybe we were doing some (many) thing wrong, but it just did not feel like battletech to us.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

OK, so I guess the next question is what is a normal sized battle for AS? In BattleTech we normally have a company of mechs with air (always) and armor and/or infantry (sometimes) support on each side so this is what we are used to. In the past when we have played AS we used companies (some times with mostly with out armor/infantry but never anything else) for each player and maybe it was the old rules, maybe we were doing it wrong, and/or maybe we were doing some (many) thing wrong, but it just did not feel like battletech to us.

There is no formal "standard" sized game, but I find that 400-500 points per side makes for a company sized battle that can be set up, played out, and packed up in about 2 hours.  Judging by chatter in this and the After Action Reports forum, that seems like a pretty common game size.


What "feels like Battletech" is something that's going to be defined 6 different ways by 5 different BattleTech fans.  If what you like about CBT is something that's related to what's lost in the change in granularity in Alpha Strike, then sadly Alpha Strike will never give you that thing you liked. For example: if you feel like the notion of a mech operating at 100% capacity up until its removal from the game goes against BattleTech, then AS will never address that for you.  Because largely, yes.  Mechs (normally) suffer no problems at all until all armor is shot off and by the time it's taking critical hits, it's gonna be dead more times than not anyway by the end of that same round.  This is exacerbated when you sensibly combine fire on targets.

However you can change your perspective.  As I mentioned upthread, the "lowest level of playing piece" shouldn't be considered the single mech, but the single lance of 4 of them.  If you feel that a mech suffering no ill effects from fire at all until all armor is gone doesn't feel like battletech, consider that's pretty much how it works in CBT on a different level of scale... a single hit location doesn't (usually) suffer any ill effects from hostile fire until each and every last pip of armor is shot off.  Same game rules phenomenon... but in CBT you don't consider your mech's arm to be a distinct playing piece from the mech's other arm and in AS you shouldn't consider 1/4th of a lance to be its own individual battle element either.

Anyway, here's some of the things I think AS does that makes it a great "feel" for BattleTech:
Lights are useful (albiet arguably *too* useful... but I'll take that over "why ever field light mechs?" that permeates regular/CBT)

It's a game about unit tactics rather than a gladitorial game between warbot pilots

It seamlessly integrates combined arms.  Yeah, Mechs are the stars of BattleTech, even still in Alpha Strike.  But would you want to play Chess without pawns?  I want my "pawns" in my BattleTech, and Alpha Strike integrates them better than CBT does.

It allows engagements up to the sizes that are commonly discussed in fiction and sourcebook lore.  If you're used to playing company sized battles in CBT, then playing Battalion sized battles under AS should be easy as punch.

It streamlines and standardizes tech.  I don't care about the difference between a Medium Laser, an ER Medium Laser, a Clan ER Medium Laser, and etc.  Alpha Strike doesn't either (beyond the stats conversion process, that is).  But that's a personal preference thing.  I find it an improvement to the game that noone has to worry about the slight range advantage of this weapon versus that.  If that kind of thing is what you like, then CBT may be your better fit.  But I think the standardized ranges is good because it streamlines the game.  Medium range is 24" no matter what.  Long range is 42" no matter what.  Making ranges a universal standard allows for tactics to be about other things (like flanking, screening, feinting, thrusting, etc).  Again, talking preferences, but I think AS feels more like a wargame set in the BTU and CBT is more like the mech gladiatorial combat scale game.  (and for that, why not just use ATOW or Solaris VII rules?  But I digress)

If you bring in the SPAs and lance formation bonuses, the pilots ironically become more important than in the lower-granularity scale CBT.  (although CO is now bringing SPAs and Lance bonuses to CBT, I believe).

Can you explain more about what you felt was not "BattleTechy" about Alpha Strike?  Could be just different opinions, but also could have been expectations that were faulty.  Could also even have been something being done wrong or something that errata has since fixed.

[CDAT]

There is no formal "standard" sized game, but I find that 400-500 points per side makes for a company sized battle that can be set up, played out, and packed up in about 2 hours.  Judging by chatter in this and the After Action Reports forum, that seems like a pretty common game size.


What "feels like Battletech" is something that's going to be defined 6 different ways by 5 different BattleTech fans.  If what you like about CBT is something that's related to what's lost in the change in granularity in Alpha Strike, then sadly Alpha Strike will never give you that thing you liked. For example: if you feel like the notion of a mech operating at 100% capacity up until its removal from the game goes against BattleTech, then AS will never address that for you.  Because largely, yes.  Mechs (normally) suffer no problems at all until all armor is shot off and by the time it's taking critical hits, it's gonna be dead more times than not anyway by the end of that same round.  This is exacerbated when you sensibly combine fire on targets.

However you can change your perspective.  As I mentioned upthread, the "lowest level of playing piece" shouldn't be considered the single mech, but the single lance of 4 of them.  If you feel that a mech suffering no ill effects from fire at all until all armor is gone doesn't feel like battletech, consider that's pretty much how it works in CBT on a different level of scale... a single hit location doesn't (usually) suffer any ill effects from hostile fire until each and every last pip of armor is shot off.  Same game rules phenomenon... but in CBT you don't consider your mech's arm to be a distinct playing piece from the mech's other arm and in AS you shouldn't consider 1/4th of a lance to be its own individual battle element either.

Anyway, here's some of the things I think AS does that makes it a great "feel" for BattleTech:
Lights are useful (albiet arguably *too* useful... but I'll take that over "why ever field light mechs?" that permeates regular/CBT)

It's a game about unit tactics rather than a gladitorial game between warbot pilots

It seamlessly integrates combined arms.  Yeah, Mechs are the stars of BattleTech, even still in Alpha Strike.  But would you want to play Chess without pawns?  I want my "pawns" in my BattleTech, and Alpha Strike integrates them better than CBT does.

It allows engagements up to the sizes that are commonly discussed in fiction and sourcebook lore.  If you're used to playing company sized battles in CBT, then playing Battalion sized battles under AS should be easy as punch.

It streamlines and standardizes tech.  I don't care about the difference between a Medium Laser, an ER Medium Laser, a Clan ER Medium Laser, and etc.  Alpha Strike doesn't either (beyond the stats conversion process, that is).  But that's a personal preference thing.  I find it an improvement to the game that noone has to worry about the slight range advantage of this weapon versus that.  If that kind of thing is what you like, then CBT may be your better fit.  But I think the standardized ranges is good because it streamlines the game.  Medium range is 24" no matter what.  Long range is 42" no matter what.  Making ranges a universal standard allows for tactics to be about other things (like flanking, screening, feinting, thrusting, etc).  Again, talking preferences, but I think AS feels more like a wargame set in the BTU and CBT is more like the mech gladiatorial combat scale game.  (and for that, why not just use ATOW or Solaris VII rules?  But I digress)

If you bring in the SPAs and lance formation bonuses, the pilots ironically become more important than in the lower-granularity scale CBT.  (although CO is now bringing SPAs and Lance bonuses to CBT, I believe).

Can you explain more about what you felt was not "BattleTechy" about Alpha Strike?  Could be just different opinions, but also could have been expectations that were faulty.  Could also even have been something being done wrong or something that errata has since fixed.

OK, let see if I can put my finger on what it was the did not feel right (and I know that this was some time ago, so they may have fixed some of this already, one of the reasons we are trying it again).
1) So first was the fact that they did not lose anything tell they were dead, I am going to have to try as you said to think of the lance as the unit, not the individual mech and they may help on this part.
2) We use a lot of lights in our BattleTech games, and they just felt way to powerful for the few points (old point system) that they cost. It felt to us more of a case why take anything but lights, and made the mediums, heavy, and assaults feel worthless, as you almost did not have to think to use the lights, just stay still in woods, or water and you almost could not be hit (my understanding is this is one of the things, standing still that they have changed) where as the heavy and assaults it did not matter as they could not get enough of a modifier to make a difference.
3) When we played it was much more turret tech then normal for us as you got the full modifier regardless of if you moved or not (and again my understanding is they have changed this). Like I said we use a lot of light mechs, so movement is life for us in our normal play, and did not see that.
4) We were playing the same size as we normally did and did not see it saving time (my guess is mostly due to having to look up rules much more, and the way things work being different slowing play as well). This one did not really affect the feel of the game, just made it so we were kind of saying why give up the detail if we do not get anything for it.
5) The all or nothing, I do not know how many times only hit with one or two things, but it adds up over time.
6) The tech changes was a big one for us. My Vulcan with its AC/2 fighting a Clint with its AC/5 no longer has any advantage, as it loses its range, but the Clint gets to keep it extra damage. This was even bigger when we played with Clans vs IS. It felt (I have no idea how they did the points then or even now) like we were paying points for our longer range, but not able to use it. Also the way that some of the equipment worked my pulse laser and targeting computers do nothing as far as helping me hit, like they do in BattleTech. Someone told me that they instead increased the damage done, but best example that I saw was a Masakari C get killed by a Stock 3025 Warhammer, both were 4 gunners, the warhammer was standing in the woods at long range, and the Masakari never got a hit, by the time it died it had closed to medium range but if I remember correctly it needed 12's at long range and 10's to hit when it died, compared to the 10's and 8's for the warhammer. And yes the bad rolls that the Masakari pilot had did not help, but the -3 (Targeting Computer, and Large Pulse Lasers) would have helped a lot. As it was the Masakari never hit, not even once so it does not matter what the damage multiplier is as 1 billion X 0 is still 0. And yes I know this is an extreme case, but combined with the range and cost it was I think the straw that broke the camels back.

So I think that is at least the big ones, and after reading your post I am going to try and see if I can not change the way I look at some of the things, we will just have to see. Hopefully it does work as I would love to field an entire RCT, and/or Galaxy fight.

[Scotty]

The first edition of Alpha Strike used "BV/100" and it was terrible.  You'd have appreciable differences in stats where one 'Mech was just flat out better, but they'd have the same points cost because their regular BTech BVs were very close.  That has since changed, and now all the matters for your points cost is what is printed on your unit card.

Cheap Lights in current Alpha Strike are still cheap, but the ones that were absolutely murderous in Alpha Strike but dirt cheap in standard play got price bumped accordingly.  It's still not perfect, and probably never will be due to the rock-paper-scissors nature of heavy/assaults-lights-artillery, but it's miles ahead of what it used to be.

As mentioned above, staying still is no longer possible while retaining TMMs.  Also as mentioned above don't use woods.  Seriously, don't do it.  Bell curves are incredibly unforgiving, and pumping that Light 'Mech's 9 to-hit at Medium up to 11 to-hit does it a lot more favors than bumping that Assault's 7 to-hit to 9 in the same circumstance.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

To be fair, a couple of your observations are quite valid.  The Powers That Be recognize that lights don't pay as much PV for what they can do and they're looking at tweaking that... so it's in the works (probably after BattleMech Manual is all set).  I think that lights aren't so much overpowered as undercosted... a PV fix would be perfect.

The all or nothing nature of attacks in Alpha Strike is another common complaint.. there's the Variable Damage optional rule as well as several house rules for alternate approaches (rolling to hit for every point of damage, giving half damage for a miss by 1 pip, etc)

The removal of tech advantages in play is a big one to adapt to.  Now keep in mind the advantages *are* still there, but they're baked into the damage values.  Clanners can't shoot any farther than IS mech jocks, but their Long Range damage values will still be better than a comparable IS mech.  Likewise they'll often have better armor and/or structure values to boot.  Pulse and Targeting computers are also baked into the damage values rather than modifying the to-hit rolls.  In CBT the solution to hitting a high TMM target is to just use pulse lasers... in AS it's in coralling the unit (well, or just killing it with artillery...)    In my view, for example, I look at the Vulcan vs Clint example you gave and think that does the slight difference in range and damage output between an AC2 and an AC5 really mean that much in a picture as big as two mech companies clashing?  I don't think so, and I don't mind there not being one.  YMMV.

Full TMM for 1" of movement:  Yeah, that's true, but the guy who's only moving 1" when he could have moved 20" is only cheating himself, not the spirit of BattleTech.  I'm in agreement with a sentiment Scotty has expressed elsewhere: Movement is more important than TMM.  If you move out of someone's LOS or even better their arc of fire while you retain your own LOS, that's way better than standing almost still and being shot at.  Movement is king in Alpha Strike.  In CBT all it's useful for is generating a TMM.  In AS it causes battle lines to falter.  TMM is the side effect :D  Most of the games of AS I've lost is due to not exercising decisive control over the decisive part of the battlefield.

[Scotty]

And almost all of the AS games I've won have been making bold maneuvers that force my opponent to react to them whether they want to or not.  And that doesn't happen if you just sit and shoot.

[Son of Kerenski]

Someone told me that they instead increased the damage done, but best example that I saw was a Masakari C get killed by a Stock 3025 Warhammer, both were 4 gunners, the warhammer was standing in the woods at long range, and the Masakari never got a hit, by the time it died it had closed to medium range but if I remember correctly it needed 12's at long range and 10's to hit when it died, compared to the 10's and 8's for the warhammer. And yes the bad rolls that the Masakari pilot had did not help, but the -3 (Targeting Computer, and Large Pulse Lasers) would have helped a lot. As it was the Masakari never hit, not even once so it does not matter what the damage multiplier is as 1 billion X 0 is still 0. And yes I know this is an extreme case, but combined with the range and cost it was I think the straw that broke the camels

That sounds like you might have done the calcs wrong.

If both gunners were the same you should have probably had the same numbers to hit.

8 long + 2 for woods both of you +1 TMM = 11s

Then medium shouldve been 9s.

Even if the Whammy was Stat his -1 is only cancelling out your +1 TMM. Which still equals the same numbers for both of you if you are continually moving.

2 x 6pt hits from the Masakari will destroy the WHM (5 armor points and 6 int) but it takes 7 hits for the WHM at long range to kill the Masakari or 5 at medium.

Sounds like dice luck might have played a factor.

[CDAT]

To be fair, a couple of your observations are quite valid.  The Powers That Be recognize that lights don't pay as much PV for what they can do and they're looking at tweaking that... so it's in the works (probably after BattleMech Manual is all set).  I think that lights aren't so much overpowered as undercosted... a PV fix would be perfect.

I will have to keep this in mind, and keep an eye out for the PV fix, I am guessing that the numbers on the MUL will be updated after this is done.

The all or nothing nature of attacks in Alpha Strike is another common complaint.. there's the Variable Damage optional rule as well as several house rules for alternate approaches (rolling to hit for every point of damage, giving half damage for a miss by 1 pip, etc)

Thank you, I will have to look into that.

The removal of tech advantages in play is a big one to adapt to.  Now keep in mind the advantages *are* still there, but they're baked into the damage values.  Clanners can't shoot any farther than IS mech jocks, but their Long Range damage values will still be better than a comparable IS mech.  Likewise they'll often have better armor and/or structure values to boot.  Pulse and Targeting computers are also baked into the damage values rather than modifying the to-hit rolls.  In CBT the solution to hitting a high TMM target is to just use pulse lasers... in AS it's in coralling the unit (well, or just killing it with artillery...)    In my view, for example, I look at the Vulcan vs Clint example you gave and think that does the slight difference in range and damage output between an AC2 and an AC5 really mean that much in a picture as big as two mech companies clashing?  I don't think so, and I don't mind there not being one.  YMMV.

I think that this is one of the parts that I have the hardest part wrapping my brain around, I do not know what/how things translate to short/medium/long in AS. And maybe the AC/2 compared to AC/5 is a bad example. Maybe a better example would be the IS Large Laser (I am guessing it shoots out to long range, but do not know), compared to the Clan LB 2-X, the Clan LB 2-X has twice the range, so it is trading damage for range. I try and wrap my brain around that being able to use all the range, but sometimes that is very difficult for me at least.

Full TMM for 1" of movement:  Yeah, that's true, but the guy who's only moving 1" when he could have moved 20" is only cheating himself, not the spirit of BattleTech.  I'm in agreement with a sentiment Scotty has expressed elsewhere: Movement is more important than TMM.  If you move out of someone's LOS or even better their arc of fire while you retain your own LOS, that's way better than standing almost still and being shot at.  Movement is king in Alpha Strike.  In CBT all it's useful for is generating a TMM.  In AS it causes battle lines to falter.  TMM is the side effect :D  Most of the games of AS I've lost is due to not exercising decisive control over the decisive part of the battlefield.

I will have to relook at how I use this in AS, thinking back I think it is very possible we just got lazy, something that I think the old not having to move, and even the new only having to move 1" makes more common. I do have to disagree that "In CBT all it's useful for is generating a TMM" as I was saying we use a lot of lights so for us it is much more, speed is life is the saying, but that is not all about the TMM is is also about putting your self in a position that make it difficult for them to shoot at you, and they have to make the choice of who to shoot at because you eliminated the option of them focus firing at one unit.

That sounds like you might have done the calcs wrong.
If both gunners were the same you should have probably had the same numbers to hit.
8 long + 2 for woods both of you +1 TMM = 11s
Then medium shouldve been 9s.
Even if the Whammy was Stat his -1 is only cancelling out your +1 TMM. Which still equals the same numbers for both of you if you are continually moving.
2 x 6pt hits from the Masakari will destroy the WHM (5 armor points and 6 int) but it takes 7 hits for the WHM at long range to kill the Masakari or 5 at medium.
Sounds like dice luck might have played a factor.

It is very possible that we did it wrong, but at least one thing I see from your numbers that either we did wrong or has been changed (I think both are possible) it was my undersanding that if you are on the edge of the woods you (the shooter) do not have that added, and this is how we did it. This would have given the Warhammer 4 (skill) +4 (long range) +1 (TMM) for a total of 9, conspired to the Masakari needing 11 at long range, when it drops to medium it became a 7 for the Warhammer, and still a 9 for the Masakari and yes the dice rolling was bad, but if the to hit numbers for the Masakari were 8 at long range and 6 at medium that would have made a big difference compared to getting a multiplier for damage when he did not hit at all. Six and Eight are much easier to roll than Nine and Eleven. But this sounds like it is one of the things (like the range) that I will just have to suck it up if we play this more.

[Scotty]

That's not how woods work in AS.  Granted, that might have changed since you played, but as of right now they are always in play for both sides if they're in play for one side.

Basically, it boils down to "Is either side in woods? Y/N".  If Y, then both sides deal with the +2 to hit.  If N, there are no woods to get in the way.

This is why I keep saying don't use woods.  They offer literally no comparative advantage besides manipulating the bell curve to make the game go longer.

[CDAT]

That's not how woods work in AS.  Granted, that might have changed since you played, but as of right now they are always in play for both sides if they're in play for one side.

Basically, it boils down to "Is either side in woods? Y/N".  If Y, then both sides deal with the +2 to hit.  If N, there are no woods to get in the way.

This is why I keep saying don't use woods.  They offer literally no comparative advantage besides manipulating the bell curve to make the game go longer.

It is good to know that this is how they work, I am guessing that they do not have light and heavy woods then. I do not know if we were doing it wrong or just used to battletech rules, either way it is good to know and also kind of irritating that things do not work the same.

[CDAT]

So we tried the game, and called it in short order. It turned out we misread a rule and so are going to try again later. But this last weekend we used the same unit in a battletech game and it was very interesting how different some units were, I had a Marauder II (MAD-6D) that took three rounds of fire from almost two lances and survived it had eight points of armor left (six on the head, and one on each arm), one more point of internal on the right torso and it would die (due to loss of engine), but it was still fighting and winning. In AS it died in one turn to much less firepower, so the loss of detail is very difficult to get over, the idea of counting each lance as a unit does help with the overall feel of the game, but not being able to have you unit hold the line. The force that I ended up going with was a bit different as they asked me to not bring the artillery as they did not want to try and figure it out yet, so I ended up taking the Marauder II (MAD-6D),  JagerMech (JM7-F), Stealth (STH-2D2), and Fireball (ALM-XF). In our AS game no one could ever hit the fireball with its +5 TMM, in the battletech game it died the first time it got shot at even with a +6 movement modifer it only took one hit and it died. My JagerMech also died to one hit, but not many units can take a gauss to the face and live, it was a lucky shot long range with cover and all he needed like a ten or eleven to hit, and only one hit from his super heavy and it hit the head. The stealth early on got hit in the back and took a gyro hit, so it spent most of the rest of the game limping around. On the other side they had a Crusader (steiner version with Heavy Gauss) get a TAC that killed it in one hit with out ever getting through the armor. So anyway we had a very good time with the battletech game, did not enjoy the AS game, but that was mostly to making a big error that made the game no fun, that error was one of the guys who has the books misread that damage was applied as it was done, so if you die before your turn you do not get to shoot. We lost five of our sixteen units with out any of them getting to shoot and at that point we called it due to there being no chance of pulling it off for the one side. We later figured out that was not the way it was supposed to be done (had already set up time to play same units in Battletech), so we decided that we will have to give it another try and see if not using a home rule that takes all the fun out of it makes it better.

[Scotty]

Each round of Alpha Strike represents 30 seconds, so the relative durability of your Marauder II sounds right on target.  "Think of a Lance like you would a 'Mech" applies to all aspects of the game, including how much of a presence you need in one area to hold the line.  One 'Mech will not cut it, but a Lance of them might/should depending on your opponent.

Artillery under standard rules is really easy.  Basically: Range is 42" (just like long range), the attack is always considered to be at long range for modifiers, wherever it ends up hitting everything in the template takes damage.  You can fire indirect without a spotter, still costs the normal +1 to hit from indirect fire.  Scatter is honestly the most complicated part, but for that you roll 1d6 for direction, and 1d6 for distance (and then double the 1d6 for Arrow IV).  That's it.

[nckestrel]

Scatter is honestly the most complicated part, but for that you roll 1d6 for direction, and 1d6 for distance (and then double the 1d6 for Arrow IV).  That's it.

Minor note here, it's double for all non-Artillery Cannons (the "snub-nose" artillery).  Long Toms, Snipers, and Thumpers (that are not the Cannon versions) also double the scatter die distance.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

The optional rule about applying variable damage may appeal to you CDAT.  It does make things live longer, as everything does about roughly 1/3 less damage (barring units that only do 1 damage to begin with, that is).  I liked that rule a lot myself when I started getting into Alpha Strike since it did kind of remind me of giant mechs slugging off attack after attack until they finally fell under extreme combined fire.  Full disclosure: I don't like it so much *now* due to the unneeded boost it gives to small, fast units that only do 1 damage and are already hard to kill w/o variable damage.. but who knows.  If you're willing to give AS another shot it may make it feel more inside your comfort zone.

A clinical level of precision in knowing *exactly* how many times you need to successfully hit a target in order to kill it is definitely a change from CBT.  Personally, I've come to embrace this new paradigm, and now find uncomfortable the corollary idea of how CBT makes you declare shots before you even know if the target is already going to be dead in this turn's end phase.  To emphasize: knowing during the combat phase when a target has taken enough damage to be killed and being able to allocate successive fire accordingly at new targets is a BIIIIIIG difference from CBT.  Big implications on how quickly things get shot down.

[CDAT]

Each round of Alpha Strike represents 30 seconds, so the relative durability of your Marauder II sounds right on target.  "Think of a Lance like you would a 'Mech" applies to all aspects of the game, including how much of a presence you need in one area to hold the line.  One 'Mech will not cut it, but a Lance of them might/should depending on your opponent.

Thinking of the lance as the unit has helped, but it does lose a lot of the feel of the mechs holding the line, as there does not seam to be any luck in it anymore. Like I was saying my Marauder II held the line for about 30 seconds or three turns in battletech (I did not know that AS turns were 30 seconds, so thank you for that). It held against a BattleMaster, Black Knight, Shootist, JagerMech (RAC/5), Cauldron-Born, Uller, Commando, and a Marauder. Now I did have some very good luck, earlier I had jammed my RAC and so dumped the ammo (never got a crit on this side) as I did not see a way to every unjam it, my side torso got hit lots and they did four critical hits but all of them on the jammed RAC, none hit the XL engine. So I had my full internal unlike AS where they cut it in half due to the XL, the XL had no negative effect on my unit. When we played in AS it only took three units to kill it, and the others were able to kill other things, so that part did not feel the same. And if I have to place a lance to hold what a mech should be able to that is an issue with me.

Artillery under standard rules is really easy.  Basically: Range is 42" (just like long range), the attack is always considered to be at long range for modifiers, wherever it ends up hitting everything in the template takes damage.  You can fire indirect without a spotter, still costs the normal +1 to hit from indirect fire.  Scatter is honestly the most complicated part, but for that you roll 1d6 for direction, and 1d6 for distance (and then double the 1d6 for Arrow IV).  That's it.

It was not that artillery was to complex, more that we just wanted to try and keep it simple as we only had one player who has played much, and he is not an expert on the game. Same as we did not want any tanks, infantry, or aircraft. The plan is to start to add one we get the very basics down.

The optional rule about applying variable damage may appeal to you CDAT.  It does make things live longer, as everything does about roughly 1/3 less damage (barring units that only do 1 damage to begin with, that is).  I liked that rule a lot myself when I started getting into Alpha Strike since it did kind of remind me of giant mechs slugging off attack after attack until they finally fell under extreme combined fire.  Full disclosure: I don't like it so much *now* due to the unneeded boost it gives to small, fast units that only do 1 damage and are already hard to kill w/o variable damage.. but who knows.  If you're willing to give AS another shot it may make it feel more inside your comfort zone.

We all were talking about the variable damage and it sounds like we are going to look at using it in the future. How does it give a boost to the small, fast units? It looks to me like it should make them easier to kill. For example my fireball in the last game was messing with the superheavy as he could never get a good shot, the best he could get was a nine at short range (I never got in short range of him) or a eleven at medium range. Rolling once for an 11 is very difficult but rolling six times for it more likely to get a hit, and as I only had two armor and one internal you do not need many to take me out. We do plan to try it again as the main thing that we did not like was not a rule, it was us misreading the rules.

A clinical level of precision in knowing *exactly* how many times you need to successfully hit a target in order to kill it is definitely a change from CBT.  Personally, I've come to embrace this new paradigm, and now find uncomfortable the corollary idea of how CBT makes you declare shots before you even know if the target is already going to be dead in this turn's end phase.  To emphasize: knowing during the combat phase when a target has taken enough damage to be killed and being able to allocate successive fire accordingly at new targets is a BIIIIIIG difference from CBT.  Big implications on how quickly things get shot down.

I can see that, and even if I do not 100% agree can see your point. The bigger issue I have and again the variable damage may fix it, is just how much tougher mechs feel in Battletech compared to AS. Again using my Marauder II example it feels in AS that they assume that you will always take out a side torso early on if it has a XL engine, but from my experience (even this last game) I think only one unit was lost due to the side torso XL engine, and that was not because they did not have them, but just not as big of issue as AS make it out to be. I also miss the head shots (even though I lost the first unit in the game and very early on due to Gauss to the face) and TAC.

[CDAT]

One other question? Can you make/transfer custom units to AS from Battletech? One of the ideas that we are throwing around is to have a massive battle (regiment or larger per side) if we go that way I have a mercenary unit that almost very unit is no longer in it starting configuration (not a big issue using stock). Also I have the 3025 Snords Irregulars and Sneeds Rifleman does not have an AS card, but there are the stats for it in Battletech (a bigger issue as there is no stock version).

[Scotty]

Variable Damage doesn't let you roll an attack for each point of damage; you roll the attack normally, and then roll a d6 for each point of damage you might do.  Results of 4-6 are what actually connect, which means you can "hit" and still miss most of your damage (down to a minimum of 1).  This means units that already do just 1 damage are not affected at all, while your Atlas might just do 1 damage instead of 5.

The change in timescale and the change in relative durability thanks to that really does make it play differently.  I happen to think that's a good thing, because lights and harassing elements are actually worth using!  They're a bit overpowered, points costs considered, but a trio of Wasps can and will threaten a Rifleman unless it withdraws, which is much more in line with the fluff and fiction than the Rifleman curbstomping them into the ground with big hits that amputate entire limbs at once.

You can absolutely transfer customs into Alpha Strike.  The rules for doing so are in the Alpha Strike Companion, starting on page 90.  Calculating points values starts on page 138.

[CDAT]

Variable Damage doesn't let you roll an attack for each point of damage; you roll the attack normally, and then roll a d6 for each point of damage you might do.  Results of 4-6 are what actually connect, which means you can "hit" and still miss most of your damage (down to a minimum of 1).  This means units that already do just 1 damage are not affected at all, while your Atlas might just do 1 damage instead of 5.

Well that does not sound like anything that we would want, what we did not like was the one roll for every thing.

The change in timescale and the change in relative durability thanks to that really does make it play differently.  I happen to think that's a good thing, because lights and harassing elements are actually worth using!  They're a bit overpowered, points costs considered, but a trio of Wasps can and will threaten a Rifleman unless it withdraws, which is much more in line with the fluff and fiction than the Rifleman curbstomping them into the ground with big hits that amputate entire limbs at once.

I am not sure what fluff you have read, because I sure remember one rifleman and a few (four if I remember correctly) being a major threat to a super company or light battalion (depending on how you look at it again if I remember correctly it was just short of thirty units) it had a Valkyrie, a spider and the rest were stingers (maybe some wasps). The fluff had it that the lights had no chance at all (as in 0%) of winning against the heavy rifleman, let alone with the support.
 

You can absolutely transfer customs into Alpha Strike.  The rules for doing so are in the Alpha Strike Companion, starting on page 90.  Calculating points values starts on page 138.

Thank you, I will have to see if anyone in my group has this book and do up at least Sneeds Rifleman.

[Scotty]

This gives me an excellent excuse to go back through all the Historicals I haven't gotten to read all the way through to find some instances. :)

Besides that, you may want to try playing scenarios besides meeting engagements where two sides enter, one side leaves.  I used to be hardcore into PV balanced pickup skirmish games, but those really do tend to bring out the "all my Mechs fire at one thing until it dies, then we move on" and "I need to do exactly X damage, so I'll use this combination of units to do it" sort of tactics.  Since switching to generated scenarios (if you need a couple just ask, they're fun to make :) ) my outright win rate has dropped from 90%+ to closer to 50-60, precisely because those tactics are no longer the most effective or most correct ways of playing when there are other objectives in play.

[nckestrel]

That sounds like Mercer Ravannion and his horde tactics.  But it was Blackjacks, not Riflemans (?) he went up against.  Two companies of 'mechs including the Blackjacks. (TR3039 Blackjack entry).  He also took "six Stingers and Wasps" against McKinnon's Raiders, but the Raiders had a "Recon Lance". (TR3025, Stinger entry).

TR3039 Wasp entry mentions two Wasps and two Stingers destroying a lone Goliath.   And that on a larger scale Davion would repeat this with Delta Company's light 'mechs against Cochraine's Goliaths.

It was the Atlas entry that famously claimed a single Atlas could take on a Battalion of Stingers, but it was a theory, not an actual event.  And disputed :).  And...a Rifleman is no Atlas.

[iamfanboy]

I know this is going to surprise you but:

Alpha Strike is not Battletech.

Battletech is a slow-paced game rooted in the 1970s and 1980s wargame mentality where the more tables, the more modifiers, the more situations a game had, the better it was. But Battletech's game system has always had a disconnect with Battletech's lore. If you look at all the premade Battletech scenarios, it's always a forced situation of less than 8 units per side, because the game devs KNEW that the game just takes too long to work at higher than that; however, the actual CONFLICTS Of Battletech which mattered in universe were always battalion sized or larger.

Alpha Strike is the straight descendant of Battleforce, the game system designed to resolve that disconnect and let players actually PLAY battalions or regiments or divisions. But Battleforce never felt like Battletech, instead it felt like a chore moving one lance at a time and gradually, slowly maneuvering around while not really doing all that much.

I've done an Alpha Strike battalion against battalion game in four hours on a massive table, and it was a game that felt like the Battletech universe; my heavy lances charged in as light lances cut around the edges of their flanks while artillery pounded the city to deprive infantry of their prebuilt fortresses and aerospace fighters battled for dominance to ensure that bombs and lasers from the sky wouldn't unduly sway the battlefield below.

Alpha Strike doesn't run well as a lance-on-lance game because it wasn't designed for that level of play, any more than Battletech was designed for battalion-on-battalion (and yes, a long-ago highschool weekend was once spent doing exactly that with an enthusiastic group of friends, but 3 days is not a good timescale for any wargame). Alpha Strike was designed to finally resolve the clash between the lore's scale and the game's scale and let players take all of the glorious unit types available without  slowing the game to even more of a crawl.

Playing it at less than company size is missing the point and the fun. It'd be like reading a comic book without looking at the pictures, or watching a standup routine with the volume muted - yes, you get some IDEA of what's going on, but you're not letting yourself enjoy it as it's meant to be enjoyed.

[CDAT]

That sounds like Mercer Ravannion and his horde tactics.  But it was Blackjacks, not Riflemans (?) he went up against.  Two companies of 'mechs including the Blackjacks. (TR3039 Blackjack entry).  He also took "six Stingers and Wasps" against McKinnon's Raiders, but the Raiders had a "Recon Lance". (TR3025, Stinger entry).

TR3039 Wasp entry mentions two Wasps and two Stingers destroying a lone Goliath.   And that on a larger scale Davion would repeat this with Delta Company's light 'mechs against Cochraine's Goliaths.

It was the Atlas entry that famously claimed a single Atlas could take on a Battalion of Stingers, but it was a theory, not an actual event.  And disputed :).  And...a Rifleman is no Atlas.

It was the 1st Kittery Training Battalion commanded by Justin (Xiang) Allard who faced off against Gray Noton in his rifleman Legend Killer (at the time very clearly stated to be a standard 60 ton rifleman). It is in the story Warrior Trilogy. He (Justin Allard, one of the best pilots of all time) clearly states that they could not take out the rifleman, so he has them run away as he tries to distract him long enough to let them get away. Now if one of the best pilots of all time (his son is the only one better?) can not do take out a heavy (and one of the weakest of them) why would we think that lights should be able to under regular (or even green) pilots? Now yes the pilot he was facing was also a legendary pilot, but that does not make you harder to hit, or let you get around the heat/ammo/armor issues of the mech. I can not think of a single piece of fluff that has the light mechs (exceptions for things like the panther) being real combat unit, they are scouts and sometimes scout hunters. But in a stand up fight they lose to every class larger (again legendary pilots and such do make a difference). Now this does not in anyway make light mechs less valuable, recon is a very important part of battle but it is not one that translates well to the table top. Now I have not read every book they have written (most but not all), so maybe I am missing something, but if I am it I am thinking it is very much in the minority and should not have been used to give them the super buff that they got, but just my $.02.

[nckestrel]

The novel also says "Gray knew, however, that anyone who accepted that impression could be in as much trouble as someone who believed a Valkyrie posed no threat to a Rifleman."  In reference to Justin Allard fighting his Rifleman with a single Valkyrie.
Justin did tell the rest of the company to run away from the single Rifleman, but because it was that Justin knew a Rifleman would not be there by itself.  Justin was saying "just don't come this way" even before he saw the Rifleman.  Seeing it was the signal that there was the trap that Justin felt was there.

[Weirdo]

There's also the fact that those light mechs were already under attack by medium units, ones likely containing pilots of far greater experience than those trainees. Allard's job wasn't to bring down that Rifleman, it was to keep his students alive. Getting them into a fight with a heavy mech while they were already being pressed by others that already outweighed any one of their mechs would have resulted in massive losses among the trainees.