Author Topic: Phoenix, AZ Battletech in 2016 (Read 38352 times)

Joel47 · « **on:** 09 January 2016, 16:54:00 »

In 2016, I'm hoping to fulfill several player requests. We're going to rotate eras.

Jihad
Republic of the Sphere
Wars of Reaving

We've been playing in the Jihad era a lot lately, so this year those games will focus on some of the lesser-known battles. The formation of the Republic has a number of factions we don't normally include, and the Wars of Reaving will let us break out piles of Clan 'mechs.

Rules-wise, we'll be sticking mainly to the standard Battletech rules. I'll break out Alpha Strike for two or three large battles over the course of the year.

Finally, I'm still working on a new campaign. I'm struggling to reconcile player wants (customization, special pilot abilities, and constant force improvement) with the needs of a healthy campaign (everyone feels competitive, new players aren't completely overmatched, the bookkeeping doesn't kill the GM, etc.), but I hope to roll something out by the end of the year. Those interested in the process should contact me via email or PM and we'll set up a Slack group or something.

The first game of the year will be Saturday, January 30th at 1pm. It will be set during the Wars of Reaving when the Alpha Galaxy of the Steel Vipers declared the Jade Falcons dezgra and, not bothering bidding or pronouncing a batchall, performed an assault drop on Ironhold with the intent of wiping out the Twelfth Talon of the Falcons. The full scenario will be posted on http://catalystdemos.com/; either check there before the game, or sign up on the site and get notified whenever I announce a game. (I'll try to remember to post in this forum as well.)

Jim1701 · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 January 2016, 17:50:00 »

Clans!?! Ack! Thank God for Star League mechs in the General Lists! I think I have all of 2 painted clan mechs and maybe 3-4 others still in their blisters. I hope they do the clan box set at some point so I can pick up some basic clan units relatively cheap.

Joel47 · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 January 2016, 12:39:59 »

Since CatalystDemos.com is down, here's the scenario description:

The Alpha Galaxy of the Steel Vipers declared the Jade Falcons dezgra and, not bothering bidding or pronouncing a batchall, performed an assault drop on Ironhold with the intent of wiping out the Twelfth Talon of the Falcons.

Mission Synopsis: November, 3069. The Alpha Galaxy of the Steel Vipers declared the Jade Falcons dezgra and, not bothering bidding or pronouncing a batchall, performed an assault drop on Ironhold with the intent of wiping out the Twelfth Talon and Zeta Solahma Cluster of the Falcons.
Time: We are scheduled to start at 1:00pm; last round will be called at 6:00pm.
Unit selection: Miniatures & record sheets for pre-made forces will be provided, or players may bring their own.
•   5000 BV. Max three units; bringing over three units incurs a penalty: for each unit over three, the total BV available is reduced by 10% (500 BV). Infantry counts as half a unit per stand, but only half your force (rounded up) may be infantry.
•   Piloting/Driving/AntiMech and Gunnery Skills may not differ by more than two.
•   All units must be selected from the faction list at http://www.masterunitlist.info. Set search filters to the appropriate faction (Clan Steel Viper or Clan Jade Falcon, along with Homeworld Clan General) and set the era to "Jihad."
•   Make the GM's life easy by making forces for both sides; if you have a preference, show up a little early.
•   Bringing assembled miniatures that match units your force will give each "correct" model one point of Edge, usable to re-roll one roll directly affecting it once during the battle. This does not apply to forces provided by the GM.
Terrain and setup description: The battle will be held on a 4’ x 6’ map (2” hexes; 24x36). Both sides will move onto their respective short edges on the first round.
Victory Conditions: Victory points are scored equal to the BV of destroyed units plus one half the BV of crippled or withdrawn units.
Special Rules: With a few exceptions, only Total Warfare rules will be used.
•   There is no “edge of the world.” If a 'mech is up against a map edge, the three hexes that would be surrounding the 'mech off the board are now legal hexes for movement; occupying any of those hexes opens up more hexes, etc.
•   The following rules from Tactical Operations will be used: Floating Crits, Sprinting, Evading, Crawling, Careful Stand, Firing When Down, ECCM, Expanded Backward Movement, Expanded Stacking, Gauss Shut Off, Active Probe Targeting.
•   Zellbrigen - Ignored. Earlier battles in this campaign have cause both sides to consider the other unworthy. In short, "Bangkok Rules."

Hellraiser · « **Reply #3 on:** 31 January 2016, 03:22:25 »

Well today was fun, ugly, but fun.

In an odd set up from the story line, it was the Vipers that had lots of Green troops, and the Falcon Solhama that were the uber elites.

3 Falcon Teams (Not 100% sure on the skills but they were all damn good.
A - WarHawk-C (2/4)
B - Ebon Jaguar-Prime (1/0?)
C - Turkina-B (2/1?) + Clan Assault Infantry Point (2/2)

3 Viper Teams (Loads of firepower & armor, but the skills were crap)
A - Crossbow-E (3/?) + Viper-A (??)
B - Direwolf-H (3/?) + FireMoth-H (??)
C - DireWolf-A (4/5) + BattleCobra-Prime (4/5) + Elemental-Flamer (4/5) + Elemental-MicroPulse (4/5)

So the Vipers at least outnumbered the Falcons like the story went, which was good because they couldn't win Initiative to save their lives. Taking the Initiative on exactly 2 of 10 turns (4 & 8).
This meant the FireMoth-H was really never able to do his end zone back stabby run. At least not till Turn-8 anyway.

I'm sure I'm off on the exact sequence/timing but here's a rough review.
Map was 36x25ish. Lots of L1 rolling hills, several smaller L2 rises & a couple tiny L3 peaks.
Scattered light/heavy woods & rough.

The Falcons came in from the North map edge.
Turkina & WarHawk were spread out very wide, Ebon Jag was between the Turkey & middle line.

Vipers rolled on from the South with the The D-Wolves coming up the Middle/Right section together opposite the Ebon Jag. The BattleCobra was in the middle with the rest of the force heading up the Middle/Left towards the WarHawk.

1st few turns had the EJ & Turkey working over the D-Wolf-H from range while the Warhawk was savaging the Crossbow. The Wolves were trying to hammer the EJ in return.

Around turn 4 things shifted. The Ebon Jag lost its gauss while the entire west end run turned right & headed towards the Wolves & away from the Hawk.

EbonJag went down first after loosing a side torso & then getting a 3rd engine hit when the CT went internal.
The Crossbow & Assault Infantry killed each other next in the same turn right about when the Turkina lopped of 1 arm off the Battlecobra & critted the gyro.

At that point things were not looking great for the Vipers who couldn't really hit. But the remaining 2 JF monsters were spread wide apart & it allowed the Vipers to focus most of their energy on the Turkina who stayed alive far too long after having most of the damage stack into the CT.

It finally died in Turn 9 & the Hawk was now outnumbered 7-1.
Turn 10 proved to be the final turn as the WarHawk was hit by an LPL to the head from the DWolf only to take an SRM from some Elementals later that turn. Killing the otherwise good shape mech early.

Overall the Vipers didn't hit often, but when they did it stacked well.
The Falcons hit far more often but couldn't concentrate it.

Remaining Viper's Damage (Roughly)

D-Wolf-H (Massive Internal & Armor Damage)
D-Wolf-A (Moderate Armor Damage)
B-Cobra-P (Missing Arm + Gyro Hit)
FireMoth-H (Missing left torso/arm)
Dragonfly-A (Overheating but good shape?)
Both Elementals = Untouched

Joel47 · « **Reply #4 on:** 01 February 2016, 15:51:01 »

The next games will be March 12 & April 2. (Have to work around various release tournaments at the store.)
Scenarios coming soon.

Jim1701 · « **Reply #5 on:** 04 February 2016, 17:43:53 »

Next time I'm going to try avoiding playing on the same side as the guy who wants to do suicide by Dire Wolf.

Hellraiser · « **Reply #6 on:** 06 February 2016, 01:22:51 »

Quote from: Jim1701 on 04 February 2016, 17:43:53

suicide by Dire Wolf.

Well, if you have to go, I suppose that is guaranteed to be a quick death >:D

Joel47 · « **Reply #7 on:** 20 February 2016, 16:08:29 »

Northwind Stalemate
Mission Synopsis: October, 3075. The Word of Blake struck quickly, assault DropShips capturing the Northwind Highlanders' JumpShips and isolating the world itself. But the Blakists have so far failed to crush the Highlander ground forces. Now they think they have the Highlanders in a trap; the Highlanders, however, see their position more as a target-rich environment...

Date & Time: Saturday, March 12. We are scheduled to start at 1:00pm; last round will be called at about 6:00pm.

Unit selection: Miniatures & record sheets for pre-made forces will be provided, or players may bring their own.

Attacker (WoB): 5500 BV.
Defender (Highlanders): 4500 BV.
Both: Max three units; bringing over three units incurs a penalty: for each unit over three, the total BV available is reduced by 10% (450/550 BV). Infantry counts as half a unit per stand, but only half your force (rounded up) may be infantry.
Piloting/Driving/AntiMech and Gunnery Skills may not differ by more than two.
All units must be selected from the faction list at http://www.masterunitlist.info. Set search filters to the appropriate faction (Inner Sphere General for both; Federated Suns and Mercenary for the defenders, and Word of Blake for the attackers.) and set the era to "Jihad." No Advanced/Experimental units, and all units are limited to Inner Sphere technology.
Make the GM's life easy by making forces for both sides; if you have a preference, show up a little early. Sides will be determined by preference first, but an attempt will be made to keep the sides even in numbers.
Bringing assembled miniatures that match units your force will give each "correct" model one point of Edge, usable to re-roll one roll directly affecting it once during the battle. This does not apply to forces provided by the GM.

Terrain and setup description: The battle will be held on a 4’ x 6’ map (2” hexes; 24x36). Expect mountainous terrain The Highlanders will set up anywhere on the board more at least 8 hexes from a short edge. The WoB attackers will move on from the short edges. Each attacking player must choose only one of the short edges, and the players must be split as evenly as possible.

Victory Conditions: Victory points are scored equal to the BV of destroyed units plus one half the BV of crippled or withdrawn units.

Special Rules: With a few exceptions, only Total Warfare rules will be used.

There is no “edge of the world.” If a 'mech is up against a map edge, the three hexes that would be surrounding the 'mech off the board are now legal hexes for movement; occupying any of those hexes opens up more hexes, etc.
The following rules from Tactical Operations will be used: Floating Crits, Sprinting, Evading, Crawling, Careful Stand, Firing When Down, ECCM, Expanded Backward Movement, Expanded Stacking, Gauss Shut Off, Active Probe Targeting.
No linking of C3 between multiple players.
The attackers are at the end of a long supply chain, hold the high ground, and are willing to play the long game. Therefore they are subject to Forced Withdrawal. The defenders are not, and will fight to the bitter end.

Hellraiser · « **Reply #8 on:** 20 February 2016, 20:20:52 »

Are you sure those BV's are correct?

Didn't we discover last time that 10% BV was too much just to compare to Forced Withdrawal?

This is more like 25%?

I think its going to be walkover for the Weeble-Wobbles.

Joel47 · « **Reply #9 on:** 20 February 2016, 21:43:23 »

The WoB forces are split into two groups at opposite ends of the map. The last time we ran that, we discovered that that's a much bigger penalty.

Hellraiser · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 February 2016, 13:57:06 »

Ah, okay, I didn't see they were split.

Joel47 · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 February 2016, 14:12:05 »

My main worry about this scenario is that it will be unbalanced from the start due to more players on one side having fully read the scenario and chosen units accordingly. I think I'm OK with that. 8)

Hellraiser · « **Reply #12 on:** 22 February 2016, 21:20:57 »

So how do you see the split going?

It says each player much choose only 1 side, then divide close to equal.

So how would that work with an odd # of players for the Wobs?

For example if 2 or 6 people show up & its 1/3 for the Wobs?

Joel47 · « **Reply #13 on:** 22 February 2016, 22:43:09 »

If it's only 2, the setup changes. In that unlikely event, I'll come up with something.

For 6, I'll have one WoB player to split their force.

jackpot4 · « **Reply #14 on:** 03 March 2016, 00:54:54 »

You guys are up in Phoenix? Where at?

I am a Tucson player and we have accumulated quite a group at Isle of Games in Tucson, AZ. There are about 12 unique players. On the other side of town is another group that I think is about 7 or 8 unique players. Do you get many players up there?

Joel47 · « **Reply #15 on:** 03 March 2016, 09:13:46 »

Mainly Game Depot in Tempe, though there's another Demo Agent who occasionally runs games out of Empire Games in Mesa. Imperial Outpost used to have a semi-regular game, but I don't know if that's still the case.

Our average game size is 6, but the players vary; unique players I've seen in the last year or so is about twice that (and a few years ago I would get 12 or more showing up regularly, but things have slowed since). I run a game about once a month.

jackpot4 · « **Reply #16 on:** 03 March 2016, 13:25:42 »

What exactly does a demo agent do? We have kicked off a campaign experimenting with the Warchest Point system at our store.

There is potentially for city vs city games here!

Joel47 · « **Reply #17 on:** 03 March 2016, 13:55:07 »

We try to raise awareness of Catalyst games, and run regular open-to-all games (demos for new players, as well as scenarios for returning players). I'd point you to the website, but it's currently undergoing a redesign. The requirements for Battletech are a decent collection of painted miniatures (12+, but more is better), the ability to design an interesting scenario, and the ability to run at least six events per year (public events at game stores that sell the game, and/or at game conventions). That last one is the tricky one. I've been doing it since the FanPro days when the program started (though I sometimes switch to Shadowrun for a few months), but I've seen others come and go over the years.

City vs city games sound fun, but they have... a bad history, at least as far as Phoenix vs Tucson goes. Typically the scenarios have been slanted towards the hosting side, or eras where arguments over the inclusion of house rules have torpedoed even an attempt at a game. Then there were the convention arguments. (I'll just leave those in the distant past where they belong.) If it can be worked out, I'm all for it -- I just haven't seen it work out happily in the 20+ years I've been playing BT in these parts. The only fairly-run games that didn't end in resentment (well, justified resentment -- gamers are gamers) were the Battletech Opens run at conventions in the late 90s. It's hard to screw up a tournament format that sticks to the rules as written. That could make a good summer project...

You should advertise your campaign to the folks in Phoenix -- I suspect a few might drive down if it's not too frequent. I had a campaign running about five years ago (http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=4768.0), but I ended it due to my having created a paperwork nightmare (accounting is NOT my hobby!). On my plate for this year is coming up with a new, streamlined version; watch this forum for an announcement once I get it worked out. Are your rules up online anywhere? I'm always looking for ideas.

jackpot4 · « **Reply #18 on:** 03 March 2016, 14:41:06 »

As for running games, many nights I tend to set the BV limit and add players in who arrive late. This campaign arc I set up with other players that were really interested. I have never done a game master position before so this is a test run to make sure I understand the WP system and to see what base unit start sizes should be for the players. The campaign arc I am running right now is slightly scripted, meant to have the player force pushed off planet so they can rebuild and counterattack. Tonight's mission is a race to find a captured pilot in the middle of a heavy rainstorm (TacOps). The player force will know the location of the pilot from my OpFor, with a larger force, and the OpFor, my force is slightly lower BV but has a hidden unit from a reinforcing unit. My mechs will be scanning and then whoever has the pilot must get all their mechs off the board. There are a couple minor objectives. The next mission will be an assault and evac mission for the player force based on the MW4 Black Knight expansion battle when the Black Knight Legion is assaulted.

Tonight if a mech trips and falls, the pilot falls/escapes out of the mech's hand so he has to be picked back up again. Hahaha, there is going to be a lot of rapids.

For my collection I have 39 IWM mechs including an Ares class.

What kind of rules would be used to give the host the advantage? I would like to run games on the Weekend, but my currently schedule of priorities doesn't allow, our usual games are Thursday nights.

Joel47 · « **Reply #19 on:** 03 March 2016, 16:50:34 »

Quote from: jackpot4 on 03 March 2016, 14:41:06

What kind of rules would be used to give the host the advantage?

Convention games with set forces where it's Clan vs IS in equal numbers & tonnage, the Clan gets superior pilots, but the IS gets C3 (and the Clans are noticeably lacking ECM).
Allowing house rules (not TacOps stuff, I mean full-on homebrew) and setting a custom 'mech battle where one side, having years of experience with those house rules, has designed their units to exploit them.

jackpot4 · « **Reply #20 on:** 03 March 2016, 16:57:27 »

I don't see the fun in having one sides be exponentially better. Maybe throwing a commander in would be acceptable, but I don't like games that are horribly offset. For games I set up, there are general parameters, if players want to get together for a C3 network, they need to do that. Really, its bring what you unit would have. I could understand an IS vs clan fight, but it needs to be BV based for sure. Objectives also need to be even as well.

Joel47 · « **Reply #21 on:** 03 March 2016, 17:09:07 »

A lot of those were before BV. Like I said, it's certainly possible, it's just that every time someone has suggested that, things have gone horribly, horribly wrong.
As for why make one side better? Years of smack talk over tournaments (back when tournaments were a thing) culminating in a "who's better" battle. Or just people who don't like to lose, so they set up something like that convention battle and play IS, knowing that most people will glance at the forces and take Clan.

My stuff is as even as I can make it, and I don't doubt your good intentions. I just have an old nervous twitch that shows up when someone suggests a Phoenix vs Tucson game.

Joel47 · « **Reply #22 on:** 03 March 2016, 17:24:50 »

Hm, that sounded overly negative. Let me rephrase:

I'd be happy to help set up, or even host, a city-vs-city game. However, I recommend a format other than "giant scenario." In my experience, those are very hard to balance, and are often decided by the setup choices rather than actual tabletop play (which shows good understanding of 'mech choices, but isn't fun for the team that can see the locomotive coming). In the meantime, tell your players we have a ~monthly game in Phoenix, and I'll let mine know about your campaign -- maybe that will remove some the nagging I'm getting about running one!

jackpot4 · « **Reply #23 on:** 04 March 2016, 03:12:00 »

We are still in the beginning stages, so it is a little rough haha. The game we started tonight is interesting so far. It's about halfway over, when we reassemble next week, we should be finishing the game off.

I always prefer even sides. I want my skills to outmaneuver/outshoot to perform, not simply having better gear.

Can you give me an example of how an event went South?

Joel47 · « **Reply #24 on:** 04 March 2016, 11:31:16 »

Examples of how things go wrong, despite good intentions:

I set the BV and unit count limits so that most players will bring 2-3 units. However, if we assign sides randomly or by desired faction, you can end up with one side having nearly double the units of the other side. (It's rare, but it happened last month.)
You can only fit so much map on a table. If the force sizes are set assuming the norm of ~6 players and you get 10-12, the map is crowded. That leads to more focused fire (punishing mistakes more harshly, which is rough on newer players) and can make it very hard for faster units to break through to deal with snipers sitting in trees (or SG-LRM carriers, <cough>Hellraiser</cough>) in the back. In a less-crowded scenario those are balanced, if not underpowered, but when the middle gets choked with brawlers, the snipers become more effective.
Someone on a side throws all their BV into one uber-Mech -- that gets focused down early because it's scary (easy if scenario #2 happens). Their team is now down an entire force's worth of BV. (Yes, it's mostly the player's fault -- but it hurts the whole team, and it's not their fault.)
Most or all of a team chooses stuff that's really light or really slow & heavy. Not a huge problem, but sometimes there's an objective that's going to be harder because everyone assumed someone else would bring stuff to handle it.

The majority of these could be solved by me simply bringing everything, with two forces that are then split up between all the players... but most players like coming up with their own stuff and bringing their own minis, and I don't want to take that away from them. (I bring player-sized forces for those who don't like rolling their own.) I do bring everything for convention games, though.

jackpot4 · « **Reply #25 on:** 04 March 2016, 19:08:58 »

What's the age group of your players? We have 1 or 2 guys that have been playing for over a decade and a little older, there are a couple of middle age guys, and a couple of us around 25-30. We are a pretty friendly group.

I think specifics would need to be set, such as we had to here. We go fairly strict Total Warfare rules. Initiative, movement, declare shots, shoot (normally filling out heat here then adjusting if once a blue moon a heat sink is knocked out by a physical), physicals, end phase.

We use movement modifiers in both front and back of the mechs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgeopwjabGQ (This is a video series I have started, explaining the base rules because I haven't seen any really good videos explaining how to play the game, I focus on using the dice further into the video.)

We also give each mech 1 edge, meaning the mech can force a defensive reroll once.

Are there any similarities to the way you guys play?

Joel47 · « **Reply #26 on:** 04 March 2016, 20:52:39 »

Mostly around 40, +/- 5. One regular is in his 60s and has been playing since it was called Battledroids; a few more of us have been playing since the early box sets (it was the cover art of CityTech that got me to buy the game). We lost our youngest regular last fall when he left for college.

We play by Total Warfare with a few TacOps rules added (see the upcoming scenario above. The only change we make in the turn order is that, to speed things up, fire declaration is written. Much faster when you have 12+ units per side. It also makes it easier to resolve fire, as you can just find the target's owner and pair off (no need for everyone to watch every shot).
We use just one movement die -- players record on their sheet how they moved (or just remember it -- it's pretty easy to check for those who forget). The movement dice are also used to figure out initiative when one side outnumbers the other -- if you put all the movement dice in piles at the start of a turn, it's easy to see when one side outnumbers the other 2:1 and needs to start moving 2. Oh, and there's also a Koosh^tm that comes out when we get a lot of players -- throw it at the other team when it's their turn to move.

I use Edge as a marketing tool. Any unit represented by the correct miniature (and provided by the player -- borrowing doesn't count) has a point of Edge.

Hellraiser · « **Reply #27 on:** 04 March 2016, 21:30:09 »

Quote from: Joel47 on 04 March 2016, 11:31:16

(or SG-LRM carriers, <cough>Hellraiser</cough>) in the back.

To be fare, its not just crowding, I also guard my LRM Carriers with Precision-20 Saladins & Artillery >:D

jackpot4 · « **Reply #28 on:** 04 March 2016, 21:36:01 »

I like the way you use edge, convinces people to play with the right pieces. Most of our guys use the right minis so its not an issue with us.

In the scenario we are halfway through I brought in heavy rain as I mentioned before and wow there is a lot of missed shots. The hidden unit our side had jumped out and lit the opposing commander up with 5 of 6 RAC5 rounds and 2 ER large Lasers (Clan), it was the Vulpes, but in return almost every single shot landed on the left torso so the rest of the mech is fine, but left torso is into internals..... But, the Commander slammed into the ground right after that horrible barrage.

Do you run any tournaments among your players? If so, what are some normal parameters?

What days are most of your guys able to play?

Joel47 · « **Reply #29 on:** 04 March 2016, 22:36:08 »

I rarely run tournaments these days. I used to do it years ago, especially at conventions, but now that Battletech is a less popular game I've found I get better attendance by just running regular scenarios. The closest thing to a tournament I do regularly is King of the Hill.

I run all my games on Saturdays. I have a standard M-F job, and my players who don't can usually schedule their days off so they can play.