What is the largest AS game you have played in, run, or seen?

[bugman]

Approximate number of units???

[Kerfuffin(925)]

I’ve done 1000 a few times.

Ran against 20 IS mechs. I had 16 mechs and 4 or 5 elementals.

It’s a lot easier to focus fire in those larger games, so stuff dies pretty quick until the later turns when less things are around.

[bugman]

I’ve done 1000 a few times.

So was this a 1vs1 game player wise? Just you and another player?

The things I am wondering about is just how big you can go. Concerning the overall number of players and the total number of units. This system can handle before it bogs down. Could you run a Battalion vs a Battalion or even a Regiment vs a Regiment? What is a maximum number of units per player if the player is well experienced with the AS system?



 

Ran against 20 IS mechs. I had 16 mechs and 4 or 5 elementals.

It’s a lot easier to focus fire in those larger games, so stuff dies pretty quick until the later turns when less things are around.

[MarauderD]

I’ve done 1000 a few times.

Ran against 20 IS mechs. I had 16 mechs and 4 or 5 elementals.

It’s a lot easier to focus fire in those larger games, so stuff dies pretty quick until the later turns when less things are around.

Kerfuffin beat me to it.  We've had somewhere between 36 and 40 total units on the board at one time.  The first few rounds of the match one needs to be REALLY careful with placement and cover, because even your Assault Mechs can melt if they are left exposed to too many opposing units.  (like my poor Marauder II last game.....)

[bugman]

Kerfuffin beat me to it.  We've had somewhere between 36 and 40 total units on the board at one time.  The first few rounds of the match one needs to be REALLY careful with placement and cover, because even your Assault Mechs can melt if they are left exposed to too many opposing units.  (like my poor Marauder II last game.....)

So this was a two person game and each of you ran about 16 to 20 units each?

[MarauderD]

So this was a two person game and each of you ran about 16 to 20 units each?

Yup, I think I fielded 21 and he took 16-18.  Once the game was setup, it only ran 6-7 turns until the outcome was clear.  Smaller matches can sometimes last as long as 12 rounds when there isn't so much focus fire.

[bugman]

What if you had say 12 players with good command of the rules. How many units do you think they could effectively run each? Large size board available to spread forces out. Say 5' x 12'.

[Kerfuffin(925)]

I played the World Wide Event with 3 players each side. It was about 750PV (per side) and took 6 hours with about a half hour break. A couple were pretty new so that slowed it down a little, but not any large amount.

Terrain and objectives really help in keeping the large numbers of focus fire down, we are still trying to figure out a terrain balance I think.

More players means more time.

I think I honestly preferred our 750 games to 1000. Makes the board a little less crowded and a little less focus fire-y.


I asked a while ago about the ‘size limit’ of AS in another thread.

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,80947.msg1923255.html#msg1923255

[Sartris]

i played a battalion v battalion game once. well... part of one. each turn took an hour lol

[Charistoph]

The last Alpha Strike game in our campaign was pretty big.  We didn't use PV since this was a narrative campaign.

For our side we ran 23 Mechs (8 being reinforcements), 3 on-table Combat Vehicles, and 2 off-board Long Toms.

For the enemy side I was told we faced off against something like 1-2 Battalions.  It's been a few weeks since that game, and it was a LONG one (of course, 5 players vs 1 player can do that, too).

[BaachicLitNerd]

I have GM'd a 6 player game that was 1500 pv total per side, 30 Clan Mechs against 36 Mercs, at a local con. With every streamlining rule and procedure I could muster (single attack roll rather than multiple, movement by lance/Star, card-based initiative, Simultaneous combat resolutions, etc), it took about 8 hours including a lunch break.

It was a great time and I am in fact running the WWE as an equally massive spectacle game at another local con in a few weeks.

[Kibutsu]

Several years back we ran a merc campaign that lasted four years actual time. The opening scenario was a mega engagement featuring a full Jade Falcon cluster vs a reinforced Inner Sphere battalion, involving about 8 players and me as GM. We set up the tables in a T shape and had roughly a Clan trinary vs an IS company on each table, with the IS forces withdrawing toward the crux of the T. We were able to fight to a successful conclusion in about 4 hours, which was our limit due to the store hours, with most of the players completely new to the rules. No idea on points as it was a narrative campaign and we never bothered to use them.

[bugman]

Interesting. The last few posts show some pretty large games. Looks like it is possible to run larger formations with this system. In a couple of weeks I am going try AS with a few friends. Likely company vs company.  To start with.

[AlphaMirage]

I think you'll find company v company to be to short and without the tactics that you could use in larger AS games. That said it is a solid metric for shortest AS vs longest reasonable CBT

[Charistoph]

Locally we still operate mostly on the Lance/Star/Level II unit level of gameplay for Alpha Strike, but that's mostly due to time constraints.

It's designed to operate with company v company, or even larger, so instead of moving model by model, you move lance by lance (or formation by formation) at that level.  It actually works rather well (except when you lose Initiative, but that's always the case).

[Geg]

We regularly run 1000-1500 point games.   With a couple of companies on each side.    With 4-6 player total.

It's not nearly as unwieldy as Battletech get at the Company v Company, but with that many units, your ability to maneuver is hampered and becomes uninteresting.   With maneuver uninteresting, the whole fight becomes a little bland.

I feel like better games are played with ~12 units on a 4x6 table.

[bugman]

We regularly run 1000-1500 point games.   With a couple of companies on each side.    With 4-6 player total.

It's not nearly as unwieldy as Battletech get at the Company v Company, but with that many units, your ability to maneuver is hampered and becomes uninteresting.   With maneuver uninteresting, the whole fight becomes a little bland.

I feel like better games are played with ~12 units on a 4x6 table.

Typically we play on larger tables. 5×10 to maybe 5×16. So I think we could run larger forces and have room to maneuver them on the board. Typically I run a lot company vs company or larger with CBT.

[mitchberthelson]

Most of my typical games are at parties I host for the purpose. Usually Battalion v Battalion, 500 points per player, 3 players per side, so 1500.

The best Batt v Batt game I played was 40 units v 40 units, 1500 pts, 8th Lyran Regulars vs. Mercs, Civil War Era with Battlefield Intelligence, Buildings, most of the optional special abilities, SCAs,Force Building/Formations and pilots with purchased SPA's.

Me vs another experienced player. Took 4 hours. Great time.

Upcoming, a friend and I are doing a slice of the Battle of Geneva from Liberation of Terra II, 99th Amaris Dragoons vs. 27th Royal CAAN Marine Regiment.

1500 points for the Dragoons (me) vs 1875 for the CAAN (him). Me defending in a "hold them off" scenario at La Jonction where the Rhône and Arve Rivers meet. Dawn battle in the fog as the SLDF probes the Dragoon lines trying to find a place to force a crossing and the SAS slide in to lock down some "asset management weapons" I'm guarding.

44 units each side, but he's heavier. Mix of vehicles, infantry, Mechs, and LAMs on each side. Tons of optional rules. I expect it to go 6-8 hours the first time, but since we're practicing for showing it off at a con, I think we can get the time down to five.

Will be fun playing with all the crazy stuff....LAMs, Kangas, a company of Ignis tanks, SAS in Nighthawks coming in via Cyrano Furies, and....The 'Mech...The Myth...Rifleman III, with a Buster LoaderMech humping ammo for him.

I'll let you know how it runs.

EDIT: I always run on at least a 4x6 foot table, if not bigger.

[bugman]

Most of my typical games are at parties I host for the purpose. Usually Battalion v Battalion, 500 points per player, 3 players per side, so 1500.

The best Batt v Batt game I played was 40 units v 40 units, 1500 pts, 8th Lyran Regulars vs. Mercs, Civil War Era with Battlefield Intelligence, Buildings, most of the optional special abilities, SCAs,Force Building/Formations and pilots with purchased SPA's.

Me vs another experienced player. Took 4 hours. Great time.

Upcoming, a friend and I are doing a slice of the Battle of Geneva from Liberation of Terra II, 99th Amaris Dragoons vs. 27th Royal CAAN Marine Regiment.

1500 points for the Dragoons (me) vs 1875 for the CAAN (him). Me defending in a "hold them off" scenario at La Jonction where the Rhône and Arve Rivers meet. Dawn battle in the fog as the SLDF probes the Dragoon lines trying to find a place to force a crossing and the SAS slide in to lock down some "asset management weapons" I'm guarding.

44 units each side, but he's heavier. Mix of vehicles, infantry, Mechs, and LAMs on each side. Tons of optional rules. I expect it to go 6-8 hours the first time, but since we're practicing for showing it off at a con, I think we can get the time down to five.

Will be fun playing with all the crazy stuff....LAMs, Kangas, a company of Ignis tanks, SAS in Nighthawks coming in via Cyrano Furies, and....The 'Mech...The Myth...Rifleman III, with a Buster LoaderMech humping ammo for him.

I'll let you know how it runs.

EDIT: I always run on at least a 4x6 foot table, if not bigger.

Very cool!
Looks like with experience you can really expand the scope of the games.

[epic 2.0]

I tend to do battalion on battalion, but have done 2ish regiments against 2 regiments (combined arms) as the biggest. 

[Son of Kerenski]

This was the largest battle Ive ever played and coincidentally it was the most memorable (and not because my side won).

2 reinforced Companies (12 mechs 4 vees/infantry each) vs 2 reinforced Companies with an aerospace battle overhead.

Complete write up and heaps of piccies here:
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,45101.msg1038571.html#msg1038571

[trboturtle]

What I like to see is a MASSIVE game is Gencon...... RCT vs a Galaxy or something like it. Long board, plenty of terrain with objectives to seize and hold, and let it run for as long as they can.....

Craig

[bugman]

What I like to see is a MASSIVE game is Gencon...... RCT vs a Galaxy or something like it. Long board, plenty of terrain with objectives to seize and hold, and let it run for as long as they can.....

Craig

Well I used to run a really big CBT game at Gencon with a partner. 91& 93. The 93 game had I think had 2+Battalions on each side.
I have not played AS yet, but intend to soon. I just got back to Gencon this past year. I ran 3 company vs company CBT events. Planning on going back in 2024 and running again. Had a blast last year. Probably another year down the road I might consider a big game again. AS might be the best platform to do a big game.

[Descronan]

My local group did a couple 48 v 48 battles. I think it came out to 2400 PV. Took about six hours to wrap up.

[Elmoth]

For us it is just a 800 point game. took an afternoon to do with 4 players. We prefer fast and furious combats, as we use AS for RPG-ing

[bugman]

For us it is just a 800 point game. took an afternoon to do with 4 players. We prefer fast and furious combats, as we use AS for RPG-ing

Interesting.  Is AS more brutal on the PC's than CBT?

[trboturtle]

Is there a Guniss record for largest tabletop battle? Just a thought......

Craig

[ProfessorMRB]

About six months ago I GM’d a 6v6 (200 point each) 4800 PV game on a 4x6 table. Over 50 units on the table. It was unplanned and hilarious. It was originally going to just be 3v3 but people kept showing up and our unwritten policy is to not turn players away so we kept letting them hot-drop in pairs during the next turn. Mechs getting wasted every turn left and right, people high-fiving each other and bonding. One of my all time favorite games.

For the WWE we had I think 12 total players with around 45-50 units on a 6x10 table, including four aerospace fighters that bombed the crap out of the mechs on the ground before dogfighting each other.

[Force of Nature]

Last year in July I ran a King of the Hill scenario where the hill was 17 levels tall. I had a company of 12 mechs (each pre made company was 500 pts.) for each player and there were 12 players. So 12 players and 144 mechs total in one game for five real world hours. There were poker chips scattered around the hill. In order to claim the points for the chips, the players mech had to survive until the end of the turn while standing on it. The top of the hill chip was worth 250 points if the mech survived. Other chips were worth 50 points each. Once a player scored points for a chip, they could not score it again until all of the other scoring chips were scored, except the chip at the top of the hill. That one was not required. As units were destroyed, at the end of every turn was a reinforcement phase. Each player rolled 2D6. If the result was equal to or less than the number of currently destroyed mechs that player had, they would get all of the destroyed units back at the beginning of the next initiative phase in the next turn. This way nobody was truly out of the game. At the end of the five hours, the player with the most points wins. However, points can be spent on improving pilot skill levels or spent on buying mercenary mechs. Players rolled for each point of damage (an optional rule).All of the players had a ton of fun and it was a complete success.

[Force of Nature]

Back