Where to Start - Strategically?

[schoon]

Hey Folks,

After a decades-long hiatus from BT, I've started playing (and thoroughly enjoying) Alpha Strike.

It's got me wondering about the "strategic" gaming options in the BT universe.

I can see that it's a many-faceted rabbit hole that goes pretty deep.

From what I can see, the next step up in scale would be Battleforce.

Could that serve as the basis for a map-based campaign, or would that be further up the "strategic" food chain?

[Weirdo]

I guess it all depends on how big you want you map to be. :)

Battletech and Alpha Strike both focus on relatively small patches of land, maybe a few kilometers across at the most.

Battleforce scales this up, to the point that a few mapsheets can represent an area tens of kilometers across, such as a major city.

Strategic Battleforce scales this up even further and can be used for battles assumed at controlling an entire region.

Abstract Combat System is the next one up, with maps representing entire continents, and a few scenarios able to decide the fate of a world.

Inner Sphere at War is the biggest system, and plays out wars at an interstellar scale.

All of the systems from Battleforce on up can be found in the same book, Interstellar Operations: Battleforce.

[schoon]

All of the systems from Battleforce on up can be found in the same book, Interstellar Operations: Battleforce.

Thank-you. Sounds like I need to pick that up!

[Zematus737]

If you've already familiarized yourself with Alphastrike, Battleforce would indeed be the next step forward.  Don't think it a waste of cash if you've picked up the Commanders Edition, since you can practically put both IO:BF and that side by side and see many rules repeated word for word.  But anyone playing Alphastrike on hex maps should be playing Battleforce.  Anyone wanting to play the higher scales would eventually need the Battleforce system.  You're not leaving behind anything, just adding layers to your Battletech experience.

Battleforce requires less parts, but more is going on if you incorporate the Advanced rules.  And you should!  I'd like to share a link with you for resources for Battleforce and recommend, probably, the Dig, Defend, or Die 2018 maps and unit data.  The maps you can find on the CGL webside.  Both the 4 excellent maps and the instructions are free to download. The unit data from the MUL list is in the link below and you're welcome to it.  Look for the DDD 2018 files.  It's an excellent source for playing Battleforce, with barely any modifications required.  You can use the regiment data as your Force information.
And don't be discouraged by the massive tome of rules.  Good luck and have fun.

www.tinyurl.com/zematusbf

[schoon]

Thank-you, Zematus. That's an impressive batch of data.

There's quite a bit of stuff there, and I'm not sure it's going to make sense till my book arrives and I can see the associated rules.