As I stated in an earlier thread, I dragged out and dusted off my clickies and taught a handful of friends how to play.
Since then they've been hooked, leading to an entire booster case being purchased and the establishment of a semi-regular Mechwarrior night. With the game seeing reduced play, we've house ruled many of the mechanics, even set up rules for non-standard terrain (more on that in another thread).
As I dropped out of CBT back in the 3060s, mainly due to a lack of players in my area, I missed a good chunk of the events that transpired; The truce of Tukayyid, the Jihad, the rise and fall of the Federated Commonwealth, even the dawn of the Dark Age and Republic of the Sphere, as I never had access to the novels. As such, I've been playing catch up, getting reaccustomed to the rules and gameplay and delving into all the events that I didn't get to participate in or was unaware of. And through this, something occurs to me.
MechWarrior is a perfect segway into Battletech.
The super simplified rules are a good 'entry level' gameplay aspect, and the miniatures themselves get players accustomed to what they'll be looking at playing CBT, especially with 3D terrain.
As my compatriots have expressed more interest in the universe they've discovered, I've dropped more and more hints about starting up a CBT campaign, finally recieving an emphatic 'Lets do it'.
Through our MW games, I've explained the variations between the rules they're accustomed to, and the rules they'll be playing with in the near future. With a familiar starting point, they've caught on fairly quickly. I've even found rules (Thank you Miniatures Handbook) for utilizing AoD minis for CBT play minus a grid. After some initial setup (such as marking bases, printing sheets and the like, and establishing a concept) I'm proud to say that the CBT universe will have some exuberant and eager rookie pilots joining it's ranks.
All because of good ol' AoD~
