We have finally gotten to the point we were able and willing to meet up live for some actual Battletech action. Played at Zulu's in Bothell WA, we kept things very light-hearted and spent a third of the time just yapping and getting to know each other. I brought minis but hadn't painted them, so we used the others' 'Mechs. On the fly we decided to keep everything to a basic symmetrical lance-on-lance stand up fight re-learning how to play the game after a pandemic's worth of rust built up. All of us were vaxxed and varied in masking up, though we kept masks on upstairs in the store for others' comfort. Shenanigans were had including intentional charges, punches, kicks, and a heck-why-not DFA for funsies.
Part of the objective was to test out and see if Bison Als's Flechsheets web-app worked well. It did! It took a few turns to get the hang of it, but we can see how the automation can make games go faster when using more complex weapons systems past the Helm-core days. One hitch we ran into was attempting to understand how to undo mistakes on the app, something to ask the developer shortly.
Forces were the same on each side, no pilot skill changes: Battlemaster, Thunderbolt, Wolverine, and Locust. I forget which variants but they were common ones.
Finishing up dinner and taking a first look at the app, selecting our 'Mechs.
Early game maneuver from the map edges, getting ourselves used to the grasslands mat terrain. We look forward to finish up 3D-terrain and using it soon.
Game well in progess. My Battlemaster building up some heat and connected with only one weapon (I don't think the PPC hit even once. Dude can't hit the broad side of a barn).
We've already had at least one pilot take a spill before this one IIRC. I had some initiative cards made up and we used them for grins. Don't really need to since it's one lance vs one lance, but why not? This is just a simple friendly match.
Getting close to the end here. I'd keep my BMR on top of the hill while the locust, being its unserious self would try and speed around to my edge of the map in woods and take the big guy on. Turns out not a bad choice since the BMR pilot *still* couldn't hit with anything.
At 10:30 pm we called it a night. At least one of us had to bail to drive all the way to the south end of Puget Sound, but it was good to be in person socializing and gaming again.
