Sigur in Space! - Update: GM Command Space Type!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@zrunelord: Yeah, I also got a bunch stashed away. These HG kits are perfect for a relaxed build on a Sunday evening.

@hubbabubba: Yay, i made it into somebody's reference folder! Yeah, i nicked the idea with the purple from a gunpla-painting man on youtube. It's really useful. Bunch of layers of very transparent purple and then transparent  white again and then purple again, etc.

[syrinx0]

@syrinx0: They probably do. They're fun. But somehow nobody else but me seems to be enthused about them and I feel ever so slightly embarrassed about them. Two weeks ago I was at a wargames show, had them with me - very little response. Of course it's probably just a matter of the target audience. When the anime conventions start again in autumn I'll get them out again.

Heretics.  Those are fantastic mechs. Totally willing to put them in my living room for you.

My BT friends love the classic game and I have been helping them paint their way through the hordes each of them has purchased. We game weekly online (Megamek) but try to get a few in person games in every month or so.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Heretics.  Those are fantastic mechs. Totally willing to put them in my living room for you.
...

thanks, that's very kind of you. I'll play some BT in person as well this week; the beginning of our little campaign. Very much looking forward to that!


So let's brace for the big maintenance, right? I shall see you on the other side, gentlefolk. Up the LAF!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

...an we're back. Hello. I have incredibly little to report to be honest. Last week Shandy and I had our first Battletech campaign game, umpired and organized by Virago.

In the game led by Virago, the Gliese Ulans (Shandy's mercenary force) faced off against Braganza's Besiegers (my mercenary force) for the first time. Each of us was allowed to field up to 210 tons of mechs. I opted for a Warhammer, a Grasshopper, a Phoenix Hawk, and a Commando. They faced off against Shandy's Marauder, Rifleman, Shadow Hawk, and Stinger.



I, being the attcker, started on the short right edge and had to make it through the fairly empty no man's land until things got serious in the hilly terrain on the left half.

I was plagued by terrible luck with the dice in the first half of the game, but later, when things got close, my mechs hit something, and in the end, I managed to attack both the Shadow Hawk (with the Phoenix Hawk) and the already damaged Rifleman (with the Grasshopper) from behind.


Due to time constraints—we're not quite up to speed with the rules yet—we then called it off. Although my mechs were pretty battered, I had managed to shoot the Stinger so badly that it had to retreat in smoke, and the Ulan pilot (whose first name is Ezra. This first name will always remind me of the terrible Netflix film “You People,” which automatically made the mech a target) of the Rifleman had to abandon the BattleMech. I then took it home as spoils of war.

I have no idea what Braganza's besiegers are going to do with a broken Rifleman, but now they have it. Repairing it is very expensive, that's all I know so far, and the Grasshopper had its head almost completely blown off in the fighting and its left arm is also gone. The Phoenix Hawk is also pretty badly damaged. I'm already excited to see how things will continue.

[syrinx0]

Campaign games are fun as they make you a bit more careful with your actions.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Absolutely true, and it pretty much applies to any game. It makes the withdrawl a thing, and games potentially end much quicker if neither side goes with "okay, I only got one dude left, but if he manages to just score a critial hit or two....". Also makes you play differently in general, because all of a sudden you got this responsibility for these people under your command which goes beyond that one game. In my experience that also makes you play smarter and more cautiously.

Virago and I once played a Chain of Command campaign game, Western Desert, early 1941. I had only deployed my 2" mortar team with the platoon sergeant behind a hill, the Panzergrenadiers on the other side of the table had deployed a few things, I decided to just pull out. Terrain wasn't too promising, situation neither, and they had much more heavy support than anticipated, so I took the loss rather than sending the platoon into a very costly affair.

[YPU]

Nice! I had my very first game of Battletech as well yesterday, and like you say takes some getting used to those rules! That said, the game is so retro-clunky already that I kind of want to dive in deep and add infantry and tanks etc, if its complex anyway then give me all the bits!

[Rick]

Something else to consider (I used to have a reputation for doing this in CBT games) is the wind direction - if it's favourable then set fire to the terrain, on purpose; use the fire. It's amazing how much effect a couple of fires roaring away can have on inexperienced players; they tend to panic (imagining the heat build up at 3025 tech levels) and move away from it - you can use this to your advantage.

[Storm Wolf]

I have many fond memories of good old classic BattleTech well done.

Are those models the updated version of the unseen? I thought the Warhammer and Marauder look like the current versions?
The originals of these and several other Mechs are mine and most peoples favourite anime designs  :-*before the retcon   

I will follow this campaign with interest

[YPU]

I have many fond memories of good old classic BattleTech well done.

Are those models the updated version of the unseen? I thought the Warhammer and Marauder look like the current versions?
The originals of these and several other Mechs are mine and most peoples favourite anime designs  :-*before the retcon   

I will follow this campaign with interest

Yeah IIRC doing a big redesign on the iconic unseen ones was part of the 35th (or 40th?) anniversary push. I think they are a very good middle point of keeping the old charm with modern polish, better than the mech warior online version which polished a bit too far and ended up more generic looking IMHO.