Dipping a toe in Battletech!

[Rick]

Oops, I didn't mean to put my foot in it. The 'Alpha Strike Companion' would be very useful to you in that case, it adds extra options to the basic rules and changes the way unit points costs are worked out - the original system is a bit more convoluted and is no longer used.

[HerbertTarkel]

I’m sure it will be fine for now.

I’m just going to move my toys around and go “pew pew pew”.

[Rick]

The original 'Alpha Strike' rules are perfectly fine as they are and will give you a lot of enjoyment, I'm sure. I don't think there are many rule changes, aside from the way the points are worked out, so it should be just fine.

If it makes you feel any better, I bought the original Alpha Strike rulebook as well, then the Alpha Strike Companion and I was feeling pretty darned good about it. 2 weeks later, CGL announced they'd be releasing the Alpha Strike Commanders edition which would combine both books. I feel your pain.

[HerbertTarkel]

The original 'Alpha Strike' rules are perfectly fine as they are and will give you a lot of enjoyment, I'm sure. I don't think there are many rule changes, aside from the way the points are worked out, so it should be just fine.

If it makes you feel any better, I bought the original Alpha Strike rulebook as well, then the Alpha Strike Companion and I was feeling pretty darned good about it. 2 weeks later, CGL announced they'd be releasing the Alpha Strike Commanders edition which would combine both books. I feel your pain.

The pain is REAL! 

CGL isn’t doing anyone any favours with this, are they?

I mostly paint and enjoy friendly games so I think it will be fine until Mercenaries comes to retail sometime. The crazy part of the whole thing are the insane prices for the OOP editions/books.

I have someone who kindly passed on a Dropbox of all the stuff I might need and more, which was cool. I can get my local print shop to do what I might need.

Airbrush at the ready, mechs inbound tomorrow!

[Rick]

CGL are slowly (oh so very slowly) increasing the number of pdf's with a print-on-demand option on drivethrurpg but it may take a long while before everything is available but I suppose it's cheaper for them than reprinting the books.

If you use the points values from the Master Unit List that'll be fine - it's just when you want to use different skill values you'll need to know how to increase or decrease the points. And that is based on the base points value given on the M.U.L. - for skills lower than the default 4, deduct 1 pt if the base pv is up to 14, deduct an extra point for every 10 pts that the base pv is higher.. So if you have a mech that has a base pv of 34, say, you'd deduct 3 points for each point of skill lower than 4.
For skill increases above 4, add 1 pt if the base pv is up to 7 and an extra pt for every 5 pts of the base pv above that - so if you have the same 34 pt mech, it'd cost 7 points for every skill point increase above 4.
I know it's a bit of a pain but this should help.

And, if you really want to know what pain is, my mercenaries kickstarter pledge still hasn't arrived - it'll be in the shops before it gets to my door! 

[HerbertTarkel]

Brother, I feel your MERCS KS pain! I know so many who are suffering, genuinely, that it makes me … sad.

Ironically, it’s the KS that brought my nostalgia out, and got me back to Battletech.
But I REALLY hope you get your Mercs before retail. Cheers, eh?

[Rick]

Cheers! I hope so too. Also hope you enjoy playing Alpha Strike, it's a good game. On the whole, I think we are seeing a big resurgence in Battletech after a long while in a bit of a slump, all we need now is for CGL to sort things out just a tad faster than they have up to now! 

[Cat]

The original 'Alpha Strike' rules are perfectly fine as they are and will give you a lot of enjoyment, I'm sure. I don't think there are many rule changes, aside from the way the points are worked out, so it should be just fine.

Yes, the only significant changes were a better balancing of the points cost.  Getting unit cards off MUL (MasterUnitList) is the way to go anyway, and that has all the updated points.

[S J Donovan]

Did you mean you got the Alpha Strike box? That includes the starter rules and the support card deck. It should be fine unless you want to do some of the more complicated stuff.

The only separate rulebook that should be available now is the Commander's edition.

[pixelgeek]

"Very deep" hole indeed.

Its like 40K and Tolstoy had a love child.

[HerbertTarkel]

Did you mean you got the Alpha Strike box? That includes the starter rules and the support card deck. It should be fine unless you want to do some of the more complicated stuff.

The only separate rulebook that should be available now is the Commander's edition.

Yes; I now have and am trying to sort out:

A Game of Armoured Combat
Alpha Strike
Clan Invasion

I was at the local shop, Sentry Box, at the weekend, and there was lot of stuff. Two staff saw me looking at it, kept talking to themselves, and picked up the last two of something I was considering (a terrain and counter pack).

So I left and ordered grudgingly from Amazon. Gord’s shop has been better. It’s changed.

[Rick]

Ah the Alpha Strike BOX. In that case please ignore everything I've said you do indeed have the current set but you might want to consider the Commanders Edition book later on when you've got to grips with the rules. The comments about the MUL (Master Unit List) still stand though - it's an invaluable resource.

[HerbertTarkel]

Ah the Alpha Strike BOX. In that case please ignore everything I've said you do indeed have the current set but you might want to consider the Commanders Edition book later on when you've got to grips with the rules. The comments about the MUL (Master Unit List) still stand though - it's an invaluable resource.

Sadly that book is OOP. The one I saw for sale was … $299. Yep. Not kidding. Used. Insane!

CGL could use a clean-up of all this rule mess.

[Cat]

CGL could use a clean-up of all this rule mess.

Alackaday, the BT rules situation has been kind of a mess since late last century under FASA too.  CGL is notorious for things going out of print for long stretches between reruns.  The good news is that they update the current errata into each new print run, but that does add to the delays.
 
CGL errata is currently up to 7th printing, which will be the next print run.  If you buy a pdf right now, it will be 6th.  But if you buy it from DriveThruRPG, you'll get a free 7th when it becomes available.
 
New editions do sell out quickly, so best advice is to snap one up quick when you can if you want the hardcopy.
 

[HerbertTarkel]

Alackaday, the BT rules situation has been kind of a mess since late last century under FASA too.  CGL is notorious for things going out of print for long stretches between reruns.  The good news is that they update the current errata into each new print run, but that does add to the delays.
 
CGL errata is currently up to 7th printing, which will be the next print run.  If you buy a pdf right now, it will be 6th.  But if you buy it from DriveThruRPG, you'll get a free 7th when it becomes available.
 
New editions do sell out quickly, so best advice is to snap one up quick when you can if you want the hardcopy.

Good to know! I’m old school in that I prefer hard copies. I dislike FOMO stuff, but if I anticipate it, then I’ll just grab it when it comes.

Cheers!