First Try at Alpha Strike the Battletech Fast-Play game.

[eilif]

A little over a week ago I had my first game of Alpha Strike.   I didn't record enough to make a proper AAR, but you can see an overview of the battle, pictures and my observations regarding the game here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2013/12/alpha-strike-game-report-and-review.html
Suffice it to say that I really like this game.   I never could get into Battletech as it was just to crunchy for me.  Alpha Strike, however gave me more than enough battletech flavor to enable me to enjoyably game in what is far and away my favorite gaming universe.  We jumped right into "Standard" level play and asside from a bit of rulebook flipping, I felt that I quickly had a solid grasp of the rules.  Rather amazing since my club is used to me being the one saying "What's the modifier for...?"

We played a 3 player 1-lance-each game, but I'm really looking forward to playing larger games. 
As is the tradition in our club, we rarely do anything half-way so I put together what I feel is a pretty good-looking battlefield for this game. The Mechs are rebased Mechwarrior prepaints.  A few pics to encourage a visit to the full blog post where there are lots more words and pictures.

[Homebrew Dave]

Looked like alot of fun.  Never heard of Alpha Strike before this thread; but, I love Battletech.  I never got to play it despite having rulebooks and technical manuals laying around for years.

Off subject (slightly) I always love the aesthetic of waterheaters, ventilation and ducting in the background    Reminds me of all my gaming days back when I used to play Epic Space Marine in my parents' basement.  The ceiling was less than six feet from the ground and always had copious amounts of spider webs hanging around.  You had to walk around slightly hunched over while placing terrain, measuring movement, shooting, etc..  And then somebody would step in a box of cat litter.

[eilif]

Glad to provide a bit of nostalgia.  Except for a visit to an are FLGS every couple of months, our club meets bi-weekly in member's homes, which almost always means a basement.

I'm in a similar situation with Battletech. I love the universe so I have every BT novel, 60+ sourcebooks and almost every TRO, but I don't actually enjoy the Classic Battletech Game.

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

great looking Game+write up thanks for sharing 
So is Alpha Strike a stand alone Tabletop Game then?I'm a bit confused,wasn't there a Starterbox with Plastic Mechs some Time ago?I remember seeing the AS Book but i thought it's for the RPG 

[eilif]

great looking Game+write up thanks for sharing  
So is Alpha Strike a stand alone Tabletop Game then?I'm a bit confused,wasn't there a Starterbox with Plastic Mechs some Time ago?I remember seeing the AS Book but i thought it's for the RPG  

I'll try to clear it up, but you're right that it is darned confusing.

Alpha Strike is it's own game. It shares a couple mechanics and exists in the same universe, but is a separate rules system -and is much simpler than- "Battletech". It's the standalone book version of the "Quick Strike" rules that  were themselves a modification of the"Battleforce" game.  Battleforce and Quick-strike are both contained in the "Strategic Operations" book.  Confused yet?  

The Alpha Strike book takes Quick Strike, cleaves it away from Battleforce, cleans it up, organizes it, adds a few new rules and a simple aerospace system, and attaches some fluff.  I had already bought Strategic Operations book, but when I saw Alpha Strike, it was definitely worth picking up.

Now the boxed set you've seen (an improved version is coming soon) is the actual Battletech Game, but only gives you rules for Mech vs mech combat with tech level up to the year 3039. Basically it's the universe  before the Clans invade. This level of play used to be called Level 1 and is contained in a rulebook called "Introductory Rules".  Despite the name "Introductory" many people prefer to play in that era exclusively.  However To play in the Battletech universe post 3039 (the universe now stretches all the way to 3145), you need the main rulebook called "Total Warfare".  

Alpha Strike doesn't require any of that. All you need is some miniatures, the Alpha Strike rulebook and Alpha Strike unit cards which are free to print up via the Battletech Master Unit List website.   That said, the Battletech Boxed set is still a useful purchase for Alpha Strike players who don't yet have miniatures (or wish to expand their collection) because it contains 26 mechs.

One more confusing fact. As well as "Introductory rules" (Mech V mech pre 3039)  the Battletech Box set contains a set of even more simple (and not compatible with the rest of the Battletech system) rules called "Quick Start". Quick Start rules are NOT the same as Quick Strike or Alpha Strike.

[kalamadea]

That looks absolutely aces! I like your setup and the repaints look fantastic.

Still got a load of clickytech stuff in my closet, waiting for a similar project, might have to spring this on my group.

[eilif]

That looks absolutely aces! I like your setup and the repaints look fantastic.

Still got a load of clickytech stuff in my closet, waiting for a similar project, might have to spring this on my group.

Thanks alot!  However, I can't claim any credit for the paintjobs.  They are all stock clixky paintwork!  I did however model the desert bases (my buddy did the asphalt ones).  If you decide to do something like this, someplace like Litko is probably the best source for bases. GF9 used to do this at a great bargain, but they stopped their custom base service. 

[maxxon]

I love the overpass!

This reminded me to rekindle my giant robot projects.

I checked a couple of Alpha Strike reviews, and unfortunately it doesn't seem to be for me. Even though I played BTech many many moons ago, I have special love for it...

[eilif]

could you do me a huge favour and tell me how big those clicky mecha are.

great terrain BTW

I don't have them in front of me, but IIRC, most are between 1.75 and 3 inches.  Here's a pic I found online.

The pictured "Targe" mech is a bit out of scale and large compared to the rest of the line, but as it's one of the tallest, you can get an idea for size.  The pictured infantry are Kanazuchi battle armor which are  among the largest of the mechwarrior bipedal battle armors.  They're almost like mini-mechs compared to most other mechwarrior battle armor miniatures.

Here's one more picture showing a mechwarrior clix mini and a 28mm figure.

Again, the mech pictured is on the larger end of the scale, though not as tall as the Targe above.

[Sgt. Scream]

Thanks for sharing MY pics there, eilif. The one with scale lines is off my blog. 

Back to topic; does alpha strike require hex bases?

[eilif]

Thanks for sharing MY pics there, eilif. The one with scale lines is off my blog. 

Back to topic; does alpha strike require hex bases?

Happy to do it!
Alpha strike could probably be run without hexes as the only two firing arcs are front, and rear (can't shoot)  However, the rear-shot mechanic really works best with a unit where the back line of the unit is clearly delineated. 

Square bases would work well or perhaps two dots on the back side (maybe at 210 and 150 degrees) of a circular base to show clearly where the backline would be if it was a hex.  An other option would be simply to use the shoulders of the mech as your back line.  Would probably work find for units that are already on circular bases.

[Sgt. Scream]

Sounds good. I will just mark my bases then. 

[Argonor]

Really good looking game!

[eilif]

Cool, just know that most industrial mechs are on the lower half of mech sizes.

What is Junk?

[Dentatus]

Thanks for the report. I've always loved Big Stompy Robots but found the B-tech game (and Heavy Gear) mechanics too busy. Alpha Strike might be perfect.