Showing posts with label Battletech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Battletech. Show all posts
19 November 2012
21 September 2012
The Grinder - September 2012
The most recent of my collection of miscellaneous articles, which were found in my refrigerator on return from vacation.
--- --- --- The Grinder --- September 21, 2012 --- --- ---
A little bit of Battletech history from a Mechwarrior Online interview with Jordan Weisman (source 1, 2):
Emphasis added: I never knew about the historical reference to the fall of Rome. Parts of the Battletech universe story line makes more sense to me now (not much more sense, but hey, it's Battletech).
Painting Pink - From the Warp -- A nice little tutorial on an often misunderstood color. -->
(Some of you may recall my own misadventure with this lovely hue.)
From WIRED: An interview with Jon Peterson, author of Playing at the World. I want.
Web site for the book, and the Amazon page.
From Technology Review:
There might be some studying in my future, if I want figure this one out.
And now it's time to go clean out the 'Fridge, and maybe shave.
~
--- --- --- The Grinder --- September 21, 2012 --- --- ---
A little bit of Battletech history from a Mechwarrior Online interview with Jordan Weisman (source 1, 2):
MWO: What was your inspiration to create BattleTech?
Jordan Weisman: I had seen images and model kits from the Japanese shows Macross, Southern Cross, and Crusher Joe. I loved the visuals but wanted to create a story for them in which the Mechs where only machines, but machines that their pilots imbued with personality like we do with our warplanes, tanks, and even cars. I wanted to adapt these wonderful machines to setting that was born from Western tradition, in this case a retelling the Roman Successor States. And most of all, I wanted to create a game which merged the reality of tank warfare with the sci-fi/fantasy of giant suits of armor.
| image: From The Warp |
(Some of you may recall my own misadventure with this lovely hue.)
Web site for the book, and the Amazon page.
There might be some studying in my future, if I want figure this one out.
And now it's time to go clean out the 'Fridge, and maybe shave.
~
27 April 2011
Doug Chaffe
Update [7/14/11]: Catalyst Game Labs is hosting a sale of Doug Chaffe original artwork at Gencon 2001.
Randall Bills writes about the passing of Doug Chaffee. Better go read that first. Here is Randall's opening paragraph.
... because it is nothing short of iconic. Much more to be found at Chaffee Studios.
Here are a few links that my be of interest:
Battletech Wiki: Doug Chaffee
Book Illustrations
Randall Bills writes about the passing of Doug Chaffee. Better go read that first. Here is Randall's opening paragraph.
In 1994 I walked into a game store and beheld BattleTech’s CityTech Second Edition on a shelf. The cover was by an artist I’d not seen before, but it was action-packed, evocative, and wonderfully done…everything a fan could ask from a cover. Of course I left with it under my arm. For the next 15 plus years Doug Chaffee would be an indelible part of crafting the visuals for BattleTech.I confess I didn't know anything about Doug Chaffee before this, but Battletech players should know his work on sight ...
| Image: Chaffee Studios |
Battletech Wiki: Doug Chaffee
Book Illustrations
23 January 2011
After Action Report
I hosted a Saturday Battletech session at my home. It was a very cold morning (-11 F) and there had been a light snow - a good day to stay inside to play a game (and absolutely perfect for chilling the beer and soda!). The scenario was a rather generic "Assault" on a defended area, but I set myself some very specific guidelines for unit selection and pilot/gunnery skills. One guideline was that all units should be selected from miniatures I actually have (which I almost accomplished), and that the battle should start off light mechs on both sides. Someone also requested I add some armor/tanks into the mix, which complicated my plans a bit. Another guideline was that the skill levels of mech pilots should be very mixed. I actually created a quite elaborate system for generating skills, and I might write that up some other day, but for now it's enough to know that about half of each force had an gunnery skill of about 4, with a range from 2 to 5. I created over 20 lances (groups of 4 units), which was MUCH more than could possibly be needed, but I wasn't sure how many people could make it or how late we might play. Pilots (and vehicle crews) were randomly generated, but within each lance I assigned pilots where I thought they were the best fit.
Each side started with 1 lance of vehicles and 2 of mechs. The mechs were all small and medium (because I stacked them that way), but vehicle selection was random, and by chance both sides started with some BIG tanks - 2 Demolisher's for the defenders, and 2 Alacorn's (heavy gauss version) for the attacker. The attackers started with an advantage of two extra medium mechs, and the only objective was to try to make the defenders "call for reinforcements" before 7 turns or so, with the idea the battle could continue indefinitely with each side alternately calling for reinforcements.
The defenders "home edge" was the lower/right corner of the photo above, and could set up on either of these two maps. Attackers entered on the far side. I was playing on the defenders side, but I stayed out of the initial setup decisions to make it more fair. Consequently, the defenders set up "forward" and took the fight immediately to the defenders on turn one (pictured above).
Here's another turn 1 photo, and it must be after combat because I see a "prone" marker in the mix. I'm not going to give all the gory detail, just a few that time and memory allow. With so many fast mechs, mediocre gunners, and big guns (on the tanks) there was a lot of wild maneuver going on. This is sort of what I was hoping would happen when I set up the scenario, and if anything it was even better than I expected.
Here's a turn 3 photo (I forgot to take any photos on turn 2). The attacker Alacorns are perched on a hill in heavy woods (lower left). They kept this position from turn 1 and made life very unpleasant (and much shorter) for several of the defenders. The defending Demolisher tanks are near the "frac tower" (upper mid) facing an uppity pair of UC/20 Saladin hovertanks.
Turn 4: The attackers have two units, a Cicada and the surviving Saladin, on the town map (lower) and are menacing a nearsighted LRM Carrier and an outmatched Flea-17. On the right an attacker Javelin is about to have a showdown with a Demolisher tank (guess who has a bigger gun?)
Another view of turn 4.
We called it quits after 5 turns. The defenders had lost 4 mechs and 2 vehicles, with 2 other mechs seriously damaged or crippled. The attackers lost 3? mechs and 1 Saladin hovertank. Had we played on the defenders would be forced to call for reinforcements immediately (well before 8 turns), so this is a clear win for the attackers. The defenders put up a good fight though, and the attackers were not too far from needing their own reinforcements.
I am quite pleased with how this turned out. The effort I put into the setup paid off with an interesting game, and the balance worked out just as had hoped. There are survivors of this battle and 14 lances of reinforcements we never got to use, so there could be a "part 2" to this battle in a month or two.
And the ice-cold beer was fantastic too. :-)
Each side started with 1 lance of vehicles and 2 of mechs. The mechs were all small and medium (because I stacked them that way), but vehicle selection was random, and by chance both sides started with some BIG tanks - 2 Demolisher's for the defenders, and 2 Alacorn's (heavy gauss version) for the attacker. The attackers started with an advantage of two extra medium mechs, and the only objective was to try to make the defenders "call for reinforcements" before 7 turns or so, with the idea the battle could continue indefinitely with each side alternately calling for reinforcements.
The defenders "home edge" was the lower/right corner of the photo above, and could set up on either of these two maps. Attackers entered on the far side. I was playing on the defenders side, but I stayed out of the initial setup decisions to make it more fair. Consequently, the defenders set up "forward" and took the fight immediately to the defenders on turn one (pictured above).
Here's another turn 1 photo, and it must be after combat because I see a "prone" marker in the mix. I'm not going to give all the gory detail, just a few that time and memory allow. With so many fast mechs, mediocre gunners, and big guns (on the tanks) there was a lot of wild maneuver going on. This is sort of what I was hoping would happen when I set up the scenario, and if anything it was even better than I expected.
Here's a turn 3 photo (I forgot to take any photos on turn 2). The attacker Alacorns are perched on a hill in heavy woods (lower left). They kept this position from turn 1 and made life very unpleasant (and much shorter) for several of the defenders. The defending Demolisher tanks are near the "frac tower" (upper mid) facing an uppity pair of UC/20 Saladin hovertanks.
Turn 4: The attackers have two units, a Cicada and the surviving Saladin, on the town map (lower) and are menacing a nearsighted LRM Carrier and an outmatched Flea-17. On the right an attacker Javelin is about to have a showdown with a Demolisher tank (guess who has a bigger gun?)
Another view of turn 4.
We called it quits after 5 turns. The defenders had lost 4 mechs and 2 vehicles, with 2 other mechs seriously damaged or crippled. The attackers lost 3? mechs and 1 Saladin hovertank. Had we played on the defenders would be forced to call for reinforcements immediately (well before 8 turns), so this is a clear win for the attackers. The defenders put up a good fight though, and the attackers were not too far from needing their own reinforcements.
I am quite pleased with how this turned out. The effort I put into the setup paid off with an interesting game, and the balance worked out just as had hoped. There are survivors of this battle and 14 lances of reinforcements we never got to use, so there could be a "part 2" to this battle in a month or two.
And the ice-cold beer was fantastic too. :-)
28 December 2010
Battletech: Sword and Dragon Sessions
| Image: ClassicBattletech.com |
JZ: "For a scenario book that is supposed to be an introduction to Battletech for new players, there are a lot of problems that only an experienced player would know how to deal with."A lot of problems indeed. This book is intended as a sort of bridge between the Boxed Set and Total War rules, but it assumes players already know the full rules. Many missions descriptions are also quite vague as to exactly how they are supposed to be set up. Our veteran crew and GM take these problems in stride, but it would be difficult for new players to figure these things out.
The book could have done with more playtesting too, and mea culpa, I was one of the playtesters! My recollection is hazy, but we only had 18 days - enough for proofreading, but nowhere near enough time to play many missions. This also came at a busy time for most of our group, and I don't recall that we played any of these missions. This may also be a problem of having veteran players review a product intended for new players; the bugs that will trip up new players are nearly invisible to players that have been playing the game for years.
Errata problems aside, there are issues with the scenario tracks too. An inexperienced player could easily run out of WarChest Points (WP) with just a few unwise decisions. Taking the wrong combination of force and mission options (plus a little bad luck) turned into a big setback for our Sabres players. Now it's OK if players run out of WP, but I don't see how inexperienced players could avoid running into trouble. These scenarios really need an experienced gamemaster to supervise and help keep the players on a steady course.
There is another issue with these missions that is quickly becoming apparent; the scenario balance is just awful. If you play with the original mechwarriors and mechs from the book, and if the opposing force gets a few good rolls of the dice during the setup, then some of these missions can be challenging. --BUT-- If you are playing (as we are) where mechs can "lightly" modified with prototype weapons and upgrades, or replaced with other mechs purchased or captured, then the scenarios become heavy unbalanced in favor of the Teeth/Sabres sides.
I must admit my bias: I like well balanced scenarios because they are the most fun. I have been playing Battletech long enough that simply winning has little attraction for me - I want a challenge, because challenges are fun! Winning is still cool, but I want to win in a fair fight, not in some goofball setup where one side has no real chance to win (Our group even have a special name for these sort of scenarios). Consider how the following aspects of the Sword and Dragon missions lead to unbalanced scenarios:
- Random opposition selection is highly variable, and the players could be up against a tough fight. This encourages them to ALWAYS field the strongest lance of mechs available, even when a weaker lance might be able to pull it off with a little luck.
- There are heavy penalties for not accomplishing mission objectives, so players are again encouraged to field a very powerful force, even if they might get by with less, simply because they cannot afford to lose.
- Random force selection does not consider that players may have upgraded their force. Even if the scenario might have been balanced originally, any improvements players make with push this towards unbalanced missions.
I know I am asking for a lot. Computer games might be be able to adapt to players in this way, but can a boardgame possibly do this? The answer is yes, after a fashion. In a series of Battletech scenarios, there is no reason you couldn't have measure of performance or margin of victory, and use this to adjust the difficulty of future scenarios. To do this you need to start with a good way to rate the strength of force and opposition, which is one of the reasons I keep going on and on about point balance systems. You would also need a way to measure margin of victory over a series of scenarios. Chess, basketball, and many other games have ratings of skill and ability as measured by their performance against other players or teams. You could do this for Battletech too, with a bit of work. Finally, instead of just rewarding players for winning, make the rewards contingent on the difficulty of scenario they choose. Given the choice of an easy win or a challenging game, I think players will go for the challenge every time.
Hint: This is a topic I hope to spend some time with in 2011 (now where did I leave my notes?).
I should add a comment about scenario objectives, since there were some recent comments about objectives and balance in my recent post on Point Values for Squadron Strike. Sword and Dragon does use scenario objectives, but most of them are useless for maintaining any sort of balance, and some actually make it worse. A way to rate the difficulty of scenario objectives is something else I'm going to have to consider (and that's a tough one!).
And here is a bit of copyright info, just to make sure everyone is happy.
© 2001-2010 The Topps Company, Inc. MechWarrior, BattleMech, ‘Mech and AeroTech are registered trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
18 November 2010
Sword and Dragon Mission Matrix
Our local Battletech group has been playing through Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, and we are having a lot of fun doing it. Peter, my cohort in planning for team Fox's Teeth came up with this state diagram as a way to follow the possible mission tracks, to help us plan in advance:
Nifty, but very difficult to follow as many of the arrows are on top of one another. This put the idea in my head to redo it in matrix form. This entailed repeating most of the work Peter had already done, but in the process I gained a much better understanding of how the Warchest Point system works. I'd never paid much attention to this before, so it was worth the effort:
The left-hand side lists the possible current missions, along with prerequisites and Warchest Points (WP), number of 'Mechs in the scenario, and WP rewards for a successful mission. If you follow the row for the current mission over to the right-hand side you can see what missions are available following the current mission. There is a "1" in the cell if that mission can be played next, and blank otherwise. I also added color codes for missions that are only available to either Fox's Teeth or Sorenson's Sabres. This has been corrected for the published errata too, so if you are looking for the mysterious Probe or Holding Action missions, they have gone away. You can download this in spreadsheet format:
Download as Google Docs spreadsheet.
Download as Excel 2003 spreadsheet.
Download as Excel 2007 spreadsheet.
The Creative Commons license I apply to this blog obviously can not apply material derived from this Catalyst Game Labs product. However, I would appreciate being credited as author if you pass this on. The Mission Matrix form is an idea I will develop for my own purposes. Send any suggestions or comments along too, and I'll see about working them in.
I should probably blog about the play sessions too, because there is a lot going on there. Not tonight tho, it's late!
Nifty, but very difficult to follow as many of the arrows are on top of one another. This put the idea in my head to redo it in matrix form. This entailed repeating most of the work Peter had already done, but in the process I gained a much better understanding of how the Warchest Point system works. I'd never paid much attention to this before, so it was worth the effort:
The left-hand side lists the possible current missions, along with prerequisites and Warchest Points (WP), number of 'Mechs in the scenario, and WP rewards for a successful mission. If you follow the row for the current mission over to the right-hand side you can see what missions are available following the current mission. There is a "1" in the cell if that mission can be played next, and blank otherwise. I also added color codes for missions that are only available to either Fox's Teeth or Sorenson's Sabres. This has been corrected for the published errata too, so if you are looking for the mysterious Probe or Holding Action missions, they have gone away. You can download this in spreadsheet format:
Download as Google Docs spreadsheet.
Download as Excel 2003 spreadsheet.
Download as Excel 2007 spreadsheet.
The Creative Commons license I apply to this blog obviously can not apply material derived from this Catalyst Game Labs product. However, I would appreciate being credited as author if you pass this on. The Mission Matrix form is an idea I will develop for my own purposes. Send any suggestions or comments along too, and I'll see about working them in.
I should probably blog about the play sessions too, because there is a lot going on there. Not tonight tho, it's late!
04 October 2010
Battletech 4th Edition
I made a good find yesterday at Half-Price Books: The Battletech 4th Edition boxed set.
The box itself was a bit beaten up, and I already own a beaten-up 4th edition box minus the original contents.
One quick peek inside the box was enough to show me at the original rulebook was still there. That, and a very distinctive lump metal, shown just to the right. I still wasn't sure the $25 price was worth it, even for an out-of-print Atlas miniature, but what the heck.
Later, out in the parking lot, I broke the box open again to show my wife the Atlas, and found the Zeus mini too. THAT'S when I was sure I'd made a good buy.
The rest is icing on the cake. The box may have had some wear and tear, but all the components appear to be in perfect condition.
There is also a set of stickers (above, on the left) with the Inner Sphere House insignia that I didn't expect. (Also a nice Power Rangers pencil.)
This is my second stroke of luck with used FASA games. Needless to say, I am quite pleased.
The box itself was a bit beaten up, and I already own a beaten-up 4th edition box minus the original contents.
One quick peek inside the box was enough to show me at the original rulebook was still there. That, and a very distinctive lump metal, shown just to the right. I still wasn't sure the $25 price was worth it, even for an out-of-print Atlas miniature, but what the heck.
Later, out in the parking lot, I broke the box open again to show my wife the Atlas, and found the Zeus mini too. THAT'S when I was sure I'd made a good buy.
The rest is icing on the cake. The box may have had some wear and tear, but all the components appear to be in perfect condition.
There is also a set of stickers (above, on the left) with the Inner Sphere House insignia that I didn't expect. (Also a nice Power Rangers pencil.)
This is my second stroke of luck with used FASA games. Needless to say, I am quite pleased.
22 June 2010
"Mister Eastwood, how about THIS Trebuchet?"
Steven Satak sent me a "taste test" of some of the new art for his TRO:3063 project. Steve figured out early on that I have a sweet-spot for this particular Mech.
The work of kSeth.
And, if I'm not going insane from lack of sleep, Steve has recently given his blog layout a thorough redesign: Nice work! I'll have to ask him where he got that beautiful banner art.
Comments on the recent post indicate I'm not going insane, but I was worried for a second.
The work of kSeth.
And, if I'm not going insane from lack of sleep, Steve has recently given his blog layout a thorough redesign: Nice work! I'll have to ask him where he got that beautiful banner art.
Comments on the recent post indicate I'm not going insane, but I was worried for a second.
05 May 2010
My New Gaming Table
You already saw bit of it in my last post, but I'm having the gang over tonight for the inaugural Battletech game on my new gaming table.
A couple of disused closet doors, a pair of sawhorses, and a new felt mat. The hard part was cleaning up the basement so there was actually room to set it up. (There is a bit of that left to do yet).
Let the battles commence!!!
Oh yeah ... chairs ...
| From Battletech Billboards |
A couple of disused closet doors, a pair of sawhorses, and a new felt mat. The hard part was cleaning up the basement so there was actually room to set it up. (There is a bit of that left to do yet).
| From Battletech Billboards |
Let the battles commence!!!
Oh yeah ... chairs ...
03 May 2010
Battletech Billboards
I picked up some terrain pieces from the Acheson Creations booth last year at ORIGINS (a few pics 1 2 3). Although they painted up well enough, they still didn't look right. They needed something more.
Because I always intended these to be barriers for a Solaris style arena, I thought it might be cool to turn them into billboards for various sponsors. All I needed were some ideas for sponsors, and I had this idea I've been wanting to try. I did some digging among the Battletech blogs I follow for banner or icon image, a little image editing in Paint.Net, and sent it to the color printer.
A bit more work with a good pair of scissors (the Perseus and Thug helped), and then some glue ...
... And viola!
Steve's Battletech Reader billboard was the most work (image editing, I replaced "Classic Battletech" with "The Battletech Reader") and turned out the least legible. So I might have to redo that one (Hey Steve, got any banner ideas?).
I was so happy with the results, I decided to turn it into a mini tutorial. I have a Picasa album up with the full set of Battletech billboard photos.
Lesson #1: Try some different sizes, and (if you can) print a black-and-white copy first to check the final size before going to the expensive ink. I did three sizes for the Catalyst Logo, and only the smallest would fit. The MechCorp logo was too big entirely and I'll need to rework it from scratch.
A dry fit to see how the finished piece will look is always a good idea.
Put a drop or two of glue on the back of the paper, right in the middle. A single drop will do for smaller bits, but with larger pieces it helps to put a small amount of glue near the corners.
Next is the part I couldn't take a picture of - place the paper on the piece as you did with the dry fit, then press down with your finger and slide the paper around to spread out the glue underneath the paper. This pushes out bubbles and excess glue, and should give the paper a good bond. The glue starts setting pretty quickly once you do this, and you will feel it getting harder to push around. Get it set where you want it and press down on the corners to make sure they stick. Wipe away any excess glue (I just used my finger). In the event you end up with a corner that isn't glued down, use your hobby knife to place a tiny amount of glue underneath and press it down again.
It was an easy project, and I've got some attractive new terrain pieces to show off. Follow the link if you want a copy of my billboard images (MS Word).
| From Battletech Billboards |
Because I always intended these to be barriers for a Solaris style arena, I thought it might be cool to turn them into billboards for various sponsors. All I needed were some ideas for sponsors, and I had this idea I've been wanting to try. I did some digging among the Battletech blogs I follow for banner or icon image, a little image editing in Paint.Net, and sent it to the color printer.
| From Battletech Billboards |
A bit more work with a good pair of scissors (the Perseus and Thug helped), and then some glue ...
| From Battletech Billboards |
... And viola!
| From Battletech Billboards |
Steve's Battletech Reader billboard was the most work (image editing, I replaced "Classic Battletech" with "The Battletech Reader") and turned out the least legible. So I might have to redo that one (Hey Steve, got any banner ideas?).
I was so happy with the results, I decided to turn it into a mini tutorial. I have a Picasa album up with the full set of Battletech billboard photos.
| From Battletech Billboards |
Lesson #1: Try some different sizes, and (if you can) print a black-and-white copy first to check the final size before going to the expensive ink. I did three sizes for the Catalyst Logo, and only the smallest would fit. The MechCorp logo was too big entirely and I'll need to rework it from scratch.
A dry fit to see how the finished piece will look is always a good idea.
Put a drop or two of glue on the back of the paper, right in the middle. A single drop will do for smaller bits, but with larger pieces it helps to put a small amount of glue near the corners.
Next is the part I couldn't take a picture of - place the paper on the piece as you did with the dry fit, then press down with your finger and slide the paper around to spread out the glue underneath the paper. This pushes out bubbles and excess glue, and should give the paper a good bond. The glue starts setting pretty quickly once you do this, and you will feel it getting harder to push around. Get it set where you want it and press down on the corners to make sure they stick. Wipe away any excess glue (I just used my finger). In the event you end up with a corner that isn't glued down, use your hobby knife to place a tiny amount of glue underneath and press it down again.
It was an easy project, and I've got some attractive new terrain pieces to show off. Follow the link if you want a copy of my billboard images (MS Word).
03 February 2010
BattleTech Pods Return to OwlCon in Houston, Feb. 19-21, 2010
Passing on the good word from my friends at MechCorps and Virtual World Entertainment:
Some Battletech events at OwlCON too!
The last photo is actually for Mechacon, but is too good not to use again.
Also, I have confirmation that the Pods will be at ORIGINS 2010, which makes me happy, as that's likely my only big CON this years.
For Immediate Release
MechCorps' Mobile Armor Division will be stationed in the Ley Student Center on the campus of Rice University in Houston, Texas during OwlCon XXIX "The Year We Make CONtact" on February 19-21, 2010.
Some Battletech events at OwlCON too!
The last photo is actually for Mechacon, but is too good not to use again.
Also, I have confirmation that the Pods will be at ORIGINS 2010, which makes me happy, as that's likely my only big CON this years.
15 January 2010
Are there rules for this in Battletech?
Somewhere in that 100-ton, 10-meter tall piece of walking mechanical mayhem you think there might be room to squeeze in a port-a-potty.
But then, given how quickly they get destroyed inbattle typical Battletech game, maybe the problem has never come up? Click thru to the Far Left Side for the full-size, high quality image, and look for the neuro-helmet reference.
But then, given how quickly they get destroyed in
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)