Hey Game Fans, we were able to wrangle some work out of our long time associate/gamer Drewbacca, and he put together this rough cut battle report for the two games of Alpha Strike he played with his brother. I’m going to edit it a little bit for clarity, and the chastisement for a lack of photos or video evidence has been given. That said, let’s see what Team Wookie has for us on this week’s Battle Report.
Setup
150 point introductory game for Battletech Alpha Strike. Introductory rules, Early Succession Wars, Inner Sphere, Battlemechs only. Terrain setup was 3/5 dual leveled urban setting and 2/5 swamp made up of light woods and water (levels 0, 1, 2 depth). Table dimensions used are approx. 43” wide and 48” long. Using the narrower edges as home edges.
Team 1
Eric’s Unwieldly Strikers:
Titan TI-1A (ps3), Marauder MAD-3R (ps0), and 2 Locust LCT-1M (ps5)
Team 2
Andrew’s Rabid Vets:
Marauder MAD-3R (ps2), Orion ON1-V (ps3), Centurion CN9-A (ps3), Jenner JR7-D (ps3)
Deployment & Opening Moves
Eric takes the high ground in the city and has all his mechs on to one side of the city. During the first turn both LCT-1M peak out from the city’s hill, one in the open and one thru woods. The MAD-3R and TI-1A make their way thru the city.
Andrew has the low swamp, and takes a mostly central position, with the lighter mechs in the woods and the heavier mechs behind the woods or splashing around in the surface water of the swamp. The JR7-D and CN9-A take cover in woods and face outward toward the column of buildings with will later provide partial or total cover as they make their way up the flank.
Contact is made and the battle begins. The LCT-1M in the open, is sniped by the enemy MAD-3R splashing in the surface water of the swamp (level 0 water). Over the next two turns the remaining LCT-1M hides in the woods between the swamp and the city, and dies on turn three from a shot by the enemy MAD-3R.
Mid-Game
The ON1-V takes a position and makes some IF attacks over the next 2 turns and doesn’t get much done. The ON1-V centrally located on his side of the table, in the swamp woods in view of the enemy mechs thru more woods closer to the city (total bonus for woods at this point is +3 because there are 4” of woods near the city and he is not more than 2” deep in the woods he occupies). The JR7-D and CN9-A make their way into flanking positions long the other side of the map, the CN9-A takes some shots granted by IF and a shooting spotter. Eric’s MAD-3R is the first big mech to leave the city, the TI-1A is close behind and will exit the city the following turn. Eric’s strikers are down a mech and can’t seem to land any hits, while Andrew’s Vets are landing hits and using the terrain to his advantage.
End Game
Eric’s MAD-3R manages to hit the JR7-D, which removes 3/5 of this Armor and Structure, and resolves an engine hit, which causes the JR7-D to run hotter than he wants to be. No other mech for Andrew takes significant damage throughout the fight, due to using IF and terrain to grant partial cover in order to avoid many hits. Eric’s mechs end up in a kill box in the middle of the map, and get completely dismantled after several turns of taking a lot of damage and not doing much damage in response.
Game 2
Setup
150 point introductory game for Battletech Alpha Strike. Introductory rules, Early Succession Wars, Inner Sphere, Battlemechs only. Terrain setup was 3/5 dual leveled urban setting and 2/5 swamp made up of light woods and water (levels 0, 1, 2 depth). Table dimensions used are approx. 43” wide and 48” long. Using the narrower edges as home edges.
Team 1
Eric’s Unwieldly Strikers:
Titan TI-1A (ps3), Marauder MAD-3R (ps2), Locust LCT-1M (ps3), Icarus II ICR-1S (ps4).
Lance Type: Command Lance
With the Special Pilot Abilities (SPA) granted freely by the configuration, he chose Tactical Genius for his TI-1A, bloodstalker for his MAD-3R, and the SPA that allows you to “move and shoot and resolve damage” during the movement phase to the ICR-1S.
Team 2
Andrew’s Rabid Vets:
Marauder MAD-3R (ps2), Orion ON1-V (ps3), Centurion CN9-A (ps3), Jenner JR7-D (ps3)
Lance Type: Standard Battle Lance
SPA: Lucky (6)
For the second game we chose to implement Formation bonuses. And the second game played a bit differently, but still resulted in a very similar outcome. Eric reconfigured his lance to meet the requirements for a Command Lance. TI-1A (ps3), MAD-3R (ps2), LCT-1M (ps3), Icarus II ICR-1S (ps4). With the Special Pilot Abilities (SPA) granted freely by the configuration, he chose Tactical Genius for his TI-1A, bloodstalker for his MAD-3R, and the SPA that allows you to “move and shoot and resolve damage” during the movement phase to the ICR-1S. I believe he was incorrectly under the impression that if he lost his commander, then he would then lose the SPAs granted by the command lance formation. Which is why he chose the largest mech to be the commander, it gives the best chance of using the abilities the longest. My understanding is that as long as 3 units in the formation are still in the fight (not dead or fleeing), the SPAs are still in effect. Andrew chose to not modify his lance, as it already qualified for a Standard Battle Lance, which grants the “Lucky 6” SPA.
Deployment & Opening Moves
Andrew chose the High city and made Eric advance thru the swamp this time. Andrew pelted Eric’s mechs from long range for the first 3 turns, not landing many hits. Eric returned fire in a similar fashion with a bit more success, even if it was only marginally so. Eric, wanting to avoid being put in a kill box spread out his mechs during the first turn, and attempted to flank up the side he had seen the other lighter mechs do last game. Andrew deployed away from the bog, because he learned that the firing lanes on that side of the map are not favorable.
Mid-Game
Andrew was successful in drawing Eric in, but not into a kill box as last game. Using the mobility of the JR7-D and the long range capabilities of the other mechs with the use of cover, Andrew won the second game after using 5 points of his Lucky SPA. Eric resolved the ICR-1S SPA with much hate and almost destroyed the ON1-V but missed at a critical moment due to partial cover the ON1-V was utilizing.
End Game
Andrew’s MAD-3R and ON1-V were almost destroyed this game, and all of Eric’s mechs had fallen by the end. The ICR-1S was the first to go. After a few more turns, the LCT-1M died at a critical moment. Which left the TI-1A in critical condition and very hot, and the MAD-3R wasn’t any better off except that the MAD-3R could still move most of his profile.
Concluding Thoughts and Ideas
All in all, the game has its ups and downs. But in comparison to Classic Battletech, it plays so much faster with the same units. The capabilities of Classic Battletech (CB) far over shadow Alpha Strike (AS). I am a big fan of CB, and also a big fan of AS so far. I like AS because I get to dive into the Battletech universe without blocking out a week to finish playing a game, as I would have to do for CB. I get the satisfaction of running around as big stompy robots and blowing holes in things, and I can play several games in a day with AS. I love CB and all the variety and the complexity that it brings to the table. What I don’t about love about CB is how long it takes to play, and how infrequent I get to play it because of the duration. I think that AS will not replace CB, but it will introduce people to the universe of Battletech and get them to play a version of a game that I have loved since the 90’s.
For their first experience playing Alpha Strike, Drewbacca and his brother had what sounds like a good time. I am looking at the 150 point value for lance on lance engagements for starting players, and i am sure we’ll end up hammering out higher point values for Company level engagements. More practice with the game will make it play even faster, and we’ll hopefully get some more time in playing the game.
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