Yesterday at the club!

Firstly let me say it has been a good weekend. Firstly  I was given 2 cases of beer (And that is always a good thing). Not that I am a big drinker and this will most likely keep me going until Christmas!

Secondly on Saturday afternoon. Zombicide arrived (purchased via eBay) and the game was like new in condition despite the eBay listing saying it was used. So needless to say this made me happy as well.

And then at the club there was a large colonial game in 15mm British vs Egyptians but as my new zombicide game had arrived I passed on this game (it already had 6 players which should be enough) and sat instead with 2 board game players (Kev and Ian).

Our first game was "Mansions of Madness" a C'thulhu board game very similar to the Roleplaying game. It was run by an APP on a tablet and played very well indeed. I was really quite taken by the game.

Our mission was to check out the mysterious disappearance of the mansions owner. The game did start slowly despite there being a "Hunting Horror" in the kitchen which was terrifying the butler. Kev was playing a Grave digger, Ian a Secretary while I was playing an Urchin.  I am not sure why an Urchin would be involved but I was.

Things went well we had found loads of clues and very little monsters and I was encouraged to open the wrong door. So Open it I did. The result was a High Priest of Dagon (Who was the mansions owner) 2 Cultists in different parts of the building and 2 more Hunting Horrors all at once.

I became seriously wounded but still in the game. Kevin went insane and Ian also took a serious wound as we all tried to stop the rital and close the gate.

The conclusion was we failed! Kevin Died while Insane, Ian died out right and I went permanently insane trapped in another dimension struggling and failing to close the gate and stop the ritual.

Score 1 for the C'thulhu mythos and zero for humanity.

That game over (and not prematurely) we played "Zombicide!" We Played scenario 1 in which the object was to get food water and rice equipment cards and have at least 1 player escape from the board. None of us had ever played before and the game went slowly. Yes I did make a couple of mistakes with the rules. Nothing major. The first 2 times a fatty spawned I did not put the additional walkers on for example. We also played a house rule allowing players to shoot into other zones and IF they hit they did not hit other players.

The game started well but players being the individuals they are split in order to get more loot./Objectives. Probably a mistake as mass attacks do tend to make a difference when it comes to staying zombies.

Phil (AKA Rick) was the first to die as I sacrificed him to let Josh move away from any trouble because Josh was carrying some Rice. Eventually it was too much for us and despite kev having an uzi on each character (Found during play) and making 5 Noise tokens a turn there just were too amny of them. Ian was equally handy with a chain saw but we conceded the game when a wounded Josh was the sole survivor the other end of the board and only carrying 1 of the three things we needed.

But Both were good fun games despite our losses!

Battletach try out.

Well yesterday at the club we played Battletech. I have not played the rules for 20 + Years and the other guys had not played them at all.  That being the case we kept it very simple with just a medium mech each. Relfie had a "Hunchback, I had a "Witworth", Ian an "Enforcer" and Kev a "Trebuchet|". For any one who knows Battletech well I had a 40 ton mech as I knew the rules and the others all had 50 ton mechs.

SO Kev and Relfie were against Ian and myself.  2 mecha a side and no clever scenarios just a get in and kill the opponents. Ian and myself set up to ttarget Kevin and leave the Hunchback alown as it only had short range weapons. (9 Hexes max).  And generally speaking the game went a little like this.



We try to shoot at Kevs trebuchet. But I miss with my LRMs but Ian makes a hit. This chips away some armour but nothing to worry about. Kev fires back at Ian and again scores hits but again just chipping away at armour.










 The next few turns sees me in the witworth running hot and firing all weapons and missing everything. Ian scores his with the LRM 10 rack but rolls very low for the number of missiles. In the game he manages to roll 2 2's and 4 3's on 2d6! I swear I did not touch his dice!Kev starts heating up and only launches missiles back, mostly at Ian's Enforcer! So I take very little damage and am able to steer clear of too many problems and manage to cool down. Kev finds the water and his heat sinks start to act more efficiently.














Relfie keeps closing the distance and finally lets rip with his AC20. This chews up Ians Mech quite badly, but he's still in the fight. The enforcer looses all the armour on one location and takes a hit to his autocannon 10. Ian gats a luck shot on the Trebuchet and causes a critical on the engine. This Gives Kev 5 extra heat each turn.Which in turn means that the "treb" starts running hot and from now on suffers 1 less movement point and a penalty on shooting.




Ian and myself try to put distance between the Hunchback and use only LRMs. This does not work all that well for me and I get hit and it penertrates the armour and scores a critical on my gyros. So jumping and running become MUCH more likely to result in me falling down. Kev and Relfie team up on Ian and back him into some harsh terrain. Which makes it much harder to get away from the hunchback. Ian fights on. We both target Kevs Trebuchet as much as possible and Kev gets 2 more crits against him, a second engine hit (now +10 heat a turn) and I hit a gyro of his and he decides not to run or jump from now on.

 The game ends with Ian loosing an arm (with the autocannon) and having all his torso shot out be repeated attacks. I in return stay at long range and launch LRMs as much as possible.  This finally has it's effect and I get another crit on Kevs engine and with 3 engine hits his mech is no longer functional.

Tis just leaves me an Relfie to fight it out. The bad news for me is that I am now low on missiles and can't run or jump without risking falling So the lumbering Hunchback will eventually "Muller" me! so I concede the game.

The good points: The game still plays well and has lots to recommend it. The new players picked the rules up quickly and understood the mechanics and hit numbers within 40 min for start of play and I am sure could very easily play again with little or no help. They said the rules were very instinctive.

The Bad points: Well for me it was all about the rose coloured glasses and while I did enjoy the game it was not the same as back in the day (25+ yrs ago!)

Thanks for reading today. The game was quite balanced and worked very well as a set of rules, it's just that you cannot beat nostalgia so after the game I was feeling a little underwhelmed!

All the best Clint

Another Lance of Mechs

Yes a Lance. In Battletech 4 mechs are known as a lance. This is the second time of doing this blog post this morning, having done it once I then pushed the wrong button and accidently deleted the whole lot. Oh well never mind, he says after kicking himself and swearing a bit so here is go 2!


Jagermech: Using a similar design philosophy as the Rifleman, the Jagermech is a 65 ton heavy mech with flip arms able to be effectively used against aircraft. However the Jagermech uses light auto-cannon as opposed to large lasers. With 2 auto cannon in each arm (an AC5 and an AC2) The Jagermech has reduced the heating issue which some Riflemen pilots encountered. In addition to the Auto-cannons the Jagermech also has 2 medium lasers. It has only average speed and no jump capability which again also reduces the heat build up. The down side is that for a heavy mech it is lightly armoured and like the Rifleman is very lightly armoured in the rear torso areas. So only use this mech if accompanied by something which can take a lot of punishment.

While I have never used the mech in a game I can see from it's stats that it has plenty of ammunition and would advise log range shooting as opposed to getting in close as that is where the weak armour will take its toll.


Dervish: One of the largest medium mechs at 55 tons the Dervish is above average in speed, manoeuvrability, and jump capability. It has reasonably strong legs  so can carry out the so called "Death from above" jump attack on smaller mechs IF you have a good pilot. A poor or average mech pilot tends to topple over if attempting this tactic! (I speak from experience!) Most noted for its twin Long range missile systems (2x LRM10s) the Dervish also carries Short range missiles (and lots of ammo for them) and Medium lasers so do not rely on the Lrms to do all the work! The head armour is very slightly weaker than most mechs even those of a lighter displacement but not overly so and all mechs have a vulnerable spot there. Just as well it is the hardest area to hit.

Overall I would say while there is nothing wrong with the Dervish as a mech it does carry to many SRM missiles at the expense of greater armour.


Enforcer: At 50 tons this is a well balanced mech for the weight classification. It is of average speed but does have jump capability so more than capable of out running a mech of average speed and NO jump. One must not rely on jumps of course and the Enforcer does not need to. For weaponry it carries both a large laser and a strong Autocannon (AC10) in addition to a small laser. Some variants and trial variants remove the small laser to get more ammunition to the Autocannon thus doubling the shots to 20. This has lead to problems from ammunition having to travel from the left torso across the body (past the engine) to the right arm so these variants are not common and also do lead to issues. The armour values on the Enforcer are good but not outstanding leading this mech to be used in a variety of roles including "Trooper mech" and barrage. Which makes it popular with many forces and in no way a one trick pony, but a multi role machine.

Generally I would recommend this mech to new players who want to try a bit of everything. And then work out what they want to specialise in even if (Like me) that leads to a jack odf all trades and master of none!)

Trebuchet: Another 50 ton medium mech. Like the Enforcer above this is another main line Medium mech. Unlike the Enforcer this mech has no jump capacity but is slightly faster on the ground. Armed with 3 Medium lasers the Trebuchets main strength comes at long range with two large Long Range Missile systems (LRM 15s). These should be enough to make people want to get close and most likely they will. Another multi-role mech and as such very versatile. The issue with multi role mechs is that you have to find the right pilot for them one who can adapt to the situation and instinctively know when to stay back and when to get close. Armour levels are good but not great so this mech should last a while in most confrontations as many players will try to target specialist mechs. As such this mech does tend to take a beating in a game but generally does manage to survive. Heat with the LRMs tends not to be a big issuse and the mech usually runs lightly on the hot side when at closer ranges or using jumps and firing at the same time. But overall heat is not a major concern.

Again like the Enforcer I would recommend this mech to players at the start until they find their game preferences.

As I will be playing Battletech on Sunday I am not expecting to paint any more mecha until September. All these Mechs cam in the 25th Anaversery box set and are cast in quite nasty plastic, but for the price I can do nothing but recommend the game. It may not suit everyone but I do know it does suit me and I hope I can impart the same level of joy and enthusiasm at the club.

Thanks for reading today and good luck in all you do. Have a good few days and I should have something  VBCW ready for Saturday.

|Cheers Clint

Battletech Unboxed

Firstly let me say this is not a review. I must also confess that "I am a Mech-head" and have been for a long time. Therefore I am TOTALLY bias towards original classic Battletech. (NOT THE HERO CLIX ONE) and it is fair and just that I make that clear from the outset. The 25th anerversery Introductory Box Set arived via courier yesterday afternoon and I still have a grin on my face, A BIG grin I might add. One of my friends (strangely everyone knew him as "Goblin!") had everything FASA produced for Battle tech back in the day, some 25 years in the past. However Goblin Fell in Love with a German Girl and subsequently moved to Germany. I was set up on a blind date with one of her friends and after 9 months realised that she was not the one for me and came home back to blighty. Long story made short I have not played with Mechs for a very very long time. So I was aprehensive about opening the box. I need not have been It's BRILLIANT! (sorry that just slipped out).  The box is heavy and full of Mechie goodness. And here is what is inside.

How the core rulebooks work is more an advert for the possible expansions to game than an explanation of how to read the rules and in what order, It does however serve a purpose. Only 8 pages long it outlines what each expansion is and how it fits in with the introductory set. So does it tempt me to get the expansions? To be honest, not yet, One of the expansions is a role-playing game, for example which at the moment in my life I have no use for, if things change and I do start role-playing again I don't think I would choose this as a setting.

The Quick Start Rules which I believe you can download free online. Anyway it's only 12 pages full colour with lots of helpful pictures and is the very basic rules to get you started. I should confess I have not read any of these rulebooks yet, that will start today. This should give new players a place to start. For me It will act as a refresher and a kick start into re-learning a game that is mostly just a memory in the back of my mind.

The introductory rulebook contains the main rules. The thickest of the volumes at 80 pages it covers the main rules as well as Mech design and a couple of scenarios. In the same way as the rules did 25 years ago. I have not sat down with both rule sets (the old and the new) but  a very quick flick indicates they are pretty much the same. Maybe the wording has changed but the essence is the same. As with all the materials production quality is high and the product a pleasure to interact with.

The source book, "inner shpere at a glance" covers the political situation in the known universe. It covers the history from the rise of the hegemony, through the star league era, to the arrival of the clans. (I am not a Clan Fan, to me they unbalanced the classic battletech status quo it's a personal view but it just seemed to me at the time a FASA ploy to create a super new must have force which would make players crave the next uber mech!) Also in the source book are descriptions of the major houses which will help reienforce the background of the universe. There are also sections on the mech pilots, mercanaries, pirates and the mechs themselves. At the back is a section very much like the old technical reports which give you a picture and a breif description of each mech. Again for new players this will be a great help.

Additionally there is a large full colour star map (A1 in size). My personal gripe is the era that they have drawn the map. It clearly shows clan holdings so I doubt for me it will be any real use. Other people who are Clan Fans will no doubt love it. It's a personal choice but for me (and perhaps only me) it was the wrong choice. As the source book has star maps from other periods I do not feel to agrieved.

Battletech is an old game and as such there are charts and tables to deal with. Each mech needs a record sheet for example. These have been helpfully supplied. I will do a matchup later today to compair the new and the old to determine if mech designs have been tampered with, I hope not so I had best check. There are also some strurdy quick refference sheets which I feel I should laminate, just to keep grubby fingers off!

I am very pleased that they have chossen to include a brief modeling guide, for most of us it is a how to suck eggs guide in that we already know, or should know how to prepare and paint models. I am very pleased that is is seperate from the main rules as this will allow younger or more free spirited gamers to avoid christening the main rules with paint and glue. There is also an interesting section on typical house colours, from experience I believe most players take mercenary contracts so I shall not be following this guide. If you have a decent reff he (or she) will tell you the mechs you are facing are all in Comm Star White, or Kurita Red for example. So while it is nice to know that Liao House can be painted with Goblin Green from GW it is not in any way vital to the game.

Now we start to get to the good bits. Here are the maps, still in their shrink wrap. I hope you can see that they are proper game board maps, full colour and hard mounted. The original maps were not hard mounted but still sufficiently sturdy. These are on an Avalon Hill Quality. Mine for now will remain shrink wraped as I still have the old maps and these seem about the same size. He says rubbing his hands together with joy!

Saving the mechs till last. In the introductory set there are 26 plastic mechs. 2 are multipart clan (Omni) mechs I have not unwrapped these, and I am not sure I ever will. The other 24 mechs (all different by the way) cover a wide range of inner sphere mechs from scout mechs to assult mechs. The picture shows the Hunchbach a 50 ton medium mech, and an 8o ton Awesome assault mech. I like both these mechs, the hunchback has a desestating shoulder mounted Auto cannon (but with ammunition concerns) while the Awesome is about as heavily armed and armoured as you can get, but boy is it slow. With only 24 inner sphere mechs they were never going to get everyones favourites but overall they have got a nice variety. Before you ask they have missed out Marauders, (many peoples favorite Heavy mech), Archer, Lucust, Stingers, Wasps, HatchetMan ( and Axeman), as well as the iconic Rifleman (A good looking mech but with rubbish armour). But with only 24 mechs I must say not a bad selection it so easily could have been worse. The figues are hard plastic and will need to be cleaned up of flash long before painting, But overall I am more than happy with them.

In conclusion I am very happy with this box set, It is not perfect by any means but it is value for money in my opinion and a must have for any mech-head. I plan to start painting mechs this week once I think about colours more. Which actually means I will dither and get nothing done if I am honest. I already want more mechs either in metal or plastic, Griffins (First mech I was ever given control of and a very good medium mech despite me), P-Hawks and Crusaders along with those mentioned above. But unfortunatly getting them at the right price is a problem at the moment.

 Hope to be able to play it at the club but will see how things pan out. I am confident that club members will like the game once they have played it. I can even forsee a campaign in the offing. But I had better walk before I run. The next step clearly is to read the rules properly and compare it with CLASSIC battletech.

Well that's enough for today. Thanks for reading and Take care. All the Best Clint