I am blown away with the pacing of this video. The measured and entertaining approach without obnoxious music or fake high energy was refreshing. I have orbited battletech for years and just now wanting to dive head first in. This video is exactly what I was looking for.
The periphery farmer piloting a heavy mech with his quote being "might as well try some of these buttons." Had me laughing. Thats some good Battletech lore.
Just a small note - In round 2, if the Panther can shoot the the Thunderbolt, then the Thunderbolt can shoot the Panther. LOS is always mutual ;) Super video BTW!!
. . . huh. I can't believe I missed that. I mean, luckily the shot went wide and it didn't matter in the end. but that's the second game mistake in the video then. kinda bad for whats supposed to be a tutorial.... glad you liked it anyway. and, sorry about that. I'd promise to do better, but.... in my experience, you will end up missing stuff like that inevitably. will try to do better though!
I love how Tex Talks Battletech has became a cornerstone of introducing new players to the great lore. That series alone is a strong argument for a high quality, Game of Thrones style retelling of the Star League and Amaris Civil War and beyond as a really well done TV series.
I have been a modest battletech fan for a while, eventhough my only point of contact were a few novels and mechwarrior 4 back in the day. but, yep, red got hooked pretty much thanks to tex when I showed him. the guy is a legend, there was no way we could do a battletech intro video without giving him a shoutout.
@@4handsondeck I have been a fan since I was 12 in 1992. My first Mehwarrior game was, well, Mechwarrior on the 386. I don't get to table top these days like I did when I was younger but that didn't stop me from playing utterly every VG it inspired. Since CGL picked it back up, though, I have been feeling the itch to get back into the TT side.
The way you narrate and have edited this makes it by far the most engaging way to watch this game. Nobody else has managed to hold my attention for 20 minutes, let alone over an hour. Great job!
glad we could help! we've played a lot of complex games (I'm a hopeless sucker for complexity...), and we were both surprised at how easy this was to learn. its not an easy game, but its made in a way that its really easy to understand and remember every single rule. just great design!
@@4handsondeck Yeah, the rulebook, even in the Game of Armored Combat set is horribly not concise. I actually copy-pasted the entire PDF into a word document and am now editing it so that it walks the player through every turn and every action in an orderly fashion instead of telling people to flip to pages all over the place which makes it so hard to actually know how to do anything. My hope is to create something to remove the entry hurdle to new players because it's the awful rulebook that keeps people from comitting. Even the Total Warfare rulebook is put together in a way that is just overwhelming.
A very fun and informative video here. My humble opinion is you guys did a great job for an introductory video, hopefully this helps others to get into this wonderful IP and great game.
A note on kicking: When the mech gets kicked, they must make a piloting skill check to not fall. So the thunderbolt had a chance to fall when kicked by the jenner. (Also, if the jenner had missed, they would have needed to make the check) That's the distinct advantage of kicking compared to punching that has two 1 in 6 chances to hit the head instead.
yeah! I noticed that during the premiere actually. and neither of us can remember if we forgot to make the check, or if we just cut out the bit where we rolled for it for some reason. would need to check the raw footage.... but instead we decided to just move on to the next video. sadly, between juggling the recording equipment and playing, errors happen in both (like the proper audio not running during a decent portion of this video...). we'll try to get better routine with the equip, so we can properly focus on the game!
But the Thunderbolt is heavier and more sturdier than a Jenner. There would be no way the Thunderbolt would topple over, unless a Critical was involved.
Glad to see more folks learning the game, and I have to say, I love how you edited this, the coloured topography overlay on the map, the battle computer sound clips, how you flavoured it all narratively together, especially the green static borders on the rules/chart/Mech sheet cut-ins. Really brought me back to the HuD of MechWarrior 3. Hope to see more like this in the future should you decide to tackle the return of LosTech equipment in the 3040s and the Clans and the equipment they reintroduce/improve upon in the 3050s in future games.
While not as condensed as some of the other intros on RUclips, this video does a better job of explaining what battletech is and how it feels to play it. Great job to all involved.
thanks so much! yes, the idea wasn't to cram as much information into as little time as possible, but to convey the feeling thats going on at the table. so, if thats your impression, I'm glad we succeeded in our goal! and apparently, people like it as well, this is by FAR our best recieved video yet!
@@4handsondeck It's the only one I've seen so far, but I subbed because of it. Great job, can't wait for the next one with infantry and vehicles! I know the mech rules reasonably well, no idea what to do with infantry! Looking forward to seeing more stuff for you.
@@Podgeabrillion it may be a while yet until the next comes out - this one took about twice as long as our 'usual' videos, the dnd ones take a month roughly. so... be patient, but don't worry - the next one WILL come! (and I personally can't wait to make it as well.)
I love the fact that the Kuritan player ended the match by attempting a reckless banzai charge, only to get blasted into orbit by mechs much heavier than them. Oh Kurita... never change.
I haven't played this game since high school and into college, more years than I prefer to count. Just seeing that desert map awakened so many memories of badly painted miniatures, delusions of macross, Dr pepper and Little Debbie snacks.
Excellent Video! To anyone who thinks the rules are a bit heavy and technical or don't like the hex mats FEAR NOT! there is another version of Battle tech called Alpha Strike, It's rules are more simple to play, it's free movement like 40k (tape measure and movement in inches), mech sheets are instead cards (that come with the models in the box's or printable from sources online) and is much faster to play and can be freely and easily modified with house rules if you wish, I play at a gaming club and Alpha Strike much better suits the time constraints I have there and can even fit in multiple games if I'm teaching new players. Also a little note on choosing your force, if none of the great houses or any of the clan factions take your fancy a big thing in Battletech is mercenary companies, there are existing ones but you are free to make up your own, think of it a little bit like making up your own successor chapter from 40k, that kind of thing but it doesn't have to be aligned with any particular house or clan so they can fight with or against anyone, they go where the money is :)
as we said in the beginning... this is the first and so far only game we ever played unpainted on purpose, everything else red throws paint onto as soon as it arrives pretty much. he's gotten quite good with painting too, but.... idk. for battletech, it just doesn't seem right for the reasons stated.
I did not see it in the comments but when the blackjack walked in the second movement phase it only moved 2 hexes meaning meaning its movement modifier should have been 0 making the catapults hit target at 37min 8+ making both LRMs hit. It is not a big deal I just noticed and wanted to share what I saw. I am very excited that I found your channel!
oh my! you're absolutely correct, and that... well, could've swung things even more in favor of the locals. I can't believe neither us nor anyone else here picked up on that! good catch!
As a WH40k fugitive and a large fan of the video game and the setting created in the novels, I was looking for a report with a little guide. It`s great to see U guys had fun during the game not being standard competitive pricks. A definite subscription and waiting for more content on Battletech (Clan vs IS would be great), as well as other tabletop games. Thx for the video!
Battletech definetly has some great novels well above black library quality in writting. As a game having two options of game play both with varying depths of play really makes it stand aside other games that and just the amount of variety you can add to an army
indeed! a game with more army variety coming up in just a bit more than 2 weeks as well! wanted to get a general 'tutorial'/introduction to the base rules before going for vehicles, clan tech and all that jazz.
Haven't been able to play Battletech in about a decade...I might have to pull out some stompy robots and play, even if I have to do it against myself lol. Really like the inclusionnof the overlays and audio clips 👍
1:10:50 you should have rerolled both parts of the crit location roll. If you dont reroll both parts then a single part all alone in a lower bracket will have a 50% chance of getting hit despite have a full bracket of 6 slots above it which should be reducing that to 1/7 odds. The same applies to all the rolls at 1:12:50. I dont believe this had a huge effect on the result of the game since the fusion engine takes up space in both brackets anyway, but in other situations it can be really important.
yep, thats correct. we messed that up, we're aware of that now. I agree it probably didn't have a huge impact, but, well, thats on us. good catch, and thanks for watching! we'll certainly get better with rules in the future!
@@4handsondeck I look forward to any future battle reports you guys do make, your style of presentation is really fun, and I like the heavy narrative focus
It's the wildest thing, I played Battletech in high school while, unbeknownst to me, the original company was being copyright sued out of existence. I got back into it last year and all the game material is the EXACT SAME price! Inflation has not touched battletech at all... great video guys!
we've had a few people say that already, yeah. just a clerical error, if you go through, we calculate to-hit correctly, and just add the +1 if we see a red die ontop of the distance moved. we'll probably just change it the next time around and do it as its apparently done everywhere!
Really nice video! Just one thing I noticed is that a +1 partial cover modifier was given to the target standing in a light woods hex. While this seems logical and other games would grant cover in this case, the rules say, “Only check the hexes along the LOS *between* the attacker and target, not the hexes they *occupy* ” when it comes intervening terrain that provides cover modifiers. Just wanted to make sure I understand this correctly too since I’m a rookie. Edit: Just realized the rules for terrain modifiers do say that you include the hex the *target* mech is standing in and apply the appropriate modifier.
yep! it does make sense in-universe too - you can go to the 'edge' of your hex as the attacker, so you have hardly any trees in the way - but the target can scoot back into deeper cover from the woods in order to not get hit. so, attackers forests don't count, defenders forests do! and don't worry - the rules generally are incredibly easy to learn and remember, even if they look complex at first. you'll have them down from memory in no time at all. also, tables are your friend, always keep cheat sheets of EVERYTHING around!
Thank you for the introduction, buds! I am just getting into the Battletech universe and this was a great look at the game. I loved the special effects you did.
Great vid and tutorial. Don't sweat the small mistakes, I have seen mechwarriors with over a decade of experience make the same ones. Can't wait to see more battletech from you guys!
If your catapult is on level 3, it can see everything. A mech is 2 levels taller that the elevation it's on. In this case making him effectively on level 5. Meaning, cover is irrelevant as long as they're not in it. Line of sight works both ways. If you choose to not be in LoS, neither of you are in Los
@@4handsondeck ah yeah, I realized you are just not adding it to the evasion die. Also you may be interested in the rules on low cover. When standing in front of lv1 terrain (relative to mech's position) incoming shots miss if any leg is roled on hit location. Because they hit the cover :) I love your channel. Looking forward to more game demos!
Thank you so much for the tutorial! It was much easier to understand you guys and seeing the game for couple of turns cemented everything you guys were saying. Can't wait to try the game with my cousin soon. Also want to see how the game plays with infantry because kinda want the "Titanfall" or "Ring of Red" feel of infantry being huge annoyances to the mechs.
thats going to be coming up in the next battletech vid for sure! tanks and infantry. but, thats still quite a ways away, I'm afraid.... we may even wait for the release of the official tank models, which supposedly should start soon-ish.
I would just like to say you guys did an amazing job with this video! There are a lot of intro videos out there, but I think you guys hit the balance perfectly, hit all the critical points, and managed to make it entertaining as well!!!
Great video 👍 one minor nitpick though, and you probably realized it already: The rules for movement for uneven numbers of mechs say „if, prior to any PAIR of movement…“ So in your first round, for example, the movement should be (since red lost initiative) Red then Green; then Red again followed by both Green Mechs. BUT if green had lost the initiative it would be like Green then Red; then BOTH Green Mechs followed by the second Red Mech.
Hate to 'well acshually' when you pointed out the bit that I kept getting bugged by, but even that is bit off - in the turn where Red lost initiative, it'd be Red - Green Green - Red - Green. What you have to keep an eye for in low number fights is that the losing initiative side will have to move their last mech second to last - otherwise the initiative disadvantage becomes far too immense. And the side winning initiative will essentially have their last mech have the greatest advantage, but just for the last one.
@@Finwolvenmaybe that‘s a house rule or optional rule your group plays with? While I agree that the benefit for winning initiative is maybe a little bit to good, the first turn (with the rules from TW or Manual) would still be Red, Green, Red, Green, Green if we follow the rules from TW, page 39, newest book What‘s the source for the alternate rules while playing with low numbers? I might wanna give it a try (only reference I could find is, that it is maybe a optional rule in MegaMek?)
We use the "floating crit" optional rule in my gaming group. Through armor critical hits reroll the hit location allowing the crit to go anywhere on the mech. 💀
There was no real golden age, the star league kinda sucked, it was built by conquest and coercion, and maintained itself in the standard imperial way of the metropole exploiting and draining the resources of the periphery.
technically true. it wasn't a 'universal' golden age. but at least it was a very long era without major internal conflicts and relative prosperity at least for the inner sphere. still close enough, we just wanted to give some background before the game and if you do want the full picture.... well, we referenced tex for a reason!
now that i am retired i would like to try this game but im afraid due to the complex amounts of rules it would be hard to find someone else to play against, also my short term memory isnt as good as it once was so learning would be a long and difficult process.
the comunity is rather open. look around, maybe you already have a gaming group locally, and to my experience they'll usually welcome newcomers gladly. nerds and geeks are enthusiastic, we WANT to tell people about the stuff we love, so if you're willing to listen, they'll go to great length to explain everything in as minute detail as neccessary!
at 35:33; defenders choice works both ways, if green says you have to use partial cover, his shot would have to go through the partial cover of the thunderbolt as well. or the Level 3 would have blocked all shots for both. Can't have your cake and eat it lol. 39:02 partial cover prevents damage to the legs. one of the advantages of staying in cover. 43:00 catapult had a shot, thunderbolt could torsotwist and split fire, LRM vs Blackjack, SRM2+Med Las vs Jenner, LLas vs Panther. No MGs too be able to punch the Jenner.
yep, the partial cover going both ways is something we realized during editing. whoops. luckily the shot went wide, so it didn't end up mattering. partial cover prevents damage to legs? thats... news to me! very cool, I'll keep that in mind! catapult had half a shot if I remember, torso twist and then fire only the left pod or something like that? and yeah, the tbolt could've split fired. but it worked like we did things as well I believe. thanks for pointing that out! we'll try to stay on the ball as good as we can - I hope you enjoyed the video despite the few issues here and there.
I am familiar with BT, but the way you two played the battle, the way how you narrated it, different themes for each team, calm yet still threatening weapon effects edited in and paper mech sheets being edited into an on-board mech computer was so satisfying to watch. A smile was sitting on my face through the whole video, only widening more and more. Even with how good the HBS BattleTech 2018 game feels, your video reminded me how calming and engaging a good tabletop can be. Good job, thank you for your work! P.S: Thunderbolt's pilot description saying that he wonders what those buttons do and then him blowing head off from Jenner, crippling commander's Black Jack to the point of becoming noncombatant and literally wiping out entire CT of Panther, all that in roughly 30 seconds (3 turns), while every other unit on the field tried their best to at least hit the target was very fun to imagine. He surely had a moment of his life right there!
I loved the editing! I was cheering for that BJ-1 cause its my favorite mech, and it did get that one salvo of glory which i was so happy about. I've been wanting to get my wife to play classic BT with me and this is a wonderful introduction.
no, I'm afraid not. we're only just now starting out with video production (well, for a year, but still....) and editing these takes lots of time. we may get to alpha strike eventually, but its not on the radar JUST now, I'm afraid. there'll be another classic battletech video coming up though!
A very well done vid guys and a great introductory video to cover the basics of Classic Battletech. Yeah a few minor mistakes here and there which have been pointed out but we all make them in the heat of battle and gaming - why I like MegaMek as I don’t need to remember half them sometimes hehe. But I’d love to see you guys continue this on and even expand on it for new players: From a induction video of you guys creating up a Lance each using MasterUnitList - showing new players the ease of MUL from choosing their era, choosing a faction and then looking up the BV cost and even shifting it slightly using the piloting skill table. - also good to explain to new players not to fully worry about “who gets what equipment” sometimes as while MUL limits mechs to those they’d have on standardly, it’s not uncommon for salvaged mechs to turn up anywhere and everywhere - several of my FedSun units use Catapult CPLT-K2 models which your only find in Kuritan units but… well the pilots got dusted and we thought they looked nice in the Direct Fire Lance. Another good introduction video would be on some of the more “Standard/Advanced” tech introduced in the late succession wars and more into the Clan Era. - again good video of being back our Catapult & Thunderbolt pilots (or maybe their kids) and a new pilot running a salvaged Panther rebuilt using spare parts from their old salvaged mechs. Face them off against a couple of Smoke Jags and showing the difference in tech and equipment but… that it isn’t as completely an uneven fight either. Cause while the Clans have tech, the IS has numbers and a fun willingness to break the rules of war (on in these cases, break the Clans rules of war Zellbrigen) Another larger one you could do could be an introduction to Campaigns and Lance formations and even SPA’s. - usually a good start for introductory Campaigns is for the players to create a Company of 12 mechs using 10,000 pts in the Succession Wars era. 10,000 pts does mean they can get some big mechs in there, but start throwing in there better skilled pilots ontop and you’ll have to start filling out the bottom ranks with cheap light mechs and potentially skuff pilots. Run a nice safe 4/5 skill company of mediums, lights and heavy’s or throw it in with a primary assault Lance formed of veteran and elite pilots with cheap light mechs and green pilots pulling up the rear. Then you have the simple scenarios of one team landing, raids on several farms and depending on how the 3 games go you can have it be a push on the defenders base or a fighting retreat to the LZ/ a desperate escape. Overall tho, keep up the good work and can’t wait to see how you continue this series
oh my, thats a LOT! lets go over all that.... BV cost and how easy it is to create a game setup? yeah, I think we'll toss that in next time! advanced tech? we'll touch on that in the next episode of the series... we weren't sure if we were going to make this into a series, but seeing how much it blew everything else we did out of the water, we surely will follow this up in time! though I'm not sure if we'll see ann and dan again for the time being, we have something a little different planned for that. campaigns and SPAs.... I'd love to, but I think for now, that would blow our video time out of all proportions. took 2 months to edit this short quick and dirty 2v3, we'd need a year for a 12v12 or anything of that scope. or multiple games in a row. sure, it could be done, and released in parts, but I'm not sure if we want to dedicate the entire channel to a project of that scale just yet! we're still very much beginners, so we'll take things one step at a time for now. thank you for the kind words and the load of suggestions, we'll keep them in mind and use a few of them, I hope you stick around to see the second part to this - we'll deliver! ...eventually!
I’m glad this wasn’t my first video attempting to learn this game otherwise I would have soured on all the other channels trying to make the learning of this game palatable! Stellar explanation and visually engaging without being overwhelming.
The introduction! Love it😂 Educational in a way I prefer it. Do have myself the Beginner Box, A game of A.C, Clan Invasion etc. And while you are not step-by-steping the Beginner box, I feel I must graduate that one first. Oh.. and I have zero BT interested where I live so gotta be Soloing it myself. Like an analogue, physical version of Mech Warrior. Cant wait for public release of Aces solo rules supplement from Catalyst
By the way Lyran Commonwealth"s borders at map of 2570 incorrect. In fact they are at 2750 year, after Civil War when Lyran Commonwealth've absorbed most part of Rim World Republic.
This is a really well done introduction! BattleTech is a great game & is easy to pickup as I even play with my twelve year old son. A great aspect of BT is the Advanced rules so you can add layers of "realism", comexity & character which is especially great if you are using the source books to run this as a role-playing game or a campaign. Yet another great aspect about BT is even in the rules it states you can use anything (like bottle caps) to represent a mech so no need to drop Hu dress or thousands of dollars ad with so.e other wargames to have the exact units you want.
Big battletech and mechwarrior fan! Great video and the work put into it was fantastic. I enjoyed your let's play and your video got me excited to try out a game of tabletop battletech. I hope you do make more videos and specifically mote battletech Let's plays!
I like the stickers on the bases. I have the same starter set and keen to paint the mechs before I play my first game. I was super curious about how on earth I should paint them, bearing in mind that in different games we might be using different mechs from our pool of minatures. Indicating which player is controlling the mechs, via the base stickers, means I can paint the mechs however I wish, without worrying about matching clan or lance colours (and I can't be bothered to read all the lore yet, to understand what the options are)
7:44 I want to record the short speech about accepting the leadership of the Draconis Combine or 'suffer the consequences' and drive around small towns, blaring the message over and over through a loud speaker
In FASA battletech initiative is a bit of a odd one. Some cases depending on game format, it can be by mech or lance rather then player. This is because later expanded rules added in additional equipment / quirks or even pilot specializations that had modifiers to initiative.
Thanks guys what a blast for a bloody beginner. Where did you get the bigger dice (initiative, attack rolls) Also, I was not able to find the smaller ones with the same shape as the bigger ones. Are there any?
oh. uhh. I have no idea actually. over the years we came into quite a collection of d6 from various games. the larger dice we picked up from the local hobby shop along with an array of tiny dice that now have a forever home in a see through tackle box for fishing. give it a little shake, and you have 6 seperate instances of 2d6 rolls for easy hit locations for SRM 6s or any other larger cluster attack... we didn't order them from any fancy website or anything, I'm afraid.
@@4handsondeck No worries, I was just wondering. I have some nice tiny sharp edged 10mm dice from my Advanced Squad Leader collection. They are perfect for this purpose. But unfortunately they are to less to attach on all mechs. By the way, you are also Germans , right?
Excellent video. A few minor rules mistakes others have already mentioned but overall a very good tutorial. Some tactical mistakes on both sides but as you mentioned you've only played 5 times I'd say you're both well on your way.
agreed. a few mistakes that just happened, sadly, but if people point them out in the comments or we catch them during editing, well, people can still learn from those... and as for tactical mistakes, yeah, expect more of those, sadly. we're enjoying the game very much, we never claimed to be good at it though. that needs a lot more practice, I'm afraid!
A truly excellent tutorial, I keep coming back to this over and over while I learn the rules. AI'm just a little confused at 25:19 when the overlay states the green player has twice as many mechs left to move (and must move another), don't both sides have two mechs remaining?
no idea how we messed that up. yes. and no. the way this WOULD have worked is this: green has 3 mechs, red has 2. green moves one, red moves one. now you check again for 'units left to move' - green has 2, red has 1, so green needs to move BOTH remaining units before red has to make his last move. after every 'round' of movement (both players having moved models), you check if one of the players has twice, three times, four times or whatever amounts of units LEFT to move. if thats the case, that player has to make 2, 3, 4 or whatever many moves once its his turn in the initiative order (if he won initiative, he can move all those units AFTER the other has made his one move. if he lost initiative, he has to make all those moves first). effectively this means that, if you ever have 2 more mechs than your opponent, your last two moves will have to be double moves. if you have 3 more, the last 3 will have to be doubles. if you start playing with tanks or infantry, which can be VASTLY cheaper to field, its not unlikely that you find yourself having to move 3 or 4 units for every one your opponent moves. hope I was able to clarify! if you still have questions, come to our discord, we can chat about stuff more in detail there! cheers!
Subscribed really enjoy this. Getting into battle tech been a wargamer for 20 years but went the GW route back in the day. Say what was that template you showed in the beginning?
Dear brother, the video looks very interesting, and I would certainly have watched it with pleasure were it not for your horrible pronunciation of the language. I can't get past the 10-minute video. Despite being Italian and having lived abroad for many years, I don't understand a damn thing you say.
Well, thats a pity, though I'm afraid as germans, theres nothing we can do about our accents. We try our best, but if that doesn't work for you... Hopefully you find a native english or italian channel to scratch that battletech-itch. Cheers!
Your battle Report style is awesome! As far as the first melee fight, I get it if your purpose was to show most if not all of the differences between kicking and punching, and the rules. But for those who are new to the game and/or tactical games, I'd say your better move would have been to fire the machine guns and kicked. And in the next movement ohase, you should have mived the Jenner last, as no matter where the T-bolt went, you probably could have gotten into his rear arc. Sorry, just really getting into your video! Haha
err, yes, we clearly did that to show off different rules and possibilities! we're actually tactical geniuses who would've done, erm, EXACTLY what you said there, since its OBVIOUSLY the smartest thing to do! ....no way we're just two newbies who let others watch on as we learn the ropes ourselves. on a more serious note though, handling the camera equipment, talking in english and trying to be somewhat funny takes a lot of brainpower away from thinking about the game itself. we do play (slightly) smarter when we're not recording. thats what I keep telling myself at least.
depends on what you want to do really. the elemental suits provided by the official store are 6mm, and thats apparently whats being used for third-party stuff too, generally. you can see those in action in our second video about vehicles. that said, the memoir '44 stuff we used for the actual tanks is a little smaller than 12mm (1to160 or 1to180 is what I found, so about 9-10mm), and for the infantry in the intro here is actually apparently about 20mm (1to76 according to the first source I found). it works just fine too, if you view them more as 'markers' for 'here be infantry' and don't plan on actually putting a full 26-strong squad on a single hex. even the 6mm minis wouldn't even be close to small enough to fit a proper platoon onto a base. in the end, use what you like or what you have. bottlecaps, standees, miniatures of varying sizes and detail, depending on how you'd like your game to look.
@@princeniccolo8299 the number on the die signifies how much harder the mech is to hit due to it having moved slow or fast in the previous turn. And his mechs move so slowly, they don't get a movement modifier at all - and since there's no 0 side on the die, and 6 is incredibly hard to reach even for fast mechs, the 6 gets used in place of a 0.
I remember that! Always having to think the other way around whenever booting up a D&D game. That being said: Once you've adapted to it in Battletech it makes adding up to the target number mercifully easy.
I'm new: can someone help me understand turn 2 movement sequence? Red won initiative, so Green moved first. 2 Green and 2 Red remained, so why did Green move again?
Teeeechnically we messed up. It should have been: green has three and needs to move first, red has two. 3 is not twice as many as two, so each moves one model. Then, green has two, red has one, 2 IS twice as many as one, so green needs to move two models. Green lost initiative, so he has to move both models before reds last move, allowing red to react despite having fewer units on the ground. So, you check units left to move before every 'pair' of moves, and if one player has whole multiples of the other or more (7vs3), he needs to move appropriately more models. (15vs3 would move 5 models for every 1 of his opponent). Hope that clairified things!
I think that you had a mismatch in that game that really punished the lights when they did not have the initiative. You also had 2 lights with low movement modifiers so in losing initiative their vulnerability is exposed. If you had 3 more mobile lights you could use terrain and speed to counter the firepower advantage when you lose initiative and strike when you win it. Finally the T-bolt and Catapult are very hard to take down with lights. They have good weapons at all ranges and are not something lights would usually want to get the attention of.
agreed! that was a combination of inexperience, as well as not being too bothered about balance in the first place; we wanted a fun game that'd make for a neat story and allows us to introduce core rules as they popped up organically. we didn't really try to make it as fair as possible. in the future, if I write more 'lights vs heavies', I'll try to keep the lights faster, and the heavies more one-trick-ponies, so thanks for the input!
My brother got me "A Game of Armored Combat" this past Christmas and have been trying to make sense of the flow and feel of the game outside of the rulebook. Thank you so much for your robust explanations and great visual details. I immediately subscribed!
43:47 Is there a rule where if a friendly mech is in the adjacent space to the mech you're shooting at and you miss you have to roll for a possible hit on the friendly because they're so close together? Because it feels like there should be.
As a matter of fact, there is! Its one of the many, many optional rules we opted not to use so far. If you use them all at once, things seriously bog down, and this video would be 8 hous long. And consist mostly of tutorials. Perhaps, when we covered all the base rules, we will include more optional rules.
that is true and has been pointed out a few times! we prefer to make the 'number' on the die just show the hexes moved, and add one additional for it being a red die 'in post' when considering other modifiers. so, target moved 4 hexes, gives it a red 1 die, shoot at it in short distance is a +1 for movement, +1 for the die being red ie having jumped, +1 for a forest in between, just as an example. I've seen it done either way. this way is more intuitive for us specifically, so we'll keep doing it that way.
Please note that on turn 2 , the player who won the initiative get to choose a mech to shoot first otherwise it defeats the purpose of winning initiative. Losing player moves first , winning player shoots first and then alternate depending on numbers of mech
thats simply not true, I'm afraid. total warfare page 37 goes over the turn sequence, losing player also declares attack first, and then they go back and forth, just as for moving. again this lets the initiative winner react to whatever the slower player does. but, you need to remember that rolling to-hits comes AFTER every model declared their attack already, and only after that, in a third step, is damage applied, after everyone has already rolled to hit - so we chose to just write down stuff for our units simultaneously without telling each other, as knowing which of my units gets shot at doesn't really influence my optimal firing pattern anyway.
I find you two so much more enjoyable to watch play Battletech than all the other loud, high energy RUclipsrs. Please make more battle report videos!
I agree!!!!
This. This. 1000 times this. And its animated! I just jumped in halfway to get to the shooting but its so well done I'm going to start over.
I am blown away with the pacing of this video. The measured and entertaining approach without obnoxious music or fake high energy was refreshing. I have orbited battletech for years and just now wanting to dive head first in. This video is exactly what I was looking for.
The periphery farmer piloting a heavy mech with his quote being "might as well try some of these buttons." Had me laughing. Thats some good Battletech lore.
Just a small note - In round 2, if the Panther can shoot the the Thunderbolt, then the Thunderbolt can shoot the Panther. LOS is always mutual ;) Super video BTW!!
. . . huh. I can't believe I missed that. I mean, luckily the shot went wide and it didn't matter in the end. but that's the second game mistake in the video then. kinda bad for whats supposed to be a tutorial.... glad you liked it anyway. and, sorry about that. I'd promise to do better, but.... in my experience, you will end up missing stuff like that inevitably. will try to do better though!
If you shoot someone from behind, is LOS always mutual?
@@TheFrio937 Yes. Some Mechs have rear facing weapons
@@TheFrio937 Yes. one mech might not be able to shoot at the other unless it has rear facing weapons.
@@Raven-ff8vg Also arms can flip back wards to shoot behind a mech
I love how Tex Talks Battletech has became a cornerstone of introducing new players to the great lore. That series alone is a strong argument for a high quality, Game of Thrones style retelling of the Star League and Amaris Civil War and beyond as a really well done TV series.
I have been a modest battletech fan for a while, eventhough my only point of contact were a few novels and mechwarrior 4 back in the day. but, yep, red got hooked pretty much thanks to tex when I showed him. the guy is a legend, there was no way we could do a battletech intro video without giving him a shoutout.
@@4handsondeck I have been a fan since I was 12 in 1992. My first Mehwarrior game was, well, Mechwarrior on the 386. I don't get to table top these days like I did when I was younger but that didn't stop me from playing utterly every VG it inspired. Since CGL picked it back up, though, I have been feeling the itch to get back into the TT side.
I just found tex talks battletech a few days ago. Been watching it every chance I get since. And sent links to friends.
The way you narrate and have edited this makes it by far the most engaging way to watch this game. Nobody else has managed to hold my attention for 20 minutes, let alone over an hour. Great job!
Probably one of the best tutorials I've seen, and i've seen a lot as i'm trying to help new players get over the hurdle of the complex rules.
glad we could help! we've played a lot of complex games (I'm a hopeless sucker for complexity...), and we were both surprised at how easy this was to learn. its not an easy game, but its made in a way that its really easy to understand and remember every single rule. just great design!
@@4handsondeck Yeah, the rulebook, even in the Game of Armored Combat set is horribly not concise. I actually copy-pasted the entire PDF into a word document and am now editing it so that it walks the player through every turn and every action in an orderly fashion instead of telling people to flip to pages all over the place which makes it so hard to actually know how to do anything. My hope is to create something to remove the entry hurdle to new players because it's the awful rulebook that keeps people from comitting. Even the Total Warfare rulebook is put together in a way that is just overwhelming.
A very fun and informative video here. My humble opinion is you guys did a great job for an introductory video, hopefully this helps others to get into this wonderful IP and great game.
A note on kicking: When the mech gets kicked, they must make a piloting skill check to not fall. So the thunderbolt had a chance to fall when kicked by the jenner. (Also, if the jenner had missed, they would have needed to make the check) That's the distinct advantage of kicking compared to punching that has two 1 in 6 chances to hit the head instead.
yeah! I noticed that during the premiere actually. and neither of us can remember if we forgot to make the check, or if we just cut out the bit where we rolled for it for some reason. would need to check the raw footage.... but instead we decided to just move on to the next video. sadly, between juggling the recording equipment and playing, errors happen in both (like the proper audio not running during a decent portion of this video...). we'll try to get better routine with the equip, so we can properly focus on the game!
But the Thunderbolt is heavier and more sturdier than a Jenner.
There would be no way the Thunderbolt would topple over, unless a Critical was involved.
If a midget who knows karate kicks a six foot bodybuilder in the ankle just right, they're going down. Same principle.
Glad to see more folks learning the game, and I have to say, I love how you edited this, the coloured topography overlay on the map, the battle computer sound clips, how you flavoured it all narratively together, especially the green static borders on the rules/chart/Mech sheet cut-ins. Really brought me back to the HuD of MechWarrior 3. Hope to see more like this in the future should you decide to tackle the return of LosTech equipment in the 3040s and the Clans and the equipment they reintroduce/improve upon in the 3050s in future games.
in that case, stay tuned! it might take a while, but we are already working on the next battletech-videos narrative!
While not as condensed as some of the other intros on RUclips, this video does a better job of explaining what battletech is and how it feels to play it. Great job to all involved.
thanks so much! yes, the idea wasn't to cram as much information into as little time as possible, but to convey the feeling thats going on at the table. so, if thats your impression, I'm glad we succeeded in our goal! and apparently, people like it as well, this is by FAR our best recieved video yet!
@@4handsondeck It's the only one I've seen so far, but I subbed because of it. Great job, can't wait for the next one with infantry and vehicles! I know the mech rules reasonably well, no idea what to do with infantry! Looking forward to seeing more stuff for you.
@@Podgeabrillion it may be a while yet until the next comes out - this one took about twice as long as our 'usual' videos, the dnd ones take a month roughly. so... be patient, but don't worry - the next one WILL come! (and I personally can't wait to make it as well.)
I love the fact that the Kuritan player ended the match by attempting a reckless banzai charge, only to get blasted into orbit by mechs much heavier than them.
Oh Kurita... never change.
I haven't played this game since high school and into college, more years than I prefer to count. Just seeing that desert map awakened so many memories of badly painted miniatures, delusions of macross, Dr pepper and Little Debbie snacks.
Excellent Video! To anyone who thinks the rules are a bit heavy and technical or don't like the hex mats FEAR NOT! there is another version of Battle tech called Alpha Strike, It's rules are more simple to play, it's free movement like 40k (tape measure and movement in inches), mech sheets are instead cards (that come with the models in the box's or printable from sources online) and is much faster to play and can be freely and easily modified with house rules if you wish, I play at a gaming club and Alpha Strike much better suits the time constraints I have there and can even fit in multiple games if I'm teaching new players.
Also a little note on choosing your force, if none of the great houses or any of the clan factions take your fancy a big thing in Battletech is mercenary companies, there are existing ones but you are free to make up your own, think of it a little bit like making up your own successor chapter from 40k, that kind of thing but it doesn't have to be aligned with any particular house or clan so they can fight with or against anyone, they go where the money is :)
Fun! One of the best intros to Battletech I’ve seen. Love that figs are unpainted.
as we said in the beginning... this is the first and so far only game we ever played unpainted on purpose, everything else red throws paint onto as soon as it arrives pretty much. he's gotten quite good with painting too, but.... idk. for battletech, it just doesn't seem right for the reasons stated.
I did not see it in the comments but when the blackjack walked in the second movement phase it only moved 2 hexes meaning meaning its movement modifier should have been 0 making the catapults hit target at 37min 8+ making both LRMs hit. It is not a big deal I just noticed and wanted to share what I saw. I am very excited that I found your channel!
oh my! you're absolutely correct, and that... well, could've swung things even more in favor of the locals. I can't believe neither us nor anyone else here picked up on that! good catch!
As a WH40k fugitive and a large fan of the video game and the setting created in the novels, I was looking for a report with a little guide. It`s great to see U guys had fun during the game not being standard competitive pricks. A definite subscription and waiting for more content on Battletech (Clan vs IS would be great), as well as other tabletop games. Thx for the video!
Battletech definetly has some great novels well above black library quality in writting. As a game having two options of game play both with varying depths of play really makes it stand aside other games that and just the amount of variety you can add to an army
indeed! a game with more army variety coming up in just a bit more than 2 weeks as well! wanted to get a general 'tutorial'/introduction to the base rules before going for vehicles, clan tech and all that jazz.
Haven't been able to play Battletech in about a decade...I might have to pull out some stompy robots and play, even if I have to do it against myself lol.
Really like the inclusionnof the overlays and audio clips 👍
takes forever to implement. but so worth it!
1:10:50 you should have rerolled both parts of the crit location roll. If you dont reroll both parts then a single part all alone in a lower bracket will have a 50% chance of getting hit despite have a full bracket of 6 slots above it which should be reducing that to 1/7 odds.
The same applies to all the rolls at 1:12:50. I dont believe this had a huge effect on the result of the game since the fusion engine takes up space in both brackets anyway, but in other situations it can be really important.
yep, thats correct. we messed that up, we're aware of that now. I agree it probably didn't have a huge impact, but, well, thats on us. good catch, and thanks for watching! we'll certainly get better with rules in the future!
@@4handsondeck I look forward to any future battle reports you guys do make, your style of presentation is really fun, and I like the heavy narrative focus
It's the wildest thing, I played Battletech in high school while, unbeknownst to me, the original company was being copyright sued out of existence. I got back into it last year and all the game material is the EXACT SAME price! Inflation has not touched battletech at all... great video guys!
One thing you seem to have missed. When a mech jumps, it gets a +1 to it's TMM, so if you jump 4 hexes your red dice should have a 2 showing, not a 1.
we've had a few people say that already, yeah. just a clerical error, if you go through, we calculate to-hit correctly, and just add the +1 if we see a red die ontop of the distance moved. we'll probably just change it the next time around and do it as its apparently done everywhere!
Really nice video! Just one thing I noticed is that a +1 partial cover modifier was given to the target standing in a light woods hex. While this seems logical and other games would grant cover in this case, the rules say, “Only check the hexes along the LOS *between* the attacker and target, not the hexes they *occupy* ” when it comes intervening terrain that provides cover modifiers. Just wanted to make sure I understand this correctly too since I’m a rookie.
Edit: Just realized the rules for terrain modifiers do say that you include the hex the *target* mech is standing in and apply the appropriate modifier.
yep! it does make sense in-universe too - you can go to the 'edge' of your hex as the attacker, so you have hardly any trees in the way - but the target can scoot back into deeper cover from the woods in order to not get hit. so, attackers forests don't count, defenders forests do! and don't worry - the rules generally are incredibly easy to learn and remember, even if they look complex at first. you'll have them down from memory in no time at all. also, tables are your friend, always keep cheat sheets of EVERYTHING around!
Thank you for the introduction, buds! I am just getting into the Battletech universe and this was a great look at the game. I loved the special effects you did.
Great vid and tutorial. Don't sweat the small mistakes, I have seen mechwarriors with over a decade of experience make the same ones. Can't wait to see more battletech from you guys!
Amazing I just bought in and was reading instructions tonight this definitely helped make it make more sense!
very glad to hear that! I hope you have as much fun with it as we did and still do!
If your catapult is on level 3, it can see everything. A mech is 2 levels taller that the elevation it's on. In this case making him effectively on level 5. Meaning, cover is irrelevant as long as they're not in it. Line of sight works both ways. If you choose to not be in LoS, neither of you are in Los
Really fantastic. Great effects. Well organized. Sub'd.
Are you guys forgetting that jumps confer an additional +1 to hit (evasion)? Your presentation style is delightful. Thank you!
...its quite possible we may have missed it here or there. but in general, we're quite aware of it, just may bonehead at times!
@@4handsondeck ah yeah, I realized you are just not adding it to the evasion die. Also you may be interested in the rules on low cover. When standing in front of lv1 terrain (relative to mech's position) incoming shots miss if any leg is roled on hit location. Because they hit the cover :) I love your channel. Looking forward to more game demos!
@@konsyjes ohh, damn, thats right! I DID in fact forget about that. next game it won't come up, and I'll try to remember it the game after!
Thank you so much for the tutorial! It was much easier to understand you guys and seeing the game for couple of turns cemented everything you guys were saying. Can't wait to try the game with my cousin soon. Also want to see how the game plays with infantry because kinda want the "Titanfall" or "Ring of Red" feel of infantry being huge annoyances to the mechs.
thats going to be coming up in the next battletech vid for sure! tanks and infantry. but, thats still quite a ways away, I'm afraid.... we may even wait for the release of the official tank models, which supposedly should start soon-ish.
I would just like to say you guys did an amazing job with this video! There are a lot of intro videos out there, but I think you guys hit the balance perfectly, hit all the critical points, and managed to make it entertaining as well!!!
As a new player to Battletech, this has been one of the best battle reports and tutorials I've ever seen. The presentation is so good.
Extremely well done introductory video.....great, entertaining editing, well organized, and clear. Love to see more people get into Battletech!
I found you guys a few months ago with this, and I keep coming back to listen. Keep up the good work, and the fun editing too!
That was fun!! Now, I gotta go play... I've not played in years :P
I like how informative this video is and the visuals are amazing as well as funny.
Excellent video. Extremely informative for a new BattleTech Commander, like myself.
this video got me to sub to you. Great work on the video
Great video 👍 one minor nitpick though, and you probably realized it already:
The rules for movement for uneven numbers of mechs say „if, prior to any PAIR of movement…“
So in your first round, for example, the movement should be (since red lost initiative) Red then Green; then Red again followed by both Green Mechs.
BUT if green had lost the initiative it would be like Green then Red; then BOTH Green Mechs followed by the second Red Mech.
ohh, good catch! we'll watch out for that next time!
Hate to 'well acshually' when you pointed out the bit that I kept getting bugged by, but even that is bit off - in the turn where Red lost initiative, it'd be Red - Green Green - Red - Green.
What you have to keep an eye for in low number fights is that the losing initiative side will have to move their last mech second to last - otherwise the initiative disadvantage becomes far too immense. And the side winning initiative will essentially have their last mech have the greatest advantage, but just for the last one.
@@Finwolvenmaybe that‘s a house rule or optional rule your group plays with?
While I agree that the benefit for winning initiative is maybe a little bit to good, the first turn (with the rules from TW or Manual) would still be Red, Green, Red, Green, Green if we follow the rules from TW, page 39, newest book
What‘s the source for the alternate rules while playing with low numbers? I might wanna give it a try (only reference I could find is, that it is maybe a optional rule in MegaMek?)
Some ping for YT finding you better.
And keep up that nice entertaining style!
That Blackjack pilot knows her craft. Stand and deliver.
That was fun to watch. Thanks. Picked this up for my kid to try since kill team didn't seem to be his thing
Oooh, this is a great video introducing people to a great game, thank you!
I love how comprehensive this is!
i really lke this brother, wish you the very best
Great video, you got a new suscriber!
We use the "floating crit" optional rule in my gaming group. Through armor critical hits reroll the hit location allowing the crit to go anywhere on the mech. 💀
we'll do that from here on out as well! wanted to keep it basic for the first go, but yeah, thats definitely something we look forward to!
@@4handsondeck The floating critical, while more realistic increases the length of a game. That's why it's an optional rule.
There was no real golden age, the star league kinda sucked, it was built by conquest and coercion, and maintained itself in the standard imperial way of the metropole exploiting and draining the resources of the periphery.
technically true. it wasn't a 'universal' golden age. but at least it was a very long era without major internal conflicts and relative prosperity at least for the inner sphere. still close enough, we just wanted to give some background before the game and if you do want the full picture.... well, we referenced tex for a reason!
now that i am retired i would like to try this game but im afraid due to the complex amounts of rules it would be hard to find someone else to play against, also my short term memory isnt as good as it once was so learning would be a long and difficult process.
the comunity is rather open. look around, maybe you already have a gaming group locally, and to my experience they'll usually welcome newcomers gladly. nerds and geeks are enthusiastic, we WANT to tell people about the stuff we love, so if you're willing to listen, they'll go to great length to explain everything in as minute detail as neccessary!
at 35:33; defenders choice works both ways, if green says you have to use partial cover, his shot would have to go through the partial cover of the thunderbolt as well. or the Level 3 would have blocked all shots for both. Can't have your cake and eat it lol.
39:02 partial cover prevents damage to the legs. one of the advantages of staying in cover.
43:00 catapult had a shot, thunderbolt could torsotwist and split fire, LRM vs Blackjack, SRM2+Med Las vs Jenner, LLas vs Panther. No MGs too be able to punch the Jenner.
yep, the partial cover going both ways is something we realized during editing. whoops. luckily the shot went wide, so it didn't end up mattering.
partial cover prevents damage to legs? thats... news to me! very cool, I'll keep that in mind!
catapult had half a shot if I remember, torso twist and then fire only the left pod or something like that? and yeah, the tbolt could've split fired. but it worked like we did things as well I believe.
thanks for pointing that out! we'll try to stay on the ball as good as we can - I hope you enjoyed the video despite the few issues here and there.
I am familiar with BT, but the way you two played the battle, the way how you narrated it, different themes for each team, calm yet still threatening weapon effects edited in and paper mech sheets being edited into an on-board mech computer was so satisfying to watch. A smile was sitting on my face through the whole video, only widening more and more. Even with how good the HBS BattleTech 2018 game feels, your video reminded me how calming and engaging a good tabletop can be. Good job, thank you for your work!
P.S: Thunderbolt's pilot description saying that he wonders what those buttons do and then him blowing head off from Jenner, crippling commander's Black Jack to the point of becoming noncombatant and literally wiping out entire CT of Panther, all that in roughly 30 seconds (3 turns), while every other unit on the field tried their best to at least hit the target was very fun to imagine. He surely had a moment of his life right there!
Big protagonist energy right thar.
I loved the editing! I was cheering for that BJ-1 cause its my favorite mech, and it did get that one salvo of glory which i was so happy about. I've been wanting to get my wife to play classic BT with me and this is a wonderful introduction.
I wish you the best of luck! nerdy things are best when shared with those you love! tell us if we helped you make any progress!
AWESOME video. Helped me a lot learning the rules!
This is an excellent production quality video. Thank you so much for making it. Do you have one for Alpha Strike?
no, I'm afraid not. we're only just now starting out with video production (well, for a year, but still....) and editing these takes lots of time. we may get to alpha strike eventually, but its not on the radar JUST now, I'm afraid. there'll be another classic battletech video coming up though!
Excellent, I will be on the lookout!! ❤
Excellent video, learned a lot about how to play.
Marking off armor/crits is so fun. Compared to every other game amazing how little btech rules have changed over 40 years. Plus its cheap to get into.
Great video, y'all successfully taught me battletech! Looking forward to new videos
thats what we like to hear! glad you enjoyed!
My paint scheme: Black, with a metallic silver wash. Bronze highlights, blue glass and energy effects, red-orange missile and ballistic effects.
this production value is awsome!
This was highly entertaining and edcuational! I have the box set and the clan invasion box set from the kickstarter! Thanks for the great video
A very well done vid guys and a great introductory video to cover the basics of Classic Battletech.
Yeah a few minor mistakes here and there which have been pointed out but we all make them in the heat of battle and gaming - why I like MegaMek as I don’t need to remember half them sometimes hehe.
But I’d love to see you guys continue this on and even expand on it for new players:
From a induction video of you guys creating up a Lance each using MasterUnitList - showing new players the ease of MUL from choosing their era, choosing a faction and then looking up the BV cost and even shifting it slightly using the piloting skill table.
- also good to explain to new players not to fully worry about “who gets what equipment” sometimes as while MUL limits mechs to those they’d have on standardly, it’s not uncommon for salvaged mechs to turn up anywhere and everywhere - several of my FedSun units use Catapult CPLT-K2 models which your only find in Kuritan units but… well the pilots got dusted and we thought they looked nice in the Direct Fire Lance.
Another good introduction video would be on some of the more “Standard/Advanced” tech introduced in the late succession wars and more into the Clan Era.
- again good video of being back our Catapult & Thunderbolt pilots (or maybe their kids) and a new pilot running a salvaged Panther rebuilt using spare parts from their old salvaged mechs.
Face them off against a couple of Smoke Jags and showing the difference in tech and equipment but… that it isn’t as completely an uneven fight either. Cause while the Clans have tech, the IS has numbers and a fun willingness to break the rules of war (on in these cases, break the Clans rules of war Zellbrigen)
Another larger one you could do could be an introduction to Campaigns and Lance formations and even SPA’s.
- usually a good start for introductory Campaigns is for the players to create a Company of 12 mechs using 10,000 pts in the Succession Wars era.
10,000 pts does mean they can get some big mechs in there, but start throwing in there better skilled pilots ontop and you’ll have to start filling out the bottom ranks with cheap light mechs and potentially skuff pilots.
Run a nice safe 4/5 skill company of mediums, lights and heavy’s or throw it in with a primary assault Lance formed of veteran and elite pilots with cheap light mechs and green pilots pulling up the rear.
Then you have the simple scenarios of one team landing, raids on several farms and depending on how the 3 games go you can have it be a push on the defenders base or a fighting retreat to the LZ/ a desperate escape.
Overall tho, keep up the good work and can’t wait to see how you continue this series
oh my, thats a LOT! lets go over all that....
BV cost and how easy it is to create a game setup? yeah, I think we'll toss that in next time!
advanced tech? we'll touch on that in the next episode of the series... we weren't sure if we were going to make this into a series, but seeing how much it blew everything else we did out of the water, we surely will follow this up in time! though I'm not sure if we'll see ann and dan again for the time being, we have something a little different planned for that.
campaigns and SPAs.... I'd love to, but I think for now, that would blow our video time out of all proportions. took 2 months to edit this short quick and dirty 2v3, we'd need a year for a 12v12 or anything of that scope. or multiple games in a row. sure, it could be done, and released in parts, but I'm not sure if we want to dedicate the entire channel to a project of that scale just yet! we're still very much beginners, so we'll take things one step at a time for now.
thank you for the kind words and the load of suggestions, we'll keep them in mind and use a few of them, I hope you stick around to see the second part to this - we'll deliver! ...eventually!
I’m glad this wasn’t my first video attempting to learn this game otherwise I would have soured on all the other channels trying to make the learning of this game palatable! Stellar explanation and visually engaging without being overwhelming.
The introduction! Love it😂 Educational in a way I prefer it. Do have myself the Beginner Box, A game of A.C, Clan Invasion etc. And while you are not step-by-steping the Beginner box, I feel I must graduate that one first. Oh.. and I have zero BT interested where I live so gotta be Soloing it myself. Like an analogue, physical version of Mech Warrior. Cant wait for public release of Aces solo rules supplement from Catalyst
Love Battletech. Played mostly on MegaMek. Just need to get a printer so I can avoid giving Catalyst (spit) any patronage.
Thank you! Great video.
By the way Lyran Commonwealth"s borders at map of 2570 incorrect. In fact they are at 2750 year, after Civil War when Lyran Commonwealth've absorbed most part of Rim World Republic.
This is a really well done introduction! BattleTech is a great game & is easy to pickup as I even play with my twelve year old son. A great aspect of BT is the Advanced rules so you can add layers of "realism", comexity & character which is especially great if you are using the source books to run this as a role-playing game or a campaign. Yet another great aspect about BT is even in the rules it states you can use anything (like bottle caps) to represent a mech so no need to drop Hu dress or thousands of dollars ad with so.e other wargames to have the exact units you want.
Great video. one of the best concerning battletech I have seen.
Big battletech and mechwarrior fan! Great video and the work put into it was fantastic. I enjoyed your let's play and your video got me excited to try out a game of tabletop battletech.
I hope you do make more videos and specifically mote battletech Let's plays!
Very nice video and story! Thank u
I like the stickers on the bases. I have the same starter set and keen to paint the mechs before I play my first game. I was super curious about how on earth I should paint them, bearing in mind that in different games we might be using different mechs from our pool of minatures. Indicating which player is controlling the mechs, via the base stickers, means I can paint the mechs however I wish, without worrying about matching clan or lance colours (and I can't be bothered to read all the lore yet, to understand what the options are)
Excellent video! Clear, consice and very informative. A very good introduction to playing Battletech on the tabletop.
7:44 I want to record the short speech about accepting the leadership of the Draconis Combine or 'suffer the consequences' and drive around small towns, blaring the message over and over through a loud speaker
As a new player thanks for doing this!
In FASA battletech initiative is a bit of a odd one. Some cases depending on game format, it can be by mech or lance rather then player. This is because later expanded rules added in additional equipment / quirks or even pilot specializations that had modifiers to initiative.
the editing on this is crazy dude :)
Ahhh yes the catapult... a real good mech i love to use again and again ^^
Lovely Battlerep and showcase of rules and lore
Thanks guys what a blast for a bloody beginner. Where did you get the bigger dice (initiative, attack rolls) Also, I was not able to find the smaller ones with the same shape as the bigger ones. Are there any?
oh. uhh. I have no idea actually. over the years we came into quite a collection of d6 from various games. the larger dice we picked up from the local hobby shop along with an array of tiny dice that now have a forever home in a see through tackle box for fishing. give it a little shake, and you have 6 seperate instances of 2d6 rolls for easy hit locations for SRM 6s or any other larger cluster attack... we didn't order them from any fancy website or anything, I'm afraid.
@@4handsondeck No worries, I was just wondering. I have some nice tiny sharp edged 10mm dice from my Advanced Squad Leader collection. They are perfect for this purpose. But unfortunately they are to less to attach on all mechs. By the way, you are also Germans , right?
@@carpenoctem82 afraid so, yes. as one might be able to hear from our accents....
@@4handsondeck Meiner ist keineswegs besser^^ Seid ihr zufällig aus dem Raum Stuttgart? Bin jetzt auf der Suche nach face2face Erfahrung
So a lower gunnery stat on pilots is preferable? That's counter intuitive but makes sense on the rolls.
Excellent video. A few minor rules mistakes others have already mentioned but overall a very good tutorial. Some tactical mistakes on both sides but as you mentioned you've only played 5 times I'd say you're both well on your way.
agreed. a few mistakes that just happened, sadly, but if people point them out in the comments or we catch them during editing, well, people can still learn from those... and as for tactical mistakes, yeah, expect more of those, sadly. we're enjoying the game very much, we never claimed to be good at it though. that needs a lot more practice, I'm afraid!
A truly excellent tutorial, I keep coming back to this over and over while I learn the rules. AI'm just a little confused at 25:19 when the overlay states the green player has twice as many mechs left to move (and must move another), don't both sides have two mechs remaining?
no idea how we messed that up. yes. and no. the way this WOULD have worked is this: green has 3 mechs, red has 2. green moves one, red moves one. now you check again for 'units left to move' - green has 2, red has 1, so green needs to move BOTH remaining units before red has to make his last move. after every 'round' of movement (both players having moved models), you check if one of the players has twice, three times, four times or whatever amounts of units LEFT to move. if thats the case, that player has to make 2, 3, 4 or whatever many moves once its his turn in the initiative order (if he won initiative, he can move all those units AFTER the other has made his one move. if he lost initiative, he has to make all those moves first).
effectively this means that, if you ever have 2 more mechs than your opponent, your last two moves will have to be double moves. if you have 3 more, the last 3 will have to be doubles. if you start playing with tanks or infantry, which can be VASTLY cheaper to field, its not unlikely that you find yourself having to move 3 or 4 units for every one your opponent moves.
hope I was able to clarify! if you still have questions, come to our discord, we can chat about stuff more in detail there! cheers!
“Bit of a weeb, picked his own nickname.” Lmao I subbed so hard hahaha
Subscribed really enjoy this. Getting into battle tech been a wargamer for 20 years but went the GW route back in the day. Say what was that template you showed in the beginning?
just watched over the beginning again, still couldn't quite figure out which template you mean... do you have a timestamp for me?
That was an awesome video! Subbed!
Dear brother, the video looks very interesting, and I would certainly have watched it with pleasure were it not for your horrible pronunciation of the language. I can't get past the 10-minute video. Despite being Italian and having lived abroad for many years, I don't understand a damn thing you say.
Well, thats a pity, though I'm afraid as germans, theres nothing we can do about our accents. We try our best, but if that doesn't work for you... Hopefully you find a native english or italian channel to scratch that battletech-itch. Cheers!
Want to thank you guys, learning the game for my local meet up and this is making a lot of sense.
Your battle Report style is awesome! As far as the first melee fight, I get it if your purpose was to show most if not all of the differences between kicking and punching, and the rules. But for those who are new to the game and/or tactical games, I'd say your better move would have been to fire the machine guns and kicked. And in the next movement ohase, you should have mived the Jenner last, as no matter where the T-bolt went, you probably could have gotten into his rear arc. Sorry, just really getting into your video! Haha
err, yes, we clearly did that to show off different rules and possibilities! we're actually tactical geniuses who would've done, erm, EXACTLY what you said there, since its OBVIOUSLY the smartest thing to do! ....no way we're just two newbies who let others watch on as we learn the ropes ourselves.
on a more serious note though, handling the camera equipment, talking in english and trying to be somewhat funny takes a lot of brainpower away from thinking about the game itself. we do play (slightly) smarter when we're not recording. thats what I keep telling myself at least.
Would 12mm tanks and infantry go well with these?
depends on what you want to do really. the elemental suits provided by the official store are 6mm, and thats apparently whats being used for third-party stuff too, generally. you can see those in action in our second video about vehicles. that said, the memoir '44 stuff we used for the actual tanks is a little smaller than 12mm (1to160 or 1to180 is what I found, so about 9-10mm), and for the infantry in the intro here is actually apparently about 20mm (1to76 according to the first source I found). it works just fine too, if you view them more as 'markers' for 'here be infantry' and don't plan on actually putting a full 26-strong squad on a single hex. even the 6mm minis wouldn't even be close to small enough to fit a proper platoon onto a base.
in the end, use what you like or what you have. bottlecaps, standees, miniatures of varying sizes and detail, depending on how you'd like your game to look.
@@4handsondeck Thank you, love your Battletech videos.
This was a really nice introduction to the game. I loved the flavor you added to it too!
Excellent video, although I have a question. How come the red player always had his white dice with 6 face up?
@@princeniccolo8299 the number on the die signifies how much harder the mech is to hit due to it having moved slow or fast in the previous turn. And his mechs move so slowly, they don't get a movement modifier at all - and since there's no 0 side on the die, and 6 is incredibly hard to reach even for fast mechs, the 6 gets used in place of a 0.
I'm struggling to get around the fact that higher gunnery = bad. This harkens back to the old days of AD&D THAC0 and negative armor class ruleset.
I remember that! Always having to think the other way around whenever booting up a D&D game.
That being said: Once you've adapted to it in Battletech it makes adding up to the target number mercifully easy.
I'm new: can someone help me understand turn 2 movement sequence?
Red won initiative, so Green moved first.
2 Green and 2 Red remained, so why did Green move again?
Teeeechnically we messed up.
It should have been: green has three and needs to move first, red has two. 3 is not twice as many as two, so each moves one model.
Then, green has two, red has one, 2 IS twice as many as one, so green needs to move two models. Green lost initiative, so he has to move both models before reds last move, allowing red to react despite having fewer units on the ground.
So, you check units left to move before every 'pair' of moves, and if one player has whole multiples of the other or more (7vs3), he needs to move appropriately more models. (15vs3 would move 5 models for every 1 of his opponent). Hope that clairified things!
I think that you had a mismatch in that game that really punished the lights when they did not have the initiative. You also had 2 lights with low movement modifiers so in losing initiative their vulnerability is exposed. If you had 3 more mobile lights you could use terrain and speed to counter the firepower advantage when you lose initiative and strike when you win it. Finally the T-bolt and Catapult are very hard to take down with lights. They have good weapons at all ranges and are not something lights would usually want to get the attention of.
agreed! that was a combination of inexperience, as well as not being too bothered about balance in the first place; we wanted a fun game that'd make for a neat story and allows us to introduce core rules as they popped up organically. we didn't really try to make it as fair as possible. in the future, if I write more 'lights vs heavies', I'll try to keep the lights faster, and the heavies more one-trick-ponies, so thanks for the input!
My brother got me "A Game of Armored Combat" this past Christmas and have been trying to make sense of the flow and feel of the game outside of the rulebook.
Thank you so much for your robust explanations and great visual details. I immediately subscribed!
43:47 Is there a rule where if a friendly mech is in the adjacent space to the mech you're shooting at and you miss you have to roll for a possible hit on the friendly because they're so close together? Because it feels like there should be.
As a matter of fact, there is! Its one of the many, many optional rules we opted not to use so far. If you use them all at once, things seriously bog down, and this video would be 8 hous long. And consist mostly of tutorials. Perhaps, when we covered all the base rules, we will include more optional rules.
34:31
"is it destroyed yet? 😟"
"im going to hope youre not too sad if i say no"
"aw 😢"
I'm barely by the 15 minute mark but so far i'm hooked. Great introduction and nice video!!!
Here's hoping the later parts didn't disappoint either. Always great to hear, thanks!
Jumping 4 hexes should give you a +2 defense. 1 for the amount of hexes moved, and +1 for the jump itself
that is true and has been pointed out a few times! we prefer to make the 'number' on the die just show the hexes moved, and add one additional for it being a red die 'in post' when considering other modifiers. so, target moved 4 hexes, gives it a red 1 die, shoot at it in short distance is a +1 for movement, +1 for the die being red ie having jumped, +1 for a forest in between, just as an example. I've seen it done either way. this way is more intuitive for us specifically, so we'll keep doing it that way.
Please note that on turn 2 , the player who won the initiative get to choose a mech to shoot first otherwise it defeats the purpose of winning initiative. Losing player moves first , winning player shoots first and then alternate depending on numbers of mech
thats simply not true, I'm afraid. total warfare page 37 goes over the turn sequence, losing player also declares attack first, and then they go back and forth, just as for moving. again this lets the initiative winner react to whatever the slower player does. but, you need to remember that rolling to-hits comes AFTER every model declared their attack already, and only after that, in a third step, is damage applied, after everyone has already rolled to hit - so we chose to just write down stuff for our units simultaneously without telling each other, as knowing which of my units gets shot at doesn't really influence my optimal firing pattern anyway.
This is GREAT!!!!!