Good for teaching newbies thanks. Optional Rules I use:- The included Alpha Strike cards are laminated, so you can use dry wipe directly, check first as not sure if this applies to every card pack. I often but not always use hex maps(it is an optional variant), the terrain packs includded with AS work fine on it, scale half hexes = 1" and you can play half hexes as hex base fits nicely overlaping two hexes and also improves adjacency to terrain. Allows for bigfer games. I also use optional multiple attack rolls not multiple damage rule but with D12s (GMG's Multiple Attack Roles). If crit condition met and a single 12 result on the D12, roll another die and crits on 9+, multiple 12 results equals a single Crit.
It would slow things down, but I think I would do a to-hit roll for every point of damage and skip the 1/2 roll since in Classic you rarely miss with everything.
Honestly, that's a great idea, and I've done it on other videos (and a few on this one)... so not sure why I didn't do more than that for this one. Thanks!
Good run through! I like that you did a basic demo using very few special rules. When you used the one you were very clear about were to find it. I really like some of the other sites but they kill you with special rules. I actually prefer AS over BT as I like to play at the company level at the least. It is also a good system if you prefer to use combined arms(armor, Infantry, Arty, and aerospace/VTOLs). While you can use all of them in BT the record keeping can bog the game down. The game has a lot of depth not just big stompy robots :) Not to mention lore it has been going since the 80s so BT has plenty of lore. For lore purposes they are the same game.
Thank you! I've been playing Battletech since the FASA days. I love playing with all the different pieces (aside from aerotech - never really liked how that one meshed). I've played in some big big games with CBT! But I'm also coming to like Alpha Strike a lot too, just for that extra time savings (or for playing with a whole Overlord worth of mechs). I've yet to try it out with any vehicles or battlearmor - I certainly plan to do that in the future.
@@SleeplessRonin The aerospace fighters work a lot better in AS than CBT IMHO. My brother and I play regimental size games of AS in about 4 hours. Usually 2 mech companies and 1 armored company with an aerospace lance or two in support. Of course we are always mixing things up trying to get the upper hand on each other :) We use the Master unit list and agree on an era and points ahead of time.
I saw a difference in variable damage, which is for every point in that damage bracket you roll to hit. For example if you have 3 in medium, you roll to hit 3 times. That makes sense to me, and makes it a little slower sure but a tad more realistic
I realize this video is 2 years old at this point, but I really like rolling to hit for each point of damage rather than use the variable damage rule. There are a number of ways to do it quickly without rolling a bunch of 2d6.
@@Superaalleexx yep you can do D12 (which I prefer) or you can roll a "pilot" D6 and then a number of other D6 equal to the damage value. The pilot die applies to all dice, which are added to it separately to get a hit score. Importantly in either case you can only score a single critical hit, usually with a dice denoted as the crit die up front. This way you don't have inflated chances of scoring a crit.
I have a question about range.. Say a mech has 1 point short, 2 in medium, 3 in long ranges Does it mean they can still elect to attack at close range with 3 points but with a +4 long range weapon modifier, or can you only attack long range if its over 24 inches? So anything under 24 inches those weapons are useless?
The damage in the bracket only applies to that range. The reasons could be that the mech is mostly loaded with things like LRMs that in Classic Battletech would have debilitating minimum ranges. Alpha Strike eliminates those and just applies the damage in the longer range brackets.
Throw your entire collection on the board? Sir you underestimate the love I have for the battletech universe and how many mechs I’m going to end up buying. Probably a full galaxy of clan, and at least a regiment of inner sphere, not sure all that would be able to go on the table at once unless I’m in for an insanity run game.
I know it is the rule but when playing with two sides, wouldn't it be easier to roll a single d6 and have one side win initiative on even numbers and the other on odd ones? Eliminates rerolls.
There's nothing stopping you from house ruling that, but there are some special rules such as pilot abilities, etc. that modify initiative rolls... depending on how complex a set of rules you want to play with. And those would be more difficult to implement under an even/odd d6 roll. I also tend to think that players prefer the small sense of agency granted by rolling 2d6 vs 2d6.
Standard Card Sleeve size / MTG card sleeve size (63mm x 88mm cards). I typically buy Gamegenic 'Gray' sleeves (Standard Card Sleeve 66x91mm, they color code them and these are 'Gray'). But anything from Dragon Shield to Mayfair should work so long as the sleeve can fit a 63x88mm card. You probably want to avoid textured sleeves as they will not be as easy to clean. All that being said, I'm not sure that Alpha Strike cards really need sleeves so long as you are careful and only use a very damp cloth to clean them... if you are using wet erase markers. Also - if you want one time use force sheets, you can print them off of the Master Unit List. You can build your whole force there and print it off. Then you can mark damage with a pencil. There are lots of options. But if you do want to sleeve them - Standard Card Game size (MTG size).
i totally disagree about the variable damage rule. the game is called alpha strike because youre shooting alpha strikes lol. i mean thats the basis of the game. otherwise we would be rolling and selecting weapons. other than that great video.
Your videos are hidden gems for battletech game content.
Thank you!
Good for teaching newbies thanks.
Optional Rules I use:-
The included Alpha Strike cards are laminated, so you can use dry wipe directly, check first as not sure if this applies to every card pack.
I often but not always use hex maps(it is an optional variant), the terrain packs includded with AS work fine on it, scale half hexes = 1" and you can play half hexes as hex base fits nicely overlaping two hexes and also improves adjacency to terrain. Allows for bigfer games.
I also use optional multiple attack rolls not multiple damage rule but with D12s (GMG's Multiple Attack Roles). If crit condition met and a single 12 result on the D12, roll another die and crits on 9+, multiple 12 results equals a single Crit.
The Alpha Strike unit Data cards are laminated, you can use dry wipe pens directly on them.
It would slow things down, but I think I would do a to-hit roll for every point of damage and skip the 1/2 roll since in Classic you rarely miss with everything.
That is another optional way to doing damage.
May I sugest to add timestamps? For example...
1:12 Alpha Strike cards
2:54 Measuring devices
3:02 Phases
3:20 Setting up game. Mechs
3:41 Initiative phase
etc...
Honestly, that's a great idea, and I've done it on other videos (and a few on this one)... so not sure why I didn't do more than that for this one. Thanks!
I'm so glad this video came out... Cause I just realized I was doing the Overheat stuff wrong this entire time. Thank you!
You've explained the rules of Battletech Alpha Strike the best!!! I'm subscribing. Thank you, sir.
This video was great in the sense that it immediately got into explaining the rules in a clear way straight away.
Good run through! I like that you did a basic demo using very few special rules. When you used the one you were very clear about were to find it. I really like some of the other sites but they kill you with special rules. I actually prefer AS over BT as I like to play at the company level at the least. It is also a good system if you prefer to use combined arms(armor, Infantry, Arty, and aerospace/VTOLs). While you can use all of them in BT the record keeping can bog the game down. The game has a lot of depth not just big stompy robots :) Not to mention lore it has been going since the 80s so BT has plenty of lore. For lore purposes they are the same game.
Thank you! I've been playing Battletech since the FASA days. I love playing with all the different pieces (aside from aerotech - never really liked how that one meshed). I've played in some big big games with CBT! But I'm also coming to like Alpha Strike a lot too, just for that extra time savings (or for playing with a whole Overlord worth of mechs). I've yet to try it out with any vehicles or battlearmor - I certainly plan to do that in the future.
@@SleeplessRonin The aerospace fighters work a lot better in AS than CBT IMHO. My brother and I play regimental size games of AS in about 4 hours. Usually 2 mech companies and 1 armored company with an aerospace lance or two in support. Of course we are always mixing things up trying to get the upper hand on each other :) We use the Master unit list and agree on an era and points ahead of time.
This was a great overview and I like your graphics/editing.
I saw a difference in variable damage, which is for every point in that damage bracket you roll to hit.
For example if you have 3 in medium, you roll to hit 3 times. That makes sense to me, and makes it a little slower sure but a tad more realistic
That is another optional way of resolving the attack and damage.
Why is the Nastasha Kerensky so overpowered.
Great video.
Really great tutorial
Amazing tutorial, thank you. You earned my sub.
thank you this helps understand alpha strike for me being a new player. also whats the Range ruler from ?
Thank you. I'm glad it helps. The range ruler is from some Warhammer 40K box set, I can't remember which one. Maybe 8th edition starter?
I realize this video is 2 years old at this point, but I really like rolling to hit for each point of damage rather than use the variable damage rule. There are a number of ways to do it quickly without rolling a bunch of 2d6.
How do you do it then? D12?
@@Superaalleexx yep you can do D12 (which I prefer) or you can roll a "pilot" D6 and then a number of other D6 equal to the damage value. The pilot die applies to all dice, which are added to it separately to get a hit score. Importantly in either case you can only score a single critical hit, usually with a dice denoted as the crit die up front. This way you don't have inflated chances of scoring a crit.
I like buckets of dice
I use Death From Above Wargaming Rules for attacks.
I have a question about range..
Say a mech has 1 point short, 2 in medium, 3 in long ranges Does it mean they can still elect to attack at close range with 3 points but with a +4 long range weapon modifier, or can you only attack long range if its over 24 inches? So anything under 24 inches those weapons are useless?
The damage in the bracket only applies to that range. The reasons could be that the mech is mostly loaded with things like LRMs that in Classic Battletech would have debilitating minimum ranges. Alpha Strike eliminates those and just applies the damage in the longer range brackets.
Well done!
Throw your entire collection on the board? Sir you underestimate the love I have for the battletech universe and how many mechs I’m going to end up buying. Probably a full galaxy of clan, and at least a regiment of inner sphere, not sure all that would be able to go on the table at once unless I’m in for an insanity run game.
I know it is the rule but when playing with two sides, wouldn't it be easier to roll a single d6 and have one side win initiative on even numbers and the other on odd ones? Eliminates rerolls.
There's nothing stopping you from house ruling that, but there are some special rules such as pilot abilities, etc. that modify initiative rolls... depending on how complex a set of rules you want to play with. And those would be more difficult to implement under an even/odd d6 roll.
I also tend to think that players prefer the small sense of agency granted by rolling 2d6 vs 2d6.
I can’t find the master book anywhere. Any idea where I can get it?
What size of card sleeves do I need?
Standard Card Sleeve size / MTG card sleeve size (63mm x 88mm cards).
I typically buy Gamegenic 'Gray' sleeves (Standard Card Sleeve 66x91mm, they color code them and these are 'Gray'). But anything from Dragon Shield to Mayfair should work so long as the sleeve can fit a 63x88mm card. You probably want to avoid textured sleeves as they will not be as easy to clean.
All that being said, I'm not sure that Alpha Strike cards really need sleeves so long as you are careful and only use a very damp cloth to clean them... if you are using wet erase markers.
Also - if you want one time use force sheets, you can print them off of the Master Unit List. You can build your whole force there and print it off. Then you can mark damage with a pencil.
There are lots of options. But if you do want to sleeve them - Standard Card Game size (MTG size).
Alpha Strike: The-not-true BattleTech for 40K refugees
Sucks Aiden Pryde can’t even put out half of kerenskys damage
i totally disagree about the variable damage rule. the game is called alpha strike because youre shooting alpha strikes lol. i mean thats the basis of the game. otherwise we would be rolling and selecting weapons. other than that great video.
True, but you rarely hit with all of your weapons.
The more dice you roll the better chance you have of getting hits. This speeds up the game.