It feels like Catalyst treats Alpha Strike like a spin off of classic instead of treating it like it's own game. Would definitely buy a 4'x3' (for AS350) and maybe 4'x'4' mat if they didn't have scenery printed on them. I suppose these might be good for quick learning games (a 3' by 3' would be better) or maybe a drafting format.
Straight off the bat... these hexless mats should of been at least twice as big as their hex counter-parts. Or even 3 times as big if they're going on neoprene.
@@Thearmedpainter I've had this idea for battlemats brewing for quite a while... 4x4 hex shaped mats, where the whole mat is a hexagonal shape. You couple these mats with a web based Battleforce/tactical battleboard where you move forces as lances in the program as part of a larger campaign map and play against your friend with double blind rules. And when your unit in one hex detects an opposing unit and you engage, the program randomly generates X amount of terrain features and where to place them (depending on the contents of the strategic hex, ie rolling hills hex gives you 1d6 hills and 1d6 woods templates) and lays out the secenario in a kind of 'mission breifing' report. You then use that report to set up your big neoprene hex mat according to those parameters, and away you go.
I've bought all the hexed neoprene mats but skipped the hexless ones for basically the reasons you gave here - the flat terrain on them doesn't really work in the idiom of a miniature wargame as opposed to the more board-wargame with minis of regular BattleTech, and they're too small to do a proper game on. Catalyst are actually doing blank hexed and hexless mats soon and even then I don't see much use in the hexless ones because it's going to be cheaper to just get a 4x4 or 6x4 mat. Their mats are a good size for my kitchen table, but I'm not going to play Alpha Strike on my tiny kitchen table like.
I completely agree the terrain prints need to go I always feel like they take away from the mat no matter what tabletop game it is. I do love the roads and water features though, those are nice.
God, guns, and Battletech. Catalyst really should sell the terrain or stl for their maps. I've been trying to make STLs for them but 12hr shifts 4 days a week and 3 kids 4 days a week I barely have time to watch Battletech videos.
Fun fact, we here at DRD pitched something similar to CGL proper as a business proposal since we specialize in terrain. Unfortunately it hasn’t gained any traction but we did try.
Yes i think they should remove these products from the store. I'm new player of battletech and i was interested by these maps for alpha strike. But when i had read the rules i see than the standard play area it's 4' x 6'. I think you go for 4' x 4' maybe but not less. And alpha strike it's really a 3d game and you need 3d terrain. For me, we need a mat without structure draw on it.
They define the standard table as 4x6 but I think most people play on 4x4 more frequently. In either case these mats are definitely too small for much of anything.
I didn't like these maps because terrain features (hills and buldings). They took too big shortcut to get these out. I would rather play on hex map than on this weird product.
I really don’t understand these products. They are scaled to classic and just don’t fit Alpha Strike. If catalyst had made proper AS scale maps which were 4x4 that would be great, but these are useless and just a cheap money grab just by deleting the hexes from a classic BattleTech map :(
Total agreement with leaving the buildings, hills off the mat. Thank you for the review!
It feels like Catalyst treats Alpha Strike like a spin off of classic instead of treating it like it's own game. Would definitely buy a 4'x3' (for AS350) and maybe 4'x'4' mat if they didn't have scenery printed on them. I suppose these might be good for quick learning games (a 3' by 3' would be better) or maybe a drafting format.
Ya know... it's possible you have access to some buildings and hills that match the aerobase sides perfectly, available from DRD :P
🫣😲🤯 this is true lol
Checked the site and i didnt see anything.
I am fortunate in the sense I have a 3d Printer. I made Hangers to COVER the printed areas.
Regarding hills... I have said it a dozen times already, but Classic is a 3D game on 2D terrain while Alpha Strike is a 2D game on 3D terrain 😄
Straight off the bat... these hexless mats should of been at least twice as big as their hex counter-parts. Or even 3 times as big if they're going on neoprene.
This guy gets it. ;)
@@Thearmedpainter I've had this idea for battlemats brewing for quite a while... 4x4 hex shaped mats, where the whole mat is a hexagonal shape. You couple these mats with a web based Battleforce/tactical battleboard where you move forces as lances in the program as part of a larger campaign map and play against your friend with double blind rules. And when your unit in one hex detects an opposing unit and you engage, the program randomly generates X amount of terrain features and where to place them (depending on the contents of the strategic hex, ie rolling hills hex gives you 1d6 hills and 1d6 woods templates) and lays out the secenario in a kind of 'mission breifing' report. You then use that report to set up your big neoprene hex mat according to those parameters, and away you go.
I've bought all the hexed neoprene mats but skipped the hexless ones for basically the reasons you gave here - the flat terrain on them doesn't really work in the idiom of a miniature wargame as opposed to the more board-wargame with minis of regular BattleTech, and they're too small to do a proper game on. Catalyst are actually doing blank hexed and hexless mats soon and even then I don't see much use in the hexless ones because it's going to be cheaper to just get a 4x4 or 6x4 mat. Their mats are a good size for my kitchen table, but I'm not going to play Alpha Strike on my tiny kitchen table like.
I completely agree the terrain prints need to go I always feel like they take away from the mat no matter what tabletop game it is. I do love the roads and water features though, those are nice.
@@_bravo_8581 👆this guy gets it :)
God, guns, and Battletech. Catalyst really should sell the terrain or stl for their maps. I've been trying to make STLs for them but 12hr shifts 4 days a week and 3 kids 4 days a week I barely have time to watch Battletech videos.
Fun fact, we here at DRD pitched something similar to CGL proper as a business proposal since we specialize in terrain. Unfortunately it hasn’t gained any traction but we did try.
@Thearmedpainter the ones that I have made have little holes that I put pipe cleaners in for the forest. So if you do get too, it works really good.
There are many free STLs available online.
Yes i think they should remove these products from the store. I'm new player of battletech and i was interested by these maps for alpha strike. But when i had read the rules i see than the standard play area it's 4' x 6'. I think you go for 4' x 4' maybe but not less. And alpha strike it's really a 3d game and you need 3d terrain. For me, we need a mat without structure draw on it.
They define the standard table as 4x6 but I think most people play on 4x4 more frequently. In either case these mats are definitely too small for much of anything.
I didn't like these maps because terrain features (hills and buldings). They took too big shortcut to get these out. I would rather play on hex map than on this weird product.
I really don’t understand these products. They are scaled to classic and just don’t fit Alpha Strike. If catalyst had made proper AS scale maps which were 4x4 that would be great, but these are useless and just a cheap money grab just by deleting the hexes from a classic BattleTech map :(
I totally agree.