Why You Should Play BattleTech, Why With Us, and the Ethics Thereof

There are a myriad of reasons to want to play BattleTech. I could even enumerate them, if I were so inclined. But let's just say, you're a casual person, living their life and someone is like "yo, come over to my place, lemme teach you this game!" and you're like "I dunno, bruh, seems kinda sus," or whatever it is the kids say these days. And me, as that someone, would lay it out so you can play it out like so...

(Note: when I say "play BattleTech," I'm not differentiating between Total Warfare BTech and Alpha Strike BTech, unless noted below, because a prospective new player isn't going to know the difference and really, Alpha Strike is easiest to teach.)

1 - do you like mecha anime, especially stuff from 70s-00s? Robotech/Macross, Gundam, Crusher Joe, Dougram, etc? Does the "every machine matters" small scale conflict of things like Gundam 8th MS Team or the "one elite pilot is worth an enemy brigade" feel of Gundam Wing really appeal to you? Then you'd definitely enjoy leading a table top team of MechWarriors into victory over your foes. 8th MS Team is actually pretty spot on how a company of 'Mechs operating in a forward base during a planetary assault, broken down into lances of four, would work out. That whole supply chain thing, small unit esprit de corps, high stakes for the unit but not necessarily for the universe at large, etc.

2 - do you enjoy the political intrigue and house on house drama of Game of Thrones, but think it'd be a LOT cooler set in space and with maybe a little less sister-fucking? Houses fighting each other because they just can't wait to be king/God-Emperor? Does waiting 20 years for a new book in a series suck monkey nuts when you want to know what happens -right now-? Then hooo-boy, is this game right for you. Let's start with the political drama; you have five Great Houses that have been fighting with each other to some degree for hundreds of years. You have a score of Minor Houses/lesser powers looking to step up to the big dogs. You have non-alien external threats shaking up the status quo. Unifying "universal leader" assassination? Check. Galactic Civil Wars? Check. Lannister-style inbreeding? Uh.. I can't say check here but -reads notes on Alaric Ward-Steiner-Davion- also I can't not say check? A novel series that is entirely unnecessary to enjoy the game but that also is in and of itself enjoyable? 100+ times check. Characters having plot armor heavily in some cases but then also being killed when the narrative requires? Oh, definitely check. Forming alliances to defeat your friends and then back stabbing your allies when it suits you? CHECK AND MATE.

3 - do you need a new hobby that is fun to do with others but also allows you the creative freedom to do what you wanna do? BattleTech features an extensive amount of factions to choose from to suit your tastes, from the samurai of the Draconis Combine, to the noble Azami brotherhood, to the "God Save the Queen!" Davionistas, to the Knights of the Inner Sphere, to the mystics of Clan Nova Cat, to the catgirl loving Canopians, etc. Like a faction but none of their regimental paint schemes really appeal to you? Make a new regiment! Make a new mercenary force! Paint your 'Mechs hot pink and call it "Bubblegum Crisis 3040"! It's your time to shiiiine.

But why should you play with us?

4 - do you wanna play but are unsure of where to start/what products to buy/what kind of units to get, etc? Let our team of experts share their knowledge with you! Library of novels, sourcebooks, product awareness, pros and cons assessment of the various factions with all their flavorful goodness? We -absolutely- got you covered there. Do you want to build a highly mobile and flexible long range sniper type force that rains long range missiles indirectly behind hill coverage and just really need pointers on how to get there? I'll lay out a list of my top ten missile boats with their spotter pairings for your perusal. No joke when I say there are decades of experience at your fingertips with us. 

5 - do you wanna play but don't know if you want to/are able to dump large sums of cash into a new game/hobby? Not a problem at all! No matter what faction you think you might like, we probably have a unit available for your use. 20+ campaign ready (company sized or larger) units are currently on hand, with more being added all of the time. Clan or Inner Sphere, mercenary or House regulars, Periphery or pirate scum, we got a wide, wide variety of flavors. Now, I generally don't have a "you can take this unit home to practice with" policy but I'm kind of working on that for the future too... Plus, I do have a habit of buying people a lance or two & with the new lance/star packs out there being way more affordable than metal minis have ever been...

Finally, gaming communities are full of gatekeepers and grognards, which is weird because DnD is more accessible now than it has ever been and BattleTech is really following suit with the array of starter products out there, and streamlined rule sets like Alpha Strike. It may not seem like it given the vocal minority on the internet, but per my previous blogs on the subject, BattleTech (and gaming in general) should be an open and welcoming environment. And, honestly, our particular group, my home specifically, tends to be an environment where you can come and have fun, roll some dice, leave the mess of the real world behind for a few hours at a time. I really prefer that discussions on real world politics and religion and hot button social topics be taken outside of the gaming area. I'm not saying that anyone who plays with us is a "snowflake" that needs a "safe space" because they can't handle "the real world" - I'm saying anyone that plays with us or even just comes to hang when we play, deserves to have the full respect due to any human being. I'm rabidly outspoken on my beliefs with social media but I don't feel the need to repeat it when we're playing. If you're pro-Capellan, or anti-Marik, or a fursona-having Sea Fox fan, bring your A-game smack talk to the table. Don't bring your real world hangups to the table because we don't need it there. I love all my peoples, and we want to make sure everyone that comes to play feels like they're definitely wanted at the table.

If you game with us, even if you're just spectating, I want you to feel like you belong there and I strive to ensure that carries over in everything I do in regards to gaming.

So come on, come out, let's throw dice, it'll be a good time.

Waterly Memorial/Sixth of June 2022 Recap

"Just when you thought it was over, the sky turned black and we all fell to earth..."

In the darkest of timelines, COVID hit and gaming together became a thing few wanted to do. *Few smart people wanted to do. But we kept on keeping on and eventually, the blackness (kind of) passed so that gathering together became a (somewhat) safer gamble.

And, for the first time in years, going back even before the pandemic hit, we congregated to pay tribute to the Sainted Myndo Waterly, for our (going to return to doing it) annual Sixth of June event. It was a bit of a bittersweet occasion - returning to an event we haven't held since 2018 or 2019 was pretty great but we were also missing a lot of the core crew due to scheduling conflicts or illnesses or disinterest or divorce so...

We powered on, however! And we had nongamer guests over just to help us drink & eat the foods per previous events, which was nice. You don't get to interact the same way when you're gaming but it's just really nice to have the homies around.

Matching up, we had me teaching three newcomers Alpha Strike in a stripped down format. The rules, not the players. This time. I originally had thought about doing a team game with a Binary of Clan 'Mechs to a side for the benefit of the new players, but it looked like it would work better for speed purposes if we split up into two 1v1s with a Star per. And yes, I know, Waterly Memorial w/o Word of Blake 'Mechs is kinda weird, but the SO was entertaining guests more than being interested directly in rolling dice, so I just stuck w/what I had easily on hand, and in plastic (for the most part).

I had six prebuilt Stars to use, with the option of pulling more from my "warchest" quickly and easily. Two of the six were designed to be lighter scout elements (for team games) and the other four were evenly matched 275pts, so those are what we used - a Star each of Clan Ghost Bear Rasalhague Galaxy, Clan Smoke Jaguar Delta Galaxy, Clan Steel Viper Alpha Galaxy, and Clan Jade Falcon Turkina Keshik.

A bit of time has passed since then and I drank a lot later that night, so what I do remember is that Brian lost to me, Poppy & Kilcoin mostly had a draw as he had to leave for a work function before coming back, and it was just a really fun time all around. Can't wait to bring the team back together to dive into more advanced rules and unit building, as well as to encourage these fine folks to pick up some box sets and sourcebooks lmao.

THE STAAAAARS