Hi guys,
I want to inquire about the interest for setting up a Battletech (yes the miniatures wargame) campaign amongst us Grogs.
The idea is to have a narrative going on the individual level, like a light RPG using the rules from corebook 35005 'A Time of War'.
Every player will create a character using these rules.
The battles between the Mechs will be hosted on the excellent free 3rd party program called MegaMek, which can be found here: http://megamek.info/.
It will be a slow paced game. While the battles are turn based, all participants need to be present during the match. There is no play by email supported. With different time zones this might result in a fair bit of time passing between battles.
I am also looking for one or two people who would like to run the campaign with me.
As I am not always around due to irregular working schedules and trips abroad, it would work best if the campaign is run by multiple people so there is always someone to push it onward.
Rather than sticking to stringent lore, the aim is to have a credible, but fun gaming experience in the Battletech universe.
You will be able to config and upgrade your Mechs and equipment as you go.
Normal rules from the BT core rulebooks apply.
Before kicking off properly I would like to see if any of you would be interested at all.
If you are, please also state if you would like to participate as a gamemaster and of course, if you have any preference for era and general plot, be sure to drop it down here too.
The whole process would be mainly forum based initially, except for the battles in MegaMek, but there might be ways to elevate gameplay. I am thinking about a dedicated website with story synopsis, current status, etc. But I would need help with that as I am a lousy webdesigner. :D
tenatively interested, but will have to poke around MegaMek and make sure it works OK w/ my machine, and then it'll depend on scheduling.
Did you maybe want to look at trying to get folks together for 1-2 'one off' brawls first, and then transition to a campaign? Or is MegaMek more conducive to campaigns?
Sigh. If my availability wasn't even more notoriously unreliable than usual lately -- I work nights, and the last month or so I've been going to bed between 10:00 & noon and sleeping til anywhere between 5:00 & 8:00 -- I'd love to participate. :( It's been ages since I've played. As it is, though, I'll have to content myself with watching from the sidelines.
I would love to have you, Martok.
Perhaps once everything gets fleshed out more you might reconsider? I don't think we will kick off anytime soon(tm) anyway?
I have all my 3025 and 3050 stuff. Rulebooks, Technical Readout, 20 Year Update and a bunch of other stuff. Having said that, I would laso be tentatively interested and might even be able to help GM.
Quote from: Yskonyn on June 26, 2013, 12:08:28 PM
I would love to have you, Martok.
Perhaps once everything gets fleshed out more you might reconsider? I don't think we will kick off anytime soon(tm) anyway?
That's a possibility. I might have a different job in another month or so anyway, at which point I'll probably have a more definite idea of when I'm available to play.
Quote from: MetalDog on June 26, 2013, 08:18:55 PM
I have all my 3025 and 3050 stuff. Rulebooks, Technical Readout, 20 Year Update and a bunch of other stuff.
Same here. I mostly played in the era between the Fourth Succession War and the early Clan invasions.
Thats the era of which I have most stuff too.
Apart from the Jihad era, I find 3050 the most fun to play. Perhaps it is because of the familiarity of the era due to the computer games?
Bayonet; I think we can always run some MegaMek brawls to get things going and get a feel for how the game plays in MM.
While we get our adrenalin pumping this way, the guys who should like to help devise the campaign will have some time to get things fleshed out in the mean time.
Perhaps its best to keep the campaign focussed on the wargame part at first, but over time I would love to see the Pen & Paper RPG of A Time of War getting involved as well.
The narrative of the campaign can run in a dedicated thread here on the forum.
MekHQ will be used to manage the inventory and funds of the campaign.
MegaMekLab or SolarisSkunkWerks (or plain old pen and paper) will be used to config / upgrade the units.
Would you guys be prefering an Inner-Sphere campaign or a Clanner campaign?
Or perhaps a less obvious Warden Clan, Merc Unit or Pirate band campaign setting?
I'm not picky. Our gaming group usually played a mercenary unit back in the day (in hindsight, I wonder if this was to make it easier for our GM to justify sending us to various different locales), but I honestly have no preference. Doing the merc thing again, or something else entirely, it's all good as far as I'm concerned. :)
I'm a Davion homer. Always saw them as the good guys. Steiner was cool, too. I dug the history measured out in the pilot descriptions in 3025 Technical Readout. But I love the Double Heat Sinks and better arms and armor of the Clan period. So, either/or. What time period we pick would determine the plotine for me. 3025 would be a unit of regulars in a House Army. Clans would be invasion.
Heh. I was going to add that -- having given it further thought -- I'd just as soon not fight under the Kurita or Liao banner (they've always struck me as SOB's). I'm not a big fan of ComStar either (including both factions after the schism).
So if we're talking about fighting for one of the major houses, Davion would be just fine by me (in addition to Steiner and Marik). :)
I'm interested. My experience playing is all pre Clans, but I'm cool with either era.
Like Martok, I work nights (and through the weekend) so my participation would probably be iffy, at least for the MegaMek parts, but it depends on the days/times. I am definitely interested though.
I have been reading up on House Davion and there are plenty of interesting times to run a campaign in.
I would prefer to start somewhere before the Clans invaded and if we run long enough, we could progress into the Clan Invasion era.
I am not too sure how quick or slow a typical pace of a campaign is, but we will see.
Would you guys be wanting to command a whole Lance and perhaps some additional assets or would you rather stay at the individual level of focussing on commanding one Battlemech and fleshing out that player character while we all form one or more Lances together?
Then there is the question of OpFor. MegaMek features a bot , but while it has been upgraded over time I feel human oposition is unmatched as far as tension, excitement and challenge are concerned.
So in every game we will need someone to play OpFor in turn.
Think it would really depend on two things: the number of participants and how battle oriented vs. rpg oriented you want to play.
Firstmost I feel we should focus on the tactical aspect. Integrating A Time of War is pretty advanced and will need some time.
Starting without it will enable to things:
1) Getting into the game (again)
2) Start sooner
Quote from: Yskonyn on June 30, 2013, 11:47:28 AM
Would you guys be wanting to command a whole Lance and perhaps some additional assets or would you rather stay at the individual level of focussing on commanding one Battlemech and fleshing out that player character while we all form one or more Lances together?
Personally, I'd rather play a single pilot character, driving a single Mech. At least until I re-familiarize myself with game system and universe. If the campaign progresses enough, maybe we could have PCs moving into higher command positions?
That is a good alternative. If we tackle this in a more piece meal manner we can expand upon complexity as we get more comfortable with the game.
I will work on a unit background in the coming days. After that you guys can make a character background.
Hopefully some more guys will join in. :)
Some where around here, I have a chart of House mech organization. Four mechs = one lance and so forth. I'll try to find it and post. In the meantime, single mech jockey is fine by me.
That didn't take very long. Here it is:
Lance = 4 Mechs commanded by a Lance Corporal
Platoon = 16 Mechs commanded by a Lieutenant
Company = 80 Mechs commanded by a Captain
Battalion = 400 Mechs commandedby a Major
Regiment = 1200 Mechs commanded by a Colonel
Brigade = 2400 Mechs commanded by a Brigadier General
Division = 4800 to 7200 Mechs commanded by a Major General
Now, that seems like a shit ton of mechs. And it is. I found an alternate amount somewhere in canon that dispatches with the platoon and goes:
Lance = 4 mechs
Company = 12 Mechs
Battalion = 108 Mechs
Regiment = 324 Mechs
Brigade= 624 Mechs
Division = 1296 to 1944 Mechs
Still a lot of mechs, but, more manageable in terms of sheer numbers.
Thanks!
I once had a cool set of rules to setup a campaign and roll for Mechs and equipment. I'll see if I can find it again.
Perhaps it was just in one of the books.
Quote from: Yskonyn on June 30, 2013, 11:47:28 AM
I have been reading up on House Davion and there are plenty of interesting times to run a campaign in.
I would prefer to start somewhere before the Clans invaded and if we run long enough, we could progress into the Clan Invasion era.
As a matter of fact, I'd say that sounds pretty ideal. :)
I'd prefer to see some action vs. other Inner-Sphere Mechs first in any case, as it's a good way to get our proverbial feet wet.
Quote from: mirth on June 30, 2013, 02:35:10 PM
Quote from: Yskonyn on June 30, 2013, 11:47:28 AM
Would you guys be wanting to command a whole Lance and perhaps some additional assets or would you rather stay at the individual level of focussing on commanding one Battlemech and fleshing out that player character while we all form one or more Lances together?
Personally, I'd rather play a single pilot character, driving a single Mech. At least until I re-familiarize myself with game system and universe. If the campaign progresses enough, maybe we could have PCs moving into higher command positions?
I'd prefer this as well.
Quote from: MetalDog on June 30, 2013, 09:31:09 PM
I found an alternate amount somewhere in canon that dispatches with the platoon and goes:
Lance = 4 mechs
Company = 12 Mechs
Battalion = 108 Mechs
Regiment = 324 Mechs
Brigade= 624 Mechs
Division = 1296 to 1944 Mechs
Still a lot of mechs, but, more manageable in terms of sheer numbers.
Huh. Well that organization chart is closer to the one I've always been familiar with (I'd never seen the other one before), but even that one's different that what I was used to. The one I knew looked like this:
Lance (usually commanded by a Lieutenant) = 4 Mechs
Company = 12 Mechs (3 Lances)
Battalion = 40 Mechs (3 Companies, plus a command Lance)
Regiment = 132 Mechs (3 Battalions, plus a command Company)
Division = 400 Mechs (3 Regiments, plus an augmented command Company of 4 Lances)
Argh. Just looked through all my old BattleTech/Mechwarrior sourcebooks, and of course now I can't find that chart. :-\ Figures.
Quote from: Martok on July 01, 2013, 10:35:06 AM
Quote from: MetalDog on June 30, 2013, 09:31:09 PM
I found an alternate amount somewhere in canon that dispatches with the platoon and goes:
Lance = 4 mechs
Company = 12 Mechs
Battalion = 108 Mechs
Regiment = 324 Mechs
Brigade= 624 Mechs
Division = 1296 to 1944 Mechs
Still a lot of mechs, but, more manageable in terms of sheer numbers.
Huh. Well that organization chart is closer to the one I've always been familiar with (I'd never seen the other one before), but even that one's different that what I was used to. The one I knew looked like this:
Lance (usually commanded by a Lieutenant) = 4 Mechs
Company = 12 Mechs (3 Lances)
Battalion = 40 Mechs (3 Companies, plus a command Lance)
Regiment = 132 Mechs (3 Battalions, plus a command Company)
Division = 400 Mechs (3 Regiments, plus an augmented Command company of 4 Lances)
Argh. Just looked through all my old BattleTech/Mechwarrior sourcebooks, and of course now I can't find that chart. :-\ Figures.
Everywhere I've ever seen BT TO&Es, the word "Lance" was used as a replacement for "Platoon" as we think of it, and so that "platoon" structure never existed. A Lance was commanded by a LT, and the best analog was to think of it in terms of the current US Army armor TO&E
Tank PLT / BT Lance = 4 vehicles
Tank CO / BT CO = 14 vehicles (3 PLT/Lance + 2 CMD GP)
Battalion = 3 companies, +2 in command
Now, I've seen some BT orgs that had an entire lance for the cmd group instead of just 2 vehicles. And honestly, there's been a lot of talk in the armor community of doing the same thing in tank companies - create a HQ PLT that actually has 4 tanks. Not to fight as a platoon, but so that the CO CDR and XO each have a wingman to help keep them out of trouble.
Remember too that in a war, you organize however you need to in order to accomplish the mission. Need a 5-mech lance for something? Fine, craft a quickie story that you got augmented by the sole survivor of another lance who is helping you on this mission until his unit gets rebuilt. Easy. :)
edit: just found this at the Battletech Wiki
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Unit_Organization
Quote from: bayonetbrant on July 01, 2013, 10:44:58 AM
Remember too that in a war, you organize however you need to in order to accomplish the mission. Need a 5-mech lance for something? Fine, craft a quickie story that you got augmented by the sole survivor of another lance who is helping you on this mission until his unit gets rebuilt. Easy. :)
Yeah, I think we should be able to find plausible reasons for variations in Lance size if we're going to game as a single Lance. I had never seen an org chart for Battletech before now, so I had no idea of unit sizes.
Or maybe one or two players could be some in some sort of support role, like as a fighter jock or something. How many people do we have on board at this point?
I think I have found a great start for our campaign (to be clear; I dont mean we should start in 3001, just within this window):
31st Century
3001: ComStar begins supplying bandit kings
3002: Operation Concentrated Weakness begins
3003: Michael Hasek marries Marie Davion-St. Claire
3004: Hohiro Kurita assassinated, Takashi Kurita named Coordinator, The Jolly Roger Affair
3005: Ministry of Development reorganized, Wolf's Dragoons arrive in the Inner Sphere, make first contact with the planet of Delos IV and contract employment by House Davion.
3006: Allen Rusenstein resigns, Julian Tiepolo named Primus, Thomas Marik joins ComStar
3007: Alessandro Steiner is forced to retire, Katrina Steiner named Archon
3009: Wolf's Dragoons end employment with House Davion.
3010: Marik Civil War instigated, Wolf's Dragoons next seek employment with House Liao
3012: Kyalla Centrella named Magestrix, Tamara Centrella dies
3013: Hanse Davion named Prince, Ian Davion killed, Michael Hasek-Davion named Duke of New Syrtis
3014: Anton Marik begins Marik Civil War, Anton Marik declares himself Captain-General, Wolf's Dragoons end employment with House Liao and suffer significant losses in the Marik Civil War
3015: New Avalon Institute of Science formed, Neil Avellar II named Parliamentary President, Precentor ROM Vesar Kristofur excommunicated, Wolf's Dragoons next contract employment with House Marik
3017: Thomas Calderon named Protector of the Taurian Homeworlds
3019: Theodore Kurita and Tomoe Sakade marry, Wolf's Dragoons suffer costly defeat assaulting the BattleMech Factory Defiance Industries on Hesperus II and disappear into deep space to refit and rebuild their force
3020: Contact with Michael Hasek-Davion made, Katrina Steiner issues Peace Proposal, Katrina Steiner sends Peace Proposal to all Houses, Outworlds Alliance Educational Exchange Program begins, Wolf's Dragoons return from deep space at full strength, end employment with House Marik and next contract employment with House Steiner
Within these years we can start. Lots of interesting hooks for running a campaign and it will serve a great setting and entry point into the Clan Invasion era later on.
My intent is to keep following the big events in conjunction with canon, but the campaign missions itself don't neccessarily have to be. The detachment we run within House Davion will be fictional as well to give us leeway on how to run our campaign.
I would appreciate ideas about our units (name, task, history, etc) within the above timeframe.
Story hook: have a reason to be involved in the doings and battles that Wolf's Dragoons engage in when contracted to House Davion. Keep tabs on them as they shift from Liao to Marik to Steiner. Would give us a reason to have knowledge/contact with Clan doings as they come down the line.
I would only add that we may want to be a unit (or part of one) belonging directly to House Davion, as opposed to one of his numerous vassals. That way, we'll have a plausible reason for being ordered to various hotspots (and thus being involved with some of the "Great Doings" of that period).
This would also give us a semi-plausible reason to be fighting with Wolf's Dragoons as MetalDog has proposed.
Quote from: Martok on July 05, 2013, 02:26:42 PM
I would only add that we may want to be a unit (or part of one) belonging directly to House Davion, as opposed to one of his numerous vassals. That way, we'll have a plausible reason for being ordered to various hotspots (and thus being involved with some of the "Great Doings" of that period).
This would also give us a semi-plausible reason to be fighting with Wolf's Dragoons as MetalDog has proposed.
I'm all for being a House Davion unit. I was something of a Davion fanboi back in the day.
three things.
Martok is obviously a male stripper at the moment.
those mech numbers above company level are way off.
Kurita is the most fun to play.
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on July 07, 2013, 01:18:44 AM
Martok is obviously a male stripper at the moment.
:o
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on July 07, 2013, 01:18:44 AM
those mech numbers above company level are way off.
Not surprising, given we've seen at least three different sets of numbers already. What kind of numbers are you familiar with?
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on July 07, 2013, 01:18:44 AM
Kurita is the most fun to play.
Meh. Only if you're a Japanese/samurai fetishist. To be honest, they've always struck me as being the InnerSphere's biggest assholes (at least among the Great Houses).
Kurita gets to be the house that not only doest give a crap but has the military to pull it off.
4 mechs a lance
4 lances a company 16
4 companies a battalion 64
4 battalions a regiment 256
There was nothing bigger in the origal rule set IIRC.
Going on memory the clans went by 5s.
This will be fun to watch. I've always wanted to get into Battletech but never had anyone local to try it with.
You can always join in, Republic!
If you do not have the rulebooks, all introductory rulebooklets are available for free on bg.battletech.com to get you up and running.
I have to admit that the Clan Wars stuff kind of ruined the whole thing for me. it just seemed to get silly from there on out. as a youngster I watched all the Japanese anime I could get my hands on. it didnt bother me a bit that the original BT game 'borrowed' all there best designs. the FASA generated stuff was pretty meh IMHO. gimmi mai Warhammers and Marauders any day.
Other than playing the games since Mechwarrior 2 and reading a few books, I'm completely clueless. Plus I have a baby due any day so I can't really commit until we are back home with Republic Jr. :)
Congrats, Republic! Awesome news!! Maybe you should post that in a thread more than six people will ever look in ;) Maybe even get some unsolicited fatherly advice :)
somewhere in a box I have bunches of these in 1/144 scale. we used to use my friends dads pool table for gaming.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi5.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy167%2Fdane5140%2Fwarhammer%2520sale%2Frobotech%2520sale%2FWarhammerRIfleman.jpg&hash=ce9b9fb7b432d5a643a00dc610997d30023ec645)
and these:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fthepoptopshop.com%2Fosc%2Fimages%2FDougram.JPG&hash=d57a679a6765492e04ad5857636b285202a51cdf)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1275.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy450%2FAbigor2112%2FIMAG0019_zps3d753490.jpg&hash=3d665e947dd66badcda2499fdc0e2d820c5add5d)
Oh wow, Republic! CONGRATULATIONS! I hope everything is going well so far with Mother and her baby in her belly?
Our little one is now 7 months old. Its a great thing to be a dad!
GDS, you have ancient BT stuff there! Cool! When it still was called Battledroids. That is some cool stuff for a collector.
What exactly is your gripe with the Clan Wars stuff? The technology being introduced or you find the storyline silly?
My introduction to the franchise was with the PC game Mechwarrior 2 And its expansion. So all the Clan stuff is pretty natural for me. I am not bothered by it at all.
The thing I find hard to keep track off are the myriad of so called Prototypes in the post Jihad era. ;)
I think the story world got silly. I also think that the whole lost tech aspect of the universe made a gamer think more about tactics and far less about tech and all the modifiers. if anything I would have liked the game to have gone backwards in its own history instead of forward. I dont know if you know about them but there were quite a few novels written that were fun to read. hell, somewhere I have a Black Widows comic book.
some of the more obscure shows that FASA stole from.
remember this drop ship?
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectiondx.com%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2FCrusherJoeMinerva1_23cm_Oct2009_Wav.jpg&hash=ac2b55c0b781aacd7b37fe8cc5e4e0625dcc1d3b)
from Crusher Joe.
and the original scout mech:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-QudxCEGu6eA%2FT5HO8v69rTI%2FAAAAAAAACXw%2FGMaEb2QvVXk%2Fs1600%2Ftakara_ostall.jpg&hash=d562aca255633c9fc865e7d6a5b1b0a7f184427a)
also Crusher Joe.
I had the original BattleDroids box back in high school. Someone along the way, the box got ruined, but I salvaged the contents. In the early 2000s, I gave most of it to a friend and former employee who was a huge BT fanboi, and hadn't really missed it. Without the box, it's just a bunch of 'stuff' and not a lot of collectible value...
And I just recently re-read Decision at Thunder Rift - William H Keith's original BT novel. The original Gray Death Legion trilogy was good fun and among the better BT novels ever released.
A small update; I am busy working on the specifics of the campaign.
It might be a bit later than the timeframe I posted earlier. Perhaps a kickoff in the War of 3039 is a nice starting point?
Also, I am looking at if and how I could setup a MekWars server to run the campaign in. The big advantage of MekWars is that it already has a complete campaign management feature built in which directly ties into the MegaMek portion of the tactical battles.
I am getting shown the ins and outs of the system a bit later tonight.
Cool. The War of 3039 sounds good to me. :)
I am starting to get pretty confident to setup a test run battle to get our feet wet again.
The great guys over at The Shack have offered me their server to run our sessions on. These will be available 24/7 so it prevents me from having to setup a seperate server.
For our campaign I still need to work out what would work best regarding management.
Perhaps we can start making a planning for this intro session?
We need at least one person willing to play OpFor and that means controlling more than one unit.
July 15th I can make late evening work for me (GMT + 1) which will accomodate for you Yankees.
Otherwise I can work with July 19 - 21st?
Quote from: Yskonyn on July 13, 2013, 04:31:14 AM
July 15th I can make late evening work for me (GMT + 1) which will accomodate for you Yankees.
Otherwise I can work with July 19 - 21st?
See, that's the time of day I'm just about guaranteed to be asleep. By your clock, I hit the sack around 5-7 p.m., and wake up between 1 and 3 a.m. -- pretty much your entire evening. In short, it's pretty much the worst possible time of day for me to try and be awake.
This is why I'm doubtful about my ability to participate. :-\
Are you sure?
EST is 6 hours behind my local time. More to the West makes you more behind. So the later my evening, the more it is into your afternoon, or am I being backward somehow?
Do you work nightshifts and sleep during the day perhaps?
Yep.
Quote from: Martok on June 26, 2013, 11:24:26 AM
Sigh. If my availability wasn't even more notoriously unreliable than usual lately -- I work nights, and the last month or so I've been going to bed between 10:00 & noon and sleeping til anywhere between 5:00 & 8:00 -- I'd love to participate. :( It's been ages since I've played. As it is, though, I'll have to content myself with watching from the sidelines.
Oof.. I should learn to read and then remember what I've read.
Sorry for questioning your sanity, Martok. ;) Although you must admit, working night shifts someone should question your sanity once in a while, right?
No worries Ysk. *I* question my sanity on a near-constant basis. :P
Quote from: Martok on July 13, 2013, 07:12:49 AM
No worries Ysk. *I* question my sanity on a near-constant basis. :P
You're not the only one ;)
I'm in CST which is GMT-7. During the week or on the weekend are fine, but, all is subject to the whims of my girlfriend. She keeps unusual hours and that leaves me with committing to this endeavor, but possibly having to back out on short notice. If you are all willing to work around that rather nebulous schedule, I'm in :)
Some other stuff has come up.
I will need additional time fleshing out the story and the campaign. I won't keep you guys waiting, it might take a while, so I'll report back once things have been fleshed out more, a plan is solid and we can quickly kick off. Thanks for showing interest so far!
Sounds like a plan, and you're welcome. :)
Thanks Yskonyn. Keep us I posted. I'm still interested when you're ready.
Me, too!
Quote from: Yskonyn on July 13, 2013, 06:53:16 AM
Sorry for questioning your sanity, Martok.
dont apologize, we do it all question it all the time.