I love Battletech, but I understand why it isn’t for everyone. The crunch of of detailing armor hits and internal effects, and keeping track of heat sinks is all the kind of thing that appeals to a specific kind of numbers nerd.
Yes Alpha Strike exists, but it’s relatively new and I think it exists as this weird thing that by stripping out the details takes away the appeal for the loyal crunchy brained people.
Further, the miniatures are really neat, but 28mm (or 32mm, whatever is happening with 40k scale creep these days) scale really allows people to paint and customize characters which is appealing to more people than relatively less characterful mech sculpts.
I got into the Battletech universe from the Mechwarrior PC games. Which…long story short, MW2: 31st Century Combat and MW4: Vengeance were really bad at indicating there was a whole franchise behind them. I learned it was a whole big thing from guys I met on MW4’s online multiplayer. Who here remembers MSN Gaming Zone?
I tried to pick up the BATTLETECH game on Steam not too long ago, on the understanding that it’s a computerized version of the tabletop game’s rules…and bounced right off it. First of all, it has like, a Campaign mode and a Career mode? How are those different? Then both launching the game and starting a career play an intro cinematic longer than the Lord of the Rings franchise. I mean fuck, Tex of the Black Pants Legion doesn’t talk this much about mechs. The story is, to me, the least interesting thing Battletech can do: You’re some nothing fuck mercenary working for some nothing fuck duchess on some nothing fuck periphery planet.
Three and a half months after the Steam return window passes, I finally get into the game to play the tutorial mission. It’s popping up text on the screen to teach how to control the game, meanwhile there’s a voiceover saying different things trying to tell the story of the Nothing Fuck Roughriders and their quest to avenge Lady Nothing Fuck of Nothing Fuckersville. It hit me with both simultaneously.
Software I hate does not stay installed on my computer.
Half of it is the sunk cost. Half of it is the Clans. Plus, MW2 and forward have had multiplayer Mercs modes with lance-vs-lance combats. Why would most people want to play on tabletop when that exists?
Admittedly, there is something satisfying about a Jenner with every jet in the world and a single PPC making a jump, cooling down in midair, and landing directly on top of an enemy and doing major structural damage before leaping away.
Battletech should be the king of tabletop wargames. But no, everyone just wants to play 40k because of the sunk cost.
I love Battletech, but I understand why it isn’t for everyone. The crunch of of detailing armor hits and internal effects, and keeping track of heat sinks is all the kind of thing that appeals to a specific kind of numbers nerd.
Yes Alpha Strike exists, but it’s relatively new and I think it exists as this weird thing that by stripping out the details takes away the appeal for the loyal crunchy brained people.
Further, the miniatures are really neat, but 28mm (or 32mm, whatever is happening with 40k scale creep these days) scale really allows people to paint and customize characters which is appealing to more people than relatively less characterful mech sculpts.
I got into the Battletech universe from the Mechwarrior PC games. Which…long story short, MW2: 31st Century Combat and MW4: Vengeance were really bad at indicating there was a whole franchise behind them. I learned it was a whole big thing from guys I met on MW4’s online multiplayer. Who here remembers MSN Gaming Zone?
I tried to pick up the BATTLETECH game on Steam not too long ago, on the understanding that it’s a computerized version of the tabletop game’s rules…and bounced right off it. First of all, it has like, a Campaign mode and a Career mode? How are those different? Then both launching the game and starting a career play an intro cinematic longer than the Lord of the Rings franchise. I mean fuck, Tex of the Black Pants Legion doesn’t talk this much about mechs. The story is, to me, the least interesting thing Battletech can do: You’re some nothing fuck mercenary working for some nothing fuck duchess on some nothing fuck periphery planet.
Three and a half months after the Steam return window passes, I finally get into the game to play the tutorial mission. It’s popping up text on the screen to teach how to control the game, meanwhile there’s a voiceover saying different things trying to tell the story of the Nothing Fuck Roughriders and their quest to avenge Lady Nothing Fuck of Nothing Fuckersville. It hit me with both simultaneously.
Software I hate does not stay installed on my computer.
Half of it is the sunk cost. Half of it is the Clans. Plus, MW2 and forward have had multiplayer Mercs modes with lance-vs-lance combats. Why would most people want to play on tabletop when that exists?
Admittedly, there is something satisfying about a Jenner with every jet in the world and a single PPC making a jump, cooling down in midair, and landing directly on top of an enemy and doing major structural damage before leaping away.
Because it’s Chess 2.0! Yeah MW is fun but tabletop just does it for me.