What do you do when the wives and kids are away? You break out the ole toy soldiers, obviously. Some months ago, Dan and I finally carved out a Saturday night for some casual, beer-and-pretzel – or rather, rum-and-Cuban-cigars – BattleTech.
We decided to skip our fancy BattleTech 3D terrain this time and went old-school, laying out two desert paper mapsheets from Dan’s Game of Armored Combat box. I remember Dan looking down at the table, sighing, and delivering the line of the night:
“Look at us. What have we become? Two adults with decent incomes, playing BattleTech on paper sheets.”
Hey, nostalgia is priceless.
The Mission
The scenario we came up with on the fly, was a striking piece of paranoia and bluff! A pilot-less BattleMaster was stranded dead center of the map without any functioning weapon systems. The goal? Escort it back to your home edge on a straight path(via the shortest path, i.e. the long edge of the 2 mapsheets).
The Catch
We each secretly wrote down which of our units held the “radio control codes.” If that unit got within 10 hexes, it could guide the BattleMaster. But the stubborn old assault Mech would only move 2 hexes during the End Phase based on a D6 roll (1-3 for me, 4-6 for Dan).
This triggered a massive game of bluffing. You had to keep your actual controller conscious and intact, while aggressively shoving other units forward to trick your opponent into wasting ammo on a decoy.
Our units
I decided it was finally time to try my hand at conventional combat vehicles, mixing a couple vehicles with my Mechs.
| Dan’s units | Weight (tons) | BV | Eric’s units | Weight (tons) | BV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Locust LCT-1E | 20 | 553 | Saladin Assault Hovertank | 35 | 596 |
| Commando COM-2D | 25 | 714 | Cicada CDA-2A | 40 | 659 |
| Catapult CPLT-K2 | 65 | 1319 | Rommel Tank | 65 | 933 |
| Thunderbolt TDR-5SE | 65 | 1414 | Stalker STK-3F | 85 | 1559 |
| 175 t | 4000 | 225 t | 3747 |
I planned on using a BattleMaster instead of the Stalker, but forgot to bring it. Without the Stalker’s record sheet, I quickly sketched my own on the back of the Cicada one, copying the stats from the Mech Factory app. The printer wasn’t working, so I couldn’t just print a PDF.
Manoeuvering, Overheating, and Headshots
Manoeuvering through a canyon on my side wasn’t easy. Especially using vehicles and Mechs without jump jets … .
Dan brought his Mechs in a fire line to wait for my units to emerge from the canyons.
The early game saw some wild trading. My *Cicada* sprinted into position and managed to snap a headshot right into Dan’s *Locust*. It didn’t take the pesky bug Mech out, but it definitely rattled the MechWarrior’s teeth and gave him a pilot injury.
Then came my *Stalker*. I got greedy, saw an opening, and declared an Alpha Strike on one of Dan’s Mechs. The dice gods completely abandoned me. I missed almost every single shot and spiked my heat scale into the stratosphere. I barely avoided a reactor shutdown, but the penalty was brutal: a +3 to all subsequent shooting and 0 Movement Points. My already painfully slow Mech became a literal stationary turret for a turn. Whoops.
I also manouevered my Saladin hover tank right behind Dan’s Thunderbolt, only to move it away the next turn as quickly as I could. That thing seems to be made of cardboard.
The Rommel’s epic revenge
The turning point of the entire match came down to good old-fashioned autocannon diplomacy. My Rommel tank’s turret lined up Dan’s Catapult-K2 and let loose with the AC/20.
Boom!
20 damage!
The sheer impact caused by the AC/20 forced Dan to make a Piloting Skill Roll (PSR).
He failed with a snake eyes (2 on 2D6)!
65 tons went crashing to the desert floor, causing a pilot injury.
To make matters worse, the Catapult, already riding high on heat, had its reactor automatically shut down, leaving the unconscious MechWarrior trapped and in a dark, baking cockpit.
A heavy silence fell over the table. Dan looked at his secret paper, looked back at the board, and put his dice down.
Unknown to me, that unconscious Catapult pilot was Dan’s secret radio controller! With his commander taking an involuntary nap in a powered-down Mech, Dan had no way to guide the BattleMaster back home.
Victory to the Federated Suns!
Post-Game chat
By the time the dust settled, it was well after midnight. Sipping the last of the rum and watching the cigar smoke drift, Dan admitted he was hooked but totally bewildered by the BattleTech rule progression. He wants to move past the Beginner rules but doesn’t know where to head next. A while ago, I wrote an article about getting started with BattleTech.
If you’re looking for an official next step for Dan, it’s suggested steering him toward BattleTech: Total Warfare if he wants the absolute, comprehensive bible that includes the vehicle rules we used tonight. However, after flipping through my own copy of Total Warfare trying to look up vehicle interactions on the fly, it reminded me how dense and all-over-the-place it can be. Personally, I’m seriously considering switching our internal group ruleset back to the classic BattleTech Compendium: The Rules of Warfare (BTC:Row) from 1994. It’s just a bit more streamlined for the kind of casual, beer-and-pretzel BattleTech games we like to play.
Until next time, keep your systems nominal!
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Yea, I passed on getting the Total Warfare book and stuck with the Compendium RoW book. The Master Rules are another good reference too. The CGL books just aren’t that great.
I completely agree with you. Old-school Battletech is so much better than the CGL stuff. I’ll also stick with the Compendium RoW. Total Warfare is too much of a mess to me and I’m not interested in the new 2026 rules either. Old-school it is!
Thanks for reading our blog. Cheers!
I have such fond memories of playing original Battletech with the foldout hex maps and cardboard standees. No rum and cigars though.
My go to mech was the 80 tonne Victor with the AC20, there was something so satisfying when you hit an opponent for 20 points just like the Rommel in your game.
Cheers.
It works surprisingly well on paper maps, without taking away the immersion in my opinion.
The AC20 can be satisfying or completely frustrating if you don’t hit.
Thanks for reading. Really appreciated!
I have such fond memories of playing the original Battletech with the foldout hex maps and the cardboard standees. No rum and cigars though.
I liked to play with the 80 ton Victor, there was always something satisfying when you hit your opponent with the AC20 just like the Rommel did in your game.
Cheers.
It works surprisingly well on paper maps, without taking away the immersion in my opinion.
The AC20 can be satisfying or completely frustrating if you don’t hit.
Thanks for reading. Really appreciated!