It’s no great secret that the part of the miniatures gaming hobby I dislike, nay hate, get no enjoyment from at all, is the assembly and painting side.
So it will come as a big surprise not only to you but me that I’m painting some BattleTech minis.
At last years UKGE I bought some paint pens. Which saw me paint two or three bits of Halo Flashpoint scatter terrain. I even primed some miniatures. However the novelty wore off and I stopped.
However in an attempt to delay, even stop the nagging by Diogo in the mornings to have a walk and be fed, I changed our morning routine.
So now instead of barely having time to drink a coffee before the nagging (barking) starts. I get up, make my coffee, open the back door, and put down half of Diogo’s breakfast. I stay down stairs doing something like sleeving two Wingspan expansions whilst drinking my coffee. Diogo is much more chilled, comes down, goes out, eats. Then goes back upstairs to destroy the evil pillows on my bed. However I’ve managed to delay our morning walk by an hour, and there is no nagging. Although we still get the excited getting ready barking.
Once the card sleeving had been finished I needed something else to do downstairs. So I started out with the Inner Sphere Fire Lance that I had.
Zeus BattleTech mech
I primed them with a green primer, then using red, light grey, gunmetal, black, and dark aluminium I painted parts of the mech armour.
It’s not the best painting in the world. Thanks to old age effecting the eyesight, and fine motor control of the paint pens. Although I never was the best painter.
However with the pot of shader that you just dip the models in I’m getting that used universe look I like.
The models look barely tabletop ready. But from a distance they are ok, just don’t look at them close up.
I just need to flock the bases now (stuff on the way).
The models of the Alpha Strike box set have been primed and I even finished painting the easiest of them, the Atlas mech.
With each of the BattleTech box sets comes a twenty four page novella set in the BattleTech universe.
At the moment I have four such novellas. I imagine when the two new box sets that arrived today are opened there will be a further two.
I started with the novella that comes with the BattleTech Beginner Box (40th Anniversary), Golden Rule by William H. Keith.
It turns out that this is part one of a trilogy of novellas. The second part is a novella in the BattleTech Game of Armored Combat (40th Anniversary) box sets. Then from my research the third and final part is in the MechWarrior: Destiny rpg.
Yes there is a BattleTech rpg that “Includes rules for incorporating gameplay with BattleTech’s Total Warfare and Alpha Strike for a richer experience.” Amazon product page.
So to finish this story arc you need to splash out for two other products. One (the rpg) that you most likely won’t use! Good for potential sales. I can see players having the Beginner and Armored Combat box sets. But that extra purchase of the rpg, a step too far for me.
I actually enjoyed the story in the novella.
Having only a very limited page/word count every word counts. So not much time is spent setting up the rest of the story before we are in the thick of the action.
The basic story is a mech team has been hired to deal a blow to an upstart warlord before that warlord can become a problem. A straight hit and run. Give the warlord a bloody nose, put them in their place, and get out. Naturally the simple mission does not go to plan.
As an introduction to the BattleTech universe it’s a light, brief introduction. The writing or story are not going to win awards. It’s functional and does the job.
Yes there is terminology about the mechs and weapons etc used throughout the novella. Luckily the last four pages or so are taken up with pictures of the mechs, and explanations of terms used.
I was left wanting more, particularly with the “cliff hanger” ending.
I want to read the next part of the story. But I’m also now curious about other BattleTech novels. As expected with a forty year history there are a lot of novels. The main issue where to start, and are the books in print?
I’ve had two or three videos of Ace shared with me today via WhatsApp.
So I stitched them together with the handful that had previously been sent to me using iMovie on my iPhone into a single movie to share with you.
WARNING! At the end of this video are a couple of photos of the paw without its bandage. They are not pretty to look at. You may want to stop the video at the appropriate point (there is a warning in the video).
The paw will take about a month to heal. Ace will only have about 10% feeling in the foot. The operation was to set the foot so it can be used as a crutch so he can put weight on it.
After the paw has healed the process to bring him over can begin.
I’ve not played the classic BattleTech rules. I was attracted to the Alpha Strike ruleset. It offered a streamlined ruleset and a more “traditional” wargame experience on the tabletop.
So to compliment the Alpha Strike starter set I got the Alpha Strike Commanders edition rulebook. Which is the full Alpha Strike rule set. It has additional rules, scenarios, etc. There are four pages though in the Commanders edition that allow Alpha Strike players to use the hex maps that the classic rules use.
Which means the hex maps that come with the various box sets that I have purchased for the mechs are useful for quick games.
At the moment on top of the mentioned Alpha Strike stuff I have the following BattleTech box sets and books:
BattleTech Mercenaries Forcepack Battlefield Support: Battle & Fire Expansion
BattleTech Universe Book
BattleTech Game of Armored Combat 40th Anniversary Base Game
BattleTech Campaign Operations
BattleTech Beginner Box 40th Anniversary, Strategy Board Game
Battletech Clan Invasion Expansion
BattleTech: Gothic – Core Box Set
BattleTech: Mercenaries Box Set
BattleTech Inner Sphere Fire Lance
BattleTech Gothic Salvage Display Box
The draw back of the Beginner Box is that it doesn’t come with the Alpha Strike cards for the two models in the box.
The last item in the above list is my first display box for the game.
Outside of buying box sets, or pre-made lances (of which there are a few). The only way to buy mechs are these salvage boxes. The contents are random. So you might find them on eBay or find other players to swap with if you don’t get the ones you want. So yes they have that draw back, but at least they don’t have that exploitative secondary market.
So I wanted more models for the Gothic box set. I found a source to get the display box at a cheaper cost than buying the boxes individually. Ok yes it’s a false saving.
But still this is the miniatures version of cracking open booster packs.
It’s not quite the same as cracking open a booster, but still rather satisfying as you see what cool looking mech you have pulled.
With a game that’s over 40 years old, there is obviously a lot of lore. To be truthful I have been rather put off from diving into the lore. The share amount of it seems so daunting to a noob like me. However the BattleTech Universe book seemed like a great starting place.
So now while having a soak I’m working my way through this lore primer.
I think the cool thing about my investment in BattleTech stuff is that I can use the minis with the Gamma Wolves ruleset too.
There are still one or two items in the postal system working their way to me:
BattleTech Initiative Deck
Battlefield Support Deck Revised
BattleTech Aces Scouring Sands box sets
I’ve had to get the Aces Scouring Sands box set from the US Amazon. Couldn’t find a place online with it in stock. I particularly want to see how this campaign box set for Alpha Strike works. As far as I’m aware it’s also a co-operative campaign.
Then once it arrives I need to find some-one to work through the campaign with. Harder than you would think these days.
A brief bit of reflection before finishing this post. Looking back I hadn’t realised I had so much BattleTech stuff. More than enough to start building my own lances now. Apart from the recent batch of purchases, this current situation seems to have crept up on me.
It’s the middle of the month, which means it’s time to look at what I’ve been playing so far.
Wingspan: I carted the nesting box to Charlene’s to play. We played with the new Americas expansion and the Asia expansion. Mainly because they were unsleeved (waiting for the sleeves to come back in stock). I liked the hummingbirds mechanic. Charlene liked it so much that she is considering getting Wingspan (again) and the Americas expansion, and only playing it that way.
Viticulture: I think this was the quickest I got a new arrival to the table. The Bordeaux expansion arrived at 16:45 and 18:30 I was setting up the game with it. We enjoyed the new board, especially the specialists element, the extra starting resources, and the mini trade rows. Naturally we were using the Visit, from the Rhine Valley expansion as well. Which meant I was forced to make wine! I have won a game without making any wine. I call it the Tory win (after an MP or their friend were given a contract by the government to their ferry company that had no boats!)
Rome and Roll: Finally after owning this game for years I got to play it. It was lighter and faster to play than expected. We were expecting a game up there with Hadrian’s Wall or Three Sisters for complexity. And it wasn’t. It was enjoyable, and fun. I even went and ordered the three expansions I didn’t know existed. They give asymmetrical player boards.
Halo Flashpoint: I wrote a post about this just after playing. It’s probably best to go read that than I repeat it all here. The tl;dr for those that can’t be bothered to read the rather long post is we had fun, I won.
Sniper Elite: This was rather good fun. I was playing sniper. Gavin and Anthony played the Germans. The objectives I drew were the furthest apart that you could get on the board at opposite ends. I managed to get my first objective and blow up a guard with a mine. It was then with my position blown that things went to pot. I thought by cutting through the building of guards would fool them. Being the route they least expected. But they figured it out and managed to shoot me twice.
Machi Koro 2: just fun, not much more I can add that hasn’t been said before.
It’s that time of year when thoughts turn to planning and booking accommodation for the UK Games Expo.
Ok technically if it was just accommodation you should be booking before Christmas if not as soon as possible after the last expo to get those bargains and discounted rates.
It’s still possible to get those however as it gets nearer to the big event the likelihood of saving some money gets slimmer. In fact you are more likely to have to spend more.
After the camping experience last year that I really enjoyed and found relaxing. I had planned to do it again at the same camp site.
However those plans were formulated before the arrival of Diogo.
I’ve had time to think things through and take into account mum’s health, and how demanding the little monsters can be.
I came to the conclusion that even though I’d love to have the four days camping at the expo. In reality that isnt going to be possible.
I don’t think mum would survive and it wouldn’t be fair on the little monsters.
So the only way I can attend the expo this year will be if I travel there and back each day (assuming I go all three days of the expo).
That’ll mean getting up god damn early each day, especially the first day. Although I think on the Saturday and Sunday I could leave a little later.
It’s not ideal. I’m sure I’ll need a holiday afterwards to recover! But it’s the only way I can see being able to attend this year.
I’m not that cruel to call a male dog Sue, despite being a Johnny Cash fan. But it does make a cool name for a mission/project.
After a late night (more middle of the night) call from Kate (she’s down in New Zealand doing some running endurance thing) the decision was made to recruit a new member to our team from the same rescue place that Diogo came from in Peru.
It’s very early days. Not even twenty four hours since I made the decision to fill the space on our roster that the passing of Nico left.
I think Nico will be happy we are going to be giving a loving forever home to another furball.
I know there will be many questions, particularly about that front paw. And I will go into that in a future post.
Mum took the news well when I told her this morning. Much better than I expected.
I’ve settled on a name for the new recruit, it’s not Sue. I’ve gone with Ace after Ace Frehley (the ex-lead guitarist of KISS) who passed away last October. I wrote about his loss and what it meant to me at the time.
Going with the experience of getting Diogo over from Peru, Ace won’t be here until June the earliest. Just in time for our summer. Unlike Diogo who was robbed of a summer, and got two winters instead. Ace will be the opposite and have two summers. Or what passes as summer here in the UK.
I’ll keep you up to date as his transfer progresses.
Yesterday Colin and I managed to get Halo Flashpoint to the table.
I had decided before that I would use the Rise of the Banished for my team. Friday had seen me open up the box for Rise of the Banished for the first time. I punched cardboard, assembled terrain, and started getting everything ready to take with me the next day. That’s when I discovered my War Games rules booklet was missing.
After a good look for it, it never showed up. I went to bed with that nagging in my head. The one where if I didn’t find it would see me ordering another copy of the expansion just to get it.
This was the second time this week to hit me. The previous occasion was for the Battletech Campaign rulebook. I just couldn’t find it. Plans were in place to buy another copy once funds next week allowed.
However I had a bit of good fortune on that front. While looking for the missing rules booklet I found the Battletech book plus Formaggio that I’d got from Charlene (that was inside the lid of a Halo box on the top of a shelf!).
The missing booklet really ate away at me and affected my sleep that night. More than once in the night I woke up thinking about where the booklet could be.
Yesterday morning I bought the pdf of the booklet. However that didn’t stop that mind itch that was slowly driving me made. I was most definitely going to be buying the expansion again.
The scenario we played was VIP from the Rise of the Banished included rulebook. Basically one of your team is the VIP you have to protect from the other team. Over eight rounds you only score points by eliminating the VIP, other deaths count for nothing. First to four points, or highest score at the end of the eighth round wins.
The map board and terrain were from the Rise of the Banished.
My team was basically three models I thought looked cool (the rule of cool that I used in our previous game). I treated the Atriox figure like the Master Chief one, counting for two figures. Which according to its card is the right thing to do when drafting.
Colin used a team of Spartans from his Recon/Spartan edition of the core game.
First blood was drawn by Colin when he took out my sniper in the first round. Leaving me with two brawlers. Luckily one had a single use grenade that I did use. Was that too early?
Round two saw me get some hits on his VIP, which paid off in round three with me scoring the first point of the game.
By the time we got to round seven Colin’s VIP had taken a lot of damage. It was an all or nothing moment. If I took out his VIP I’d win, a second point would mean Colin couldn’t draw or win. There wouldn’t be enough time with one round left.
In the end the pressure of sustained attacks on his VIP was too much and I was able to get in a killing blow to get the winning point.
Next time Colin and I are going to each build a 200 point team.
Some thoughts on Halo Flashpoint
So I have some thoughts on Halo Flashpoint on where it is and where I think it should be going.
Big box expansions: what isn’t clear from both of the two big box expansions is that you need a copy of either the Recon or Spartan edition of the game to use them. There needs to be clear labelling on the box. Otherwise I can see some disappointed kids getting the box and basically not being able to play the game. Mind you ideally I think these should also be standalone and contain everything to play the game. Especially the ODST expansion.
Team building: In the Recon/Spartan editions the only team building was restricted to drafting. Which was understandable. With the introduction of the War Games expansion points based team building was introduced. Making Halo Flashpoint more inline with other similar systems/games team building. I would like to see a unified, single points list as a pdf that isn’t the Mantic app. The nearest we have to this is the balancing update. But that doesn’t have the newest ODST on it. We’ll have to wait for the next update for their inclusion.
New ways to play: Rise of the Banished introduced a new way to play the game with Big Teams. A great addition to the game that I’m eager to try. I’ll write more on this once I’ve played a game.
Plastic terrain: I liked the UNSC scenery set. However the Banished scenery set was a bit underwhelming, lacking any of the bigger items present in the UNSC set. It felt over priced.
At the moment the only plastic terrain you can get is the Deluxe Buildable 3D Terrain set, and the Outpost 3D Terrain. Which mostly replaces the cardboard in the Recon/Spartan editions. I really would like to see this side catchup with the big boxes. It needs to.
Scenarios: I think Halo Flashpoint is crying out for a dedicated scenario booklet/book along the lines of those printed for Zombicide or Memoir ‘44 to name a couple that come to mind. I’d love to see the scenarios from all the expansions collected into one place also (not the Mantic app) in physical form. Sell me a pdf I can get printed. The convenience of not having to flick through different rule booklets to pick one to play would be worth it.
While I’m on this physical moan. I love that the OP scenarios are available in the Mantic app. But let me have them as a pdf please? I want a physical copy to use while setting up. It’s so much easier and convenient than having a phone out. Having that sheet on the table to refer to while playing for additional rules is not only handy but priceless.
I’d also like to see a campaign for Halo Flashpoint. If Battletech can do it with Battletech Alphastrike Aces, then why not Halo Flashpoint?
OP Kits: well done to Mantic on making these available to the public. I think this has helped grow the community. More companies should be doing this.
I think Mantic have done a great job with Halo Flashpoint in the first year. They have got a reasonable amount of content out to enable players to build a variety of teams, play on a varied board setup. And generally supported the game really well.
However 2026 has Mantic focused elsewhere with currently no new stuff announced for Halo Flashpoint. For the game to continue growing and players interested there needs to be regular new content. Even if it’s just one big expansion and two or three smaller ones spread out through the year. But a road map would be handy to. I’d also like to see the OP kits as part of the roadmap with new prize support.
One such curve ball was thrown recently due to world events.
I’m not going to complain about it because I support the reasons for the delay. My first world inconvenience is really minor and insignificant compared to the cause of it. If it’s not obvious I’m very pro Palestine and if the interruption and delay of shipping helps bring an end to the genocide then it’s a price I’m happy to pay.
Anyway it’s a waiting game for the arrival of the Stonemaier shipment containing the new Bordeaux expansion for Viticulture and the Americas expansion for Wingspan.
The estimated arrival is mid February, with orders in the post and dropping through letter boxes soon after.
I also have a preorder due to ship anytime soon. That preorder is the two expansions that make up the Ashes cycle in Netrunner. This is a reprinting of an “older” NSG cycle. It gives me all the cards that currently make up the standard format.
I’d love to play the eternal format. But that’d require purchasing a second hand collection of the FFG stuff. Which I may look into at some point.
Another item I’m waiting for is the Mayday card sleeves I use to sleeve Wingspan to come back into stock. I can’t even preorder them. It won’t be a small order once they are available. I’m estimating about 700 sleeves to not just sleeve the new expansion but also Asia and the fan packs.
But there has been a positive to the delay, it’s given me a chance to get all the bits together ready for the arrival. Or in the case of Wingspan get the nesting box and put everything inside it.
I’m looking forward to the new arrivals and having the excuse to get the games to the table once more.
