Much to tell, and Much to Write About! Lots of New Fan Ideas!

First off, I reran "The Sack of Misby Flats" at the Casa De Panzerfaust. The Combine still lost, but this time, the VPs were closer, 15-9 and the Tribe lost a fairly intact Warhammer! This will of course, inspire a follow on scenario, say ComStar deciding the Combine should not have such nice toys!

A battle report I wrote shorthand on my new Rocketbook reads as follows:

Turns 1-2: Tribe & Combine closed, Stalker and Exterminator died early. Fighting concentrated around woods.

Turns 3-4: Combine charges woods w/ Heavy lance, knife fight in woods, after Tribe Counter-charged. Combine Warhammer took heavy damage. Combine Dragon died. Tribe Stinger died after he tried to flank the Combine advance. Tribe falls back deeper in woods. Combine turns flank of Tribe, Game tuns into a barfight in the woods. Archer mugs Grasshopper, what is this neighborhood coming to? Jenner dies on Tribe flank.

Turns 5-6: Combine continues charge. Tribe is on defensive. All fights merge around the woods. Combine flanking attempt ends badly, Clint & Panther forced to withdraw. Tribe Firestarter in bad shape. Tribe Marauder is left w/o armor. Combine troops "Surrounded" (in target rich environment).

Turns 7-8: Fight has turned into graceless brawl. Tribe counterattacks, Combine Thunderbolt badly damaged.

Turn 8-9: Combine begins to pull back. Tribe player weighs options, as he only has 4 turns to withdraw to satisfy victory conditions. Tribe takes pot shots at building. Tribe Warhammer very badly damaged, it's mobility impaired. Combine Banshee and T-Bolt go down. Combine Marauder goes down to freak hit from Tribe Warhammer. Building destroyed by Tribe. Tribe Warhammer captured.

Ending VP totals: 15 for Tribe, 9 for Combine, Tribe win but some interesting effects on IS history, And ideas for a follow- on scenario!

The Combine's luck hasn't been great in these two scenarios. To be honest, it's a rough fight for them, as it should be historically, but I did make things tougher on the Tribe, limiting things to 12 turns instead of 15, and forcing them to go after the town, as they did historically. Now that said, they do get points for killing Combine units, and I wonder if that's a bit of a mistake? Something to ponder. All in all, I really do like this scenario. And, with the map I altered a bit, I got units into action Turn 1! This will make for a really exciting game if done right.

And, here are some more pics! 

Hopefully these pictures are crowdpleasers!

I think I will finalize the scenario, and then put it in the bank to be run at future events, say Historicon or Guns of August? After that, I intend to work up some 4th War stuff and see if we can't do something 4th War on the Steiner front? That might be a whole lot of fun. Time to do some research! 

Meanwhile, while I was stooging around the Classic Battletech forums, I found out about this project!

Link to Combat Manual Lite series.

I like what I have seen thus far, and they'd be fun to add some graphics to, but I will let the initial author handle that. I am just glad to see that the series is continuing on in some format. I do find it interesting there is no Davion manual. Does this mean a full Davion manual may eventually see the light of day?

Next, let's discuss the upcoming Commander's Edition of the Rules:

Taken from the CGL Website

It appears for the most part, it's going to be an amalgam of the basic rules, and the compendium that were released separately, with the errata added in. This is a good thing, and it will be nice to have it all in one place. But, there are some other rumors of coming changes to the point value system, as well as the cards themselves. With the MUL being something of a volunteer effort, this is a bit of a interesting development, and makes one go, "hmm". It also makes one ask, are the new AS cards in the boxed set obsolete already?

Speaking of the boxed sets, may I say..WORTH THE WAIT!

 

Both are taken from the CGL Website

The components are high quality (I didn't have an issue with any of the plastic miniatures!), the cards beautiful, and the rules well laid out and easy to read. I like the new pilot cards, and already, someone's come up with a template to make your own! And someone else is doing cards for the 'Ol Black Widow and friends herself!

Speaking of neat player aids out there, I found two more I really like:

The first is some Gear cards! All the relevant rules at your fingertips, and graphically pleasing too! I intend to make use of these.

An example of one of the Gear Cards, taken from the CBT forums.

Yep, lots of new stuff out there to make use of for our heavy metal mayhem! And oh, by the way. Battletech is 35 this year! It's nice to see one of our favorite games still going strong! 

Part 6, The Miniatures are Done, and the Game Itself!

Well, the game is in the record books. It ran, I got two players (a third was supposed to show, but sadly, he was in a car accident and was unable to make it, he's alright, but life, sadly, happens.)

In any event, first, I fixed that dreadful looking snow, and I mean it was dreadful. So, I did some research online, and thank god for youtube! I found a tutorial that worked and voila! Snow covered bases! Granted, they looked a bit more like a blizzard than a Iceland like effect I was going for, but adding some Army Painter tufts helped to break up the monotony of the bases. I rather liked how it all turned out, in retrospect.

As for decals, I used a mix of Fighting Piranha Graphics, and a fellow on ebay known as MatCatFrog. He makes some hard to find decals, but they are on pretty thick paper, and I found the Rasalhague Regulars decals a bit tough to work with. The 331st worked better, but they didn't have the backing they needed to stand out against the dark green of the color scheme of the Minnesota Tribe.

I tried using some Kanji numbers for the Combine 'Mechs, but it didn't work out and I'll probably come back and use some I-94 Enterprise decals for them at some point, but I was pressed for time.

In short, I liked how they turned out, and they look great for the eclectic sources that wound up making up the combatants.

Both sides, Completed.

As for the game, well, things went as historically. I gave the Minnesota Tribe better skills but lighter 'Mechs, and then gave the Combine heavier 'Mechs, but somewhat lesser pilots, but, they had a platoon of Von Luckners and Demolishers set up in Misby Flats itself, so it wasn't all going the Tribe's way.

But, it wound up going their way anyhow.

Both sides tried to turn each other's flank, but the Tribe had more speed, and managed it first, not to mention they killed 11 out of 12 'Mechs. But, they couldn't destroy Misby Flats, as they didn't manage their time right. I told both sides, for each Tribe 'Mech not off the table by Turn 15, the Combine got 5 points each, as that represents the eventual capture by the Combine of a fairly intact Star League-tech 'Mech, as opposed to the wreckage they got in the actual raid.

The end of the game was dramatic, with the remaining Kuritas holing up in a small wood to attempt an all around defense, it didn't work, sadly for them, and while they did gun down three Tribe 'Mechs by game end, and forced a Dervish to withdraw, alas, the score was 19-10 Tribe. (The Combine also got 5 points if the Tribe didn't shoot ANY buildings).

The game was good, solid fun. It needs a bit of tweaking of the map, and I am going to make it 12 turns next time to add a bit more drama, but yeah, I'd run this again.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Dave and Charlie for playing, and The Games Tavern for letting me host this event. I know more of you out there would have liked to play, and I promise, I will run it again, soon!

And here are some game pics:

Part 5: Painting the Minnesota Tribe! And...not a great start on the snow IMO

It was a mixed day of painting yesterday, I did get a lot done painting-wise yesterday, as the game is Saturday at Noon at The Games Tavern. I am pretty excited about this, as far as I can remember, this is the first time anyone I know has run a Minnesota Tribe-themed game, and I am looking forward to this little game.

Now, painting the Minnesota Tribe:

I began by priming them black, as was stated in a previous blog entry. I am now wondering if I should have painted them grey instead. I used the following colors, the first was MiG-0081 US Olive Drab Vietnam Era (FS 24087) which, like most MiG colors, goes on thin, but if you hit it with two coats, it works well, but I did lose a little detail. I then drybrushed it with a coat of MiG-0929 Olive Drab Shine. It did a decent job of giving it a light shine, so much so, I then hit it with my Magic Mudd Wash. I think I am going to use the shine again as a highlight, see if that lightens up the scheme a bit, or I may use a lighter shade of OD with a 10% addition of some VMC Grey White?

The snow, that was another disaster. I made a hash of it I think. First, I used pumice instead of modelling paste, which I do not have, the rest, I didn't have water effects, so I used what I had of some gloss varnish. Honestly, what came out was grey..and looks more like ash than snow. I was not impressed. I might use some white glue and snow to go over top of this, then put some rocks and the like in to try and see if this can be improved.

The Combine Mechs mostly have their decals done, I just have to add numbers/some "nose art" and hazard symbols. But, I really like how they turned out. Anyhow, we'll see how it all goes tonight?

Minnesota Tribe Project Part 4, The Painting Begins in Earnest!

As we discussed in a previous post...I had determined what I wanted to do for painting the two sides in this scenario...then I gave it some more thought, and remembered I had this nifty set of colors from LifeColor.

God Bless Amazon!

What can I say, I really liked the results!. They aren't as hardwearing as Vallejo or any of the other hobby paints out there, but they do a better job of color matches than anything I have seen and the results speak for themselves.

I at this stage have added Vallejo 993 Grey White, and then put P3s Morrow White atop it. It looks great layered and I intend to use it for all my ComStar stuff from now on.

This is after the application of all three Lifecolors, then a highlight of the Green with 5 parts Warthog Green to 1 part Morrow White. I did heat sinks and Jump Jets in BF's Rocket Steel, and then hit it all with some Magik Mudd Wash. In short, it looks marvelous. Cockpits are in Vallejo's Gloss Black, and Weapons Ports are Vallejo Dark Grey.

I must say, so far, so good IMO. I still have some detail work, basing, weathering and decals to do (not necessarily in that order..) but I am happy with the progress thus far. Now if I can just get the detail lines to be a bit more...pop. Thought the wash would accomplish this, but...

Progress thus far!

Part 2 of the Minnesota Project

Well, let's get to the stars of the show. The Minnesota Tribe. We don't know a ton about them, the best resources being Operation Klondike, Betrayal of Ideals, and the 1st and 2nd Succession War Books, as well as Sarna.net. But, as they are a raiding force, they gotta move fast and hit hard, relatively, as they are up against a pretty heavy Kurita force. I also didn't want to bring any of the Slings/Pulverizers/Stags to the party as well, it would be all too obvious to ANYONE that they were "definitely not from around here."

So, what did I come up with? Let's start with the Recon Lance, I decided on a 2 Light and 2 Medium mix, and weighted the tech heavily towards Royal tech, as I wanted to get that Star League flavor, but not totally outmatch the Kuritan defenders (aka, this isn't the Clan invasion a few centuries early). 

So, I ended up choosing a Stinger-3Gb, a Firestarter-9H, a Sentinel-3Lb and a Phoenix Hawk-1b "Special", all of them are reasonably fast, the Stinger exceptionally so, and three of them are jumpers. This is a lance that is going to give the Kuritan player fits, and it should, if played right.

The Skirmish Lance is also a reasonably mobile force, mostly jumpers, and has a good base of fire. I chose a Dervish-6M, a Kintaro-19b, a Wolverine II (Like any Clan Wolverine force would be without one?), and an Exterminator 4Db. I do like this force, as I said, good base of fire, good mobility, and a solid punch.

The Brawler Lance has got some depth to it, and while it is a bit slower than the other two lances, it again, has a good base of fire, and some jumping mobility. Three of the 'Mechs have respectable long range fire capability, and while there aren't any assaults, they should have enough firepower to put the hurt on one at range. I chose a Thunderbolt-5Sb, a Warhammer-7A, a Grasshopper-5H, and a Marauder-2R (who has a nasty ability to really reach out at touch people at long range along with the Thunderbolt). 

Skills in this Company are pretty nasty, with nothing higher than a 3, and with the level of firepower present, it's going to be a case of firepower and mobility, versus Combine staying power in this scenario. We also might see the tanks of the militia get into the act, and at 533 points, it's a nasty brew for the Combine to face off against. Here's the AS Cards for the whole shebang.

Now to figure out victory conditions, and a map for this puppy. But that is next time. 

Part 1 of the Minnesota Project

Research, the basis of any good scenario in my mind is research. Now while you think this may not apply to Classic BattleTech, you would be wrong. With a game like BattleTech, the lore is to put it mildly, extensive, and here, the fluff is your friend, and things like Sarna.net do a good job of putting all the fluff into one place for you to access.

So, let's begin our deep dive into the Kurita defenders, namely, the 20th Rasalhague Regulars. According to Sarna.net's article on the 20th Rasalhague Regulars:

At the outbreak of the First Succession War, the Twentieth remained stationed on Nykvarn. By the time the "Great Succession War" had ended in 2821 the unit had suffered losses of over sixty percent. ^[2]

By the start of the Second Succession War the Twentieth had almost returned to full strength and was redeployed the prefecture capital of Trondheim. ^[3]

As for the fateful engagement with the Minnesota Tribe? Sarna.net has this to say:

On 17 December 2825 the Twentieth Rasalhague Regulars were attacked by an unknown unit on Trondheim; this unknown enemy would later be labeled the "Minnesota Tribe". The second Combine world attacked by these mysterious troops, the focus of the Tribe's interest on Trondheim appeared to be for information rather than capturing supplies as with the first strike against Svelvik, beating back the Twentieth to raid the town of Misby Flats, leveling the town's mayoral complex before withdrawing. While the Twentieth Rasalhague Regulars succeeded in defeating some Tribesmen, they were not able to conclusively prove they were returning elements of the Star League Defense Force as the Tribe destroyed their crippled 'Mechs and stranded Tribe member committed suicide rather than be captured.^{[4] [5]} 

Furthermore, by 2830, when the Second Succession War kicks off, the 20th is listed as a Veteran regiment trending towards a heavy weight class. So, the answer to all of this is that the unit is 2825 is probably midway through rebuilding. It probably rebuilt to 90-95% strength when the 2nd War kicked off, and I suspect, pilot experience was something of a mixed bag, and considering that the old Combine House Book stated that the ISF kept a close leash on the Rasalhague Regulars as a whole, even if the 20th was considered reliable, I may treat the 20th as a Regular regiment at this time, and weight the 'Mech selection towards older models...with maybe a couple of newer designs to give the Combine some unexpected punch.

I am also weighting things, at least on the Combine side, towards models I already have. It makes things easier, and to be honest, a bit more challenging.

As for paint schemes, Trondheim, according to Sarna's description, was settled by the usual collection of Scandinavian transplants that makes up Rasalhague, and that Misby Flats is the capital (and Trondheim was the prefecture capital), in short, this is the beating heart of a lot of political power. So, why the raid? Remember, the raid appeared to be for "information". What information is unclear, but what remains clear is that it was the defenders were probably a mix of 20th RR and local militia.

So, what scheme to use for the 20th? I am thinking something of a mix of whites and greys. The terrain resembles Iceland, to be honest, volcanic and probably cold overall. Methinks they'd look pretty fetching on a 'Mech, and I have an idea for a scheme that could be used.

So, let's build a company for Alpha Strike?

First things first, let's open the MUL website, and search the Draconis Combine and Early Succession War period?

The Search Results for the aforementioned criteria in the Master Unit List (photo taken from Master Unit List)

So, we are going to begin to select 'Mechs. I think I am going to go with 1 Light/Medium Lance, a Heavy Lance, and a Heavy/Assault Lance. So, a grand total of 2 Light Mechs, 2 Medium Mechs, 6 Heavies, and 2 Assault Mechs. To me, it's a viable force for the Combine, and if we throw in a platoon of vehicles from the Militia, then we have enough points via the AS Builder to give the Minnesota Tribe a decent fight.

So, let's start picking, eh?

So, for the Light/Medium Lance, I chose the Panther and the Jenner, both pretty bog standard Combine light designs, and probably prevalent in every Combine 'Mech unit there is. The Mediums I chose are the Clint (Hard to fix castoff, perfect for a unit like the Regulars) and a HBK-4G Hunchback, she may be slow, but she hits hard and can be the anvil for the rest of the lance.

Now, the all heavy lance?

I lead off with a Warhammer-6R and a Thunderbolt-5S, both probably captured from the Lyrans. I added in a Dragon-1N (It's a Combine unit, you gotta have at least one!), and a and an Archer-2R. All of them are a solid Fire Lance that can be the bedrock of the Company.

Now, the final lance?

I added a Orion-K and a Marauder-3R, not a bad pair. As for the Assaults? A Stalker and a Banshee (Both probably again, captured from the Lyrans). Not a bad lance here, and yet, it isn't the best available.

So, now, let's find a lance of vehicles for the militia.

I ended up choosing a pair of Von Luckners, and a pair of Demolishers. Something tells me these guys would do well to stick close to Misby Flats.

So, I now have a force, which according to the MUL, translates out to 554 PV, so we need to keep this in mind for the Minnesota Tribe when we work on them in the next post. They're going to be a lighter force, but with a much higher Skill rating, to put it mildly.

So, here is the roster for the Dracs. Next time, the Minnesota Tribe!

Been a while. But I have a new project in the offing....

Hi all...

 I know it's been a while, but I wanted to announce the launching of a new idea I am having for Alpha Strike. You see, I've always been interested in one of the legends of Classic BattleTech, the Minnesota Tribe.

One of the great mysteries of Classic BattleTech, were the Uncle Chandy Documents right or wrong?

I don't want to weigh in on who they were, or where they wound up...what I do want to do is use them as an excuse to paint figures! So, yes, I intend to paint up a company of both the Minnesota Tribe and the 20th Rasalhague Regulars in their fight on Trondheim in 2825. It will give me an excuse to break out the 2nd Succession War book, and some other sources to research this fight, as yes, there isn't much out there about it.

So, what do we know? We know the Tribe raided Trondheim, we know they hit the town of Misby Flats after batting around the 20th, who was understrength in the wake of the 2nd War. We know the 20th was a good unit, but hurting, as they were down to between a 1/3rd and 1/5th of their strength, but I may say they put together a scratch company to face these unknown invaders, and throw in some elements of the militia, and then have the 331st be a lighter weight company with very good pilots, and painted the usual Star League Olive. The 20th's units should be in the German WWII scheme that one sees in the original Camo Specs book. I am going to say the 331st have readopted the old Star League Lance/Company model (Yes, I think they are the Wolverines).

Balance will be an issue for this game, as both sides are very good, skill wise, but the 331st should be lighter elements, as it makes sense for a raiding force, whereas the 20th should be almost an assault regiment, as it's had the crud shot out of it.

So, keep watching this space...we'll be posting updates as we put together both sides.