This weekend I payed a visit to the Indersdorfer Battletech Convention (IBC) near Munich. It was a small, but well organzied event with a sizeable amount of different battlegrounds and gaming systems. A small tabletop/RPG shop called Role the dice was there too, so I could try out Star Wars Destiny in the end.
But first things first, finally I had the chance to test Alpha Strike, a simpler and faster variant of Classic Battletech, which I am used to since 1994. Because I love to play bigger units during one session I have to admit: this is my cup of tea! The essence of the tactical gameplay is still there, but lots of the the (partially excessive) dice roling has been removed.
Of course, if you rather play 1on1 or 2on2, it is kinda boring, because the mechs features are very limited in Alpha Strike - at least compared to CBT. But if you love to command bigger units on - lets say company level or even larger -, it is still challenging in terms of tactical gameplay.
My first match has been a 1on1 just to learn the basic rules. After having finished this, I bid a star of my Falcon Guard plus three points of Battle Armor. My clan opponent lacked honor and so it became an all out war from the start on, no honor duels. Anyhow it has been great fun, especially when it came to my Dasher! Wow, this little guy feels so damn fast in Alpha Strike!
The other mechs (Timber Wolf Prime, Summoner Prime, Hellbringer Prime and Uller Prime) were a mix of typical Jade Falcon mechs during the first phase of the invasion. I could even make some use of the Hellbringer, when he killed one enemy heavy mech, right before my Hellbringer died a heroes death! In the end only two enemy clanners were left and I granted them Hegira.Last AS fight has been Inner Sphere 3025 level 1 tech only. I chose my newly formed "Order of the five Pillars Honor Guard", five Panthers with differently colored Dragons on their chest: Gold, Steel, Ivory, Jade and Teak. They came along with a Dragon-1N of the Swords of Light. The six Kurita mechs engaged a band of unknown mercenaries (Marauder, Zeus, Enforcer, Centurion), possibly VerCom dogs. After the Centurion has basically ceased to exist in the crossfire of the Panther and the Marauder and Enforcer took heavy damage, the mercs chose to retreat what was left of them.
Victory under the eyes of the Gunji no Kanrai, Theodore Kurita himself!
So it's been a enjoyable Saturday full of fast-paced fights with nice people and I even won a Centurion in the lottery (see picture right hand above). And I bought my copy of the Alpha Strike rules plus a laserpointer for checking lines of sight.
