Battletech: Alpha Strike Battle Report - Grey Death Legion vs. Inner Sphere Militia

We're back with another Alpha Strike Battle Report! Having expanded my GDL for the Civil War era with some Omni Mechs straight from those crooked Clan Quartermasters willing to deal with freebirths, the GDL is under contract to overrun some local militia's combined arms company.
Owen and I test out playing Alpha Strike on Hex Mats today using a D12 system. Let's check it out!
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[@RiccardoMasiniWLOG]

I really LOVE Alpha Strike on hex maps: quick, accurate, lots of detail but manageable. Great way to enjoy Battletech at Company/Trinary level with all the different formations correctly interacting with each other.

[@oldschoolfrp2326]

Another use for a closet full of Heroscape hexes

[@1TimTheEnchanter1]

The more Battletech reports you upload the more tempted I am to buy some of those awesome mech minies. :-)

[@drubaccasnetwork9101]

Do it. It's a blast!

[@weirdslime262]

An Arrow IV urbie right off the bat, this is going to be a good watch.

[@mathewkelly9968]

So much better than 40k and just as rich background

[@alexradaxiankidd1300]

Great BatRep Ash, playing on the hexes looked really good. As many have suggested this looks ideal for 3D printing hex designed terrain with different "levels" so you can visualize it better

[@lorcannagle]

Of course, its usually the Grey Death who have a ton of infantry on their side, so this is an amusing turnaround

[@euansmith3699]

"He died doing what he loved" :D I love Owen's dry delivery.

[@samlam4598]

I've been playing BattleTech for 25 years and I've never even thought about trying to play miniatures rules on hex terrain. I'll definitely try this method shortly! Good video, Ash (and Owen)! :)

[@ShawnEnge]

Fantastic BatRep and love the mini's. I'm also ecstatic at how well the combined arms actually did - considering that is one of my favorite aspects of the franchise, not just giant stompy Robots. I can't wait for the next Bat Rep!

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Agreed on combined arms - way more fun.

[@john88benson]

Yay combined arms! I actually have a bunch of GHQ stuff I am kit bashing into BT proxies on my work table.

[@SpannSr1970]

Thanks Ash! Using my Dropzone Commander tanks for Alpha Strike. Like the hex idea.

[@danielmartinezmartinez441]

Every time I watch a good video of battletech, its a garanteed like and comment! Also I just want to suggest you to make another video about the new dystopian wars from warcradle. That game really got me intereted in!

[@agrayday7816]

Nice looking Mechs Ash!~ thanks for the Game. There are some cool movement dice you can buy in the DIY market that have all the required modifiers on each face depending on what your mech is doing. We have moved on from 2d hex. We use a grass or dirt plain hex map with 3d terrain. We also use the community Chaos Campaign rules when playing.

[@kierdalemodels]

Very tempted to try combined armed after watching this!👍

[@FutureTense10]

great match! gotta say i never had a great opinion on combined arms until after watching this match haha, terrain wise some of the dedicated BT channels use form risers under neoprene mats (non hexed) to create that elevation, maybe that will be what your looking for? cant wait to see the next match!!

[@rainmakerroar4014]

Locust as the missle boat. I cant wait for the explosions

[@tassadarc8069]

....Inner Sphere battle tactics. Any clan commander who would bid eight battlemechs against three puny urbanmechs and some light vehicles would be summarily put into the infantry brigades sent to die to absorb enemy ammunition! On a semi related note, I'm actually pretty sure that I've solo'd Owen's entire force in a medium mech at some point in Mechwarrior 3 and/or 4 at least once. A Madcat or a Marauder (my two favorite mechs in those games) could probably crush this force alone, at least in those games. Interesting to see how different it is in proper Battletech when pitting an all-mech force against a combined arms force.

[@peterpan5906]

Nice vid! Thanks for this! 🙌

[@richmcgee434]

5:40 Aw shucks, just a slip of the tongue. For a moment there I thought we were going to see the legendary 100-ton UrbanMackie, the true ancestor of all mechs. :)

[@FreeWill-84]

Steelwarrior studios has 3d hex terrain for BT. Makes it much easier to visualize height.

[@buellrichardson5222]

I really enjoyed the game. I played way back when and have recently started picking up Clan Mechs because I want to do a Spirit Cats force. I liked the 3D terrain and using the hexes reminds me of when I did play

[@TehSquare]

If you’re looking for hexed or hexless terrain, Thunderhead Studio has a bunch of designs in their Trinity City line that’s all made to be printed without supports. Really enjoyed seeing Alpha Strike on the hex mat, I’d never seen it played that way before.

[@lordcypher7922]

A great battle report thank you

[@BB-pn2qv]

This game looks amazing

[@Baetal]

Noticed owen couldnt shoot from urbie being behind , urbies are 360 fire arcs :) , great combined arms , ty both , stay safe :)

[@ArthurBugorski]

Keep these coming!

[@eisforelbowsmash]

Alpha Strike with hexes looks fun! I don't know if you do 3dprinting but Steel warrior studios sells some hex terrain STLs specifically for battletech. It looks a little weird but it's sized to battletech hex maps and so that mechs can balance upon any legal space to place them. My clubhouse has found it pretty great for playing on hex maps.

[@MonteKowalsky]

You had me at the thumbnail with an Arrow IV Urbie in it

[@williamtanner2166]

d12s look interesting! My son and I have been using the pilot die plus one die per potential damage point to determine hits. I do like the different color die to determine crits as well.

[@-Markus-]

Alpha hex! This looks so much fun!

[@c3rber3s00]

I got some nice 6mm infantry from Shapeways, I was able to mount 13 to a hex base, they are perfect scale for battletech!

[@zombiedad]

Liked it. It was interesting. 3D terrain would be great

[@Enderdragon91]

Ah yes, Snow Raven doesn't care who the buyer is, per usual

[@hawkfishdaniels7199]

I see those Tim Horton's cups! Whereabouts you from? Great watching your reports, restoking my decades old love for Battletech.

[@GuerrillaMiniatureGames]

Niagara!

[@pokepete3]

Love this game

[@Yummy1337Sauce]

I'm a simple man, I see a Nova, I give it a like (yes I know you're using it as a Blackhawk-KU, let me make my meme-y comment).

[@imbadwrench]

ever since I read the "new" rules related to using measuring devices instead of hex maps I felt like they were taking something from the game... But I think I would like to see a combination of using the HEX for mech movement and the ruler for weapons. I think it would allow some extra stupid variables to be added to the game without any complexity.

[@diegoreds]

Gray Death Legion was First Merc. Company to Defeat Clan Invasion on Planet of “Pandora,” using Losttech. “FoundTech,” (Battle Armor) “Grey Death Standard,” &! “Gray Death Scout,” they named it helped them Establish one of the Existing. Dominate Mercenary Company’s. Clan “HighLander,” (HGN -IOC-C) was Heavy Assault Mech Salvaged after that Battle.

[@RPGojira23]

Combined arms!? Really excited to see how this shakes up the gameplay. You may have mentioned it during the round-up of each side's forces, but where did Owen get his tanks and infantry from?

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

Great question

[@stevenmoebes1071]

It looks like the infantry from Death Ray Designs.

[@lujolonewolf]

@@stevenmoebes1071 but do those separate units have cards or something or do you make up the rules?

[@stevenmoebes1071]

@@lujolonewolf Yes. They have cards for almost every unit. If there are rules questions, then you can buy the Alpha Strike handbook/rule book.

[@lujolonewolf]

@@stevenmoebes1071 so tanks and vtols are in alpha strike but don’t actually have minis?

[@zosoknight]

Hexes are great for competitive games, but open table measuring is best for terrain and immersive games. It'd be great if as part of the resculpting process Catalyst had paid some attention to unit scale to fix their long standing issues in that regard, but again: if you're playing competitively use hex maps, if you're playing for fun use a ruler. Alpha strike on hex maps feels an awful lot like Warhammer Underworlds without the power cards.

[@Tigerheart01]

Where is everyone getting the tanks, infantry and helicopters?

[@shellbackbeau7021]

Sounds like time to 3d print some hex grids!

[@AdeptusRidiculous-2025]

Love it!

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

I like the idea of playing on maps because I don’t want to hassle with terrain.

[@Wonko-bj4jx]

What models are Owen using for the light SRM carrier? The look like perfect proxies for Striker Light Tanks.

[@tonystoyanov5462]

Seeing the Tim Hortons cup made me happy :)

[@dominicdwk]

I like your mods to the dice.

[@sebastiang.5032]

Super awesome armies, I just love the combined arms force. I've never heard about the dice variant you're using though, where'd you read about that?

[@rburt3]

I don't know if this is where Ashe got it, but there was a discussion about using D12's recently in the Alpha Strike section of the official forums and something like this came up.

[@GuerrillaMiniatureGames]

I put a big topic about the math up on Facebook as well and this is what we came to :)

[@kartoffelnpommesgut]

How does infantry works in alpha strike?

[@twinkzilla-5356]

Just out of curiosity, where did you guys get the combined arms miniatures you used?

[@lujolonewolf]

Where do I get infantry units, tanks and air units from? I’m new

[@UofTguy]

I'm curious how the D12 hit dice system compares to the 2d6 system. Can anyone with Btech experience shed some light on what to expect with this change? I like the way it looks and plays, but I'm concerned the game was built around a 2D6 system, so D12s may have some unintended effects on balance and gameplay.

[@rburt3]

Using D12's is a house rule and not any official optional rule. The probability curve is different and you'll hit way more on high TN's so it very much affects how the game plays.

[@danwalter2175]

Few thoughts: 1) he put a video out on d12s, so you can see his take 2) the "bell curve" (actually a pyramid) of 2d6 vs the linear d12. Odds on the fringes are heightened and suppressed in the middle. Example- a 12 on d12 is the same odds as 11 or 12 on 2d6. So, to get similar odds, you could flip a coin on 12s (1/24) or use a 5 or 6 on a followup d6 to represent the 2d6 12s odds. By comparison, the middle of the curve is suppressed. Rolls needing an 8 (5/12 on d12, 15/36 on 2d6) are the same odds, but needing a 7 (6/12 and 21/36) and 6 (7/12 vs 26/36) means that the d12 just draws things to hit faster in the mid range. The 2d6 mid range is better than d12 mid range. It would definitely speed up play, it would definitely cause more accurate shots, and the odds arent overly bad but over several games you'd get the sense of how much more you feel like you're hitting.

[@mrbigglezworth42]

How big was the map you were using to play? I've only got the paper sheets for Battletech/Alpha Strike to play with and am trying to gauge the best size to play a game.

[@horhevamp8890]

I prefer non hex version but this was actually very good... but yes, the terrain felt very... meh as its drawn on and you dont really feel the heights. I think the cool thing is that its mostly Hills and Forests... so you can easily create this terrain by doing the old school hills from Fantasy and stacking them to illustrare the levels.

[@phoen31]

the 3d terrain would make it a little more intuitive i agree.

[@wyrdhunter]

If you're going to be sticking to the premade neoprene hex maps why not just make some chunky polystyrene hills? The old 1" high per level if you want to go old school.

[@tragicthegarnering3619]

All i care about is urbanmechs

[@richmcgee434]

Well, they are all that really matters. The rest is just a sideshow.

[@c3rber3s00]

Where did you get your behemoths from? And the helicopters/stands?

[@GuerrillaMiniatureGames]

Owen found the tanks online somewhere. The stands are old spare Dropzone ones!

[@8triagrammer]

Being that Heavy Gear Blitz 3.0 is due out next month can you please do a batrep of that?

[@GuerrillaMiniatureGames]

Links?

[@davidpastor6749]

You can play Alpha Strike whit hexagons? Where i can get the rules whit hex?

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

It’s in the commanders edition of The rules

[@bshean72]

Where did you find that many D12 the same colour?

[@GuerrillaMiniatureGames]

I ordered them from Amazon! Cheap and easy!

[@AdeptusRidiculous-2025]

If you use green on green, then yur playing it right, otherwise why would you use camo?

[@armtdawg]

Where are the stats coming from for the vehicles, helicopters and infantry?

[@GuerrillaMiniatureGames]

Master Unit List

[@last2nkow]

i thought turning cost a point of movement?

[@pccleric]

Is using the d12 an alpha strike thing?

[@RecklessFables]

It is not part of AS. But it is a popular mod.

[@richmcgee434]

Mechs are fine, but souldn't you be doing some more Gamma Wolves batrep vids? I've been looking forward to watching Owen break the game somehow. :)

[@benfranzen9974]

Definitely need some more gamma wolves content! Loving that game!

[@miguelsalgueiro7429]

Where did you get that hex map?

[@GuerrillaMiniatureGames]

It’s the official ones from Catalyst!

[@CrankyOldGamer]

Poopin out infantry lol

[@vladzignus2069]

It isn't a good idea to roll d12 instead of 2d6.

[@alexhunt7810]

unless I'm miscalculating these forces are wildly imbalanced

[@RecklessFables]

I've been trying to figure that out. Not sure what the cost on the transports are. Need to take notes on a rewatch

[@RecklessFables]

The helicopters carry a platoon and also roll three attack value on a shot to the rear.

[@benjaminpearce200]

Wish you guys would do an actual step by step rather than a game because a lot gets lost in translation.

[@nathanburg]

was jazzed till i saw the terrible hexmaps

[@pelmen1294]

Why is it that when a good unit is featured its always crapstrike or destiny. someone please do battletech.

[@bigboi7817]

Trying to get a feel for 3d terrain features on a 2d map is always annoying