How to play Battletech in 15 Minutes

[@sea_triscuit7980]

My brother and I split a pack we saw just as an out of the blue thing. We remember playing Mech Assault growing up and couldn't believe it when I saw an Archer Mech in the pack. I looked it up and was pleasantly surprised to find they're actually from the same universe

[@RisingApe]

I came to it from the tabletop side and was pleasently surprised to discover there were really good computer games out there too, so it works both ways.

[@sea_triscuit7980]

@@RisingApe it's awesome when a universe is loved by both types of gamers haha. I was an avid Warhammer 40k player for 8th and early 9th edition and I love how Battletech is played completely differently and actually allows a bit more strategy rather than cheese haha

[@RisingApe]

@@sea_triscuit7980 yeh, for sure 👌

[@bruced648]

the Battletech rabbit hole can be as shallow or deep as you like. you can keep it simple with just mech v mech combat. or you can add in a variety of unit types; infantry, armor, vtol, aero, artillery and/or spacecraft. as you pick apart the lore, you learn that it's timeline based from today thru year 3150. era's: 2107-2550 age of expansion and war (first battlemech 2449) 2550-2781 starleague 2785-3050 succession wars 3050-3068 clan invasion and civil war 3068-3085 jihad 3080-3150+ Republic of the sphere 3130+ dark age 3150+ ilclan the simple rule of thumb - early tech is still available and usable in later era's. the TRO (tech read out) is numbered for the year that the listed items were available in large numbers. thus, you would not find 3050 tech in the year 2750. but your 2750 tech is available in every era moving forward.

[@goawayihavecommentstomake1488]

I think it’s a little weird the clans were only away 250 years but came back and could have crushed the inner sphere if not for their silly rules

[@bruced648]

​@goawayihavecommentstomake1488 because battletech is based upon a timeline with multiple events happening simultaneously, the innersphere and clans evolved differently. the Kerenski exodus begins the clan timeline. 2785 the exodus fleet consisting of approximately 80% of the starleague defense force, techs and families, leave the innersphere. they have the absolute best equipment of the starleague era. 2815 the clan society is officially formed by Nicholas Kerenski. it's a caste system with warriors being the highest status. during the next 200 years, they made improvements to the starleague technology. the innersphere was in complete turmoil from 2788 until the clans arrived in 3049. the first succession war - the houses used thier fleets of warships and militaries to attempt to take the position of first lord. when that didn't work... the second succession war involved massive destruction of primary worlds by nuke and chemical/biological weapons. things slowed down considerably and yet nobody was first lord... the third succession war, the houses turned to mercenary forces and border skirmishes. this was the majority of the 3rd war. the houses held the regular military forces for primary objectives, but mostly used hired units. the fourth succession war was different. it was short lived and significant changes to the balance of power occurred. in addition, the Helm memory core was made available to everyone. this began an arms race to redevelop the 'lostech' of the starleague. while the clans spent thier time making a society and improvements to the equipment, the innersphere bombed themselves almost back to the stone age. thus, you have the different timelines that are advancing at the same time. not to mention Comstar, the periphery, the spy forces and many other things going on.

[@colby1398]

​@@goawayihavecommentstomake1488They weren't gone very long, but the Inner Sphere managed to war and nuke themselves into a technological dark age, being worse off by the time the Clans came back than they were before they left in the first place.

[@jonathanj.3695]

I honestly like the idea that you can easily turn this game from a series of small, quick, 1 hour long skirmishes into a full-scale, years long war.

[@bruced648]

@jonathanj.3695 I'm wrapping up a 6 month campaign that involved 8 players. it combines both standard rules and Mechwarrior 2nd ed rpg. they completed 15 missions and had several interesting events. two characters are even wanted for murder. the final missions is a resue operation in a city. the players forces consist of 2 companies (22 mechs, plus armor and infantry). the opposition forces has a battalion (45 mechs). this will take us 6 to 7 hours to complete. the next campaign will involve the exploration of a starleague base that had been quarantine for 200 years. this can easily involve multiple faction forces.

[@plindsey986]

i LOVE the harebrained schemes battletech game but have never played tabletop before. this is super helpful and makes it seem way less intimidating!

[@RisingApe]

Good, that was the point, it’s a great game and it’s not as complicated as it seems

[@geekfreak69]

Fabulous tutorial on BATTLETECH

[@horsefeathers5745]

This was tremendously helpful, thank you for putting this together!

[@RisingApe]

You are welcome, I love Battletech and happy to do something to help the community, more BT content on the way

[@Himle_]

While I don't know if I/we're ever going to play BT, the video was clear and easy to understand. :) That said, I do have some mechs in my paint queue.

[@jamesdwyer2631]

Aye, I appreciate you watching it even if it’s not your jam, I have more of the usual content coming too, so don’t worry. Appreciate it as always 🙌

[@6Stevo]

This was really helpful. I am just about to get into Battletech for the first time. The looks really fun.

[@RisingApe]

Awesome, really glad you liked it

[@galicredstone]

Great video fella. Thank you! I'm a returning player having played decades ago when the world was young. Excellent summary. Of course, anything spoken with a British accent adds 10 points of credibility ;-)

[@RisingApe]

Ha, thanks, of course if you are American having a British accent makes you a villain 😂

[@iansaxon1987]

Thank you for this, clear and straightforward.

[@RisingApe]

You’re welcome

[@ataraxiapainting]

Very useful video!! Thanks!!

[@RisingApe]

Awesome, glad you liked it, cheers for watching

[@discoepfeand]

This was very accessible. Thank you!

[@caalsigo]

I would like to add the Mech Factory app to the list of useful things to have. Gives you access to info on pretty much every unit in the game, from infantry to warships, both alpha strike and classic battletech record sheets, and even includes a virtual record sheet so you can track a game without the need of paper sheets

[@RisingApe]

Nice, thanks for the heads up

[@WolfHreda]

It's also got a pretty nice unit editor for customizing your own mechs and such.

[@frithkin]

Love the cardboard cutout mechs thaey where cool and what prompted me to subscribe to your channel .

[@RisingApe]

Excellent, BT doesn’t need to be complicated, just fun

[@punishedfink]

Good 3rd party source for record sheets is soloris skunk works. But if you buy the box set it has really everything you need even hex maps.

[@RisingApe]

I grabbed mine from Catalyst and have been impressed at how useful they have been. But yes you don’t need anything more if you just grab a box. Cheers for commenting

[@j453]

Great vid man. Thank you so much 😊👍

[@RisingApe]

No worries

[@r0mc0mmedy]

Thanks for the video! I dont plan on playing yet, or purchasing as I am 13, though when I am older I do plan to get it, I take huge interest in the BattleTech Universe, and I play MechWarrior 5 and MechWarrior Online, and in the future the BattleTech Video Game. So this helps a ton!

[@RisingApe]

You’re welcome, honestly if you want to get started in the hobby you could do it for around £20, (or even free if you make them yourself)

[@colbyboucher6391]

The trouble & frustration with "TRO-like" mech stats like the Master Unit List (past the intro rules) is they don't actually tell you everything. How many heat sinks are there? Are any in the legs? Where's the ammo? And even if you did have that you'd need to fill out blank sheets yourself. So personally I suggest grabbing the full version of MegaMek (a true PC conversion of the tabletop rules), loading your units up in the mechlab and using the print option to get a proper record sheet. Or just buy the Succession Wars record sheet pack for the sake of convenience. Saves time in the end.

[@RisingApe]

💯I would grab the official record sheets packs, they are available as PDFs and have all the info you need. Personally I find MegaMek too confusing to use, but I haven’t spent much time with it.

[@WELSHMIKEY]

Late to this video but very well explained. Thank you.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@bentwineham1986]

This is really useful. Only confusion is the hexes vs tape measuring. Presumably you map the movement points and weapon ranges onto inches or cm etc?

[@RisingApe]

Exactly this, I usually do a direct port so 1” for 1 hex

[@bentwineham1986]

@@RisingApe ah, right. Solves alot of potential extra trouble in playing with what I have😅Thanks for the quick reply!

[@RisingApe]

No worries, hexes are more convenient BUT with the tape measure you can use literally whatever you have which is excellent

[@tinshedgames9310]

Well worth the effort. You made it easy to follow. Personally I've not touched Battle Tech for decades. Having watched the video. I think you style of video would really benefit a look at a miniatures agnostic game where you focus on recycling people's existing 40k collections for a different mythos.Rather than completely new collections (Especially as budgets are getting tighter,and a new rule set is more affordable and energising than starting from scratch.) It's still very interesting to see different game systems,and more importantly the diversity of the hobby space. However no one really seems to want to cover ways of bridging from GW products to indie .It always seems to be a binary response. That requires quite an investment in time and hobby budget. It can be quite debilitating to see that exploring new genre's can require a three figure investments just to dip your toe in. Whilst it's enjoyable watching your personal journey and hobby interests. I do think your approach,and that of Mr Shy, are well suited to exploring and subsequently sign posting.such adventure outside of the Warhammer world.

[@jamesdwyer2631]

Hi thanks for the really well though out response, that is why I like Battletech tbh very little investment, I have spent perhaps £50 on all my stuff now, but that does involve using printed minis. So to keep costs the same you would need to use proxies. I personally haven’t found a game system I love yet, but honestly I don’t have much time to actually play so don’t feel I am set up as a game reviewer. For me BT is a pick up and play type game, it looks crazy complicated but it isn’t.

[@tinshedgames9310]

Sorry James, I didn't mean to imply a game review. Video such as this are very helpful and informative. Reflecting an individual journey and the personal enjoyment of a new topic. In that sense it's a little binary. As it's a switch from one topic to another. With new rules and new miniatures. Which is absolutely fine, and a natural progression of anyone's hobby.In it's self interesting and entertaining to watch. That transaction of changing a rule system and mythos is what we do. But what is often overlooked is a gradual transition of experimenting with new systems which allow you to use your existing 40k or Sigmar (for example)miniature collections .So you can game in different ways .Without the need to invest in new miniatures. That in itself is an interesting journey which is often a gateway to the world outside the high street franchises. As I mentioned I've not touched BT for decades. ( I'm aware it's changed considerably) but the mechanics of mech building were off putting. I must admit the part in the video marking hits on the leg. Reminded me of playing Battleships . BT is a rather a good alternative to show case . In all honesty if I was going to try it myself I'd build scratch build proxies as BT mech's lend themselves to scratch building with cereal packet card and cocktail sticks. That sounds a bit smug. But it's not as I sculpt miniatures for my shilling. For me Everything I look at tends just to break down into shapes inside my noggin. Then after a few hours muffled and muttered profanities plus a little superglue they're back into a miniature. So knocking up a proxy isn't an issue. It's often how I try a new system. Before I invest in the miniatures themselves ( I'm still a sucker for shiny new lead.)

[@Kaiju-Driver]

Super useful! Tanks!

[@RisingApe]

Glad it was helpful!

[@canned_meatz7558]

Thank you so much def gonna use this before my next game. Did our first one wrong xD aiming was way too easy.

[@Kaiju-Driver]

Great stuff!

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@malrex0mari]

Lovely Video!

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@Jay-ql4gp]

Test your Luck! lol That takes me back to my Fighting Fantasy days. Great video!

[@RisingApe]

🙏 I appreciate that

[@ghoster_toaster]

I love this video!!!

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@erickmain]

Well that placement of the subscribe ask was perfectly placed.

[@RisingApe]

Did it work though 😉

[@erickmain]

@@RisingApe absolutely!!

[@RisingApe]

@@erickmain thanks!

[@The_Fr3d0x]

Nice video, thank you :) Subscribed

[@RisingApe]

Thanks 🙏

[@eopatcjo]

Doing the Lord's work

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@Solon_The_Lich]

Hey Thank You for the video, Hail Cargonia!

[@RisingApe]

Thanks 🙏

[@geekfreak69]

I’ve shared on social media websites

[@RisingApe]

Thanks so much, glad you liked it

[@jonathanj.3695]

The one thing that I've always loved about this game over games like Warhammer 40K, is the fact that the lore and combat are actually pretty realistic. Battletech never really steps into the realm of straight fantasy. There's no magic, demons or Star Wars-like Force powers. It's just bullets, missiles, bombs and lasers.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh I love the BT lore, just real people surviving but with giant robots!

[@yusriyahbagheri8843]

Yeah and the fact the game likes its players and respects their money. 40k is fun lore wise but omg it's expensive. I know a man who spent $300 on an army and in a year it made unusable. Battle tech just has your game type your "mech" which it tells you can even just be a potato chip and the papers. You can play the whole damn thing for free if you really want. The lore is pretty cool, and the gameplay is fun... On a hex map for me.

[@robertraine6045]

whats scale terrain do you use

[@RisingApe]

its a mix of 28mm where is makes sense and 10mm. some of it is custom. I can't tak ecredit for most of it though it's from the wonderful folks at Factorum.

[@KageRyuu6]

Megamek!

[@Jenalgo]

You kept saying "...roll 2D6" but didn't explain what that means. You phrased it like an instruction, but showed a hand rolling dice (which is governed by luck). Aside from this everything was clear and helpful. Good job.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks, roll 2 D6 simply means roll two dice with 6 sides. It’s the classic trap of assuming people know the lingo, apologies.

[@voodoochild1975az]

Coming back to it after a bit of a break.... I think I last played in '94 ;) Happy with the state of the game in 2023 however. The beginner box was a great onramp, helped me teach two new players. The main box is a great value. The miniatures are better quality than I ever remember them being.... BattleTech seems to be thriving right now.

[@RisingApe]

It really is, come March the next major release will happen too. It’s just a very fun game to play.

[@kalnaren]

Good video with great production quality. I'm curious as to why you didn't actually use the BT movement rules, however. The ones you're presenting aren't the rules for either BattleTech or Alpha Strike.

[@RisingApe]

Hey, thanks, I worked hard on production. Ref the movement it’s a funny one, as this is the way I usually play it at my LGS, I am no pro at battletech though so it appears it might be an oddity (I did send early copies of the video to 3 BT pros though including one who is on the USA demo team and a BT mod. And they didn’t flag it.) to explain my reasoning not everyone has access to hex mats/ hex terrain so playing hexless is one way of making the game more accessible. The movement though (correct me if I am wrong) is the same as hex based movement ie move forward, turn move etc the only difference is using a tape measure to measure in inches rather than counting hexes. Personally I like hexes and have a mat on order to use in future content but I wanted to make something a beginner could play on their dining table if they needed to. Appreciate the comment and would be interested in your thoughts

[@kalnaren]

@@RisingApe Makes sense. The current 3 boxes (Beginner Box, A Game of Armoured Combat, and Clan Invasion) all come with hex mats, so if a newbie is starting there, they have mats. That's actually my preferred way to play as it's far more portable than 3D terrain (and I suck at modelling LOL). The only other comment is that you have the mechs facing the point on the base, rather than the flat, treating the corner as the front. This is fine if everyone is on the same page and will work fine if you're not using hex mats. However it will cause significant problems playing on a hex grid as it won't be possible for a mech to move directly forward or backwards (or you'll have to be very vigilant about which flat is the "front"). Overall these are somewhat minor things and movement is one of the less complicated aspects of the game. It's great you managed to get the rest down in 15 minutes. One of the best things about BT is that - despite the abundance of rules - it's really quite a casual game so you can generally use whatever little rules modifications work well for your gaming circle.

[@RisingApe]

Oh I know! Someone pointed that out, literally every other mech I have is mounted normally 🙄, and that Banshee is mounted point first, as you say not an issue if you allow for it but in this case I just didn’t notice! 3 other people proofed the video too and none of us did 😂. Getting it under 15 minutes was challenging but it was the main reason I made the video. There just wasn’t anything else concise out there.

[@Camboprime]

@@RisingApe just a note: the standard conversion from Hexes to Inches in hexless play is 2" per hex. (it used to be in the end of total warfare, or most of the core books). The actual measurements are 1 hex = 1.25" flat to flat, or 1.44" point to point, the conversion rounds to 2". it makes physicals in hexless easier to deal with. But as long as everyone plays by the same rules, it usually works out.

[@RisingApe]

@@Camboprime thanks Cam, I think that’s the best thing about BT, it can be flexible, as long as you run through and agree at the beginning and everyone is happy. It’s all good. But I appreciate the correction

[@tramainecbaynes1364]

Cool video.

[@RisingApe]

Thank you, appreciate that

[@gamerhalim4717]

If we paint it the figure, was no problem to choose our color or must fallow it? Lore.

[@RisingApe]

Lore colours will be instantly recognised but I have my own scheme and there is a lot of love for your own narrative so the answer is, you choose either is fine

[@gamerhalim4717]

@@RisingApe terima kasih infonya 🙏

[@siveriumvelkepan9421]

What kind of pen is that, is the surface laminated?

[@RisingApe]

Yeh for sure, just print the sheets and laminate them, then use a dry wipe marker

[@siveriumvelkepan9421]

Thank you very much!

[@indi4091]

What's a good online platform for this RPG table top battle tech, either an official product or something that fans have put together, wheres the greatest amount of players?

[@RisingApe]

Mega Mek is well supported, and I believe TTS is well supported too. I don’t have any personal experience of either I am afraid

[@indi4091]

@@RisingApe MegaMek didn't require steam ifi recall correctly, so it seems like a better platform, if it has a good base of players to play with

[@tabletopacademy]

Yes, you can learn how to field Mechs in 15 minutes, but this is just a scatch on the upside of the rules. To win a battletech game takes a little bit longer

[@RisingApe]

Oh 💯 no substitute for playing the game

[@diarmuidkelly2512]

Never expected to learn a tabletop game from captain price-

[@RisingApe]

I have no idea who that is but… thank you??

[@diarmuidkelly2512]

@@RisingApe A character from black ops that you sound exactly like, and yes, it was a compliment, also, great tutorial!

[@RisingApe]

@@diarmuidkelly2512 in that case, double thanks

[@papaversomniferum5247]

If there is more than one ad ima be pissed…

[@jarnofski3123]

what is the music you use?

[@RisingApe]

Which part of the video? I use 5 tracks in this video, all my music is from Epidemic, but happy to tell you the artist/track

[@viklasthemad]

So... where's this "stripped down version of the rulebook for free?" Followed link, I think maybe they removed it?

[@RisingApe]

Sorry about that, but I found another on for you via Google. static1.squarespace.com/static/5e5f11b6a6b48b3ae5c4ee36/t/5e69a64e3d430e6e35ad7fda/1583982189894/CAT3500D+BattleTech+A+Game+of+Armored+Combat+Rulebook.pdf

[@perisdahl569]

Classic BT is played on hexes.

[@RisingApe]

You can play it both ways, and if you do it without hexes you have more options to play on different tables. But yes you are right

[@MrBeenReadyy]

This guy has got to be realted or from the same city as James Smith PT

[@RisingApe]

Nope I’m just me, what city is James Pt from?

[@MrBeenReadyy]

@@RisingApe I just looked and he’s from Winkfield Australia but lives in Sydney. You guys have a very similar cadence and word choice as well as a similar facial structure. Very concise and informative way of making content is an another thing you have in common! Thanks for making this video!

[@Snippersly]

Ummm... Thats not the torso you're coloring in...

[@andyp2004]

I HAVE THE SAME MOUSEPAD OF THE WORLD HAHAHAHA

[@RisingApe]

It’s a classic

[@andyp2004]

@@RisingApe i’ve only seen my cousin have it and that’s why i got it, that’s very interesting

[@MrGabino8000]

Just like Warhammer 40K, I just love buying the miniatures to paint them. Not a big fan of actually playing the game.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh the issue is it takes so long eh!

[@missjayspeechley9213]

Where's the hexmap? It's not Classic Battletech without the hexmap. You can't do a video teaching "How to play Battletech" if straight away, you are changing rules. Either do a proper how to, where you teach the proper rules for the game, or don't bother at all.

[@RisingApe]

If you are starting you may not have a he. Map this is an alternative that doesn’t require a hex map that can be played on any table with a minor mod. If you have a hex map you just use that instead and it’s simpler again.

[@xxxlonewolf49]

HEX's! None of this "measure crap like wargaming" nonsense.

[@2-Corrupt]

Too fuckin complicated for no reason lol

[@RisingApe]

The video or the game?

[@Veheloth]

you failed to mention master unit list isnt reliable and is currently shut down due to not paying their bills or not paying for viewer account tiers. otherwise known as not legit.

[@RisingApe]

Sadly this is a new issue and KZbin doesn’t allow edits to be made to posted videos. I believe it is being worked on.