"Battletech/Alpha Strike: units running behind each other?" Topic

I played Battletech/Alpha Strike for the first time yesterday. (Alpha Strike is a simplified, fast version of Battletech.) After rolling for initiative, players alternate moving their mechs. Since you cannot be shot by a mech that you are behind, and you do more damage from rear shots, directly behind a mech is optimal placement. With a dozen mechs a side, many times in our fight, there were 3 or 4 mechs lined up behind each other to get the best shooting position.
This looks and feels very stupid but I was told by a very experienced BT player that this situation is how BT is usually played.
Any thoughts on this or possible solutions?

Well, if the rules allow for something and it's clearly advantageous, most players will do it, why wouldn't they?

Keep in mind that BT horizontally scaled. Each imaginary hex is 30 meters across so even if it looks like the mechs all stand in one long row chest to back, there is actually a lot of empty space in between and they might not really be standing exactly where they do on the tabletop, but rather somewhere in the imaginary 30-metre hex. That means that all units don't block line of sight (apart from things like dropships).

The way to deal with these situations could be to set traps for the enemy: let them go into one mech's blind zone, then in turn position your units inside THEIR blind zones and blast them.
In the end, IIRC shooting a mech in the back deals one damage point more, so it's not that much if you don't have too many light mechs. I only ever played AS's precursor QuickStrike two times, both times with 12 vs 12 mechs, and only occasionally would one unit try to take advantage of the bonus backside damage, because often it meant going right into the middle of the opposing army, becoming a prime target. I can't imagine being such a big issue really :)

Heavy Gear had the same problem. Mechs would loop around their target to get that additional +2 to hit (or is it -2 to defend).

The best way to deal with it is to have a mech standing in short range behind the front line so that it will get a shot off at the back of the targeting mech.

I used to do it all the time (hangs head)

Move by lance instead of by individual mechs.

artillery or swarm rounds. or bring in air attacks the first 2 hit clumps of hexs, the third a line of hexs. (or used too ), or keep a couple of heavy or assault weight mechs a way behind the front line so that if people try it you can really make them hurt. or use the arm flip rule ( makes the rifleman, banshee, and warhammer nasty as they can still directly behind themselves.

I wouldn't call it 'usual' play, but it can be a situation that pops up when you have a lot of units in close with enough movement to take advantage of the blind spots. Part of the tactical fun is where the losing play puts their vulnerable rear since this affects the enemy's options on placement, movement expended, terrain, etc.

You need to have tongue in cheek when playing BT, FASA made a fun game, but a terrible simulation. :-)
--
TAZ

This also tends to only happen when fairly close up; larger play areas and longer-range optimized mechs will cut down down on this a lot.

-Will

In the end, IIRC shooting a mech in the back deals one damage point more, so it's not that much if you don't have too many light mechs.

I guess Alpha Strike doesn't have different armor for the rear torso like CBT does?

The Piranha light mech was brutal, with a dozen MGs on a Clan 20ton chassis. Stupidly fast.

But yeah, a lot of the maneuvering in BT is to get a shot at your opponent's weakest armor. Just like real life.

It's been several decades since I played Battletech but I seem to remember that there are some Mechs that had rear firing weapons, the Archer for one. And mechs can do torso turns, so you could get off some arm weapon shots sometimes, and if you are lucky with the arcs, even get their hits on your sides instead of your back.

When I was testing my Minimech rules, I had similar mechanics. In the tight confines of a city, it just turned into jumping behind a mech and shooting into their back. I got rid of facing and damage bonus for back shots.

OP is talking about Alpha Strike, not normal BT.

If a player moves tactically – especially by Lance – there's almost no way an enemy mech can get in a rear position; and if they do they tend to be the target of 2-3 other mechs.

Alpha Strike's rules really tend to reward players who think tactically with other mechs providing support and covering fire. When a player starts running his mechs all over the place like they're all superheroes on crack, they find out really fast that just two or three salvos from a bog standard medium mech will put that lone 'skirmisher' down.

If you advance your mechs like a Nappy firing line they'll get outflanked and rear-shotted. They should be providing each other covering fire… and of course use light mechs to assist your Assaults (cover their rear) and spot for your LRM boats. Medium jumpers are also great to provide flanking support. Alpha Strike really makes it hard for the ol' Battletech Conga Line to work.

Try playing it with unit tactics. You should always have a mech to cover that lead mech, he's pretty much being used as a decoy. Think of it in terms of tactics used by fighter pilots, the ideal attack is to get into the blind spot. Always jinking and turning for advantages over the other, although with Battletech it's kind of hard to imagine plodding type mechs to be doing this.

The zippy type mechs like in Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles this would seem to be the norm. It's the anime influences after all. Battletech they're more of walking tanks, so you're wanting to use tank tactics.

The dice gods have taken care of this for me the one time I tried it….
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In Silent Death we called it the Conga Line of Death.

It was the first tactic we learned but as we got better, it didin't occur so often.