"Battletech: Conventional Forces vs. Mechs" Topic

Tried a bit of an experiment this past week. I wanted to see how an all conventional force would do against a lance of Battlemechs in Classic BT. We'll call it a "learning experience".

link

Any thoughts on how I might have better constructed my force?

Nice, looks like a really fun game and the strongly asymmetrical forces makes for an interesting challenge.

I can't help but root for whoever brings infantry to a Battletech game :-)

Great AAR. Thanks for posting.

Great report. I think your lessons learned was pretty accurate and your force setup seemed reasonable.

-Will

One of the best games of BT i ever played was a mech force against an all tank/infantry force.

A good report and great analysis.

Now see how much each force cost

Nice board and models, even if yellow is not really a low-vis color !

I always have a bit of a conundrum with Mechs/Titans/60ft tall walking machines. They always come off to me like being "targets". Anything that tall will have a bit of a hard time hiding in open or even mixed terrain.

Regardless, I think you should of had more heavy armor/FA that could have taken a lot of long range shots. And I would have sat behind cover and just blasted away as the Mechs tried to advanced. And I'd have done similarly with the Infantry making sure they had a lot of long range missile launchers type weapons. The CAS is always a good idea. Let him come to you and blast away with every step … My 2

Next time, your infantry should bring more Mechs. Oh, wait…

Really nice board! Some arty might have helped.

Thanks guys.

Haven't tried artillery yet, but it indeed would have helps. Bombs on my air support would also have improved the situation.

Legion 4 – My choice of yellow is very much RP – these guys are part of a force known for brashness, one which wants its enemies to know who they are… ok, it's just an excuse to make them look nice. But yeah, giant robots – yellow or camo, makes no difference.

More armor would have helped. Should have replaced some of the air assets, but frankly I wanted to try a bit of everything. But the way the rules work in Battletech, range for infantry weapons are pretty short, so they can't do much until they're really in the thick of it.

Tons of fun though – I love playing the underdog in asymmetrical fights.

Yeah, I enjoyed reading about the battle. But you brought a scalpel to a gun fight. More armor is mandatory. Use cover and shoot and scoot. Force the mechs to get close to buildings. Have your infantry use the cover then attack. Air assets can be good. But they are VERY fragile. I think you may want to look at the large scale BT set called Alpha Strike. Combined arms will probably work better there.

Thanks,

John

Thanks John – I learned some serious lessons exactly those things.

I've played Alpha Strike, but my buddy is not such a fan, and I too tend to prefer the feel of the classic game. I want to try some combined arms in Alpha Strike for comparison at some point though.

As for air assets, I felt that the Sparrowhawk was quite durable for such a cheap unit. The Mechbuster… not so much. I'm painting up a Stuka for use soon, and that one is a BEAST.

Legion 4 – My choice of yellow is very much RP – these guys are part of a force known for brashness, one which wants its enemies to know who they are… ok, it's just an excuse to make them look nice. But yeah, giant robots – yellow or camo, makes no difference.

Yeah, I'm just a fan of Tac/Camo colors … I'm old fashioned …

Yellow mechs, obviously painted for combat on a yellow-soiled/foliaged planet!

They look great!