Three Types of People

  
There are three types of people in this world, those who can count, and those who can't! Sorry I couldn't help myself. Seriously though, Steve Williams, otherwise known as Typhoon, argued that there are three types of people who are fans of BattleTech:

1. The ones who play for the Battlemechs.

2. The ones who play for the background of the universe.

3. And the ones who play for a combination of the two above.

When he wrote this last year I went away and thought about where I stood in this scheme of things. At the time I thought I might be a three, but acknowledged that I started as a one, and it is only recently that I've gotten more into the background of the verse.

However, I'm not sure that this is even true. I think that people's views evolve and are not static, at least mine are. Though I would admit that some beliefs I have are strongly tied into my personality traits, which have been described both as passionate and assertive. Alternatively, I've been described as artistic and highly strung, even been described as a loose cannon, which is a bit scary.

So here is me being me and looking at my passion for BattleTech. The reason that I still play BattleTech to this day, inspite of a 13 plus year break while I got on with the rest of my life, is that it feeds my imagination. Well, more correctly Science Fiction has always fed my imagination, and BattleTech is SF, and even though this is perilously close to a circular argument, the point is that in the original BattleTech universe the battlemechs had changed the rules of warfare.

That of all the things about BattleTech was the one thing that drew me to the game. I don't care that the idea of giant walking battle mecha makes no sense, because for me idea being played with was the "what if they did?" The background also had the romance of knights in armour fighting against the end of civilisation was, if totally wrong in so many ways, utterly romantic. A world where the darkness has fallen and the people strive to survive against the odds has certain charming opportunities those who like to play games with the great what if?

Given this position, I find it easy to accept that I don't fit the classic BattleTech player profile, because I will gladly admit to running with the ideas I like, and leaving the ones I don't for others to enjoy. Unfortunately, the downside of such an attitude is that I question everything, and will tinker with rules and stuff as I see fit, which means that I don't always see eye-to-eye with more conservative players, whatever they play. So for me it is all about being able to use my imagination to create my own stories of war, betrayal and honour. I guess I'm just one of the people in the world who can't count!
   

10 Days Later

Well it has been 10 days since the last post, and I really do have loads to write about, but not necessarily the time to do the topics, rants, or musings justice.

So this entry is kind of a note to myself... I must write about Typhoon's 3 kinds of Battletech players, a draft has been sitting waiting for me to get around to finishing it for quite some time.

Brown Water Navies. I love them so much I built a set of riverine delta terrain boards after all. More on terrain and trees.

A piece called Little Big Mechs, which was a combination of Battleforce and Battletech rules I wrote (back in the day) that used miniatures too. Needs a lot of updating to fit in with the current rules, as otherwise it is very much a historical piece.

Something on OSR, which I'm interpreting as Old School Retread! More miniature stuff, but I'm going to have a rethink about what I write to support the pictures? Anything else I can think of?

Commenting on stuff I've read on the blogs that I follow. Which is well interesting, and thought provoking stuff that wets the creative juices. For instance Rocketpunk's manifesto "Space Warfare Could everything we know be wrong?". Or, ScrapYard Armoury's "Chaos Campaign: Mechwarrior Conversion". And I really must find the time to post a comment or two on The Battletech Reader blog, a must for fans of Battletech TROs. I mustn't forget to also write about the New hardback editions of Battletech, inspired by "Rules I like" that appeared on Wargaming for Grown-ups.

After that find time to check out all my followers blogs, make comments, and still do my 9-to-5 job, spend time with my partner (who is injured as we speak), paint miniatures etc., etc. No time to say hello, goodbye, I'm late, I'm late...
    

Not Quite BattleTech

   

I got up today with the intention of painting and making a variety of things that are sitting on my work bench waiting to be done. For instance I have for industrial mechs that I'm making up as "technicals" for games of BattleTech where one side has really rubbish mechs, because let's be frank and honest here, industrial mechs suck. However, I quite like the idea of campaigns where you have to put down a local uprising, or have to lead a revolution against conventional forces with whatever you have to hand.

This kind of segues into a rant about wargamers only wanting to play what are seen as somehow fair, or at least balanced games, which is fair enough I suppose as we are wargaming, not actually carrying out acts of war. I was thinking in bed last night, as one does when one is about to fall off to sleep, about wargames as games versus simulations. A debate that comes up time and again in the press, on forums and in conversations with one's mates.

You know the argument I mean. Point systems versus balanced play debated against the background of linked scenarios versus pick up games, and whether it is fairer to have randomised armies versus picked armies that exploit the rules etc. I can see it now, Napoleon Bonaparte standing at Waterloo saying " zat Vellington chap is awfully nice and we should have a good clean fair fight to zee oou iz ze best generalé?" Or Wellington looking back across the field and saying that Boney is a fine chap, let's give him a warm welcoming hand. Actually I could imagine Wellington saying something like that, nothing like understated British humour in a tight spot!

IMNSHO, I've find myself thinking that all the games we are playing about war are first and foremost games, and rarely simulate reality in any shape or form, though they can have rules that allow for the game to produce outcomes that mimic historical processes. I'm not a military person, but I have some family who have been, and know quite a few other former soldiers too. This doesn't really qualify me to have an opinion as such, but I will quote the general consensus that military people convey to me. Hobby wargames can be useful, but they are not simulating warfare as such.

Having been out with military personnel on a few occasions getting an introduction to TEWTs (Tactical Exercises Without Troops), and having participated in light infantry training exercises for a number of years through playing a Live Action Role Playing game that has a high number of former military personnel who play, I know what I do, I do for a couple of hours of fun. What real soldiers do is spend hours of their lives bored by stuff, punctuated by moments of sheer adrenaline rush when the shit hits the fan.

Anyway, what I've learnt from my time hanging around soldiers and having fun, is that when you go into a fight the last thing you want is fair. Fair leads to a lot of Blue team casualties. What you want is at least 4 to 1 odds in your favour so that you can mallet the opposition good and proper. If you should find find yourself in the unenviable position of being out numbered, then dig in, because then they will need at least 4 to 1 odds to steam roller over you.

So, when I see people moan about players who stack the odds in their odds, I do sympathise, but I see it as a natural predilection of human being desire to survive, which is probably inappropriately focused when it come to playing games, but which makes perfect sense from a Darwinian perspective. Perhaps the secret for writing really good rules is to factor this need in and have systems that allow for the natural tendencies of the player to minimize their risks, and maximize their benefits?

So to sum up. I can't remember a game I played for hours with boring stuff that ends in a few minutes of total adrenaline overload, not even the ones where I've been on training exercises with soldiers simulating a field exercise. And why would I spend hours of my life doing something that bores me? I have a job that can do most of that, and I get paid for the boredom, and when it get really exciting, as in oh my god someone might die kinda way, then I'm still getting paid for doing my job. Wargames OTOH are generally some enjoyable hours spent with a few mates playing a game, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Oh yes, I primed another platoon of Pendraken Late WW1 British infantry, and then I was sucked into cleaning up and basing the rest of the company and support elements, but I shall talk about that in another post.

Not Only but Also

Yesterday was a full on eight hour painting fest. Besides the WW1 British Tommy's I posted, I also managed to finish off 23 plastic mechs, which I'm calling the Rough & Ready Battalion, as I will use them for pick up demo games of BattleTech. They were primed black, dry brushed white and then random panels were painted in colours associated with the five Houses of the Inner Sphere. Here they are to enjoy. 

     

Mud and Blood British Tommy's

I bought a bunch of Pendraken 10mm WW1 British infantry, and I've been learning stuff about formations, uniforms and the development of tactics during the war, which went from 19th Century style of attacks and became what was the basis for modern 20th Century warfare.

Fascinating stuff to read, and it rather dispels the rather one sided lions led by donkeys myth, not that the general staff in any of the armies could be considered brilliant and mistakes that cost men their lives were repeatedly made by both sides, but without hindsight I can see that it was a steep learning curve for all the armies involved in the conflict. Not the first time it happened and it certainly won't be the last either.

Well I didn't exactly wake up today intending to paint my first 10mm Pendraken Late WW1 British infantry today, but I did. It was one of those one little thing leads into another, and before you know it you might as well finish the job that you were idling with situation. Anyway, combination of black base with white highlight drybrushing, followed by drybrushing and washing colours on top to get them done like this.

Only another three platoons worth to go and then I'll be able to start the Germans. Got tanks too, lots of tanks. I see fun times ahead.
 

Five Hours of Fun

  

Tuesday was spent painting figures, though not for me, but for Oliver. Oliver is my friend Trevor's son who I bought Warhammer 40K for his Xmas present, when I took him to the SELWG wargame show.

Trevor used to play D&D when younger, and like a lot of players fell out of gaming with family and work commitments. I'm hoping that he will rediscover his passion for gaming now that his son is starting to get interested.

Anyway, I promised Oliver that I would teach him and his dad how to paint figures.

So, they came over Tuesday and we spent five hours painting on the dining room table listening to film sound tracks. My new Lord of the Rings three volume film soundtrack, followed by a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean to energise us during the last hour.

Result some new space marines painted, and a bunch of orcs started. Much fun was had, and Oliver's parents were amazed that I had kept him siting still painting for five hours.

   

Xmas Blog 2009

   

Well, I'm going to wish everybody who has come here to read my humble witterings about Battletech, wargaming and modelling a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. This year I'm expecting several nice things from Santa, and in fact I can see the boxes under the tree as I type this now.

As they say a picture says a thousand words, so here is the Paint-it-Pink Xmas tree.

BattleTech Jumping the Shark Reboot

On the official CBT forum there has been a rather long thread about has BattleTech jumped the shark with 22 pages of repetition?

To summarise, the thread topic discussed  the moment when a series delivers the ultimate desire of the characters; from the "Happy Days" scene where the Fonz always dreams of jumping over a shark and gets to realise his dream. 

If your dream has been realised, then what is there left to do?

I'm not sure I would agree with that interpretation, as for me "jumping the shark" implies more of the idea that a story has gone beyond believability. But YMMV on that, especially with something involving giant walking machines?

There is this idea that the in game ComStar aims, namely the coming of the third transfer, would also mean that BattleTech had jumped the shark. It is suggested that the formation of a new Star League would be that third transfer. 

From a meta-gaming perspective I'd argue that one could see the real transfers of the game coming from changes in the rules, as they have evolved over time.

If you agree, then using this analogy one can argue that real transfer was from the 3025 setting to the Clan invasion of 3050.

I would argue that this fundamentally changed  the game. Even though on the surface the rules are the same, because the game balance changed. Battlemechs became brittle eggs that could be cracked open by superior firepower, rather than something that had to be slowly ground down to be destroyed (barring lucky shots that is).

Then the second transfer was the introduction of Clicky tech, and with it the Age of Darkness. This unfortunately crashed & burned causing a reversion to the "classic form of BattleTech". 

Now we have the third transfer, which is the introduction of new rules for the Word of Blake faction to take into account their use of cybernetics. This basically a rule fix to uplift the Inner Sphere to match the Clans and lead the game into the redefined new Dark Ages of the 3130 Battletech universe.

Rant on: 

As I said on the CBT forum, my only problem with the Jihad is that there was not enough destruction done by the Word of Blake as of yet.

I want to see billions of people starving to death from the repercussions of war. Billions more dying from crops failing due to a lack of fertilizers and pesticides, and I want to billions dying from disease arising from unclean water, and a lack of medicines.

I want to see the remains of humanity reduced to scavenging from the rubble. I want a future where a lance of battlemechs can rule a world, where the pilots are like gods, lording it over the cowered and subdued populations of denuded worlds.

I want to see the Word of Blake/Comstar reap the whirlwind. If we see thousands of nukes raining down on the planets of the Inner Sphere during the Word of Blake retreat, then I could see how peace would break out and mechs mothballed for later on.

Showing that war leads to widespread famine, the rise of pestilence,and outbreaks of plagues. Would be a good message to send to the players that these are consequences of apocalyptic wars. Of course all the players will be moaning about how their favourite faction was robbed etc., but that is life.  

Rant off.

Like it or not, we know that due to the "second transfer" that BattleTech moves to the era Republic of the Sphere. For me this is in and of itself is not a bad place to play games of BattleTech. 

It is an ideal period for small unit actions of giant battling mecha-on-mecha action, which is where IMNSHO the rules work best. 

As a diehard old time fan, described on the BattleTech forums as a Retarded-Old-Retread^TM, and proud of it too. I welcome the return of BattleTech to its roots of small unit actions, where desperate home defense units field industrial mechs as a futuristic variant of tactical trucks seen today.

However, nothing lasts forever, not even D&D, without a reboot.

Will BattleTech need a reboot? Probably over due for one, but I think that the likelihood of it happening is small.

A Sort of Extended me too Blog

 

Over on the BBC website is a clip of Fede Alvarez's short film "Ataque de Panico" (Panic Attack), also on Vultures Blog in my side-bar list. I just felt I had to write something about this on my Blog too.

Apart from the Transformer movies that have come out, which feature giant sentient mecha, there's not much out featuring giant piloted battlemechs. We have been poorly served of films about my favourite gaming background. Now obviously Avatar is out, but the focus there is not really on the mecha as such either, though I'm sure it will be fun to watch. 

However, for years the BattleTech community has wanted a movie that did the background justice, and this may just be the movie, but I'm not holding my breath on this one you understand.

   

Six Shades of Green: Terrain Boards 3

Well, it has taken me some time to get around to posting some more stuff on the terrain boards I'm making. This has been the number one project this year, having displaced pretty much everything else I've been doing into second place, if it gets done at all.

And it's nearly Xmas.

That joyous time of the year where everybody feels down, miserable and tired by all the enforced seasonal jollity. I've done the Xmas party thing last weekend when I had two to go to. 

Parties being a bit like buses. You wait and wait and then three come along at once. 

I ended up blowing off my office party as a consequence. If for no other reason than I still have problems with side-effects from the chemotherapy I'm on making me feel incredibly tired all the time. 

Anyway, had a great time at the two parties I did go to, but obviously no time for model-making and stuff last weekend. This weekend I could take it easy and get on with the terrain boards I wanted to finish off, so that I can start the next batch I have planned.

This is actually the third batch of boards I've done.

I'm limited to the amount of space I can have in my flat, so I can only really make about 8 or 9 boards at once. I've posted a blow-by-blow account of how I painted these boards on the BattleTech Universe Forum, where used to post most of my projects.

Here you can see is some boards that have had multiple shades of green dry-brushed over the top of a base layer of static grass. I've still to finish the rock faces and rock debris that are still a work in progress.  

While taking these pictures, I had a thought about using pictures for playing campaign games.

If one were setting out a table with the boards one could take pictures of the arrangement and email them to the players before they arrive to play the game. Objectives could also be marked, and special effects like clouds added, or vehicles placed somewhere. Then the players are told that this is the result of their recon flight, and that their mission is XYZ.

Obviously, one could spend time blending the edges of the boards in those pictures, so as to hide the joins, and adding clouds would be fun too. I can see that clouds might be used as a way of limiting the intel one gives to the players if they fail their recon flight.

Of course, if one really wanted to, one could give then pictures of a different set of terrain to simulate a total failure by the recon assets to take the right pictures.

The possibilities for fun are endless, and allow for that RPG flavour that campaigns can generate, without going into levels of detail that are not all that relevant to playing a game of BattleTech.