School is very very crazy and gaming is pretty few and far between, lately, so I was psyched to have a chance to break out the Battletech stuff (for the first time in a loooong time) the other day. (Got two weeks off until it's back to Crazy Robots and Polygonland.) Introduced one of the roommates to tabletop BT - he's an old hand at the PC series, so most of it was already familiar. We did a pretty standard "attack/defend" scenario, just 'mechs (no combined arms stuff like tanks or infantry) and strictly 3025 designs (and level 1 rules). Today we'll probably do something similar, and then maybe we'll start working in the non-'mech stuff. I've always been curious how that mode of play goes - all my BT experience has been strictly 'mech-on-'mech.
So I'm reading the Mechwarrior book (the RPG chocolate to BT's boardgame/mini hybrid peanut butter), and there's discussion of running man-to-man combat using the standard Battletech maps (with a 5 meter to a hex scale). This looked lke fun, but it also occurs to me - why not use Battletech maps for other games where outdoor combat comes up a lot? I've never been a huge fan of wilderness layouts drawn on battlemats - visually it just doesn't work for me the way it does with dungeons - but I already own a big pile of hexed-out terrain sheets, with beautiful art no less. Next time I have occasion, I'm gonna whip out a few BT mapsheets and see how it flies. (The big decision: What scale to use (the hexes are a little bigger than the 1" I'm used to on my mat), and whether to bother restricting figures to the hexes, or to just use a ruler (a la traditional mini wargaming).
Of course this repurposing thing is nothing new - our learned and crusty readers will already be aware that Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival map was the original wilderness map for Gary's home game. Has a nicely circular feel, this.
It occurs to me as well that AD&D inherited OD&D's outdoor scale of 1" to 10 YARDS (as opposed to feet, as it is in indoor settings like the dungeon), and off the top of my head I can't remember whether Classic D&D followed suit. (The next chance I'll likely get to use this is our still-fledgling house Red Box game - the guys (and gal) came out of the Palace of the Silver Princess with one less adventurer than they went in with, and are considering making the trek down out of the mountains into the valley below, in search of able sword-arms and a decent outfitter.)
This would be a great fit for Traveller, as well, especially if I ditch Trav's assumed scale - the old Snapshot ship maps are beeeeyootiful, but who the hell wants to track down 15mm sci-fi minis when most everything else I play is 28mm and up?
- DYA
In the original Battletech, each hex equalled 30 meters, not 5. So I would rule that each hex equals 3" if you wanted to keep the same scale as the map shows.
ReplyDeleteI have a ton of these maps too, although I'm not quite sure the scaling would work. It could if we were doing some sort of generic mass combat deal...
Translationfail: I'm talking about 1e Mechwarrior man-to-man scale (which advises 5m/hex). Which obviously gives the terrain represented a whole 'nother feel (the hills become small escarpments, the forests become individual copses, rivers become streams etc.). They actually translate pretty well that way, looking at them - fiddly enough to be interesting, but not overly detailed.
ReplyDelete- DYA
Well, that's true, good way of zooming in. I'd probably rule that 2 hexes equals an inch for measurement purposes and be done with it (5 meters = ~ 5.5 yards, not worth the hassle to be exactly exact). I would just need to remember to multiply by two.
ReplyDeleteIt all comes down to how much I want to fret over map scale vs. figure scale - I do attempt to use minis that have base sizes that more or less correspond to "space required for weapon" (as per AD&D), so there is some utility in keeping the two somewhat analogous. (That way I can use actual base size to determine how many figures can fit in a melee.)
ReplyDelete- DYA
Nice recycle of Battletech maps.
ReplyDeleteJust so you know - the 15 mm minis can actually be a decent avenue to follow. Some small companies like Khurasan and Rebel Minis have packs that will get you a full adventure party for the price of 2 small reaper figs or 1 figure from just about anyone else
@ Evernev - thanks for the refer, I'll look into it.
ReplyDelete- DYA
Now I really feel like break out my BT maps as well, just to look at them. Maybe even buy some more sets. Hmm.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually ChicagoWiz who got me to take my set out and play a year or two ago. Maybe it's time again...