Battletech Quickstrike Batrep/review

Hey everyone, a few of us gave the battletech quickstrike rules a go this past weekend. For those that don't know, quickstrike is a simplified fast playing version of battletech that keeps the flavor of the original game. I know Joel has sold a ton of starter sets, so I figured some of you out there might be interested in this. Here is a link to the quickstrike rules and stat cards for all the mechs in the starter set...rules:http://bg.battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/BattleForce_QSR.pdf Cards: http://bg.battletech.com/download/CAT35660_BTQS_Intro_Mech_Cards.pdf .

So, here is a quick Batrep of our game.

We played an Inner Sphere (Federated Suns) comined arms battalion (yes battalion!) consisting of 5 mech lances, 2 armor lances and a battle armor infantry platoon. against a clan (Clan Hell's Horses) mixed mech and tank trinary with 2 mech stars and an armor star.

Here is the deployment. The Clans are deployed on the top edge and the IS force below.


The inner sphere plan was to take cover and hold the large rocky hill on the right and the cliff and forest along the river on the left to avoid the clans powerful long range fire with a few elements holding the back center hill to give long range support and act as observers for indirect fire. The clans held their heavy tanks in the center rear to give fire support while their 2 heavy mech stars hit the 2 flanks.



The first turn the clans, true to their nature move quickly on the flanks, with the IS units keeping behind cover to avoid their devasting firepower. A lone IS cicada jumps up on right right hill to call in fire on the Clans Warhawk assault mech and the IS mechs are able to deal heavy damage wit their long range missles without exposing themselves.

The lone cicada is able to call in very effective indirect LRM fire while avoiding damage thanks to good cover and highh speed manuevering.


The next couple of turns saw some long range engagements between the armor from both sides and the IS infantry. Most of the infantry was destroyed by the clan armor star whilemthe clans lost a single Oro tank. The clans where able to get their fast moving Epona hover tanks into the rear of the IS formation dealing crippling damage to an Awesome assault mech. The IS continued to deliver Indirect LRM fire against the clans but the fire for those 2 turns was not as effective, dealing only minor damage.

Clan units begin to close on the IS position


Turn four and five saw the begining of major exchanges between the 2 sides. The clan mechs supported by their hovertanks and indirect LRM fire from their tanks attempted to break through the IS positions on both flanks. On the right side, the clans came in with a bang, knocking out an IS medium and assault mech with combined fire from the Hover tanks and heavy mech star. The previously damaged Clan Warhawk went critical and took damage to its fire control system and engine, but the clans took no loses there.
The right flank had very different results, the fast moving cavalry units of the IS using their manueverability and good cover where able to avoid taking to much damage, though a Shadow Hawk mech did go crit. The clans lost a heavy Mad Dog mech to combined fire from IS light and medium mechs and their Viper mech took heavy damage.

The battle for the cliff.


On the sixth turn the Clans made their final push. On the right side, they advanced a little to agressively and A light lance was able to use their superior mobility to push through the clan line, causing the clans to become encircled, and exposing the weak rear armor to the light, but fairly hard hitting lance. The clans lost all but one of their mechs and that last mech was critical. With their parting shots, the clan mechs where able to destroy an IS 100ton fafnir and cripple a Cyclops.
On the right side, the clans where able to push the IS defenders off the hill, but where not able to effectively hold the position. The IS light and medium mechs used their superior mobility to take effective cover in forests around the hill and combined fire on several clan mechs, knocking out a Summoner and crippling a Nova. The clans fire was highly effective, knocking out a Javelin, Wolverine and the damaged Shadow Hawk. Still, the IS units had 5 mechs to the 2 of the clans, leaving them unable to effectively control the area.

The clan assault on the cliff.


The Clans conceded on turn due to having only one fully functional mech remaining to fight the remaing 9 IS mechs.

I really enjoyed this system. The tactics switch your focus from individual units to formations. Holding lines and key positions is important and all the differnt mech unit classes have a useful role to play. The game plays about 10 times faster than traditional battletech but it does a good job of maintining the feel and flavor of the original game.

So there it is, sorry if there are alot of typos and stuff, I did this all and the ipad and I'm still not quite used to the keyboard