Might I recommend Heroscape, simple easy cheap.

http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums ... ic=64962.0
Check around for good deals on hexes.

Good call Lotus!

I miss MWAoD I still have the largest army of anyone I know! It has grown since that picture was taken.

I'm a huge Hex fan but I think the Heroscape option is the best bet for you. Creating TLX hex though would not be that hard really. It would just take GIMP or Photoshop and a bit of time. is a discussion about hexes and dungeons, but the tile set up would be the same.

Actually if I had the time this would be a fun project! is great for Mech Warrior or Battle Tech.

Devils: There are mini rules for Battletech and they aren't difficult to use. Why don't you give that a try. Just use some terrain bits you have and see how the rules work before you go all hog out for awsome maps.

If it works, check out Z scale train terrain\buildings. Hint: If you want a modern feel, check out modern train terrain buildings from Japan, otherwise your games will look like Norman Rockwell meets War Of The Worlds.



Piper: I don't really miss MWDA. I feel that they needed to do a better job play testing the game before they let it out the door. (I still have a complete set stashed away.)

Literally with every little release or prize, a new super strategy would emerge. I feel that they could have done something better to curtail that, and bring about a more flexible and balanced game design. I kind of liked the add on sticks for pilots and equipment, and I think they tried to put too much meaning into the dials.

The absolute favoritism of mechs was somewhat upsetting, I'd have prefered if they simply favored mech mobility\cover, and reduced the mechs armour versus ground tanks. (No matter how you cut it, tracked tanks will always have thicker armour.) I also felt that the balance of fire power between big mechs and little mechs was all wrong. I should be able to literally field a pack of light mechs to a heavy and stand an even chance. Now adapt that by pilots and equipment, and I think the game would be a sure win.

I loved the minis, but I think that the paint jobs were somewhat lacking near the end.

The turbo fan copters were a shear inspiration.

UHF: Wizkids = WotC to me and that's the way with every game they make. To keep it 'fresh' (i.e. to keep people buying), new stuff > old stuff. See M:tG's 'rise of the eldrazi' set. Out of curiosity, I bought maybe 5 packs and now I have a deck that will destroy EVERY other deck I've built 80% of the time. MWDA is no different. Though I rarely find anyone willing to play any 'geeky' game with me, I have almost always used house rules for these games to level them out.

I'm not entirely sure what is going on in magic these days. But its got to be better than Pokeman. I sold my set of cards for a down payment on my house. If I still had it, my fireball deck would be worth $20000+. On the plus side, my house is worth a heck of a lot more.

I think comparing WOTC and Wizkids is pretty disengenuous. Many people feel that 3E was the best. It certainly stands out in my mind as being an excellent paper and pencil RPG, and something I wish TSR had done a decade before.


Applying the 'selling stuff' mode of business to an RPG is new, and I think that is the point. Most RPGs just keep releasing the same-ish rule books and hope to make more money. Wizards can now release all kinds of materials like miniatures. And of course we need them in great gobs.

Wizards is also using blind room play testing on D&D 4e.

D&D Insider is currently running at 36,000 subscribers for $3 to $5 a month each in income, and its slowly increasing (its getting more popular). You only need one subscriber per 5 players. So that puts the number of players somewhere around 180000. That number blows away most of the industry near as I can tell.

Big games in the consumer industry are successful at 20,000 units sold. RPGs and strategy games only sell in the 1000-2000 units range. (I think that's why the industry has gone PDF.)

I do sort of wonder how D&D 4e will evolve. Will they be proven wrong and need to re-release everything for 5e? Or will they be more resilient with 4e as they had planned. I seriously doubt they will go back to paper and pencil RPGs with their tails between their legs.

Oooh i just seen this on classicbattletech.com, One 18″ x 22″ full-color gameboard-quality mapsheet, with a different map printed on either side. Four punch out and ready to play gameboard quality HexTile sheets.
Sixteen page booklet.

No release date tho!

Yes but do you have an unseen Rifleman?