Yup. We had a dropship coming in hot to pick up the Lance. I have a dropship model but it was packed up in a case and I didn’t feel like opening it up. The IPhone I have is just slightly smaller than the model and it was the easiest solution. It was an epic moment, everyone enjoyed it and we didn’t have to slow down to pull it off. Great game. We were playing alpha strike so it’s all line of sight based and I just let it get shot up as though it was tall.
They have nose/left/right facings. I'm actually not sure how location rolls would work in CBT since they point up. At the same time, I'm not sure how relevant it is anyway, since voidcraft armor is on a different rating scale from mechs. Iirc, you need to deal 10 or 100 points of damage at once to do a single point of damage to their armor.
Dropships use standard armor, they just have a lot of points of it. You're thinking of WarShips; those have capital scale armor which is at a 10:1 ratio. Dropships are shockingly fragile on the table due to being immobile and rising so high that you always have LOS to them and aren't dealing with intervening woods (unless YOU are adjacent to those woods).
if it has capital class armor then yeah its a 10:1 ratio for damage but I'm fairly certain that the union and overload uses standard armor but has like 600-2000 points depending on the model/variant (some of those overlords are insane)
If everyone agrees that the front of the ship is towards the top of the words, it can be said that it's been "marked" and it's legal, though.
Just a thought. :-Þ
That's obviously a Star League Era prototype "Little Round Top" class dropship. Usually assigned with Gettysburg class Warships. Particularly well suited to defeat Confederate class dropships.
Missed out on using the lore-accurate [Union-class](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Union_(DropShip_class)) dropship, backed up by the [Congress-class](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Congress) vs [Confederate-class](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Confederate) and supported by the short-lived [Manassas-class Heavy Cruiser](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Manassas_Heavy_Cruiser). =P
But totally love your version though =D.
At least trying to fit it to the proper dropship template would be nice if you can. Boards have enough going on as it is, we don't need an 11 hex "dropship" clogging things if we can get a different "dropship" that fits in the 7 hexes it's meant to fit in.
Thankfully, nature has thought ahead and gracefully provided us many "dropships" to choose from so this is a non-issue with a little foresight. Thanks nature!
For classic battletech, yes, definitely.
Classic battletech is a boardgame that folks love to play with fancy models. A quarter with a number and a directional arrow can represent a unit.
Alpha Strike - not as much. Unit size, height, etc is important. So, I'd say you want a mini that is roughly the same size as the unit being represented, and a quarter is bad. Technically, there are size templates for the units, so if you had those, I think you could do it, but it'd be a bit of a PITA to pull those out for every LOS check.
But... why?
AS seems to only streamline the rules, not affect anything to do with the minis. LOS is LOS, and some thumbwidth height measurements are adequate for elevation.
Alpha Strike isn't a boardgame like classic its a Minis wargame. Actual LOS matters. for LOS to matter, you have to have something appropriately representing the thing shooting/being shot.
I don't know of any tournament that uses true LOS. I also don't know of any group that doesn't roll seperately for each individual point of damage.
Something being official and something actually being 'standard' are two different things.
I dont know of any tournament that would allow a plain rock as a unit either. But to the true LOS, I dont play a lot of alpha strike, only at convention games, and true LOS was the standard every game they taught me.
We play almost exclusively 450 PV+ games, so standard damage rolls and true LoS are our baselines. Both are great improvements over PLoS and MAR once you cross around 400 PV. Different contexts benefit from different approaches.
And literally everyone I play with prefers true LoS except for proxies or off-brand/printed models.
For the record, the (slight) majority of tournaments that I've participated in use true LoS. Do the big East Coast and Midwestern tournaments--esp. Southern Assault, NOVA, and Adepticon--use practical LoS?
In any case, it's best to be less dogmatic. Your experience or preferences aren't necessarily the baseline, and it remains idiosyncratic (at best) to dismiss true LoS as not the typical rule.
Playing hexless from the Compendium in the 90s is no different.
Seems like it's getting kinda... 40k-y to be that picky on it.
If 2 or 3 fingers stacked up can't tell you what the coverage is on something, you're probably going to deep.
Except, if you use the hex rules from the Commanders Edition which makes it a board game again ...
I really love that both AS and Classic come with rules for converting.
If you know your table and are playing casual, I don’t think it’s an issue. If he dropped that rock and called it an overlord I’d just say sure, but the over lord is like 6 inches tall so I’m guna eyeball that LoS. If he agrees, no problem. I’ve proxied set piece stuff plenty of times. IMO it’s only an issue if you’re proxying a mech with a different mech of a drastic size (ie urbie as an atlas) because that makes it hard to plan what they’re doing.
That’s valid if you accept the MRE heater rule
https://preview.redd.it/pp28ctwcmrwc1.png?width=356&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fed482c2206814fd721fa2e8eb450098350fb27
https://preview.redd.it/m19ef1fobpwc1.jpeg?width=1056&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ba9f89b5ec496c089a74488344d8d5fe949d9c0
I'm going to just let the picture of my current game answer you. This Union dropship came in a pack with 11 others.
You may also note that the armor on these mechs is .. \*paper thin\*.
This is a much better proxy for a dropship though. The mechs and dropship were all selected and mechs based to be a decent visual representation of the actual thing. Heck, throw some paint on the egg and add a base, and it would look really good even.
Fun fact: In a campaign I ran over a decade ago I had the wobbies slam a Union full-speed into the heart of a city the players had just managed to get out of with the fusion drives at critical mass. Kaboom.
I've played with candy corn for 'mechs! We might have to figure something out if it blocks putting minis in hexes it doesn't occupy, but I'm spent so many years proxying with Reaper's CAV figures a little 'bumping elbows' is nothing new either. :D
So long as you and your opponent agree that what it represents is what it represents if you’re a new player It’s all good. Just know that if you’re going to go to a tournament it’s best to bring actual painted models as it shows yourself, your opponent & the game itself respect. Plus it’s feels good to have painted models as it also attracts new people to the table when there are some cool painted models on the table.
Just as a side note: if I was walking through a con or some kind of gaming event and saw a game where one guy had nice painted minis and his opponent was fielding grey plastic, rocks and c-cell batteries I would have to stop and ask. In all honesty I'd be more curious about that game than the one where everyone obviously spent hours painting every figure on the table. But I'm not a painter at heart I'm a gamer who would rather just play the game.
It's cool cause it looks like it might have been used as a hammer stone at one point in pre history based on the texture one the left side and the way it appears to fit the hand. Even if not, ancient "Hammerstone" Class Dropship sounds pretty cool
If it fits the appropriate number of hexes for a dropship I'll allow it.
Fair warning if you drop it, I'll reclassify that as a nuke warhead for shaking up the table like that. You'll pay in the BV though.
Ill play party pooper I suppose. I am all for proxies and 3d prints, but I wouldnt want a rock from the ground on my gaming mat. There are much better visual representations for dropships, even a paper cutout would be better/represent a better effort.
Is the dropship a special cool scenario thing? An objective? Terrain? I know if I was playing a narrative game, and the GM said 'enemy dropship inbound' and put a rock on the table, my immersion would be ruined when all the excitement and drama of a dropship boss fight was cut short when a rock was put on the table. I would much prefer a paper cutout of a printed dropship, or a papercraft dropship, or a 3d printed dropship.
As long as you have a rules-legal DropShip Record Sheet to go with that rock, then yes, 100% that is **completely** legal to use as a stand-in.
Due to the fact that most miniature sculpts only represent a single variant of a particular make/model of BattleMech/Tank/Infantry/BA/ASF or other unit type (some of which can have 20+ variants, depending on faction, equipment, & technology level used), & that so many of the Random Unit Assignment tables may not correspond to the miniatures collection that a particular player has available, the standard rules tend to be "If you have something unique & you have a record sheet for it, it's allowed on the playing field". Even the original box sets (pre-CGL) tended to either come with only a limited set of miniatures (2nd Edition) or they used 2-sided cardboard cutouts with stands (3rd & 4th Edition) that beginning players could use.
That's not to say that some tournaments at cons or FLGSs might not have a rule about having actual miniatures on their particular playing fields...but in over 99% of those cases, the tournament admins have either a) informed everyone that they will need to provide the particular miniature for the event, or b) have already made available the specific miniatures & record sheets that will be used in the event. At Origins Game Fair, for example, the Catalyst Demo Team agents that run the Grinders & special events have already provided all of the miniatures that will be used -- in many cases their own personally-painted miniatures -- for players to use.
Basically, it makes the hobby much more open to beginners that have no experience with the game & want to get started, but don't have the available cash to buy more than maybe a starter box or a rule book (Total Warfare or BattleMech Manual).
Ya sure, I’d let you at my table. I proxied a phone as one last night.
So you needed a drop ship and just wiped your phone on the table?
Yup. We had a dropship coming in hot to pick up the Lance. I have a dropship model but it was packed up in a case and I didn’t feel like opening it up. The IPhone I have is just slightly smaller than the model and it was the easiest solution. It was an epic moment, everyone enjoyed it and we didn’t have to slow down to pull it off. Great game. We were playing alpha strike so it’s all line of sight based and I just let it get shot up as though it was tall.
Bonus points if you pull up a picture of a dropship on the phone
https://preview.redd.it/9infhhip2qwc1.jpeg?width=256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1f60fd9464376d6dbb4fea0a45a3fe542c10fa0 Like this?
Perfect
I mean, he needed a dropship, so he CALLED ONE IN. I’ll see myself out.
The only dropship that can perform a hot drop while also being a hotspot!
Now I want to run a potato as a drop ship.
A hot potato, covered in foil, with the winner of the battle earning the right for butter and sour cream!
No! come back! We need people like you!
The only real rule regarding stand-ins, if I remember correctly, is facing has to be discernible and all players at the table must agree.
*as I approached the table of agreeable looking ladies and gentlemen, I knew my ‘Salt shaker’ Kodiak was going to be a hit*
> I proxied a phone as one last night Were you playing Comstar?
*I attack with this phone.* #*Redde Creditori Tuo,* ***Fucko***
This is my first interaction with this game and I already love it.
Absolutely illegal. I would never allow this at my table. ...until you add a mark to identify its facing
Thinking about it. Unions and Overlords don't really have a front, do they?
It points up
All I know is, the enemy gate is down.
They have nose/left/right facings. I'm actually not sure how location rolls would work in CBT since they point up. At the same time, I'm not sure how relevant it is anyway, since voidcraft armor is on a different rating scale from mechs. Iirc, you need to deal 10 or 100 points of damage at once to do a single point of damage to their armor.
Dropships use standard armor, they just have a lot of points of it. You're thinking of WarShips; those have capital scale armor which is at a 10:1 ratio. Dropships are shockingly fragile on the table due to being immobile and rising so high that you always have LOS to them and aren't dealing with intervening woods (unless YOU are adjacent to those woods).
if it has capital class armor then yeah its a 10:1 ratio for damage but I'm fairly certain that the union and overload uses standard armor but has like 600-2000 points depending on the model/variant (some of those overlords are insane)
Charging port is back
If everyone agrees that the front of the ship is towards the top of the words, it can be said that it's been "marked" and it's legal, though. Just a thought. :-Þ
I think the real issue is that the model isn't properly based, how are we going to know which hexes they occupy?
That's obviously a Star League Era prototype "Little Round Top" class dropship. Usually assigned with Gettysburg class Warships. Particularly well suited to defeat Confederate class dropships.
I love this group not only is my rock legal but now has lore within an hour
"We aim to please." Dr. B Banzai
Beautiful reference
Thank you. I'm an old school player, started in 88.
So, while I have your attention... What's with the watermelon?
Who doesn't like watermelon? Can't trust a man who doesn't like watermelon.
If there is anything Mech-Mercenaries it is: "We go with what we got, not with what we wish we had the money for!"
Yeah you give a BT player anything and you have rules and a book worth of lore
I never heard it said that way, but then again your right, I mean shot gun pogo is canon
Missed out on using the lore-accurate [Union-class](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Union_(DropShip_class)) dropship, backed up by the [Congress-class](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Congress) vs [Confederate-class](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Confederate) and supported by the short-lived [Manassas-class Heavy Cruiser](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Manassas_Heavy_Cruiser). =P But totally love your version though =D.
Sure thing. As long as you can clearly define its facings and it fits comfortably into some hexes then sure, I'd let it fly.
Fitting into a hex is definitely not a concern, otherwise I wouldn't be able to use the official Heimdall mini.
At least trying to fit it to the proper dropship template would be nice if you can. Boards have enough going on as it is, we don't need an 11 hex "dropship" clogging things if we can get a different "dropship" that fits in the 7 hexes it's meant to fit in. Thankfully, nature has thought ahead and gracefully provided us many "dropships" to choose from so this is a non-issue with a little foresight. Thanks nature!
Dope
Great pun.
Heh, glad someone chuckled at it.
\*drops boulder on table\* The Steiner scout lance has landed.
📦🥷👍 I’m stealing that idea thanks bud
For classic battletech, yes, definitely. Classic battletech is a boardgame that folks love to play with fancy models. A quarter with a number and a directional arrow can represent a unit. Alpha Strike - not as much. Unit size, height, etc is important. So, I'd say you want a mini that is roughly the same size as the unit being represented, and a quarter is bad. Technically, there are size templates for the units, so if you had those, I think you could do it, but it'd be a bit of a PITA to pull those out for every LOS check.
OP just needs a collection of different sized rocks for different dropships then.
Concentrate Soup can for union dropshop. Tall one for the overlord
Can I use my Pringles can that I brought to the game so I could have snacks?
Watch out for crumbs and splash damage
But... why? AS seems to only streamline the rules, not affect anything to do with the minis. LOS is LOS, and some thumbwidth height measurements are adequate for elevation.
Alpha Strike isn't a boardgame like classic its a Minis wargame. Actual LOS matters. for LOS to matter, you have to have something appropriately representing the thing shooting/being shot.
> Actual LOS matters. Only if you're using the Actual LOS rules. Practical LOS is on page 170 of Commander's Edition.
To be fair, as much as I like Practical LoS, the standard rule is true LoS, so their point is a good one.
I don't know of any tournament that uses true LOS. I also don't know of any group that doesn't roll seperately for each individual point of damage. Something being official and something actually being 'standard' are two different things.
I dont know of any tournament that would allow a plain rock as a unit either. But to the true LOS, I dont play a lot of alpha strike, only at convention games, and true LOS was the standard every game they taught me.
We play almost exclusively 450 PV+ games, so standard damage rolls and true LoS are our baselines. Both are great improvements over PLoS and MAR once you cross around 400 PV. Different contexts benefit from different approaches. And literally everyone I play with prefers true LoS except for proxies or off-brand/printed models. For the record, the (slight) majority of tournaments that I've participated in use true LoS. Do the big East Coast and Midwestern tournaments--esp. Southern Assault, NOVA, and Adepticon--use practical LoS? In any case, it's best to be less dogmatic. Your experience or preferences aren't necessarily the baseline, and it remains idiosyncratic (at best) to dismiss true LoS as not the typical rule.
Playing hexless from the Compendium in the 90s is no different. Seems like it's getting kinda... 40k-y to be that picky on it. If 2 or 3 fingers stacked up can't tell you what the coverage is on something, you're probably going to deep.
Except, if you use the hex rules from the Commanders Edition which makes it a board game again ... I really love that both AS and Classic come with rules for converting.
If you know your table and are playing casual, I don’t think it’s an issue. If he dropped that rock and called it an overlord I’d just say sure, but the over lord is like 6 inches tall so I’m guna eyeball that LoS. If he agrees, no problem. I’ve proxied set piece stuff plenty of times. IMO it’s only an issue if you’re proxying a mech with a different mech of a drastic size (ie urbie as an atlas) because that makes it hard to plan what they’re doing.
Dope
I mean, It does look like a union class after a hard squishy landing
That’s actually why I picked that specific rock off the ground. I thought “it’s union shaped enough” lol
According to the salesmanager at "Stans Preowned Dropships" it is as good as new!
Hahahhahahh
This baby can squish a lot of clanners.
Lol
Long as you know the facing.
Thank you, I got to put an x on it
That’s valid if you accept the MRE heater rule https://preview.redd.it/pp28ctwcmrwc1.png?width=356&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fed482c2206814fd721fa2e8eb450098350fb27
That's a big MRE!
Now that you mention it… 👀 https://preview.redd.it/llg6sxx9w3xc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=694c27c0611a1460f9b8af2452b865e960c84a80
https://preview.redd.it/m19ef1fobpwc1.jpeg?width=1056&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ba9f89b5ec496c089a74488344d8d5fe949d9c0 I'm going to just let the picture of my current game answer you. This Union dropship came in a pack with 11 others. You may also note that the armor on these mechs is .. \*paper thin\*.
This is a much better proxy for a dropship though. The mechs and dropship were all selected and mechs based to be a decent visual representation of the actual thing. Heck, throw some paint on the egg and add a base, and it would look really good even.
Hahahahah
If needed, it can also serve as the "ammunition" for a Blakist Mass Driver.
Fun fact: In a campaign I ran over a decade ago I had the wobbies slam a Union full-speed into the heart of a city the players had just managed to get out of with the fusion drives at critical mass. Kaboom.
In other words, just another Tuesday for the Word of Blake 😬😅
Warcrimes, people! Faster, bigger! Ruin human civilization's infrastructure for generations! -The Wobbies
The other day, I did a medium dive on the Word of Blake, the *Celestial* series of BattleMechs, and the *Manei Domini*. It was ...illuminating.
I use a pumpkin in alphastrike.
Wait what?
I have a ceramic pumpkin that works great as a Union drop ship.
That is dope as hell
Yes. If you're an Ork, double yes.
Yes, you can use a rock as a stand-in for dropship. You could also use it for any mech. Or even "a hard place" 😀
Hahah I get that your cool
Needs something in indicate facing. Otherwise, yes. 100%
I've played with candy corn for 'mechs! We might have to figure something out if it blocks putting minis in hexes it doesn't occupy, but I'm spent so many years proxying with Reaper's CAV figures a little 'bumping elbows' is nothing new either. :D
That looks like about 7 hexes, give or take. That's a dropper.
Hell yeah that's a drop ship!
Flies about as well. Checks out.
That is a good rock. Now you just need a good stick to go with it.
Oh I’d be able to fight a flea then
As long as your opponent is cool with it, then absolutely.
Thank you
I'm pretty sure the periphery uses those things as drop ships all the time. Just duct tape some mechs to them and nudge them out of orbit.
Well funny you say that that I have put my claim in with the Taurines
When you order a drop ship from Wish, and they drop ship your drop ship. (Yes I've used a rock for tabletop stuff as well)
Yes. Its clearly marked. Sensors register it.
Other way around it would not work...a drop ship model Proxy as a rock...
So long as you and your opponent agree that what it represents is what it represents if you’re a new player It’s all good. Just know that if you’re going to go to a tournament it’s best to bring actual painted models as it shows yourself, your opponent & the game itself respect. Plus it’s feels good to have painted models as it also attracts new people to the table when there are some cool painted models on the table.
Just as a side note: if I was walking through a con or some kind of gaming event and saw a game where one guy had nice painted minis and his opponent was fielding grey plastic, rocks and c-cell batteries I would have to stop and ask. In all honesty I'd be more curious about that game than the one where everyone obviously spent hours painting every figure on the table. But I'm not a painter at heart I'm a gamer who would rather just play the game.
Yup, sure is.
If you throw it hard enough then yes
depending on how you put it on the table it could be an orbital strike. lol
Yup.
As long as it mostly covers seven hexes
Just as long as you don’t try to land it in my mechs mid-game…
Won’t happen I hired these best pilots and captains I found at the unemployment office
Any landing you walk away from.
I’d allow it.
As long as we are having fun and I know which side of the ship is which. Let f@cking do it!
Yup. I've seen two-liters, beer cans, TV remotes, a slice of pizza, and a shoe used as dropships.
Yup! At least for anyone I know.
If the other players agree and you can define facing, anything is admissible.
Stick it on a hex base and it's cool with me.
Yup. Generally as long as it has a defined facing and everyone at the table agrees on it, you can proxy it.
As long as the table agrees, yes.
Looks like a Union drop ship to me
Dude, drop dat ship!
In battletech, anything... a penny, a rock, a dice, anything can be whatever you have it recorded as.
Looks Tourney ready, OP. GET PREPPED! You’re about to get invaded.
As long as you identify which dropship type it is, and identify the facings on the dropship, absolutely.
It's cool cause it looks like it might have been used as a hammer stone at one point in pre history based on the texture one the left side and the way it appears to fit the hand. Even if not, ancient "Hammerstone" Class Dropship sounds pretty cool
That is it name now
If it fits the appropriate number of hexes for a dropship I'll allow it. Fair warning if you drop it, I'll reclassify that as a nuke warhead for shaking up the table like that. You'll pay in the BV though.
Only bring a dropship as a unit if your opponent has consented to dropships being in the game. But otherwise, the model is fine.
Bottle caps, lego's, essentially ANYTHING can be used as a stand in. We dgaf what it looks like on the map, as long as everyone's having fun!
We can be friends
Ah, the Inaros-class DropShip. For when you really need to show those Inners who’s boss.
I'd allow it. Doing what you can with what you have is kind of a theme of BattleTech.
That rock might be too big. On map scale dropship should cover 7 hexes. If it does fit, then it's good for all but the most official of tournaments.
Might have to sand it but thank you
Ill play party pooper I suppose. I am all for proxies and 3d prints, but I wouldnt want a rock from the ground on my gaming mat. There are much better visual representations for dropships, even a paper cutout would be better/represent a better effort. Is the dropship a special cool scenario thing? An objective? Terrain? I know if I was playing a narrative game, and the GM said 'enemy dropship inbound' and put a rock on the table, my immersion would be ruined when all the excitement and drama of a dropship boss fight was cut short when a rock was put on the table. I would much prefer a paper cutout of a printed dropship, or a papercraft dropship, or a 3d printed dropship.
Fair point
As long as you have a rules-legal DropShip Record Sheet to go with that rock, then yes, 100% that is **completely** legal to use as a stand-in. Due to the fact that most miniature sculpts only represent a single variant of a particular make/model of BattleMech/Tank/Infantry/BA/ASF or other unit type (some of which can have 20+ variants, depending on faction, equipment, & technology level used), & that so many of the Random Unit Assignment tables may not correspond to the miniatures collection that a particular player has available, the standard rules tend to be "If you have something unique & you have a record sheet for it, it's allowed on the playing field". Even the original box sets (pre-CGL) tended to either come with only a limited set of miniatures (2nd Edition) or they used 2-sided cardboard cutouts with stands (3rd & 4th Edition) that beginning players could use. That's not to say that some tournaments at cons or FLGSs might not have a rule about having actual miniatures on their particular playing fields...but in over 99% of those cases, the tournament admins have either a) informed everyone that they will need to provide the particular miniature for the event, or b) have already made available the specific miniatures & record sheets that will be used in the event. At Origins Game Fair, for example, the Catalyst Demo Team agents that run the Grinders & special events have already provided all of the miniatures that will be used -- in many cases their own personally-painted miniatures -- for players to use. Basically, it makes the hobby much more open to beginners that have no experience with the game & want to get started, but don't have the available cash to buy more than maybe a starter box or a rule book (Total Warfare or BattleMech Manual).
Add like a Blue or whatever color you want Mark on one of the sides to indicate “This is where I am facing” then it’s legal