If I ever did a wargame video, what I would like to see before the battle starts

 I try and watch wargames on youtube, but they don't ever seem to click for me, though some have. 

A lot of this is lack of understanding of whats going on and why should I care?

If I ever did a wargame video:

- Start with the name of the game - is it FOGN, Black Powder, Rangers of Shadowdeep etc

- State the war we are fighting - give some background. Make if up if needed, but give some setting

- What are the 2 army lists we are using? 

- What is the size of the battle- is it a squad, platoon, company, battalion, brigade, division, corps, army?

- State the scale - 6mm/15mm/28mm etc

PUT ALL THIS IN THE VIDEO TITLE!

- Introduce what the battle is about. What war, what battle, why are we fighting today? Why is this battle occurring?

- More detail on the 2 armies fighting- who are they? 

- What are the stakes for both sides? Why are they here?

- Go through each army, with close ups of each unit. Display on the screen the army list so it can be paused and read. 

- Explain what and why each unit is here. What is it's purpose or what is is supposed to do in the battle? What is in the army list?

- Show the commanders and state the name and rank. 

- Look at the battlefield in a wide shot from other armies perspectives. What is likely to be the key terrain that each army can see may be important for them? Why? Show with a graphic highlight and arrows of likely axis of movement and fire. 

- Show initial unit positions  and add graphics to highlight them with their unit names. Show sub units if needed if they take orders from single commander

- If doing an interview of the commander, don't show the player, show the figure on the table - we should be focused on them!

- Chapter title for each turn for each side

 

Things not to do that I never care about:

- Show the faces of the players. 

- Show ANY dice rolling!

- Long intros by the players to camera beforehand.  

- No talking heads! I am not the focus of the video, the battle is!

The Great Wargaming Survey!

The Great Wargaming Survey

 I wouldn't mind winning something from the raffle. Might spend the :10bux: on getting Sharp Practice or O Group that people keep posting about.  

Probably Sharp Practice as I have an entire army not built in that scale I could use, rather than getting another unbuilt army in 20mm.

More background on Comstr's Commando's

Company Background:

The original Company of Battlemech's came from the Magistracy of Canopus. The assault and heavy class mech's were displayed to guard one of the richest casino's in the Inner Sphere. One day, they decided that guarding it would less profitable than taking the riches for themselves.

Stealing the C-bills and a dropship, they were able to buy transport out of the system to the Free World League. From there they fled to the Periphery near the border with  the Lyran Commonwealth.

Since then the company has acted as Mercenaries and sometime Pirates, with the strike and battle lance doing the fighting when needed. The strike lance having much more experience at both merc work and looting. The command lance is very rarely used and it's pilot's have taken to a very House Steiner view of things and not practiced their piloting or gunnery skills. Some of the command lance mech's have come from Steiner salvage. Several of the strike lance Merchwarrior's have been ex-dispossed who have come from the FWL or Lyran Commonwealth. As the original Mechwarrior's came from the Magistracy, the company and lance leaders have remained all female.

Following the first generation of Mechwarrior's who acted as the Local Government's Batlemech unit, the next generation took full control of the planet and now works as mercenaries (and hidden pirates when the loot is worth it and the defence is weak) in the western half of the Inner Sphere. 

Money from raid's has recently been put towards a large casino which is now successful enough to fund repairs and maintenance for the unit. The casino is often used to launder money taken from the FWL or LC, for a 15% cut. Smugglering banned goods into both the FWL and LC is also becoming popular, with the Command lance of assault and heavy mech's so far precluding an attack from off-world legal enforcement.

An order for catgirl's and mermaid's has been placed from the Magistracy and is expected to arrive shortly. 

Comstr's Commando's - Battletech Company

3 Lance's in a company. Having fled the Magistracy of Canopus for a crime they might have did, they have traveled across Free World League to take over a planet on the Stiener/FWL border in the Periphery.

Made up of the Mech's I have figures for

Battle Lance
Unit Type	Name/Model	Technology	Tonnage	Battle Value	Point Value	Cost	Warrior Name	Gunner Skill	Piloting Skill	Skill Rating
BattleMech	Phoenix Hawk PXH-1	Inner Sphere	45	1374	26	4066090		3	4	4
BattleMech	Warhammer WHM-6R	Inner Sphere	70	1715	32	6023383		3	4	4
BattleMech	Rifleman RFL-3N	Inner Sphere	60	1371	26	4852800		3	4	4
BattleMech	Wasp WSP-1A	Inner Sphere	20	507	14	1612320		3	4	4
Command Lance
Unit Type	Name/Model	Technology	Tonnage	Battle Value	Point Value	Cost	Warrior Name	Gunner Skill	Piloting Skill	Skill Rating
BattleMech	Thunderbolt TDR-5S	Inner Sphere	65	1081	20	5268560		5	7	8
BattleMech	Awesome AWS-8Q	Inner Sphere	80	1300	27	6598170		5	7	7
BattleMech	BattleMaster BLR-1G	Inner Sphere	85	1443	32	8399493		4	6	6
BattleMech	Catapult CPLT-C1	Inner Sphere	65	1133	20	5691125		5	7	8
Strike Lance
Unit Type	Name/Model	Technology	Tonnage	Battle Value	Point Value	Cost	Warrior Name	Gunner Skill	Piloting Skill	Skill Rating
BattleMech	Wolverine WVR-6R	Inner Sphere	55	1696	30	4778857		2	4	4
BattleMech	Locust LCT-1V	Inner Sphere	20	665	22	1511200		2	4	3
BattleMech	Commando COM-1B	Inner Sphere	25	949	17	1786250		2	4	4
BattleMech	Shadow Hawk SHD-2H	Inner Sphere	55	1639	30	4444057		2	4	4

3rd edition of Field of Glory: Napoleonic being worked on

Field of Glory: Napoleonic is getting a 3rd edition. There is a lot of changes that make the game clearer,faster and more Napoleonic (skirmishing now actually is a thing as opposed to giving your units but I note the rules now fix the nearly all the issues I have complained about.

 
Troops can now leave entrenchments! You can get cheap crappy commanders who need to be kicked by their corps commander to do something. Skirmish troops now act in their own little shooting round and the winner of that combat gets an advantage in closing on the enemy. Artillery also has it's own shooting round to provide support for the infantry moving up. Probe missions give intelligence that allow you to have knowledge of the enemies strategy. Entrenchments can be used on the attack (I imagine for placing artillery or defenders of your Line of Communications). Lancers are both more dangerous but also more fragile. There's about 20 pages of designer's notes on what and why they changed things.

The firing table is now looking worse and is as clear as the smoke of a battalion of infantry firing all weapons, but otherwise the rules look a lot better. .


Hopefully I can get a game of it and give a battle report.

Getting back into BATTLETECH after 26 years

So I have got pretty much the Bolt Action Australian 6th Division Bardia/Tobruk/Greece army I want, though I haven't put anything together.

I was playing HBS's Battletech on the PC and remembered I still had my old 2nd Edition Battletech stuff around, and the current version is getting increasingly popular.

This was the dream to get, though I will want to get ALL the rules eventually. And Mech's.

 

So for the first time since they got bought out and 30+ years, I went to Milsims!

They moved two years ago into an old QuickEMart. It's the biggest game store in Melbourne with everything except WW2 stuff. They have a WALL of boxed tabletop wargames!

I HAD ordered it twice via Amazon, and got it cancelled twice. This game is so poluar it's selling out within a week of it being on the shelf!

I got the Successor States book for old times sake,  and the Campaign guide to dream of ever running.

My current idea is a Pirate/Mercenary Company-sized group of 3 lances. Based in the Periphery to the NW of the Inner Sphere, outside of Stiener (and near the edge of where the Clan Invasion will eventually come). A reengage company that fled Canopian space after being charged for a crime they didn't commit, the leaders now great-granddaughter leads a world and attacks near by and not-so near by systems for plunder and slaves and some plausible deniability mercenary work.

All the mech's bar the Firestarter are from 2nd edition and are all very cool too look at. I like the Firestarter's flamers and the idea of overheating someone to shut them down without shooting.  

Ideally will painted in camo-colours of Brown and Green.

Battletech company - Com's Commando's.

1 HQ lance

-          Heavy Command Mech - Battlemaster

-          Heavy LRM support Mech – Archer

-          Heavy Mech – Warhammer

-          Medium AA Mech – Riflemen

 

1 Main lance

-          Heavy Mech - Thunderbolt

-          Heavy  LRM Mech - Crusader

-          Medium Mech - Shadowhawk

-          Light scout hunter Mech - Firestarter

 

1 Scout lance

-          Medium commander Mech – Phoenix Hawk

-          Light Mech - Wasp

-          Light Mech - Stinger

-          Scout Mech - Locust

Their enemies would be closer Stiener Worlds with Mechs, Armour, VTOL's and Infantry.