Alpha Strike Has a Cover - Almost

Posted Today, May 2 on the Catalyst BattleBlog, the cover and more news on the Alpha Strike rules. 

From Catalyst -
"[Cover "in progress" by the brilliant Alex Iglesias.]"

Here are a few words from the blog entry:

When we published Strategic Operations several years ago, a lot of people instantly fell in love with what is really a pretty small part of the book…the Quick-Strike Rules. And we immediately began getting questions of “when will you release a stand-alone rulebook of that?”

No doubt.  The only reason I bought Strategic Ops. To get Quickstrike.

We’re currently on track to have this at Gen Con with the book available to the public in September .

I'm not going to GenCon (never been - though I would like to go very badly), but this would be good reason.  Seems ambitious, but why not.  Let's make it happen boys.

Here are some points from the April Battlechat that happened before this was released (again, thanks to Nerroth and DarkISI on the Battletech forums for compiling the info from the Battlechats.)

Alpha Strike:
[18:20] <Nerroth> Apologies if this is covered by Quick-Strike already, but will Alpha Strike include rules for operating Land Air 'Mechs? With the recently-completed Spectral LAM project in mind, it would be welcome if those new minis (to include the Mk1 LAMs covered in stretch goals) were supported in the upcoming book.)
[18:23] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Hmmm. Doesn't seem so.
[18:23] <Nerroth> In that case, is that something that could be added in a future expansion or supplemental file?
[18:24] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Yup.


[18:25] <Nerroth> Speaking of Alpha Strike, how far in scale will the actions it will cover go? For example, will WarShips be supported in the starter book; and if not, could they be added to a future expansion?
[18:29] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Looks like there's minimal WarShip support. WOuld likely be a later supplement


[18:30] <Nerroth> Will AS include rules for both hex-based and hexless play?
[18:30] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Yes


[18:34] <Nerroth> Will the first AS book include the rules needed to support the "new" units and technologies (such as Nova CEWS) from the Wars of Reaving or the upcoming TRO3145 PDFs, or would those have to wait for later expansions?
[18:37] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Later expansions


[18:40] <Nerroth> Has there been any thought put in as to what era the presentation/cover art/etc for AS will be put in? I'm thinking of how StratOps has a Jihad-era cover, and how TW is currently presented as being in the midst of that era.
[18:44] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Likely Clan Invasion


[18:45] <Nerroth> I see. When it comes to AS expansions, woudl they be pdf-based, or could there be print books which further build upon the game engine?
[18:46] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - The first batch of Alpha Strike supplements are planned for PDF-exclusive release.


[18:48] <Nerroth> In the longer run, will the existence of AS as a product line in its own right have an affect on future TROs or sourcebooks? Will any of those latter books be more likely to include the AS unit cards included within, or would they have to go into the same queue as those currently waiting to go into the MUL?
[18:51] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Yes


[18:52] <Nerroth> How far along is Alpha Strike in terms of its development process?
[18:56] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - The core rules are done and are undergoing a crash playtest to verify workability. SUpplemental rules and other writing continue as we speak. Art, fortunately, is not that big an issue.


[18:59] <Nerroth> Is there a particular design choice that is making the Clan Invasion the most likely starting point for AS? (Is it as simple as there being unit card pdfs for the 3039 and 3050 TROs, or would there not have been enough room to start in the Jihad or Dark Age at this point?)
[19:00] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Not enough hard data on Dark Age units was available when production started, and art/miniatures are not yet up to Dark Age needs. Also, the fact is that the electronic properties out there are focused on roughly the Clan era of play, so we felt it would be more recognizable to new-ish players.


[19:02] <Nerroth> That leads me to a semi-related question; is there any particular issue with using the MW:DA/AoD minis/stands with the AS rules, or would those minis have to be re-based before they were compatible?
[19:06] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Legally speaking, the click-dial base concept is a property of WizKids Games, so we try to stay clear of using Dark Age minis in our present-day artwork.
[19:07] <SpaceCowboy1701> To clarify, though, N-scale miniatures will work with the new AS rules, then?


[19:07] <Nerroth> So, the large-scale adoption of AS to the Dark Age would be dependent on IWM getting more of the 3145 units done up in mini form? (And is there any word from that quarter on that happening in the near future?)
[19:08] <@Habeas2> Nerroth - Not really, since we continue to alow proxy minis. Just don't expect a lot of mini-based art support for the Dark Age before we have enough DA-era figures to show.

Here's the link to the full blog by Randall on Alpha Strike over on the Catalyst Game Labs Battletech website.