Alpha Strike New Players

There have been some great content coming out as resources for new Alpha Strike players that I wanted to collect as a reference.

BattleTech: Alpha Strike Box Set
The new box set is shipping out from the distributor this week (as of 11/22/22). Catalyst Game Labs online store is expected to have it for order on 11/25. You can preorder at several online stores, or place an order at your FLGS. This is the recommended place to start with Alpha Strike.

Death From Above Wargaming’s Alpha Strike Box Set Unboxing
Wolfnet Radio’s Alpha Strike Box Set Unboxing
Catalyst Game Labs Store
Aries Games and Miniatures
Fortress Miniatures and Games

BattleTech: Alpha Strike Quick Start Rules
If you need a test before putting your hard-earned money on the table, Catalyst Game Labs has a free PDF, the Alpha Strike Quick Start Rules. You can print and play a sample Alpha Strike game.
BattleTech Downloads page
Scroll down and Alpha Strike Quick Start is the second link on the page.

How To Play Alpha Strike
Six Sides of Gaming Does an Alpha Strike playthrough with Randall Bills of Catalyst Game Labs and Ed Stephens, Catalyst Demo Team Agent.
Guerilla Miniature Games has a combined Alpha Strike box set unboxing and then play through a game to show you how to play. They also have a series of battle reports of additional gameplay.
BiggRigg has a series of short tutorials going through the basic aspects of the game (what Alpha Strike is, how movement works, how line of sight is tested, etc).
Wolfnet Radio has a learn to play Alpha Strike video that also introduces players to their tournament format.
Death From Above Alpha Strike Basics begins a series of how to play videos. Their channel also features a bunch of AS games.
The Armed Painter The Armed Painter has an intro how to play. His channel also has some tactics tips and terrain and painting your miniatures.

Alpha Strike: Commander’s Edition
The Alpha Strike: Commander’s Edition book is the full rulebook for the Alpha Strike game. In general, if it’s in AS:CE, it’s part of the Alpha Strike game. I’ll let Randall and Ed talk about all that’s in AS:CE.
Six Sides of Gaming AS:CE Promo
Also available in PDF from drivethrurpg, Aries and Fortress online stores (see AS box set links above) or your FLGS.

Master Unit List
The Master Unit List (MUL) is the official BattleTech site for keeping tracking of all the canon BattleTech units. For Alpha Strike, it also has the Alpha Strike Unit Cards for most of the units. It has an Alpha Strike Force Builder where you can add units to a force, set their skill levels, get a total Point Value (PV) and print off a force list and all the skill adjusted unit cards.
Armed Painter How to use MUL
Unicorn Company How to use MUL
Wolfnet 350 Army Construction

Alpha Strike Community
Catalyst Demo Team is the official demo group for Catalyst Game Labs’ including BattleTech and BattleTech: Alpha Strike. They have a Facebook group and are running Alpha Strike tournaments as part of the BattleTech Championship Circuit (BTCC) as well as locally organized events.
Wolfnet has a Facebook group, podcast, discord server, youtube channel and host Alpha Strike 350 format tournaments.
The MechBay podcast also has a discord server and regularly plays and discusses Alpha Strike on both. They are also local to me, so therefore the best community.

Tournament Formats
There is no tournament format in the rulebook, but several tournaments/groups have created their own.
Wolfnet Radio created their Alpha Strike 350 tournament ruleset for tournaments they organized, and have made the rules available for anyone to use. It uses a full 350 PV army per player, but each scenario the player selects 200 PV from their army for that scenario. ie. there’s a sideboard. This tournament format focuses on being able to fit in a tournament in one day, though for larger events they will have additional games/formats that they play (like using your full army or even two players’ armies per side). Wolfnet 350 tournaments are sometimes official as part of the Catalyst Demo Team, and sometimes run on their own. Wolfnet 350 Core Tournament Rules 2.1
BattleTech ChampionShip Circuit is an official tournament format from the Catalyst Demo Team that includes both classic BattleTech and Alpha Strike, run as separate tournaments though often at the same event. The BTCC uses many of the “newer'” elements of Alpha Strike including formations/force building and special pilot abilities. BTCC rules packet from Adepticon 2023
Southern Assault is an annual Alpha Strike tournament organized and hosted by Fortress Miniatures & Games. I believe NOVA is planning on using the same/similar rules this year for their AS tournament. Originally based on Wolfnet 350, the Southern Assault rules use the full army each scenario and even went a bit larger (375 PV) this last year. Southern Assault 2022 rulespack link