Lexical Differences in Table-Top Games (BattleTech)

Being part of any type of group will change the way a person speaks, this is especially true in table top games where a lot of terms are made up and abbreviations and jargon arise in order to speed up communication. I personally play a tabletop strategy game called BattleTech that involves giant robots and other military technology going face to face on a hex map. These are some of the words and phrases that we use in our games:

Mech: This refers to the most common type of unit in the game: the BattleMech. These are giant machines of war that differ from things like Pacific Rim and Gundam in that they perform more like modern military weapons such as tanks.

Example: “I’m going into battle with 4 mechs.”

Variation: QuadMech (a mech with 4 legs); Protomech (A different type of unit that is much smaller than a mech, sometimes abbreviated as “proto” for less confusion); Light/Medium/Heavy/Assault/Supperheavy Mech (refers to the mass of the mech)

TAC [tæk]: This is an abbreviation of the phrase “through armor criticals” basically this means that an attack was exceptional. 

Example: “I rolled a 2, so that’s a TAC.”

Variations: There is a special rule that changes the function of a TAC and is usually referred to as a “floating critical;” Can also be called a “crit” or “critical”

Boxcars: A term used for rolling 12 on two normal six-sided dice.

Example: “I need boxcars in order to hit your mech”

Variations: This is a fixed expression regarding a dice roll.

Death from Above: This refers to an attack in which a mech jumps and attempts to land on top of another unit.

Example: “My Raven is going to DFA your Atlas.”

Variations: Often abbreviated as D.F.A. and is then used as a verb Example: “He just DFA’d my Atlas.”

Inner Sphere: This term refers to the “normal” people in the game’s universe. They are humans who have advanced technology but have continued fighting amongst themselves and are a dark rendition of humanity.

Example: “All my units are from the Inner Sphere.”

Variations: Can be abbreviated as IS

Clan: This term refers to a militant group of people who left the Inner Sphere because they did not want to be involved in a war, and then started their own military way of life far off in the galaxy. They have a military and tribal society.

Example: “I only like using Clan tech.”

Variations: Clanner (derogatory refers to someone from the Clan society and is used for people who play using Clan technology)

Flip Arms: This term refers to a mech’s ability to rotate it’s arms 180 degrees so that they will be facing completely backwards. This allows a mech to shoot behind it.

Example: “My Raven is going to flip arms and shoot your Atlas.”

Variations: Sometimes said as Flip it’s arms, or just flip

Vee: This is a very common abbreviation of the word “vehicle.” This refers to almost anything that isn’t a mech or infantry, from tanks to airplanes.

Example: “I’m bringing 2 mechs and 2 Vees.

Variations: QuadVee (A type of unit that can change between a Quadruped Battlemech and a vehicle)

Words like these allow players to communicate effectively and quickly. Some words like "boxcars" and "Death from Above" are common in other games and this allows for communication between a broader group of "tabletop gamers." While terms like "TAC," Clan, and Inner Sphere distance us from other game groups by setting a communication boundary, this can also work to make people curious about the games we play. Using these types of phrases and words help bring us closer together by giving us a kind of secret code that makes us feel like those outside of our group wouldn't understand what we are talking about.