Battletech Unboxed

Firstly let me say this is not a review. I must also confess that "I am a Mech-head" and have been for a long time. Therefore I am TOTALLY bias towards original classic Battletech. (NOT THE HERO CLIX ONE) and it is fair and just that I make that clear from the outset. The 25th anerversery Introductory Box Set arived via courier yesterday afternoon and I still have a grin on my face, A BIG grin I might add. One of my friends (strangely everyone knew him as "Goblin!") had everything FASA produced for Battle tech back in the day, some 25 years in the past. However Goblin Fell in Love with a German Girl and subsequently moved to Germany. I was set up on a blind date with one of her friends and after 9 months realised that she was not the one for me and came home back to blighty. Long story made short I have not played with Mechs for a very very long time. So I was aprehensive about opening the box. I need not have been It's BRILLIANT! (sorry that just slipped out).  The box is heavy and full of Mechie goodness. And here is what is inside.

How the core rulebooks work is more an advert for the possible expansions to game than an explanation of how to read the rules and in what order, It does however serve a purpose. Only 8 pages long it outlines what each expansion is and how it fits in with the introductory set. So does it tempt me to get the expansions? To be honest, not yet, One of the expansions is a role-playing game, for example which at the moment in my life I have no use for, if things change and I do start role-playing again I don't think I would choose this as a setting.

The Quick Start Rules which I believe you can download free online. Anyway it's only 12 pages full colour with lots of helpful pictures and is the very basic rules to get you started. I should confess I have not read any of these rulebooks yet, that will start today. This should give new players a place to start. For me It will act as a refresher and a kick start into re-learning a game that is mostly just a memory in the back of my mind.

The introductory rulebook contains the main rules. The thickest of the volumes at 80 pages it covers the main rules as well as Mech design and a couple of scenarios. In the same way as the rules did 25 years ago. I have not sat down with both rule sets (the old and the new) but  a very quick flick indicates they are pretty much the same. Maybe the wording has changed but the essence is the same. As with all the materials production quality is high and the product a pleasure to interact with.

The source book, "inner shpere at a glance" covers the political situation in the known universe. It covers the history from the rise of the hegemony, through the star league era, to the arrival of the clans. (I am not a Clan Fan, to me they unbalanced the classic battletech status quo it's a personal view but it just seemed to me at the time a FASA ploy to create a super new must have force which would make players crave the next uber mech!) Also in the source book are descriptions of the major houses which will help reienforce the background of the universe. There are also sections on the mech pilots, mercanaries, pirates and the mechs themselves. At the back is a section very much like the old technical reports which give you a picture and a breif description of each mech. Again for new players this will be a great help.

Additionally there is a large full colour star map (A1 in size). My personal gripe is the era that they have drawn the map. It clearly shows clan holdings so I doubt for me it will be any real use. Other people who are Clan Fans will no doubt love it. It's a personal choice but for me (and perhaps only me) it was the wrong choice. As the source book has star maps from other periods I do not feel to agrieved.

Battletech is an old game and as such there are charts and tables to deal with. Each mech needs a record sheet for example. These have been helpfully supplied. I will do a matchup later today to compair the new and the old to determine if mech designs have been tampered with, I hope not so I had best check. There are also some strurdy quick refference sheets which I feel I should laminate, just to keep grubby fingers off!

I am very pleased that they have chossen to include a brief modeling guide, for most of us it is a how to suck eggs guide in that we already know, or should know how to prepare and paint models. I am very pleased that is is seperate from the main rules as this will allow younger or more free spirited gamers to avoid christening the main rules with paint and glue. There is also an interesting section on typical house colours, from experience I believe most players take mercenary contracts so I shall not be following this guide. If you have a decent reff he (or she) will tell you the mechs you are facing are all in Comm Star White, or Kurita Red for example. So while it is nice to know that Liao House can be painted with Goblin Green from GW it is not in any way vital to the game.

Now we start to get to the good bits. Here are the maps, still in their shrink wrap. I hope you can see that they are proper game board maps, full colour and hard mounted. The original maps were not hard mounted but still sufficiently sturdy. These are on an Avalon Hill Quality. Mine for now will remain shrink wraped as I still have the old maps and these seem about the same size. He says rubbing his hands together with joy!

Saving the mechs till last. In the introductory set there are 26 plastic mechs. 2 are multipart clan (Omni) mechs I have not unwrapped these, and I am not sure I ever will. The other 24 mechs (all different by the way) cover a wide range of inner sphere mechs from scout mechs to assult mechs. The picture shows the Hunchbach a 50 ton medium mech, and an 8o ton Awesome assault mech. I like both these mechs, the hunchback has a desestating shoulder mounted Auto cannon (but with ammunition concerns) while the Awesome is about as heavily armed and armoured as you can get, but boy is it slow. With only 24 inner sphere mechs they were never going to get everyones favourites but overall they have got a nice variety. Before you ask they have missed out Marauders, (many peoples favorite Heavy mech), Archer, Lucust, Stingers, Wasps, HatchetMan ( and Axeman), as well as the iconic Rifleman (A good looking mech but with rubbish armour). But with only 24 mechs I must say not a bad selection it so easily could have been worse. The figues are hard plastic and will need to be cleaned up of flash long before painting, But overall I am more than happy with them.

In conclusion I am very happy with this box set, It is not perfect by any means but it is value for money in my opinion and a must have for any mech-head. I plan to start painting mechs this week once I think about colours more. Which actually means I will dither and get nothing done if I am honest. I already want more mechs either in metal or plastic, Griffins (First mech I was ever given control of and a very good medium mech despite me), P-Hawks and Crusaders along with those mentioned above. But unfortunatly getting them at the right price is a problem at the moment.

 Hope to be able to play it at the club but will see how things pan out. I am confident that club members will like the game once they have played it. I can even forsee a campaign in the offing. But I had better walk before I run. The next step clearly is to read the rules properly and compare it with CLASSIC battletech.

Well that's enough for today. Thanks for reading and Take care. All the Best Clint