BattleTech. Tell me more...

Ken B. wrote:

Will the new set still have 24 plastic mechs? And when is the damned thing coming out?

26 models. Same as the last one, plus a Thor and a Loki. I understand they had a couple of the new starters on display at GenCon. There's still a manufacturing issue holding them up however.

Ancient_of_MuMu wrote:

And there is a cartoon tv series for battletech. How many other boardgames can claim that.

Yeah, but I think there's about one frame per second.

For the curious, it's on YouTube.
Episode 1:
I will not give you back your 21 minutes. It was broadcast (12 episodes plus apparently a clip 13th ep) in 1994, but it wouldn't have looked out of place twenty years earlier.

Edit: Wiki says there were 13 plus a clip episode. Also, there's some computer animation in there, so no 1974, but the traditional animation is horrid.

Hey, Heavy Gear got a show as well! And I try daily to forget it ever existed (some decent cgi modeling though).

I was hoping they would bring back the classic mechs, BT just isn't the same for me without the robotech models!

jpat wrote:

I hope by the linking that I'm not discouraging a purchase. The box is a great value for the maps and minis alone. Plus, it's nicer to have bound versions of the intro rules.

No chance, jpat. I'm all about bound books and supporting publishers if I play their games.

Also, thanks for the very informative rundown. I will by the 25th starter set upon release.

3025: Good. With some home-rulin' and a motivated gang, great.
Anything after: Sucks. Clans are awful.

Basic Game (Mechs): Good.
Infantry and Tanks: Good, although infantry are fiddly.
Aerospace: Sucks.

The RPG: Sucks in all versions.

The Fluff: Pre-Clans, it is excellent.

wolvendancer wrote:

3025: Good. With some home-rulin' and a motivated gang, great.
Anything after: Sucks. Clans are awful.

Basic Game (Mechs): Good.
Infantry and Tanks: Good, although infantry are fiddly.
Aerospace: Sucks.

The RPG: Sucks in all versions.

The Fluff: Pre-Clans, it is excellent.

3025 is more or less the "scavenger" period I think I alluded to before. Technology was or had been largely devolving thanks to incessant war. Manufacture of new 'Mechs was pretty limited, and 'Mechs were seen as rare and often were heirloom pieces. The Clans upped the tech level in the late 80s/early 90s, and (I'm loosely interpreting here) the universe was sort of retconned to explain a sort of steadily increasing technology level. There's also a lot of experimental tech around in the universe right now, although that may change once the setting moves into the Dark Age inaugurated by the clicky game and set about 40 or 50 years ahead in the time line.

One of the nice things about BT is you can (and people do) play 3025-era games to this day. Some people play with that general tech level in the more modern setting, too, for that matter, maybe placing the units in the Periphery as opposed to making them front-line machines.

There is a new edition of the RPG out, though only in PDF so far. I haven't read it.

I've played twice, in '89 and in '96. It was okay, not as fun as Car Wars, but not as complex either.

jpat wrote:

wolvendancer wrote:

3025: Good. With some home-rulin' and a motivated gang, great.
Anything after: Sucks. Clans are awful.

Basic Game (Mechs): Good.
Infantry and Tanks: Good, although infantry are fiddly.
Aerospace: Sucks.

The RPG: Sucks in all versions.

The Fluff: Pre-Clans, it is excellent.

3025 is more or less the "scavenger" period I think I alluded to before. Technology was or had been largely devolving thanks to incessant war. Manufacture of new 'Mechs was pretty limited, and 'Mechs were seen as rare and often were heirloom pieces. The Clans upped the tech level in the late 80s/early 90s, and (I'm loosely interpreting here) the universe was sort of retconned to explain a sort of steadily increasing technology level. There's also a lot of experimental tech around in the universe right now, although that may change once the setting moves into the Dark Age inaugurated by the clicky game and set about 40 or 50 years ahead in the time line.

One of the nice things about BT is you can (and people do) play 3025-era games to this day. Some people play with that general tech level in the more modern setting, too, for that matter, maybe placing the units in the Periphery as opposed to making them front-line machines.

There is a new edition of the RPG out, though only in PDF so far. I haven't read it.

I'm totally lost. What 'year' is the classic battletech line? Is that the line that Catalyst is promoting? And it takes place prior to 3025, correct? This reads like 3025 is an older version that some gamers are still playing.

The set seems like a great value. The game is fun and you could play right out of the box for quite some time.

3025 forever!

Jack Hooligan wrote:

jpat wrote:

wolvendancer wrote:

3025: Good. With some home-rulin' and a motivated gang, great.
Anything after: Sucks. Clans are awful.

Basic Game (Mechs): Good.
Infantry and Tanks: Good, although infantry are fiddly.
Aerospace: Sucks.

The RPG: Sucks in all versions.

The Fluff: Pre-Clans, it is excellent.

3025 is more or less the "scavenger" period I think I alluded to before. Technology was or had been largely devolving thanks to incessant war. Manufacture of new 'Mechs was pretty limited, and 'Mechs were seen as rare and often were heirloom pieces. The Clans upped the tech level in the late 80s/early 90s, and (I'm loosely interpreting here) the universe was sort of retconned to explain a sort of steadily increasing technology level. There's also a lot of experimental tech around in the universe right now, although that may change once the setting moves into the Dark Age inaugurated by the clicky game and set about 40 or 50 years ahead in the time line.

One of the nice things about BT is you can (and people do) play 3025-era games to this day. Some people play with that general tech level in the more modern setting, too, for that matter, maybe placing the units in the Periphery as opposed to making them front-line machines.

There is a new edition of the RPG out, though only in PDF so far. I haven't read it.

I'm totally lost. What 'year' is the classic battletech line? Is that the line that Catalyst is promoting? And it takes place prior to 3025, correct? This reads like 3025 is an older version that some gamers are still playing.

Sorry. There are different "eras" in the game. The game started in the 80s around 3025. The current time in the game universe is in the 3080s. People play anything from roughly 3025 to the "present." It kind of just depends on (1) what "fluff" you like (some people like ScavengerTech as I described it; some people like the "jihad" storyline that's wrapping up, some like the Clan invasion somewhere in between) and (2) how high tech you want your machines to be. These are not necessarily the same things. The last box set was set in 3067 but the machines were the kinds you could've found in earlier eras (to keep the rules simpler).

The 25th Anniversary Box Set is due to hit stores at the end of this month. I think I'm going to pick it up and get back into Battletech again. It was one of the first minis games I played as a teen and my friends and I really had a lot of fun with it. Hopefully it won't turn out to be just nostalgia and will be just as much fun as I remember.

Purple Pawn has a good review of the content and the price (US$50) doesn't seem all that bad to me when I compare it to the prices of some boardgames.

We primarily played Mech vs Mech combat with the cardboard standies. I remember when we tried adding CityTech and AeroTech only to find the fun factor reduced somewhat. But that was 20 years ago, maybe the rules for these aspects have been tidied up and streamlined since then.

Looking through the introductory box contents, I was mildly surprised to see that the Marauder, Crusader and Wasp weren't included. These were some of the core Mechs when I was playing. There were probably some others that I can't recall just at the moment.

I have a lot of interest in this. Is it basically just a minis game? How many people can play out of the starter? Is it strictly 2 on 2?

A while ago I decided to work out what the best minis game for me would be and I concluded it was Battletech (although MonPoc might now also fit due to no longer being collectible). However it was out of print and not reasonable to pick up to test out. Maybe now, but I am less interested in mini games (which is a bit sad).

It's a fun game, folks. I used to play CBT way back in the day of the metal minis and it was fun. If you want 70% of the game without all of the RPG/mech creation and bookkeeping, Mechwarrior: Dark Age is pretty decent, though.

I'm a big fan of Battletech.