BattleTech
| BattleTech | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Wargame published by Catalyst Game Labs |
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| No. of Players | 2+ | |
| First Publication | 1984 | |
| Essential Books | Total Warfare | |
A Game of Armored Combat
"It is the 31st century, a time of endless wars that rage across human-occupied space. As star empires clash, these epic wars are won and lost by BattleMechs, 30-foot-tall humanoid metal titans bristling with lasers, autocannons and dozens of other lethal weapons; enough firepower to level entire city blocks. Your elite force of MechWarriors drives these juggernauts into battle, proudly holding your faction s flag high, intent on expanding the power and glory of your realm. At their beck and call are the support units of armored vehicles, power armored infantry, aerospace fighters and more, wielded by a MechWarrior's skillful command to aid him in ultimate victory. Will they become legends, or forgotten casualties? Only your skill and luck will determine their fate!" - Product promotional tagline.
Holy Crap, Robots are awesome
In the early 1980s, Jordan Weisman took interest in several Japanese animated series involving giant robots. He was quoted as saying that he liked the designs and idea of giant robots fighting on the battlefield, but did not have a taste for the storylines that the Japanese involved them with. His company acquired licensing for the designs from several Giant Robot series (Most well known being Space Fortress Macross, but a large portion also come from Fang of the Sun Dougram, and a few designs were also drawn from Crusher Joe), and in 1984, used them to make this game.
The first edition of this game, called "Battledroids", was a wargame made to be played on a board that illustrates a battlefield with various hills, trees, and lakes, all divided into hexagonal "Spaces". It came with two large plastic miniatures of the giant robots (The same variety that could be purchased from japan). Initially, sales were mediocre, because the sheer size of the miniatures made gameplay awkward. Soon after the release of the product, Lucasfilms pressed a lawsuit against FASA (Weisman's company) for using the name "Droids", which was a trademarked title. Although no charges were pressed, the company had to revise the name. The second edition, released in 1986, used cardboard stand-ups rather than the original miniatures.
Not long afterwards, fans began to press for new miniatures. After rescaling the miniatures to be compatible with the new hex-maps and making them with pewter, Miniatures had once again become the standard for most serious players. Also, many new in-house designs were being made. Though rarely as aesthetically pleasing as many of the Japanese designs, they were made to bridge the aesthetic gap between the Macross and Dougram designs. They managed to do this rather well. The third edition of Battletech came with plastic miniatures again, but all of the designs were the outsourced ones, making this one of the most sought-after editions of the game today.
In 1995, soon after the release of the Highly-rated PC game Mechwarrior 2, Harmony gold pressed charges on FASA to cease and desist in using all of the robots that they had the license for. It had turned out that due to a legal fumble, FASA had only acquired the rights to the miniatures line. In order to avoid legal action, FASA had to stop production of all of it's designs that had been outsourced, including all of the IIC Second-line clan mechs that were released in the first edition of Technical Readout 3055 (These were illustrations that had been made by hiring Victor Musical industries, a Japanese company, to redesign many of the "Classic" Inner-sphere Battlemechs players had been using since the 1980s, and breathe new life into them). Again, in 1996, FASA introduced another Boxed set, the 4th edition. It went back to using cardboard stand-ups, but for the first time in the history of the product, it contained no outsourced designs. Although the house designs have evolved into their own westernized feel, the aesthetic features of many of the old designs, such as cockpits with large windows that are more akin to a window for an aircraft, are still prevalent.
Mechanics
One of the biggest appeals of Battletech is that all of it's units are made with a pre-defined set of rules. Because of these construction rules for all in-house designs, custom designs are fully possible, as well, though they are not likely to be welcome in tournament matches.
BattleTech uses a build system based on 'Mech tonnage. You start with a Chassis limit, from 20-100 tons. You then determine engine size based on how fast you want your 'Mech to be (how many hexes you want it to be able to move per turn) you then allocate the remaining tonnage to control systems, weapons, ammo and armor. This method varies slightly depending on the technology of the chassis, but not overmuch. Though the system has recently been removed, there were previously three "Levels" of technology. Level 1 referred to early-era gameplay. In this style of play, only the most rudimentary weapons and technologies were available, though the rules remain the same. This is the preferred level at which to learn, and is synonymous with the equipment available during the Succession Wars era. It is also the level of play made possible with starter boxes. Level 2 referred to tournament-level gameplay. This introduced new equipment and electronics, as well as clan technology (A more technologically advanced, but militant people). Though the rules are generally the same as those in level 1 gameplay, extra equipment such as ECM, Anti-missile systems, Cluster munitions, etc were better suited to more experienced players. It is the level of play made possible with the separately purchased rulebooks. Level 3 Referred to advanced gameplay and equipment. This also included all equipment that was not listed in the core rulebooks. More complex rules were inserted in order to increase the realism and flexibility of the game. These include new weapons, New terrain, new equipment, expanded heat gauges, alternate rules for Line-of-sight, etc. Though Level 3 rules included equipment not printed in the core rulebooks (Such as the Prototype weapons for the War of 3039, Solaris VII weapons, etc), the standard rulebook in regards to Level 3 play was called Maxtech. This has now been replaced by the Catalyst Games release of Tactical Operations, and some new rules for Battletech play may also appear in Strategic Operations.
Play is simple. Two six-sided dice are used, on a to-hit (Equal or greater to) system. Roll initiative. Whoever loses moves first. However, although all weapons damage is technically done at the same time, and therefore "Who shoots first" is insignificant, considering which mech to shoot with first does change the outcome. If you get hit, you mark off the weapons damage rating from your armor. If the shot penetrates your armor, you roll potential criticals. Firing weapons and moving about generates heat, which you must keep down to keep your 'Mech working properly.
Unlike games such as Warhammer, where many units are either killed on the first shot, or left unscathed, and little information is recorded, Battletech uses record sheets to mark off cumulative damage, ammunition, pilot status, and heat. Also, there are hit locations, so limbs can be blown off. The record sheets allow for effects that are more detailed, but this also increases the overall playtime. Although expert players can get through matches just as fast as players of other games of more or less equal size, new players often find that the game plays slowly. This is usually due to the time spent referencing hit-location tables, critical effects, etc. For new players, 2V2 matches are best, with 4V4 matches being the "Cap", in order to have games that do not take excessively long. More experienced players will likely play matches as large as 12V12 or larger.
Spinoff Games
Due to it's popularity through the late 80s and early 90s, Battletech spawned a multitude of spinoffs and expansion games. The RPG companion-game, titled Mechwarrior, was created in the late 1980s, so that players could simulate the lifestyle of the Mechwarriors they played. A 2nd edition (1991) and 3rd edition (1999) were also released. 3rd edition became renamed Classic Battletech RPG, in order to avoid confusion with the clix games, and though it was available as a .PDF download, it was not reprinted until 2006.
Aerotech and Battlespace were two different games which simulated space combat in the Battletech universe. Movement handled differently due to the zero-gravity nature of space, and was played on a different scale.
A company named NOVA also went on to produce game-books that could be described as a two-player "Make your own adventure" books. Each player had to have a book, and by choosing actions available in a book, different combinations of actions by each player had players flip to a page on a book. Each page was illustrated to simulate an in-cockpit view. Expansions, such as terrain features, were also made available.
Battletroops was a game that was made to simulate the Battletech universe, with infantry in mind as the main units. It later had an expansion pack to incorporate clan equipment, as well as Elementals, but the game did not sell as well and the rules have since been abandoned.
Battleforce was a revision of Battletech, made in recognition of the fact that large-scale combat could not be effectively played out using the current system. Battleforce simplified each 'mech into a simple set of numbers, so that they could be clustered into units and fight over a much larger area. Battleforce 2, released about a decade later, also introduced planetary invasion maps and rules to go along with them. Although the maps are available in Map Compilation 2, the rules will be reprinted in
The Solaris VII Boxed set was made to simulate the fast-paced gladiatorial combat on the games world of Solaris VII. It included new rules, new maps with special rules, new mechs, and supplements for roleplaying. (Little known fact. Some of the designs used in the original Solaris VII set were the Japanese "Redesigns" of the Battletech 'mechs. When the product tried to sell in Japan, half of the designs were already copyrighted by other well known anime companies, and the in-house designs were simply not "Japanese" enough for their tastes.) Though the product itself flopped, it's maps were reprinted and re-released in 2004, as well as a complimentary up-to-date rulebook. Rules have since been standardized to match those of Classic Battletech, but "Special Map rules" have been included.
The Battletech Collectible Cardgame was produced by Wizards of the Coast in 1996, and ran until 1998. Though it's popularity had begun to wane after the first core set, the release of the Pokemon card game was the nail in the coffin. The Battletech CCG hosted some very impressive artwork, though the game favored swarm-decks filled with plenty of weak, cheap 'mechs, and it's non-"Creature" cards were too weak to have an effective deck based around them. After five editions (Battletech Limited/unlimited, Counterstrike, Mercenaries, Mechwarrior, Arsenal), Battletech CCG came out with Commander's edition, which picked some of the best cards of the last few editions (Though it abandoned or revised some cards for inaccuracies or "brokenness") It had one final expansion, Crusade, which introduced the Steel Viper clan, though there were some prior cards that did reference the clan.
Current State
In 1998, the US release of Pokemon for the Gameboy, and subsequent Cartoon and Cardgame, had a damaging effect on the tabletop games market. Comic book stores which had previously stocked tabletop RPGs, wargames, and collectible card games found that they could turn a better profit by stocking more Pokemon goods and cutting out the weaker-selling products. Only a handful of better-selling tabletop games, such as products by Games Workshop and the Dungeons and Dragons games, were able to remain. In 2001, FASA ceased operations, and many fans of the Battletech series began to look for other games. Battletech was purchased by FanPro and Wizkids, donning the name "Classic Battletech" in order to better separate it from the now-floundering "Mechwarrior" Clix-game license. Despite still having products released for it, Classic Battletech was often put on the back burner, as Wizkids showed preference to their clix-games. It was later licensed to Catalyst Game Labs, who have since released a new boxed set (6th edition) based on the newly revised core rules. This boxed set, once again, contains plastic miniatures. Though the plastic miniatures (When compared to plastic miniatures produced by other companies) are decidedly low-quality, they are more than sufficient as playing-pieces for new players who are experimenting with the product. In making low-grade miniatures for the box set, the overall pricetag remained low, while giving players something more tangible than a cardboard cutout. The game is beginning to gain popularity once again, despite the dropping popularity of tabletop games in general.
Also, With Jordan Weissman's reacquiring of the Battletech games' license and the founding of his new company Smith & Tinker, There is likelihood that there will be another battletech universe game sometime in the future, though the company's projects have gone unannounced since it's founding.