BattleTech

[Achan hiArusa]

I was disappointed that the construction rules weren't in the Rules of Warfare until I saw the Techmanual which made me very happy. Then I saw Tac Ops and I fell further in love with the new version of the game. I can't wait until Strat Ops.

 

[Korgoth]

I played back in the ol' 3025 days. I always liked the idea of the Succession Wars... brutal slugfests of faltering states that can no longer produce what they are sending into battle. Sort of a grinding, hopeless Eastern Front kind of feeling over all of it.

I never took to all that Clan nonsense... I know some folks liked it but it wasn't my thing.

Looking over some of the more recent stuff... some Mechs seem like they vanished (like the Warhammer and the Marauder). Was there a reason or were they just not popular anymore?

I'm glad they're still making the game. I'm iffy about the components in the new starter (not that I need a starter, since I still have my old one) but it looks like they're doing some scenario/campaign stuff which is great.

What timeframe is Sword and Dragon set in? Like I said, I'm pretty much strictly a Succession Wars guy.

 

[Victim]

I played back in the ol' 3025 days. I always liked the idea of the Succession Wars... brutal slugfests of faltering states that can no longer produce what they are sending into battle. Sort of a grinding, hopeless Eastern Front kind of feeling over all of it.

I never took to all that Clan nonsense... I know some folks liked it but it wasn't my thing.

Looking over some of the more recent stuff... some Mechs seem like they vanished (like the Warhammer and the Marauder). Was there a reason or were they just not popular anymore?

I'm glad they're still making the game. I'm iffy about the components in the new starter (not that I need a starter, since I still have my old one) but it looks like they're doing some scenario/campaign stuff which is great.

What timeframe is Sword and Dragon set in? Like I said, I'm pretty much strictly a Succession Wars guy.

IIRC, a number of the old mech designs were canned because FASA didn't actually have the rights to those designs in the first place. The Marauder, Warhammer, Locust etc had their roots in some of Robotech stuff - but the rights weren't properly sorted out in the first place, so FASA couldn't actually get the rights from whoever they talked to. So those so called Unseen mechs had to go. I think some of them were reintroduced with new art though.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I
Looking over some of the more recent stuff... some Mechs seem like they vanished (like the Warhammer and the Marauder). Was there a reason or were they just not popular anymore?

Locust and Marauder, two of my favorite mechs in Mechwarrior 1!

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I just ordered the starter set/box from Dragonworld. I have no idea if I can find someone to play with, but I just want it...

 

[D.Shaffer]

Looking over some of the more recent stuff... some Mechs seem like they vanished (like the Warhammer and the Marauder). Was there a reason or were they just not popular anymore?

What timeframe is Sword and Dragon set in? Like I said, I'm pretty much strictly a Succession Wars guy.

They're still there, they just got a cosmetic redesign. Mostly involved legal issues and a long argument over who owns what. Eventually they decided it wasnt worth fighting anymore.

Sword and Dragon is an overview of two units through the age. I think the the scenarios take place during the 4th succession wars, however.

As the Clans more or less get curbstomped during the current era (granted, so did a lot of people), you might like to see how the timeline's progressed in any case.

 

[Clefton Twain]

Battletech was my gaming entry drug, you could say. When I was a kid, I had a couple of D&D books but nobody to play with. I also had some Battletech--the old, old stuff with cardboard pieces and little plastic stands.

I was able to play that with friends and then, eventually, got into D&D and Warhammer 40K. It snowballed from there. I still love Battletech though I have no doubt it has changed greatly since the days the Atlas was first introduced and there were no clans.

Good times.

--CT

 

[Cadfan]

I have a love/hate relationship with battletech.

I love the concept. I love the idea of a game that's essentially dogfighting with mechs, maneuvering to get the shot into the vulnerable rear armor.

I hate the fact that it often takes literally dozens of die rolls to resolve one volley of fire from one mech. I hate that it takes as long to play as it does.

There are a lot of little gems of game design in battletech. There's also a huge morass of seven hour games that aren't even that big. I'm just not an "all day game" wargamer like the cardboard-counter guys and, apparently, people who play battletech.

Every so often I go on a battletech kick, and have a great time, until I actually play a game or two, and then I get turned off of it for a while again.

 

[Korgoth]

Sword and Dragon is an overview of two units through the age. I think the the scenarios take place during the 4th succession wars, however.

That's cool. I'll have to look into it... 4th Succession War is cool. I actually picked up the 4th Succession War "Battlepack" some years back... it was a number of representative scenarios and a special map, plus some historical overview.

Too bad about the copyright issues re: the iconic mechs, though. Warhammer, Locust and Marauder were some of the coolest ones. Did the Battlemaster go too? Well... at least the Atlas is evidently alive and well.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

IIRC, a number of the old mech designs were canned because FASA didn't actually have the rights to those designs in the first place. The Marauder, Warhammer, Locust etc had their roots in some of Robotech stuff - but the rights weren't properly sorted out in the first place, so FASA couldn't actually get the rights from whoever they talked to. So those so called Unseen mechs had to go. I think some of them were reintroduced with new art though.

I had heard that they had informal permission from the Japanese companies (at the time both were fan driven enterprises), but Harmony Gold and Palladium had contracts, so they sued FASA for the rights to the Unseen and LAMs.

 

[Clefton Twain]

Heh. I think about half of the original mechs were based off Robotech alone. Well, maybe not half, but a lot. Even the Archer, one of my faves, was a destroid from Robotech. Poor, poor destroids...always getting blown up.

--CT