Quick Review - Battletech Introductory Set

     So the boys decided to go in on the Battletech Introductory Set for their mad money from their good grades for the first semester of school. I used to play Battletech a lot in Junior High and High School, I mean we'd actually play a bit before school and at lunch. When I found other wargames I abandoned BattleTech as a primitive tick based game. I think of it as more of a simple and fun game.

Review: Really this is a pretty good deal, 24 moderate quality miniatures, and 2 Hi Quality Omni mechs, two thick hexmaps, all the basic rules you need to get started, covers everything back from the classic days. The boys really really enjoy it so far, I think it's one of their favorites so far. The one minor misstep in the marketting is that they say the box set contains EVERYTHING needed to play...but there are no dice included...since it uses d6s, that's not a BIG deal, but it is a little misleading. Besides the lack of dice, the layout is nice, and it has actually drawn me back into the game.

The rulebooks are full color, and contains plenty of examples, and color plates to help visually learn the game. It also contains a full section on painting the minis. So it covers all bases. From Basic Rules, to Standard Rules, this game is easily adaptable.

Family Rating: Rated PG, it's violent, it's a wargame, but it's Sci-Fi. The biggest problem would be with younger kids eating the pieces. The benefits would be teaching kids tactical thinking, and basic math skills. More advanced skills would come about when the kids start to tweak the mechs, or create mechs from scratch, as the basic mech creation rules are included at the back of the Rulebook.

Overall Rating: Awesome Fun, and the boys give it an Epic!!

Value: It's pretty expensive at $59.99, but considering you get 26 miniatures, 2 high quality double-sided maps, and multiple full color rulebooks, it's a great value. I mean I think my original Battletech box set cost about $20 or $25 back in the late 80s, it was black and white with cardboard stand-ups.


From the Battletech website:

Strap yourself into the ultimate suit of armor: the BattleMech. Thirty feet tall and weighing up to a hundred tons, this humanoid engine of destruction is a walking arsenal with enough firepower to level a city block. The BattleTech game system takes you into the world of the 31st Century, where war has become a way of life. You are a MechWarrior. You are in command of the most powerful machine on the battlefield, and hold the fate of empires in your hand!

The BattleTech 25th Anniversary Introductory Box Set thrusts you onto the battlefields of the 31st century. This box contains everything needed to play:
24 unpainted, ready-to-play plastic BattleMech minis
2 unpainted, premium-quality plastic BattleMech minis
One 12-page full-color quick-start rulebook will have players into the action in minutes
36-page book of pre-generated BattleMech Record Sheets
One 80-page full-color rulebook
Inner Sphere at a Glance, a 56-page full-color book of universe
background and BattleMech technical data
One 16-page full-color Painting and Tactics Guide
Two heavy-duty cards of compiled tables
Two 18″ x 24″ game-board quality maps

Unable to find the BattleTech 25th Anniversary Introductory Box Set at your local game store? 
Order direct: BattleTech 25th Anniversary Introductory Box Set at BattleCorps.com
Price: $59.99

Thoughts on Miniature Wargaming

   So my first Miniature based wargame was Battletech, I used to love that game. Then I came across other wargames, Car Wars being my next, now I still love Car Wars, though I'm not sure I like the newest version put out by Steve Jackson Games as much as I enjoyed the old version. It seems to be suffering the Beer & Pretzel mentality as well. I remember reading the various convention reports from the cons when they built these massive  arenas and used Matchbox scale cars. I would soon move away from "tick" based games, as I considered them archaic, it's one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of Rifts, once you get to the mecha, you're dealing with like 700 ticks on the main body of lots of big mecha.

   I started playing Warhammer 40k in 1992 or 93, back when there were Vehicle Data Cards, and the wargear cards, when you could customize like crazy. I had a Howling Banshee exarch on a jetbike with a holofield...beautifully modeled. I also got into Warhammer as I moved down to Fresno in 1994. We also got into EPIC while I was there. That still is one of my favorite games I never play these days. We played Necromunda, and Mordheim when they came out. Back in those days I had time to devote to painting minis, since I didn't have kids. After I got out of the Navy, I got into Warzone. I absolutely loved Warzone, with my Cybertronic army, we even played a big campaign down at Game Empire back in 1998. The system was great, while the miniatures were decent.

   Now as far as the newer games, Warmachine and Hordes by Privateer Press has a big presence, especially after people started becoming disenfranchised by Games Workshop's price increases, and the increase in edition publication. Though their miniatures are starting to creep up in price as well. Mantic is providing both Fantasy and Sci-Fi miniature games Kings of War and Warpath.  The boxes of minis are nicely priced 20 miniatures for around $30, this makes for lots of minis for a nice price.

   However now that the boys are of an age where playing Battletech might be fun, let them get into the design aspect of the game, which was also one of the really fun things about Car Wars as well. With the Battletech 25th Anniversary seeing the Intro Box being released with 26 minis for $59.99 by Catalyst Games, it might well be worth a visit to the past. I bet the boys would love to make new mechs, and as always, it would be a great math exercise.

   For those who like to wargame on the cheap, there's always Savage World's Showdown rules, which can be used to play with stand-up paper minis. (this is where I'm headed.) I have always preferred to play more than paint. Also WarLands, by Aberrant,  is fairly cheap as a post-apocalyptic skirmish game, set in 15mm.

EDIT!:  I almost forgot one of my favorite wargames that I recently played...Dystopian Wars. I totally can't wait to be able to afford a couple armies for that game, it's really fun, nothing like a few frigates getting a lucky shot on a capitol ship, then having it's magazine explode. It's a brilliant system. I also wouldn't mind trying out Spartan Games other systems as well.