Irish Marine | 23 Jul 2020 5:01 p.m. PST |
Hey. I bought the Battletech rules box set. I have never played Battletech and I'm in the process of reading the rules. Do certain Mechs go with certain houses or clans? Is there a paint scheme for Mechs or just whatever you want. Are there Quick reference sheets and are there any books I should be reading or paying attention to. |
Der Krieg Geist | 23 Jul 2020 5:56 p.m. PST |
Irish Marine, It can be anyway you like it , the separation is between Inner Sphere House Mechs(older designs) and Clan Invader Mechs(new design) They don't mix generally. (Technology is no longer compatible between them) The Houses have their own colors/patterns as do the Various Clans. However individual units can have their own also(while carrying the heraldry of their Houses/ Clans. Then you have Mercenary Units, with their own Heraldry/logos. So really….you can be as creative as you want as long as you don't mix Inner Sphere House Mech designs with Clan Mech designs in the same units. (same technological roots but the Clan continued to advance the design technology after the Diaspora, while the Inner Sphere tech and equipment degraded due to constant warfare.) You may notice in the fiction that certain designs came from certain Houses or Clans. The designs then end up being used by anyone from battlefield salvaging and straight up design theft. :) Just avoid mixing Sphere tech and Clan tech and you will be fine. You could literally spend the rest of your life reading the reams and reams of fiction , fluff and technical readouts for that game universe…the amount out there is truly nuts. Have fun!!! |
Gokiburi | 23 Jul 2020 6:10 p.m. PST |
Some houses use certain mechs more than others, but most pre-clan mechs are to some degree fielded by all five major houses, the main difference is what model numbers they favor. The master unit list (feel free to ignore the Alpha Strike stats) can tell you what mechs were used by each faction during each era, and what varients they used. masterunitlist.info As far as paint schemes go, there are canon parade schemes for some units and factions, but you can pretty much invent your own. Especially if it's a camo scheme, as many groups utilize appropriate camo. Here's the unit color compendium for some ideas: unitcolorcompendium.com There's also: camospecs.com |
Der Krieg Geist | 23 Jul 2020 6:15 p.m. PST |
I played for decades and enjoyed it. The game can be broken down by Tech manuals that correspond to dates in the game universe (over hundreds of years) so you can play different eras which allow Mech designs only up to the years covered. I myself preferred the Pre Clan invasion era stuff as the Clan designs are far superior to the Inner Sphere stuff and the stuff like the Clan honor system( Meant to help balance the game) is almost universally ignored by Clan players so they can enjoy themselves stomping the older Mech designs and non- genetically modified pilots…..yes the Clans are superior in every way possible and for me at least, the Clan Invasion made the game less fun( Clans tend to attract gaming munchkins as I am sure you suspect by now) Don't let me scare you off though, It can be a very enjoyable game with good gaming buddies. :D |
Rudysnelson | 23 Jul 2020 6:19 p.m. PST |
Yes certain Mechs were designed and produced by specific Houses. However, due to scavenging the battlefield, most Mech designs have found their way into all Houses and certain mercenary groups. When I was painting Mechs to sale, individual and Lances, I used modern and WW2 paint schemes. |
Irish Marine | 23 Jul 2020 7:09 p.m. PST |
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Stryderg | 23 Jul 2020 7:39 p.m. PST |
There's also sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page A wiki full of faction info, "historical" background, mech specs, etc. Be warned, it can be a huge time suck. |
Der Krieg Geist | 23 Jul 2020 8:25 p.m. PST |
Irish Marine, The other answer is super simple, PicK IS or Clan, set a tonnage limit for a Lance(4 IS Mechs)/Star(5 Clan Mechs)…say 300 tons, build your two lances and go to town blasting each other to smithereens!!! Just don't pit Clan against IS using tonnage ratings or the Clan will stomp the IS stuff. If you pair them against each other, match them by their Battle Value(called BV in game) Enjoy :) P.S. If you check out Piranha Games "Mech Warrior Online MWO, you can brows the Mech Lab design feature and look at House, Clan, and Camo schemes, some of them are really nice and you can rotate the onscreen model to look at multiple angles. :D
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Garand | 23 Jul 2020 10:07 p.m. PST |
The mechs in the boxed set are in general circulation throughout the setting, & can be found in any of the armies. For the era described in the box, the setting is more reminiscent of the Macedonian Successors era, mixed in a but with the Germanic Successor kingdoms of the post-Roman world. These mechs were in general use in the previous Star Leage (empire) so they were either purchased by the other factions, the factories owned by those factions, or fell into use after the Star League collapsed. While certain houses use specific schemes, the schemes most popular amongst gamers are the parade schemes, & not a huge amount of information is available for camo schemes (a few color pictures in the Field Manuals, & the old Camospecs book). Personally I use generic paint schemes (currently Tamiya Khaki through my airbrush for the "A" team, & NATO green for the "B" team or OPFOR). This way if I am playing a campaign or scenario game, they can be whatever I want them to be. Damon. |
Uparmored | 24 Jul 2020 6:00 a.m. PST |
I sold the skateboard I got for Christmas '88 in the newspaper classified. Sold it to some teenage girl for $75.00 AUD earth dollars. More money than my 10 year old self had ever seen. I went down to the game shop in Belco Mall and picked out Battletech for roughly the same amount. $75.00 AUD in '88, that was serious money to a 10 year old! I played a lot of games with a buddy I had played Flat Top with ( can't remember where or when I got Flat Top, that was a great game). We had fun. I can't remember what happened to the box set but I don't have it anymore . In my coming anime fandom I just remember paying out on Battletech for ripping off Kawaomori's designs for Macross without even paying. I Probably burned Battletech in my anime fandom zealotry in the '90s..? |
Garand | 24 Jul 2020 7:25 a.m. PST |
Actually I want to take back a little of what I said. I just remembered the boxed set includes a Commando. This is manufactured by the Lyran Commonwealth & is a signature light of that faction. It has been around for a very long time (it was one of the first battlemechs developed), so it has a place in all the armies through salvage or 2nd hand sales, but it is not something manufactured throughout the inner sphere. Damon. |
BigJoeDuke | 24 Jul 2020 8:07 a.m. PST |
Another online source for faction specific paint schemes: camospecs.com |
charles popp | 24 Jul 2020 11:43 a.m. PST |
Great game,just to tell you something about it . It has basically stayed the same rules wise for over 20 years. It has age periods but the basic rules have been unchanged |
Der Krieg Geist | 24 Jul 2020 7:45 p.m. PST |
Uparmoured, I think your memory may have gotten a little fuzzy on that… :D BattleTech Second ed in 1988 had a MSRP of $20.00 USD USD, printed right on the box.( I still own mine :D) I really hope someone did not rip-off a ten year old, for $55.00 USD more than the game cost! |
Rudysnelson | 24 Jul 2020 8:39 p.m. PST |
Yes but maybe he got some Ral Partha metal Mechs and the CityTech and AeroTech expansions. The first edition of Battletech was called Battledroids. I sold a number of copies of it in my store in Auburn AL. Battletech came out after some legal battles with the Robotech folks. The battle over the name ended quickly. The dispute over earl mech miniature designs went on for years. |
Uparmored | 24 Jul 2020 9:20 p.m. PST |
Der Krieg, nope I remember correctly. Back in '88 I remember Air Jordan sneakers were AUD$500 in the stores here too and USD100 in the US. Back then the Australian dollar was worth around 75 US cents. So US$375 for those Jordans here. It's called the "Australia tax", a lot of companies have ripped off Australians for a long time. Back then if your friend took a trip the US to go to disneyland or something on a family holiday you would always have requests for sneakers and clothes and give them all your money. I knew an Australian kid that brought back a dozen pairs of Nikes on a trip. |
Logain | 24 Jul 2020 10:09 p.m. PST |
Irish Marine – As someone who has played Battletech on and off since the beginning, it has a very long storyline. I'd recommend that you start with one of two approaches: pick the 3025 technical readout or 3050 and start there. In 3025 you have the basic rules and each faction has access to certain mechs, 3050 onward introduces lots of new mechs and rules. Or if you are into campaigns find a copy of one of the "chaos" "turning point" campaign books, they are full of all the info you are looking for and provide a really great system of linking games to create a narrative. I can't recommend them enough. I'd pick one that sounds cool and start there : link You can also just pick a few mechs and start blasting away – but there are better mech games out there IMHO. The best part of battletech is the rich background material that you can use to create games with. |
Irish Marine | 25 Jul 2020 4:52 a.m. PST |
Thanks everyone, that is a lot of information. |
Der Krieg Geist | 25 Jul 2020 5:37 a.m. PST |
Uparmored, I understand now, I missed your AUD reference and thought you were in the USA. That is a harsh mark up. :( I remember in the late 1980's -early 1990's when I was stationed in Bavaria Germany. I used to buy my German friend Levi's button-fly 501 bluejeans. They thought I was King! LOL In German stores,because Levi's were "exotic imports from America" they sold for 300.00+ GDM each. I was buying them in the Army PX for $12.00 USD USD a pair and giving them as gifts. :) It was more than likely that your local merchants were ripping folks off to cover import taxes, shipping and to over inflate their own profits. We had the same issue here when buying Bandi Gundam models. US shops were marking them up x4 or x5 times their MSRP because they thought we were to stupid or uneducated to know the conversion from Japanese Yen to USD. Japan requires the prices to be printed right on the bar code like the US does with books. When I found HobbyLinkJapan….I stopped buying from US retailers. Even with shipping from Japan the Kits are way cheaper. |
Der Krieg Geist | 25 Jul 2020 5:57 a.m. PST |
Logain, Did you get to play the original BattleDroids? I tried the first couple of iterations of the game but really fell for the game when BattleTech 2nd ed came out. That is the one I still own and play with the Maximum Tech rules updates. :) |
Logain | 25 Jul 2020 7:12 a.m. PST |
I did, but I was probably eight at the time. We mostly played 3025 and 3050, read all the Stackpole novels, played Succession Wars a bunch, but mostly now play when visiting my older brother (who bought everything when we were kids). We recently played the Misery Turning Point Campaign, wish those campaign books had been around back in the day. They make a nice framework for an overwhelming amount of rules, additions and background materials. |
Uparmored | 25 Jul 2020 9:03 p.m. PST |
Very interesting Krieg. Yeah I guess when foreign markets were more protected there was all kinds of zany pricing worldwide. I remember when I first went to Japan in 2000 1.25 ltr Coca Cola bottles were about AUD$15 in supermarkets there. Now they're a similar price to Australia, 3 bucks or so. One of the benefits of globalism, much cheaper imports. Then there are the many downsides to globalism too… |
Rudysnelson | 26 Jul 2020 8:33 a.m. PST |
A good by would be the new double sided maps for BT. Those in my store have sold well. One terrain type on one side and a different one on the other. They are a lot better than the paper maps. |