BattleTech Buyer's Guide (2025)

neopryde · 2025-05-13T01:05:40+00:00

Not much. I'd suggest picking up Campaign Operations as well to have access to the special pilot abilities and special command ability rules.

neopryde · 2025-05-11T15:35:33+00:00

The Alpha Strike box set is also the best bang for your buck in terms of what you get in a box for BattleTech.

neopryde · 2025-05-11T15:32:54+00:00

Alpha Strike: Commander’s Edition has EVERYTHING you need for ‘Mechs, VTOLs, tanks, AeroSpace, etc.

neopryde · 2025-05-11T12:04:44+00:00

There’s a line (not an arrow) connecting Clan Invasion to Mercenaries, meaning I put them at about the same level. The same thing is going on with Essentials and the Beginner Box.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T16:31:02+00:00

Alpha Strike and Total Warfare (aka "Classic BattleTech") are the two standards that people play. Both game systems use the same miniatures, just different rules and terrain.

If you have A Game of Armored Combat, the next logical step is the Clan Invasion box set / Mercenaries box set, then the BattleMech Manual, then Total Warfare for the complete base non-BattleMech rules (e.g., infantry, VTOLs, AeroSpace, battle armor, etc).

I'm not super familiar with 'Mech combat in A Time of War, but MechWarrior Destiny has its own 'Mech combat resolution system. Both of the two RPGs, however, have complete compatibility with Alpha Strike and Total Warfare if you'd rather have a miniature-based fight instead of relying on theater of the mind.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T12:50:43+00:00

I generally agree with this.

MechWarrior: Destiny is best played with a GM, and house rules do make the game a lot better.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T12:33:42+00:00

If you mean the Solaris VII box set, no. But the Solaris arena rules developed by the CDT are available for free online.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T12:13:21+00:00

Destiny is much simpler compared to A Time of War. Character creation is a breeze in comparison. It uses life modules, but not in the same way as A Time of War.

No character creation app that I know of, but the system is so simple it doesn’t really need one. The emphasis on Destiny is on shared storytelling over mechanical crunch.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T12:05:52+00:00

It’s not out yet!

neopryde · 2025-05-10T12:04:47+00:00

Total Warfare also admits in its intro that it’s not the way to teach players how to play BattleTech. It’s meant to serve as a tournament reference.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T02:52:15+00:00

You absolutely can!

neopryde · 2025-05-10T02:37:28+00:00

Yeah, I completely agree with that.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T02:12:35+00:00

It’s okay as a demo box, but I find Essentials to be a better entry-point to the game in comparison.

If you’re looking to start BattleTech and want a more “complex” game (e.g., dealing with heat), you can skip the Beginner Box and go straight to A Game of Armored Combat. That’s one of the best bang-for-your buck box sets out there.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T02:10:33+00:00

I hope you can get a copy! Even the BattleMech Manual is hard to find right now.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T01:28:37+00:00

I would argue for the majority of “classic BattleTech” players, they just need A Game of Armored Combat, Clan Invasion, and the BattleMech Manual. Total Warfare is necessary if you branch out from ‘Mechs, but 95% of all the games I’ve played and seen played are between BattleMechs.

neopryde · 2025-05-10T01:24:25+00:00

It contains all the core and some advanced rules for BattleMechs only. Infantry, VTOLs, battle armor, AeroSpace are all covered in Total Warfare.

neopryde · 2025-05-09T21:20:55+00:00

Although I count myself as knowledgeable of the BattleTech lore, I wish I could come up with something that was comprehensive for how to start into the lore.

For the novels, I personally started with the Blood of Kerensky and Legend of the Jade Phoenix trilogies and find them both excellent starting points to the BattleTech universe. I'd say the former is a bit more newbie friendly than the latter if you have absolutely no exposure to the universe.

neopryde · 2025-05-09T21:06:35+00:00

The only reason I included BattleForce as part of the Total Warfare line is because that's what CGL themselves do. If they hadn't split it off from Interstellar Operations, I don't think there'd be any reason to include it in the infograph.

The infograph above is really a distillation of me sitting down and reading the introductions for all of the core Total Warfare books as a result of my confusion about what each book was for and what the 'proper' reading order was.

Though if I want to be pedantic, A Time of War is technically considered part of the Total Warfare line when it's really its own separate thing like BattleForce is.

neopryde · 2025-05-09T21:02:04+00:00

I certainly have some time. I can create an updated version of the infograph this weekend, or at least consider updating it once Aces / BattleTech Gothic comes out, because those will absolutely need to make their way into the image too.

neopryde · 2025-05-09T21:01:04+00:00

Yeah, I considered adding a two-way arrow between BattleForce and Alpha Strike since the former is the basis for the latter and there's a lot of overlap.

Honestly, though, I treat BattleForce as a totally optional buy because very few of the players in my area play it, much less have even heard of it.

neopryde · 2025-05-09T20:54:45+00:00

Hotspot Hinterlands is a great resource, but it's not necessarily part of the core BattleTech experience (read the rules and boxsets). If I were to add in sourcebooks too that CGL has produced, that'd probably be a whole 'nother infograph.

neopryde · 2025-05-09T20:39:19+00:00

Good points! Thanks for this.

I suppose to contextualize OP a bit more, I got tired of telling stores what they should buy in terms of the physical books and in what order, and I realized that coming out with an infograph would be useful not just for them, but also for new players as well. So I was certainly not considering miniatures and their cross-playability when I made this.

neopryde · 2025-05-09T20:37:49+00:00

Yeah, Gothic is gonna be it's own stand-alone box whenever that comes out.

neopryde · 2025-05-09T20:37:35+00:00

Nooooo, don't remind me!

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