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There's one aspect of 1984 Orwell coudn't have predicted...giant fighting robots!
Battletech. Its one of those iconic composite names from my childhood like Star Wars or He-man, that's taken on an identity and resonance all it's own. Battletech was actually the first miniatures game I ever played. I still remember the hours as a young kid pouring over the technical read outs for various future dates, which not only listed the specification for various mechs and other combat vehicles, but also delved into their fictional histories in wartime, and gave tantalizing glimpses into the bredth of the Battletech fluff with bios of famous pilots and encounters. But as my family moved from state to state, and other hobbies and life experiences (read: girls) took over my attention, Battletech slowly faded into the past, little more than fond memories.
That is until this year, with the announcement of the upcoming Aedeptus Titanicus reboot from GW. Aedeptus Titanicus was WH40K at the same scale as Battletech (6mm), featuring the giant robots ("knights") of that universe. It directly led into Epic, essentially 40K's equivalent of Warmaster. As I've been impressed by a lot of the self-contained games released by GW in the last few years since the company's revitalization under a new CEO, I was at first excited for A.T. Part of that, admittedly, was the hope that a new Epic might follow in turn. But as details began to emerge, that excitement waned. Warhammer isn't a cheap hobby at the best of times. But the boxed sets tend to be good deals, relatively speaking. A few dozen minis, usually some exclusives.
For example, he's the Soul Wars start set for AoS 2nd edition:
A full HC rulebook, some supplementary pamphlets and cards, dice, and two playable forces. Retails for $160, meaning you can find it for $140 in most places.
Aedeptus Titanicus, on the other hand, comes with a whopping 8 miniatures, some cardboard buildings, gun turret tokens, dice, and a short softcover rulebook.
Keep in mind these are 6mm, meaning the regular Titans are about the size of Space Marines. The retail price? $300. Yeah, you read that right. Twice the cost of Soul Wars. Want to buy some more titans for your game? $110 a piece.
So, despite being thoroughly turned off by this latest money grab, the basic concept of huge piloted robots duking it out on a future landscape did ping a nostalgia nerve somewhere in the back of my subconscious, and one day I randomly googled up Battletech to see what was going on with the game these days.
Long story short, I fell back into the pool headfirst.
My timing was impeccable. The minute I started looking into this I found that at Gencon Catalyst Labs (the current home of Battletech) had just unveiled a new starter set for the game. 8 Battletech minis (coincidence?) - which unlike a GW starter is exactly the right amount for two players ( a 'Lance' or the basic army of Mechs for a Battletech game is 4 mechs - along with 2 double sided playmatts, rulebook, record sheets, a universe primer, fiction novella, dice, reference sheets, and even cardboard standees of additional mechs for those who dont want to bother with the miniatures, for retail price $59.99!
Want to test the waters at an even better price point? Well the beginner's boxed set has everything you need to start playing for only $19.99
Both of these are slated for a late September/early October release in stores. 200 copies of the game were brought to Gencon, and sold out within hours. The reviews have been unanimously positive and enthusiastic.
In the meantime, I've been amassing older materials on ebay, starting with the classic Technical Readout 3025
And for the past few weeks I've been knee-deep not only in the fictional history of the Battletech universe, but also the equally interesting real life history of the game. And in these posts I am going to cover both, letting my newfound enthusiasm for my rediscovered childhood passion spill out on the page.
Battletech. Its one of those iconic composite names from my childhood like Star Wars or He-man, that's taken on an identity and resonance all it's own. Battletech was actually the first miniatures game I ever played. I still remember the hours as a young kid pouring over the technical read outs for various future dates, which not only listed the specification for various mechs and other combat vehicles, but also delved into their fictional histories in wartime, and gave tantalizing glimpses into the bredth of the Battletech fluff with bios of famous pilots and encounters. But as my family moved from state to state, and other hobbies and life experiences (read: girls) took over my attention, Battletech slowly faded into the past, little more than fond memories.
That is until this year, with the announcement of the upcoming Aedeptus Titanicus reboot from GW. Aedeptus Titanicus was WH40K at the same scale as Battletech (6mm), featuring the giant robots ("knights") of that universe. It directly led into Epic, essentially 40K's equivalent of Warmaster. As I've been impressed by a lot of the self-contained games released by GW in the last few years since the company's revitalization under a new CEO, I was at first excited for A.T. Part of that, admittedly, was the hope that a new Epic might follow in turn. But as details began to emerge, that excitement waned. Warhammer isn't a cheap hobby at the best of times. But the boxed sets tend to be good deals, relatively speaking. A few dozen minis, usually some exclusives.
For example, he's the Soul Wars start set for AoS 2nd edition:

A full HC rulebook, some supplementary pamphlets and cards, dice, and two playable forces. Retails for $160, meaning you can find it for $140 in most places.
Aedeptus Titanicus, on the other hand, comes with a whopping 8 miniatures, some cardboard buildings, gun turret tokens, dice, and a short softcover rulebook.

Keep in mind these are 6mm, meaning the regular Titans are about the size of Space Marines. The retail price? $300. Yeah, you read that right. Twice the cost of Soul Wars. Want to buy some more titans for your game? $110 a piece.

So, despite being thoroughly turned off by this latest money grab, the basic concept of huge piloted robots duking it out on a future landscape did ping a nostalgia nerve somewhere in the back of my subconscious, and one day I randomly googled up Battletech to see what was going on with the game these days.
Long story short, I fell back into the pool headfirst.
My timing was impeccable. The minute I started looking into this I found that at Gencon Catalyst Labs (the current home of Battletech) had just unveiled a new starter set for the game. 8 Battletech minis (coincidence?) - which unlike a GW starter is exactly the right amount for two players ( a 'Lance' or the basic army of Mechs for a Battletech game is 4 mechs - along with 2 double sided playmatts, rulebook, record sheets, a universe primer, fiction novella, dice, reference sheets, and even cardboard standees of additional mechs for those who dont want to bother with the miniatures, for retail price $59.99!

Want to test the waters at an even better price point? Well the beginner's boxed set has everything you need to start playing for only $19.99
Both of these are slated for a late September/early October release in stores. 200 copies of the game were brought to Gencon, and sold out within hours. The reviews have been unanimously positive and enthusiastic.
In the meantime, I've been amassing older materials on ebay, starting with the classic Technical Readout 3025

And for the past few weeks I've been knee-deep not only in the fictional history of the Battletech universe, but also the equally interesting real life history of the game. And in these posts I am going to cover both, letting my newfound enthusiasm for my rediscovered childhood passion spill out on the page.