Author Topic: Era Report: 3062  (Read 3695 times)

StuartYee

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Era Report: 3062
« on: 12 July 2012, 11:17:19 »
Preamble: It's been out for about a year and I just managed to buy a copy. I guess I'm just not that into sourcebooks. That said....

My Review of Era Report: 3062

I give it 3 out of 5 stars. Generally I like it and it was worth the money (after a store sale discount).

Era Report: 3062 is a handy one source reference for anything between Tukayyid and the FedCom Civil War. This volume is a fair synopsis of a decade of Inner Sphere history. The problem however is that so much happens during this particular era (Operation Guerrero, The Refusal War, The Whitting Conference and Star League Resurrection, Operation Bulldog, etc.) that it's hard to fit all of that in 162 pages. In my opinion, CGL could have done a better job, but they could also have done worse.

What I like: For those of us who are fans of Operation Bulldog and Taskforce Serpent scenarios, there is expanded material on the disposition of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Not as thorough a reference as former FASA products Invading Clans, The Dragon Roars or Twilight of the Clans, but you can use it to create a more flexible Chaos Campaign track when coupled with those products.

Additionally, I found it to be a good reference for updated dossier snapshots of many of the Inner Sphere's major players. Along with the graphic design and great artwork, this volume brings many of the personae dramatis to life.

Being faction oriented myself, yet having little or no interest in the FWL or nascent Lyran Commonwealth, it's good to have a cursory reference to these factions without heavily investing in their dedicated sourcebooks and taking the time to read them.

My Nit-pickery:

Does CGL hate Clan Wolf In-Exile? They give no love to our Inner Spherized Wolves in this volume. If you're a Phelan Kell fan, you will be disappointed.

Touchpoint Liao? According to Shattered Sphere (p 68) "The Liao SMM surrendered without firing a shot". So this Touchpoint either: A) Blatantly contradicts this previous volume because of a lack of proper product research, B) Is a retcon or AU scenario or C) The lamest Touchpoint scenario ever-  Fed Com player surrenders on turn 1.

While we're on the subject of House Liao, if you had to pick three regiments to include in this volume for this era, would it really be the Harloc Raiders, House Hiritsu and the Dynasty Guard? I personally would have omitted the Dynasty Guard in place of House Dai Da Chi (for their involvement in Bulldog and the St. Ives conflict).

The problem with the RAT is that it's for the ten year span of 3053 - 3062, but it includes Battlemechs not available until 3060. The Yu-Huang for the Capellans is one such example. I think the way I would have done is have it listed as Cyclops [Yu-Huang 3060] to note that the rolled result would be a Cyclops before for scenarios before 3060.

The volume makes a fair stab at trying to create Touchpoints from each of the major conflicts. It's impossible to run a "3062 Era" campaign with one unit. If you want to stick with one unit, it's more realistic to have a campaign that revolves around only one Touchpoint.

In conclusion, despite my nit-picking, I like the volume and feel it's worth including in any serious Battletech fan's collection.
« Last Edit: 12 July 2012, 12:15:30 by StuartYee »
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nckestrel

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Re: Era Report: 3062
« Reply #1 on: 12 July 2012, 11:57:00 »
The phrase "surrendered without firing a shot" doesn't appear anywhere in my copy of Shattered Sphere. p68 says "five Warrior House regiments [regiments? *cough*]...made short work of the green planetary militia, whom they caught completely by surprise".
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StuartYee

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Re: Era Report: 3062
« Reply #2 on: 12 July 2012, 12:15:02 »
The phrase "surrendered without firing a shot" doesn't appear anywhere in my copy of Shattered Sphere. p68 says "five Warrior House regiments [regiments? *cough*]...made short work of the green planetary militia, whom they caught completely by surprise".

Duly noted. If not Shattered Sphere, I could have sworn it's written that they surrendered somewhere... :-[

I'm going to revise my review with a strikethrough until I can find a reliable reference.

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Trailblazer

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Re: Era Report: 3062
« Reply #3 on: 20 August 2012, 10:45:44 »
Just wondering about this: how much redundancy is there with the material in Shattered Sphere?

ColonelCody

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Re: Era Report: 3062
« Reply #4 on: 20 August 2012, 12:57:50 »
A good deal really. Look at the number of books written about the 4th Succession War alone. And in other places we have very little really. The War of 3039 and the Ronin Wars still have very little written about them specifically outside of the Brush Wars book. It's a shame in that case because it is my favorite era, still mostly 3025 reduced tech and some odd bits of advanced tech floating about WITHOUT the problem the Clans present as a whole to gameplay.

Frabby

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Re: Era Report: 3062
« Reply #5 on: 20 August 2012, 13:42:32 »
the Ronin Wars still have very little written about them specifically outside of the Brush Wars book.
The Ronin wars actually do have their own book by FanPro, and it's even quite good: Ronin!
Unfortunately, it's a German publication that was never published in English. The writeup in Brush Wars summarizes the book's content though, at least some of it.
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