A while back, I came to the conclusion that it would be useful to have "transition" products aimed at people who are coming from other games with a more formal organisation - army lists, codexes, that sort of thing. BattleTech is a huge, sprawling universe - one of its main attractions, IMHO - but in all fairness if you're not used to that frredom, if you dont' have access to the mass of back-story and fluff, it can be a bit overwhelming.
Now the free downloads available on this site are amazing resources, but even then, they're also a little overwhelming to someone new to the game. And I've seen a fair number of posts to the effect of "How can I find out a
bit more about the (Draconis Combine, Free Worlds League, etc etc)?" or "Which house will suit me and my style of playing best?". So I decided to create something myself to cover this gap. Thus were born the Army Reports.
Basically, they're digests of the 3025-era House Books. They give a brief summary of each state and its leader, their interstellar relations, and then their military, along with a map of the realm produced by forum member Blacknova. The information is all taken from canon sources - I kept the editing to an absolute minimum, and supplemented lightly from other sources like the Field Manuals or scenario books where appropriate. Then, they provide highlights of ten notable - or representative - regiments, including unit mottos and paint schemes, along with beautiful pictures of CamoSpecs minis belonging to some of the units. Finally, they include Random Assignment Tables (RATS) allowing people to quickly "roll up" random representative units, and a larger list covering common & uncommon 'Mechs and vehicles serving in that state's armed forces, all with BV2 point values and a brief section on balancing games using BV2.
Five have been completed so far:
Army Report: Free Worlds League Military, 3025Army Report: Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, 3025Army Report: Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, 3025 (now v1.1!)
Army Report: Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces, 3025 (now v1.2!)
Army Report: Capellan Confederation Armed Forces, 3025 (new!)
Sorry folks - above links are dead, please use these for the moment!
Army Report: Free Worlds League Military, 3025Army Report: Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, 3025Army Report: Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, 3025Army Report: Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces, 3025Army Report: Capellan Confederation Armed Forces, 3025(I'd appreciate if someone tries to access the new links, and let's me know if they're all good now. Thanks!)
Three more are planned: the Periphery, Mercenaries, and ComStar. The series is currently on hold because I need a break ...
Note: these aren't be-all, end-all books. They're introductions. It's unlikely that I'd do 3050 versions - the Field Manuals do a better job in depth, and I do think there are advantages in starting people off in the 3025 era, even if they move on to play 3050s right away.
Anyway, enough of me - please feel free to d/l them, read them, share them freely. I have permission to use the canon material I have as long as it's freely distributed with all the Catalyst registered names & details still on, so by all means share them with your friends, print them out, make them available at games, etc.
Always open to suggestions, within my stated goals, and more than happy to talk about how I did them.
Cheers,
Worktroll