Re-Entering BT & The difference between CGL and Wizkids/Fanpro "Total Warfare"?

[Matt.C]

Heya all. :)

I just re-entered the fold of Battletech and am really happy with how the rules work and how they are presented. I'm still playing with my 3rd Edition Intro Box Set, City Tech Box, BMR (non-revised) and a good bucket-full of Ral Partha minis.

I'd like to get into the new rules, but the CGL Total Warfare is pretty much sold out everywhere I looked (I'm in Germany, and have looked through my usual online shops and Amazon).

BUT! I just found the Fanpro/WizKids version of the book on ebay, for 15€. Which is a total steal.

Question is though: Is it worth it, or will it need copious amounts of errata? Or are there even substantial, "big" changes between editions?


Another thing:
I'm really not interested in the post-3057 eras of Battletech and have substituted my own canon for that era. No Jihad, no FedCom civil war. I prefer to play a merc-campaign that starts in 3005 and continues up until the 3060's.

The new rules seem to have done away with the simple Tech Level 1 and 2 divide which separated 3025 tech and clan-invasion tech. As well as having added some crazy new technologies. How hard will it be to create a "Pure" 4th Succession War game? Are there period-specific random-mech-force generation lists available? AS well as tables which list only tech available in these times as per the 80s/90s fluff?

[Lorcan Nagle]

Heya all. :)

I just re-entered the fold of Battletech and am really happy with how the rules work and how they are presented. I'm still playing with my 3rd Edition Intro Box Set, City Tech Box, BMR (non-revised) and a good bucket-full of Ral Partha minis.

I'd like to get into the new rules, but the CGL Total Warfare is pretty much sold out everywhere I looked (I'm in Germany, and have looked through my usual online shops and Amazon).

BUT! I just found the Fanpro/WizKids version of the book on ebay, for 15€. Which is a total steal.

Question is though: Is it worth it, or will it need copious amounts of errata? Or are there even substantial, "big" changes between editions?

there's no big changes, just some errata (the biggest one off the top of my head being that early prints of TW don't have the rules for what happens if a protomech gets hit by infernos)

http://www.classicbattletech.com/index.php?action=text&page=Total_Warfare lists all the errata to TW.

Another thing:
I'm really not interested in the post-3057 eras of Battletech and have substituted my own canon for that era. No Jihad, no FedCom civil war. I prefer to play a merc-campaign that starts in 3005 and continues up until the 3060's.

The new rules seem to have done away with the simple Tech Level 1 and 2 divide which separated 3025 tech and clan-invasion tech. As well as having added some crazy new technologies. How hard will it be to create a "Pure" 4th Succession War game? Are there period-specific random-mech-force generation lists available? AS well as tables which list only tech available in these times as per the 80s/90s fluff?

the tech divides are now introductory/box set, Tournament Legal, advanced and experimental.  They basically line up with Level 1, 2 and 3 (with advanced containing a mix of level 2 and 3 stuff), but there's nothing to say you have to play with all the gear on displayTRO: replaced 3025 and 3026, and TRO:3050U does contian a lot of Jihad-era fluff and variants, but it also has all the older designs from the original 3050.

The only succession wars era RATs currently in print are in Historical Turning Points: Galto (Federated Suns/Draconis Combine), HTP: Misery (Dragoons/Combine) and Operation Turning Points: Death to Mercenaries (Draggons and Combine again).  Clan Invasion era RATs are in Era Report: 3052.

[Matt.C]

Thanks for the quick and succinct reply! :)

I already purchased the Era Report and am REALLY REALLY REALLY hoping that 3025 will also get an Era Report, as that book is... Pretty much perfect the way it treats the background and rules and campaign-possibilities. :)

I'll be ordering the Fanpro Total Warfare and the CGL Tech Manual, then.


Oh: I just saw the glory that are the HexPacks: Is there a word on if there will be more of them produced and if they will be kept in print for the foreseeable future? They look really, really tasty.

[Sartris]

Oh: I just saw the glory that are the HexPacks: Is there a word on if there will be more of them produced and if they will be kept in print for the foreseeable future? They look really, really tasty.

If this flier is to be believed, we will have more HexPack goodness by the end of the summer

http://catalystgamelabs.com/download/sellsheets/CAT35141_HexPack%20Cities%20and%20Roads.pdf

[Lorcan Nagle]

HexPack: Cities and Roads is the next pack.  Further Hexpacks depend on how well the first two do, I believe.  I'm hoping there'll be a lot more.  Lakes and Rivers was awesome and really brought a new dimension to my group's games.

Here's a few other CGL products that tie into the Succesison Wars or pre-FCCW era if you're interested:

Print Products:

TRO: 3039: replaced TRO: 3025 and 3026
TRO: 3050U: updates the fluff ot the Jihad and adds a lot of newtech variants, but still contains all the original Inner Sphere upgrades and Clan OmniMechs, as well as the mechs, vehicles, and fighters from TRO: 2750
TRO: 3075: Mostly jihad information, but it also contains an "age of war" section with stats for a number of early mech, vehicle, fighter, dropship, small craft and warship designs, as well as a rundown of the SLDF "Royal" Battlemechs, vehicles and fighters.

Historical: Operation Klondike: covers the SLDF Exodous from the Inner Sphere, colonisation of the Pentagon worlds and their civil war, the formation of the Clans and their return to the Pentagon.  Also contains stats for a number of new Royal units.

Handbook: Major Periphery States: contains the background for the larger Periphery Nations up until 3067.

Starterbook: Sword and Dragon.  Features a pair of raiding campaigns between Sorenson's Sabres and the Fox's Teets in the years before the Clan Invasion.  It uses the Chaos Campaign system, as seen in Era Report: 3052

PDF Products

Historical Turning Points:
These PDFs give rundowns for new Chaos Campaign tracks to let you run games during a pivotal battle from BattleTech's history.
Historical Turning Point: Galtor (from the Galtor Campaign scenario Pack)
Historical Turning Point: Glengarry (from the novel Blood of Heroes and scenario pack Day of Heroes)
Historical Turning Point:misery (From the Novel Wolves on the Border)

Operational Turning Points:
The PDFs go larger than the Jihad/Historical Turning Points and allow players to run a full campaign based on a multi-world military action.
Operational Turning Points: Red Corsair (from the novel Malicious Intent)
Operational Turning Points: Death to mercenaries (the Dragoons/Kuritan battles from the 4th Succession War Atlas/Wolf's Dragoons sourcebook/4th succession war scenario pack/battlepack: 4th succession war)
Operational Turning Points: Falcon incursion (from the novel Grave Covenant and the Battle for Coventry scenario pack)

Experimental Technical Readout:
These PDFs are a collection of prototypes, custom units, failed test beds and other curiosities.  most of them are set in the Jihad era, but XTO: Primitives volume 1 looks at the first generation of BattleMechs and some of the combat units used in the same timeframe.

Era Digest: Golden Century: A look at the post-Klondike clans as they go from being a strange former-Star League power to the culture they are today.  also features some of the first OmniMechs.