I'm not sure how to begin, so I'll start with a story.
My foray into the Battletech universe began around the time Mechwarrior 3 was still fresh and new. A friend down the road had a copy, and being bored one day we decided to give it a shot. While he got bored fairly quickly and moved on to other things, my eight or nine year old brain thought that was just the coolest shit ever. I'd always enjoyed giant robots, and building stuff, and a game where I could build giant robots?! That was the bees knees.
After a couple of months thier computer gave out for unrelated reasons, and in due time he moved to another town, but I never forgot that minor excursion into what I would come to learn was a fantastic and expansive universe.
Now heres where alot of CBT players start to raise an eyebrow, so please bear with me. In middle school I was given a copy of the novel The Jade Phoenix Trilogy (a fantastic read), and that was it. I had to have more. I began by purchasing a couple more novels (Star Lord and Call of Duty. I still have all of them), and when I finally managed to aquire an Xbox, I snagged the MechAssault titles to go with it. I know it's not the same as Mechwarrior, but my household didn't get a PC until 2007. I was a poor kid, ya see.
I wasn't ever exposed to the CBT game, not once. In fact my first exposure to wargaming miniatures wasn't even related; The small gaming store that unfortunately no longer exists in my town ran a Warhammer 40K league that I dabbled in from time to time when I was still playing Yu-Gi-Oh. I'd had trouble finding people to play my brand of games, things like Risk and Axis & Allies, stuff that I'm now well aware holds little interest to thirteen year olds.
When I entered high school I spied several boosters for the then new Fire for Effect and Annihalation expansions, and seeing the big ass 'MECHWARRIOR' emblazoned in bullet punctured and scorched lettering, I had to pick one up. It suprised me to find several people who played in the area, and we spent long hours around the kitchen table with books and saltshakers and cardboard cutouts for terrain as our clix fought battle after battle. But in time, thier interest waned, and I saw no point in investing in something I didn't have anyone to play with. My interest turned to things like MTG, which saw an explosion of popularity in my area. I purchased my last booster in late 2007; A lonely battered Wolf Strike box sitting on a bottom shelf at my local Hastings. I wasn't aware of this at the time, but that would be the last MW box to ever grace that shelf.
Eventually, I stumbled upon CBT. Found most of the source books and technical readouts in a torrent, and even ran a couple scenarios with some friends. But even as they all lost interest, I've still stayed loyal; A soldier in service to the mighty clan Jade Falcon.
Here recently, a couple of friends were over, and with it being a slow day and us being broke, the situation devolved into a back and forth 'well what do you want to do?'. On a whim, I drag out my old clix and declare 'I'm going to teach you to play MechWarrior...'
They were hooked. One has even declared his allegience to the Rasalhauge Dominion. Enough so that we pooled some cash, did some digging on the internets, and purchased a booster case of the Domination expansion (newbies choice, since that was a RD heavy set).
Let me tell you, seeing that battered box arrive in the mail, with the original 'WizKids!' branded tape still keeping it sealed, a ship date of '6-13-2006' barely legible on the side, gave me a strong whiff of nostalgia. I had to have more. So I dug. And I dug. And god willing I dug some more, and found a plethora of sites that still carry (though in limited quantities) the little plastic war machines I've grown so fond of. I recently threw down all of $20 to aquire an unopened Ares class Posiedon pack (I've even found a site that carries the Ares 3 pack, though at the steep steep price of a bill-fifty). We even got a group together and ran a twelve hour game.
So is it just me? I feel odd having this fascination with a dead game, one whos grave became grown over and forgotten long ago, especially when the source material is so readily available and still supported by a huge number of people.
I mean, on the one hand, it's exceptionally cheap. The Domination case ran us $150, a quarter of what we would have paid for them individually years ago. But on the other, nobody takes it seriously. Nobody's playing MW in the game rooms at 'cons. All CBT, all the time. I have CBT players scoff at me on a regular basis, seeing DA/AOD as a black mark in the history of Battletech.
I missed the Jihad. I missed the fall of the Hyperpulse Network. But dammit, I've been there. I was there when the Clan war machine stormed the Inner Sphere. I was there when ComStar ground us to a halt at Thyferra. I saw the Clans dissolve until only the strongest remained. And I eagerly await the day we retake Terra in the name of its rightful inheritors.
It's not that I don't enjoy CBT. I love the hell out of micromanagement and strategy and it's chock full of it. But I just don't have the funds to purchase what I'd need to make it worthwhile. The miniatures and whatnot, not to mention my lack of patience and skill when it comes to painting (I can draw like a beast, though).
Sure there are some rules and mechanics that are unbalanced, and hell, even broken. But thats whats fun about playing a dead game- Nobody cares enough to tell you you can't fudge the rules.
So is it just me? Am I the only one that misses DA/AOD? Are there other people out there that would do what I've done? Or am I just alone in this endeavor?
If so, more for me.