Hey Folks, we’re back with another product review. The BattleTech Mercenaries Boxed Set is fulfilling its Kickstarter commitments, and once that’s done, they’ll be in your stores sooner than you think. Let's dig into this box and see what you can look forward to. Focused on the Mercenary trade and its practitioners, Mercenaries adds the framework of campaign rules to BattleTech. It also features the revised Battlefield Support Rules, which both confuse and annoy me because I am old and grouchy. (I haven’t played with them yet, but they’ll get a full, honest evaluation in an article later on down the line).
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| Mercenaries Kickstarter Exclusive Cover |
Contents
8 plastic Mechs!! (Note, that like all of CGL’s boxed releases, these come fully assembled and ready to play right out of the box). This box contains a Devastator, Ostsol, Caesar, Starslayer, Chameleon, Quickdraw, Firefly, Flea. The miniature quality is high, with fully assembled minis ready to play out of the box. I didn’t notice any barrel issues or bent parts anywhere. I did notice that there’s a little bit of a wider gap than it looks right on the Starslayer, but until I get a second one to compare it to, it plays. There’s a little bit of flashing that you’ll need to get them ready for paint, but that’s not uncommon with this line.
4 Plastic Vehicles! Marking the first appearance of Combat Vehicles in Catalyst Plastic, Mercenaries contains two plastic Maxim Hover Tanks, and two Galleon Light Tanks. The tanks are nicely designed and I rate the quality at high. They have less flashing than the Mechs, but will need a little clean up to be ready for painting.
Cardboard Tokens! This box set features a wide assortment of infantry and combat vehicle tokens, as well emplacements and other Battlefield Support elements. In total, there are two sheets of these tokens
Hex Maps! This boxed set comes with two double sided maps, the Scattered Woodlands/River Valley and Woodland/Lake Area. These are standard sized 18” by 22” play maps.
Pilot Cards! The Box has double sided pilot cards for each of the mechs presented in the box, covering a variety of affiliations and eras.
Alpha Strike Cards! There are 12 double sided Alpha Strike cards (one for each mech in the box, and two each for the tanks). Each card features two different versions or configurations of the mech they represent. These are dry erase friendly, though most folks I know that play frequently with cards grab an aftermarket set of card sleeves.
Note: These cards have blank spaces for Skill so you can easily modify your skill rating.
Battlefield Support Deck! A revised and expanded deck from the one featured in Alpha Strike, this one is more complete and has additional assets. Note, there are 49 cards in a “Deck” featuring minefields, air strikes, and other battlefield support Assets. The other 50 cards are two sets of “supporting” units for your mechs. This includes conventional infantry, battle armor, vehicles, and gun emplacements.
Mercenaries Rulebook! This book details the campaign framework that uses the mercenary contract as its basis. This also has the battlefield support rules.
No One Left Behind! A short Novella by Michael J. Ciaravella to get you interested in the action of BattleTech.
Mercenaries Primer! This is a “The Universe at a Glance” book for BattleTech. It gives players a rough idea of what’s going on with the Universe, and is an excellent inspiration to jump off into deeper dives with a focus on the Mercenary lifestyle. .
Dice! The basic white six sided dice that built the Titanic, i mean, a very simple pair of six sided dice.
Charts! Double sided quick reference of :
Battlefield Support costs and usages
The Mercenary Contract
Mercenary Force Chart
Record Sheet Book! This booklet has full BattleTech record sheets for the mechs and vehicles in this box, ready for use or photocopying (Remember photocopiers?)
Poster! So, this is a double sided laminated poster. I haven’t unpacked mine yet, so I don't know what's on the back, but the front is a map of the Inner Sphere, circa 3058. It’s very, very pretty.
Breakdown:
Note: You will need a Game of Armored Combat (Or the Battlemech Manual, or Total Warfare) to fully utilize this boxed set.
As a starting point for the Mercenary Campaign, and a full rollout of the Battlefield Support Assets, this box is a great help. (I’ll do a full breakdown of how those work in a few weeks). The Mercenary contract system and its campaign streamline and sanitize the Chaos Campaign framework that BattleTech has used previously. (I’ll have a full writeup on how those work too, be patient, please).
In terms of tiny plastic things, the box is solidly fun. It introduces Combat Vehicles for the first time, and as stated elsewhere, the minis are nice. The mechs are cool, and can slot into a lot of different forces. You and a friend can split up the contents to learn more about how the game is played, and you can have a lot of fun with what’s in this box. (You will need one of the resources listed at the top of this section to be able to play the game).
The Record Sheets and the AS cards being included mean you can play either version of the game with the resources in this box (Though again, I'd suggest you have the Alpha Strike box for fully understanding those rules).
AS Point Cost (in the box) Using the most expensive versions of the cards presented in the box, the box comes in right around 450 points if you’re using all of them on one side. Almost all of the Mechs have a point value counterpart (2 mechs in the box are around 50 to 55) points, so again, you can split them up between two players fairly easily. .
The Master Unit List has different variations you can try out with these machines. However, that’s outside what’s available in this boxed set. The counterpoint to that is that with the Master Unit List, you can find other robots you want to try out and experiment. Battletech does not have “What You See is What You Get” rules. That means that so long as you and your opponent can clearly identify what is what, you can proxy anything you want to.
Battle Value isn’t calculated for these boxes, and I would suggest you use the Master Unit List to identify what the BV of your force (and specific variations) is. The record sheet booklet has the Battle Value for each machine printed on the sheets, so you can figure out fair forces from that.
Thoughts: I really, really like this box. This box is an expansion of the rules of BattleTech and adds something that I personally enjoy, Campaign play. Force building is a process I like, and the Mercenaries rules give you a framework for that. The more expanded rules in the Force Manuals expand on this for House Units.
Overall Rating:
4.5 stars. This product is a fantastic expansion of the BattleTech rules and adds both Battlefield Support and Campaign play. However, I wonder how obsolete the rules in this box will be as we get other products (especially the Force Manual: Mercenaries book, and the MechCommander’s Handbook). Still, excellent product.
This is currently only fulfilling through the Mercenaries Kickstarter. When they hit retail, you’ll be able to pick them up at your local store, or you will be able to pick it up from the Catalyst game Labs online store.
That’s it for us, Build some mercs and lose all your C-Bills gambling on the future, friends.
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