Battletech has returned to the PC (And it's spectacular)

So our friends at Hare Brained Schemes have spent the last two and half years putting together their Battletech game and it released last Tuesday to a mixture of trepidation, expectations of the highest caliber, and a smidge of controversy (which feels awfully artificially generated). So what is this game? Well, my limited (6ish hours in) experience is that it is one of the most elegant PC Games I’ve played in the last 5 years and the folks who built it have created something special, something that will be imitated by others in the near future. So what is Battletech? Settle in, i’ll try and make this brief.

The Year of Battletech

If you read this blog often, you know that we’re huge fans of Battletech (in all of its many wonderful forms), and 2018 is looking like a banner year for the franchise. With new starter sets for the board game in the works, two new computer games slated for release, and a host of other developments on the horizon, it’s a great time to be a fan of giant stompy robots fighting over a Game of Thrones esque feudal system. Let’s talk a little bit about some of the developments and see what the future holds.

The Promise of Battletech

It’s Friday, so I’m going to hop in the Rambletron for a minute and wander through my history with the Battletech Universe across its many media platforms.  There are some things that i like very much and other things that i wasn’t as keen on, but today i’m going to talk about the many different times i’ve seen this universe expressed in video and computer games. 

Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat

First Post, for the first non traditional Board Game i ever picked up.  I blame my brother for this one, as he started playing right before he went off to college.  I fell in love with the game, and though we have parted ways several different times, we always seem to wind up back together again.  If i were to pick the two games that i always work my way back to, they would be Battletech, and Dungeons and Dragons (Pick an edition). 

Battletech is the story of our future as humankind spreading across the stars.  The original time frame for the game was the early part of the 31st century, with the game's backdrop being the end of the Third Succession War.  Five vast interstellar nations fight for control over dwindling resources in an effort to claim supremacy and unite human space under their banner. 

For reference, this is the box i started with

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/thumb/c/ce/Bt2ed.jpg/800px-Bt2ed.jpg


(Btw, www.sarna.net is the battletech wiki, and is full of information about the vast history of the Battletech Universe)

Originally Published as Battledroids in 1984, Battletech has a thirty year history that stretches across novels, computer games, several different editions of the board game, a collectible card game, and a miniatures rules set for quick play games.

Battletech is also responsible for me meeting one of the best friends i have in the universe.  For the sake of his wife not killing the both of us, We will refer to him as "Drewbacca."

This is the most recent picture of Drewbacca

and for safety reasons, we will only be adding photos in this format.

Drewbaca and i were attending university at the same time, and met at a gaming club meeting.  I wasn't really paying attention until i heard a young wookie roar "Does anyone here play the game Battletech?"  (Translated by magic).  This sparked a friendship that has lasted for several years and seen us move through many different game systems, but we still discuss battletech a lot.    

Battletech has undergone some changes over the years, but the current publishers, Catalyst Game Labs continue to produce setting information and other materials for several games. 

Harebrained Schemes (operated by Jordan Weisman, creator of the battletech universe), as of this publication, have kickstarted a computer game version of Battletech.  As of publication, they have raised 1.7 million dollars to produce this new game and are rapidly closing in on a stretch goal for an open ended campaign for their computer game. 

I'll add some more information in my next post about this game universe, but here are some links that i find helpful for getting your feet wet in the universe. 

http://bg.battletech.com/new-to-the-board-game/
http://www.catalystgamelabs.com/
http://harebrained-schemes.com/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech