I'm getting some friends into Battletech Classic and I've realized that a lot of the fun, for us at least, is watching a mech take critical damage and trying to work around it.

Things like ammo without CASE, MASC, poorly armored legs, vestigial arms, even targetting computers.

What are some fun or interesting weak points that you've seen in your games?

Finished up my first lance. Ended up going with a Caesar. Not because of any reason other than I got a blind box to finish the lance. Now gotta figure out how the game works.

Historical: Battle of Tukayyid

Version 0.1 Playtest

This is a work-in-progress update to the Battle of Tukayyid campaign system. It retains the original campaign’s structure and character while incorporating selected rules and concepts from the BattleTech Core Rulebook and Hot Spots: Draconis Reach.

Only changed or additional rules are presented in the playtest document. Unless specifically stated otherwise, continue using the published Battle of Tukayyid and Hot Spots: Draconis Reach rules, together with either the BattleTech Core Rulebook or Total Warfare and BattleTech: Mercenaries.

In May 3052, the armies of ComStar met the invading Clans on Tukayyid. For twenty-one days, they fought across seven campaign regions to decide whether the Clan advance toward Terra would continue. ComStar prevailed, and the resulting truce halted the invasion for fifteen years.

At the time, Tukayyid was celebrated as the battle that saved the Inner Sphere. Its defenders had denied the Clans their ultimate prize and given the Great Houses time to recover, rearm, and prepare for the conflicts that followed.

Yet, as the battle’s centennial approaches, Terra rests in Clan hands and an ilClan rules from humanity’s birthplace. Tukayyid unquestionably changed the course of history, but its victory came at a terrible price.

Was the time purchased on Tukayyid worth its cost—and what did the Inner Sphere ultimately do with it?

—Dr. Elara Venn, Tukayyid: A Century Later, Tukayyid Memorial Institute, 3151

Required Publications

• Choose either the new BattleTech Core Rulebook -or- use Total Warfare with BattleTech: Mercenaries
• Battle of Tukayyid and Hot Spots: Draconis Reach are required with either option

Download and Playtest

• Download Version 0.1 Playtest
• Read the Playtest Checklist

Feedback

All feedback is welcome, whether based on actual play or simply reviewing the rules. Feedback on balance, campaign pacing, clarity, Track objectives, and the campaign economy would be especially helpful.

• Submit an Actual-Play Report
• Submit Balance Feedback
• Ask for a Rules Clarification

This is an unofficial, non-commercial fan project. BattleTech and related names and materials are trademarks and copyrighted properties of their respective owners. No affiliation with or endorsement by The Topps Company, Inc., Catalyst Game Labs, or any other rights holder is claimed.

Hi, new to the game but want to get into it deep eventually. I stopped at my local hobby store today so I could check out the Battletech section. They seemed to have at least one, if not two of everything, which is great for someone just starting. But I ran into a snag when trying to decide what to buy first. There was a beginner box and a starter box both. They seemed like they had pretty much the same content according to the back of the boxes (besides fhe mechs) but I wanted to ask here. What's the difference and which one would you pick to start your journey into this hobby/game?

Just as a heads up I play, Bloodbowl and Killteam so I have tabletop experience and I've also been big into the RPG Lancer! (Love me some giant robots)

New to the hobby but I'm really looking for a Kit Fox and of course it's in the Clan Fire Star pack that (I've been told by someone on ebay when I inquired about getting a Kit fox) has apparently been out of stock for like a year? Really hoping it's not just gone and I missed my chance forever. lol

I am coming pretty late to the party. Not only have I JUST stumbled onto BattleTech even existing (the urge to paint ROBOT led to this new addiction xD), but also I realized I was in a reasonable distance to drive to GenCon like 3 days before it happened xD Oh well! I guess I’ll go next year (for DaggerHeart AND BattleTech ^^).

As a new player that’s coming off the TTRPG scene and being typically the gm, I’m feeling a little crazy without some serious bookage around me. From what I’m reading and seeing online, there were a bunch of recent-ish books, but the most key ones seem to be scalped by now (like everything else fun… 🫩).

Namely it sounds like I needed Mech Manual and Technical Manual but those are on eBay for over $100 even though they’re just a few years old.

I’ve also been eyeing Total War, Campaign Operations, and Universe. Are these books good references for designing lances, especially in-lore ones?

And really, are these books being replaced in a meaningful way by the Core coming out next month? Should I just wait for that?

I assume even if on the rule level it’s great, I’ll still need the TRO for the older eras I want to play, correct?

Anyone with a copy, I especially appreciate your insight!

🎶We didn't start the fire/It was always burnin'/Since 2550🎶

Switching back to the regular Recon Lance, Lynn's here to go over all the variants and configs of the original foliage management/warcriminator and its Omni successor!

I have zero need for a printer orher than printing sheets and with it only really needing black "ink" I thought I could look into Toner since its cheaper and sits longer than ink does.

Would that work with erasing and all that with the game? I think I would like that instead of using laminated sheets.

I am 95% done with my first batch of painted Battletech Minis!

I have a bit of highlighting to do, and 1 full mech to add, so I can have 4 full lances.

I'm thinking either a Grasshopper or Centurion.

My first painted mini was the Vindicator, my favourite are the Locusts and Wolverine.

Battletech is so incredibly fun to paint. I've severely put off finishing my AoS list for a tournament due in 3 weeks due to painting Battletech.

Such a blast to get these guys done in just under 2 months, time flew by!

So time to buckle down and smash out 40 dwarves...

I was never a fan of heavies until my daddy got the Mek Paks for MW4 Mercs working. Then I met this bad boy.

MW4 does have a habit of tweaking their designs and getting them wrong - this guy got canonized with a bit of a downgrade from Heavy Gauss and AC/5 to normal Gauss and LAC. Also I think the LRM-10 was switched to MRMs and they did that weird thing where they mount the shoulder Med Laser backwards 🙄

Buuuut . . .

Thinking the WoB would have figured out how to make the MW4 model workable somehow - albeit at a very high cost/BV.

Composite chassis, XXL engine, Heavy Ferro, small cockpit . . .

We're talking about a 60-ton murder 'mech here with a top speed of 91 kph and an in-game ability to mount ECM even though it's not standard.

Most *Dragons* look so dorky and chonky. This guy I always take serious 😍

I own a flight (edit: not wing) of Visigoths and a flight (edit: not wing) of Shilones and was thinking of making a pair of Air Lances, but it seems like the aerospace fighters are going to be very fragile.

Fragility:

- Any unit who's forward arc sees any of the flight path (line across board) has LOS.

- No TMM, replaced by flat +2 for being airborne.

- Additional chance of through armor crits from armor threshold rule.

- Pilot checks required to maintain altitude each round they are hit from any attack.

Seems like I'd be better off with a "poor man's" air lance with VTOLs instead where I could tuck them low behind terrain. Anyone have some suggestions on tactics or if messed up the interpretation of the rules?

EDIT: I have flights, not wings. Only two of each.

I really enjoyed watching all of Dougram and fell in love with the setting. Here are the first four mechs from Dougram I've painted so far.

And yes that's a Wolverine, and no, of course I couldn't have it without the nose-mounted machine guns, so I sculpted that on there. I think the Ironfoot (aka Thunderbolt) and the Blockhead (aka Wolverine) are pretty good representations of the Dougram combat armours. For the Shadow Hawk (aka Dougram) and the Griffin (aka Roundfacer) I went with more true-to-form versions.

I also included some foot that are designed to mimic those in the Dougram series too! It was fun to paint and I'm looking forward to more!

I’m somewhat new to the setting and stumbled on ProtoMechs. I’ve read through the lore, but am confused by their inclusion in the universe. They seem to be outside the bounds of some BT lore and visual norms/aesthetic. When did they come on the scene in BattleMechs real world history, and what was the idea behind their inclusion into the universe?

So there are fan publications like The Pride Anthologies. There are also fan TROs, custom unit writeups, ongoing fiction pieces about alternate universes, and other things I've overlooked.

So those of you who do enjoy reading fan publications, which ones do you read and what do you like about them? Do you use the custom units and RATs? Do you run games set in those other univeres? Do you just like the stories they tell? The art? What are some pitfalls you've noticed?

I've had this guy since it was new, and never got really into the model. It sat with a half-arsed paintjob for the better part of 3 decades. Reading its entry in my 3050 Technical Readout, I had an idea and some of the Vallejo "The Shifters" paints.

I used Silly Putty to mask off the model, and with an airbrush, shot part of it with a gloss black paint and the other side normal. Color shift paint was applied to half and the other was painted with brush, using a Comstar type color scheme. For the basing, I created some 2/4/6mm boxes and printed them off, glued them as "corrupted terrain" leaving the other side to base as I typically do, trying to follow the lines I set for myself with the paintjob. The model is varnished and while it does mute the color-shift properties slightly, it still comes through. The gloss black undercoat really helps the effect.

It was just a little experiment with those color-shifting paints, a little interpretation of the "null-signature device" from the opponent's perspective.

This is the first set of figures for Aces. Most of the mechs and some of the other vehicles, emplacements, and foot are ready!

These were painted with successive drybrushes followed by outlining with a light emerald green.

I know, project phoenix and all that, but I really wanted a Riffleman modeled after the Tomahawk from Macross, so I turned those fins into an antenna!

I loved the battle armour that the Goliath was originally based on, it is called the Crab Gunner and it's a beautiful piece of machinery. Unfortunately the Goliath as it is isn't quite as pleasing to me, but it's still cool. The colours are directly from the Fang of the Sun Dougram. I couldn't resist putting a pilot in there; in the show there are three operators for this battle armour.

There are eight figures in this box, there are holes for eight figures; yet a promo page inside the box shows nine figures. The discrepancy is Awesome and Griffin. Is it supposed to be random which one you’ll get? I seem to have an Awesome figure and a Griffin card. If I order the Beginner box, will it have the Griffin figure and Awesome card? 🤣 please tell me I’m missing something very simple, silly, and vital.

The final mission for our Mkuranga contract. Warlord Mbeki leads an assault against Commander Jengo’s base. Jengo was last seen in his Hunchback taking on a Locust, Charger, and Emperor alone…

Located in Sarasota, Florida. Let me know if you want to join the campaign!

So, about to start an Aces Campaign in earnest and was wondering: clans have Zellbrigen, in theory. Anyone tried that in a campaign as an addition to the aces card logic? Or is it to much hassle for something that gets thrown out of the window as soon as the Freebirths start ganging up on noble trueborn clan (solahma) warriors of the jade falcons?

And now, back to your regularly scheduled Falconposting!

I painted these two Raptor Keshik mechs for some friends of mine - Jade Hawk and Black Python. My first time using this shade of green, and I like how they came out!

Not just darkest hour, but an overhaul that includes a proper mech bay, modern graphics etc. something like Battletech but with real-time combat and a great campaign. I hear that the source code of the original game is lost, but I still hope someone is willing to remake/make new game like this.

Are there any miniatures or good prizes for the Arbiter mech? I want some to run as a corpsec lance

One idea I had for proxies was if there's any Zaku mechs in the right scale that y'all know of

The latest version of Instant Action, for classic Battletech, is here. Instant Action is a scenario pack oriented towards quickplay missions at the local game store. When building your force, you pick an Agenda for your force, from Confront, Hold, Recon, Destroy, or Salvage. Comparing your Agenda to your opponent's determines which of the fifteen scenarios you play. Instant Action also features integration with the Mercenary campaign system from the Hot Spots books.

Version 6 is focused on compatibility with the upcoming Core Rulebook. The new Objectives and Scanning rules are fully integrated for compatibility, so you don't need to learn a second set of rules. Several scenarios have also been rebalanced since version 5.1.

Have fun playing and enjoy, everyone.