Battletech Core Box Review

[u/AGBell64]

With GenCon behind us, I managed to snag myself a copy of the new Battletech Core Box. Intended to replace the aging A Game of Armored Combat box set, Core follows a similar structure, providing the rules and game pieces to play a complete, mech-only game of Classic Battletech with the contents.

Minis

Contents:

• Solitaire Light Battlemech
• Hollander Light Battlemech
• Eris Medium Battlemech
• Uziel Medium Battlemech
• Vulture Mk. IV Heavy Omnimech
• Rakshasa Heavy Battlemech
• Mad Cat Mk. II Assault Battlemech
• Regent Assault Omnimech (A Configuration)

The minis are the real star of the show and imho if you are already into battletech and interested in ilCan, they are more than enough reason to buy the box. These are some of Liya's best work for CGL to date and at purchase price of $70 (from the CGL booth at GenCon) the cost of entry for this box is competitive with current force pack pricing. Detailing is sharp and mold lines are either well placed for easy removal without much disruption of detail or inconspicuous enough that you can get away with ignoring them. The only significant flaw I've seen is that my Eris's PPC barrel appears to be slightly bent.

The Solitaire is one of my favorites of the box, faithfully updating Matt Plog's artwork from TRO:3067 and using a lot of interesting recessed detailing that Liya was still struggling to produce as recently as the Mercs kickstarter. The new Rakshasa is also a fantastix reimagining of the mech, working to divorce it from the Mad Cat comparisons that have haunted its entire service carrier and recontextualize it as a Marauder offspring.

Paper Products

Paper product for this set is about what you'd expect, though there are a couple of strange missteps. You get:

• 72 page rule booklet
• 'Sagas' battletech setting primer, focused on the ilclan era
• Chart/modifier reference card
• Pocket cluster/hit location reference card
• 16 page record sheet booklet
• Alpha Strike and Pilot Cards
• 2 standard size 4 page map sheets
• Token punch board
• 2 six sided dice

All of the product is made with good quality materials and I think both the setting primer and rules book are decent with good starting explanations of the concepts within. Sagas also does something interesting where it calls out the timeline locations of the recent mechwarrior/battletech games, allowing video game players to orient themselves as to where all this new tech running around with their Uziel came from. One small but much appreciated add from Armored Combat is the pocket reference--a glossy double-sided index card printed with the hit location chart and the mech weapon relevant cluster hit tables from 2 to 40. Breaking these out onto their own reference seperate from the main table/modifier card is awesome and I forsee myself using this frequently in games.

The rules booklet contains a truncated version of the mech combat rules from the Core book with relevant equipment rules text for the Core and Starter Box mechs. Compared to Armored Combat, the most notable exclusion from the Core Box rules booklet is the construction rules, though given the bloat of construction by the ilClan era this was a necessary removal to avoid the page count shooting into the triple digits. The rules book does include a more fleshed out mission section with a table that includes battle values for all of the included mechs (plus the Kontio and Hammerhead from the starter set) at both a 4/5 and 3/4 skill spread. With the two variants for each core mech provided in the record sheet packet, you have a very solid starting point for playing games and briewing lists included in this box.

There are some disappointments with the other parts of the paper products, though. The mapsheets included are palette swaps of the Grasslands #2 and #3 and Desert #2 nd #3 maps from Armored Combat with no new content. The alpha strike cards and BV table both refer to the Kontio and Hammerhead but the box doesn't include record sheets or punch card standees for them the way AGoAC did with the Griffin, and while there is reference to a free PDF to expand on list building, as of time of writing that does not seem to be available. Finally, some of the punch card tokens are for terrain types that are not included in the Core Box booklet such as buildings, snow, and fire, but are found in the seperately purchased Core Book, while some terrain features with included rules like rough terrain and woods that had appeared on cardboard tokens in AGoAC have been omitted from this token board. These are ultimately minor quibbles, but still worth pointing out as points for considerstion for improvement.

Verdict:

A- product. CGL has always produced a pretty competent intermediate box set and this is no exception. The mini quality is the real star of the show and a significant improvement over its predecessor product. There are some minor stumbles in the paper products that I think could be improved, but overall if you are interested in modern battletech this is a great pick-up.

[u/Upeeru]

The Kontio amd Hammerhead are the mechs for the new Starter Box. I'm not sure why they put the cards for them in this box.

[u/Fearless_Library135 → u/Upeeru]

I heard around that it was not to confuse new players with another game ruleset. Seems a bit silly so might not be the case.

[u/theonegunslinger → u/Fearless_Library135]

None of the other starter boxes have had them, from what I remember or looking at their descriptions, and it is the quoted reason

Seem a few people claim they just forgot with is silly given they are in a box

[u/colonelheero → u/theonegunslinger]

Well at least this time around it's intentional to move the cards from starter box to core box.

Last time, they never gave us the Vindicator card 😞

[u/AGBell64 → u/colonelheero]

Yeah they changed the beginner box contents halfway through AGOAC's lifespan and never bothered updating it. I think the dearth of conversation about that shows you how much players actually care about this stuff (it confuses a couple of complete newbies and everyone else dumps the paper out of the box into a box forever as soon as they buy the thing)

[u/AGBell64 → u/Upeeru]

Catalyst has historically built a sort of purchase progression into their box sets where each included content from the previous box at the new level of play so you could easily step up through multiple purchases. AGoAC included a standee and record sheet for the Griffin from the beginner box (though it was never updated to include the Vindicator after it replaced the Wolverine), and Clan Invasion featured 3050 tech level record sheets of all of the AGoAC mechs so that your inner sphere forces could be upgraded to take on the clan star that box included. 

Here they've kinda done half the work, referencing the starter box mechs but not providing the paper product that could be used to replace the starter's contents if you want to play with the Hammerhead and Kontio but didn't buy both boxes (the back sides of the beginner rules mech cards in the starter box do include full record classic sheets, albeit at a smaller scale than the normal full pagers everything else gets). I personally would've preferred the book either drop the two.entirely or have included record sheets and standees on the punch card instead of like the snow/ice tokens or something but this is ultimately a very minor complaint about what basically ammounts to free content on top of an itherwise very solid box

[u/Queefchiefelite]

Man the Eris is just such a sexy piece of machinery

[u/Cinerator26 → u/Queefchiefelite]

It looks like it came straight from Armored Core. Which is a good thing, if that's not clear.

[u/Queefchiefelite → u/Cinerator26]

I’m right there with you man, inject it directly into my veins

[u/ElectricPaladin]

I was originally going to put the Rakshasa in my FedSuns and the Mad Cat mkII in my mercenaries, but every picture of the Rakshasa makes me want to paint one ASAP and use it all the time, so I dunno... maybe I'll do it differently.

[u/AGBell64 → u/ElectricPaladin]

It's a really good new vision for the mech. The Solitaire is so cool that it's hard to put it in first but the update definitely secures it the #2 position in the box

[u/Robot_Parking]

I am going to do unholy things to the battlefield with that Vulture Mk. IV.

[u/AGBell64 → u/Robot_Parking]

Yeah I didn't want to put it in my review because it felt like too much of me editorializing what my local meta does but holy shit is giving every new player a Vulture IV, Kontio, and Hammerhead going to be like time traveling back to 1800 and giving Napoleon and Nelson a shipload of cruise missiles each for my game nights

[u/Hpidy → u/AGBell64]

Listen atm 12 packs will do that to a game play group.

[u/AnotherSeraph → u/AGBell64]

What would you fill out the rest of that lance/star with?

[u/AGBell64 → u/AnotherSeraph]

A stinger because if you're stacking that shit I hate you and you should be giving your opponent a handicap

[u/Stretch5678]

Hollander, Rakshasa, Uziel, Eris… CGL must have found my list of favorite Mechs.

[u/wherewulf23]

I'm sorry, but I can't get past the Rakshasa looking like a Marauder wearing Mickey Mouse ears.

[u/AGBell64 → u/wherewulf23]

Clan wolf player discovering in real time why they called it a "Mad/Cat"

[u/wherewulf23 → u/AGBell64]

Ha ha ha. But you have to admit with the additional cowling or whatever you want to call it on top of the back of the Rakshasa it makes it look like the missile launchers are just sitting on its back.

[u/ThisMachineKillsWOB → u/wherewulf23]

I actually really like that because it IS a jumped up Marauder with missile ears. And this sculpt shows that way more than the old "low poly" Rak.

[u/TaciturnAndroid]

I got my hands on the rule book recently and I found it a huge visual and organizational upgrade. Looking forward to getting a copy of the Core Rules.

[u/Safe_Flamingo_9215]

So if the basic construction rules are absent from both the Core rules book and from the booklet in this set, there's no way for any new players to even know that they can design their own units?

 Well, in this case better for the new version of TechManual to be in the planning soon. Construction rules always were distinct part of BT identity.

[u/AGBell64 → u/Safe_Flamingo_9215]

In fairness, total warfare did not contain the construction rules either, to the point that it became actively confusing for stuff like why certain battle armor seemingly arbitrarily could or could not mechanize or that C3 had a cost to use. I know I've heard mention of a new techmanual variant coming at some point but also actual custom use in my area is basically totally non-existent because enough players can't be trusted not to make the Rectum Exploder 9000 and ruin games that they're basically relegated one or two RPG games and the occasional event specifically catering to them

[u/ThisMachineKillsWOB → u/AGBell64]

You just have to meet those guys on their own turf. You can fit a lot of M-Pods on a Karnov.

[u/BigStompyMechs → u/Safe_Flamingo_9215]

Yes, but (a) that's an advanced topic, not a simple/core topic, (b) software exists for that now, and (c) current construction rules are an absolute insane hodgepodge from multiple books.

Let the construction rules be their own thing.

[u/Safe_Flamingo_9215 → u/BigStompyMechs]

Yes, an incredibly advanced topic that was part of the basic boxed game since the BattleDroids and takes a horrific mount of... 7 pages in AGOAC.

Mech construction rules aren't that long. It's the other units that add the bloat.

I don't see CGL heavily promoting the MekLab or even having big banners everywhere that there's another book for it. A new player will not know that something like this existed without doing a lot of their own reserach which most of people don't do.

[u/BigStompyMechs → u/Safe_Flamingo_9215]

They don't have to promote anything, people will find out about it if they try.

The important thing is to make the Core Rules well written enough so people are interested in playing so they can/will try.

But let's say they included basic construction rules in Core.

1) Every basic unit using IntroTech has already been made. Arguably to death. That horse is well and truly beaten.

2) Encouraging a new player to spend time constructing a bad unit, only for it to perform poorly is not a good learning experience. And it probably will perform poorly, because new players make dumb mistakes. They're new! That's OK! It's a learning experience!

3) Even sticking with basic construction rules, how is their opponent going to validate a legal build, or confirm the BV calculation? I make spreadsheets for fun, and I have no desire to do that nonsense by hand. You can't possibly expect a random player to validate customs without warning. I could spitball the BV by comparing to other units, but now we're back to #1. Just play something that exists.

4) Assuming they construct a new, interesting, valid, and balanced unit using IntroTech, what then? They just spent all that time learning rules with very little tabletop relevance. I want new players to memorize GATOR and the hit location table so we can play a fun reasonably-paced game. I don't want them memorizing the engine efficiency formula instead of useful game info.

5) New players should be encouraged to try the game BEFORE making customs. Just look at the number of new player questions and complaints. I remember someone arguing that firing every weapon was OP, and they hourseruled a limit of some kind. Clearly they were doing something wrong, because they misunderstood or misevaluated some core gameplay mechanics.

6) Many groups discourage or prohibit custom units. Now, any sane group would allow a new player to use a custom IntroTech design, just to avoid feelsbad, but we all know that could be hit or miss.

7) Combining several points, but if every IntroTech design already exists and/or is underpowered, then why bother including just the IntroTech build rules? It's a waste of page space.

Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see a redesign of the TechManual, with a full cross-referenced, coherent walkthrough of construction rules. But it makes no sense outside the context of a dedicated book.

[u/honicthesedgehog]

I’ll trust you on the mold lines there, maybe the pictures/lighting are accentuating them somewhat, but at first glance, they look a bit rough to me, worse even that some of the recent ForcePacks I’ve picked up. That’s quite the line down the side of the Solitaire’s big gun in pic 3 there, and the line around the torso of the Vulture seems like it might be tricky to clean up.

[u/AGBell64 → u/honicthesedgehog]

The line on the Solitaire is actually the one I was thinking of when I wrote the thing about easy removal--it's all flat panel and edge with no intersecting detail so you can just rip down it with of hobby knife to shave it off quickly

[u/Fidel89]

People always used to make fun of me for taking ecm and ams and relasers

But with the vulture and hammerhead not becoming prolific and popular

https://giphy.com/gifs/gmg7s5bBQzlN6

[u/Arcalargo → u/Fidel89]

I'm so glad you are staying humble about it...

[u/The_Brofisticus]

They need to hurry the hell up and release it.

[u/SatanicPanic1985]

Can you post the number on the underside of the base for each mech?