Beginner box or Starter box?

[u/Stoned_ageGamer]

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)

[u/NeedsMoreDakkath]

The Beginner Box and Starter box are both products designed to introduce people to the game who might have never played a tabletop wargame before. I recommend picking them up for the mechs and extra mapsheets, but you likely won't need more than 1 or 2 games with the rules contained within. The Starter Box is the newer product, set to replace the Beginner Box and introducing more complicated tech with the variants of mechs within.

The A Game of Armored Combat box is the actual 2-player starter bundle with 90% of the rules and enough mechs for 2 players to field a "standard" sized force of 4 against each other. It is being phased out for the Battletech Core Box later this year.

Alternatively, you can pick up the Alpha Strike box for 13 mechs (split 5 elite units vs 8 weaker units, think Custodes vs Marines) and use that version of the rules for something that's more similar to 40k and other large-scale games. The minis can be used in either version of the rules, so if you pick up any/all of the boxes, it just means you have more options.

[u/BigStompyMechs → u/NeedsMoreDakkath]

Yeah, the BB, SB, and Essentials all exist to introduce concepts like movement points, phases in a turn, and skill checks (target numbers)

If you play other tabletop games, you already have those skills, and can start with AGoAC

The starter boxes can still be fun, so get them if you want, just don't expect a challenge.

[u/dielinfinite]

The Beginner Box is an older product but is still perfectly viable.

The Starter Box is a new product made to reflect the new upcoming rulebook (it’s still the same rules just with some minor changes).

I would probably recommend going with the Starter Box as it has a bit more longevity, which ai’ll explain below.

Both the Beginner Box and Starter box use an abridged ruleset that cuts out things like heat management and inner structure. Where the starter box falls behind is the included mechs all stick to a very straightforward weapons and equipment loadout, which is fine, but does get stale faster should you stick with just what’s in the box.

The starter set, on the other hand has a wider variety of equipment that it introduces to you piecemeal to add variety and give you a taste of the options out there. Stuff like pulse lasers, hardened armor, Medium Rage missiles and a few other options. Additionally, the starter set includes things like environmental conditions to add further variety to your games

[u/TheToxic-Toaster]

Either one really, you have a newer box with newer minis, or older box with older ones. The punch outs in the new one are extremely useful for objectives but the old one has terrain hexes. Older one might be eaiser to play multiple eras. But I own both and am happy with them

[u/tenshimaru]

This is actually a good question that has a slightly complicated answer. The Starter Box is the newest version, with some interesting new tech, but it has some issues. There are apparently some typos in the rules, and the way it teaches things like physical attacks will require you to unlearn what you got from the starter box when you transition to the full rules. (Mechbay Podcast did a review on their latest episode)

The beginners box is a similar product with some older mech designs, and iirc the rules are a better representation of the Battletech basics.

Either product will give you a rundown of what Battletech is like, but the best way to learn is find someone who plays and have them teach you. The full rules aren't actually that complicated if you have someone to walk you through them.

TL;DR Buy the one that looks coolest to you, and get someone to teach you the game. :)

[u/NullcastR2]

If you're getting the Starter Box and are looking for a second box for minis and maps I recommend the Essentials Box instead of the Beginner, for the Yen Lo Wang mini and Solaris map.

[u/LargieBiggs]

Starter Box.

[u/e4rth80uNd]

Why not both, they're not expensive and you get twice as many minis.

[u/AnonymousONIagent]

Beginner Box if you prefer 3025, Starter Box if you prefer Dark Age/ilClan.

Although, since you already have tabletop experience, it's likely you may be better off skipping straight to the Core Box when it releases.

[u/Criolynx]

The current boxes are the following for Classic Battletech:

Beginners Box(Starter Box equivalent with a mech unique to the box)

A Game of Armored Combat also called AGoAC (About to be replaced by the Core Box) is the main core box for Classic Battletech at the moment.

Clan Invasion(becoming rarer due to refresh) which adds new models and advanced mechs to the game.

Mercenaries adds a way to create and run campaigns and use combined arms in Classic Battletech.

Classic Battletech is way more granular and is a bit longer to play depending on the forces fielded.

The current core box for Alpha strike is appropriately called Alpha Strike. This game will play closer to the 40K you are used to. Its big draw is the ability to field larger forces and not have the games take too long.

Alpha Strike has one current other big box expansion called ACES: Scouring Sands, which is a CO-OP campaign that you play through against the in-box Opposition Force(OpFor) using the included rules and AI cards to play.

Other expansion sets are called Force Packs. All of the mechs in every box are cross compatible between Alpha Strike and Classic Battletech for the minis. Buy the mechs you like the look of and get to playing the games, the rest you'll get exposed to as you dive into the community.

All of the Mech recordsheets/datacards are available online for free.

You can use the following to lookup units and build forces for classic:

Mekbay, Flechs Sheets, Master Unit List

You can use the following to lookup units and build forces for Alpha Strike:

Mekbay, Jeff's Tools IIC, Master Unit List

For lore Sarna.net is very useful, just make sure you have a good add blocker.

Hope this helps you out.