Aged Gamer and the Box of Love

"They say you can't buy love... yet here is a box full of love" -- My friend Cain.  What my friend was wisely referring to was the 25th Anniversary box set of Battletech.  Truly, a box of love!

The game turned 25 in '09, having begun life as "BattleDroids"  in 1984 (until Lucas/Lucasfilm quickly got irritated with the use of  the word "Droid" -- and yes, Verizon pays to use the term.)  But the 25th Anniversary set hit the shelves in Feb of 2012.  I thought Catalyst Games Lab had done a spectcular job with their compilation of the original rules sets and expansions in Total Warfare which is to this game what the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia was to OD&D -- i.e.: the only book you'd ever need.  Catalyst Games have really hit on a great visual layout and styling artistically for the rules and books, publishing them in what I perceive as an old school way.  They're streamlined, not overbearing, and not dumbed down.  Even the quickstart rulesin the box set need some study, but are totally solid. 

This 25th Anniversary set is so piled high with gaming goodness, you can't help but love the contents:

24 unpainted, ready-to-play plastic BattleMech minis

2 unpainted, premium-quality plastic BattleMech minis

One 12-page full-color quick-start rulebook will have players into the action in minutes

36-page book of pre-generated BattleMech Record Sheets

One 80-page full-color rulebook

Inner Sphere at a Glance, a 56-page full-color book of universe
      background and BattleMech technical data

One 16-page full-color Painting and Tactics Guide

Two heavy-duty cards of compiled tables

Two 18″ x 24″ game-board quality maps

 True to it's roots as a board game, this (Heavy) box is a totally complete game with enough miniatures included that you'd literally never have to make another purchase for the product line again... but you will.  You will buy more because the collected 1000+ plus game-world history that Battletech lore covers is fantasticlly detailed, interesting and supported.  Unlike a Warhammer 40K or World of Warcraft timeline where additions of new models or races or incidents are retro-crammed into a tight period of time so the backstory sort of "evolves", but also becomes cluttered as it is altered, the Battletech timeline has been handled in such a way these snags are avoided.  Solid!

We've always had these...

...trust us... we're Pariahs...

SURE I was there when you could walk through Thousand Needles!

 

I played Battleforce in the late 80's -- being a FASA addict in general -- but never got into Battletech.  Any regret that might have spawned has entirely evaporated with the purchase of this set.  Well worth the price!