Those who happen to follow Battletech in addition to Shadowrun probably want to check out today's press release.

Hit the link for the preview PDF, but here's the text:

CATALYST GAME LABS BRINGS BACK “UNSEEN�

In 1996 numerous images originally licensed from several Japanese anime sources were retired from use within the BattleTech universe. Those illustrations formed the bedrock of the BattleTech 2nd Edition and BattleTech 3rd Edition Box Sets and were generally considered “fan favorites� across the board. These images—such as the Warhammer, Marauder, BattleMaster, Phoenix Hawk and so on—became known as the “unseen.�

After much blood, sweat and tears, Catalyst Game Labs is exceptionally pleased to announce the return of these “unseen� images.

“I’ve had the honor of helming BattleTech for a long, long time,� said Randall Bills, Managing Developer for Catalyst Game Labs. “I’m exceptionally proud that the work of the last several years for the new line of core rulebooks and the current storyline has precipitated a resurgence in BattleTech play and recognition as a fun, great game, with one of the greatest legacies of any gameline. However, to participate in returning all our favorite images to the game we love… my geek’s been on for long weeks about this explosively cool development. Just wait until you see some of the art under development to “bring them back� in a style worthy of our current books.�

The first books containing these images will start appearing this summer, with future releases—as appropriate—able to use illustrations of these classics. One of the biggest of these coming releases, of course, is BattleTech: 25 Years of Art and Fiction; we’ve got a preview of a complete, all-new-story from this book that also showcases a plethora of art across years, including some images not seen in a BattleTech book in long, long years.

OK,
I have not played Battletech since about 1997. The game still interests me and in no small part because I have always combined BattleTech and Shadowrun. (yes, BattleRun). What would the fine folks here recommend I buy to get started back into Battletech? Do they still publish the campaigns? And , are the rules miniature friendly(compare to 1995-7)?

Thanks,

BlueMax

Jeez. And I was JUST talking to my gaming group about how the Phoenix Hawk, Stinger, Warhammer and Marauder weren't the same mechs without those pictures.

Especially the Warhammer.

You really can't go wrong getting back into the wargame with the Battletech Starter Box. You get twenty-some-odd Mechs, the basic rules of the game, a couple maps, a fluff/background book that gets you most of the way up to date, and I think they even toss in a couple dice. For $30-$40 it's a steal.

The Battlemech design/construction/database software Heavy Metal Pro is also a great deal, even if you never want to design Mechs, simply because it's got something like 500 existing Mechs in there, that you can arrange by Clan/Inner Sphere, date they were produced, tech level, tonnage, battle value, or whatever else you want to. They even have the little fluff/background notes for each of 'em right there in the program. No need to buy a bazillion Tech Readouts, unless you really, really, like hardcopy versions of stuff. HMP's also totally legit, it's not like it's some hacked version of the thing that's losing the company money or something. It's a fantastic product, great for tweaking Mechs, designing your own, or even just printing up sheets for totally canon stuff.

Starterbook: Sword and Dragon is a great little product that's designed to bridge the gap between the starter set's rules and tech level, and the stuff found in Total Warfare, which provides the "intermediate" set of rules. Sword and Dragon also has a pretty kickass little campaign in it, a couple custom Mechs, and they've released "mech paks" for it (and the other Starterbook) that let you buy a handful of pewter Mechs are really decent prices.

Starterbook: Wolf and Blake bridges the gap from Total Warfare up to pretty much Battletech's "modern day" in the timeline, which is a whole bunch of Jihad books that I'm still not totally up on, myself. The Jihad stuff is basically like the massive Clan Invasion stuff, more or less, with a fantastic new foe sporting high-tech gear that's out to shatter the Inner Sphere and yadda yadda yadda, "The Next Big Thing." Tactical Operations is the only other generic sourcebook type product I can suggest off the top of my head (not a campaign related game, just lots and lots of crunchy rules), and even that isn't terribly necessary depending on just how nitty-gritty and complicated your group wants the fights to be.

Personally? I'd suggest the Starter Box, Sword and Dragon, and Tactical Ops, along with Heavy Metal Pro (unless you're already pretty well stocked up on TRO's and love filling out Mech sheets, Heavy Metal's just so friggin' handy). That'd get you a really solid base to get the hang of the new-ish edition of rules, get you a cool little campaign to run, and get you a bazillion Mechs ready to be printed out.

As a long time fan of the mech image that got retired, all I have to say is w00t![size="2"][/size]

-paws

PS I Archers

Saw this on Mike Mearls' twitter last night. Was ecstatic. I loved the Marauder when I was twelve and I'm glad to hear its back.