Classic Battletech: Technical Readout: 3067 (FPR35009) by Herbert A. Beas II


Classic Battletech: Technical Readout: 3067 (FPR35009)
Title : Classic Battletech: Technical Readout: 3067 (FPR35009)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1932564098
ISBN-10 : 9781932564099
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 224
Publication : First published August 1, 2003

In the savage FedCom Civil War that rocked the Lyran Alliance and the Federated Commonwealth for the past five years, new machines of war have been rapidly tested and put in the field to help turn the tide of battle in each faction's favor. The Clans and other Houses have also been busy, as the internal and external conflicts drive the rapid deployment of new military hardware. Classic BattleTech Technical Readout: 3067? provides descriptions, game statistics and illustrations for new BattleMech and vehicle designs. It finally unveils the next generation of Inner Sphere aerospace fighters and OmniFighters, as well as the Clan's second-line fighters. A handful of new Dropships are also premiered. This technical readout includes those designs previously published in the Field Manual? series.

Classic Battletech: Technical Readout: 3067 (FPR35009) Reviews

  • Mark Austin

    I met the group of friends that are still among my best friends via Battletech.

    Until mid-7th Grade, lunch meant eating quickly, then heading outside seeking something to alleviate boredom and avoiding bullies. Then, one day, one of my (only) friends introduced me to these guys who stayed in all lunch, hunched at the end of a cafeteria table as though using their bodies as a wall to protect the bubble of fantasy that they were collectively creating. Some days the bubble contained D&D, but on that first day it was 25-100 ton, 2 inch tall war machines from a thousand-odd years in the future known as Battle Mechs.

    I was hooked instantly.

    It was a board game, but with infinite scenarios created by the players. It was a roleplaying game with a duration of one battle. It had a massive variety of pieces with various weapons, speeds, armor ratings, and special abilities and, if you weren't satisfied with the hundreds of options they provided, extensive, balanced rules for creating your own mechs.

    The rules were extensive and, when using advanced optional rules, bordered on obsessive minutia but being a dysfunctional obsessive compulsive, I found learning them a delight. Unlike life, here there were clear-cut rules on how to do EVERYTHING!

    The technical handout books not only contained dozens of mechs and vehicles, but each had its own history and backstory, as well as little personalized traits and quirks that had no effect on the game but made it all feel real, like commentary on how cramped the cockpits were for larger pilots or how awkwardly the control yokes were placed.

    I don't know the state of the game currently aside from the nearly-direct computer port of this game that we always dreamed of finally coming out (just look up Battletech on Steam), but between the politically complex and interesting universe, detailed, comprehensive and seemingly balanced rules, and the relative speed of play, it filled a solid niche in our gaming schedule.

    When the RPG came out (around college times for me) we even tried out a short lived mercenary game. Though we only got through a few sessions, it did send me on a month-long nostalgic binge re-reading the books and re-living a hundred battles fought in Middle and High School.