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Battletech Technical Readout
Battletech: Technical Readout 3026, Vehicles and Personal Equipment
Technical Readout 3026 (Vehicles and Personal Equipment) describes the common, and not so common, pieces of military equipment used by the armed forces of the Inner Sphere. Included are detailed discussion of 40 combat vehicles, ranging from the Ferret Scout Helicopter and the Drillson Heavy Hovercraft, to the Schrek PPC Carrier and the Neptune Submarine. Dozens of pieces of individual equipment and small arms are also described, as are rules for their use in a MechWarrior or BattleTech campaign. This volume is an invaluable aid to anyone interested in battlefield technology.
128 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1987
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 21, 2018
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.
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.
March 25, 2017
Note: this review is for the 2003 Wizkids/Fanpro Revised Edition
This is an interesting supplement, focused solely on combat vehicles (rather than simply 'Mechs) that flourished during the Succession Wars, including a number of iconic Battletech designs like the Manticore, Pegasus, and Saladin/Saracen/Scimitar designs. However...this book is almost completely superseded by the Catalyst Game Labs 3039 supplement, which contains all of the core designs in this sourcebook, plus 'Mechs of the accompanying era.
So, what does the WK/Fanpro Revised edition offer? A few updated glossy color photos of some (about half?) of the vehicles, plus the dubiously useful "Lost Designs" section. The latter makes for interesting reading, but since every last one of them is more or less explained as obsolete and/or nonexistent, this section is more or less useless for usage in canon-friendly gaming.
This is an interesting supplement, focused solely on combat vehicles (rather than simply 'Mechs) that flourished during the Succession Wars, including a number of iconic Battletech designs like the Manticore, Pegasus, and Saladin/Saracen/Scimitar designs. However...this book is almost completely superseded by the Catalyst Game Labs 3039 supplement, which contains all of the core designs in this sourcebook, plus 'Mechs of the accompanying era.
So, what does the WK/Fanpro Revised edition offer? A few updated glossy color photos of some (about half?) of the vehicles, plus the dubiously useful "Lost Designs" section. The latter makes for interesting reading, but since every last one of them is more or less explained as obsolete and/or nonexistent, this section is more or less useless for usage in canon-friendly gaming.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews