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Battletech Field Manual/Sourcebook
Invading Clans: A Battletech Sourcebook
Invaders from Beyond
They came from beyond the Periphery: invaders with advanced weapons, strange tactics, and stranger customs. Arriving in 3049, they attacked world after world with unrelenting fury. By 3052 they had conquered more than 200 planets, and their target was clear. They sought to capture the cradle of humanity: Terra. If not for the battle of Tukayyid and the resulting truce, the Earth would surely have fallen.
We now know these invaders are the Clans, the sons and daughters of the legendary Aleksandr Kerensky, gone from known space for over 250 years. They seek to overthrow the Inner Sphere and recreate the lost Star League in their own image... or so it seems...
Invading Clans describes the history, culture, and military capabilities of Clans Smoke Jaguar, Nova Cat, Ghost Bear, Steel Viper, and Diamond Shark. Also included is an overview of occupied worlds, deadly new BattleMechs, and eight full-color pages featuring renderings of Clan uniforms and ceremonies.
They came from beyond the Periphery: invaders with advanced weapons, strange tactics, and stranger customs. Arriving in 3049, they attacked world after world with unrelenting fury. By 3052 they had conquered more than 200 planets, and their target was clear. They sought to capture the cradle of humanity: Terra. If not for the battle of Tukayyid and the resulting truce, the Earth would surely have fallen.
We now know these invaders are the Clans, the sons and daughters of the legendary Aleksandr Kerensky, gone from known space for over 250 years. They seek to overthrow the Inner Sphere and recreate the lost Star League in their own image... or so it seems...
Invading Clans describes the history, culture, and military capabilities of Clans Smoke Jaguar, Nova Cat, Ghost Bear, Steel Viper, and Diamond Shark. Also included is an overview of occupied worlds, deadly new BattleMechs, and eight full-color pages featuring renderings of Clan uniforms and ceremonies.
- GenresScience FictionGaming
160 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1995
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
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.
Displaying 1 of 1 review