Battletech Starter Box Set

Battletech is one of my favorite ways to completely waste an afternoon.  In it's board game form at least. 

Years ago, I bought the second edition of the Battletech board game.  It came with a 30 page book, a few game peices, two d6, and two paper maps.  I've destroyed, and later lost the box.  The mech models were a goner early on in it's history.

I was out this weekend, and wandered into a gaming store... and while I knew the battletech game was still out there.  I didn't know it was actually at retail again.  (this is it's third time through, FASA at first, then wizkids, and now Topps of all people!?)

The first thing that struck me was how heavy the box was.  It had serious weight.  I was actaully left wondering if it came with metal models in it.  It drove me a little crazy as I didn't have time to unbox the game for almost three days after I bought it.

And here's what I got once I opened the box.  The box top fits really tightly to the bottom.  I suppose you can expect this of a collector card company.  I think Topps wants this to be collectible, and at every turn my $55 seems worth it.

The came is notoriously complex.  It has lookup tables, and hit locations, and all sorts of things You need to resolve to finish a turn.  In the edition I had before, you had one book with everything in it except record sheets.  Topps saw fit to give you a cheat sheet, a quick start guide, a full rulebook, a map of the inner sphere, a nice book of record sheets, and a few things I'm obviously forgetting now. 

That bag of models seems a bit big.  And the two little boxes there are labeled thor and loki.  Last time I opened a basic battletech set there weren't any clan mechs.  This made me smile a bit. 

Seriously, it came with lots of documentation.  The record sheets include battle armor, some vehicles, and sheets for all the mechs that are included in the game.  Infantry, vehicles, were just hinted at in the original box set.  Here you get the rules to use them!  And the sheets to play them.

The original battletech game came with two folded sheets of paper as the maps. That's paper, but it's 1/8" thick cardboard.  You dont' see boards like this when you buy monopoly.  I'm seriously impressed.  This is where most of the weight of the box set came from.  And I'm quite happy for that.

That's a lot of mechs.  The two clan mechs are "premium" and need assembly. 

How many of them can you name?  it's definitely enough.  And they range from light to assault.  And all things in between.

I am quite happy with my purchase.  Now I just need to scrounge up some people and time to play with.