Well, A Time of War is now out of beta, so I can download the full version of the BattleTech RPG when I get around to it. (For people who want to buy it now, it’s US$15 from www.drivethrurpg.com). I don’t know when the hardcopy will be out; the next few months, I guess. The system seems somewhat fiddly; at some point I hope to run a session or three of it. I’ll probably start with a mini-campaign of 3-4 sessions, so watch this space for more details.
Also out this week is “Historical Turning Points: Galtor”. The Galtor Campaign was one of FASA’s early scenario packs, albeit one for its BattleForce game. It was one of those lunatic ideas that makes for a great story. It goes like this: Hanse Davion, wanting to lure his Kuritan foes into a trap, leaked news of a newly discovered memory core on Galtor. His forces then set up this false core and got ready to ambush the Combine troops – and then run away. Unfortunately for the Fox’s plans, a real memory core was discovered on the planet just before the attack got underway… and so he had to defend it for real with a fraction of the forces he needed. Oops.
So, this new Historical Turning Point product is a cheap (us$5) PDF file that contains details of 7 scenarios during this campaign, along with the forces deployed, maps of the planet, and a few other details. The scenarios use the “Chaos Campaign” rules – a more advanced version of the rules we use in the Starterbook campaigns. The initial scenario looks a lot of fun: A group of recon mechs goes to attack an underwater base defended by subs! At some point, it might be running a minicampaign of this for the boardgame.
At home, I’m slowly assembling my last group of metal BattleTech minis I received earlier in the year. Urgh. I hate metals. Give me some nice plastics any day…