I used to play a LOT of Battletech 25+ years ago and have decided to get back into it. But I’ve forgotten so much. I have at least 30 books of technical readouts, source books, and new rules. But I’m not sure which ruleset is the best for my needs. I want to run a campaign set in the 3033 Battle of Scarborough. This means that I will be leaving out the clans and most recent tech. Which rulebook will best serve my needs? I want to use as many advanced rules as possible while still leaving out any tech that is not yet invented.
I used to run BT campaigns, but that was decades ago as well. The Total Warfare rulebook should work just fine. It covers BattleMechs, conventional infantry, tanks, VTOLs, aerospace fighters and other unit types, so you should be able to run a historical campaign set in the Late Succession Wars.
Does it include all the tech and mechs up to 2006? Because I am trying to leave out new stuff.
I asked my AI so…BIG grain of salt but it did give an answer which I think is a good start.
YMMV
For a 3033 campaign, the best single book is the BattleMech Manual, or Total Warfare plus Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules if you want vehicles, infantry, and aerospace on the table. This is from my own knowledge rather than a check of the current catalog, so confirm what’s in print before buying.
- BattleMech Manual: This is 'Mech-only, but it folds in a large set of the popular optional rules (sprinting, floating criticals, expanded heat effects, fire and smoke, weather, and so on). It also tags equipment by era, so excluding anything not yet invented is easy.
- Total Warfare + Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules: This is the full combined-arms route. Total Warfare is the standard rules, and Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules is the big toolbox of advanced options.
- Campaign Operations: Add this for the campaign layer: force building, repair and maintenance, salvage, and linked-scenario rules.
The advanced rules are era-neutral; only the equipment is era-locked. So you can use as many advanced movement, combat, and terrain rules as you like and simply restrict equipment to the “Introductory” tech level, which is essentially the 3025 list (standard armor, single heat sinks, and basic weapons). That fits 3033, since recovered Star League tech from the Helm Memory Core doesn’t reach the field in meaningful numbers until later in the 3030s.
You may already own everything you need. If your collection is from 25+ years ago, look for these:
- BattleTech Compendium: Rules of Warfare or BattleTech Master Rules: Either is a complete core ruleset, close to today’s game.
- Maximum Tech: The “Level 3” advanced rules, and the direct ancestor of Tactical Operations.
- Technical Readout 3025 (and 3026 for vehicles and aerospace): Your unit lists, using Level 1 equipment only.
- Mercenary’s Handbook or the House sourcebooks: Campaign and force-management material.
The game has changed very little, so those books still work and old record sheets remain compatible. The new books mainly offer cleaner organization and decades of errata.
I don’t recall the details of the Battle of Scarborough offhand. If you tell me which factions and units are involved, I can suggest fitting force lists and which optional rules suit that fight.
Scarborough was the FWL 12 Atrean Dragoons defending against the Fifth Defenders of Andurien. It was part of the Andurien secession so it’s a civil war scenario. I’ve seen a list of FWL mechs so that helps. But I was hoping for an order of battle for the forces.
I plugged what you just said in…here is the answer FWIW:
I’ll check what the published sources say about this battle.
No published order of battle exists for Scarborough below the regiment level, so you’ll have to build one; here’s what canon does give you.
The battle
- It began on 14 May 3033, with the Fifth Defenders of Andurien attacking and the Twelfth Atrean Dragoons defending.
- The only source is “Eagles Over Scarborough,” a short story by Alex Fairbanks in Shrapnel issue 9, covering 14–23 May 3033. It’s worth getting, since any lance- or company-level detail will be in it.
- The story features two Union-class DropShips, Andurien’s Valor and Pietas Aeterna. A Union carries one company of 12 'Mechs, which hints that the story follows company-scale action.
- Both sides took heavy casualties, and the Twelfth was recalled to Vanra to rebuild.
Twelfth Atrean Dragoons (League loyalists)
- In 3025 they were a fanatically loyal heavy 'Mech regiment, rated Veteran/Fanatical under Colonel Julian Langsdorf.
- By 3028 they were rated Green/Fanatical, after being battered in the Helm campaign.
- They were likely below full strength: in 3026 they were described as an understrength regimental assault group.
Fifth Defenders of Andurien (secessionists)
- In 3025 they were rated Regular/Questionable under Colonel Jimmy Lee, and the unit was composed almost entirely of Orions.
- Lee is listed as commander for 3025–3031, so the 3033 commander is unconfirmed.
- A 3015 raid mentions a support lance of three Quickdraws and a Rifleman, which gives you some non-Orion flavor.
- They had already fought Warrior House Ijori on Jasmine in 3031, so they wouldn’t be at full strength either.
Sarna’s page for the Fifth dates the battle to 3035, but the battle page and the story both say 3033.
Filling the gaps
- A full FWL regiment is nominally three battalions of three companies, about 108 ‘Mechs plus a command lance. Given both units’ histories, two battalions each is a defensible starting strength.
- Historical: Brush Wars is the sourcebook for the Andurien Secession. Sarna cites its deployment tables (pp. 86–87) for both regiments and p. 65 for the aftermath.
- For the Twelfth, use the FWL 'Mech list you’ve seen, weighted heavy. For the Fifth, build Orion-heavy companies with Quickdraws and Riflemen in support.
If you’d like, I can draft a full company-by-company order of battle for both sides using only 3025-era designs.
Sources:
if you’d like, go for it!
Looks like i’ll be using a lot cardboard counters.
The real trick is going to be finding some players.
There’s always MegaMek
:
Interesting…
One of the YouTubers (DasTactic) I use to find games that might interest me played several sessions of that:
Here I was thinking your question was old-school Battletech vs. Alpha Strike..
There’s no contest for this 80’s boy: old school all the way. I played back before FASA got sued by Harmony Gold and had to change the designs they lifted from Robotech.
Oh, me too! Cut my Battletech teeth on the original box set from about 1988 or thereabouts. Pre-Clans anyway.
My buddy, also an old-school Battletech player, turned me on to Alpha Strike when he was explaining that it was easy enough for his 11 year old nephew to play and stay engaged with. My son likes it, and is starting to get into the more long-form Battletech, although he seems to love the Clan wars and afterward stuff, not the Succession Wars / Clan Invasion type stuff we played through college.
Since this is a starting campaign, I won’t be running the main battle. My players will be piloting some puny Blackjacks, Jagermechs, and maybe a Phoenix Hawk to start. I’m going to have them running flank guard for the main force against mainly vehicles to start. Have them harassing supply convoys, and deep penetration raids. Then escorting a commando raid to blow up the enemy ammo dump. In the last stages, they will be harassing retreating enemy mechs. These enemy mechs will be missile boats like Longbows, Catapults, and Trebuchets. But they will have limited LRM ammo based on how well the ammo dump was destroyed. That way, I can reward them with some significant loot like bigger mechs.
Does anyone else have suggestions for missions for light mechs?
I was thinking of a side quest, where the lance has to protect a recovery mission on a downed heavy mech. They would hold off enemy scouts until the heavy can protect itself or until it is loaded on the recovery vehicle. If things get too hairy, the heavy might supply some fire support.
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Raid an Industrial Complex, & carry-off valuable enemy goods or equipment.
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Local a mechwarrior left behind on an enemy planet, and make pickup (this can get players out of the cockpit).
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Players can rescue a girlfriend/boyfriend from a rear area on a newly invaded planet.
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Search a hilly/mountainous region for a rumored, crashed dropshuttle, from the First Succession War.
Some good ideas.
The industrial complex raid doesn’t feel hit-and-run, which is what I’d expect the most of light mechs. They’re skirmishers and scouts and raiders. And, AFAIK, they have no meaningful cargo capacity. So they’d be most likely providing armed cover for a smash-and-grab ground or air team with salvage capacity is some form.
The only way I could see an industrial raid working with just light mechs is if it’s very lightly defended, and that’s all you have to defeat to take control of the site for the techs to exploit later.
One of the PC Mechwarrior games had a similar raid, and they combined the two ideas: an industrial site with manageable defenses to be knocked down by the attacking lances, with the grab teams coming in after that happens, except for a surpise addition to the dance card of a couple of red team lances attacking after the friendly techs get on site.
That’s where the mission to escort the commando raid will kick in. a separate scout lance to distract and call out defenders to the wrong area so that the light lance can infiltrate. And cargo doesn’t matter since they will be there to blow shit up.