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Saturday, June 16th is Free RPG Day ‘12 and with it comes a slew of new and interesting little releases. They can usually be divided between tasters for new games that will be released at Gen Con this forthcoming August and support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera. In general, the tasters for the new, “hot” games are highly anticipated and on the day itself, in high demand, but come the day, it would be remiss of us to ignore the less-in-demand titles. Many of these it should be made clear, are worth your time and effort to make it to your friendly, local gaming store to get hold of a copy. One such title is BattleTech: A Time of War Quick-Start Rules, provided by Catalyst Game Labs.

The setting for the BattleTech: A Time of War Quick-Start Rules is a vast area of colonised space known as the Inner Sphere in the 31st century. Bar a period of peace known as the Star League era, the Inner Sphere has been at war for centuries as rival great Houses and Clans battle over ideologies and the right to govern the Inner Sphere. At the pinnacle of every armed force’s technology is the BattleMech, a piloted, walking robot layered with armour and armed with lasers, missiles, auto cannon, gauss rifles, and particle projector cannons. Piloting these BattleMechs are MechWarriors, widely regarded as the elite of the Inner Sphere’s militaries.

Since it was first published by FASA in 1984, the primary focus of BattleTech has been on engagements between BattleMechs, although various supplements have introduced infantry, armour, air-to-air, and space combat as well. BattleTech: A Time of War also switches the setting’s focus, but not from one type of vehicle to another, but from the machinery of war in the 31st century to the individual. It is a roleplaying game that allows players to take on the roles of not just MechWarriors, but also technicians, infantrymen, spies, fixers, and so on. The BattleTech: A Time of War Quick-Start Rules come as the flipside of the Shadowrun Quick-Start Rules, but essentially they are separate products so will be reviewed apart. They provide an introduction to the game’s rules, as well as a complete scenario to play along with four ready-to-play characters.

What is readily apparent about the rules presented here is that they are derived from a wargame. Although BattleTech is a boardgame, it is nevertheless, still a wargame, and since both BattleTech and BattleTech: A Time of War are designed to be compatible, both share a certain degree of detail and complexity. The basic system uses two six-sided dice, but there is a marked difference between how skill rolls are made and how attribute checks are made. This is not to say that the rules are poorly explained, for they are not, and the explanations are helped by detailed examples. Nevertheless, these rules do require careful reading upon the part of the GM and it does not help that the booklet itself is somewhat drab.

The four ready-to-play characters provided for the adventure include an ex-mercenary infantryman, a fixer or acquisitions man, a technician, and a MechWarrior. For the most part they feel a very average lot. Of the four, only one of them possesses a positive Trait – Traits being the equivalent of Advantages and Disadvantages in BattleTech: A Time of War – whereas most of them have some kind of addition, either to alcohol, chocolates, or cigarettes. Plus two of the four have the Glass Jaw Trait! These are not the most exciting of sample characters, but fortunately, they are given a chance to shine in the accompanying scenario.

“Swift Plans” is set on the world of Ormstown in the Lyran Commonwealth in 3073 –whereas earlier in the Quick-Start Rules it is given as 3077 – where the Brossard and the Mair families have been feuding for centuries. The player characters are colleagues of the head of the Brossard family, Malcolm, from his days as a mercenary. Currently Malcolm is away and the Mair family has seen this as an opportunity to attack the Brossard family manor. The only defenders against this attack of course, being the player characters. Fortunately, the heroic quartet has an ace up its sleeve. The Brossard family owns a ‘Mech. Not a BattleMech, but an Industrialmech, a Loadermech in fact. Each of the four has a role to play in the defence of the manor, whether that is actually manning the defences, preparing the Loadermech, acquiring the means to defend the manor, and piloting the Loadermech. The defence also requires no little amount of planning upon the part of both the players and the GM, the latter at least needing to prepare a map or two. If can hold off the attackers, then they have the chance to strike back at the Mair family, although again, the GM will need to prepare the details of this.

Physically, the BattleTech: A Time of War Quick-Start Rules feels a bit drab and text heavy. It does not help that artwork, so often seen in colour, does not entirely work here in greyscale. Although the booklet is well written, overall it does only concentrate on the situation in “Swift Plans,” so the reader is never given a chance to grasp the scale of the Inner Sphere. In general, as a product, the BattleTech: A Time of War Quick-Start Rules does feel heavy and cumbersome, but the rules are enlivened by an excellent scenario that will reward clever planning upon the part of the players.

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