Old Mech, New Horizon (War)

About 10 years ago a friend turned me on to the Battletech universe. I started with a couple Stackpole novels, then a pc game, then an xbox game?

Battletech classic was a little intimidating at the time. I was new to the board and miniature games hobby and the loads of tables and tracking sheets for this one gave me pause. But, when this inexpensive heroclix style game popped up at my local comic book store, I got sucked in.

Just as WizKids had intended, I bought pack after pack looking to grow specific factions. I was probably in the shop every payday for quite a while. Little did I know, this was the start of a long-lasting addiction to plastic crack.

Years passed. I think the mechwarrior dark age collection was actually played a handful of times. And, to be honest… I didn’t really enjoy gameplay. It was especially annoying to pick up your figure and turn the (often times stuck) dials to track hit points and heat. I moved on to “more serious” wargaming hobby and these guys got chucked into a closet.

Released in 2003, this new game was a new approach to the BattleTech universe. With its first plot-driving novel set in 3132, MWDA was set loosely a century in the future of the year 3067 where the classic BattleTech line had left off at the conclusion of the Civil War era. The MWDA plotlines made reference to a highly devastating “Jihad” era that had shaken the universe and set up the MWDA setting, but gave relatively little detailed information. The original boardgame was meanwhile rebranded “Classic BattleTech” and the license went to FanPro with the caveat that they could not advance the timeline, so as to not create canon inconsistencies with the future as described in MWDA novels and sourcebooks.

Occasionally, I’d see these little walking tanks make an appearance. My two sons would pull them out of the closet and have big battles of their own on the bedroom floor.

Recently however, my tastes in gaming shifted.

I’ve grown quite a collection of miniatures, but many I’d realized were purchased in an effort to keep up with the system of rules that were en vogue. Most of us have fallen for this…

The new codex makes these units awesome, the new version of this other game includes a new faction that has a new mechanic, here’s a skirmish level rule set for this game if you’d like to dip a toe into the universe.

Then Frostgrave came along. And, Rangers of Shadowdeep… One Page Rules, Too Fat Lardies, Osprey blue books, and, the discovery of so many more miniatures-agnostic rules systems. I didn’t have to keep up with the new shiney that the big games companies were shilling. I could build my own stories.

So that’s what I set out to do.

I had the minis. I had the hobby skills. Why not?
It only made sense that those old Mechwarrior models get reused for Horizon Wars!

Next post… Mechs, flyers and gameplay!