Battletech Campaign Systems for Dummies
Everyone loves a good campaign. Every miniature wargame worth it’s salt has some form of campaign system.
Classic Battletech is in a unique situation among wargames in that it does not offer a standardized or well regulated competitive environment. While there are those that would love to have it made available, the distinctive casual flare of the game is a lure for many.
What it lacks in the area of competitive play Battletech more than compensates with an abundance of campaign settings complete with unique rules sets and quirks. Look hard enough and you’ll be sure to find a home within the Battletech universe.
For the uninitiated this can all be a bit daunting. I’ve queued up a list of the campaign engines worth your time. Each system has its own unique character that I hope to convey to you the reader in as concise a style as possible. It is up to you to determine just what floats your boat though.
Chaos Campaign
Chaos Campaign is a plot driven campaign system that debuted with the Dawn of the Jihad source book. The system is now a free download.
The premise of the rules set is to abstract all of the background functions of running a force down to a single point value, Warchest Points. Each scenario or Track has a Warchest point cost to enter. This accounts for all of the maintenance and transportation costs that are required to get your force to the battlefield. During the track you will vie for objectives that earn Warchest points back. Optional bonuses that make the Track potentially more difficult or dangerous up the ante, but carry with them an extra Warchest point reward if you manage to complete your objectives in spite of them.
After creating a force, you determine it’s Force Size Modifier and Technology Rating. These modifiers will affect the conversion of Warchest Points to Support Points. Support points are used to repair your units and buy new materials and equipment as well as hire new personnel. This allows a Chaos Campaign to scale to just about any level the players desire. You can play through a campaign with a single company with tracks involving between 4 and 8 units as well as Battleforce scale forces. The flexibility is endless and works well if you ignore some of the Support Point tables.
In addition to the wealth of Jihad era tracks available for purchase from Catalyst, there is a great forum post at ClassicBattletech.com with community created Warchest tracks dealing with many other Battletech Eras.
Materials Required
- Chaos Campaign (Free PDF)
- Any or All; Dawn of the Jihad, Jihad Hotspots 3070, Jihad Hotspots 3072, Jihad Turning Points Luthien/New Avalon
Game Master Required?
- Yes. The GM picks and runs opposing forces to fight the player group as well as introduces additional hooks and expansion ideas.
Starterbooks
Forget the Starter moniker. These books mean business and are a worthy addition to any gamers collection, young old or anywhere in between.
Based on the Chaos Campaign Warchest system, each Starterbook is a self contained campaign featuring two famous forces from the Battletech universe. Sword and Dragon tackles the War of 3039 using the Fox’s Teeth and Sorenson’s Sabres while Wolf and Blake takes place during the Jihad Era with the Wolf’s Dragoons facing off against the Word of Blake.
Each force tackles a series of generic missions like Recon, Defend, and Strike in order to build up their force. Once you feel you have enough upgrades and are ready, you play Touchpoint missions. Each Touchpoint revolves around a particular battle and adds additional flavor to the mission. Eventually in each book there is a final showdown that pits the two headline forces against each other.
Both Starterbooks work well with a single player if you have someone to play opposing forces for you and is easily adapted to two player head to head.
The only noticeable drawback in the Starterbooks is the sometimes annoying proof reading mistakes and rules omissions. For instance, while both books mention the ability to upgrade pilots, you’ll go blind trying to find those rules anywhere in the book. A little bit of common sense will go a long way to maneuvering through these inconsistencies. Don’t let it ruin your game. Both books are well worth your time despite their flaws.
Materials Required
- Starterbook: Wolf and Blake (either or)
- Starterbook: Sword and Dragon (either or)
Game Master Required?
- Required for single player. Optional for two-player versus.
Strategic Operations/Combat Operations Linked Scenarios
Linked scenario rules provide an extension of the scenario generation section of Total Warfare. Players build forces using an agreed upon method and play out smaller battles between units after issuing strategic orders in an order writing phase. There are three new scenarios that are used to build on those provided in Total Warfare.
Linked Scenarios is an abstract system that does not track force position absolutely. Each force during a turn will seek out combat with the enemy and is assigned opponents using a simple set of assignment rules. The smaller individual battles that result affect the campaign and will eventually determine a winner before the other force is totally destroyed.
Linked scenarios presents an oddity in terms of its current rules set. Strategic Operations contains a virtual copy-paste from the FanPro product Combat Operations. Not something I was happy to see to be honest. I am working on new additions to make this rule set much more palatable to a game theory advocate such as myself. Stay tuned.
There are certain areas of the rules that are never truly fleshed out like move orders. Without proper rules for the use of a strategic map, movement orders are relatively useless. Hope remains that Interstellar Operations will add this functionality. Don’t hold your breath though.
Materials Required
Game Master Required?
- No.
Mercenaries
Guns for hire in the 31st century toting 100 ton anthropomorphic tanks bristling with weapons. Yes please. I’ll have some more thank you.
Running your own mercenary force, or at least attempting to, is a right of passage in the Classic Battletech game. Even the Chaos Campaign borrows from this fundamental theme for it’s Jihad plot line.
Field Manual Mercenaries takes you through a rather detailed process of generating a mercenary force from the commander to the administrative paper pushers. You get very detailed when it comes to unit maintenance by tracking time, material, and money. For some, this can be a turn off. If you’d rather spend time playing the actual game instead of figuring out what ‘Mech will get it’s weekly maintenance due to a Tech shortage stick with the Chaos Campaign which hides this minutia.
However, if you do enjoy the fine tuned control and the gritty down in the weeds detail then Mercenaries is the right campaign for you. You may very well spend as much time handling post mission logistics as you will playing missions.
Another aspect of Mercenaries that is unique is the roleplaying bend that the developers took when it comes to mission resolution. Tables and charts will get you right up to arriving in system for your contract but from there on, you are at the mercy of a Game Master who’s in charge of generating encounters and resolving missions.
Materials Required
- Field Manual Mercenaries Revised
- Field Manual Mercenaries Supplemental (optional)
- Field Manual Mercenaries Supplemental II (optional)
Game Master Required?
- Yes.
Solaris VII
The bright lights of the Solaris arenas have been a draw for many players. Who wouldn’t want to try their hand at crawling up the Solaris ranks for a shot at the championship?
A campaign on Solaris VII can take different paths. For example, each player may choose to operate as an individual Mechwarrior plying his trade in the arenas. This kind of adventure can be tightly integrated with the Classic Battletech RPG and has a decidedly roleplaying feel.
If players are looking for a different experience each player may choose to take on the role of an owner/operator of a Stable or Cooperative. You’ll manage your cadre of ‘Mechs and pilots in hopes of racking up victories and hopefully placing one of your elite into the Grand Melee at the end of the season.
Solaris VII is the kind of campaign where the more players involved the more fun it can be.
The information available to players is varied and sometimes difficult to pull together into a tight and coherent campaign. Make sure all your players are in agreement on how the campaign will be run including how many matches are run each week, what kind of materials and supplies are available, etc. There is a lot of room for player interpretation which is a well known double edged sword for gamers.
Material Required
- Map Pack Solaris VII
- Mechwarriors Guide to Solaris VII (optional but recommended)
- Solaris The Reaches (optional)
Game Master Required?
- Yes.
Quick Summary
| Chaos Campaign | Starterbook | Linked Scenarios | Mercenaries | Solaris VII | |
| Optimal # Players | 1 – 2 | 1 – 2 | 2 + | 1 – 2 + | 4 + |
| Detail/Complexity | * * * | * * | * | * * * * * | Variable (* * – * * * *) |
| GM Required? | Yes | Yes / Optional for Two Players | No | Yes | Yes |
| Force Size (‘Mechs) | Any | 4 – 12 | Any | Any | 1 – 4 |
| The Hook | Warchest Points Simplify Campaign | Single Campaign Based on Chaos Campaign | Abstract Battle System | Management, Accounting, and Planning | Arena Fighting and Popularity |
Awesome, awesome writeup. I’ve been looking through Combat Operations (2003) and reading the operational level rules and the strategic level rules. I was disappointed when I found the same operational level rules in Strategic Operations (2009). I wish there were some rules governing operational level movement.
I also read the operational level rules in the Tactical Handbook (1994) which were also quite good. There was less choice there about what type of scenario to fight because the result of each scenario dictates the next scenario type.
I also liked the system in the Mercenary’s Handbook (1987). I’m thinking of playing that solo with enemy ‘Mech behavior governed by random tables (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/556568/the-battle-royale-or-an-utter-waste-of-time-or).
As I was scouring my books I was hoping there was something like the Descent board game expansion – Road to Legend which had a world map for strategic play and dungeon tiles for tactical play. Alas there doesn’t seem like there are any.
I know you can move up and down through the level of details but that doesn’t quite work for me. Especially when you drop down and then randomly generate a force that doesn’t carry forward. I want to have a force that develops over time through ups and downs. The hard thing is that in a strategic game, the force you want develop might not be at the point of action. When they do face combat, it might not be against your opponent’s key force either.
The starter books are great but I’m not a big fan of how sometimes one player controls their force and the other player controls a random force until a Touch Point scenario.
A few scenario books like First Strike (1996), The Fall of Terra (1996), Operation Stiletto (1999), and Operation Flashpoint (2000) also have campaigns rather than focusing on scenarios that recreate battles.
At the same time, thinking about a good campaign system is great fun. I look forward to reading your Combat Operation Additions.
One thing that we are all waiting on is the release of Interstellar Operations. It’s expected that an operational movement system will make it’s debut there. We will finally be able to use all of the planetary assault maps we’ve been getting in the Turning Point series PDFs.
Alas, Interstellar Ops has been plagued by delays. There is a lot going into the book so it’s sure to be a toe breaker.
Excellent points all, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Howdy,
Loved the write up and wanted to know if you had come up with any Combat Operations or S.O. Add-ins that you can share?
I know it’s been awhile, and if I missed any links/suggestions/, I apologize.
I just read how I.O. is going to be split into two books, with the planetary assault rules going into the later I.O. book. So close, and yet still so far away.