A Grand Strategic Dream
Fans of Classic Battletech have yearned for a Grand Strategic Game probably as long as the game has been around. FASA made an passing attempt when it released The Succession Wars board game. Now out of print, the game has become highly sought after, routinely fetching end prices of a hundred dollars or more on eBay.
FanPro gave us Combat Operations in 2003. Within a scant 23 pages (8 of which are more artwork and tables than rules) of hurried writing, FanPro gave unto the Classic Battletech community an unfinished ruleset and said, “Good luck!”. Here is a quote from the second paragraph of the Grand Strategic Game section:
“These rules do not constitute a complete rules set – that is beyond their scope. Instead, they are intended as a framework around which a diligent player can construct a campaign that spans a few worlds or literally takes into account all two thousand plus worlds in the Inner Sphere.”
Fantastic.
Not to be deterred, fans across the world flocked to make sense of it all. Several websites have sprung up over the years since Combat Operation’s release to provide fans with a way to play on a grand scale.
The FGC is a forum based role playing game with megamek thrown in for good measure. The turnover and delays are laughable. From what I can tell, they have been on the same turn for months now while they completely redo the rules, again. The complete and utter reliance on GMs to do anything is a complaint heard over and over.
This one seems to be less role playing and more strategy. Units and orders are tracked with the aid of spreadsheets while the GMs muddle everything up. Currently they are in a state of rules rewriting. How unexpected.
I had the most hope for this one for one simple reason; they cut out the GMs. Using databases and web development savvy, the entire game is effectively automated. Three cheers! However, the supposed Beta game is nowhere to be seen. I believe that this one has the best chance for success. However, it is reliant on a few developers who may have bitten off more than they could chew, turning TheSuccessionWars into vaporware.
When the opportunity to play a forum based version of the Combat Ops rules presented itself, I jumped at the chance and found myself quickly at the helm of the Cappellan Confederation during the reunification war. To our credit, we actually got to turn 8 before things went to shit. Along the way, there were many arguments over rules interpretations as each faction attempted to “outwit” the other with rules lawyering. Record keeping mistakes began to pile up and eventually our GM slipped into obscurity, leaving us the players to wonder what could have been. Please don’t take this as a bashing of our GM. He seemed to me to be a swell guy who quite simply was overwhelmed. I don’t blame him for a thing.
So where do we go from here? Well, I know what I’m going to do. I’m making my own damn rules and will be building a stand-alone Java application to go with it. I’ve got a shortlist of CBT players helping out. Want to lend a hand? Contact me.
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