Longer break than I thought since my last blog on Strategic Operations. After all, we released the PDF, which somewhat takes the wind out of the sails of “preview blogs” on the project. Not to mention holidays and then I got sick and blah, blah. (Stop typing and get to the point, right?)

However, I did want to discuss one last section of Strategic Operations before I move on to something else (or Herb does…whoever gets to the next blog first).

BattleForce? What is it? BattleForce was originally published in a box set form in 1987 as a mass combat system for BattleTech (while it can be done—ah, the three months the summer after I graduated of 250+ miniatures on 25 maps…—BattleTech was never intended for large-scale play and it can become very cumbersome at that level). While the original BattleForce was interesting, it really didn’t feel much like BattleTech and never did well (in an effort to abstract the system to allow for quicker movement and combat the ‘feel’ of BattleTech was completely lost). BattleForce 2 published in 1997, also as a box set. While it also didn’t do too well, most that did play it considered it a great system (myself included), albeit with several things that could use improving. However, one of its greatest strengths lay in the fact that despite significant abstraction it still very much felt like BattleTech.

As I began working on all the new core rulebooks I knew that I wanted to include a BattleForce system and since the core of BF2 I felt was very solid, we started there. I always felt that there was a desire to have a ‘fast-play’ BattleTech system as well as a “mass combat” BattleTech system, but the box set format of the two previous editions distanced it too far from the core rules for it to catch on with most fans. Instead, just as with every aspect of Total Warfare, TechManual, Tactical Operations and Strategic Operations, by weaving BattleForce into the rulebooks and providing huge coverage for plug and play at any level, it would allow players to have one more tool at their disposal for playing BattleTech in whatever manner their group enjoys most. So, as we moved to include it, it was updated and expanded as appropriate. This ensured that all aspects of the four core rulebooks (including the non-BattleForce sections of Strategic Operations) were covered, as well as ‘fixing’ the major issues that were spotted by the fans through years of game play.

For those that played the BattleForce 2 system and are wondering what the most significant changes are, I’m actually going to partially steal a post from Bedwyr, as he gave a great short-list summation of the most significant changes, for those that haven’t seen his post yet (hope you don’t mind, Bedwyr):

1)      Damage effect is felt in the end phase so that an element might be able to squeeze off one last shot.

2)      The game is played in phases so one player can't get the upper hand by moving and attacking in one fell swoop.

3)      Armor scale has increased slightly, especially for heavier elements. The firefly example puts out the exact same armor and internal structure that I get in HMP.

4)      Internal structure has been adjusted but mostly remained the same.

5)      Point-blank range has been replaced by the usual short-medium-long. Short range has been extended to 1 hex. Otherwise they are the same. Underwater ranges are now short.

6)      Weapon attack values: Weapons range conversions are similar but have been clarified through some handy tables.

7)      There is now a separate physical attack phase. The mechs weight no longer adds a generic physical attack value to pointblank/short range.

And of course the rules have been expanded significantly to incorporate almost everything the four core rulebooks have to offer, from the Advanced Ground Units, optional movement and combat and planetary conditions from Tactical Operations, to all the Advanced Aerospace Units from Strategic Operations, and more. We also worked very hard to take the “command phase/command counters” section of BattleForce and turn it into an optional rule for those that didn’t want to use it, but significantly expand it into both an abstract and detailed system so players could decide what level of realism they wanted to bring to the table.

Finally, not to forget those hex-less players out there, in the Miniatures Rules section that follows BattleForce, there are the Quick-Strike Rules that meld hex-less miniatures play with the fast playing rules of BattleForce to create a fun, fast table-top miniatures game with all the flavor BattleTech has to offer.

Regardless of whether you’ve played a previous edition of BattleForce or are looking to see what it’s all about for the first time, check out the new BattleForce Quick-Start Rules on the Leap Into the Action page. A free self-contained rules set PDF that includes rules, a map, counters and two scenarios to throw you into the fun of this quick-play system. Jump in and enjoy and hopefully it wets your appetite for all that BattleForce has to offer!

Type at you next time!

Randall