Rating: 

 

Reviewed by: 

David "MacAttack" McCulloch

 

BattleTroops: A Game of Urban Man-to-Man Combat in the BattleTech Universe 

FASA 1989 ISBN 1-5556-0097-6 

The Product: 

"No doubt about it. 'Mechs are real dangerous customers. But if you're in the city, and you've got some time and a little creativity, you can throw a nice going-away party for one." 

This box set contains a rulebook, four urban maps, and sheets of counters for the troopers. Additional counters to represent explosions, wall breaches along with components are also included, as are two six-sided dice. The game is intended to allow battles between units of up to company size, although rules for including the occasional 'Mech or vehicle is also included. 

The game has it's genesis in the BattleTech and MechWarrior rules, though the focus is very different, with the urban environment selected as the only one in which infantry has a chance to survive against heavy weapons in the 3025 era. 

Rather than hexes, the maps consist of a series of dots. A trooper must be positioned on a dot, and facing one of the six dots that surround him. The net result is that of a hex grid, but without the hex. Obviously the scale is somewhat different from that used in BattleTech. 

Unlike the other games each side takes turns moving all of their units by expending Movement Points. Other actions consume these points, as dose placing a firing arc counter (the more points spent, the wider the arc). This is where the game is really different from BattleTech as each side fires as the enemy move through the firing arcs that have been placed down as part of their own movement. This system effectively creates the kind of opportunity fire rules missing from BattleTech. 

As troopers take damage, they begin to acquire penalties for performing actions as well as having their MP ration reduced. The use of armor to protect their soft, squidgy bodies also reduce the number of MPs available to a unit. 

Optional rules for leadership, moral, support weapons and the introduction of BattleMechs or vehicles round out the rules. Several scenarios are provided to get players started. 

The Good: 

The rules are effective in creating the atmosphere of infantry urban combat. They are well presented and manage to remain clear and concise. 

The Bad: 

While the firing arc counters are an interesting idea, ultimately it is just one more thing to get disturbed during the heat of play. Using metal miniatures (of which some were produced for the game) can remedy this through their weight providing the persuasion needed to keep all those little bits of card in place. 

The realism of urban combat reproduced by the game unfortunately sees each side digging into a selected building and wildly spraying the enemy building across the street. Unless the scenario objectives prevent this outcome, the game has a limited degree of interest as a result. 

No method for balancing forces, such as the Battle Value system, is presented, making the creation of balanced games where each side is not just a mirror image of the other tricky. 

With the focus on urban combat, there are no rules to cover open field warfare. 

There is yet another set of weapons tables to become familiar with and Infantry is a lot more dangerous to BattleMechs than in the BattleTech game (with every member of a company able to aim at the cockpit, somebody is going to get lucky). 

Continuity: 

There is little background material, but what there is of it fits with the BattleTech universe as detailed in the original house books. 

Conclusion: 

BattleTroops is an effective system in performing the task it sets out to do. Where it falls down is the lack of lasting interest and some interesting anomalies if you look closely at what is possible on this scale and try to scale up the same results to BattleTech (real life intrudes and 'Mechs suddenly become big, dumb, targets). 

The action can be fast and furious; so don't get too attached to any of your troopers. People die fast in this game. 

2 1/2 Timberwolves for this one. 

The Story Continues... 

A supplement was produced to add Star League and Clan technology along with rules for open field warfare. The ClanTroops supplement also adds Elementals and early Inner Sphere Battle Armor (though none of the units from the Field Manuals have ever been presented in ClanTroops format. 

The BattleTroop line was axed, probably because of lack of interest, plus the problems of keeping all new technology synchronized with yet another rules system was probably unattractive.

A Point of Interest...

Jordan Weisman was involved in the development of BattleTroops. It is conceivable that ideas from the system could resurface in the WizKids version of BattleTech now that Jordan's company has bought the rights of BattleTech from the rapidly sinking FASA.