Rating:    Reviewed by:  Terren Bruce

BattleTech: Master Rules BattleTech: Master Rules is THE rulebook for the BattleTech game. It's not meant for new players. It just gives you the rules straight out. No helpful tutorials to ease you into it. If you want that get the 4th edition boxed game. What it does give you is the most complete and up-to-date rules for the BattleTech game. The first section details the basic rules of the game. Movement, firing, terrain effects, line of sight, combat, and heat. Not much has changed from earlier versions, although the reaction phase has been eliminated. Mostly just a clearer retelling of the rules with a few minor changes. Next is a section of color pages, each showing a picture from a different time period. These are just taken from the covers of other books and aren't anything to get excited about. I'm a little disappointed in that. The space would be better used with just about anything replacing them. Color maps of the Inner Sphere, pictures of people playing the game (using the miniatures rules), or just a overview of the different factions in the Inner Sphere. Next is the advanced rules. Buildings, infantry, vehicles, and special case rules fill this section. Infantry includes normal and battle armor. There's rules for lots of different kinds of vehicles. VTOLS, hovercraft, wheeled, tracked, ships, and submarines. There's no rules for AeroSpace fighters, you'll have to wait for AeroTech 2 to come out for that (or get BattleSpace). The special case rules cover all kinds of things. Such as: improved positions, salvage and repair, fighting in hostile environments (underwater, no atmosphere, ect.), hidden units, the list goes on. Miniatures rules are next. This gives you rules on how to convert the BattleTech board game and turn it into a full fledged miniature table top game. Ideas on how to make terrain, prepare miniatures, and converting the game are all here. The first two aren't really given much space (you could write a whole book on that stuff, and in fact some people have) and those things have never really been one of Fasa's strengths. That's too bad because that's the main problem Fasa is having with getting new players. BattleTech needs visual appeal! In order to compete with the likes of Games Workshop you have to concentrate on the miniatures. Cardboard counters won't attract new players! Next is the creating scenario's section. This just basically helps you on setting up a battle, choosing forces, gives you different objectives and so on. In other words how to actually use all those rules you just read! One of the things that BattleTech has over other game systems is the fact you can design your own Mechs and vehicles. This is really one of the best parts of the actual game system. Nothing beats the feeling of taking down an enemy Mech with you own personal design! The construction section of the book tells you how to do that. It gives you rules on how to design both Mechs and vehicles. After that there is a large equipment section. Pages and pages of equipment for your wartime use. All the equipment in the game (as of FM: Crusader clans) is listed along with a description of what it does. After this is a section detailing how to find out how many C-bills your units cost. This is good for campaign games, especially if you play a mercenary group. The next section deals with Battlevalue which is the BattleTech point system. Using this helps keep battles between even forces. This book even has an index which too many other game companies seem to forget for some stupid reason. I mean wargames are complicated. You really need an index! Finally there's blank record sheets for every type of unit covered in the book. Final thoughts... I recommend this book to every player of BattleTech. It covers just about everything. If you're a new player and are intimidated by complicated rules then you may want to wait awhile. Buy the boxed game and when you're ready you should get this. Sooner or later though GET THIS BOOK!