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Getting
into BattleTech: Advanced If you've played wargames before then I'm not going to coddle you. Instead of buying the basic game I'm going to skip you ahead to the big stuff. The basic game is good but it doesn't give you rules for vehicles, infantry, air attacks, and playing in cities where troops can hide in buildings. I highly recommend picking up the CtiyTech boxed set if you can find it. This is the best deal Fasa's got (the company that makes Btech). It doesn't do as good of a job introducing the rules but if you've played wargames before you'll be able to handle this. Besides allowing you to use more types of units it actually gives you sixteen Mech miniatures in the box (plastic). Plus, two map sheets, counters, and record sheets are included. I strongly urge you to pick this up while you can because Fasa doesn't make it anymore. This product also gives you the rules for using Clan forces, giving you even more sides to choose from. I f you can't find CityTech and still want the advanced rules or want a one stop source of rules from lots of different sources then BattleTech: Master Rules is something you should get. It's a separate book, no counters, maps, or miniatures here. Still it's a useful book and it's the rulebook I use. The one from CityTech just sits on the self. I bought CityTech for the useful stuff inside and I bought Master Rules for my rulebook. If you have the money buy both but if you can get CityTech, Master Rules just repeats a lot of things so is hardly necessary.Neither the Master Rules or CityTech really gives you much background on the game universe. This is a little weird because the best thing BattleTech has going for it is it's massive amount of background. Believe me, no other wargame comes close! For those just starting out the best fix for this problem is the Shattered Sphere sourcebook. It has plenty of history (mostly recent stuff) and after reading it you'll have a good understanding of the BattleTech universe. You don't have to buy this book to play the game, in fact it has no game rules in it at all, but it's well worth the money and I recommend it to just about anybody that's into BattleTech. When I got into Battletech I read this book before I read the rulebook! First Strike was mentioned in the beginners section and it is recommended here as well. Everything I mentioned above is still useful here but for users of the advanced rules it also has some other useful things. It has four scenario's for advanced players. Three with the invading Clans, and a large battle that uses everything from the 4th edition game and CityTech and combines it into one large battle. For those that don't have the 4th edition game (like me) then you can always change the battle to only use the Mechs that come with CityTech. Besides the scenario's there's new variants of the Clan OmniMechs that come with CityTech, new Inner Sphere vehicles, and tips and strategies specifically aimed at CityTech. Once you've gotten into the game I'd recommend Technical Readout:
3050. It describes and gives you stats on all the basic Inner Sphere
and Clan Mechs currently in use today. This is the only Readout that
is truly essential to play in the current time of 3062. All of the
others add more to the game but I'd only suggest getting them once
you've gotten all the basics. Along with TRO: 3050 I'd get the
record sheet book that goes with it unless you want to fill out a
lot
of sheets by hand. If all of the above sounds like way to much money, or if it just confuses the hell out of you, then I have one suggestion. Just buy the 4th edition game or CityTech, that's all you need. Later on read this article again and buy whatever you can afford as you can afford it. There's no hurry, take your time and enjoy yourself!
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