Pyramid Review
Total Warfare (for Classic BattleTech)
Published by FanPro LLC
Written by Randal N. Bills & Herbert A. Beas II with Dan C. Duval, Kevin Killany, Jason M. Hardy, David L. McCuloch, Steve Mohan, Jr., Jason Schmetzer, & Phaedra M. Weldon, plus Drew Williams & Ray Arrastia
Cover by Franz Vohwinkel
Illustrated by Chris Lewis & Klaus Scherwinksi
312 full-color hardcover; $39.99
Originally published as BattleDroids in 1984, over the last 20 years the anime influenced BattleTech franchise has been developed to include several boardgames, 100 supplements, over 80 novels, numerous computer games across various platforms, a virtual simulator, a CCG, and even a cartoon series. More recently with the closure of FASA, the original publisher, Wizkids developed the franchise into the collectable minis game Mechwarrior: Dark Age, set further into BattleTech's future. Meanwhile, FanPro continues to support the original version of the game (which has long ago left behind its anime influences) with Classic BattleTech, at the heart of which lie two fundamental factors.
The first of these is the setting, a far future in which mankind has colonized the stars and found itself alone. In the 31st century, five Succession Houses -- each founded on feudal, cultural, and ethnic lines -- divide the Inner Sphere, an area roughly 1,000 light-years across. Fielding great armies against each other, they vie to restore the old Star League, but a stalemate has existed between them . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: March 23, 2007
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