There was this enormous technological curve upward in the early ‘80s and I thought it would be fun to do a story that was on the other side of that curve.”įrom Weisman’s inspiration in those first fevered few months BattleTech was born, a universe set in the 31st millennium, with humanity strung out amongst thousands of star systems and locked in a brutal, unending war. “I really wanted to put the world in a retrograde technological state, just because of the experience that I was living through, that we were all living through at the time. ![]() Let's go, go, go!’ So I knocked out a bunch of fiction. “‘We should do it for Christmas,’ we thought. “It was a very fast development,” Weisman said. Weisman quickly went to work building up the lore around them. Soon, Babcock and Weisman cut a deal with the importer to purchase about a dozen varieties of those plastic model kits. The kits would easily fit inside a game box, and the price was right. They were glue-together models, about three inches tall, perfect for looking impressive on a tabletop.” None of them were even in boxes, just all sprawled out across a table in unlabeled plastic bags.īabcock remembered Weisman scampering back to the FASA booth to tell him what he’d found. ![]() That’s where Weisman came across a selection of surplus models based on Super Dimension Fortress Macross, the Japanese cartoon that had come out just a few years before. There were also more than a few distributors and importers there as well, and several of them were trying to unload a bumper crop of Japanese plastic model kits. Charlie Hall/PolygonįASA wasn’t the only vendor at the convention. This first edition is signed and numbered by author Marc Miller, who loaned it to Gen Con for display at the 50th annual convention in Indianapolis. The first printed copy of the core sourcebook for the Traveller system, Traveller: Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far Future. ![]() Both had been released just a few years before in 1982. The two men were there in Anaheim pitching their latest products: Star Trek : The Role Playing Game, a tabletop RPG based on the classic television series, and Behind Enemy Lines, another tabletop RPG set during World War II. It had made a name for itself with its line of adventures for the Traveller pen-and-paper science fiction role-playing system. “We would go and show our games to try to get general hobby shops to sell them.”īabcock and Weisman’s Chicago-based FASA was already well known in gaming circles. “There really was no such thing as game shops in those days,” said Weisman, who we interviewed on the floor of the 50th annual Gen Con in Indianapolis. That was the kind of stuff that was put out there.” “I mean, here we were, a few dozen gaming companies amidst hundreds of arts and crafts kind of folks selling foam balls and decoupage - anything you might see today in a Joann Fabrics or a Michael’s craft store. “It was a strange show,” recalled Babcock over the phone in September. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners.Cover art for BattleTech Mercenaries Supplemental, published by FanPro in 2004 and written by Herbert A. All Rights Reserved.īATTLETECH® is a trademark of Microsoft in Europe, the U.S., and other countries. A derelict cargo ship has drifted into the Periphery from deep space what secrets does it contain, and who will ultimately control its mysterious payload?Ĭopyright© 2018 Harebrained Holdings, Inc. ![]() The new ‘Mech Mortar is the first AOE weapon in BATTLETECH and can destroy multiple units at once, while the COIL Beam generates more energy damage the further the attacker travels before firing, a perfect fit for light ‘Mechs.Ĭome face-to-face with two legendary characters from BATTLETECH lore - the Bounty Hunter and the Black Widow of Wolf’s Dragoons. Each ‘Mech comes with unique equipment that reflects the flavor and lore of the original board game.Įight all-new weapon systems can be utilized to destroy even the most formidable opponents in a wide variety of unique ways. Seven classic ‘Mechs from BATTLETECH’s 35-year legacy make their triumphant return along with the first completely new ‘Mech designed exclusively for this expansion. One Original and Seven Classic BattleMechs: Heavy Metal takes ‘Mech action to the next level with a brand new Flashpoint Mini-Campaign. New methods of destruction await as eight devastating weapons systems are now available to wreak havoc like never before. Eight new ‘Mechs have been added to the world of BATTLETECH, including seven classic designs from the original board game along with a never-before-seen ‘Mech created exclusively for this expansion.
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