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- BGG #13,094
- BGG rating
- 8.2
BattleTech Compendium: The Rules of Warfare
- 2–6 players
- 120 min
- Complexity 3.6/5
- 1994
- BGG rating
- 7.1
Rules assistance for BattleTech: 20 Year Update
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–6 players
- 120 min
- Complexity 3.0/5
Rules assistant for BattleTech: 20 Year Update
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
BattleTech: 20 Year Update is an expansion for BattleTech released in 1989 for 2–6 players and 120 minutes per game. It was designed by Jim Musser, Boy F. Peterson, Jr., and Donna Ippolito and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Role Playing, and Hexagon Grid.
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About the game
From the back cover: "The Fourth Succession War was a victory for the Federated Suns. The War of 3039 was a fiasco. Now a new generation of Inner Sphere leaders are coming of age, inheriting the promises and the vendettas of their elders. A new Marik commands the Free Worlds League. Theodore Kurita gains more and more power at the expense of his own father. The marriage between Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner has successfuly borne fruit. The Capellan Confederation is no longer under the leadership of a madman. But things never go smoothly in the Inner Sphere. Will the fledgling Federated Commonwealth survive the coming decade or will it collapse under pressures from within and without? Can the Capellan Confederation regain its strength before the Davions decide to finish what they started 20 years ago? Can Theodore Kurita drag the Draconis Combine into the modern day without losing his own life? The BattleTech 20 Year Update advances the storyline of the universe up to the year 3050 and provides an inside look at the next generation of heroes and villains." User comment: The various House books provided background on the Inner Sphere empires up til the cusp of the Fourth Succession War, and the war itself is covered within the two volumes of the NAIS Military Atlas to the Fourth Succession War, This volume covers the period between the end of the war and the arrival of the Clans. While it's unlike the House books in that it doesn't provide any details on experimental 'Mechs or other rules refinements - even with Star League era tech beginning to reappear - it does include a complete unit roster for every major unit in the Inner Sphere, as well as detailed maps, making it a great sourcebook for BattleTech and BattleForce campaigns.
Editions
- BattleTech: 20 Year UpdateenFASA1989
Mechanics
Publishers
- FASA
Questions and answers
BattleTech: 20 Year Update supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for BattleTech: 20 Year Update is 120 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
BattleTech: 20 Year Update has a complexity rating of 3.0 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
BattleTech: 20 Year Update belongs to these categories: Wargame, Miniatures, and Science Fiction. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Role Playing, and Hexagon Grid. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of BattleTech: 20 Year Update are: Jim Musser, Boy F. Peterson, Jr., and Donna Ippolito. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists BattleTech: 20 Year Update as an expansion for BattleTech. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need BattleTech to use it. Check that your edition of BattleTech is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.