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- BGG #2,933
- BGG rating
- 7.6
BattleTech: Introductory Box Set
- 2–6 players
- 120 min
- Complexity 3.5/5
- 2002
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- 7.7
Rules assistance for BattleTech: Master Rules
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–6 players
- 120 min
- Complexity 4.0/5
Rules assistant for BattleTech: Master Rules
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
BattleTech: Master Rules is an expansion for BattleTech released in 1998 for 2–6 players and 120 minutes per game. It was designed by Jordan Weisman, Bryan Nystul, Sam Lewis, and L. Ross Babcock, III and its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling, and Hexagon Grid.
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About the game
From the back of the book: THE FUTURE OF WARFARE IS HERE! Welcome to the 31st century, a time of endless wars that rage across the known universe. These epic conflicts are won and lost by BattleMechs, 30-foot-tall, humanoid titans of metal bristling with high-intensity lasers, rapid-fire autocannon and dozens of other lethal weapons; enough firepower to level entire city blocks. Your elite force of MechWarriors drive these juggernauts into battle, blasting at your opponent's 'Mechs in a deadly game of kill or be killed. Will they become instant legends, or forgotten casualties? Only your skill and luck will determine their fate. Drawing on years of experience, this book combines the best of the BattleTech board game into a unified whole. BattleTech Master Rules is entirely restructured and streamlined; it is the same game, but like you've never seen it before. This book includes the complete game rules, a quick-and-easy scenario creation system, the Battle Value point system for evaluating 'Mechs and balancing forces, and revised and expanded miniatures rules. User comment: This was the default, complete ruleset for BattleTech at the time of printing, superceding the earlier BattleTech Compendium: Rules of Warfare. Again, no rules were included for AeroTech or BattleSpace units; this ruleset was dedicated to ground-based combat. These rules were revised and re-issued several times. The original FASA edition was published in 1998, and was then substantially updated and re-issued as the FASA Revised edition in 2001, one of the last BattleTech sourcebooks produced by FASA. In 2002, the BattleTech license was taken over by FanPro, and in 2003 they revised the Master Rules and reossued them as the Classic BattleTech Master Rules, Revised in a softback format, followed by a hardback edition in 2004. The BattleTech: Master Rules were finally superceded when Fanpro released the first edition of Classic BattleTech: Total Warfare in 2006.
Publishers
- Fanpro
- FASA
Questions and answers
BattleTech: Master Rules 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: Master Rules 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: Master Rules has a complexity rating of 4.0 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a heavy 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: Master Rules belongs to these categories: Wargame, Miniatures, and Science Fiction. Its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling, 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: Master Rules are: Jordan Weisman, Bryan Nystul, Sam Lewis, and L. Ross Babcock, III. 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: Master Rules 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.