Battletech Clan Invasion

So Catalyst Games Battletech Clan Invasion Kickstarter finally shipped Wave 1 rewards.  I late backed this and went with just Wave 1 stuff as I am just dipping the toes in and not going all in so to speak.  The Kickstarter came with a exclusive box but I sort of like the other box better.  Personally I was never much of a Clanner in the past as we mainly did Inner Sphere Mercenary stuff in the 3025-3050 era.  We were starting to get out of it by the time the Clan Invasion started initially and the Clan mechs were just so over powered in an Era before Battle Values that it did not seem right.

While it was fun to discover lost tech during the 3025+ era and integrate it into our mechs in a roleplaying type campaign structure, looking back on it I see it more as how FASA was trying to tweak the game.  Most mechs picked up considerable additional firepower either with better weapons or heat management but often the Armor or Speeds were only slightly increased.  This increased the carnage rate of the game and who does not like to see things go boom (as long as you are not in it). 

Clan Invasion just took this to a crazy level as they were just another step above.  If it was modern large corporate wargaming one would acuse the company of making unbalanced rules to sell more models but given that you would get like a 100 standees in the box of Reinforcements 2 it does not seem like there was a ton of money in it.  It might have had to do with the right issues that they were having with many of the 80's mech designs so they needed to make people really love these new mechs.

Anyway, Battletech has come full circle and is back to 3050 with a new clan invasion box which is an expansion box to the Game of Armored Combat box.  It is not a full game and does not come with the core game rules.  It comes with rules for the new technology that the inner sphere has access to by 3050 and the new clan technology of 3050.   So it has mech contrusction rules for both factions set at 3050 timeline compared to those for 3025 of the Game of Armored Combat Box.  It also has rules for the Elemental power suit infantry of the Clans as well as rules and discussion of the organization of clan units and their system of Honor.

Here are the contents of the kickstarter box.  You get 5 Clan Mechs, 2 Points of Elementals, 2 Double Sided Game Maps, Reference Sheet, Standee and Terrain Card Sheet, Clan Invasion Rulebook, Clan Invasion Fluff book, 2 dice, card set with Clan Pilots and Clan Alpha Strike cards, Large Double Sided Map of the Inner Sphere in 3025/3050, and one record sheet book that has both the Clan Mechs and record sheets for the 3050 versions of the mechs from the Beginner Box and the Game of Armored Combat box.  I would have liked also seen some new Alpha Strike cards for the 3050 versions of the Armored Combat Mechs as the lance packs generally have a 3025 on one side and 3050 version on the other side.

These are the Elementals.  Pretty nice looking and well scaled to the mechs.

Nova and Adder Mechs

Executioner and Grendal

 Timber Wolf (but always Mad Cat to me)

Now this set retails for 50 dollars while the Star Packs of 5 Clan Mechs are only like 25 or 30 so your are paying quite a bit for the other box components.  So you can get 2 Stars for this box which is probably a better buy if you are doing this with your friends and do not need multiple copies of the rules or already have those rules from other sources as they are not changed that I could see from one already in print.