Download - Mega Miniatures
Download - Mega Miniatures
Download - Mega Miniatures
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BASICS<br />
Classic BattleTech <strong>Miniatures</strong><br />
Rules is an 80-page soft cover<br />
book published by WizKids.<br />
The cover and inside of the<br />
book are full colors. This<br />
volume provides rules for<br />
playing Classic BattleTech,<br />
MechWarrior: Dark Age, the<br />
large scale BattleTech<br />
miniatures made by Armorcast.<br />
on non-hex table top terrain.<br />
The cover price is $19.99.<br />
BETWEEN THE COVERS<br />
Classic BattleTech Miniature<br />
Rules starts off with a<br />
BattleTech short story. After<br />
this is the first of many pages<br />
of well painted miniatures on a gaming table. The rulebook is liberally<br />
illustrated with these pictures.<br />
The first part of the book deals with the rules for Classic Battletech. It fist<br />
covers the basics of terrain and provides a quick survey of the various general<br />
types of terrain – water, hills, trees, and such. After this, the rules for converting<br />
from the hex-based game to the tape measure system are provided. These rules<br />
include converting hex area to circular areas, movement, stacking, piloting, and<br />
combat. The next thirteen pages consist of pictures of mechs and vehicles from<br />
the various powers and clans.<br />
The next part of the book deals with the conversion of the miniature rules for<br />
use with the large scale BattleMechs. These rules are based on those for Classic<br />
BattleTech given in the first part.<br />
Between the Large-Scale miniature rules and the MechWarrior: Dark Age<br />
rules is another short story, more mech pictures of both Classic BattleTech and<br />
Dark Age miniatures, and an introduction to the MechWarrior Dark Age<br />
background. The miniature rules for Dark Age add firing arc templates and<br />
rules for using them to the rules given for Classic BattleTech miniatures. Then<br />
follows a large section covering Industrial Mechs.<br />
Now that all the basic rules for miniatures have been presented, the next section<br />
gives rules for massive battles. These rules are for games that are larger than<br />
lance on lance. A section follows this on assembling and painting miniatures –<br />
the Classic BattleTech, Large Scale, and Dark Age ones.<br />
The rest of the volume consists of eight pages of advertisements for miniatures,<br />
terrain, and other products for the various flavors of BattleTech.<br />
VALUE<br />
First off, this is a well-made book. The printing and binding is top notch. The<br />
volume also includes all the necessary rules for playing on a non-hex gaming<br />
table. This book is essential for those wanting to play on such a table. For<br />
novice players, the painting guide and color pictures provide a good reference.<br />
That being said, much of this book that has no direct bearing on open-table<br />
miniatures. I would have preferred a smaller volume with out the short stories<br />
and advertisements. I found it interesting that GeoHex was still mentioned,<br />
given that that company closed its doors on February 14 of this year – and has<br />
been taken over by Monday Knight Productions.<br />
In the end, this is a good volume. The conversion rules are well done and the<br />
painting guide is a good introduction. If you’re a BattleTech player who already<br />
has a stash of table terrain without hexes, then you should strongly consider<br />
purchasing this volume.<br />
52<br />
BASICS<br />
The Junkers Force Book for<br />
Void is a 48-page perfect-bound<br />
book in full color (inside and<br />
out), printed on A4 size paper,<br />
with a retail cost of $x.xx USD.<br />
INSIDE<br />
A little bit less than the book is<br />
devoted to the background of<br />
the Junker army. It’s a fairly<br />
quick, but informative, read<br />
with lots of pictures sprinkled<br />
throughout. Some of the<br />
artwork has is a mixture of<br />
hand-drawn and computer<br />
generated and it actually works<br />
pretty well. The computer<br />
generated parts are huge ranks<br />
of Junker troops in massed formations and they do look like blocks of<br />
identical, and basically nameless, fodder ready to charge down the enemy’s<br />
guns.<br />
The Junker army is based around the thought that if I get as many of my guys as<br />
close to you as quickly as possible and make your guys dead I will win the<br />
game. Ok, I can buy that. This is accomplished with lots of very cheap, and<br />
highly expendable, troops which are supported by specialty units that will<br />
probably see a lot of 'cleaning-up' action once the inevitable ‘wall-of-flesh’ hits<br />
the enemy line.<br />
Convict Legionnaires and Suicide Bombers will likely make up a lot of your<br />
Junker army and they are really looked at, by the Junkers and their enemies, sort<br />
of like Doritos chips. You know, “crunch all you want, we’ll make more”, well<br />
in this case it’s more like, “kill all you want, we’ll just throw more at you”.<br />
These are fine and will help to achieve your objective of closing with the enemy,<br />
but the specialty units are the ones that will really catch your eye. There are<br />
three motorized units in the Junker army; Suicide Bikers (similar to the Suicide<br />
Bombers, but they ride bikes that are not entirely reliable), Dune Raiders (units<br />
of armed ATV’s) and finally Desert Marauders (Jeeps that come in four<br />
variations that are my personal favorite unit in the army and will bring a smile to<br />
the face of anyone that ever watched Rat Patrol on television as a kid,<br />
outstanding stuff!).<br />
The army also boasts Sandrunners (giant lizard riders), other hand-to-hand<br />
specialty squads, power armor-ish troops, some artillery and characters, but the<br />
main focus of the army seems very centered around an all-out sledgehammer<br />
assault. You could go against this and create a fast attack mechanized force that<br />
would be a frightful sight to behold if you’re on the receiving end of things.<br />
VALUE<br />
The cost of the Junkers army book, in fact all of the VOID army books, makes it<br />
very conducive to picking it up and starting to put together an army. There are<br />
some wickedly cool motorized units in the Junker army that would certainly<br />
bend my ear in their direction.<br />
The book is very well put together and should hold together very well. The<br />
artwork is really good and everything was easy to read and understand. The<br />
book was very well put together and will hold up nicely even under less than<br />
tender care.<br />
Bottom line is that if you’re a Junker player then this is already on your ‘to<br />
purchase’ list. It’s inexpensive enough for most VOID players to pick up just to<br />
have in-depth knowledge of their opponent’s forces and if you’re not a VOID<br />
player flipping through it could give you some interest in the game.