Customer Reviews

Battleforce: Small Unit Actions in the 31st Century (Battletech) [BOX SET]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all, let's make a distinction between the original Battleforce game and the newer Battleforce II. The original version was quite lame, and that's being kind. However the newer version, Battleforce II, is an excellent system, and if you have the opportunity to obtain a copy, I strongly suggest that you do so.

You really get a lot in this set. Tons of counters featuring mechs, vehicles, infantry, aircraft, spaceships, objectives, and everything else; a large, handsome rulebook; a variety of battle sheets; some dice; a selection of color hex-grid maps (like normal Battletech maps but with terrain scaled to Battleforce); two color maps depicting the planet earth; and finally, a large color map of the Inner Sphere and Periphery, circa 3062 or so. Being the fanboy that I am, I had my maps laminated. Most of the later FASA books included BattleForce stats for new units, so there was definitely an effort to support the product.

Battleforce II is really three games in one. The main bulk of the rules are, of course, about the Battleforce rules. Where Battletech works best with one or two lances per side, Battleforce functions best at the Battalion level. The rules are quick and clean, although it's important to note that shooting is *not* simultaneous. The primary unit is the lance. A lance moves as a single unit, but each member of a lance (called an "element") fires and takes damage individually. And where a single Battletech 'Mech has dozens of variables to keep track of, in Battleforce, each element has been boiled down to a handful of key variables.

At this scale the importance of combined-arms, good recon, air support, and concentration of force become very evident. I have found Battleforce to be best used for large battles in a campaign where the original Battletech rules would be either impossible or impractical. With Battleforce, you can fill record sheets for your mercenary command and have the entire unit take the field at once. You can even complete a battle this size in mere hours!

And how does it play? Smooth, quick and dirty. Call it heresy, but it's my opinion that Battleforce "feels" like Battletech almost more than Battletech itself does.

Battleforce II can transition to Battletech on short notice and vice versa. The rules for changing units back and forth are an integral part of the game, and as such conversion is quick and easy. You can even use this process to convert a completely customized mech or vehicle, or even a damaged unit. Of course, unit skill is taken into account too. For balanced games, each Battleforce element has a point value, which is the same as its Battletech point value, divided by ten. Simple!

The secondary game is called Planetary Assault. In a nutshell, it uses the planetary maps to simulate a battle for control of a whole world from the moment the attacking jumpships arrive in-system to the moment the last enemy unit is defeated. In this case each counter denotes a battalion-sized unit or larger. When units enter a grid occupied by the enemy, you can either set up a fight using the Battleforce rules, or use the more abstract rules for Planetary Assault. It's that easy.

For the third game, the designers also included a brief, abstract set of guidelines for running an epic-scale campaign in which both players controlled multiple planets. Theoretically, you could simulate wars between Great Houses this way. This aspect of the game looked intriguing, but I never had a chance to try it out for myself.

Is this all perfect? Well, no. The game does have a few rules quirks here and there. One of the side effects of reducing the scale and simulating 30 seconds per turn is that units and elements can sometimes seem rather fragile. And the command rules are interesting, but perhaps a bit iffy depending on your tastes (you draw commands randomly from a cup, and then pass them down the chain of command to subordinate units).

Overall, though, I've been exceptionally pleased with this game.

These are the main points of the Battleforce game, and I'm really only scratching the surface. I could go on and on about command rules, faction-related abilities, salvage, hot drops, and everything else. Basically, imagine anything you can do in Battletech, and chances are you can do it in Battleforce II. Battleforce is not only an excellent companion game to Battletech, but in many situations it is in fact a superior gaming option. This little boxed set is quite possibly the best offshoot game that FASA ever put out.

Maybe you're looking to spice up your Saturday night Battletech sessions, and maybe you simply want to take the sheer drudgery out of large-scale Battletech combat. Heck, maybe you just want to get your hands on all the maps that are included. Any way you look at it, this game is for you. Don't wait to long to get it though, because it's been out of print for a while and may soon become very hard to find.

If you like mech and sci-fi wargames, or if you are a Battletech fan, you will like this game. The original Battletech game rules are great for one-on-one battles or encounters between small forces. But large scenarios are impossible to play because of the bookeeping and heat management needed. You can play them with Battleforce. This game is the perfect game to model large scale mech battles and planetary assaults. Instead of monitoring single battlemechs you control lances, platoons and divisions. The rules are fast and easy, and they take into account such things as landing drop ships, infantry and armor, details that where "left out" of the original Battletech game. With Battleforce you can do "real" battles with all kinds of forces: mechs, infantry, armor, air attacks...

I recommend this game to any wargamer interested in playing large sci-fi mech battles, specially in the Battletech universe.

A standard tank boardgame only with 'mechs added for color, BattleForce adds little excitement to major BattleTech campaigns. A few rules can be converted to BattleTech to flesh out concepts that FASA never truly addresses in the official rules (like grounded dropships). The double blind rules add some realism, but otherwise BattleForce poorly translates the BattleTech Universe for unit actions.