BattleTech
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Overview[edit]
Conceived by FASA Corporation in 1984 as a fictional background setting for a futuristic wargame, BattleTech is a science fiction and wargaming universe and media franchise. Some product lines in the BattleTech setting have been branded MechWarrior, which is synonymous with BattleTech as a brand.
Since its inception, the BattleTech/MechWarrior setting has been expanded into an intricate fictional universe by numerous authors and contributors through a multitude of media.
For a bullet point timeline of the franchise's evolution, see Timeline below.
Origin and name[edit]
Game designers and FASA co-founders Jordan Weisman and Ross Babcock saw imported surplus models of mecha from Japanese anime offered by Twentieth Century Imports at the Annual Trade Show of the Hobby Industries of America in Anaheim, California in early 1984. After signing a licensing deal that would allow them to use these models as playing pieces for a board game, FASA created and released Battledroids (which seems to have taken some cues from FASA's earlier game Combots) later the same year.
Notably, while Battledroids is acknowledged as a precursor, it is itself not considered a proper BattleTech product. The first product to actually bear the name "BattleTech" was the BattleTech, Second Edition boardgame box set, released by FASA in the fall of 1985. It was called "second edition" from the onset because it was the renamed, substantially revised and expanded second edition of Battledroids. Although there has been much fan speculation over the years that the name was changed because George Lucas, who had trademarked the term "droid", exerted some sort of pressure, Jordan Weisman has denied this in interviews and explained that it was FASA who proactively decided to change the name as they hoped at the time to get a license from Lucasfilm for Star Wars games (which ultimately did not come to pass).
In 1986 FASA published MechWarrior: The BattleTech Role Playing Game, the first BattleTech product titled "MechWarrior". It spawned a sub-brand comprising of numerous sourcebooks and scenarios across several editions. MechWarrior would subsequently also be used for other BattleTech product lines to the point of arguably becoming an alternate brand name.
MechWarrior: Dark Age (MWDA, and occasionally referred to as simply MechWarrior), was launched in 2002 as the new flagship product line in the BattleTech setting with its own line of novels and game products. During this period where MWDA was marketed as the primary BattleTech game system, all other MechWarrior product lines were discontinued or renamed. The original BattleTech game was temporarily rebranded as Classic BattleTech (CBT). CBT outlived the MWDA game, which was discontinued in 2008. "Classic" was then dropped from the original game's name and it became BattleTech again.
Ownership[edit]
The intellectual property (IP) rights to BattleTech/MechWarrior were originally held by FASA, creators of the game and setting. FASA published BattleTech products in-house, but to boost the brand they granted licenses to various third parties for a wide range of products and paraphernalia (see BattleTech Media below). Most importantly, they licensed publication of the ongoing tie-in novel line to ROC/Penguin Books in 1991 but retained creative control.
The IP was split in 1999 when FASA sold their their FASA Interactive branch, which included the exclusive rights to create BattleTech/MechWarrior computer games and video games, to Microsoft. Ever since, the computer game rights for BattleTech have been a distinct IP from the mainline BattleTech IP.
In 2001, FASA ceased active operations and ownership of the BattleTech IP (minus the separate computer games rights now held by Microsoft) was transferred to WizKids, Inc., a new firm owned by FASA cofounder Jordan Weisman. WizKids created the new Clix-based MechWarrior: Dark Age game as a separate brand, and licensed what was now "Classic BattleTech" to FanPro, a German games publisher who had previously been publishing the German edition of BattleTech. Around this time most of the third party licenses that FASA had issued had either expired or were terminated, though some remained. In particular, the rights to publish BattleTech print novels remained with Roc Books, even though they focused on MWDA novels forthwith and made no use of the license for Classic BattleTech fiction, leading to a gap in the publication of new English language print novels until 2015.
In mid-2003, it was announced[1] that Topps, Inc. had bought WizKids, thereby acquring the BattleTech IP. In the same year, InMediaRes Productions, LLC (IMR) obtained a license from Topps/WizKids to publish new, canon BattleTech fiction online, which led to the creation of the BattleCorps website.
FanPro's BattleTech license ran out in 2007 and was not renewed. In their stead, IMR acquired the full license, and created their Catalyst Game Labs (CGL) imprint to continue the classic game line.
WizKids was terminated as a brand by Topps in 2008, and the Clix game lines, including MWDA, were discontinued. Ever since, "Classic" BattleTech has been marketed simply as BattleTech again. IMR's license remained in place. Through their Catalyst Game Labs imprint, they have been advancing the classic BattleTech timeline to connect to, and then move beyond, the MechWarrior: Dark Age setting, closing the gap in the setting's timeline.
Topps, who was by then operated by private investment firm The Tornante Company, LLC, was acquired in turn by e-commerce company Fanatics, Inc. in early January 2022[2] and kept as a separate brand. However, as of March 2023 Tornante indicated[3] that they had "the rights to produce movies and television shows of certain Topps properties such as MechWarior/Battletech"; it is unclear if they had retained those rights when they sold Topps the year before, of if this is merely information that was already outdated at the time.
The core BattleTech IP thus currently rests with Fanatics, Inc. and is licensed to IMR, while the computer game rights remain with Microsoft and a possibility that TV and movie rights remain with Tornante.
Canon[edit]
BattleTech is a shared universe. A string of IP owners and a multitude of licensees have developed, shaped and refined an authoritative "mainline" body of canonical lore, fiction and history. The exact extent of this body is usually decided by the respective IP holder, though the current IP owners have deferred stewardship of BattleTech to their licensee, IMR/CGL, who have established definitive rules about what is (and what is not) BattleTech.
While the BattleTech timeline has been advanced as well as backfilled over the years, it remains a single, cohesive body of fiction. There have been no reboots or significant retcons to the setting, and there are no acknowledged parallel universes, crossovers or alternate settings. (Some do in fact exist, usually as joke products, but they are invariably considered non-canonical for the mainline BattleTech universe.)
The Unseen situation[edit]
BattleTech is somewhat famous for an IP problem that came to the fore in the 1990s: As it turned out, the Japanese anime mecha designs that FASA had licensed from TCI as the setting's bedrock designs had a rather complicated web of owners, licenses and licensees behind them, and TCI might not have been in a legal position to grant FASA the rights that FASA thought they had acquired. The court case challenging FASA's rights eventually ended with a settlement agreement in 1997 whereby FASA agreed that the designs in question would not be depicted in any publications thenceforward, though they remained an integral part of the setting and were still referenced and mentioned. Since they continued to exist but could not be shown, they became known as the "Unseen".
This situation was revisited in another lawsuit in 2017 that also ended in a settlement agreement, but had a much more favorable outcome for BattleTech. However, changes to the overall BattleTech art style since 2014 may have rendered the issue altogether moot.
BattleTech Media[edit]
The enormous instant success of the boardgame saw BattleTech evolve into a setting for other media beyond gaming and gave rise to a plethora of products that shaped, and still shape, the BattleTech universe.
Games[edit]
Physical games[edit]
At its core, BattleTech began as - and arguably still is - a tabletop game. The original game is "classic" BattleTech, a boardgame typically played on hex maps, or as a miniatures game on suitable terrain, with individual 'Mechs and other game units as playing pieces. Although technically no limit exists, the intended scale was apparently for no more than around a dozen playing pieces per side and gameplay can be very slow when many units are fielded. CityTech and AeroTech were created as expansions to this game and have since been consolidated into the latest BattleTech ruleset that summarily covers all unit types on a unified scale. Simplified Quick Start Rules are available to teach the most basic concepts, and Alpha Strike offers a yet simpler, streamlined alternative ruleset for faster play or playing with significantly more playing pieces.
Beyond the standard BattleTech game, the setting was used for a plethora of different games. These include tactical wargames on different scales, ranging from individual infantrymen to entire regiments or multimillion ton WarShips, such as BattleForce, BattleTroops, BattleSpace or Solaris VII: The Game World. Other BattleTech-themed games include a strategic boardgame, a Collectible Card Game, a Science Fiction Combat Book Game, and jigsaw puzzles.
MechWarrior: Dark Age[edit]
Of particular note is WizKids's MechWarrior: Dark Age Collectable Miniatures Game. This was a totally new game, with substantially different rules, that was designed as a reboot of the BattleTech universe, and as the premier BattleTech game going forward. It kept the accumulated history but jumped ahead some 65 years in the timeline, to leave the old setting behind and have a fresh start.
The "Classic BattleTech" game, which was sublicensed to FanPro, ended up outlasting MWDA when the latter was cancelled by Topps in 2008. To wit, while MWDA was discontinued as a game, the history and lore created for MWDA has been wholly integrated into the greater BattleTech universe of which it has always been a part.
Roleplaying Games[edit]
The roleplaying game for the BattleTech setting was initially branded as MechWarrior, introducing that sub-brand. It went through several editions, with significant changes between editions to the point of constituting entirely different rulesets. Numerous BattleTech sourcebooks were specifically created as supplements for the RPG (mostly for the second and third edition) and consequently published as "MechWarrior" titles. It was renamed to Classic BattleTech RPG in 2002 to avoid confusion with the new MechWarrior: Dark Age brand and then, for its fourth edition, to A Time of War.
An alternative, rules-light BattleTech roleplaying system was published in 2020 as MechWarrior: Destiny.
Computer Games[edit]
Numerous BattleTech-themed computer games and video (console) games have been produced, most of which had at least one sequel. The first was BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Inception in 1988. The MechWarrior series saw particularly many releases, of which the 1995 MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat was particularly impactful.
HeavyMetal is a licensed suite of programs to support tabletop gameplay.
Notable fan-produced BattleTech game projects for online multiplayer play include the BattleTech 3025 MUSE, MechWarrior: Living Legends, and MegaMek.
BattleTech Centers[edit]
Straddling the line between physical games and computer games, the BattleTech Centers offered a chance to fight simulated 'Mech battles from networked cockpit pods, a revolutionary gaming venue when they were introduced in 1990. With these simulator pods, groups of players could fight each other similar to modern online gaming, a decade before the widespread use of the internet, and would receive results and stat sheets similar to Laser Tag gaming.
Fiction[edit]
Since Battledroids in 1984, the rulebooks described a fictional universe to serve as a background setting and context for the fights that were to be played out as BattleTech boardgame scenarios. Small fiction vignettes such as in-universe narration were already included in the earliest 1985 scenario packs.
Early on, FASA began to explore and develop this setting through novels and other tie-in fiction formats, expanding the scope to more than just a game setting. The first proper BattleTech novel (Decision at Thunder Rift) was published in 1986, as was the first graphic novel (The Spider and the Wolf); a first anthology (Shrapnel) followed in 1988. Through the novels, a timeline began to evolve and move forward to provide an immersive storyline, flanked by articles in the Stardate and later BattleTechnology magazines that were largely written by the same writing staff and complemented the novels.
FASA withdrew from the market and traded away the BattleTech IP in 2001, and while Roc Books voiced no interest in continuing the Classic BattleTech and MechWarrior novel lines after 2002 they immediately started the MechWarrior: Dark Age novel line. BattleCorps began to publish new BattleTech fiction online in 2004.
In 2008, publication of new print novels temporarily stopped, but in the same year BattleCorps began publishing anthologies in print.
With the rights situation cleared up and consolidated with IMR, publication of new print novels resumed in 2015. By that time, digital publication was the norm and Print on demand (POD) had been established, blurring the line between print and online publication. From that point onwards, new novels, novellas and anthologies would typically be published in digital format with an option to obtain a POD hardcopy.
As of 2025, BattleTech fiction includes more than 200 novel and novella titles, and well over 700 individual short stories.
Miniatures[edit]
While BattleTech is not strictly a miniatures game, it was conceived to make use of miniatures to represent BattleMechs and other playing pieces on the game board. FASA was not a miniatures manufacturer themselves and used third party miniatures for their boxed sets. Those miniatures were initially sourced from TCI (who imported plastic miniatures from Japan) and later from Ral Partha (who produced original metal miniatures).
TV Series[edit]
The BattleTech cartoon, a 1994 syndicated television series, follows the exploits of Adam Steiner, a cousin to Melissa Steiner, as he attempts to free his home planet Somerset from Clan Jade Falcon occupation. His root nemesis is Nikolai Malthus, the leading Jade Falcon officer during the Somerset offensive.
MechForce[edit]
Several dedicated licensed fan organizations were established under the MechForce moniker. Of these, only the MechForce Germany exists to this day.
Accessories[edit]
A wide range of BattleTech branded accessories exists including such varied items as patches, posters, pins, keychains, dice, mugs, stickers, plush toys, paint sets, calendars, and apparel. Some purport to be in-universe documents or items, straddling the line between accessories and fiction.
BattleTech Timeline[edit]
(not necessarily complete)
- 1984 - (Inception of Battledroids)
- 1985 - Inception of BattleTech, universe timeline begins in Succession Wars era set around ca. 3025
- 1989-1991 - Game products and tie-in fiction advance the BattleTech timeline beyond 3049 into the Clan Invasion era, expanding the setting and game with new technology, units, factions and game rules
- 1991 - Publication of BattleTech tie-in novel line handed off to Roc Books
- 1994 - BattleTech: The Animated Series aired on TV
- 1995 - MechWarrior 2 computer game sees notable success
- 1997 - Unseen lawsuits settlement; "Unseen" BattleMech designs cannot be shown anymore
- 1999 - FASA Interactive sold to Microsoft together with rights to BattleTech computer games, splitting the IP
- 2000 - Game products and tie-in fiction advance the BattleTech timeline beyond 3061 into the Civil War era, expanding the setting and game with new technology
- 2001 - FASA ceases active operations and transfers ownership of main BattleTech IP to WizKids; FanPro gets "Classic BattleTech" license
- 2002 - MechWarrior: Dark Age game launched by WizKids as new flagship product line in the BattleTech setting; Roc Books shutters (Classic) BattleTech and MechWarrior novel lines, concluding the Civil War era, and launches new MechWarrior: Dark Age tie-in novel line in the Dark Age era of 3132 and beyond
- 2003 - WizKids (and BattleTech IP with it) bought by Topps; IMR obtains license to publish BattleTech fiction in electronic format
- 2005 - Game products and sourcebooks advance the Classic BattleTech timeline beyond 3067 into the Jihad era (backfilling the missing era between the established Civil War and Dark Age eras), expanding the setting and game with new technology, units, factions and game rules
- 2007 - FanPro's Classic BattleTech license expires, new license goes to IMR subsidiary Catalyst Game Labs
- 2008 - MechWarrior: Dark Age game line discontinued, "Classic BattleTech" game line reverts to simply "BattleTech"
- 2013 - MechWarrior Online launched
- 2015 - HBS launch a notably successful crowdfunding campaign for their BattleTech video game which is published in 2018 to great fanfare
- 2017 - New "Unseen" lawsuit settled, largely rolling back the restrictions from the 1997 settlement
- 2021 - Game products and tie-in fiction advance the BattleTech timeline beyond the Dark Age era into the ilClan era, expanding the setting and game with new technology, units, factions and game rules
- 2022 - Topps (and BattleTech IP with it) bought by Fanatics; IMR license remains in place
Accolades[edit]
Accolades for BattleTech products include, but are not necessarily limited to
- 1986 H. G. Wells Award at the Origins Game Fair (for Technical Readout: 3025)[4]
- 1987 Gamer's Choice Award for the Best Science Fiction/Strategy Game at Gen Con[4]
- 1990 Origins Award for Best Miniature Rules (for The BattleTech Compendium)[4]
- 1993 Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame (for BattleTech, Third Edition)[4]
See also[edit]
- BattleTech universe for a description of the BattleTech setting as such and the in-universe history
- BattleTech (board game) for a description of the inaugural "classic" BattleTech boardgame
- Battletech Game Systems
References[edit]
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230618024041/https://icv2.com/articles/games/view/2950/topps-acquires-wizkids
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230808104422/https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/04/fanatics-acquires-topps-trading-cards.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230320163452/https://www.tornante.com/bazooka
- ↑ a b c d According to court documents, specifically the "Unseen lawsuits/FASA III" decision from 22 Jan. 1996 by the United States Disctrict Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, case No. 93 C 2445