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So me and a friend are getting into Battletech. So I bought the quick start box from Iron winds and got the basics down.
Now my question is where do I go from hear. As in what book to buy and what kinds of mecks would be good

The 25th aniversary box set, when it comes out, will be great. Also, if you can find it, the previous box set is also good. Both contain the rules plus over 20 mechs.

I recommend getting as many mapsheet sets as you can. They sell the compliations still I believe. Your other option would be to buy a hex grid mat and make some terrain, but I would caution against this at first as set up time can be lengthy and the printed map sheets are just fine to throw down and play with.

If you are ready to try some advanced tech, the campaign book sword and dragon is good, as it details 2 units from level 1 through to current era, with missions and the very fun campaign track. You and your buddy could each play through, each picking a side and alternating between opfor.

Cool that help allot thanks

Pick a tech level. There's a lot of differencec to the game depending on if you are playing Classic dark-ages 3025 level, or adding 2750 star league era technology, clan tech, etc etc. The game becomes more convoluted and power-play oriented the higher the tech levels go. Most older battletech players I know prefer 3025 tech because it is kind of imperfect and thus has more character to each mech.


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check out this thread. Many of us have been talking about this for a while on this forum.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/288469.page

Also try the open table miniatures rules. I like the 3d aspect of it as opposed to the map sheets.

Another option is to use the Heroscape hex terrain...you can keep the hexes but still get the 3d effect.

check out www.sarna.net too. It is the end all be all source for all things battletech. There are hundreds and hundreds of mechs, with pictures, descriptions, etc. all from some sourcebook or technical readout or other. It's a HUGE database. There's so many mech designs and variations now that it's difficult to suggest and answer to your "which mechs should I look into" question. That really depends on the kind of game you want to play. When I played 3025 tech I realized that almost every mech had some kind of flaw and that was the way it was supposed to be, so taking the more quirky and inefficient ones was pretty fun just so long as everyone else was playing like that.

However I have to say that, at ANY tech level, you cannot go wrong with the Awesome 80 ton assault mech. It has armor, it has punch, and it manages its heat, no matter if its the 3025, 3055, 3065 whatever version. There's a reason they named it "Awesome".

Also go to classicbattletech.com There's a forum there for interaction and a DL section with some handy tables. Also look into downloading a programme called Solaris Skunk Works. It's a free to DL mech generation programme. Takes a bit of getting used to but worth playing with.