Battletech: Technical Readout 3026 (Vehicles and Personal Equipment)

This book attempted to publish for both BattleTech and MechWarrior back in their first editions. But since then, MechWarrior rules have significantly changed, making the second half of the book mostly useless - all the equipment is now incorporated into MechWarrior, 3rd Edition itself or teh Lostech expansion. The rare item that isn't is written to conform to First Edition rules, and while there is a method to transfer its stats to Second Edition rules, no such conversion exists between First and Third or Second and Third. The vehicle half of the book, however, is still applicable to BattleTech today, as all the equipment is now considered Level 1. But most of it, again, is included in the new Vehicle Annex, leaving the only real reasons to pick up TRO3026 nostalgia and low price. It's not a bad book, but the game has changed drastically since it was published.

The content is great for anyone playing Battletech and or Mechwarrior.But be careful about paying over list for this book as a friend of mine found a new 2nd printing, from 1996, at a local hobby shop for list price. And it was not the revised editon.

What can I say - maybe I'm suicidal, but I think vehicles are fun to use in Battletech - even against the big guys. I also prefer the older stuff, before the weapons charts started filling whole pages due to their excessive length. Someone once said to me that no 'Mech can stand up to its own weight in hovercraft - try taking savanah masters up against anything (using one for every five tons of enemy), and I think you'll see that he's right!

Plenty of information available for both the Battletech game and the Mechwarrior RPG. Color pictures are also a bonus!