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BattleTech Role-Playing Game
Mercenary's Handbook (Battletech) by J. Andrew Keith
"Variety is the spice of battle..."By the 31st century, war has raged in the Successor States for over 200 years. In this ongoing conflict, the mercenary soldier has ample opportunity to seek his fortune under the banner of one of the Great Houses - a career fraught with danger but rich in potential rewards.The Mercenary's Handbook is a BattleTech and MechWarrior supplement describing the mercenary way of life. It details everything from troop capabilities to a mercenary unit's expenses, and from the ins and outs of contract negotiations to the nature of 31st century warfare. Commentary and views on the Succession Wars mercenary provide a solid background for gamers who need to learn the basics of the business of war, while game rules translate these ideas into simple systems for creating a merc outfit, finding and signing with employers, and resolving an entire military campaign.This 104-page book contains more than 50 full-color illustrations and mercenary crests. The complete history and operating procedures of three example mercenary companies are also included, The Eradani Light Horse, The Waco Rangers, and Wilson's Hussars.Admired as consummate professional yet reviled as hireling loyal only to money, the successful mercenary needs more than combat skill to ply his trade. If you have the wit, the business skills, the political wisdom, and the tactical genius to become a mercenary leader, The Mercenary's Handbook is for you!
Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
12 people want to read
About the author
J. Andrew Keith
82 books4 followersJohn Andrew Keith was an American author and games developer... brother of author William H. Keith Jr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Andr...
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Andr...
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 24, 2020
This is the second game supplement book I've read in the BattleTech universe and this one is pretty different from the other one I read. Mercenary's Handbook is also, really, the first book published beyond the core game and this book is more a supplement to the Role Playing Game Mechwarrior. I was never able to get my hands on the first edition of that rule book, but I assume this book builds on the content presented there.
It seems the supplementary texts for the Role Playing Game are going to be pretty different from those designed the board game, such as House Kurita: The Draconis Combine, which is the first book I read. Where House Kurita was a deep dive into the history of that particular house Mercenary's Handbook is more of a game compliment. It's similar to those D&D books like The Sorcerer's Handbook, where it gives you some background on playing that type of character, but also has a lot of tables and additional rules to sift into the original rules set. Mercenary's Handbook is structured in the exact same way. There's a little bit of lore and some general discussion on how the mercenaries are setup within the BattleTech universe and what it would mean to run a game with them.
The one interesting thing that BattleTech did with their RPG setting, was they integrated it with the main board game so that certain points in a game campaign can then be transferred to the board game for 'Mech combat. It gives you a lot of rules for creating your own Mercenary Regiments and background information on a few examples to prompt building your own in interesting ways or a group you can play with right away.
This is similar to the House books in the sense that it's layout and design is similar. It's got a lot of full color drawings that give you an idea of how the game makers thought things might look in their imagined future of humanity. I don't know how useful this book is in future iterations of the game, given the fact that this was published back in the 80's. The types of supplemental texts like the House books are a bit more timeless in their nature. But the RPG component of BattleTech has been re-written a few times since this was published, so this might be long outdated from the rules perspective.
It seems the supplementary texts for the Role Playing Game are going to be pretty different from those designed the board game, such as House Kurita: The Draconis Combine, which is the first book I read. Where House Kurita was a deep dive into the history of that particular house Mercenary's Handbook is more of a game compliment. It's similar to those D&D books like The Sorcerer's Handbook, where it gives you some background on playing that type of character, but also has a lot of tables and additional rules to sift into the original rules set. Mercenary's Handbook is structured in the exact same way. There's a little bit of lore and some general discussion on how the mercenaries are setup within the BattleTech universe and what it would mean to run a game with them.
The one interesting thing that BattleTech did with their RPG setting, was they integrated it with the main board game so that certain points in a game campaign can then be transferred to the board game for 'Mech combat. It gives you a lot of rules for creating your own Mercenary Regiments and background information on a few examples to prompt building your own in interesting ways or a group you can play with right away.
This is similar to the House books in the sense that it's layout and design is similar. It's got a lot of full color drawings that give you an idea of how the game makers thought things might look in their imagined future of humanity. I don't know how useful this book is in future iterations of the game, given the fact that this was published back in the 80's. The types of supplemental texts like the House books are a bit more timeless in their nature. But the RPG component of BattleTech has been re-written a few times since this was published, so this might be long outdated from the rules perspective.
Displaying 1 of 1 review