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Battletech Legends.
Across the centuries, the fate of the Inner Sphere changed time and again with the actions of one MechWarrior and one ’Mech fighting at the crux of history. Their stories became legends passed down through the years, and now these legends and their ’Mechs stand revealed as never before.
BattleTech: Legends depicts fifty-two of the universe’s most famous—and infamous—MechWarriors and their ’Mechs from every era of BattleTech including the upcoming ilClan era. Each entry includes gorgeous full-color portraits of the character and camo
specs for their machines, and delves into their battle history as a MechWarrior to reveal all-new details never before published. Finally, each era section kicks off with all-new fiction by some of BattleTech’s own legendary authors!
BattleTech: Legends depicts fifty-two of the universe’s most famous—and infamous—MechWarriors and their ’Mechs from every era of BattleTech including the upcoming ilClan era. Each entry includes gorgeous full-color portraits of the character and camo
specs for their machines, and delves into their battle history as a MechWarrior to reveal all-new details never before published. Finally, each era section kicks off with all-new fiction by some of BattleTech’s own legendary authors!
- GenresScience Fiction
168 pages, ebook
Published December 19, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 1, 2022
Conceived as part of the BattleTech Kickstarter of 2019, Legends isn't quite an art book, but it also isn't really a sourcebook. Unlike most BattleTech books covering the events of the setting it's written from a more neutral perspective instead of by an in-universe author so it's an interesting curiosity inside the BattleTech publication history.
Anyway, the book is basically a selection of infamous MechWarriors, each one getting a 2-page spread where one page is a biography of the person with a small portrait, and the other page is a writeup of a 'Mech they're associated with. In some cases it's a no-brainer as to which 'Mech they're paired with - Grey Noton has Legend-Killer, Hanse Davion his BattleMaster, Victor Steiner-Davion his Daishi Prometheus; but for other pilots it's less clear. Given that the book features Justin Allard, Kai Allard-Liao, and Danais Liao-Centrella, all of whom are known for piloting Yen-Lo-Wang, do they repeat the 'Mech three times in the book? Answer: no, and instead Justin is profiled alongside the Valkyrie he piloted in the battle that lead to his exile from the Federated Suns, Danais the Black Knight she switches to near the end of Blood Will Tell, and Kai gets Yen-Lo-Wang.
The writeups are all decent précis of the characters involved, hitting their high and low points in a single page, but in many cases the most interesting sections are those of the 'Mechs themselves, where the history of various ones far outstrips the lives of their most infamous pilots, with refits, current status or when and where they were actually destroyed being a common theme. The profiles are sorted by era as well, with each one getting a short story to set the tone. Some of these contain important moments in the BattleTech universe to boot - the Star League one features the first deployment of a BattleMech in combat, the Clan Invasion one is moments from the Outbound Light mission, and the Jihad story details Paul Masters' final battle. There are some criticisms on the art front, however. A number of the characters don't match up with their descriptions in the book or in other protrayals - most notably Tancred Sandoval is described in the book's text has having his head shaved save for a topknot, and has a full head of hair in his portrait, while Minobu Tetsuhara's skin is much lighter than say, the original cover of Wolves on the Border.
These are minor niggles and overall this is a very nice volume, both as a primer to some of the major figures of the BattleTech universe for new players, and as a quick reference and source of interesting trivia for veterans.
Anyway, the book is basically a selection of infamous MechWarriors, each one getting a 2-page spread where one page is a biography of the person with a small portrait, and the other page is a writeup of a 'Mech they're associated with. In some cases it's a no-brainer as to which 'Mech they're paired with - Grey Noton has Legend-Killer, Hanse Davion his BattleMaster, Victor Steiner-Davion his Daishi Prometheus; but for other pilots it's less clear. Given that the book features Justin Allard, Kai Allard-Liao, and Danais Liao-Centrella, all of whom are known for piloting Yen-Lo-Wang, do they repeat the 'Mech three times in the book? Answer: no, and instead Justin is profiled alongside the Valkyrie he piloted in the battle that lead to his exile from the Federated Suns, Danais the Black Knight she switches to near the end of Blood Will Tell, and Kai gets Yen-Lo-Wang.
The writeups are all decent précis of the characters involved, hitting their high and low points in a single page, but in many cases the most interesting sections are those of the 'Mechs themselves, where the history of various ones far outstrips the lives of their most infamous pilots, with refits, current status or when and where they were actually destroyed being a common theme. The profiles are sorted by era as well, with each one getting a short story to set the tone. Some of these contain important moments in the BattleTech universe to boot - the Star League one features the first deployment of a BattleMech in combat, the Clan Invasion one is moments from the Outbound Light mission, and the Jihad story details Paul Masters' final battle. There are some criticisms on the art front, however. A number of the characters don't match up with their descriptions in the book or in other protrayals - most notably Tancred Sandoval is described in the book's text has having his head shaved save for a topknot, and has a full head of hair in his portrait, while Minobu Tetsuhara's skin is much lighter than say, the original cover of Wolves on the Border.
These are minor niggles and overall this is a very nice volume, both as a primer to some of the major figures of the BattleTech universe for new players, and as a quick reference and source of interesting trivia for veterans.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews