Mechwarrior

What is it?
MechWarrior: Dark Age (MW: DA) is the Wizkids Collectible Miniatures Game that continues the ongoing story of the BattleTech universe.

So, What’s the Story? MW: DA is set 2 ½ generations after the Classic BattleTech storyline of the PC and BattleTech games. Peace has reigned in the galaxy for 100 years and most of the old BattleMechs have been decommissioned. Then, shortly after the Republic of the Sphere’s guiding light, Devlin Stone, withdraws from public life and vanishes someone attacks/sabotages the ComStar communications network effectively ending interstellar communications for 80% of all populated worlds and plunging the galaxy into chaos.
With the galaxy slowly falling into anarchy 6 factions arise and begin to reactivate old BattleMechs and convert newer ConstructionMechs into weapons of chaos and destruction, armies are called into service and old enmities are reignited.

Where do the Players fit in?
Players buy starter and booster set to build up forces of pre-painted miniatures to battle it out in a galaxy suddenly plunged into war.
All the models currently available come from one of the six factions: Bannson’s Raiders; Dragon’s Fury; Highlanders; Spirit Cats; Steel Wolves and Swordsworn, though Mercenary and Republic units are on the way.
Forces can be faction specific (i.e. entirely Steel Wolves) or a mixture of 2 or more factions and are made up of ‘Mechs, vehicles and infantry.

What’s the Game Like? Basically, the game uses a similar system to Wizkids other games: Mage Knight and HeroClix, with the use of the Combat Dial. This is the innovative system that takes all the bookkeeping out of a war game, so that you only need to bring your miniatures, some dice and a ruler to play.
The base of every model is a dial with a window in to show the model’s current stats, then, as the model takes damage or is healed/repaired you rotate the dial to show the new set of stats, see 3 bullet holes and it’s “Goodnight Vienna”. The base also has the unit’s faction symbol, collector number, point value and firing arcs marked on it.
An average 300 point game takes about 1 hour to play so you can get a good couple of games in a night at the club.
The rules are quick to pick up and are quite straight forward (1 quick read through and I understood most of the basics and I only had to refer to the rulebook for about 15 minutes in my first game before I could put it to one side and just played). Once the basics are understood, the more involved rules are just as easy to pick up so it should only take 2 or 3 games to really get the whole thing down.

So, Are the Rules That Good?
OK, so the rules aren’t perfect, there’re a few inconsistencies in the rulebook and some of the rules aren’t explained as well as they could have been, but the online commitment from Wizkids means that there is a very good FAQ that can be downloaded from the official website that is updated quite regularly. Also, the great thing about the game is that the Website is a major part of the game. Every month the site has new Campaign or Marquee Tournament details, the outcome of which directly affects the ongoing storyline of the universe.
There is one major down side however. The Limited Edition figures that campaign and tournament winners get are only available to those living in America at the moment, which is a real shame, but the scenarios that are provided do provide for some interesting games, so I guess we’ll just have to wait for Wizkids to provide for MW: DA player beyond the American shores, of course, there’s always E-Bay.

Are the Miniatures any Good? Well, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I have heard a few people bemoaning the fact that some of the ‘Mechs aren’t as good looking as the Classic BattleTech versions and I’ll admit that after seeing some of the Mage Knight and Marvel HeroClix models with their, quite frankly, dire paint jobs and poses I was a little worried, however, I was quite impressed when I actually saw the MW: DA models first hand.
Now admittedly the spikes on the Atlas look a little…um…well, crap, actually, also not all of the infantry models on a base will necessarily be facing the same direction and some of the guns on the tanks do look like they have been designed to fire round corners or at someone standing directly in front of them, however, these things are just cosmetic and if you really hate them that much the models are really easy to convert and repaint, plus, so long as you don’t mess with the base or Combat Dial in any way the models will still be tournament legal, so overall I think the models are pretty damn good considering you don’t have to put them together or paint them yourself.

So Overall?

Quick learning rules, quick and fun games, good models that come pre-painted and all at an affordable price…what more could you ask for? With the promise of new and funky units coming in future expansions (Mercenaries, Artillery & troop carriers in February), the future never looked so bright. Go out, buy & enjoy a good, fun game.