Kevin C. Wong

Bundle of Holding - BattleTech Readouts

Bundle of Holding has a revived BattleTech Total War (which I bought previously) and a new BattleTech Readouts bundle.

  • Technical Readout: Succession Wars - compilation from TR 3039, 3050 Upgrade, 3058 Upgrade, 3075
  • Technical Readout: Clan Invasion - compilation from TR 3050 Upgrade, 3055 Upgrade, 3058 Upgrade, 3060, 3067
  • Technical Readout: Jihad - compilation from TR 3050 Upgrade, 3055 Upgrade, 3058 Upgrade, 3060, 3067, 3075, 3085, Project Phoenix
  • Technical Readout: Dark Age - compilation from TR 3075, 3085, 3085 Supplemental, 3145, 3150, Irregulars, Prototypes

From the descriptions these seem to be the same material (no changes) as in previous volumes but reorganized into volumes by era (the current BattleTech has solidified the supported eras and each book is for a specific era). Mixed feelings about this since the work is mostly cutting and pasting PDF pages to make a new product.

  • Record Sheets: Succession Wars
  • Record Sheets: Clan Invasion
  • Record Sheets: Jihad
  • Record Sheets: Dark Age

These have the record sheets for the Mechs in the corresponding Technical Readouts. TRs are in-universe "here's the Mech specs and it's history and here's a drawing" -- you can use those Mechs as the game info is there and you can create your own record sheets but the RS books is handier. Alternatively there are Mech design apps that have data files so you can just use the app to load the record sheet and print it (in a similar but not identical format I assume to avoid copyright).

  • Technical Readout: 3085
  • Technical Readout: 3085 Supplemental
  • Technical Readout: 3145
  • Technical Readout: 3150

These TRs include both Mech and non-Mech units (infantry, battle armor, vehicles, aerospace). Possibly the Mechs are also in the TR Jihad and Dark Age books.

  • Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged - Old is the New New
  • Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged - The Cutting Edge
  • Record Sheets: 3085 Unabridged - Project Phoenix
  • Record Sheets: 3145
  • Record Sheets: 3150

Corresponding Recors Sheets. I guess 3085 has enough stuff that they wanted to charge fans three times for the corresponding record sheets.

Total bundle price of $38 is pretty good even if you only buy the TRs. With all these you should have variety to run a myriad of combats in any of these four eras (apparently there are eight eras though I'm guessing these are the biggest four).

So with a rules bundle and a record sheets bundle hopefully the next bundle is scenarios and campaigns.