Mecha Press Magazine (1991-95) [/]
Aug 07 2023
Mecha Press was a Quebec-created magazine covering mecha both in anime and hobby.
Contents
The reason for collecting this was the gaming stuff, specifically BattleTech. Each issue has a few pages of gaming though it's mostly the other content so bang-for-buck is pretty low. Mekton (still in print I think), Mecha! (a small mecha game way out of print), and BattleTech are the main games and in the last couple of issues their own Heavy Gear Fighter and RPG (the people behind the magazine also created Heavy Gear).
Most of the gaming stuff is converted mecha stats in the appropriate gaming system, so taking a mecha from an anime and statting it in the target system. There were some optional construction rules for Mekton and BattleTech, optional battle rules for Mekton, scenarios for each system.
I like the production quality. For a small press the layouts are really good, type is small but very readable, and everything is in English (with very occasionally missteps to my American background -- keep in mind these guys are French-Canadians). Lots of illustrations and photos to show what they're talking about.
Overall, for a gaming guy, I'd say it's not worth collecting for BattleTech stuff since there is so much BT material out there. For Mekton maybe worth it and if you're a Mecha! fan the issues with that material is most likely worth it. You can buy PDFs on DriveThruRPG and I appreciate that the issue descriptions include article lists.
Contents
- News - new anime, models, gaming products, etc.
- Anime Overview - great anime synopsis with overview of the anime and descriptions of characters and mechas (with illustrations).
- Episode Synopsis - Detailed episode by episode summaries, mostly reprinted from college zines.
- Mecha tech articles - the in-universe tech behind various anime mechas
- Modeling - mecha model reviews and articles on how to build, kitbash and paint models
- Gaming - see below
The reason for collecting this was the gaming stuff, specifically BattleTech. Each issue has a few pages of gaming though it's mostly the other content so bang-for-buck is pretty low. Mekton (still in print I think), Mecha! (a small mecha game way out of print), and BattleTech are the main games and in the last couple of issues their own Heavy Gear Fighter and RPG (the people behind the magazine also created Heavy Gear).
Most of the gaming stuff is converted mecha stats in the appropriate gaming system, so taking a mecha from an anime and statting it in the target system. There were some optional construction rules for Mekton and BattleTech, optional battle rules for Mekton, scenarios for each system.
I like the production quality. For a small press the layouts are really good, type is small but very readable, and everything is in English (with very occasionally missteps to my American background -- keep in mind these guys are French-Canadians). Lots of illustrations and photos to show what they're talking about.
Overall, for a gaming guy, I'd say it's not worth collecting for BattleTech stuff since there is so much BT material out there. For Mekton maybe worth it and if you're a Mecha! fan the issues with that material is most likely worth it. You can buy PDFs on DriveThruRPG and I appreciate that the issue descriptions include article lists.