It is the 31st century, a time of endless wars that rage across human- Veteran: Once you’ve gotten the basics of movement and combat occupied space. As star empires clash, these epic wars are won and down, and a ’Mech training scenario under your belt, the Veteran lost by BattleMechs®, 30-foot-tall humanoid metal titans bristling with section introduces vehicles, as well as some advanced weapon lasers, autocannons and dozens of other lethal weapons; enough rules. Once you’ve read this section—which builds on your existing INTRODUCTION fi repower to level entire city blocks. Your elite force of MechWarriors® knowledge from the Green section—you can jump into the Veteran drives these juggernauts into battle, proudly holding your faction’s Training scenario. fl ag high, intent on expanding the power and glory of your realm. Elite: Now that you’re familiar with the fi rst two sections, the Elite At their beck and call are the support units of armored vehicles and section introduces infantry. The Elite Training Scenario unleashes the power armored infantry, wielded by a MechWarrior’s skillful command full combined-arms aspect of BattleTech! to aid him in ultimate victory. Will they become legends, or forgotten casualties? Only your skill and luck will determine their fate! PLAYING PIECES BattleTech Quick-Start Rules contains several playing pieces you can cut out, representing your infantry, vehicles and BattleMechs. These playing pieces are used to show the position of each unit on the QUICK-START RULES mapsheet and keep track of its movement during the game. GREEN We have specially designed these quick-start rules to hurtle you RECORD SHEETS onto the battlefi elds of the 31st century in minutes, with everything The ’Mech, vehicle and infantry record sheets are used to keep track you need to play—including a map and unit counters—provided. All of the damage done to each unit during combat as well as display a you need is your imagination and two six-sided dice! units weapon and movement stats (see Record Sheets, p. 22). FICTION MAPSHEETS Fiction plays an important role in BattleTech, fl eshing out and In BattleTech, games are played on 22-by-17 inch mapsheets expanding the universe and its characters, bringing it to life. To launch divided into six-sided areas called hexes, which regulate movement players directly into the BattleTech universe, a complete short story and combat between various units. Mapsheets can be fi lled with is found on pages 4 and 5 of these quick-start rules. Following that woods, rivers, lakes, mountains and more. For ease of play, the VETERAN complete story is the fi rst part of a longer story; the second part can mapsheet included in the quick-start rules only contains light and be found and read for free at www.battlecorps.com. heavy woods terrain. While the fi ction leaps players into the fi ctional setting of the universe, they can easily skip to page 12 and immediately dive into learning how to play the game and then read the fi ction at their leisure. DICE In BattleTech you will use two six-sided dice. If the situation requires you to roll one die, the rules indicate this in shorthand as 1D6. Unless GREEN, VETERAN AND ELITE otherwise noted, the abbreviation 2D6 means that you should roll These quick-start rules appear in three easily absorbed sections: both dice and add the results together. Green (blue, the section you’re reading right now), Veteran (yellow) and Elite (red). These sections provide an easy-to-understand progression from the basics to adding more units and rules to increase a player’s TRAINING SCENARIOS enjoyment of the game. At the end of each section is a Training BattleTech is a game for two or more players. For simplicity’s sake, ELITE scenario that will have players immediately jumping into the fun of the Green Training scenario is just for two players, with each player the BattleTech game system, implementing what the players have controlling a single ’Mech. Each ’Mech, vehicle or infantry trooper learned to that point in the quick-start rules. is considered a unit. In the Veteran and Elite Training scenarios, if Note: The Green section is an introduction to the ’Mech rules as additional players are available, they should divide evenly between presented in the BattleTech Introductory Rulebook, while the Veteran two teams, with each player taking charge of one unit. If additional and Elite sections are an introduction to the rules for additional units players are not available, the Veteran and Elite Training scenarios are and concepts as presented in BattleTech Total Warfare. designed to help players go from controlling a single unit to the fun of Also note that the graphic icons within each diagram represent a controlling multiple units in a game. generic ‘Mech; players should not be confused by a specifi c ‘Mech image In the various Training scenarios provided in these rules, your only used in an example, when its game stats do not mirror the example. goal is to destroy the other team. The last team with at least one Green: For newcomers to BattleTech, read through this section once surviving unit left on the board wins. As you become more familiar (it won’t take long), then play the Green Training scenario. Your fi rst with these rules, you can begin to operate more than one unit at a Training scenario will be a quick ’Mech vs. ’Mech game, but the basics time, come up with your own game objectives, or you can move on described in the Green section of how to move, fi re weapons and take to the challenge and excitement of the complete ’Mech rules of the damage apply across the board, with specifi c exceptions for vehicles BattleTech Introductory Box Set, or on to the complete rules (including and infantry noted in the Veteran and Elite sections, respectively. vehicles, infantry and more) in the BattleTech Total Warfare rulebook! Remember, you don’t need to read any other section of these quick- start rules before you jump right into a game! 3 A BattleCorps Story by Randall N. Bills JACOB’S MOUNTAIN One comes with the other. If you can’t protect those under your TORTINIA, KIAMBA command to the best of your ability, if you can’t lead them to be BENJAMIN MILITARY DISTRICT, DRACONIS COMBINE leaders themselves—well, then you’ve no business wearing The Bars. 15 APRIL 3067 Always the capitalizations in his voice. Geoff ’s words seemed to echo in the confi nes of the cockpit. Lieutenant Cameron Baird watched as the odious-black smoke The man had been the father he never knew; regardless of the trail dissipated on the stiff mountain winds. Burning debris rained weight, Cameron tried to carry the responsibilities he now held down across several kilometers. It looked as if the sky was bleeding. with the same dedication and honor his mentor did. How could “Can you believe that?” His comm system pounced to life as he do anything less? James broke the silence. “Wow. Too much.” The radar began sweeping, pinpointing Caden’s lance, Geoff ’s Old Wow? Watching a Clan Broadsword-class Drop-Ship falling Guard lance and the lance on loan from the Third Proserpina Hussars. through a cobalt sky had been sobering, true. Like a fl aming Twelve ’Mechs—several green warriors. What would they fi nd over thunderbolt tossed by Zeus’s own hand. But Cameron read deeper. the hill? He checked his secondary monitor and radar screen once What the hell was a Ghost Bear force doing raiding Kiamba? What more, which showed a pair of Tatsu aerospace fi ghters whipping could be of interest to a lone DropShip on Jacob’s Mountain? away at well over Mach two, vanishing over the mountain. Surely they could care less about elements from MacLeod’s “Thanks for the fi re, Hussars. Kind of cold up here.” Lieutenant- Regiment of the Northwind Highlanders. colonel McFadden’s voice broke over the commline. He shivered, though he knew the cockpit didn’t hold a chill Cameron smiled and checked the radar to see Geoff ’s lance the and would soon be anything but cold. He hated it here. Hated next ridgeline over, but more importantly, several hundred meters the snow and the isolation from anything living beyond the small closer to the crash sight. He shook his head, feeling the comforting force around him. Hell, he would’ve preferred Hecate’s Swamp to weight of his neurohelmet. “Going to get yourself in trouble, this eternal cold. But not James. Wherever the action was. boss,” he said, but softly enough not to activate his own mic. Had Cameron ever been that young? That naïve? He hoped not. With that fl ight actually attached to the Hussars’ Third battalion, “Yes, James. Wonderful.” Did the boy hear the sarcasm? Probably and O’Riley’s touchiness over having to do combat exercises— not. The starch of his new cooling vest (handed to him, what, six regardless of how few were involved—with mere mercenaries in months ago upon graduation from the NMA?) probably pushed this northern, frozen wasteland, Cameron just knew ol’ Harrison up against his ears, making it hard for him to hear anything. would make his voice known. Later of course. Always later. And Beyond his own voice, of course. much worse than the original off ense. Cameron couldn’t help but let a quirky smile spread his slim You’d think the Third Proserpina were a Sword of Light regiment lips, a sparkle fl ashing in hazel eyes.