BattleTech Gothic is the first spinoff BattleTech’s produced in 40 years. It’s an alternate timeline that branched out a bit before the games we generally play, enabling Catalyst to experiment with some different aesthetics and rules than we get in the core game. That said, it’s still very much classic BattleTech at the core – these are some new rules on top of the existing ones, not a replacement. In this review I’m going to look at what you get in the box, how the core BattleTech rules work, and how the new Gothic content integrates into the game.

I’d like to thank Catalyst Game Labs for providing us a free copy of BattleTech Gothic for our review. It releases at GenCon this weekend, with a wider release expected mid-August.

What Is BattleTech?

BattleTech is a high detail hex-based wargame set a bit over 1000 years in the future, where 12-meter tall Battlemechs are the main military force. It has a lot of roots in RPGs, where each individual unit is tracked on its own record sheet, able to take damage to individual limbs and degrade in performance over the course of a game. It’s almost entirely played with 2d6, and you’ll rarely be rolling whole handfuls of dice.

What’s in the Box

This is a chunky box, a little bit thicker than the A Game of Armored Combat or Alpha Strike boxes. Inside, there’s a 120 page rulebook, a 72 page universe primer, two sheets of punchout hexes – one of monsters and mechs, one of alternate terrain, a double-sided game map, a decal sheet, quick reference card, cards for Alpha Strike or Battlefield Support Points, a whole pile of wet or dry-erase record sheets, a double-sided universe map or recognition guide poster, and eight plastic ‘mechs. The rulebook covers the core BattleTech rules, how to use Abominations (which are the unique game mechanic Gothic adds), a couple scenarios to play, and a page of fluff about each of the monsters and ‘mechs in the box. The universe primer is all you need to know what’s going on, whether you’re a veteran ‘mechwarrior or not. In it is a timeline from 2100 to 3015 (the present, according to BattleTech Gothic), background information on each of the major realms, and an overview of what exactly ‘mechs and abominations are.

One of the punchboard sheets has all the abominations, with between two and four of each, depending on how big they are (you won’t be using as many of the big ones in games as you will the small ones). Helpfully, they’re all numbered, so it’s easy to keep track of damage on each one as you play. The back side of the abominations are unlabeled, which gets used in an Abomination Unknown set of optional rules, where you know there’s an abomination but not which one it is. There’s also a full set of ‘mechs, which is needed as some of the scenarios in the book use more than one of each ‘mech. The back side of these tokens are also ‘mechs, in a different arrangement (so you don’t have an Atlas on both sides of the same token).

The other sheet is a variety of terrain alterations you can use to change up the maps from game to game.

For the first time in a BattleTech product we have a sheet of decals, and these are every bit as high quality as ones from GW. The decal film is nicely applied only around each individual transfer, and they’re printed with a layer of white ink first, so they’re nicely opaque and you don’t need to carefully trim close to the print. I found them to separate from the transfer paper quickly and apply nicely. For full instructions on using decals check out our Hobby 102 article at this link. Unusually for decals, these have a nicely matte film – which means that if applied without varnish over the top they’ll still look decent, though I highly recommend varnish.

The game map is the standard BattleTech size and looks fantastic. On one side you’ve got a beat up battlefield, covered in mech-sized trenches, burning forests, and has a river crossing the middle. It works well for the BattleTech Gothic games (or other BattleTech games set in the Succession Wars era), but is a little limited in later era games with longer ranged weapons – it doesn’t have a lot of elevation, so has a lot of open sight lines. BattleTech Gothic is mostly short ranged, so it’s not an issue for playing out of the box.

The other side of the map is the palace, which is clearly based off the city map pack released in the recent Kickstarter, only dirtied and gothiced up. It runs into some of the same issues for later era games as the trenches map where the center of this map is fairly open and allows for very long shots, this map also having a lack of tree cover. It does work fine for the scenarios in the box, so this is mostly just me wishlisting – these are beautiful maps, and I’d love to use them in other games of BattleTech (and get full map packs based on these so I can expand them into larger games).

Finally, and probably the main draw of this box, are the eight plastic ‘mechs. Included in the box are an Atlas (including parts to build it with different decoration for each of the five major realms), a King Crab, a Marauder, a Rifleman, a Scorpion, a Phoenix Hawk, a Firestarter, and finally an Urbanmech. These are a touch bigger than regular versions of these minis, though not enough that they feel out of place used next to other ‘mechs. Going up in size makes these the cleanest minis Catalyst has made yet, with sharper detail and fewer mold lines. The larger ones do overhang their bases a touch, but those same ‘mechs overhang their bases at a smaller size as well.

One thing to note on the minis is that they seem covered in grease from the mold removal process – make sure to give them a good wash with dish soap before you start painting. I’ve noticed this on a lot of Catalyst minis released since the Mercenaries Kickstarter, and while annoying I’ll happily take it in trade for the increased quality of recent minis.

Each of these ‘mechs comes with two copies of a premium record sheet – plastic coated so you can use wet or dry erase markers on it. One side is the common base variant of the ‘mech, and the other side is a new variant for Gothic, using some less common items – melee weapons or blazers.

One thing I think is missing from the box are movement dice. While it comes with a pair of d6 to do gameplay with, ‘mechs generate defensive modifiers based on how far they moved, and recording that on the table so both players can see is common. Typically this is done with a white, black, or red d6 depending on movement type, and I think adding a couple sets of them would make getting started a lot easier. As is, you’re going to want to find some of your own quickly.

How BattleTech Plays

Experienced BattleTech players can skip over this section, but as this is a standalone product I’m going to run through some of the basics of playing BattleTech. Everything is based on the hex map, record sheets, and rolling 2d6. It’s a mini-agnostic game, so while Gothic comes with some beautiful minis you don’t need to use them – as long as you can recognize which unit is which and what direction is forward, you’re good to go. The tokens in the Gothic box work perfectly with the minis for clear gameplay.

Gameplay is divided into six phases, Initiative, Movement, Weapon Attacks, Physical Attacks, Heat, and the End Phase. During each phase you alternate back and forth with your opponent to activate (generally) one ‘mech at a time, so neither player is just sitting there waiting for their opponent for very long. The initiative phase starts the turn, and determines priority for activations – whoever wins a roll-off activates second, allowing them to react to the other player’s actions.

Movement is based on the hex map, where each unit has a certain number of movement points (MP). Each hex moved into takes one MP, with additional costs for things like moving into forests, up or down hills, or through water. The further you move in a turn the harder you are to be hit with weapon and physical attacks, making planning your movement a couple turns in advance important – if you have to spin in place, you’re going to get shot a lot.

Weapon attacks are declared in alternating order, but all resolve at the same time. If your ‘mech is working going into the phase, it’ll still get to shoot, so it’s very rare to have your shiny new ‘mech get blown up before it can even try to do anything. Hitting shots is based on the gunnery skill of your pilot, how fast your ‘mech moved, how fast the target ‘mech moved, range, and intervening cover or terrain. Rolling with 2d6 puts hits on a bell curve, with a lot of shots on the upper end, hitting on a 9+. The goal of your movement is generally to set up situations where you’re getting better shots than your opponent, with a 6+ to-hit being fantastic. ‘Mechs that take too much damage have a chance to fall over, doing more damage and having a chance to knock the pilot out.

Physical attacks are like weapon attacks, only against units adjacent to your ‘mech. Most common is kicking, likely one of the single biggest hits a ‘mech can do, and with every hit causing a chance to fall over.

Each weapon used generates heat, which is tracked in the Heat phase. Increased heat slows ‘mechs, makes them less accurate, and has a chance to shut the ‘mech down or cause ammo to explode. As most ‘mechs generate more heat than they dissipate, there’s an important balance to be struck between outgoing damage and how much you heat up.

While this seems like a lot to track, BattleTech is generally played with 4-6 units on a side, and the information needed to play is on the record sheet or a quick reference card. After a couple games to lock in how to calculate hit numbers it’s surprisingly simple, though not lacking in depth of choice.

What’s New in BattleTech Gothic

The big addition in BattleTech Gothic over the core game are Abominations, genetically engineered cyborg monsters that, while weaker than a ‘mech, still pose a real threat – especially in number. Abominations function a lot like battle armor from the Total Warfare rules, able to move without needing to track facing and only having a single hit location per monster. There are four different sizes of Abomination, and 10 pre-made units (along with blank record sheets so you can make your own). They carry a mix of mostly short range weapons, with one of their big hits being one-shot SRM launchers that can fling out an absurd number of missiles if they hit.

In testing I think they’ve struck a pretty good mix – they’re not complicated to use, so adding them into what’s primarily a ‘mech fight doesn’t add too much overhead, but they still function in the way you expect – building target movement modifier depending on how far they’ve moved, making attacks with individual weapons, and damage being spread across individual monsters. From my perspective the biggest gameplay concern is how swingy their offense can be, particularly the one shot SRM units that can easily end up putting 20 SRM tubes into a target.

The rulebook has three scenarios to play with premade forces on each side. The first is a classic wave defense, with escalating waves of Abominations attacking a handful of ‘mechs that are trying to survive. The second mission is a lopsided hunting team against a mix of hidden abominations and ‘mechs, and the third is a stand-up fight around the palace with the attackers attempting to destroy a specific set of buildings. Each scenario has a few ideas for how to adjust the scenarios with different options, giving you a bit of extra replayability, though I’d definitely call them one of the weakest parts of this box and figure people will be making their own soon enough.

The big miss here, which ties in to the scenarios, is that there’s no published BV (points, in most other games) for any of the abominations, nor are there rules or guidelines for building your own beyond how many HP different types can have. While these scenarios are pretty well balanced, it becomes hard to swap ‘mechs or abominations out for other options when you don’t have a reference point for how powerful they are. It also makes them hard to combine with other BattleTech products, as everything is going to be trial and error. It’s not the end of the world, but it feels like an entirely unforced error.

In addition to the abomination record sheets there are a set of Alpha Strike cards for all the ‘mechs and abominations, and a set of BSP cards using the Battlefield Support system from the Mercenaries box. These do both have point values, so are going to be easier to use in other games, but while I’m not familiar enough to evaluate the Alpha Strike cards I think the BSP cards lack some of the interest of the full record sheets, which have their unique melee attacks and lots of one-shot weapons. In comparison, the BSP cards just have consistent damage through the game and nothing special in melee.

One other minor quibble with the missions is that the second and third both have you mixing token ‘mechs in with the plastic ones. It feels like they could’ve all been designed to exclusively use the plastic ‘mechs in the box, though that might’ve required replacing the Urbanmech with something that’s actually useful.

The Mechs

There’s not a whole ton to say here – the Atlas comes with options for five different heads, capes, and little details, which is fun – I’m glad Catalyst have started doing the occasional multi-part ‘mechs that you can make more individual. All the rest are standard pre-assembled minis. Each one is a touch bigger than the same ‘mech in other products, but the only one I really notice it on is the Marauder. None of them are enough bigger to bother me.

Each ‘mech has a premium record sheet – full color and plasticized so you can use wet or dry erase pen on it. They’re nice sheets, but missing things like cluster tables you can get by printing your own from Megamek, so I’m not sure how much use they’ll get from me.

The two variants the Atlas comes with are the AS7-D and AS7-H. The new AS7-H mixes a heavy energy weapon load in with a hatchet.

The King Crab’s two variants are the classic KGC-0000 with the pair of AC/20s in its hands, and a new KGC-0KP mixing PPCs and light blazers in the hands and an AC/20 in the torso – it feels a lot like a Marauder II.

The Marauder brings us a classic MAD-3R, left torso ammo bomb included, and a MAD-3H, a very Black Knight feeling variant with four light blazers, a large laser, and a mace.

Everyone’s favorite overheating Rifleman has a standard RFL-3N and a RFL-3B, equipped with two blazer cannons and nowhere near enough heat sinks. Great if you want your ‘mech to glow from orbit.

In addition to the standard PXH-1, the Phoenix Hawk has one of my favorite new variants in the PXH-1T, equipped with four medium lasers, a sword, and an SRM 6.

The Scorpion SCP-1N gets an alternate SCP-1B, slowing it down a touch to upgrade the weapons to a blazer cannon and pair of SRM 6s.

The standard Firestarter is the FS9-H, with the new variant being the FS9-HB, swapping the medium lasers and machine guns out for a pair of light blazers.

And finally we have the walking trashcan, with your standard UM-R60 and a new UM-R60B, equipped with a pair of heavy machine guns and a blazer cannon.

These are the cleanest casts I’ve gotten from Catalyst yet, with good detail everywhere and minimal mold lines. The one thing to watch out for is the mold release agent, which washes off easily with warm water and dish soap.

Unfortunately lacking are any minis for the abominations. While I get that Catalyst’s experience is in ‘mech minis, the art for the abominations is terrific. There’s just something that feels a bit flat about setting up your new game, and having half the units be physical models while the other half are cardboard tokens.

Should You Buy It?

The big draw for most people is probably the minis, which look great. They are going to be polarizing as they’re so heavily stylized, and if you don’t like the gothic look then I don’t think there’s enough going on in the box to be worth it. If you do like the style, absolutely worth it – the ‘mechs look good, and most people will get some fun gameplay out of the Abominations.

The one thing that holds me back in my recommendation is the lack of BV on the Abominations. Most games of BattleTech are at least roughly balanced by BV, whether a pickup game or a long term campaign, and not having that makes Abominations so much harder to use. Even if we didn’t get full rules to build your own, providing a value for the pre-made Abominations on the record sheets would’ve been easy, and I hope CGL sees this and provides that in a PDF at some point (hopefully along with printable PDFs of the record sheets – as nice as the included ones are, sometimes I’d rather work in pencil than dry erase).

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.