Designers | L. Ross Babcock III, Cory Glaberson, Jordan Weisman |
---|---|
Publishers | FASA Corporation |
Publication | 1987 |
Players | 2–20 |
Playing time | 120 minutes |
BattleForce was originally created by FASA Corporation, a wargame set in the BattleTech universe designed to allow the simulation of larger-scale actions. Units typically represent lances, but there are provisions for allowing the counters to represent larger units/formations, such as companies, battalions, and so forth.
Normal BattleTech game play usually is set up for small encounters (up to 12 units per side). Though large battles are possible using the normal games rules for BattleTech, the game can consume a lot of time to play. BattleForce was designed to remedy this problem.
The game allows wide use of units (vehicles, Battlemechs, air vehicles, etc.).
In 2006, BattleTech was relaunched, revising and reprinting many its rule sets under the name of the BattleTech: Total Warfare rule set. A supplementary rulebook called Strategic Operations includes several chapters for revised and updated edition of BattleForce and its successor Battleforce 2. New units have been added to BattleForce game (including new units added to BattleTech since its launch, including Large Naval Vessels). While BattleForce's elements appear in Interstellar Operations which will be a component of large scale combat operations on interstellar scale (Solar System to Solar System vs planetary operation which BattleForce is originally conceived for).
In its simplest description the game of BattleForce is still a tactical level game comparable to BattleTech, but on a slightly larger scale. Individual vehicles still retain statistics to track, but are much simplified over the normal game of BattleTech.
For example, in BattleTech a BattleMech combat robot is tracked internally for 8 locations and for exterior armor in 11 locations, but in the game of BattleForce there is a pair of stats for armor and internal structure as a whole, both of which are usually single digit numbers between 1 and 9.
Combat units are grouped together and move together in small units rather than independently.
There are also far less complicated rules for movement and for variables like terrain and movement's effect on weapon accuracy.
Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat.
Car Wars is a vehicle combat simulation game developed by Steve Jackson Games. It was first published in 1980. Players control armed vehicles in a post-apocalyptic future.
Warhammer 40,000 is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, and the 10th and current edition was released in June 2023.
BattleTech is a wargaming and military science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2001, which was in turn acquired by Topps in 2003; and published since 2007 by Catalyst Game Labs. The trademark is currently owned by Topps and, for videogames, Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios; Catalyst Game Studios licenses the franchise from Topps.
Motorized infantry is infantry that is transported by trucks or other motor vehicles. It is distinguished from mechanized infantry, which is carried in armoured personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles, and from light infantry, which can typically operate autonomously from supporting elements and vehicles for relatively long periods and may be airborne.
The 8th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army that served in the European Theater of World War II.
Renegade Legion is a series of science fiction games that were designed by Sam Lewis, produced by FASA, and published from 1989 to 1993. The line was then licensed to Nightshift games, a spin-off of the garage company Crunchy Frog Enterprises by Paul Arden Lidberg, which published one scenario book, a gaming aid, and three issues of a fanzine-quality periodical before reverting the license.
Federation and Empire (F&E) is a strategic-level board wargame set in the fictional Star Fleet Universe spinoff of Star Trek, currently published by Amarillo Design Bureau Inc. (ADB). It is a stand-alone product, but has sometimes been considered the official campaign generator for Star Fleet Battles.
Classic BattleTech is a table-top wargame set in the fictional BattleTech universe that simulates combat between futuristic mechanized forces. Originally published by FASA Corporation, the game is now produced by Catalyst Game Labs under license from WizKids. The term "Classic" is used to differentiate the original game from variants and related games that have derived from it, such as MechWarrior: Dark Age. The game has an extensive range of 1/285 scale miniatures.
Heavy Gear is a mecha science fiction game universe published since 1994 by Canadian publisher Dream Pod 9. It includes a tabletop tactical wargame, a role-playing game, and a combat card game. The setting is also known through the PC game incarnations published by Activision in 1997 and 1999, which were developed after Activision lost the rights to the Battletech/MechWarrior series. It also spawned a 40-episode, 3D-animated TV series in 2001, which featured a much simplified version of the universe developed in the role-playing game.
Chainmail is a medieval miniature wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the core medieval system of the game by expanding on rules authored by his fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) member Jeff Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly. Guidon Games released the first edition of Chainmail in 1971.
Rise and Decline of the Third Reich or more commonly Third Reich is a grand strategy wargame covering the European theater of World War II, designed by John Prados and released in 1974 by Avalon Hill. Players take on the roles of major powers—Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States—from 1939 to 1946.
The Robotech Defenders are a line of scale model kits released by Revell during the early 1980s with an accompanying limited comic series published by DC Comics. Contrary to what their name seems to imply, the "'Robotech Defenders'" are not part of the Robotech anime universe adapted by Carl Macek and released by Harmony Gold USA, but they did adopt the same moniker and logo.
Starfire is a board wargame simulating space warfare and empire building in the 23rd century, created by Stephen V. Cole in 1979.
CAV or Combat Assault Vehicle is a miniatures wargame by Reaper Miniatures.
AeroTech is a tabletop wargame published by FASA and set in the BattleTech universe. It simulates combat between aerospace fighters, troop-carrying DropShips, and interstellar JumpShips and WarShips. The name "AeroTech" defines space/air elements of BattleTech universe. There have been five revisions of these rules.
Recon is a military role-playing game where players assume the role of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. The first edition featured a wargame with role-playing elements, somewhat like Behind Enemy Lines and Twilight 2000, then gradually evolved into a full role-playing game.
Tide of Iron is a World War II based wargame designed and published in 2007 by Fantasy Flight Games, also notable for publishing other large games containing a large number of counters and/or other components such as World of Warcraft: The Board Game and Arkham Horror.
The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle that is a member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family. It is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments.
Combat Mission is the name of a series of computer wargames simulating tactical battles. The series has progressed through two distinct game engines. The original game engine, referred to as 'CMx1' by the developer, Battlefront.com, powered a trio of games set in the Second World War. Combat Mission: Shock Force was released in July 2007 as the debut of the 'CMx2' game engine. The Combat Mission games are a mixture of turn-based gameplay and simultaneous real-time execution. The game environment is fully three-dimensional, with a "Wego" style of play wherein each player enters their orders into the computer simultaneously during pauses in the action, and then are powerless to intervene during the action phase. More familiar turn-based games use an "I-go/You-go" system of play.