Tales of the Black Widow Company

Last updated

Tales of the Black Widow Company is a game supplement for BattleTech published by FASA in 1985.

Contents

Contents

Tales of the Black Widow Company is a supplement describing the mercenary company known as The Black Widow Company of Wolf's Dragoons. [1] Tales of the Black Widow Company details the history, organization, individual mechwarriors and BattleMechs of Natasha Kerensky and her mercenary unit; it also includes 12 short scenarios. [2]

Publication history

Tales of the Black Widow Company was written by Jordan Weisman, L. Ross Babcock III, Patrick Larkin, Richard Meyer, J. Andrew Keith, and William H. Keith, Jr., with a cover by Jim Holloway, and was published by FASA in 1985 as a 48-page book. [2]

Shannon Appelcline stated that FASA was "looking into how to market Battletech more like an RPG, with more constant releases than a normal wargame could support" and that "This new strategy started off with saddle-stitched books of wargaming scenarios such as Tales of the Black Widow's Company (1985) and The Fox's Teeth (1985)." [3] :69

Reception

Stephan Wieck reviewed Tales of the Black Widow Company in White Wolf #7 (1987), rating it a 7 out of 10 and stated that "Useless if you prefer to play your own unit instead of playing the Widow's company. Good background for posible opponents to players. Excellent if you only own Battletech." [4]

Related Research Articles

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 video games, Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios; Catalyst Game Studios licenses the franchise from Topps.

West End Games (WEG) was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product lines included Star Wars, Paranoia, Torg, DC Universe, and Junta.

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.

Robert N. Charrette is an American graphic artist, game designer, sculptor and author. Charrette has authored more than a dozen novels. His gaming materials have received many Origins Awards. Charrette was inducted in the Origins Hall of Fame in 2003. His work is known for a clean, realistic style that invokes themes from Feudal Japan and Chanbara films and in particular, historical and fantastic representations of Samurai culture. His early work in game design and miniature sculpting set the tone for depictions of Japanese mythology in American fantasy and science fiction. His 1979 role-playing game Bushido was one of the first role-playing games with a non-Western theme and remained in print for more than three decades. Charrette produced gaming products for Fantasy Games Unlimited, Grenadier Models Inc., Ral Partha Enterprises, FASA and currently operates Parroom Enterprises, LLC, a boutique miniatures game company.

<i>AeroTech</i> 1996 wargame

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.

<i>MechWarrior</i> (role-playing game) Science fiction tabletop role-playing game

MechWarrior is a set of role-playing game rules published by FASA Corporation in 1986 that were designed to be used with FASA's previously published mecha wargame BattleTech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CityTech</span> 1986 board game

CityTech is a FASA wargame first published in 1986 and set in the BattleTech fictional universe.

World Wide Wargames, or 3W, was a wargame company founded in 1977 by Keith Poulter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Andrew Keith</span> American game designer

John Andrew Keith was an American author and games developer.

<i>Psi World</i> Tabletop science fiction role-playing game

Psi World is a science fiction role-playing game published by Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) in 1984 that takes place in a near-future society in which certain individuals have psionic powers.

<i>Robot Warriors</i> Tabletop science fiction mecha role-playing game

Robot Warriors is a science fiction mecha role-playing game published by Hero Games and Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) in 1986.

<i>The Chronicles of Talislanta</i> Tabletop role-playing game supplement

The Chronicles of Talislanta is a supplement published by Bard Games in 1987 for the fantasy role-playing game Talislanta.

<i>BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction</i> Nonfiction book

BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction is a non-fiction book published by Catalyst Game Labs in 2009 about the science fiction wargame BattleTech. It includes artwork, a description of the development of the game, an historical timeline of in-game history, and twenty pieces of fiction by authors such as Michael A. Stackpole, Robert Charrette and Victor Milán.

BattleTech: Map Set 1 is a game supplement for BattleTech published by FASA in 1985.

Decision at Thunder Rift is a novel by William H. Keith Jr. published in 1986.

Whimsy Cards is a 1987 role-playing game supplement published by Lion Rampant.

<i>Star Trek: The Next Generation Officers Manual</i> Star Trek Role-Playing game rule supplement

Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual is a supplement published by FASA in 1988 for Star Trek: The Role Playing Game to update game material following the premiere of the new television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. However Paramount Pictures did not feel FASA's new material matched the ethos of the new series, and pulled FASA's license to produce Star Trek material the following year.

<i>DNA / DOA</i>

DNA / DOA is the first published adventure for the near-future cyberpunk role-playing game Shadowrun, released by FASA in 1989. Written by Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, Stephan Wieck criticized it for being more like a D&D adventure than a modern high-tech cyberpunk scenario.

<i>Sprawl Sites</i> Tabletop role-playing game supplement

Sprawl Sites is a supplement published by FASA in 1990 for the near-future cyberpunk role-playing game Shadowrun.

<i>Rockerboy</i> Role-playing game supplement

Rockerboy is a supplement published by R. Talsorian Games in 1989 for the dystopian near-future role-playing game Cyberpunk.

References

  1. "Tales of the Black Widow Company".
  2. 1 2 Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. p. 296. ISBN   0-87975-653-5.
  3. Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '80s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN   978-1-61317-081-6.
  4. Wieck, Stephan (1987). "Battletech Game System". White Wolf Magazine . No. 7. p. 26. and