BattleTech or BattleTech – A Game of Armored Combat  is a Mecha turn-based strategy video game developed by Harebrained Schemes and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released on macOS and Windows on April 24, 2018, with a Linux release on November 27, 2018. The developers set aside US$1 million to create the game, and turned to Kickstarter to secure funding for additional features, including a single player campaign, an expansion of that campaign, and a player versus player multiplayer mode.

In the game, the player assumes the role of a mercenary commander leading a team of powerful combat vehicles called battlemechs. The player is responsible for selecting each mech’s model, armor, pilot, armaments, and skills, and controls a team of four mechs (a ‘lance’) in combat. The world of BattleTech is dominated by powerful noble houses locked in a devastating war, and the player selects one or more houses to serve.

The game shares a setting with the board game that launched the BattleTech franchise, Classic BattleTech, and many members of the development team have worked on previous games in the franchise. This includes both of the studio’s co-founders; Jordan Weisman created the franchise while at FASA, and Mitch Gitelman was the producer for MechCommander and MechAssault.

Gameplay

BattleTech is a turn-based strategy video game. Players assume the role of a mercenary commander leading a “mech lance”, or group of four giant humanoid-shaped combat vehicles. The developers state that the game will have the spirit of the board game but will not use the board game’s rules. The player selects each mech’s chassis, the weapons and armor mounted on that chassis, as well as smaller details such as actuators and gyros that influence a mech’s turning radius. In addition to choosing hardware, the player can also specialize the mech’s pilots (called “mechwarriors”) by selecting talents from a skill tree.^[1][2]