Edge Review:

Battletech Field Manual:

Draconis Combine

Reviewed by Loren Dean


  • published by FASA
  • by Loren L. Coleman
  • 176 pages
  • $20.00

I was first exposed to FASA's Battletech about ten years ago, and have been a fan ever since. After all, what teenager wouldn't like a game about five-story tall robots pummeling each other with 120mm cannon?

Battletech became the first game I ever ran as a campaign and I was always impressed with the volume of background material FASA had produced for it. Not all of it was well-written, and some of the art was just horrid, but I received lots (and I mean lots) of material to draw from and work with.

The Battletech Field Manual: Draconis Combine goes a long towards improving the game's aesthetics, while sacrificing none of the gameworld detail I have come to love. The art has improved dramatically , and the people at FASA are masters at sidebar fiction - giving the reader a strong feel for the game and its world.

The year is 3058, and humanity is reeling from a protracted assault on the human-controlled Inner Sphere by a force known as the Clans (enhanced human expatriots who left known space 100 years ago and came back even meaner than the Borg). All-out warfare has gradually settled into a series of border raids, and the leaders of the Inner Sphere are racing to rebuild their respective militaries before the Clans decide to renew hostilities.

The various Inner Sphere "successor states" do not trust each other (naturally), and so are wary of attacks from other states as well as the Clans. The Draconis Combine (or House Kurita) is one of the four major states in the Inner Sphere, and the BFM:DC details their efforts at reconstruction and refortification.

The book opens with a general discussion of the principles the Combine Military (the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, or DCMS) is based on, and how those principles apply on the battlefield. There is an overview of the code of bushido - the lifestyle all Combine soldiers strive to follow - and now its rigid structure has slowly adapted to 31st century warfare.

From there attention is given to the structure of the DCMS, detailing composition of units, how they function together, their particular uniforms, and their insignia. For those who like illustrations, there are several color plates toward the center of the book with pictures of rank insignia, medals and decoration, uniforms, and regimental paint schemes.

The next section deals with the Combine's Mechwarrior academies and universities, their application procedures, and their training specialties. This is the most role-playing oriented section of the book, and players looking to flesh out a campaign set in the Combine should pay careful attention to it.

The bulk of the book is taken up by a regiment-by-regiment description of every unit in the DCMS, their officers, and their preferred tactics. The DCMS looks frighteningly unified from a distance, but the details provided here show a far less monolithic organization. The Ryuken and Sword of Light units are the cream of the crop, while the maligned Ghost regiments owe their existence to the financial backing of the Yakuza, and the poor warriors of the 15th Benjamin Regulars haven't seen combat in so long that many of its members have forgotten what it is. This section is fascinating reading for Battletech afficionados and newcomers alike.

The book closes with a rules section, presenting several new 'Mech designs along with a section on new equipment and weaponry. There is a substantial section on scenario play, and even the fledgling Combine BattleArmor suits (powered infantry armor) are touched on.

The Battletech Field Manual: Draconis Combine presents an engrossing picture of a military struggling to pick itself up before a once-brutal war gets even worse. For Battletech players, this book is a must-have.

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© Copyright 1996 by Alderac Entertainment Group

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