A wizkids collectable miniatures game

The club as a thriving MechWarrior fraternity, generously supported by Chris from Spot-On Models – Swindon’s premiere gaming store.

After much harassment by yours truly (webmaster) these guys have finally gotton around to writing up a few articles for this excellent gaming system. Not only that they have started their very own Solaris VII league – Check out the The official newsletter of the Swindon & District Wargamers Solaris VII League (Its in PDF format to ensure you view it in all its glory!)

Not sure what MechWarrior Darkage is then? Played Classic Battletech and want to know where MechWarrior Darkage fits – then read on…

Time Line

3067: The end of the FedCom Civil War. The military forces of the Federated Suns and the Lyran Alliance are decimated. The rest of the Inner Sphere has been shaken to its core.
Late 3067 The Word of Blake zealots unleash a jihad against the entire inner sphere. No realm is left untouched, as the zealots use previously prohibited biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

3071-3078: Devlin Stone slowly builds an army to fight the Word of Blake, and after defeating them, takes control of all worlds within a 120 light-year radius of Terra

3081: The Republic of the Sphere is born and peace erupts.

One of the central priorities of the new society is decommissioning the majority of the BattleMechs and retooling the wartime economy. As the Republics’ prosperity grows, all the Great Houses follow suit and BattleMechs become a rare sight.

3130: Devlin Stone retires and vanishes.

3132: 80% of the HPG communications grid goes off-line and rumours of war begin to spread. Old hatreds and rivalries resurface and factionalism shatters the Republic. IndustrialMechs are pressed into service as war sweeps the galaxy, and the few remaining battlemechs return to the battlefields.

The above is the background to the Mechwarrior Dark Age game from Wizkids. It is based on the combat dial system, which enables the game to be played without cumbersome rulebooks and pencil & paper bookkeeping. Lots more details, including downloadable rule sets, are available on the wizkids site (hyperlink please to http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mwdarkage/ ). Those of you who play Classic Battletech will have spotted this system is set in their future.

At SAD wargamers, this new version of the established BattleTech game has become a bit of a passion for a group of us of up to 14 players with a core group of 5 (you know who you are!). Led by our two battlemasters and sponsored by our venue at Spot On Models, Fleet Street, Swindon , we regularly run 2 or 3 events a month. At each event, two prizes are available, one for the winner and one for the fellowship prize, which is usually awarded at random – that way everybody who plays has a chance of winning something. If you are interested then drop me an email or just turn up at one of the events advertised on the main SAD Wargamers page. Our more experienced players have far too many models and can always find an army for you to try out the game system -but beware that’s how many of us started and it’s a slippery slope…