BattleTech

When I was younger, my favorite board game was BattleTech, a game where you control giant mecha that can lay waste to the countryside, and your foes, if you are so inclined. I haven't played in a long time, but that was because most of my old stuff got destroyed in a flood at my apartment building when I lived in Virginia close to 5 years ago. Lately, I must admit that I have been trolling eBay looking at people selling their collections and pondering buying back in. Not that I would really have the time to play it much at all, but just to have it again would be cool.

However, I just learned of a game, distributed free online, called MegaMek. This game lets you play what is essentially BattleTech on your computer. The game is designed for network play, but you can play hotseat on the same computer by simply launching two separate clients. I just got done playing a rousing battle between two lances of 'mechs and supporting hover craft, and it was a hoot. It doesn't look quite the same, but the designers have done as good as they can with a top down view, and they have tons of optional rules programmed in. As a freeware project, the interface isn't immediately accessible, but you get what you pay for, I guess. Seriously, if you have any interest in BattleTech then you need to check out MegaMek, as it lets you play for free. You don't have to buy anything: no rules, no maps, no miniatures, no nothing.

Now I have to consider simply picking up a few scenario books and just using MegaMek to play some BattleTech battles. Totally sweet!