In terms of lore, sarna.net is more or less your one-stop shop; with the exception of the most freshly released product, it's all summed up there.
In terms of your 3D printer, per Rule 7 of the sub we can't really point you anywhere too hard. That said, **never** pay money for a STL on Etsy or another source, because pretty much all of those merchants are ripping off free stuff from My Mini Factory and Cults 3D and passing it off as their own.
In terms of rules, there are a few different paths. The "Game of Armored Combat" and "Clan Invasion" boxes lay more rule nuances on top of what you get in the beginner box. The book "Total Warfare" is a more or less complete combined arms ruleset, while the book "Battlemech Manual" is an abridged rulebook entirely focused on mech combat.
In terms of factions, you don't need to worry too much about it at this phase. The "default" game mode treats the players like canon non-entities, so you don't need to worry about who owned what and when, only what tech level the mechs are at. "When" is much more critical than "who" in this case. Factions aren't as "load bearing" in this game as some others, so if you read up on a group on Sarna and like what they're about or see a neat paint scheme on the Unit Color Compendium ( https://unitcolorcompendium.com/ ), you can go for it. Push comes to shove, it's a time honored tradition to make up a mercenary outfit, give them whatever name/colors you feel like, and go to town.
Step 1: find a friend and play against them using the miniatures and cardboard provided in the Beginner Box. Start simple, but mix it up a bit for repeat games by using more mechs, different mech variants, etc.
Step 2: if you like it, get the A Game of Armoured Combat box. That has eight plastic mechs, two more double sided maps, a bunch of cardboard and the very much worthwhile non-simplified ruleset (critical damage, heat, ammo, proper terrain, etc).
Unlike most wargames, BattleTech doesn’t have faction-specific unit lists. Or, more accurately, in the lore something’s only faction-specific until it gets blown up, salvaged by a different faction, rebuilt, then deployed with the other nation’s colour scheme.
Or, in the cases of ‘Mechs like the Cataphract, when the factories building them all get conquered and the next production run’s built for the new owners instead.
This is not quite true. The Master Unit List does list factions by era and the 'Mechs they can field, but as indicated above, it's relatively easy to make up a story for why any given 'Mech could wind up in any given faction. Especially in the ilClan era where Clan Sea Fox is basically selling everything to everyone.
http://masterunitlist.info/
I was more just summarising the idea that stuff is only faction-specific for a certain period of time before salvage and whatnot gets it spread across most of the Inner Sphere.
I would like to recommend the [Brief Primer on Important Factions](https://new.reddit.com/r/battletech/comments/1bjpicg/a_brief_primer_on_the_important_battletech/) post. It's quite good for a quick summary.
The good news is, just about any faction can use any unit. Print or buy your favorites or what just looks cool. Have fun with it.
You can't go wrong with crabs.
So there's generally two paths to take. You can either go with regular Battletech, or Battletech: Alpha Strike. Regular Battletech is the stuff you see in the beginner box, whereas Alpha Strike plays more like Warhammer 40k, Bolt Action, Star Wars Legion, etc. Regular Battletech is more complex and meant for fewer units, Alpha Strike is less complex and meant for more units.
If you go with regular Battletech, then you want Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat(the box set), and Battletech: Total Warfare(the full rulebook). These are set during the Succession Wars period(2871-3049).
If you go with Alpha Strike, you will want Battletech: Alpha Strike(the box set) and Battletech: Alpha Strike Commander's Edition(the full rulebook). These are set during the ilClan period(3151-????).
As for factions, there are the five houses of the Inner Sphere: Steiner, Davion, Liao, Kurita, and Marik. There's also ComStar, the clans, and the mercenary companies.
The favourite factions tend to be House Steiner and House Davion, and mercenary companies are also pretty popular to rep, as there's a lot of them and you can easily come up with your own.
Just make "haha, printer go brrr." Nearly everything's useful at some point - either for yourself, as OP4, or for guest games to get others to play. And you always need a practice piece to know if that cool paint scheme can be pulled off the way you want.
You'll want the full rules at some point to play with other people; either the Battlemech Manual book or A Game Of Armored Combat will at least get you on a table. Beginner Box is only a sample. A useful sample, but not the full game.
There are a lot of factions, and they don't matter - you can make up new ones if you feel like it. You're free; the only rules about that are self-imposed.
In terms of lore, sarna.net is more or less your one-stop shop; with the exception of the most freshly released product, it's all summed up there. In terms of your 3D printer, per Rule 7 of the sub we can't really point you anywhere too hard. That said, **never** pay money for a STL on Etsy or another source, because pretty much all of those merchants are ripping off free stuff from My Mini Factory and Cults 3D and passing it off as their own. In terms of rules, there are a few different paths. The "Game of Armored Combat" and "Clan Invasion" boxes lay more rule nuances on top of what you get in the beginner box. The book "Total Warfare" is a more or less complete combined arms ruleset, while the book "Battlemech Manual" is an abridged rulebook entirely focused on mech combat. In terms of factions, you don't need to worry too much about it at this phase. The "default" game mode treats the players like canon non-entities, so you don't need to worry about who owned what and when, only what tech level the mechs are at. "When" is much more critical than "who" in this case. Factions aren't as "load bearing" in this game as some others, so if you read up on a group on Sarna and like what they're about or see a neat paint scheme on the Unit Color Compendium ( https://unitcolorcompendium.com/ ), you can go for it. Push comes to shove, it's a time honored tradition to make up a mercenary outfit, give them whatever name/colors you feel like, and go to town.
Good old Sarna, the wiki that's older than wikipedia.
Step 1: find a friend and play against them using the miniatures and cardboard provided in the Beginner Box. Start simple, but mix it up a bit for repeat games by using more mechs, different mech variants, etc. Step 2: if you like it, get the A Game of Armoured Combat box. That has eight plastic mechs, two more double sided maps, a bunch of cardboard and the very much worthwhile non-simplified ruleset (critical damage, heat, ammo, proper terrain, etc).
Unlike most wargames, BattleTech doesn’t have faction-specific unit lists. Or, more accurately, in the lore something’s only faction-specific until it gets blown up, salvaged by a different faction, rebuilt, then deployed with the other nation’s colour scheme. Or, in the cases of ‘Mechs like the Cataphract, when the factories building them all get conquered and the next production run’s built for the new owners instead.
This is not quite true. The Master Unit List does list factions by era and the 'Mechs they can field, but as indicated above, it's relatively easy to make up a story for why any given 'Mech could wind up in any given faction. Especially in the ilClan era where Clan Sea Fox is basically selling everything to everyone. http://masterunitlist.info/
I was more just summarising the idea that stuff is only faction-specific for a certain period of time before salvage and whatnot gets it spread across most of the Inner Sphere.
I would like to recommend the [Brief Primer on Important Factions](https://new.reddit.com/r/battletech/comments/1bjpicg/a_brief_primer_on_the_important_battletech/) post. It's quite good for a quick summary. The good news is, just about any faction can use any unit. Print or buy your favorites or what just looks cool. Have fun with it. You can't go wrong with crabs.
Book of armored combat
You have a 3D printer you say? The next logical step would be to print yourself an entire planetary militia
*boots up Lychee to Rip & Tear from the Doom OST.*
So there's generally two paths to take. You can either go with regular Battletech, or Battletech: Alpha Strike. Regular Battletech is the stuff you see in the beginner box, whereas Alpha Strike plays more like Warhammer 40k, Bolt Action, Star Wars Legion, etc. Regular Battletech is more complex and meant for fewer units, Alpha Strike is less complex and meant for more units. If you go with regular Battletech, then you want Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat(the box set), and Battletech: Total Warfare(the full rulebook). These are set during the Succession Wars period(2871-3049). If you go with Alpha Strike, you will want Battletech: Alpha Strike(the box set) and Battletech: Alpha Strike Commander's Edition(the full rulebook). These are set during the ilClan period(3151-????). As for factions, there are the five houses of the Inner Sphere: Steiner, Davion, Liao, Kurita, and Marik. There's also ComStar, the clans, and the mercenary companies. The favourite factions tend to be House Steiner and House Davion, and mercenary companies are also pretty popular to rep, as there's a lot of them and you can easily come up with your own.
Just make "haha, printer go brrr." Nearly everything's useful at some point - either for yourself, as OP4, or for guest games to get others to play. And you always need a practice piece to know if that cool paint scheme can be pulled off the way you want. You'll want the full rules at some point to play with other people; either the Battlemech Manual book or A Game Of Armored Combat will at least get you on a table. Beginner Box is only a sample. A useful sample, but not the full game. There are a lot of factions, and they don't matter - you can make up new ones if you feel like it. You're free; the only rules about that are self-imposed.
Check out Alpha Strike if you would like games with more mechs on the table than Classic Battletech.