Where did BattleTech come from?

Our favorite board game has been around for well over 20 years (read 20 Years of BattleTech); where did it come from, anyhow?

In the beginning, there was FASA...

FASA, a small company in Chicago, developed the original BattleDroids in the mid 1980's, the game from which all other BattleTech products developed. With rules that stayed basically the same throughout the game.

While our interest in BattleTech may have been as high as ever, sales were down in the last of the millennium, and FASA decided to close there doors, with a going out of business announcement on January 25, 2001, after almost 20 years in business.

Enter WizKids

Naturally, we were all concerned that we had lost our BattleTech, that the game was going away. Fortunately, that was not the case. Yes, BattleTech was no longer with FASA. But the BattleTech name did go to strangers; Jordan Weisman, one of the original founders of FASA, also started a gaming company called WizKids, LLC (later called WizKids Games and WizKids, Inc.). They had recently introduced a tremendously popular collectable miniatures game called Mage Knight. And he intended to make a collectable mini version of BattleTech within the next year or so.

Now, while were happy that BattleTech wasn't was not going to stay as it was, it was at least a little comforting that one of the originators of the game now had possession of it; he couldn't let us down, could he?

FanPro to the Rescue

While the new WizKids game, MechWarrior: Dark Age, was being developed, Fantasy Productions from Germany was given a license by WizKids to continue with what was then called Classic BattleTech. We would get more of our original BattleTech, after all!

Total War Begins!

In August of 2006, the first in a new series of BattleTech books was released: Total Warfare. Total Warfare includes all of the rules for tournament-legal play, from BattleMechs to ProtoMechs, tracked tanks to DropShips. Next in the series will be the TechManual, which will include design rules and complete specifications for the new equipment introduced in Total Warfare. (You can read more about Total Warfare, and its affect on the HeavyMetal program series at the Total Warfare Q & A page.) With this new series, which will be spread over at least two years, there will be even more BattleTech for us to enjoy, all available in a new and modern format.

FanPro to the Rescue

While the new WizKids game, MechWarrior: Dark Age, was being developed, Fantasy Productions from Germany was given a license by WizKids to continue with what was then called Classic BattleTech. We would get more of our original BattleTech, after all!

New Owners and Providers

The current owner of the BattleTech name is The Topps Company, a leader in games of many types, while Catalyst Game Labs now produces all new BattleTech and related products.

Our game is again producing a great number of even higher quality products under these two companies, and since Catalyst has taken over production of new products for BattleTech, we have seen new products appear at just as high a frequency as during the FASA era, and in our opinion, those products are as high a quality or higher. And with BattleTech.com, our game has a much better web presence than ever before.

The future of BattleTech looks bright!

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