Battletech

Welcome, Mechwarrior, to Battletech, the classic game of armored combat. This is the central hub for all our 'mech related content - reviews, tactics guides, mech overviews, and the fluff of the 32nd century.

Playtest Packages

In preparation for printing a redesigned set of rulebooks sometime no earlier than late 2026, Catalyst is working on playtesting some minor rules tweaks. They have five planned sets of tweaks they're asking for public playtest on. Each time one of these packets drops, we'll be giving our commentary on what the changes are and whether we like them.

Playtest Package #1 - Survivability

Playtest Package #1 Final Thoughts

Playtest Package #2 - Mobility

Playtest Package #3 - Gear

Playtest Package #4 - Missions

Playtest Package #5 - Aerospace

Battlemech Championships 2025

Our contributors went through each weight class and put together their personal top 10 list of best mechs, along with why they picked each one. We also did some analysis of the picks, the similarities, and how those can be used to evaluate mechs.

Lights

Mediums

Heavies

Assaults

Analysis

Mech Overviews

Mech Overviews are a detailed dive into a mech where we take a look at all the available variants and whether they're an effective use of your BV. In order to keep everything on the same footing, we're assuming you're playing in the IlClan era and are using things like specialized ammo. We're also assuming that you're playing one-off games, as campaigns can be very different depending on how you're tracking ammunition, maintenance, and what kind of narrative opponents you're fighting. Any of the mechs below with a colored image can be clicked on to read their overview, and the greyed out mechs are still coming soon. If there's anything you're specifically interested in, please reach out!

When we review mechs we think about how effective each variant is, and give it a letter grade. These grades are generally comparable across mechs, not just looking at it alone.

F - Hellishly overpriced for what you get, and/or a blatantly worse version of a very similar mech that fills its role much better for minimal/no extra cost. Example - Executioner F
D - Overpriced for what you get, or so sub-optimally designed that no amount of being cheap will help it. Example - Shadow Hawk 2H
C - Unexciting for the price, but not offensively bad or overpriced. May also be given to situationally awesome mechs with serious downsides, or to mechs that are too inconsistent/swingy to rate higher. Example - Nova B
B - Good for the price, uses high-efficiency weapons or simply has a very efficient and good set of weapons. Rarely has significant issues and will almost always find something valuable to do during a match. Example - Catapult K2
A - Excellent for the price, cramming a huge amount of value into a low BV cost or simply having completely overwhelming firepower and armor. Will basically always make it's BV back, unless you get hit with an unlucky headshot or other one shot. Example - Thunderbolt (C)
S - Game warpingly powerful. Once one player in the local group starts taking this mech, everyone else is forced to respond to it and it will rapidly begin to completely define every game it is present for. Generally abuses edge-case rules or is simply so incredibly powerful that the BV system can't adequately track it. I recommend warning your opponent if you are bringing these and not taking them to pick-up games at all. Examples - Fireball XF, Hellstar 1, Boggart 2, and any mech with iATMs.

Beginner Box

Griffin

Vindicator

A Game of Armored Combat

Battlemaster

Awesome

Thunderbolt

Catapult

Wolverine

Shadow Hawk

Locust

Commando

Clan Invasion

Adder (Puma)

Grendel (Mongrel)

Nova (Black Hawk)

Timber Wolf (Mad Cat)

Timber Wolf part 2

Executioner (Gladiator)

Alpha Strike

Atlas

Archer

Warhammer

Wraith

Phoenix Hawk

Blackjack

Locust

Wasp

Fire Moth (Dasher)

Pouncer

Nova (Black Hawk)

Timber Wolf (Mad Cat)

Timber Wolf part 2

Warhawk (Masakari)