Armageddon 2089 Total War [ハードカバー]

Obviously due to the popularity of Battletech any game involving Mechs will be compared. While they both contain Mechs, Armageddon 2089 is a much more real world gritty setting. Which I feel helps seperate it from Battletech very well.

I have found the setting great reading and could not wait to start my game. I found the invasion of England by the European Forces was very well done. I cannot wait to get the follow up books to expand upon this world.

Artwise, it goes for a much more realistic feel. There are fantastic rendered pictures of the mechs. The equipment art is not exactly just a line drawing, but a technical drawing to represent the item in question. Not all are great but I feel they fit the layout and style of book. Not keen on some of the people artwork but the Mechs more than make up for it. I also found some of the colour choices a bit hard to read at times, but not the worst by far.

Not overly keen on the D20 system but it is flexible and can befitted to most settings. If you like D20 no change, if youdo not like D20 take the setting and ideas and use something else.

Oh, about the legs. These things can wiegh around 50 tons. You will need big legs to keep these things stable.

In summary, I found this book to be very well thought out and put together in a very professional manner. I like this book.

In short, buy the books, cut out the Mechs, and use the setting with the game system of your choice.

When I took the book home, I was in for a bit of a shock. Unfortunately, the book is a rehash of the Mechwarrior RPG applied to the d20 OGL, and doesn't have much in the way of creativity. I find the fact that the U.S. vs the E.U. is a bit distasteful in the context provided. I think that the resulting war would be "Armageddon," and not some limited, proxy-not-wanting-to-get-your-hands-dirty-type war. I mean, nuclear exchanges(tac nukes) are COMMON in this setting. Does anyone see this as a little wacky?

I don't know... there was obviously a lot of effort put into this, and, if you actually were looking for a Mechwarrior-type game you'd like it, but I think that it's a rehash of old stuff. Seeing things like: autocannons, small through large lasers, and the ever-present "particle accelerator," aka. PPC.

I mean, you might as well have SRMs, LRMs and freakin Gauss Rifles...

Admittedly, Mongoose added some additional weaponry, and put a few twists on existing mech-class weapons. More power to ya.

I liked the fiction (excluding the mech stuff), I mean, that first page is a real kicker, but when you get a little deeper, you see that it's the old "U.S.A. vs. the World" theme, and doesn't seem to have much depth (in the grand scheme). The little details like the news flashes within are cool, and give you a sense of what's going on in the gaming world, but can't compensate for the "bubble" environment that was custom designed for eternal conflict (There doesn't seem to be any hope of resolution or progress in the fiction, just blow stuff up forever). The privatisation of armies is just plain wacky, also. There are too many things OTHER than money that would prevent that from happening. Use of mercenary companies in a limited fashion is possible, I think, but total privatisation is HIGHLY improbable.

One thing has to be said about the layout, also. The actual text/grammar/verbage was good, but the freakin background and color scheme used in many of the charts is difficult to read (in anything other than bright light). Dark green print on black background? Who chose that, the company that sold you the ink? Also, PENCIL DRAWINGS IN THE EQUIPMENT SECTION???? HOW UNPROFESSIONAL IS THAT?

One last thing (I swear, then my rant is done). The mech design. For God's sake, the feet. They are HUGE. I'm pretty sure one of the big things that was impressed into you, the reader, is that Warmeks are supposed to be more mobile than any other vehicle in use. When you think of classic mech design, that's probably true. No tracked vehicle can navigate swamp and mountainous terrain as well as a big bipedal war machine could, but then you encounter the Warmek. As a service to the potential purchaser, I shall attempt to draw an extremely abbreviated ascii face-on picture of a "Violator Heavy Support Mech."

(periods used for spacing, amazon.com crunches multiple blank spaces)
.............
....[]-|-[]... -shoulder|head/torso|shoulder
..[o]＼|/[o].. -forearms
.../-|-|-|-＼.. -top of leg/foot assemblies
..|...|....|...|.
..|...|....|...|.
..|...|....|...|.
..---....---. -bottom of leg/foot assemblies
..............
You can't possibly imagine how ungainly this creation actually looks in the book (page 190). Before you go, "hey man, it's a heavy mek, it's gotta have some stability to field all those death-dealing weapons," realize that I can totally understand that. I'm just saying this thing looks like it could only freakin move if you duct-taped a couple of Atlas rockets onto it's mega feet and let it fly.

I have issues with the majority of the mek designs, and the whole book, really, but hey, just flip through the pages before you buy it, ok? Don't judge a book by the first few pages.