I started on this fantastic journey of writing BattleTech stuff, it began with the first technical readout. I had submitted The Strider Incident to FASA for Star Trek. They said “yes, but you need to check out BattleDroids!” I was hooked early on.
Prospective authors were given a bunch of photocopies of the artwork with handwritten notes about the stats. All of us were given the Rifleman first, as a test. I must have passed because I was asked to write a whole bunch more stuff.
A proviso to this list, it might be wrong. There are subtle little things I planted in my stuff over the years that allowed me to figure out what ‘Mechs I did (usually in the armaments I used). Well, over time, other authors used those too. As such, I had to do some of this for memory. Any errors are unintentional.
Tech Readout 3025
Locust
Spider
Ostscout
Assassin
Clint
Vulcan
Shadow Hawk
Scorpion
Ostsol
Catapult
Warhammer
Goliath
Victor
BattleMaster
Wasp LAM
Phoenix Hawk LAM
Sparrowhawk
Corsair
Stuka
Seydlitz
Lucifer
Chippewa
Von Luckner
Galleon
Packrat
Long Tom
J-27 Ordnance Transport
Note: We got the ‘Mechs with names and stats. The rest we just go stats, so we got to name them. The Chippewa was named after my college mascot. The Seydlitz was one of my favorite battle cruisers from WWI. There was some pushback on the Stuka, too German WWII related. In the end, it cleared edit.
Tech Readout 2750
Hussar
Champion
Lancelot
Crockett
Highlander
Spad
Zero
Gotha
Ironsides
Rapier
Rotunda
Demon
Burke
Puma
Titan
The Personal Equipment (Yes, I came up with the grapple rod.)
Note: I am not sure about the Wyvern…I may have done it. With this Tech Readout, we got to a mix of design and working with FASA’s stats.
Don’t give me crap about the Hussar. I know it is universally hated, but I am proud of the design. It is a ‘Mech version of a Savannah Master. Fast, toilet paper for armor, annoying weaponry. Get this behind the enemy and wreck havoc. That was what it was designed to do.
Tech Readout 3055
Battle Hawk
Jackal
Hollander (I think)
Watchman (I think)
Huron Warrior
Grim Reaper
Gallowglas
Hercules
Penetrator
War Dog
Cerberus
Grand Titan
Behemoth
The Huron Warrior was named for the old Eastern Michigan University mascot, which has since been changed. The War Dog has remained one of my favorite designs I did from scatch.
Note: True story. I got the request to design a few of these ‘Mechs, notably the Grand Titan, while on a business trip. I remember telling the line editor at FASA I didn’t have my books with me, so I would be designing them from memory. They were pinched for time and didn’t want to wait two weeks. “Don’t worry, we will crunch the numbers once we get the write-ups from you.” Yeah. That totally didn’t happen with the Grand Titan. I stopped designing ‘Mechs after the online outrage over my idiocy. That will change with my upcoming Wolf’s Dragoon novella, where I am tossing caution to the wind. It wasn’t worth dealing with the rabid fan community that had no patience for mistakes…they just wanted blood and FASA’s line at the time was, “The author clearly didn’t’ follow the rules.”
The Shadow Hawk art image and specs. Unseen my ass!
Solaris Reaches
Sasquatch
So very impressed with your Battletech work. It was my first fictional universe love. I adore seeing your commentary, nostalgia, and innovation.
Thank you.
Loved this
WOw! You wrote all of that material. 3025 (original) was arguably best book in the line, especially the fiction behind the units.
I’m sorry to hear you got fedup with the player basing’s bad apples. It be interesting to have seen you come up something for the new Era.
Thank you for sharing your artifacts of the game with us!
Glad to share out of the archives. Lots of fun material there.
Mr. Pardoe, saw your ppst on reddit linking to this. Just wanted to let you know that your work on battletech is some of the best memories I have from my childhood. Looking forward to more of your work in the Btech universe.
OK, my esteem for you (or at least your sense of humor) has gone up now that I know you were the one who named a tank (the Von Luckner) after a naval officer. Well Played!
I was a pleasure to meet you at GenCon outside the Catalyst talk!
Great to meet you too.
I’ve long thought there had to be someone really interested in their military history behind a lot of the early works. Going back to it all years later now that I’m a museum curator and I was convinced of it, I’m glad to see I was right.
Your work really gave a feel of realism to things like development and procurement, and the fact it still stands strong after all this time is testament to the awesome job you did.
Sorry I’ll stop fanboying now!
I bought the TRO 3025 when I was 12, just because I liked the pictures and I must have read that thing a thousand times just for its fluff. It was just so awesome to read. Thanks for your work.
How cool is that?
Mr. Pardoe, I just ran across this old post and enjoyed reading it. Is your Wolf’s Dragoons novella still in the works? I would love to read more about that storied unit. Apparently Coleman and Stackpole are working on a novel about them as well.
Well, the novella for the Dragoons is in edit review right now. There’s a lot of new stuff coming as a result of the Kickstarter – and otherwise. Coleman and Stackpole are doing an origin story of the Dragoons, which is exciting stuff.