BattleTech Starter Box (pre-order, expected for release end of August 2026)

For the first time in more than thirty years, a new BattleTech Starter Box, Core Box and Core Rulebook were developed simultaneously for a joint release in August 2026. In preparation for this refit, Catalyst ran the largest public playtest in BattleTech’s four-decade history, ensuring all revisions to our game of heavy metal mayhem were well-honed and battle-tested.

While rules changes were made to improve the tabletop experience, this is not a new edition of BattleTech. As always, BattleTech remains remarkably the same as when it first appeared in 1985’s Second Edition boxed set.

Starter Box

The Starter Box builds off of the success of the Beginner Box and Essentials, but ups the ante. As a starting point for new players, it eases novice MechWarriors into the BattleTech game as smoothly as ever. But now, the reverse of each half-page record sheet offers a taste of the exciting equipment and rules that the full BattleTech game brings to your table. The box includes two fan-favorite, ilClan-era BattleMechs: the dogged Hammerhead and the brutal Kontio!