THE SUCCESSION WARS (1987): The Battletech Grand Strategy Boardgame Parts Reference

From blast ’em smash ’em Mech combat in Battletech, players can scale up to manage the sprawling Inner Sphere politics, economics, and military campaigns in The Succession Wars.

I play Battletech – actually I’m in a couple of different games at the moment. But have never played this wargame. I’ve seen it repeatedly compared with Axis and Allies in play style.

I’ve sold a number of these rare sets over the years, and some of them were incomplete. It’s no wonder, because these Succession Wars boxes are full of game pieces. I’ve got a nice set passing through the shop, so now’s a good time to make a collector/player parts reference.

The Succession Wars: A Battletech Grand Strategic Game [BOX SET]

1987 … L. Ross Babcock III … FASA 1612 … ISBN 0931787726

CONTENTS:
• 1 rulebook • 1 22″ x 34″ playing map • 4 sheets of punch-out playing pieces • 1 deck of 48 Event Cards • 1 bundle of money (70 bills) • 6 small plastic bags • 2 10-sided dice.

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The Box

I was wondering who was on the striking cover art by the late Jim Holloway. But the rules booklet helpfully identifies them for us. Here’s my annotated box cover:

Hanse Davion, Takashi Kurita, Janos Marik, Katrina Steiner, and Maximillian Liao… each from their namesake House.

THE INNER SPHERE IN FLAMES… For over 200 years, the five Successor States of the near-legendary Star League have warred among themselves for dominion over the whole Inner Sphere. There have been three Succession Wars to date, but no victor. The cost of war is high. The leaders of the Successor States must weigh each maneuver to see whether the gain in territory is worth the loss of ‘Mechs. Only the most ruthless and brilliant leader will emerge as the next Star Lord.

Rule Book

Map

Event Cards

48 Event Cards in their sheet. The rulebook helpfully contains a list of the card types.

Counters

There are four sheets of 1 inch, ¾”, and ½” counters.

C-bills

Succession Wars features a stack of ComStar-backed Battletech currency, known as C-bills.

Thirty $1million, twenty $5m, ten $10m, ten $20m. The portraits appear to be old ruins of Earth/Terra.

Dice

First dice photo is from today’s set. Next two are prior sets’ pair of d10. Like many game companies of the time, it appears FASA used whatever dice they had available when assembling game boxes.