BattleTech: Mercenaries is another major Kickstarter success. The highly influential tabletop miniatures mecha game began in 1984 and has since expanded into multiple spin-offs and supplemental material.
This includes the tabletop RPG MechWarrior, a modern revival of the tabletop game developed by Catalyst Game Labs, and a lot of novels, on top of several video games including a 2018 PC release by Harebrained Schemes, the MechAssault franchise, and the long-running MechWarrior series that culminated with MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries.
Now, this major tabletop expansion for Battletech has concluded with over $7.5 million raised (specifically, $7,548,786 pledged by 23,648 backers), putting it in the top 20 most-funded projects on the platform.
Battletech: Mercenaries Kickstarter conclusion
As the Kickstarter page describes it, the Battletech: Mercenaries expansion adds a lot to the game. As the name implies, the base box includes brand-new mech miniatures, revised rulebooks, and new pilot cards. Furthermore, the Kickstarter included extra miniature packs as add-ons, allowing players to get extra models of certain mechs for their respective armies, roughly 50 models in total, as well as map packs and terrain. The campaign was also quite transparent with Catalyst Game Labs holding multiple livestreams showing off the design process of updating the appearances of older mechs as well as showing players what to expect when their boxes arrive.
All of that dedication has paid off. In the context of a complex tabletop miniatures war game expansion, $7,548,786 pledged by 23,648 backers is certainly a testament to the dedication of the Battletech community. For context, that is more than another Kickstarter board game success, Steamforged Games' Dark Souls: The Board Game which concluded with $4,692,071 raised. Comparatively, the most funded tabletop miniatures expansion on the platform at the time of writing goes to Isaac Childres' Frosthaven, an expansion sequel to the board game Gloomhaven, with $12,969,608 raised.