By chance, I received a question asking where to search for BattleTech goods in Japan. While researching that, I stumbled upon a monthly BattleTech event in Chiba at hobby shop Miniature Forest and immediately jumped at the opportunity to play.
Background
But first, some personal history. As I’ve written about before, I was really into BattleTech as a teen, devouring the novels and sourcebooks. Despite having the third edition box set, Aerotech, and BattleSpace, I actually only played once or twice. When I moved to Japan, I decided to let it all go and either sold or donated it. While dormant, my interest continued to linger, so I dove right in when the HBS BattleTech game was released. It also prompted me to later back the Clan Invasion kickstarter. Its arrival was during the Covid pandemic, so there it stayed on my shelf.
Kashiwa BattleTech Workshop
Now on to the event! The shop owner created a name card for me that doubles as a point card. The cost was just the shop fee (¥1,500), with the event itself being free. Roughly fourteen people participated across three tables. The table I was at was a grinder game with the other players teaching me how to play. The other two tables escalated in complexity.