MechForce

This article is about the fan organisations. For the video game, see MechForce (Video Game).

MechForce was the moniker for several official BattleTech fan organisations that catered to the game's growing fan community with regular magazines, chapter fights, and other fan support.

MechForce North America

The first and most important MechForce was the MechForce North America (MFNA). Most references to MechForce are meant to refer to the MFNA. It is generally considered the "true" MechForce by virtue of having been created directly by FASA.

Despite its name, the MFNA was in fact open to players from across the globe; besides North America, it was explicitly meant to cover players from countries where no national MechForce existed.

The MFNA's produced a regular magazine, the 'Mech magazine which could arguably be considered an official product by virtue of being produced under a valid license from FASA; in any case, it has explicitly been declared to be not among the canonical sources for BattleTech and can therefore be considered apocryphal at best.

Dwindling membership rendered the MFNA almost inactive since around the year 1999. When FASA folded in 2001 the license ran out, terminating the MFNA for good.

Other MechForces

Several national MechForce organisations were also granted an official license from FASA to use the name. Although technically independent, they generally cooperated with the MFNA.

MechForce Germany

Among the national organisations, the MechForce Germany (MFG) was the biggest and most active, alledgedly even eclipsing the MFNA in membership size at its peak. The MFG is also the only MechForce organisation still in existence today.

Remarkably, the MFG went through three iterations, with a successor organsiation (the Nice Dice e.V. BattleTech AG and the Sternenbund e.V.) spawned by each of the two earlier official organisations for a total of five.

MechForce Germany produced the Life Support, MechQuarterly and Terra Post magazines.

MechForce United Kingdom

The MechForce United Kingdom (MFUK) was relatively small and run by a mere handful of members for a decade. Yet it gained a reputation as a particularly creative and prolific producer of merchandise, house rules, scenario packs and new BattleMech designs. Notably, Ral Partha produced minitatures for a number of MFUK custom 'Mech designs (including the Dreadnought, Hades, Hydra, Katyusha, Tree Frog and Falcon Eyrie) which led many fans to believe them to be official.

The MFUK ceased to exist when the last active member left the organisation for health reasons on August 31, 2001.

Minor national MechForces

Other national MechForces with official license from FASA existed in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, and Japan, but these never had the size or relevance of the aforementioned three organisations.

External links

• [1] - Homepage of the current MechForce Germany