BattleTech: Shrapnel Magazine – Issue 20

Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine is your latest intel report on enemy movements across the war-torn, BattleMech-dominated battlefields of the 31st century and beyond!

Among the shattered remnants of the Free Worlds League, a Marik Protector vows to track down a missing compatriot and save them from an unspeakable fate in the Marian Hegemony. A pirate-hunting Hell’s Horses Elemental must do anything to escape a dead-end unit and erase the shame of the Mark of Hell, even if it leaves her unarmed and vulnerable. When a Republic Armed Forces pilot program seeks to showcase the effectiveness of remote-controlled ’Mechs, the controllers discover life and death is real, no matter what side of the screen you’re on.

Step onto a not-so-abandoned rock in the Deep Periphery where the inhabitants guard a secret worth killing for. Visit New Samarkand, the temporary capital of the Draconis Combine, for the most audacious heist of the century. Then stop at Paradise for a while, where mercenary commander Ace Darwin not-so-discreetly test-drives an under-wraps ’Mech prototype. Finally, end your journey through the Inner Sphere on Galatea, the Mercenary’s Star, for the latest Death Kangaroos (mis)adventure from Michael A. Stackpole. And make sure you stick around for the brutal conclusion of Russell Zimmerman’s serial novel, Violent Inception.

Guard yourself against surprise attacks with in-depth looks at the Free Guilds of Clan society; the Federated Suns’ attempt to recover from the Palmyra Disaster on 3144; the lawless “free zones” on some Lyran Commonwealth worlds; and the hyperpulse generators that make interstellar communication possible. Then strike back with playable scenarios, technical readouts, and more, from BattleTech veterans and the newest enlistees: