When the Star League fell, the Great Houses turned on one another in the most devastating wars humanity had ever fought. The Early Succession War era is BattleTech at its most epic and apocalyptic — vast armies, WarShip fleets, and golden-age technology hurled into total war.
Spanning 2786 to roughly 2900, the First and Second Succession Wars erupted as the five Great Houses each sought to claim the vacant throne of the Star League. With the SLDF gone into Exodus, the Houses fielded the enormous militaries and advanced technology they had inherited — and expended them recklessly in warfare so total that it shattered the technological base of human civilization. This is the era of massed BattleMech regiments, active WarShip fleets, and the tragic beginning of the slide into “lostech,” as factories, academies, and knowledge were destroyed faster than they could be replaced. For players, the Early Succession Wars offer grand-scale, high-technology warfare with genuine epic stakes: the fate of the Inner Sphere hanging on titanic clashes between Great House armies still wielding Star League might. To play here is to command vast, powerful forces in the wars that reshaped the galaxy.
Why play here
Because it’s warfare on the grandest scale — huge armies and WarShip fleets still armed with golden-age technology, fighting for the ultimate prize. For players who love epic, high-tech, high-stakes conflict at the dawn of the Succession Wars, this era delivers spectacle and drama.
Continue reading & collecting
The Succession War, Era Report and Historical volumes, and House Handbook sourcebooks chronicle the period; the Master Unit List builds legal Early Succession War forces for any House.