Editing BattleTech (section)

=== Conception ===
Chicago-based FASA Corporation's original 1984 game focused on enormous robotic, semi-humanoid battle machines battling in a science-fiction feudalistic Dark Age setting. The game was at first called ''[[Battledroids]]''.<ref name="battledroids">{{cite book| last = Weisman| first = Jordan|author2=L. Ross Babcock III| title = Basic Battledroids| year = 1984| publisher= FASA Corporation| location = Chicago}}</ref> The name of the game was changed to ''[[Classic Battletech|BattleTech]]'' in the second edition because [[George Lucas]] and [[Lucasfilm]] claimed the rights to the term "[[droid (Star Wars)|droid]]";<ref name="uspto 1977">{{cite web | url = http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=1113700&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=US_REGISTRATION_NO&searchType=statusSearch | title = DROID (Original registration) | publisher = [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]]  | date = September 22, 1977 | access-date = February 19, 2016}}</ref><ref name="uspto 2008">{{cite web | url = http://tarr.uspto.gov/tarr?regser=serial&entry=77580336&action=Request+Status | title = DROID (Current registration) | publisher = United States Patent and Trademark Office | date = September 26, 2008 | access-date = August 24, 2010}}</ref> the machines themselves were renamed BattleMechs from the second edition onward.

The game components included:
*First edition: two full-color terrain maps, 48 stand-up BattleMech counters, four sheets of playing markers, plastic counter stands, dice, and a rule book.<ref name=dragon>{{cite journal|last=Bambra|first=Jim|author-link=Jim Bambra| date=March 1988 |title=Role-playing Reviews: To the Stars!|journal=[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]|publisher=[[TSR (company)|TSR, Inc.]]|issue=131|pages=74–76}}</ref>
*Third edition: two color maps, a pack of record sheets, and fourteen 2" plastic miniatures of various BattleMech war machines.<ref name=dragon194 />
*Fourth edition: two rule-books, a booklet of record sheets, 48 stand-up playing pieces, and a sheet of 144 insignia stickers.<ref name=dragon238 />