In the 57th century, travel between the stars has long been an accepted fact of life. Starships with powerful jump drives form the basis of interstellar commerce and the warships that protect that commerce.

But jump drives are bulky and take up volume that could be filled with defensive systems or offensive weaponry. A specialized vessel, optimized for large fleet actions, gained popularity during the Second Imperium and came to completely dominate the fleets of the Third Imperium. These vessels had no jump drives, had nothing in fact not directly related to producing the most effective line-of-battle combatant possible.

They were carried across the interstellar distances by huge jump tenders, vessels with little or no combat ability of their own, which would release their deadly cargo before the battle began and then withdraw to a safe distance. These warships became the very symbol of large fleet actions. Because they were carried from star to star, they were called battle riders.

Battle Rider is the game of squadron and fleet combat in GDW's Traveller universe. Brilliant Lances brought you detailed starship combat designed for roleplaying interaction. Battle Rider gives you fast-moving combat without the need for roleplaying levels of detail.