11/3 Update:Because of the lack of size of my photobucket space remaining, most things are being put over on my blog (w/ Battletech label to locate the appropriate posts). I'll also keep a dropbox link here for the current rules.
DROP BOX LINK TO RULES: https://www.dropbox.com/s/eajkby83ogvds7d/ElbowtechV12New.pdf?dl=0Strategy Card deck will be redone and then hosted on the blog instead of photo links here.
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Elbows plays Battletech
As any kid who grew up in the 80's-90's, I was enamored with big stompy robots. I'd become addicted to Robotech after picking up some role-playing books at the local used bookstore's gaming section (second isle from the left, back of the store on the floor to your right...). I followed suit by finding a couple of used technical read-outs, and so began my curiosity into the world of Battletech.
I picked up the old starter box at some point, and immediately didn't care for it. Paper maps, hexes, really crap miniatures. Shortly thereafter I picked up some of the novels though, and my interest was peaked. I figured out at an early age that I thoroughly enjoyed the “fluff” or story of the Battletech universe, I simply thought the game was crap.
I told myself that someday I'd find a way to play Battletech which was more fluid etc. A year or so ago I found Catalyst re-launching the boxed set with nicer miniatures, and I picked up a few boxes (just in case). Any fan of Battletech or Robotech knows that you should grab what you can, when you can. Neither is a heavily supported franchise (outside of the popular video games, Battletech has been on/off it seems for a while).
Inspired by TooBoCoo's thread on Battletech mechs I finally picked one of my starter boxes and started chopping up minis. I'll admit the plastics are still a bit crap compared to modern hard plastic miniatures from most companies (the Robotech minis blow them away), but you get 24+1 in the starter box for a reasonable price.
I based a handful of mechs for two opposing factions, painted them with nothing more than a drybrush and some metal scratches...and decided to play a game.
OBJECTIVE: A more fluid skirmish game of Battletech*.
*Disclaimer: This is a super early “whipped this up in a few minutes” approach at the moment.
I decided to first pare down the information in the tech readouts. I picked up the old copy of 3025, and started a quick spreadsheet on mech info:
Movement: Simply converted into inches. MP of 4 = 4” movement, etc.
Internals/Armor: Calculated these, and cut them into 10's. 48 internal points = 5 internal points.
Quirks or Special Issues: I read the introductory information for each of the mechs (the fluff was excellent in the original 3025 manual). I applied special notes to each mech to reflect this. Eg. The Quickdraw has large but weak ankle actuators...so I decided that each time it uses jump jets, it must roll against internal damage. Certain mechs don't have ejection systems so the pilot is more likely to die when destroyed etc. Some mechs carry more ammunition for certain weapons, so I remove or reduce the chance of running out of ammunition etc.
Weapons: I took the weapon chart and modified it a bit. I extended ranges for lasers, reduced them for auto-cannons (always thought this was the stupidest discrepancy in the rules). Each five points of damage inflicted was treated as a single point of damage (ie. All weapons have effectively been doubled, since armour is a point for each 10, and weapons a point for each 5). Weapons were given special rules to suit the weapons (ammo, knock-back, etc.)
Heat: Heatsinks and heat management have always been a Battletech feature (maybe a bit tooo much sometimes). I divided heatsinks by 5, to provide a number of heat points to a mech. I decided that jump jets or running would cause 1 heat, and weapon clusters would be assigned by heat. Players could opt to exceed heat by 1 and suffer some damage, 2 and they'd suffer damage (twice) and a shutdown if desperately needed. Standing in water would add 1 temporary heat sink, damage could increase your heat etc. In a way, heat would define the “action” points of a mech. Stand and shoot a bunch or run and shoot less, etc.
Rules: I decided to whip up a quick version of rules based on a WW2 tank game I almost started making. I decided to go with command dice, a strategy deck, etc. Mechs were assigned target numbers based on their class. These target numbers go up or down depending on speed, skill, terrain, movement, damage etc.
Command dice would be rolled (D6 with icons). Three command dice would be issued to the player for each lance he had on the table. Each dice would have 1-2: Light Mech, 3-4: Medium Mech, 5: Heavy Mech, 6: Assault mech. Command dice could be increased, or re-rolled depending on command abilities, strategy cards etc. In addition, up to one dice per turn could be saved as a tactical reserve and rolled when desired (allowing players to build a pool of back-up dice, so they can roll more on a turn of their choosing).
I'd also allow a player to trade two matching lower mech activations to activate a single mech one level above (ie. Roll two Light Mech activations and you could trade them to activate a single Medium mech etc.).
Strategy cards weren't used in this play-test, but would be scribbled up for future games. I haven't determined how we'll use these – either drawn on the turn, or drawn by dice roll, or allocated/drawn before the game starts. These strategy cards would involve air support, communications bonuses, command dice bonuses or re-rolls, infantry/ambush attacks against mechs, resupply or refitting, etc.
Tables: Because I love cards, and I love tables I then immediately drew up tables for pilot skill, pilots ejecting, critical hit tables, planetary conditions tables, a campaign table for mechs showing up to a fight previously damaged or worn out (when was the last time any military force in combat showed up at 100%?). These were partially used during the play-test game.
THE GAME: Meeting skirmish between two heavy lances.
While I plan on having a large list of randomly determined “encounters” or battle situations, I decided to start with a simple one. Two heavy lances, from opposing sides have run into each other. I did not use any planetary conditions for this game, and threw together some rocks and some trees (the only 6mm scale terrain I could come up with this weekend). I'll have to pick up some of the fantastic card buildings from Dropzone Commander sometime.
I have crappily painted up my two forces in simple schemes to identify with each other easily. No background, no fluff – just some mercenary units on some crap planet. Using the first box of mechs I was trying to balance the sides purely by weight (tonnage). I have started painting Assault mechs and downward, so the lances consist of 4 mechs each, two assault, and two heavies.
As it stood for the first game, balancing tonnage (I have also done up a table for rolling random tonnage for your lance, if players are really sadistic) I ended up with the following:
Yellow Shoulders Lance
-Atlas, normal pilot.
-Awesome, normal pilot.
-Quickdraw, veteran pilot (+1 to rolls)
-Jagermech, normal pilot.
Grey Camo Lance
-Banshee, normal pilot.
-Zeus, normal pilot.
-Grasshopper, normal pilot.
-Dragon, normal pilot.
My personal feelings are that the Yellow Shoulders Lance is a bit better off, but I'm not sure how my changes will impact the game. At a glance, I see an Awesome and an Atlas...that's trouble. The Banshee is a joke of an Assault mech, so we'll see how this works out.
BEGIN!
I started off both lances on opposing corners of a 4x6 board. I started rolling and moving mechs. Both sides had about the same amount of activations. The assault mechs and heavies activate the same, but heavies are more likely to have trade-up activations. Both sides moved out, almost everyone being armed with decent weapons capable of 48” range.
The Quickdraw used its jump jets to move onto a plateau so he could begin harassing fire with his LRMs. The second he touched down a salvo from the Dragon struck him. It detonated his SRM4 ammunition, and took a chunk out of his armour. Unfortunately for the Dragon he had rolled both a critical (natural 10 on a D10), and a failure (1, which also depletes your ammunition). So he had inflicted some nice damage but his LRM10 ran out of missiles on the first turn.
The Quickdraw stood on the plateau loosing LRM10s into the Zeus while taking a PPC bolt from the Banshee. His LRMs cycled empty after a few shots and he used his jumpjets to leave the plateau (reduced now to only two Medium lasers). Upon landing he did more damage to his internals when his ankle motors started smoking.
The Grey Camo lance was advancing, the Dragon using its speed to run around the flank, while the others advanced up the middle. Once the Quickdraw had left its perch, targets became more scarce. The opposing Jagermech had appeared on a corner and would draw the ire of the lance if he didn't move/shoot soon.
The Jagermech faced off with the Grasshopper and was down to half his armour by the time he even fired his autocannons and lasers, the Grasshopper scoring hits with LRMs and his large laser as he plodded forward. A large LRM splash against the Grasshopper announced the arrival of the skull-faced Atlas. The Grasshopper peeled away as the Banshee prepared to face the new threat. The Dragon, with only autocannons and a laser left was still running around the flank, as the Zeus went solo to the left flank (completely unsure he could engage an Awesome by itself and survive...).
The Yellow Shoulders Lance was struggling with activations. The Jagermech was hurt, the Quickdraw was out of both missile types, and the Awesome and Atlas were very slow on the approach. I still suspect the armor and heavy weapons would save the day though.
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November 21, 2012, 06:24:34 PM