MechWarrior

  First, the explanation.

  Kurt Frank is a friend of mine, arguably one of the most scarily competent boardgamers I have ever met.  He dabbled with Battletech a little, and has observed MechWarrior with mild interest.  What follows are his thoughts on MW.

Three stupid rules and how to fix them.

  This is not the Napoleonic period so the restricted infantry facings in the game are just plain silly. The last time that one could justify giving infantry a facing would be the American Civil War but even then you’d be looking at platoon level not infantry squads. So before firing or after being fired upon Infantry may spin in place to face their target or attacker (any one of the attackers in the case of a combat formation), this action does not require an order. This movement bonus is not available while the infantry unit is in a building or heavy woods due to the restricted nature of the terrain.

Multiple Ranged Combat Targets: To use a World War II analogy this rule more or less states that when you use your 20mm cannon to engage an infantry squad and a tank, you may, after finding out you got a golden BB, tell your cannon shells to reverse course (healing the infantry as they withdraw) and proceed to strike the tank in the same critical location as the other rounds. Hence when resolving a multiple ranged combat order every unit targeted must be allocated (after rolling) at least one point of damage. Basically you will lose one point of applicable damage for every unit missed, note this change means you cannot target more units than your current damage rating.

Artillery: Sticking with WW2, the artillery rules as written mean that you are just as likely to damage a King Tiger MBT as you are a VolksSturm (militia) squad, not exactly realistic. To fix this problem the artillery unit now rolls twice when the attack is resolved. The first roll determines whether or not the artillery hits the target hex and any scatter (unchanged). On a critical hit the player may either add 4 to the second die roll OR increase the blast radius by one. On a critical miss the opponent may place the blast marker anywhere within the maximum scatter radius (the only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire). The second roll determines which units within the blast radius are hit (use normal critical hit/miss rules).

  I realise it could be said that these changes will affect the values of various units but I don't recall WizKids putting out a revised cost list of heavily armoured units to account for their vulnerability to artillery, whose addition (in my opinion) significantly alter the viability of certain units.

Orders? We don’t need no stinking Orders!

  Perhaps the quirkiest aspect of MechWarrior: Dark Age is the Command Point system. While it may be appropriate for Heroclix (Superheros are inclined to strike a pose after doing anything) for a military combat simulation it’s just silly. These rules do away with the concept of orders while (hopefully) maintaining balance.

  When determining the build point value of the game it should be a multiple of 40, as you may not have more units than the point value divided by 40. So in a 480-point game you may have up to 12 units, you may of course choose to have less than 12 units and may take any combination of units that you desire.

  Every turn all of your Vehicle and Infantry units may each perform any ONE action.

  Every turn all of your Mech units may each perform up to TWO actions. Each action a Mech performs generates one heat, except a vent order that has its normal heat reducing effects. Any combination of actions is legal, so for instance you could: move then shoot, shoot twice, move twice, shoot and scoot or perhaps even run then charge (+5 heat for that one though, extra crispy).

  No unit may be the target of more than two attack attempts (excluding artillery strikes) in a turn; the attempts may be made by combat formations however. Special attacks such as Pulse or Anti-Personnel only count as one attack and then only on the primary target.

  A unit with the Command special ability may grant an additional order. If this order is given to an infantry or vehicle unit then that unit is considered to have been pushed and receives a click of damage. If the order is given to a Mech unit then the order generates two heat, note that venting is not an available option in this case. The order may be used to activate a formation; in fact it’s the only time you’d ever use a movement formation under these rules.

Hex-based Movement Rules

  [The dial-based Heroclix system is a great idea, but has its share of disadvantages as well.  Consider what happens whenever a miniature needs to have its dial adjusted - it has to be picked up.  Even with the greatest of care, things get bumped and shifted, and there is no certainty that everything can be restored to its exact prior facing and position.  Kurt's idea for dealing with this problem is to convert the game to a hex-based system.  Maps from the original Battletech and/or from FASA's Renegade Legion: Centurion are both well-suited to this.]  

  Units may move a number of hexes up to their movement allowance paying the terrain costs appropriate for their movement type. Clear, Light and Heavy Woods, Building and Lake hexes take up the entire hex and may give combat modifiers.

  Mech units do not gain as much of a defence bonus from woods as other unit types as they have a tendency to stick out above the trees.

  A unit moving along a road pays the road movement rate, essentially ignoring the other terrain in the hex. It must still pay the cost for going up a slope if applicable.

  Hover units may use a river as a road. Mech units may also use a river as a road but pay 2 MP per hex. The +2 MP cost for Foot and Tracked units is the cost to cross the river. Wheeled units may not cross a river. Any partial lake hex is treated as a river, the other terrain determines combat.

  Treat contour 1&2 as level 1, 3&4 as level 2 and 5&6 as level 3. It costs a unit one extra MP to climb each level except that Hover units pay 2 extra per level due to their lack of traction.

  Infantry units may adopt any facing upon finishing their move.

  Vehicle units occupy two hexes, when moving the rear of the vehicle always enters the hex that the front of the vehicle just left. For combat purposes the terrain the unit is in is that at the front of the vehicle. For one MP a vehicle may pivot on its front to any desired orientation, that is, it may flick the back around to adopt a better position, however this rule does not allow the vehicle to occupy otherwise illegal terrain for its movement class or place its rear on the wrong side of a river.

  Mech units follow the same movement rules as vehicle units except that they are considered to occupy a 4 hex diamond (with the front and rear hexes being the adjacent ones). If a Mech unit chooses to take advantage of a “Free Spin” then it is spun in place by 180 degrees (reversed). Any ram or charge attack is resolved using the terrain previously occupied by the Mech’s front hex.

  A unit is in base contact if it is in an adjacent hex (remember vehicles take up 2 hexes and Mech’s take up 4 hexes). When determining range always count the smallest distance between the hexes of the two combatant units.

  Any intervening terrain feature blocks line of sight (allowing for differences in elevation), as always use common sense. Exception, if there is only one intervening light woods hex then the defender gains a plus 2 bonus to his defence rating. Note that the +1 to defence for occupying the high ground does not apply to indirect fire or artillery attacks.

  MAIN PAGE