This is some of the mecha designs I came up with for our little playtest campaign for War of the Mecha by JB over at B/X Blackrazor. I'll post more as they come into play. I don't have the mecha sheets for the other players, so it may be after the campaign ends before I can post theirs (hint, hint guys).
Model: Archangel
Assault mecha
Total AP (80+1d20): 87, Walk/Run: 4/6, Jump: No, Heat Sinks 30
Weapons: 3 Large Energy Weapons
Quick on their feet and with long range weapons, the Archangel is a solid threat.
Model: Artemis
Assault mecha
Total AP (80+1d20): 93, Walk/Run: 3/5, Jump: No, Heat Sinks: 30
Weapons: 4 Large Missile Weapons
A fairly simple long-range attack mecha, the Artemis can fire all of its weapons while running and generate no heat.
Model: Bodyguard
Heavy mecha
Total AP (60+1d20): 78, Walk/Run: 5/8, Jump: No, Heat Sinks 20
Weapons: 2 Large Ballistic Weapons, 1 Large Energy Weapon
Surprisingly fast for a heavy mecha, the Bodyguard can run and fire all its weapons, generating no heat. It favors close in combat, but it can get in some damaging potshots while moving in.
Model: Brickhouse
Assault mecha
Total AP (80+1d20): 81, Walk/Run: 3/5, Jump: No, Heat Sinks 25
Weapons: 3 Large Ballistic Weapons, 1 Large Energy Weapon, and 1 Small Energy Weapon
The Brickhouse pilot has to be careful about heat as firing all weapons generates more heat than the basic array of heatsinks can handle. In close, all those weapons hitting will devastate the target, which is very tempting for most pilots.
Model: Fireball
Light mecha
Total AP (20+1d20): 29, Walk/Run: 8/12, Jump: Yes, Heat Sinks 10
Weapons: 1 Small Energy Weapon
Fireballs are designed primarily for scouting purposes and screening heavier units on the move. They are some of the fastest mecha on the battlefield and their jump capability will get them behind an enemy mecha for quick, cheap hits when fighting in urban of heavily forested terrain.
Model: Pharos
Assault mecha
Total AP (80+1d20): 96, Walk/Run: 3/5, Jump: No, Heat Sinks 30
Weapons: 8 Small Energy Weapons
The Pharos (a.k.a. Death-blossom Special) is a rude surprise for any opponent it closes with. This mecha rewards a pilot that makes use of cover to close with the enemy until stepping out at 90 m or less and then “lighting them up”. A full strike from a Pharos will vaporize light mecha, destroy a medium mecha, and deeply wound or kill a heavy or even an assault mecha.
Model: Sentinel
Medium mecha
Total AP (40+1d20): 41, Walk/Run: 6/9, Jump: Yes, Heat Sinks 10
Weapons: 2 Large Ballistic Weapons
The Sentinel was designed for fighting in urban terrain or very uneven terrain with many canyons or foothills. The designers sacrificed heat sinks for the ability to jump, so it has a tendency to run hot in combat, something the pilot has to pay attention to. Most pilots jockeying one appreciate the tactical flexibility granted by the high speed and jump-capability granted by the Sentinel.
Showing posts with label War_of_the_Mecha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War_of_the_Mecha. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Assault on Dextrose IV - Mission 2: RHO Ambush!
The Mission:
Bolstered by a heavy lance of House troops (Elk Lance), the mercenary company The Red-Head's Own (RHO), decided that an ambush of forces of the 1/23rd Mecha Battalion was in order. Intel indicated that elements of the 1/23rd's 2nd Company was on scouting patrol near the small industrial center of Carbomer. This was a standard patrol the 1/23rd had maintained since seizing control of the area and the RHO/Elk forces suspected the patrol would be complacent after the RHO lost all of their heavies and assault mecha last week.
The Elk Lance assault mecha and two heavies were hidden in the largest cluster of buildings at Carbomer with the remaining RHO forces (1 medium and 5 lights) plus the Elk medium mecha placed in two clusters of buildings opposite the kill zone. The path of the patrol always took it between these building clusters and the nearest safe location for the 1/23rd was past the large cluster containing the Elk heaviest mecha.
The 1/23rd forces were the 1st and 2nd lances of the 2nd Company, led by Captain Petra Leonidas in her Bodyguard mecha "Yojimbo". The rest of her lance consisted of a Clint variant and two Sentinel variants. The 2nd lance was four Fireballs, led by Lieutenant Hong Pashal. They were not expecting any activity and were bunched closer than proper for a "scouting patrol". THEIR intel indicated that the RHO was down to light mecha only and the current force would be plenty strong to inflict heavy losses on the RHO, if not wipe them out. This attitude lasted up until Pilot Ronni Irigoyen in the far left Fireball spotted one of the Elk heavies hiding in the buildings to the west. Then they spotted the Elk assault mecha ahead and to the left of them and the 2 medium and 5 light mecha all on their right.
Quickly realizing the danger her forces were in, Captain Leonidas ordered the 2nd lance to jump into the large cluster of buildings for cover and then get out of the area. Petra knew the Fireballs could not take more than a hit or two before exploding like their namesakes. The 1st Lance was ordered to hook left and escape the killzone by keeping the large cluster of buildings between themselves and the assault mecha. To some extent this worked, but the Captain's Bodyguard was a natural target for the majority of weapons fire from the RHO/Elk forces and she died before getting to cover. The Elk heavy took some return fire and had its feet knocked out from under it, but it was not out of the fight at all.
In the mad scramble that followed, the Fireballs got some shots into the Elk mecha before getting clear of the fight, thier fast mecha able to jump 240 m at a time, with Lieutenant Pashal the last to leave. The jump-capable RHO mecha were too far away to close before the Fireballs escaped. The 1st Lance was not so lucky.
Pilot Wendy Ha attempted to hide by jumping in a corner between two hardened buildings. This protected her until the fallen Elk heavy got back up and moved right behind her and fired. The heavies weapons blew Ha's cockpit off the Sentinel, killing her instantly. Sergeant Jacinta Irizatti was able to use a copse of trees to hide from the majority of the RHO forces. This would have placed the Sergeant's Clint in good position to escape...until the second Elk heavy cleared the trees. A brief exchange of fire later and the Sergeant was forced to surrender or be destroyed. The only mecha from the 1st lance to escape the ambush was Pilot Dee Chrestman and her Sentinel. She was ablt to jump from cover to cover, making an impossible target to hit of her mecha.
Clean-Up:
The 1/23rd lost a Bodyguard (heavy), a Clint (medium), and a Sentinel (medium).
The RHO/Elk forces lost no mecha and were able to salvage a Clint and a Sentinel, bring the RHO back up to 2 full lances.
The Assault on Dextrose IV continues.
The Future:
The next mission happens in 3 days after this one and will be a Pitched Battle. The 1/23rd wants revenge!
Thoughts on the Game
We had a friend sitting in for a battle and it seemed likely that his forces (he rolled a Lieutenant - a lance of mecha) would supplement the RHO forces which were decimated in Mission 1. Making them a House unit (instead of a mercenary unit) meant they could be pulled elsewhere when he was not available.
In the post-game post-mortem, we all agreed that the RHO forces were too heavily bplaced in the back of the ambush, meaning once the 1/23rd started bolting, they were too far away to stop them or shoot them down. We set up to BattleTech city maps with the long sides together as the play area. We probably should have placed a third map on the side the 1/23rd had to escape from to give the RHO/Elk forces more time to shoot at them, but this kept the game short (three turns and it was over). Next time we'll use a third map.
This is something missing from the War of the Mecha campaign rules - suggestions on set-up. I can see why due to space constraints, but if JB does this as a small product, I'd recommend at least a sentence or two about setup.
Rules-wise, we had a short discussion about splitting fire from a mecha. In BattleTech, this is allowed and inflicts a -2 to each shot. We decided that the underlying principle of "Simplicity First" suggested that splitting fire not be allowed and so we went with that. It should probably be included in the Weapon Fire rules. We also lowered the movement cost to move into buildings by two for all classes, but added that mecha can only enter buildings while walking. This seems to keep it in line with the War of the Mecha rules for elevation changes.
We took pictures of the game, but they are on a friend's phone at the moment, so they'll be delayed for a bit. I'm out of time this weekend to post the pictures for last game, but that should happen this week, probably when I get the seond set of pictures so I can do it all at once. I will also post several of the Mecha designs I'm using this week, again as I have time and husband points to do so.
Bolstered by a heavy lance of House troops (Elk Lance), the mercenary company The Red-Head's Own (RHO), decided that an ambush of forces of the 1/23rd Mecha Battalion was in order. Intel indicated that elements of the 1/23rd's 2nd Company was on scouting patrol near the small industrial center of Carbomer. This was a standard patrol the 1/23rd had maintained since seizing control of the area and the RHO/Elk forces suspected the patrol would be complacent after the RHO lost all of their heavies and assault mecha last week.
The Elk Lance assault mecha and two heavies were hidden in the largest cluster of buildings at Carbomer with the remaining RHO forces (1 medium and 5 lights) plus the Elk medium mecha placed in two clusters of buildings opposite the kill zone. The path of the patrol always took it between these building clusters and the nearest safe location for the 1/23rd was past the large cluster containing the Elk heaviest mecha.
The 1/23rd forces were the 1st and 2nd lances of the 2nd Company, led by Captain Petra Leonidas in her Bodyguard mecha "Yojimbo". The rest of her lance consisted of a Clint variant and two Sentinel variants. The 2nd lance was four Fireballs, led by Lieutenant Hong Pashal. They were not expecting any activity and were bunched closer than proper for a "scouting patrol". THEIR intel indicated that the RHO was down to light mecha only and the current force would be plenty strong to inflict heavy losses on the RHO, if not wipe them out. This attitude lasted up until Pilot Ronni Irigoyen in the far left Fireball spotted one of the Elk heavies hiding in the buildings to the west. Then they spotted the Elk assault mecha ahead and to the left of them and the 2 medium and 5 light mecha all on their right.
Quickly realizing the danger her forces were in, Captain Leonidas ordered the 2nd lance to jump into the large cluster of buildings for cover and then get out of the area. Petra knew the Fireballs could not take more than a hit or two before exploding like their namesakes. The 1st Lance was ordered to hook left and escape the killzone by keeping the large cluster of buildings between themselves and the assault mecha. To some extent this worked, but the Captain's Bodyguard was a natural target for the majority of weapons fire from the RHO/Elk forces and she died before getting to cover. The Elk heavy took some return fire and had its feet knocked out from under it, but it was not out of the fight at all.
In the mad scramble that followed, the Fireballs got some shots into the Elk mecha before getting clear of the fight, thier fast mecha able to jump 240 m at a time, with Lieutenant Pashal the last to leave. The jump-capable RHO mecha were too far away to close before the Fireballs escaped. The 1st Lance was not so lucky.
Pilot Wendy Ha attempted to hide by jumping in a corner between two hardened buildings. This protected her until the fallen Elk heavy got back up and moved right behind her and fired. The heavies weapons blew Ha's cockpit off the Sentinel, killing her instantly. Sergeant Jacinta Irizatti was able to use a copse of trees to hide from the majority of the RHO forces. This would have placed the Sergeant's Clint in good position to escape...until the second Elk heavy cleared the trees. A brief exchange of fire later and the Sergeant was forced to surrender or be destroyed. The only mecha from the 1st lance to escape the ambush was Pilot Dee Chrestman and her Sentinel. She was ablt to jump from cover to cover, making an impossible target to hit of her mecha.
Clean-Up:
The 1/23rd lost a Bodyguard (heavy), a Clint (medium), and a Sentinel (medium).
The RHO/Elk forces lost no mecha and were able to salvage a Clint and a Sentinel, bring the RHO back up to 2 full lances.
The Assault on Dextrose IV continues.
The Future:
The next mission happens in 3 days after this one and will be a Pitched Battle. The 1/23rd wants revenge!
Thoughts on the Game
We had a friend sitting in for a battle and it seemed likely that his forces (he rolled a Lieutenant - a lance of mecha) would supplement the RHO forces which were decimated in Mission 1. Making them a House unit (instead of a mercenary unit) meant they could be pulled elsewhere when he was not available.
In the post-game post-mortem, we all agreed that the RHO forces were too heavily bplaced in the back of the ambush, meaning once the 1/23rd started bolting, they were too far away to stop them or shoot them down. We set up to BattleTech city maps with the long sides together as the play area. We probably should have placed a third map on the side the 1/23rd had to escape from to give the RHO/Elk forces more time to shoot at them, but this kept the game short (three turns and it was over). Next time we'll use a third map.
This is something missing from the War of the Mecha campaign rules - suggestions on set-up. I can see why due to space constraints, but if JB does this as a small product, I'd recommend at least a sentence or two about setup.
Rules-wise, we had a short discussion about splitting fire from a mecha. In BattleTech, this is allowed and inflicts a -2 to each shot. We decided that the underlying principle of "Simplicity First" suggested that splitting fire not be allowed and so we went with that. It should probably be included in the Weapon Fire rules. We also lowered the movement cost to move into buildings by two for all classes, but added that mecha can only enter buildings while walking. This seems to keep it in line with the War of the Mecha rules for elevation changes.
We took pictures of the game, but they are on a friend's phone at the moment, so they'll be delayed for a bit. I'm out of time this weekend to post the pictures for last game, but that should happen this week, probably when I get the seond set of pictures so I can do it all at once. I will also post several of the Mecha designs I'm using this week, again as I have time and husband points to do so.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Assault on Dextrose IV – Mission 1: Seize the Dam!
This game happened Sunday, December 11, 2011.
I and a friend are playing around with the War of the Mecha rules by JB over at B/X Blackrazor. You’ve probably noticed the postings porting some supplementary stuff from the source. Last weekend we rolled for starting units and put together several mecha using the rules. I rolled well on commands (I had an entire battalion, 36 mecha, to my friend’s company, 12 mecha) and mecha types (my third lance ended up with 7 assault, 3 heavy, and 2 medium mecha in it).
This morning, as my planned G+ game was rescheduled due to the GM having something crop up, I finished putting together the rest of my force and we played the first mission so we could test out our understanding of the rules and see how the campaign rules worked with such lop-sided forces.
[Pictures to follow later, once I get them uploaded.]
The Invading Forces
1/23rd Mecha Battalion:
1st Company: 1 heavy lance and 2 light lances, Commanded by Major Rodger Wilco
2nd Company: 2 medium lances and 1 light lance, led by Captain Emily Yuen
3rd Company: 3 assault lances, led by Captain Macarthur “Mack” Archer
The Defending Forces
The Red-Head’s Own (RHO):
Command Lance (assault lance)
Skirmish Lance (medium lance)
Scout Lance (light lance)
The Assault of Dextrose IV
Jumpships left Tektura Station and travelled one day to reach the system jump point. Transition to the Dextrose system was near instantaneous. Flight time to the planet was four days, during which the aerospace fighters knocked down the planetary defenses (such that they were) and the 23rd Mecha Battalion was landed uncontested.
Mission 1
The Mission: Capture Objective
A river-side power plant near an occupied industrial sector was identified by both sides to be critical to their respective agendas. Both sides sent two lances to seize control of the power plant and keep the other side from claiming it. [We decided to limit the game to two lances on each side as the rule’s allowing a single commander to field a full company seemed more appropriate when there were more than two players.]
The Allocation:
The Captain leading the Red-Head’s Own, knowing the importance of the power plant (and having few options) took his Command Lance and the Skirmish Lance to secure the site. Major Wilco, having plenty of options, assigned the job to the 3rd Company, particularly the 1st and 2nd Lance, the command lance and the point assault lance.
The Battle:
The early portions of the battle were occupied with the forces getting into position. Two RHO mecha got into a pile-up when a medium mecha attempting to cross a river and move past a fellow mecha fell, sweeping the legs of the smaller mecha and causing it to fall as well. [This was the result of several failed Piloting rolls for both mecha.] Both mecha eventually left the river…only to promptly fall on their faces on the banks. The captain made a note to doc repair costs out of the pilot’s pay.
Both forces started converging just north of the objective. The RHO forces were up on a large hill under light cover from a fringe of trees. The 1/23rd forces were faster than anticipated and made good use of cover, running their mecha to within 200 m of the RHO forces before presenting any targets.
Much shooting happened in Turn 4. The first mecha down was a BDG-1E Bodyguard mecha on the 1/23rd side that was forced to signal surrender or be destroyed. This heartened the RHOs, until the “Flashlight” [an assault mecha] ran up to within 60 m of the RHO commander’s assault mecha and fired eight small energy weapons, knocking down the commander’s mecha. Additionally, a concentrated fire on a RHO medium mecha in the river [different from the klutz mentioned earlier] caused reactor damage and knocked that mecha down into the river, where the pilot was able to avoid a shutdown of the overheated reactor.
Surprisingly, the RHO forces concentrated fire upon the Brickhouse mecha of the lieutenant in charge of the 2nd Lance. This destroyed the Brickhouse (killing the lieutenant), but motivated the mecha pilots of the 1/23rd, who piled fire upon the assault mecha of the RHO commander, killing him with several strikes to the cockpit. [Three crits were invoked due to damage done in the round, resulting in two critical hits to the head and one to the arm.] Additional fire also destroyed one of the two RHO heavy mecha.
With their leader dead and their blood up, the RHO forces tried to gain revenge where they could, destroying one of the Bodyguard mecha. However, in choosing to do so, they ignored the steaming Flashlight [currently at 10 heat from firing all those lasers], which again fired all eight small energy weapons on a single target, the remaining RHO assault mecha, killing it. The resultant heat forced the Flashlight to power down, at which time the pilot triggered his surrender switch.
Down to two lights, a medium, and a heavy, the RHO forces started to disengage, but the heavy decided to make it a fighting retreat, attempting to kill another mecha. He failed and was burned down by a hail of damage. The remaining medium took some damage as well, enough that he decided to surrender rather than chance another hit. The last two RHO lights flee at top speed, using the hill as cover.
Clean-Up:
The 1/23rd lost a “Brickhouse” (assault) and a “Bodyguard” (heavy) and was able to claim a “Slosher” (assault) and a “Paynix” (medium), maintaining numbers if not strength.
The RHO lost everything but two “Sniper” (light) mecha, including their entire command lance. This leaves them with six light mechs (and a serious morale problem) to hold the planet against a full strength battalion. A change of tactics is mandated.
The Assault on Dextrose 4 continues.
The Future:
The next mission happens 4 days after this one and will be…Ambush!
Thoughts on the Game
We were both satisfied with the game system. The campaign system seems to need more than two players to help balance out forces from a game balance perspective. From a verisimilitude perspective, it works fine. After rolling starting forces, we both decided that the RHO forces were clearly on defense and the 1/23rd forces were the attacking forces as the other way around would be improbable.
There is nothing specifically keeping me from just keeping throwing my assault lances in every battle, destroying the remaining opposition mecha after another mission or two. To combat that, I think I’m going to add a rule stating that mecha (or mecha lances) needing repair cannot participate in the following mission. I might add something about loss of leader as well, but maybe not.
I’m split on my thinking on advancement of characters. Strict reading of the rules says only PCs get better. The RHO PC died and the 1/23rd PC was not involved in the fight, so no improvement happened. I’m not certain how I like that.
Finally, after the fight, I discovered that there is no movement cost in War of the Mecha for changing elevation. The only restriction is that elevation changes can only happen when walking. This would have changed a few things. Next game we will remember that and see what happens.
Our next game will be on the 17th and we are picking up a new player. For fairness, His forces should go on the defending side and will probably represent a unit stationed too far away to participate in the first mission, but now arrived. This will complicate my decisions as I am the target of the ambush and cannot waltz it by overpowering six light mecha!
I and a friend are playing around with the War of the Mecha rules by JB over at B/X Blackrazor. You’ve probably noticed the postings porting some supplementary stuff from the source. Last weekend we rolled for starting units and put together several mecha using the rules. I rolled well on commands (I had an entire battalion, 36 mecha, to my friend’s company, 12 mecha) and mecha types (my third lance ended up with 7 assault, 3 heavy, and 2 medium mecha in it).
This morning, as my planned G+ game was rescheduled due to the GM having something crop up, I finished putting together the rest of my force and we played the first mission so we could test out our understanding of the rules and see how the campaign rules worked with such lop-sided forces.
[Pictures to follow later, once I get them uploaded.]
The Invading Forces
1/23rd Mecha Battalion:
1st Company: 1 heavy lance and 2 light lances, Commanded by Major Rodger Wilco
2nd Company: 2 medium lances and 1 light lance, led by Captain Emily Yuen
3rd Company: 3 assault lances, led by Captain Macarthur “Mack” Archer
The Defending Forces
The Red-Head’s Own (RHO):
Command Lance (assault lance)
Skirmish Lance (medium lance)
Scout Lance (light lance)
The Assault of Dextrose IV
Jumpships left Tektura Station and travelled one day to reach the system jump point. Transition to the Dextrose system was near instantaneous. Flight time to the planet was four days, during which the aerospace fighters knocked down the planetary defenses (such that they were) and the 23rd Mecha Battalion was landed uncontested.
Mission 1
The Mission: Capture Objective
A river-side power plant near an occupied industrial sector was identified by both sides to be critical to their respective agendas. Both sides sent two lances to seize control of the power plant and keep the other side from claiming it. [We decided to limit the game to two lances on each side as the rule’s allowing a single commander to field a full company seemed more appropriate when there were more than two players.]
The Allocation:
The Captain leading the Red-Head’s Own, knowing the importance of the power plant (and having few options) took his Command Lance and the Skirmish Lance to secure the site. Major Wilco, having plenty of options, assigned the job to the 3rd Company, particularly the 1st and 2nd Lance, the command lance and the point assault lance.
The Battle:
The early portions of the battle were occupied with the forces getting into position. Two RHO mecha got into a pile-up when a medium mecha attempting to cross a river and move past a fellow mecha fell, sweeping the legs of the smaller mecha and causing it to fall as well. [This was the result of several failed Piloting rolls for both mecha.] Both mecha eventually left the river…only to promptly fall on their faces on the banks. The captain made a note to doc repair costs out of the pilot’s pay.
Both forces started converging just north of the objective. The RHO forces were up on a large hill under light cover from a fringe of trees. The 1/23rd forces were faster than anticipated and made good use of cover, running their mecha to within 200 m of the RHO forces before presenting any targets.
Much shooting happened in Turn 4. The first mecha down was a BDG-1E Bodyguard mecha on the 1/23rd side that was forced to signal surrender or be destroyed. This heartened the RHOs, until the “Flashlight” [an assault mecha] ran up to within 60 m of the RHO commander’s assault mecha and fired eight small energy weapons, knocking down the commander’s mecha. Additionally, a concentrated fire on a RHO medium mecha in the river [different from the klutz mentioned earlier] caused reactor damage and knocked that mecha down into the river, where the pilot was able to avoid a shutdown of the overheated reactor.
Surprisingly, the RHO forces concentrated fire upon the Brickhouse mecha of the lieutenant in charge of the 2nd Lance. This destroyed the Brickhouse (killing the lieutenant), but motivated the mecha pilots of the 1/23rd, who piled fire upon the assault mecha of the RHO commander, killing him with several strikes to the cockpit. [Three crits were invoked due to damage done in the round, resulting in two critical hits to the head and one to the arm.] Additional fire also destroyed one of the two RHO heavy mecha.
With their leader dead and their blood up, the RHO forces tried to gain revenge where they could, destroying one of the Bodyguard mecha. However, in choosing to do so, they ignored the steaming Flashlight [currently at 10 heat from firing all those lasers], which again fired all eight small energy weapons on a single target, the remaining RHO assault mecha, killing it. The resultant heat forced the Flashlight to power down, at which time the pilot triggered his surrender switch.
Down to two lights, a medium, and a heavy, the RHO forces started to disengage, but the heavy decided to make it a fighting retreat, attempting to kill another mecha. He failed and was burned down by a hail of damage. The remaining medium took some damage as well, enough that he decided to surrender rather than chance another hit. The last two RHO lights flee at top speed, using the hill as cover.
Clean-Up:
The 1/23rd lost a “Brickhouse” (assault) and a “Bodyguard” (heavy) and was able to claim a “Slosher” (assault) and a “Paynix” (medium), maintaining numbers if not strength.
The RHO lost everything but two “Sniper” (light) mecha, including their entire command lance. This leaves them with six light mechs (and a serious morale problem) to hold the planet against a full strength battalion. A change of tactics is mandated.
The Assault on Dextrose 4 continues.
The Future:
The next mission happens 4 days after this one and will be…Ambush!
Thoughts on the Game
We were both satisfied with the game system. The campaign system seems to need more than two players to help balance out forces from a game balance perspective. From a verisimilitude perspective, it works fine. After rolling starting forces, we both decided that the RHO forces were clearly on defense and the 1/23rd forces were the attacking forces as the other way around would be improbable.
There is nothing specifically keeping me from just keeping throwing my assault lances in every battle, destroying the remaining opposition mecha after another mission or two. To combat that, I think I’m going to add a rule stating that mecha (or mecha lances) needing repair cannot participate in the following mission. I might add something about loss of leader as well, but maybe not.
I’m split on my thinking on advancement of characters. Strict reading of the rules says only PCs get better. The RHO PC died and the 1/23rd PC was not involved in the fight, so no improvement happened. I’m not certain how I like that.
Finally, after the fight, I discovered that there is no movement cost in War of the Mecha for changing elevation. The only restriction is that elevation changes can only happen when walking. This would have changed a few things. Next game we will remember that and see what happens.
Our next game will be on the 17th and we are picking up a new player. For fairness, His forces should go on the defending side and will probably represent a unit stationed too far away to participate in the first mission, but now arrived. This will complicate my decisions as I am the target of the ambush and cannot waltz it by overpowering six light mecha!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
More War of the Mecha
Here are a few more rules bits for use with War of the Mecha. I'm working on these in my spare time or to take a break from other things I'm doing. Enjoy!
Dropping Mecha
Mecha can be air-dropped over an area by dropships (as opposed to
the dropship landing and them walking off). This requires the mecha pilot to
select a target hex and make a Piloting roll. A failed roll does falling damage
at one level of elevation per point roll is missed by. Additionally, the mecha
scatters one hex point the roll was missed by, with a failure by five or more
indicating the mecha missed the map and is destroyed for the purposes of the
scenario. The direction of scatter is determined by rolling 1d6, with “1” being
north and counting clockwise around the target hex.
Dropped mecha land during movement, but cannot attack the turn
they land. They may be targeted for attacks at +1 to the roll.
Mecha Lifting Capabilities
Mecha with a functioning arm may carry things (usually objectives
of some sort). The maximum capacity is based on mecha size.
|
Mecha Size
|
Lifting Max.
|
|
Light
|
3 tons
|
|
Medium
|
5 tons
|
|
Heavy
|
7 tons
|
|
Hardened
|
9 tons
|
A mecha taking its first critical hit to the arm while carrying an
object has a 50-50 chance of hitting the arm carrying the item. Roll 1d6: on a
4-6, the arm carrying the item is hit and the item is dropped. If the mecha
takes its second critical hit while carrying an item, the item is automatically
dropped.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Additions to War of the Mecha
[So I'm messing around with the War of the Mecha rules, a simplified set of rules for playing BattleTech. The original rules fit on one side of a single page and cover the basics. I've come up with some rules for interacting with buildings and here they are. I haven't play-tested them yet, but will soon. Leave me a comment if you beat me to it so I know how they play.]
Patrick’s Additions #1
Buildings
Mecha can move into or onto a building. If the building can
support it, a mecha can jump to the roof or climb onto a Level 1 or 2 building.
If the building cannot support the mecha, the building collapses and the mecha
falls, taking falling damage (1d6 damage per size class of the mecha) plus 1d6
damage per level of the building’s elevation. Mecha can enter the upper levels of buildings from the roofs of adjacent buildings.
Moving into a building causes a Piloting roll, modified by
building type and distance moved so far that turn. Exiting a building requires
an additional roll. On a successful roll, the mecha takes no damage, but the building
take 1d6 damage per size category of the mecha. On a failed roll, the mecha
takes damage equal to the buildings current SP, but does not fall.
Building
|
SP
|
Supports
|
MP Cost
|
Piloting Mod.
|
Light
|
15
|
Light mecha only
|
2
|
0
|
Medium
|
40
|
Medium mecha or lighter
|
3
|
-1
|
Heavy
|
90
|
Heavy mecha or lighter
|
4
|
-2
|
Hardened
|
120
|
Assault mecha or lighter
|
5
|
-3
|
Piloting Roll Mod. For Movement: -1
for 1-4 hexes, -2 for 5-8 hexes, and -3 for 9+ hexes
|
||||
Buildings may be shot at, providing a +4
bonus for being immobile. Buildings reduced to 0 SP collapse into rubble. Mecha
inside a building that collapses takes 1d6 damage per category of the building
times the levels of the building above the mecha (so a mecha in the ground
floor of an elevation 4 hardened building takes 16d6 damage when it collapses). Mecha on the roof or
an upper floor also suffers falling damage.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
War of the Mecha – Testing It Out
Back on November 5th, a friend and I went to out LFGS (Little Wars of Houston) to try out War of the Mecha, a one page set of rules by JB at B/X Blackrazor for having giant mecha combat each other, providing a feel that is similar to FASA’s BattleTech. They read fairly straight forward and seemed much more streamlined than BattleTech of old that I wanted to give them a spin.
So we packed a bunch of minis of different types (on 4 of which were actual battle tech minis) and what we thought was a pile of old BattleTech maps and went over to Little Wars. I brought extra stuff as I wasn’t certain how long this would take to play, so I also brought a copy of By This Axe I Rule, some fantasy minis rules by Chris over at Hill Cantons that I’m play-testing for him, Counterterrorist by Privateer Press (way out of print), and Wings of War – a WWI airplane combat game (by Fantasy Flight games) that I have minis for.
The first thing we realized was that that was not a stack of maps, it was a stack of mech sheets with two maps that happened to be on top. Then we worked out that most of the actual BT minis we had were too big for these maps. So both maps and minis went to the side and we looked through what we had. I ended up using three Ork gargants from my Epic 40K minis and a mech I didn’t recognize for my lance. He used two ostmechs, a blue plastic mech of some sort, and a Necron trooper mini for his lance.
We used three medium mechs and an assault mech for each lance and then equipped them. We used the basic weapons load out option (2 large weapons and 1 small weapon for the mediums and 4 larges and 1 small for the assault mechs), but selected what weapon systems we wanted. My mediums were armed with a ballistic weapon, an energy weapon, and jump jets (I took the option to swap the small weapons for jump jets). My assault mech had three missile weapons, a ballistic weapon, and a small ballistic weapon. My friend ended up using missiles instead of energy weapons for his mediums and took two energy weapons instead of two of the missile weapons on the assault.
Next we needed a map with terrain. As we were at Little Wars, I looked through their extensive amount of store terrain that is free to use. It is impressive in scope and quality, but we needed hexes and all of the store terrain is for games that don’t use hexes. So I made a quick trip home for my set of Heroscape and brought it back with me. We used that to create a good-sized map with a few hills and LOTS of trees.
Then we started playing.
I missed the addendum in the War of the Mecha 2 page of rules, so instead of alternating mechs, we alternated sides, which caused a few peculiarities, but we were still satisfied with the game we had played when we found those rules. I did a lot of jumping and shooting, which caused me heat problems with the energy weapons, but put me in good shooting positions often enough for it to be tolerable. My friend’s missile weapons kept his heat low enough that he rarely suffered heat issues, but his damage rolls tended to be poor. By the end of the game I had destroyed his assault mech, knocked one of his medium mechs down to 3 armor points, and put 18-20 points of damage on the other two mediums. One of my mediums was down to 7 armor points, but the other two still had better than 50% of their armor and my assault mech was untouched. I offered his side the cessation of hostilities and a retreat option and they took it. We had both been lucky/unlucky in the fight and were pleased with the game and the way things worked out.
Rules-wise, there are several things I like about this ruleset. I like that armor is just one pool of armor points. I like the simplified movement rules (no backwards movement and no torso twists). I like that the three weapons systems use different damage dice (missiles use 1d20, energy use 3d8, and ballistic use 4d6/3d6/2d6 based on the targets range – longer means less damage). With the heat differences (missile 7, energy 10, ballistic 3) the player got to balance damage done versus heat accrued and select weapons that matched what they wanted to do. My use of energy weapons meant I ran hot a lot of the battle, but my damage was fairly consistent. My friend’s use of missile weapons on his mediums meant heat was rarely an issue, but the damage range on a d20 meant he couldn’t count on what he’d get from shot to shot.
There are rules for swapping out weapon systems for more heat sinks or more speed or more (but smaller) weapons and we will probably give those a tryout in our next game. I need to put together a simple checklist for the options and print out half-page sheets for each mech. We used 6x9 index cards I had handy and had plenty of space, even with two mechs per card.
By this point, dinner time was approaching, so we packed up and headed out. We'll have to try By this Axe I Rule another time. When I do, I'll write up how that goes.
Now you may be asking why I tried this instead of using BattleTech. Two reasons: I have a desire to run a BattleTech RPG campaign and want relatively quick battles as the RPG is the point, not the battles, and the reason I stopped playing BattleTech was the 1001 fiddly rules that made a simple lance on lance fight go on forever. I think these rules will allow for quick battles and let the roleplay aspect become the primary part of the campaign.
An in case you were wondering, there are rules for using the Clans. No, I will not be using the Clans – they suck conceptual-wise and are poorly executed in the backstory. The rules by JB are probably just as functional as the regular rules, but I’ll never know.
So we packed a bunch of minis of different types (on 4 of which were actual battle tech minis) and what we thought was a pile of old BattleTech maps and went over to Little Wars. I brought extra stuff as I wasn’t certain how long this would take to play, so I also brought a copy of By This Axe I Rule, some fantasy minis rules by Chris over at Hill Cantons that I’m play-testing for him, Counterterrorist by Privateer Press (way out of print), and Wings of War – a WWI airplane combat game (by Fantasy Flight games) that I have minis for.
The first thing we realized was that that was not a stack of maps, it was a stack of mech sheets with two maps that happened to be on top. Then we worked out that most of the actual BT minis we had were too big for these maps. So both maps and minis went to the side and we looked through what we had. I ended up using three Ork gargants from my Epic 40K minis and a mech I didn’t recognize for my lance. He used two ostmechs, a blue plastic mech of some sort, and a Necron trooper mini for his lance.
We used three medium mechs and an assault mech for each lance and then equipped them. We used the basic weapons load out option (2 large weapons and 1 small weapon for the mediums and 4 larges and 1 small for the assault mechs), but selected what weapon systems we wanted. My mediums were armed with a ballistic weapon, an energy weapon, and jump jets (I took the option to swap the small weapons for jump jets). My assault mech had three missile weapons, a ballistic weapon, and a small ballistic weapon. My friend ended up using missiles instead of energy weapons for his mediums and took two energy weapons instead of two of the missile weapons on the assault.
Next we needed a map with terrain. As we were at Little Wars, I looked through their extensive amount of store terrain that is free to use. It is impressive in scope and quality, but we needed hexes and all of the store terrain is for games that don’t use hexes. So I made a quick trip home for my set of Heroscape and brought it back with me. We used that to create a good-sized map with a few hills and LOTS of trees.
Then we started playing.
I missed the addendum in the War of the Mecha 2 page of rules, so instead of alternating mechs, we alternated sides, which caused a few peculiarities, but we were still satisfied with the game we had played when we found those rules. I did a lot of jumping and shooting, which caused me heat problems with the energy weapons, but put me in good shooting positions often enough for it to be tolerable. My friend’s missile weapons kept his heat low enough that he rarely suffered heat issues, but his damage rolls tended to be poor. By the end of the game I had destroyed his assault mech, knocked one of his medium mechs down to 3 armor points, and put 18-20 points of damage on the other two mediums. One of my mediums was down to 7 armor points, but the other two still had better than 50% of their armor and my assault mech was untouched. I offered his side the cessation of hostilities and a retreat option and they took it. We had both been lucky/unlucky in the fight and were pleased with the game and the way things worked out.
Rules-wise, there are several things I like about this ruleset. I like that armor is just one pool of armor points. I like the simplified movement rules (no backwards movement and no torso twists). I like that the three weapons systems use different damage dice (missiles use 1d20, energy use 3d8, and ballistic use 4d6/3d6/2d6 based on the targets range – longer means less damage). With the heat differences (missile 7, energy 10, ballistic 3) the player got to balance damage done versus heat accrued and select weapons that matched what they wanted to do. My use of energy weapons meant I ran hot a lot of the battle, but my damage was fairly consistent. My friend’s use of missile weapons on his mediums meant heat was rarely an issue, but the damage range on a d20 meant he couldn’t count on what he’d get from shot to shot.
There are rules for swapping out weapon systems for more heat sinks or more speed or more (but smaller) weapons and we will probably give those a tryout in our next game. I need to put together a simple checklist for the options and print out half-page sheets for each mech. We used 6x9 index cards I had handy and had plenty of space, even with two mechs per card.
By this point, dinner time was approaching, so we packed up and headed out. We'll have to try By this Axe I Rule another time. When I do, I'll write up how that goes.
Now you may be asking why I tried this instead of using BattleTech. Two reasons: I have a desire to run a BattleTech RPG campaign and want relatively quick battles as the RPG is the point, not the battles, and the reason I stopped playing BattleTech was the 1001 fiddly rules that made a simple lance on lance fight go on forever. I think these rules will allow for quick battles and let the roleplay aspect become the primary part of the campaign.
An in case you were wondering, there are rules for using the Clans. No, I will not be using the Clans – they suck conceptual-wise and are poorly executed in the backstory. The rules by JB are probably just as functional as the regular rules, but I’ll never know.
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