ScrapYard Armory

After a long wait, the folks at Catalyst have made good on the promise they made in JHS:3070.  The Warchest rules are finally available online for free.

For those of you not in the know, the Warchest system, originally designed by Ben Rome and Paul Sjardijn, debuted in Dawn of the Jihad as a simplified campaign system that revolved around a particular event.  Unit creation is flexible and event resolution is left open enough to allow for a wealth of replayability.

I’ve played through one campaign (DotJ) and have just started another and I have to say I am pleasantly impressed.  It allows for flexible force construction and scenario generation.  It is just simple enough for casual gamers to get interested while leaving the door open for true account-tech lovers to go as nuts as they want.

This release is a huge boon to the community created Warchest tracks available at the CBT forums.  I have plans to pull together a series of tracks based on the War of 3039.  All in good time.  There is a lot happening lately.

The free download is just almost a copy paste from DotJ except for the formatting and artwork.  All of the tables are mostly the same.  One difference I noticed was the way the Technology Rating was presented.  The new PDF gives a formula to calculate the Technology Rating of your unit prior to the start of the campaign.

DotJ originally left it up to the player’s to assign themselves a Technology Rating.  Effectively it was a way for players to self adjust the difficulty of the campaign.  The new rules provide a formula to calculate your unit’s rating based on the percentage of technology in your starting force.

Some Issues, Some Solutions

Not all is perfect.  I have a few issues with the rules based on my experiences running through Chaos Unleashed from DotJ.  Here is a quick run-down and some possible solutions.

• Pilot upgrades may be under priced

I suggest adjusting the price of upgrades.  Going from an Inner Sphere standard (4/5) would cost 10 and 8 points as printed.  However, the next step would double the cost.  Thus going from a 3/4 to a 2/3 would be 20 and 16 points respectively and so on.

Also make sure pilot skills never get further than two levels from each other.  That is, a 2/4 pilot is kosher, but a 1/4 is just plain wrong.  Keeping a balance between piloting and gunnery is going to keep your pilots from getting too munchy.

• Salvage is highly valuable

Salvage is a huge boon to those able to take advantage.  Some prudence on the part of the Game Master is needed to make sure the player’s war chest does not get too far out of whack.

Check to make sure each track really deserves salvage.  Defensive and stand-up fight situations make perfect sense.  However, recon missions, fast attacks, and other tracks held in hostile territory are not going to offer the time or support equipment needed to properly salvage much of anything.

Per the rules as written, salvage is supposed to be sold at half-value.  I missed that line myself on my first read of the rules.  Makes a huge difference.

• While you can buy battlearmor and protomechs, there are no costs to repair them

An easy fix.  Based on ‘Mech and vehicle repair costs, I suggest the following prices.  Battle armor repairs cost 2 support points per suit.  Protomech repairs cost the same as vehicles, tonnage/2.

Just keep in mind that a destroyed battle armor suit needs to be replaced.  Repair only makes sense if it took non-lethal damage during a track.

Chaos Campaign is a free download so get out there and take a look.  It is definitely worth your time.