ScrapYard Armory

2008 has been a great year filled with great games, great conventions, and great comments! Here is the short list of my top commentators.

1. Adam Easykill
2. Quigs
3. Saxywolf

There are no prizes or anything like that so don’t get too excited.  I just wanted to let you all know that I appreciate your feedback and welcome much more in the future.

Thanks to all of my readers this year.  I hope to raise the bar in 2009 and provide more terrific original content for the Classic Battletech game.  I’ve got a hobby list about a mile long and I’ve no intentions of slowing down.

Cheers to you and yours this Holiday season!

This holiday scenario is based on the short story Ghost of Christmas Present by Michael Stackpole, available in the Battlecorps Anthology Volume I.

ANTI-NICK COMES TO TOWN

SITUATION

It is early Christmas morning and Anti-Nick is up to his old tricks again.  He’s making a list and checking it twice.  Have you and your lance mates been naughty or nice this year?  It’s time to find out in this Holiday slugfest!

GAME SET-UP

Included for this scenario is a custom map made from Heavy Metal Map inspired by the standard Battletech map we all know and love.  In lieu of the included map, use any map with at least some level three terrain.

ScrapYardArmory – Winter Wonderland

Printable PDF (1.75MB)

Low Resolution JPEG (2.69MB)

High Resolution JPEG (8.73MB)

DEFENDER

Deployment

The Defenders begin the game deployed anywhere on the mapsheet opposite the Attacker’s chosen map edge.

ATTACKER

Deployment

The Attackers choose a map edge at the beginning of the game.  They enter the game on turn one from the chosen map edge.

SPECIAL RULES

Not a Fit Night Out for Man Nor Beast

If you don’t like the weather, just wait. At the beginning of each turn, roll 1D6 and use the table below to determine the weather conditions in effect for that turn.

1. Light Snowfall, -1 Heat Points per Turn
2. Moderate Snowfall, -2 Heat Points per Turn, +1 To-Hit for all Ranged Weapon Attacks
3. Heavy Snowfall, -2 Heat Points per Turn, +1 To-Hit for all Ranged Weapon Attacks, +1 to all Piloting Rolls
4. Snow Flurries, -2 Heat Points per Turn, +2 To-Hit for Missile Attacks, +1 To-Hit all other Ranged Attacks
5. Ice Storm, -3 Heat Points per Turn, +1 To-Hit for Missile Attacks
6. Blizzard, -2 Heat Points per Turn, +2 To-Hit for all Direct Fire Ballistic Attacks, +3 To-Hit for Missile Attacks, +1 to all Piloting Rolls

At the beginning of the game, all hexes are considered thin snow which has no effect on game play.  Any unit with a flamer or incendiary missiles may attack a thin snow hex to turn it into mud.  Roll 2D6 for each attempt.  A result of 8 or better turns the hex into mud.  Mud requires 1 additional MP to enter and inflict a +1 modifier to all piloting skill rolls.  Units in mud may become bogged down.  See Tactical Operations page 62 for details.  (Feel free to skip the bogged down rules if you don’t own Tactical Operations or you just don’t feel like it)

On turn 6, all thin snow hexes become deep snow (mud stays as mud).  Deep snow requires an additional 1 MP to enter and all piloting skill rolls suffer a +1 modifier.  All leg mounted heat sinks will sink 1 additional heat per turn.  Prone ‘Mechs will sink an additional 3 heat per turn.  Detailed rules for thin and deep snow are in Tactical Operations if players wish to have the full experience.  However, the rules as presented here are more than enough to play the scenario.

Avalanche!

On or after turn 6 an avalanche is possible.  Deep snow at level three or higher may be attacked in order to trigger an avalanche.  For each 20 points of damage delivered per phase (That’s right, you could get two rolls a turn if you manage to do 20 points of damage by kicking the snow drifts!), roll 2D6.  On an 8 or better an avalanche is triggered.

An avalanche is resolved during the end phase of the turn it is triggered.  Once a hex begins an avalanche, all adjacent level 3 hexes also avalanche.  An avalanche begins slowly and then picks up steam following the fall line.   ‘Mechs in the path of an avalanche will take damage and be forced to make a piloting roll to avoid falling.

Use the chart below to determine damage based on where the ‘Mech is in relation to the fall line.  Note: If a ‘Mech is swept away in an avalanche, the unit takes damage in this way for each additional hex it is forced to enter (see below).

The base damage is the victim’s tonnage divided by 10.  Multiply this value by the damage multiplier in the chart below.  The base damage is multiplied by the difference in levels between the ‘Mech and the top of the avalanche minus the number of level 0 hexes traversed by the avalanche.   ie. A ‘Mech on level 1 terrain is 2 hexes lower than the level of the avalanche.  The damage suffered is the base damage times 2.  A ‘Mech on level 0 terrain with 2 intervening level 0 terrain between it and the avalanche start point would only have a multiplier of 1.

‘Mechs need to make a piloting skill roll to determine if they fall from the impact of the snow.  Make a piloting roll with the modifiers listed in the chart below.  The piloting roll is also modified by the number of intervening level 0 hexes similar to the damage roll.  If the piloting roll fails, the ‘Mech falls and is swept away in the direction of the fall line.  Take damage and make a seat belt check normally before continuing.  If two or more possible routes exist, choose the destination hex randomly.  Modify the piloting skill roll using the chart below.

‘Mechs with jump jets get a -2 modifier to this check but only once on the first attempt.  A piloting roll is made for every hex the unit is swept into to attempt to stop using the same modifiers.

An avalanche will not continue past 3 hexes on level 0 terrain and never goes uphill.  An avalanche may only be started once per hill.

An Example

‘Mech A has triggered an avalanche in 1403.  Since 1304 is adjacent to the avalanche start point, it also begins to avalanche.  ‘Mech A is on level 2 terrain and takes damage equal to it’s tonnage divided by 10 times 1.  After assigning damage, ‘Mech A makes a check to see if he falls and is swept away.  Looking at the chart, he sees that his piloting skill (3) is modified by +4 since he is 1 hex lower than the start point, level 3.  However, he has jump jets and gets a -2 modifier for the first attempt!  ‘Mech A needs a 5 to avoid the avalanche and rolls a 6, success!  Good thing he had jump jets to evade the snow!

‘Mech B is 2 hexes from the nearest avalanche start point.  He is on level 0, which means he would take 3 times the base damage from the snow.  However, since there are two intervening level 0 terrain, the multiplier is only 1.  After assigning damage ‘Mech B looks at the chart and subtracts 2 (the number of intervening level 0 terrain) from the piloting modifier.  His piloting skill is 4 and his modifier is +4 (base +6 – 2 for intervening level 0 terrain).  He has no jump jets so he needs an 8.  ‘Mech B rolls a 7, curses!  ‘Mech B will take falling damage normally and then be swept away along the fall line of the avalanche.  There are two possible locations after being swept away, 0903 and 0904.  The players agree to dice off the location.  After moving to 0903, ‘Mech B is done because there are now 3 intervening level 0 hexes between him and the top of the avalanche.  Had the ‘Mech been closer to the hill, he would have taken another round of damage at his new location and another piloting skill roll to avoid being swept away again!

‘Mech C can count 3 hexes of intervening level 0 terrain so the avalanche stops just short of his hex!

VICTORY CONDITIONS

Whoever cries uncle first is declared naughty for the rest of the evening!  The loser must serve the winner a cup of hot chocolate after the game (or whatever their beverage of choice is).

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Strategic Operations is out now in PDF form at least.  For those of you wondering if this new tome is worth the money, I’m providing my humble opinion in this review.  This is a huge book to be sure, so I’ve broken down my comments by section.   Enjoy!

General Rules

The first few sections of the book are devoted to some lesser known yet useful rules covering both the mundane (Moving Cargo) to the hotly requested (Search and Rescue).  While not every gamer will take to every rule, some will be the missing link for gamers looking for a nagging answer to their peculiar gaming quandary.  Yeah, we’ve got a rule for that now…

I am very disappointed in the fatigue, morale, and linked scenario rules.  They are, except for the occasional proof read edit, a direct copy-paste from Combat Operations.  There is no value added in these rules for anyone who already has this FanPro product.  I wish they would have at least provided some additional innovation to make it fresh and unique.  A brief example in the same flavor of those provided in the Starterbooks would have gone a long way.

In order to use these rules, players will have to put pen to paper and patch all of the holes before they fire the first round.  Otherwise, players will find themselves arguing intent of the rules mid game.  There is no faster way to kill the fun in any game when you have to take a station break for rules arbitration.  This has nothing to do with a lack of creativity on the part of the player base in case you were going to suggest.   Beer and pretzels, enough said.

The Linked Scenario rules could have at least had an example to convey the intent of the writers and play testers.  This stuff was play tested right?

Advanced Aerospace

Aerospace combat, the way it was meant to be played.  Strategic Operations ushers in the true embodiment of deep space combat with Warships, Dropships, and Fighter Squadrons.  These rules are a gem and I can’t wait to try them out.  For the Aerospace enthusiast, this section alone is worth the cost of the book or PDF.

I have already commented on some of the advanced rules that were provided as previews.  With the full picture in place, I am now very anxious to get some Warship action on.  I hope more people in the CBT community feel the same.  It is the only way we will be seeing more games promoted by the Demo Team.

Maintenance, Repair, and Salvage

I’m honestly not a huge fan of AccountTech.  That’s why we have the Warchest system after all.  However, I’ve given the rules a good read.  They are about as detailed and complete as we the players are going to get.

Just a little snippet if I may;

It is recommended that players reserve optional rules for situations where each player is responsible for only a small number of units.

Translation: We are not responsible for those who would run an entire company (or more) using these rules.

All through this section there are plenty of good examples that flesh out the rules presentation making it palatable.   Very well done all around.  I might be tempted to run a force using these rules but would probably be more interested in creating a tool to assist in the record keeping instead.  The extra flavor text in the examples make even the most mundane rules, such as those involving the acquisition of replacement parts, fun to read.

Orville fails the Availability Check and swears that next time he buys a new fighter, he’s going to buy Free Worlds League.

Battle Force

BattleForce is a fast play rules system to fight large scale Battletech universe games.  We are talking Battalion versus Battalion for a normal game.  Regiment on Regiment becomes the new long format.

The rules are solid, providing a way for players to integrate every form of Battletech unit in their games.  This includes Warships and Fighter Squadrons by the way.  That recreation of Case White you’ve been thinking about running all of a sudden is looking more and more feasible.

The real kicker that is going to make it easy for players to give the game a try is the included playing counters.  These are available for free from the Strategic Operations product page.  Once again the developers at Catalyst have shown quite a bit of good will to the players.  They have clearly presented a strategic image for the game.  You get a sense from reading the rules the grand scale that BattleForce is.

The included counters are going to make things very easy to get started.  Bravo.

Miniatures Rules

The miniature rules as presented are a straight copy-paste from the free edition available online.  They even reused some of the pictures that debuted in the Battletech Compendium: The Rules of Warfare.  Other pictures were updated, why not all of them? Since this is already provided free, I don’t see the value here.  When the book was pushing the page count, why would they add in these rules that are already provided elsewhere?  Catalyst could have used that space for something new, like a Linked Scenario example or two.

The last quick addition to the book, and seemingly the cherry on the top of a wildly varied sundae of Classic Battletech goodness is the Quick Strike rules.  Essentially, take two parts Miniature rules, one part BattleForce, and a dash of Click-Tech MechWarrior, shake well and serve chilled.  These rules can make an excellent bridge for converting players.  Makes me very glad I already have a healthy selection of MechWarrior figures.

Verdict: BUY

Strategic Operations will be one of the best volumes out of the Core rulebook set.  If you had to choose between Tactical or Strategic Operations, go with Strategic Ops.  I imagine the average Classic Battletech player will find Strategic Operations rules they will use much more frequently than those provided in Tac Ops.

This one was worth the wait despite it’s flaws.  Here’s hoping that Interstellar Operations can bridge the gap to truely large scale warfare in the Inner Sphere.

A rather curious and very new looking weblog/newsletter gathered up some sound bites from Catalyst Game Labs staff (Adam Jury alone it seems) and put out a PDF interview.

The PDF is here.

Nothing notable on the Classic Battletech front to report.  This was not so much an interview as a general overview of the company.

The slew of other games in the works were mentioned including one that I had not heard of before.  While I will ultimately stay away from Eclipse Phase (I’ve never been much of a role player) quick and funny games like Paparazzi and Ooze the Cook sound intriguing enough to give it a shot.

I made a point to play a demo of Paparazzi at GenCon this year and I have to say I was impressed.  Shame it isn’t going to make it to shelves before the holiday shopping season.

To celebrate the release of Strategic Operations, and the included advanced aerospace rules, I took a bit of time to make two deep space maps using a combination of GIMP and Heavy Metal Map.

I’ve included each map in three different formats depending on your needs/wants.  The first is a PDF for printing on your normal everyday printer (8 1/2 x 11).  Also included are both High and Low resolution JPEGs.

Please let me know if a different hex color would work better. I’m open to suggestions to improve!

ScrapYardArmory – Deep Space Map 01

Printable PDF (1.27MB)

Low Resolution JPEG (2.47MB)

High Resolution JPEG (7.71MB)

ScrapYardArmory  – Deep Space Map 02

Printable PDF (1.55MB)

Low Resolution JPEG (2.70MB)

High Resolution JPEG (8.53MB)

I’ve gotten a few requests for a tutorial on how I make bases for my Mechwarrior figures.  Well, I’ve finally put all the pieces together and made a video.

And by the way, page 387 in your Strategic Operations points out that Mechwarrior figures make for great miniatures games.  The only drawback of MW minis?  No hex base.  With a few dollars and some time, you can have all the hex bases you will ever need.

Quick Strike rules anyone?

This just in from a little birdie whispering in my ear.

Preparing TRO3075 and TRO3050U for reprints…always good when you get to reprint a book, especially as quick as we’re reprinting 3075. rnb

Not bad at all.  It is good to see product moving.

I’m not about to say everything Catalyst touches turns to gold.  If they do come out with product I don’t like, I certainly won’t buy it anyways on principle. That said, Catalyst has some significant challenges ahead of itself, especially if they wrangle the intellectual property rights in the near future.

However, if we want Classic Battletech to be around for another 25 years, the company needs to make money.  Good money.  I’ve been a player of far too many great games (Deadlands: Doomtown, MageKnight, and now Mechwarrior) that bit the dust because the owners couldn’t make any money off of them.

This is a step in the right direction.  Here’s hoping for a bright future.

AeroTech is dead.

In its place, Strategic Operations is promising to be one of the most drastic overhauls in Battletech history.  I’m talking of course about the brand new ECM/ECCM rules preview.

While some may say the ECM/ECCM rules are optional, I disagree.  Glancing at the Strategic Operations table of contents, the entire section dealing with Warships is just “Advanced Aerospace Combat, General Rules”.  If you are playing with Warships, you are playing advanced rules.  There is no checklist in the compiled tables, as in Tactical Operations.

Mark my words.  The who’s who of Classic Battletech Warships will all be using these new rules.  All of them.  Bracketing Fire, Emergency Combat Heading Operations, and Capital Missile Bearings Only included.

Your New Best Friend (in space)

External hard points, page 217 in your Tech Manual.  Hard points come free on all Aerospace fighters.  They are meant to carry various bombs and the occasional TAG.  However, based on some curious non-answers from select developers on the forums, as well as the lack of canon Aerospace fighters fielding ECM/Active Probes, I expect some new hard point mountable equipment in Strategic Ops or perhaps a separate ruling.

Carefully crafted forces with overlapping ECM fields and peppered Active Probes will be the kings of deep space.  Combined arms is going to matter even in space now.

But Who Will Play It?

If they write it, there is no guarantee that very many people will play it unfortunately.  Space battles with Warships and even Aerospace fighters to some degree have always been ignored by the community.  Catalyst does not need people to fall in love with Warships to sell Strategic Ops.  There is always Battleforce and the highly anticipated Repair and Maintenance rules to bring out the wallets of the traditional ground pounders.

Hell, I asked the question at GenCon if there would be additional support for Aerospace battles from either Catalyst or the Demo Teams.  They said no.  Not so bluntly of course, but the meaning was clear.  The developers at Catalyst have no say in what games the Demo team play.

In essence, the success of Aerospace warship battles depends on players like you and I to play it, like it, and demand the same from our local Demo team members.

That’s no slam dunk.  And besides, I’m not totally sold on the potential ECM/ECCM tracking nightmare.  I imagine that the best Aerospace players will be able to go into their own Ikaruga trance and just “see” the ECM field on the table top.  That’s a bit duanting, but then, perhaps we all shouldn’t rush out to replay Case White as our first Aerospace game either.

The GeekDad blog has been popping out gift guides for the holiday season.  In it’s fifth take on the subject, they tackled game suitable for Dad and Kids to share.  Nothing says “tis the season‘ like getting a gift you and your children can share.  Family is what it’s all about after all.

Here is the post.  And the excerpt:

The ultimate giant robot board game. This starter set comes with plastic robot figures, quick start rules, and advanced rules. With over 20 years of background material, this game can get as complicated as you can handle!

Not a bad plug at all.

Obviously, this particular kind of gift is more for a Father and Son, just like the Nerf Gun set, Legos, and the Arduino microprocessor Starter Kit.

What’s on your Holiday wish list?  I’m hoping for Stratigic Ops PDF.  We can hope right?

I own both of the Starterbooks and I believe they are great products for both new and old players alike.  If a Fasa era unit specific scenario book and the Chaos Campaign rules got it on, the Starterbooks would be their offspring.

The Starterbooks are designed to be played with one player as one of the headline units and the other playing the opposing force.  It is an easy conversion to make it possible for two players to play against each other.

Starting Off and Running the Tracks

Each player will be playing one of the factions within the Starterbook.  While one player is playing a track, the other will run the opposing force.

From my experience, the generic tracks presented in both Starterbooks are meant to be won.  The difference maker in the overall campaign is being able to win with the optional bonuses and without taking too much damage.  Losing an important ‘Mech or pilot can drastically change the course of the campaign.

Meanwhile, the opposing force still has a stake in the track.  Since their own force will inevitably face off against the same ‘Mechs and pilots, it is in their best interest to ensure they receive the most damage possible.  And just maybe, they can keep them from achieving a full victory every once in a while.

Facing Off

Within each book, there are Dustup or Touchpoint tracks that put the two units against each other.  This occurs once in Sword and Dragon and three times in Wolf and Blake.

When one of the players gets to one of these combined tracks, it’s time to battle.  Follow the track instructions, using each player’s force as available units.

In Sword and Dragon, the final Dustup involves one company from each force.  Each player picks his best twelve ‘Mechs to face off.

In Wolf and Blake, the first two Touchpoints use limited units from both forces while the final Touchpoint is similar to Sword and Dragon, a company on company epic battle to prove who is the best command in the Inner Sphere.

When there are optional bonuses that affect the battle, both players should agree to use them or not.  A simple solution is to require both player’s to want to bonus for it to take effect.  Or, if both players would like a little variability in their game, they can dice off optional bonuses (1-3 this bonus is in play, 4-6 it is not).

Resolving the Time Continuum

When the first player reaches a Touchpoint his force pauses and waits for the other player to get the the same track.  This brings up some potential issues.  It would not be fair for the other player, who knows the state of the opposing force, to play unlimited additional generic tracks to bolster his force to an unbeatable level.  On the other hand, when one force has the obvious upper hand, it would likewise not be fair to force the other player to join the Touchpoint without at least an opportunity to get his force back into fighting trim.

With this in mind, agree with your opponent beforehand how many generic tracks are acceptable before the opponent must enter the combined track.  In the Wolf and Blake campaign I am playing in now, my opponent and I have agreed on one track before being forced to play a Touchpoint.

End Game

At the end of the campaign, there are several ways to determine the overall winner.  Here are a few ways to go about it.  If you have your heart set on having a clear winner of the campaign, agree with your opponent before the campaign begins what victory conditions are going to be used.  Use one, best out of three, or make your own (Please share if you do make some new victory conditions though!).

Warchest

Add up the Warchest point value of each player’s remaining force including their current Warchest balance.  The higher final Warchest wins this victory condition.

Final Battle

Whoever wins the final Touchpoint/Dustup in the campaign wins this victory condition.

Unit Cohesion

Count up all of the ‘Mechs and pilots in each force that started the campaign.  Whichever force retains more original ‘Mechs and pilots wins this victory condition.

Have Fun, Standard Answer Number One

Above all, have some fun.  Sometimes it is not who wins and loses, but how you play the game.  The journey is better than the final destination.  The Starterbooks are worth many many hours of gaming fun.  Enjoy the ride.