ScrapYard Armory

Every so often when playing BattleTech you stumble upon a rules question that contradicts years of belief in how the game works.  It doesn’t happen often but when it does, you have to shake your head and smile.  Who knew the game worked that way the whole time?  Just such an event occurred at GenCon 2012.  It happened at the annual Battle the Masters event no less.  And it wasn’t the game developers who righted the rules question but a persistent Catalyst Demo Agent thanks to a inquisitive and stubborn player (kudos to Mark Erikson!).

Defender’s Choice

Examine the following scenario for a moment.  Here we find the state of the game directly following movement and before attack declaration.  The Ballius, piloted by one of the Masters, Paul Sjardijn, has made a daring flanking manuever intending the use partial cover to its fullest advantage as only a quad ‘Mech can do.  The Nova Cat  (being proxied by a MadCat) has flip arms and intends to do his best to put the pony down.

Both ‘Mechs are on level 2 terrain with the level 3 terrain on the line between them.  The Nova Cat is in a bit of a predicament.  If he takes the partial cover he has to take the shots into the rear arc.  Taking into account the Balius’ weapon load out it would be far too risky to allow the rear shots.  His best option is to take the shots on the left side where his armor is more sufficient.  Everyone at the table agreed it was the best tactical decision.

So the question is, what happens when two attackers want different line of sight?

My reaction and the first reaction of both the Masters at the table was that it was always defender’s choice.  No matter what.

Unfortunately we were dead wrong.  Thanks to the persistent questioning of one of my fellow fan player’s we wrangled Demo Agent Charlie Tango into the argument who promptly and decisively laid a Total Warfare size smack down with thunderous implications.

The Rules

TW page 99 for those following at home.

If the LOS passes exactly between two hexes, the player controlling the targeted unit decides which of the two hexes lie along the LOS.  This choice can also affect the attack direction for incoming attacks (see Attack Direction, p. 119).  The chosen hexside is used for all attacks between those two units for the remainder of the turn (see Line of Sight Between Two Hexes diagram on p. 101).

Since the Balius declared his attack first the Nova Cat is the first defender and his decision to NOT take the partial cover (and take the hits to his left side) affects both of the units.  The situation is clarified further by the Line of Sight example on page 101.

Paul Sjardijn, Lauren Coleman, and myself were all dead wrong and never saw it coming.  It just so happened that that Balius would see his demise that turn and the game quickly turned in favor of the fans as they whittled the Master’s ‘Mechs into scrap before the night was out.

It just goes to show that there are always new things to learn even in a game with so much history.  I’m by no means a rules expert but this was a rule I thought I knew cold.  Maybe I’m just out of touch.  I’d love to hear in the comments from my readers if you were surprised by this rule.

Keep an open mind out there and keep those dice rolling!