I like rules that work well, are easy to understand and keep in mind, are fast to play and more important than everything else, I like rules that allows good use of tactics. Crazy as I am about Mechs and all things gigantic robot, I played a lot of Battletech. But a lot of dice rolling, luck defeating better tactics, and a time consuming game, pushed me away from BT. I still love the Universe and the fluff. I still have the Mechs. I still love the Mechs. I still want to play with giant robots.
So here’s my input on playing with Mechs in a faster and more tactical way. The Mech conversion is very simple and easy to do, so you can still use your favourite Battletech Mech without a lot of tinkering. This is not a new Mecha game. These are just alternative rules to play Battletech. Maybe some time in the future I’ll make some complete rules. I’d like to see them played and if you do play with these, please send me feedback. If someone wants to pick this up and take it further down the road, please feel free to do it. I just want a copy of those to try them out myself.
Bayushiseni’s Battlemech Retrofitting Rules
Turn Sequence:
Initiative Roll
Movement
Fire
Close Combat
Half Movement
Initiative Roll
The players roll for initiative. The player who lost moves first. This is rolled only once. The next turn, the other player will be the automatic winner. You might want to create a token for the player with the initiative.
Movement
The player who lost initiative moves one of his infantry squads. The players alternate moving until all infantry squads have been moved. Repeat the process for vehicles, then for Mechs and then for flying units. The reason for this is simple. The more moving capabilities, the more initiative a unit has.
I play without hexes, but playing with hexes will be very easy to convert. Forget the running movement in the BT rules. Use only the walking speed. I call it Cruising speed. If you want to go to Top speed, you double that speed. A Mech or vehicle that walks/cruises 3 in BT rules, will have a Top speed of 6. A Mech or vehicle can cruise backwards, but can’t do it at Top Speed. A Mech or Vehicle will loose 1′ for each 60º turn. Infantry can run double their speed but can’t fire the turn they’ve run. Jumping will allow Mechs to land in the facing the player wants them to.
Fire
There is no torso turning. Mechs fire their forward mounted weapons, all of it, in 120º forward arc. The rear mounted weapons will fire in 120º rear arc. Vehicles can fire the turret mounted weapons all around. Weapons mounted in the body of the vehicle will fire in a 90º arc. Infantry can fire all around.
All fire is considered simultaneously. The fire damage takes effect only at the end of the fire phase.
You’ll fire each weapon one by one, but location, damage and critics are all rolled at the same time. You must roll a white die, a blue die and a red die. Adding the three dice you’ll see if you have hit the target. The white die will give the damage code. The blue die will indicate Penetration and the red die will give you the Location of the damage.
The To Hit is rolled in 3 dice and rolling higher than the Target size adding or subtracting to the target size all the modifiers possible. Infantry can be tiny or small. Vehicles can go from small to huge. Mechs can go from Medium to Gargantuan. Chopters can go from Medium to Huge. You must use good sense to decide this, when you give a vehicle it’s size. My rule of thumb for Mechs is: 20 tons to 40 tons – Medium; 45 tons to 60 – Big; 65 tons to 80 tons – Huge. 85 tons and above – Gargantuan.
Target Size
Tiny – 10+ to hit
Small- 9+ to hit
Medium – 8+ to hit
Big – 7+ to hit
Huge – 6+ to hit
Gargantuan – 5+ to hit
Range Modifier
Short: 0
Medium: +2
Long: +4
Firer
Stationary: 0
Cruising: +1
Top Speed: +2
Jumping: +3
Target
Stationary: -1
Moved 1′ to 2′: 0
Moved 3′ to 5′: +1
Moved 6′ to 8′: +2
Moved 9′ to 11′: +3
Moved 12′ to 14′: +4
Moved 15′+: +5
Jumped: add +1 to the above movement
Pilot
Green Shooter: +1
Regular Shooter: 0
Veteran Shooter: -1
Elite Shooter: -2
Ace Shooter: -3
Terrain Modifiers
Light Woods: +2
Heavy Woods: +3
Low obstacles: +1
Inside Light building: +2 (2/3 damage)
Inside Heavy building: +3 (1/2 damage)
Inside Reinforced building: +4 (1/3 damage)
If you hit the target read the dice. Each die will give you information to the damage made.
Damage Code (White die)
1 – 1 point of damage. Minimal damage.
2 – 1/2 damage. Half the damage the weapon normally delivers. Round down.
3 – Normal damage. The damage that the weapon delivers.
4 – Normal damage. Roll for one critical.
5 – +50% of weapons damage. Round Down. Roll for one critical.
6 – Double damage. The weapon does double damage. Roll for two criticals.
Critical (Roll one die)
1 to 3 – No critical
4 – One critical. Target player decides what is the critical.
5 – One critical. Firer player decides what is the critical.
6 – Roll again:
1-2. One critical. Firer player decides what is the critical.
3-4. Two criticals. Firer player decides what are the criticals.
5-6. Limb destroyed. Head destroyed. In torso Mech destroyed.
Penetration (Blue die)
1 – Bounced. Didn’t penetrate. No damage at all.
2 – Short – Penetration 2. Medium and Long – Penetration 1
3 – Short – Penetration 3. Medium – Penetration 2. Long – Penetration 1
4 – Short – Penetration 4. Medium – Penetration 3. Long – Penetration 2
5 – Short – Penetration 5. Medium – Penetration 4. Long – Penetration 3
6 – Short – Penetration 5. Medium – Penetration 5. Long – Penetration 4
A thing that I always hated about the damage in BT was that it was as hard to hit a big limbering Mech as it was to hit a smaller one. The fiction of BT always said it differently. And in Wizkids Mech warrior was even more stupid. A smaller Mech had a to hit number lower than a big mech and much less clicks. I propose a different thing altogether. Armour thickness:
Mech Tonnage ——— Head — Torso — legs — Arms
20 and 25 Ton mechs —— 1 ——- 2 ——– 2 —– 1
30 and 35 Ton mechs —— 1 ——- 3 ——– 2 —– 2
40 and 45 Ton mechs —— 2 ——- 3 ——– 3 —– 2
50 and 55 Ton mechs —— 2 ——- 4 ——– 3 —– 2
60 and 65 Ton mechs —— 2 ——- 4 ——– 3 —– 3
70 and 75 Ton mechs —— 2 ——- 5 ——– 3 —– 3
80 and 85 Ton mechs —— 2 ——- 5 ——– 4 —– 4
90 and 95 Ton mechs —— 3 ——- 5 ——– 5 —– 4
100 Ton mechs ———— 3 ——- 5 ——– 5 —– 5
If the Penetration die is inferior to the Thickness of the location, there is no damage. Penetration works also for vehicles and Infantry. Refer to the Mech armor tickiness to decide what is the vehicle penetration by ton. Infantry has 4 types of Armor: No armour – Penetration 0; Light Armour – Penetration 1; Medium Armour – Penetration 2; And Heavy armour – Penetration 3.
In the torso’s rear, Thichness is one less than in the front torso.
Mech Location(Red die)
1 – Head.
2 and 3 – Arms. Two dice even – right arm; Two dice odd is left arm. 3 Dice even or odd; Torso.
4 and 5 – Legs. Two even – right leg; Two dice odd is left leg. 3 Dice even or odd; Torso.
6 – Torso.
As you can see, the possibility of hitting the different parts of a Mech is fairly the same. But as a 1 in the red die will mean that there is a smaller chance to hit, the hits in the head will be fairly fewer than in a much larger body part as the torso. As I erased the left and right torso, everything will be in the torso as it is.
Damage point at each location. Forget the internal damage. It doesn’t exist anymore. Add it to the normal armour. The external damage will be used as it is, with the following exception. Add the armour and internal damage of one lateral torso to the armour and internal damage of the central torso and divide by 3/4 and round down. You mark damage off normally. In the Torso’s rear add as in the front, but add only half the internal structure. For example:
The PNT -9R Panther (35 Tons)
Head 12 (1)
Torso 32 (3)
Torso (Rear) 16 (2)
Arms 16 (2)
Legs 20 (2)
Heat
The heat rules remains the same.
Heat
The heat rules remain the same.
Weapons
Weapon rules remain the same. Exception to damage modifier. Now an AC20 can make as little as 1 point of damage or as much as 40 points of damage. The damage die rules for the AC are: 1/10/20/30/40.
Vehicle Location(Red die)
1 – Vehicle exploded
2 – Turret.
3 and 4 – Tracks.
5 and 6 – Body.
Infantry Location (Red die)
1 – Squad is destroyed.
2 – Squad takes double damage.
3 and 4 – Normal damage.
5 and 6 – Squad is shaken. -1′ to move and +2 to modifier when firing.
To summarize:
Roll 3 dice. Add everything to see if you hit. See blue die to see if you penetrate the target armour. See how much done you made in the white die. See where you hit in the red die. See number of odd and even dice to see what arm or leg was hit, or if it was the torso. Roll of critics if necessary. Apply damage.
Close Combat
Close combat follows the fire rules with the following exceptions. Attacks are based on Piloting and not on Gunnery.
Pilot
Green Pilot: +1
Regular Pilot: 0
Veteran Pilot: -1
Elite Pilot: -2
Ace Pilot: -3
A pilot can make one of the following attacks:
Punch (+1 to hit; Damage: Mech tonnage/10 round up; treat legs as arms for damage location)
Kick (+2 to hit; Damage: Mech tonnage/5; more odds left leg, more evens, right leg)
Death from above (+3 to hit; Damage: Mech tonnage/4; all odds or evens: head, odds and even: torso)
Charge (+3 to hit; Target Mech must have already moved. Must be at Top speed. Damage to target: Mech tonnage/5. Damage to charging mech: Target Mech tonnage/10.)
These attacks can be made against vehicles.
A Mech can also stomp infantry squads. (+3 to hit; Damage: Mech tonnage/5)
Half Movement
After close combat, all units that can move may move again at half the movement they made before (those that cruised can move half the cruising speed, those who top speeded may move half the Top speed), following the movement initiative displayed above. Those Mech who have falled due damage or close combat can try to stand up.
Falling and Piloting rolls.
A Mech that suffered multiples of 20 points of damage, received a critical, made a close combat attack or suffered damage from a close combat attack must roll to maintain his Mech upright. He must roll 2 dice, and score above 6 after he added or subtracted his piloting and the following modifiers:
Per damage foot, leg and hip Actuator: +1
Per damaged point in gyro: +1
Per 20 full points of damage above the first: +1
If the Mech was at Top Speed: +1
If the Mech didn’t move: -1
Green Pilot: +1
Regular Pilot: 0
Veteran Pilot: -1
Elite Pilot: -2
Ace Pilot: -3
Modifying the Mech sheet:
I use just a simple sheet for my Mechs. The heat scale, warrior data and weapons remains the same. The critical locations is just a list in each place, since things are chosen rather than rolled. The Armour is like the above example. I just add damage until it reaches the number that destroys the Mech.
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