List of the C3 mechs (until about 3070)

So with the opportunity to land a full C3 Company, thought I would let you folks know how it worked.

The C3 Lance is pretty simple, one Master and 3 Slaves.  All can use the targeting range from any other mech in the lance.

C3 Company gets a little more confusing.  To link all three lances an extra C3 master is required.  This can be done with the "Command lance" and one mech having two C3 Masters in it (Configuration A) or having two mechs in the command lance with one C3Master each (Configuration B).  This allows the whole company to share range data with one another. 

Just ignore the C3i chart.  That is a Comstar / Word of Blake invention that shows up after the time frame of Operation Bulldog.

Anyway here are a list of the Chassis that have Double C3M, Single C3M, and finally C3Slaves. Know that C3Masters are 5 tons a piece...so the Double C3M mechs are giving up 10 tons of weapons / armor to run the network.  For the campaign we will only be using the canon designs for the C3 mechs.  So if your mech isn't listed here and you want to be part of the C3 network (if you guys get one) plan on changing rides.

* by the mechs I have Minis for...
** for those that I have with the Kurita red/gray and back banner paint jobs.

Double C3 Master Equipped mechs

•             BattleMaster  **

•             Cyclops  *

•             Naginata **

•             Tai-sho

C3 Master equipped mechs.

•             Atlas*

•             BattleMaster **

•             Bishamon

•             Crockett / Katana *

•             Cyclops *

•             Daimyo **

•             Grand Dragon (3070) **

•             Gunslinger **

•             Hatamoto-Chi **

•             Komodo **

•             Lao Hu

•             Mongoose II **

•             Naginata **

•             O-Bakemono

•             Shugenja

C3 slave equipped mech

•             Archer *

•             Atlas *

•             Banshee *

•             BattleAxe

•             Berserker *

•             Black Watch

•             Blackjack *

•             Bombardier *

•             Catapult *

•             Centurion*

•             Charger *

•             Chimera

•             Clint *

•             Crab **

•             Crockett / Katana *

•             Cronus

•             Crusader **

•             Daikyu **

•             Fafnir *

•             Firestarter (OmniMech) *

•             Grand Dragon **

•             Grasshopper *

•             Hammerhands

•             Hatamoto-Chi **

•             Hatchetman *

•             Helios

•             Hermes *

•             Hitman **

•             Hunchback *

•             Jenner **

•             Jinggau

•             Kintaro **

•             Longbow *

•             Marauder *

•             Mauler **

•             Mongoose II **

•             Naginata **

•             Ninja-To

•             O-Bakemono

•             Owens

•             Panther **

•             Quickdraw *

•             Raptor

•             Raven *

•             Rifleman *

•             Sentinel **

•             Sha Yu

•             Spider *

•             Stealth *

•             Strider

•             Talon

•             Tarantula

•             Thanatos

•             Trebuchet *

•             Venom **

•             Victor *

•             War Dog *

•             Warhammer *

•             Whitworth *

•             Wight *

•             Wolverine **

City fighting rules refresher...

With the game just 4 days away, Figured I would give you guys a refresher on the new rules we will be using for this fight.  We will only be using one 6' x 4' table of this battle, so it is gonna get messy really quick.

1) Sensors.  These rules are not part of the regular rules.  They are something I have made up for campaign play with a GM vs. numerous opponents.  Many of you have the "Sensors" skill.  This will let you see "units" that are out of LOS.  I represent these units with little blocks of wood.  Those of you with sensor skill will see these units 24" away.  you of course will relay the info to your teammates so I'll just put the block on the table.  Scott has Sensors and a Beagle Active Probe in his Black Knight.  This will let him see 36" and be able to detect if the "Unit" is a Battlemech or a Tank.  How come the clanners don't worry about this rule?  Well, the only "skills" I give the clanners is the Sensor skills, They all have the "Sensor Elite" skill (4th one up the tree) which lets them see the exact unit they are fighting out to 60".  Don't complain, they could have the other skills just like you guys.

2) Skidding.  When you attempt to make a turn on Pavement with your battlemech, there is a chance you will slip and fall.  These big machines aren't wearing Nikes.  If you make a turn then attempt to enter another hex while standing in a paved hex, you must make  a piloting check.  If you fail the check, you will fall and skid.  There is a modifer to your roll depending on how far you already moved that turn.  So making the turn when you first start, your modifer will help you.  If you sprint down the road make a turn then try to advance another inch, the modifer will make it tougher.  I'll have some tables printed up and on the wall to help you decide if you really want to try that turn.  Many of the buildings have some grass around them, try to make your turns on that so you don't have to make the roll.  If you fall, you will skid 1/2 the distance you already traveled this turn in the direction you were traveling before the skid.  This can result in you sliding into a building, doing ramming damage to the building and to yourself.  The other way to avoid having to make the roll is to turn at the end of your move and don't go any further.

3) Rubble.  When a building comes down it creates an area of rubble.  Moving through rubble cost you an extra hex (2") of movement. So essentially it will cost you double.  You also need to make a straight up piloting check for every 2" of movement through or turn you make when in rubble.

4) Moving through buildings.  You may (or the clanners might) move into a building at the ground level.  Doing so will do 10% of your mechs weigth damage to the building for every 2" you move through.  So the 100 ton Atlas entering the building will do 10 points of damage to the building.  For every 2" or turn you make you must make a Piloting skill roll, not to avoid falling over, but to avoid taking damge to your mech.  There is a modifier depending upon the building.  The 40 point buildings are at a +1, the 80 pointers are at +2. The two your are to defend are at a +3...please don't enter those.  Why would I want to enter a building you may ask.  Well, you can shoot at units inside buildings (so long as they are within 2" of the edge you are aiming at).  The building will "shield" the unit inside taking 10% of the buildings current CF off from the shot.  So a building with 80CF will take the first 8 points off the first shot.

5) Collapsing Buildings.  When a building comes down it's footprint is replaced with rubble.  The rubble is not one level high and will not provide partial cover.  I have some small rocks that I use to represent Rubble. Units inside buildings that collapse will take damage equal to 10% of the CF of the building at the start of the turn, multiplied by the number of levels (inches) high the building is.  This damage is broken into 5pt groups.  I think the tallest building on the table is 4" tall, so at worst case, you would take 32 damage.  If your mech is on the roof, when a building collapses, you will take standard falling damage which is more severe depending on how tall the building is.  So try not to be on top of that 4" tall building, you'll take 5X normal falling damage.

What the rubble and walls looks like...

6) Walls.  There are also some walls that I added to the map.  These are pretty tall and you will need a jump of 4 in order to jump over them.  You can take a section down with 80 points of damage.  These are reinforced walls so you can not move through them like buildings.  They are too narrow at the top to land on.  You will either have to destroy them, go over or go around.  You saw the mission objectives...They only care about the buildings, walls are fair game to take out if you feel you need to.      

 I hope to post a Video or still shots of the city before the end of the week.

Game Guide: Clan Elementals

  Although I know you guys faced off against some Clan elementals before...they never really got into combat.  I fully expect this time that they will.  So here is a quick run down on how they work.

1) Movement:  Walk 1 Jump 3.  So the most they can move is 6".  Battle Armor never use their movement modifier to adjust their own to hit numbers so...they will always be jumping.

2) Damage: Each suit takes 10 points of damage.  Come in squads of 5.  So yeah, each stand can take at least 50 points of damage.  When you roll damage you will roll a D6 and that number elemental will take the damage from that attack (reroll 6's).  Any excess damage is lost...So say you hit a squad with an AC20.  You roll a 2 and elemental #2 takes 20 points of damage killing him.  Once an elemental is killed, you re-roll that number to assign damage.  So say you also it that stand that same turn with a large laser and roll a 2...you would get to roll again to assign that 8 paints of damage.

3) Weapons:  Each elemental suit comes with an SRM2 launcher with one reload (4 missiles) and either a small laser, MG, or flamer.  The whole squad is armed with the same weapon.

4) Shooting attacks:  When an Elemental stand shoots, they don't uses their movement mods as mentioned above.  So they will only be adding your movement modifier to their attack.  Making them quite accurate, however when they hit they roll on a chart to see exactly how many of the remaining elementals actually get their shots on target.  Think of it like a missile attack, even with a hit not all 5 elementals will get their lasers / missiles on target.  Each of the weapons will roll separately on the location chart, so not all 5 elementals will hit you in the head with one roll, the damage is spread out.

5) Targeting:  When you shoot at them, if they jump their 6", figure you will be adding +3 to your rolls.  +1 for the distance, +1 for the jump, +1 for being battle armor (tiny and tough to hit).  Same for if you attempt a physical attack on them.


6) Leg attacks: If an elemental squad is in base to base with you, rather than shooting they can make a Leg attack.  They will use their anti-mech skill, and if they hit do 5 points of damage to a given leg and get an automatic chance for crit.  Their to hit number is modified if the squad is missing more than 2 men.  This happens in the shooting phase.  You can only be target of one Leg attack per turn.  Their base number to make a Leg attack will be 3+ your move modifier and any terrain.

7) Swarm attacks:  If an Elemental squad is in base to base with you, rather than shooting or making a Leg attack they can attempt to swarm your mech.  Essentially climb up to attack you on a modified punch chart in the next turn.  This will give you chance to get them off of you in the physical attack phase and following movement phase (more on that later).  As long as they are on you, they will do their standard weapon damage (No missile attacks by them when swarming) to one location every turn in the shooting phase.  They will also get an automatic chance for crit on the location they hit.  So a full squad with small lasers will do 15 points to a torso, arm or head, with a crit chance even if they don't take off all the armor.  If you are swarmed and someone shoots at you there is a 1 in 3 chance they will hit an elemental instead of you.  Their base number to swarm you will be a 5+ your move modifier and any terrain.

8) Fighting the swarm:  Here are a few ways to get them off you when you have been swarmed.

  A) In the physical attack phase you can attempt to push them off with your hands.  Each arm that didn't shoot can make a piloting skill roll with a +4 plus any additional modifer for missing/damaged actuator.  A successful roll means you have scraped them off you doing punch damage to one of the elementals.  A failure means you punched yourself and you must take the damage.  You must state if you are trying with both arms and roll for both even if you succeed with the first attempt.

  B) In the movement phase you can try a couple of things...Jumping or going Prone.  If you jump you can make a piloting check with a +5.  If successful you have shaken them off so they are at your feet again (doing some damage to them).  Or you can intentionally fall over for 2" of walking or running movement, take a piloting check with a +1 to knock them off you, you will take falling damage and do some damage to them.  If you accidentally fall over, the swarming unit will stay swarming you.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. 

Mission #6: Dueling / Physical attacks.

Just a couple of notes for Mission #6 as the game approaches.

In an earlier post Star Colonel Giambi esentially takes the gloves off the clanners for combat.  Here is what he meant when he said..."Authorized to use any means necessary to destroy that mech."

1) The Jaguar Mechwarriors will still try to duel with you.  I'll place the fire declaration sticks first.  Then let you guys place yours.


2) Any player that fires on a mech that is not firing at them will become "Dezgra" (Clan term for disgraced).  And will write their name on the whiteboard we use for initiative tracking in the Dezgra section.


3) Any mech that is Dezgra may be fired upon targeted by any and all clan mechs.


4) Physical attacks work a little different.  You guys will declare physical attacks first.  If you declare a physical attack, the clanners will be allowed to respond that turn with a physical attack of their own.


5) If you perform a physical attack on a Mech or vehicle you will write your name down in the Dezgra section of the whiteboard. (Notice I didn't say Elementals, Clanners fully expect you to try to stomp them or punch them off you as they climb your mech.)


6) Any mech that is Dezgra may be the target of Physical attacks.

To sum up, If you break a duel or perform a Physical attack then the clanners get to play by your rules against your mech.

Teaser as to what you will be facing...A Star of Mechs, A Star of Heavy / Assault tanks, and a Star of Elementals, plus base defenses.  Should be the toughest one yet.  I know I keep saying they and you keep rising to the challenge.

Mission briefing and video of the map to come later this week.

C3 systems, Anti-Missile Systems, TAG and other assorted rules.

Refresher on a couple of the newer rules that will be in play for the next mission.

C3 Systems
 Network of computers in a lance of mechs that allow each member of the lance to use the targeting data from the other members of that lance.  A C3 lance consists of one C3 Master and three C3 Slaves.

So long as the C3 Master is functioning, the network will share data.  Letting lancemates use targeting ranges from any mech in their lance.  You still have to follow a given weapon systems max and minimum ranges, but it can be quite beneficial.  Loss of a C3Slave removed that mech from the network.  Loss of the C3Master drops the network entirely.

ECM systems can disrupt the C3 network.  Any C3 unit within the effected area (12") of an ECM equipped enemy vehicle/mech has lost contact with the network and the C3 is treated as if destroyed until it leaves the effected area.

Example:  Mitch moves his Venom  that has a C3Slave into base to base with a Jaguar Mad Cat.  Jeff who has a Komodo with a C3Master is 18" away from that same Mad Cat.  Jeff wishes to shoot his 8 Medium lasers at the Mad Cat, rather than using the 18" (Long) range numbers he can use the 0" (Short) range to hit.  The C3Network in this case just took 4 off the number Jeff needed to hit.

Anti-Missile Systems
Aka AMS.  Work a little different than I remember.  When a unit with an AMS is hit by missile fire, the mechwarrior will assign the AMS to the volley of missiles he wishes try to shoot down.  That volley will take 4 away from the die roll of "how many missiles" hit.  The mechwarrior must assign his AMS before the How many missiles hit roll is made.  The AMS may only be used once per turn.  The AMS has a firing arc based upon the location it is mounted (So most will not cover the rear).  If a unit has multiple AMS, the mechwarrior may choose to stack both on one volley if they wish.  The AMS will never reduce the die roll below 2, so you will always take some damage from the incoming missiles.  (Like this guy...)


AMS has 12 rounds of ammo, and marks one off every time it fires.  An ammo hit on AMS ammo does 2 damage per remaining ammo in the bin.

TAG
Had to Nerf the change I made to the TAG Rules.  In order to mark a target for all other units to ignore the movement modifier, you must have the Sensor Skill.  Every level of Sensor skill after the first will improve your chances to paint the target by 1.  So if you take all 4 levels of Sensor skills, you will be at a -3 to hit with the TAG.  The C3Master has a built in TAG system as well.  Funny thing, Clanners all have the Sensor skill as part of their basic training.

Change to the Mechwarrior Skills 
I made a slight change to the Mechwarrior skills.  If you take one of the weight class skills, meaning "Light mech"  All physical attacks you make in a mech of that weight class will be at -1 to hit.  Not sure this ever came up before.  Yes this will stack with any close combat skill you may take.  So Brawling and Light mech skills together would give you a -2 to punch if you were in a light mech.

Mission #5, Pre-mission notes

Just a couple of notes on Mission #5.

1) We are expecting some sort of snow storm on Wednesday.  I'll be all plowed out and will throw some sand down.  Not knowing what type of snow we will be getting, just make the turn into the driveway slowly.  I've had car slide all the way down it into my garage door before.  Wouldn't want the night to start off on a sour note with someone playing bumper cars outside.

2) Initiative:  We will be doing this a little different due to the dueling.  If the battle is one on one, or once it is down to one on one, we will use the traditional die roll to determine who moves first.  If you guys out number the clanner, we will use cards.  There will be one black card for the clanner and a red card for each of the player mechs.  We will shuffle and flip one of the cards.  If a red card is flipped, any of the player mechs (that have yet to move that turn) may move (You guys are not assigned a specific red card).  That will give you a little flexibility with movement.  Plus I've never liked the all or nothing movement when it is 2 or 3 against one.

3) Salvage:  Realized I didn't mention this yet.  There will be no enemy salvage from this mission.  You can get your reward mech if you win enough of the battles, but you will not be salvaging any clan mechs from the field. 

4) Replacement mechs after this battle.  Command has thrown their full support behind this mission.  Normally it takes quite a while to repair engine or gyro damage.  After this battle command has agreed to replace any destroyed mech or any mech that takes engine or gyro damage with a mech from the faction you choose as a group.  However the guys up north are running low on lighter weight chassis, so any left over mechs will be shipped up north.  So if you want to keep your mech and it has engine or gyro damage, you will have to run it next battle with that engine or gyro damage.  Here is how the post battle mech selection will go.

• Players that have engine or gyro damage decide if they wish to turn in their mech for a new one.
• Players will vote on what faction will supply them with new mechs. (Davion, Steiner, Liao, Kurita, Comstar, Rasalhauge, Mercs)
• New mechs will be supplied from the faction chosen.
• Players will go through normal mech section process.
• Unselected mechs will be shipped out and removed from our roster.

5) I'll apologize in advance for those of you that get head shot this time through.  I'm expecting a 50% player mech loss and at least one of you will get the 15 point head shot.  One adjustment to the "What do to if a player dies rule."  When your character dies you get a new character with -5 kills from your total.  The furthest you can fall back is to a skill addition point (5, 10, 15 kills, etc.)  Think of it as a respawn point, once you hit the 5, 10 15 kill mark, you can never fall past that, even on back to back kills.  So if Poe (Rock) were to die this time out. he would fall back to his "respawn" cap of 5 kills.  However this respawn point is set between missions, not during missions.  Your new character will still get credit for the kills of the dead pilot on the last mission, just after he falls back to the "respawn" point.

• Example: Poe was at 9.25 kills at the start of mission 4.  Giving him a "respawn" point of 5 kills.  During the game he kills the Spider but then is head shot.  The new character (Rock) is made starting with 5 kills, then adds the 1 for the Spider kill, giving him a total of 6.  Rock then writes a new dossier giving him a total of 7 kills.  Rock starts the next mission with a respawn point of 5 kills.  Say Rock gets 3 kills during that mission then is killed.  The new character would be made with a total of 8 kills (respawn of 5 + 3 kills).      

See yah Friday.

Additional notes for Mission #4.

Some odds and ends for Mission #4.

Would you let her climb into the cockpit with you?

1) Rules for picking up Downed Mechwarriors.  There is a chance that the mechwarrior we are trying to rescue may loose her mech and be needing someone to rescue her.  We will use the same rules for picking up boxes, with a couple of changes.  If your mech falls while you are carrying a mechwarrior in your mechs hand, the mechwarrior will be killed.  You can take one full turn of not moving or shooting to open your cockpit and the Mechwarrior can cram into the cockpit with you.  You will be +1 to all your shooting and piloting check you have to make due to the cramped conditions.  But the mechwarrior will be a little safer.

2) We got another player.  Derek should be joining us for the rest of the campaign.  He was a regular in the last campaign, and I'm a little embarrassed I forgot to invite him at the start of this one.

3) Be thinking about your resupply vote that we hold at the end of the game (What faction your replacement mechs will come from).  I know I kind of surprised you last time with the vote.  I'll give you a little insight to the variations of your choices this time.

• House Davion -  All purpose force, Varying tech from 3025 -3055
• House Kurita - 3050+ tech with some nice Combine only Tech (lightest tonnage)
• House Steiner -  Newest designs of your choices, 3055 and 3058 tech (2nd lightest)
• House Liao - 3 long range mechs, with one fast moving scout. (3025 - 3058 tech)
• Rasalhauge Republic - Highest tonnage (all 3025 Tech) 
• Comstar - 2750 era tech (same as 3050) 2nd heaviest choice.

4)  Tina, the redheaded down in ordinance, wishes you all good luck as you head out on your mission.  ;)


See yah Next Friday.

Rules: Armor Piercing Ammo

One of the benefits of being a House Davion unit is that you get to play with their toys first.

Ordinance Sgt. Juan Manillo

Our Ordinance Sgt. Juan Manillo, got us a shipment of Armor piercing AC10, AC5 and AC2 ammo. 
It is only usable with Regular AC's, not LB's or Ultra's.  So only Pillsbury and Patriot have mechs that can take advantage of it at this time.

Here's how it will work.
Every attack with armor-piercing ammunition that successfully damages armor provides a chance for a critical hit, even if the internal structure took no damage. After marking off the armor damage for the attack, roll once on the Determining Critical Hits Table.

Apply a modifier to the target number based on the type
of autocannon used:
–1 for an AC/20
–2 for an AC/10 (Need a 10+ for one crit or a 12 for two crits)
–3 for an AC/5
–4 for an AC/2 (Need a 12 for 1 crit)

If the initial attack damages the internal structure, make the standard roll for possible critical hits. Armor piercing ammunition has no additional effect for attacks that damage internal structure.  Likewise a floating crit roll will offer no additional bonus, just treat it like a regular floating critical hit.
The weight of armor-piercing ammunition means that a ton of armor-piercing ammo contains half as many shots as a ton of standard ammo (rounded down).
In addition, armor-piercing rounds are harder to aim, adding a +1 modifier to the to-hit number at all ranges

Vehicles: Every successful attack against a vehicle automatically causes a roll on the appropriate column of the Vehicle Critical Hits Table

So before the next battle starts Those players with regular AC's will have the option of loading up with AP ammo if they want.

Sensors, Moving units out of LOS and how it will work.

Ok this will be the first mission where the sensor skill will really come into play with regards to enemy units.

Here is how it will work.

If you have a Mech in Line Of Sight and within 54" at the end of the a given active enemy units movement phase, the enemy unit miniature will be placed on the board.  (I came up with the 54" from the longest range weapon you have available. The clan Ultra AC2 on the Koshi)

Yes this may create some times where you move around a corner first to reveal what is behind there, then the enemy moves back out of LOS during it's move, I will place a wooden block to mark the unit.  I don't expect this to happen in this battle, but will be much more likely if we get into a city fight.

I will use common sense for this as well.  If during movement an enemy unit zooms from one piece of cover to another through an open field that is within LOS of 3 or 4 of you guys, then yes I'll probably place a wooden block marker.

Your mech is not like a WWII tank you do have some good computers and sensory equipment on it.  If an enemy unit is not in LOS, but within 12" at the end of the movement phase, I will place an enemy unit marker (A wooden block).  That way you will know where they are.  I will use the wooden block for movement the next turn.

But what about the Sensor Skill and Active Probes?

Now for sensors.  Anyone with the sensor basic skill or an active probe on their mech has the range increased from 12" to 24".  Pillsbury has an Active Probe on the Koshi so his non-LOS spotting will be 24".

The Sensor Skill stacks with the Active Probe.  So Poe has the Sensor Skill and the Raven has an Active Probe He will have a Non-LOS spotting of 36".  In addition Poe will be able to tell if the unit is a Vehicle, Infantry or a Battlemech.  (At higher levels he will be able to tell the weight class of the mech or vehicle, or even the exact unit at the top sensor level)

The idea behind these rules is to add suspense and a level of tactics to the game.  They don't come into play often, but when they do you will see having the sensor skill is quite handy.

Vehicle Rules refresher

So I know we screwed up the rules for vehicles the first time through in Mission #1.  This post is to give a little refresher to you and me about how Vehicles work.

The new Total Warfare rules changed how Critcals worked on vehicles with a new chart and everything.  It differs quite a bit from how critical work on battlemechs.  Here are the main points.

1) When rolling damage location on a vehicle and you roll a 2 or 12 you automatically get a roll on the crit chart.  If you are shooting at the vehicle from the side You will also get a crit roll with an 8.  So get to the sides of those vehicles for crits on 2, 8, and 12.

2) Each time you do internal structure damage you get roll on the crit chart.  Not a roll on how many crits you do like with Mechs.  You get one roll on the crit chart.

3) The Crit chart varies with shot location with 4 charts (Front, Side, Rear, and Turret)  You roll 2d6 and check your result.  2-5 on the chart is no effect.  6-11 does various damage to the vehicle, 12 destroys it outright.  You can hit the ammo on an 11 with shots from the rear or turret which will take out the tank unless it has case.  So No real easy way to take out a tank with crits.

Then there is the Motive system damage chart.  The motive chart is kind of like a crit chart the impacts only the vehicle's movement.

1) When rolling damage location if you roll a 3-5 or a 9 you get a roll on the Motive damage chart.  "TRACK HIT!!!"

2) Again you roll 2d6. A 2-5 is no effect, 6-11 slows the vehicle down to various degrees, 12+ immobilizes it.

3) 12+? you say.  Yes you get modifiers to this chart depending upon the type of vehicle and the direction of the shot.  +3 to the chart for hovercraft, +2 for shots from the side, etc... So yeah shooting hovercraft from the side gets your +5 to the roll...7 or better immobilizes it.

A vehicle is considered destroyed if you take out all the internals in one location, or get a critical result that says vehicle destroyed.  The new tables make vehicles a little more tough, but easier to immobilize.  Remember a hovercraft that is immobilized over a water hex is destroyed.  Also there is a -4 to hit an immobilized vehicle (or building, or overheated mech) so there is your easy route to offing tanks.  Immobilize them, then pummel them..

NARC, TAG (tweaked rules) and Missile selection

Little post about some Rules for the campaign.  These may impact which mech a player will take.

With the Raven secured after Mission #2, our Sensor expert, who just happened to have the 1st pick selected the Raven.  How will this impact the game?  Here is the Raven Stuff (Some of this has been posted before)

1) ECM - Essentially will create a 24" Bubble around the Raven that will mess up enemy electronics (Artimus, Narc, sensors, etc...)

2) Probe - along with it's spotting hidden unit ability, it will give one extra level in the Mechwarrior sensor skill tree.  (So Poe will now have the SENSOR ADVANCED skill)

Name: SENSOR ADVANCED
Type: general
Description: Can spot Active units out of LOS within 36”, can tell if those units are Vehicle or Battlemech.  Must have SENSOR Basic Skill.

3) NARC - Magnetic homing beacon, when attached will increase the number of missiles that hit the target mech.  This will stack with any missile skill you may have, but will not stack with Artemis.  you must have Narc tracking missiles loaded (LRM or SRM)

4) TAG (Tweaked rules) - Normally TAG is only for Arty spotting, Seeing as how I have no intention of using Arty in the campaign...I had to make this useful so here goes...  TAG will work with every weapon system in the game.  Before the Fire Phase, the Raven can attempt to TAG a target.  If the target is hit, all weapons shot at that target can ignore the targets movement modifier.  For LRM's to use this you will have to loadup with Semi-guided missiles.  Semi-guided LRM's can fire indirect with out indirect fire modifiers at a TAGged target.

EDIT: in order to use the TAG tweaked rules, you must have the Sensor mechwarrior skill.  Otherwise the TAG works as written in the rulebook.


So this means you will have to select which type of missile ammo you are loading before each mission.
A) Regular
B) Artemis equipped (Needed if you have artemis attached to the launcher)
C) NARC Homing (To seek after a Narc homing beacon)
D) Semi-Guided (LRM's only)
That's all for now...

Bridges, Rivers, Impassible terrain and rules for Scanning Crates

Here are the details on a few rules that will come up for Mission #2.

Scanning Crates:
As was described in the last rules section, you will be able to pick up crates and bring them back to our base.  You will be able to scan the crates before you pick them up to see the contents.  Here is how this will work.

At the start of the turn, after init but before movement you may make a scan attempt.  You just need to make a sucessful Piloting check to know the contents of any crate within your scan range and within line of sight.

Your scan range is 12", +12" if you have an Active Probe on your mech, +12" for every level of sensor skill you have.  So if you have the Sensor Basic skill and an Active Probe mech, you have a scan range of 36".  Yes you may relay your scan results to your teammates.

Typically the small crates contain 5 tons of equipment or less, Large crates will contain more than 5 tons.
A successful scan will reveal the exact contents of of the crate.


Bridges:
Bridges like buildings have a CF (Construction Factor).   This CF determines how much damage the structure can take before collapsing.  It also represents how much weight the structure can hold.  So an undamaged bridge with a CF of 120, could take 120 points of damage or support 120 tons of units on it before collapsing.  Ex: A bridge with 40 CF has a 20 ton battlemech standing on it.  If the building take 20 points of damage or another 20 ton mech moves onto it, the bridge would immediately collapse.

Rivers:
For Mission #2, the rivers essentially 3 levels deep, 2 levels of water and one level of cliff like riverbanks.
Jumpjets do not work underwater.  So anything that falls into the river will be considered mission killed.

Impassible Terrain:
For Mission #2 there is a ridge line of hills that are impassible terrain.  You may jump over but may not end your movement on these hills.

Scavanging Rules and Hand Actuators.

From time to time you will have missions that take you behind enemy lines.  These missions you will not be able to salvage kills, or even retrieve your own mech chassis should you lose them.

Looks like Mission #2 will be the first of these type missions.  That does not mean you have to leave the field empty handed.  There will be Clan weapon / supply caches on some of these missions.  You will be able to pick these up and bring them back to your our base.  These items will help Furlow get any Clan Mech salvage up and running.

Thankfully Clan doctrine commands that all supplies not currently being used be placed in crates for easy transport.  This works in our favor.  These crates have mech sized handles that allow for mechs to transport them if they are equipped with hand acuators.  There are two sizes of crates, small and large.

Here are the rules for crates.

• During the physical attack phase any mech next to a crate may attempt to pick it up.  
• To pick up the crate the mechwarrior must make a Piloting skill roll with a -2 modifier (easier).  
• Mechs carrying crates may use walk or run movement, they may not jump.

Small Crates:

• Small crates require one hand actuator to pick up.
• While carrying a crate the arm may not be used to fire weapons or make physical attacks.
• If a the arm (with the hand actuator) that is carrying the small crate takes damage, a piloting skill roll must be made or the crate will be dropped and destroyed.
• If the arm carrying the crate take any internal actuator damage the crate falls and is destroyed.
• If the arm is destroyed, the crate falls and is destroyed with it.
• Small crates normally carry weapon systems or control systems for battlemechs (heads).

Large Crates:

• Large crates require a single mech with two hand actuators to pick up.
• While carrying a crate the arm may not be used to fire weapons or make physical attacks.
  
• If either arm takes damages, a piloting skill roll must be made or the crate will be dropped and destroyed.
• If either arm carrying the crate take any internal actuator damage the crate falls and is destroyed.
• If either arm is destroyed, the crate falls and is destroyed with it.
• Assault class mechs follow the rules for small crates when picking up large crates.
• Large crates carry Engines, Gyros, and larger weapon systems like Gauss rifles.

 Looking at your current list of mechs, here are the ones with hand actuators that could collect any crates during the mission.  Should the opportunity present itself.

Javelin (two), Clint (one), Hermes II (one), Panther (two), Sentinel (one)
 
Eventually I'll add the number of hands to the notes column of the mechbay.

Clan Salvage Rules

  Here is how the salvage of Clan mechs will work in this game.  (Keeping it as simple as possible).
Furlow is a pretty good tech at piecing together undamaged parts of separate mechs.  She is not capable of repairing damaged Clan tech given our current situation.  She is not capable of putting Clan weapons on an Inner sphere Chassis either.  Given enough undamaged salvage however she will be able to get a Clan mech up and running.

A Mech needs a Five things to be operational.

1) Chassis
2) Engine
3) Gyro
4) Head (Cockpit, Sensors etc)
5) Weapons.    


   I will be adding a Clan Salvage table for you to access.  We have thee tech readouts of all the current Clan mechs and their configurations.  If you have a matching set of Chassis, Engine, Gyro, Head.  Furlow will be able to get the mech up and moving.  For weapons loadout you will have to have salvaged the EXACT weapons the clans use on one of their variants for her to get the weapons systems online.  Looking at our current salvage we have a Koshi Chassis, Engine and Gyro, we are missing the "Head" and correct weapons to have a functioning Koshi.  So in the next mission should you bag a Koshi, keeping the head intact and salvaging a correct clan weapons (from any mech, doesn't have to be a Koshi), one of you could be driving a clan mech.

Clan Salvage after Mission #1

  The Clanners have from time to time put Clan weapons on Inner Sphere mechs (Atlas-C, Firefly-C Rifleman-C, etc).  Should you come across one of these mechs, Furlow might be able to add the clan weapons back onto that mech (if we have them).  She is able to remove the clan weapons, add Inner Sphere weapons back onto that chassis.

How the game turns should work.

  Some of you have not been in a Battletech campaign of mine before.  So here is a brief outline of how a game session will work.

I'll be running all the opposing force, yes this is a lot of work and might slow combat down a bit until I get the rust off.  Biggest game I had before I was running 24 mechs Might take a couple of sessions for me to get back up to be capable of running that many.


First let's go over the turn and how each phase will work.
1) Initiative
2) Movement
3) Declare Fire
4) Shooting
5) Physical Attacks
6) Heat


1) Initative:
We will be using the standard Battletech rules for initiative.  2d6 roll off players against me.  I will declare before initiative is rolled how many active Jag units there are on the board.  High roll gets to move the last mech.  Movement will flip flop I go you go until all the mechs are moved.  If there are an uneven number of units on each side, the extra units are spread evenly across the later movement phases. So say you guys have 10 mechs but I only have 4.  Movement will go like this.

Number of units needed to be moved.
Players  |   Jags
-----------------
   2     |    1
   2     |    1
   3     |    1
   3     |    1

To help keep track of this, I got a section white board by the table (Home depot scrap bin, $1) with some dry erase markers.  A volunteer or two to help with this and keep it updated would be appreciated.  

2) Movement:
When it is the next units move I will call out "players move" and you guys will decide amongst yourselves which units to move.  On the tabletop rather than terrain, each "hex" of movement is equal to 2".  So if your mech has movement of Walk 6, Run 9, Jump 6.  You could walk 12" in a straight line, Run 18" in a straight line or Jump 12" landing facing any direction.  If you turn hexes while running or walking each hex facing turned cost you 2" of move.  So a 90 degree turn is technically 2 hex faces so would cost you 4" of movement.
After you have moved you will place a die behind your mech.  The color of the die shows HOW you moved, white for walking, red for running, green for jumping.  The number you place shows the movement modifier your opponent will need to hit you.  I have some charts made up and hung about the basement to help you put the correct number behind your mech.

3) Declare Fire:
After the last mech has moved you will declare which target you wish to shoot at.  To make this fast and easier I have made some fire declaration markers out of popsicle sticks.  You will have one stick for each weapon on your mech.  So I'll say, put down your sticks, and everyone will place their sticks by the target they wish to shoot at. 
The lumber piles can really stack up when the big guys come out to play.

4) Shooting: 
All shooting is simultaneous so we just pick up a stack of sticks pointed at a given target.  Then work out the numbers needed to hit and roll some dice.  You put the hit sticks in one pile the miss sticks in another pile.  Then pick up the hit pile and roll for where the damage goes.  I've made up 6 of the "Boxes of Death" to help speed up SRMs.  Put your sticks back together, but not with the sticks you didn't shoot yet, that is later.  Piloting checks are made, if needed, after all the damage has been assigned from sticks pointed at a given mech.

5) Physical attacks:
Physical attacks take place after shooting.  Charging and "Death From Above" attacks have to be declared in the movement phase.  You can do one kick or two punches or a push attack.  Remember if you fired any weapons in a given limb you may not make a physical attack with that limb.  Also there is a -1 for any damaged or missing actuators.  Meaning that Rifleman that doesn't have hand or lower arm actuators would not be a very good mech at punching.

6) Heat phase:
Shooting too much or jumping around too much can impact the performance of your mech.  To calculate your heat.
a) Add your movement heat (1 for walk, 2 for run, 1 for every 2" jumped with a minimum of 3)
b) Take your fire sticks of the weapons you shot and add up the heat from them.  The number is right on the stick. This is your total heat generated. Now you can put your shot sticks back with the ones you didn't shoot.
c) add any extra heat you may have, Engine criticals add 5 heat, someone may have hit you with a flamer adding 2 more, you may be in a burning forest or building which would add more heat as well.
d) Subtract the number of heat sinks on your mech.  This is how much heat your mech can shed each turn.
e) Check for mech shutdown or ammo explosion if needed.
f) Mark the new heat level on your mechsheet.  This will be your heat level for the next turn.

That's all for now.  Looking forward to it!

Kill board and what counts as a kill?

What counts as kill?  Where kills are what determine your advancement I'll try my best to explain it.

A mech is considered a mission kill if...
It takes a third engine hit
It takes a second gyro hit
It loses it's 3rd limb
It loses the last internal structure point of the head
It loses the last internal structure point of the center torso.
It's cockpit is destroyed
It is immobile and has no weapons that it can fire.
The mechwarrior punches out.

A vehicle counts as a mission kill if...
It is immobile and can't fire any weapons...
Any one of the numerous critical hits that say "Tank destroyed"
The last internal structure point is removed from the hull or the turret.

Battle Armor counts as a mission kill...
When the last trooper is killed.

I have no intention of using infantry so don't worry about them.

Is a light tank the same as killing an Assault mech?

Nope...here is the kill value chart.

Mech = 1 kill
Assault Tank = 1 kill
Heavy tank = 3/4 kill
Medium Tank = 1/2 kill
Light tank = 1/4 kill
Battle Armor = 1/2 kill

It is not necessarily the kill shot that I award the kill to (although most of the time I do).  I will at times award bonus kills for mission completion or good role play or being aggressive or just having rotten dice.  Kills will be awarded in the after action reports.

This post might get some of you thinking about what is salvageable?....We will cover that in another post.

After session, Mech Selection process.

Now that the mech selection process is done, lets go over the rules for a replacement mech should you want / need one.

After a mission, there will be some salvageable mechs.  Some repairs will need to be made to your mechs.  Most all of the repairs can happen before the next game session.  Engine, Gyro, and Sensor damage will need one extra game session to repair, so you can run with that damage for the next mission and have it repaired for the following game session. 
Maybe some new mechs will be added to the mechbay via resupply from HQ or other sources.

When you select a new mech, your old mech is thrown back in the pool for anyone to have.  So, if you don't want to take that mech with the damaged engine into battle, it goes back into the pool and someone else may take it with a later pick. Once you get out of your mech, it is up for grabs.

You can not bump someone out of the mech they are currently in.  You may only select from the un-manned mechs that are available.

How will we go about assigning new mechs fairly?  Here is the pecking order, if stilled tied, move to the next one down the list..

1) Dead Mechwarrior.  Hey it happens, your mechwarrior will die.  And a new mechjock will take their place, they get 1st pick.  Notice I didn't say Mechwarrior who lost their mech, there is a difference.  Also notice I didn't say new player to the campaign...they will follow the tiebreakers like the rest of you.

2) # of kills, The mechwarrior with the higher kill total gets the next selection.

3) # of game sessions played, Who ever has been to more of the games will get the next pick.

(EDIT) 4) Lowest Tonnage of your current mech, meaning who ever has the smallest mech gets to choose first.

5) # of kills in last mission.

6) Next Birthday....If you are still tied after all that, mech selection falls to the player with the next birthday.

(Edit) From time to time you will lose your mech in the game.  Sometimes this happens really early in the game session.  I always have more than enough stuff to push.  If you are willing to honestly help push the Jaguars with me, you will be rewarded.  For every player mech that you kill playing as a Jaguar, you jump up one place on the mech selection process.  So if you were to pick 5th and you take out 2 player mechs you will now pick 3rd.

That's all for now.

Sensors, ECM, Active Probes, Hidden Units, and Initative.

Here is a brief run down on how sensors, hidden units, units out of line of sight and their effect on initiative will work in the game.

We will start with some definitions.  Active unit is any unit that is manned and capable of moving and/or shooting during the turn.  There will be times, when units out of line of sight, but will be capable of moving.  All active units are part of the initiative / movement phase.

The only way to know about the movement and location of the unseen active units is either with the sensors skill, or an Active Probe equipped mech. The Active Probe stacks with the skill giving the mechwarrior one sensor skill higher then he actually has. 

To represent this Non-LOS unit I will use a marker rather than the actual figure.  So in a city fight you may see 3 markers moving about 3 blocks away, but you won't know if they are light tanks or assault mechs unless your sensor skill is high enough and the sensor mechwarrior is in range.

When ever a unit moves into line of sight the marker will be replaced with the actual mini.

To make things a little more confusing, some units have Electronic Countermeasures or ECM.  These units will block all active probes or sensors (as well as a lot of other things like Artimus and C3 networks.)  A sensor unit will be able to tell they are being jammed, and will be treated like a regular unit without sensors.

There are times where units may start the game hidden.  Meaning the ambushing unit is running on minimal power and is camouflaged.  Hidden and non-active units do not count toward the number of units on a side for purposes of the iniative/ movement phase.  After a unit with Active probes or Sensor skill moves, it will detect these hidden units if they are within range.  This ambushing unit may not move or torso/turret twist without giving away their position.  So if they remain undetected, they may pop-up out of nowhere when they make their first move, twist or shot.   The only other way they may be detected is if a non-sensor / active probe unit finishes their move within 2" of the hidden unit.

There is the potential that some active unit may come into LOS and  then drop back out of LOS.  If this happens once they are out of LOS they will revert to the marker.
Finally, you may fire indirect LRM's at units but they must be in LOS to at least one of your units.  Meaning no firing at the markers, the unit has to be on the table to launch a volley at.

Special Rules for the campaign.

Kicks from one level up = Punch chart!

Hey guys just a couple of special rules for the campaign that we will be using. 

1) Floating Crit.  When you roll a 2 on the to hit chart, normally the critical is assigned to the CT.  We will be using the floating Crit rule.  This mean when you roll a 2 for where the damage is assigned, you will then roll another set of dice for the location of the floating crit.  The 2nd roll will automatically have one chance for a critical in the newly rolled section.

Example: You hit the Atlas with an SRM and roll a 2 for location.  You would then roll again for the location of this lucky shot that found the weak spot (Rather than the Center Torso like the rules state).  Say you roll a 12 (Head), the Atlas takes 2 points of damage to the head and you get a roll to see if you get a critical (8+), say you roll a 12 for the chance (3 crits / limb blown off).  Yes the head is considered a limb.  So any shot could potentially (but highly unlikely) take out a mech. 

2) Flamers. if you want rather than doing 2 damage you can add 2 heat to your target with a flamer.

3) Movement Dice.  We will go over the use of movement dice when we get together.  In brief, The color of your die is how YOU moved, the number on the die is the Modifier to be Hit.

4) Fire sticks.  Rather than slowing the game down with a fire declaration phase, we will be using the fire sticks.  After everyone has moved, everyone will place their fire sticks (one per weapon on your mech) at their intended target.

5) Box O Death.  (AKA the Missile Rack)  This is a new one for the campaign.  Found this idea on the b-tech forums.  I'll be building a couple of these using 6 sectioned cases.  Taken one of those bead cases, filled each box with a pair of dice, and numbered each section.

What good is this?  Say you shoot an SRM6 and hit with all 6 missiles.  Just shake the box, set it down and there is a faster resolution to where the missiles hit.   Takes care of the order and where  they hit.  Say you get a floating crit, pick up another set of dice and roll that location.  Say you somehow get an LB-20 and shoot the shotgun round...the Box o Death above will take care of that.

6) Ammo:  You will start the mission will a full load of ammo, unless there is not enough to resupply.  You are well behind enemy lines, you would not go out into the field with only a few rounds or an empty ammo rack.  So no you can't leave your Machine Gun ammo behind.  You are more than welcome to dump your ammo during the battle, however any ammo dumped in battle is lost and not recoverable.