Playing with War of the Mecha

Got in a game of War of the Mecha this weekend.  Two players, one lance each.  I was hoping to try the Clan Invasion expansion but that more sort of just didn't quite happen.

 

The size of the clickymechs (and the Blockhead gashapon) was dealt with by doubling the distances/speeds given in WotM.  Also, I said that a 45° turn costs 1" movement.  Dead simple rule adjustments.

I still find remarkable how a one-page game catches so much of the essential feel of the full Battletech rules.

The only quibble I have with WotM is the critical hit table.  There's a one-in-six chance of the critical hit not being a critical hit.  It's the "no soup" principle explained by another game-blogger I can't recall or track down at the moment.  There's no mechanism in WotM for losing heat sinks, so I may house rule the chart to say lose 1d4 heat sinks instead.

I lost this battle, but what of it?  I'm more worried about how easily those trees were knocked over which now that I think of it makes sense what with those giant robots rampaging about.

In future games I want to add brief and simple rules for all those clicky armoured vehicles.  Strange and startling it may sound, but first edition Critter-Tek has just what the doctor ordered.

Integrating microMechwarrior looks to be easy, too.  Instead of the Battletech conversion given in mMW, just use the usual Target Numbers from the stats.  Normally this would make hitting the target with ranged weapons way too difficult and slow the game down.  However the Target Number will be not for short range, but medium instead.  Short range gives a 2 point bonus to-hit, long range a 2 point penalty.

And from there I just have to figure what sort of campaign might go over best.  Straight up bring-n-battle slugging matches, or some light roleplaying leading into the fights.  I don't know.  Depends what I can coax the local players into doing.

Oh, and I need to make up some cardstock buildings too.  I keep forgetting those.

Simple Salvage

Part of the charm to playing Sphere instead of Clan is the constant struggle to keep the mecha in some sort of running order.  I cooked up some brief rules to cover that in War of the Mecha and microMechwarrior, but not too many.  Just enough to get the feel, or so I hope.

So you've won the day.  The field is yours, and it's littered with broken and battered mecha.  What can you do with 'em?

Did the engine go kaBLOOski?  If so, then there is no salvage.

Did the mecha get knocked down to zero Armour Points?  There are a few things you can do then.

• Try to fix it with a Technician roll.  Fail the roll and it's tagged as scrap, not even good for spare parts.  On a pass you've got her running again, but she's picked up a little more personality from a roll on the malfunctions table.  Roll boxcars and the mecha is running without any new glitches.
• Did someone mention spare parts?  Chop it up and use the bits to get a bonus for fixing another mecha.  It's like spending an Action Point without actually spending an Action Point.
• Keep the wreck in storage until you're ready to work with it.  Or trade it.  Or whatever.

The mecha didn't lose all its' armour points?  Then patch it up.  Technician roll.  Failure means all the combat damage is repaired, but the mecha gains a new malfunction.  Pass and the mecha is repaired.  Natural 12 and not only is the mecha repaired, one malfunction is too.

And don't even think of chopping up a mecha that's still functional.  If you're lucky the Chief will only hit you with a wrench.

That's all I've got for today.  G'night.

d30 Mecha Malfunctions, Bigger and Better

And by better I mean worse.

This table assumes you're using War of the Mecha and microMechwarrior.  If a result doesn't apply then try the next one or roll again or adapt to whatever rules you are using or just make something up.

The mecha of the Known Sphere have developed an assortment of quirks over their centuries of abuse.  When you've finished configuring your mecha roll a d30 on this table.  Any dice rolls in square brackets are permanent values set when the mecha is designed.  Any weapons affected are also set at this time and chosen randomly from those installed.

Of course, the mecha of the invading clans are free of these defects.

1. Wobbly Gyro; [1d3] penalty to Piloting rolls.
2. Bum Leg; -1 Walking.  Yes, this affects Running too.
3. Weak Ankles; failed Piloting roll causes a leg critical hit, just like #3 on the critical hit chart.
4. Cracked Frame; May land only one melee attack safely, EVER.  Further strikes make the mecha suffer an "arm" critical hit (#4 on critical hit chart).
5. Weapon Lag; One weapon has [1d3] penalty to-hit.
6. Jammy Weapon; One weapon jams if it rolls [1d6+1] or less to-hit.  The jam may be cleared on later turns with a Technician roll (that's a microMechwarrior thing) in lieu of any attacks.
7. Hot Gun; One weapon produces [1d6] extra heat.
8. Flaky Jump Jets; Make a 2d roll halfway through a jump, a result of [1d6+1] or less forces a Piloting roll.  Safe landing on a pass, fall on a failure.  In either case the mecha doesn't get any further than halfway.
9. Cramped Cockpit; One point penalty on Piloting for each two points (or portion of) over STR [1d6+3] (mMw again).
10. Coolant Turbulence; Each heat phase roll 1d6 twice, the first adds to the "true" heat score and the second subtracts.  This modified score is only for checking heat effects, and does not change the actual heat of the mecha.
11. Hot Engine; Add [1d6] heat each turn.
12. Rejection Seat; May not eject from mecha.  You gotta climb out, and good luck outrunning the thermonuclear explosion.
13. Heat Sinks by Lowest Bidder; Each turn at [2d6+8] heat or higher lose 1d3 heat sinks.
14. Stiff Arm; [1d3] penalty to-hit melee.
15. Separate Triggers; One weapon not properly linked into the targeting system.  This weapon may not fire in the same turn other weapons are fired.
16. Pinched Coolant Tubes; One weapon suffers to-hit penalties [1d6+1] heat points earlier.
17. Tippy; Making any turns while running requires a Piloting roll.
18. Mecha With A Rep; Killing this mecha is worth [1d6] extra kills/experience.
19. Needs More Oomph; Ranges shortened for one weapon. -1 short, -2 medium, -3 long.
20. Premature Ejection; Failing a shut-down over-ride pops off the ejection seat.  Your mecha pilot is out of this fight, but alive for the next.
21. I Don't See Any Difference; Mecha may only fire all weapons or no weapons in a turn.
22. Sluggish Throttle; Mecha may not go from a standstill to running or vice versa without spending a turn between walking.
23. Backfire; One weapon will explode if it rolls a two to-hit.  Mecha takes damage from its own weapon and loses that weapon.  If you survive this fight, the replacement will not have this glitch.
24. Give It A Thump; Roll 1d6 at the start of each turn.  On a one suffer a 1d3 to-hit penalty for the turn.
25. Low Hydraulic Pressure; Mecha does melee damge as one size class smaller.  Lights inflict none.
26. Improvised Armour; Pick one type of attack: ballistic, energy, missile, melee or (if the clan invasion has started) gauss.  When taking damage from such a weapon roll twice and use the higher result.
27. Steers Like A Cow; Can't make more than one hexside facing change per game turn.
28. Screaming Neural Feedback; Another one for microMechwarrior.  Damage to mecha affects pilot.  Each [1d3] points of mecha-scale damage results in one point of human-scale damage (location is not important).
29. Roll twice again.  Lame, I know.  The next one is better.
30. Roll twice again. Second roll is a latent glitch that shows up if the first glitch should ever be repaired.  A microMechwarrior GM should probably make the second roll in secret, or something.

Mecha Malfunctions

I might as well do something constructive with my current infatuation for War of the Mecha, so here's a table of malfunctions, glitches and the like.  The mecha used in the Known Sphere of systems have each gathered their own little quirks over their centuries of abuse.  Roll 1d20, and if the result doesn't apply to the mecha then try the next one down.

1. Wonky Gyro; 1 point penalty on Piloting rolls.
2. Bum Leg; -1 Walking MP.  Yes, this affects Running too.
3. Stiff Arm; 1 point penalty to-hit melee attacks.
4. Hot Engine; Each turn add 3 heat.
5. Weapon Lag; One weapon (selected at random) has a 1 point penalty to-hit.
6. Jammy Weapon; One random weapon jams if it rolls 2-4 to-hit.  May be cleared in later turns by passing a Technician roll in lieu of attacking.  Wait.  That's microMechwarrior talk.  Well, you should be using microMechwarrior too.
7. Hot Gun; One weapon generates 2 extra points of heat (whether large or small).
8. Flaky Jump Jets; Roll 1d6 halfway through a jump.  On 1 the jets cut out.  Make a Piloting roll to land there safely, or suffer the usual fall-down-go-boom damage.
9. Cramped Cockpit; For each 2 points (or portion of) over STR7 take a 1 point penalty on Piloting rolls.  Including ejection rolls.
10. Coolant Turbulence; Each heat phase add 1d6 and subtract 1d6 from the "true" heat score.  This modified heat level is just for finding the heat effects this turn.
11. Cracked Frame; May safely land only one melee attack.  EVER.  Further melee strikes make the mecha suffer an arm critical hit just like #4 on the critical hit chart.
12. Rejection Seat; May not eject from the mecha.  Jump out instead, and good luck outrunning the nuclear explosion.
13. Heat Sinks by Lowest Bidder; Each turn at 15+ heat lose 1d4 heat sinks.
14. Magnetic Reputation; Mecha is so (in)famous that killing it counts for 5 kills.
15. Skinny Ankles; Failed Piloting roll causes a leg critical hit (#3 on the critical chart).
16. Separate Trigger; One random weapon is not properly linked into the targeting system.  This weapon may not fire in the same turn other weapons are fired.
17. Pinched Coolant Tubes; One random weapon suffers to-hit penalties five heat points earlier (5, 15 & 25).
18. Tippy; Making any turn while running require a Piloting roll.
19. Roll twice again.  Lame, I know.  The next one is better.
20. Roll twice again.  Second roll is a latent glitch that doesn't show up unless the first malfunction somehow gets fixed.

 Hmm.  Only twenty.  I want to roll a d30.  Any ideas to bring this up to thirty?