Mechwarrior Skill levels.

For the purposes of the campaign all mechwarriors from a given unit will have the same skill level.  This should make moving units easier.

Each of the Clanners clusters has rating of Elite, Veteran, or Regular.  All members of the unit have the same skill level, with the exception of special named characters that may be part of that unit.

Clan skills levels

Elite : 3

Veteran: 4

Regular: 5

The ComGuard forces are rated as Elite, Veteran, Regular or Green.  Being Inner Sphere they rate a little lower then the clanners fo the same rating.

ComGuard skill levels

Elite: 4

Veteran: 5

Regular: 6

Green: 7 

Now when building your force, there is a way to improve the skill level of one warrior.  This is where the paint scheme comes in.  I like to have easily identifiable forces on the table.  When you build a Star of 5 mechs for clanners, or a "Level 2" of 6 units for ComGuard, and all the mechs match their paintjob then one random mechwarrior from the clan Star or for the Comguard Level 2 gets to reduce their skill by 1.  Special characters may not reduce their skill this way.

Using the incorrect mini (Proxy) for a mech or vehicle will result in having a skill one point higher (worse).

Tukayyid Campaign Map

Here is the Campaign map for the Tukayyid Campaign.  You can click on it for a slightly larger image.  From this map we will keep track of Clan Cluster movements and progress made.

The goal of each Clan on Tukayyid is to capture one Prime City and a Secondary City.

Now a little about the tiles.

Prime City Tiles: Major city, Buildings covering the whole map.  Paved roads.

Command Center:  Where Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht commands all ComGuard forces on Tukayyid.  Holding this tile gives the ComGuard player an advantage for card initiative.  So long as the ComGuard hold this tile they will never move first for initiative.  At the start of each turn keep flipping cards over until the first Clan initiative card is flipped.  Take all of the skipped ComGuard initiative cards and shuffle them back into the initiative deck.  Should the Clanners take this tile, then the advantage goes to them and the ComGuard player must move first.

Secondary City: Less dense city setting, City outskirts, Factories, Warehouses, Paved roadways.

Clan Landing Zone:  Varying types of terrain for initial landings,  Space port / Fortress after Clanners secure their drop zone..

Cactus Tile: .Terrain here could be Desert, Mountains, Badlands, Abandon Towns, Ruins.  Few trees if any.  No rivers, lakes or water sources.

Waterfall Tile: Significant water of some sort in this hex. Major Lakes, Major Rivers, Swamps, River Deltas...etc.

Blank Tile: Mixed terrain, Forest, plains, rolling hills, farms, smaller rivers.  Traditional terrain found on standard battletech maps.

Hidden Units

From time to time the Comguard players will have Hidden units.  Each scenario will clearly state if the Comguard may use Hidden units.

Some basics about hidden units.
You can hide anywhere you could legally move or deploy the unit (Mech or Tank).  Even in an open field...(Comguard on Tukayyid was known for burying their mechs in the open field then bursting from the earth as clan units walked by in column.)

Any forgotten unit, or unit that should have been deployed but wasn't for whatever reason will be considered  KIA...without firing a shot.  So think long and hard about hiding units.

Hidden units do not get initiative cards.  Their cards are added to the deck when they are placed on the table.

How to deploy Hidden units.
Each hidden unit will be written down on a post it note separately.  These will have the coordinates and facing of that hidden unit.

The coordinates are written in inches from the North-West corner of the table.  The facing may be one of the following.  N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW.

The North table edge is the one closest to the stairs, and the west table edge is the one closest to the wall.

For example.  The Comstar player wants to deploy a Demolisher tank with a hidden setup.
He would write the following down on a post it note.

Demolisher
Facing: North
N: 36
W: 12

So to place the unit on the table you would pass the post it note to your opponent (or someone from the other table) and they would place it on the table.  Measuring 36" from the North edge and 12" from the West edge and facing toward the stairs (North).

There are 5 ways to uncover a hidden unit.

1. An Active Probe equipped unit moves within its working range of the hidden unit.  Clan Probes reach out 10".  However if there is an active ComGuard ECM unit within 12" of the Active Probe Clan unit, the hidden unit will not be exposed, but the clan player will be told his Probe is being jammed by ECM. 
2. Before movement starts if you want to move the hidden unit that turn you must place the unit, before the first initiative card is flipped.
3. Before firing, you must place the hidden unit before the fire declaration phase when people place sticks.  Yes, you can be shot at the turn you pop up out of hiding.  The hidden units movement modifier this turn is considered 0 if it deploys in this manner.
4. The unit takes damage.  Arty hitting a hidden unit will place it on the field.  No, the hidden unit does not get to fire this turn if exposed in this manner.
5. A Clan unit moves within in 1" or through the hidden unit.  (Allows point blank attack by hidden unit)

• Should the walking or running Clan movement go through hidden unit, the Clan units movement stops in base to base contact with the hidden unit.
• Should the Clan movement be jumping, the Clanner moves to their intended landing spot, the hidden unit is placed and the Clan player may adjust the facing of that jumping unit.  Should the intended landing spot contain the hidden unit then the clanner shortens the jump so they may land legally.  No unintentional DFA's.  
• The unit uncovered in this way (and only in this way) may make an immediate attack on the unit that uncovered it.  If the Clan unit was jumping, the hidden unit may choose to shoot at a range of 1" when the detecting unit jumped overhead, or at the clan unit where it finished it's movement.  Remember the hidden units facing matters, and they may not get a shot off.  The hidden unit that shoots in this manner skips firing in the regular fire phase this turn as it has already fired.

Combat rules. (Init, heat, and honor levels)

Some of tweaks to the combat rules that will come into play for the Tukayyid campaign.

1) Initiative

We will be using cards for init.  Each side will have a color card, Comguard will be black (spades and clubs), clanners will be Reds (hearts and diamonds.  Units are not assigned a specific card, so there is some tactical flexibility.  So say there are 18 Comguard Mechs/tanks in a battle and 15 Clan Mechs / Battlearmor squads.  The initiative deck would start with 33 cards.
As each unit moves, their movement mod die will be placed behind the unit.  That will let everyone know which unit has moved this turn, and what ones have not moved yet.

As units are lost be sure to remove the correct color card from the deck.

2) Heat tracking
If you wish to overheat a unit to do the extra damage.

• You must declare it during the targeting phase.
• Place red glass counter per number you wish to overheat with your fire stick (not on your mech yet)
• After you shoot, move the red glass counter to your mech.
• These red glass counter will remain with your mech, on the table until you get rid of the excess heat.

3) Dueling (Honor levels)

There are 4 honor  levels for dueling that clanners will use.  But keeping track of which mech is shooting at which mech will be too cumbersome for the size game we are playing so here is the quick and simple fix.
Remember dueling only applies to mechs, Battle armor squads may attack any unit reguardless of who is attacking it, and Tanks may be targeted by as many clan units that can fire at it.

As for mech to mech....here is how honor will work
Honor Level 1, means no more than 1 Clan Mechs may target a single Comguard mech.
Honor Level 2, means no more than 2 Clan Mechs may target a single Comguard mech.
Honor Level 3, means no more than 3 Clan Mechs may target a single Comguard mech
Honor Level 4, No restriction on targeting.

It does not have to be the same mech each turn, but at the end of the targeting phase, under Honor Level 1 there can only be 1 Mech fire stick pointed at any given Comstar mech.

3) Physical Attacks (Honor levels)


To simplify, we will reduce Clan physical attack honor levels to yes or no.  Either they will do it or they won't. Under the Quick Strike rules...I will be shocked if a clanner makes any physical attacks, even if they are allowed.

4) Retreat (Honor levels)


There are 4 honor levels with regards to retreating.  Why would a clanner ever retreat?  Well, for the purposes of this campaign.  If a unit on the table loses every one if it's minis, it will be removed from the campaign map.  Example: Clan Wolf's Widowmaker company loses all of of their units in a battle, they are lost and the Clan Wolf players now only have 5 "clusters" to move on the campaign map.

Honor Level 1: Never Retreat
Honor Level 2: May only retreat if 20% or less of original force remains
Honor Level 3: May only retreat if 40% or less of original force remains
Honor Level 4: May always retreat

Progress made...

Well the stat sheet is done.  To your right you will see a google doc link called Tukayyid - 2012.

This sheet has all the stats, point cost and acquisition numbers for each mech / tank, for each Clan and Comstar.
Each clan has their own tab.

What is an acquisition number?  Well it determines how common a mech is in the ranks of that particular clan.  The number is derived from if the clan built the chassis or not, and the weapon loadouts their mechwarriors usually run with.

So here is how unit creation will work.  You will have to to build a force with a certain number of mechs that does not exceed a point total.  Clanners run in Stars (5) where Comstar runs in what they call Level II's (6 units).  You will also have to adhere to the rules for the specific unit you are building for.  Some may not have tanks, some no infantry, some no assault mechs.

So lets use Clan Wolf as an example.  Their Widowmaker Company is going to be in that nights battle.  They have bid (bidding will be a later post) 2 Stars (10 units) at 150 points.  So the Clanner gets 10 slots to build his force with.  To Start he wants to take Natasha Kerensky as she is the special character for that unit.  Her acquisition number is free so she is added to the roster.  Next he decides he wants to have an assault heavy Star, and a star of elementals.  So Elementals have to be taken in a full star fills up 5 more slots, also being "free" the player does not have to roll.

To add some beef, he takes a Highlander IIC (30 points) and a Supernova (28)...both *Free* acquisition wise.

So his roster looks like this....

1) Daishi Widowmaker 30 points
2) Highlander IIC 30 points
3) Supernova 28 points
4)
5)
6) Elemental Sm Las 4 points
7) Elemental Sm Las 4 points
8) Elemental Sm Las 4 points
9) Elemental Sm Las 4 points
10) Elemental Sm Las 4 points

So he has 2 slots left and 42 points
He wants a Mad Cat but is worried about the point so tries for the cheaper "B" version at only 22 points...but they need to roll for it needing an 8+ on 2d6.  He rolls for the #4 slot and fails, tries again for the #5 slot and gets it.  So he has one slot left and 20 points.

So looking through his list he sees he can get a Kraken for 20 points...needing an 8+.  He fails the roll and must move on to another chassis.  He sees he can take  Linebacker "B" for 20 points at 8+ and again fails the roll.  He tries for the Linebacker "D" for 20 points and a 8+ as well...this time he makes the roll and his force is complete.

1) Daishi Widowmaker 30 points
2) Highlander IIC 30 points
3) Supernova 28 points
4) Linebacker D 20 points
5) Mad Cat B  22 points
6) Elemental Sm Las 4 points
7) Elemental Sm Las 4 points
8) Elemental Sm Las 4 points
9) Elemental Sm Las 4 points
10) Elemental Sm Las 4 points

Clan Mechs....painting complete

So for the first time sine I've owned any...all my clan mechs are painted.

100 minis strong...spread roughly evenly across Ghost Bear, Wolf, Smoke Jags, and Falcons.  Nova Cats have one star

Rob's Painted Mech collection (Google Docs)

The ones in Yellow on the sheet are not available for Tukayyid, as they have yet to be produced in 3052.  But you will note there are some nice designs that are not part of the original Tukayyid Sourcebook that I will be adding to the clan mechbays.  (Cauldron Born, Highlander IIC, Supernova, Grendel, Kodiak, Grizzly, etc...)

Now I have about 20 ComGuard mechs and 4 tanks that need to be done before I kick off this campaign.  Post will be coming soon about "How a player will select their forces."  Will you have to take the correct paint scheme?  No, put it would be nice.  What about the 3 clans you don't have large forces painted for...?  All will be answered in the "How to" post.

Progress made..ComGuard mechs done.

Finished with the ComGuard mechs list.

Completed the list of all possible mechs that the ComGuard used on Tukayyid.  Each mech has an acquisition number.  Free are readily available.  If there is a number listed such as 4+, the ComGuard player will need to roll that number or better 2d6 to get that mech.  The Royal mechs that comguard pulled out of storage will require an 11+, though the Royals are not always better than the stock version...at least when it comes to Quick Strike.

Added the Quick Strike Stats, including the point cost.   

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiKPflpBkcQldHRVaFJ0WWdacjNqNFR3TTZLQ3J5TGc#gid=1