Definition of "Surrender" & How the "No Surrender" mechwarriors are eliminated

There has been some confusion and questions asked about the term "surrender".  When can someone who can't surrender Eject or withdraw? 
This post should help clear it up.

There are some factions / stables that can not Surrender.  For the purposes of this campaign, that means they will continue fighting until their mech no longer functions.  So they are the ones that will be still fighting missing two legs and an arm, hoping that they can get that one torso mounted ER Small laser to hit something.  It does not mean that after they take their third engine hit they will sit in their cockpit.  Once their mech stops working they can crawl out of their cockpit (not ejecting) and run to one of the many safety rooms located throughout every arena.

The "no surrender" mechwarriors are tenacious and determined but not suicidal. 

Here are all the ways a "No Surrender" mechwarrior can be eliminated from the battle.

• Their mech loses the last CT internal structure
• Their mech takes a 3rd Engine hit
• Their mech takes a 2nd Gyro hit
• The cockpit is destroyed, either through critical hit or head internal structure loss.
• Their mech loses its 4th limb
• Withdrawing from the arena (Only if mech crippled and they have no useable weapons remaining)
• The mechwarrior ejects.

Now there are only two situations when the mechwarrior can eject. 

1. Through an Auto-eject due to an Ammo explosion.
2. Manual Ejection when their mech is shut down due to overheating.  (May not turn off heat sinks to get mech to shut down)

 Hope this clears things up. 

In Short... No you can't walk over and step on the cockpit of the Clan mechwarrior who took two gyro hits and can no longer move their mech.  They get out and run to safety.

Reset Button and New Players

In an effort to shorten the gap between the "haves" from the "have nots"...I'm going to give folks the chance to hit the "reset button" on their character should the choose to do so.  Wait ...What?  Relax, this is just a less friendly version of the mechwarrior death rules.  Essentially what the player is doing is dropping their mechwarrior and starting to play another mechwarrior that is part of the Olympiad. 

These will also be the rules for new players joining the campaign.

Hitting the Reset button will do the following for you...

• Sets your Fame to 0.  If you were at Negative Fame it is reset to 0.
• You lose all your skills, abilities, stables, sponsors and reserve mechs in your mech bay.  You are not refunded for those losses.
• Your CP is reset to 10 and  you get +2 for every battle we have had up to this point. So if your resetting after battle #5, you would get 20 CP for your new guy.
• You lose all your C-Bills resetting them to 0. You receive C-Bills equal to the average value of the all the Battlemechs in the last battle, (fallback mechs count as $0). 
• Any awards (Murphy or Contest awards) the  mechwarrior would have received from the prior contest are forfeit.  

Hitting the Reset Button for of Battle #5 will get you...


0 Fame
18 CP
$6,545,982 C-bills (average value of all mechs in the battles 4A and 4B).

What to do to use the reset button

1. Lose your mech...you  no longer have it
2. Set your Fame to 0. 
3. Set your CP to 0
4. Add 10CP +2 more CP for each battle we have had in the campaign so far. 
5. Remove any Skills, abilities, stables, sponsors or reserve mechs you might have had.
6. Set your C-Bills to $0.
7. Receive the Average C-Bill value of all mechs in the last battle (combine split battles).   
8. Pick your new faction.  (If you want to stay the same you can skip this step)
9. Create a new Name and Call sign for your new mechwarrior.
10. Wait for your turn during the Off Board Time to buy your new mech.

(Can't really see anyone doing this as it will be a step back from where they already are, but it is an option.)

Rules Updates...after Battle #4

Couple of Rules tweaks to help keep thing interesting.

1) Underdog Fame:  If you manage a solo kill of a mechwarrior who has a much higher fame than you do, you may get some bonus fame.  For every 10 full fame greater your kill is you get an additional 2 fame for a solo kill.  You get 1 additional fame for an assisted Kill for every 10 full Fame greater.

So say Dave with -7.5 fame Solo kills Rob with 18 fame, he will get an 4 Extra fame in addition to all the normal fame he would get for the solo kill.

2) Word of Blake and Comstar Faction tweaks.  Their faction is now considered a C rated Stable as well. So they can do simple equipment swaps and modifications as well as variant swaps.  (Comstar and Word of Blake were not in the original ruleset and were added by me, need tweak to keep them competitive.)  This will let them take out the equipment that is "worthless" in the arena environment like Beagle Probes and C3 or c3i computers and replace them with HS, lasers, extra armor....stuff like that.

3) Solaris General Medcare Sponsorship.  All Mechwarrior healing is now free (Mostly cause it was a pain in the butt to track after the battle)

4) Contest Winners Fame:  The Top finishers after Battle #4 will receive small Fame awards for their wins.  At most is 3 points for being the winner of a Grande Melee with 10+ contestants.  See all the details on the "Prizes / Engaged" Page.

http://solarisseven.blogspot.com/2011/06/arena-prizes-and-engaged-rule.html

Correcting the Close Combat Rules.

After speaking with a couple of the guys last night I feel we need to tweak the close combat rules.

First some reasoning as to the change.
There is a gap in the conversion when going from Hexes to inches.  The 1" Hexbase the mini is on does not expand with the conversion.  So the mini is taking up a lot less space on the hexless tabletop than it was on the Hexmap.  Which means mechs have been having to move father on a hexless map to get into Base to base and perform physicals.

Example:  On a hex map the Nightsky needs to move 6 hexes to get next to the Hunchback IIC to use it's hatchet attack.  Convert that to a hexless tabletop and the Nightsky now has to move 13" to get into base to base, or use 7 of his MP rather than just 6 he would have had to use on a hexed map.  So on a hex map the Nightsky could walk or jump into position, but on a hexless map he now has to Run..

Here is how we will correct this issue.

For Punch, Kicks, Pushes, and Weapon attacks you will only have to get within 1" of the edge of your targets Hexbase to make an attack.  Of course facing still maters. So if there is 1" or less between the edges of your two hexbases and you are facing the correct way, you may make one of those attacks. Yes I know, to follow path of logic all the way through, it should be 2" (an extra inch for each hex base).  The 1" will work fine, and I really don't want to deal with intervening mechs between physicals.

For Charges and Death From Above attacks you will need to be able move to the center of the target mechs Hexbase (Not just into base to base).
Meaning you have to move 1/2" further now that you did than the way we were playing.  This is due to the rule that you must be able to move into the target mechs hex when doing these attacks.


Preemptive Editorial Response:
But what about shooting? Shouldn't that get the extra inch too?  No and here is why.  Shooting on the hex map is just like Charges and DFA's.  Your weapons range have to reach the target hex (meaning the center of the hex) on a hex map, not go to the edge of the target hex.  So measuring from Hexbase edge to hexbase edge will give you the same "Range" after conversion that you would have had on a Hexmap.
Example: A Blackjack wants to shoot it's Med laser at a Spider.  The max Range of 9 Hexes is just that on a hex map if there are 8 empty hexes between the Two mechs, the Black jack is in range and can hit.  Now that 8 hexes converts to 16 inches on the hexless tabletop.  Likewise, There should be 18" center to center between the Blackjack and Spider when you convert their location (9 hexes apart) to a hexless tabletop.  So measuring from hexedge to hex edge between the two mechs will give you 17" or within range for the Med Laser to hit.  You actually get a little extra range from your weapons with the conversion, but it is easier to measure edge to edge the center to center.  So Edge to edge, just like we have been playing.   

Rumble Contest Rules!

So in November we will have our first "Rumble" contest.  Here are the rules on how it will work.

We will Randomly draw our starting order 1 through 13 (or however many we have that night).  You can tell the group your starting order or you can keep it secret and announce it when it is your turn to enter the arena.

The First two contestants will enter the Coliseum on turn #1.

On Turn #2, Who ever drew the 3rd entry position will enter the map.  On turn #3, Who ever drew the 4th Entry position, will enter the map.  An so forth until Turn 12...our 13th warrior will come onto the field.

We will be using the Coliseum map.

Entry points for each contestant will be Random.. The Coliseum has 16 entry points.  When the turn starts, but before initiative cards are flipped, The player that in entering the battle will Roll a D20 and take the corresponding entry door (re-roll 17-20).  The first two entrants can't use the same door, so if the 2nd player rolls the same entry gate roll again.

Awards are as follows:
Solo Kills will receive an additional 1,000,000 C-Bill award over what you already receive.

• 13th Place: 5,000,000 C-Bills
• 12th Place: 4,000,000 C-Bills
• 11th Place: 3,000,000 C-Bills
• 10th Place: 2,000,000 C-Bills
• 9th Place: 1,000,000 C-Bills
• 8th Place: 500,000 C-Bills
• 7th Place: 250,000 C-Bills
• 6th Place: 250,000 C-Bills
• 5th Place: Roll on Lyran Alliance Light mech chart "F" column, or your factions light "F" chart (Clanners must take one of these choices, and not roll on their own chart).
• 4th Place: Roll on the Second Line Light Clan mech chart of your choice, or your factions Medium "D" Chart  (Lower Chart for WoB & Comstar, Bottom chart for Periphery)
• 3rd Place: Roll on the Second Line Medium Clan mech chart of your choice, or your factions Heavy "C" Chart (Lower Chart for WoB & Comstar, Bottom chart for Periphery) and +1 Fame
• 2nd Place: Roll on the Front Line Heavy Clan mech chart of your choice, or your factions Assault "B" Chart (Upper Chart for WoB & Comstar & Periphery without a "B" chart) and +3 Fame
• 1st Place: Roll on the Front Line Assault Clan mech chart of your choice, or your factions Assault "A" Chart (twice taking pick) and +5 Fame.

Bounty Rules and Current Bounties

Bounties may be placed on another players mech if you wish.  Someone have too much of an advantage, or you want pay back for them taking you out match after match, placing a bounty might get you a little help evening the score.

Bounties can be for a certain Battle or an ongoing bounty until you remove it.  You may not drop a bounty during a battle, but you may offer one up.  Bounties are for the elimination of a mech not for the killing of the mechwarrior.

You may offer up a killing bounty on the mechwarrior, but your mechwarrior will take a -20 Fame hit.

You may make side bets with another player if you wish.  First to drop an enemy, Who lasts the longest, First to score a hit with a physical attack, etc.




Current Mech Bounties:

• None

Current Mechwarrior Bounties:

• None 

Re-written Death rules....

Mechwarrior Death Rules (re-written for Battle #3)

Ok Here are the NEW Rules for Mechwarrior Death.....Sort of a middle ground to keep everyone happy, and I think will be the best for the long run of the campaign.  The current way is too liberal, the reset to 0 to conservative.  

Think of the Solaris Olympiad as a larger series of 50+ contestants (kinda like Scotts suggestion).  We just happen to be running the guys that are the leaders of the contest, or the guys in the "Main Event" of that months contests.  When your guy dies another will be "Called up" to fill the spot in the "Main Event".

When your guy dies, you will make up a new guy (that is considered one of the "other" constants) using the following...

• Subtract 5 from your Fame with a minimum of 0. (as it was the moment after you die, +all your fame for the battle up to that point, -2 for destroyed mech, -0.5 for being injured).  If you were at Negative Fame when you died, it is reset to 0.
• You lose all your skills, abilities, stables, sponsors and reserve mechs in your mech bay.  You are not refunded for those losses.
• Your CP is reset to 10 and  you get +2 for every battle we have had up to this point. So if your guy died in battle #3, you would get 16 CP for your new guy.
• You lose all your C-Bills resetting them to 0, You receive C-Bills equal to the average value of the all the Battlemechs in the last battle, (fallback mechs count as $0). 
• Any awards (Murphy or Contest awards) the dead mechwarrior would have received in the contest he died in are forfeit. 

For the purposes of this campaign There are only a few ways for your mechwarrior to die.

• Taking the 6th pilot hit.
• Head destruction.
• Cockpit Critical.
• Ammo Explosion in a mech without CASE and the auto-eject turned off.
• Ammo Explosion in the Center Torso with CASE and the auto-eject is turned off. 
• The head floods when underwater and a structural check is failed. 
• Ejecting from your mech with a structure directly over your mech. (Ishiyama - tunnels, in a building, under a bridge...)  

For the campaign, if you safely eject from your mech, you will safely land clear of the arena and out of the combat area.


What to do if your mechwarrior dies

1. Lose your mech...you  no longer have it
2. Subtract 5 from your Fame (add in all fame earned up to and including the moment of the mechwarriors death.)
3. Set your CP to 0
4. Get 10CP +2 more CP for each battle we have had in the campaign so far.  Dieing in Battle #3 will get you 16 CP for your new character for Battle #4.
5. Remove any Skills, abilities, stables, sponsors or reserve mechs you might have had.
6. Set your C-Bills to $0.
7. Receive the Average C-Bill value of all mechs in the last battle (combine split battles, meaning all mechs from battle 2A and 2B not just the half you were in).   
8. Pick your new faction.  (If you want to stay the same you can skip this step)
9. Create a new Name and Call sign for your new mechwarrior.

The table edge, and other odd rules...

Just a couple of final rule clarifications before our first night.

1) The table edge.
With the Grand Melee style we will be playing, it will be tempting to put your back to the table edge to keep it safe.  This is good however, should a mech Push you off the table from either a Push, Charge or DFA you will be eliminated from the match.  The mech doing the pushing will be credited with a solo kill.  (might be the easiest way for a light mech to get a solo kill on an Assault)  Only part of your base needs to be pushed off, not the whole thing, so think about that before you back yourself against the table edge.

Likewise, if you are leaving the board, trying to get your crippled mech off the board before becoming a kill for someone else, you only have to get part of your base off the board...not the whole thing.


2) Off Board Time - reseeding from split matches

Our second match is going to be split with half of us playing on each table.  Battle 2A is the "Losers" bracket for the first night (first 5 guys eliminated) and will be held in the Ishiyama tunnels.  Battle 2B (Winners Bracket) is the last 5 mechs from the first battle, and they will fight in the Hartford Gardens arena. The order after those two matches are done for the purposes of Off board time will be as follows.

1. Battle 2A - 1st eliminated (3Mill C-Bill Murphy award)
2. Battle 2B - 1st eliminated (3Mill C-Bill Murphy award)
3. Battle 2A - 2nd eliminated (1.5Mill C-Bill Murphy award)
4. Battle 2B - 2nd eliminated (1.5Mill C-Bill Murphy award)
5. Battle 2A- 3rd place
6. Battle 2B - 3rd place
7. Battle 2A - 2nd place (F chart mech - one weight class lower than heaviest in match, Kurita or your faction charts)
8. Battle 2B - 2nd place (F chart mech - one weight class lower than heaviest in match, Kurita or your faction charts)
9. Battle 2A - 1st place (F chart mech - same weight class  as heaviest in match, kurita or your faction charts)
10. Battle 2B - 1st place (F chart mech - same weight class  as heaviest in match, kurita or your faction charts)  

This will be the order in which we buy mechs for our Off board time before next months match.

3) Egg Timer - aka...keep things moving.
I have an egg timer...I think it is either 1 minute or 1 min 30 seconds.  We will not use this off the bat, but if someone is going slow any other player can call for the timer.  After an iniative card is flipped for movement or for fire declaration, someone can call for the timer.  Once called for the sand timer is started, and the player has that much time to finish either moving or placing their sticks for fire declaration.

For Movement: If the timer runs out before the player has finished their move their mech will be placed back where it started the turn and will not move this turn.  Place a green 6 behind their mech.  The timer will be placed on it's side (paused) when terrain needs to be moved (Building roofs in the Factory), and restarted once the terrain is out of the way.

For Firing:  If the timer runs out, the sticks that are on the table pointed at a valid target when the time runs out are what the mech fires.  The timer may be paused (on it's side) if the player asks for a line of sight question.  A 3rd player will determine line of sight, and then restart the timer.

If two games are going at once, the egg timer will go to who ever it was called for 1st, giving the 2nd player a little extra time.

I really hope we won't need to use this, But I know I can be slow playing at times too.  This is a tool to help keep us going. 


4) Initiative Cards vs. Dice.
When a match gets down to two players they can resume using dice to determine init order, rather than the cards.  If they are using dice then once the order has been determined, an egg timer may be called for if needed, with the 2nd players time starting after the 1st has completed their move.  Fire declaration can be done at the same time and use the same egg timer when there are only two players.   



5) Fire Declaration -
We will use re-shuffled init cards for fire declaration.  This is to serve two purposes.  One, to be able to put a timer on someone if needed.  Two, there is a strategy to choose wither to fire at the mech that has 3 others shooting at it, or the light mech that only you have line of sight to.

 
6) What is a "Clan" mech?
For the purposes of this campaign any mech that has any clan tech what so ever on it, will be considered a "Clan" mech and one weight class heavier then it actually is.  So if you modify your Vindicator and swap out the Inner sphere PPC for a Clan ERPPC...it will be classified as a "Clan" mech and one rank higher for kill purposes.

7) Something else I was forgetting...
I now there was something else I wanted to mention...but darned if I can remember it.

See yah tonight....

Ammo, Ammo Explosions and you...

I've talked before about ammo explosions being one of the few ways that can kill your mechwarrior in this campaign.  I hope this post will clear up any questions you may have about ammo explosions.

Should you get an ammo critical on your mech, and the ammo will do enough damage to eliminate all the CT internals of your mech, your mechwarrior will be dead.  Unless that is, you have the Auto-eject enabled.  With the Auto Eject enabled, the ammo explosion will be detected and you will be jettisoned to safety....Unless you mech is in an enclosed space.  A critical hit on an EMPTY ammo bin will not trigger the auto-eject in your mech. 

Ammo comes out of the Ammo Bin during the weapons declaration phase.  When you place your sticks during the weapon fire phase, the very next thing you should do is mark off the ammo from one of the critical slots on your mech sheet.  This will let you know how much ammo is in each bin when you take a critical to that location.  (House rule: Mark off the ammo with Streak SRM's...then erase the ammo should the missiles not lock on. No, a critical to a Streak launcher that didn't lock on will no do an single volley ammo explosion)


The enclosed space, auto-eject might be an issue in our first arena, The Factory.  If there is a building roof, or bridge over your mech when you eject your mechwarrior will be dead and you will have to start over.  You can change the setting of your Auto-Eject during the END phase of a turn...after you roll for heat issues.  There will be cases where you will want to turn off your auto-eject mid match.  Mechwarriors that do not eject when they take an ammo critical take 2 hits to the mechwarrior, even if you have CASE.  Ejecting causes 1 hit to the mechwarrior.  Something else to to consider when setting your Auto-eject.

For our 1st match...
The following players are the ones that will have to worry about an ammo explosion taking out their CT.
Derek, Dave, Fab, Jay, Mitch, Gregg.

Kyle, Derek and Scott all have mechs without any ammo.  Rob and Jeff have mechs that have CASE around their ammo.

That's all for now.

Repairs Prep for Battle #1

Lets go over the repair rules a little bit. I created a self generating table in Excel that calculates the repair bill for your current mech, if you use the simple repair method. I even did some conditional Formatting, so that if you do not currently have enough C-Bills, the cell displays in the Light red. Unfortunately, Google docs doesn't like the Conditional format conversion process, so I'll post an image every month.

Click image for larger chart that is easier to read...

The three levels of "Full Repairs" are...Destroyed, Crippled or Damaged.

Remember all Armor repair is free, so if you only have armor damage, you have a $0 repair bill. The three "Full Repair" options takes care of all damage to internals, criticals, destroyed components, and lost limbs.

To fully repair your Destroyed mech it cost 45% of the base price.
To fully repair your Crippled mech it cost 35% of the base price.
To fully repair your Damaged mech it cost 25% of the base price.
You add 10% to the repair cost if you ejected from the mech.

"Destroyed" is just that...your mech was destroyed, be it Ammo explosion, engine destruction, Head destruction, etc...only 45% to put the pieces back together.

"Crippled" means your mech was crippled at the end of the match. You either Won, made it off the board, surrendered or ejected from it, before it was destroyed.

"Damaged" means during the battle you did not reach the "Crippled" state. Chances are the folks that are at this level of repair either Won, or surrendered when they were shutdown due to overheating.

There are two potentially cheaper means to repair your mech. Spot repairs,, and jury rigging repairs. I've covered those in the "Off Board Time" link up top.
The Spot repairs go through each section of the mech doing repairs and will quickly become more expensive than "Full repair" options. The Jury rigging repair is a last ditch "Get your mech running because you are broke".

You don't have to do repairs on your mech. The only rule for entering a mech in a battle is that it has to be able to walk. So if you can only enough repairs to get your mech moving again, you are still in the game.

The other option is a "Fallback" mech, any time you can not afford to get one of your mechs fully repaired, you may take a fallback mech from your faction. Details on the fallback mechs are in the fallback link above.

The real point of this post is that looking at all the light red on the chart above...You may want to do some quick math and figure out how many C-Bills you will need to earn in the worse case scenario.

Look at my guy for an example: I have $475,630 in the bank, and a full repair cost for a Vindicator VND-3L Destroyed with Ejection will cost me $1,938,404. So I will need to earn at least $1,462,774 from this first match, or might be in a fallback mech next battle. Looking at the Earning C-Bills tab...I can make that with a Solo Kill of the same level or even 1 level less. I'll get close to what I need just crippling a same level mech. So if it is getting down to the end of the match and I still can't cover my repairs, desperation might step in looking at that $1,000,000 pay out for a DFA that connects.

Tracking events, and Counting "Kills"

One of the toughest things to keep track of in this game is what happened when.  I'm going to try to do it this way to start and see how it goes.

There will be one "Tracking Clipboard".  This "TC" will be held by a 4th person observing the shooting and physicals (Attacker, Defender, dude checking the hit location charts, and the TC guy).  On the legal pad that is on the TC there will be columns for "Who" "Event" and "Target".  The TC won't have to write down all the amounts of fame or C-Bills earned just the "event" such as dealing 20 points of damage, or "Kill Solo".  I'll be the default "TC" and like I said we will see how it goes.  I have a couple of "What to track" posters set up downstairs for all to see, and know what we should be looking for.

So when someone is eliminated, we can copy everything they did by checking the "Who" column on to another sheet of paper.  Then with that paper, they could start their "Off Board Time", repairing their mechs, upgrading their character, etc.

Next is the "Who gets credit for a Kill".  This I can see as being a sticking point of the campaign.  The rules are located on the "Earning CP, Fame and C-Bills" page.  But here is some clarification.

All the damage you may have done during a prior turn is irrelevant.  Only the current turn matters, so if you have pounded on a target for 4 turns then on turn 5 you hit the target in the arms and legs, but another mech hits it in the CT killing it, they will get the kill, not you.  Chances are if you pounded on someone for 4 turns you should have at least "Crippled" them, and gotten credit for that.  If not get better mech, or better dice. 

This can get tricky, and that is where "Shared kills" come in to play.  Say a mech has 8 CT internals left, and two guys hit it in the CT, Guy A for 5, Guy B for 10.  Here is how we will handle this.  If we were to say only guy B would get the kill...that would mean we would have to keep track of where everyone's damage was at the start of each round.  But if we say Everyone that hits the CT (or Side torso with an XL engine kill) the turn of a mechs death will get part of a "Kill - Assisted"  That way we will only have to track who did damage to the CT that turn.  Much easier that way, cause I can't image more than 3 guys would be shooting at any one target that often.  Yes this will give an ever so slight advantage to the SRM / LBX carrying mechs who can spread their damage around.

So in summary:
*** Any mech that does damage in a given phase to the location that causes a mechs destruction will be credited with a "Kill - Assisted" ***

Off Board Time....Who goes first.

So you just got eliminated from your first match and are looking over what to do next.

Well first is add up your C-bills that you collected from the match.  You can also tally your Fame and CP's.  Don't forget the awards for being one of the first eliminated.

As you can see from the Off Board Time rules, if you intend to use your mech and it is not functioning, or you wish to sell it to the marketplace you must repair your mech.  You can keep your mech in it's damaged state, and buy another new mech if you wish.  You can also sell your damaged mech to another player at any price, and let them repair it.

But to get to the point of this post.  I was thinking about the 25% extra cost for not having the correct mini.  I was also looking at some "Really Really Great" Assault mechs that are in the 6.5 Mill range that I only have 1 mini for.  So who gets to buy that mini first?  To keep things simple we will do mech purchases in the order you were eliminated.  So 1st one out, you get to buy your mech 1st.  This will also give you something to do when you are eliminated early.  If two players are eliminated in the same phase, then the one with the lower fame gets to buy first.  If they are tied for Fame then roll off to see who buys first.

That's all for now...

Fallback Mechs...by faction.

You may get to a point somewhere in the campaign where you do not have enough C-Bills to repair your mech.  I've really tried to eliminate the need for "fallback" mechs with awards for being eliminated early and very generous kill awards.

But things happen, dice are dice, and I'm betting at least one of you will get in a pinch.  So here are your Fallback mechs.  You will only be issued a Fallback mech if you are unable to repair your mech to a functional state.  That includes Jury rig patch kits.  So you will have really over extended yourself or had some really rotten luck if you need one of these.



So here is exactly what getting a Fallback mech means.

• The mech will be provided to you for free from your Faction.  
• It is only to be used to try and get enough C-bills to repair one of your mechs.  
• Fallback mechs may not be modified (even to swap an omni configuration).  
• Fallback mechs may not be sold back to the market or to another player.  
• You do not have to repair damage to the fallback mechs.  
• Once you have earned enough money to pay for the least expensive repairs to get one of your mechs functioning, the fallback mech is given back to the Faction.
• You get -2 Fame for every battle to have to use a fallback mech.

The Fallback mech provided by each faction is listed below.

House Davion - Federated Suns :  Valkyrie VLK-QD
House Kurita - Draconis Combine : Panther PNT-10K
House Steiner - Lyran Alliance :  Commando COM-7S
House Marik - Free Worlds League :  Spider SDR-8M
House Liao - Capellan Confederation :  Stinger STG-6L
Free Rassalhauge Republic:  Clint CLNT-2-3T
ComStar :  Mongoose MON-66
Word of Blake :  Locust LCT-5M
Mercenary : Wolfhound WLF-1
Periphery : Circinus Federation: Brigand LDT-1
Periphery : Magistracy of Canopus: Locust LCT-5V
Periphery : Marian Hegemony: Commando COM-4H
Periphery : Outworlds Alliance:  Stinger STG-3R
Periphery : Taurian Concordat: Jenner JR7-D
Clan Diamond Shark:  Piranha
Clan Ghost Bear: Firemoth (Prime)
Clan Jade Falcon: Howler (Baboon)
Clan Nova Cat: Jenner IIC
Clan Wolf: Uller (Prime)
Clan Wolf in Exile: Wolfhound WLF-2

Ejecting, Surrendering, and Withdrawing

Hopefully this post will clear up any confusion there may be about the differences between Surrendering, Withdrawing, and Ejecting.  There are benefits and negative impacts associated with each.  You may get to a point in a battle where your mech is pretty beat up and your almost positive you will not last another round, here are your options.

Surrendering:
At the end of any phase you may fire off your surrender flare.  Your mech must be in a "Crippled" state or shut down from overheating before you may fire off your surrender flare.  You shut down your mech and are officially out of the match at that point.  You may still fire your surrender flare if your mech is shut down, but you may not do it if your mechwarrior is unconscious.  You may not be the target of attacks, remove the mini from the table.  

• Your mech must roll for any Heat related issues (Shut down or ammo explosion) that it may have until it reaches 0 heat.
• The Credit for your "Kill" goes to all the mechs that attempted a ranged or physical attack on your mech in this or the prior turn.  If it is only one mech then they get credit for a Solo Kill, otherwise all the attackers get an "Assisted Kill"
• For Surrendering you get 0 CP, -2 Fame, and -250,000 C-Bills
• Clanners may not surrender, and some Stables train their warriors to fight to the end.

The "no surrender" mechwarriors are tenacious and determined but not suicidal. 

Here are all the ways a "No Surrender" mechwarrior can be eliminated from the battle.

• Their mech loses the last CT internal structure
• Their mech takes a 3rd Engine hit
• Their mech takes a 2nd Gyro hit
• The cockpit is destroyed, either through critical hit or head internal structure loss.
• Their mech loses its 4th limb
• Withdrawing from the arena (Only if mech crippled and they have no useable weapons remaining)
• The mechwarrior ejects.

Now there are only two situations when the mechwarrior can eject.

1. Through an Auto-eject due to an Ammo explosion.
2. Manual Ejection when their mech is shut down due to overheating.  (May not turn off heat sinks to get mech to shut down)

In Short... No you can't walk over and step on the cockpit of the Clan mechwarrior who took two gyro hits and can no longer move their mech.  They get out (without ejecting) and run to safety.

Withdrawing:
If your mech is in a "Crippled" state you may Withdraw from the arena.  To do so you must move your mech either off the edge of the arena board or through one of the entry points to the arena during the movement phase.

• The Credit for your "Kill" goes to all the mechs that attempted a ranged or physical attack on your mech in this or the prior turn.  If it is only one mech then they get credit for a Solo Kill, otherwise all the attackers get an "Assisted Kill"
• Your mechwarrior receives 3 CP and 1 Fame.
• You may not withdraw if you fired weapons in the last turn. You must wait on the table 1 turn without firing your weapons before withdrawing.  (This rule was added to deter folks from sitting by the exit points then backing up to get CP and fame once crippled.) 

Ejecting:
One of the ways your mechwarrior can die is an ammo explosion that destroys all of the CT internals of your mech.  This explains why some mechs have CASE in the side torso with an XL engine, sure the mech is dead, but it will save the mechwarrior.  There is an Auto-eject system in every mech that will eject the mechwarrior in the event of an ammo explosion.  You do not need to eject if you lose all the CT internals to external damage, or if you take your 3rd engine hit.  The mech just stops working in those cases.  There really is only a mechwarrior threatening situation when the ammo explodes, then the mechwarrior needs to get out of there in a hurry.
The Auto-eject system will be assumed to be on unless you have written on your mech sheet that it is turned off (The system is on even if you have CASE, so if you want it off, write it down that it is turned off).  You may only change the Auto-eject setting at the end of any turn (after the heat phase).   
You may also manually eject from your mech at the end of any phase.  The eject system will work even if your mech is shut down.  You may not eject from your mech unless it is "Crippled" or Shut down from overheating.

• Your mech must roll for any Heat related issues (Shut down or ammo explosion) that it may have until it reaches 0 heat.
• In the event of an Auto-Eject due to a critical hit to an ammo bin, the credit for your "Kill" goes to the mech that did the ammo critical. (Will be a Solo kill, unless someone crits a different ammo box  or something else that would finish off the mech, then it will be an Assisted kill)
• In the event of a Manual Ejection or Heat caused ammo explosion Auto-eject.  The Credit for your "Kill" goes to all the mechs that attempted a ranged or physical attack on your mech in this or the prior turn.  If it is only one mech then they get credit for a Solo Kill, otherwise all the attackers get an "Assisted Kill"
• Ejecting does 1 hit to the mechwarrior. 
• Your mechwarrior gets 1 CP and  -1 Fame for ejecting.
• Your mech will automatically fall (if it was standing) after you eject.  Be sure to roll for falling damage for the mech.
• There is an extra 10% repair cost to any mech that has been ejected from.

Arena Prizes, and the "Engaged" rule

There will be times where it will be tempting to hide behind a rock and let the other battlemechs whittle themselves down.  While I don't want to take away from the tactics of light mechs, the fans are here to see you fight.

To encourage aggressive play...there are a couple of incentives.  First is a monetary award, for bad luck.  If you get out there, mix it up and are one of the first to fall, you will be compensated.
We will call this "Murphy's Reward"



Murphy's Reward:
In games of 10 or more players...

• The First player eliminated will receive a 4 million C-Bill award.  
• The Second will receive 3 Million
• The Third will receive  2 million
• The 4th will recieve1 million.  

Obvious suicide maneuvers will Disqualify you from receiving this award.  (Walking and turning your back to the only opponent you can see so he has short range numbers to hit with his AC20...for example,  If a majority of the players determine your maneuver was a "Suicide" you will not get the award.).  Should two players be eliminated in the same phase, then the awards are combined and split by them (1st and 2nd players fall in the same shooting phase, then they each would get 3.5 million)

In games of 5 or more players but less than 10.

• The First player eliminated will receive 3 million
• The 2nd player will receive 1.5 million. 

In games of 4 players...

• The First player eliminated will receive 2 million

In games of 3 or 2 mechs - there is no Murphy award.

Engaged Rule:
Hiding in a corner and waiting for the field to dwindle down is not an option, get out there and fight.  This will be a three strike system to determine when you are disqualified.  Every turn you are deemed not "Engaged" you will get a strike.  Every turn you are "Engaged" you will not get a strike, and some engaged actions will remove strikes that you have earned.  Strikes are assigned at the end of every game turn.  If you get three strikes your surrender flare automatically fires and you are out of the match.  Any disqualification due to the three strikes removes you from consideration for any Arena Prizes (Murphy's Reward or Contest Winners prizes).  Also if you receive your 3rd strike, you will take the penalties for surrendering (See the Surrender rules)  Double these penalties if you are a member of a Clan Faction or are a member of a Stable that prohibits surrendering.

To be "Engaged" you must do one of the following during the turn

• Attempt to Move closer to an active enemy mech. You do not have to make a move that will force you  to take a piloting check. (If all the remaining mechs are in the position where they must make make a piloting check to move then ALL the remaining mechs must move or the one's that do not move receive a strike)
• Fire any weapon at an enemy, or be shot at. **Remove a strike**
• Attempt a close combat attack, or be the target of one.  **Remove all strikes**
• Unconscious warriors do not accumulate strikes.
• Move toward an unclaimed "Terrain Coin"...running around trying to collect the treasure flares is a valid tactic.
• Mechs missing a leg are always considered Engaged.  **Remove all strikes**     

• There are circumstances where a majority vote of the players can overrule this Disqualification.  If the majority of the players that were part of that battle feel the last strike should not be issued, the strike is not issued, and the mech remains in play.

 Contest Winner Awards:          
 For Games of  10+ players, there is a reward for the last 3 players on the table.

1. The 3rd mech left standing will receive random mech one class lighter than the heaviest mech in the battle.  They can choose to take the roll from the lowest possible chart on their factions random mech assignment tables or from the Arena's Faction "F" chart.  Clan players must take the roll from the Arenas Faction table if the heaviest mech in the battle is an Inner Sphere medium or lighter. They will also receive 1 Fame.
2. The 2nd mech left standing will receive a random mech the same weight class as the heaviest mech in the battle.  They can choose to take the roll from the lowest ranked chart on their factions random mech assignment tables or from the F column from the Arena's faction mech table.  Clan players may take the roll from the Arena's faction or from their clans second line mech table.  Remember Clan mechs are considered one weight class heavier, so the clan player must roll on the chart that is one weight class less than the heaviest. They will also receive 2 Fame.
3. The Last remaining mech and winner of the battle will receive a random mech the same weight class as the heaviest in the battle from the "A" column of their Faction or the Arena's faction mech random tables.  Clan players may take a roll on their Front line Light mech table, rather than the Free Worlds League. Winner in the Grand Melee receive 3 Fame for their Win.  

 In games with 5+ but less than 10...The final two players will receive the bonus mech reward.

1. The 2nd to last mech left standing will receive random mech one class lighter than the heaviest mech in the battle.  They can choose to take the roll from the lowest possible chart on their factions random mech assignment tables or from the Arena's Faction "F" chart.  Clan players must take the roll from the Arenas Faction table if the heaviest mech in the battle is an Inner Sphere medium or lighter. Receive 1 Fame.
2. The last mech left standing will receive a random mech the same weight class as the heaviest mech in the battle.  They can choose to take the roll from the lowest ranked chart on their factions random mech assignment tables or from the F column from the Arena's faction mech table.  Clan players may take the roll from the Arena's faction or from their clans second line mech table.  Remember Clan mechs are considered one weight class heavier, so the clan player must roll on the chart that is one weight class less than the heaviest.  Receive 2 Fame for the win.

In games of 4 mechs

• The last mech left standing will receive a random mech the same weight class as the heaviest mech in the battle.  They can choose to take the roll from the lowest ranked chart on their factions random mech assignment tables or from the F column from the Arena's faction mech table.  Clan players may take the roll from the Arena's faction or from their clans second line mech table.  Remember Clan mechs are considered one weight class heavier, so the clan player must roll on the chart that is one weight class less than the heaviest. Receive 1 Fame for the Win.

In games of 3 or 2 mechs there are no Contest winner awards.

• All of these rolls will use the tables found in back of the "Field Manuals - Update" book.
• If a mini for the rolled mech is not available the player may roll again.  They can take the chassis without the mini if they wish and we can proxy another mini for it.
• Arena Faction means the faction that owns the arena that the battle took place in.  For example the first night our battle will take place in "The Factory" which is the Free Worlds League (House Marik) arena, so the players can roll on their own faction tables or on the Free Worlds League tables for mech selection.
• Sometimes, Clan mechs are listed on inner sphere random lists and vice versa.  The Draconis Combine tables for example have the Ryoken clan mech, listed on the Medium "A" table.  Should a player roll a clan mech on when rolling on an inner sphere chart, they may keep the roll and the Clan mech.  However, should a Clan player rolling on the Clan chart roll and Inner Sphere mech, they may choose to re-roll if they wish.  Where the clan player has already moved down a weight class for the roll, it would be unfair to then stick them with an inner sphere chassis. 

Finally if there is more than one player eligible for an award, there will be a roll off to determine finishing position and who will get the award.  Meaning if the game is down to 4 players and 3 of them fall in the shooting phase.  The last remaining mech is the winner, and the other three must Roll 2d6 with the highest getting the 2nd place award, the next getting 3rd place, and the last getting nothing for 4th.

Arena Rules: The Factory (Marik)

The Factory
The Marik battlefield began its life as a shuttle manufacturing plant large enough to accommodate IndustrialMechs. The decrepit facility features multiple levels with elevators and ramps to move between them.



Specific Rules for The Factory are as follows.

Building Walls:
For the Solaris Olympiad Series, the building walls will be indestructible. You may not pass through building walls. Buildings are not destructible except for the two pressure tanks in the NW corner of the map.

Roof Holes:
These may be used to change jump through to go up or down levels.  You need Jump Jets to drop yourself through a hole.  No intentional falls.


Pressure Tanks:
There are two pressure tanks in the NW part of the map. They have a CF of 15. They are partially filled with a highly explosive gas. Should the CF of one of the tanks reach 0 it will explode. Any mech within 2" of an exploding tank will take 20 points of damage from the explosion (Don't forget the piloting check). Any mech more than 2" but less than 4" will take 10 points of damage. Damage is assigned in 5 point groups. An exploding tank will do 10 points of damage to the other tank (if it has yet to explode), potentially set of that tank as well if it has been already damaged.

Broken Silo:
Near the two pressure tanks in the NW part of the map is a Broke silo.  The Silo is 4 levels high.  The Roof may support 100 tons.  Anything over 100 tons will cause the roof to collapse dropping all mechs into the silo.  The walls of the silo will remain standing should the roof collapse.  The silo wall has been re-enforced and mechs may not pass through it.

Ramps:
There are two ramps on the board, one in the bigger building, one as part of the loading platform. These cost no extra movement to go up and down. Physical attacks by mechs standing on a ramp are considered at the same level. Should a mech fall on a ramp it will remain where it fell and not slide down the ramp.

Elevators:
There are 3 Elevators on the Factory Map. Two are located side by side in the large building, one in the smaller building. It is better to think of them as lifts as there are no doors or ceiling to them, just a floor. You may jump down an elevator shaft to the level the elevator is currently on. You may not move to the elevator pad if the elevator is currently a floor or more above you. You may not jump up through an elevator shaft if the elevator is currently above you.
Controlling an elevator may be done from the cockpit of a mech. You may only control 1 elevator per turn. The elevators move last after everyone else has moved.
The mech closest to an elevator after everyone has moved has control over that elevator.  They may command the elevator to go up or down 4 levels (1 floor of the buildings).  A mech standing on an elevator always has control of the pad he is standing on and may not control another. If two or more mechs are the same distance from an elevator, roll off to see who gets control that turn.  Measure to the where the elevator would be on the current level the mech is on to determine who is closer to the elevator.  Meaning if the mech is on the Roof, measure to where the elevator would be on the roof, even if the elevator is currently on the ground floor.

The Elevators all start on the ground floor at the beginning of any battle. 

The Bridge:
There is a bridge between the two main buildings.  For the purposes of this campaign the Bridge is indestructible and could hold 100 ton mechs along it's length without collapsing. The Bridge is 4 levels high above the arena floor.

Building Height:
Each "floor" of the main buildings are 4 Levels high.  The smaller of the two buildings is 8 levels high at the roof.  The walls around the roof of the larger building are one or two levels high, so to clear them and land on the roof from the arena floor you would need a jump of 5 or 6.  A jump of 4 can reach the roof if there is no intervening wall. 

Warehouses:
There are four warehouse buildings that I have added to the map.  Mainly to break up the line of sight in some areas to increase the number of potential starting positions.  These buildings are indestructible and may not be entered by mechs.  The Rounded warehouses may not be landed on by jumping mechs as they will just slide off the roof.  The Block warehouses are 3 levels high and may hold any number of mechs. 
 
Crates:
Some arenas will have some Crates that are movable and destructible.  These can be used as partial cover.  Crates have a CF of 5 and will take 5 points of damage before it is destroyed.

Crates are placed on the board before players choose their starting positions.  Crates are placed only on the storage platform for the Factory arena.  There is no set starting positions.  They may be stacked neatly, or they may be randomly spread about.

These crates may be moved from their original starting position.  Though bulky they only weigh 1 ton so they are easily moved. 

• Walking mechs may kick a crate or stack of crates out of the way.  The Crate remains intact and and just gets pushed out of the mechs path.  This does not require a piloting check or hinder movement in any way.  Just push the crate to one side or the other, moving units choice which side the crate is moved to.  You may not push the crate along in front of you.
• Running mechs attempts to run through crates or a stack of crates is a little more difficlut and might trip up a mech.  The running mech must make a piltoing check of fall over for each crate he runs through...the crate is destroyed if the pilot makes or fails the piloting check.  The debris left behind is scattered and not substantial enough to be considered rough or rubble.
• Jumping on Crates will destroy them, remove the crates and place the mech where the crates were.  The Mechwarrior will have to make a piloting check to land safely otherwise the mech falls just after he touched down for standard falling damage.
• Picking up crates is possible.  (Though I can't see why you would want to.)  You must be walking and have 2 working hand actuators.  It takes 1 MP to pick up a crate, it takes 1 MP to set down a crate intact.  You may Drop the crate for 0 MP, destroying it.  Just a standard piloting check will let you pick up the crate.  While carrying the crate...You may only use Walking movement, you man not fire any arm or front facing torso located weapons.  You do not have "Partial cover" carrying a crate, but any shot that hits one of your front torsos will hit the crate first.  Once the crate has taken 5 points of damage it is destroyed. 

I-Beam Scrap Pile:
An I-Beam scrap pile is just that, a pile of I-Beams were a battlemech can automatically find a re-usable Club.

The Club rules are in the Total Warfare Rulebook.  Normally you have to search a building, then roll to see if you find one.  But with these piles it is automatic.  All the other rules for picking up clubs and the use of Clubs we will follow right from the rulebook.  You may not keep you club for future events and must turn it in after the battle.

Mechwarrior Death

Ok Here are the NEW Rules for Mechwarrior Death.....Sort of a middle ground to keep everyone happy, and I think will be the best for the long run of the campaign.  The current way is too liberal, the reset to 0 to conservative.  

Think of the Solaris Olympiad as a larger series of 50+ contestants (kinda like Scotts suggestion).  We just happen to be running the guys that are the leaders of the contest.  When your guy dies, you will make up a new guy (that is considered one of the "other" constants) using the following...

• Subtract 5 from your Fame with a minimum of 0. (as it was the moment after you die, +all your fame for the battle up to that point, -2 for destroyed mech, -0.5 for being injured).  If you were at Negative Fame when you died, it is reset to 0.
• You lose all your skills, abilities, stables, sponsors and reserve mechs in your mech bay.  You are not refunded for those losses.
• Your CP is reset to 10 and  you get +2 for every battle we have had up to this point. So if your guy died in battle #3, you would get 16 CP for your new guy.
• You lose all your C-Bills resetting them to 0. You receive C-Bills equal to the average value of the all the Battlemechs in the last battle, (fallback mechs count as $0). 
• Any awards (Murphy or Contest awards) the dead mechwarrior would have received in the contest he died in are passed to the next placing mechwarrior (Murphy's bump up the list, Finishing fall back to the last mechwarrior eliminated).  

For the purposes of this campaign There are only a few ways for your mechwarrior to die.

• Taking the 6th pilot hit.
• Head destruction.
• Cockpit Critical.
• Ammo Explosion in a mech without CASE and the auto-eject turned off.
• Ammo Explosion in the Center Torso with CASE and the auto-eject is turned off. 
• The head floods when underwater and a structural check is failed. 
• Ejecting from your mech with a structure directly over your mech. (Ishiyama - tunnels, in a building, under a bridge...)  

For the campaign, if you safely eject from your mech, you will safely land clear of the arena and out of the combat area.


What to do if your mechwarrior dies

1. Lose your mech...you  no longer have it
2. Subtract 5 from your Fame (add in all fame earned upto and including the moment of the mechwarriors death. 
3. Set your CP to 0
4. Get 10CP +2 more CP for each battle we have had in the campaign so far.  Dieing in Battle #3 will get you 16 CP for your new character.
5. Remove any Skills, abilities, stables, sponsors or reserve mechs you might have had.
6. Set your C-Bills to $0.
7. Receive the Average C-Bill value of all mechs in the last battle (combine split battles).   
8. Pick your new faction.  (If you want to stay the same you can skip this step)
9. Create a new Name and Call sign for your new mechwarrior.
10. Wait for your turn during the Off Board Time to buy your new mech.

Rules: Booby Traps / C-Bill Awards / Crates / I-Beams

Some Arenas like to spice things up a little bit with some interactive obstacles and terrain. These may be Pop up turrets, hidden pits, moveable crates, Or something we will call a Treasure flare.
Here is where you will find the basic rules for these terrain pieces.

Terrain Coins:
First up we will be using the 2" terrain pieces to represent where these items (other than the crates) are located on the map. You can see a couple rows of these in the image below (Being used as straffing makers for an aerospace attack). We will call these "Terrain Coins" for lack of a better term.


The exact number of Terrain Coins is randomly determined prior to each match and depends upon the arena and number of constants. If there are 6 or fewer competitors then roll a d6, if there are more then 6 players then roll 2d6. These will be placed at least 12" from any starting position, and no closer than 4" from another terrain coin. The terrain coins should be placed before players pick their starting positions.

Terrain Coins are used in the following Arenas:

• Ishiyama: The Iron Mountian (Kurita) - Additional Rules on for see Ishiyama Arena rules page
• The Jungle (Liao)
• Boreal Reach "Devils Bath" (Davion)
• Hartford Gardens (Unaffiliated)
• King of the Mountian (Unafilliated)

Exactly what the "Terrain Coin" has will be randomly determined at the time it is stepped on by a mech, not all the results are bad. Jumping over a terrain coin will not activate it, you have to touch it for it to activate.  Each Arena will have a different d6 chart to use.  The chart for each arena is made up from the items on the list below with the treasure flares taking the 5 and 6 slots on each chart.  The exact chart for each arena can be found on that specific Arena Rules page (Still need to write those)

• Minefield - 7 Point Minefield, remains in play,  May be removed using Minefield removal rules.  Activating mech may continue it's movement.
• Minefield - 10 Point Minefield, remains in play,  May be removed using Minefield removal rules.  Activating mech may continue it's movement.
• Quicksand! - 1 Level Deep. Cost 4MP to move through.  Requires a +3 piloting check to move through, failure indicates the mech is stuck and ends it's move.  Stuck mechs may attempt to get out the next movement phase at a +4 Piloting check (as they have settled deeper in the quicksand).
• Hidden Pit! - The mech falls into a 2 level deep hidden pit, taking falling damage from a 2 level fall.  The activating mech may use any remaining movement to attempt to stand and climb out of the pit and continue their movement. 
• Medium Laser pop up turret. A turret pops up touching an edge of the terrain coin, and remove the coin. If possible it will be placed in the front arc of the activating mech. If the front is not possible then either of the side, then finally the rear arc. Once placed the activating mech may continue their movement phase. The Turret has Gunnery skill of 5 and is considered an immobile target. The Turret can take 8 points of damage before deactivating.  There is no CP, C-Bill or Fame awarded for taking out a turret.  As the turret is considered an enemy unit you may not move through the turret and must move around it.  The Turret will shoot in the firing phase at the closest target.
• One Shot SRM4 pop up turret.  A turret pops up touching an edge of the terrain coin and remove the coin. If possible it will be placed in the front arc of the activating mech. If the front is not possible then either of the side, then finally the rear arc. Once placed the activating mech may continue their movement phase.  The Turret has Gunnery skill of 5 and is considered an immobile target. The Turret can take 8 points of damage before deactivating.  There is no CP, C-Bill or Fame awarded for taking out a turret.  As the turret is considered an enemy unit you may not move through the turret and must move around it.  The Turret will shoot in the firing phase at the closest target.  Once the turret has fired you may remove it from play.
• Nothing. Open space.  Remove the coin. The activating mech may continue it's movement.
• Lesser Treasure Flare.  Remove the coin. The activating mech is awarded 50,000 C-Bills.  The activating mech may continue it's movement.
• Greater Treasure Flare.   Remove the coin. The activating mech is awarded 100,000 C-Bills and may roll the Die again.  If the result of the new roll is a 6 the Mech gets another 100,000 C-Bills.  The player keeps rolling getting another 100,000 C-Bills for every 6 that is rolled, but stopping when the first non-6 result is rolled.  The activating mech may continue it's movement.

Crates:
Some arenas will have some Crates that are moveable and destructible.  These can be used as partial cover.  Crates have a CF of 5 and will take 5 points of damage before it is destroyed.

Crates are used in the following arenas.

• The Factory (Marik)
• The Scrapyard (Unaffiliated)

Crates are placed on the board before players choose their starting positions.  Details on where the crates should be place are located on the Specific Arena rules page.

These crates may be moved from their original starting position.  Though bulky they only weigh 1 ton so they are easily moved. 

• Walking mechs may kick a crate or stack of crates out of the way of a walking mech.  This does not require a piloting check or hinder movement in any way.  Just push the crate to one side or the other, moving units choice which side the crate is moved to.  You may not push the crate along in front of you.
• Running mechs will blow right through the crate destroying it.  You must make a piloting check for each crate you wish to run through in this manner.  It does not cost you any movement to blow through the crate, you just have a chance to fall over.  Remove any crate from play that when the mech attempts to run through...the crate is destroyed if the pilot makes or fails the piloting check.  The debris left behind is scattered and not substantial enough to be considered rough or rubble.
• Picking up crates is possible.  (Though I can't see why you would want to.)  You must be walking and have 2 working hand actuators.  It takes 1 MP to pick up a crate, it takes 1 MP to set down a crate intact.  You may Drop the crate for 0 MP, destroying it.  Just a standard piloting check will let you pick up the crate.  While carrying the crate...You may only use Walking movement, you man not fire any arm or front facing torso located weapons.  You do not have "Partial cover" carrying a crate, but any shot that hits one of your front torsos will hit the crate first.  Once the crate has taken 5 points of damage it is destroyed. 

I-Beam Scrap Pile:
An I-Beam scrap pile is just that, a pile of I-Beams were a battlemech can automatically find a re-usable Club.

I-Beam are used in the following arenas.

• The Factory (Marik)
• The Scrapyard (Unaffiliated)

The Club rules are in the Total Warfare Rulebook.  Normally you have to search a building, then roll to see if you find one.  But with these piles it is automatic.  All the other rules for picking up clubs and the use of Clubs we will follow right from the rulebook.  You may not keep you club for future events and must turn it in after the battle.

Update, Odds and Ends, Random rules.

Getting closer to the launch of this campaign and I have had a couple of things to share.  I've ether mentioned these before and they got lost in the shuffle or this is the first time you are hearing them.

1) All of the Stables and Sponsors are now on the blog.  The Sponsors are in a link on the top of the page.  The Stables are also listed on the top so you can compare them, but the detailed links are to the right.  Each Stable has it's own entry.  Not all the details / benefits of each Stable are listed in the link up top, you will have to check the link to the specific Sponsors for all the abilities the sponsor offers.          

2) Mechwarrior Deaths.  It will happen.  If your mechwarrior dies, you may restart just as a new mechwarrior.  You do not have to take the same faction.  The down side is your Fame will be at 0.  Your mech goes to the mechwarrior that fired the killing shot.  This is the only way a mech may be salvaged from an opponent.  Their is a down side though...You get -10 Fame for firing the killing shot.  Which is why you see some of the better stables offering abilities to avoid head shots.  Remember Fame is what will determine the overall winner of this Campaign.


3) Selling mechs to the market or to other players.  Yes you may do it (At a profit to other players even).  There are some restrictions. 

• Clan Mechwarriors (other than Clan Diamond Shark) will not sell Clan tech to anyone...even other clanners.  Clan Diamond Shark are salesman first and foremost...mechwarriors second, so they are fine with spreading their Technology.  See the 75% rule below.
• Some Sponsors offer 50% discount on mechs, these are known as "Sponsor Mechs" and may not be sold to other players.  When you sell a Sponsor Mechs back to the marketplace you get your purchase price in return.
• The lowest price you can charge a player for a fully repaired mech is 75% of the base price of the mech.  You may charge any price you wish to another player for an Arena damaged battlemech, leaving them new owner to pay for the repairs. 
• The Market will buy back a mech at 75% of  base price.  This is unless you were able to purchase the mech at less than a 25% discount.  If your purchase price was under 75%, then the market will offer you your purchase price.  (This is to prevent an infinite money making loop).

4) Bounties and Side Betting.  Yes you may place a bounty on another players mech if you wish.  This can be for a certain match or an ongoing bounty until you remove it.  You may not drop a bounty during a battle, but you may offer one up.  Bounties are for the elimination of a mech not for the killing of the mechwarrior.  You may offer up a killing bounty on the mechwarrior, but your mechwarrior will take a -20 Fame hit.  You may make side bets with another player if you wish.  First to drop an enemy, Who lasts the longest, First to score a hit with a physical attack, etc.

5) Comms.  Each mech has a public broadcast ability, and the frequencies of all the other mechs in the battle.  If you wish to send a private message to one of the other mechs, just write them a note or step off to the side where no one can hear you.

6) I'm up to 5 Arenas that are mostly ready to go.  The Factory (Marik), The Jungle (Liao), Ishiyama - Tunnels (Kurita), Hartford Gardens (Unaffiliated), and Boreal Reach (Davion).  The Davion Arena in the Box set and the map pack was originally a field of Icy wasteland.  The fiction about Boreal Reaches is that it is the most impressive holographic system in the inner sphere capable of creating nearly any environment.for the mechs to do battle in.  Rather than doing up an Icy piece of terrain, I'll be "Adjusting the Holomatrix" and Boreal Reach will be using the Rocky Pillar terrain that I already have made up.  You should remember it from the Nova Cat Battle in the last campaign, Scott and I fought on it.  I'm planning on doing up the Steiner arena as well (with the raising and lowering walls), but I'm not sure it will be ready for the start of the campaign.  Each of these maps will  be on a 6' x 4' table...though I have enough Slate now to make the Kurita one on the 8' x 6' table.  I got the first coat of paint on the Factory and it is mostly set up for you to see at our Final Operation Bulldog game.

That' s all for now...

    

Proxy Mini rules.

Alright, I'm kind of a stickler for having the correct mini to represent the correct mech.  Which is probably why I have so many of the little things.  So when it comes time for your mech warrior to purchase a mech consider this...

The Mini must be painted (Not just primed) and on a hex-shaped base to be used.

If the correct mini is not available you must pay an extra 25% of the purchase price of the mech to use another mini as a proxy.

Now what about variants?  Are we playing What you see is what you get?  No, The correct mini for the Chassis is fine.  So if you want to take the Hunchback with the 8 Medium lasers, the regular Hunchback mini is fine.

Omni weapon loadouts?  Those are fine.  If you have a Mad Cat mini, it can represent any available omni Configuration.

What about the IIC's?  To use a IIC mech you must have the IIC mini. (Have following IIC minis: Marauder, Warhammer, Highlander, Shadow Hawk, Phoenix Hawk, Jenner, Griffin)


What about the Clanner "C" version of an Inner Sphere mech where they just stripped out the guts and put in Clan tech?  Those may use the Inner Sphere mini as they are mostly just a variant of the chassis.  (Firefly C, Shogun C, Annihilator C, ImpC, etc...)

Couple of special exceptions....
Marauder and Marauder II mini's may be used to represent either chassis.  I only have the Unseen and Battledroid versions.  The Battledriod one is supposed to be only 75 tons and it is one of the largest mini's on my shelf.  The two unseen are only different due to "wings" on the II version, and those wings don't weigh 25 tons...so the minis are interchangeable.  However I do have a Marauder IIC and that must be used only as a Marauder IIC.

Wolfhound and Wolfhound IIC...I have one of each of these minis.  They can both may be used to represent the Wolfhound chassis as the artwork through the books and the labeling on the packaging is inconstant.  Put them both up on the Battletech forums and you will get a 5 page long argument as to which chassis represents which model.  So they are both may be used to represent the Wolfhound.  (the IIC was a unique mech driven by one of the Wolf Khans and not available to any player)

Now I would hope that those of you with painted Battletech Mini's would be willing to share them with everyone.  Heck bring them all, you might have a couple of chassis that I don't.  That will make for a more interesting campaign.  I've asked Josh to borrow his mech collection for the campaign.  He has about 20 minis, I'm guessing half a dozen that I don't own.  You will always get priority to use your own mini over another player (unless your name is Rob).