Me and my friend and I really enjoy the fluff side of the game and love the detailed military structure of both the clans and the inner sphere. In fact we have even staged a correct amount of mechs, tanks and infantry to play a Company (IS) on Binary (Clan) match. Anyway to my scenerio or rules would be a better way to put it. I was thinking today of how much me and my friend play mech on mech matches with full stars and lances and It's never really what I expect or would like and it got me thinking that the current rules aren't very good at accomodating mech only games. They work fine for a standard game but when it's only mechs it's not as good. I'll admitt I've never read the Solaris rules but from wht I've heard this is a bit like them. So I came up with a set of rules for mech only Lances and Stars Matches. They are long so I figured I'd warn you now. So here they are:

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Lance and Star Rules

Bellow are the rules for Lances and Stars. Each Lance/Star type has an appropriate point value. The point value for each is staggered to accurately represent size, capability and skill of each type. How you pair them up and how many you use in one game is completely up to you.

Lance Point Values

Factions: Bannson’s Raiders, Dragon’s Fury, Highlanders, Liao, Republic, Storm Hammers, Sword Sworn.

Command Lance: 1200 points
Assault Lance: 1000 points
Heavy Lance: 800 points
Medium Lance: 600 points
Light Lance: 500 points
Scout Lance: 400 points

Star Point Values

Factions: Spirit Cats, Steel Wolves, Jade Falcons (coming soon)

Command Star: 1200 points
Assault Star: 1000 points
Heavy Star: 800 points
Medium Star: 600 points
Light Star: 500 points

Standard Rules

Orders

The following are all of the moves a mech can take during any given turn. In brackets beside each move/attack is a number indicating how many orders it takes to make. Also remember that no one mech can take more than three moves in one turn. The total amounts of orders each lance receives is 10 and each star receives 12 orders. (Also Command Lances receive 12 orders and Command Stars 14 orders. If you play a game large enough to allow more then one lance or star then Command Lances and Stars add one order to each other lance or star in your army.

Movement (1): A mech may move up to its full movement without further penalty. If the mech chooses to use Jump Jet special equipment during his move then the mech takes one 1 click of heat.

Ranged Combat (1): A mech may make a ranged combat order at any time during his turn. Resolve the order as you would in a standard game of mechwarrior. Apply one click of heat to use this attack.

Close Combat (1): A mech may make a close combat order as long as he is in base contact with an enemy mech. A mech takes no heat is this move is performed as his first order but receives a click of heat for ever close combat he makes for his second or third order. If the mech has been knocked to the ground (explained later) it does not take a click of heat on the second order but only the third order.

Charge (2): A mech may make a charge attack at any time during his turn. The mech may move twice his normal speed. If a mech chooses to charge then the target mech is allowed to make a ranged combat order on the charging mech before the charge role is resolved if he is able. If the target mech chooses to make the ranged combat order then add a -2 modifier to the mech’s attack when resolving the attack. After the ranged combat order has been resolved role to resolve the charge attach using the charging mech’s current stats and not that the stats that were present when he declared the charge order. If the charge is successful then deal damage equal to the unit’s primary damage plus 2. This attack does not ignore armor. The charging mech takes damage equal to half of the total damage dealt to the opposing mech.

Death From Above (1): A mech may make a death from above at any time during his turn. If the mech makes a death from above then take 1 click of heat for use of the Jump Jets and resolve the order adding a 2+ modifier to the target mech’s defense. If the attack is successful then deal damage equal to the mech’s primary damage plus an extra three clicks of damage. This attack does not ignore armor. If the mech fails to hit the target then role a dice. The mech takes damage equal to half of the role, rounded up, to a minimum of one.

Venting (1): If a player wishes a mech may vent. This can only be done once a turn per mech.

Artillery Attack (2): On the rare occasion mechs are equipped with artillery cannons and can use them as cover fire at long distances. If a mech chooses to make an artillery attack then it must take one click of heat to place the token any were between the attack’s maximum range and artillery range. Once the token is laid any opposing enemy mechs in range of the token may choose to move only once at their regular movement value away from the token. If they choose to move they must take one click of heat for pushing their mech to hard, ensuring their escape.

Initiative

When everything is set up and after terrain is placed and mechs deployed players then role for initiative. Each player roles three dice and the winner goes first. After each player has had a turn then repeat the cycle every turn. In this manner it is possible for a player to go first twice or even three times in a row eliminating the guaranteed first shot and making a player think twice before moving and spending actions.



Combat Rules

Dice Roles

During the game a number of things can occur to different mechs throughout the battle. These are represented through dice roles when trying to hit a target. The special roles are as follows. (Also remember that the standard critical hit and misfires still apply when resolving attacks)

Structural Damage: If all three dice rolled are sixes when resolving a ranged or close combat attack then the target has suffered extreme structural damage and the attacking mech adds an extra two clicks of damage onto its damage caused.

Heat Sink Hit: If all three dice rolled are fives when resolving a ranged or close combat attack and the attack manages to hit then the target has been hit in a heat sink and as a result takes an extra click of heat. If the mech has already taken a click of heat from an energy attack then it still adds the extra click of heat.

Knocked Down: If all three dice rolled are fours when resolving a ranged or close combat attack and if the attack manages to hit then the target mech has been knocked to the ground. He takes no additional damage but the opposing player loses one order on his next turn to represent that mech having to stand back up.

Retaliation

When a mech chooses to make a ranged combat order then the target of the attack has the opportunity to retaliate as long as he is also in range. If the target chooses to retaliate then he also takes a click of heat as does the firer. If the target chose to retaliate then before resolving the attack the attacker roles three dice and the target roles two. The mech with the higher role then makes a ranged combat order on the opposing mech as per standard Mechwarrior Dark Age rules. If the dice role is a tie then both mechs are allowed to make a ranged combat attack at each other with the original attacker resolving first. (Note that a shut down or salvaged mech can not defend its self in ranged combat an therefore does not have the option to retaliate)

Firing Formations

Firing formations occur when more than one mech fire at one single enemy mech. A firing formation takes up three orders when two mechs are involved and one more order for every other mech included in the formation. To make a firing formation you must have at least two mechs within twelve inches of each other. All mechs in the formation must be in range of the target as well. First choose your primary firer, whose attack and damage will be used. Then for each mech adding to the formation add a 2+ modifier to the primary firer’s attack. If the attack is successful deal damage equal to the either primary firer’s primary attack or secondary attack plus an extra 1 click of damage from each mech involved in the formation.
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That's it for the rules. Now I did play test them once and changed a couple things already before I posted this but I'll still ask what you think and if there is anything that should be tweeked a bit or changed. Thanks for any imput.

A lance is 4 Mechs.

A star is 5.

also, clan mechs can only participate in one on one battles.

Add those restrictions to your point totals and you've got an idea.

LS

These are not true clans, only JF when it comes has to follow that

Jade Falcon only does honorable combat versus other clans

does that mean they fight dirty against everyone else?

So much for honor. lol.

Clans know that thier IS opponents will not fight them one on one. Why grant your opponent the Honor to face you one on one when they are going to gang up on you?

You're right, of course, that's why police shoot criminals first and then read them their rights, ask questions, and give them a chance to surrender. Honor is not something you turn on and off, it is an ideal, a concept. You either have it or you don't. These "exceptions" mentioned are what's commonly known as "stooping to their level" and it means that everyone has sunk to the lowest common denominator. You can't do it and then claim you didn't. You can't possibly, in the real world or any other, stab someone in the back in front of their friend, then tell the friend that they have honor so you won't do it to them. Who do you think that fools? :)

I appreciate the time and effort you put into this pumakilla, but with all the variants out there, it's easier to pick one that's already in use and go with it. Don't get me wrong, I like it a lot except for one thing and that's the way you divvy out orders. I could field OEJ (or any fatty) and three industrials to make a "Scout Lance" and just give all the orders to OEJ (or any fatty). I believe that having some kind of limit to the number of orders a unit can receive would be a good thing.

we had a lance battle this week at our venue and just used the regular rules. It was a team game (2 per team) and they seemed to work pretty good.