As you may have noticed, the poll will be given to BMs. I'm interested directly in seeing some player feedback considering my local BM doesn't really reflect my opinions too well and I'm sure that goes for some of you also. Just qoute this post and fill out the form.

PLEASE KEEP THE THREAD ON TOPIC. DON'T POST UNLESS YOU ARE POSTING A REPORT AND DON'T COMMENT ON OTHERS COMMENTS--THERE ARE PLENTY OF THREADS FOR THAT. THANKS. (Free snacks for everyone who follows the rules!)

Use (N/A) if you feel the rule had absolutely no impact, not even on army selection.

--------------------


1) On average, how many turns did each player get?


2) Overall, how well did the game play with the new rules?
AWFUL BAD OKAY GOOD AWESOME (N/A)

3) How well did the formation capture rule play?
AWFUL BAD OKAY GOOD AWESOME (N/A)

4) How well did the 'Mech "shake-off" damage rule play?
AWFUL BAD OKAY GOOD AWESOME (N/A)

5) How well did the new 'Mech speed mode rule play?
AWFUL BAD OKAY GOOD AWESOME (N/A)

6) How well did the new artillery rule play?
AWFUL BAD OKAY GOOD AWESOME (N/A)

7) How well did the new army build total rule play?
AWFUL BAD OKAY GOOD AWESOME (N/A)

COMMENTARY:

------------------------


1) On average, how many turns did each player get?
8

2) Overall, how well did the game play with the new rules?
GOOD

3) How well did the formation capture rule play?
(N/A)

4) How well did the 'Mech "shake-off" damage rule play?
OKAY

5) How well did the new 'Mech speed mode rule play?
(N/A)

6) How well did the new artillery rule play?
AWESOME

7) How well did the new army build total rule play?
GOOD

COMMENTARY:
Both players played combined arms armies so it wasn't a good test of whether current Power Pieces still dominate. I liked the new build total--it really offered the ability to take a bit of everything rather than making the tough choice to leave something useful completely out. The artillery change worked well--they felt like they helped rather than dominated and during selection power/point-cost are better matched. 3 orders for that much stuff worked okay--it moved along and you couldn't dish 10 points on something in a single turn the way you sometimes can with 5 orders. The shake-off occurred several times, but I'm not sold on the current rule--it really will need a lot more testing to see if it's too exploitable. The capture and movement rules never came into play and, honestly, I don't see what they add.

------------------------

1) On average, how many turns did each player get?

8 to 10

2) Overall, how well did the game play with the new rules?

GOOD

3) How well did the formation capture rule play?

(N/A) - didn't come up

4) How well did the 'Mech "shake-off" damage rule play?

GOOD

5) How well did the new 'Mech speed mode rule play?

(N/A) - didn't really come up

6) How well did the new artillery rule play?

GOOD

7) How well did the new army build total rule play?

AWESOME

COMMENTARY:

AtlasKiller and I did a couple of test matches Friday afternoon using the new rules. For the most part, I'm impressed.

For the first match, I (at AtlasKiller's suggestion) built an army "the old way" -- artillery, VTOLs, etc. -- just using the new 450 point value, and not really building as if the new rules existed (though we would apply them during the match). He would build an army "the new way", keeping the new rules in mind from the beginning.

I used Arnis, a BR Sprint, a BR Fa Shih, Kenneth, a SS J-37, a SS Balac, a DF Donar, Tamara's Raiders, and 2 DF Peasants. He used Dmitri (the warhammer), a LI Shun, Fa Shih, and Salamander, a LI Towed AA and Zahn, and 3 LI cycles (at least, I *think* I got that right. It was almost 36 hours ago).

We found that artillery is still powerful, but not nearly as overpowering. Also the shake-off damage, while not balance-shifting in its own right, DOES make a difference. Since I got to be player one, I infiltrated the Sprint, dropped off the Fa Shih, jumped it into BC with Dmitri, and dropped Kenneth's arty on Dmitri and the Shun. Before the arty had a chance to land, Dmitri broke (even against the Grapple) and the minigun cycles closed in on the poor BR Fa Shih. In the end I had the game, but that was more because of a lucky charge of Arnis vs. Dmitri. Because of the few orders (relatively) vs. the way my "old way" force was built, both VTOLs ended up sitting in my deployment zone all but one turn...the turn the Balac moved forward to finish off the Shun.

For the 2nd match, I used Jeni and Chin Wolf, the SW Padilla and J-37, a SS SRM Team, DF Peasant and HL Peasant (like I said, I *think* that's the build. I toyed around with a lot of various permutations). AtlasKiller used RoS Yuri, RoS Marcel, RoS Balac, and 3 RoS infantry (Guile Suit, BA, Infiltrator...I *think*). He won that one (VC1 & 3, I got VC2). Partly this was because Yuri moved up & based Jeni early, and with an 8 starting Attack vs. Yuri's 23, I missed, but on the next turn Yuri didn't...right past Jeni's sweet spot, and a fast downhill slide from there. I *did* manage to Salvage Yuri (Padilla artillery, Padilla direct fire, shot from SRM Team, pushed shot from SRM Team...oh, and I think Jeni *did* manage one small-damage hit before getting destroyed). Chin & Marcel danced back and forth, both taking some damage, but with Marcel having the upper hand (playing base-n-break with his infantry) and the Balac shooting up the Padilla (the J-37 fell to Yuri after trying and failing a ram when the Padilla had been salvaged and it really had nothing else to do).

Conclusions:

1) Artillery is still powerful, but no longer potentially game-breaking. Even the non-AP artillery is good against low-or-no-armor targets (most infantry, a surprising number of non-Highlander mechs). Overall I like this one.

2) The shake-off damage is not game-changing in itself, but it does make basing a mech much more of a "well, this is a sacrifice move to save unit xxxx" than it was before. Overall I like this one.

3) The higher point value builds and fewer orders definitely favors bringing in high-point units...like mechs! Now it's not necessarily near-suicide to bring a mech of 150+ points (or even two of them!!) into the game in your forces. Forces that relied on swarms of VTOLs and/or several artillery pieces (like my first build) will find many of their units just sitting there round after round because of a lack of sufficient orders to go around. Overall I like this one.

4) The mechs moving through infantry bases during a move order instead of having to detour around them didn't really come into play. No opinion.

Observations:

a) Cheap units with command that can perform another useful function as well (Tamar's Raiders, BR Sprint) and mechs with command (a LOT of the RoS mechs) will make much more frequent appearances now. In the one-order-per-150-points environment, these double-duty units may well be pure gold.

b) Liao Awe just became even more potent, because losing an order now (especially if you've not adapted and are running a high number of units/formations) becomes much more serious.

c) VTOLs are *still* very potent, especially when your opponent has them and you don't.

d) Since we'll be seeing more mechs, and many of them the higher-point ones, finding units with AP becomes a *priority*. For my second build one reason I chose those two mechs is that both had potent AP at a good range for only 171 & 173 points. A real bargain except for having to carefully build up to your sweet spot...something that you may not have the luxury to do if the other guy is running a large-point mech that STARTS with a high defense and armor...

e) High-point mechs are STILL at a considerable handicap vs. charging, especially against mechs like Arnis. (That pretty much gave me the game when Arnis successfully charged Dmitri.)

All in all, I heartily approve. A bunch of us are planning on doing more extensive testing on Sunday, but I expect my opinions will remain pretty much the same...overall positive.