Main concepts
-delayed damage
-move and shoot

Each player has different type of tokens.


500 pt army, 7 orders.


All mechs with no tokens vent automatically.
Remove 1 token from all units.

Player 1 moves his units.

Player 2 moves his units.

Player 1 attacks with his units.

Player 2 attacks with his units.

Player 2 moves his units

Player 1 moves his units

Player 2 attacks with his units

Player 1 attacks with his units.

Remove all damage counters from units, add damage appropriately.

Repeat cycle.

Every attack or movement order uses up an order from the players pool. A token is placed on each unit that recieves an order. A unit with two tokens cannot recieve another order.

When a unit attacks, roll 4 d4 dice. Add this roll to the attack value plus the damage of the weapon used. Subtract from this the defense value of the target, the remainder is the damage delt, up to a maximum of the damage listed.

Madcat II has 11 attack, 4 damage energy. An average roll with 4 d4 is 10. 11 + 4 + 10 is 25. If the defense of the target was 23, the attack would do 2 damage. If the defense of the target was 21 or less, the attack would do 4 damage.

Once the attack has been rolled, the attacker has the option of heating the mech. Each click of heat gives the attack roll a +1. Ignore the heat effects for that attack.

When damage is dealt, resolve SE abilities and place the remaining damage as tokens next to the target. Heat effects from energy weapons are instant, and are delt with when the attack occures.


The idea is to bring move and shoot to the game, while reduce the advantages of having the better initiative roll. Pushing is removed from the game, however the new damage system means minor damage in amounts of 1, 2 or 3 would be more common allowing steel wolves to still hit their sweet spot frequently.

The major change is to remove cowardlyness from the game. Newbie players often rush into the battlefield and are prompty decimated by the players who turtle more often. Turtling would still be a major problem were it not for artillery, the effect however is that artillery become the focus of the game rather then combined forces.

I should add that the order is

vent all mechs with no tokens
remove 1 token from all units
Player 1 moves
Player 2 moves
Player 1 attacks
Player 2 attacks
Resolve damage counters

And then roles are switched, and the cycle repeated.

Helicopters would no longer be able to exchance movement points to be able to move and shoot, however their long movement distance would still be a valuable trait. Perhaps a small bonus like allowing elevation change for no movement cost would help keep them balanced.

Would games take long with this change?

While the new attack rules means more small points of damage delt, because the game would no longer reward turtling and instead rewards tactics and aggressiveness I would believe games to occure at the same speed if not faster. Turns may go faster because the sequence of orders has less effect.

In a normal game a player can damage a target with a mech, and then use his next two orders to continue damaging the weakeed target. With the delayed damage how you sequence your orders has no effect, and your either only concerned with movement or only concerned with attacking.

Another minor change would be for the SE command. Roll 1 d4 before the movement phase, on a roll of 3 or 4 gain an extra order.