This post is about the new rules coming out with the mechs being able to move and shoot. Now this is a way to make the mechs come back but it makes the artillery even more powerful with their new rules. Now things like transports and tank drops are now no good. They will be shoot down before they can reach the mech. Also vtols are not going to be so good now because mechs are just like a really big vtol. This game will go back to its roots with the mechs being the most wanted piece but the other figures will not be as good anymore. This is what wizkids wants. Mechs will be all powerful and destroy everything else. So my opinion for this is bad because I am a tank dropper its in my blood. Please tell me your opinion Though it may not be right(just kidding) to this new rule change when the new set comes out. Also I will like to apologias to anyone I have made a bad commit about it was me jumping to conclusions again (this isn't the first time) I'm a kid who I will say who's bark is worse then he's bite for now. Thank you.

I think the new rules will be a good change for the game. Yes, the mechs look like they will become more powerful, but, if you remember the orginal battletech universe, mechs ruled the battlefield and everything else was just support. Tank drop still works but you'll have to use blocking terrain to cover your approach and then drop out from around the corner. It just takes a little more planning (personally I love the 125pt DF Schmitt/DF Maxim combo). VTOLls will probably be the same way. Advance under cover and then pop up, shoot, and drop down which is something mechs cannot do since they still need line of sight around blocking terrain. At the US Nationals, the winning army was nothing but VTOLs, infantry, and command units and very few mechs were played because they were too weak against "cheese" armies like this. These kind of armies are pathetic in their lack of imagination and with the new rules I think it will balance things out again so that a more balanced battleforce can be played.

I am sooo confused....

Where is the lack of imagination....

why is it okay for you to play vtols and tank drop and then yell against cheese? So I guess you'll stop playing what you "love" because it's cheesy and unimaginative right? Why don't you go ahead and stop playing them now?

aww man.. now I sound like a brurcs...

sorry I just find it funny that.. putting in the
"king of the battlefield" and some other pieces is considered imaginative while playing something that you don't consider "fair" is unimaginative.

I think its funny that this "king of the battlefield" label that is put on mechs is just another way of saying abusive. I guess its different when the people who complain about the way the game is going finally get what they want. If thats the case, then its not cheese, its just an appropriate correction. These rules and units WILL BE BROKEN. You will see a lot of 2 mech armies or a lot of 1 great mech and a lot of artillery. Gaurantee it.

Tank drops will lose effectiveness? Good. In the battletech universe, there isn't a transport that can actually carry another vehicle anyway. (no, 3-cap transports don't exist). j-27 carries 11 tons, maxim carries at most 12 tons. Behemoth tanks weigh 100tons. Do the math.

It's unfortunate that artillery will be re-broken, but yay for mechs. It is "mechwarrior" after all....

In CBT mechs are kings if battlefield, cap 3 transports don't exist, infantry is slow(exept BAs) and VTOLs are fragile. WK is just doing what should have done long time ago, bringing mechs back to the top. Its funny to see cheese player whining about overpoweful mechs and how when artillery, tankdrop and VTOLs were overpowered. Lets face it, this game is getting better than it was before.

My roommate and I played a game with a set of rules that were as near as we could assemble to the new AoD rules. For the most part the rules were great....except for mech move and shoot. Mech move and shoot makes it so people stand off more because they are afraid of getting shot first. They also make it so maneuverable mechs with low defenses are nearly worthless. Sure, I can run into your back arc...but you'd just turn around and shoot me in one turn. I think you'll see assault mechs dominating everything and most other mechs (read fast mechs with low defense) will be basically worthless. The DF paradigm (fast with low defense) is going to have a hard time in the Age of Destruction.

once again the "fattys" will come out to play and most likely from what i`m seeing will dominate the field. but agreeing with skyflare you will have to work more carefully to bring in your tank drops, personally I fancy tank drops and it will make it more challenging for me :) also agreeing with czech that people will hesitate bringing out there armies. thus allowing them to sit back and fire art all over the field.

Huh? and what about fast mechs with good ranges? Notice that they will get the first shot off most of the time against most targets, and when playing multiple units, you can get multiple shots off on the biggies of the world.

Fast mechs with low Defenses (unless they had agility) have ALWAYS been screwed vs big mechs, no difference there.

@ Czech
You point out out a complaint that has been around for some time now- First Strike. Plenty has been said about how the units degrade in ability so quickly, and that the first shot that lands can usually dictate how the rest of the game will go.

The game could have used a 'turn' in the order of play that reflected damage being dealt at the same time. (This assumes both units had the chance to fire, based on range, defense, etc.)

First Strike is just too important in the game right now. Will it be in AoD? I don't know.

Keep in mind that the biggest abusers of first strike (e.g. the maxim/Schmitt combo) will not be available in tournament play anymore due to retirement.

The only cap 3 transports will be Zahns and garrots. And I haven't seen many garrot / schmitt drops.

Merc Zahn/SH Behemoth II with the SH faction uber- IT ability will be as dangerous. And I'm not the first to point it out.

Here's a scenario for you:
So Chuck Oles (probably one of the fastest most ranged mech in the game) moves and shoots from 19" out. He has to roll a 14 to hit the assault mech with a 23 defense and hardened armor. Oh, and if he hits (which isn't likely since it only happens 17% of the time), he does 1 damage and 1 heat!!!! WoW! The opposing mech still has a 23 defense and hardened armor! Same as he did before! Now the assault mech, who we will assume has a reasonable 14" range and a 10 attack, returns fire. Assuming he didn't push his heat up (like a lot of assault mech players that consistently lose) he shoots back and doesn't even have to move. He needs to roll a 10 to do 4 or 5 clicks of damage to Chuck Oles....*CRUNCH!* Oles has the option to retreat to a salvage mech and try to repair, but a lot of light mechs don't have that luxury.

On the contrary, I used destroy assault mech armies using A. Kirasawa and the DF Uller (or Shin Wolf). How did I do that? Well, if the assault mech really wants to charge my Uller, he'll be heated up so much and damaged enough that my remaining units can take him down. If not, I can always maneuver out of his arc or linger just outside his range so he can't shoot me (Geoff Bekker being an exception to the rule). The end result is that I destroy the rest of his army around him and he never gets a shot in edgewise. Now the assault mech can be 10" out from his drop zone in a water terraine and if I put my mech on the far corner of his drop zone he can still use an Assault order and hit me (assuming 14" range and 6" movement on the assault mech). One shot like that from an assault mech and my mech is trash. I can't even get VC3 with my light mech anymore, let alone kill anything.

Being a DF player, though, agility used to be the only thing DF had going for it's light mechs defense. Hitoshi, Measho, and Miguel V used to be playable units (less so when VTOLs came out, but still a lot of fun in mech bashes). These typical DF units that follow the DF paradigm are pitifully weak now.

@stahlie
Good point, I agree. I think the 'deeper dials' we see in FP are a move in this direction, but I'm not so sure it will work. At least WK is thinking about it. I think some form of 'turn' system as you mentioned would fix the problem more than the deeper dials. I think defenses have to go down or attacks have to go up to make things work with the 'deeper dials' though.