Hey Folks, happy Monday and I hope KS is treating you all with the love and joy you deserve. Today, we’re taking a deeper look at the Mercenaries box set. This time we’re going to focus on the rulebook included and a sneak peek at the rules inside. Let’s see how much trouble we can get into, yeah?
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| BattleTech Mercenaries Rulebook |
So, what are the new rules expansions inside Mercenaries? Do they make this indispensable? How many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsie roll pop?
The two primary rules expansions for Mercenaries are Battlefield Support and Chaos Campaign: Mercenaries. Those sound neat, don’t they? Yeah, let me explain a little deeper.
Battlefield Support
Battlefield support was originally introduced in the Battlemech Manual as an optional way to incorporate other battlefield assets (Minefields, artillery, vehicles, infantry, etc) into the Battlemech focused world of the Battlemech Manual. The rules herein expand that out and basically provide the following framework for using Battlefield Support. Note: the Battlefield Support Decks in the Mercenaries box supersede and fully replace the previous versions of these cards.
There are two broad types of Battlefield Support, Assets (in the form of non battlemech units) and Strikes, (which are basically what they sound like, though they also include minefields). Assets are represented with either tokens (or minis, if you have them) on the battlefield, and cards in your play area, (We'll have an article breaking down the cards in the next few weeks). Assets have a full battery of supplemental rules that add into your game (and I will cover those in detail in another article as well). Strikes (also getting their own article in the coming weeks) offer ways to directly damage your opponent’s units through the use of artillery, aerospace fighters, or other similar hijinks.
Key points
- Each Battlefield Support element (Strike or Asset) has a point cost.
- Each player has a budget of BSP (Battlefield Support Points) based on the size of the game and the level of support.
- So long as a player has the BSP to afford an item, they can purchase it.
- These purchases are Supplemental to their main force (determined by PV or BV, as determined by the game being played at the time).
- Use them or lose them. BSPs unspent at the start of a game are lost.
We’ll go over the fine points as stated above in some articles later this month (Possibly December, who knows what BattleSanta is bringing this year).
Chaos Campaign: Mercenaries
Using the Framework of the Chaos Campaign (which has been the primary campaign system Battletech has used since the middle 00s), you have the rules in front of you to build yourself a Mercenary company from the ground up.
Building a Unit
Starting with 3,000 BV (Battle Value) and a small assortment of mechs (The ones included in the box are all good choices, and have a BV chart included on page 17) you can build your force up to your first lance, then a company, then even bigger, maybe. The section on building your mercenary company (page 17 and 18) has some of the friendliest language I've ever seen in a battletech product.
Important Points for forming a unit
- 3,000 BV for your starting pair. Any unspent BV is converted to BSP at a 20 to 1 conversion rate).
- New units also receive 32 BSP per mission to get them rolling.
- Warchest (the measure of your cash and material reserves for operating your force) starts at 3,000 Support Points (Don’t get these confused with BSP, they are NOT the same).
- Scale is a rough measure of the size of your mercenary force. Everyone starts at Scale 1.
Playing the Campaign
The campaign itself is built upon the Contract (the determiner of missions, payment, support, and what other sort of mayhem you’re going to be up to.). The outline is fairly straightforward. Your Forcet (the total collection of your units that you’ve started the campaign with, and augmented through play) agrees to the terms of the contract, Each Month, your force will pay out salaries and maintenance expenses, get paid for operations performed, and otherwise encounter random things. Operations are performed by purchasing Tracks, which are basically the scenario representing the mission you’ve agreed to do. If the mission isn’t completed, the month moves (there are things to do) and you move to the next month and start the whole process again, leading to a new contract, eventually.
It sounds complicated, and well, to be honest, it’s battletech, so it is a little complicated. The complexity (The CRUNCH) of BattleTech is part of its draw, and I find this very refreshing.
Key Points
- Follow the Flow Chart, it explains the process (with enough sidebars to figure out what exactly we’re doing.
- Pay attention to the steps, and the Contract Details
- This is going to feel a lot like AccountantTech, but that’s part of the charm of this rules set.
Now, i have…Concerns
No, we never did figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop, maybe we can ask that Owl…
Anyway, As a long-time battletech player, I know this rules set. It’s been in every Mercenaries book since the first one, and I like the way it has been streamlined for a new player, and how easy it is to get into. It’s a very bare bones look at how this operates and has enough options to get you started.
Concern 1:
Will the rules in this become obsolete with the rumored Mercenaries Commander’s Handbook we’re supposed to get next year?
I hope not, and that this serves as an introductory product to get the players ready for that book when it releases, but I have to ask the question. Am I wasting cash getting this box for its rules components?
Concern 2:
Are these Battlefield Support Rules Locked in, or are they going to change again?
As above, but these rules are already replacing an existing set of rules (and cards) from other sources, will that happen again? Will I need to get a third deck of cards and another set of rules for this?
Again, I hope not. I hope that these rules are stable, and that we aren’t going to get any changes to the Battlefield Support rules. I truly hope that these rules and the cards that go with them are here to stay.
Concern 3
How does this Interface with Force Manual Mercenaries when it releases next year?
The Force Manual Series has been all about building small units (and not so small units) but I am curious how that interacts with these rules as presented. Does your starting Scale change? How do you determine Battlefield Support?
This is the giant Question mark for me, because I honestly don’t know. I hope there’s a planned integration that makes this go seamlessly, but again, I have to ask the question. Will these rules integrate?
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, I can ask some questions and get you all some answers at some point. Battletech, in my experience, is a game best learned around a table with friends, and very rarely are you going to get everything on the first try. You need to try these rules out a few times before they start to stick, and that’s how the process works. Don’t feel overwhelmed if you don’t get it the first time, that’s battletech.
Get this box as soon as you can find them at your local stores if you didn’t get one in the Kickstarter. They’re a very interesting rules expansion for Battletech and expand the game into both narrative storytelling (the strength of the setting, in my opinion) and it further adds ways for you to add other combat units to your game before you take the Total Warfare plunge.
That’s it for us today, we’ll see you all again soon.
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