Hey Folks we're back with a look at Hot Spots Draconis Reach. Today we're going to discuss the basics of the Chaos Campaign and getting started with the Campaign. We'll look at some key terms and then show off some goodies.
Key terms to understand:
Support Points: resource points to pay for repairs, buy new units, improve pilots and other benefits.
Warchest: the bank of Support Points a player has access to. Missions pay Support Points as rewards for meeting objectives and spend them as described above.
Scale: the relative size of the players force. This determines the starting cap of the player force and sets how many units they can bring to the table. Scales coveted in Hot Spots Draconis Reach are 1 to 3, with limits shown below.
Battlefield Support Points: a pool of Points used to purchase non mech assets for the game. They can be tanks, infantry, aerospace units, artillery strikes and other assets.
Track: a singular battle scenario (game session). Completing objectives in the session earns a player Support Points.
Contract: a collection of negotiable terms for payment and rights. It also determines the tracks played and the conditions of the battle.
Month: the standard measurement of time for the game. A month represents a game turn. Base payments are made on a monthly basis, and maintenance costs are paid.
Unit: a discrete combat piece for the game. In the campaign this is probably a battlemech but other units are possible.
Force: all the units a player has access to for playing the game.
Named pilots: special characters in your force that have better than average skills and abilities.
Now that we've gotten those out of the way, lets put them together and see how this works.
Getting started with Hot Spots
So, the default assumption is that you're going to be playing as a mercenary command for the campaign. The most efficient way to do so is selecting one of the four backgrounds: Former Federated Suns, Former Draconis Combine, Former Republic of the Sphere, and Lifelong Mercenary. As a starting player at scale 1, you have 3,000 Battle Value to purchase your starting units, and you can field up to 3 units in a standard Scale 1 Track. Each background gives a list of suggested choices that are common from that parent organization as shown below.
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| Kurita. Davion, Republic of the Sphere, and Mercenary |
What That probably means is that you bought 2 mechs and a tank or battle armor. Other configurations exist, but that is the most likely.
Named Pilots
Every Force starts the campaign with 2 named pilots. They start at Gunnery 4, Piloting 5 and 1 edge token. You can allocate 150 SP to each (these are separate from your Warchest).
Battlefield Support Points
Every player gets 32 BSP per track to purchase additional assets. Players who spend less than their full 3,000 battle Value have additional BSP at a 20 to 1 conversion rate.
Example One:
Dave and his friends are putting together a Hot Spots Draconis Reach League. Dave decides on running a former Draconis Combine unit. He notes that he has 3000 SP for his starting warcchest, 2 named Pilots, Gunnar Olafson and Hiyoshi Furukami. He allocates his pilot SP ( 150 each) to his named pilots. They each gain an extra edge token (60 pointts each) and allocate the remaining 90 to their Piloting skill. (note, as they have not spent the full 100 points to improve their skill, it remains a 5, but they only need 10 more SP to improve).
Looking at his options, he has 3,0000 BV to buy units. He wants high speed, mobile forces, and selects the Venom (SDR -9KE) for 803 points. He also selects a Jenner IC (5) for 1,440 points. He’s spent 2203 points. For a little bit of versatility, he adds a squad of inner sphere battle armor (Magnetic) for 209 points. So in total, Dave has spent 2412 of his starting points. This means he has an additional 29 BSP for each track of the game at Scale 1.
Recap
Starting Warchest: 3,000 points
Named Pilots: Gunnar Olafson, (2 edge tokens), Hiyoshi Furukami (2 Edge Tokens)
Starting Units
Venom (SDR-9KE)
Jenner IIC (5)
Is Battle Armor (Magnetic).
2412/3000 Battle Value spent.
Example 2:
Jane is also in Dave’s League and opts to put together a former Federated Suns force. With fond memories of mechwarrior, she grabs an Argus (AGS-5D) for 1,638 points and an Enforcer (ENF-5R) for 1,192 points. With a smirk, she names her Mechwarriors Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash. She allocates her starting SP to give them both Piloting 4, (spending 100 points on each) and the remaining 50 to Edge for both, (Note, that she’s 10 points shy on each for getting them a second edge token, so they remain edge 1) She’s spent 2,830 of her starting BV, giving her 8 addition BSP for the campaign.
Recap:
Starting Warchest: 3,000 SP
Named Pilots: Marty Robbins, (4/4) Johnny Cash (4/4)
Units
Enforcer (ENF-5R)
Argus (AGS-4D)
BV: 2,830/3000
Example C
Thorn is also in the League with Dave and Jane. They are running a former Republic of the Sphere background. Surprising no one, they purchase a Lament (LMT-2R) for 1,999 points. Interestingly they also grab a point of Elementals for 447 points. They’ve spent 2,446 points, netting them 27 additional BSP for the Track (with which they plan to pick up a transport for the elementals).
They name their Pilots Willow and Branch, a pair of Clan wolf Sibkids who were taken in by the Republic. They allocate their starting SPs, but don’t spend them on any upgrades yet.
Recap:
Starting Warchest: 3,000 SP
Named Pilots: Willow, Branch
Units
Lament (LMT-2R)
Elementals
BV: 2,446/3,000
Conclusion:
So, that’s the basics of Force Building for Draconis Reach. There are rules for veteran commands, House regular units, and other options in the book which you’ll be able to pick up May 13th from Catalyst’s online store or from your friendly local Game Store. That’s us for today, we’ll see you next week folks.
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