MECHA

WAR III

J.B. and Beagle Games

st
In the 31 century, humankind lies scattered throughout the galaxy, fragmented into
individual feudal nations since the fall of the unifying Star Federation. Now, warlords ruling
multiple star systems seek to add to their domain through conquest of other sovereign
planets. Their weapons of choice are gigantic robots, 10-20 meters tall, fully armored and
bristling with guns. The pilots of these mecha are the new knights of the battlefield.

Note: to use these rules you need six-sided dice, coins/markers, and miniatures to represent
the mecha. We use Legos stacked in the 80mm to 130mm range. If using a different scale,
youll need to adjust ranges accordingly. Ranges are in inch increments of 2.5cm.

Build a Player Character (PC)

Choose a name for your pilot. You have one skill: gunnery. It begins at +0.

Build a Mecha (Configuration)

Each mecha robot weighs 20-100 tons; larger ones are slower but have more weapons and
armor. Choose from one of four size classes of mecha: light, medium, heavy, or assault.

Size Class
AP
Crit
Walk/Run
Jump*
Weapon Systems
Heat Sinks
Light
6
3
12/18
Yes*
1 Large, 1 Small
+0
Medium
10
4
10/15
Yes*
2 Large, 1 Small
+1
Heavy
14
4
8/12
No
4 Large, 1 Small
+1
Assault
18
5
6/9
No
5 Large, 1 Small
+1
*It costs one small weapon system to make a mecha jump capable.

1. Armor Points (AP) represent the total damage a mecha can take before it is destroyed.
Crit is the damage threshold before a mecha starts taking critical damage; you roll once
on the Critical Chart (see below) for every Crit of damage your mecha receives.

2. Determine weapons: Each weapon system can be one of the following three types (you
may choose a type more than once):

Weapon Type
Range (S/M/L)
Damage
Heat
Large Ballistic Weapon
6/12/18
4 3 2
1
Large Energy Weapon
12/24/36
3
2
Large Missile System
- / - /36
1 per hit (4)
1
Small Ballistic Weapon
3/6/9
3 2 1
0
Small Energy Weapon
6/12/18
2
1
Small Missile System
- / - /18
1 per hit (2)
0

Ballistic weapons are auto-cannons, slug-throwers, and super-heavy machine guns; damage
is determined by range (they do more damage at short range and less at long range).
Energy weapons are lasers, plasma, and particle beam projectors. They create more heat.
Missile launchers fire a swarm of missiles; damage varies depending on how many missiles
achieve lock and hit. Firing a single missile system requires multiple attack dice (four for
large systems, two for small systems) with each hit inflicting one AP of damage.

3. Customize: name your mecha (its model type as well as any nickname you want to give
it). A large weapon system may be replaced with two small weapon systems. Light and
medium mecha may reduce speed by one category to add an extra small weapon. A light
mecha may drop a small weapon system to increase its Walk/Run to 16/24; medium and
heavy mecha may drop a small weapon system to increase movement to 12/18 or 10/16,
respectively. An assault mecha may drop one large weapon system to increase its speed to
8/12. A small weapon system for an extra heat sinks +1 or vice versa.

Rules of Engagement (Doing Stuff)

Each turn of engagement has four phases: movement, weapon fire, melee, and heat. All
actions by all sides take place simultaneously in the phase; roll D6 at the beginning of the
turn to determine who gets to declare his phase actions last in the turn (high roll wins). It is
advantageous to see what your opponent does first.

Movement: Your mecha can walk, run, or jump (if jump capable). When walking or running,
turn your mecha up to 90 at the beginning of your move, then move in a straight line up to
your entire movement allowance; a walking mecha may also turn up to 90 at the end of its
move. Mecha may not run through difficult terrain (woods, swamp, jungle, etc.). Turning
180 is possible but takes an entire turn of movement, and counts as walking. Some
terrain (like high cliffs or deep water) may be considered impassable. Mecha may walk
backwards.

Jumping mecha ignore all terrain and simply move a distance equal to its walking rate. A
mecha that jumped may land facing any direction.

Weapon Fire: Mecha may fire any number of weapon systems at any other mecha within its
front (180) firing arc. Ranges on the weapons table show the distance for Short, Medium,
and Long range in inches. For each weapon fired, roll D6 and add the PCs gunnery skill.
The target number needed to hit is determined by range: Short = 2, Medium = 3, Long = 4.

Note that missiles only have one range (long). When firing multiple weapons of the same
type, it is useful to roll a number of dice at once and count successful hits. The following
penalties adjust the target number upwards (making it harder to score a hit).

Attacker ran (+1) or jumped (+2)
Target moved 12+ inches (+1)
Target jumped: (+1)
Attacker has prone due to leg critical (+1)
Attacker suffering from head critical (+2)

All modifiers are cumulative. If the target number is raised to 7 or higher, an attack is
impossible, unless the pilot receives a bonus for a high gunnery skill. An attack roll of 1
always misses, regardless of the pilots gunnery skill.

Depending on the size class of the mecha, every 3, 4, or 5 points of damage sustained
requires the pilot to roll on the following Critical Damage chart:

Roll Critical Damage
1
Lucked Out! No critical hit, no effect.
2
Weapon System One small weapon system is destroyed; if no small weapon
systems remain, the mecha loses a large weapon system instead.
3
Leg Mecha falls and may not stand (may crawl forward at one-half normal
walking rate, or turn in circle). All shooting target numbers suffer a +1 penalty
and the mecha cannot attack in melee combat.
nd
4
Arm Lose 1 large or 2 small weapon systems. A mecha that suffers a 2
critical arm hit cannot attack in melee.
5
Torso Engine Shielding the mecha accumulates an extra heat token every
nd
rd
turn; a 2 torso critical results in two extra heat every turn. A 3 engine critical
causes a thermonuclear explosion, destroying the mecha and inflicting 2, 4, 6,
or 8 damage (depending on size class) to all other mecha within three inches.
6
Head Sensors, computer, and/or gyroscope are damaged (+2 penalty to all
shooting target numbers); roll D6: on a 4-6 pilot is killed in a cockpit explosion!
nd
A 2 head critical automatically kills the pilot of the mecha.

As stated, all actions within a phase are simultaneous; it is possible that two mecha may
destroy each other in the same phase. All damage is assessed at the end of the Weapon Fire
phase BEFORE the melee phase. A mecha may not shoot through another mecha.

Melee: Any mecha may physically attack an adjacent target, if the mecha is in its normal
180 firing arc (i.e. a mecha may not melee a target that is behind it). Make a short range
attack roll (2+), modified by movement and head hits; gunnery skill does not add to the
attack roll. Successful attacks inflict AP damage depending on the attackers size class: light
mecha 1, medium mecha 2, heavy mecha 3, assault mecha 4.

Heat: Mecha are powered by fusion engines that generate a substantial amount of heat;
movement and weapon fire increases the amount of heat produced. Place a heat token (a
coin or other marker) next to the mecha for each point of heat accumulated. The Weapon
Type table shows how much heat a weapon accumulates for shooting during the Weapon
Fire phase; running generates one heat token and jumping generates two heat tokens.

At the end of the Heat phase, roll a D6 to determine how much accumulated heat is
dissipated by the mechas cooling system; mecha with a heat sink bonus, add the bonus to
the roll. The number rolled (with bonuses) is the number of heat tokens that are discarded.
Heat tokens not discarded are retained during the following turn (and may be dissipated by
a better roll in the next Heat phase).

If a mecha ever has six or more heat tokens at the end of the Heat phase, its failsafe
programming causes it to automatically shutdown. A shutdown mecha may not move,
shoot, or melee in its next turn. The pilot can only wait helplessly for the cooling systems to
dissipate the mechas excess heat (in the next Heat phase). Once the mechas heat tokens
are reduced to five or less, it automatically restarts; until then, it is a sitting duck.

Development (Getting Better and Worse)

Mecha pilots that survive grow in ability based on their battlefield accomplishments. For
every five mecha killed a pilot adds +1 to his (or her) gunnery skill; maximum gunnery skill
is +5. A pilot with ten kills is considered an Ace pilot; one with 20 kills is a Double-Ace.

Mecha reduced to 0 AP or exploding in a thermonuclear fireball are not salvageable. All
other mecha are considered fully repaired between engagements. A battle lasts until all
mecha on one side are rendered inoperable or flee the battlefield. Defeated mecha pilots
on the losing side must surrender their mecha to the victor(s); these unfortunate pilots join
the ranks of the Dispossessed. They may regain their status by taking command of an
auxiliary mecha (if one is available usually if captured in a prior battle), or they may
indenture themselves to a lord or noble in exchange for a lesser (i.e. smaller size class)
mecha than the one previously piloted. Dispossessed pilots of light mecha that have no
auxiliary mecha available are forced into retirement.

To determine the final fate of a retired pilot, roll D6 and add +1 for every ten mecha
defeated (kills): 1-3 dies poor and broken, 4-5 lives in relative comfort, 6+ lives life of
fabulous wealth and privilege. Double-Aces roll an additional D6: 1-3 Knighted with a
substantial land grant; 4-5 granted title Baron and planetary holding; 6 granted the title
Count and an entire planetary system as a land holding.