The Right campaign system for BATTLETECH...

In my efforts to build a campaign system with both detail and simple game mechanics for Battltech over the years, I have found no easy answers. Linked scenarios are too generic, and map based campaigns have so much record keeping it gets bogged down and players lose interest. No matter what method was used it seemed like it was either missing a ton, or could lose a few pounds of pointless details. I had been sitting at my desk with a notepad full of ideas, but none of them were coming together as a whole. The same problem year after year. My favorite game of giant robots blasting each other to bits was seemingly stuck in the limbo of pickup games. I was giving up all hope...

Recently Battlefront Miniatures, the makers of the Flames of War miniature game line, unleashed a simple yet detailed looking campaign system called Firestorm. It uses both a map and playing pieces (Firestorm Markers) to represent specific forces on a certain battlefield for a particular campaign during WWII. The map is divided into territories, many which have point values representing their strategic value to the players. Players each turn roll dice to determine the amount of battles played this campaign round, forcing players to make strategic moves, and avoiding the common turtleing associated with many systems. Each campaign generally lasts 5-8 rounds. The playing pieces used represent additional forces that may be called upon during battles on territories they occupy, to bolster the controlling players forces for the game. These markers can be lost during the course of the campaign, especially during losing battles. The long story short is that usually the player who controls the majority of the strategic map points, wins the campaign.

After playing several campaigns for both eastern and western front I was satisfied with how this campaign system managed to maintain its level of personal control, while making the campaign flow forward. Players were pushed to make calls and moves to maintain their battle line, and further their own forces strategic position. This all happened while making sure there were plenty of games each round, with no shortage of excitement. There are currently 2 of these sets available, Firestorm: Bagration and Firestorm: Market Garden. So how can Battletech and my campaign desires benefit?

FIRESTORM BATTLETECH: Luthien 3067-3074

The Map

By making a Battletech Firestorm campaign of course! So, armed with new enthusiasm I have been tracking down all the parts I need to get my Luthien campaign ready. My first concern before anything else, was a map or game board to represent Luthien. The Jihad Turning Points: Luthien supplement available to download from DriveThruRPG.com, provided a great resource as to all the forces involved, and a rough idea of the battlefield layout. Something to note was that the Battle of Luthien was fought almost entirely within the confines of the Draconis Combine capital city and its surrounding area. Only a few battles of the campaign were outside of this area, so my map did not need to represent the entire planet. I decided to focus on representing just the city itself, with the option to represent other far lying areas of conflict with smaller independant maps. After finding no images already made of the Imperial City and it's layout, I was left with the task of using the rough geographical description provided in the Turning Points guide to make my map. I spent several days drawing up concept layouts and doodles only to realise that to achieve the visual I wanted I would require a far cooler looking map. The answer was provided by a trip to my local store, where I found the hex based campaign tile sets from Games Workshop. Battletech uses hexes in all of its own game mechanics, so the campaign should too. Each hex is a territory to be controled and fought over. The product I mentioned is Planetary Empires and can also be used with Mighty Empires which is a more fantasy or natural world look.

The Markers

Now that I was armed with a really cool 3D element to show off my campaign environment I couldn't just use cardboard counters to represent the Firestorm Markers moving about the battlefield. Lucky for all, Iron Wind Metals has just released Battleforce scale mech miniatures! Just in time to answer my question of how do I represent a mech unit on the map! Available through their web store they already have micro fighters to represent local air support on the map. Its almost too easy... For more conventional forces on the map, I had already decided on using GHQ Micro Armour. Not only does it work well for conventional force Firestorm markers, they also make great minitures during games of Battletech as well.

Representing Forces

So the layout basics were covered and I had a direction chosen, on to the gritty stuff. During a Firestorm campaign every controlled territory is considered to have some sort of forces in it, regardless of if their are Firestorm Markers within that area or not. First I had to decide on a base unit for each faction in the campaign. This unit would represent the base force for every engagment that the faction fought in and therefore would not be represented on board with a Firestorm marker. For the Loyalist forces I picked the 1st Genyosha. At the start of the campaign they are the best equipped and are a fresh unit to the battlefield after the initial rebel strikes. Representing the Black Dragon Rebels is the 2nd Sword of Light, although understrength at the start, supporters of their cause quickly flock to their banner. The Word of Blake contribution will be represented by the fresh arriving 9th Militia. These 3 units will have no markers on the campaign map for their core regiments. Support regiments however such as aerospace support and conventional forces will have markers. Basically this means that in any engagement, all players core forces will be built from one of these units.

All other regiments and support units will be represented on map by firestorm markers, roughly 1 marker for every battalion present on world. Ex; the Black Dragon Mercenary support unit Sathen's Snipers is 2 mixed battalions, and will therefore have 2 Firestorm markers on the campaign map. Seems easy enough. Where things get a little more complex is how big is the base unit for each game, whats in it, and what exactly does each marker used to support your base force represent during a game of Battletech?

Force Composition

With an idea of what everything represents on the campaign map, I now had to decide how big a basic game would be. After reading much of the fiction and the Turning Points notes, Luthien although a large battle with many units was actually fought in a more skirmish like format accross the city. With this in mind I defaulted to the most basic formation in Battletech, the Lance. Each game would consist of at least one lance vs another, supplemented by additional Firestorm markers on either side. Exactly what each Lance contains will be explained in more detail later.

More critical at this time is what will each Firestorm marker used in a game add to the fight. Roughly for now I have decided on what each Firestorm marker is below:

Mech: Single additional mech chosen with the proper chart or by GM for the unit it represents
Tank: Represents a lance worth of conventional armour
APC/IFV: Full mechanised infantry company (Roughly 3 platoons and HQ)
Infantry: Full infantry company (Roughly 3 platoons and HQ)
Battle Amour: Full battle armour lance chosen by GM for proper unit
Aerospace Fighter: Tactical Air Support (explained later)

Now this list is not definitive vs just a guide to get me rolling. Certain units may have additional options and or tweaks made for their markers. ie; Sathen's Snipers use combined arms, so their markers may allow for a mix of unit types in support instead of a specific one. I will tackle this by having a random roll with options to determine the markers specific contents before each game.

The lance size game scale keeps the game at a decent size, and doesn't take all night to resolve for experienced players. On a further note, I will provide a full list of all markers required for each unit in a later article.

Adapting The Rules

Even though Firestorm is a pretty simple rule system, there will have to be substitutions and changes made to suit the Battletech universe and gameplay. Shortly, I will go through each of the various sections of the Firestorm system and modify or edit anything that requires changes, and then note it here on the blog for those interested. Currently I will just get some ideas down, feel free to comment.

Supply lines: Battletech is a game where every shot counts, literally. During a game your Mechs expend ammo in the effort to destroy their enemies. What happens when you are low on ammo and cut off from your lines? What happens when you need vital repairs and components but you can't get either because of the enemy between you and your own forces? Firestorm touches on this subject with its basic mechanics. Battletech I feel, really benefits from the presence of a sound logistical element. Right away I decided that out of supply units will be unable to replenish their ammo or make repairs between games. This will relate also directly to Force Condition below.

Force Condition: As an addition to the normal Firestorm ruleset, I have produced a force condition modifier. Once again I feel that Battletech really benefits from a strong sense of the logistical element. The idea of course is to make sure it remains simple to represent. Every time an attack is made, or a defense gathered, the ensuing battle will take a toll on the forces in that area. Because every players base force is randomly generated or chosen each battle, there is no way to say that this certain mech has sevear damage and this one has light damage or this tank lance lost half its number. Instead of keeping track of each lance that fights in every battle, requiring a massive amount of record keeping, a simple coloured marker system will do the trick. Green, yellow, orange and red markers will help us identify the basic condition of the core force in each hex or territory.

To provide an example, assume the campaign is fresh and the opening moves are being made. Every unit at this stage unless set by campaign condition is considered green. Green areas represent units that are in perfect or near perfect working order and are in supply. These units start each game fully loaded with ammo and no damage. Areas with a orange markers represent a force that is starting to feel the grinding effects of battle, and will start games with minor ammunition loss (25%) and light damage. Areas marked in red show units that are in bad need of repair, and have significant (50%) ammunition depletion. Units marked with a yellow marker represent units that are out of supply. Yellow markers are placed on an area in addition to their current condition. Units out of supply cannot recover from their current condition.

How do they work? When an attack is launched, the attacker and defender can simply look at the Force Condition markers in both territories. If the territory the attacker is attacking from is green, and the defenders territory is green, both forces are in perfect condition with no damage. If the attacker was attacking a defence that had an orange marker, the defenders forces would have to apply random light damage and 25% ammunition loss before the game begins. If the defense was marked red, they would have to apply heavier/minor critical damage and at least 50% ammunition loss. This same scenario applies to the attacker. An attacker can attack with a unit in a Worn territory, but they will be at a significant disadvantage due to already existing damage and ammunition loss. A yellow marker in addition to any other colour present shows the unit as out of supply explained above.

How does a unit go from Good condition (green), to Worn condition (Orange), to Bad condition (Red)? Any time a unit launches an attack or is used in a defensive action, post battle,regardless of the outcome the unit is automatically degraded to worn condition or an orange marker. This represents the force as a whole being engaged in combat that campaign round, sustaining standard battlefield wear. If the unit was already in worn (orange) then it is degraded to Bad (Red) instead. Units in a Bad (Red) territoy may not launch attacks as their forces are too depleted to be combat effective in an offensive.

In order for unit to recover from being in bad or worn condition they must be in supply, and spend an entire campaign round unengaged in either offensive or defensive actions. If the this can be done, the unit recovers one level of condition above its current. (ie; Bad would become worn, worn would become good.) It is possible then for a cunning enemy to keep an opposing force in the Bad (Red) condition through constant attacks. Condition change takes effect regardless of a victory or defeat in a game.

When a defense is forced to retreat into an adjacent hex due to territory loss to an attack, the territory the remaining defenders retreat into becomes one condition level lower then it was previously. (ie; Worn force retreats into good hex, hex become worn.) This effect represents the influx of damaged forces and the strain on the supply chain in that area to keep them serviced.

Finally, any Firestorm markers present of the attacking player and defending players suffer the same conditional problems as their base forces present.

Rebels and Police Forces: Normal Firestorm campaigns generally have forces that are trying to disrupt or maintain supply lines on both sides of the fighting. For simplicity sake, these rules will function very similar to their existing set-up. In a city there are many roads, Railways, subways, and other methods of moving supplies, not covered in the Flames of War version. Instead of blocking a specific road or railway, these forces will block an entire hex or territory instead.

There will be more to come, with a proper document detailing the mods required to work this. Currently I will just be spewing thoughts onto web space.