I. Introduction
This booklet includes supplemental rules for playing StarMarines with battle-mechs.
There are planets that are worth fighting for, but whose conditions rule out normal soldiers
and vehicles. Poisonous atmospheres and high gravity are two of the most common situations.
So how do you conquer a planet if you can't send your soldiers? You send in your special teams.
Specifically, the battle mechs.
A battle mech is a two-legged walking war machine with a single pilot.
Mechs are armored against weapons fire, sealed against toxic and caustic atmospheres,
and strong enough to get around in nearly any gravity.
Their cost is similar to comparable vehicles.
They carry multiple weapons, and the smaller ones can fly for short distances.
So why would anyone use anything else?
Because the ability to pilot a battle mech cannot be taught; it is a rare, natural talent,
and a dead or captured battle-mech pilot might take months to replace.
Thus, most sane commanders send their mechs only into situations where nothing else will do.
If you're going to play with mechs, that rules out every other kind of normal land unit --
no soldiers and no other vehicles. Air or sea units may still be allowed.
This rule book is an optional supplement to StarMarines.
It includes new counters for battle-mechs.
II. Buying Battle-Mechs
You buy battle-mechs and arm them with weapons just like any other vehicle.
Because mechs replace other unit types, the usual rules for putting together
the various sizes of formations do not apply.
In fact, there are no formations defined for mechs.
Instead, you just buy whatever mechs and weapons you can afford with the
build-points you're given, and that's your formation.
III. Battle-Mech Movement
Battle-mechs move like any other StarMarines walker-type vehicles.
Some battle mechs have a limited flight ability. They can use this ability at will,
but subject to certain limits:
- Scout mechs can stay in the air for two turns; they take off in one turn, and must land
in the following turn. They can turn one hex-face in each turn they fly.
- Light mechs can stay in the air for two turns; they take off in one turn, and must land
in the following turn. They cannot turn in the air, but must move in a straight line.
- Medium mechs can stay in the air for one turn; they must take off and land in the same turn.
Like small mechs, they cannot turn in the air.
- Heavy and assault mechs are too big to fly.
A flying mech can use some or all of its air-move allotment each turn.
Mechs cannot fly backwards, only in the direction they are facing.
Mechs are at -1 on attack rolls when attacking from the air.
IV. Battle-Mech Combat
Battle-Mech combat is resolved like any other combat.
Most mechs can attack only one target per turn.
They can use some or all of their weapons in each attack,
subject to the risk of overheating (see "Heat Dissipation," below).
Exception: if a mech uses a close-combat weapon,
it cannot fire any other weapons in that turn.
IV-a. Mech Damage
Damage to a mech is handled differently than for other vehicles. This is due to their walker
nature, and to the absence of Fixer units on the mech battlefield.
- Stunned: the mech cannot move or attack until its pilot overcomes the stunning.
He does this by rolling a die during the repair phase; if it comes up 4-6, the mech is back
in the battle. A pilot can get this roll in the same turn he was stunned.
- Disarmed: the mech loses one weapon. Assign a number to each weapon, and roll a die
until one of those numbers comes up. That weapon is destroyed.
- Crippled: the mech cannot move until its pilot fixes the damage.
He does this by rolling a die during the repair phase; if it comes up 6, the mech is back
in the battle. A pilot does not get this roll in the same turn his mech was crippled.
A crippled mech can attack normally, but if it attacks, it cannot roll for repairs in that turn
-- the pilot can do only one thing at a time, either fight or repair.
IV-b. Heat Dissipation
One of the biggest limits on battle-mech firepower is the need to bleed off the heat
generated by weapons. Excess heat can cause a weapon to overheat and explode.
More than one well-meaning civilian has suggested putting temperature interlocks on all mech weapons,
so the pilot can't overheat his mech. But no mech pilot wants his hands tied in combat,
not when the risk of firing one weapon too many might be worth taking if victory is one shot away.
Every mech has a heat rating associated with its design. This is the highest number of
heat units the mech can use in one turn without overheating. Heat units are figured as follows:
- 0: edged close-combat weapons
- 1: non-edged close-combat weapons
- 1: hand and light ranged weapons
- 2: medium ranged weapons
- 3: heavy weapons
If a mech fires more weapons than its heat rating allows in one turn, there is an increasing
risk of overheating. Each time you fire a weapon above your mech's heat rating,
roll a die (the overheat roll); if it comes up less than or equal to the total excess
heat units, then the weapon overheated. This must be repeated every time a mech fires
a weapon above its heat rating, and the excessive heat units are cumulative.
Example: a large mech has fired its two heavy weapons in a turn (3 heat units each),
which exactly equals its heat rating of 6.
It has three weapons unfired, two light weapons and one medium.
The pilot fires one of his light weapons, which generates 1 heat unit above the mech's heat rating.
After resolving the attack, roll a die. If it comes up 1, the weapon has overheated.
Assume that the weapon did not overheat. Now the pilot fires his medium weapon, with 2 heat units.
Added to the previous weapon's 1 heat unit, this makes 3 heat units over the limit,
so the medium weapon will overheat on a roll of 3 or less.
If it doesn't, and if the pilot fires his remaining light weapon,
he would have to make a third overheat roll, which would fail on a 4 or less.
If a weapon overheats, it is automatically destroyed, and it may damage the mech as well.
Treat the overheating as an attack by that weapon that always pierces the armor;
only the weapon damage and the mech's toughness matter.
Overheating automatically fades at the end of each turn;
a mech starts each combat phase with a clean slate, heat-wise.
IV-c. Anti-Air Weapons
Scout and small mechs which carry anti-air missiles get no reloads.
Medium mechs and larger get unlimited free reloads of Heat Seekers and Radar Missiles.
Such missiles can be fired only at aircraft, or at mechs in the air.
Any other weapon fired at a flying mech is at -1 on the attack roll.
V. Morale with Battle-Mechs
Mechs are considered vehicles, and never have to make morale checks.
VI. The Mech Designs
There are only so many ways to make an effective battle mech. The various races' designs
differ in detail, but all fall into one of the five basic categories.
| Name: | Scout Mech |
| Type: | Small ground vehicle (walker) |
Scouts are the smallest mechs. They are lightly armored and carry few weapons.
But they can move fast, their flight ability is the best of any mech, and
they are inexpensive.
| Name: | Small Mech |
| Type: | Small ground vehicle (walker) |
Small mechs are somewhat bigger than scouts. They are better armed and armored,
and not quite as fast.
| Name: | Medium Mech |
| Type: | Large ground vehicle (walker) |
Medium mechs are a balance between the light-footed small mechs and the
ponderous heavies. They carry enough weapons to do some serious hurt,
without breaking your build-point allowance.
| Name: | Large Mech |
| Type: | Large ground vehicle (walker) |
Large mechs are the anchor of most mech armies. They can take large amounts of
punishment, and they can deal out a lot of punishment themselves.
They pay for this power with reduced speed and increased cost.
| Name: | Assault Mech |
| Type: | Large ground vehicle (walker)(supertank) |
These giants are equal to nearly any armored vehicle in existence, if you
don't mind their low speed and high price tag. An assault mech can attack two targets
in the same turn, as long as it doesn't use a close-combat weapon.
VII. The Races' Mechs
Most races have pursued mech development,
but each has gone in different directions with them.
Each race's mechs gets a particular bonus.
VII-a. The StarMarines
The StarMarines have emphasized firepower in their mechs.
Any StarMarine mech that carries light weapons can replace one such weapon with a medium weapon.
VII-b. The Norx
Norx mechs, like everything else Norx, are extremely robust.
All Norx mechs except assault mechs have +1 toughness.
VII-c. The Pelgari
The Pelgari have partially overcome the problem of heat dissipation with their
advanced science. All Pelgari mechs have a heat rating +1 better than normal.
VII-d. The Victors
Some Victor mechs have thicker armor than normal. Small and medium mechs both have +1 armor.
Scouts also have +1 armor, but are at -1 speed in the air (not on the ground).
VII-e. The Dran
The slow-moving Dran have surprizingly quick mechs.
Their medium and larger mechs can move 1 hex faster than normal on the ground.
VII-f. The N'Kakk
Because the robotic N'Kakk mechs don't need to make room for a pilot or his life-support system,
they can devote more of their mass to fighting power.
All their mechs except scouts can carry one more light ranged weapon than normal.
VII-g. The Ghouls
The Ghouls have put extra effort into the problems of mech flight.
Ghoul mechs that can fly, can cover one hex per turn more than normal while in the air.
VII-h. The Zrutes
Zrutes find it easier to pilot mechs than other races, since they're used to fighting in battle
suits anyway. Medium and smaller mechs get a +1 attack-roll bonus with any ranged weapon.
VII-i. The Saurs
The Saurs do not possess mechs. If your scenario calls for mechs and for the Saurs,
either choose another race, or don't use mechs.
VII-j. The Swarm
The Swarm do not possess mechs. Their alien physiologies enable their conventional units
to fight normally on any planet, so a "normal" Swarm can fight another race's mechs.
VII-k. The Colonials
Every Colonial medium and large mech's price tag is 1/2 point less than normal.
Thus, for every such mech you buy, you get 1/2 build point.
You can spend this 1/2 point on a scout mech, or save multiple 1/2 points to spend
on something bigger. Colonials cannot buy assault mechs.
VIII. Battle-Mech Weapons
Battle mechs use the same weapons as any other unit in their race's army.
A mech with an edged close-combat weapon gains +1 on its AP and toughness with that weapon.
No mech can carry more than two such weapons.
Hand weapons are considered small weapons when carried by mechs.
VIII-a. Mech Punches
In addition to its weapons, a mech can take a power-assisted swing at an adjacent enemy in front.
Such an attack is at +1 aim, does AP and damage equal to the mech's rated toughness,
and generates no heat to be dissipated. A mech can throw two punches per combat phase.
A punching attack counts as a close-combat attack, so a mech can't punch and use
ranged weapons in the same combat phase.
IX. Battle-Mech Tables