This Week’s post looks at the courageous people willing to climb inside a MAC.
With the core rules alone, MAC Attack focused entirely on the MAC, not the pilot.
Now I'm testing out a few options to make the pilot feel like more of a presence on the field.
Compared to Perks and Flaws, which generally represent the quirks of the MAC's engineering, I wanted these to feel like little tricks a pilot would pick up through experience, so they're more focused on the movement phase.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/PyObB
PILOT TRICKS
Set a number of notable Pilots for each Force, assign them to MACs, and give each a Trick.
Bullrush: You may move an extra 3” as long as you collide with an enemy.
Cruise: If you end your Move Turn on 1 Heat, lose that Heat.
Decoy: At the end of your move you may turn the nearest visible enemy MAC to face you.
Hunker: When you Hold you may set your Motion to any number.
Hustle: You may move an extra 3” as long as you start and end the move in Cover.
Jink: You may move through enemy units without causing a Collision.
Outmanoeuvre: At the end of your move you may adjust the Motion score of any one MAC by one. The target must be visible to you and within 6”.
Stalk: If you end your Move Turn out of line of sight of all enemies you may move an extra 3” in any direction and set facing.
COMMAND DRILLS
In addition to a Pilot Trick a Commander selects one Drill. Each of these can only be used once per battle. It must be declared on the Commander’s turn and applies to all of your MACs for the entire of the next round even if the Commander dies.
BlitzFire: Rolls of 5 always hit.
DeathCharge: Double your Class for Collisions and Brawling.
LockOn: If TN would be 4 or less then -1TN.
NoScope: Long weapons have no minimum range.
OutFlank: All Move types allow an extra 3” of movement.
ROOKIE PILOTS
Inexperienced pilots can be noted as Rookies.
Rookie: Any time you roll a 6 that would benefit you, reroll it. Each die can only be rerolled once in this way.
If you score another 6 on a die rerolled this way then remove Rookie status from this pilot.
PILOT EJECTION
When a MAC is destroyed in the Meltdown Phase it may attempt a System Check to have the pilot safely eject. If they succeed, place their Pilot as an unarmed Infantry AU d6” in a random direction of their MAC. They cannot Brawl.
If they touch a friendly AU they may join with them, but they die if that unit is destroyed unless they roll a 4+ on one die.
If a MAC is destroyed outside of the Meltdown Phase or its Heat is 6 when it is destroyed then the pilot cannot eject safely and dies in the cockpit.
In Profit Mode a dead pilot represents a loss of 2pts but grants no profit to the enemy.
Each of the MAC Attack Factions will have a distinct visual identity, but I wanted to include an option for players to either stray from their faction's aesthetic for a few miniatures, or field a slightly less coherent force altogether.
Mercenaries, or at least privately manufactured MACs, seems like the obvious solution here.
You can't drive them quite as recklessly as the MAC pilots who are committed to your cause, but they come with a little added flexibility in their variants, a nod to Battletech's many variants of each Battlemech.
Expect the full post here and on the blog next week.
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This is awesome!