Mech Command RTS - Rules Reference Guide by badcrowgames

mech command rts

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

rules reference Guide This reference guide is an alphabetical list of all the current rules of MECH COMMAND RTS and is designed to be a companion piece to the Learn to Play Manual and Tutorial. The Tutorial introduces concepts as needed while playing through the Core campaign. This Rules Reference Guide uses a much denser ruleset to account for any questions that may arise regardless of how rare the situation may be. There is also extra redundancy built into the entries of this guide so it is much longer than a normal rulebook. (So donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be intimidated by all of these pages!) For a quick overview see the 1 page Quick Rules on the next page.

Keep a look out for new skirmish maps and minicampaigns at www.BadCrowGames.com! Your real time source for rules, updates, errata and more.

mech command rts

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

First Time assembly Led Base + Adhesive Metal Stickers. Place one adhesive metal sticker in the circular groove on top of each LED base. Metal side up. Miniatures Base (Legs) + Adhesive Magnets Place one adhesive magnet in the center of the circular groove on the bottom of each rounded miniatures legâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s base. Press and hold the adhesive side onto the plastic for 30 seconds, or glue them. The miniature bases are now ready to attach to any of the LED bases and come apart easily. This metal and magnet setup should be strong enough to hold even when picking up your heaviest models. Gluing Miniature Torsos to Legs. Set aside two copies, one grey and one tan, of each of the following: Bi-pedal legs + bi-pedal torsos, Reverse jointed legs+ reverse jointed torsos. Rubber Cement Option It is recommended to use a narrow tube of rubber cement for these steps so that the torsos, legs and arms will remain interchangeable and thus many different mech types will be able to be constructed. Of course rubber cement can be a little messier, leave some residue, and come apart sooner than you want, but it is still a great solution for creating tight rubber seals for each of the attachments that will allow you to insert and take out different appendages multiple times before needing to re-apply it again.

1 2 Apply Metal Stickers

The Core Set contains enough of these custom metal stickers for the 5-6 Player Expansion as well as AI Unleashed. So hold on to those extras!

Apply Adhesive Magnets to Leg Bases

Reverse Jointed Torsos and Legs

Permanently Bonded Torsos For those that do not plan on inter-changing the torsos with legs and want to create permanent bonds with modeling glue or crazy glue it will create a more solid feeling bond when picking up a model by its head or torso, (ths is what our designer opts for). If you do this we still recommend using rubber cement for the arms to allow your mechs to change weapons as the arm strength is not as necessary for stability. Regardless of which method you choose, place a squirt of glue down into the torso hole. Then place the torso onto the bi-pedal legs and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Repeat this for the reverse-jointed sets.

Glue Torsos to Legs

Collect the Laser Rifle and Energy Pistol arm. There is a left and right version of each of these in grey and tan. They represent the starting weapons. Although any weapon arm can be used (they are cosmetic), the leg types have important mechanical differences.

Bi-Pedal Torsos and Legs

Use the narrow tube of rubber cement to place glue into the arm slot cavity then squeeze the arm pegs into the slot and hold for several minutes. Lay the mech on its back while the arms solidify. mech command rts

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

The quick Rules This game is best learned through the tutorial found in the Learn to Play and Campaign book, because there are physical movements and steps that need to be practiced. But here is a short overview of the game rules for those that want to quickly understand the basics or want to skip the tutorial. These entries are separate and shorter than the full entries later in this reference guide. Overview. In Mech Command RTS players control their mechs and support units in real time to destroy enemy units and complete various objectives specified in the mission in order to gain victory points to win the campaign. Along the way players earn currency to buy new items and mechs to upgrade their team. Setup: Determined by each individual mission. See the general setup diagram in the Learn to Play Manual.

round Summary

movement

Action Phase. The primary phase of the game. It begins once all of the player’s LED lights are turned on, your damage dishes have been passed to your opponents side of the table and the designated player calls start. This round occurs in real time.

Mech Movement. Players move 1 gem from their energy pool, (a mech’s set of available energy each round) to their mech board in order to move 1 hex. Only one hex may be paid for and moved at a time. All actions must be paid for and completed with the same hand. Mechs can rotate freely at any time.

Players move their mech(s) as well as their support units around the map simultaneously. (See Movement) They call shots on other units when they have line of sight, pay to activate weapons and place their damage in their opponent’s damage dish. (See Attacks) The action phase is over when the 2 minute timer runs out and any player decides to call time; or when all players have turned off their LED lights signalling they are done for the round. Damage Phase. During this phase the damage dishes are returned to their owners. Players assess how much damage their mech received, how much they can shield and then assign the remaining damage to any armor points they choose on their mech sheet. As armor groups are destroyed the mech loses items or legs. Mechs that have lost all of their green core armor points are destroyed. Support units that have received two damage blocks, or buildings that have lost all of their health are also destroyed and removed from the board. Depending on the mission type, destroyed units will be placed on the respawn track. (See Armor, Respawn) Recharge Phase. All energy on mech boards is returned to the mech’s energy pool. Energy on item cards is returned in the amount of the card’s recharge rate. Any excess energy is left on the card. Objective points are collected and tracked; then victory conditions are checked. Respawning units are moved up one space on the respawn track; and if moved onto the board are then respawned with full health anywhere in their team’s base. Damage dishes are returned to the opponent’s side of the table and the mech player commandcalls rts designated “go” on the next action phase.

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

Support Unit Movement. Support units may move once per round, up to 4 hexes. Place its color cube in the truck bed to mark it has moved. Support units may move through allied units or objective tokens with this movement. Units may never end their movement on another unit or object. Units may use regular movement to move down elevations but not up them.

boosting Mechs can activate boosters to move multiple hexes at a time and move up elevations. First announce that your color is boosting, for example, “blue boosting”. Then pay for the booster by moving energy gems in the amount of the booster’s cost from the mech’s energy pool to the booster card. Then move your mech up to the amount of the boost, counting each hex out loud, then call “end boost”. Mechs are invulnerable while boosting.

attacks Attacking. To use a weapon the mech must first have line of sight to the target, which means it must have its LED light on some portion of the target. Call out what color is hitting what color. For example: “Blue hits green.” Once a hit has been announced the attacker no longer needs line of sight. They pay the weapons ‘cost’ by moving energy from the mech’s pool onto the weapon card, then placing its damage into the target’s damage dish. The attack is complete and another action can now be performed. Only one action can be paid for or performed at a time. Attacking Support Units. In order to attack support units the mech must be adjacent to the support unit; which also means they must be at the same elevation level. Regardless of the amount of damage a weapon does only place a single damage cube into the support unit’s truck bed. Support units with 2 damage cubes are destroyed during the damage phase. Overheat. An item may never have more energy on it than its overheat level. If paying for an item would cause it to have more than its overheat level then the item may not be activated. Shields are activated during the damage phase to reduce the amount of damage a mech must assign to their armor points. Thus in order to use shields mechs must save some energy for the damage phase.

Objectives Objective tokens, determined by each mission, must be controlled before they can be picked up or operated. To control an objective your team must have more units adjacent to the objective during the recharge phase than the enemy does (mech and support units combined). Units can only interact with objectives during the recharge phase. Operating Objectives. Most objectives require a support unit adjacent to pick it up or operate it. The exception is retrieval tokens which can be picked up by either mechs or support units. Loading Objective Tokens. Units can only carry one token at a time, and can only load and unload once per recharge phase. Uplink Points. These are stationary objectives that require an adjacent support unit to operate. They provide one uplink point per recharge phase. This is the end of the Quick Rules Overview. For more detailed rules see the tutorial entries for each mission, or the entry for each term.

mech command rts

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

From here on the entries will be in alphabetical order to help provide a reference when you have a question about a rule, item or procedure.

Actions Actions consist of activating item cards and moving units. Actions are always performed one at a time and must be completed or canceled before starting the next action. Actions are always performed with the same hand. Players may take as many actions as they can afford during the action phase. Actions that involve activating item cards always require verbally announcing the action.

Players take as many actions as they want during the action phase as long as they can afford the costs of the actions. Once a player has run out of energy or has decided to not take any more actions they should turn off their LED light to signal they are done with their actions for the round. End of Action Phase. The action phase is over when all players have turned off their LED lights or when the two minute timer has run out and at least one player has called “time”. This means that players can collectively choose to extend the action phase if they want; time only ends the action phase when any single player decides to call “time”. Players may turn their LED light back on to take more actions as long as at least one other LED light is on and no one has called time.

Action Cancelling Players may need to cancel actions before completing them. To cancel an action place any energy or ammo that has been picked up onto your mech board. This energy will return to the energy pool during the recharge phase along with energy spent on regular movement. If no energy has been picked up yet for a canceled action then no energy needs to be placed on the mech board; the player can just move on to their next action. The most common reason for cancelling an action is when a player needs to dodge immediately rather than spend the time completing a weapon activation. The second most common reason for cancelling an action is due to player error; for example when a player picks up gems to pay for a weapon before they realize that all of their weapons are at their overheat level. Whenever energy or ammo has been picked up from the energy pool, the action must be completed or canceled; energy and ammo is never returned to the energy pool once it has been picked up.

Action Phase Each round begins with the action phase. To begin the action phase make sure each mech’s damage dish has been placed on the opponent’s side of the table. When all players have turned on their mech’s LED light the designated player confirms that all players are ready then turns over the sand timer and announces “start”.

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RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

Activating Items Activating weapons, boosters or equipment always follows the same timing. Say it, pay it, do it. Every action other than regular movement is preceded by a verbal announcement. After making the appropriate announcement players pay the item’s cost and then implement its effect. (Attacks, Boosting, Movement)

Adjacent Adjacent units are those that are in adjacent hexes at the same elevation level. A rooftop hex is not considered adjacent to hexes on the ground level. Support units can only be targeted by adjacent attacks

AI Unleashed The cooperative expansion to MECH COMMAND RTS. Terms and rules governing AI UNLEASHED are contained in the AI Unleashed campaign book.

Ammo Ammo is an alternate cost to weapons similar to energy. It is represented by solid orange cubes. The amount of ammo a mech is able to hold is determined by its ammo stat. Mechs begin each mission and respawn at full ammo. Ammo is spent just like energy but recharges differently.

Discarding Ammo. Ammo cubes are still removed from cards during the recharge phase according to the item’s recharge rate. Instead of returning to the mech like energy however, ammo cubes are discarded. Thus, once ammo is spent, it cannot be used again. Ammo Reloading. By default, mechs reload 2 ammo during the recharge phase if they are located in their base or in a corner hex. Some support unit upgrades and engineer items can also reload ammo. Ammo reload effects are cumulative. Mechs respawn with full ammo.

Anti-Infantry Weapons with this attribute cause 2 damage to support units rather than the usual maximum of 1. Normally, no matter how much damage an effect does to a support unit, whether from a mine, a weapon or something else, a maximum of 1 damage block is placed in the support unit’s model. This is to simulate how the team of personnel and vehicles are spread out, often behind cover and moving tactically and thus hard to kill with a single attack. Anti-Infantry effects overcome this and can kill a support unit in one hit.

Ammo follows all other rules affecting energy even if the rule does not specify energy and ammo.

Announcing Actions All actions except for regular movement must be verbally announced to the table. Announcing is the first step of the MECH COMMAND RTS process of ‘Say it, Pay it, Do it’. Announcing an action is sometimes referred to as ‘calling an action’ in the rulebooks; for example: “calling a hit”. Common Announcements. The most common announcements in the game are calling a hit, or calling boost. Whenever a player is calling an action they should announce what color is performing the action and in the case of attacks, the color of the target. (Attacking, Boosting) Requires verbal announcement: Initiating an attack, “Blue hits green.” Activating boosters, “Blue boosting.” Deploying a mech into stationary mode, “Blue Deploying.” Does not require a verbal announcement: Regular movement Regular movement of support units (4 hexes) Special Weapon Announcements. Some special weapons require their own announcement. In the following list the blue mech is used as an example: Artillery: “blue artillery launch”. Melee: “blue blade strikes red”. Missiles: “blue missile launch”, and later when the missile reaches a target, “missile strike on green”. Aimed shot: “blue sniper hit on red.”

Armor Armor is represented by the hud circles on the mech board. Each circle represents a single point of armor. When assigning damage players place damage cubes on any armor point they choose, and may spread damage across their limbs however they want, but may not move it again once placed. Armor can be repaired (see repair and reload). All armor is repaired when a mech respawns. Armor Point Groups. Armor points are grouped together through small hud lines. Armor point groups identify what item slots are deactivated when all of the armor points in that group are destroyed as well as how much armor each leg section has. (Damage: Declaring Loss of Legs) Armor Upgrades. Some blue equipment cards allow the mech to increase their amount of armor points. The armor points on these item cards work exactly like other armor points and may be selected when assigning damage and also be repaired. Armor Penalty. Some items reduce armor such as the bulky attribute. When these items are equipped the player must assign damage to any armor points they choose to reflect the reduction in armor. Armor Repair. See Repair and Reload. Armor Respawn. During respawn a unit returns to the board with full armor, ammo and functionality (minus any armor penalties from specific attached items like the bulky attribute).(See Respawn) mech command rts

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

Artillery Plasma artillery is a relatively new invention pioneered by scientist and tech mogul James Wright. His minor faction, Sadonis Corp, represents a rare breed of organization that remains militarily potent and politically relevant with only a small faction population. Wright’s breakthrough in artillery warfare represents indirect fire, delayed, area-of-effect weapons with a limited range that can be fired between elevation levels. When activated, the player calls out “artillery launch”, pays the weapon’s cost then counts the amount of spaces its firing, out loud to the table and places its damage blocks on the final hex they choose (as long as it is in range). This hex may be on the ground or a rooftop. Artillery damage stays on the board until the damage phase at which time it causes its damage to all adjacent units including allies and buildings (but only once per building). Absorbing Artillery Fire. A unit that moves onto a hex containing plasma artillery damage absorbs the damage before it can fully charge. The player immediately takes the damage by removing the damage blocks from the board and applying it to their support unit or placing it in their damage dish. (Only 1 damage block for support units unless otherwise specified.) Artillery damage removed from the board in this way will no longer impact during the damage phase. Artillery Fire Between Elevations. Like missiles, artillery rounds can be fired onto elevation levels different from the attacking mech. But the damage from artillery only occurs on adjacent hexes at the same elevation. For example, a mech at ground level can fire artillery damage onto a rooftop but will only damage units on adjacent rooftops. All units in adjacent hexes take artillery damage during the damage phase. Hexes on different elevations are not considered adjacent.

Attacks Attacking another unit requires getting line of sight with your LED light then activating a weapon. When activating any item remember to always ‘Say it, Pay it, Do it.’ 1. Obtain line of sight by positioning your mech where it can see any part of the opponent. This is confirmed by the LED lights. If there is ever any doubt, any player can call “Pause” to double check that the light is indeed hitting the target.

(See Pausing the Game, and Line of Sight) mech command rts

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

Artillery Diagram. Note how the area of effect of artillery only damages adjacent hexes on the same elevation. 2. Call the hit. Like all actions in MECH COMMAND RTS firing weapons requires a verbal call. This is done by verbally announcing “[attacking mech’s color ] Hits [target mechs color]” For example “red hits green.” Targeting a support unit: “[color] hits [color] Truck.” Targeting a building: “[color] hits building.” Targeting a base: “[color] hits base.” This will cue everyone to what each mech is doing and allow them to quickly confirm the validity of your attack if they choose to. At this point, even if the target proceeds to break line of sight the attacker can continue processing the attack. Once a successful hit has been called there is nothing the defender can do about it; it just remains for the attacker to finish paying for the weapon and apply its damage.

3. Pay the weapon’s cost by moving the necessary amount of energy or ammo onto the weapon’s card. 4. Apply damage by placing the amount of damage cubes identified in the weapon’s effect into the target’s damage dish. Confirm you are placing it in the right color’s dish. If damaging a structure place the damage cubes on top of or near the structure. If attacking a support troop then place a single damage cube into the truck bed of the support unit miniature. (Support Units) Only one attack at a time can be processed. An attack must be completed or canceled before starting another action, whether it is a movement, a boost or another attack. Again, once gems are picked up, they cannot be returned to the energy pool even if an action is then canceled.

Attributes & Penalties The terms attribute, ability, keyword and penalty are all used to describe terminology found on an item or mech board that apply specific rules that can be looked up in the Rules Reference Guide. For example Pulse Turrets have the Bulky attribute which causes armor loss when equipped, Tetrapods have the Stable ability which allows them to fire deployment weapons without deploying while Tanks have a movement penalty which makes their regular movement cost extra gems.

Bases

Base Repair & Reload Stations. Mechs and support units repair any 2 armor points and can reload 2 ammo if they are located within their base during the recharge phase. Note that most support units will only be able to repair 1 armor point because if they had 2 damage they would have been destroyed during the damage phase; unless they have the armor upgrade. Base Destruction Missions. Some mission objectives require players to destroy the enemy base. These missions will specify how many buildings make up the base and how much health the structures have. If no base structures are present at the beginning of the recharge phase then the objective is completed. Buildings cannot be repaired unless otherwise specified by the mission. Units cannot end their movement on top of an enemy base building. Alternate Corners. There are two smaller colored areas designated in the corners of the board. By default these also serve as repair and reload stations for either team but do not provide protection like the team’s base and spawn area does. These corners may serve other purposes in skirmish matches.

Boosters Green Booster cards are a type of item. They can only be attached to green booster slots on mech boards, (they cannot be swapped into weapon slots like the blue equipment cards can). Only the reverse-jointed type of chassis has more than one booster slot.

Most missions designate a base for each team which serves as the team’s starting area, respawn point, collection point, and repair/reload area. Starting Base. The team bases are identified by the larger sections of colored hexes in the corners of the map. Teams place their units anywhere within their base when starting a mission or respawning. If there are not enough spaces within the base for all of your team’s units (for example when using the 5-6 player expansion) then place additional units off the map adjacent to a colored base hex. They can move onto the base as part of their regular movement once there is room. Base Immunity. Units within the designated hexes of their base cannot be attacked in any way including indirect fire unless the mission specifies otherwise, nor attack outwards in any way, i.e. no spawn camping. mech command rts

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

Boosting

Buildings & Structures

Using boosters is a way to dodge enemy attacks, quickly cover ground and in some cases fly to the rooftop level. They are activated by performing the following steps:

Buildings block line of sight and provide additional elevations to move units on. Buildings are placed during mission setup according to the mission map. The other type of structures are walls and base buildings. Base buildings are buildings designated as part of a team’s base in some missions. Walls operate exactly the same as buildings except that units cannot stand on top of them. (They can however still ariel boost over them.)

1. Call “[color] Boost!”, verbally. For example, “green boost!”. Once you call Boost, players cannot call a “Hit!” on your mech (or other strikes). In the case of an audible tie between players calling “Boost” and “Hit” the booster wins, and the “Hit” is not valid. This happens frequently, and is a good way to start a round in which you are exposed to get yourself out of line of sight quick. 2. Pay the Booster’s cost by moving the designated amount of energy from your generator pool onto the Booster card. 3. Move your mech up to the number of hexes designated in the Booster’s effect, counting the movement out loud. This is the only time players may move a mech multiple hexes continuously. 4. Call “End Boost” verbally once you have completed the consecutive movement of your mech. You are now vulnerable to “Hits” again. Note that players must complete their boost immediately within a reasonable time-frame. If a player takes longer than approximately 5-7 seconds to complete their boost they can have a malfunction called on them. Aerial movement. If the mech is capable of aerial boosts (tanks and tetrapods have ground boost only) you may move your mech up elevations, over mechs and other obstacles. No additional movement is counted for going up elevations or over an obstacle. (See Elevation) Boost Dodges. Boosting dodges regular attacks as well as melee strikes and missile strikes. Artillery rounds and mines will still cause damage if the boosting mech is ground boosting through them. Boost has no effect on death rays and other forms of damage that is delayed until the damage phase.

Attacking Structures. Structures are attacked like any other target in the game, except that they require the attacker be within short range (3 hexes). Obtain line of sight, call a hit on the building, activate a weapon, and place the damage on top of or adjacent to the building. (Say it, Pay it, Do it.) Building Elevation. Building rooftops are considered a different elevation level than the ground level or rooftops of different heights. Only indirect fire weapons can target units at different elevation levels. Note that hexes at different elevations are never adjacent to each other. Double stack buildings are at a different elevation level than single stack buildings, and so on. Structural Damage. Damage to buildings is placed on top of the building, (or in the case of walls next to the wall.) Damage may be rearranged as necessary in order to allow mechs to move on top of the damaged building. It is suggested to spread the damage blocks out evenly so that units can simply stand balanced on top of the damage blocks. Multi Hexes of Buildings. Building miniatures represent the entire building. Damage to one hex of the building is considered damage to the entire double hex building. Each hex of a building does NOT have its own health. Also buildings only take damage from a single source of damage one time, even if that damage impacts on multiple hexes of the building. For example, if artillery lands adjacent to two hexes of the building, the building only takes damage from the artillery once. Damage from different events such as a tank over-run passing through both hexes of the building would have their total applied to the building as this represents two separate attacks or events. Destroying Structures. Structure damage is tallied at the beginning of the damage phase and removed if the damage exceeds its health level. Any mechs or units on top of a destroyed building during the damage phase take 3 damage.

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Building Colors. Some missions color code the buildings to identify different health levels or to help identify objectives but otherwise the color of a building is cosmetic. Skyscrapers / Double Stack Buildings. These buildings are taller than the standard building and represent an entirely different elevation from regular buildings. Therefore units cannot target units on skyscrapers unless they also are on a skyscraper and have line of sight. In most missions of the core campaign skyscrapers have infinite health.

Campaign Sheet The campaign sheet tracks the victories, resources and inventory of the teams during the campaign. Each team will utilize their own campaign sheet. Opposing teams should view and verify each other’s campaign sheet for the correct amount of victories, resources gained and spent as well as items purchased and scrapped. If an item is not on your campaign sheet then you do not own it. (Item Purchasing, Item Selling)

Control Some mission objectives require control of a location or object in order to utilize or acquire it. Mobile objective tokens require a team to control the token before they can load it onto a support unit. Gaining Control. In order to gain control of a location or object a team must have more units, support or mech, adjacent to it than their opponents during recharge. When teams have equal amounts of units adjacent to a point then no one controls it. Operation. Most stationary objective locations like uplink buildings also require operation. Operation can only be performed by support units. Thus while you can count your mechs towards controlling an uplink building you must have a support unit adjacent to actually operate it and gain the benefit.

Cost Items cost energy or ammo to activate. There are two types of costs: energy and ammo. The amount and type of the cost is in the upper left section of the item card. You pay an item’s cost by moving the appropriate resource from your available energy pool onto the card. You cannot pay for an item if doing so would place gems in excess of its overheat level. Once a cost has been paid there are no refunds even if the action was invalid or canceled. The only time energy comes back to your energy pool is during the recharge phase.

Damage: Causing Damage Damage is the primary effect of most weapon cards but it can also come from picking up mines, turrets, falling from destroyed buildings, support units with the energy lance upgrade and self destructing mechs. All types of damage are assessed during the damage phase. Damage is represented by each player’s color of blocks. Each block represents 1 damage. The larger cubes represent 5 damage. As needed players can use their colored player tokens with the 3 printed on one side to represent 3 damage. Damage blocks are placed in the target mech’s damage dish, in a support unit’s truck bed or onto targeted buildings. Players must be extremely careful to place damage into the correct mech’s damage dish or they will have a malfunction called. Players can self correct misplaced damage during the action phase to avoid a malfunction. (See Malfunctions.) Players are encouraged to pre-arrange their damage blocks next to their weapon cards in the amount of that weapon’s damage. Some special damage types are represented by their own damage token. These tokens should be placed next to the appropriate weapon during setup. (See Advanced Recon Appendix C)

Damage Dish Each player has a damage dish in their color. It is placed on the opponent’s side of the table during the action phase to make dropping damage cubes into it easier. mech command rts

RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

Damage Phase During the damage phase, all of the damage that has accumulated over the action phase is combined with any additional delayed damage or other sources of damage like mines. The damage dish is given back to its controlling player who attempts to shield some if possible and assigns the rest to armor points. He announces what limbs and items he lost from the damage, or if he’s destroyed completely. All damage is considered simultaneous but it is helpful to process the damage phase in the following steps. Apply delayed damage effects. While the bulk of damage is usually received during the action phase, there are sometimes effects that cause delayed damage which is accounted for during the damage phase. The most common of these effects are weapons with delayed damage like artillery (it does not detonate until the damage phase), player controlled turrets, support units with the Energy Lance upgrade, and sometimes when a building is blown up under a mech causing it to fall into the rubble for 3 damage. Both sides of the table work together to identify these delayed damage effects and add damage cubes to the players’ dishes as necessary. Note that all damage incurred during the damage phase is simultaneous to any other damage given or received previously in the round. Return damage trays. Once all damage from all possible sources has been accumulated into the damage dishes, it’s time to pass them back to the opposing team. They now get to see just how bad they took it that round, or how well they stayed out of trouble. Players gather any additional damage they have accumulated that, for whatever reason, was not placed in their dish. For example, a mine token they triggered earlier in the round and placed on their mech board. All debts and consequences come due in the damage phase. Activate Shields. If the player has one or more shield cards equipped and enough energy left to activate it they may do so now. The shielded damage is set to the side of the shield card for now to show how much damage was shielded, and the remaining amount of damage is assigned. Assign Damage. Remaining damage must be assigned to the armor points on the mech board. These may be placed on any armor point the controlling player chooses. Once placed however,

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damage cannot be moved to other areas of the mech during subsequent damage phases. Losing Limbs and Items from Damage. If all of the armor points connected to an item slot are destroyed the attached item is no longer operable and is flipped over. The mech board uses connecting lines to identify which armor points are linked to an item slot and which armor points comprise a leg section. If the limb is repaired or the mech is re-spawned the attached equipment returns to operable status. Legs do not have equipment attached to them. Declare loss of legs or destruction. Announce if your mech is destroyed or is missing legs. If a leg section is destroyed the mech must spend one additional energy gem for each regular movement. If both legs are destroyed the mech is immobilized and can no longer perform regular movement. It can however still activate boosters and rotate. Once all green core armor points are filled the mech is destroyed and removed from the board. Remove Support Units. Support units with 2 damage blocks are removed from the board. Support units take one damage block each time they receive damage regardless of the amount of damage they receive from a single attack.

Deployment Weapons designated as deployment weapons require the mech to deploy into a static position to fire. You may rotate and fire but not move or boost a mech while it is deployed. By default, deploying requires spending an energy gem. To deploy your mech first call “Deploying [Color]” and place an energy gem from your energy pool next to your mech. You may now call “Hits” as usual and activate deployment weapons. Undeployment. To un-deploy call ‘Undeploy” and move the gem that was next to your mech onto your mech board, it is now spent. Mechs cannot move or boost while deployed and to do so will cause a malfunction. They can still rotate however. Tetrapod mechs by default do not need to be deployed to fire deployment weapons.

The Pulse Turret requires deployment but is one of the most powerful weapons in the game.

Designated Player

Elevation

Also referred to as the Primary Player. One player is the designated player that facilitates and organizes the game. The designated player calls the start of the action phase. The designated player also determines who will declare and assign their damage first, confirms objective completion and generally keeps play organized and moving. The designated player announces when you are in a new phase and walks the players through the phase.

MECH COMMAND RTS has multiple levels of elevation. Ground, rooftop and skyscraper.

Effect Most items have an effect, either damage, shield or boost. The effect is located in the upper right corner of item cards. Note that the term ‘effect’ is sometimes used in this rulebook to describe a generic instance of damage that could be from a weapon a mine or some other source.

Elite Items Some items are designated as Elite with the Elite keyword above its price (and often in the title). Elite weapons cannot be purchased unless otherwise specified in a mission. Elite items are usually earned by completing specific side mission objectives. “Any Item” Means Elite Too. If an objective reward states that ANY item or mech may be purchased that includes Elite items. Note that there are not many Elite items in Mech Command RTS so far but many are planned. In the Core Set there are some Elite shields, boosters and a couple weapons. The KickStarter campaign unlocked four Elite mechs for the Core Set. Each has their own unique ability. The add on packs provide more Elite items and mechs. Half Price Elite Items. Sometimes secondary objectives provide an item or mech board for free or allow it to be purchased at half price. Always round the price of an item up to whole numbers. Regardless, the item must be claimed before starting the next mission; discounts and choices do not roll over into the future.

Moving between elevations. Units cannot move up in elevation except through arial boosting. Regular movement may be used to go down in elevation. Going up or down in elevation does not cost any additional boost or movement beyond what is required to move a single hex. Shooting between elevations. Most weapons cannot target units located on a different elevation. The exception is indirect fire weapons such as artillery or missiles. Different elevations are not considered adjacent for targeting purposes even if the hexes are side by side.

Energy Energy is represented by blue gems. It is used to pay for movement and to activate items. The amount required to activate an item is shown by its ‘cost’ stat. Energy is recharged each round during the recharge phase. Players forfeit an energy gem to the respawn track when they perform a malfunction. (See Energy Pool, Recharge, Malfunctions)

Energy Pool The energy pool is the set of energy gems each mech has available to spend. A mech’s energy pool is situated below its mech board. Energy is shifted from the energy pool onto item cards and onto the mech board for movement. Energy is returned to the energy pool during the recharge phase. Each item’s recharge level will specify how much energy is returned to the energy pool each round. All energy spent on movement is returned to the energy pool each recharge phase.

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energy in the Hand is Never Returned Once an energy gem is picked up it is never returned to the energy pool.

but are advised to increase the stack of a building’s mirrored counterpart on the other side of the map as well. This Skirmish missions identify specific ways to utilize the extra buildings as well.

For example: green calls a successful hit on red. Green picks up 2 energy gems expecting to activate a starting blaster with 2 overheat, but then realizes the weapon is still re-charging and has 1 gem on it. He can shift some or all of the energy to a different weapon but cannot return it to his energy pool as it is already in his hand. He cannot shift the energy to a booster card or a shield card because he has not called boost nor shield (and it is the wrong phase for shields anyway).

Half Price Items

Wasted energy is placed on the mech board; it will be returned to the energy pool during the recharge phase. A player in the above example situation could use one of the energy gems for movement as that does not require an announcement, but since only one movement can be paid for at a time, any excess energy is wasted and just placed on the mech board as well. While this rule-set may seem severe, it is designed to reduce unclear handling and movement of gems and ammo in MECH COMMAND RTS. Once picked up, energy must be placed correctly or lost. Players cannot just hold energy gems in their hand waiting to spend them. Those that like to fidget with their game components will have to learn to be careful and purposeful whenever touching their gems and ammo in this real time strategy board game.

Artillery and Missiles are currently the only indirect fire weapons in the game. Indirect fire is an attribute that allows weapons to be fired without having line of sight. Indirect fire weapons may be fired at elevation levels different than the attacking unit’s. Indirect fire weapons may target units that normally require adjacent attackers (support units) or a specific range (structures), as long as the artillery or missile round meets the necessary conditions when it hits. For example, a missile can target a support unit as long as it can reach the support unit before it runs out of range, even though the mech firing the missile is not adjacent.

Equipment Cards Blue equipment cards are a type of item card and consist of defensive equipment like shield generators, passive upgrades and miscellaneous equipment. Equipment Slot Swapping. Blue equipment cards may also be attached to any weapon slot regardless of weight. This usually represents sacrificing offensive power for greater defense or utility.

Extra Buildings Pack Those with the Mega Cities Extra Building Pack should look online for more extensive information on how to incorporate the enhanced skylines into missions. As a default players should feel free to increase the size of all double stack buildings in any map. They may also experiment however they see fit,

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RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

Some objective rewards provide an item or mech board for free or allow it to be purchased at half price. Always round the price of an item up to whole numbers. The item must be claimed before starting the next mission; discounts and choices do not roll over into the future.

Indirect Fire

Inventory A team’s inventory is all of the item cards and mech boards that team has purchased so far. During respawn, items and mech boards may be swapped out from others in the team’s inventory. Inventory is recorded on the team’s campaign sheet.

Item Cards Item cards are used to equip mechs with weapons, boosters and other equipment. There are five basic item types each with its own specific border color that matches up to available slots on the mech board. Light weapons (white) Medium weapons (orange) Heavy weapons (red) Boosters (green) Equipment (blue) Item cards must match the color of the item slot found on the mech board or meet the item swapping rules.

Item Purchasing

Items are purchased after the mission briefing is read but before the mission starts using the team’s available currency. All purchases are recorded on the team’s campaign sheet and verified by the other team. Item cards (and mech boards) can be exchanged during the mission whenever a mech respawns using items currently in the team’s inventory. Item Store. Each team has their own identical deck of items and mech boards. Players can only purchase items and mech boards from their own store. Store each team’s store separately. A post KickStarter upgrade was to print team 1 and team 2 on the backs of all the cards to help organize them separately. (Thanks late backers!)

Item Scrapping & Selling All non-starting items and mech boards may be sold for its scrap value. To scrap an item cross it off your inventory list and add its scrap value to your current total. Scrap Values: Price is 5 to 40 = 5 Credits. Price is 40 to 99 = 10 Credits. Price is 100 or more = 25 Credits.

Line of sight disputes. Players can call pause in order to verify line of sight. Verify that the units in question are centered in their hexes. If necessary the attacker can rotate their LED light back and forth over the target to identify line of sight. (See Pausing the Game) By default if any light from the attacker appears on the target then there is line of sight. Note that this must be direct light and not ambient or reflected light, the difference should be clear. Tiny Fractions of Light. As a group, the players can decide how to determine the rare cases when a very tiny fraction of light barely appears on the opponent’s base or the tip of a foot or weapon. Especially if the light only seems to appear sometimes. Bad Crow Games recommends letting ties or such arguable amounts go to the defender. But if this leads to too many debates then agree on any sliver of light at all. MECH COMMAND RTS is a fast moving game, you can help keep it fast and organized by only calling very clear and relatively obvious hits. Line of sight common sense. Players are encouraged to use common sense when determining line of sight. Sometimes a map feature that intends to block line of sight will allow minor light leakage; for example if light seeps out from under an imperfect wall stand it should not be considered line of sight.

Item Slot Swapping Weapons of lower weight may be attached to heavier weapon slots. I.e. a light weapon may be attached to a medium or heavy slot. Blue equipment may be attached to any weapon slot unless the blue equipment card specifies a minimum slot weight. For example a blue equipment card may be attached to a light weapon slot (white) unless it specifies that its minimum weight is medium or heavy.

Line of Sight Line of sight is required to call a hit on a target. Line of sight is determined by whether your LED light shows up on the target. This means that you must have your beam actually pointed towards the target in order to call a hit and so you may have to rotate your mech’s LED light around in order to attack someone who called a hit on you.

Too Late I Already Moved. In some rare cases an attacker may call a hit on a defender that is in the process of moving their mech into cover. If the defender had partially entered the new hex when the hit was called, use the new hex to determine line of sight. We call this the ‘New Hex’ ruling. In this scenario the defender needs to have already started his movement before the hit was called. This creates the opportunity for more misses in the game which is arguably more realistic. But it can be abused; regular movement is not designed to dodge simultaneous hits like boosters. If this ruling system is being abused by some players the group can vote to switch to the opposite extreme: the ‘Last Hex’ ruling. If a mech is even partially in the previous hex when a hit is called on them then use the previous hex to determine line of sight. (For example if a player is consistently starting their movement at the same time or immediately after having a hit called on them but claiming otherwise. But whatever is voted on is what all players must abide by. mech command rts

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Malfunctions

Malfunctions can be called on players that take actions improperly. For a list of these see the Malfunction Appendix B at the back of this book. The consequences to most malfunctions is to have the player place one of their energy gems on the respawn track, where it will return to their energy pool according to the normal timing of respawn. Malfunction fees are placed on the first space of the respawn track that the player does not already have a malfunction fee gem on. Thus additional malfunctions can require placing gems farther up the track and thus take multiple rounds to return. The fee is always paid from the active energy pool. If the player does not have any energy left in their pool they can pay it from the spent energy on their mech board. In the rare situation where a player has neither, they can pay the malfunction fee from the energy on one of their cards but the card is inoperable until that energy is returned, (the card still recharges other energy on it as normal). (See Appendix B for more.)

Mech Boards Mech boards represent the mech chassis and designate its stats, item slots and armor point configuration. Mech boards have the following stats: Energy: the amount of the mechs default energy pool. Ammo: the amount of ammo tokens the mech begins the mission with and the maximum it can carry. Total Armor: the total amount of armor the mech has. The distribution of armor is depicted by the armor point circles. (See Armor) Special Rules: some mechs have special rules consisting of abilities and limitations. For example, most tank mechs have a movement penalty as well as the tank ram ability. Weight Class. Mech boards come in various weights: light, medium, heavy. A mech’s weight is identified in their description and with the type of border graphic it uses. The weight of a mech determines its respawn rate. (See Respawn)

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Melee In order to call a hit with a melee weapon, you must be adjacent to the target. Instead of calling “Hit”, you instead call “Strike” or for greater clarity, “Blade Strike”. Melee attackers do not need to rotate their LED light to cover their target but otherwise must have clear line of sight, i.e. they cannot make melee strikes through walls or onto other elevation levels. Melee items must be attached to an arm slot; they cannot be attached to torso, shoulders or other nonarm slots.

Mines Objective Mines. Some objective tokens are intermixed with mines and placed face down. When a ‘?’ token is controlled at the beginning of the damage phase any adjacent allied unit may reveal it to see if it is a mine. If it is a mine then the revealing unit detonates it. In the case of a mech it takes the mine and places it on its mech board where it will be treated like damage that round. In the case of support units, apply a damage token (or whatever amount the mission specifies) to the support unit and discard the mine token. Some missions specify larger mines that cause damage to all adjacent hexes friend and foe. The other type of mine: proximity mines are a player item found in the Tactical Warfare pack. See Appendix D for more details on proximity mines.

Missiles Missiles are indirect fire weapons with a limited range. To activate, announce “[color] missile launch”, and pay to activate the weapon. Then starting with a hex adjacent to your mech, touch it with your finger and count 1 then each hex after as if you were boosting. If your ‘finger’ missile can reach a target before it runs out of range call “Missile Strike on [color]” then place the damage into the target’s damage dish or onto the support unit. Missiles are considered adjacent to whatever they hit, thus can be fired outside of normal range restrictions and still hit targets that normally have range restrictions like buildings, support units and cloaked mechs.

Movement

Movement Penalties

Regular movement costs 1 energy and allows a mech to move a single hex. Energy spent on movement is shifted from the mechâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy pool to the mech board itself. Only one movement may be paid for and performed at a time. Like all actions in MECH COMMAND RTS, movement must be paid for and performed with the same hand.

A movement penalty requires an extra gem to be spent on regular movement. Some mechs have a movement penalty by default like tank mechs and the Paladin and Locust mechs. All mechs gain a movement penalty when they lose a leg. Movement penalties are cumulative, thus a tank that loses a leg would have two movement penalties which would make regular movement cost 3 energy. Movement penalties do not affect other forms of movement like boosting.

Moving Through Friendly Units. Mechs cannot move through other units even friendly ones with regular movement. The reason for this is units cannot end up in the same hex as another unit, and regular movement is always performed one hex at a time. Support units, however, can move through friendly units as long as they have enough movement to do so without ending on a hex with another friendly unit, (or any unit for that matter). This is because support units perform all of their movement at one time similar to a boost. Mobile Objective Tokens. Units cannot end movement on a mobile objective token, but can on stationary objectives like Uplink buildings. Regular Movement vs. Boosting. Boosting is not considered regular movement and is not confined to its limitations. For example, mechs can move through friendly units when boosting and over enemy units when arial boosting. Boosts can be performed without penalties even after losing legs, and of course boosting allows arial movement for some mechs. Rotating Mechs. Rotating a mech does not require any energy and can be done at any time. Note that you must have actual light on a target to call a hit; this means you do need to rotate your mech in order to have line of sight on a target, even if you know your mech can see it. If you call a hit on a target that you do not have actual light on you can have a malfunction called on you.

Objectives Mission objectives are identified in each missionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s setup briefing. Most missions will have one primary objective necessary for victory and additional side missions to accrue extra resources or special equipment. Other missions may require two out of three objectives to be completed for victory. Mission objectives are tracked and collated during the recharge phase. For example uplink points are collected and counted during the recharge phase, salvage tokens are dropped off at base and counted, and destroyed base buildings are tallied. Once the objective(s) to obtain victory are completed and checked during the recharge phase the mission is automatically over, whether the winning team prefers to continue or not. Objective Tracking Spaces. Use the primary and secondary objective spaces on the map to track mission progress. Tracking Objectives. Salvage, retrieval and resource collection missions have their own tokens that can be collected and stored on an objective tracking space. These are collected, counted and checked for completion during the recharge phase. Tracking Kill Missions and Other Objectives. Objectives that do not use a specific token like Uplink, and mech kill objectives can be tracked by placing colored player tokens or cubes on the objective tracking spaces. Mission Objective Ties. There is never a tie in missions. The top objective in the objective list takes precedence when objectives are completed in the same round. To break ties determine which team has made the most progress on the next objective on the list. mech command rts

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Objective Tokens

Objective Token Types

Some objective tokens must be picked up and carried back to the base, while others like Uplink tokens represent stationary locations that must be operated. Some objective locations are identified on the mission map and are not represented by a token. Interacting with an objective token or location always takes place during the recharge phase. This means that if you want a unit to pick up an objective token, or otherwise interact with it, you will need to end its movement adjacent to the objective.

Each objective token type, particularly the moveable ones share common rules but each is different in its own way.

Controlling an Objective Token. In order to interact with an objective token or location you must first control it. In order to control an objective token or location your team must have more units, support or mech, adjacent to it than your opponent does. When opposing teams have equal amounts of units adjacent to a point then no one controls it. Operating an Objective Location. Most stationary objective locations also require operation. Operation can only be performed by support units. Thus while you can count your mechs towards controlling an objective you must have a support unit adjacent to actually operate it. Loading and Unloading Objective Tokens. All loading and unloading of objective tokens takes place during the recharge phase. Only one objective token may be loaded and unloaded by a unit per round, and only one may be carried at a time. (The exception is resource cubes, see below.) To load an objective token the unit must be adjacent to it, and the objective must be controlled by your team. Objective tokens may be dropped off on any empty adjacent hex. If the unit is in a delivery zone hex it does not need an empty adjacent hex, it can be counted as delivered. Destroying Objective Tokens. By default, if a unit is destroyed while carrying an objective token, the token is placed on the hex it was in. If this hex ends up being a base hex it is considered to have been delivered. The exception is resource cubes which are destroyed.

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Resource Cubes. Can only be carried by support units. Represented by black cubes. These are collected from stationary resource collection point buildings identified on the map. Exceptions to standard rules: resource cubes are destroyed when the support unit carrying them is destroyed. While only one resource cube can be loaded per recharge phase, support units can carry and unload two resource cubes at a time. Retrieval Tokens. Can be carried by support units and mechs, (this is the only objective token that can be carried by mechs). Some missions mix retrieval tokens face down with mines while other missions have them starting face up.

Salvage Tokens. Can only be carried by support units. Some missions require destroying buildings in order to spawn salvage tokens while in other missions salvage tokens are hidden amongst mines.

Question Mark Tokens and Mines. Mines, salvage and retrieval tokens are sometimes mixed together randomly and placed face down showing their question mark side. Question mark tokens should be revealed at the beginning of the damage phase to check if it is a mine so its damage can be applied with the rest of the damage that round; if it turns out to be an objective token it remains on the board as it cannot be loaded up until the recharge phase. Any adjacent allied unit can opt to take the mine damage. Some missions will specify area of effect mine damage in which case all adjacent units and buildings would take damage during the damage phase.

One Handed Operation MECH COMMAND RTS is played with one hand. This means players must choose which hand they want to use and only use that one. It is suggested for beginners or those who frequently forget this to place their other hand in a pocket or behind their back. Both hands can be used when resolving the other phases of the round.

Uplink Points. Stationary structures that generate one uplink point per recharge phase or provide some other effect specified in the mission. Uplink points consist of the entire building they are placed on. By default uplink buildings cannot be destroyed (but can still be boosted through with the over-run ability). Unlike moveable objective tokens, units can end their movement on an uplink building. Units on an uplink building count towards controlling and operating it.

Objective Token MIsc... Supply Lines. Support units can load and unload an objective token in the same recharge phase allowing them to pick up a token then immediately place it in an adjacent hex. By default they can only load and unload once per recharge phase. This allows teams to create support unit chains where an objective token is picked up then unloaded to an adjacent hex, picked up again by an adjacent support unit and unloaded to another adjacent hex, and so one; thus transferring an objective token over long distances in a single recharge phase. Objective Tokens and Movement. Units cannot end their movement on a moveable objective token. Support units can move through objective tokens while mechs can boost through or over them as long as they do not end their movement on top of the token. The exception is stationary objectives like uplink buildings; units can end their movement on these. Support vs Mech Carry. Salvage tokens and resource cubes may only be loaded and carried by support units. Retrieval tokens can be carried by either support or mechs.

The reason for one handed operation is to prevent exploits not in the spirit or timing of MECH COMMAND RTS. This is a fast game but it should not be frantic. Each action should be taken clearly and one at a time.

Overcharge An attribute that creates an effect when there are no energy gems present on the card at the beginning of the recharge phase. The item must not have had any energy gems at any point during the round. For example the elite Arclight Shield Generator will repair 1 armor point during the recharge phase if there were no gems on it this round. Overcharge effects do not apply if there were any gems present at any time during the current round. This will usually be clear if there are no energy gems present at the very beginning of the recharge phase.

Overheat Overheat is the maximum amount of energy or ammo an item can ever have on its card. If activating an item would exceed that amount then it cannot be activated. The overheat level is found in the bottom right corner of item cards. If a player begins to shift gems or ammo from their energy pool to an invalid item they cannot replace that energy and must either cancel the action (thereby wasting the energy) or divert it to another valid item card. Once picked up, energy and ammo can never be returned to the pool. So be careful when handling your goods! If a player proceeds with placing energy or ammo onto an item card in excess of its overheat levels then they need to correct it, (the energy is wasted and moved to the mech board) or other players can call a malfunction on them. (See Malfunctions.)

Over-Run Tank Ability This is a tank ability that allows them to boost through enemy mechs and buildings causing 3 damage to each but 1 hex to themselves for each hex they over-run. Over-runs through buildings do not also damage units on top of the building. (See the Over-run tutorial in the Campaign Book, Mission 3.) mech command rts

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Passive This is a term found on some items or abilities to help identify that they are always in effect and do not have an activation cost. Some cards specify the term passive at the top of the card like the Power Core and Ammo Racks equipment cards. An ability does not need to have the passive attribute listed in order for it to always be in effect however. For example, many abilities listed on the mech boards do not specify passive, like the Tetrapod’s Stable ability, but are still always in effect and do not require an activation cost.

Pausing the Game If players ever have any doubts about what just happened, disputes on line of sight or other questions they can call “Pause!”.When a player calls pause, they stop the timer (lay the sand timer on its side) and all the other pilots, pause whatever they were doing. If they are holding a gem they were about to place on a weapon card, they continue to hold it. If they were in mid-movement they simply stop the movement between hexes. Once the question has been cleared up, the players say “go”, and continue with what they were doing. Calling a malfunction automatically pauses the game.

Range Range comes into play in MECH COMMAND RTS with some special weapons or when attacking support units and structures. Attackers must be adjacent to support units to target them, and within 3 hexes to target structures. There are 6 possible ranges: Adjacent: for melee weapons and attacking support units. Short: 3 hexes for shotguns and attacking structures. Medium: 6 hexes. Long: 9 hexes. Ultra-Long: 12 hexes. Infinite: the range of the majority of weapons in the game.

Ranged Weapons By default most weapons have infinite range. Weapons with specific range specify the range in their rules section as well as with a large number graphic on the weapon art. Common ranged weapons are: missiles and artillery.

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RULES REFERENCE GUIDE

Range, Melee. Melee range requires an attacker to be adjacent to the target in order to call a strike. Melee attackers do not need to rotate their LED light to cover their target but otherwise must have clear line of sight, i.e. they cannot make melee strikes through walls or onto other elevation levels.

Ray Weapons A special weapon type planned for future expansions that target all units in the attacking mech’s light beam at the beginning of the damage phase. Ray weapons, like artillery, impact their damage during the damage phase. To use a ray weapon players call out “death ray”, pay to activate the weapon then leave their mech motionless for the remainder of the round leaving their LED light on. The mech cannot take any other action and any action cancels the death ray. Once the damage phase begins the ray inflicts damage on all units and structures that are clearly marked by their LED beam. Note that rays do not target units or structures in the peripheral glow of the LED light, but only those in the clear focused beam of the light. The ray does not target units that are completely unmarked by the beam due to being in the shadow of another unit.

Recharge A stat on most item cards that determines the amount of energy that is returned from the card to the mech’s energy pool. Mech boards are considered to have infinite recharge as all energy on the mech board itself is returned to the pool. Note that ammo on item cards is not returned to the pool, it is discarded according to the amount of the item’s recharge stat i.e. energy returns during recharge while ammo is discarded. Recharge Advanced. Advanced players may choose to move all remaining energy and ammo on a card that was not recharged this round to the side of the card. This will create better action tracking the following round, as players will be able to determine how many times the item was activated in the current round or the previous round. This assists with tracking when resolving questions or disputes during the damage phase.

Recharge Phase

Resource Collection

The recharge phase is when energy is returned to the generator pool and spent ammunition is discarded. Mission objectives are tallied, victory conditions are checked and units are respawned.

Support units can load a single resource cube during the recharge phase if they are adjacent to a controlled resource extraction site. Resource cubes are destroyed when the support unit carrying them is destroyed. A support unit may carry two resource cubes at once and may unload both at the same time. Like other objectives, support units can load and unload resource cubes in the same recharge phase, thus allowing the creation of supply chains using multiple support units. (See Objective Token Types)

Recharge Phase Timing. In some cases the timing of the recharge phase may matter,. If it does then it should be resolved in the following steps. Recharge Energy. In turns, player by player, recharge energy from the mech board and item cards according to their recharge rate. Spent ammo is not returned, it is discarded. Respawn. Move all units forward one space on the respawn track. Units that are already on the final respawn space are placed anywhere in their base. Repair and Reload. All units in their base or on a alternate corner hex, repair 2 damage and reload 2 ammo as long as it does not exceed their maximum ammo. Units that are able to repair in other locations via support unit upgrades or engineer equipment do so at this time. Track Mission Objectives. Collect and tally all objectives; i.e. collect uplink tokens, mark relevant mission objective cards with the amount of mechs killed, support units killed, extraction and salvage returned to the base etc… All of these are considered simultaneous. Check for victory conditions. See if the primary objectives required for a mission victory have been completed and if so end the mission here.

Repair & Reload By default, mechs repair 2 armor points and reload 2 ammo each recharge phase if they are located within their team’s base, or on either of the non-base colored corners of the board. Some missions may specify different repair and reload rules. Support units with the repair upgrade and repair drones repair a single armor point of any adjacent allied mechs during the recharge phase. Repair and reload effects are cumulative with different effects. For example if a mech is in a corner base and adjacent to a repair drone during the recharge phase it would repair 3 armor and reload 3 ammo.

Retrieval Objectives Retrieval is a mission objective type that requires units to pick up objects from a set location and return them to the base. Retrieval is the same as salvage except mechs are also able to load and carry retrieval tokens. (See Objective Token Types)

Respawn Almost every mission allows respawns. Destroyed mechs require a number of rounds to respawn according to their weight class. Place destroyed units on the respawn track printed on the side of the map according to their weight. More than one unit may be placed on each respawn space except for identically colored support units. See Support Unit Respawn below. During each recharge phase including the same round a unit was placed onto the respawn track move the unit forward one space on the track. When the mech is on the final respawn space at the beginning of a recharge phase it is moved back onto the base fully repaired, reloaded and all items operable. Switching Mechs During Respawn. Players may choose to respawn an entirely different mech board and/or weapon loadout as long as their team has them in their inventory. Shift the respawning mech’s miniature up or down on the respawn track according to the new mech’s weight class. Replace the miniature type as necessary. For example, if a medium mech is destroyed but the player chooses to respawn a heavy mech, shift the miniature up one space on the track. The decision to switch mechs can be taken at any time as long as its respawn track position is adjusted accordingly.

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Support Unit Respawn. When a support unit is destroyed it is placed on the first respawn space that does not already contain a support unit of the same color. Support units of different colors can share the same respawn space as well as with mechs. The only limiter is support units cannot share the same respawn space with a support unit of their same color. Additional destroyed support units of the same color will have to be placed further up the respawn track. Voluntary Respawn. Mechs can be voluntarily respawned without going through the self destruction sequence if they are located in their primary base during the recharge phase. This does not count as a mech kill for the other team. Place the miniature according to the new weight class. Voluntary respawns have the same respawn timing as if they were destroyed earlier in the round.

Round Sequence The Action phase comprises the majority of the game and occurs simultaneously between all players. It begins when all players have turned on their LED lights, reset the 2 minute timer, and the designated player says “Go!”. During this phase players take all the actions they choose to such as moving, firing weapons and activating boosters. It ends when all players have turned off their LED lights or the 2 minute timer is complete AND any player calls “Time!” The Damage phase is when players return their opponents damage dishes and receive their own. Players activate any defenses, then allocate remaining damage onto their mech board. The Recharge phase is when energy is returned to the generator pool and spent ammunition is discarded. During the Recharge phase any victory conditions are determined and collected and objective drop-offs are made. Repair and reloading occurs. At the end of the Recharge phase, any valid respawns, designated by the mission type take place and repair and reload occurs.

Sacrifice Ability This ability found on the Paladin Elite mech means that all damage targeting an adjacent allied unit is placed in the Paladin’s damage dish instead. Like with buildings, each AoE damage event (area of effect) only causes damage to the paladin once, regardless of how many adjacent allies it would normally also damage. The enemy team should call out hits on the adjacent allied units as normal but place any damage in the Paladin’s dish. The Sacrifice ability also works on the articulated deployable units found in the Tactical Warfare pack that have health like the hunter drone, support drone and the deployable turrets. It does not work to protect buildings or units from tank over-runs however.

Self Destruct Players can choose to self destruct at any time during the action phase. To self destruct players announce, “[color] self destructs” then place their mech on the respawn track according to its weight class. They then place their player token on the hex they self-destructed in with the ‘3’ side face up. Units cannot end their movement on one of these self destruct markers and it still counts as a mech for allied and enemy movement. During the damage phase all adjacent hexes take 3 damage, including buildings, enemies and allies. Self destructing counts as a mech kill for the opposing team. Note that players can only perform a self destruct during the action phase; the damage phase is too late.

Selling Items See Item Scrapping.

Shields Shields are activated during the damage phase when allocating damage. The player must announce they are activating a shield, pay for it and identify how much damage is being blocked. That damage is temporarily set aside next to the shield for tracking purposes. Currently there are only two types of shields in the game, shield generators (Core Set) and physical shields (Tactical Warfare pack). Shield Generators. These are shields that cost energy to activate during the damage phase.

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Skirmish Play

There are several one-off skirmish missions at the back of this Rules Reference Guide. The Skirmish Appendix explains the rules on how to load out your team for skirmish missions. The Covert Ops Skirmish Campaign. The extra skirmish missions included in the back of this Rules Reference Guide may be played as a Covert Ops mini-campaign that occurs after the events of the Core Campaign.

See the Skirmish Appendix on page 40 of this book for more in-depth rules. New players are advised to still go through the tutorial, and possibly Mission 1 before playing the 1st Skirmish map. Winning the Covert Ops Skirmish Campaign. Teams with 3 Victory points after three missions earn a Major Victory. 2 Victory points = a Minor Victory. 1 Victory point = a Minor Defeat. 0 Victory points = a Majory Defeat.

While the factions ostensibly have a truce after the recent war; as they explore deeper into the network of ancient underground cities; old habits die hard. It was the mech squadrons that were always the tip of the spear during the cold war for politically distasteful but strategically important missions. Especially as it was only the mechs that could reliably survive transit between outposts back then. Persistent Rewards. If played in a series, the skirmish missions offer rewards that carry on to the following skirmish mission. This provides players some of the experience of playing the core campaign without the time commitment. The skirmish missions also feature some unorthodox mission parameters and map setups not available in the Core Campaign. But remember any core mission may be selected as a skirmish mission.

Stable Ability

The stable ability means a mech does not need to deploy in order to fire deployment weapons. Normally deploying requires paying an energy, and immobilizing the mech other than rotating. (See Deploying) Tetrapods have high energy reserves and moderate armor. They usually posses no ammo racks however, and only a couple weapon slots. Fortunately, many deployment weapons are energy based and are some of the most powerful in the game. Tetrapods also lack arial boosters so they can be impeded by obstacles and lack reliable escape maneuvers. Good tetrapod pilots overcome this challenge by leveraging their greater energy reserves to perform more movement. A scout mechâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s booster advantage can only be used for movement while the extra energy of a Tetrapod has the tactical versatility to focus on mobility, offense, or shields as the situation requires.

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Support Units Many maps utilize support units to accomplish a range of objectives. The mission will determine how many support units each player has, where they are placed, and how they respawn. By default, support units have 4 movement and have 2 health. Moving Support units. Support units are moved at any time during the action phase. Once all LED lights are turned off the action phase is over and nothing can be moved. As long as one light is still on players can move their support units, even if their mech’s light is off, or alternatively they can turn their mech’s light back on. See Action Phase) Support Unit Movement. By default, support units have 4 movement. Players can move support units up to 4 hexes, but regardless of how many hexes they move they cannot be moved again that round. Support units cannot be moved 1 hex, then later on, another hex. Only one support unit may be moved at a time. Support units can move through friendly units as long as they have enough remaining movement to do so and do not end their movement in a hex with another unit. A player’s color block should be placed into the truck bed or onto the hex of a support unit once it has finished its movement. Sometimes placing this movement block may seem unnecessary and laborious, but at other times it is absolutely vital to track which support units have moved and haven’t moved already, especially when the action gets intense and close; especially around the far side of a building. Thus it is a good habit to get used to even when it does not seem to matter. Damaging Support Units. Mechs must be adjacent to support units to call a hit on them. To call a hit the attacking player calls “[color] hits [color] truck”. The attacking player then pays to activate a weapon as normal, then places a damage block into the truck bed of the target support unit. Maximum of One Damage. Support Units take 1 damage block each time they take damage, regardless of the amount of damage from the attack. Some effects may state an exception to this rule such as the area of effect mines found in some wasteland maps and the anti-infantry attribute. (Anti-Infantry attacks place two damage cubes.)

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Damage is placed inside the support unit’s truck bed if there is room, otherwise stack the damage cube on top of the other cubes in the truck. In these situations it will most commonly be a movement cube from that round and a damage block from this or a previous round (which means that the support unit is not going anywhere and most likely will be destroyed during the damage phase.) At the end of the damage phase all support units with 2 damage blocks in their truck bed are destroyed and removed from the board and placed on the first space of the respawn track, (and the next space if it is already occupied by the same colored support unit.) Respawning Support Units. Support units respawn quickly. The first support unit destroyed is placed on the first space of the respawn track, it will respawn later this round during the recharge phase. The next support unit of the same color (not of the same team) is placed one space further up the track. Thus only one support unit of each color will respawn in one round. Support units may share respawn track spaces with any mech as well as support units of different colors. Retrieval and Salvage tokens are not destroyed when a support unit is destroyed. If it was carrying one of these objective tokens it is placed on the hex in which the support unit died. Resource cubes are destroyed.

Support Unit upgrades Support unit upgrades may be purchased along with items and mech boards. Support unit upgrades are represented by cards. Track support unit upgrade purchases just like any other purchase, by marking it on your campaign sheet and having the opposing team verify the purchase. Only one support unit upgrade per team may be active during a mission. Which upgrade is active is chosen (secretly, if desired) and shown simultaneously before the mission starts. If all of a team’s support units are in the base or respawn track during the recharge phase they may change their support unit upgrade. Advanced Training. The team’s support units can control objective points even when tied for control with non-advanced trained enemy support units. The team generates 1 extra uplink point per round if they control at least one uplink point. Energy Lance. The team’s support units inflict one damage on each adjacent enemy mech during the damage phase. It is recommended to tally and place new damage that occurs during the damage phase first before passing damage dishes. For example from support units with this upgrade, AoE damage from artillery, falling damage, and base turret damage. Mobile Engineering. Planned for future expansions. Each support unit may cause one damage to each adjacent building during the damage phase. Alternatively they may repair a point of health to each adjacent building during the recharge phase. Similar to AOE damage, a building is only repaired a single time from adjacent support units; even if the mobile engineering unit is adjacent to two hexes of the building. Mobile Repair and Reload. The team’s support units repair a point of armor and reload one ammo on each adjacent allied mech at the end of the recharge phase. If a mech is adjacent to more than one allied repair unit, it repairs and reloads from each one, up to its maximum armor and ammo count. Reinforced Armor. The team’s support units can take an extra damage. (By default, it would now have 3 health.) Reinforced support units can survive antiinfantry attacks which place two damage cubes into the support unit rather than one.

Support Unit Upgrade Cards are one of the bonus items paid for by late backers after the KickStarter campaign ended :)

Rocket Thrusters. The team’s support units can move an additional hex as part of their movement and all of their movement can be arial. This allows them to move over enemy units, onto higher elevations etc...

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Three Player Rules The third player in three player games should be the more advanced player. They receive several advantages to compensate for the difficulty of operating two mechs and squads of support units while your opponents are only operating one set. Set up is the same as in regular games, with the third player taking up one side of the table. It is strongly suggested to place a color player token on each mech board to help remember which mech is which color in the heat of battle. Even advanced players often need this visual cue when operating two mechs. 1. Extra Energy. The third player’s mechs add 1 extra energy gem to their energy pool. 2. Extended Time. The third player can announce that he is extending the timer once per round by flipping it over at some point before time is called; although the other players will be able to utilize that extra time period as well if they are able to. This is not intended to be an exploit, and the third player should give other players a heads up when he realizes that he will probably need more time so they can adjust accordingly, (rather than purposefully waiting until the last second and until the other team has exhausted their energy.) 3. Extra Pausing. The third player is allowed to pause the game to initiate actions when there are simultaneous actions occurring that are important for him to respond to. For example, if the third player has both of his mechs under fire, he can always pause the game and make a single response for each mech. For example he can choose to return fire with one, and once finished move the other. This pause rule is intended to be for occasional use when there is too much for any one player to respond to. This type of situation would allow the third player to call boost slightly after someone called a hit on them. If the third player needs to initiate attacks at the same time (for example both opponent mechs just stepped into line of sight but may not stay long) he can also pause the game to do so. But each mech he attacks is not frozen and can also respond with a single action before un-pausing the game. The first interaction is resolved and then, still under pause the third player resolves the interaction with the other player. In summary the third player may pause the game when he needs to resolve two different situations separately. He cannot pause the game to make a player return to his mech’s line of sight or provide other tactical

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advantages. Players should also be lenient when the third player needs to call a pause to simply think for a few seconds, something that is not normally allowed in standard advanced games. The team with two players can reduce the amount of this strain by not firing at both of the third player’s units at the same time. If they alternate their attacks by a few seconds the third player will rarely need to call a pause.

Two Player Rules Mech Command RTS was extensively play-tested with two players, each controlling two mechs. (In fact that is how it was originally conceived.) It is strongly suggested to place a color player token on each mech board to help remember which mech is which color in the heat of battle. Suprisingly, advanced players find this essential. All of the rules are otherwise the same; unless the players are beginners: Beginner Two Player Games. When playing the tutorial for the first time with two players it is suggested to play the first few missions with only a single mech each. This does change the tactical environment slightly but is worth it to give beginner players time to get their mech legs under them. When playing single-mech, two player games increase the amount of support units each player is using by one. So if the mission calls for two support units per color, deploy with three.

Timer MECH COMMAND RTS includes a 2 minute sand timer. The sand timer should be reset once all players have turned on their lights right before the designated player calls “start”. When the game is paused the player calling pause should place the sand timer on its side, or request that the designated player do so. The sand timer is placed near the designated player. Calling Time. As soon as the timer runs out any player can choose to call time. Players can continue to take actions as long as no one calls time and at least one LED light is still on. Running Out of Time. When time runs out during the action phase and a player calls “time”, no more actions may be taken but current ones may be finished. For example, if player A calls a valid hit then player B immediately calls time, player A may finish activating and paying for the weapon and applying damage. If any action and “time” are called simultaneously, the timer wins, (similar to boosts vs hits), and the action cannot be taken.

turrets

Walls

There are several different types of turrets in the game but only one in the Core set. See the Tactical Warfare appendix in this booklet for the other types.

Walls are 2 dimensional structures that block line of sight and movement, and are targeted and destroyed like buildings. Unlike buildings, units cannot move onto or stand on top of a wall. Units can perform arial boosts over walls. Walls have the same health as buildings unless otherwise specified. Missions specify whether to place walls vertically or horizontally. Walls are designed to block line of sight so bear that in mind if there is light leakage around or under the wall due to the wall stands, it should not be counted as LOS.

Core Campaign, Missile Turrets. Some missions specify missile turrets to be placed on top of buildings, usually base structures. Each hexagon of the building has a turret on it, although only one token needs to be placed per building. These turrets are operated by support units. Only allied units can end movement on their missile turret. Missile turrets, like uplink tokens do not otherwise block movement. Operating Missile Turrets. To operate a missile turret players move support units onto the building with their regular movement, which ends their turn. During the damage phase each support unit on a turret building can choose a single target to attack. Unless otherwise specified missile turrets have 6 range and do 3 damage. Just like regular missiles they are able to target any elevation, support units at range, and do not require line of sight. These attacks are performed at the beginning of the damage phase before damage is shielded and applied. Support units can leave turrets with regular movement in any direction during the next action phase. Support units can still be attacked while in turrets if the attack can legally hit them.

Uplink Objectives Uplink objectives require a team to control and operate uplink buildings or sites marked on the map. Each uplink building they control and operate during the recharge phase will collect a single uplink point, regardless of how many allied support units are adjacent to it. By default uplink buildings have infinite health. (See Objective Token Types: Uplink)

Shield Walls. Some of the later missions utilize shield walls as part of the team’s fortress. Enemy units cannot cross over or through shield walls. Allies can pass through a shield wall without counting the hex the shield wall is on. This free hex only applies to the first shield wall hex a unit is moving through. While shield walls are active the base buildings cannot be damaged. Shield walls can only be deactivated for a round by controlling generator points on the map. On some maps AI mechs are able to damage base structures through shield walls.

Weapons Weapons are a type of item card. They are activated when attacking a target. Weapons have two possible types of costs; energy and ammo. Most weapons inflict standard damage and require the standard attack announcement; for example: “Blue hits Green”. There are also special damage types that use their own damage tokens as well as special weapons that require their own announcement.

Victory Victory points are collected and marked on the campaign tracking sheet when a team completes a mission’s victory objective(s). The number of victory points a team has will determine certain events during the campaign and will eventually trigger the final mission necessary for winning the campaign. The campaign also provides different objectives, advantages and briefings determined by a team’s victory point count. The goal of the Core Campaign is not to just win but to achieve the highest form of Victory: Domination. The Core campaign becomes increasingly difficult for the team approaching a Domination Victory and thus more satisfying when it is achieved.

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APPENDIX A Standard Energy Weapon Classes - Core Set The four stats of a weapon (Cost, Damage, Recharge & Overheat) create the following tactical aspects: Burst: the highest amount of damage a weapon can cause in a round. Important for overcoming shields. DPE Ratio: how much damage you get per energy. Higher efficiency frees up energy for other actions. Firing Rate: how frequently can the weapon fire. Slow weapons are powerful but can leave you vulnerable. Minimum Cost to Fire: how much of an investment a single shot requires. Low MCF weapons require less planning and timing and are more efficient against support units.

Energy Cannons

Energy Blasters

High Burst / Slowest Fire

Good Energy Ratio / Slow Fire

Energy Cannons have the highest burst of the standard weapons which helps it overcome a targetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shields; but only fires once every three rounds. Their decent damage to energy ratio of 1.6 to 1 helps offset their high minimum firing cost. Extremely inefficient against support units.

Energy Blasters have the best damage to energy ratio of the standard weapons (2 to 1) but can only fire every other round. Energy Blasters are dependable weapons due to their relatively low MCF; there is usually enough leftover energy to fire a blaster.

Laser Rifles

Pulse Rifles

Good Burst / Fast / Poor Energy Ratio

Fastest Fire / Poor Energy Ratio

Laser Rifles are a mainstay for mech warfare. With burst almost as high as cannons, lasers can fire twice when fully charged and once the following round. The draw back is its one-to-one damage to energy ratio and a high minimum cost to fire at heavier weight classes.

Pulse weapons are designed around steady sustained fire that recharges completely each round. Pulse weapons have a low minimum cost to fire (1 to 2 energy) making them very efficient against support units and reliably available each round. They suffer from the same poor DPE ratios of laser rifles and the mediocre burst of blasters.

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Special Energy Weapon Classes - Core Set Special weapons have an additional requirement to use but provide unique tactical advantages. Most of these require their own call out or announcement. For example Plasma Artillery requires the attacker to announce “artillery strike” when they are firing, and melee weapons use the term “melee hit” instead of just “hit”. Unique call outs create more transparency and organization. See the individual entries for each special weapon for more details on how to use them.,

Energy blades

Plasma Artillery

Best Energy Ratio / Melee

Indirect AoE / Delayed / Deployment

Melee weapons have some of the best DPE ratios in the game making them extremely cheap to operate. They also have the lowest activation costs per strike making them efficient against support units while their decent burst makes them effective against mechs. They require adjacent targets however which restricts their utility. They can only be attached to arm slots.

Artillery weapons provide excellent utility and safety as they do not require line of sight to fire and can damage multiple hexes. The drawbacks are that it requires deploying your mech before firing (if not using a Tetrapod mech) and its damage does not impact until the damage phase, often giving targets time to move away.

on i s n

x eE

r u t Fu Pulse Turrets

Death Rays

Highest Burst / Fast / Deployment

AoE / Anti-Infantry / Delayed Damage

The Pulse Turret is one of the most formidable weapons on the battlefield. It has the highest potential burst (up to 12 in a single round), fast recharge, a good DPE ratio and low minimum firing cost. Their only drawback is that they require deploying your mech before firing, thus tetrapods favor this item. Pulse turrets are also bulky which reduces a mech’s armor slightly.

A prototype weapon developed only recently, Death Rays can target every unit in its wide beam at range, including support units that usually require an adjacent attacker. The draw back is its poor DPE ratio and delayed damage giving units time to move out of the beam before it fully charges up. A difficult weapon to master that can turn the tide of battle. The weapon is coming in future expansions. mech command rts

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Ammo Weapon Classes - Core Set Ammo weapons require ammo tokens to activate instead of the default energy gems. They increase a mechâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s utility, defenses and burst by providing a weapon system free of the constraints of the energy pool. Ammo is not returned to the mech during the recharge phase which means its a limited resource. Fortunately mechs automatically reload 2 ammo when they are located in their base or a corner station during the recharge phase.

Assault Rifles

kinetic Cannons

Assualt Rifles are simple weapons with great DPE ratios. Because they require firing a full magazine in fully automatic mode in order to inflict any reasonable damage they can only fire once per round, but every round, using up an ammo token each time.

Kinetic Cannons are ancient weapons that attempt to duplicate the burst of energy cannons with extremely heavy ammunition. The 2 ammo tokens required to fire a Kinetic Cannon allow a mech to dramatically increase their burst damage. They are slow to reload however, requiring a round in between firing.

Gatling Guns

wire guided Missiles

Gatling Guns are similar to Pulse Turrets in that they require deployment and can dominate the battlefield with a high frequency of fire and good damage ratios. To make full use of a Gatling Gun for more than a round however requires large ammo racks and a readily available reload source. Gatling Guns are also bulky like Pulse Turrets, reducing a mechâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s armor slightly.

Wire guided missiles allow mechs to fire around obstacles and between elevations. Unlike other indirect fire weapons, missiles impact immediately. Because of their precision guidance systems missiles are very effective against Support Units. While most weapons require an adjacent attacker, missiles are able to close the distance to support units even though the firing mech is at range. Medium range missiles have more in their racks than long range versions thus are able to fire more per round. Cruise missiles are heavy hitting single shot missiles that can cross over half the map.

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Power Max Dmg Avg Dmg Cost Damage Recharge Overheat Currency Special Rules LIGHT ENERGY WEAPONS Ratio / Round / Round Starting Pulse Pistol 1 1 2 2 0 Starting Item 1 2 2 Starting Energy Blaster 2 3 1 2 0 Starting Item 1.5 3 1.5 Light Laser Pistol 2 2 2 4 10 Basic Item 1 4 2.5 Light Energy Cannon 3 5 1 3 15 Basic Item 1.67 5 2.5 Light Energy Spike 1 2 1 2 10 Basic Item, Melee 2 4 2.5 Plasma Mortar 2 2 2 4 20 Deployment, Artillery, Range 6 1 4 2.5 MEDIUM ENERGY WEAPONS Medium Pulse Rifle Medium Energy Blaster Medium Laser Rifle Medium Energy Cannon Medium Energy Blade Medium Pulse Turret Plasma Artillery

2 2 4 4 2 4 1 2 3 3 4 6 5 8 2 5 1 3 1 2 2 3 4 6 3 3 3 6

20 1 20 2 25 1 30 1.6 30 Melee, Arm Slot Only 3 35 Deployment, Bulky -2 Armor 1.5 35 Deployment, Artillery, Range 9 1

4 4 4 2 6 3.75 8 4 6 3.75 9 5.25 6 3.75

HEAVY ENERGY WEAPONS Heavy Pulse Rifle Heavy Energy Blaster Heavy Laser Rifle Heavy Energy Cannon Heavy Pulse Turret Plasma Howitzer Micro Burst Artillery Energy Claymore Refined Rillium Spike

2 2 6 6 3 6 2 3 4 4 6 8 6 10 2 6 2 3 4 8 3 5 3 3 1 2 2 3 2 6 2 2 1 4 1 2

35 1 35 2 35 1 35 1.67 50 Deployment, Bulky -2 Armor 1.5 45 Deployment, Artillery: 12 1.6 45 Elite. Deployment, Artillery: 9 2 45 Melee, Arm Slot Only 3 4 50 Elite, Melee, Arm Slot Only.

6 6 6 3 8 5 10 5 12 7.5 5 5 6 4.25 6 6 8 5

LIGHT AMMO WEAPONS Light Assault Rifle Light Kinetic Cannon Light Sniper Rifle Light Fletchet Cannon Light Missile Pod

1 2 1 2 1

2 4 2 3 2

1 1 1 2 1

1 2 1 2 2

5 10 20 20 20

MEDIUM AMMO WEAPONS Medium Assault Rifle Medium Kinetic Cannon Medium Gatling Gun Medium Scoped Rail Gun Long Range Missiles Medium Range Missile Rack

1 2 1 1 1 1

3 5 2 3 2 2

1 1 2 1 1 2

1 2 3 1 2 3

20 20 25 Deployment 30 Deployment, Aimed Shot 30 Missile, Range 9 30 Missile, Range 6

HEAVY AMMO WEAPONS Heavy Assault Rifle Heavy Kinetic Cannon Heavy Gatling Gun Cruise Missile Long Range Missile Rack

1 4 1 1 2 6 1 2 1 3 2 3 2 5 2 2 1 2 2 3

30 25 Deployment, Very Bulky 50 40 Missile, Range 12 40 Missile, Range 9

4 4 4 3 6 3 3 9 6.75 2 2

5 6

5 5

BOOSTERS Starting Booster Thrust Booster Pulse Booster Burst Booster Improved Booster Variants

2 2 2 2 2

3 4 3 6 +1

2 2 2 1 Same

2 2 4 2 Same

0 10 20 15 40+

Starting Item Basic Item Basic Item Basic Item Elite

1.5 2 1.5 3

3 4 6 6

3 4 3.75 3

EQUIPMENT Starting Shield Generator Sustained Shield Generator Pulsing Shield Generator Burst Shield Generator Bulwark Shield Generator Arclight Shield Generator Star Nova Shield Generator

1 1 2 3 1 2 3

1 1 3 7 1 3 10

3 4 2 1 7 3 1

4 7 4 3 10 6 3

0 10 15 20 40 50 45

Starting Item 1 4 Basic Item 1 7 Basic Item 1.5 6 Basic Item 2.3 7 Elite, Repair Ability 1 10 mech command rts Elite, Overcharge Repair 1.5 9 RULES REFERENCE GUIDE Elite, Overcharge Repair 3.3 10

2 2 2 2 2 2 Deployment. Aimed Shot 2 2 2 Shotgun, Range 3 1.5 3 3 Missile, Range 6 2 4 2.5

3 2.5

2 3 2 2

3 5

3 2.5

6 4.5 3 3 4 4 6 4.5

3.75 5.5 3.75 3.5 7.75 5.6 5

APPENDIX B

Malfunctions Before reading this wall of text, the designers would like to assure you that this Malfunction Appendix is overkill. Malfunctions are very simple in actual gameplay: A player makes a mistake so they sacrifice one of their active energy gems by putting it on the respawn track. Additional mistakes force additional gems higher up the respawn track. These gems respawn just like all other units do; so a couple malfunctions can potentially weaken your energy pool for a couple rounds. The rest of this text is for those that have questions, or want a more precise and competitive version of the malfunction system. As a player group we strived to never have a malfunction called on us, instead calling them on ourselves when they happened and paying the fee we thought appropriate to the mistake. -Christopher The correct operation of your units is important to the game’s theme and mechanics. Players should strive to self-correct any mistakes they might make to keep the game running smoothly. Having a malfunction called on you can dramatically impact your mission so move carefully and methodically. MECH COMMAND RTS is a fast game, but it should not be frantic.

Major malfunctions If a player makes one of the mistakes identified below the opposing group may invoke an energy penalty. If any action whatsoever is not paid for upfront. The wrong amount is paid. The wrong amount of damage is placed. A support unit moves twice or too much. Two hands are used to complete the same action. Not calling an action (other than movement). The wrong mech is moved or boosted. The wrong mech’s item is activated. 1. Call “Malfunction!” When a mistake is noticed call “malfunction!” which immediately pauses the game. The designated player lays the sand timer on its side. 2. Correct. Correct or reverse the action as necessary (add gems to correct a payment, reverse a boost that should have over-heated, etc..). 3. Pay a Penalty Gem. The offender moves a gem from their energy pool to the respawn track where it will follow regular respawn timing. This would be the ‘0’ space if there is not already one of the player’s

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gems on it. A second penalty that round goes to the next respawn space. If the player has no available energy, the penalty is paid from the mech board. If energy was cancelled and wasted in the process of the mistake it may be used to pay the penalty. 4. Play proceeds. Players double check that everyone is ready to unpause, then the primary player flips the sand timer and calls “go”.

Self Correction A player who notices their own error or their teammate’s error should self correct it immediately; explaining to the group what they are doing. They do not need to pause the game for this or call a malfunction but can if they wish to. This will avoid having a malfunction called on them by the opposing team. If the error requires reversing others’ actions as well, or is generally complex or serious then they should call “malfunction!” on themselves. Calling a malfunction on yourself allows you to pay the penalty from your mech board even if you have gems left in your energy pool; if the opposing team requires you to pay a penalty at all. Some groups may never find it necessary to make players pay for malfunctions if the group as a whole is generally self correcting and well intentioned. Players should decide as a group when they will start charging players for malfunctions; and even then the opposing team can decide to let it pass, especially if the mistake is easily correctable. The malfunction rules are designed to create player responsibility when necessary; particularly in situations where a player makes the same mistake repeatedly and does not self correct. Regardless of whether your group charges for malfunctions or not, they should still always be called out and the game paused when they are noticed in order to reinforce the habits necessary to operate this unique real time strategy board game.

Minor Malfunctions Failing to count out the hexes of a boost, missile or artillery strike, (the designer’s pet peeve). Failing to call “end boost”. Calling hits with obvious line of sight but without actually rotating the mech towards the target. Placing damage into the wrong dish.* These mistakes are so common or tactically unimportant that no penalty should be applied until there is a repeat offender. These errors should still be brought to the players attention, particularly with new groups. If a player is not making the effort to prevent minor malfunctions the opposing team can announce if “the next time there will be a penalty fee.” Placing Damage into the Wrong Dish. Because of the inherent record keeping nature of Mech Command’s components such as the energy gems and uniquely colored damage blocks it is usually very simple to retrace who damaged who and for how much. If there is any confusion when correcting damage placed into the wrong dish the defenders can decide the final disposition of who gets how much damage. Calling Hits Without Actually Turning Your LED. When a player calls a hit when their light is pointed away from the target, usually because the line of sight is obvious or because someone just called a hit on them and they did not take the time to rotate their light to counter-attack; it is a minor malfunction and the other players should call pause and verify that it is not a legal hit. This can be important sometimes when players are attempting to strike at an opponent’s back and boost away before their victims are able to turn and call a hit. Note that the offending player would not get to rotate his mech while the game is paused he would have to undo his “hit” and remove any damage he placed, with any energy he spent wasted. He could rotate his light and try another hit after the game restarts.

Voluntary PUnishment When players make a mistake not on the list of malfunctions but that could have possibly affected the game or given their team an advantage they can volunteer to lose an energy for the next round by placing it on the light respawn space. An example of a good time to do this is when a player calls boost but then realizes they do not have enough energy or a valid booster to activate. They should announce that they made a mistake immediately as they are technically invulnerable while boosting and it could affect the game. It’s considered good form to self impose some game balance when these type of events occur. Finally, if a situation is too difficult to reverse or has too many complex tactical consequences the group should simply do the best they can to correct it and the offending player should pay an extra gem in penalty. If it dramatically impacted the mission the player should shut down their mech for the remainder of the round. A final word about Malfunctions...different player groups will use malfunctions differently. Some will watch for them and try to constantly call them on their opponents as part of the strategic environment. This is a fine way to play! Particularly for competitive and serious gamers. But since every malfunction can be avoided relatively easily by going slow and paying careful attention to each action no one can ruin the game by calling all the legitimate malfunctions they can find. My core gaming group’s preference was to just keep the action going and only calling malfunctions on repeat offenses that were not improving. Not to wax overly poetic, but this game, when its in full swing, is like a dance between you and the other players. Everyone knows the technique but gets to apply it in their own way, and with their own strategy. One of the most satisfying elements to me, is just to participate in making these normally inert board game pieces come alive and operate with purpose and drama. To each their own, but we suggest discussing it with your playing group and attempt to reach a general consensus of how you want to play.

We hope you enjoy this real time strategy board game, we certainly do. We want to thank all you passionate and patient KickStarter backers for bringing this unique game into existence! - the Gabrielson family mech command rts

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Appendix C

Advanced Recon This is an Add On pack, sold separately from the Core Set that provides extensive new gameplay elements and features the Widow mech, cloak generators and new damage types.

Special Damage Types The Advanced Recon expansion pack includes new damage types represented by special damage tokens. These weapons do not affect support units.

Cloak An effect granted by the Cloak Generator found in the Advanced Recon Pack. Cloaked mechs cannot be targeted by distant hits, only adjacent attacks or attacks that are considered adjacent like missiles, artillery and ray weapons. Activating Cloak. Cloak is activated like other items, by first announcing it (“blue cloaking”), paying for the cloak and then removing the mech model from its LED base to signify it is cloaked. Like boosting, announcing the cloak makes it immediately invulnerable to distant hits, as long as it has the necessary energy and capability to activate the cloak, (if you do not have enough energy it is a malfunction similar to calling “Boost” when you cannot actually boost).(See Malfunctions) DeCloaking After An Attack Or Boost. Completing an attack or a boost automatically decloaks the mech. After completing either, place the mech back on its LED base and announce “decloaked”. Note that the cloaked mech cannot be targeted until the decloaking process is complete which occurs after placing damage or completing a boost. This allows cloaked mechs to get one attack in before becoming vulnerable to distant attacks. This also allows cloaked mechs with boosters equipped like the Widow or Reverse-Jointed mechs to decloak and quickly boost to safety after attacking from cloak. Decloaking During The Recharge Phase. All cloaked units automatically decloak at the beginning of the recharge phase. Booster Category. The Cloak Generator is categorized as a booster and thus uses up a mech’s booster slot. The WIDOW mech has the advantage of being able to attach Cloak Generators to any type of item slot thus keeping its booster slot available. It also does not suffer from any penalties from the Cloak Generator like the Bulky attribute

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Aimed Damage Aimed Damage is a special damage type found in the Advanced Recon expansion pack that uses black resource cubes to represent their damage. Any amount of aimed damage that is unshielded is assigned by the attacker rather than the defender, but all damage must go to a single body part. I.e. core, left arm, right leg, shoulder, etc… This is a precision strike from sniper rifles that can take out the core of a mech or another body part in a single shot if it is not shielded. Any excess damage is wasted. Note that if a mech or team fired two aimed damage weapons then their damage can go on two separate mech parts.

Corrosive Damage Corrosive is a persistent damage type found in the Advanced Recon pack that only affects mechs. Corrosive weapons fire corrosive tokens instead of regular damage cubes. During the damage phase mechs take one damage for each corrosive damage they have in their dish. The corrosive tokens remain in the target’s dish causing more damage next round unless they are repaired. The damage from corrosive tokens each round can be shielded but the corrosive tokens themselves cannot be shielded or removed except by receiving repairs. Repairing Corrosive Damage. Each point of repair the mech receives removes 1 point of corrosive damage instead of causing repairs.

Ion Damage Ion damage is a special damage type represented by ion damage tokens that cannot be shielded in any way, by shield generators, physical shields or other shield effects. Ion damage is still affected by the Paladinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sacrifice ability however. Like Corrosive and Aimed damage, Ion damage does not affect support units.

Missile Jammers While equipped, it provides a passive ability that prevents missiles from targeting or damaging the mech. The Elite Cloak Generator includes a passive missile jammer! The player should remind others that they cannot be hit with missiles when they are using this item.

Shadow Blades These blades were designed to be used with cloak generators. Using this melee weapon does not cause a mech to decloak. Multiple shadow blades can be used in a single round without causing a decloak. Arguably some of the most powerful blades in the game.

The Widow Mech Multi-Armed. This mech is a multi armed mech similar to the Engineer except its arms were designed to use weapons or even physical shields. This provides the unique advantage of equipping 4 energy blades or other items that require arm slots. Cloak Specialist. The Widow mech was also designed from the ground up to utilize cloak generators.This allows it to attach cloak generators to any colored slot and it does not suffer from any of the penalties listed on the cloak generator card like the Bulky attribute. The design did encroach upon the space required for the generator so the Widow suffers from slightly reduced energy capacity compared to other mechs in its weight class.

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Appendix D Tactical Warfare This is an Add On pack, sold separately from the Core Set that provides extensive new gameplay elements and features the Engineer mech with a hover chassis and many autonomous units that can be deployed to the battlefield.

Articulation Arms. Many of the autonomous drones and turrets found in the Tactical Warfare pack require articulation in order to use. Any mech can gain the articulation ability by equipping the Articulation Arm item card in one of their arm slots. The Engineer mech is always considered to have articulation and does not need to equip the Articulation Arm to fulfill that requirement. The Engineer does not, however, gain the other benefits of Articulation Arm cards (such as being able to collect and transport salvage). The reason for this is many different types of articulation arms are planned for future expansions.

Attacking Tactical Warfare Units. The drones and turrets in this pack can be targeted and damaged from long range like mechs. Only the proximity mines require detonation to be removed. Hunter Drones and the Heavy Turrets have 5 health. Micro Turrets and Support Drones have 3 Health. They receive damage like mechs do. Place damage onto the target token or miniature; but if the area is too crowded or complex just give the damage to the unitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s owner to place on its item card. Line of sight can be more difficult due to the flat tokens so pause the game as necessary to determine line of sight.

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Charges Many of the weapons and equipment items found in the Tactical Warfare pack have charges listed or in some cases just a number in parenthesis. Charges are the maximum amount of that item cardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tokens that can be deployed at one time. If a player is out of charges they can continue to place new tokens, but must relocate one of their previously placed tokens to do so. Charges Example. For example, if a proximity mine card has 3 charges, the player can place 3 proximity mines at one time. They can continue to place new proximity mines but must relocate one of their previously placed proximity mine tokens. Item charges are per card, not per item type. Thus if a player had two proximity mine cards equipped with 3 charges each they could place 6 proximity mines.

Deploying Drones, Turrets and Mines When using Tactical Warfare items that deploy tokens the ammo cost is the amount required to initially deploy the token. The token itself does not require further ammo or energy to operate. The damage listed on the card is the amount each token does. Unless otherwise specified, these units are placed in an empty hex adjacent to the controlling mech.

Deployable Turrets

Proximity Mines

These are special weapons in the Tactical Warfare pack. Deployable turrets attack all units in their line of sight at the beginning of the damage phase, including ranged support units. The weapon card will specify how much damage the turret does as well as how much health it has. To deploy a turret, announce “[color] deploying turret” and pay the ammo cost. Then place a turret token in an empty adjacent space. Micro Turrets have 3 charges, and 3 health. Heavy Turrets have only 1 charge and 5 health.

Proximity mines are a special weapon included in the Tactical Warfare Pack. Proximity mines attach themselves to an enemy unit when it moves into a hex adjacent to the mine. Like other mines, they detonate during the damage phase. The player controlling the unit must collect the proximity mine and place it on their mech sheet as soon as they complete their movement. In the case of support units, the proximity mine is placed under the support unit like an objective token would be and is moved along with the support unit until the damage phase.

(Errata: Micro Turret Cards may only list 2 charges)

Hunter Drones Offensive drones found in the Tactical Warfare pack that move like support units, but can attack targets during the action phase. Similar to a support unit with the Rocket Thrusters upgrade, Hunter and Support Drones have up to 5 arial movement, once per round. As usual, movement is marked with the player’s cube when complete. When first activated, Hunter Drones are placed in an adjacent empty hex. By default, Hunter Drones can attack one adjacent target per round for the damage listed on their card. This attack can be made at any time during the action phase and can be performed separately from its movement. To make the attack the player calls “hunter drone hits [color]”, places the damage then flips the Hunter Drone over to its other side.

Marking Ownership The Tactical Warfare pack includes various independent drones, turrets and mines. These are represented on the map by tokens. When these items are deployed the controlling player should select tokens that match their color or, in the case of proximity mines, place one of their colored cubes onto the token to mark ownership. Remember Master, deployable units like me do not count towards controlling objectives!

Boosting Over Mines. Proximity mines can be boosted through and over, but the boosting mech still detonates the mine and collects it after their boost is complete. Units can have multiple proximity mines attached to them. Having a proximity mine attached to a unit does not affect what it is carrying or how much it can carry. Proximity mines remain in play until they are detonated or removed by the player that placed them. They cannot be targeted or damaged. Moving Away From a Proximity Mine. If an enemy unit is already adjacent to a proximity mine when it is placed, they can move away from the proximity mine without detonating it as long as they are not moving into a hex adjacent to the mine. Placing Proximity Mines. To place mines the player calls out “placing mine”, pays the ammo cost and then places a proximity mine token on an empty hex within the range specified but with one of their colored cubes on it to mark ownership. From that moment on the proximity mine is active. The player’s units as well as their allies are not affected by their own proximity mines and can even end their movement on one, (similar to how movement can be ended on friendly turrets and uplink tokens). Proximity Mine Damage.The damage caused by a proximity mine is determined by the proximity mine item card. If a player is using more than one type of proximity mines use the different sides of the proximity mine tokens to distinguish them and if necessary place extra player cubes to represent the more powerful version. As usual damage is shielded or applied during the damage phase.

But we can pass you butter...

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Infinity Boosters The Infinity Booster allows infinite movement while boosting; no counting is necessary. This is considered a teleport, i.e. the unit does not pass through any hexes but rather launches into the sky then performs a controlled landing onto the target hex. This allows tanks and tetrapods to perform the equivalent of arial boosts by landing on higher elevations. (Note that there are severe armor penalties imposed for non hover chassis mechs.)

Physical Shields Shield Barriers These create barriers to line of sight and movement like the walls found in the Core Set. The exception is that friendly units can move through these barriers but cannot end their movement on it. (Thus mechs will have to boost through or over it.) They are deployed in adjacent empty hexes. The card specifies how much health the barrier has, default 10. Note that due to the nature of the barrier stands, some light may leak under the barrier; this should not be considered when determining line of sight. The Shield Barriers are only deployed vertically.

Support Drones Similar to support units with the Mobile Repair and Reload Upgrade these drones repair 1 armor and reload 1 ammo to all adjacent mechs during the recharge phase. They do not affect any other unit type. Tactical Warfare Drones, like Support Units with the Rocket Thrusters upgrade, have 5 arial movement each round. Like the Micro Turrets, they have 3 health.

Chainsaw Blades Chainsaw blades do extra damage to buildings. This damage is calculated and applied at the time of the attack. Chainsaw blades are not as efficient as other energy blades at attacking mechs.

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These are reinforced slabs of smart armor that do not require a cost to be activated. Instead, physical shields take one point of armor damage in order to activate once per damage phase. This activating point of damage is taken from the damage received that round, it is not an extra cost. During the damage phase, declare that you are using the physical shield, assign a point of damage to the physical shieldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s card then shield the amount listed in its effect. This effect can only occur once per round per physical shield card, although in emergencies, more than one point of damage can be placed on a physical shield card as if they were normal armor points. When all of the armor points on the physical shield are damaged it can no longer be used. Physical shieldsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; armor points can be repaired like regular armor points. Once an armor point on a physical shield is repaired that armor point will work to shield additional damage again. Physical shields must be attached to an arm slot!

The Engineer Mech This specialty mech has several unique abilities. Articulated. This attribute allows the Engineer to use items that require articulation without having to equip an Articulation Arm. The Engineer is also able to equip articulation required items to any colored slot. It does not provide any other benefits found on Articulation Arm cards such as the ability to pick up salvage or other Articulation Arm abilities planned for future expansions. Hover Chassis. The Engineerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regular movement is considered arial. This allows it to move up elevations with regular movement. Yes, this is an awesome ability, but it does require vast energy to operate thus the Engineer has a smaller energy pool than other mechs in its weight class. (The Elite Engineer does not suffer as extensively from this drawback as the Medium Engineer.) The Engineer does not have many weapon slots. but it can utilize its extra equipment slots to control a small army of turrets and drones to make up for its lower direct damage output.

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Skirmish Missions These are stand alone missions where players use a pre-set load out or have a specific amount of currency to spend before the mission.

Load Outs The load out section will identify if a medium or heavy load-out is recommended, although either can be used for any map.

Credits Per Team The standard amount each team has to spend is 300 credits (150 per player) for medium load-outs and 450 (225 per player) for heavy loadouts. (5-6 players add an additional 150 / 225 per extra player.) This amount will require each team making some sacrifices in their loadout, or focusing credits towards one mech but leaving the other slightly underpowered. Players may choose to agree on a different amount of credits. Purchasing Secretly. Mechs and items may be purchased secretly and then revealed once both teams are finished; although most teams find that too laborious to worry about. Writing Down Inventory. Regardless of whether items are purchased secretly or not, it is advised to write down each item or mech that is being purchased on a piece of paper with the prices tallied to make it easier for the other team to verify. This also helps if extra items or mechs are purchased so they can be swapped out during respawn. Elite Slots. This is the amount of elite items or mechs a team may have in their inventory. By default medium load-outs get 1 elite slot and heavy load-outs get 2.

Support Unit Upgrades. This is the amount of support unit upgrades each team receives for free. Additional support unit upgrades may be purchased with the starting credits but a team may only use one at a unless otherwise specified. The Covert Mini-Campaign. These three skirmish missions can be played as a mini-campaign of covert operations that occur after the events of the Core Campaign. See the Victory Rewards section of each mission to see how this effects load-outs. The goal of the mini-campaign is to gain a major victory by winning all three missions. See the Skirmish entry in the main Rules Reference Guide for more details.

Mega Cities Building Pack Some skirmish maps have additional optional buildings identified on the map in green. These are buildings suggested to be placed if the Mega Cities Building pack is owned. The green multiplier numbers are the amount of extra building stacks we recommend placing on the standard mission building in that location.

Core missions as Skirmish Any mission or series of missions from the core campaign may be used as a skirmish map. Players should agree on whether to use medium or heavy load-outs. Complete secondary objectives in addition to the standard victory conditions to gain a prestigous Elite Victory. An Elite Victory may be chosen as a requirement for teams with more experience or skill than the other team as a balancing mechanic. I.e. an advanced team can be handicapped by having to complete secondary objectives as well in order to win.

PRE-SET LOAD OUTS

For starting more quickly the following pre-sets are recommended for medium load-outs. Priest Medium Tetrapod 80 Sustained Thrust Boosters 10 Sustained Shield Generator 10 Medium Pulse Turret 35 Light Plasma Mortar 20

Ranger Medium Bi-Pedal 80 Pulse Boosters 20 Sustained Shield Generator 10 Medium Laser Rifle 25 Light energy spike 10 Light Kinetic Cannon 10 mech command rts

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Wasp Medium R-J Burst Boosters Pulse Boosters Pulsing Shield Gen Light Missile Pod Light Energy Spike Light Energy Cannon

60 15 20 15 20 10 10

Testudo Medium Tank Sustained Thrust Boosters Sustained Shield Generator Heavy Energy Blaster Light Assault Rifle Small Energy Cannon

90 10 10 35 5 15

Uplink or die

Skirmish 1

building health

5-6 Player games only use 2.

Krywusha, a research outpost on the fringe of the great storm has gone dark. Most likely refugees from the last war sought shelter there and seized it. Our opponents in the council are mobilizing a strike team to investigate and collect the data. Our leaders want to examine the data before anyone else. Retrieve the data from the uplink centers before our opponents do, or just destroy their forces and cover your tracks. We can always blame it on the local hostiles.

Objectives

Medium Loadout

The first to complete any objective wins.

Credits Per Team: 300 (450)

Obtain 8 Uplink Points.

Elite Slots: 1

Kill 3 Mechs.

Free Support Upgrades: 1

Destroy 12 Support Units.

Mission Parameters Buildings. All non-uplink buildings have 20 Health each. Uplink buildings have infinite health. The white outlined buildings are double stacked. The green buildings and 3x and 2x multipliers are for incorporating the Mega Cities Building Pack. Victory Rewards. If this was played as the first mission of the Covert Ops mini-campaign each team receives an extra 80 credits for the next mission while the winner receives an extra Elite Slot and free Support Unit Upgrade. This Covert Ops mini-campaign is a bonus section we added after we lost our primary manufacturers. It is a small thank you for the KickStarter backersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; patience while we over-came production challenges!

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Valkyrie

Skirmish 2

building health

5-6 Player games only use 2.

The enemy is attempting to sabotage our new rillium refineries at outpost Kasanen. They have disguised their units as radical extremists attempting to stop development of the technology we’ve obtained from the sunken cities. As leader of covert ops I believe what is good for the goose, is good for the gander. Let’s pull the same trick. Mask your support units as insurgents and use them to deploy explosives at the enemy’s refinery. While defending both of our complexes it will be understandable if theirs is hit by mech fire, but make sure the final blows come from an “insurgent”.

Objectives

Load-out

Destroy both buildings of the enemy’s refinery, (20 health each). The final point of damage must be from a support unit.

If playing this mission as part of the mini covert campaign then use the same load-out already owned plus any credits gained from Skirmish 1. Otherwise choose medium or heavy loadouts.

Mission Parameters Plant Explosives. Support units adjacent to the enemy complex during the RECHARGE PHASE do 5 points of damage to one building. In order to fully destroy a refinery building a support unit must have done damage to it that round.

Victory Rewards. If Valkyrie was played as mission two of the skirmish covert ops campaign, both teams earn 140 Credits and may sell two currently owned items or mech boards for half value before the next mission. If a team has no victories they gain an additional 50 credits as their faction throws their last resources at this covert campaign.

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Sehimu Thinara Lives

Secondary Bases. Control and operate an uplink building to convert the nearest map corner into a secondary base for one round, until the next recharge phase. Place a player token on one of the hexes to identify control. Only allied units may enter a secondary base. Units can respawn, repair and reload here the same recharge phase its uplink building is controlled and operated. They may not respawn, repair or reload here during the recharge phase it is lost. Units in a corner hex when the enemy takes control of its uplink are moved to the closest empty hex of their choice. Unlike most missions, the corner hexes cannot be used to repair and reload except when its a secondary base.

Hopscotch

Skirmish 3 infinite building health

We have tracked down an ancient facility called Scherer City in the archives that has been powered up since the sunken cities were activated. Like the sunken sites, it is a treasure trove of resources and tech, but the area is extremely unstable and dangerous. The underground power plants are going critical and much of the surface is molten and corrosive. Use the industrial lifts located throughout the city to raise ground units to the rooftops. Gravitic anomalies will allow even your ground-only units to cross gaps with their boosts. Use the higher elevations to safely extract whatever salvage and resources you can.

Objectives

Load-out

Return 6 objective tokens to base.

See Skirmish 2 Load-Out Rules for the minicampaign. Otherwise select medium or heavy.

Mission Parameters Extraction Sites. 6 salvage, 5 retrieval and 4 mines are randomly mixed then placed on the extraction sites, 5 in each location. These extraction sites may only be accessed from the adjacent rooftops, not from the ground level. Note that the center location is the entire building, accessible from both adjacent lower buildings. The extraction sites do not need to be controlled or operated, thus any unit in an adjacent rooftop hex during the recharge phase may draw a token, load it or drop it on a surrounding empty hex. Mines revealed during the recharge phase cause an immediate 5 damage to the unit that drew it then are discarded. As usual mechs may load retrieval tokens but not salvageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; tokens. Elevators. The Uplink buildings are lifts that will raise adjacent units up to their rooftop hexes during the recharge phase. Tanks and tetrapods may cross from building to building with their ground boosts. Support units may use their regular movement to cross between buildings. I.e. they cannot go up elevations but they can go across. There is little cover on the rooftops and thus support units may be attacked from range while they are on them! Lava Town. During the damage phase all units on the ground take 5 damage (1 cube for support units). All buildings have infinite health. Each color only has 2 support units during this mission. mech command rts

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Contents

1 Page Rules Summary

A Assembly Instructions 3 Actions 6 Action Cancelling 6 Action Phase 6 Activating Items 6 Adjacent 6 AI Unleashed 6 Ammo 6 Announcing Actions 7 Anti-Infantry 7 Armor 7 Artillery 8 Attacks 8 Attributes & Penalties 9

b Bases 9 Boosters 9 Boosting 10 Buildings & Structures 10

c Campaign Sheet 11 Control 11 Cost 11

d Damage: Causing Damage 11 Damage Dish 11 Damage Phase 12 Deployment 12 Designated Player 13

e Effect 13 Elite Items 13 Elevation 13 Energy 13 Energy Pool 13 Energy in the Hand... 14 Equipment Cards 14

h Half Price Items

i Indirect Fire 14 Inventory 14 Item Cards 14 Item Purchasing 14 Item Scrapping & Selling 15

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Item Slot Swapping

l Line of Sight

u Uplink Objectives

Victory 27

Malfunctions 16 Mech Boards 16 Mega Cities Extra Building Pack 14 Melee 16 Mines 16 Missiles 16 Movement 17 Movement Penalties 17

Appendix D Tactical Warfare

Objectives 17 Objective Tokens 18 Objective Token Types 18 Objective Token Misc... 19 One Handed Operation 19 Operation (See Control) 11 Overcharge 19 Overheat 19 Over-Run Ability 19

Skirmish Missions

Walls 27 Weapons 27 Appendix A Weapons Guide Appendix B Malfunctions Appendix C Advanced Recon 40

p Passive Pausing the Game

20 20

r Range 20 Ranged Weapons 20 Rays (Death Rays) 20 Recharge 20 Recharge Phase 21 Repair & Reload 21 Resource Collection 21 Retrieval Objectives 21 Respawn 21 Round Sequence 22

s Sacrifice Ability 22 Self Destruct 22 Selling Items 22 Shields 22 Stable Ability 23 Support Units 24 Support Unit upgrades 25

t Three Player Rules 26 Two Player Rules 26 Timer 26 Turrets 27

We would like to thanks Miles, our sourcing liaison, without whom this game would never have been made!