Lite Rules — how a game plays

This page is the short version of the rules. Use it to decide if the game is fun and playable. The rulebook has the full rules with rule IDs and all numbers. This page gives the structure and not the numbers.

The game in one paragraph

Two players play. Each player has three mechs. Each mech is built from parts, like a model kit. The board is a 32×20 hex grid. Quarry, Foundry and Causeway have hills, walls and four non-overlapping, seven-hex zones. Flat is an open control map with no zones. Every map has exact 180° rotational symmetry in terrain, deployment areas and whole zones. A game has seven normal rounds, with one bonus round only for an exact score-and-Hull tie. In a round, the players activate one mech at a time, in turns. Each shot is a set of dice on the table: one die to hit, one die for the location, one die for penetration, and the damage dice. Parts break off. You win a game when you kill mechs and hold zones. Choose a one-game match or BO3. BO3 stops at two wins or after three games; drawn games use a slot. Between games you can swap one mech from your bench.

Before the game: the bench

You bring a roster of four mechs. A mech has a Chassis, a Head, two Arms, Legs, a Back part, and a Pilot. Arms and held equipment are separate choices. Each hand can hold a weapon or shield. A two-handed weapon uses both hands and counts once. All Weight and arm Capacity limits are hard; there is no overload. Every part has a Weight. Each mech has a Weight cap for its class. The team of three has a Team Cap. Because of the caps you cannot bring three heavy mechs. A Ballistic weapon can carry one alternate ammunition load, Armor-piercing or High-explosive. The Weight of the load counts. An Energy weapon has no loads. It uses Heat instead.

A large part is strong, and it is also easy to hit. The Size of a part is its share of the hit table. A large Shield arm takes shots that would hit the Core.

Each Pilot has a Faction and a Specialty. Each Pilot has one passive Ability. The Ability is active only when a teammate has the same Faction or the same Specialty. Some Pilots are a bonded pair. A bonded pair fights better when the two mechs are within two hexes of each other. The roster puzzle is this: select three Pilots with active Abilities, and also select the three mechs that you want.

If you do not want to build mechs, four ready-made kits are a legal roster.

A game

Deploy. Each player privately selects three from their public roster of four. Reveal both teams together. Roll one d6 each and reroll ties. The winner selects a board end. The loser places first. Alternate one confirmed placement at a time in your deployment rows. Then every mech rolls Initiative: a d20, plus its pilot's Initiative, minus its Weight divided by 10 and rounded down.

Rounds. Mechs activate in descending order of that Initiative total, both sides mixed, until every surviving mech has acted. Ties go to the lighter mech, then the higher pilot Initiative, then a d6. One side can activate several mechs in a row. Then score zones and refresh each mech’s one Reaction. The order stays the same every round, and a destroyed mech leaves it. Lock On expires at scoring; Prepared and Overwatch expire at their owning mech’s next activation.

End of the game. Destroying the entire enemy team wins immediately. Otherwise, compare score after the normal round cap: three points per kill and one per controlled zone per round. Each team has three mechs, so it can hold at most three separate zones at once. Over seven normal rounds, the theoretical maximum is 21 zone points per team and 28 across both teams combined. Travel and enemy contestation can reduce these totals. Flat gives no zone points. Break a score tie with remaining Hull percentage. Only surviving deployed mechs contribute remaining Hull; the denominator is the starting Hull of the original deployed team. If both tie, play one complete bonus round and score it normally. If both still tie, the game is drawn.

An activation

Spend up to your Speed in movement points. Then do two Quick actions or one Full action. You can move before, between and after the actions.

Enraged. If an enemy destroys a teammate, each survivor gains Enraged for the rest of the game, starting on its next own activation. At that activation and every later own activation, gain two extra ordinary movement points and one failed offensive die reroll. The prototype automatically rerolls the first failed ranged hit or offensive opportunity in melee you initiate, keeping the replacement. It does not increase Speed, Boost or Charge, and does not reroll reactions, defensive pools or parry-only dice. Each activation's benefits expire at its end and refresh at the next own activation; additional losses never stack or refill the current reroll. Both teams can gain Enraged, including when tied or ahead in surviving mechs. Enemy-inflicted Heat or a lethal enemy push counts; your own overheating and environmental deaths do not. New games use this permanent offensive rule; existing saved games keep their embedded version.

Quick actions:

Fire one weapon. You can Fire once in an activation.
Boost: move again.
Lock On a target. All shots against a Locked target are easier.
Brace: add one point of Armor to all parts.
Vent: remove Heat.
Prepare: arm a Reaction for the enemy turn.

Full actions:

Barrage: Fire two weapons. This adds Heat.
Aimed Shot: Fire one ranged weapon’s full volley at one chosen body part. All projectiles use that location without location rolls; apply 1[−] to hit. Each projectile still rolls hit, penetration and damage. Weapon Heat and ammunition use apply once per volley.
Overwatch: name a ranged weapon and aim a fixed cone at one elevation. When an enemy declares movement through it, choose a legal firing point or pass. The prototype tests a provisional 60° cone from the watcher, out to long weapon range. Check LOS and range before the shot. Passing keeps the reaction available.
Melee: roll both pools upfront. Higher Piloting strikes first; ties go to the initiator. Spend a success to declare a weapon and body part. The defender can spend successes to parry. Alternate strikes and responses until the attack dice are spent. Defense preserves the defender’s activation. A new action gives both mechs fresh pools.
Charge: move adjacent, gain 1 Heat, then start a melee exchange.
Stabilize: remove all Heat and repair one critical effect.

Terrain has effects. Entering a hex costs its terrain value, plus one movement point for every elevation level changed. Ordinary legs can cross any adjacent elevation change they can afford. Working Jump legs ignore the extra elevation cost uphill and downhill, and climbing adds no Heat. A voluntary or forced drop deals no fall damage and does not by itself make a mech Prone or end movement; Throw and other rules still apply their written effects. Foliage slows you and hides you. A low wall next to you is hard cover. High ground helps your aim. When you stand next to an enemy, ranged shots are harder for both mechs. Existing saves keep their embedded older vertical-movement rules.

A shot, die by die

Hit. Roll a d20. Add the Gunnery of your Pilot and the Accuracy of the weapon. Situation modifiers are extra dice. Each bonus die cancels one penalty die. Roll the dice that remain and add or subtract the highest die. The total must be equal to or higher than the Evasion of the target.
Location. Roll a d20 on the silhouette of the target. A large part has more numbers on the silhouette. If the target is behind a low wall, a Legs result hits the wall.
Penetration. Roll a d6 and add the Pen of the weapon. Compare the total with the Armor of the part. If the total is lower, the hit does half damage. If the total is equal or higher, the hit does full damage. If the total is much higher, the hit also causes a critical effect.
Damage. Roll the damage dice of the weapon. Subtract the damage from the Durability of the part. Damage that is more than the Durability of the part goes to the Core.

A part with zero Durability is destroyed. If you lose an Arm, you cannot use its one-handed weapon. A two-handed weapon stays usable with one arm at −1 Pen and −2 Accuracy on fresh rolls. Weapons are not separate targets. If you lose the Legs, you move slowly. If you lose the Head, you cannot aim well. If you lose the Core, the mech is destroyed.

Each shot adds Heat. If your Heat goes above the limit of your Reactor, roll for stress. The result is one of these: you lose an action, you lose your Armor for a turn, or the Reactor melts down.

A round in words

Ruko's Reaver moves four hexes along a roof, at the same elevation. Ruko fires the Autocannon at Sato's Bastion. The Bastion is behind a low wall. Ruko has high ground. A teammate has Locked the Bastion. Ruko's Ability rewards the long move. So Ruko has three bonus dice. The wall gives two penalty dice. One bonus die remains and rolls a 2. The Autocannon has three shots. The first shot rolls a natural 1 and misses. The second shot hits the Legs, so the wall takes the hit. The third shot hits the Cannon arm. The d6 goes through its Armor. The hit does five damage. Ruko's Reactor gains two Heat. Now Sato activates.

The match

BO1 is one game. BO3 plays up to three maps shuffled without replacement from the map pool. Stop when one player has two wins. Drawn games use a scheduled slot; after three games, more wins takes the match, or equal wins gives a draw. Between games, privately swap one fielded mech with the reserve or stand pat. Legal ammunition changes are allowed; parts and pilots stay locked. Reveal both decisions together. There is no activation countdown.

What must feel good, and how we will know

Each activation is a real decision. Where to stand, which weapon, Lock On or Brace, more Heat or not. If a player has nothing to think about, the round structure is wrong.
Dice results are easy to read. The location die lands on a silhouette. The wall takes a shot. A six goes through heavy Armor. If the dice feel random, the modifier system does not work.
Damage tells a story. Arms are gone, Legs are gone, a heavy mech limps. Players must describe fights by parts, not by hit points.
A losing player can come back. Heat is the lever. Barrage and Overdrive are how a losing player forces a change.
A game takes twenty minutes. Seven normal scoring rounds of surviving activations, with one tie-only bonus round. If games take longer, we remove rounds or make the dice faster. We do not remove decisions.
The build matters. After a match, a player must be able to name the part choice that won or lost it.

The simulator runs reproducible batches against its bots. It tells us about the numbers. Only humans can tell us about the six points above. That is the purpose of the hotseat prototype.

In the bench, a route preview shows the movement-point cost of each terrain and elevation step. Add waypoints when you want a particular affordable route.