A hex board game about mechs that you built
Two players. Three mechs each, assembled from parts. A hex board with hills, walls and zones to hold. Seven rounds. The players activate one mech at a time, in turns. Every shot is four dice on the table. Parts break off. A match is the best of three games, with a bench swap between games. PC and Steam Deck first, iPad later.
Start here
5 minutes
Lite rules
How a game plays, step by step, with an example round and the six things that must feel good. Use this page to decide if the game is fun.
Read the lite rules →needs you
Decisions
7 open decisions in priority order, with the discussion so far. 9 decisions are made, with the reasons.
See the decisions →the whole game
Game design document
Pillars, loops, modes, roster and sprue, runners and pilots, presentation, platform, technical direction, risks and milestones.
Open the GDD →reference
Rulebook
Every rule has an ID (A1, F4). Each rule is marked Locked, preliminary or open. A styled edition with diagrams is also available.
Open the rulebook →evidence
Simulator
The rules run as code. It plays many games each second. This page shows what the batches say about heavy mechs, light mechs, crits and pace. The live bench lets you try it.
See the numbers →play it
Bench
The simulator in your browser. Assemble a roster. Run one seeded game and see each die. Run a batch of a thousand games. Or play a game against the bot on the Play tab.
Play a game →where we are
Progress
Every work item, by phase and by epic. Phase 1 is a believable simulator. Phase 3 is a game that two people can play.
See progress →
Pillars
Every roll is a die on the table
Hit, location, penetration, damage, initiative and stress are dice. Modifiers are dice. No percentage is hidden.
Roster building is a few real decisions
The depth of a card game deck. The setup cost of three kits.
Damage lands on parts
The size of a part decides where a shot lands. If you lose an arm, you lose a weapon.
Twenty minutes
Activations alternate. A round cap applies. Objectives force contact.
The sprue is the identity
You build from runners, like a model kit. Parts are physical objects with a size and a weight.
Milestones
| Milestone | Contents | State |
|---|
| M1 Believable sim | Rules decided; terrain, line of sight, zones; hex map panel; better AI; parameter sweeps | 11/14 items done, 0 active |
| M2 Tuned catalog | Tuning pass; catalog to 3–4 parts per slot per runner; roster complexity review; melee system; reactions | 7/12 items done, 0 active |
| M3 Play it | Best-of-three flow with sideboard; hotseat prototype two people can play | 2/4 items done, 0 active |
| M4 Vertical slice | Online match on one map in the production engine | after the engine decision |
| M5 Closed alpha | Hand-crafted maps and pilots, ranked ladder | — |
What decided this week
- Melee attack system: improvised strikes for every mech, knockdown/grapple, charge bonus, Guard/Brace interaction (rulebook F11) — Context: only the Blade arm fights at adjacency today, via a weapon tag. Options: (a) every mech gets an improvised strike (punch, kick, ram) scaled by chassis class, plus knockdown and grapple as Full actions; (b) melee stays weapon-only but gains a charge bonus for closing 3+ hexes in the same activation; (c) both. Recommendation: (c), designed in the rulebook (F11) and simulated before the catalog expands so melee parts have a system to live in. Needs a read on how central brawling should feel.
- Ammunition loads for ballistic weapons: AP, HE, incendiary and flechette loads bought with weight (KT Piercing/Devastating/Limited analogs); energy weapons take Overcharge (heat) instead. Gives light rosters an anti-armor answer that is not a cannon — Options: (a) one alternate load per ballistic weapon, +1 to +2 weight, free switch at Fire; (b) same but special loads Limited to 2-3 Fires per game; (c) loads as separate arm parts in the catalog (AP rifle arm, HE cannon arm) with no switching. Recommendation: (a) with Limited on HE only; pair with cannon range 12 -> 10 (TASK-022). Sim stand-in: rifle Pen 2 -> 4 moves Courier vs Bastion 39% -> 47%, roster game unchanged. Energy weapons get Overdrive (Heat) instead of loads. Full write-up: docs/research/2026-09-05-kill-team-2024-weapons-and-armor.md section 7.
- proposed rules: lite facing E8, pen thresholds F5, crit/stress tables F8 G2, scoring I4-I6, Fire-once E4 — Decided 2026-09-05: no facing (E8); pen thresholds kept, crit margin Armor+4 (F5); crit/stress tables accepted as v0; scoring/clock accepted for now, other objective types later; 32x20 + 7 rounds preliminary; Fire once per activation. Engine + rulebook updated.
- Roster complexity review after part catalog is drafted (B8) — Context: 7 slots x 3 mechs is 21 choices plus a sideboard mech; kits keep the floor at four picks. Options if it reads as homework: merge Head into Chassis (6 slots), fold Back into Legs (5), or keep 7 and lean on kits and roster codes. Blocked on the part catalog (TASK-008): judge with real options in each slot, not empty ones.
- online scope: ranked, async turns, activation clock — Decided: ranked yes, quick play yes, async and real-time both.
- monetization model (recommendation: cosmetics only, full catalog for all) — Decided: broad always-available base set; DLC considered later, cosmetic preferred.
- Backup Fire limits: require partner within 2 hexes and/or heat cost; 9690 backup shots per 1000 games — Decided 2026-09-05: every reaction except Overwatch needs a Prepare Quick action (E4/E6). Backup Fire 9690 -> 1489 shots per 1000 games (922 after the lethality pass). Register T1 resolved.
- Decided: lethality target is about half of all games ending in a wipe inside the round cap (2026-09-05); reached with Durability x0.69, glance stays at half damage — Revised 2026-09-05: glance back to 1/2 by decision (glances should mean something). Durability took one more step (Medium core 12, Heavy core 17, Heavy legs 11; about x0.69 of the original catalog). Wipes 46.5% on Quarry at 1000 games. Light weapons vs heavy measured in docs/tuning/2026-09-05-lethality.md.
- Decided 2026-09-05: no mandatory heavy. Light and medium frames with light weapons must be a legitimate roster: target a 45-55% win band vs heavy rosters at best-response aggression (register T21) — Progress 2026-09-05: cannon range 10 + AP loads take the light roster to 42% (default) / 42% (best response), target 45-55%. Remaining: Reaver under the default bot, Bastion rarely targeted, second map.