Scenario: Fog of War

Randomized deployment was the seed that grew into ’Mech Brawl 3030’s fifth scenario. When moving on to the battlefield during the first turn, players are forced to randomly determine which edge a unit enters from. That means that a force is likely going to end up more spread out and might have enemies at short ranges from the first turn.

I decided to add fog weather effects to provide an explanation for the two forces being lost. The fog rules slow down movement unless players decide to risk falling down in order to move at full speed. The more frequent Piloting Skill Rolls will also reward players who have improved that skill for their MechWarriors.

The final ingredient for the scenario was deciding on a victory condition. I initially wrote it to grant victory to the last player standing. I already had three other scenarios using that victory condition though, so I decided to instead reward players for preserving their own forces.

Scenario 5: Fog of War

In Fog of War, both player’s forces have gotten out of position due to fog blanketing the area. As they try to return to friendly territory, they stumble on to each other and have to survive until the fog clears and they can reorient themselves to withdraw.

Setup

Choose two 17 × 15 mapsheets and lay them out so that they meet on their long sides forming a 17 × 31 battlefield. Alternatively, a single 17 × 31 mapsheet or BattleMat can be used.

Deployment

The two players roll off and the player with the highest roll is the Attacker. The other player is the Defender. The Attacker chooses a long edge of the battlefield to be their home edge. The opposite edge is the Defender’s home edge.

The players move their forces on to the battlefield during the first turn’s Movement Phase. When a player chooses a unit to move on to the board, they roll a die. On a 1-2, the unit enters from the short board edge clockwise from their home edge. On a 3-4, the unit enters from the long board edge opposite from their home edge. On a 5-6, the unit enters from the short board edge counter-clockwise from their home edge.

Scenario Rules

Light Fog rules (BMM p.62, TO:AR p.55) are in effect for the first 8 turns of this scenario. The fog increases the cost to enter each hex by +1 MP, but that cost can be avoided with reckless movement. In addition, while the fog is in effect, any unit moving off the map counts as destroyed, even if it moved off by its home edge.

Victory Conditions

The game ends when one player has no more surviving units on the battlefield, or if all units remaining on the battlefield are immobile. At that point, each player scores victory points based on their units that moved off of their home edge after the fog cleared. For each of their units that moved off without being crippled, the player scores a number of victory points equal to the unit’s Battle Value divided by 100 (round up). For each of their units that was crippled before moving off their home edge, they score half that number of victory points. The player with the most victory points wins. If both players scored the same number of victory points, then the game is a draw.