Overview

These rules are based on the "BattleTech Master Rules" (BMR) and the "Maximum Tech" (MT) sourcebooks. The rules center around the Dueling Rules (MT 47) with some additions from the "Mechwarrior Companion" (MWC) sourcebook.

Sequence of Play

Initiative Phase

Leadership:

Before a combat each lance commander may roll leadership. Each +/- 4 Margin of Success (MoS) equals a +/- 1 modifier to the individual initiative rolls for their lance.

Company commanders make a second leadership roll and apply modifiers to their whole company as above. Each additional rank of responsibility requires an additional leadership roll. Modifiers are cumulative. Note that commanders need a properly sized unit to command (Majors don't get 3 rolls when commanding a lance).

Changing Mechs:

There is an initiative penalty when a warrior starts using a different vehicle. See the table below for the starting initiative penalty. After a month of using the new vehicle, changing back to the old vehicle incurs the starting penalty. Each month of vehicle use reduces the initiative penalty by 1 until the penalty goes to 0.

    New Vehicle Is...          Starting Penalty
      different type                 -8
      different model                -6
      different variant              -4
      exact model & variant          -2

Multiple Crew Penalty:

Each unit that has more than one crew member has an initiative penalty equal to the square root of the number of crew members. So a full infantry platoon has a penalty -(28^0.5) = -6.

Multiple Unit Penalty:

Each side has a separate penalty calculated like for multiple crew. Use square root of the number of units in the side as the penalty.