So for those of you not in the know (quite a few, in fact) I've been developing and playtesting a set of twelve random-roll scenarios to use at BV 2.0-balanced Battletech tournaments and pickup games (most emphatically NOT campaigns), with their ultimate design intent being to encourage a VARIETY of units selected in a given OpFor instead of focusing on, say, maxing out Alacorns/Hellstars/flavor of the week.
There's only one problem: I've only been able to come up with eleven scenarios. The twelfth I had was just... well, too similar to another scenario, so I cut it, but that left me short.
Since then, I've been trying to make a twelfth one, but... it's hard to come up with one! Especially since it has to feed into that paradigm of unit-selection!
But now, I think I have one: the Ravening Horde.
RAVENING HORDE
"Ravannion theorized that 'Mech warfare should be carried out by swarms of ultra-light 'Mechs to attack and overwhelm heavier, but numerically inferior defending 'Mechs."
-TRO 3025, Blackjack entry
BRIEFING: Whether by lunacy, luck, or genius, one side has an almost unstoppable mass of lighter 'Mechs to throw against the other.
MAPS & GAME LENGTH: Use half the normal number of maps, arranged in a square, of the defender's choice. The game lasts for twenty turns or until the defenders are destroyed.
OVERALL SPECIAL RULES: None.
ATTACKER DEPLOYMENT & SPECIAL RULES: The attacker may not deploy any units over 35 tons, or any infantry/battle armor that is not transported in another unit. At the start of the game, the attacker moves his units on from any board edge. Every five turns, the attacker may recycle any destroyed units, and remove any units he deems too damaged to continue, and move them on as a fresh unit from the table edge.
DEFENDER DEPLOYMENT & SPECIAL RULES: The defender counts the number of units deployed by the attacker and chooses a number of units equal to that number to deploy. All of those units gain a +1 bonus to all skills.
VICTORY CONDITIONS: Each of the defender's units is worth one victory point, totalled at the end of the game, with destroyed units going towards the attacker's total, and still-functional (with at least one weapon system and one movement MP) going toward's the defender's. If the attacker has more, he wins; if not, the defender wins.
Now, it's fairly obvious what my inspiration was here; but what I wanted was a scenario that (on the one side) would favor having a lot of lights, and (on the other) would favor having heavier, more durable ones... but the thing is, before you roll on the table to find out what scenario you're playing, you randomly roll to determine who's the attacker and who's the defender! So, in a tournament situation, it wouldn't do one much good to load up on a force of Alacorns and hope for the best rolls; you might pick one or two, then grab some Saladins, some Pegasus', some Heavy APCs with infantry...
The number of maps is dependent upon the size of the force; in this case it would be two maps for a 6,000 BV force, or 4 maps for a 12,000 BV force, encouraging a knock-down, drag-out brawl.
But there's only one problem: I can't accurately playtest this scenario. I only have two friends in town who can play the game seriously, one of them is going through a serious domestic problem and the other... well, he's too flaky, and I'm starting to suspect that he's a meth addict. <_< The signs are all there, unfortunately.
So I was wondering if you guys see any serious problems with it, or even if you'd be able to playtest it for me real quick. <_< I can't even use Megamek on this li'l netbook to test it out. *sigh*
