I've been watching the thread on changes to infantry, and it's going in the complete opposite direction of what I'd like to see. I have always felt that non-battle armor infantry are the very bottom of the barrel when it comes to BattleTech units. Outside of exceptional circumstances, the role of infantry is to swarm and die. They're slow, have low damage output and range, and are hideously vulnerable to 'Mech-scale weapons. Their only advantage is that they're cheap, both to raise as units in-universe and in terms of game BV.
Bluntly, even giving them record sheets is affording BattleTech's PBI more dignity - and bookkeeping - than they deserve.
In these rules, all of an infantry unit's relevant stats are printed directly on a double-sided counter, like in classic wargaming. They only have four stats: Move, Range, Attack, and Defense. Some units have codes for special abilities. The "top" side of the counter represents the unit at full strength. The "bottom" side has reduced stats to represent the unit at roughly 50% strength. Nothing is tracked for infantry units; they do not have record sheets or cards.
MOVE: This is how many MP the unit can spend each turn, per the normal rules. This can have various suffixes, like "j" for jump or "w" for water movement types. "H" is a special case and stands for "Heavy." This indicates that the unit is move or fire.
RANGE: The range, in hexes, of the unit's primary weapons. Secondary weapons are mostly disregarded, but might grant a special ability. The suffix "i" indicates an indirect-fire capable weapon such as a mortar.
ATTACK: The damage value applied to enemy units on a hit. This is always applied in 5-point clusters, with two exceptions. The suffix "f" indicates heat-based weapons like infernos or flamers and uses the normal rules for such weapons. The suffix "/2" indicates that this is SRM-equipped infantry and damage is applied in 2-point clusters. Note that infernos are considered different from standard SRMs under these rules. Infantry units may not switch ammo types during a game. Note also that infantry never track ammunition.
DEFENSE: This is based on the Battlefield Support rules. When an infantry unit receives damage in a turn more than this number, roll a single D6. On a 1 or 2, flip the counter to the "bottom" side. If the bottom is already showing, remove the counter entirely; that unit has been destroyed. For every multiple of the Defense number in damage received in a turn, subtract 1 from the die roll (so at Defense 6, you get -1 at 12 damage, -2 at 18, etc.). Machine guns, flamers, and other anti-infantry weapons roll the appropriate dice for damage points instead of their flat values. Damage is not tracked from turn to turn beyond the counter flipping or being removed.
Defense values are fixed: D4 for no or light armor, D6 for standard infantry kit, and D8 for heavy armor or monsters like Tau Zombies. D8 can also be used for exoskeletions that grant no more than 1 point of 'Mech-scale armor; anything more than that needs the use of the battle armor record sheet.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: This is for stuff like Tau Zombies' C3, melee weapons (+50% damage to units in base contact), anti-infantry (roll each damage point as a D6 against other infantry), etc.
Note that, under these rules, two infantry creation options may not be taken: mechanized and field guns. Mechanized infantry are created as foot infantry and then have the appropriate transport vehicles bought separately. Field guns will require a complete rewrite, as subsuming them into these rules would perversely make them more powerful.
There's some more considerations I need to ponder, such as terrain and building effects, but this is the basics I've come up with.
Oh, and one final note: Do not debate between this, the standard rules, or the more-detailed infantry in the other thread. Each is for a different type of player and all are, I believe, valid interpretations of infantry in the game. There's no "best" option, only different opinions. Keep such arguments out of these threads. Thank you.
