When I was doing BattleTech games at D.R.A.G.O.N. (UC Davis game club) in 1995, shortly after the Tactical Handbook came out, a guy wanted to start a mercenary campaign, with the idea that we'd take salvage from the battle and grow in strength.
He set up the parameters, I brought the maps and minis, and then he wandered off to do something else while we played out the scenario. Since the Tactical Handbook had just come out, we decided to use some of the new rules therein, including the one for engine explosions. (If the CT goes from undamaged to destroyed in one turn, the engine blows on a roll of 8+, totally destroying anything at ground zero and doing splash damage to neighboring hexes depending on the size of the engine). This early version of the rule had the effect of turning light 'Mechs into bombs with legs, and the splash damage often could (and did) cause chain reaction detonations.
He came back at the end of the evening to see how things had gone, asking "So, what's the salvage?"
The response: "Ummmm. I think half of that truck could be used for armor plate. Oh, and that Spider's arm fell off before it blew." Everything else had gone out with an engine explosion.
With no measurable salvage and the player team fairly wrecked as well, the campaign ended at that point.
