Back in the day, as I've mentioned, the clan era killed BT in my group due to a bunch of stupidly overpowered custom mechs, and also because the group insisted on doing lance on lance (4x4) matches, which were normally a bunch of Mad Cats and Lokis fighting a squad of IS Potatomechs. Not fun for the IS side. That era needs scenarios and 'realistic' setups to make the power imbalance fun to play.
I didn't get into the game until the 90s, but well after the Clans had arrived. I've heard that there wasn't a proper balancing system in place and attempts to go straight tonnage or units was (unsurprisingly) unfair.
There's been a few attempts to balance the game properly for I.S and Clan and it's generally pretty sound now with BV2 (I think it's the third attempt). If you're not careful, though, you can actually sway the advantage easily to the I.S without meaning to- there's also further abuses for the I.S such as the one you've asked about here:
What I'm wondering is if playing the clans as they historically fought (i.e., duels instead of concentrated fire) helps even the board a bit? The IS player can concentrate fire from all his outclassed mechs, while the clan fights 'honorably' one on one with much better equipment. Anyone tried that?
There's actually rules for the honour duels and protections
for the Clans. One clear abuse is challenging a Timber Wolf to a one on one duel with a Spider and then hiding your spider underwater or in smoke to break LOS while the rest of the I.S lance fires upon the Timber Wolf without letting its player do anything but try to get to the Spider. That shouldn't be fun for either side- one player just marks off armour points while the other rolls dice.
That being said, there's a lot of fun (at least to me) in playing the I.S against the Clans with the lore. The I.S and Clans are foils and contrasting in a lot of ways- which translates to the game board.
A few points to consider when it comes to the Clans:
1) The Clans are glory hogs. Each warrior desires a glorious death before they reach the age of 35 or so so that their DNA will be used to create the next generation of warriors. Warriors are therefor torn between winning the fight (for their Clan) and risking loss by over-extending themselves to stand out from their peers. Fighting a match where a Clan warrior has the advantage is the best way to ensure they
don't stand out- a Timber Wolf shouldn't be fighting a Marauder one on one, and if they do, they should be forfeiting some of their firepower: E.g, "As your inferior model lacks the great technology of my Clan, I will only use my ER Large Lasers within this duel!". 2 ER Large Lasers deal 20 damage against the Marauder's twin PPCs and AC5.
2) The Clans also aren't against challenging multiple opponents at once. If you have a company of 3025 'mechs against a Clan star (5 'mechs) balanced by BV2, that assumes all the I.S 'mechs are in play. For balance
and theme, the Clan player should have his heavier 'mechs take on 3 opponents while his lighter mechs take on 2 opponents at once.
3) The Clans expect the defender to be honest about their forces-
they ask the I.S what they will be defending with, and then have their officers bid against each other. For example, if the I.S says they have a company of 'mechs, the Clan officers will compete with each other by saying 'I can take the company with two stars' 'Oh yeah? I can do it with five 'mechs and five elementals! (See the point below)' 'Fine, I will do it with only five 'mechs!' etc.
You can have your players do this. Establish the I.S force, then have your players bid against each other- whomever is willing to take the smallest/lightest Clan force gets to play their Clan force. The loser(s) plays the I.S side.
4) The Clans' infantry are
Elementals. There are five in a squad and each wear a piece of battle armour that lets them jump 3 hexes, fire SRM2s, and a Medium Laser each.
One squad is considered a 'mech for honour duels. That means if you have a company against a Nova (A star of 5 'mechs and 5 squads of battle armour) each squad of battle armour should be challenging an I.S 'mech to fight.
5) There is 'lore' to backup that the Clans frown on fights made easier by the more powerful weapons. Targeting Computers, Pulse Lasers, Streak SRMs etc. can be very powerful in the game. While using targeting computers to aim at legs or centre torsos or stacking pulse lasers with the -1 bonus from a targeting computer may be attractive to new players, thematically this is discouraged from a lore perspective. That's not to say that a Clan player can't use a Warhawk C, but he or she shouldn't be building his entire star around it- e.g, there shouldn't be a 1/2 pilot in the warhawk C while everything else is Elementals so she or he can roll to-hits of 4 while the Elementals tie up the other I.S forces.
Basically, when playing the Clans against the I.S, some theme and common sense should be applied. Who ultimately wins should be secondary to everyone having fun (and a chance) just like any other game of Battletech.
A few notes on actual I.S vs Clan tech:
1) A Timber Wolf may have a lot more firepower than a 3025 Marauder, as well as mobility. Clan internals and armour
can't take any more punishment than their I.S counterparts however. The internal structure of a Timber Wolf is the exact same as a Marauder, and you cannot mount any more armour on it than you can the Marauder. Because the I.S force (rightfully so) will have more units and tonnage than the Clan force, the I.S will have more 'health' to help counteract the considerably increased firepower of the Clan force.
2) Engines, gyros, cockpits etc. are all just as vulnerable for either side. Three engine crits will take down a Clan 'mech- keep in mind that Clan units make heavy use of XL Engines for increased mobility and weapons, and destroying a side torso results in two engine crits. A Marauder that loses a side torso is a lot further from death than a Timber Wolf that's lost a side torso. BV2 actually accounts for this in reducing the value of Clan units with XL Engines (and even further reduces I.S units with XL Engines as a side torso destruction will eliminate the unit due to three engine criticals exisiting in the side torso with I.S XL Engines).
3) A Timber Wolf's punch hits no harder than a Marauder's. Furthermore, as your I.S force will again be heavier the Timber Wolf could very well be fighting an Atlas, or an Atlas and a Cicada at the same time- the Timber Wolf is a loser in a kicking match with an Atlas.
4) The Clans are built around the concept of 'victimless' warfare. Only the warriors fight, and fights (trials) are held far from civilians to ensure that no civilians are hurt, killed, or otherwise inconvenienced. This translates directly to the game table in that Clan forces will want wide, open, terrain where they can take advantage of their weapons greater reach and ensure they can get the full defensive bonuses from using their superior movement. The I.S force will want to fight in treacherous terrain and urban areas as that forces the Clans into short range where both sides have a +0 modifier and the I.S can use physical attacks.
The defender gets to pick the location of the fight, so the I.S player should get the priority when it comes to picking maps- one thing to be careful though is that you don't unintentionally box the Clan player in from the start: You'll want to use enough mapsheets to ensure that the Clan forces can make use of their extra range and be able to run. The I.S player, during duels and map picking, should be trying to shepherd the Clan forces into close proximity instead of just dropping both forces within 15 hexes of each other right out from round 1. The I.S force can use infernos, mines (pre setup), traps such as mech pits, clearing away wood tiles etc. etc. to help force Clan forces in closer.
Finally, the honour rules themselves.
The rules themselves aren't complex. There's four levels- while lorewise the Clans initially started at level '1' in the invasion you'll likely want to use level 2 or 3.
Level 1: Under no circumstances the Clans will drop duels. This can be easily abused as I mentioned above: having a light hide while an I.S 'mech fire away without fear of reprisal and the like.
Level 2: If an I.S force member violates the duel, all Clan units are free to drops the honour rules against that unit
only.
Level 3: If a single I.S force member violates the duel, all Clan units are free to drop the honour rules against all I.S units.
Level 4: The Clans don't extend duels from the get go.
The duels themselves are pretty simple. Basically:
- Attempt to maintain LOS and within range of your weapons. A Hunchback shouldn't hang out at 20 hexes out because it can't fire any of its weapons at that range. If a unit moves outside its range, it earns a 'dezgra' point. If it ends a turn in LOS and attempted to move within range it loses a dezgra point. If a unit accumulates three points the Clan force may declare it in violation of the duel. (So an I.S 'mech can use smoke to block LOS as it closes, or break LOS to hide and lose some heat, etc. just so long as it doesn't do it three times in a row)
- A unit may not attack another outside of its duel. That Timber Wolf presented its rear arc to the hunchback while fighting the Atlas? The Hunchie can't fire at that rear armour unless it wants to violate the duel- the I.S player should be willing to violate rules. Part of the tactics is judging when to break the rules and risk the Clans dropping all dueling rules.
- Area of Effect weapons are typically banned by the Clans. Artillery, mines*, NARC etc. are frowned upon due to the fact that they tend to violate the nature of duels. Dropping thunder LRMs to deny an area to an opponent gets iffy if it accidentally damages a 'mech in another duel. NARC, spotting for indirect LRMs, can be fine if the collaborating forces are both dueling the same opponent in a 2v1 or 3v1 though.
Finally there's no real rule that I know of that prevents a player from just 'happening' to move a unit in duel A into the path of an opponent's mech in duel B to hinder its movement.
Note that part of dueling, of course, is that the Clan player will likely suspect (rightly so) that the I.S player will play dirty. Does she risk presenting her Timber Wolf's rear armour to a Hunchback, trusting the I.S player not to take advantage and break the duel?
*Mines and such that are setup in advance don't necessarily violate duels, especially under Levels 1 and 2.
Physical attacks:
- Don't have anything to do with honour duels and are fair game by either side
- The Clans have disdain for them as they're 'barbarian' and 'unsophisticated'. There's a similar level of rules for Clans regarding Physical attacks: Level 1, they don't do them ever. Level 4, the Clans are free to use them from the start. I don't quite recall Level 2 and 3, but thematically the Clans should be reluctant to use them while the I.S should be encouraged to do so.
Retreat:
- The Clans typically don't retreat because it stains their personal honour. Again, they're weighint their personal honour and glory against the needs of the Clans. The Clans aren't above forced withdrawal rules though, and whether the Clans follow them is again based on a Level 1 through 4 system where 1 they refuse to retreat and 4 they're free to do so if the battle appears lost. The greater the tech difference between the Clans and the I.S, the less likely the Clans are to withdraw though- against 3025 forces, a Timber Wolf against a Marauder wouldn't retreat- a Timber Wolf with a missing side torso and an exposed centre and side torsos though would probably yield to an Atlas.
A lot of its thematic, so you'll want to experiment and find what works best for your group.
