I have an idea for a potentially interesting scenario and want peoples thoughts on it. Prepare yourselves, this is going to be a long post.
Map Settings:
-4 ft x 6 ft map (North to South is 4 ft dimension, East to West is 6 ft dimension)
-Light to heavy woods surround the North and South sides of the map
-low level hills, a small lake, and light woods are within the center of the map to the East side
-a small city is on the West side of the map.
-The time of day is late evening/early night, so the city is dimly lit.
Force Rules:
-Each army cannot naturally see the location of an opposing unit unless they are within 2 inches from each other (the exception being a Beagle Active Probe allowing full identification within 4 inches).
-To make the Beagle Active Probe finally useful, this would mean that for a unit to completely identify an enemy unit, I would say that each unit needs to be within 2 inches to visually see and identify the opposing unit. Light woods would not allow for two units to identify each other.
-Units in front of the city create a silhouette. Opposing forces can identify a unit, but do not know what it is.
-Units shooting create brief light that, if LOS of the location would be normal during the day, an opposing unit could see.
Management:
For this game a 3rd party game master actually needs to manage this. My thoughts would be that each force would have a commander (if more than two players) with a hand-held magnetic board. On the board is a scale map of the full board. The commanders will have magnets that are labelled. The game master will also have a magnetic map that has all the units and their locations. Poker chips will be used on the board that are numerically labeled when a unit is spotted but not fully identified.
Turn order will be as follows:
1. Each commander will allocate his force locations on the magnetic boards and then hand their boards to the game master.
2. The game master will have an additional map that has all the locations of the units on his board. He will move the units around and determine visuals, if any.
3. If visuals occur, the game master will place markers, or actual units, onto the main map. Any previous visuals that no longer are in effect are removed by the game master.
4. Both forces roll initiative. Any unit that has been spotted or identified is under the effect of initiative, unless it has already been moved during that round. For initiative, the number of spotted or identified units determines how many units each player moves at a time, though I would be inclined to just have each army move all of their spotted or identified units at the same time.
5. Firing phase, if any.
6. Additional visuals will be placed if units that weren't seen shoot and can then be seen. This only lasts one round. Once the Phase 3 occurs on the next round those visuals will change location or be removed, whichever is applicable.
7. PSR and physicals.
Game Objective:
-I don't want each force to turtle up so there needs to be an additional objective. My thoughts are that each force has a commander and that the primary objective is to take down the opponents commander. The Game Master would tell each force which unit is the commander, as the commander would have gained a bit of notoriety piloting his mech. Otherwise, perhaps the force entering from the east is targeting a specific building, which would bring them into the city.
Special Rules:
-I was thinking of doubling the range of all weapons and equipment, while keeping the movement the same. This will hopefully encourage earlier engagements. This would also modify the beagle probe to 8 inches instead of 4 inches, and change the visual identification to 4 inches instead of 2 inches.
-When targeting the silhouette of an opponent, add a +2 for not being able to completely see it.
-If an ally sees the opponent, the entire ally force is aware of what is seen. If a silhouette is all that is seen, all allies see the silhouette. If a unit is identified, all allies know what it is. This means that most likely the scouts and the brawlers will be known to the enemy fairly consistently, while the flankers and support mechs may never be found out.
Conclusion:
Let me know your thoughts, if you would need further clarification on rules, what special equipment might do that I didn't think about, or other questions or concerns. I am going to try to set up a game in October or November that would implement these rules, and potentially try to run something like this at GenCon or Origins next year, so I want to start working out the kinks.