Defining the roles

[Darius Silverbolt]

I am running a campaign for the last few years and my players want to add lance formation rules to the game.

Normally I am fine with the idea but we do use a fair amount of custom mechs and/or modified mechs.

So when looking up what defines a Brawler, Juggernaut, scout, Skirmishers, etc.. there isn't a real solid defined definition that I can find.

Can some one point to something that gives me a better idea? 

[Kerfuffin(925)]

In AS:CE roles are lightly defined starting pg112.
Ditto for CampaignOps pg57.

I’d also look at what the ideal role for a lance is and the lances requirements.

For example the assault lance says, juggernaut is the ideal role. In the requirements it says >135 armor, and 25 points of damage at range 7.

So juggernauts are armored and hit hard up close. And from pg57 we see they are also slow.

AS:Companion (oop) has more concrete guide lines on roles pg137

This post has a good answer from nckestrel (the AS/role guy) about roles and how they get assigned.
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=82438.msg1958148#msg1958148

[thedancingjoker]

My suggestion for a tabletop campaign: Let the players choose what role their custom mechs count as.  You can veto it if they are obviously gaming the system "Why yes this all-Medium-Laser mech is Missile Boat" but as long as they are even in the ballpark call it good and move on.

[Darius Silverbolt]

Thank you all.  Looking over campaign operations now.

I think I am going to take  thedancingjoker advice and see what the players come up with. 

[House Davie Merc]

My suggestion for a tabletop campaign: Let the players choose what role their custom mechs count as.  You can veto it if they are obviously gaming the system "Why yes this all-Medium-Laser mech is Missile Boat" but as long as they are even in the ballpark call it good and move on.

This is how I see it.
I've been in disagreement with the AS rules for lance/mech roles since they were made.

There's not only a LOT of canon mechs that have been used to fill roles they don't match in
AS for years in Battletech tabletop, but also a number of canon mech units that don't match that mold either.

Make it your own and roll on.

[Apocal]

Thank you all.  Looking over campaign operations now.

I think I am going to take  thedancingjoker advice and see what the players come up with.

Yeah, don't let the rules as written get in the way of having your fun.

[Darius Silverbolt]

Yeah, don't let the rules as written get in the way of having your fun.

I never do :-) As my campaign is very modified (A merc unit that run the whole campaign based off C-Bills) which is harder to do that you think with the current rule books. LOL.

[Charistoph]

In many cases, if the customized job hasn't strayed too far from the original 'Mech, even using the original Role isn't too much.  Alternatively finding a similar 'Mech's Role and using that shouldn't be too hard.  That's what I've done when making the custom Alpha Strike cards for our unit.

There's only a couple cases where it has been way off from the original.  Like turning an Orion or a Zeus in to a Jumping MedLas spammer with some SRM-6 racks.