Condition Modifier
Target Range +1 per 2 inches away*
Target Movement As normal
Target Terrain As normal
Intervening Terrain As normal Thrown Cargo Size +Cargo Size value Thrown Cargo is Active Unit +2
*Replaces normal Range modifier for weapon attack; round down to minimum of +0
If the dragged cargo is dropped in haste, it will sustain 1 additional point of damage as it lands—unless the dragged item is a vehicle or trailer with a wheeled or tracked movement type.
If the dragged cargo is carefully dropped—or is hastily dropped, but possesses a wheeled or tracked motive type—the dropped cargo sustains no additional damage from being dropped.
FORTIFIED POSITIONS
Ground units and infantry that possess the Trenchworks/
Fieldworks Engineering (TRN) special (see p. 109, AS) may quickly create special fortified positions usable by vehicles, ProtoMechs, and infantry for defensive purposes. These special positions can be made in any terrain type except for buildings or water.
To create a fortified position, the engineering unit must remain stationary for a full turn, during which time it also may not make any weapon or physical attacks of any kind. The act of fortifying a position requires no rolls, but it requires the unit’s full attention to do so, during which time it may be targeted as if it were at standstill (see Variable Movement Modifiers, p. 22).
In the End Phase of the turn after the above conditions are met, a 2-inch diameter template marker must be placed on the map, centered upon the engineering unit’s position. This marker indicates that the area has been fortified for added cover. For the remainder of the scenario, the fortified position may be used to provide extra cover for infantry units (see Advanced Infantry Options, p. 26) or ProtoMechs and vehicles going hull down (see Hull Down, p. 10).
MORALE
On the game table, it is easy to play out a scenario to the death, where victory goes to the force whose units are the last ones standing. Glorious as that can be, however, it overlooks the fact that most battlefield units are controlled by human beings—men and women who typically want to live to fight another day.
To better simulate this in-universe reality, the following rules will periodically require units to perform a special “morale check” roll at the end of any combat turn in which certain demoralizing conditions are met. Failure of this check may trigger a forced withdrawal effect, and thus players should familiarize themselves with those rules, as they are found in Alpha Strike (see p. 27, AS).
Morale Check Conditions
Unless exempted (see Morale Check Exemptions, p. 33), all ground unit types except for those that feature the LG, VLG, and SLG special features, fighters, airborne vehicles, and aerospace Small Craft units, will be subject to a morale check if any of the following conditions apply:
•
The unit has suffered damage or heat from an Inferno ordnance attack (see Alternate Munitions, pp. 76-82, AS).•
The unit has suffered damage from any form of cruise missile artillery weapon (see Artillery, pp. 73-76, AS).•
The unit has sustained crippling damage (see p. 27, AS), and is not an infantry unit.•
The unit has sustained at least half its total damage capacity (armor and structure, combined), and is an infantry unit.by 2 inches. If the towed unit or trailer is of equal size class to the towing unit, the towing unit’s current Move rate is reduced by half (rounded down to the nearest inch). If the towed unit or trailer is of a larger Size class than the towing unit, the towing unit reduces its Move to one quarter of its current rate (rounded down to the nearest inch).
While being towed, the trailer or towed unit is always placed in base contact with the rear facing of its towing unit. Both units may attack and be attacked as separate units while connected in this manner, but any attacks made against them use the target movement modifier appropriate to the towing unit’s current modified Move rate. Thus, if a Size 3 towing unit, with a normal Move of 6 inches is reduced to 4 inches because it is towing a Size 2 trailer, both the towing unit and its trailer may be attacked as if they have a Move of 4 inches.
Naval Tugs: These same rules apply on the surface of water features as long as both the towing vehicle and its trailer possess the ability to float, and the towing vehicle is capable of naval movement.
Dragging
Other ground units—including ’Mechs, ProtoMechs, ground vehicles with the hover or WiGE movement types, and even infantry units—can also opt to drag external cargo, rather than carrying it. Though far less elegant—and likely to cause damage to the cargo—dragging away salvage may be the best way to clear a field when one is short on time and recovery vehicles.
Basic Dragging Rules: As with the basic external cargo rules, the Size of the external cargo must be identified first (if it is only given in tons), and adjusted as necessary if the dragging unit is a Support Vehicle.
Dragging cargo use the same rules described under Towing, above, but does not require the towing unit to possess a trailer hitch, nor does the towed item need to be a wheeled or tracked trailer. However, if the cargo being dragged is not a wheeled or tracked vehicle (or trailer), the dragging unit runs the risk of damaging it as it moves. To reflect this risk, for every 2 inches of movement made while dragging external cargo, the dragging unit must make a 2D6 roll against its Skill Rating, adding any extra per-inch movement costs of the terrain to this number as a modifier (e.g., dragging such cargo through rough terrain—which cost +1 inch to move through—adds a +1 modifier to this roll target).
If this roll is less than the modified target number, the dragged cargo immediately sustains 1 point of damage from dragging. This roll must be repeated for every 2 inches of movement completed by the dragging unit, until it releases its cargo. If the dragged cargo is a unit that can sustain critical hits and motive damage, make any necessary checks as appropriate to the unit’s type and condition any time the dragging action causes damage.
Dropping Dragged Cargo: As with dropping a carried object (see p. 30), dropping any external cargo that is being dragged can be accomplished either in haste (at no additional movement cost), or with extra caution at a cost of 2 inches of Move. In both cases, the action must be taken during the dragging unit’s Movement Phase, after which the unit regains its full mobility (reduced only by the amount of its Move that was already spent while dragging the cargo or placing it down carefully).
INTRODUCTION
ALPHA STRIKE TACTICAL ANNEX
ABSTRACT SPACE COMBAT
ALPHA STRIKE FORCE BUILDING
ALPHA STRIKE SCENARIOS
EXPANDED REPAIR AND SALVAGE RULES BATTLETECH CONVERSIONS
ALPHA STRIKE POINT VALUE CALCULATIONS
A routed must begin to retreat per the rules for Forced Withdrawal (see p. 27, AS), starting with its next Movement Phase. If a routed unit does not recover its nerve before it leaves the map area (see Recovering Nerve, below), it is considered to have withdrawn entirely from battle and is removed from play. As with the Forced Withdrawal rules, routed units can still execute attacks while they are retreating, but may not act as spotters for indirect fire, nor may they deliberately move toward an enemy unit’s position.
Recovering Nerve
Any unit that is routed must make an additional morale check at the End Phase of every turn after its morale has broken, to see if it can recover its nerve. This roll uses the base target number and modifiers that applied when the unit’s morale broke to begin with, but also applies the Additional Nerve-Recovery Modifiers shown in the Morale Check Table.
If the roll equals or exceeds the modified target number, the unit regains its morale and may once again function normally (at which point it may stop retreating and does not need to make any further morale checks until it sustains damage again). If not, the routed unit continues to flee from battle for Morale Check Exemptions
The following unit types are exempt from making morale checks, but may still be subject to Forced Withdrawal conditions, if those rules are in play:
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Large Units: Any ground unit with the LG, VLG, and SLG special, including all Mobile Structures.•
Large Aerospace Units: All DropShips, JumpShips, WarShips, and space stations.•
Drones: Any unit with the DRO, RBT, or SDCS special features is exempt from morale checks—even if it is of a unit type and/or size that ordinarily would not be exempt.•
Stationary Units: Buildings, gun emplacements, and other units that possess no Move to begin with, are exempt from morale rules.Making the Morale Check
The morale check is a 2D6 roll against a base target number equal to the unit’s Skill Rating, plus all applicable modifiers listed in the Morale Check Table. If the roll result is equal to or higher than this modified target number, the unit’s morale remains intact and it may continue to act normally.
Otherwise, the unit’s morale breaks, and it is considered to
A Word of Blake Level II attempts to destroy the Ghosts of the Black Watch.
Anti-TSM munitions were first employed, only prototype forms of triple-strength myomer existed (TSMX). Indeed, it was specifically to avoid the danger of anti-TSM warheads that modern, standard triple-strength myomer—identified by the TSM special—emerged to begin with. This improved TSM quickly eclipsed the original, and all but spelled the end of anti-TSM munitions by the mid-3050s.
Listen-Kill Warheads
Required Special: LRM or SRM
Listen-Kill missions are available only to units that possess the LRM or SRM specials. Use of these warheads applies a –1 to-hit modifier to the weapon attack, whether it is made using only the LRM or SRM special ability, or as part of the unit’s standard weapon attack.
Note: Historically, simple tweaks to communications suites of the day eliminated the effectiveness of Listen-Kill warheads within just two years of their debut. To reflect this, if playing scenarios where the in-universe date is a factor, these missiles only provide the above benefits if used from 3037 (the year the missiles were introduced) to 3039 (the year they ceased to be effective). After 3039, Listen-Kill warheads are treated as standard missiles.
Dead-Fire Missiles
Required Special: LRM or SRM
Dead-fire missiles are available only to units that possess the LRM or SRM specials. When delivering an attack using these missiles, increase the damage delivered by the unit’s LRM or SRM special by 1 point, but decrease the maximum range for these special abilities by 1 bracket. (For example, with dead-fire missiles, the LRM1/2/2 special would become LRM2/3/0, while the SRM3/3 special would become SRM4/0.)
NEW ALTERNATE MUNITIONS
The following alternate munitions represent specialty ammunition types not previously covered in the Alpha Strike core rules (see pp. 76-82, AS), largely because they all emerged as short-lived, experimental concepts. As with the specialty munitions found in Alpha Strike, these new ammo types may only be employed by units that possess the appropriate abilities, and will affect attacks made by such units accordingly.
Anti-TSM Warheads
Required Special: LRM or SRM
Anti-TSM warheads are available only to units with the LRM or SRM specials. When making a successful ranged attack by such units—either while using just the unit’s IF, LRM, or SRM special abilities, or as part of a standard attack—reduce the attack damage by 1 point. If the target possesses the TSMX or TSI specials, it sustains 2 additional points of damage and one additional critical hit, even if there is still armor remaining.
In addition to these effects, Anti-TSM warheads generate a 2-inch radius area of smoke centered on the unit they hit, which will linger, drift, and affect LOS as per the rules for normal smoke (see pp. 81 and 83, AS). Units with the TSMX or TSI specials that enter this smoke area—or which begin their Movement Phase within a smoke area created by Anti-TSM warheads—will immediately suffer 1 point of structure damage if they do not possess any armor at that time, resolving Critical Hits accordingly.
Note: While it seems odd, in retrospect, to find a munition specifically dubbed “Anti-TSM” that has no effect against the common form of triple-strength myomer in use today, this nomenclature references the missiles’ historical use. At the time