The Campaign begins in 3063, in the early stage of the FedCom Civil War, in the regions surrounding Terra. The goal of these rules is to facilitate the tracking of mercenary companies, simulate the logistical requirements that affect strategy, and abstract away as much unnecessary accounting and micromanagement as possible.
Here are some abbreviations that are used below:
When a player joins a campaign, they start with 8 unique 'Mechs of their choice worth up to a total of 300 PV. Use the baseline Skill 4 cost for these 'Mechs. Additionally, the player gets pilots for these 'Mechs: 1x Sk 5 pilot, 4x Sk 4 pilots, 2x Sk 3 pilots, and 1x Sk 2 pilot. These pilots each get assigned to a different 'Mech, and their starting skill is their skill with that specific variation of that 'Mech. Record that skill with that 'Mech on their pilot card. The skill of the pilot changes the PV of the mechs, so record the new PV of the 'Mech on the 'Mech's card (probably in pencil, as it might change). Next, they get a Prototype Hamilcar-class DropShip as their first base. Name this ship, and record it on the Mercenary Company Record sheet. They should give their mercenary company a name, and pick a leader from among their pilots. This DropShip has 8x 'Mech Bays with 4x Doors, 2x Aerospace Hangers with 2x Doors, a Infantry Transport Bay with IT12, and a 100 ton cargo bay (aka CT100). All of the 'Mechs are loaded onto this DropShip, so they should be added to the Base Manifest sheet for their DropShip. Record the DropShip's name, type, and various Capacities as well. Finally, the player should create a Transaction Sheet to record all of the change of assets moving in or out of their possession. The first transaction is has the type "Company Formed," adds the assets "Prototype Hamilcar, [the eight 'Mechs they selected], [the eight pilots they hired]," the date is the date they joined the campaign, and the signature is from any of the other players in the campaign. Once all of that is done, they are ready to play their first game of the campaign.
The Campaign is formed by a linked series of Campaign Turns. Campaign Turns have three Phases: the Contract Phase, the Battle Phase, and the Maintenance Phase.
The first phase of the Campaign Turn is the Contract Phase. This comes before the battle, and requires at least two people who have time to play two games before the next Contract phase. Each player picks a contract from those available in the sector where they have assets. If they are in the same sector and they both want the same contract, they may bid WP for priority; who ever wins the bid gives the client a discount of that much on the flat rate payment. Once both players have a contract, they can purchase additional last minute assets they might require for their contract, but they may only purchase "common" assets (see the Maintenance Phase for information about purchasing assets). Once they are ready to play, players roll off to decide which contract to play first. The player who took the contract is the Contracting player, and the other player is the OpFor (Opposition Forces) player. The Contracting Player decides which schedule of the contract they wish to use for that game. The Schedule determines how many PV worth of assets they can bring, how much they will face, how much Battlefield Support they get, and how much they will be paid. If the OpFor player has assets in range, they may choose to take the OpFor half of the contract. They don't get a choice of the schedule, they must match what the contracting player selected. If the OpFor player dos not have any assets in range, or they don't wish to take the OpFor half of the contract, they play as an Untracked Force (that is to say, one that is not being recorded in a campaign log), but they only use 50% of the PV allowed by the contract, as indicated. Contracts are generally worth about 1000 WP maximum, half of that should be a flat rate that is given to mercenary who took the contract, and the rest in battlefield objectives that may be earned during battle. If a player accepts a contract but accomplishes none of the objectives, the MRB punishes them by taking half of their flat rate and giving them a point on their record (see the Maintenance phase for more information about this). If a player gets three points on their record, their mercenary license is revoked and they become a pirate.
Additional players may join in the game if they have assets in the sector. The first additional player plays as an hired gun, only able to accomplish secondary objectives given to the contracting player. Subsequent additional players may join as either hired guns or OpFor, but a player may only join as OpFor if there are more hired guns than OpFor. If the additional players cannot come to a mutually agreeable arrangement over who should play which role, they can roll for initiative with all relevant bonuses based on their forces, and the winner picks the role they wish to join. Players may join in the middle of games, but they may only join as additional hired guns, and they may only bring in units worth PV up to the number of PV for the OpFor player with the most PV worth of units left. Players joining in the middle of a game may not introduce any new optional rules that the currently engaged players are not already using, and they may not veto use of those rules which require agreement by all players.
The second phase of a Campaign Turn is the Battle Phase, where players play a game of BattleTech Alpha Strike. The contract selected indicates the scenario to play, and may include some changes to the game. Additionally, there are three Optional Rules that will be used in every game of this campaign. The three "non-Optional" rules are External Cargo, Forced Withdrawal, and Wrecks. Beyond that, players may choose to include other optional rules. Most of them only require that the player intending to use them notify their opponent that they are going to do so. The one exception is Expanded Ground Ranges, which requires that all players agree to use before it can be used. Some of the Optional Rules are modified as detailed below, and may not be used without these modifications.
Advanced Infantry Options may be used per the rules on page 139. The only change is that infantry can hide behind Wrecks from non-infantry units as if they were non-infantry units. Infantry may not hide behind wrecks of other infantry units.
Alternate Munitions may be used as per the rules on page 143. The only change is that if a player wishes to use an alternate munition, they must have purchased it from the market before the battle, and it must be among the assets that the player brought to the battle. The player may use the munitions on one unit per ton of munitions they purchase, and they must identify which unit(s) have been equipped with those munitions before the battle. After those munitions are brought to the battle, they are removed from the assets in the "Losses" transaction, whether they were fired or not.
Battlefield Intelligence may be used as per the rules on page 154. They are used as described, with no modificiations.
Dropping Troops may be used as per the rules on page 160. They are used as described, with no modifications.
Ejection/Abandoning Units may be used as per the rules on page 161. They are used nearly as described, with three modifications. The first modification is the player using the ejection rule need not place and infantry unit on the battlefield UNLESS their opponent requests that they do so and provides them with a model to use to represent the pilot. A player may use their own model, or some other mutually agreeable marker, counter, or token to show the location of the pilot. In such a case, the pilot will continue to act as unit on the battlefield as described in the rules. If the opponent does not wish to provide the player with something to represent the pilot, the pilot is treated as if they had ejected and withdrawn from the battle. The second modification is that any non-infantry unit may eject/abandon their vehicle, regardless of any other rules. The third modification is that infantry units may "eject," but they do not create a "pilot" unit. Instead, they lay down arms and surrender. Regardless of the type of unit that was ejected from/abandoned/surrendered, the unit is turned into a wreck.
Expanded Ground Ranges may be used as per the rules on page 162, but only if both players agree to use them before the battle.
External Cargo rules must be used, and are quite important to the campaign. They can be found on page 163. They are used as described, with three modifications. The first modification is that wrecks may be treated as cargo to be moved. The second modification is that a unit may unload cargo next to a friendly board edge (that is to say, a board edge they could withdraw from) to claim the cargo as their own. It is added to their assets, or is collected as a wreck to be salvaged at the end of the game, as appropriate. If the "cargo" claimed is an operational enemy unit and one of the players is using the Ejection rules, the player owning that unit may have the pilot eject during the End Phase following the Movement Phase wherein the unit was moved off the table. Place a pilot token on the edge of the board near where the unit left (or just consider the pilot to have withdrawn, depending on the opponent's preference). The third modification is that players may not load external cargo if there are no enemy units on the table.
Forced Withdrawal rules are in effect, as per the rules on page 126, with two modifications. The first modification is that units must move directly toward the closest board edge from which they might escape. This can be any board edge other than those that an enemy walked in from. If there are qualifying board edges, they are immune, and unable, to Forced Withdrawal. The second modification is that a unit may voluntarily withdraw if they wish. To do so, they simply use their movement to move off any board edge, other than those from which an enemy entered. If there are no such board edges, they may not voluntarily withdraw. Units that withdraw are considered "operational" at the end of the game. OpFor players controlling Untracked Units may not voluntarily withdraw, though they may be forced to withdraw as normal.
Hidden Units may be used as per the rules on page 168, with one modification. When a hidden unit is revealed, mark their location on the board with a unique marker to remember the location where the unit was hidden. At the end of the game, a player with hidden units hands their record of the location of the hidden units to their opponent for the opponent to verify that all of the hidden units were placed properly. If they were not, the player using this rule gets an MRB point on their record.
Minefields may or may not be used based on the details of the contract. By default, they are all conventional minefields. If a player wishes to use Minefield types other than conventional, as per the rules on page 169, they may do so if they purchased those mines from the market. This requirement is in addition to the cost of Battlefield Support Points they pay to acquire the minefields in the first place. Mines are deployed at a rate of one ton of mines per minefield per point of density. If the minefields are hidden, they are subject to the same recording restriction as hidden units: when they are revealed, a unique marker is placed on their center and their recorded location is shown to the other player at the end of the game. If non-conventional mines are deployed, they are removed from the assets of the player who used them in the "Losses" transaction at the end of the game, even if none of them went off.
When a unit is destroyed, do not remove it from the table. Instead, tip it on its side, or flip it over, to indicate it has been destroyed. This unit is now a "wreck." If players are using the Ejection rules, units that have been ejected from are converted to wrecks.
Wrecks can take damage. If a wreck has not already lost its last point of Structure, and it has not suffered a cataclysmic event, then continue tracking damage like normal. Roll for Crits as if the unit were not destroyed. Once all remaining structure is gone, if further damage is applied, begin tracking again at the start of the Armor track. Roll for Crits after every instance of damage taken, as if the Armor were Structure. If a second point of damage is applied to the last Structure point, then the Wreck is cataclysmically destroyed. If further damage is applied to a wreck after it has suffered a cataclysmic event, reduce the mass of the wreck by 5 tons per point of damage suffered. If the wreck is reduced to 0 tons or lower, remove it from the table.
Wrecks may not be damaged if there are no enemy units left on the table.
By design, contracts don't have a "winner" or "loser." This should encourage players to think about the greater strategic goals of their mercenary company when they decide which objectives they want to accomplish, and how they will go about accomplishing them. While this gives players a lot of freedom to decide how they want to play, it can make it hard to tell when the game is over. Firstly, if all players are playing mercenary companies and they decide that the battle is over, the game ends. A player controlling an Untracked OpFor should not agree to this, as it is in their best interest to destroy as much of the opponent's stuff as possible and they are not risking any of their own equipment. Secondly, if there are two or more players with units on the table and they play 10 consecutive turns without any units on either side being damaged, the game ends. Finally, if there are no units left on the table, the game ends. Importantly, just because all of the units on one side have withdrawn or been wrecked, that doesn't mean the game is over: the player with units left it free to continue to claim objectives. Note that the player with units left can neither load wrecks nor damage wrecks if there are no enemy units left on the table. Also note that if one player has had enough of the game and they want it to end, they should withdraw all of their units off the table as quickly as possible. This may not be the best course of action for their mercenary company, but it's the fastest way to bring the game to an end. If one player finds themself in a position where they have no one contesting their actions, they should still play as if they did. Players in this position should make their rolls in front of their opponent and measure properly, but as long as both players agree that certain results are inevitable, they are free to "hand wave" away the steps to reach that conclusion.
After the battle, there is a Maintenance Phase. This is only done for players who played as mercenary companies in that battle. Untracked forces, as their name suggests, don't track any of these things.
The first thing to record after the battle is the total amount of WP gained from the contract. Contract payments are organized into two sections, the flat rate and the battlefield objectives. The flat rate is paid to the Contracting player if they completed any of the objectives. They also collect the indicated amount for each battlefield objective they accomplished. In a game with multiple players working on the contract, only the Contracting player earns the flat rate; other players collect the battlefield objectives if they accomplish them. If a player takes a contract and accomplishes none of the objectives, the MRB punishes them by taking half of their flat rate and giving them a point on their record. The OpFor player collects the OpFor half of the contract if they complete the OpFor objective. The transaction type is "Contract," the asset transacted is the amount of WP, and date is the date of the battle, and the signature is from the player on the other side of the contract.
Players will also record reputation they gained or lost at this time. Reputation is only tracked by the five largest houses; minor factions do not have enough influence for a mercenary company's reputation with them to matter. While in the in service of House Davion, House Kurita, House Liao, House Marik, or House Steiner, some objectives will allow you to increase your reputation with them by 1, to a maximum of 10. If you took a contracts from one of these houses but failed to accomplish any objectives in the contract, reduce your reputation with them by 1, to a minimum of -10. Reputation can open up opportunities for contracts that might not other wise be available. Contracts are typically handled by the MRB, but if you have enough reputation with a house, they might deal with you directly, even if you are a pirate. Be careful when dealing with the houses in this manner: if you earn less than your opponent while on a pirate contract, your reputation with the contracting house will decrease by 1. If you earn more than your opponent while on a pirate contract, your reputation with your opponent's employer will drop by 1 to a minimum of -10 (if the employer was one of the five houses). Pirates who get on the wrong side of the houses may find themselves as the target of a contract if they are not careful.
At the end of the battle, the side with the most PV worth of operational units may salvage some of the remaining wrecks. For a unit to be "operational," it must be remaining on the table at the end of the game (and not a wreck), or have withdrawn during the battle. That player may have their operational units drag wrecks off the table to salvage them. For each of their operational units, a player may select one wreck to drag off and salvage as long as the wreck meets one of two requirements: the wreck must be of equal size or smaller than the unit dragging it; or, if the dragging unit has a CT value, the wreck's weight is less than double the CT value of the dragging unit. Each operational unit may only drag off one wreck in this way at this time. Once that player has done this, the player with the next highest PV worth of operational units sneaks onto the battlefield to salvage what they may. Their remaining operational units can attempt to drag off some of the remaining wrecks in the same manner, picking one wreck per operational unit they have left, limited in size or weight in the same way. Once all players have had a chance to salvage wrecks in this way, if there are additional wrecks, they can go around again in the same order and salvage one wreck at a time. In this round, there are no limitations on what may be salvaged, but only one wreck may be salvaged at a time. This continues until there are no more wrecks.
Not all salvaged wrecks are equal. Unless something really bad happened, a wreck can be repaired and returned to service. If the unit was destroyed due to an ammunition detonation or some other cataclysmic effect, it is not repairable, but half of the remaining tonnage can be converted to SP.
Players should record their salvaged wrecks on their transaction sheet. The transaction type is "Salvage," the added assets are the units they salvaged, the date is the date the game was played, and the player on the other side of the contract should sign it. Any SP gained from completely destroyed wrecks can also be added with this entry.
A separate transaction should be made to record any losses taken in battle. The transaction type is "Losses," the removed assets are the units lost, the date is the date of the game, and the player on the other side of the contract should sign it. If a unit was wrecked but then later salvaged by you, you don't need to include it in either entry.
Once everyone has recorded all of their losses and gains, players will need to make sure they have the right cards for their mechs. If players are willing, they can simply give hand-copied cards to the new owners. If the card they are using is one they would rather hold onto, allow the new owner to copy it. Using hand-copied cards is great because you can put a note on them that indicates who has owned that particular mech throughout the campaign, track battles it was in, and keep its history going.
Next, mercenary companies must pay 10% (round up) of the total tonnage of all non-wreck, non-stored units in the sector where the battle took place. This cost must be paid in in WP, and in return they get that much SP. This represents the purchasing of new parts to replace old worn out parts, and the salvage and recycling of old parts into spares and scrap that can be used somewhere else. If you don't have the WP to pay for this, or you choose not to, any unmaintained unit is put into storage; unless it is an Infantry Unit, it is converted to cargo, weighing 110% its normal tonnage, and take up space in a base's Cargo Capacity (CT). The unit keeps its damage values if any, but does not cost any maintenance costs in future Maintenance Phases until it is taken out of storage. If the unit is Infantry, they desert with their leader and equipment. During a later Maintenance Phase, you may pay SP worth 20% of the tonnage of the Unit to take it out of storage.
This transaction has the type "Maintenance," no assets are transacted, the change in WP and SP are recorded, the date is the date of the battle, and the signature is done by a player on the other side of the contract.
If you feel strongly that tonnage has no place in Alpha Strike, you may use the Alternate Maintenance Calculation: Maintenance for units costs 1 WP plus 2 WP per size category.Units placed in storage use cargo capacity equal to 11 plus their size category times 22. Taking a unit out of storage costs double what you would pay for Maintenance. You may not mix and match methods; if you use the Alternate Maintenance Calculation, you must use it for all of your units.
After maintenance is performed, pilots, crews and officers need to be paid. If a unit was destroyed by the result of a cockpit critical, a pilot being killed after ejecting, or a similar life-ending event, they are dead, remove them from your roster. If the unit was destroyed by some other catastrophic cause, like ammunition explosion, roll Sk+4: on a success they survived ejection, on a failure they died. After removing the dead leaders from your roster, you will need to pay those that remain. The cost for each is equal to 8 minus the highest Sk of the pilot, then divided by 2, rounding up as shown below.
If you are unable to pay some pilots, or decide you prefer not to, the leaders depart. If you care to, hand them over to the Mercenary Review Board so that they might be hired again in the future and their legends might live on. Record this transaction as "Wages", the assets transacted is the amount that you paid, the date is the date of the game, and the signature is from the player you played against.
Then, for each pilot who participated in the battle and remains in your employ, roll 2D6 and add their Sk. If the result is 12 or higher, you may pay to promote them to the next experience level for the unit they are piloting. The cost is whatever it would be to increase the Sk for that unit they are currently piloting, and it's paid in WP. If you chose not to, or are unable, you cannot chose to do so later (unless you later roll above a 12 for them when trying to promote). If you rolled double sixes on the promotion roll, you may instead pay twice the promotion amount to promote the pilot and give them a Special Pilot Ability that they would be able to use in their current unit. You must abide by the limitations on SPAs based on Rank as detailed in the SPA special rules. Promotions are recorded with the transaction type "Promotions," the assets transacted are the total amount of WP paid for all promoting pilots and the names and new skills of the pilots promoted, the date of the battle, and the signature of a player on the other side of the contract.
After experience is gained, repairs may be made. To make repairs, you will need to have facilities in your DropShip or Ground Base that are capable of repairing the type of units you have that are damaged. The starter DropShip has the capability to repair up to 8 mechs, 4 vehicles, and 4 infantry units. If you don't have the facilities to repair units, perhaps because you salvaged more wrecks than you have room for, the unrepaired units retain their damage for the next battle.
Armor is repaired at a cost of 1 SP per point of armor. Structure is repaired at a cost of 2 SP per point of Structure. Critical hits are repaired for 1 SP per hit, or automatically with a Structure repair. If you don't have enough SP, you may buy more with WP at a 1 to 1 rate. You don't have to fully repair a unit, but if you don't, it will go into its next battle with that damage.
Buildings in your bases can be repaired. They regain CP at the cost of SP equal to 100 divided by their max. For example, a Base Command Center has 20 CP, so the cost to repair one CP is 100 / 20, or 5 SP each. Round fractions up. If a Building contains multiple structures, count all of the CP of all of the structures in the calculation of their max CP.
Repairs are recorded with the transaction type "Repairs," the assets transacted are the amount of SP used to repair on each unit, and the amount of WP spend to purchase more SP (if necessary), the date is the date of the battle, and the signature is from one of the players on the other side of the contract.
After repairs are made, new units and equipment can be purchased. The units available depend on the sector where the battle took place. The base value of a unit is the baseline PV of the unit at Sk4 plus the tonnage. The list price may differ from the base value if the item is in high demand, or be discounted if they are in low demand. Any mercenary company who fought in the battle may purchase items in that sector. If there are a limited number of a unit and more than one player wants to buy it, players can bid for it. Thus, the base price, the list price, and the final price might all be different. The final price is paid in WP.
Parts can be purchased to refit units into different variants. If a player has a unit they own, and another variant of that unit is available for sale, they may purchase just the parts to refit it. The price is the difference between the owned unit's base price and the desired variant's list price, paid in WP. If the desired variant's list price is lower than the owned unit's base price, the parts are traded with no WP exchanged. If one player wants to buy the entire unit, and another wants to buy just the parts, the part buyer will have to outbid the unit buyer at the full unit price (but they still get the full unit). If the parts are acquired, SP must be paid to do the refitting work. This costs 10% of the higher base value of the two variants.
Other assets may be purchased according to their listed prices. Specialty Munitions, DropShips, Supply Points, and other assets may be purchased at this time.
Once new units are acquired, pilots, crews, and leaders are needed. If experienced pilots are available in the sector, they may be hired for the indicated costs. There is an unlimited supply of Sk6 pilots ready to join up just for the chance to learn. New units, new parts for refits, and new pilots can all be recorded as the same transaction. The type is "Purchases," the assets transacted are the items purchased, the WP paid for new units and parts and skilled pilots, and the SP paid for refitting work, if any. The date is the date of the battle, and the signature must come from someone who did not take part in the battle, if possible. If this is not possible, do the best you can and try to get another signature from a neutral third party later.
Experienced pilots can be transferred from one unit to another. If they transfer into an identical unit, perhaps because a previous unit was damaged, they use their existing Sk with that unit. If they transfer into a unit that is a variant of a unit with which they have experience, their Sk is 1 higher if the new variant is the same role, or 2 higher if its a different role. If they transfer into a different unit of the same Type (TP), their Sk with that unit is 2 higher if its the same role, or 3 higher if not. If they transfer into a unit of a different Type, their Sk with that unit is 4 higher. Pilots don't lose their skills when they transfer, so keep track of their skills with each unit. If they transfer back, they get their old Sk for that unit. Pilot transfers inside a company don't need to be recorded.
Trading can be done by any players with bases in the same sector as each other, either by a Ground Base trading with a DropShip, or two DropShips trading with each other. Two Ground Bases can only trade if they are on the same planet. Players may make any mutually agreeable trade, but be wary of the MRB's rules against corrupt trading practices. If the WP value difference of the two sides is more then 25% of the higher side, the MRB will put a point on the record of the company trading the lower value. If a player in good standing trades with another player with a revoked license, the player in good standing get a point. If a player in good standing trades with a player who gets their license revoked before the bad standing player finishes three more contracts, the good standing player gets a point. If a player trades with another player who disbands their mercenary company before the disbanding company finishes three more contracts, the continuing player will be considered the inheritor of the property and be required to pay a 25% tax on the property traded, or receive a point. Under no circumstances can you trade your last DropShip, nor your last BattleMech. Peer to peer trades are recorded with the "Trade" transaction type, the assets transacted and their base WP value must be recorded. The date is the date of the battle they followed, and the signature is from the player on the other side of the transaction. Make sure to hand over hand-copied unit cards to the new owners.
If players want to trade but the MRB wont allow it, they can risk smuggling. To smuggle, make a Sk test with the Sk of the highest pilot in the company in the sector. The target number is their Sk plus the Sz of the largest object traded (SP and non-Unit assets are sized collectively as if they were one unit) plus the detection level of the planet (+0 for Backwater, +2 for Developed, +4 for Industrial), plus the relevant disparity of the trade value (+0 for relatively equal, +2 if the disparity is more than 25% of the higher side, +4 if disparity is more than 50% of the higher side). Thus, if a Sk 2 mercenary on a backwater wanted to buy a Marauder MAD-3R with a base value of 110 from a pirate, but only pay 80 WP for it, the check would be 2 for Sk, +3 for Sz, +0 for detection level, and +2 for price disparity, for a TN of 7. If they got caught, the Mercenary would get a point (so would the pirate, but they already lost their license). Even smuggling is must be recorded, with the transaction type "Smuggling," the assets transacted and their base value in WP, the date of the battle it followed, and the signature of the player on the other side. If possible, the detection roll should be witnessed by someone not involved in the smuggling.
If you have an old 'mech (or other unit) you don't want, and you can't find another merc to trade it to, you can sell it to scrap yards for half its tonnage in SP. This step is last, and should only be done as a last resort if you can't fit everything in your base. This transaction has the type "Scrap," and the assets transacted are the units scrapped and the amount of SP gained. The date is the date of the battle it followed, and the signature is from any other player. If the unit card is hand-copied, please report the scrapping so it can be fixed up and put back on the market.
Once all transactions are completed, check your base(s) in the sector to make sure they have the capacity to hold all of your assets. Assets may only be stored in Ground Bases if the battle took place on the planet where they were built. If you don't have the capacity to load your assets in the available bases, anything that cannot be loaded is destroyed. You may "bounce off" this step and back track to the Trading, Smuggling and Scraping steps and revise those to settle up your final cargo load. You may not backtrack to the Maintenance, Wages, Promotion, Repair or Purchase steps. Please be respectful of other people's time if you need to do this; it's a rare individual who wants to repeatedly audit and sign transaction records. In the end, it's possible to end up with an amount of SP that cannot be loaded into your base. If this is the case, these are lost. Finalize your total, update your base's manifest(s) to reflect the new assets, and finalize your transaction record. Once this is finalized, your DropShips may move to another sector. To do so, pay 5% of the DropShips tonnage in WP to cover JumpShip fees, fuel, and maintenance on the DropShip. Once you get to your destination, if you have more than one base there, you can transfer assets between DropShips, or between a DropShip and a Ground Base. Ground Bases can't transfer assets between each other because you can't have two on the same planet. To transfer assets between bases, remove the asset from one manifest and add it to the other. This transfer of assets between bases does not need to be recorded on your transaction record. Make sure neither base is over its storage capacity after the transfer. You may execute as many JumpShip transits as you like, paying the 5% DropShip tonnage fee each time. You can also make as many base to base transfers as you like at this time, but make sure all your bases abide by their capacity limits during and after every transfer. If you wish, you may hire a contracted DropShip to help with the transfers. The cost is 10% of the total tonnage of the contracted ship per transfer. These ships will only make transfers from one base you own to another base you own, and will not deliver units to combat zones.
Bases house resources for mercenaries. These can be DropShips or Ground Bases. The first base that every player gets for free is the Prototype Hamilcar DropShip. It holds 8 Mechs, 4 Combat Vehicles/Aerospace Fighters, 12 tons of infantry and 100 tons of cargo. This starter DropShip, and only the specific ship the player begins with, has no weapons, and so it is assessed at 2000 tons for moving costs. Additional DropShips may be purchased at market rates. They have various carrying capacities and can load and transport units, allowing mercenary companies to move larger forces.
Ground Bases can be built on planets. Ground Bases are made of buildings and can store units at a lower cost than DropShips, but they can't move these units to other planets. They can also provide additional repair facilities more cheaply than buying DropShips.
The campaign takes place in the systems around Terra. There are four sector that act like "areas of operations," the zones where your mercenary company can operate. These sectors have distinct markets and contracts, so traveling to different sectors can offer different opportunities to players. The four sectors are the North, West, East, and South. The North is the border between The Lyran Alliance and The Draconis Combine. The West is the border between The Free Worlds League and The Lyran Alliance. The East is the border between The Draconis Combine and The Federated Suns. The South is the fragmented regions of The Capellan Confederation and their borders with The Free Worlds League and The Federated Suns.
A mercenary company's assets are considered to be in a sector if they have a DropShip containing those assets in that sector. Similarly, every DropShip that a mercenary company owns must be assigned to one of the four sectors. For the purposes of using assets in a battle, assets in a Ground Base don't count as being in that sector unless the battle is on the same planet as the battle. Assets in a Ground Base very much do count as being in the sector they are in for purposes of trading, transferring and smuggling.
The Mercenary Review Board licenses and monitors mercenary activity in the Inner Sphere. They accept contract proposals from clients, issue the contracts to licensed mercenaries, and enforce the terms of the contract. They deliver tremendous value to both clients and mercenaries, and are almost universally used by interested parties. As a subsidiary of the omniscient and omnipotent ComStar, they have the power to turn the life of anyone who crosses them into a living hell. Generally speaking, a client knows that when their contract is accepted, the mercenary contractor will do their best to accomplish the task, and a mercenary knows that when they take a contract, they will get paid.
The Mercenary Review Board exists in this campaign as a diagetic explanation for what should happen if a player engages in a play style that rejects the intentions and expectations of other players. We want to include certain features in the campaign like Trading, Player vs Player combat, Secondary and Optional objectives, and Piracy, but we don't want players to abuse these features to the point where other players are not having fun. Specifically, corrupt trading practices that pass large volumes of wealth from one player to another can be demoralizing for people who feel like they have to work harder for their wealth. Attacking players specifically to destroy their resources, and without any form of compensation, can be frustrating for people who are not expecting it. Abuse of the contracting system by taking contracts, doing minimal work, and then collecting a payment can be disappointing to players who expecting to play engaging games.
The solution to the contradiction between player agency and bad behavior is MRB points. If a player engages in play that goes against the expectation of other players, they will be issued MRB points on their record. Once a player gets three points, they will lose their license and become a pirate. Importantly, this does not mean they have to stop playing, or even change their ways. They may continue to plunder and pillage their weasely black guts out until the day they are hunted down and killed. Revocation of a license just formalizes the process for players to extract justice on a player who wishes to engage in this play style.
While the MRB passes judgement on mercenary companies who engage in this behavior, the other players in the game should not. Players should feel free to steer their company down the path of the pirate if they wish. It can provide a challenge they find interesting, or additional engagement to a campaign that lacks a mustache twirlling villian character. It's possible that a well-intentioned player might get a MRB point on accident, through tactical miscalculation or deception on the part of another. One or two MRB points should be understood as warnings to the player that they might need to reconsider their practices. The third is a notification that their experience of the campaign is going to change drastically.
Firstly, a pirate will have a hard time finding work. People in need of mercenaries turn to the Mercenary Review Board to find reputable companies. There are few reasons that one would risk going outside that system to find a mercendary. One way for a pirate to get work is to call upon their old contacts. If a player has enough reputation with a House, the House might offer them work outside of the MRB. Some contracts are available to pirates if they have the proper standing with a house. Another way to get money is to join a game as a hired gun. While the MRB won't give a contract to a pirate, they will pay pirates for a job well done. If a pirate accomplishes a seconardary objective in a game where they are not the Contracting or OpFor player, they can earn the payment for that. Note that the MRB will never pay them the flat rate amount of the contract, only secondary objectives. Pirates can also salvage units off the battlefield, avoiding the money all together and just going straight for goods.
Secondly, the MRB will pay bounties on pirates: 2 WP per ton of unit destroyed, recovered, and turned over to the Board. If any player destroys a unit belonging to a pirate and they are able to salvage it at the end of the game, they may turn it into the MRB for the bounty instead of keeping it. The MRB will pay pirates in bad standing for these bounties if they hunt other pirates.
The goal of the campaign is to link games together to apply a logistical filter for tactical choices that players make. The goal is not to force people to play unwinnable games or make them endure a death spiral all the way to the end. To that end, a player may disband their mercenary company any time they wish. When they do this, they should turn in all their hand-copied assets to the MRB so they might make their back onto the market in the future. If they wish to keep playing, they can create a new mercenary company as if they were a new player joining the campaign for the first time. If they made a trade with another player within three games of their decision to disband, that player will have to pay a 25% inheritance tax on that material. This is to stop people from transferring large volumes of wealth to another player. They may wish to consult with the other people they traded with and perhaps work with them to find a good time to disband so as to minimize the effect it will have on others (or not).
A conversation about signatures: Or what to do if you don't have a degree in accounting?
The point of the signatures is to make sure everyone is having fun. No one enjoys looking across the table at a force that blocks out the sun and thinking, "Is this person cheating?" The point of signatures is not because people are inherently untrustworthy, or because people are expected to cheat. The point of signatures is to prevent the thought that your opponent might have ill-gotten gains from crossing your mind. The signatures are there to prevent the doubt, and let people people commit war crimes in a relaxing, trusting environment.
In this spirit, your task when you are checking someone's work is to do your best to help their next opponent have the peace of mind to know that the accounting is done right, just like your opponent's work was checked by someone who wanted you to have that peace of mind in your game. Look at each line and double check the WP and SP values were recorded correctly. Double check where the salvaged and lost unit cards went. Check the contract and see how much WP should be paid for the objectives that were completed. Double check that the repair values were calculated properly. Check to make sure the pilots got their promotions recorded. Check to make sure purchased units' prices line up with the amount recorded. Make sure the player has the unit cards for their new units. Double check that traded and smuggled goods have the right prices and the player has the right cards for their units. Finally, make sure that all of the pluses and minuses of the WP and SP changes total up to the final amount at the bottom, and the base assets and mercenary WP total reflect these changes. If they do, sign off on the records. If you have questions, ask for clarification.
If you are asking someone to sign your transaction, try to make it as easy as possible for them. Make sure all of your records are legible. Double check your prices and totals. Have your cards ready for other people to verify. Don't roll your dice until the witness is ready to witness, and they understand what they are witnessing. Importantly, let the person double checking the work use their process. Doing math in public is not easy for everyone. Some people prefer quiet when they read, some people count out loud. Allow them to complete the process the way that works best for them. Don't take questions personally; the person double checking your work isn't automatically accusing you of cheating just because they have a question, even if they don't express it well. Do your best to point them to the information they are looking for, and then let them resume their process. Most of all, think about the goal: the signatures are not here because we think you are untrustworthy. The signatures are here so that everyone can have a relaxed, doubt-free gaming experience.
What to do if you notice a mistake? If it's on your sheet, come forward to the MRB and verify how you can fix it. It's likely that your instinct of how to fix it is correct, but double check with them to get confirmation, and so they can coordinate any changes that need to be made in other places. If you notice a mistake by someone else, encourage them to talk to the MRB about it. Don't NARC them, the MRB doesn't want to hear it from you. If they don't come forward, do your best to let it go. It's certainly possible that you make the mistake in recognizing the mistake. If you find it impossible to let go, simply don't play games against them. That's typically enough of a statement that rumors will get around and things will get investigated. If apologies are in order, offer and accept them humbly and try to return to gaming together if you can.