Experimental Rules #3a - Hero Mechs (Rules)

Pictured minis from Zandris IV Miniatures!

States

Dismounted

Some gadgets may enter (or begin a mission) in the dismounted state.  Only a mounted hero may place their mounted gadget into the dismounted state and, if they do so, the hero loses the mounted state and instead becomes engaged with the gadget.  Placing a gadget into the dismounted state is an automatic action.  A dismounted gadget is also in the O state and may not be activated.

Mounted

Some gadgets may enter (or begin a mission) in the mounted state.  Only a hero engaged with the dismounted gadget may place it into the mounted state and, if they do so, that hero also gains the mounted state.  A gadget in the mounted state replaces the hero, enters the I state and gives the mounted hero whatever advantages and special rules the gadget confers.

To put a gadget into the mounted state, a hero must spend an interact action and pass an A(13) test.

Mech Pilot (Specialism)

Mechs were an early inclusion in military hardware deployed to the Fallen Earth.  Both Mars and Venus were accustomed to the use of enormous, armoured walkers to navigate the most hazardous regions of their respective planets and they seemed an obvious resource.  However, X Teams rejected them as over-large and clumsy for the kind of subtle, covert work that was their stock-in-trade.  But after several encounters with Terran automated security mechs, demand for an appropriate response led to the development of much smaller - but still powerful - X Mechs, cannibalizing Terran technology to equip X teams with the latest in ambulatory support units.

Mech pilots count as two heroes.  They automatically receive the X Mech gadget as part of the mech pilot upgrade.  Mech pilots must have a minimum A and D of 4.

X Mech

X Mechs are small by comparison to the true giants of the battlefield, but still stand more than twice the height of most people.  Agile, heavily armoured and capable of carrying the heaviest of weapons, they have been developed specifically to support the covert operations of X Teams.

An X Mech is Cyl6.  An X Mech counts as a hero with 10 stat points, but these must be allocated to M and F only.  A mech has the same A and D as its mounted hero, and begins with AV3 FW3.  While in the mounted state, it also has the Synthetic (Drone) upgrade.

An X Mech may be given the same number of upgrades as the other heroes.  An X Mech may have any of the Basic, Armour, Weapon or Gadget upgrades in the Zero Dark core rulebook.

A hero mounted in an X Mech may not be the target of an action.

If an X Mech enters the OOA state, it becomes dismounted as an immediate bonus automatic action.  A hero who loses the mounted state due to their X Mech becoming OOA gains the wounded(+1) state. 

Notes:

A lot of this is still in "back of an envelope" form.  I'm yet to take it to the table myself (although I will, later this week, and try out various versions of the X Mech, from "bog standard" to "fully loaded" to see how it plays in both Solo and Versus).

In particular, I'm interested to see if the number of stat points is right; whether the mech is *too* tough, even in bog standard mode, and how it interacts with some upgrade options - especially the jump rig, as it offers the possibility of leaping right into the action without the curse of being stunned.  In fact, the big question is "can a mech potentially just win the mission all on its own?"