MicroTech (Battletech)

I don’t remember how I got the idea to try this. I know that it was conceived over Thanksgiving with a belly full of carbs while I was sitting on the couch sipping scotch. Over the years, I’ve seen people post pictures on social media of scaled-down mechs (resin printing makes this relatively easy) and I used to play BattleForce in high school, so maybe this grew entirely out of all of that. 

Whatever the source, this has turned into a bit of an obsession lately. 2mm - 3mm scale BattleTech.

I found that the smallest size I could reasonably print Matt Mason, PMW, W0lk and LeoCeballos mini sculpts at was 40%. They’re all generally substantial enough that they hold up well even when printed at that size. For reference, most people tend to use 50% scale for BattleForce. I use 45% for light mechs so that their legs and arms are not thinner than the supports attached to them, but generally 40% is my go-to for most of my mechs and vehicles for this project.

Figuring out how best to do terrain at this scale was a bit of a journey as well. Initially, I thought that simply scaling individual BattleTech buildings down to 40% of standard would be enough, but the pieces get too fiddly and easy to knock over at that size. My second attempt was to glue the individual buildings together in a line, but I had mixed results with that. My third attempt involved digitally kitbashing buildings together into a line, then printing that line as a solid piece, which was great except for the resin drainage and warping. My fourth attempt (where I’m currently at) involved going back to FDM to print this tiny terrain, trading detail fidelity (not as important at this scale) and speed for solidity, safety and simplicity.

Another challenge I’ve been figuring out is how to store my 2mm-3mm BattleMechs. At this scale, they are very fragile and fiddly and even painting them too hard can break them. So far, the best solution I have found is to use tiny boxes meant for small beads and gemstones. So far, it seems to work pretty well, though there are some units that will not fit (like my Matt Mason MW4 King Crab sculpt and my SirMortimerBombito Ares sculpt.)

At this point, I've only painted a handful of minis. One star of Jade Falcon and just short of two lances of ComGuard.

It's like a tiny Tukayyid!

Once I had all of this figured out, I felt compelled to come up with a rule set to use all this stuff with. Classic Battletech was a no-go (giant sheets, tiny minis.) BattleForce was too “force” oriented for my tastes, lacking the individual unit aspect that I crave. Alpha Strike was more complex than I wanted, but the hexless nature appealed to me.

So, using all of these (and my own wargaming system, BELLONA) as inspirations, I homebrewed up the following simplified rule set that abstracts just enough of the finer details to keep the game from being too crunchy while remaining, at its heart, a mecha game made for 2mm-3mm scale wargaming. Consider the rule set below to be a living document that I will make changes to as I continue to play this version of the game. Feel free to provide your own feedback as you play, and I'll update the version number and the changelog at the bottom whenever I make a change to the rules.

MicroTech Fan Rules (v.1.0):

Premise:

MicroTech is a quick and minimalist, fan-created ruleset played using mecha, vehicular and aerospace assets that are scaled down to 40% of normal (from 6mm to ~2-3mm.) This means that you’ll need to print or build your own miniatures. You will also need polyhedral dice. Gameplay is designed to be simple without being too abstract and without favoring light or assault units too much. Like Alpha Strike, it is typically played without a hex grid and involves individual units (instead of playing with grouped units, like in Battleforce.)

Play proceeds with alternating unit activation (I go, you go, etc.) in two phases (Move & Fire.) The Move Phase precedes the Fire Phase.

When a unit attacks another unit, an opposed die roll is made. Roll higher than your opponent to win a roll. Ties go to the defender. Attackers that roll an unmodified 1 always lose the roll. If the attacker loses the roll, there is no effect and the turn ends. If the defender loses, the defender’s unit is immediately disabled or destroyed.

Units in MicroTech:

When converting your mechs, vehicles, etc. over to MicroTech, mech and vehicle weight class determines the speed of the mech and the die that the mech rolls in combat. Front and rear facing angles apply as in normal play. Each unit must choose a facing at the end of its move. Terrain cannot be crossed except by use of jump jets, which cross it as normal movement regardless of how tall a piece of terrain is.

Unit Weight Classes:

Light: d4 and 15” move.

Medium: d6 and 12” move.

Heavy: d8 and 9” move.

Assault: d10 and 6” move.

Superheavy: d12 and 3” move.

Mech Customization Modifiers: 

You may add these modifiers to any unit, but they each add 1 point to the value of a unit when determining army size for battles.

Modifiers:

Clan Tech: +1 to all die rolls

ECM / AMS / etc: +1 to defense roll for every 6” of distance between this unit and the attacker. (Does not stack.)

TAG / Active Probe / Targeting Computer, etc: Ignores the defense bonus of partial cover and ECM / AMS / etc.

MASC / Supercharger: +3” to movement.

C3 Suite: Every friendly C3 unit within 6” of each other and with a line of sight to the same target gains +1 to attack roll (cumulative)

Jump Jets: Mech can fly over (cross) terrain or even jump on top of it.

LRM Boat / Gauss Boat: Mech does not suffer an attack roll penalty for distance to target until 24” distance. 

Coolant Pods (one use): Roll two dice for a single attack and pick the highest.

Artillery: This unit makes no normal attacks. Pick a target within 24”. No line of sight is needed and no attack roll penalties apply. Roll a d10, then adjust the attack location by half that many inches in the direction indicated by the upper point of the d10. Treat zeros as zeros. Any mechs (enemy or friendly) within 3” of that location face an attack roll of d8.

Circumstantial Modifiers:

These are special circumstances that may occur during battle. They affect die rolls in the following ways:

Attacker in the rear arc of the defender: +1 to attack roll

Defender is less than 3” distant: +1 attack roll

Defender is more than 12” distant: -1 attack roll (-1 for every 6” additional distance.)

Defender has moved more than 6” in a turn: +1 defense roll

Defender has moved more than 12” in a turn: +2 defense roll

Partial cover (about half of mech not visible): +1 defense roll

Building A Battle: 

Each unit has a point value equal to it’s die value plus the number of Mech Customization Modifiers it has. For example, a ordinary heavy mech would be 8 points. A heavy clan mech with ECM would be 10 points.

Mission Types:

Standoff: Both sides engage until one side retreats or is destroyed.

Objective Destroy: One or both sides has a destructible objective that they must protect from destruction.

Objectives:

Objectives (Dropships / Mobile Structures / Etc.): use a d20 for attack and defense. Movement is optional, but capped at 3 inches. Objectives can only be engaged within 18 inches.

Optional Rules:

Death From Above (Requires Jump Jets): if the attacking unit can be placed over the defender at the end of the move phase, roll two dice for the attacker (pick highest) and one for the defender. If the defender loses the roll, they are disabled or destroyed as normal. If the attacker loses the roll, the attacker is moved 1” in a random direction. If the attacker rolled an unmodified 1 or 2, the attacker is destroyed instead. If the attacker won the roll and destroyed the defender, but still rolled an unmodified 1 or 2, both units are destroyed.

Campaign Rules: 

At the end of each battle, roll on the following table for each unit that has been destroyed or disabled. WCC (Weight Class Component) is the stand-in for salvage. With four WCC units of a given Weight Class (Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault, Etc.) you can acquire a mech / vehicle / etc. of that weight class. Whether you play this loose (All WCC can be combined to create any kind of unit of that weight class regardless of the source of the WCC) or refine it to just Vehicle WCC, Mech WCC and Fighter WCC is up to you. You might also further subdivide by Clan and Inner Sphere if you like.

1. Unit is totally destroyed. Nothing worth salvaging.

2. Unit is heavily damaged (+1 WCC.)

3. Unit is heavily damaged (+1 WCC.)

4. Unit is mostly salvageable (+2 WCC.) 

5. Unit is in good condition (+3 WCC.)

6. Unit was downed by a lucky shot (+4 WCC.)

Pilot Status:

After a battle, for each unit that was disabled or destroyed, roll a die to determine the pilot status. A roll of 3 or less means the pilot is dead. Otherwise, the pilot is ready to go for the next battle. For every battle a pilot survives, they gain 1xp that they can spend on one of the following abilities. These abilities do not count against the BV of the unit when constructing battles for campaign play:

Sharpshooter: +1 on Attack Rolls

Agile: +1 on Defense Rolls

Tough: +1 on Pilot Status Rolls

Ironclad: Additional +1 on Pilot Status Rolls

Legend: +1 on Salvage Rolls for own mech.

Precise: +1 on Salvage Rolls for enemy mechs.

Throttle Junkie: +3” move distance.

Low Profile: May count partial cover as full cover.

Highlander: May “charge” an enemy unit. If both unit bases are in contact after the move phase, roll two dice of the attacker’s weight class and take the higher one.

Changelog:

No changes at this time.