FUTURE WARS

er 35 · -- The return of the Batletech 1

Zine!

tttiiiiiiJm

• Allah's Hammer
• Mech Shields
• Stupid Weapon Tricks
-~
• Lao Civil War
___ ,...,.,
• The Free Worlds Alliance
• And of course 6 new Mech
designs !
Table of Contents Future Wars is published by
Herb Barents, and is issued bi-
From the publisher 3 monthly. It focuses on FASA's
Sensor Sweep 4 BattleTech system. Future Wars
can be ordered by mail, or
Letters to the editor 5 found in better game and
Review: Battletech Reinforcements 2 6 hobby stores around the world.
Military Speculation
All material is copyright Herb
6
Barents.All rights reserved.
Review: MEKTON 8 Many terms used in this publi-
Fiction: Allah Hammer 16 cation are copyright by the
game publishers and are used
Scenerio: Allah Hammer 21
without permission.
Review: Mekton figures 22
Mekton sheet 25 None of the articles in Future
Wars are sanctioned, approved
Battletech to Robotech 26 or otherwise supported by any
The 3050 Lao Civil War 28 of the companies that publish
these games. Future Wars has
The Real Mechs 30
not been authorized to produce
The shielding factor 31 any rules, or changes to any
Shield use for Mechs 33 rules, by the publishers. Rather
Future Wars and the authors of
Smpid Weapon Tricks 34
the articles ars solely respon-
THEMECHS sible for the contents herein.
Black Gorilla (Clan- Omni) 36 The use of names in the articles
are used without the permis-
Gremlin 38 sion and consent of the holders
Hell raiser 40 of the applicable copyrights
and trademarks.
IT 42
Labyrinth 44 Future Wars needs contributors.
Viper 46 This means YOU, the reader.
When your article or artwork
appears in an issue, you get that
issue, and a Ral Partha
BattleMech miniature free. •
To order your subscription to Future Wars: Letters to the editor, if printed,
send $19 for a 6 issue subscription to: do not receive these items.
Herb Barents
Special Thanks to Ral Partlu for
17187Wildemere supplying us with the minia-
Detroit, MI 48221 tures used to pay our authors
and artists for their contribu-
tions. Thanks to the authors and
artists who have made this 'zine
possible for the last 6 years.
Thanks to Phil Deluca for all
the hard work. We miss you
Future Wars --2 Phil!
 From the Publisher:
I am very sorry that it has taken us most of 11 months to get an issue of Future Wars back out to you. I'm really
the person to blame above all others. I allowed certain things to happen that could have killed this magazine. It
was because a couple of people stepped forward and said that they would like to help that this issue got off dead
center and back on track.

You will notice that a new style and new type faces are used in this issue of Future Wars. Jon Person has taken
over as editor. This means that he puts the issue on disk and then Doug Houseman takes the articles and art work
and spatters them on the page. Issue 37 has become Issue 35 (this issue!). and Issue 38 will be issue 36 (the next
issue). Then the material planned for Issue 36 will be in Issue 37 and the Issue 35 material will be in Issue 38.
Once this shuffle is complete the editorial calendar will be back on track. The goal is to complete 8 issues in the
next 12 months and return the printing schedule to its original plan. I know we can do this.

Future Wars has had the money to print the issues, in fact it has taken off in the United Kingdom.The print run
is up with the last issue and the print run for this issue will be increased as well. The real world caught up w ith
several people and they could no longer continue to put forth the long hours that it took to make Future Wars
happen. I would like to thank Phil Delucca for all the fine work the he has done. The 10 issues that Phil designed
took Future Wars a long way toward a professional looking publication. I'm very certain that he will do well with
his work and with his future. He will be missed.
It is time to get the presses rolling again. Time to start work on Issue 39 again and then finish Issue 40.After all
those issues start to look for the positive impact of ]on and Doug will have on this magazine. If you thought it was
good before, wait until you see the articles and art work that have been piling up. You ain't seen nothin' yet!
Thank you one and all for your patience, I will make it up to you.

Herb

Future W ars--3
SENSOR SWEEP
With this issue there will be no
editorial because the reviews ran a
little long (primarily Mekton). I feel
that this is a good issue for Bat-
tletechers because it introduces
some new ideas they can include in
their games and adds a new dimen-
sion to what they have already been
doing. Plus, there is a lot of good
Battletech stuff in tl1is issue as well
to make it well worth reading. I
still need more feed back from you,
the readers, if you would like to
have more of this type of thing
done in Future Wars or not? I think
that it fits. Next issue will have a
review of Princess Ryan's Space
Marines. That review will cover
about 2-3 pages. Then, following
that issue, we will have a review of
Dirtside II and Full Thrust from
Ground Zero Games. All Battletech-
ers and 40K (Space Marine) enthusi-
asts should take a read through
Dirtside II. The reviews will be
about 3-4 and 1-2 pages in length
for Dirtside II and Full Thrust,
respectively. Also, packed in will be
all the other good stuff that we do!
Here is the updated list of what
will appear in Future Wars: #36 will
be on campaigns in Battletech as
well as tl1e Princess Ryan's Space
Marines Rules review. I'll also talk
about Succession Wars and might
make some game changes for the
Clan invasion. Then #37 will be
devoted to Fortresses and hard
point positions. Also, the reviews
for Dirtside II and Full Thrust will
be thrown in. This one will have a
couple scenarios with the use of
improved and fortress like posi-
tions. There should be at least 3-4
scenarios and how to use them in
tl1at issue. I'll be talking about
otl1er races in #38 and Doug
Houseman will have a good article
on that. Issue #39 will have terrain
in Battletech and discussions on
how it can make a difference, how
to build it, how to use it to your
best tactical advantage as well.
Coming in #40 will be another "All
Future Wars --4
Mech" issue as will be #46. We are
planning to get these out once a
year. Issue #41 will be the scenario
issue. If you have a favorite battle,
send it in. I would like to see a
couple a different ones from
different people. There should be 8-
10 individual scenarios in that issue.
Mech Warrior will be tl1e focus of
issue #42. Issue #43 will cover New
Tech as well as more vehicles,
VTOLs and navies. Then #44 will
cover Solaris VII and The Reaches.
In here will also be Mech Warrior
add-ons and optional rules. That
gives it to you for the next two
years of what we plan to do,
although this schedule my cl1ange.
Don't wait, please send in your
articles for tl1ese things now.
Thanks.
Thank you for all the help that
you have been giving to Future
Wars. Your support has been
greatly needed. Remember that you
need to put your name on eacl1
page as well as your address, so that
when I use your article I can give
proper credit. There is always
someone who never does this, so be
it, but I am sorry. Things get
separated and then a year later
when I want to use it tl1ere is no
name or address and then I publish
it and hope that the person sees it
and then I will send them what is
do. PLEASE HELP ME OUT WITH
THIS! I make mistakes, too. So
please feel free to write if for some
reason things aren't right (I've
goofed up). I'll take care of it as
best I can as fast as I can.
I have not been reviewing the
latest FASA stuff because, well it is
so long between when I write it up
and when it had first appeared,
which hasn't been very good
because most of you have seen it.
would like to say that Hot Spots is
one of the best aids that FASA has
come out with in a long time. This
can be used with Battletech, Mech
Warrior, or any other game system
you wish to incorporate it into. It is
by far a job very well done. Con-
grats to FASA on this one. I also like
the way the new things have been
written , sud1 as the scenario packs.
Day of Heroes and Luthien are two
that come to mind. The Reaches is
likely the worst of the new stuff
that has come out. The information
is very good, but the arenas, well
come on, four times tl1e ranges and
tl1ey only use one board! Also, the
new tech from the Clans does not
add up to Battleted1. They have
made the Clans much too powerful
in the arena where the ranges are
shorter. More on that later. I do
like the way that they have added
rules into some of these modules,
though. Always looking for ways to
improve the product, which is a
good trait. Most of the new things
that tl1ey have come out with has
been very useful for players of
BattleS pace as well as BattleForce.
It seems they are looking for ways
to do botl1 small and larger battles.
In Luthien, they have come up witl1
a very simple way of having larger
battles, but I'll have to go over that
a bit later as there is really no room
for it in this issue. It will fit in very
well with #36, so look for it in that
issue. I do feel that is releasing
better stuff for Battleted1 now than
what they were doing about a year
ago . The next thing to look for is
tl1e Battletech Tactical Handbook. I
will be reviewing tl1at shortly. Also,
released in April will be a new
novel, D.R.T. written by Jim Long
about the Black Thorns. Then tl1ere
will be a reissue of Dropships,
Jumpships and Warships. This item
will fit in nicely with BattleS pace.
CityTech 2nd Edition should have
been out with plastic med1s. I will
let you know more about tl1is
product.
One place where I feel Bat-
tletech is getting weak is in the
novels. They have started to
become so, so at best. There are
some good ones, but many of tl1em
are not very good at all. Be aware
of this that they are not getting tl1e
best writers out there right now.
Otl1er tl1an that, I feel that Bat-
tletech is looking up and things are
looking good on many fronts. Til
next issue ...
 Hello Mr. Barents:
This is to help you to correct
any errors that may have shown up
on the disk that I sent you in
December. I have noticed several
errors in my typing. I hope you can
get them ftxed. I have corrections
listed below in the order they
appear in my printout:
Cicada variant: CDA-3M2,
"Katydid"
The engine should be a VOX
280-XL, not the 289 Ford, (?) listed
Zephyr V: 40 ton armored
vehicle
The engine should be a Nissan
195-XL at 8 tons, not the GM 185-XL
This means the armor factor
should be 143 for 8 tons of ferro
Front 49, Left/Right Side 23,
Rear 23,Turret 25
Gabriel II: 5 ton armored
vehicle
The engine should be a Nissan
30-XL at 1 ton, not the Omni 25
This boosts the speed to 14- 21.
It also changes the medium laser to
a small
Final production weight is 4.75
tons for this 'tank'
The two vehicles had a problem
with the rule of the engine must be
20% of the total weight
Locust variant: LCT-2F2R
"2FF2R"
The running speed should be
15, not 20.
Sorry for the goofs. I will try to
do better in the Future (Wars). I
didn't even try to send a disk with
this, so don't even look for it. Just
for fun, I am now working on an
Atlas variant called the "Ogre" ,AS7-
0GR. It mounts 2 ER PPCs, a
medium laser, Beagle probe,
Guardian ECM, and a C3 Master. It
moves 4-6-4, has 17 double heat
sinks, 19 tons of armor and a 7 ton
mace' It should be interesting to
run it and see if it works. Till next
time ...
James D. Eddleman,
Dear Mr. Barents,
I just finished reading FW #31
and I must say that it looks very
good. I hope to see this continue.
Just over a year ago I sent you
several designs including several
aerospace fighters and a mech. In
your guidelines about sending in
articles and designs then, you said
that there would be about a year
wait until something sent in would
be published in FW I thought this
was a bit long, but I sent the
designs in as soon as they were
ready.
Your estimate of the time proved
correct. Because in issue #31, I did
indeed find one of my designs, the
A-101 Thunderbolt Ill. I must say
that after a year of waiting it was
great to see one of my designs in
FW Thank you.
Although my design was pub-
lished in FW, I did not receive my
payment of a lead figure and a copy
of the issue. If I remember correct-
ly I did put my name and address on
the several pages of the design. I do
understand that you do get busy
and do not intentionally forget to
send payment to those who's
articles and designs you publish.
So, to make things a little easier for
you, I have included my address at
the end of this letter. Keep up the
good work.
David Holland
Dear Mr. Barents,
I am an avid Future Wars reader
and RPG player. I am looking to get
into the field of RPG product
distribution or (Blake be promised)
game design and publishing. Do
you know of any individuals on the
East coast who would serve as good
contacts for an aspiring young man?
If so, may I tell them who referred
me? Any addresses in the NewYork
metro area would be greatly
appreciated. Even friends of friends
from the various gaming guilds
would help.
Also, I have been trying to get
some of the hobby stores in my area
to carry your magazine. I have
given them the Future Wars address,
but nothing has come out of it. Any
ideas?
James E. Estelle Jr.
Dear Mr. Herb Barents:
I received your letter the other
day and I am glad that you are going
to print my work. Enclosed you
will find additional items for your
use. The first is intended to go with
my article. It is, of course, a
computer generated photograph of
a Leopard dass dropship near a
SLDF asteroid base. The second and
third sheets of paper are Battletech
clip art that I have generated so far
Don Wayland Shanks
Herb,
Enclosed please find my check
to re-new my subscription for
another year. I also included an
article and some variants. Please
use at your descretion and/or as
space allows. No payment neces-
sary.
Tom Thelen
Dear Herb:
I think it's fantastic what you've
done for Battletech in Fun1re Wars
(yes, I know you do otl1er sci-fi
stuff, but I've been a BT fan, missing
Battledroids by only a year). Lucki-
ly, one of your issues (FW#29) made
it to a store in Syracuse, NY, and I
immediately grabbed it. I was
thoroughly impressed!
C'mon, give into the pressure.
We all want back issues to see
what's happened in the past 20+
issues. So please apprease your
hungry fans.
To get to tl1e point, I'm subscrib-
ing , and the cl1eck is included with
this letter. See you on the battle-
field . . . let's wreck mechs!
Greg Diamantis
Future Wars--5
REVIEW: BATILETECH
REINFORCEMENTS Two
by H. Barents
Since the coming out of the Tech
Readout 3050, I have been looking
forward to the new hit record
sheets to play with. That is were
this product, Reinforcements Two,
comes into play. As a review, what
can you say about this product, that
the rules are good and other such
stuff? This is a very straightforward
item. I'm just going to tell you
everything you need to know about
this product.
You get four sheets of counters.
These are full color pictures of
mechs. There are two of some
types, but at least one of every
mech type is here. If you have the
other set, you will defmitely have
plenty of cardboard mechs to play
with. They are heavier on the Omni
mechs rather than the older mechs
that you should have laying around
somewhere, if you play Battletech.
They also have mechs from The
Wolves Dragoons as well as some
from the most recent tech update .
The artwork on the box is good, but
the interior artwork is not as good
as the original Battletech game or
reinforcements I, they compare
more with the 1st edition City Tech
counters. There isn't as much fme
detail here, although you can see
what mechs they are by shape and
label. They are not up to the
standards of what we expect from
FASA. Maybe that is expecting too
much.
Also included, is a 96 page
booklet with 95 new mech sheets.
These are well done as far as can be
told at initial inspection - I have not
checked each and every page yet.
Before, there were 55 mech sheets,
and now there are 95 different
ones. First they cover the Inner
Sphere designs and then include the
Clan designs. This allows for
Future Wars --6
separating them by specific ftles.
They have made the sheets a little
less busy by taking out what was
not needed, making it easier to
read. I don't like the way they have
done double heat sinks. They list
the double heat sinks along the
right side with one circle for each
heat sink. I prefer the method
where each point of heat dissipa-
tion represents a circle and as you
loose heat sinks, rub out two
circles. This is only a little thing
based on personal preference. It is
unfortunate they did not use the
new format in tl1e Rules Compendi-
um. These are really sharp. The
ones that Reinforcements 2 give you
are done well enough and look
good anyway. The sheets are for
photo copying and use during play.
The added bonus in this set is
the errata sheet for the 3050Tech
Readout. The following designs
have a mistake in them: Ryoken,
Thor, Gladiator and the Locust. A
few have double heat sinks, such as
the Clint, Blackjack, Phoenix Hawk,
Kintaro, Scorpion and Ostroc. More
clarifications are provided for tl1e
Crusade, ]agermech, Awesome,
Goliath, Hatan1oto-Chi, Victor,
Stalker, Cyclops, Banshee and Atlas.
These have a sentence or two each.
Then, on t11e other side of the page
are additional rule clarifications, like
Clan pilots have average gunnery of
3 and piloting of 4; larger weapon
systems (big crits!) can share
adjacent locations for critical
allocation; and you may fit as many
heat sinks, single or double, in your
engine as its rating divided by 25.
That is what you get when you
buy this $15.00 package. It is well
worth the money just by saving the
time of having the mech sheets pre-
made up. This is a very worthwhile
and useful product for Battletech.
Owning a copy of Reinforcements I
will not be necessary witl1 this,
unless you want to play in tl1e
3020's.
MILITARY SPECULATION
by Dartanyon Lockett
The most dangerous force in the
Inner Sphere today (1/1/3055) is
the alliance of the Free Worlds
League, Capellan Confederation,
and the Word of Blake. This alli-
ance, with tl1e tl1ird largest military
(after the Federated Commonwealtl1
and the Clan forces stationed in the
Inner Sphere) and the second
largest industrial base (after the
Fedemted Commonwealtl1) in the
Inner Sphere would make it power-
ful, but with tl1e relative weakness
of the other great Inner Sphere
powers (the Fedemted Common-
wealth and the Draconis Combine)
after tl1e Clan invasion, tl1e cwming,
fanaticism, and industrial capabili-
ties of this alliance spells trouble for
the Inner Sphere and tl1e near
Periphery.
What follows is a listing of the
known Battlemech forces of this
alliance and the current Battle-
mechs ,Aerospace Fighters, Conven-
tional Aircrafts, Armored Vehicles,
Jumpships, and Dropships in
production to date:
Battlemech Force
305 Battlemech Battalions(BN)
165 Bn of House Marik Regulars
52 Bn of House Marik Mercenar-
ies
41 Bn of House Liao Regulars
16 Bn of House Liao Warrior
House Troops
31 Bn of House Liao Mercenaries
?? Bn ofWord ofBlakeTroops
The following information has been compiled from several sources:

• Mechwarrior 2 • Objective Raids • Battletech Technical Readouts: 3025,3026,3050,3055

CURRENT PRODUCTION IN THE ALLIANCE

Light Mechs Medium Mechs Heavy Mechs Assault Mechs

LCT-lL Locus CDA-3m Cicada ANV-3mAnvil AWS-9M Awesome
LCT-3M Locust HER-5S Hermes II QKD-SM Quickdraw GO L-3m Goliath
STG-3R Stinger VL-5MVulcan RFL-SM Rifleman BLR-3M Battlemaster
STG-5M Stinger PXH-3M Phoenix Hawk CRD-SM Crusader STK-5M Stalker
WSP-1AWasp SNK-1V Snake TDR-7M Thunderbolt ALB-3U Albatross
WSP-3MWasp VND-3L Vindicator TMP-3M Tempest MR-V2 Cerberus
ZPH-1A Tarantula HBK-SM Hund1back ARC-4M Archer T-IT-N1 OM Titan
HER-3S Hermes HW-R4L Huron Warrior CTF-3L Cataphract
HMR-3M Hammer TBT-7M Trebuchet HRC-LS-9000 Hercules
JA-KL-1532 Jackal APL-1M Apollo THR-1 L Thunder
SDR-7M Spider GRF-3M Griffm WHM-7M Warhammer
SDR-9KVenom SHD-5M Shadow Hawk MAD-5M Marauder
TR1 Wraitl1 ON1 -MOrion
WVR-7M Wolverine

Light Aerospace Medium Aerospace Heavy Aerospace

F-11 Cheetah TR-1 0 Thrush TR-13 Transgressor
F-11R Cheetah TR-11 Thrush F-700 Riever
F-14S Cheetah F-92 Stingray F-700a Riever
F-94 Stingray

Light Vehicles Heavy Vehicles Conventional Aircraft

APC (hover) Bulldog Planet Lifter
APC (tracked) Carrier, LRM Dropships
APC (wheeled) Carrier, SRM Behemotl1
Harasser Mantic ore Fury
Scorpion Demolisher Gazelle
Galleon Partisan Triumph
Pegasus Schrek Condor
Hetzer Ontos Excalibur
Maxim Behemoth Leopard
Vedette Union
Overlord
]un1pships Avenger
Scout Intruder
Merchant Leopard CV
Invader Vengeance
Star Lord
Monolith
 FUTURE
MEKTON
R. TALSORIAN GAMES
by Herb Barents
Mekton, the giant robot game
from R. Talsorian Games, was in fact
the very first game that R. Talsorian
games ever did. The first Mekton
was not a bad game, but it is not the
slick thing that we see today. It was
a very good effort and it was
successful enough for them to put
out another game, called Cyber-
punk. But what is Mekton and why
am I reviewing this item in Future
Wars? Granted, Future Wars mainly
deals with Battletech, and this game
is not Battletech, but yet it is dose
enough tlut I felt tl1at a review was
needed. In many ways, Mekton is a
lot like Mecha, though put together
much better and a lot better
looking, and a lot more wortl1 the
while.
Mekton is an outgrowth of
Japanese animation like Robotech,
Macross and others of that breed. I
have never been a fan of tl10se
flicks, tl1ough I remember that I
always like the one called Star
Blazers. I have seen bits and pieces
of the other ones and they never
caught me in any way, thus I will
not talk about Mekton in those
terms. Rather, I will talk about
Mekton as a game, both as a
wargame and a role-playing game.
will talk about the rules and how
tl1ey fit together and then I will be
talking about the flow of the game
and how all the different pieces that
are available fit all together into a
single w1it. Mekton has been
revised so I will only be talking
about the most current versions
tl1at are on tl1e market.
Me1..'ton is a role-playing game
that had large robot combat as an
add on to the game, and not the
Future Wars --8
wARS FEATURED REVIEW
main focus . Battletech on the other
hand is a board game that then
added the role-playing game as an
after thought. You can tell tl1at both
games are concerned about differ-
ent areas. For Battletech, combat
has the most emphasis and role-
playing is weak. Mekton started
with role-playing and needed
combat because that was part of the
story, but they did not want tl1is
combat to slow the main game
down too much, but enough that it
would be enjoyable and not take
away from the role-playing part of
the game. Thus they came up with
tl1eir version of a combat game that
is quick, dirty, sin1ple, still fim to
play, but lacking in a lot of the
options that Battletech offers.
Mekton is more like Robotech,
in that role-playing is the key
element and tl1at everything else is
add ons and extr.1s for tl1e game.
Mecha, on tl1e other hand, is a
simple combat game, that lacks
everything and does not make a
good role-playing or battle game.
Mecha, like Battletech, is a battle
game first and role-playing second,
but they failed to do a good job in
either area. Thus Mekton is in very
good company, because Robotech is
a very good game in its own right.
Mekton was designed by people
who really liked Japanese animation
and tl1en developed a role-playing
system to be able to redo some of
tl1e flicks and plots that tl1ey had
seen. Then, they added tl1eir own
universe and background and a
handful of events that are happen-
ing, have happened and could
happen to give you adventure lines.
They have added outside influences
as well, so tl1at GMs could always
add something new to the game and
it would not be too fa r off. Mekton
has done a very nice job at tl1is sort
of thing.
But why did I put Mekton in
Future Wars? Well, I thought that
there are many players out tl1ere
that have played or read other
games to see how tl1ey could add to
their Battletech (or other) games.
The ideas that one might gleam
from it could be wortl1 a lot. In
f.1ct, one might like the role-playing
so much better than that of Mech-
warrior, tl1at you would .fmd ways to
use the system in your Battletech
game. Then there are some people
out there that are not happy witl1
tl1e Battleted1 system that are
looking for something more like this
one. Thus, there are a mm1ber of
reasons fo r us to review Mekton,
but the review does no good if you
do not have an open mind to read
and look it over to see if this is in
fact something tl1at you can use in
your games.
How will I do this review? First,
I will look at tl1e main game and go
into details about it. Then, I will do
tl1e same thing witl1 ead1 item tl1at
is available from R. Talsorian Games
that supports Mekton. After telling
you about the module or item I will
explain how tl1is part fits into tl1e
whole and if it is a good tl1ing to
have. I will try to answer the
questions: What is it? How does it
fit into the system' What do you
get? And does it add to tl1e play of
the game' Will tl1is review cover
everytl1ing about tl1e Mekton
gaming system' No . If it does
create some more questions, ones
that you would really like the
answers to, tl1en you will need to
pick up the ntles, read them
through, play the game yourself,
and then make your own decisions
about Mekton. This review will
either turn you off to tl1e game, not
tl1e type I want to play, or it will
create questions that need to be
answered with more research and
playing on your part.
I would like to thank R. Talsorian
Games for providing me with tl1e
materials so that I could review the
game properly. In no way did they
try to influence the resttlt of tl1is
review and in no way did I feel that
I would have to make a good review
to please them. I will say that I do
like the in depth way that they have
presented Mekton, and I like the
game, but I like Battletech better.
There are many, many things about
this game that provide new ideas
and things for you to use. Please
read on and fmd out what I'm
talking about.
Mekton II is a 96 page booklet
that contains all the rules that you
need to play. I has a very nice
glossy cover with some very good
art work. In fact, throughout this
entire book you can find very good
artwork. The style of the artwork is
just like what you would see in the
animation that this game is based
on. The detail in the art work is
great and looks super! I don't care
for this style personally, because I
don't, but if you are into these
things I would strongly suggest that
you take a look. And because it is
so good it is going to get the type of
people that this game is looking for,
the people that are into anime. This
type of packaging is great because it
will attract the right kind of people
right off the bat. Some people look
at Battletech and think that they are
getting sometlling else and witl1
Robotech you know what you are
getting.
The rules are broken down into
what I would call three sections.
First is Character Development and
Building. This takes up quite a bit
of the book and covers all the skills
and combat that you will need rules
for. Then there is a Tech Manual
covering about 10-12 pages which
is then followed by a background
section for Mekton. Those are the
parts that make up the game. Then
there are some other sections
covering charts and maps and other
miscellaneous items. What I will do
is take the three sections and go
into some depth here and try to
explain to you what Mekton II is all
about, then I will bring them all
together into how they interact and
flow, and then I will take a quick
glance a tl1e added extras of this
gaming system.
I will be assuming that the
people who are reading this review
are garners and that they know
some things about both board
games as well as role-playing games.
There are some fundamental things
that I will assume that you know, so
if I confuse a few of you t11at are
just getting started, I'm very sorry.
In Mekton you are taken through
each step of all the game mechan-
ics, and this is very good for the
new gamer. If you are in fact a new
gamer, Mekton is a good game to
start out with. Everything that you
need to know, as a player, is right
there. It will take a few playing
sessions for you to learn to be a GM
in this game, but by watching
someone, it will help you. With
Mekton you get a pool of points
which is determined by the roll of a
d10 . This pool is where you draw
your Character Points from. Each
Mekton Character has 10 stats in
which to place your Character
Points. In tl1is game, a 10 is excel-
lent and a 2 is poor: The stats are
Intelligence, Reflexes, Cool,
Technical Ability, Luck, Attractive-
ness, Movement, Body Type,
Education, Money and Family. They
have a chart showing all the
numbers for each area and what
they mean in game terms. Thus,
while you are ftlling out your sheet
you can get more than just a
number and not knowing what it
means, you get a description of
what it means to have a certain
number for a stat. This is a nice
touch.
The next thing is the life path.
This gives your character a flushed
out backgrmmd, making your
character three dimensional. As
tl1ey say, the game is based on
Japanese Animation, so you need to
be thinking about more than who
will be blowing up the Death Star.
In short, you need a life. Thus, the
life path gives you the reasons
behind your charJ.cter, including
such aspects as friends, enemies
and other significant things that can
affect your character during play. In
about five minutes, you can have a
completed character background,
that will open up countless oppor-
tunities for role-play. There are four
pages of flow charts tl1at require
several d 10 rolls; the possibilities
are finite, but numerous. I like
these flow charts because they add
"glamour" to the play of the game.
Charts of such quality were not
included in the first edition of the
game - these ones are much more
filled out and complete. These
charts are one of tl1e best tl1ings
going for this game, and with just
some small modifications, you could
easily use these for Mechwarrior.
After determining your life path
you get to fill out your skills. These
represent a number that is added to
a particular stat when attempting to
accomplish a certain task. If a skill
is contested, like against anotl1er
character, you roll a d 10 plus the
relevant stat plus your skill level and
compare it witl1 your opponent-
highest wins, ties defaulting to the
defender. Also, certain tasks may be
assigned a difficulty level mnging
from 10 (simple) to 30 (in1possible)
or more. These numbers represent
the target number required to equal
or exceed while perfom1ing
uncontested tasks. Witl1 any skill
roll, a list of modifiers is provided
that can help or hinder your target
number. The starting number of
skills a chamcter may have is
determined by their Education stat
and the number of skill points they
have to spend. The highest initial
skill point level is limited to 10. But
what are skills' They are not really
given to you strJ.igllt out like many
of the other tl1ings. This is a weak
point, but what they have done is
selected a number of careers that a
person can go into and listed a
number of associated skills for those
careers. Only 13 careers are listed
such as Musician/Singer/Dancer, '
Game Designer, along with Doctor,
Future W ars--9
Businessman and Crime Lord
Warrior to name a few. So you can
see, they indude some off the wall
stuff. There is a listing and short
description section for all the skills,
broken down by stat. Also, the
option of creating new skills is
available, where GM approval must
be given, and four questions about
the new skill must be answered.
Thus, there will be a description of
the skill that the GM and players
can refer to.
Next comes improving skills. To
increase the first two levels costs 10
points each, but each level thereaf-
ter costs 10 times the level. There
are three ways to receive improve-
ment points (IPS): self study and
practice, formal instruction and
direct experience. The first way
allows your to get to level two, then
instruction is limited by the teach-
ing and skill level of the teacher,
and fmally you need to get out there
and experience things first hand to
learn without limit. Thus, in an
adventure, you will get a few IPS to
use, but most likely you will have to
save them up, because to get to the
higher skill levels takes a lot of
po ints - i.e. level four takes 40
points! Another quick, optional
character bit is reputation - good or
bad . Your rep can affect the way
people react with you in your
adventures.
After fmishing your skills you get
a chance to outfit yourself. Here
you have lists of costs as well as
encumbrance. Your strength and
body type come into play here,
simply as the bigger you are the
more you can carry. They include a
standard list of equipment with
brief descriptions of everything.
They have all sorts of stuff: weap-
ons, body armor, Mecha, comput-
ers, bikes and cars, etc. The listings
could be bigger, but then they
would cover it all. They give you
enough to get started with in the
basic Mekton game.
Future Wars --10
Then we get into Mekton
combat. There are a few different
types here: man versus man, man
versus Mecha, and Mecha versus
Mecha. Like everything else, the
rules are pretty straight forward, but
not nearly as good as in Battletech.
In Mekton we have a RPG and not a
board game, thus things were set up
differently, much like D&D where
the order that things happen is very
important. The order in which you
move is based on your Mecha
reflexes, starting with the best and
going to the worst. You can delay
your turn if desired and so forth, so
what you get is a lot of mess unless
the GM keeps a tight rein on what is
going down. They have added a
board for this part of the game to
allow you keep track of what is
happening, thus you will have to
make up your own maps. In just a
couple of pages they try to lay
down the rules for a board game.
They have done a pretty good job
here, but there are certain things
that are not covered or not covered
well, and that leads to ambiguities.
The examples that they give are
very useful, but a starting gamer
would have some trouble with
these, though in a group of people
that have played they should be
able to teach them fuirly well. Also,
they are using two different scales:
one for man to man and the other
for the Med1a. They have devised a
system that allows for some pretty
easy conversions that work really
well for the game. Once again,
when determining attacks, roll
d10+Reflex Stat+Skill+any modifiers
versus opposing d10+Reflex
Stat+Skill+any modifiers. If you roll
higher than the defender you hit.
Much like Med1warrior, you have 1
to 3 actions that you can perform in
a turn. They cover moves, shooting,
striking, fighting, defending and
other less common actions. All
these are broken into subclasses
and spelled out on a chart.
The combat turns are broken
down into action choices, and then
what each of those sub choices are
and what they mean in game terms.
There are many good exan1ples of
the actions, like shooting with
various kinds ofweapons. The
details on the rules are pretty good,
but the examples help greatly and
are better than the rules some
times. They describe all the various
actions you can do in game terms,
for use on the board in man to man
and man versus mecha combat
situations. This is followed by a
section on how to handle damage
and record it. In Mekton, you have
body armor and if you take a hit in
an area with armor, it will resist
damage up to its rating and then
drop down by one point for the
next hit, and so on. Thus , armor
gets slowly destroyed, while
blocking some of tl1e damage,
similar to Mechwarrior armor, but
fundamentally different. Various
tables for hit locations and damage
effects is provided . You can have
just a good old time looking over
tl1e tables and charts. They are very
straight forward and simple to use.
There seems to be a lot of them,
tluee pages worth, but when you
look at them closely you see how
easy they are to use . There is a lot
of good information just on tl1ese
tables.
After combat you need to be
healed, so a medical section on how
to get healed in the game follows
the combat section. They give a list
of some various hospital drugs as
well as some more flow charts on
how to get healed. Here they try to
simulate what kind of damage did a
person suffer. Only a few pages are
spent here because, really there will
not be a lot of role-playing in a
hospital.
The next section is tl1e Tech
Manual for the game . It gives you a
lot of stats on the various weapons,
what Mecha are, and how to fill out
the Mecha sheets. There is talk
about beast and road mecha, and all
sorts of conversions, though they
do not go into much detail about
tl1em. They give you ways to build
your own Med1a and all the back-
grotmd information on what the
weapon systems are all about. I will
note that the way Mekton goes
about this is completely different
than Battletech. One technology is
growing and evolving (Mekton)
while the other has died and is
trying to recover it (Battletech) .
But this is were people like to make
things happen and build the
greatest and the best of everything.
Designers can go nuts here, because
they can make so many different
creations with this game. The how
and the why of the Mecha is very
interesting and could offer many
ideas to a Battletech player.
After this section they have a
section for role-playing with the
Tech. Now you have the design,
who will build it (just because you
designed it doesn't mean you get to
have it now!!!) and will it be
military or freelance? All sorts of
questions need to be answered
here. Do you have the money to
build it yourself? Will you sell the
design? A lot of good and useful
role-playing information is given
here. Thus you can get people
started in a game and building and
designing the Mecha can be a series
of adventures within your cam-
paign. In .fuct, after this section an
adventure is given so that you can
get started. It has a lot of great
information for the GM on how to
run the game with a cast and crew
that is needed to pull the thing off.
After the background information is
given there is a lot of the role-
playing stuff. This is not meant to
be the best scenario that they can
design, rather it is a quick, fast one
that allows you to get into the play
of the game. It offers both the role
playing and combat, both man and
Mecha, so that you can find out if
you like this system.
Then they have a brief history of
the world and mention how you fit
in. It gives you outlines of the
world, how people got there, who
hates who, allies, and mysteries off
the world and areas. They even
discuss some people of the various
power fictions , so that you can start
to know some personalities in the
w o rld around you. Lastly, in the
back couple pages of the book are
tips on role playing and GMing.
This section is simple but very
useful.
Overall, Mekton is a very
interesting game system. The game
flows well for an RPG. The battle
games are made to be simple with
just a few Mecha on a side. When
you get into large actions, there is
nothing for that. If you tl1ought
Battletech is bad with a company of
Mechs, this will be a lot worse. But,
Mekton was not designed for large
battles, but for things that a group
of 2-8 people can do in a night.
They have done a very good job
here. This game is better than Mech
warrior, even when Mechwarrior 2
is considered. There is a lot of
useful information that can be
transferred to the Battletech
Universe , and because of the way
the rules are written in Mekton, you
can integrate these things quickly
into your other games. I did not
like the fact that the background of
the world and the universe of
Mekton was so skimpy. You need to
get Mekton Empire to fmd out all
about that stuff. In all the Bat-
tletech books of my experience, the
background is much better, but it
gets boring the third or fourth time
you read it, but you can buy only
one product and there it was. I
would like to have spent another
$3.00 and have gotten another 12
pages of background information.
Overall though, Mekton is well
w orth the money that you will put
into this game.
Next in the series is Road Striker 2.
First I want to say that I don't
like Road Striker 2, not because of
the way it is written, but because of
the concept. I feel that they have
taken things too far (and I like
Battletech 1), simply put it is not my
PERSONAL cup of tea. I will not
put anyone down because they do
like it, but I will slant this section if
the review, especially the needed
part of it, with the way I think.
Now I will try to give you all the
information about this book.
Roadstriker 2 can be called the
book of transformers. This book
deals with Mecha that fit more than
one role. There are dual and in
some cases the tri-role all purpose
Mecha. I guess that the Transformer
cartoons that were out many years
ago left a bad taste in my mouth for
this sort of thing. I would say that
this book is broken up into four
parts. They have an introduction
and a history of Mecha, a construc-
tion section, then combat and
mecha uses, followed by a couple
of scenarios. I will follow along in
the book and tell you what I know
about it.
The history takes about 8 pages
with art and charts included. This
gives a brief look at what they are
and how tl1ey developed over time.
They give a very nice background,
though a bit too brief. That was
always nice about Battletech, the
background information that they
give you in all of the books that
they have out. FASA might do it a
bit too much, but here Roadstriker
could use a bit more. I can see
some of the style of writing and
presenting the history is mud1like
the way FASA did tl1eirs. Roadstrik-
er is a combination of Carwars and
Battletech put together. The
original Roadstrikers were beefed
up vehicles with guns and then they
evolved. They seem to have roots
with Knight Rider and now Viper, or
is it the other way around'
Roadstriker Constniction covers
much of the book. Building a
roadstriker is somewhat different
tl1an building a Mecha. This is
because there are other things to
buy, like all the servos that connect
and rejoin. You seem to get the idea
tl1at this game is sometl1ing like the
Zentradi in Robotech, in that they
can shrink and mold into anything
that they like to be. In this game it
is something like that, but it is also
all mechanical. They have some
Future Wars--11
neat fitting joints. What this part of
the book does is show you how the
mecha changes and what is needed
to be able to do all of that. The
construction is very much like that
of the Mecha. This reminds one of
Battletech quite a bit in tlut you
have certain steps to go through to
build a Mecha. There are certain
things that you can do with one.
Though in Mekton, you have a
wider range of things tl1at you can
do. By that, I mean that there are
no weight limits, but everything
does have a cost. If you ain't got
the money you get no Mecha, no
Mecha for mecha fights! Thus the
limiting factor is, in fact, the cost of
the Mecha to build.
Roadstriker presents a bunch of
pre-made roadstrikers in all sorts of
shapes and sizes with the costs of
making these wonderful things for
you. They have cars, bikes, trucks,
beasts, and ideas for using the
designs as well.
After all the data for roadstrik-
ers, they give you ideas for Combin-
ers. A Combiner is when two or
more Mecha, strikers or what ever,
get together and form a larger
mecha. That is one different idea.
The people that write cartoons have
some great ideas!!! This type of
stuff gets too far out FOR ME, but
then, isn't Battletech a little far out?
This allows you to add med1s and
add their weapons and create larger
ones. You can keep adding Mecha,
so long as they are combiners, and
get all sorts of crazy things. That
would be enough to blow my mind
seeing a couple of wasps turn into a
Phoenix Hawk and two Phoenix
Hawks combine to make a Warham-
mer, but that is what these things
are able to do. This entire section
covers how to makeup and breakup
tl1e relationships. They tried to
cover everything and they did a
pretty good job of it. There is a lot
to cover here. Once again, to be
able to combine you have to have it
that way when you design the
Future Wars --12
tl1ing. Space must be left to be able
to connect everytl1ing. And now
you have to keep track of damage
both before and after any combin-
ing. They have a nice system, but I
don't want to take care of it all.
And when you think tlut you
have had enough of all this they
give you advanced Transformables.
These are the beasts that make
Mecha and what not. Well, if you
run into non-human races they
would have non-human mecha,
right? Here are the rules for that
and the rules for humans having
them. They also give you the reason
why people would want tl1em as
well as giving you the reasons why
not. This is followed by a small
section on the combat with these
mecha, which is very much like
Mekton 2. They have also added a
couple of new weapons and
cmmter weapon systems to the
game.
All this is followed by two
scenarios to get you started with
these new game concepts. These
scenarios are quite good. They are
short and to the point, and full of
detail. They allow the GM and the
player many opportunities to use all
tl1e rules and get a good idea of
what the game is all about in a
couple of playing sessions.
The Roadstriker book is, well
not for me [so I say now, if I played
in a game run by someone else, I
just might fall for it]. It is well laid
out and the nlles are quite tight and
well written. The graphics are not
as good as what you get in Mekton
2. They used most of the graphics
from the first edition to get this one
done. The interior is not all that
well done, though it is much better
than most I have seen. As for the
usefulness of tl1is book, it is good
for those people who are interested
in this sort of tl1ing. It is not my
cup of tea. Mekton does not need
this book, though most people tell
me that once you get into this game
you will want to create some of the
things like this for your play. So be
it. YOU DO NOT NEED THIS BOOK
TO PLAY AT ALL. For those with
interest, it is very useftll and
affordable.
The next item is Mekton Empire.
Mekton Empire is a source book
with new rules for a section of
Mekton that had not been covered
before, Space Travel and Star ship
combat. Mekton Empire adds to the
campaign of Meh.1:on, taking off
from the planet and moving into
new realms. They added very mud1
needed source material. This book
adds so much to Mekton 2, that I
would say if you like Mekton at all
you will need this book, because
there is just so much here. I feel
that it should be a part of the
Mekton basic book, tl10ugh you can
play tl1e Mekton system without
having everytl1ing in tl1e Empire
book. I might as well get down to
telling you what it is all about.
The first part of this book is a
history of the system. You now
have the where, how and what
about who you are. I would say
tl1at this is like the source books
from Battletech. It gives you the
background that you need to set up
a long term game. It also allows
you to start to move away from just
one area and start to tailor tl1e game
for you and your players. They first
have a section of text, then a time
line. The nice thing about the time
line is you can add some of your
feelings and tl1oughts, as to having
things the way you want tl1em.
Thus you have a history, but you get
to custom make it to suit your
needs. You can add the fmishing
touches the way you want. After
the history and the text, you have a
mm1ber of proftles witl1 back-
grounds, and yet you can have these
people alive or dead. You fill that in
and relate it witl1 your custom time
line. There are a number of these
tl1ings as well as having aliens to
add to tl1e play of tl1e game. That is
followed by the Galaxy Guide to the
Bendar spiral, where you are
located . These planets have listings,
but you fill in where tl1ey are. You
can pick and choose from these
systems, use the ones you want and
throw away the ones that you don't
like. Then there are races of the
Galaxy. There are now nine races,
some human types and others of all
types including an insect type, a
bear type, and so on. You have a lot
of new things to take a look at.
Then there are some organizations
of the Bendar Galaxy as well as
some corporations, and then
creatures to add to your game.
Following that we have new
Tech and guidelines forTech. All
sorts of weapons are listed. Now
these cover more man to man
weapons mther than Mecha weap-
ons. But being true to a Mech game
they have to have some new Mechs.
They also, at this time, disclose the
reason behind interstellar travel and
the star gates. They give a run
down of the uses for these things
and mention how rare they are.
After which, if you have gates to
tmvel you need ships to travel
through them, and so d1ey give the
background for the ships and add
them to the game. You also learn
how to build them as well as getting
a number of them pre-done for you
to use. They list hit charts and stats
and describe how to use them.
Making this even a better role
playing game, they add the myster-
ies of the Galaxy. This has all sort of
hooks for the GM to use anytime
that he would like, and it allows you
as a GM to customize your cam-
paign to the way you would like to
see it go. Here again, you are given
some reasons and then blanks for
you to fill in your reason for a
particular mystery.
The last section of this book
allows for you to build on your
game by adding Psionics. The rules
are simple, yet nicely done. They
add something, but do not over-
power the game wid1 it. Most
people are not even PSI capable,
meaning you do not have to worry
about it, but enough are that it will
cause worry among the players.
They will never really know if they
run into someone that is PSI or not.
The GM can have a lot of fun wid1
d1is and I can see where the GM
could have more fun with it than
d1e players, in some cases when the
players do not know the NPC has
PSI ability. About twenty pages are
devoted to this.
Then there is the space combat
game. To tell you the trud1, not that
the game part is bad, the counters
and the map that they give you are
really bad, so use something that
you might have on hand like Star
Blazer stuff, or Silent Death,Aero-
tech, or Battlespace for the map and
counters. There is nothing really
new here for movement and so on.
They have done a very nice job of
putting everything together and the
rules are well written. They are
better than most space combat
rules that you get with a role
playing game, though I have seen
better rules for star ship combat. I
feel that Star Warriors is one of the
best to go along with a role-playing
game. But these rules cover what
you want them to and they add a lot
more to the game than other ones
that are too abstract to make them
even any fun to play. They also
cover Mekton ship to ship combat.
It should be noted that Mecha have
very good chances at shooting
down ships and if there are enough
Mecha, well. .. Mecha are like
fighters in a different period, or
rather fighter bombers.
The book ends with how to
build your beasts so that you can
add to what was given, as they only
did five, too few, creatures to use
with the game. New life paths for
the new races are also given. Then
there is the full color solar galaxy
game map. The counters and the
battle rna p both are very bad, use
one of the games that you have
some where else for the map and
counters, it will do you better. TI1at
covers this book. It has a lot to it.
This book makes the Mekton
game system. The background and
d1e material are very well present-
ed. It is clear and concise, and it
allows you to build your campaign.
This means that no two worlds or
campaigns will be alike. Planets,
people and aliens will all be in
different places and the time charts
will be different, because that is
what they want. This book is a
must for players if they are going to
use this game for an extended
period of time. TI1is book adds so
much flavor to the game it is hard
to write all my thoughts about it
down. It is like a Battletech source
book, though d1ere is not as much
info, thus they do not conflict with
what they have said elsewhere in
the book. TI1e idea of getting out to
the other planets just gives so many
new ideas for books and what not,
the GM will never run out of good
ideas for this game. Yet each and
every campaign will be different
from GM to GM and that is really
nice. I like the way that it all holds
together with an outline and then
you fill in the rest. It is a great idea.
Does it come off a 100%, no. Are
their flaws? Yes. Does it work? Yes.
Is it worth trying? Yes. Are there
ideas here for use in a Battletech
game? Yes, many tl1ings can be
transferred right over. Can a
Battleted1 player use this? Yes, so
long as you are not in the Inner
Sphere, you can do some very
interesting things witl1 this book. It
is a must have for Mekton, and it is
a should have for Battletech GM's.
Now that we all know how to
play Mekton and are having ftm
with it, and have expanded our
galaxy and are into outer space,
along comes the Mekton Techbook
that changes everything. The
Mekton Ted1book is a lot of things
rolled into one book. It has systems
design, Mecha Design and then the
sheets for these designs. The book
is very glossy with a quality cover
and some very good art. The art
throughout this book is very good.
Back up to 1st class standards after
dropping them in Roadstriker, that
Future Wars--13
one being the worst. The book is
printed like a FASA Tech read out.
Meaning, on the short side, though
bow1ded like a normal book. I
found this to be very distracting
when I was reading it. I would have
preferred to see the system designs
printed in a normal book manner
and the Mecha on the side like they
are. But what is this book all about?
How about changing all the con-
struction rules that you have been
using adds things up pretty well.
This book lays out an entire new
construction system called MTS. I
cannot fmd what MTS stands for at
all. What it does is allow you, the
designer, to have many more
options than before. You can build
Mecl1a as well as systems for these
Mecha within guidelines that have
been set up. Is this system easier?
To me, no. I'm not into Mekton
that much, but for the players that
have been into this game for some
time, yes, it would be very good.
Do you need this book to play
Mekton? NOT at all. If you want to
expand what you are doing with
Mekton, yes, you will want this
book. What good is this book to a
Battletech player? It is a wealth of
information is what it is. There are
many ideas that can be converted
for use within the Battletech rules.
These could be added to campaigns
as house rules. None of what is
given would be official in any way,
but tl1ey would be ftm.
What is covered? Weapons as
well as linking systems, efficiency,
and scaling factors are covered.
Beam weapons, damage, accuracy,
wide angle and anti missiles systems
are covered as well. Then they go
into cloaking, fire control, combin-
ing Mecha and weapons, combat
and armor, electronic warfare,
energy absorbers, energy melee
weapons, energy pools, environ-
mental protection, and even ESPER
lenses, as well as new rules on ESP
and Psi abilities. New rules for
Mekton also include healing,
Future Wars --14
sensing, Oairvoyance among other
things.
Other things that are covered in
this Tech readout is gravitic prolu-
sion, internal automation, Jwnp
rockets, maneuver verniers, melee
weapons, missiles, projectile
weapons, reconnaissance systems,
remote units, shadow imager,
shields, Statistical enhancements,
stealth, teclmo-organics, teleport-
ers, thought control, transformers, V
Max systems and weapon mounts.
That is a lot of stuff and it is covered
in 46 pages. Then they have 17
Mecha designs covering the next 34
pages, as their are two pages for
each one. Then tl1ese are followed
by the filled out sheets of each
Mecha. That is what the Tech Book
is all about. I suppose that I could
tell you what everytl1ing is in my
worlds, but you should read about
it.
There are a lot of things covered
in this book and there are a lot of
cl1anges to the game in this book.
They are hoping that the changes
will make the game easier and more
open ended. Where Battletech has
certain guidelines and a hard and
fast rules system, you cannot add to
what is already there unless you
make house rules. Mekton has
guidelines to have ftm building the
kind of rules you want, the pluses
and minuses are all right there for
size, cost and space. I like tllis part
about the game. What more can be
said about the Tech read out? It has
good ideas for all game systems, so
to say more would take too many
more pages and would tell you
everything that you need to know,
so why buy the book then?
The last thing to take look at is
the scenario called Operation
Rinlfire. Operation Rimfire is a very
good looking module. It is what I
would call a campaign module that
has many chapters to it. In fact,
there are 22 such chapters to the
module. This book is likely the best
presented module that I have ever
seen. There is a full color front and
back with sixteen more pages of
full, glossy color inside. I have
never seen a module that presented
tl1e material in the way that this one
has. There is a complete main plot
and a bunch of lesser plots as well.
The module can be stopped by the
actions of the characters at any time
through the campaign. The end of
the cl1apters can accommodate this
nicely.
First let me tell you what you get
in this 104 page book. It starts out
with the main character profiles in
this adventure and discusses the
historical background. Not every
thing is here, there is more for each
character later on. These characters
are all in full color and look much
like the comics that tl1ey could be
in. There are 10 good guys and 3
bad guys in this section. Then tl1ere
is the background to the story, as
well as a GM section for behind the
scenes. Then there are two second-
ary plots as well. This goes right
into tl1e 22 d1apters as I call them,
or rather episodes. These take up
about 44 pages for each plot. Then
there is more information on the
characters in the game. Then there
is a tech book for the GM with a run
down on all the Mecha to be used
and encountered, as well as any
new weapons and sheets for all
these. That is what you get for your
$14.00.
I have never used a module with
as much information given in which
to run the it as this one. From start
to finish this is a very top rate item.
It starts with the characters that are
laid out for you with full color
drawings of them and a bit about
them so that you can decide which
one you would like to play. The
background information on each
character is very good as well.
Once you have chosen your charac-
ter to play, the GM will hand you
even more information that you
can't let the other players know
about. This provides you with
motives for the character you are
playing, as well as anything else that
you might have in your background
that would affect tl1e play of the
game. These are very well done and
allow the players to really role play
these people. Then the episodes
are laid out really well. They detail
where you are, who you will meet,
and even have an outline of what
will happen. If there are things to
be said by NPCs, that is given in the
order that it is needed. The epi-
sodes are short, such that you
cannot get too far away from what
is there, so the GM maintains
control of what is happening. They
are long enough to allow players to
explore and get used to the charac-
ters that they are with. They also
allow for other things, and allow
you to put this aside if there is
something else that happens. The
write ups are well done with good
information given. The writing is
well done with a good plot and
some subplots to keep things going
if the players don't. You are given
all the needed maps and there
would be times where the GM
might want to expand on some of
these, especially if there is some
time between episodes. There are
406 days covered in this adventure.
Many days are one after another in
corresponding episodes, though do
to travel times some skip a couple
of days. This story has a good plot
that can come to many different
conclusions at different times, most
of them not good for the players.
The story is believable and that is
what makes good plots in a story.
If you are playing Mekton you
need this adventure. It allows a
new GM some very good guidelines
on how to develop his own adven-
tures and how things should flow
within the Mekton game. For
Battletech people, you should also
get this adventure and read through
it and see how you can do better
scenarios for your role playing
games. There is a lot of good stuff
here as well and many ideas that
you could throw into the Battletech
system. The Tech part of the book
is very well done and the informa-
tion there can be transferred very
readily to Battletech universe. This
is a very good module for any SF
game that you might be playing and all means give it a shot. I feel that
it is very exciting and a lot of fun. the source material and ideas in this
What more can you want? This is a game are well worth the price that
MUST have for all players, because you will pay. I have noted which
it encourages great ideas and great items that I like the best. As a role
writing. playing game, Mekton is the better:
The combat game, with all the
That is what the Mekton game things going on for Battletech, is not
from R. Talsorian made up of. Now, quite the better, but is less limited
there are a couple of new things
in what you can do. The rules are
from !anus Press for Mekton that I there for the battles that you will
have not reviewed here. The names fight and they try to cover it all, but
are the Jovian Chronicles, which is a Mekton leaves most of that type of
source book, and the Europa thing up to the GM. I know I would
Incident, which is a module. I like to have more things about
cannot say anything else, because I
Mekton in Future Wars in upcoming
have not looked at them yet. issues. What do you, the readers,
Why Mekton??? Well Mekton is a want? If you want more, you will
role playing game that happens to send me more articles, it is a simple
have big Mecha as suits of armor. It fact. Now just because it doesn't
is King Arthur in the far future. The say Battletech on it doesn't mean
romance of the medieval times with that it has few good ideas in it Take
the suspense of the far future, what a good look at Mekton, it might
more could you want? Like Ro- improve your Battleted1 game in a
botech, the game has a strong role- way you never thought of before.
playing part. Battletech is the
combat part of the game. These
two game systems cross on a similar
subject, but from two different
directions. Battletech, is by far and
away, a better battle game. Mekton
is far and away a better role playing
game. Mechwarrior doesn't stand
up to it. Mechwarrior is rigid in
what you can do. Mekton is more
open ended in what you can do,
especially with construction and
using your ideas for new things.
This is not to say Mechwarrior is
bad, but it is limited. Mekton has
presented a game that is open
enough to allow you to grow and
expand as you gain experience
the system. Battletech is going to
take an infusion from FASA every 3- .
5 years with something new to keep
up the interest. The Clans are a
good example. Or you will stag-
nate. Mekton 2 is not tl1at way,
GM must grow and add to the game:- ·
Mekton cannot be played in touma-·
ments as well because of this, as ·---=~~~~~~~~~~i
there will be a lot of house rules for_·_
the game. There is something to be~
said for both types of systems.
Mekton 2, if you feel that it is the
type of game that you might like, by
Future Wars--15
 ALLAH'S HAMMER
by Steve Burnett
16Aprtl3051
The Periphery
Astrokaszy
The Great South Desert
The battered leopard class
dropship thundered into the sky on
a pillar of flame, raising a cohunn of
sand as tall as a mountain into the
still desert air. It dwindled into the
infmite blue, an acentic speck
falling up, up and gone. The roar of
it's giant engines faded, dopplering
away in the vastness of the sea of
sand. The mountain fell gently to
earth in particulate silence, bedeck-
ing the Warhammer that stood
motionless at the foot of the dune
with a fine white silica coat. The
sun slipped beneath the horizon
and night fell in ebony folds across
the land .. .
Home. After seven years, he was
home. Ibn Kamal sat in the War-
hammer's cockpit, the canopy open
to the rapidly cooling night air. He
sat with his eyes closed, arms folded
across his chest, his neurohelmet
hanging above his head in it's rack.
He drank in the evening air, cool
and dry, and almost smiled. And
then the memory of why he had
left, a memory that was always
before him, that could bring him
from the depths of slumber to
screaming wakefulness, cold with
sweat, danced before him in his
mind's eye, and the smile died
aborning.
He clenched his fists; one
whined softly and clicked into
place, cool steel reflecting starlight.
He saw his father, that brave,
stubborn, stupid man, that he'd
loved as only a son could love,
shred beneath a hail of red-hot
jacketed steel . .. Ibn could not
believe that a man could hold so . ..
much . . . blood . .. his mother, his
sister, thrown to the moist, red
Future Wars --16
earth, clothes torn form them, their
endless screams ... and the sun
kissed his arm, and it shriveled and
blew away like the desert sand .. .
left for dead. In shock, he watched
the behemoth flatten his house and
lumber off into the shrieking birth
of a sandstorm. The wallahs, astride
their camels swirling about the feet
of their terrible god . . . they took
his sister with them . .. he prayed
that she did not survive ...
From that moment on, he had
lived for one thing. For seventeen
years, from bare survival to Mech-
warrior, he had lived and fought and
nearly died for that one thing ...
"Shervanis ..."he whispered to
the night; ''I'm coming, Shervanis ..
. your life is mine!"
**********
Omar Shervanis, Calioh of Al-
halaraz, Lord of the Northern
Wastes, and Master of the )adun
Hordes, sprawled upon his divan
and watched the mad debauchery
that swirled around the dais with
jaded amusement. He drew a
hmgful of bhang from the giant
hookah at his side, held it, and
exhaled into the face of the nude,
nubile creature next to him. She
smiled and moved closer, the
hundred bells on her slave chains
chanting sweetly, a promise of the
night's pleasures. He caressed her
absently, intent upon the deatl1-
throes of his former enemy, the
caliph of the recently conquered
southern lands, who at the moment
was writhing beneath his wallah's
purposefully dull knives, his mouth
wreathed in bloody foam. Shervanis
ran a hand across the girl's belly,
cupped a breast, and thought of the
plunder, the slaves, and the greatest
prize of all, Tarum-din. Sweet Water
of the South, his expiring enemy's
hold. All, it had been so easy, with
the god-machines, as his )adun
warriors called them, at his com-
mand. But it had not been without
it's price, and a dark look crossed
his swarthy features: one of the
Clint's, it's engine crippled, the
other, battered but serviceable; the
Marauder he paid so dearly for, a
year's tribute from his frontier
holdings, may the bones of those
Comstar dogs rot and splinter, had
carried the day; but his beloved
Warhammer, the Deathwind, had
lost a leg actuator, totally destroyed
by a suicidal wallah carrying a
satchel charge. He rose, shoving
the girl roughly aside, and strode
unsteadily to the window. It stood
silently in the Great Plaza, a ring of
his most fanatical )adun about it, for
he trusted no one near it after what
had happened. If it broke the
treasury, he would see it whole
once more, for it was all that he had
had, all that he could trust, those
many years ago when he had come
to this world, and it's strength, it's
power, had given him this world
and all who dwelled upon it; he
could not forsake it now. Perhaps
he would sell off the dan1aged Clint
in exd1ange, those pious jackals of
tl1e misbegotten Blake would ruin
him with their fees. A pox upon
them all! May their skin fester and
run . ..
He turned from the window and
ordered the hall cleared, except for
his sons; in less tlun a minute, it
was done. He regained his divan
and looked at them, his med1war-
riors, his blood .. . they knelt on
tl1e cushions and silks covering the
dais, facing him, heads bowed, sons
of the desert ...
"Fisal."
"Yes, father?" He was a good
son, faithful, obedient, the eldest
and the steadiest; the Marauder,
named Scorpion , was his .
"You have done well, my son.
Your courage and wisdom brought
us victory from near-defeat. Twenty
choice slaves and a tenth of the
plunder is yours."
"You honor me greatly, father.
thank you for this gift."
"You have earned it." Next was
Singh, pilot of the Tulwat·, a lad
who was sometimes foolishly brave,
but true to his futher: "Singh:'
"Yes, futher?"
"You came to my aid when I was
dealt that most treacherous blow,
but you risked Tulwar in doing so -
He bowed his head: "Forgive me,
futher:'
"Of course. I would be a small
man indeed if I did not acknowl-
edge a son's love for his futher; your
portion is as Fisal's, but his will be
the first choice."
"Thank you, father." said Singh
fervently. He gazed at the boy a
moment longer; forgiving his error
and rewarding him equally should
bound the lad to him body and soul.
Now he would test that loyalty . . .
"Ahmed." His youngest . .. he
and his mother's beloved . . . so
young to make such a mistake.
"Father, I -"
"Silence! Desertstar ts crippled,
useless to us. DeatiJwind is lame,
Tulwar is battered, weakened, all
because you fulled to press the
advantage! You were tricked by
their decoy into leaving my flank
and in doing so nearly destroyed all
of us in the process! You are a
FOOL!!!"
Silence. Ahmed was prostrate
before him, motionless, awaiting his
anger without protest; he was brave
. . . is he brave enough . . .
"Singh." The lad leaned forward
on one knee, head bowed, lips thin
and controlled: "My lord's will -" he
said tightly.
"Get up!" he hissed at Ahmed,
who stood, closed his eyes and
waited. Shervanis looked into
Singh's eyes and said softly, "Your
brother must remember this failure,
see that it is so."
"My lord-?"
"Yourkris."
Understanding dawned in
Singh's eyes; he trembled, swal-
lowed audibly, and drew the curved
blade from it's sheath. The blade
that must drink before it my rest,
looked at Ahmed, and trembled
again. Shervanis gave the boy no
surcease, his fuce was set, his gaze
uncompromising. Singh must
determine the punishment, and in
this Shervanis would know his son
and possess his soul . . .
Moments passed. Singh trem-
bled like a man cursed with the
burning fever, his eyes wide,lips
quivering uncontrollably. The knife
rose, a blur of burnished steel, and
he struck. Blood gouted, impossibly
red, and Ahmed screamed, fell and
was deathly silent. Singh looked
helplessly at the knife, began to
shake violently, and dropped it; it
clattered on the steps.
"Pick it up." Singh bent and
placed it still bloody in it's sheath.
"Go. Send someone with bandages
and see to your machines." They
stood motionless. "Go, I said!"
They left without a sound. When
the servants came fearfully into the
hall, they found the caliph with his
son's head resting gently on his lap.
*********
Precentor Girindus Blaine stood
unsteadily in the howling wind, an
old man brought too swiftly from
his bed. Emergency lights glared,
dust devils danced across the
ferrocrete and men cursed and
scurried about the mech bay as
smoke whipped out into the wind.
A15 he shivered in his robe, Blaine
smelled the acrid tang of burned,
melted metal and pulverized
cet"".unics swirling on the tips of a
storm. The massive mech bay doors
lay twisted in their frames, fierce
yellow light flickering across their
smoky fuces. He felt an anger grow
suddenly inside him; what fools or
madmen would dare assault the
Bringers of Blake's Word!?? Wrap-
ping his robe more tightly about
him, Blaine strode down the dune
fuce, armed acolytes in his van. A
figure detached itself from the
milling mass of men fighting the
scattered fires and came forward . ..
"Precentor-"
"Speak."
"All three mechs are damaged
beyond our abilities to repair them,
Precentor. A sentry saw the mech-"
"One mech!?
He swallowed heavily; "-y-yes,
m'lord, one mech. A Warhammer ..
Blaine leaned forward, h is black
eyes undimmed by age; "-I want
answers. I want to know who they
are and what they are doing here.
Do you understand me? "
"Yes, Precentor!"
He turned his baleful gaze about,
his voice low and controlled, barely
heard above the rising scream of the
storm;"-Do you alltmderstand me!?
Do you!?"
"Yes, Precentor'!!" With a
savage shake of his grayed, leonine
head he turned and strode into the
roaring night . . .
•••••••••
The storm rose out of the desert,
HalwindaAhb, Bringer of Sorrows,
devil winds birthed in the great
wastes that abraded flesh and pitted
stone with their particulate breath .
Hundreds of kilometers fell beneath
the shadow of the storm, it's crown
brushing the stratosphere like some
angry god. It scoured the earth
below with cyclonic force, splinter-
ing trees, collapsing walls, and
shattering windows throughoutAl-
halaraz. In the Old Town, an
ancient brothel crumbled before the
storm, killing all within. The roof of
city's mosque collapsed with a
thunderous crash, raining tile and
stone upon the praying multitudes.
In the Thieves' Quarter, an argu-
ment toppled a lantern in a dark
Future Wars--17
back room; flames engulfed the
establishment, birthing an inferno
that roared throughout the ghetto,
incinerating everything within it's
frenzied, wind whipped reach.
Flaming debris rained down on the
hundreds of terrified refugees that
poured through the warren-like
streets toward the Great Plaza . ..
Head pounding, mouth bone
dry, Omar Shervanis threw the girl
sprawled atop him to the cold tiled
floor. Cursing savagely, he kicked
free of the silken coverlets and
stumbled towards the balcony, bare
feet slapping the stone steps.
Gripping the railing with white-
knuckled hands, he squinted his
eyes against the grit-ftlled air and
strained to hear the rising roar
beneath the howl of the wind. The
sound sharpened , became distinct;
falsetto screams pierced the nun-
bling growl of the mob-beast as it
drew closer, swarming through the
dark, narrow streets, feeding upon
itself, trJ.iling bloody debris like
some obscene, cancerous slug.
Through teary eyes he saw the
flames to the south and cursed the
scum who dared threaten his city,
the same scum who dared presume
that the Great Plaza offered safety
from the fire .. . he would give
them fire ...
Turning, Shervanis strode across
the room and opened the doors of
the cabinet beside his bed and
pulled out his cooling vest ...
Ibn strode through the inferno,
his mech wrapped in smoke and
flame, all that remained of what had
once been a warehouse filled with
wealth from the stars. Burning
timbers rained down upon his
Warhammer as he turned left and
punched through the warehouse
wall and into the street, the fire
weakened structure collapsing with
a roar behind him. A fireball leapt
skyward into the teeth of the storm,
shredded by the howling winds and
Future Wars --18
strewn across the city in a fun of
blazing debris. He stopped as a
crowd of fleeing refugees scurried
across his path, hands raised in a
futile attempt to ward off the rain of
fire. He ran a systems check as
smoke wrapped about his mech like
a lover, smiling when he saw that
the new heat sinks were working
perfectly, all his indicators just sort
of yellow. A slight advantage, to be
sure, but an advantage nonetheless.
Suddenly, the MAD scanner
pinged. He enabled the motion
sensors with a flick of his hand and
brought the weapon systems on-
line, waiting ... fifty meters down
the street a MarJ.uder lumbered into
view, pushing a wall over with it's
bulk. It moved slowly, delibemtely
through the flames. Ibn smiled
with warmth and waited as the
mech drew closer . ..
Fisal wiped his brow in the
sweltering cockpit and pushed
Scorpion against another wall,
working feverishly to erect a crude
firebreak before the fire went
completely out of control. The wall
groaned and cnunbled about tl1e
edges but did not give, the builders
having built too well. He grimaced
at the blinking telltales on his
console and drew the mech back
away from the stubborn wall,
calculating it's weak points in his
mind as he armed his dual PPCs.
The massive weapon pods dropped
and he squeezed the triggers .
Outmged quanta sliced through the
foundation, severing the reinforcing
rods like a hot knife through butter.
He threw Scorpion forward, striking
the wall with a shuddering impact.
It swayed drunkenly and fell,
smothering the flames beneath it
with tons of concrete and metal.
Fisal whooped with joy in the
smoldering cockpit as a fresh wave
of heat rushed in; perhaps this is
not as hopeless as it seems .. .
At that moment, Ibn opened
fire; twin PPC beams lanced out,
slicing armor from the Marauder's
chassis in a spray of molten metal.
Four of the six missiles ringed the
cockpit, the warheads detonating
like a giant's hammering fists. Ruby
fire vaporized the remaining armor
and steel-jacketed slugs probed the
open wounds, smashing circuits,
severing hydraulics and cooling
systems, and shredding myomer
muscle with triphammer precision.
The Mamuder lurched drunkenly,
Fisal fighting madly for control of
the wounded giant in the broiling
cockpit, and then it stumbled over
the debris of the makeshift firebreak
and fell with an earth-shaking cmsh.
Ibn fired again, using only his
secondary weapons this time, but it
was enough. The vulnerable swivel-
joint assembly melted and ran, the
mised leg screamed and dropped a
full meter, crippled and useless.
The Warhammer moved forward , it's
massive bulk catching and twisting
tl1e leg forward and down. Ibn
moved on, disappearing into the
steadily growing holocaust, leaving
an unconscious Fisal hanging in his
harness in the smok}' cockpit.
*********
The Great Plaza was in sight
when Singh brought Tulwar from
behind the citadel's wall, latmching
a fearsome attack on the rear armor
of Ibn's Warhammer. Ceramic
annor shredded under a thunderous
hail of depleted metal, throwing Ibn
forward against his straps as tl1e
mech staggered from the unexpect-
ed assault. Cursing, Ibn wheeled
the ponderous giant to face his foe,
PPC's crackling with barely pent
energy; Singh followed the turn,
keeping Tulwar on the Warham-
mer's flank, pouring red hot rounds
into it's lacerated back. Damage
lights flickered on in the Warham-
mer's cockpit, needles dancing into
the yellow as two heat sinks
shattered beneath the stream of
heavy metal projectiles and ate
deeper. Ibn began to tum again and
stopped, swiveling the torso full
around in the opposite direction;
Singh dug Tulwar's massive feet into
pavement, showering stones and
dirt across the street as he came to a
dead stop, almost, but not quite out
of the Warhammer's field of fire.
Ibn fired the left PPC, bringing the
rest of the mech around with short,
crab like steps. Racing particles
vaporized the Clint's front armor in
a splash of incandescent metal
rocking Singh back in his couch.
The Warhammer came full around
as Singh howled and threw Tu lwar
forward, closing w ith the larger
mech.
The earth trembled as Tulwa r
slammed full into the Warhammer
metal crumpling like tinfoil from '
the impact. A massive articulated
fist arced up, slamming into the
Warhammer's cockpit, con cussion
momentarily sttmni.ng Ibn. Singh
hammered aw ay, jamming his
autocarmon into th e larger mechs
gut and holding the t rigger down.
Ibn groggily fired his lasers, trying
desperately to get this maddened
demon off of him. They stood
locked, toe to toe, tearing at each
othe r, strip ping away armor like
flesh in a bm tal dan ce of kinetic
violence , bound in light and sound.
Buildings shook and walls col-
lapsed, showering broken glass and
burning debris upon the fleeing
victims of the holocaust. The storm
screamed overhead, whipping the
conflagration into a white hot
frenzy as stray bullets and searing
lasers cut down more of the
desperate survivors ...
Suddenly, Ibn found the leverage
he needed and the Warhammer
surged forward, almost leaning as
it's massive feet chewed pavement
into mbble. Singh cried out as
Tulwar stumbled back, heels
catching on an oxcart, falling with a
thunderous crash through the front
of the mosque, cmshing everyone
within. Lightning seemed to fall
from the heavens, twin forks of
accelerated hell that scorched and
seared and ate the shoulders and
head off of the fallen giant. An
instant later, the giant and most of
the mosque disappeared in a
~1ammer stroke of light, blossoming
mto the raging heavens on the
wings of a boiling ardent cloud .. . before the Precentor, his harsh
words lost to A11med in t11e wind.
Ibn slumped in his couch,
The Precentor thmst an ae<.:using
exhausted. Whoever he was, he
finger at his father, trembling with
held kin to demons . . . he sat up rage, and his fatl1er pulled the
with a groan as he noticed move-
holdout pistol from it's holster and
ment off to his right. He drew a
shot him in the face.
weary hand across his sweaty brow
in the steadily w arming cockpit, The ]adun were quick; knives
setting h is teeth and fingering his glittered and fell, and the half-dozen
triggers, h e turned the Warhammer acolytes with the late Precenter
to face the new foe . .. stained the steps w ith their blood.
One fired before he died . Two men
The w allahs streamed into the
at his father's side danced and fell
plaza astride their camels, clutching bloody pil·e s of mgs spraw led upo~
their rifles, making for the smoking the stairs. His fatl1er gave no sign
giant with cries of"Allah Akbar!! !",
he saw, striding stmight and tall
swarming forward to jacketed
towards his beloved mech ... he
death. Behind them, the ]adun
had reached the cockpit when
can1e, seveml cmdli.ng inferno
AI1mend saw the intmder, wrapped
rounds and SRM 2's in their dusty
in flame , lumber onto the Great
hands . . . Plaza itself and move slowly,
••••••••• implacably, towards the palace . . .
He looked down from his *********
balcony as the city burned below.
Ibn licked cracked , bloody lips
He held up his hand, bandaged and and thumbed the external speakers
streaked with red . He could see
to life: "OMAR SHERVANIS! YOUR
many things u p here, and he h ad
DAY HAS COME"' The plaza was
chosen these rooms for that reason
packed with refugees now huddled
alone . . . in happier times ...
about the edges, silently waiting,
watching . . . "OMAR SHERVANIS' I
Tonight, Ahmed has wept when
AMYOURJUDGMENT!" The
he saw Fisal go down before the
storm's voice had dropped to a low
unknown foe, so quickly, so easily .
moan; flan1es c rackled in the
. . a wall of fire marked his resting
distance .. . "OMAR SHERVANIS!
place now, ashes in the end. He
YOU SLAUGHTERED MY FAMILY
had watched as Singh raged like a
AND LEFT ME FOR DEAD! VEN-
demon against the unknown one, to
GEANCE IS ALLAH'S! VENGEANCE
no avail . . . Singh . . . he looked at
his main1ed hand, and the tears IS MINE!"
would not come ... now the
The Warhammer lurched
wallahs and the ]adun fought the
forward, fanning the flickering
invader on the south plaza, but all
flan1es that still enfolded the mech
he could see was smoke and flan1e
in withering arms. Fluid fell and
only hearing the terrible, uneven '
splattered tl1e stones like blood
smoking bits of armor rattled d~wn
roar of battle. He looked out across
the city, and the city was in flan1es .
the sides and clattered across the
. . bismallah . . . A11med leaned his
pavement, one PPC dangled on
he ad back against the arch , his gaze
hemorrhaging coolant cables, the
swinging down to the courtyard
other pointed skyward, blackened
below . . .
and scarred. The cockpit was ftlled
with smoke, watering Ibn's eyes in
His father stood upon the steps,
the choking, sizzling gloom. All his
erect and furious, his cooling vest
weapons were gone, his reactor was
flapping in the raging wind. The
approaching meltd own, but he
old Comstar Precentor stood
would not, he could NOT fail ...
beneath him, gesturing sharply,
angrily. His father shook his fist Future Wars--19
not now ... not so dose . . . it was
Allah's will ... he swayed in his
straps, his hair beginning to smoke,
the yoke searing his hands slowly to
the bone, and he smiled as the
Deathwind ftlled h is screen .. .
Shervanis screamed defiance at
the slowly approaching mech, his
face purpled and conto rted with
rage. He was incoherent now, all
semblance ofhwnanity stripped
from his features like a bandage
from a suppurating wound, leaving
only the beast. He tore at the
canopy hatch, flung it wide, and
dived in, scrambling frantically for
the hookups. He raved as he did so,
screaming wordlessly, the names of
his sons Fisal and Singh the only
words discernible . ..
Ahmed turned from the window,
his eyes filled with tears ... your
brothers are dead, your father f.tces
death, and you cry like a woman
and turn away . .. you are weak ...
"No." he said softly to the empty
room, "I am my father's son. I will
not desert him now." And he turned
back to the window . . .
To the people in the plaza, it
seemed as if two fearsome gods had
come to earth to wage their war,
one wrapped in flame , the other, in
night. He of the fire moved faster,
picking up speed, fanning the
flames to a white-hot pitch. The
dark one loosed his power, painting
r!J[Je mobing finger writes; nnl1, [Jnbing writ
jflllobes on; nor aU tbp pietp nor wit
~ball lure it back to caned balf a line,
~or aU tbp tears tuasb out a tuorb of it
-®mar Jkbappam
Future Wars --20
the night with scarlet hues, lashing
it with blue thunder. The one in
flame seemed to explode, shower-
ing the stones with incandescent
god flesh, yet still he came on. TI1e
black one redoubled his efforts,
stripping the fiery one to his
numenic bones, and still he came
on ...
Shervanis screamed, a note of
terror newborn in his ragged voice.
Ahmed echoed his cry upon the
balcony as the Warhan1mer, shroud-
ed in blazing white, crossed the last
few meters separating the two and
collided with an earth shaking
crash. In an instant, it seemed, the
sun kissed the stones of the plaza,
etching high and low alike in a
timeless moment of blinding light,
and then the constunptive inferno
of the fireball rose into the night
like a pillar of fire. Debris rained
down across the stones with a
discordant, musical sound, capped
by a bang.
Shervanis fumbled the restrain-
ing straps from his shoulders and
stumbled down and away from the
smoking ejector seat. He had
ridden the fire and the storm. He
was invincible ... "I BEATYOU!!!"
he screamed at the flaming wreck-
age. "I AM OMAR SHERVANIS,AND
I STILL LIVE'" He laughed wildly
and danced a stumbling, drunken
dance upon the cool stones - toc-
toc-toccity toe . . .
He stopped and looked around,
the manic smile still on his face. It
faltered as the shadows moved, a
low, rippling growl of hate rising.
From the shadows they came, hands
clenched in awful fury, teeth set in
primal rictus, eyes agleam with
smoldering, pent up rage. Burned,
battered, they shuffled forward,
remembering the whistling song of
the whip, the flat crack of pistols,
the infinite, echoing screams of the
tortured dead. The devil was before
them, the lord of pain, and he was
alone ... so very alone.
"Dogs! I am your master! Stand
aside'"
TI1ey ringed him now, man,
woman, and child, and their hate
was bitter; their eyes reflected the
flames, eyes once dull, now ablaze .
.. and hungry.
He cursed them, from seed to
earth, and reached for his pistol ...
He never even cleared leather.
On his balcony,A11med watched
with stony eyes as the mob tore his
father to bloody bits in the plaza
below. After a few minutes, a large
group detad1ed itself from tl1e
swirling chaos and began to make
for the palace. Ahmed turned and
walked slowly into his rooms,
passing his bed, his books, his bath.
Sounds came from downstairs,
thudding, breaking glass, a few
shots. He opened the cabinet were
he stored his gear and reached in,
stopping for a moment when he
heard the mob making it's way
slowly up the stairs, angry voices,
one thought, one goal. He pulled
out his pistol, removed the dip, and
tl1umbed a single bullet from the
feed. He put the clip down,
carefully slid the shell into the
breech and cocked it.
He would only need one ...
 Allah's Hammer Scenario
by
Jon M. Pehrson

Inspired by Mr. Burnett's intriguing story this issue, I took the liberty and developed a scenario to recreate
the events of that story within the Battletech game. Assuming you have read the story, the following
information should be readily understood:

The Attacker:
Ibn Kamal (3 gunnery/ 4 piloting/ 1 tactics), pilot of(no name given), maybe Vengeance
70 ton Warhammer, undamaged
The Defenders:
Omar Shervanis (3 /411 ), pilot ofDeathwind
70 ton Warhammer, right upper leg actuator damaged, -3 armor on the left arm , -4 armor on
the center torso and -5 armor on the right leg.
Fisal (4/5/0), pilot of Scorpion
75 ton Marauder, undamaged
Singh (4/5/0), pilot of Tulwar
40 ton Clint, -2 armor left arm, -2 armor left torso, -2 annor center torso, -5 armor right leg
Jadun Horde (3 /4/0)(2 platoons of foot infantry)
SRM equipped (half the damage is heat damage i.e. - 5 damage = 3 armor and +2 heat)
Wallahs (4/5/0)(5 platoons of camel mounted rifle cavalry)
they have a ground movement of2

Two maps should be set up long ways. At the futherest northern edge should be the beginning of Omar' s
palace. The north board is map l and the south board is map 2. On map 1, there should be the Great Plaza.
This is a rectangle 6 by 6 hexes square. To the East, West and Southern directions should be smaller
plazas, centered off the appropiate sides of the Great Plaza. These are each 4 by 4 hexes square. Each
plaza should be connected by a 1 hex gate, tall enough for mech passage. Between the Great Plaza and the
southern plaza lies the city's mosque. All the dividing walls and buildings should be level three or greater.
The defender should then populate the remainder of board 1 and 2 with city blocks. These may not be
more than 3 hexes wide and 6 hexes long, and must have at least a one hex wide street between them. For
the most part, all buildings should have a CF of 40 - 60. Finally, a fairly straight avenue must lead from
the southern edge of board 2 to the gate ofthe southern plaza.

Ibn's goal is to make it to the Great Plaza and kill Shervanis. The defender's goal is to stop him. The
scenario begins with any six buildings (one hex only) on map 2 burning, selected by Ibn . Fisal is trying to
put these out. Each round, if adjacent to a fire, Fisal may forfeit any physical attacks and make a piloting
skill roll, if successful, one fire hex is extinguished. The fires spread according to normal battletech ru les.
Roll for wind direction randomly. Place Fisal within three of any fire. Ibn wins initiative automatically the
first turn, and moves onto the southern edge of board 2 after Fisal has moved . Proceed normally. Singh
arrives in a d6+2 rounds (this roll is secret). He automatically begins within 6 hexes of Ibn, in his rear arc.
At the beginning of the round in which Singh arrives, place his mech , then roll initiative normally.
Whenever Ibn reaches the southern plaza, the wallahs may be placed around the mosque and enter play. If
the Great Plaza has not been entered within 3 rounds of entering any adjacent plaza, the Jadun and
Shervanis may enter play. In any case, if the Great Plaza is entered, these units automatically become
available for play. Place Shervanis at the northern most point of the Great Plaza, surrou nded by his Jadun .
If Ibn is really moving slow, any unactivated defenders may become active in d6+6 rounds since the
beginning of the scenario (this roll is secret).

Options: Include Ahmed piloting a damaged Clint (1 engine hit and 15 points of armor damage). Consider
him a (5/5/0). Give Ibn double heat sinks (a suggestion to this effect is in the story). Include an additional
engagement w ith Comstar forces. Say, for each fire hex a mech is within three hexes of, it builds up one
additional heat point. Future Wars--21

PASS IN REVIEW MEKTON
FIGURES BY RAFM
by Herb Barents
Not only has this game, Mekton,
been a hit, they also have a number
of figures for this game already
available. From the listing by RAFM
Co., I have been able to put togeth-
er a list of all the Mecha they have
come out with. So far, there are
two figures that have been released
that I have not seen in any of the
books. These two are the Warlord
and Vortex.
I'll talk about those last. I will
take the figures in the order that
they appear in the Mekton 2 rule
book. There are still a wide number
of Mecha that have not yet ap-
peared, and I will name some of
those as well at the end of this
article.
The first figure is the Mauler.
Early readers might remember that
the Mauler was made up from the
figure by Dark Horse. RAFM has
redone this figure and boy does it
look good. It has a shield, knees
bent with the "wings" on the back
arms, and out firing off to the right.
This figure is about 80-90% of the
Dark Horse size, but they don't
have much in common. The Mauler
went together well and paints up
very sharp. It has good details
makes a good 60+ tanner.
The next figure is the Vector.
This figure is very squarish and has
hard angles making the Mauler seem
more rounded. It carries a shield
with a small gun, in a pose at rest,
though alert. The legs seem too big
for the-rest of the body even though
it has large shoulder pads. It is
about an 80 tanner and is a good
one for use in Battletech.
The Vigil is a mecha that looks
like it is a guard of a base. The gun
rests on the left hip with the left
hand on the hip with a small shield.
Nice proportions. The figure has
Future Wars --22
nice details and looks ftm to paint.
It is a 40-60 tanner.
The Vantage is a mech looking
like it is shooting off to the right,
taking aim ready to hit something
without too much trouble. The right
arm is extended with rifle in it, left
arm is on top of the thigh, with the
legs front without being bent. The
figure has a backpack full of gear. It
has some square lines, but a lot of
rounded lines, giving it a really nice
look. It is a 50-75 tanner.
The Comet is a very different
looking mecha with various points
on it. There is a point in the front
chest and the short ones in the
back come to a very sharp point, as
does the head piece. The shoulders
also have points on them. This
figure has a gtm over the left
shoulder and holds one in the right
hand. There looks to be other
weapons in various places as well.
Lots of weapons, but it doesn't look
too heavily armored. Call it a 40-55
ton Mech. It looks like it is wearing
a diaper and that gives it a different
look. The legs are well done and
the figure is facing front with the
right arm holding a weapon and the
left arm bent slightly to the side.
Nice to paint with good details.
Next is the Turbo. There is an
arm with a gun to be glued on and
it is hard to say how tl1is figure will
look the best . The rifle is so long
that it doesn't seem to fit. I glued
the gun so it is pointing at some-
thing. The other arm is on the hip.
The legs are straight. The figure has
jet thruster packs on tl1e back. The
chest comes out like the Dragon or
Zeus Battletech figure, so it could
be a transformer type. The head on
this figure looks really neat. I wish
it had a better action pose, other-
wise it is a really good figure to
paint with lots of details.This one
could pass for a 3 5-65 ton Mecha.
Then we have the Fireball. This
Mecha looks like it has a diaper on.
The legs are stock-y and well done.
It has two guns over the shoulders
like a Shadow Hawk from Bat-
tletech. It has a chain saw in the
right arm. There is a shield attached
to the left arm resting on the thigh.
It is standing, looking forward . The
guns seem to be a bit big. This
figure has s lot of .fme details around
its shoulders. The head looks great
and the mounts cover it all up. The
figure looks like it is sundering up
to the bar because it has bow legs.
It paints very well, but I wish the
pose had more life to it. This one
would make a good medium to
heavy mech. You can mount one,
two or none of the guns.
From all the mechs of the
Mekton line, the Nova is one of the
lightest. This mech has a nice head
piece and very good looking
shoulder pads. It has guns in both
hands, standing at par-J.de rest. The
main armor looks to be little more
than a suit with added outside
protection at the shoulders and
shins. The waist has a sword belt.
The figure has a backpack with two
blades. Does tl1is one turn into a
VTOL? The arms and legs on this
figure look very weak. It's one of
the best looking from the new
releases. This one would make a
very good heavy light or light
medium mech.
The first of the what I call Super
Mechs is tl1e Vandal. This mech is
big. This is in the assault to over a
100 tons class. It is much larger
than most Battleted1 mechs and
looks really good. This one is from
the second release of Mekton
figures from RAFM. It might be
described as a graceful figure, like
the Eldars from Warhammer. It has
a very nice looking shield and very
smooth and elegant lines. It has a
very small head compared to its
large chest. It has massive shoul-
ders and thin arms. It has various
types of armor belts in front and to
the sides. Two rifles lie over its
shoulders, though it does not have
much of an action pose. Great
details and paints up fair. The chest
looks like it would be carrying some
sort of enormous weapon hidden
within.
 The Mauler, the first mech we've
looked at, is from the Kargan forces.
The rest were from the Elaran
forces. Now we are back to the rest
of the Kargan forces and we will
start with the Rampage Mecha.
Where the Elaran forces had sleek
and ronnded features for the most
part, the Kargan forces have a boxy
look. The Rampage is not an
exception. The head looks like a
long box and the legs look like
boxes over the shins. The shoulders
and the forearms look like they are
encased in boxes. The chest is
cubic and it has a diaper looking
skirt. The Rampage figure looks like
a soldier carrying a rocket type
weapon over the right shoulder,
head looking left, feet at rest and a
shield in the left arm, held down by
the thigh. The Mecha has good
details and paints well. You have
plenty of room to get to all the
spots to paint. Just about any paint
scheme will work with this Mecha.
The rocket laund1er on the shoul-
der looks really neat. It's a good
medium heavy mech and looks
really aninlated, for a person at rest
looking to the left.
The Deathstalker looks like the
Rampage. Its shoulders are a little
smaller, the head is a shorter box
although larger and the chest is
bigger. The figure has a very long
rifle in the right arm. The left arm
is out for balance , legs are spread
apart. The head is just slightly off to
the right. It will make a solid
medium-heavy mech.
The Hellwing figure is the same
boxy type. Its pose is very much
like the Rampage. It has a rifle in
the right arm and the shoulder
armor has plates to add extra
protection. There is a shield in the
left arm. The Hellwing's back is
straight and fairly smooth. That's
where the wings were suppose to
be. This one is medium to light
heavymech.
The next Mecha is the Shaitan.
Its entire chest and head area looks
like one box. The arms are small
with no armor on them. It has a big
backpack. The figure was given a
large sword to hang on the left side.
The right foot points off to the right
and the left one is facing forward.
The right arm is bent at the elbow
and holds a gun facing forward. The
left arm is in a position like waving.
The detailing and the work of the
mech are fme, but the pose is not
prosperous. It is a heavy mech.
The Vengeance has a very stock
pose as well, with no animation.
This one is the worst for poses that
RAFM put out. They started this
line with great poses and went
down hill. As for this Mecha you are
given a gun on the right shoulder,
which looks like an old time
machine gun with a ronnd an1ffiuni-
tion canister.The right arm is
holding a rifle and on tl1e back you
have wings or rockets of varying
number with eight over the head
and two tmder the arms. That looks
really good. Details are nice and
this one has a pointed d1est, both
front and back. It paints up well, it
just needs a new pose. It is a heavy
mech.
The Cmsader is one of the
newest figures and is much less
stocky tl1an the rest of the Kargans.
It has long legs and short arms that
hang out from the body a good
ways. It is equipped with huge
shoulders and shoulder pads. It has
a short, heavy chest and a long
lower torso. There is a weapon
monnted on either side of the arms
and one in tl1e center torso. This is
one of the taller figures that they
make, though it is not in the super
assault class. The pose is very static,
though it has very good details and
paints well. Looks like a heavy to a
light assault mech. This one is way
out of scale with the rest of the
Mektons, because it is 9.7m and
other ones are up to 14m, and their
figures are smaller, not only that but
it is half the weight of some of these
and it looks bigger.
The next one is the Gadrem
from the Freelancers. It has a
working pose, no action at all. The
detailing is very good and it looks
nice, it just has no animation. There
are many small areas that will be
hard to paint because of all the
details. It has a very small head and
small hands. The upper part of the
body and tl1e legs look very strong
with very weak arms. It also looks
very top heavy. Could be a meditun
to a light heavy mech.
The next two are from the
Mekton Axis party and these are in
the super assault dass, though they
are both heavies. One is four times
the weight of the other altl1ough
they look about the same. I'd put
those mechs in the 12 5-l 7 5 ton
range. The first mech is tl1e Pariah.
This one is huge, and has weapons
on the shoulder, an enormous
shield, a gtm in the right hand and
secondary weapon mow1ts all over.
The figure has lots of good details
and is loaded with weapons and
armor. It looks like something that
you would not want to tangle with.
The Rogue is larger. It has all the
weapons and sensory equipment
anybody could want or need. This
is a killing mad1ine meant to kill
anytl1ing, anywhere, anytime! Both
mech have great details. They are
very impressive, but too large for
Battletech.
The last one in the Tech book is
the Moray from another indepen-
dent group. The Moray is a great
idea, but it is tl1e worst mech that
RAFM has put out. The figure is
flat , like old flat ones from the
dawn of gaming. The wings are
badly done with no details and are
too thick for the rest of the mechs.
The tail is very well done and looks
very good .. This one also lacks the
details tlut have been seen on the
other Mecha that RAFM has been
doing. It looks to be a medilun
med1 which is poorly done.
This brings us to two Mecha that
I could not find in any of the
Mekton books that I have. The first
one is called the Vortex. It is static,
thought has more animation than
Future Wars--23
many others. This one has its torso mechs. So close and yet so far, by
slightly twisted to the left with a leg having some walking, torso twist-
pointing into a slow walk. The ing, or putting their arms in differ-
details are very good. You are given ent positions would have made for
rifle, but it looks like there is no much better mechs.
place to put it? Otherwise the
Med1a is one piece and looks pretty I will say this, these Mecha look
good . It has the rounded looks of just like the in1age that R. Talsorian
about a medium size mech. games portray. They are right all the
way, though some times the
Then there is the Warlord. It is pictures look more alive than the
in much the same pose as most of Mecha. They have faithfully pro-
the othe r figures in this series and duced the Mecha that are in the
you get to put two saws on the books for the Mekton game. Thus,
arms. One other piece is in the people playing this game know
package, but where it goes and what they are, that is for certain. It
what it is, I don't know ? I just is worth having a few to design.
found this after looking for the 1Oth More and more of the Ral Partha
time. There is a spot in the middle mech designs are becoming very
of the back that looks like it should static as well. The omni mechs are
have something there, but is there very much that way, which is really
something there to put? It has nice too bad. Ral Partha should put a
details, though the casting looks a little action into their figures like
little rough. Looks like it could be a they used to. That is my opinion of
light to meditun med1. what these are like. Take a good
look at them and I'm sure you can
When RAFM came out with this
find some some that you like.
series, it was so full of promise and
I was really impressed with what
you got. The second series of
releases did not look as good as the
ones before and the rest have
followed suit. They simply have not
lived up to the potential that I saw
in them . It seems to me that they
got caught up in certain types of
static poses and well, forget the
action. This is too bad. Also, the
size and scale got lost somewhere
along the way. Did they get new
designers? Also, you are never given
any instructions on how to put
these things together, and that I feel
is a major mistake. They should
show you how to put things
together. The Crusader is so out of
line with how it should be, it should
be redone. The Moray looks so bad
it should be totally reworked. There
are some very nice med1s in this
line and there can be some really
good crossover, but a little more
work and they would have that
appeal. I like the Destructor
marines from the Space Marine
figures better than most of these

Future Wars --24

 MEKTON RECORD SHEET

MEKTONNAME
MV GRDMA HYD 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 TONS
MR FLTMA SEN 2 3 4 5 CP
APT ADD

CP LOCATION KILLS LEFT ARMOR THR

,.,
Power Plant 2 .) 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Main Body 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
,.,
2 .) 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
,.,
2 .) 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

TOTAL SERVO & ARMOR & THRUSTER OR FAN COST

TRANSFORMATION COST
Aeromecha Beastmecha Tank Mode Surface Craft
Walkermecha - Aquamecha Helicopter

OPTIONS COST

CP EQUIPMENT LOCATION WA RN DAM K AMMO SPECIAL

TOTAL WEAPON & SENSOR

TOTAL COSTS

Future W ars--25
 BATILETECH TO
RouoTEcH CoNVERSION
by Nathaniel Downes
I have often wondered how
Robote ch Mecha deal with Bat-
tletech mechs. With this in mind I
created conversion tables for
transferring Battletech mechs into
P'.illadium terms (using Rifts as a
guide). After many months of
testing and retesting I have fmally
found a system which allows
conversion.
All Battletech weapon damage
codes are now how many d10 they
roll for Mega damage points (MDC).
On this format a machinegun now
does 2d 10 while a PPC would do
10d10 MDC.
Armor points are now multiplied
by five and split between any
weapons located outside the armor
(refer to the mech picture, ie
Mech Combat Elite (one specific type of mech):
2 hand to hand attack per melee ( + those of pilot)
-5 to strike with ranged combat
+ 1 to strike with hand to hand
-2 to dodge
-2 to parry
- 4 to roll with impact
Critical strike same as hand to hand
1 additional attack every even level (2,4,6, .. .)
Mech Combat Basic (any type of mech):
1 hand to hand attack per melee ( + those of pilot)
-8 to strike with ranged combat
-3 to dodge
-4 to parry
-6 to roll with impact
Critical strike san1e as hand to hand
1 additional attack every three levels (3,6,9, ...)
Future Wars --26
Warhammer and Battlemaster) in a
1-3 rntio, rounded down. If there
are more than one type of weapon
in a location, split the armor
between them by a strnight weight
frnction (small lasers get the least
while artillery gets the most). A
3025 Locust medium laser would
then have a MDC rnting of 12, while
on the Ostroc the SRM-4 would
have 6 MDC, the medium laser 3
MDC and finally the large laser with
18 MDC.
Figuring the Main Body MDC is
realitively easy. Just take all the
remaining points (after figuring for
weapons) from the right, left and
center torsos, front and back, and
add them together. For this the
Marnuder would have 451 MDC
points, wl1ile the lowly Wasp would
have only 145 MDC.
For tl1e internal stmcture, use
the same formula as the armor
above, except now all equipmen t is
available to attack. The engine and
gyro have the same damage capacity
as before, going by number of hits
rather than MDC points, due to
their heavy armor plating. Sensors
have a base 50 MDC, but are
damaged with the first hit and
rendered inopernble with tl1e
second. The sensor base value is
increased by dividing the weight of
the mech by 5 and adding it to the
MDC rnting. Cockpits have 10
MDC, but are difficult targets to hit,
imposing a -6 to hit modifier.
Actuators have 5 MDC, making
them very easy to destroy. Once
they are destroyed, they must be
taken back to the shop for replace-
ments. Use the same modifiers as
for normal Battletech, but for every
point of increased difficulty, reduce
tl1e piloting skill roll by 5%.
See the KPH reading on the
mech descriptions for land speed.
The range for weapons is deter-
mined by multiplying their hex
range by 30 meters. Any head hit
does 10 MDC damage to the pilot.
The only exception is the VRPP
where the pilot takes no damage
from head hits. Any ammo explo-
sion does 20 SDC from electric
overload. For mech combat skill for
mechwarriors use the following
chart:
Mechwarrior OCC requires IQ of 9+ and ME of 10+
Pilot Mech (same as pilot robot and power armor in Rifts) + 10
Mech Combat Elite (select two types) Mech Combat Basic
Hl'H: Expert Intelligence +5
Prowl + 15 Navigation
Read Sensory Equipment Literacy (english) +20
Literacy (choice) language (choice) +10
The HTH skill can be upgraded to Martial Arts at the cost of one "other"
skill or to Assassin at the cost of two "other" skills

8 other skills
Skills: (learn new skills same as SAMAS pilot)
Communications (any) + 10 Domestic (any) +5
Electrical (any) Espionage (any) +5
Med1anical (any) +5 ( + 10 for Mech Repair (same as robot))
Medical (any) Military (any)
Physical (any except SCUBA) +5 Pilot (any)
Pilot Related (any) Rogue (any) +5
Science (any) Technical (any) +5
Weapons (any) Wllderness (any)

Secondary skills (select 8) same as above, except without the listed bonus
If you note the Mechwarrior OCC is very diversified due to there being no
set guidelines for becoming a mechwarrior.

Equipment:
Neuro Helmet (provides 10 MDC protection)
Mechwarrior suit (provides 20 MDC protection)
Mech (roll on the following table)
One weapon of choice (equivalent B-tech)
Personal Trademark (be imaginative within reason, nothing big)
Hand radio
Non mech transportation
d6 x 1000 credits in miscellaneous items

Mech Roll
Roll d20:
1 no mech 8 40 tons 15 55 tons
2 no mech 9 80 tons 16 85 tons
3 20 tons 10 45 tons 17 90 tons
4 25 tons 11 60 tons 18 100 tons
5 30 tons 12 65 tons 19 95 tons
6 50 tons 13 70 tons 20 no mech
7 35 tons 14 75 tons

If you have and suggestions or ideas to improve this system, write me at:
Nathaniel Downes, 2 Lawn Ave., Cumberland, ME 04021

Future W ars--27
THE 3050 LIAO CIVIL
WAR
by Scott Malcomson
Synopsis: Shortly after the
Clans' invasion of Kurita and Steiner
space, Romano Liao, Chancellor of
the Capellan Confederation, saw an
opportunity to regain the territories
lost in the 4th Succession War. She
immediately ordered plans for
hitting the Federated Common-
wealtll, since the F-C was pre-
occupied with the Clan threat. The
Chancellor's military objectives
were to retake the corridor extend-
ing to Terra, while also re-annexing
St. Ives, home of her hated siblings
Candice and Tormano.
However, St. Ives had numerous
intelligence operatives still in
Confederation space, and candace
Liao got word of the impending
invasion. Ironically, word got back
to Romano that the project was
compromised and her chiefs of staff
advised her to abandon the whole
plan.
The Chancellor would not be
persuaded, however, and began
accusing various military command-
ers of being spies and traitors.
When she ordered the execution of
a well liked regimental commander
on frivolous evidence, a general
revolt began, with some troops
remaining loyal to Romano while
the majority flocked to the leader-
ship of General Michael and General
Rafferty.
These two had their differences
on how to best divide power. They
split apart from each other, with
half the rebels following Michael
and the rest following Rafferty.
While these sides were polariz-
ing and arming themselves to the
hilt, the forces of Candace Liao
arrived on scene, demanding that
Romano be deposed and Candace
be installed as Chancellor.
Future Wars --28
No one, unfortunately, agreed
with this idea. Since no side could
raise a solid mandate among the
people, the sides remained separat-
ed.
Thus, four sides prepared to
fight it out for total control of the
once great Capellan Confederation.
Order of Battle
Romano Ltao:
Controls Sian and the only
Dropship facility, as well as the only
assault Mech factory. Starts with 3
turns of construction. •
General Michael.·
Controls Capella, Dilon, Menke,
and Capolla. 7 tums of construc-
tion. •
General Rafferty:
Controls Sarna, Glasgow,
Heligoland and Tamara. 5 tums of
construction. •
Candace Liao:
Controls St. Ives, Tikonov **,and
Shensi. Starts with 5 turns of
construction. •
* Starting construction may be
of any type, regardless of actual
facilities.
** In 3050,Tikonov was upgrad-
ed into a heavy mech facility. It has
had its construction capacity
donated to St. Ives for the dur-ation
of the conflict. It may not be
attacked , but can stockpile any-
thing. It cannot be used as a
redoubt by St. Ives if all else is lost.
It still may be raided.
Notes:
No alliance may last longer than
three tums, and it is made by
mutual agreement among players.
An alliance, once broken, may not
be renewed for five turns, and only
if the allying sides have not attacked
each other. Raids, however, do not
impede alliances.
Alliance members may freely
trade resources, mechs, or tonnage.
Any agreements, verbal or other-
wise, must be adhered to until the
alliance is broken. Alliances may be
broken by a raid, attack, or assassi-
nation. Alliance members may
make concerted attacks against
another player.
Special Abilities
Romano Liao:
Heads the Phransigar, or Thug-
gee, cult. These remorseless
assassins have sects throughout the
Confederation, and may be used
three times a turn to assassinate
specific personnel (but never a
faction leader, and never the same
person twice). Before moving, the
Romano player designates up to
three pilots, techs, or whoever, and
rolls a six-sided die for each at-
tempt. On a 1-3, the assassination is
a success. On a 6, assassins may not
be used against the targeted faction
next turn (operations have been
compromised in that sector).
General Michael:
The more charismatic of the two
rebel faction leaders, Gen. Jean
Michael has been able to drum up
significant civilian support. All of
his installations start with 60 tons of
construction, representing a
fanatical homeworld defense
capacity.
General Rafferty:
This rebel leader was able to
grab the lion's share of aerospace
support. Gen. Jack Rafferty starts
with 2 Overlord, 3 Union, and 4
Leopard Class dropships (all others
start witl1 1 Overlord, 2 Union, and
3 Leopards) .
Candane Liao:
With the Federated Common-
wealth tied up in fighting the Clans,
onlyTikonov's resources can be
spared for her attempt to daim the
Chancellorship. Nonetheless, this
puts her on an even keel with her
adversaries. Candace Liao has
access to certain F-C mech designs
 \
(all Steiner-Davion restricted he is a pan \of, and End Notes:
mechs), as wells as having the be designa~~d by
services of her brother, Tormano player · The foregoing is a purely
theoretical and w1tested application
~ao .. Totm_atlo has ~wmnery and revealed).
of the BattleTech Grand Campaign
pilotmg skill~•.ofi~/~1. can pilot any all '-'"'".. '"-'-
as put forth in Issues #161 &
mech, and isfo/f~ted against from that
of Dragon Magazine. These
Candaces's initial pool of pilots. He ;m~~ ~errnade
must be-~6i'fi1nand of any force { ,l'o~o may not I,JC'fl.>'.~·a~~._.u,uc:•J.
· have been extensively playtest-
~ f
/'~ c>·-··-""'"',/'
~ gaming group that

/.?-
v / nP·"p'"'"·p"' them and this variant has

·""

THE REAL MECHS
by
Herb Barents
This issue's special mech rules
focuses on some very popular
medium mech designs, the Enforc-
er, the Blackjack, the Hachetman,
and the Clint.
The SO ton Enforcer is a classic
medium mech design that offers
nothing new. Based off the stan-
dard weapon configuration and
body design, I propose the follow-
ing special rules for the Enforcer:
(1) The Enforcer cannot punch
(both arms are weapons, no hands,
etc.)
(2) The shoulders of the
enforcer limit moving of the arms.
The arms can only fire into the
forward "torso" arc
(3) Due to the sturdy leg design,
the mech has a -1 bonus to piloting
rolls
The 45 ton Blackjack is a nice
looking mech with wide feet, and a
turret-like torso. Again, based off
the standard weapon configuration
and appearance of the mech, the
following rules apply for the
Blackjack:
(1) The Blackjack cannot punch
(both arms are weapons, no hands,
etc.)
(2) The only physical combat
the Blackjack can do is Death from
Above
(3) Arms fire only into forward
arc due to ammo feed system for
Acs (no rotation)
( 4) Due to the sturdy leg design,
the mech has a -1 bonus to piloting
rolls
(5) Turret-like torso , may twist
upto two hex sides
Future Wars --30
The 45 ton Hatchetman is a
favorite of many because of the axe.
This mech was obviously designed
for in-dose physical combat. Based
off the weapon configuration and
look of the mech, rl1e following
rules apply for the Hatchetman:
(1) The Hatchetman's bug-eye
special sensors give it a -1 bonus to
all firing rolls so long as the head of
the mech has not sustained any
damage
(2) The mech's frame instability
(skinny legs and feet) causes a + 1
penalty to piloting rolls
(3) The axe's length extends the
hatchet swing arc by one to the
right
( 4) For purposes of physical
attacks, direction of feet are aligned
with the center torso
Finally, the 40 ton Clint is the
lightest mech in the medium dass.
This lowly lightweight has slim legs
and narrow feet. From the standard
configuration and profile of the
mech, the following rules apply for
the Clint:
(1) The right arm of the Clint
cannot punch
(2) The right elbow of the mech
allows it to pivot the AC two hex
sides to the right in the torso
twisting phase of combat
(3) The mech suffers a +1
penalty to all piloting skill rolls
( 4) The Clint cannot kick
That covers the Real Med1s for
this issue. Please write me and let
me know what you d1ink. Thanks.
QConfusion ~ap:
JE)it barb
:IE) it fast
JE)it often
JLibe JLong
 adjacent areas, like all three torsos,
THE SHIELDING FACTOR or one entire side (arm, torso, leg),
by Herb Barents or the shield torso, center torso and
head , etc. If being moved around,
In Battietech you never see or
the shield arm is always considered
hear of shields. I'm talking about
protected in addition to the other
the type of shields ti1at knights of
areas covered. A working hand and
ti1e middle ages used. Yet, in
shoulder actuator are required to
Robotech, Macross, Mekton and
move the shield around, and if
many other games you can fmd
additional actuators are damaged,
rules for shields. So, I thought
then a piloting roll modified by the
about it for a long time and decided
damage is necessary, failure result-
that having shields in Battletech was
ing in the shield remaining in the
unBattietech. Then RAFM came out
same location. Any hits against a
with some very good looking
protected area are applied against
figures for Mekton. Well, all these
the shield's armor first. Thus, if you
figures had shields and they all
are weak in an area you will be able
looked really good, but shields in
to cover it up with the shield. As
Battietech??? I thought about it
the shield takes damage, it looses its
again for some time and fmally
effectiveness according to its
came up with something that I
current armor rating. Therefore, a
thought seemed good and would
heavy shield with 18 points of
work well. Shields in Battletech?
armor acts like a light shield, it can
Why not?
only protect one area. Shields are
The shield is just an added bit of made in increments of .5 ton lots
armor that is designed to protect and a mech can carry one up to
certain parts of the body. There are 10% of its total weight, limited to
all kinds of shield shapes and sizes, the 5 ton limit on the table above.
but what is it that we come down
All the shields, except the super
to when we talk about shields? It is
heavy because of its massive size,
it's weight and the area it protects.
can be used to parry physical
Also, how would you use such a
attacks to the upper body. Also, the
thing in combat? All of this is very
shield must weigh equal to or less
simple and will just take a couple of
than 5% of the parrying mech's
rules to explain it all. So first, lets
tonnage. If ti1e shield is currently
look at what the different shields
on an arm, it may parry. To parry
are and then we can cover the rules
against any successful upper body
for using them in the Battietech
melee attack, the shield mech must
game.
Class Weight Armor Area Covered
Ultra Light .5 tons 8 points 1 area on roll of 7 +
(2d6)
Light 1- 1.5 tons 16 - 24 points 1 area
Medium 2-2.5 tons 32- 40 points 2 adjacent areas
Heavy 3- 3.5 tons 48 - 56 points 3 adjacent areas
Super Heavy 4 - 5 tons 64- 80 points 3 adjacent areas
A shield is simply extra armor, make a piloting roll to parry. If
armor that can be moved about the successful, no damage is applied. If
mech. There are five classes of it fJ.ils, determine the attack normal-
shields: ly, hitting the shield for damage only
if that location is rolled. Only one
As you can see, the size of the such attack may be parried per tum.
shield in weight decides the amount The shield cannot parry kicks, but it
of protection given. For example, a can protect those locations.
heavy shield can protect three
At the start of a game, write
down what the shield covering.
You might strap it on your back,
mount it on an arm, o r wherever.
just write it down. Usually you will
have it on an arm so that you can
move it around . Every turn, if you
choose to move it around, write
down the new locations protected
during the initiative phase. If you
want to cover both of your legs,
these are the only two areas that
may be covered in a tum, regardless
if it is a heavy or super heavy shield.
It costs movement to move the
shield around: to cover your legs
cost one point, it costs one point to
transfer from one front location to
the another front location and all
your movement points to transfer
the shield from front to back and
vice versa. Areas that are covered
by a shield caru1ot fire their weap-
ons, since the shield is in ti1e way.
When covering ti1e head , there are
no additional penalties to fire for
blinding yourself, because a mech
has numerous additional sensors to
compensate for this.
A shield may be used on a
charge to take the damage instead
of the mech. You cannot punch
with an arm that has a shield on it,
but you can shield bash, doing 1/2
punch damage, but hitting the
center torso on location rolls to the
head.
The extra weight of the shield
can slow you down, therefore
reconfigure your movement rate.
Or, you may make the shield an
integral part of the design by
allocating tonnage for it.
Once set at the start of a tum,
ti1e shield will protect the areas that
you have covered up, but by
covering them up from attack you
will also be covering ti1em up any of
your weapons in those areas. Thus,
using a shield can be a double
edged weapon; in one way you get
more protection where you might
need it the most while covering up
Future W ars--31
your offensive ability. If things get
dose that fire power may be needed
to win the day That pretty much
covers everything. We have talked
about the sizes and weights of
shields, the areas they protect, who
can carry what, how they can parry
in physical combat and the shield
bash. Also, remember to add the
weight of the shield to figure out
any speed adjustments. Finally,
have a lot of fun using these rules
and use common sense. After all, it
is a lot like having a knight. If it
seems too impossible, it most likely
is, and make sure to discuss it with
the people you are playing with. If
all else fails, roll dice to see who
will be right.
Future Wars --32
SUBMISSIONS TO FUTURE WARS -
If you are interested in contrib-
uting. Please send your articles on
3.5 inch floppies with an attached
hard copy Please put your name on
the floppy and on the back of each
page of the hard copy Disks should
be DOS or Macintosh format with
all articles in ASCII or Rich Tech
Format. If you want your originals
back after publication, please
include a Stamped SelfAddressed
Envelope. Please submit all art wo ,
on letter size white paper. Black an
White pen and ink art is preferred.
Computer generated drawings are
also highly desired. Art work on dis
should be TIFF or PI CT format.
Thanks for all the contributions
to date.
Doug Houseman &
John Person.
 Shield Use for Mechs
by Mike Herring
There are two types of shields
that a mech can use, the full or the
half shield. Only mechs with the
hand and all arm actuators working
can use a shield. The following
table sununarize the statistics for
the two types of shields:
Arming full shields: if the GM
agrees, players may opt to arm full
shields. Not every weapon can be
used by a shield. Only weapons
that weigh, with ammo included, 2
tons or less may be used. For every
full ton of weapons or equipment
added, reduce the movement of the
mech by one.

Full Half
Weight 6 4
Armor 20 10 Armament Options for Full Shields:
MP Mod* -3 -2
DF Mod** +3 +2 Inner Sphere Tons Heat MPMod Ammo
* penalty to movement for
Flamer 1.5 3 -1 20
mech with the shield
•• bonus to shield mechs Medium Laser 1.0 3 -1
defense when fired upon Small Laser .5 1 0
Attacking while shielded: a full Small Pulse Laser 1.0 2 -1
shield covers 3/4 of the mech and
therefore only weapons mounted to Anti Missile System 1.5 1 -1 12
the rear, head or in the lower legs
Machine Gun 1.5 0 -1 200
may be fired. A half shield covers
the arm holding it as well as the SRM - 2 2.0 2 -2 50
corresponding torso and center
torso. No weapons in these areas Guardian ECM 1.5 0 -1
may be fired with the shield. A Clan
mech with a half shield can still
perform physical attacks, but all ER Medium Laser 1.0 5 -1
non charging damage inflicted is
ER Small Laser .5 2 0
halved (a death from above attack is
a charge, add weight of shield in Small Pulse Laser 1.0 2 -1
damage calculation). A fully
shielded mech cannot engage in Flamer 1.5 3 -1 20
physical attacks. Anti Missile System 1.5 -1
1 24
Defense to shielded mech: a Machine Gun 1.25 0 -1 200
fully shielded mech receives a +3
defense bonus, while a half shield LRM- 5 2.0 2 -2 24
gives only a +2. When determining
SRM- 2 1.5 2 -1 50
the damage location of successful
attacks against the shielded mech, SRM-4 2.0 3 -2 24
any shield location hit applies
damage to the shield first. A full SSRM- 2 2.0 2 -2 50
shield protects all three torsos, both ECM Suite 1.0 0 -1
arms and the upper legs and a half
shield covers the arm holding it, the
corresponding torso and center
torso. When a shield looses all it's
armor, it is then useless and all
damage thereafter goes to the
mech, while still suffering the
physical attack limitations. A
useless shield can be dropped by
expending one MP Future W ars--33

STUPID WEAPON TRICKS
by ). Donald Lail
As a general rule I am not a fan
of the most common ammo using
weapons. To my mind, any ammo
based weapon must either furnish a
unique result (swarm LRMs, duster
LB-X, inferno SRM) or do more
damage than an equivalent energy
weapon to make up for the undeni-
able weaknesses of running out of
ammo and ammo explosions.
Otherwise it is a stupid weapon.
The SRM - Stupid Rotten Misbe-
gotten
My first choice for silliest
weapon is the SRM (non inferno).
will show that the SRM (non inferno
models) is inferior to the meditun
laser at any level of combat you
would care to mention. By the way,
have I mentioned that this discus-
sion does not extend to SRMs
designed for inferno's?
In this discussion I have deter-
mined that there are five factors
that must be considered in compar-
ing weapon systems: range,
damage, mass, heat and critical
spaces taken. Of these five factors
the first two are by far the most
important.
The Methodology
The best way to fairly compare
SRMs and medium lasers is to have
the prime factors of range, damage
and heat be equal, and then have
the differences show up in mass
and critical slots. The range is
already identical, but the damage
and heat are not. Lets deal with the
damage first.
A SRM 6, for example, does from
4 to 12 points of damage (8 points
exactly on a weighted average),
while a meditun laser does a
consistent 5 points of damage. I
will use the weighted average
damage of the SRM 6 as a fair and
Future Wars --34
statistically valid comparison to the
damage of the medium laser. That
still leaves us with one weapon
which does 8 points of damage and
one which does 5 points of damage.
In order to compare them we will
find a common denominator, which
in this case turns out to be 40
points of damage. That means I am
going to compare five SRM 6s to
eight medium lasers!
I will then use sufficient heat
sinks to cause the two to equal each
other in the amount of undissipated
heat. Please take note tl1at I am not
using double heat sinks in this
comparison.
So let's see, with my medium
lasers I can get the same average
bang at 60% of tl1e mass and use
80% of the critical slots compared
to the SRM 6s. Why on Earth would
I want a SRM 6? All other things
being equal, the medium laser is a
better weapon before we ever
address the topics of running out of
ammo or experiencing anuno
explosions.
Some wise guy is now going to
argue that tl1e preceding analysis
doesn't apply to him since he only
uses one SRM 6 at a time, not five .
Look below, you will see that one
SRM 6 does less damage, at the
same heat level and mass as two
medium lasers and two heat sinks.
The only advantage of tl1e SRM 6 is
that it takes up slightly Jess space.
The SRM is in f.1ct inferior: No
matter what size launcher you
choose l can assure that a combina-
tion of medium lasers and heat sinks
will be su erior.
5 SRM 6s + ammo
Damage 40 points average
Mass 20 tons
Heat 20 heat
Criticals 15 slots
SRM6 +ammo 2 Meditun lasers
+ 2 heat sinks
Damage 8 points (ave) 10 points
Mass 4 tons 4 tons
Heat 4 heat 4 heat
Criticals 3 slots 4 slots
This could have been avoided.
Note for example that I have
steadfastly refused to compare the
medium laser to the SRM 2 with
infernos. Why? Because tl1ey don't
damage an opponent in the same
way is why. They purely and simply
aren't comparable. If more thought
had been given to these weapon
systems then perhaps they would
have gotten the new Thunder and
Swarm type missiles. For tl1at
matter, there are still some good
possibilities out there; smoke
rounds, gas rounds, acid rounds,
and Heaven only knows what else.
So tl1e SRM is a bad choice when
compared to its alternative. More-
over when you take into account
that, 1) free standing double heat
sinks are available and 2) that the
cooling capacity of an XL engine
outfitted internally witl1 double heat
sinks is twice as effective as it used
to be, and therefore extra heat sinks
may not be needed, tl1en the
comparison gets even worse.
One of my chief reasons for
pointing all of tl1is out is that the
choice of weapon systems is so very
critical on the smallest of mechs. If
you take out the SRMs from the 20-
30 tanners and replace them with
meditun lasers you will be infinitely
ahead. You will have one to two
extra tons to use to armor up or
whatever else your heart desires.
Artemis Fire Control System
Someone is batmd to ask what
effect would an artemis IV Fire
Control System have on the above
analysis? In my analysis the addition
8 Medium lasers Difference
+ 4 heat sinks
40 points none
12 tons + 8 tons
20 heat none
12 slots +3 slots
Difference
-2 points
none
none
-1 slot
of the Artemis technology consis-
tently added about 20% to the
average damage of a missile system.
In the case of the SRM 6, when the
artemis was added, reduced the
advantage of the medium laser from
40% to 10% in regards to mass and
from 20% to 10% as to crit spaces.
Thus the medium laser is still a
better bang for the buck.
The Machine Gun
Rube Goldberg Strikes Again
Oops! I just realized that the
machine gun is even sillier than the
SRM. Wow, am I embarrassed. Well,
it's never too late to make amends
so let's compare do a similar
comparison like the SRM above, but
using the small laser instead of a
medium laser.
Gee whiz, with the small lasers I
can get the same bang for two-thirds
the mass and crit slots of the
machine guns. Since tl1e machine
gtm doesn't have an advanced
technology boost like the Artemis
system to enhance it, it is in my
opinion even sillier than the SRM.
The same wise guy from the
SRM example is now going to argue
that the preceding analysis doesn't
apply to him since he only uses one
machine gun at a time, not three. If
you will look at the table below, you
will see that one machine gun does
less damage, at the same heat level
and number of critical slots as a
small laser and heat sink. The only
advantage of the machine gun is
3 Machin~ Gtms 2 smalllaser~t
+ an1ffi0 + 2 heat
Damage 6 points 6 points
Mass 4.5 tons 3 tons
Heat Oheat Oheat
Criticals 6 slots 4 slots
Machine l!lll1 small laser
+ avuno + 1 b~at ~ink
Damage 2 points 3 points
Mass 1.5 tons 2 tons
Heat 0 heat 0 heat
Criticals 2 slots 2 slots
that it masses slightly less. The question then is obvious,
where is the point where compara-
bility is compromised? Like the
The machine gun is in fact at definition of porn made f.1mous by
least as inferior as the SRM is not the Supreme Court, "I can't derme
more so. it, but I know it when I see it."
The Hook
A word of caution, to compare
weapon systems requires that the
results of usage truly be compara-
ble. With some weapons such as
infernos, Thunder LRMs and duster
rounds from LB-X autocarmons,
simple comparisons of damage are
obviously invidious and misguided.
When it came to comparing
damage as I have done in the
preceding analysis, there was
another factor which I considered,
but which was not spelled out; the
equivalent damage assumption. As
far as I was concerned in the case of
the SRMs vs. the medium lasers
there w as no real difference in
spreading four two point hits of
damage over 20 possible locations
instead of eight possible locations
with the medium lasers. But, it is
my feeling that at some point there
would be a problem in comparing
disparate systems. For example,
you should not compare an AC 20
with four medium lasers. To my
mind the value of having 20 points
of damage in one location is of
prime consideration and high
value. An AC 20 hit will seriously
wound almost any but the best
armored heavy and assault mechs.
Four medium laser hits spread over
as many as four different locations
won't have the same impact.
difference
sink~
none
+1.5 tons
none
+2 slots
difference
+1 point
-.5 tons
none
none Future W ars--35
 13ATT1-ETECI-I 81acli Gorilla
WEIGHT: 75 tons
AR~R: 14 tonsl224 pts
~VE: Walk 4, Run 6, Jump 0
ENGINE RATING: 300
MAXHEAT: 18
MAX DAMAGE: 61
3

Clan Technology
Double Heat Sinks
XL Engine

CDEqpons and qmmo I-IEClT Slnl-iS CDClRRIOR

2 ER>·uis·e·cs.s·e;:s·····
PPCs Nsme:
·····2"-·K:1ea·f' ·················································· 2x02x02x02x02x02x02x0 Gunnety Skill:
················;····F=ia:m-e·r-················· ·················································· 2x02x02x02x02x02x02x0 Piloting Skill:
::::::::;::J:8:~vq~JI?.9:Qc:::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 2x0 Hits: 1 2 3 4 5 6
........J....I~~~.i.r:!9..~. P.M........................................................... Cons: 3 5 7 10 11 Dead
HEAT SCALE
HEAD ·3·a··sil.ut·ao·w·r;··············
,. .,1,. . ,.,X,. .L..E,........,.,....------. J:J:((~::$:~P.:P.i?:~::::::::::::::::::: '"""1,. . . .,. ,X,_L=E--:-.-----. '2"g····································
....:...........r:l9.1.r:l~.............. .... ..... 2. Sensors ....:...........r:l9.1.r:l~....................... :~:~::60:m~::~:~:c:~±::
·5·:·1~-~~~r:l~....................... ):;:¢.!?:9.~:P.!C::::::::::::::::::::::::: ·5·}~~-~~in~....................... 27
.4.Ti=irJ.:1·s............................ -~·:·se·r;:s·c;r.s.......................... ·•coo.ut..ie·R-e·a.t..SYrii<........ . ·2"e;··sil'ui·ao·w·r;···ny:;····
.........
·s·:rF:·r~t::1·s··aifimo......... .. .... · .. ·c ·· ..s................................ ·s·:·oo.ut.'ie.Re·a.t..SYnk"' ..... .
'2"5·-~·MP A • • • ••• •• ••••

·6·:·oo·ut..ie.Re"ai..SYni<......... ....6:....'..1~.....I:!P.P.Q.~..... . ........ ..... ·6·:............................................ ~ ·2-.f·+.fi·c;·i=·fr-e················

'L'E.F'f"tij"F;·s·o..................... .J.,.!;;t).Qlt).L.......................... 'Fi'iGRttO'F:·s·o.................. -11. ~ :?:~::60:m~::~:~x;~:~±::
'"i·:·oo'ub'ie'Re'at'"S'i'nk......... . ~.: .!;;t).Qlt).~............. .. ........ .. .... "i":............................................ CRITICAL .~.f .. $.b.I:!~.QQ.\'?.IJA.?.:t ......
21 . . . . ..........
2': .............................................·4.~.-.·.:.-~.·..·!'l.;x::::
''3':............................................ ...~l.!'l._.~..-.·.·.·.· . ..·..·.·.·.·.· .·.·.·......·..·. ..·..·.·.·.·.·.· :~3::;_:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ·2"a··::.n~w····

·4·:............................................ . ~.:.G.~....... ... ....... ..... ........... ·4·:........................................... . ::1:9.::60:0.~::~:~:c~:1±::

· ~c· ····. ..... .. ..... .. ... ... . ...... .. ... .. ... .!?. : .G.~........ .... ..................... ·s·: ............................................ J.?. .. $.b.I:!~.QQ.\'?.IJA.9.:t ......
: ~;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: . ~!;;~~.8..1"9..8.~.9............... '6':............................................ 17 +3 to Fire
'"f6'"'"'''"''''"'"'"'"' ' '''""'"' """''"'

r:-1.-:::S::-:-h-ou'ld'e_r.....====;==== :~:::~:~:~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ............................l.._ . S·h~·~jd-~r '"1'5'"::J'i'V1p''"'"''''"'"'"'"'"''"'"

:?.:.::Q:P.P.:~r.:
3. Lower 6Arm :~::6:9.~:~~9E::
Actuator 3. En_gine
........... ................................... :?.:.::Q:P.P.:~r.:6:~::6:9.~:~~9i:::
3. Lower Arm Actuator :I1J~E~~:~~:0:~~:1±::::::
13...................................
"T2 +2 to Fire .
·4·:·Hsr.·a·:;.:;;·iu·a.t·or·········..... -~·:·82~~)-~-Re·a.t..SYni<......... ·4-:Hsr.·a·:;.:;;·iu·a.t·or ..............
·5·:·E·F:··p·p·c··.......................... : ~: ;: P.!?:~~x~ : ~:~f$X~~::::::::: ·5·:·E·F:··p·p·c·......................... ..
8
'"ff'"'''" ' ''"'"''"'" '' '"'""' "'"'" '"" ""
·e;·_..E·F:'"f'>·p·c............................ ·e;·_
··E·R.. P·P·c····....................... 'To .. ~ ·MP" .....................
{EF't'ARM........................... Engine Hits 0 0 0 .R.iGH't'ARM........................ '"9"' '"'"'"""'""' " '"'" "" '"'""'" ' ''"'"'"'"

·r·M;·a..F>u.iseTs:se·r.........
'2'."............................................
Gyro Hits
Sensors Hits 0 0
oo T...M;·a··Pu'iseTs:se·r-..........
·2·: ........................................... .
··s·..·:;rio..F=it:e................
'"7' '" '" '""""" '" " """ '" ""'"'"" " '"'"'"'"' ' '

·~r····....... . ............. . .......... ... . .. . . LEFT LEG .13.!G.I:"!.IJ.~.§! ... ................ .. .... .3._. ............................................ '"6"'"''" ' ''''"' ' '"'"''""'"'"'"" "'"'' '"'"

.4._............................................. .1....H.i:P...................................... .J..-..1:-!.iP...................................... ·4·_ ............................................. ..s.... ~TK·1·r ..................... ..

.5._. ............................................ ·tnP.P..erie~ · :;.:;;·iu'ai.or.. . . 2 UP.P.er Le_g Actuator .5._. ............................................ '"4'"''"' "'"'"'"'" "'"'"''"'" ' """"'"'"'"'"

E:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : :::::::::: :t:::~g:w:~r.:~~.9:69:~~:~:~r.::::

4. Foot Actuator
:~:tg:w:~r.:~~.9:69:~~:~:~r.:::: :~:.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
4. Foot Actuator
'"3""'"'"'"'"'"''""'" "'""'"" "''"'"''"'"''

''2'"'" ' '"'''"''"'"''" "'"''"""'"''"''""""

:~:.:::::::::::::::::::: : ::::::::::::::::::::::::
'" "( ' '' '"'" '"'" ""'""""'" "'" '" '"'"'"'""'"
'5'." '" '" ' '"' "'" "'"'" "'"'" """ "'"'"'" '"' '"""" "'" '

:~:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: .9. .............................................. . ::9::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Future Wars --36

 Overview: support Mech and D, a Gauss rifle and deployed in response to the
The Black Gorilla is the latest equipped variant. actions in the Inner Sphere. From
Clan heavy OmniMech to appear in Deployment: what the captured warrior provided
battle, both taking part in the raids The Black Gorilla is favored by only the Fire Mandrills and t11e Nova
in Rasalhague and Kurita space and the Ghost Bears, and is apparently a Cats have suceedded in securing tl1e
defending against raids from those new design they have developed design through a Trial of Possession.
areas. Until a captured Ghost Bear
warrior revealed its true name, the
Inner Sphere forces had referred to
it as the Killer Ape. Both names are
apt, for while its chassishas the
general appearance of a Thunder-
bolt, its thickened limbs and slightly
hunched-over torso give it an
unmistakably anthropoid appear-
ance which makes this OmniMech Black Gorilla (design by Gregory W Detwiler)
easy to identify. Due to its use of Mass 75 tons
standard armor, it can carry more Internal Structure 7.5
weapons that any other Mech of its Engine 300 XL 9. 5
weight. It is slower that any other Walking MP 5
Clan Mech except the Daishi. RunningMP 8
Capabilities: Jumping MPO
In its primary configuration, the Heat Sinks (double): 15 (30) 5
Black Gorilla increases its resem- Gyro 4
blance to the Thunderbolt, with its Cockpit 3
LRM-15 rack on the left shoulder. Armor Factor224 14
When the missiles run out, it has an Head 9
ER PPC and a medium pulse laser CTorso 36/9
on each arm, and it even has a L/RTorso 25/7
flamer for close-in defense against L/RArms 23
infantry. A targeting computer L/R Legs 30
improves accuracy of the energy
weapons. Primary Weapons Configuration
Configuration A is primarily
intended as a long-range laser Item Location Critical Tonnage
battery, witl1 a pair of ER large Targeting Computer CTorso 1 4
lasers on each ann. For close-in ERPPC L/RArm 2 6
work there is a Streak SRM-6 Medium Pulse Laser L/RArm 1 2
launcher with tow tons of an1mo on LRM-15 LT 2 3.5
each side of its torso. Between tl1e Ammo/Case LT 1 10
accuracy of the Streak system and Flamer RT 1 .5
the design's reliance on energy
weapons, this configuration of the Configuration A
Black Gorilla is an excellent choice Targeting Computer CT 1 4
for extended operations away from ER Large Laser L/RArm 1 4
support. Streak SRM-6 L/R Torso 2 3
Configuration B is favored for Ammo/Case L/R Torso 1 4
short, crisp battles of the sort the
Clans favor, particularly duels. The Configuration B
main weapons are a pair of LBlO-X Targeting Computer CT 1 4
autocannons with two tons of Guardian ECM CT 1 1
ammo each. Backing up the can- ER Med Laser (2) L/RArm 1 1
nons are a pair of ER medium lasers. LB 10-X L/RArm 5 10
For defense a Guardian ECM suite is Ammo/Case L/RTorso 2 2
included.
There are rumored to be
Configurations C, an artillery
Future W ars--3 7
 13ATT1-ETECI-I on1n-1 Gremlin
WEIGHT: 15 tons
ARMOR: 2.5 tonsi45 pts
MOVE: W&lk 9, Run 14, Jump 0
ENGINE RATING: 135
MA-X HEAT: 0
Mi., XDAMA-GE: 16

Inner Sphere Tech.

XL Engine
Endo Steel SttlActure
Ferro-fibrous Armor
MA.SC

coeqpons and qn'lmO coq~~IO~

2 Sm&ll Lasers Name:
:::::::~::::M?:~!y:lf.ii~:~~:::::::: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ::: : : : : : 0000000000 Gunnery Skill:
Piloting Skill:
Hits: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Cons: 3 5 7 10 11 Dead
• Critical Spaces
HEAD
.-:---:-::--=---:----___, ·r·Lfie··s·uP.· .P··;;·rt··················· .· ~--,-.,..,.,....-=-....,..------. .~....~m~L~~~.~.L1J .............................
....:...........1:19.1.1:1~................... .... 2.:...............
1 XL E · .... Sensors· ························· '1....:........... XL E1:19.·1.1:1~....................... ·s·H2 M:!dium
.....,....s,.. ·k··Lss"'rs L11
··;·;~J................................
2. XL Ennine .3........C...oc..k....P...1
't............................. 2 XL Ennine ........~~....!t)..~2..t......................................
................................................. ....:........... ............................... ·:(xCE................................... 14 Endo Steel lnt Sttuct L11
},.~~..~.IJRi.IJ~....................... 4. Sm&ll Laser ....:.......... .IJRI.IJ~....................... "f,fF.........:f...i:) ..........A.......... i.1 ·l· .......... ..
4. tv'edium Laser -s-:·se.n5iors.......................... 4. M:!dium Laser ..........~t:l:'Q.....I...t:9.!-!.~ .... t:JD!?.~.L ................
·s·:·Er:;a;;·"S"te.ei.'ini..S"truc·i· ·;:,···Lwe··s·uP.....P...;;·rt................... ·s·:·Er:;a;;·"S"te.ei.'ini"s'iriic·i· ..1..~~~.Ln ............................................
·;:,·:·Er:;a;;·"S"te.ei''int..S"truc·i· ....:............... · ......................... ·;:,·:·Er;·a;;·"S"te'ei.'ini."S"triic·i·
'["E'i=f'TO'Fis'O".................... ..1.:.~~.9!~.~................. ... ......... .R.iGRf'TO'Fis·o..................
·f:·Er;·a;;..S"te.ei''ini..S"truc·i· -~·=·~~.9!n~............................. ·r·Er;·a;;·"S"te'ei..ini"s'iriic·i·
·2·:·Er;·a;;..s·ie'ei''ini"s'ii1:icf -~·=-~~.9!~.~............................. ·2·:·Er;·a;;·"S'te.ei"ini"s"iruc·i·
·3·:·Er;·a;;..s·ie.ei'Ini."S'truc·i· .1.,9.x!:9.................................. ·3·:·Er;·a;;·§e"iX'ini."S'trucX
-~f·Er;·a;;·"S'te.ei.Ini..S"truc·i· .~.:.~.~................................. ·:r·Er;·a;;·"S"te.ei''ini""S"triic·i·
·~:r-Er;·ao..S'ie.ei.Irii""S"triic·i· .~.=-~.~................................. ·s·:·Er;·ao..S'ie'ei'Ini."S"ttuc·i· :.:.:.:_:.:.:.·.:._.::.:.:_:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:··::·:·:·:· :·:··::·:·:··::·:·:·:·:··::·:·:·::· ~~t >.
fiiJ
:~:;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: .~~NJS.8..I9..8.~.9............... :~:;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: _
r-:1:--.-:::::S-;-ho-u-:-ld-=-e-r-===~:==-==== ..1.:.~.~................................. ====~1.=;S~h=o=;ul:;de=r~===:;-::! ..;~·s::
..~::....::::M::::.P::...::...::7...::7....~...~...:7::'
.. ..
:?.:.::WP.P.:~rA®:A9.~:~~9:r:::: ·~·=·gg~!g·~............................. :?:.::WP.P.:~rA®:A9.~:~~9E:: J:f§5:~~:~9:w:~~:1t.::::::
3. Lower Arm Actuator ....:......""................................... 3. Lower Arm Actuator 13 +2 to Fire
·4-.-H~·a·Ac.iu.s.For.............. -~·:·§R.9~7las·er:................... ·4·:H·~·a·Ac.iu's.For.............. ··;·2....................................
·s·. .Fe.rro:fl5·r:o·us..A·;m·c;r:·..
.6"...Fe.rro:fl5·r:o·u;;..x;m·c;r:·..
:~:;:~:§:<:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: K...Fe.rro:fl5·r:o·u;;·x;m·or:...
K...Fe.rro:flb't:o.uS:..x;m·c;r:...
"'i T...................................
..;·o.. ~·r;;w ......................
IEFlARM........................... Engine Hits 0 0 0 ·FiiGFii'. ARM........................ "§' ................................... ..
T..Fe.rro:fl5·r:o·us..A'rm.or... Gyro Hits oo T...Fe.rro:fl5·r:o·u;;·x;m·c;r:·.. ..s....+fio..i=lt=e................
·2·:·i=e.rro:fi5·r:o·u;;·x;m·or:··· r-:-::=,.,.-:-=--==se=n=s=o=rs=H=it~s~:;:;:o~o~~------. i.'.Fe.rro:fl5·r:o·us·x;m·c;r:... .."! .....................................
'3'..Fe.rro:fii)'i:o'us''A"rm.or... LEFT LEG RIGHT LEG '3'..Fe.rro:fii)';:Q"us"'A"rm'or... ..;:,......................................
·4·...Fe.rro:fi5·r:o·u;;·x;m·c;r:··· ·1··lr....................................... T"'i-f....................................... ·4·:·i=e.rro:fl5·r:o·u;;·xn;.:;c;r:... · · s· ···~·; ··rvw>.......................
.5......F.....
e.:;;;:-f
....1,b...ro
....;;s
....A
...rm
.....o
.. r.. ... ..........I.P...................................... ..........I.P...................................... ................................................. ..........................................
............. !.~............':!................... .?.. . M.P.P..~r..~~.9.A9.~!-!.~.9.r..... .?. . . .V.P.P..~r..~~.9.A9.~!-!.~.9.r..... .~ . ..f.~.~f!!?D?.~2..6.ITD.9.r.... 4
.~:............................................. } ..~9.W.~r..~~.9.A9Wf;Mr..... } ..J9.W.~r..~~.9.A!;:.~!-!.~.9.r..... .~............................................... ..3......................................
4. Foot Actuator 4. Foot Actuator .. 2......................................
·s·_. ............................................ ·s·_............................................. ...; ......................................
:~:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :~:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::9::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Future Wars --38

 GMN-1 Gremlin By Shawn GMN-1 Gremlin
Henson Tonnage 15 tons
The GMN-1 Gremlin is a new Internal Structure (endo steel) 0.75
Mech design created by Team Engine XL 13 5 2.25
Banzai's weapon design group. Walking MP 9 (18)
Theam Banzia wanted a Mech that Running MP 14 (18)
could satisfy three priorities - it Jumping MPO
had to be light and effective -easy Heat sinks 10
to mass produce - and take Gyro 2
advantage of the latest technology. Cockpit 3
The Gremlin easily fit the bill, and Am or 53 3
the first prototype was available for Head 7
field testing by early 3052. CTorso 8/2
Manufactured by johnson L/RTorso 6;2
Industries, the Gremlin is unique for L/ RArms 4
its 15 ton weight. The Gremlin L/R Legs 6
features the newly developed
Kallon Unity weave Ferro-Fibous Weapons Location Critcal Tonnage
armor, which protects the Founda- Medium Laser RTorso 1 1
tion Ultralight Endo-steel chassis. Medium Laser LTorso 1 1
Armed with only 2 Intek medium Small Laser CTorso 1 .5
lasers and 2 Exostar small lasers, Small Laser Head 1 .5
heat buildup is minimal. When MASC 1 1
utilizing the MASC circuitry, the
Gremlin is very mobile.
The design and the capabilities
of the Gremlin are astounding.
However, some critics charge that
the Gremlin is too light fur the
Mech to be able to perform its
duties, and that it will fuil miserably.
Supporters of the Gremlin say
otherwise. Pro-Gremlin supporters
argue that the Gremlin can perform
as well as a 30 ton Hermes. They
also point out that recon Mech
polits often enjoy piloting the
Gremlin because of its ability to
attain high speeds.
With all the controvery sur-
rounding the Gremlin, it is not
surprising that it has entered the
limelight. THe Gremlin has gained
in reputation of late. The field trials
at the johnson proving ground have~
been excellent. As a result, the - ~o'o/AX.
Federated Commonwealth has
placed an order for an unknown
quantity to field as recon units. With
the creation of a practical 15 ton
Mech, Team Banzia has opened a
new window into building practical .-
and innovative BattleMechs. . .....

Future W ars--39
 13ATT1-ETECI-I HLRZ-3 HELLRqiSER mJ.<-3
WEIGHT: 45 tons
ARMOR: 9.5tons/152 pts
M;)VE: Walk 6, Run 9, Jump 6
ENGINE RATING: 270
6 MAXHEAT: 16
.............. MAX DAMAGE: 45
3

Inner Sphere Tech.

Double Heat Sinks
XL Engine
Endo Steel Structure

roeqpon!) and qn'lmO HECfT ~lnH~ CDCfRRIOR

...........L.$.rD.~!.!..~.'ilr....................~~-~LT!?.~.9..l8.'il:<!!.l........ 2x02x02x02x02xO~x02xO Name:
.......~....~.~!~.rn.~.~.'il~........ .....~~.n..~.g.B!9N.I!?.~.9...... 2x02x02x02x0 Gunnery Skill:
...............L..!;;R.P.P.~..............................R!9.bL~xm................ Piloting Skill:
......... ...1 ....§.8.M:9..l9.9J...............~.'iltt~9..G.~m~.r.I9.~!?.... Hits: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Cons: 3 5 7 10 11 Dead
................................................... .................................................. HEATSCALE
HEAD '3'Ci"sh'ui'd0'ioi'ti"""""""
,....,1~X"""L-=E~.-----, J:JI(~::§:yP.fi!?:~::::::::::::::::::: 1 XL E · '2'9 ....................................
....:...........~9.~.~~....................... 2 Sensors ....:...........~9.m~....................... '2'8'';i.:in'mo..E.~'i'···s+ ..
.g.J~!...~n9.in~....................... ):::~9:9.~P.!C::::::::::::::::::::::::: .f.:.X~..~n9.i.~~....................... ·2:7 ..................... ...:..........
}.,.X~..~-~9J.~~....................... 4 },.X~..~.~9.in~....................... .2...6........
Sh..u....td...o..w
...n.....1.....0+......
4. Small Laser ·:{·se·r;;;;·c;;;s.......................... 4. t-Aedium Laser ..........................................
·s·:·;v\!;:rfumTa:se·,.:............... ............... ................................ K·~afuin· ta:se·,.:.. . ............ 25 -0 MP
·e;:.. ~:\!d·i·umTa:se·,.:.............. -~-=-~.i.~~.....8~P..P.!?xL................ ·e;:·c;;;·.:it.'le.Re'iit"STtii<'s...... ~ :~:1 ::±1\o·F·f..:e................
·cE·i=t'TO'R·s·o..................... J.,.!;;r.t~!r.t.'il............................. .R.IGRt'TO'R·ss................. M/1. :g .n.6rD.lf.i!?::~:~:c:~t.::
·T:··sFir~............................. .g.,.!;;r.t.9!n'il............................. ·T:·c;;;·ut.'le.Re'iit"s'i'tii<'s......
·f··sFir~............................. .~.,.~r.t.9!r.t.'il............................. ·2':·c;;;·ut.'le.He·iit··s·fnk's......
CRITICAL .
-~y $.8.~~-gg.vm ...?.:t ......
'2'cf·::.~n:AF' ......................
·3·:··Er;a;;..s-te.ei"ini.............. .~.:.q.'!<r.9.................................. '3·:·Er;a;;..s-te.ei..ini''S'iruc·i· ..........................................
·si.iu.ci.................................... -~_,_q_'!<r.9.................................. ·;r:·Erldo.'S'ie.ei"lni..s.iruc·i· ..1.9. ..6mm!?..~.~J., ...~:t ..
·4·:.. Eria;;··s·ie.ei''lni.............. -~c.. 'E-~N...\! :9....
.TER....r......R...s.................... ·::;·:-E~n·a;;·'S'te.ei''lni''S'truc·i · ·H.
~-i-~9F~-~~J.-~:t ......
:~~:~:9.~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 0 0 I:~r.:~9::§:~~:~!:X~(§:~r.;~;?:~:
r.1:-_-:::S:-:-h-ou-:-ld-:-e-r-=====~~=== ::LG:~ ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ====~1.=;:S~h=o~ul=¢de=r'----.. ::r~::~:;~~:::::::::::::::::::::::
'i''O""""''"j.,"'""j.,"""''"""""' .f.:.!;;r.t.Q!!:I.'il............................. '2"'0""''""'/.."'""j.,"'"""""""" ..........................................
...3..-....Lower
.P.P..'il!:..Arm
..® .....~~-~~!?.L.
Actuator Ennine
....3 :...... ""................................... ......... .P.P..'il!:....® .....~~-~~!?.L..
3. Lower Arm Actuator
$.b.~~-gg_wn ...1:t.... ..
..1.131..+2 to Fire
·4·...H8ria·Ac.iu'9ior.............. -~·:·~f?:~·Sffi·rr.;;;·................ ·4·_..Hsr.·a·Ac.iu·iit·or.............. ··1·2....................................
·5·.-·E·R.. P·i>·c............................ :~:;:~r.:~ !?::§:~~:~n:~~::§:\~9:\: ·~r:·E·r;ac;·st'ee·l-in'i'si·,.:u·c;i· · ··1·1.....................................
·e;·:·E·R··P·i>·c............................ ·1:;-:·E·r;(j·c;·si'ee'i'in·i·si·,.:u·c;i·· · Tr.f~·Mf .................... .
{EF'T'ARt~ .. ...... .. .. .. .. ...... ... .. Engine Hits 0 0 0 ·R'i<~Ht' ARM .. ...................... ..9"....................................
T...E.R..i>'P'c............................ Gyro Hits oo T. .E·,.:;ac;·Si·eefin'i'si'..:U'ci.. ..s....+rio"i=lre................
·2·.-·E-nciCi'si'ee'l.in'i.si·,.:u·c;i·· r:-::=,.,..-:=-:::--=se=n=s=o=rs=H::;it~s~~o~o~~----, ·2·...E.nd·c;·si.ee'l'in'i·Si·,.:u·c;i.. ..?'.....................................
'3'."E'nd'o'si'eefin't'Si'ru'ci" LEFT LEG RIGHT LEG '3'...E.nd'o'Si'eefin't'Si',.:U'(;i" "6"""" " " "" " " " " "" " ""'"'

:1:.::J.~:0.P.::J.~:c::::::::::::::::::::::: :;::.:HiP.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :I:.:HP.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :1:-::J.~:lf.iP.::J.~:\::::::::::::::::::::::::: ..s...·:·1..r:A·p·..·····...............

.~.....~n9.9..$.~.~~.1.. !r.t.~ .............. .?.....W.P.P..'ilL~~.9.69W.¥..9.!:.... .?. ....W.P.P..'ilr..~~.9.69.~~.¥..9.r..... .~............................................... ::~::::··:................:·::·::::::::::
.S
...t.....
ru ...c t..................................... ·4·:··i=o'
3 Lower Len Actuator
oi''A'ci·.;a:t;;·;,······.......... ·4·:3 Lower Len Actuator
··i=o'oi''A'ci·.;a:t;;·;,·............... .6...·............................................. ..2'3 ...................................
.................. . .
..
:~:.: :~~:0.P.::~~:~::::::::::::::::::::::::: :~:.::J.~:iQP.::J.~:~::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::1::::::::::·:::"·":::·:·:·:::::::::::
.9.....Y.~~.IDP.....!~.~......................... .9..-..Y.~.ID.P...':!~.~--....................... ..9..........:...:::::...:.:.:...........

Future Wars --40

 The HRS-R3 Hellraiser Mk 3 by weakest area is the rear. A pilot is to attack opponents at meditun to
Floyd Zollars expected to use the manuverability long ranges while at dose mnge tl1e
Overview: of the Mech to keep the back out of Hellraiser can produce a staggering
The HRS-R3 is a mediwn Mech combat. From the front every area barrage form its four Precision Line
manufactured by Team Banzai on can stand a direct hit from a PPC. lasers,Angle sRA-6 and two small
New Syrtis.The Hellraiser was It's armor permits it to sustain lasers. When tl1e myomer package is
designed and researd1ed at the New combat situations, and its weapons activated the Hellmiser's punch can
Avalon Institute of Science. The array will produce good damage to cause as much damage as an assault
original Hellraiser design was not opponents. Mech.This makes the HellrJ.iser a
put into mass production, however The Bonzai Blaster PPC is used strong dirty infighter.
the design was modified and fmally
became the MK-3. The Hellraiser
was rushed into production as a
response to the Clan invasion. It is
hoped that the advanced design can
close the tedmology gap between
HellRaiser Mk-3
the Clan and the Fed Com Mechs.
Tonnage 45
A major drawback of the HRS-R3
Internal Structure 2.25
is funding. The cost of the Hellraiser
Engine 270XL 14
is one and one half times the that of
Walking MP 6 (12)
a standard assault Mech. Critics
Running MP 9 (12)
question the validity of purchasing
Jtunping MP 6
one mediwn Mech at this exhorbi-
Heat sinks (double) 11(22) 1
tant price. Pilots who have faced
Gyro 3
the Clans in combat have a different
Cockpit 3
opinion. The factory on New Syrtis
Armor 152 9.5
is producing 12 Hell raisers per year
Head 8
and could be producing up to 50 a
CTorso 22/6
year with funding . Currently there
L/RTorso 18/4
is no contract to produce the
L/RArms 14
Hellraiser, it is being funded from
L/R Legs 22
"Royal Funds".
The Hellraiser Mk-3 is a full
Weapons Location Critical Tonnage
tedmological generation ahead of
ERPPC RA 3 7
any other battlemech. produced in
Med Laser (2) RT 1 1
the Inner Sphere. Clearly superior
Med Laser (2) LT 1 1
to all Mechs in its class, the Hellrais-
Small Laser RT (Rear) 1 .5
er is an attack Mech, capable of
Small Laser LT (Rear) 1 .5
giving even a heavy Mech a run for
SRM-6 LT 2 3
its money in a one on one fight.
SRMAnuno CT 1 1
First and foremost the newly
designed Hong Kong engine
provides vastly a improved power
to weight ratio for a heavily armed
and armored Mech. When the
myomer package is activated the
ground speed of the Hellraiser Mk-3
is competative with any Clan Mech.
Additionally, the Hellraiser can jump
with considerable ease, powered by
six jwnp jets. This combination of
above average spped and jwnp
capability make the Hellraiser Mk-3
a nimble opponent.
The Hellraiser's armor package
provides outstanding protection for
a 45 ton Mech. The arms and legs
are especially well protected. It 's Future Wars--41
 13ATT1-ETECI-I IT
WEIGHT: 65 tons
ARM~R: 13 tons/208 pts
~VE: Wslk 5, Run 8, Jump 0
ENGINE RATING: 325
lvt-I.X HEAT: 7
lvt-I.X DAivt-I.GE: 73
3

Inner Sphere Tech.

Double Heat Sinks
XL Engine
Mlo.SC

15
CJ.)eqpons Clnd qmmo 1-iEqT SlnHS CJ.)qf:lRIOR
1 SmsJI Laser 2x02x02x02x02xO~x02xO Name:
:::::::H::~~¥~0J~~:~::::::: : : : : : : : : :: : : : : : : : :: : : : : : : : 2x0 2x0 2x0 2x0 2x'O 2x'O 2x'O
2x02x'02x02x02x()
Gunnery Skill:
Piloting Skill:
Hits: 1 2 3 4 s 6
Cons: 3 5 7 10 11 Des.d
................................................... .................................................. HEATSCALE
HEAD ·3·a.. sh'ui·ao·y:.·r;·.............
,. . ,1,.--,-,X':""L=E,--..,.-----, ::L~I(~::$:~P.P.9:~::::::::::::::::::: 1 XL E · '29 ....................................
.... :.......... .1:'!9.1.':'!~......... . .... ......... 2 Sensors ....:...........':'!9.1.':'!~............... ....... . ·28 .. A...........E......i ....8.....
f.:.X~..I;..l:'!9.i.':'!~............... . ....... '3·'·co.ck..P... It............................
.3 .f.:.X~..I;..l:'!9.i.':'!~.................. ... .. ·.. -....... !'!!.~!?.....::1?.. :A...±..
XL E . .. ..:........... ............................... 3 XL E . 27
....:...........':'! 9.1.':'!~...................... . 4 . r...~d iu m Laser ....:...........':'!9.1.':'!~....... ................ '26"si;'ui'Ci0'Y:.'i-i ...i.cl+.. ..
-~·:·~~~~~~¥~e·r............... :~:;:~~:~~:9.~:::::::::::::::::::::::::: t-~~-:-~~·t:i~-~--........ ..... ·2s. ::s·r~w ........ A . .......... .

·i:;:·r:AeaYumTs:se·r............... .fi.,JH~..?.~P..P.Q.~........ ........ . .. ·i:;:·ril2&urr.Ts:se·r............... .2.4"+-'i·i·c;·F=·ft-e................

W>
_J

T'E.Ff'TO'Fis·O'.................... J.,.~r.9!n~............................. .R.iGRt'TO'Fis·O'·................ :~:~::60:~69::~:~:(;~:~±::

..;·:·r:AeaYurnTs:se·r............... .f.:.~r.9!n~....... ...................... ··cri,i;&urr.Ts:se·r............... CRITICAL -~..?...§h.'A~_gg_vmA.?.± ......
"2"."0:L' 'd"l:u"m""'L":,:.·;;e
lVI':: =
...r................ ....3:............................................
Ennine .2....._i.'L'd...l,.u"m""'L":,:.·;;·e"r.............. ..
lVI'::
2 1 ""'i.:l'1'p'""'' '"''"'""'""
"2"o""-4
·rf:io.ub.ie.Re's.t"S'i'Yii<......... A,.G.~.. .... ................... ........ -~f-r:;1eaYurr.·Is:se·r............... ............. !: ...........................
Q.J

·4·:·oo.ub'le.Res.t..S'i'Yii<......... .~.:.G.~................................. ·::r oo.ub'ie.Re's.t"S'i'Yii<......... ..W.6!D.~QQ..I;..::1?.1.:A .1±..

·s-:·oo.ub'ie.Re·s.t-·S'i'ni<......... .f!.:.G.\!!:9.................................. -~:l':.i5o.u5'ie.Re's.t"sYni<.... . .... ..1.?. .. §n.~~_gg_wnA.9.± ......
I :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -~~NTI;H.I9..8.?.9............... §;:P.9:~~I~:8.~:?.f$):~~::::::::: J.?. .. ~.t~.F..i.~............... .
,....1':"".-=s-=-h-ou-=-ld-=-e-r-=====::::::;:==== J.:.G.~ ................................. L:.=.:===";=. 1_::;s=h=o=ul=de:::::r:...____, ·l~·-::j·r:;w· .................... .
.2'.'0............:i.'......A... t... 8i........ .f.,.~r.9!r..~... . . ........................ .2...0'..........A.......A................... .. ...................................... ..
......... .P.P..';c;r. ....'lf.l.... .'?. ..~ .... l?L.. },_ ~r.9!r..~... . ......................... .. ....... .P.P..~r. ....'lf.l.....'?.t~~l?.L. ..1.1.. §b.~~-gg_vmA.1± ......
-~-:..A~·ar:;.:~~-~-~~~~l?r..... -;-:-~1i~~·Is:se·r···............ -~~..A~·ar:;.:~~-~-~~~~ 9-~.... ··l-~--±?.·~-~.F..i.~......... ..... ..
·s·:'D'oii'bie..He8i.sln'k'........ :~:;:~~¥~ J~~:~:::::::::::::::
0 ·s·:'D'oiiiiie..He8i.slnk........ ·T;.....................................
K...o·c;u·bie..He8i.sln'k'........ K"D'ou.bie..H.e8i.sink........ "fo .. ~-~~P ...................... .
IEF'T'ARM........................... Engine Hits o o o ·FiiGHT'ARM........................ ..9......................................
T...o·ou.bie..Hes:t.sln'i<......... Gyro Hits oo T:'D'ou.bie..Hes:t'slnk........ ..s...·+rio"F=It:e ................
i ..b.ou.bie.Hes:t.sin'k"....... r-:-::=:":"":=-....!::::s=e=ns=o=rs=H~its~~o;;o~~-----. i.''D'ou.bie.He8i.slnk··· ..··· ··:.;..................................... .
':j'.''D'ou.bie"H'eat.Sin.k......... LEFT LEG RIGHT LEG ·:j·_..D'ou'bie"H'e8i.Sink........ ..6.................................... ..
·4· ... D'ou.bie.He8i.sln.i<......... ·f·H· .P. . ......................................
................................................. ... :.....1 ......................................
__;·
_ ·_._··.H.·.·_-i..
.P...
· ·.
·.· .
..
· ·.
·.· .·.·..
·.·_·. ·.·.·.·. ·.·.· ...
· ·.·.·.
· .
· . ·
.·..
·.· .· ·
_·
_ ·4· ...o·ou'bie..Hes:t.slnF.......
.. .............................................. .
..s....:·; ..~ff:i.......................
5. 2 U.P.P.er Le_g Actuator .?. ....WP.P..~L~~.9.6~-~~.:N-~r..... 5. ..4..................................... .
:6_:·.:.·.·.·.·.:::·.:·.::·.::::::::::::::::::::·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·. '3 . . Lo·w·er'i.:en.Ac.iii·s.t·or.... 3 Lower Len Actuator ·.6.·.·.:.·.·..·.··.·.·. ·. .··.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·. ·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·..··. ..3..................................... .
·4·:..F=o.ot.Xct-~ito·r··· ...... . .. .. .. ·4·:..F=o.ot.Xct·t:ito'r................ ..2' .....................................
·s·.--r-A~sc.. .. .. . ... .... .......... . ...... ·s·. . ~ti:sc ........ ....... ............ .... ..r....................................
:~:.::86~~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :~:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::9::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Future Wars --42

IT BYTEDWEST
Tonnage 65
Internal Stucture 6.5
Engine 325XL 11.75
Walk MP 5 (10)
RunMP 8 (10)
Jwnp MP 0
Cockpit 3
Gyro 4
Heat Sinks (double) 10(20)
Armor 208 13
Head 9
CTorso 31/10
L/ RTorso 22(7
L/RArms 20
L/R Legs 30

Weapons Location Critical Tonnage

Med Laser(4) L Torso 1 1
Small Laser L Torso 1 .5
Med Laser Head 1 1
Med Laser (6) RTorso 1 1
MASC L Leg 3 3

GAUSS PLATFORM BY KEVIN

Tonnage
Engine (ICE) 225 20
Cruise MP 2
Flank MP 3
Tracked Vehicle
Cockpit 5
Internal Structure 5
Armor 19.5
Turret 1.5

Weapons Location Tonnage . ·

Gauss Rifle Turret 15
Gauss Rifle Body 30
Ammo Body 4

Future W ars--43
 BATTI-ETECI-1 L8Y-<D Lctb))rint:h
WEIGHT: 60 tons
ARtYK>R: 12 tons1192 pts
tvnVE: Walk 3, Run 5, Jump 3
ENGINE RATING: 180
M.I.XHEAT: 9
W.X DAW.GE: 30
3

weqpons and qmmo CJJC'IRRIOR

...........L.. ~.~~--~~~x. ............................................................ Name:
2 Flamers 00000000000000 Gunnery Skill:
::::::::::: c:6¢.?:;:9:1:i:9.9L:::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Piloting Skill:
...........1....:f;.l3hH.U.9.9.l ............................................................ Hits: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Cons: 3 5 7 10 11 Dead
HEAD HE..I.TSCALE
·3·o .. shut·d;:;;,v·t) ..............
...,1,.....""'s-;:,R.,....M-4,.....,...----..., 1~:~ir~;.~u~P.~:~::::::::::::::::::: ~1-....,.A"""c..,...11'""o_am_m_o-----. '2'!f' ' ''" ' ' ''' "'''''' '' ''"'''"' '" '

·i:·sF:r~t4··:e;if;;r;c; · ····· ·· ·· ······ ················································· ·:r·J"·········J···t························ :?:?.::6r!:.:i0.9::~:~x;~:?.±::

·3···J··········J···t························· -~·=·~ 2.9.~.P.!t.......................... ·:J":l·i~~s·f~i<························ 27
.... :....':l!D.P. ....~ ... ... . .... . .... . .... ... .. 4.
4. Heat sink · ~r-se.nsor:s · · ····· ·· ······· ······· ··· .4.Jie·s.t··s-r;.;i<························ :~:~::$.b:~~:~9:0:6~:;:E:::
25 -5 MP ................
:g:~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: §;Ji(~::$:~P.P.~:~::::::::::::::::::: :i~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~ ·i4··+4·t·c;·i=·ft-e
·cE·Fr"tO"Fis·O"···················· ..1 .,. !;;t).9!t).~........ . ...... .. .... ..... .. . 'Fi"IGHt"tO"Fis·o·················· - :B }~::60:0.~::~:~:c~:~±::
··1·:············································ .~.:.!;;t).9!t).~............................. ··r:····························•·•••••••••••••• 11
CF:ITICI\L .f.?. .. $. b.\-!~S! 2.'!!'.1:! ....?.±......
·2·:············································ .~., . !;;t).9!n~ .... ..... . .. .. . ... .. .. .... ... ·2":············································ 21
·2'a··::.;jT1F-...................... .
·:············································ ·. ~.·.·.· .:·. ..~·;..·~!n.··."O
·3·:············································
·4 .x:.-,.;· ·..·.· .· .··.·.·.·.·. ·..·.· .· .· .· .·.·.·.·.·.·.··..·.•.· .·.··.·..·.·.· )4:::. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::i:9.::6r~:i0.9::~:~I;~:~±::
·~:;-:·· ·· · ····· · ················· ·· ······ ····· ··· .!?.:.g.'!>!!:'?.................................. · ~r····· ············ ······· · ······ ·· · ··· ······· 18 Shutdown
"if·+J·t·c;·i=·ft-e··"············
6+
:~:;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: .~!;;N~.I3.I9..13.:f;.9......... ...... ·e;:············································
. .,1,. . .""'S,. .h-ou.. l,.d-:-e-r-===::=::::;;:==== ..1.: . g.Y!~........... .. .. .... .. . ... .. .. .... ................................................ .
"i'6'''"'""''"'' ' "''''''''"'' ' ''"

..i·s··:.J·r:;1F-.......................
.~.:.!;;t).9!t).~............................. 1.Shoulder
:?.:.::QP.P.:~r.:Arrn::6:9.~:~~~E::
3. Lower Arm Actuator 3. Ennine
........... :3.
?.:.::QP.P.:~r.:6:®::6:9.~:~~~~:~::::
ACI1 0 ::;:{$.b:~~:~~:0:6~:~±::::::
·4·:·"J.:d·i·rr···························· 13 +2 to Fire
.<:~...... . ... . .. . . .. .... .. ............
·4·.-Fis.ti"d"Ac.iu·s.t·c;r·············· · 1·=·!;;t).9!n~............................. ''1'2' ' ' ' ' " " ' ' ' " ' ' ' ' ' ' ' " ' " ' " ' ' ' ' " '

·s·:·r=iame·t:····························· -~·=·~.\l!D.P..~.~~......................... ·s·:·J.:d·i·cr····························· 'Tf ...................................

·e;·:·r=iame·r······························ .!?.:............................................ ·e;·..J.:c'iTa······························· .. .......................
i·a··~·r:;1F-

fEF"t.ARM··························· Engine Hits 0 0 0 'F=iiGFiT.ARt~········ ·· ············ · · ''§'""' ' ''''''"'' '''" '' ''' ' " '' ''''"

T."·H·es:t.slr;k························ Gyro Hits 0 0 T."'.A.dTa······························· ··a....+T·i;;··r:lt:e .............. ..

i ."Heai.sin·k························ sensors Hits o o ·:r:xcrr0······························· .. i .................................... .
·::(············································ LEFT LEG RIGHT LEG "3'."Xdfo······························· ' ' 6 " " ' " " ' " " " ' " " " ' " " ''''''' ' ''

··s· .. .......................
:1:-Jimi~:~:~:~r.::::::::::::::::::: .. 4......................................
·~T·r~·P

:1:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :r.:HP.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: J:.:HiP.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

.~:........................ ..... ........ ... ..... .?. . . .W.P.P..~r..~~.9.A9.~!-!.~.'?.L.. . .?. . ..IJ.P.P..~r..~~.9 . M~!-!.~.'?.L... .~ ....~~~-~.~.~r.. .................. "3..................................... .
.~:...................... .. . .. .................. } ...~2.W.~L~~.9.M~!-!.~.'?.r.. ... .~ ....~2.W.~r. .~~.9.A9.~!-!.~.'?.L.. . .~:............................................ . .. 2' .................................... .
4....Hes:t.sin·k........................
·s· Foot Actuator 4. Foot Actuator..................
·s·:Hes:t.sin·k······ ' ''i"'''' ' ' " ' " ' ' " " ' " " ' ' ' " ' " ''' "'

:~:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :~:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::9::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Future Wars --44

LBY-4D LABYRINTH get the jump on his opponents , a mad1ine gtm and a half ton of
literally. Also, if the Mech fires all it's al11ffio. The can switch the Impera-
by Gavin Duggan
weapons and jtU11ps or nms, it can tor-B for a lighter C model and extrJ.
Review build up some nasty heat problems heat sinks.This upgmde can rJ.pidly
The LBY-4D was the product of in a hurry. change the Labyrintl1 from a close
Starburst Industries. Starburst is a Battle History hard hitting monster to a more
small, Lyran-based company which The history of the Labyrintl1 is durable siege mad1ine.
operates out of the periphery. the relatively short, it has only been in There is a nU11our tl1at Starburst
Labyrinth was designed specifically service for a couple of years and has acquired some newtech weap-
as an urban fighter, sort of a big production is limited to 200 units ons and armour. That tl1ey are
brother to the Urbanmech. Unlike per year. However, tl1e reports seem lightening tl1e armour load to
it's little brotl1er, however, it can to be good, and the AFFC has placed eleven tons, but tL'iing ferro-fiberOtL'i
hold it's own in open field battles, an order for 50% of the company's to maintain tl1e s:une protection.
lacking only in long range fire annual production. They tl1en use the extrJ. space to
power. Variants replace the auto cam1on with a LB-
Capabilities Currently tl1ere are severJ.l lOx and tl1e regular laser witl1 a
The LBY, designed in 3026 and update packages that Starburst pulse laser of tl1e same size.
put into production two years later, offers. They change the flamers for
was designed armmd tl1e weapons
LBY-4D Labyrintl1
most suited to city fighting and it
Tormage
performs most admirably in that
Internal Structure
role. Starburst produced all of its
Engine GM180
own armour and structure, but it
Walking MP 3
ordered tl1e weapons and actuators
Runinng MP 5
from reliable suppliers.The large
Jumping MP 3
laser is a Magna Mk III (commonly
Heat Sinks
used in the Rifleman and Stalker)
Cockpit
and the Imperator-B autocannon is
Gyro ;
the same make as the one used in
the UM-R60.This makes for easy Armor ·-J.
ammo switches between the two .
Head fV
CTorso
The Holly SRM-4 is a sturdy weapon
L!R'foJso j
that can be relied on. The two
Firestorm flamers were added for
L;R wms
1
L/ R Cegs
\ \
\\
hosing down inf..tntry infested I I
buildings. I t
Weap9nj
The Labyrinth was not designed
Large Laser
to replace the older Urbanmed1,
AC/ 10/
but rather to compliment it in
Ammo 1
battle. Witl1 its compatable ammo
SRM-4 2
format, and tl1e similar weapons
r.mges , tl1ey operate well in tan-
Ammo it
l~
1
Fl:uner (2)
dem. However, were the two to ·~
!•
.5
Jump Jet rl 1
meet on opposite sides, the Laby- '~
Jwnp)et l1 1
rintll bears a slight firepower/ range
Jump jet 1
advantage , even against two to one
~l

"4
odds.
One other advantage that tl1e
Labyrinth shares with it's older, but
smaller, brother is price.At 4.6 !·~
f
·'
million C-bills, it is a fairly d1eap II
heavy Mech. !l
H
The only drawbacks to the
Labyrinth are its heat and speed. u
Inside the city, the speed is not
much of a drawback, but if it is on
in t ·e open, it helps if the pilot can
FutuTe Wars--45
 13ATT1-ETF-CI-I '-'PR - nx \Jipcr nx
WEIGHT: 30 tons
ARMOR : 6.5 tons/ 104 pts
MOVE: Walk 8, Run 12, Jurnp 0
ENG INE RATING: 240
IIMXHEAT: 13
IIMX DAIIMGE : 20
3

Inner Sphere Tech.

XL Engine
Endo Steel Structure

CDEClPOn5 and qmn10 HEClT 51n11s CDClRRIOR

2 ty~d ium..P.Pc···············
···············1····ER Lasers .................................................. Name:
0000000000 Gunnery Skill:
::::::::::::::r::~~::§I~~:::::::::::::: :: : :: :: :: : : ::: : : :: : : : :: : :: : : : Piloting Skill:
Hits: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Cons: 3 5 7 10 11 Dead
HEAT SCALE
HEAD ·3·o··si=iui·ac.;;;;;.;··············
,...1,_..,..,X,...L-=E:--:.,.....-----, ::t:~):i~::§:~P.P.i?:if::::::::::::::::: r-:1:--o-::x,.-L-=E:--:.----..., "ig····································
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}fAr0:~i?::~:~x;~:?.±::
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....:...........r!9.1.r!~..................... . . 4. ....:...........r!9.1.r!~...................... .
4 . c3 s lave -s-:·se·r.s·ors·························· 4. ER PPc :g:§::§5:~~~i?:w:~~:~:9:t::::
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·T:·Er.·a;;·"S"te.ei ..itii""S"truc·i· .~.,.!;;!).9!n~............................. ··i·:·Re·s.t··SY;.;i<·s····················· CRITICAL .n .$.b.ldt9!=1.wn. ..?.:t......
·i:·Er.·a;;··s·ie.ei""ini..s.it=Uc·i· },.J;;!).Q!!l.~............................. ·2·:·Er;·a;;··s·ie·e;r·ini."S"truc·t· 21
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·3·:·Er;·a;;·"S"te·;;rr;.;i·"S"truc·t· .1.:.q':w:r.9.................................. ·3·:·Er;·a;;··s·ie.ei."ini."S"truc·i·
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·s·:············································ -~-= -~.':w:r.9. ............•......•.........•... ·s-:············································ 18 Shutdown 6+
··ii.+3·i·o·i=rre··"············
:~:;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: .~J;;N~.8..I9..8.~.9............... ·5·:············································ "T6····································
r-:-1.-::S,.,.-h-ou-=-ld-=-e-r...=::::::::::::::::::::=~===.:.:.:J 1:~~~:~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ····························l··~·S·h~-~id.~r · ·i·~s-·:::J·t~1p······· ··········· ·····

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3 . Lower Arm Actuator
·~r·Hs.t=i<fAc.iu·s.t·.:;t=··············
:r::~jll!~t:~~;~~:~~:~:~~~
LEF"i'"ARM···························
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··········· ··································· 3. Lower Arm Actuator 13 +2 to Fire
· 1·=·!;;!l.9!n~............................. ·4·.-·H;;.r;a·Ac.iu.s.tor·············· ··1·2"···································
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Engine Hits 000 "F=iiGi"H"t"ARKf······················ ··<r····································
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LEFT LEG RIGHT LEG ·::r············································ ··e;·····································
··s··· ·~·i · ·r~rf>·······················
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:§:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: } . ..~!=I.W.I?:r..~~.9.t&~~-~~.9.r..... } ....~!=!.'!?.~r..~~.9}&~~-~.9.r..... :§:;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ··3······································

··2"·····································
4. Foot Actu&.tor 4. Foot Actu&.tor
:~:.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ·~r············································· ···i······································
.9.:............................................. :§:.: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::9::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Future Wars --46

VIPER- Ilx Type Viper Ilx 30Tons
Internal structure: (en do Steel) 1.5
by John Kovax
Engine GM 240 XL 6.0
WalkMP8
RunMP 12
The VIper Ilx is an updated Jump MP 0
variant of the light scout-hunter Heat sinks 10 Double (20)
produced by Kovax Interplanetary Gyro: 3.0
Corporation at their technology Cockpit: 3.0
Center of Cimeron in the Federated Armor Factor: 104 6.5
Commonwealth. This new model Head 8
incorporates a number of improve- CT 18/ 2
ments, such as XL enginet technolo- R/L T 12/2
gy, an endo steel chassis, double R/LA 10
heat sinks, a C3 slave unit, and an R/L L 14
extended range PPC. It also sup- Weapons &Ammo
ports an extra half-ton of armor. For ER PPC (RT) 7.0
all of the changes, the two models Medium Lasers (RA) 1.0
are almost indistinguishable visually, Medium Laser (LA) 1.0
except for the lack of an LRM rack C3 Slave (LT) 1.0
under the torso. This variant is also
considerably faster than its prede-
cessor. The tiny KICTC facility is
estimated to produce only 3 Vipers
per year, of which one or two are
the Ilx variant.
This model's heavy long-range
bite and high speed make it a
dangerous adversary for many
medium Mechs, and lethal against
the light scouts it was designed to
exterminate. It supports more
foiWard armor than-most Mechs 10
to 15 tons heavier, due to the
unusual practice of installing almost
no rear armor. Even pilots of heavy
Mechs have learned to treat this
small venomous predator with
caution.

Future Wars--47
f~~m: RIIUlJRI~ ~Jlll@.
I~ Rll B\l€lllitJRIIl~IJ
It~ !J~IlllRltll !J~ltl fRlti~IJTl
B\l(ll JlffiJlf ~R€1 JJl Ttl
ti~JII. IJ II flffiJlf !tltJTHJ
11¥ ~~
IR€1 ~J
¥1R!f. III
·r tl
RIB\RitRiiB'J llRltll RtiR€1 RJ
n~Tm. ~~~1\lllt J~~ 1m mitMJ
I~ IXitllRJlfl RJllt lliB¥£fltll!f, I~
IRT£~ fii ,lt~tllJllB
POINT OF CONTACT
THOMAS P. MECKE
5551 FOLGER ST APT. B
FORT KNOX, KY. 40121
 FUTURE WARS
Hardware is the name of the
game in issue 36. Included in the
issue is the Punisher, a Clan Assault
Carrier, 10,000 tons of mean, with
the fighters to prove it.
A heavy Clan Omni -The
Ottawa is next. Followed by a
complete remake of the Marauder,
the Marauder III, making full use of
the newtech and Iostech that is now
available to the Inner Sphere. 100
tons of walking death.
Next on the list is Brimstone, 50
tons of hard hitting newtech. What
do you do with the Stinger to make
it competative with the Clan, well
the make over is so complete that it
36 PREVIEW
even has a new name, the Blazer, a
Stinger with a Hornet size surprise.
A 60 ton city mech follows, the
Tornado, even BattleMasters want
to avoid the hail of shells from this
one.
Artillery Mechs ? Sure with the
Thunder and Lightning, artillery
Mechs can dominate the battlefield,
like no vehicle mounted artillery
can. Now add the Stormbringer and
watch out, Artillery with .fust eyes.
Also in Issue 36, stories, varient
rules, Real Mechs, reviews and
more.
SEE YOU IN JUNE!
HaWK·EYE
. c.W')
Future Wars--49
MINIATURES
By Stephen Koo
1001 Vector: EMA-104
1002 Vigil: EMA-105
1003 Vantage: EMA-108
1004 Mauler: IMK~3
1005 Rampage: 1MK-05
-1006 Deathstalker: 1MK-{)8
1007 Comet: EMA-216
1008 Turbo: EMA-216X
1009 Fireball: EMA-220X
1010 Hellwing: IMK-11
1011 Shaitan: IMK-17X
1012 Vengeance: 1MK-30X

MAULER: Heavy Korgon unit designed for RAMPAGE: Heavy onnor, hand bazooka,
aerial oHocks. Iorge shield, sword.

DEATHSTAl.KER: 150mm outoconnon, fost, HELLWING: high speed Ayer with folding
moneveroble, shield, sword, wings. wings, Iorge beam gun.

TO BE RELEASED
 MEKTON WEAPONS

Weapon Type Range Accuracy Damage Cost Kills Shots Notes

ENERGY
Remote Bits I6 0 2 I flight move I2
Dual Bits I6 0 2 3 2 flight move I2
Laser Gun I6 I
Laser Cannon 16 2 2 2
Plasma Gun I6 3 3 3
Plasma Cannon 16 4 4 4
Beam Cannon 18 1 5 5 5
Disc Laser I6 -1 2 per 8 5 BV -6
Flamer 8 2 2, I , 1 3 3
Plasma Rifle 12 -1 3 3 1 5 .2 reload
Energy Gun 10 2 1.5 10 .2 reload
BALLISTIC
75mm IO 0 2 10 .2 reload
150mm I2 0 4 2 4 10
300mm 12 0 6 4 6 10
350mm 12 0 8 6 8 10
Machine Cannon 6 -I 1 per 2 2 I8 BV -6
Autocannon 8 -1 1 per 3 2 3 BV -6
Scatter Cannon 12 -2 1 per 4 3 3 BV -8
Bazooka/ Rifle 14 2 4 4 3 16
MISSILE
Rocket Pod 6 -2 1 per 3 BV -5; .2 reload
Rocket Launcher I4 -I 2 per 2 2 4 BV -10
SRMPod 14 0 2 per 1 1 BV -4; .2 reload
SRM Launcher 14 0 5 per 3 2 2 6 each attack
MRM Launcher 18 0 8 per 4 3 2 4 each attack
LRM Launcher 24 0 10 per 4 4 2 2 each attack
MELEE
Throwing v 2+
1 HMelee M -1 1 .2 striker
2 H Melee M -1 2 .5 striker
1 HMelee M 2+ 1 4
2 H Melee M 4+ 2 6
Whip M 1 1+ 2 entangle
Drill/Saw M 0 0 2 2 removes armor
Shield M 0 I .5 I striker •
Shield M 2+ 2 sps
Weapon Shield M 0 I .5 1 striker
I H Energy M I .5 1 20 striker
2 H Energy M 2 1 20 striker
1 H Energy M 4 2
2 H Energy M I 6 3 1
Nova Beam Saber M 0 12 8 2 3

Future Wars--51
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