MechWarrior Orders? We don’t need no stinking Orders!

Perhaps the quirkiest aspect of MechWarrior: Dark Age is the Command Point system. While it
may be appropriate for Heroclix (Superheros are inclined to strike a pose after doing anything) for a
military combat simulation it’s just silly. These rules do away with the concept of orders while
(hopefully) maintaining balance.

When determining the build point value of the game it should be a multiple of 40, as you may not
have more units than the point value divided by 40. So in a 480-point game you may have up to 12
units, you may of course choose to have less than 12 units and may take any combination of units
that you desire.

Every turn all of your Vehicle and Infantry units may each perform any ONE action.

Every turn all of your Mech units may each perform up to TWO actions. Each action a Mech
performs generates one heat, except a vent order that has its normal heat reducing effects. Any
combination of actions is legal, so for instance you could: move then shoot, shoot twice, move
twice, shoot and scoot or perhaps even run then charge (+5 heat for that one though, extra crispy).

No unit may be the target of more than two attack attempts (excluding artillery strikes) in a turn; the
attempts may be made by combat formations however. Special attacks such as Pulse or Anti-
Personnel only count as one attack and then only on the primary target.

A unit with the Command special ability may grant an additional order. If this order is given to an
infantry or vehicle unit then that unit is considered to have been pushed and receives a click of
damage. If the order is given to a Mech unit then the order generates two heat, note that venting is
not an available option in this case. The order may be used to activate a formation; in fact it’s the
only time you’d ever use a movement formation under these rules.