The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[MERCS] Minis - They'll have a booth at PAX! Try the game out!
Sharp101
TorontoRegistered User regular
TorontoRegistered User regular
http://www.mercsminis.com
MERCS is a "near future" Sci-Fi tabletop skirmish game. A friend and I picked up the rulebook for this game on a whim from our LFGS and now most of our gaming group is playing every Sunday.
The general gist of the backstory for the game is that in the near future the world governments have fallen. In their place has risen the giant, multinational corporations known as "Megacons". These Megacons have hired military forces known as MERCS. You play as one of these factions and fight the rival Megacons.
The game is fairly unique in that it's a small skirmish game with very very simple rules. Games are played with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 models per side, but the developers didn't use this small model count as an excuse to make an overcomplicated/overdetailed game system.
As I mentioned the games are small, a 'full' game is only 5 models per side. The playing surface is suggested to be 2'x3', but is easily played on as small as a 2'x2'. We played a 3v3 game on a 18" x 24" table the other night and it worked perfectly.
Each faction, or "Megacon" only has 6 different units/models to choose from. Instead of choosing units from a book, each faction has a 'deck' of 6 cards that have all your unit's stats printed on them. In general, each Megacon has 1 of each of 7 classes: Leader, Assault, Medic, Specialist, Sniper, and Medic. Of course not all units fit into these classes but they are used as general guidelines. (For example, the USCR's "sniper" has a Harpoon Anchor gun that pins models in place!) At the beginning of the game you choose which units will be hitting the board, and which one(s) will be staying home.
There are no rulers needed to measure anything in this game. All model movement and weapon ranges are measured using the unit cards. These cards also have all your Unit personal and weapon stats on them, so aside from a few dice, tokens, and some terrain, you need nothing else to play this game.
To move a model, you place the large semicircle in cut into the bottom of the card around the model's 30mm base and move your model to one of the 3 other cut-out semicircles on the card. The game also features a cool "Snap to cover" feature that allows you to 'snap' up to one base width to be base to base with cover or a friendly model.
MERCS uses a d10 based system which gives a much wider range of modifiers than the usual d6.
Sharp101 on
0
Posts
CCC (Yellow Jackets)
KemVar
USCR (United Soviet Corporate Republic)
FCC (Free Corporate Control)
Keizai Waza
sefadu
For a great summary of each faction's playstyle, as well as pictures of each faction's models, see this blog post at Guerrilla Miniature Games
Each turn is carried out on a per-model initiative order. Each model, on both sides, roll a d10 at the beginning of every turn to determine each model's initiative for that turn. Then, from the highest Initiate to the lowest, each model gets a single action. This random initiative really shakes the game up from turn to turn. It can easily happen that some, if not all, of your opponents models can activate twice before your own. Not getting a high enough, or low enough!, initiative on your turn can keep you on your toes and forces your strategy to constantly evolve.
Note that because models only get a single action per turn, this generally means they have to choose to either move or attack each turn. Turns are quick however, so moving into the right position can be just as important an activation as shooting your gun or swinging that Vorpal Phase blade.
For each movement point (MP) a model has (upper right corner of the card) that model can move once. Remember, you use those cards to move. Place the model into the large semicircle cutout and move it to one of the three other cutouts, keeping the model facing the same direction. A model can only turn up to 90° before or after moving with a card. As a model can only see other models in their 180° forward arc and enemy models get various bonuses if attacking your flank or rear, a model's facing is very important in this game.
On top of the normal movement, each model is allowed one "Snap to cover" per turn. This move that must bring you into base-to-base with cover no more than 1 base width away. It does not count as normal movement and can be done at any point in the turn. This can be used at the end of a move to reach that barricade for cover or can be used to whip around the corner to open fire an enemy scum. This very simple mechanic really offers a lot of options in your strategy and is a key part of the game.
All combat is done with an "FN" system. FN stands for "Firing Number" and is a number between 1-10 that you need to roll equal to or higher to hit with. Each weapon is assigned a base FN value (usually between 6 and 8), but this number is modified depending on the facing of your target as well as if he is in cover or not.
If you hit your target, two things happen:
First, if your weapon's strength (between 1-4) is equal to or higher than your targets armour value (between 1-4) then they take a single wound (wounds are called "blood" in this game, and most models start with 3). If not then your target loses no health.
Second, your target has to test to see if his armour breaks down. Each unit has their own Armour Failure number that they will need to roll equal to or higher to pass. If not then their armour breaks and which causes their armour value to go down by one as well as immobile until they can fix it. It is an effective strategy to pepper high armour targets with weak weapons knowing you won't hurt them just to force Armour Break tests. That will lock them down and let you close in for the kill.
As tables are only a couple feet across maximum most guns have an unlimited range. Any weapons that do have range, such as grenades, have a range that is measured in card lengths. Finally, most heavy or full auto weapons use card 'templates' to determine which models are hit with their attacks. These templates are just simple shapes made with the cards, such as a T shape made with 2 cards for a heavy machine gun.
There is a short list of other things models can do as their action, but I won't go into detail. These are things like Overwatch, Suppression, and Bounding.
Originally this game was designed to be played on printed mats instead of 3d terrain. Most people still do use 3d terrain for their games which makes using the cards for movement a little tricky at times. Because of this the designers put two little white lines on the edge of the card so you can still measure movement distance in tight situations. Overall the cards do take a little getting used to, but it a very cool mechanic that you'll feel comfortable with after a game or two.
Ok that's enough for now. I'm tried of typing.
These pictures and more from Guerrilla Miniature Games
My FCC vs a friend's CCC Yellowjackets
PaintVagrant actually painted a team a while back
Some Random models from the MERCS Forums
The two swappable heads are modeled after guys that are good friends with the Sculptor and have helped the MERCs community out a lot.
"The businessman is an estranged Megacon employee who is armed with an AK 47 and a molotov cocktail!"
Luckily I actually play FCC, so I can't wait to add this 7th model to my team.
My main issue with them is still the helmets. Way to tiny. In fact, the one guy without a helmet has a head that's as big as the other guy's helmets! Very weird.
(We've nicknamed them as having "Fridge" armour :P )
Kemvar are overpowered also, which is agreed on by everyone in the game group. Their corp cloaking ability combined with supression makes them impossible to shoot for about 70% of the models in the game (start at 7+ to hit, +3 for cloak/cover, and +1 for supression = 11+ to hit). This assumes you are playing with a lot of scenery, which is the recommended way to play. This would be okay if it was balanced by mediocrity in other aspects, but instead they have the best heavy in the game (most shots, can split, loner = -1 to all rolls) as well as having by far the best melee in the game (the assassin has no comparison, doing incredible melee damage and able to move/melee).
My buddy plays Kemvar and I've had no problem beating him with my FCC. It's a hard win, but through careful flanking and some lucky armour rolls, you can take them out. By getting into close range you remove most of their Active Cammo bonuses. Since most medium ranged shots need 8/9 to hit anyway, I don't find their cammo that overpowered. You example is a pretty ideal situation for them.
Firing at a kemvar guy in cover with a rifle while being suppressed would be: 11+ (7+ to hit, +3 cover, +1 for suppression)
But if you get within a card length of him that drops to 9+
And if your leader is around, 8+
Or better yet, short range rear shot (without a leader around) is hitting on 7+!
Since I play FCC I have access to my boomer who can shoot a grenade at the ground next to any kemvar dude and hit on a 4+. If you have normal grenades these will hit automatically, cause damage and force an armour roll.
Now their heavy on the other hand I can agree with. That guy up in elevated terrain is a fucking powerhouse which will require you to dedicate most of your team to take him out. But once again, with careful maneuvering and staying in cover/out of LOS, it's not impossible to deal with him.
And yes the assassin is a bitch, but I find he will run in and almost take a guy out (doing only 2 blood) and then get blown away by the rest of my team. If you leave a guy alone though, the assassin will murder him.
I find it weird that you would have so much trouble beating KemVar with sefadu. I've only seen the cards for sefadu once, but it seemed like they were a very hard counter to Kamvar with all their awesome abilities.
Can I ask what you find confusing about Suppression/Overwatch? The only issues we had was determining which actions didn't trigger overwatch/suppression. As soon as we looked that up in the FAQ everything was fine.
In all those situations you mention though that requires you walking across the battlefield to get within a card length to even have a chance to hit, the whole time they are able to hit you just fine. And once you're within a card length you can add 2 to all the numbers you came up with to determine how much easier it will be for them to hit you as well. Good Kemvar players won't charge off with the assassin either, he's best held back to counter anybody moving close enough to even hit you.
Do you play suppression/overwatch are only triggered at the very start of the turn? So if a guy is in overwatch and a model that started behind cover runs across the battlefield you can't shoot at him at all? And suppression doesn't do anything in that situation as well? The part that makes me question this is because FCC's corp ability says that while dirt crawling they aren't affected by supp/overwatch, except if they started in line of sight...but what is the point of the ability at all since that's how everything works?
As for running across the board, with lots of terrain and bounding it should be no problem to move 18" in a turn or two.
Suppression works like this:
If you start an action in LOS to a enemy model that's on suppression, you make a courage test.
If you pass that test, you continue your action at -1mv and +1fn.
If you fail, you do nothing.
The key part there is that you have to start your action within LOS to trigger suppression. Overwatch works the same way except instead of a courage test you get shot after doing half your move. So if you run out from behind a wall into suppression/overwatch, you don't trigger it.
The FCC's debris crawl basically just ignores suppression and overwatch, but you're at -1mv. I think the part about "except if they started in line of sight" is a mistake. From the FAQ:
Most of the problems our group have had with the game is getting our brains to move away from thinking of this game in 40k terms. We play a LOT of 40k and Necromunda, so we had a lot of preconceived notions about things like overwatch and even about how a firefight should carry out. Once we realized that this game was not about sitting across the board and shooting each other, we had a lot more fun. It really is a game about short range skirmishes and maneuvering around your enemy.
The only actions that don't seem to trigger suppression from what I saw were declaring suppression, declaring overwatch, and declaring bounding? But then for the actual bounding movement later on, or while firing an overwatch shot you then suffer from their suppression/overwatchers?
I didn't know that overwatch fire occurs halfway through your move though, does that mean if you start in the open if your first movement (assuming you have 2+) is behind a building you can't get hit? The other part that confused me was that move/fire you can get suppressed/overwatched at both points, despite that going against their rules for only taking it at the start.
And since shooting at a target in overwatch is considered a simultaneous action, the moving target will move half it's distance before being hit. If this 1/2 movement takes the target out of LOS then they can't be hit.
From the FAQ:
And your final point about Move/Fire and Overwatch/Suppression: Move and Fire is technically two actions. Overwatch/Suppression is checked at the start of an action. not the start of the turn. So if you started out of LOS, moved into the open, and fired, you would test after moving, but before firing. If you started in the open, moved, then fired, you would test at the beginning of the move.
Keep in mind that a single model can only test for suppression or be shot at once per enemy model on Overwatch/Suppression. It is impossible to test for suppression or be shot at twice in a turn if there is only one enemy on Overwatch/Suppression.
From the FAQ:
I highly suggest giving a read through the various FAQs and the very short Errata. The FAQs really clear up the few unclear things from the rulebook/cards.
The FAQs can be found here and the errata can be found here.
If so, what did you think?