Classic Battletech Alt Format Ideas...

I've been toying around with various formats to add a bit of variety to my Classic Battletech games.  We've all got our favorite mechs, our favorite formations, and things could get a little stale if we're constantly doing the same 4 vs 4.  Below are what I've come up with to force a bit of variety.  We have really only been playing mech vs mechs, so these formats will take that into account...

- Highlander -

You know the saying, "There can be only one".  Well, that's the idea! 1 light, 1 medium, 1 heavy, 1 assault mech.  BV and tonnage should not matter for this one, as in general the lances should be fairly balanced as far as weight/class goes.  It will come down to your mech choices, their loadouts, and your tactics/playstyle!

- Solaris Style -

I'll admit, I'm only mildly familiar with the Solaris Gladiator Fights.  Most of my info on them comes from sarna.net.  But, the idea is simulate those gladiatorial fights.  Use only a single map/board to represent the arena, with whomever brings the lighter of the mechs getting the choice of map.  The idea is 1 vs 1 duels of equal weight class.  Or, to spice things up a bit, you could do 2 vs 1, with the solo mech having a weight advantage over the two mechs.  I'm  thinking for fighting against an Assault, you could trying using a 1 heavy, 1 medium against him.  Or a heavy vs 1 medium and 1 light.  Even a Heavy vs 2 lights could be fun.

- MWO Mechbay -

The idea for this one, is to run configurations exactly as used in MWO, and only IF you run that actual mech in the game.  If you don't pilot it in MWO, you can't use it in this format!  This could be ran as a 4 v 4 or an 8 v 8, depending on time and how much you want to recreate MWO on the tabletop.  It would also require you to be able to fill out your stat sheets, complete with crit location and engine movement modifiers.  Although I'm not sure how you'd work in MWO's version of ECM, the targeting restrictions would be easy enough to follow, but the "invisibility" factor of MWO's ECM would be a different matter...

So there you have it, 3 alternate format ideas to add a little variety to your standard Classic Battletech games.  

If you've got any special rules or scenarios you like using in your games, I'd love to hear about it!