PMIM Rules Version 3

Main Rules

Game Structure

Plastic Mechs and Iron Men is divided into three main phases of play: army selection, unit placement, and battle. First, in army selection, forces are selected according to the rules in the scenario, by both players simultaneously. Unit placement occurs second, with rules varying according to the scenario. Finally, in the battle phase, players alternate unit activations.

The Structure of the Battle Phase

In the battle phase, gameplay consists of rounds, in which players alternate activating their units until all units have been activated. If it is a player’s activation, but all their units have been activated, they do not make any actions that turn, and play proceeds to the next player with units available to activate. When all units have been activated, the round ends and unit activations are cleared.

Activations

A non-mech unit may move once and attack once during its activation, in either order. A Warmech may move once and attack up to twice during its activation, in any order. A Warmech may not attack with the same weapon more than once in an activation.

Movement

A unit may move a number of hexes up to its MOV. Some scenarios include impassable terrain, which may not be moved over.

Attacking

When a unit attacks, its player selects one of the attacking units weapons and an enemy unit no more hexes away than the RNG of the weapon the attacker is using. Then, the player makes a single attack roll of 2d6 + the weapon’s ACC, and if the roll is equal to or greater than the target’s DEF, deals damage equal to the weapon’s STR minus the defenders ARM, times the weapon’s REP. If the target is a non-mech unit, this damage is subtracted from the target’s current HP. If a unit’s current HP is ever reduced to 0, that unit is destroyed.

If attacking a Warmech, the damage is dealt to one of its hit locations. The location damaged by an attack is determined randomly, according to the type of the warmech. If a hit location is destroyed, the Warmech may not use any weapon mounted in that location. If an attack would hit a destroyed part of a Warmech, the hit location is rerolled. See the Warmech section below for further details about hit locations and their effects when destroyed.

Unit Design

Basic units (non-mechs) are composed of two parts: a chassis, representing the movement and defenses of the vehicle or infantry, and a weapon, representing the primary weapon of the unit. Basic units take one weapon of TON equal to their SPT.

Chassis Statline: HP, MOV, DEF, ARM, SPT, PTS

• HP is hit points, the amount of damage a unit can take before being destroyed
• MOV is movement, the distance in hexes a unit can move in a turn
• DEF is defence, the difficulty of hititng the unit
• ARM is armor, protection against damage
• SPT is spare tonnage, used to mount weapons
• PTS is the points cost for the unit, including weapons.

Weapon Statline: RNG, ACC, RPT, STR, TON

• RNG is range, the maximum distance a weapon can hit at
• ACC is accuracy, a bonus to attack rolls
• RPT is repetitions, the number of shots per hit
• STR is strength, the amount of damage per shot
• TON is tonnage, the spare tonnage taken up by the weapon

Chassis

Chassis	HP	MOV	DEF	ARM	SPT	PTS
Infantry	4	1	8	0	5*	2
ODA	4	1	8	1	5*	3
Beetle	2	3	8	1	5	3
GEV	2	4	8	1	10	4
Mammoth	3	2	7	2	10	4
Tyrant	5	2	7	2	15	6
Nebula	3	4	7	2	10	6

* Infantry and Orbital Drop Armor units use 5-ton weapons with a -1 penalty to RNG.

Weapons

Weapon	RNG	ACC	RPT	DAM	TON
Sabot cannon	4	0	1	4	10
L. Plasma Cannon	2	0	1	3	5
M. Plasma Cannon	2	0	1	5	10
H. Plasma Cannon	2	0	1	6	15
Minigrenades	3	0	2	3	10
L. Autocannon	4	1	1	2	5
M. Autocannon	4	1	3	2	10
H. Autocannon	4	1	3	3	15
L. Laser	5	2	3	1	5
M. Laser	5	2	2	2	10
H. Laser	6	2	2	2	15
L. Particle Cannon	5	1	1	3	10
H. Particle Cannon	5	1	1	4	15
Gauss Gun	6	1	1	5	20

Warmechs

Warmech Statline: TONS, SPT, MOV, DEF, ARM, HP stats, PTS

• TONS is the total tonnage of the Warmech
• SPT is spare tonnage, used to mount weapons
• MOV is movement, the distance in hexes a unit can move in a turn
• DEF is defence, the difficulty of hititng the unit
• ARM is armor, protection against damage
• HARM is arm HP, the amount of damage each of the Warmech’s arms can take
• HLEG is leg HP, the amount of damage each of the Warmech’s legs can take
• HTOR is side torso HP, the amount of damage each of the Warmech’s side torsos can take
• HCEN is center torso HP, the amount of damage the Warmech’s center torso can take.
• PTS is the points cost for the Warmech, including weapons

Warmechs may not have all four of HARM, HLEG, HTOR and HCEN. See the following sections for details about specific categories of Warmech

Humanoid Warmechs

Humanoid Warmechs have left and right arms, left and right legs, and left and right torso segments. If both torso segments are destroyed, the Warmech is destroyed. If both legs are destroyed, the Warmech is immobilized. Note that if both arms are destroyed, the Warmech is not destroyed, but is merely unable to attack.

The humanoid Warmechs detailed below must take two weapons with total tonnage equal to their SPT, mounting one on each arm.

Warmech	TONS	SPT	MOV	DEF	ARM	HARM	HLEG	HTOR	PTS
Heavy	100-120
Paladin	120	30	2	7	2	4	4	4	18
Mjolnir	110	35	2	7	2	3	3	4	18
Lancelot	100	30	2	7	2	3	3	4	15
Medium	55-95
Jaeger	95	30	2	7	2	2	3	4	14
Avenger	90	25	2	7	2	2	3	4	12
Timber Wolf	80	30	2	7	2	2	3	3	12
Leopard	70	20	3	7	2	2	2	2	12
Vinge	60	20	2	7	2	2	2	2	10
Light	35-50
Basset	50	15	3	8	1	3	3	3	8
Ultralight	20-30
Ripper	30	10	4	8	1	2	2	3	7

Humanoid Warmech Hit Location Chart

Roll	Location
1	Left Arm
2	Right Arm
3	Left Leg
4	Right Leg
5	Left Torso
6	Right Torso

Avian Warmechs

Avian Warmechs have left, right, and center torso segments and left and right legs. An avian Warmech is destroyed if its center torso is destroyed. As with humanoid Warmechs, if both legs are destroyed, the Warmech is immobilized.

The avian Warmechs detailed below must take one weapon with tonnage equal to their SPT, mounting it in their center torso.

Warmech	TONS	SPT	MOV	DEF	ARM	WTOR	WLEG	WCEN	PTS
Drake	60	20	2	7	2	2	2	4	10
Rattler	50	15	1	7	1	3	3	6	8
Corvus	40	10	3	8	1	2	3	6	7
Shrew	20	5	4	8	1	2	2	4	6

Avian Warmech Hit Location Chart

Roll	Location
1	Left Leg
2	Right Leg
3	Left Torso
4	Right Torso
5	Center Torso
6	Center Torso

Saurian Warmechs

Saurian Warmechs have left and right arms, a center torso, and left and right legs. A Suarian Warmech is destroyed if its center torso is destroyed. As with Humanoid Warmechs, if both legs are destroyed, the warmech is immobilized.

The Saurian Warmechs detailed below must take three weapons with total tonnage equal to their SPT, mounting one in each arm and one in the center torso.

Warmech	TONS	SPT	MOV	DEF	ARM	HARM	HLEG	HCEN	PTS
Grumbler	120	40	2	6	2	3	3	8	18
Grenadier	85	30	2	7	2	2	3	6	12
Terrier	45	15	3	8	1	2	2	4	8

Saurian Warmech Hit Location Chart

Roll	Location
1	Left Arm
2	Right Arm
3	Left Leg
4	Right Leg
5	Center Torso
6	Center Torso

Scenarios

Scenario: Take and Hold

Sides: two, symmetric.
Points: 72 per side.
Warmechs: 2 per side.
Map: 20x14 hexes, short grain.
Deployment: Each player deploys along a long edge of the map. Infantry deploy within four hexes of the edge, vehicles and Warmechs within two hexes of the edge.
Objectives: Six objective hexes are located along the center line of the map, with a 1-hex radius capture zone around them. At the end of each round, if one players has more units adjacent to an objective, that player gains one Victory Point. The first player to end a turn with more than 10 Victory Points while having more Victory Points than their opponent wins.

PMIM Playtest matches 1 and 2

Had a friend (Richard, who did the monte carlo simulations previously) over to do a playtest of PMIM. We played two games, using the Take and Hold scenario presented earlier. I took a balanced force: a Timber Wolf and a Vinge, two Tyrants, two Mammoths, three GEVs, three units of infantry, two Beetles, and two units of ODA, with a mix of anti-tank, anti-light, and anti-infantry weapons.

The first game, he went with a heavy composition: a Timber Wolf, a Vinge, seven Tyrants, and two Mammoths, armed with a mix of heavy autocannons and particle beams. That heavy composition had a pretty clear edge over my balanced composition when it comes to combat, but I won by victory points - GEVs can jump from their starting position to the capture zone in the first round, and that, combined with more units to seize points in the midgame, gave me enough of an edge to hit 10VP before my forces were quite wiped out. One major factor in this game was the fact that not all of my units could actually damage any of his units; my infantry had lasers and the Beetles were armed with LAC, with STR 1 and 2 respectively.

The second game, he took a Mjolnir with a gauss and a heavy particle beam and a Paladin with a heavy particle beam and a heavy autocannon as his Warmechs, filling the rest of his ponts with infantry and ODA units, armed with a mix of light autocannons and light plasmas. His first shot on my Timber Wolf took its left arm with the Gauss Gun out, and it was all downhill from there - I didn’t have much in the way of long-range anti-tank that could push for his Warmechs, so he was able to pick most of my vehicles apart before I could get in to hit his mechs, and he outnumbered me with infantry by a fair bit. I’m not sure how the game would have gone otherwise, or if dual 15-ton guns on my Timber Wolf would have made it easier to cope with an early weapon loss.

Overall, balance seemed pretty good, although that was partly down to the scenario rules disadvantaging the low number of units in the tank-heavy composition.

Timber Wolves might be undercosted, but I’d need to look at some alternate 12-point mechs to really decide that (and mech costs don’t have much to do with the costs of other units - the Timber Wolf is probably stronger than a pair of Tyrants, especially since it can take the Gauss Gun).

Light Lasers seem a little weak, but it’s hard to see what to do to buff them without stepping on something else’s toes; 4REP would be an instagib on infantry, a range increase would be put them at a longer range than anything else, and a damage increase would make them stronger than the LAC.

The Mjolnir seemed to be more effective than the Paladin, though that might just be because the Paladin didn’t bring its HAC into play consistently. I’m inclined to think that the Mjolnir should be an 18-point unit, since the heavy particle and Gauss gun combination was extremely effective.

I’m considering adding a requirement to take some light units in certain scenarios. Take and Hold nerfs the all-Tyrants strategy by making unit count matter for victory points, but all-Mammoths would create the same issues for an army that takes some STR 1 or 2 weapons, while putting a few more tanks on the table. I’m not sure how that would have affected the game; Richard would have had to make some tradeoffs, but APDS might have worked as well as the HPB and HAC lineup did, once you account for the 50% more shots being fired.

We noticed that I hadn’t revised the Heavy Mech defense values in the last rules update. That was a mistake on my part, but I’m not sure I shouldn’t just leave them at 6 DEF to keep them killable.

Richard also convinced me to rename Particle Cannons to Particle Beams. That means there’s a unique acronym for every weapon without needing to get creative.

I should be posting a revised ruleset in the next couple days; I’m hoping to get some of the bullet points I had in the first rules post turned into prose.

While Hammers Fell, Lances and Points, Take and Hold

Fiction: While Hammers Fell

outside Landedam, Dortheim, 3 Aug SY 2428
Albrecht shifted in his seat, unused to the cockpit of the Beaver’s Promise, the Vinge medium Warmech that had been granted to him on reaching the rank of master in the Treadwright’s guild. He would almost have preferred his former seat as a commander of a Tyrant superheavy tank, the cornerstone of Dortheim’s industry and defense, but his new station demanded he take arms as a Mechholder of the Guild.

“Attention all units, drop pods hit in ten! Nine! Eight!..”

Albrecht looked up and saw the smoke trails descending towards the field in front of him.

“Seven! Six!”

Albrecht shifted again and set his hands back on the unfamiliar controls. Though he had piloted loader frames as an apprentice, they lacked the responsiveness and degrees of freedom of a proper Warmech.

“Five! Four!”

He flicked off the safety on his left arm plasma cannon, then the autocannon on his mech’s right arm.

“Three! Two!”

Albrecht tensed on the triggers, ready to answer whatever emerged.

“One! Impact!”.

A pod smashed into the ground a quarter klick ahead, out of effective range of the plasma cannon, but well within range for an autocannon. Albrecht sighted on it, started his mech lumbering forwards. “With me, men!”.

The pod opened, unleashing a Basset, ten tons lighter than his own Vinge. Behind it, man-sized pods released their cargo: a squad of mercenaries in power armor. Albrecht fired his autocannon at the Basset, ripping an arm off it. Behind him, his old Tyrant opened up with its heavy laser, burning a pair of mercenaries out of their armor. The answering fire was deadly; three of his apprentices, called up as infantrymen, were slain. He steadied his aim again, trying to close with the Basset before it could do more harm.

The invader would have none of it. He backed off and took cover behind his pod. “Jacob, I need a flanker.” His journeyman, acting as a GEV pilot, responded immediately, sending his Ascarid screaming forward to the left, taking the Basset from its flank. Albrecht broke right, followed by the Tyrant, though his apprentices lagged behind on foot.

As the Ascarid fired on the Basset, the enemy mech charged forward, trying to keep the pod between itself and Jacob’s plasma cannon. Albrecht smiled - the Basset had played right into his hands. As it closed to 100 meters, Albrecht fired with his own plasma cannon. He scored a hit on the left leg, smashing its workings open. The Basset stumbled, but responded with an answering burst of plasma fire, though its light plasma cannon couldn’t penetrate his heavier armor in one shot.

The Tyrant behind him fired again, this time focusing on the Basset. The beam raked across the Basset’s torso, baring its interior to Albrecht’s next burst. As the Basset stumbled forward, Albrecht took aim again. This time, his plasma cannon smashed through the right leg of the Basset, sending it careening to the ground. As his apprentices sawrmed it, Albrecht moved on; a downed Warmech was no threat, and was as likely to be spoils of war for the Treadwright’s Guild as it was to be salvaged by the invaders.

Rules: Lances, Points, and Unit Selection

The basic unit of organization for typical armies in Plastic Mechs and Iron Men is the Lance, composed of a Warmech and its supporting vehicles and infantry. In principle, each Lance is worth 36 points total, although scenarios will generally specify only a total points limit and a number of Warmechs to select, rather than requiring that forces be precisely divisible into Lances. For instance, the Take and Hold scenario has a limit of 72 points and two Warmechs, so a valid selection would be two Lancelots at 15 points each, 6 Mammoths at 4 points each, and 9 infantry squads at 2 points each, although this selection cannot be broken evenly into two lances with one Warmech each.

Scenario: Take and Hold

Sides: two, symmetric.
Points: 72 per side.
Warmechs: 2 per side.
Map: 20x14 hexes, short grain.
Deployment: Each player deploys along a long edge of the map. Infantry deploy within four hexes of the edge, vehicles and Warmechs within two hexes of the edge.
Objectives: Six objective hexes are located along the center line of the map, with a 1-hex radius capture zone around them. At the end of each round, if one players has more units adjacent to an objective, that player gains one Victory Point. The first player to end a turn with more than 10 Victory Points while having more Victory Points than their opponent wins.

PMIM Units and Weapons 2.0

After some discussions on IRC and seeing some Monte Carlo simulation data helpfully provided by a friend, I’ve updated unit and weapon stats from the previous rules post. ACC and DEF have been changed across the board - weapons now have 0 to 2 ACC and units and warmechs have 7 to 8 DEF. Ranges have been increased for most weapons. New Light and Heavy Plasma Cannon variants have been introduced. Infantry and Orbital Drop Armor units can now use 5-ton weapons with a -1 penalty to RNG, and the Beetle costs only 3 points. Finally, the Mastodon has been renamed the Tyrant to reduce confusion with the Mammoth.

Chassis

Chassis	WND	MOV	DEF	ARM	SPT	PTS
Infantry	4	1	8	0	5*	2
ODA	4	1	8	1	5*	3
Beetle	3	3	8	1	5	3
GEV	2	4	8	1	10	4
Mammoth	3	2	7	2	10	4
Tyrant	5	2	7	2	15	6
Nebula	3	4	7	2	10	6

* Infantry and Orbital Drop Armor units use 5-ton weapons with a -1 penalty to RNG..

Weapons

Weapon	RNG	ACC	RPT	DAM	TON
Sabot cannon	4	0	1	4	10
L. Plasma Cannon	2	0	1	3	5
M. Plasma Cannon	2	0	1	5	10
H. Plasma Cannon	2	0	1	6	15
Minigrenades	3	0	2	3	10
L. Autocannon	4	1	1	2	5
M. Autocannon	4	1	3	2	10
H. Autocannon	4	1	3	3	15
L. Laser	5	2	3	1	5
M. Laser	5	2	2	2	10
H. Laser	6	2	2	2	15
L. Particle Cannon	5	1	1	3	10
H. Particle Cannon	5	1	1	4	15
Gauss Gun	6	1	1	5	20

Humanoid Warmechs

Warmech	TONS	SPT	MOV	DEF	ARM	WARM	WLEG	WTOR	PTS
Heavy
Paladin	120	30	2	7	2	4	4	4	18
Mjolnir	110	35	2	7	2	3	3	4	16
Lancelot	100	30	2	7	2	3	3	4	15
Medium	60-90
Timber Wolf	80	30	2	7	2	2	3	3	12
Vinge	60	20	2	7	2	2	2	2	10
Light	35-50
Basset	50	15	3	8	1	3	3	3	9
Ultralight	20-30
Ripper	30	10	4	8	1	2	2	3	7

Avian Warmechs

Warmech	TONS	SPT	MOV	DEF	ARM	WTOR	WLEG	WCEN	PTS
Corvus	40	10	3	8	1	2	3	6	8
Shrew	20	5	4	8	1	2	2	4	6

Plastic Mechs and Iron Men: First Rules Draft

• hex grid (TODO: any interesting terrain rules)
• no stacking of units
• alternating unit activation, all units activate before any may reactivate (allows multiple moves in a row at the end of a round)

Basic units (non-mechs) are composed of two parts: a chassis, representing the movement and defenses of the vehicle or infantry, and a weapon, representing the primary weapon of the unit.

Chassis Statline: WND, MOV, DEF, ARM, SPT, PTS

• WND is wounds, the amount of damage a unit can take before being destroyed
• MOV is movement, the distance in hexes a unit can move in a turn
• DEF is defence, the difficulty of hititng the unit
• ARM is armor, protection against damage
• SPT is spare tonnage, used to mount weapons
• PTS is the points cost for the unit, including weapons.

Weapon Statline: RNG, ACC, RPT, STR, TON

• RNG is range, the maximum distance a weapon can hit at
• ACC is accuracy, a bonus to attack rolls
• RPT is repetitions, the number of shots per hit
• STR is strength, the amount of damage per shot
• TON is tonnage, the spare tonnage taken up by the weapon

Each standard unit moves and shoots, in either order, once per activation. The unit makes a single attack roll, and if successful, deals damage based on its weapon’s Strength and Repetitions and the target’s Armor. Warmechs may move once and shoot up to twice, in any order. A Warmech may not attack with the same weapon twice in an activation.

A standard unit reduced to zero WND is destroyed.

Warmechs have six hit locations. The location damaged by an attack is determined randomly. If a hit location is destroyed, the Warmech may not use any weapon mounted in that location. If an attack would hit a destroyed part of a Warmech, the hit location is rerolled. See the Warmech section below for further details about hit locations and their effects when destroyed.

Attack roll: 2d6 + ACC vs DEF
Damage: (STR - ARM) * RPT
Warmech Hit Locations: 6 locations (2 arms, 2 legs, 2 torso), d6 table, no facing

Basic units take one weapon of TON equal to their SPT.

Chassis

Chassis	WND	MOV	DEF	ARM	SPT	PTS
Infantry	4	1	8	0	*	2
ODA	4	1	8	1	*	3
Mammoth	3	2	6	2	10	4**
Mastodon	5	2	6	2	15	6
Nebula	3	4	6	2	10	6
GEV	2	4	9	1	10	4
Beetle	3	3	6	1	5	4

* Infantry and Orbital Drop Armor units use Small Arms, with no tonnage cost.
** A Mammoth tank armed with a Black Powder Cannon costs only 3 points

Weapons

Weapon	RNG	ACC	RPT	STR	TON
Small Arms	1	2	1	2	-
Sabot cannon	3	0	1	4	10
Black Powder cannon	2	0	1	3	10
Plasma Cannon	2	0	1	5	10
Minigrenades	2	0	2	3	10
L. Autocannon	3	2	1	2	5
M. Autocannon	3	2	2	2	10
H. Autocannon	3	2	2	3	15
L. Laser	4	4	3	1	5
M. Laser	4	4	2	2	10
H. Laser	5	4	2	2	15
L. Particle Cannon	4	2	1	3	10
H. Particle Cannon	4	2	1	4	15
Gauss Gun	5	2	1	5	20

Warmechs

Warmech Statline: TONS, SPT, MOV, DEF, ARM, WARM, WLEG, WTOR, PTS

• TONS is the total tonnage of the Warmech
• SPT is spare tonnage, used to mount weapons
• MOV is movement, the distance in hexes a unit can move in a turn
• DEF is defence, the difficulty of hititng the unit
• ARM is armor, protection against damage
• WARM is arm wounds, the amount of damage the Warmech’s arms can take
• WLEG is leg wounds, the amount of damage the Warmech’s legs can take
• WTOR is torso wounds, the amount of damage the Warmech’s torso can take
• PTS is the points cost for the Warmech, including weapons

Humanoid Warmechs

Humanoid warmechs have left and right arms, left and right legs, and left and right torso segments. If both torso segments are destroyed, the Warmech is destroyed. If both legs are destroyed, the Warmech is immobilized. Note that if both arms are destroyed, the Warmech is not destroyed, but is merely unable to attack.

The humanoid Warmechs detailed below must take two weapons with total tonnage equal to their SPT, mounting one on each arm.

Warmech	TONS	SPT	MOV	DEF	ARM	WARM	WLEG	WTOR	PTS
Heavy
Paladin	120	30	2	6	2	4	4	4	18
Mjolnir	110	35	2	6	2	3	3	4	16
Lancelot	100	30	2	6	2	3	3	4	15
Medium	60-90
Timber Wolf	80	30	2	7	2	2	3	3	12
Vinge	60	20	2	7	2	2	2	2	10
Light	35-50
Basset	50	15	3	8	1	3	3	3	9
Ultralight	20-30
Ripper	30	10	4	8	1	2	2	3	7

Humanoid Warmech Hit Location Chart

Roll	Location
1	Left Arm
2	Right Arm
3	Left Leg
4	Right Leg
5	Left Torso
6	Right Torso

Avian Warmechs

Avian Warmechs have left, right, and center torso segments and left and right legs. An avian Warmech is destroyed if its center torso is destroyed. As with Humanoid warmechs, if both legs are destroyed, the Warmech is immobilized.

The Avian warmechs detailed below must take one weapon with tonnage equal to their SPT, mounting it in their center torso.

Warmech	TONS	SPT	MOV	DEF	ARM	WTOR	WLEG	WCEN	PTS
Corvus	40	10	3	8	1	2	3	6	8
Shrew	20	5	4	9	1	2	2	4	6

Avian Warmech Hit Location Chart

Roll	Location
1	Left Arm
2	Right Arm
3	Left Torso
4	Right Torso
5	Center Torso
6	Center Torso