This was part of a much longer post and I carved this out as a standalone section because I suspect I may want to refer back to this and refine it as I play various matches. Some background: in 2024, the beta rules for a generally “balanced” Matched Play format were released. These are kind of like quick-start recommended house rules that a group could adopt and use to put together pick-up games. I won’t go through all the listbuilding stipulations from the document, but I wanted to put together some rough notes on each mission type (generally focused around skirmish scale battles).
There are a dozen different objectives listed in the Matched Play document. Having a general understanding of the expectations of each mission type means I can have a sense of what kind of force I need. No list can be perfectly optimized for every single mission type (but some can get real close if you don’t care if your opponent is having any fun).
A quick note about distances: For a skirmish game, the board is either 36×48″ or 48×48″. Through the magic of MegaMek, I can see which units have the kind of broken levels of movement where they can get just about anywhere without even having to sprint.
- Fireball ALM-XF: 48″ and 25 PV. Thankfully, it’s listed as “Unique” on the Master Unit List and has no other faction association. It technically shouldn’t be allowed in Matched Play, but the wording is wishywashy enough that you probably still need to house rule it. I have a Fireball, but there are way saner versions.
- Locust LCT-6M: 36″ and 31 PV. Technically available for mercenaries in the IlClan era.
- Celerity: Most variants of this go 40″ and are also very cheap. A handful are also available to Mercenaries in the IlClan era. I should probably pick one of these up because I like Repulic of the Sphere mechs.
- Dasher (Fire Moth): The P, T, and G all go 30″ and can hit pretty hard. Will fall over to a stiff breeze.
Another useful breakpoint is 21″, since that’s the minimum distance your objectives can be from your home edge in Objective Raid. And, thankfully, there are a lot of mechs that move move than 21″. Remarkably, there are pitifully few lights that feel true to the Capellans, though. The Raven has a lot of good ECM toys but is a little slow. There’s a Flea with Stealth and a few other Capellan appropriate characteristics – even though that variant has pretty widespread availability.
Objective Raid
The big one here is that Sprinting and Airborne units cannot pick up, control, or interact with objectives. Each player puts down three objective tokens at least 21″ away from their home edge. Players then send out their units to pick up and move back to their home edge. Non-mech units need to spend an entire turn at a standstill to pick up the token (presumably because the crew needs to get out and pick it up). Some of these kinds of modes will also have you roll to pick up and give you a bonus if your mech has hands. Thankfully, you just need to spend the turn there. No penalties for shooting, either.
Okay, so I’m going to want to consider having a mech that can move close to 21-22″. Another sneaky thing might be to also have something like a Hovercraft with the “AC” ability to load it up with precision rounds and see if I can pop the inevitable Fire Moth my opponent will run.
Control the Field
No objectives to place for this one. You just need to march across the map and get within 12″ of your opponent’s home edge. For every unit within that threshold, you score that unit’s “Size” number in victory points. Speedier big units are ideal. I’m going to spend a bit of time working through this, as this kind of thing is pretty easy to look up in MegaMek and worth considering for a couple other scenarios.
I don’t have many of these, but I could probably proxy the regular Mongoose as a Mongoose II. The Dasher II looks *super* different from a Fire Moth, unfortunately.
- Targe (TRG-1N and 3M): 20″ and Size 2. 32 and 43 PV, respectively. Mercenaries only, former Republic of the Sphere.
- Mongoose II: 20″ and Size 2. All of these are bonkers expensive. 36-45 PV.
- Phantom J: 22″ and Size 2. Can duke it out on an objective, but expensive at 48 PV.
- Black Lanner J: 22″ and Size 2. Extra armour and structure, but less short/medium damage. Same cost as Phantom J.
- Cicada CDA-4A: 20″ and Size 2. Less tough than the Phantom and Black Lanner, less damage, but way more cost effective at 37 PV.
- Fenris (Ice Ferret) J and T: The J, not unlike the Phantom and Black Lanner, is kind of spooky. Still expensive, but the J at 65 PV is probably able to put 6 damage into a rear arc every turn and still take a punch. Might have to make a point of folding this into a Hell’s Horses lance. The T is 46 PV and a little overcosted for the damage output it can reasonably manage.
- Dasher II 2: 26″ and size 2. Similar damage profile and cost to the Ice Ferret T.
After that, we’re looking at Heavies or Assaults, none of which move faster than 16″. However, a sprint of 24″ for a heavy mech is really solid in some modes. I figure I’ll throw a couple in here just in case:
- Quickdraw QKD-9G: 16″, 51 PV. With this guy, you’re overpaying for jump jets that go slower than just running. CASEII isn’t bad. Better damage and availability than the Ostsol OTL-9M. Unfortunately, I’m probably going to have to paint this dork despite being let down by the Quickdraw at every turn in the Harebrained Schemes Battletech game.
- Ostsol OTL-9M: 16″ 49 PV. I love the Ostsol. I am not a Free Worlds League fan, and this one’s exclusive to them. Bummer. I took this variant to an event without faction restrictions and it was a great little harasser.
- Grand Dragon DRG-7K, 7KC and 12K: 16″, 47-49 PV. They called this thing the Grand Dragon. I love the Dragon as a Heavy mech and the Combine has a few really great mechs, but I really struggle with getting past the “I studied the Blade” energy the Combine has. Maybe I’ll change my tune when the Kurita force packs drop. Admittedly, the Capellans have a whole set of other problems with their portrayal and they’re the only great house I have a specific paint scheme for. I contain multitudes.
- Exterminator EXT-5F, 5E, 4DX: The dead do not trouble the living. ComStar exclusive and extinct in the IlClan era. I love the sculpt and hope we get wider availability for this one some time.
- Lancelot C 2: 16″, 48 PV. Same problem as the Exterminator, in general. Weird damage profile that drops off in the mid range. Probably an overpay for what you get. Also extinct in the IlClan era/weird availability elsewhere.
- Linebacker G, I: 16″, 48-52 PV. Kind of a weird one. Will definitely duke it out in short range, but pitiful range outside of that.
- Charger C: 16″, 83 PV. My beloved. You need to build your whole ass force around the footprint that thing has but it will serve you well in a few mission types. Only available to Raven Alliance, though. The 1X1 also exists but doesn’t have anywhere near the damage profile. Use that if you want a quick-moving brick. This is probably one of the few mechs I will buy a duplicate of so that I can run it with the Raven Alliance.
- Ti Ts’ang TSG-10L, TSG-9DDC: 16″, 49-50 PV. I definitely need to pick up a Ti Ts’ang at some point. I keep holding out hope for an updated sculpt or a plastic version from CGL.
- Thresher MK II: 16″, 49 PV. I haven’t heard of this thing. Decent availability, but I’m probably not going out of my way to get one.
Destroy the Enemy
What it says on the tin. 1 VP for every PV (round down, min 1) of an enemy unit that is destroyed or crippled. Basically a damage per turn check.
Hold the Fort
Each player places two objective tokens at least 12″ from their home edge and 14″ from any other objective token. At the End Phase of Turn 3, if no enemy units are within 12″ of your objective and one of your units is within 6″ of the objective token, they score 2 VP. This is probably the mission I’m most curious to try out.
Breakthrough
A bit like Control the Field, but units disappear after they’ve scored. Also need to be in base-to-base contact with the home edge of your opponent. Kind of forces you to balance toughness, mobility, and damage.
Find the Target
This is a scan three different objectives by getting within 6″ of them kind of mission. Roll at the end of a phase. On a 7+, the objective is a target building. Buildings can take 15 damage before being destroyed. You may not fire on an objective without successfully designating a target.
Extraction
This one seems a little over overtuned. I had to read the instructions like four or five times. So you put some units in an extraction zone, these are the only units that can score victory points. Only units with TMM of 2 or less can score. So kind of like the anti-high-TMM/JMPS mission. You’re running the extraction units to your home edge to score them while you sweep in from your home edge to give covering fire.
Escort
You get an Ordnance Transport truck for every 100 PV of your force (round up). You score 10 VP for getting them to your opponent’s deployment zone. The trucks can’t be used to initiative sink. They always move first. Cannot spot or do anything meaningful.
Reconnaissance
Alright, so this is a scanning mission. The instructions make it seem more complex than it actually is. There’s value in having units with PRB or BH to help with scanning.
King of the Hill
Each player is placing a token within 3″ of the middle of the play area. They also place two secondary objective tokens at least 12″ from the home edge, with each token at least 18″ from every other objective token. The goal is to keep enemy units away from your objective tokens while getting within 8″ of your enemy’s objective tokens. Again, asking you to balance speed and toughness, as you’re probably going to be heading into short range to capture some of those objectives.
Capture the Flag
Flag tokens are placed within 8″ of the home edge. Base-to-base contact to pick up the flag. If size 1 or less, MV and TMM is halved (round down). If size 2 or more, MV is reduced by 2″ and TMM by 1. 10 VP for getting the token back to your home edge.
Headhunter
1 VP for every 10 PV (round down, min 1) of an enemy that is destroyed or crippled. One unit in each formation is designated as a command unit, killing this is worth 2 extra VP. Basically a more interesting Destroy the Enemy.
And that’s it for the Matched Play mission types. I have a separate post I’m working on that’s related to listbuilding, but I figured I could just carve this bit out and have it free-standing. As I play more of these mission types, I’ll probably add some notes for solid mech variants to use.