# Ontology Recapitulates Phylogeny - Battledroids to Steel Rift: Basic Starter Set tags: #articles #game/wargame/battletech #game/wargame/steel-rift ![[ORP - SR - Hill Fight.jpg]] ## Warm up the Cannons **[[Steel Rift]]** is a fast-paced, relatively light, tabletop wargaming experience which integrates mecha, vehicles, infantry, and off-board support. Quite a lot of this is covered in **[[BattleTech|Battledroids]]**, which itself is a pretty complete stand-alone game which has basic, advanced, and expert rules built into the book in the box. While I truly appreciate the fact that BD was the progenitor of **[[BattleTech]]** and as such deserves great and abiding respect, I'm not sure that I can be expected to have my hands on what [Noble Knight Games is currently pricing at nearly $700 USD](https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147373306/Battledroids). [![[ORP - SR - Battledroids Price.jpg]]](https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147373306/Battledroids) I am old and my collection of goodies is pretty vast, but I just don't have that at my command. Luckily, there has been quite a lot of documentation written around and about the original **BD**, and I'm going to go off of that for what follows. It could be a lot worse. [We have a pretty solid summary of all three ranks of the rules, a complete list of the mechs included, with stats, a general idea of the other things which are treated with.](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Battledroids) Everything is pretty solid. I feel like I have enough to go on. I also feel like **BD** is *not* a very good starter set in terms of what we normally think of as cutting edge. [^starter] Luckily, that is just fine because I can restructure things in the course of these articles. That is entirely my plan. I'm also going to start with the assumption that you already have the **Steel Rift** core book, because that's all you need within the context of this BD Basic Starter Kit. That's going to simplify matters, meaning that we only have to talk about some basic mech conversions. If you haven't picked up a copy of [**SR** yet, you can have it in your hot little hands in very short order by picking it up from *Drivethru RPG* for a mere $10, which is cheaper than from *Death Ray*'s own site](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/390483/steel-rift). Then you can have it printed coil bound at your nearest and favorite document printing location, which is a godsend because it will lay flat and allow you to flip through for easy reference. If you're feeling even froggier and want to add some mecha to your collection (though I've been assuming you really want to use your already-owned **BattleTech** goodies here), pick up [the new $45 6-unit **Steel Rift** Starter Kit](https://deathraydesigns.com/product/quick-build-2-player-starter-box/) which partially inspired what I'm doing here. It comes with the core book and a brilliant little summary sheet that you'll appreciate.  I'll make the very conscious decision that we are only going to put in stats for the mechs we use right now. I know what you're thinking: *"**BD** doesn't **have** a particular set of mechs intended to be used as the demonstration set in the starter kit."* You are correct. All it includes are two 3-inch tall plastic models, one *Shadowhawk* and one *Griffin*.^[Plus tokens for the rest, but c'mon … We're here for the hardcore metal mashing.] While I do love one-on-one dueling, I don't think that really does either **BD** or **SR** any favors. So we're going to change it up a little bit. It's going to be fine, I promise. ## Kick Starter: Basic **Steel Rift** is extremely straightforward when it comes to kicking off a game, and we are not going to touch any part of that process. It's too good. So you'll go through the basic steps as documented right there in the front of the book. - Select mission size - Recruit forces - Load out your mechs - Assign your weapon systems - Determine the approach (which just lets whoever has the initiative decide how you're entering the map, which is kind of clever) - Generate a mission objective randomly - Generate the terrain (which is effectively just alternating picking elements and putting them on the board) - Deploy your forces Since we have the great advantage of only sticking to the core book, we won't have to talk about infantry or vehicles right now. We can put that off until the Intermediate Kit. We also aren't going to talk about factions or teams, which *are* actually in the core book for **Steel Rift** because that gets in the way of this being a complete funnel for getting some hardware on the board and smashing it together at high speed. That also means we aren't going to have secondary agendas, but I think that's okay; we'll deal with *that* in the Advanced Kit. However, now we need some crunchy goodness. We need mechs to run around and fight one another, and the *Shadowhawk* vs *Griffon* duel just won't cut it. But they can inspire us. ### Gear Up The intro scenario is going to be a Recon Mission with a limit of 100 tons, just to keep things simple. We could go for a full Strike, but let's save that for the Intermediate. Both the *Shadowhawk* and the *Griffon* are 55 ton medium mechs. This rolls over neatly to **SR**, sliding it down to 30 tons for each.^[A 50 ton HE-V in **SR** is an Ultra Heavy. That's okay; it's just numbers.] With 100 tons to play with, you could go with a Medium, 3x Lights, and a 10 ton Support Asset, or 2x Medium and 2x Lights. We'll build one force each of those, just to have some pleasing asymmetry to juggle around. The *Shadowhawk* and the *Griffon* will be the anchors of each force. #### REDFOR ##### Shadowhawk A multirole BattleMech developed in 2550 during the Golden Age, the Shadow Hawk^[Yes, that's the way it's written on Sarna. The *inferior* way to write the name of the mech.] is a powerful fusion of maneuverability and firepower. With a mix of long-range and short-range weapons, good maneuverability thanks to jump jets, and excellent endurance, the Shadow Hawk has long been regarded as one of the best 'Mechs in its weight class. The Shadow Hawk is equally adept whether commanding a reconnaissance company or serving as a spotter for heavy and assault lances. ###### Core *Total Weight:* 30 Armor d6 (S), Structure d6 *Weight Allocated:* 12 tons *Weight Remaining:* 18 tons ###### Weapon Systems | Weapon | Damage Rating | Traits | Cost | | -------------------- | :-----------: | ------------------------------ | ---: | | AC/5 (autocannon) | 4 | *Kinetic* | 4 | | LRM-5 (missiles) | 4 | *Smart, Limited (3)* | 3 | | SRM-2 (rocket pack) | 4 | *Smart, Blast (3"), Limited (2)* | 3 | | Medium Laser (laser) | 2 | *AP (1), Draining* | 4 | *Total Cost:* 14 tons ###### Upgrades | Upgrade | Cost | | --------- | ---- | | Jump Jets | 3 | *Total Cost:* 3 tons *Final Total:* 14 tons (weapons) + 3 tons (upgrades) + 12 tons (armor/structure) = 29 ###### Notes Since this is the first conversion build that we're doing, it's probably worth talking about in some detail just to explain what's going on here. The weapons in **Steel Rift** are a fair bit less detailed and less complicated than the ones in **Battledroids**. This is going to work out to our advantage because there is going to be less to keep track of and thus things are going to go a bit faster. Not everything is going to match up one for one, for good or ill, but in this case we are in pretty good shape. We start with a total mass allocation of 30 tons from which we deduct the armor and structure levels. We could have reinforced or stripped either one, but we're not doing that in what is effectively an intro setup.^[Man, I just don't know my own foreshadowing …] That leaves us 16 tons to play with. Fantastic. Heading over to the weapons, the matchup is pretty solid, truth be told. We won't be differentiating types of autocannon, but that the AC/5 will do as the base autocannon and no one will complain. You see that weapons in **SR** have a trait or traits associated with them, which defines how they do damage or what their limitations are. The autocannon has kinetic, which, if we look on the facing page, means that there is a chance to actually spin the target 45 degrees away in a direction chosen by the active player. And the chance increases the bigger the firer is than the target. When the *Shadowhawk* starts pummeling light mechs with the autocannon, they can get spun on a dime, which may not be good for someone who doesn't want to get shot in the back. The LRM-5 missile pack is just missiles, and they can be targeted with line of sight from anybody who happens to have a target designator, which someone will, I assure you. They are limited to three shots. A fairly straightforward interpretation with no overhead. Fantastic. That's what I like to see. The SRM-2 missiles are actually converted into a rocket pack just for a little variety. I was tempted to convert them into submunitions, which have a short range but can intercept mines, missiles, and rocket packs which are attacking. That's something that might be fun on another platform a little bit down the line. I'm just going to give them an AoE with blast and limited ammo to two shots. Anybody getting close to an SRM launcher deserves it. Finally, a medium laser, which is a laser. The important thing to note about lasers is they have AP, which means armor piercing. One point of damage goes through to the structure no matter what. There is a good reason to learn to fear and hate lasers. They hurt a lot. That leaves two tons that can go into upgrades. Lucky for us, they've made it easy. Or, rather, maybe not so easy. We can certainly take Jump Jets as our upgrade, but they would take three tons. We don't have three tons. So, maybe we *are* going to strip the armor one step to free up a couple of tons of mass in order to get the jump jets in. You can't have a *Shadowhawk* without jump jets. I think that does it. ##### Stinger The Stinger was a light BattleMech built in 2479 as a direct competitor to the Wasp. The second-ever mass-produced recon 'Mech, the Stinger was put into service alongside the Wasp due both to the Terran Hegemony's needs for scouts and to the similarities in their design. In fact the two were so similar that General Mechanics filed suit against Earthwerks Incorporated for copyright infringement, and after twenty years of back-and-forth legal actions, during which Stinger production continued unabated, GM eventually dropped the matter due to the rising costs of pursuing the lawsuit. The Stinger would go on to become the second-most produced 'Mech in the Inner Sphere after the Wasp. More than 200,000 were built between the time of its introduction and the end of the Amaris Civil War, serving with the Great Houses as a valuable scout and raider. Though lacking the armor and armaments to contend with larger 'Mechs, its speed and maneuverability made the Stinger a hard foe to hit. ###### Core *Total Weight:* 20 Armor d4 (S), Structure d4 *Weight Allocated:* 8 tons *Weight Remaining:* 12 tons ###### Weapon Systems | Weapon | Damage Rating | Traits | Cost | | -------------------------- | :-----------: | ------------------ | ---: | | Medium Laser (laser) | 2 | AP (1), Draining | 3 | | Machinegun (rotary cannon) | 5 | Short (12"), Light | 2 | | Machinegun (rotary cannon) | 5 | Short (12"), Light | 3 | *Total Cost:* 8 tons ###### Upgrades | Upgrade | Cost | | --------- | ---- | | Jump Jets | 3 | *Total Cost:* 3 tons *Final Total:* 8 tons (weapons) + 3 tons (upgrades) + 8 tons (armor/structure) = 19 ###### Notes Here we go again with a relatively easy. build that gets complicated at the end. We start with base, armor, and structure, which is straightforward. Weapon systems are where things get a little interesting, because a laser on a light mech is pretty punchy. Observe the fact that it doesn't do any different damage on a light than a medium. Two points, and still AP 1, still draining. Firing the laser is going to put the mech into an overheated state, and probably limit your options in the next round or even in the current one if you were thinking about firing back at someone before they could hit you. Lasers introduce a bit of lateral thinking. The machine guns are also interesting because it looks like they will do a whole lot of damage, but in practice that's going to be cut in half against anything which effectively ignores light weapons, which is pretty much everything on the board. You can think of them as two-point attacks against anything that's not infantry or a vehicle. You'll also notice we have neither infantry nor vehicles in the basic setup here. Still, there's two of them and that damage at short-range can be kind of erosive. The second machine gun costs 50% more than the first, which was easy to calculate but brought us up to eight tons Since we want jump jets on a *Stinger*, means that we had to strip the armor down a level. When this little bugger starts taking damage, it's going to hurt a lot. Because there's a chance for light mechs that they will take an extra point of damage if it gets through the armor. Move fast, hide hard, leave a good looking corpse. ##### Wasp Introduced in 2464 as an attempt by General Mechanics to create a fast and maneuverable recon BattleMech for the Terran Hegemony, the Wasp was revolutionary for being the first 'Mech capable of jumping, sporting a prototype jump jet system; however, the system was not perfected for most of the next decade. After improvements in production and jump jet technology progressed, the modern WSP-1A Wasp began production in 2471. Centuries later, it is still considered a valued asset for recon work and is one of the most numerous 'Mechs in existence. ###### Core *Total Weight:* 20 Armor d6, Structure d4 *Weight Allocated:* 10 tons *Weight Remaining:* 10 tons ###### Weapon Systems | Weapon | Damage Rating | Traits | Cost | | -------------------- | :-----------: | ------------------------------ | ---: | | Medium Laser (laser) | 2 | AP (1), Draining | 3 | | SRM-2 (rocket pack) | 2 | Smart, Blast (3"), Limited (2) | 2 | *Total Cost:* 5 tons ###### Upgrades | Upgrade | Cost | | --------- | ---- | | Jump Jets | 3 | *Total Cost:* 3 tons *Final Total:* 5 tons (weapons) + 3 tons (upgrades) + 10 tons (armor/structure) = 18 ###### Notes Honestly, if we have to choose between the *Stinger* and the *Wasp*, I think I'm going to have to go with the Wasp. Two points more of armor for just that little bit extra survivability. You still get to have the jump jets, and you trade out the machine guns for the SRM. The limited ammo is a little bit of a problem if you want to make use of it. But, if the enemy is standing close to one another, that blast is going to be extremely helpful. You'll live longer, slightly, and still be throwing that laser around left and right. Not the worst choice you could be making, truthfully. ##### Locust The Locust was one of the most common BattleMechs in existence, having been in continuous production since the design was first introduced by Bergan Industries in 2499. One of the smallest 'Mechs ever built, the Locust was designed exclusively for reconnaissance and quick strike missions, using its then-phenomenal speed to outrun most enemies. In a situation where it was unable to outrun its enemies, the 'Mech did have a light array of weapons with which to defend itself, but the Locust lacked the firepower or staying power to be a true front-line combatant and as a result few MechWarriors enjoyed piloting Locusts. Within its weight-class though, the Locust was considered an excellent 'Mech, overshadowed as a scout only by designs which mounted jump jets. Often when a Locust engaged in combat it was as a holding action until reinforcements could arrive, although when operating in groups of three they could swarm lone enemy 'Mechs that were separated from friendly support. ###### Core *Total Weight:* 20 Armor d6, Structure d4 *Weight Allocated:* 10 tons *Weight Remaining:* 10 tons ###### Weapon Systems | Weapon | Damage Rating | Traits | Cost | | -------------------------- | :-----------: | ------------------ | ---: | | Medium Laser (laser) | 2 | AP (1), Draining | 3 | | Machinegun (rotary cannon) | 5 | Short (12"), Light | 2 | *Total Cost:* 5 tons ###### Upgrades | Upgrade | Cost | | ----------------- | ---: | | Target Designator | 1 | | Heavy Reactor | 1 | *Total Cost:* 2 tons *Final Total:* 5 tons (weapons) + 2 tons (upgrades) + 10 tons (armor/structure) = 17 ###### Notes > [!danger] > > Yes, yes, I know the *Locust* isn't in the **Battledroids** text. But I *love* the *Locust* and I'm doing the work here, so it'll be fine. So here's the deal, the *Locust* runs really fast. It carries almost the exact same weapon layout as the *Wasp* . And, because it's not in the base text, I can give it whatever reasonable accommodation I feel is appropriate. In this case, I needed something with a target designator. What better choice as a target designator platform than the *Locust*? It trades out jump jets, which everyone else is having a good time with, for a TD and a heavy reactor. Which means that if you push it to take three orders in a turn, thus redlining it, there is a 50% chance it *won't* take the internal structure damage. Gotta go fast? Gotta designate targets? Gotta unload machine guns into someone's rear end? This is the tool. Get into the back lines, let the missiles rain down from the *Shadowhawk* and the *Wasp*. Do the crazy funky chicken dance. You know you want to. It's going to be a good time. ##### Support Assets Because we have one unit with the target designator, we have some choices in support assets. Protect that *Locust* if you want to be able to use your support assets. That target designator is your friend. It may be your *only* friend, considering that your lights are not going to be throwing out that much damage. We're going to go classic mecha wargame and simply go with an artillery barrage. Once per game round, instead of activating or redlining a model, you can just call down an artillery barrage, which has an attack value of 4 and a blast radius of 6 inches. The place you want it to land must be in line of sight of the *Locust*, because it has the target designator. Happily enough, you can do this up to three times as long as the *Locust* is still alive. I did tell you to keep that *Locust* alive, right? ##### REDFOR Summary - 1x Shadowhawk (JJ) - 1x Wasp (JJ) - 1x Stinger (JJ) - 1x Locust (TD) - 3x Artillery Barrage (Support) #### BLUFOR ##### Griffin Built in 2492, the Griffin was originally classified as a heavy BattleMech, filling in the weight gap between mammoth machines like the Mackie and smaller recon 'Mechs like the Wasp, and intended for close assaults. Combining tremendous speed and firepower in one frame, the Griffin briefly dominated in this role before being superseded by larger and better-equipped 'Mechs. However the Griffin was very popular among commanders and pilots alike and so Earthwerks Incorporated kept it in production, this time reclassified as a medium 'Mech and tasked with long-range fire support for medium lances. In this capacity the Griffin has excelled, combining good striking power, endurance, and speed, with its only major weakness being a lack of close-range defensive weapons.^[What none of you can hear is that I keep referring to this as the Peter Griffin in my Lois voice.] ###### Core *Total Weight:* 30 Armor d8, Structure d6 *Weight Allocated:* 14 tons *Weight Remaining:* 16 tons ###### Weapon Systems | Weapon | Damage Rating | Traits | Cost | | -------------------------- | :-----------: | --------------------------------- | ---: | | PPC (particle cannon) | 4 | Short (18"), Draining, Disruptive | 3 | | LRM-10 (missile) | 4 | Smart, Limited (3) | 3 | | Battlefists (melee weapon) | - | Melee (1) | 2 | *Total Cost:* 8 tons ###### Upgrades | Upgrade | Cost | | --------- | ---- | | Jump Jets | 3 | *Total Cost:* 3 tons *Final Total:* 8 tons (weapons) + 3 tons (upgrades) + 14 tons (armor/structure) = 25 ###### Notes Here we have the mighty *Griffin*, which comes in surprisingly underweight in this system. Part of that is because the PPC isn't quite as brutal under these mechanics as they are in **Battledroids**. The short range is a bit of a hindrance, but if you have ever used PPCs, you know that's always part of the game. It's disruptive, which means anybody that takes damage from it can be given a redlined marker, effectively overheated, keeping them from choosing to use it to take another order themselves. When you're going up against a force with more units than you have, this can keep things pinned down a lot more than you might expect, especially when they carry their own draining weapons, which can't be fired if they already have a redline token. Unfortunately, for the *Griffin*, its particle cannon is *also* draining, throwing a redline token onto the mech whenever it's used. Like most of the other units on the field, we see jump jets in place, which will hurl everybody around like popcorn and make the world livelier. Oh yes, let's not forget the other newcomer to the weapon selection: battlefists. It's the first appearance of actual melee weapon. Get up close and personal, put your knuckles to metal, and you'll be throwing down an extra attack die in the pool. It also means that you count as one class size larger when you're doing the punching, which can be a real game changer. Jump on in on one of those light mechs, give them a fist to the forehead, and watch how things crumple. There's a good time ready to be had by all, except whoever gets punched in the head. If you wanted to, there's plenty of free tonnage to play around with extra upgrades or even swap in some additional weapons. ##### BLUFOR Summary - 1x Griffon - 1x Shadowhawk - 1x Wasp - 1x Locust ###### Notes You're probably wondering why there's a *Locust* on the BLUFOR, given that they don't have any support assets which require a target designator. That's okay. Any of those missiles can still be targeted over and around obstructions by someone with a target designator. They think that they've hidden out of line of sight, but suddenly you move up, call in fire and move away like a bat out of Hell. There are remarkably few medium mechs in the **BD** text. Pretty much everything else is a heavy. Still, probably better to go with a more comfortable loadout that has a little bit closer balance on a side than have gone with the heavy and light combo. BLUFOR is all about getting out there and putting down a lot of hurt on the big targets early, unless they can get a good pop on the *Locust*. They won't have as much mobility as the swarm of lights that they are going to go up against, so they're going to want to stick close to line of sight breaking cover a bit more. #### Scenario Setup We will end up talking more about setting up mission objectives. In the Intermediate Kit, we'll introduce factions, teams, secondary objectives, infantry, and vehicles. At that point, if you want to keep up with that in terms of steel rift mechanics, you're going to want to pick up **[Burning Horizons](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/431070/steel-rift-burning-horizons)**, which has quite a lot of goodies which we will be referring to. For this scenario, you might want to have two sets of terrain that you can pull from. In the first set, you may want 5 pieces which block line of sight entirely and are impassable, like buildings, mesas, significant terrain features. The last three can be rough and covering terrain, like clusters of woods. This is going to give you a very tight and pleasant experience where units shift to break line of sight to control who can attack them at any given time. A cityscape is great, with some parks. A desert mesa environment with some scrub or some deep sand could be fun. While it's not recommended, I would also suggest having a second set available to throw on the table. One which doesn't really have any inherently blocking terrain. You might flip the ratio so that there are three pieces of blocking terrain and the other five are rough and cover terrain. This is going to mean that there are a lot of opportunities for long-range shots that are only somewhat impaired by being in cover. Things are going to go very quickly and RNG is going to make a difference in the outcome. But if you want some experience with the firing and engagement cycle, this will definitely give it to you. You'll probably also find that both forces naturally gravitate toward the few pieces of covering terrain. As they approach, things are going to get very, very spicy. Just a couple of variant ideas to spice up your first few sessions, given that the actual approaches and mission objectives are chosen and selected from several choices before every game, this should keep you busy until the Intermediate Kit gets written. ## Exunt That seems to do it for the Basic Starter Kit for **Ontology Recapitulates Phylogeny: Battledroids to Steel Rift**. - You know where to get the Basic Kit rules. - You already have miniatures you like. - You know what the basic forces are on either side. - You know the stats for them. You should be ready to rock and roll. Next time on the *Intermediate Kit*, we will add infantry and vehicles into the mix. I'll finish out the entirety of the roster and get it in one place for future reference. Then we'll put together a heavier force in order to prepare for a Strike Mission. If anyone wants to get together and try this out, I would love to hear about how it shakes out for you in comparison to your fond memories of **Battledroids**. If anyone wants to get together and play with me, I'm sure we can probably set up some sort of virtual tabletop. Technology is our friend. Until then, remember the mantra: ***No guts, no galaxy!***  ### Post Scriptum [*Death Ray Designs* put out a lovely single-sheet quick start mechanics guide](https://www.steelrift.com/downloads) that definitely deserves to be in your hot little hands if you're going to play. You can have it from their site for free so I don't feel terribly bad reproducing it here. ![[Steel Rift - Quick Start Guide - 1.jpg]] ![[Steel Rift - Quick Start Guide - 2.jpg]] Enjoy! ### Post Post Scriptum (2024-09-17) Interestingly enough, the original author of **Steel Rift** released a Let's Play video for the Quick Build Starter Kit, which inspired this particular bit of writing just today. It would be absolutely unreasonable of me not to slip it into this basic starter kit elaboration. There are many things I can be accused of but being unreasonable is only occasionally true.  [^starter]: This is, not surprisingly, a good explanation of why they're not all that great right now. Essentially: Too expensive, too bulky, and terrible introductions to the hobby by being too fiddly.