EPIC BATTLETECH v1.1 RULES -------------------------- Written by Rimoran (Mike) Revised with contributions from BT CCG Listers: champion_of_solaris, sillywiz, gomes_diogo, and theoriginalcabhammer -------------------------- 1) Banned - Cards with "Alliance" keyword and Effective Groundwork. 2) Deck Construction - Only 2 of any single card name unless it is a basic zero-cost "Support" resource card, if so, it is unlimited. This limitation extends to any side-boarding. 3) Resource / Offensive Mission Link - You may only declare 1 Offensive Mission for every 2 resource cards you have in play (round up). An Offensive Mission is any mission involving a unit or units that target your opponent in any way. Guarding missions are unaffected and unlimited. 4) Box Powers - Only if all players have them. 5) Clarification - Vehicles & Battle Armor continue to be limited to 10 total (w/ no more than 2 of each card name as in rule #2) 6) Clarification - All existing official errata is naturally still in force. -------------------------- OVERALL RATIONALE: I would say there are really 2 types of play card games: 1) "Power Gamers" - Those whose main objective is to win. Winning is what defines an enjoyable experience. 2) "Story Tellers" - Those whose main objective is to see what interesting kind of experience can be created through the events that unfold during the game. "Power Gamers" will probably find the following rules variant to be annoying. "Story Tellers" might find it a refreshing change that levels the playing field. Even with DCI rulings, banning and errata, I see the BT: CCG as a "Power Gamer" game. It's all about focusing your decks along a narrow band of possibilities and maximizing that potential - hence you have the FD decks and Swarm decks reigning supreme. INDIVIDUAL RULES RATIONALE: Banned Cards - I just feel the above cards can just be abused too much and violate game balance. Other cards banned in the past are unbanned. And the dangers posed by the formerly banned cards are reduced by the other deck construction parameters (ie. 2 of each card name max). Deck Construction - The higher the limit on the number of the same cards in your deck the more focused it will become at pulling off whatever singular "engine of doom" that a power gamer has devised. A 2 card limit enforces a diversity that lets everyone actually play with cards that you might not have seen played in a more cut-throat environment. In theory, an average player will draw 1/2 his deck and take the other 1/2 of it in damage. Thus, you will probably only get an average of 1 of the 2 cards of any one name out into play which greatly reduces the "danger" of the formerly banned cards which work best en-masse. Resource / Offensive Mission Link - You could either look at the Battletech CCG as operating on one of two different scales: "Single Planet" or "Interstellar." I think the designers have assumed the game to operate on a kind of hybrid between the two with a leaning toward the "Single Planet" approach. The "Single Planet" approach works well for the simulated Unit to Unit combat that currently exists. But if you go the single planet route, then having 2 major leaders of successor states (or clans) on the same world (ie. Hanse Davion & Thomas Marik) becomes a little far- fetched. The Epic rules variant takes a more "Interstellar" approach to the game and assumes that the majority of concepts in play are actually spread out among many different worlds and the reason that offensive missions are limited are due to the limited number of dropships and jumpships available to convey these missions to their destinations. The OTHER main reason for this rule would be to curtail the "swarm of small mechs reign supreme" effect that seems to rule the game. Since the default rules allow for an unlimited number of missions if you have more mechs than your opponent you can always lead with your smaller units to harass your opponent into submission because that opponent must keep units available to stop the nastier elements of your forces. A limit to missions changes the plethora "Single Unit Missions" that I constantly see and encourages missions with several units which I feel is more interesting to play out anyway.