AS Unit Card Tutorial

Alpha Strike: Anatomy of a Battletech Datacard
By Zardoz the Magnificent|January 9th, 2017|Categories: Battletech, How To Tutorial|Tags: Alpha Strike, Battletech
Additional editing by MagnusEffect
(article truncated for simplicity)
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Every unit in the game has its own datacard. This contains all the vital information a player needs to run that unit as part of his force. Let’s take a closer look at the Datacard, and how it breaks down.

What does it all Mean?​

That’s a lot of information for a markedly small package (These are designed to fit on a regular sized playing card), so let’s break down each of the bits of information and what they can tell us. Bear in mind that there are thousands of units for this game in a variety of different types. These cards will cover 99% of those units (Omitting the extremely heavy Aerospace units such as Warships and Dropships), and you can freely mix a force of different unit types. So let’s break it down and explain each datapoint, for Alpha Strike.

• Model and Name: Every Mechanical Unit in this game has a production model number, which is usually a combination of number and letters. Following that is the unit’s actual name. Pay close attention to model number, because that will indicate the variant of the base unit. Remember that two different model number Centurions can have very different performance profiles on the table!
• PV: This is the point value cost you’ll have to expend in order to add this unit to your force. Bear in mind that Skill can increase this number up or down.
• TP: This is the Unit’s type, representing either a Battlemech in this case, or potentially infantry, or a tank or a host of other units. For example, BattleMechs are referred to as "BM".
• SZ: This is the unit’s size in comparison to other things. In this specific usage for a Battlemech, it’s indicative of this unit being in the Heavy weight class. Some units will have special rules that interact with Size, and physical combat is primarily based on the size of the unit attacking.
• TMM: Target Movement Modifier, or the unit’s speed and agility. Smaller, faster units rely on speed to survive and their speed can make them difficult to target with attacks. A jump jet equipped unit will have a TMM 1 point higher than a similarly fast unit without the Jets.
• MV: Movement, expressed in inches, is how far a unit can move during a turn. Some units will have a J after this, or occasionally you will see a unit with a second number followed by a J. The J notes that a unit is equipped with jump jets, and in exchange for some shooting penalties, a jump equipped unit ignores a lot of difficult terrain when moving across the table.
• Role: This is a unit’s typical job on the battlefield. Some units hang back and provide fire support while other units wade into the thick of combat. The Role will give you a pretty good idea of what your unit is supposed to be doing during a game. This feature matters mostly when using formation rules (under advanced rules) which gives you small bonuses for using units of specific roles in a formation.
• Skill: This is the pilot’s skill rating, and represents the base number for all piloting and shooting checks that the unit will need to make. In BattleTech, lower is better (works as a penalty modifier). A lower Skill number will increase a unit’s PV, conversely a higher Skill will reduce PV.

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• Damage Box: Damage is divided into three range bands, S, M, and L. Short range is anything within 6 inches, Medium Range is anywhere between 6 and 24 inches, and long range is anywhere between 24 and 42 inches. Units often have guns that work at a specific range band, but some units have completely different weapon profiles between ranges. Notice that there’s a +0, +2, or +4 next to each range band, these are modifiers to the unit’s Skill rating when shooting at that range.
  
  Example: The Shadow Hawk has targeted the Warhammer at medium range. The Shadow Hawk has a skill of 4, and the medium range adds 2 to this. Barring any other modifers, the Shadow Hawk will need to roll a 6 on 2D6 to hit the Warhammer with its medium range firepower (dealing 3 damage).

• OV: Overheat value let’s a unit trade heat for damage at short and medium range. Before rolling an attack, a player can declare they’re using their OV value on a one to one basis. For every point they use, they add 1 to their damage value at Short and Medium Range, but go up a point on the heat tracker bar (to the immediate right of the OV value). Heat will slow a unit down and make it much harder to hit a target before it shuts a unit down completely.
• A: Armor, represented as tiny circles. For each point of damage a unit takes, mark off a circle. When a unit is out of armor, it runs the risk of internal damage.
• S: Structure, represented as tiny circles. For each point of structure damage a unit takes, a check for critical hits is necessary.
• Special Abilities Box: The large grey box at the bottom of the card will contain some short form codes for special abilities that a unit has. The 6Rb model Warhammer has none, but the Shadow Hawk has two: CASE & IF1. CASE reduces damage caused by ammo explosions and IF1 means this unit can deal indirect fire damage of 1 (up to long range) against targets that are out of line of sight (assuming someone is spotting for it). There are a wide variety of potential special abilities in Alpha Strike. These Special Abilities are a great way to add additional variety and customization to your units.
• Critical Hits: As a unit takes Structure damage or get’s critically hit, specific systems can be damaged and their absence makes the unit harder to use. This box let’s you track critical hits on your units easily.

Remember that you can get most of the datacards from the Master Unit List at http://www.masterunitlist.info/

You can create your own Custom Unit cards at http://www.masterunitlist.info/Tools/CardGenerator

Take your time, get used to Alpha Strike, and give it a try. You may have a boxload of fun.
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