Movement and Terrain

The first change to this section of the rules would be one that has been partly discussed in the datacards post, namely the removal of the defensive modifiers from the cards. Looking over the existing Blitz datacards, almost every unit with a walker mode gets a -1 to defense when stationary and +1 when at top speed.  No change here except that units with walker modes (regardless of what mode they're actually using) get -1 when stationary. Effectively, this is already the case because I've never seen someone who had both walker and an SMS with a worse stationary defense mod choose to use it instead.  Units with ONLY hover or ground modes get -2 when stationary and +1 at top speed so no change from blitz here.  I plan to create a master list of modifiers eventually for download but the preceeding is intuitive and relatively easy for new and veteran players to remember.  Top speed no longer has its own stat on the datacard but instead is always double the combat speed (which doesn't change anything for the majority of Blitz models and only by 1" in the rest that are changed).

Turns as well as the special rules listed under the individual entries in Walker, Ground, and Hover are unchanged except when they refer to terrain types that don't exist anymore (see below).

Now we come to the biggest change in this post which is due to the bewildering amount of different types of terrain in Heavy Gear Blitz.  While that type of granularity is a welcome addition for an RPG, I've found that it overcomplicates things for new players (and even players with some experience). While I don't want to pare things down to the 40k level of just regular,difficult, and dangerous terrain, I don't feel that 11+ types of terrain currently in Blitz are needed.

Instead of the rules listed in FM, use the following:

Clear/Roads/Impassable/Elevation/Dangerous Terrain: No change

Rough/Dense: No change. There are no soft/very rough/very dense categories; pieces that previously fit best with those rules now are just rough and/or dense.

Water: Determine pregame if the water is deep which would follow the rules for impassable unless the model has the amphibious trait which allows them to treat the water as shallow instead. If shallow, follow the rules for shallow in the FM. There is no rough water category.


MOVEMENT DICE:

Another change that I'd like to incorporate is to remove most movement dice from the game in order to reduce clutter on the tabletop.  While I initially was a fan of the mechanic, it is expensive in that players must purchase the dice or make their own (which admittedly is an option thanks to DP9 printing the template in the FM).  Unfortunately, I've found that the dice and damage chits visually clutter the tabletop and don't add much to the game in the end in return.  In addition, some units like +1 and up (Cheetahs!) maneuver gears are almost invulnerable at top speed which I feel needs to be addressed.  The simple solution that kills two birds with one stone is to not use the movement dice in most circumstances just like in the alpha HG rules.

Basically, you're counted as being at combat speed for modifiers outside of your own turn unless you hold an action for later use (like standby for coordinates). This cuts down on the chit and dice clutter on the tabletop as the vast majority of units don't need to have a movement die next to them. Instead, the movmeent die counts as a withheld action tracker so you know that the model still has an action to use despite already being activated and simultaneously at what speed. In effect, your model stops to use whatever speed you want during your activation and then returns to combat speed after unless you "hold" an action for later. I tried this out during the game this weekend and it worked well. It made taking stationary shots a bit safer but cut down on the near invulnerability of fast moving elite units conversely which is a much more important change. My cheetah at top speed moving across the field actually got pegged with an average roll because it "only" had a +2 instead of a +3 to defense rolls base.

Movement: Your model is always considered to be at combat speed for all purposes outside of it's activation unless you use withhold an action for later use like with standby for coordinates or reaction fire. Place one die at the appropriate speed for each "reserved" action to be used after the model's activation. Reaction fire prior to activation is still resolved at combat speed.