Old Grind stuff

[PG_KuVenet]

I was feeling rather nostalgic yesterday and I was flipping through all my old No Quarters. I cam across NQ10 with the old Grind rules using the actual Warjacks from our various armies and casters. I was wondering if anyone still used those rules or has done a personal update to them for MKII? I dug my old Grind Board I built for it out of the Garage and played a game last night with the Wife. I forgot how much fun that version of Grind really is. I am curious is anyone else has a love for that rule set and their thoughts on it. It kinda makes me want to build a new team for those rules, but sadly I think I would have to seriously revamp the rules to make them work for MKII. Also I would have to figure out how to include those pointy eared jacks into the game as well.
Anyhow What are your thoughts?

[captainspud]

I never played the Mk.I version of Grind, but a few months before we heard about the board game, I came up with a scenario to let Mangled Metal armies play it in Mk.II. I've now run the scenario three times at my store's annual mangled metal tournament, and it's been consistently pretty well-received.

Here's the scenario writeup I published in the event announcement last year.

Special Scenario: GRIND!

Army Size: 20pts Special Rules The game is played on a 24"x30" game board. Each board has two lava pits and two columns, as indicated on the map provided. Deployment zones are 4" deep, at the N and S ends of the board. Each deployment zone contains a 2"x2" Goal. The Goal has a DEF of 12 for the purposes of being thrown at. At the start of the game, place a medium-based Grinder at the center of the board. The Grinder has DEF 7, STR 10, and ARM 20. The grinder cannot be knocked down or made stationary, and its stats cannot be reduced. The Grinder is always an enemy model, but cannot engage or be engaged. The grinder does not take damage; if it would be damaged with an attack, it is instead slammed directly away from the attacker, 1" for each damage point above its ARM value. Collateral damage on this slam is equal to the attacking model's Strength. When thrown or slammed, the Grinder passes over knocked-down models instead of striking them (if it has enough movement to move completely over them), and is not affected by movement-reducing effects such as rough terrain. A slammed Grinder knocks down any model it contacts, regardless of base size. If any attack or effect would both damage and move the Grinder, you may choose to slam it OR to use the attack's built-in movement, not both. Warcasters/Warlocks do not start the game on the board. Instead, they are considered to be "off the field", with their control area extending 5" from the column on that player's side of the board. Each warcaster/warlock receives an activation, but can only cast or upkeep one spell or animus each turn (no actions, no feats, and no passive abilities of any kind), which it can do without paying focus/fury; consider this spell to be cast from that player's column. At the start of each player's Activation phase, that player may heal/repair one damage point from any one of his Warjacks/Warbeasts. Warmachine: At the start of your Control phase, gain one focus for each warjack you control, to a minimum of 3. Allocate this focus as you wish among any warjacks you control with an active Cortex. You may allocate to warjacks outside your warcaster's control area. A warjack cannot gain, be allocated, or keep between turns any additional "free" focus normally afforded to it by its rules. Hordes: At the start of your Control phase, remove any amount of fury from your Warbeasts, then count the number of Warbeasts you control. Your Warbeasts may be forced for a total of that much fury this turn, to a minimum of three. Your warbeasts may be forced while outside of your warlock's control area. Special Exception: The Avatar of Menoth is considered a normal warjack with a cortex in your warcaster's battlegroup for the purposes of allocation. It receives no free focus of its own, but can be allocated focus from your allotment each turn. Because the Cortex system is not present on its card, the Avatar can never suffer a crippled Cortex system as a result of damage. Note that the Avatar is still Cortex-less for the purpose of effects like the Dominate spell. Terrain Rules: Lava Pits - Rough terrain. A model with half or more of its base in a lava pit is removed from play. If the Grinder would enter a lava pit, it stops instead. Goals - No model except the Grinder can enter a Goal. Victory Condition A player loses the game when the Grinder enters his Goal, or when all of his warjacks/warbeasts have been destroyed or removed from play.

GRIND FAQ:

1. Can I get more focus/fury as a result of model special rules?
Nope. We allowed this in previous years, and it caused too much silliness. This year, the Seethers and Hydras have to play naked like everyone else.

2. What about models that can charge, slam, etc without focus?
Those rules still apply.

3. So can my warcaster/warlock do [X]?
For most values of X: no. All your caster/lock can do is cast or upkeep one spell per turn. No other rules they normally possess have any effect. Madrak can't kill things, Sorscha has no feat, and Kraye's jacks aren't horses. Once your caster/lock has cast or upkept their spell, they're done for the turn.

4. Can I arc?
Yep, just keep the node within 5" of your column.

5. Doesn't this unfairly benefit/hurt [X]?
Three responses here:

1. Probably not as badly as you might think. In our testing, all casters and jack/beast combinations had something to contribute.
2. Maybe, but you have a month and a half to figure out how to work around that fact.
3. If you really think so, let me know and I'll consider changing the mission slightly to close any loopholes. The deadline for these changes is one week after this posting.

[PG_KuVenet]

That's a pretty neat way of doing it. Fairly simple and straight forward.