Classic BattleTech Round Robin Tournament

Welcome to the Game World—a planet of steel and spectacle where legends rise and fall beneath the thunder of BattleMech feet. Inspired by the brutal duels of Solaris VII, this immersive, narrative-driven tournament invites you to step into the boots of a gladiatorial MechWarrior battling for glory, wealth, and the roar of a bloodthirsty crowd.

This is not the official Solaris VII rule set, but a thematic experience evoking the drama and danger of professional arena combat. Whether you're a green pilot looking to make a name or a grizzled veteran chasing redemption, you'll fight through a round-robin gauntlet filled with shifting rivalries, uneasy alliances, and the fickle favor of the crowd.

Do you have what it takes to claw your way to the top? Or will your 'Mech be left in pieces in the arena sands?

Questions? Join us on Discord or send in an email!

We are New England Battletech League, an association of active battletech players in the US North East area! We host discussions share photos arrange local matches and have plenty of fun with memes! Come join our discord server and share your favorite hobby with other local mechwarriors.

NEBL Discord Link

nemechcon@gmail.com

Downloadable Event PDF

Looking for a PDF of the event rules? the PDF can be downloaded here: Download the classic tournament rules PDF

Tournament Scheduling

• On September 20th at 8am the convention opens, the solaris tournament event begins at 9am. This event will be held in the CPO Mess Hall aboard the USS Massachusetts.
• The tournament will consist of each mechwarrior playing up to four rounds of Classic BattleTech.
• The time limit of the first three rounds is 1 hour, 45 minutes each round.
• There will be a minimum 15 minute break between each round.
• There will be a minimum 1 hour lunch break after the 2nd round.
• The time limit for the fourth round is 2 hours. During this round each player will be limited to 2 minutes per turn max.

Force Selection Rules

To maintain balance and preserve the gritty feel of classic arena combat, all participants must field stock BattleMech designs only—no custom builds, advanced tech, or experimental configurations. This ensures a level playing field and keeps the focus on tactical skill and piloting prowess, not min-maxed load outs. Bring your best machine—and your best game—but leave the cheese in the hangar at home.

• One combat unit per round per guidelines for each round. (See match procedure section)
• Must use stock mech designs, NO custom/advanced/or experimental tech.
• Unit Availability Era is limited to: IlClan Era only
• All pilots will be skilled at 3 gunnery 4 piloting. ALL Battle Value numbers for match purposes are IGNORED.
• Unit tokens and record sheets will not be provided, come prepared.

For help with selecting legal units to field in the tournament, we highly suggest going to www.masterunitlist.info and go to the "Units" section. Here you will be given a filters list on the left, use the following criteria to show tournament legal units. Basic Filters: tonnage- 0 to 35,55,75,or 100, Rules: Introductory+Standard, Types: BattleMech, Availability Era: IlClan

Example: At 35 tons, 462 mechs are on the list for the "Light Mech" round. Top of the list for BV is a Fire Moth D but that armor is a bit thin at 2 tons compared to that Adder right below it at 6 tons of armor! Your choice MechWarrior.

One last thing about force selection. All participants must submit a force selection list a minimum of 1 week before the tournament for organizers to vet unit choices as legal. Submissions can be sent in via discord DM to organizers or sent to nemechcon@gmail.com

Disallowed Unit Types/Equipment/Ammo

Anything that is not found somewhere in the BattleTech: Total Warfare rule book is not tournament legal. If there is a rule dispute table organizers will look for the rule in Total Warfare to arbitrate.

Note: The BattleMech Manual cannot be used for rules/unit selection in this tournament! as this rule book also contains Advanced and Experimental tech/rules which has caused confusion in the past.

The amount of time for organizers to arbitrate a dispute is limited, an imperfect ruling is still better than no ruling, all decisions on rule arbitration are final and not to be argued, we will do the best we can in the time we have available, please be patient.

Special Tournament Rules In Effect

• Each player receives 2 edge points per match. A player may spend a point of edge to force/allow a re-roll of any 2d6 dice result. Both dice must be re-rolled.
• All Standard Rules per Total Warfare
• Forced Withdrawal is in effect: per Total Warfare page #258! yes you must withdraw from the battlefield if your mech receives critical damage. Minimum of 1 hex movement per turn towards your home edge.
• There are no painting requirements and proxy's are OK! But we encourage all participants to bring your best parade colors for a photo at the end of the tournament!

Match Procedures, Rounds 1 through 3

At the beginning of each round players will match up with a new opponent. A game master will provide a new random set (2) of map sheets for each group of players every round (Grasslands). Map sheets are to be placed long edge touching. Players chose opposing map edges to deploy from. Once all players are seated the game master will announce the start of the round and begin the timer. At the end of the round a game master will announce the time and record all match results.

• 1st Round – Opening Engagement! Battlemechs only, Unit tonnage limited to 35 tons!
• 2nd Round – Breakthrough! Battlemechs only, Unit tonnage limited to 55 tons!
• 3rd Round – Assault! Battlemechs only, Unit tonnage limited to 75 tons!

Match Procedures, Round 4 - Free For All/Grand Melee

A BattleMat: BFM Grasslands (72”x48”) will be provided for a Grand Melee match (Free for All). A game master will place deployment tokens to the field and issue a random matching token to each participating player to determine deployment zones. Initiative will be card draw with a 2 minute time limit per turn per player.

Players will be required to declare all attack targets in initiative order before attacks are resolved, targets cannot be changed after selected even if that target is destroyed before that players firing turn.

Table space for the free for all will be limited to 15 players MAX. The top 15 players by points will be entered into the final round for a chance to compete. If there are more than 15 players with matching scores a random card draw in that group will determine the final 15 players.

All warriors present will do battle at once in a tremendous brawl, bereft of zellbrigen or any other consideration except for victory. Besides the implied prohibition on teamwork, there are no rules to a Grand Melee! Source: https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Grand_Melee

• Grand Melee - Battlemechs only, Unit tonnage is maxed at 100 tons!
• Forced withdrawal is no longer in effect!
• Shrinking Battlefield! The combat arena will get smaller each round of combat! the long edge of the field shrinks by 3 hexes a round, the short edge by 2 hexes per round, starting at the end of turn 2!

Match Scoring Rules

For rounds 1 through 3, a player who destroys or forces their opponent from the map through forced withdrawal earns 1 point for that round. “Destroyed” per Total warfare p. 128 and p. 258

If both players have units destroyed in the same turn, both players are awarded a scoring point.

For round 4, the first player to land an attack that results in a “Destroyed” unit gets 1 point. A unit that is outside the arena boundary at the end of a turn is considered destroyed and no points are awarded for its destruction.

Prizes!

At the end of the event the players with the three highest amount of points wins. If there is a tie the winner is determined by playing an additional 1 v 1 round time permitting or a coin flip.1st 2nd and 3rd placed players will each receive a New England Mech Con 2025 Solaris VII Trophy and the adoring cheers of the audience!

Legal Acknowledgments

BattleTech and all associated trademarks, logos, and intellectual property are the property of Catalyst Game Labs and/or The Topps Company, Inc. DropPoint LLC and the New England BattleTech League are unofficial, community-driven initiatives and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Catalyst Game Labs, Topps, or any of their affiliates. This project is created by fans, for fans—with love for the BattleTech universe.