These changes mark the point where I’m almost comfortable with making The Last Mech semi-public. So I am. I think there’s enough richness in the systems to make a game of push-and-pull with reasons to fight and to run, with a new system adding extra strategy. And I think that feels good.

Here are the tweaks that have led to here!

• Added ability to change weapons If you pick up a fourth Weapon, you can switch out an installed Weapon for it. This led to quite a big question, and to a big change: if you can swap Weapons, does damage apply to the Weapon or to the slot on the Mech it was attached to? I thought, hey, maybe damage is applied to Weapons? This can lead to a system whereby Mechs can be repaired by switching in fresh Weapons - something that’d further emphasise Scanning, which playtesters have said is FUN, and also help players experience more Weapons and generally not get locked into a build they don’t like. But I added the proviso that once a Weapon is completely destroyed, the slot can no longer be used. Big change! Also, it means that now damage hitting unoccupied Components no longer applies. This will slow down damage accrual at the start of the game and on Mechs which aren’t armed to the teeth.
• Shield may longer be Augmented I thought I’d come up with a nice way of Augmenting the Shield: providing +1, but only when the Shield was powered. However, it didn’t really work. It made the priority with which damage was applied to Shield complex and unintuitive, and it messed up the tactical value of ordering cards in it. It also messed up Shield Reflect, because the Augment would usually take the hit and allow a Reflect. So it’s nixed for now, but I’d like to revisit the topic, because because it feels a bit artificial that Shield is the only thing you can’t Augment.
• Revised Aegis For the same reason as the Augment, since it performed much the same job. It now drops a temporary Obstruction in an adjacent hex.
• Clarified rules for effects of Charge attacks on shielded targets Because I basically hadn’t thought about any of it until now.
• Minor Reworded Harpoon Charge attack text and indicated that when the Energy cards are exhausted the discard pile is shuffled and turned over.