I started this the other day. It was much simpler. I opened up my Battletech Introductory Box that I had bought for the minis and my 4 year old wanted to play. So I made up some rules for fast play.
BattleKids 3025+
So my kid (4) saw me open the Battletech Intro box that I bought for the minis more than anything and wanted to play. Normal Alpha Strike is still beyond him but this worked well as I made it up in my head in 30 seconds before setting up the game.
Movement
Movement it unchanged from the standard Battletech, with Maps subtract 2 from each bracket and with Hexless use the indicated value.
Movement (using STD rules, which took a little explaining)
Light 12
Medium 10
Heavy 8
Assault 6
Combat
I gave each unit a skill level. You roll a # of dice equal to the pilot skill value and take the highest result. IF you get multiple 6's add +1 for each additional 6. 3D6 rolling 6, 6, 6 would = 8.
Range Modifier
Short +1
Medium 0
Long -1
Extreme -2
Pilot Skill Levels
Green 1
Reg 2
Veteran 3
Elite 4
Each mech has a Defense value (hard to hit factor)
Light 7
Medium 6
Heavy 5
Assault 5
A green pilot shooting at a Light Mech (Defense 7) at short range (+1 Strike) will need a 5 and at medium range needs a 6 and could not hit at long range.
A Regular pilot shooting a heavy or assault mech at short range will need a 4+ and rolls 2 dice. At medium range he'd need to roll a single 5 on his 2 dice. At long range he would need a 6 and at extreme range he's need to roll 6's on both dice.
If the same Regular was shooting a medium mech at short range will need a 5+ and rolls 2 dice. At medium range he'd need a 6 and at long he'd need to roll 6's on both dice. He could not hit at extreme range.
Cover/Terrain
If you have a unit in Heavy woods or in Partial Cover add +1 to the Defense Value. A single Light woods space has no effect.
Combat Damage
Each mech has an Armor value representing how hard it is to kill/damage. The base armor value depends upon size of the mech.
Armor
Light 4
Medium 5
Heavy 6
Assault 7
Each mech also has a Fireppower value depending upon range and size of the mech.
There are 4 range brackets; Short 1-8 in, Medium 9-24 in, Long 25-32 in, Extreme 33-40 in and they are shown as 3 / 3 / 3 / 3 respectively. More advanced units have additional firepower due to their advanced weapons.
Light 1 / 1 / 1 / 0
Medium 2 / 2 / 2 / 0
Heavy 3 / 3 / 2 / 0
Assault 4 / 4 / 3 / 1
Star League Tech
Armor +1
Firepower +1 / +1 / +1 / +0
Clan Tech
Armor +1
Firepower +2 / +1 / +1 / +1
So you'd make 2 rolls when you attack. One you roll to hit your target and another to damage it.
If you hit you roll for damage and add your firepower. If you meet or exceed the armor value you kill the mech. No damage points or anything. It's a kill/no kill rule.
For example, a Heavy mech shoots and hits a medium mech at medium range. The Heavy mech has a firepower of 3 at that range. The Medium mech has an armor of 5. The heavy mech must roll a 2+ to kill the medium mech. If the shot was made at Long Range, the Firepower would have been a 2 and the Heavy mech would have needed a 3+ in order to kill the medium mech.
Optional Rules for bigger kids.
Modifying the Mech
Jump Jets = 1.5 Points
Speed = 0.5 Points per or 1 point per for Assault Mechs
Armor = 1.5 Points
Firepower = 2 Points
Long Range Specialist = -1 / +0 / +1 / +0
Short Range Specialist = +1 / +0 / -1 / +0
Medium Range Specialist = +0 / +1 / +0 / +0
Star League XL-Engine (Speed)= Add 3 SPD and reduce armor by 1.
Star League XL-Engine (Armor) = Add 1 Armor
Clan XL-Engine (Speed) = Add 3 SPD
Clan XL-Engine (Armor) = Add 1 Armor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------So if you have a Light Mech and give it Jump Jets you can reduce move from 12 to 9 and increase the Defense by 1.
If you want to increase the armor by 1 you can decrease the Speed by 2 more.
Light Mech
Jump
SPD 7
Defense
Armor 4
Firepower 1 / 1 / 1 / 0
So you get a hard to kill but slow Light Mech.
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Of if you want to make something like the 3025 Annihilator.
Assault Mech
Medium Range Specialist
SPD 6
Defense 5
Armor 6
Firepower 4 / 4 / 3 / 1
ponders nirvana.