Troop drop in BattleTech Alpha Strike

In BattleTech Alpha Strike, the rules for “Dropping Troops ” allow units to be brought onto the battlefield directly from the air if landing the transporter is not possible or too dangerous.

Basic requirements

To drop units, the airborne transporter must have the appropriate special ability for the unit type in question:

• MT# (‘Mech Transport): For dropping BattleMechs.
• IT# (Infantry Transport): For dropping infantry.
• PT# (ProtoMech Transport): For dropping ProtoMechs.
• VTM/VTH/VTS# (Vehicle Transport): For dropping vehicles (depending on weight class).

Important: Units that are only transported via the freight capacity (CT# or CK#) cannot be dropped.

General procedure for dropping

1. Time: Discarded units always land at the end of the movement phase of the corresponding turn.
2. Landing zone and deviation: The player chooses a target point (point of impact). As all drops require a success roll, units can deviate(scatter).
3. Destruction: If a unit lands in terrain that is forbidden for its movement type, it is automatically destroyed. If it lands on another unit, it is moved to the nearest free, legal terrain instead.
4. Actions after landing: On the turn of their landing, dropped units may neither move nor attack.
5. Target Modifier: Attacks against units on the turn they land receive a +3 Target Movement Modifier (TMM), regardless of the unit’s actual stats.

The three types of ejection

1st High-Altitude Drops

This drop keeps the transporter safe from ground fire, but is less accurate.

• Prerequisite: The transporter must be on a flight path at high or extreme altitude.
• Procedure: In the following movement phase, the unit chooses a point within 12 inches of the transporter’s trajectory.
• Success roll: A roll against a target number of 5 (on 2D6) must be successful.
  • If the roll fails, the unit suffers 1 point of damage for each point by which the roll failed and deviates.

Infantry special ruleInfantry only suffer a maximum of 1 point of damage on failure.

2. low altitude drops

This drop is more accurate, but exposes the transporter to ground fire.

• Prerequisite: The transporter is at a low or medium altitude.
• Procedure: The aiming point must be within 2 inches of the flight path (aerospace) or the base (VTOL).
• Success roll: Also against a target number of 5. If unsuccessful, the same damage and deviation rules apply as for the high drop.

3. abseiling (zipline drops)

This method is specific to VTOLs or airships to drop infantry (foot, motorized or jump infantry) and battle armor.

• Procedure: The transporter moves to the location on the map where the infantry is to land and declares the drop during movement.
• Success roll: As for the deep throw (target number 5).
• Special feature: If the roll fails, the infantry only suffers 1 point of damage, regardless of how far the target number was missed.

Air battles during the drop

While units are in high drop (after leaving the transporter but before landing), they can only be attacked by air-to-air attacks (air-to-air). They are considered flying targets, but do not use the usual aerospace target modifier and automatically fail all check rolls.