TECHCOMMANDER:
Mechanized Strike Vehicles
Download the TechCommander 3.0 beta rules HERE!
Official 3.0 release coming soon!
WELCOME!
TechCommander is a sci-fi action deathmatch and skirmish style miniatures game. It is fast paced, with high unit lethality and destructible environments. It features mecha (or mech) fighting machines called “Mechanized Strike Vehicles” - or “MSV” for short. In TechCommander, our 10MM scale MSV models are customizable, featuring fast-swap weapons. In most cases If it fits in the free weight and power box of the unit, and on the model’s peg system you can play it. After the player picks weapons they can fill out the remaining free weight and power with awesome gear, both defensive, and offensive. MSV units are the kings of the battlefield and can act twice per turn!
MSV units are not the only sci fi units in the game, TechCommander also features vehicles and tanks which are auto stabilized to fire accurately on the move. While they can only act once per turn, this move and shoot ability makes them very powerful!
Finally, the game includes power armored ECBS infantry which use jet packs for increased mobility, have personal shield and stealth systems, and operate in agile cloud units called “rally groups.”
Our players take the role of a “Tech Commander” A leader in the future who runs combat operations from command center with virtual, holographic rendition of the area of operation called a battle table, and relaying orders to the battlefield via secure remote link. Leading up to and In between missions TechCommanders train in a free for all fast-paced scenarios called deathmatching pitting the commander against every other unit on the board!
While the first two editions of TechCommander featured large 28MM scale models, for the third edition Sea Dog Game Studios has released the entire line in 10MM scale, which makes the action easier to fit on the tabletop!
While loading new MSV mech designs can be a lot of fun, for our 3rd edition we’ve decided to speed up the jump in and play aspect by including a large collection of load outs gathered over the first two edition, updated by our Senior GM community as well as all new loadouts using the latest updated gear and weapons in the game. The game also features new MSV and Vehicle designs!
TechCommander has two main game types to choose from:
Skirmish games
Skirmish games are played more like a traditional war game with forces facing off to eliminate the enemy and achieve objectives. In skirmish games players will want to make every shot count and focus on killing opposing command units while keeping friendly command units alive.
Deathmatch Games
These are meant to represent TechCommanders facing off in a simulated training match with lots of action in a compressed time. Units are spawned into the battlefield and in many cases may immediately be surrounded by enemy units. Players will need to think fast and make the best choice among many bad ones to maximize a point lead over other players. This is a great way to learn a lot about weapons and gear, as players can spawn in reinforcements to replace units lost in battle every turn. If an idea did not work the first turn, the player can try something new the second. People not familiar with competitive deathmatching might think that deaths don’t matter in this format, but an experienced deathmatch player knows you can’t win by feeding opponents easy points!
If sci fi action is your mission, and high powered lethal mechs you can customize without a lot of paperwork sounds fun then hop in and deploy into a tabletop miniature battlespace!
Deploy …. in 3..2..1.. Fights on!
A Reaper AC6 MSV, equipped with twin micro-drone controllers, and a rapid micro drone launcher, as well as powerful rifles and rail guns!
Captain Redbeard’s Cadet Challenge Action Pak. 2 MSV mechs with lots of cool weapons to load it out to bring the tabletop pain!
Ray class tanks - Small but mighty! In the TechCommander universe, ray class pilots are called toaster drivers because they sit in a rather cozy warm cockpit between twin fusion powerplants and massively powerful weapons for the tank’s size!
Purchase the TechCommander 2.0 rulebook here
TechCommander is currently in beta for the third edition - Full release very soon!
Designer’s notes on the third edition
When I set out to write a sci fi game back in 2008, It was as a gift to my sci fi loving friend, Dave. You see, we’d played years of mech and power armor games - both on tabletop and video games. At the time I was very involved in producing Sailpower and it took up a lot of my time. Dave said he’d missed geeking out with mechs and making custom cool stuff like we did in the video games. And he thought if I made my own sci fi game it would be cool.
The wisdom on the street at the time was the only way to make a sci fi game was to spend a boatload of money. 3D printing was not as accessible as it is now, and to achieve the goal I decided to jumpstart my mech building process by kit bashing all new mech designs out of sailing ship parts I’d already made for Sailpower. I decided to lean into the custom thing and used peg on weapons for a fast build/ hot swappable feel. The resulting models were big 28mm mecha that would turn heads at conventions where the game was played.
Gameplay wise, I wanted to get away from the old-school, paper-heavy, slower-paced games and make something fast and destructive! Even though we achieved that, the models were still hand sculpted, big, pricey, resin models. Many of my players loved the game but could not afford to get enough models to get a big game going on their own. The sad thing was I had a fun game that was hard to produce and not easy for a player to build a collection for.
Aware of this, in 2016 I re-sculpted all the designs digitally. Originally, I was thinking I might be able to have them produced somewhere, I quickly pivoted to 3D printing them in FDM (filament printing) in 28mm scale. The resulting models were much lighter than the old resin cast ones, but they still took hours, if not days, to print a big unit. We knew eventually we needed to release the game on a smaller scale.
The obvious scale to go for was 10mm. The models would still be larger than the old lead/tin mono-pose figures that were standard to sci fi games of my youth, but small enough to fit a big battle on a table and to make collecting models more accessible. The final piece to making 10mm models was the rise of low-cost SLA/MSLA/DLP photo resin printing. This makes it possible to produce models that cost a mere fraction of what the older models did. To better suit this new scale, we also decided to go with bases. It makes the gameplay easier, and the models less prone to falling over on the tabletop.
I also thought for the 3rd edition I’d update the game a bit with more mobile devices, drones, and AI. When I wrote the 1st edition in 2008 the iPhone was only a year old!
So, whether you are new to the game or played this in years past, I hope you enjoy the new scale and enjoy battling in the TechCommander Universe!
Brian Carnes, Designer TechCommander
