[MECHATON] Giant Fighty Robots, made of Lego

Ianator

A mech without attachments is considered "Naked" - attachments are what give the mech its purpose and allow for more dice to be rolled. Each mech is allowed up two four attachments.

Each mech starts with two White Dice, which represent the Chassis. Weapon attachments give pairs of Red Dice, but can only contribute at a certain range (so the dice from a Chainsaw can't be used to attack from across the table). A given mech may not have more than three Weapons.

Defense attachments give single Blue Dice and reduce incoming damage, while Movement attachments give single Green Dice and contribute to movement. Spotting attachments give single Yellow Dice - use them on an enemy to markerlight it, giving you a chance to increase damage on it.

Phew... need any more clarification?

Valkun

Trying to design properly articulated legs is driving me crazy.

Ianator

Oh, I almost forgot...

If you have two Weapon Attachments at the same range (like twin buzzsaws), you exchange the second 2d6 for a d8. You can also take a weapon attachment at split-ranges (Direct-Artillery or Direct-Melee, 1d6 each), but you can't get the d8 bonus from it.

In addition, a mech can take Big Rockets, one-shot d8s that can be shot at non-Melee range. They're half an attachment each.

Okay, time to get building!

OtakuD00D

Huh, so the newest rules apparently let you put more than two dice into the color categories? Neat. I'm thinking of a sniper mech with 2 in white, one in green, and three in red.

Ianator

Just the weapon attachments, I think. Don't forget, Weapon attachments are two dice, while all the rest are one - four attachments, not four dice.

Tell you what... Let's change this up, since I'm not sure the whole point's getting across. What all gunz are you going to give your sniper? Big honkin' rifle? Twin back-mounted cannons?

OtakuD00D

A long, bigass rail gun with fancy sighting system.

And optical camouflage. That'd... be my blue die, right? Or was that more for green? I'll just go with a ground hover kind of thing (Think Armored Core or Zeta Gundam) instead.

I got the revised rules here.

Ianator

Okay... I see what you're designing it with, and I haven't seen it before. I must say that the Attack Trak is quite badass. So, yeah. Also, I'd place stealth more within the Speed category than Defense, but that's just me. Hover bases are kinda fun too!

Chassis (2 White)
Rail Sniper (3 Red)
Optic Camo (1 Green)

The official rules expand it from four dice to four "attachments". Same thing, really, except that weapon attachments give you two Red Dice instead of one. The railgun would probably be either full Artillery (2 dice at long range) or a Direct-Artillery (1 die at medium range, 1 at long). And you'd still have two spaces left for, say... a shield, and/or a second rifle, and/or a backup gun, or just leave one open and get an Initiative bonus.

Valkun

Ravana (Long Range Support)
2 x Railgun (Long Range)
2 x Vulcan Cannon (Direct Fire)

Ravenhawk (Mobile Frontliner)
Wings (Green Dice)
Chainsword (Melee)
Mini-Gun(Direct Fire)

Zephyr (Recon)
Radio Backpack (Yellow Dice)
Jetpack (Green Dice)

??? Probably something with a machine gun and shield.

Pictures might come tomorrow.

Ianator

Yes, weapons count as attachments. Also note that you cannot give more than three weapons to one mech, so your Ravana might have to consolidate two of its weapons into one (though if you were playing me I would let you take it just for the sheer "DAKKADAKKADAKKA" factor!).

Okay, we gotta figure out how to play this online. I'd make a Vassal module if I knew where to start...

Valkun

All you really need is a Hex Map and Invisible Castle, right?

Ianator

I suppose. I'm not actually that experienced with playing tabletop games online (only played Vassal40k a few times, PbP BSG doesn't really call for much piece-moving on the part of players), but I think we can make this work.

A'ight, nearly 3:00am here, talk to y'all tomorrow.

robotsunshine

OtakuD00D wrote: »

I got the revised rules here.

Never seen those before. They are the pits. Vincent made the game back in... 2002, I believe? And it's undergone revisions ever since, up to 2006 when the current model is introduced. What I've got here represents the model with most complete playtesting and support

I wasn't aware how much Mechaton stuff is floating around out there, so I'm going to try to consolidate the complete rules here.

BUILDING YOUR MECHS

VINCENT'S PLAYTEST RULES

DICE CLARIFICATIONS

NEW CAMPAIGN PLAY

Lardalish

Man, a great thing about this is it sounds pretty similar to Warhammer in its playstyle and most of my friends play that and love legos. So it should be pretty easy to get them to get into this, if only as a little side game. I saw in the playtest rules that you dont actually need a hexmap for real life play as long as both sides decide what a "hex" is.

God damnit I wanna play with my legos now.

TheBog

After reading that, robotsunshine, I still have some questions. Clarification, if anything. All the examples they gave was basically having a maximum of 2 dice for movement/attack/shield/spotting/whatever. Can you go higher than that? Can you have like.. 4 movement attachments?

I understand a mech can have a maximum of 4 attachments, but how many dice? Does it still apply that you can only have 6 dice per turn?

I notice that one movement/shield/spotting attachment is worth 1 die each. But a single weapon attachment is worth 2 dice at its preferred range? However if you want a weapon to be viable at more than 1 range, it's 1 red dice at each of the two ranges. That's the way I understood it.

So lets saaaay.. I have a hypothetical mech that has these stats:
2 white
1 green - jetpacks (1 attachments)
4 red - assault rifle + axe (strictly direct range rifle + strictly close combat axe.. 2 attachments)
1 yellow - radar dish on my back or something (1 attachment)

That totals 4 attachments. How many dice can I roll per turn? 6, right? If so, I get to choose which 6 to roll? So for example at the beginning of my current turn I could go "Okay. I'm gonna roll 2 white dice, because I have to, 1 green die for jetpacks, 2 red dice for rifle, and 1 yellow die for spotting. Totals 6."

Is that how it works?

Valkun

The Rules as I Understand Them Based on the Playtest Link
Building Your Mech
1. Any mech may have at most 4 Attachments which are divided into Movement(Green), Spotting(Yellow), Defense (Blue), and Weapons (Red).
2. In addition, your mech has 2 white dice that can be used in lieu of any of the other categories.
3. Each Movement, Spotting, or Defense attachment is worth one die, weapons are worth two but are divided into different ranges.
4. You may have at most 2 each Movement, Spotting, or Defense attachments and up to 3 Weapon attachments.
5. If the mech has less than 4 attachments, it gains an initiative die for each one it could have had.
6. If a mech has two weapons in the same range, you roll 2d6+1d8 for damage at that range.
7. A mech can have a split range weapon that does 1d6 in each category. Two weapons that overlap in such a manner grant a 2d6 at that range.
8. Hand-to-hand has a range of 1-2 hexes, Direct Fire has a range of 3-10 hexes, and Artillery has a range of 11+.
9. Mechs must be able to stand unassisted and attachments should be easily removable.

Playing:
1. Each mech rolls initiative. If multiple dice are rolled, pick the lowest one. Reroll ties.
2. Play starts with the mech with the lowest initiative.
3. Select your attack target.
4. If spotting, select your spotting target.
5. Roll all the dice for your mech.
Assign either a corresponding colored die or one of the white dice to Movement, Defense, Spotting, and Attack. Defense and Spotting get a -1.
6. You can move then attack, or attack then move.
7. If your attack target has already gone, resolve your attack. If your Attack is higher than their defense, the attack succeeds. Roll a number of die equal to either your Attack - their Defense or the value of a Spotting die on that mech if it is available. Discard the Spotting die if you use it. Compare the terrain around the target and use the following:
Target Exposed: 5 or 6 is a hit, discard 1 attachment or white dice for each hit. If a mech loses both their white dice, they are destroyed.
Target Behind Rubble: 6 is a hit.
Target Behind Wall: 6 is a hit, remove one hit before resolving.
7a. If your attack target has yet to go, they roll dice for their mech and are moved to next in the initiative order. Then resolve your attack as above.
8. Your mech can move one hex for each point up to the value of its Movement die.
9. Place your spotting die next to the spotting target. If one is already present, pick one to keep and discard the other.
10. If your mech is the only one within hand to hand range of a station, you gain control of it.
11. After everyone goes, the number of turns to go is reduced by 1. Each player starting from the highest scoring can reduce it a further 1.

Is that about right?

Ianator

Yeah, that's about it. It's worth emphasizing something about the initiative: if you fire on an enemy unit that hasn't gone yet, that unit will go next, regardless of initiative. Just something to keep in mind.

Valkun

Ravana
White Dice: 2
Blue Dice: 1
Red Dice: 1d6, 1d6, 2d6+1d8
Yellow Dice: 0
Green Dice: 0
Initiative: 1

Ravenhawk
White Dice: 2
Blue Dice: 0
Red Dice: 2d6, 2d6, 0
Yellow Dice: 0
Green Dice: 1
Initiative: 2

Zephyr
White Dice: 2
Blue Dice: 0
Red Dice: 0, 0, 0
Yellow Dice: 1
Green Dice: 1
Initiative: 3

The one in front is about the size of the examples posted. It's too hard to get the joint complexity I'm looking for at that scale.

Edit: So if I'm reading this right, you can use a white die to perform an attack at any range without having any weapons?

Ianator

Lookin' pretty awesome, Val. It's times like this that I wish I could actually afford to buy up big forces off of Lego Direct.

fadingathedges

I thought the white attack was a bare-chassis punch? I think I just assumed as much though.


Valk that cheat sheet rules for construction and play is handy.
Under play 7, I don't quite get how attacking and damaging works.

If I roll 2 DF and select one which beats my targets blue, I hit, right?
Let's say my red 5 beat their blue 3.
5 - 3 = 2
So I roll another 2 dice and every [Number based on cover] or better knocks off an attachment?

Is that accurate?

Valkun

fadingathedges wrote: »

I thought the white attack was a bare-chassis punch? I think I just assumed as much though.


Valk that cheat sheet rules for construction and play is handy.
Under play 7, I don't quite get how attacking and damaging works.

If I roll 2 DF and select one which beats my targets blue, I hit, right?
Let's say my red 5 beat their blue 3.
5 - 3 = 2
So I roll another 2 dice and every [Number based on cover] or better knocks off an attachment?

Is that accurate?

Looks right to me. And if there's a spotting die on that mech, you can roll that number of dice instead.

Edit: So who all is interested in playing a game of this on the boards? It's not terribly complicated if we use a hex map.

fadingathedges

I'd be up for trying but my mechs would be vector drawings... my lego are far away and probably not ideal for this anyhow ;o

Ianator

fadingathedges wrote: »

I thought the white attack was a bare-chassis punch? I think I just assumed as much though.

It can be. Basically, when you roll your die you can replace, say, a low Blue Die roll with a higher White Die. You can also use them for doing stuff you don't have dedicated attachments for (like movement and defense) - a naked mech can put its two white dice to anything except Direct and Artillery Attack (which must have suitable attachments in order to benefit from white dice).

Valkun wrote: »

So who all is interested in playing a game of this on the boards? It's not terribly complicated if we use a hex map.

Me me me meee~!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtLvCwGZNWA

Also, vector drawings could work! I was thinking of just taking pictures of the mechs and making hex-shaped chits out of them or something.

fadingathedges

Ianator wrote: »

fadingathedges wrote: »

I thought the white attack was a bare-chassis punch? I think I just assumed as much though.

It can be. Basically, when you roll your die you can replace, say, a low Blue Die roll with a higher White Die. You can also use them for doing stuff you don't have dedicated attachments for (like movement and defense) - a naked mech can put its two white dice to anything except Direct and Artillery Attack (which must have suitable attachments in order to benefit from white dice).

I was replying to someone who asked if a white dice could be used as an attack at any range. You pretty much clarified that up ;p

fadingathedges

Yellow dice spotting:

How does this work exactly?

Is it:
"If the attacker has a yellow dice number he can roll that (-1) many 'damage dice' after a successful hit?"

Or something else?



also:

Ianator

BROCCOLI FOREST!

And yes, you are partially right about the Spotting Die, except that when a mech "spots," it puts the die onto its target, and anything firing at that unit can use that die as its attack without being reduced by defense.

Valkun

I've seen some references to getting extra movement if you only have melee weapons? Can you clarify on that bit?

Ianator

If your mech is only equipped with Melee weapons (either being given only them, or having your other weapons knocked away, but not counting mechs that didn't have any weapons to begin with), that mech will recieve a Green D8 so it may enter krumpin' range more easily. Word is the next edition will change it to a simpler +2 to movement.

HamHamJ

Valkun wrote: »

Edit: So who all is interested in playing a game of this on the boards? It's not terribly complicated if we use a hex map.

I would be up for trying this.

Valkun

Would that include other attachments like Defense or Movement? Or is it just any mech that doesn't have long range weapons?

fadingathedges

I hope there is a way to port this into LEGO Universe

Ianator

It can still get the bonus with non-Weapon attachments.

fadingathedges wrote: »

I hope there is a way to port this into LEGO Universe

If I play it, I'll see what I can do.

fadingathedges

http://ldd.lego.com/download/


huh

DLing now.... really hope it has like every part ever ;o

Ianator

If you're looking for access to every part ever, you might be looking for LeoCAD or BrickSmith - LDD is purely parts that are available from LEGO Factory, and still has a few assembly methods that don't work yet.

On the other hand, it's still a perfectly good building program, and you can send in your plans to LEGO Factory and buy them as kits - almost everything I've made so far can be ordered from them.

fadingathedges

Doesn't LEGOCAD require actual CAD?

Ianator

...? Far as I know, it's just a slightly more functional LEGO-building program. And also less user-friendly - I just tried to put together a basic naked mech and had trouble putting two bricks together - LDD really is much easier to work with.

Ianator

So... if I were to assemble a bunch of basic chits to represent mechs on one o' thems hex boards, how big would I have to make them?

Valkun

Depending on the number of players, you'd probably want the board to be about 20x20 hexes? That link I posted earlier has a hex map generator. Just follow their calculations for making a board of reasonable size. Anything above 1600x1200 is probably pushing it.

Ianator

Alright, the basic one makes a 9x11 thing, the next size up makes an 11x18...

...aaand I have no idea what I'm doing.

robotsunshine

We're all about the story-based campaign play, right?

Guys I need this.

Lardalish

Man, I think I came up with a nifty leg design, now I just have to not forget it.

Damnit, why does it have to be like a month till I can get to my legos?