Time for a break from the 30 day challenge
; )
DIY ROBOTECH MINIATURE GAME
The other week I had an enjoyably nostalgic
conversation with Jeffro about the Robotech RPG, which he reviewed on his blog.
We had the usual conversation on Palladium’s great IP and outdated, clunky
system, which I as a former Palladium-junkie and the author of the ‘Palladium
Patch’ floating out there on the internet know quite well. (I might try to
re-create and post this patch at a later date)
The conversation got me to thinking about
Palladium’s recent successful Robotech: Tactics Kickstarter. Regardless what
you think about the Palladium system, and considering the success of the Star
Wars miniature game (which I played and LOVED), Palladium has a chance to spin
some gold here and make 80s nerds very happy.
I hope they let go of the reins enough to
let their wargaming partners Ninja Division shine and succeed.
That being said, I thought I’d try to
cobble together some simple DIY Robotech miniature rules, based on stats from the
old rulebooks. In the original Robotech RPG, all combat takes place in what
Jeffro calls ‘the theater of the mind.’ Between the original rulebook and rules
sections in the other RDF books especially, there are enough examples of moves based
off of skill roll penalties that a good GM could describe an anime style mecha
dogfight totally in this mental theater. We had lots of fun back in the day rolling
for maneuvers with penalties to skills and tracking dogfight distance with
pennies on a distance gauge swiped from the car chase rules for old Call of
Cthulhu.
Here are my DIY Robotech miniature wargame
ideas:
SET UP: MINIATURES
First, miniatures. I live in Japan,
and the local recycle shop is filled with old Macross figures selling for under
2 bucks a pop. They are partially articulated, beautifully crafted, and stand
at 5-6 inches.
I have a nice (and growing) selection of
Veritechs in V and B modes, but sadly only 3 Excaliburs, although there are
tons of Gundam and random robomecha figures that I could substitute in a pinch.
Zentradei mecha are limited to two Battle Pods (with interchangeable missile
racks!), but as with the Destroids, substitutes abound.
STEP ONE: LAND VEHICLE SCALE & SPEEDS
DISCLAIMER: I have never been into
wargames, and the few times a friend has roped me into a game of Warhammer or
Space Marines hasn’t changed my opinion. Which means that I am a newb and will
probably make real wargamers smash their heads into their keyboards in
frustration. That said, this is an interesting thought exercise to wash the phd
readings out of my brain, so here I go!
SCALE
First, I need to choose a good scale that
will be faithful to the stats but allow manageable tabletop mayhem. I figure I’ll
have to split scale between Ground Combat and Aerial Combat, as the latter is
unzodly fast. I’ll also split this project into three posts, Ground, Aerial,
and Mixed to reflect this.
After several back-of-envelope
calculations, I figure a Hex of 50 meters would be a reasonable scale for
ground combat.
Speed in kph/10 = Speed in 50m hexes per
round
Weapon Ranges = convert
to 50m Hexes
The math is not totally exact, but close
enough for government work. It allows me to keep the stats from the books and
the 15 second combat round.
RDF LAND SPEEDS (hereafter LS)
Battloid 60 mph / 96.5 kph = LS 10
Excalibur 50 mph / 88 kph = LS 9
Gladiator 65 mph / 108 kph = LS 11
Mac II 20 mph / 32.18 kph = LS 3
Raidar X 80 mph / 128.72 kph = LS 13
Spartan 45 mph / 72.3 kph = LS 7
ENEMY LAND SPEEDS
Zentraedi Tactical Battle Pods 175 mph /
280 kph = LS 28
One thing stands out when you crunch the
numbers – RDF mechs are painfully SLOW, while Battle Pods are hilariously FAST.
However, Destroids are armored and brimming with weapons, while TBP’s are the
opposite - why armor up when clones are dispensable and are living tanks
themselves? Looks to be an interesting fight.
STEP TWO: ORDER OF ACTIONS, COSTS &
PENALTIES
Number – Mechs get the pilot’s number of
actions plus those listed in mecha skill from the rulebook. However, I will be
using my old houserule of Combat Momentum from the Palladium Patch. Basically,
a player with initiative keeps attacking until 1) He fumbles 2) He runs out of
attacks, 3) He is interrupted by a sneak attack, or 4) He decides to stop
attacking. This last is useful since a character who has used all his actions
can no longer Dodge!
Mecha can do the following things. Note
that Attacks, Dodges, and other actions use up one Action.
1) Advance their entire LS while attacking enemies directly to the
front with fixed-forward weapons.
2) Advance up to half their LS, then attack an enemy in the 90 degree
arc in front of them with handheld or rotatable weapons.
3) Attack an enemy in the 90 degree arc in front of them with handheld or
rotatable weapons, then advance half their LS.
4) Scuttle or Retreat – As 2) or 3), but instead move sideways or in
reverse at half LS, and minus one to hit or be hit.
5) Scan – While scanning rules are non-existent in the RPG, they make a
nice gritty addition to a wargame. A character can see any mecha in a 90 degree
arc in front of him (line of sight), but for a picture of the area around him
he needs to check his radar. Costs one action, allows 360 degree radar pings,
no roll required.
6) Transform – Go from Valkyrie to Fighter or back, or Valkyrie to
Battloid or back. Costs one action, can be combined with a Dodge, bonuses equal
to pilot’s alone.
7) Change facing – Costs one point of LS to change 90 degrees while
moving.
8) Missile Lock – Automatic action, requires a skill roll.
9) Other Action – Jump, Go Prone, Scoop up Minmei, cost one action.
Additionally, I will be using my MDC damage
rules to make mecha fights more interesting:
High Explosive Missile – Does an equal
number of dice of SDC damage to human pilot or passenger, pilot can roll for
half. Ignore MDC damage multipliers.
Fragmentation Missile – Apply each dice of
damage to a different part of the mecha within the blast radius.
Armor Piercing Missile – Automatically causes
critical damage per critical damage tables.
Plasma Missile – Does full number of dice
in damage first round, then one less dice per round thereafter until no dice
remain. Player can use an Action to shake plasma off.
Multi-Warhead Missile – Attacker rolls two
d20 when attacking, takes the best roll.
Hand to Hand – Always does critical
damage on a maximum damage roll, plus any roll does equal SDC damage to human pilot.
THE NEXT STEP
Hopefully, I can get together with some
gamer friends the next week or so and try these out. I’m thinking to replay
Rick Hunter’s first fight against the Zentraedi just to test the system out,
then set up some Destroid versus ZBP action.
Until next time!
