Robotech At Prairiecon XXXIII

As Dallas posted, we made the visit to Brandon a couple of weeks ago to participate in Prairiecon XXXIII.  Here are some pictures of the Robotech game. 

The game was lots of fun - just as the test game was a few weeks ago.  The RDF side put up a spirited defence, but at Prairiecon this year the Zentreadi prevailed, even though the Zentreadi Officer's pod had a pretty tough outing.

Once again a big thanks to Dallas, Mike F. and Cam for coming out to Prairiecon.  It's a great event, and I look forward to participating again next year.

Battle Report - Robotech 1/200 Scale

The life of a Veritech pilot in the Robotech universe.

Last night we played Robotech in 1/200 scale, using a slightly modified version of the Lord of the Rings rules system from GW (yes - we use those rules for everything, even futuristic mecha combat, right Brian?).  The game, hosted by Dallas, was a chance to do a practice run on the scenario I will be running at PrairieCon in Brandon this weekend.  Here is a report with some photos of the game.

The alien ranks.

The stoic Destroids await their fate.

The scenario is set on Mars.  SDF-1 has landed at the abandoned Mars base to try and pick up supplies, and has become trapped by "gravity mines" while the Zentraedi lead an ambush.  In this game, a group of RDF mecha are trying to hold the attacking aliens back. 

The Zentraedi have 8 turns to knock out the five Destroids AND get at least five of their battle pods to exit the far side of the table. The Zentraedi start the game with 16 pods, including one ace pilot in an Officer's Pod, three light missile pods and one heavy missile pod.

The RDF detachment has five destroids - three "Raidar X" variants, one "Excalibur" variant and one "Gladiator" variant. The destroids are supported by a pair of VF-1A Veritech fighters that will enter the game on turn two.

Dallas and Dave V. took command of the Zentraedi, while Brian and Mike F. played the RDF side. The Zentraedi would start the game with priority in turn one, and after that both sides would roll a D6 to determine priority.

Zentraedi Commander leads the way.

VF-1As arrive in figher mode.

Alien pods advance through the base.

The modifications I use for the LOTR rules engine allow the mecha to be whittled away by the fire of the various weapons - although in some cases (like the cannon-fodder battle pods) the "whittling" doesn't take long.  But in "close combat", any damage scored immediately destroyed the opposing mecha.  The "close combat" is not intended actually represent blows landed by the arms/feet of the mecha, so much as a point blank hit by one of the various hugely destructive weapon systems used by either side.  It also gives the Zentraedi players an incentive to swarm the opponents, as they did in the animated series, as opposed to approaching the matter as a complicated gun fight.

What could go wrong?

No problem - we've got this under control.

The game was a real blast. The Destroids fell back in the face of the overwhelming alien numbers, trying to use their firepower for as long as possible.  The VF-1A fighters made a decent entrance, and shot up some aliens, before Mike opted to use them as a means to hold up the Zentraedi Officer's pod, which was a tough and hard-hitting customer thanks to its ace pilot.

All together now...

The VT pilots give the "Guardian" mode a try as they engage the Zentraedi's ace Commander.

The Zentraedi lost four pods on the approach as both sides traded shots, while one of the Raidar X's went down to alien shooting.  In one sequence Brian managed to use the heavy particle beam cannons of the Excalibur to blow away two alien pods, one right after the other.

The Destroids are swarmed by the Zentraedi assault.

Once the Destroids' backs were to the wall, the game got very, very interesting as the close fighting began.  Mike's Veritech fighters did very well against the ace Zentraedi Officer, but he was too much for them in the end, particularly as extra Zentraedi pods showed up to finish off the brave (but, keeping with the spirit of the series, expendable) VT pilots.

The Zentraedi Commander finishes off the last Veritech pilot.

The Gladiator is swarmed under by Zentraedi pods.

Raidar X - not long for this world...

Dave and Dallas swarmed the thin line of surviving Destroids, peppering them with fire and hammering them in round after round of close assaults.  The Destroids held out bravely, repelling assault after assault.  Gradually the last two Raidar Xs and the Gladiator were destroyed.  Only the heavily armed Excalibur remained.  Dallas and Dave realized victory was in their grasp - they sent five pods off the table to meet the first part of the victory condition, and set in with two turns remaining to destroy the surviving destroid.

Never tell him the odds!

Brian's "6" holds off the Zentraedi!

Brian, however, lived up to his "never tell me the odds" billing, and the Excalibur incredibly managed to hold out!

No worries for this Destroid...

Victorious Excalibur stares down the enemy!

Final result was a partial win for the Zentraedi, and a big-time promotion for that Excalibur pilot!

A very dramatic ending for an outstanding game.  Everyone really played in the spirit of the sides they were representing, and it made for a very good battle.  Thanks to everyone who came out to play, and a big thanks to Dallas for hosting.  We'll see everyone in Brandon this weekend!

Zentreadi Roll Call - 1/200 Sci-Fi Models

The gang's all here....

A few days ago a poster on TMP asked me to post some pictures of my 1/200 Zentreadi stuff for Macross.  This TMP member, "The Black Android" has been doing some pretty cool Robotech/Macross stuff of his own.  Since I was called out, I had to answer - so here are some pictures of my Zentreadi mecha.

My Zentreadi force includes 10 Tactical Pods (Regult "Soldiers"), 3 Light Artillery Pods (Regult "Light Missile Carriers"), 1 Heavy Artillery Pod (Regult "Heavy Missile Carrier"), 1 Scout Pod and 1 Officer's Pod (known in Macross-ese as a "Glaug").

Light Artillery Pod fires clouds of "small" missiles.

A Regult "platoon".

Heavy Artillery Pod - launcher with four heavy warheads.

The models are 1/200 scale, although as several commentators have noted, notions of scale are really malleable in the Macross universe.  The Zentreadi are really big, bigger than humans, but still small enough to fit into their battle pods, which are also really big, but not that much bigger than the human mecha they fight, which are still bigger than humans too but not as big as the Zentreadi.  Got it?

Scout pod - unarmed, equipped with all sorts of sensors and other e-warfare goodies.

The models are almost all from kits sold under the "Nichimo" brand, but I have also seen them on EBay under other, strange, brand names.  I generally prefer the Nichimo versions, because you get two models in the same box.  They are actually meant to be screwed together (you get the tiny screws) so the legs and (where applicable) arms can move, and somehow mounted on your wall in a plastic bubble (I'm not making this up). 

The Glaug/Officer Pod is the top fighter on the Zentreadi side in our games.

Back view of the Glaug.

These things are bloody impossible to find on EBay these days...I'm glad to have one.

The only non-Nichimo models are two plastic "Gashapon" Tactical Pods that I sprayed back and re-painted.  They look almost identical to the others.

Size comparison - a Tactical Pod with a GW Kasrkin Imperial Guard figure.

I used super-glue instead of screws, filled in the recesses with green stuff, dispensed with the plastic bubble, and mounted them all on 60-mm round bases from GW.

Size comparison - a Tactical Pod beside an armoured VF-1J battloid (also a Nichimo kit).

The models came with decals, but they looked a bit dodgy, so I painted all the markings on by hand.  Since Zentreadi tactical markings are mostly random scrawls of an alien language, it was a good solution.

Zentreadi review on the painting table.

These guys have seen action a few times on the Fawcett Avenue gaming table, and have also seen action for the past couple of years in demonstration games at PrairieCon in Brandon, Manitoba.  I'm a huge fan of Robotech and Macross, and it is always a real treat to haul these out for a game once in a while.

It's great to see other gamers out there on TMP working up their own Macross projects, complete with rules and even new sculpts of their own (!) given how hard it is to find the models these days.  Check out "Mech Dude's Blog" for a really detailed effort.

For my part, I still have a few boxes of these things in my basement, and I even have a couple of assembled and primed battle pods somewhere in the "pending" pile.  I may add more pods at some point, but have found in the games we have played that this force offers plenty to shoot at.

PrairieCon XXXII Report

PrairieCon XXXII was held two weeks ago at Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada (one of my own alma maters in fact!)  The Con was a great success and I am advised that registration set a new record for attendance.

On the Saturday evening I set up a 28mm Stalingrad game on an 8x4 table, using terrain I obtained earlier this year from a fellow member of TMP.

The terrain is fantastic resin stuff from Precision Model Designs.  I obtained it in one large deal, fully assembled and ready to go, specifically with a view to using it at PrairieCon.

I designed the game for eight players and we ended up with seven in the game.  Each player controlled three maneuver units - each unit consisted of an infantry section, a command section, a section of two heavy weapons, or an armoured vehicle.  This is enough for one person to comfortably control in a setting where they're not familiar with the rules.
 

Speaking of rules, we used our "Blitzkrieg" rules developed by me and Conscript Greg.  They are fast-playing and have some unique mechanics that we like.

Each player in the game also had a special mission for his force - the Scouts had to leave play via the enemy table edge, the German Pioneers had to blow up a Goliath SP explosive vehicle, the NKVD had to wipe out an enemy unit in close combat, etc.  It's always interesting to see how convention players choose to achieve these special missions (or not ;-)

Anyway, we had a good time playing the game, and it even ended right on time, with a marginal German win due to their having achieved more of their special missions.

Later in the evening, Conscript Greg ran his very popular Robotech game.  In his game, the Zentraedi have invaded Mars and are trying to leave the table via the human's board edge, to reach the SDF-1 or something.  The humans are trying to prevent this.

The game was played on Greg's really excellent "desert" game boards (that stand in for everything from Afghanistan to the Sudan to, well, Mars) with some of my styro-tastic hangar buildings.

  

Awesome game, Greg!  I'm sure we'll be back to PrairieCon next year with more games.  I just have to plan a game that involves less than 5 large boxes of terrain.  Makes things difficult to transport in my small car... again I need to thank Greg for terrain schlepping for me in his spacious new Ford Edge...