Monday, May 28, 2012

Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 4

The Swarmer: This design has two Hand-to-Hand Attachments, one Defensive attachment, one Spotting attachment, and the free d8 Movement attachment for having no ranged weapons.  (2Rh+d8/1B/1Y/1Gd8/2W)  Like the name suggests, use these in swarms of four or more.   Gang up on a single target, each unit attacking and spotting for the next one in line. It relies on the higher damage rate of HtH -- 4 or better on the damage roll as opposed to 5 or 6, depending on cover, for ranged weapons -- and successive Spots to chew through individual mechs in the opposing force.

Recon by Fire: Equipped with two Artillery attachments, and two Spotting attachments. (2Ra+d8/2Y/2W)  This design can reach out and touch most of the table -- in one way or the other.  Camp it out in a shooting blind at the beginning of the game and start wreaking havoc.  This archetype was created by Malcolm Craig.

The Charger: It carries one Direct Fire attachment, one Hand-to-Hand attachment, one Defensive attachment, and one Movement attachment.  (2Rd/2Rh/1B/1G/2W)  Like many other designs in MFZ, this is a front line combatant. I originally conceived of this Archetype as the "samurai". He has a Yumi (2Rd), a Katana (2Rh), armor (1B), and a horse (1G). Tactically you use this mech like the Closer, ditching systems as you take damage while making your way to your opponent's Station. Unlike the Closer, you can ditch the systems in the order you want -- rather than in the specific order dictated for the Closer.

The Binary: This design has one Artillery attachment,  one Defensive attachment, one Spotting attachment, and one Movement attachment.  (2Ra/1B/1Y/1G/2W)  The Artillery version of the Soldier. This mech works best in pairs. Stage each mech (Direct Fire +1) units apart from each other. This allows each mech to spot for the other as they work their way through the battle field.

Soldier Variants
Improved Soldier: With the addition of one SSR, the Soldier now has an upgraded punch.

Super Soldier: The Super Soldier should be a frontline striker, using his two SSRs on opposing mechs with big, juicy Spot numbers.

Mega-Soldier: You can use the Mega-Soldier's three SSRs one at a time to give it an extended punch. Or, you can use them all at once to make sure that dangerous opposing mech gets hit hard and stays down.

Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 3
Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 2
Mecha Design & Tactical Doctrine 1

2 comments:

  1. These need to go into the book/pdf, along with pics & ref's to 'build diagrams'. (I'm talkin' about all of these strategy concepts, btw.)

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    1. I don't know. There's a different classification system for builds out there that seems to be getting some traction. Telling people, "this is how you build this loadout" is kind of limiting anyway. Allowing people to define things their own way is one of the great things about this game. Just the strategy concepts might be workable. Although, Vincent and Joshua might have already put them in the book. They've been working on this for ten years now.

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