Battle Report: Alien Planet 5

This is our fifth game of Rapid Attack, as a group, this year.  After sitting out for a year, I put the "Alien Planet" on the table for this game.  There were a number of rules variants/things added for this game.  See the notes for details.  This was a Skirmish.

Me (5 Frames & 20 Systems) = (7 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 49 points.  (Nonbinaries)
   Red Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Orange Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Brown Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Blue Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W.
   Green Recon by Fire -- 2B/1Gd8/2Y/2W.

Phungkyjams (6 Frames & 23 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 28 points.  (Matoran)
   Red Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W.
   Dark Red Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Sand Blue Light Guardian -- 2Rd/2Ra/1B/1Y/2W.
   Blue Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.
   Green Armored Spotter -- 1B/1Gd8/2Y/2W + SSR (x3).
   Black Closer -- 2Rh+d8/2Rd/1B/2W.

Tom (6 Frames & 23 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (8 assets) = 24 points.

   Yellow Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Orange Hammer -- 2Rd/2B/1Y/2W.

   Red Hammer -- 2Rd/2B/1Y/2W.
   Green Armored Swarmer -- 2Rh/2B/1Gd8/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Blue Armored Swarmer -- 2Rh/2B/1Gd8/1Y/2W + SSR.
   White Light Brawler -- 2Rh/2B/1Gd8/2W + SSR.

This is what the table looked like at the start of the game.

Events of Round 1 (DDC @ 11): My Green frame takes a step forward and captures Phungkyjams' Station.  My Orange frame hits Phungkyjams' Sand Blue frame for 6 with a SSR, Station Dance, and the dome it was behind for 2.  Tom's Blue frame moves East and hits my Green frame for 3, Station Dance.  Phungkyjams' Green hits my Red frame for 1 with a SSR.  My Red frame then hits Phungkyjams' Sand Blue frame for 1, destroying it.  Phungkyjams' Blue frame hits my Green frame for 3.  Phungkyjams' Black frame runs East and hits my Blue frame for 2.  My Blue frame then leaps over Phungkyjams' Black frame and claws it for 3.  Tom's Orange frame moves South through the Disk Trees and hits the dome in front of Phungkyjams' Dark Red frame for 4.  My Brown frame hits Phungkyjams' Black frame for 1 then moves Southwest and captures the Neutral Station.

Me: 63 points.

Tom: 24 points.

Phungkyjams: 18 points.

Events of Round 2 (DDC @ 9): Tom's Orange frame hits Phungkyjams' Dark Red frame for 1 then turns West and moves towards the center of the battlefield.  Phungkyjams' Dark Red frame hits my Red frame for 1.  Phungkyjams' Blue frame takes a few steps forward, captures my Pink Station, then hits Tom's Green frame for 1.  My Blue frame leaps over the dome and captures Phungkyjams' second Station.  Tom's Blue frame hits my Green frame for 3, destroying it, then runs past Phungkyjams' station -- that was under my control -- and captures it.  Phungkyjams' Red frame moves Southwest and hits my Brown frame for 6, Station Dance.  Phungkyjams' Black frame moves East and captures the Neutral Station.  My Orange frame hits Phungkyjams' Black frame for 3, destroying it, then moves West into cover behind a Balloon Tree.  Tom's Yellow frame hits my Brown frame for 4, destroying it.  Tom's White frame moves East and captures my Blue Station.

Tom: 30 points.

Me: 28 points.

Phungkyjams: 18 points.

Events of Round 3 (DDC @ 6): Phungkyjams' Red frame moves Southeast and hits Tom's Green frame for 2.  Tom's Blue frame moves North and captures the Neutral Station.  Phungkyjams' Blue frame hits Tom's White frame for 1, then moves south and recaptures his Station.  Tom's Red frame hits my Orange frame for 5 then moves North.

Tom: 30 points.

Me: 28 points.

Phungkyjams: 18 points.

Events of Round 4 (DDC @ 3): Phungkyjams' Green frame moves Southeast to the center of the battlefield and hits Tom's Blue frame for 1 with a SSR.  Tom's Yellow frame hits my Orange frame for 5, destroying it, and hits the Balloon Tree in front of it for 1.  Phungkyjams' Dark Red frame hits my Blue frame for 1.  Tom's Orange frame hits Phungkyjams' Blue frame for 2 then moves Northwest to the Neutral Station.  The Doomsday Clock is ticked to zero.

Tom: 30 points.

Me: 21 points.

Phungkyjams: 18 points.

Here's several during and aftermath pictures.

Round 1

Round 1

Round 1

Round 2

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 4

Round 4

Round 4

Round 4

Start

Round 4

Thoughts & Observations:

• This was a Skirmish
• We were originally set for five players but had two drop out.
• The Red domes are from Zuru Max Mystery Builds from four years ago.
• I wanted to change up this table-setting a bit and these seemed like the perfect addition.
• I calculated each one would be five Brick tall Cover with a minimum of 5 Hits.
• We used the Neutral Station rule.
• Player/Frame quantities were taken from my "Even Newer" section from my blog post "Player Count 5".
• There was a roll off to determine Point Attacker.
• I don't have a Compass Rose on the table but, I consider North to be the opposite end of the table in the first picture.
• The was a lot of action in the second round.
• Tom and I had an interesting discussion about Elevation and Highly Durable Terrain after the game was over.
• We also had a discussion about Station placement and tactics that might make it into a War College post.
• Flickr page.

MFZ @ Gen Con

Gen Con is four weeks away tomorrow.  Or is four weeks and a day less confusing?  :-)  I won't be attending but lots of other people will.  In fact there are a number of Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack events on the schedule.  See here.  The majority of them are sold out but a few are still open.  So if you're there, stop by, have a look, and maybe even participate.  Please post pictures if you do!

War College: Squad Composition

We were discussing squad composition over on the Discord last week and it's made me think about it more in depth.  Squads in MFZ: Rapid Attack should have a purpose.  This is not about "I need X melee, Y Direct Fire, and Z Artillery frames to make a squad.  You can't just put a bunch of archetypes on the table and expect them to work together.  At the risk of using a business buzzword, the Frames in your squad need to work synergistically.

To start with, I find that "Soldiers All the Way Down" works well as a catch-all squad to put on the table when you don't have a plan and you don't know whom you're facing.  X amount of Frames all sporting (2Rd/1B/1G/1Y) with one or more of them carrying Single Shot Rockets.  As they all have the same loadout they can all support one another, move, and possibly attack in concert depending on how the Initiative Stack favors you.  It scales up, it scales down, and it works fairly well at either end of the spectrum.

There's a squad that gets used by one of the players in my group that works pretty well.  It's (3x) Armored Swarmers (2Rh/2B/1Y/1Gd8/2W), (2x) Hammers (2Rd/2B/1Y/2W), and (1x) Recon by Fire (2Ra+d8/2Y/2W).  The RbF sets Spots for the Armored Swarmers-- and maybe softens targets up a bit.  The Armored Swarmers chew into the opponent and set Spots for the Hammers.  The Hammers bat clean-up.  This is an offensive squad.  It's meant to start on the Defender's Perimeter and crash inward wreaking havoc all the way in.

Moving on to a pretty advanced strategy, the Frames in the Sniping Turtle Formation all have roles.  The Watchtower Frames provide Cover and Spots for whichever Artillery based Frame is used as the "hitter" for the squad.  While the Medium Artillerist -- for example -- provides the long range damage potential.  It's meant to be defensive.  The operating plan is to retreat away from your opponents into a "hull down position" -- to borrow a tanker term -- then sow discord with Spots while sniping soft targets.

If we want to get even more advanced, then you can try my squad of Defenders (2B/1G+d8/1Y/2W + SSR) from this game.  The first two Frames set the Perimeter, the third one captures any open station.  Then you spend the rest of the game running away, while setting Spots, and hopefully use your three SSRs to destroy some enemy Frames.

MFZ: RA is a game that requires a lot of thought before you even hit the table.  If you get the mix of Frames/Systems right to be where you want in the Initiative Stack and you put together a mix of archetypes that you think will work well together, you still have to get through the Set-Up Phase correctly.  If you place a melee squad at the other end of a long table from an Artillery squad you're probably not going to get in range before the game is over.  In more ways than one.  That is also a conversation to have at a different point in time.

So, in short, have a plan.  Pick the Weaponry for the range you want to work at.  Pick enough Defense to survive long enough to execute your plan.  Pick enough Movement to capture Stations, or run away.  And lastly pick enough Spotting to enhance your -- or someone else's -- attacks.  Then, go to it.