Paper Tokens

Over the weekend, a question was asked on the Discord about needing to use all the dice for Rapid Attack to play the game.  I commented; "If you make paper tokens for Defense and Spotting you can undercut most of the dice use in the game."  There used to be a file for those tokens on the Hangar but as that's gone I figured I'd take a crack at it.

Defense.  I've included a few "0" tokens because sometimes people choose not to have a Defense in certain situations so this allows you to show that choice.

Spotting.  There are more of the 2, 3, 4, and 5 tokens because I needed to fill out the grid.

I figure people can just print out this page and then cut out the tokens.  Hopefully people find these useful.

MFZ Battle Report PDF

There's been some interest in the form I use to keep track of what's happening in Mobile Frame Zero games so, with the permission of the creator of this document, here it is.

Paper Miniatures

As always, one of the entry barriers to any wargame is the initial investment in supplies -- rules, dice, minis, terrain, etc.  One idea I've been kicking around for a while is recommending people print out paper miniatures to put on stands and using them with "stat bars" to reflect Systems and Damage.  And several months ago there was a question asking about this on the MFZ subReddit.  Way back in the old days of the Battletech game the starter set included a set of these paper minis, as can be seen in this vintage box set for sale (third image).

One of the great things about paper minis is that you don't really have to worry about size.  You can have Robotech paper minis on the table next to Battletech, next to whatever.  If you don't want to purchase them, or there's no paper versions of the mecha you want to put on the table, you can always make them yourself.  Like this video tutorial on how to make paper minis for Lancer.

20mm Card Stands.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find images for paper mini bases, and search engines generally like me.

There is also an "Old School" DIY way of basing paper minis.  As you can see in the first link paper minis were designed in a long strip that folded in the middle that had a front, a back, and tabs at both ends that either folded over one another or attached to a base.  Back in the day people used to tape pennies to those tabs to act as a weighted base to hold the mini upright.

And if you don't little, paper standees, you can also make actual physical miniatures out of folded paper.  Here's a constructed paper mini for sale.  Here's another constructed paper mini for sale.

Stat Bars

Originally proposed by Blorf back in 2013 (yes, I know the link is broken.) Stat Bars provide a quick visual shorthand for the amount of systems on a Frame.  They are generally composed of a 1x6 Plate with up to four colored (Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow) 1x1 Tiles and two White 1x1 Tiles.  These can be useful for people who use Frames that aren't made from Lego and can't be disassembled to reflect damage.  They are also useful for people that just don't want to take apart their Frames at all.  You can see them in use in this game from 2015.  So today I'm going to show how they could be used for three different Gundam Converge units to show their Systems.

First, Gundam Barbatos.  I'll give it double Melee

for the big club and Defense for that big ol' head.

Second, Geara Doga.  One Direct Fire for the gun, double

Defense for the shields, and Spotting for the cyclops eye.

Third, Gabthley.  one Artillery for the sniper rifle, one Defense for the

backpack, and double Spotting for the head and the shoulder antenna.

As you can see, I used a Square Tile for the Melee, a Round Tile for the Direct Fire, and a Round Plate for the Artillery.  Both the pieces representing the ranged weapons are round, and the Artillery is "raised" to represent the greater range.  Another use I didn't mention at the beginning is that with these on the table you don't have to ask your opponents, "Hey, what's that one got left for Systems?"

Cheat Sheets 3

Christina Lopez-Hidalgo has created a cheat sheet for Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack and made it available via Google Docs.

People are always asking for Cheat Sheets, so hopefully this one will help.

MFZ:RA Commander's Handbook

A new web app for Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack has been released.  Developed by Blorf on the Hangar, it has four components; Asset Tracking, System Simulation, Rules of Engagement, and Loadout Archetypes.  I managed a sneak peak and it looks pretty good.  Go check it out.

Taking Photographs

I show a lot of photographs on this site, mine and others.  I've never talked about the set-up necessary to take those photographs.

Here's my "studio".

As you can see I shoot outside so I'm at the mercy of the weather and sunlight.

Here's a closeup on my lightbox.

Here's what it looks like when I'm actually going to take a picture.

Here's a tutorial for a DIY Inexpensive Lightbox.  Hopefully this gives you more of an idea of how to proceed with your own photos.

Cheat Sheets 2

These were posted recently by Ybliss.

They're a method of keeping track of your initiative score/victory points.

This picture,

and this picture,

show how he uses numbered tiles, which I believe are stickers of his own design, to represent the scores of each company.  Simple, straightforward, excellent.

Cheat Sheets

One of the things that gets used during a game, besides dice and Lego, is generally a method for keeping track of what systems each mech on your team possesses.

Here's one by Ced23ric.

Here's one by Ybliss.

There are three over at No BS, Just ABS.
This is the one I've used for years.

There have been some other ones made recently that are rules reminders but I think they're of limited use.  Just keep a book around.  Once you've played enough games the rules will get internalized.

I still have to figure out which one I'll use in the future.