Rule Mod: Capture the Flag

We recently had a question on the Discord asking about "Capture the Flag" style play in MFZ: Rapid Attack by RabidFlea.  I've also seen other comments about a lack of diversity in gameplay of Rapid Attack, so why don't we explore this rule space a little?

A comment was made Shades Corvid about "moving a station to another station" which made me think a bit.  We've seen moving Stations before -- that's essentially what HVAs are in Intercept Orbit -- and my group has had Stations placed on moving terrain, so it's not really a new concept.  It just changes the dynamic because you now have to handle a battle around a moving point rather than a static one.

And rather than have a special unit, which was another comment, we should probably allow any Frame the ability to capture and transport "The Flag".  That way no-one has to make any special allowances for their squad and you can switch in this gameplay option at the last minute if you want.

My second thought about this was capturing the Flag can be done any time a Frame would capture a Station but this action "uses up" one of the Frame's White dice for that Activation.

My first thought about this was that any Frame that is carrying a captured Flag has to drop it when it takes Damage, it's the "shock of getting hit" or whatever fiction you want to use to explain it.  This prevents the game from devolving into a massive attempt at a beatdown because -- as was seen in this blog post -- it takes a lot of damage to destroy a Frame.  If the Frame that dropped the Flag was activated by this damage then they can dedicate a White Die to picking it up again.  Otherwise you'd better hope that you have another Frame nearby or it's close to the end of the Round and you can activate quickly.  Also, like Stations that have been abandoned, any dropped Flag is still under control of the player that dropped it until another player -- or the original player -- picks up the Flag again.  If the Flag is dropped in a crowd this may cause a Contested Station situation (page 130, 131).

The player that controls a Flag at the end of the Round gains the points for that asset.  The same goes for the end of the game. 

As to what a Flag Station should look like, let's start simple.  A 4x4 Round Plate, a Round Large Jumper, a 6.6L Bar w/Stop, and a 1x4 Left Wave Flag adds up to something easy to build and clear to see on the battlefield.

So to recap:

Flags can be captured like Stations (page 91, 92) but it requires use of a White Die.

Damage to a Frame carrying a Flag causes that Frame to drop the Flag.

Flags can be recaptured by the dropping Frame if they have a free activation.

Otherwise they can be captured by opponents.

The player that controls a Flag at the end of the Round gains the points for that asset.

The player that controls a Flag at the end of the Game gains the points for that asset.

Hopefully this is a fun option for people.

Terrain Workshop: (Pine)Apples and Oranges Trees

These builds were inspired by two different sources.  The first one is an upcoming Lego set, 41737 Beach Adventure Park, which has a tree design that kinda feels like a riff on one of mine.  The other source is the MFZ Discord and a discussion between Alcom Isst, Atavism, and myself.  So I tracked down some of those new Fern pieces and got to building.

 So this starts out similar to a lot of other builds; 1x1x6 Solid Pillar 

 Support, 1x1 Round Plate, Inkwell, and Axle Connector Hub w/4 Bars,

 then four 1x1 Round Plate w/Curved, Upright Leaf, then four Minifig 

 Head w/o Face Pineapple Pattern.  This was actually the second thing

 suggested but the "apples & oranges" joke doesn't work in that order.

The second build just subs in the Technic Ball Joint for the Minifig Head.  While 

it has less options in terms of connectivity, I feel like this one just looks better. 

Both of these designs have twelve pieces which is 2 Hits.  They are both 27 feet tall in 6P scale and the trunk is 2.5 feet thick.  They are roughly 14 feet across from leaf tip to leaf tip.  I really feel like this is a fun looking build and would be an excellent part of any terrain on a battlefield.

Here's the obligatory size comparison with the usual suspects.  I hope this helps people with future terrain designs for MFZ: Rapid Attack.  Flickr page.

Terrain Workshop: Direction, Direction, Direction

Something I've talked about in private conversations is the idea of creating Compass Roses for every table-setting I've made.  The idea of having something on the table that establishes the direction things are facing helps to tie players into the game just a little bit more.  (It also helps when describing movement in battle reports but that just may be me looking out for myself.)  Anything that helps keep players rooted to the events happening on the table and invested in the story they are telling through their actions is a good thing.

Now I know it's a little bit late for the recent Ice 9 game at Paper Asylum but I managed to make one for that setting.  I dug out some of the printed Cardinal Direction tiles I had from the old Atlantis Treasure game and placed them on a 6x6 Round Plate.  I then placed a Large Jumper in the middle of the Round Plate.  Scavenging a Flame piece from one of the other builds, I placed that into a 1x1 Cone on top of the Large Jumper to make it sort of an "Eternal Flame" type installation.  I felt like it needed a little more "something" so I covered the remaining open studs on the Round Plate with Quarter Circle Tiles in Black.  It matches the black lettering and line work on the directional tiles and as this is the only terrain piece that has Black pieces it helps it stand out a little from the others.  I also added in three 1x1 Round Plates to bring it up to a total of six pieces for one full hit.

New

Old

When I first put this together, I originally had the direction arrows facing

outwards.  Then I started mucking about and noticed that there's

a greater continuity of White when they're placed in this manner.

The negative space describes sort of a snowflake type design which

is appropriate for the table-setting and I think it just plain looks better.

Let's take a look at how it compares to our usual suspects.  The base would be 15 feet across in 6P scale.  The spout is 6 feet tall and the flame is an additional 19 feet.  It would be the third tallest piece of terrain on the table.

Hopefully I'll get this on the table the next time we use the Ice 9 table-setting and, I'll also get more built for other table-settings so we can see what effect they may have.  Flickr page.

Terrain Workshop: Alien Plants

After spending last week at college, let's keep the learning metaphor going by engaging in a workshop.  A Terrain Workshop to be specific.

My builds are generally the result of one of two things; an idea to combine certain parts in a certain order, or random combinations of parts thrown together while sorting.  This is one of the latter.  The main driver for this creation was the 2x2 Dome Bottom w/Studs.  Combining that with a 2x2 Round Plate, a 2x2 Dome Top w/Axle Holder, a 1x1 Round Plate w/Flower Edge, and two Plant Flower Stems gets you a 1 Hit piece of Cover.

The fun thing about these pieces is they come in a number of colors

which allows you to make multiple combinations.  Flexing fictional

muscles allow us to make fun explanations as to why these combos

exist, like just sprouted, under-ripe, ripe, and over-ripe (from

left to right).  Placing two on a plate gives you a 2 Hit piece of

Cover, and lining them up can help you make a wall of sorts.

In 6P scale these are 12 feet tall and 5 feet wide.  As you can see from

the usual suspects in the size comparison picture they are a decent

size.  I'll probably be adding these to my Sci-Fi Outpost table-setting.  I

hope this helps people with future terrain designs for MFZ: Rapid Attack.

Flickr page.

War College: An "Average" MFZ: Rapid Attack Game

I've been data mining my battle reports after a comment of "we had a lot of Station Dancing in this game" at the last game.  After a while it turned into a look at what comprises an "average" game of Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack.  This is eight years of data -- the first usable battle report for this was in 2016 -- yielding a total of 49 games and the averages look pretty interesting.  Keep in mind that this reflects mostly my group's metagame.  Only 14% of the games used for data feature outside players (7 out of 49).  Your metagame will vary in some way depending on how many players, how much terrain is on your battlefield, etc.  Also keep in mind that I only had accurate enough records in 49 games out of 82 -- roughly 60% -- so that missing data may have skewed some of the results in a different direction.  I may, at some point, look at when certain things are more likely to happen in a game but that will be a project for another day.

Average

Number of Players: 4.

Number of Rounds: 4.

Total Number of Frames: 18.

Total Number of Stations: 6.

Total Damage: 62 points.

Cover Damage: 5 points.

Falling Damage: <1 point.*

Total Number of Hits: 28.

Number of Hits on Cover: 3.

Number of Frame Destroyed: 5.

Pieces of Cover Destroyed: 2.

Number of Station Captures: 6.

Number of Station Dances: 4.

Most

Players: multiple ties for 6.

Rounds: 6 {Totalcon Throwdown}.

Frames in a Game: 27 {The Henge @ PAXE20}.

Stations in a Game: multiple ties for 8.

Damage in a Game: 87 points {Airfield Ambush 4}.

Cover Damage in a Game: 15 points {DMZ}.

Falling Damage in a Game: 5 points {DMZ}.

Hits in a Game: 38 {Ice 9 (Expedition 5)}.

Hits on Cover in a Game: 7 {DMZ}.

Frames Destroyed in a Game: multiple ties for 9.

Pieces of Cover Destroyed in a Game: multiple ties for 4.

Station Captures in a Game: 12 {Ice 9}.

Station Dances in a Game: 13 {Ice 9 (Expedition 5)}.

Least

Players: 2 {Totalcon Throwdown}.

Rounds: multiple ties for 3.

Frames in a Game: 11 {Totalcon Throwdown}.

Stations in a Game: multiple ties for 5.

Damage in a Game: 28 points {Teslaville}.

Cover Damage in a Game: multiple ties for 0.

Falling Damage in a Game: multiple ties for 0.

Hits in a Game: 17 {Teslaville}.

Hits on Cover in a Game: multiple ties for 0.

Frames Destroyed in a Game: multiple ties for 2.

Pieces of Cover Destroyed in a Game: multiple ties for 0.

Station Captures in a Game: multiple ties for 1.

Station Dances in a Game: multiple ties for 0.

Weirdest data point: 4 points of Falling damage inflicted on Terrain. {Teslaville 2}

* Falling damage is kind of weird.  It only happens in 9 games out of the 49 that had clear enough info to use.  The average amount of Falling damage, when it does happen, is 2 points.

War College: Archetype Analysis - The Binary

Several weeks ago I was having a chat with Zeekhotep and I mentioned I was thinking about analyzing the Binary archetype.  He said that would be of interest to him, so here we go.  Here's the breakdown for those not familiar with it.

Binary: One Artillery attachment, one Defensive attachment, one Spotting attachment, and one Movement attachment. (2Ra/1B/1G/1Y/2W)
Loadout (4 systems): 1A1D1M1S2W
Role: 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.

The way I see it the usage for this archetype will vary depending on where you start the Initiative stack.  If you field them as Defender they will operate on one track, and if you're an attacker it'll operate on another.  But then that's generally true no matter what archetype you're using.

Defender Implementation

As Defender, the best way to field this loadout is your starting pair of Frames that help to delineate your Perimeter.  That way they'll be at least one Ruler apart and can support each other offensively.  Unless you delay a bit the first attack from one of these Frames will probably have no Spot to aid it.  In that case you should use it to force an opponent's premature activation and disrupt their plans.

System removal should probably go Movement, Artillery, Spotting, Defense.  Generally you don't move too much when playing Defender -- and if you were planning on it you would have picked a different archetype -- so ditch this first.  The Artillery system is the second to go as that will give you the Sprint die and if you're halfway down the damage track you should think about moving.  Spotting is the third to go as it is useful in -- hopefully -- making targets of your opponent's Frames.  Defense is always last because as the Defender you need your Frames to survive as long as possible.

Attacker Implementation

As an Attacker, you're still fielding these in pairs to use their weapons and Spots in complementary/ overlapping fields of fire.  Once again the first attack from one of these Frames will probably have no Spot to aid it.  In that case you should use it to force an opponent's premature activation and disrupt their plans.

I can see this archetype being used in conjunction with Brawler, or Closer archetypes, or even both in the same squad.  Drop the Brawler as the Point Frame if you're Point attacker, place the Closer behind it to take advantage of the Brawler's double Defense.  Use those two as the point of the spear and support them with a pair of Binaries.  use the Binaries to damage Cover, damage opponents, and drop Spots to force enhance the attacks of the Brawler/Closer.

System removal as an Attacker should probably go Artillery, Movement, Spotting, Defense.  The Artillery system is first to go as that will give you the Sprint die.  This archetype needs to be pretty close to the front lines due to the limited Spotting envelope so dropping Artillery and changing to melee mode using White dice works as you'll be crashing the Defender's Perimeter anyway.  Movement is second as you'll already have the Sprint die.  Spotting is the third to go as it is useful in -- hopefully -- making targets of your opponent's Frames.  Defense is always last because you need your Frames to survive as long as possible.

War College: Targeting/Destroying Cover

It's been a few months since the last War College visit, and since I want to do more of these, let's spend the week in class.

While talking about data mining information from my battle reports on one of the Discord servers I'm on, I got into a discussion about targeting/destroying Cover.

Commander Rook brought up his tactic of using a Frame with minimum of 2Ra/2Y (Delegator, Recon by Fire, etc.) to target Cover, hopefully destroy it, then placing a large Spot on the Frame hiding behind said damaged/destroyed Cover.  Then a second Frame with a SSR or double weapon Systems -- think of something with a d8 for Attack roll -- takes a swing at the exposed Frame.  This tactic will "expose a frame to full damage without prematurely activating it and allowing it to reposition."  You could also use this tactic with Commando, Support Soldier, or Squad Leader archetypes attacking the "problematic" Cover instead of one of the other archetypes mentioned.  It might just be a little more satisfying making that first attack from across the table though.

This tactic should prove useful on battlefields with some sort of structure or heavy wall like my DMZ, Airfield Ambush, or Owen's Crossing.  I'm not sure how many people already know/use this tactic because I haven't seen it very often in my own gaming group.