Battle Report: Stone Garden 6

Last weekend our group played its first game for 2026.  We had planned on getting together in January but New England weather changed that.  This was a War.

Phungkyjams (5 Frames & 19 Systems) = (7 Points per Asset) * (6 assets) = 42 points.  (Farmhands)

   Red Anvil -- 2Rd+d8/1B/1Y/2W + SSR (x2).

   Blue Artillerist -- 2Ra+d8/2B/2W.

   Purple Static Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Orange  Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.
   Pink Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.

Occam's Spork (5 Frames & 20 Systems) = (6 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 42 points. 
   Brown Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.

   Grey Scout Bodyguard -- 2Rd/2Rh/1B/1Y/2W.

   Orange Scout Bodyguard -- 2Rd/2Rh/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   White Scout Bodyguard -- 2Rd/2Rh/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Blue Scout Bodyguard -- 2Rd/2Rh/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

Stevenik (5 Frames & 20 Systems) = (6 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 42 points. 
   Yellow Watchtower -- 2B/1Gd8/2Y/2W + SSR.

   Green Artillerist -- 2Ra+d8/2B/2W + SSR.

   Orange Tank -- 2Rd+d8/2B/2W.

   Blue Artillerist -- 2Ra+d8/2B/2W + SSR.

   Gold Armored Binary -- 2Ra/2B/1Y/2W.

Me (5 Frames & 20 Systems) = (6 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 42 points.  (Facehugger Force)

   Red Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Green Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Orange Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Blue Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.
   White Watchtower -- 2B/1Gd8/2Y/2W.

Tom (6 Frames & 23 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 21 points.

   Yellow Anvil -- 2Rd+d8/1B/1Y/2W.

   Orange Anvil -- 2Rd+d8/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Green Anvil -- 2Rd+d8/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   White Medium Tank -- 2Rd+d8/1B/2W.

   Blue Hammer -- 2Rd/2B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Black Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.

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

Events of Round 1 (DDC @ 11): Phungkyjams Red frame captures my Station before the game starts. Phungkyjams' Pink frame hits my Blue frame for 1. My Blue frame hits the boulder in front of Phungkyjams' Pink frame for 1, destroying it, then hops over a small monolith.  Tom's Green frame hits a small monolith for 1, destroying it, and Phungkyjams' Orange frame for 1. Phungkyjams' Orange frame then shifts North and hits Occam's Spork's Blue frame for 1. Occam's Spork's Blue frame hits Phungkyjams' Orange frame for 2. Tom's Orange frame hits Occam's Spork's White frame for 3. Tom's White frame hits a medium monolith for 2, destroying it, and Phungkyjams' Orange frame for 2.  My Orange frame shuffles South and hits Phungkyjams' Red frame for 1. Stevenik's Gold frame hits a boulder for 1, destroying it, and Phungkyjams' Red frame for 1.  Stevenik's Blue frame hits Phungkyjams' Pink frame for 2. Phungkyjams' Blue frame hits my Green frame for 2 and the large monolith for 1. Occam's Spork's Brown frame hits Phungkyjams' Purple frame for 2, and the Observatory for 3. Occam's Spork's Grey frame hits Phungkyjams' Purple frame for 2, destroying it.

Phungkyjams: 42 points.
Occam's Spork: 36 points.
Stevenik: 36 points.
Me: 30 points.
Tom: 21 points.

Events of Round 2 (DDC @ 7): Phungkyjams' Red frame moves South abandoning my Station.  My Red frame recaptures my Station.  Occam's Spork's White frame hits Tom's Yellow frame for 1.  Stevenik's Green frame hits my Red frame for 3.  Occam's Spork's Brown frame hits my Red frame for 2.  Occam's Spork's Blue frame hits a medium monolith for 2, destroying it.  Tom's Black frame hits Occam's Spork's Brown frame for 1.  Tom's Green frame hits Occam's Spork's Blue frame for 4.  Tom's White frame hits Steve's Orange frame for 4.  Stevenik's Orange frame hits Tom's Yellow frame for 2.   Tom's Orange frame hits Occam's Spork's Blue frame for 1, destroying it.  My Blue frame scuttles Southwest and rips at Stevenik's Blue frame for 3, destroying it.  My Orange frame steps West and hits Occam's Spork's Orange frame for 1.  Occam's Spork's Grey frame was the target.  Stevenik's Blue frame hits my Red frame for 4, destroying it.  Stevenik's Gold frame hits Phungkyjams' Orange frame for 1, destroying it.

Stevenik: 30 points.
Me: 30 points.
Occam's Spork: 30 points.
Phungkyjams: 28 points.
Tom: 21 points.

Events of Round 3 (DDC @ 3): Occam's Spork's Orange frame runs East and captures my Station.  Stevenik's Gold frame hits Tom's Yellow frame for 1.  Occam's Spork's White frame hits Stevenik's Gold frame for 2 then moves East past the Observatory.  Tom's Black frame hits Occam's Spork's Brown frame for 3.  Tom's White frame hits Occam's Spork's White frame for 3, destroying it.  Phungkyjams' Red frame moves onto the extra large monolith and captures Occam's Spork's Station.  Phungkyjams' Pink frame hits Occam's Spork's Orange frame for 1.  Tom's Green frame hits Phungkyjams' Pink frame for 1.  My Blue frame scuttles East and rips at Occam's Spork's Orange frame for 3.  The Doomsday Clock is ticked to zero.

Phungkyjams: 30 points.

Stevenik: 30 points.

Occam's Spork: 24 points.

Me: 24 points.

Tom: 21 points.

Here are several during and aftermath pictures.

Round 1.

Round 1.

Round 1.

Round 1.

Round 2.

Round 2.

Round 2.

Round 2.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Thoughts & Observations:

• This was a War.
• Frame counts are taken from this post.
• I forgot to put a compass rose on the table during set up.
• Out of 26 Frames, only six had Movement systems.
• There was no Station Dancing in this game.  It's only the eighth time it's happened in ten years of records.
• We had two implementations of the Rook Maneuver, one of them successful.
• Tom delivered 26 points of Damage this game.  Which is 37% of all the Damage done this game.
• There was a fair amount of Cover destroyed during this game.  The second most amount in any recorded game.
• We all tried our best to dislodge Phungkyjams from the lead position in the waning moments of the last Round.
• Flickr page.

Space Monkey Mafia

I don't talk about lore or fiction in Mobile Frame Zero that much because I generally come at this game from the Lego side.  But this idea is too fun not to talk about.  So I was driving home the other night and Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" came on the radio.  In the sixth verse there's this couplet "Space Monkey, Mafia" but my ears heard it without the comma, "Space Monkey Mafia".  Then my brain went into overdrive.

So the name "Space Monkey Mafia" definitely has an Ijad vibe to it for me.  I see a clan, or at least the core of the clan, of Ijad bonded with creatures that resemble terrestrial monkeys but may not be actual monkeys.  I'm still trying to process this element.

Now I'm not saying this is a criminal group, just that the word "mafia" has expanded in use as slang to denote a group of people joined in a semi-secret manner.  Even though we generally don't discuss criminal elements in MFZ.  Crime is a result of failing economic policies and since the Solar Union is a failing empire there would be criminal events happening.  Also, this name doesn't have to be the real name of the group.  It could be a derogatory nick-name an outsider used to refer to the group and it stuck.  "We just got screwed again by that +@#$%&* Space Monkey Mafia!"  I'm sure we've all had experiences with stupid nick-names that wouldn't go away.

I see this moniker as a callback to old school science fiction and the early days of the space race.  Now all I have to do is build some Frames for this faction.  I hope you enjoyed this little interlude, they don't come along too often.  I guess you could see this as a reason to be open to moments of creativity and to try and make the most of them.

Third Time's the Charm

In light of Discord's recent decision to turn the place into a dumpster fire, a few people from the Mobile Frame Zero community have opened a new version of the Hangar forums.  It's early days but we're hoping to build a community that will last.  It will take a while to get all the sub-forums populated but the more people participate, the sooner that will happen.

Sign up, share your thoughts, and stay a while.  Let's create the future together.

Terrain Workshop: Bendy Trees

I bought the Japanese Maple Tree set a few weeks ago and strip-mined it for parts.  The creations in this post were inspired by those parts.  This build owes a lot to my Twisting Trees which I didn't realize until a few days after I put them together.

The simplest incarnation of this design, which I built last, starts with a Corrugated 2x2 Round Brick, three 2L Axles, four Smooth 2L Axle Connectors, topped off with a 2L Bar w/Stop Ring and two 6x5 Swordleaves w/Clip.  This is twelve pieces which is 2 Hits.  It's 26 feet tall and 27.5 feet from edge to edge.

Tree 2.  The next incarnation of this design, which I built first, starts with

a Corrugated 2x2 Round Brick, a 2L Axle, a Smooth 2L Axle Connector,

another 2L Axle, two 90 Deg. Macaroni Tubes, two more 2L Axles, a

45 Deg. Macaroni Tube, topped off with a 2L Bar w/Stop Ring

and two 6x5 Swordleaves w/Clip.  This is twelve pieces which is 2

Hits. The taller one is 34 feet tall and 27.5 feet from edge to edge.

Tree 3.  I think this is where things start getting interesting.  As always it starts with a Corrugated 2x2 Round Brick, three 2L Axles, and two Smooth 2L Axle Connectors.  Then we add in a Triple Angled Axle/Pin Connector.  This is only available, in Tan, in the Japanese Maple Tree set -- and there's only two of them.  You top it all off with two 2L Bars w/Stop Ring, two 6x5 Swordleaves w/Clip, and a 1x1 Round Plate w/3 Thin Leaves.  This is twelve pieces which is 2 Hits.  The left one is 23 feet tall and 27.5 feet from edge to edge.  The one on the right subs in a 45 Deg. Macaroni Tube for a Smooth 2L Axle Connector.

Tree 4.  This is a simpler version of Tree 2, or a more complex version of Tree 

1.  It starts with a Corrugated 2x2 Round Brick, three 2L Axles, three

Smooth 2L Axle Connectors, a 45 Deg. Macaroni Tube, topped off with

a 2L Bar w/Stop Ring and two 6x5 Swordleaves w/Clip.  This is twelve

pieces which is 2 Hits.  It's 27 feet tall and 27.5 feet from edge to edge.

Size comparisons with the usual suspects. I'm not sure where I'm going to use these but I look forward to getting them on the table at some point.  I hope I've given people ideas or techniques

to use in their terrain builds.  Flickr page.

Terrain Workshop: Handlebar Tree

It's been a while since I've had some Pillar Support pieces, so let's try and build some new trees with them!

This starts with a 1x1x6 Solid Pillar Support, into a Brick w/Studs on Opposite Sides, then a 1x1 Round Plate, topped off with a 1x1 Round Tile.  Attached to the Brick are two Tile Clips, two Angular Handlebars, and four Plant Leaves 6x5.  This is a total of twelve pieces which is 2 Hits.  It's 23 feet tall and 40 feet across in 6P Scale.

 

Here's a size comparison with the usual suspects.  For some reason I feel like

this idea has been sitting in my head for a while.  I'm probably going to add

them to the "Road to Nowhere" table-setting as they seem to match the vibe.

I hope I've given people ideas or techniques to use in their terrain builds.

Flickr Page.

Terrain Workshop: Clone Plants

It's been two and a half months since I've done a Terrain Workshop, and I'm finally feeling creative, so let's have some fun with a handful of Clone Brick parts.

This build starts with parts sourced from this set.  The 8x3 Leaf w/Bar is connected to the Bushing w/Clip and that is mounted on an Inkwell.  This is repeated three more times for a total of twelve pieces.  This build is 2 Hits and roughly 25 feet tall by 8 feet wide in 6P scale.  The clone parts are both from one set from one store so availability is going to be limited and the Cost per Build will be fairly high.  So let's move along to a different build that uses parts from the Miniso Lily set with a higher quantity and also more Lego pieces.

There are thirteen of the 4x4 Leaf w/Clip pieces in the Miniso Lily set.  We start with attaching one to a Padlock, then mounting that on a 1x1 Round Plate.  This is repeated three more times for a total of twelve pieces.  This build is 2 Hits and

roughly 15 feet tall by 14 feet wide in 6P scale.  The 4x4 Clip leaf is $0.38 per Piece,

Green Padlocks are $0.02 per Piece, and Reddish Brown 1x1 Round Plates are

$0.01 per Piece for a total of $1.64 per build.  Which seems reasonable to me.

One of the fun things about this build is that the curved nature of the leaf pieces allows us to add more to the internal space defined by those leaves.  Which also allows us to "beef up" the build and add more Hits.  If that's something you're interested in.  I'm going to do two different versions of this.  The first starts with a 2x2 Round Brick -- which goes on top of the Padlocks -- then adds a 2x2 Round Plate, and tops it off with four 1x1 Cones.  This is six pieces which adds 1 Hit.  It's also three Bricks tall which makes it Cover.  The second version starts with two 1x2 Round Plates -- on top of the Padlocks -- the adds four of the Modified Minifig Ski Poles from the Miniso Lily set.  This is six pieces which adds 1 Hit, and it's three Bricks tall which makes it Cover.  It also looks a little more natural than the first version.  The first version looks sturdier though which will probably help people believe that it would stand up to mecha scale weaponry.  Having three different types of pieces allows you to vary the colors to possibly differentiate the different parts of the plant.  If you wanted to do that.

The other fun thing about the second version of this

build is that you can fully open all the leaves to

increase the amount of ground clutter.  This

reduces it to 1 Hit for the central section but each

build covers a lot more space on the table.

Let's do a size comparison with the usual suspects. I hope this gives people ideas or techniques to use in their terrain builds.  Flickr page.

Review: Block Tech US101-2056 Everlasting Rose In A Dome

Block Tech is also revising their releases for Valentine's Day.  This set is available in Translucent Red and Translucent Blue as well.  I reviewed those last year so I'm only doing the clear version this time.

Box.  MSRP is $6.00, for a $0.06 Price per Piece. 

Instructions.

Parts 1. Plate, Wedge Plates, Axle, Transparent Brackets, Transparent

Clip Plates, Transparent Octagonal Bar Plates, Transparent Plates,

Transparent Inverted Tiles, Round Plates, Round Tile w/Pinhole,

Transparent Round Plates, Transparent Eggshell, Transparent Round

Large Jumpers, Transparent Round Plate w/Swirl, Transparent Studless

Slopes, Ball Joint Plate, Transparent Quarter Circle Studless Slopes,

Transparent Wedge, Pin/Axle Connector, Transparent Tooth Plates,

Transparent Tiles, Ball Joint/Pin, Wedge Studless Slopes, Transparent Double Studless Slopes, Transparent Cheese Slopes w/Studs, and Clip Claws.

Build.  Two Frames (2W), a Station, and two 1 Hit pieces of Cover.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  It may be hard to see but there are a number of useful parts in this set.  Also, seeing the parts count go up from last year is nice as well.