Battle Report: The Road to Nowhere

After taking a month off due to scheduling conflicts, the group got together last weekend for a Battle on a new table-setting.  I've been working on this table-setting for at least eight months.  It's basically the culmination of all the "Terrain Workshop: Trees" I've been doing for the last couple of years.

Me (5 Frames & 19 Systems) = (7 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 49 points. (Scorpitaurs)
   White Light Brawler -- 2Rh/2B/1Gd8/2W + SSR.
   Red Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Blue Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Yellow Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.

   Lime 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.
   Orange Shoot&Scoot -- 2Rd+d8/2G/2W + SSR.
   White Bodyguard -- 2Rh/2Rd/2B/2W.
   Blue Spotting Bodyguard-- 2Rh/2Rd/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Grey Spotting Bodyguard -- 2Rh/2Rd/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

Stevenik (5 Frames & 20 Systems) = (6 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 42 points.
   Orange Tank -- 2Rd+d8/2B/2W.
   Gold Watchtower -- 2B/1Gd8/2Y/2W+SSR.
   Lime Artillerist -- 2Ra+d8/2B/2W+SSR.
   Blue -- 2Rd/2Ra/2B/2W+SSR.
   Yellow Artillerist -- 2Ra+d8/2B/2W.

Phungkyjams (6 Frames & 24 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (8 assets) = 24 points. (Dockhands)
   Green Fast Sniper -- 2Ra/1B/2G/2W.
   Blue Watchtower -- 2B/1Gd8/2Y/2W + SSR (x2).

   Red Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W.

   Yellow Squad Leader -- 2Rd/1B/2Y/2W + SSR.
   Orange Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.

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

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

Events of Round 1 (DDC@11): Before the game starts my White and Blue frames capture Phungkyjams' Stations.  My Red frame captures one of Occam's Spork's Stations.  My White frame hops down off the tree it was perched on and launches a SSR at Stevenik's Lime frame.  Stevenik's Lime frame moves towards his Stations.  Phungkyjams' Green frame steps sideways and recaptures his Station.  My Red frame hits the tree in front of Occam's Spork's Brown frame for 1 with a SSR.  Phungkyjams' Trans-Orange frame moves along the roadway and hits my Yellow frame for 1.  My Yellow frame moves up to a wide tree and hits Phungkyjams' Green frame for 2, Station Dance.  Phungkyjams' Yellow frame moves towards the center of the battlefield and hits my White frame for 1 with a SSR.  Phungkyjams' Orange frame hits my Yellow frame for 1.  Occam's Spork's Blue frame hits my Blue frame for 5, Station Dance, then it moves on to the roadway.  Occam's Spork's Grey frame hits the thick tree in front of my Blue frame for 2, destroying it.  Stevenik's Yellow frame hits my Blue frame for 1.  Stevenik's Blue frame hits my White frame for 3.  Stevenik's Lime frame hits my Red frame for 3, Station Dance behind a tree.

Me: 63 Points.
Stevenik: 42 points.

Occam's Spork: 36 points.

Phungkyjams: 21 points.

Events of Round 2 (DDC @ 7): My White frame scuttles backwards and recaptures one of Phungkyjams' Stations.  Phungkyjams' Yellow frame hits my White frame for 3, destroying it, and recaptures the station.  Occam's Spork's Grey frame hits my Blue frame with a SSR for 6, destroying it, then moves on to the roadway.  Occam's Spork's White frame moves forward and captures Phungkyjams' Station that was under my control.  Phungkyjams' Red frame runs in and bashes Occam's Spork's White frame for 3, Station Dance.  Phungkyjams' Red frame recaptures his Station that was under Occam's Spork's control.  Stevenik's Lime frame hits the tree in front of Phungkyjams' Green for 1.  Stevenik's Yellow frame hits Occam's Spork's Brown for 1, and the tree in front of it for 2 -- destroying the tree-- Station Dance.  My Yellow frame moves backwards on to the road and hits Occam's Spork's White frame, that was acting as cover for his Grey frame, for 1.  Stevenik's Blue frame hits Occam's Spork's Orange frame for 1.

Occam's Spork: 42 points.

Stevenik: 42 points.

Me: 35 Points.

Phungkyjams: 24 points.

Events of Round 3 (DDC @ 3): Occam's Spork's Orange frame moves forward and captures my Lime Station.  Occam's Spork's Grey frame hits my Red frame for 1.  Phungkyjams' Blue frame hits my Yellow frame for 1.  My Yellow frame hits Occam's Spork's Grey frame for 6, destroying it, then moves behind a tree.  Stevenik's Blue frame hits Occam's Spork's Orange frame for 2.  Phungkyjams' Yellow frame hits Stevenik's Lime frame for 2.  Stevenik's Lime frame hits Occam's Spork's Orange frame for 1.  Phungkyjams' Red frame sprints over the roadway and bashes Occam's Spork's White frame for 2.  Stevenik's Orange frame moves towards the center of the battlefield and hits Occam's Spork's Orange frame for 2.  Phungkyjams' Green frame hits Occam's Spork's White frame for 2, destroying it.  Phungkyjams' ?? frame hits my Yellow frame for 1, destroying it.

Stevenik: 42 points.

Occam's Spork: 30 points.

Phungkyjams: 27 points.

Me: 21 Points.

Here are several during and aftermath pictures.

Round 1

Start

Round 3

Round 3

Round 3

Round 3

Round 3

Round 3

Round 3

Thoughts & Observations:

• This was a Battle.
• I started out Round 1 with 70 points.
• Stevenik's point total didn't change for the entire game.
• We all counted down the Doomsday Clock pretty aggressively this game.
• The new table-setting got a good reaction.
• The last round of the game was pretty tense with the lead changing hands and everyone trying to figure out how to win.
• Flickr page.

Terrain Workshop: Trees 1 Revisit

Over two years ago I started working on making terrestrial-style trees for MFZ Cover/terrain. I'm looping back to that initial post as I had an idea last Friday on how to improve the design I posted the first time around.

As I mentioned in that first post, the problem with the basic design

is that it's seven pieces total.  Which is not evenly divisible by

six, which is the magic number when it comes to building Cover.

While this design fixes that problem, it also requires use of a Reddish-Brown Travis Brick

in the base.  It looks nice but I was never quite happy with the look and parts usage.

This, on the other hand, brings the Round Plates w/3 Leaves off the base and on to the

Small Palm Leaves.  Borrowing from the third design in that first post, it also adds a 1x1

Round Plate under the Inkwell.  This brings the total parts count to twelve which is 2

Hits.  Yes, the small leaves are a different type than the larger ones but I'm okay with that.

If you don't like the Round Plates w/3 Leaves then you could substitute four 1x1 Round Plates w/Flower Edge (5 Petals) instead.  This gives you the chance to add a splash of

color to your trees.  You have to be a bit careful though as if you push the Small Palm

Leaves on too far to the bars the Flower Plates will pop off.  Going back to the last

iteration for a second, you could use some of the non-Green Round Plates w/3 Leaves

which would help to explain away the difference between the small and large leaves.

If you don't like that idea, you could substitute four Apollo Studs

inside the Small Palm Leaves.  This variant gives the leaves

a little clearance away from the trunk of the tree as well.

Here's the usual size comparison.  I hope this helps people with

future tree designs for MFZ: Rapid Attack.  Of course this has given

me a few ideas for tweaking some of my other old tree builds.

Flickr page.

Review: 30651 Quidditch Practice Polybag

Let's get this out of the way first.  I don't support the transphobic views expressed by J.K. Rowling.  They are antithetical to the beliefs of the Mobile Frame Zero community at large.  Trans rights are human rights.

I found this polybag recently in Target in the Toy section on a sidekick.

Bag.  MSRP is $4.99, for a $0.09 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts.  Plates, Quarter Circle Plates, Round Tile w/Hole, Tile 

w/Pin, Round Plate, Jumpers, 1x1 Pyramids, Apollo Studs, 

Bar Studs, Translucent Clear Antenna, and "Golden Snitch". 

Build.  Two Stations.

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+).  Enh.  the Gold bits, Pyramids, and Trans-Clear Antenna are the only really interesting things about this set.

Non-Human 36

Here's a picture post for the day.  Happy Friday!

Dinosaur Mech by Nobu Tary.  C'mon.  Look at it.  This is awesome and

a squad of those on the table would draw eyes from miles around.

Mobile Shield Generator by Tenor Penny.

This could work as a Frame or a Station.

ATCW-G3 All Terrain Combat Walker Generation 3 by Klement Elias.  The walker

is too tall but I see ways to shrink it.  I'm really posting it because of the color use.

Thomisid MK II by Smartan 427.  Nice use of Sand Green.  It is

 Minifig scale, so you'll have to shrink it down for a regular game.

Octan Drone OD5 by Devid VII.  Excellent use of color

and some rare parts here.  Disabled downloads though.

Terrain Workshop: Megafauna

I've been messing around recently with the new 2x2-1x2 Centered Bracket in combination with either the 1x2 Bar Plate (open ends) or 1x2 Single Clip Plate as a way of making feet for Frames.  One of the combinations I tried had Bar Plates with the Centered Bracket and Minifig Skeleton Legs as the "toes".  Goofing around, I arranged things so this assembly was standing on the Skeleton Legs.  It was then I had a "Eureka!" moment and realized this combination -- with a few added parts -- could be used as some sort of weird sci-fi megafauna.

I dug out two 2x2 Inverted Curved Slopes, a 1x2 Plate, and two 1x1 Round "Eye" Tiles to finish the build.

It stands three Bricks tall which makes it Cover.  It will take 1 Hit to no longer be Cover, and 2 Hits to be completely destroyed.

Size comparison 1.

 Size comparison, Plate stack

In 6P scale these are 10 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 9 feet tall.

Size Comparison 2.

Size comparison, standard. 

I think I have enough of the necessary parts to make a small herd of these.  I'm just not sure what table-setting they'd be best suited for.  I also have to figure out what other color combinations exist and look good together.  Flickr Page.

Paper Asylum Event

We're meeting up at the Paper Asylum in Beverly, MA for the second time this year on Sunday, May 28th.  Back in 2021 at Paper Asylum we had five people in one game.  In January of this year we had six people in two games.  Can we manage seven this time around?  Could we possibly have enough people for three games?  It's a little less than six weeks away so that should be plenty of time for people to plan and adjust their schedules.  There's a Facebook event if you'd like to respond there.  I'd really love to meet some new people this time around.  We should also have some items for sale as well.  Stay tuned.

System Notation 2

Almost a year ago I started working on a different systems for notating Systems.  For the most part I liked it but I felt it had a couple of issues.  So I set it aside until recently when I had a moment of inspiration after seeing yet another discussion of Systems versus Dice notation on the Discord.

Here's the newer version.  Updated "codes" are italicized.

1F = one Direct Fire System.
2F = two Direct Fire Systems.
1A = one Artillery System.
2A = two Artillery Systems.
1H = one Melee System.
2H = two Melee Systems.
1D = one Defensive System.
2D = two Defensive Systems.
1M = one Movement System.
2M = two Movement Systems.
1S = one Spotting System.
2S = two Spotting Systems.
1W = one White die.
2W = two White dice.
1R = one Single Shot Rocket.
1Z = one Sprint die.

Written out the notation will look like this: Soldier (1F/1D/1M/1S/2W), Recon by Fire (2A/2S/2W), and Brawler (2H/2B/1Z/2W).

I basically adapted the changes Chromeknight suggested in the comments from the last post along with one other change.  I think this clears up the issues the prior version had and makes it flow better.

Of course, if we expand this to Intercept Orbit we run into issues again.

1? = one Assault System.

2? = two Assault Systems.

1? = one Support System.

2? = two Support Systems.

1P = one Point Defense System.

2P = two Point Defense Systems.

1C = one Catapult System.

2C = two Catapult Systems.

RA = Red Ace.

BA = Blue Ace.

GA = Green Ace.

YA = Yellow Ace.

Review: Miniso 1806-2 Construction 8 in 1 Crane

After the first 8 in 1 Construction review turned out okay I figured I'd keep on reviewing them.  I managed to track down four more sets so let's take a look at them.

Box. I paid $1.99 for this which gives a $0.05 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

The other side of the instruction booklet.  

Parts.  Turntable Base, Plates, Tile, Round Plate, Hinge Plate, Axle Plates,

Studless Slopes, String Drum Holder, Bracket, Hinge Ball Joint Holder,

Pinhole Bricks, Axle-Hole Brick, Inverted Slopes, Barrel Hinges, Bricks,

Brick w/Studs on Side, Ball Joint Hook, String Drum, Cheese Slopes, Grille

 Tile, Axle w/Stop, Axle, Ladder Plates, Translucent Slope, and Tires.
  

Build.  2Ra/2Rh/2W.

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?  No.  (-5)
Score: +10 (A-).  Some useful parts, and some old-school ones too.

Needs some filler parts though.

Review: Miniso 1806-5 Construction 8 in 1 Cement Mixer

After the first 8 in 1 Construction review turned out okay I figured I'd keep on reviewing them.  I managed to track down four more sets so let's take a look at them.

Box. I paid $1.99 for this which gives a $0.05 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

The other side of the instruction booklet.  

Parts.  Cones, Brackets, Transparent Slope, Tiles, Mudguard

Plate, Axle Plates, Plates, Studless Slopes,  Grille Tiles,

Transparent Tiles, Bar Plate, Clip Plate, Tires, and Half Pins.

 

Build.  Artillerist truck.  2Ra+d8 (giant gun) 2B (side armor) 2W.

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?  No.  (-5)
Score: +10 (A-).  More Brackets and Studless Slopes.  The Cones and Half Pins are a welcome addition though.