Battle Report: The Henge @ PAX Unplugged 2022

Once again a group of us came together to play a game of MFZ: Rapid Attack at PAX Unplugged.  This was the biggest game we've played, in terms of number of players, since I started organizing them for PAXU.  My notes appear to be a bit haphazard so I apologize in advance.

Micah (4 Frames & 12 Systems) = (6 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 30 points.
   Red Light Artillerist -- 2Ra+d8/1B/2W + SSR.
   Blue Static Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1Y/2W.
   Yellow Static Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1Y/2W.
   Pink -- 2Rh/1B/1Gd8/1Y/2W + SSR (x2).

Me (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 20 points. (Goldfish School)

   Red Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Blue Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.

   Green Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

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

Pete (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 20 points.  (Fuzzy Pink Bunny Slippers)
   Green Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.

   Red Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W + SSR.

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

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

Meara (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 20 points.  (Canis Pack)
   Red Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W + SSR.

   Blue Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W.

   Yellow Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W + SSR.
   Green Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W + SSR.

Joe (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 20 points.

   Purple Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W + SSR

   Blue Swarmer -- 2Rh+d8/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Brown Heavy Assault-- 2Rd+d8/1B/1G/2W + SSR.

   Pink Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.

Ed (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 20 points.
   Sniper (Yellow Anvil) -- 2Rd+d8/1B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Thumper (Blue Artillerist) -- 2Ra+d8/2B/2W.
   Chopper (Green Swarmer) -- 2Rh+d8/1B/1Gd8/1Y/2W.
   Scope (Red Squad Leader) -- 2Rd/1B/2Y/2W + SSR (x2).

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

Events of Round 1 (DDC@11): Micah's Blue frame captures Pete's Station before the game starts. Micah's Red frame hits Joe's Blue frame for 2. Micah's Blue frame hits Joe's Blue frame for 5, after it steps out of the corner of the battlefield, destroying it.  Meara's Red frame lopes forward and hits Ed's Chopper for for 3, with a SSR, and Ed's Chopper captures Meara's Station.  Meara's Yellow frame lopes forward and hits Ed's Chopper for 2, with a SSR, Station Dance.  Pete's Yellow frame glides forward and hits Micah's Pink frame for 1.  Micah's Pink Frame steps sideways and captures Ed's Station.  Joe's Pink frame scuttles out from behind a trilithon and hits my Green frame for 1.  My Green frame hits Meara's Blue frame for 1.  Ed's Sniper hits hits Meara's Blue frame for 3, then moves between a trilithon and a menhir.  Ed's Thumper hits Micah's Pink frame for 1, Station Dance.  Pete's Green frame hits my Blue frame for 2.  My Blue frame swims forward and hits Ed's Chopper for 1.  Pete's Red frame glides forward and hits Ed's Scope for 1.  Pete's Blue frame glides sideways and hits Ed's Thumper for 1.

Micah: 36 Points.

Me: 20 points.

Ed: 20 points.

Pete: 16 points.

Joe: 16 points.
Meara: 16 points

Events of Round 2 (DDC @ 7): Micah's Pink frame hits Ed's Chopper for 3, destroying it.  Meara's Red frame hits the lintel and post of the trilithon in front of Micah's Red frame for 2.  Micah's Yellow frame hits my Red frame for 1 and my Red frame swims forward in response.  Pete's Green frame hits my Red frame for 4.  Meara's Blue frame hits Micah's Pink frame for 2 with a SSR then recaptures her Station.  Meara's Green frame lopes forward and claws Micah's Pink frame for 1.  Joe's Purple frame hits Micah's Pink frame for 1, destroying it, and the menhir it was hiding behind for 2.  Joe's Pink frame hits my Green frame for 1 and my Green frame swims to my Station.  Joe's Brown frame moves out from behind a trilithon and hits my Green frame for 1.  Ed's Sniper hits my Blue frame for 3 and moves forward between two menhir.  Pete's Red frame glides at an angle forward and hits Micah's Red frame for 4 with a SSR, destroying it.  Pete's Blue frame glides forward to the small standing ring and hits Ed's Sniper for 2.

Micah: 36 Points.

Me: 20 points.

Meara: 20 points.

Pete: 16 points.

Joe: 16 points.
Ed: 12 points

Events of Round 3 (DDC @ 3): My Blue frame swims forward and captures Micah's Station.  Meara's Yellow frame lopes forward and captures Ed's Station.  Meara's Red frame hits my Blue frame for 1, destroying it, and captures my Station.  Joe's Pink frame hits Meara's Blue frame for 1, destroying it, then scuttles towards the large standing ring.  My Yellow frame hits Micah's Yellow frame for 6, destroying it, then swims forward and captures Pete's Station that was under Micah's control.  Pete's Yellow frame hits Ed's Scope for 2.  Pete's Blue frame glides sideways and hits Ed's Scope for 1.  The Doomsday Clock is ticked to 0.

Meara: 24 Points.

Pete: 20 points.

Joe: 20 points.

Ed: 12 points.

Me: 12 points.
Micah: 6 points

Here are several aftermath pictures.

Thoughts & Observations:

• This was a Battle.
• I thought we were going to have to roll off for everything but Micah came in light.
• So all we had to do was roll to determine primary attacker.
• Things got messy as everyone collapsed inward across Micah's perimeter.
• My dice mojo was horrible right up until that moment in the last turn.
• This game was pretty dynamic.
• There was also a lot of trash talk flying around.
• Despite having the smallest descriptive paragraph, the third round had the biggest point swings of the game.
• This was my 70th game.
• This game took roughly 3.5 hours from set-up to tear-down.
• Flickr page.

PAX Unplugged 2022 Report

Day 0: I got in to Philly at a reasonable hour after avoiding NYC entirely on the drive down.  I checked into my hotel and promptly got stuck in traffic due to a Christmas tree lighting event and putting the wrong garage in my satnav.  Got to the hall and the booth where everything was already set up and dropped off my stuff.  Joshua and I went into Chinatown for dinner, then I wandered around a bit, then I went to my hotel to catch up on my internet traffic and crash.

Christmas tree.

Zamboni!

Day 1: Got up early-ish, walked to the con with  friend, snagged a facsimile of breakfast, got to the booth, and did a little set up of my own.  Then I talked to the Miniatures section about using a table in their area instead of our assigned demo table, talked to Joshua, Hanna, and Evan for a bit, took some pictures, then went to set up the demo table.  I did one demo before lunch, talked to a few people, then finally ran back to back demos around 4pm.  Knocked off at 5:45, went to get Kung Fu Tea, did some bargain hunting, visited Fat Jacks Comics, got frustrated with the hotel wi-fi being out, then got pho for dinner before crashing.

The long view.

Armor!

Waiting line.

Snap Ships.

New demo set up!

Day 2: Got up before my alarm, dropped off and picked up stuff from the car, had a real breakfast, got to the hall early to set up and take pictures.  Ran a demo for a young girl right at the opening -- she was awesome -- then my friend Pete arrived, and I ran a refresher demo for Joe Sites and a couple of gentlemen from the day before.  Then the six player(!) game started -- yet another at PAX -- which took us roughly 3.5 hours from set up to tear down.  Went to dinner with Pete, took a walk to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and climbed the steps -- yes, those steps -- then went back to my hotel and crashed.

Pika!

Day 3: Got up even earlier, checked out of the hotel, dropped my stuff in the car, got breakfast, did some bargain shopping, got to the hall and chilled out in the booth.  Ran one demo almost an hour after opening.  Skipped back to the booth for some things I forgot, returned to find Pete running a demo.  Sat around for a while more, packed up, had lunch -- Tambayan in Reading Market, the best food I had at the con -- walked through the con and did some shopping, said my goodbyes and left early.

Christmas tree in daylight.

I love this entranceway.

Demo!

Random thoughts about the con.

• Sitting around between demos has not gotten any easier.  I had an interesting discussion about this with my boothmates on Sunday(?).
• The new demo kit worked well.  It still needs some tweaks to be where I want it to be, but otherwise it was a good start.
• Starting the Doomsday Clock at "5" for demos sped things up a fair amount and it felt like if removed some of the "dead space" of the prior way I used to do it.
• I got mad props for my Philadelphia Phantoms jersey.
• I believe I sold out of my left-over Rulers from the last con, which is cool.
• I was working on another retail item but the material didn't arrive before the con started.
• I've started thinking about producing Starter Kits year-round, instead of having to scramble before the start of every con to assemble them.
• We had a fair amount of interest in the game on Saturday but I have yet to see any pictures online.
• That game was pretty awesome.  I should have a battle report up on Friday.
• If we had one more player join we would have had to split into 3 and 4 player games.  Which would have been massive having two games running at once.
• Is it bad that I'm really looking forward to next year?

PAX Unplugged 2022

For the next three days I'll be helping demonstrate Mobile Frame Zero -- and selling Rulers again -- at PAX Unplugged. We'll be at booth # 4102 under the Glyphpress banner.  The booth is by the Southeast side of the building between columns A8 and A12, in row 4100, near the bathrooms.

The demo table will be on the first floor in room 119, which is also on the South side of the building by Arch St., between Broad St. and 13th St.  I believe the room title is "RPG HQ and Library".

There's a big game of Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack scheduled for Saturday, starting some time between Noon and 1pm.  I'll try to get us a table in the Miniatures area or near it.  I'm bringing two sets of terrain so if we get any more interest I'll be able to cover a second table.  I'll even have a spare squad!

If you're going to be at the con, please stop by.  It's been too long since I've had the chance to meet MoF0s from outside my gaming group in person.  Let's talk Lego, mecha, and gaming!

The Road to PAX Unplugged 2022

After a year that didn't happen and skipping a year that did, I'm going back to PAX Unplugged and Philadelphia.  Joshua has a booth under his Glyphpress banner, number 4102, and I will be running demos of Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack for him.  I'll also try to organize a big game there -- like I always do -- there has already been discussion on the Facebook group.  Badges are still available if you're on the fence.  I hope to see people there!  Two weeks!