Design Challenge: Support Frames

We're going to be running a Design Challenge on the Hangar for the month of August.  Rook, creator of the Rook Maneuver, came up with the idea.

The Design Challenge is as follows: create a Frame that provides a support role to another Frame, e.g.; co-gunner for a squad support weapon; spotter for a sniper; loader for an artillery frame, etc.  The reasoning behind this is -- if you think about the 1:6 rule of Frames*, any role that typically has support can only work as 1:3 by providing its own.  Or less if it's also doing other jobs.

How it works: you build a Frame -- either physically or digitally -- that fits the parameters of the Challenge and post it to the Hangar in a special topic that will be created for the Challenge.

Duration: This Challenge opens Saturday, August 1st and ends Monday, August 31st.

Entry Criteria: 1) All submissions should fit inside "The Box".  ("The Box" is an area 10 Studs long by 10 Studs wide by 10 Bricks tall.)  2) The design must cover a non-combat role of your choosing.  It can have weapons, but combat MUST NOT be its primary function. We're looking for spotters, ammo carriers, fuel tankers, medical units, etc.  3) Your design can either be completely new and original or it can be based on an existing template. The choice is entirely yours.

Judges: The judges will be myself, Rook, and a third judge yet to be named.

Judging Criteria: 1) Checking to see if the creation fits Entry Criteria One and Two.  2) We're looking for creations that wouldn't be out of place in a game of Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack.

Prize: Bragging rights to say you've won a Design Challenge in the MFZ community.

* The in-universe fiction for having Frames, instead of any other mechanical construct, is that they can do the work of six humans.  Which is expressed as the shorthand ratio 1:6.

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.

War College: Station Placement

More accurately, the title should be "War College: Station Placement for Attackers".  Beyond the normal "Keep My Stations Away from My Opponents" methodology, Station placement can be a tactical tool.  We've already discussed this a few times in talking about the Rook Maneuver but it can be more than just that.

Let's take a look at our last game to illustrate what I'm talking about.  Phungkyjams was Defender, Occam's Spork was Primary Attacker, and I was an Attacker.

Occam's Spork placed his Stations (black oval) fairly close to Phungkyjams' Perimeter but clustered the majority of his squad around his Stations.  This is good for maintaining control but isn't going to draw the Defender out of their position.

I tried two different tactics with my Station placement.  I used the Rook Maneuver for my Orange station (orange square).  I was running a majority melee-based squad so I needed most of the Defender's squad in front of me so I could execute a wave attack against it.  Phungkyjams took the bait on that one and captured it when placing one of his final two Frames.

My second gambit was to place my Blue station (blue pentagon) in an undefended position at the far end of the battlefield from my squad.  The rational behind this was to draw one of Phungkyjams' Frames out and away from the scrum that was sure to happen in the middle of the battlefield.  This would be one less Frame for me to deal with once my forces crossed the Perimeter and it would also possibly delay that Frame's engagement with any other forces on the table.  Yes, I would lose points if it was captured but that was a risk I was willing to take.  Phungkyjams didn't bite on this lure at the start but he did make a late game play for the Station.  This just shifted the timing of the force reduction from early to late game.

So, the next time you're playing and you're an Attacker, think of what benefits your Station placement can give you.

Battle Report: Airfield Ambush 6

After a seeing a comment about "we don't see enough transports" in the MFZ community a week or so ago, I had some thoughts about my group's upcoming game and which table-setting we were going to use.  After settling on "Airfield Ambush" -- which hadn't seen use in close to two two years -- I figured I'd add some things in, swap some things around, and try to generally improve a battlefield that's been around for six years.

Phungkyjams (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (7 Points per Asset) * (6 assets) = 42 points.  (Strikehands)

   Bright Light Yellow -- 2Rh/2Ra/2Y/2W.
   Dark Blue Hammer -- 2Rd/2B/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Red Fast Swarmer -- 2Rh+d8/1G+d8/1Y/2W.

   Orange Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR (x2).

Me (5 Frames & 19 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 28 points.  (Flying Saucers)

   Brown Commando -- 2Rh/1B/1Gd8/2Y/2W.

   White Commando -- 2Rh/1B/1Gd8/2Y/2W + SSR.

   Red Commando -- 2Rh/1B/1Gd8/2Y/2W + SSR.

   Blue Commando -- 2Rh/1B/1Gd8/2Y/2W + SSR.

   Yellow Stalker -- 2Ra+d8/1G/2W.

Occam's Spork (5 Frames & 20 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (7 assets) = 21 points.
   White Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Orange Tank -- 2Rd+d8/2B/2W.

   Grey Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Blue Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Brown Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

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

Events of Round 1 (DDC@11): Phungkyjams' Bright Light Yellow (BLY) frame captures my Orange station before the game starts.  Phungkyjams' Red frame smashes the building for 3 and then runs West towards Occam's Spork's forces.  Occam's Spork's Blue frame moves North-Northeast and hits Phungkyjams' Red frame for 1.  Phungkyjams' BLY frame hits the Cargo Plane for 1.  Phungkyjams' Dark Blue frame blasts Occam's Spork's Orange frame for 6, destroying it, then moves South-Southwest towards Occam's Spork's forces.  My Yellow frame hits Phungkyjams' BLY frame for 3, Station Dance, then it floats South off the Cargo Plane.  Phungkyjams' Orange frame moves East then hits Occam's Spork's Blue frame for 3.

Phungkyjams: 49 points.

Me: 24 points.

Occam's Spork: 18 Points.

Events of Round 2 (DDC @ 9): My Yellow frame hits Phungkyjams' Red frame for 1.  My White frame floats West and captures Phungkyjams' "Fire" station.  Occam's Spork's White frame hits Phungkyjams' Red frame for 2, while trying to hit Phungkyjams' Dark Blue frame.  Phungkyjams' Dark Blue frame hits Occam's Spork's Grey frame for 1.  Occam's Spork's Grey frame hits Phungkyjams' Red frame for 3, destroying it.  My Red frame hits Phungkyjams' Dark Blue frame for 3, with a SSR, and captures Phungkyjams' "Horse" station.  Phungkyjams' Orange frame hits Occam's Spork's Brown frame for 1 then continues moving East to square up to a Swingwing Jet.

Me: 32 points.

Phungkyjams: 28 points.

Occam's Spork: 18 Points.

Events of Round 3 (DDC @ 7): Occam's Spork's White frame moves West across the ball field and hits Phungkyjams' BLY frame for 1, Station Dance.  Occam's Spork's Blue frame then takes a few steps North and captures Phungkyjams' (my) station.  Occam's Spork's Brown frame retreats between his Stations then hits the Fuel Silo for 2, destroying it, and hits my Red frame for 1.  My Yellow frame floats North across the Cargo Plane and hits Phungkyjams'  BLY frame for 4, destroying it.

Me: 32 points.

Occam's Spork: 21 Points.

Phungkyjams: 14 points.

Events of Round 4 (DDC @ 4):  My Blue frame floats Northwest over the partially wrecked building and slices Occam's Spork's Blue frame for 6, destroying it.  Occam's Spork's Brown frame continues the assault on my Red frame -- which floats West -- hitting it for 3.  My Yellow frame floats North slightly and hits Occam's Spork's White frame for 4.

Me: 32 points.

Occam's Spork: 18 Points.

Phungkyjams: 14 points.

Events of Round 5 (DDC @ 1):   My Blue frame floats West and recaptures my Orange station.  My Red frame floats West over Occam's Spork's Brown frame and bumps it for 1.  Occam's Spork's Brown frame ripostes for 2, destroying my Red frame.  Occam's Spork's Grey frame punches my Brown frame for 5, Station Dance.  Occam's Spork's Grey frame then captures my (Phungkyjams') station.  Phungkyjams' Dark Blue frame finishes its long Northwesterly trek and captures my Blue station.  The Doomsday Clock is ticked to zero.

Me: 24 points.

Phungkyjams: 21 points.

Occam's Spork: 18 Points.

Here are several during and aftermath pictures.

Start

Start

Round 2

Round 1

Start

Round 1

Round 2

Round 4

Round 3

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 5

Round 5

Round 5

Round 5

Round 5

Round 5

Round 5

Round 5

Thoughts & Observations:

• This was a Skirmish.
• We had a case of Accidental Defender.
• The idea for my squad composition has been sitting in my head for a couple of months now.
• It lacked mid-range punch, so I'll probably swap out a Commando for a Squad Leader in future uses.
• We had a successful application of the Rook Maneuver.
• In fact all three players controlled the same Station at various times throughout the game.
• I added a couple of baseplates when we used this table-setting last in 2021.
• But this is the first time I've added terrain/Cover to the battlefield since its first use.
• I've had the helicopter and the other fighter assembled for a while.
• One of the tractor trailers debuted in the Roadway Rumble table-setting.
• The other I built in the week leading up to the game.
• The micro-trees/giant bushes were built the day before.
• I also added a Compass Rose to the roof of the building.
• Which makes this the first actual use of it in one of my table-settings.
• Flickr page.