anyway.

Oh!  You are so evil! This is great.

Also, I have decided that my agenda is to wipe the floor with you both. Just sayin.

The message of the Grand Rasili Empire has been flooding through the waves, extolling the coming peace and prosperity when Tarkut becomes a true member of the Imperial community.

Night settles peacefully over the resplendent acres of the baq Ilmani ancestral home....

Hey Em!

You totally need to have the nurseguards as an infantry unit!  Mary Poppem and Her Howling Nusreguards!

Just a few rounds of SABOT makes the big mechs go down
The big mechs go dow-wn
The big mechs go down
Just a few rounds of SABOT makes the big mechs go down
In the most de-light-ful way!

hee!
Tom

p.s.  "...or send them a HEAT, and that's lucky too!"

So, the guy is controlled like a regular human, i.e. whoever's got the closest mecha at the end of a tells him where to go, and he moves 1?

Why two Yellows? If you're pulling punches here, I think there should be a rule. If you're using a calculation that I don't remember, I'd love to know what it is.

Brothers-Of-Battle!

The Bloody Circle again approaches us, its lances low as they try to take us again, their perverse cause shouted from their foaming lips. Tonight, our swords will clash and their blood will mix with that of their slaughtered horses, as in the Battle of Abnejiyab a thousand years ago. They fell then because of the frailty of their hearts. They will fall again because of the hollowness of their souls.

Just as their decadent knights raped our beautiful city of Madriq and left it in the hands of Bollon the Brutal, so too have the decadent and modern Bloody Circle left Tarkut City, shadow of the great city it once was, in the hands of Sareen the Serpent so he can kill our wives and children while they sleep and defile their corpses.

A Tarkutli pilot disabled by Aadu during the recent battle in orbit (Blessings of Heaven to you, Aadu) has told us that Sareen (may he drown in the spit at his feet) will be walking alone tonight. The Tarkutliya have offered bodyguards to curry favor with their master and will be present. There is dissension in their weak hearts and they will turn on him as cats will fight with each other when trapped together. We will capture Sareen as they scratch and bite and send a recording of his dismemberment and execution throughout the world, passed hand-to-hand until the Rasili can ingore it no longer and will retreat in shame.

(The astute reader will notice that we do know who the guy is. Someone's talking. Someone who knows the inner workings of the Rasili colonial government. Also, someone provided us with a shiny new space Ptiman and two spacecraft for the last battle. Someone's got money.)

Vincent, is this right?

S&C   E&J   S&LE
V   3     2     1
E   2     2     2
J   3     1     1

What are the total points, oh Keeper of the Half A Piece Of Paper With The Scores On It?

Vincent, is this right?

.    S&C     E&J     S&LE
V     3       2       1
E     2       2       2
J     3       1       1

What are the total points, oh Keeper of the Half A Piece Of Paper With The Scores On It?

> Someone's talking.

Also, I'm going to take it as quite a coincidence that you show up on the same night we do. It's going to become impossible for my ministers to get life insurance, they're so accident-prone.

***

The rule is, if you're giving a maximum number of a kind of attachment, it has to be at least 2, not 1 or 0. For instance, I can see building an army with a maximum of two direct fire weapons - not fun, but I can see it - but no direct fire weapons? Oog.

...Actually, that would be really fun too.

But anyhow, one time in one of these threads I said the "for maximums, the minimum is 2" rule. I figured I'd stick with it.

***

My multipliers are 3 1 2, yours are 3 1 1, Em's are 2 2 2.

Here are the current scores:
Em: 66; Society & conscience (x2) 132, economy & jobs (x2) 132, security & law enforcement (x2) 132.
J: 68; Society & conscience (x3) 204, economy & jobs (x1) 68, security & law enforcement (x1) 68.
Me: 40; Society & conscience (x3) 120, economy & jobs (x1) 40, security & law enforcement (x2) 80.

Well since I'll be there too, that's a lot of coincidences.

Talk more about how human units work.

Man. I gotta win me some battles on my weak points.

Conveniently, S&LE is the kind of thing I can sink my teeth into. If I recall, we eventually figure out how to be police, if we win it. V., can you link to our stated stakes? I can't find them.

Oh, Em, that's no coincidence. The guy giving the speech knows full well that Chuckers are showing up to capture your dude and that you'll be defending him. He's just playing up a (largely fictional) underdog attitude to get the boys hopped up to go out there and die.

Rock.

Vincent, are you ever going to cut-n-paste whatever rules you have on this campaign thing together?

Oh, and I promised mech pictures a while back - only a few were good enough (and even then, there's much room for improvement), but here's a link

mechs

> Vincent, are you ever going to cut-n-paste whatever rules
> you have on this campaign thing together?

I expect that the GenCon '07 book and forward will include the campaign rules. If that turns out to be true, then either just before or just after GenCon I'll update the PDF to include them too, and PDF owners can come back and download the updated file.

Meanwhile, practically all of them are in the original campaign post.

Ooh, look at that, I totally misremembered the maximum rule. Huh. Looks like "no yellow attachments for anybody but me" would've been legit.

Anyway! J:

If I [that's you, J] win:

Security & Law Enforcement: Forced to make an actual justice system, we'll start a hierarchical system of Policemen, Magistrates, and governmental bureaucrats. Too much is left to the whim of local officials.

I'm excited to have a battle on the resplendent acres of the baq Ilmani ancestral home. Let's build palatial cover. Garden statuary, like.

The rules for human combatants: one unit counts as a mech. That's like my little squads from our first battle.

The rules for human non-combatants: one crowd counts as cover. We remember those too. One single person counts as, I dunno what, unless a station. We never remembered to follow this rule in the first battle, but the mech nearest the humans gets to move them 1. Humans move after all the mechs have, at the end of the turn (which is why we forgot to move them ever; shall we change that rule?) Oh and in case of ties for nearest, nobody gets to move them, is what makes sense to me.

So this Sareen baq IlMani person, he's the special station and whichever mech's nearest him gets to move him 1.

Sweet.

How'd'ya like those mechs, btw.

What do you build your mechs out of?

heh
Tom

"Sensory nipples!"

Hey, my S&LE isn't finished! Or, rather, it implies too much.

Oh, right. I remember. I was basically thinking, S&LE winds up as a fractious, warlord-run clan system. But S&LE and S&C means that we have some sort of vast ideological empire. I was thinking of the Caliphate or the Mongol takeover of the Chinese empire.

Also, when I wrote that, I think we were thinking that this all took place on this planet. But the Rasili come from another planet, so it's really an Empire-wide Paktali revolution.

Also, Tobias, I really like the giant claw dude.

Whoa, seriously? I'd been imagining this as a very small planet in some backwater that the Rasili were trying to roll over, but that the Paktali were a major force within.

Not that it matters a whit, but that escalates the scale a lot in my mind.

But it is super funny to think of Peaches as the international currency of powerdom. Heh!

—that is peaches are the interplanetary currency, etc....

Gonna buy me a Ptimanya
Gonna need a lot of peaches
Gonna buy me a Ptimanya
Gonna need a lot of peaches

Don't mind me...
Tom

That periodic table`s quite cool.

Also, look at it, I just realized 2D game of life is quite possible in lego. (3D should obviously also work, just more tricky).

Slow, though!

You'll have a hard time catching up Vincent. Beat them with your superior rules-fu.

I've updated my brickshelf gallery with some of my own Ptimanyas, walkers and my very own Runners, love the Star Wars like legs on those. Crappy photo quality, couldn't get the right light. Just go to Brickshelf and search for uriel-johan. Linking not working for me as usual.

Yeah, Emily, think the Jihad in Dune. These things start small...

In any event, I have to actually win the whole game for that to happen.

Uriel, those are really cool.

Uriel's mechs, linked.

Those are crazy good. U. I especially like the walkers.

Pretty pics, U!

I made some more tiny mechs. Born out of necessity.

Looky!

I wish your pictures were larger! Here's me all squinting at the screen trying to figure out what pieces. Also: tiny!

You should be able to right-click the image in your browser, and look at them specifically. That, or save them to your local.

Ah! Much better, thanks.

Tinybot is five pieces? Holy crap!

These remind me of the super-microfig vehicles Seb and Elliot were making in the summer.

Those are great! I bet you could play out an entire game on a kitchen stool with those. Make a ruler with a 2cm axle between the hinges, make buildings out of 10 bricks...

I made a purchase through Bricklink yesterday, there are some items I'd like to recommend (don't have them in yet - this is just based on looks when I bought them).

If anyone has any experience with these, let me know.

[Used] Black Bat (x4) ..... $0.11 each

I just like bats. Didn't know these existed, but had to have a couple.

[Used] Black Dragon Wing (x4) ..... $0.114 each
[Used] Red Dragon Wing (x2) ..... $0.12 each

Green die, here we come, right? Should also mesh with the 'batty' look.

[Used] Black Tile, Decorated 2 x 2 with Triangular Insectoid Logo Pattern (x6) ..... $0.06 each
[Used] White Tile, Decorated 1 x 2 with Clock Digital Pattern (x6) ..... $0.21 each

An easy way to put a faction together - decorated tiles.
I especially like the clock face one: "10:21". Which I will say is chapter and verse from some holy text, and the creed of some faction. Any bible-wise people (or other holy texts) know appropriate 10:21's? (Or a link to a site where I can look these up? I could, of course, always grab my bible at home over the weekend).

[Used] Dark Gray Dinosaur Sail Fin (x1) ..... $0.183 each
[New] Orange Bionicle Claw with Axle (x1) ..... $0.292 each
[Used] Sand Blue Dinosaur Tail End Section (x2) ..... $0.06 each
[Used] White Arm Skeleton (x4) ..... $0.05 each
[New] White Barb / Helmet Horn (x2) ..... $0.12 each
[Used] White Leg Skeleton (x2) ..... $0.08 each
[Used] Dark Gray Circular Blade Saw (x2) ..... $0.09 each

And finally some stuff to personalize/de-bore some mechs. Some of that should mesh well with the dragon-wing look.

Seems more fair to do some of the work myself:

Leviticus 10:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

Numbers 10:21 And the Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary: and the other did set up the tabernacle against they came.

Deuteronomy 10:21 He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

Job 10:21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

Proverbs 10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

Ezekiel 10:21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

Matthew 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

Whoa, I just noticed the timestamp on that pic I took of tinybot: 10:21! And that's accidental!

Love that kinda thing.

Tobias, I'm not seeing the Mecha/Bible connection?

^because I wasn't reading carefully, being distracted by the *tiny* mechs! I get it now. Cool.

I must take some photos of my bat-wing mech tonight if I have time...

10:21 is here.

Tobias, that rocks. A carrier mech! Great idea.

Yeah! Carrier! Cool!

I felt 10:21 needed some opposition.

Greetings!

I'd like to start off by saying thank you, to Vincent, and to all who have helped him develop Mechaton.  I've just recently discovered it, and have read through all the past posts here, with relish.
Many of the complaints I've had against traditional table-top war games have already been stated, so I'll just add a hearty "Word."

My plan this weekend is to buy some color coded dice and play till I drop.

I have a question about the yellow dice that doesn't seem to have been covered by a previous thread. (or perhaps I'm a goober)
I know the standard take on ECM is to assign it a blue die, as it IS a defensive attachment.  However, could I take a yellow attachment instead, and scan my own dudes?
If in a three player battle, Player A scans Player B's mech, then Player C shoots the mech, Player C can use the Yellow die, right? So... Can Player B scan his own mech before Player C's turn, in an attempt to lower the yellow die? Like Jamming?

Jeremiah Cunkle
jcunkle@hotmail.com

Hey Jeremiah, thanks!

By the rules, no. When you spot someone who's already spotted, the higher spot value prevails.

It's important to the game that under no circumstances would you ever, ever, ever prefer for one of your own dice to come up low. If there's some good use for a low spotting roll, that totally bescrews the dynamic that makes rolling and assigning white dice interesting.

Now on the other hand, how about this rule:

If your spot die is higher than the spot value on the mech, you can adjust the spot value by the difference, up or down, to a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 2.

That might be fun to play with. It'd allow one mech to participate more directly in another's defense.

"If your spot die is higher than the spot value on the mech, you can adjust the spot value by the difference, up or down, to a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 2."

Or just cancel it altogether...less fiddly that way.

It means I waste your great yellow die by wasting an even greater yellow die.

You're right - much less fiddly.

I see what you mean with the dynamic, don't know why I didn't before.  That kind of rule would lead to situations where you roll total crap and still do well.
"First I shoot my own dude with this (1) to make him go next, then I scan him with a (2) to jamm your comm..."

Not exactly in the spirit of the game.
It wouldn't really be "giant FIGHTY robots"

In reflection, I'm not sure that using yellow dice for counter-measure would be all that fun anyway.  You could have (2)Yellow, (2)Blue "Shield-bot", but really, why?

It's much more satisfying to have both your and my mech blow up, rather than neither. Isn't that the idea?

BTW, I hope to have some pictures of my Mechs soon. they're vaguely velociraptor-like.

Hello everyone. I'm glad you liked my mechs. Someday when I'm feeling less tired and the light is better I'll take pictures of the rest, along with some pictures showing neat details I'm particulary proud of. It was not long ago since I built my first one and now I got several boxes full of them. Last night I build a dozen of so minirunners, like the one to the far right in the first picture in my gallery here. Small is awesome.

Hey Joshua, what ever happened to those pictures you were going to take of your spacecrafts? Don't tease!

Ack! Uriel, those are so cool! Ok, I'm bit. Gotta try building some tiny mecha.

See, here's the thing: the gene for awesome mecha design is on the male side in our family. I build cool houses, with hinged rooms that unfold. I've built cool elephants with flaping ears and bendy trunks, using BURs as sides. I've often been overwhelmed by the detail and skill in all the Lego stuff that gets built in my house. This tiny mech thing, though? That seems to be more about thinking outside the box and repurposing stuff. Maybe I could do that.

The tiny thing is fun. Less is more, and all that.

I've been thinking on mechs out of 3 parts for a while, but haven't actually built any yet.

Uriel, I've got the pictures set. They'll probably go up later today. I don't want to hit my blog with too many entries at once. They'll get missed.

I figured out a 4-piece bovine demon larva/grub bot, when I get behind a proper computer Ill post the pic.

It's smaller than tinybot, until I mounts its horns. ;)

The   promised link to bull larva demon mech - 4 pieces small.

Having a hard time making even smaller bots, though.

Tobias, these are hilarious.

Hmm...soon as I download LeoCAD, I'll post a pic of my Artillerons and High Steppers, as well as my "Val Hai" and "Val Kond" tanks.

Hey, Vincent, how many missiles are we using?

Six.

Woo hoo!

Murderiffic!

All right! I've got a strategy, I've built one of two special guys to make it work, and I'll see you on the battlefield*, goatmeat!

This battle will be personally commanded by Kuwahu An Kaishah Derekh, the reincarnation of An Kaishah, the great chieftain who defeated the Bloody Circle a thousand years ago. He's a badass motherfucker. He's also bring Aduuwah, his bodyguard.

*"Battlefield" in this case being a street in the middle of a populated city.

Oy! I know the moving house thing is kinda high on the priority list, but if you're avoiding that anyway, how about some more mechaton?

Anyway, to keep the flame alive:

new mech designs!

"Last night I build a dozen of so minirunners, like the one to the far right in the first picture in my gallery here. Small is awesome."
-Uriel

all badass, dude(tte?)
small is crazy good