MechaStellar: Melee Combat

Melee is an especially dangerous affair.  Watching your favorite shows you know that once it comes down to melee combat there can be only one victor and it’s often a sudden and explosive finish.  To that end we’ve tried to replicate that feeling in Mechastellar.  Below are the rules for Melee combat in Mechastellar Ver. 1.0

Charge into Melee

• Attacker moves into reach with a Melee weapon. Defender chooses one of the following:

1. Meet them in Melee and Clash with your weapons
   1. Make a free spin to face the target & use your Shield
   2. If you are being blindsided then your free spin is after they attack you
2. Fire Defensive Weapons (i.e. Machine Gun, Howitzer Hands or Blaster) once.
   1. Mobile Suits choose one weapon system, Titans may fire all defensive weapons
   2. Your shots get resolved first then you are auto-hit by the attacker.
   3. Understandably, you may not choose this option if you are being blindsided

Melee Clash!

• Both sides make a Melee Attack (M.ATK) roll. Only the Victor deals damage.
• If the defender has no melee weapon besides fists, the attacker auto-hits!
• Fortune favors the bold! Attackers wins ties and may reroll their Attacks
  • g. Attacker gets an 11, reroll 13, Defender gets 16.  The Defender deals DMG!
  • The Attacker, foiled, must now make an Armor Save
• At the conclusion of a Melee Engagement both sides get to choose their facing
• While in melee, shots from 3^rd parties have a 50% chance to hit the wrong target
• Note: You only Clash at R:1”.  Boomerang, Whips, etc at R6” Use Melee ATK Vs Evade.

As discussed in our last post, only one person gets to deal damage in melee, the glorious victor. Even though you may be competent at melee there is always the chance you will roll poorly or your foe will roll very well.  Let’s take the below example:

Gouf  Performance LVL 3 Battler:  Melee Attack +8

Gundam Performance LVL 2 Versatile:  Melee Attack +5

The Gouf attacks the Gundam and roll an 11 for a total of 19.  The Gundam retaliates and rolls a 17 for a total of 22!  As the attacker the Gouf gets a free reroll, he will need to beat a 22, so a 14+ on his d20.  Note: A common house rule for our playtesters is that if both sides tie their melee attack rolls then sparks fly but no one takes damage.  This is quite fun for smaller games.

Melee is also an excellent opportunity to deal with targets that have Evasion so high your shots don’t have a chance.  For example the Kampfer has an Evasion of 22, your GM’s attack of +5 simply isn’t going to cut it, so you want to opt for melee.  You just need to corner them which can be difficult because high evasion mobile suits are also high movement.