In this post we’ll have some additional examples of equipment slots using Federation suits. You can read more about equipment slots in this post here. As Gundam is my personal favorite real robot show, that will be most of the examples you see, but you can still use the system to model your favorite mech show whether it’s Macross, Votoms, Full Metal Panic etc. Western style heavy mechs will be covered in a separate series of rules, where they trade evasion and mobility for more HP and equipment slots.
For these examples we’ll tackle the GM, originally known as Gundam Mass Produced, the mainstay of Federation forces for early UC, slowly being phased out in the CCA era to F91. We’ll look at some of the very earliest GM models, specifically the fragile Frame Level 1 varieties.
When designing mobile suits think about whether or not a suit can survive a direct hit from a powerful weapon like a beam rifle or bazooka (DMG 400-500), if it is then it’s probably a Frame LVL 3 suit (HP 600). The GMs we’re looking at can be easily destroyed by machine gun fire so we consider them Frame Level 1, which is excellent for horde armies as Frame Level is the biggest driver of a suits cost when building your army but we’ll cover that later.
Let’s start with first mass produced GM, seen in Jaburo and later in major battles like Solomon or A Baoa Qu. As mentioned in the previous post Zeon was always considered 10 years ahead in Mobile Suit development, so when designing Federation and Zeon suits, Zeon typically has a higher Performance Level but very few high frame level suits like the Gelgoog or Zeon. Additionally, using older style materials their suits are typically heavier so most One Year War (OYW) suits are designed to be overweight with 1 extra EQ slot but +2 Weight, while our sherman tanks GMs are occasionally under equipped but lighter making them even more mobile.
GM Mass Produced – Versatile Frame 1 Performance 0 – 5 EQ Slots
(1) Beam Spray Gun – Close range weapon
(1) Shield – Use d10s for Armor except when being Blindsided
(1) Beam Saber – Melee weapon. Higher penetration and lower damage than a heat hawk. Excellent for invalidating your enemies Armor Save.
(1) Learning Computer – +5 ATK Vs Frame LVL 1 Suits, making it very dangerous against Zakus. Data was gained from the Gundam’s Learning Computer which was extremely effective against Zaku’s but not against Gouf’s (Frame Level 2)
(1) Lightweight – WT -1 = +1 Evade and +1 Movement
Comparing the Zaku II to the early type GMs we see the Zakus are higher performing with superior Attack bonus however their Weight slows them down a bit. Recall that Versatile is ATK+3, Move+3, and Performance LVL = +1 ATK and +1/2 Evade and Move, all suits start with 15 Evade and 5 Move.
Zaku II Versatile Performance 2 WT 2 = ATK +5, EVADE 14, Movement 7″
GM Early Production Versatile Performance 2 WT -1 = ATK +3, EVADE 16, Movement 9″
Comparing the two suits they are fairly evenly matched, one has higher attack the other has better evasion and movement. Additionally the GM has a trick up their sleeve with the Learning Computer meaning they have a serious edge against the Zaku, with superior numbers the GM helped the federation quickly turn the tide of the war, but when they went to space they were at an extreme disadvantage fighting the more mobile and higher performing Rick Doms.
Next up we’ll look at the GM Ground Type, these were constructed prior to the mass produced version and thus lack the learning computer gained from the Gundam’s combat data. While a GM Ground Type and Gundam Ground type share many similarities, we distinguish them by making the Gundam a higher frame level. Likewise you could make a GM Cold District Type (0080) by bumping up the Performance LVL to 2 and swapping out a piece of equipment.
GM Ground Type – Versatile Frame 1 Performance 1 – 5 EQ Slots and +1 EQ for +2 WT
(1) Assault Rifle – Range weapon
(1) Shield – Use d10s for Armor except when being Blindsided
(1) Beam Saber – Melee weapon. Higher penetration and lower damage than a heat hawk. Excellent for invalidating your enemies Armor Save.
(1) Reinforced Exoskeleton – HP +100
(1) Reinforced Armor – ARM Sv 1 better (7+ -> 6+) but +1 WT
(1) Smoke Screen – Usable once. Enemies have Range ATK+0 outside Sensors range Vs Ground GM
The GM Ground type featured in the 08th MS Team is quite sturdy and a good competitor to the Ground type Zaku and the standard Zaku. Boasting 300 HP, a 6+ ARM Save, and a d10 ARM with it’s Shield in play it can weather quite a few shots from Zaku Machine guns but will still be felled in one shot if it fails its Armor Save against a 180 mm cannon. Luckily they also possess a Smoke Screen (Same effects as a chaff grenade) which can allow them to advance while under heavy fire from artillery guns.
Next up we’ll look at the GM Sniper, built using the same frame as the Ground GM but modified for long range sniping and much higher performance, favored by Aces. The GM Sniper would be Frame 1 Performance 2 and the GM Sniper Custom would be Frame 1 Performance 3.
GM Sniper – Gunner Frame 1 Performance 3 – 5 EQ Slots and +2 WT for +1 EQ
(2) Hi-Powered Beam Rifle (2-Handed) – Recall 2-handed weapons are 2 slots but allow for a reroll if you fail to hit. Valuable on a single shot Sniper.
(1) Beam Saber
(1) Reinforced Armor
(1) Advanced Sensors – Sensors +6. Valuable to keep people away from the sniper during deployment, also beneficial for ignoring a Cover bonus.
(1) Prototype weapon – Beam Sniper Rifle. Beam Rifle is Range +12″ but AP cost +1
As a Gunner Type the GM Sniper has additional AP, crucial for firing that AP 4 Beam Sniper rifle, with a ranged attack of +8 he’s likely to hit most targets, and has just enough Armor to guarantee a good chance of survival against Zaku weaponry, which is valuable considering Gunner suits has an Evasion penalty.
Lastly we will look at the GM Command Space Type, feature in 0080 a War in the Pocket. One of the best mass produced machines on the Federation side during the OYW we will give them Performance 2, the same Performance level as the Gundam prior to the magnetic coating. A simple suit they are considerably effective on the tabletop at a low points cost.
GM Command Space – Versatile Frame 1 Performance 2 – 5 EQ Slots
(1) Beam Spray Gun
(1) Shield
(1) Beam Saber
(1) Command Horn – Sensors +3. Use Command: Follow Me! once per battle for free. Follow me allows you to simultaneously activate a second unit at the originals Frame Level or lower. Example – Gundam with Command V-Fin (FRAME 4) uses follow me to target Guncannon (FRAME 3) or Guntank (FRAME 2).
(1) Lightweight – WT-1 = Evade +1, Movement +1
The GM Command Space type is agile and deadly, while it is fragile like all space GMs falling victim to many a Zaku II Kai or Gelgoog Jaeger they are still remarkably effective machines that can tag team an opponent.
Thank you for reading all the way through. Below I’ll provide some stat blocks for all the suits talked about today, I try to avoid bringing up too much math in each suits description but if you’re curious here’s how it all works out here. All units here are between 5 and 20 points, Pilot skill is a big factor in unit points cost so we’ll cover that another time.
Zaku II-F & J – Versatile Frame 1 Performance 2 – HP 300, ARM 7+, EQ6 but WT +2. ATK +5, EVADE 14, Move 7″, Sensors 6″
GM Early – Versatile Frame 1 Performance 0 – HP 200, ARM 7+, EQ4 & WT-1, ATK +3, EVADE 16, Move 9″, Sensors 6″
GM Ground – Versatile Frame 1 Performance 1 – HP 300, ARM 6+, EQ 6 but WT+2, ATK +4, EVADE 12, Move 5″, Sensors 6″
GM Sniper Custom – Gunner Frame 1 Performance 3 – HP 200, ARM 6+, EQ 6 but WT+2, Ranged ATK +8, Melee ATK +3, EVADE 10, Move 3″, Sensors 18″
GM Command Space – Versatile Frame 1 Performance 2 – HP 200, ARM 7+, EQ 4 & WT-1, ATK +5, EVADE 17, Move 10″, Sensors 9″
BONUS! Gundam (Pre-Magnetic Coating) – Versatile Indomitable Frame 4 Performance 2 – HP 1200, ARM 3+, EQ 8, ATK +5, EVADE 16, Move 9″, Sensors 12″
BONUS! Gundam (Magnetic Coating) – Versatile Indomitable Frame 4 Performance 4 – HP 1200, ARM 3+, EQ 8, ATK +7, EVADE 17, Move 10″, Sensors 12″
MechaStellar 