In this post we’ll do a turn by turn post for a small skirmish between the RX 78-2 Gundam piloted by Amuro in his early days and platoon of Zaku IIs led by the infamous Gouf Ramba Ral. Models used are the 1/400 scale Gundam figures you can get from vending machines in years past.
Gundam Frame 4 Performance 2 Pilot 2 HP 1200 ARM 3+ (Super Armor & Shield) AP:9 ATK+5 EVADE 16.
bbFrame 2 Performance 3 Pilot 7 HP 400 ARM 6+ (Shield) AP:4 RATK +3 MATK+10 EVADE 14
2x Zaku II (Machine Gun) Frame 1 Performance 2 Pilot 1 HP 300 ARM 7+ (Melee shield) AP:2 ATK +5 EVADE 14
2x Zaku II (180mm Cannon) Frame 1 Performance 2 Pilot 0 HP 300 ARM 7+ (Melee shield) AP:2 ATK +5 EVADE 14
The Gundam has sensors range of 12″ so the Zeonic enemy has to stay outside of that when deploying. The area is rather small so their forces are spread to the edges. The Zeon forces have more units so they go first.
Round 1
The Zeon player activates a Zaku with the 180mm cannon which costs 2 AP so it can be fired once. He has +5 Ranged ATK and the Gundam has EVADE 16, the Zaku also has the high ground giving him +2 ATK and +1 PEN. d20+5 = 7+5+2 = 14 MISS.
Now it’s Gundam’s turn. With 9 action points he is able to fire his high powered beam rifle (AP3) 3 times. Gundam doesn’t want to continue getting shelled from the high ground, he allocated all three shots up there, one on the Zaku that already fired and two on the Zaku that has yet to activate. Gundam has Ranged ATK +5 and the Zaku II has EVADE 14.
The first shot 14+5 = 19 HIT. The second and third shot are 5+5 and 7+5, both of which MISS. The Zaku that already activated has to make an ARM Sv, his 7+ vs a PEN 3 hi-powered beam rifle means he has to roll a 10 or better, unfortunately the Zaku only has a standard d8 armor save and thus explodes instantly.
Without any more activations on the Federation side the Zeon player will now move all his units for expediencies sake. Two of the Zakus open fire with their machine guns, the Zeon player rolls all the attacks at the same time since its the same type weapon and same attack bonus. 4d20 +5 RATK each.
A way to calculate your rolls quickly is to apply modifiers before you roll. The Zaku’s have +5 RATK, the Gundam has 16 EVADE, therefore the Zaku’s need an 11 or better on the d20 ATK rolls to hit. With an 11, 13, 11 and 6 there are three hits, again the Gundam elects to save his skill points for a rainy day and makes 3 armor saves, again with a d10, with no PEN he has his standard 3+ ARM Sv, 10, 4, 10 means he makes all his saves.
Now the Gouf goes. The Gouf (4AP) uses his heat rod (2AP), a melee type weapon usable up to range 6″. He makes two melee attacks +10 versus the Gundams EVADE of 16. He rolls a 16 for a total of 26 easily beating the Gundam’s evade, the second attack is an 18 also succeeding. The heat rod is PEN 2, making the Gundam’s ARM Sv a 5+. The Gundam confident in his armor makes two ARM Saves, with luck he rolls a pair of 5s again taking zero damage. Round 1 is complete, all units have activated and spent their action points wisely.
Round 2
The Zeon player has the most units and goes first again. She activates the Gouf who is the most lethal at this range, moving him into melee range to attack with his vicious heat sword. In a melee the suits Clash!
Both sides make melee attack rolls and the victor gets to deal damage and the loser makes an armor save to resist. The Gouf (4AP) makes two attacks with the heat sword (2AP). The two suits roll their d20s, Gouf with M.ATK +10 is the clear favorite over Gundam M.ATK +5, but the dice will decide.
The Zeon player rolls her first attack, d20+10 = 26 vs Gundam’s (4+5) = 9. With Gouf as the victor gundam makes an Armor Save against a PEN 3 weapon, his 3+ becomes a 6+. Gundam has cutting edge ultralight superalloy that allows him to reroll failed Armor Saves, unfortunately it does not save him now, with a roll of 5 and reroll of 4 he will be taking damage. The Gouf’s heat sword deals 100 x (d6+3) damage, Gundam takes (4+3) = 700 damage, bringing to 500/1200 HP.
Now it’s Gundams chance to fight back. Not wanting to tangle in melee the Gundam moved backwards out of melee, this costs 2″ of his movement but gives him enough to jump a top the ruined mass driver.
With the high ground Gundam gets a +2 ATK, +1 PEN, and it costs the Gouf +1 additional skill to auto-dodge. With RATK +5 and +2 High Ground versus EVADE 14, the gundam needs a 7 or better. Gundam roll 16, 10, 7. With three hits the Gouf doesn’t want to take any chances he spends 2 skill per shot to avoid testing his shield against the power of a portable battleship weapon. The Gouf finishes with 1/7 Skill.
The two Zaku machine gunners push forward and fire scoring two hits but the Gundam prevails with both armor saves. The last Zaku fires his cannon but misses the Gundam. Next up is round 3, the Gouf has the best chance to deal with the Gundam but if he can’t finish him off the Gundam may claim victory.
Round 3
The Gouf hops onto the mass driver and clashes with the Gundam. 1st Clash Gouf has 22 Vs Gundam’s 16, the Gundam spends his 2 points of skill to avoid taking melee damage. 2nd Clash Gouf 14 Vs Gundam 16. The Gundam wins the clash and the Gouf has only 1 skill and thus cannot autododge.
The Gundam’s beam saber is PEN 3, the Gouf’s armor of 6+ becomes a 9+, and his shield lets him roll a d10, the Gouf rolls a 2, he breaks his shield hoping for a miracle but only rolls a 6. The beam saber does (d6+2)x100 damage, dealing (4+2)= 600 damage, severing the Gouf’s arms and destroying the mobile suit.
Now Gundam is up, with the Gouf defeated he places three shots at the remaining Zakus, one each. With the high ground he gets +2 ATK, +1 PEN, and targets have +1 Skill cost to auto-dodge. This means the Zaku II veterans with their 1 Skill will not be able to auto-dodge. Gundam is lucky this turn and scores three hits.
With three hits and overwhelming armor penetration the Zaku’s stand no chance. It’s a close fight but the Gundam was able to prevail. While this post took much longer to write, the example itself took about 5 minutes to play out. We wanted the rules to be quick and light so you can easily scale up for a larger games.
We need to do a few more edits but we’ll be posting the rules soon. Look forward to it!
MechaStellar 