For this week’s update we have the Gyan mobile suit, some rules updates mentioned in the previous posts and some miscellaneous fixes.
Roster Additions
Zeon (+2)
The Gyan was a unique mobile suit put together for M’Quve, a pivotal figure for Zeon’s Earth Assault who worked directly for Kycillia Zabi. He was the Commander of Zeon’s forces in control of the Eurasian areas rich in natural resources which was vital to Zeon’s war efforts. The battle for Odessa was a pivotal victory for the Federation, by taking it they were cutting off Zeon from the resources they needed to continue their war machine, from a logistics perspective that battle likely won the Federation the war.
After Earth, M’Quve was next seen in space, where he has a final confrontation with Amuro in the Gyan, a custom mobile suit modeled after a European knight. His in particular was exceptionally customized to suit his fencing fighting style.
The Gyan was a competing design for Zeon’s next mass produced mobile suit and lost to the well-known Gelgoog. The Gyan and Gelgoog were Zeon’s first attempts at mass producing a mobile suit that could utilize beam weapons, the Gyan brought a beam saber to the fight, it also had a shield loaded with needle missiles and had “hide bombs” or space mines littered throughout the battlefield. M’Quve intended on defeating Amuro with his wits and guile (and surplus of space mines) but alas was defeated by the Gundam in Texas Colony.
(Fun fact, the Gyan does not show up in the Mobile Suit Gundam compilation movie trilogy. As a result, in the manga sequel “Char’s Deleted Affair” the author realized he need to kill M’Quve off since he was never killed on screen and so had him shot down in the opening volume while escaping A Baoa Qu.)
Zimmad who created the mass produced and ubiquitous Dom also developed the Gyan and it’s intended purpose was to pair together with Dom units for a combined arms doctrine while the Dom’s provided ranged support the Gyan would provide close-quarters combat. Essentially, a specialist unit, so it’s not surprising it didn’t win the bid for the next mass produced model. Since the Gyan was intended to work with the Dom / Rick Dom we opted to keep the Gyan at Frame 2, but with a high performance to threaten the Gundam. For M’Quve he has a special “Hide Bomb” ability that represents M’Quve scattering mines around the battlefield prior to the start of combat, and your opponent may be unlucky enough to run into one.
The Gyan EOS is a variant used by the Kycillia Guard. Instead of a beam saber it uses a beam polearm and a shield. It did the sensible thing of giving the Gyan a ranged weapon, a giant bazooka just like the Dom making it an all-purpose unit. This unit would later appear in the manga MSV-R Return of Johnny Ridden which happens to bring up a number of classic Mobile Suit Variation designs.
Rules Updates
The biggest one is the change to Pilot. We discovered a few edge cases where you could make an extremely deadly force comprised of only Zaku Iis with Giant Bazookas and Ace Pilots. Since Pilot gave free hits, combing that with a cheap unit and a high damage weapon is an easy win. Unfortunately we didn’t consider that in the design stage. As a result we’re going to modify Pilot slightly.
Previously: Pilot level 1 gives +1 Hit, Pilot Level 2 gives +2 Hits.
Revised: Pilot Level 1 may spend 1 Momentum to gain +1 Hit with a weapon. Pilot Level 2 may spend 2 Momentum for +2 Hits.
The same effect is achieved but it is tied to a consumable resource, Momentum. While you can still have very deadly Zakus with this change, it does leave you open to not having enough Momentum to keep them alive so it’s a gambit at this point.
While testing out a few Pilot rule variations we also decided to add one to the base game, unofficially dubbed “Turn the Tide”. It is meant to represent using a Skilled or Ace pilot to change the course of a battle, sometimes single-handedly. It’s a rather simple mechanic, when you activate a Skilled or Ace Pilot if your momentum is 3 or less gain Momentum equal to that unit’s Pilot Level.
It adds a bit more strategy since the game has alternating activations, if you know you can activate a good pilot on your next turn you might be more willing to spend Momentum where previously you may have wanted to hoard it.
The last major thing to mention is an oversight on Melee. When you look at a rule document enough times you tend to gloss over a number of things you’ve read a hundred times, thankfully a new tester caught this one. At the start of the document it’s mentioned that Melee is a free action, this means that if a unit has 1 action they can move, then use their action to shoot or boost, and if they get into melee they can make a free melee attack. This was not crystal clear in the meat of the rules document. To solve these we removed the [Action] from the Melee header and added two notes, both in the Actions section and the Melee section to make it clear that Melee is a free action and does not require you to use your Mech’s action.
Misc Rules Changes (shown in Red Text)
-Melee Action Oversight – Deleted [Action] in front of Melee Clash. Adjusted first page of combat section. Added -Designer’s note: Melee is a Free Action usable by any Mech once per turn.
-Adjusted how Skilled and Ace Pilot works. Adjusted Combat example to reflect changes.
-Clarified weapon targeting such that the Defender chooses what order to roll Evade dice when being attacked by a Gigas
-Add designers note to Targeting regarding positioning to protect weaker models
-Added a note to Point blank shot to mention it is effective when combined with “Take the Shot” pilot skill
-Clarified verbiage under “Challenge”
-Clarified verbiage on “Full Throttle”
-Updated Shutdown so you may not use Shields or Pilot Traits and Evade checks only succeed on a 10
-Updated the verbiage on Cover benefits
-Updated the “Improvise” command to be 2MP
Misc Unit Roster Changes
-Fixed Typo – The Cost 150 Gundam was showing 6k HP when it should be 7k HP.
-Fixed Typo on Infamous Ace / Ghost of Zeon. Should be “End of Round” vice “Start of Round”
-Fixed Typo on Headhunter / Hunting for a Rival where it triggers against Pilot Level 1+ units vice Pilot 0
-Fixed an error on Big Zam’s Sensors, changed to 6″
-Adjusted GM Guard Custom Special Role to Sniper vice Indomitable
-Adjusted GM Intercept Custom’s Special Role to Heavy Arms vice Assault. Adjusted equipment loadout and thrusters.
-Raise momentum cost to 2 on Deathray
MechaStellar 