This week’s update we are releasing units from a new Mecha series, Getter Robo, a foundational show for the Mecha genre by Ken Ishikawa. With both an anime and manga debuting in the early 70s it was the first Mecha series to showcase separate machines combining into a single Super Robot, this popular formula would later become a common staple for the genre. It also serves as a major inspiration for the ever popular Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Getter Robo is a beloved series with a long running manga and several animated adaptations, most of which draw from the source material but put their own spin on it, one of the most popular versions is Getter Robo Armageddon which is typically featured in the Super Robot Wars series. If you’re interested in the show you can catch an opening sequence for Armageddon here. While Armageddon is fantastic we’ll be sticking with their Manga versions for the units we are releasing.
Today’s units are from the original Getter Robo series which has them facing off against the Dinosaur Empire, sentient Dinosaurs who are bitter they had to retreat underground and have returned to the surface to violently reclaim the earth; Dr. Saotome the inventor of Getter Robo recruits some ne’re-do-well pilots to fight them off. If you’re consider reading the manga just be aware it is extremely violent, more than you may expect, while the premise may sound a bit silly it is very enjoyable and the pacing is extremely well done.
Designing the Getter Robo unit came with a unique set of challenges since this is our first combining robot, with each form (Getter 1, 2, & 3) having a different set of strengths. The points for all three units will be counted for you army total, but you can only have one on the field at a time. In some of our playtests going against cheaper units from Gundam’s One Year War the action economy made it very difficult to not get overwhelmed. We came up with a solution to allow Getter Robo to take multiple turns but at a cost and with a limit.
A common plot point in Getter Robo is switching between the different Getter forms which requires intense skill and fortitude on behalf of the pilots who need to disassemble (“Open Get”) and recombine (“Change Getter #”) on the fly and often while being restrained by their enemies. Below is a high quality clip from Armageddon hosted on the Believe-in-Getter channel. In some bombastic sequence we see them rapidly switch between Getter forms to overwhelm their opponents, especially so when we see Shin Getter and Getter G face off during Armageddon.
On the rules side we decided to let them spend 3 Momentum at any time to switch between Getter forms, and any time they do that they may reactivate that unit on their next turn even if it had already gone this round. With enough Momentum you could even use all three Getter Forms in one turn. The drawback, aside from depleting your Momentum stores, is that the Power stat for Getter Robo (used to power ranged weapons) is equal to your current Momentum. So the more you change between forms the less Momentum you will have and the less power you will have curtailing what each unit is capable of. It’s a good trade off and we’ve been happy with how it’s worked out so far.
We’ve also added a new Pilot Trait that will be common for pilots of Super Robots called Fighting Spirit. This is a trait that gives you a bonus when facing down a more powerful unit. You can find the new units on the downloads page here.
Update Summary
-Unit Release for Getter Robo (3)
-Corrected error on Evade formula on Shamshel, Gaghiel, Israfel (+1) and Zeruel (-1)
-Lashing Energy (Shamshel) – Verbiage updated such that the effect takes place if you are in Melee at the start of your turn
-Updated ability for Ferocious Bite & Deadly Tail (Raiju and Otachi)
-Adjusted # of Bonus shots for Titan II / III / IV weapons (Units affected: Big Zam, Crimson Typhoon, Striker Eureka, Otachi, Slattern)
MechaStellar 