Here are some photos of our demo games we had at our local FLGS in April that were run side by side. We also have some brief battle reports to go along with them. We had a blast using the MechaStellar ruleset for a Gundam tabletop game.
Commander Traits: Resourceful (Gouf) & Three Times as Fast! (GM Command)
Zeon Pilot Skills: Accelerate & Moment of Clarity
Zeon Secondaries: Surprise Assault, Minimize Losses, Behind Enemy Lines
Federation Pilot Skills: Fire Vulcans & Improvise
Federation Secondaries: Rout the Enemy, Minimize Losses, Repel the Enemy
A 500pt game we saw several generations of GMs and a Guncannon facing off against some stock Zakus, Doms and a Gouf leading them as well as some Zaku Half-Cannons and Zaku IIs with Magella Cannons providing rear fire support. Background wise this was a Federation 2nd line forces who had inherited several models of GMs over the years facing off against some Zeon remnants.
Zeon saw an early lead, positioning their Zakus out front and baiting out the oncoming fire from the Federation forces. This left the Dom’s to wreak some havoc after the Federation side ran out of activations, quickly zooming up the midfield and blasting away with their bazookas draining the Federation player’s Momentum supply.
Luckily, Zeon won the roll off in Round 2 allowing the Dom’s to continue their charge, taking out some mid field opponents before crashing into the backlines. Meanwhile, the continued shelling caused the cover the Guncannon was hiding behind to collapse. With some casualties already it wasn’t looking good for the Federation.
However! All hope was not lost. The Guncannon having been battered by several shots unleashed his full fury right into the Gouf Commander who suffered a beam rifle shot through the cockpit killing him instantly. Victorious the Guncannon then unloaded his twin-linked shoulder cannons into a nearby Zaku. With their Commander dead (along with the coveted resourceful trait) and the enemy gaining Momentum things weren’t looking good for the Zeon remnants.
The Dom’s began to fall one by one, and the railgun from the GM Land Combat type brought down another Zaku. Soon the midfield and backfield were nearly wiped out for Zeon, and the player was cursing their luck bringing half-cannons with the shorter ranged gatling gun instead of the traditional type. The Federation Commander with their impressive movement was able to speed across the battlefield and wipe out a few more units while the GM Land Combat type managed to sink a single shot from it’s beam spray gun into the last Dom finishing it off.
The battle finished with Zeon fully wiped out and the Federation player with nearly double their score. A stunning reversal compared to rounds 1 and 2.
Meanwhile, a battle was being waged in the After Colony timeline. Once again Gundam Heavy Arms was facing off against the Tallgeese and a Leo Platoon. The Heavy Arms player did an exceptional job hiding behind cover such that the Tallgeese player could not find an angle of attack on approach. In Round 2 the Tallgeese finally was able to strike at Heavy Arms and drained their Momentum pool. Unfortunately for them they were about to experience the same two fold, Heavy Arms unloaded it’s gatlings and missiles, and then in Round 3 won initiative and did the exact same thing. Tallgeese suffered exactly enough damage to be brought down to 0 HP. The Leos made a valiant effort
Tallgeese Commander Trait – Three Times as Fast. Pilot Skills: Return Shot & Make it Count
Gundam Pilot Commander Trait – Galvanizing Display. Pilot Skills: Fire Vulcans & Tear through the Ranks
Lasty we had two face offs in the Cosmic Era. The first match had the Strike and Moebius Zero face off against Duel, Buster and Blitz Gundam. The Moebius and Aile Strike started the match off strong draining some Momentum from the enemy Gundams while evading the enemies shots. The Blitz Gundam however, made a series of flanking maneuvers across the map and was able to engage the Moebius in melee combat destroying it. From there the fight quickly devolved into a melee brawl where Duel and Blitz surrounded the Sword Striker.
Unfortunately for the ZAFT player, the Sword Strike weathered the melee onslaught for several turns and was able to retaliate swing its anti-ship sword in a might arc bisecting the Blitz Gundam. From across the room “but he used to play the piano!” was heard. Not long after Sword strike was able to defeat Duel who failed their armor save after taking a hit. From there Buster made the mistake of getting too close and was unable to defeat Strike, who won initiative and sped across the battlefield using its rocket anchor to pull Blitz in for a coup-d’etat.
ZAFT Commander Trait – Unyielding. Pilot Skills: Fire Vulcans & Moment of Clarity
Strike Gundam Commander Trait – Resourceful. Pilot Skills: Improvise & Return Shot.
In the rematch the opponents switched sides and we had Strike & Moebius Zero face off against Aegis, Duel and Buster. This time we stated off with Launcher strike who fired off the Agni Impulse cannon at Buster, the ZAFT player drained all but 1 of their Momentum to save him. Aegis boldly pushed across the field at the start and fired its Scylla plasma cannon draining remarkably draining their Momentum pool. The Moebius Zero rained down shots on Aegis but it’s superior Evasion and Phase Shift armor nullified its attacks.
In Round 2 the Strike went first, swapping to the Sword Striker pack it nearly wiped out Aegis who survived thanks to the Unyielding Commander trait, while also tearing into Strike with it’s beam claws. Much like the show, the two Gundam’s brutalized each other in Melee. From there it retreated, allowing Duel and Buster to nail a few shots into Strike dropping their Momentum down to 0 and nearly wiping out the Strikes HP. Meanwhile, the Moebius was launching its wire guided gunbarrels in an attempt to finish off Aegis to no avail.
The match then took a surprising turn, with Strike just barely surviving the enemy onslaught and being able to make it to Aegis delivering a killing blow. This netted them just enough Momentum to survive till the next round. While Duel put their utmost effort into putting down the Strike it survived with just 500 HP. In the following round it was able to use the rocket anchor on Buster defeating it, giving it a surplus of Momentum which it them used to defend against Duel. We closed out the game with the Strike making a lucky penetrating blow and finishing off Duel.
Overall, a very fun time using MechaStellar to run a few Gundam tabletop games across three universes. We are looking forward to the next one!
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