Category: MechaStellar

MechaStellar July Update – VER11 Playtest Photos

Hello everyone, we are going to postpone July’s update while we continue to finalize the core rules and mech profiles for MechaStellar VER11 currently targeting for August release. In this post we’re sharing some recent playtest photos for MechaStellar VER11.

We’ve had some major improvements on Squads, Warships, Momentum Generation and Lethality. In the most recent Gundam focused playtest we had only 50% casualties in a grunt game at Round 5. We think you’ll enjoy VER11 which will be a more streamlined form of VER10, with units surviving longer, better integrated morale & mechanics, weapons each embracing a specific battlefield role, and a more strategic feel to spending Momentum.

In the meantime we will continue doing VER11 Profile Previews once or twice a week.

And we plan on doing about 10 or so Design Goals posts leading up to the VER11 release in August. Stay tuned!

MechaStellar VER11 Profile Preview – Big O

Hello everyone, we’ve already gotten a few questions about VER11. We thought it might be helpful to show off some draft profiles, this time we have Big O and Big Duo.

As you can see it’s very similar to VER10’s profile with the key differences being Rapid Fire has been replaced by Role, and PEN has been replaced by Save. Please look these over and if you have any questions please leave a comment below.

MechaStellar VER10 Retrospective – Timeline Post

In this post we wanted to share a brief timeline of VER10. In the next post we’ll go more in-depth in some of the mechanics.

VER10 had a lot of iterative development, making small or minor tweaks to the core rules to either fix loopholes, broken combos we didn’t foresee, or just for clarity.  A lot of rules from 2024 survived all the day to 2026, with tweaks of course.  As a retrospective we thought it would be fun to look through each update and count which ones survived all the way till the end.

March 2024 – Begin VER10 DEV Playtest

May 2024 – Begin Closed Playtest

System Debuts

  • Core Mechanic for shooting lets attacker and defender both roll (VER4-9 had only the defender roll Evade vs Shooting)
  • Melee Clash now follows the same mechanic, overall attack gameplay was streamlined and much faster
  • Barrage / Bullseye and Dodge / Guard moved to Elite only abilities
  • All units can move twice by default
  • Rapid fire is now listed on the unit profile
  • Armor Save bonus was removed
  • Older Pilot Skills moved to the Climactic Events section
  • New Pilot Skills mirror their SRW inspirations with simplifies and more straightforward uses (+5 Hits, +5 DEF, etc.)
  • Mech Profiles moved from 6 per page to 4 per page, to improve readability with larger text areas
  • Machine guns and beam pistols got a Support ATK / DEF mechanic which encouraged having squads of units in close proximity
  • Auto-hit weapons of AA Missiles and Vulcans proved to be a big problem with the OG version of Finishing Blow.  This problem would come full circle when testing out small size units 2 years later with a new version of Finishing Blow.
  • Shields – Switched to a defense bonus at the expense of Evade dice.

August 2024 – VER10 Open Playtest

Starting off the roster we have Mobile Suit Gundam UC – One Year War (OYW), Gundam Wing, Mazinger, Getter Robo

The DEV version of VER10 had very low lethality with HITs vs DEF often had 0-1 expected hits with most weapons, and machine gun types averaging 3-4 Hits.  Because of this, the balance between Valor (bonus hits) and Zeal (bonus attack actions) was probably the best the game ever had.

As VER10 hit the open playtest stage and certain game elements became modified, the expected number of hits started creeping up.  About a year later, we noticed that Zeal was often the preferred skill for most high end units, beating out Valor.

SEP2024

  • Space Battleship Yamato Released
  • Combattler V, Voltes V and Shin Mazinger updated to VER10
  • Core Rules Updates –
  • Counter became universal on all units [Lasted most of VER10]
  • Finishing Blow became universal on all units.  [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Sensors now gave a boost to Defense as well as Offense [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Support Attack for E[X]plosives got stronger [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Momentum shifts went from M<3 to M<5 [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Zeal text was updated to avoid the gamey’ness of using zeal to them trigger a momentum shift [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Various points and VP adjustments. 
  • VP would later skyrocket near the end of VER10.  At the start the RX78-2 was 8VP (most units were 3-12VP), at the end it was 280VP (most units are 50-500VP)

October 2024

  • Updates to Combat Roles [Revised many times]
  • Added Unstoppable, Assault and Heavy Arms roles [Throwback to VER6, lasted all of VER10]
  • Updated size [Revised many times]
  • Updated HP Math [Revised many times]
  • Updated points for Shields [Revised many times]
  • Updated Indirect Fire
  • All units got +1 defense die [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Allowed the Power stat to be used to fuel weapons [Lasted all of VER10]

NOV 2024

  • Garmillas Fleet from Yamato added
  • Most of AEUG, Titans units updated to VER10
  • Dual Sensors added for Firepower and Sniper Types [Lasted all of VER10]

DEC2024

  • G Gundam Added
  • Updated the Wargames Supplement which included many unit upgrade rules
  • Core Rules Updates
  • Battle-Tested level added to Elite pilots for well trained but often nameless pilots [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Updates to Morale
  • Updates to Commanders orders

JAN2025

  • GoLion (Voltron), GoShogun, Brygar and Baxingar added to the roster
  • Converted Gundam X and G Gundam to VER10
  • MechaStellar VER10 Gameplay Example added featuring Zeta Gundam + Guncannon vs Gouf Custom and Gundam GX-9900 [This example is now painfully out of date.  Please forgive us ='( ]
  • Added rules if you break the 10d10 dice cap [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Updated Target Lock to be bonus dice
  • Updated Crash
  • Updated Boost
  • Updated starting Momentum
  • Units with multiple pilots like Combiners and Warships, now have pilot traits always active instead of the previous “choose 2” gimmick.
  • Size HP bonus revised again
  • Captain’s Orders updated
  • Warships can now use Focus & Iron Wall [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Moved “Improvise” from Pilot Skill to “Events”
  • Removed reroll from most weapons
  • Removed VP penalties from Simple Battle
  • Updated various upgrade traits

FEB2025

  • Updated Turn A Gundam to VER10
  • Gundam Build Fighters rules updated to VER10

MAR2025

  • Converted many G Gundam fighters to VER10
  • Updated Finishing Blow to be roll d10s for potential 1000 DMG
  • Added Retaliate as a Counterattack option for VER9 feel
  • Updated Climactic Events and Battlefield Hazards module

APR 2025

  • Gundam SEED added to the roster
  • Zeal became limited by the current Round to prevent alpha strikes [Lasted all of VER10]
  • Revised AOE weapons again

MAY2025

  • More Gundam SEED units
  • Converted Secondary Objectives to VER10

JUN2025

  • More Gundam SEED units
  • Warships got a massive force multiplier update
  • Updated VP again
  • Updated HP again
  • Updated Finishing Blow again

JUL2025

  • Gundam SEED Stargazer added

SEP2025

  • Updated Battle Damage to VER10
  • Updated Starting Momentum [Lasted until the end of VER10]
  • Updated Finishing Blow again
  • Armor Saves back to 3 dice
  • Massive balance patch to HP, Move, Sensors to move everything to a base of 4, i.e. Move 4″/8″/12″ etc. and complete updating of points, weapons, etc.

OCT2025

  • Gundam SEED Astray added
  • Rebalanced Warships & Large Units
  • Updated many pilot traits to have a base of Hit on a 3+ or DEF on a 3+ [Lasted all of VER10]

NOV2025

  • Added Aura Battler Dunbine
  • Added a flow chart for rules summary

DEC2025

  • Added more units for Dunbine
  • Rebalanced all small size units and also warships

FEB2026

  • Added in the long awaited Char’s Counterattack (Jegan and Gearas) to the Roster
  • Added Dancouga to the Roster
  • Added a Squad System
  • Retooled Support Weapons
  • Returned Counter to be Elite only
  • Armor Saves back to 5 dice
  • Updated Finishing Blow again [Lasted almost until the end of VER10]
  • Added in “Elite Levels”
  • Changed what counts as “Elite Upgrades” and thus affects Elite levels
  • Added a speed upgrade
  • Massive change to HP and VP
  • Allowed for certain weapons to go above the 10d10 attack dice cap [Eventual deathknell for VER10]

MAR – JUN 2026

  • Added Dangaioh and Zeorymer to the roster
  • Added Nu Gundam and Sazabi
  • Issues identified by an all-star player involving small units, trait stacking, counter + finishing blow dominating the battlefield
  • Extensive playtesting of small size units and finding the limits of the current VER10 design space with regards to number of attacks and Finishing Blow.

MechaStellar VER11 Profile Preview – Gundam Wing

Hello everyone, we’ve already gotten a few questions about VER11. We thought it might be helpful to show you a draft profile. As you can see it’s very similar to VER10’s profile with the key differences being Rapid Fire has been replaced by Role, and PEN has been replaced by Save. Please look these over and if you have any questions please leave a comment below.

MechaStellar Monthly Roster Update – June 2026 – VER10 Released + Ra Cailum and Rewloola

Hello everyone, this month’s update VER10 is finally released with only two major changes, one is adjusting the Finishing Blow mechanic so it’s not hyper lethal with high rate of fire weapons like machine guns. The 2nd is removing the defense dice bonus for Elite Squads. We’ve also included a one page cheat sheet in the Core Rules. Lastly the Ra Cailum and Rewloola as the iconic warships of Char’s Counterattack have been added to the MechaStellar Roster.

Recently we’ve been doing a lot of testing with small size units and small size weapons, this includes the recently released Aura Battler Dunbine, as well as future series requested by our playtesters. Unfortunately, while Finishing Blow has been working well with Super Robots, it has been absolutely unplayable with small size units gaining an immense advantage. This is due to small size weapons breaking the 10d10 dice cap and getting too many auto-hits.

Ironically, while writing a MechaStellar VER10 retrospective on the 2 years of updates, we had an issue with auto-hit weapons (like vulcans) and Finishing Blow from the very start, so we’ve come full circle on this.

While the change to Finishing Blow in the Core Rules does completely curb the problem, still small size units have not been very satisfying to play from the perspective of Playtesters. As for the DEV Team we’ve been struggling to make small size beam machine guns work with Yamato’s starfighters as examples.

We’ve been hard at work the last 2 months trying to resolve this problem. We’ve also taken a lot of playtester feedback onboard regarding the rules getting a little complicated in VER10. While brainstorming problems we eventually started calling the rules draft VER10.5. But when we finally made an R&D breakthrough we realized the core gameplay had fundamentally changed.

And so the next rules update will be VER11.

VER11 is going to reuse 70% of the same rules as VER10 but it will be different in 3 key areas.

  • The Rapid Fire stat is removed and instead each weapon is given a battlefield role giving each weapon type some unique gameplay advantages. Barrage type weapons (i.e. Machine Guns) have been a playtester favorite.
  • Pilot Skills are being reworked to make each skill have a distinct use. The Valor Skill has turned into an extremely fun skill to use.
  • Making the game easier to teach to a new players. This includes updating how Saves work and better integrating the Morale stat.

The next post will be a VER10 retrospective looking at the timeline of various changes.

After that we’ll preview some VER11 rules and then eventually some design goals posts. Please keep in mind while we’ve been aggressively playtesting, a lot of things will be subject to change. When VER11 hits open playtest, we’ll keep VER10 online just like we did for VER9.

If you’re interested in trying out the DEV copy of VER11 please contact us on social media.

https://linktr.ee/mechastellar

MechaStellar – Monthly Roster Update May 2026 – CCA Jagd Doga

May’s update is a light one. Based on playtester feedback we are busy working on a balance patch, an update to Finishing Blow and a major core rules overhaul that will streamline a number of items to cut down on the amount of decision making on each turn or combat action. This will be a very big update for the game and we are hoping it will make overall gameplay much, much faster; turning a 1 hour game into a 40 minute game. Look forward to June!

MechaStellar – Monthly Roster Update April 2026 – Nu Gundam and Sazabi

For this month’s update we have the long awaited public release of Nu Gundam and Sazabi.  As well as two other fan favorite mobile suits.  Nu and Sazabi were first used by the Devs all the way back in VER4 and hit closed playtesting in VER6. 

Since then Nu and Sazabi became a favorite pair from one of our all-star playtesters who proceeded to dominate his FLGS all the way back in 2021, if you’ve ever wondered why there were so many updates to Funnels despite very few funnel units (back then), now you know. Nu and Sazabi across many version had their profiles revised a total of 67 times.

Nu and Sazabi are very iconic mobile suits so we’ve put a lot of care into building them and rebuilding them for each version of MechaStellar for our playtesters, and now for the open public.  Of the holy trinity of Super Robot Wars there is Mazinger, Getter Robo and Gundam.  Typically with their final forms being Mazinkaiser, Shin Getter Robo and Nu or Hi-Nu Gundam.

We also included an optional ability for Nu to represent how in crossover games like SRW or Dynasty Warriors, Amuro and the Psycoframe have been able to do incredible things like turning off the Moonlight Butterfly of the Turn-A Gundam. Hope you all enjoy.

While SRW tends to treat Hi-Nu Gundam as a straight upgrade to Nu (and likewise the Nightingale as an upgrade to Sazabi) we prefer to treat them as a side-grade unit which is very similar in armaments but with a slightly different playstyle and unit stats.  After all, Nu and Hi-Nu are meant to be the same unit but different incarnations.

Here’s a synopsis on the origin of Hi-Nu from legendary Gundam expert Mark Simmons

In Beltorchika’s Children, the Nu Gundam is still called the Nu Gundam, even though it does use a mega bazooka launcher at one point. That’s why the cover shows the standard anime Nu Gundam – it’s supposed to be the same thing.

Aside from the Newtype magazine illo that balofo posted, the original source of images for these guys is in the mecha profile section at the beginning of the Beltorchika’s Children novel. The Psyco Doga isn’t pictured in this section, and aside from the Nightingale, all the mecha are listed with the same names and specs and model numbers as the movie versions. (At this point, the movie specs had smaller head heights. That’s why everyone says the Hi-Nu is 20 meters; the book just listed the standard specs for the Nu Gundam, and at that point they were saying the Nu was 20 meters tall.)

So if the Nu Gundam is just called the Nu Gundam in Beltorchika’s Children, and they listed the standard Nu specs and description, where the heck does the “Hi-Nu” come from?

Well, in the book’s mecha section, designer Yutaka Izubuchi took some liberties with his designs and drew them all a bit differently. What we now call the Hi-Nu started out as, simply, “that cool version of the Nu Gundam that Izubuchi drew in the mecha section of Beltorchika’s Children.” It was only later that this cool doodle got its own name and back story and was recognized as a distinct mobile suit. The “Hi” prefix, confusingly, seems to be an homage to the original Hi-Streamer novels. 🙂

Of all these guys, the only one that was reasonably fully depicted and clearly identified as a unique machine was the Nightingale. It’s named that way in the Beltorchika’s Children novel (unlike the Hi-Nu), it’s depicted in the mecha profile section (unlike the Psyco Doga), and Izubuchi drew nice pictures of it for Newtype and B-CLUB magazines. The one thing it didn’t have in the mecha section, unlike the other features machines, was a model number.

Whew! That’s pretty long and detailed, but I’ve seen people getting this mixed up for decades, and I keep hoping that if I explain it one more time it’ll stick.

— Mark

For this April we are releasing Nu Gundam, Sazabi, Hi-Nu Gundam and the Nightingale.  We hope you enjoy these Tier 3 Juggernauts and look forward to more in the future. Pictured above is the Nightingale from the “Gundam Artifact” collection which is slightly larger than 1/400 scale minis but still fits in nicely.

One last note, there have been some minor tweaks to a few of the weapons on the GBF rules.

MechaStellar – Monthly Roster Update – March 2026 – Dangaioh + Zeorymer

With the core rules update and recent balance patch for MechaStellar from the Jan/Feb update we are still doing some final adjustments on Nu Gundam and Sazabi for the Char’s Counterattack release. We also want to give them some more time to playtest with the new rules before getting a release. While we still work on that here’s an update for not one but two Super Robot OVAs, Hyper Combat Unit Dangaioh and Hades Project Zeorymer.

Dangaioh is this author’s first mecha anime OVA, found on the shelves of blockbuster one day many years ago. I remember the incredible flashy action and the names of the characters but not much besides that. I went looking for this series about 10 years ago, and thankfully the character names are unique enough that finding the name of the series was very easy. Dangaioh is a very short OVA by studio AIC and also extremely high budget in it’s initial episode. The opening song is done by two anime song legends Mitsuko Horie and Ichiro Mizuki (Aniki) and the Mecha designs were done by Obari. Dangaioh was at one point going to be a Mazinger OVA, but disputes between AIC and Toei caused it to become an original robot, with very similar attacks instead. To be honest, I absolutely love the design of Dangaioh, and the OVA in general. The only problem is there isn’t more of it.

Dangaioh episode 3 somewhat ends on a cliffhanger. Many years later a Great Dangaioh TV series airs, which only slightly touches the plot of the original Dangaioh and when it does so it’s at the very end of the show and ends on another cliffhanger. While the OVA is rather bittersweet the ending itself is still satisfying enough and lets your imagination provide it’s own final ending, the TV series does not add to that or improve it. I’d recommend skipping the TV series for that reason.

For SRW, Dangaioh debuted in Super Robot Wars Compact 2 Part 1: Earth Crisis

Our next series is Zeorymer. Another OVA with incredible mecha animation. The series is known for being rather violent and with a main character, whose, for lack of a better term, split personality is remarkably evil. It’s a short and enjoyable OVA with some really unique designs.

For SRW, Zeorymer debuted in Super Robot Wars MX

MechaStellar Monthly Roster Bonus Update – FEB 2026 – DANCOUGA

Hello everyone! For February’s update we had a very large balance patch which affected all units as well as a very big update to the MechaStellar Core Rules. Because of that we were not able to finish the full balance update for Warships or for Super Robots in time. As of today they are complete! As a bonus, and a thanks for your patience we are also doing a bonus update with the Super Robot show DANCOUGA which will be the first combiner show we add to MechaStellar. We’ve also updated GoLion (Voltron) to also have combiner rules.

Dancouga (1985) is a very interesting show. It begins as a military sci-fi show and the titular giant robot doesn’t show up for about 16 episodes. During this time, we see a devastating alien invasion of Earth with the protagonist being the some of the sole surviving military forces fighting back and using the latest prototype machines called “Cyber Beasts”. These jets and tanks are able to transform into an animal type form, so your tank might turn into a Liger or a Cougar or Mammoth and begin wrecking the place. Naturally all four Cyber Beast Machines can form up to form Dancouga! The keyword to combine is THX-1138, a reference to a movie produced by Francis Ford Coppola and the directorial debut for George Lucas.

While Dancouga starts off as a somewhat grounded military show, it later turns into what I would call an Anime version of “The A Team” with the protagonists going from place to place and solving the citizens problems. It’s very campy but also very fun, but also includes some of the sadder episodes of character development.

What’s very interesting is that after the first alien general is defeated the next one relies on mind games and subterfuge to defeat the Dancouga team. They quite literally start building mind control devices and try to turn Earth’s citizens against the resistance force. It’s a very interesting plot and a big departure from the rest of the series.

Dancouga the TV show ends on a cliff hanger that is immediately followed up by the OVA Dancouga Requiem for Victims (1986) which closes out the TV show as they travel to the alien’s home planet / dimension and fight the final battle of the war. Interestingly, the OVA introduces a number of supernatural elements that were only briefly alluded to in the TV show. What’s more, Dancouga’s signature sword is not used until the OVA, prior to this Dancouga relies on its fists (and Ryo’s martial arts) or it’s heavy fire power.

Following this is the OVA God Bless Dancouga (1987) which follows the cast on Earth living their new lives after the war. While the Dancouga Requiem OVA was a very good OVA, the budget in God Bless Dancouga greatly exceeds it and the animation is superb. It’s a very fun story with the introduction of a new enemy, the cast is all there as well as an upgraded Dancouga. It’s a bit on the short side and we don’t get as much character development as you’d like, but to quote Obari, “In the end, robots will battle each other”. The action and animation more than make up for it.

Lastly we have the OVA Dancouga Blazing Epilogue (1989). This one is a bit of a departure which different character designs and a much lower budget than God Bless Dancouga (and I would also argue less than Requiem too). The OVA is set even further down the line with the heroes mostly forgotten when another alien invasion shows up and the return of another familiar enemy. It’s not bad, but it also doesn’t really add much to the series. Unfortunately, the lower budget means the robot fights are nowhere near as impressive as the previous series.

My knowledge of Dancouga comes from SRW games and it’s plotline and characters were not my favorite so I didn’t have high expectations going into it. That said, I ended up really enjoying the TV show, OVA Requiem and OVA God Bless Dancouga. Blazing Epilogue doesn’t do much for me though. Give the show a chance and try out Dancouga on the tabletop!

Hopefully one day we’ll get a SMP of the Gundor Battleship