VER 9 Draft Rules
- MechaStellar VER 9 Core Rules & Updated Unit Profiles is planned for release by June 3rd
- VER 9 Rules Update reduces the mental math when playing Super Robots & Kaiju
- Their weapons no longer require Power and instead function like a MS
- If you exclusively play with Gundam units VER 9 will play the same as VER 8.
You can find the draft core rules for VER 9 and updated profiles for Super Robots and Kaiju on this page.
APR 2023 Update
- Core Rules – Reorganized some sections, added clarifications and fixed formatting errors
- Updated Size Bonus removing the Melee Bonus and increasing the HP Bonus
- Fixed an error on TL Missile Pods. Upgraded Micromissiles & Needle Missiles.
- Added 17 units to G Gundam including the tournament finals fighters.
- Added Zeong and Elmeth to Gundam UC
Core Rules
MechaStellar is a wargame ruleset that lets you battle it out on the tabletop with your favorite giant robots and spaceships. The system began as a Gundam wargame in 2016 and has expanded to include Super Robots and Mecha from other series in 2021. The game and roster receives updates at the end of each month.
This page has all the primary downloads including the core rules, mecha profile sheets, and mission packs for coop campaigns. All you need to play the game are miniatures or larger models of your favorite Mecha, a tape measure and 10d10.
The rules are split between the Core Combat rules which involves the core components such as shooting, maneuvering and melee; and the Wargame Rules which includes a Vs mode as well as a Co-op mode you can play solo or team up with other players and run through various missions where the enemy’s actions are determined by a roll on the behavior table.
Core Rules Latest Version: 8.8R3 Last update: 07APR23.
Latest Roster Addition– Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Core Combat Rules
Last Update April2023: VER 8.8 REV3 – Reorganized some sections, added clarifications and fixed formatting errors
These rules contain everything you need to play the game and battle it out using the Mecha Profile sheets below.
Wargame Vs and Co-op Rules.
Last update JAN2023: VER 8.3 REV3 – Updated VP for Simple Battle.
These rules contain additional game modes. For Versus (Vs) mode there are several different game types with different victory conditions.
- Simple Battle is a quick and easy ruleset for a standard death match.
- Confrontation has you play several small skirmishes and rewards you for keeping your units alive.
- Secure the Objective has you and your opponent vying for ownership of several key Control Points.
- Defend the City / Rampage turns the games focus into protecting or destroying the city.
Lastly there is a Cooperative mode for running through pre-made Mission Packs you can find at the bottom of the page.
Gameplay Example with Photos
Here is turn by turn gameplay example for MechaStellar VER 8: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4 & 5.
You can also view battle reports for Gundam and SRW matchups using the Battle Reports tag.
Feedback
Your Feedback helps us with the monthly balance and roster updates.
We have a google form link for the MechaStellar After Action Report which is a short feedback form that takes 2-10 minutes to complete and lets you quickly provide feedback based on your latest game.
It does not require an email address to fill out, however, if you want to be part of a mailing list or sign up for playtesting Tier 2 (Zeta, Great Mazinger, Getter Dragon) or Tier 3 units (Nu / Sazabi, Burning / Master Gundam, Mazinkaiser, Shin Getter, Genesic GaoGaiGar) you can add your email at the end of the form. You can find it here: https://forms.gle/PJn5c66JoyJRFtTKA
For roster additions please use the poll below.
Mech Profile Sheets
Below are the mecha profile sheets which are grouped by the series they originate from.
Latest series included in the roster: Mobile Fighter G Gundam.
Designer’s Note: Most units are from Mobile Suit Gundam. When designing them we used three principles:
- When a new model rolls out it tends to improve on a previous iteration such as an improvement in performance, armor reinforcement, speed, or equipment loadout.
- Early Zeon units start with an edge in “Performance” level. Early Federation units begin with an edge in “Frame” Level. High frame units (3+) have cutting edge technology which also boost their combat stats.
- Performance is generally split into three time periods denoted as Tiers..
- Tier 1 is Performance 0-4 is the One Year War (OYW)
- Tier 2 is Performance 5-7 is the Zeta Gundam era
- Tier 3 is Performance 8-10 is the Char’s Counter Attack era (CCA) and beyond.
- We use these performance bands when designing other series as well
- i.e. Tier 1 Getter Robo (0-4), Tier 2 Getter Robo G (5-7), Tier 3 Shin Getter Robo (8-10).
Mobile Suit Gundam – Zeon: Mobile Suits 74 Tier 1 & 8 Tier 2. Mobile Armors 5 Tier 1 and 1 Tier 2.
Mobile Suit Gundam – Earth Federation Forces: Mobile Suits – 61 Tier 1 and 20 Tier 2, Mobile Armors 1 Tier 1 and 1 Tier 2.
Mobile Suit Gundam – Stellar Warships
Designer’s Note: If you are setting up a SRW style game between different universes it is best to keep the performance range within 3-4 points (i.e. Performance range of 1 – 4 or 5 – 7). Make sure you consider the +50pt upgrade in the War Game rules to increase your Performance by 2 as well.
Mobile Fighter G Gundam: 27 Tier 2 and 3 Tier 1 Units
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: 12 Tier 1 Units
Vision of Escaflowne: 4 Tier 1 Units
The Big O: 8 Tier 1 Units
Getter Robo: 17 Tier 1 Units
Mazinger Z: 22 Tier 1 Units & 9 Tier 2 Units
GaoGaiGar and Exkizer: 7 Tier 1 Units & 2 Tier 2 Units
Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV): 2 Tier 1 Units, 10 Tier 2 Units
Pacific Rim: 11 Tier 1 Units, 1 Tier 2 Unit
If you’d like to see what units were added or revised recently click on the Roster Update tag.
Quick Start rules, Armies and Missions can be found on the Demo games page.
Cooperative Campaign Mission Packs – Gundam
Sandbox Campaigns
These Mission Packs are Sandbox style campaigns which offer a simple premise to get your battle kicked off. Between battles you can acquire new Mechs as listed in the mission pack. An enemy behavior chart is included in each Mission Pack, it is recommended you have a printed off copy of this on hand as an easy reference.
Photos of example mission layouts for the Desert and City can be found in this post. We grabbed some cardboard packaging and spraypaint to show how quickly you make simple terrain for a a battlefield.
Narrative Campaigns
These mission packs are for narrative campaigns that follow along the story of various Gundam entries. Below is 0080 War in the Pocket and New Mobile Report Gundam Wing.
Mission Pack – Getter Robo
Below is a narrative mission pack that follows the 1974 Getter Robo manga by Ken Ishikawa. This works best as a solo campaign but you can always play with friends having them control the enemy Mechasaurus or having them take control of the different Getter Forms.
Mission Pack – Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact (Shin Mazinger)
Below is a narrative mission pack following the 2009 Mazinger Z OVA directed by Imagawa. This works best as a solo campaign but you can always have a friend control the enemy Kikaiju.
Mission Pack – Pacific Rim
Below is a narrative mission pack for Pacific Rim that matches the events of the movie from Hong Kong until the finale. It is setup as a what if style game so you can choose to deploy different units and if you perform well you may even save a few Jaeger’s and their pilots from a grisly fate. This is intended for 1 or 2 players cooperatively while a third player can take control of the rampaging Kaiju, otherwise a Kaiju specific behavior chart has been provided.
Latest Revision 27APR2023 – Updated Kaiju Behavior Table and Skills for each mission.
Miniatures
When playing MechaStellar you can use small models 2-3″ in height and reuse existing 28mm terrain which is common for popular wargames like 40k. You can also play with larger models like Gunpla (5-8″), Super Minipla (SMP) (4-6″), or Chogokin such as Soul of Chogokin (~8″) or Super Robot Chogokin (~6″). When using larger figures you will need bigger terrain, for city terrain consider using the cardboard fold up buildings from Dropzone Commander. You can also use proxy models for figures or terrain.
For many of the battle reports you will see the Gundam 1/400 line which comes with a broad range of models, or the Gundam 1/300 which is a smaller range with a high level detail. We also use figures that are roughly 1/220 or 1/200 which includes Gundam FW Ultimate Operation or Standart, or the older Mobile Suit in Action (MSIA) figures from the 2000s. For other Mecha series there are various Gashapon (Capsule Toys) that are small scale or you can use larger figures from either SMP or Chogokin.
Here are some posts showing the types of miniatures used in MechaStellar:
For Stellar Warships here is a post for collecting Gundam Warships.
Some enterprising players have printed off Mobile Suit artwork then attached them to standee bases to represent their models. Others who prefer virtual tabletops have done similar with Roll20 using shrunk down MS Artwork to represent their units.
Terrain
If you play with small scale miniatures such as the Gundam 1/400 or 1/300 collections or Super Robot Wars Gashapon they work very well with existing 28mm terrain you may have from playing 40k or similar wargames. If you enjoy using 3d Printed Terrain you can see some of the free 3d printed terrain we use on the terrain page.
If you play with larger models 6″+ models such as HG scale Gunpla, Robot Damashii / Gundam Universe, Super Robot Chogokin or Soul of Chogokin you will want to use larger terrain. You can see some examples on the terrain page.
https://mechastellar.wordpress.com/terrain/
Planned Updates
Future updates and completed updates can be found on the updates page.
Contact Us
If you’d like to share any feedback on the rules / unit roster, request a Mecha series or volunteer to playtest new units or campaigns you can send us an email here or leave a comment on any posts you find on the design blog. If you prefer forums we have an active thread on dakkadakka as well as mechatalk. We also have social media with Facebook (setup last week), Twitter, a subreddit r/mechastellar, unfortunately our instagram page is currently down.
Creative Commons
This is a non-commercial product, feel free to use, remix and share. For these rules we are using the Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA
I do not own the copyright on any images or names presented in these mecha profiles, this is simply a fair use work to let fans play a wargame with their favorite Mecha and to encourage more visibility of the mecha genre.
MechaStellar 