Mecha Sunday and Fun with Laser

As the gang are backing the Heavy Gear Blitz Kickstarter but we are a little intimidated by the rules, we decide to give two sets of mecha rules a spin to see whether we will like them.

The first one we tried was the introductory version of the Battletech rules. We each piloted one mech. It was a bit of a learning curve but the details allowed for some hilarity, like when the two mechs piloted by wahj and fg engaged in a kicking match, and both fell down - one with both hips damaged and the other one his gyros shot out; it was like a scuffle in a retirement home between a guy with Parkinson's and a guy with broken hips.

Two mechas have fallen down and can't get up!

The second game we tried was Mech Attack. This is a much simpler system which features a clever mechanic where each weapon type has a different damage profile and depletes the armour in a specific fashion. I liked the rules on first reading, but was bothered by the fact that there was no arc to the armour. I came up with two options to tweak the system, but neither was satisfactory. The third came to me at 4am in the morning and worked well enough with the rest of the rules I decided to try them this afternoon.

The gang liked the modified Mech Attack rules well enough that we will likely use it with our Heavy Gear models - but then again, the release is in 12 months and we have plenty of opportunity to try other sets of rules.

I loved the Battletech rules myself, but I think the details means it will be difficult for use to pilot more than one mech per player; with Mech Attack, we can conceivably pilot 2 or 3 with practice, perhaps more.

We then ended the session by trying to take photos of the mechs with laser effects. wahj brought along a green laser pointer and with the aid of some incense I had and a tripod we managed to produce a laser hit effect.

This photo shows the set-up we used.

Grown men playing with toys of robots, laser pointers, and fire... I guess it could be worse...