1/200 Scale Robotech MSIA Miniature Game
The Battle for Tumbleweed Town
I used the Mobile Solder In Action Rules with Greg B’s Robotech adaptation that I got from Greg B. at http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=132819&page=1. The game was awesome! We had 19 mecha in all in this game. 13 Zentreadi and 6 RDF. The Zentreadi force consisted of 9 Battle Pods, a light Missile Pod, a Heavy Missile Pod, a Glaug Officer’s Pod piloted by an Ace and Queadluun – Rau Female Power Armour piloted by an Ace. The RDF force consisted of all Destroids. A Spartan (Gladiator), 2 Excaliburs (Tomahawks), 2 Radar Xs and an enormous Destroid Monster piloted by an Ace.
The game map was 42”x95” and the large city of Tumbleweed Town occupied most of the map.
The game map was 42”x95” and the large city of Tumbleweed Town occupied most of the map.
The Scenario:
The battle takes place in a frontier city during the period of Zentreadi renegade rebellions following the first Robotech war. Objective: Control of the town. The Zentreadi are attempting to destroy the defending RDF Destroids and occupy the town. The RDF must crush the renegades and put down the rebellion.
Round 1
The Zentreadi line advanced on the town from the North end of the table. The RDF Destroids had taken up positions in the town. The Zentreadi pods moved into the city in a trident formation. The Glaug Officer’s Pod led the charge down the center with the Queadluun – Rau Female Power Armour leading a few pods on the right to go after the Destroid Monster. A few pods and the light Missile Pod went left expecting week resistance from the Radar X huddled behind one of the buildings on the left side. The Radar X in the middle made his move and popped out guns blazing blowing off one of the pods legs. A pod managed to damage that Radar X’s torso casing it to shut down. The other Radar X emerged from its concealment to shoot another pod full of holes. The other Destroids moved forward with the exception of the Spartan. Having the lowest initiative the Destroid Monster lumbered out of its position behind a large building and took a shot at a pod with its gigantic Viggers Cannon only to lightly graze one of the pods.
Round 2
Having the highest initiative the Queadluun – Rau jumped to the top of Tumbleweed Tower the highest building in the middle of the city. Then to the dismay of the RDF player launched 75 of its 126 missiles at the Destroid Monster destroying the cockpit killing the crew and leaving it a smoking hulk. As this was not a well thought out move the surviving Radar X lit her up blowing her leg off and sending her plummeting nineteen stories down on top of the shutdown Radar X. This caused a great explosion as her reactor went supper nova! Then the two Excaliburs took out the Glaug in a hail of Particle beam furry! A pod attempted to jump up on a building but failed its piloting roll and fell comically off the building onto the top of another building. Two other legless toppled pods attempted to drag themselves an inch at a time into the battle!
Round 3
The Zentreadi rolled poorly for initiative and the RDF mecha killed several pods. The light Missile Pod uses half its missiles and damaged the surviving Radar X. The Radar X then destroyed the light Missile Pod’s remaining missiles. The Radar X was then swarmed by fire from the advancing pods and destroyed. A pod on the right flank attempted to jump up on a building but failed its piloting roll and fell forward on top of an Excalibur. The Pod then exploded from the collision and did not even scratch the Excalibur. Another pod then attempted a jump and it also slipped (again failing the piloting roll!) and fell backwards off the building. It then managed to stand itself up. Scoring the lowest imitative a legless Heavy Missile Pod shoots its payload at one of the Excaliburs and blew it away.
Round 4
As it was then 4:00 AM in the morning both players agreed to withdraw from the town leaving the battle a stalemate.
According to the MSIA rules this battle took 15 seconds in real time! The death tool including the three-man crew of the Destroid Monster was six humans and seven giant Zentreadi including the female ace.
According to the MSIA rules this battle took 15 seconds in real time! The death tool including the three-man crew of the Destroid Monster was six humans and seven giant Zentreadi including the female ace.
Notes:
I comprised the forces using a points formula I invented and I think it worked well. We also did not keep track of damage to buildings as per the MSIA rules. This may have changed the game as many of the structures including the famous Tumbleweed Tower took serious damage.
I was mostly impressed with the Zentreadi Battle Pods. They have good firepower and movement. The pods also have a bit of a missile defense with two linked Light Particle Beam Cannons. They can also shoot behind them with their linked Anti-Aircraft Lasers. The side thrusters count as an “arm” and tend to cause no harm to the unit’s effectiveness if destroyed. In addition to this, having no “head” usually leads to a damage location re-roll that can land on a right or left “arm”.
The Destroids preformed well. I think this was because we had them use their twin arm canons as linked weapons even though they are not marked as “linked”. The big disappointment was the Destroid Monster. It needs more anti missile support. Granted I shot 75 missiles at it, but this thing could get killed easily by a light missile pod. It does have good range though. I guess the idea was to keep it way back at one end of the table and in the open so you use all your actions to fire the Viggers Cannons instead of moving.
To keep track of unit initiative after the order of unit activation was determined we placed numbered counters at the base of each unit. We then just removed the counters as we activated each unit. I can see having up to double the number of mecha in a game with this system. I also took the trouble to print off a stat card for each mecha in the game and this made it easy to track damage.
Most of the models are 1/200 kits by Nichimo or Testors "ROBOT" kits. You might have noticed my models have no bases. This was a risk I took. We had no models fall over as the 1/200 Robotech/Macross kits stand up well. I did not screw on the legs of the pods so I could remove them during the battle to add a wreckage effect to the game giving it that extra Robotech feel.
The link to the MSIA rules is: http://home.earthlink.net/~lemontea/id12.html
Over all... it was a fun game. I also want to thank Steve B. for commanding the RDF and for being a good sport when I killed his Destroid Monster.
Cheers,
Boynton
I was mostly impressed with the Zentreadi Battle Pods. They have good firepower and movement. The pods also have a bit of a missile defense with two linked Light Particle Beam Cannons. They can also shoot behind them with their linked Anti-Aircraft Lasers. The side thrusters count as an “arm” and tend to cause no harm to the unit’s effectiveness if destroyed. In addition to this, having no “head” usually leads to a damage location re-roll that can land on a right or left “arm”.
The Destroids preformed well. I think this was because we had them use their twin arm canons as linked weapons even though they are not marked as “linked”. The big disappointment was the Destroid Monster. It needs more anti missile support. Granted I shot 75 missiles at it, but this thing could get killed easily by a light missile pod. It does have good range though. I guess the idea was to keep it way back at one end of the table and in the open so you use all your actions to fire the Viggers Cannons instead of moving.
To keep track of unit initiative after the order of unit activation was determined we placed numbered counters at the base of each unit. We then just removed the counters as we activated each unit. I can see having up to double the number of mecha in a game with this system. I also took the trouble to print off a stat card for each mecha in the game and this made it easy to track damage.
Most of the models are 1/200 kits by Nichimo or Testors "ROBOT" kits. You might have noticed my models have no bases. This was a risk I took. We had no models fall over as the 1/200 Robotech/Macross kits stand up well. I did not screw on the legs of the pods so I could remove them during the battle to add a wreckage effect to the game giving it that extra Robotech feel.
The link to the MSIA rules is: http://home.earthlink.net/~lemontea/id12.html
Over all... it was a fun game. I also want to thank Steve B. for commanding the RDF and for being a good sport when I killed his Destroid Monster.
Cheers,
Boynton