Dieter's 1/23/08 playtest session

Private forum for DragonMech Battles development.

Moderators: walrusjester, mythfish

Post Reply
mythfish
Chaos-Summoning Sorcerer
Posts: 791
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:47 pm
Location: Louisville, KY
Contact:

Dieter's 1/23/08 playtest session

Post by mythfish »

First playtest session under the v2.4 rules!

We played 150 points: 1 Juggernaut versus 3 Arcane Harriers. Despite the Juggernaut's high armor and damage output, I predicted the Arcane Harriers would thrash it. I was pleasantly surprised to find the contest more even than I expected.

The Arcane Harriers still won by virtue of having a large number of attacks and enough accuracy bonuses that they could roll 20's often enough to score auto-crits and disable the Juggernaut. But at the end of the game, there was only one Harrier still standing and it was slightly damaged so I think the battle could have gone either way as played.

The Harrier player did not use his much higher Speed and Maneuver to his advantage as much as he could have, though. I think he could have stayed out of melee range and made sure his most damaged units were out of the Juggernaut's attack arcs. I suspect that with slightly different tactics the Harriers could win handily every time. If we'd remembered that the Sorcerer's storm ability prevents missile attacks as well, no question the Harriers would have trounced the Juggernaut.

Questions/comments that came up:
*What happens when a mech is reduced to Maneuver 0? They can only move in a straight line?
*Is there a limit to the number of weapons that can be placed in one location? If I wanted 12 weapons all on my left leg, could I do that?
*It was suggested that the penalty for shooting past obstacles should be per hex...if you have to shoot through 3 hexes of woods, you have a -3 penalty.
*More/better terrain rules might result in mechs moving around more. This fight still degenerated into "standing there hitting each other".
Dieter Zimmerman
[[Faceless Minion of the Dark Master]]
zamzow
Ill-Fated Peasant
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:21 am

Post by zamzow »

i would think that limiting the number of weapons per location to one would be an easy sell. There;s only so much space on one's person.
walrusjester
Hard-Bitten Adventurer
Posts: 150
Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:02 am
Location: Surrounded by corn

Re: Dieter's 1/23/08 playtest session

Post by walrusjester »

mythfish wrote:*More/better terrain rules might result in mechs moving around more. This fight still degenerated into "standing there hitting each other".
What kind of terrain rules? Accuracy advantages for high ground? Chances for bigger mechs to topple smaller ones on rough ground?
DragonMech line developer, freelance writer, tall guy named Matt.
mythfish
Chaos-Summoning Sorcerer
Posts: 791
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:47 pm
Location: Louisville, KY
Contact:

Re: Dieter's 1/23/08 playtest session

Post by mythfish »

walrusjester wrote:
mythfish wrote:*More/better terrain rules might result in mechs moving around more. This fight still degenerated into "standing there hitting each other".
What kind of terrain rules? Accuracy advantages for high ground? Chances for bigger mechs to topple smaller ones on rough ground?
It was a general sort of suggestion, so no specific ideas were given. I think the meaning was "more types of terrain can that be used tactically". And perhaps implicit in that statement is "advantageous enough to justify moving across the board for".
Dieter Zimmerman
[[Faceless Minion of the Dark Master]]
walrusjester
Hard-Bitten Adventurer
Posts: 150
Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:02 am
Location: Surrounded by corn

Re: Dieter's 1/23/08 playtest session

Post by walrusjester »

mythfish wrote: Questions/comments that came up:
*What happens when a mech is reduced to Maneuver 0? They can only move in a straight line?
That would suck, and it also wouldn't be any fun (note to aspiring game designers: one does not always equal the other). What if Maneuver can't be reduced below 1?
DragonMech line developer, freelance writer, tall guy named Matt.
Post Reply

Return to “DragonMech Battles Development”