BIG STOMPY ROBOT PROJECT

Some of you may recognise these buildings.

So, in case you haven’t seen on my Twitter feed, Facebook page or in my monthly Newsletter, I have embarked on an ambitious hobby / games design project. Last year I was approached by Donna, the organiser of the new ROBIN wargames event taking place on 12th Feb 2017 at the Nottingham Tennis Centre. Donna has asked me to conduct a short seminar at the event, which should be fun. Feeling my hobby mojo needed a bit of external pressure to get into gear, I also offered to run a participation game during the event.

Short version: I have six more weeks to create a 10mm* scale mech-fighting game, including designing the rules system, creating the board, and assembling the mechs themselves. This I have dubbed Big Stompy Robot.

*Originally I was going to go for 6mm, but looking at my existing terrain I have plumped for 10mm instead for cost and speed. Also, mechs of this size actually fit better with the setting I am creating. It hasn’t changed the models I am using!

For the moment my only goal is to run a fun game at ROBIN, to maintain my sanity. However, should it go well I’ll continue developing the game, maybe taking it to some more events including Daffcon, and we’ll see where we go from there…

The Game

I’ve been kicking around various games ideas for years, obviously, but I ended up going with some completely new for Big Stompy Robot (although drawing from other ideas I’ve had over the last couple of years).

My first mock-up to get the ideas flowing.

The main inspiration comes from the Titan Legions rules for Imperator Titans, as well as earlier versions of the ‘Epic’ games systems. The idea is that each player controls one mech (known as an ATLAS in the universe I am also creating on an ad-hoc basis). The player distributes power through the control system of the ATLAS via dice on a series of cards that represent the mech’s systems. These dice determine the initiative of the mech, and when it gets to take an action the dice are then used to resolve that action. Different coloured dice have differing scores on them, so for example a yellow dice might be marked with 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, while the green dice can score 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3 and so represents a faster mech, or a better attack, etc. Damage is represented by critical damage dice getting introduced into the system, reducing the effectiveness of the ATLAS’s systems as they accrue.

That’s the bare bones, and other than some very early fiddling and ideas I haven’t actually played it yet. The system works, mechanically, so I need to start allocating actual numbers to the concepts – move distances, ranges, armour values and such.

The ATLASes

All-Terrain Land Assault Systems are the cream of the crop among the mercenaries that make up the military of the setting (the Mamertines, Sons of Mars, so-called because they were fundamental to the war during Mars’ battle for independence, which is the backdrop for this game).

The whole point of creating this game is so I can collect and paint a variety of big robots of approximately the right size, which in-universe is represented by the wealth of different outfits and manufacturers that run and build ATLASes.

To start I have acquired two Epiran Hunters from the Maelstrom’s Edge range, and two Wardriods from Pig Iron Miniatures. For Christmas, Kez was kind enough to gift me a Cutter Tag for the Infinity game (after some consultation), another welcome addition to the set. If I have time, when these are painted I’ll be looking at some of the models in the Heavy Gear Blitz range from Dreampod 9. I’d like to add a thank you here to everyone who replied to my Facebook post asking for mech recommendations – it was very helpful.

Each ATLAS represents an individual pilot and although a Mamertines company might have more than one ATLAS this is rare – they are so expensive to run that most operate as lone units. This means I can paint them however I like.

ATLAS pilots have become celebrities during the course of the Mamertines war (what with the constant news coverage) to the point that many have sponsorship deals, much like sports stars of today. Given the technology of the setting, physical camouflage is not necessary, so I’m free to paint each ATLAS as flashy as I like, and I will be adding decals and details to scale them with each other.

The Sands of Mars

The battle takes place on the semi-colonised plains of the Red Planet. To capture this I have envisaged a board that combines the archetypical rusty, ruddy wasteland with a greener compound showing the spreading colonies.

Suitable materials gathered for inspiration.

I threw together everything I have to hand and managed to get a reasonable amount of stuff. In particular, the vehicles and infantry that I received as part of my Road/Kill Kickstarter pledge add a nice element to go alongside buildings, rock columns and so on. The shacks are from Ground Zero Games, and though officially 15mm scale, they don’t seem out of place here.

I’m also looking to add some more civilian-type models, vehicles and details, because I think that sort of thing really makes a battlefield feel part of a world, an area that was lived in right up until the combatants arrived.

The start of a workable terrain layout.

The rocky / scrubby bits I was going to repurpose have warped so I’ll need to make new ones some from scratch, and some taller rock columns and mesas to provide cover for the ATLASes to fight around.

If I have the time I’m going to add a shuttle pad and freighters, as another nod toward the ‘lived in’ feel of the board. And after that? Well we’ll have to see what takes my fancy and how the rules develop.

I’ve delved into my terrain bits box – can you guess what the base for the hydroponics field used to be?

Going forward I hope to share progress on each of these three strands of the project (the rules, models, and terrain). Doubtless there will be occasional updates on the social media sites I mentioned at the start, and some more blogs, but you can also sign up for a special irregular Big Stompy Robot newsletter.

Please Feel Free to Share: