Section #1 Table Set-Up and Terrain.
Spoiler:
1. Regardless of if your terrain is a bunch of rocks, trees, lava, or a swamp; there are 3 types of terrain: Open, Rough, and Deadly. Open is easily moved across such as plains, small brush, lighter woods, or shallow water. Rough can be heavy forest or severely rocky terrain that costs a unit more time and effort to cross. Deadly is impassible such as a raging river. Players place their terrain on the table and then determine what are the limits or boundaries of each piece of terrain. If players have a bunch of loose trees the players should agree on where the terrain starts and ends, the limits, before starting. Rough terrain costs 2 inches per inch moved. Deadly terrain cannot be walked through and is considered something like Lava. It can be flown over though. Cumbersome units like the Mac II treat Rough terrain as if it was Deadly terrain.
Personally I like more of a variety of terrain but as I’ve said I played Battletech where you have infantry and vehicles and they do not have the same mobility as a mechanized unit like a Regult. Regults can walk unhindered in water that would be prohibited for foot infantry or cyclones. This will have to wait till the next generations of stuff comes out or for some sort of Advanced rules book.
If you have some buildings it is also a good idea to decide which ones are which by using the descriptions in the book. I personally don’t plan on trying to track building damage and use buildings only as terrain features. If you want to blow some up it’d be a good idea to decide what buildings are what. I think using a small piece of a post-it with the building designation and sticking it on the roof works well. You can then write on the post-it how much damage the building has taken as you play. Other methods can get clunky
Personally I like more of a variety of terrain but as I’ve said I played Battletech where you have infantry and vehicles and they do not have the same mobility as a mechanized unit like a Regult. Regults can walk unhindered in water that would be prohibited for foot infantry or cyclones. This will have to wait till the next generations of stuff comes out or for some sort of Advanced rules book.
If you have some buildings it is also a good idea to decide which ones are which by using the descriptions in the book. I personally don’t plan on trying to track building damage and use buildings only as terrain features. If you want to blow some up it’d be a good idea to decide what buildings are what. I think using a small piece of a post-it with the building designation and sticking it on the roof works well. You can then write on the post-it how much damage the building has taken as you play. Other methods can get clunky
Section #2 Picking Forces
Spoiler:
2. Now that the table is set teams can pick their forces. In this game I’ve chosen a single Squadron for each side. The Zen player has an Attack Squadron and the UEDF use a single Veritech Squadron. An attack squadron consists of one Glaug/Officer’s Pod and 9 Regults/Battlepods. The UEDF Veritech squadron consists of one VF-1J and three VF-1A’s. These rules have remained the same as to what was in the KS Beta release a while back. One Squadron is required per 150 points in the game and you can choose two support cards and one special per Squadron. Some cards have built in upgrades; if you buy the upgrade all the units on that card get the upgrade. Some upgrades improve the squadron AND it’s supporting units. Here is a link to the Force Orgs that I have been using. The points may have changed slightly since then and the 2nd and 3rd gen Force Orgs are ones I made on my own messing around with the game.
Force Org Charts
Force Org Charts
Section #3 Table Size and Cover
Spoiler:
3. My table is a bit large at 4 x 8 so I set the VF’s at one end in Fighter mode; you have to choose what mode they start in and all the units in the squadron start in the same mode. So if you have 4 Veritechs from the Squadron card and two more VF-1A’s from a support card and a VF-1S from a special card, you have to start them all on the edge of the table in the same mode. Of course when they are first activated they can change however they want and in any combination they want. The Zentraedi are set up on the opposite side of the table behind some light cover, some rough terrain with some trees on it.
Now there are 2 types of Cover, light and heavy. Light cover is like billboards, trees, something not completely solid. Heavy cover is something like a solid hill or building. You can mix and match. You can have rough terrain and light cover like some swampy terrain on Kashyyyk (That’s the Wookie homeworld for those that don’t know) and some good tree cover. This means you have rough terrain that provides light cover. You could also have open terrain with heavy cover like a city where you are hiding behind a building. Terrain effects movement, cover depends upon the thickness and type of cover your unit has.
Note: Open terrain in Tactics is not just like plains or roads in most games, Open terrain can include water that is not really deep and woods and even jungle or asteroids. The difference is that mecha are tough enough that they can pass through that terrain without a care. You can be in some woods that are considered open terrain and still get light cover from the woods you are in. In games like Battletech the terrain type and what cover it gives you are linked but you also have an entire page of what you can or cannot do in any specific type of terrain. In Tactics you have Open, Rough and Deadly terrain and No Cover, Light Cover or Heavy cover. Each terrain piece will be have what type of terrain it is AND what kind of cover it provides while in it. So it is in a way much simpler than many games. Also take note that Deadly terrain cannot be moved through on purpose but it is not an instant kill for units inside it. Units take damage each turn they are in Deadly terrain until they manage to get back out of it.
Now there are 2 types of Cover, light and heavy. Light cover is like billboards, trees, something not completely solid. Heavy cover is something like a solid hill or building. You can mix and match. You can have rough terrain and light cover like some swampy terrain on Kashyyyk (That’s the Wookie homeworld for those that don’t know) and some good tree cover. This means you have rough terrain that provides light cover. You could also have open terrain with heavy cover like a city where you are hiding behind a building. Terrain effects movement, cover depends upon the thickness and type of cover your unit has.
Note: Open terrain in Tactics is not just like plains or roads in most games, Open terrain can include water that is not really deep and woods and even jungle or asteroids. The difference is that mecha are tough enough that they can pass through that terrain without a care. You can be in some woods that are considered open terrain and still get light cover from the woods you are in. In games like Battletech the terrain type and what cover it gives you are linked but you also have an entire page of what you can or cannot do in any specific type of terrain. In Tactics you have Open, Rough and Deadly terrain and No Cover, Light Cover or Heavy cover. Each terrain piece will be have what type of terrain it is AND what kind of cover it provides while in it. So it is in a way much simpler than many games. Also take note that Deadly terrain cannot be moved through on purpose but it is not an instant kill for units inside it. Units take damage each turn they are in Deadly terrain until they manage to get back out of it.
Section #4 Force Cards and Command Points --> Command Phase Step 1
Spoiler:
4. Now each player will get look at his Force Cards and what units he has on the table and determine the number of Command Points (CPs) that he has. Command Points = Life. Players use them to Dodge attacks, Roll with and Attack, and many other things. They are actions or attacks per melee from the RPG. Having one Squadron the UEDF player gets one CP per fighter for a total of 4 AND 2 more for the VF-1J that has a Leadership of 2 for a total of 6 Command Points. The Zentraedi player has one Glaug, this will give him 5 Command Points; one for the Glaug itself and 4 more because a Glaug has a Leadership of 4. Regults have the Life is Cheap ability and do not generate Command Points. This is the Command Phase and it is the very first thing players will do each and every turn.
Section #5 Command Phase Step 2
Spoiler:
5. Now the next part of the Command Phase involve deciding who moves first. Both sides roll 2D6. The highest roll wins, if the roll is a tie the player with the unit with the highest Leadership ability wins, in this case the Glaug has a Leadership of 4 so the Zentraedi will win ties until the Glaug is destroyed. If your Leadership is the same on both sides, the side that Activated very last on the last turn goes last or second this turn. The player that wins initiative can opt to allow the opponent the first activation. In this case the UEDF rolls a 10 and the Zentraedi a 6 but since everyone will still be out of range to each other, it really won’t matter who goes first on the first turn.
Sections 6-8 Command Phase Step 3 - Optional and Rarely Used Stuff PLUS Units Stat Descriptions
Spoiler:
6. Step 3 – This is where if you have wind, poor visibility, special rules like bombardments or aerial drops, all of those are taken into account.
7. Now that the Command Phase is done the players now get on to the action…
I’ll add some meat to this once I get home and start rolling the dice and taking pictures.
8. Before that let’s talk real quick about what stats a unit has. There are 4 main attributes, some abilities, and how much 8. damage a unit can take. Speed (SPD) is the amount of inches a unit can move. Piloting (PIL) tell you how maneuverable the unit is and how good of a pilot it has. Gunnery (GN) is how well you can shoot. Defense (DF) is a combination of how quick the unit is, how hard it is to hit, and how thick or hard its armor is. There are silhouettes of each unit on the Force Cards. These have a number of dots that you can fill in that determine how much the unit can take before it’s destroyed. There are a number of abilities that change how you move. I will explain a few since these are units I am using in this demo. Flight, units with flight may ignore any underlying terrain as they move. Aircraft on the other hand limits the units as they are flying. Aircraft can make up to a 90 degree turn before they move and then must move up to half their movement in a straight line forward. Afterburner allows the unit to make a second move after they have fired weapons. This seems strange to have three traits but it is needed and becomes easy to understand. Some units like Armored VT’s and Queadluun-Rau (Female Power Armor) should not have any restrictions when turning and can obviously fly. Veritechs in fighter mode can’t turn on a dime and are considered aircraft. They are also much faster and so they have Afterburner-allowing them in essence to move 6-12 inches and then attack and then move another 12 inches. Afterburner requires that you move your full SPD on the second move. Hover allows the units to ignore rough terrain as they move over it and also give the unit a boost in defense by giving it a -1 to be hit as it can slide and juke readily when shot at. Leap is the last one, since I’m using a Glaug and some Battlepods. Leap allows a unit to move a fraction of its movement and the “Leap” up to its SPD ignoring underlying terrain such as Rough Terrain or Buildings, and then move the rest of its SPD normally. This means that the Battlepods with a SPD of 5 essentially move 10 inches in a turn as long as they are on open terrain.
Weapons on the other hand have essentially 2 values to worry about and then any special traits. Range (RNG) is how many inches you can shoot. There are no short, medium, long or extreme ranges like some games. One value and that is it. Mega-Damage (MD) is the other value. Essentially how much damage the weapon do. There are also numerous Special abilities that enhance and modify the effects of a weapon. As they come up I will explain them in more detail.
So far everything is pretty simple and straight forward. Terrain is an adjustment since I would think woods and heavy woods from my Batteltech days would be considered rough but in this game, light woods are more like Open since it does not really hinder significantly the movement of a Mecha and heavy woods that DO hinder some are considered rough. It’s an adjustment and will and has caused a bit of confusion. One just needs to understand what it meant by Open in Robotech Tactics is not just some open plain or hill. It could still be some woods or a river or lake that is not deep enough to be a problem to a 40 foot tall giant robot. I was confused a bit at first and had to re-read that part since I was making assumptions based off of past Battletech game experience.
7. Now that the Command Phase is done the players now get on to the action…
I’ll add some meat to this once I get home and start rolling the dice and taking pictures.
8. Before that let’s talk real quick about what stats a unit has. There are 4 main attributes, some abilities, and how much 8. damage a unit can take. Speed (SPD) is the amount of inches a unit can move. Piloting (PIL) tell you how maneuverable the unit is and how good of a pilot it has. Gunnery (GN) is how well you can shoot. Defense (DF) is a combination of how quick the unit is, how hard it is to hit, and how thick or hard its armor is. There are silhouettes of each unit on the Force Cards. These have a number of dots that you can fill in that determine how much the unit can take before it’s destroyed. There are a number of abilities that change how you move. I will explain a few since these are units I am using in this demo. Flight, units with flight may ignore any underlying terrain as they move. Aircraft on the other hand limits the units as they are flying. Aircraft can make up to a 90 degree turn before they move and then must move up to half their movement in a straight line forward. Afterburner allows the unit to make a second move after they have fired weapons. This seems strange to have three traits but it is needed and becomes easy to understand. Some units like Armored VT’s and Queadluun-Rau (Female Power Armor) should not have any restrictions when turning and can obviously fly. Veritechs in fighter mode can’t turn on a dime and are considered aircraft. They are also much faster and so they have Afterburner-allowing them in essence to move 6-12 inches and then attack and then move another 12 inches. Afterburner requires that you move your full SPD on the second move. Hover allows the units to ignore rough terrain as they move over it and also give the unit a boost in defense by giving it a -1 to be hit as it can slide and juke readily when shot at. Leap is the last one, since I’m using a Glaug and some Battlepods. Leap allows a unit to move a fraction of its movement and the “Leap” up to its SPD ignoring underlying terrain such as Rough Terrain or Buildings, and then move the rest of its SPD normally. This means that the Battlepods with a SPD of 5 essentially move 10 inches in a turn as long as they are on open terrain.
Weapons on the other hand have essentially 2 values to worry about and then any special traits. Range (RNG) is how many inches you can shoot. There are no short, medium, long or extreme ranges like some games. One value and that is it. Mega-Damage (MD) is the other value. Essentially how much damage the weapon do. There are also numerous Special abilities that enhance and modify the effects of a weapon. As they come up I will explain them in more detail.
So far everything is pretty simple and straight forward. Terrain is an adjustment since I would think woods and heavy woods from my Batteltech days would be considered rough but in this game, light woods are more like Open since it does not really hinder significantly the movement of a Mecha and heavy woods that DO hinder some are considered rough. It’s an adjustment and will and has caused a bit of confusion. One just needs to understand what it meant by Open in Robotech Tactics is not just some open plain or hill. It could still be some woods or a river or lake that is not deep enough to be a problem to a 40 foot tall giant robot. I was confused a bit at first and had to re-read that part since I was making assumptions based off of past Battletech game experience.
Section #9 Firing Arcs
Spoiler:
9. Let’s get a couple more things that I forgot to add before we get to actual movement and combat. Arcs. There are 2, yes, count them, 2 arcs in Robotech Tactics. 180 degrees front and 180 degrees to the rear. That’s it. Bases will come with an arrow marking the straight forward point. There are also a few tactics that can be used when you deploy and move your forces. The first is Close Formation. Basically any unit/figure in the same squadron that is within 2 inches of another is in Close Formation with that unit. What does that mean? Well it means that if your guys are attacked they have a couple advantages. First if one is hit his buddy can help protect him without paying any Command Points, this IS important. As we get into some combat you will see how important Command Points can be. Any single unit can only do this for one buddy and once a turn. That is something that could be a big pain to try to keep track of. I did not see that little one time rule when I started playing and assumed that any time a unit was attacked a buddy could shield for another. While not technically correct, I did not have to worry who protected who. That can take a lot of time in a big battle, especially if the players take off for lunch or something. If you have a bunch of guys in close formation you can get a bonus to your strike roll. As long as there are more guys in the formation than your Gunnery you can add +1 to the Strike roll. Back Strike, if you have a large squadron and/or a lot of support units you can split them up some, just enough to get the Close Formation bonus and keep it without to many losses. When you do if you have a unit in that squadron firing at an enemy and the centerline from one unit to the other crosses into the rear arc you are essentially firing into the guys rear and get a +1 bonus to the Strike roll. This can be added to any other bonuses like from Close Formation. Now finally if you have units from the same squadron in the front AND the back arc of a unit, all of them get +1 to Strike for having the poor guys in a Crossfire situation. Key to remember in all of these situations all the units must be in the same squadron. You cannot have one squadron in front and another behind and still get the Crossfire bonus.
Arcs Example
Arcs Example
Section #10 Initiative
Spoiler:
10. Now a game turn, or at least the flow for the Command Phase was kinda inferred from #4-6 above. I’ll spell it out here a bit more succinctly. In Tactics there is a mechanic that may be new for a lot of players. You move by squadrons. What I mean by that is if one player has 3 squadrons and another 4, the player that won the initiative does not get to move and fire everything all at once. When it is his turn he can activate ONE of his squadrons and go through the entire action phase with them. That means moving, firing, and blowing things up all BEFORE the other player moves a squadron. If a unit is dead, he does not get to fire back.
a. Command Phase
i. Refill Command Pools
ii. Initiative
iii. Special Effects (Optional Stuff)
b. Action Phase
i. Activation Step
ii. Movement Step
iii. Combat Step
iv. Resolution Step
Many games assume that movement and fire is simultaneous. So if I fire and kill a unit, he still gets to fire back. Other games allow each player to move and shoot EVERYTHING they have and then the next player goes. I’ve played some of both. I like the way Robotech works because you have to think more about what squadron you want to move, when, and how so that you don’t get blindsided and blown to bits. If you have a chance to take out an entire squadron BEFORE they can fire back, sweet! If you move up to do so, beware a trap that might have placed just a few units in harm’s way just so that your entire squadron can be torn up.
a. Command Phase
i. Refill Command Pools
ii. Initiative
iii. Special Effects (Optional Stuff)
b. Action Phase
i. Activation Step
ii. Movement Step
iii. Combat Step
iv. Resolution Step
Many games assume that movement and fire is simultaneous. So if I fire and kill a unit, he still gets to fire back. Other games allow each player to move and shoot EVERYTHING they have and then the next player goes. I’ve played some of both. I like the way Robotech works because you have to think more about what squadron you want to move, when, and how so that you don’t get blindsided and blown to bits. If you have a chance to take out an entire squadron BEFORE they can fire back, sweet! If you move up to do so, beware a trap that might have placed just a few units in harm’s way just so that your entire squadron can be torn up.
Section #11-12 The Activation Step and Command Point Uses
Spoiler:
11. The Activation Step. There is a reason it’s separate from the Movement Step. If it’s one players turn to activate a squadron, the opposing player can attempt to steal that activation and go first. To avoid just the situation from #10 above a player might want to try to steal the activation and get a jump on the enemy. Players can pay one Command Point to get one try and this can be done on every other activation. The player pays his Command Points and rolls D6, if he gets a 6, he stole it. If not, he just lost a Command Point. If a player steals an Activation the player may attempt to steal it back. Same price; one Command Point and same change, 6 on a D6.
12. Command Points in general are used for the following:
a. Try to boost how far a units can move
b. Steal an Activation
c. Attack with an additional weapon system
d. Special Hand to Hand attacks
e. Dodge
f. Roll with Impact
g. Allow for a Missile Defense roll
There are also other uses but these are the most common by far.
12. Command Points in general are used for the following:
a. Try to boost how far a units can move
b. Steal an Activation
c. Attack with an additional weapon system
d. Special Hand to Hand attacks
e. Dodge
f. Roll with Impact
g. Allow for a Missile Defense roll
There are also other uses but these are the most common by far.
Section #13 Forces Arrayed
Spoiler:
13. Ok, so for clarification as we go, I need to show you readers what forces I chose for each side to use so we can stay on the same page. For the UEDF I have a Veritech Squadron with the Nose Lasers added for a total of Base 75 + Upgrade 4 = 79 Points. Note: The point scales are based off of what I figured and may not reflect the final “official” point costs.
UEDF Veritech Squadron
For the Zentraedi we have an Attack Squadron.
Zentraedi Attack Squadron
UEDF Veritech Squadron
For the Zentraedi we have an Attack Squadron.
Zentraedi Attack Squadron
Section #14 Tactics
Spoiler:
The key for the UEDF is to use their missiles effectively to drill away the Pods and Kill the Glaug. The Zen forces need to use the Pods as shields and protect the Glaug at all costs. Glaug = Command Points, he dies, the rest of the pods are dead meat
14. There is a key mechanic here. Some players are concerned that will the ability to shield a friendly unit, you can protect the Glaug and make it nearly impossible to kill. The important factor is that the rules allow a player to shoot one unit, resolve all of its fire, then fire the next one in the squadron and do the same. So the attacking player can shoot one Veritech and resolve the effects and then move to the next Veritech and so on. So you could use the other three Veritechs to clear out the shield of pods around the Glaug and then have the VF-1J try to handle the Glaug. Veritechs can also fire missiles in volleys of four. If a unit is within 2 inches of the unit attacked, the attacking player can also attack the adjacent unit(s) with multiple missiles. Only one of the missiles must be fired at the original target. When you do this you can hopefully blast some Pods out of the way and clear the road to blow up the Glaug. At the very least the UEDF player can hope that he causes the Zentraedi player to use up precious Command Points. Also keep in mind that the Glaug can spawn or call reinforcements. At the end of the turn, all units with the Life is Cheap trait, that are (1) in the same squadron and (2) within 8 inches and (3) within the Line of Sight of the Glaug when they were destroyed, can be brought back into the game at the cost of One Command Point each. Both players will have to be judicious in how they use their Command Points. Initiative will be key to this battle and the superior mobility of the Veritechs can make all the difference. Often the Zentraedi player can place a layer of Battlepods in front of the Glaug two rows of units or more thick. This is effective as long as the UEDF player does not flank the Zentraedi player. Boosting SPD in an attempt to flank an entire Zentraedi squadron can also prove very effective. It can also be risky as a split up Veritech squadron may also be much easier for the Zentraedi player to eliminate.
14. There is a key mechanic here. Some players are concerned that will the ability to shield a friendly unit, you can protect the Glaug and make it nearly impossible to kill. The important factor is that the rules allow a player to shoot one unit, resolve all of its fire, then fire the next one in the squadron and do the same. So the attacking player can shoot one Veritech and resolve the effects and then move to the next Veritech and so on. So you could use the other three Veritechs to clear out the shield of pods around the Glaug and then have the VF-1J try to handle the Glaug. Veritechs can also fire missiles in volleys of four. If a unit is within 2 inches of the unit attacked, the attacking player can also attack the adjacent unit(s) with multiple missiles. Only one of the missiles must be fired at the original target. When you do this you can hopefully blast some Pods out of the way and clear the road to blow up the Glaug. At the very least the UEDF player can hope that he causes the Zentraedi player to use up precious Command Points. Also keep in mind that the Glaug can spawn or call reinforcements. At the end of the turn, all units with the Life is Cheap trait, that are (1) in the same squadron and (2) within 8 inches and (3) within the Line of Sight of the Glaug when they were destroyed, can be brought back into the game at the cost of One Command Point each. Both players will have to be judicious in how they use their Command Points. Initiative will be key to this battle and the superior mobility of the Veritechs can make all the difference. Often the Zentraedi player can place a layer of Battlepods in front of the Glaug two rows of units or more thick. This is effective as long as the UEDF player does not flank the Zentraedi player. Boosting SPD in an attempt to flank an entire Zentraedi squadron can also prove very effective. It can also be risky as a split up Veritech squadron may also be much easier for the Zentraedi player to eliminate.
