Armarauders: The Last Battalion Issue #1 Review

Armarauders: The Last Battalion Issue #1 Review
by Mecha Workshop
free comic available for digital download
link: http://www.mecha.ws/English_Wave01-04_Pages01-28.pdf

Intro:
Mecha Workshop release this comic online via their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/#!/Armarauders?fref=ts). They plan on releasing a line of toys (model kits maybe.) based on their mecha designs. Armarauders: the Last Battalion is intended provide some back ground fluff for their kits. It does look like they'll eventually release this in printed form.


The Story:
After engaging in a ground campaign against an alien foe called the wasters, an unidentified group of humans pulls out of the planet Runera. A comedy of errors ensues after two mech pilots fall into a waster mine and their unit tries to rescue them. Unfortunately, this happens just as the last of the division (I'm guessing) pulls out. After arguing with the ship's captain, one of the company commanders gets the general's permission to lead a rescue mission. Meanwhile back in the enemy mine (pun intended), the two mech pilots run into civilians that the wasters have been using as slaves. While briefly argueing, one of the pilots is shot by a waster mech. On the surface the rest of the unit tries in vain to contact their fallen comrades(pun unintended). As the rescue team arrives, the wasters find the ship and begin attacking it. The rescuers return to the ship just in time to see the wasters bring it down. The issue ends with that last battalion stranded on runera and the mech pilot leading the slaves to freedom only to be brought down by what I guess are only Runerian freedom fighters. It's at this point that it's revealed that the mech pilot is the son of the battalion commander.

My Review:

The Story seems to jump around. Destroying the ship trying to escape seemed a like forced dramatics. I do hope that the main fleet didn't wait around and got out of dodge before the Wasters got to them. It would have been nice to for the writer to not pull any punches and for the general to just leave the battalion on the ground as soon as the enemy showed up. I always wonder how a unit that's been left behind always seems to have more supplies than it should only to be saved time and time again due to plot magic.

The art kind of reminds me of Mech Destroyer (Image Comics 2001). Some of the lettering can be a bit hard to read at times. In places, it's kind of understandable. They were trying to recreate a sense that a transmission was breaking up, but in other place it was a bit blurry. That said, the coloring really gives the feel that you're on an alien planet. Also, the mecha design is phenomenal and keeps a faux-anime feel while remaining clearly western. Overall the art is really good.

It is a solid story even if it has the "ripped from the headlines" feel of pulling out of a seemingly endless conflict after an extended campaign. It is nice to see someone in the west trying to do an original mecha story that's not completely anime inspired. The commander looks a bit young to be a colonel and certainly doesn't look old enough to have a son in the military.

As a long time fan of giant robots, I have to say it's really refreshing to see something like this. I've already read most of issue #2 and I have to say that this is a very compelling story. It's nice to see a comic that doesn't have a protracted origin story arc. The story arc isn't without its holes of course, but they certainly give you more story than you get for comics cost $3.99. I really enjoyed what the guys at Mecha Workshop did. I hope it continues to improve. I'm giving this comic three and a half giants out of five.

Got to play me some Y Wing... I mean X Wing

Soo as many of you know, Friday night (April 5th) Games Workshop released the new Tau Codex for 6th Edition 40k... (I swear didn't 5th Ed just come out?) At any rate, one of my favorite gaming stores Outside the Box,the other being Top Deck Games (yeah, I said both in the same sentence. I ain't scurred.), having a midnight release night so I stopped through for a game of X Wing with one of the guys, Joe.

We played a 100 point game which seems to be the standard point value for X Wing. He had Darth Vader in a Tie Fighter Advanced and Boba Fetta in a Firespry-31 (Slave One upgrade). I took three Y Wings (Dutch Vander and 2 Gold Squadron Pilots.) The game was fairly tight all the way through, but I think being able to shoot almost every turn really helped alot. Having 3 shields and 5 damage points didn't hurt either as my Y Wings took a pounding from Vader. I can certainly see why he is so feared in the game. I even lost one of my Y Wings (a first for me).

All in all, Joe was the kind of opponent that you wanted to play against. At one point we argued over a rule that would let me shoot, I was trying to be gracious and forgo attacking as the rules (to me) seemed unclear as to whether or not I could attack or not. After a quick rules check it appeared that I could and scored a Crit (sorry joe). At any rate, I can see that as you have two players who know what they're doing this game can be alot of fun and tight all the way through to the end. I think going forward though I'm going to retire the Ion Cannon Turrent for a little while. Being able to shoot EVERY TURN is a huge advantage in that game. I think I'll practice using Ion Torpedos. I don't quite have the hang of those yet.

Feel Free to leave comments, questions or even your personal experiences with the game.

Gundam 40k Scenario: The Gau Hunter

Edit: This is something I was working on several years ago. I think that this would work well with the 1/400 Gundam Collection figs. 
 

    One of my favorite video games set in the Universal Century Gundam Universe is Rise from the Ashes for the Dreamcast. Rise From the Ashes takes place during the One Year War. You play the part of Master Pierce Rayer, Commander of the White Dingos. One of the things that helps this game feel like a "Gundam" story is the fact that you even have a rival Visch Donahue. If the game has one flaw, it is that it was too short. This shouldn't be surprising as the proprietary media that Sega used at the time only held a gig of space. This was due to the Dreamcast coming out just before DVDs hit the technology scene. When you consider all the different cutscenes in the game, it's not surprising that the development team just ran out of space to cram extra stuff like a quick battles mode. I love the game despite it's flaws.

     I really enjoy the third mission third. You get to snipe at a Gau Assualt Carrier.


The Briefing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr-RxdPT2fs

Part 1 of the gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6qPuMl6o8I


Overview:
A Zeon Gau is making a bombing run on Earth Federation positions along the front and an EFSF Mobile Suit Team has been sent with an experimental beam rifle to cripple the Gau by taking out its engines. Meanwhile, a Zeon unit is forward deployed in an effort to ambush them.

Scenario Special Rules:
Eperimental Beam Rifle - After 5 shots, the Federation player has to wait one turn for the Beam Rifle to recharge.

The Gau Bomber arrives in 1d6 turns. And the Gau will take one turn to be in range from the top of the mesa. The Gau will be out of range in 4 turns.
Ambushers -

Set Up:

Game Length: (see Scenario Special Rules)

Mision Objectives:
Zeon Player must stop the Earth Federation player from shooting down the Gau.

Earth Federation Forces:
The Federation Commander may take three mobile suits (RX 79[G], GMs, or GM Ground types only) and a Type 74 Sonar truck..
One pilot may be HQ level
All other pilots must be Aces
Duchy of Zeon Forces:
The Zeon Commander must take at least 2 Magella Attack tanks and may take up to 1000 points of Mobile Suits. Only Zakus, Zaku IIs or Doms may be taken.
One pilot may be a Zeon Lieutenant.
All other pilots must be Troop level

Recent Acquistions

Sooo I got some more stuff for my 1/300 Gundam armies (Earth Federation and Principality of Zeon) I scored a Geara Dogda, MS Selection set 8, and a Mechwarrior Dark Ages Lamprey VTOL.

 

While I've learned not to expect a whole lot from MS Selection stuff, but I was particularly disappointed with the Rick Dom fig.

As you can see, from the front/side view, it doesn't look so bad, but from the back you can see the ridiculously warped Heat Rod.

However, what really irritated me was the discolored bazooka. (highlighted in the yellow box)

While it doesn't compare to the Strategy of Gundam figs. I'll still use them for gaming purposes.

I was impressed with the Rick Dom II. Something about a Dom holding an MG over the bazooka just seems cool and pose clearly designates it as a command unit.

I really didn't expect much from the Agguy. It's not particularly my favorite Mobile Suit anyway, but it'll still make a nice addition to my Zeon Force. It did seem a bit undersized. This kind of surprised me as MS Selection figs tend to run on the larger size.

The Real surprise of the group was the Guntank. I thought it was going to be a lot crappier than it really turned out and it's close enough in size to my Strategy of Gundam series  Guntank (mass produced)  to be useful in my Earth Federation Army.

Rounding out the new Mobile Suits in the motor pool is the Geara Dogda which will be making an appearance in my Gundam 40k campaign as a prototype Zeon Suit. I really wish I could have gotten my hands on the command version, but this will do.

And lastly, is the Mechwarrior: Dark Ages Lamprey. I already had one, but I lost it. So I got another one. I plan on using them as red herrings during campaigns. I'll never forget playing the mission in Rise from the Ashes on the Dreamcast where you're attacking the Zeon sub pen and a helicopter flies over head and you find out later that there was some kind of bioweapon on board. So it'll serve to cause all kinds of doubts in players.

That's it for now. I was supposed to play the second mission in the Campaign last week, but my buddy got sucked into a honey dew list so it didn't happen. Maybe this week. Feel free to leave comments.

Gundam 40k: Mission 01 - The Extraction

So after sitting on the rules for eons and the figs for a while now. I finally got to put my Strategy of gundam gashapons (trading figures) to good use with the Gundam 40k rules.

The Scenario was that a Zeon Special Operations Team was to extract a Zeon spy working under the nose of the local Earth Federation unit. The Zeon MS Team (a Gouf Custom (HQ), a Dom w/ 120mm MG (Troop), a Zaku II w/ 120 MG (Troop), and a Dom w/ 280mm Bazooka (Heavy Support)) had to cover the Cui which had extracted the Spec Op team and the spy until it escaped from the far opposite corner of the table. The Earth Federation had deployed a Type 74 Hovertruck, 2 Tanks and an MS Team (RX 79[G] w/ 90mm MG (HQ), RX79[G] w/ 90mm MG (Troop), a Guncannon Mass Produced (Heavy Support) w/ a 90mm MG and twin 240mm cannons).

I played the part of the Earth Federation Forces and I held my own for the most part. Not being able to hurt those Doms really hurt me. As when they closed into melee combat there wasn't a whole lot I could do. In the end the Cui was able to make it off the table with Zeon successfully rescueing their spy. This the first game in a Campaign and at the end I informed my friend that the Earth Federation was holding a Zeon ace who had stashed a Prototype MS before being captured. I hope to capture the feel of Rise From the Ashes for the Dreamcast.

So, while I was a little disappointed at the fact that the standard Earth Federation weapon, the 90mm MG, didn't have a high enough armor piercing value to even scratch the Doms. All in all the game was fairly enjoyable. I wish I had taken pics.

This will be my umpteenth attempt at a blog. It's sad that my most successful attempt at a blog was on MySpace. Hopefully this one will be a little more regular. I'll be focusing on my love for Giant Robots and the games where I get to pretend I pilot one. Other randomness will probably be making cameos, but as my FB wall has devolved into political rantings/ musing I'll try to keep it light here.