Author Topic: The State of Other Mecha Games  (Read 18131 times)

Daemion

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The State of Other Mecha Games
« on: 09 February 2018, 00:21:22 »
I'm mostly curious if anyone has been keeping up with other Mecha board and/or card games.

How is CAV doing? Heavy Gear?

Is Mecha Front still putting out minis? Those looked cool.

Anything new?

And, feel free to branch into video games if necessary. Kinda liked the Titans FB game, though I haven't been on there in a while to really mess with it.

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YingJanshi

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #1 on: 09 February 2018, 00:24:20 »
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #2 on: 09 February 2018, 01:43:26 »
Mekton, long the other, other North American Mecha RPG has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. From 2000-odd till 2012, there were various attempts at reviving the morbiund line that came to nought. Then in 2012, a Kickstarter for a new edition was successfully funded with an estimated elivery date of 2013-2014.

As of November 2017 (last known update) the rules were still being physcally proofred from a printout in a 3-ring binder and the  fluff wasn't even finished. The author admitted that the pagecount had blown out to over a hundred more then original estimates.

So it's safe to say it's going nowhere.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #3 on: 09 February 2018, 02:33:47 »
CAV - well Reaper bought up Talon Minis, folded Talon's minis into the CAV lineup, went Bones, the Talon Minis gent became CAVBoss, then Talon bought itself & CAV free. CAV Strike Operations being the current rule incarnation. But it seems more peripheral than BT.

(Gotta love getting the CAV minis in Bones for BT use.)

Heavy gear seems to sit between BT & CAV, activity wise - I gather a new release, and a small hardened fanbase.
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glitterboy2098

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #4 on: 09 February 2018, 03:43:55 »
Heavy gear has been kick starting updated minis gradually, faction by faction. No major rules changes recently that I know of.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #5 on: 09 February 2018, 04:22:37 »
Heavy gear has been kick starting updated minis gradually, faction by faction. No major rules changes recently that I know of.

Heavy Gear Blitz now has a "living rulebook" online which is updated on a semi-regular basis. Records show it was last updated last month.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #6 on: 09 February 2018, 21:47:15 »
CAV - well Reaper bought up Talon Minis, folded Talon's minis into the CAV lineup, went Bones, the Talon Minis gent became CAVBoss, then Talon bought itself & CAV free. CAV Strike Operations being the current rule incarnation. But it seems more peripheral than BT.

That was quite the rollercoaster to read through! Glad to hear it's still kicking around out there, even if i wasn't much of a fan of the setting.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #7 on: 11 February 2018, 13:33:06 »
A group I played with worked closely with the Mekton author giving him updates and supplied ideas on how to do combat better.  It was fun when i was part of group.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #8 on: 11 February 2018, 16:40:35 »
A group I played with worked closely with the Mekton author giving him updates and supplied ideas on how to do combat better.  It was fun when i was part of group.

Good to hear. Mekton's combat system was a mess that didn't work as either a RPG or a wargame. Plus it was stupidly easy to min-max and break to the point of being comical.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #9 on: 11 February 2018, 16:55:57 »
Robotech RPG Tactics remains in limbo awaiting Wave 2. due to the fact the original sculptors quit after wave 1 to focus on their comany's own projects, largely, and the fact that Palladium Books is trying to source a more local contract to get wave 2 actually produced, in order to avoid the delay's the Chinese manufacturer gave wave 1.*
however from what i understand they have obtained a new sculptor, who has been refining the models the original ones created for wave 2, in order to improve part count. so the manufacturer issue is the main one that has been hindering progress.



*delay's due to poor communications on the part of the chinese, mostly, plus some issues with international shipping being disrupted by strikes in the US ports. IIRC the company used was the same one that was supposed to produce the Leviathans box sets for catalyst way back when, so you can imagine the kinds of problems PB has had with them.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #10 on: 11 February 2018, 18:50:13 »
Wasn't this news in 2016?  From what I've been reading if a Wave 2 happens its only going to appease long suffering backers at best.  Pallidium has done nothing to promote or even placate its dwindling playerbase for the product.

I wouldn't mind getting a few anyways for nostalgia and the fact that it would be the first time for some of the mecha to ever have been released in some form even for Japan.

Robotech RPG Tactics remains in limbo awaiting Wave 2. due to the fact the original sculptors quit after wave 1 to focus on their comany's own projects, largely, and the fact that Palladium Books is trying to source a more local contract to get wave 2 actually produced, in order to avoid the delay's the Chinese manufacturer gave wave 1.*
however from what i understand they have obtained a new sculptor, who has been refining the models the original ones created for wave 2, in order to improve part count. so the manufacturer issue is the main one that has been hindering progress.



*delay's due to poor communications on the part of the chinese, mostly, plus some issues with international shipping being disrupted by strikes in the US ports. IIRC the company used was the same one that was supposed to produce the Leviathans box sets for catalyst way back when, so you can imagine the kinds of problems PB has had with them.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #11 on: 12 February 2018, 01:12:26 »
I don[t think anyone believes Tactics wave 2 will ever be released
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MadCapellan

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #12 on: 12 February 2018, 12:51:15 »
Any release schedule provided by Palladium is guaranteed to be a minimum 6 months to 3 years off.  :)) RIFTs Underseas 2 (Lemuria) was finally delivered SIXTEEN YEARS after it was initially scheduled! So yes, you may still see Robotech Wave 2, but how long the wait will be is anyones' guess!

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #13 on: 12 February 2018, 13:47:17 »
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #14 on: 13 February 2018, 08:40:18 »
Not that they were mecha-based games, but both Firestorm Planetfall and Dystopian Wars featured tanks and infantry mixed with mecha; the Dystopian Mechs didn't impress me, but the Planetfall models were pretty cool.  Spartan Games went under but all its IPs were snatched by, I think, Wayland Games, which is going to try to keep those lines alive.  They've already released CAD images for new DW models.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #15 on: 13 February 2018, 09:09:26 »
It's Warcradle Studios that has the old Spartan Games IPs. They're planning on integrating Dystopian Wars with their own Wild West Exodus setting.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #16 on: 13 February 2018, 12:59:49 »
I knew it started with a W.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #17 on: 13 February 2018, 16:20:46 »
I had played Dust before its kickstarter fiasco killed the player base, still go to the webpage every once in a while, they are putting out new minis, though I haven't seen a player in my area for 3 or 4 years. I think Gearkrieg died a while back.

Giant Stompy Robots seem to be taking a back seat to more streamlined rules like Descent/Imperial Assault Type rules, and of course the Forgeworld Titans and 30k Dreadnoughts.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #18 on: 13 February 2018, 17:47:12 »
Speaking of 40K, Forge World announced last year that they're rebooting Adeptus Titanicus.  So theres that too.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #19 on: 14 February 2018, 09:07:44 »
Iv been enjoying the mech and battle armored infantry in konflikt47.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #20 on: 14 February 2018, 16:05:45 »
Iv been enjoying the mech and battle armored infantry in konflikt47.
What in the world is konflikt47?
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YingJanshi

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #21 on: 14 February 2018, 16:24:45 »
What in the world is konflikt47?

It's an alternate history WW2 miniatures game from Warlord Games.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #22 on: 14 February 2018, 19:01:28 »
Not that they were mecha-based games, but both Firestorm Planetfall and Dystopian Wars featured tanks and infantry mixed with mecha; the Dystopian Mechs didn't impress me, but the Planetfall models were pretty cool.  Spartan Games went under but all its IPs were snatched by, I think, Wayland Games, which is going to try to keep those lines alive.  They've already released CAD images for new DW models.

I just looked up the Firestorm Planetfall, and I admit that I like the style of the Terran Marines, since they very much remind me of the Starcraft ones. I've been looking for proxies near the right scale for those.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #23 on: 14 February 2018, 20:22:36 »
Any release schedule provided by Palladium is guaranteed to be a minimum 6 months to 3 years off.  :)) RIFTs Underseas 2 (Lemuria) was finally delivered SIXTEEN YEARS after it was initially scheduled! So yes, you may still see Robotech Wave 2, but how long the wait will be is anyones' guess!

thank you for pointing this out.. i have a hard time delivering it calmly, after the extreme and unfounded negativity over RTT spilled over to my Friend's Rifts boardgame kickstarter, and the constant hounding caused him to try and commit suicide. thankfully his wife found him before he bled out, and was able to get him to the hospital in time.

but palladium is a small company.. it is literally about half a dozen people with an office in a warehouse. they aren't like TSR, Wizards of the Coast, or the other massive gaming giants. everyone there has at least half a dozen hats, if not more. they rely on freelancers to write their books nowadays, which tends to be slow, and when you have a dozen projects to juggle plus all the day to day paperwork of running a company to handle, editing and getting it out to print is slow too. especially when several of those book projects require everything be sent past Harmony's Gold's lawyers and review team first, and might end up needing to be massively rewitten.

as far as RTT goes, it has al lthat, and the fact that Palladium is not a miniatures company. their only forays into minis in the past were some rifts ones from the early days of rifts.. and those were basically a mini's company coming to them and saying "we want to make minis off your books, is that Ok?"
RTT is being handled by PB itself, and they have done an amazing job with it content wise so far, considering they didn't really know what they were doing when they started. Wave 2 is on hold because their previous partner who had doen the Computer modelling and all the work on turning those 3D models into Sprue designs (Ninja Division) not only failed to communicate well during the wave 1 work (resulting in poorly designed sprues with way too many fiddly parts) but also literally bailed on them before much of any work was done for wave 2. they have replaced them since with a new modeller, but their contracts with the chinese company making the parts was just as problematic (it was the same company that caused so much mess for CGL's Leviathans game, to give you and idea), as was the shipping issues from china (schedule issues getting it on the boat, and then they got hit by a dock workers strike), so they are now trying to find a more local producer to handled wave 2. and as anyone who has worked in business will tell you, locating potential partners, researching them, approaching them, arranging meeting,s and hashing out offers is not a fast process.. especially if you want to avoid getting stuck in a bad deal or even being scammed. add in the fact that PB does not have a dedicated legal team for this, and has to slot this stuff into their already fairly full schedules, and you can imagine it is going to take awhile. and since such discussions are always confidential and backed by NDA's, PB can't go around telling people the identities of the companies they are talking to or any details of the discussions.

i have no doubt that they will deliver on wave 2. i've seen the 3D models for the figures in it (as have all the other people who still get their updates.. many just ignore that), and from what i've heard from my friends that work there, most of the design work for the Sprues and such are done. all that is left is getting that manufacturer and getting the molds made. so it might take a bit, but once it is done we should see rapid progress.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #24 on: 14 February 2018, 20:51:28 »
I just looked up the Firestorm Planetfall, and I admit that I like the style of the Terran Marines, since they very much remind me of the Starcraft ones. I've been looking for proxies near the right scale for those.

Do you know how the game plays?

I've never played it, but it uses the same general mechanic as the rest of Spartan's games, and I played a couple of those.  Its a UGOIGO by unit (rather than all me, all you) system that uses big dice pools of D6s, exploding 6's, and because damage is caused by tallying hits vs a fixed threshold -- rather than using a strength vs toughness/armor system -- then any unit could potentially damage any other unit.  Overall, I had very positive experiences with Spartan's games -- I played Firestorm Armada and Dystopian Wars, and wanted to play Planetfall and Dystopian Legions -- and normally I would recommend them to anyone.  The problem with Spartan's properties is that, at least in the US, they were never able to grow a large community.  I tried at three different game stores to build communities to no avail for various reasons.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #25 on: 14 February 2018, 21:05:09 »
thank you for pointing this out.. i have a hard time delivering it calmly, after the extreme and unfounded negativity over RTT spilled over to my Friend's Rifts boardgame kickstarter, and the constant hounding caused him to try and commit suicide. thankfully his wife found him before he bled out, and was able to get him to the hospital in time.

Holy crap! I wasn't aware that had happened to Carmen! I hope he is okay!

Quote
but palladium is a small company.. it is literally about half a dozen people with an office in a warehouse.

I've rolled my eyes at Palladium's production hang-ups in the past, mostly because I think Kevin regularly oversells the company's capabilities in public, but I still think they're one of the most creative teams in the industry!  I love the product, & when Kevin publicly asked for help because he got screwed over by a business partner I happily sent him a check, and I'd do so again in a heartbeat!

I just think it's best to keep everyone's expectations realistic - Palladium is not fast. They have never been fast. I very much doubt they ever will be fast. The product is a blast to play, and their prices are probably the best in the RPG industry. They've been in the business forever so there's a huge selection of back product to buy, but you are only going to be looking at a half-dozen new releases per year, regardless of whatever the ideal release schedule proposed on the website will be. I'd be thrilled if 2018 is the year Kevin Siembieda proves me wrong, but even if he doesn't, I'll still be buying his work because it's always fun & unique no matter how long I wait!  ;)
« Last Edit: 15 February 2018, 00:18:09 by MadCapellan »

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #26 on: 14 February 2018, 21:36:47 »
Holy crap! I wasn't aware that had happened to Carmen! I hope he is okay!
last i heard he's fine, but he's been avoiding social media type stuff since. can't blame him.

he still has plans to do the Rifts Boardgame, he's just not gonna kickstarter it until he's at the point he just needs the funds to get production done. which sadly probably means "before the end of the next decade. maybe" since his start up company is very limited budget
« Last Edit: 14 February 2018, 21:41:42 by glitterboy2098 »

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #27 on: 15 February 2018, 09:40:27 »
What in the world is konflikt47?

Its a splinter game of Bolt Action, a fun ww2 minis game. Basically its their take on weird war. They're constantly coming out with new stuff including new books which continue the war. Staff is very active on their facebook page and are always open to suggestions or listening in (one player got them to add war dogs)  the next supplement book is defiance which will focus on the italians civil war.
 So far i have a Japanese and a Finnish army, the Japanese exosuits are a lot of fun and look cool.
  Ill admit i thimk the multi leg "Walkers" look ugly, but the americans have a lot of tasty bipedals and the germans are getting a bipedal that looks aaaawesome and rocks a nebelwerfer. Lots.of land lease going on so you see american walker/variants in the allies ranks.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #28 on: 15 February 2018, 12:12:18 »
How big are the walker & armoured suit minis? Adaptable to CBT? :D

W
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #29 on: 15 February 2018, 12:32:34 »
How big are the walker & armoured suit minis? Adaptable to CBT? :D

W

28mm for infantry, so protomechs?
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #30 on: 15 February 2018, 21:58:56 »
One mecha RPG game is Armageddon: 2089, which has a main rule book with a busy background, the fluff text in sidbars was 1980s style with green text on black background (but they chose dark green text), the page that describes how to set up a Merc unit has two different dollar amounts for how much your starting funds are, the weapon charts are split so names are on one page and some stats on another, some of the necessary details are so easy to miss (one of the options is 'tech support', without it your targeting software only provides half its bonuses), and most of the mecha in the main rulebook are well outside starting character budgets (starting character budget is $20M for 4 mecha, some of the mecha are $40M each, and one has a pair of weapons that each cost $50M).  It is supposed to be D20 compatible, but the mecha are reclassified as Medium so it is difficult to bring it into another D20 game.  There is no guideline as to what sort of enemy force should be built based on the strength of the PCs, plus the special abilities of the vehicles (and overall design line) is all custom to the game system as well.

It does have some nice ideas though about resistant armor but easy mechanics, capacitors just total extra power from the engine instead of anything fancier, though if you forget to mount the anchoring spikes your artillery Mech will fall over.

Fun quote from the book:
"I need fire support, air support, and tech support, and I need it now!"

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #31 on: 19 February 2018, 12:28:49 »
From another topic:
I love both aesthetics, so I'd hate to see Western mecha disappear. I don't want it to turn into anime either - Western mecha's greater focus on a gritty military aesthetic is fantastic & I'd never want to lose it. But if we refuse to engage with a new generation of mecha fans who naturally gravitated towards anime because it was the most readily available outlet for their interests, then we're just waiting for the inevitable end. I know asking the fan community to change their outlook is shouting at the wind, but I at least would like the industry figures to wake up before it's too late.
This got me thinking: What is status of Star Wars games? Universe has mecha and in my opinion AT-AT is the coolest mecha ever ("gritty military aesthetic"). Is there decent game that includes AT-AT and other walkers?
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights errant, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.

guardiandashi

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #32 on: 19 February 2018, 16:58:08 »
From another topic:This got me thinking: What is status of Star Wars games? Universe has mecha and in my opinion AT-AT is the coolest mecha ever ("gritty military aesthetic"). Is there decent game that includes AT-AT and other walkers?
depends on how you feel about the current battlefront game.
If you get into a battle such as the hoth attack on the imperial side you can pilot an atat once you aquire enough points
Note this is a computer game
« Last Edit: 19 February 2018, 18:34:43 by guardiandashi »

glitterboy2098

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #33 on: 19 February 2018, 17:54:41 »
From another topic:This got me thinking: What is status of Star Wars games? Universe has mecha and in my opinion AT-AT is the coolest mecha ever ("gritty military aesthetic"). Is there decent game that includes AT-AT and other walkers?

no game that includes AT-AT's that i know of. FFG's Star Wars: Imperial Assault includes the AT-ST, as does its upcoming 32mm scale Star Wars: Legion game.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #34 on: 19 February 2018, 21:06:48 »
I hadn't thought about the western 'mech scene being inaccessible, but i suppose that's a strong point there. MWO's lackluster performance isn't helping much either. hopefully the single player game will draw people in?

Fun quote from the book:
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and in reverse order, if they're smart.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #35 on: 19 February 2018, 22:59:23 »
The original Star Wars Miniatures collectible game from Wizards of the Coast had one, and rules to play it. As someone putting together as much Imperial as I could, I had it, along with some of the more interesting rares, like Sand
Trooper on Dewback and the Scout Trooper on Speeder.

The only thing I have against it is that it was based off the Star Wars d20 RPG of that day back in the early 2000s.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #36 on: 19 February 2018, 23:27:35 »
So, I was inspired to get updated on the Arkrite Press site and dp9.com for more information on the HG RPG.

...I now feel Palladium would've been a better choice to write the rules. At least then we'd know a product would show up at some point.

Right now, the only publically available news is that Arkrite Press is working on Ruleset 0.3 but pay us to get access to the latest rules. As of March 10, 2016.

Yes. That's right.

According to the DP9 forum, the last time any information about the RPG project got released was back in August 2017, and even then the forum poster was told "No, we haven’t given up on the project. We just had some set backs. We’re working on putting another version together. Currently we’re adapting some of the rules to flow charts so that it’s that much faster to pick up and learn."

ilClan, RTT2, ComStar 1e, they've all got a better chance of coming out before DP9 and AP get even a .5e out for the RPG rules.
« Last Edit: 19 February 2018, 23:48:16 by LightGuard »
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #37 on: 19 February 2018, 23:31:48 »
Hopefully this year will see the arrival of both the Giga-Robo and Mech Command RTS Board Games. The Utopia Faction for Heavy Gear will be coming out in plastic with Peace River and NuCoal hopefully following suit shortly after. (Highly excited for Peace River, myself.)

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #38 on: 24 February 2018, 11:24:48 »
 I just want say since 1985 , I love some of the other Mecha Games over the years. My two favorite is Robotech and Battletech . I' am backer of Robotech Tactics Rpg. Its been three years since Wave 1 delivered . I hate say Wave 2 not coming , I have been told by many people that cost never go down it always go up on everything. So the cost for Wave 2 is always going up not down. Palladium Books have email me every week  there have been no mention of Robotech Rpg or Robotech Tactics for months now. Well at least CAV 2 will deliver in three months I hope.. The sad part is I have bounce on the internet and read about Robotech Tactics Rpg and Palladium Books  ::) . I have read everywhere.  To the Mods I have been civil here.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #39 on: 24 February 2018, 13:53:52 »
The CAV Kickstarter 2 miniatures are on the ship now and supposed to be state-side by the beginning of March. I'm starting to get excited!

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #40 on: 24 February 2018, 17:39:15 »
Unfortunately, Mecha has never been a big part of Western culture at any level, and that includes RPGs. The biggest games have allways been Mechwarrior/Battletech and Robotech; the former was allways a wargame first and a RPG second and the latter had the advantage of being launched off a then-popular franchise at the peak of its power that managed to embed itself into pop culture conciousness. Save for Heavy Gear's brief rise to fame in the nineties, it's been a situation that's never really changed.

At the moment, the popular perception of Mecha in the west leans heavily towards the gritty/millitaryesque "western" asthetic, it's just that cultural issues (and a tendancy for Mecha games to be short lived) prevent companies form exploiting it.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #41 on: 27 February 2018, 20:25:53 »
Palladium Books just announced, via a RRT Kickstarter Backer e-mail, that they have lost the Robotech license from HG.

From Kevin Siembieda, "So it is with sadness and tremendous heartbreak that I announce that, despite our best efforts, we are unable to produce the Robotech® RPG Tactics Wave Two rewards. Moreover, after proudly carrying the legacy of Robotech® in the role-playing games medium for 30 years, our license has expired and is not being renewed."

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #42 on: 27 February 2018, 20:32:38 »
Palladium Books just announced, via a RRT Kickstarter Backer e-mail, that they have lost the Robotech license from HG.

From Kevin Siembieda, "So it is with sadness and tremendous heartbreak that I announce that, despite our best efforts, we are unable to produce the Robotech® RPG Tactics Wave Two rewards. Moreover, after proudly carrying the legacy of Robotech® in the role-playing games medium for 30 years, our license has expired and is not being renewed."

Well fart.

Tactics controversies aside, the Robotech RPG was a big part of what kept the franchise alive during the long lean years in the nineties. I now have to wonder about the timing of this, given other matters.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #43 on: 27 February 2018, 21:39:27 »
Comics kept franchise going to well into late 90s until trigger happy HG pulled the plug to give it Antarctica Press which did lousy job of it.

A shame that Palladium Books got its license pulled. However, HG always been on rapid to self-destruction.  I didn't like everything Palladium Books did with the franchise.  REF book was nice new stuff, but wasn't enough i guess.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #44 on: 27 February 2018, 21:56:37 »
Question is, did Palladium not have the money to renew the license and it was their decision, or did Harmony Gold not give them the opportunity (and if not, why)?
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #45 on: 27 February 2018, 22:13:58 »
While I'm not sure if this will help clear things any, there was a frank posting in the RRT Kickstarter by Palladium's President about what the hell happened to RRT.
From my best understanding, it seems delays with RRT from early on kept compounding and screwed Palladium. Maybe so much so, HG didn't want to deal with them anymore?

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #46 on: 27 February 2018, 22:24:57 »
I want to highlight something from that post:

Quote
because we were so anxious to bring the game to you and the gaming community, we advertised in print and online that the game would be a Fall 2013 release. In retrospect, we probably should have waited until RRT was on the boat heading to America; but we were excited, so we moved ahead.

Folks around here sometimes question why CGL management doesn't offer specific release dates until just before a product is available on shelves. This is why. The damage caused by blowing (or in RTT's case, repeatedly blowing) release dates far exceeds the damage caused by some customer irritation at not getting a specific date to look forward to.
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Deadborder

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #47 on: 27 February 2018, 22:28:06 »
Question is, did Palladium not have the money to renew the license and it was their decision, or did Harmony Gold not give them the opportunity (and if not, why)?

From what I've gathered, it was the latter.
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glitterboy2098

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #48 on: 27 February 2018, 23:06:33 »
according to the writer i was collaborating with on a robotech RPG book, the latter. i only found out yesterday when he informed me of the  whole thing. (was required to not tell anyone till an official announcement)

our book obviously was cancelled too. bummer, it had some good promise.

panzerfaust150

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #49 on: 28 February 2018, 12:42:49 »
Not to flog the blog too much...

But I thought I would post my own analysis on the Robotech Tactics collapse and what it means for Classic Battletech here:

http://alphastrikepfaust.blogspot.com/2018/02/been-away-bit-but-more-news-of-sort-on.html

YMMV.

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Ronin Actual

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #50 on: 28 February 2018, 17:33:31 »
Well that stinks for everyone!

ColBosch

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #51 on: 28 February 2018, 18:00:37 »
http://alphastrikepfaust.blogspot.com/2018/02/been-away-bit-but-more-news-of-sort-on.html

Please, please, please stop suggesting that CGL (or any other company) ever give its fans official license outside of the normal contracted work structure. It does not work, and it has lead to nothing but headaches for everyone that has tried it. Even BattleTech's Master Unit List, which was volunteer-built, was managed by someone from CGL who kept us all on-track.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #52 on: 28 February 2018, 21:47:34 »
Not to flog the blog too much...

But I thought I would post my own analysis on the Robotech Tactics collapse and what it means for Classic Battletech here:

http://alphastrikepfaust.blogspot.com/2018/02/been-away-bit-but-more-news-of-sort-on.html

YMMV.
And you're also mischaracterizing the Kickstarter; it DID have a result. There was a Robotech Tactics game that shipped items - I should know, I bought a Gladiator/Spartan box to convert my buddy's middle finger flipping Archer from.

Yes, they were terrible items that looked like 1/100 model sprues shrunk down to 1/300, and yes, PG didn't ship EVERYTHING they said they would, but every Kickstarter has fine print saying that if not everything gets delivered the Kickstarter creator is not liable. A class action lawsuit would be pretty damn pointless on multiple levels.

And I say this as someone that dislikes Keven Seimbeda and absolutely despises both Palladium Games AND Harmony Gold.

Frankly, the reasons offered for why Robotech Tactics failed at least ARE PLAUSIBLE, unlike a lot of kickstarters which have raised a ton of money and then vanished with nary a trace.

Charlie 6

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #53 on: 28 February 2018, 22:16:13 »
And you're also mischaracterizing the Kickstarter; it DID have a result. There was a Robotech Tactics game that shipped items - I should know, I bought a Gladiator/Spartan box to convert my buddy's middle finger flipping Archer from.

Yes, they were terrible items that looked like 1/100 model sprues shrunk down to 1/300, and yes, PG didn't ship EVERYTHING they said they would, but every Kickstarter has fine print saying that if not everything gets delivered the Kickstarter creator is not liable. A class action lawsuit would be pretty damn pointless on multiple levels.

And I say this as someone that dislikes Keven Seimbeda and absolutely despises both Palladium Games AND Harmony Gold.

Frankly, the reasons offered for why Robotech Tactics failed at least ARE PLAUSIBLE, unlike a lot of kickstarters which have raised a ton of money and then vanished with nary a trace.
Maybe I'm in unique but I'm tempted to go for the swap; it would be nice if a reward was to be removed from their mailing list.  I realize it won't happen because of the licensing issue but it would have been nice of them to provide the 3d files to let backers live out their dreams through 3d printing.

Istal_Devalis

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #54 on: 01 March 2018, 18:38:34 »
Palladium's involvement is why I didnt touch the kickstarter. Not to put to fine a point to it, but there's a certain pattern that Palladium products tend to follow, and this is following it to a T. I just feel bad for the new comers who were not aware of said pattern and got burned.

For other, more off beat mecha games, there's Mobile Frame Zero. It's a simple system based around building mecha out of lego. It's pretty fun and has the rules available for free, although they'd appreciate the donation.

iamfanboy

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #55 on: 01 March 2018, 20:38:00 »
Palladium's involvement is why I didnt touch the kickstarter. Not to put to fine a point to it, but there's a certain pattern that Palladium products tend to follow, and this is following it to a T. I just feel bad for the new comers who were not aware of said pattern and got burned.

For other, more off beat mecha games, there's Mobile Frame Zero. It's a simple system based around building mecha out of lego. It's pretty fun and has the rules available for free, although they'd appreciate the donation.
The really annoying thing is that most of the backers are long-term Palladium fans who've seen this kind of thing happen over and over, and yet they still buy into it.

One of the most interesting things I'VE seen related to Palladium recently is the Savage Worlds Rifts rules. Pinnacle Entertainment Games does deliver what it promises. If I do start earning as much money from this new job as I think I will, then I'll buy up what I don't already have of it.

Mobile Frame Zero does sound interesting. I remember when I was a kid I wrote a fleet-combat system where you built ships out of legos, and each block did something and was worth a certain amount of points, but my mom gave that away long with my childhood collection of legos.

Liam's Ghost

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #56 on: 01 March 2018, 20:45:42 »
I feel bad for the Robotech kickstarter backers. However I totally intend to feast on the game's corpse if it happens that a lot of product ends up in discount bins.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #57 on: 02 March 2018, 06:46:02 »
I feel bad for the Robotech kickstarter backers. However I totally intend to feast on the game's corpse if it happens that a lot of product ends up in discount bins.

Sadly few games stores carried it here in Sydney, and none are going to have bargain bin stock.
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Istal_Devalis

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #58 on: 02 March 2018, 14:00:40 »
Mobile Frame Zero does sound interesting. I remember when I was a kid I wrote a fleet-combat system where you built ships out of legos, and each block did something and was worth a certain amount of points, but my mom gave that away long with my childhood collection of legos.
MF0 has a warship offshoot, too. *thumbs up*

Ronin Actual

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #59 on: 02 March 2018, 17:26:25 »
This thread prompted me to stop by my FLGS to see what kind of mini's were out there. All I saw was a few Battletech minis with a decent amount being 1/2 off. CAV bones which were all 1/2 off (ended up with a cheap Voodoo!). 1 RRT box set and a few of the smaller mini sets.

Charlie 6

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #60 on: 02 March 2018, 19:47:11 »
I contacted PB for my swap but haven't heard back.  I doubt they will discount anything they have in stock at their home warehouse.  In 20 days they can't sell it and unless they think backers will jump on a heavy discount, which I doubt given the relationship, then getting what they can while they can might not be a bad approach. After that, take it to the dump...just like I did with all of my Dust Tactics crapolla.

Also, I think they have more core sets on hand than expansions otherwise they would have discounted their inefficient packaging.  The Valkyrie Wing is $25 for two playable figures.  Probably have lots of those laying about.

More on topic, there is Pacific Rim board game in the offing.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #61 on: 02 March 2018, 20:47:17 »
i sent my message the first day, and only just heard back today (i had to adjust my list to, so i'm back to waiting again)

considering how many people pledged, you have to figure that even moving as fast as they can it'll be a few days before everybody's messages are gotten to.

Charlie 6

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #62 on: 02 March 2018, 21:20:40 »
Latest update just hit and at least some of my unused business degree from Carnegie Mellon stuck.  Here's a quote, "That said, we have a good supply of the core RRT products, including Cat. No. 55100, the Robotech® RPG Tactics Box Set and expansion packs."  So yeah, PB has a bunch of inventory.

glitterboy2098

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #63 on: 02 March 2018, 21:47:51 »
it's the specialty stuff like dice sets, token packs, and the convention figures they have limited supplies of.

More on topic, there is Pacific Rim board game in the offing.
wonder if it'll be purely PacRim2 stuff or if it'll include the PacRim1 Jaegers and Kaiju.
« Last Edit: 02 March 2018, 21:50:02 by glitterboy2098 »

ColBosch

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #64 on: 02 March 2018, 22:39:16 »
After that, take it to the dump...just like I did with all of my Dust Tactics crapolla.

I didn't know there was an issue with Dust. Well, after a quick Google search...holy crap. Yeah, that doesn't look like someone I want to buy from.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #65 on: 03 March 2018, 08:35:25 »
I didn't know there was an issue with Dust. Well, after a quick Google search...holy crap. Yeah, that doesn't look like someone I want to buy from.
Whats the story?
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #66 on: 03 March 2018, 15:41:24 »
Whats the story?
I started to reply with my understanding of the events but to it became too convoluted, too stupid, that I'd rather spend time investigating my roof damage from this week's storm.  I'm sorry.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #67 on: 04 March 2018, 10:46:33 »
Also, I think they have more core sets on hand than expansions otherwise they would have discounted their inefficient packaging.  The Valkyrie Wing is $25 for two playable figures.  Probably have lots of those laying about.

Two playable figures, but six overall models. The Valks have the 3-in-1 thing going.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #68 on: 04 March 2018, 10:47:13 »
Video games have already been mentioned here, so here is a new one: Into the Breach. Turn based mecha action. Was released less than a week ago on Steam. FTL game comes along with it. Buing them now.
You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights errant, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #69 on: 04 March 2018, 11:10:11 »
I started to reply with my understanding of the events but to it became too convoluted, too stupid, that I'd rather spend time investigating my roof damage from this week's storm.  I'm sorry.

Well now you've got us really curious.
Warning: this post may contain sarcasm.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #70 on: 04 March 2018, 11:49:53 »
Heroclix did some units from Pacific Rim to be used in the game...I wonder if there will be a Pacific Rim 2 update.

They were just the right sized to be used as modified Battletech units.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #71 on: 04 March 2018, 13:07:52 »
Two playable figures, but six overall models. The Valks have the 3-in-1 thing going.
But unless you are collecting models or willing say no transformation during game play it is still a bad deal.  I did discover last night that because of the way the sprues work you end up with an extra Battloid per box set.  I doubt PB would go through the trouble to breakdown their Valk Expansion stock to send along the extra sprues to make those odd-ball 1-of-3s complete.  However, it would be a nice gesture.
Well now you've got us really curious.
I'm honestly not trying to be obtuse.  There were lies, dumb ideas, unfunded rewards, mistrust, charges of theft and duplicity, a slip-shod substitute of a desert well, critical game items (i.e., dice) provided in the final mailing rather than initially with the actual rules and minis, and pain.  I just don't remember "the who did what when," and despite this being the internet wouldn't want to mislead any of you.  I met a few of the Battlefront folks at a convention and they were pained/embarrassed even to address it.  They did though.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #72 on: 04 March 2018, 13:27:33 »
Maybe its supposed to be a proxy for the R version that's supposed to be an add-on since all you do is change the head?

But unless you are collecting models or willing say no transformation during game play it is still a bad deal.  I did discover last night that because of the way the sprues work you end up with an extra Battloid per box set.  I doubt PB would go through the trouble to breakdown their Valk Expansion stock to send along the extra sprues to make those odd-ball 1-of-3s complete.  However, it would be a nice gesture.I'm honestly not trying to be obtuse.  There were lies, dumb ideas, unfunded rewards, mistrust, charges of theft and duplicity, a slip-shod substitute of a desert well, critical game items (i.e., dice) provided in the final mailing rather than initially with the actual rules and minis, and pain.  I just don't remember "the who did what when," and despite this being the internet wouldn't want to mislead any of you.  I met a few of the Battlefront folks at a convention and they were pained/embarrassed even to address it.  They did though.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #73 on: 04 March 2018, 13:57:01 »
Maybe its supposed to be a proxy for the R version that's supposed to be an add-on since all you do is change the head?
That's a thought.  I need to raid the free files on DriveThruRPG for the Valk instructions to see.  A quick look at the sprue discourages me along that approach.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #74 on: 05 March 2018, 04:45:55 »
Maybe its supposed to be a proxy for the R version that's supposed to be an add-on since all you do is change the head?

You can use it for that, or any number of mods. It's the odd Bot out, and I put it to good use, though not in the RRT aspect.

But, since RRT is kinda wysiwyg, you'd have to do that R variant for your fighter and gerwalk modes, too.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #75 on: 05 March 2018, 07:01:07 »
That's a thought.  I need to raid the free files on DriveThruRPG for the Valk instructions to see.  A quick look at the sprue discourages me along that approach.

Do it soon; at the end of March those files are going away.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #76 on: 05 March 2018, 07:09:56 »
Is Dust biting the Dust?
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #77 on: 05 March 2018, 15:53:58 »
Is Dust biting the Dust?

Dust just got (another) release as DUST 1947. It's the Palladium Robotech RPG files on Drive-Thru RPG that I was referring to; at the end of March, they will not longer be available for sale.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #78 on: 05 March 2018, 17:14:11 »
Do it soon; at the end of March those files are going away.
I grabbed everything free yesterday.  Unfortunately, the painting guides are corrupted and won't open.  I am mulling paying for the RPG PDFs that I think I have but have pulled from a box in years.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #79 on: 06 March 2018, 05:56:06 »
There are two more games that I know of.

The first is from Two Hour Wargames and it is called 5150 : No Quarter Mecha Combat
I dont own it and it is based on their All Things Zombie game system.

The other is Armor Grid: Mech Attack
I own it but I never played it.
You have to print those mechs and cutting the paper yourself and just the cutting looks like its for people who can wield a scalpel with ease.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #80 on: 26 March 2018, 20:44:08 »
So after three weeks I can offer the following on Robotech:

From up North on the boards, HG has licensed three board games: https://www.japanimegames.com/posts/press-release-defend-the-universe-with-three-new-robotech-games

Personally, I have heard back from Palladium on my Backer exchange.  Essentially, they stated that I'm in their queue but I haven't received a shipping cost four days later.  In the interim they sent out a note indicating those backers that don't respond to a shipping cost within five days will have their exchange restocked.  So, I just sent them a prod before starting this post and received a prompt response.  Bizarre.  Also, on the bizarre scale is the price fiddling they are executing during their liquidation sale.

I did raid their store when the discounts started and today received two super VTs and some other stuff.  Hey, I added a unit for a game I might never play.  I also managed to resolve the corrupted paint scheme PDF fiasco from DriveThruRPG (whom I don't blame).

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #81 on: 31 March 2018, 20:27:20 »
Today is the last day of the Palladium Robotech RPG. After today, it is no more.

I do want to say a few words here outside of the mess that was Tactics and the ongoing HG vs PGI/HBS/everyone under the sun suit. This still hits me in the feels a little. Palaldium's Robotech RPG wass my very first actual Role Playing Game experience. It was also the first RPG that I owned, and the first I tried to run. As horribly flawed as it was, it still holds a special place for me.

More to the point, the RPG was key to keeping the Robotech franchise alive during the lean years of the ninties. When there was no Robotech media outside of comic books (With depressingly low readership at that), the RPG maintained a solid core audience that continued running games. There was a massive outpouring of fan material for the RPG on the internet during the ninties, with people doing their best to hacksaw convert various Robot designs, fill in the gaps and add to the world.

Now I'm not condoning the way Palladium has run things, and I;m not making excuses for the train wreck that was Tactics. What I am saying is that it has had a long lasting legacy and impact, and that I will miss it in its own, strange way.

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ColBosch

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #82 on: 31 March 2018, 20:56:37 »
As a wise man once said, "it's okay to like bad things." The Robotech RPG was a ludicrous kludge of a game. Remember, it was based on the Palladium Fantasy RPG, which itself was heavily based on AD&D 1st edition! The books looked awful, from the type of paper, through the horrendous typewriter font, and to the densely-packed two-column format. The art varied wildly, from great pieces (provided, no doubt, by Harmony Gold) to barely one step above child's scrawls. Books were late, almost randomly priced at times, and riddled with errors. On top of everything, those of us who knew of Palladium's shenanigans always felt a bit weird giving them money.

But...it was a glorious mess. And unlike other scifi franchises, like Star Wars and Trek, we never had to worry about some other company suddenly getting the license and us having to learn a whole new system. It was bad, but I liked it.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #83 on: 31 March 2018, 21:02:38 »
In other mecha game news:  GKR Heavy Hitters is pretty fun.  And its terrain looks great.  I tried a game using the Heavy Hitters boardgame pieces as Alpha Strike terrain and wasn't disappointed.


In even better news, after having played Heavy Hitters a couple times I can say the game in of itself is pretty fun, too!

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #84 on: 31 March 2018, 21:05:22 »
I stopped by the FLGS on Wednesday to grab a couple more 1/2 off C.A.V. miniatures. The owner asked if I wanted to buy the rest of what he had for a buck each. Yep. So I ended up with 32 packs. A few were older pewter infantry figures and a couple were vehicle packs so I ended up with a bunch of new miniatures, just in time for Kickstarter 2 to ship.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #85 on: 31 March 2018, 21:51:13 »
Thanks for that, ColBosch. 98% chance I'm going to shed a single tear
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #86 on: 31 March 2018, 21:57:57 »
The first edition of Palladium's Robotech was my first introduction to both RPGs and Giant robot games, way back when I was eight. Without that, I wouldn't have my massive battletech habit, or my RPG habit.

It's surprisingly difficult to process.
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #87 on: 31 March 2018, 22:41:19 »
*nod*

Palladium always has had a special love/hate relationship with me.  Never met a system of theirs that didn't seem needlessly confusing and often times incomplete, certainly so poorly laid out to give that impression at least, but somehow we still had fun and that is the important part.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #88 on: 01 April 2018, 13:17:25 »
I was thrilled to discover the Robotech RPG back in 1987 and was full of nostalgia for Tactics. I have likely spent more in the Kickstarter liquidation sale than I should have.  If Palladium had been smart they would have come clean while they still had time to regenerate some good faith.  For example, custom Rick Hunter, Roy Fokker, and Khyron add-on exclusives could have been covered by sending out the Valkyrie Wing and Glaug expansions to backers while pointing out that each custom add-on only makes the game more expensive.  So lets call it even and focus on making things work.

Anyway, Palladium pulled my first message and waited through three to four prompting messages and adjusted orders from me to ignore my adjustments. So, I ended up with an extra book I don't need and had to go back to the liquidation sale once more than needed.  Oh well.

I can confirm that the game models are a pain to put together.

Is anyone going in on the Pacific Rim game?

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #89 on: 06 April 2018, 22:03:08 »
There's a Pacific Rim game?

Speaking of which, I just watched the sequel film. 2nd week and there were only 7 people in the theatre, but it was a pretty good movie! Everyone seems to have slept on it after Del Toro pulled out of directing, and that's just a damn shame.....

Charlie 6

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #90 on: 07 April 2018, 06:48:22 »
There's a Pacific Rim game?
Yup, the Kickstarter ended a couple of days ago.  Geek and Sundry had a play through video the prior week.
« Last Edit: 09 April 2018, 18:22:41 by Charlie 6 »

Daemion

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #91 on: 09 April 2018, 06:08:27 »
Wait. PacRim 2 was already out? Geez. I've been out of the loop.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #92 on: 23 April 2018, 11:23:40 »
is it my imagination or my ability to fail to remember correctly...
was there not a gundam figurine board game in japan and i think few copies may had made over stateside not in english mind you around 98 to 04?
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Daemion

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #93 on: 24 April 2018, 01:06:46 »
Couldn't tell you about that, but I do remember a Gundam (Wing?) Card Game from about that time which I never picked up.

More recently, I saw a set of nearly 1/250 scale poseable models at a Barnes & Noble a year or two back. Wanted to pick up one or more, but they store couldn't get anymore in. They would have gone great with the BT and Robotech stuff I have.

If I had the funds, I'd draw up a couple Mecha-esque designs to commission IWM to build and sell.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #94 on: 09 August 2019, 16:04:58 »
I know this thread is pretty old, but it seems the best place for this.

There's a new Mecha TTRPG coming out from Massif Press called "Lancer". Looks pretty interesting. Lore wise it definitely feels different than a lot of other Sci-Fi out right now. Though the Mecha are more like ProtoMechs or the ones from Titanfall than BattleTech or Pacific Rim style.
Any way, the pre-release rules are available for free download.

https://massif-press.itch.io/

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Wrangler

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #95 on: 10 August 2019, 10:10:04 »
 it's certainly Interesting. I'm not so crazy with some of the art they were showing on their Twitter feed. It's sort of all over the place. It's sort of kind of mix of making the next look like they're superheroes. Some of them look like Battl Armor than mechs.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #96 on: 13 August 2019, 11:42:32 »
Because I'm not comp painting at reapercon this year, I'll probably pay more attention to the CAV group...
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Notsonoble

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #97 on: 05 September 2019, 11:22:07 »
So went to Reapercon, CAV is going strong there, but I didn't play. Actually ended up mediating a lance on lance intro boxed set game (players was 3v3, Atlas, Zeus, Trebuchet, Spider (the most experienced player from each team ran the spider and trib each).

The CAV tourney was integrated into the con space this year instead of somewhere distant. They seemed to be doing well. There were still more CAVs in the paint contest than or BT, Warmahordes, entries. There was a large amount of 40k however.

I think what's keeping CAV down at this point is getting less exposure than us.
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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #98 on: 06 September 2019, 10:35:06 »
True. I think BT has had a lot of exposure thanks to the video games.  CAV has neither that, novels, nor cartoon.  It could stand to use something of any one of those.

I know I'm not particularly fond of the lore, since it's their fantasy races in space with Bellar-jointed Mechs.  But, a novel of sorts, or a comic or cartoon, would go a long way to help that out, I imagine.

Even Heavy Gear got popular because of the PC games and cartoon, even if for a short while.

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Re: The State of Other Mecha Games
« Reply #99 on: 07 September 2019, 23:56:57 »
True. I think BT has had a lot of exposure thanks to the video games.  CAV has neither that, novels, nor cartoon.  It could stand to use something of any one of those.

I know I'm not particularly fond of the lore, since it's their fantasy races in space with Bellar-jointed Mechs.  But, a novel of sorts, or a comic or cartoon, would go a long way to help that out, I imagine.

Even Heavy Gear got popular because of the PC games and cartoon, even if for a short while.

Listening to some of the older Three Moves Ahead podcasts where they talk to wargame/boardgame designers and publishers, I'm always floored that they're able to break even with such low target sales numbers (See GMT, etc. presales thresholds for new games set at 250-500 presales to order a run of new games). Between that, and the high overhead of a physical product (manufacturing, packaging, storage, shipping).

I didn't find it surprising then that designers or small publishers (Legion Wargames is a one-man outfit) have separate day jobs - often in related fields like teaching history or in video games.

I mean, total sales numbers for a lot of those niche games are the size of an indie PC game's beta test group