Hi Vincent, I finally got a chance to play Mechaton the other night!  Hooray for me!  I had a question, though: when you paint someone with a sensor tag, does that mean you completely ignore the target's armor when someone else targets them?  Such was my understanding of the rules you were hashing out in the Summer. 

We had a total of 14 mechs on the field for 3 people, and only got through about 1 round of combat in maybe 45 minutes.  Is this slow?  We managed to do a little bit of damage, though it wasn't bloody enough to suit me--maybe damage occurs on a 4, 5, 6 instead of just 5, 6? 

All of our mechs were pretty radically non-Bakerish in design.  That is because we are cool like that. 

Here's the final spotting rule.

When you paint someone with a yellow die, subtract 1 (like for defense) and put it out next to them. If they already have a yellow die, throw away the lower.

When you shoot someone with a yellow die next to them, and you score at least 1 damage die (for instance, if your defense is 3 and my attack is 4), you have a choice. You can:
a) Do damage as normal, ignoring the yellow die; or
b) Do damage equal to the yellow die, ignoring your attack roll, and discard the yellow die.

If you shoot someone who has a yellow die next to them, but don't score any damage (if your defense is 3 and my attack is 2, for instance), then you don't get to use the yellow die in any way.

Spotting turns a glancing hit into a direct hit.

I find that the first turn of a big game like that takes, yeah, half an hour to 45 minutes. The second turn takes 20 minutes, the third 15, and the rest 5-10 per. It's all three of taking damage, having already committed to some tactics, and getting into the rhythm of the rules. The game builds momentum good.

-Vincent