Hullo!

I played two games of Mechaton (One of three players and one of four) at a modest but pleasant gathering of gamers this weekend. Both games went rather slow, with attacks slowly whittling mechas down to destruction, and one player staying in the lead all the way to the second-to-last round where he fell below the runner-up in number of points, and there was really no time to do anything about it.

I really want to love Mechaton, because the concept is flipping brilliant, but I ran into some opposition: I couldn't really find any tactical choices, except what attachments to remove first. We just lined up the mechas for firing, hoping we could bring some mechas down before the game was over. Anyone venturing out to cap a station got soundly smashed. But before I start experimenting with house rules, I'd like to ask if I missed something? Did we do something wrong?

The doomsday clock started at 11.
We fielded the number of mechs and bases stated in the rules.
We didn't use Big Missiles.
When deciding on the number of points at the start of the game, we did award/remove points to both players when they were tied, which I think you're not supposed to do, and did lead to a polarisation of points per mech/station.

-Arvid

Hello,

I played in Arvid's second game of Mechaton, my first. I also watched part of Arvid's first game from the sidelines. I had a great time playing, although the game was late at night and people ran down the Doomsday clock based on the fact that they wanted to go to bed.

I hadn't personally read the rules before I played the game, but have since. If I were to play again I'd concentrate my efforts on the guy in the lead, the defender. Especially stealing his Station(s). Whittling away mechs, while fun, has only half the scoring impact of stealing stations. If I win someone else's station, they lose their Point Per, while I gain my own Points Per.

I also think that rockets should be used, as should the two optional rules concerning weapons. Having two weapons at the same range equal a 2d6 + 1d8 should help the game go faster.

I have read a lot of actual play reports, and followed along in Vincent's design blog, and realize that games gain speed towards the latter turns. Since I've only played once I cannot comment on that fact, but it seems that the mechs took a very long time to whittle down.

I am eagerly waiting to play Mechaton again. I must just obtain some Lego first...

TTFN,

Yoki

Just based on what you've said here, my guess would be that the person who started the game losing - the attacker - played it too safe, and accordingly plain lost. Yoki's exactly right: identify the person in the lead, and take away her stations. Anything else you do is distracting you from trying to win.

As attacker, lining your mechs up at a safe distance and exchanging volleys is great, great, great from the defender's point of view. The defender will play that game with you every single time, because it means she'll win. At best, at very best, it'll mean that the 2nd-place person will win. Not you.

The skill you learn over the first 2-3 times you play as attacker is how to coordinate your mechs into an offensive unit.

-Vincent