I've found myself playing the old PS1 game Front Mission 3. I had a long train journey, and I was bored with SRWJ, so I set it up on a portable. In the absence of a major project, I've revisited a few old habits, but I digress. As a game its pretty good, holding up well, but I have thoughts I’m going to try to express.
I wrote a review way back when I last played it, and while I largely stand by that, I've had more experience since, and my writing style has shifted. I've played a lot, a hell of a lot, of Super Robot Wars since then, which puts the game in a different light. First off a correction. I spent some time acknowledging the graphical limitations of FM3, but compared to the roughly contemporary Super Robot Wars Alpha, which I’ve also messed with, its a revelation. That game was still pixel art, but not well animated or creative pixel art. Graphics aren't everything, especially in a turn based game, but FM3 pushes harder in that aspect. Front Mission 3 doesn't look good these days, but it doesn't look cheap and certainly didn't back then. It plays with camera angles and visual effects, trying to be cinematic. Hell, it arguably looks better than the initial Armored Core games. I just have the suspicion that the engine can't handle more than four robots on screen at once, resorting to sprites on the map screen. That's the number of units you can field, and there seems to be a soft limit on the number of enemies of maybe ten? This feels confining after SRW, but fits the vibe. The combat is very gritty and personal, while the location based damage invites comparisons to BattleTech. I did find myself thinking in terms like "missileboat" and "brawler" with this play through. However two elements are grafted to the gameplay loop, and honestly don't sit well. Element 1 is the acquisition and use of battle skills is randomised and obtuse. I swear, there are entire skill families I’ve never seen because you'd need a FAQ to know what the prerequisites are, and it may not trigger anyway. These really needed to be controllable, but the execution instead feels like something borrowed from Final Fantasy 7, flashy but not functional. That's not a bad comparison to make, TBH, things are a bit more roleplay than tactical at times. You can't really build a strategy around them as you cannot trigger on the skills on demand, and occassionally your mecha just overperform, throwing me off my rhythm. The Internet functionality meanwhile feels ignorable a lot of the time, a way to handle worldbuilding without overloading the already lengthy cutscenes. There's stuff you can dig out here, like the best mecha in the game, but otherwise its a slow-slow-slow password hunt. Overall, there’s meat to the game, but perhaps not as much as I once felt.
As a little side note, it turns out that FM3 discourages power-levelling. I discovered that if you have a guide, you can get training maps way before you should. You'll probably die, but you can get a lot of experience that way. But if you do, you'll get marked down at the end of a mission. For a long time. Until you are where the game thinks you should be. Yay.
Coming back to graphics, that remake that just came out, or is about to come out as I write this. Let me embed some video here.
First, a longplay of the original.
Here’s the remake
There's been several remakes in this franchise recently, and while I've not tried them, something has always felt off. The remake of the first game annoyed me as it was 3D not pixel art, changing the entire vibe. That felt more like a budgetary limitation than an artistic choice, as its probably cheaper to remake the whole thing in Unity or sommat than redraw the pixels. FM3 was already 3D, so why am I reticent about this one? Well, it looks too shiny and quick. The PS1 version had very deliberate movements and a dirty look to the visuals. This was almost certainly the result of technical limitations, the console chugging away, but it was part of the game's character. That isn’t really present in this remake, everything looks too new. The remake is probably closer to the original intent, and objectively better looking, but I would have preferred the Ludicrous Edition treatment. Then there's the other changes, which seem to be AI generated for fucksake. I'm not in a hurry to play that remake.
Where am I going with this? Nowhere, really. Its a good, if old game. And it's easier to play now, at least. And I may have played it too much….
While I can't call my Astra Militarum complete, it is fully formed.
Probably its comfortably close to 2500 points, but I've honestly not
counted as I usually play 1k. With the Rogal Dorn completed, and the
codex being a known quantity, I’ve explored a majority of elements
I want to, so further additions will basically be for the fun of it.
However, mechanised units are something I've yet to really try, hence
todays subjects, the B.E.A.R by Watcorp Designs, a pair of 3d printed
Chimera proxies seemingly created entirely in-house.
Any
regular readers, hypothetical as you may be, may recall that this is
not the first 3d print IFV I have built, but sadly that company
stopped trading, so I had to go elsewhere. After much consideration I
decided to give Watcorp Designs another try. Hopefully they'd do
better with one of thier more established products as opposed to the
then-new artillery I ordered from them. As for why two not-chimeras?
Well, I was tempted by the Taurox, but I came to conclude that a pair
of more durable vehicles with more dakka on them suited my force
better. One chimera is a target, even at 1k, but two is a dilemma,
especially if you present other tanks at the same time. The weapon
fit meanwhile would be optimised for the Combined Arms detachment,
meaning two heavy bolters to exploit the Lethal Hits rule. A pair of
heavy flamers would be quite workable here, but I honestly prefer the
longer ranged option, and the multilaser is a bit meh. As to why I'd
not be using Mechanised Assault? Well, that's more of an elite
infantrymen jumping in and out kinda thing, and not the vibe I'm
going for. Combined Arms is more of an uncomplicated buff, and its
stratagems help paired units like an IFV and the infantry the vehicle
is fighting
with...
As
a kit, I'm happy to report that the Bear is generally in the "cheap
& cheerful" category, with no difficulties to report beyond
a learning curve and the postman playing silly buggers. There is
documentation in the website but its not specific to this set, so I
did make a few mistakes on the first one. The chassis here is made by
four segments you glue together and then swiftly secure with a fifth,
which I didn't quite get at first. Mind you, while the second hull
went together much better, there's still issues with parts fit,
especially with the troop compartment. You will need to do a
non-trivial amount of prepwork, sanding and filling. I suppose you
get what you pay for. A somewhat more pleasant surprise were the
weapon options which proved to be more complete than advertised, and
to an extent swappable. Magnets wouldn't hurt here, but relying on
friction or a dab of blue tack isn't obviously unwise, even after
painting. That’s the sort of thing that makes me more forgiving of
the issues mentioned; the product seems an earnest one. In line with
what was discussed above, I did kitbash the weapons, but it's not
strictly necessary. Parts used include resin Ramshackle Games guns,
and GW plastics, with small tokens to suggest portholes and thus the
lasgun array. The models were then painted via the spraycan
technique, with various weathering methods to conceal my
mistakes.
Overall, these models came out ok. As vehicle
the B.E.A.R feels a touch tall for a chimera proxy, although its
footprint is a touch smaller, so swings & roundabouts, I suppose.
Its not for beginners, you'll spend a lot of time finding out why
these are cheap, but it feels quite feature complete, with it's own
character. So, well done Watcorp, this one went a bit better.
So, 4 years ago now, I did up some rules for running Macross style games using the Mecha Hack system. More recently, I was bored, and revisited the idea. I’ve been involved in a fair few games since then, and decided to rebuild the thing from the ground up. The original rules can be found here, and are still valid if you want to use them, but the below are maybe better? And what the hell! I’ve spent some time on this, it might as well be a blog article. What follows is a collection of rules mechanics for use with The Mecha Hack, rather than a deep discussion of the Macross franchise, or role-playing within it. This is about making the birds work.
That said, here’s a video for the unfamiliar.
Key Concept: Three Modes for Three Kinds of Map Player mecha will have three forms with the ability to switch between these in combat. Each mode has its own speed and agility, which is ideal for its preferred environment. There's nothing stopping you from using different modes though, in order to gain some tactical edge. However doing so runs the risk of leaving the map by simply not keeping pace. One of the modes is a supersonic jet, FFS. Players that do so skip their next turn, and then re-enter the map in the appropriate form.
So, when/how do you transform? Well, at almost any time. Either in response to a treat, or as part of an action you can change form, and then roll your reactor die. The only limitation is that you must declared this immediately before a stat check, at the start of an action, or immediately after an action is resolved, not during an action or sequence of rolls. Please note, the above limitation does not apply outside of combat. This can be used to stop yourself from falling off the map. Note that overheating in that circumstance would be spectacularly bad, as all the usual effects would apply, as well as the map effects noted later.
Key Concept: The Three Modes Battloid Mode Wings folded, all limbs unfolded. Does all the standard mecha things. While in Battloid mode, you have a regenerating pool of 2AP, which refreshes at the start of each moment. These armour points must be spent before any other source.
Gerwalk Mode Wings unfolded, all limbs unfolded. You are an agile flyer, directing thrust from each foot, as well as backwards. Think a helicopter with arms. While in Gerwalk mode, you may reroll 20s on all Mobility tests.
Fighter Mode Wings unfolded, but all limbs folded. Think fighter jet, going extremely fast. In Fighter mode, you may ignore the first reactor roll resulting from movement each moment. (i.e. taking two Move actions). You also cannot be targeted by opportunity attacks.
Key Concept: The Three Kinds of Map Maps will be defined as one of three types, with the GM telling you which mode you start the battle in.
Terrestrial This is battle on the ground, mainly using your legs, and so uses standard Mecha Hack rules. Not much to say here, its standard robot combat, although switching to other modes can get you out of trouble quickly. Batttloid: Its preferred environment, and works as normal. Gerwalk: If you enter this mode, you must take at least one(1) move action per moment to avoid leaving the map. This move may be just to hover in place. Fighter: If you enter this mode, you must take one(1) standard move action, (if you have actions left,) and then you immediately leave the map. Close Air This is abstracted air v ground combat with an explicit ground level, and a horizontal orientation. Your mecha is flying relatively close to terra-firma, or possibly within a large structure like a spacecraft. Think either an old side-scrolling shooter like R-Type. Gerwalk: Its preferred environment, and works as normal. Battloid: If you enter this mode, you must take at least one(1) move action per moment to avoid leaving the map. This move may be just to hover in place. Fighter: If you enter this mode, you must take one(1) standard move action, (if you have actions left,) and then you immediately leave the map.
Supersonic This is also abstracted combat, but more so. You are belting along at MACH 2 or whatever, and so the map represents relative positioning, as all involved are going really effing fast. Fighter: Its preferred environment, and works as normal. Gerwalk: If you enter this mode, you must take at least one(1) move action per moment to avoid leaving the map. If you do not enter Fighter mode, you automatically fall off the map after taking two further actions. Battloid: If you enter this mode, you may not take move actions. If you do not enter Fighter mode, you automatically fall off the map after taking two further actions.
Key Concept: Hardpoints These replace modules and supplement for the hand system. Hardpoint equipment can be simple weapons, consumables like missiles, or sensor equipment. Prerequisites for their usage will be tied to chassis variant and form. The party would/will receive a list before each mission, detailing what they have access to and how many of each. If scrambled, everyone just gets a gunpod.
Key Concept: Usage Dice Rather than keep track of individual bullets and missiles with your hardpoint options, these rules will take a concept from The Black Hack: Usage Dice. This is a degrading dice mechanic, like the Reactor Die. You roll your die when the hardpoint is used, if you roll a 1 or 2, it becomes a smaller die, and if you roll 1 or 2 on a d4, the hardpoint is empty.
Chassis Templates KESTREL – A TYPE CHASSIS HIT DIE D6 DAMAGE DIE D6 REACTOR DIE D8 STARTING HP: 1d6 + 3. WEAPONS & ARMOUR PROFICIENCIES: Light weapons, light armour & shields. HARDPOINT SLOTS: 3. LEVELLING UP: Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Mobility and Power. STARTING EQUIPMENT: Comlink, Light Armour (3AP). DESIGN FEATURES THREE MODE TRANSFORMATION: You may swap between Battloid, Gerwalk and Fighter modes. Roll your reactor die if you do. HOLD-OUT DAGGER: You have an internally stored Light Melee Weapon, which is usable in Battloid mode only.
KESTREL – B TYPE CHASSIS HIT DIE D6 DAMAGE DIE D6 REACTOR DIE D8 STARTING HP: 1d6 + 3. WEAPONS & ARMOUR PROFICIENCIES: Light weapons, light armour & shields. HARDPOINT SLOTS: 3. LEVELLING UP: Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Mobility and System. STARTING EQUIPMENT: Comlink, Light Armour (3AP). DESIGN FEATURES THREE MODE TRANSFORMATION: You may swap between Battloid, Gerwalk and Fighter modes. Roll your reactor die if you do. MONITOR TURRET: You are armed with a Light Ranged Weapon that does not count towards your hand limit, with a D4 damage die.
KESTREL – VP TYPE CHASSIS HIT DIE D6 DAMAGE DIE D6 REACTOR DIE D8 STARTING HP: 1d6 + 3. WEAPONS & ARMOUR PROFICIENCIES: Light weapons, light armour & shields. HARDPOINT SLOTS: 4. LEVELLING UP: Roll your hit die to gain new hit points. Roll to see if attributes increase, rolling twice for Presence and System. STARTING EQUIPMENT: Comlink, Light Armour (3AP). DESIGN FEATURES THREE MODE TRANSFORMATION: You may swap between Battloid, Gerwalk and Fighter modes. Roll your reactor die if you do. TWO SEATER: Your mecha has two pilots, meaning you benefit from 2 pilot types, and have access to specialised hardpoints, although you have the same number of actions. This chassis is recommended for two players.
Basic Hardpoints Aircraft Axe (Folding): A Light Melee Weapon, useable in both Battloid and Gerwalk mode. Armour/Rocket Pack: Gain 4AP, but uses two(2) Hardpoint slots. Bomb Rack (Gravity): Usage Die 1d6. Test System to inflict 2d4 damage on one Near or Far GROUND/SURFACE target. Then roll your usage die. Not usable in Battloid mode. Drop Tank: You may ignore a failed reactor roll you suffer. Dumbfire Rocket Pod: Usage Die 1d4. As an attack action, test Power to inflict 3d4 damage on one Near or Far target. Then roll your usage die. Not usable in Fighter mode. Forearm Shield: A Shield (2AP), usable in Battloid mode only. Gunpod: A Light Ranged Weapon. If you wield two at once, treat this as a single weapon with +2 damage. Large Missile Pylon: Usage Die 1d4. As an attack action, test System to inflict 3d6 damage on one Far or Distant target. Then roll your usage die. Not usable in Battloid mode. Small Missile Pylon: Usage Die 1d6. As an attack action, test System to inflict 2d6 damage on one Near or Far target. Then roll your usage die. Not usable in Battloid mode.
VP TYPE Exclusive Hardpoints These modules offer functions where having another pair of eyes and hands is largely mandatory, and hence end up on the two-seater variant. Active Sensor Pod: As a use action, choose a near or far enemy and test System. If you succeed, receive its statblock. Data-Uplink Pod: As a use action, choose a near or far enemy and test System. If you succeed, the next attack against it has Advantage, and when defending against its next attack, the defending player has Advantage. Roll your reactor die. Passive RADOME: You have advantage on initiative tests, and can make System tests to detect foes at beyond visual range. Uses two(2) Hardpoint slots.
Designer’s Notes Here’s a few words on how these rules should work.
A Type: This is the generalist one, favouring Power and Mobility. Assuming your System score is decent, you can use missiles. If not, dual gunpods are probably your jam. Or that aircraft axe.
B Type: This one is more for using missiles, as it gains System faster. The Monitor Turret means you can put missiles in all of your slots, without being too worried about endurance issues too. That said, its probably worth mixing things up a bit, just to be on the safe side.
VP Type: Yes, I made this for a happy couple I game with. And indeed anyone whom wanted to pair up. I tried to make this more interesting to play, with a few support functions. Or you could just fill your slots with weapons, you do you. Note that you only have two attacks with this one, in the name of party balance.
Transforming: Each mode is intended to have a single, easy to grasp, unique selling point. This is as complicated as you make it. You can either stick with the advised mode, or you can hot-swap to gain an upper hand. Fly in as Fighter, change to Battloid for durability and arms, then Gerwalk for an agile getaway...
Usage Dice: The point here is to add a bit of push-your-luck randomness to events, rather than book keeping. Note that each hardpoint like this must be tracked with its own separate die, as trying to amalgamate or add them in some way does exponential thingies to the math.
If any of your folks use this homebrew, please let me know.
Images sourced from the Macross Mecha Manual, check it out, its a great resource.
OK, this one started out as a comparative article on the Leman Russ
tank, a unit with almost as many variants as there are space marine
chapters. Then I realised that it was gonna get a bit samey, and I
didn't have the experience to add much to the conversation. Then I
realised that I could probably focus in on one variant, perhaps with
more of a game design angle than a purely tactical one. So, the
Vanquisher. A unit that is popular due to a low cost, which results
from a quirk of 10th edition 40K, but its actually kinda
bad at what its supposed to be doing.
A Leman Russ
Vanquisher, Stygies VIII pattern, sourced from Lexicanum
Let’s start
with a few basics. A Leman Russ is a decently mobile, heavily armed
brick of a vehicle fielded by the Astra Militarum, A.K.A Imperial Guard. They lack an invulnerable save, although all
their other defences are quite formidable. The 2+ save and W13 are
key breakpoints, meaning common anti-tank tools will not totally bypass its
armour, and require repeated good hits to destroy. Railgun
equivalents, massed meltas, and properly brutal melee combatants can
and will bring them down. But most things have to try, laying on
sustained effort and mortal wound effects. It is routine for such a
tank to stoically tolerate melee attacks and just keep blasting,
although some variants obviously do better with that, for a reason I'm getting to. While differing
in their turret armament and unique rule, each russ has access to a
common selection of sponson and secondary weapons. Most of the time
this results in a lascannon, HK missile, heavy stubber, and either two multimeltas or
two plasma cannons, the two most destructive sponson options. This
keys into a wider issue, as the choice between Blast weapons and
non-Blast weapons has a substantial influence on how a russ is used.
The latter makes a tank more melee tolerant and a natural
brawler, because it can fire pointblank, while the former is better at ranged combat and hordes.
Finally, through the order system you can make any if these tanks
briefly faster, more accurate, and better at holding objectives. The
Vanquisher is the anti-tank variant of the Leman Russ, historically
described as being very rare in fiction and hard to make. As a tank
hunter its defining feature is a very powerful anti-tank
gun with range of 72 inches, the heavy rule, AP-4, and a damage of 6 + d6,
supported by re-rolls to wound against its preferred targets. It can cover an entire board with that range and worry any singular hard target within it.
Otherwise, a Vanquisher functions much as a stock russ does, although
as it not feature a blast weapon in the turret, its a brawler, happy
to fight close even with its massive effective range. As of time of writing,
the Vanquisher is cheapest variant at 145 points, 5 points less than
the unpopular Punisher, and 40 less than the vanilla russ which
famously isn’t rare. How did that happen? One attack.
One of the tanks I proxy as Leman Russes...
This
is an unintended implication
of 10th edition design conventions. Its a quirk that makes the
Vanquisher mediocre at its
stated job, so therefore cheap, and then exploited by the tournament
scene. Its main gun is a railgun equivalent which is massively
unpleasant
against its intended target of vehicles, however it
is only one shot a time, and as you
might gather from my comments about durability above, GW
generally doesn't let you one shot vehicles. You have to wear them down usually, or get a couple of good hits in. So you
have to roll to hit, roll to wound, and then your foe gets a save,
which is possibly
invulnerable because a lot
of big
things have one, (if not, then cover, or some other damage resistance,) and then
there’s the damage roll. The
vanquisher battlecannon is undeniably effective when it connects, but its far from reliable due to that low volume of fire, and with
the damage roll you’ll still need at least two good hits to drop the kind of target this weapon demands. This includes other russes, by the way.I
repeat: one attack at a time. That can make
the weapon feel bad for both sides, as the user spends multiple turns
trying to stop rolling ones despite whatever buffs it has from other units to make it more accurate, or the foe suddenly finds a smoking crater
where their tank used to be, with little in-between. Few things disappoint or annoy like a powerful weapon that feels like a coin flip, you know? So the Vanquisher is cheap, as
cheap as a russ can be, but it paradoxically has a weapon on it that
traumatises people when it actually works. But…
A single shot anti-tank gun simply isn't consistent enough for
that task by itself, especially with guard marksmanship, you need more shots to even things out, and even at this price the Vanquisher isn't easily spammed. So you
look at the other weapons on the hull, and truthfully the Vanquisher
tank is no better with those than most russes, and ranks behind a couple. If you
start thinking about other variants? Well, their turret guns are obviously
much less destructive, but all of them have dramatically higher rates
of fire so they will do *something* every turn. As an example, the Demolisher is obviously much shorter ranged, and its
own issues with inconsistency, but that's looking at twice the rate
of fire at worst, hits like a lascannon, and is very happy in a
melee. The vanilla Russ isn't an anti-tank platform, its a
generalist, but having a bunch of rerolls and the Combined Arms detachment can go a
long way. Either is better a lot of the time, while not being bad at anti-tank if properly armed, and that's true for basically all of the variants.
The only thing the Vanquisher does well
at present is be a cheap Leman Russ. And that's ok, Leman Russes are
good. You can get a lot from a mobile brick with two multimeltas and a lascannon on
it. But the tankhunter probably shouldn't be the cheap disposable
one, that’s a specialised role. This isn’t a Catachan situation,
where something looks bad until you understand it. The Vanquisher is
popular mainly via through min-maxing, people treating the main gun
as a side bonus. To be blunt, that’s a failure of game design. I
wouldn't say no to having them in my force, and I’ve fielded them
before, but I’m honestly surprised that these went unchanged in the
10th ed Astra Militarum codex AND the June Dataslate.
Went it comes to transforming mecha, Gundam often feels a bit under-commited to the idea. Its something that's been there from day one with the Core Fighter concept, but entire series omit the feature, or otherwise relegate it to a gimmick. This often manifests in the mecha design itself, such machines usually having a trio of overlapping flaws. Often they don't turn into anything recognisable. Often the end result looks more like robot yoga. And when it doesn't? The transformation is not really achievable at the preferred 1/144 scale without some form of disassembly or cheating. The Asshimar is a rare exception to all that, both conceptually, and as a model kit.
Yes, the Asshimar is another Titans machine, and thus the usual comments about suspiciously zeonic designs and expensive prototypes apply, but I have to admit that they were onto something here. As a series, Zeta Gundam features a significant number of transformable suits, some more credible than others, and the yellow cyclops here does approach verisimilitude. Its not got any gimmickry beyond the transformation, and it is modestly-but-effectively armed with a big beam rifle. The lack of a melee weapon is unusual, but we see it punching things a lot, which is cool. It's bulky and top heavy due to its other form, and has Macross style thruster feet. The silhouette is rather different from the VF-1, and there's no obvious aircraft bits, but the comparison is unavoidable. But if you're gonna copy, copy from the best. Its a design I’m predisposed to like, and I did have the 1/200 scale HCM Pro version for a time. Of course, Ive been discussing this model in total seriousness so far, and not mentioned what it turns into. Purposefully. It's called a Mobile Armour, but we all know what it is. Its a bloody UFO. it's not an especially aerodynamic example of a UFO, and nor does it have obvious control surfaces, but I want to restate how snake belly low the bar is for these things. These are made for space combat usually, or just utterly disregard aerodynamics. The Asshimar at least adds curves and compresses it's form while appealing to my sense of whimsy.
As a kit from 2005, excuse me for a moment while I turn to dust, this HG model is part of the merchandising push for the Zeta Gundam compilation movies, and ends up feeling curiously old and modern at the same time. Its a polycap build, with a modest sticker sheet labelled with Japanese characters rather than numbers. There is a flight stand present, a huge boon for something that flies, although its a proprietary example that you literally screw together. Said stand also features dedicated storage for loose accessories, a quite luxurious touch in this context. The transformation is almost perfectly executed, with lots of tabs to secure things, although you may wish to pop an arm off for convenience. The monoeye is a foil sticker, but its placed behind a transparent panel which makes for a nice effect. Colour separation/accuracy is pretty good too, although this is one of those designs that has multi-coloured thrusters. Posability and articulation is where we see a notable but understandable weakness though. While decent-if-unexceptional in most areas, the transformation prevents waist rotation, and that’s a bit of a shame, but its not immediately clear how to better in a HG. I mean, when they made the closely-related Anksha in 2012 by retooling this kit, they fixed that, but it became a partsformer in the process. A shame, as the Anskha has more going on, but I digress. Otherwise? Its more or less on point for 2005 era kit, although the closed fists required glue for some reason.
I ended up doing another basic weathering job on this one, opting to paint in thruster details by hand. There I opted for a dark grey and metal combo as I strongly feel gundam mecha designers make life too difficult for themselves and everyone else by using more colour than that on a glorified nozzle. The kit takes paint pretty well actually, I had a violet that was ideal, and the dark grey came in handy elsewhere. I did manage to mess up one of the stickers though, but see if you can see where it should be. After that, a drybrush/wash weathering followed.
All in all? A good kit that turned out OK. And it can also do this.
Over the past, uh, going-on-a-year, I keep pushing this back, I have observed two of my friends discover Super Robot Wars 30. Both are Transformers fans who've participated in my Mecha Hack campaigns, and are by no means strangers to giant robot stompy time, but seeing them embrace the sheer lunacy of the game warms my heart. This inevitably led to me considering playing the game again, but then a generous chrimbo gift got me looking at older games in the franchise with fan translations. This led me towards Super Robot Wars J, which I actually have the original cartridge for, and have historically sunk a lot of time into, but never completed. What was initially a test of new hardware ended up as a fresh attempt to finish it.
Super Robot Wars J is a tactical RPG game for the Gameboy Advance, which on reflection is a very natural place for such a thing. The first game in the series was on the original Gameboy, and the series often scratches the same itch as Pokemon or Advance Wars. Furthermore, the game hits an optimal balance between technical limitations, player expectations, and technical maturity. As this is for a handheld circa 2005, we are talking pixel art and chiptunes, but that’s normal for the platform, and the game is actually very good at those things. Having dabbled in various franchise instalments on various formats, J feels both nostalgic and remarkably well-preserved. True, you don't necessarily want to play this on a HD TV, but if you're playing this on something approximating a handheld, its very at home, and holding up very well in comparison to SRW30. And we're not just talking presentation here, there's a maturity to the gameplay and quality of life features. Basically, if you want a strategy game with branded characters and stock animations, and language is a non-issue, its hard to think of an objective reason to be unhappy here. Although maybe the way certain female characters undulate is one. There is a degree of anime cringe involving the player characters created for the game...
The subjective reasons, of course, involve the character roster. Super Robot Wars games live and die by the various mecha animes they licence, with some becoming so important to the gameplay omitting them is like messing with the Street Fighter cast. J notably does not feature Getter Robo, or the main Gundam continuity. Getter does not seem to have a direct replacement, but Gundam SEED appears in it's parent's place. I don't like SEED, I know a lot of folks do love it, but I find Kira Yamato insufferable and its mecha uninspired. There is a rather sharp contrast between between the SEED's bleak narrative and what else is here. I'm sorry Kira, I know you're a reluctant pilot dealt a bad hand, forced to fight against your people. But you know what? We have a few lads on the same venn diagram already, and all of them are dealing with it better than you are.Tekkaman Blade over there is gonna have to kill actual family members before the end of his plotline, sorry, spoilers, and he’s more pleasant company. You aren't alone, stop being a martyr. Nobody wants you to be fucking Chuck Rambo or anything, but you are bringing me down. I suppose its possible that later missions "fix" this, but I honestly skip out on the SEED cast at the earliest opportunity, taking advantage of how the game offers branching paths.
The other side of that are characters that I got the game for, a group of weirdos perfectly suited to the self-aware lunacy of Super Robot Wars. Yes, Martian Successor Nadesico. It's a documented favourite of mine and for most practical purposes this is the game that anime deserved but never got and/or translated. (Yes, I am aware of the Saturn game, but that's a whole other story.) The sense of fun Nadesico had vibes so well with Super Robot Wars, and as Nadesico wasn't always a comedy, there's little tonal mismatch with most of what's here. Its a very interesting bunch mechanically too. The titular Nadesico has an apocalyptic main gun, but one that’s tricky to use, while each Aestivalis pilot has effectively has four robots in one, later five, powered wirelessly. Those benefit from teamwork or formation mechanics too, with one of my favourite things to being getting the trio of Nadesico's female pilots to break face with coordinated attacks. You'll find that in other places too though, like the cast of Full Metal Panic whom have their own silliness, or the slightly more dour survivors from SPT Layzner. Squad tactics are thing here, with even the super robots getting similar interactions as the game goes on. There's much to get your teeth into. Other highlights include the aforementioned Tekkaman Blade, a dark take on the Henshin Heroes genre, a series first, and the somewhat out of place G Gundam cast. Blade makes quite an entrance, and G Gundam is a nice change of pace, and I find myself liking these characters more here than in their source material. Meanwhile, the Brain Powered characters come in late, and are fine, but don’t quite grab me. Generally a good cast even with SEED being like a pickled onion in a fruit salad.
So, if I clearly like this game why have I not completed it? Even now? Not that I complete many games, but this is the sort of thing I'd like to complete. Well, its a somewhat long-winded game that likes to spend a lot on dialogue, and repeatedly lengthen a battle. There's an awful lot of text dialogue before giant robot stompy time actually commences, and then there’s another plot twist which puts you on the back foot, muttering something along the lines of “Oh, now these dickheads as well.”. Its not a game that lets you settle into a routine easily, your roster is often in flux, and after mission 10 or so I was noticing each one was taking a good 90 minutes to complete. Its more of a time and attention investment than a handheld game should be, and I wish the mission design demonstrated more brevity with respects to character chatter, and restraint with respects to sudden enemy reinforcements. Its not bad in those areas, but I do find the game is needlessly dragging things out at times. This would be an area where SRW30 does better; that game has a much looser narrative granting you more freedom in when and what missions you take on. I also note the occasional imperfection in the fan translation, which is churlish to complain about I know, but a flaw is a flaw. One issue I wish to briefly highlight here is the questionable usage of the term transgender in reference to one Baron Ashura, a recurring antagonist from the Mazinger Z franchise. While I acknowledge that the baron is perhaps not the simplest character to categorise, that's not the term most applicable.
Overall? J is a fine example of the Super Robot Wars series, that does a lot of things well. Functionally its very complete, and the game makes good use of the hardware it was made for. On the downside? You're in for a marathon, not a sprint. And there is Super Robot Wars Y coming out soon. I may just play that instead TBH, this got to be a slog.
Eh. Its been a while since I've done one of these. This post is a sequel of sorts to one of my earliest gunpla articles, featuring the Hizack. At the time, I pointed out how that machine made no sense in context of Titans faction, and the Barzam is much the same. I find it to be kinda fascinating. Appearing late in Zeta Gundam, its visual design screams villain, as a tall monoeye machine with unusual proportions. OK, fine, the Titans were very much mask off by that point, long-long before, but I've often felt the Titans-made mobile suits were too zeonic in appearance, even if our subject goes in new directions. While supposedly derived from the Gundam Mrk-II, the Barzam has almost no family resemblance, and bar a few details it might as well be a completely new machine. This is noteworthy as while the GM family is a lot more complex than it looks, those are usually just a headswap away from being a Gundam. Which has actually happened more than a few times, in either direction. Ancillary media has dedicated much time to explaining or fixing the Barzam, usually making it more like the Mrk-II, and also throwing in ties to other Titans mobile suits. The instructions point out you can switch backpacks with that model incidentally. That's a lot of retcons, ink and plastic spent on what amounts to a late-war grunt. While the Barzam is usually regarded as a capable machine, it didn't get fielded soon enough to really matter. Because if the Titans liked anything more than warcrimes, it was spending obscene amounts of money and time on prototypes. Like I said, too zeonic.
As a 2017 kit, the Barzam is quite modern and nicely designed, if still having the occasional polycap in there. Its exposed internal frame and general weirdness make for an interesting build. Colour separation is good, you could add red to the thrusters but life's too short, and the sticker sheet is very inoffensive. Its used for sensors and the occasional red detail, often in recessed areas, so that’s okay. I mean, they used three different plastic colours for the codpiece, for heaven's sake. An effort was made, but they did hollow out the trim on the buttplate. Its also somewhat big. Not super-big or anything, but even if we ignore the frill, its on the tall/wide side for a High Grade.
One thing that confused me at first was the gun. I'd assumed that the gun would sit flush with the arm, possibly having a connector piece, but no, it just floats there, held by a long handle. The shoulder connection is nice, but the whole affair feels somehow wrong in a way that I can't quite put into words...
Once I had this together, I went in to paint a few details, before weathering it, and applying the sensor stickers. I don't think the weathering comes across well in the photos, its rather subtle. It turned out OK though.
All-in-all, this is a pretty decent gunpla with an odd look. That odd look is both a strength and a weakness, but if you want a weird grunt, I doubt the Barzam will disappoint.
