Man & Machine: The stats & more about Mobs

STATS
I am trying to keep the engine fairly simle, but I still want heros to be heroic and be individual. 

Currently the stats I am using are:

Actions: Number of actions a model gets.  As orders are given, models with a lot of actions will get moves at the end of an order phase while other models are unable to respond.
Training: Indicates target number needed for successful roll on a d6.  2+,3+,4+ and 5+ are typical and range from rabble to elite.  Most heroic models will probably be 2+ or 3+.
Prowess: How good is the model in melee.  Indicates number the base number of dice the model gets in hand to hand combat.
Accuracy: How accurate are they with a gun? Indicates the number of base dice used in ranged combat
Agility: How quick and agile are they? Indicates number of dice used when making opposed ranged combat rolls
Life: How much damage can the model take before they are killed
Skill: How many dice does a model get to attempt skill tests
Armor: How many armor dice do they get.  This stat is downgraded as a model takes damage and is denoted as 3/1.  As a model takes damage their armor will downgrade to their minimum roll.  Once at the minimum roll the damage goes to the life of the model. 
Heroism: A spendable stat.  Once a point is spent it is gone for an encouter.  These are used to simulate the luck of a hero on the field.  Spending a point will allow a model to change a singel die pool to all successes or all failures.  They can be spent at any time.  And the opponent may then spend one of their points to counteract the spent point if they choose.  This makes the dice stay as they were.

Machines have similar stats, but have no Heroism stat and no skills.  But they do have one specialized stat:  Mobility: Wheeled, tracked, Walker, Hover and Flight.  These will allow machines to traverse the battlefield quicker

Mobs are similar to the regular stat profile but have no Heroism, a training cap of 4+, no skills and armor that dosen't downgrade(for simplictity) but will end up being expensive.

MOBS
I did a little testing with mobs last night too.  Just a few combat phases with a hero vs a mob of 5.  I will have a max number of dice per roll, as a large mob could roll a huge number of dice.  We can assume there is a maximum effective number of a group, over that they get in each other's way.

Combat stats like accuracy will start with the model's base stat and add one more die per member of the mob.

I may do hand to hand the same way, but I am not sure it will be necessary simply do to the self limiting number of models that can engage in combat.

For shooting at mobs, heros will have the ability to fire at a single member, or spread their fire over a number of models.  The mobs agility in these situations will be their base agility stat +1 die per each additional model.  ie A hero fires at a mob of security officers that have an agility of 3 and a training of 4+.  The hero has an accuracy of 4 and a training of 3+.  The hero decides to fire at 3 of the mob.  The hero rolls a base roll of 4.  The mob gets a base of 3 dice + 2 more dice for the additional targets and rolls a base of 5 dice. 

If the hero scores 2 successes in the above scenario then two of the models take 1 damage, that may or may not be stopped by armor.

Man & Machine: Mobs

Up until now the rules had two basic model classifications:  MAN & MACINE.

MAN was used to represent the heros on the field.  MACHINE was used to represent either small vehicles or non sentinet robotic units.

As the game has materialized in my mind and I have replayed various scenese from movies I decided I was missing something still.

If you wanted to play an assault against a shield generator, with the basic idea I had it could only ever be a unit of elites vs a unit of elites.  You could never have a group of troopers from an evil empire trying to hold out against a group of rebelious heros.  You couldn't even have a single guy controlling a bunch of troopers defending an airlock.

I came to the conclusion that often the heros are supported by lessers: Minions or helpful aliens.

And so I am going to add a third group of models that can be used.

The Mob will basically be single card for whole unit of models with 1 life and identical weapons and armor.  Basic coherence, simpler order structure, affected by the mental stat of a hero, or presence of a hero.

Yet more Man & Machine

I have been wondering about cover artwork for this project.  I am not sold on doing it myself, i'm not that much of an artist, but have been drawing a fair bit lately so I thought what the heck.

Some variation of this will probably make the Alpha rules at least.  I guess we will see what else I can come up with.

Man & Machine: Turn Sequence

Plotted out the turn sequence for Man & Machine.

I had thought to use a graphic showing a few models and their movement, but decided a flowchart was a simpler and more complete way to show what I was going for, has one small error, which has been fixed, but I haven't had a chance to upload it yet.  This still gives an idea for how I view the game turn working.

The rules are now formatted up to Turn Sequence.  I hope to have a basic alpha rule set for initial play testing in a couple of weeks.

Man & Machine: Example Illustrations

As I close in on having a basic first concept mostly put down on paper, I am turning to layout.  I came across this blog today which was fairly helpful in moving forward with what I want to do design and layout wise. http://the-dark-templar.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/how-to-design-rulebook-introduction.html.  I set up a basic layout in Scribus this evening and toyed with setting up pages.  I think it should look pretty cool.

One of the things I want to have is some simple, clear examples of the mechanics.

I spent part of tonight drawing a few top down views of soldiers and equipment and then set about digitizing them into the computer so I could use them as samples.

Two miniatures with a set of dice showing success and failure results.

Using the above graphics I can put together fairly simple, and I hope easy to understand examples of game mechanics.

Example showing Blue shooting at Red.  Highlights the relevant stats and any modifies, in this case +1 from the bushes.

Man & Machine: Turn Activation

One of the major hurdles I was trying to overcome was an activation system that was fairly simple, but involved both players at all time.

I have gone with a system that will allow players to alternately use models.

• Player 1 uses a model
• Player 2 uses a model
• Player 3 uses a model
• etc

The concept is that each player must plan their strategy and assign orders to each model.  Then once they are assigned the models are used one after the other.

My current system has 8 orders, such as move, shoot, use a skill etc, and are arranged around an octagon.  Players would place a paperclip on the order they want and place it face down next to the model or it's card.

Order wheel.   One per model.

One of the things I am trying to do with this system is to create a fairly cool looking game without spending loads of money on art, or having to do it all myself.  I have sourced some from RPGnow.com and of course I am making large use of http://game-icons.net/

Man & Machine

Rules Rules Rules

So many rules.

I am sure we could all use another set.

I have been considering a skirmish ruleset for sometime.  I had originally envisioned it as a fantasy type game, but then I thought, why not Sci-Fi?

There are certain aspects and mechanics that I really like in a simple fast skirmish game.

I am tentatively thinking of it being infantry and power armor based, hence Man and Machine as a working title.

1) No math

• This involves rolling a pool of attack, defense, skill dice aiming to hit a particular target.  Various games use this idea: Tomorrow's War, X-wing Miniatures, Conan etc
• Each die can be a success or a failure (Or possibly critical success or critical failure)

2) No writing

• Generally apart from possibly writing down and designing your forces life and effects are all tracked via chits and counters.  ie a player gets armor chits or life chits that are used to track each models status

3) Simple rules

• Simple set of rules to govern combat and basic movement.
• Simple skills that add depth, such as Technical, Medic etc.

4) Activation....

• I feel this aspect can really make a game interesting and I am not entirely sure how I want this to work yet.

I have some ideas rattling around as well as some notes on some post-its.  I will probably post some general ideas on the mechanics as I develop it here.