Mobile Frame Zero Tournament at Denver Comic Con

Things are starting to fall into place for the first official Mobile Frame Zero Tournament, which will be held at the Denver Comic Con this upcoming summer (June 13-15). We've already secured a couple of sponsors for the tourney (which includes some cool prizes to give away as well), and I've been working with Josh to put together a set of rules for the tournament as well. As of right now, the tournament rules are as follows:

• All participants must register their company (maximum of 8 frames) prior to the beginning of the event.
• The frames in your company may not be reconfigured once registered (with SSRs being the only exception).
• Before each match, each participant must choose a number of frames from their company to field. Once these frames are chosen, they cannot be changed for that match (except in the case of tied starting scores).
• Terrain will be set up by tournament officials.
• First and second round matches will be three player skirmishes, with the winner advancing. In the case of a tie, both players will advance to the next round. If there are ties, second and final round matches may consist of four players.
• The final round will be a three player battle, with the winner taking first place and the remaining players taking second and third relative to their score.

That should give you a good idea of what we will be working with for the tourney (so those of you who like to get a good head start on things can get cracking on their companies now), but things may change slightly as we come closer to the event. Terrain and tables will be set up prior to the match starting so the only thing participants will need to bring will be frames, stations, dice, and rulers. Speaking of tables, Kreator Hobbies has kindly offered to supply gaming tables for the tournament. If you were out at Rocky Mountain Con a few weeks back, you got the chance to see one of their prototypes up close and personal. If not, You can take a look at their Kickstarter (which hasn't started quite yet) to get a good idea of what they will be putting together. Regardless of your game of choice, these tables are going to be absolutely sweet as they are completely modular and will be much more affordable than most dedicated gaming tables out there.

Not only has Kreator offered to supply these tables for the tournament, but they will be giving out a Gaming Table (type yet to be decided) to the grand prize winner! Also, all participants who reach the championship table will receive a custom piece of artwork of a frame of their choice from RyujinDX, who has done a number of pieces of artwork for the MFZ rulebook! Other prizes and goodies are still in the works, but chances are there will be something fun for everyone that plays in the tourney as well!

I'm getting really excited for this event, and I hope you are too! 

Builds and Tactics

ST-07SLCb Assault Chub

After playing numerous games of MFZ at the Denver Comiccon last weekend, I got a first hand look at how certain builds and tactics play out on the table.

The three companies I brought to the Con were as follows

Rattler Division (Starting Initiative: 24)
Fat Snake Grunts x2 (2d6Rd, 2d6Rh, 1d6B, 1d6G, 1xSSR)
Fat Snake Snipers x2 (2d6+d8Ra, 1d6B, 1d6G)
Fat Snake Scout x1 (2d6Rh, 1d6B, 2d6Y, 1d8G)
Fat Snake Knight x1 (2d6+d8Rh, 2d6B, 1d8G)

Pit Vipers (Starting Initiative: 28)
Iguana Grunts x2 (2d6+d8Rd, 1d6B, 1d6G)
Iguana Longbow x1 (2d6Ra, 2d6Rd, 2d6Y)
Heavy Assault Chub x1 (2d6+d8Rd, 2d6B)
Fat Snake Blitzer x1 (2d6+d8Rh, 2d6Y, 1d8G, 2xSSR)

31st OMU (Starting Initiative: 49)
Salvaged Chubs x2 (2d6Rd, 2d6Rh, 1d6B, 1d6Y)
Meerkat Grunts x2 (2d6Rd, 1d6G, 1d6Y, 1xSSR)
Sentinel x1 (2d6B, 2d6Y, 1d8G)

Out of all the games played, the OMU won all but 4 with the Pit Vipers winning 3 and the Rattlers winning only 1. Part of this I attribute to the fact that nearly everyone who played a game at the table had never played MFZ before and both the vipers and rattlers require certain tactics and playstyles to win while the OMU just has to not lose anything. The games where the Vipers and Rattlers won were because they effectively used coordinated and deadly attacks, making good use of spots and focused fire.

At first glace, the lack of yellow dice on the Rattlers seems like a huge hindrance, in practice it isn't as debilitating. The amount of firepower they bring to the table tends to eat through cover quickly and paired with increased mobility (every frame has a green die) they are able to maneuver around cover to line up a good shot, which means they are often able to use their white dice to lay down spots for their allies. The snipers hung back and layed down some hurt across the table. There was only one game where they ever got touched (granted that one instance it got one shotted by a salvaged chub's hatchet with 11 damage dice) and they were rarely anywhere near close enough to the thick of things to be a serious target.

The Vipers had the advantage of versatility. They had solid firepower all around (only one frame didn't have a d8 for attack) as well as two frames with double yellows. This meant they had some heavy attacks that could be very effective if focused correctly. The Iguana Grunts were awesome assault frames, swooping in quickly and dishing out the hurt while the Longbow peppered them from afar, assisting with spots wherever needed. The Blitzer hung back by the stations and used it's SSRs to pepper any incoming frames before they got in range of his huge melee damage, all the while supporting the reast of his team with his yellows.

What did I (and should you) take from this?

• One defense system can make a huge difference in how long your frame stays on the table and contributing to the fight. It may not seem like a sound investment on paper, but trust me, it is.
• Yellow dice are useful, but not always necessary. If you have the firepower to chew through cover or the mobility to get around it, your white dice will do just fine.
• Make sure you activate your frames with yellow dice before your last frame. Those spots wont do any good if you don't have anyone left to use them.
• Be aggressive and coordinated. This doesn't mean be reckless, the team who attacks relentlessly and effectively will almost always win.

Pit Viper Assault Chubs shake down an OMU soldier.

After Con Report

The first Denver Comic Con was a HUGE success. As a first year con, it pulled in over 20,000 con goers (not including kids under 10, and there were a bunch of those there too) over the weekend, which is over double the projected attendance. Every exhibitor, celebrity guest, and professional that attended was gushing over how well the event was run, and how much fun it was and that they would love to come back next year. On top of that, already on the guest list for next year's con is Stan Lee and Mr. Wheaton (he had to cancel this year due to a huge movie gig that he can't currently discuss due to NDAs). Based off of people's reactions this year I wouldn't be surprised if the con is twice as big next year. But enough about the con itself, and on to MFZ!

I was set up in the gaming area in the Hyatt across the street from the convention center all weekend. I had a sweet spot right next to the entrance of the gaming area which meant everyone that came in saw the table. I was actually really surprised how many people that stopped by had asked "Hey, is this Mobile Frame Zero?" Nearly every person that walked by was floored by the concept, and every person that sat down and learned how to play was impressed and had tons of fun. I even had a handful of people come back the next day for another game!

I had an absolute blast showing people how to play and loving how quickly they grasped the rules. I had a group of three guys sit down on Saturday night (two of them came back for a rematch the next morning, pictured above) and I walked them through the first half of turn 1. After that, they finished the whole game by themselves! They only had to ask a couple of random situational questions as they came up. I definitely want to set something up for next year. Maybe Josh and or Vincent would be able to swing by to the second year of the best new con in the country? (nudge)

You can find lots of pictures of all the MFZ that went down on my flickr stream or Ben Kim's (Thanks for swinging by each day and taking lots of pictures Ben!).

The Con Beigns!

Denver Comic Con starts today! Keep an eye on my Twitter and Flickr Stream for pictures from the chaos that will ensue all weekend long! And if you're in the Denver area come on down!

Down Periscope

In the next week and a half or so I'm going to be incredibly busy. I'm moving into a new house, getting things finalized for Denver Comic Con, and working 10+ hour shifts for the next nine days. So don't expect to see much of me in that time period. However, immediately after the nine day stretch I'll be running MFZ demos over at the Con, so expect to see plenty of stuff that weekend! I put up a poll to ask what you want to see out of my coverage of the con, so please let me know! In the mean time I'll leave you with the progress so far on the newest frame I've been working on, the Kimodo.