Stickers, Landmarks, and Fancy Frames

Today, Joshua unveiled the decals that will be included with a number of backer levels and as you can see below, they look sweet.

He also started taking suggestions for additional decals to include. Lots of great suggestions, including battle damage and faction icons But if you want to see something, make sure your voice is heard over there.

But the bigger news at hand, is that the project has reached $50,000. What does that mean? It means that Joshua is going to also write up and release MFZ roleplaying game rules. I love that Josh and the gang are continuing to pull more awesomeness out of their bag of tricks as they continue to exceed their new goals. 

In other Kickstarter related news, one of the $400 level backers backed out yesterday, which means there is a Joshua AC Newman custom company still up for grabs. After seeing some of the ideas that have been tossed around for these custom groups, I highly suggest doing it if you're able to afford it. UPDATE: that backer reward has now been claimed.

Speaking of custom builds, I recently pulled together a prototype of something I plan on using.

A nice little scout to cruise through the badlands with don't you think?

Custom Job

The first poll has ended! It looks like most of you will be creating your own thing, and recruits joining up with the Free Colonies are at record numbers as well! I've got a new poll up today, and I want to know what types of things you'd like to see more of on this blog. Please use the comments section here to let me know if there are other types of posts you'd like to see! Happy gaming/building, keep those muscle cylinders pumping!

Building on a Budget

There are no doubt plenty of people who would love to play Mobile Frame Zero but are unwilling or unable to shell out the money for the parts to build chubs or other great looking frames. Luckily for them Micah Bauer has come up with an ingenious solution, and it's called Component Six (or C6).

The premise is that each of these mechs can be built with only six different pieces, all of which are extremely common to anyone who has some legos laying around. As of right now he has three mechs put together, and here they are:




I hope that he keeps the designs coming, because this is a huge draw for people that are building on a budget.

The Trident: Resisting the Reach of the Union

A Trident Resistance Hit Squad

"This is our home and we've had enough of you Union scum pillaging through it!" -Leon Decker, Trident Resistance Leader

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When the colonists on Quall rioted against the Union, it sent ripples through the rest of the Union colonies across the galaxy. It was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back and let to mass aggression against the Solar Union and UMFL. Resistance cells began popping up across the colonies, much to Union military superior's dismay, and they showed no signs of giving up or giving in.

Shortly before the riots on Quall, the colony on Orion 6 was founded. Orion 6 is a world rich in valuable ores, so rich in fact, that the resources on the sixth planet could build an entire fleet of ships with full brigades of mobile frames held within. This is why the Union founded the colony on desert planet, and began strip mining it. Cities began springing up on the planet, with spaceports being the main hub for each region on the planet. The ore was flowing back to the Union in droves and everyone was happy, until Quall...

News of the riots reached the Orion system and the colonists knew what would be next. Martial law, oppression, the constant eye of "big brother" over their shoulder, all from a government that was ripping out the resources that their land had, and taking them without any compensation. This, they wouldn't stand for.

Leon Decker, a strip miner from the southern hemisphere, organized a group of resistance fighters from among the miners and port workers around him. They took their labor frames and with the element of surprise, managed to wipe out the group of UMFL soldiers who were in charge of guarding the mine. The attack plan involved three strike teams all hitting at once, which Leon called a Trident attack. Word quickly spread across the barren planet of Leon's "Trident" and it didn't take long for the small group to gain near full support from the colonists. Mechanics and engineers used a combination of labor frames and salvaged or stolen Union parts to create forces more suited for fighting a war. Before long, the Trident had become a force that numbered in the hundreds and from them, the Orion Militia was formed. Leon and his close companions officially remained independent from the militia, however they are given weight in the ranks as if they were top brass.

As the years rolled by, the fighting continued. The Union sent more UMFL representatives to recruit and establish firebases on the planet's surface. They even called in the Serpent Legion, the most feared and elite division of the UMFL, to eliminate the Free Colony resistance on Orion 6. It looks like the Trident has their work cut out for them...

Weekly Rundown 4/2/12

Every week I'll be giving a quick rundown of some of the MFZ related items of interest from the past week.

- Roger over at the Mobile Frame Hanger forums put together a wonderful review of one of the $5 lego creator sets that has some pretty good use as either a budget option for building an army or just a quick way to get some useful parts.

- The Mobile Frame Garage has a nice list of interviews with Joshua AC Newman about MFZ. You should go listen!

- The Wiki is growing! Don't hesitate to head over and contribute!

- New Poll will be up tomorrow! Long live the Free Colonies!

And with that, I leave you to enjoy the rest of your weekend with a nice little mini version of Metal Gear Rex by Mark D. Stroyer.

Weapons of the Resistance

A little frame design to get you through the weekend:

When members of the Trident want to rain death from afar, they get behind the muscle cylinders of one of these bad boys. Many a chub have fallen to it's long range cannons and it's heavy armor plating have made it a very difficult asset to remove from the situation.

Then when you want to get up close a personal, you hop in one of these:


Both of these guys are based off of Squieu's awesome mini-frame.

New Dinner Guests

Over the past few days there have been a number of other blogs that have popped up dedicated to MFZ in one way or another. I've added them to the links section to the right but I figured I would briefly go over them here.

No B.S. Just A.B.S.
Zeekhotep's Mechaton/MFZ blog. He's been around for quite some time and has the only blog still active that was around during the early stages of Mechaton. He;s got some awesome stuff up there if you dig around, including build breakdowns, battle reports, etc.

Divnull
Another older blog with not as much activity on a regular basis, but he's got a number of frame designs in LDraw format as well as part lists and breakdowns of some older stuff too.

Mobile Frame Garage
Mantisking's blog which popped up about the same time as mine. He's got some great breakdowns of some standard builds done by Soren as well as a look into some community activity.

A Direwolf in Robot's Clothing
An effort to convert the Game of Thrones universe over into MFZ.

Tyrona: Shattered Planet
Another guy who, like myself, is creating his own setting to fit within MFZ.

Mobile Frame Hanger
MFZ fan run forums. Lots of good stuff going on there!

Do yourself a favor and check them out!

Framework of a Company

My Pick-A-Brick order finally arrived in the mail, and as you can see I went with some of Squieu's mini-frames. These guys are so much better than I had hoped! the build is really solid and there is so much detail in such a small space. If you're trying to decide on what kind of frames you want for your own squad, I really can't recommend these frames enough.

I'm going to be customizing and equipping these guys over the next few days. I'll post the results once I have them!

A look into the Serpent Legion

"Rattler One this is C&C, we've got reports of a resistance cell relocating a protein silo over on the west side of the canyon. King Cobra wants you to check it out."


"Affirmative C&C, Rattler One on the move."


The Serpent Legion:

The UMFL, unlike other union forces, does not consist of citizens of the Sol system. Among their ranks are those who settled the colonies and instead of living a life of starvation and poverty, signed on the dotted line to become military. Companies of "space farmers" turned frame jockeys are the hand of the Union among the colonies.

The Serpent is different.

"We're hardened. We aren't soft like those recruits trying to escape their impoverished shacks. Our hands are forged through battle, hardship, and experience. Every man who wears a serpent on his shoulder earned it in one way or another." - 2nd Lt. Donovan Sykes, Sidewinder Platoon


The Serpent Legion is the chosen elite of the UMFL, hand picked by the ranking members of the Legion. Every member of the steadily growing force has done something to distinguish themselves from the rest of the peasants populating the ranks of the UMFL. Some overcame incredible odds in battle. Others were ruthless in the pursuit of their mission objectives, sacrificing anything that wasn't mission critical to get the job done. Some were outright insane, charging headlong into battle with reckless abandon. Incredible technical aptitude, a mind for tactics, a keen and suspicious eye,  every one of these people has a place with the Serpent, it's just a matter of where.

Every candidate is tested rigorously and placed into a role where his or her particular talents will be put to the best use. It takes on average about 4 months for a potential candidate to go from the first rounds of testing to the first day in their new position. During this process they are given the best training money can buy, and access to some of the most advanced gear available.

The Serpent has their own "skunk works" division as well, continuously working on improving and developing weapon and frame designs. Their most recognizable contribution to the Legion is the ST-07X Stealth Chub. The Stealth Chub is completely covered in a rubberized radar absorbent material and has especially designed systems that generate next to no noise (as far as an 18ft tall walking tank is concerned anyways). They are primarily used in small squads which support the main bulk of a company from superior positioning with either long range support fire, targeting information, or hit and run harassment.

Any Orion Militia will tell you when the Serpent's head comes over the horizon, you best find somewhere safe.

Under the Hood Pt.2

The second installment of "Under the Hood" has a few more frames to have some fun with.

Mini-Frame by Sqeuieu

This is my favorite frame at the moment. Nearly every piece on the thing can be expanded, changed out, or used for some detailing. It's poseable, looks sweet, and is sturdy to boot.

Sqeuieu has some cool variations in his brickshelf gallery, and (please excuse the self-promotion) I've got a few designs as well. The only real downside to this frame that I can see is that it requires 7 of those four stud 1x1 bricks, which are some of the pricier pieces to buy in large amounts. There is an LDraw file of this guy available on Divnull as well.

Hi-Leg by Joshua AC Newman

These guys are pretty sweet. A very well built and unique frame compared to most of the other guys around. I love the reverse legs and all the potential the torso has. Here's a variation by Jed September that I absolutely love, and here's a company of hi-leg badboys with a commisar by Soren. Aaaaaaand here's the breakdown shot of the torso for all you would be Hi-leggers.

WRH-102 Warhorse by triple_ought

While this one is quite new, I really love how it has the feel of a commisar on steroids. Triple-ought has a few variants as well as a breakdown shot of his build. I can't wait to see what the rest of the community does with this guy.