Micro-Skirmish Report - 12 Sept 2021



 My kids and I played through a few small fights over the past few weeks as we’ve learned to play MFZ. I think of them as “micro-skirmishes.” They’re quick and dirty fights that are short enough that my second son (who has a condition that makes it hard to focus) can understand and pay attention long enough to play a round or two.


For these skirmishes, it’s usually one on one but sometimes with a third player, and we’re starting with 2-5 frames and 1-2 stations each, 0-3 SSRs, and a DDC at 5.

(I’ve also had a four-way skirmish with all three of my kids. It only lasted one round before two of them started protesting that it wasn’t fair for reasons they couldn’t explain. The final score was practically a four-way tie at around 28 points each.)

I recently had a quick micro-skirmish with my son, letting him use the new Legos he got at Legoland and letting me get some use out of my new Gundam Converge #21 set.

Team Lineups
Me - Defender, 35 points
Red Soldier (2w2rd1b1y1g)
Black HtH Specialist (2w2rh1r8h1b1y)
Green Zaku Sniper (2w2ra2rh1b)

King Bulborb - Primary Attacker, 18 points
Ravager (2w2rd2rh2b)
Pillager Captain (2w2rd1y)
Black Zaku I HtH Fighter (2w2h1r8h2b)
Small Dragon (2w2rd1r8d1b1g)


Round 1 (DDC 5)
Me: 35 points
King Bulborb: 18 points

My Red Soldier fires and misses King Bulborb’s Black Zaku, then it moves toward his stations. The Black Zaku misses my Black HtH Specialist. My Black HtH Specialist capitalizes on the Red Soldier’s spot and hits KB’s Black Zaku for 6, taking it out. My Sniper fires at the Ravager but misses. The Ravager leaps over his garden (not high enough to provide cover) and blasts the Red Soldier for 2, knocking off his shield and spotting system. The Pillager Captain fires at the HtH Specialist but does no damage. (I described it lighting the grass on fire and turning the desert sand into glass.) KB’s Small Dragon breathes fire on the HtH Specialist for 4 damage, taking out everything except his white dice, then flies off the building it was on and lands on the HtH Specialist (presumably on its way to the Sniper).

End of Round 1 (DDC 3)
Me: 35 Points
King Bulborb: 15 Points

At this point my son decided he wanted to play Minecraft for a while and we didn’t get back to it before we had to clear off the table for dinner.

Notes:
  1. In around 6 skirmishes we’d played together with various numbers of frames and players, this is the first time I’d taken out one of his frames, and it was the second attack and first hit of the game.
  2. The wide open space with no cover in the middle of the map is a killing field. Maybe I need to use more cover in my battlefields.
  3. KB lost the frame of his second in command, but took it as a challenge rather than a horrible disaster. He basically said, “You took him down, so I’m coming for you.” Awesome.
  4. If the game lasted longer than a round I would have lost at least two frames in the next round or two. That still wouldn’t knock my score down enough for him to win unless he managed to capture a station from me. This teaches me that capturing stations is vital to win in MFZ.
  5. When I try to gang up on one of his frames before he attacks me, the frame I’m attacking gets its activation, and his other frames don’t have to worry about defense since I’m not attacking them. I’m still considering how this affects strategy, but it suggests spreading your fire when you activate early or postponing activation is a good move. Attack one frame, but declare your spot on another. Once the enemy’s frames are all activated or someone has a low defense or big spot, you can concentrate fire on the vulnerable target. If you have frames that activate last, you don’t need to worry about defense or, at least for the last frame, spotting. I’m unsure about this, though.
  6. The asymmetry of the game and battles with 3 (and presumably 5) players make it interesting. MFZ can be Diplomacy with Lego mechs.

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