Book 6: Robotech: Doomsday

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

Doomsday (by Jack McKinney) is the last of the 'First Robotech War' of books. It finishes out the final of the 36 episodes of the 'Macross Saga' part of Robotech. It begins a little out of sync of the show with the Robotech Masters detecting that something has happened in the war of the SDF-1 and the Zentraedi grand fleet.

During the first chapter there is some very interesting re-capping of the story of Zor that I never really thought much about in the past. The series never goes into the explanation of how Zor was the master of the secrets of Protoculture and exactly how the 'Masters' of Robotech came into power. It is pointed out that it was Zor who started it all with his discovery of turning the flower of life into a power source. The book goes on to tell us that it was with this power that the Zentraedi were created and put to work on Fantoma as miners. The 'Masters' manipulated Zor and took control of the Protoculture, put themselves in power, and turned the Zentraedi into warriors. A plausible storyline but this all means that the rise of the Robotech Masters and their empire happened only within Zor's lifetime. Zor didn't appear to be that old (at least his clones didn't (and he didn't in the comics). That means that the WHOLE of the events that put the Masters in power and such happened in just a few short years. From the show, comics, art, and books (an the unoffical Robotech timeline) it always seemed to me that the Masters and their Zentraedi had been around for a long time... apparently not! There is some food for thought.

I finished this book then promptly let life overtake my ambitions to run headlong through the Robotech universe so there was quite a bit of a gap from when this post was initially started to now (the point at which I am finishing this post). While reading the book I would take notes on my phone for later remembrance (since I forget stuff so easily).

When Max and Miriya take little Dana into the Robotech factory (an absolutely insane idea BTW), the book describes Dana in an EVA suit. For a split second I was thinking of Evangelion... lol

I thought the usage of the word Shibboleth to be strange. I think the writer was overthinking us as a target audience for a moment.

In this whole mess of bringing an infant into the middle of a military action made me think of one other thing. When Reno saw the mutant why o why didn't he just shoot it? He had enough time to wax eloquently about it being an abomination but the simple solution of incinerating it didn't cross his mind.

Later in the book Khyron is doing some inner monologuing about him being the Master's one last hope. When did that happen. After the destruction of Dolza's fleet Khyron seemed to want to do only what Khyron wanted to do. Never anywhere did anyone ever say or think anything different. Khyron is a mad devil who really only answers to himself. Not to mention the fact that it is apparent that all 'infected' Zentraedi are destroyed and Khyron is certainly infected.

When Rick ditches Lisa at the outdoor cafe before their picnick so he could go drool over Minmei he drinks so much (after the whole Kyle debacle) the bartender cuts him off. He then gets into a car and drives!

He heads out to help crush the Zentraedi that attack the airfield. He gets in a Destroid... Why? There was a Veritech there and when you are one of the top Veritech aces you don't get in a Destroid (the stormtrooper of the Robotech universe). Maybe it was cause he had a bit too much to drink.

When Khyron is looking for the Protoculture Matrix in the city the book mentions that Azoina's troops are also looking... in Quadrono Battalion Invid Scout Ships... what the heck are those?

Anyway in the end the story wrapped up nicely. Unlike a visual format like comics or cartoons you have to do a lot of Character interaction and such and although it helped to tie up stuff, having the visual only of the show was more powerful when it came to the destruction of the SDF1/2 at the end.

So long ago when I first finished this book I went to the only book that I even considered to read next (the first book of the 2nd Robotech War). Ofcourse that skips over 15 whole years. When I re-read the series years after that I did it in the right order but the Zentraedi Rebellion I read out of order because it came out after my 2nd read though. Now I shall be reading it all in order so the next book I will cover is The Zentraedi Rebellion. Keep an eye out for it and the comics that take place at the same time.

Robotech RPG Tactics: Our campaign. Update 1

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

Robotech RPG Tactics (2014-2015)

An introduction: 

After building the majority of the minis in the Robotech RPG Tactics core box set (along with some of the Kickstarter extras) I began thinking of a campaign where Chris and I could begin playing and learning the game. Neither of us has been a fan/player of table top army v army type games (wahammer, etc). This is all new to us so we are starting small.

I wanted to this to be a more cartoon-based game, that is to say I don't want to just open the box and start playing random games. I want there to be a background to the mission, etc... Below is my effort to do that.

The campaign that begins here is a (in game-time) year-long adventure following the playing character (a newly minted pilot in the RDF) beginning in March of 2008) with his training, moving into missions, on into actual battle with Zentraedi when they arrive in November of 2009.

At this point the game is purely based on the Tactics side of the game with an RPG generated character attached. If the game moves into the RPG side is yet to be seen. Chris has picked the name Rusty Dale Higgins because everything HAS to mean something to him. The (imo dorky) name is based on some King of the Hill references. Never the less, not everyone can be Rick Hunter or Jack Archer...

Campaign begins ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is March 3^rd, 2008. The location is Macross Isand in the South Pacific ocean. The alien ship known as the SDF-1 is nearing it’s completion with litte more than a year left. The RDF Academy has been in operation for six years now, producing military men and women accustomed to the alien ‘Robotechnology’. 2^nd Lieutenant Rusty Dale Higgins is in his 7^th month of Veritech pilot training. The coursework begins moving into

the area of military encounters.

The Academy has a wealth of Robotechnology and complex, realistic combat simulators are where pilots get their training. On the schedule of training will be up 4 mandatory VR missions, then a live war game with other pilots at the end of the month. 

The VR missions will progressively get more difficult before the pilot will take to the skies. The combat simulators are available 24/7 so Lieutenant Higgins may choose to play additional VR missions of this basic type until the live event.

____________________________________________________

Mission 1 (03/7/08)

The first VR combat flight will be against another Veritech VF-1J. The encounter will be restricted o jet mode. This mission is to familiar the pilots with their own weapon system in a combat enounter. The object to the mission is to eliminate the enemy VF-1J.

Report: Lieutenant Higgins succeeded in eliminating the enemy Veritech, taking a few turns to come to grips with the effects of the Afterburner effects of the aircraft and unfamiliarity of the weapon system. Although useful, the GU-11 gunpod and twin head lasers under the pilot’s canopy are not as devestatingly useful as the Veritechs compliment of missiles.

____________________________________________________

Mission 2 (03/14/08)

This mission is a repeat of the first but each Veritech is limited to missiles only. The Veritech with the least amount of damage at the end of the last missile payload (of both Veritechs) is the winner.

Mission Override: At the beginning of this mission, combat parameters were over-ridden and all weapon systems were activated due to the power of the missile payload.

Report: Lieutenant Higgins won this mission quickly.

____________________________________________________

Mission 3 (03/19/08)

In this mission both units will be limited to Battloid mode only with no weapons. This mission will familiarize the pilot with the hand to hand combat methods of the Veritech in Battloid and Guardian mode.

Report: Spending the meager 1 command point (by both pilots) came in useful in Hand to Hand combat mode. It allowed for multiple attacks, speeding up combat. The VR pilot attempted a Jump Kick a couple of occasions but failed to attack on the first action (thus, denying the attempt of the Jump Kick).

____________________________________________________

Mission 4 (03/24/08)

This final VR mission will place a team of 4 Veritechs against 4 Veritechs. The match is over once 3 of the 4 Veritechs of any team are defeated.

Mission Override: Lieutenant Higgins and the VR pilot were both given a Leadership ability of 2 to allow for more command points in this battle.

Report: Once again missiles ruled the day as the VR team defeated Lieutenant Higgins’ Veritech squad. The Lieutenant kept his squad in jet mode while the VR pilot kept his in Guardian mode. The flexibility of movement (along with the missiles) gave the VR pilot the edge in battle. The inflexibility of jet mode (inability to turn more than 90 degrees in either direction led to the VR pilot being able to use Back Strike for +1 to strike.

____________________________________________________

VR Missions Summary:

These simple missions (much like the ones in the game manual) were designed to familiarize players with the basics of game play and the pros/cons of different weapon systems and modes.

Picking up the threads and continuing our quest!

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

First off, I'd like to address why in all our posts we say who the blog is by and why it always says (of AccordingToWhim.com). A couple of years back Chris and I did 365 posts for an entire year (one blog a day). After a while we did some searching on Google and Yahoo to see how our blog was showing up (or not showing up) based on searches. We found our blogs and they were pretty far up on the rankings but it turns out all our blogs were not attributed to us and were not on our blog anymore. Apparently websites have bots that go and scour the internet and steal content and pass it off as their own. This usually means the formatting is wrong and sometimes links are missing (and they generally do a shoddy job of presenting the blog in a decent format). Chris and I decided that we needed to start adding our main website's address at the top of all our blogs that way when our content is stolen, there is a link back to our site incase the reader is interested.

Anyway, as you can see from the sparseness of the posts in this blog that our Robotech journey slowed wayyyyyyy down over the last two years. You know how it is, you get all fired up for something and you set out ready to conquer the world then reality sets in and you have work and such get in your way. That's basically it. The blog has been dormant with the exception of the Robotech RPG Tactics Kickstarter posts. Well, it's that Kickstarter that has got me going again. I used to love playing the Robotech RPG and I've always wanted to play tabletop war games (like Warhammer, etc...) but never got into it. Well along came Robotech and I couldn't pass it up! I'm all excited again! Along with my reentry into the saga I am building a 'day one' Robotech RPG Tactics campaign for Chris. I want to have it fully follow the Macross saga through the RPG Tactics game's point of view (battles... lots of battles).

I've got to find out where I left off and pick back up on my (originally 2012) chronological journey through the Robotech universe! To recap from the first blog post I am using Triple-Super Mecha 8's slimmed down timeline to watch and read through series. Here is his website if you want to REALLY get into some super detailed information!

I have finished the first 36 episodes of the show and read through the comics up to that point (the destruction of the SDF-1 and 2 by Khyron and I (think) I finished the 6th book. I have notes on my phone that I took down long ago but I am not 100% if I finished it. I am going to have to go page through the book and see if the later stuff rungs bells (it will have been the 3rd time I've read it so it might be tricky). Next up is Robotech Novel 19: The Zentraedi Rebellion alog with the comics for The Malcontent Uprising. Some of my least favorite parts of Robotech but I shall prevail!

Below you will see the complete list in order and everything in yellow is everything I have already covered in this blog. So stay tuned!

* The (L) means last entry for that particular title.

GENESIS: THE LEGEND OF ZOR #1-6 (L)
GRAPHIC NOVEL (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #1-13, 19, 14-15
WARRIORS #0 (#0 featured in RETURN TO MACROSS #15), #1-3 (L)
METAL SWARM #1 (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #16-18, 20
ACADEMY BLUES #0
RETURN TO MACROSS #21-25
ACADEMY BLUES #1-2
MACROSS TEMPEST #1 (L)
ACADEMY BLUES #3
RETURN TO MACROSS #26
ACADEMY BLUES #4
ROMANCE #1 "Two Beers with a Skirt Chaser" story – NOTE: Contrary to the date printed in the story, the date is May 2005.
ACADEMY BLUES #5 (L)
RETURN TO MACROSS #27-33
CIVIL WAR STORIES #1 (L) – NOTE: Contrary to the date printed in the story, the date is July 2005.
RETURN TO MACROSS #34-37 (L)
ROMANCE #1 "When the Going Gets Tough..." story (L)
BREAKING POINT: CADET LISA HAYES SPECIAL #1 (L)
MACROSS (video series) "Boobytrap" to "Blue Wind" - Episodes 1-13
MACROSS MISSIONS: DESTROID #1 (L)
MACROSS MISSIONS: EXCALIBUR #1 (L)
MACROSS MISSIONS: EXCALIBUR - QUAKING THUNDER #1 (L)
MACROSS "Gloval's Report" - Episode 14
VERMILION #1-4 "Vermilion" story
MACROSS "Homecoming" to "To the Stars" - Episodes 15-36 (L)
THE MALCONTENT UPRISINGS #1-12 (L)
THE SENTINELS (video) (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK I #1-6
THE SENTINELS WEDDING SPECIAL #1-2 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK I #7-16
FINAL FIRE #1 (L) – NOTE: Circa 2022 is when the narrator tells his account of events that occurred in 2012.
CYBERPIRATES #1-4 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK II #1-21
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #1-9
AMAZON WORLD - ESCAPE FROM PRAXIS #1 (L)
INVID WORLD - ASSAULT ON OPTERA #1 (L)
MECHANGEL #0-3 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #10-18
SMITH WORLD - SABOTAGE ON KARBARRA #1 (L)
CYBER WORLD - SECRETS OF HAYDON IV #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK III #19-22
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #1-8
FERAL WORLD - NIGHTMARE ON GARUDA #1 (L)
CRYSTAL WORLD - PRISONERS OF SPHERIS #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #9-10
STAR RUNNERS: CARPENTER'S JOURNEY #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #11
THE SENTINELS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL #1 (L)
THE SENTINELS BOOK IV #12-13 (L)
ROBOTECH ANNUAL #1 "The Science of Law" story
ROBOTECH MASTERS [a.k.a. SOUTHERN CROSS] (video series) "Dana's Story" - Episode 1
THE MISFITS #1 (L)
ROBOTECH MASTERS "False Start" to "Catastrophe" - Episodes 2-24 (L)
INVID WAR #1, 5-6, 2, 7, 3-4, 8
FIREWALKERS #1 (L)
INVID WAR #9-12
THE NEW GENERATION [a.k.a. MOSPEADA] (video series) "The Invid Invasion" to "The Lost City" - Episodes 1-2
ROBOTECH ANNUAL #1 "Shop Talk or Why You Should Never Ride Without a Helmet" story (L)
THE NEW GENERATION "Lonely Soldier Boy" - Episode 3
INVID WAR #13
THE NEW GENERATION "Survival" to "Hard Times" - Episodes 4-6
CLASS REUNION #1 (L)
THE NEW GENERATION "Paper Hero" to "Eulogy" - Episodes 7-8
INVID WAR #14
THE NEW GENERATION "The Genesis Pit" to "The Fortress" - Episodes 9-12
INVID WAR #15
THE NEW GENERATION "Sandstorms" to "The Midnight Sun" - Episodes 13-17
INVID WAR #16
THE NEW GENERATION "Ghost Town" to "Frostbite" - Episodes 18-19
INVID WAR #17
THE NEW GENERATION "Birthday Blues" to "Hired Gun" - Episodes 20-21
VERMILION #2-4 "Unsung Heroes" story (L)
THE NEW GENERATION "The Big Apple" to "Symphony of Light" - Episodes 22-25 (L)
INVID WAR #18 (L)

First dry-run game of Robotech Tactics

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

After nearly completing all bazillion miniature builds for the base game with some of the kickstarter extras I was ready to begin learning Robotech RPG Tactics. I pulled out the rulebook (which other gamers have been bashing) and tried to wrap my head around new concepts that blend in with the original Robotech RPG. Of the big rulebook (112 pages) only the first 29 pages are the actual rules. This was fairly simple to figure out but as with anything new with tons of new concepts/rules you need to read a couple of times so the 2nd time I read through it I decided to make a cheat sheet. This would help during game play and (just like in school), making notes helps you remember stuff.

I wanted to do a self dry run before I drug anyone else in on an actual first game. I figured I'd play though a small battle or two to get some of the mechanics down. Chris gives me a call yesterday evening and tells me they scheduled him to work on our appointed night and was it ok for him to come over now. I said yes and decided we'd just try a couple of simple games and work things out as we went.

We started with a single unit versus single unit (much like the starter battle listed in the rulebook). We fumbled, read, re-read, mistook the 6 on the die for a 1 for most of the first 2 games (oops)! By the end of the night we discovered a couple of things...

1.) Zentraedi are underpowered (so you need lots more units than UEDF units).
2.) The font is way too small on the cards (for these old eyes).
3.) We need to re-read and comprehend some of the special abilities).
4.) I need to figure out the squadron cards (which we didn't use).
5.) It's hard to keep track of which of your units are which.
6.) I need to make a custom sheet with stats, MD, missile boxes, and all that jazz to help us.

And that's it. When we get it down I think it will be fun. It will just take many games for it all to become second nature.