Ever Wanted to Play a 90s Mecha Anime?

Mobile Arms is a fast-paced 28mm-32mm scale skirmish game for 2 or more players.

Set in a future where humanity has settled the far stars, these wars are fought between logistics corporations looking to advance their interests on all worlds both metropolitan and frontier. You play as a handler overseeing a small mercenary company of Frametech, mechanized machines of battle that rose to prominence in the initial unification war called the Gate Conflict decades prior to the present.

These frames are piloted by individuals from all walks of life; veterans of the Gate Conflict, professional soldiers, greenhorns looking for a massive payday, and anything in between. Each pilot has a trusty copilot in the form of a Braintape, a cassette-bound AI essential to the function of Frametech. A standard game of Mobile Arms, called a Sortie, depicts a clash between two of these Frametech merc groups vying for battlefield contracts across many different worlds.

How do I play?

 

Building your Force

In Mobile Arms, players will construct their own frames from the ground up using a combination of blueprint cards and upgrade cards, allowing them to tackle skirmishes precisely how they desire. Blueprint cards are core cards that dictate the size, armor, and utility of each frame, while upgrades consist of armaments, mobility options, and gear. With these options players can build a wide variety of unique frames. From legs to tracks and gatling guns to howitzers, players can outfit their frametech in a way that best suits not only their wants, but the mission too.

Gameplay

A game of Mobile Arms takes place on a table centered around a Zone of Operations point. Using custom measuring widgets, players will deploy their frametech and the game’s point of interest tokens from this point when preparing for battle.

 Since deployment is based on this point, Mobile Arms allows for a wide variety of table sizes, shapes, and set ups. While a standard game takes place on approximately a 3 foot circle, it’s very easy to adapt the battlefield to the gaming surfaces you already own. Players will take alternating turns activating their frames; moving, shooting, reacting and, importantly, gaining heat in an effort to fulfill their battlefield contracts. Battlefield contracts and the credits earned by completing them are the victory condition in a standard game of Mobile Arms.

Using Mobile Arms custom D6 dice, players will vie for dominance - pushing their frametechs to the point where they have to vent their machinery. During this Venting phase, players will potentially turn in contracts and earn credits.

As Result, since each player is keeping track of their own Activation and Vent Cycles, this leads to asynchronous scoring opportunities. Each player has control over how long it takes for the next scoring opportunity to arise, and as a player’s force dwindles due to combat losses, scoring opportunities become more frequent.

 Once a player has scored 10 credits worth of battlefield contracts, they’ve earned the title of Victor and the game is over.