Machinas Chases

It's been a while since I've played Machinas, so I thought I'd better brush up on the rules before MOAB next weekend, as we're hoping to run a few games on the Saturday.

I have been looking at a simple chase set-up, with some pre-generated targets, run by me, being chased by two or three scavenger vehicles, run by a player. Last year I tried it with the player as the target, but the target doesn't really get too many decisions to make, so this year I thought I'd swap it around and see how it goes. If more than one person wants to play then they can all take a group of scavengers, but only the player who takes out the target actually wins, so knocking out your allies in the name of competition would be more than encouraged.

Anyway, I randomly rolled a setup, and got my 1930's hobo roadster, Tom Sawyer being chased by a gang of three bikes.

Two of the bikes mounted decent guns, whilst the third was an interference vehicle whose role was to get in front of the target and control the pace of the pursuit.

The chase opened with one of the bikes closing up on Tom Sawyer.

Unfortunately the roadster mounts a big machine-gun which faces to its rear. The bike's rider wasn't up to getting out of the line of fire, and a hail of bullets shredded the vehicle and its crew before they could line up their shot.

The second armed bike closed in. The roadster initially held it off ...

... but on the second attempt it scored a damaging hit on Tom Sawyer.

The interference bike shot forward off-road, and a second burst from the other bike saw the roadster swerve back. Both bikes were now ahead of their target; not an ideal position.

The bikes attempted to drop back.

But a lack of concentration saw then swerve too close to each other.

The rider of the gun-bike swerved, losing ground.

Now behind the roadster he was in a perfect position to resume the attack, but his nerves were shaken and he broke off the pursuit.

This just left the unarmed interference bike in play. The roadster tried to run it off the road, but it was too agile.

However its rider also lacked nerve, and he too broke off the pursuit.

Tom Sawyer lived to drive another day, albeit with some bullet-holes in his bodywork.

A second chase saw the armoured tanker Industrial Disease being pursued by the flame-thrower toting Anarchist and a companion on a trike. The companion was armed with Molotov cocktails.

The trike went straight into the attack.

But despite the trike's greater speed, its rider misjudged his attack, and the tanker's driver swung his wheel to the right, crushing the vehicle.

The Anarchist barely avoided the flaming wreckage of his companion, but kept up the pursuit.

With his flamethrower primed, he positioned himself for his run.

Engine roaring, he manoeuvred onto the tail of the tanker ...

... but he too misjudged it, and the tanker swung into his path. However the car is made of stronger stuff than the bike, and held off the attack, with much scraping of paint and grinding of metal.

The Anarchist prepared for another pass.

This time he got in his shot, scorching the tanker's armour.

However he couldn't get into position for another attack after that, and a couple of turns later gave up the chase.

The games ticked along nicely, and I think the basic setup should work on the day. My aim is to make the targets just a little tougher, individually, than their pursuers, so that the chase is more of a challenge and won't necessarily end on the first attack.

I also used these games as a chance to try out my massive modifications to the weapons and equipment in Machinas, as well as some changes to how interactions with vehicles behind you work, as the more I play this game the more I realise that the rules for tail guns and dropping back weren't really that well thought out. I'll write more about my changes in another post.

I'll take along all my vehicles, of course; last year we finished the day with a fine race, and it would be nice to do that again.