5.0 KiB
These are the official rules for Mecha Game. Anything not found on this website is considered a non-standard variant.
Basic Rules
The game takes place on a 5*7 grid, (wider than it is long). Players start the game with a deck of 40 cards, with no more than 3 copies of any one card (based on the card's name). Players draw 5 cards, then take turns by placing certain cards (see below) on the closest row of the board, known as their entry zone. If there are no empty spaces in a player's entry zone (excluding movable units that player owns), then the player cannot play a new card and loses the game. A player also loses the game if they cannot draw a card from their deck.
The goal of the game is to attack your opponent directly five times. Each time a player is attacked directly by a mecha, they place the top card of their deck in the damage zone. Once there are five cards in a player's damage zone, that player loses the game.
Tower cards generally cannot move, but provide “bandwidth”, which can be used to play Mecha cards (see below). A player may have any number of cards named Radio Tower in their deck.
Mechas are cards which act as playing pieces. A mecha card has three numbers down the side: their cost, their power and their durability. Players can play as many mechas as they want, as long as the mecha's total cost does not exceed their current bandwidth. If enough towers are destroyed that the bandwidth drops below the current population, then nothing special happens; the player simply can't play any more mechas until enough bandwidth is available. Mechas may only move one orthogonal space at a time. If a mecha can move more than one space, such as with the “speed” ability, then they must move along each space one at a time, and they cannot pass through other mechas or towers.
Command cards are cards with miscellaneous abilities, and they can be played at any time.
When combat between mechas is initiated, the attacker's power is subtracted from the defender's durability. When a mecha's durability reaches zero, it is destroyed and discarded.
Phases of a Turn
- Start Phase (Do nothing unless told otherwise)
- Draw Phase (Draw a card)
- Main Phase (Play cards, move, attack, etc)
- End Phase (Do nothing unless told otherwise)
Types of Counters
Various cards on the battlefield may have different types of “counters” on them. These counters mark various properties as listed below.
Durability
Durability counters represent how much damage a unit can take before being destroyed. When a unit enters the battlefield, they begin with a number of durability counters equal to their base durability. When another unit attacks with a power of X, then you remove X durability counters from this unit. When the number of durability counters on any unit drops to zero, the unit is destroyed and discarded.
Armour
Armour counters protect a unit's durability. Each time a unit is attacked, if it has armour counters, remove one armour counter instead of any durability counters. Therefore, a unit with two armour counters can be attacked twice before taking damage.
Time
Time counters represent the amount of time remaining before some action takes place. If a permanent you control has a time counter at the beginning of your turn, then remove one time counter.
List of Keyword Mechanics
A keyword is a word or phrase listed below which appear on cards to indicate a commonly used game mechanic. Some keywords are followed by an “X”, which represents a number used by that mechanic. For example, Armour 2 means that the mecha enters the battlefield with 2 armour counters on it. Multiple instances of certain keywords stack.
Armour X
If a permanent has the Armour ability, then it enters the battlefield with X Armour counters. Remove one Armour counter each time that permanent is attacked rather than having that permanent take damage.
Pierce
Pierce is the opposite of Armour, allowing an attacker to ignore Armour counters. Instead of removing an Armour counter from the target of an attack, remove durability counters as normal.
Flight
Flight represents units with some kind of areal movement. They cannot be attacked by other units unless the attacker also has Flight or Reach.
Reach
Reach Allows you to attack units with Flight.
Speed X
Speed represents the distance a unit can move. All units normally have a movement distance of 1, but a unit with Speed 3 can move up to three spaces in a turn, one at a time. They can also change direction mid-travel.
Range X
Range represents the distance that a unit can attack. Normally, a unit can only attack neighbouring units, but an attacker with Range can attack up to X spaces away. When counting spaces for Range, count in orthogonal directions only; therefore attacking diagonally requires Range 2. Range allows a mecha to fire "over the top of" friendly units, but not enemy units; do this by ignoring friendly units when counting the distance to a target.
Provide Xu
Not strictly a keyword, but Towers usually provide a number of units ('u' for short) towards your total bandwidth.