I am really excited to announce that after a great deal of effort and a lot of waiting GunFrame: the anime mecha battle game is finally available again! I took it down from sale early last year to fix up some typos and change some art, but in the end gave the entire game a refresh to address some issues I had and apply some feedback from the player community. I am really pleased with this updated edition of the game and hope you enjoy it too.

For players new to GunFrame, it has been designed from the ground up to let you build mecha based on your favourite giant robot anime and play exciting skirmish battles with them. The mecha in GunFrame are quick and agile and the game requires you to move and countermove to get the most out of your units. Combat uses dice pools of attack and defense dice, and sixes can cause special effects like power attacks or dodges. There is also an element of resource management in the form of Focus Points that players use to make reactions in an opponents turn and to activate cool abilities called upgrades. As well as rules for giant fighty robots, an Optional Rules chapter introduces things like combiner units, conventional units such as infantry and tanks, fighting in space simple rules for morale and critical damage. The game is rounded out with three original settings to show you the variety of mecha you can create with the rules.

For those of you already familiar with GunFrame, all you know and enjoy is still there – it’s just been tweaked, streamlined and dialled up a notch. Lots of little changes have combined to make this even more exciting to play. Among the most significant changes are that defending units can now move up to 2 inches for every 6 rolled (making them very agile!) and that loadout upgrades now cost two points each. You will find it is very much the same game and I am calling it “version 1.5”. You will find a change log below.

Overall, I am really happy with how this new edition of GunFrame: the anime mecha battle game has turned out. You can get it in PDF, softcover or hardcover from DriveThruRPG right now.

GunFrame change log:

Following are the main changes between the original and current version of the GunFrame rules.

Movement

• Knocked down units can move up to half their Speed value after standing
• Fast flyers land and take off at the start of move actions, like other flyers
• Shut down frames must pass a Pilot Skill roll to reactivate, instead of using two actions
• Transforming mecha can move half their Speed
• A unit that dodges an attack moves 2″ for every 6 rolled

Power attacks

• Distract now stops you spending Focus Points on a unit
• Burn causes extra damage, not extra hits
• Chain attack causes 1 damage, not 2 hits
• Run & gun movement distance is increased

Missions

• Mission points adjusted to reflect new frame costs
• Loot counters are now picked up at the beginning or end of a move action for free
• Attrition points now work differently
• Various minor adjustments

Points values

The most requested change was to increase the cost of loadout upgrades as many players felt they were much more useful than Pilot and Frame upgrades. 

• Frames cost more
• Loadout upgrades cost 2 points each
• Improving Pilot Skill to 3+ costs 2 points
• Decreasing Pilot Skill to 5+ gives you back 2 points.
• Adjusted points to reflect increased frame cost, and the opportunity to have inexperienced pilots.

Pilot Upgrades

• Co-pilot now requires a Pilot Skill roll
• Lovers no longer requires line of sight
• Lucky lets a unit re-roll the first “1” rolled each turn
• Maverick moves their full Speed when transforming and can transform at the end of a move action
• Mechanic repairs D3 armour
• Nemesis rules clarified
• Quick reflexes now lets a unit react after activating
• Spiteful now inflicts damage at the end of an action
• Warrior can use an enemy’s Close weapon system to determine their defense pool
• Wingman added “immediately” to description
• New upgrades Fleet, Martyr and Natural

Frame upgrades

• Agile lets a unit move full speed after standing up
• Aquatic has been rolled into Enviro-Augment
• Bracketed units now also ignore crippled effects
• Chaff now also works against medium range attacks
• Environment enhancement renamed Enviro-Augment and covers greater variety of battlefield conditions
• Hands renamed Grabber and allow units to pick up loot counters while passing over them
• Heavy units only dodge 1″
• Rapid reboot now allows a player to spend a Focus Point to immediately reboot
• Repair systems has an option to spend Focus Points for improved repair capabilities
• Shield wall now provides cover to friendly units in base contact and heavy cover to other shield wall units

Loadout upgrades

• Reach now allows close combat attacks to be made up to 3″. Whip (new) uses the old reach rules.
• Parry rules clarified
• New upgrades Accurate and Whip

Optional Rules

These changes have been made to simplify the optional rules or make them more consistent with existing rules.

• Conventional units now begin with a Pilot Skill of 5+
• Crippled unit penalties have been simplified
• Units suffering Panic move their full Speed away
• Structures have had several changes 
• Space battles rules for drifting debris and units have been streamlined 
• Thrown object rules introduce dangerous objects. Kicking objects can now result in a short range attack
• New power attack: Critical System Damage