MECHA 1945

Contents:
1-

Introduction

2-

Simple rules

3- Advanced rules
4-

Playing modes

5-

Mecha designing

6-

Figures and 3D printing

7-

Components

Appendix: Cards list

Effects list

1- Introduction:
Mecha 1945 is a strategical game of Mechas fights in which the players have to plan their
actions and then simultaneously resolve them.
The Mechas are sorted by frames depicting their solidity and their manoeuvrability. The
Mecha's solidity depends on the number of cards forming its actions panel. The less cards it has,
the less solid is the mecha.
The players have the possibility to create their own mechas.

Universe :
WWI statement is catatastrophic: unprecedented material destructions, tens of millions
deads and injured. Nevertheless, european nations don 't learn from their mistakes and actively get
themselves ready for the next war, totalitarian governments spread during the 20s.
Change will come from the League of Nations where an obscure scientific committee lead
by a german-speaking Belgian, Doctor Oddlove, make his works on huge-dimensions machines
available to all countries. These machines, the Mecha's ancestors are designed to improve
productivity for industrial and agricultural works. These archaic robots powered by steam engines
are real fuel-guzzler and of extreme slowness.

What the Doctor doesn't reveal is that he disseminates these new technology well-aware of their
adaptation by major countries to military purposes, which is immediatly done in the greater secret.
1933, Hitler seizes control as History teaches us.
The first war robots are tested by the American, Russian and Japonese armies, the sovietic model
alone with its diesel motorisation is satisfactory even if its extreme slowness (4 km/h for the model
on caterpillar tracks, the model on legs being too slow to link steps) leading the russian general
staff to take it away from an immediate use on battlefield.
1935, discovery of nuclear energy
It is not as promising as expected, to the great displeasure of the military it doesn't enable the
fabrication of weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless with few years of research it would enable
a more convincing way to animate the first Mechas.
1937, tension grows worldwide, beginning of the Sino-Japanese war, nervousness of Hitler in
Europe.
Thanks to the clever political game of Doctor Oddlove, a first proposal of conflict by proxy is made
by the LN which principle is the following: small troops of a hundred of men embodying each
nation willing to confront its neighbour are lead to fight on a neutral ground.
No more wars, no more mass destruction and slaughter. Each nation chooses its best warriors and
they gut each other willingly to solve disputes. It's the Arena of the Aces , the term olympiad
being reserved for olympic games.
Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini completly agree: this project is absurd and is rejected on a sweep.
Japenese being the most despising with regard to it, describing it as the Arena of the cowards .
At the end of 1937, the Japanese emperor is found dead in his palace, his servants not daring
approching him he had been inert 2 days before being discovered. The Japaneses mourn their
emperor. There is a truce in the Sino-Japanese war.
At the beginning of 1938, Hitler is found dead of suffocation because of a leek soup from foreign
origin, the same day a huge statue of Stalin collapses on its model.
During the burrying of Hitler, Mussolini with its rised chin as usual, stumbles over the red carpet
when getting off his plane, makes an awfull fall and dies of a broken neck.
So ends the era of the great dictators of the 20th century.
Even though some of them have lost their leader, the nations have developped first generation
Mechas, functional and of a great destruction capacity, they are presented to the people during huge
public shows, robots run in capital cities under the cheers of the crowd.
The nations bend their muscles and perorate, the worst can be expected.
The hypothesis of the arena of champions is back center stage, the possibility of a world war with
such death machines and the passing of its main opponents allow the acceptance of the project.
Nevertheless, the most aggressive populations want a debt of blood to be caused during the
settlement of the conflict thus the attacking country chooses on the defendeur ground the place
where the combats will take place.
Germany, envying the USA and sure of the superiority of its kriegsmechanichen, chooses to attack
America, the first battle will take place in Manhattan.

2- Simples rules:
In order to better catch the rules we suggest you to play your first game with the most accessible
play mode: the King of the town centre.
Objective :
The winner is the first player to get 5 points, every player for him/herself.
- If a Mecha ends up in the town centre area (the area surrounded by the border) it earns a
point at the end of the turn.
- For each destroyed Mecha, the attacker earns 2 points.
- Robots withdrawals don't give points.
Classical set-up:
The board is in form of a large hexagon (cf. scheme). The elements embodying the buildings
have to be placed by pairs, one above the other, as indicated, all around the central area.

The board of Mecha 1945 in standard placement.

Each player must then choose his Mecha amongst the 6 base models and place his figure in a
corner of the board (cf. schemes depending of the number of players). He must then take the
cards corresponding to his Mecha and choose the additionnal cards (called upgrades cards)
necessited for this initiation game.
Upgrades acquisition:
The purchase of upgrades is made at the beginning of the game amongst all the cards (or amongst
the starter pack for the first games), choosing the upgrades without showing them to the other
players. You chose your upgrades one by one, giving the deck to the player on your left after each
choice.

Set up for 2 players

3 players

4 players

5 players

6 players

He places his cockpit in front of him if the cockpits have been unlocked during the KS
campaign.
First player :
A first player is designated at the beginning of the game and is given the corresponding token.
By default the youngest player is chosen. Each turn the first player changes, the token is moved
clockwise.
Cards of the 6 base Mechas:
German Mecha (heavy frame), 15 base cards + 5 upgrades.

Chinese Mecha (medium frame), 15 base cards + 2 upgrades.

French Mecha (light frame), 13 base cards + 1 upgrade.

American Mecha (heavy frame), 15 base cards + 5 upgrades.

Japanese Mecha (light frame), 13 base cards + 1 upgrade.

Italien Mecha (medium frame), 15 base cards + 2 upgrades.

The 30 upgrades cards from the starter pack:

The starter pack is a sample of the upgrades cards, it allows you not to get lost under too much a
quantity of cards during your first games.

Starter pack icon, on left upside corner of the cards

Game turn.
A turn is composed of 4 phases:
1- Orders choice.

2- Simultaneous resolution of the movements orders.

3- Rotation in turn order.
4- Resolution of the Technical and Combats orders in turn order.
1- Orders choice.
Each player selects a movement order (mandatory), a Technical order (optional) and a
Combat order (optional) and put them face down in front of them in the intended zones for each
category. Meaning: left: movement, middle: Technical, right: Combat.
2- Movement Orders.
Once all players have programed their orders they simultaneous flip their movement cards.
They are resolved simultaneously, there is no collisions between Mechas.
Light ones are not blocked by 1 floor buildings and carcasses. Heavy and medium Mechas
can't cross them.
If a player has programmed a movement order which is not carryable (map exit, uncrossable
obstacle ) he can't carry on his order and so don't move.
3- Rotation.
In the turn order, Mechas perform if they want their rotation move. It varries according to
the Mecha's frame :
* Light from 0 to 3 faces.
* Medium from 0 to 2 faces.
*Heavy from 0 to 1 face.
4- Resolution of the Technical and Combats orders
Once the movements and rotations made players reveal their remaining Technical and
Combats cards.
These are resolved in turn order.
The armour-platings allow to protect from ranged-attacks (they don't protect from closedattacks and mines). The armour-plating card is discarded after the first shot on one of its
protection zone, the robot doesn't suffer damages but move one hexagon backwards.

Armour-plating icon

Inflicted damages are counted in cards. It is the number of cards drawn in the hand of the
targeted Mecha which are then discarded face up. The discard pile can be checked by anyone
anytime. For example, a card indicating 2 D will inflict 2 damages and so 2 cards will be drawn
out of the hand of the targeted player. If a weakness card is drawn, its effect is immediatly
applied (cf. description of the weakness effects in the appendix).

Weakness icon

Shots are stopped by the first obstacle encountered: building, carcass or Mecha.
A shooting card can inflict damages to several opponents if the shots follow several
directions, each direction allowing to hit a different target.
If several Mechas are located on a hit hexagon, they are all hit by the shooting and suffer the
whole damages, whatever weapon it is.
If the effect of a card makes a Mecha to move backwards in a building, it suffers 2 additional
damages.
Building can be destroyed by special cards.

Building destruction icon

- A 1-case building is destroy and removed from the board whenever it is hit by this
kind of weapon.
- A 2-case building loses its upper part which collapses on the hexagon in the
opposite direction to the one of the shooting (if the shooting hits a corner of the hexagon the
attacker chooses the place of the collapse). The lower part stays in place, a 2-level building
fills 2 hexagons on the groud after a shooting.
A Mecha hit by the collapse of the building suffer 5 damages. The building falling on
the Mecha is destroyed. The Mecha doesn't move because of the collision.
A Mecha positionned on a building when this latter is destroyed suffers 5 damages
and stays on the same hexagon.
Destruction of a Mecha and reappearance:
Warning: the actions are considered as simultaneous. A Mecha destroyed by a shooting still has
the time to play its cards.
Mechas destruction occurs in two cases:
- The player doesn't have a card in his hand anymore (the played cards don't matter).
- The player judges his Mecha can't help him to carry on, he then chooses to leave his robot.
The player whose Mecha has been destroyed removes it from the board and puts a carcass block
instead.
He then takes back in his hand all the cards composing his robots except once cards (see
appendix : cards list).
He waits a whole turn before being allowed to play again. He then replaces his Mecha in his
begging zone and can resume the game.
End of the turn:
The first player token moves clockwise and a new turn begins.

3- Advanced rules:
Frame specifics:
According to the frame of your robot, you are given numerous specific ways to program your robot:
- light frame:
You can play two movements. However your second movement must necessarily be part of the
Diesel category (short movements see material categories). This second movement is played in
Technical order.
You can rotate from 0 to 3 faces (complete about-turn).
You can access to level1 roofs without restriction.
Light robots are made of 14 cards.
- medium frame:
In Technical order you can program a movement (diesel) or a Combat order but in overheating,
meaning the programmed card is discarded after use.
You can rotate from 0 to 2 faces.
Medium robots are made of 17 cards.
- heavy frame:
In Technical order you can play a second Combat order but in overheating, meaning the
programmed card is discarded after use.
You can rotate from 0 to 1 face.
Heavy robots are made of 20 cards.
If you use a card once in overheat you lose an additionnal card of your choice.
Specific actions:
Repairs:
Repairs kits can be played as technical order and allow to recover 4 cards amongst the lost ones,
provided you stay stationary. You chose these cards.
A robot that hasn't suffered damages can't be repair itself.
Mine :
A mine explodes when ones walk on it, a mine damages all the robots which are on the hexagon.
Mines can't be destroyed by a shot. If a building fall on the mine, it explodes, the building isn't

alterated.
A robot setting the foot on a mine suffers 5 damages.
Fire from above :
Artillery shootings are not considered as coming from above but are resolved as usual taking in
consideration the direction they are coming from. The armour platings are thus efficiant against
these artillery shootings.
Precise shooting:
When you shoot with a precise weapon you pierce the armour-platings (they are inefficient against
your precise shooting) and you choose in which category you inflict damages to your opponent who
has to show you face up the cards of the targeted category (Steel, Diesel, Nuclear, Crew).
You can ask how many cards of each category there are in the hand of the victim you target thus
you don't shoot in an empty category.
Further rules:
Building:
Having access to the roof of a building
- 1-level building: light ones can climb on the top of these buildings as a standard movement. Some
cards also allow to climb on the building.
- 2-level building: light ones can climb on these buildings only if they are on the roof of a level-1
building on an adjacent hexagon (as a stair). Some cards also allow to climb on the 2-level buildings
(grappling hooks, jetpack, ...).
Shooting from the top of a building
It gives neither damages bonus nor range improvement. Shots never go beyond a building except if
you shoot from a 2-level building over a 1-level building in an adjacent hexagon.
Shooting on a Mecha sitting on a building
When a shooting targets a hexagon containing one or several Mechas on a building, you announce
which target suffers the damages :
- If it's a Mecha, the building is not hit.
- If it's the building, it loses a floor and the Mechas on top of it ALL suffer 5 D.
Going down of a building
A normal movement is enough to go down of a 1-level or 2-level building. There are neither
restrictions nor specific damages.
Fall of a building on an other building

If a 2-level building falls on a 1-level building, the latter is destroyed. The potential Mecha sitting
on this building suffer 5 D.
Weakness:
Each Mecha has its weaknesses and if the corresponding card is drawn, the shot robot suffers
aditionnal damages and/or handicaps. The Weaknesses are indicated by a specific symbol at the
bottom of the card (see description of the weakness effects in the appendix).
If you lose cards because of the additionnal damages caused by a weakness card (loss of a diesel
card for example) the programmed orders are applied and the cards are then lost. It's the principle of
the simultaneous resolution.
Effects of the No shooting , immobilisation cards:
These neutralisation last one or several whole turns. So you will handicaped the turn following the
turn of this action. These handicaps are not appliable for the current turn, they occur the following
turn (principle of the simultaneous resolution).
Corners of the hexagons:
Some shooting at a distance greater than 2 hexagons hit a hexagon by the corner.
The external borders of hexagons protected by an armour-plating are always included in the
protection.
A 2-level building hit by a corner collapses on one of the 2 opposite hexagons, chosen by the
attacker.
4 material categories:
Each card is included in one of the 4 following categories: Diesel, Steel, Nuclear, Crew. These
categories exist to allow equilibration during the creation of Mechas (see construct your Mecha)
and also to target damages if you use a precise shooting card and thus chose which part of the
Mecha is hit.
Categories:
*/ Diesel : Basic movements: all the 1 hexagon movements + few short range weapons.
*/ Steel (Steel and Powder): Stop, all the armour-platings without associated shooting, bladed
weapon while at contact, conventional powdered weapons which in principle don't require
specialised crew, long-range weapons such as missiles.
*/ Nuclear (nuclear energy): all the movements of more than a single hexagon excluding the
lateral movements (dodge) + the nuclear weapons.
*/ Crew (Crew competences): repairs, armour-plating with associated shootings, weapons
requiring a complex implementation: artillery, precise shootings, nets, crew actions, mine-clearing,
lateral movements (dodge) ...

4- Play modes:

Standard rule regarding the positionning of the buildings:

The buildings can be placed classically in central and symmetric way.
The set-up can also be asymmetric , each player putting at his turn a cube where he wants with
the following rules:
*/ No 3-level building.
*/ No building on the beginning hexagons.
*/ No building on the 3 hexagons adjacent to the beginning hexagons.
The play modes featuring the word variant use all the rules of the standard play mode.
Common rules for the game in team (4 or 6 players) :
In a 4-player game, you have 2 teams of 2 robots.
In a 6-player game, you have 2 teams of 3 robots or 3 teams of 2 robots.
The Mechas of a team start on beginning spots on the same edge, the associated players sit side by
side.
You can show the orders you program to the other players of your team to coordinate.
Friendly fire: be carefull you can hit your teammates, agree with each other !
If you play with an odd number of players but you want play in teams, you can add a dummy robot,
meaning a robot controled by one or several players of a team.
In each hexagon of the board is written a number to help action planning inside mechas teams.
King of the town centre in team (variant):
The points earned are shared between the members of the team.
Only one robot of the team is required to earn points in the central area.
Several Mechas of the same team sitting in the victory area don't earn several points but only 1.
Destruction:
Standard or modular board according to the players' choice.
All the robots fight each other, there is no objective but the destruction of as many opponents as
possible.
The one player destroying 3 opponents wins the round.
Destruction in team (variant):
The participants choose the number of Mechas to destroy in order to win (3 or 5).
The first team reaching this number wins the round.

Capture the flag (CTF) with more than 2 players:

Standard or modular board according to the players' choice.
3 flags are placed on the board, you win by returning 2 of them to the beginning hexagons.
Flags:
The flags are represented by victory point tokens.
The flags are equidistant to the beginning hexagons not to give an advantage to anyone. They can
be placed on building roofs.
A flag is considered as taken by a Mecha at the end of the turn, the player can then put it in front of
him.
When several Mechas claim for the same flag during a turn, the following rules are used to
determine between them :
1/ The Mecha having moved of the least number of hexagons to reach the flag takes it first.
2/ In case of egal number of hexagons, the turn order determine between the Mechas.
A destroyed Mecha release the flag on the hexagon where it has been destroyed. Destroying the flag
carrier is the only way to take the flag from an opponent.
Flags can be covered by a mine.
Passing by :
The taking of a flag , as the exit by the beginning hexagons can be made passing by meaning
you don't have to end your movement on the hexagon where the flag stands or on the exit hexagon
to validate the taking of the flag or the exit of the board. Your movement only needs to pass by
these hexagons.
Beginning/exit hexagons:
The beginning/exit hexagons are asylums, you can't shoot at a Mecha sitting on one of theses
hexagons.
A Mecha which has reached these hexagons passing by and has leaved the board is placed back on
this hexagon the following turn, facing the game.
If you stay a whole turn without playing on one of these hexagons your robot is fully repaired, with
the exception of the cards already used.
Capture the flag (CTF) with 2 players (variant):
Taking robots with the same frame, or better the same robots, is recomanded.
2-player competitive mode:
For 1 vs. 1 fight between robots with identical capacity: build robots with the same frame using
identical cards.
Example ?

V.I.P. escort (3 or 5 players):

Escorting an important robot from one edge of the board to another.
For the purpose of this play mode you can keep the standard placement or define a more lengthwise
placement with few narrow gullies. However make sure to let several paths not to penalise the
escorting team (Few other standard placements will be suggested via the senarii section).
With 3 players: 1 V.I.P., 1 escorting Mecha, 1 hunter.
With 5 players: 1 V.I.P., 2 escorting Mecha, 2 hunters.
The V.I.P. is a heavy Mecha without weapons and upgrades, it can only equip with a reusable
weapon (no once weapon).
The V.I.P. has to reach the exit hexagon so the escorting team to win, at the opposite if the V.I.P. is
destroyed the hunters win.
Work in progress / Next to come:
Attack/defense, scenarii, campagne, variants ...

5- Mechas creation:
To build up your own Mecha do the following:
1/ Choose the nationality, which give access to 8 specific cards:
Italian, Expertise :
Franais, Mobility :
USA, Industrial power :
Allemand, Explosive and armour :
Chinois, Exactness :
Japonais, Katana and dodge :
2/ Choose a frame .
Following these limits :
Heavy frame : 3 nuclear cards maximum.
Light frame : 2 crew and 2 steel maximum.
Middle frame : 6 nuclear, steel and crew maximum.
3/ You then choose a weakness card (mandatory).
It is allowed to take the weakness card of one of the 6 standard robots if it is not used.
Amongst 12:
To complete.

4/ You choose the remaining cards.

You choose the cards componing your robot regarding the categories confines linked to the frame.
National cards:
For each nationality the are 8 exclusive cards. They are linked to the nation specialities (see
above).
You can take as many cards of your nationality as you want but you can't take cards from other
nationalities.

6- Figures and 3D printing:

Even thought 6 pre-cuted cardboard figures are supplied in the game, it is also possible to 3D-print
figures.
3D-models of the 6 base robots are available on www.lagrue.fr, they are under creatives commons
licence (CC BY-NC) and are thus editable.
A website will allow to made up ones own robot by assembling the different parts composing it
(arms, torso, legs ) thus downloading the model and printing it.

7- Material:
*/ A box. 25 x 20 x 8 cm.
*/ Modular board in 9 parts.
*/ 17 wooden cubes. 3 x 3 cm.
cards et tokens:
*/ 26 (?) Hexagonals tokens. 4 cm.
*/ 1 first player token.
*/ Mines tokens. Total of 12 mines in the game, total of 12.
*/ 13 victory point tokens.
*/ 6 robots cardboard figures. 5,5 x 4 cm.
*/ 6 figures bases.
*/ 170 cards. 57 x 88 mm.
*/ A rulebook, bilingual english-french.
*/ Stickers for the building cubes and for the carcasses
Optional:
*/ 6 Recto-verso Cockpits 24 x 13 cm.

Appendix:
Cards List:
Effects List:
Simple effects:
Weaknesses list:

End of rules.

Laurent Lagrue.
Traduction : Xahendir.
Help for rules redaction: Kirillkuma.