Three things about Zeo Genesis

There are usually always new games coming out. It is what makes being a gamer fun and having ADHD a total nightmare (Look! Shiny! New!). The latest new-shiny is a mech based 28mm wargame from new company Best Hobby called Zeo Genesis. The game will be funded via gamefound starting at the end of April.

Zeo Genesis is a sci-fi skirmish game that focuses on small teams based around a single mech miniature and from 0 to 3 Support models. The mechs come in three sizes with the largest being bigger than a Primaris Dreadnought from 40K. It has been developed to be played on a 3’ x 3’ or 4’ x 4’ table and the focus of the game is having big mechs shooting and punching each other with Support troops at the edges of the battle. Bell of Lost Souls has an article discussing the game with some good photos of the models.

The playtest rules and army lists are available to download from the Zeo Genesis so you can have a look at the game as well as two factions.

Here are a few things that have piqued my interest after a quick look through the rules and army lists.

No turns

In a dramatic departure from many games, Zeo Genesis has no turns. Players determine which of them goes first and then they alternate activations until the game ends. Each unit in the game has an Activation stat that determines how many times it can be activated. Typically mechs have an Activation value of 2 and Support models 1. Once a unit has been activated a number of times equal to its Activation stat it can’t be activated any more. When a player has run out of units to activate they take a Reset in which they can’t do anything but all of their units have their Activation values reset.

This provides the functional structure of a ‘turn’ in that each unit can fully activate only once but it doesn’t enforce an artificial structure to the gameplay. Units move, shoot and fight and then at some point the scenario, or game, determines when one player has won.

There are many games that I have played, and that I have liked quite a bit, that have a turn structure and with it an artificial surety about when and how you or your opponent can win. Perhaps you don’t check for a win until turn three. Or perhaps you don’t check until the end of the turn and you therefore know how many activations you have to save the game.

Zeo Genesis does away with this artificiality and most of the scenarios in the rulebook have ‘sudden death’ victory conditions that can be achieved at any point. In other games your opponent might obtain the objectives for a scenario but you have until the end of the turn to try to prevent it. In Zeo Genesis once the winning conditions are triggered the scenario is done. As you play you have less of an artificial structure providing you with safety net and so you will have to continually keep your opponent away from winning conditions.

Altering game mechanics

Rules in a game are mechanistic systems used to determine the outcomes of actions or to represent intangibles like morale. It might just be me but I always like it when a game provides you with ways to influence and interact with those systems. Can I use a token to reroll a damage dice? Can I spend an attack dice to lower the cover of a target?

Zeo Genesis has several examples of this type of meta-mechanic. For example, Impetus points can be used to ‘buy back’ activations for a unit. Components can be bought for mechs that provide saving throws from the effects of weapon damage. And we’ll discuss Damage Dice in a moment.

Part of the appeal of these types of systems are that they seem playful. The game knows that it is a game and provides you with a way to subvert or counteract the game results. You could also view it as the game providing you with a system to represent you bolstering your troops or using command and control to rally your units. No matter the reason for it, I always like these types of systems in games.

Faction differentiation

The army list document currently only has two factions - the GuardCorps and the Mutual Defence Pact. Both are similar in that they have big mechs and support troops. Each faction has distinct mech designs and some unique weapons and Support troops. What I find interesting is that there are two features that the game uses to add distinct effects to each faction with very little additional rules.

The game’s rules use D10s and when rolling to hit player’s also roll a special Damage Dice. That dice has a distinct additional effect unique to that faction. The army list has a chart with dice results so when the GuardCorps rolls a 7 they knock the target of their attack back but a Pact player rolling the same result applies a burning effect to the target. The game has a system whereby the target can remove hits and effects by rolling armour dice. The Damage Dice effect is always the last effect that is removed.

Each faction also has a special rule that apply to all the mechs in their army. Currently each faction has a special rule giving them an armour bonus from specific types of attacks (Energy and Impact damage types). The bonus is that they can remove Damage Dice for that type of attack first.

These don’t seem to be significant systems but they are simple ways to allow the game developers (or even players) to add thematic elements to a faction without excessive rules.

Army building

The army building rules appear to be missing from the current rules but the implication of the army lists is that forces are built by purchasing a Lead Team and then, if you have the points available, to buy one of the three or four optional teams. Each team has a required mech (the GuardCorps Citadel Response Squadron requires a Battle mech) and then 0-3 or 0-4 Support models.

Each mech has optional equipment and components that can be added to it as well as different weapon loadouts. The GuardCorps UNS-62 Soldat tactical zeoform can be equipped with an assault rifle, Combat Launcher or a Fusi Missile Pack. In addition it can have ablative armour. Mechs are purchased with a pilot that is either a Rookie, Veteran or Experienced. Some pilots can also buy skills. The Support troops also have optional purchases but only a small handful of them. The focus is on kitting out mechs and giving them a unique combat role on the table.

There isn’t anything really exceptional about the army building but it is simple, logical and reinforces the focus of the game on mechs smashing the heck out of each other. The idea of buying a team, with a specific role, is logical and very easy to explain to a new player.

Multiplayer implications

One benefit of buying troops in teams is that this makes it easy to have a multiplayer game without any additional rules. Each player gets a team and then the players determine how to activate based on the situation of the game. This also makes it quite easy to tech the game. One player has a larger force and then the Opfor is split along teams with each new player taking a smaller set of units.

Summing up

When the game was initially making the rounds online I passed it by as I have no real interest in anime or anime themed games. I played Infinity despite the background and imagery. Typically I view anime in the same way that I view gonorrhoea. Something unpleasant that happily has only happened to people that I know and not me.

The game kept showing up in my social media feed and samples of painted miniatures as well. I like big mechs as much as the next person and the game rules have been written by some British fellow with a decent record of game development. So I checked it out. The rules, as of this writing v0.7, are very streamlined and easy to understand. The game comes with core rules and then a set of Advanced Rules. I don’t think that anyone who has been playing tabletop wargames for more than a few years will have any problems ingesting all the rules in one go.

I am following the project on gamefound and depending on costs and shipping (US to Canada can be brutal) I may opt for an all digital version (if available) and print out my own miniatures locally.

Plans are afoot to proxy some miniatures using Infinity and, perhaps, Ravaged Star miniatures and test out the rules. I’ll post any comments and thoughts about the game if we manage to get that organized.