What Is Plamo vs Plamo?
Plamo vs Plamo (abbreviated to PvP) is a tabletop combat game where players design their own combatants and bring their creations to the table to fight in the style of Gundam Build Fighters. From building to battling, players are given freedom to design and play with units that reflect their personality. Create a model that expresses your style, customize it to fit your needs in-game, and challenge your friends to a game!
PvP's game system is designed to keep players engaged at all times. Whether you're playing one-on-one against an opponent in a duel, playing a scenario requiring careful coordination of your team to complete an objective, or a chaotic six-player battle royale, downtime is short, action is fast, and players are kept making meaningful choices at all times.
PvP's game system is designed to keep players engaged at all times. Whether you're playing one-on-one against an opponent in a duel, playing a scenario requiring careful coordination of your team to complete an objective, or a chaotic six-player battle royale, downtime is short, action is fast, and players are kept making meaningful choices at all times.
How Does Gameplay Work?
PvP uses models built by players as game pieces to fight across a game space representing a battlefield. Using tape measures, dice, tokens, and a little mental math, players take actions moving, attacking, and accomplishing objectives. Before the game begins, players are encouraged to design their own Plamo units using a highly flexible customization system spending points and perks.
If you have ever played a tabletop wargame with miniatures, then this will feel familiar with maybe a few new twists; if not, effort has been put into making PvP highly accessible to first-time gamers.
The biggest mechanic in PvP's gameplay is the "Action Track", where every action a unit takes imposes a delay until their next action. Simply moving requires little recovery, so the unit can activate again, while something like firing a howitzer might have a long recovery period. Balancing your unit's recovery and desired actions against your opponent's actions to determine the right course of action is at the heart of PvP's strategy, as well as the key to keeping all players engaged and active at all times.
If you have ever played a tabletop wargame with miniatures, then this will feel familiar with maybe a few new twists; if not, effort has been put into making PvP highly accessible to first-time gamers.
The biggest mechanic in PvP's gameplay is the "Action Track", where every action a unit takes imposes a delay until their next action. Simply moving requires little recovery, so the unit can activate again, while something like firing a howitzer might have a long recovery period. Balancing your unit's recovery and desired actions against your opponent's actions to determine the right course of action is at the heart of PvP's strategy, as well as the key to keeping all players engaged and active at all times.
Rules cover a spectrum of types of combat, with ballistic and melee warfare both represented in detail. In long-range combat, players have access to a variety of rates of fire, ammunition types, and missile weapons that move on the board while seeking their targets; they can be evaded or shot down. In melee combat, a variety of special attacks like throws, grapples, and disarming attacks are available; a unit can be built to specialize as the controller desires. From a hulking gun platform bristling with cannons to a nimble fencer with a single precise blade, anything is possible.
Combat in the air, water, and ground are all represented. Flying unit gains additional movement, but the movement is compulsory and take skill to manage, as well as to prevent collisions. A flying unit is also often vulnerable to more attacks as it exposes itself to more units via line of sight. Aquatic combat and amphibious units also have unique traits, including the ability to full submerge themselves into the deep water, avoiding most attacks from non-aquatic units.
If you prefer the less direct routes, camouflage, sneaky stealth movement, and electronic warfare are also represented in various facets. The deployment phase can be used to represent sneaking, infiltrating, airdropped or teleporting machines. During combat, units have multiple stances (standing, crouched or prone) that they can use to reduce their visual profiles and avoid lanes of fire. At the beginning fot he game, the identity of all units are unknown until they are discovered by sensors or reveal themselves through action, making strong sensor suites a wise defensive and offensive addition to any team. Electronic warfare can be used to disrupt target locks, turn order, or transmit targeting data to other units.
A special introductory ruleset is available here. The PvP Startup Sequence consists of three scenarios, each adding more of the game's rules to the last. It's designed to get players playing as quickly as possible while gradually introducing them to the range of possibilities the game offers.
How Do I Design My Game Pieces?
In PvP, unit's tabletop performance is dictated by a design system that is meant to abstract common tropes in mecha action media while remaining setting-agnostic. Anything you can dream up and build on your desk, you can (or will be able to) build in PvP. All units are designed using a combination of a Frame, Equipment, and Weapons.
A unit's Frame dictates it's baseline stats. While these can be modified, the basic stats of a frame to some degree will dictate what it's role is on the battlefield. The Frame is the foundation for your Plamo's in-game performance.
Equipment are special features that might give your Plamo access to new abilities, or modify their existing ones. For example, you might want to give your Plamo the ability to transform from a ground pounder to an aircraft; you might want to give it a few extra limbs and manipulators; or maybe a good old Hyper Mode is what you're looking for. Equipment is what helps set Plamo apart from one another, and by combining these equipment in your own way you can build a very tailored unit.
Weapons are the means of a Plamo to attack other units on the field, or destroy elements of the field itself like bunkers and buildings. Using generic templates and combining them with perks and penalties, ammunition types, and other modifiers, you can build a dizzying range of possible combinations. Whether you're looking for a trusty machinegun or want to build an exotic melee weapon, PvP's range of options should have you covered.
All these elements have point cost, used to keep teams players deploy in-line power wise. On top of points, a player may add Perks and Penalties to their units to further modify their basic stats, allowing for heavy customization. Players agree to an established point value before a game, construct their units, customize them to their needs, and then challenge one another to a simulated battle.
A unit's Frame dictates it's baseline stats. While these can be modified, the basic stats of a frame to some degree will dictate what it's role is on the battlefield. The Frame is the foundation for your Plamo's in-game performance.
Equipment are special features that might give your Plamo access to new abilities, or modify their existing ones. For example, you might want to give your Plamo the ability to transform from a ground pounder to an aircraft; you might want to give it a few extra limbs and manipulators; or maybe a good old Hyper Mode is what you're looking for. Equipment is what helps set Plamo apart from one another, and by combining these equipment in your own way you can build a very tailored unit.
Weapons are the means of a Plamo to attack other units on the field, or destroy elements of the field itself like bunkers and buildings. Using generic templates and combining them with perks and penalties, ammunition types, and other modifiers, you can build a dizzying range of possible combinations. Whether you're looking for a trusty machinegun or want to build an exotic melee weapon, PvP's range of options should have you covered.
All these elements have point cost, used to keep teams players deploy in-line power wise. On top of points, a player may add Perks and Penalties to their units to further modify their basic stats, allowing for heavy customization. Players agree to an established point value before a game, construct their units, customize them to their needs, and then challenge one another to a simulated battle.
With a wide range of possible point values and a little thinking ahead, it's not too difficult for the enterprising modeler to build a single unit that's playable at basically any engagement level: from a super-basic machine with few features to a super-advanced mecha loaded with gear.
How Do I Get Started?
Head over to Wargame Vault and check out the Plamo vs Plamo Startup Sequence. It includes a document with rules and missions designed specifically to teach the players the rules while they play, and get them started with as little delay as possible. The Startup Sequence includes everything other than measuring tape, dice, and a table that you need to play: tokens, bases for your plamo, and a compact rulebook designed to be digested in three missions of escalating complexity.
After playing through the Startup Sequence, you'll be ready to dive into the full PvP experience with Plamo vs Plamo: Scale Model Mecha Combat. This has advanced rules covering terrain destruction, electronic warfare, flight and submarine movement, indirect fire, and a host of other mecha combat tropes and tactics.
To use these rules, you'll also need to start designing your own PvP units; to do this, you'll be using the Unit Design Module which has comprehensive rules for creating your own mecha. Pick a frame, add some equipment, and finally apply your weapons and you're ready to challenge your opponents.
After playing through the Startup Sequence, you'll be ready to dive into the full PvP experience with Plamo vs Plamo: Scale Model Mecha Combat. This has advanced rules covering terrain destruction, electronic warfare, flight and submarine movement, indirect fire, and a host of other mecha combat tropes and tactics.
To use these rules, you'll also need to start designing your own PvP units; to do this, you'll be using the Unit Design Module which has comprehensive rules for creating your own mecha. Pick a frame, add some equipment, and finally apply your weapons and you're ready to challenge your opponents.
What Do I Need To Play?
You can get everything specific to PvP you need to play printed out from the Startup Sequence. The tokens and markers need to be cut out. For terrain, you can use simple flat cutouts to represent various features like buildings or forests, or use 3D pieces. Any N-scale or 1/144 scenery should work.
Otherwise, the game is designed around using hexagonal bases for placing models on the table (the dimensions happen to perfectly match Bandai's Action Base 5); any model can be placed on the base for the purposes of playing. Any kind of model that fits on a base about 4" wide and is about 5" will work without issue, but over-sized models work just fine if that's what you want. Here's some of what PvP's testers have used without difficulty in the past:
Otherwise, the game is designed around using hexagonal bases for placing models on the table (the dimensions happen to perfectly match Bandai's Action Base 5); any model can be placed on the base for the purposes of playing. Any kind of model that fits on a base about 4" wide and is about 5" will work without issue, but over-sized models work just fine if that's what you want. Here's some of what PvP's testers have used without difficulty in the past:
- 1/144 Bandai Gundam model kits (small 1/100 kits will also work fine; bigger ones can be hard to keep on the base)
- 1/35 Wave VOTOMS model kits
- Bandai Robot Damashii figures
- Lego customs
- 1/144 historical aircraft
- Kaiyodo Revoltech figures
- 1/144 Bandai Star Wars vehicle kits
- Kotobukiya Frame Arms