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I have an old White Dwarf which had rules and chits you could photocopy/cut out for programming your robots with IF/THEN propositions. Wacky and awesome, though not exactly a useful recipe for a quick game.

The =][= on the left we used to call 'Mr Tidy Bowl' ( a brand of toilet cleaners here in Canada). I used that model to test my saw out with. It went through him like a hot knife through butter =o]


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Mannahnin wrote:I have an old White Dwarf which had rules and chits you could photocopy/cut out for programming your robots with IF/THEN propositions. Wacky and awesome, though not exactly a useful recipe for a quick game.

I used Robots a few times back in RT, they where unwealdy and horrible to use. I wish they would release new model kits with better rules. The concept was cool but as with a lot of RT era stuff it just didn't work out all that well in actual gameplay. Remember the horrible overlay we used to use for vehicle targeting? =o]

FabricatorGeneralMike wrote:I used Robots a few times back in RT, they where unwealdy and horrible to use. I wish they would release new model kits with better rules. The concept was cool but as with a lot of RT era stuff it just didn't work out all that well in actual gameplay. Remember the horrible overlay we used to use for vehicle targeting? =o]

You mean the ridiculously fun target overlay? This stuff was all great fun, but it was a very different game back then. For all the complaints some people have about balance they should realize that 40K now is amazingly balanced compared to what it used to be.

The targeting overlay was a great fun concept...immediately exciting to use. Of course, it made things far, far too easy to pinpoint the ammo box on every vehicle and blow the thing sky high with all its passengers onboard!


I loved the robot rules sooo much. But you had to actually sit down ahead of the game and figure out your 'program' for the robots. You basically got a limited number of 'if-then' statements to use for their program and if you wanted to use more, then the points value of the model went up. So you kept trying to come up with the most elegant yet effective if-then loops for your robots.

It was so cool then because you could literally use any if-then statement you could think of. So you could say stuff like: If there are no enemies within range, move towards the enemy. And then, if there are enemies within range, stand and shoot, etc, etc, etc.

The more detailed you wanted to make your programs, the more points they cost.


Definitely not something that works in the current game, but at that time I thought it was a blast....a puzzle to have fun figuring out within the game.

With square bases?

Deathshead420 wrote:With square bases?

Lots of things had square bases back then. In fact, anything larger than standard infantry was on a square base originally.

And here I was thinking we were about the same age, Mannahnin/yak

We're elves.

yakface wrote:

FabricatorGeneralMike wrote:I used Robots a few times back in RT, they where unwealdy and horrible to use. I wish they would release new model kits with better rules. The concept was cool but as with a lot of RT era stuff it just didn't work out all that well in actual gameplay. Remember the horrible overlay we used to use for vehicle targeting? =o]

You mean the ridiculously fun target overlay? This stuff was all great fun, but it was a very different game back then. For all the complaints some people have about balance they should realize that 40K now is amazingly balanced compared to what it used to be.

The targeting overlay was a great fun concept...immediately exciting to use. Of course, it made things far, far too easy to pinpoint the ammo box on every vehicle and blow the thing sky high with all its passengers onboard!


I loved the robot rules sooo much. But you had to actually sit down ahead of the game and figure out your 'program' for the robots. You basically got a limited number of 'if-then' statements to use for their program and if you wanted to use more, then the points value of the model went up. So you kept trying to come up with the most elegant yet effective if-then loops for your robots.

It was so cool then because you could literally use any if-then statement you could think of. So you could say stuff like: If there are no enemies within range, move towards the enemy. And then, if there are enemies within range, stand and shoot, etc, etc, etc.

The more detailed you wanted to make your programs, the more points they cost.


Definitely not something that works in the current game, but at that time I thought it was a blast....a puzzle to have fun figuring out within the game.

Well, don't get me wrong, the overlay was fun the first few times. But after a while it just bogged the game down even more. I liked the system they had for second edition, each vehicle had it's own card with vehicle specific damage effects. Not a generic table like 5th has.

I just had this talk with a good friend of mine a few weeks ago about RT era stuff. While being fun because it was new, it was just a mess as a over all system. I understand GW was still getting there gak together, but IMHO the best part about RT was the artwork and the fluff at the time. The game itself was just a total mess.

I miss having stuff come out in WD. I love when they released the rules for Yarrick and Ghazkull and brought in the whole Armageddon storyline which was tied into the TT game of the same name. Thats the kind of creativity I like from GW. Hell even when Andy and Jervis did the first battle report for 2nd which had Dante in it which they incorperated into the fluff latter on was damn well done imho.

But as to the actual mechanics of the game, it was horrible. It was fun if you had a GM and where playing a scenero but for just pickup games or mega-battles it just fell flat on it's face. Epic was a way better system which became amazing once they 're-released' SpaceMarine in Epic 2nd Ed. That is by far my favoret GW game of all time. The scale felt right, the game played well it was always more about capture the objectives they just blow up the other guy. They had problems with the scale but over all it worked as a whole. 40k didn't get that way until 2nd edition for me personally. Even then if you where playing againsted 'TFG' some scary armies could be created, but if you where playing againsted some one who had the same out look on 40k as you it was a treat to play.

They were pretty cool, not sure if they are $100+ of cool thOugh.

They had really quirky rules where you create a programme for each one (like a flow diagram) using little boxes. The more detailed he programme the more it cost. I liked it and used to spend hours making them up. The models were really nice for the time too.

For all that they were sort of a pain in the arse to use.

Damn, ninja'd by a whole page!

Mannahnin wrote:I have an old White Dwarf which had rules and chits you could photocopy/cut out for programming your robots with IF/THEN propositions. Wacky and awesome, though not exactly a useful recipe for a quick game.

Artdink did an excellent robot fighting game on PS1 in which you designed robots and programmed them with a set of instructions then let them roam around Titan or somewhere to fight the other side.

It was called Carnage Heart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnage_Heart

Kilkrazy wrote:

Mannahnin wrote:I have an old White Dwarf which had rules and chits you could photocopy/cut out for programming your robots with IF/THEN propositions. Wacky and awesome, though not exactly a useful recipe for a quick game.

Artdink did an excellent robot fighting game on PS1 in which you designed robots and programmed them with a set of instructions then let them roam around Titan or somewhere to fight the other side.

It was called Carnage Heart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnage_Heart

That was a great game KK =o]