MAC Attack: a Sci-Fi Enginebreaker

Chris McDowall, the chap behind critically-acclaimed games like Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland, has firmly established himself as a top-tier RPG designer. His latest release, the Arthurian-inspired fantasy Mythic Bastionland is having a moment right now, in part thanks to an effusive review on the Quinns Quest YouTube channel. However, McDowall’s talents don’t end there. He already has a miniatures game out in the form of The Doomed, a skirmish affair about hunting horrific monsters in an apocalyptic world, and is currently crowdfunding MAC Attack, a 6mm mech-focused game with clear BattleTech influences.

A copy of MAC Attack was thrust into my overstimulated and somewhat bemused grasp by McDowall at SALUTE earlier this year, and sat on my very large pile o’ games until the Mythic Bastionland hullabaloo prompted me to give it a proper read. I was immediately taken with how it stripped BattleTech-style mech warfare down to the chassis, while still retaining the capacity for parts of your big robots to explode, causing them to fall over, blow up some more and then flail around trying desperately to get a lucky shot off before shutting down completely.

I knew it was time for me to abuse use my powers of games journalism to get McDowall to sit down for a chat about exploding robots, crushing tanks, and roleplaying in wargames.

The following interview has been edited for clarity.