Schweißkrieger: Desert, Dust, and Death
A Humble Tribute to Kow Yokoyama’s Maschinen Krieger ZbV 3000
"We Only Fix What Survives Long Enough to Break Again"
By Senior Technician Uwe Harz, 7th Armored Salvage Corps (SDR)Originally published in the uncirculated maintenance zine Bore Cleaner & Blasphemy, Vol. 14
Let me start by saying this: I don’t hate the machines.
I hate what they reveal.
People like to think of SAFS suits or Hammerknights as heroes wrapped in armor, but from where I stand—usually elbow-deep in ruptured coolant tubing—they're just tombstones with hinges. Every burn mark tells a story the pilot’s nervous system couldn’t finish. Every fused relay is an obituary waiting for a name.
We don't get parades. We get patterns. Repeat failures. Standard breakdowns. Known fragilities the brass won’t fix because the suits aren't supposed to last that long. You know how many times I’ve welded the same actuator housing on a Größerhund? Eleven. On one chassis. It’s not even sentient and it flinches when I approach now.
Some nights, I stay up sketching mods that would keep these kids alive. Better thermal shielding. Isolated servo redundancy. A failsafe cooling dump. But command doesn’t want improvements—they want throughput. We're measured in uptime, not outcomes.
There was a kid last week—pilot tags read Nico. Took a Gustaf out under a crimson sky, didn’t even get twenty klicks before the coolant sensor fried. System read “nominal.” Arm melted right off mid-stride. He got back. Barely. Sobbing through the speaker like a child whose toy broke, not his femur.
Next day? They reassigned him. Same suit. Same sensor. “Only failed once,” they said. That’s policy.
You want to talk about war stories? Here’s mine:I watched a Falke return on fire, trailing smoke like a drunk comet. The pilot popped the hatch and started laughing. Not hysteria. Relief. Said it was the first sortie in six weeks where the comms didn’t cut out. We gave him coffee and a blanket like survivors of a shuttle crash. I never saw him again.
You ever clean blood out of a pressure seal while the next pilot stands behind you, waiting for his turn?
No?
Then don’t tell me we’re winning. Don’t tell me it’s worth it.
Every time a Hammerknight detonates in range of my depot, I whisper thanks—not because I believe in anything, but because I know the blast radius means I won’t have to fix it again.
I’m tired of pretending we’re part of the machine. We’re not. We’re the grease. The part that never shows up in blueprints but makes all the killing go smoothly.
So here's my advice: If your cool stat's dropping fast, and the suits are shaking more than you are—walk. Desert. Jam your comms and fake a burnout. Trust me, the mechs won't miss you. They never do.
I’ll keep fixing what comes back.
But I won’t call any of it alive.
CORE CONCEPT
Individual ace pilots matter less than mass production quotas. Teams attempt to complete objectives before strategic weapons consume everyone equally. Logistics and politics are the real enemies.
OF MACHINES AND MEN
Each unit has three attributes rated 0-4.
- FIGHT: Combat effectiveness (training + weapons + armor + customization)
- MOVE: Tactical mobility and positioning
- COOL: Psychological resilience under fire
Unit Examples
CORE MECHANICS
Task Resolution
Roll 2d6 + Attribute + modifiers
- Routine tasks: 8+
- Difficult tasks: 10+
- Desperate attempts: 12+
Special Results
- Snake Eyes (2): Narrative complication regardless of modifiers
- Boxcars (12): Narrative opportunity with extra effect
Modifiers
Maximum +/-3 total, stress penalties always apply
TURN STRUCTURE
Initiative: 2d6 roll, high team goes first. In the case of a tie, roll again.
Alternating Activation: Teams take turns activating ONE unit at a time.
- A team with remaining units must activate a unit if able.
- Once all units from one team have been activated, the opposing team continues to activate their remaining units until all units on the battlefield have been activated once for the turn.
Pilot Action: Move or Fight + mandatory COOL check.
End Phase: External pressure escalation check.
KEEPING YOUR COOL (OR NOT)
Each failed COOL check moves down one level. Penalty applies to all rolls, including COOL.
ENGAGEMENT ZONES
- CLOSE: Melee range, a successful attack destroys the enemy unit
- NEAR: Standard weapons range
- FAR: Long-range munitions and artillery, -1 FIGHT rolls
Movement
MOVE checks required to change engagement zones. Unit stays in the same zone if the roll fails.
- One zone: Routine (8+)
- Two zones: Difficult (10+)
- Three zones: Desperate (12+)
Cover and Terrain
Combine Engagement Zones and Cover as appropriate. Establish battlefield areas as part of scenario design.
Military Installation: CLOSE range, Heavy cover, defenders must keep 1 unit here at all times
Urban Core: CLOSE range, Light cover
Transit Routes: NEAR range, Exposed
Industrial Park: FAR range, Light cover
Environmental Conditions and Gear
Dust Storm: -1 to all FIGHT rolls, -2 FIGHT at FAR rangeHeavy Weapons: +2 FIGHT, -1 MOVE, must spend 1 turn after moving to set upLong-Range: +2 FIGHT while in Artillery range bandBroken Ground: -1 to MOVE checksSolar Flare: -1 to all rolls, sensors impaired
COMBAT RESOLUTION
Make opposed FIGHT Rolls.
- Attacker: 2d6 + FIGHT + modifiers
- Defender: 2d6 + FIGHT + modifiers
- Higher roll wins, ties favor defender
- Winner inflicts damage on loser
Damage System
- CLOSE Range: Immediate Destruction
- NEAR/FAR Range: Damaged → Destroyed (armor breach → explosion)
- Ace or Custom Units: Immediate Destruction on hit (precision targeting)
- Damaged: -1 to all rolls, sparking systems, second hit = Destroyed
Suppressive Fire
Target any mobile suit within range
- Roll 2d6 + FIGHT vs. 8+
- Success = target must make immediate COOL check at -1
- Failure = wasted ammunition, reveal position, immediate COOL check
UNIT KEYWORDS
Mass-Produced
- Cheaper to field in numbers
- -1 to all rolls vs. Custom or Ace units
- Explode dramatically when destroyed
Unmanned
- Remote-operated or autonomous
- No COOL checks needed
- Unable to MOVE or FIGHT during Communication Blackout
- -1 to all rolls for 1 turn after Command Override
Custom or Ace
- +1 COOL, maximum 4
- Can reroll one failed check per turn
- +1 FIGHT when engaging Mass-Produced units
Cannon Fodder
- Start at COOL 0
- Perfect for overwhelming tactical positions
BURNOUT RULE
Every failed COOL check triggers additional roll:
- 1d6 = 1: Systems overload
- Effect: Permanent -1 FIGHT (mechanical trauma accumulation)
- Narrative: Overheated actuators, damaged targeting systems, worn components
- Ace Vulnerability: Even elite pilots push their machines past breaking points
SALVAGE SYSTEM
Units in Destroyed state:
- Can be recovered with Difficult (10+) FIGHT check by ally (salvage attempt)
- Unrecovered units become debris at end of scenario
- Creates rescue vs. mission tension
EXTERNAL PRESSURE
Every scenario includes escalating external threats. Determine frequency and trigger at start of game. Roll 1d6 when triggered:
- Refugee Column: Civilians fleeing, all units -1 COOL
- Artillery Barrage: Random zone targeted, MOVE check or eliminated
- Reinforcement Wave: 1-3 reserve units arrive, each side rolls 2d6 to determine whose
- Communication Blackout: All FIGHT rolls at -1
- Command Override: New objectives, coordination chaos
- Tactical Nuke: Random zone becomes crater
SQUAD LEADER PERK
At the beginning of the game, a unit may be designated as Squad Leader. Its COOL is increased to 3.
- Once per turn, allow one ally to reroll failed COOL check
- Leader must be within same engagement zone as target
- Represents training, experience, calm under fire
PUBLIC ALPHA TESTING VARIANT
Roll 2d6 when using Experimental or Prototype units.
2. Critical Failure: Equipment explodes, unit Destroyed3-4. Malfunction: -2 to all rolls next turn 5-12. Works As Intended: No penalty (Whew!)
RELENTLESS CAMPAIGN MODE
- Track damaged pilots across multiple missions
- COOL penalties carry over between scenarios
- No clean slate, no fresh start
VICTORY CONDITIONS
- Tactical: Complete mission objectives, survive
- Strategic: Doesn't matter, war continues regardless
- Final: Everyone dies when the tac nuke drops
- IGLOO Special: Survive long enough to file the casualty report
AFTERWORD: FROM SPACE TO SCRAP
Schweißkrieger: Desert, Dust, and Death began as Mobile Suit Skirmish: One Year War, a game designed to strip away forty years of Gundam merchandising and return to Yoshiyuki Tomino's original anti-war vision. Through extensive LLM-assisted simulation and stress testing, we discovered that the core mechanical philosophy—individual heroics matter less than systemic forces—translated perfectly to Kow Yokoyama's Maschinen Krieger universe.
The pivot from space colonies to post-apocalyptic Earth wasn't just aesthetic. Where Gundam's sleek mobile suits had been sanitized by decades of model kit sales and pop culture celebration, Ma.K.'s deliberately unglamorous aesthetic—WWII tank parts welded to anti-grav pods by desperate scavengers—maintained its gritty authenticity. SD3 became the logical evolution: what happens when the One Year War philosophy wins completely and civilization becomes another casualty statistic.
Every mechanical element survived the translation because both universes share the same fundamental truth: war is industrial horror, not heroic adventure. Whether it's Newtypes breaking under psychic pressure or Schweißkrieger pilots suffering systems overload, the COOL degradation system forces players to witness psychological collapse in real time. Strategic weapons—from Colony Drops to Tactical Nukes—remind everyone that individual skill is always temporary while the grind persists with or without them.
Schweißkrieger refuses to let you build the beautiful war machines without experiencing their true cost. No miniatures, no maps, no points—just names on a casualty list and the knowledge that someone has to file the report. In Yokoyama's scrapyard future, even the datapoints are recycled.
"You are not the protagonist. You are a datapoint.""Individual heroics are temporary. The grind persists with or without them."
SCENARIO GENERATOR
1. Objective Type (Roll 1d6)
These are not “win conditions”—they’re desperate tasks under collapsing circumstances.
2. Environmental Hostility (Roll 1d6)
Each map should feel like a hostile ecosystem, not just a tactical layout.
3. Map Zones Setup (Roll 1d6 or choose)
Rough layouts—don’t aim for symmetry. War isn’t kind.
4. Asymmetrical Force Condition (Roll 1d6)
Why is the battle already tilted?
5. Escalation Clock (External Pressure Trigger) (Choose or Randomize Frequency)
Set one of the following:
- Turn-Based (e.g., every Turn 2 and 4)
- Triggered by COOL Failures (e.g., after 3 failed COOL checks total)
- Zone-Triggered (e.g., when any unit enters a Far zone)
Then roll on the External Pressure Table from the core rules.