This week's STAW game...

So, got in another STAW game last night, ran:

IKW Kronos One (K’Tinga class) with Martok

IKW Koraga (K’vort class) with Worf, Advanced Weapons and Photon Torpedoes

IRW Praetus (Bird of Prey class) with CPT, Nuclear Warhead and Cloaked Mines

Joe ran a 3 ship Fed fleet with:

NCC-1701 Enterprise with Kirk, cheat death and I stab at thee, Spock, Scotty and ?

Defiant with CPT Sisko and ?

Reliant with defensive bonus CPT, Positron Beam and ?

No torpedoes though…  That was one thing he noted as a “Feds NEED Torpedoes”.

What did I learn?  The mine layer was mostly useless as a “let’s add it into a Fleet” sort of upgrade.  It’s mines were there and DID deny a huge chunk of the field as he avoided it, but I can put them on a Klingon or Federation ship for 4 points instead of the 3 for the Romulans and not wind up with a 20+ point useless ship that will be an easy kill.  That being the problem in a timed event, grabbing the early point lead then just keeping alive to run out the clock with 45 minute rounds.  So, at 100 points it is looking more like 2 good ships, loaded out with decent crew and weapons are the way to go.  Alternately, going for a swarm of cheap crappy ships might work or the one Uber ship, but I think that 2-3 is the balanced approach.  One ship leads too much to the “oops I lose” on a bad roll or falling prey to some trick or combo that works on a single ship…  Having a few of those combos, I think that getting them to hit will be pretty bad for a single ship build.  The swarms do not concern me so much as I tend toward the more “aggressive” builds with the theory of the best Defense being a solid Attack.  Well, works well enough for my Klingons at least.  The Federation ships I am looking at running tend more toward the “Warship” end than the “Science Vessel, now with weapons”, but even so I agree with Joe’s assessment that additional weapons are needed.  Being able to Sensor Echo and keep the Kronos One at range 3 for the -1 Attack Die bonus with the +1 Defense Die for a Primary Weapon meant that more often than not when the Feds even bothered to shoot at the cloaked K’tinga class ship, he would roll only 2 dice and I would have 7 for Defense.  The odds are heavily in my favor for this, so I had no problem doing the ancient Klingon Saber Dance and cutting away his shields a little at a time before closing in for the kill.  Not to say that the Feds had bad ships overall, just that once they killed off the Praetus, he was in trouble trying to take down either of my main ships.  The Koraga did take some damage even while cloaked but even so, by that point the Defiant was destroyed and the other two ships had only 3 Hull between them, no shields.

So, going forward…  Not a lot coming out for the Romulans or Klingons frankly as wizkids releases are looking more like everything for the “Voyager” series…  Well, and a LOT of Borg stuff.  So, best learn how to fight the Borg/Bioships with the Klingons and Federation.  Feds looking like the focus of the “story arc”, so guess I’d better learn how to fly those ships…  Several Vlucan ships, wondering if they’ll be Federation, being one fo the founding races and all…  Also, still have not used an elite talent, so might need to learn about those :-)  And I think learning to play non cloaking ships like most of the Federations one will be good for me to do.  I think I have a pretty good handle on the movement of the Cloaked Klingon ones at least.  They are really quite powerful with the Sensor Echo action...

Star Trek Attack Wing...

So, looking very much like the game I'll be focusing on more in the near term.  Saw that the IG had come out, but to be honest I haven't played them in years now.  My Praetorians look OK, just gets repetitive painting essentially the same 6 figures over and over and over :-)...  Lot of bodies in a Light Rifles Company...  I don't know, they are just boring to me.  It is NOT that I could not do well with them, quite the opposite.  Having had professional experience commanding actual troops at this level, I have a pretty good grasp of the tactics and usage of the tools they bring to the table.  Mortars, massed fire, real Artillery and metric crap-tons of Heavy Weapons with effective leaders directing their fire.  Got it.  Oh, and close air support.  Yup, got it.  Just really nothing but math I can do in my head, the game is decided more or less when I have built my list and see what is across the table.  A few "power" lists that might be a challenge to fight, but most will just be going through the motions of removing the enemy from the field with the greatest precision I can manage.  I do suspect that if nothing changes, IG will be part of many of the "power" lists going forward.  Loads of scoring bodies, the ability to manage Kill Points if needed, not a lot of weaknesses that cannot be covered in some way by the book.  I know the big rumor is a revamping of the Ally system, essentially removing the "Battle Brothers" where most of the truly abusive combinations lie...  We'll see.  I'm not holding out any hope personally, I just feel the game is reaching a point where it no longer interests me.

Star Trek Attack Wing (STAW) on the other hand...  I've picked up the game and enough ships to get a really good start.  Klingons are my primary focus, they are pretty straightforward with a heavy focus on attack.  Cloaking on most of their ships and some really strong Captains and crew.  Probably not the best way to do it, but I am playing mostly Faction Pure...  At least at the ship level.  I see the Klingons, Romulans and Federation as the factions I will play and as they all fought alongside each other at various times...  Specifically against the Dominion, one of the other factions.  Event locally at the Gopher Sunday, but as it is Easter Sunday unlikely I will be going.

So, next month there is a Thollian Web event.  Looks interesting and looking at the scenario I see a few obvious things.  The basic choice is to either rush forward and kill the enemy before the web closes, so in the first 4-5 turns.  A Klingon Fleet would probably do very well here.  The other option is Cloaked Mines and a maneuverable fleet.  I have one Cloaked Mine, several other Mine cards and some decently maneuverable ships.  Does however seem to be one or the other though.  I think I will be getting in some games next week, testing a few builds.  Glad I got in on the last part of the Dominion War OP so I have pretty much all of the Resource things like Flagship, Dice, etc...  Both fighters, but as one is a Dominion one I'll not play it.  Feds though...  Flagship makes some of the things REALLY powerful for 10 points.  Think we are staying at 100 points though it looks like Wizkids is suggesting moving to 120 points...  We'll see :-)...  Getting into the game at an interesting time.

40K vs Star Trek Attack Wing, at least locally...

So, looking at the state of things now in 40k...  Looking like a real mess with the company producing more rules with seemingly no interest in fixing the previous ones.  The upper level Tournaments are dominated by a handful of armies, for the most part FMC, Seer/beast stars, Tau(dar) and White Scar bike armies?  Anything I missed there?  There is a much higher level Math discussion here , but pretty much anyone actually playing the game knows this at some level.  One reason I think that competitive play is stagnant at best, unlikely to grow in the long term.  

Casual play is fine ("fine" as long as the whole group acknowledges the giant elephant in the room and no one plays one of the problematic overpowered armies), and I have to admit that if the rumored fix to D class weapons hits, locally at least we will do well.  Knights, super heavies, etc. Are all decent and with that minor correction, we would have a fun game I think.  Right now, the D shooting attacks are simply too good, something that Forgeworld seems to have gotten at least...  GW seems to be ignoring the issue in their rush to sell more books/models...  

The speed with which the releases are hitting is dizzying, and I think that their "brand" is suffering badly because of it.  A lot feels rushed, the lack of testing and editing is obvious and the big price tag for 2 pages of supplemental rules is pretty insane.  Worse being the ebooks only releases and cutting out the local game store from the mix.  Maybe the UK has the GW monopoly, but here it is certainly not the case.  I do not now, nor will I think ever own an iPad/iOS device, nor will I make a purchase through tie Apple Store.  Likewise, limiting the releases in that fashion mean that I am FAR less likely to buy them and therefore play them...  It does seem rather like a "scorched earth" policy is in effect for GW, banning all competition for online sales, killing off any sales channel they do not wholly control, massive and rapid change to their games requiring new purchases to continue playing...  Really all seems rather desperate, like they're trying to milk out as much money before the inevitable collapse.  I don't know, I bought the Knight and the WD for the rules as I do not intend to field more than the one :-)...  Might well be my last 40K purchases for a long time.  IG codex hitting "soon", but it  looks like it is a lot of cut/paste with not a lot changing, except for the Storm Troopers getting better and taking over for the Vets in the current book.  Yea, AP 3 shots for everyone...  

Guess that is one reason I am really looking so hard at Star Trek Attack Wing...  Looks like a reasonable group of folks playing it locally, even if some of us are banned from the other store in town :-)...  At least the Gopher is having the events, and most of us are on more or less even footing at the moment WRT the ships out and Fleets we could build.  My Klingons are actually worked out well, and I'm now 1 and 3 for a record...  I know the rules and have seen the obvious traps that I think I can now play the game well enough.  Thollian Web being next then the big OP thing comes later with Borg, etc...  

Which brings me to the next thing irritating me :-)  I can look at the Wizkids page and see the next 5 full waves of miniatures out to October...  Not all of the stats or cards, but the ships at least and so a pretty darn good idea what is coming.  Contrast of GW where they send out the Inquisition to take down rumor pages, their own web page is "not great", their social media presence is now completely gone, etc...  

Right, that's about it...  Had a great walk with the puppy and my amazing wife :-)  Should be getting parts to get both motorcycles back to full operation and I may even get to actually ride again at some point...

Attack Wing AAR and some Kill Team stuff..

So, got in another Attack Wing game...  Ran:

Negh'Var (Martok, Negh'Var Photon Torpedo)
Koraga (Worf, Concussive Blasts, Advanced Weapon System)
Somraw (Koloth)

So, all fairly high Captain skills and Martok makes for a very vicious and aggressive force giving out free actions and generally attacking first with the most firepower.  did learn to my dismay that not all ships HAVE a rear firing arc, specifically the Negh'Var :-)...  Would have cloaked rather than target locking the enemy Cruiser at one point when I overran his position and lined up for a great rear arc shot thinking apparently I was in a K'Tinga or K'Vort class ship...  Oops.   Plus side, he only had a Dorsal Array to fire at me so 3 dice, and I had shields until his Battleship also fired :-)  Wound up not taking too much damage to learn that valuable lesson...   The Somraw was almost completely useless.  It did dodge the Dominion's Energy Damper or whatever they tried to use, but the less subtle approach of "Just shoot it with the damn Battleship" worked just fine.  So, the lighter, obsolete "escort" type ships really need to be more to the outside flanks of the battle.  And while I have heard some call the Cloaking device something of a "Crutch" for players, I see it as being something the Klingons really do need, at least at my low level of the game.  Thinking the K'Tinga class "Kronos One" replaces the Somraw and it more or less becomes the third point on a triangle there to be the rear guard and probably snipe away in the "3" range bracket.  Yes, management of a "fleet" is somewhat difficult, but I do think I can...  Just getting all the toys I want on the 3 ships is going to be impossible at 100 points :-)...  I do think that 3 ships is the sweet spot for me the way I play, 2 ships I would find limiting and have to load on so many extra things that I would just be concerned about the "oops I lose" sort of bad luck where with more ships I think I can at leas mitigate that a bit.  Beyond 3 I see it getting too crowded, not many heavy hitters in there, so the swarm of man, but equally bad ships I think loses in the longer run to a well balanced approach as the edge ships can be taken apart one at a time and maneuver becomes crowded to the point of killing actions that are needed to survive...  May end up with 2 unnamed ships and likely the Koraga as my fleet...  Seems to be VERY much my style of ship, the K'Vort class...

So, all in all I am extremely happy with the Star Trek Attack Wing game...  Is close enough to Starfleet Battles that it is interesting and engaging for me without bogging down in the minutia that seemed to define SFB in the ancient times when we played it...  Though that might just have been the old group I played with :-)  Including several Accountants, actual Lawyers (as opposed to Rules Lawyers), Scientists and a few of us Engineer types...  Well, it was pretty complex... :-)  Leave it at that...

Got in a Kill Team match as well...  Quick.  Felt kind of bad as I felt that I really inadvertently tailored my force to just with the Scenario and max out my points for the League...  Didn't, had no clue what the missions were really, just my Crimson Fists have always been pretty "Scout" heavy to satisfy the minimum Troop requirements in 5th edition, and as the Sniper Scouts are "OK" these days, never bothered to make any Tactical Squads...  The mission being "Rush the Camp" or some such, I got a point for every model of mine that left the field by his table edge, he got one point for every three of mine he killed...  Well, the 5 Scouts loaded up in a Land Speeder Storm meant that going first and despite not being able to Turbo Boost, well...  It was pretty much a forgone conclusion against a Tau force that set up spread out, but concentrated on the opposite Flank as my main force...  So, FAR less engaging than STAW for me, and frankly I felt like I was pretty much just going through the motions.  500 point "Apocalypse" Kill Team game next week...  Guess we'll see...  Annoying that the STAW group has an event on that Sunday I'd rather I think go to, but one night/week being the upper limit for gaming with the reality of Family life and my amazing wife ho puts up with my annoying gaming and "just a few" models and such in the basement of doom :-)...

Motorcycles are great... When they work :-)

Lost the chain tensioner on my nice shiny Honda Magna...  Heard an odd sound then lost power, so I signaled and pulled off to the side of the road.  REALLY glad I was only a 1/4 mile or so from the entrance to my neighborhood.  Pushed it home.  So, got in a really good workout it seems, but my old bike looks like it is the only working one at the moment.  And it looks like this will be the last chain driven bike I have, I REALLY like the shaft drive and will be getting an old Goldwing I think in the longer term, something from 84-87 with the 1200cc engines.  Has about the right mix for me of power and reliability without being way overpowered like the Magna is.

Gearing up for my Crimson Fists to hit the field for the Kill Team league, running a five man Tactical Squad with a heavy weapon of some sort, Missile Launcher or Heavy Plasma.  Also a 5 man Scout Squad with sniper rifles a Heavy Bolter and the Land Speeder Storm to move the lads around if needed or to get in some quick kills with either the Heavy Flamer or the Multi Melta if I need to swap...  We'll see how they do.

Star Trek is the other one I'll be playing tomorrow...  My Klingons will be hitting the field as I now have the whole fleet I intend to use...  3 ships, fairly simple, we'll see how they do against Joe's Dominion Battleships...

Codex: Stormtroopers? WTF? Oh, and Star Trek Attack Wing

So, the next Codex coming out is the new name for Storm Troopers from the IG Codex...  And it looks like that one Sno Cats/tractors are the new Chimera replacement...  So, they took a single line from admittedly the most overcrowded Codex and expanded it out for yet another $50 Codex.  Would ask "Why?", but $ talks...  Just REALLY frustrating that the Marines once again get pushed further down the "power curve" by another entire fucking army that simply ignores the best armor in the game, supposedly....  3+ armor just seems to be completely useless these days, and I know that was one of the justifications for the high point cost of the Marine based forces.  Certainly hope it was not the basic Infantry weapon.  The Bolter is by and large useless these days.  Not powerful enough to actually wound the MCs roaming the table, nor a threat to anything but the lightest of Vehicles, and even then only on a 6... Heck, it doesn't ignore most armor these days and it precludes Assault if you actually fire it.  "Eh" is the best thing I can say about it.  BS 4 that used to be "Elite Armies Only" has become the new normal.  All Eldar and now all the new Storm Trooper book?  So, BS 4, weapons that ignore armor and cheaper than a Marine?  Gee, I wonder what they were going for here...

Not really seeing the point of the Taurex  really...  The Prime I think might be useful with the various weapon options...  But the base model?  Unless they jack up the point cost of the Chimera a LOT and take away things like the 5 bloody fire points and AV 12 front?  Dunno, I cannot imagine them making major changes with the Inquisition also getting them.  Might make sense if they make the electronic Codices update automagically and reflect the new point costs.  That and of course the fact that a LOT of Guard players already have fully mechanized forces with Chimera...  Not sure how  many I would be buying if I ever intended to go back to playing IG.  My Praetorians might hit the field eventually, but let's be honest, they are overpowered now and really boring for me to play.  I doubt they will change much.  Just thinking that the way I am and having done this "professionally", I know I can use things like Artillery really well, and I have a pretty good understanding of how it is best delivered, supported, etc...  Frankly I'd rather have regular games than just win the few I get in :-)...  Just really boring game for both players if one is just shooting the other off the table without much if any risk...  So, I have a nice Praetorian force, but I only ever really play it these days when I am proving a point or just want to destroy someone.

In any case, off to play Star Trek Attack Wing this evening...  Have a few of the wee ships so looking like my Klingons will go forth and die bravely as I learn the game on the fly...  OK, was still writing this later it looks like...  Got in 3 games, played Klingons.  Worf commanding a K'Vort class ship (his) with the Advanced Weapons allowing him to fire cloaked, Gowron commanding the Negh'Var with boarding Marines and a Generic CPT on a Vor'Cha...  First game played against another Klingon, only lost the Vor'Cha, but failed to kill either of his ships...  Second game was against a 5 ship fleet...  Killed off one, failed to kill the fighters...  Those fighters are annoyingly resilient, lost out on points again as the Vor'Cha again died...  Game three was against a good Romulan fleet.  Oh, this one and the 5 ship fleet had Cloaked Mines...  REALLY annoyingly powerful.  No real defense I've seen yet, took a lot of damage from them in game one.  The Romulans offed Gowron and his ship on the last turn to take the point lead...  I did not realize how expensive the one War Eagle I destroyed early was or I might have been more cautious...  OK, no I wouldn't have been...  Still, really fun game, good group of folks to play against...  Looks like I have something else to play...

Run silent and cloaking devices...

So…  Looks like GW is back to “Run Silent” mode…  Disappointing, I had rather liked the Black Library and Forgeworld stuff on Facebook, etc…  Frankly I could do without the GW advertisement mail hitting the same time as all of the new releases go to “pre-order” status.  Probably just me, but I usually already know about the few things I am interested in, and I am not ordering through them in any case…  Silly me, I go through my local game store because that’s where I actually PLAY the game.  And with them not telling the bloody retailers what is coming out before they put it up on their own store…  Just seems wrong, but hey, I’m just a silly consumer…

Playing the 200 point Kill Team, is OK I guess…  My Fleshtearers are not horrible, but have a hard time dealing with larger numbers of things like say 10 Nurgle Marines J…  So, next week I guess I play my Crimson Fists.  I think I can get 5 Tactical Marines with a Plasma Cannon or Missile Launcher and 5 Scouts with a Heavy Bolter and 4 Snipers…  Oh, and a Speeder Storm with Flamer or Heavy Bolter.  Probably Flamer, that was awesome on the FT one I ran last week…

Star Trek stuff looks pretty darn nice…  Looking like that will be what I start up playing.  The Klingons are looking really good, and probably very much my play style.  There is OP at the store, and we’ll see if I can make it out to play…