Gen Con 2014...

So, went to Gen Con yesterday...  Wound up playing in one of the STAW events.  Pretty well run, all of my opponents were quite fun to play against.  Kind of an odd heat though, 12 players I think and only a handful of Borg at all, NO "super cubes".  Problem for a LOT of the guys was that everyone built to deal with, some making it the focus of their fleets...  Did NOT work all that well against "normal" builds.  I was definitely in the minority playing a completely faction pure build, all Federation.  Not the potential to do the overwhelming damage that my Klingon or even Dominion builds can do, but WAY more survivable.

Gen Con Fed 1

U.S.S Excelsior (26)
Mr. Spock (4)
Adm. James T. Kirk (5)
Dmitri Valtane (3)
Quantum Torpedoes (6)
Ship SP: 44

USS Voyager (30)
Jean-Luc Picard (6)
Montgomery Scott (5)
Miles O'Brien (2)
Hikaru Sulu (3)
Ship SP: 46

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder
http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Game one I got my ass kicked by a well build Borg Cube (bare bones) and Excelsior loaded out as a Torpedo boat like mine.  Lost because I maneuvered stupidly...  Kept bumping the cube instead of simply moving 6 forward and outrunning the cube...   Was pretty rushed getting there and was not really all there for the first game.  Got wiped because my Voyager was unable to use it's 3 actions/turn at the critical juncture.  DID burn through the shields and almost kill the cube in spite of my errors.

Game 2 was MUCH better, played against a mostly Romulan Fleet built around a Flagship Vo/Donatra supporting a Khazara (D'deridex) loaded out with the Ferengi Missile Launchers and a LOAD of attack cancelling things.  This game I did the "Wolfpack" thing, found the weaker ship and killed it first.  Saw the trick, survived it and focused fire into the 2 Hull ship to kill it despite the huge number of Defense dice.  Just taking 2 failures means I'll not be doing that for my own fleets...  Burned through all of the attack cancellers, took no losses and with the support ship dead, I got the win.  Got some damage through to the bigger ship, but did not kill it in time.

Game 3 was against a good player with a good Fleet...  Built again to deal with Uber Cube fleets, so less successful against a build like mine.  He had the Enterprise D with CPT Khan Singh, ADM Kirk, Scotty, AM Mines, Flagship for Battlestations, Tom Paris, etc...  Supported by another Vo/Donatra combo.  So, same thing here for me...  Kill the little ship quickly then the long dance...  He hit my Voyager hard, taking down the 6 Shields and a single Hull...  But then we flew around and had Scotty repair Shields.  His build was close to 70 points on the Enterprise D, so not as unbalanced as "I killed half of his Ships" might lead you to believe...   So, we basically ran out of time, I am not sure who would eventually have won...  I suspect it would have been him unless I was able to line up the Quantum Torpedoes AND the Voyager at range 1 with 2 Shields to disable to let Scott's action give me more dice...  His CPT skill of 10 though meant he would shoot first...  So, "less likely".  My strategy of "just survive" worked out.

So, 2-1 overall record...  Wound up winning the Doctor Bashir and Odo cards out of the DS9 pack   Overall I was really happy and the guys I played against are I suspect also on Board Gaming Geek's forum as I recognized a few names...

VERY disappointed in the Wizkids convention exclusives, etc...  Seeing the actual Dragons for the D&d game was "neat", but really not too impressive.  The STAW exclusives being sold out so quickly to other exhibitors and speculators rather than the people actual playing the game?  The message that sends is pretty bad I think.  I would have liked to have the cloaked ships, and the cards are pretty neat...  Not even having the OP ships for sale/prizes made the cost of getting there and entering the event pretty high...

Still, Gen Con from a family fun day standpoint was a great success...  My wife and the girls (+1 with one of my daughter's friends joining us) all dressed up and seemed to enjoy the spectacle...  We were only there for the day though, and with me gaming 3 hours, not as much fun...  Parked a LONG way off.  The Colt's pre-season game the same night made traffic a nightmare.  We wound up eating from a food truck in the little "court" they set up...  LOVED that idea.  So, definitely a major plus.  The lack of a "loot" bag made the price of the admission tickets a bit on the expensive side, especially with the kids costing the same as an adult and no gaming of "free stuff" really included.  So, next time, a multi day trip, more time to game for everyone and a more relaxing trip all around...

Wolves in Seventh, initial thoughts... Oh, and a bit more...

Right, so after a quick read through of the Wolves Codex…  REALLY not seeing anything to drag me back to playing 40K any time soon frankly.  Perhaps I missed something, but the big thing seems to be to use the “Great Company” Formation allowing your up to 6 HQ slots, etc…  This allows you to get the BA like roll for each Unit to Outflank.  6+.  Down to 4+ iff you add an IC to a Troops unit.  This is what we pay the extra points (presumably) for to get “Acute Senses”…  For at best the 50% chance to use them iff I use the format listed in the Codex.  Mind, I probably would since my Wolves have always been based on Grey Hunters.  So, unless I am missing something Wolves lack the “Objective Secured” rule as well.  So, they Score, but cannot Secure anything unless nothing else is alive nearby.   Eh, lazy writing at best.

Essentially the whole feel I got from the Codex was a lot like the 3^rd Edition one where it was in the “Hero Hammer” phase for GW.  Bring out your tooled up uber Characters, the minimum “other” to support them and run at each other.  This time I get the feeling they also want to sell a LOT of Thunder Wolves.  Since pretty much every IC can be mounted now, and the TWC have come down in price.  So, that seems to be the “good” unit in the book at the moment on first reading…  Problem I have is that this is a fucking Science Fiction game set in the FAR future involving genetically modified humans wearing Powered Armor with many futuristic weapons, etc… Oh, and now riding giant Wolves as Cavalry if you didn’t get that this game was simply the Fantasy game ripping off Tolkien’s (and Moorcock, etc…) stuff and changing the setting to be the far future, the Chariots and Cavalry should drive that point home again for you.

Not ALL bad, I like that the “Iron Priests” (Techmarines) finally got the IC rule, and this time they remembered to cut/paste in the rules allowing them to repair things…  J  Since I have at least one edition’s book where they didn’t, and when it was pointed out and the FAQ was asked for the reply was essentially “too bad”.  That and the Terminators remembered what the bloody teleporters were for.  They can once again Deep Strike.  Cheap Terminators, and since I have always liked them and have a mess I might at some point play that list…  Score now, but cannot easily mix Powered and Terminator armors…  So, not a complete waste by any means I guess.  Fliers look OK, but being limited to Wolves?  Eh…  Seems odd to produce an expensive kit that cannot be used for more Armies…

Negatives I already went over a few…  The biggest ones are the loss of the “Mark of Wulfen” and the Scout’s ability to go behind enemy lines.  Having converted the one Wulfen/Squad for my Grey Hunters and having played them in EVERY Wolves list I ever  used for several editions now, that loss is annoying.  Not devastating, but annoying.  HtH has not been the way to win games for a few editions in any case, I just tend toward the “No Kill Like Overkill” and “Fortune Favors the Prepared”.  Maybe the DLC books which hit, well probably next week, will add it back in, but that is itself another insulting and annoying negative.  $50 for the book that is itself incomplete on day one?  The Scouts loss of their traditional ability however is a killer for me.  When the Quad guns hit with the silliness that was “Interceptor” in the previous edition, these lads were essentially shelved.  Yes, I COULD bring them and if I were especially careful actually get them into position to get in their one shot with Plasma Pistols and Melta…  Then of course, they lost the ability to bring a Wolf Guard in Powered Armor with them and the ability to Assault out of Reserve.  Was great against the rear echelon gun line Troops, but really that was about it.  So, they were a Denial unit that was small, lightly armored and very vulnerable…  Now, well even worse.  I cannot come in on the Enemy or say my own table edge if the situation demands it…  So, one of my oldest and best units is now completely useless.  “Elites”, not even bloody Troops.  Not that it matters much except that the Elite slot is crowded with stuff that might actually DO something…

Other news, apparently the Grey Knights are coming out as soon as this Month?  Between the online army builder and the White Dwarf, looking like it will be very soon.  And this one will be just the Grey Knights, not “Inquisition, Assassins with a few token Knights…  Maybe.  The Dread Knights and Storm Ravens  were pretty darn good, and I rather liked using the Terminators (yes, running theme for me)…  Heck, even the PA Knights were good, better by far than their “normal” Marine brethren…  So, yea?  I guess…

Seems like it has gone to a subscription model that is simply too rich for my gaming budget, and the game itself has devolved to the point I have little interest in playing anymore…

But on to more fun gaming…  Getting a bit more used to the Warmachine v2 rules and CPT Kraye’s Cavalry battlegroup…  Fun, not hugely powerful I think, but FAST and able to surprise a lot of folks with the speed and accuracy of the fire… And the game itself is fresh enough to me that I do not have the baggage associated with the 6 previous editions J… 

Gen Con this weekend for me, playing in a STAW event, 100 points, pretty simple, taking either:

List Name

Resource: Flagship Independent (Fed) (10)

U.S.S Excelsior (26)

Mr. Spock (4)

Adm. James T. Kirk (5)

Dmitri Valtane (3)

Quantum Torpedoes (6)

Ship SP: 44

USS Voyager (30)

Jean-Luc Picard (6)

Flagship (0)

Montgomery Scott (5)

Hikaru Sulu (3)

Positron Beam (2)

Ship SP: 46

Total Build SP: 100

Generated by STAW Builder

http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Or

List Name

Resource: Flagship Klingon (10)

Vor'cha Class (26)

Martok (5)

Ship SP: 31

Negh'Var (30)

Worf (3)

Flagship (0)

Ship SP: 33

K'T'Inga Class (22)

Gowron (4)

Ship SP: 26

Total Build SP: 100

Generated by STAW Builder

http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Depending on how silly and brutal I feel like being…  The Dominion fleet is a possibility as well of course…  J…  Game time decision I guess.

Warmachine V2...

So, got in my first Warmachine/Hordes (Warmahordes) game last night…  So much vaguely familiar and forgotten, but overall it was quite good…  We only played 15 points each, so it was really quite a small game.  His army was just 3 figures.  Trollbloods, so a Warlock (I do not know their names), a Mauler and the big named Mauler character.  My own force was a lot different.  His was essentially “We have a Hulk”, counting on the HtH abilities of the big nasties.  I went with:

CPT Kraye

  Defender

  Charger

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages

ATGM CPT Adept

I focused not so much on “run over there and bash them” instead going more for an Ender “The Enemy Gate is Down” approach.  The Gun Mages all have the ability to shoot with their magic pistols and push things d3” out of the way, and if I roll a double, knock it down.  The Charger becomes “Light Cavalry”, so it can run for free, and has a 5” move after it activates.  Making it a great choice to move, shoot and then probably move back out of the way.  It has a decent shooting attack, but takes 2 Focus to run effectively.  The Defender is Cavalry, and with its 16” BFG shooting a POW 15 shot, it is a very long ranged threat and it is surprisingly effective with boosting against…  Well, whatever.  The Charger and Defender pretty well just won me the game last night with the Charger shooting and doing some damage to the Caster, with the BFG then hitting.  Since it did an additional 10 damage over and above the Caster’s armor, it would have killed him with the damage already done…  So, using the Warlock ability to shunt the damage to one of his Beasts…  But 10 damage almost takes out one of the Heavy Beast’s spirals.  Rolled the 5 for the “spirit” spiral, which is critical for the Beast’s effectiveness…  The Gun Mages then shot it, doing a few points, but more importantly, knocking it down and finishing off the Spirit Spiral…  So, in one turn the Warlock was wounded badly and one of the Beasts was crippled.  He charged his Mauler into my Defender, but it was too late really.  He hurt it badly, and threw it onto my GM CPT Adept, killing him instantly…  So, there was a casualty…  But CPT Kraye’s feat allows my Jacks to stand for free, I was in range to just stand and shoot again with the Defender’s BFG, the CPT’s carbine and the Charger…  Oh, and the Gun Mages…  So, he called it as it was obvious that the game was over and his Warlock was more or less set up for the end of "Butch and Sundance"...

So, a good start to my League run…  I will be able to finish up the painting of my models for more points…  Have to pay attention to the rules, points, etc…  Was surprised how many players there were J  Guessing this is where the 40K crowd went…  STAW planning I guess...  I may try to get in a 100 point game before Gen Con if possible to test the fleet I intend to bring there...  

Need to clean the Basement of Doom (tm), and clear off the painting desk to swap in for another table or something that will work a bit better...  But I have WAY too much sitting on the desk these days and too many things I want to get assembled and painted...  Imperial Knight, Wolf Terminators and Siege Breachers, now my Warmachine stuff to get touched up and finished...

Wolves stalking slowly, Warmachine and STAW

So, Wolves hit this week... And there is already a "supplemental codex", ie: DLC on day one.  So, painting guides and a few pages of rules for ANOTHER $50?  Sorry Dave, going to have to pass on this...  Still not seeing anything at all that brings the 7th Ed codex up to anything like the Generic Marines Codex in terms of leveling the field against the power armies.  Hell, the Marine book is pretty "eh" overall in that respect.  A few good options, but overall I think it has a difficult time coming up against one of the real power armies.  Plus side it does have Grav weapons to deal with the MCs.  Not seeing that with the Wolves yet.  Looks like they get some if not all of their magic spells back, but they seem weaker.  DNs, but those are "eh" at best still.

Was just down in the Basement of Doom (tm), and clearing off the table...  Some REALLY nice resin I picked up in trade, so Forgeworld Terminators being painted up in the old Legion colors along with the rest of my old "repaint" project for them...  Maybe I'll play them again i a few months or years...  Did get a bit of work done on my Knight.  Amazing model.  Just a bit annoying that the game has gone to this extreme that the big toys are really the only things that work...

Otherwise, gearing up for Warmachine tomorrow.  Haven't played since the beta of 2nd edition, and frankly I haven't a real clue what are the current "good" pieces.  Packed up the bag with my Cygnar stuff...  Well, most of it.  Sadly, I have more.  Stuff like this:
System: Warmachine
Faction: epic Caine - The Huntsman
Casters: 1/1
Points: 15/15
Tiers: 1
Captain Allister Caine (*5pts)
* Charger (4pts)
* Hunter (6pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
Gun Mage Captain Adept (2pts)

So, basically, the charge of the Trench-coat Brigade :-)  Nothing that does all that much damage, just mobile, accurate and should be fun to hit the field with...

STAW still going pretty strong locally.  Probably Gen Con next for me, so 100 point Joust fleets, followed by the Borg OP 2.  Thinking seriously about a Romulan build to throw out damage while being extremely survivable to outlast the other player.  The other options being a standard Klingon "Just Shoot Them" build with a swarm of high damage ships to die well and do a lot of damage on the way out...  Or a Dominion build somewhere between...  LOADS of damage potential, almost as much as the Klingons, just not as cheap...  Could be MUCH harder to kill though...  Some time though, so no hurry....

New Wolves... yea?

So far, the most enthusiasm I can muster is "Eh".  Looking at the leaked pages we have a so so flier that costs more than the Storm Raven, some DNs, a new "it's not Plasma" weapon....  So, looking like more of the same.

The Wolves were my first 40K army back in the late 80's, before they became space vikings who were afraid of "magic" like teleporters and other things that might make their role as a planetary assault Legion a bit easier...  Though, ironically, they never had a problem with actual magic per their extensive use of Rune Priests (Librarians).  So, I'm pretty disappointed that they seem to be looking like regular Marines with a few different options and without access to much of what makes the Marine Codex actually pretty good.  Seeing some reviews of "Murderfang" being so awesome, then reading the stats...  Well, obviously none of them play or play against Blood Angels where this is simply a named, unique Death Company DN...  More expensive and not as good...  And let's be honest the DNs are simply not good.  3 Hull Points to kill them instead of the 3-6 Wounds at a high T that the Tau/Eldar GK get with their MCs?  Just have to glance AV 12, really not that hard when you have say, a flying tank that shoots 4 twin linked S6 shots followed by d6 + 1 Str 7 twin linked (assuming at least one of the scatter laser shots hit) shots...  So, the DN's time on the field is limited at best.  The game as it stands now has passed the paradigm that the Marines as a whole are based on...

What exactly do I mean here...  Well, mulling it over the last few days/weeks it seems that 40K has become the game of Monstrous Creatures, Fliers and/or Super Heavies.  Not bringing or having a really good way to deal with the above means you are going to have a short and frustrating game...  Been assembling my Imperial Knight, have to admit I think it is going to be pretty darn powerful locally, probably on par with the Eldar Knights.  But with the new "unbound" ability to simply pick and choose whatever you want, all of it being scoring, it almost punishes you for bringing the frankly sub standard "Troops" to the field.  OK, not "almost", it really does punish you.  Marines specifically have expensive basic Troops.  Most of whom cannot even begin to harm the things that are hitting the field.  Sure, they can really hold Objectives, but only while they are alive.  Cover rules tightened up and there are so many things out there that either throw out so much firepower or simply ignore the 3+ save the Marine has...  A lot of armies frankly can do both.  The basic Marine Codex has the new Grav weapons that do a decent job dealing with the MCs and Vehicles overall, but of course, the Wolves do not get them...  They get a "cold" weapon that forces a STR test if you caused a Wound, else it dies...  Eh...  Maybe, but most of the things I am concerned about have Str 6+, T7+, so a long chain of things followed by a 6 (auto fail Str Test) on their part to remove a single MC...  Frankly, I'd rather have the Marine Centurion's uber Grav weapons and just shoot them off the table myself.  So, we have a nice new $50 book for the Wolves that completely fails to address the issues making any Marine based army sub standard, or at least as far as we can see before the book is fully released :-)...  Maybe I'll be surprised, but I am very much doubting it at this point...

So, found what I think are all of my old Warmachine minis...  Will try to wander out to at least observe some games...  Need to get updated cards for the things I know...  But given the amount of metal I found in the "Basement of Doom" I am fairly sure I could field a very sizable force immediately.  Now, not having played since last edition, not likely to be an effective one mind, but...

So, this week... STAW, 40K Wolves, etc...

So, the Borg OP 1 event is over and done… J  I did fairly well, with a solid second place…  Still not sure what to take against the Borg frankly.  I’ve come close to getting it with Federation and Dominion fleets.  I think the Klingons have the right tricks going against the Borg if they build their fleet with ONLY the Borg in mind.  I suspect the Dominion could throw out the amount and consistent levels of damage required to simply punch through the layers of shields and ablative armor….  REALLY liking the things available to modify the dice results on the Dominion fleets.  NOT liking the lack of maneuverability that they seem to have as their standard.  Didn’t make much difference in 2 of my three battles, the “tactic” of rush right at them and shoot like you are voting in Chicago (“Early and Often”) works well enough in general against the things that I can kill in that single exchange/volley.  Borg Cubes are not among the ships that I will likely be able to do this with.  Usually there is the “Feedback Pulse” which starts by nullifying an attack, with half of the damage being redirected BACK at the firer..  Probably a bit overpowered for the game as it stands now.  8 points is a lot, but to completely negate a strong attack?  Especially since it is virtually impossible to kill anything Borg in a single attack.  So, a lot of the ways I can think of to kill off the Borg involve disabling upgrades or lots of attacks, all of which are threats, but none overpoweringly so…  Klingon ships all get to the 5-6 Attack range without issue (OK, their “modern” ships of the line, support ships not so much, nor the TOS ships), so a “swarm” of 3-4 decent Klingon ships should be able to concentrate fire on a single target and expect to throw out the 15-24 Attack dice that should be able to deal with anything.  VERY different I think than the Star Wars version where the TIE swarms seem to be the build to beat.  The Klingons are good here, but not impossible to defeat in detail as you can maneuver fairly well and frankly the Klingon ships are NOT the most resilient.   Cloak can help against Torpedo boats, but there are ways to still fire Torpedoes at a cloaked ship…  And of course, you can simply fire your normal weapons.  Cloaked ships have no shields, so 3-5 Damage kills them off for the most part…  The Dice in this game are weighted to the Attack over the Defense with one more “Hit” result than “Evade” result on the dice themselves…  So, even assuming each side gets to throw 5 dice for their attack or defense, statistically the odds favor the attack.  And far more things that modify Attack than Defense so…   A little of the “Rock Paper Scissors” that most games seem to have where the thing that kills the “rock” of the Borg is vulnerable to something that cannot itself deal with the Borg…  J  Yeah, the “deck building” aspect of the game is one of the things I find more appealing… 

So, next game will likely be at Gen Con, I am signed up for one of the 100 point events, we’ll see…  Hoping to see demos of the Dragon version of the game and maybe pick up some of the previous exclusives…  We’ll see J…  Pack of Cloaked ships coming in at $40 might be something to snag…

Missed out on this week’s 40K game…  Wiped out and just not feeling up to playing after playing Sunday…  To be honest, 750 points is hard to actually play in any case.  Too many “gimmick” armies can do too well, and just not enough on the table to cover the “oops, I lose” roll with so few dice being rolled…  Looking like I’ll actually get my Knight finished up at some point.  I DO think it will be fun to play, and really not too hard for a prepared opponent to deal with.  Titans on the other hand might be more difficult for players not playing “slightly more aggressive” Marines like me…  Really liked how my Fleshtearers worked last game, if I remember to actually fire my weapons, you know ALL of them, it would probably have been an easy victory for me…  The DC DN dropping onto the Heavy Weapon Teams and only firing the Flame Thrower was a major “oops” J  The Melta and Magna Grapple would have each likely killed another Team leaving him without weapons realistically to take me down before I moved into his Infantry…  The other lads did well, just that 6 Marines can only kill so many before the odds catch up with you between Overwatch and CC… 

Wolves are next up, and based on the rumors so far, I am completely underwhelmed.  The ONE big consistent strength they had over the years was that their lads remembered that they could bring a rifle, close combat weapon AND a bloody sidearm.  If this goes away, I have a whole bunch of non-WYSIWYG minis in my army and frankly I am not so sure I’ll bother changing them.  Hell, the 30 Legions have this option, as do the Chaos Marines, so pulling it from the Wolves would likely be a deal breaker for me.  They’ll continue to be painted in their original Legion colors, not that silly baby blue crap and I’ll use them as a Legion list I guess.  They DO get a Flier, though it looks like the Cestus Assault craft, though only a single “hull”…  Rules sound “eh” so far, but I like it better than the Storm Raven…  Saying that, my conversion for a Storm Raven I do like, and it works well enough for me J…

Did dig up my old Warmachine things, I was somewhat surprised how many I have...  I did not remember them all, but there they are I guess...  Cleaning them off, mostly dusty, not damaged really...  No clue how many points in a modern game of course, but a lot of metal there...  Time to get some MKII cards and see about setting up a game or three with Joe and company to get the initial rounds of having my ass kicked to learn the hard way out of the way :-)...  Since I left the game near the top of the standings for most leagues, etc., good I think to be starting at the bottom and learning the correct way...

Diet and exercise moving along...  Getting up early to hit the weights and elliptical while my lovely wife rides her bike and hits the weight machine...  Seems to be a VERY good thing, regaining some of the strength I lost over the last year of not working out, etc...  Silly heart attack and other stresses...  But feeling pretty good these days :-)  And getting to work out with my wife is always a good thing...

Borg OP 1...

So, a few options for the OP starting this evening at the Gopher...

I call this "Fuck you, we brought a Battleship":
Dominion 90 Borg 5

4th Division Battleship (36)
Gul Dukat (5)
Remata'Klan (4)
Boheeka (2)
Photon Torpedoes (6)
Volley of Torpedoes (6)
Dorsal Weapons Array (3)
Shroud (1)
Ship SP: 63

5th Wing Patrol Ship (22)
Gelnon (3)
Breen Aide (2)
Ship SP: 27

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder
http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Turns like a tug boat, but if I wind up in a Joust with two ships I can fire a 7 dice Torpedo attack from the Volley and then a 9 (!!) dice attack at a second target which I do not need a Lock on...  So, Cloaked, whatever...  Boheeka should get at least one guaranteed hit, will likely have Battle Stations ready for that on one...  With a bit of luck, should be able to cripple or kill 2 ships and the other 2 ships are just there to keep things off my back...

This one is more balanced:

Dominion 90 Borg 1

Koranak (26)

Weyoun (5)

Breen Aide (1)

Remata'Klan (3)

Cloaking Device (4)

Ship SP: 39

4th Division Battleship (36)

Gul Dukat (5)

Boheeka (2)

Omet'Iklan (5)

Dorsal Weapons Array (3)

Ship SP: 51

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder

http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Two good ships, should throw out a lot of damage, the Kornak loaded out to surprise 2 ships from a cloak...  More likely the one I play if I go Dominion...

And a Federation build...

Fed Borg 2

USS Voyager (30)

Mr. Spock (4)

Adm. James T. Kirk (5)

Hikaru Sulu (3)

Pavel Chekov (3)

Ship SP: 45

U.S.S Enterprise-D (28)

Jean-Luc Picard (6)

Engage (3)

Dmitri Valtane (3)

Montgomery Scott (5)

Ship SP: 45

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder

http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Two good ships, the potential to mess up other folks combos with Admiral Kirk...  360 degree firing arcs, decent damage, and fast ships...  

NOT sure either can take down a fully loaded Borg ship, but they'll at least know they were in a fight and it will be fun to play...

First 7th Ed Escalation League and STAW Borg OP1...

So, guess I will be playing in the 40K League starting up tonight…  Something to kill time I guess.  Overall it does not look bad, but it is essentially the 6.5 version of the game that not only did not fix some of the VERY major issues, it introduces another set of “WTF” issues.  As long as no on brings the stupid broken crap, it will be fun, but I have to admit to having FAR less enthusiasm for this.  Tim is using the BAO rules verbatim, so…  Well, honestly not entirely sure WHAT that means at this point.  Not really seeing any major restrictions.  I guess I could put together my Spartan and run a few Land Raider class tanks across the table.  Playing Blood Angels (Fleshtearers), so I can bloody well drop my tanks right into their DZ.  So, looking at the 750 point level for the first few weeks I’ll likely bring:

Reclusiarch (Jump Pack)

Death Company (x5, Jump Packs, 2 with Power Weapons)

Death Company DN (Not sure which weapons, guessing the standard “I Don’t Care” CCW vs the “Claws of Eternal Combat”, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod)

Storm Raven (MM, TL LC)

So, LOW model count, but I think that with the Drop Pod AND the DN being super scoring (“Objective Secured”), having the flier and troops that simply do NOT run away…  Could null deploy, but risky as you still lose when you have nothing on the table at the end of any Game Turn…  But still…  Could be hilarious J… 

Like I said though, I have almost NO confidence that I can do much other than die with a book so badly outdated, but this is pretty much the opposite of the “standard meta” would say I should bring.  750 points is simply too small to try to cover more than the most basic stuff, hoping that it is a fun list that does not get swept or alternately sweep people off the field and give them the (mistaken) impression that the BA book is somehow overpowered J…

Sunday is the first month of the 6 month Borg OP event…  Looking at bringing either a Federation or Dominion fleet to the field, and leaning heavily toward the Federation…  With some of the things I have I can field:

Fed Borg 2

USS Voyager (30)

Mr. Spock (4)

Adm. James T. Kirk (5)

Hikaru Sulu (3)

Pavel Chekov (3)

Ship SP: 45

U.S.S Enterprise-D (28)

Jean-Luc Picard (6)

Engage (3)

Dmitri Valtane (3)

Montgomery Scott (5)

Ship SP: 45

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder

http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Gives me 2 pretty decent ships that can fire 360 degree arcs (if needed), repairs, good fast movement and a few tricks and frankly disposable upgrades to keep the Borg off my back for a bit while I deal with the opposing fleet…  We’ll see I guess J

7th ed 40K Escalation League and Borg OP for STAW

So, I guess I will see how silly the seventh edition is...  Not a lot else going on gaming wise at the moment, pick up games of STAW mostly...  Like I said I will likely break out my old Cygnar stuff to get in some games.  Cheap option as I have a really big force from first edition of that game...  Just not entirely sure where they all are in the Basement of Doom ™... I hesitate to think how much I spent on that game, though they did a good job getting cheap/free stuff to the Volunteers back in the old days...  Still, I suspect I can field quite a large force of them...

But back on target as the caffeine hits...  I think I will break out my Fleshtearers again.  They are just odd enough not many people currently playing remember them really and some of the rules in the current edition work well for them.  Yes, they are coated WAY high given their book was written two editions ago and early in that one I think...  Still, Deep Striking onto objectives and having the only things AFAIK that can Assault out of Reserve might make it possible to get in a few quick victories...  League rules for "fully painted" are a breeze as my lads have been repainted since their last book...  I think a few Vehicles need finishing but there will be a LONG time before we get to that level...  I know I have my Jump Troops (20+) and Sternguard ready with all of the HQ options I would use...  Death Company, more than I can field at this level, and "a few" Dreadnought options...  The Sanguinary Guard I picked up in a random trade are not painted but I am unlikely to use them...  Storm Raven is ready and it is still looking amazing in this edition I think...  I do not have the "real" model, just a mod I made, but it looks good I think...  So I am confident that I have a decent force for 1500 point battles...  And we will see I guess...

Have the Borg OP coming up in a few weeks at the Gopher, so looking at a few options for Fed and Dominion:

Dominion Borg 1

4th Division Battleship (36)
Gul Dukat (5)
Boheeka (2)
Omet'Iklan (5)
Dorsal Weapons Array (3)
Ship SP: 51

Koranak (26)
Gul Evek (2)
Remata'Klan (4)
Cloaking Device (4)
Tetryon Emissions (3)
Ship SP: 39

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder
http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

The BB can guarantee 2 hits with the Primary weapon...  Starting at 6 Dice, 7 at Range 1, seems like a fairly decent damage output for that.  The Cloaking Keldon class vessel has some potential to do a 5 Dice attack to 2 targets (6 at Range 1) from cloak...  Between the 2, I should be able to throw down a lot of damage to a few targets...  Like to kill one/turn if I can catch them...  And since those ships are among the fastest in the game...

Working on a Federation build as well....  Will make the "game time" decision I suppose WRT the build I use...  Locally, the TO is allowing us to bave a few builds ready so depending on the blind pull as we are playing "faction pure" otherwise...  No real advantage for the most part, but a lot of us would rather play that way than the "all stars" builds...

Motorcycle front...  Not a lot.  Vacation last week, catching up this week.  Need to get the Title straightened up for the Magna to sell that one.  Great bike, but not for me...  The Silverwing is still chugging along.  Hope to get the both sold and a Goldwing to replace, so we'll see I guess...

Vacation in MI, 40k and STAW...

Mkay, been in MI for the week...  Was fun and great being here with the family.  :-). Ready to get home though.  Missing the cats, dog and sleeping in a real bed....  Really missing the motorcycle as well...  So many going by here, and not helping that there are several really nice Goldwings for sale here.  Ah well :-)

Gaming wise, new 40k league starting Monday...  Looks like an escalation league.  Eh, not so sure, but lacking other games to play...  Might break out my Cygnar and see how they play these days...  Or just play the Crimson Fists for now.

40k was pretty dead for a while here.  I do not think that it was one person really...  I know several of the newer players were frustrated trying to play against the Tau player and the Necron/Chaos player...  Heck, the older players pretty well stopped playing when it became obvious that there were really only a few "power" armies...  Only one Eldar player actually used the power lists, and he was a fairly new player who changed away from it quickly after a few games.  Our older Eldar lads played "fluffy" forces that were powerful but not even close to over the top...  The new edition hit and chatting with Dave, GW sales at the store were pretty poor.  Too many of us in wait and see mode I think combined with the extremely high cost of the new books...  This coming right after several expansions that are now in the rulebook leaving several of us feeling like we were ripped off and burned by GW...  Feel bad not buying more, but honestly not so sure I will buy more 40k stuff ever again...  Well until the next shiny thing at least :-)

STAW is coming along...  Next OP event is the 20th, and really looking forward to that...  New stuff to buy when I get back :-). Battleship and Battle Cruiser hit, along with an Enterprise refit...  Will not play Borg, so no interest in that...  But the game is a LOT of fun to play...  Really kind of looking forward to the Dragons version of the game...  Will be hitting Gen Con for one day this year, and hopefully it will be demonstrated there...

STAW and 40K... Which will last?

So, looking at the local scene it would appear that 40k is pretty much dead.  Again, this is just locally at the one store I go to.  Lots of us HAVE armies, but not a lot of new folks coming out to play, and not a lot being purchased.  This is more important to the Store of course with the realities of running a business and all... Our normal Monday night for 40k would appear to be dead or dying, so it will likely become something else which presumably draws more business for the store.  Miniatures night perhaps?  I find myself playing STAW pretty much every week now...  Will probably break out the old Warmachine minis and see how Cygnar plays these days...  Might be a few weeks though as off to Chicago this weekend and next week is Tolono Fun Day followed by a trip to some mysterious island in Lake Michigan the next week...  Of course there is some big couch thing arriving at some point in there...  

So a few weeks off at least, but it does seem that Warmahordes is taking the empty slot that Warhammer used to fill...   Looks like PP's game is growing rapidly again, and the big groups of people playing it seem to point to that being the longer term success of the system.  Now, I do not know if GW has killed 40K or not, but with the really expensive rulebook right after a bunch of other expensive books that did their level best to unbalance and destroy the system?  So far it is looking "not so good" for GW...  But then this has happened before locally.  There was a time when no Warhammer of any type was played, Confrontation and Warmachine were huge and things looked pretty good.  Not to say there were no problems.  I was the "Press Ganger" for PP at the time here and my first Tournament for Warmachine saw 12 players...  Not bad for a small local event in a new system.  Problem was 9 of them had the same Warcaster and essentially the same army.  9 Khador forces led out by Sorsha ?  So, it only took a little time before the sheer unbalance of that particular character became obvious, and to PP's credit, they fixed it...  

Looking over my STAW stuff, I have a few more ships I'll likely pick up...  Liking the Cardassian ships overall, but the Vulcans look amazing...  We'll see, unfortunately one of the 2 Vulcan ships is a prize next month...  Been pretty darn lucky and ended up with most of the prize ships for the months I have played.  So, yes, figured out the game pretty quickly.  It is a lot of fun.

Motorcycles...  Still need to straighten out the title for the Magna then sell it.  Then the Silverwing...  The Wing is running well, but really wanting to swap up to a Goldwing...  Most likely next year at this point though.

Star Trek Attack Wing event Sunday

So, narrowing down the fleets to run on Sat for the "Arena" event...  Essentially there are two games going on here.  Starting on turn one, your highest skill CPT gets teleported to the Planet to fight there in a bit...  Turn three all remaining Captains go, and the Space battle is suspended.  You can gather resources on the Planet if you have a ship able to stay close and expend actions before the Space battle suspends...  So, your first 2 Captains might have tokens they can spend to roll more dice each round of the Arena fight.  Big advantage rolling 6 dice vs 3 dice...  Captains can take damage equal to their Skill, so Jean Luck Picard takes 9 to kill while the Generic ones take only one point...  This continues until one side is left, and they get to reset the Space battle, placing every Ship, etc...  Mines however do not carry over, so the Cloaked Mines are less terrifying.  My initial thought was to run a big Torpedo boat, a second small ship and Fighters all Federation...  Jean Luck, Kirk as Captains to max out at 18 damage points...  Still might, but the Fighters do not have a Captain, so I would be in danger of conceding that part of the battle with only the two Captains.  I suppose it is not all THAT much better with 3 Captains fighting, but I am looking at the lists below with 20-24 points.  And I need to have a Fleet that is able to take on all comers.  The swarm of 4-6 of the smallest ships just to win the Captain's Battle?  Not really as much of a thing now that the rules have been updated to not completely screw over any non Borg that loses the battle on the Planet...  But still, I think a "swarm" of 3-5 decent smaller ships loaded out with high Skill CPTs might be a thing.  The Klingon "we shoot things" fleet like one I am considering is always a good one.  And of course the Borg.  So, first I have a Faction Pure Klingon fleet:

List Name "We Shoot Things"

Resource: Flagship Klingon (10)

Vor'cha Class (26)
Koloth (4)
Ship SP: 30

K'T'Inga Class (22)
Martok (5)
Flagship (0)
Ship SP: 27

Negh'Var (30)
Worf (3)
Ship SP: 33

Total Build SP: 100

Generated by STAW Builder
http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Nothing really subtle.  Martok's ship being the Flagship and his own action gift for the first turn should get me up 4 straight at the enemy while Cloaking.  Probably do a Sensor Echo to maneuver a bit as needed, but doubtful anything will be in range unless someone brings a 6 forward ship...  But I intend to park in orbit and own the Planet from the beginning.  I WANT to be at close range with my ships to punish anyone trying to support their Captains while I spend actions supporting mine.  Barring some really odd "uber" DN type build, and frankly even that...  I have some 15-18 dice of Attack in the fleet, with re-rolls and modifiers to get more Hits...  Should be able to damage severely or destroy just about any single ship with a coordinated attack.  Cloaked fleets, either a swarm of cheap Romulan vessels or a mirror Fleet?  Guess it comes down to rolling as I should be attacking near the top of the turn...  But 5-6 Attack dice/ship should get enough hits to cause concern for even the best Cloaked ships...  Using the named Negh'Var for the potential free shot to bring down a few Shields with it's Action...  NOT an Attack, so does not cause me to lose Cloak and while it only Disables Shields (roll 3 Attack Dice, hit/crit disables shields)...  Hitting just before the Shooting phase?  Works for me, as I am just trying to kill their ships, this is like a Mine attack in the short term.  And with this much firepower, short term is pretty much it...

List Name: Random Stuff

USS Voyager (30)
Jean-Luc Picard (6)
Montgomery Scott (5)
Antimatter Mines (5)
Ship SP: 46

IRW Gal Gath'Thong (18)
Toreth (4)
Plasma Torpedoes (5)
Ship SP: 27

K'T'Inga Class (22)
Martok (5)
Ship SP: 27

Total Build SP: 100

Generated by STAW Builder
http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

More random, the Voyager being the "Heavy Cruiser" here with Picard and Scott to provide actions and boosts.  360 arc and the AM mines are a huge threat to Cloakers or people trying to swarm me...  The Gal Gath'Thong with its ability to fire a Plasma Torpedo without a Target Lock is just there for damage potential and survivability.  Since a Lock is not required, I find a lot of folks counting on Cloak to protect them are surprised that the Plasma Torpedo can be fired at them...  The Torpedo provides it's own re-rolls and the CPT turns a hit to a critical...  Pretty rough on a Cloaked ship as they have no shields up.  The K'T'Inga with Martok are just there to provide more support and it is a pretty decent if fragile ship.  With 24 points for the Captain's Battle, I should do fairly well, even if I do have to be a bit more cautious...

Not sure what I will end up bringing.  The winner of last Months event ran a 3 Vor'Cha Klingon build for the application of the maximum firepower effect...  Worked against everything, even the Borg.  Guessing he will bring something similar.  The 2 Borg spheres are going to be tough if they show up...  Federation builds I think are pretty severely hampered in this one, though you CAN have a large number of high Skill CPTs.  But the ships themselves by and large are not suited for a toe to toe slugfest.  Dominion might be a challenge with the rules revision...  Romulans do not appear overly popular locally other than the TO and myself :-)...  Guess I'll see what comes up and probably won't make a decision until then :-)...  Heck, my "Standard" Fed build with the tooled out Excelsior might even be fun to play...

40K Seventh seen in action, more STAW...

So...  I have not played seventh edition 40k yet, but watched several games of it played out.  Looking pretty good so far.  Super heavy vehicles and Titans roaming the field.  So, very much like the last edition at 5he end really.  Psychics seemed good, not overcosted or overpowering...  Should note however that while I did see several Psychers on the tables, no one was bringing anything like a Demon force set to summon more hordes...  Guessing that will be game breaking.  Also, no good answer for the fliers, especially MCs...  So, not bad really, but still no fixes for some of the things I had concerns about in the old edition.  So, sticking with the wait and see...

Played out a few more STAW games...  Traded a Tholian ship for the USS Sutherland.  Neat, but I found myself wanting to have the fire arcs of the USS Excelsior...  The Sutherland is decent, but lacking the rear arc and wide front arc...  And of course, turning like a tug boat :-)....  Destroyed ships of comparable size in a single shot several times, then died or almost died trying to line up a second shot.  Montgomery Scott onboard helps immensely though...  Shields repaired on turns I did not have a shot lined up kept the ship in action much longer than it should have been...  Neat, but had I been able to shoot, the need for repairs would not have been there with Quantum Torpedoes boosted by Mr Scott's ability.  Not going to destroy a Borg ship or a Battleship with a single shot, but the potential for 8 hits each turn is nice...  Got to see the Helmsman card in action as well...  REALLY nice on the Dominion Battleship.  Tight turn and while you lose a turn or two of actions, but range one with 7+ dice on the attack and passive abilities to make more hits, etc.?  Brutal, and well worth it I think...  Well, for those ships at least.  Not so sure it would work for my ships...

Going forward, the Gorn Arena is in a few weeks...  100 points, no other real limits IIRC...  Guessing that my Fed fleet will do fairly well.  USS Miranda looks good, USS Excelsior perhaps?  Maybe a third ship?  Stripped down probably, I like the old Romulans War Eagle with Plasma Torpedoes...  But need a way to take down other cloaked fleets...

On the Home front...  the living room was painted over the weekend before the delivery of the uber TV tomorrow...  Couches "soon" I guess.  So, having to get rid of older couches etc...  Fixed one bike, need to fix and get the title straightened out on the Magna to sell them both.  Annoying seeing lots of nice Goldwings for sale pretty cheap, but stuck with the poor decision that the Magna was all around.  Ah well.  Lesson learned.  And need to find someone who knows the legalities of title transfers, etc...  Mostly just want the bloody thing gone at this point, no room for the 2 bikes really, and getting a "new" (yes, 81-87 Goldwing) bike cannot happen until I get rid of the current ones...

400th post... 7th Ed 40K and STAW

So...  Reading over the seventh edition stuff...  Not a lot has changed.  At least not for the better.  I could easily be wrong, but being pretty good with the Math and probabilities I am seeing a lot of parallels between 40k and STAW in some areas. 

Psychic phase/Magic phase...  Pulled directly from Fantasy.  Probably needed, and it does simplify some things.  Problem is that it becomes TOO powerful is your army is built to take advantage of it.  Chaos and Demons specifically are poised to become the new power army I think.  We already had Demons with a flying circus being difficult to deal with, add in Psychics that make them even more powerful?  Yes, you CAN try to block the powers, but blocking a blessing?  Roll lots of 6's.  Not just enough to cause the power to fail, you have to block them ALL.  4's to cast, can use as many dice as you have, 6's being bad in pairs for the Perils.  So, the odds of stopping a powerful blessing or other non targeted spell are ridiculously low.  This was the one major parallel I saw, Offense focused and Defense while technically possible is with significantly lower odds...  So, in STAW the things like generic Klingon builds are really powerful...  I am seeing this trend in 40k here I think. 

As I said, only a brief reading of the rules, but I may have missed something regarding saving warp charges perhaps?  The Eldar with the Farseer ghost helm being the one defense against Perils...  Great during the Psychic phase, but what about when they get hit by the GK missiles causing Perils?  Seems like that would have been a hard counter to the Seer Star, and it looks better now...
Fliers seem better than ever, and armies without good fliers of their own are still hosed.  Everything scoring is neat, but no real major bonus to the sub standard Troops I see.  Thinking specifically of the Marine Tactical Squads.  Brand new codex, new rule set and really they are probably the worst basic troopers in the game, at least of the armies I play.

So far I am not seeing a lot to say I should come back and play 40k or even frankly buy the $80+ rulebooks.  Could I build brutal and competitive armies with what I have?  Yes.  The Eldar are still probably the army to beat IMO.  The Grey Knights I think are going to come back as a powerful force.  Guard still spam metric craptons of dice so they will still be effective.  I can now mix and match if I want to more than before...  So the powerful forces become more powerful. 

The armies I see losing in this edition are my Fleshtearers, Wolves, DA and Crimson Fists/Marines...  The change to "everything scores" eliminated the small advantage the BA had with different Troop types.  And of course, Death Company still do not score.  Wolves are once again two full editions behind and it shows.  Not that the Marines are much better off...  Yes, they do have AA options and Grav weaponry but overall pretty lackluster.  White Scar bikers I guess are pretty good, but the DA are still craptastic...  DA Terminators are still "eh" at best until they run into an Eldar force, then they are just expensive casualties...  2+ armor and to an extent 3+ armor is still vastly overcosted given the proliferation of low AP weapons and rending... 

So, locally and in a somewhat closed environment, I will still play I guess in a bit when things shake out...  Guessing that there will be some FAQ changes to hit soon, I want to see how that all shakes out....  But overall I am not finding myself all that interested in playing the game at this point...  And as I was writing this, the FAQs got released...  The Wolves got completely hosed, losing the ONE thing that made them worth bringing (Rune Priests)...  Oh well, maybe when their book gets released in a few Months...  GK and BA are "eh" still...  Really not a lot changed for my armies in the FAQ other than the Wolves dropping out of the "maybe I'll use them against the Demonic Hordes I anticipate"...


STAW on the other hand...  And now X-Wing...  Those are interesting to me...  STAW especially with the deck building aspect and loads of options.  This summer there is a big OP event, yes it will be blind buy but looking like some fun ships...  Will be a PITA getting them unless the local store can order more kits...  Betting that the locals would buy/play more events to get the ships for their faction...  Well, at least I would :-). And I would be willing to run an event if the main Volunteer were wanting to play in one or was not available...  Probably against WK policy to simply take up a collection and order more kits...  I know I am going to want to pick up the Federation, Klingon and Romulan ships at the least...  Looking like a War Eagle ("Bird of Prey" for the non SFB folks) hitting for the Romulans.  If this holds probably a Miranda class for the Federation?  Not sure for the Klingons but hoping for a K'Tinga or B'Rel class ship...  30 points for the sealed portion to go with the 90 point build supplied by the player...  Hoping the Klingon is NOT a D-7...  Lacking the Cloak, they are pretty bad in this system compared to their SFB roots at least...  In any case I have my Federation and Klingon fleets pretty well set now, and I even have a basic Rebel force for X-Wing...  Hear there is an event Saturday, but much going on at home so will be less likely to go out to play...

7th Ed 40K, STAW upcoming, etc...

Well, it seems that the bulk of the “7^th Edition” stuff has made it to the rumor circuit…  It looks VERY much like 6.5^th edition as not a lot has changed…  Assuming the rumors are true, but as people are claiming to have the book in hand now I suspect that they are not rumors, but leaks at this point.  New Psychic phase…  Good I guess, I was always concerned about forgetting some silly power or the like as they were all over the place with “must be cast at the beginning of ‘x’ phase” or whenever…  Now, no more worries about that.  And there is the chance of actually stopping other powers…  Good also.  Got a bit old if you fielded say, a race/army without Psychics at all, knowing you could not stop much of anything unless you brought something from 5^th Edition like a Wolf Rune Priest to mess with them…  ICs no longer allowed to join MCs…  Should NEVER have happened, stupid loophole/oversight that a quick errata in the FAQ would have fixed with about 30 seconds of typing 2 years ago…  But I guess they might not have sold as many Tau Riptides if people couldn’t attach Tau Commanders and drones to make mini Uber units to combine a bunch of rules (USR) and wound allocation silliness..  Whatever, that alone drove a few players away from the game locally, so I KNOW it cost the local store/GW a bit, and it kind of confirmed that GW really wasn’t interested in fixing the 6^th edition of the game. 

There are a few locals who are excited about and interested in seeing what the new edition brings…  I think there are a LOT more of us who are in the cautiously waiting mode.  And with this being an expensive rulebook to start only 2 bloody years after the last one?  I don’t know, I do not think I will be picking it up.  Certainly NOT initially.  I can wait for the small rulebook in the “rumored” new box set coming out in a few months.  Yes, I have all of the previous ones on a bookshelf in my basement of doom, but I have to say I am simply not all that interested in spending another $80+ to get a small rulebook that fixes a few things (we all hope) that should have been done as errata/FAQ entries by any other company.  Yes, I would get the “fluff” book and modeling book…  Woo hoo?  Been playing the game since 87-88, and having most of their previous stuff…  Nothing new there for me. 

Locally, 40K has almost died out as more and more of us are getting into the “wait and see” mode…  No one is dumping their stuff…  Well, one player DID dump his Marines, but going to Chaos Demons…  But not a lot of new sales for the store, and not many people playing on “40K night”…  Me, I am pretty set on playing Star Trek attack Wing (STAW), or X-Wing now, so that’s what I will likely bring out to play when I do come out to play…  Have to say I am actually enjoying the game a lot and there are no stupidly overpowered combos in the game that I have seen…  So the effect of “Well, the Eldar are just more powerful”…  The Borg are the closest thing, but even they are limited by the same mechanics that the rest of the factions use…  It does not feel rushed to market with obvious loopholes to be exploited.  Seeing the winning builds on a much smaller scale admittedly, there does appear to be a LOT more variation WRT the winning builds.  Reading the AARs from some of the bigger 40K Tournaments it really does come down to a handful of armies in the top tier battling out for the top spots and with few exceptions everything else fighting over the scraps. 

Locally, we had a Klingon fleet sweep the Tholian Web OP, beating out the Borg Spheres…  Not subtle, but the approach of “rush forward and throw a lot of Attack Dice at the problem” does seem to work here…  Looking at next Month’s event, the battle on the planet with CPT vs CPT does seem interesting, and looks like there is some “optimum” number of CPTs to bring…  Them going to the Planet starting at the end of Turn one for the highest skill one, then Turn two for the next and the rest on Turn three…  One ship builds would have only the one CPT fighting, and so even a 9 Skill would lose I think as nowhere else to put incoming damage…  Realistically, I think it would be at most 5 CPTs in a fleet…  The CHEAPEST ship being 12 points, so theoretically 8 ships but they are pretty bad and all Skill 1 CPTs?  When the Battle occurs on the Planet, playing 3 I can virtually guarantee having the only CPTs with Resources so rolling 6 Attack Dice vs the 3 of the other CPTs, and with mine hitting first, turn one should be 3 dead CPTs for him, one of mine wounded, etc…  So, by the third turn or so I suspect I would sweep the field and not lose anyone…  That assumed I do not off any of the ships before the battle.  Small ships would be vulnerable to being destroyed before the Planet battle, so keeping the numbers down that way seems a great idea as well…  Borg needless to say would perform “poorly” on the 1 on 1 battles as their CPTs are not very good overall…    My own builds will be most likely 3 ships with Picard on either the Enterprise-D or the Excelsior…  Trying to trade for a Sutherland, but J…  Ships will be Faction Pure, but a mixed or Allied fleet…  Romulans for the Cloaked Mines that I feel will be brutal to weaker ships trying to swarm me and Klingons for the “We’re just here to hit something” effect they bring…  And the Antimatter Mines on the Federation Ship or perhaps one of the Torpedoes?  AM mines are insanely good against Cloaked ships, Torpedoes could allow me to snipe away even ships of the line before the CPT battle on the Planet…  Or finish things in the end phase…  This of course assumes that the game is 100 points and that I can actually attend J…

Vacations this year!  Wandering up to MI with my amazing wife to hang out on some island (Mackinaw)…  After Fun Day in Tolono at Chappellheim…  Then Gen Con in August for that Saturday…  Should be interesting at least… 

Still selling 2 Motorcycles if anyone local is looking…   And a largish number of random old firearms as I try to get a nice 81-87 Honda Gold Wing bike for myself…  Something in the 1100 to 1200 cc range for engine size, nice highway pegs for longer rides, and hard saddlebags that I can put my laptop and game stuff into…  The trunk I am less interested in at the moment, no long road trips and I can put the seat back on with the attached backpack for additional cargo if needed…  REALLY just wanting a nice reliable bike somewhere between the Magna’s high speed/power and the Silverwing’s low power high efficiency that it has going…  The Wing is a good, solid bike but I cannot stretch out my legs nor can I safely take it out onto an Interstate near say, Chicago where the required speed would be in the 75-85 range to be safe riding there…

STAW: Tholian Web AAR

So...  Wound up playing at the Gopher last night...  My list was:

Resource: Federation Attack Fighters (20)

U.S.S Excelsior (26)
Jean-Luc Picard (6)
Montgomery Scott (5)
Tuvok (5)
Lojour (2)
Quantum Torpedoes (6)
The Doctor (3)
Ship SP: 53

USS Voyager (30)
James T. Kirk (6)
Cheat Death (3)
Pavel Chekov (3)
Antimatter Mines (5)
Ship SP: 47

Total Build SP: 120

Generated by STAW Builder
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Went 1-2 but wound up getting the Tholian ship prize for 2nd place or Fellowship as I was voted the favorite opponent by all three of my opponents...  Not bad.  Game one Tim had a fairly similar list with the Defiant replacing my Voyager and his Voyager replacing my Excelsior.  He ran with the Transhasic Torpedoes which are Voyager only and a one shot.  The one shot IS 10 dice, but...  My Quantum Torpedoes could be fired every turn for a potential 9 hits, so I felt it was a better build.  Essentially, his T Torpedoes whiffed on the initial and only shot they had, and my 2 Skill 9 CPTs destroyed his ship before he could react.  My Torpedoes hit well and Kirk got to range 1, so...  His Defiant was cloaked trying to lay mines, but my own mines hit him the next turn and the Fighters finished off the ship.  The AM Mines are brutal against Cloaked ships...  So, it was a VERY quick game with both of us mostly just rushing to range and shooting it out.

Game 2 was my first encounter with the Borg...  Kevin made a nice 2 sphere list, and I have to admit it was fun playing against it.  My Torpedoes whiffed this time, and the Excelsior did not survive the experience as both Spheres hit it.  The Voyager lasted a bit longer and the Fighters were pretty good, but it was a losing battle at that point of course...  BIG mistake was forgetting that the Voyager's 360 firing arc is only range 1-2, so I lined up what I thought was a good shot that might have taken down one Sphere and...  Nope, no shot because it was range 3...  Oops...

Game 3 was against a Klingon build with 3 Vor Cha class Cruisers and Hideki Fighters.  The fighters should have been my first target as I did not realize they got big bonuses as long as they had taken no damage...  But 3 Cloaked 5 Attack ships with Battle Stations via "Defense Condition One" cards meant that there were a LOT of Offensive dice being thrown, and Cloaked they could not be locked on for Torpedoes...  My ships lasted a bit longer, but in the end, Lon played quite well and destroyed my fleet in pieces...  I DID severely damage a few of his ships, catching 2 in the AM Mines and just trying to shoot through the Cloaks...

What did I learn?  The firing the Torpedo every turn trick is "neat", but honestly I think I would modify my build.  Tuvok will be replaced with Spock.  5 points for the +1 dice on a Secondary weapon is not worth it I am thinking.  Spock would have turned my whiffed shots into a significant hit (I hit the Borg for all of 2 hits on my one Torpedo shot, the 3-4 BS I rolled would have been REALLY nice).  Scott was good, and I think he stays.  The AM Mines are awesome and they will I think become a more standard loadout.  Cheat Death was "Eh"...  Every fleet I lost to had multiple ships all pounding Kirk's ship, so he lived for a brief moment longer...

So, some adjustment on the builds I think, but overall I do think I did fairly well.  The Borg were REALLY powerful, but more so with the shrinking field, keeping at range I think I could deal with Faction Pure builds for now...  The Cube coming up might present a challenge...  The Klingon builds with the overwhelming number of Attack dice?  As it happened no one that I saw brought Romulans and Cloaked Mines...  Would have made it more interesting.  The Klingons are the one that I saw defeat the Borg with simple weight of fire.  Rush to range 1, some 25 or so dice being rolled before the Borg can fire?  Battle Stations and Target Locks for re-rolls, and conversion of BS results?  Pretty brutal and straightforward :-)...

Star Trek Attack Wing Thollian Web OP tonight

So, Excelsior loaded out with:

CPT Picard
Montgomery Scott
Quantum Torpedoes
And either:
Tuvok, Lojour and the Doctor for the ability to fire a Torpedo every turn…  Pretty good, and with Tuvok it has the potential of 9 hits.  Potential, but the odds are really not that good I think.

Or:
Spock, Navigational Deflector …  With the probably free Scan action, I get the Battlestations turned over to Hits for free and since I am bound I think to find a LOT of mines in some builds.  I give up the potential for that 9th hit, but I get more actual hits overall I think…  And overall I would say no to this build, but in this one specific event with the Thollian Web being what it is?

Both lack what I think might be the critical re-roll ability…  Moving from CPT Picard to say, Sisko gives me some re-roll ability but Skill 9 and the Free Action are really quite good…


Kind of weird, making one of the older style (TOS) ships essentially my Flagship, but I am finding it to be a pretty good ship overall…  The ability to one shot a lot of other “ships of the line” is really quite nice…  I am not so sure cloaking is dead, but there are now a fair number of things that can remove it…  The Voyager is quite nice as a solid ship but I think it lacks a bit for me to make it my main ship for a fleet build.  The Reliant and Miranda Class ships are good solid second line or support ships, but I am not convinced that the swarm is the way to win a timed event…  

I have a few builds in mind, but since the event is in a few hours....  Looks like the Fed Fighters and the combo of the Excelsior and Voyager being run by CPTs Picard and Kirk...  Simple enough and I DO like the Torpedo boat thing.  Next event will likely be a swarm thing.

Signed up for Gen Con, going Saturday and playing in at least one of these events there...  Looks like it will be fun :-)

Attack Wing and 7th is official for 40K...

My current builds are based more or less on the Excelsior loaded out with:

CPT Picard

Montgomery Scott

Quantum Torpedoes

And either:

Tuvok, Lojour and the Doctor for the ability to fire a Torpedo every turn…  Pretty good, and with Tuvok it has the potential of 9 hits.  Potential, but the odds are really not that good I think.

Or:

Spock, Navigational Deflector …  With the probably free Scan action, I get the Battlestations turned over to Hits for free and since I am bound I think to find a LOT of mines in some builds for this OP event.  I give up the potential for that 9^th hit, but I get more actual hits overall I think…  And overall I would say no to this build, but in this one specific event with the Thollian Web being what it is?  In general I would go with the first and add the Flagship for free target lock or evade and Worf for the re-rolls...  But then the ship comes to over 60 points..  Fun, yes...  Competitive against a top tier fleet?  I doubt it, or at least not more than once...  I surprised the first guy I played, getting 9 hits in with the re-rolls and Battlestations, but I would expect him to be aware of this going forward...  

Both lack what I think might be the critical re-roll ability…  Moving from CPT Picard to say, Sisko gives me some re-roll ability but Skill 9 and the Free Action are really quite good…

Kind of weird, making one of the older style (TOS) ships essentially my Flagship, but I am finding it to be a pretty good ship overall…  The ability to one shot a lot of other “ships of the line” is really quite nice…  I am not so sure cloaking is dead, but there are now a fair number of things that can remove it…  The Voyager is quite nice as a solid ship but I think it lacks a bit for me to make it my main ship for a fleet build.  The Reliant and Miranda Class ships are good solid second line or support ships, but I am not convinced that the swarm is the way to win a timed event…

Oh, and 7th Edition was unofficially announced by Jervis Johnson on YouTube...  "Eh" is the best responce I have for it at the moment.  Apparently it will be much like the 2nd edition box set with the little rule book, etc...  Surprisingly I do not need more frelling miniatures and would just want to buy the damn rulebook.  Saying that, I do NOT want another $80+ coffee table book.  Just send out the $20 paperback that I can fit into the luggage of my bike...  Or an electronic copy for my tablet/laptop...  The more I am hearing about the new edition and the changes, the more I am glad I am playing STAW and will likely sit out for a bit to see how it shakes out...

Oh, and There are going to be STAW events at Gencon this year!  Looking like we will be there Saturday, so I'll be trying to get a seat in one of the events being run there...  Should be interesting at least...

Star Trek Attack Wing next week...

So, with the Thollian Web OP being moved from this Sunday (Mother’s Day) to next Sunday…  J  I get to play without risking my amazing wife’s wrath for going out to play with my wee toys on that particular day… 

So, playing Federation I think…  My Klingons are REALLY good at maneuver and fire, hitting hard and moving away.  This particular scenario however being one that has a shrinking playable area as the Web closes, finally getting to a 12”x12” area.  I could I suppose go for the “kill them by Turn 3 hope with the Klingons, but killing 120 points of ships if they are not also rushing right at me might be problematic.  And the Cloaked Mines are going to be absolutely brutal to any ship relying on Cloaks and the defense bonus they grant.  As it will be “Ship Faction Pure”, I cannot put the Cloaking Mines onto a non Romulan ship, so that limits what I will potentially face I think.  The ONLY real defense against the CMs is either a Scan action or the Navigational Deflectors the Federation has…  Klingons and Romulans for the most part cannot Scan, so that would be one of the likely matchups that I think would go VERY poorly for the Cloaking Fleets. 

The other big problematic matchup would be the Borg.  Honestly I do not really have a particular plan for this or a realistic clue what to do having never actually faced them.  Big, expensive ships.  No real Defense, just hard to kill/damage.  And of course they have things that can take your upgrades and use them against you.  Ablative Shields being one of their upgrades for an additional 4 hits being eaten without actually damaging the Sphere…  10 points, and eats up one of their 2 “Borg” upgrades.  Good, I would think but nothing that would survive long against an equivalent ship.  Plus side for them is they get to keep their impressive Shields up (7 for the named ship, 6 for the generic) and the 7 Hull before being removed.  Can regenerate as well, so damage must be quick and fairly massive to kill them before their impressive attacks kill you…  They do also have a Feedback card that completely negates one attack…  Oh, and half of the damage rounded down hits the Attacker.  Only the Named Borg ship can carry it, so really only have to worry about it there I guess.  Defense against a nasty Alpha Strike, and would suck for my kitted out torpedo boat (USS Excelsior) if I hit them with the fully boosted Torpedoes for 8-9 hits…  Wouldn’t kill it outright, but guessing the follow-up attack from the Sphere would.  So, will I think have to change my fleet build, or at least be aware of this possibility.

Looking at either:

List Name:  Torpedoes Away!

Resource: Federation Attack Fighters (20)

U.S.S Excelsior (26)

Jean-Luc Picard (6)

Montgomery Scott (5)

Tuvok (5)

Lojour (2)

Quantum Torpedoes (6)

The Doctor (3)

Ship SP: 53

USS Voyager (30)

James T. Kirk (6)

Cheat Death (3)

Pavel Chekov (3)

Antimatter Mines (5)

Ship SP: 47

Total Build SP: 120

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Or:

List Name: Federation Swarm!

Resource: Federation Attack Fighters (20)

U.S.S. Reliant (20)

Rudolph Ransom (2)

Photon Torpedoes (3)

Ship SP: 25

USS Voyager (30)

Jean-Luc Picard (6)

Ship SP: 36

U.S.S Enterprise-D (28)

James T. Kirk (6)

Antimatter Mines (5)

Ship SP: 39

Total Build SP: 120

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With the second build being one I am still mulling over the pieces…  NEED Chekov to run the Voyager at full effect, so that will definitely change and therefore be a target for the Borg Assimilation Tubes to steal him…  The Reliant I am also not sold on here for the cost…  Could I think bring a Klingon or Romulan ship as a dedicated Torpedo boat/minelayer…  So the second one is really just the first draft…

With either, I have the Voyager for its forward 6 move to get me close enough to the center to make the best placement of the Cloaked mines impossible for Turn 2…  Still will be possible to put one in the Web so I will have to be careful, but I will not be hitting them every damn turn.  The AM Mines might get swapped for the Navigational Deflectors, dunno…  The Defense bonus IS nice, but dropping the AM Mines onto a Cloaked ship has a decent chance to outright destroy the smaller ones…  Really only the bigger Romulan ships with their 6 Hull not in danger of outright death there.   So, overall the Offense is more powerful I think.

Kind of a running theme with the whole game if you look at it.  Many of the ships have the ability to throw 5+ Attack dice with even the weakest throwing 2 (3 at range 1)…  Most ships have only a single Agility to dodge for the 1 Defense die.  More agile ships have 2 and of course Cloak grants +4 and Range 3 for Primary Weapons grant another +1…  So, I HAVE had a Klingon ship throwing 7 Defense dice and dodged a lot of incoming fire.  That is very much the exception.  And now there are things that either outright remove Cloaks or ignore them to worry about…  But essentially, Offense FAR outweighs Defense in this game in general.  Why the Klingons were the more powerful faction for a bit there hitting harder and not really relying on many tricks.  Now I think the Borg are that obviously powerful faction.  Only one ship at the moment, so hard really to say, but given the fictional universe and their place in it…  Guessing they will be a difficult one to face.  So, I am mostly focusing on more offensive minded Federation builds myself, seems to be working well enough for me…

New 40K edition "eh", Star Trek and Motorcycles...

So…  New edition of 40K coming out after 2 years.  Not sure if it is “7^th” or “6.5” or “6^th revised”, and frankly it does not matter to me.  I think I can sum up my thoughts in a single word: “Disappointing”.  Now, I am reserving final judgment of course, but for the most part my 40K stuff is going back into storage I think.  A shame, overall the game is actually quite good and the new books were balanced and decent…  I say overall because there were the few “WTF” moment things that just make the game completely broken if and only if people play those broken things.  Problem being, it really only takes one or a small number of folks taking the “optimized” lists and units to break it for everyone.  And of course when there is money on the table in the form of prize support, etc. then you really have to be prepared for the most broken things to be fielded.  We’ve seen the Allies hit and really break the game through the USR interactions with Battle Brothers as well as breaking the FOC (“Force Org Chart”, I’ll keep using those silly military acronyms) allowing many armies to field the bare minimum “Troops” and “HQ” and focus on fielding the 4+ “Heavy”, “Fast Attack” or “Elite” depending on where the actual power units in your Army lie.   Looking at my Space Marine book, it is a fun army, and the book overall is pretty well balanced.  The “Troops” selections however are at best lackluster though.  Tactical Marines are “eh”, and in this 6^th ed environment expensive casualties.  With SO many things specializing in essentially killing Marines these days the lack of that particular ability means that they start at a disadvantage.  Seems a bit odd that Marines would go into battle with the majority of their people armed with weapons that are ineffective against themselves.  I can bring the lads in a Rhino or Drop Pod, but of course those are easy to kill for First Blood or Kill Points in those missions.  So…  I have yet to field a Tactical Marine as a Crimson Fist or Dark Angel.  Scouts are Scouts…  Cheap, but craptastic.  If I HAVE to field Troops I will likely spend the minimum to field things that can actually kill things, so Scouts I guess…  So, on one hand I CAN field things like massed Centurion Devastators and Sternguard like I do now, without paying the “tax” of 2 squads of Scouts…  So, overall the Army gets no worse than it was I guess…  Just not better really.  And the game itself gets far less interesting.  How many Wraith Lords can I fit into a list if I am not concerned about anything else?  10?  And really how many other armies can deal with that?  Or perhaps an all Flier list?

Yes, you can say “Only Bound lists” or some other House rules, but really that is not an acceptable solution I think…  Good for small, local groups, yes…  But when you game outside of your local group?  A Tournament perhaps?  Killing off that scene does seem a priority for GW, but is it a good thing?  I think it is perhaps best if I simply step back and wait at this point.  My wife would agree that I have too many miniatures already, perhaps she is right.  I never really got rid of any of the 40K armies I had over the years, and with the pace they have released things in the current era I have not been keeping up with the books as I had in the past.  SO many rule changes and additions with what seems to be little regard to balance or play testing.  2++ re-rollable saves, D Weapons ignoring everything, etc…  Kind of makes even bothering to show up to play a game seem somewhat pointless… 

Eh, I have my Star Trek Attack Wing game now…  Looks like it will be a good one overall.  Think I have it more or less figured out now…  My 2 ship Federation build overpowered a fairly nasty Dominion/Romulan list in a Thollian Web test run last night…  The Torpedoes when run correctly are REALLY powerful.  USS Excelsior with CPT Picard, Spock, Scott, Lojour, the Doctor and just regular Photon torpedoes as I do not have the Defiant (yet) for the Quantum Torpedoes…  Still, hit a Cardassian ship for 8 damage in the opening salvo, destroying it completely…  Not everything went as expected in the test, but it was a REALLY good start.  And proof that as I progressed from losing my first game badly, to almost even the second game and a very narrow loss my third game to consistently winning since…  My learning curve seems about right for normal, and the locals were probably right that I’ll do fine with this game.  Inherited a few X-wing things as well, and might play a few games there as the local store has several events related to that…

Otherwise, ancient motorcycle running really well.  Still need to fix and straighten out the title for the Magna to sell it…  The Silverwing I will be selling as well, but as it is my working bike now…  Well, it works well enough for in town, etc…  REALLY wanting to get an older Goldwing to replace the 2 bikes I have now, so early to mid 80’s before they became more “luxury” vehicles than motorcycles…  I’ve heard them called “flying couches” and it seems an apt name for some of the really decked out ones…  I want something simple and reliable…  The Goldwing would allow me to stretch my legs enough to ride comfortably for longer distances and the real luggage would be less limiting than the current ones I have…  Those nagging old injuries are more a problem as I get old, so the bigger but slower bike I think would be better for me than the racing bike the Magna really is…