Another big 40K tournament, WM league in a few and more random STAW stuff... or "Oh, Eldar again" :-)

So, another of the big tournaments over the long weekend…  And to no one’s shock and surprise, it was an Eldar Wave Serpent spam list that was the overall winner.  Top 16 included a few Chaos Demons, Necrons, CSM and even a single Wolves player!  But 6 of the top 10 were Eldar.  Some with the DE allied force of the Baron for his 2++ save in a Seer council…  Several Imperial Knights allied forces in there, no real surprise, the Knights are really quite good and as the largest thing realistically playable (IIRC also largest LEGALLY playable).  The single Tau build was unsurprising, not sure what Aaron from Indy brought with his Necrons, but he is an excellent player so good to see him do well there…  Given the missions and the terrain it came down to the most efficient armies I think, and not sure there are any that combine the mobility, survivability and sheer firepower of a well-built Eldar force.  Demons are good, but just too random I think to count on in a long run.  Necrons and Tau both have potential (at least until the Crons get their hardback and likely some nerfs), but just not quite at the level of the Eldar…  Mind, this is all just my opinion of course…  But I’m a fairly decent player and pretty good at math and tactics, etc., so I think it is an informed opinion at the least…  Right now, and for the foreseeable future, the Eldar are back as the kings of the game…

Guessing this is why I am fairly “meh” on playing the game at this point.  If I want to win, I have to either bring the Eldar spam or have a REALLY good way of dealing with it.  Frankly there are not many good ways to do so.  Drop pods filled with Melta gunners backed by say, my Knight and the Storm Raven?  Maybe, probably the best shot I would have at it.  For right now, the BA still have the ability to Assault out of reserves with their Vanguard Vets so they might be an answer in part…  But a lot of that relies on random luck.  Jink saves being 3+ mean that I actually have to get lucky to destroy a Wave Serpent with a small number of shots.  And if their dice are hot, it just doesn’t matter how much I shoot at them.  Yes, they now have a slight disadvantage of having to snap fire, but with all their main weaponry being Twin Linked and high RoF, not I think so much of a disadvantage.  And of course each of them getting 4 shots (TL) at Str 6 followed likely by the d6+1 Str 7 shots (also TL iff at least one 6 was rolled by the up to 8 dice on the first shooting attack) their odds are quite good to get in a few hits.  Can also move of course, etc…  So, dropping DNs near them is a one shot thing as they can simply shoot it off the table trivially.  The Eldar Knight is also REALLY good, and with the ability to have a Wraith Lord as their Warlord?  Eh, gets silly there, but frankly not all that bad…  Guessing I could make a Warlord from a Marine based book like the CSM or regular Marine book that was more difficult to actually deal with, so no real complaint there, just silly to have the ability to make a MC your Warlord…  Poorly designed if no other force has this option…  Well, other than the Tyranids of course J…  But they are designed that way…  In any case, caffeine hitting and back on topic…  Frankly having to get VERY lucky to even take down their Transports by throwing a big chunk of my force at them seems a losing strategy on the longer term.  Individual games?  Sure, luck being what it is, that’s where the Marines can win a few here and there I think, just that over the long term the odds are NOT in their favor.  Needing AT weaponry with the “Ignores Cover” rule means I have few options.  And that is just to deal with the 130-140 point Transport/Tank.  The crunchy insides I can deal with, eventually…  They have the best basic weapons, and entire units of Melta gunners, so given that they will likely shoot first, will almost always pay for themselves shooting things off the table.  Their AA fire being pretty much just their tanks shooting ala “Hammer’s Slammers” means that most fliers WILL get shot out of the sky, unless you can saturate their defenses like the Necrons I think can with extremely cheap fliers…

Wolves and GK hit last Month, no real surprises and really nothing new in either book…  Yes, Klaus got his sled (Thinking that Grimmar is now Santa Klaus from the Dresden Files books, so Unseelie Court Sidhe…), but the GK?  Really they just lost options…  Yes, some were broken and stupid like the “Ours go to 11” upgrade to all of their ballistic weapons…  Glad I didn’t make all of the Rifleman (AA) DNs that I could have.  Not a bad option, just that DNs overall are just not that good these days.  Saying that though, they were pretty decent books and army lists.  Take out the Eldar and perhaps the silliness of Invisible Chaos things, etc. (Yes, there are more things…) and you have a fairly well balanced game.  Beer and pretzels, yes…  Not really tweaked for a hyper competitive game, but it would at least be fun.  As it stands?  Not really.  Just seeing Cavalry, Chariots and Monstrous Creatures being the viable options makes me miss the days when you could actually play actual Troops in a damn Sci Fi and have a chance to do something other than just die.  Really, Cav and Chariots in a Sci Fi game is probably the thing that annoys me the most…

So, a Journeyman League coming up in a few weeks at the Gopher…  Have the new (to me at least) Paladin of Morrow Warcaster, my Paladins actually did fairly well on the field (“Precursor Knights”), and seeing a lot of Undead and the like, guessing they’ll be fine as a “castle” for my forces to set up around.  Need to remember to keep the Gun Mages a bit back so that the Knights who cannot be targeted by spells do not eat spray spells targeting the guys behind their shield wall…  No clue as to the rules for the League, but assuming it is something starting small and escalating…  I have several unpainted/to be repainted units so the “hobby” aspect is not a problem to get in there I think.  So, have a pretty good handle on the basics of the game now, just a lot changed and VERY different than 40K J…

STAW saw me get another strong second place finish…  So, still close enough to Lon to challenge for the Stargazer at least J…  Not sure about this Month’s scenario though.  It looks like it will be difficult at best if you get paired with someone not big on cooperating…  Frankly, not even sure then…  The Borg are VERY strong, and getting harder to damage as the game goes on…  Something to think about, the build for this one.  Leaning toward Federation for the general strong ships to survive, but Dominion or Klingon for the ability to throw out a LOT of damage…  Dominion looks pretty good here I think.  But I actually brought this to OP2:

Fed Borg OP2 build

Fed Borg OP2 build

Cardassian Keldon Class (24)

Sar (1)

Ship SP: 25

U.S.S Excelsior (26)

Mr. Spock (4)

Dmitri Valtane (3)

Photon Torpedoes (5)

Ship SP: 38

U.S.S Sutherland (26)

Clark Terrell (1)

Ship SP: 27

I.K.S. B'Moth (24)

Kunivas (2)

Tritium Intermix (4)

Ship SP: 30

Total Build SP: 120

Generated by STAW Builder

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

First game was my only loss…  Did 109 points of damage to the cube before time, and had the sole surviving ship (USS Excelsior), but because of 2 critical errors on my part, I lost to Lon who did 113 points to the Cube…  The Keldon class was the MVP, but I flew it out of arc one turn, and the B’Moth I completely forgot about the ability to repair as well as the free extra damage from discarding the Crew card…  So, I could easily have surpassed the total, but…  After that, it was fairly simple, my build is designed to be aggressive, but at a critical point, they step back, throwing the other player’s aggressive ships to the Borg as they are now the closest ones…  At least one other player lost to me because he did not think that I could fire on turn one, but a 4 straight gets you in range (the Cube token is larger than last Months) from the middle of the DZ, the Keldon’s trick from the flank was also a BIG surprise to everyone.  So, just loads of dice rolling and very quickly for me as it was simple once it hit the table.  Mr. Spock on the Excelsior was REALLY good as well, glad he survived every game J…

Warmachine MK II lessons learned, 40K locally and the Borg this weekend...

So, the lessons I learned in Warmachine so far… 

1.       Learn your spell lists…  Seems obvious, but it has been a LONG time since last I played.  And frankly I am using casters I was never really familiar with in the first place.  One new one, Constance Blaize.  She is the leader of my Paladins (Morrowan).  Last night I completely forgot her “Flashing Blade” spell which allows her to spend 1 Focus to attack EVERYTHING in her Melee range.  She has Reach, so a 2” zone out, combined with Flank if she is near another (non Warcaster) Morrowan granting her +2 to hit and an additional Damage Dice…  Making this absolutely brutal, and as I had her between two War Jacks that were themselves engaged, this should have been an easy “And it’s destroyed” thing with a few focus…  Reacting to being swarmed by Undead Pirates, the Paladins…  Well, OK, SHE spent a focus and cleared EVERYTHING within her 2” range allowing her to move freely and get into position to call “checkmate” on the Cryx caster…  What I have played so far, I have fallen back to what worked in MK I, and in CPT Haley’s case…  Well, it does NOT work these days…

2.       Warmachine and Hordes are different…  Again, obvious, but the “fun, let’s try this unit” theory of list building does NOT work against a well-tuned uber Hordes list.  I suspect that despite the rebalancing of things that came with MK II, Hordes is still the “better” system.  Saying that, while breaking out the Werewolves and the like for my Circle forces IS tempting, I think I need to re-learn Warmachine first.  Since I was there at the beginning of Hordes, I am fairly familiar with what worked back then, and having faced a few armies (Skorne especially seems popular, shame Tim is off in his submarine, his was always quite fun to play against…).  Too many things that work well against Jacks still and not at all against Beasts.  And with the fact that Beasts are 100% until the die (almost), and the ease with which they can be repaired at will?  In any case, I am learning what works against them…  VERY different list than WM.  But my Gun Mages amusingly are really quite good against either…

3.       Synergy is key…  Should go without saying, but of course it is far more so than in 40K.  For instance, I used the Sentinel Light Warjack with CPT Kraye as “light cav”, and it was “eh” at best…  Now, had it Jack Marshalled by my Gun Mages last night…  Getting to use the ammo like the Mages for the 14” machine gun attack, or the thunder strike I guess, but really I think it is pretty much the 14” range.  Turns a “Meh” unit into something to be feared…  And Shield Guard to keep the LT safe from random sniper shots if needed…  But more likely the Caster or CPT Strangeways who is there to repair and give out extra Focus…

4.       Bring something to be your heavy hitter…  Ranged combat is neat and all, but in the end it WILL come down to being able to hit or be hit in HtH.  Was sorely lacking in some of my earlier lists…  I do wonder what some of the other casters I’ve not yet unearthed will do for me…  Haven’t broken out my actual HtH heavies yet either…

So far I am enjoying this game FAR more than what 40K has become locally even…  I know 5^th was “highly competitive” elsewhere, but overall not as much locally…  Fliers WERE a problem with some armies magically getting cheap and REALLY good fliers (Necrons and to an extent the IG) while other armies had NO access to them…  6^th  was a big change, and it ushered in the age of the Eldar and Monstrous Creatures…  7^th seems so very much like version 6.5 for me.  Not a lot changed in the game itself.  Let me clarify, yes, a lot actually changed with Psychics getting their own phase, etc., but from a player’s perspective?  Not really.  What HAS changed is the insane speed with which GW is releasing this edition’s updated books for the various armies.  While on one hand that is great, it is simply too expensive.  And breaking things into multiple (expensive) books?  I guess that is the “smart” thing to do from a business perspective.  I do know it has cost them a fair number of sales locally at least, so I guess time will tell whether this is a viable or good strategy.  The Wolves book and the old Grey Knights ones are the ones I see having been split into 3 book each…  The Wolves is just insulting to me, but that is just my opinion of course.  Giving PART of the army list in one book, then modifications to it in a second with the painting guide going to a third book?  Overloading on recycled fluff and pictures as filler for a bigger page count…  The GK at least split logically with Assassins never really belonging in the GK book in any case and the Inquisition being split previously…  To me this made sense, but I’m an old time GK player who actually played them as “Grey Knights” and not as “Inquisition All Stars” playing under the GK banner… 

Sucks to see the game wither like this locally, but to be honest I just can’t seem to keep any particular interest in the current game.  It does seem like the mini players locally have moved (back in many cases) to WM/Hordes…  Mind, I haven’t gone on Monday for a while to see, but I know Dave had mentioned that attendance was lackluster at best for a while…  Guessing I was not the only one to adapt the “let’s wait a bit…  or longer” attitude…  Dunno, gets old quickly seeing the same things win every time, so even the challenge of building something to compete simply is not there…

STAW event Sunday at the Gopher…  Really looking forward to that.  The Ch’Tang I won in that raffle is not here yet, so it may well be my Federation Fleet going up against the Borg.  Have only the one Keldon class and it has been sold out locally for a bit J…  So, the Dominion builds I looked at are also looking more difficult.  May have a bit of a mix with the Keldon and whatever else I throw in there, we’ll see.  Looks like one I’ll need to be sure to not only win each match, but score 20 more hits against the Cube in each to have any chance of catching Lon who is sitting in first locally…  I’m #2, but no sure how far back.  OP3 is next Month for the finale…  I suspect it will be far more difficult to catch up then, and while missing out on the Vulcan prize ship was not good with some REALLY nice cards, I suspect I can trade for it if I decide to go with a Vulcan fleet…  and several of the good cards are already coming out as retail  in the next wave’s expansion set.  The Raven itself is of no interest to me, but some of the cards are…  Mostly looking for the Stargazer myself.  Another Federation ship, and a decent one at that…  The Grand Prize ship?  Not really interested, but…  Some of the variants are good…  Just not sure I can get to first place for the ship J…  Frankly, far more interested in getting the blind buy ships for the Federation, Klingons and Dominion…  Each of them have things or ARE things I’d play, so…

Grey Knights, Assassins and Borg... Oh My :-)

So, Assassins AND Grey Knights Codexes (Codii?) BOTH dropped this week.  Along with a THIRD Wolf book?  Looks like just a painting guide…  Just my opinion of course, but the releases are just coming WAY too quickly.  Or at least for my gaming budget.  Frankly pretty much ANY realistic gaming budget I think.  Looking over the releases, the Assassins are REALLY overpowered.  OK, on the surface at least.  The Psycher killer just removing blessings, etc. will deal with the Invisibility stupidity that is pretty rough…  And of course Demons, Eldar  and ironically, Grey Knights will all greatly fear this thing.  The Vindicare is still packing the giant AT rifle…  Against Vehicles, it is Str 10 AP 2, with a BS of…  Well, BS J..  Ignores Cover with everything…  Silly, but that does seem the Direction GW is pushing the game at this point.

Ironically, the Grey Knights seems like a pretty decent, balanced Codex…  Vehicles are no longer Psychers, the weird grenades are mostly gone, the Inquisition and Assassins are separate books now…  So I no longer feel like an idiot for playing actual Grey Knights in a Grey Knight army.  The “normal” GK force was Psybolt ammo for the Rhinos and DNs with a few min sized squads of normal humans riding/hiding inside.  Psybolt is gone too…    The "Psilencer" is now a high number of shots and Force, so potentially Instant Death?  Eh...  So, a decent Marine book.  Pretty good overall, but really it is just a minor update to the 5^th Ed book if I’m being honest…  NO new units, just updating the rules for the 2 edition jump forward.  Worth $50?  Sorry, not really for me at this point.  Can I play the army?  Sure, frankly I find this a far better book than the Wolves one, and that pains me to say as a long time Wolf player.  So, good I guess but really nothing that I think will be the Paper to the existing Rock in the old Rock/Paper/Scissors game…  Sure, you can build unbound list and replicate a 5^th edition GK army I guess, but the whole “unbound” thing is just silly in my opinion…

So, the Borg OP 2 is coming up Sunday so here are a few of the Fleets I am looking at playing:

List Name

Galaxy Class (26)

Ship SP: 26

U.S.S Sutherland (26)

Ship SP: 26

U.S.S Excelsior (26)

Mr. Spock (4)

Dmitri Valtane (3)

Photon Torpedoes (5)

Ship SP: 38

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder

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

Klingon Borg 90 2

Resource: Flagship Independent (Klingon) (10)

Vor'cha Class (26)

Gowron (4)

Ship SP: 30

I.K.S. ChTang (22)

Martok (6)

Flagship (0)

Ship SP: 28

K'T'Inga Class (22)

Ship SP: 22

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder

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

Federation is a straightforward move up, shoot at Range 2-3 and shuffle up and back until time or we die…  Not subtle, but it is built with ships I actually have at the moment, so it has that going for it…  I won a raffle for the Ch’Tang on one of the STAW Facebook groups, so that one may be here in time for me to play that Fleet…  It has a LOT of damage potential I think with the ships having 7, 6 and 7 Attack dice respectively, with potential re-rolls, etc…  Hoping for my fourth ship to be Klingon of course as well to completely synergize and throw metric craptons of attack dice against the cube before dying well…  VERY Klingon J….

Borg OP 2 coming up...

Borg OP 2:

So, gearing up for this in a few weeks…  Another 90 point game, this time played out at Wolf 359.  So, pretty much the opposite mindset as the Gen con build where the tougher, survivable ships were better than the ones that just threw out Dice for Attack/Damage.  Here, the situation is a very different one, a battle that literally cannot be won in a conventional sense.  You are just trying to buy time and do as much damage as you can before the Borg destroy you as they pass through the system.  I have a few ideas for a Fleet build here, and this is actually something I am VERY good at.  J  Reading over a few of my Army psych evaluations and fitness reports does make for some amusing reading, if a bit scary if you actually understand what they are trying to say without actually saying it…  The poor Psych officer they sent over to evaluate us was fairly new and clearly never dealt with a Line Combat unit before.  Most of the things she said were “Red Flags” were actually highly favorable and sought after traits there…  J  But in any case, I am fairly good at the “desperation defense” and the idea of “do as much damage as you can before you die”.  Likely will not run a Federation pure fleet this time.  The Klingons, Dominion and to some extent the Romulans can throw out a lot of damage.  Mind, if I do a mixed Fleet (Ships themselves will be pure), some of the Federation stuff CAN compete.  As the rules for the scenario are that the Borg simply fire last, no need to have the high skill CPTs there unless they also do something else critical, they’ll be needed in Sector 001 for the next battle.  So a few options I’ve come up with are:

Romulan

I.R.W. Valdore (30)

Mirok (2)

Advanced Cloaking (4)

Ship SP: 36

Good base ship…  CPT Mirok has the ability that if he ends his move within Range 1 of a Friendly Ship, repair one Hull or Shield.  With the Advanced Cloak, I should be able to keep Cloaked for a LONG time, using the Green maneuvers to clear Aux Power tokens and gaining the +1 Attack each turn from the Ship ability.  The Flagship which will likely end up here is another +1 Attack, Hull and Tech slot (needed for the Advanced Cloaking).  So, decent basis for a Fleet build…  The Romulans however do not have  lot of “tank” ships that can throw out Damage well.

Dominion?  Looking at what I have, the BB, the Koranak class Cruiser and the Fighters all throw out a LOT of Damage…  Enough to win?  Not sure…  But might be fun to try.

Klingons almost seem the “Easy Button” choice here.  A group of 3+ just flying in and shooting like they are voting in Chicago…  Early and often.  They also have a fair number of abilities that boost Damage and Attack Dice making them pretty darn good at the run up and shoot game.

This of course is just the 90 points I build beforehand, getting another 30 point ship can be good (if I pull the Klingon or Federation ship) or not so much, except another target to soak fire while my heavy hitters move in and do damage.

Warmachine is the other thing I am playing at the moment I guess…  Found some more minis in the basement, even some I never painted.  Played out several games with CPT Kraye, so I think perhaps it is time to go with another caster combo…  Having all of the older ones, I do have a large selection of them to choose from, so I guess I should figure out what I am bringing before Wednesday as I hope to load up onto the ancient Silverwing and head out…

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…