Well for the most part I'd say it was a fairly unproductive week for gaming. I got lots done in the non-gaming world however, so at least my wife is happy.
I am still trying to sell my Tryanid army. I've got posts up at Bartertown and Dakka, and of course on my local board, Ordo Fanaticus. Nids are just not popular right now, in fact the market seems to be flooded with people trying to sell them off. Which is a shame. I like the army and the models, I just have too much stuff.
It would be great to sell it, because there is some awesome stuff coming down the line soon. As a long time undead player, I'm stoked about the new Nagash model and books. Overpriced of course, but what can you do...the models look sweet. And a new undead army to field....who can beat that? Maybe this will let me get some cool TK models again.
Also, would still like to add to my fledgeling Space Wolf army tool. Just need moneys.
I did start to put together my Dystopian Legions prussian gun team though...and with a new book about to be released, we may see some new models for that line. I would really like to own the blazing sun models too.
Which all leads back to, I need to cut down on my collection to make room for new stuff. What a terrible curse this is.
Oh, and it looks like the 4E D&D group is getting underway. I met with two new guys the other night for a little Q&A session. We need at least one more, so they are working on that aspect of it. Looks to be fun. I just resubscribed to DDI so that I can use the very helpful tools they have.
I also am planning on taking inventory on my 40K Orks. I may need to bust out a second table for that lot. There might be some fat to trim with those guys....I can't even remember all the stuff I have any more. Ugh.
Oh, and due to the Warmachine Kickstarter, I am in the beta for Tactics. Played a little bit so far...they need serious work done on the camera controls. But as a turn based game, not bad I guess.
Until next time...
Friday, August 22, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
D&D on the horizon
So my first love has always been D&D. I'd basically be playing that above everything else if I could. However, my luck with finding a good game is not the greatest. I've DM'd from time to time, but always prefer playing. However, with the D&D drought in full swing, I decided to see about starting up a 4E game again.
Now you may be wondering why a 4E game when 5E is just around the corner...well the fact is that I have a friend who is dying to play 4E, and I already have all the stuff for it, and also, quite honestly, it is a great system for the DM. I know it has its issues, what version doesn't? But still, I have lots of resources for it and I like it too.
The first problem to tackle though, is players. I've given that task to my friend. He gets to gather them up, weed out the weirdos, and hopefully have enough left to get a game going.
That leaves it to me to write the story. I've had a few ideas popping around my head for the last few years, and I've gotten maybe a few sessions written down. Now I have to get back into that frame of mind, flesh things out, and hopefully find something that is engaging, and collaborative. That later part is really important to me. I can lay down a rail line with the best of them, but I find the best stories are ones that the players help write.
Right now I've got two ideas. One is an evolution of a game I started years and years ago with 2nd edition. I think I have an interesting backdrop....but after a few sessions, not sure where to take it.
The other is a newer concept I was toying with to help players work together and for characters to survive. It is based off of a descriptive festival I once wrote on the Order of the Stick forums. I've actually developed an over-arcing plot for it...but not quite sure how the players fit in to all of it.
Part of me wants to try to combine the two. But they don't exactly fit together. The first concept is a home grown world that is fairly barren and not the typical high fantasy setting. The second world is more of a straight forward D&D world.
So on one hand, great background, but no plot....on the other, typical setting with a good plot, but no plan for how the characters fit in.
Maybe in a few days I'll post up the general outline of each and see which one sparks the old creative juices.
Till next time...
Now you may be wondering why a 4E game when 5E is just around the corner...well the fact is that I have a friend who is dying to play 4E, and I already have all the stuff for it, and also, quite honestly, it is a great system for the DM. I know it has its issues, what version doesn't? But still, I have lots of resources for it and I like it too.
The first problem to tackle though, is players. I've given that task to my friend. He gets to gather them up, weed out the weirdos, and hopefully have enough left to get a game going.
That leaves it to me to write the story. I've had a few ideas popping around my head for the last few years, and I've gotten maybe a few sessions written down. Now I have to get back into that frame of mind, flesh things out, and hopefully find something that is engaging, and collaborative. That later part is really important to me. I can lay down a rail line with the best of them, but I find the best stories are ones that the players help write.
Right now I've got two ideas. One is an evolution of a game I started years and years ago with 2nd edition. I think I have an interesting backdrop....but after a few sessions, not sure where to take it.
The other is a newer concept I was toying with to help players work together and for characters to survive. It is based off of a descriptive festival I once wrote on the Order of the Stick forums. I've actually developed an over-arcing plot for it...but not quite sure how the players fit in to all of it.
Part of me wants to try to combine the two. But they don't exactly fit together. The first concept is a home grown world that is fairly barren and not the typical high fantasy setting. The second world is more of a straight forward D&D world.
So on one hand, great background, but no plot....on the other, typical setting with a good plot, but no plan for how the characters fit in.
Maybe in a few days I'll post up the general outline of each and see which one sparks the old creative juices.
Till next time...
Monday, August 11, 2014
Shadow Hunter 1-4
Hello Sportsfans,
So as I said last time, some friends and I got together to run through the Shadow Hunter campaign this Saturday. As expected, we got through the first four scenarios.
#1 - this was a basic movement scenario and to learn how bad it is to run into islands. I ran this by myself since my friends were running late. I didn't see that basically all islands are hazardous terrain, so I just rolled the 2x hp for the damage. Even that double crit'd my ship. Had I roll 4x, I'm sure it would have sunk. So running into island is bad...very bad.
#2 - basic shooting scenario - two cruisers vs four frigates. Now here, I think the intent was for the cruisers to win, but the FSA frigates are just plain nasty. The EotBS cruisers got first move, and was able to sink one of the frigates. However, then the frigates moved in and were able to link all weapons together (at least how I read the rules). FSA frigates have two turrets per ship. So once they closed, they put out a silly amount of dice. They double crit'd one of the cruisers, making it basically fairly useless. As the next turn came around, the frigates were able to finish it off and then sail away before the other cruiser could finish them off.
#3 - boarding! - heavily damaged FSA battleship vs a squadron of EotBS frigates and a squadron of corvettes. The frigates went first, closed, and did some further damage to the BS, reducing its HP and putting two fire markers on it. This lent to some sad shooting from the BS which resulted in a single hit to a frigate. Then the corvettes started to close, but were too far to board (the BS used its kinetic generator to lurch ahead quite a bit). Round 2, the BS won init and again hit the "go fasta" button, which let it outpace the frigates, but not far enough away from the corvettes. Also, they were only able to remove one fire token, which basically wiped out the AP from the BS so the boarding action was unstoppable. Prize for the Blazing Sun.
#4 - SAS - here is where the book seemed to fail for me. There are no examples of SAS combat or actions that I have found. And there is no clear and complete steps for an SAS combat. I had to piece things together and make assumptions. For instance, the torpedo bombers are making a run against a ship. That ship gets to counter attack with AA vs the SAS, and then they get to defensive counter against the torpedoes with CC. Spelled out cleanly anywhere in the book? no. Or how about SAS fighters attacking the SAS torp bombers? By the book, the torp bombers get to counter attack with AA first, then you have the fighter SAS attack with their AA. You would think in a dogfight it would all by simultaneous, but I couldn't find a rule for that (I have now after searching the spartan forum).
Regardless, the torp bombers were able to kill one cruiser and then make it off the table before the fighters could finish them off. I do think the new SAS rules are cleaner than before and should speed things up.
All in all, we did find the game moving fairly well. LOS is still the most PITA part of this game. Firestorm Armada has such a nicer LOS system due to all models being on pegs. Can't be helped for DW I guess.
Still, will try to do more scenarios this upcoming weekend perhaps.
So as I said last time, some friends and I got together to run through the Shadow Hunter campaign this Saturday. As expected, we got through the first four scenarios.
#1 - this was a basic movement scenario and to learn how bad it is to run into islands. I ran this by myself since my friends were running late. I didn't see that basically all islands are hazardous terrain, so I just rolled the 2x hp for the damage. Even that double crit'd my ship. Had I roll 4x, I'm sure it would have sunk. So running into island is bad...very bad.
#2 - basic shooting scenario - two cruisers vs four frigates. Now here, I think the intent was for the cruisers to win, but the FSA frigates are just plain nasty. The EotBS cruisers got first move, and was able to sink one of the frigates. However, then the frigates moved in and were able to link all weapons together (at least how I read the rules). FSA frigates have two turrets per ship. So once they closed, they put out a silly amount of dice. They double crit'd one of the cruisers, making it basically fairly useless. As the next turn came around, the frigates were able to finish it off and then sail away before the other cruiser could finish them off.
#3 - boarding! - heavily damaged FSA battleship vs a squadron of EotBS frigates and a squadron of corvettes. The frigates went first, closed, and did some further damage to the BS, reducing its HP and putting two fire markers on it. This lent to some sad shooting from the BS which resulted in a single hit to a frigate. Then the corvettes started to close, but were too far to board (the BS used its kinetic generator to lurch ahead quite a bit). Round 2, the BS won init and again hit the "go fasta" button, which let it outpace the frigates, but not far enough away from the corvettes. Also, they were only able to remove one fire token, which basically wiped out the AP from the BS so the boarding action was unstoppable. Prize for the Blazing Sun.
#4 - SAS - here is where the book seemed to fail for me. There are no examples of SAS combat or actions that I have found. And there is no clear and complete steps for an SAS combat. I had to piece things together and make assumptions. For instance, the torpedo bombers are making a run against a ship. That ship gets to counter attack with AA vs the SAS, and then they get to defensive counter against the torpedoes with CC. Spelled out cleanly anywhere in the book? no. Or how about SAS fighters attacking the SAS torp bombers? By the book, the torp bombers get to counter attack with AA first, then you have the fighter SAS attack with their AA. You would think in a dogfight it would all by simultaneous, but I couldn't find a rule for that (I have now after searching the spartan forum).
Regardless, the torp bombers were able to kill one cruiser and then make it off the table before the fighters could finish them off. I do think the new SAS rules are cleaner than before and should speed things up.
All in all, we did find the game moving fairly well. LOS is still the most PITA part of this game. Firestorm Armada has such a nicer LOS system due to all models being on pegs. Can't be helped for DW I guess.
Still, will try to do more scenarios this upcoming weekend perhaps.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Fang and Claw
You'd think I was going to talk about my Tyranid army, but no...I'm going to talk about my new Space Wolf army!!
Now I know what you are thinking...well if you've read previous blog posts of mine, you'd be thinking "hey...you said you don't like GW...why the heck are you getting a new army from them??"
Well, what you should also know by now, is that I'm a sucker for cool minis. And lets face it, GW's models are the tits. All was going well until two things happened:
a) I bought the stormreach box so that I could get the new rulebook. This let me get a close up look at the SW models and they are indeed cool.
b) GW released that awesome new SW flier, the Stormclaw.
And then the hits just kept on coming. There are a few other minor factors as well. I'm also looking to cut down my collection and want to get rid of my Tryanid army, which is quite sizable. "here now!" you cry, "that isn't cutting down armies if you just buy another one!" Well yes, that is true. However.....I also have a SM army, Salamanders to be exact, that I haven't done one thing with them for years. So, my thought process is this, grab some cheap SW models via the stormreach box (done), sell the nids (in progress), and then go through my existing salamander army to see what I can port over to SW, and then sell the rest.
So you see, in total, I should actually lose quite a bit of models in this plan. The nid army is big, we are talking $1300 retail worth of nids. Also, the Space Wolves don't have all the fun toys that normal marines get, so many of the models I have for them will go away, and many others will be replaced with SW specific versions (like the terminators and generic space marines).
Another minor factor is that I'm kind of a wolf guy. And a long time ago, I really liked the Space Wolves. But a buddy of mine ran them back in 2nd edition and cheesed them out so much, that I grew to dislike them. That lasted 20 years! So its about time I let that one go and let myself enjoy the great models that they have now.
Now I will say that my inner dwarf is very sad about letting the salamanders go. I really do like the fluff for that army. However, GW had not done much for them and they really are just green marines. I'd rather get an army with more character...and the wolves have that in spades.
Anyways, so that is what is going on now. :) Oh, and I'm going to learn some Dystopian Wars 2.0 this Saturday! Yay!
Now I know what you are thinking...well if you've read previous blog posts of mine, you'd be thinking "hey...you said you don't like GW...why the heck are you getting a new army from them??"
Well, what you should also know by now, is that I'm a sucker for cool minis. And lets face it, GW's models are the tits. All was going well until two things happened:
a) I bought the stormreach box so that I could get the new rulebook. This let me get a close up look at the SW models and they are indeed cool.
b) GW released that awesome new SW flier, the Stormclaw.
And then the hits just kept on coming. There are a few other minor factors as well. I'm also looking to cut down my collection and want to get rid of my Tryanid army, which is quite sizable. "here now!" you cry, "that isn't cutting down armies if you just buy another one!" Well yes, that is true. However.....I also have a SM army, Salamanders to be exact, that I haven't done one thing with them for years. So, my thought process is this, grab some cheap SW models via the stormreach box (done), sell the nids (in progress), and then go through my existing salamander army to see what I can port over to SW, and then sell the rest.
So you see, in total, I should actually lose quite a bit of models in this plan. The nid army is big, we are talking $1300 retail worth of nids. Also, the Space Wolves don't have all the fun toys that normal marines get, so many of the models I have for them will go away, and many others will be replaced with SW specific versions (like the terminators and generic space marines).
Another minor factor is that I'm kind of a wolf guy. And a long time ago, I really liked the Space Wolves. But a buddy of mine ran them back in 2nd edition and cheesed them out so much, that I grew to dislike them. That lasted 20 years! So its about time I let that one go and let myself enjoy the great models that they have now.
Now I will say that my inner dwarf is very sad about letting the salamanders go. I really do like the fluff for that army. However, GW had not done much for them and they really are just green marines. I'd rather get an army with more character...and the wolves have that in spades.
Anyways, so that is what is going on now. :) Oh, and I'm going to learn some Dystopian Wars 2.0 this Saturday! Yay!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)