This is a great concept to try ou in casual games. When I battled at a friends house we had a few things for terrain, as bastion and two port-holes We decided that the two port-holes had a tunnel running underneath the board and only normal sized infnatry could enter, meaning no terminators, dreadnoughts, war walkers, ogryns, jetbikes, etc, as they couldnt fit inside.
We also had the almighty bastion. We decided it could have a maximum capacity of 20, save for when there is an inside assault. After several minutes of examining the figure we decided this was about the right Statline
Imperial Bastion
AV Front Side Back
15 15 15
Capacity: 20
Fire Points: 2 at base level
Weapons: 4 heavy bolters, second level
60" range Lascannon top level turret
3 Levels
Crossing between levels takes a full turn
Units may be spread across several levels, but you may only shoot on the same level you are on. Assaults may be spread across neighboring levels.
this was a popular stronghold throughout the battle, being held for 9 of the 10 turns, and held under seige for most of that.
the tunnel was likewise popular, more so than expected in fact
This new dimension opened up new doors for the game and made it much more enjoyable, complex, and unpredictable
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Cost - Effectiveness
Today while i was talking around with my friends I come across this strange thought.
One of my friends asked us nicely not to annhilate his terminators first turn as he put 400 pts. into this squad. I'm naturally a nice guy and thought eh, like I can! (no seriously) I told him that yes, terminators do have a special place in my heart. They also have a special place in my army list as well! And i left his terminators alone. I cannot say did the same for me though as they proceed to rip up my falcon. Awfully nice of him, no? And to think there was a perfectly good Leman Russ not even 5 inches from where they landed... Shucks...
Eventually his Dreadnought deepstruck into where we were staging a tunnel (multi-dimensional games ftw). Since it didnt start in the tunnel, it was considered a mishap, which he rolls a one for! After a long rant, we discover that the dreadnought had a big part to do with his plan, which never panned out in all honesty.
After a while i thought about this, and i was reminded of the concept of cost-effectiveness. I never even think about this in all honesty, but then again, i rarely think about economics in strategy games
People talk all the time about whether or not their unit "made up its points" or not in a battle. While yes that is a way of putting it, thats not really what I'm after.
Take for example, my NightSpinner. Over the course of one game it kills off the better half of 3 squads of imperial guardsmen and wounds a decent pile of other things all totaling up to easily more than the 115 points it cost.
However in the same battle a single vyper kept a Leman Russ busy for a long enough time to deny its pain elsewhere. 60 points tying down 200+ is being effective.
Did that flamer make up its points in the bastion? yes. Did it make the capture of the bastion possible? also yes.
Did i end up losing that bastion? yes, but it took an imperial command squad.
Did the 8 guardians hold the tunnel for 3 rounds of assault yes. Did that make up its points? no. But it did stall the overtaking of the bastion possible.
Did my Jetbikes kill anything? no, but they did harass the remains of the other armies.
The morale of they story is this: when you make an army list you get what you get, and while yes, you may have a role for that squad picked out. They might pull off even better roles elsewhere.
One of my friends asked us nicely not to annhilate his terminators first turn as he put 400 pts. into this squad. I'm naturally a nice guy and thought eh, like I can! (no seriously) I told him that yes, terminators do have a special place in my heart. They also have a special place in my army list as well! And i left his terminators alone. I cannot say did the same for me though as they proceed to rip up my falcon. Awfully nice of him, no? And to think there was a perfectly good Leman Russ not even 5 inches from where they landed... Shucks...
Eventually his Dreadnought deepstruck into where we were staging a tunnel (multi-dimensional games ftw). Since it didnt start in the tunnel, it was considered a mishap, which he rolls a one for! After a long rant, we discover that the dreadnought had a big part to do with his plan, which never panned out in all honesty.
After a while i thought about this, and i was reminded of the concept of cost-effectiveness. I never even think about this in all honesty, but then again, i rarely think about economics in strategy games
People talk all the time about whether or not their unit "made up its points" or not in a battle. While yes that is a way of putting it, thats not really what I'm after.
Take for example, my NightSpinner. Over the course of one game it kills off the better half of 3 squads of imperial guardsmen and wounds a decent pile of other things all totaling up to easily more than the 115 points it cost.
However in the same battle a single vyper kept a Leman Russ busy for a long enough time to deny its pain elsewhere. 60 points tying down 200+ is being effective.
Did that flamer make up its points in the bastion? yes. Did it make the capture of the bastion possible? also yes.
Did i end up losing that bastion? yes, but it took an imperial command squad.
Did the 8 guardians hold the tunnel for 3 rounds of assault yes. Did that make up its points? no. But it did stall the overtaking of the bastion possible.
Did my Jetbikes kill anything? no, but they did harass the remains of the other armies.
The morale of they story is this: when you make an army list you get what you get, and while yes, you may have a role for that squad picked out. They might pull off even better roles elsewhere.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
10 minutes of hearing people rant and 3 hours of contemplating #1
Space Marine Drop Pods
10 tons of steel hurtling down from an imperial gunship blasting through the atmosphere at a billion miles an hour and yet it halts its aerial rampage for but a single ravager. Heck it even EXPLODES!!!
This idea has annoyed some people at my local gaming club and one of my personal friends in the concept of "how does this even work?"
Its not actually a concept of how does it work in real life as it is making the game balanced. Let me turn this concept around for you.
A lone squad of devastators staring down the faces of 6 tanks, the rest of their army waiting for the command. from the fiery heavens comes a drop pod, right on top of and killing the devastators. Not a moment later the drop pods colors changed from blue to red and tge drop pod is crushed and replaced by a new drop pod. Also the tanks are likewise smashed by drop pods.
What we get is even more people than already playing Space marines because i win by landing on top of you.
Balanced game, thats it
10 tons of steel hurtling down from an imperial gunship blasting through the atmosphere at a billion miles an hour and yet it halts its aerial rampage for but a single ravager. Heck it even EXPLODES!!!
This idea has annoyed some people at my local gaming club and one of my personal friends in the concept of "how does this even work?"
Its not actually a concept of how does it work in real life as it is making the game balanced. Let me turn this concept around for you.
A lone squad of devastators staring down the faces of 6 tanks, the rest of their army waiting for the command. from the fiery heavens comes a drop pod, right on top of and killing the devastators. Not a moment later the drop pods colors changed from blue to red and tge drop pod is crushed and replaced by a new drop pod. Also the tanks are likewise smashed by drop pods.
What we get is even more people than already playing Space marines because i win by landing on top of you.
Balanced game, thats it
OMG Nightspinner
Nightspinners.
I got me one of these bad boys and they work out for me better than i would have guessed.
Automatically forcing diffiuclt and dangerous tests on anything that moves is great!
Even though it kills more by its side effects I still love it.
Game Testing:
I have only played it once, out of the one games since I bought it. So far the paint is a slapjob, but that is going to be fixed soon.
In results it killed about 5 things in a rather young tyranid list of about 250 odd points. Not much in effect, but i probably would have found more meat had i chosen to fire at the imperial guard player, with 1000 points firing potshots at the same characters.
Modeling:
Overall, it was a big deal to me, and I feel that it fills out the Eldar architecture and feel better than the wave serpent or previous fire prism.
I got me one of these bad boys and they work out for me better than i would have guessed.
Automatically forcing diffiuclt and dangerous tests on anything that moves is great!
Even though it kills more by its side effects I still love it.
Game Testing:
I have only played it once, out of the one games since I bought it. So far the paint is a slapjob, but that is going to be fixed soon.
In results it killed about 5 things in a rather young tyranid list of about 250 odd points. Not much in effect, but i probably would have found more meat had i chosen to fire at the imperial guard player, with 1000 points firing potshots at the same characters.
Modeling:
Overall, it was a big deal to me, and I feel that it fills out the Eldar architecture and feel better than the wave serpent or previous fire prism.
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