Wednesday 24 November 2010

Measured Pace


I am currently dying from the ManFlu and wasn't very keen to go to G3 (though I did in the end, feeling much better today - see how tomorrow goes...) and I was on Vassal on Monday night when Kris Tannahill popped online.  We'd arranged to play at G3, but I wanted a tutorial at using Vassal.  Thinking that we'd have plenty of time we settled on a 50 point game.

I got to test out my tier 4 pDoomshaper themed list against Kris' fairly solid Baldur list.  In the end the strength of my battlegroup prevailed and Baldur was fried by a frenzying Pyre Troll (see picture).  Actually I was quite impressed with Flamey overall, he put up quite a solid performance.

While Vassal may not be the guaranteed way to test out my new list, it did let me learn a few things about how the list performs:
1.) The free wall within 20" of my table edge is a godsend.  It provides everything I need with a cover bonus, something to get ARM buffs from, all the good stuff.  I do realise the wall is illegal in that screenshot (whoops) as I forgot that it has to be at least 3" away from other terrain.  So it should be about 2 inches more to the left and half an inch upwards.  Anyway, the wall is fantastic.

2.) My list relies almost solely on how my battlegroup performs.  It's a monster of a battlegroup (except the Axer, who dies all the time) that just keeps on churning out the damage.  I'm not entirely sure how it keeps doing it, but it does.  It's tough, durable, surprisingly fast and wrecks all sorts of havoc.

3.) Janissa Stonetide is awesome.  Seriously, if you're going to get me a Christmas present, then Janissa Stonetide or more Runeshapers is a good bet.  When you have to split your force to cover multiple objectives, then her and a couple of Runeshaper units is an intimidating split.  Or she's a portable wall-maker for the EBDT animus.  I anticipate all kinds of awesome from her.

The themed force is pretty awesome overall, though I'm somewhat underwhelmed by the Runeshapers, though this is probably because I can't judge distances at all in Vassal yet so I was constantly out of range.  On the normal tabletop I'm sure they'll perform much better.

3 comments:

  1. What exactly did you find frustrating about the tape measures? How can we improve them?

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  2. Quite often I'd select the tape measure from the top menu, then click on the edge of a model's base. This would then select the model instead of drawing the tape measure. I've since discovered that double-clicking the tape measure can get around this.

    Other times I'd use the tape measure, measure out from a model to the point I want it to move to. Then I'd try to select the model and the tape measure would be my current function.

    I suggest some sort of visual aid to let people know they have the tape measure active or have some way to lock it in place until it's toggled off.

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  3. Here's a suggestion on the tape measure UI:
    Glowing tape measure - the tape measure is active, every time you click and drag, tape measury things happen.
    Non-glowing tape measure - tape measure is displayed on the board but otherwise inactive.
    Faded out tape measure - tape measure vanishes from the board.

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