I've actually played some Vassal games over the last couple of days - rather than just lurking and making fun of everyone - and I'm finding two things: I'm getting very tired of weapon master infantry in large numbers; and that SR2012 scenarios with interactive objectives need a serious amount of ranged options.
The first is just a reflection of how Warmachine interacts with Hordes for the most part, but it would be nice to have some better options for getting rid of them. As much as I looooove utilizing low POW blast damage and all, I'm really starting to feel like the Trollbloods are missing out on the options that involve shooting the weapon masters before they arrive in my lines. Regardless, testing continues. Maybe I just need a Bomber and to boost like crazy...
The second came up while I was trying to play Guidons against Mike Davies on Vassal. I found that I couldn't prevent him from scoring without taking some ludicrously stupid risks with my models since he went first and started the scoring race before me. I think simply making the earliest interaction with the objectives start on the second player's second turn (when scoring normally starts) would prevent this. By moving the interaction back a turn, the first player has already moved to protect their own objective, while the second player now gets a chance to protect theirs without getting horribly tanked on the first player's third turn. Of course none of this changes how the scenarios are currently played, so for now, be prepared to do some madly suicidal attacks in order to prevent your opponent from scoring.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Tanks for the Memories
I was looking at my Mercenaries since I'm in something of a painting mood lately (even if most of my paints dried up) and I keep thinking I'll go for the street cred at this year's UK Masters. Then I look at this and throw that idea straight out the window. I want my tank.
Luckily I know Shae Konnit (or as I know him: Gav) who can supply me with my Warmachine/Hordes needs! Whilst his online store does leave a lot to be desired, a quick e-mail to Gav can usually net you what you're after at a very reasonable price. It's where I'm getting my awesometastic War Wagon from.
There's been a lot of interest in eMagnus on the Mercenaries forums, with an additional inspection focused on the Bad Seeds themed force. I tend to play that list primarily as an assassination list, but a lot of other people have been saying they've been using it in more of an attrition style. Maybe it's time I try it out with the attrition in mind, as I'm trying to teach myself to do with the Trollbloods. Unfortunately a lot of the games I've played with it were without time limits, but I'm pretty sure I could fairly easily score a control point or two in a normal timed game.
With less than 20 games to squeeze in before the UK Masters, I really need to decide what to bring. I wrote down my 3 planned Mercenary lists and then realised just how many models I'd need to get, and that made me a sad panda. I think I'd need 3 more boxes of Steelhead Halberdiers, 2 min unit boxes of Steelhead Heavy Cavalry, another box of Sword Knights, the list goes on and on. It's a pretty big order when it comes down to it, not even my PG points could cover all of that. I don't think my soul would survive having to paint all that either.
On the other hand, the Trollbloods have the benefit of having a larger amount of overlap between my lists. Reinforcements are also quite simple: Burrowers, Fell Caller, 1 point option of choice. Nice and easy. For my choice of warlocks, I was thinking pDoomshaper, Grim Angus and Jarl Skuld. I think I've worked out a Jarl list I'm happy to test but I think I'll need to play around with other things for Grim Angus' list. Given my terrible record against Cryx, I should probably cater some sort of list to counter the issues I typically have playing against them.
There's been a lot of interest in eMagnus on the Mercenaries forums, with an additional inspection focused on the Bad Seeds themed force. I tend to play that list primarily as an assassination list, but a lot of other people have been saying they've been using it in more of an attrition style. Maybe it's time I try it out with the attrition in mind, as I'm trying to teach myself to do with the Trollbloods. Unfortunately a lot of the games I've played with it were without time limits, but I'm pretty sure I could fairly easily score a control point or two in a normal timed game.
With less than 20 games to squeeze in before the UK Masters, I really need to decide what to bring. I wrote down my 3 planned Mercenary lists and then realised just how many models I'd need to get, and that made me a sad panda. I think I'd need 3 more boxes of Steelhead Halberdiers, 2 min unit boxes of Steelhead Heavy Cavalry, another box of Sword Knights, the list goes on and on. It's a pretty big order when it comes down to it, not even my PG points could cover all of that. I don't think my soul would survive having to paint all that either.
On the other hand, the Trollbloods have the benefit of having a larger amount of overlap between my lists. Reinforcements are also quite simple: Burrowers, Fell Caller, 1 point option of choice. Nice and easy. For my choice of warlocks, I was thinking pDoomshaper, Grim Angus and Jarl Skuld. I think I've worked out a Jarl list I'm happy to test but I think I'll need to play around with other things for Grim Angus' list. Given my terrible record against Cryx, I should probably cater some sort of list to counter the issues I typically have playing against them.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Improving Your Game - Part 5 (Board Control)
Board control is an interesting concept and can be achieved in a number of ways. This can by through having dangerous models or by moving models around or limiting enemy movement.
Certain models exude danger: the Deathjack, Mulg, Beast-09. You'll notice that these are mostly large models that have a big presence when you put them on the table. They're designed this way and most players can instantly identify the threat something like Mulg will bring to the table. This presence is further enhanced by the model's rules. Everyone knows that the Deathjack or Mulg or a Warpwolf Stalker can ruin just about any single model in the game, so you don't want to put your models on the receiving end of their attacks. Now we're seeing where the board control comes in.
When you put down a model, it exerts a certain radius of 'threat'. Anything entering this 'threat' becomes a valid target. The more threatening or destructive a model is, the more board control it exerts on your opponent. No one in their right mind will place a caster within 14" of Mulg with eDoomshaper unless they can absolutely guarantee (and I really mean guarantee) their caster cannot be attacked/killed. So utilizing this theory of threat you effectively control the board within your model's threat range.
What happens when multiple competing threat ranges overlap? So my Mulg+eDoomshaper combo can threaten 14", but your Molik Karn+eMakeda can go 15", that's when I surrender the board control to my opponent unless I can nullify their assault. Whomever has the longer threat range is exerting more board control on that area of the board than their opponent. Certain factors such as attack power come into play here too though, my ARM 21 Mulg is going to laugh at your POW 10 infantry even though they exert a larger threat range. Because I effectively nullify your assault, that part of the board is really mine.
Certain feats and abilities change the way board control works. eDeneghra's feat instantly drops your opponent's board control to nothing as long as they can't move, so you now control the entire board except where models are physically placed and their respective melee ranges. This harkens back to the idea that threat range is the greatest factor for board control. Look at the way Pygmy Burrowers works, because my Burrowers nullify your threat by digging and do horrific damage when they surface, they exert a good degree board control.
It's worth talking about abilities that literally effect the board: things like suppressing fire or pillars of salt. These are usually templates that either stop your opponent moving through or limit where they can move. You are in effect channeling your opponent's army in a more direct fashion than using threat range by saying "you may not move here" with your templates. Of course this is cancelled if the opponent can ignore whatever type of template you put down but you get the idea on how it works.
So what can you do with board control? Well, the first thing you can do if you have more board control than your opponent is dictate where combat will happen. Denial casters typically support this sort of play, though some casters enter a sub-genre of denial most people would call control: casters such as Rahn or eKrueger fit into this category. Once you can dictate where combat will happen, it becomes a matter of when it will happen. Once you control the where and the when then you pretty much have the game in the bag unless the dice let you down.
Certain models exude danger: the Deathjack, Mulg, Beast-09. You'll notice that these are mostly large models that have a big presence when you put them on the table. They're designed this way and most players can instantly identify the threat something like Mulg will bring to the table. This presence is further enhanced by the model's rules. Everyone knows that the Deathjack or Mulg or a Warpwolf Stalker can ruin just about any single model in the game, so you don't want to put your models on the receiving end of their attacks. Now we're seeing where the board control comes in.
When you put down a model, it exerts a certain radius of 'threat'. Anything entering this 'threat' becomes a valid target. The more threatening or destructive a model is, the more board control it exerts on your opponent. No one in their right mind will place a caster within 14" of Mulg with eDoomshaper unless they can absolutely guarantee (and I really mean guarantee) their caster cannot be attacked/killed. So utilizing this theory of threat you effectively control the board within your model's threat range.
What happens when multiple competing threat ranges overlap? So my Mulg+eDoomshaper combo can threaten 14", but your Molik Karn+eMakeda can go 15", that's when I surrender the board control to my opponent unless I can nullify their assault. Whomever has the longer threat range is exerting more board control on that area of the board than their opponent. Certain factors such as attack power come into play here too though, my ARM 21 Mulg is going to laugh at your POW 10 infantry even though they exert a larger threat range. Because I effectively nullify your assault, that part of the board is really mine.
Certain feats and abilities change the way board control works. eDeneghra's feat instantly drops your opponent's board control to nothing as long as they can't move, so you now control the entire board except where models are physically placed and their respective melee ranges. This harkens back to the idea that threat range is the greatest factor for board control. Look at the way Pygmy Burrowers works, because my Burrowers nullify your threat by digging and do horrific damage when they surface, they exert a good degree board control.
It's worth talking about abilities that literally effect the board: things like suppressing fire or pillars of salt. These are usually templates that either stop your opponent moving through or limit where they can move. You are in effect channeling your opponent's army in a more direct fashion than using threat range by saying "you may not move here" with your templates. Of course this is cancelled if the opponent can ignore whatever type of template you put down but you get the idea on how it works.
So what can you do with board control? Well, the first thing you can do if you have more board control than your opponent is dictate where combat will happen. Denial casters typically support this sort of play, though some casters enter a sub-genre of denial most people would call control: casters such as Rahn or eKrueger fit into this category. Once you can dictate where combat will happen, it becomes a matter of when it will happen. Once you control the where and the when then you pretty much have the game in the bag unless the dice let you down.
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