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Friday, December 30, 2016

Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia... Soon?

OMG...  I am the least patient person on the planet.  I've been waiting for several Kickstarter games that are now late for months and months now.  One of the ones I'm most excited about is Masmorra.


For those of you who don't know, Masmorra uses super deformed minis and takes place in a randomly created dungeons.  The dungeons is made of mostly small, but some larger rooms.  Every time you open a door, you flip over a random tile and put it down.  The monsters are also randomly generated by rolling a die with the monsters' stats on the different die facings.




I'm super impatient because the shipping container with my stuff has been in Savannah, GA for several days now.  That's where the distribution warehouse is.  Everyday, I log into Kickstarter and check to see if there is an update.  Nope.  Ugh.  They need to offload that container ship and send me my stuff ASAP.  Sigh.


Thursday, December 29, 2016

Star Wars Armada New Releases

So, I just picked up this stuff...



I haven't had a chance to really go through it much, but I do have some initial impressions.  The Cruiser and Squadrons are pretty much what you'd expect.  They got Star Wars looking ships, cards, tokens.  Pretty standard FFG stuff.

The campaign box was a little more perplexing.  It comes with a bunch of cards that give us new squadron configurations for existing models as well as a bunch of new missions.  I think everyone is going to be excited about that.  The actual campaign bit is a little different.  The campaign map is just a folded up sheet of paper.  Where I would normally expect to see Rebel and Imperial tokens to denote control of planetary systems, I instead found stickers.  That's right.  This appears to be a "one and done" type of product.  The campaign elements aren't really reusable.  It's weird.  I think it's still worth the $30, but it's not what I've come to expect from FFG.  Then again, a proper campaign with card stock boards and tons of tokens would have cost more.  I can understand why FFG went this route.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

I got to play through the entire three scenario campaign that comes with the core Arkham Horror: The Card Game boxed set.  It was a huge amount of fun.  There are a fair number of rules to keep track of, and we definitely got some of them wrong, but we had a ton of fun in the process.

I'm excited for the next products in the line to come out.  It looks like the deluxe sets...  the ones in boxes...  will have three scenarios and extra investigators.  The clam packs will have one scenario each.  The first cycle of releases is called the Dunwich Legacy, which will start out with a deluxe boxed set.


It comes with either four or five new investigators.  I was only able to find pictures of two, but the core set comes with five, so I think I'm missing something.


I really like the ability on Rex Murphy.  His stats aren't impressive, but if he's able to get some boosts, he'll be able to pull off the ability pretty often.  He's also really sane.  I also like Zoey because she seems like a total badass.

The first three expansions in the cycle have also been announced.


Of these three, the Essex County Express immediately jumped out at me as being pretty cool sounding.  It happens on a train with all of the locations being in a row.  I'm assuming that like in the wooded scenario in the core set that you'll randomly deal all of the cars face down and not know what they are until you flip them.  That seems like a little cool mystery.

Lastly, I totally bought one of the play mats.  These things are like giant mouse pads.  I used to play Magic the Gathering in the long, long ago when nobody used mats.  Evidently, it's commonplace for games these days.  I bought the mat mainly for Star Wars Destiny, but will be using it for this game also.  I picked up the one with the Rougarou on it.  He's the main bad guy in the Cure of the Rougarou standalone scenario that was first available at FFG's Arkham Nights 2016.  I bought a copy of that scenario, but haven't been able to play it yet.



Friday, December 23, 2016

GSC Progress!!!

I had a really shitty day today.  Things were said.  It wasn't good.  I decided to sit down and hobby for a bit to clear my head.  It worked.  I present you with the results of my mental break...


These models are so cool looking.  Can't wait to have the whole lot assembled.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

GW Customer Service...

...really is top notch.  They're sending me out a replacement based on the images that I sent to them.  They emailed back asking for an address to send to and the batch number from the box.  Very reasonable.  I think they're going to be sending me the part that is damaged, which is perfectly reasonable.  I've seen them send whole sprues before, but that seems crazy excessive in this case.

Christmas is kicking my ass.  Hopefully, I'll have more time to hobby after the 25th.  For now though, sweet sleep is calling to me.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Sprue Damage!!!! Crisis

Well, not exactly a crisis, but I got the Deathwatch Overkill box and noticed that one of the dudes has a broken gun barrel.  Now, I paid more than a dollar for this box, so I think it's reasonable to have undamaged models.  I shot an email over to good old GW.  Curious to see A. what they say and B. how long it takes to get back to me.  I'm expecting a replacement, but I don't know if they'll replace just the bits I'm missing or the whole sprue or maybe just give me an Acolyte box.  Their customer service tends to be pretty good, but sometimes they say no.

There are two identical sprues.  One is broken, one is not.  I'm being nit picky due to the cost of the kit.

Missing Gun Barrel

Complete Gun Barrel


Monday, December 19, 2016

Heralds of Ruin - Genestealer Cults

Ok, so I've decided to go with Genestealer Cults for the ongoing Heralds of Ruin campaign that we're starting in January.  While I've decided on the Faction, I haven't decided yet on which Leader to go with.

I have a couple of choices.

Choice #1 - Princeling/Brood Prince
This is the most likely choice.  A Princeling is 15 points and can be upgraded to a proper Brood Prince for another 25 points.  The Brood Prince is basically a Genestealer Patriarch with a ton of special rules.  He's a melee monster.  The only reason I'd consider not running this model is that it's a lot of points for a model that can realistically kill one enemy per turn.  Part of me thinks that I'd be better off taking one of the other, cheaper options and keeping more points available for the actual army.

Choice #2 - Magus
The Magus is also 40 points...  same as a Brood Prince (15+25).  The main appeal of the Magus is that it can become a Mastery Level 2 Psyker.  Psychic powers are nice, but they can be pretty unreliable.  I'm listing this as a choice, but I'm almost certainly not going to pick it.  I feel that with Psykers, you need to either go big or go home.

Choice #3 - Primus
Again, we're looking a 40 points.  The Primus is like a super Neophyte.  He comes with some pretty solid weaponry, performing well at both ranged and melee combat.  He does have a nice rule, "Cult Demagogue", which gives all friendly same faction models within 12" the Hatred special rule.  That could be pretty useful...  if I run Genestealers or Acolytes.  It's not great for Neophytes.

Choice #4/5 - Neophyte or Hybrid Metamorph Leader
These two options are the cheapy squad leader options.  They're 15 and 19 points, respectively.  The main appeal here is that I could take a Neophyte Leader AND a 5-man Neophyte Hybrid Squad for the same price as a basic Primus.

I feel like you really want to take a Leader if it's particularly effective in combat OR if it acts as a force multiplier.  The Brood Prince is a pretty solid melee Leader, but has no real shooting.  The Magus feels mediocre.  The Primus would be a good force multiplier, but only if I go melee oriented.  I don't think I want to do that.  I'm actually leaning towards going with a basic Neophyte Leader and maybe giving him a nice gun.  Likely, I'll just run him basic and keep him safely in the backfield.

I'll post more this week about the other army options.  I'll definitely be going with at least two 5-man Neophyte Hybrid Squads and a few Genestealers.  That leave me with some other options to think about.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

OMG Christmas!

I have done zero Christmas shopping.  Oh my God.  Where has the time gone?

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Genestealer Cults... Sigh

I totally bought the Genestealer Cults Codex.  I went for the 33 USD iPad/ePub version.  I'm not a huge fan of the interactive versions.  They're neat, but I like the option of being able to print out the pages that I want physical copies of.

I'm seriously considering running Genestealer Cults in a regular Kill Teams group that meets on Fridays at Showcase Comics in Swarthmore, PA.  We're using the Heralds of Ruin rules, so the list options I have are a little different.  The GSC have a special list that can be seen here...


I'm currently thinking about running a full blown Genestealer infestation.  The Brood Prince is 40 points base with probably another 20 points worth of gear.  That leaves ~190 points for dudes.  I'm thinking 5 Purestrain Genestealers, 2x 5-man Neophyte Squads and maybe a Scout Sentinel.  I'd have enough points left over for upgrades.  I'm not entirely sure how I want to kit everything out, but that's the initial thought...  mainly because I already have all those models.  I have the Genestealers from the Space Hulk kit...


I'll have to futz with the bases, but I'm sure I can make this work.  I'll probably put the Broodlord/Brood Prince on a 40mm base and all the others on 32mm bases.  I think that will work.  If nothing else, it'll be nice to have a reason to field these.

I have some boring Imperial Guard dudes, but I'll probably pick up the new Neophytes kit.  It's a very cool looking kit and it'll mean the entire army is around $40 total.


Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Fold Up Terrain

This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.  This creates so many ideas.


Monday, December 12, 2016

GW Codexes = $$$$$

I had an opportunity to buy a copy of Deathwatch Overkill at a discount over the weekend.  I didn't do it.  The models are cool looking.  They're definitely worth it from a modelling and painting perspective.  Seriously.  These look cool and you get lots of them.




I didn't buy them because I don't know if they're any good.  I also don't have any real solid way of finding out that they're any good without buying a copy of the Codex.  Yes, GW put out some free datasheets giving us unique, named versions of the above models, but I don't know if the Genestealer Cults faction is worthwhile to invest in.  The most affordable version that has all of the content is 32.99 USD and requires a computer or tablet to read.  If I want a physical version, I have to spend 50 USD.  It just feels like a lot.  I wish GW would just give their unit rules away for free like almost every other game out there.

There have been lots of rumors swirling around lately that 8th Edition 40k is going to be coming out soon.  I'm REALLY hoping they pull an Age of Sigmar maneuver and give the unit rules away for free and make the faction rules available at a low price.  30-50 USD for a Codex is just a lot.  I'd rather be spending the money on models.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Star Wars Destiny - Yellow Mill Cards

Hey all!  More Destiny talk today.  These are the current yellow cards that I have in my mill deck.

First up are two of the more useful cards.  Diplomatic Immunity is just great.  Four resources is quite expensive, but the cards gives my characters a ton of durability.  Four facings with shields means I'll probably be dropping shields onto my characters every turn.  The Thermal Detonator is in the deck primarily for the two discard facings.  The special is actually something I don't want to see, so I'd probably try to re-roll it.


Cunning's usefulness depends entirely on what my opponent throws down.  Realistically, I'd use it's special to activate Padme's in the absence of something better.  The Falcon is there for the discard facing.  The special is useless in this deck, so I'll treat it as a blank.


The last two cards are mixed.  Second Chance is only useful for Padme.  Infamous will probably give me a couple of extra activations per game.  Really, I just threw these in because I didn't have any other cards.  I'd like to replace both, but need more card options.  I'll probably pull these cards after I get another box to open.


Man, I love opening booster packs and building decks.


Thursday, December 8, 2016

Star Wars Destiny Mill Deck WIP

Hello all!  I'll be talking a little bit about Destiny today.  I'm in the process of putting together a mill deck.  For those of you who aren't card gamers, most of these sorts of games have two victory conditions.  Condition one is to kill your opponent.  Condition two is to cause your opponent to run out of cards.  A mill deck ignores the first condition and focuses almost exclusively on the second.  Given that Destiny uses a 30 card deck, I just need to force my opponent to burn through 30 cards.  He or she will use at least 10 or so cards himself throughout the game, so I'm thinking I need to dish out 20 or so cards worth of discard.  Discarding from the deck is better, but discards from the hand work to as you must draw back up to five cards at the start of each round.

I initially thought about running ePadme and eAckbar (the e meaning the more expensive, two dice version).  The work pretty well with Padme causing discards from the deck and Ackbar penalizing the player for emptying out his hand.


I'm not 100% sold on Ackbar, but I think he's the best choice I had for a red character.  His die is pretty helpful, but he's not very strong otherwise.  I played a couple of games and realized that a grand total of 19 health can't stand up to even mid tier aggro (pure damage dealing) decks.  I decided to add Rey to the mix.  Rey gives me extra health AND a juicy target for my opponent to beat on.  I won't have any blue character only cards in my deck, so I'll give shields to Padme and Ackbar and hope Rey becomes the target.  She also has a discard facing on one die, so that might help if I get a focus elsewhere and want another discard.  The Jedi robes are relatively cheap, give me shields if I can play it first round and give me two focus facings.


Rey also opens up some nice discard oriented blue cards.  I'm thinking about including the below cards.  Jedi Council is nice in that its a single discard, but also lets me make my opponents hand potentially a little worse.  I overlooked Patience at first, but think it might be a late game changer.  Roll your dice, and then if you don't have good results, just play patience, effectively bowing out of the round but potentially causing 5+ discards.  In a 30 card deck, that's devastating.


I still need to trade for a couple of other yellow and red cards, but I'm pretty happy with how this deck is shaping up.  I'll post more tomorrow about the other colors I'm including.


Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Skyrim

I got a kick out of this.  This is totally what Skyrim is like when I play it.


WORK!

Work has been crazy.  I'll post something real tonight.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Heralds of Ruin Inquisition Kill Team w/Pig Iron Productions

I've been playing Warhammer 40k Kill Teams lately using the Heralds of Ruin rules.  It's been a lot of fun.  I've mainly just been using the models I have available and painted.  My experience thus far is that this doesn't make for very effective teams.

I'm seriously considering putting together an Inquisition Kill Team.  The Heralds of Ruin people put out specific lists, so the options vary a bit from the Codex choices.  My thought is to go with the following list...


The idea is to have a relatively basic Inquisitor with 20 Warrior Acolytes broken into four 5-man units.  The Warrior Acolytes will be supported by two Medics and three Death Cult Assassins.  My idea was to go Ordo Hereticus and have the Inquisitor "under cover" posing as a group of cultists to infiltrate an existing cult in the underbelly of a hive world.  In that sense, no Inquisitional logos or polished armor is allowed.  Everything needs to be filthy and covered in rags and rebreathers.

I'm thinking about using these models from the Pig Iron Productions Kolony Ferals line...


The guy with the staff thing would be the Inquisitor.  He's obviously the cult leader.  He's amazing.  I've seen this sculpt before and totally love it.  Two of the other guys will get light conversion work...  probably a backpack...  to become Medics.


These guys will be the basic troopers.  I know this picture isn't as great, but they totally fit with the command guys.  I'd need four blocks of these.


Last up are the melee guys.  Three of these would end up as Death Cult Assassins.  Some of the heads look a little rough, but for an extra couple of bucks, I can get ten extra of the head sprue that has the hooded, masked guys.  I prefer those anyways.

All told, it would cost 60 GBP plus shipping to order directly from Pig Iron.  TheWarStore used to stock them and still have an area in their web store, but it's empty.  I'm trying to find a US distributor.  It would almost certainly be cheaper.  60 GBP is a little rich for my blood right before Christmas.  They do accept PayPal.  Maybe if I sell some crap I don't need, I can just PayPal this stuff and get it for "free".


Friday, December 2, 2016

Star Wars X-Wing - Quadjumper Expansion

I'm super giddy about Star Wars right now.  I'll be heading to my local gaming store after work tonight to pick up my box of Star Wars Destiny boosters.  I'll also be picking up a Rey starter if they have one available.  I'm assuming that they will.  Then again, FFG can be a little spotty when it comes to initial supply for popular new products.

Today I'll be talking about the upcoming Quadjumper for X-Wing.


As per normal, the ship comes with a ton of bits and pieces.  There are the normal four pilot cards plus eight other upgrade cards, one of which is one of the new Condition cards.  I'll show that in a bit.

The ship itself looks pretty cool.  It's essentially a space tug boat.  Huge engines and a small cockpit.  I really dig the style...


The ship has some cool upgrades.  It includes a new Condition card which is just going to make it much easier to hurt one of your opponent's ships.


There are also some other good upgrades.  The Scavenger Crane is going to be really nice for those ships that like to get in close and blow up ships with secondary weapons.  I'm really more interested in the Spacetug Tractor Array.  I can see a couple of Quadjumpers equipped with these and some bombs or rigged cargo chutes making for some fun shenanigans.  It would be fun to just slam your opponent's ships around.


The ship itself is actually pretty solid.  Obviously the fancier versions have more abilities and a better pilot skill, but the core isn't bad.  No shields, but five hull is actually pretty solid.  The ship doesn't have much in the way of basic attack or action bar abilities, but it's cheap and a good platform for upgrades.


I'm definitely picking up one or two when these come out.

Now, if tonight could just come so I could get my hands on some Star Wars Destiny.


Thursday, December 1, 2016

The Master of Mankind

When the Horus Heresy books started coming out from Black Library, I was pretty excited.  "We're finally going to have a really in depth telling of this interesting bit of 40k history", I said to myself.  I read the first book.  Pretty solid.  And the second.  And the third.  And the 20th.  And the 30th.  I completely gave up once the series became totally unmanageable.  It's one thing to just read a particularly long series of books.  It's another when that series of books is really a dozen different sub-series told through books, audiobooks, short stories, novellas, etc.  It's impossible to stay on top of all the releases.  I tend to be the kind of person where if I can't read a whole series, I don't really want to read any of it.

I think book 32 or so is the last book I read.  Book 41 just came out.  I totally bought it...  with no debate at all.


I'm about 2/3 of the way through and I'm enjoying the book so far.  I was really hoping I'd see more background into the actual Emperor's history, but I think they're keeping that purposefully mysterious.  Granted, I still haven't read through to the end of the book.  What I can say is that it heavily features the Sisters of Silence, the Custodian Guard and the Mechanicum.  I'm a huge Mechanicum fan, so I'm chalking this up as a win so far.

If you like the Horus Heresy, but aren't particularly interested in reading about Space Marines fighting Space Marines, I'd give this one a shot.


Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Kickstarter Games... SOON

I know I mention Kickstarter games every once in awhile on this blog.  Several of them are getting CLOSE.  Here are a couple of updates, mainly because I had to read through a million comments to figure out when things are showing up.


Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia...

This game is supposed to have production and factory packing complete by around the time this post goes up.  At that point, things get shipped to distribution hubs throughout the world and then into my greedy hands.

Arcadia Quest: Inferno...

This game is actually at the same point as Masmorra.  It should be finished production and prepping for shipment to distribution hubs this week.  It looks like I'll be getting Masmorra and Arcadia Quest at about the same time.  That's actually pretty awesome since all the Masmorra heroes can be used in Arcadia Quest.

Rail Raiders...

This game is waiting for a production proof to be completed.  Once that happens, production goes into full effect with distribution hub shipping shortly thereafter.  Honestly, I'm kinda meh on this one.  The game looked ok, but I mainly got it for the miniatures.

I am not a patient man.  These things need to hurry up.