2016

Martes, Mayo 17, 2016

Uncharted 4 Patch Notes

If you booted up Uncharted 4: A Thief's End yesterday or today, you'll notice a new patch (1.03) and "live update" (.013) have arrived. Now, developer Naughty Dog has published the full patch notes for these.

Included in the update are fixes for crashes and a particle sync issue for single-player, as well as a bevy of fixes for multiplayer. Scroll down to see the complete patch notes.

Uncharted 4 – PS4 Patch 1.03 Notes
1.03.012

General:

Various Localization updates
Single Player:

Fixed various crashes
Fixed particle sync issue
Multiplayer:

General
Gameplay crash fixes
Fix for Entitlement Limits being reached causing users to not see Uncharted Points they had purchased
Enabled a pop-up to appear while in the menus to inform users of new updates
Fix for Challenge completed pop-up appearing after already completing the challenge
Fix for Loadout Point unlocks not triggering properly
Fix for store item descriptions
Leaderboard text fixes
Fix for post-game medal description
Added Leaderboards menu item to matchmaking page so players can check out their leaderboard stats while in matchmaking
Fixed booster level issue for late-joiners
Sniper Sidekick - Path of Indra mod now plays sound properly when Sniper teleports
Timer display error fix for Matchmaking lobby
Fix for private match settings not being visible after viewing previous game results
Fixed crash that can occur during the end game scoreboard
Ranked TDM
Fix for team favor display for when teams are evenly matched in Ranked TDM
Fix for rank point bug where players were incorrectly getting penalized for both win/loss
Rank progress is now displayed when browsing the Ranked TDM playlist, before entering
Lowered the max rank that can be achieved after initial placement matches from Gold I to Gold III
Command
Fix for a crash that occurs during a game of Command
Fix for store prices sometimes being improper while being a Captain
Fix for contested status icon not updating properly
Fix for late-join player seeing improper status icon
Plunder
Fix for the idol respawn timer not appearing properly
Fix for weapon gameplay issues while hodling the idol
Treasure chest, player starting spawns, & idol spawn locations tweaked
Fix for idol pickup causing loss of functionality
Fix for scoring animation playing improperly
Fix for throwing animation playing improperly
Weapons
Fix for sniper rifle scope-in times
Fix for weapon progression being inappropriately earned
Fix for starting ammo mod on some weapons
Mysticals
Spirit of the Djinn
Fix for timer not working properly
Fix for FX not deactivating properly
Fix for improperly turning off during to network errors
Fix for icon not clearing properly when a player dies while it is active
Fix for not being able to purchase while wating to respawn
Staff of Ayar Manco received a decrease in the ammount of points it contributes towards your Support Score
1.03.013 (MP ONLY)

Decrease number of Warm-Up matches to unlock other playlists to 1 game
Decreased the maximum Warm-Up matches from 10 to 5
Tripled the Rank Points lost for a quit or disconnect in Ranked TDM

Huwebes, Mayo 12, 2016

Uncharted 4 Trophies Revealed

Trophy and achievement-tracking site Exophase has revealed Uncharted 4's 56 trophies. Some of the trophies require you to perform 30 stealth takedowns, get the high score in "the retro video game," and replicate the E3 2015 "stage demo fail." When Uncharted 4 was shown at E3 last year, the demo failed, which resulted in Nathan Drake standing still for an extended period of time.

Trophies
One Last Time -- Collect All The Trophies
Charted! - Explorer -- Complete the game in explorer mode
Charted! - Light -- Complete the game in light mode
Charted! - Moderate -- Complete the game in moderate mode
Charted! - Hard -- Complete the game in hard mode
Charted! - Crushing -- Complete the game in crushing mode
Charted! - Speedrun -- Complete the game in six hours or less
First Treasure -- Find a Treasure
Treasure Hunter -- Find 50 treasures
Treasure Master -- Find all treasures
Relic Finder -- Find the Strange Relics
Jot This Down -- Find a Journal Entry
Lost Art of Journaling -- Find all Journal Entries
Take a Note -- Find a Journal Note
Lost History -- Find All Journal Notes
Head of the Class! -- Defeat 20 enemies with headshots
You Have a Head for this Business -- Defeat 50 enemies with headshots
Hangman's Bullet -- Perform 20 headshots from the rope
Stealth First Ask Questions Later -- Stealth takedown five enemies
Shh Sleep Now -- Stealth takedown 30 enemies
I Thought I Heard Something -- Perform 30 vertical stealth takedowns
Run-and-Gunner -- Defeat 50 enemies from-the-hip or blind-firing
Leapfrog -- Defeat 10 enemies in a row, alternating gunplay and hand-to-hand
Unstoppable! -- Defeat 100 enemies in a row without dying in combat
Sharpshooter -- Complete game with 70% or higher shot accuracy
Rushing Roulette -- Defeat enemies with a pistol, machine gun, and grenade, in that order, in 15 seconds
Ghost in the Cemetery -- Get through Scotland cemetery combat encounter without killing or being seen
Butterfingers -- Make 10 enemies drop their grenades
Boom County -- Defeat four enemies with the same explosion (all explosive items and weapons apply)
Defeat 10 in60 - China Lake GL -- Defeat 10 enemies in 60 seconds with the China Lake Grenade Launcher
Hang Tough! -- Destroy 10 vehicles while being dragged from the rope
Run the Table -- Defeat enemies with a stealth attack, melee attack, headshot, and explosives, in that order, in 15 seconds
Hitting a Brick Wall -- Defeat five armored enemies with melee only
Peaceful Resolution -- After being marooned, leave everyone alive until the Treasury
Wingman -- Perform 10 combo buddy takedowns
Cliffhanger -- Pull 20 enemies over when hanging from a ledge
Ludonarrative Dissonance -- Defeat 1000 enemies
Don't Feed the Animals -- Play with the lemur in the market and let it steal your apple
I Accidentally All the Guns -- Use every weapon in the game
Not a Cairn in the World -- Knock over all rock cairns in Madagascar
I Can See My House From Here! -- Climb to the very top of the Clocktower in the City
Trials and Tribulations -- Solve the first Trial in Scotland in 10 moves or less
Best Score! -- Beat the best score in the retro video game
Gift of Gab -- Listen to all optional conversations in game
Marco Polo Returns! -- Play in the ocean near the sunken ship
Stage Fright -- Just prior to City Chase, stand perfectly still for 30 seconds (stage demo fail)
Just Floor It! -- Drive away in the jeep with Elena without killing any enemies
On Porpoise -- Get three dolphins to follow the boat
Still Got It! -- Hit all targets in the attic with the toy gun
Glamour Shot -- Take a photo of Sully
Swordmaster -- Perfectly parry Rafe in the sword fight without getting slashed or stabbed
Continue the Adventure -- Complete the Uncharted Multiplayer Introduction
Get in the Game -- Complete five matches in Multiplayer
Trials by Fire -- Complete all trials on Moderate (difficulty) in Multiplayer
Friends Forever! -- Spawn 10 Sidekicks in Multiplayer
Medic! -- Revive 10 Allies in Multiplayer

Tree of Savior Scheduled Maintenance

Greetings, Saviors!

We would like to announce the details of our weekly maintenance for May 10th, 2016. Make sure to check below for the maintenance schedule and patch notes. Please note that other issues and bugs are also being worked on even if they are not mentioned below.

Maintenance Period
00:00 to 06:00 (EDT) May 10th, 2016

Patch Notes
[General Contents]
Hotkeys will no longer be unlocked after obtaining items or silver.
Team Storage text will no longer include contents regarding potential loss as intended.
Players will no longer be able to jump over thorns in the Hollow Thorn Forest Dungeon.
The Wizard's Spring Flower Dress (Male) will now properly show all poses.
Nuo monsters will no longer drop Kepo Skins.

[Quest Related]
Chasing Lord Delmore (2)
The objective count will no longer go up 2 at a time when destroying the Magic Core while buffed by skills such as 'Sacrament' etc.
Antidote
The Antidote recipe will now properly be added to the inventory even when restarting the quest after abandoning it.
The Second Epitaph (5)
The Istora Ruins will no longer be indicated before completing the quest.
Monster Gone Wild (2)
It will now proceed to the Quest completion screen even after completing the quest in a party.

[Skill Related]
Warlock - Dark Theurge
Will now hit only a set number of times as intended.
Cryomancer - Subzero Shield
The freeze chance for will now be the same as indicated in the tooltip.
Chaplain - Magnus Exorcismus
The skill sustain time will now increase per skill level as intended.

As always, we thank you for your continued support, enthusiasm and love for Tree of Savior.

Sincerely,
IMC Staff

Huwebes, Abril 28, 2016

Next Call of Duty's Name Got Leaked on PSN Store

The next Call of Duty game has a name, and it's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, according to what looks like an accidental listing on the PlayStation Store.

As discovered by a Reddit user and verified by GameSpot, browsing to the Trending section of the PlayStation Store on PS4 reveals the listing pictured below. Selecting the name takes you only to a blank page, but it's still the first indication of what this year's inevitable Call of Duty sequels will be called.

Activision has yet to make any announcements regarding the next Call of Duty, but it's typically around the late April/May period of each year that it reveals the first details. That'll presumably be the case again this year.

Martes, Abril 26, 2016

POKER - New game in January

In January 2016, Pinoygame will release a new game named Pinoy Poker. This's a regular game with hundred millions players in all over the world.

Pinoy Poker provides its players a whole new poker experience. As a casual multiplayer game Pinoy Poker combines all the excitement and strategy of Texas Hold’em withcustomizable avatars and a fun and truly social gameplay. Play poker with your friends from all over the world for neverending fun!

FIND PINOYGAME ON:

http://pinoygame.net | http://tongits.ph

http://facebook.com/PinoyGame.net

http://apps.facebook.com/PinoyGame

http://twitter.com/PinoyGame

support@pinoygame.net

Play game tong its, pusoy, pusoy dos on Pinoygame

Lunes, Abril 25, 2016

Common questions about pinoygame

You ask - PinoyGame.net anwser

1. How many game can I play on PinoyGame?

Pinoy Game have 3 game: Tong-Its, Chinese Chess & Pusoy Dos

2. On what platforms is PinoyGame available?

The PinoyGame app will be available for iOS - Android - Windows Phone in near future. You can also play PinoyGame right now on PinoyGame.net / Tongits.ph or apps facebookhttps://apps.facebook.com/pinoygame

3. What is a Lobby?
Lobby is a game mode where you can watch currently active games and learn more about them (bet’s size, number of seats at the table, etc.) and choose the table you’d like to join. Advanced players thoroughly study lobby, selecting the average bank and observing players’ behavior to get benefit in the game. Choosing a table in lobby is very important to choose the most appropriate game and increase your profit.

4. Where can I find game history?

The game history can be found when you click the “Log” button on top-right of lobby.

5. How can I choose a table at the Lobby?

There are many ways to join a table from Lobby

- Click "Play Now"

- Click directly on a table you like

- Click on avatar at the bottom screen & click to "Invite" button appear immediately

6. Is it possible to play at multiple tables simultaneously?

You can play only at 1 table in a game, but you can play many games in a time

7. Why am I being «kicked out» from the table and cannot join it?

This may be the host's busy & don't want to play with you. Another reason caused by an unstable Internet connection, when playing please make sure your connection is stable.

8. What if I think that the other player won unfairly?

Nice hand doesn’t mean a win yet. Winning game depends on may elements: How you play, how your opponent play, cards on the dump,... But if you think your opponents were won unfairly, contact us at Support@PinoyGame.net and give us the more infomation the best, we'll check again & give back you an appropriate answer.

9. What does a "VIP" sign on Player’s avatar mean?

A "VIP" sign on Player’s avatar mean that this user has more right than a regular user.

10. How can I have VIP point?

With each One $ to purchase Gold, you will get 1 VIP point.

Play game tong its, pusoy, pusoy dos, chinese chess

Biyernes, Abril 22, 2016

Nerfed HearthStone Cards

Life Juggler and Leper Gnome have had their attack power nerfed, with Juggler going from three to two and Leper Gnome dropping from two to one. Arcane Golem's charge has been removed, while its health has been increased. Molten Giant's mana has been raised to 25 in order to increase the risk you have to take lower its cost to zero. Finally, Master of Disguise will no longer grant another minion permanent Stealth; instead, it'll only have Stealth until the next turn.

You can take a look at all of the card changes in the list below:

Druid Cards
Ancient of Lore -- Reduced the number of cards drawn from 2 to 1

Force of Nature -- Lowered mana cost to 1, removes Charge and makes summoned Treants permanent

Keeper of the Grove -- Stats have been changed from 2 attack/4 health to 2/2

Silence & Removal
Ironbeak Owl -- Increased mana cost from 2 to 3

Big Game Hunter -- Increased mana cost from 3 to 5

Hunter's Mark -- Increased mana cost from 0 to 1

Blade Flurry -- Increased mana cost from 2 to 4, will now only affect minions

Powerful Neutral Minions
Knife Juggler -- Reduced attack from 3 to 2

Leper Gnome -- Reduced attack from 2 to 1

Arcane Golem -- Removed Charge, will now cost 3 mana with 4 attack/4 health

Molten Giant -- Increased mana cost to 25

Master of Disguise -- Will now only grant Stealth until next turn

Huwebes, Abril 21, 2016

Street Fighter 5 April Update

Guile has been confirmed as the next Street Fighter 5 DLC character. Images of the Sonic Boom-throwing American hero were revealed on the Capcom Unity blog, which also provided some gameplay information.

His V-Skill is called the Sonic Blade and during it Guile "spins up sonic energy to create a Sonic Blade which acts as a stationary projectile that can also juice up his Sonic Booms."
Finally, Capcom has detailed its Rage Quit system, which will "identify players who have high disconnect rates during matches and will lock them out of matchmaking for a period of time."

Martes, Abril 19, 2016

Halo 5 Campaign Balance Changes

It's just Halo 5's multiplayer mode that's getting new updates. Developer 343 Industries has outlined a series of changes coming to the game's campaign mode, including changes to difficultly and more.

Below is a rundown of changes coming to Halo 5's campaign. Note that enemy-specific changes also apply to Warzone's AI characters. For lots more on these changes, which are coming with the Memories of Reach update in May, head to Halo Waypoint.

SPECIFIC CHANGES
Reduced two-player difficulty slightly

Increased single-player difficulty slightly

Made Warden attacks a little easier to dodge, particularly on lower difficulties
Face Beam tracks moving targets less accurately

Gravity Bomb has less homing

Melee attack has slightly less range
Made the Warden slightly easier to kill from the front

Reduced AI Focus Turret damage output

Reduced AI Storm Rifle, Suppressor, and Light Rifle effectiveness
AI Storm Rifle: fires in shorter bursts, projectiles spread out more and move more slowly. Jackals are now less effective than Elites with the Storm Rifle

AI Suppressor: fires in longer bursts, projectiles have less homing. Crawlers are now less effective than Soldiers with the Suppressor

AI now fire shorter bursts with the Light Rifle
Increased AI Plasma Pistol, Needler and Beam Rifle effectiveness
AI Plasma Pistol: slightly higher accuracy and damage

AI Needler: AI now fire longer bursts (i.e. can now supercombine players on Heroic and above), slightly higher damage

AI Beam Rifle: slightly more damage (mostly this will make it a two-shot kill instead of a three-shot kill in Heroic single player, allowing Jackal Snipers to actually kill a player from time to time)
Added a "tackle" animation to Sword Elites – shoutout to Pat Gillette for making the sweet sword tackle animation
Instead of stopping to swing at a moving target they can swing on the move
Increased Elite, Elite Officer and Soldier Officer durability

Reduced Soldier bamf frequency

Killing a Crawler now deals area-of-effect damage to all nearby enemies, softening them up or killing them outright

Reduced frequency of Squad AI getting killed while in a gunner's turret in a player's vehicle

Made being killed by an attached Plasma Grenade non-revivable, similar to lethal damage from a Binary Rifle

Increased AI special ability chance with higher player count in co-op games, e.g. Plasma Pistol overcharge, grenade throw

Increased AI promotion chance with player count in co-op games
i.e. in cooperative games you will encounter more high-ranked enemies where promotion paths exist (most noticeable with Grunts, Elites, Jackals and Crawlers)
The first player to press the "Call for Help" now has priority, other players will have to wait their turn for a revive – shoutout to Mr. Robert Kingsley for the code fix for this.
While you'll have to wait a while for these campaign changes, 343 this week released a new update for Halo 5's Arena multiplayer mode with the following changes:

COLISEUM
Removed Binary Rifles

Swapped Sniper Rifle and Rocket Launcher weapon pads (Sniper to "Yellow Tower" / Rocket Launcher to "Green Tower")

Suppressor moved to bottom of the Grav Lift
FATHOM
SAW weapon pad modified
Max ammo reduced to one magazine total (no reloading)

Respawn time reduced from 3 min to 2 min
EMPIRE
Shotgun moved back to Tower One

Plasma Pistol moved to "Mid" the small street in between "Tower" and "Pit"
Finally, it was also confirmed that Halo 5's Fiesta mode is expanding with new options.

Free Xbox One and Xbox 360 Games

The next batch of free Xbox One and Xbox 360 games have arrived on Xbox Live for Gold members. Users with a subscription can now pick up Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One) and Saints Row IV (Xbox 360).

Note that Saints Row IV is playable on Xbox One by way of backwards compatibility, so even if you don't have an Xbox 360, you still may want to download the game.

You can grab the games right now using these Xbox.com download links:

Sunset Overdrive (normally $30)
Saints Row IV (normally $35)
Sunset Overdrive and Saints Row IV replace Lords of the Fallen and Dead Space, which were free up until April 15. Below is the full Games With Gold lineup for April 2016.

April 2016 Games With Gold Lineup:
Xbox One:

Lords of the Fallen -- March 16-April 15
The Wolf Among Us -- April 1-30
Sunset Overdrive -- April 16-May 15
Xbox 360:

Dead Space - April 1-15
Saints Row IV -- April 16-30

A quick update and more BFG: Armada!

At least they got the aesthetics right.

Just to let you folks know, that I've been playing BFG: Armada a ton in the last month or so. I've become a pretty solid player of all the factions, and I've been giving a lot of balance-related feedback. Of course, there's always going to be some haters out there, but I want to take a brief moment to post on top-down feedback.

First, let me direct you to the topic at hand. You don't need to read the entire thing, but I'll post my response below here:

Imperator5 wrote:
I do not think top to down balancing is a good idea actually, even if I agree with Hero about pulsars.

Games have to appeal to more than one segment of the population. If new players are not presented with a game they can play without reading up for weeks on elite forums and watching replays, they will just not play it at all.

My response:
This is exactly the kind of mentality that I completely, and utterly disagree with. Let me educate you why, in all sincerity.

It's not about a game's appeal man, it's about what your actual focus is. Balance, when done correctly, is done precisely and target specific gameplay-related issues.

The casual playerbase will not and does not notice balance when it is done correctly. There is simply too many other things they care about, because MP is not their primary focus and the reason they purchased the game. They care about playing the game for its aesthetics, the sound, the lore, the SP experience, the building the empire, the fun of just gaming with friends, and the immersion of being in gigantic space ships in the 40K universe with Tac Cog on. These are your painters, your hobbyists, your casual once a month playgroupers, and your campaign-driven 40K leaguers. These are the majority of your playerbase, but they are not focused on the delicacies of how multiplayer PvP plays out. This is not why they purchased the game, nor is that their reason to continue playing the game.

The competitive playerbase is the group that cares about the things that the casual player does not. They care about the balance, the numbers, the how much DPS is this ship doing vs. that ship, the viable strategies, the tactics, all the skills and abilities and how all these things equate to one thing: How they can justify the effort they are putting in the game, and if they are being rewarded for their efforts. They focus on the intricacies of gameplay, in a multiplayer environment, in player vs. player, because they are competitive in nature and focus on this very narrow and niche gaming perspective. When balance goes awry and when player unrewarded efforts and frustrations become painfully apparent, they leave the game, and the online community suffers. Their reason to play is no longer being rewarded.

The one thing that most people think, such as GW for example, and where amateur and indie companies fail, is that they think the two camps bleed and fight against each other. This is a very common fallacy. The competitive player simply does not focus on the same things the casual player focuses on, and it is not why they purchased the game, nor do they share the same reasons for playing the game. So other successful gaming companies started thinking from this exact perspective (EA, Ensemble, Relic, Blizzard..etc), and why they went to great lengths to consul with the best players of their games to collect feedback and balance suggestions from these players, to address their game to provide a better online, PvP, multiplayer experience. They understand the value of concurrency, that it wasn't just their goal to sell you the game, but to keep you there so you can continue to Twitch (like I am now), and to provide not only brand/company loyalty, but as a form of free marketing for their future products.

Simply put, it NEVER hurts to balance the game from the top-down. The two main crowds are not effected by either change! If the Pulsars all of a sudden turn into blue rainbows like from DoW vs. the purple-lavender ones we have now, do you think the competitive player will really care? Likewise, if the Pulsar damage was increased by 5s cooldown and their damage was reduced by 5 per, do you think the casual player will even notice?

Therefore, top-down balance is exactly what you need to make the best game possible. That is, of course, if you even care about the online aspect at all. If you didn't care, you wouldn't waste the development resources to make all these features in the first place. If you have already built a community around the fans and the immersion of giant 40K spaceships, that is great. But please Tindalos, do not fall in the camp that neglects the competitive player because it will, destroy your other playerbase.

+++

As you can see here, this is the same kind of attitude I have with GW, and why things like the Skull Cannon, Wraithknight and other ridiculous crap gets added to the game. I don't think GW can tell the difference between what kind of feedback is given. Oh well, at least I get to play BFG on a computer finally!

If you guys haven't caught me yet, you can see me playing on my Twitch channel. They just added the Eldar to the game and they're freaking bonkers. Not what I wanted to see personally, but the devs are hopefully going to work out the kinks. Since I started the stream, I'm up to 400 followers now!

Martes, Marso 15, 2016

Been playing a ton of BFG lately

Beta is nice and all, but where the F are my Eldar?!

What can I say? I've played over 30 hours of the game already and the beta came out last Thursday. I won't write out a full review, but let's just say that I think the game is absolutely fantastic, minus the fact that I crash 9/10 times when trying to play multiplayer. Yes, it's really that bad, the multiplayer in the game is extremely unstable. Solo skirmish however, is completely fine. This leads me to believe that there's something dreadfully wrong with the netcode. Whatever it is, they better figure this shit out quick because the game comes out in 2 weeks.

The only downside with the game for me right now is that when ships die in multiplayer, they go under cooldown, meaning you can't use them again. It's something like 2 games for a destroyed ship and 1 day for a heavily damaged one. Then afterwards, another turn where you don't get crew exp, and sometimes your ship even gets lost in the warp so it can be delayed up to 3 games. I think this mechanic is dreadfully stupid for multiplayer, but a very cool and fluffy mechanic for single-player.

Check out some of my gameplay videoes here. I updated my Twitch channel is it's all Eldared out:
https://www.twitch.tv/lkhero

And of course, some cool highlights:
Let the galaxy burn!
One battleship vs. 3 cruisers
Exploring the AI and teaching how to play

Make sure to follow me on Twitch! This is probably the only game I'll be playing for quite some time.

Miyerkules, Marso 9, 2016

BFG: Armada MP Beta starts Thursday

I have made Admiral Ackbar proud this season.

The title says it all gents. BFG: Armada, here we come! I don't know exactly when they plan on releasing the MP Beta phase, but it's supposed to happen Thursday at GMT+1. That should mean anywhere between 4pm and 12am my time? Vague, I know. What does this mean for you folks that have been looking forward to playing it as well? Well, you can follow my Twitch channel since I will be streaming the hell out of it. My Eldar is going to be pretty bloodthirsty, so I plan on playing a few skirmish games to get a clue of the commands and then send the fleet immediately into battle online for some good times.

On another note, last week I had a Armada Store Tournament. I'm happy to say that I scored 28 out of 30 possible tournament points with a 9-1 win, 10-0 and 9-1 win with the following list..

ACKBAR1
Author: HERO
Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 390/400
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)
- Home One ( 7 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

4 YT-2400s ( 64 points)

I played against Rebels in all 3 of my games because the meta was insane. In my first tournament this season, I saw a good mix of Imperials and Rebels, but in this last one it was 10/12 Rebel players. My first game was vs. an Ackbar Defiance MC80 with 2x TRC90s and a bunch of squadrons, my second game was vs. dual MC30c torps, MC80 with Dodonna and a MKII, and my last game was vs. this crazy 3x MKII (one was Galant Haven) build with Dodonna and 10x Ys with a HWK. That one was really tough, but I just got right up in the middle of the pack and Ackbar slashed with my MC80 Battleship. I was able to slash in every single one of my games thanks to Engine Techs and that was devastating for all my opponents.

Does my list look familiar? It's pretty much the list that I perfected over Wave 2 and the list I'm most familiar with. This marks the second 1st place showing this season for Armada with the same list, so I'm pretty happy. I was going to try for 3/3, but with BFG needing my full attention, I'm going to bail on this weekend's tournament.

Anyways, catch me on Twitch if you like BFG or just want to see a new game. I'm going to giving this game my full attention for quite a long time so come hang out on my channel.

Huwebes, Marso 3, 2016

Some updates and Battlefleet Gothic Armada

Getting pumped!

Sorry I've been a bit busy folks. It was been quite a hectic turn of events lately with real life, work, and only one lousy X-Wing tournament where I came in 11/40 running Brobots. Can you believe it? I was the only Brobots player at the whole event. I ran the variant codenamed Tricky Crabs and it was B/C with Crack Shot with Advanced Sensors with HLCs. There were some games where the dice spiked really wildy like the first game vs. PalpAces, to a point where I think my opponent rolled 21/21 hits on red dice without mods. He was kind enough to apologize for that craziness, so props to him.

I'm going to an Armada Store Championship this weekend AND next weekend, and I'm probably going to bring my MC80/MKII/TRC90 list with 4x YTs to both events. I haven't played in a while though, so I might be a little rusty to say the least. No worries though, the events by me are fairly casual and we're still trying to build a community here and that's the most important part. I would much rather grow the community than show up super competitive, stomp on some newbies and then drive them away from playing the game ever again.

On the PC gaming front, this month will be pretty exciting. News on the street says Battlefleet Gothic Armada will be releasing, and I have already pre-ordered the game so I'm going to be in the multiplayer beta that will hopefully be in the next week or two. Since I have such a huge hard on for BFG and RTS games in general, this is going to be life-consuming. I'm thinking about doing full coverage using the blog, the gaming channel AND streaming through Twitch. The idea behind that will just be to play the game as much as possible and see how I like it. Hopefully the game will be good; with solid gameplay mechanics, good balance and rewarding depth. I'm really hoping that it will be good, but I'm keeping a very close eye on For Honor and Total War: Warhammer too in the next couple of months. Both of those should be coming out for PC and both should be purchase-worthy for me.

Once BFG:A hits beta, I'll start spamming links all over the blog, complete with strategy guides on how to play. I'll probably play a lot of Eldar since that's what I played back in the day, but I'm also intrigued on what the Chaos fleet has to offer. Stay tuned!

Here is a blurb about what I had to say about how Eldar could play in BFG:A compared to the TT:

Eldar on TT are as follows:
>They are extremely maneuverable and fast with the right sun facing.
>Their ships are rather specialized and cost more than other races.
>Their ships are more fragile and can take critical much easier.
>They have more accurate torpedoes and gunnery.
>Their torpedoes and aircraft are much harder to hit while being superior.
>Their Pulsars are essentially rapid fire lances.
>Their ships are protected by Holo-fields; which makes them very difficult to hit, but no turrets.
>Their ships' weapons are generally shorter ranged and prow-focused.

In short, they use speed and maneuverability to get in close, hit extremely hard, while slipping away from return fire due to their Holo-fields. If they do suffer hits (generally due to AoEs, celestial phenoms, and/or saturation of fire), they will take greater amounts of damage due to the lower hull values on their ships and being more susceptible to crits.

How they will translate on the PC remains to be seen, but I think all of the above can be translated quite easily as long as the damage formula incorporates hit chance. I believe there is hit chance because looking at some of the gameplay videos and tutorials, it's pretty clear that ships can actually miss shots. This means that roughly 83% of conventional weapons will miss the Eldar, but once they do hit, they will hit for significant damage and increased crit chance.

With his playstyle in mind, it's going to be quite clear that Eldar are going to be extremely micro-intensive compared to the other factions. It's just how their ships are designed to play.

Huwebes, Enero 21, 2016

DE: Dreaming about Dark Eldar design

It's been a long time my friend.

Now bear with me folks. This might be a tough pill to swallow, but honest to God I haven't touched my DE for almost a year now. In fact, I haven't done much 40K in general. This isn't because I don't like the game, or the setting, it's just because I have been doing other hobbies and time is finite. The complete and utter destruction of WHFB also made me deeply depressed from a hobby perspective.

I think every time I look at someone else's homebrew, or want to put on my designer hat on, I know that I'll be disappointed that no matter what down the road. GW will just disappoint again. Not to sound completely down, but it's been that way for the 14 or so years I've played this army and it's not going to change. As a more positive spin on things, seeing CW Eldar and Corsairs in 7th actually give me quite a bit of hope for Dark Eldar in the next book. There is quite a bit of changes in there in terms of prices and new mechanics that makes me think the next DE book might turn out OK.

The biggest, and I mean absolute biggest riddle, is that GW can't really solve how to convey the notion that DE is supposed to be lightning fast (when there's tons of armies that move as fast), hit extremely hard (they don't really hit that hard), and die to a swift breeze (this they got right) onto the table-top. I went to bed thinking about this last night and thought about something I might try for fun. Keep in mind that I do have quite a bit of professional design experience, so I thought why not, what's the harm of thinking about this a little bit more?

Too bad that most of the thinking hit me at 1am in the morning while I'm lying in bed, thinking about where my DE army actually is. As in physically, it's somewhere in the garage. About an hour later, I decided that if I was going to do anything I was going to start from the beginning. I wanted to capture the glass cannon army that DE actually is without changing any of the units just yet. For me, the first couple of rules that an army book presents sets the tone for the rest of the book. That's why the first three must define the overall character, feel and justification for having such an army in the first place.

Three special rules, that's all I'm going to talk about for now. I want it to be consistent with GW design, but at the same time, clearly define what Dark Eldar is supposed to resemble on the table top. This is the biggest challenge that GW has, and continuously over the years, I have yet to see them capture this to my liking. These three special rules are supposed to represent what the Dark Eldar are from a fantasy perspective. By that, I mean how you envision the army in your imagination while closing your eyes, and the difficult part of this is how would you actually write rules for it on the tabletop. These rules would represent how the army is supposed to fight, how it behaves, and how it interacts with the other army across the table. Truth be told: This upcoming part is a total out of body experience. I need you to imagine what I'm seeing in my head on your minis table. Hopefully, the next couple of hastily written paragraphs will get you there.

The first of these rules is: Power from Pain

The fantasy: Dark Eldar are tyrannical, ruthless killers who literally feed on the souls of their victims. As Phil Kelly presented in the 5th Ed. book, they literally become imbued with supernatural might and resilience, eventually turning into uncontrollable killing machines. As the carnage intensifies, so does the Dark Eldar's barbarity and vitality.

The design: Battle in this game is waged through game turns. It not only represents the flow of time, but the course the battle as well. The GW design team has already showcased that with a chart in the current book. I've decided to keep the current system while increasing the effects on the first and last turn. My reasoning for this is that the game starts on Turn 1, where the bullets start flying and men start dying. This should already be a very arousing time for most Dark City inhabitants.

T1 - FNP (6+)
T2 - FNP
T3 - FNP, Furious Charge
T4 - FNP, Furious Charge, Fearless,
T5 - FNP, Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage
T6 - FNP (4+), Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage

The second army USR is: Aerial Assault (Name WIP)

The fantasy: The Dark Eldar value speed above all else. They are extremely fast, opportunistic and unfair to the lesser species in the galaxy. Dark Eldar will strike fast, strike hard, and strike from the most unseen places to inflict the maximum amount of terror and death before the harvest can begin.

The design: Vehicles can shoot one more weapon than normally allowed before or after moving flat out. Essentially, this allows the army to always move and shoot; solving the Ravager issue completely while subtly increasing the overall power of the entire army. All of a sudden you can DS to fire for full, flat out and shoot at the same time, giving you maximum value out of a single Lance on a Raider, or attacking from an angle that would be impossible from any other race. This increases the value of all of our heavy weapons without actually buffing them directly. This is purposely designed this way so that Dark Eldar will never have to trade offense with defense.

The last USR is: Soul Harvest (name WIP)

The fantasy: Dark Eldar are unlike any of their Eldar brethen in terms of battlefield tactics. CW Eldar are disciplined and flexible, Corsairs are selfish and aloof, and Dark Eldar are a mix of these traits. The forces of the Dark Eldar desire pain and suffering from their foes above all else, and whatever means to that end is tactically appropriate.

The design: Battle Focus but with a catch: You can run-shoot, or shoot-run, but you have to move closer to the enemy. This plays off the bloodthirsty nature that is Dark Eldar design. It mixes design elements of CW Eldar and Corsairs to make something meaningful for Dark Eldar. This ability plays nicely for bringing your close combat elements closer to the enemy, as well as allowing your Rapid Fire weapons to do the most work. The design purposely benefits both the close-ranged nature of the army, as well as the various close-combat components of the army book.

So there you have it.

It's missing the technical jargon that will form the three into actual rules, but this is where I would start. This would make me pretty happy as a player of the army as it fulfills my criteria in having the glass cannon army transition appropriately from fantasy to table-top. I think it would also all of the current archetypes of the army very happy, since it will benefit Kabal/Haemonculi and mixed army players equally.

UPDATE! 1/22/16
Follow the thread here.

OK. Here's what I have as my first run-through with the Codex tonight. Keep in mind that this is designed to play with my PfP, Aerial Assault and Soul Harvest army-wide USRs.

Once again, those rules are:
Power from Pain:
T1 - FNP (6+)
T2 - FNP
T3 - FNP, Furious Charge
T4 - FNP, Furious Charge, Fearless,
T5 - FNP, Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage
T6 - FNP (4+), Furious Charge, Fearless, Rage

Aerial Assault (UPDATED) - DE units may fire even after moving Flat Out. In addition, they treat vehicles moving Flat Out as Cruising Speed, and moving at Cruising Speed as Combat Speed. This allows the Ravager to move 12" and shoot all three lances, or a Raider to flat out and then shoot a lance, or a unit of Warriors from the inside shoot with full effect after the Raider moves 12".

Soul Harvest (UPDATED) - DE units can Run and then Shoot, and/or Run and then Assault. This increases the threat range of virtually all Dark Eldar units.

If the unit is not mentioned or called out in some way in the changelog, then it remained the same. The + represents additions whereas the arrows represent change.

General:
>Combat Drugs aligned with Eldar Corsairs
>Disallow Court to be taken without the Archon.

Armory:
Agonizer: Decereased to 20 pts
Blaster: Decreased to 10 pts
Dark Lance: Decreased to 15 pts
Webway Portal: Changed to IA11 2015, Decreased to 25 pts
Shadowfield: Decreased to 25 pts
Agonizer: Decreased to 20 pts
Blast Pistol: Decreased to 10 pts
Huskblade: +Rending
Archite Glaive: Double-handed, +2S, Single-handed, +1S
Venom Blade: +Lethal Dose
Implosion Missile: +Instant Death
Necrotoxin: +Pinning
Ossefactor: Assault D3
Phantom Grenade Launcher: +Offensive/Defensive grenades
Void Lance: S9 AP2 Lance --> S9 AP1 Lance
Void Mine: S9 AP2 Lance --> Strength D
Cruicible of Malediction: Psykers immediately suffer a Perils instead of S6
Night Shields: A vehicle with Night Shields has the Stealth special rule. Enemy units beyond 24" counts the vehicle as Shrouded instead.

Archon:
Increased to 70 pts
+Clone Field
+Labynthine Cunning: The Dark Eldar player can re-roll the dice when they attempt to Seize the Initaitive, determine if the Night Fighting rules are in effect, and when they make Reserve Rolls.
+Hellion Skyboard: +10 pts
+Reaver Jetbike: +15 pts

Succubus:
Increased to 80 pts
+Rending
+Quicksilver Dodge: Fight sub-phase --> Assault Phase
+Hellion Skyboard: +10 pts
+Reaver Jetbike: +15 pts

Lelith:
Decreased to 140 pts
+Rending
A League Apart: Re-rolls all hits and wounds

Wyches:
+Rending
Bloodbride: WS4 --> WS5
Dodge: Fight sub-phase --> Assault Phase

Incubi:
54 pts, 18ppm

Mandrakes:
36 pts, 12ppm

Raider:
Decreased to 50 pts
Replace Dark Lance: Free

Venom:
Decreased to 50 pts

Reavers:
May include up to 9 --> 6 additional Reavers (9 total)
Every three --> Every model may replace

Hellions:
Decreased to 60 pts, 12ppm

Razorwing:
+Strafing Run
+Vector Dancer
Replace Dark Lances: Free

Talos:
Wounds: 3 --> 4

Cronos:
Wounds: 3 --> 4

Ravager:
Unit Composition: 1-3
Replace Dark Lances: Free
+Special Rule: Shadow Hunters
If a Ravager squadron contains three models, all mdoels in the squadron gain the Tank Hunters special rule.

Voidraven Bomber:
+Strafing Run
+Vector Dancer
+Special Rule: Chasing Shadows
The opposing player cannot use the Interceptor special rule when the Voidraven Bomber enters the battlefield.

I have not touched the majority of these garbage Artefacts of Cruelty yet, as most books tend to suck pretty bad so it's consistent.

Overall, there are some very minor point adjustments (to align them with CWE and Corsairs), but just more teeth throughout the entire army. I've basically taken the DE design direction that GW have already set out, but just made the army more lethal while increasing their threat range, presence and devilry (Rending and Instant Death).

The "big" changes:
>More prominent heavy weapons and AP2 throughout the entire army
>Every Archon now has Labyrinthine Cunning, so let that soak in for a second
>PGL to give back Offensive and Defensive Grenades on top of Soulfright
>Void Lance is now S9 AP1, Void Mine is now Strength D
>A few new special rules added for Voidraven Bomber, Ravagers and the Archon
>Wyches now do Rending, Bloodbrides WS5, Dodge in Assault Phase
>Reavers can now be upgraded with heavy weapons on every model, unit comp changed
>Night Shields have Stealth, but provide Shrouded if enemy is more than 24" away

I plan on showing off some formations tomorrow, but a taste of what to come is a re-vamped Realspace Raiders formation (not detachment). This formation will allow you to play the army exactly as you imagine it does in the fluff.

Miyerkules, Enero 13, 2016

X-Wing: Leaning towards Brobots

Does not compute.

After thinking about taking Boba Fett with the IG-88, I've decided to just roll with Brobots in the upcoming tournament season. The reason why is really quite simple: 3 agility and Autothrusters. Even with 6 hull and 4 shields, I don't think the Firespray is in a really strong position right now in the meta. He's basically a larger X-Wing in terms of defenses, and concentrated fire will bring him down in no time. With the IG-2000, you have a larger assortment of different manueverbility options and plenty of ways to clear off inflicted stress while staying outside of danger. The Firespray? Not so much. I've played a couple of Vassal games to warm up for the season so far with both Broba and Brobots, and I think I'm convinced that in the current meta, Brobots will be stronger. When you examine the world's results as well, I think it pretty much speaks for itself.

This basically brings me to two potential lists. The first one being..

100 - Tricky Crabs

IG-88B — Aggressor 36
Crack Shot 1
Advanced Sensors 3
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Inertial Dampeners 1
Autothrusters 2
Ship Total: 50

IG-88C — Aggressor 36
Crack Shot 1
Advanced Sensors 3
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Inertial Dampeners 1
Autothrusters 2
Ship Total: 50

Keep a sharp eye on this list right here because it has Advanced Sensors and Inertial Dampeners. I personally have a hard on for Advanced Sensors because I think its the best System Upgrade in the game. There's just so much you can do with it.

The next list is this..

100 - Shooty Crabs

IG-88B — Aggressor 36
Crack Shot 1
Fire-Control System 2
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Glitterstim 2
Autothrusters 2
Ship Total: 50

IG-88C — Aggressor 36
Crack Shot 1
Fire-Control System 2
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Glitterstim 2
Autothrusters 2
Ship Total: 50

Look familiar? That's because you also saw the list in Worlds. It's not the first time I've seen it played, but it's definitely got a lot more popular since then. This list sports the same upgrades and layout with double Crack Shot, HLCs and ATs, but it comes with FCS and Glitterstim.

Now that the cat's out of the bag, let's talk about the similarities first. Both lists have B and C as their IG-88 variant because B offers a free Gunner to each ship for fire consistency, and C offers the free Evade action off the boost. I've decided against the D variant for the breakneck 3-hard S-loop, mainly because I found myself doing standard S-loops and 4-Ks instead in most of my matches. ATs are pretty much a no-brainer and is arguably the best upgrade in the game for the points. It just negates so much damage and offers an insane amount of value for such a cheap upgrade. Crack Shot is the upgrade that everyone is excited about these days and for good reason: It offers you burst potential, and gives you a sure way to push damage. This can mean the difference between a dead ship, or a ship that can get away next turn and/or put damage onto you. It also allows you to pick off Stealth Devices from the likes of Fel and other aces. If there's anything minis games have taught me over the years is that a sure kill is the best kind of kill. Then there's HLCs, but we don't really need to go into that.

Here comes the fun part: Advanced Sensors + Inertial Dampeners vs. Fire-Control System and Glitterstim. Let's check out the pros and cons really quick:

Adv. Sensors + Inertial Dampeners
Greater movement potential (boost + evade, then move)
Greater defensive potential (being able to move out of arc and being able to action before being blocked)
Weaker vs. stress elements (action before movement is still an action)
2x Inertial Dampeners (for area denial or being able to stay at range 3)

FCS + Glitterstim
More consistent damage (big damage boost)
Have no defensive benefits
Ignores stress elements (since the target lock requires no actions)
2x Glitterstim (huge burst in damage and defenses, for one round)

So pretty much: FCS offers big damage and burst potential at the expense of defense and movement, but Adv. Sensors + ID gives you greater control on how you move on the battlefield. Both give you block immunity because one can Focus before move while the other just rips into targets in front of them with re-rolls on re-rolls. Focus can obviously be used defensively, while FCS and no actions, so that basically means the IG-88 is stuck there shooting at whatever he can get his crabby hands on.

Before we go any further, let's look at the meta really quick:
Dash + Bs/Ys
4 YTLTs
Poe - Heaver's list
R3-A2 Stress Hog
Imperial Aces + Palpshuttle
Chirpy + Whisper/Fel
Howl + Crackswarm
Howl + regular Swarm
Other Brobots
..etc

Out of all of these lists, only the stress induced ones give the Adv. Sensors a lot of problems. Not being able to take actions will mess you up regardless, and will pretty much negate your 3 point upgrade. That's also one of the reasons I decided against PTL, and that's because it's better 3 points be negated than 6 points. Anyways, damage is almost always welcome, and that's probably why you saw the FCS variant in Worlds. However, the movement opportunities offered by Adv. Sensors and being able to Focus or move out of arc can be seriously good against almost all the lists here. For example, if you can boost + evade (through IG-88C) and then do a 3-sloop, you can get some serious HLC time on target while taking almost no damage in exchange. The FCS variant will be forced to K-turn if S-loop options are blocked, or just 3-straight because it's the furthest they can go. However, against the likes of Crackswarm, Glitterstim is pretty amazing when they want to go hard on that one good turn and you just say no.

I don't know, I'm in a pickle. Both setups are really good and they have their pluses and minuses, so I'm going to do some more research and analyze the lists in respect to the meta a little harder. This is a pretty difficult decision to make for sure.

Martes, Enero 12, 2016

Armada: Spring 2016 Tournament Prep

Trolling the Empire before it was cool.

Just like X-Wing, it's time to start prepping for the store tournaments coming up in SoCal for Armada. There's not as many of them as X-Wing, so I'll have to adjust my playtime accordingly, but I'm excited to go to all the events that I can. I think I'm pretty set on taking Rebels to the tournament because I've had the most experience playing them in the last couple of months. I've tried an epic asston of lists and I think I'm set on 3 of them. I'll need your help to decide which one I'm eventually going to take.

Here are the lists that I'm pondering, all of which have Ackbar as the Admiral.

ACKBAR1

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance

Points: 390/400

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery

Defense Objective: Fire Lanes

Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)

- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)

- Home One ( 7 points)

- Intel Officer ( 7 points)

- Engine Techs ( 8 points)

- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)

- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)

- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)

- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)

- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

4 YT-2400s ( 64 points)

This is the first list that I'm thinking and arguably the one with the most playtime under my belt. I went from a MC80 + 2x MKII no squadron, pure damage and control list to this beauty that you see here today. This list is the epitome of my list design for Ackbar and will probably be the list that I'm going to take. Unlike X-Wing, I don't think I'm going to write off difficult choices because there doesn't seem to be any for me here. The only other one that I can think off immediately off the top of my head is replacing Gunnery Teams with Flight Controllers so I can get a better alpha, but I think I like everything where it is right now. The YT-2400s will be the mainstay in my Rebel fleets as long as I'm running nav-heavy MC80s with Engine Techs and I'm happy with how they're performing.

ACKBAR2

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance

Points: 390/400

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery

Defense Objective: Fire Lanes

Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)

- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)

- Defiance ( 5 points)

- Intel Officer ( 7 points)

- Engine Techs ( 8 points)

- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)

- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points)

2 YT-2400s ( 32 points)

This one is another list I've been toying around lately and I think it has the highest damage output out of any of the lists here. It has an insane amount of damage coming from 3x of the TRC90s, and the change from Home One to Defiance allows me to put out even greater damage from the MC80 itself. The secret forumla here is the 4-ship activation with a 390 bid, giving me an incredible first player and last activation advantage. Dash and the 2x YTs will do what they can to keep Fireballs at bay, but by that time I'm looking for game over with the complete and utter destruction of the enemy fleet. The other alternative would be to replace Defiance with Home One, what say you?

ACKBAR3

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance

Points: 391/400

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Most Wanted

Defense Objective: Fire Lanes

Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)

- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)

- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)

- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)

- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)

- Heavy Turbolaser Turrets ( 6 points)

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)

- Foresight ( 8 points)

- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

4 YT-2400s ( 64 points)

Lastly, the MKII fleet that you see here is a list that's currently being worked out and fine-tuned, but I think its in a good enough place that it's tournament-worthy. The 391 bid with a 4-ship list is still really solid in giving me activation advantage, and the 4x YT-2400s gives me a solid baseline for decent squadron support. The damage output here is almost as impressive as the MC80 list featured above, but the biggest difference comes from the MKII's Gunnery Teams that can put out 2x the amount of long-range firepower, and the damage spike potential offered by the MC30c. Overall, this is a very solid list, but has the least amount of playtime compared to the others. Is that worth the risk?

Well, there you have it folks. All of these fleets are tournament ready, I just need to get in a few more practice games but I think it's as good as it's going to get.

Lunes, Enero 11, 2016

Armada: Playing someone else's list

Same ship, different commander.

This is going to be a quick guest article written by Iskander4000. He actually used a variant of my Ackbar list in the last Vassal tournament and I wanted him to speak about his experiences using someone else's list (mine). How often do you find yourself doing that? For me, I'm a Tuner Spike archetype if we're going with geek/MTG terms, so I'm not very creative in terms of finding out "new" stuff. I am, however, pretty good at taking something a idea that already exists and fine-tuning it into something better. That's about as min-max as you can guess I think.

Anyways, here's the article. Please enjoy!

Hello there! This is Iskander4000, writing at HERO’s request. One of the things I love about Armada is how flexible the system is—on the board, two fleets may look identical but everyone has their own way of refining and flying their lists. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this post (http://lkhero.blogsp...r90-to-mix.html) and decided that I would use the list in the holiday Vassal tournament. The only change I made was that I took out Intel Officer on Home One and added Raymus Antilles. How did it work for me? Read on…

In the Sullust tournament I went undefeated and took second using 2 AFs along with a mix of As and Ys. I really liked the firepower the battle line can bring, along with the flexibility and speed to separate if needed. I also like that A wings can be used both defensively and offensively. I’ve been playing around with an MC80 and an AF and trying to figure out what other ships to bring. Another AF adds a lot of firepower but you don’t have much room for squads. Same thing with 2 Corvettes, plus having 2 of them doesn’t match my playstyle. One Corvette added flexibility and left points for squads, but it lacked the punch needed to put up a fight in Wave 2. Right before the Vassal tourney I stumbled across HERO’s list. Turbolaser Reroute Circuits seemed to be the answer I was looking for! With the deadline to sign up for the tournament looming fast and no time to playtest, I went ahead and used the list verbatim (except for Raymus).

My first opponent was not able to make the match and forfeited, but I did get a scrimmage in. This was against a list of smaller ships, and I was able to split up my battle line with good results. We didn’t finish the game but I was on my way to victory. I took a 9-1 win in the second round against a Rhymerball/Dengar list. By this point I was seeing that HERO’s favorite officer upgrade, Intel Officer, wasn’t working for me. I prefer having control over my own ships instead of trying to control my opponent’s. This is why I took Raymus; unfortunately he does not work well with Engine Techs! ET wants you to spam Navs, and Raymus wants variety. In the third round I got clobbered 10-0 to the eventual winner, Truthiness. He ran an Independence/B-wing list and having never faced that, I don’t think any list in the world would have helped me. Oh well, it was a good experience.

I really liked the list but I wanted to make it work for my own playstyle, so I decided to deconstruct it and put it back together. The CR90 with TRC and Jaina’s worked out as expected, but I wasn’t using Leia much. For the AF2, Intel Officers went away. This had the added advantage of reducing its point cost, which was convenient since my opponents often targeted the AF first. All other upgrades were kept (XI7 and Gunnery Team…so good). For the MC80, I was making good use of Ackbar, XI7, ET, and Leading Shots. There were some times when I wished I had Advanced Projectors instead of ECM, but I think for now I’ll keep ECM. Raymus had to go, and with no other way of changing my plans on the fly, I decided to add Support Officer. Finally, I decided to do the unthinkable. To save points and increase power on my flagship, I dropped everyone’s favorite MC80 title in favor of Defiant. Defiance, excuse me. With the points I saved I was able to add Tycho.

This is my current list, 396 points. I call it “Tough Little Ships” (ahem). Played it once against a 400 point Wave 1 list with good results (Support Officer came in very handy) but not yet tested on Wave 2.

MC80 Command Cruiser (106 + 72)
+ Admiral Ackbar (38)
+ Support Officer (4)
+ Electronic Countermeasures (7)
+ Leading Shots (4)
+ Engine Techs (8)
+ XI7 Turbolasers (6)
+ Defiance (5)

Assault Frigate Mark II: Assault Frigate Mk.II B (72 + 20)
+ Gunnery Team (7)
+ Electronic Countermeasures (7)
+ XI7 Turbolasers (6)

CR90 Corvette: CR90 Corvette A (44 + 9)
+ Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
+ Jaina's Light (2)

Squadrons: Dash Rendar (24)
Squadrons: Tycho Celchu (16)
Squadrons: A-wing Squadron (11)
Squadrons: A-wing Squadron (11)
Squadrons: A-wing Squadron (11)

***

OK, I'm back again.

I'm glad that someone took one of my lists and made it their own, and then openly sharing with me their experiences and how they eventually went another route. I'll tell you folks one thing: One of the terms I hate people use is the term "netlist". Most of the time, it carries a very negative connotation and I don't think it's fair to players who utilize this strategy. Before streams, there were replays, before there were replays, there were strategy guides, and before that, there were books. All of this information comes from someone who wants to share their success and what "works for them". So is it a bad thing when another player wants to emulate or copy someone else's success? Of course not! That's why one of my biggest pet peeves is when someone belittles another person for netlisting, saying that they're not creative. Let me tell you folks one thing from personal experience: Being creative has nothing to do with being effective. If creativity is the key to success, then the term "starving artist" wouldn't exist. At that point, you might as well damn every source of teaching material out there, god forbid anyone learns from anyone else. Good day sir!

Sabado, Enero 9, 2016

X-Wing: Spring 2016 Tournament Prep

Traitor! Not playing Imperials in a tournament?

Now that tournament season is right around the corner, what are you guys doing to prep for your lists? Are you planning to play different lists at each event or do you plan on taking the same list to each one? In most of my tournament play, I like taking the same list to all the events with very minor changes. The reason for this is because I like to gather data by exposing my list to as many competitive lists as possible. I already do a good amount of playtesting by playing on Vassal and in my weekly game nights, but playing against a larger variety of opponents in real life is always welcome.

For this Spring, I think I'm going to deviate from my regular Imperial play to something more outlandish. I'm not entirely sure which one I'm going to take to my first event, but it's either going to be my T-70 Poe list, Brobots or Broba Fett. The super tough part here is that there's always a couple of components that I'm unsure of so I definitely need some help before deciding.

T-70 POE

Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing 31
Veteran Instincts 1
R2-D2 4
Autothrusters 2
Ship Total: 38

Blue Squadron Novice — T-70 X-Wing 24
R2 Astromech 1
Integrated Astromech 0
Ship Total: 25

Blue Squadron Novice — T-70 X-Wing 24
R2 Astromech 1
Integrated Astromech 0
Ship Total: 25

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12
Ship Total: 12

Difficult Choices:

Should I take BB-8 over R2-D2? BB-8 allows for more flexible movement opportunities while R2-D2 gives me more sustain at the expense of predictable movement. The extra 2 points can also buy AT one one of the Blues.
Should I go with double R2/Integrated (R2 is staying, I love the greens) or should I go with BB-8 on Poe and double ATs on the Blues but no Astromechs? We're looking at long-term sustain with possibly multiple hull saved vs. reactive sustain offered by the Integrated Astromech that you can control more readily.

BROBA FETT

IG-88B — Aggressor 36
Veteran Instincts 1
Advanced Sensors 3
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Inertial Dampeners 1
Autothrusters 2
Ship Total: 50

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31 39
Veteran Instincts 1
Ion Bombs 2
Tactician 2
Inertial Dampeners 1
Engine Upgrade 4
Ship Total: 49

Difficult Choices:

Flechette cannon or Ion Bombs? Flechette Cannon gives me the ability to double-stress Poe, while Ion Bombs allows me to control movement better for IG-88 who likes to play at longer ranges after the initial exchange.
VI, Predator or PTL on the IG-88? Predator gives me more damage consistency on all of my psuedo-gunner attacks, but VI allows me to outrun other Brobots and Dash Rendar. PTL gives me the ability to Focus/Evade and clear with a green on the joust. If I go with Predator or PTL, I will lose out on the Ion Bombs option entirely.

BROBOTS

IG-88B — Aggressor 36
Veteran Instincts 1
Advanced Sensors 3
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Inertial Dampeners 1
Autothrusters 2
Ship Total: 50

IG-88D — Aggressor 36
Veteran Instincts 1
Advanced Sensors 3
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Inertial Dampeners 1
Autothrusters 2
Ship Total: 50

Difficult Choices:

IG-88B and D or the tried and true B and C? Right now, I think D is the more effective option because I'm running Advanced Sensors. That is not going to change and so I think D will give me greater control of the movement phase and allow me to enter combat scenarios that are rarely seen. The breakneck S-Loop on a 3-hard is probably one of the best things ever.
Advanced Sensors for greater reliability vs. blockers or the insane damage boost offered by FCS? I feel that both of these options have great merits, but Advanced Sensors gives me options. I like my options so I think I'm set on sensors until someone convinces me otherwise.

I'll probably make a post detailing each individual component of the lists here and explain the gameplan, meta-impact and strategies going forward, but I just wanted to showcase the lists so we can jumpstart the discussion. Let me know what you guys think!

Don't worry Armada fans, I got another article coming up to talk about the 2016 Spring season.

Huwebes, Enero 7, 2016

Armada: Some tips for demoing the game

Building a better community.

One of the most difficult challenges when playing a new game is building a community. When I show players how to play a game, I go out of the way to make it a fun learning experience. The key objective is to make sure the players being introduced to the game walk away happy, fulfilled, and eager to play again.

Here's the list I demo'd the game with last time:

VSD-II + HTT
Raider-I
Howl + 3x Ties

MKII
CR90 + TRC
Luke + 2x Xwings

Below are some of my tips for how to demo a game of Armada:

For example, in the list I gave above, I always demo with 2 flavors, Rebels and Imperials, and I always let my opponent choose which one to try out.
I always include an upgrade or two, but always low, to keep things simple but entertain the fact that there's a ton of upgrades in the game and these are only some of them.
I always try and build something that I think is fair for both players.
I always try and include one medium ship that's slower, and one ship that's faster.
I always try to keep the overall mechanics low, so not overloading in named pilot, titles or upgrades, and only playing with similar squadrons (all ties, or all xwings).
I always try to keep the mystery: no commanders to dilute the ruleset, but I make it known that in real games there's always an admiral to lead the force. This means no objectives either.
I always try to keep the point range low because you're play a demo, not a full game, and every minute should be used to capture your audience's attention.
I always try to put some theme in there: Luke and X-Wings are familiar, HTTs on a Victory or a swarm of TIE Fighters.
Lastly, I always try to give as much advice as possible while letting my opponent make his own mistakes and decisions. No free games, as I find that free games lead to less replay value in the future. Oh, and always talk about the game afterwards: What you could have done, what they could have done, how things could have been different..etc.

I've been demoing games for a variety of games since my earliest days teaching Academy classes at GW. The formula above is what I found to be most effective at keeping the suspense alive, giving a fair game, and demonstrating the mechanics of the game without overwhelming the other player with too much info.

This might sound like a sales ploy or something, but it's really not. Always give a demo with the saying "but wait, there's more!" in your head. If you're not actively engaging your audience while keeping the mystery alive, then the demo wasn't very effective. If you take a list with Tarkin, the Y-Wings, A-Wings, special characters, a bunch of upgrades while playing objectives, that's just too much for a new player. There's just too many keywords that you have to explain (which adds time) and too many things to remember in a short time (which adds stress). You want to present the bare minimum amount of special rules when giving out demos, especially to a newer player, At the same time, the point range and the amount of activations for both players should be low and manageable. You generally want to shoot for under an hour so you can maintain maximum attention from your audience. Always remember: The game is supposed to be fun. So enjoy teaching players the game as much as you enjoy playing it. Your audience will definitely notice and appreciate you for doing it.

I might crap on GW a lot because well, they're GW, but once you take out the trying-to-sell-you-crap-after routine, their demo strategy is actually quite excellent.

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