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What Minis Games Are You Playing?

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02 Sep 2016 08:51 - 02 Sep 2016 08:52 #233221 by Mr. White
I don't want to spam the forum with a bunch of posts on tabletop minis games threads. Of course, board games are the focus around here, but I think it's cool that there's the video game discussion, more recent role-playing activity etc.

So, we've got the thread for posting pics of minis...this one is more for their discussion.

Those of you that have played a lot of the recent GW games...say, starting with SH 3rd...how would you rank them?

EDIT: should this be moved to the Mos Eisley Cantina?
Last edit: 02 Sep 2016 08:52 by Mr. White.

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02 Sep 2016 10:36 #233228 by Dr. Lao

Mr. White wrote: Those of you that have played a lot of the recent GW games...say, starting with SH 3rd...how would you rank them?


Stormcloud Attack - A great dogfighting game. Weapon ranges less than twelve inches with limited fire arcs makes for up close and personal games. The scenarios on the surface seem limited, in practice the different starting speeds and position sets a different tone each game. Very fun game without an audience, unfortunately.

Lost Patrol - Verges on broken. Lots of potential for house rules and variants.

Silver Tower - I should be completing the campaign tonight. Great fun. Weak difficulty. Only lost one game. We started each game with new characters and have seen around twenty of them and the variety and flavors are nice. I have my favorites.

Overkill - Next up after Silver Tower.

Execution Force - Fun but a lot of dice rolling, even for a GW game. Wide variations in difficulty because.
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02 Sep 2016 10:44 #233230 by edulis
Planning a 500 pt Epic X-wing game. Play will be length rather than width set up- so each side sets up on the 3' edges. Each player must get a transport / carrier from their side of board off their opponent's edge. See how that works.

Played a few games of Guild Ball. I like it but finding opponents has been challenging.
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02 Sep 2016 10:49 #233231 by Mr. White
I understand Guild Ball is suppose to be the new hotness in fantasy sports titles. I haven't been able to get into the aesthetic of the game because it looks more weapons based skirmish rather than team based athletics, but ymmv.

Still no love for Dreadfleet?

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02 Sep 2016 10:59 #233232 by edulis
Yeah- so far all of my opponents have come from the Warhammer table and none have made any attempt to move the ball, but rather focus on damage- the way the rules work when a mini is removed from the board they can return in 1-3 turns depending on how many hits points the owner wants recovered. So removing models is not the most effective way to win. Removing a player is worth 2 points a goal is worth 4 you need 12 points to win... I think. Plus you get "momentum tokens" for each successful pass. These tokens are huge allowing rerolls and all sorts of special abilities, so passing around just to get them is important. I've won all of my full games, but they have not been overly satisfying - looking forward to getting past the learning curve.

I like to move the ball and tie up defenders with combat. There is a lot of room for on field tactics.

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02 Sep 2016 11:03 #233233 by SuperflyPete

Dr. Lao wrote:

Mr. White wrote: Those of you that have played a lot of the recent GW games...say, starting with SH 3rd...how would you rank them?

Lost Patrol - Verges on broken. Lots of potential for house rules and variants.


OH NO HE DINN'T!! HE USED THE B WORD!

Let's hear more about that.

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02 Sep 2016 11:24 #233235 by Michael Barnes
I'm playing most of the GW stuff pretty regularly. Lost Patrol is not broken at all, it is designed to make the scouts die.

Silver Tower is my favorite dungeoncrawler, but it is a little easy. I haven't added anything to it yet, but I wonder if the exotic monsters toughen it up a bit.

I still haven't played Dreadfleet...weirdly, I don't want to play it until I paint it.

Really loving Deadzone, which almost certainly will never get the attention it should. Top flight Necromunda/Mordheim style skirmish game.

PP sent me one of the new WM MKIII two player starters so I might get that going this weekend. Haven't played WM since 2006, prior to jumping back into minis this year that was the last minis game I was really into.

Also Armada with the new ships. Definitely up there among he best minis games ever.

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02 Sep 2016 11:29 #233237 by Michael Barnes
Re: Stormcloud Attack...yeah, I feel like that was sort of an attempt to win back players migrating to X-Wing, but the price point is really alienating. The flyers are awesome and it is a cost savings, but $100 a set is too much. if you have armies to use them in there is value there as well, but if you don't or if you don't use flyers...it's a $100 buy in where $100 could also buy you a decent X-Wing assortment AND there would actually be people playing it.

I really want all three sets, just too much.

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02 Sep 2016 11:33 #233239 by Gary Sax
Armada. I'm going to solo a try at using one of the bigger ships, maybe the Liberty, but trailing it closely with the transports with as much beneficial support attached to it as possible.

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02 Sep 2016 11:48 #233240 by Dr. Lao
Lost Patrol - I don't have the White Dwarf article in front of me but to paraphrase the White Dwarf studio lost track of the games played after they reached seventy. The scouts had not won a game at the time of publication. I not seen a single report of someone winning as the scouts with the rules as printed.

Ironically, SCA is a more complete game out of the box than Armada.

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02 Sep 2016 12:06 #233241 by SuperflyPete
Wow, they must have changed the rules from the original. It's brutally hard for the Scouts, but I've won a couple of times (over 10 years!)

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02 Sep 2016 17:13 #233259 by metalface13
Could Stormcloud Attack be scaled down to work with the old Epic/Aeronautica Imperialis minis?

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02 Sep 2016 17:17 #233262 by Michael Barnes
OK, so Almalik asked in the other thread about DW:O about which of the GW games was "best". Here's the rundown.

Space Hulk- simply the best. Read the 100000000 other words written on in it anywhere.

Betrayal at Calth- I would call this one the best in terms of design. It is also the closest to 40k in many ways. In fact, it's a better game than 40k. It is smaller squads fighting in underground areas (see: fluff), tight quarters. It's Horus Heresy/30k era, Ultramarines vs. Word Bearers so it is SMs vs. SMs. Many people buy this box solely because you get THREE 30k tactical legions in it, command and a Dreadnaught. It's a tremendous value for these players. But the game is awesome, probably the best 40k board game design they've done outside of Space Hulk. The downsides are only 5 scenarios (which kind of matters because they are very specific narrative things) and the models, although great, are not the most glamorous. They're SMs. Lots of them. The Dreadnaught is kind of meh.

Silver Tower- Wrote about this more upstream. The best dungeoncrawl on the market, even if it is a little easy. It definitely has that more freewheeling GW spirit of old in it- I can't remember the last time they had a game that required you to do something like stack dice to resolve a challenge. It's got that WHQ feel through and through, but it also has a really awesome and unusual setting (very Tzeentchy). The models are just incredible in this one, and you get a bunch of them. The other components are all top flight and the mechanics are excellent. Downsides are that the extra hero figures are big bucks and the app doesn't do everything it really should. And it is pretty easy with certain characters.

Assassinorium: Execution Force- As I wrote before, if it were a 1989 or 1995 game, you would hear this game talked about like you do other GW games from that era. It's tons of fun to play. Basically, it's a Metal Gear Solid sneaking mission with 40k assassins. The goal is to find a warp portal and its control panel to go kill a Sorcerer Lord up to some very Chaos-y things. The AI is simple, there's lots of event cards and die rolls, but it's just super fun...and it can go south REALLY quick, which makes for some great tension. Models are awesome- the four assassins- worth $100 outside of the box- look marvelous (see the painting thread, I showed mine there). The Sorcerer Lord is a freaking great figure too. The rest are a stock set of 3 CSMs and cultists.

Deathwatch: Overkill- This is a total balls-out hack and slash action game. Deathwatch is basically like a SM special forces division made up of Dirty Dozen-style badasses from various chapters, including a dude on a motorcycle with an eagle that flies alongside him. The storyline has them busting up a Genestealer cult that has overtaken a mining facility. Super easy to play, and fun as hell. Very much a "giant mob against three or four guys" kind of thing. Quick action and easy rules make it viable for a 30 minute session or a campaign with branching outcomes and benefits. Other than Silver Tower, this one has the best models- the cult looks good, but the Deathwatch dudes look stupendous.

Lost Patrol- Dumb, obnoxious, and unfair. So it's great. Plays in about 20 minutes and the Space Marine Scouts won't win without the help of some Emperor-approved house rules (let the poor bastards roll two dice instead of one, give the heavy bolter guy a reroll, and give the captain one auto-kill). It's goofy and bloody and full of "this is bullshit" moments. They quite literally don't make them like this anymore. Except they do, since this is a new reprint. Models are meh here. Plain ol' Genestealers and a set of shotgun scouts. I painted mine in Ultramarines colors so they could do double duty in 40k. The tiles are kind of cruddy- silly looking illustrations- and you don't get a whole lot in the box. But it is definitely worthwhile.

If I had to buy one? Probably either Calth or Silver Tower. Which may be an easier choice if you want a skirmish game or a dungeoncrawl.

Gorechosen isn't out yet, so still up in the air there. It looks cool as hell.
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05 Sep 2016 14:26 - 05 Sep 2016 17:24 #233336 by stoic
My son and I have been playing the Pabst Blue Ribbon of tabletop miniature skirmish games: MTG: Arena of the Planeswalkers. It puts the classy "trash" back into the AT category. Take all of those other fancy, big bucks, need-a-loan, on-a-sprue, silver-spoon, gold-plated, Michelangelo-carved work of art miniatures and go powder your wigs. We need more low-brow gaming here! [Insert LOUD BELCH].

Vocal critics abound with MTG: Arena of the Planeswalkers so with a great deal of reservation, I picked it up at Walmart for $11.00. I added the first expansion, Battle for Zendikar, for $15 and the big-box, stand-alone expansion, Shadows over Innistrad, for $17 (B&N membership & coupons).

Let's get some obvious criticisms about this game out of the way.

First, Hasbro’s drip-drop approach of slowly releasing expansions for this gaming has essentially killed any buzz/viral marketing and any momentum that this game should and would have had. Hasbro should have primed the pump with an explosive launch. Instead, the game has received the slow meander of corporate lethargy. Hasbro’s snail’s pace sent and still sends an unclear message as to whether Hasbro will continue to support this game. Will another expansion follow its most recent Shadows over Innistrad release? Who knows? That's the problem. Why don’t we have an answer? Uncertainly is bad in the gaming community because gamers want to know that "if" they invest time and money in a new gaming system that the manufacturer will do its part by clearly supporting it with future releases.

Second, MTG seems to create a divisive dichotomy of either love or hate in the gaming community. Moreover, MTG and its deck building card-chuckers don’t mix well with the 3D world of tabletop miniature gaming. This dichotomy has produced widely prejudiced and unfair opinions about MTG:AOP. The game doesn’t please either community of gamers. The same sort of problem also exists in the Heroscape community too. There’s so much love for the orthodox Heroscape system that this orthodoxy opposes any new innovations or has led to disappointment when the embryonic MTG:AOP is compared with the maturer Heroscape.

Third, there's been so much disappointment with MTG:AOP game system because Hasbro didn't include the usual plastic mountain of Heroscape terrain in its new offerings. Hasbro does toss in a sprinkling of their semi-precious crap-plastic terrain, but, it's only an appetizer, just enough to piss-off those who wanted more of it. Instead, Hasbro provides cardboard terrain. Disappointing as 2D cardboard is compared to 3D plastic stuff, this 2D flatness isn't necessarily a negative since it takes a good bit of time to setup and take down those traditional plastic Heroscape terrain pieces, and, storage is also a problem with them. With MTG:AOP you can layout and put away this new cardboard terrain in seconds; this is attractive when you're busy and you don't have time to put together and take down the plastic puzzle masterpiece of a multi-layered map--saving time leads to more gaming.

I own and play Heroscape. I don’t play MTG. When I first heard about this MTG themed Heroscape reboot, I didn't expect much. In fact, I thought that this merging of MTG and Heroscape was clearly a mistake--something that neither the never-say-die Heroscape community wanted nor something that the MTG card-chucking community wanted either. Yet, for what appears to be an unholy abomination, this MTG/Heroscape genetic experiment does add some new and exciting mechanics to Heroscape. MTG:AOP’s spell cards create interesting new decisions and strategies in the game--they jazz up those tired and aging Heroscape mechanics. The base MTG:AOP feels incomplete though and it needs its later expansions to make it feel like a complete game.

In MTG:AOP, you get five different planeswalkers along with two squads for each of them, all which follow the asymmetrical MTG powers and lore of MTG’s blue, green, red, white, and black factions. The Zandikar expansion adds a fun one-versus-many scenario, two new planeswalkers, including the first multi-colored planeswalker, a new hero class to choose for your army, new spells, and the star of the box, a clearly Lovecraftian, Elder God, Cthulhu inspired larger than life "Eldrazi Ruiner" miniature and his minions--you fight the “Eldrazi Ruiner” in the one-versus-many-scenario. Shadows over Innistrad adds more planeswalkers (including more multi-colored ones), new squads and heroes for each faction color. It also includes a new pylon-like terrain called a "Cryptolith." I haven't dug deep enough into those yet. Upon opening Shadows over Innistrad, my son instantly spotted the planeswalker who transforms into a werewolf. Of course, he chose to play that one.

The MTG:AOP gaming system isn’t without problems, however. The paint jobs on the planeswalker miniatures do look cheap and crappy; but, did you expect more at this price-point? I think that you get @75 miniatures total in all three boxes. All of the miniatures in the game are detailed, distinctive, and cool looking. It helps that you can see what they’re supposed to look like in real color by referencing their army card artwork included in the games (say what you want about MTG, but, MTG’s artwork is exemplary). The miniatures do dress-up nicely if you choose to paint them (hey, checkout the Net pics to see).

So far, the base box game appears to be as balanced as a seesaw. The blue planeswalker, Jace, seems very overpowered. Yet, is that because we haven’t figured out how to effectively play the other factions? We look forward to finding out. Playing against blue is a pain-in-the-ass, but, it’s also a lot of fun for the blue player. Gaps do appear in the rules with some of the spells and faction powers, but, these are easily overcome with on-the-fly home rulings or by referencing the official and other FAQ’s floating about on the Net. Experienced gamers won’t have any problems. The rest of the rules essentially follow the traditional Heroscape layout. There’s no initiative or order markers. Players take turns activating one dude from your army.

I really don’t have a problem with any of the wrinkles so far presented in this introductory tabletop miniature gaming system or the rules. It’s easy to jump right in. The distinctive MTG faction powers are cool and varied. One could wander into the labyrinth of literature about the factions and the various planeswalker backgrounds in officially released MTG lore. I won’t be doing that. The faction squads add to the variety and fun--they follow the faction themes; e.g., black deals with the dark, necromancy, and the undead. The sorcery and spells mechanics for each faction throw enough chaos into the mix to make using them worthwhile even if the language on some of the cards is confusing. The MTG card artwork is dreamy and otherworldly. The multi-colored planeswalkers add another layer of complexity and allow customization. You won’t tire of the tabletop matchups made possible by these innovations. Each faction feels different.

Has playing the game been fun? Yes. Does it deliver a dice-throwing tabletop miniature skirmish experience? Yes. Do you feel like a planeswalker? Yes. Do you get to bitch-slap your opponents with some luck-based dice chucking? Yes. Should you add more Heroscape terrain to it? Yes. That makes the game more fun. Should you buy it? Yes, if you buy all three boxes. I have less than $45 worth of clams and confirmation bias invested in all of it, and, that’s an investment made without hours of tedious sprue-cutting, miniature assembly, and painting. I hope that Hasbro continues to build the system.

Thus far, the three releases show what might be possible with the system. Timely releasing more tiny expansions, e.g., spells in small packs, single squads, heroes, other planeswalkers, more terrain, both plastic and cardboard, and new one-versus-many creatures to fight, would all be no brainers if Hasbro wants this game to survive.

P.S. Hasbro, re-release Heroscape.
Last edit: 05 Sep 2016 17:24 by stoic.
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05 Sep 2016 19:04 #233345 by wadenels
That should be an article.
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