Lando's Friday Challenge - Joshua's Nurgle Daemons

I recently had my fourth challenge game, against Joshua's Nurgle Daemons. For reference, my army is here;

http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/06/landos-friday-challenge.html?zx=f668c8e0cfe0c6cb 

Josh took the following (in order of deployment)

• Feculent Gnarlmaw
• 3 Nurglings
• Daemon Prince
• Great Unclean One (in reserve)
• 3 Nurglings
• Poxbringer
• Smallpox Scrivener
• Sloppity Bilepiper
• 3 Beasts of Nurgle
• 30 Plaguebearers
• 30 Plaguebearers
• Daemon Prince with Wings
• 3 Nurglings
• 30 Plaguebearers
• Poxbringer

This looks on paper like a really good match-up. A slow moving army, with almost zero range attacks. That means I can choose where I engage and not have to risk any Overwatch. However, the resiliency of Nurgle is disgusting and 90 Plaguebearers is a lot. Like, almost double my model count on their own. While I can leave combat and re-engage on a whim, if my units ended up bogged down, Aeldari fragility would become a problem.

We chose the Tactical Gambit mission, as Tabletop Tactics videos have made it look fun. Gambling on how many Objectives you are going to achieve and giving your opponent points if you are wrong is an interesting wrinkle.

The Game

Josh had the first turn and I failed to seize. With no real shooting available to his force, I decided to not put any units in the Webway.

Josh guessed 1 Objective, to start the game conservatively. This was good, as he drew a had full of unachievable cards. Behind Enemy Lines and Assassinate were highlights, as cards he could not possibly score in his first turn. He spent the turn manoeuvring into position, getting ready to guard Objective markers and receive my charges. His inability to score anything made the Victory Points 0/1.

My first turn also saw me guessing 1 Objective, having learnt how cruel the cards can be (sidenote; I actually forgot my cards, leaving me rolling for my objectives. Don't do this, it's really annoying).  Defend 5 cant be scored in one turn, so that was no use. Witch Hunter and Assassinate are the same things against Nurgle, so again not great turn 1. Supremacy was scoreable though. I positioned my army to make the charges I wanted where I wanted and moved on to the Psychic Phase.

Mirror of Minds is a high variance power. Because it involves a roll-off that repeats upon success, it can oft-times do nothing. This turn though, this game, it went crazy. I cast it on one of the Poxbringers and managed to win 5 straight roll-offs, and Josh failed to stop the Mortal Wounds with Disgustingly Resilient rolls. That scored me Assassinate, Witch Hunter, First Blood and ensured I would fulfil my Tactical Gambit.

The assault phase saw my start to chew through the Plaguebearers. I ended the turn with the Victory Points at 0/8.

The game continued along this vein. The cards weren't kind to Josh and the score spiralled beyond his ability to catch up. When he conceded at the end of Round Four, the Victory Points we 3/26 in my favour.

Aftermath

While the flow of the game went as I expected, the wrinkle of Tactical Gambit rapidly dragged victory out of Josh's reach in a way that didn't feel fair.

Harlequins put out a lot of attacks, and Josh's force lacked the ability to thin their numbers pre-combat. Add in the re-rolls from the Great Harlequin and the Plaguebearers weren't as big a worry as I expected. They still took multiple units for me to tackle them, but I was able to do things like charge two units in from opposite ends to minimize the return attacks.

Josh played well, but his Tactical Objective deck did it's best to let him down at every turn. In later turns he was having to guess higher numbers so that the bonus points would have a hope of catching him up. Ignoring the mission itself,  the game was fun. Once the Great Unclean One turned up, it was met with a desperate scramble to keep things away from it. Which mostly failed. And it's always a pleasure to game with Josh.

I'll have to get some photos of his armies and do a showcase. He has done a real good job on his Death Guard and his Nurgle Daemons.

I've played four games with the Harlequins now, and I've been really happy with the way they operate on the tabletop. Their tricks are enjoyable to use and Riddlesmiths is fun. The variety of builds is limited though, so I'll get a couple more games in and then change my challenge army to something else.....

Of The Day's Annoyances These - 13th August 2018

I don't currently have a huge amount of reach with my Social Media stuff. My personal Facebook has 1053 friends, my TO one has 216 and my BaronAdjutantTournaments Page has 57 likes. In this day and age that's practically no-one, especially when some people are across all three and many people on my personal account aren't interested in gaming.

On Twitter, I also have 236 followers. But recent changes mean that it will no longer share my Tweets onto my Facebook and it's flagging some of my Tweets as Spam. That's making talking about my Blog and promoting events and games difficult and making me wonder why I engage with Twitter at all.

Not a major post, just a mini-rant.

ROBA: Radiant Offline Battle Arena - Competitive Card Game

Two years ago, I became a Playtester for a card game, dragging three of my friends into the Playtest Group. This month, the game hit Kickstarter and funded within a couple of days. As we approach 10 days to go they are reaching another Stretch Goal, so I figured this would be a good time to talk about it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heelturngames/roba-radiant-offline-battle-arena-competitive-card?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=roba

Based on the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre of video game, this takes mechanics and tropes  and turns them into a really good card game. It's a two player game, aimed at competitive play.

It's the first game I've done Playtesting for, and it was a very interesting process. We were sent PDFs of the card pool to print out and deckbuild with and had to make weekly reports on what we had played, what conclusions were drawn and how long the game took. Between Forums and Discord we were able to discuss and share ideas with the other Playtest groups. This allowed us to debate and suggest changes to cards we thought were above or below targets on either fun or power level.

At the stage we joined, changes came thick and fast. There were updates to cards as often as twice a week, and some of the core rules and mechanics changed often as well. All this was done to ensure Radiant could be the best game possible, but it was a lot to take in.

To Playtest a game like this requires time, so it isn't something I would undertake while putting serious time into another game. It's rewarding though; seeing cards improve based on your suggestions and learning what ideas work and what don't as they reach the other teams.

Best of all, after meeting Jack (the lead designer/boss of the game) at the UK Games Expo, was seeing our names credited as Playtesters in the Rulebook. Seeing your name in the credits of a product that people will purchase and enjoy is a great feeling.

I'm trying to spread the word on this game, partly because I'm proud of my part in it's creation but also because it is a really good game. You can play it straight with free choice of team for your deck, or you can try the Ban system and draft your Heroes from a shared pool with your opponent. Initial expansions add more Heroes or Dieties to choose from while also potentially introducing new mechanics. Sure, making your team from a Tank, Support and Warrior is the sensible thing to do. But have you considered mixing it up? Maybe tripleWarrior suits your playstyle, or having two Supports will allow some interesting tricks in your Combat Deck.

I can't help but reiterate that the game is fun. Working out which lanes to fight over, whether or not this is the right time to sacrifice a Conduit, which cards to Clash with and which to save to use as Talents; there are a lot of tactical decisions in the game. And that's after choosing your Deity and Hero team.

As things stand, the game is fully funded and just seeking reaching the Stretch Goals before the campaign ends. If after this article, and checking out the various videos linked on the Kickstarter, you are still on the fence then bear in mind that it's a full two player card game for only £22. You can get a lot of replayability out of just that box set at a really low entry price.

I will also be running local events for the game once it releases. That way people can meet other players, practice games and try out the Ban system. I'm excited for the release of this game (can you tell) and can't wait till we finally get our hands on the finished product.

#ROBAMato

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heelturngames/roba-radiant-offline-battle-arena-competitive-card?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=roba

Lando's Friday Challenge - Ron's Deathwatch

This week saw my third challenge game, against Ron Gargett's Deathwatch. For reference, my army is here;

http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/06/landos-friday-challenge.html

Ron took the following (in order of deployment)

• 3 Bikers
• 3 Bikers
• Watch Captain with Jump Pack
• Corvus Blackstar, containing a Librarian and two 5 man Veteran Squads
• Corvus Blackstar, containing a Librarian and two 5 man Veteran Squads
• 5 Veterans
• Watch Master (Warlord)
• 5 Veterans
• Corvus Blackstar

This was my worst match-up so far; a mobile, shooting army. All the Veteran squads had a Frag Cannon for devastating Overwatch, and three Fliers to keep his guys out of assault. Both the Librarians had Null Zone too. After looking at my army, he chose the Furor Tactic, letting him re-roll 1s to wound my Troupes.

Ron chose the Cleanse and Capture mission. Three Objective cards a turn, so plenty of opportunities to score points. I'd have to approach the mission very carefully, holding Objectives is not the Harlequin strong point.

The Game

With Ron having the first turn, things were an uphill struggle. His shooting phase took a chuck out of my army and had the potential to leave me reeling. Luckily his assault phase didn't really follow up.

My first turn consisted of ignoring the Corvuses and taking on the units currently on foot, to much success. The only sticking point was the Watch Master, a solitary Biker and a squad of Veterans I couldn't quite reach. I left the Skyweavers in the Webway and Path of Heroes was pretty key too. I have become a fan of that Stratagem.

Ron's second turn felt like more of the first, with a lot more losses to my forces. I did manage to Deny a key Null Zone though, which let my Great Harlequin and his Shadowseer survive the turn on 1 wound each.

My response left him with next to no Infantry alive, merely the Watch Master, a Librarian, the Biker and 2 Veterans. This was facilitated by bringing on the Skyweavers. Haywire Cannons make a mess of infantry as well as vehicles. This allowed me to start racking up the points, as the Corvuses would have trouble scoring points in future turns.

Time meant that the third round was our last. Ron made a good effort in trying to pull points back and killed half the Skyweavers, as well as finally vanquishing my Warlord. I was very low on models at this point.

My final turn saw the Watch Master also fall, as well as the remaining Skyweavers put a lot of damage into 2 of the Corvus. Both were Hovering, making it easier to shoot one, and the other one was still in combat with a lone Player which allowed me to charge without receiving overwatch.

The game ended with me ahead, 8 Victory Points to 5.

Aftermath

To be honest, the game was brutal on both sides. If you were on foot, you were not long for this world. Both armies are good at killing opposing units in the phase of their choice, but not great at being on the revenge side of the equation. If the game had gone on, I would not have had many, if any models left at the end of Ron's next turn.

I can see why most people are putting their army in Starweavers. The mobility and protection seem key against armies like the one I faced today. I've also been finding the Prismatic Cannons hit and miss. The Focussed profile is not worth using at 1 shot, and the random shots on the other two profiles aren't great when you only have two of them.

However, I am becoming happier with the army as I become more comfortable with its usage. There are a lot of tricks available to the Harlequins, practice will help me learn which ones to use when.

Quick Hits - August 2018 Deathwatch

Our next quick hit is Codex Adeptus Astartes Deathwatch. Many unit reviews can be found here
http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/05/quick-hits-may-2018-space-marines.html
so this review will cover the changes and additional units.

Special Rules

Special Issue Ammunition
This lets the majority of Bolt weapons in the army shoot other profiles. Hellfire is the most common, as it wounds non-Vehicles on 2s, but I can see times when the others will be useful.

HQ

Watch Master
Like a Chapter Master, but with access to a Guardian Spear.

Watch Captain Artemis
The Stasis Bomb and Hellfire Flamer are both useful, otherwise, he is an expensive Captain.

Troops

Veterans
Essentially Sternguard, they can take a variety of extra models that then give the squad access to other equipment and abilities. These may or may not be worth doing, dependant on what you are equipping the unit to deal with.

Intercessors
Like the Veterans, but with Primaris and Primaris extra models.

Flyer

Corvus Blackstar
A mix between Gunship and Dropship,  it's also your source of long-ranged heavy firepower. One of the better flyers in the game.

Mission Tactics

The bread and butter of the Deathwatch, choose a Battlefield Role and get re-rolls 1s to wound. Very good when your opponent has taken a lot of units in the same role, plus there are abilities that let you change tactic to focus on another role.

Stratagems

Stand-out Stratagems

• Auspex Scan
• Teleportarium
• Death to the Alien!
• Adaptive Tactics
• Stem the Green Tide
• Targeting Scramblers
• Intercepting Volley
• Overkill
• "Tactic" Doctrine

Warlord Traits

As is common, there is one optimal choice, to maximise your Command Points. It doesn't help that four of them are terrible. Vigilance Incarnate is good though, as it lets you change Mission Tactic.

Relics of the Vigilant

Stand-out Relics

• The Beacon Angelis
• The Tome of Ectoclades

X-Wing Store Championships - event 2

Today I was Judging the second and final of this year's Store Championships in Plymouth, held at Dark Star and in association with G.I. Games. It's the third Store Championships held at Dark Star.

With 11 players, the recommended number of Rounds is 4 with no Top Cut. I decided to add a Top Two to add a Final to the event, as the atmosphere when everyone is watching is really good. The two players that made the cut agreed to a 75-minute timer, as they didn't think they would need more time, (they were right).

There were no interesting Judge calls, this late in the game everyone knows what they are doing, especially amongst the Marauders.

We only had one Scum list, a different player to the Antics event. There are dedicated Scum players in Plymouth, they have just had availability issues this summer.

In a reversal of the last event, we had six Rebel lists, with the most popular ship being the Gold Squadron Y-Wing. Got a diverse range of lists though, even the Y-Wings had different turrets, trying different sneaky tricks.

Four of the lists were Imperial, with Quickdraw appearing in three of them. This will be the last we see of that ship in these lists, as the TIE/SF transfers to the First Order faction in Second Edition.

After 4 rounds and a Top Two cut, our winner was.....

Pete Yarwood

"Quickdraw" (TIE/SF Fighter)

• Expertise
• Fire-Control System
• Advanced Optics
• Lightweight Frame
• Special Ops Training

 "Backdraft"

• Expertise
• Fire-Control System
• Advanced Optics
• Lightweight Frame
• Special Ops Training

Nu Squadron Pilot

• Harpoon Missiles
• Long-Range Scanners
• Os-1 Arsenal Loadout

This was a well-deserved victory, as Pete went undefeated for the day, including beating Matt Coles in the Swiss and the Final. This also gave the DarkStar Marauders their fourth Store Champion for the close of First Edition;

• Jon Vicary (at Mad for Miniatures)
• Matt Vicary (at Antics)
• Matt Coles (at Kirton)
• Pete Yarwood (at Dark Star/G.I. Games)

This year the team has really come together, travelling to more events as a group and giving both moral support and gaming advice. It's been a pleasure both to watch and be a part of.

Next up is Second Edition. People are already getting excited and building lists, as everything has been spoiled and FFG have released the point values. New ships have also been announced and new Factions are coming later. it's gonna be great to see where the game goes from here and to see the DarkStar Marauders perform better than ever.