Hey everyone,
Just a quick update to give everyone the heads up that I will be changing the address of the blog this Saturday (aka July 19th). Instead of sincityat43.blogspot.com it will be sincitysnowman.blogspot.com. I will be posting a note at the old address about the change so if you miss this or you forget it will be easy enough to find my new home. Heck you can even Google me now! (I feel so famous...)
That's all for now but there will be more soon!
Hey everyone,
Rackham has released the final faction preview for Operation: Frostbite, the Arceo for the Karmans. So what are they like? Let's take a closer look...
One of the most notable things is their advantage; their vehicles can use the "Take Cover" combat drill. This is a pretty serious advantage, especially with the new rules regarding the crystals. Thankfully, they can not field the King Mammoth as that would just be sick. "Okay, my Mammoth with its 16 armor is taking cover."
On the other side of things is the disadvantage, which is that all type 1 and 2 infantry units have one fewer member for the same cost. Pretty harsh when you consider that this means that their minimum units would be facing Morale checks right from the start since they now only contain three troops. You can buy the missing troop back at no penalty (except the point cost of course...) but ultimately this drives up the cost of the already expensive Karman infantry units by anywhere from 60 to 70 points per unit. With one infantry unit being mandatory, this sounds like it should nicely counterbalance the advantage but we will have to see how it plays out on the battlefield.
What about the pattern itself? Well, it is somewhat flexible as you can actually field one of each type of infanty unit if you wanted to though type I is the most commonly available, followed by type 2 and finally a single type 3 option. The vehicles are another story as there are two fixed type 1 or 2 slots while there is a third slot with the type 1 or 2 vehicle option. Another thing that I just noticed is that all of the infantry slots are literally infantry slots which means that with the support unit rules finally coming out this faction could actually field three vehcile choices along with two support units which seems like it could be a pretty nasty combination.
The Karmans also have access to a new piece of "equipment", the Karmic warrior ability. A unit with this ability can either re-roll or force another player to re-roll any test taken by that the unit or a unit targeting it. Potentially a very powerful ability which is why it can only be used once per game. Coming in at a mere +5 APs per fighter (which means that both infantry and vehicles can use it), I can see this ability becoming pretty commonplace. What's an extra 40 points to be able to re-roll that critical cover save?
Last but not least, Rackham has also released another preview picture of the Cog miniatures. These are very similar to the last ones except that they don't have the sword thingee (like my technical terms?) going for twin pistols instead.
This usually means that the unit will have two identical stat lines for their weapons giving them the ability to potentially fire at two different units in the same turn. I say "usually" because the Wendigos changed that as most people probably remember. In this case, I am thinking that they will go with the two stat line approach again but only time will tell.
Well, that is all for now but be sure to come back again soon for more. Until then, may all of your dice come up Dragons!
Hey everyone,
As promised, here is the conclusion to the Semi-Mega-Battle that we played this past weekend! In the last post we ended turn 2 with the Alliance (aka the Therians and Red Blok) having 8 VPs while the Karmans had 2 VPs.
Turn three opens with my Incubus taking the first move. Advancing towards the King Buggy, it opens fire with both cannons but only manages to inflict a single point of damage to the frame! So much for the v2.0 cannons...
The Dragonov unit on the second story went next, letting loose a salvo on the Wendigos again. They inflicted three more casualties, one of them being Cornelius!
Seeking revenge, the King Buggy drifts sideways and opened fire on the Incubus with all of its weapons, destroying the legs and damaging the frame.
The three remaining Wendigos went next. Opening fire with the grenade launchers, they pound the two squads in the ruins, grounding both units and killing seven Kommandos in that single attack!
The Banes were next up. Moving them forward I opened fire on the still unscathed King Buggy, hoping they would be slightly more successful than the Incubus had been. Once again they did not let me down, damaging the propulsion and inflicting a whopping three hits against the frame.
Urod moved around the front of the ruins and opened fire on the now badly damaged King Buggy and managed to blast it apart with a volley of rockets. Turning its attention to the Wendigos, it then opened fire with the AT gun blasting another one apart.
Things were looking very good for us at this point and then the Kaptars in the ruin on the far side of the table opened fire on my now exposed commander. Two sniper shots later and I had lost my leader, leaving the equally exposed Urash as the new commander.
The second Kaptar unit in the ruins on the right opened fire on the Banes next, but luckily for me they were only able to destroy one of them.
My Assault golems in the center went next. Splitting their fire, the nucleus guns were able to penetrate the armor of the Trike to destroy it while the rest of the unit was able to take out another Anakonga, taking that unit down to a total of five troops.
Going back to the left side of the board, one of the Dragonov units advanced around the ruin to try to get into a better position.
The battered Anakonga unit went next. Jumping forward, they could not get close enough to be able to use the flamers but the rest of the unit was able to take out four of the Assault golems in a hail of drum pistol fire.
All alone in the center of the table, Urash moveed to get line of sight on the Anakonga and opened fire. The amazing thing is that he not only hit but he even managed to kill one of them!
The rest of the turn consists of the two units of Dragonovs standing up (always exciting...) and the Storm golems moving forward to shoot at the Anakongas, taking their number down by another two.
This brought the third turn to a close with the Alliance at 10 VPs while the Karmans only had 2 VPs. The game did continue on for another turn but at this point it was almost impossible for the Karmans to catch up. We called the game after the fourth turn with the Uneasy Alliance ultimately winning 12 VPs to 2 VPs.
All and all, it was a pretty good game but there were some things that we need to work on. First and foremost was the army building itself. I have never seen rules that cover making an allied force, so for this game the Red Blok and the Therians each fielded their own company. This combined with the fact that we were playing Nova meant that we could effectively choose to go first every turn which made it feel more like a more traditional "I go, you go" game. This was especially frustrating for us since one of the things that we really like about this game is the dynamic feel it has and that was kind of lost in this game. I have already started asking people about doing a rematch to try a new system which borrows from the rules for allies in Confrontation and would work like this.
One player is the company commander. He has the highest ranking officer in the company and he chooses the faction the army. The remaining player then chooses units according to that army's platoon pattern. To use this game as an example, Urod would have been the commander and the pattern would have been Supra. The Red Blok army would have remained the same but mine would have been slightly different since I would be following the Supra pattern (this would have forced me to drop a Golgoth and field another infantry unit instead). This also means that I would have the advantage and disadvantage of Supra and that my army would only have the basic rules for the Therians (I would still have access to the routines but none of the faction advantages or disadvantages). We would also be pooling our leadership together and putting our activation sequence together which would eliminate the "I go, you go" feel that this game had since each side would be activating one unit at a time. Not sure how well this will work but hopefully we can get together again soon so that we can try it out.
One of the other things that caused some problems for us was the terrain, especially as far as cover was concerned. After hitting my own head with a hammer a couple of times it started to make more sense to me so things should go much smoother next time plus I figured out how to explain it to other people quickly and easily which is always a good thing.
That is all for now but until next time, may all of your dice come up Dragons!
Hey everyone,
Another weekend and another battle report, but this one was a little bit different. We had planned on playing a mega battle between the Karmans and the Red Blok, but unfortunately a couple of the players didn't show up until a few hours after we were supposed to start. Even so, we were able to salvage the game with some slight modifications. It featured an alliance of the Red Blok and the Therians against the Karmans. It may not make sense but when you get lemons...
The Karman army consisted of two Nova platoons containing a King Buggy, two Easy Trikes, a full unit of Wendigos led by Cornelius, two full units of Kaptars (one with snipers, the other with ZZ-cannons), a full unit of Anakongas, a K-warrior unit and a K-fighter unit.
On the other side of the table, the Red Blok came in with a Supra platoon containing Urod and four full units of Dragonov Kommandos, while the Therians (that's me!) fielded a Cypher platoon with Nimit-Urash and an Incubus (both with the v2.0 upgrade on the nucleus cannon), a full unit of Assault golems, a full unit of Storm golems, and a unit of Bane Goliaths. All told, it was about 4300 points on each side, making this one of the largest games that we have played.
The terrain was some of the generic ruins that the Shop has which was both good and bad. While it was nice to have a selection of terrain to choose from, it was not just containers and low walls so we had to wing it on how it would effect the game at times.
Another factor was the size of the board. We have gotten used to playing on the 4' x 3' Damocles map while this table was a massive 6'x4'! There would be no moving onto the board and straight into combat this time.
Since we were facing Nova, we had the choice of who activated first in the turn so we decided to go Therians first, followed by the Red Blok, and finally the two Karman platoons. First up, moved my Assault golems onto the center of the board and attempted to both take cover and go onto overwatch, only to have the drills cancelled by the Karmans. I issued the take cover drill again and this time they choose not to cancel it.
Next, Urod walked onto the left side of the board and after a little bit more of the Nova cancel dance was put onto overwatch.
The first unit of Anakongas moved in next, taking position in the ruined building in the center of their side of the table.
They were followed by the Kaptars who moved in the ruins on the right side of the board.
Swinging back around to me again, I brought on my unit of Storm golems, positioning them completely out of harms way behind a building on the right corner of the field. This unit contained my force commander and there was no way that I was going to let the Karmans taking him out this early in the game!
The first of the Dragonov Kommando units moved onto the board next, taking cover inside the ruins on the left beside Urod.
The King Buggy came on next, taking position behind the ruin the Anakongas were in. I had expected it to come in blazing, but this battle was rapidly becoming a game of defensive posturing on both sides.
Cornelius and his Wendigos moved in next, taking position behind a platform on the left side of the board. Two times around the table and still a shot has not been fired! It's just scary I tell you...
My Banes were next, moving into cover beside the hill on the left side of the board. No good shots were available yet and I didn't feel like losing them this early in the game so cover was the way to go.
The second Dragonov unit moved on next, literally right next to the other Kommando unit.
The K-warriors moved on next but they did not fire even though they had line of sight to my Assault golems! I have never faced these before but from what I have heard, I was glad that I was not the center of their attention!
The K-fighters moved onto the right side of the board next, taking position near the ruins that the Kaptars had moved toward.
Nimit was next onto the board and the first to draw blood! Moving up the center of the board, I opened fire on the two K-warriors and was able to take both of them out in one salvo! So much for the Karman Mortars of Doom...
The third unit of Dragonovs came on next and I have to say that it is a good thing that I managed to take out the K-warriors otherwise these guys might have been sitting ducks! They must be having one heck of a Blok party though...
The second unit of Kaptars appeared next and took up position right beside the Anakongas and the King Buggy. Must have been some bananas in those ruins to be getting all of the attention that the monkeys were giving it.
Next up was the unit of Easy Trikes who positioned themselves right on top of the same ruins but unlike the rest of the units there, they actually opened fire! Launching a salvo of jammer bolts at Nimit-Urash, I managed to get lucky as they only did one point of damage to the frame and one point to the nucleus cannon.
Just a quick note about this picture... The second trike is supposed to be on top of the base on the left but unfortunately the post has broken and John has not been able to find a good way to repair it. Any suggestions on how to fix this while still keeping it so that you can add the altitude riser are appreciated!
My Incubus moved on next right beside Nimit and opened fire on one of the Trikes. Those things are far too dangerous to leave on the field but unfortunately for me I was only able to do one point of damage to the frame and take out its engines. It might not be able to move next turn, but I still had to worry about those jammers!
The last Dragonov unit moved on to the board next and thanks to some fancy shooting on their part, the damaged Easy Trike lost one of its weapons. Huzzah!!! Now I only had to worry about three jammers instead of four...
This brought the first turn to an end with both sides at 0 VPs.
For the second turn, I activated first and moved my Incubus even closer to the Easy Trikes. I opened fire on the damaged one and managed to blow it apart, leaving only one on the field.
Urod went next and thanks to my urging opened fire on the last Trike. Unfortunately I didn't realize just how bad its accuracy was until I watched all of the shots sail off into the blue. Whoops!
Moving out of cover, the Anakongas jumped out into the open as they started to advance across the battlefield.
This was followed by the Easy Trike moving right in front of them so that it could open fire on Nimit. Even with the intervening terrain, he was still able to do two more points of damage to my frame leaving Nimit in pretty rough shape, especially since he could cancel my repair routines!
Nimit returned fire, managing to destroy the Trikes engines and take out one of the weapons!
One of the Dragonov units went next moving out of cover to shoot at the K-fighters across the board with their AT gauss guns. Even at that extreme range one shot managed to find its way home, taking out one of the fighters.
The Kaptars hiding in the ruin on the center of the board opened fire in response to the death of their brother and managed to take out the medic and two of the three AT gauss gunner. A painful price but hopefully one that would be worth it. The Wendigos followed this, moving up onto the platform that they had been taking cover behind to get into a better firing position.
My Banes went next, moving from their cover to line up a salvo against the one remaining K-fighter. Unloading all six nucleus guns, they managed to finish off that unit in short order.
The King Buggy moved next, flying around the ruin to take a firing position against my Incubus. Thankfully the rubble provided some meager cover against the few ZZ cannon shots that found their mark, leaving me completely undamaged.
The Kaptars in the ruin on the right side of the board moved up onto the second floor and opened fire on the badly damaged Nimit, inflicting just enough damage to destroy the Golgoth and leave Urash standing there feeling quite vulnerable.
On the other side of the board, one of the Dragonov units moved further into their ruin and the three AT gauss gunners climbed up to the second floor to try and get some shots off against the Wendigos. Sighting the movement, the Wendigos opened fire with their ZZ rifles and the two grenade launchers, wiping out the gunners and knocking the rest of the unit to the ground.
My Assault golems in the center moved next, coming out into the open to fire on the Trike with the nucleus guns and the Anakongas with their rifles. I failed to wound any of the Anakongas but I did manage to take out the last weapon on the Trike! Now I just had to destroy it before the Karmans could move a mechanic up to repair it...
Back on left side, another unit of Dragonovs moved to the second story to open fire on the Wendigos. Raining down gauss rounds on the platform, they succeeded in killing three of the armored apes.
My last unit to move this turn was my Storm golems on the right. I was hoping that the Karmans might have depleted enough LPs that I could create a Hekat so I had to move my commander out into the open, but no such luck. Even so, I did manage to take out two of the Anakongas at pretty extreme range so it seemed like it was worth it.
The Red Blok had the last move of the turn as the final Dragonov unit on the far left advanced up behind Urod, as you can see here in the picture of the Red Blok Party House.
As turn two came to a close, the Uneasy Alliance found itself ahead 8 VPs to 1 VPs. Was the game over? Were the Karmans able to make a comeback? Come back tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of the Semi-Mega-Battle!!!
The other thing which really stands out is the face mask. Most of the other human units that have face masks also have some kind of an optical enhancement (ie the triple lens of the UNA) but in this case I don't think that it will have any effect in the game. It looks to be just some kind of a gas mask which looks cool but there is nothing in game that I can think of that it would really protect you from.
Next up is the ONI version of the TacArm. The weapons look like they must be some kind of an energy weapon, probably a particle gun of some kind. That big X for the opening of the barrel just makes me think of the nucleus cannon on the Golgoths.
The really weird looking thing about this figure is actually the torso and the arms. The detailing on the torso is very odd looking and the upper arms appear to actually be arms rather than armor. This makes me think that these TacArms might be on the low end as far as armor goes simply because they don't seem to have the armor plating that the UNA TacArms do. I also wonder if they will have the gyroscopes that the UNA has because they look very top heavy. Seems like some odd compromises but it all depends on how many points they cost to field.
Finally we have the first of the Cog prototypes and they look pretty sweet! They are definitely some kind of an assault troop but I am not sure which type they will be. Just looking at the picture, they look like they have almost no armor on but all have something attached to their back. Maybe some kind of a force field? The Cogs are supposed to be a very advanced race so who knows what to expect from them as far as technology.
For their weapons, they seem to be equipped with an energy blaster but they look like they have some kind of sight on top of the gun so their range might not be to bad for an assault weapon. As for the "swords" I am not sure what to make of them. At first glance they looked like some kind of chainsword but what I first though were teeth on the blade are actually posts. I am guessing that these posts either generate some kind of force field around the "blade" or possibly a disruption field. Which ever it is, it will probably be a fairly potent hand to hand weapon. After all, the Therians had to bring in the Karmans to bring their war against the Cogs to a standstill so the Cogs must be some pretty nasty customers.
Well, that is about all for now except that Rackham has updated their release plan. In addition to extending it further out than before, they added a little something for the Therians in the same wave as Operation: Frostbite.
Ain't she purdy? (What did you expect? I am a Therian player after all...). So until next time, may all of your dice come up Dragons!
There are some slight differences but they really are very minor. Definitely a great job by Rackham on this one and proof that the paint jobs are only getting better. That is all for now but I should have some more pictures of my Frostbite terrain soon. Holidays and overtime making working on gaming projects a little challenging... Until next time, may all of your dice come up Dragons!
