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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

X-Wing: Let's try out Bobabots

Broba is coming out to play!

Happy New Year everyone, and welcome back.  This year, I want to do something different.  I've decided to set aside two days of the week where I can play some minis and I think I'll do X-Wing one day and Armada the other.  I just got back from vacation and I didn't get a chance to try out my Poe list yet, but I know it's going to be just fine.  Over the break, I played a bunch of Empire at War and I honestly miss playing the CIS.  That got me thinking..

What if I tried a list that looks something like this?

99 Bobabots

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
Flechette Cannon 2
Tactician 2
Inertial Dampeners 1
Engine Upgrade 4
Ship Total: 49

Like the name?  I just thought of it and it kinda sounds like one of those asian drinks.  Or should we go with Broba?  That's just ridiculous.

As for the list, let's talk about Advanced Sensors.  I would take it on every ship if I can and I had enough points, but the fact that that IG-2000s have the ability to take them is freaking amazing.  I know that most players put FCS on them so they can shoot multiple accurate shots with the HLC, but the flexibility of being able to Focus and then S-Loop or K-Turn is really amazing.  I just love being able to have Focus no matter what, especially when the ship has 3s in both offense and defense.  Since the IG-88B already has a pseudo gunner, I decided to just roll with VI to beat out other bots and Dash as a meta choice.  However, this still has me questioning: Is PS6 fine enough at it is?  Is it worth replacing VI with something like PTL?  PTL with Advanced Sensors is out of control, being able to double stack Focus/Evade while clearing greens is deity-level good.

Next to join the party is Boba Fett in his Firespray.  I put VI on him because PS10 is all the rage these days, being a meta-pick primarily to crap on PS9 aces.  The Tactician and Flechette Cannon allows me to pile on some easy stress tokens while Engine Upgrade is pretty standard these days on almost all Firesprays.  PS10 Tactician is a very nice thing to have and being able to inflict multiple stress tokens for almost free can be insanely good against the action-reliant pilots out there like Poe and Fel.

So what do you guys think?  What should I change if anything?  I'm eager to try the list and I already ordered a pair of bots to play around but I need to get my hands on one of these Flechette Cannons.