AscentStudios

I guess that's where you and I differ on this point - I think any one pilot rarely "gets it done by himself" in this game. There's plenty of good reasons to run each pilot with a wingman, rather than on their own for both offensive and defensive reasons. Wedge has been the only pilot I've flow who I can reliably say has one-shotted enemies - with almost everyone else, it takes concentration of fire from 2-3 ships to really get the job done when you need to. Just too many variables otherwise. Based on my "basement meta" the X-Wing's toughness tends to see it out into the mid-late game, where its strong offense really starts to become more influential regardless of who's behind the stick. When it's my A-Wings that last until the late game, it's a much tougher fight as they simply don't have the firepower to finish many ships off in a duel. My point with Hobbie wasn't that you need to be doing red maneuvers - Push the Limit, Expert Handling and Daredevil all give you "free" stress which Dutch can help you strip fairly easily (pretty fast, range 1-2 on his ability) with a little planning or the right wingmen. I'm not saying it's an amazing combo, but I guess I'm less point-sensitive in this game than most, particularly with Rebels who almost always have a small handful of points sitting around to be used to upgrade pilots when all's said and done. To each his own. That's a good combo, but a) that's a 1/game trick, and b) that's a heckuva lot of work to get a 3 die shot on someone. I dig A-Wings for a lot of reasons, but their strong offensive capability is not one of them :) Hobbie, or any other X-Wing pilot, can dish 3 damage at any range, can endure one more hit in the process, and can take the Astromech upgrade (the winner for my own personal Most Improved X-Wing Upgrade Slot 2014 so far with Wave 4 and the Rebel Transport available). Obviously, I can't say which is better until we get our hot little hands on these new guys, but I'm game to try putting my money where my mouth is and let you know if any of these ideas actually work :) I'll give you that their price may be an issue...but I think in this game, unlike say 40k, the price:effect calculation is not quite as straightforward, with a few exceptions (Dagger Squadron B-Wings being one, which I think are actually underpriced vs. comparable PS X-Wings). As a somewhat tangential point: Reflecting recently a bit on how to make a better Imperial list, I got to thinking that it may be that point efficiency is vital to Imperial lists, which tend to be light on Elite pilots and don't have many team players (all team effects tend to be passive), whereas in Rebels team efficiency is more vital as the interplay of abilities leads to some great force multiplier moments. For instance, I found last night that running a PS6 Black TIE w/ Vet Instinct plus RG Interceptor w/ PTL + Howlrunner was simply not as effective as dropping the mean PS to 4, dropping Vet Instincts on the Blacks, dropping the RGs to Sabres, and putting a Stealth Device on Howlrunner and Draw Their Fire on a Black instead. There's simply not enough to be gained by PS of more than 4 in most games where your or your opponent is flying generic pilots, and not enough teamwork in Imperials to make a squad where a combination of named pilot abilities is worth building a squad around; concepts, yes (I want to try a "point blank TIE Ace + Jax Interceptor" list soon), but not teams. In Rebels, however, I'll happily run named pilots as I think there are plenty of reasons to try and squeeze multiple named pilots, as they can definitely build upon each other and become a something more...even if it's not points-efficient.

I agree - it's pretty sweet to have a named, low-PS pilot. I think Tarn is actually the lowest named pilot in the game. When I was working on my Porkins repaint, I repainted his astromech to match the one he used in the movie. Guess what his Astromech looks like? R5-D8. That's some well-played planning right there, FFG *slow clap* I think Janson would be broke as hell if his ability went off before his attack, as it would give him carte blanche to essentially cancel another pilot's action - and everyone knows that negation is simply unfun. Remember that Rebels are all about teamwork; they set each other up well, doing things like passing focus, target locks, and all that other good stuff around from ship to ship. Janson I think is great, as he's high enough PS to set up an imperial target on a silver platter for nearly any rebel pilot save Wedge or Han... Hobbie is made for the new 1 pt Astromech that gives out an Elite slot - give him Push the Limit, Expert Handling, or Daredevil making for a crazy maneuverable X-Wing, and then let him blow a TL to dump the stress in the same turn. In fact, Hobbie is a pro abuser of PTL, as he can just Focus, PTL to Target Lock, gain stress, then blow the target lock in the combat phase to dump the stress. Even better, put him on a squad with Dutch (who only has +1 PS over him...almost like they planned it!) to really abuse his ability.

EVEN BETTER!

QFT. Ordnance, STR 5, AP 4, Large Blast, Accurate Bombardment, and the fact I already have the models and have for years. My griffons have long been superstars of my IG army. Fortunately, all the rules are replicated in Imperial Armour Second Edition Vol 1, and FW has a model for it, so it's not in danger of being unusable anytime soon.

It looks like there's no Griffon in the AM book. Here's to hoping Imperial Armour Vol 2 #2: War Machines of the Imperial Guard will change that :(

Hey Ordo! I know with the new Miitarum Tempestus/Astra Militarum on its way, some of you may be buying some of the new Tempestus Scion models...and I'd like to get some of your spare bits. Specifically, I'm looking for any beret-wearing heads from the kit (appears to be 10 of them on the sprue per 5 man box), to customize my old 2nd Edition IG Stormtroopers. In trade, I have tons of 40k, lots of it OOP, including Chaos Marines, IG, Space Marines, and Tyranids. Bring out your bits and let's trade! Thanks, Alex

If anyone grabs some Scions and isn't using the beret heads, drop me a line. I need to do some head swaps with my old 2nd Ed stormtroopers (veterans in my IG army) so they don't all look so constipated :)

I dunno I agree about assault Chosen (though I do agree they are too spendy kitted out in the way the DV characters are). I for one like Khornate Chosen - base 2 attacks with a CCW/pistol/bolter, +1 Ld, Counter-Attack and Rage makes for one damn fine assault unit. They're only a hair more expensive than Khornate CSM with extra CCW and MoK, and have a lot more flexibility, so you can toss in 1-2 power weapons or flamers if you're so inclined. But then, I'm a fan of Kharn the Betrayer so I may be biased.

Me too. I had a lot of fun running a PS 9 Vader, Fel, Phenner + Veteran Instincts list yesterday - managed to take out Wedge in turn 2 with a little luck and a concussion missile from Vader. The Advanced *really* needs some retrofitting - its problems are worse than its point cost, though, since its dial is seriously underwhelming (less maneuverable than a regular TIE IIRC), it has weak upgrades, and it simply doesn't have enough firepower to make it good without a missile. I would kill for a Advanced title that granted systems. Vader got in a traffic jam in a big game yesterday and lost both actions for 4-5 turns due to bumping lower pilots, which just completely took him out of the fight...Advanced Sensors would have gotten me out of that mess in a jiffy. But even a title that granted you an additional EPS, just like the prototype A-Wing title, seems a no-brainer now, as does a modification upgrade or title that allowed you to add an extra Attack die. Honestly, though, just giving Vader a different ride like they're doing with Maarek Steele (he's one of the titled Defender pilots) would be the best. If Vader could just fly an Interceptor...

Rebel Aces looks to be an even bigger tilt in the direction away from swarms and towards the Rebels (the first being making Astromechs so much better in upcoming expansions and giving the big ships to the Rebel side exclusively): * A -2 pt upgrade for A-Wings that comes of the cost of your missile slot (oh noes!) * A 0 pt title upgrade for A-Wings that gives you a free EPS (making A-Wings the only ship - including Darth-Fricking-Vader - that can have more than one EPS) * A B-Wing that can spend Stress in the same way as Focus when attacking (gee whiz, so much for a red-filled dial...) * A keen eyed buddy thinks both B-Wing titles allow the B to take Crew upgrades...sick! This set looks totally rad, but it makes me a little sad, as it feels the Rebels have a lot of really great builds with tons of synergy, and the Imperials have Swarm and gimmicky builds (like the triple Bounty Hunter) without a lot of synergy in the lists. Imperial Aces looks just sad compared to Rebel Aces in terms of what it brings to the table.

Hey folks Quick post here to see if anyone has any DZC stuff they want to trade...I came across a bunch of like-new FOW metal soviets that I'd like to convert to either Dropzone Commander or cash. These guys should work for any WWII period - early, mid, or late. Here's what I have (all are battlefront unless noted): 1 NIB Soviet Infantry Company 1 NIB Soviet Company HQ (no retail markings, so it might be from a boxed set army) At least 1, and perhaps more, Soviet Infantry Company new and untouched, separated into a plastic box. 3 Soviet AT gun sets (the 45mm obr 1942 guns IIRC - 6 bases) 1 Mortar Company (6 bases) 1 Machine Gun Company (6-9 bases) 6 White Scout Cars (NIB, but Old Glory) Tons of bits - drivers, tank commanders, 50 cal MGs, jeep ragtops, bailed crewmen, etc. In trade I'm looking for any Scourge or Post Human Republic Dropzone commander, as well rules, card, and their city-in-a-box cardboard terrain, which I'd be looking to trade retail for retail. Cashwise it looks like this rings in somewhere between $150 and $200, so $100 cash would probably be fine as well. Thanks Ordo!

Totally agree. With the increasing RPS nature of the meta, sideboards (or even better, 2 army lists, which was a thing Warmachine was doing) to allow an army to cope with a meta-abusing army would really put a curb on the "play to win" grousing we hear in the tournament scene. I imagine most armies would start running a vs. infantry and a vs. armor/MC/LoW lists rather quickly, and really allow a greater strategic depth to tournaments.

So, to all the defenders of the Y-Wing, I have to make a (small) apology - I have found a rather nasty use for one in combination with some Wave 4 releases... 99/100 "Stun and Shank" Dutch Y-Wing with R7-T1 & Ion Turret 2 x Dagger Squadron B-Wing with Advanced Sensors & Heavy Laser Cannon This is R7-T1 btw: It's a little slow, but essentially what happens in round 2-3 is that Dutch gets into range to start using R7 and his ion turret - basically, letting him drop a target lock, pass another to a B-wing, then GTFO from their shooting arc while still dishing out stunny doom. The Daggers, courtesy of Advanced Sensors, are able to avoid the problem of much Red on their dial to pull focus, then the TL from Dutch to just lay waste to their preferred target with 4 dice at any range. The list takes some skill to keep in formation, and you ain't gonna dodge much with any of these ships, but you can lay some serious hurt/one-shots especially vs. TIE Swarms and low AG ships.

As a game company owner who ran an organized play system alongside casual play (admittedly, in RPGs), dashneeb is 100% right. Does anyone think for a second that 50+% of all games of 40k played happen in shops, with prizes on the line? I play with a group of 12 people at least 1/month, 10 of whom would never think of playing in a tournament nowadays. They buy a crapload of models, though, and love 40k. Honestly, it's the casual players who will keep your revenues steady - the guys who are slowly building up and collecting an entire army (about 1 of every unit), lovingly painting and modeling them...not the bandwagon hoppers who only really buy when there's a new power build to jump at. Plus, the casual gamer absorbs the cost increases with far more grace - since he's likely only invested in 1-2 armies, jacking the price on a few units at a time tends to effect him less drastically than the more Fanaticus of us who are collecting or recollecting armies at an unusually high volume and/or rate.

I think they look hawt. Paint what you like, and keep up the good work!

Uh..."I want a Tyranid with a penis on his back?" That's the best I can figure.

Which is too tall by a few inches. That's what many folks are annoyed by. I did a re-measure last night - we estimated the Knight to be about 6-6.5 inches based on pic with the side-by-side with a Trygon. My Dreamforge titan's *leg* is 5.25 inches tall on its own.

I think they follow the 80s Citadel "Ugly to Cool" loop - where they're so damn silly looking they develop their own aesthetic. Sort of like Boston Terriers.

Speaking as a longtime IG player, I dunno about that - that was the first thing I thought when I saw the Paladin's stats. I can rock 2 battle cannon shots, 2 heavy stubbers, and 2 heavy bolters in a single Leman Russ Squadron for right around 300 pts. While that's a lower BS and speed than the Knight, and does not have a STR D melee weapon or Ion Shield, it a) doesn't eat my Ally slot, b) spreads its HP amongst multiple targets, c) can easily take advantage of common cover, d) can mount additional weapons for even more firepower, and e) doesn't asplode and wipe out the rest of my line when it dies. FWIW, I think the IK is still money, but for armies like the IG it brings something different rather than something essential. For the other non-bug armies, it's a nice way to add melta or battle cannons, as well as a kickass big stompy robot.

FWIW, I'm not surprised at the size (I posted on the side-by-side comparison with a Trygon, and guesstimated it was 6") and sorta glad it *isn't* bigger. That will keep the Knight in scale with my Armorcast Reaver, while leaving my Dreamforge Crusader as a viable Warhound counts-as (it's the same height as the AC version). Works all around!

Because "sales on a brand-new $140 kit for every army = teh moneyz woop woop!"

Did somebody say Imperial Aces? Yeah, me either. In the meantime, we've got this. http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4663 Yep, R-2 and C-3PO are upgrades, and looka that upgrade line...this thing could easily get up to 100 pts if you were so inclined. Adding Crew is pretty neat, as Gunners, Navigators, and Weapon Engineers could all make her pretty dang nasty as a warship...that quad laser is pretty rad as a point-defense weapon, too.

From the looks of that comparison shot with the Riptide, the Errant is *also* on a larger oval base. Clever move, GeeDub.

I wouldn't be so sure on that - the 15mm kit is big, but tops out at 4.5 inches. Based on this pic, the Knight kit appears to be 5.5 - 6 inches tall (just measured a Trygon, which is 5 inches tall):

Hey guys, Since I know a number of you were annoyed you missed the Dreamforge Leviathan Kickstarter, here's a heads-up - he's running a smokin' sale on 28mm Crusaders ($75, down from $120) and 15mm Crusaders ($33, down from $59) through the end of the month. These are lower than the Kickstarter prices! If skulls are more your thing, the Mortis Leviathan (and pretty much everything else) is also on discount. Enjoy! http://dreamforge-games.com/collections/all