Ser Warwick

I can make it, I thought it was Loren and Joey that were out due to Star Wars. All good if everyone has already redirected for today.

Car troubles but I'll still be down at 6:00pm for your scheduled afternoon entertainment Joey.

All good, get well soon. I should really start reading these before I go to the shop.

My bad, I should have confirmed. Still would have been a light party.

Completely forgot to mention that I will be leaving for Mexico next week, so I will be gone from Nov. 19th - 27th. The vacation days only just got approved.

There in 10 minutes.

Sounds good! Just making sure you didn't have to bow out tomorrow due to lack of available players. This also has the happy side effect of giving me more time and motivation to paint.

Were you able to make it down tomorrow dalmer? If so I've been wanting to get a game of 40k in. If not I will head down with some Infinity.

It leans pretty heavily on group play. If you don't have enough players, you get bots, who do their duty both admirably and soullessly. The game will keep the same 4 out of the 5 characters for the session, so the bots act as placeholders if someone drops, or until a new player joins. So you will always have a group, and (especially on harder difficulties) will need to work as a team to survive. You could also play the Elf, run faster than everyone else, and steal all the potions, but... Ramboing in this game, while ostensibly possible, is generally ill advised. If you range too far ahead, thinking that you're a strong, independent Dwarf Ranger, you will be targeted by a Gutter Runner or Packmaster, whose successful attacks pin or disable you until you are rescued by another player. This also happens if you straggle behind too far.

I am having a lot of fun with this game. I might have a slight bias towards first person swordplay and the Warhammer lore, both of which I feel are well represented here. The atmosphere can be downright chilling or frantic and heavy depending on the scenarios. Only 4 levels were available pre-release, but they are all varied and repeatable, with multiple difficulties. BG, I actually like the sneakiness of the Skaven, but have found that various audio cues help. Assassins whispering, Stormvermin marching cadences, or chittering clanrats, and of course the horn for the swarm. Headphones might help with that. I will agree on the difficulty though, you really have to work well as a team for the heavier areas. I have found that pressing T to alert your mates to a serious threat allows everyone to focus it down. The loot mechanic is fun and addicting. If you finish a level, you roll dice for new equipment. You can get better dice if you find hidden tomes and grimoires which also make the game more difficult by decreasing health and carrying space. Overall it's an excellent rat exterminator simulator.

What would the timeline be for Rage, Miles? I will bring Infinity for either before or after.

My thoughts exactly. I like Cadians, but the Guard should be one of the more diverse factions. Luckily there are many cool alternatives currently. Guard tactics are generally WW1-2 anyways. Apparently you wouldn't be able to play them in a GW shop, but luckily, with regards to this as well, there are many cool alternatives currently.

This one looks and sounds awesome. I would definitely want to try it out if at all possible. So do you play a persistent sort of campaign, or is each session standalone?

This game has been a pretty great bridge between me and my fiancée's board game preferences. Farmers are rather strong but stealing the fields can be satisfying. To be fair that tactic is quite an investment to pull off, but usually worthwhile in our games. I'll have to give more of the expansions a go, is there a limit to how many you can/should use?

I just started playing so I wouldn't be optimal for a demo game, but I can speak to the popularity. So far I haven't had trouble finding a game when I've wanted one, and two other players have started at roughly the same time as me. By my count there are 9 shop goers (and likely more) that have armies, and most play frequently enough; either that or they are focusing on other games but are willing to plan a game in advance. Mechanically it's very solid. AROs mean your troops never just sit and take punishment, given that they can react to your opponent while its not your active turn. Every model has the potential to impact the game, making most of them viable. Models are of course subjective, but objectively they are highly detailed and I think that they execute a lot concepts rather well. They are mostly one pose metal though, so they generally lack the customizable nature of 40k multi-part kits. As for a demo game, Wiccus and Nathonicus seem to be the most veteran players.

I run a squad of SW sniper scouts, and they can usually camp an objective pretty well with their cloaks. Then they can bank for heavy or special weapons. Pretty low damage output though, pinning would have been nice to keep. I ended up going with bolters for my DA scouts I just built, and added the heavy bolter. I am thinking it will be a light midfield harassment and interdiction unit. The melee variants seem to be better geared towards having a LSS. I take it there's not much love for the humble shotgun?

I think forcing a reroll sounds viable, power swords are definitely one of the least appealing ccws, so they could use a bonus to match how cool they look. I think a ws boost could be also be viable, but on that note and in the spirit of wishlisting rules I think close combat would be faster, fluffier and more fun if they used the to wounds chart when comparing stats. It may have been said before but WS currently feels like a bit of a dump stat, wherein some units pay a premium just so that they can hit on 3s. This is great compared to 4s, but its better when big numbers on stats mean something. WS seems like the softest stat to me. A few others I would prefer playing: -Charge range=initiative+d6 Calculated at a unit's base initiative, this would give you a better charge window that also reflects the abilities of the unit. -Pick your psychic powers, show opponent, these are your powers. Ideally this requires balanced powers, which is its own problem. This would make pregame faster, allow for more reliable planning of tactics, and allow for more consistent narrative focus with custom characters. -Pick your warlord trait, show opponent, this is your trait. Same issues as above, but still better than random IMHO. Adds a further way to reflect the fluff of your custom characters.

Still no game?

The bare arms on the kuang shi look awesome. It makes them appear more intimidating and primal, like a caged beast. Very fitting given their lore and combat role.

Really great work, I got an ISS group after reading the fluff book. You've certainly captured their sheer intimidation value. I was going to go after something similar with my own Hsien, with inspiration from this guy (a very Vader-like character thematically): So its good to see that a dark color scheme suits him.

Copy that.

Huge fan of the Spetsnaz and Chasseur. Haven't tried Uxia yet, but I've got her painted up so just need basing. The Spetsnaz models and lore are part of what sold me on Ariadna. Elite bastards with gas masks, and their tabletop abilities match up to their reputation in the lore. They had me at bastards. They have been wounded in every game I have had so far, but they have taken out their share of enemies eveyr time. They can really stack the odds in their favor in gun battles, and barring good rolls, that's the best thing a commander can hope for. The main downside is post-Spetsnaz depression when they go down. Kazak doctor recommend vodka. It chase away sadness.

Would definitely be down if there is still room. No gear though, would be willing to rent.

I would be down for some Infinity. Start at 6pm? That should give us ample time. We can go for 200 pts. Up to you if you want to do an objective game or just keep with annihilation for now.

Hey boss, Jake here, really enjoyed our Ariadnan training exercise. Usually I should be able to stay till closing time on game night, so next time it would be awesome to get multiple games in. Hope the next game you had with Jacob was fun as well for the both of you, and that he got his fire lanes a little more solid. If you haven't already you can PM JMGraham for access to the Warhamsters section, where many of the Bellingham miniature gamers gather. Generally each week someone will post a topic for gaming at Dark Tower in the game night section. That would be the most surefire way to get a game going for Tuesdays, as you can keep a pulse on what everyone's aiming to play. For days other than Tuesday a PM or a post in the Warhamsters section for a one off scheduled game would likely work best. I go for Tuesdays if I can, but can also make other days with some prior warning.