Sgt. Rock

NOOOOOOO!!! I CANNOT HANDLE THIS LOOSEY-GOOSEY MADNESS! ERIC, COME BACK!

What? Free play? I can't deal with that, Jay! I need structure! Direction! LEADERSHIP! Is this what happens when Eric doesn't run things?! THE WORLD NO LONGER MAKES SENSE!

Speaking of posting scenarios... any teasers as to what the format for the Rampage might look like?

Whoah, I didn't need to know that Jay's nifty bits aren't private. If he wants to brandish them about in public for all to see, that's fine, just keep me out of it.

I have to say, the more I think about it, the more I like TAGs having Fatality L1. I thought it was a dumb skill, but when you apply it to TAGs, it makes more sense. I mean, seriously, how am I supposed to believe that that giant cannon the Squalo is toting has the same damage code as the little number that lady Fusilier is bandying about? They can be the same gun, sure, but being scaled up for TAG size means they should fire bigger rounds, dealing more damage. I like it.

Eric wants to see all of Jay's nifty bits... Jay, you at least gonna make him buy you a drink first?

Okay, so looking at these rules now that I'm no longer grumpy about entirely unrelated things, this is actually pretty good. I like the way they're handling mercs with that, it gives you a little bit more flexibility without allowing an entire mercenary force, which would kind of ruin the fun to me. I'm very curious as to how the storyline will have BIT and Kiss! with CA... did she get sepsitorized? Retroengineering was a joke. Nobody ever took it, because nobody (with the exception of Nomads, because Tomcats) was able to run an engineer that far up the table in time to get the damn classified. I'm glad they got rid of it, now they just need to start sending everyone free replacements for the cards. And it's about goddamn time they did that with single combat group lists. Now it's actually viable to run a super-elite list and not get screwed by going first turn.

I believe it was an Ordo event pin and a couple of OBBL D6's. So, kind of?

Story time. I bought one of the old Crusader Brethren models with a combi rifle on eBay for $7. It was used, mostly in good shape. When it arrived, it was missing one of the little wings off his jump pack. I contacted the seller and got a refund. Today, I found the wing in an empty box on my kitchen table, and offered to pay the guy the $7 back, because he sold me a product that I received as advertised, and it was the honest thing to do. His response was "Just keep the 7 bucks, it's hard enough on you playing PanO." Shots fired.

I would honestly place the Vet Kazak above Van Zant. VZ is kind of a gimmick piece; he works a few times, but after a while, people figure out how to deal with him, and keep all their bases covered, making it hard to use him. Vets, however, never stop being amazing under any and all circumstances. If you can get him up the board and put him in suppressive fire or something, he will ruin anyone's day. The only issue is when he starts running into things like TO and ODD, because even in active turn, 3 dice on 7's isn't exactly a great proposition. If you opponent can stack mods against him, he starts to suffer. The X-Visor goes a long way towards mitigating that, but I'd rather have MSV1. Also, that heavy pistol has done some pretty good work for me... as you said, forcing someone to choose between the flamethrower template or a FTF roll against a heavy pistol is a really tough decision for anyone.

Running a bit late today. Be there closer to 4.

Yup. It's a cycle. Pretty much everyone who plays RPGs will have their grognard moment. The edition you were introduced to, or possibly the one right after, will be the gold standard by which all others are judged, and the new stuff is crap, and the kids these days just don't know what it's like to play a REAL game, and back in my day, we all had MEMORIZED how to calculate THAC0, and we were damn happy to have it! The very existence of 9th Age, as a wargame, is a testament to the strength of the grognard spirit. The problem, of course, is that grognards get left behind, and after a while, they have nobody to play with, because all of their buddies they played 2nd Edition 40k with aren't around anymore... A humorous take on the concept: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/08/23

It's supposed to hit 95 on Sunday... We sure we want to game? I mean, I could use to get in some table time with y'all, but that clubhouse is going to be blazing hot.

Well, yes, but Grognard Crankykilt doesn't have the same ring to it.

We both know you're going to call me that from now on anyway, so why are you even asking? :P

Really? An X-Visor on everything but the hackers and HMG? Also, personally, I think Fatality is a dumb skill. How is your magical skill able to make a bullet the same size as any other from that type of weapon hit any harder? A combi rifle is a combi rifle. There's no legit reason for it to do as much damage as a spitfire. It's confusing, it's dumb, and it's unnecessary. The second level can be explained by them being better marksman and having better shot placement (and if that's the case, it should be on select models that are BS 14 or higher... not some chump mercs with BS 12), but otherwise, it's just dumb. It seems to me like these guys are way too loaded for their price. Maybe I'm turning into a grognard-crankypants, but I'm not fond of either of the new skills that are coming with the Beyond sets. And after playing WarmaHordes, where mercs *are* a standalone faction, I hope they don't go that route. It detracts from the whole point of the thing. Mercenaries should be something you hire to supplement your existing forces. Yes, I know, the idea of a mercenary army contracted for a given task suits the black ops nature of Infinity, but it also just weakens the flavor. Yes, you want deniable assets, but you also want someone who isn't going to turn around and work for the guy you just screwed over when he hires them to go after you. I dunno, like I said, maybe I'm just getting grumpy about the new stuff, but like I said, I got burned on the idea of merc armies in WarmaHordes, and I really don't want to see CB go down that road.

I shall come and be killed!

If anybody has access to a 3D printer, these are cool. This company just finished a Kickstarter for their Sci-Fi line. They're extremely modular (as in, walls and floors are separate and interchangeable) and you can build all kinds of crap. And since you're paying for computer files, not a physical product, it's a lot cheaper, and you can print them as needed. http://thunder-chrome.com/site/index.php/en/

I agree. But he went with what the computer system said, so I didn't argue. I was about to drop at that point anyway, but I gutted it out, mostly because I knew I'd come in last and get my $10 back. Gift card, but I still got it back.

Meh. It happens. I expect to be there on Sunday.

Eh... dead last. Not real happy with the way things went. Scenarios were Rescue, Nimbus Zone, and Engineering Deck. I lost the Rescue because I was derpy and didn't play to the scenario, drew a bye on Nimbus Zone because there were an odd number of players, and Engineering Deck, well... So bless his heart, Jon Polley was running the show. Now, I think highly of the man, and I don't doubt for a moment that this was a compete mistake. There's no way he was trying to pull some BS "Gotcha!" on us. But he altered Engineering Deck to have the same strip of difficult terrain that the other two scenarios have. No low vis or saturation zones, no exclusion, just difficult terrain. Problem was, he was having trouble getting his event writeups to work right online, so when he finally did get them up, he'd forgotten to mention ahead of time that this was the case. As a result, the list I made for that scenario - which was built around a Bolt link - got pretty seriously nerfed. Coupled with going up against an ALEPH player who just kicked the crap out of me, I didn't do so hot. Had I known in advance about the alteration to the scenario, I probably wouldn't have played NCA. I feel almost like Vanilla PanO might have done better for me.

Why would you do that to new players, Eric? I mean, I understand you spanking me like that, I enjoy it, but you're supposed to ease the new people in.

Well, if he plays 40k, he can't possibly be as awesome as myself. I'll allow it.

Jeff? I wasn't there... are you guys seeing someone else named Jeff?!? I thought we had something special...

Except for Jay. He's a bad man, and you should never, EVER, under any circumstances, accept the candy he offers. Trust me. I found that out the hard way.