Thursday, January 25, 2007

There's cheating and then this...

So, the other night, we were playing city fight because, well because I've pretty much built a city and so there's really no reason not to have a Cities of Death game.

In any case, as you all may know, COD is a bit unfair for certain armies, namely the IG because they all of a sudden get good saves where they didn't have them before. That is not the point of this post.

I, Monstro, was fighting the IG and playing my Eldar as is my want these days, and I chose the Sewer rat stratagem. Here's the kicker. Dire Avengers, blade storm, pretty much deep striking without deviation. That's...ummm....not fair.

Now, I'm not saying that the tactic skews the battle a bit. I'm saying that it is absolutly cheating. Like playing with loaded dice really.

What made matters worse is that they popped up in a building that I had bought the Ammo Dump stratagem for and they could re-roll misses.

So, for those of you not paying attention, that's 32 shuriken catapult shots (w/ an 18" range for the Dire Avengers) that can re-roll misses. They already have a BS of 4. The exarch has a 5. I hit an Ogryn squad with 30 shots one round, and destroyed an entire 10 man fire squad two rounds later (who happened to have a 4+ invulnerable).

Cheating.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Two BIG tips

So, I'm crazy in the middle of making about a million things. Seriously.

I've basically figured out how to make monoliths. I'm going to sell them as Necron buildings, but they look like Monoliths. In addition to that, I made a series of Necron powerplants from the Dawn of War game, as well as a greater summoning tower from the same. I've painted up about four necron spires which I routinely sell on Ebay...and that's just the Necrons.

For some strange reason, mainly because I'm not doing this to pay to eat, the pressure is off. As a result I have, and I'm not kidding on this, about thirty irons in the fire. I will share more when the time comes.

Until then, I would like to point out something. I have long believed that whatever GW says you should do in order to make something is a load of crap. Always. I believe I stand vindicated now. I decided to buy some Miliput (Green stuff) to use, and well, a situation came up where Miliput as it is described by GW seemed the obvious solution to my problem. So I used it.

That shit is horrible. Actually, its worse than that. It's useless. And when it dries it will screw up whatever piece you were attempting to reinforce before it falls off of whatever thing it was supposed to adhere to. It is neither an adhesive nor a very good putty whatever. You can buy air dry clay that works twice as well. Or if you really feel the need for something that dries to the durability of porcelain, may I recommend a trip to Home Depot. Look for stuff to stick Kitchen tile down to counters. That shit's awesome and comes in gallon bucket for about three bucks. If you are actually attempting to make things out of miliput--may I recommend sculpy or...geez anything else; that shit sucks, is I guess what I'm saying.

Meanwhile, a long time ago I recommended the plastic that people put in ceiling lights in offices instead of Plasti-card. This is because plasticard is about $8 per square foot and the sheet plastic for the light fixtures is about $3 for 6 square feet. The only problem was how to cut it. I tried an electric knife (shattered), a dremel cutting wheel (melted the plastic to the wheel), the actual tool you're supposed to use (useless and only cut in straight lines after breaking your arm). Solution: scissors.

You're welcome!

Friday, January 12, 2007

Eldar Codex: A re-review

So, I've been playing Eldar since the new codex came out.

First off, Harlequins are just ridiculously bad ass. It is as simple as that. I'm not sure why anyone would ever buy Striking Scorpions instead, and I'm damn confused as to why anyone is still buying the Howling Banshees. I think if you're going to buy the Howling Banshees, buy the phoenix lord to go along, but that's beside the point, which is simply: Harlequins are bad ass.

They took down the star cannon, the bright lance, and the vehicles (no more combat crystal). Okay, that's true. The first two problems with the eldar army are negligible next to the third. If you don't have vehicles, you don't worry about star cannons and bright lances. They made some strange rule in case you're playing two fire prisms, but who in the hell is playing two fire prisms? So, basically, the guardians got taken down a peg, but that's okay, because the Guardians can now have two fields of fire open for one weapon at the same time. Read the rules closely. It's nice.

Keep in mind, I have 15 jet bikes. They gave the jet bikes a major bump. They are sooo hot as to make Swooping Hawks even less desirable, and yes, they still get a move during their assault phase, fire or no, so something still has that Combat Crystal-esque tactic. I love the bikes.

Also, dire avengers, which used to suck are now so tactically powerful as to make any drawbacks one sees in the guardians to be negligible.

Wraithlords and Avatars, not that they needed it, are bumped. In fact, though I play Eldar, I would list the Avatar as a kind of cheating miniature (much like the Chaos Lord, Tau Crisis suits, the entire Dark Eldar army, etc.--every army has a little cheat, so don't get on your high horses, non-Eldar players). It's the point cost. It's so low! I have played about four battles with my eldar now, and have still yet to buy the farseer.

The problem, and I mentioned this before I think, is that the book is divided in two. All the necessary rules are in the front, and all the stats are in the back. That's so fucking stupid as to make me want to slap GW employees (harder than I normally want to slap them). Why in the fuck did they do that! Oh wait, I know. It's to make pirated PDF versions prohibitive. Great GW, I bought your book and it's a pain in the ass for me too!

Finally, and I can't stress this enough, Harlequins kick ass!

By the way, last tuesday, a half strength squad of Dire Avengers (3), plus a full squad of Howling banshees (4+exarch) killed a fully decked/four wound/monstrous creature Chaos Lord. It was so very sweet that I didn't even care when that same squad got mowed down by one of three pie plates the Iron Warriors (cheat army) decided to bring to the battlefield.

Hills re-revisited: It begins

Man, I hate hills. No seriously. As a terrain designer, I suppose I should love hills--the challenge that they represent, the ease with which one can make an okay looking hill, the zen of trying to improve the hills design, but I don't like hills and here's why.

Any time you put a hill on the battlefield, you run into problems. No amount of rule stipulation on the part of Games Workshop has managed to shore up this mess. Honestly, the people I play with now just turn to me and ask with every squad that fires, "Can I see that guy and does he get cover?" I mean seriously, how hard is it to say "things that are X" tall are level 2, and things that are Y" tall are level 3." What I've tried to do here is make hills more reasonable for game play to clear up the confusion.

By the way, if you are part of my game group, READ THIS!!! I'm tired of making terrain that I don't want to set on the table because nobody knows what to do with it. It's a hill, for Pete's sake! It shouldn't complicate game play for longer than a moment.

Hills re-revisited: The Basics

The Basics:

A hill is any piece of terrain that a miniature can stand on top of. A hill may have other characteristics—a bunker is, for instance, a hill for miniatures standing on top of it.

Hills have three levels of height. These height levels do not directly correspond to the height levels of figures (a level 3 hill is not the same height as a level 3 miniature). Hills allow figures on top of them to ignore terrain equal to or lower than the hill’s height, bearing in mind that no vantage point will allow a model to ignore level 3 terrain. Enemy models attempting to draw a line of sight to a model on a hill may ignore all terrain features of equal to or lower than the height of the hill. Models on top of hills do not gain cover from the hill itself though they may gain cover due to bluffs, canyons, or area terrain on top of the hill.

hills cont'd: some strangeness

A hill’s height remains constant and is not relative. In other words, a level 2 hill is still level 2 even to models standing on top of level 1 hills. It is level 2 even to height level 3 models. So, a level 2 hill blocks LOS between 2 level 2 models even if both figures are standing on level 1 hills.

Standing on top of a level 3 hill, because it does not allow you to look over level 3 terrain, confers no real height advantage over a level 2 hill. However, as a level 3 hill it will block LOS against everything not on it (including figures on a level 2 portion of that same hill). In a worse case scenario, one might imagine a 3 step hill with a defiler on the level 2 area attempting to fire upon a Land Raider also on that same level 2 but with a level 3 step between the two models. Despite the gigantic nature of both these vehicles, and despite their elevated position, the level 3 rise between the two figures will block LOS.

As height level 3 figures already ignore level 2 terrain for purposes of LOS, and level 1 terrain for both LOS and cover saves, this size model gains no advantage on a level 1 hill. On a level 2 hill, these models ignore the cover save conferred by level 2 cover as well as the hull down that tanks get behind level 2 terrain. …But the same is true of any size model on a level 2 hill.

hills cont'd: commentary on the strangeness

At first these situations seem counter-intuitive, but correct modeling can make such rules more realistic. As level one does not block LOS between level 2 combatants, it must be shorter than level 2 models; less than 1 ½ inch aught to do it. Level 2 blocks LOS between level 2 models but not level 3, which means 1 ½”-2”. Level 3 must be modeled that LOS must be blocked between two dreadnoughts both standing on level 2 hill. Optimally, this would mean that level 3 should be about 5” tall.
The problem seems to be the grey area between level 2 and 3: 2”-5”. I am inclined to split the difference and make level 2 go from 1 ½”-2 ½” and make level 3 any height greater than 2 ½” with an optimal modeling height of 5”. If one imagines then that level one equals up to 1 ½” with an optimal height of 1”, level 2 between 1 ½”-2 ½” with an optimum of 2” and that level 3 is 2 ½” and up with an optimum of 5”, the board becomes remarkably self evident in regards to what blocks what for everything except the largest of tanks.

optional rule for hills: hull down: Duck and Cover

As the rules stand now, level 2 and 3 hills do exactly the same thing: they allow you to ignore level 2 terrain. Because of this, there is no reason to climb to the top of level 3 hills.
To simulate the increased height advantage, assume that a hill does not negate area terrain cover’s cover save for cover equal to the height of the hill. The hill will still allow firers to ignore terrain of any depth as far as LOS is concerned. Therefore, a figure on a level 2 hill would still be able to see over level 2 terrain and ignore its capacity to grant a cover save unless figures are actually imbedded inside level 2 area terrain. In such a case, they get a cover save, but can be fired at no matter how deeply they are imbedded.
With this rule in effect, level 3 terrain would allow a figure to ignore area 2 cover terrain.

optional rule for hills: hull down

One other way to increase the virility of firers on level three terrain is to allow such firers, and only such firers, to ignore level 2 terrain against level 3 enemies. Thus, enemy tanks attacked by fire from a level 3 hill (and not on a level 2 or 3 hill) would not be able to claim the condition of “hull down.”

optional rule for hills: canopy

Most terrain is “open topped” some terrain, however, is not. In such cases, terrain may have different “game heights” in regards to what it blocks for LOS and when it will provide cover. Terrain with a roof, for instance, counts as level 3 for cover saves, but may be only level 1 or 2 to block LOS depending on the size of the building. This terrain cannot block LOS regardless of depth to enemies that are higher than its “LOS size”. For instance, a bunker that is level 2 in height has a roof. Enemies that take higher ground cannot ignore the cover save afforded the bunker by taking a position on a level 2 hill, though they can ignore its ability to block their LOS. If the bunker is large, and there is more than 6” between the target and its attacker on the hill, the attacker may still draw line of sight to the enemy as he is shooting down and not horizontally, through the terrain.