Unmatched Fun

First game of Unmatched last night with friends new to the game. We went 3-way free for all and even though it was not the most recommended form of the game, it went well.

Using Cobble and Fog, Kira played Dracula, Lee had Sherlock and I grabbed Jekyll/Hyde on the SoHo board.

We started off with me getting caught between both opponents, which bit them both big time as I discovered the power of Hyde when the cards run his way. Burning a couple of Jekyll cards, I dumped 9 damage on Dracula, then hit both with some shared damage and moved away.

Lesson learned, don’t mess with a cornered, card-laden Hyde.

Another lesson learned is some characters play easily, some are harder to master, or so I thought.

Much jockeying of position, a few stray shots from Watson and a little Holmes cleverness. Lee really played the Holmes well, and remember, his first game of Unmatched.

Kira, usually the most cunning player in our group got weakened quite badly, to the point where we basically ignored her, then she started playing cards that recovered health and her lost Wives (minions). Oops, before we could register, she was back in the game at close to full strength.

A revitalised Dracula late in the game was a real threat, but circumstances allowed Hyde to do his thing again on Drac, crushing him when we were all down to about 3-4 cards. A 1 v 1 game would have been over there, but this was 1 v 1 v 1.

Sherlock and Hyde faced off, but Sherlock got the better of the run and was relatively fresh. Brutal, aggressive Hyde was needed to win, but defensive Jekyll cards were all that were at hand as the ultimate schizo got spooked. Sherlock and an untouched Watson finished him off with basically nothing left in the bank.

Close game played well by two novices and a relative newbie. Kira was unlucky to be closest to a mean and slightly lucky Hyde twice and Sherlock/Watson was probably the ideal pairing to make the most of the situation. Still, a close game with 2 characters losing within 2 turns of each other, one after a come back and the game made it to end of the decks, which was a great result.

So, Unmatched, what is the takeaway?

The game is dead simple to learn and teach, deep enough to become obsessive and not overly luck based or just play casually. The games generally have a to-and-fro element, even the ones that up front look oddly unmatched (Squirrel Girl vs T-Rex) and really any character can win any duel, but over repeated plays or with players of different skill, some results are surely more likely. Nobody gets bored, because the play in interactive and limited to a hand of cards each.

Components.

Mixed here.

The boxes are brilliant as supplied. Everything fits including sleeved cards (Villainous-looking at you). If you choose to upgrade your minions to minis, then you have to use the dead space under the inserts, buy a divider solution, or just box them separately.

The cards are top notch, but sleeve them please. A single lost or bent card pretty much ruins a character and many are on limited release (and who wants to buy a game for 1 component), so sleeve, sleeve, sleeve. There are only 30 cards per character, so it won’t cost a packet. If something does happen, I plan to switch from transparent sleeves preserving the art, to solid backed ones allowing proxy or damaged cards to be used.

The main figs are grey and washed. They are nice enough in a world of many awesome minis. I am tempted to paint them to match the art on the minion discs and cards, but will probably settle with more themed colours, then re-washed or stylised contrast paint washes.

From the first Legends set (Tricky Merlin is upside down).

The minion enamel discs are actually pretty nice and for play make sense (when minion figs were introduced in one game with Elektra, a new player struggled to work out who was who). I started to get figs, but cut my losses at Dinos, Cobble and Fog and the first two Marvel sets as figs off Etsy with freight were threatening to out cost the game itself.

The boards annoy me. They are as designed and quite nice to look at, but two things still annoy. The big circles I feel are unnecessary (dots for locations and thin coloured lines for shared areas maybe?), which they themselves basically hint to, with my second annoyance which is repeating the same map with less obvious, but still obvious open circles.

One even has a useless map of where the game board is located in the world. Who gives a f&%k! More game please, less fluff.

In a time when maximising resources, especially effectively free resources is logical and simply good business sense, I fail to see how they cannot double side these maps with two different options?

The Buffy set from memory is the only one with two different sides on one board and the pending Tales to Amaze (they might be two boards, cannot remember, but anyway). Easily adding variety without compromising anything, why not? They could even link boards from different sets or make a tougher, weirder option.

It almost feels like the boards are a blind spot for the designers.

What do I think about the theme?

The really unmatched characters are to me a poor fit, because I am not a competitive gamer and really never asked myself “who would win out of X and Y” when X and Y make no sense. I am more of a simulation-ist gamer, but no problem. We will and have generally played within logical themes by choice, so I have broken them down into these (below).

My journey started with the two base sets, Cobble and Fog and the small 1v1 boxes. Buffy came next, I think becasue it was cheap from a supplier with another set. I then did the Dinosaurs (Three Raptors!), two Marvel sets that seemed to fit and characters I knew (Redemption Row and Hell’s Kitchen), then the new release Houdini v Genie.

Just recently (since Japan), I realised that the pre-ordered “Tales to Amaze”, a set I hope with reinvigorate the game for me as it allows team vs villain or even solo modes, is pending, so I grabbed the three remaining Marvel sets while they are around and bothered to find out who some of the characters are (a push by Marvel to promote their new series it seems).

I would love a Deadpool reprint, but not at $200 ebay rate, Bruce Lee I can skip.

Dark Streets (street level-gritty); Dare Devil, Elektra, Bullseye, Moon Knight, Cloak & Dagger, Luke Cage, Ghost Rider, Golden Bat* and Squirrel Girl.

and/or

Marvel Mayhem (more big name); Black Widow, Black Panther, Spiderman, She Hulk, Dr Strange, Winter Soldier and Ms Marvel.

Dino Disasters; Muldoon, Sattler and the rock band that is T-Rex and the Raptors. The dinos can easily fit into almost any other set like Raptors in the fog or down in the woods.

The Buffy set stays as is. This set is well balanced, but has a bad rep against other characters, only Buffy seen as competitive. Dracula, Bloody Mary, Raptors, Bigfoot etc are all a decent fit.

League of the Extraordinary (Victoriana/horror); Sherlock, Houdini, Tesla*, Annie Christmas*, Invisible Man, Bloody Mary, Dracula and Jekyll and Hyde.

Down to the Woods (British lit themed); Arthur, Robin, Beowulf, Red, Alice. Throw in some Dinos, Bigfoot, Squirrel Girl and maybe Monkey for fun.

Legendary face-off; Sinbad v Genie, Yennenga v Monkey, Achilles v Medusa then mix it up. This is Unmatched at it’s core.

Amazing Tales; Jill Trent*, Martian Invader* (villain of McMinnville).

Urban Legends; Jill Trent*, Mothman* (villain of Point Pleasant).

In both of theses Trent is a logical place holder, but many of the above can come in and the boards are pleasantly neutral time-line wise.

Oriental Heroes; The pending Suns Origin* set with Monkey.

*Still on pre-order.

Ok, so with the benefit of hind-sight, what would I do differently?

Maybe just get the Dinos and the non Marvel or Marvel only sets as these are honestly a good representation of the different character types. Probably Cobble and Fog, Dinos, Buffy and Tales to Amaze would have been fine also giving me three loosely themed groupings (Modern Horror, Dinos and Victoriana). The Marvel sets do feel oddly incomplete, but if I just don’t worry about it it all goes away.

My Attack Wing "Little Fleets"

After shedding the bulk of my AW collection, I am still left with a decent showing, but more specialised, tighter and on theme.

I have stayed with the original points costs, deliberately avoiding the newer, cheaper ones, staying consistent. These new costs make older ships and builds obsolete, but I am not a gamer more than I am a simulation-ist, so “best buys” are of little interest if it means the ships that fit my vision become poor choices.

I have to admit, nothing puts me off more these days than a nerd-fest of gamers pulling apart any game purely from a win-loose perspective.

I am drawn to the elegance of the base system, the balance inherent in the early offerings and the “Trekki-ness” of the game. My X Wing collection often boils down to this also, using a heavily cut down 1e game, trying to hero both the system and the subject rather than chase competitive “perfection”.

I miss the Scimitar, Enterprise-E and some other bits, but have a solid representative set of the real core ships, the ships that defined the TNG and DS9 franchises*.

I went with a main flagship, support ship, something in a specialist-faction representative and an exotic where I could and it turned out to be both do-able and well balanced. This is sitting so well with me** that I have not been tempted by a few rare faction packs that have emerged recently***.

I need to remember, I sold more than half my collection in a move towards “de-gaming” my life, so lets not get carried away.

Federation

• Main; A Galaxy class Enterprise-D with two builds, one normal-defensive, the other one more of a combat refit from the Fed v Klingon starter I think.

• Specialist; A Nebula class, the T’Kumbra from the Vulcan faction pack. This is the tech heavy ship which also takes Vulcan upgrades making it even more “Spocky”. I also held onto two different “generic” cards for this one.

• Support; The Akira class war pony, Thunderchild, because it is a solid representative of the new order of warships and a good hardliner (and I love the name, inspired I assume from the War of the Worlds ship that valiantly sacrificed itself to save others).

• Exotic; A squadron of fighters, just because they are a different dynamic all together.

Going to probably give the two bigger ships a paint job and/or wash to match the Akira and repainted fighters.

I have all the correct upgrades as well as any duplicates from other sets (2 different Picards, 4 Rikers etc), so each ship and the fleet as a whole is well served. This is probably the most balanced, flexible and upgrade powerful fleet, but lacking a real “hammer” ship, as it should be.

The Romulans

• Main; The D’Deridex class is represented by one ship, but the option of the Haakona or Khazara, which similar to the two Enterprise options, give me a defensive/Tech and offensive option.

• Support; The Valdore class Vrax. The Valdore had to go with the Scimitar and Ent-E and the Vrax should have also, but I was keen to keep one. I found when playing a movie based scenario, all three ships were too much for the Scimitar, so it will not be missed. The Valdore is more Klingon like, toothier but more fragile than the D’Deridex, almost a Klingon ship.

• Specialist; I kept a single Scout ship, the Vo, but also have cards for the Science vessel Apnex and have just ordered a cheap Talvath (again) for the six powerful tech upgrades I parted with. The Vo is the only agility three ship in this form of my game, with a free evade if not attacking and cloaking, so it is very hard to hit and the Apnex and Talvath are very cheap “one trick ponies” or distraction ships, both very different to each other. The top two are expensive ships, so these little fillers are ideal and allow access to all the funky Romulan tricks.

• Exotic; The little Scorpion fighters were limited to the last Movie (as is the Vrax), but I really like them and they add a Reman vibe.

I like the repaint colour of the Vrax, so the others will likely be at least dual toned (really do not like the cold green on the D’Deridex). There is also a science ship to come.

The Romulans are the sneaky, elusive and tricky faction. I have plenty of upgrades, especially crew and captains including some surplus ones from other, earlier periods (cloaked mines). You will not know what is coming with these guys, which is part of their vibe.

The Dominion

• Main; 4th Division Battleship. The big bad of the Dominion.

• Support; 2nd Division Battle cruiser. I change the models for these two over because the B/C model is actually bigger than the B/S, which is……..B.S. Nobody cares or even knows and it looks better. The battleship is also faster, which suits the sleeker look of the B/C.

• Specialist; One 5th Wing Attack ship which does double duty as the Robinson in another set.

• Exotic; The Gor Portas Breen battle cruiser, with all its nasty tricks. What a militant bunch they are!

Fairly straight forward except for the Breen ship, this is a simple fleet that likes to run in numbers, hit hard, but can be brittle. Because I had a big fleet with lots of duplicates, they do not lack variety. I have a ton of upgrades for these, no Admiral, but a surplus of crew and Breen weapons.

Excuse the shallow depth of field on these, just lazy. The Dominion fleet is as impressive as it is poorly scaled, but I am also tempted to go all dark blue like the attack ship.

The Cardassians

• Main; The Keldon class Koranak flagship.

• Support; The Kraxon representing the more common Galor class.

• Specialist; The Dreadnaught 4107 from Voyager. This was called out as an Alpha quadrant thing, so it follows they would be here. It also fits the brutal, merciless Cardassian feel.

• Exotic; The 1st Wave Hideki fighters, last of the three fighter types and quite strong, more like small line ships than fighters.

The other half of the Dominion alliance, these guys are fast, slightly unpredictable and reasonably cheap with a ton of upgrades. Very light on crew (or the need for many), but sporting the only alliance Admiral, the Dominion are over done the other way, so room to swap freely, as they did.

The combined Alliance fleet can field 220 pts in ships and 70 upgrade cards, even if they are a little unbalanced.

Not to be out done by their allies, the Cardassians are even worse scaled (the Dreadnaught on the left should be tiny and a much better fit in the Delta Quadrant set). These are all up for painting review, probably to match the fighters.

The Borg

• Main; The Octagon Queen Vessel in two forms like the Enterprise and D’Deridex, the options here are “legion”.

• Other; Sphere 4270, the work horse. I have a second, but have no room in the points cost for it.

• Specialist; The Tactical Cube 138, the closest thing I have to a mini-giant Borg cube. This one was very hard to track down coming through a clearance sale from California in the end and took a good month to arrive. The only medium base ship I have, it manages to add some menace.

Strongest in points and hard to beat, the Borg tend to be all about the ships, regeneration, Multi-directional movement and powerful, but expensive weapons. They are brooding punching bags with claws.

This faction was the only one I “held back” a little as it was mostly a Voyager-Delta Quadrant thing, so it is the strongest in points (168 in these ships alone) and 50 upgrade cards. I think I could easily field a 350pt fleet here, which matches any two others combined. The big issue here is the Queen is the only captain that can field the many elite talents, but that is how it is.

The second sphere is not in the squadron as it pushes the point base way too high.

Species 8742

• All main/specialist; 3x Bio-ships, Alpha, Beta and I guess Gamma. Simple but very effective, especially in numbers. These are the second strongest faction and scare the Borg more than most as they are effectively immune to many Borg strengths and have some the Borg truly hate as well as regeneration.

I have all the upgrades from the Alpha and Beta variants (the buyer got a single ship, which is about all the other series ever met, but all the upgrades), so they are fully mean and dangerous even with the fewest ships and lowest upgrade count. This fleet tops 100 pts with only three ships (I kept the three that matched).

The three spikes of death.

The Klingons

• Main; One Vor’Cha class the Maht-M’a “modern” cruiser

• Specialist; One B’Rel class “small” BOP the Rotaran.

• Support; One bigger K’Vort class BOP the Koraga.

• Exotic; One old warhorse K’Tinga class the T’Ong. This one gets around as a decent representative of the class and just kept popping up.

Nothing exotic, just solid ships with strong teeth and a plethora of crew and command choices. A sentimental favourite and decently balanced, its strength is in its “people”.

A mixed bag, my preference is for the darker bird of prey, but we will see. I actually kept the ones I had not re-painted to match and will likely try to match the brighter Bird of Prey.

Each mini fleet has roughly 100+ pts of named ships, and about the same or more in upgrades.

Rules mods I have been pondering are;

1. Hidden upgrades (and captains) until revealed in play. Who are you fighting? You may even hide the identity of the captain until you decide to play their skill value for initiative (see below), so a cat and mouse game of rolls for initiative can play out then the big reveal of the captains identity (and skill).

2. Set dials then determine the actual order semi-randomly (+/- 1d6 rolling one negative one against a positive one) + Captain skill, or not-see above) for move and fire (maybe even separate rolls using two differently coloured die or trading off), which adds some much needed unpredictability to the game. Kirk is good at skill 9, but one point of difference over the otherwise brilliant Romulan commander (skill 8) should not always give him the edge, especially in small scenario driven games.

3. For some smaller sets (one ship TOS/TOM/Kelvin), all upgrades are available for their price, but a maximum point spend limit is imposed in-game, so the ship may field “X” points, but only have active upgrades equal to available Icons. The captain can call on a full choice of Elite upgrades, up to a points limit, but chose which to take as they go. This was particularly good for TOM/TOS fights, but even without most of those ships anymore :(, it fits their small fleet-limited option dynamic. It even extends to changing captains and suits generic ships well.

* I kept all of the Voyager and Enterprise series as well as a scattering of other ships, but these are the main head-to-head opponents.

**Attack Wing for me was always a tug-of-war between trying to keep up with all the OP’s and complete the collection (a better idea than a massive X Wing collection, but hindsight and all that) or just keep it sane and represent the game, which the above has done. I never appreciated Wizkids OP heavy offer, not having access to a community of players or retailers supporting them, but they did produce a game that is fun with a few ships and healthy upgrade options. Even the base set is plenty.

***Tal Shiar and Ships of the Line, that effectively give me back my Last movie themed set and transparent, cloaked Romulans! The T-S set is tempting, but apart from the transparent ships and a weapon upgradeable Tal Shiar (which took some confirming after the fandom entry for other scout ships was incorrect), there are few tech cards, repeats of several and Captains and crew and the balance of the whole is knocked off by too many ships with new, lower points costs. It all feels too much like a re-escalation that I am trying to avoid.

Tempered Enthusiasm.

I have a new found passion for my hobby.

Photography has long moved on from hobby status, video also, so I needed a hobby for my down time and gaming has re-emerged ironically after a trip the Nick Bowlers place in Hobart to sell some stuff.

My studio room has been re-allocated gaming room status, my old desktop computer removed to make a new and improved painting station and my hunger is back.

On a sour note, I have been trying to wrangle a resoluton with a supplier who I will not now name, a company I had issues with before, but mistakenly ordered some Warhammer RPG books through last year because they “had them in stock” which was a lie. They do not refund or it turns out check their stock for pre-orders either because on two occasions I have chased up stock known to be around and they have magicked it up and sent it, but for extra freight.

This last time, with two books owed, they offered to do the same again for the second last one, the last book had no eta from the supplier. Gameology though had stock, so I pressed them, wanting a refund of the remaining book (I am well over this and had no intention of even chasing up the last book).

They stopped responding.

Turns out they have form.

ed. out of the blue I got a refund of the balance, well after a lot of threats, cajoling and pleading for them to do something.

I am refusing to let this stop my enjoyment of the hobby, but be aware, they are Australian owned, cheap and sometimes good, but not always and they do not play fair. Paypal it turns out is of no use because the original transaction is over 180 days old even though it has not been fulfilled!

I am going to be philosophical about it as I have had little bad luck (more often good luck*) and should have been more careful. I waste more money on little used video accessories an dont even think about it. Move on and learn from the experience.

*A year or two ago, a U.S. supplier sent me a full second hand set of Shadows over Normandie instead of the ordered small supplement (the freight cost more than the ordered item), then they sent the right thing anyway…with an apology. Later they sent a single over priced counter sheet from one of three missed kick starter sets on offer ($70au for a single sheet). I was hard pressed to choose, but went with the Rangers from Saving Private Ryan and found all three panels were inside the one shrink-wrap (still expensive, but much better and collection now was complete), then another supplier sent me a Cigar Box mat with two in the same bag and it was a useful one to have multiples of. Later again a kick starter I ordered was double delivered, one on time, one weeks later out of the blue. None of these were cost effective to return, so I was gifted each.

I have had plenty of luck, now is the time to accept balance.

So, What is Actually Wrong With Star Trek Attack Wing?

First there was X Wing.

Near perfection in a predictive, rock-paper-scissors style head to head (or many heads) combat game with a theme. It set the scene and did a pretty good job of owning or creating this space.

But what about the other side of the coin, something for the “Trekkies”?

Star Trek Attack Wing (AW) came along not long after, mashing two licenses, Star Trek and the “Flight Path” system used by X Wing (XW), a concept also shared loosely by games like Wings of Glory, Sails of Glory, Blue Max etc, but closest in philosophy and style to X Wing (if they were any closer they could be mixed together).

In a lot of ways it was a better game (holds breath for thrown shoes), but not in others (releases breath, but warily).

Lets look at why.

The starter sets tell some of the story.

The XW starter is just that. Many bought two sets, just to have small basic squads, but that still fell short of the recommended 100pts and some of the pilot and upgrade abilities did not even work with only one ship (Biggs).

You knew there was more to come and we (not actually me because I was late to the game) grabbed it all with glee. The basic starter just did not cut it, it was obvious from the start you needed more.

The AW starter on the other hand is actually enough. The big difference is the depth of each ship. The AW starter gives you three of the many factions (another advantage), each ship capable of being a 50pt+ build, usually enough for the provided scenarios.

Even the original series Enterprise, a weak ship at the start can be built out to 60 odd points. You also have the option of three player, which is just fun.

Even the lowly Enterprise “NX” from the earliest period, a pre Original Series ship in the official time line, shares identical stats to a Tie fighter (2-3-3-0), the “cannon-fodder” of X Wing and they even have similar starting point costs. It does however have several crew, weapon and tech upgrades making it a very different proposition.

The Enterprise NX can take some hits, repair, avoid, dissipate, up-arm, swap crew, play tricks, add armour. The Tie just flies until it “pops”.

Add a single other ship to each faction and you add a huge variety of options, even if you stick as I do to faction and period limited fleets. A Nebula class, Klingon Bird of Prey and a Romulan Valdore class and each faction can easily field 100pt squads with plenty of options held aside.

One expansion pack feels substantial.

One solid all-rounder Galaxy, One techie Nebula, One militant Akira with some fighters and you have a flexible multi-scenario set. This is my little kept fleet, hopefully left just as is and capable of filling 1-200pts.

If you mix and match factions and timelines (which I hate) then the options are exhaustively extensive.

This is the key difference.

The AW ships are designed to be upgraded with multiple crew, tech and other upgrades, where some XW ships seem like a money grab (Mining Guild Tie for $35au!). When you build up a fleet of 8 weak Tie fighters with their limited build options just to see them evaporate all too easily (sometimes even when they collide) you will get it.

XW has ships like the Falcon, Ghost etc, but they are larger, slower, far more point and real money expensive and hog the standard 3x3 table.

The same money spent on a single faction of AW ships covers basically the whole offer of a faction. With X Wing it is all about how many ships you can cram into a 100 point ceiling (using 1e terminology), AW is more about best builds of a few or even one ship to get the job done.

Scenarios.

XW has never been strong here. It is tweaked for tournament play, so many do their own thing.

AW on the other hand gives you a scenario with every pack, one that mimics a movie or TV series episode with all their problem solving angst. You can actually win a scenario without even damaging an opponent. Immersion can be very high and smarts rule over kill or be killed. Hunt the Scimitar, deal with the unknown Gorn, team up against the Xindi or Borg are all awesome and very different challenges.

Simulation and feel.

In my opinion, AW does a very good job of giving you Trek without the common heaviness of Trek games*. It also does it better than XW. XW as a game has better balance, and often cleaner application. It feels to me a good game but less connected or possibly less connecting to the subject. You can have Luke and R2 vs Vader, but until you field the Falcon or a squadron, you lack that “everyone has a role” feel. There is nothing like using Spock, Scotty, Bones etc to do their thing in the face of adversity. Win or lose, they all work together and it feels like a story.

AW has also managed to avoid the hole that XW went down, of introducing EPT’s, Mods etc that stretch cannon and change the ships fundamentally (I drop these out of my 1e games). If it was in Trek, it is in AW.

XW on the other hand allows cannon stretching “cheats” that let you to make everyone potentially act like everyone else. Tie has no Boost? Then add it. Interceptor with no Target Lock, then add that. Action economy is all in XW.

XW ships are more varied and manoeuvre/action economy is king, but AW shows it’s deeper versatility with much less “exciting'“ ships managing to do the job (Wings of Glory even gets by without anything but the plane as is).

A comparison of dials is eye opening, with many AW ships looking much the same. They are on the whole less agile (3 is a rarity, 1 most common), tend to be quite slow, especially in the earlier periods although speed 6 ships are possible and some lack any form of turning ability, but this lets you concentrate on the action. It is about captaining a capital ship, not piloting a nimble fighter****.

Balance.

XW was for the most part balanced well into its growth path, which was important because its tournament circuit was a world wide phenomenon and all seemed bright for the game for several years, but over time it grew out of its shoes and lost that all important balance. The biggest shame and the reason the game developed a second edition was the name-sake ship and many other older favourites were pushed aside by vessels many had never heard of.

AW did also do a second edition, but few noticed, although annoying point cost changes on newer ship cards were frustrating.

AW has always struggled with balance, especially when anything-goes builds are allowed (yuk!), but if played to scenarios, it is almost balance irrelevant (play one game each way and see who does better if you need perfect balance). As an old school war-gamer, I have never been overly bothered with perfect balance, which is often nearly impossible to achieve anyway. I much prefer a scenario based game, even one deliberately lop-sided. Kobayashi Maru anyone? Gets me every time.

So, what went wrong?

The balance thing first meant the tournament circuit was a less realistic proposition. Mixing factions and timelines really annoys me personally, but even if accepted for tournament play, so many upgrades and ships got lost behind the clear and often over used winners like Picard in a Borg ship vs Picard in a Romulan one. Suspend your belief at your peril.

Without a healthy tournament circuit, it is hard to keep the game in the spotlight.

Many strange encounters, asymmetrical by design, so how does the little Enterprise survive?

By applying the many upgrades intelligently. How very Trek. You may notice a few extras in there from the “live long and prosper” faction pack, a no-brainer for an Enterprise era gamer, but with some handy extras across all eras.

The actual model ships were inconsistent, even poorly painted** and the scale choices were sometimes odd to say the least. If you do not like the Trek universe as much as Star Wars, the ships alone can be the best reason to avoid AW.

It is accepted that if you want to use pretty much only one base size, then the massive size difference of the Scimitar to the Delta Flyer or even less odious comparisons like the Galaxy class compared to the much bigger D’deridex are a visual stretch, but some choices like the Xindi Aquatic ship being the smallest Xindi model, when it should at least be the biggest as it is many times the size of it’s own allies is still frustrating.

XW managed four size groups keeping things good to the eye even if there is still a little fudging (the bigger ships are a slightly smaller scale), although Armada suffers from some odd stretches. If AW had even added a “medium” size for more than one ship (the Borg Tac Cube), some voices would have been silenced. In contrast they did a few truly massive ones, so there was obviously potential.

I partially fixed this problem for myself, by splitting the TNG collection into TNG battle and DS9 skirmish sub-sets with Voyager separate (but a good mix with the DS9/skirmish set). In the skirmish set, the smaller ships give you a game closer to XW with 3 agility common, but generally slow ships. In the battle set, ships get faster and tougher, but considerably less agile. Importantly the scale gods are happier.

Too many factions and sometimes poor attention paid to important details. The early ships and characters were well designed thematically as were the early XW offerings. As time went on, new factions were introduced, many points values were amended and some odd choices made. Some factions were missed (Suliban) and many were not fleshed out fully, while others got a lot of attention.

The Enterprise series for example, which sports some of the nicest and most consistent ships as it goes, was plagued with poorly thought through characters and showed signs of design fatigue.

My personal gripe is a lack of logical Captains for the NX ships, several of whom were mentioned in the series including half the bridge crew. Instead of T’Pol or Hernandez (actually in command of NX-02 Columbia) they went with the Mako officer Hayes, who was not even Star Fleet and to my memory did little bridge work. He would have been a much better crew upgrade.

*

Personally, I have just sold off the bulk of my collection, but possibly sparked a resurgence of interest just the same. Less in this case is actually more.

The happy buyer got a bargain and was not interested in the two series I most liked, “Voyager” and “Enterprise” so I kept all things related to these two and built small fleets for the other periods with my many duplicates. Voyager in particular had many possible hypothetical fleet building options like the Dauntless, Val Jean, Equinox or even the Klingon T’Ong and in the end the powerful Promethius came into the frame (a Voyager alternative?).

I actually ended up with a decent little 100-200pt fleet for the clever Feds, sneaky Romulans, bolshy Klingons, paranoid Cardassians, brutish Dominion, scary Borg and enigmatic Species 8742. Each has more than its regular upgrade allocation, because again, duplicates.

Along with this I held back one or two TOS series ships from each faction (I did have to re-buy the Gr’oth on clearance as I only had one), an Excelsior, Ent-B and BOP and Kronos One for the movie period and also have the one-off Kelvin timeline pack.

All the ships are used in named versions (with some options) as this adds more upgrades and +1 shield factor over generics (something I still struggle to rationalise), as well as more immersion.

There is enough here to field hypotheticals also like the Tholians, Borg, Sp 8742 or even time travelling Kremin popping up all over the place, always a Trek option.

The Bajorans slipped everyones attention (no DS9 love) so I kept them and the Marquis fleet with a few other ships to make for a decent little skirmish set vs the Cardassians, really an excuse to keep my extra Mirror Universe Defiant, with an optional Fed crew from a duplicate Robinson and the Voyager on its original mission.

I am actually more excited about AW now than before! I am so happy in fact that I cancelled an order for a lucky find Fed faction pack as it would just start things up again and I am happy with the balance.

AW is battling on with better re-paints and faction pack re-releases, often better painted than the older packs (but different again!), but I am done.

Now what to do with XW?

*Star Fleet Battles, Fed Commander, FASA’s Tactical Simulator, ACTA Star Fleet etc.

**Wizkids could not even decide on a colour and stick to it. The Enterprise-D started light blue, went silver with yellow, then silver with black and white. These then do not even match the other Fed ships.

***As an example, the Feds have the Enterprise (Galaxy), K’Tumbra (Nebula), Thunderchild (Akira) and a squadron of fighters. This represents a tech, general-crew, military and exotic option. Each faction is about 100-120 points of ships and about the same in upgrades.

****Star Wars does offer Armada, another cash sink, which has an even “bigger” feel, but lacks much of the immersion and ease of AW. My preference in Star Wars is Armada and in hind sight, I would have done that instead of X Wing, or just stuck with AW, but hindsight and all that……. .

Opposites In Tandem

I once wanted to run two RPG system trees, one hard and realistic, the other pulpy and light.

The two system families were;

• Savage Worlds for light weight and pulpy.

• The d100 family of games, including the Call of Cthulhu, Runequest, Openquest and D100 lite branches.

The two systems seemed to mirror each other for available resources in the 5-6e CoC and SW Deluxe editions. Want Rome, Weird War 2, Cthulhu horror, Western, even Sci-Fi and Supers? They both provide.

The idea was to fit the mood, but I usually shied away from SW in favour of one or more d100 versions for each theme. The assumed player friendliness of SW was actually harder to teach and play than a straight firward D-percentage style game.

The reality is, there is more genuine player fear in a simple game of Vikings of Legend than a horror themed SW game. Real fear comes from an awareness of random and uncontrolled peril, not just thematic art. In VoL or WHFrpg your character can loose an arm just like that. SW, a lot like many d20 games seems to lose that feel in the abstract and soft mechanics.

The prime example was Achting Cthulhu. This one came with both (and optionally other) systems as the mechanics for their adventures, but without fail, I found SW a thin game in this space, even less meaty than the board game. CoC was the real thing, scarier, more dangerous and more visceral.

There were some games however that I felt could or should have jumped the divide.

Luther Arkwright, a Mythras based game I feel would have been a better fit for SW, being a comic book based, pulpy, multi dimensional game. SW would have felt like a good fit, been more versatile and pick-up flexible and many of the SW world books could have been folded in seamlessly.

On the other hand, Solomon Kane, a dark, perilous, horror themed game written for SW, is a perfect fit for any number of d100 systems, CoC in particular. The Cakebread and Walton Clockwork and Chivalry/Cthulhu games maybe even better. Even the Warhammer or Zweihander games with little modification. In SW, it just lacks the base mechanics, the darkness and mechanical hardness to feel right.

*

One of the reasons I think Savage Pathfinder is such a good fit is the massive amount of content a d20 game requires to give you the illusion of freedom. This huge array of blinkered choice is a burden forced on it by its very restrictive nature. Rail-roading players into strict class envelopes always leads to envelope pushing exceptions, but the envelope is still sealed and it needs to be for the paradigm to work.

Savage Worlds offers vastly fewer core options, but has effectively no limits within those. Classes are a choice, not just which, but whether to or not. Spells, cut down from over 600 to less than 50 have more options built in, so they feel more like controlling chaos than strict recipes and are infinitely easier to implement (and have no fixed slots!). Feats rather than add-on exceptions and special actions are character defining edges and hindrances.

I never thought I would say this, but I think SW-PF is even better at not being a traditional d20 game than 13th Age.

It manages to streamline the core system, adds in modern RPG tropes like 13th Age’s “one unique thing” through more defined edges and hindrances and even adds elements d20 games cannot.

The key to me is flexibility. Pathfinder-SW has more with less overhead.

D100 RPG Genre Check List

So, can D100 games alone actually capture the feel and mechanical needs of the periods I am (or may) be interested in? Lets look at the options period by period. The bracketed (#) value is the relative “hardness” or realistic tone of the option with 1 being soft pulp, 3 middle of the road and 5 being very gritty, italicised titles are not at hand (owned) and the bold titles are realistic non d100 options.

Stone Age survival/exotic encounter; Legend has a 40,000bc book (4) and BRP is easy enough (3).

4000bc Ancient history/fantasy; Mythras has just launched a highly regarded Babylonian book (4).

Greek legend: The core Mythras book is Bronze Age based (4), with a Greece supplement slated, OQ; Jackals (3)

Ancient Rome historical/fantasy; Mythras/Legend has the Mythic Rome and Gladiators books (4), CoC has an option also (3) .

Early Dark Age historical/fantasy; Mythras/Legend for Mythic Britiain (4) and Vikings of Legend (4) Cthulhu Dark Ages (3), D100 Dungeon (3)

Medieval historical/fantasy; Legend/Deus Vult (4).

Medieval Asian culture historical/fantasy; Samurai of Legend (4), DwD Art of Wuxia (1)

Medieval high fantasy; Magic World (3), Mythras (4), Legend (3-4), Bare Bones Fantasy (1) 13th Age (3)

Medieval low magic fantasy; BRP (3), Legend (3-4), The One Ring/AIME (3-4), Mouse Guard (3)

Dark, gritty fantasy; WHFRPG 1/4e (5/4), Zwiehander (5)

Renaissance dark horror; Clockwork and Cthulhu (2), WHFRPG 1/4e (5/4)

Renaissance historical/weird science; OQ; Clockwork and Chivalry (3)

Pirates; Pirates of Legend (4), BRP; Blood Tides (3), Pirates and Dragons (3)

1890’s horror/mystery ; Cthulhu by Gaslight (3), Legend; Historia Rodentia (4), BRP; Aces High (4), BRP; Devil’s Gulch (3).

1920’s to WW2 pulp/horror; Call of Cthulhu (3), Achtung Cthulhu (2), Weird War Cthulhu (4), Astounding Adventures/BRP (2).

50’s Horror/sci fi; Worlds United (3), Weird War Cold War (4), The Laundry ‘50’s (3).

Modern horror/urban fantasy; Mythras/The Vampire Wars (4), The Laundry (4), Delta Green (4), Cthulhu Now (3) Signs and Sigils (5)

Post apocalyptic; Seasons of Death for Mythras (4-5)

Modern black ops; Covert Ops (2), BRP or Mythras base (3).

Space Opera Sci Fi; DwD Frontier Space (2) Mongoose Traveller 1e (3), Star Wars d6 (2)

Hard Sci Fi; M Space (3-4) Mongoose Traveller 2e (3-4)

Far Future Fantasy; BRP/Future Earth (3).

Trans Dimensional; Mythras; Luther Arkright (4)

Supers; Superworld/BRP (3-4), Destined for Mythras (4-5), Many Others (1-5)

Lots of options.

Everdell (semi) Complete, And Just Right.

Out of the blue, the long awaited Mistwood arrived, completing my Everdell collection.

There are as always, plenty of opinions about the Evedell expansions, but anyway, here is another.

Bellfaire is a must if the core game is well played and getting a little thin or predictable, or the big tree wrankles (we tend to miss things on it and it can get damaged easily). Mine spent six months assembled sitting on the box until it inevitably got bent. Also increasing the player count to six, it fills out and balances the card count, adds race specialities*, makes the solo game better, replaces the tree, adds a way to trade resources (a massive road-block remover) and adds more victory options, all without changing the core game’s feel much at all. Highly recommended especially for bigger groups or if the game is getting stale. It does make the board bigger, but less unweildy by replacing the tree.

Mistwood is my next choice because again, it adds depth to the core game and introduces an even better solo option**, one that can be played as a disruptive ghost player. This does change the game dynamic considerably, but it is a call out to a different style within the envelope of the basic game, not a change of the core game. Solo is important to me, but also the vibe of the game appeals, taking the sweetness of Everdell and adding an all against the menacing nasty dynamic. Even if you don’t use the Spiders, there is some good content added. Recommended especially for solo players.

Spirecrest is one of the big expansions, adding a large “questing” board and changes the core game. This does not appeal. Apart from the board size and major emphasis shift, the table real estate is strained and the core game changes too much for me. This could have been made as a separate game completely that could be played along side or before/after Everdell. The weather mechanic is also disliked by many as being either irrelevant or too effective! Up to you, changes the game some, not in my collection.

Pearlbrook, take Spirecrest and double it. Pearlbrook seems to take over the game, hyjacking the victory conditions and shifting the game dynamic to one I find a stretch thematically. Up to you, changes the game-a lot, especially the victory conditions, again not for me. Ironically, if you get the lot, the base board is completely surrounded by extra panels, but it is not recommended you play them all together! Everdell is a simple, elegant concept, muddied by too much going on.

Newleaf is the most likely to be added (but won’t be) as it seems to fit well with the original feel of the game, but it hints at a larger world, which again takes away (for me) some of the Everdell feel. It goes from a late Medieval fantasy civilisation hidden in the woods, the center of the world if you like (like Mouse Guard) to an early steam era country outpost of a bigger world. Personally I do not want Everdell to feel like Schythe or Ticket To Ride. Another board, more mechanics, maybe too much.

Extra Extra! is a small box expansion with just more and different cards. All good and glad I got it for variety. Recommended, but not needed.

Legends is the same, adding in some major players with a handful of cards. These tend to be very popular in our games and add some role-playing immersion. Mistwood adds more of these, so we anticipate the even deeper stories. Recommended, but not needed.

Rugwort was the original small solo expansion. The game has easy solo rules built in, but Rugwort adds the actual villain and his black rat minions. I missed the original upgrade pack, so I bought the cards from BBG store and the meeples from Etsy. Some feel the three Rugwort cards are too powerful, mean even, so choose your day, but the black meeples are good when playing solo as they feel more menacing. With Bellfaire and Mistwood, the Rugwort cards feel more balanced, so they will likely be used more. Up to you, good for a solo player or if you want a little nasty.

My three boxes with the small expansions integrated.

*

So, if you like the game but want more, or feel there is a need for some added depth and balance;

Bellfaire, Extra Extra.

You want more characters and bespoke story elements in the game;

Legends, Mistwood.

You like, or need to play solo (neither is strictly needed for occasional games);

Mistwood, Rugwort.

You don’t like the core game as is, but wish you did or love it and cannot get enough;

Spirecrest, Pearlbrook, Newleaf - basically everything.

This brings us logically back to the “Expansion envelope theory”. Here are my rules for avoiding or embracing expansionism.

• Does the expansion add to the game in a logical and meaningful way?

• Does the expansion feel right to you?

• Is balance retained or even better, is balance improved?

• Does the expansion change the core game assumptions and if so is it for the better or is it worse?

• Can the expansion be played more often than not and with other existing expansions?

With 7 Wonders Duel for example we love the Pantheon expansion and feel it makes the game better and balances some elements. It’s telling that my wife is less inclined to go for a military victory and has pulled off the odd science win, which would not have happened in the base game. This fits in the envelope, although it doubles the table space needed.

Agora is not played much, but is in the wings for essentially a different gaming experience. For us, Agora makes the game less about a long term civilisation building game and more feels like the story of a single city in a more machiavellian, Roman civil war competitive feel. We feel it plays more as a mob/territory game. This one is purely optional, feeling like Pealrbrook above and it breaks most of the above rules.

The Etsy printed/freely downloaded Leaders expansion, fan made content based on the full 7 Wonders expansion of the same name, is an ideal booster for the base game if you don’t want to set up Pantheon or you are travelling light (it fits in the Core box), but my wife is less keen on it and really dislikes it if we are using Pantheon (although oddly she likes it more with Agora). I think this is as good an addition as the Pantheon expansion, with easier setup and a smaller footprint It offers alternatives to both the base game and Pantheon mechanics and tons of immersion with named characters. We have messed around with the application of this one and it seems to take it well.

*

For Eldritch Horror as another example, the same goes. The four small expansions are great additions, either adding balance, depth, good additional elements or all of these. The large box expansions are far less compelling, just adding more of more at a premium.

Three good games completed and balanced. Yes I could add more, but there are so many more games to play.

*We use all of them as “allied” abilities if the meeples are not available, but may end up buying all the meeples separately from Etsy.

**Rugwort is fine, but the AI in Mistwood is more balanced, varied and intelligent.

An Example Of No Control Applied

After exercising great logic and control with Eldritch Horror, I have not been as successful with Star Wars Destiny.

The sales are coming and I have found some of the first three (black) blister packs for as low as $35au. That is about 15% of original or to put it another way, about 1 die and 5 cards for just under $1au.

So where have I ended up?

3 Spirit of Rebellion and Awakenings boxes and 2 Empire at war packs, 3 Draft boxes, 4 starters and a two player starter, several loose cards and some die from Big Orbit, that have already started to arrive totally about 400 dice and 1000 cards.

Wow, that was quick.

Only a part of it and more coming.

Did I win?

Still not sure as Vader eludes me but 5 of the boosters are still to come, so here is hoping. The two Awakenings boxes arrived (which makes 3 or to put it the other way, 108 dice, 168 cards), and still no Vader!

Need to stop.

Have enough.

No Vader is a shame, no actually, it is a lesson on the frutility of chasing single cards in this wilderness. Just happy I did not spend $500+ to get to the same place.

Ed. A Vader and a few other hard to gets have been found, all paid way too much for, but oh well swings and round-abouts. Also just orderred a Black Friday special Across The Galaxy blister box, with I guess about a 1:5 chance of getting that mean Vader.

An Example Of Applied Control

Like most of us some games sit on my shelves demanding attention, but not getting it. Eldritch Horror is one of those. It ticks all the boxes for theme, play options and eye candy, but I have just not made the effort.

Like many (most) games, it comes with a certain amount of ‘expansionitis”, offerring no fewer than 7 expansions, thankfully finished now, but still.

Four are small box, meaning they only add cards and rules options, no extra boards. These are generally considerred to be good value, one nearly mandatory.

Three are big box expansions adding more game with extra boards. These match the base game for cost and box size and make the core board 50% larger (each). They also change the core game dynamic and need more table room. It is generally not recommended to play all of these at once, but if you have the need for an epic game then go for it.

Enough. Chock full of cards and options, but not a huge table hog.

One is a big/small box expansion, which offers several extra rules options and mechanics including a campaign system and backgrounds, but no board so no extra table space is required. It also “completes” the cycle, which means it leaves some wasted resources or forces system completion, so assume this if waste bothers you.

I have chosen to take an Everdell approach* to this.

Two of the small box sets (Cities in Ruin and Foresaken Lore) are universally lauded as either the best or most necessary expansions to get. FL is a must, considered universally to be required to complete the core game (which is a little thin in some card stacks). You could leave it at that.

Cities in Ruin is the one single expansion that makes everyone’s top three favourites list. The other two add useful content and rules and generally make the game deeper, but not that much more complicated. Needed or not, these last two (Carcossa and Remnants) are never seriously criticised as useless or game breaking, just less compulsive purchases compared to the other two.

The rest are all over the place, never reaching close to universal agreement on ranking lists (two lists I found today had virtually polar opposite opinions on the bigger sets, but much the same take on the small box ones).

Pyramids, Madness and Dreamlands are the big three, but I am avoiding these as they break the “Everdell rule”, which is to say, they do not stick to the base board only, or are not all useable at once, nor do they protect the core mechanics or add needed or recommended improvements.

With Everdell, I have added the three small expansions (Extra Extra, Legendary and Rugwort) the bigger Bellfaire, which adds some board space but does so seamlessly (and replaces the clumsy tree). It also adds several game play elements that add balance and fix a few road-blocks from the core game and includes better Solo options (Rugwort realised*) all without clutter. I have just added Mistwood which further improves solo play and adds more core content without a board addition or a shift in overall “vibe”.

The 4 small box expansions are good, the 3 big ones creep into “obsessive” territory and if I get one…….. .

Nyarlathotep is the outlier. It has no board (tick), but adds elements that complete the full set, so holes are left if you don’t have it all. It also has a mixed rep for rules implementation and fun to complexity ratio.

What do I have if this is my hard cap?

8 Old Ones, 24 Investigators, several useful expansions to the core mechanics and a ton of depth in all card stacks. More would be just more, with added density (but not necessarily depth), more intimidation factor and to be frank, less appeal. The Focus mechanic from MoM is well liked, but I can download the rules and use some leftover X Wing Focus counters.

Control exercised, balance retained.

*Turns out Rugwort is also improved with a free fan made solo variant found on BGG called “Everdell Unrigged”. This makes 5 solo options total.

I Am Not A Retro Gamer, So What Gives?

I am not a huge OST gamer. I do not get overly nostalgic for games that have nothing going for them other than history, so what gives at the moment?

My last few purchases include an ebay grab of the old Marvel Saga card based super hero rpg, that fortuitously had the bits I lacked, a second rule book and only one of the smaller books I already had (and I have the cards), the even more ancient FASA Star Trek Combat Simulator, a Star Fleet Battles scenario book, even though I have Fed Commander, ACTA and Starmada, and the 30th Anniversary edition of the original d6 Star Wars RPG.

Like the bedroom floor of a 90’s teen.

Add to that my habit of tracking down and hoarding recently discontinued games and my stated preference for older RPG systems in general (d100 based usually), and I guess that well, I probably do have a problem and I suppose I am a bit of a retro gamer.

Something new that is old.

The reality is, old is not genrally worse. Some games grow and improve, some just grow and plenty of great games that people fondly remember simply disappeared for reasons other than poor quality.

I am not alone here either. Plenty of game makers are looking backwards intenting to either re-release stock product (Star Wars d6) or try to harmonise and perfect with minimum intrusion.

The 1st edition Pathfinder to Savage Worlds blend or Glorantha as 13th Age are highlights, plenty of OST d20 clones and the resurgence of d100 games generally have kept me interested in a space I have struggled with of late.

Some though have been expensive near misses. The 4e Warhammer system tried hard to revisit the classic feeling of the original and improve the system, but even though it now ranks as my most expensive recent RPG collection (I decided to finish the Enemy Within campaign that I missed first time around, companions and all), I will likely play it as either a Zweihander, WHFRPG1e or straight d100 game or just heavily truncate the system as provided.

X Wing is similar for me. The 2e rules suit the TFA period, but I actually prefer the 1e take on “classic” Star Wars.

Another is the One Ring. The changes seem to be just changes. I actually, and this hurts to say, like the 5e based AIME version more than either edition of TOR.

Newer is not always better. Marvel has had several classic RPG’s, the original still considerred a classic, the later ones also ground breaking, but the latest has mixed reviews.

A huge field with now a long and complicated history, one of whih I am happy to have been a part of, I just wished I had played more games.

In A Galaxy Far Far Away...........

My love of first edition X Wing is well documented here.

Old games are what they are, familiar, sometimes dated and often abandoned by their maker, if not their fans, but some are so well conceived, they deserve to be played on their merits, age and edition changes aside. Chess anyone?

Early 1e was well balanced, had a huge amount of depth and options from the start and did it’s job as it should simulating Star Wars-like dog fights without the need for too much cruft or density.

It went wrong as these things often do, as power creep and competitive evolution killed off the main players, making almost unheard of ships more popular than even the titular one and the current “Meta” became all. Action economy became the catch word, with older ships falling behind seemingly unable to be fixed, I feel the upgrade paradigm even became too much of a bandaid fix-all to be taken seriously.

There is no doubt that 2e is a cleaner, smarter game, but that is with the benefit of hindsight and it’s changes are evolutionary, not revolutionary in nature.

Looking at the core of the 1e game, there is a lot to like.

The Tie Advanced and X Wing are both good enough, their pilots as printed often make them outstanding.

The original game is one of prediction and maneouvre. The basic ships, the A,B,X,Y Wings, the Falcon, Lambda, Tie Interceptors, Fighters and Bombers and a few others (even Scum if wanted) have a feel that fits the game mechanics so well and take us to a Galaxy……...

They have 4 basic Actions, which are the things that define their differences and the base tactics of the game. You commit to a maneouvre based on your own needs and in an attempt to predict your opponents, but your Action, which is taken after you execute the mandatory move (assuming your Pilot does not change this), may allow some wiggle room, an ability to adjust or adapt.

No ship in the basic game has all 4 actions available to it out of the gate (a very few do with Pilot skills or Elite Pilot Talents and Modifications). In the later game and if all mods and upgrades are allowed, many ships can achieve all 4 and some can even manage repeats.

If these are reduced to more thematic and manageable choices, the true brilliance of the ships and their pilots comes through and the game becomes one of familiarity with tactics and play dynamic than the ship building sub-game.

These are specifically Elite Pilot Talents, Titles and Modifications.

EPT’s are handled well enough as pilot talents, which become far more outstanding without EPT’s to muddy the water. EPT’s are often the game breaking culprits, often at odds with the pilot themselves or if not, tend to exaggerate the pilot.

Mods fix things that do not need fixing. Ship limitations are what they should be, limitations.

Titles often make little sense. The people that fly them make them special, so why add another free evade? Generic titles are often just poorly disguised re-balancing attempts.

The Tie Interceptor is now the undisputed king of manoeuvre, the A Wing is the speed monster, the Bomber packs the most secondary armament, while the sluggish Y Wing has a turret, a Droid and ordnance, but must choose between a Droid for manoeuvre or other capabilities.

Action economy, which defined both the later 1e game and the re-design of the 2e version, is kept under control. Those with more or better Actions are stand-outs as they should be. The ability to use actions when stressed, to add an action not available on a ship are gold now, not just upgrade point savers.

This form of 1e, we like to call “Bare Bones”, sometimes Classic (with movie ships only), or even “Skeleton Crew” with fewer ships and upgrades, depending on the mix.

It limits ships to the basic 4 Actions and a reduced upgrade landscape, ordnance is often reduced or faction limited.

Vader, Wedge, Jake, Han etc are all top end pilots with special and quite powerful abilities. Remove EPT’s and they shine as such, often offering a skill no-one else comes close to having and one that defines them.

Wedge is the instinctive Predator (= reduces target Agility) , Vader has Force powered reflexes (= 2 Actions) and Luke has a survival instinct borne of a burgeoning Force awareness (= guaranteed Evade from Focus). Allow EPT’s in and they lose that uniqueness.

The designers did such a good job on one level to give us the feel of the individual pilots, then (to my mind), diluted that with less thematic upgrades for gaming purposes only.

The A Wing, B Wing, Interceptor and Advanced also have their unique characteristics, which again with Mods removed, allow them to be undisputed specialist. Use Mods and the all too rare Boost is attainable to most, as is the Roll or Evade. This makes most ships blend into the others.

Actions are the currency of X Wing, so any game level is fine as long as all ships fare equally, but in a reduced format, the feel of the ships becomes more succinct, more authentic and other upgrades gain in power. Running an Ordnance laden Bomber actually makes sense in a squad dynamic.

Jake can Boost or Roll, Soontir adds a Focus and Tycho can take Actions even when stressed and Focus, Lock or de-stress sharing is strong. Powerful, clean and easy to understand from the get-go, which is important in a heavily player reduced landscape.

The rock-paper-scissors elegance of the game is retained, the clean and inspired system is left to it’s original balance, which is good and enough.

Another benefit is the heightened feeling of accuracy to the original stories and the value of team work and tactics.

As an aside, I just ordered the 30th anniversary Star Wars d6 RPG and Source book, which is in alignment with this thinking.

Impulse Buy

Star Wars Destiny popped up on my radar today via a sales notice from a favourite retailer.

I picked up the Kylo and Rey starters and the Awakening box of 36 upgrade packs for well under half retail with a mind to look and see. hey came quickly and off I went into another collection binge.

General feeling on this game boils down to;

• Great game, well liked even in a crowded space, innovative, thematic and clean.

• Starters are not enough as they do not add enough for even a base game (recommended you get 2 or a booster box of 36 blisters).

• Easy to drown in upgrade shenanigans, which are ultimately not needed.

• So, you need to know when to stop or be aware that stopping may be hard or expensive in the long run. Even sticking to clearance sets has proven expensive overall. I do now have, or have coming, 300 odd die and 1000 cards, for seemingly little, depending on how you look at it!

So, my line in the sand is to not buy anything that is not in clearance and try not to be a completist. Would be nice to start game off with Phasma, Black One etc, but not the end of the world if I don’t and I will not chase card packs until I get there (but may get them off a second hand retailer).

List is so far (all heavily reduced or slightly reduced if rarer);

• Rey and Kylo starters

• 2 player Rey and Kylo starter, which is different to above and only has 1 Die for the main characters.

• Luke starter

• Boba starter

• 1 box of 36 Spirit of the Rebellion boosters.

• 1 box of 36 Awakenings boosters.

• 1 box of 36 Empire at War boosters. All of these come in at under $2 a blister.

• Both draft packs.

• About a boosters worth of picked cards to make the above make sense.

Until the last two Awakenings booster boxes arrive, only a decent Darth Vader evades me, so here is hoping, otherwise I will let that go.

I will make period matched and thematic core sets with specific and generic upgrades. I have no player base for this so need to put together ready to go game sets. Unlike a lot of other games like this, there seems plenty of room in casual play for thematic sets.

So far I know I have Luke (2)/Leia/Han/R2, Dameron (2)/Rey (2)/Finn/BB8, Kylo (2)/Phasma/Trooper and Boba/Jabba sets, with more bits like Grievous, Veers etc to work out from as things arrive. Chasing Obi Wan, possibly Vader.

The game seems well liked from a player perspective, but many are wary of the blow-out that games like this can force, like for instance, the two starter packs do not actually offer enough cards to make two decks. This crap is common in this space, using the term “collectible” to hide “assume you will be collecting”, but with at least 80% of the cards in the 5 card/1 die x36 blister pack boxes usable I will have plenty to go on with.

Impulsive and possibly a frustrating road to travel, but if luck is with me, all done and time to get in if I am going to (less than half price).

X Wing And Attack Wing, The Differences Part 1; Actions

X Wing and Attack Wing share the same basic concepts and mechanical skeleton. They rely on a predict-commit-play and resolve mechanic, use almost identical gae components and effectively cover the big two camps of sci-fi fandoms.

To my mind, there a few main differences between the games (I will use 1e X Wing as my comparison as I am more familiar and feel it is the cleanest, most directly relevant comparison).

In 1e, some ships only have the near standard Focus and one other, some, but few have all four spaces filled.

In AW, Actions are basically the same core idea, but fighter style manoeuvres are dropped. Actionsa re also far more consistent. Most ships have 4, but there is some swapping out.

Actions

This is my number one, because actions determine core tactics, feel and even the scale of the game. Actions are so defining that the base line limitation placed on all our reduced forms of the X Wing 1e game is that only the base 4 actions are allowed.

These two games share a hard limit of 4 actions maximum per ship, which can be artificial limiting, especially in AW. XW 2e has moved on from this, which avoids the Action economy cascade through upgrades that 1e resorted to.

Big vs little has a genuine game dynamic in X Wing.

In X Wing (almost) all ships have Focus. This is the catch-all attack/defence versatile action. Not as strong as committing fully, it is a great action if unsure, is sometimes needed and often spins off into other effects.

Battle Stations is the equiv of Focus, allowing a basic attack or defence buff after roll.

The second most common action is Target Lock, which has a requirement for most secondary weapons. In X Wing most ships have Lock, but “lesser” or light fighters don’t and Huge ships lack it entirely (fixed in 2e) as they have other methods.

Same name, same function. Few ships lack the TL option, but with the hard limit of 4, some ships do drop it if they have Cloaking or Regeneration.

Scan is an AW only action, working a little like Focus/Target Lock (anti Evade) for attack only with a link to some other actions. Almost always found on ships without Cloaking, almost never on Cloaking capable ships, which is where that artificial limits can be annoying.

Barrel Roll is an Imperial speciality, fairly common in Scum fleets (often due to their later game introduction) and not common in Rebels. If played at a “clasic” or “bare Bones” level, this becomes even more exaggerated. Upgrades and the odd pilot can add it, tending to make the difference less pronounced, one of the reasons we don’t use them.

No Roll at all in AW, but generally the ships are significantly larger (would have been nice to have let the smaller ones do them I guess, but that is likely absorbed by the scale difference as just better manoeuvring).

Boost is less common than Barrel Roll and more evenly spread through the fleets. Only a very few ships have both, although it is a common upgrade, again dropped by us in Bare Bones games. Boost is quite powerful and it is felt in our games that it is a special little snow flake, best left to the ships built for it.

No Boost, but a few ships can do a natural 6 move.

Evade, like the two above tends to be small fighter weighted, but there are exceptions and in “Bare Bones” or similar, there is only one ship with the whole gammut, the Tie Interceptor, making it the manoeuvre/Action king, although it lacks TL, so no ship in XW 1e has a “perfect” Action bar without upgrades.

Nearly all AW ships have Evade, except for the really clumsy monster Borg Cubes and Spheres. This is also a point of scale difference as many larger AW ships have low or no natural Agility. In TNG Battle for example, Agility is rare meaning most ships hit their targets, but in skirmish, the ships are slower and more agile.

Coordinate. A late game addition and one we have dropped in most game forms. This is similar to a few pilot abilities, so it has space in the game, but like a lot of late game additions, it wrankles. On Huge ships it fits and if we use the 1 card one Huge vessels, it makes a lot of sense.

No Equivalent. Captains are the big difference.

Reload. This is a rare one and very powerful if upgrades like Extra Ammo are not allowed.

No equivalent, except that many weaons are disabled rather than spent, becoming available again under the same circumstances as an action.

Rotate. Shadow Hunter only, so not used in our games, although it was standardised in 2e.

No Equivalent in actions.

Jam. Again a late game addition, not used by us, unless Huge ships are used.

No Equivalent, although Scan ia a little like it I guess.

Cloak. This is a special we use in soe forms of the game and is also available to Scum as an Illicit (but with strings). An earlier introduction, it fits thematically and being severaly limited also feels right.

Attack Wing uses Cloaking regularly (faction defining for Romulans and later Klingons) with Sensor Echo as a second linked action. These two do tend to hog the action bar though, so other options fall away.

Huge ships have several other Actions, some limited to them only (Reinforce, Regenerate).

AW has Regenerate in some factions

X Wing ships tend to be defined by their Action Bars, very few in 1e getting a full range, but in AW, almost all have 4, often looking very same-same and with that hard cap, one is at the expense of another. For example, Romulan Ships have Cloak and Echo, but not Scan or Battle Stations. This wrankles a little, because it is not accurate to the source, but a game is a game and card real estate is what it is.

In X Wing 2e, the expanded Action bars and more open application make the most sense, but I also like the simple and clean early 1e feel. In AW, I find action options are often predictable or equally frustrating.

Unmatched And Impressive

Reviews aside, I would like to write how impressed I am with Unmatched.

The box is a work of art. Apart from the art, the layout is superb. Every token, dial and figure is perfectly housed and the cards are given enough room to be sleeved with good quality sleeves (which makes the deck over twice it’s original depth).

Even sleeved in top tier Katana sleeves (predicting a hammering for these cards), the stacks fit.

Every little bit of the game has a space. I had read the dials are sometimes loose. Just push harder is my advice. They all click flush, but take a little force to get there.

The boards are better than expected and I was not expecting much here, but they are nice and solid with more art on them than I thought.

The minis are lovely, well up to current standards in a world full of near perfect miniatures, but I am torn. I have orderred some minions and side kick minis, which were quite expensive, but I am now thinking, with over 24 figures coming, that this is not realistic, and I am impressed with the plastic token (would have been ok with tokens all round, the Hero ones a little bigger.

If I paint the figures in the same style as their matching discs, this would possibly be an acceptable compromise. I would go for a low colour range, quite a graphic look and stylised to make the disc more relevant, not less.

New Game Horizons

Meg and I went into town the other day, not to shop, but just to wander, but I got my gaming radar pinged by a few things that have been circling for a while.

The first was War of Whispers. This was soon researched down to The KIng Is Dead, which is similar, but not as expensive and probably more in my “sell-able” wheel house, but it fell away when I pondered the real chance of it being played.

The other game system was one I bounced off a while back, but did not click with the theme, nor the feel, but there were a few factors at play.

A break from the deliberately unmatched sets, this one struck a chord, because it made sense.

The system is Unmatched and the reason for it bouncing off my radar previously, even though the reviews are universally good to glowing was (a) I did not like the random mix of characters and (b) it came along too soon after I researched and rejected Disney Villainous. Somehow, it got caught up in the negative vibes I developed for DV, which is unfair, but I really did not take to the mix of characters.

What changed?

Cobble and Fog, which seems to be generally accepted as the best singe set for variety, theming and balance.

This was researched, ordered and I sat back happily. Then Etsy popped up, almost freakishly, almost feindishly, with some sidekick models, which I bought, costing nearly as much as the game itself.

Soon after, stimulated by more reading up, I found the Marvel Hells Kitchen expansion, which is a fave. This gave me an odd pairing of a modern supers and Victorian era Gothic horror sets.

I searched further afield and found the two Jurrassic Park sets (Raptors, Rex and those puny scientists). Apart from being thematically matched, they can also be swung as realistic opponents for both modern Supers and Victorian Sleuths and Vagabonds.

Vexed by choices I made a chart (always a theraputic thing). This chart showed me that there are several paths to expansion.

I could go down the path of the two Legends sets and the two, later three pairs boxes, which would put me into the mainstream tournament groove, but not a place I really get.

If I cut out the second Legends set, I would possibly miss out on 4 interesting characters, but they seem to be tournament faves, so maybe too strong. Legends 1 and the two satelite boxes keep the whole thing in the Ye Olde British fairytales and legends envelope, with a only a few exceptions (Sinbad and Medusa).

I could stick to themed sets only (as they come), giving me a mostly Marvel supers collection, with C&F as an alternate, maybe Buffy also*.

I could just stop here, with my favourite three sets, sidekicks inclued, some cross-over potential and bide my time (and actually play the game!). I do have my Heroclix figure supers game, X Wing, Attack Wing, Wings of War, Sails of Glory, Zombicide and my massive Malifaux sets to play also, so no shortage of 1 on 1 options.

The competative circuit as of recently places the bulk of fighters below the top few from the second Legends and the Red Riding Hood/Beowulf packs, as much so as they rate the Buffy and original Legends sets as generally weak, so going themed release sets only, seems to have retained mid level game balance, while still giving me a good range of mechanics and it just feels right.

Each set can stand on it’s own two feet, but I can also make acceptable combos.

They are also good sets for 1v1v1, 2v2, 4 all in or even 3x3 games.

Foggy London slug-fests between Sherlock, Watson and The Invisible Man vs Rampant Dinoes, Modern Supers vs same, or Electra and her Ninjas or Dare Devil vs Dracula. Lots of options, with few top tier ranked fighters and none that have all the answers (or no answers at all).

Something I really like about this game is the depth and balance it seems to offer. Everyones top ”X” list is different. A loathed character by one reviewer is top tier with another. It really is that well designed.

*I did order the Buffy set, the one set that gets the least favourable tournament level reviews, but two things put me off, so I have requested a cancellation.

First, it is universally thought of as the weakest expansion with Buffy a simple, two dimensional brawler and the other three characters considered sub-par. I do not intend to play competitively, but even so, it is hard to get past the weakness of some of these characters compared to the more lethal or balanced ones I have coming. If it is too late I can deal, and the characters seem to play well within their own set.

Secondly, I cannot buy Etsy “sidekick” models for it, which just sucks. I could just cut my losses there with the Hells Kitchen and C&F sidekicks, but it is annoying.

Still Tinkering With X Wing 1e

Of the many X Wing 1e sub-variants we use, just to keep it alive for us, “Classic” is the clear favourite.

The primary objective of modifying 1e X Wing is to fix the over reach of later X Wing 1e and at the same time to try to capture the elegance of the early game, the rock-paper-scissors dynamic.

Classic does this by only using the elements drawn from the first three movies.

Crew slots are limited, but they make the ships that can take them all the more attractive, as are Droids and rare Systems.

Weapons are heavily reduced in availablilty and choice with several of the strongest ones dropped completely or faction limited.

The base of some of the really strong builds are there, but the known unbeatables are avoided (Palpatine/Soontir, The fully loaded Falcon) by not allowing Titles, Mods or EPT’s, just core ships, Pilots and limited Crew, Ordnance, Illicit, Mech and Systems upgrades.

No effort has been made to limit pilot options for the included ships except for the Scum, who are only allowed the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back, but these can be played also as mercs in the Imperial faction limited to a single ship, or as many as wanted if played as “Krayts Claw”.

The Empire

The Imperials get the usual suspects. The basic Tie, Tie Advanced, Tie Interceptor, Tie Bomber and Lambda. For crew, they are allowed the Emperor, Vader and the Fleet and Systems officers and Rebel Captive (who does nothing vs Scum).

Limited in options, the Imperials are allowed the Heavy Laser Cannon and Homing Missiles as their faction specific weapon edges, with the Cannon, most Systems and all Crew limited to the Lambda, with Advanced Targetting Comp, a Tie Advanced only upgrade at 5 pts. This makes the Lambda a useful addition as a support ship and heavy weapons platform as originally introduced and the Advanced truly Advanced.

The Bomber becomes the ordnance king of the table, again making it a point of tactical interest and variation for the fairly one dimensional Imperials (but with no Unguided Rockets).

As they were early in the game, these allow the Imperials some strong builds and become genuinely attractive in this space.

They have no Turret options, either built in or added.

• The Advanced gets the option of Advanced Targetting Comp and Homing Missiles and actually stands out as the true superiority/line fighter of the Imperials.

• The Lambda gets Crew, Systems and the Heavy Laser Cannon (which fits the model). A form of the classic Palp mobile, a Vader combo or a simple Gun platform are all possible.

• The Bomber is the only specialist Ordnance platform in this game, with Cluster, Concussion, Cruise or Homing Missiles available to it as well as Proton and Plasma Torps. It can also take 2 of the 3 Bombs included, Thermal Detonators and Proximity Mines.

• The Interceptor is the Action Bar supremo with no peer.

• The Tie Fighter is the only true swarmer in the game, no other ship offerring it’s price to power ratio. Weak as they are 8 Tie Fighters are a force in this game.

This fits well with the initial roll-out of the Imperials. The Lambda and Bomber add the wild card and support options, the rest are just different interpretations of the interceptor-pursuit fighter.

The Rebels

As you would assume, the Rebels get the A, B, Y and X wings, all multi role specialists and the named (no Title) Millenium Falcon. The Bomb Loadout option has not been included as that would open up the whole Rogue One thing, nor are Ion Weapons for simplicity.

Crew and Droid synergies are a strong area and they have the Y, X, B Wing and Falcon to house them. Team work is key with the Pilot/Droid/Crew or Pilot/System/Crew combinations.

The Rebels lack access to Bombs, but they get exclusive access to the Proton Rocket, Advanced Proton Torps and two Turret options (Synched and Auto-blaster).

• The B Wing is the Rebel platform for Systems, Crew and Cannon combinations. The B Wing is unique here as it can be the cheap thug, fielding 4, the support ship enabling Crew and the gunship/brawler.

• The Falcon is a crew support monster with a rare Turret primary and is the toughest ship in the game. Options are many with 2 crew slots making the Falcon a many striped beast. The thug, supporter, blocker, a mic=x of all of these, it is hard not to include it, but if used, it tends to limit the Rebels to 3 ships maximum.

• The Y Wing is the Turret and Torpedo king, balancing out it’s poor movement (although R2’s help). Droids do not include FAA or Targetting, just the core types and the bulk of period correct named ones. Fully loading these limits the Rebels to three in a squad, but to be honest, their best use is in a mixed squad.

• The A Wing is the Proton Rocket and speed master and Action king. A force thanks to exclusive access to Proton Rockets and good Pilot abilities. The A Wing is the only Rebel that can be fielded in a pack of 6 (2 with Proton Rockets) or used as a filler ship.

• The humble X Wing is stronger in this game, offering the option of Rebel-limited Advanced Proton Torps on a semi-manoeuvrable ship, it sits in a comfortable points range to always be the third ship of any squad. These can be some of the the hardest hitting ships and take plenty of punishment as well, but rely on Pilot/Droid combos for any edges they have. Adding the S-Foil option as a built in feature is an option here also.

So, the Rebels have the three core fighters (fast-fast/tough-versatile/tough-work horse) with a new tech superiority option and the Falcon as king of the table.

The Scum

The Scum in this game are actually the scum Pilots, ships and Crew of the movies. The ships are all the Titled ones (without Title upgrades) and crew are limited to direct connections to these and generics. Illicit upgrades are exclusive as you would expect, each ship getting one option.

The Scum have exclusive access to the nasty and cheap Flechette Torp and Mangler Cannon, which just seem to fit, being “lesser” weapons, but still lethal.

Crew choices can be limiting as the Pilots and Crew are often the same and limited to the actual characters, and Pilots are limited to one per ship except for the Mist Hunter, so taking interesting combinations often limits other ship combinations.

• The Mist Hunter gets System, Crew, Illicit and an Evade with two pilot options. This has the potential to be the sneaky one of the pack, being the natural home of the Cloaking Device and probably the Collision Detector or Advanced Sensors. Two pilots also gives it a range of roles.

• The Hound’s Tooth “party bus” is as advertised, with Bossk the sole Pilot option. All of the known faces can make this a surprise packet and like the Falcon, it plays a few roles. This is a tough and toothy ship with the highest Shields, a wide angle primary and another Cannon option (as well as a potentially a re-usable Illicit slot i.e. Hot-Shot Blaster or Cargo Drop), which may help it keep it’s enemies to the front.

• Punishing One (as originally printed) is a beast. The only other turreted Primary other than the Falcon, it is also the only one that can take a Salvaged Droid (which are kept to 4 Generics) and Crew. With its odd manoeuvre dial and S-Loop, it actually has the most mamoeuvre choices in the game.

• IG-2000 and IG88A is the slowest ship in the game, but has the best action bar and Evade in the Scum faction the most green manoeuvres in the game and the rare and Scum limited S-Loop making it the Scum manoeuvre monster. It also has dual Cannons and Systems which can lead to some devastating combinations. The close Brawler of the game.

• Slave-1, with only Boba Fett, is versatile, brutal and tough, with the destincion of being the second dearest Scum ship in this game. Without Title still makes the Slave-1 a decent ordnance platform and like the other Scum ships, it is tricky and unpredictable.

The Scum generally build either a 2 ship “maxed out” squad or a 3 ship “Bare Bones” one. Either are tough, but 100 Pts, with only a single version of each ship tends to push them, so often 120pt sqauds are used (The Mist Hunter is the only ship that generally comes in under 35 pts). The Empire may take a single Merc in their squad, which really mixes things up, especially when they are pitted against a Scum squad.

Other Upgrades

No generic crew are available, just the faction specific ones, mostly named characters with a few thematically faction specifics like Gonk, System Officer etc (or who would Vader scare the S*#t out of?), which is not a real issue as the slots are limited.

I have 2 Lambda’s , but even then, there is always a left-over crew option and the Rebels can field a maximum of 4 in a squad so their relatively huge cast are always varied (especially with a few being shared Droid/Pilot options).

The Scum have a few Crew specific characters, but otherwise most share Pilot and Crew roles, but again, they rarely field more than 2-3 ships a game even if the Empire take their option of a single Merc in their squad.

• Cluster, Concussion and Cruise missiles are generic as available as are Plasma Torps, Auto-Blaster Cannons, Proximity mines and Thermal Detonators.

• The Empire get the toothy Heavy Laser Cannon for the Lambda and Homing Missiles for the Advanced.

• The Rebels get Advanced Proton Torps, Proton Rockets.

• The Scum get Flechette Torps, Seismic Charges and Mangler Cannons as “cheap and nasty” options. We had Ion weapons in the Rebel arsenal, but they added complication and too much advantage, but may be slotted back in.

• All Turrets are limited to the Y Wing and the Rebels get no Bombs.

It still amazes me, that even with over three quarters of the game stripped away and severe limitations imposed, there are near infinite options available. What has happenned of course is “lesser” upgrades, rarely used ships, Pilos and squad builds have been re-enabled, proving again that X Wing is a layered game, that does not change at it’s core when a different layer is used.

We have seen for a while now that the game has many faces, the “full noise”, all options applied one is only one and the one most likely to loose sight of the games’ elegance and strong roots.

Two Birds, One Savage Stone

Pathfinder.

Savage Worlds.

Both good systems and both, at one time or another, large parts of my RPG collection.

Both were also, for my uses, quite flawed so they are mostly gone now.

Think of them like two family friends you like, but never really mesh with on any level beyond distant admiration, positive here-say from other friends and the occassional gathering.

My massive 1e Pathfinder collection went to another gamer a few years ago. I liked it in a way, but knew I would never play it. Too much of too much, especially when I have never been a strong d20 advocate. As an E6 vehicle (D&D limited to 6th level characters, more in keeping with a true Tolkien inspired level of power and avoiding the issues of higher level play), it was intriguing, but by definition mostly a wasted resource, so it went in favour of my d100 games and the even more OTT, but far less crufty 13th Age.

Pathfinder to me was a light feeling game that was far from light. 13th Age manages to be lighter effortlessly and my collection of d100 games ranges from very lite to very heavy and realistic, but Pathfinder was to me, a brick laden faux-light experience.

Savage Worlds has held a much different place in my gaming life. I have never warmed to it, but have stayed open minded and until recently had a decent Explorers/Deluxe Edition collection. This went also in several drafts, but is now reduced to the new base book of the latest (slickest) SWADE edition, kept just in case.

I have an unscratched itch left over from my last SW collection. I liked, but failed to use the Sci Fi and Supers companions to do a Guardians of the Galaxy like mash-up. Maybe if they release improved and updated versions of these, I will try again.

Savage Worlds is basically the opposite of Pathfinder. Too light and gimmicky for me to be take seriously, but also too crunchy and abstract to be mindless fun, used as a foil to my d100 games, it was far too successful, being basically the opposite of what I like in most ways. I especially struggled with many of the SW themed games I had. Some were excellent fits, many near misses and some, just not a fit.

Solomon Kane for example, should have been (can be/is) a great theme for a d100 game based on CoC, Clockwork and Chivalry or Pendragon. It just fits those systems and more importantly the feel of these far better than the limited scope and gamey, abstract feel of SW.

I can play light games with d100, but still retain a logic and realism. Shifting to a more abstract platform is fine, as long as it delivers what it says it will, simplicity, fun and the right feel. In most cases SWs’ simplicity just seems overly abstract and mechanically obvious. To me, only pulpy supers-sci-fi and pulp-fantasy games fit it well and only some of those. Horror themes just seem to lack that brooding menace.

Achtung Cthulhu is a great example here. It came with both SW Deluxe and 6e CoC stats in every book, but I never felt like using the SW version. You cannot do pulpy as well with CoC, but the horror and real fear factor are largely lost with SW’s “cute” mechanics. All d100 games share one thing in common, a feeling of character fragility, which helps add menace to realistic horror themed games immensely.

What it does do though is provide a more lethal and unpredictable game than the regular d20 system.

So, why the sudden interest in Pathfinder for Savage Worlds?

If you take the undisputedly wonderful art and deeply fleshed out world that is the Pathfinder legacy, strip back the massive rules density, using the realitively slick and playful SW rules (the other game system that heroes all those polyhedral die), then you potentially have a match made in heaven.

SW gets its parameters defined and is relatively clean and lighter systemically, while Pathfinder gets a friendlier game engine using a clean core and flexibility instead of layers of detail.

I have received the PDF for the Advanced Players Guide and it is all there. The highly inspirational art, all the classic Pathfinder conventions and the genuine Savage Worlds feeling of playability that make such a super cohesive pair. A bit like 13th Age, this combination is over the top fun, rather than dense rules based on old school abstractions.

Where 13th Age takes the d20 system and candidly dumps all the bits gamers tend to house rule out of the way anyway, SW-Pf uses the SW system in much the same way and one I feel works best for pulp fantasy (Wayne Reynolds illustration style pulp). I still find it extrordinary that much of the Pathfinder 1e cruft is handled by such a simple system in a few undersized books.

Gone are all those levels, using only 5 tiers of play with 20 incremental advances (realistic, constrained and workable “levelling”). Like a d100 game it is largely skills based, quite lethal at any power level and very open in character development. There are classes, but they are more like career paths, not restricting life parameters and your character is not confined to them.

Like a d20 game, it uses simple abstractions to get some things done and still adheres to the feel of a levels style game. Unlike a d20 game, it feels light and casual.

It just feels like a perfect combination of the two systems strengths.

Would I buy Pathfinder again in another, d20 form?

No, that road has been taken and rejected. I have plenty of fantasy games that either feel better or do it’s job in a way that is more to my liking.

How about SW?

A very tentative maybe, but limited to just what works for the system for me. The afore mentioned Supers and Sci-Fi companions, maybe a pulpy game, but otherwise, just Pathfinder.

Many of the map packs from the adventure paths (not the adventures, just the maps), kept from my old Pathfinder set because you never know when a good map will come in handy. These are gold along with….

I also have a wealth of useful maps and other bits I kept when I sold the bulk of my d20 stuff.

I have the Pathfinder and 3-4e map packs, 4e card and paper battle maps and counters and some other fluff. This all fits perfectly into a Savage Worlds style Pathfinder game.

……….6 boxes of 4e character, monster and terrain counters, terrain panels, dozens of 3-4e small maps. Everything a hybrid SW-Pathfinder gamer could need.

I always wanted to like SW and Pathfinder for that matter, but cast them aside in favour of a semi-unified collection based on variations of the d100 core.

So, getting back to my analogy above, these two friends have started dating and guess what? Everyone now finds the pair of them much more likeable and approachable as a couple.

SW-PF allows me to dip a toe back into two old ideas at the same time with the salve each needs and all that collateral I have hoarded gets used……finally.

Attack Wing By The Generations pt2.

Now we come to the “Big guns”.

The later series' are split into two scale classes, “Skirmish” (Voyager and DS9) and “Battle” (TNG, Dominion war). This is for making sense of the highy exaggerated scales in these ranges and to show the quite different feel the two scales have. I just cannot handle the 890m Scimitar facing off against a 15m Delta flyer (the models are only about 1:10 apart) on the table. Even taking gaming abstractions into account, they just look ridiculous. Also, the two scales play differently so doing them separately seems right.

many upgrades can be often be used in either (though not always), so there is great depth of options.

TNG

Battle Scale

The Federation. This is a massive fleet coming in at over 300pts with generic ships. 3 Galaxy class, 1 Sovereign, 2 Nebula, the Promethius, 3 older Excelsiors, an Akira, Constellation and 2 Attack Fighter squadrons (as squadrons each). It goes without saying, there are a ton of upgrades as well with several Picards, Rikers etc and a ton of weapons and tech. Scale is a little vague here, especially with the Oberth and Akira, but they slip in-just, simply because of generally unclear actual size perceptions and their roles in the series. The Defiant, Voyager, Equinox however, do not. The little Constellation is great to add a feeling of scale.

Romulan/Reman. The amazing Scimitar, 3 fighter swarms (represent squadrons), 3 D’Deridex, 2 Valdore make for a tough fleet with a ton of upgrades. Hypothetical Reman control is one option, or as the enemy is another, or just fielding the regular Romulans is still pretty strong.

The Dominion allied fleet. The Jem’hadar have 3 battleships, 2 Battle cruisers, the Breen 3 Cruisers and the Cardassians 2 Keldons and 3 Galors, with a Dreadnaught and 3 fighter wings for depth. At a minimum of about 400 pts, even the full Federation fleet needs some help. If split up (Cardassian separate), they are each capable on their own and can give each other a scare. The little patrol ships are kept for the skirmish scale.

The Klingons are at thier strongest, if least interesting in this group. a single Negh’Var commands 4 Vor’Cha, 3-4 K’Vort (the big BoP), and a few D-7’s from the reserve if needed. Their full Klingon fleet is a match for the Romulan/Remans, close to the Feds and even the Borg.

The Borg. Coming in at 250 pts just for generic ships, seems a little under done when you are actually facing a Queen vessel, 3 Spheres, a Tac Cube, a Scout and the Soong vessel. Regeneration and Drones make for interesting tactical choices and this strong fleet is competitive against all comers with the exception of………

Species 8742. The Borg hate these guys, but my fleet of 4 Bioships is not strong enough to take them all on. Point for point though, these guys beat out the Borg as they are ideally suited to combat them and are another interesting option against the other fleets.

Ferengi. A late inclusion, I have three ships for this faction and the extra card pack. Maybe a minor, unreliable ally?

This is really the “big batlle” game, often played without damage cards (just hull hits) and with base ship types only for big fights. It ideally suits solo play using cards for activation sequence. Any single faction can be strong, several fleets allied are monstrous and a yet to be played head to head game (Borg and Dominion vs all comers?) is beaconing.

DS9/TNG

Skirmish

Apart from the Dominion war, much of DS9 was small scale and so are the ships. Many upgrades from this and the battle set can be shared, meaning upgrade options far outnumber the ships available.

Federation. The Federation get 2 Defiant class (unfortunately not the Valiant, but an ISS ring-in), the Robinson-possibly up to 3 captured ships, 2 Nova class, the dominant Intrepid class, Oberth, Akira and 2 Attack Fighters (as wings). The Oberth and Akira feel better scaled here, but either option works. Still the strongest fleet by far, they have variety and options.

Up to three of the patrol ships could be pressed into service as Feds.

Dominion. The Dominion fleet is a clutch of up to 4 patrol vessels and 3 Cardassian fighter squads. Solid, is the word here, not exciting. These guys also benefit from a huge backlog of characters from the larger scale.

Bajoran. The second biggest single faction, a Scout leads out 4 Interceptors and the Lightship. The last is a scenario driver, but adds some good upgrades and a little colour to the table.

Marquis. The Marquis can field 3 raiders which is barely competitive against the other factions, but their hit and run underdog status suits this. If the Voyager linked crew are used, they get even better.

Romulan/Reman. Combined, this is a decent swarm of 3 fighter flights with 4 scout/science ships and a few nasty tricks. I have fattened it up with some excess upgrades from the larger scale fleet.

A couple of a near endless supply of B’Rel BoP available (seems like most factions have one somewhere), The Romulans have managed to provide 4 (!) different paint jobs for their scout/science ship, but their scary little fighters are uniformly stealth-black. The Fegengi have another Shuttle coming and their own BoP.

The Ferengi. Not a huge fan of these guys and I felt scatterred personalities through the other factions and the Shuttle expansion could represent them well enough. In the “battle” scale game I felt it would have been hard to build up a competitive fleet and did not really want to, but at this scale, the shuttle is another good scenario driver and the upgrades in this one pack are legion! It has now been joined by a B’Rel and second shuttle.

Update; bought more mainly because in a brain fade moment I bought the expansion card pack (thought it was Vulcan!?) and because I already had a shuttle, I went looking for the Kreetcha to use it. I found a decently priced Ferengi boxed set (and the Kreetcha). I now have 2 Shuttles, 3 Marauders and a Bird of Prey with the extra card pack. So much for not wanting to do these guys!

Klingon. The smaller B’Rel BoP is a monster at this scale. Hitting as hard as the Intrepid class, moving like the Defiant, but much cheaper than either, which means the Klingon player can field a decent 100pt fleet with some depth and real punch.

Borg. Throwing the Borg in seems a bit much at this scale, but my single Tac cube as an oversized (correctly scaled?) scout, would put the wind up most of these fleets.

Species 8742. Same goes here. Two Bioships would be a match for most, and 4 could wipe the floor with even the full Fed list.

ISS. A theoretical 2-3 ship list (using Fed dials). Not sure here, but at least I picked up a second Defiant class.

Much smaller and cheaper fleets than the “Battle” option, this is a great scenario space and it has Sisko for the Feds, some of the Voyager crew as Marquis the rest potentially on the Voyager with Worf as a Klingon or Fed!

Voyager

Skirmish

Federation (aka Delta quadrant alliance). The Voyager on her own is a strong ship (always played as named), but fights with just her are predictable and single faceted, even with a ton of upgrade available. If some hypotheticals are applied, the Federation presence becomes a “motley fleet” dynamic, a little like Battlestar Galactica. The Delta Flyer (or two?), Dauntless taken on as an ally, a more open and honest Equinox, a repaired Val Jean, even a long lost D-7 Klingon, all offer possibilities to grow the fleet (The Voyager and any 2 others makes a good 100pt fleet).

The Delta fleet could theoretically be this big. More repainting of Kazons, probably the dull orange of the top right raider. Scaling is still an issue, but bearable.

Kazon. The poor Kazon, not even of interest to the Borg, can field 1 Predator and 3 raiders. This is actually pretty tough for a single dimensional fleet, giving the Kremin or Hirogens a run.

Hirogan. I have 4 hunters and the extra card expansion. The Hirogens are now a match for the Voyager fleet or even another allied ship.

The gorgeous Hyrogen wins the “most fragile” award. Just after I glued on a wing spar for this shoot, I noticed another had lost a top bracket. Still nice though. The Kremin have two ships for depth and they came with two captains. A token Sp 8742 ship is harbinger of a full fleet of 4 if wanted.

Kremin. I bought 2 time ships to make them a viable faction and make the most of the two captains. Not yet put them through their paces, but interesting potential and cool models. You can just squeak a 90pt fleet out of them.

Species 8742 gets a special mention here as this is their origin series. Two make for a tough match up for most and 4 are probably too much even for the full hypothetical Fed fleet. They can take on the Borg though with the same dynamic as the TNG “battle” set, so some type of big battle game is possible.

The Borg are fully developed and to some extent de-clawed/mystified in Voyager. Even a little bit is still too much for Voyager alone, but with the Delta Flyer or another ally, a single Sphere can be beaten. Used sparingly, they are once again the “big bad” of the Delta Quadrant and scenario options are many.

Another favourite and the ships are generally well scaled and presented. The Vidiians were avoided (not a fan), but otherwise the Delta Quadrant is a full and lethal environment. 100pt squads usually top out your options, but then again, Klingons and Romulans are present in small numbers, even the Dominion might have a look in.

Attack Wing By The Generations Part 1.

My Attack Wing collection, rather than shrinking, is growing with the bargains available at the moment. This is it for the game I feel. Wizkids are releasing their boxed sets, but most are simply rehashing old ships with new cards and annoyingly new paint jobs (pick one and stick to it guys!). Expensive way to continue for someone with a decent set now and they are selling through quickly, seemingly never to return.

Looking at the periods and scale mix limits I have imposed on the ships I have, the question has to be I guess, can they stand on their own or are they a little too thin to be viable. The reality that quickly becomes apparent is, each period needs a fully evolved fleet with as many options as you can find to fill them out. One of each ship will often not make the grade here. I am a great fan of the depth of AW for one on one ship battles, but this is by no means Star Fleet Battles. One on one fights quickly grow tiresome, so 100pt fleets minimum need to be addressed. In the earlier periods, this is often not as easy as it looks. It takes 5 Tholian vessels to get even close to that figure.

Lets see what I have to offer. My collection is not exhaustive, because I was slack or unaware and missed some.

The first, because it has to be, is;

The original TV series or TOS

The Federation has up to 4 Constitution class ships (1 is the ISS Enterprise, but they can be played either way), the famous crew and several support cast. The ships are physically small but powerful, the upgrades even more so and the crew dominates as they should. This period has some very powerful elite talents, good enough to warrant the purchase of the relatively weak ship for tournament play, but when limited to their own universe, they are real game breakers. The Federation seem to be the strongest and most advanced, not the soft or defensive minded option like later periods.

The Gorn. I have 4 Gorn ships and the extra card pack. The ship is cheap enough (especially if you accept the adjusted point values in the Gorn card expansion) and it is not rubbish with the best shields in TOS at 3 and 3 attack and the array of upgrades rivals the Federation.

The Tholians have 5 ships for balance and it seems to fit. Webs are a pain to play against in most periods, especially in scenario games, but in TOS they are brutal. Five ships weaving webs in this set are a bit like playing against an electrified Chinese puzzle, as long as there is a point and a plan to it.

The Klingons also have 4 ships, all D-7’s. The old enemy are here in force. Sans ridges and roughness, they are a wall of simple but tough aggression, if maybe a little more cunning and quaint than later on.

I have some re-painting to do, getting a few D-7’s into dull grey for the Klingons (or lighter grey for the Roms) and the two Constitution class into off white, but the Romulans are covered.

The Romulans have 5 ships, with the nasty oddity that is a cloaking Klingon D-7 (x2) and their own Bird of Prey (3). Because of the hard limit of 4 actions for any ship, they are less battle oriented, but are tricky and complicated, and they do pack the Plasma torpedo. They are as mysterious and dangerous as they were in the shows. The Romulan D-7 is arguably the Federations’ biggest threat if well used.

The ISS can have two ships and their upgrades can be wild cards in a game where the enemy is expecting squeaky clean Feds. Maybe 2 Feds vs 2 ISS would be interesting, with some allies for fun.

With the exception of the ISS, each faction can play a balanced 80-100pt list and each has their defined “thing”. If only generic ships are used, there are enough to spread a selection of their upgrades through a fleet, but if named ships are used, pretty much all the upgrade options can be used and squads reach closer to 100-120 pts. Even allied fleets can be fielded for less than 200pts.

The Original Movies or TOM

This hasless width in factions, but is deeper within them, pitting the Federation against only Khan and the Klingons with D-7’s and Birds of Prey. The Klingons now have cloaking and Khan could conceivably be fielded on any ship and take on, or ally with, either enemy. This set screams scenario play to me.

The Federation has more choice here. The Excelsior class (3), refit or original Constitution (3), a Miranda, Constellation and an Oberth (The Oberth card expansion back-dates the ship to the periods’ Grissom).

The Klingons, now with cloaking, can take on the roles of both the Romulans and their brutal, war-like selves with a choice of newer Birds of Prey and older but slighly better than the previous K’T’inga D-7’s. With cloaking they are tricky and mean and they have the hardest hitting ships. This is where the Klingon theme of fragile, but agile and “toothy” ships starts to show through.

Khan Sing. Hypotheticals abound here. What if Khan captured an Excelsior class or a BoP? Changs’ BoP with Khan at the helm and torpedoes while cloaked? He can even fight Klingons or what about Khan on the Enterprise vs Kirk on the Miranda? Fun times. In the non-tournament world, this is a rare case of acceptable cross-polinating*.

For this period, a few other elite upgrades have been added from the TOS and later (from a huge surplus) and the house rule of all upgrades are hidden until used. This adds back in the cat-and-mouse feel of the movies and beef’s up the slender games. I also like the multiple card captain/crew “flip” option like the Kelvin set and even the “buy them as you use them” upgrade point pool house rule.

Enterprise

One of my favourites, which like lovers of Voyager puts me in a minority, this period brings us a range of early antagonists, some flavourful, emerging favourites and the Xindi as a whole universe of hurt. The ships are generally well scaled, look great and are factionally flavoured. None are super fast, but agility is high and lower point costs balance these generally weaker ships offensively and defensively.

Terran (not the Federation yet). Three ships (1 ISS version). I am not a huge fan of the choices Wizkids made, such as obvious captain choices missed, but there is enough to crew all three ships for early fleet actions. A lack of shields is off-set by top of the period agility and some awesome crew. Their role is quite different to the TOS dynamic. The NX curiously has the same base stats as an X Wing Tie fighter (2-3-3-0) even with a similar dial (except speed, but even better turns), but unlike the Tie it can take a huge array of upgrades, especially as the Enterprise, which make for a different style of game and unique Fed style ship. I would assume, three Tie Fighters would be needed to beat the fully crewed Enterprise.

I do have two more of the bigger Vulcan ships coming, but I think these may be used as alternate, later period Vulcans for the TOS set (reasonable?), as they unbalance my fleet and are guess what….. painted differently.

Andorian. Two cruisers makes for a decent showing, three would have been better (Motley Fleet expansion would be ideal, but all gone). Stronger individually than the Terrans, the Andorian ships make useful allies or lethal enemies.

Vulcan. The Vulcans get 4 ships and the strongest single fleet outside of the combined Xindi, with 2 smaller Suurok and 2 (or 4) bigger D’Kyr. As tough as the Andorians, the Vulcans fatten out an allied fleet against the Xindi or can take on any others in the period on their own.

Xindi. I missed the Weapon Zero expansion, but have 2 Reptilian, 3 Insectoid and 2 Aquatic ships, which makes for a powerful and varied fleet (with the Aquatic standing out as the one really poorly scaled ship in this range, more a fish bowl than a lake). Hypothetically, they can also fight amongst themselves, but either way, they add the bulk the period needs and each feels quite different to the others.

No Weapon Zero, but still a match for any other allied faction.

Romulans. My fleet for the mysterious early Romulans is actually quite big. Two Drones with card expansion (like the show) and 2 BoP, again, like the show. Drones take the prize as the best ships made by Wizkids and it is a truly scary beast. Competitive even in later periods, it is just a harbinger of doom in this period. The upgrades available are many and the fleet, if fielded all at once, is very tough. Early Cloaking, Drone manoeuvring and good captains mean this small fleet can even give the Xindi a scare.

Decent fleets, lots of diversity for the Romulans, but a bit thin for the Klingons.

Klingons. Like the Romulans, the Klingons probably get a bigger fleet than their very occassional appearances in the series deserve, but after picking up the bonus card expansion, it became possible to field 4 ships with a choice of applications. They are also dirt cheap and relatively weak, so several are needed to make a decent showing.

ISS. The mirror universe can be fielded with all three NX ships if Terran dials and a base token are used, so a full “we hate the universe” alternative game is possible. Archer vs Archer is also tempting, maybe with alternate allied fleets or Borg/8742/Tholians (as was). Either way, a little fun. The mirrior universe fleets are often a bit of a waste as they are never fleshed out (and often can’t be), but they are a good way of getting some card variety, scenario ideas and cheap ships (they are universally unpopular, so are ofetn on clearance) and I usually throw in a few other MU upgrades just for fun.

Hypotheticals. Technically the Tholians did make an appearance, but in the ISS universe. That aside, I find it very plausible to let the time travelling Borg, Dimension traversing Species 8472 and the enigmatic Tholians into this period. The Tholians can field their whole 5 ship fleet, the others should be limited to single ship “first contact” scenarios, or small representative fleets against entire allied fleets, but as a decent replacement to the Weapon Zero option, my single Borg Tac Cube or even a single sphere can be a “Weapon Zero” like fleet killer.

Kelvin Timeline

This is a tough one.

2 Federation ships, 2 Klingons with mostly hypothetical crew, the options are limited, but if you like the new movies (I do) and the massive, gorgeous ships (I do) and the double sided cards (I do and have house ruled multi purchases of various crew and captains to be used similarly), then there is some hope.

I have added to the upgrade options just a little, to help with depth and a little cross-over theming. A good introductory game option. Like the Enterprise series, I wish they would add a little more to this (The Romulan mining vessel as a huge ship, Kralls’ mining drone ships, the massive Vengence and a Khan option, maybe even the little Klingon patrol ships), but I doubt there will be anything coming and to honest even as I write this I cannot see many realistically balanced scenarios playing out.

A Kelvin Enterprise vs Borg campaign might be fun.

*In a faction limited environment, chances to share, on a very limited basis, Captains or upgrades in non-canon combinations is limited, but in some scenarios, allied fleets may share, such as Terran-Andorian and Terran-Vulcan vs Xindi, Federation-Romulan-Klingon in the Dominion War etc.

A Good Game Deserves....... A Good Game

We caught up with friends of ours the other week and had a great game of “Cartographer”. The game was partly print and play and partly home made as the PnP is not complete.

Lots of fun and seeing as the actual game has hand-drawn mapping as the theme, a PnP version changed little.

I felt in the mood for another board game, one that was in my realm of interest, but also very play-able for others.

Two that have been circling for a while are Star Wars Rebellion and The Battle of Five Armies.

Rebellion is a long game and one that needs two reasonably well versed players, but I have heard great things about it. Nick, a gaming friend of huge proportions (in games, not girth….), said after two games, both had come down to the last turn. Rare and precious that.

TBoFA on the other hand is a smaller, shorter game, one I wanted from day one, but when I discovered it, it was long out of print.

Well, it is back and today I will be getting a copy.

The smaller, more tactical cousin of the War of the Ring, I like the theming, scale and time commitment more, so it was a no-brainer. I also like the reviews that pointed out some small refinements were made and the game has deeper combat mechanics.

Painting is the thing that often brings me down with games like this. I find it hard to love a game with nicely done figs, that are unsightly bright red, blue or green*, but on the other hand, I am still only half way through painting Zombicide, so another 100+ figures does not appeal.

Cunning plan.

I think I may try a metallic look for the figs. The “good” side can be silver based, with bright silver for heroes, down to dull metallic-tin for minor players, the baddies can be more dirty-copper-bronze-brass, all with a wash to look like metal collectibles, that should match well with the board graphics and theme. This means the whole lot can be done in a day! If I then want to go further, I can add what is needed to this base cote of metallics.

Not sure till I see it, but it is a plan!

ed. On arrival I am torn. The figs are gorgeous, well moulded and proportioned coming in at about 20mm head to foot (claw), but I think I will still do this, as following through with more detail would be even easier.

*My copy of Cthulhu Pandemic and some of Zombicide are done, Batman Talisman is on the list and my Armada fighters are started, but far from finished. I tend to shy away from games with nice figs if I can because of this, but sometimes my resolve breaks down.