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SuperHappyTime

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  1. SuperHappyTime
    So I've been brainstorming an idea for how to put on an online narrative campaign, and by George, I think I've got it.
    The Word of the Day here is "Narrative":

    So here's the idea:
    1. Begin with a timeline for events (Let's say a week). At the start of the week (Thursday, for funsies) we know the condition in which our internet world stands (What locations exist and who controls what, etc).
    2. We go about our week on a regular gaming basis. We play games, etc.
    3. During the week, lets say before or on "Tuesday", we (and by "we" I mean everyone) post a narrative story, involving a battle we fought over the weekend, tying it to this narrative universe (even if the battle at that time was set elsewhere)
    4. After all of the stories are "in" on Tuesday, we vote for our favorite story on Wednesday. Whatever story wins the most votes is however the setting changes.
    5. It's Thursday, and therefore the beginning of the next week. Something has changed and our narrative has progressed.
    Nothing is set in stone, and I'd like to hear whether the community at large would be interested in participating or not. Here's a few more thoughts to maintain some balance:
    A. Ideally 6-8 areas in any realm or region set in the AoS universe. (I like 7.)
    B. Either begin with voting on the best narrative that describes the areas in the realm/region, or begin with the Top 7 (or however many) stories that involve winning a battle and claiming an area.
    C. Factions: Order, Chaos, Death, and Destruction. Because of the relative size mismatches of Order and Chaos in comparison, any force can can declare for either the Death or Destruction faction. Just justify it in narrative. (No, Order can't fight for Chaos and vice-versa)
    D. No single Author's submission can win in back to back weeks. (This should be a community project, not one brilliant writer's masterpiece)
    E. No Area can be fought over in back to back weeks. (If Order takes the "Dark Tower", the next week's fight may not also take place at the "Dark Tower")
    F. A single faction CAN win back to back, but it can't three-peat. (They can't be everywhere at once)
    G. Alternatively (this would override Rules D-F), we could intermingle the Top X stories (thinking X=3) that occur in different locations into one round of the story.
    In the end, I can only suggest a Community Project, get input from the community on how to start. Then start it, and hope for community participation.
  2. SuperHappyTime
    Last week's Tzaangors Pre-Orders had me in a bliss the likes you've never seen before, but I've come off that high when I got to think about what I was going to purchase:
    The Bad:
    Kairic Acolytes at 20 for $50. Still a better ppm than 10 for $35, but this has been a climbing trend. See Plague Monks and Crypt Ghouls, this is quite a bit of an upward trend.
    Ogroid Thaumaturge at $41, Curseling at $25, Gaunt Summoner at $25. (Don't let them know the Magister is still at $15) Clampacks have had a significant price increases for a while and considering how often the secondary market has them for cheap because they're frequent in hero packs, I don't understand the pricing structure here. The Ogroid reeks of the awful Tyranid pricing structure model (like $90 for two Carnifexes)
    My *bleep*ing favorite of all of the bad choices, the Tzaangor Shaman on Disc. A stand alone that goes for the same price as a set of three nearly identical models that don't take that much imagination to convert. Why? Just Why?
    The Good (EVERYONE SHUT UP! I SWEAR, I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN IF YOU TELL THEM AND THE PRICES GO UP!!!):
    Tzaangor at 10 for $40. It's not great for only 10 models, but it's a $5 decrease from the 40K version and a $1.25 decrease from the old Bestigors. So... Improvement?
    Tzaangor Skyfires/Enlightened Box at 3 for $35. I celebrated so loudly my neighbors came to check on me. Usually boxes of three of models of this size go for $50-$60 or so (see Demigryphs, Bloodcrushers, Stormfiends, Vargheist/Crypt Horrors, Trolls), and this comes in at almost half of that.
    I don't know what GW is thinking with their pricing structure here, but I think Marketing has been having a few too many again. Cheers!
  3. SuperHappyTime
    I've been looking over the GH released points and been a little depressed on how a number of the new factions don't have enough different things to make a very diverse army. In particular, the old High and Dark Elf factions are quite limited, using the same unit over and over while supplementing with 1-2 Behemoths/Leaders.
    Here's a few of the really easy to make specific allegiance Order factions I'm referring to:
    Devoted of Sigmar: 30 Flagellants, 2 War Altars of Sigmar, Warrior Priest, Witch Hunter - 980 Points
    Eldritch Council: 20 Swordmasters, Archmage, Loremaster, Archmage on Dragon - 980 Points
    Order Draconis: 15 Dragon Blades, Dragon Noble, Dragonlord
    Order Serpentis: 10 Drakespawn Knights, 1 War Hydra, 1 Drakespawn Chariot, 1 Dreadlord on Black Dragon
    Phoenix Temple: (It's unclear as to whether the Anointed on Phoenix needs to be counted as both a Phoenix and an Anointed, or just the Phoenix). Count Both Units Separate: 30 Phoenix Guard, 1 Anointed (on the Phoenix), 1 of Either Phoenix - 940 or 960 Points. Count Both as the Same: 20 Phoenix Guard, 2 of either Phoenix, at least 1 ridden by Anointed (If both are Frost, you can sneak in an Anointed on foot) 
    Scourge Privateers: 20 Black Ark Corsairs, 2 Black Ark Fleetmasters (Because everything else in this army is a multiple of 100, might as well take 2 FMs). Fairly open in what you take, but repeating Kharibdyss, FMs, Corsairs, and Scourgerunner Chariots.
    Shadowblades: 1-4 Assassins, 20-30 Dark Riders. You'll get more Dark Riders with fewer Assassins, but it matches equally to 1000 points at 2 Assassins and 30 Dark Riders. Ironically, there's only 3 lists you can make if you insist on taking as many points as possible
    Swifthawk Agents: 20 Shadow Warriors, 1 Skywarden, add to this Chariots Skycutters as you see fit.
    I'm trying to illustrate that until these armies get expanded upon, there isn't much in the way of expanding a few of these armies past 1000 points unless you like repeating specific units. And in the future these forces are going to be expanded upon, so you'll want to be buying more things in the future, which may not be bad if you want to start at 1000 points. But unless you're a fan of the already developed factions, you may want to stick to the Grand Allegiances for Pitched Battle.
    Oddly, everything that is Battleline is only Battleline when given the special Allegiance.
  4. SuperHappyTime
    I believe that AoS is a good miniatures game but will continue to blast it's creator (GW) for a poor handling of the game.
    This time, I'm focusing on fluff instead of rules, or mainly where the lack of fluff.
    When you searched online about the old factions, you could usually get a quick flavor blurb about why someone might want to play Empire, or Dwarfs, or High/Dark Elves, or Warriors of Chaos, or Skaven, or Orcs and Goblins. This seems to be a missing part and parcel for Age of Sigmar. While we as a community aren't doing a good job of explaining it, there isn't anything free from GW explaining it either.
    GW's homepage used to not be just an online storefront, they provided context too: https://web.archive.org/web/19990423184209/http://www.games-workshop.com/games/warhammer/armies.html
    Just a quick look at something like the Dark Elves:
    I get a quick feel for their past, that they were once in a civil war with their brothers (who on the same page I can find out are the High Elves, and which builds in a match-up I may wish to fight. I learn why they fight (twisted opinion and an embrace of evil, plus loot and prisoners), and in reading the page, and I learn how they would fight (Warriors may use repeater crossbows to mow down ranks of enemy).
    Comparing what we had before for the old armies that haven't been updated is a sad state of affairs. Just look at the Order Serpentis, I get the following flavor bits:
    So from this, what's the Order Serpentis' motives? Why are they fighting? Do they have a personal goal in the realms? Are they looking to have everybody fight for their cause, do they actually like snakes or were they just sorted by an old hat into Slytherin? We can't even rely on the old fluff, as most of it has been eliminated from the minds of everyone but the few gods. The weirdest part is that GW already has a good collection of short faction explanations in the Grand Alliance Books, but wants to use them as some kind of purchasable good instead of an advertisement.
    The importance should really be on GW, as getting us into buying should be first and foremost on their agenda. But maybe we as good shepherds of the game need to be providing these details online ourselves.
    Have a Super Happy Time!
  5. SuperHappyTime
    This was a little listing experiment that I started that I think everyone else may have thought of before. I’ll cover Order for now and probably do the other Grand Alliances down the road. But it’s always fun to speculate:

    Start Collecting Boxes usually have the same following things:

    -          At least one full unit of Battleline, maybe a little more models but never two (usually close to 1.5)

    -          If the army has access to a cavalry unit, it will be a part of the box.

    -          If the army has access to a chariot, it will be a part of the box.

    -          If the army has a behemoth model, it will be a part of the box (if there are two building option, the more flavorful option is chosen, which is usually also the lower points cost)

    -          The box will contain one leader. (only the Flesh-Eaters Court has been different). If there is a new hero available, it will be the choice.

    -          For factions made entirely of new units, point cost will be roughly 400-500 points and the low end of the number of models (10-15)

    Some Boxes will have issues and are likely to come out as something other than a SC Box. I’d summarize these as the Infantry Box (20-30 infantry sized models), and the Behemoths Box (3-4 behemoths).  I’ll explain why there are other restriction for cost saving boxes for each faction:

    Collegiate Arcane: Big Units Box. There currently is no Battleline and at least three behemoths.

    Darkling Covens: Infantry Box. There are too many infantry choices in this army to make an appealing box.

    Daughters of Khaine:10 Witch Aelves, 5 Doomfire Warlocks, Cauldron of Blood. The biggest reason this box hasn’t been produced is just how much savings this box provides. It’s somewhere over $75.

    Devoted of Sigmar: War Altar of Sigmar, 16 Flagellants, Excelsior Warpriest. This is a very good opportunity to pick up the Warpriest outside of the Silver Tower box.

    Dispossessed: Infantry Box. No behemohs, no cavalry.

    Eldritch Council: Other Box. No cavalry or other interesting model.

    Extremis Chambers: Behemoths Box. There isn’t any battleline either

    Free Peoples: 10 Freeguild Guard, 5 Freeguild Outriders/Pistoliers, Freeguild General on Griffon. There may be room for Demigryph Knights instead, but I think the dual build of the Outriders/Pistoliers makes it the best option. Alternatively, Infantry Box.

    Fyreslayers: 10 Vulkite Berzerkers, 1 Runefather or Runemaster, 5 Respective Hearthguard. The boxes already released won’t be bought after this box drops.

    Ironweld Arsenal: Behemoths Box. But think a lot of Artillery instead.

    Lion Rangers: Other Box. There are currently not enough units to know where this is going to go.

    Order Draconis: Other Box. Suffers from a lack of a 10 man infantry unit.

    Order Serpentis: Other Box. See Order Draconis

    Phoenix Temple: Annointed, 10 Phoenix Guard, Flamespyre/Frostheart Phoenix. A well put together box.

    Scourge Privateers: 10 Black Ark Corsairs, 1 Black Ark Fleetmaster, Scourgerunner Chariot, Kharibdyss. I feel this box is a little crowded with two models of size, but I think the Hydra/Kharibdyss is a worthy enough kit for a SC box.

    Seraphon: Already out. Other than the oversized units (12 Warriors and 6 Guard) this is a perfect box.

    Shadowblades: Other Box. This whole army doesn’t bring enough to the table to make a useful box.

    Stormcast Eternals: Already Out. Maybe one of the biggest stumbles is only 2 Retributors instead of the full 5.

    Swifthawk Agents: 10 Shadow Warriors, 1 Chariot, 1 Skywarden. This suffers somewhat the same as a number of the other factions, somewhere between Scourge Privateers and Order Draconis/Serpentis

    Sylvaneth: Already out. I would have like to see Tree-Revenants instead of the extra 6 dryads, but I think this is one of the better boxes out there.

    Wanderers: 12 Glade Guard, 5 Wild Riders/Sisters of the Thorn, 1 Leader (Spellweaver is my choice heresofar). There are quite a few good additions here that tempt me away from saying Infantry Box.

    Comment below on what you like, where you think I went wrong, and have a Super Happy Time!

    Andrew

  6. SuperHappyTime
    I did this a while ago but never got around to posting it. Here are the points for each of the Start Collecting Boxes:
    12 Saurus Warrior* 200 6 Saurus Knights* 240 Oldblood on Carnosaur 320     20 Plague Monks 140 Plague Furnace 220 Plagueclaw 180     Arkhan the Black 340 10 Skeleton Warriors 80 5 Black Knights 120     Lord Celestant 100 2 Retributors* 220 5 Liberators 100 3 Prosecutors 100     3 Spirit Hosts 120 5 Hexwraiths 160 Mortis Engine 180 10 plaguebearers
    100 3 plague drones 220 3 Nurgling Swarms 80 Daemon Herald of Nurgle 100     Orruk Warboss on War Boar 140 Orruk Warboss with Great Waaagh! Banner 140 Orruk Boar Chariot 80 5 Orruk Boar Boys 100 10 Orruk Boyz 100     Herald on Blood Throne 120 3 Bloodcrushers 160 10 Bloodletters 100     Chaos Sorcerer Lord 140 Chaos Chariot 80 5 Chaos Knights 200 12 Chaos Warriors* 360     Branchwych 100 Treelord 260 16 Dryads* 240     Slaughterpriest 100 10 Blood Warriors 200 3 Skullcrushers 160     Orruk Warchanter 80 3 Orruk Gore-gruntas 180 10 Orruk 'Ardboyz 180     Terrorgheist 320 3 Crypt Horrors 140 10 Crypt Ghouls 100         Totals   Daemons of Khorne 380 Stormcast 520 Ironjawz 440 Khorne Bloodbound 460 Malignants 460 Daemons of Nurgle 500 Clans Pestilens 540 Deathrattle 540 Greenskinz 560 Flesh Eater Courts 560 Sylvaneth 600 Seraphon 760 Slaves to Darkness 780 * Indicates an elevated point cost due to going over a Minimum Unit Size
    Have a SuperHappyTime!
  7. SuperHappyTime
    I take a look into what may be a massive problem with a new format of the General's Handbook. To let you know ahead of time, I consider points the primary consideration through this entire piece. Bringing up tactics like use of hordes, fast units, elites, summoning, and monsters is a good point, but I'm going to bust it open at the very end.
    Did you choose Chaos for a Path to Glory Campaign? No! Don't worry! I won't judge harshly! Yet...
    So which god did you pick? From what I'll show you: IT DOESN'T MATTER! But Nurgle is better. There is a massive Caveat worth mentioning, and it's that if you are randomly deciding which table you're rolling on (Between Retinue, Hero, Monster, Brayherd, or Warherd), the Answer to which god is best is either Tzeentch or Nurgle. Then it's Any Patron before choosing Khorne or Slaanesh.
    So who's your champion? The Chaos Lord that provides 6 Units and is available for any god is the correct choice, hands down. More on that later
    So what table did you choose to roll on? If you said Brayherd, you've chosen wrong. If you chose Nurgle Retinue, you've chosen well but are taking an unnecessary 1/6 risk to end up with 2 Chaos Spawns instead of 5 Blightkings (Yuck!). Same goes for the Warherd Table as the Doombull is a low point risk. The table you want however, is the Monster Table, as it offers a minimum of 180 points, provides an average of 203 points, and has the highest chance of hitting the highest possible unit peak of 220 points without the risk of hitting 120 points.
    So lets go to what we end up with if we roll only on the Monster table vs rolling on the other tables.
    All of the other tables will average a total of 125.083... points on average, while our Monsters Table averages 203. Even if we do something stupid like choosing a champion with 4 units instead of one with 6 units, our Monsters team holds a 812 to 500.33... lead, and a 311 point advantage. If we chose correctly and went with a Chaos Lord as our leader, this blossoms into a 1218 to 750.5 lead in models, providing an extra 467 points.
    Justification for the Chaos Lord over any other choice: For everything but a Lord/Sorcerer on Manticore, a monster is providing 200 or 400 points for what is only a 20 or 40 point gain on the General. The Lord on Manticore is indeed a monster himself. However, it takes two spots away, which is easily made equal with one Monster and another Monster to purchase.
    My counterpoint to the above mention of tactics is that a 400 point advantage in what would be a 800 point contest is HUGE. It's having half an extra army compared to the opponent. It overwhelms any advantage that tactical units bring to the table.
    A second counterpoint is that most Heroes are underrated with how good they are and well worth more than their points, to which I agree.
    I think that Path to Glory is a fantastic format for building your personal force. However, may be a permanent competitve fixture if a certain amount of rebalancing is added on to it. It's something I would add to my ever growing list of hobby projects. If it's something you'd like to see in the future, or you'd like to contest something I've mentioned, please leave a comment, and have a Super Happy Day!
  8. SuperHappyTime

    Netlisting

    By SuperHappyTime,

    Hello, my name is SuperHappyTime... and... I'm what you might call a netlister. (Que "Hi SuperHappyTime”)

    For those not familiar with the term netlist or netlister, it's a derogatory term used by a player-base to insult a group of players that build their gaming playstyles/profiles/lists not based on personal experiences, but on internet searching. More specifically, they look at winning playstyles and build their said lists from them.

    Now this will generally cause hate from a number of nerds:

    ·         Those who dislike the Win at all costs mentality

    ·         Those who pride on playing “their way”

    ·         Those that believe you need to play with your own personal creation, and not something you found elsewhere

    ·         Those who believe you need to take sub-optimal choices in order to have a good time

    ·         Those who believe taking the time to determine and use the optimal choices are breaking the game

    You can find more about Netlisting on 1d4chan, or any gaming forum you want. Go ahead, I’ll wait a little bit.

    So what am I doing here? Well, I’m here to tell you to give in to the dark side of the force.

    1.      Play Experience Is Still Required

    When was the last time you won based on skill and not dumb luck, with an army that you’ve never played before (either with or against)? Chances are, not high, especially if the person across from you has. Netlisting might buy you into the second round of a tournament, but it probably isn’t getting you into the Top 2, 4, 8, or possibly 16 (unless your game is horribly broken, in which case you might).

    2.      Welcome to the Worldwide Web

    You might be new here. Chances are very good that on a world of 6 billion people and a very small population of gamers that you aren’t the only person wanting to try a certain list or elements there in. Chances are very good that someone else has figured a few things that work and a few that don’t. Why aren’t you taking advantage of that knowledge and using it yourself? Especially if it is something that works or you should be doing

    3.      We All Reach the Same Conclusion

    Put a nerd in a room with no way out, give him all of the time and resources he needs to develop the perfect strategy/ies for a game and then probably forget he needs oxygen, food, and water to survive and try again with a new nerd and items to sustain himself. Given enough time he will have found nearly the exact same game strategies that the competitive community already plays and a netlister can decipher from said community.

    4.      Netlisting Helps Game Designers

    There is nothing more detrimental to a gaming scene than one playstyle that annihilates all others but itself. Gaming in a vacuum with no netlisting practices will rarely lead to the conclusion that something is wrong with a game. Early in a game’s meta, you’ll want a playstyle to pull ahead of the rest. This oddly motivates the meta to build their list to prepare to play against the Bogeyman and not as the Bogeyman, something BETTER than the Bogeyman.

    5.      It Helps Bad Players Win

    A big difference between a good and a bad player is that the good player recognizes tthat something is bad for winning. The best example is in Magic the Gathering, where in a sealed pack setting the good players will cut down to 40 cards, while a bad player will stay at 43, 47, or even more. What the good player knows is that several cards in his deck will be game-changers, while most other cards help you sustain the game. Going to 50 cards vs 40 increases your odds of finding that game-changer from 1/40 to 1/50, or a 20% decrease in drawing that card over the 15-20 cards you will likely draw in that game. Netlisting is that extra helper that separates the wheat from the chaff and gets the win.

    6.      Netlisting Takes Work

    The worst thing a netlister can ever do is to use the previous tournament winner’s exact same deck. Primarily because it’s the new Bogeyman that everyone is looking to dethrone, but mostly because it may have been an unexpected fluke. Again, I use Magic the Gathering, where a 48-land deck called Seismic Swans won a major tournament, then mostly disappeared from Top 8 decks thereafter. It’s also necessary to keep up with the format, as the Skeleton of the deck you are playing may change as competitive players do better with certain additions that become part of the Skeleton. Likewise, looking through a few lists isn’t the same thing as looking through a lot of lists

    7.      Netlisting is Also Budget Friendly

    This may be the ultimate sticking point for WAAC Players. Because I pick out only the best things, I’m not spending money on all the things that don’t work. I may be spending twice as much as a Casual player did, but I’m likely beating him more often. Your play experience may be a bigger factor in the end however, but after enough play-throughs that will likely change to your favor.

    8.      Effective Netlisting isn’t Always Possible

    Netlisting isn’t always an easy adventure. In particular with Warhammer Fantasy, finding effective data for Netlisting had few and far data points. I performed my own usual Netlisting routines on a set of maybe about 15 events from 2012-2015 and I’m relieved to have found that much. But even in that data, some armies (Beastmen, Tomb Kings) were very lacking in available lists and other armies (High Elves, Warriors of Chaos, Dark Elves) had so many distinct Skeletons that it made choosing the best impossible. Not to mention the amount of data when I had some and the lack of it from other sources.

    I think I’ll wrap up this post for now, as if you can’t tell I may have repeated myself occasionally. My next post may be on my usual process of Netlisting, my findings in my own Netlisting bit, or where netlisting goes with AoS.

    Laissez les bons temps rouler,

    SuperHappyTime

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