Jump to content

Mephisto

Members
  • Posts

    150
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Mephisto

  1. Back on topic though, What About the "No Scrubs" Trophy where every unit in the army must be over a certain point cost per model. You'd further more have to play up the no scrubs thing by adding unique expensive heroes.
  2. Another thing I'd like to point out regarding Brewcity was the secondaries. I REALLY enjoyed them. Besides the fact that I find your standard secondaries to be pretty swingy at best and winmore at worst, Brendan's secondary list really reinforced the vibe. I wouldn't call it a "soft" tournament in terms of competition. There were plenty of hard lists and filth there but the pack had variety. The easiest things tended to be flavorful like shouting "no survivors!" after bodying your opponent's battleline or attempting to bribe a TO (my favorite). It really lent itself to a closeknit and friendly atmosphere. Who'd have thought 50 folks there for hardware could be so damn fun to just be around...
  3. To be fair making someone else go last is the same thing as going first. They just made it sound more leisurely and hedonistic (which I give them props for). As though their heroes are luring other enemies into a daze so they can enjoy killing you slowly. It also gives the air of interactivity by having a dice roll your opponent is waiting to watch you fail along with positioning requirements. I just wish that last sentence wasn't there as it is basically foreshadowing that GW intends to nerf Itchy Nuisance and Wildfire Taurus. They just couldn't let their be a straight up combat counter to ASF. It reminds me of when the Blades of Khorne FAQ buffed Gristlegore to stop intelligent players using clever pile-ins to deny the mindlessness of a GKoTG.
  4. Why indeed. We have three factors here that make this so contentious. Obviously FEC is an issue but we can chalk that up to being the outlier if folks concede that other instances of ASF are "fine." A big issue is outdated armies; some armies simply do not have the tools to compete with the new technology. The third and most speculative though potentially significant is an issue is rules bloat. AOS has a delicate back and forth and this mechanic as implemented along with the trend toward it removes meaningful choice in play and elements of interaction. From a game design stance I don't understand why it gets put on offensive units as spartan-esque phalanxes and pikemen seem the far more logical targets for such a rule. Despite my obvious cynical tone, I've really not made up my mind 100% on this one (hence starting the topic). FEC, again, obvious problem, outlier, etc, etc. But the meta will shift and progress so eventually we'll remember hating them the way we remember hating KO Clown Car. What I am certain about is this is a mechanic that's tripping my spidey-sense. The red flag is raised and I'd caution GW moving forward with it. We've seen the worst case scenario already in 40K.
  5. If everyone has it. Nobody has it.
  6. Hey y'all! It seems GW is REALLY excited about the Always Fights First or "Fights at the Start of Combat" mechanic these days. Seems each new army or new tease for an army needs it without any off-set for existing armies. If you're an old melee army, per IJ, you just gotta pray for an update or die in the meantime effortlessly to these new armies (guess what their massive update to IJ will be in the future? A bunch of AFF stuff I bet!) Isn't it great they're introducing this mechanic? How do you feel about it?
  7. On paper I think this is a viable strategy. So viable I've been experimenting with 120 of them w/ phantasmagoria in a Tzeentch list. Some armies just struggle with 120 (or 200) bodies clogging the arteries of play. And as you point out you still have 1000+ points for your hammers and tricks and such. I'll let you know my findings.
  8. I like that you lay out your logic. Some people might disagree with it but I think we can all understand it. And understanding is key.
  9. I got into AOS before the LoN tome came out. Briefly I considered FEC (dat lore, nuff sed) but eventually settled on "mixed Death" because necromancers+skeletons. I felt like GW was personally rewarding me for 'choosing correctly' when we got a proper battletome. Still, I feel beholden to FEC. They're like a little brother to me really. I always want them to do go and succeed. I was a bit aghast to see FEC take sixth at NOVA but also really proud. So seriously, major props, @Bill_S. Now there is some benevolence in my desire for FEC to be good. As an accomplished necromancer and lich, I quickly murder that benelovence and raise it as a skeleton to do my bidding and am left with two other, more selfish reasons: 1. I want the Death GA to be the best because muwahahahahahaha. 2. If more Death armies are better, then the Nagash saturation will subside some. The Nagash haters can go back to not seeing him as often and I can go back to enjoying a less crowded mirror match meta because Grand Host players don't like losing to coinflip, HODs either. Like, I will actually defend Hand of Dust. It's an unreliable trump card of a sort. You have to resolve a spell portal and then resolve the HoD. Both of these tilt toward Nagash's casting bonus but there are some armies out there that guarantee an unbind X times per game. Next, you flip the coin (or hide the dice). Now that you can only cast one spell through that portal, the Nagash player MUST make a tactical decision. Debuff a priority unit, or go for the 50/50? Imagine now, that you play against another Nagash. Your bonuses are meaningless because you equally unbind and cast so it's like you're straight rolling (your investment in being the best caster completely absorbed in the mirror) and it really is just... who gets the better hand. You're annoyed as an FEC player, imagine how annoyed I am. Like, don't you want me to HoD Morathi on average after 2 turns to keep DOK players honest? I know you do. As for priority? Well, that's just bad beats. GW doubled-down on the double turn with 2.0. Their strives to mitigate it with some of the objectives that score better if you go second and Endless Spells was NOT enough in my mind to continue to keep it around. I like the randomness of HoD and dice in general. Actually completely having games turned on their head because of lucky priority rolls doesn't feel good for either player, imo. Like... I don't feel good when I win because I got the double because I expect more of myself and I certainly don't feel good losing because the double. It's just a straight feelbad mechanic or NPE. I have to wonder if Bill could've weathered either the priority roles or the lucky multiples of HoD and just not both. I suspect he could've weathered the HoDs if it weren't for three straight priority wins for Nagash. Man, that's real close though. And with such a flavorful list... Once again, great showing, FEC. Every Death player is proud of you. At least they should be. PS: really DO NOT want to hijack this discussion with HoD talk or debate Double Turns. I was just being silly and humorous.
  10. I just read your long form post from a link you left in 6 Nation Takeaways thread and I just wanted to commend you. I'd reply there but I sort of retroactively read it and didn't want to resurrect or rehash the discussion about winning/competition in AOS.

    I mean, I disagree with the Pittsburgh point - Packers/Bucks/Brewers fan here ;) - but overall liked your take. I especially liked the plea at the end, "don’t ask them to abandon the ship of truth..." 

    My main point is that by facilitating good rules and a healthy competitive circuit, GW in no way stops others who are less competitive from having their fun. It's actually the opposite. If Noncompetitivegai wants to "just have fun and not try to win" they can do that as easily with or without rules and are not compelled in anyway to ever enter a tournament. Similar to how Paintgai can just buy paints and models and never put his hobby pieces on a table. I'd posit, however, that once they do put models on a table to push them around, they engage in the most minimum of social contracts that I'm probably going to try to win against them. That's not to say that I only have fun when winning or that I'm asserting it's the the only way to have fun. Hell, I may do something reckless or silly but that's because the excitement of the gamble or the hilarity of the joke outweighs the potential to win in that moment but I do that despite the truth of the matter that games have rules and this game has rules where two people put models down with constraints that will name one the victor.

  11. Mephisto

    Endless Legions

    I play matched play so I never used it before. Since AOS 2.0 has come out, I've only played two games. Won both games. The first game against Mixed Order I didn't use it since my gravesites were blocked a good chunk of the game. My opponent sort of stick his neck out a bit to try to block them and I used that to my advantage. The second game was against beast claw raiders and while he blew up 31 skeletons on the charge with his Frostlord (and shot the rest off on the double turn), I didn't need it. I used my Command Point for a devastating counter push instead that pretty much sealed the game. It's a small sample size but I've found my opponents' awareness of my gravesites has basically doubled. They're afraid of me resummoning 40 skeletons or some black knights and maneuver accordingly. The mental poker game has been the lowkey power of Endless Legions, I've found. The tactical flexibility has been great but in general I don't ever look forward to losing 40 skeletons or 20 GG to use it.
×
×
  • Create New...