Legion Vehicle Scale – New Images!

First off, here’s a video if you don’t want to read!

FFG released new images today showing us some relative scale of the AT-ST and Snowspeeder in relation to some infantry miniatures.  This is most likely aimed at the recent criticism for the initial articles having only solo images of each vehicle, making it difficult for us to see the pictures.

Here are two of the initial pictures from the launch article:

The AT-ST looks great next to those trees, but it would have been great to see it next to some troopers!

The Snowspeeder just looks really small right here.  There’s really not much for reference.

This lead to alot of debate on various different message boards and social media about the scale of these vehicles and if they are worth the price tag.  Many pointed out that the snowspeeder isn’t that large to begin with, which is true if you are comparing it to an X-Wing or similar starfighter.   However we still needed to see.

This week, FFG released these two images.

At first it seems like these images set the record straight by giving us some reference and perspective.   However, if you look closely you’ll see that the angles of the bases are different.  This lead people to say that the image was faked or photoshopped.

Realistically, I’m sure the image was photoshopped.  They don’t have production models in-hand yet, so they have to base it off of the proposed sizes and dimensions.   That doesn’t mean that this image is false though, in that it most likely does reflect the actual size of these vehicles.

I remain hopeful that they will be large and impressive!   Can’t wait for them to show up!

Dare to go Squadron-less?

Video if you prefer not to read the article.

 

It can be very tricky to go without squadrons.  Essentially, any list that doesn’t include any squadrons is taking a huge gamble, and it usually isn’t worth the risk.

Taking even two TIE Fighters or Z-95s is a minimal investment of points, and can make a huge difference when you are facing a squadron heavy build.  This is a major reason why you simply don’t see many squadron-less fleets these days.   It’s just too easy to spend 14-30 points to ensure that you are at least mildly prepared to deal with a majority of lists…  and since virtually every list out there uses squadrons at least in part – it’s almost a given that you HAVE to take some squadrons.   Almost…

But going without squadrons can give you all sorts of awesome benefits as well!  Lets talk about some of the benefits.

Single Strategy – For starters, you can build a singular strategy around your ships – weather it’s a full-blown broadside list, a hard charging Star Destroyer list, or something else designed without squadrons in mind, you can focus more on a single idea.

Command Dials – You only have to worry about planning 3 commands, instead of 4, effectively reducing the choices you have to make, and giving you less chance of picking something wrong.  (Although this is also a double edged sword if your opponent is running slicer tools – more on that later).

More Points! – The most obvious benefit is that you have more points to spend on the bulk of your fleet!  That means more ships, more activations, more dedicated anti-ship firepower, and more points for upgrades!

If you want to make a squadron-less fleet work you are going to need to embrace a few key concepts.

Survive – You need to be able to withstand lots of extra poke damage.  A-Wings like to poke and they are cheap.  B-Wings with bomber command center and Yavaris are the worst.    You won’t have an easy way of shutting these squadrons down, so you’ll need to outlast their barrages.   And if you manage to get rid of their ships, the remaining squadrons STILL get to shoot during the squadron phase, since the winner isn’t determined until the end of the round.   You might defeat your opponent only to have their remaining bombers finish you off as well.

Chase –  Relay has been a tremendous boon to fragile carriers.  Flotillas, Quasars, and even a really mean Yavaris can now hang in the back and issue commands from safety.   You’ll need some speed to be able to chase them down and take them out. Try to use ships that can go faster than speed 2.

Table – When your opponent has serious squadron power, the best way to shut them down is to table them.  This isn’t always easy, due to flotillas using scatter, or a single Star Destroyer running engineering every turn.  You’ll need to have a list that has the speed and firepower to catch every ship and table them.

Kill the Flotillas – Since you have no squadrons, it’s especially harmful if an opponent hits you with Slicer tools, so if possible, activate your 1-Command ships first, and prioritize killing those flotillas if you can.  They activate squadrons, can be housing a Bomber Command Center, and are hard enough to kill – you don’t want them getting away and using Relay to finish you off.

Be prepared to lose badly– Even a really well designed fleet with no squadrons is going to lose.   Alot.  If you are going to do this, keep that in mind.  You are gambling here.   Winning will be fun, but facing a swarm of bombers will hurt.   And people run them often.

Bad Ideas

Some ideas tend not to work too well.  Even though at first glance, they might seem like a winning solution for a squadron-less build.

Quad Laser Turrets – A single counter die is only going to do an average of half a damage, each time you are attacked.   This on it’s own isn’t enough to stop a bomber build, especially considering how most bombers have high hit points.  This need to be paired with other cards to work better, and also need to be on every ship.

Cluster Bombs – It sounds attractive, but it’s also expensive to get enough of them to outfit your whole fleet.  Plus it’s a one time use.   On the plus side it can’t be braced or scattered, but chances are, a low health Tycho will simply fly away or go after a ship that has already spent it’s bombs.  As much as I’d like to try to really try these in a heavy environment, there simply isn’t enough reason to use them now.

Single Raider with Impetuous – This title isn’t “bad” but if you are expecting a single raider with this title to stop the enemy squadrons you are going to be in for a disturbing truth.  Enemy squadrons will almost never put themselves in a position for you to shoot at them if this is your one threat.  Either they’ll activate during the squadron phase (after you’ve already gone), and fly out of your firing range, or they’ll activate ahead of you with a squadron command.  To make this title really shine, you need some way to lock down enemy squadrons, and for that purpose you should have chosen the Instigator.

Quasar 2 – The red anti-squadron die is unmatched currently in terms of range and number of squadrons it can hit.   And sure, you can give it Kallus to potentially hurt aces – but at the end of the day you are taking the game’s best pure carrier, and not bringing any squadrons for it to….. “carry”.  I just have a huge problem with that level of inefficiency.

Ideas that can work:

Lets talk about a few ideas that are more reliable and have a better chance to be effective in a variety of circumstances.

Raider 1 – The Raider 1 is a great ship, possibly the BEST ship in the game for this purpose.  It is fast.  It can roll 2 black dice.  It has two titles that specifically deal with Squadrons.  It can take the perfect combination of Flechette Torpedoes and Ordnance Experts to seriously lock down any large group of squadrons.   Consider running several of these.   Best part is they still work well against ships, unlike some other anti-squadron specific options.

Kallus – Dude is amazing for dealing with squadrons.  Combos well with Flechettes but works just as good without them.   And you get to pick the color – so if you really need that accuracy to stop the scatter, or you want the reliable damage from the black, or maybe you are going for the hail mary red die with the double hit… you can chose whatever you need!  And he’s only 3 points, so even if you end up not facing uniques it’s not a terrible waste.

CR-90A – It has alot of things going for it that help make up for the vulnerability that having no squadrons will give you.  It’s fast.  Very fast.  It has alot of red dice, so it can reach pretty far.  It has access to some good upgrades like the TRC.   And it’s cheap.   You can run a ton of them and squadrons will have a hard time keeping up with you, while you pelt their carriers from long range with TRC blast after TRC blast.

Toryn Far – If you are going rebels, you likely aren’t going to mass ships with double black anti squadron dice – so you’ll probably get alot of use out of her.   As a bonus she also helps make Quad Laser Turrets slightly better, so if you are on the fence about that idea, she can help push you over.  And she works against ships too!

 

Every time I try a list with no squadrons, I always know that I am taking a huge gamble, but i suppose that’s part of the fun.   Ideally you hope to get paired up against someone with a counter-squadron build – perhaps someone with a handful of non-threatening squadrons – perhaps with escort, or counter.  But if you can pull off a win against a heavy squadron list – it’ll be worth the anxiety!  Happy Flying!

 

Holiday Giveaway! Win a Legion Core Set!

Win a Legion Core Set!

Since the holidays are nearly upon us, I have decided it is time for a contest!   The winner of which will receive a gift card to miniature market for a Legion Core Set!  What contest you ask?

Painting Contest!

In preparation for what will likely be a WHOLE lot of painting, I’ve decided that I want to see some of the best paint jobs that everyone has to offer!   I’m going to let this contest run until after Thanksgiving,  and the winner will be announced during the weekend of Nov 24-26th, 2017.  Your paint job can be any FFG miniature!   I will be picking the winner myself, but you entries will get bonus points if it’s a Star Wars product – so while I am open to entries of Runewars, and other games, I’m really looking for Star Wars paint jobs.  X-Wing, Armada, and Imperial Assault will be my main focus.

I’m looking for the best paint job, but will totally give bonus points for a great photo, so the more work you put in to your presentation, there better!   Backgrounds, setup, and great lighting will help!  You’ll need to register on my forums, and if you have any trouble doing that, contact me on my youtube channel.

The Rules:

  • Submission must be your own work.
  • You must register on the forums to post.
  • Submission must be posted to the forums for all to see.
  • Submission must be of an FFG Miniature, such as X-Wing, Armada, Imperial Assault, etc.
  • Submission should be posted in the appropriate section of the forums.  (X-Wing photos should be posted under the X-Wing section, etc).
  • Entries should be posted under the title : Paint Contest – followed by a title for your submission.
  • Entering gives me your permission to use your name and pictures in promotional postings and videos – (Announcing the top 10, announcing the winner, etc).
  • The final day to enter is 11/23/2017
  • Contest MAY be cancelled or rescheduled if there are not enough entries.   If I feel there are so few entries I reserve the right to adjust the terms or time of this giveaway.  The idea is to have many paint jobs show up for the viewing pleasure of everyone.

The winner will be announced the weekend following Thanksgiving, just in time for the December Holiday Season!  The winner will receive a gift card in the amount of $72.00, (Miniature Market currently has the Legion Core Set listed as ($71.99).  I reserve the right to make adjustments to this contest as necessary(Perhaps the price changes, etc).

 

Episode 8 Trailer is here!!!!

If you haven’t already seen the latest trailer for Episode 8 – stop what you are doing and go watch it right NOW!

 

Seriously though it is amazing.  There are some spoilers for the general plot of the film, but I don’t think it’s ruining anything.   If anything I think it’s setting you up for some misdirection.   I did a couple videos about it last night.   First I did a reaction video, which shows both the trailer and me watching it for the first time.

After I had some time to process it I was able to do a scene by scene breakdown, which can be found below.   Some of the big takeaways from this trailer are as follows:

  1. Rey and Kylo Ren are of similar Strengths
  2. Luke is afraid of Rey’s strength, and perhaps reluctant to train her due to that fear.
  3. Snoke wants Rey’s strength and apparently succeeds at getting her.
  4. Kylo Ren is NOT as committed to the Dark Side as many thought – There IS still good in him.
  5. Ren and Rey may join forces at some point during this movie
  6. We are finally getting a good space battle(At least 1)
  7. Finn Vs Phasma is going to happen and it looks fantastic!

This trailer focused more on the force users than our military folks, which is fine with me…. but since trailers have a tendency to mislead you as to the movies true content, we don’t know how much will focus on the Jedi, and how much will focus on Poe, Rose, and Finn.

This trailer left out a lot of information too.  For example the lack of Benicio Del Toro’s “DJ” was a significant omission.   Also there really wasn’t any mention of other important characters such as Rose, Hux, or Ackbar.   Leia didn’t speak, so we still don’t know much about how significant her role will be, but we know it’s going to be a tear jerker regardless…

Here is my breakdown.

Tickets also went on sale last night.   I got one for the 7 PM showing on Dec 14th and it feels so much more real now!   Are you as excited as I am?

 

Episode 8 Trailer coming soon!

Rumor is that the Episode 8 trailer is going to be coming to us this coming Monday, Oct 9th!   Multiple leaks now seem to confirm this, and I discuss it more in this video.

Are you guys as excited as I am?   I’m going to try to stream a live reaction.  Granted I’m not always the crying type so I don’t think it’ll be like what you’ve seen before, but who knows, maybe it’ll be a bland trailer with information we already know from the merchandise, or maybe it’ll have some surprises!

 

What are you most looking forward to?

Hoth Terrain for Legion!

Just wanted to share some pictures of my finished Hoth Terrain for Star Wars Legion!  It’s taken me probably about two months to create all of the terrain pieces.  Here are some pictures!

I also ordered the playmat from Deep-Cut Studio, which I used for the surface.  The AT-AT is from the old WOTC game, the explosions are a Bandaii Tamashi Nations effect, (Plastic pieces for posing action figures), and all the rest of the miniatures are from Imperial Assault. I cannot WAIT for Star Wars Legion to finally come out!

I’ve documented my progress in a series of videos.  If you haven’t checked them out yet I suggest you do!

If you just want to jump to the final video, that’s part 10!

Concentrate Fire – My Favorite Command!

I suppose the title says it all here.   Concentrate Fire is probably my most heavily used command and I just love it, but it’s not perfect.  Maybe I favor it so much because I tend to enjoy games that end quickly?   Maybe it’s an aggressive play style?   Maybe I’d rather destroy an enemy ship before it can shoot me back?   You know what they say, the best defense is a good offense!

I actually think it has something to do with the types of lists I fly.  I used to really favor the CR-90 with Turbolaser Reroute Circuits, but have since gravitates more towards being a serious fan of the Arquitens.  What do a lot of my favorite lists have in common?

Small Ships

Small based ships tend to have a lower number of attack dice, and they also tend to cost a lot less than medium or large ships.   The types of small ships I tend to fly most often are ships that are cheap and have red dice in multiple firing arcs.  A CR-90 with a concentrate fire, can effectively double it’s side arc dice at long range, or add 50% to it’s front shot.  That’s not a bad amount of firepower if you’ve got some way to counter the risk of rolling blanks.  The Arquitens on the other hand, also can double their front shot, but only gain 33% to the side shot.   However, either ship can run TRC to mitigate a single bad result, but the Arquitens have the unique advantage of being Imperial and therefore having access to Vader – an incredibly strong commander where Red Dice are concerned.

Large Ship Disadvantage

Large Ships using concentrate fire, on the other hand, have a significant disadvantage when compared to small ships doing the same command.  A Large ship may be rolling anywhere from 4 to 10 dice already, and getting one extra just isn’t that much of a big deal.  At long range, an ISD may only add 20% to it’s dice count, which is much less, but the closer they get, the less impactful a concentrate fire command feels.   Imagine rolling 8 dice and your command only gives you one more…   Typically by the time an Imperial Star Destroyer, or Liberty MC-80 gets you within medium range, you are going to die regardless, so one extra die isn’t going to matter much.  For large ships, navigation is often far more valuable, considering they can use it to ensure they line up shots and guarantee using the dice they already have.

My Wishlist

How would I fix this balance?  Any fix I come up with for this would have to make Large ships more desirable than they are now, in my mind, while not making medium ships overpowered since they have the ability to take disposable capacitors.  I think a new commander or new officers could help this idea out.

Admiral Lee would act similar to Motti for the rebels.  This is only a rough example for the card, he may have to cost more, and I may have to scale back his benefits… perhaps providing nothing for a small ship in this case.   Maybe an extra reroll for medium, and an extra die for large… but this is just to get the ideas flowing.

For the Empire, I went with a single ship option.

I made him an officer and costed him at a whopping 15 points.   He can give an ISD 3 additional dice when doing a CF, so a total of 4 extra dice for a long range attack.   I might have to make him Large Ship Only.  Something like this would really make an ISD threatening!  But I fear if he’s not restricted to large ships, people might simply put him on a Victory and call it a day.

 

Either way, as it stands right now, I feel Concentrate Fire is best and most efficient on small ships, and since you can field so many MORE of them, it adds up to ALOT more dice overall.   I would love to see some serious incentive for Large Ships to start taking Concentrate Fire more reliably!