Category Archives: netrunner

netrunner

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netrunner, tabletop

Today saw me head on over to darkest deepest Peterborough to play some Netrunner with Jamie at an undisclosed location. The location had to remain secret we didn't want the dirty corps crashing in and ruining our runs!

Netrunner

We played two games of Netrunner. The first time was my Noise deck (changed that morning) taking on Jamie's Jenteki deck. Jamie was playing the Jenteki corp id that requires me to do a run on a central server before I can do a run on a remote server. I had a good start, had installed a Hades Shard on turn one on archives, milled a couple of cards, done a run and next turn or maybe it was the first I scored a three point agenda.
My milling was working, I pulled the trigger on the Hades Shard and scored nothing. Jamie was scoring agendas at will. I wasn't doing any runs, so not really applying any pressure on Jamie's servers. I needed my Parasite or Crypsis but was not drawing either. Too late I remember the ability of the Djinn I had installed that allowed me to search the stack for viruses! Bugger that may have cost me the game, or been a contributing factor. Needless to say it was a comfortable win for Jamie.
The next game I played a core set NBN deck against Jamie's Kate deck. I'm still trying to find the corp faction that is me, so until I find that corp, I'm playing the core set decks.
Jamie got an early victory of a couple of agendas that were sitting in my HQ, while I was waiting to get the funds together to protect and advance the one I had in a remote server.
After that I was able to start tagging Jamie, setting a couple of ambushes that Jamie fell into, and start scoring agendas in my scoring remote. I started scoring agendas and eventually got the win.
I really enjoyed playing NBN. I like the theme of NBN, they are the media corp. I can pretend to be bigger then Murdock! So I think I've found my corp. plus in the next big box expansion NBN will be getting some card love too.

Thunderstone Advance: Numenera

Next up was a new game to me, and one that Jamie had only played solo, the deckbuilding game Thunderstone Advance: Numenera.

There was a few times when Jamie seemed to be walking away with the win because he was managing to kill more monsters than me, especially as I was struggling to get enough attack together to take out the monsters. Often falling short by one or two points, and having to settle with making a purchase in the village. After two and a half hours I was narrowly defeated (four points in it).

For me the game lacked immediacy. In the Legendary system (Marvel and Encounters) there is a constant pressure as the villains move through the city and you have to stop them escaping, otherwise something bad happens, plus you have the master strikes and scheme twists, that add to the pressure. Which is a shame because Jamie said this is present in the solo variant of the game, using a similar mechanic as Legendary.

Plus you can only do one thing each turn attack or buy a card, which slows the game down.

Overall I wasn't bowled over with Thunderstone, very meh I think.

Welcome to the Dungeon

Time for a micro game so Jamie introduced me to the bluffing game Welcome to the Dungeon. As Jamie suspected this game isn't really suited for two players and that it is better (I would imagine) with more players. I won the game we played, but would like to play this with the larger number of players (I think max is four) before making a final decision on this game. If I was only going to be able to play this as a two player game I'd avoid this, there are better two player micro experiences out there.

Coin Age

Our final game was another micro game, this time Coin Age. Now I won both games we played. It's a very simple game, a very quick and light experience.

I liked the game, I'd certainly play it again, but I don't think it will make my collection.

So another great day of gaming. I found my corp scum faction! Tried some new games.

 

My Awesome Weekend

imperial assault, netrunner, new arrivals, tabletop
Saturday saw me driving up North to the shadow of Kinder Scout to visit friends. As the photo below shows I took the odd game with me. I had ordered some new games that I was hoping would make it before I set off. Unusual for the Royal Mail they actually attempted to deliver my parcels, and they did it at half eight. Which meant I got them on time for once.
But I still had no idea what time DPD would be arriving with the one game I actually did want to take with me specifically for the weekend. Then a text message arrived letting me know they would be delivering the game Castle Panic before ten fifteen. Score I'd have everything before my planned leave time. For once the stars aligned for me.

Once at my destination for the weekend it was Netrunner time with my guru Todd. Todd was using his newly constructed HB Cybernetics Division deck against my Noise deck. Two games, two loses. But I did score some agendas so it wasn't a white wash. Then we swapped I played Todd's HB corp deck, while he played my Noise deck. I think this was maybe my third time playing corp. I haven't really looked at trying to construct a corp deck yet. I'm not really sure which corp is me yet.

I won this role reversal game, and then had feedback from Todd on where he thought my short comings were for my deck. I basically need to look at my economy (there wasn't really enough being generated), while there was also not much synergy going on in my deck either.

After a break, Todd constructed a runner deck that he wanted to test. So I played his corp deck again (well I don't currently have one) it was a tense game. But in the end Todd ended up winning.

While we were playing the last game it was getting near to the bedtime for his boys, and they wanted to play a game with me. So before they went to bed we had a couple of quick games of Batman Love Letter.

Tea for us grown ups had been an awesome homemade chilli made by Todd. It was just right, not over hot, but not bland like the chilli at work. There was a really nice heat to it. Perfect.

Sunday morning after breakfast was a quick game of Batman Love Letter with the boys. Then with the table in the middle of the room it was time for a game of Zombies! a favourite of the boys.

I hadn't played Zombies! before, so this was a new experience for me. My initial impression of the game was it was a lot of fun. Building the map as you go along was a nice mechanic. The game has a lot of opportunities for player interaction, well a take that interaction. It was very easy to screw over another player, forcing them to skip a go, stop them moving, surround them with zombies etc. One of the boys was really getting into this side of the game. That did add to the enjoyment of the game.

Run,Fight or Die! Fails

I tried to teach the youngest age seven Run,Fight or Die! However it didn't really grab his attention, especially with Cartoon Network on the TV.

How unfit I am?

After lunch we all went for a walk. The weather was hot, and the route took us over a hill to a conviently placed pub that used to be a mill. The hill was hard work, I'm so out of shape. Well more than usual. Luckily the return journey didn't have as much up, which was welcomed. The boys were amazing, not a single word of complaint, they really enjoyed themselves. It warms my heart to see kids enjoying the outdoors.

But boy was I knackered and sore afterwards. I really must get back into shape for the outdoors.

With the car packed it was time to say my good byes. I'd had a really great weekend. Great hosts, a great time. 'Nuff said.

Chris Shaner GenCon Star Realms Champion

Well the subheading says it all. A really big congratulations to Chris on becoming the champ. I don't think I'd be wrong in saying this competition is the nearest the Star Realms has at the moment to a world championship.
For an amazingly long time Chris was the top Star Realms player online however due to his alterism (he is no longer actively trying to push up his ranking since hitting level 40) he has been over taken and currently sits at number 4 on the all time league table. So really when you are that good at the game is it a surprise that Chris did so well in the GenCon competition?
Chris regularly thrashes me at Star Realms online. Sometimes I even make him work hard for his victory. Even more rare is the below photo, a victory for me. It just happened I managed to score this ultra rare win yesterday on the day I find out about Chris's well deserved title win.

Imperial Assault Wave 4 Announced

At GenCon this years big Imperial Assault announcement from Fantasy Flight Games was details of the wave four expansions. Wave four will have another big expansion which will return us fanboys back to Hoth.

Above photo taken from The Dice Tower stream from GenCon iirc ^_^

My favourite GenCon coverage from the week has been from Team Covenent and their unboxing and looks at the Wave Two expansions for Imperial Assault and the next big expansion for Android:Netrunner Data and Destiny. The videos give a great look with initial thoughts on the expansions, the enthusiasm for the contents, and the games really does come across in the videos. It's infectious and makes the videos a delight to watch.

The other coverage I have enjoyed is the MeepleWorship Instagram feed. This has been a great personal view of the show. Some great photos from the show floor, including loads of selfies with industry figures, celebs from the bloggersphere and of purchases.

New Arrival To The Pile Of Shame

The Recon expansion for Arctic Scavengers arrived this morning. It comes in a pretty big box. But there is a reason for that. The box is designed to hold not just the Recon expansion but also the base game and the HQ expansion (the right half of the photo above shows this). Apart from adding 140 new cards for the game, it also comes with the rules for using the Recon expansion, plus an updated rule book for the base game and HQ expansion. Now to just get the game to the table! Which is easier said than done.

 

Gaming Day

game night, love letter, netrunner, new arrivals

We had an induction event at work today for students starting in September. I had been put down to “entertain” a group of them for a couple of hours in the morning.

Recently it has come to light that I have a little bit of a Love Letter addiction and own eight copies of the game in various editions.

My plan was simple, I would utilise my Love Letter problem and hold a little Love Letter tournament with the students.

This was this first time the students had played the game. Plus for this group the first time that they had played a game that would not be considered “mainstream”. Sadly none of the group play tabletops, and most would say their last experience was playing the likes of Monopoly or Frustration.

The way I organised the tournament was that the winners from each table would be playing against each other in the next round. And then mix the other tables up based on how many tokens each remaining player had scored that round. To have consistent scoring between the versions we used the Batman Love Letter scoring, which meant that the guard card or equivalent when played and the player guesses correctly they get a token. Which is in addition to a token for winning the round.

This proved a great way of getting the students to mix, because this was the first time they had met.

Next time I run a Love Letter tournament (which will most likely be September) I’m hoping to get some prizes in place for the students to win. The only reason there wasn’t anything this time is because I had very little notice that I would be doing this today, let alone time to think about how I would fill the time slot.

The students had a good time playing the game. Which is the important thing.

At the end of the session I ended up showing one group an example of a “modern” boardgame by taking my copy of Run Fight or Die! out (I just happened to have a copy in my bag!) and quickly setting it up and explaining how the game is played.

What do I look for in a game to use with me students?

It has to be quick to teach, ideally in five to ten minutes. Lessons are one hour twenty (a two hour session like today is a rarity), so playtime for the game should be under an hour. Ideally the game should support four to six players, and not be expensive to buy (funnily enough I don’t have a budget for this sort of thing).

So what games do I currently use with the students:

  • Love Letter
  • Resistance
  • Fluxx
  • Munchkin
  • Zombie Dice

 

And here is a list of games I’m looking to try/introduce:

  • Coup
  • Sushi Go!
  • One Night Resistance (or I think it’s changed to Rebellion)
  • Age of War

Tuesday Night Netrunner

Well I was at the Kings Head at 7pm. Sadly a grand total of zero people turned up. I hung around for forty odd minutes. But I must have looked pretty sad nursing my orange and lemonade (with ice) while reading the rules to Hive. Then again I was the only customer there.

I will get this off the ground. So here is looking to next Tuesday and hopefully a bigger turnout.

New Arrivals

Well after last night and my complaint with Amazon where I cancelled the order and got a refund, that Imperial Settlers was delivered today was rather surprising. I wasn’t expecting that at all, especially when the Royal Mail told the Amazon support person the earliest they could attempt to redeliver was Wednesday! So my logic went I’ll cancel the order, get refund, reorder the game. While I’m doing that Amazon tell the Royal Mail to return the package. And life and the universe are at peace with one another once more.

The day had gone as planned, the manager from the local Royal Mail didn’t call me as promised. Royal Mail customer support is so shitty. I’m too drained to follow this up. Apparently Royal Mail managers finish at 2pm so I can’t even pop round after work to catch them.

I wonder why the Royal Mail is losing business to competition?

Finally Boss Monster 2 arrived, this is the kickstarter Collectors Editon that I went for which is made up of the limited edition game and a special lunchbox to store the cards of the game, plus stretch goals. I’ll get the special lunchbox later in the year. So excited about that. If you are remotely interested you can get the full list of the rewards I’ll be getting here on the this page.

The second hand copy of Hive Pocket is in good condition, I’m looking forward to learning this game. It’s potentially a game for trips.

Finally Nations the Dice Game also arrived. I really want to get this and Roll for the Galaxy to the table very very soon.

 

 

 

 

Netrunner this Tuesday anyone?

netrunner

 

For those in the Wisbech/Fenland area that play Android:Netrunner and looking for a game of two, I'm a noob at the game and same here. So thought why not try and organise something. So here I am trying to organise something. I'll be at the Kings Head, Wisbech this Tuesday from 7pm with my core set (for playing with those that only have a core set) and a Noise Anarch deck that I have built and want to play test.

I'm hoping if enough people show an interest this can become a regular thing. Tuesday night Netrunner with refreshing beverages.

 

I’m Not A Champ

netrunner, star realms

My continuing hunt to complete the set of Star Realms promo cards has taken one more step towards completion. This morning two copies of the Starmarket a Trade Federation base and The Ark a Machine Cult card arrived.

The nice thing about the Star Realms app is that these two cards are in the Gambits expansion, so I'm used to playing with them.

The Ark is an amazingly powerful card and rightfully expensive. It definitely is one of my favourite cards in the game.

I also like the Starmarket probably in my top five bases in the game.

Below a photo of all the promo cards I have for Star Realms so far.

To complete the set I need to get/find two Battle Barges and a Breeding Site. But I'm a patient man, I know these will turn up and when they do I'll be there. I know there are some alt art cards that have been done for promos at various cons. However I try and avoid them because that way lies madness and stupid high prices.

8th Casual Sunday Star Realms Tournament

Oh for those interested I once more lost in the first round of the 8th Casual Sunday Star Realms tournament. I lost 2-1, all three game were close. I actually won the first game to my surprise! I had made the tactical decision to buy bases and follow a bases strategy, which is unusual for me as I normally buy maybe two or three bases at most. Towards the middle of the game I accidently scraped a Trade Federation Trading Post (I think it was), which is easy to do. As soon as I did it, it was “oh crap I didn't mean to do that”. I needed to keep that base as part of my big plan. “I've bloody lost this” kept running through my head afterwards. But I hung in, stuck to the plan, kept buying and fielding the bases, and slowly chipped away at my opponents authority to get the win.

Games two and three were much more aggressive hardly any bases! In the second I hadn't scraped enough so that when I got my opponent down to under ten authority I wasn't able to finish them off, because as so often happens in this game you then draw scouts or non offensive ships. Which then gives your opponent the window they need to get back in the game and steal the win.

I'm not a store champion

We all know I'm a noob at the game, struggling to find games locally. Heck none of my local stores even run Netrunner events (but I have a plan for solving that).

However FFG do produce some rather cool looking play mats as prizes for stores to use. The fact is I'm nowhere near good enough to enter let alone win a tournament (this will come). So how does a noob or pleb like me get their hands on such good looking mats?

Well you can sometimes find a complete store kit on Amazon for around £70 plus. While eBay you are more likely to find individual bits like the play mat on sale for silly money. The play mats alone on eBay can be £40 or more. Then sometimes on the Netrunner Facebook pages stuff will pop up for sale.

It was this last place that I got the above play mat from and deck boxes. Usually the Facebook side isn't too far from the eBay price. However recently there has been a spat of sales on one of the groups from people located in Poland. Not only that they have been selling at a really cheap price compared to the other places I've mentioned above. Naturally they tend to sell very quickly. That playmat cost $15! Yep amazingly low. The three deck boxes were $5 each. Plus the postage was rediculously low as well.

So now I have two great play mats for Netrunner. Back now to trying to play more games.

 

My Noise Deck

netrunner, tabletop

Here is my Noise deck that I put together to play against Todd. As the feedback from Todd was I didn't put him under enough pressure or as I like to put it I was not aggressive enough. I just wasn't drawing viruses, which put me off running at ice. The cards I had in for economy worked really well. So I'm happier with that side of things.

My viruses/programs need to be worked on. So once Todd sees this list and what cards he has to work with he will make some suggestions on how to improve my deck.

In the meantime I want to replace Inject with something else. What I don't know, maybe use those as slots for more viruses. I know I have spare influence as well so using an out of faction card is an option.

Runner:

  • Noise

Programs:

  • Parasite
  • Clot (x2)
  • Darwin (x2)
  • Wyrm (x2)
  • Imp (x2)

Events:

  • Inside Job
  • Day Job
  • Wanton Destruction
  • Inject (x2)
  • Showing Off (x2)
  • Hacktivist Meeting (x2)
  • I've Had Worse (x2)
  • Infiltration (x2)
  • Surge (x2)
  • Deja Vu (x2)
  • Demolition Run (x2)

Resources:

  • Scrubber (x2)
  • Utopia Shard
  • Hades Shard
  • Armitage Codebusting (x2)
  • Virus Breeding Ground (x2)
  • Kati Jones
  • Human First
  • Plascrete Carapace (x2)
  • Chop Bot 3000
  • Astrolabe
  • Grimoire
  • Cyberfeeder (x2)

45 cards in total

Built from the following:

  • Core set (x2)
  • What Lies Ahead
  • Trace Amount
  • Cyber Exodus
  • A Study in Static
  • Humanity's Shadow
  • Future Proof
  • True Colors
  • First Contact
  • Up and Over
  • All That Remains
  • The Valley
  • Breaker Bay
  • Order and Chaos

 

 

Confessions of an UK Games Expo Noob

dice masters, krosmaster arena, netrunner, new arrivals, tabletop

The UK Games Expo took place at the NEC the last three days. I think it's safe to say that this is the UK's largest board gaming related event. With it getting bigger next year! (More on that later).

So the thing I think most people will want to know is what did I get at the show.

As the photo above shows I have finally caved and got Krosmaster Arena. What swung it was it was being sold at a very good price, saving about £15 on it, plus it came with two promo characters. I also found a copy of Get Bit! Which was on Tabletop a while back, and looked a fun filler game. Now Sushi Go! Was bought after having a demo game at one of the stands. It was really good fun, quick to learn, and not that expensive.

At LAST! I was able to get a Machi Koro playmat. It's a lovely mat in my opinion.

Naturally I got some Netrunner stuff. Luckily the new data pack Chrome City had just come out, and was available. Plus I picked up a couple of old data packs I didn't have. Plus as the photo below shows an awesome beautiful looking official playmat.

I managed to get a copy of Roll For The Galaxy along with three Wolf Dice bags.

Then finally today I also picked up a spare set of dice for Krosmaster Arena, another two characters and a second map for the game.

While waiting with Zoe and the boys for Todd to have his lunch break from playing in the Netrunner nationals I got talking to one of the X-Wing competitors who was on a break. He made an interesting statement that he had looked at getting into Netrunner but was put off by the “high” cost of entry to be competitive at a competition level. His argument was that in the two or so years that Netrunner has been out with the expansions it is now too costly to buy them all.

I disagreed with him over this, pointing out that X-Wing at the level he was playing at could also be looked at that way, having to buy ships that you may never play with just for a card, and the game he had once played Magic The Gathering was astronomical to get into at a competition level. I also pointed out at least with Netrunner you could either just buy the cards you needed or the data packs with them in, which would of been one solution. Thinking about it, you could probably buy everything for Netrunner for the cost of one or two of the more rare Magic cards (I know some of the cards go for two or three hundred pounds each, maybe even more).

However it got me thinking. You don't need to buy all the data packs in one go. I'm not, I'm buying a couple a month, targeting specific packs if I need a particular card.

But then I'm not looking at the moment at playing at competition level. I know this is what some people like about playing some of these games the competitive competition side. But for me the first and foremost side is that I'm having a good time playing the game. I want to be good at playing the game. But if I don't get to a competition level then it won't kill the game for me.

Saw the guy today and found out how well he did in the tournament. He did well finishing 36th, just in the top third, and if I remember correctly he said yesterday he was flying two IG-88 ships.

Dicemasters

On Friday I took part in the D&D Dicemasters tournament. There was only four of us in this, the majority of players were taking part in the DC/Marvel tournament.

At the start there was some confusion about the format of the competition, on the Facebook page for the show the format was declared as rainbow draft, while the organiser was going to have it as a constructed match. I'd only bought my basic action cards along for this because that was all that was needed for a rainbow draft game.

The organiser settled on the rainbow draft format, which gave each player twelve packs each to open. So after the passing round of cards you end up with twenty four cards and dice to choose a team of eight from.

The organiser was generous in that we were given a playmat plus a Pheonix Force promo card. PLUS to make up for the confusion over format we got an alternate artwork Beast Mutate #666 card plus an alternate artwork Harley Quinn card.

To cut a long story short I came fourth or last depending on the spin I want to put on this. I could of come joint second! How? Well my last game was against Scott, and after a mega, and I mean mega long first game which I won I was drained. Scott took the second game, which was a lot quicker. But I was exhausted by now. So I conceded the last game giving Scott the win. That put Scott into second place with two wins. If, and it's a big if I had gone on and won the third game that would of given three of us out of the four players with one win and making it a three way draw for second place.

I have to say it took me a while to work out how best to play my team and what the possible win conditions were. A more skilful player would of got to that point a lot lot quicker.

But still I got ten boosters for the D&D set as a prize. So for the ten pound entry fee, a playmat, twenty two boosters, three promo cards, not a bad return on the investment.

Plus this was my first time playing rainbow draft which was a great experience, and an afternoon playing Dicemasters.

I was down for taking part in the constructed nationals for Dicemasters but I hadn't really had time to look round and there were a couple of things I wanted to get before the show closed, and I was enjoying my time with Zoe, Todd and their two boys Ethan and Tristan.

Final Thoughts

I had a great time at the expo. I bumped into people I knew from my local FLGS, and a friend or two. Plus I met up with Zoe, Todd and the boys.

It was very hectic. On Saturday the main open play area was taken over by the Netrunner and X-Wing nationals which meant there was a severe shortage of space to play games.

The expo could of done with more space. Which I know from the expo guide they will have next year.

The expo staff were really polite and helpful.

Lots of cosplay especially Dr Who related, the two daleks were great fun, and a few Star Wars related ones, the Stormtroopers were very popular.

I think the half hour lunch that the Netrunner nationals and also the X-Wing were allowed was rediculous. The queues were ridiculously long for food, over fourty minute waits to be served. Unless you had the foresight to bring a packed lunch there was no chance of players getting something to eat, let alone have time to eat it.

There were no previews that I saw. With Origins on next week in the US I think they are being saved up for that. So why weren't we allowed to have previews? I'm talking of stuff like the new Imperial Assault expansions, or cards from the Age of Ultron Dicemasters, or games that will be out a month later at GenCon (another US show). Do we not warrant the same treatment as the US games buying public? Is this a drawback of timing? Would we have gotten some if the show was between Origins and GenCon? It does kind of make me feel we in the UK are not treated the same as our American brethren. Oh wait we aren't.

I was hoping to get a copy of the new artwork Resistance but the only copies I saw were the original/current artwork.

It was great to get a game of Netrunner with Todd, managed to answer one burning question I had about the game, and getting some advice on my deck. Naturally I lost. There will be a better write up of the deck in another post.

Overall a great first time experience at the show. Definitely going next year.

 

All Booked

dice masters, netrunner, star realms, tabletop
So that’s me all booked for the upcoming UK Games Expo. I’m going to be attending all three days, and have accommodation sorted also.
This will be my first time to the event and to a board gaming one. I’ve been to comic cons before (many decades ago), Raspberry Jams and video game related events.
But the firsts don’t stop there. Oh no. I signed up for the Dice Masters Nationals. I’ve never played in a Nationals before. Last year I did play in a Dice Masters OP event organised by my FLGS, and out of eight participants I didn’t come last, it was seventh. So not exactly a good showing, however that was early in my Dice Masters playing. After that I wasn’t able to get to the handful of other OP events they held.
The funny thing is I wasn’t sure I’d throw my hat in for the nationals because it falls on the last day of the expo. Well I’m used to making up the numbers and at least I should get a participation prize.
Now I am lending a couple of Yugioh cards and dice to a friend for his nationals team. So basically now I’ve armed a potential competitor (if we get drafted against each other that is). I should of put in a similar clause to that used in football when a player goes out on loan. Usually the loan agreement says that the player on loan can’t play against the loaning team if they meet up in any of the competitions. Or maybe I should of treated it like a game of Munchkin. Saying I’ll help you for a share of the treasure. And then haggle over how much of the treasure I’d get for my assistance.
In the meantime I have a lot of work to do. I’ve only played one game of Dice Masters since Christmas (although a lot of Star Realms). At that point in time the meta for the game only involved two sets, Avengers vs X-Men and the Uncanny X-Men. Since the start of the year Yugioh, Dungeons and Dragons and in the next couple of weeks DC (although just out in the US of A) have been released. Although I have Yugioh and D&D I’ve not played them (well one game of Yugioh) and I’m not really familiar with the current meta.
So I need to start looking at the cards of the new sets, looking at what has been played in recent national tournaments in the North Americas to see what I could potentially be facing. Let’s face it I expect some people to just be playing a team that others have created and done well with (ie won with). Armed with all this information build my team that I think will win me games and then play the heck out of it.
Which brings me on to Freddy. Freddy has kindly offered to be my Mickey Goldmill/Apollo Creed and help me get back into fighting shape again. Unfortunately I don’t have any chickens to chase and catch, but Loki is slipperier than a chicken especially when he has run off with a tissue or hankerchief.
With all this training going on I think we need…
 
I was hoping while at the expo to meet up with people to play some Star Realms. I do enjoy playing Star Realms using the actual physical cards. And it will be great to be able to do so. To meet this goal I’ve ask on a couple of appropriate FB fanpages if anyone is going and if they want to meet up to play some games of a Star Realms. It does seem odd, well not odd but sad that we aren’t getting like a nationals for Star Realms at the expo. Well you know we are getting nationals for Dice Masters, plus Android: Netrunner, X-Wing, HeroClix etc. There are tournaments for other games also which I’m not sure if they are official or not, but still they are going on. Just a shame nothing has been done for this awesome game. Let’s face it I’m not the only one that thinks it is awesome, it’s winning awards left, right and centre. It seems to be selling really well. So why no tournie?
While there I will hopefully (well very high chance) get to meet the fiancée of Martin and Julie’s daughter Zoe, Todd. Todd is a huge Android: Netrunner player and taking part in its nationals on the Saturday. So on the Saturday I’m hoping to watch a game or two of the nationals, but also pick the brains of Todd on playing and building decks. Zoe and her two kids (sorry guys names are missing from my old head) are also going to be there so hopefully will get to play some board games with them too on the Saturday.
So there you go I’m going to UK Games Expo, hope to see you there.

 

 

 

 

My Anarch Program Cards

netrunner
NB I had the following data packs when I built this deck:
  • What Lies Ahead
  • Trace Amount
  • Cyber Exodus
  • A Study in Static
  • Humanity's Shadow
  • Future Proof
  • True Colors
  • First Contact
  • Up and Over
  • All That Remains
  • Order and Chaos

Plus two starter sets

 

My Master Plan!

With Noise as my Anarch runner every time I install a virus program the top card of the corp scums R&D pile gets trashed into archives. So my thinking was I need to be playing to this strength and installing as many virus programs as possible.

The plan was to attack the core servers which I think and I may be wrong on this a keyhole strategy.

I wanted to be able to put pressure on the corp by being able to look at both the top and bottom of the corps R&D when I did a successful run on it, plus put as many cards as possible from R&D into archives ready for a run on it at the right moment. To aid this strategy I wanted to get the Hades Shard installed on archives early so that I could do a run on archives at an appropriate moment getting as many agendas as possible that would snatch me the win.

Being able to attack both ends of R&D would make life difficult for the corp scum because they wouldn't be able to hide agendas towards the bottom of the deck.

I hadn't forgotten about HQ and I had the matching card (can't remember it's name at the mo) to Hades Shard that would allow me to install it and do a run on HQ when ever I wanted. This tactic again relied on getting a run on HQ early before the corps can put up any really defence.

This would mean that the corps would not have a safe central server to hide agendas.

It should then be a matter of pulling the trigger at the right time to hover up those agendas to win.

Well that's the thinking, as we know from the games I played it didn't work exactly as planned as I lost both runner games.

Program Cards that I used:

  • Djinn
  • 2x Darwin
  • Imp
  • 2x Progenitor
  • 2x Medium
  • 2x Hivemind
  • 2x Crypsis
  • Keyhole

Progenitor and Djinn were chosen to allow me to host other programs/virus without impacting my memory usage. Progenitor also has the bonus of keeping a virus token the hosted card when the corp scum purge virus counters. Hivemind allows me to use its virus tokens on other virus programs as if they are theirs for card effects. Which is pretty cool for pimping out Darwin on the down low.

Medium allows me with the help of Hivemind also allows me to access more cards in R&D when I do a successful run on it. And Imp allows me to trash cards which is good when we consider my “master plan”.

Crypsis I can't remember why I chose this one. I think it was because I wanted an Icebreaker AI virus to help feed off the Noise ability of trashing the top card of R&D when a virus is installed.

So there you have it the program's I played plus my master plan. The next plan will look at the hardware and resources I chose.

Feel free to comment below with suggestions of how I can improve my deck – just remember the data packs that I have. Although as I have proven I am prepared to jump a data pack to a must buy ahead of the ordered purchase list I have to get a needed card.

 

Crystal Maze Post

lego minifigs, netrunner

The forces of good gather to consider options to get Han out of the pickle he's got himself in. Obi Wan said Han shouldn't have failed his Crystal Maze challenge. But Luke and Chewie didn't like this change to the original Crystal Maze format. The ramifications of failing the challenge had a lot more serious consequences than just being trapped in a room.

I decided to add a spare black cloak to the Jedi Luke minifig to finish it off. I may get a black hood at some point to use with it.
A Darth Vader wearing a medal arrived escorted by two Stormtroopers. Wasn't happy with the state of one of the Stormtrooper helmets. I think bad feedback may be due.
Once again I've added to a minifig. This time Vader really did need a lightsaber.
Is it obvious what minifigs I'll be using on a certain day next month? I bet it is.
Some minifig props also landed through the door, four blasters for the Stormtroopers, and a trophy. I think there will be some end of year awards this year.
I also created a new minifig called The Establishment that was inspired by the cover of the book by Owen Jones. It was a simple figure to create, a Lone Ranger head(!) for the mask, a bowler hat, suit torso and plain black legs. Captures the cover rather well I think.
 

The second volume of Snowpiercer also arrived.

Android:Netrunner SanSan Cycle Data Packs

Super cool news saw that the first data pack in the SanSan Cycle is out to buy! The data pack is called The Valley, and that's all I know about it. I've not seen any spoilers for cards for this data pack, or cycle so I have absolutely no idea what to expect. This is going to be an unusual experience for me. Usually something I play I'm up on any spoilers. I don't recognise myself.