Category Archives: star wars

star wars

Kick that hornets nest

expansions, imperial assault, netrunner, news, star wars

 

With the arrival of the latest additions to the Star Wars Imperial Assault universe, I thought I'd better finally do the posts for the previous additions. So over the next few days I'll be doing posts looking at those expansions plus the new arrivals.

In the meantime before those posts start taking over this blog, I'd briefly point out that FFG over the holiday period decided they would “tweak” one or two of their games. The two I currently care about are naturally Imperial Assault and Android:Netrunner. X-Wing as a collectable game for me is on hold.

Imperial Assault got off lightly I think with the “tweaks”. The Royal Guard, Rebel Saboteurs, and Imperial Officers have had some of their card text changed. Below I have extracted the changes from the FAQ.

Naturally for the new season of store championships FFG have updated the legal skirmish maps. The legal maps are, the Kuat Space Station, Mos Eisley Cantina and the Training Ground map.

Here is the link to the new FAQ, here is the link to the FFG explanation for changes , new tournament rules

Let's look at the Netrunner changes, or as I like to describe it “kicking the hornets nest”. These changes have been the more controversial from my observations of the two Facebook communities for both games I follow.

So what has caused the hornets in the Netrunner community to swarm? Let's take a look at the FAQ for the two changes:

Here is the kick that stirred folks up.

Link to the new FAQ , link to new Tournament Rules , FFG explain why

My Thoughts on the subject…

FFG spent a lot of time analysing the recent world championships they held, I think they also monitor the meta in other ways too. So they have a very accurate image of the current state of the game. More so than us players.

Which means that they won't have reached the decisions they have on a whim. They will have thought about them, play tested them, and made a decision that would have the least impact on the game to fix the “problem” as they see it based on the data they have.

One of the things I don't like about Magic, Pokemon etc is the banned cards list. I think this is a sloppy, annoying fix. So I'm glad to see the solution that FFG have come up with. At least with the FFG solution I can still play with the cards, I just have to make a compromise or two to my deck to use them.

What I would like to see is a more elegant way of doing the errata for the cards. I'd love to see some stickers made available cheaply to purchase to update the cards with from FFG. I'd also like to think all new printings of these cards are with these changes. Or even better still I'd love to be able to buy corrected cards to replace the existing ones with.

FFG think/hope that these changes will add variety to the meta for the games. That it will encourage players to build a wider variety of decks/teams, which they will see reflected in tournaments.

I've been playing Netrunner for nearly a year now, but from what I can tell certain deck types come and go out of fashion as new data packs/expansions come out. At one point a Weyland deck may have the upper hand, while Criminal decks maybe stronger on the runner side. Then the next Deluxe expansion NBN becomes more popular.

If these changes even that out, I'm happy with what's been done.

 

Two Days of Christmas

lego minifigs, magic, star realms, star wars

Christmas Eve saw Nath and I at the cinema to see for the second time Star Wars The Force Awakens. Although we were only watching the 2D version of the movie, I had to get the 3D glasses the Vue Cinema are selling.

They look so blooming cool. Apparently Odeon cinemas are doing Star Wars branded Google Cardboard so will have to find time to visit one of them.
After the movie we ended up in Sainsburys for some very last minute veg buying, and somehow this piece of Lego ended up in the basket too.
I think it helped that it had been reduced by a fiver. But this is a great little model of Rey's speeder from the new movie. I also love the Rey minifig, especially with the head gear on.

After I had built my little Lego treat, I finally caved and bought Nath the full version of the Star Realms app and its expansions. He's been playing the app but just not online. So now father and son can play Star Realms while apart. Oh if you wish to challenge Nath on Star Realms his in game name is banjo.

Christmas Day, the miracle for me was how Nath cleared his plate! Our plates were piled high. I couldn't clear my plate, yet Nath wiped his clean.

Before Nath performed his man verses food Christmas challenge, we played a couple of games of Star Realms Colony Wars. I won our first game when we played with gambits also. While Nath took the second game, which was just a plain vanilla game. There are some awesome cards in Colony Wars, however in a later post I will look at the cards.

Nath and I also played our first Magic the Gathering card game. We used the two thirty card taster packs I was given. Nath had the Gideon Jura White Planeswalker deck, while I had Nissa Revane Green Planeswalker. I got hammered by Nath. I never even got a point of damage in. I nearly had a mighty fourteen points hit land. I had a Terra Stomper fielded, which had trample, and is an 8/8. I summoned Yeva's Forcemage that is a 2/2 creature, but gave a +2/+2 to a target creature when fielded until the end of turn. Which I naturally directed at my Terra Stomper. I then played Titanic Growth that pumped the Terra Stomper with an extra +4/+4 until the end of turn. I then attacked with my fielded 2/2 Prized Unicorn, and 14/14 Terra Stomper. Nath had to block the Prized Unicorn with his creatures because of the text on the Prized Unicorn “All creatures able to block Prized Unicorn do so.” Which meant I'd be smashing Nath for fourteen massive points to his face!

Nath plays the instant Divine Verdict that destroys target attacking or blocking creature. Bam!! That super beefed up Terra Stomper sent to the graveyard.

Two turns later I'm dead, I had nothing to stop Nath's attacks with. That instant by Nath won him the game. I had a chance upto that point.

Oh well we both enjoyed playing the game which is the main point. A fun first experience of the game. Swap colours next time I think.

Oh what games did I get Nath for his Christmas present? Dead Panic, the zombie themed version of Castle Panic, Marvel Legendary Villians and Star Realms Cosmic Gambits.

 

Merry Christmas

star wars

 

Jumping on the seasonal band wagon I'd like to wish friends, family and readers of this blog a very very Merry Christmas from Nath, myself, Strider, Nico and Loki (aka the wolf pack).

This year is the first time in six years that I have been able to spend Christmas Day with Nath. For me this is the best present ever. I hope everyone is spending the day with loved ones, and has a great time.

Today Nath and I saw Star Wars The Force Awakens again. There is nothing like a Star Wars movie for a father and son cinema experience.

Although we didn't see the 3D version of the movie, I had to buy the promotional 3D glasses that the Vue cinema we saw the movie at are selling. Yes I'm that sort of fanboy. What you hadn't already guessed with all those Lego Star Wars advent posts?

Have a great day tomorrow, eat, drink and be merry.

Some Suggestions For The Star Wars Fan

imperial assault, star wars, tabletop

Tomorrow sees the release of the new Star Wars movie, and yes I'm going to see it.

We in the “hobby” gaming world are a bit luckier than those that get their games from mainstream outlets. How? Well we have been over the last three or more years been lucky enough to have some really great Star Wars games to play.

Fantasy Flight Games have done a really great job of releasing great games, that look amazing, and give a really enjoyable experience.

Capture the feel of dogfights between squadrons of rebel and imperial ships from the Star Wars universe. The base set gives you the two fan favourites of an X-Wing and two Tie Fighters to battle it out. The base set gives you everything for two players to fight it out. Currently there are two versions of the base set. The newest version gives you versions of the X-Wing and Tie Fighter based on the new movie.

There are a lot of expansions for this game, that give you more ships from the Star Wars universe like Tie Bombers, Y-Wings, A-Wings, the Millenium Falcon, Slave 1 to name a few.

I will warn you this game is like crack, once you play you get hooked and start buying more and more ships.

The models look stunning in this game, and when played on a playmat (usually of some awesome star field/space image on) this game takes your breathe away.

Based on the Descent system, Imperial Assault moves its mechanics to the Star Wars universe.

The amazing thing about this game is that you get two games in one! You have the campaign mode, where one player plays as the Empire while the other players play as the rebels. Plus you also get a two player skirmish mode, where two players go head to head with their teams fighting it out.

The miniatures are super amazing in this game. But then so do all the components for the game.

There are expansions for this game, introducing fan favourite characters like Han and Chewy.

So they are the two I have played. I still have the Carcassonne Star Wars edition to get to the table. But I'm a fan of Carcassonne so I'm hoping this is a match up that works.

Also from FFG you can get the following Star Wars games, which I don't own and haven't played. So I'll apologise now for the rubbish coverage of them. However these have had some good reviews. And if I had the budget I'd definitely be buying Armada.

  • Star Wars Armada – this is gives you the big ships from the Star Wars universe like the Imperial Star Destroyer and allows you to recreate epic space battles between the Empire and Rebels.
  • Star Wars LCG – a two player card game using the FFG living card game model.
  • Star Wars rpg – if you like Star Wars and role playing games, nuff said.

From the mainstream market there is the new Star Wars Risk, which apparently not being as good as the fabled expensive out of print Queens Gambit, is still from reviews I've seen a decent game, that is similar to Queens Gambit and not actually Risk.

So I hope that's given you some ideas for games to play with the Star Wars fan in your life. Or even buy (although some of these are not cheap) for that special Star Wars fan.

 

Twin Shadows

expansions, imperial assault, star wars

I'm wrapping up the coverage of the wave two expansions for Imperial Assault with a look at the first expansion for the game Twin Shadows.

The contents of the box

 

So now you have seen the contents before they have been unpacked. Let's take a more indepth look at what we get for our money.

Tokens

Naturally we get more tokens for the game. These tokens are made up from:
  • ten damage tokens (four fives, six ones)
  • Six device tokens
  • Six strain tokens
  • Five weaken tokens
  • Four ally and villain tokens (just in case you haven't bought the villain and allies packs that also came out at the same time).
  • Eight ID tokens

The game also comes with twelve more map tiles.

Sculpts

In this expansion we get ten new miniatures. Two rebel characters called Saska Teft (below left) and Biv Bodhrik.

There are also four Tusken Raiders.
And four Heavy Stormtroopers.
As usual these sculpts are up to FFG's usual high standards, and begging to be painted. And before you ask I haven't made any progress on the Stormtroopers I painted with primer.

Campaign

For the campaign side of the game Twin Shadows comes with two hero sheets for the rebel characters.
There are nine cards that make up the hero class deck for Saska (below).

Followed by another nine cards making up a hero class deck for Biv.

There are also nine Imperial class cards for use by the Imperial player.
Two supply cards have been included.
You also get five reward cards.
Plus six item cards.
Four side mission cards also come with the expansion.
We also get six agenda cards.

Skirmish

Naturally the game comes with a skirmish map sheet detailing the map to use with the skirmish mission cards.
The two skirmish mission cards that go with the map sheet.

There are eleven deployment cards. However five of them are also found in the Ally and Villian packs that came out at the same time (these are used with the tokens if you don't have them). So I've just included the new deployment cards here.

And as expected there are deployment cards for the two new rebel characters also.

There are four weaken status cards (these are also used in the campaign).

We also get three command cards.

Summary

I like this expansion it adds new content to the base game. The expansion lives up to the FFG reputation for providing beautiful looking high quality games.

As a noob skirmish player I'm not sure I'd be playing with the new rebel characters. But that is mainly because I still think that the rebels are grossly under powered compared to the Empire. However the Heavy Stormtroopers I can see being used. I'm going to have to think about the Tusken Raiders.

Right I now need to play this more, get sleeve for the cards, and push on with my painting.

 

The Trooper

star wars

So Qwertee had some Star Wars designs up recently and I caved and bought one. I could have bought all three to be fair. But somehow I found the inner strength to just get the one. The one I went for tickled not just the inner Star Wars nerd in me, but my teenage metal head as well.

Below is the original design that inspired the rather humorous fun Star Wars themed take on it.

Ashamidly for a Star Wars fan I have only one Star Wars related tee. So this will be my second. This trooper tee is begging to be worn while playing Imperial Assault or X-Wing. Yes I think we have already established on this blog that I am in fact that sad.

Now I just need to get either game to the table to prove how sad I am in real life.

 

Weekend Regrets

imperial assault, star wars

Can you believe after being so adamant that I would get to play Star Wars Imperial Assault on my visit to see Nath last weekend, guess what?

Yep, we didn't get to play it. Well I guess some of you may have worked that out from the couple of posts over the weekend from said visit down South.

However just before leaving yesterday I did get a chance to at least show Nath the awesome, nah amazing miniatures that are used in the game.

Nath was impressed with the miniatures, especially the AT-ST models. And then rightly so he asked if I had considered painting them. Der! Yep but at the moment that is not where I have any skills.

For those with a better memory than me, will remember painting miniatures is one of the skills I want to develop this year. Which to my shame I haven't made any progress on yet.

I agree with Nath that the miniatures would look good painted. In fact I think they would be taken to an even higher level of awesome painted. Which has been proven online with all the painted ones I have seen.

Now I just need to get this game to the table again, and hopefully on a regular basis.

 

My Imperial Assault Wish List

imperial assault, star wars, tabletop

I've just read a great post over on Couple vs Cardboard about 5 Things They Want In Imperial Assault.

This got me thinking what would I like to see added to this game?

First up on my list is I want character cards for the released allies like Luke, Han and Chewie so that those characters can be played in the supplied campaign instead of the characters that come in the base set. I don't just want to play with them as allies to a mission. I want to play the campaign as them.

I'd love to see a separate campaign/skirmish designer book released. One of the things I loved about the Zombicide scenario book that was released was the excellent designer advice section that gave advice on how to create your own scenarios. What makes a great campaign? How do you balance the game? What makes a great skirmish scenario? You get the idea. Add in a mini campaign and a couple of skirmish scenario s with maybe some designer notes and I think this would fly off the shelves. Imperial Assault screams making your own scenarios for it, and this would help guide people in making enjoyable ones to play.

I'd love to see an expansion that covers the conflict between the rebels and imperials on the planet Hoth. It screams tiles that cover the rebel base, and also the rebel defences. I can see the Tauntaun models now with plugin riders for Han and Luke. And how awesome would a Wampa model be?

At some point there has to be Ewoks. Toughest creatures in the Empire! Look how easily these little guys with little more than sticks and stones took on superior forces that were far better equipped and won.

What would you like to see added to Imperial Assault?

 

May the Fourth Be With You

lego minifigs, star wars

 

Have a great Star Wars day.
Just a word of warning I’ll be updating the post later with more photos celebrating the day. You will be able to see them also on the usual social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) channels too.
FOR THE RECORD my Star Wars movie for the day is the movie Fanboys. I really do like this movie. And is Star Wars themed.

A Sith vs Jedi battle broke out at the pub

The fight continued when they got home…

Finally something unrelated to Star Wars…

This is one for Netrunner fans, this is a take away in Wisbech!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are you doing May the Fourth Day?

imperial assault, star wars, tabletop, X-Wing Miniatures

For those of us in the UK (particularly in EnglandShire – not sure about that funny lot north of the wall) this Monday coming is a Bank Holiday. Yep a loooong weekend for us, we'll an extra day. This year it also happens to fall on the same day as a popular geek celebration day May the Fourth Day, where geeks around this little globe of ours celebrate all things Star Wars.

I love that this most excellent of days coincides with a holiday this year. It allows me to pretend that here in the UK we have made May the Fourth Day a holiday (if only).

So what am I planning to do on Monday to celebrate this most auspicious of occasions?

Well for starters this blog will have a post dedicated to photos of these Lego minifigs I have that are Star Wars related. I do have one or two if you remember. These photos will also be pushed out via Instagram to Twitter and Facebook. Yep I'm going to spam social media.

I'm also going to use this post to invite any of my friends in the Wisbech area to pop round and play a Star Wars related game. I appreciate I may of upset one or two today with my political views and disappointment/annoyance that once more candidates have not canvassed my home (I'll leave the full rant for that Facebook discussion).

I have X-Wing (sadly rarely played), Imperial Assault and a Star Wars themed Risk. I'd love two or three friends round to play Imperial Assault, or at least one friend to play it in skirmish mode. I've not played the game and really want to.

Will this happen, will this invite be accepted?

We will find out on the day.

In the meantime I must make sure iTunes Match has logged my Star Wars OST cd's so that they can be playing in the background, and I may play catch up on Star Wars Rebels and rewatch the original trilogy. Well those two are the backup plan.

Catch you in the next post.