ThePandaDirector

Like many, I am rather sick of zombies. I usually don't get excited over them, nor do I currently play any games that involve them. They've just been done to overkill imho.

So imagine my surprise when I go to a convention in my hometown of Dumfries, with the rough expectation of buying some Warmachine, maybe Bolt Action, and end up walking out with a bag full of zombie apocalypse stuff.

I hold Studio Miniatures wholly responsible for the gapping hole in my wallet.

Considering they are a very small, new company, I'm impressed with the size and variety of their range. There's enough there to do your generic zombie horde, but also some more off-beat sets which should inpsire some fun little scenarios. Many of their models are based off popular culture, but I do appreciate the slightly more unique nods (fans of Psychoville will notice everyone's favourite hook-handed children's entertainer).

The Dumfries convention was their first, but they'll be at Salute this year for those of you in the UK. Definitely worth checking out =]

http://www.studiominiatures.com/

Just a post to say I've read this, and will post my thoughts once I have time (right now I'm taking advantage of my often illusive muse).

FauxPas, I look forward to writing what you post! This is a rich set of mystery ingredients, so I expect there'll be some great stuff!

 

(Also, yeah, I write pretty fast. )

 

Okay, okay, constrctive criticism out of the way, this is a terrible post. "Wriying what you post", come one! I got no emotion from this post, not even from the emoticon! It's just a rushed, poorly conceived, hole ridden piece of trash. Now get out of my sight...

=P

As if the exaggeration of my tone didn't do it, I stick my tongue out as a sing of humour (just in case you thought my tone was genuine, and the tongue suggested arousal - now that would be awkward).

Once again, some great ingredients. Hopefully my story makes sense this time round =P

Really hope I can make this :-)

Had my eye on this one since someone pointed out the Arena Rex inspired damage tree (and I do so love Arena Rex). I don't play Bloodbowl or Dreadball, but this looks interesting. Like others, I'm not sure how being a tabletop game will effect the pace, but I'm not too bothered. I do like the artwork, and the thought of some fresh resin goodness is certainly tempting.

Oh wow...De La Soul is releasing their entire catalog for free download today: http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/14/de-la-soul-catalog-free/

Cheers for posting, I would have missed it otherwise :-)

puppets animating after Lady Justice who weren't in range+LOS, and then move in to it will receive the buff

This is correct. The action's effect lasts until the end of the turn, so any puppet entering range 2 and LoS after Lady Justice performs it would gain the buff, they would just lose it if they left the area of effect.

You're right that AR works like a price tag, but a puppet can be powerful and cheap at the same time. It's true you'll find this more with sidekicks than pawns.

Defence in PWU represents dexterity, so it makes sense that faster models are harder to hit (whereas the slow Executioner is easier). If I were to change her at all, I'd either drop her stitches or upgrdae limit by 1, but imo it's not really necessary.

I commented briefly on this in chat, but posting here for clarity.

Puppets only gain Range 2 if they are within Range 2 and LoS of Viktoria. If they kept it, it would state "till the end of this turn". It's likely that way for balancing purposes if anything else. Hooded Rider starting within range 2, moving 3 spaces and attacking at range 2, for free, is a little suspicious (he can gain range 2 by other means, but there's always a cost).

It's the same as Lady Justice's Pep Talk. Pep Talk is an action, however. It targets Self, because the action centres on her. It also states that it lasts until the end of the turn. That's not to say that puppets gain range 2 until the end of the turn (well they do, if within range and LoS), it's until the end of the turn, puppets within range 2 and LoS gain Powerful +1. So while being slightly different, because it's an action, it's pretty much the same.

Hope that helps =]

I believe the intended effect is this:

A puppet moves within range 2 and LoS of Lady Justice, and gains Powerful +1. It then moves out of range 2 and/or LoS and loses Powerful + 1.

I can understand where the confusion comes from. You'd expect the effect to stay with the puppet until the end of the turn, but the range and LoS is also a requirement for the effect, once that's lost, the effect is too.

Hope that helped =]

So I've been scratching my stitches lately, and wanted to share my thoughts on balancing Puppet Wars: Unstitched.

The first, and imho the most important, point is this - Puppet Wars: Unstitched is not Malifaux. You can't balance PWU with the same mindset and processes one might apply during a Malifaux playtest. As I've said before, PWU is a brutal game balanced by imbalances. What might seem broken in any other game works just fine in PWU, so long as you don't take it too seriously.

But if PWU is a game built on imbalances, then how do you know when something is actually broken?

Well I'm glad I asked, because I have a process I go through now. Whether it's a model, a combo or effect, just ask yourself these simple questions:

1. How does it affect the game?

- Is this something that ends the game, takes a model out of action, etc.

2. How much set-up/resources does it require?

- Cards, models, positioning, animations, timing, etc.

3. Can it be foreseen/countered?

- What you can do to prevent or mitigate it.

4. Does the cost justify its effect?

- Pay the price, reap the rewards.

So let's take the ever popular Misaki, for an example:

1. How does it affect the game?

- She can rush the enemy workbench early on.

2. How much set-up/resources does it require?

- Animatingt Misaki on a 2, preferably playing a high card so she goes last, suffer a rip to activate twice.

3. Can it be forseen/countered?

- By an educated player, yes, and there are plenty of counters.

4. Does the cost justify the effect?

- Misaki is easy to activate, but the number of counters means that increasing the costs to increase chance of success becomes more and more of a gamble.

So in this case, it is the ability to counter Misaki that balances her, rather than the cost/resources required for her to be badass. This is one of PWU most common means of balancing things. So in general, the fewer counters to the effect, the higher the cost required to pull it off should be.

With that in mind, let's take an example form the current playtest, Marcus:

1. How does it affect the game?

- Marcus' Tag You're It can move any effect on a puppet within range 3 to another puppet in range 3. Effects include Exhausted, Burning, Paralyzed, Confused, Stuck, Powerful +1, etc. This means you can refresh your own puppets while exhausting an enemy, and effectively brush off any conditions they throw at you.

2. How much set-up/resources does it require?

- Animating Marcus on a 6+, who must be placed within range 3 of both puppets he wishes to target beforehand, but with move 3 he can position himself easily enough in a previous animation.

3. Can it be foreseen/countered?

- Opponents will know it's there, but the more targets available, the harder it'll be to avoid. A player can try and avoid Marcus, but range 3 is quite a wide net. Trying to kill Marcus is probably the best option, but killing any master is easier said than done.

4. Does the cost justify its effect?

- Not really.

I've played Marcus a few times. I'm well aware that I never use my master to full effect in PWU, so I do struggle a little bit with masters like Marcus and Seamus. But I did manage to pull of some tricks, such as moving Exhausted around. I feel a canny player could get a great deal of use out of this ability, to the point where it would become a negative play experience for some people.

So in conclusion, there is a fine line between what is and isn't balanced in PWU, but there is still a line. It just takes an open mind to see it =]

Hope this has offered some food for thought, thanks for reading =]

Ah, Dust Tactics is one of those games that's always been out of focus for me. I've seen it pop up before, just never pinned it down and actually looked into it.

Scourge forever!

The doors there, take your Reaper and go :-P

PHR also happen to stand for Panda Human Racers. My bets are on Ming Ming and his human, Danny Dyer.

My number one obstacle ATM is trying to figure out a color scheme for my PHR (not that PHR). I'm either going to do my table as overgrown post-apoc cityscape or ice world. Also, despite the aesthetic of phr being really elegant, I keep wanting to make them all grimy, like they belong in BSG.

I've still got two to read, but what I've read has been great. A great atmosphere around here too.

That said, my own piece was over the word limit by a fair bit, so really aught to be disqualified (not that the extra word count will do me any favours :-P )

All in all, great work guys!

Have to say, Company Sergeant Major 1 is one of my favourite miniatures. But Relics is a bit like Eden, nice models, but the game and player base needs more development.

I only have the Capitol Starter, and my local players have yet to receive their stuff. I'm on the fence with most of the range, same reason I haven't started Warmahordes.

No so much play, as have a Britanan army and no one to play against :-\ But I've read the rules, not a bad game.

And that reminds me of another game I wanna pick up - Arcworlde.

For me it's - Malifaux, arena Rex, puppet was, batman miniature game, dzc, alkemy, sedition wars, kingdom death, darklands, Relics and Warzone.

Looking to also pick up Wild West Exodus and Infamy, when it hits ks.

Yeah, went with PHR. Was tempted to grab the large army deal, but conveniently out of three local players, two have UCM starters and one has PHR, so my starter will even the odds :-)

Cheers guys :-)

Guild Ball is played on a tabletop, and uses damage trees like Arena Rex. Will be up on ks shortly. Will probably give it a pass because I'm saving up ATM, but I do fancy the Fishermen's Guild.

Will need to check that out, with Google Translate at the ready ;-)

Starting to lose track of how many games I'm involved with now :-P

Hey ho, how's heveryone hoing?

Work was actually pretty good today. Got a promotion, though have to wait awhile for the position to become available. Plus I've got tomorrow off, and with any luck I should receive my DzC stuff. Happy days :-D

Totally on the fence with Drake, like some of the miniatures, but have yet to look into the game properly. Do quite like the look of Guild Ball, never warmed to table top sport games, but I do like the artwork. Oh, and it's totally taken "inspiration" from Arena Rex, so that might explain why I like it ;-)

The plan now is not to buy anything else for awhile. Saving up for a local convention in March, and Salute in April. So in that time I'm hoping to get some painting done. Starting with DzC (nice and easy), then I'll try and get my puppets done before moving onto Alkemy. Really need to give that game more attention, I've spent enough money on it:-P

Nice rack Nagash13 :-)

I'm going to buy the PHR starter for Dropzone Commander. The models are not only simple to paint, but require a limited palette giving me an ideal opportunity to try this out.

Played a game of Dropzone Commander tonight. I watched a game being played first, PHR versus UCM, and wasn't really sold. To be fair it was a rough demo game, and I saw the PHR get rather beaten. The game I had was much better, ended in more of a draw (technically I won in VP).

One thing I noticed is that the PHR starter isn't particularly well balanced, with its walkers being the only decent units, but then we did ignore the command deck.

All in all, I'm tempted to take the plunge, but that would mean putting Marcus on hold.

Next week I'll be playing Bane (Arkham City) in the Batman game. I'll be sure to give Batman permission to die.

I don't mind putting in extra work to safe me grief later. Also I'll be mixing before each project separately, steadily increasing my library of mixes.

Now the question I've heard a million times, but never remember the answer to - Vallejo model or game?

I'm trying to get back to painting, but one thing that always gets me is mixing paints. It's the thing that ruins my pace and causes me to lose my patience, and I find myself wasting paint just to get the right ratio.

So I thought of a rather ambitious way to get around the issue. I'd buy a ton of empty paint pots, then take a pair of colours and mix them across a number of pots, doing this for every major blend I plan to use. It'd be easy enough to organise them, but a fair bit of work nevertheless.

The problem I have is trying to work out A) how many pots I'd need for a smooth blend (I can be a lot more patient if I don't have to mix), and the best way to measure out the paint (along with added water). Oh, and I guess any tips on the best paint/paint pots to use, I'm still undecided on that.

Advice appreciated =]