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Tried another two set scenario we called ‘The Gauntlet’. The idea was that a White Star force had to rush to the aid of a besieged group. The Therians were throwing in ad-hoc forces to try and stop them.

We took the two maps, using the room side again, and put them together on the short side to make one long map. They are not designed to fit this way but if you offset them a few inches one of the sides has the two hallways line up almost perfectly. This then essentially creates two corridors up the length of the map.

Again, the White Stars had everything in five units for a total of 1,020 points. They entered on the one short end and had to get 1/3 of their force (340 pts) off the other end of the board by the end of turn 9 (with a random chance to extend the game).

We decided the Therians would get one random unit a turn entering at a random point along the three sides. Because forces would be dribbling in we decided to give them all their forces as well (1,418 pts). These were divided up into seven units. The Wraiths could only be brought on with a roll of 5 or 6 (or until they were the only forces left to bring on).

The first six turns of the game were a cake walk for the White Stars. The Therians managed to kill one Fire Toad with a lucky flanking entry but all their forces got wiped out quickly as they entered. A Fire Toad also managed to exit on turn six for 224 pts.

Then it all went down hill fast for the White Stars. The Therian had been unlucky and never got a Wraith but now that’s all that was left to enter. A lucky entry put the first one right at the end of the board in front of the largest advancing White Star squad that was still only about halfway up the board. By the end of turn seven the White Stars only had a few troops left on the board facing two barely scratched Wraiths and I conceded the game.

If we play it again I think we will give the WS player 11 turns to exit, give the Therians two starting units of Golems and only one Wraith, increase the chance for the Wraith to enter to a 4+, and perhaps add one or two reinforcement units of Golems.

Overall this scenario was a bit of a bore and I’m not sure if even the above tweaks would really help. Maybe flipping it around and having the Therians making the run would be more interesting. There simply were never enough enemy units on the board at one time to make it interesting. It might make a good solitaire scenario.

Ok, this will be the last report I bore you guys with. We played another game using two Operation Damocles sets. We called this one ?Infiltration!?. The idea was that the Therians have infiltrated a small force behind White Star lines and are attacking a repair depot. The primary objective was for the Therians to destroy a Fire Toad (4 hits) and destroy the armory (with one close combat attack on the doorway).

Again we used the two room maps with the long sides adjacent. The logo area in the middle of the map was the ?repair pad? and one Fire Toad was placed there. The Fire Toad was simply an objective and could not move or fire. The adjacent room was the ?armory? and all four missile launcher troops were placed in there (they also acted just as scenery).

The Therians had eight Golems and two Sonic Guns. They had to be split them into two forces (the Therian player chose an initial team of six and a second of four with one SG in each team). The Therian player secretly designated entry points for both (they couldn?t be the same point). One force started the game and the second arrived on turn 2. They also got one Golem and two Sonic Guns on turn 3 as reinforcements that entered at a random entry point. That makes a total of 567 points. The Therians got the first initiative and a plus one on all rolls thereafter.

After the Therian player secretly designated his entry points the White Star player deployed all of his troops in three-man teams. This made for four teams plus one two-man team was designated as repair personnel and placed adjacent to the Fire Toad. The repair guys would not be released until the Fire Toad was fired on or a Therian force moved within 20cm of the Fire Toad. In addition, the White Stars would receive an additional three man team on turn 4 if there were models available. They would arrive through the large doorway at the end of the map (the one with the green Therian logo). This was also the only entry the Therians were not allowed to use. That makes a total of 459 points for the White Stars.

The game went well but as soon as the Therian reinforcement team with two Sonic Guns arrived on turn four they wiped out the Fire Toad and thus fulfilled their primary mission. The White Stars did receive their reinforcements and managed to wipe out all of the Therians by turn six and prevented them from destroying the armory. The game only took about an hour. It was a good game with many surprises for the White Star player as he did not know where the Therians would appear. It?s hard to say if it was a balanced scenario with only one playing but we think maybe the turn three Therian force should only have one Sonic Gun and perhaps the White Stars should not get any reinforcements or perhaps only a two-man team. Only a few more plays will tell for sure.

Tanker,

You have inspired me to buy this game for sure. Now, one question:

In your opinion, IS THE BOX WORTH IT?

Chuck

I saw the prepainted mini's and was not going to hold my breath but they are quite good. better than most armies I have played against. Very worthy for tabletop gaming.

Thanks for the bat reps, Tanker. Sounds really cool.

{{{ In your opinion, IS THE BOX WORTH IT? }}}

Well that’s a tough question. I guess it depends on your own preferences. Ignoring the issues of whether you want to get into a new game, worries about rules quality, opinions on pre-paints, etc, etc. I think the issues come down to money and time.

The OD set is the cheapest way to get the basic forces but the paint quality is inferior to the add-on sets. So if paint quality is the most important I guess it would be better to wait. If you are going to repaint them no matter what then you might as well save some dough and get the basics out of the OD set.

As for time, you’ll have to wait until March to get all the OD forces as add-ons. How much gaming will you miss in that time and do you care? Personally I got so much AT-43 gaming in over the holidays that I feel like I already got my money’s worth even if I never touch the stuff again.

Another possible consideration is re-purposing. If you play WH40K, or would like to start, the AT-43 stuff makes easy stand-ins for Imperial Guard and Necron forces. A new WH40K player could simply use AT-43 minis for Kill Team or small 40K battles. The terrain items are also perfect for WH40K. The AT-43 minis would be more expensive than 40K but you’d be ready to play immediately and would, obviously, also be able to play AT-43.

One thing I can say is that playing with two sets was much more fun than the single set.

For those who care, I heard back from Rackham on my rules questions.

On my question about whether troops block Striders they replied:

"For the moment yes.

But in the advanced rules they will be shoved out of the way by a combat move, or crushed by a Rush move. More detail in March."

Crushing troops?! I knew there was a reason I liked this game! ;-)

As for firing into close combat, yes you can.

They also provided a peek at a few other rules (I edited a bit):

"Sniper (Nucleus Canon for ex.): The weapon can target a specific mini in a Unit. It's very useful to kill the Missile Launcher.

Overkill: In a Unit of Vehicles or Striders, you still can target a specific mini even without Sniper. If you target a specific mini, your field of fire is considered only for the target and not for the entire unit which contain the target.

Rally: By spending 2 Command Point, you can rally a entire Unit. A unit disband if its number go down to the minimum (4 for a Steel trooper unit for example) and if the unit fails a Moral test. Yes, it means that Fire Toad never disband.

Overwatch: By spending 1 Command Point on a unit that didn't even fire during its activation, the Unit use the Overwatch. You can fire one enemy unit that go through in the Field of Vision of its. It can only fire once. So, choose right your moving target.

Take Cover! : When a Unit finishes its activation in a Take Cover!, you can spend 1 Command Point to make it more useful. The Unit dice roll to succeed with the Take Cover! is 3+ instead of 5+.

Recall : a unit is automatically in Take Cover! if leader and minimum half of the unit is in covert. If ok, its allow the unit to roll a dice per minis. A 5+ result cancel a success from the attacker. "

Well I thought I'd write a few notes to myself before I forgot everything by the time I got to play again.

#### AT-43 Play Tips ####

### General Tips ###
-Activation Cards: When laying out your activation cards keep in mind what forces are in the most danger. Also think about what unit your opponent is most likely to activate first.

-Leadership: Activating at the right time can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Use your Leadership Points to help with activation rolls or to change your unit activation order.

-Remember your options: Unlike other games, a unit can attack and move, move attack, attack and assault, rush. Heavy weapons can attack a different target.

-Protect your heavy weapons: Because hits are taken in order by distance keep your heavy weapons in the middle of your squads. If you feel the rear is safe keep them in the back. Because range is determined from the squad leader you are not penalized for position. With the Lock rule you can fire your Missile Launcher even through friendly units and you’ll mostly be firing at Striders anyway so that’s another good reason to keep it back.


### Tips for White Stars ###
-Watch your range: White Star Laser Rifles are better than Therian Nano Blasters from range 5 and over. They are also better at range 3 or closer but remember the Therian can re-roll impacts and you can’t. Use range to your advantage. Shoot and back away.
     -The Missile Launcher is range independent.
     -The Fire Toad is best at close range and can even auto-hit/kill many targets (or almost) at range 4 and closer.
     -Be afraid of the Sonic Gun! It has a high rate of fire and hit stats equal to your Laser Rifle.
     -Stay out of close combats. Unless you have much greater numbers you’ll lose.

-Fire Toad: Remember it has two weapons. It can fire one, move, and fire the other. It can also fire each one at a different target. You can re-roll your impact.

-Space: When fighting on the room map remember the Wraith Golgoth can’t enter certain rooms or move from one side of the map to the other because of its size. Your Fire Toads are much less restricted.

### Tips for Therians ###
- Watch your range: Your forces are much better at close range and remember the Nano Blaster gets a re-roll for impact. The Sonic Gun and Medium Sonic Cannon get better the closer you are.

-Close Combat: Your forces are much better in close combat. Remember you can shoot, move, and assault in the same turn. Remember you can close assault the Fire Toad.

-Wraith Golgoth: Is the best unit in the Operation Damocles set. It is fast, great at close range, and has a good long range weapon. It also has staying power with 5 hits. The White Stars’ Steel Troopers cannot hurt it with their laser rifles or in close combat. Beware of the missile launcher.

-Space: When fighting on the room map remember the Wraith Golgoth can’t enter certain rooms or move from one side of the map to the other because of its size. The White Stars’ Fire Toads is much less restricted.

I'm popping back onto this thread to post a *slight* retraction of my initial post (see the 2nd post on page 1 of this thread).

Over the Christmas holidays I was able to pop into Wargames Emporium in Sheffield and take a gander at their stock. I can say that the 2 boxes I examined were remarkably better than I saw in Travelling Man in Newcastle. Accuracy was much improved. I still didn't buy though, as I have since found out that no less than 2 colleagues in my club have bought the set, so there's no need for me to bring along a third at the moment! However, had this stock been on display at Newcastle a couple of weeks back, I would have bought them.

Clearly the moral is to check your box carefully before buying!

I'm now looking forward to a trial game with my friend's set, and the possibility of buying the "advanced rulebook" when it comes out later in the year, if it proves to be a fun game to play.

I was rather horrified when the LGS cheerfully notified me that the basic set had arrived, and they only wanted $140 Canadian for it. I told them to keep it. This is what I get for attempting to support my LGS.

Not sure where you got it, but I've it for $100 CDN at stores in the GTA (I've also seen it listed at $120 CDN).

AJC

That is greedy. The Sentry Box in Calgary sells for less than $90 instead of the original proposed price of $95. In addition, there was a 10%+D20 discount during the boxing week sale. Try to beat that!

The local store just thought they'd stick it too me, perhaps failing to realize that I was the one who found the game, the product codes, and release schedule in the first place. Perpahs it never occured to the manger I may also have had an inkling about the MSRP.

Lucky you... :S

I was at another store today where it was in stock at $130 CDN.

I can't think of any other release where I've seen such a wide range of retail prices...kind of strange.

AJC

This is very unusual. Very rarely will a game cost more than the MSRP. In fact, I cannot even recall any. I wonder if there is a possibility that Operation Demacoles is a one-time limited series.

I think it's just a case of a retailer screwing over his customers with above-MSRP prices. One of my LGSs sells GW stuff at 10% off, which could explain the cheaper prices as well. As for above-MSRP items, the World of Warcraft card game is selling at many places at ~$8 with an MSRP of only $3.80(?). Problem is, all the idiots keep buying up just to get stupid loot cards. And while it isn't a game, the PS3 certainly was above the MSRP if you didn't wait in line for 3 days.

Yeah, sounds like the store is trying to make a few extra bucks. One of the local stores near me sells a lot of stuff for about 20% higher than you see anywhere else. No idea how they stay in business.

Posted By tanker on 01/04/2007 10:14 PM
Yeah, sounds like the store is trying to make a few extra bucks. One of the local stores near me sells a lot of stuff for about 20% higher than you see anywhere else. No idea how they stay in business.

So is it true thaqt the unit box sets are approx $35 for 6 models?

25 if we speak of $ and Euro.

I went in to the store last night and informed them that they can drop the price to $95, or I'll order elsewhere, and those boxes will sit there until the end of time. The assistant manger was quite applogetic for what he recognized was shamelss gouging. This is a case of failure to recognize the nature of the global market in which they currently reside.

Good to see that common sense hadn't completely left them...

AJC

Well you can order the add-on boxes directly from Rackham now for $25 euros. So the Warstore will probably sell them for $20-$25 a pop or $3.30-$4.16 a figure. A box of Space Marines is $3 a figure so that seems fair to me.

Posted By tanker on 01/05/2007 10:52 AM
Well you can order the add-on boxes directly from Rackham now for $25 euros. So the Warstore will probably sell them for $20-$25 a pop or $3.30-$4.16 a figure. A box of Space Marines is $3 a figure so that seems fair to me.

euro is what ... about 1.3 .... so thats about $32.50 - give or take. Margin to retailers is 35%, so cost to them is approx $20.

Anyway, the Warstore doesn't have a BM front does it? If it doesn't isn't it just leaching sales from those that encourage the hobby and actually generate further interest in the hobby?

Info as to how to get there:

www.thewarstore.com/ComeVisitUs.html

AJC

Posted By AJCarrington on 01/05/2007 7:08 PM
Info as to how to get there:

www.thewarstore.com/ComeVisitUs.html

AJC

Huh, I got told it was just an internet store. So it is a big store with gaming tables etc? When I am travelling there is it worth a visit for pick up a game?