Post by wumpus on Jan 10, 2015 18:31:30 GMT
the 2 introductory scenarios.
Me: Zentradi
Son: UEDF
First one we played with the pods generating CP (so I coudl ply with CP and make sure we were doing things correclty) , the 2nd scenario we played without the pods generating CP (so I could see how to spread damage by maintaining close proximity)
First scenario involved lots of minor mishaps/rule misses.... but in general, the missiles fired from guardian mode outperformed the Regaults antimissile (or dodge )and roll with dmg and I went down fast. with no terrain... it did not feel that cool. and there was very little tactical decision making... but I think mainly I *felt* that way it was because lets be honest pods stink... with Hover ability in guardian mode, even with crossfire I would hit on a 6(5), and this can be easily dodged, and then rolled with. I even tried hand to hand, but the pilot skill difference still made it a crap shoot.
The 2nd scenario, i decided to forgoe CP to see if I could effectively move and spread dmg on the pods as would happen in normal games. We played wiht terrain... which made it far more cinematic. and still missles won the day. however with 12 Regaults, the dice gods even out and I almost took down one Valk, and one was halfway before the volleys overcame my pods. Of course we did not limit it to 5 rounds as we both wanted to play more and solidify rules.
Overall my impression was solid. gameplay is fast, and once the #'s get more entrenched in the brain it will go very fast.
I am a big X-wing fan, not a fanatic, but seriously enjoy the game swingy dice rolls and all. I was not sure if this would stack up. but honestly, the freedom of movement, the more tacticla decisions wiht CP(or wihout) won me over. (Of course i would be here if I was not a huge Robotech/Macross fan, at least the original series and Macross plus... (did not care much for the invid southern cross robotech master stuff) My son loved it. X-wing is so much mental measurement and restricted movement that he did not enjoy it as much... much to my dismay as he is pretty much my entire gaming group.
My biggest likes are
1) the 6 always succeeds 1 always fails. It made seeing those symbols on the dice much more 'empowering/defeating'
2) multiple modes
3) missiles ( I was not so sure, but they feel like the right balance of power and limited ammo)
My concerns
1) Zentradi feels pretty underpowered. even with reinforcements, the 10 inch(5 +leap) of the pods will be hard pressed to get back quickly into the action pending board layout. When the female power armor hits I feel like things may even out. but then again the FAST packs and armored valks will hit...
2) afterburner... aircraft movement. Watching my son play the valks he zoomed in in and guardianed for hover and missile use. basically aircaft mode was only for the free 12 inches of movement from afterburner but that was it.This feels very very off to me... very un-cinematic and lackluster and I will probably house rule something eventually to make flight more smooth. maybe up to 3 turns (change facing) once every 3 inchs limited to 45 degree change in nose direction,.. basically trying to make smooth flight curves with the ability to 180. maybe limit this to pilot skill 3 and above or something. as for afterburner: I will probably house rule that regular movement and afterburner can be swapped. Basically you can zoom foward on afterburner fire and then maneuver, or maneuver, fire and then zoom out.... allowing for some sort of hit and run tactics potentially.
3) no point in trying to steal initiative...it is too difficult to do so and the CP has much 'better uses' I could see it happeneing as a hail mary, but mostly i m guessing it will not be used. This I will make a little easier. maybe 1+X CP and roll 3+X dice, player with spend Y CP to initiative rolls 4+Y, highest # gets initiative. This adds to the CP use and allwos one to essentially force an initiative change but at a loss of CP.
Overall I was very happy. Game is fun. fast and pretty user friendly. the alternating sqauds and freedom of movement was very nice. Looking forward to playing again.
Me: Zentradi
Son: UEDF
First one we played with the pods generating CP (so I coudl ply with CP and make sure we were doing things correclty) , the 2nd scenario we played without the pods generating CP (so I could see how to spread damage by maintaining close proximity)
First scenario involved lots of minor mishaps/rule misses.... but in general, the missiles fired from guardian mode outperformed the Regaults antimissile (or dodge )and roll with dmg and I went down fast. with no terrain... it did not feel that cool. and there was very little tactical decision making... but I think mainly I *felt* that way it was because lets be honest pods stink... with Hover ability in guardian mode, even with crossfire I would hit on a 6(5), and this can be easily dodged, and then rolled with. I even tried hand to hand, but the pilot skill difference still made it a crap shoot.
The 2nd scenario, i decided to forgoe CP to see if I could effectively move and spread dmg on the pods as would happen in normal games. We played wiht terrain... which made it far more cinematic. and still missles won the day. however with 12 Regaults, the dice gods even out and I almost took down one Valk, and one was halfway before the volleys overcame my pods. Of course we did not limit it to 5 rounds as we both wanted to play more and solidify rules.
Overall my impression was solid. gameplay is fast, and once the #'s get more entrenched in the brain it will go very fast.
I am a big X-wing fan, not a fanatic, but seriously enjoy the game swingy dice rolls and all. I was not sure if this would stack up. but honestly, the freedom of movement, the more tacticla decisions wiht CP(or wihout) won me over. (Of course i would be here if I was not a huge Robotech/Macross fan, at least the original series and Macross plus... (did not care much for the invid southern cross robotech master stuff) My son loved it. X-wing is so much mental measurement and restricted movement that he did not enjoy it as much... much to my dismay as he is pretty much my entire gaming group.
My biggest likes are
1) the 6 always succeeds 1 always fails. It made seeing those symbols on the dice much more 'empowering/defeating'
2) multiple modes
3) missiles ( I was not so sure, but they feel like the right balance of power and limited ammo)
My concerns
1) Zentradi feels pretty underpowered. even with reinforcements, the 10 inch(5 +leap) of the pods will be hard pressed to get back quickly into the action pending board layout. When the female power armor hits I feel like things may even out. but then again the FAST packs and armored valks will hit...
2) afterburner... aircraft movement. Watching my son play the valks he zoomed in in and guardianed for hover and missile use. basically aircaft mode was only for the free 12 inches of movement from afterburner but that was it.This feels very very off to me... very un-cinematic and lackluster and I will probably house rule something eventually to make flight more smooth. maybe up to 3 turns (change facing) once every 3 inchs limited to 45 degree change in nose direction,.. basically trying to make smooth flight curves with the ability to 180. maybe limit this to pilot skill 3 and above or something. as for afterburner: I will probably house rule that regular movement and afterburner can be swapped. Basically you can zoom foward on afterburner fire and then maneuver, or maneuver, fire and then zoom out.... allowing for some sort of hit and run tactics potentially.
3) no point in trying to steal initiative...it is too difficult to do so and the CP has much 'better uses' I could see it happeneing as a hail mary, but mostly i m guessing it will not be used. This I will make a little easier. maybe 1+X CP and roll 3+X dice, player with spend Y CP to initiative rolls 4+Y, highest # gets initiative. This adds to the CP use and allwos one to essentially force an initiative change but at a loss of CP.
Overall I was very happy. Game is fun. fast and pretty user friendly. the alternating sqauds and freedom of movement was very nice. Looking forward to playing again.
