DE: Evolution Of A Competitive List

Double-face Archon is the best Archon.

Man, I am freaking excited to write this article.  There has been a lot of questions floating around lately that I want to address and the more I think about it, the more I can root cause it to this very topic.  I want to talk about the evolution of a competitive list, the aftermath of several games after you've finalized your competitive list.  This is essentially the Part 2 of my rather popular Army Building Guide.

Before I begin in the earnest, let's talk about what kind of questions have been asked in the last couple of days.  Yes, I do get Email and comments both on here and on the Dark City forums.  Some of the topics that have been talked about are:

• How many Dark Lances vs. Dissies?
• Take me through your thought process after the Big FAQ?
• General question asked to all: What does a competitive DE list look like?
• Warriors or Wyches and why?

While all these questions might seem like they don't connect at first, I assure you they do.  At least to the min-maxy type of player like me who likes to play in a competitive setting, all of these questions are completely valid.  They are valid because I've put this list through a lot of thought, theory and practice questions against a variety of lists and opponents.  Some opponents bring harder lists than others, some not so much.  At the end of the day, a lot of these questions can be answered with "well, that depends" because every playing environment is different, and therefore, every meta is different.  Regardless of whether or not you're playing in a local meta or in a GT, you must go into every environment with a gameplan.  This means knowing the meta, predicting the meta, and taking your list through the gauntlet so you can answer what works best for you (in terms of playstyle) and what will be effective on the battlefield.

So, now that you've read through that guide and have a general idea of how I like to min-max my army lists, let's take a trip down memory lane to the very first army list I posted.

This was before the big FAQ:

1998 - 7 CP
Flayed Skull Battalion - 3 CP

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster = 47
Venom, 2x SC = 75
122

5x Warriors, Blaster = 47
Venom, 2x SC = 75
122

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Splinter Racks, Dark Lance = 95
209

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Splinter Racks, Dark Lance = 95
209

10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
Raider, Splinter Racks, Dark Lance = 95
209

FLYER:
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lances = 145
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lances = 145

+++

Black Heart Spearhead - 1 CP

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91
Warlord: Labyrinthine Cunning
Artifact: Writ of Living Muse

TROOP:
7x Warriors, Blaster = 59
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
144

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dark Lances = 140
Ravager, 3x Dark Lances = 140
Ravager, 3x Dark Lances = 140

>>>
Firepower Analysis:
20 Dark Lances at BS3+
9 Blasters at BS3+
3 Blasters at BS2+
4 Splinter Cannons at BS3+
21 Splinter Rifles at BS3+ with Flayed Skull + Splinter Racks
19 Splinter Rifles at BS3+ elsewhere
2 Razorwing Missiles at BS3+

Possibly the best DE gif to ever exist.

This is not a bad list, but let me take you through all the thought exercises I put myself through while playing with this list over 12 times now.  Remember, when you take your list through a gauntlet, the objective here is to build knowledge and experience.  Knowledge in the sense that you know what every unit in the list is designed to do and what you purchased it to do (very different things), and experience in the sense that in X matchup on Y battlefield in Z scenario, you know what to do with said units.

Here are the thought exercises that I ran through in 12 games.  There might be more, but these are the highlights.  I will write a short blurb about each:

Balancing Dark Lances with Dissies
I started off with a lot of Darklight, and most importantly, a lot of Dark Lances that have 36" range.  This was because my meta is saturated with competitive builds of Imperials (double SR/Dante, Azrael Hellblaster Deathstars, Guard CP bats/Custodes, AdMech Robots/Guard CP, or just Guard CP Tank Park).  While I thought the results were decent, I was finding myself less effective against MEQ out in the open.  Shooting a Dark Lance at a Marine is always satisfying, but it's not the best use of points because it's typically overkill.  It's pretty much just wasted on Guard and less effective vs. Shield-Captains on Dawneagles.  Therefore, I needed to strike a balance between lances for longer engagements and Dissies for volume and more efficient killing those targets I just named.  I can literally go on with this forever, but what you need to do is do a firepower analysis (or whatever your primary killing method is) and range band everything with respect to what units you're engaging.  The targets depend completely on your meta and your predictions for the meta.  More on this later.  Just remember that lances are better vs. T6/7 3+ targets (so basically Rhinos/Robots) while Dissies are better vs. everything else.

Venoms vs. Raiders
This one was an easier decision for me because I wanted more heavy weapons and transport space for Warriors.  It was either more Dark Lance presence for AT or Dissies for general purpose.  Either way, my meta called for less anti-infantry and more heavy weaponry which only the Raider can deliver.  I also noticed that in my first couple of games, losing Venoms also dropped my SCs which was surprisingly frustrating.  The next point will explain more.

Taking Dark Lances on Warriors
This is just playtesting at work.  I originally thought:  Great!  More lances the better right?  Not really, because I noticed that I tend to move around a lot while engaging, and the new Strategems like Fire and Fade kept my army active at all times.  Investing 20 points into a Dark Lance is good, but having it hit on 4+ after you move is not.  This is pretty much a 50/50 and after several games, I wanted to commit to something more efficient.  This is when I started weighing the importance of having a 10 point SC upgrade on my Warriors vs. 10 point Splinter Racks vs. Flayed Skull and the re-rolls.  I found that the Splinter Racks are good, but math says SCs are point for point much better.  It also stays there after you lose the Raider and further increases in damage with respect to range compared to racks.  Boom, made the switch and I've been liking the results so far.  In some ways, I would say that Warriors carrying SCs is more durable than Venoms because they're less of a fire magnet.

Converting from Flayed Skull to Black Heart
You can find me writing a lot about this, but I wanted to bring more units under Black Heart simply because I can take advantage of the Archon's Living Muse on the Raiders themselves.  The more I played with Black Heart, the more I saw an advantage in keeping my Raiders alive and thus, keeping the bulk of my firepower unharmed and alive as well.  As long as my Warriors are inside and shooting, I felt less pressure on my presence on the board and greater pressure on my opponent once more of his things started dying.  This is what I need because as Dark Eldar, you need to keep pressure and maintain momentum and tempo in a game.  Keeping my units alive was more important to me in that sense, and the more heavy weapons I can put in-range of my Archon, the better results I was having.  There's a follow-up to this below, and that's also because Black Heart transports work better for Obsidian Rose units.

Black Heart Air Wing to unlock AoV
I feel like a genius for discovering this and blogging about it, but not really because it was pretty much a braindead choice.  AoV is great and just having it in the army mindfucks your opponent every time he wants to use a Strategem.  Remember again guys, the more you make your opponents think, the higher your chances are of winning.

Min-maxing different detachments to spread obsession bonuses (Black Rose)
OK, this one I will take credit for because I think it's awesome.  My Kabal of the Black Rose is simply the original pure Kabal list min-maxed as much as possible to suit my playstyle.  Since I was already using Black Heart vehicles for their durability, AoV, re-rolls thanks to Living Muse and Cunning, I knew I needed to compliment that with an Obsession that would fit my particular playstyle.  Flayed Skull was great, I've played it a few times, but it was too much of a glasshammer that encouraged overly aggressive plays.  While I normally like that kind of play because I'm a highly aggressive player, my meta matchups needed something more flexible.  I also noticed that the closer I got to Shield-Captains, the more I subjected myself to losing Raiders.  This is more self-enlightenment more than anything else:  I'm an aggressive player but I needed more threat without exposing myself to painful Space Marine assaults.  I also needed something that I can poke and run because my meta have big scary melee units.  Great, Obsidian Rose it is.  Combine that with Black Heart and I have my Kabal of the Black Rose.  Boom.

Trying min-squad vs. decent squad Wyches in Raiders
This feels like the odd-man out here, but I needed to try Wyches because I have like 50 of them sitting in a bin.  They're great, I love them and I think they definitely will see play, but maybe not in a list like mine because the only thing I'm doing is taking away from my firepower.  This is the list schism that I was talking about in my previous articles on how to build lists, and that's if you start to branch off and try to do different things (especially polarizing things), you water down your ability to be effective.  When I mean polarizing, I mean specifically mixing shooting and melee whereas if you take the Meat Mountain + Wyches, you might get better results because there's more of a particular form of pressure that can overwhelm your opponent if they're not ready for it.  Either way, I see merits in both min-squads vs. the larger 8-9 man squads of Wyches in a Raider.  I still think Raiders are their best method of delivery, especially when you have shenanigans like Enhanced Aethersails and Fire and Fade (with a Dissie-mounted Raider) on T1.  If I wanted to play more casual, I'll mix up my lists some more, but if I wanted to just play the ranged game and shoot with my Black Rose, I will go for more shooting, period.

Switching to Dark Lances on my Razorwings
After a bunch of games, I started noticing one thing:  Once I converge with my Razorwings on that first initial high-five with my Living Muse Archon, they flew off to wherever I needed them to go.  I never saw them within ass-slapping range of my Archon ever again so I knew something had to change.  I knew I still needed Dissies, but just how many of them?  This goes back to the question about balancing Dissies with Darklight, but after even more min-max testing, I decided that Ravagers were enough for now.  Having 9 shots that are always in range of re-roll 1s to Hit and Wound was giving me the right results, whereas I've had more success moving Dark Lances to the Razorwings.  The range threat was still the same, but the big difference for me there was that my lances need 3s to wound most things I wanted dead vs. the 5s that I would need with Dissies.  Without the re-rolls, 3s are much better than 5s when dealing damage for sure.  The other factor for me was that I found my previous firepower analysis was a bit biased towards Dissies:  Having 15 Dissies and less 36" range lances.  My first couple of turns in my meta is more probing and poking, and I definitely needed some added long-range weight before I pounce forward with my superior threat range.  Notice how I'm using my experience in games to guide my decisions with what the list looks like in accordance to my meta and playstyle.

What my lists look like after the big FAQ
Well, the good news is that not much really changed for DE.  I min-maxed some shit here and there but overall, the Black Rose emerged pretty victorious after all the dust settled.  My lists are not overly ridiculous with more Ravagers than a bag can hold, and I typically build for more balanced lists than something completely over the top.  OK, the 20 36" lances were kinda hilarious though.  What I need to pay attention to going forward is not how my lists adapt, but how my competitive meta evolves.  I have initial predictions that I will see more Guard players because I think they came out pretty good with the CP boosts for Bats and Brigades.  Armies that relied heavily on alpha-striking with CC and dropping in the first turn also got hit, which further strengthens the power of gunline-oriented armies.  With that said, I need to think about which armies out there will take advantage of the FAQ the most and prepare my list accordingly.  For now, I think my mix is pretty decent since I just converted more units to carry lances, but only time and more playtesting will tell.

Well, there you have it folks.  The first list I posted was on the last day of March.  After all the experience and games, this is what I landed on today:

An artistic expression for my contempt for bad lists.

Kabal of the Black Rose
1999 // 10 CP

Obsidian Rose Bat +5 CP

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster, PGL = 94
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster, PGL = 94

TROOP:
10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, SC = 104
10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, SC = 104
10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, SC = 104
10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, SC = 104

+++

Black Heart Spear +1 CP

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster = 91
Warlord: Cunning, Living Muse

TROOP:
7x Warriors, Blaster, BP = 69

PARTY BUS:
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
Raider, Dark Lance = 85

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dissies = 125
Ravager, 3x Dissies = 125
Ravager, 3x Dissies = 125

+++

Black Heart Wing +1 CP

FLYER:
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 145
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 145
Razorwing, 2x Dark Lance = 145

>>>
Firepower Analysis:
11 Dark Lances at BS3+
9 Dissies at BS3+
9 Blasters at BS3+
3 Blasters at BS2+
3 Razorwing Missiles at BS3+
4 Splinter Cannons at BS3+
41 Splinter Rifles at BS3+

Is this list perfect?  Hell no.  The big question up in the air right now is what the new competitive meta is going to look like.  However, you bet your ass that I will be actively thinking about all the topics I went over today as we keep on murdering our opponents.  Luckily, I've had enough games with the list above that I'm feeling pretty good, so I'm currently testing other lists to gauge which is more competitive.  That's another story for another time.

Eminent Domain Origins Playtests - 2P And 4P

Today I got a couple more "last minute" tests of Eminent Domain Origins in, one 4-player (using the 2-5p starting cards), and one 2p (turns out I hadn't tested 2p since making all these updates and changes).

In the 4p game, Dan joined Dave, Jesse, and me. He played the game once about a year ago, so was basically a new player, so I asked him to just play normally and let me know what was fiddly, odd, hard to understand, or easy to forget. Dave and Jesse each tried the new 4-5p starting cards (Jesse started with a colony marker loaded, an energy, and $10; Dave started with 2 crystal and an energy). I decided to try alien hunting, since I hadn't seen it much lately, and so started with a weapon and a crystal. I gave Dan a basic $30 starting card.

In the end, the game was quite close, with Dave winning out 60-50-50-49. I may have missed a round or two, but I counted 17 rounds -- I thought I remembered Terra Prime lasting more like 20-24 or so. Jump starting the game a little bit by giving players starting resources and cutting the phase 1 reward cards, and allowing colony spots (planets) to exist in adjacent sectors, may have sped the game up a little bit, but I DID add 3 tiles to the phase III rewards, so we were only really net down 1 reward tile total. It's likely players just did more scoring actions (colonizing and defeating aliens) than what sometimes happens so the game was on the short end.

Dave's winning 60 points came on the back of quite a lot of delivering. He used his 2 crystal start to quickly (turn 4 or 5) get a Matter Converter, and soon after delivered a bunch of cubes for a fistful of credits and bought 2 Thrusters in one turn. Dave is usually partial to Afterburners, but I guess he decided he didn't have the energy economy for it this time. In any case, he had 5 actions while the rest of us ad only 3 for a while. Dan and Jesse eventually got Thrusters of their own, for some reason I didn't bother, which may have been my downfall. The verdict on the starting card is that it's probably fine. The verdict on Matter Converter is that it's potentially very strong, probably not a problem, but might ought to be worded such that you still have to carry the correct cubes according to your holds, and then deliver/upgrade as if they're wild, rather than letting you convert them to whatever you want whenever you want, which just encourages you to visit your own places.

Jesse's downfall may have been poor rolls combined with potentially ill advised pathing. He kept crashing into asteroids, and hadn't bought shields first. This cost him 3vp on more than 1 occasion. Had he just rolled a little better (or spent the action and $20 to get and charge shields), he could have been neck and neck with Dave in the end. Never mind that one of the collisions cost him an engine, about 1/2 way through the game, putting him out maybe 7 or 8 actions! However, his start was strong, Starting with a loaded colony marker was pretty great, it allowed him to usurp a colony spot from player 1 (Dan, who might have been better off doing something a little bit different), and as Jesse pointed out, irrespective of turn order, starting with a loaded colony means that he's the ONLY player who could colonize 2 spaces from TP on turn 1. It also means that players earlier in turn order have to be a bit more careful and hedge their bets if they're not colonizing on turn 1, lest their colony get sniped. That's probably OK, but we decided to take away the energy, so that if there's an asteroid in the way, at least you have to risk losing 3 points to do that.

I tried to do some alien hunting, and I did an alright job, my big errors were getting an early Battle Station instead of selling cubes to afford a Thruster, and not setting up any accessible early game colonies for other players to use. The only planet 1 step from TP was a green one off to one side, and since Dan didn't take it, I decided to colonize it on turn 1. Nobody used it all game, and I didn't drop any colonies in high traffic areas, so I didn't get to leach any points off of other players.

Any way you look at it, that score was pretty darn close all around.

After Dan left, I mentioned the board scaling for 2 players (2 fewer tiles in each row, and only 1 of each tech upgrade), and it occurred to me that I hadn't played 2p in this new version of the game. So I had Jesse and Dave play 2p while I watched. They ended up choosing the sort of standard $20 and $30 for starting resources, and while I lost count half way through the game, I'm pretty sure it lasted about 20 rounds -- just a few more than the 4 player game. I noticed that in the mid-game, both players spent time upgrading their ship rather than dropping colonies or killing aliens, which dragged the game out a little bit, but also was fun for the players to really pursue a strategy. Dave ended up with a Thruster and 2 Afterburners (with Additional Module Slots), so was doing 8 actions per turn. Jesse had 2 Thrusters for 5 actions per turn. Both geared up for alien hunting, but neither did a whole lot of it until the end of the game. Between the two of them, they explored every tile, but they also left a lot of maybe lower scoring colony spaces alone... had either of them grabbed a Cryo Chamber (or Cargo upgrade) and started dropping multiple colonies per trip, the game could have been considerably shorter (on par with the 4p game perhaps).

The verdict was that the 2p game seemed fine. I think we don't need to do any further scaling such as removing any reward cards. It felt like the game dragged a little, but that was because (a) players drew it out a bit, and (b) Dave's turns started taking incredibly long as he hemmed and hawed over planning out his 8 actions!

All in all, I think it was a fine test day. I made a tweak to one of the starting cards (take the energy off the loaded colony marker one), and I might tweak the wording on Matter Converter. I might also add a reward card or two (probably double up on existing ones) just to make sure there's enough time in a 5 player game for players' strategies to develop.

Top 7 Interesting Facts, Tips, You Need To Know About Assassin's Creed Odyssey | Pro-GamersArena

Assassin's Creed Odyssey has at long last arrived, And this one additionally is cherished by gamers and if the surveys are any sign, you'll likely need to play it. In spite of being another progressive passage in Ubisoft's about yearly arrangement, Assassin's Creed Odyssey has figured out how to bring enough new frameworks and stuff to befuddle new and veteran players. 

Related Article: Assassin's Creed Review, Gameplay.

There's a considerable measure to do in this one, and not every last bit of it is simple. While Assassin's Creed Odyssey pursues a sensible trouble bend, there are as yet a couple of things you can do to help streamline your 50 or more hour trek through Greece.  

So here Pro-GamersArena has compiled the top 7 Interesting Facts, Tips, you need to know about Assassin's Creed Odyssey before playing.


1. You better Choose Exploration mode instead of Guided mode. (Tip)

In Origins, the rash of unattractive, covering map symbols had been diminished by a lot, yet in Odyssey, it's gone altogether. Rather, the amusement offers you a decision comfortable start: would you like to play in "Exploration" mode or "Guided" mode? Guided mode is the Assassin's Creed maps as you've constantly known them, while Exploration strips away relatively every symbol, leaving a wonderful, clear guide reasonable for well known guide exercises like route. Rather, delineate are supplanted with bearings: the scoundrel camp is on the eastern bank of Kephallonia; the Spartan post is north of Mount Geranaia. Which appears to be extremely fascinating and extraordinary while playing. 

Antiquated Greece is huge. Each method of transportation has a type of auto-run highlight that truly proves to be useful. On horseback or by walking, squeezing Z will get your character running so you can grasp your hands off the console, while Space Bar does likewise for water crafts. Steeds, specifically, are reasonable for this: hold Z for a minute and after that press E, and your steed will auto-pursue streets to explore directly to a guide marker. In any case, it doesn't imply that you depend on that as I would prescribe you to utilize it just when fundamental however I am certain that you will scarcely utilize the alternative as you wouldn't wanna miss anything of excellent Greece. 


2. You get to choose to play as one of two characters. (Fact)

Ubisoft Quebec's last game in the arrangement, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, let players control a couple of twins, Jacob and Evie Frye. You're ready to control a male or female legend in Odyssey, however you won't skip between them as the story pulls you forward. Rather, you play as either Alexios or Kassandra toward the begin till the end. While there are some inconspicuous contrasts in their exhibitions and how the voice on-screen characters convey their lines, you don't have to struggle with the decision from any waiting feeling of FOMO. 

"Everything is open for the two characters," says innovative chief Jonathan Dumont. "It's considerably more of a recognizable proof for you, for how to relate and associate with your character. That is the reason you have the decision." Unlike Jacob and Evie, who inclined toward battle or stealth, players can shape their character as they see fit. On the off chance that you need Kassandra to crush faces in with a club or have her adhere to the shadows, it's your call.

Regardless of who you ultimately choose, your role in the world is the same.


3. Use Sparta Kick to punt high-level enemies off anything tall (Tip).

Now and then, you will confront foes which are extremely intense or hard to execute as the foe may have an Elite modifier or a harmed hatchet or some damn thing that can truly make it difficult to slaughter them. I'll cut and wound them all I need, however my individual assaults simply don't do much harm. The best activity here: kick them off a cliff. Oh Yeah !!!  

That's how you do it !!!

One of the main capacities I opened was the Sparta Kick, an "legendary kick" that indulgences adversaries in reverse. Above all, the Sparta Kick is amazingly fulfilling to utilize. When, I was in a contributed fight a marble quarry when an abnormal state, world class Spartan officer came smashing down on me. Urgent, I kept running up the laborers' platform, wavering hazardously over the abyss of the open quarry pit. At the point when the leader ascended to slaughter me, I kicked him off. Sword: 300 harm. Kick: 600 harm. Falling a few hundred feet to his demise: 20,000 harm. 

Get Assassin's Creed Odyssey at a discounted price from Amazon.

4. Use fire to damage more.

There's an extremely forceful fire framework affecting everything in Odyssey which I will recommend you to use, as adding fire to your assaults is an insightful move. As it not just include consuming harm that stacks after some time but at the same time it's excellent group control. A few foes break and run when they're hit with flame, so in case you're amidst a significant battle, lighting everybody ablaze can disperse the horde a bit. 

Hitting somebody with a flaming sword, while cool, won't consequently set them ablaze. There's a fire development detail that is unique in relation to foe to foe and may even rely upon what sorts of shield they're wearing. It takes a couple of hits of fire to extremely set somebody consuming. On the off chance that you need to benefit from your searing assaults, search for inscriptions or rewards that expansion "fire development." The higher your fire development detail is, the quicker you'll set your objectives ablaze.

5. Islands Of Adventure (Fact)

Our hands-on experience occurred on a couple of islands, Delos and Mykonos. It included a little more than twelve unique missions, led on a shockingly convoluted questline. It took around five hours to see that storyline through to culmination. "We needed to reflect what it might feel want to be on the odyssey of Odysseus, where he goes on islands and he doesn't realize what he will discover," Dumont says. Ubisoft Quebec needed players to experience an assortment of littler, local storylines amid their voyages, while additionally conveying a bigger scale experience.

6. Try to stay neutral in the war to get the best loot (Tip).

Odyssey happens amid the Peloponnesian War when Athens and Sparta were super, duper distraught at one another and were extremely exceptionally impolite about it. To trigger a fight, you need to irritate the parity of intensity by taking out the locale's national pioneer. The pioneer is intensely monitored by the entirety of his watchmen and extremely rich, and a toe-to-toe battle will be outlandish. Rather, you need to relax him up by executing his lieutenants, taking his cash, and consuming his armed force's provisions. When you cause enough mayhem, the attacking group, regardless of whether its Sparta or Athens, will begin a fight. 

There are constantly opposite sides to each fight, it is possible that you can be an aggressor or a protector, here additionally you're allowed to join the assaulting or safeguarding side. The main contrast is that the assailants will have a significantly harder fight and much better plunder granted for progress. It doesn't make a difference which side you pick, however regardless of whether you've been killing Athenians throughout the day to blend up inconvenience, you can offer the Athenians help in the fight with the end goal to acquire some benefit. 



7. Take Help Of  Ikaros (Your pet Eagle) to scout and spot enemies (Tip).

In Assassin's Creed Odyssey too you have an extremely helpful and brilliant pet Eagle named Ikaros, and utilizing him as a scout will be commonplace to any individual who played Origins. Send Ikaros up and glance through his eyes to stamp adversaries, spot money boxes, alert flames, caught creatures, detainees, and so on. Having a constant guide of a camp makes it much simpler to sneak in, for a certain something. For another, spotting foes ahead of time can fill you in as to whether any of them have rewards or capacities that would be useful for your group. Additionally, utilize Ikaros to investigate adversary skippers and authorities. They'll more often than not have a type of direction reward pertinent to your ship, and all the more critically, they're probably going to be genuine rats in a battle. In the event that you detect a decent applicant with Ikaros, you can make arrangements to take them alive. 

Ikaros' spotting is additionally valuable in underground natural hollows and tombs, however you can't utilize him underground. Rather, utilize him before you enter the surrender and have him fly over the highest point of the mountain. He can in any case spot things underground (Told you, he's a significant hawk), and the guide markers will enable you to discover your approach to heaps of plunder in the befuddling labyrinth underground.

Battle Of Edgehill 1642 - Part 1 Set Up

Another big favourite here at YG is the English Civil War and it's hard to believe that it is over 3 years since this lot last saw the light of day !

Edgehill is of course the first major action in the ECW and many who saw action that day would be getting their first taste of battle. I have decided to break this up into two reports, this the first on will cover the set up and orders of battle whilst the follow up will cover the refight itself.

Information on the Battle is avaliable from a multitude of sources so I don't intend to harp on about the build up but instead give you a wargamers view of setting up the clash.

Parliament Cavalry on the trot

A Word on Rules and the like

Like most periods we are a little off piste when it comes to rules, for the ECW we use a modified version of Forlorn Hope. I "modernised" the basics over 10 years ago and they have worked well ever since.

The figure ratio for the game is approximately 33:1 and that has worked perfectly for this particular battle in terms of figures avaliable and the 12 x 6 table here. One good thing carried over from the original set is that each Infantry unit has a set number of figures and rather than individually counting Pike numbers and Shot numbers the unit is given a ratio of Pike to Musket.

Figures are 28mm from a collection of manufacturers including Perrys, Bicorne, Warlord and Renegade.

Royalist Foot Advancing early in the Battle

Table Set Up and Terrain 

For this I have used the medium of video ! How modern of me. For some reason the sound didn't work on the footage so I have gone for some snazzy subtitles in stead.

I managed to locate a number of maps of the Battle all of which differed in some way. The troop set up seems to be pretty constant but some maps show enclosures, a brook, small woods etc it's difficult to tell what was present on the day and what is a modern interpretation.

However I don't recall reading of the terrain having any massive affect on the Battle so I chose to leave the table relatively sparse and just the the armies get on with it.

Orders of Battle

There is a very good OOB at the link below,

http://bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/edgehill-campaign/order-of-battle

So the list below is my interpretation of that for the game with the following notes,

1. Forlorn Hope rules have army lists for each year of the war in each theatre, these generate troop morale classes, pike:shot ratios etc by rolling dice, this is how the factors have been determined. So for this stage of the war there are no Veteran Infantry.

2. We rolled particularly well for Ruperts Cavalry but if you don't I would suggest for realisms sake that if you have a "name" unit in a brigade, roll up the entire brigade and allocate the best rolled factor to the best unit.

3. I was unable to find any break down of the total numbers (on the orbat above) other than Rupert having around 1700 Cavalry vs 1300 to his fore. Therefore I have had to estimate the size of the infantry units dividing the numbers present by 33 and then filling up the numbers required in each area with the units in our collection. Our rules need Infantry units at least 16 figures and Cavalry of at least 6, so the eagle eyed will notice the odd unit missing in name from our game, however the men of that unit have been spread across that particular command.

4. Forlorn Hope has a sub morale class of Elite, this can be tagged to any units basic morale and reflects an over confidence not necessarily linked to ability.

Prince Rupert, Standard Bearer and of course his dog "Boy"

The Royalist Army

C in C King Charles LV1
General of Foot Sir Jacob Astley LV2
General of Horse Prince Rupert LV3 (may not use LV to stop pursuits)

Prince Maurice Brig of Horse LV2
Ruperts Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 12 Figures
Kings Lifeguard - Raw Elite Gallopers - 12 Figures
Maurices Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Prince of Wales Horse - Raw Gallopers - 9 Figures

Lord Byrons Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Byrons Horse - Trained Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures

Ruperts Cavalry 

Charles Gerrard Brig of Foot LV1
Gerrards Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 26 Figures
Dyves Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Duttons Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Trained Crew

Col Fieldings Brig of Foot LV1
Fieldings Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 24 Figures
Lunsfords Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Bolles Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Trained Crew

Royalist Foot 

Wentworths Brig of Foot LV1 
Gilbert Gerrards Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 24 Figures
Salusburys Foot - Raw - 2 : 3 - 20 Figures
Molyneuxs Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun  - Raw Crew

Belasyse Brig of Foot LV1 
Belasyse Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 26 Figures
Blagges Foot - Trained - 3 : 2 - 20 Figures
Pennymans Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew

Nicholas Byron Brig of Foot LV2
Kings Lifeguard - Trained - 1 : 1 - 30 Figures
Lord Generals Foot - Trained - 1 : 2 - 20 Figures
Beaumonts Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures

Royalist left wing

Gen Wilmot Brig of Horse LV2 
Wilmots Horse - Raw Gallopers - 9 Figures
Grandisons Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures

Lord Digby Brig of Horse LV1 
Lord Digbys Horse - Raw Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Ashtons Horse - Raw Elite Gallopers - 6 Figures

Independent 
Gentleman Pensioners - Veteran Elite Trotters (Cuirass) - 9 Figures (must remain within 8" of the King and protect his personage)
Legges Firelocks - Trained Skirmishers - 9 Figures
Blue Dragoons - Trained (left flank)
Red Dragoons - Trained (right flank)

Forces of Parliament

The Parliamentary Army

C in C Earl of Essex LV 2
Earl of Bedford - Gen of Horse LV1
Sir John Merrick  - Gen of Foot LV2

Balfours Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Generals Horse - Raw Trotters - 9 Figures
Balfours Horse - Raw Trotters (F) - 9 Figures
Fieldings Horse - Raw Trotters (F) - 9 Figures
Brownes Dragoons - Raw Trotters (F) - 6 Figures

Parliament right wing

Sir John Meldrum Brig of Foot LV1 
Meldrums Foot - Trained - 2:1 - 20 Figures
Saye and Seles Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 20 Figures
Constables Foot - Raw - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Fairfaxs Foot - Trained - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Robartes Foot - Trained  - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew

Essex Brig of Foot LV1 
Essex Foot - Trained  - 3:2 - 26 Figures
Chomleys Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Mandevilles Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Whartons Foot - Raw  - 2:1 - 24 Figures
2 × Medium Gun - Raw Crews

Parliament Foot and Stapletons Cuirass 

Ballards Brig of Foot LV1 
Lord Generals Foot - Raw - 3:2 - 32 Figures
Brookes Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Ballards Foot - Trained - 2:1 - Trained
Holles Foot - Raw - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun  - Raw Crew

Stapletons Brig of Horse LV1 
Lord Generals Lifeguard (Cuirass) - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Stapleton Cuirass - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures

Ramseys Cavalry 

Sir James Ramseys Brig of Horse LV1 
Drapers Horse - Raw - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Balfours Horse - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Bedfords Horse - Raw - Trotters - 6 Figures
Mordaunts Horse - Trained - Trotters - 6 Figures
Peterborough Horse - Trained  - Trotters  - 6 Figures

Independent 
Yellow Dragoons - Raw - 9 Figures (right wing)
Red Dragoons - Raw - 9 Figures (left wing)

The Yellow Dragoons 

So that's our set up, I'll post up a battle report next week.

Crime Pays, As Long As You Don'T Get Caught

Burgle Bros. is an entertaining and well-designed game about robbing an office building. Players take on the roles of a colorful cast of criminals (I'm sure they're well-meaning) and work together to find a hidden safe on each of three floors of the building, and then escape to the roof. If anyone is caught by a wandering guard, the whole team loses the game.

Each floor of the building is represented by a 4x4 grid of face down tiles. Players reveal them by moving onto them, or they can play it safe by spending extra movement to peek ahead at an adjacent tile before moving. Movement between tiles is somewhat hampered by wall pieces that are placed between certain tiles (depending on the game setup). The tiles represent different locations in the building, some helpful and some not. Alarms can be tripped, computer rooms can be hacked, but the ultimate goal for each floor is to find two tiles: the safe, and the stairs to the next level.

Once the safe is found, the combination needs to be cracked by rolling dice and matching the numbers to those printed on the tiles in the same row an column as the safe (so even if you get lucky and find the safe and the stairs right away, you still need to explore at least some of the other tiles). The player who opens the safe draws a loot card, which will most likely do something to make movement more difficult, and a tool card, which generally gives a helpful ability.

Lest this all seem too easy, each floor has a wandering guard and a deck of cards that randomly determines his destination. The guard takes the shortest path to his destination tile, then draws another destination and continues moving. If a guard moves onto a player's tile (or vice versa), the player has to discard a stealth token or be caught! Players start the game with three tokens, and once they're gone, if the guard catches you again the whole team loses the game.

It's as much a puzzle as it is a game, with the primary strategy being how to move around the tiles without being caught by the guard. Some tiles set off an alarm when you move on to them, which can be used tactically to change the direction the guard is moving (when an alarm goes off, the guard immediately changes his destination to the tile with the alarm). The characters chosen by the players each have a unique ability as well -- some can move through guards or slow them down.

The graphic design and artwork have a refreshing retro 1960s look, and the "crime caper" theme makes for a nice change from fighting orcs or being driven mad by Lovecraftian horrors.

Rating: 4 (out of 5) You know it's a good cooperative game when after you lose you immediately start talking about what you could have done differently, and then set up to play again.

• Burgle Bros. Official Website
• Burgle Bros. on BoardGameGeek

Game 362: OrbQuest (1981)

I'm playing the second edition of the game. The first is not available anywhere.

            

OrbQuest

United States
Alternate World Simulations

Released in 1981 for CP/M

Date Started: 10 March 2020

Date Finished: 15 March 2020

Total Hours: 25

Difficulty: Moderate-Hard (3.5/5)

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)

       

Digital Research's CP/M operating system only boasted two original RPGs, and it turns out that both of them were adapted directly from games on the PLATO mainframe. A year ago, I covered how Nemesis (1981) was just a microcomputer version of Oubliette (1977), and now it's clear that OrbQuest is nothing more than a microcomputer version of The Game of Dungeons (1975), more popularly known by its file name, "DND." Specifically, it is a direct adaption of the game's fifth edition.
          

Finding a treasure chest in the OrbQuest dungeon offers the same options as The Game of Dungeons.

          

We've discussed at length how Daniel Lawrence based his own DND (c. 1976) on The Game of Dungeons, but OrbQuest is a far more literal porting of the code than Lawrence's. Indeed, if I'd known about it when I won The Game of Dungeons, I might have been content to discuss OrbQuest in an addendum rather than playing it as a separate game. Among the things it shares in common:

            

• A goal to recover an Orb, held by a powerful guardian (a dragon in Game, a "dragon wizard" here)
• Twenty 9 x 9 levels with the same system of movement (e.g., SHIFT to go through a door), secret doors, and one-way doors
• No staircases, just "teleporters" that take you to the next and previous levels, and the teleporters are oddly spaced between squares rather than in them
• The same attributes, with "piety" substituted for "wisdom" 
• Experience based on monsters killed and gold retrieved
• Most of the same spells, divided into cleric and mage, with slots given to the character upon leveling
• The same combat options, including minimized importance of "fighting" and each enemy having a particular weakness to a particular spell
• The same commands and results for opening chests, drinking potions, and reading books
• Most of the same items of magical equipment to find
• Most of the same monsters
• On dungeon Level 1, monsters are never higher than Level 1 
• Options to toggle on or off automatic collection of gold and automatic fighting of enemies below a certain level

        

I'm assuming that Dirk Pellet and the other Game authors didn't know about this attempt to monetize their work, or certainly they would have objected as strongly as they did to Lawrence's. Relative obscurity must have helped: OrbQuest appeared only for a dying platform, and the creator notes on a message board that he only ever sold about 100 copies.
           

The Game of Dungeons' cleric spells were, in contrast, "Light Candle," "Holy Water, "Exorcise," "Pray," "Hold," "Dispell," and "Datspell."

               

As to that creator, his name was Walter E. Donovan, and his company--existing only for this game, it seems--has an address in Milpitas, California. So far, I have not been able to tie Donovan directly to a PLATO campus (unlike Lawrence and the author of Nemesis), so I'm not sure how he was exposed to it, but it's clear that somehow he got the source code or otherwise thorough documentation of its elements and mechanics.
               

A nice cover leads the game manual, which is otherwise typewritten and photocopied.

           

As usual, this is not to say that Donovan added nothing to the game. In fact, he smoothed away some of Game's most egregious imbalances and made the game less random. Gold is less plentiful, particularly on earlier levels, chests (and thus magic items) rarer, and traps less deadly. A player can no longer spend half the game just wandering the same corridors of Level 1 and picking up nearly every magic item along the way. Chests have only about 10 times the gold as random loot on their levels, not 1000 times. Chests aren't trapped as often, and when they are, they rarely kill you unless you've delved too far too fast. Magic items are never trapped. Books and potions help more than they hurt, so it's worth taking the chance on them.
               

Potions and books are less deadly here than in the source game.

       

The result is a game that is, even with permadeath, far more survivable than The Game of Dungeons but also less "gameable." There aren't any tricks to help you get rich quick (unlike in Game, you can't cache gold, either) or otherwise bypass the long and tedious process of grinding yourself senseless for several dozen hours. I've been doing it while clearing out my Netflix queue, but I can't imagine that even back in the day, when it was the only game for my platform, I would have had a lot of fun with it.
             

Collecting gold to raise my level. I have a pretty good set of equipment here.

          

The game begins with random rolls of 3-18 for strength, dexterity, intelligence, and piety. After that, you begin on Level 1 of the dungeon. The 9 x 9 levels have a fixed layout but a random distribution of gold, chests, and other items, re-randomized every time you change levels or exit the dungeon. Encounters are completely random and also extremely variable. Sometimes, I walked 20 steps or more with no encounters; other times, I had three or four in the same square.
                

The limited character creation process.

            

For the most part, you meet the same monsters on all levels, but the monsters themselves have levels. The monster's level is far more important in determining his danger than the monster type; that is, a Level 3 ghoul is deadlier than a Level 1 dragon. On dungeon Level 1, monsters are never higher than Level 1 themselves. On other dungeon levels, their levels are randomized to a maximum of roughly 5 times the dungeon level for levels 1-10--unless you're carrying gold, in which case their maximum level is something like 4 times the dungeon level plus 1 for every 5,000-10,000 gold pieces you carry.
             

My maps of the first nine levels.

           

OrbQuest lacks the "excelsior transport" from Game, but several of the levels have pits that take you directly to lower levels. The levels have varied layouts with secret doors, one-way doors, and such, but no special encounters until Level 10. Playing the game is a process of exploring downward, picking up gold until you start to encounter monsters you can't handle, then hauling it back up to Level 1 and then exit in order to level up. The next time, you can go a little further and collect a little more gold.

There are 13 monsters in the game: balrogs, deaths, demons, dragons, evil curates, ghouls, green slimes, hirebrands, huge spiders, mindworms, specters, wizards, and zombies. A few of them have special attacks. If mindworms do any damage to you at all in combat, they'll sap intelligence permanently. Same goes for specters and strength. Green slimes eat inventory items.
                  

Despite my victory, the specter manages to eat a point of strength.

            
As with Game, fighting here is a last resort except for enemies significantly below your level (you can set the game to auto-fight such enemies so you don't even need to press "F"). Instead, you need to learn, through trial and error, each enemy's weaknesses to various spells. For instance, balrogs are susceptible to the "Fatal Charm" mage spell. The cleric spell "Holy Water" deals with demons, evil curates, and zombies. As in Game, the cleric's "Hold" and the mage's "Sleep" work reliably against enemies below Level 5 and hardly at all after that. As long as the enemy isn't more than three times your level, he should die immediately from the spell that works best against him. At higher levels, the spell might partly work (depending on the spell), leaving you to finish him off (or vice versa) in melee combat. Again, you can control the level of enemy you face by controlling the amount of gold you carry and the dungeon level you're visiting.
              

Combat options.

       

The occasional potion or tome offers a chance to increase your attributes, and unlike the ones in Game, they don't have an equal chance of decreasing attributes, although they do have an occasional negative effect like poison or a trap. "Clerical detection" reliably determines if the item is safe.

Chests occasionally deliver magic items. Swords, shields, helms ("haumes"), hauberks, Cloaks of Defense, and Belts of Healing are all initially found at +1, and as you find more, you gain additional pluses. Amulets of Revival will save the character from one death. Small Idols of Luck increase the amount of treasure that you find. Necklaces of Eyes allow you to see secret doors. I was never sure what Rings of Power or Glory did.
             

The Belt of Healing is a useful tool that regenerates hit points.

           

Level 9 has a bunch of one-way doors that funnel the player to one of the teleporters to Level 10. Immediately on arrival to Level 10, the character is attacked by Demogorgon. This is a test encounter to see if you're strong enough for the lower levels, and you need to be around Level 100 to beat him. Once he's dead, he never appears again.
              

Killing Level 10's Demogorgon is a key milestone.

          
Levels 10-20 are a lot harder. Not only are the monsters much higher level, but there are more navigation obstacles. There are invisible walls, wrapping levels, lots more one-way walls and doors, and other difficult terrain. Downward teleporters sometimes skip two levels. Level 15, with a bunch of concentric squares, is a copy of Game of Dungeons' Level 11. Level 16, featuring a spiral of corridors, is a copy of Game's Level 15. And Level 17, with a bunch of featureless north/south corridors connected by secret doors, is a copy of Game's Level 20.

The Dragon Wizard is found somewhere on Level 20. The level has a couple of squares that halve your available spells and another one that blinds you. If you defeat the Dragon Wizard, you get the Orb and millions of gold pieces--which it would be sensible to immediately drop, as the Orb itself is going to attract enough high-level monsters. You then have to make your way back up 20 levels, apparently somewhere encountering The Grim Reaper, who's even harder than the Dragon Wizard.

Here is where I run into problems. Although I've explored them both multiple times, I cannot find the up teleporters from Levels 19 or 13. A "Teleport" spell that's supposed to move you upward for one cleric and one mage spell slot absolutely never works. Thus, although I have managed to obtain the Orb, I can't find my way out of the dungeon.
             

I had the Orb at one point; I just couldn't get it out.

          
I haven't been adhering to permadeath, of course. The game makes it easy to cheat. It saves your character with every level transition and doesn't record his "death" until you acknowledge the death message. This is an opportunity for players to quickly remove the disk from the drive, or in my case kill the emulator. Reloading is a pain, though, so death still has consequences. Since I'm emulating the CP/M from within DOSBox, I have to restart two emulators with their associated commands and sit through a timer in the unregistered CP/M emulator. It was probably easier for a 1981 player to restart his game than it is for me.
              

            
Thus, having wasted an absurd number of hours on the game, I can't show you a winning screen. But if I know my readers, one of them will eventually grow curious enough to poke around in the game's code and let me know what I missed, and I'll be able to come back with an addendum. For now, the game ties with Game for an 18, although the individual stories aren't exactly the same. Game of Dungeons at least tried to make up a story about the dungeon, which OrbQuest doesn't, but OrbQuest has a slightly better variety of equipment.
             

OrbQuest gets some credit for slightly more gruesome combat language than its source.

           

We'll take our second look at Planet's Edge next while I gear up to plan fan (and Addict) favorite Ultima VII. Replacing it on the "upcoming" list is Catacombs (1982) for the ZX81, for which I haven't even found an emulator yet, so we'll see.

Fun Art Projects

I've not been in the mood to write articles lately, so instead I've been working on some fun projects instead. Watabou posted about Dyson Hatching, which got me thinking it might be interesting to constrain the hatch lines to Voronoi cells. I implemented that and then got carried away with colors, line spacing, line width, and other fun things. The demo is here. You can drag an image onto the diagram to use the colors from your image.

Hatch lines applied to an image

The second project was also thanks to a Watabou tweet. It inspired me to play with shaders on a Delaunay mesh. Once again I got carried away and had lots of fun making patterns. The demo is here. Play with the first two sliders to pick the pattern, then adjust the other sliders to fine tune it.

Delaunay Triangles filled with patterns

Enjoy!